Issue 8 from the 2012-2013 Harbinger

Shawnee Mission East l 7500 Mission Road, PV KS, 66208 l December 17, 2012 l Issue 8 l www.smeharbinger.net

WHAT TO DO WHEN THE SNOW HITS

PG 24

PG 29 FIRST WEEK WINTER SPORTS ROUND UP

GREAT EXPECTATIONS EAST FAMILIES SHARE A COMMON BOND THROUGH ATHLETICS written by Caroline Kohring

photos by Jake Crandall

Sports are a way for families to bond. They’re something to talk about and a way to spend time together. Some kids grew up playing catch with their dad in the backyard, others grew up watching their dad play from the stands. Some kids grew up shooting hoops with their older siblings, others grew up attending game after game to support their siblings. From children that play the same sport to parents that were professional athletes, many East families are sportsoriented.

Dr. Andrew Jacobs, a local, nationally recognized sports psychologist, believes that competition between family members is inevitable when it comes to sports. Dr. Jacobs works for the University of Missouri Kansas City and has worked with the Kansas City Royals, the University of Kansas Athletic Department and various professional and Olympic athletes.

Although there is always the pressure to live up to the expectations of fellow athletes within the family, Dr. Jacobs

feels sports have a greater benefit above all else. He believes sports brings families together, and also are a way to learn about yourself.

“It’s a great opportunity to be together,” Dr. Jacobs said.

“It’s something everyone can do together. There’s just a lot of positives that come with sports and I think the main thing is that it gives you an opportunity to succeed and be a better person.”

continued on pages 30-31

2 | NEWS

NEWS BRIEFS December, 17 2012

written by Greta Nepstad

$ LANCER DANCER CLINIC The annual Lancer Dancer clinic took place this past Sunday on Dec. 16. The clinic is open to all girls ranging from kindergarten to eighth grade in the Shawnee Mission School district.

“I’ve done all of the clinics since I was a kindergartner,” Varsity Lancer Dancer Frances Wooldridge said. “I’ve always wanted to be a Lancer Dancer and the clinic was always a great way to become familiar with it.”

Upon arriving at East, the girls were given hair ribbons and T-shirts and separated into groups according to their age.

“For the younger girls, it’s hard to keep their attention so we give them water breaks,” Varsity Lancer Dancer Kaitlin Stewart said.

The girls were taught a dance to perform with the Lancer Dancers at the basketball game on the following Monday.

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE The Lancer Dancer clinic is an opportunity for the Lancer Dancers to represent the student body.

The young girls and the East community are introduced to some SME culture. Through the clinic, young girls are inspired to get involved in their future high school.

These girls continue to come back to East, for events like the Lancer Dancer pancake breakfast and get their pictures taken with the dancers.

“It’s important to us, morally, because all of the little girls look up to us,” Stewart said.

The Lancer Dancer clinic is also the main fundraiser for the dancer’s trip to Nationals in Florida this coming March.

DISTRICT STILL LOOKING FOR NEW SUPERINTENDENT The Shawnee Mission School Board continues its search for a new superintendent for the Shawnee Mission School district.

After the current superintendent, Gene Johnson, stated his plans for retirement earlier this year, the plans for finding a replacement were put into action.

“The process of choosing a new superintendent should be completed prior to spring break,” principal Karl Krawitz said. “But I would imagine that getting all that data organized would take a long time.”

The data, explained Krawitz, is collected by the company that the district hired to orchestrate the surveys and interviews with the applicants. During the month of Febuary, meetings will be held with the applicants that had been approved by the district.

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE The student body should care who becomes the new superintendent because it’s like “knowing who the President of the United States is”, explained Krawitz. “[The superintendent] is kind of like the president of the entire organization,” Krawitz said.

“They’re the CEO of the school district. That person’s philosophy could have a considerable affect on how schools are run.”

Principal Karl Krawitz explained that one of the changes that schools in the district could face is the development of a sight based management.

“Sight based management means that the superintendent allows individual buildings to do what they feel is best for their students, community, parents and staff,” Krawitz said. “So in sight based management...for the most part, is made at the building level.”

FISCAL CLIFF Jan. 1 is fast approaching. Politicians and congressmen are trying to beat it. They’re trying to come up with a plan to avoid what has become known as the “fiscal cliff.”

The fiscal cliff, as described by AP government teacher Ron Stallard, is an idea that Congress created earlier this year. With a 16 trillion dollar debt, the goal is to get the United States’s deficit under control. In general, the Republican party wants to cut spending while the Democrat party wants to increase the revenue. The majority of citizens want a combination of both.

Congress came up with the idea that if the United States can’t come up with a plan to fix the deficit

by Jan. 1, then “bad things” will happen. Bad things like the increase of taxes on everyone due to the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, things like automatic spending cuts which will decrease the amount of funding going towards the military. Other entitlements like Medicare, social security and Medicade will also be forced to make cuts.

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE One of the solutions that’s being debated to help control the economy is to cut government spending.

Federal Pell Grants, loans given to college students that don’t have to be repaid, would suffer major cuts if the government spending were to be reduced.

In addition, if the United States was to go into a recession the unemployment rate would go up. Students straight out of college just entering the world of employment could face difficulties in getting a job.

“Usually, if the rates go up, the young people are the easiest to let go,” Stallard said.

THE WEEK IN PHOTOS

Above: Choir teacher Ken Foley directs the Choraliers during the winter concert.

photo by Katie Sgroi

Above: Juniors Mary Kate Workman and Francis Wooldridge perform at the memorial soccer game for Tyler Rathbun.

photo by Meghan Shirling

Above: Senior Matti Crabtree writes in Chinese at the World Language Summit.

photo by Maddie Schoemann

NEWS | 3

Technology Shortens Attention Spans Teachers at East are struggling to keep their student’s attention away from the technology in their possession written by Jennifer Rorieon

The ever-evolving world of technology has changed many things about American culture, specifically the ability to have anything we want right at our fingertips via the internet and cell phones. Because of this, researchers who study the effects of internet of people’s lives have started to observe the decrease in attention span in many Americans. The Pew Internet and American Life Project has begun asking what exactly the correlation between technology and attention span is, especially in the classroom.

In their recently published research, Pew discovered that many teachers have found that the constant use of technology has caused their students to have a shorter attention span. Pew emphasized their research on the effects of the internet and the wide variety of information at students’ fingertips. In their survey of Advanced Placement (AP) teachers across the country, Pew found that 76 percent agreed that the internet has caused students to expect information quickly and easily, thus having a negative effect in areas like their abilities to research and spend time at it.

According to AP United States History teacher Vicki Arndt Helgesen, who has been teaching for 43 years, the problem extends beyond the internet, and to the everpresent cell phone. Arndt Helgesen believes her students have continually become less attentive and less likely to spend an entire block period (90 minutes) without getting

bored and taking out their phones.

“When I hear kids say something was boring so I looked at my cell phone, to me that’s an issue of selfishness,” Arndt Helgesen said.

“That’s saying entertain me, me first.”

Attention span has become a problem not just isolated to the teenage population, according to assistant principal John McKinney. He also believes that the attention span of the general population has been decreasing for many years.

“Back in the day [people] would sit and listen to the Lincoln-Douglas debate, and they would sit and stay focused and listen to a debate that lasted four hours,” McKinney said. “Today we’re lucky if we can listen to a debate that lasts 45 minutes.”

According to Pew, not all of technology has had a negative impact on students. In their surveys, they found that 99 percent of AP teachers think that “the internet enables students to access a wider range of resources than would otherwise be available.”

Senior Olivia Brzozowski experiences the struggle with technology and her studies first-hand. According to Brzozowski, technology has given her both advantages and disadvantages with her schoolwork.

photo illustration by Marisa Walton “Like for science class we have definitions we need to find, and our phones are right there so we can go online,” Brzozowski said. “I think it has both positive and negative when it does come to studying.”

But for Arndt Helgesen, technology has become less of a convenient luxury to something that society expects to have all the time. She sees those implications both inside the classroom and in society as a whole.

“I’m struck by the way that when cell phones first came out they were convenient. They were tucked away. Now they are an extension of the body,” Arndt Helgesen said.

“When I watch my students with cell phones, or people who are really plugged in with them, there is almost a caressing. It is an extension of who [they are].”

As for the future, it is hard for McKinney and Arndt Helgesen to know what will happen. However, they both know that the only thing to do is help students understand that sometimes waiting in life is necessary.

Going

BANG

out with a

To celebrate the end of the world and first semester local bands Organized Mess, Local Talk, Mason Pashia and others will perform in an ‘End of the World Concert’ written by Tiernan Shank A zombie apocalypse, a new ice age, a total world meltdown -- another Saturday. Who knows what could happen when the Mayan calendar ends this Dec. 21 and the so called end of the world.

Seniors Ryan Dugan and Mark Ronning know what they’ll be doing. They’ll be performing the last song in their End of the World Concert at Asbury Methodist Church with a rendition of “It’s the End of the World as we Know it” by R.E.M. which for their band, Organized Mess, is the best way to celebrate the world coming to an end, or at least the end of finals.

Dugan and Ronning came up with the idea in late November after they decided they wanted to host a concert to honor the end of the world.

“We wanted to just make it one big super concert with a bunch of East performers because then we knew it would be a hit,” Ronning said. “Then it kind of morphed into one big combined effort and blossomed from there.”

After jumping on board with the concert, senior Ma-

son Pashia approached fellow senior Jack Sernett about giving all proceeds from the concert to Sernett’s Charity: Water campaign.

“I asked Jack because we wanted to do something with charity for the concert,” Pashia said. “Since we’re all East bands we thought it would be cool to support an East charity and help him reach his goal.”

In order to raise money, the bands have decided to charge an admission fee of $5 and will also be selling concessions.

“You don’t have to pay, but if you don’t we’ll hunt you down,” Dugan said.

The concert will feature 11 East bands and other performance groups. East affiliated bands Organized Mess and Local Talk will be performing a six to seven song set each, featuring original songs and covers from past concerts.

Throughout the night there will also be performances by senior Mason Pashia, with a four song set, and the Y

Chromatones, a men’s acapella group led by, East choir director, Ken Foley. Also performing is KC Acapella, The Greynotes, S.F.I., Drew Brockelman, Peter Hung, Hannah Dahlor and Nick Kraske who will be the MC. Kraske has also worked to come up with a way to raise money for charity water.

“In between acts I’ll be doing funny freestyles,” Kraske said. “People can donate $5 to give me a topic that will go on a the list of things that I could reference in the freestyles.”

Sernett is optimistic about reaching his goal of raising $5,000 for his campaign by Dec. 31.

“I hope this concert is something that kids go home to their parents and talk with them and talk about Charity: Water, you never know what will come out of mentioning something to your parents,” Sernett said.

“The concert is a celebration of all these talented East people and I hope that we can use it to enjoy music and save lives.”

4| NEWS

Pulling the Plug on Falmouth

The 47 year tradition on Falmouth street comes to an end as Mike Babick faces complications with the city of Prairie Village

photos courtesy of Jay Senter, PvPost

written by Sophie Tulp It is Christmastime on Falmouth Street, and for one house the lights may be off, but somebody is home. And that somebody is mad.

“Prairie Village hates Christmas,” Mike Babick, owner of Falmouth’s ‘Christmas House,’ said. “That’s the way I feel and that’s the way I see it.”

For the first time in 47 years, Babick will no longer be constructing his usual elaborate Christmas decoration display.

For the first time in 47 years, Babick will no longer stand outside his home every evening surveying his work, and chatting with the viewers of his display. For the first time in 47 years, the one way street will be a little quieter, a little less trafficked and a little darker.

The light and animatronic Christmas display complete with scenes from the Nativity, Santa’s Workshop and the North Pole was once visited by hundreds of people every night, typically from late November to early January. In recent years the holiday house’s display increased. As the house grew in popularity, the Prairie Village City Council Members, the Prairie Village Police Department and the Babick’s neighbors saw the street as a growing risk.

“We had people crossing there, and kids running in and out between cars,” Prairie Village Police Chief Wes Jordan said. “That whole combination is a recipe for disaster.”

Two Prairie Village City Council members, Michael Kelly and Andrew Wang, worked with the police department helping to create an ordinance for special events like Babick’s Christmas display, and other displays that could cause potential problems and be dangerous to citizens attending.

“The ordinance has to do with impacting the flow of traffic, especially as it relates to emergency vehicles and people exiting their vehicles,” Councilman Michael Kelly said. “If somebody thinks their holiday event is going to do that, then I would recommend that they explain their event to city council staff members to see if it would require a permit.”

According to the Neighborhood Special Event Ordinance, Babick’s ‘special event’ did require a permit. A special event is categorized as “temporary outdoor use of private property,” which is “likely to generate crowds,” and is “likely to create a condition in which the police department is required to protect the public welfare.”

When the ordinance was passed with a 10-2 vote by the Prairie Village City Council in September, Babick knew that a permit would eventually have to be issued for him to continue operating his display. All expenses that were beyond the police department’s regular duties, such as traffic signage and overtime hours had to be paid for. Babick believes this ordinance was sanctioned against himself and his lights display personally.

“This would have been our 48th year, it is so sad that I couldn’t do it, but we have the city to thank for that,” Babick said. “They must hate either me or Christmas. I haven’t figured that one out yet.”

The Prairie Village Police Department says that according to the criteria listed in the ordinance, Babick’s house does impede normal traffic regulations, because of all the visitors it would attract each night. This caused it to be unsafe for pedestrians as well as not navigable for emergency vehicles.

“Our biggest concern out of all of this, is when we got a complaint that an ambulance couldn’t get down the street,” Chief Jordan said. “We realized we had a shortfall in our ability to keep [the situation] safe.”

Babick disputes the police department’s argument that the street is impassable for emergency vehicles. He conducted an experiment in 1974 where cars had been parked along both sides of the road, he then had both a fire truck and medic truck successfully pass through the street. Babick claims that his display and the traffic that comes along with it was not causing any problems for emergency responders, and viewers in general.

“As far as traffic control, we have never had any wrecks, nobody has ever been hurt in our street, or crossing our street, and that’s a pretty good record,” Babick said.

But the police department was concerned with more than just traffic and the emergency vehicles. They had received calls from angered neighbors claiming that intoxicated passengers loading in and out of party buses had been reported to have urinated in a yard. These complaints were followed by others complaining of noise and litter surrounding the area.

“All we were trying to do was make his event safer for everyone to be able to go to,” Chief Jordan said. “We try to do

what is reasonable and fair and equitable to our community.”

When the Prairie Village Police and City Council finally got the ordinance passed, Babick would be responsible for paying the overtime salaries for police staffed at his event, and supplying the appropriate signage for traffic and parking control, things that the police department could not provide with public funds for this private event.

“I would have to pay for the signs, the no parking and the one way street signs as well as the public workmen to come out, and I would have to pay two officers a night,” Babick said.

“I would have to pay the city to put up the Christmas decorations on my house.”

The police department said the total came to be under $2,000 while Babick says the total equaled around $5,000.

The expenses were too great for Babick to pay, so he decided he would not be displaying his lights this year. Even though Babick believes the city “hates Christmas,” the police department disagrees.

“I think we are Holiday friendly,” Chief Jordan said. “When this came out, the person on Falmouth said that this killed Christmas. Just read through this ordinance and tell me anything that we are doing wrong. All we were trying to do was make his event safer for everyone to be able to go to.”

Some businesses and community members reached out to the Babick family, offering to pay the expenses of the permit and required services, but Babick declined. To him, he should not even be having to go through this situation at all, and he does not think the city would actually ever issue him a permit.

But Babick has been busying himself this Holiday season with new projects, such as decorating the Holiday Inn on the Plaza, and other offers to decorate window displays. Still, nothing is the same to him as his first project. The project that all started with one string of lights, over 47 years ago. Babick promises the community not to be discouraged though because he has plans for an even brighter future for his lights display.

“It is not over yet, we will have a Christmas display,” Babick said. “It might not be here at the house, but it will be somewhere else that it can be enjoyed and accepted. It will be bigger and better.”

LANCER VOICE

How do you feal about the Falmouth Christmas decorations laying dormant this year, and what will you miss most? photos by Molly Gasal

JUNIOR Emily Tilden “I’m sad it’s not going to happen this year. I’m definitely going to miss the garage with Santa in it.”

JUNIOR Katie Leonard “I used to go every year with my family, and now that it’s not happening it’s going to be weird not to go. Christmas won’t be the same.”

SOPHOMORE Elizabeth Barnickel “When I think of the house, I think of tradition.

I’ve gone ever year, and I’ll probably miss the nativity scene the most. “

SOPHOMORE Morgan Clausen “Me and my family, we like to show the house to friends who come to town every year. The decorations always make us laugh.”

H U MANRIGHTS

NEWS | 5 Everyday human rights are violated all over the planet.

Here are just a few countries that have serious violations. written by Morgan Krakow

SYRIA

DR CONGO

Labeled by the U.N. as the “rape capital of the world,” the Democratic Republic of Congo has witnessed conflict for the past 12 years. According to the founder of Save the Congo, Vava Tampa, every day 1,100 women are raped. There have been 5.4 million Congolese men, women and children that have perished in the turmoil. The newest militia group in eastern Congo, M23, have allegedly committed countless war crimes like recruitment of children, unlawful executions and rapes.

As the conflict intensified, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, spoke about M23 in June.

She stated that five of the M23’s leaders were “among the worst perpetrators of human rights violations in the DRC, or in the world.”

During the Arab Spring, like many other countries in the Middle East, the Syrian people rebelled because they were fed up with their controlling regime. The difference between the Syrian rebellion and others in the region is the way their government reacted. Bashar al-Assad, the president of Syria since 2000, reacted violently when the revolts began in 2011 and has continued to retaliate against his people.

Since the conflict began, the Assad regime has killed more than 25,000, according to the United Nations. They Assad forces have detained, tortured and mutilated thousands more.

The amount of lives lost is only a part of the Syrian crisis.

Hundreds of thousands more fled the country to take refuge in neighboring countries. The U.N. refugee office puts the number of registered refugees and Syrians waiting to register at 414,838.

CAMBODIA For some Cambodian women and girls living in rural villages the promise of a job waitressing or selling fruit abroad is attractive. Men claiming to offer employment entice women with the idea of sending money back to their families while they work in a new city. But this promise isn’t always kept because these men are brothel owners. Southeast Asian women and girls find themselves sold into brothels in countries like India and Vietnam, and forced to serve as many as 30 clients a day.

According to a report by the International Labour Association nearly 21 million people are currently enslaved all over the world. 56 percent of these people reside in the Asian Pacific Region, where as many as 11.7 people have been forced into slavery.

Many of these people live in Cambodia and are forced into the international sex trade daily.

Under Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan people have seen a reduction in human rights. Over the past decade, a weakening of the judicial system and a clamping down on the freedom of speech laws have contributed to the many human rights violations across the country.

The government is censoring the media and getting rid of their opposition. Many of the Supreme Court judges have publicly pledged to advance Chavez’s political agenda.

Chavez and his supporters have been verbally attacking many non-governmental human rights defenders. Chavez’s supporters are attempting to criminalize these defenders for accepting money from the United Nations under the claim that it is an attempt to undermine the democracy of Venezuela.

VENEZUELA

GETTING INVOLVED Here are some different organizations to help bring out your inner activist

Love 146 Love 146 is an organization that raises awareness about the exploitation and trafficking of children.

Website: www.love146.org

Charity:Water is an organization that provides wells and water to those without all over the world.

Website: www.charitywater.org

charity:water

Partners in Health Partners in Health is an international organization that brings health care to the poor.

Website: www.PIH.org

The Somaly Mam Foundation is helping to get rid of modernday slavery in Cambodia and around world.

Website: www.somaly.org

Somaly Mam Foundation

6 | EDITORIAL

DrDemerits nk ng

Competing school districts have different alcohol policies, this policy results in unequal consequences for students

With Shawnee Mission’s zero-tolerance, drug and alcohol policy, the first violation by a student results in the same consequences as the third of a student in the Olathe School District. Kansas districts and schools have the freedom to choose their own drug and alcohol policies, which creates an unfair advantage and/ or disadvantage for students who participate in extracurricular activities. A universal policy for schools statewide is mandatory to create fair and equal competition.

In Kansas, each individual school or district has its own individual requirements and punishments to deal with a Minor in Possession (MIP) or other drug or alcohol related charges, but they do have to comply with the Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHSAA). KSHSAA lets individual schools or district chose their own policy that follows their templates and ideas.

In the Shawnee Mission District (SMSD) a first offense earns you a full season suspension from activities, and a second offense is a 365 day suspension. While this policy is standard for the SMSD, it is not the same for other local schools that East regularly competes against in athletics and other activities.

The Olathe School District’s policy is a 14 day suspension for a first offense, 28 day suspension for the second offense and a third offense is a full season suspension for all activities. Blue Valley has a slightly stricter policy than Olathe, a first offense suspends the student for a half a season and a second is a full season. If a student makes a third mistake it is a 365 day suspension.

Both school districts require the offender to enroll in a substance abuse program. Other districts like Junction City and Topeka have than Shawnee Mission regularly compete against

have a similar policy to Blue Valley’s.

The different schools we regularly compete against in league and tournament play have different policies regarding a student’s suspension from athletics and other extracurricular activities. The policy would have to extend to all schools, regardless of location or size, so not to create a discrepancy. For example, in post-season play, teams from different leagues are competing against one another, and to make it a level playing field, a policy would have to extend to the other schools from outside the league.

An agreement between administrators to decide on a policy that would provide not only fair competition but also discourage students from underage drinking and drug use. The policy should be effective for schools that have numerous and the schools that have minimal violations. It should be strict enough that students would think twice about risking their career in their extracurricular activity to either drink or do drugs.

If administrators could come together to form an across the board policy. It would ensure an impartial and appropriate punishment for all students, eliminating unfair advantages for students involved in extra-curricular activities across the state.

EDITORIAL BOARD VOTES

FOR AGAINST ABSENT

8 5 0

art by Akshay Dinakar

THE HARBINGER a publication of Shawnee Mission East high school 7500 Mission Road, Prairie Village, KS 66208

Editors-in Chief Anne Willman Chloe Stradinger Assistant Editors Andrew McKittrick Katie Knight Art & Design Editor Paige Hess Photo Editor Jake Crandall Assistant Photo Editors Caroline Creidenberg Emma Robson Head Copy Editor Matt Hanson Copy Editors Anne Willman Chloe Stradinger Andrew McKittrick Katie Knight Erin Reilly Morgan Twibell Leah Pack Sarah Berger Ads Manager Sophie Tulp Circulation Manager Greta Nepstad Editorial Board

STAFF 2012-2013

Chloe Stradinger Andrew McKittrick Erin Reilly Anne Willman Jennifer Rorie Katie Knight Grace Heitmann Matt Hanson Julia Poe Kim Hoedel Duncan MacLachlan Sami Walter Zoe Brian Staff Writers Julia Seiden Sophie Tulp Taylor Bell Nellie Whittaker Pauline Werner Caroline Kohring News Section Editor Sarah Berger News Page Editors Emily Perkins Rock Greta Nepstad Editorial Section Editor Jennifer Rorie Opinion Section Editor Kim Hoedel

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.

Opinion Page Editors Maggie McGannon Morgan Krakow Feature Section Editor Erin Reilly Feature Page Editors Jeri Freirich Maddie Hise Spread Editor Morgan Twibell Mixed Page Editor Leah Pack A&E Section Editor Tiernan Shank A&E Page Editors Phoebe Aguiar Hannah Ratliff Sports Section Editor Grace Heitmann Sports Page Editors Alex Goldman Mitch Kaskie G.J. Melia Freelance Page Editors Vanessa Daves Julia Poe Audrey Danciger Staff Artists Matti Crabtree

Akshay Dinakar Staff Photographers Katie Sgroi Annie Savage Connor Woodson Taylor Anderson Miranda Gibbs Meghan Shirling Maddie Schoemann Molly Gasal Stefano Byer Maddie Connelly Paloma Garcia Online Editors-in-Chief Sami Walter Duncan MacLachlan Assistant Online Editors Julia Poe Zoe Brian Head Copy Editors Jennifer Rorie Vanessa Daves Multimedia Editor Dalton Boehm Convergence Editor Erin Reilly News Editor Pauline Werner

Online Photo Editors Marisa Walton McKenzie Swanson Assistant Online Photo Editor AnnaMarie Oakley Video Editor Nathan Walker Live Broadcast Editors Connor Woodson Andrew McKittrick Homegrown Editor Morgan Krakow A&E Editor Maggie McGannon Sports Desk Alex Goldman Mitch Kaskie Blogs Editor Susannah Mitchell Podcast Editor Thomas Allen Eastipedia Editor Taylor Bell Interactive Design Editors James Simmons Mitch Kaskie Social Media Director Maddie Hise

Webmaster Chris Denniston Live Broadcast Producers Grace Heitmann Chris Denniston Paige Hess Connor Woodson Andrew McKittrick Thomas Allen Katie Knight Julia Poe Multimedia Staff Maxx Lamb Thomas Allen Chris Denniston Dalton Boehm Tessa Polaschek Nathan Walker Emily Perkins Rock Will Brownlee Miranda Gibbs Meghan Shirling Adviser Dow Tate

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.

OPINION | 7

an to our Staffer discusses his newfound love of the SME school and its song in wake of senior Tyler Rathbun’s death.

Shawnee Mission hail to thee...

High school days too soon are gone...

The first time I heard those lyrics, and the song that followed them, I was not impressed. I didn’t like my new school’s song. I thought it sounded ugly and lacked a pleasant, melodious sound.

Today, I think it’s the most beautiful song I’ve ever heard.

Though I had once hated it, I grew to love my school’s song because of what it symbolized about the school. It was a glimpse of the positive side of East, a promise that this school could be better than its stereotype.

When we sing our song at games, what do we always do? We lock arms. I saw that motion as symbolic of a message that resonated in the lyrics of our anthem. That we were together. That every Lancer was part of our Shawnee Mission East family. For me, I began to love our song because it represented that promise of eternal solidarity as Lancers.

Lancers we will ever be...

Yet there was a time when I almost wasn’t a Lancer. I was very close to choosing to attend Pembroke Hill instead of Shawnee Mission East. I was almost a (gag me) Raider. But I took a chance on East. I don’t know why, but I did. And for a long time, I regretted it.

But fond memories linger on...

We stand behind our colors bright...

But I didn’t stand behind them. I shed my Lancer colors out of embarrassment.

As was the case with the song, I wasn’t always a big fan of East. As late as junior year, I regarded this school fairly negatively. I bought into the stereotype. I saw Lancers as arrogant, rich and callous.

I saw negativity instead of positivity. I saw halls filled with TotalSMEastMoves instead of SMEPositweets.

When I met students from other schools, I tried to distance myself from my peers, assuring them I was nothing like my fellow Lancers. I didn’t want to be an East kid.

itself.

May our spirits be increased...

As 167 Choraliers faded away from the final note of the beautiful Old Irish Blessing, I was beside myself. I leaned over the columbia blue railing of the stairwell, scars of sadness dripping down my cheeks. The only sounds to be heard were the sobs and whimpering of my fellow Choraliers. Then, out of the teary silence, we began to sing again, filling the air with the notes of our ode.

In my rare moment of true mourning for a fallen hero I had never known, those words had a bigger effect on me than ever before. Our anthem told me things would get better moving forward.

It said this tragedy would change everything for my peers.

But most importantly, it said that East had become the place I had hoped it could be. That we are a community.

That we will always be Lancers, forever united behind our colors bright. In that moment, that song became more than a glimpse of the good side of East; it became proof that that was the true East.

That at the end of the day, East was a school of SMEPositweets, not TotalSMEastMoves.

In that moment, the song which had once struck me as ugly established my love for this school once and for all. In that moment, our song became the most beautiful song I’ve ever heard.

I wept throughout the song, both at the tragedy of the moment and the beauty of it. I only composed myself enough to sing one line, the one I meant the most:

The school song summons many memories of singing it. But my favorite ones aren’t times after a big victory. My favorite memories of our song are times when we sang it after a bad loss. Times when our song brought me and all the other Lancer fans comfort, told us that things were alright because we were lucky enough to be at East, whether our teams won or lost. That’s when that sense of unity and positivity that I yearned for was at its strongest.

And then there was Nov. 26. That And God watch over SM East.

Monday which made all other Mondays seem like Fridays. The day after Tyler Rest in peace, Tyler Rathbun. Thank Rathbun died. The day that solidified my you for showing me and everyone else love for our anthem, and for the school what our school and our song can be.

A LOOK ru

th

THE LENS photos by Stefano Byers

an opinion of Matt Hanson

Columbia blue, black and white...

But while there were times when I was ashamed of this school, there were also times when I saw what this community could be at its best. During my junior year, I began to see more of that positive side. More and more, I saw the potential East had for a close-knit, positive student body. And as I started liking this school more, I began to like its song as well.

During 5th period, the SME choir gathered around the main staircase to sing and mourn together.

Girls wore blue ribbons in their hair and boys pinned them to their shirts to honor the passing of student Tyler Rathbun.

Students march down Mission Road from Shawnee Mission East to Tyler’s funeral at Village Presbyterian Church. visit smeharbinger.net for more photos

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OPINION | 9

HIDING BEHIND SMOKE and

MIRRORS Sophomore comes clean about his history of drug use

an opinion of Will Brownlee A lot of East kids volunteer, either with SHARE or independently. So I’m guessing some of you have volunteered at a homeless shelter sometime this year. That’s good for you. But even if you’ve racked up the service hours in local homeless shelters, I promise I’ve got you beat.

After all, I lived in one just two months ago. *** Middle school was a confusing time for me. My friends from elementary school separated into different groups and I seemed to be stuck in the middle. I was in a rut. I had no sense of belonging. I had made a few friends in middle school, but still something wasn’t right. All my life I’ve been a shy kid, but it got even worse in middle school.

With my timidity came self confidence issues. As much as I tried to be my own person, I still cared about what others thought of me. I was afraid of being judged for I was.

What I looked like, the things I said. I didn’t love myself. I became secluded and alienated. Because I wasn’t accepted, I was uncomfortable: The few friends I had I didn’t have classes with. For most of the day I was by myself. In my own thoughts. No one talked to me, no one seemed to want to. I was alone. I was lost.

But then I got high for the first time. And

through marijuana, I found myself. When I was high, I didn’t feel self-conscious. I didn’t care about my problems. I could do what I wanted to do and not think about others’ opinions of me. I felt in control. I fell in love with weed and every single thing about it; the texture when I rolled it, the crinkling it made when it burned and, of course, the feeling it gave me. Freedom.

Marijuana was a sweet escape, an enhanced reality. It helped me get by; get over the problems I faced on a daily basis. I no longer felt like a social outcast and for the first time in a long time, I was satisfied with the state of my life.

But while it improved my attitude, it began to take a toll on my relationship with my family.

After I was grounded for my bad grades, I started sneaking out of the house at night to smoke with my friends. I eventually got caught and was punished even more. No TV, no phone, no internet until my grades and attitude improved. Stuck at home alone, I felt helpless and saw no way out. Without weed I had no motivation to do anything.

The high gave me something to look forward to at the end of the day. It was something I could depend on for happiness.

Nothing else could give me that feeling.

I became depressed and even more alienated than I had been before. I no longer had access to what made me who I was; what set me free. I wasn’t truly happy until I smoked again six months later. It was worth the risk, even though I knew I would most likely get caught. So I smoked. And I smoked again.

And again. My eighth grade year. My freshman year. My sophomore year. Weed stayed with me throughout.

I didn’t get away with it either. I got caught nearly a dozen times. The punishments got worse. But it never got through to me until my parents gave me the worst

punishment of all.

On a Wednesday after school this October, I sat on my back porch smoking a joint.

My parents had gone to the grocery store and I didn’t expect to get in any trouble. I was dead wrong. The first thing my dad said as he walked in the door was, “I can smell it.”

Then he paused for a second.

“This can’t continue to happen. I’m finding a place for you.”

With that, he went upstairs to decide my fate. In the past, my parents had mentioned sending me to military school, but the final decision was to send me to live in a homeless shelter in Downtown Kansas City called Restart.

As they told me they were sending me away, I couldn’t process it. I was numb to the seriousness of the situation partly because I was high when they told me, but also because I was in shock. After the numbness there was nothing left but fear. Fear of the unfamiliar place I would be staying. Fear of the people I would encounter. Fear of what others would think. *** They put me in the youth section of the shelter. Before I was allowed in, I was searched and asked a series of questions I could barely answer without sobbing. I was led to where I would be sleeping: a cot in a dismal room with three other boys.

One of them had been put out on the street by his mother because of his homosexuality. Another was there because his parents were heroin addicts. They weren’t like me and I couldn’t relate to them. But then there was Blaze. He was by far the most welcoming person there. Instead of trying to scare me straight like the counselors did, he encouraged me.

He was seventeen. His girlfriend was in jail, he had a 9-month-old son who lived a thousand miles away and his father was a

deadbeat. But despite all of this, he took the time to encourage me to embrace the positive things in my life rather than the negative.

“Walk with a purpose,” Blaze said. “Keep your head high.”

That was the best advice I’ve ever received. I ended up staying there for two awful weeks, but with Blaze it was a little more tolerable.

I despised ReStart, but I learned one important thing there: I never want to go back.

The emotional pain and suffering I went through in those two weeks is nothing I want to experience again. I cried every day thinking of my relationship with my family and if it would ever be repaired. In fact, my parents told me the next time I got caught smoking I wouldn’t come back to ReStart; my punishment would be worse. If I get caught again, I’ll go to a detention center until I turn 18. I finally accepted that my use of weed had been more than recreational.

I had used it to deal with problems I was afraid to confront head on. Now, I’m going to confront my issues some other way.

I know now that I need to change. My future depends on it. I don’t want to end up on the corner nor do I want to be that awkward kid I was before I started smoking. It wouldn’t be fair to me or those who love me not to live up to my true potential. I realized that’s why they sent me away. They just wanted to save me from myself. Now I need to be the one to do that. I need to be satisfied with myself. I need to take Blaze’s advice and walk with a purpose, focus on the positive and be that person that my self doubting, old me wouldn’t have recognized.

Because if I can’t find myself without weed, I’ll find myself where I don’t want to be.

10 | OPINION

#RIPTR

three Lancers share their tributes to the beloved Lancer who passed away on Nov. 25

Seniors James and Patrick Simmons and Tyler pose for a picture after playing lacrosse

Senior Mitch Kaskie is comforted by Rathbun after a tough loss against BVNW

photo by Caroline Creidenberg

photo courtesy of the Kansas City Star, Joe Ledford

written by Mitch Kaskie

I crumbled to the ground. Tears began to shed, dripped from my nose and fell onto the thick grass at the Blue Valley District soccer field. Our season was over. After a heartbreaking loss the night before in the state semis, our season ended with another loss in the third place game.

I wasn’t crying because we lost though.

I wasn’t even crying because we didn’t win it all. I was crying because I realized it was all over. I would never walk onto the field again with 23 of my best friends. We were brothers, and when that whistle blew that Saturday morning it felt as if someone ripped me apart from my family.

So I sat there, face hanging down, my elbows on my knees and cried.

Then I felt a gentle touch of someone’s hand on the top of my head. I looked up.

There was Tyler Rathbun, squatting down next to me.

“We did everything we could,” he told me. “You should be proud of what we accomplished, you have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. No one has ever come this far. We’re the best team in the state no matter what anyone says” I told him that I was going to miss everyone.

photo by AnnaMarie Oakley

“We will all still hang out,” he said. “Look at the bright side, we still have our entire senior year together. We are going to live it up and kick it just like normal.”

I wiped the tears from my eyes. Tyler offered me his hand and lifted me to my feet. * * * Everytime Tyler stepped onto a soccer field, he was the single greatest talent out there. If a pass was off its mark, he could settle it and make it look like you blasted it at his chest on purpose. If you were under pressure, you could blindly kick the ball into the corner and he would somehow get to it and make it look like a dime through ball. If you needed a game-tying goal in the dying minutes of a game, he would miraculously find the back of the net.

On the field, he was the best teammate a guy could ask for. But more importantly, he was a friend. If you needed shoulder to lean on, he was there. If you needed a laugh, he could put a cramp into your side.

After our first loss to Olathe East our entire team was so disappointed. We were on the big stage in front of the biggest home crowd and we blew it. I went home that night and couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t stop thinking about what we could’ve changed, what I could’ve done better. I decided to text Tyler.

“Don’t worry man just keep trying to look at it as a good thing,” he responded.

“Better than in the playoffs.”

That was typical Tyler. Always looking at the positives.

Toward the end of the season, Tyler was undoubtedly going to break coach Kelly’s all time school scoring record. Finally on

photo courtesy of James Simmons

senior night, it came. Tyler ran toward the crowd and slid a good 10 feet on his knees in front of all the cheerleaders. The rest of the team piled on top of him, hugging him and laughing in joy.

Tyler had everyone talking that night, but he wouldn’t talk about himself. Instead, immediately after the game he thanked all of his teammates. He even thanked me for the less-than-legendary pass that he miraculously turned into a goal.

After our loss in the semi-finals I never had seen 23 young men so silent. As the bus rattled down the interstate and I couldn’t handle seeing my brothers looking so wounded. I glanced over at my companion next to me. It was Tyler. Even he looked broken and sad. I was bewildered. Where was his optimism?

Suddenly, Tyler looked at me and patted me on the back.

“We put up one hell of a fight,” he said.

There he was. That was the Tyler I knew.

I smiled. He had a way of making everything feel okay. That was just the warmth of Tyler.

And then there was the goofy Tyler.

Tyler was the kind of guy that could make shagging balls at a freezing cold 8 a.m. C team game enjoyable. He could turn in morning road runs into an hour of laughter. He could keep you up all night at a soccer sleepover, just talking about life and memories.

Tyler could make playing PC games in his boxers cool, and then reenact characters from World of Warcraft at soccer without shame. He could make using 30 expletives in pregame speeches funny and pull off slicked back hair in 40 degree weather.

Tyler was the kind of guy that could make me laugh every time he greeted you, and make you cry the last time he said goodbye. * * * On November 25, 2012 I sat in a similar position as I did when we lost that final game — my face hanging down, my elbows on my knee, crying. But this time I wasn’t sitting on grass. This time, I wasn’t mourning over a game, or the end of career.

This time I was hunched over on a bench inside Hillcrest Covenant Church because that feeling of losing a brother I had a month ago had become a reality. Tyler Rathbun was gone forever, and he wasn’t there to offer me a hand.

At first I didn’t understand why. How could Tyler do this to us? How could he leave all the people on this world that cared for him so much? How could such a good, caring and nice person be taken from this world at such a young age?

Now, a few weeks after Tyler’s death I still don’t fully understand the death of my dear teammate. But what I do know is how much he affected others on his short time on earth. I never realized what one man could do in a short 17 years to the lives of so many people.

What I have realized is that I could keep Tyler alive by doing what he would do: Offer those on the ground a hand, and lift them to their feet. #RIPTR. Brothers Forever.

OPINION | 11

written by G.j Melia

My phone buzzed under my pillow. 9:43 a.m. It read “Coach Kelly.” It buzzed three times, I answered it.

“Hey coach.”

“Hey, did I wake you up?”

“No, I was already up,” I said with a chuckle.

He returned the laugh. “Okay, good.”

“Well, Tyler Rathbun was in an ATV accident last night.” He composed himself.

“He didn’t make it. He is dead.” He said choking a bit.

Deep heavy breaths. It was a feeling I’ve never felt before. My world has just been turned upside down. I didn’t know what to do.

“Okay,” I said. It’s all I could think of.

“We are going to meet up as a team sometime today.”

“Okay,” I said. It’s all I could think of.

“Hang in there. I will see you later today.”

“Okay, thanks coach,” I said, my voice cracking.

I walked downstairs. My body shook violently, and I could hardly stand up.

“Are you okay?” My dad asked.

My head shook.

“What’s wrong?”

He sprinted over to me.

“Tyler died.” I buried my face in his shoulder.

One of my brothers was dead.

I bawled into my dad’s arms for about five minutes. I sat down, hands in my face, still crying. Still in shock.

I honestly didn’t know what is going on. How did it happen? Who was he with? Is everyone else okay?

I got a call from Bryce McClanahan. Another team captain.

“Have you heard?” He said.

“Yes. Kelly called me.”

“If you need to talk, if you need anything, I’m here.”

I had to call our team manager, Jackson Dalton. I left two messages to call me as soon as possible, knowing he was most likely asleep. I got a call back at 12:14 p.m.

“Hey, what’s up?” Jackson said.

“Look--” I gulped.

“I need to tell you something.”

“Tyler-- Rathbun was in an ATV

accident last night.”

“Tyler’s dead.”

I heard a gasp, then a soft sob.

One of our brothers was dead.

At 1 p.m., Jackson and I met the team at Clint Dunn’s house. By 2 p.m., there were over 80 people there, mourning. I knew all of them. Every single one. Freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors. Tears and laughter.

That’s all I heard.

For a short time, I reminisced on the good times. There are too many to count. But most of the time I just cried.

On Monday, I went to one class.

I walked into English, and I lost it. I saw his empty seat. I will never forget that moment. I couldn’t control my emotions. He was never going to sit there again. The rest of the day, I was with the team. At times we laughed. At points we cried. At points we stared off into space, not saying a word. Sometimes we would laugh, then get choked up.

While I managed to get through that day, I still kept asking one question over and over again. Why? I just didn’t understand. Why did it happen? Why was it Ty? Why did he have to die?

The rest of the week, I held in more tears than I should have. And I cried more that week than I ever have. Friday, the day of the funeral, was a day full of deep breaths. It was a day to celebrate the life of someone I loved. Once the service was completed, the soccer team followed Tyler’s family out of the church. Each step was exhausting. I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want it to be my final goodbye.

In those five days, I grew up. I was forced to. From the Sunday he died to the Friday of his funeral, I wasn’t the same me anymore. The way I looked at life was different. I had to accept the facts, and figure out how to move on.

I realized there was no reason why it happened. It just did. It wasn’t on purpose. It wasn’t God’s will, or anyone else’s. Things like this just happen. And there is no reason for them.

The toughest reality of all is that I’m not going to see him again. He’s gone. I wish he wasn’t, but he is. It is the hardest thing I’ve ever been through. Not being able to see his face, his smile. But he wouldn’t want me to be sad. He wouldn’t want me to dwell. He was always so happy. I’m never going to stop missing him, and I’m never going to stop loving him.

But no matter what, he will always be with me.

RIPTR. Love you, Ty.

written by James Simmons

It doesn’t take eloquence or even a poetic prose to describe how truly amazing Tyler was.

Thinking about Ty, at times, still puts me in tears. They aren’t the tears I’m used to shedding.

These tears are of a different breed. These droplets slowly trickling down my cheek are full of a substance much greater than sorrow: gratitude.

Ty was one of a kind. He brought together a student body, a community, a nation. He broke our hearts and made memories with us we will never forget. He has changed the way we treat each other and shown us the beauty in singularity.

It was an honor getting to know Tyler Rathbun.

In elementary school I had never even met the guy. But even then I dreamed of following in his footsteps. I heard stories of his recess domination with a proliferation of goals over uneven patches of grass. I thought they couldn’t have been true. But they were.

As my skills of soccer progressed, I learned the rainbow, and figured it was time to hang up my little league cleats and make the jump to premiere soccer.

I had my heart set on becoming a KC Striker.

Ty was a Striker, in fact the best player on the team. It was no coincidence. I wanted the honor of sharing the same field as him.

Middle school came and not only did I still look up to the guy, I finally got to meet him.

Something was different about him. His contagious smile attracted the girls in flocks. He had the athleticism that all the guys envied, yet a humbleness they couldn’t help but admire. It’s safe to say he was the coolest guy in school and also the nicest, two accolades that usually don’t come hand in hand.

But he was Ty, and he rewrote the rules.

He showed us it isn’t what clothes you wear.

It isn’t how talented you are. It’s not about what parties you’ve been to. Friendship is about the smiles, the laughter, the fun and the loyalty. It’s about compassion. Ty showed each and everyone of us what true friendship is all about.

He left some big shoes to fill.

Squeaking foot after foot down the hallway with his fresh set of Velcro kicks, Ty simply wasn’t a casual high-five or a subtle head nod type of guy. He was too goofy for that. Passing period resulted in too many back slaps and firm handshakes to count, each quickly punctuated by his trademarked “hey cutie” as he walked off.

I never could keep a straight face, little exchanges like those made my day. No matter how hard I tried, a smile always lit up my face.

He brightened the gloomy windowless walls of room 308 the second he set foot inside the door. To put things in perspective, I’d almost

rather clean my room than listen to an entire block day of notes. The word “notes” used to make me cringe just thinking about the hand cramps and the information overload associated with them. With that in mind, I’d say Ty and I were practically brothers in combat, battle tested with hours upon hours of monotonous U.S. History lectures. It was a two semester war--if only it could have been longer.

I used to look forward to notes with Ty. When NAACP knowledge came lingering towards us from the front of the room, Ty would shield me from the brainwashing by changing the subject to a more captivating acronym: W.o.W. He would tell stories of the days he went without sleep just to level-up his character in World of Warcraft. All the while he would refer to his friends by their mystical demon-slaying usernames and talk about raids and quests I didn’t have the slightest clue about. He knew he sounded like a nerd, but that’s what made him so special: he wasn’t afraid to be himself.

Although I was drowning in his computergamer speak we had our similarities. For instance we both not so secretly wished our last name was Shakur. We both went through our thug stages as privileged Johnson County kids. I donned my flat bills and temporary tattoos; but they were no match for his doo-rags and real-life cornrows. 2pac would have looked up to Ty. His hit song “Changes” begs for people to change the way they treat each other, to love each other.

Ty did just that.

Ty made the best out of every situation. He could even break up the monotony of any physics lab. If our grades were reflected by the fun we had partnering up during labs, they were undoubtedly inversely related.

We always had “difficulty” determining the influence of our independent variable.

For instance, in a lab measuring the impulse it takes to reach an egg’s breaking point, we dropped an egg from desk height. It broke. It ruined our results and our grade along with it. But miraculously the egg had retained all of its yolk in the lower half of the shell that remained. Ty glanced at this phenomenon before our eyes and then to me with his wide-mischievous grin, “You dare me to drink all of that egg yolk?” he said. I quickly shot back with a 5 dollar bet calling his outrageous bluff. He salvaged a time soon to be full of frustration and replaced it with hysterical laughter, he even made some money out of it.

Ty was that independent variable.

I’ll never be able to measure the amount he has impacted my life, and that isn’t due to my scientific faults. He’s given me the insight I need to help make the world a better place, just as he did. He’s shown me the blissful highs and the sullen lows. He’s taught me to cherish; to love. He’s taught me lessons I will never forget.

You were so much more than a friend; you were a role model and with those feet that scored incredible goals, you also left footprints. Footprints I will follow for the rest of my life. #RIPTR

The memorial for Tyler that sits in the senior lot is pictured in the background.

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A pair of 10 cent hillbilly teeth. That was my concept of death up until November 29.That, and the fact that you weren’t allowed to take the flowers that people left at an opinion of Erin Reilly the funeral.

I was only four when my last great grandmother died, and the concept of a funeral meant skipping pre-school and going to see grandma and grandpa. I played with my second cousins who I’d met for the first time earlier that morning.

We played hide-and-go-seek around the tombstones and competed to see who could find the prettiest flower arrangements. * * * “Feds will be dead in the morning.”

That was all my mom could say before she went to sit in her car and cry.

I grabbed my dog Bandit and headed for my Jetta, pulling up to Franklin Park. I couldn’t cry. I just sat there, trying to process what I had known would happen sooner or later. I was sorry that my dad had to work all night, angry that he wouldn’t call in for a replacement. I was angry that the Feders had to lose a father and a husband on Thanksgiving, forever marking a holiday of togetherness as one of loss.

I didn’t know why I couldn’t cry, so I decided to try and put my energy somewhere productive. I decided to bake cupcakes for the family.

I went to the Hen House on 83rd and Mission, hoping that I wouldn’t see anyone I knew there. It must have been cruel fate that “As Time Goes By” by Louis Armstrong was wafting over the aisles as I hurried to grab the red velvet cake mix and frosting. I got up to the cash register, thinking that I had finally gotten myself under control.

As the elderly man rang up my cooking supplies, he looked at me and sternly joked, “Did your mom die or something?”

I just stared, disbelieving the cruel irony. Looking him dead in the eye, I replied, “No, my dad’s friend.”

I could hear the man spluttering out an apology, although I couldn’t see his reaction with my eyes blurred by tears. I grabbed the bag and speed-walked out the front door before finally bursting into sobs. * * * During leadership class, Dr. Krawitz asked us to write down a person who inspires us as a leader. The first person I wrote down was my dad. The second was Mike Feder.

Dr. Feder has been one of my dad’s closest friends since college. They both had the same first name, although you wouldn’t know it since they only ever called each other Feds and Riles. They both grew up in St. Louis, both attended Catholic high schools. They went to medical school at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, both meeting their wives there. They were partners in a medical practice for 20 years.

That was where they both worked until April 2010. One of the partners called my dad, one morning, saying that Dr. Feder was having an MRI after experiencing a strange tingling in his face and arm. My dad immediately drove to the hospital to sit with Dr. Feder’s wife until Dr. Feder was discharged home. It wasn’t long before the test results came back. He had a glioblastoma multiforme, a malignant and usually incurable brain tumor.

At about that time, my dad was already stressed because he was preparing to leave his partners after twenty years to work for another hospital. Dr. Feder retired around the same time that my dad quit. They had to decide who quit first, because he would get a smaller severance package than the other. Dad and Dr. Feder had a friendly argument, each

LIVING

OPINION| 13

insisting he would take the smaller package.

Dr. Feder retired, but he was far from helpless. The time he didn’t spend with his family was spent working on his charity, “Gotta Have Hope,” helping to fund a school in Uganda and provide medical care for the people there. He spent six months soliciting donations to fill a donated cargo container with medical equipment. Between treatSenior learns to deal with death for the first time ments last summer, he travelled to Uganda with his family to deliver the supplies and provide medical care. His other love was soccer, and he helped coach his daughters’ team to a state championship.

My mom keeps reminding me that he was lucky.

He was lucky that he didn’t have symptoms, and was able to live relatively normally until his death. He was lucky that he had as much time as he did, since his particular tumor was known to be quick and deadly.

He was lucky that he was able to spend one last Thanksgiving with his family. He was lucky that he was able to mow his lawn just days before his death. He was lucky especially because he appreciated how blessed he was and he made the most of every day. * * * “They’ll probably be comforting you,” was the running joke that night. The Feder family is one of the most selfless I’ve ever met, and their strength and support of the multitudes who came to pay their respects was both awe-inspiring and humbling. To be able to face death with such confidence and acceptance reveals a faith I can only hope to achieve in my own life.

I was talking with my soccer coach the next weekend, who coached one of Feds’ daughters. We shared our amazement at the turnout of support for the family at the service. He couldn’t believe that Dr. Feder’s son, Jon, came up and asked how his family was doing, when he had buried his own father just the hour before. * * * I worried about my dad. My mom said that my dad would be OK, because he and Dr. Feder had met for lunch a few weeks earlier and they “said goodbye like guys do.” She said they were both doctors, and they knew how things would probably turn out. We said goodbye as a family on the following Thursday. I looked for the prettiest flowers again, not to keep, but to give in remembrance to the family. As I laid them down outside the church doors, I reflected on a letter that the Feders forwarded to me photo illustration by Annie Savage from their dear friend, Fr. Mitchel Zimmerman, which talked about the philosophy of did, acting for God by helping others, keeping our eye on the “living vertically”: things that are really important, knowing our real home is “Suffering accepted is infinitely more valuable and preultimately in Heaven. cious to our Lord than suffering chosen, and when the cross So I’ve accepted it. Everybody has to die. But I’m going we don’t want comes our way it has to be a sign that God is to live the days I have left for other people, being the best I doing more with our lives - his way of showing us that the can be and taking advantage of every moment. I’m going to vertical measurements (height of faith and depth of love) learn from Dr. Feder, and live vertically. are more important than the horizontal measurements of space and time. Our dear Lord did more in the moment of the cross, when he surrendered, than he did in the rest of his life. In short, loving is more important than living, because if you aren’t loving, you aren’t living, you’re only existing.”

We are not made for life on this earth but for life in heaven. We need to spend our short time on Earth as Dr. Feder

VERTICALLY

MIXED 14|MIXED

something about

THE HOLIDAYS written by Maddie Hise photos by Duncan Maclachlan art by Matti Crabtree

HOLIDAYprofiles

The Holiday Obsessor “I get really excited because the best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear. I really enjoy the Christmas lights too.”

-sophomore Patrick Horning

Alternate Christmas

The Grinch

“Kwanzaa is a seven day holiday based on African heritage. Each day has different principles with various meanings. For example, unity, self determination, and cooperation. You do give gifts, but they are not mandatory.

Most of the time is focused on the theme of the day and how you can use it in everyday life.” -David Muhammad

“I hate my family. They’re really obnoxious so Christmas is just bickering the whole time. My grandma gets really worked up and starts talking in Italian. We always open Christmas presents on Christmas Eve because my grandpa is too impatient to wait for Christmas day.” -junior Liz Harvey

The Best of Both Worlds

A Nutty Collection

“I celebrate Christmas with my immediate family even though I’m agnostic. I also go to relatives in Lawrence to celebrate Hanukkah to eat latkes and play dreidel.”

-senior David Katz

“For the past 10 years my siblings and I each get a nutcracker [from our parents] for every Christmas.

Sometimes we have gotten them from our grandparents too. During December we display several of the nutcrackers in our front living room.”

-junior Mary Kate Workman

NOT-SO-TRADITIONAL HOLIDAY TRADITIONS Six Christmases “I visit my dad for lunch. Then my mom’s mom, and then Christmas Eve night I eat an early dinner with my step mom’s boyfriend’s side of the family, and then my dad’s parents side of the family. Christmas morning is spent with my step mom, and then we go to my dad’s parents again, and then I eat dinner with my step dad’s family.”

-senior Tori Davis

OCD Christmas

Christmas Tree Galore

“All my decorations are neatly displayed around my house. We have lots of nutcrackers and other holiday items all spaced out so it’s not cluttered.” -freshmen Ainslie Stern

best and worst

HOLIDAY GIFTS

MARKETNG TEACHER MERCEDES RASMUSSEN

“My husband gave me tennis shoes and workout clothes a couple weeks after I had a baby like implying ‘go work out.’ I think he thought it was nice.”

“At a secret Santa this year I had no idea who had me and then all of the sudden Morgan Twibell walks in holding a cat and I started freaking out. She JUNIOR just looked at me and DANYA ISAWI said, ‘Merry Christmas.’”

“We have a Christmas tree in every room in our house that are all about my height, but then we have a massive one in our living room.”

-senior Brennan Williams

JUNIOR JOE LIBEER

“Every year my grandma gives me a sweater from Sears but the color always fades.

I have to avoid that box all of Christmas. I never wear it because it’s hideous.”

FEATURE | 15

ManagingTime

photos illustration by Stefano Byer

Students pose to show how time becomes all they think about.

written by Morgan Twibell

Important

really need, but how do you do that?”

East is making steps to help students find a routine * * * for when they are going to use their time to study and get For many high school seniors such as Connor McGan- organized, just like students will have to do on their own non, knowing how to stay organized and make good use of when they go off to college. McKinney and Principal Karl the time that is given isn’t usually the first thing that pops Krawitz teach these time management principles to seinto mind when it comes to his college choice. niors in their leadership class.

“My biggest fear is finding a place that will be a good fit “You need to get your feet under you and get your study for me socially and academically,” McGannon said. routine in place,” McKinney said. “Then you can start getTrying to choose the place that will suit social and aca- ting used to the demands on your time and organization demic needs is one of the top things on the list in the deci- of college.” sion-making process, but preparing themselves for harder classes and more responsibility is something that many past East graduates say shouldn’t be forgotten when making this Dr. K’s Tips for Time Management decision.

According to East graduate Stephen Covey, the creator of the leadership class taught by PrinciConner Schrock, a freshman at pal Karl Krawitz created this chart for managing your to-do list.

Kansas State University, one of the hardest things about college is using time effectively.

Urgent Not Urgent “Something I could’ve done better at East would be to get into more of a daily routine and work harder at school,” Schrock said. “School is a big priority in This zone is for planning Things put in this quadrant college and it’s been a pretty ahead. Making a list of upare due soon and aren’t big change for me from high coming assignment and projschool.” trivial. These need to be done ects. This zone will help you McKinney relates the transiwell and as soon as possible. complete and check them off tion to college to the transition before they reach the urgent from middle school to high and important zone. school. He says that the transition to college is much larger, when leaving middle school one can be fragile and used to 30 minutes of homework a night then coming to East where you Everything in this quadrant are getting 30 minutes of homework from each teacher.

This is where things that should be leftover things “The same level of exertion seem urgent, but are that can be done during you put towards achieving high actually unimportant, your leisure time. Make grades in your high school class are put. time to enjoy these things, will not be enough when you get to your college classes,” McKinbut don’t fill your time with ney said.

Not Important

Elementary school teachers often warned, “You’d better do this to prepare yourself for middle school.” Then it’s getting prepared for high school, and now college. But what actually prepares students for the jump to college?

According to various East graduates, when arriving at the big university, the study skills used in high school will not cut it anymore.

“Of course I studied here and there for big tests at East but a lot of times I would just wing it and end up doing fine,” East graduate and University of Kansas freshman Emma Pennington said. “In college that doesn’t fly; if I were to wing it on a test here [at KU] it’d be bad news, real bad news.”

Some students, like Pennington, learn the hard way that having good study skills in college is crucial. In her very first test for her Math 105 class, she thought she had studied well but ended up “bombing it.”

East graduate Chandler Pruneau, a freshman at the University of Missouri, agreed that at East students might be able to get away with studying for tests the night before or turning in worksheets late, but once freshman year of college comes around they will realize that they had it easy.

“I would’ve taken my senior year a lot more seriously; even though you think it doesn’t really matter it’s just like practice for college,” Pruneau said. “Just starting to study for tests way before you need to you, if you know you have a test in three weeks take out your notebook and look over stuff every single night because that actually helps.”

Associate Principal John McKinney said that study skills are something that teachers have been trying to teach their students for the past 12 years: don’t procrastinate, turn things in on time, study for tests weeks before they come.

“It’s difficult to convince kids that the next step is coming,” McKinney said. “I think they know it’s coming but it’s hard to convince them. It’s one of those things you just have to be aware of.”

Counselor Laura Carter believes that what teachers really need is not only to try and further teach better study skills, but to also be able to provide students with the motivation to do well.

“If I knew how to teach that I could be a billionaire,” Carter said. “To be able to encourage someone to take good care of themselves and protect their future is what they

them.

Trip in Pictures photos provided by Eden McKissick-Hawley

Above: A group of girls from Nebi Samuel Village laugh together.

Below: Eden met a camel named Conan. “This adorable old Arab man was a huge Conan O’ Brian fan apparently,” McKissick-Hawley said.

Below: An Israeli-only street in Hebron where Palestinians have to enter their homes by climbing ladders through their windows on the back side of their house since they are forbidden from walking out their front door

Students in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program use all the usual resources for their extended essay. Books, websites, news articles, magazine articles. Senior Eden McKissick-Hawley went the extra mile for hers — 6561 miles, to be exact. That’s how far Eden traveled to Beit Sahour, Israel to research the conflict between Israel and Palestine in the Gaza Strip.

To her surprise, the conflict exploded the day she landed.

Eden is no stranger to human rights issues. Her mother, Holly, is a minister and has taken Eden on trips around the world. She wanted Eden to learn by experience, but never be exposed to anything too traumatic.

Through Eden’s travels and studies abroad, she has seen the remnants of an apartheid in South Africa, a country trying to rebuild; former concentration camps in the Czech Republic and Germany and WWII sites all over Europe; poverty in developing nations like Guatemala, Mexico and Losotho.

But there’s one conflict that Eden’s been closer to than any other.

Although it’s a long distance to Israel, this half-a-century-long war between the Israelis and Palestinians, for Eden, hits close to home-- her aunt’s home, that is. Eden’s Palestinian aunt came to the United States in the 60s as a refugee and has been living here ever since.

“At Thanksgiving every year, we are always with her side of the family that is Palestinian and hear about the conflict and hear about what’s going on and hear about their desire to be able to live in peace with Israelis,” Eden said, “[She tells us about] their frustration with Hamas and terrorists and [terrorist like] acts on both sides, so I’ve just grown up hearing about this.”

Hearing her aunt talk about Palestine led Eden to develop a keen interest in the conflict with Israel. So when it came time to pick her IB extended essay topic, the Gaza Strip conflict was a natural choice for her.

“It involves social justice issues and conflicts that have been going on for almost a century and I wanted find a way to get people to talk about it and care,” Eden said.

Eden wanted to get first-hand knowledge about her topic, so she decided to go a step further than most candidates. This past summer, she applied for a tour of Palestine and Israel to see what books couldn’t give her. * * * The sky was pink when they landed in Tel Aviv. Eden was under the impression of everything being tranquil; relaxing. Looking back, Eden considers it “a bit of light before the darkness.”

Because when they met their guide, Muhammad, something did not seem right.

“We were heading to the inn that we were staying at and I remember he had a bizarre expression on his face,” Eden said. “I asked if something was wrong and he said something was going to happen and we don’t want to be here when it does.”

Security was tight and everyone seemed tense. The group was thoroughly questioned by officials. During their hour and a half drive to their inn, they went through two security checkpoints.

“I remember when my mom had been before she said everything was just very lovely and just very relaxed and calm and nice and hospitable,” Eden said.

But Eden’s visit was quite different than her mother’s.

Once they got to their inn in Beit Sahour, all the guests were huddled around the television. Videos of civilians screaming and

TIMELINE

16| SPREAD

1946

trendygraphic.com

The Foundation of Israel After WW2 ended, Jewish people still felt unsafe, in 1946 Israel was founded by the British as a coutry for Jewish people to live more peacefully.

buildings being bombed to pieces streamed across the screen. Everyone sat in awe. The writing on the screen was all in Arabic.

Earlier that day, a Hamas military leader was killed by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) so Hamas fired back by shooting rockets at Tel Aviv. Eden had just flown into a war.

“The idea of a war happening where we were is just a foreign idea and a foreign experience,” Eden said. “Like if that were happening here it would Senior Eden McKissickfeel like a movie we had Hawley travels to Palestine all been in. I felt like I was for research and comes home in a war movie. Instead of with a new perspective Angelina Jolie being there, it was a bunch of people written by Paige Hess who couldn’t leave. I had a sad snapshot of what they go through every single day.”

Mediterranean In the days that folSea scan this QR code Ramallah lowed, Eden got more than onto your smart Jordan she bargained for. She was Jericho phone to view a experiencing her topic pictures and videos firsthand. She avoided airJerusalem of Edens trip strikes by hours, talked to ISRAEL locals and through it all she learned more than she Bethlehem Dead Not only were the streets segregated, but so simply asks that they leave their machine guns outside of the could have in any amount GAZA STRIP Sea (Beit Sahour) were the holy sites. property so it doesn’t scare the children. They tear down whatof hours in the East library.

Hebron “When the Israeli government reclaimed ever they say is ‘threatening their security’, even though it may Instead of flipping the city of Hebron, they cut the Israeli mosque be his source for safe drinking water. Then they leave and he get through pages, she was Gaza in half and said this half is a Jewish temple and gets right back up and rebuilds.” hearing straight from the put bulletproof glass along the tomb of AbraThe violence is what sparked her interest to visit the area, and mouths of the citizens. She ham, that is the sacred tomb for Muslims,” it’s what sparked her necessity to leave. Their trip was cut short heard both sides’ point-ofEden said. when 35,000 IDF troops stood at the Gaza border to scare Hamas. view of the conflict. After talking to Israeli teens, she learned that This isn’t the only area where the Israeli government had con- Hamas wasn’t ready for a war and didn’t have the resources to go although there is a mandatory draft, there are some ways to get trol. On the outskirts of Hebron, the group went to a place called fight. out — claiming insanity, depression. After visiting the homes of Tent of Nations, where a man named Dahur and his family have “We were pretty sure that violence wouldn’t end up breaking some Palestinians, she saw the value they place on hospitality. had his land since 1916 and runs a summer camp out of his farm out,” Eden said. “But the reality is that both sides kept acting like Segregation is extremely bad in the city of Hebron, which for 50 Palestinian kids from his village. His motto for the camp is they were going to go through with the war and if there was a Eden considered to be the most depressing thing she had seen. It “we refuse to be enemies.” ground war and a ground invasion, Israel probably would’ve shut is a city of 400 Israelis that are being protected by 1,500 soldiers “The sad reality is that Israeli government can come in at any down the Tel Aviv airport or important borders that we would from the IDF. time and take everything from this man,” Eden said. need to pass through to leave.”

“The Israeli’s have literally segregated the town road by road,” For as long as he can remember, his family has been living out * * * Eden said. “I was actually really infuriated when I went to Heof caves they built on their property because the Israeli govern“You don’t know what you don’t know.” bron. It was probably one of most rough or hardest things I’ve ment won’t allow them to have building permits. They won’t give That’s what Eden always says. had to see. They had divided road by road between the Palestinhim a permit because they have settlements surrounding his “You can’t say for sure that an entire group of people acts a ians and Israelis.” property and they want his to be able to connect them all. certain way,” Eden said. “You can’t say for sure that everyone in a No matter where the doors to their home are, Palestinians are “They survey this land to try to catch him building without group of people is a terrorist or everyone is oppressive.” not allowed to walk on Israeli roads. a permit. Every time they see that he has built or added to his She has learned to really ask questions and actually evaluate “There are 80-year-old women climbing on roofs and ladders land soldiers come to his property and destroy it,” Eden said. “He both sides — especially her own. She wonders the ways that she and through windows to get into their homes,” Eden said.

SPREAD | 17

HITTING

CLOSE TO

HOME

1967 The Six Day War When Arab countries attacked, Israel gained a lot of land. They gave most back but they kept Gaza which is now Palestine.

1993 Oslo Peace Treaty

Israel and Palestine sign the Oslo peace treaty. They “recognize eachother as countries” but do not agree on the borders. The treaty was a step but doesn’t solve the conflict.

1997 Construction in Palestine Isreal starts building on Palestinian land for their people, even though they promised not to do this when signing the Oslo peace treaty.

can maintain her connection and help spread the word, such as possibly going to work at Tent of Nations this summer. Her motto for this way of thought is “you can think global while acting local.”

“Everything from where you shop to what you talk about with friends can impact what’s happening overseas,” Eden said.

“I think that although we aren’t overseas and in the middle of that conflict by doing things here at home we can greatly help peace efforts and the same applies to situations like this all over the world.”

She believes that it is her obligation to her friends and family that are directly affected by this conflict to help to others get more involved and shine light on the overlooked issue.

“I think I owe it to my Jewish friends as much as I owe it to my palestinian family to work towards and talk about and try to open discussions about ways we can find peace,” Eden said. “I think every American truly has kind of an obligation to be aware of the conflict and be educated about it. I think we all owe it to ourselves and to Israel and Israelis and Palestinians as well to learn about the conflict and resolve it because its about time.”

2000

2002

Israeli Attacks

Suicide Bombing

Two Israelis go on Palestine land and they are killed by a Palestinian mob. Israel then attacks parts of the West Banks and Gaza.

Two suicide bombings kill around two dozen Israels in Jerusalem. The Israelis blame these bombings on Palestine and they begin to take over land in the West Banks and Gaza.

2012 The Situation Today Palestine wants to become a full member of the UN and they would like to become their own country.

Trip in Pictures photos provided by Eden McKissick-Hawley

Above: A group of girls from Nebi Samuel Village laugh together.

Below: Eden met a camel named Conan. “This adorable old Arab man was a huge Conan O’ Brian fan apparently,” McKissick-Hawley said.

Below: An Israeli-only street in Hebron where Palestinians have to enter their homes by climbing ladders through their windows on the back side of their house since they are forbidden from walking out their front door

Students in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program use all the usual resources for their extended essay. Books, websites, news articles, magazine articles. Senior Eden McKissick-Hawley went the extra mile for hers — 6561 miles, to be exact. That’s how far Eden traveled to Beit Sahour, Israel to research the conflict between Israel and Palestine in the Gaza Strip.

To her surprise, the conflict exploded the day she landed.

Eden is no stranger to human rights issues. Her mother, Holly, is a minister and has taken Eden on trips around the world. She wanted Eden to learn by experience, but never be exposed to anything too traumatic.

Through Eden’s travels and studies abroad, she has seen the remnants of an apartheid in South Africa, a country trying to rebuild; former concentration camps in the Czech Republic and Germany and WWII sites all over Europe; poverty in developing nations like Guatemala, Mexico and Losotho.

But there’s one conflict that Eden’s been closer to than any other.

Although it’s a long distance to Israel, this half-a-century-long war between the Israelis and Palestinians, for Eden, hits close to home-- her aunt’s home, that is. Eden’s Palestinian aunt came to the United States in the 60s as a refugee and has been living here ever since.

“At Thanksgiving every year, we are always with her side of the family that is Palestinian and hear about the conflict and hear about what’s going on and hear about their desire to be able to live in peace with Israelis,” Eden said, “[She tells us about] their frustration with Hamas and terrorists and [terrorist like] acts on both sides, so I’ve just grown up hearing about this.”

Hearing her aunt talk about Palestine led Eden to develop a keen interest in the conflict with Israel. So when it came time to pick her IB extended essay topic, the Gaza Strip conflict was a natural choice for her.

“It involves social justice issues and conflicts that have been going on for almost a century and I wanted find a way to get people to talk about it and care,” Eden said.

Eden wanted to get first-hand knowledge about her topic, so she decided to go a step further than most candidates. This past summer, she applied for a tour of Palestine and Israel to see what books couldn’t give her. * * * The sky was pink when they landed in Tel Aviv. Eden was under the impression of everything being tranquil; relaxing. Looking back, Eden considers it “a bit of light before the darkness.”

Because when they met their guide, Muhammad, something did not seem right.

“We were heading to the inn that we were staying at and I remember he had a bizarre expression on his face,” Eden said. “I asked if something was wrong and he said something was going to happen and we don’t want to be here when it does.”

Security was tight and everyone seemed tense. The group was thoroughly questioned by officials. During their hour and a half drive to their inn, they went through two security checkpoints.

“I remember when my mom had been before she said everything was just very lovely and just very relaxed and calm and nice and hospitable,” Eden said.

But Eden’s visit was quite different than her mother’s.

Once they got to their inn in Beit Sahour, all the guests were huddled around the television. Videos of civilians screaming and

TIMELINE

16| SPREAD

1946

trendygraphic.com

The Foundation of Israel After WW2 ended, Jewish people still felt unsafe, in 1946 Israel was founded by the British as a coutry for Jewish people to live more peacefully.

buildings being bombed to pieces streamed across the screen. Everyone sat in awe. The writing on the screen was all in Arabic.

Earlier that day, a Hamas military leader was killed by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) so Hamas fired back by shooting rockets at Tel Aviv. Eden had just flown into a war.

“The idea of a war happening where we were is just a foreign idea and a foreign experience,” Eden said. “Like if that were happening here it would Senior Eden McKissickfeel like a movie we had Hawley travels to Palestine all been in. I felt like I was for research and comes home in a war movie. Instead of with a new perspective Angelina Jolie being there, it was a bunch of people written by Paige Hess who couldn’t leave. I had a sad snapshot of what they go through every single day.”

Mediterranean In the days that folSea scan this QR code Ramallah lowed, Eden got more than onto your smart Jordan she bargained for. She was Jericho phone to view a experiencing her topic pictures and videos firsthand. She avoided airJerusalem of Edens trip strikes by hours, talked to ISRAEL locals and through it all she learned more than she Bethlehem Dead Not only were the streets segregated, but so simply asks that they leave their machine guns outside of the could have in any amount GAZA STRIP Sea (Beit Sahour) were the holy sites. property so it doesn’t scare the children. They tear down whatof hours in the East library.

Hebron “When the Israeli government reclaimed ever they say is ‘threatening their security’, even though it may Instead of flipping the city of Hebron, they cut the Israeli mosque be his source for safe drinking water. Then they leave and he get through pages, she was Gaza in half and said this half is a Jewish temple and gets right back up and rebuilds.” hearing straight from the put bulletproof glass along the tomb of AbraThe violence is what sparked her interest to visit the area, and mouths of the citizens. She ham, that is the sacred tomb for Muslims,” it’s what sparked her necessity to leave. Their trip was cut short heard both sides’ point-ofEden said. when 35,000 IDF troops stood at the Gaza border to scare Hamas. view of the conflict. After talking to Israeli teens, she learned that This isn’t the only area where the Israeli government had con- Hamas wasn’t ready for a war and didn’t have the resources to go although there is a mandatory draft, there are some ways to get trol. On the outskirts of Hebron, the group went to a place called fight. out — claiming insanity, depression. After visiting the homes of Tent of Nations, where a man named Dahur and his family have “We were pretty sure that violence wouldn’t end up breaking some Palestinians, she saw the value they place on hospitality. had his land since 1916 and runs a summer camp out of his farm out,” Eden said. “But the reality is that both sides kept acting like Segregation is extremely bad in the city of Hebron, which for 50 Palestinian kids from his village. His motto for the camp is they were going to go through with the war and if there was a Eden considered to be the most depressing thing she had seen. It “we refuse to be enemies.” ground war and a ground invasion, Israel probably would’ve shut is a city of 400 Israelis that are being protected by 1,500 soldiers “The sad reality is that Israeli government can come in at any down the Tel Aviv airport or important borders that we would from the IDF. time and take everything from this man,” Eden said. need to pass through to leave.”

“The Israeli’s have literally segregated the town road by road,” For as long as he can remember, his family has been living out * * * Eden said. “I was actually really infuriated when I went to Heof caves they built on their property because the Israeli govern“You don’t know what you don’t know.” bron. It was probably one of most rough or hardest things I’ve ment won’t allow them to have building permits. They won’t give That’s what Eden always says. had to see. They had divided road by road between the Palestinhim a permit because they have settlements surrounding his “You can’t say for sure that an entire group of people acts a ians and Israelis.” property and they want his to be able to connect them all. certain way,” Eden said. “You can’t say for sure that everyone in a No matter where the doors to their home are, Palestinians are “They survey this land to try to catch him building without group of people is a terrorist or everyone is oppressive.” not allowed to walk on Israeli roads. a permit. Every time they see that he has built or added to his She has learned to really ask questions and actually evaluate “There are 80-year-old women climbing on roofs and ladders land soldiers come to his property and destroy it,” Eden said. “He both sides — especially her own. She wonders the ways that she and through windows to get into their homes,” Eden said.

SPREAD | 17

HITTING

CLOSE TO

HOME

1967 The Six Day War When Arab countries attacked, Israel gained a lot of land. They gave most back but they kept Gaza which is now Palestine.

1993 Oslo Peace Treaty

Israel and Palestine sign the Oslo peace treaty. They “recognize eachother as countries” but do not agree on the borders. The treaty was a step but doesn’t solve the conflict.

1997 Construction in Palestine Isreal starts building on Palestinian land for their people, even though they promised not to do this when signing the Oslo peace treaty.

can maintain her connection and help spread the word, such as possibly going to work at Tent of Nations this summer. Her motto for this way of thought is “you can think global while acting local.”

“Everything from where you shop to what you talk about with friends can impact what’s happening overseas,” Eden said.

“I think that although we aren’t overseas and in the middle of that conflict by doing things here at home we can greatly help peace efforts and the same applies to situations like this all over the world.”

She believes that it is her obligation to her friends and family that are directly affected by this conflict to help to others get more involved and shine light on the overlooked issue.

“I think I owe it to my Jewish friends as much as I owe it to my palestinian family to work towards and talk about and try to open discussions about ways we can find peace,” Eden said. “I think every American truly has kind of an obligation to be aware of the conflict and be educated about it. I think we all owe it to ourselves and to Israel and Israelis and Palestinians as well to learn about the conflict and resolve it because its about time.”

2000

2002

Israeli Attacks

Suicide Bombing

Two Israelis go on Palestine land and they are killed by a Palestinian mob. Israel then attacks parts of the West Banks and Gaza.

Two suicide bombings kill around two dozen Israels in Jerusalem. The Israelis blame these bombings on Palestine and they begin to take over land in the West Banks and Gaza.

2012 The Situation Today Palestine wants to become a full member of the UN and they would like to become their own country.

18|FEATURES

FIELD OF MEMORIES

#RIPTR

STICKERS by STUDENTS

“Always Remember Tyler” Stickers made by Pembroke Hill senior Meridith Sight.

“TRR 14” bumper sticker created by East senior Rachel Kephart.

“ TY14 Love of SME” sticker designed by East senior James Simmons.

Community hosts a soccer game at the UMKC Stadium in memory of Tyler Rathbun

Sporting KC donated soccer balls, Chick-FilA donated sandwiches, the cheerleaders volunteered their night. Sports Pick’s Will and Nick offered their commentating skills, the band gave their music, the Lancer Dancers put on a half-time dance and the woodshop class presented an engraved table. MetroSports did a segment about it, a marketing student made t-shirts for it and Chambers sang the National Anthem at it. Players from across the city showed up to don purple and white #14 “#RIPTR” jerseys. Fans came, too, from East to Pembroke and Lee Summit to West. Even his English bulldog, Herman, came. On Dec. 8, the community came together on the UMKC soccer field for Tyler Rathbun.

And at the end of the Tyler Rathbun Memorial soccer game, the scoreboard read 14-14. It didn’t matter to the players or fans that the final game score was really 6-6 or that the teams weren’t seriously defending each other. The players didn’t complain that it was hard to mark each other due to the same number 14 on their backs. They weren’t playing to for stats or to score goals, but rather for the same common goal: to celebrate number 14 Tyler Rathbun’s life through his favorite game.

Tyler shattered Coach Jamie Kelly’s singleseason scoring record by five goals. He made the varsity team as a freshman and had teammates across the city who admired his quick skill. But what Tyler’s friends, teammates and coaches will remember him most by isn’t just his talent.

“He’d show up [to the soccer field] with a smile on his face and leave with a smile on his face,” said his KCFC United soccer coach Garreth Hughes.

“That was Tyler.”

It’s Tyler’s positivity and love for the game inspired the event in the first place. After Tyler

passed away Nov. 25, his friend and teammate, senior Clint Dunn, immediately went to work organizing the memorial game. Dunn had been to a memorial soccer game for a teammate’s brother a few weeks before and figured it would be a “cool way to say goodbye.” He also saw it as an opportunity to raise money for Tyler’s memorial fund, which the family is in the process of building and collecting money for. The fund will help kids who can’t pay for premier soccer cover their expensive club team dues.

“One of our club teammates couldn’t pay for club the next year and Tyler was worried about it, saying, ‘I wish my family would pick up the tab,’” Dunn said. “So it kind of bred out of that as an idea for a scholarship.”

Dunn organized the event in just two weeks, complete with cheerleaders, a half-time show and t-shirts. The order of 400 “TR” t-shirts sold out the week leading up to the game, and more had to be ordered to be sold at the match.

The game was advertised through Facebook, Twitter and an interview with Dunn and Coach Kelly on Metro Sports. Classmates and coaches came together to make the game happen.

Dunn went through UMKC Associate Head Coach Fred Schlichting to have the game at UMKC’s Stanley H. Durwood Stadium. Schlichting was one of Tyler’s coaches.

“I knew [Tyler] was a top top player so I reeled him in,” Schlichting said. “We used to train out here at UMKC a lot so it’s really meaningful that they can come back and play here.”

Over 60 players that Tyler had played with came together to participate in the soccer game.

The teams were organized into club players — Billy Goat FC, a team Tyler played for two years ago and KCFC United, a team Tyler had been playing

for for the past two years -- vs. the Lancer soccer team.

The players were more than happy to participate.

“I think after a tough two weeks to come out here and actually play and do it in his memory kinda sums everything up about Tyler,” Hughes said.

Billy Goat FC Coach Abdullah Parker, who coached both Tyler and his brother Alex, thought that the game was a good way to commemorate Tyler.

“A bunch of kids that usually ended up kicking each other are now playing together,” Parker said.

“If nothing else this is showing everyone that this is one big community and one big family.”

A whole community did show up to support the Rathbuns — 800 people — despite the weather. Though the game conditions seemed less than ideal — cold and rainy — Tyler’s brother, Alex, found the weather to be a good thing. “[Tyler] hated hot weather. He loved the cold so this is what he would’ve had,” Alex said.

Though the Lancers trailed the club team at half-time, they weren’t concerned about the score.

“I know the score is 3-0, but it’s because we haven’t played for four weeks and [the club team has] been playing every week,” senior soccer player Jack Shook said in a half-time interview. “But it’s just fun to be out here and remember Tyler and play for him.”

The half-time show was announced by Sports Pick’s Will Cray and Nick Kraske and put on by the Lancer Dancers and drum line. The woodshop class presented the Rathbun family with a finished table that Tyler started started building for his mom to sew on. “[The woodshop class] and I all pitched in and did little pieces here and there,” woodshop teacher Shaban Scott said.

After the half, the club team took an even larger lead: 6-0. At that point, the club team let up on their offense and defense. Alex Rathbun, who played forward for the Lancer team in 2008, scored East’s first goal, much to the delight of the crowd.

His goal went up on the scoreboard as six points, tying up the game. After a few more goals by both teams that counted for various amounts of points, the game ended in a ‘ty’ for Tyler, with 14 points for each team. The event accomplished its goal: it raised nearly $7,000 and gave the community an opportunity to come together and celebrate Tyler’s life.

DONATE

“Rip TR” sticker made by The Monogram Shop.

Tyler Rathbun Memorial Fund Make a check to the Tyler Rathbun Memorial Fund and help a player with financial struggles play club soccer.

FEATURES | 19 RIght Center : Senior Jacob Lanan performs with the drumline during halftime. Lanan also played soccer with Tyler on the East team. “It was really the least we could do,” Lanan said. “It was a great way to honor him.”

Right : Tyler’s family looks at the table that Tyler started and his friends finished.

photo by Annie Savage

photo by Annie Savage Above : The Lancer Dancers performed a halftime show with the drumline. The team donned TR tshirts donated by the Granstaff family. photo by Jake Crandall Left : Playing in the game for his club team, senior Clint Dunn scored the first goal of the game. Dunn organized the event after being a part of another memorial game a week before. “I decided immediately [to have the memorial game],” Dunn said.

“It is just a good way to say goodbye.” photo by Jake Crandall Below : SM East, KCFC United and Billy Goat FC all played in the Memorial game on Dec. 8. senior Jack Sernett played for the Lancer soccer team. “This game is the celebration of Tyler Rathbun,” Sernett said. “It is to show what a great person and great player he was.” photo by Annie Savage

20 |FEATURES

GETTINGBURNED written by Akshay Dinakar

Sophomores Bethany Wiles and Julia Poe yank open the door to a gas station, laughing and chatting about when they are going to chill at the pool.

Without glancing around the shop, they walk straight past the aisles of energy drinks and fruit snacks. They giggle all the way to the front counter, where a 50-year-old store clerk stands behind the cash register, eyeing them closely.

Wiles points to an item on the wall. The clerk shuffles over, grabs the item, and scans it under the red sensor. He rings up the bill and asks the girls for $7.

But suddenly, he pauses. He looks at the girls and asks them for a photo ID. Because Wiles and Poe aren’t trying to buy a bag of chips. They aren’t trying to purchase a bottle of water.

They aren’t there to use the restroom.

They’re at a gas station to buy a pack of cigarettes. *** Wiles and Poe weren’t actually purchasing cigarettes. They aren’t smokers.

The duo were a part of an experiment by the Johnson County Regional Prevention Center that studied whether gas stations and other stores were selling tobacco to people who were under the age of 18.

Wiles and Poe were driven to over 40 different places around northeastern Johnson County, and at every stop, the two of them would go in the store and ask the clerk

THE PENALTIES If you are found to have sold cigarettes to a minor, whether or not you were aware of it, you can face the following punishments in Kansas.

at the counter for a pack of Camel Light cigarettes.

“We would always ask for Camel Light because it was the easiest to pronounce and we couldn’t say Marlboro,” said Wiles.

Every single store that Wiles and Poe visited asked the girls to produce some kind of photo ID, a sign that they were not selling tobacco to minors. The two of them would then say that they had forgotten their IDs in the car and go outside, where Megan Katz, a representative from the prevention center who drove the girls around, would go inside the store and congratulate the clerk for passing the test.

“Most stores are told to card anyone who looks under the age of 40,” Wiles said. “And we definitely didn’t look like we were 40. We wanted them to card us, that was kind of the goal.”

Wiles and Poe tried to keep casual conversation while asking for cigarettes, but to many store owners, their acting seemed strange and fake, causing some of the clerks to even scoff at them.

“A lot of the clerks gave us really dirty looks like we were bad kids or whatever,” Wiles said. “They looked like they were worried about these young girls coming into their store and buying cigarettes.”

Wiles’ mother first found out about the experiment via email and told her daughter about it. Wiles thought that it would be a fun experience, and signed up.

Wiles then asked her friend Poe if she would like to accompany her. Poe, who is strongly against smoking, agreed to come along.

“I’m really, really against smoking, especially because my grandma died from lung disease because of smoking,” Poe said.

By participating in the study for two days, the girls merited 15 service hours.

Two other East students who have chosen to remain anonymous to protect the data they obtained, participated in a similar experiment for the Prairie Village Police Department. They were also unable to get any of the gas stations they visited to sell cigarettes to them.

Violaters can face imprisonment to up to one year.

Sophomore friends volunteer to go undercover for the police to expose the selling of cigarettes to minors photos by Taylor Anderson

In between the stops at each gas station, Katz had Wiles and Poe fill out forms regarding their results and experiences, as well as other information including the price of the cigarette packs they tried to purchase.

“We would switch off in the front seat of the car because whoever sat there would have to record our experience and whether or not they sold to us,” Wiles said. “It was mostly for research purposes and it wasn’t a fun job so we would trade off.”

Wiles believes that the results of the experiment could have an important effect on underage East students who might be tempted to purchase tobacco from gas stations.

“I think it shows that the stores really are checking for IDs, and that it’s a little discouraging for a student to buy tobacco if they’re under 18,” Wiles said.

Poe thinks that the results of the experiment show that the stores h a v e a sense of public responsibility towards minors.

“I think the result was pretty good,” Poe said. “It was just good to know that stores aren’t just selling cigarettes to kids who could just walk into a store and ask for a pack of them.”

You may be forced to pay a fine for up to $1,000.

WE CARD

Your license to sell tobacco products may be revoked.

PROUDLY SUPPORTING SME LANCERS

Woodside Health and Tennis Club

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22 | A&E

TOTAL SMEAST MOVE @TotalSMEastMove 489 FOLLOWING

421 TWEETS

1,324 FOLLOWERS

A satire of the East stereotype — that all Lancers live for the weekend, flaunt their wealth, and vocalize their superiority.

“People want to follow us because we make them laugh,” one of the account owners said. “We help remind them why they are proud to be SMEasters.”

The account is run by anonymous East students.

They find it comforting to be hiding behind the identity of the account, but they don’t want students to see it as a way to call out classmates.

“We do not want to be confused with a gossip account because it isn’t our goal to make fun of specific people,” an account owner said. “Some just get called out for things they do that others can perceive as funny.”

One way this account is used is to publicize school events. With all their followers, they see it as a great way to bring the student body together.

Home

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TWEETERS

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^_^

@SME_Positweets 307 TWEETS

Amidst Twitter accounts for almost every East club, student and sport, this account remains unique. The owner made the account in response to cyberbullying.

“We support and recognize the entire spectrum of Lancers,” the account owner said. “From athletes to artists to debaters to all-around great people.”

Anyone can direct message the account something positive and the complement will be tweeted.

The account owners take pride in their anonymous identity. The owner thinks think half of the fun of the account is not knowing who sent the friendly message about you.

“We feel that our anonymity helps to maintain the overall integrity of the account,” they said. “[Being anonymous] separates its pristine reputation from our personal lives.”

When the account owners graduate, the account will be passed on to ensure its longevity.

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a fellow student you meet, chances are, you can find them on Twitter. Here’s a bit more about some of the most sought out Shawnee Mission East related accounts.- in 140 words or less.

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VANCE WENTZ @vwentz14 1,271 TWEETS

MENTIONS

506 FOLLOWERS

390 FOLLOWING

As a future Montana State Division I basketball player, this twitter hotshot may not come as a surprise. His followers include defeated opponents (Bishop McGuinness point guard @okcballboy), a freelance sports writer from Southwest Montana (@ Bobcat_Beat), and the assistant coach for Missouri State (@PbaldwinPatrick).

Vance Wentz tweets about four times a day on average -- with at least one retweet per day.

“I tweet mostly about sports and shenanigans with my friends,” Wentz said.

“This season is for Ty #RIPTR #smebasketball #smefamily” Wentz recently tweeted. Wentz shows his team leadership on this networking site, even away from the court.

4,087 TWEETS

640 FOLLOWERS

512 FOLLOWING

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PATRICK SIMMONS @patsimmons1 960 TWEETS

464 FOLLOWERS

369 FOLLOWING

Although staffer and twin, @simmonsjms1, has a solid 15 more followers than Patrick Simmons, this is not something Patrick is ashamed of.

“I tend to watch who my followers are and he doesn’t,” Patrick said. “No South kids.”

According to Patrick, his unfiltered tweets are what appeal to others. Although Patrick takes a unique approach to his account. Most of the top followed Twitter accounts tweet multiple times a day, while Patrick rarely tweets more than once a day.

“I try to keep it short and vulgar,” he said. “[I tweet] pretty much anything that comes to my mind, including anything with the sophomore class”.

Patrick doesn’t have any real motives behind his 140 characters. His main goals are, “seeing what [his] bros are doing and seeing where the party’s at.”

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HONORABLE

LAKIN POWELL @lpowell5

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631 FOLLOWERS

902 FOLLOWING

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Ladies and Gentlemen: East’s most followed student tweeter. How did Lakin Powell achieve this title? written by @maggiemcgannon1 photos by @marisawalt “I’m not too sure why I have so many followers,” Powell said. “I don’t think I even know that many people.”

Twitter: One of today’s most dominant forms Powell’s key seems to be consistency: around 11 of communication. Whether it is sharing your tweets per day with short, memorable phrases. Accordsupport for a broken community with #RIPTR or ing to Powell, she types each tweet out a few times for grieving over a poorly folded burrito at Chipotle, wording, but doesn’t usually follow through with tweeteverything is tweeted and everyone wants to ing it.

Powell says she tweets depending on her mood. read about it. If somebody used the word “tweet” “This is not my day” she tweeted Nov 18. “Goodmorn(n., v.) in a sentence five years ago, you would be ing #riseandshine” she tweeted more recently on Dec 8. “lol”ed (laugh out loud) at. In fact, the trend has “I just try and make people laugh,” Powell said. escalated to Mark Zuckerberg and even the Pope The 640 people reading each thought she types creating accounts. hardly seems to get to her head. And her followers only Shawnee Mission East students are avid users seem to be increasing — six new followers in the past of this site. If you want to find a bit more about week.

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all infomation as of Dec. 12 FRESHMAN BELLA SHIRAZI @ShizNitBiscuit

445 FOLLOWERS

“Currently wearing size six shoes. The thing is I’m an eight.” TWEETED 11/3/12

SENIOR CONNOR MCGANNON @conmcgannon

434 FOLLOWERS

“Really hoping my Rosetta Stone gets here in time for my Spanish final.” TWEETED 5/22/12

SENIOR PATRICK BLACKBURN @pblackburn46

433 FOLLOWERS

JUNIOR VICTORIA SABATES @vsabates19

“How does Jimmy Johns run out of bread..? That’s like waterway running out of water #smh” TWEETED 12/8/12

431 FOLLOWERS

“But the real question is, what is truly inside of a McDonald’s breakfast burrito.” TWEETED 10/27/12

TH E

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GE NE R G N I M A O T C OF

LES MISÉRABLES Lifelong Les Misérables fanatic reacts to her favorite musical hitting Hollywood written by Julia Poe

1:56 p.m.

I nervously glance at the people jostling me in line. The show starts at 2 p.m. sharp and the Music Hall refuses admittance after the curtain rises. Upon reaching my seat, I breathe a sigh of relief, glad that I didn’t miss a second of the show.

After all, this is Broadway’s definition of “the world’s favorite musical”: Les Misérables. The highest grossing and longest running musical to ever hit the stage, seen by 60 million people, translated into 22 languages and soon to be adapted into a movie directed by Tony Award winner Tom Hooper.

The epic show returned to Kansas City with style in early December. With a vocally strong cast and an emotionally moving production, the stage show proved why the movie adaptation will be a hit when it opens on Christmas Day.

I’ve been a Les Mis fan since I was eight.

Seven years later, I have every part of the Original Broadway recording memorized.

I have a list of favorite actors to play roles from the leads to unnamed extras. I’ve read Victor Hugo’s 1400 page novel, and I’ve probably seen every trailer and featurette for the new movie.

You could say I’m a fangirl. I prefer the term “expert”. Regardless, I went into the Broadway Across America production of Les Mis with high expectations.

Those expectations were met, right from the beginning.

I was nervous for the vocal ability of the cast, but my fears were quelled before the opening number was over. I was blown away by the talent filling up the stage.

Fugitive Jean Valjean and Inspector Javert, the male leads of the show, were played

by Peter Lockyer and Andrew Varela. Lockyer nailed Valjean’s hatred for injustice, and Varela’s blunt rigidness complemented his co-star perfectly. With voices fit for a Broadway opening night, the two dominated most of the musical.

One of the greatest features of this production was Éponine (Briana Carlson-Goodman), the heartbroken street urchin who sings the famous ballad, “On My Own.” Taking cues from the film’s Éponine, Samantha Barks, she added trills and a different bridge to the song making it unique - and very similar to what you can expect from the film adaptation.

Not only did she hit every note perfectly, her emotion was heartbreaking and she was easily capable of taking Barks’ spot in the upcoming movie.

Marius (Devin Ilaw) and Cosette (Lauren Wiley), the love-struck couple of the musical, are typically my least favorite characters. Cosette has a habit of becoming pitchy, while Marius is often bland or cheesy.

That wasn’t the case with this production. Ilaw delivered a charming yet damaged version of Marius, and his performance of “Empty Chairs At Empty Tables” was well staged and sob inducing. Wiley delivered a sweet version of Cosette with a sweet, chirping voice that avoided whininess.

A spectacular surprise was the bawdy performance of Madame Thenardiér (Shawna Hamic), the coarse wife and partner-incrime of the conspiring innkeeper, Monsieur Thenardiér (Timothy Gulan). As the only comic relief in the musical, Hamic attacked the role with gusto and greatly overshadowed her co-star.

If there was a single truly weak spot in the production, it was Fantine (Jessica Keenan Wynn). Although Wynn was the

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understudy, her performance of the showstopper “I Dreamed A Dream” was lackluster and made her role underwhelming. Wynn’s performance was my only complaint, however, and as an understudy, her performance wasn’t too much of a let down.

To the dedicated fan, another impressive quality of the show was the director’s careful attention to detail. When he staged the show, the director kept miniscule details that were unimportant to the musical but added depth to the story.

From setting the opening scene on a boat to developing the personalities of unknown characters in off-stage vignettes, the director proved his dedication to the story of both the novel and the musical. That dedication allowed his cast to provide a breathtaking version of the classic musical.

Upon leaving this extremely well-done production of Les Mis, it was exciting to think that the movie’s release will make it accessible to a wide variety of people. Transferring the musical to screen is giving screen director Tom Hooper the opportunity to revolutionize Les Mis, attacking it from an angle that stage actors and directors were unable to achieve.

Hooper decided to use a groundbreaking technique and record every take of the musical live. However, the singers aren’t having to project their voices to the back of a theatre, so the songs have a different quality. The most obvious example of this is Anne Hathaway’s new version of “I Dreamed A Dream,” a well-known ballad that she transformed into a subtle, heartbreaking piece of art.

Along with this new technique, Hooper is challenging his set designers, costume designers and makeup artists to create a visually stunning movie. Every scene, from the opening with prisoners toiling in Toulon to the barricade teeming with revolutionaries, is full of a rich color and dirty swarthiness appropriate for the story.

Hooper’s skill for storytelling, coupled with a star-studded cast including Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Hathaway, are the perfect combination to make a stunning transition from stage to screen.

The film is already predicted to win Oscars and I’m sure it will be just as exciting as the stage production. For those of you who weren’t able to see the production on stage, head to a movie theater this break and catch the film adaptation.

the motion picture of the award winning show coming out on Christmas Day, COMPARING THE CASTS With Poe compares the Broadway actors to the movie’s actors photos provided by AllMoviePhoto.com

Fantine Salonga is one of my all-time favorite singers. I was sure that no actress could outdo her portrayal of Fantine, until I saw the first trailer for Les Miserables. The ragged, fragile way that Hathaway approached “I Dreamed A Dream” surprised me completely. That coupled with her acting abilities has already made her my favorite Fantine.

Jean Valjean This is a tough one. Boe, a classically trained opera singer, won me over with his angelic performance of “Bring Him Home” in the 25th Anniversary Concert. However, the intensely raw minute-long clip of Jackman singing “Who Am I” in the movie has proven to me that his acting and singing abilities could make him the best Valjean yet.

Inspector Javert I’m sad to say that this is no competition at all. Quast is the preferred Javert of most Les Mis fans, with his deep bass and fluffy muttonchops. In comparison, Crowe is relying on his acting abilities to accommodate for a weak voice. In the battle of Javert, Quast will win hands down.

24 | A&E

snowedin A staffer’s guide to staying entertained during the storm of the century. This includes a playlist of wintery songs, some books that are the bomb diggity, crafting ideas, movies you can’t miss, etc. written by Zoe Brian

Baking and Playlist Making

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The first day you’ll need to do a couple of things: bake and make playlists. These two things will keep you going for the rest of the week. I suggest making the playlists first, that way you can jam out and dance like an idiot while baking your holiday cookies. Don’t forget to make at least one holiday themed playlist to get you into the spirit of giving.

My favorite holiday tunes include any Charlie Brown Christmas song and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”

Baking wise you are going to want to make a ridiculous amount of cookies to munch on throughout the rest of the week.

Gingerbread is a classic but if you are feeling more unusual try sugar cookies with lemon frosting—a tart yet delicious alternative.

Fluffy Fortification

The year has been unseemingly warm. Not a drop of snow has graced us with its presence and I’m getting pretty damn tired of it. So when the inevitable storm of the century finally hits us, a storm so extreme that it blocks all the doors and there is no escape from the inside, a storm so crazy that the streets are un-plowable for a week straight, I’ll be welcoming it with open arms. This is my favorite dream. (Of course in this dream I still have heating, running water and Wi-Fi). But when this storm hits, how will we stay entertained? I’m here to let you in on how to beat the cabin fever.

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The time has come for you to fortify the walls. And by that I mean build a fort out of all the blankets and pillows in the house. Grab your fluffiest and downiestsoft duvet for the base of the fort and then continue piling on tons and tons of pillows and anything else you can get your hands on. Once the work is complete grab your pets and some of those delightful cookies you baked yesterday and snuggle in for the night.

HOLIDAY PLAYLISTS “White Christmas”- Lady Gaga “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”- Glee Cast “Winter Wonderland”- Ray Charles “O’ Tannenbaum”- Charlie Brown Cast “Twelve Days of Christmas”- The Muppets “Christmas Time is Here”- Charlie Brown Cast “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire”- Nat King Cole “Peace on Earth, Little Drummer Boy”- David Bowie & Bing Crosby

5 Final Festivities 3 Films and Faraway Places By the third day you may be needing a sort of getaway from the sealed-in-cabin feeling beginning to creep up on you. In that case, use a form of escape that is much easier than snow-blowing your way out the door: movies! Travel to Hawaii with Drew Barrymore in “50 First Dates,” camp out with Bill Murray in “Moonrise Kingdom” or go on an adventure to Thailand with James Bond in “The Man with the Golden Gun.”

By day five the snow has begun to melt and that means you can finally have a little fun outside. Personally, I find nothing more fun than having a snowball fight with your dogs. Make it more exciting by bringing a laser pointer — your pets will go crazy trying to chase it. If you lack pets, set up some targets and practice your aim.

After tuckering out the furry family members, the warm fire will be even more welcoming than before. Move your fort closer to the flame, bring your book, plate of cookies and mug of steaming hot cocoa and listen as the sad sound of snowblowers and snow-plows finally make their way down your street, freeing you from your prison and your paradise.

4Print and Paint

After a day of watching movies in your snuggly fort it’s time to turn off the electronics. Grab a good book or two, some hot cocoa and bundle up in the fort.

After the inevitable nap that reading will lead to, get up and tap into your inner Picasso by breaking out the easel and paint. You never know what being stuck indoors for 72 hours will inspire you to create.

CABIN FEVER FILMS “The Shining” (1980) “Cabin in the Woods” (2011) “Cast Away” (2000) “The Thing” (1982) “Rear Window” (1954) “Pontypool” (2008)

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FOLLOWING THE Staffer relates her horoscope to her everyday life written by Audrey Danciger

The concept of horoscopes has always puzzled me. How dare the position of Jupiters’ moons correlate to my love life in any way? If you ask me its all a bunch of mumbo jumbo that just doesn’t make sense. However, a couple of friends of mine seem to be hypnotized by their daily life foretellings. So I decided to see what all the hype was about.

For one school week I looked at my horoscope each day using an app on my phone called Daily Horoscope. I tried to see how they applied to my life and if I could relate in any way.

From reading them I have learned some somewhat valuable life lessons. Nothing earth shattering or individual to my character by any means, but somewhat valuable nonetheless.

“Today, even though it may go against your rebellious nature, you have to play the game if you want to win something you should be able to win without playing.”

“You must take a recent setback as a lesson learned, and move on.

That’s right- move on. Don’t dwell on it. Don’t ask others about it.

Don’t waste your time fantasizing about all the “what ifs.” Move on.

“It’s about time that you started collecting some of the debts that people owe you. Whether you loaned someone some money, or if you provided a valuable service to someone, it’s time to make it clear that there’s a bill to pay.”

“You have been running at a frantic pace, just trying to keep things in order and fulfill your obligations. Happily, though, things will calm down soon and you’ll have a nice breather.”

“You can’t please all of the people all of the time. But in your efforts to please and impress, just be sure that you don’t give up something or change something that will wind up making you unhappy later on.”

Analysis: I understood this horoscope pretty well. It is basically saying you have to work within the system to change the system.

I hate to say it, but to go places in life you have to be a bit of a big kiss-ass. It doesn’t matter how qualified you are for a job if your prospective employer doesn’t like your attitude or composure. So play to your strengths but keep in mind what your superiors want, because without their approval, you’re not going anywhere.

Analysis: When bad things happen to me, I tend to go over every detail over and over until eventually something worse happens to take my mind off of it. I think about everything I did wrong and what I could have done differently.

I obsess over every flaw. So when I saw this horoscope I could really relate. But I feel like a lot of other people can relate too. There are a lot of us out there that worry about things we can’t do anything about, and this is good advice for all of us. We just need to remind ourselves that it just isn’t worth our time to worry about those insignificant things.

Analysis: I can relate to this one wholeheartedly. Far too often I find myself having to spot friends who never seem to have their money with them when we make a Chipotle or Starbucks run. But this doesn’t happen just with money.

I’m still waiting impatiently for my blue Nike shorts to be returned to me. And what ever happened to my black cardigan? But I can’t talk about this as if I don’t owe any of my own debts. I still need to pay my friend back for cans for the Bachelor Auction (sorry Maggie!)

Analysis: With finals right around the corner, I think every student at East can relate to this one. Juggling school, volleyball, Harbinger and babysitting on the side has become quite the challenge.

I find myself haphazardly rushing through work in the wee hours of the night before it’s due the next day and falling asleep in class the following morning. Not to mention the three hours that volleyball takes out of valuable study time three times a weeks. I’m running on empty, to say the least. Winter break will be a highly appreciated hiatus. I’m ready to relax at home for 14 blissful days.

Analysis: Over the years I have learned that no matter how hard you try, how well you do, or how nice you are, there will always be someone who isn’t happy with you. Don’t get me wrong: I love when people are happy, but I know I’ll be criticized by at least one person on whatever I do. So why try so hard? Like they say, “life is short,” so why not please myself first off? I’d rather live my life doing things that make me happy than live for someone else.

I’d love for everyone to be pleased all of the time, and believe me if I could achieve this, I’d definitely try. But I can’t, and no one can, so why stress?

26|A&E

written by Hannah Ratliff

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ith this year’s snowy season nearly upon us, it’s almost time to bust out the long underwear, mittens and, most importantly, sleds, for another season of icy Kansas City weather. With last winter delivering a disappointing lack of snow, we can only hope that this season our snow dances, flushed ice cubes and spoons under our pillows will allow at least one day of pure sledding joy. While you wait on the edge of your seat for our first snow day, use this helpful guide to decide your level of sledding expertise. Then you can plan where to best enjoy your day of frolicking and sliding through Kansas City — if and when we get the flakes.

BUNNYslope

sledding in

STYLE East seniors describe their most unique sledding gear

SME Baseball Field

Best for beginners, the hill by the SME baseball field should be right in a bunny sloper’s comfort zone. Safe enough for even the littlest of kids, this hill, which is not too long or steep, provides fun slides without much... well, any, danger.

Daredevils, be warned: this hill won’t be thrilling enough for you. But don’t be deterred by this hill just because it’s not crazy extreme — It’s still a fun spot, and the hill is actually steep enough to make it hard to climb back up.

Even better, it’s wide

BLUE square Black Widow- The Plaza

If your abilities exceed bunny slope-level but you aren’t quite prepared for a death-defying stunt just yet, then Black Widow is the place for you. This intermediate-level hill will provide the (relatively safe) thrills you’re craving. Just outside the Plaza shops close to the business buildings, this hill is easy enough to find thanks to the huge numbers this hill usually draws after a big snow.

But trust me, it’s worth the effort to find a parking spot and wait your turn at the top of the hill. This long, but not insanely steep slope will give you a full afternoon’s worth squeals and excitement without completely breaking your back. A warning, though: this hill can get crazy crowded, so try your best not to run over any stray sledders as you rush down this incline. Though this hill isn’t as intense as a black diamond, it’s enough to make you worn out and longing for a cup of hot cocoa by the day’s end. And if you hit them just right, the icy caps at the bottom of the hill will get you airborne for just a few delightful seconds. But if you’re like me and aren’t careful about how you land, these icy snow ramps will send you into a wipeout. Though it’s a fun ride, I’ll warn you that when I went, I needed a nap and a couple of Advil by the time I got home.

Maybe I’m meant to stick to the bunny slopes.

enough that you can slip down with bunches of fellow sledders and never have to worry about bumping into another sled.

Bonus points: if you bunny-slopers are feeling adventurous, try the nearby hill by the football turf and junior lot. This hill tends to not be as popular, probably since it’s distance from the usual spot feels like a trek when it’s five below zero. But that’s a plus: you can occasionally even have the whole thing to yourself. Just make sure your sled-steering skills are up to par: if you’re not careful, you can crash into the big puddles that sometimes form at the bottom of this hill. Also, be sure to lose some speed before you get to the fence that separates it from the football field (try directing your sled more sideways to slow down). If you fail to slow down, as a friend and I once learned, you can actually get stuck under the fence. So if all else fails, I would recommend you abandon ship rather than get wedged under there.

Emily Bruyere, 12

“I usually wear some really puffy pants. Last year, my brother got this face mask that looks like SpiderMan but it keeps my whole face really warm, so I’ll wear that too.”

BLACK

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Village Church/ Mission Hills Steps

Don’t hold me accountable for any broken bones if you choose to venture to this incredibly daring sled sight. Nestled between Village Presbyterian Church and Mission Hills (just past the bridge that goes over the creek), these concrete stairs could either be wildly, insanely fun or deadly dangerous — I’m not even sure if sledding here has ever been attempted before.

About one and a half flights long and crazy steep (they are stairs, after all!), these steps are nearly “Jackass”-worthy. But that’s not even the craziest part: if you were to give this sledding site a try, there’s a pretty good chance that you could end up in the creek at the bottom of the stairs. I suggest that if you’re the daredevil that wants to attempt this, you: 1. Go with other people that have the ambulance on speed dial, and 2. Wait until those things are COVERED in packed snow. Even better would be if the snow has a little bit of a frozen crust to make your sled trajectory a bit smoother. Otherwise, all those cement bumps will definitely leave you with a broken tailbone or worse. But I have a feeling these steps would get shoveled pretty quickly, so if you really want a shot at sledding glory, go while the snow’s fresh. But above all else, I suggest you try your best to avoid a crash landing in the creek down at the bottom, even if it looks frozen.

Addie Hotchkiss, 12 “I usually wear snow pants that I bought from Target, and my dad made me wear a helmet once.

Madison May, 12 “I wear holiday sweaters and pajama pants under my snow gear when I go sledding.”

SLEDDING

photos by Maddie Schoemann

Crash Landing

Slippery Slope

Icy Excitement

a lancer’s guide Deadly Fun

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SPORTS

SPORTS | 29

ROUND UP

written by Grace Heitmann

WRESTLING After winning Sunflower League, regionals and placing a couple wrestlers in state last year, the wrestling team is moving forward after losing many seniors.

“I always challenge the seniors to leave the team better than they found it,” head coach Chip Ufford said. “We’ve graduated some kids and some leadership so my goals and expectations for this season are for [the seniors] to learn from the leadership from last year’s seniors and pick up from where they left off.”

The team has been focusing on

photo by Marisa Walton coach Ufford’s wrestling program: base, build and peak. For the first couple weeks in the season, the team focuses on basic techniques to build a foundation for wrestling. After the break, the team will transition into the build phase of the program which builds on what plays are doing well.

The team already has been battling injuries which creates the opportunity of varsity for underclassmen.

“We always have surprises so we’re just waiting for those guys to present themselves,” coach Ufford said.

BOWLING The bowling team is looking forward to another potential shot at Regionals after a disappointing finish last year.

Due to Kansas State High School Athletic Association (KSHAA) rules, the team will begin practices in January.

“Hopefully that’s going to change next year [and] we’ll be able to work with them a few days of the week in December just in the classroom,” coach Kennedy said. “There’s so much

SPORTS PANEL

we can teach them just in the classroom that we don’t need bowling alleys for.”

Coach Kennedy is hoping to teach the basic techniques and skills to all the new and inexperienced bowlers to establish a stronger team.

“My goal this year is to make it to state either as a team or individually,” senior Dee Dee Guthrie. “I think we have a good chance with that, especially with our boys team.”

Winter sports Rockhurst vs.

East score? stud?

GIRLS’ BASKETBALL

SWIMMING

After losing four talented seniors, the girls’ basketball team is trying to make up for the leadership they’ve lost and the lack of a solid bench.

“We had a veteran team [last year], I knew what to expect from them,” coach Scott Stein said. “This year it’s not the case.”

The team is returning five varsity players, three of which are seniors. The team consists of seven girls, including freshman Sam Schnieder who is out for 6-8 weeks with a meniscus tear, and four floaters who play both on JV and varsity.

“I think we’re still getting together on like how we all work together cause we’re a bunch of new starters,” junior and varsity player Erin McGinley said. “We’re kind of getting into our roles of what we need to do for the team.”

The team will be working hard over break on basics and cleaning up mistakes such as turnovers.

“We’re going to improve our ball handling skills, we’re going to improve our shooting, we’re going to improve our rebounding and hopefully we will turn into the new year with a new deal,” coach Stein said.

The boys’ swim team dominated State last year and is looking to repeat their victory. Their season has gotten off to a slow start, losing to top teams such as Blue Valley North and Olathe East.

Since KSHAA now allows swimmers to swim for both club and school teams in the swim season, they’ve suffered the losses of three key swimmers seniors David Martinez and Troy DeMoss and junior Zack Holbrook.

“It’s been rough not having them there with the whole team,” junior and varsity swimmer Ian Lee said. “It’s a good period for us to step up and try and fill their shoes while they are missing. There’s a lot of experience that we wouldn’t normally get.”

The swimming team has bonded together but the absence of the top swimmers is something noticed. The seniors, however, have stepped up and continued their leadership.

When the full team returns in January, the swimmers are looking to get back on track and continue the journey to state.

BOYS’ BASKETBALL Favorite theme

Favorite snow/ ice sport?

Erin McGinley

56-51 SME

USA

Hockey

Matt Terry

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USA

Figure Skating

Lucas “Tuna” Jones

42-38 SME

SEC Gameday

Curling

Sports Section Editor GRACE HEITMANN

Harbie Sports Desk ALEX GOLDMAN

Harbie Sports Desk MITCH KASKIE

The boys’ basketball team won the first ever Athletic Rehabilitation Center (ARC) Madness Public vs. Private Tournament the first weekend of December. The team beat Oklahoma 5A defending State Champs, Bishop McGuinness High School from Oklahoma City, 34-23.

“That was one of our first goals, to win that tournament,” varsity coach Shawn Hair said, “and we accomplished it.”

After tying for third in league last year with a record of 12-10, they hope to continue and improve their success on the court.

“I think there are very high expectations [because] it’s a senior dominated group,” coach Hair said.

The team, which has nine seniors on it, can take their previous seasons and the recent tournament to improve over the break. The team has been playing together for four years which will prove deadly on the court.

“I think the biggest focus has been concentrating on, defensively, guarding the ball [and] offensively, getting the ball inside,” coach Hair said.

30 | SPORTS

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STATS RILYE

Favorite Pool: University of Tennessee or Missouri Best Stroke: Butterfly Favorite Memory: The final of the 200 meter butterfly at a meet in Nashville this past summer

SWIMMING

M E A T L L I DR

MARSTON

Favorite Pool: University of Missouri Favorite Goggles: Rainbow Vanquishers Favorite Memory: Winning State at East

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photos courtesy of the Fries Family

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SPORTS | 31

LEGACY ATHLETES ADJUST TO HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS continued from cover

JOHNNIE AND BRYAN NORTON Junior Johnnie Norton learned to play golf when he was four years old. He was taught by a professional -- his dad, Bryan. Bryan played on various tours such as the European Tour, Asian Tour and PGA Tour for a decade. He stopped playing professionally in 1991, when Johnnie’s parents had his oldest sister.

Johnnie first started playing golf because he thought it would make his dad happy. But that changed; he grew to love it. Over time, golf became a way for them to bond.

“Now we have that in common,” Johnnie said. “It’s nice to talk about with him.”

From March to August, golf consumes Johnnie’s life. During golf season, the two are always comparing scores and discussing what kind of shots they should hit in certain situations.

Considering Johnnie’s dad was a pro golfer for 10 years, one would assume he is always giving Johnnie advice on how to improve his game. However, Johnnie says he’s never been much of a teacher, instead he is more like a teammate.

Their playing styles are different -- Johnnie is more of a highrisk player, while his dad is more conservative. Because of this, they are always learning from one another.

“We just benefit each other in a lot of ways and it really helps improve our games,” Johnnie said.

Johnnie plans to teach his children to play in the future, just like his dad did for him. His dad has always told him that it helps in the business world, and his grandpa played golf until he was 92.

“Even if I don’t play in college, I’ll still try to make time when it’s warm out to go to a golf course and practice and play as much as I can,” Johnnie said. “It’s the type of sport that you can just play forever.”

left knee. Once she recovers from her injury, Zach believes his sister has the potential to become one of the best female basketball players in East history.

“She’s good defensively,” Zach said. “She’s a good shotblocker and she’s good at locking down on other players that she’s guarding.”

Although Zach has yet to decide whether or not to play in college, Sam says he will help sway her decision when the time comes. Zach hopes that once schools start contacting

Sam she will start showing interest in them too.

“It’s going to be a tough decision,” Sam said. “So I’ll ask him a lot about it if he regrets it or not.”

Sam and Zach both agree that their family is pretty basketball-oriented. Both of their parents played in high school as well, which Zach says is the reason the two of them started playing basketball.

“It’s just nice as a family to have basketball to always talk about,” Zach said.

at the moment Rilye plans on swimming in college as well, hopefully at a Division I school like Marston.

Through swimming together, the Fries sisters have formed a strong bond. Although they didn’t get to swim together at East last year, due to a case of mono for Marston and Rilye’s decision to keep up training with their club coach, they did swim together for the Kansas City Blazers.

“She is always behind my lane cheering me on and she’s the first to give me a hug after a race,” Rilye said. “I can always count on her. Marston and I are super close. She is my best

friend and I have loved getting the chance to be teammates also.”

Although the Fries sisters are both serious swimmers, their family is not swimming-oriented at all. Mrs. Fries grew up horseback riding and playing tennis, while Mr. Fries played hockey and football. Their younger brother, Griffin, is a lacrosse player.

“That’s why it’s so funny that Rilye and I are so serious about it,” Marston said. “It was so new to my parents.”

SAM AND ZACH SCHNEIDER Tall. That word has always described freshman Sam Schneider. She was the girl that towered over the boys in middle school. Being in high school is better, since boys are finally having growth spurts and seniors, such as her 6-foot-7 brother Zach, walk the halls with her. But nothing is as comfortable for 6-foot-1 Sam as the basketball court.

Zach has been playing varsity since his freshman year.

Sam made varsity as a freshman as well, however, she is currently out for six weeks because she tore her meniscus in her

RILYE AND MARSTON FRIES Sophomore Rilye Fries started swimming not because she liked it or was good at it, but because her older sister Marston did.

“I know that she always looked up to me and wanted to do what I did, so she swam,” Marston said. “And now she’s one of the country’s top swimmers.”

This past Sunday, Rilye returned from junior nationals in Knoxville, Tennessee. She spent the weekend around Olympic swimmers such as Ryan Lochte and Missy Franklin. Marston currently swims at the University of Connecticut, and

BEA AND MARY KATE WORKMAN Freshman Bea Workman always wanted to be like her older sister, Mary Kate. So when Mary Kate started dancing, Bea knew that when she was old enough she wanted to as well. Both girls danced for the Kansas City Ballet (KCB), but now that Bea is a freshman they are also able to dance together on drill team.

Bea is on JV and Mary Kate is on varsity. Although they don’t dance together at football or basketball games, they

will get to in the Spring Show. Bea sees Mary Kate as a role model and someone to look up to.

“She gives me good advice,” Bea said. “A lot of the varsity girls do.”

Over the past two years, Bea has attended about 30 basketball games to watch Mary Kate dance, as well as various competitions. Bea hopes to follow in her sister’s footsteps.

“We have our own individual styles,” Mary Kate said. “I

think she will go far in dance.”

Dance has brought the two sisters closer together. From carpools to competitions, dance is what the girls bond over.

“It gives more time to spend with each other,” Mary Kate said. “In drill team, at ballet, in shows and the car rides to and from KCB every day.”

I’m his age.”

Joey also plays baseball, and plans on playing for East this spring. Vance played baseball as well, but he quit after his freshman year in order to focus on basketball. As of now, Joey plans on continuing to play one of the sports in college, but he hasn’t decided which.

“I think Joey is looking to play either basketball or baseball at the next level,” Vance said. “He has a bright future regardless.”

Since both boys play basketball at a high level, their family tends to be basketball-oriented. However, Joey and Vance agree that they have never felt pressured by their parents, who just want them to be happy.

“I would definitely consider my family a basketball family,” Vance said. “Both my parents played, and growing up we were at game after game, for both me and Joey. My sister Brigid has probably seen 1,000 games. Our parents support us in everything we do. They are behind us in whatever we decide about sports.”

Vance is enjoying having Joey play at East with him. He says it’s fun for him to have his little brother on the team.

“Basketball definitely brings me and Joey closer,” Vance said. “We have a great relationship and playing together only strengthens our bond.”

JOEY AND VANCE WENTZ Basketball. The sport associated with the Wentz brothers; the sport they’re known for. Senior Vance is heading off to Montana State next year to continue his basketball career, and Vance’s younger brother Joey made varsity as a freshman, just like his brother did four years ago.

Joey has always looked up to Vance, and aspires to be as good as him someday. Vance is always giving Joey advice, about events such as tryouts or tips to improve his game.

“We were interested in the same things, so I looked up to him for help,” Joey said. “He tells me a lot of pointers and he definitely helps me a lot. [At tryouts] he helped me a lot just to do my best and try my hardest. He’s always been better than me, but I think I can definitely be as good as him when

32| PHOTO ESSAY

photo by Maddie Schoemann

OH!

Above: During the tanlent portion, SM West junior Austin Eck does the splits as he plays the keyboad.

“Doing my act was nerve racking,” Eck said. “The pageant sounded like a lot of work but was actually a really good experience.”

photo by Maddie Schoemann

photo by Taylor Anderson

photo by Maddie Schoemann

Left: The East team preforms in the Talent competition. The competitions included talent, interview, swimwear and Dressing up as a Christmas tree.

Mr. ChristmasTree East students compete in the Mr. Christmas Tree Pageant against students from around the District

Above Center: Competing in the swimwear competition, East junior Jack Fisher presents his luau outfit. “I had fun,” Fisher said. “The Pageant was an absolute blast.”

Above: East senior Will Short answers questions during the interview portion of the pageant.

“It was really fun,” Short said. “Being in the pageant was a different way of getting involved.”

Right: Dressed up as a Christmas tree, SM North senior Austin Shelby pulls his tree off the stage.

“Carrying the tree was the most uncomfortable thing I’ve ever done,” Shelby said. “I had needles in places i did not know you could get needles.”

photo by Taylor Anderson