Sabre Source: December 2016 Issue

SABRE SOURCE December 2016

- A New School - 2 - Rarely - 2 - Bad Jokes - 3 - Meet the Teacher: Caitlin Shepard - 4 - Self Care Tips to Cope With the Results of the 2016 Election - 6 - You Can Be Anything - 8 - Archneos Pt. II - 9

Editors: Sarah Hollyer-Carney Emily Browning Michelle Douglas

Writers: Owen Aitken Grace Young Jenna Manji Isis Sutton-Jones Sarah Hollyer-Carney Hannah Chin Emelie Kim Riley Young

A New School OWEN AITKEN Coming to a new school has its challenges and also wonderful surprises.

On the first day I felt really nervous. I didn’t know anyone in my grade and I definitely was not used to a uniform. But I quickly discovered that Stratford Hall was very different than my old school in all kinds of good ways. Everyone has been so welcoming and friendly. In a few days I felt like I had made some really good friends. The teachers have been helpful and nice too.

I have been amazed at the interesting activities and adventures that are part of the school. I never imagined that I would be playing Sardines in the fields at Tamagawa or canoeing at Deer Lake.

School work has been challenging. My old school had no homework and no French or Spanish. Now I am doing both. Even though the learning is more challenging everyone has been helpful. So many kids and teachers are willing to lend a hand when needed.

Stratford Hall is a unique community. I feel pretty lucky to be a part of it.

Rarely GRACE YOUNG Beautiful things happen rarely. Or, maybe they happen often, but we haven’t a chance to notice them. Near to extinct things are seen rarely. Or, maybe they’re all around us, we just haven’t a chance to notice them. Good, kind people are rare on earth. Or, maybe they’re your best friend, the stranger-but-not-quite-strange person sitting next to you, or your mom and dad, even your enemy. You just haven’t a chance to notice them. What if we took that chance? Took a chance to notice them. Took a chance to appreciate our life. Noticed the beautiful, near to extinct, good, kind things, that are rare-ish. Everyone should do it more often. It might make our world a better place.

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Bad Jokes (and Puns)!

JENNA MANJI 1. Teacher: How good are you at using PowerPoint?

Student: I Excel at it.

Teacher: Was that a Microsoft Office pun?

Student: Word.

2. =

3. I was going to write a chemistry joke here but all of the good ones Argon.

4. What do you call a number that can’t keep still? A roamin’ numeral

5. I know a mathematician who could not afford to buy lunch. He could binomial.

6. Don’t talk to Mr. Campanella about infinity. He could go on about it forever.

7. Don’t trust atoms, they make up everything.

8. I asked the guy sitting next to me if he had any Sodium Hypobromite... he said NaBrO

9. Why do words, phrases, and punctuation keep ending up in court? To be sentenced.

10.Why did Shakespeare only write in pen? Pencils confused him... 2B or not 2B.

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Meet the Teacher: Caitlin Shepard A glimpse into the word of C.Shep ISIS SUTTON-JONES Q: Name?

A. Caitlin Merrill Shepard.

That’s right. My middle name is Merrill.

Q: What do you teach?

A. English

Q: If you weren't teaching, what would you be doing instead, or what would your life be like?

A: I have three possible alternative life scenarios

1. Travel Writer. My two loves: writing, travel. Duh.

2. Sandwich-shop owner/sandwich artist. I feel strongly that the sandwich is the most ingenious invention (just ahead of the lightbulb and the Internet), and that when made well nothing can surpass it in terms of flavor, enjoyment and satisfaction. There are too many bad sandwiches out there and it doesn’t have to be that way. People probably think I’m joking here and I’m not.

3. Farmer. I have this ridiculous vision of feeding chickens grain from my apron. I have like three dogs and we roam the farm, herding the sheep. It must be the shepherd in me.

Q: Favourite pass time and why?

A: Eating sandwiches and daydreaming about my farm/next trip. I also love playing with my kids, walking in the forest, listening to music, singing loudly and poorly to music, dancing embarrassingly to music, reading books and watching the news (and more than occasionally a ridiculous reality show or two).

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Q: Favourite memory at Stratford Hall?

A: Airbands 2014! Pitch Perfect Barden Bellas with Hawkes, McFadyen, Iacchelli and Grealy.

Q: The best advice you could offer for an IB student?

A: Two things:

1. Try to make it your own by tapping into your own natural curiosity. Use your Personal Project, EE or any other in-class investigations as an opportunity to learn something you’ve always wanted to know about. It will make the experience so much more interesting and worthwhile.

2. For the DP students in particular: keep on keeping on. It will all get done. It always does. And you will see the value in university and beyond. Much of the pay-off comes later, and it is worth it. You’ll just have to trust me on this one.

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Self Care Tips to Cope With the Results of the 2016 Election SARAH HOLLYER-CARNEY

Have a hot bath!

Maybe use bubble bath, or some bath salts. Light some candles. Run it just a little warmer than you think you should. For a few seconds, while your skin feels the sweet, soft, relaxing sting of the hot water, you won't have to think about how everything could be wiped away in an instant if Trump doesn't realize why he can't just fire nuclear missiles.

Listen to calming music!

When you listen to music that’s warm, something calming and intimate, you feel a strange calm that's hard to define. In this calm, you may find a strange, terrible poignance in the fact that it is a man propping himself up on hate and ignorance who may plunge our civilization into a nightmarish cataclysm. Alternately, you may simply enjoy the calm and the song's smooth, warm atmosphere.

Listen to loud angry music!

Sometimes suppressing your feelings isn't the only solution! Sometimes feeling your emotions is better than running away from them. Get mad. Let yourself feel it. Get mad at the voters who let this happen. Get mad at the structure that props it up. Get furious at the idea of generations of young women, people of colour, Muslims, LGBT people, and mentally and physically disabled people growing up in a place where hating and oppressing 6

them isn't only tolerated, it's actively participated in from the highest oďŹƒce in their country, and who will likely internalize this and start to hate themselves, and who will live lives with just that much more silent powerlessness than they would otherwise.

Note: has the possibility to backfire when you realize how impotent your rage truly is.

Go for a run!

Did listening to loud music make you angry? Did you manage to avoid the soul crushing realization of your powerlessness? Great! Running is a fantastic way to channel this kind of powerful negative emotion into a positive activity.

Hopefully all of this will help you keep it together for the foreseeable future!

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