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The Communicator Vol. 29, Edition 4 March 2014

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change Students experience stress over the looming college application process.

depression A further explanation of depression and how it affects people.

humans of community Getting to know all the students that make Community High School great.

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ice ice baby Mira kaufman discusses life as a figure skater with olympic aspirations.

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s-ball Community students continue to play sports, despite the challenging weather.

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shaping up

sights and sounds of italy

Diet and exercise leads to benefits like better sleep and improved self-esteem.

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crossing the line The conflict of the parking lot, and how to handle it.

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courtney kiley A night in with the beloved FOS teacher.

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sylvia’s spot

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crash landing The absence of ‘flappy bird’ game on app stores brings to light nation’s dependence on electronics for entertainment.

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spork: the game

what we’re sayin’

Dear Readers,

Whether we want to admit it or not, we have all been guilty of judging a book by its cover. It is human nature to judge things as they appear to us; if the food looks slimy, we won’t eat it; if the book looks boring, we won’t read it. Although these kinds of judgments limit our experience, they are not detrimental. What is, however, is when we place this distorted lense on other people.

Not many people are as they appear. There is a big disconnect in our society between the way people represent themselves and they way they truly feel. We cover up our problems. We put on a happy face. Why do we feel the need to hide the problems, characteristics and experiences that make us human? Part of the problem is that judgment closes the door to open conversation, and the lack of conversation just perpetuates the stigma.

Community High is its own society filled with its own individuals. This school is full of people who go through issues that are prevalent everywhere, even if it doesn’t seem that way. College can be an exciting prospect for a lot of students, but it’s important not to forget what such a major life change can mean and how that can affect individuals (p. 10-11). Ir’s vital that we as The Communicator keep the school educated, especially on topics that aren’t always at the forefront of the school’s discussion. As March is Depression Awareness Month, it’s important to be able to recognize the symptoms and to know how to help (p. 16-17).

We have the power to start the conversation on these issues. Community is full of students who chose to come to this school because they are interested in new ideas and invested in their learning. We have the potential to learn from each other and be open about our experiences. This type of interaction on a human to human level is what will cause real growth.

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letter from the editors

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we’re ready now

THE COMMUNICATOR

advertise. andersont@aaps.k12.mi.us

Happy Spring,

Printing thanks to Edwards Brothers Malloy.

Editors-In-Chief

Isabel Sandweiss Alexander Wood

Staff

Lachlan Angus Joel Appel-Kraut Britta Carlson Managing Editors Hannah Davis Kelly Arnold Cameron Fortune Madeline Halpert Ben Gur-Arie Jeffrey Ohl Preston Horvath Eva Rosenfeld Jacob Johnson Marcelo Salas Jett Jones John Kelley Adviser William Knight Tracy Anderson Casey MacDonald Frances MacKercher Cover Art Gabriel Maguire Eleanor Olson Maggie Mihaylova

Caroline Philips Duncan Reitz Emily Ross Tyler Schmader Alona Shewach Sophia Simon Grace Stamos Sophia Swan Isabel Todoroff Hannah Tschirhart Eliza Upton

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news

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to zone eva rosenfeld

“Homelessness

isn’t a lake to be drained. It’s a river that keeps flowing,” said Brian Durrance, president of A2 MISSION (Michigan Itinerant Shelter System-Interdependent Out of Necessity). And no one denies that this river exists. How to dam the flow, however, is another story.

Camp Take Notice, a tent city on Wagner road, was shut down by the state police in June 2012. The state then gave vouchers for one year of housing to about 40 of the 80 Camp Take Notice residents.

Of the rest, some were veterans, some were illegal immigrants; whatever they were, they didn’t qualify for the vouchers. But the homeless community living in the tent city didn’t just disintegrate, they searched for an alternative place to set up their tent city. About a half a year ago, on Stone School Rd., they found Mercy House.

“It’s serendipitous,” said Durrance on the house, “because frankly, how do you find in the city of Ann Arbor a 3-acre piece of land with a forest on it, on the [bus line], that’s secluded on the edge of town?

It just doesn’t happen.”

MISSION’s plan from here on out is to open the land surrounding the house to a tent city. The house would serve as a hub where the homeless could come in to fulfill needs like showering, laundry and food.

Chris Best is a formerly homeless man who received housing through SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance), was a resident at Camp Take Notice and is currently on the MISSION board. He attests to the benefit of the tents and Mercy House: “It allows people respite from life as it is being homeless. A lot of people think that homelessness means that you’re lazy and you don’t do anything,” said Best. “But all day long you’re trying to figure out, where am I gonna get my next meal. Am I gonna get a shower today? Where am I going to put my clothes? Am I going to be able to arrange for a doctor’s appointment? Oh, I finally got a job interview, where am I going to put my stuff ?”

A less talked-about and unusual advantage to a tent city, Durrance added, is that it isn’t comfortable living.

“When you live outside you learn to live outside. But it’s hard. So after one or two seasons people have the incentive to reach out for help,” said Durrance. “The nice thing about a tent is that it regulates that flow and there’s a beginning, a middle and an end to it” While this cycle of the river of homelessness flowing through the tent city and coming out in a far better place might sound ideal, there is a major flaw in the plan.

“This particular piece of land that MISSION has purchased was zoned for single family residential use,” explained Wendy Rampson, planning manager for the Ann Arbor Planning Commission. “The 4

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MISSION folks bought the property expecting to do something different, [so] they have to prove to the Planning Commission and City Council that there is a compelling reason to change the zoning, because the zoning was put there to be consistent with the master plan for that area...even though people might agree that there’s a need for this housing.”

“I think that the general public thinks that more affordable housing is the answer,” said Sally Petersen, a member of City Council who believes that the tent city is a necessity for homeless people who can’t get affordable housing. “But what I’ve learned is that there’s a rung below affordable housing and these are the people who are really zero income due to issues that, according to them, the system isn’t really providing services for.”

“The whole affordable housing thing is a misnomer,” Durrance said, pointing out just how difficult the grips of homelessness can be to escape. What it means is subsidized housing for those people who qualify… The people that get it are very few and far between.

You have to be suicidal. You may even have to live out of doors for quite a while before you qualify. What if you don’t qualify for work or you don’t qualify for SSDI or state funding? You can’t make it to the doorstep.”

A tent city, Durrance believes, gives people cheap, accessible and fluid access to housing, as opposed to having to pay for an apartment or spend years applying to programs that you can’t qualify for.

“So it kind of makes me bristle when people say that people choose to be homeless. It’s a very very unfair characterization,” said Durrance. “The system is working against them in many ways.”

“We call ourselves the safety net below the safety net. We’re trying to catch the people that fall right through those gaping holes in the existing safety net… I’m willing to accept compromise but I know that there’s a really serious piece of this missing without the tents.”

This “safety net” is not only the hope of affordable housing. It also includes the Delonis Center, Ann Arbor’s local homeless center.

Again, the recipients of this service, the homeless, don’t feel that it serves the purpose it sets out to. Jimmy Hill, homeless for seven years and currently living at Mercy House, has tried his hand at the Delonis Center. “Don’t get me wrong,” Hill urged, “the Delonis is a good thing for what it’s for. But there’s no way you can totally get on your feet in three months. There’s no way with that time that they give you to get housing, to get a job, to get out,” said Hill.

Best, who is transgendered, also struggled with getting a job within these time constraints. “By the time my 90 days [at Delonis] were up I couldn’t get a job because I couldn’t get name legally changed,” explained Best. “Every time I went to a job interview my resume would have a female name on it but I would dress how I felt was appropriate. And that, for me, is where the barrier was. I just couldn’t find a

“You have to disguise your homelessness if you want to get a job.”

work. In his case, his mental illnesses, which include depression, general anxiety, and social anxiety, prevented him from getting a job. More mundane reasons can also essentially keep you out of employment.

Hill pointed out, “You have to disguise your homelessness if you want to get a job. You have to be clean. You need sharp clothes. You really need a cell phone… You might have a dress shirt but it’s all wrinkled up because it’s been in your bag all day.” And he believes this house will address these needs. “What the last camp didn’t have that this one will is this house. The laundry, the showers, the access. I just think that this could be so good for this community,” said Hill.

“People have told us that when they came to the camp, they had a place that was essentially a home with a zip lock door,” Hill continued. “They didn’t have to carry their whole world around with them like a snail on their back… The first sensation of living at a camp is that you’re going to sleep the night and wake up well rested in the morning. You get to have control over your own destiny.”

Durrance seconded this sentiment that a tent city provides the liberty necessary to get on your feet.

“It’s hard for people to wrap their heads around what freedom a tent can give you until you’ve been through that system of being told where to be, when to be. It’s a night and day difference,” he said. That said, Durrance does recognize the conflict regarding zoning laws. He added, “Where the push comes from the people on the MISSION Board is that we’re trying to do it within the rules.”

Rampson posited that if the right compromises are made

and the right people in the community and on the Council are accepting of the idea, the tent city surrounding Mercy House is possible.

“There’s a process to it but ultimately City Council can approve it,” Rampson said. “We do know that there are these types of transitional housing situations in other parts of the country.”

Alternatively, City Council member Stephen Kunselman warned that it won’t be so simple: “What they’ve been talking about is basically not attainable...it’s just a matter of this idea that Council can wave all the rules and laws and somehow people can sleep in tents in someone’s backyard. It doesn’t work that way… You have to have water, a sewer, utility availability. You can’t just say we’re going to grant permission for people - regardless of their stature - to sleep in tents.”

Petersen is hopeful that the tent city will eventually be approved. “The piece that resounds to me with this particular group of people is how respectfully they treat each other, and with dignity, and how they thrive on the community to keep each other sort of uplifted, or sober, stable,” Petersen said.

“So if there’s a way we can make the zoning consistent with the benefits of this, where they’re keeping each other afloat, like a 24/7 AA meeting, with strong leadership, they should be allowed to do it.”

And until there is a way for all of Ann Arbor’s homeless to be kept afloat, many will be left floundering in the river. For now, people from all sides are desperately looking for a dam to halt the flow. C

jimmy hill and seth best (top left), brian durrance (bottom left) and a man dropping in at mercy house sit in the mercy house living room. seth best shows sally peterson around the kitchen (bottom right).

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bella italia kelly arnold and jacob johnson steve coron photo

CHS STUDENTS ENJOYED AN ENRICHING EXPERIENCE IN ITALY OVER MIDWINTER BREAK

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here is something about standing on a platform in St. Mark’s Square that changes your perspective on life. The crowds scurrying around the puddles, the street venders desperately trying to convince you that their products are best, and the tiny, dressedup children throwing confetti stir excitement inside students far, far away from home.

Community High students (26 total) were able to experience the magical feeling of being in Italy over midwinter break. On Feb. 14, the students, along with four chaperones, embarked on a nine-day trip across the country. The four chaperones were Community High art director and teacher Steve Coron, his wife Karie Wagner-Coron, Latin and government teacher Jason McKnight and community assistant Kevin Davis.

The trip, which started in Venice and finished in Rome, was a whirlwind tour of just a few of the incredible sights Italy had to offer – from the statue of David to the Coliseum. Students traveled by plane, on foot, by boat and by bus to every destination along the way. Each day was a rush to be able to accomplish everything on the trip schedule, and the students never spent more than two days in a single place. Despite the rush, the trip proved to be a highly educational experience.

“I did learn a lot,” said sophomore Gloria Fall, one of the many 6

communi cator

females on the trip. “Everywhere we went, we had a guide, and they told us all of the history of the places we visited. I knew about the places we visited, but being there was such a different experience.”

Of course, on a trip abroad, it’s impossible not to reflect on something that’s on every teenager’s mind: the food. The food in Italy was high-quality and delicious, with a range of selections far greater than the typical pizza and pasta dishes that Americans stereotype. The students on the Italy trip experienced this first hand, from buying food from vendors on the street to making it themselves at a culinary school in Florence, where they prepared a full three-course meal which included pasta with tomato sauce, meatloaf, salad and lemon cake.

Each Italian city the students experienced was full of living history.

Beautiful buildings dating back as far as the early medieval ages lined the streets of every city, and tall statues and monuments dotted the urban landscape. It gave a realization of just how young the United States was as a country by comparison. Indeed, compared to the U.S., Italy seemed like a different world.

The mountain countryside of San Gimignano stood in sharp contrast to the urban center of Rome, but both had their own unique appeal. Each Italian city had its own style and characteristics that drew in each person differently.

TOP The group of students gather together at the Doge’s Palace. This was one of many stops the students took on the trip. They were able to see famous sights like the Coliseum and the Sistine Chapel.

“My favorite town was Sorrento, because it was so beautiful. There was an amazing view of the Amalfi Coast from our hotel, and the region of Campania’s specialty is lemons, which I love. I loved it there,” said Fall.

While this trip turned out well for Community, it is uncertain whether Coron, McKnight and the other members on the board for the Italy trip will be able to do the trip again in the future. The trip itself is expensive, and for many students, the money simply isn’t there.

“It’s getting harder and harder to recruit kids, because the price is so prohibitive,” said McKnight. “I’m lucky to teach in a district where at least some kids can afford this opportunity. In other districts, this trip just wouldn’t happen. It does inspire other feelings though – I feel guilty. I remember being poor in high school, not being able to go on trips like this at all, and it felt terrible. I wish I could wave a wand at everyone who wants to go and get them in. I can think of five kids off the top of my head that couldn’t afford to come that I wanted so desperately to be there.”

Because of issues like this, it is unclear when the next trip will be, unlike previous trips where the gap between ventures was 2-3 years.

Going on a trip outside of the country was a valuable experience for the travelers, but until a trip like this becomes more affordable, peo-

ple will be left out of having that experience.

“If I could find a way to do this for every kid, I would die a happy man,” said McKnight.

And those that did have the money – whether through the kindness of friends and family or working hard at a job to – agree that the trip was an educational and worthwhile experience. For some students, it was their first time out of North America, making the trip even more eye-opening as a result.

Italy is a beautiful place, and filled with so much history, art, and culture that it is impossible to go anywhere in the country and not glean some new insight or understanding. The next time the trip rolls around, if there is a next time, underclassmen are encouraged to look into going. McKnight views this trip as an irreplaceable, educational experience, and enjoys watching the students grow and learn while on the trip.

“I want [students] to see themselves as citizens of the world, rather than just narrowly focused American teenagers,” said McKnight. “I want to see them really blossom into world citizens and travelers.

Experiences like this really spark imagination and curiosity, and that leads to deep learning, which is what it’s all about for me.” C

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sights & sounds of

italy kelly arnold

For more on Rome and the Coliseum, read box four on the next page.

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venice Built on stilts thousands of years ago, Venitian residents and visitors often travel by boat, or by gondola, as pictured. Venice has been able to remain an international gem since it was originally inhabited in 10th century B.C. Sites to see include the Bridge of Sighs, the Doge’s Palace, St. Mark’s Square and the Grand Canal.

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3 sterling stoll photo

florence Called “Firenze” in Italian, the city of Florence is densly populated, with 1.5 million people residing there. Many famous pieces of artwork are there, including pieces by Michelangelo, Botticelli and Caravaggio. Florence is also known for its beautiful churches, which include the Santa Maria del Fiore (pictured) and the Santa Maria del Croce.

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San Gimingnano, known as the Town with Fine Towers, is a medival town located in the foothills of the Tuscany region. The town boasts views of the area, including lush olive trees and vineyards in the distance.

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capri Located in the Tyrrhenian Sea of the Sorrentine Peninsula, the Isle of Capri has been a resort since the time of the Roman Republic.

Nowadays, the rich and famous frequent the island with breathtaking ocean views, including the likes of Mariah Carey, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Lindsay Lohan.

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san giminano

pompeii

After the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D., Pompeii was destroyed and covered in volcanic ash. Many years later, excavators uncovered the now tourist sight, revealing the lifestyles of the Roman people. Plaster molds of those who suffered can be seen along with the ruins (pictured).

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rome

The capital of Italy, Rome has lots to offer for any tourist, including the Trevi Fountain, Vatican City (its own country!) and the Coliseum, as pictured on the left page.

Italy is known for its gelato, and according to the group’s tour guide Elizabetta, Rome is the city with the best gelato (pictured). mar ch 2 0 1 4

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The mother of a student told Community High counselor John Boshoven that their junior conference had freaked her out.

When he asked why, she said that it used to seem like her daughter’s going away to college was a long way away, and now she’s going to be applying to colleges next year.

“The time is really marching,” said Boshoven.

“And it goes fast.”

change

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liam knight alona shewach photo

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oing away to college for juniors and seniors is no longer some vague idea of what might happen in the future; for them, it’s reality.

And on top of that, the process for applying in the first place can be overwhelming.

Community starts to prepare its students for going off to college in their junior year.

The process begins with students first asking themselves if they’re even going to go to a college.

“A lot kids grow up… not wondering ‘if ’ [they’re] going to college, but more ‘where,’” said Boshoven. “But in many families in America, it’s an ‘if ’ questions as much as it is a ‘where’ question, especially among first generation college kids. Their parents never went to college, so those kids are more on their own to try to figure out the process.”

The counselors sit down with every student and his or her parents to figure out what they’re going to do for college, before even beginning the process.

After this, juniors need to fill out a questionnaire that helps the counselors place them in a college that suits them. The counselors work with the juniors to prepare them mentally for the whole process of exploring colleges before they even become seniors, so they have time to mull over the different colleges and decide what they want to do before they become seniors.

Applying to colleges has become increasingly competitive compared to how it has been in the past.

“It’s much more competitive,” said Boshoven. “It’s much more sort of ‘out there’ in terms of the press and the media. There’s whole sections in the bookstore about doing this whole college transition thing. So parents are kind of going ‘I don’t know if I can really help him that much. When I went, I just applied to that one college my dad told me to apply to, and I went there.’”

Colleges also look at a wide range of different aspects in the performance of students when considering whether or not to admit them. Among them are a student’s Grade Point Average; trend, whether the student is improving or getting worse; depth of study; breadth of study; rigor of study; and context of study. Luckily for students at Community, the context of their school can give them a leg up.

“The last area is: ‘how well known is your high school to the college you’re applying to?’ The context of your application,” said Boshoven. “Community High School is well regarded, and so kids who have been applying from Community at some college will be seen in a stronger light than a kid from another school.” One student from another school who Boshoven had talked to was deferred from a college, despite being a valedictorian and number one in his class, simply because his high school was not well looked upon.

Colleges also take an applicant’s essays heavily into account, and there can be a lot of subjectivity in this regard.

“At the very end, it comes down to: ‘I don’t know… his essay just didn’t grab me,’” said Boshoven. “There’s nothing wrong with it, but there’s a little bit of subjectivity at the end of it, and that can drive everybody crazy.”

With so many requirements and things to think about, it’s no wonder going to college can be a stressful experience.

Community High senior Sofi St. John has found the process to be a daunting one, at that.

“I’m so excited to go off to college and start a new chapter of my life,” said St. John, “but I’m also scared and anxious of what is to come, and a little sad that it’s my last year at Community.”

Going to college is a world of unknowns and uncertainties that can be very troubling for juniors and seniors preparing to leave.

According to Boshoven, it’s natural that applying to colleges would be stressful because it can be uncertain.

“A big unknown,” he said. “‘I don’t know if I’m going to get in.’ ‘What if I go to the wrong college?’ ‘What if I’m not good enough?’ What if, what if, what if. And that scares people.” For some applying students, the mere thought of pushing “submit” is terrifying to them, and it causes them to put off doing their applications. Boshoven notes that while part of this is fear of rejection, some of it is worrying about being accepted, not knowing which colleges will accept the application and having to choose between multiple colleges.

But beyond that, filling out applications can be tedious and time consuming.

“On top of all the work you have to do in seemingly short deadlines, everyone asks about college apps as soon as they know you are a senior,” said St. John. “There is a pressure of being expected to easily juggle college apps, activities, and school work, while still fitting in time to de-stress and do something fun every once in a while so the applications don’t drag you down. There’s a balance you have to master while applying, and through school in general.”

The transition from high school to college is very abrupt. In a matter of months, seniors will be packing up and going to a completely different school, maybe not in the same state or even the same country, with entirely different people from whom they now know.

“The change from high school to college really scares me,” said St. John, “but I’m also excited to start a new chapter in my life and begin to go more in depth with my education… It’s a little sad and scary to think of leaving some of my friends, but I also will keep in touch with them and make new friends.”

St. John has found and recommends a number of different strategies to help deal with the anxieties of college.

“My best advice is to take breaks from homework or college apps every once in a while for a few minutes to recharge so you don’t get too overwhelmed,” she said, “but also don’t procrastinate. I know that’s easier said than done, trust me. Also make time to do fun things, like a hobby, or hang out with friends.”

St. John has pushed herself to get out of her comfort zone in her senior year, and has worked even harder than before in all of her classes. She’s hoping to go to the University of Redlands after she graduates, but she has a long list of schools and will be making a few final college visits before she makes a decision. She is interested in studying something in the field of speech therapy or neurology. She advises that students learn how to balance their social life with their schoolwork, and enjoy their time at Community.

“Make sure to have fun so you don’t get too stressed,” she said. “But don’t develop the infamous senioritis. It’s your last year, so make the best of it you can.” C

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news story

summer school: saving grades

alex wood

hazel o’neil illustration

AFTER HIS FIRST YEAR OF HIGH school, Community High School senior Nick Partin thought he would be looking forward to a summer free of responsibilities. However, Partin’s parents informed him that he would instead be participating in one of the Ann Arbor Public School’s five-week summer programs in order to raise some of his grades.

“My work ethic hadn’t adjusted to high school,” Partin said.

AAPS offers three options for summer school: the Traditional Program, where students are present for three-hour sessions, an online version which culminates in proctored tests and a CR course where students design their own courses. Upon hearing that he was enrolled in the program, Partin was hesitant about going.

“I was a little embarrassed at first because I thought I would be one of very few,” said Partin, who was surprised when the courses he took were full.

However, Partin’s experience was positive.

“I thought it would [ruin my summer], but I met some pretty cool people there that made the classes go by much faster,” Partin said.

While the courses are much shorter than semesters, the same amount of information is condensed into the five-week period. The courses are taught by AAPS teachers, like 12 the c om mu nica to r

CHS’s Craig Levin. Learning a lot of material in such a short time may have appeared daunting, but Partin was able to excel in his courses.

“It was a lot more work,” he said. “But I retained a lot more.”

Partin also felt more comfortable in the summer school environment.

“It was easier for me to participate in class because I knew that everyone was kind of on the same level,” Partin said. “There didn’t seem like there would be any judgement if my answers were wrong.”

When Partin thought that some of his course grades were not up to par at the end of sophomore year, he once again turned to summer school, though this time he went voluntarily.

“I don’t think I would’ve returned if I didn’t learn and actually retain all the information I had been taught,” said Partin. “I wouldn’t have returned if my grades didn’t improve.”

For his second time, Partin elected to take the online course, citing personal reasons for his choice. “[The online course] would give me free time so I could enjoy my summer,” he said.

CHS counselor John Boshoven believes that while summer school isn’t for everyone, it has helped some students become successful.

“[I often suggest summer school] when I see that a student isn’t meeting the graduation requirements,” he said. “I sit down and say ‘look, you need this credit, and here are your options’,”.

While retaking a class in the summer does not remove the original grade from a student’s transcript, the negative effects of the original grade are removed.

“Colleges like to see that you’re working at it and that you’re making progress,” said Boshoven.

While Boshoven did not take summer courses during high school, he was able to take some college courses during his breaks.

Boshoven found this to be a beneficial experience.

“The atmosphere is much more relaxed [in summer classes],” said Boshoven. “There wasn’t as much busywork or big assignments. It’s not a replacement for school, but it does help shore up school.”

Partin, who is on track to graduate at the end of the year, believes that students who are unhappy with their performance in classes should consider taking courses in the summer.

“You should do anything you can to make sure that you’re on top of your schoolwork,” he said. “I went [to summer school] and I was able to to do better in my classes and really understand the material.”C

read more:

life coaching. a creative and

interactive alternative to therapy is maria sylvester’s livelihood. preston horvath

THE TRADITIONAL IMAGE OF A COACH is a figure standing on the sidelines yelling to his players. However, there are coaches for every niche of life. There are business coaches, dating coaches and financial coaches.

One of these coaching disciplines is life coaching. Life coaching is an alternative to psychotherapy, and it can be applied to many aspects of life.

Ann Arborite Maria Sylvester has been a life coach for over seven years. She runs a local private practice and works with all types of people, from teenagers to adults and individuals to couples. Before being a life coach, she worked as a therapist for 23 years.

“The focus of life coaching is to help people take action in their lives,” said Sylvester. “We’re looking at where someone is in the present and how they can move into the future the way they want to move.” personal transitions Her transition from therapy to coaching was a personal one. After a difficult period in her

personal life, Sylvester was ready for a change.

She read about coaching and studied coaching literature. This personal change inspired a professional change, and Sylvester began to further study the field of coaching.

The book “Therapist as a Life Coach: Transforming Your Practice” by Patrick Williams was especially important to Sylvester’s transition.

“Making the transition from therapist to life coach requires a journey of self-exploration and self-awareness, as well as creative planning,” writes Williams. It outlines the differences between therapy and coaching, and discusses how a therapist can make a smooth transfer be-

tween the two fields. an innovative new field

Life coaching is an up and coming field and, because of that, there are not rigid standards for the quality and certification of coaches.

“Another distinction between coaching and psychotherapy is that you don’t have to be certified to be a coach. Anybody can hang out a shingle and call himself a coach, which is a little scary,” explained Sylvester.

Because of this, Sylvester felt it necessary to obtain proper certification to add credibility. To become a life coach, she went back to school and took the steps necessary to be a certified coach.

Life coaching is a very different yet equally effective form of remedy.

Therapy focuses on pain and remedying that pain, where life coaching focuses on moving a client’s life forward in a positive direction. Instead of focusing on symptom resolution, a life coach takes clients toward a goal of living a good life and helping a client get in touch with what they are passionate about.

“I worked as a therapist for many many years, and I hear people through some of that training, but I use a different skill set when I bring it to the coaching,” expressed Sylvester, who has worked extensively in both fields.

“I’m gonna ask different questions. In psychotherapy, the therapist often shares impressions and makes interpretation,” said Sylvester.

“But, in coaching, the coach asks questions and trusts that the client has the answers within him or herself. The coaches job is simply to bring out the answer for the client.” C

This book outlines the practice of life coaching, and details the advantages and disadvantages. It is written to the audience of life coaches, but any lay person can easily understand the message. It teaches how to teach, but equally emphasizes how to listen and learn from others. The major emphasis is living a life with purpose. The book is divided up into 52 different life lessons, each of which teach about life and how it relates to coaching. These life lessons are divided into seven sections, such as Creating a Personal Identity or Enhancing Personal Skills.

Although they all teach very different lessons, Williams equally emphasizes all seven sections.

This book, although it is geared toward transforming a coaching practice, is a perfect guide to transforming yourself. It opens with “The experience of reading this book, like many life coaching sessions, is eye-opening.”

Again, this book has a series of life goals and keys to helping along a client. It emphasizes that the client has the answers within himself and, due to this, the reader can know to look for answers within himself. Above all, this book tells you to consider what you really want in your life. mar ch 2 0 1 4

13

SPORK VICTIMS caroline phillips

caroline phillips

THESE ARE THEIR STORIES THESE ARE THEIR STORIES communicator 16 14 the c om mu nica to r

emre.

Emre Babbitt walked over to the third floor lunch table, where he usually eats his lunch. He and his friends have recently began the tradition of playing euchre. Today, his teammate was Ella Bourland. She would turn out to not be much of a teammate at all…

Babbitt was very invested in the spork game and was holding onto his spork throughout the game. However, when it came his turn to shuffle, his spork was posing difficulties.

Babbitt set his spork off to the side, cautious, but trusting of the friends around. Big mistake.

Mid-shuffle, Babbitt was hit. He was out, by no other than his own teammate, Bourland. A blank stare washed over his face as he looked at the brickwall across the hallway. His hope of going all the way, was shattered by a person who is supposed to have his back. Someone who is supposed to protect and defend him. Trust was broken, and Emre Babbitt was out of the spork game.

abby.

It was the first day of the spork game. Abby Lauer casually strolled into her World Lit class, and scanned the classroom. She slowly lowered her spork as she thought “It’s safe, no upperclassman in this class.” She took her seat as the class began. Once the class was over Lauer stood up, gathered her belongings and looked up to a familiar, friendly face… or maybe not so much…

Noah Hirschl locked eyes on Lauer. Not expecting an attack, Lauer greeted her friend. With a cold, heartless stare, Hirschl slowly raised his hand. Lauer’s eyes were still fixed on his face when his spork hit her lower stomach. As the cool plastic hit her body, Lauer’s eyes widened and her face relaxed as she came to the realization that on the first day, Lauer was out of the spork game.

danny.

Danny Langa arrived to Community High school a little later than usual. Langa strolled down the hallway and entered the bluish-gray boys’ locker room.

His second block was personal fitness, so Langa needed to change into a sleek sport attire. No one was in the locker room. At least not yet…

Langa started to put on his shiny black and red shorts.

As he was reaching down his leg, Mason Kupina slid into the locker room, like a silent fox, undetected. Kupina had personal fitness next, as well. Langa had no idea he was enclosed in the same space as a cold-hearted, notorious, spork killer. Kupina came away from the corner and without hesitation impaled Langa’s light, soft, unexpecting back. Kupina left the locker room in victory and Langa had to finish dressing in shame. He spent the rest of his second hour with Robbie Stapleton, his classmates and his killer.

Danny Langa was out of the spork game.

tracy.

Tracy Scherdt saw Mason Kupina and Sacha Moravy-Penchansky in the corner of her eye from her car. She gave them a glance and flashed her blue, nail polished spork in hand. Her fingers tightened to white as she gripped the blue spork– it sparkled in the sun. Kupina and Moravy-Penchansky backed away from the prey with the notice of the spork… Or did they?

As Scherdt traveled on in the medium blue car, Kupina lurked. Scherdt drove on, feeling good that she had warded off such prominent opponents. But suddenly, Scherdt noticed Kupina charging toward the car. She was driving at under five mph. Kupina unlatched the door and drove his spork into Scherdt’s side. A rush of shock and disbelief ran over her body. Kupina ran away from the car and let out a triumphant roar. Scherdt was left in her car, lonely, lost and defeated. Tracy Scherdt was out of the spork game.

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F jeff ohl

ew hours of sleep, countless hours of screen time and a generally sedentary lifestyle. While these behaviors aren’t entirely uncommon in teenagers, kids that take part in all of these behaviors, especially those with a genetic predisposition, are at “some of the highest risks of depression,” according to Robbie Stapleton, Community High School’s health teacher and Depression Awareness Group leader.

This is what led to them being classified as the “invisible-risk” category in a recent study

by Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe (SEYLE), children that were only slightly less likely to be afflicted by a mental health problem but didn’t engage in behaviors that would set off alarms in parents, teachers and friends. For example, a student who doesn’t drink, smoke, or skip school at all, but uses media a lot, and gets little exercise and sleep, would be just 0.8 percent less likely to have subthreshold depression (when an individual exhibits less than five of the symptoms necessary for the diagnosis of depression) than a student who might smoke and drink regularly. what is depression?

The vague idea of depression goes back as far as Hippocrates, who classified melancholia as a disease in which the main symptom was “fears and despondencies, if they last a long time.” However, major depressive disorder, the formal name for depression, wasn’t classified as a mood disorder until the publication of the 1980 American Psychiatric Association diagnostic manual. It wasn’t until the 1950s that it was theorized that depression could be related to a physical phenomenon, that is, a chemical imbalance in the brain. Thus, due to both the fact that depression has only recently been studied objectively, especially when compared to

16 the c ommu nicato r

DEPRES ancient non-mental diseases, such as cancer, and the complexity of brain, little is known with certainty when it comes to depression.

Stapleton expressed a similar sentiment.

“Nobody knows what causes depression and if they’re being honest with you, that’s what they’ll tell you,” Stapleton said. “If I knew the answer to that I’d be really famous.” While the exact cause of depression is yet to pinpointed, there are broad behaviors and trends that various studies and research have noticed.

“Ages 15 to 24 are the ages that people experience mood disorders and other disorders for the first time, this says something about the adolescent brain,” Stapleton said.

Stapleton added that for people who work in the field of psychology, 24 is actually the upper threshold for what would be considered an adolescent brain since the human brain continues to develop into a person’s early twenties.

While cannabis has been shown to have certain medical uses, according to Stapleton, using this drug will only worsen most mental disorders.

“Here’s what we do know, there’s not much, but we do know this,” Stapleton said, “for people with a genetic predisposition to psychosis, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and other psychoses, the drug you don’t want to be doing is pot, especially if you’re a heavy user.” Although people with mental disorders are the ones that are most likely to be negatively affected by cannabis use, they are also the most likely people to use it.

“We also think, and research is ongoing about this, that heavy pot use also exacerbates anxiety and depression, even though it’s really a go-to drug for a lot of people with those disorders,” Stapleton said. In fact, according to Jim Balmer, the director of Dawn Farm, a drug and alcohol rehab

facility here in Washtenaw County, 85 percent of patients that come there also have a coexisting disorder, most commonly anxiety or depression. Stapleton added that the same steps that rehabilitate a person from a drug or alcohol addiction will often treat their mental disorder as well.

“If you solve for the addiction, all but about 10-15 percent get relief from anxiety and depression,” Stapleton said.

What are people with depression like?

Isaac Scobey-Thal is a junior at Community.

Although he is not depressed himself, he has seen several friends go through the process and has observed the causes and resulting effects of depression from his time around them.

“From what I can tell, it’s sort of the build up of a lot of things. A lot of things are making them unhappy and people that have it. It’s a lot about self-doubt and self esteem,” Scobey-Thal said. “Just feeling inadequate with yourself, I think those things are hard to deal with because you can get in your own head so much.”

Scobey-Thal said that his friends have been very open about their depression but that it has also caused him to treat them differently on certain occasions.

“When they’re in a more discouraged state of mind, if they’re having a bad day, I tend to steer clear of them,” Scobey-Thal said, “I don’t really know that much about depression and I don’t want to make it worse by telling them something that they wouldn’t want to hear.”

While Scobey-Thal admits to having discouraging days, he notes that there is an important difference between clinical depression and just being sad.

“That’s why I’ve always been able to know that my experiences have never been real depression. I think there’s a pretty straight

ESSION difference between feeling down and depression; it’s a chemical thing in the brain,” Scobey-Thal said. Scobey-Thal also noticed that bad days for depressed people were different than bad days for non-depressed people.

“When I talk to my friends who are going through depression and they’re in a rut or having a bad day it’s not even that they’re sad it’s like they’re numb almost,” Scobey-Thal said. “They don’t want to talk about anything, they’re just there, a little ghostly.” how should people with depression be treated?

One of the main goals of the Depression Awareness Group at Community is to reduce the stigma around depression. Part of this is because people with mental illness are treated differently than people with physical disabilities.

“I think people should think about people with depression like they think about people with asthma or diabetes,” Stapleton said, “I’m not sure I would say a mental disease isn’t a physical disease, because your brain is an organic, physical organ.” Stapleton added that the way people with depression think about themselves could be improved upon as well.

“Instead of shame or guilt or fear, it’s a very treatable disorder and getting help really helps, we know that,” Stapleton said, “90 percent of people who get help for it, and especially early on in the illness, are successfully treated.”

Since all of the exact causes of depression are unknown and certain causes are out of the individual’s control, such as genes or family life, there isn’t a one size fits all method of treating depression. Certain behaviors and procedures will help one patient but might not help another. However, there are a few ways people can conduct themselves

that have been shown to reduce the likelihood of depression.

“Can you do things to nurture your mental health and protect against mental disorder?

Yeah, I definitely think so,” Stapleton said.

“The research is really clear. Exercise, sleep, healthy diet, and support system.” C If any of the causes of depression or symptoms from depression listed in this article seem to be present in your life or a friend’s, don’t hesitate to talk to a parent, friend, forum leader, teacher, counselor or someone from the Depression Awareness Group.

WOMEN ARE TWO TIMES MORE LIKELY TO EXPERIENCE DEPRESSION THAN MEN. DEPRESSION CAN MAKE INDIVIDIUALS MORE SUSCEPTIBLE TO PHYSICAL MALADIES AND VICE VERSA. THE AVERAGE AGE OF ONSET OF DEPRESSION IS 32 YEARS OLD.

Prevalence of Risk Behaviors in Adolescents

Excessive Alcohol Heavy Smoking Overweight Use Illegal Drug Use Reduced Sleep

Sedentary Behavior Underweight

High Media Use

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Truancy

humans of community GETTING TO KNOW THOSE FAMILIAR FACES THAT MAKE CHS GREAT eliza upton

isaac scobey-thal “Life’s a jog.”

james harkey

dylan pelton

“My current state of mind is that Community is great and I’m not going to leave anytime during the four years.”

A: How has music correlated with your life?

I would say I listen to music at least half of the day. It’s hard to say because with different moods and different times of year I might like a different type of music. Recently I’ve been really tied to Childish Gambino.

But right now currently, like today, I really like Queen. I don’t know. It jumps from multiple artists. It just depends what I’m listening to at the time. I really like things that are new, so I kind of rotate my music so that everything doesn’t become stale.

juliet gustafson

Q: How do you deal with stress in high school?

A: I try and think about the big picture and not stress over small things, which I still usually do, or I’ll play my guitar to relax.

18 the c om mu nica to r

jordan marr

“I am re-sewing the buttons on cop costumes for Urinetown. I’m the Assistant Costume Crewhead.”

gloria fall

Q: What have you learned from your older sisters that you can teach to your younger sister?

A: I think that they give me really good advice on friends. Everybody has friend drama at some point in their life, I can use that to help my little sister. So it’s nice to have my older sisters teach me. You can have bad friends but you should get them out of your life [at some point], and I can teach that to my little sister.

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ice ice baby mira kaufman discusses life as a figure skater with olympic aspirations. hannah davis

LEFT TO RIGHT Kaufman in the Ann Arbor Spring Time Competition age ten, Kaufman in the Ann Arbor Winter Exhibition age eleven, Kaufman in Skate Detroit age twelve.

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ommunity High freshman Mira Kaufman began skating at the age of three after being mesmerized by the 2002 Olympic figure skating performances. Her mother was a skater in the past, and knew from experience that beginning as early as possible can help tremendously with success. Almost immediately after Kaufman’s newly sparked interest in the sport, her mother took her to public skates to get her familiar with skating. With nearly eleven years of vigorous training and heartfelt dedication, she is a member of the Ann Arbor Figure Skating Club with Olympic aspirations.

Kaufman has had the life-changing opportunity to travel to an excellent skating camp in California that attracts some of the premier figure skaters from around the globe.

At this camp, she has met many Olympic skaters and has been lucky enough to train with some of the best coaches in the sport.

I decided to take a crash course in the Sochi skating scene and Kaufman was happy to oblige. For example, you might assume that one would automatically earn a spot for the Olympic team by finishing in the top three for the National competition. However, the final decision of who goes to the Olympics 20 the c ommu nica to r

to represent the United States is made by the Olympic Committee. This is more common than one might think. In fact, just this past January in Boston, third place finisher, Mirai Nagasu, had her Olympic dreams shattered when the Committee decided to replace her with fourth finisher and previous two time national champion, Ashley Wagner. The three female Olympic soloists representing the United States are 18-year-old Gracie Gold of Newton, Massachusetts, 15-yearold Polina Edmunds of Santa Clara, California, and Ashley Wagner, age 22, of Alexandria, Virginia.

Unfortunately, the judging system happens to be full of favoritism instead of honesty with how the competitors perform. For the skaters, this is tremendously frustrating and causes much heartbreak. There are various types of jumps a skater can execute in a performance and for each of these there are different base values. These base values range from 0.4 to 15 depending on how many revolutions there are in the specific jump and difficulty based on the take-off. There is a possibility of one to four revolutions. More revolutions means a higher base value. From the base value comes the Grade of Execution (GOE). The GOE is a score ranging

from -3 to 3, with 0 being the base value.

The GOE is thought of as very unfair by many skaters. The reason for this is because the GOE is based on each judge’s opinion of the elements executed.

Figure skating is subjective, therefore parts of the judging system such as the GOE and component scores can be questioned.

Component scores consist of five categories: choreography, transitions, skating skills, interpretation, and performance. In each category the competitor can receive a score ranging from 0 to 10 going up in 0.25 increments. Component scores can negatively be impacted by not skating a clean program.

This is yet another frustrating piece of the judging system, since hypothetically components should not have anything to do with the elements.

Unfortunately all three of the American competitors did not place in the top-three in the Olympics. Many critics are skeptical of biased judging, although that remains a mystery.

“Despite all of the hiccups in the judging system, I truly love figure skating and I am my complete self any time I am on the ice,” Kaufman said. C

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news

electric cars are evolving at high rates though they have not been perfected jack kelley

ALL GOOD THINGS COME TO AN end. In this case, it could also lead to a new beginning. The world is slowly transitioning over to electric cars, forced by pollution and shortages of fossil fuels. However, the majority still look to fuel powered engines to reach our destinations, and not without good reason. Gasoline powered cars are more convenient, less expensive and more easily obtained. Electric cars and hybrids are still in a stage of development, with flaws that aren’t so easily fixed. Purely electric cars are still uncommon, and while they do draw interest, people who are willing to put their money down for one are rare.

Either way, an electric car has its advantages, such as being environmentally friendly, or having a far greater acceleration speed. Still, for your everyday driver this doesn’t manage to overrule the benefits of a gas powered car.

“The majority of users are much more practical in nature,” said Noah Mass, a longtime employee at Ford Motor Company. When most people go out to purchase a car, they’re looking for usability and convenience. They want a car they can not only drive around town in, but also take on a road trip or a cross-country drive in which case you need something that can go longer and further than an EV (an electric vehicle).

And that’s where one of the EV’s major flaws comes in. Not only do they currently have a limited range of distance even on

a full charge, but the time it takes to charge them can be up to six hours.

“Electric cars are evolving, but the time it takes to charge them is just too long,” said CHS sophomore John Christiano. Though there are more powerful chargers that can be installed in your home that can nearly half the charging time, they are not only expensive but also fixed in place, leaving you with no other option than the semi-convenient charging cable that can plug into any nearby 3-pronged outlet.

However, there’s also another side to the story that few people care to look at. Although we are progressing towards pure green energy at an incredible rate, our power

grid was never designed to maintain millions of electric cars.

“Our grid isn’t really capable of supplying all of the energy that these EV’s would need,” said Larry Webster, the Editor in Chief at Road & Track Magazine. The toll of the entire world eventually switching over to EV’s will be immense, and the limits set by the current foundation of our power system are not yet broad enough. Not only are our standards set by the growth rate of electric cars limited, but we are also currently limited by other factors as well, rendering even a completely successful EV model useless and forcing us to once again rely on gasoline powered cars.

Although EV’s are still uncommon, hybrids that mix the best of both worlds are becoming even more popular with time. While most hybrids can go a good distance on electricity alone, they also have the ability to run on gasoline, covering for the need to charge the car.

Sports cars are also slowly evolving into hybrids such as the LaFerrari, the first high performance hybrid from Ferrari.

Though progress is smooth, these hybrids represent the fact that we are still at a place where we cannot yet make use of the full potential of the EV, but on the other hand, they also demonstrate our forward progress. C

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ele’s place a healing center for grieving children abe weiner

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very Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night at the First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor, kids who have just gone through one of the hardest moments in their lives gather together. They are in the process of grieving and are heartbroken, but Ele’s Place is there for them. So they can enjoy life and be carefree children again while getting help to work through a loss.

Ele’s Place began 22 years ago in Michigan’s capital, Lansing. A couple had just had a beautiful baby girl named Helen; they called her Ele for short. Ele had been born with birth defects which left her in and out of the hospital. At 11 months, she sadly passed away. Ele had older siblings who were grieving. So Ele’s mom, Betsy Stover, searched the whole state looking for grief support for her other children. She could not find anything. She then took her search nationally and found a few places that offered grief support specifically for children. She gathered information from these places and took it back to Michigan where she started Ele’s Place: a safe space where children ages 3-18 can go and help heal with other children who have experienced a similar loss.

Ele’s Place is a place where kids who have lost either a parent, sibling, friend or significant other can come and share their feelings with other kids in an emotionally safe environment.

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th e co mmuni cator

“Sometimes the home is not an emotionally safe place,” said Kathleen Cramer, Managing Director of the Ann Arbor branch of Ele’s Place. “Every time you bring up mom, dad gets upset; this can cause kids to keep their emotions inside.” At Ele’s Place the goal is to share your feelings because it helps with the healing process.

Ele’s Place provides kids with one-hour peer support group sessions every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night, free of charge. Each night they have a Pre-K, Lower Elementary, Upper Elementary, and Middle and High School groups. Kids come once a week and can come as long as they want.

There are twelve kids per room and one volunteer that acts as a facilitator.

Barbara Lundberg serves as one of those facilitators on Wednesday nights for the Pre-K group. She also works as the Office Manager for the Ann Arbor office. She has been employed by Ele’s Place for three and a half years and has been a facilitator for three.

“It’s the best thing I’ve ever done and I’ve been around for a while,” said Lundberg. She decided to become a facilitator because she wanted to get closer to Ele’s Place’s mission.

Lundberg went through 24 hours of training to become a facilitator.

“The training teaches you listening skills, giving feedback, and that we are there just to listen and to provide a safe environment,” said Lundberg. The fact that the facilitators

are just there to listen is what can make being a facilitator such a hard job and what makes training so strenuous.

“You have a tendency to want to fix everything, especially as a mom, and as a facilitator that is not your job. If a child says they are feeling guilty about a death; it is not your job to say it is not your fault because whatever the child’s feelings are, it’s okay,” said Lundberg.

Even though being a facilitator can be difficult, Lundberg finds it very rewarding. “As a facilitator to see their little broken hearts come back week after week and to see the progress they make is so rewarding,” said Lundberg.

As a facilitator, Lundberg’s job is to help run the activities and guide the conversations that they have about grief. The conversations Lundberg would have with the Pre-K group are a lot different from the conversations that the Middle and High School groups have.

“With the younger kids we talk a lot about what death is and we will ask the kids, ‘can you do this when you are dead?’ So it is on much more of a simpler level,” said Kramer.

The activities the children participate in during these sessions differ between age groups. With the older kids they will do less play and more activities focused around conversation as well as journaling. One of the popular activities they do with the older groups is to write down the ten dumbest

things someone said to them at their family member’s funeral.

“After this, however, we ask them what they could have said and that is a lot harder but it also gives them a deeper understanding that knowing what to say when someone died is really difficult,” said Kramer.

The younger kids focus more on fun activities about how to healthfully deal with sadness, anger and all the other emotions that come with grief. They do activities where they write their angry feelings on a piece of tape and then place the tape at the bottom of their shoe. They then proceed to stomping out their angry feelings. Another activity that all the children do is called the “emotion ocean”. “This activity teaches the kids that there is no start or end to grief, just that some days it can differ, like an ocean,” said Kramer. Kramer explained how when the ocean is full of tidal waves, that is a day when a healing child is just overwhelmed with grief, while when the ocean is calm they feel great.

“The kids then make a life raft out of popsicle sticks and they write the things that help them cope with their grief, whether it is exercising, journaling or other activities,” said Kramer. This activity also gives kids a chance to share their ideas for life rafts with each other. Sharing and being with other kids who went through the same thing, are what both Kramer and Lundberg believe is the most important part of the healing process. Kramer believes that the kids sharing and communicating with each other means so much more than adults communicating with them.

“So kids will say ‘my mom died a year ago

and I still a cry a lot;’ if I tell them as a grown up that it’s okay, it doesn’t mean as much. But if another kid in the group says ‘my mom died two years ago and I still cry a lot’ then it means a lot more,” said Kramer.

“As a child who suffered a loss, having a peer that can relate and understand to their situation can be really helpful, because children don’t necessarily get that same support from their peers at school,” said Kramer. At Ele’s Place there are a lot of kids that come in that have lost friends because their friends don’t think they are fun to hang out with anymore. “When your mom dies all you want to do is talk about how you miss her and that makes you sad which makes you not cool to hang out with anymore. At Ele’s Place, your mom is important so it makes you feel good to talk about her,” said Kramer.

Ele’s Place also is there for grieving families during the week. Katie Brickman is a Family Services Coordinator at Ele’s Place in Ann Arbor, which means part of her job is talking to the families over the week about how the session went and offering them advice. She also helps coordinate the facilitators’ meeting one night of the week at Ele’s Place. Brickman also coordinates a new program at Ele’s Place called Ele’s Group.

“These are school-based programs that are eight weeks long, we meet once a week and we do them at five schools outside of Ann Arbor. So we try to bring Ele’s Place to kids that cannot get to us,” said Brickman.

Ele’s Group is currently in middle schools in Pinckney, Ypsilanti, and Milan. Brickman finds working with the teenagers very rewarding because she can see them grow and form relationships with the teen-

agers in the group from start to finish.

“I usually ask the teenagers on the first day whether they knew the teenagers sitting around them would be in this group and most of them are very surprised. This allows them to form relationships with other people at school who have gone through the same thing as them and who they can talk to even after the group is over,” said Brickman.

Brickman also thinks it’s advantageous that the school counselor or social worker does the group with her because it allows the kids to form a good relationship with them so even when she leaves there is an adult they can talk to for help. Brickman hopes to expand the program to high schools as well.

Ele’s Place provides such a great service for kids who are at a tough point in their lives. Unfortunately, there are kids who lose somebody and do not get the grief support they need. This can lead children down a path of drugs, alcohol, depression, suicide, and poor school performance.

Kramer has experienced this first hand.

“I have two half brothers who lost their mom when they were little and they did not get any grief support. Both of them ended up addicted to drugs and in prison,” said Kramer.

Ele’s Place is a place where kids can get their feelings out and heal in a healthy way. It helps grieving kids live like normal kids again.C

If you are or know a child/teenager in need of grief support you can contact the Ann Arbor branch of Ele’s Place at: P: (734) 929-6640

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NEWS

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s-ball. community students continue to play sports despite the challenging weather

cameron fortune alex wood photo

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onan Cekola and Joe Riesterer, both sophomores at Community High School, can be found running up and down Community’s basketball court through the snow nearly everyday at lunch. They play “S-ball,” a variation of soccer, similar to futsal, played on a basketball court, where teams try to hit the basket hoop pole in order to score.

S-ball was created by Riesterer and Tyler Schmader.

The idea for the game came up at the end of fall while the group of boys were juggling on the basketball court.

“We were practicing juggling on the court for our indoor soccer team when one day someone had the idea to start playing a game using the basketball post as goals,” Cekola said. After a few rounds of refining, and the addition of some basic rules, the game took off.

Since it was created, S-ball has become a game that has captured the students’ attention. “There is now a solid base group of about 12 people that play consistently,”

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the communi cator

Cekola said. “We try to get in at least one game a day either at lunch or after school, but lately we have been playing after school more often.”

S-ball, similar to basketball, can be played in a variety of ways with different sized teams depending on the number of people waiting to play. “When more people want to play, we play with three people on each team.

But if there aren’t that many people waiting to play, we will go two versus two,” Cekola said.

As S-ball has become more popular, more intricate rules and terminology have formed. Some of the terms created by players of the game include, “dangles,” referring to someone’s jukes or moves, and “smeg,” which occurs when the ball is hit through someone’s legs.

Almost nothing can stop the boys from playing S-ball, especially the snow. “When we started playing during the end of fall, the weather was fine unless it rained,” Cekola said. “Now that it is winter, there’s normally a lot of snow on the court, but it has turned out to make [S-ball] even better; the snow makes it more challenging. The only thing

that will actually keep us from playing is if we don’t have the ball or if it is extremely cold.”

When spring hits, S-ball will be a brand new sport again on a snowless court while competing with other activities such as back lawn basketball for court time.

This leads some to believe that S-ball is just a winter trend and will die off at the start of spring. Cekola is confident that this is not the case and that it will be around for a long time.

“S-ball will continue forever and ever… unless we get too cut up from falling on the asphalt,” he said.C

.. ...

FIVE FUN FACTS ABOUT S BALL

largest game ever played, 12 players played with both a large and small ball developed in the fall of 2013 longest single game ever played was 2 ½ hours you automatically win if you hit the ball into the basket

lottery. the use of a lottery as entrance to community high school, then and now

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t 9:00 AM on Feb. 11, select staff and students at Community High School gathered around the oval table in Room 222. Excitement spurred small talk: they all chatted with each other about the upcoming district-wide break, mutual friends and corny jokes. The brisk weather brought a chill into the tucked-away space.

On the table were two boxes. One box held 391 names, printed on stiff white paper and cut up into palm-sized rectangles. The other box held the same size pieces of paper, with the actual numbers printed on them. The two boxes had been placed in the center of the table, in the center of the room. These were the focal point for the next two hours. The lottery for the Community High School Class of 2018 was about to begin.

Secretary to the Dean Christina Hicks was focused and ready to start the two hour-long process. She had been preparing for this moment since school resumed after winter break.

“It’s a pretty detailed process,” she said. “It’s taking the applications, processing the applications in a filemaker database and then holding the lottery. It’s an extremely huge amount of time [spent on the lottery]. My life is totally engulfed in lottery from the time we get back from winter break.”

The lottery process is simple: a name is picked out of one box, and a number is picked out of the other. They are called out, stapled together, marked down and set aside. For example, the paper out of one box could say “Jane Reese” and the paper out of the other box could say “340” and they would be put together. Then Jane Reese’s lottery number would be 340.

As the drawing of names and numbers began, the room was quiet except for the sound of hands rummaging through the cardboard boxes and scribbling down numbers. After the first several names were called, the mood among the individuals surrounding the table became lighter.

A few lines of conversation ensued, but the same sound – the paper sliding and the stapler clamping – remained.

About halfway through the process, a familiar face to long-time staffers entered and began to help.

The familiar face was Mike Mouradian, a former teacher who worked at Community High for over 30 years, from almost the very beginning of the school’s history.

Mouradian remembers the years before the lottery existed. “For the first ten years or so of the school, we didn’t even take applications; we actually didn’t have an application process. People just showed up in September. So we never knew how many people would be applying here,” he said.

Not knowing how many students there would be each year before the school year started was a problem for the early Community High staff. Mouradian said that in the June of every year, the staff would have to figure out if they needed to add or cut teachers for the upcoming school year. The school needed a way of figuring out their student population.

“We realized that we needed students to apply earlier so we could assess the situation earlier,” said Mouradian. “So we created an application process, where we went out to the schools and did all the recruiting. In the 1980s, we first got more applications than the number of students. At that point we had a line, so whoever was ahead in line got in.”

As the years went on, more and more students wanted to come to Community. The line grew each year.

Mouradian said, “The first line had about a dozen students. The next year there was 40. And then the next year after than, there were 100’s. I remember one year, sometime in February, these people were waiting in line, and there was this horrendous snow storm. So just to be nice, we opened up the school at night, and all these parents, who were professors and doctors and lawyers, were basically sleeping in the hallway all night.”

Students who applied this year are lucky that they didn’t have to wait in a line in an arctic blast like the students of years’ past. The lottery, while it can be a stressful situation for those involved, continues to be Community High’s most effective way of letting students in. C

kelly arnold eva rosenfeld graphic

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shaping up DIET AND EXERCISE LEADS TO BENEFITS LIKE BETTER SLEEP AND IMPROVED SELF-ESTEEM liam knight

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the communi cator

F

rom August until late November, Community High sophomore Jacob Melchi decided to take up running. He ran every day, slowly adding distance. Before he got sick, Melchi had worked up to running 2-3 miles on a daily basis, around half an hour each day. As a result, Melchi’s sleeping improved drastically, going from 5-6 hours of sleep per night to a solid 8 hours of better sleep per night. And apart from his sleep patterns, his mood improved as well.

“Before I was running, I just felt lazy and bad,” said Melchi. “After I started running, I started feeling happy again. I was in some sort of rut before I started, and then [once I did], I felt happy. It felt good to work out.”

According to Robbie Stapleton, Health and Personal Fitness teacher at Community, exercise is an excellent antidepressant. “Exercise is absolutely a stress-reducer… Regular exercise is as effective as antidepressants at treating depression.”

Many of the students from Stapleton’s classes have reported similar benefits from exercising and being in shape. Students said they noticed various improvements from exercising.

“I have improved my posture, sleep, and have more endurance for activities I enjoy,” “I am able to sleep well at night,” “I feel less stressed,” and “I feel better overall.”

“All I’m saying is, this isn’t rocket science,” said Stapleton. “If you ask people who exercise regularly and vigorously… [teenagers will say] they generally sleep better, they generally feel better about the way they look, they generally feel better about how they feel and it’s an overall positive experience.”

Additionally, the majority of teenagers say they become stressed out often. But according to Stapleton, there is no such thing as getting stressed out. There are stressors, and there is a person’s reaction to stress, which everyone does in the same way: either by “fighting” the stressor or “fleeing” from it. Stress hormones like cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine build up in the bloodstream in response to a stressor, which in the wild would be something like a lion or a tiger that must be fought or fled from. This isn’t particularly helpful when the stressor is instead something like a homework assignment.

Exercise dissipates these stress hormones, which allows

for work to be completed with a clearer state of mind.

However, there is more to being healthy than just exercise. Diet is a crucial element to a healthy lifestyle. Stapleton refers to Michael Pollan’s book “Food Rules” to explain how to eat healthier.

“I think if there’s one thing that everybody could do to make themselves healthier in terms of nutrition, it would be to, in [Michael Pollan’s] words, ‘eat food, real food, not food products, mostly plants, not too much,’” said Stapleton. “If everybody did that, we’d all be healthy.”

Unfortunately, American culture makes unhealthier choices incredibly convenient.

“Given a choice between going to the store and spending money on some good, fresh, unpackaged food, and going home and cooking it in a healthy, delicious way, vs. going to BP; our culture makes it much easier to go to BP,” said Stapleton. “If you had a choice between getting in the car and driving a mile to school, parking your car close to the building to go up the stairs (maybe) or use the elevator, you know. Our culture makes it easy to do almost nothing.” Rather than exercise and farm to get around and eat, our culture opts simply to buy food from a grocery store and drive from place to place.

“To me, being healthy is about quality of life. It is more than not being sick. It is even more than reducing the risk of western diseases. It is vitality; optimal wellness; thriving... It’s easy to do, but our culture makes it pretty hard.

You have to be pretty determined to be healthy and be fit.”

Now, Melchi has started running again.

“Running is fun,” said Melchi. “If you haven’t, you should at least try it out. Try doing something active, because it feels awesome.” C The Communicator : Search Results

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27

the rorschach interview

reminiscent of the rorschach test, in which participants identify what they see in an inkblot, chs students and teachers answer the question, “what is the first life experience that comes to your mind when I say ______?” eva rosenfeld and frances mackercher

“escape” “ghost”

“My aunt told me a ghost story once, because she had one in her house. A Native American ghost whisperer came and got the ghost out. A flock of crows all descended into the yard and then scattered immediately as soon as she blew a flame out.”

- Jack MacConnel

“diner”

“Fleetwood Diner. Greasy french-fries.”

-Marcia Schaffer

“sexism”

“The wage gap. As in the fact that I won’t be able to make as much as literally any man.” - Carson Borbely

“brainwave” “Electric shock as a child.” - Kevin Davis 28

the communi cator

“In kindergarten we had to get our planner signed to go out to recess.

My dad had a really simple signature, you just had to make a D and a P. So I would just do his signature and I would escape...into recess.” - Merrick Perpich

“alien”

“I woke up one day in a field, naked, and there were crop circles all around me. It was probably the scariest moment of my life.” Sacha Moravy-Penchansky

news story

with 92 issued parking passes and 35 available spots,

the parking lot is an over-crowded and high-stress area for seniors.

One in every five registered car accidents in the U.S. takes place in a parking lot.

crossing the line. the conflict of the parking lot, and how to handle it. joel appel-kraut hazel o’neil illustration

A

t Community High School, there are over 100 senior students, and many staff members. Every morning, amidst a never ending line of underclassmen getting dropped off and running across the street, many seniors race to slip into the parking slots in the back of the school, and walk only a short distance to the entrance.

What gives these people the power or privilege to park where so many others can’t? A little orange sticker on their car.

For as long as seniors have been allowed to park on the school’s property, there have been some who abuse it. The most notable of these violations of trust is taking up more than one spot, purely out of carelessness.

For the seniors with a sense of duty towards their fellow parkers, this can be very frustrating.

Senior and parking lot frequenter, Sacha Moravy-Penchansky, has a great deal of issues with his classmates when it comes to parking.

“I understand that in the morning you have to get to class early. But if you get to school and park through three parking spaces, you better make an adjustment.”

Moravy-Penchansky is not the only one with anger towards these people.

Senior Sari Greifer thinks there should larger penalties for this incovenience.

“They should probably get a 300 dollar ticket, because I take like 30 minutes to wait for all the cars to pass, and then have to repark,” she said It does make sense for the violators to be punished in some way. Senior Danny Langa said, “If you can get a parking ticket in the city for being over the line, it should be the same thing here (Community).” This is just one possible solution to a problem that, on the surface, seems relatively easy to fix. However, it apparently is much more complicated than one would think.

Secretary to the Dean Christina Hicks took a deep breath and thought

about what she would say before she made any statement about the parking lot. She stated, “The one part of my job that I struggle with is the parking lot. There is no fairness about it,” She paused, and then continued. “It’s just a no-win situation. Kevin [Davis] and I have to deal with parking issues everyday.”

In the end, it seems that Hicks is correct. The conflicts surrounding the parking lot seem to be unavoidable, and impossible to solve. Though Community assistant Kevin Davis insists that people have been punished for violating parking lot rules, many students are still calling for harsher punishment. Griefer suggested sarcastically “It should be like the death penalty.”

No matter what does end up happening with the parking lot, it seems like senior Merrick Perpich had the best idea, “Just put the time into the day.” C

Only 44 percent of teens get their licenses in the first year of eligibility.

37%

37% of teen drivers say they drive a Minivan, SUV, pickup-truck, or another oversized vehicle. This is a major cause for taking up more than one spot.

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teach like newton, cook like martha casey macdonald

isabel sandweiss photo

I AM RELATED TO QUEEN LATIFAH. NOW I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION, KEEP READING TO FIND OUT IF SCIENCE TEACHER COURTNEY KILEY IS A GOOD COOK

W

hen Courtney Kiley, a science teacher at Community High School, asked me out to dinner the first thing that came out of my mouth was, “Aren’t you married?” However, after my initial shock of getting asked on a date by my teacher, I realized that her invitation was the furthest thing from a romantic evening at the Gandy Dancer that I had always fantasized about. In fact, it was the opposite. I had come to Courtney the previous year with the idea of my new segment in the Communicator called A+ cooking, where I would venture into the dangerous depths of teacher’s households to critique their food.

You might be wondering what is going to happen to Casey vs. Food. Every edition I have to cram pounds of what looks like food down my throat. What is really sliding down my esophagus is cholesterol that will one day evolve into heart disease. Not only was it a huge risk to take on these challenges, but it also was grueling work having to create an opin30

the communi cator

ion of every bite when all I wanted to do was puke it up. Don’t get me wrong, it was always an honor to eat all this food (especially in a world where 1 in 6 people suffer with starvation), but it was time to settle down and eat good healthy food.

Naturally, I had to start at the Kiley household because Courtney’s daughter and I shared the same obsession. Shrek.

I can honestly say that the main reason that I wanted to go to the Kiley residence was to play Shrek action figures with Eliza, Courtney’s one-year-old daughter.

Ever since my brother moved on to college, I’ve had no one to play dolls with.

This was a perfect opportunity to hop off the adolescence train, and joyfully catch the immature, toddler, still pee my pants train.

The Kileys are a family filled with three of my favorite things: close knit cohesiveness, fat cats, and thankfully, handmade turkey meatballs. It seemed apparent to me that Courtney and her husband had done their research on what my taste buds craved. They made me

spaghetti with homemade turkey meatballs, asparagus, and garlic bread on the side. This went perfectly with a bottle of Chateau Margaux 1995. Just kidding Mom, like Courtney’s daughter I stuck with 2% milk. Now, I am used to going into the food challenges dreading what I was about the eat. In this case, my only reaction was gratitude towards the Kiley family.

However, a couple things made me nervous. The first was that when Courtney opened her cabinet to grab the salt, I noticed some beakers filled with very suspicious labels. Now, I realize that she is a chemistry teacher, but I don’t think its normal to have Cyanide and Arsenic hanging out with the salt and pepper like they were best friends. A line of sweat ran down my face. I did get a C on the last science test…was this payback? With a slight smirk on her face, Courtney gave me the plate filled with spaghetti longer than this winter, asparagus greener than the money that AAPS lacks and meatballs bigger than Courtney’s stomach.

Sorry, Judith told me I needed to work on my descriptive wording so why not start here.

It immediately became clear to me that the secret ingredient in this delightful meal was not poison. Instead, I tasted a combination of garlic, love, and the hard work of a pregnant woman. Now some people might say “Casey, there is no way you could possibly taste Courtney’s hard work in the pasta.” However, as the late, great, basketball player Charles Barkley said, “Don’t listen to people, people are stupid.” Don’t worry Courtney…your hard work over my delicious meal did not go un-tasted.

After disregarding all my mother’s morals by licking clean my plate, knife, and fork, I waited patiently for desert. I was expecting carrot cake because…I mean c’mon guys, let’s be honest. When you look at Courtney doesn’t she just look

like someone who has mastered the art of carrot cake creating? Instead she came out with pumpkin muffins. As I eagerly got up to get one, I hardly noticed that I had stepped in the puddle of drool that was slowly dripping from my salivating mouth onto the wood floor.

After gobbling up the muffin in one scrumptious bite, I sat back in my chair and farted really loudly. Just kidding, that would have been rude. Instead I kept it in and had to go to the hospital later that night because my intestines were being compressed due to a build up of flatulence. What I actually did was give a deep sigh stood up, and kindly thanked Oliver and Courtney Kiley for the wonderful meal.

As I got into my car and drove home I did some deep thinking. Not only did I wonder when I would hear back from The Women’s College of Mount Holyoke, but

I also wondered how Courtney and Oliver could have possibly sent the tingles down my spine, and ripples of compassion across my taste buds solely through food.

I came to the conclusion that Courtney and Oliver were simply practicing their healthy cooking habits for when they had to cook for the two most important people in both of their lives. No, I am not talking about their one-year-old Eliza, or their new baby. I mean Isabel Sandweiss and I because we plan on spending every dinner at the Kiley household from now to eternity. Yeah…it’s that good. I look forward to spending more and more time at the Kileys. In fact the adoption papers just went through and I plan on moving into their basement in April. Thank you Courtney for proving that you certainly do teach like Newton and cook like Martha.

Now if you will excuse me, I have some goats that need milking. Till next time. C

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past times now.

PETE SIERS FLAWLESSLY REANIMATES GENE KRUPA

hannon hylkema SudeepStudio.com photo courtesy

The makings for great albums come from within great musicians. Pete Siers, Tad Weed and Dave Bennet certainly bring greatness to the music they make.

“Krupa” is no exception. This trio is rhythmically superb and they pack a powerful energy into each of the tracks on this record while paying homage to the repertoire of the great drummer Gene Krupa.

All 15 songs on the record are quite complex as far as orchestration goes, yet, these men make the tunes sound simple: from straight ahead swing to smooth ballads the groove never dies. True emotion is conveyed on this record allowing it to communicate with, and reach its audience. This trio has undergone years of crafting, studying, perfecting and performing these tunes; they eloquently proved their mastery over each and every one.

One may be accustomed to the sound of Benny Goodman’s classic big band take on “Sing Sing Sing,” but the Pete Siers Trio does a more than comparable rendition of the tune. Each member of the group exerts a ferocious amount of energy, matching the thrill of big band stylings. As Siers pushes the beat with impeccable timing, Bennet and Weed soar all throughout the progression demonstrating their abilities to swing and execute complex lines. For this tune, one may want to open their mind and ears to allow this melody entrance.

The first track “Wire Brush Stomp” is energetic from the get go. Siers begins with lively upbeat brush work which sets the mood for the piano and clarinet to enter with purpose. Bennet’s sound is full and richreminiscent of the legendary Benny Goodman. This song especially demonstrates the tightness of the trio.

A well-trained ear would be able to hear the chemistry of these men, and one could tell that they have been playing together for a while, however, this is the first record they have released collaboratively.

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the communi cator

Speaking on his motivation to create a project featuring the music of Gene Krupa, Siers gave a succinct synopsis.

“As I was collecting this music I thought, ‘man I gotta do this with these guys [Weed and Bennet] while this is still happening and I’m connected with these guys.’”

Fortunately for the jazz community, Pete Siers brought his plan to fruition, because if he had not, a one of a kind work of art and a powerful record would be missing from the new era.

This record is not definable by any standard. It is unique in the sense that

there isn’t much like it in the new era of modern jazz and jazz composition.

Siers reflected and shared his own personal description of the record.

“I love it, I think it’s got some raw power to it. It’s very quirky, it’s got a lot of sense of humor in it, it’s a bit novelty.

It’s not your mainstream kind of thing at all. It was a bit risky after I had it in the bag and listened to it, like, ‘Wow, this does not fit that mold- it doesn’t fit that mold, I just do not know where to put this. But I know it’s good!’”

This statement is more than true because the album is more than good. It is

immaculate. The tunes run the gambit of diversity in jazz, appealing to a wide demographic of listeners. Although jazz is not present in the ears of all listeners, this album could be for it is very accessible. More than jazz cats can get down with these sounds – any music lover could. The Pete Siers Trio speaks to listeners with a multitude of great rhythms and general musicality. This is what draws in young, old, jazzers, hip-hoppers, funk groovers, rappers and trappers. The Pete Siers Trio has created a gem for all to behold.

BOTTOM RIGHT: Tad Weed pictured here in his element at the Steinway in his home studio. BOTTOM LEFT: Recording Engineer Mark Byerly behind command central, meticulously harvests recording on his portable rig. TOP RIGHT: Siers` bass drum, which was an important component capturing the Krupa sound.

TOP LEFT: Photo taken during recording session as guys rehearse a passage. FAR LEFT: Pete smiling as he listens to playback during “Krupa” session.

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>>> QUICK BITES

SYLVIA’S SPOT marcelo salas

34 the c ommu nicato r

FROM THE MOMENT YOU STEP foot into Pilar’s Cafe, the aroma of the sofrito (sauteed onions, garlic and green pepper) and the colorful atmosphere will have you hooked. This small, but cozy, location serves up Christmas-style tamales among other Salvadorian staple foods at a great price. Everything that’s served is traditional food from El Salvador with a little bit of a twist, according to Chef and Owner Sylvia Nolasco-Rivers.

Although Rivers started her career as a cook at the People’s Food Co-Op, she was no stranger in the kitchen; her upbringing in El Salvador placed an emphasis on cooking.

“Every girl get’s involved [with cooking], whether they liked it or not,” said Nolasco-Rivers.

Her most vivid memories are of the smell that wafted through her childhood home when her mother prepared even the simplest of dishes. In fact, it was through smell that Nolasco-Rivers learned to cook, adding and making changes to her dishes as she prepared them.

During her time at the co-op, Nolasco-Rivers made entrees for the hot bar with a latin flair. Eventually people began to notice the signature taste of her “baked chicken… with cilantro, lots of garlic and fresh lime juice.”

Nolasco-Rivers’ first big-time catering event came when one of her co-workers asked her to cater a wedding of 125 people. From then on, she knew that she would need her own kitchen.

“I made the commitment of signing a lease for a few years and starting to cook,” she said.

When she got her catering business out the door with the help of her mother, the Latin/ Caribbean Department at the University of Michigan was really supportive of what she was doing. What started with catering lunch-

es and staff meetings led to catering to almost every department at the university.

Soon after, she became involved with revamping the Liberty Square Plaza by placing a food cart in the area. Then, when the Farmer’s Market popped up, she had a cart there.

Eventually, Nolasco-Rivers decided to open a location on State Street that would serve as place for people to pick up food or eat at the few tables there. After getting sick and having a procedure, however, it was harder to keep the location open. Nolasco-Rivers also notes that she didn’t like the feel of the building, and that led to her closing her first restaurant-style place.

Her current location on Stadium is everything she cnvisioned. Nolasco-Rivers loved being able to design the set up and build her own kitchen. The small cafe now has a retail in the front, a room for sitting, and a small yoga studio.

“There’s that wonderful energy. Some things are locally produced, some things are antiques, some things are from Latin America. So, it’s a little bit of a multicultural retail space,” said Nolasco-Rivers of her layout.

On one side of the shop you can find handmade earrings and order a coffee, sourced from a roastery in Ypsilanti. On the other side you will find picnic-table style seating, decorations and a small studio stocked with yoga mats. At the ordering window you will find Nolasco-Rivers.

Everything that is made at the cafe is made with the finest organic foods she can find.

Nolasco-Rivers’ “casamiento” (rice and beans) is made with local black turtle beans and basmati rice from California. After working in the co-op and the birth of her first son, Nolasco-Rivers wanted to provide customers with the best she could offer.

“I always tell people, ‘I won’t put on your plate what I can’t feed my own children,’” she said.

When Nolasco-Rivers isn’t busy in the store, she spends time working on a project involving recycled bottle caps. After purchasing earrings with interesting prints from a Latin artist, she decided she wanted to do the same. Each bottle cap will feature shrunken prints of saints or pictures from a popular hispanic bingo-style game called “Lotería”. The finished products will eventually be sold in the shop.

During her recovery from an achilles tendon injury, Nolasco-Rivers was limited to non-invasive exercise. But, when she met a customer who taught yoga, she coordinated with her to hold classes in the studio room.

The classes now meet on Mondays and Wednesdays. In addition, the yoga room can be used by the public when sessions or private lessons aren’t being taught.

“Anybody’s allowed to go in there... Maybe it’s to take a little siesta. Maybe it’s to pull out one of the mats and stretch for ten minutes.

Whatever that need is, [the room] provides nourishment for the person at whatever level they need it,” she said.

While cooking, catering, and selling crafts is satisfying for Nolasco-Rivers, she explains that the relationships she has with her customers is what keeps her coming back to work everyday.

“It’s pretty amazing at this point in my life, having different experiences in life, having different jobs, working with different people, to be able to come in to my space everyday and create and to be able to talk to people and just know each other,” she said. C

LEFT Sylvia Nolasco-Rivers at the ordering window CENTER A sweet hibiscus tea goes perfectly with any Salvadorian dish RIGHT A tamale plate with coleslaw, casamiento (rice and beans, and fried plantains

Atmosphere:

Final Thoughts: Pilar’s Cafe is unrivaled in local authentic Latino cuisine. All-natural food from El Salvador, local coffee blends, handcrafted artwork, and yoga classes make this joint appealing to all audiences.

This is a much better alternative to pricey, Ann Arbor-esque Hispanic food

Taste: Service: Overall:

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news story

C

op-ed

hazel o’neil

modern day slavery.ihong kong domestic workers’ struggle

Hong Kong. One of the wealthiest cities in the world, and a city with one of the largest gaps between rich and poor citizens.

One such divide is that of the Hong Kong domestic helpers and the employers they are helping. Helpers, migrant workers predominantly from Indonesia and The Philippines, are hired by wealthy Hong Kong families, both native Hong Kongers and western foreigners. The city is home to 300,000 women, working to provide for their families back in their home countries. They cook, clean, provide childcare, and live in tiny rooms in the back of their employer’s apartments. Paid less than minimum wage, helpers in Hong Kong are treated not even as second class citizens, but are regarded as less than human.

While labor laws claim to be strictly regulated by the Hong Kong government, in actuality, very little monitoring is done.

Employers write the contracts that bring the helpers over from their home countries, and due to this, there are discrepancies between basic clauses amongst helper/employer pairs, such as what qualifies as proper room and board, how much the helper is paid (rarely more than the Hong Kong minimum monthly wage of $505 US dollars), and other basic rights that should be held to a common standard. A recent survey conducted by Mission For Migrant Workers, a helper activism group, revealed that a shocking 30% of helpers are forced to sleep in kitchens, bathrooms, and closets. The only standards employers are held to are providing shelter for their helper (though what qualifies as “shelter” is left up to the employer), providing medical treatment, paying at least medical wage, and giving the helpers at least one day of rest per week.

The rest day comes on Sunday, when the

streets of the city are more flooded with people than normal. Large crowds of helpers sit on public steps and bus terminals, due to the fact that there is nowhere else for them to go, as many of them are not allowed in their employers’ homes when they are not working.

Cruel treatment of helpers is common.

One example can be found in the Cantonese children’s singer, Purple Lee, who made her helper live in a bathroom. The room was monopolized by a toilet, with the bunk bed where the helper slept located directly above. The room was smaller than a standard solitary confinement prison cell.

However, in Hong Kong helper abuse is treated as a shame rather than a crime, and no police action was made to reprimand Lee for her mistreatment. Employers don’t allow their helpers in their homes on the helpers’ rest day, forcing them to the streets.

Many employers don’t provide their helper with keys to the apartment, or proper living conditions.

However, sometimes the abuse is physical.

In one recent incident that has sparked outrage amongst Hong Kong citizens, an Indonesian woman, Erwiana Sulistyaningsih, was travelling on a flight back home, when another passenger noticed that the woman was covered in bruises. The passenger, a fellow migrant worker, asked about the bruises, and managed to get Sulistyaningsih to confess that they had been inflicted by her employer. This case is only one of the thousands of cases, many not reported, of helper mistreatment in Hong Kong. Sulistyaningsih’s employer, a middle aged housewife, has been arrested, but there are hundreds of cases in which the abuser is never brought to justice. Such abuse is dishearteningly common because

of Hong Kong laws – one which requires helpers to live with their employers, and one which states that a worker must leave Hong Kong two weeks subsequent to being fired, too short a time to find work before being deported. Many helpers stay in these abusive employer relationships, because they need the money to provide for their families back in their home countries.

Sadly, Sulistyaningsih’s case is hardly out of the average. Article after article has been published in the South China Morning Post, Hong Kong’s most popular newspaper, telling the same story of different women’s mistreatment, and even their death.

“I thought there are laws regulating safe working practices – oh wrong twice – this is Hong Kong– and for domestic helpers laws only apply if they are for the benefit of the employers!” One angry citizen posted in the comments section of an article telling the story of a 28-year-old woman who fell to her death trying to clean the windows of her employer’s high rise apartment.

Since Sulistyaningsih’s story broke, in early January 2014, thousands of people, citizens and helpers alike, have flocked to the busy Hong Kong streets protesting helper abuse, holding signs proclaiming “Justice for Erwiana,” in English and Cantonese, the official languages of Hong Kong, and in Indonesian and Filipino, the languages of the helpers who are only allowed to fight for own their rights on Sundays. The Hong Kong domestic labor system is broken, and the government is going to continue turning a blind eye – after all, many of the employees have helpers of their own – until something is done. Sulistyaningsih’s story being brought into the public eye is a big step in the fight for helper rights, but it is only one step of a long journey to justice.

communicator policy The Communicator, being committed to the free exchange of ideas, is an open forum for expression of opinions. It is student-run; students make all content decisions. Letters to the editor are encouraged and can be sent to thecommunicator@ googlegroups.com. Signed articles will be accepted with no prior administrative review as space is available. The Communicator reserves the right to edit submissions. Furthermore, opinions expressed therein are those of the authors and not of this newspaper, Community High School, or Ann Arbor Public Schools. For our complete policy, please see www. chscommunicator.com

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the communi cator

leaving the nest. isabel sandweiss

The idea of moving out of the house is completely accepted- and really, expectedin our American culture. I think it is safe to say that most of my classmates will not be living with their parents after we graduate this year; most of us will live in dorms/ apartments at our respective colleges or, if not going to college, many of us will still move out and begin independent life. If we do not move out of the house for college, society certainly expects us to leave by the time we finish our collegiate education.

For many other countries/societies, this is not the case.

In India, South Korea, and Japan- just to give a few examples- it is not unusual for twenty-something adults to still live at home. Part of the reason for this is the same as in the US; unrealistically high housing costs and shortages of affordable homes make staying in your parent’s basement seem like a good option. However, another reason is that living at home is accepted by society. In these countries there are closer ties between families. It is not

uncommon for many generations- grandparents, parents, adult-children- to be living together and functioning as a household. In many cases, adult-children do not move out until they get married and start a family of their own. Sometimes, even after marriage, the couple will continue to live with one of the spouse’s parents. The idea of staying close to family isn’t just accepted, it is found to be appealing.

The point I want to make is that we should take notice of this; the American way of life is not the only way of life and, certainly, it is not always the “better” way of life. I understand the importance of independence and responsibility. I agree that people need to learn to stand on their own two feet and, often, moving out is a first step in doing so. But there should certainly be no rush to “flee the nest” when you are eighteen and there should be no judgement if you still haven’t left when you are twenty-five. As long as individuals are emotionally independent, their living situation should not put a black mark on their self-worth.

Why do we think of twenty-somethings living with their parents as such an epidemic?

After the recent recession, there was a great increase in the number of college-age adults moving back into their parent’s homes. We have named this the “boomerang generation” and society has many negative connotations with the term.

These adults have moved back because they cannot find a job and they have no money; they financially still dependent on their guardians. I am not saying this is good but I am saying that this is okay. It is okay for people to take some time to find their bearings in this rough economy. It is okay to not move out until your late twenties. It is okay to live with your parents. There is no wrong or right time to move out, it should just be when the individual has the means with which to do so. Especially in a time when the economy is causing many people to have no other option, living with your parents should be an accepted reality, not a taboo disappointment.

hormone. At 9:00 pm the excretion of melatonin begins, starting the sleep process.

This excretion is a signal from our brains to our bodies to slow down and reduce stimulation to prepare for a healthy slumber.

When this natural process is interrupted by harsh demands, it throws off the entire biological clock. Forcing yourself to stay awake until 1 am to finish a science project upsets the related movement of hormone release, appetite, vigilance, etc over the course of the entire next day. Unbalancing these internal functions affects productivity, your ability to access long term memory, and maintain a healthy diet– all things strictly related to increasing one’s ability of doing well in school.

According to Hannah Tschirhart, a Community sophomore who plays lacrosse and volleyball at Pioneer, her practice can go until 9 o’clock. After sports, the average student has an additional slue of responsibilities including homework, studying, maintaining a healthy social life, and sleep.

Something has to give, and often that is sleep. Functioning in a school environment

that makes it almost impossible to balance your responsibilities and sleep is pernicious to one’s health.

Currently, our school schedule aligns itself nicely with our biological clocks. This optimal timing is ruined, however, when our sleep schedules are negatively altered throwing the entire clock and its advantages out of balance. The solution is to not drastically rearrange school starting time, but to recognize the effects of our biological clocks outside the realms of the school day and sports. Being conscious of the mental needs of students and not just working them like machines to the point where they’re overcome by enervation is an extremely overlooked flaw in the education system.

Modifying the ways students are expected to function would allow teens to live healthier lives physically which is crucial in such a developmentally substantial phase of their lives. Minor changes in the school schedule and the workload would allow the education system to be more accommodating to our biological clocks and further increase the productivity and value of education. mar ch 2 0 1 4 37

an exhausted generation. sophia simon

The American Sleep Disorders Association recommends an average of 9.5 hours of sleep daily. This figure translates to a little less than 40% of your entire day devoted to sleep. This generation’s teenagers achieve an average of only 7.5 hours of sleep per day, or 30% of the day. We are all familiar with the dreaded sounds of an alarm clock interrupting those precious hours of sleep– the effort it takes to hold your eyes open as you slip into clothes scavenged from your bedroom floor because you’re too exhausted to piece together an intricate outfit. This level of incoherence alone is a red flag, but then we are asked to be up and ready by 7:50 with the attentiveness and attitude fit for committing Math analysis to memory?

The Human Circadian biological clock is a representation of our internal biological sense of the time of day and and the way our functions relate to this timing. Our biological clocks regulate fundamental internal functions like hormone release, vigilance, appetite, and body heat. One example of the effects of the biological clock is the release of melatonin - a sleep regulating

crash landing. iabsence of ‘flappy bird’

game on app stores brings to light nation’s dependence on electronics for entertainment marcelo salas duncan reitz illustration

‘Flappy Bird’ is a phone game phenomenon of sorts. It has a simple concept: tapping the screen to keep a bird suspended in air, maneuvering through obstacles in the process. While the idea behind this game is anything but new, the difficulty of the game and its simplistic nature interestingly drew in millions of downloads on route to the top download spot on both the Apple iOS and Android app stores. Everything was in place for the game to reach a new level of popularity until the game developer, Nguyen Ha Dong, decided to take the game down.

Dong tweeted twice – cryptically at that – before pulling ‘Flappy Bird’ from stores, ending any further success for his addicting creation.

“I am sorry ‘Flappy Bird’ users, 22 hours from now, I will take ‘Flappy Bird’ down. I cannot take this anymore,” Dong Nguyen tweeted. “It is not anything related to legal issues. I just cannot keep it anymore.”

In the aftermath of the app’s removal, hysteric users and resellers took to websites for a solution to their new-found problem.

In one case, a phone with the app installed

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on it received a bid for over $5,000 on Ebay.

While this may seem to be an extreme step to take as a consumer, the message is clear: people have a desire to play this challenging game.

When I first witnessed my friend playing ‘Flappy Bird’, I was stunned to see that they were wrapped up in what seemed to be a straight-forward, pointless game. Four hours later, I decided to test it out for myself. While I couldn’t pinpoint a single quality I enjoyed about the game, I could not get myself to stop playing until I achieved my goal of a whopping 10 points. Most of the games I play are easy to pick up, but that was not the case this time around. The degree to which I focused on this game can be summed up to be nothing short of embarrassing, pathetic, even sickening.

The fact that consumers are willing to spend thousands to play a game that is no longer available serves as an indicator that the majority of our nation is dependent on electronics as a form of entertainment. It is unsurprising that electronic product purchases have skyrocketed as of late. According to a survey conducted by the Consumer

Electronic Association around Black Friday last year, 35 percent of holiday shoppers bought products under the Consumer Electronic umbrella. Of that 35 percent, 29 percent purchased tablets and 19 percent decided to invest in smartphones.

With electronics receiving more attention than ever, the rate at which people purchase and use electronics has been a cause for concern in the mental health world. According to a study conducted by the University of Gothenburg, Sweden in 2012, frequent cell phone and computer usage can cause sleep disorders, stress and even depressive symptoms.

All signs show that individuals are supplementing, even substituting everyday activities with electronic devices. The ‘Flappy Bird’ craze is just a recent example of this device take-over. For some, a simple video game revolving around a pixelated bird may be critical towards their fun, but what happens in a world without iPhones? What happens when one can’t perform a simple google search?

mentality behind mental health.

madeline halpert

Over the past hundred years, people have been often refrained from discussing their sexuality. It was socially unacceptable for someone to talk about their sexuality, if they felt any other than straight. Throughout these years, a few courageous voices have spoke up to talk about other sexualities– ones that differed from the social norm of heterosexuality. Because of this, our society is much more comfortable discussing a range of sexualities today. But it was not an easy process to get there. It took years of discrimination, unease, and finally, sharing of personal experiences to break down this barrier. Today, we face a similar issue of stigma, but with a different subject: mental illness.

In the United States, the number of people who seek treatment for depression has more than doubled over the past twenty years. So if more than twice as many people are being diagnosed, why are we still not able to talk about it openly? When a person

breaks her leg, or has the flu, he or she would feel no hesitation in talking about it with their friends. But when it comes to mental illness, people are much more likely to not discuss it, or even admit that they have a mental illness. One of the reasons why many people still feel uncomfortable about sharing their personal stories is because of misperceptions about the illness.

Some people don’t understand that depression is in fact, a real illness, and not just a mental weakness. Another reason is that because mental health is often related to emotional problems, it can be very personal for someone to discuss. If we want to get rid of the stigma and misconceptions surrounding mental illness, talking about it is the first and most important way to do that.

One of the most common and alienating symptoms of depression is the feeling of being completely alone. It is helpful, if not essential, for people with depression to talk about it– with professionals, friends, family,

news story

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op-ed

etc. And even though all of these support systems are incredibly helpful, it is not quite the same as talking to someone who has experienced the same, or similar struggles.

It is near impossible for people who have depression to find others who struggle, if no one is discussing it. Talking about mental illness would bring those who deal with it together, and battle against one of the most overwhelming symptoms of depression: isolation.

Mental health problems are becoming increasingly common in the United States.

If we want to put up a better fight against these disorders, we are going to need to start talking. No one should have to go through such an alienating illness all by themselves; it’s time to start reducing the stigma that prevents so many from getting help. It’s time for everyone in our society to realize, you are never alone in the struggle with mental health illnesses.

the children left behind.

jeff ohl

While America’s economy is the largest in the world, it is unlikely to stay this way if current educational trends continue. The problems in the American education system stem firstly from problems in compulsory K-12 public school education, such as low standards of achievement and mediocre amounts of students even achieving these.

The second field where these problems occur is in college, specifically the limited options that middle-class and working-class families have to pay for college.

The No Child Left Behind Act has also contributed to the decline in the United States education. The No Child Left Behind Act does not set a national achievement standard and allows states to determine the standards for their achievement tests. It also provides incentives for states with high achievement numbers. Thus, there could be 100% proficiency on the test, but the students could still not be very well-educated. It provides no incentive for students or teachers to go beyond the bare minimum set by the states, so many students are only being taught the test instead of valuable life

lessons or material that challenges them to think about the world differently.

This is especially hurtful for gifted students because they will likely need less preparation than their peers, but since the achievement tests are so important, these gifted students are forced to spend the same amount of time preparing for this test as their less gifted peers, wasting their time and removing the challenge school should have for all children. As long as the No Child Left Behind Act is in place, states will only focus on getting students to pass the test (which they made) instead of trying to give them a truly competitive education. The U.S. Congress could fix this by amending the No Child Left Behind Act to include rigorous national standards instead of allowing states to determine these standards for themselves.

The cost of college rose 538 percent from 1985 to 2013 despite regular inflation only rising 121%, meaning that even when one adjust for inflation, the cost of college in the U.S. has still more than tripled in the past 30 years. This especially hurts students

who are academically capable of attending prestigious institutions but are riddled with student loans after they got their degree because their family wasn’t wealthy. This discourages students from lower income families from attending college, which perpetuates the poverty into the next generation. In addition to hurting virtually all of this country’s youth, the increasing cost of college drives an even bigger wedge between the richest and poorest of this country. Colleges and universities should focus more on making sure they can give large amounts of people an exceptional education instead of trying to make a profit.

Thus, the education problem in the United States does not exist in a bubble; it is also affected by issues related to the economy, nutrition, poverty, housing, and civil rights.

Although the problem of the U.S education is a complicated and difficult one to tackle, the future of our country depends on it, and there’s no way we can remain a world superpower if we don’t solve our education problems first. mar ch 2 0 1 4

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warm in ann arbor. it’s finally here. ways to get the most out of the beautiful weather eva rosenfeld

go hammocking

grab a hammock and set it up between a couple of trees on the river bank! bring along a friend and a book and a drink and take in the sun

art outside

what better muse than THE WORLD? take your paints, sketchbook, instrument, or poetry outside

eat

outdoors

at mark’s carts, have a picnic at a local park, or just grab an outside table downtown

bike border-tovisit the river for a border ann arbor’s picnic, a swim, or just to sit b2b trails have nice variety of easy and tough riding and are one of the most fun and beautiful ways of getting outdoors. stop at bandemer along the way to bike at its dirt bike jump course 40

the communi cator

on the docks. bandemer, argo, the arb, and gallup are some great spots on the river, but there are plenty more great ones and the best spots are always the ones with some significance to you

the arb and peony gardens

are a gorgeous place to hang out in the warm weather, especially when the peonies are blooming

pick-up game

get together some friends, athletic or otherwise, for a pick-up game at at the park

hike unfortunately, ann arbor is

not known for its diverse terrain or elevation, but you can get in a solid hike on the trails behind island park, or you can take a more leisurely hike through trails at other parks like gallup or barton

take out the ol’ tent

go canoeing, kayaking, paddleboating, and tubing

down the huron river. the argo cascades are an especially good spot for kayaking and tubing

there are no designated camping spots in ann arbor, but, you can head out to surrounding areas like pinckney or potawotami trails (or heck, set up camp in your backyard!)

see live music outdoors at festivals like sonic lunch, live on washington and top of the park

chs special: back lawn lunch it’s the

moment we’ve all been waiting for! no more searching for seating in a crowded hallway or kerrytown; join your friends on the back lawn :-) mar ch 2 0 1 4

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take a hike BEAUTIFUL PLACES TO GO WALKING THIS SPRING isabel sandweiss

Ed Kulka walks home from Community almost every day, even in the frigid winter.

Since his teenage son has taken the car, it’s the easiest mode of transportation for him. But he doesn’t mind the 25 minute walk, which winds through West Park. He even likes walking to school in the morning.

“Every so often there’s just a mist,” he said. “So I’ll walk down and I’ll have some coffee and I’ll just stop and take it all in.”

Kulka likes walking through the park during the transition times of the day; he likes the excitement early in the morning or the calm evening when the light dims and night settles in. He never listens to music because he doesn’t like to tune out the world. However, he does like tuning out his thoughts.

“I try not to think about anything,” he said. “I try to just enjoy walking. So I kind of go brain-dead as best I can.”

Kulka likes walking through West Park because he feels connected to it. He gets to see it every day, so he is able to notice the change in the seasons and the change in the sunlight. He has always loved walking and is happy to walk to school, just like he did when he was a kid.

BLUFFS PARK

ENTRANCE: N MAIN ST 39 ACRES LOCATED ON GLACIAL RIDGE

the communi cator

ENTRANCE: SEVENTH ST COTAINS: BASKETBALL & TENNIS COURTS

Living with four siblings, Tawiah Yalley’s house often gets very loud. He likes to bike down to Bluff ’s Park to escape the noise and relax. He parks his bike and wanders throughout the trails.

“I just walk and walk and walk until I can’t walk anymore, and then I just turn around and keep on walking,” he said.

Yalley likes to listen to music while he walks. He enjoys the grassy fields at Bluff, where there are always people playing Ultimate Frisbee. His favorite time to go walking is when it’s nice but a little windy.

Danny Langa loves the spot between holes 12 and 13 on the Radrick Golf Course.

It’s tucked into a corner of the course, right next to a little prairie, and is surrounded by tall trees. He likes to come in the evening and watch the sunset– first he watches it through the trees, and then he walks around a bend to watch the entire sky fade.

“It’s really peaceful and meditative when I go out there by myself,” he said. “I can just focus on being outside and not have to worry about anything.”

Langa is an avid golfer and goes out to a course three to four times a week. Radrick is his favorite. Sometimes he brings his dad along with him, but mostly he likes to go alone. He really enjoys the walking aspect of golf; it gives him time to relax his mind.

“I think a lot,” he said. “But it’s not really what I think about, it’s more like what I don’t have to think about, which is school and stuff. I don’t have to think about the things that stress me out.”

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WEST PARK

RADRICK

ENTRANCE: GEDDES RD 275 ACRES OWNED BY U OF M

BIRD HILLS

ENTRANCE: NEWPORT RD 161 ACRES LARGEST PARK IN A2 Every weekend in the spring and summer, Anne Thomas goes walking with her friend, Terri. They begin their route in the morning at Terri’s house and then wind through a combination of Bird Hills, Kuebler-Langford, Bandemer, and Barton Nature Area. Terri navigates while Thomas tries to learn the interwoven trails.

They began walking together three years ago, after Terri’s son and Thomas’ forum student, Jake, died unexpectedly in a fire. Having lost a child herself, Thomas can connect to Terri’s feelings. They walk and talk and heal together as they watch buds come out and spring unfold.

“I love watching the flowers,” Thomas said. “In the spring, they’re just so wonderful because it’s that splash of color we haven’t been seeing. All we’ve been seeing is the white and brown and the grey. The flowers are just gorgeous.”

Thomas’ favorite points along the trail are when they cross bridges or pass by prairies. She enjoys looking out at the Huron River and loves the different patches of color the prairies contain.

“I find that the transition of walking is a wonderful way to clear your head at the end of the day or get yourself in a mindset at the beginning of the day,” she said. “It’s a wonderful way of making those transitions.”

Dylan Pelton likes to walk along a dirt road near his house off of Jackson and just see where it takes him.

The road is bordered by fields and trees and usually only two or three cars pass the entire time he’s walking. Mostly Pelton looks up to the sky; he likes to see the clouds moving.

Pelton walks when he’s stressed out. If he’s bored enough, he’ll go walking until his legs hurt. Walking is a nice escape.

“Sometimes I like to walk because home gets annoying,” he said. “Sometimes I like to walk j ust because if I have an idea in my mind I don’t want any distractions. I want to walk and think clearly.”

Pelton writes these ideas­– usually short stories or poems­– on his arm as he walks. He’s found that this works better than a notebook, which is hard to get a steady write on. He jots his thoughts down quickly, before he loses them.

If he goes on a walk to relieve stress, Pelton normally returns with a clear enough head to face whatever was stressing him. If he goes walking to cultivate an idea, he returns ready to start and finish whatever he came up with. He doesn’t like to share his poems, but he has a few journals full of them.C

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what’s in your car? preston horvath isabel todoroff

dannylanga drive e to v a h tuff y ormall e a lot of s o, n I l, oo hav ss. Als g sch both l fitne e both a “Durin nd so we n o s per a so w Emre, e we have fterwards. a s u beca e golf ar.” th hav tuff in my c o b e w ts all tha have

“Technically it’s just my family’s car. We have two cars, and I’m the youngest in my family, so I normally don’t get priority. But now my sister is in college and she doesn’t have the car with her, and my dad normally can walk to work so that my mom and I can each have a car, which is nice.”

“During persona l there m ay be lik fitness e some stray un derwea r”

“I don’t keep any CDs, but I always have my ipod and a good USB hookup. My go-to driving music is probably just some funky thing like some Michael Jackson or something.

Get the head bobbing.”

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lly norma is e r e h t t ep it t is tha my car. I ke my h g li h just ff in “A hig t of stu ause it’s not try to lo a t o c n ally be . I usu etimes clean y y id t t t e r y t p t m it’s pre , but so car, so p when I can ool.” u h clean it gh during sc u o t that’s

picture this

RECALLING INFLUENTIAL LOVED ONES THROUGH PHOTOGRAPHS

Laura Davis

Leah Davis and her older sister Laura haven’t always had a close relationship. Growing up, the strains of mental illness prevented them from creating and maintaining a healthy sibling connection. But Leah knows that without their struggles, they never would have arrived at the relationship that they have today.

Laura is 22 years old and is currently living in Chicago, Illinois. Leah believes the distance has been good for them, although she wishes they talked more often. Laura is able to live her own life there and has been taking strides from the addiction and depression she faced during her adolescence.

Now, she is able to focus on the relationships in her life, and Leah is grateful that it has allowed them to become closer.

Laura is incredibly driven and completely ridiculous. She has a great sense of humor and never fails to make Leah laugh. Leah loves talking with her because she always shares something funny, weird or entertaining; nothing is ever too awkward to say. She’s also taught Leah to be a nice older sister to their younger sister, Hannah, and keeps her in check when she isn’t doing a good job.

Leah is glad that their relationship is unique and knows everything they have now has everything to do with their relationship from the past. She is proud of who her sister has become, and is thankful for the advice and selfless love she gives her. Even when they are apart, Leah knows Laura always has her back.

Eliza Kiley Five o’ clock in the morning is Courtney Kiley’s favorite time of the day. She wakes up to sound of her two-year-old daughter, Eliza, calling for her to “carry me out of the darkness” of her bedroom and into her parents’ bed. Courtney and Eliza then cuddle together for an hour before they begin their day. Eliza rubs her mom’s face and tells her how much she loves her.

Courtney believes that she and Eliza share a brain. They are best friends and have many similarities, like their social nature and their spunky sides. Eliza is very talkative and observant and often makes sassy remarks like “no, I don’t think so” or “not in my house” when she is asked to brush her teeth.

They love to draw and read together. Eliza especially loves to hear stories about books they are reading or memories from Courtney’s childhood. Since Eliza is so verbal, Courtney is able to carry on full conversations with her. Eliza is very funny and makes Courtney laugh every day.

When Eliza was born, Courtney had all the logistics in order. She knew who would take care of her and was prepared for when she went back to work. However, she was completely unprepared for the emotions that come with loving a child. It was terrifying; she was scared to love something as deeply as she loves Eliza. But after a few months, Courtney realized that to love someone is to accept how devastated you would be if something ever happened to her.

Courtney’s world has revolved around Eliza for the last two – almost three – years, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. She hopes that after she has her second child, who was born on March 13, she will still be able to maintain her close relationship with Eliza. Her main wish for Eliza is that she grows up to be confident and happy.

And, as a smaller goal, she’d like Eliza to learn how to jump this year.

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art throb

natsume ono, sophomore

“This was my way of expressing the difficulty of being Asian American. In the picture I have my traditional japanese dress and then my reflection shows me in my everyday American clothes.�