Vol. 20 No. 4

the

Roar

1801 Harvey Mitchell Pkwy. S., College Station, Texas 77840

Friday, Feb. 13, 2015

Vol. 20 No. 4

LG LG B. LGB. B.......???

Policy on national scale leaves transgender students out, change too distant sydney garrett | assistant editor Andrew Smith* takes victories wherever he can get them.

“I was jumping around hitting the walls,” Smith said. “Even the little things are small wins, because you have a whole lifetime of things to make up for.”

His exuberance at being able to room with male teammates despite differences in biological sex did not last, though. A week before the overnight trip, his club sponsor called him in to discuss the rooming assignments, and Smith was moved out of the room of his choice.

The school gave Smith the choice of being placed into his own room or into a room of girls. Smith is trying to “pass” as entirely male, so sleeping in an isolated

inthisissue

room, as an outsider, was unthinkable. He spent the trip in a hotel room with students of the opposite gender.

“I kind of just spent a few classes crying in [my sponsor’s] closet,” Smith said.

The sponsor involved declined to comment.

Smith is a transgender student at Consol. He identifies as a male, but is recognized as a female by the school.

“I can’t blame the administrators [for this situation],” Smith said. “If it hasn’t come to their attention, how are they supposed to know what they need to do about it?”

Chrissy Hester, CSISD’s director of student services, agreed that concerns regarding gender identity are rare at Consol. Between that fact and the lack of action on a national scale, Hester said that the school district

news pages 2-6 opinions pages 7-9 viewpoints page 10

is unlikely to make a policy change in the near future.

“The legislators and policymakers aren’t even willing to do public policy about [transgender issues],” Hester said. “I don’t think school districts will be making policy until there’s more national case law and policy debate about it, because we’re the last to make policy.”

To the knowledge of Hester, the school board has never had a conversation about gender identity and the issues it may inspire in regards to school policy, so, because of this lack of discussion, there is no policy for resolving such problems. “[Some policies are] designed for the majority, and so, by definition are therefore sometimes going to be inadvertently harmful or biased regarding certain students,” Jackie Shoemake, Gay-Straight Alliance cosponsor, said.

“gender” continued on page 3.

snapshots page 11 people pages 12-18 sports pages 19-21 entertainment pages 22-24

2 | news | the roar

friday, feb. 13, 2015

Fainting condition dangerous, chronic problem for some teens jennifer zhan staff reporter Junior Nathan Speakman woke up on the ground. He was incredibly thirsty, and he could feel a raging headache building up inside his skull.

Speakman had just suffered an episode of syncope.

“I get this burning sensation in [my] stomach. My vision starts closing out, my ears ring, and I get pins and needles all throughout my body,” Speakman said. “Then everything goes black.”

Nurse Dianne Dusold defines syncope (pronounced sing-kuh-pee) as the temporary loss of consciousness due to an interruption in the blood flow to the brain. Commonly known as fainting or passing out, syncope is just another part of life for several students at Consol.

Speakman has been fainting ever since he was little. After a series of tests his freshman year, he was diagnosed with the

most common type of syncope, Vasovagal syncope, where a variety of different causes lead to a dramatic drop in blood pressure.

“Being really scared, the sight of blood, standing for a long period of time, extreme heat, dehydration, emotional stress, and even a sudden change in body position can all be precursors,” nurse Ann McGinnis said.

According to Dusold, experiencing one or two episodes is not a major concern.

Syncope is a fairly common medical condition and usually harmless. However, severity ranges radically, from angry children holding their breath to fatal cases of syncope.

“Being familiar with per-

‘‘

sonal triggers and resulting symptoms before they worsen helps prevent episodes of syncope,” said McGinnis.

“That’s why fainting for the first time is actually quite scary; you don’t know what’s going to happen,” freshman Emily Li said.

“But now I know that making sure to get a really good breakfast before going to school helps me.”

Sometimes, however, a person can faint without warning signs due to another medical situation, like an injury or a heart problem. Junior Harrison Hayes was playing football when he passed out for the first time. “[The other] team was known for pretty large guys,” Hayes said. “One of them just

My ears ring, and I get pins and needles all throughout my body, then everything goes black.

came at me, and I was hit in the head.”

Hayes sometimes still suffers from brief blackouts.

Because of similar situations where preventative measures may not work, it’s important to know what to do if somebody near you faints.

“If they didn’t have time to sit or lie down, they may have hit their head, so make sure they’re safe,” McGinnis said.

“Then give the person some air, and wait. If they don’t wake up in about a minute, you should call the nurse or let an adult know.”

Above all, it’s important to remember that fainting isn’t just something done for humor in movies.

“Sometimes people don’t even see fainting or passing out as a medical condition,” Speakman said. “But in my opinion, people should take syncope very seriously.”

CAUSES of SYNCOPE fear of bodily injury standing for long periods of time heat exposure & dehydration emotional stress having blood drawn sight of blood

If you ever need caring, confidential help, there’s always Hope.

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friday, feb. 13, 2015

Progress for transgender students limited by lack of education, awareness “gender” cont. from page 1 The policies that Shoemake describes do not bother most people, and, accordingly, do not cause the school district many problems, usually, Shoemake said.

One such example of an unintentionally hurtful policy is the one regarding IDs, transgender student Andrew Smith said. For him, wearing an ID with his birth name is equivalent to being plastered with a false identity. “[Wearing my ID] definitely isn’t a pleasant experience,” Smith said. “It’s just forcing people to follow the system because it’s easier to follow a system.”

The system can create negative feelings for transgender students, like Sam Hitchens*.

“When people say my birth name, it hurts. It shouldn’t hurt, but it does,” Hitchens said. “I have to take a moment to myself because it makes me feel like I’ll always be female, and I’ll never change, and that’s just how it’s gonna be. It makes my heart stop for a second, and not in a good way.”

However, the school does have a good justification for making every student wear their birth name around their neck.

“We wear IDs so that we can see whether you belong in this building or not,” Hester said. “I think that’s very important for safety these days.”

No law requires students to wear IDs with their legal birth names in school.

CSISD, though, chooses to use this means of identification to connect each student to his or her file.

“

“For the majority of students, having the name you were born with on your ID means nothing,” Shoemake said. “For that small minority for whom that name feels like a lie, I think it can very much present a struggle.”

However, Hester said that no one has ever raised concerns about the system of identification in court, and the same goes nearly all transgender issues, Buddy Reed said.

“I think it’s new. I think it’s evolving,” Reed said. “It hasn’t become an issue or a concern for us.”

And while, according to Shoemake, the relative “newness” of an issue is no reason to ignore it, Hester said that because schools are so slow to change, and because even changing a few words of policy can drastically affect how things are done, these policies are not likely to be altered soon. This is true of the district’s antidiscrimination policy as well, which includes various groups protected under federal and state law.

“Gender identity and sexual orientation are not on that list,” Shoemake said. “If the federal government doesn’t say that you can’t discriminate against these groups then states’ governments aren’t going to [alter the anti-discrimination statement].”

This anti-discrimination clause is required to be included in every publication endorsed by the school district. A few years ago, the school board looked at options for adding “sexual orientation and gender identity” to the list

It makes me feel like I’ll always be female, and I’ll never change, and that’s just how it’s gonna be. It makes my heart stop for a second, and not in a good way.

TRANSGENDER: denoting or relating to a

person who expresses a gender identity that differs from the one which corresponds to the person’s sex at birth

CISGENDER: denoting or relating to a person whose self-identity conforms with the gender that corresponds to their biological sex definitions from the Oxford Dictionary

of protected people.

“Our policy consultant recommended that we not change [the statement] at that time because there wasn’t any case law to support it,” Hester said. “There wasn’t a [legal] reason to put that word in there.”

Shoemake argues that this makes change more difficult to achieve because, in essence, “leaving out” transgender people marginalizes them by making them an exception to the rule.

“It’s oppression by omission,” Smith said. “When you don’t make a decision in favor of the oppressed, you are supporting bigotry.”

Shoemake said that it’s easy to ignore transgender issues because they are often overshadowed by the fight for marriage equality and because the topic of gender identity is a confusing one for many people.

“People get very defensive when anyone crosses those invisible boundaries [between genders] or questions the established order,” Shoemake said. “Many people don’t think about gender identity.”

Transgender activists have to go through the process of educating the public about gender identity before any kind of real progress can be made, Shoemake said.

“I feel like trans advocates are dealing with what gay rights activists were dealing with 30 years ago,” Shoemake said.

According to Shoemake, there are seemingly endless odds stacked against transgender students, and she doesn’t think any change will occur until more people become vocal allies for these people.

“

“No way will the state of Texas [make changes] on its own, only if they’re pushed.” Hester said. “I think [these students] are on a journey, a hard journey, but there is hope because more people are speaking up.”

However, speaking up isn’t the only important thing in initiating change for transgender rights, even at a local level, Hitchens said.

“The school was built for a specific kind of person, who are cis gender. It feels very stiff,” Hitchens said.

“I don’t believe it’s gonna be changed until something changes within our own actual society, the way that everyone thinks.”

This leaves the possibility for change in a sort of limbo, where locally nothing will happen until there is a national conversation on the subject. However, no national discussion will occur until local communities acknowledge the issue, Rebecca Adams*, a close friend of Andrew Smith, said.

“Transgender things don’t take precedence in people’s lives unless they are directly related to [them],” Adams said. “They just kind of ignore it.”

Adams says this will continue to be the case until transgender issues gain more importance on a national level.

“I think [the biggest problem transgender students face is] the level of accommodation that the administration has,” Adams said. “I don’t think [the level] is low with malicious intent, but just out of ignorance.” * Names have been changed to protect the identities of the sources.

It’s oppression by omission. When you don’t make a decision in favor of the oppressed, you are supporting bigotry.

Transgender people are TWICE as likely as cisgender people to face unemployment

41% of transgender respondents reported attempting suicide compared to 1.6% of the general population

78% of transgender Americans faced severe harassment in childhood

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Center for Transgender Equality

4 | news | the roar

friday, feb. 13, 2015

Consol students place in their first ‘CyberPatriot’ competition alex coopersmith | opinions editor The most used password in 2014 was “123456,” barely beating out “password,” “qwerty,” and the lengthy “12345678.” With passwords like these, it is no surprise that hackers are becoming an increasing menace to society. But this menace is being combated.

A group of students is trying to make a difference by competing amongst the 2,175 teams that participate in the US Air Force CyberPatriot competition. Who are these heroes working ceaselessly to make us safe?

“Doing [CyberPatriot] doesn’t make you an actual patriot,” senior, and CyberPatriot competitor, Yuchen Gao, said.

While this contest does not give competitors hero status, it does have a very important goal. CyberPatriot, in its seventh year of existence, was created (according to the CyberPatriot mission goals) “to inspire high school students toward careers in cybersecurity or other science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines critical to our nation’s future.”

In CyberPatriot, teams take the role of IT professionals tasked with evaluating the network of made-up “small businesses.” Their goal: to find vulnerabilities and strengthen the network, all in a six hour period.

“To fight the people who are doing the dangerous things, you gotta know what they are doing,” Information Technology Teacher and CyberPatriot sponsor Bart Taylor said. “There is a lot more curriculum coming my way, including a certified ethical hacker program.”

But Taylor cautions that typical students don’t have to worry about being hacked and other cyber threats, as long as they take common sense precautions.

“Don’t share your passwords with anybody, and make sure you have complex passwords,” Taylor said. “Have more than one password. Use this one for your Gmail, use this one for your bank account.”

These may seem to be common-sense ideas, but they make a huge difference.

Long, cryptic passwords may be annoying to remember and to type in, but they are far better than the alternative.

Likewise CyberPatriot competitors have to check password strength as well.

“The first thing we always do is check to see what accounts are authorized, and what the passwords are,” CyberPatriot competitor and senior Evan Bendiksen said. “Some of the accounts that authorize literally had passwords like ‘password’ and ‘pass.’”

After checking password strength, competitors move on to harder, more tech-

nical challenges.

“There was one where I was configuring a server that the company required the employees to have, and deep in the server settings was a thing that gave anyone read and write access to the roots of the computer,” Gao said. “It’s a really big security hole because literally anyone connecting to it would be able to modify any file on your computer.”

With students who understood cyber security, Consol’s four teams placed in the top two categories (gold and platinum) with one team reaching the highest echelon of platinum. This was the first year Consol participated in CyberPatriot, making this showing even more impressive.

“I was just in San Antonio, which is Cyber-City USA, second biggest cybersecurity city in America, next to D.C. and almost all their schools are CyberPatriot schools,” Taylor said, “They were like, ‘Wow! We don’t have any schools that do stuff like that their first year.’”

Though none of the school teams ended up with a score high enough to attend the national competition in Washington D.C., they were proud of what they had accomplished and look forward to next year.

“I’m excited to make it grow,” Taylor said, “to build it and to do more.”

Passwords Exposed In October 2013, Adobe experienced a major security breach that affected over 48 million of its users. Here were the 8 most common passwords hacked.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

123456 123456789 password adobe123 12345678 qwerty 1234567 111111 source: hubspot.com

5 | news | the roar

friday, feb. 13, 2015

Student Council discusses criticism, misconceptions about image, representation rachel lamb & stephanie palazzolo | assistant editor & senior editor “Voice of the student body.”

“Leaders of the school.”

“Role models for students.”

These phrases are heard time and time again when describing Student Council. And for many, they’re accurate.

“I’d say [Student Council] is a pretty awesome mix of student government and community service,” sponsor Naomi Johnson said. “The students make the decisions, they vote and come up with their own projects and lead them. There are teacher sponsors who are facilitators and provide some guidance, but the students are the ones who decide what is best for their school.”

However, for others, not every member deserves this image.

“A lot of people in Student Council gripe and moan about being in Student Council, which of course is going to put people off of joining,” senior Mati Castro, head of Student Council’s Student Attitude committee, said. “We’re supposed to be the leaders of the campus, but it’s just very negative sometimes. People say, like, ‘Student Council is stupid,’ but they’re the ones who joined the club, so they should quit if they think it’s stupid.”

Some students believe that people only join for the prestige on college applications, or it only caters to certain demographic groups, among others.

“A lot of people do [Student Council] for the college applications, and there’s so many people who I think would be in a better position to be in Student Council than some of the people in it now,” Castro said. “[Potential members] just don’t know about it, or they don’t have the time, or they just don’t have the money to pay the dues.”

Students are often deterred from joining Student Council by fees or money spent on supplies. These items often count as points for Student Council members that go toward a 35-point goal that they must reach every six weeks.

“We try to cater to everybody, but I guess I can see that there’s a disparity between the [social] classes,” senior and student body president Preetha Dattagupta said. “The dues are mandatory because we need to pay for shirts, but bringing stuff from home or buying stuff is not only to help us save money but to also give those who have other activities going on, like sports, an opportunity to help out and gain points.”

In addition, the organization strug-

gles with accurately representing the school’s demographics, a goal it’s currently working towards.

“The biggest problem is, of course, that even though anyone can join, does everyone join? No,” sponsor Jason Pratt said. “Getting every subgroup is always a problem. We don’t have a lot of band kids, and we don’t have a lot of our poorer segment. So it’s not [Consol’s] true voice, but all of these people can join. I think Student Council does as good as it can.”

Some attest this imbalanced participation of certain groups to a general lack of knowledge about Student Council.

“

It’s been a very, very positive impact that the kids really do have a say, that the kids have choices. sponsor

Jason Pratt

“Student Council just isn’t public enough,” Castro said. “People think [the club] is very complicated, but it’s very simple and easy to find out information about if you just ask someone in StuCo. These types of clubs are obviously going to appeal to a certain type of person, but everyone can be included. I feel like if we as Student Council made a more active effort to broadcast what we were doing, we could open up the demographics.”

The confusion surrounding Student Council also prevents people from taking advantage of financial assistance when joining the organization.

“We need students to pay their dues if possible, but if it’s a hardship we do not let that get in the way of students participating in anything,” Johnson said.

“In fact, we specifically tell students that money should not be an issue; we have scholarship students from their dues, we have scholarship students for out of town events. In fact, [buying items] are always opportunities to get points, but most of our point opportunities are through time and service, manning a table, showing up at a car wash.”

Despite the club’s issues, Student Council members stress that their problems are no different than those faced by any other club and that the organization

still provides a valuable service to the school as both a student government and community service club.

In order to accomplish its innumerable goals, the organization divides itself into smaller committees, each one focused on a different aspect of the school.

“We’re a kind of year-round thing; we don’t really stop,” Dattagupta said. “We have Energy and Environment that works with the Environmental Club to coordinate recycling, Service that tries to goes out to help the food pantry, Health and Safety that does Care Week and makes nutritional pyramids, and Public Relations that gives gift baskets to lunch ladies and other faculty and staff to show our appreciation for them. So we’re kind of everywhere to make sure everything happens.”

Student Council also organizes homecoming ceremonies, senior gifts and dances, including a prom free to upperclassmen. Despite its contributions to the school, both behind-the-scenes and public, Student Council still is underappreciated by the student body, Castro says.

“There’s a lot of stuff that we do behind-the-scenes, especially things Preetha does that nobody appreciates,” Castro said. “Preetha is in contact with all the clubs. She is all over the place. I feel like people just don’t really understand and appreciate what we do.”

In addition, as a student government club, the organization allows students to lead themselves without outside interference from adults and sponsors.

“The hardest thing for me to get is that StuCo is student-run,” sponsor Denise Gary said. “I don’t have to do anything. I mean, I’m always volunteering to do stuff, and they’ll look at me like, ‘We’re supposed to do that.’ I’m there if they need support, but the fact is that they are in charge of everything and pull off the different events.”

This independence is a gift that, in spite of any problems with the club, many believe that the students will be forever grateful for.

“We work really hard to make sure kids have a voice,” Pratt said. “You’ll go back 20, 30 years, and kids didn’t have a voice — it was our way or the highway. So I think it’s been a very, very positive impact that the kids really do have a say, that the kids have choices. Their input matters, and Student Council is a great way to express themselves.”

6 | news | the roar

friday, feb. 13, 2015

Student hacker narrowly avoids felony charges, exposes security flaw aaron ross & josh weimer people that want to rob me that it was a state felony news editor and staff reporter information, while white and they were deciding Hackers: they can steal your credit cards and social security numbers, but junior Nicholas Farmer just wants to have a little fun.

“When people thought I was ‘programming’ I was instead screwing around with everything I could screw around with,” Farmer said.

The summer before his eighth grade year, Farmer used a school computer to snoop around at AMCMS. After a while in the school district network, he discovered a not-so-well hidden secret.

“The IT people [had] left a network share unprotected. In that share was a file that listed a single password that bypassed all sorts of authentication systems,” Farmer said.

“I went to My Network Places and it listed all 4,000 computers online. There was one that stood out to me.

I changed the password of this domain administrator account. I figured I’d take this account that no one was using and call it my own.”

Farmer is what’s classified as a “grey hat.”

He aims not to destroy or protect, but to troll.

“There are three different types of hackers,” senior Alejandro Cavazos said. “Black hat, white hat, and the person in between called the grey hat. The black hats are the people who are trying to cause trouble,

hats are the people trying to protect [information].”

Farmer entered the school year ready to test his stolen account. Being the chair of programming for robotics gave him the perfect opportunity to try these powers out.

“The instant we started doing work, I would mess with the machines of everyone else in the class and it got beyond that,” Farmer said.

“Eventually, the Spanish teacher whose class was right next to us was showing a video in class one day. I got into her computer, stopped the video and minimized it. There’s a thing on the control panel that will say things out loud, and I typed in ‘Hi class’ while the class was going on. That freaked that class out.”

Eventually Farmer gained access to the superintendent’s Dr. Eddie Colson’s computer.

“I got into his machine and I popped up a web browser with [censored],” Farmer said.

Farmer’s fun lasted for about two and a half months until he was eventually caught by the administration. The administration was swift, but somewhat lenient with their punishment.

“My user account was disabled until the end of that school year. The next week, I spent 4 days in ISS. On Monday, they had to remind

not to press charges only because I didn’t have a history,” Farmer said.

Though he was punished, some say that in the long run Farmer’s actions actually helped school security.

“He was just messing around and learning.

Overall, there wasn’t harm that was done,” Cavazos said.

“There was a lot of progress made by the security of the school district, because that was a wake-up call for the district.”

However, AMCHS Technical support Bob Strawn strongly warns against grey hacking. It can be perceived as harmless, but he advises students not to test the administration, because the administration is ultimately the one in control.

“We’re looking at [a violation of] our contract with the students saying, ‘I will do this and I won’t do that,’ and we decide we can’t allow this kid near a computer anymore,” Strawn said. “If it hits that point, suddenly it becomes very difficult for that child to advance or do things related to computers in their school.

They can get an education, but not in the field they want to be. If someone develops a reputation while they are young for going beyond what might be desired, it might actually be cutting their career short.”

FBI’S CYBER’S MOST WANTED WANG DONG

Aliases: Jack Wang, Ugly Gorilla Crime: apart of People’s Liberation Army group that committed a total of 31 cyber crimes

Reward: N/A

PETERIS SAHUROVS

Aliases: N/A Crime: made computer virus, sold fake security programs that stole $2 million from people

Reward: $50,000

CARLOS ENRIQUE PEREZ-MELARA Aliases: Carlos E. Perez Melara Carlos E. Perezmelara Crime: created spyware that could intercept private communications

Reward: $50,000 To see more on the FBI’S “Cyber’s Most Wanted List” visit: www.fbi.gov

the roar | viewpoints | 7

friday, feb. 13, 2015

Indecision difficult to overcome, but commitment ultimately worth effort et Scherzettino” (three pages and seven minutes long). I set a goal for myself and told myself I would memorize my solo and not wait until December to start practicing, like I had in past years. The only way I knew I would accomplish this was to practice in the summer. By the end of the summer, I’d pushed myself to memorize the first movement and part of the second page.

darcey rydl

staff reporter

“Have you decided yet?” my mom asked from across the room. I considered her question as if I had never thought about it before. I am horrible when comes to decision making. It has taken me as long as thirty minutes to decide on what kind of ice cream I want (the main reason why my aunt has decreased the amount of times she takes me to the ice cream store). Although this decision seems quite simple, life never fails to bring harder decisions. This past weekend, I had to make a difficult decision but when I received the results, I was glad I finally decided.

The past two years at the annual UIL Solo and Ensemble competition, I have made all ones—but in order to go to state, I had to memorize my piece. I knew I had the ability to memorize my solos, but I didn’t have the motivation. This year, my flute teacher challenged me to play and memorize a difficult French piece called “Andante Pastoral

“

As the contest got closer, I began to second-guess myself. I considered not memorizing my solo at all.

As I expected, once school started, the music piece became my last priority. Once marching season was over in December, the first thing I did was refresh my memory on my solo. I was impressed with how well I remembered it.

However, I spent way too much time refreshing and improving the parts I had memorized, and as the contest got closer, I began to second-guess myself. I considered not memorizing my solo at all. It was January, and I still had pages to memorize, but I didn’t want to go back on the goal

I set for myself. I could tell my flute teacher was a little nervous too and hesitated to tell me what I should do. This was a difficult decision, but not one anyone could make for me.

My accompanist was very supportive and believed I could do well. I agreed with her too, mostly. There was one feeling that made me hesitate: being nervous. I hate the feeling of being nervous and try to avoid it as much as possible, but I knew once I walked into the audition room I would start shaking. And then, what if I really messed up? What if I forgot where I was in the music? I thought I had finally come to a conclusion that I would try to memorize, because I knew if I used the music I would do well but would have no chance of making state. I considered my choice carefully. The worst that could happen if I didn’t memorize was that I would not make state, and the worst that would happen if I did memorize was that I would not make state.

The only difference between the two was which was more important: regretting my decision of not memorizing or embarrassing myself if I messed up playing it memorized. I decided to go the more challenging route and play my solo memorized. Not long after I made my decision, I found out that I’d qualified for state.

Darcey is a staff reporter for The Roar. Memorized a seven-page solo lately? Talk to her about it at the.roar.rydl@ gmail.com.

Recovery from social media addiction proves frustrating, yet rewarding maya girimaji staff reporter

It all happened so fast. I never thought that I—a sensible and reasonable girl— would succumb to the craze that was sweeping the country. I knew many others who had fallen victims to it but I never thought that I would be one of them. Yet, somehow, I fell under its spell and became very addicted to it. Now, you must be wondering what I was addicted to. Well, pull up a chair and I will tell you the story of how social media took over my life.

It was the summer of 2010. On a lazy afternoon, a bored teenager (you know who) was introduced to Nigahiga, a YouTuber. First it was only one video. Then another. And then one more. I ended up spending the rest of the day watching every single one of Nigahiga’s videos. I became one of his two million subscribers. Once I exhausted all of Nigahiga’s inventory, my obsession continued with other YouTubers

such as PewDiePie, Superwoman and Jenna Marbles. Obsessed is the only word that can describe my need for YouTube back then. Watching five videos a day became a part of my daily routine, along with spending an hour or so scrolling through Tumblr and double tapping on Instagram until my thumbs fell off. From YouTube to Tumblr to Netflix, these distractions controlled my life.

Fast forward three years to August 2013, the month Vine came into my life. I remember laying on my bed watching these short videos over and over again for four whole hours. It was the perfect app for a bored teenager. The videos were only six seconds long, which is perfect for somebody with a really short attention span, yet the content was good enough to entertain its viewers. And every time I pulled out my phone, I would tell myself, “It’s only a six second video. I can’t possibly spend more than a few minutes on Vine.” I couldn’t have been more wrong. Every single time I decided to watch a Vine, I would waste hours in a dark room as several pages of unfinished homework lay on my desk. This was then followed by a mad rush to finish my homework. It became a daily struggle,

and every day I promised myself that I would cut down on the amount of time I spent on the Internet. However, each time I would find an excuse to spend hours on social media sites. Although my grades did not suffer, other aspects of my life were affected. I somehow managed to replace my real friends with virtual friends.

My obsession with social media had to stop. I could not let the Internet get the better of me. I realized that I wasn’t really trying hard enough to get rid of these distractions. I knew that if I was serious, then I would have quit a long time ago. I made a decision that no teenager should ever have to make. I was going to shut off my laptop, silence my phone and bury both deep in a drawer.

The first hour went well. I was able to get several pages of math homework done.

Then it started going downhill. I started to experience major withdrawal symptoms and felt like my head was going to explode.

A voice was calling me to come back to social media. I was tempted to pull out my phone, but I needed to resist. I needed to redirect my energies, and out of necessity, came a brilliant idea: the best way to escape the virtual world is by doing something

physical—exercise. As lame as that sounds, it actually helped. Going out for a long run with my dog eased the burning pain I had in my heart, even though it did start a new one in my lungs. I could feel my feet starting to callus as my lungs were screaming at me, “You’re built for hardcore binge watching on Netflix, not running for miles!” Yet, on reaching the park I experienced the best feeling in the world. I was able to forget about the next episode of “Family Guy” and whether or not Superwoman uploaded a new video. I finally found a healthier, and less time-consuming, distraction.

Locking away social media was the best decision I have ever made. I will never actually be able to get rid of social media because this generation’s world revolves around it, but I have learned how to control my urge to be on it 24/7. Even though I have learned how to not be so obsessed with the internet, I’m not ashamed to say that binge-watching is one of my favorite pastimes. Sometimes finding another distraction isn’t all that bad.

Maya is a staff reporter for The Roar.

Want to share your social media addictions with her? Email her at the.roar.girimaji@ gmail.com.

8 | viewpoints | the roar

friday, feb. 13, 2015

out of this

WORLD

Space opera transcends traditional sci-fi, focuses on questions of humanity

olivia garrettr staff reporter Why are we as a people worth saving?

“Battlestar Galactica” dares to ask this question. While watching “Galactica” I began to question everything from my thoughts on mortality and religion to my standards for television.

However, as I felt myself being drawn into “Battlestar Galactica” I made the unfortunate discovery that no one I knew had actually watched it. Everyone was too busy or simply too “cool” to give “Galactica” any of their time, no matter how enthusiastically I lauded it.

I’d advise avoiding this phenomenal space drama if all you’re looking for is cheesy aliens and tight spacesuits. If, on the other hand, you’re interested in extraordinary acting, insightful plots, and emotional highs and lows, then look no farther. Even a decade after it first aired, “Battlestar Galactica” remains

one of the best pieces of television ever about religion with which I myself have produced. Tragically, many are unfamiliar struggled. Can you trust age-old scripture with the epicness of “Galactica”, perhaps to tell the truth? How do you know which discouraged by its geeky-sounding name. ideologies, if any, are right?

A re-imagining of a 1978 television Amazingly, despite its intensity, show by the same name, the 2003 version “Galactica” never strays into ridiculous of “Galactica” began as a miniseries that over-dramatization. Instead, “Galactica” was then turned into a television series. relies on the strength of its dark plot and The show centers on a civilization of three-dimensional characters. The wise humans, known as the Twelve Colonies, Commander Adama and the spunky which lives in an Kara Thrace inspired advanced society me, yet somehow Can you trust age-old also retained the with the capabilities to produce a race of believability of actual scripture to tell the partially-humanoid people. The men and truth? How do you robots known as the women of “Galactica” Cylons. The Cylons know which ideologies, are not simply conduct a surprise heroes to be placed if any, are right? attack on the Twelve upon pedestals, but Colonies that truthful reflections reduces the human population to about of humanity.

50,000 survivors stranded in space.

At times, I felt uncomfortable with Though the plot may at first appear how similar “Galactica” is to the real implausible, the show is provocative in world. Societal ills from before the Cylon a highly entertaining way. “Galactica” attack continue to plague the survivors immediately captured my interest—and as they learn to deal with inherited my heartstrings. Pushing boundaries, prejudices and class divides. Dynamic the show approaches topics as complex and riveting, “Galactica” develops a as genocide, faith, racism, war crimes, defined social conscience. I soon realized sexual assault, censorship, and justice. that “Galactica” was not a glorification “Galactica” even asks real-life questions but a harrowing reflection of our own

“

BATTLESTAR WHAT? “Sci-fi and awesomeness.” junior ALEX CANTRELL

society.

While fight scenes and unexpected plot twists kept me entranced, love triangles intrigued. To add to its appeal, “Galactica” contains one of the most infuriating will-they-or-won’t-they relationships in existence. However, unlike other shows, “Galactica” never forgets the tragedy that the story is centered upon, with every death weighing not only on the hearts of the characters, but mine as well.

“Galactica” somehow remains hopeful, despite its sharp criticisms of humanity, and never forgets that the point of television is to entertain. Dealing with real-world issues that even I can relate to, “Battlestar Galactica” is more than just a story about evil, futuristic robots. It forced me to think instead of just absorb. So, don’t be put off by “Battlestar Galactica”’s “nerdy” name and miss out on a thrilling experience.

Unless, of course, you’d rather spend your time watching a show that never challenges the viewer.

Olivia is a staff reporter for The Roar.

Want to discuss bears, beets and, of course, “Battlestar Galactica”? Contact her at the. roar.ogarrett@gmail.com.

what comes to mind when you hear the words “Battlestar Galactica”?

“The movie ‘Guardians of the Galaxy.’”

JUNIOR ALEX CANTRELL freshman TIERRA BODY

“The galaxy, space and a war.”

sophomore MERCEDES REED

the roar | viewpoints| 9

friday, feb. 13, 2015

Parkour provides outlet, creates philosophy applicable to everyday life

josh weimer staff reporter At a young age, we’re told “Get down from there!

You’re going to hurt yourself.” One of the most important developments children can make is exploring their movement capacity. The discouragement of movement and exploration at a young age can cause a lack of confidence and creativity. When you are faced with an obstacle, and you are told that you will fail, you avoid it. You don’t go near it, because you know that it is impossible to overcome. This thought process can affect our mental well-being for the rest of our lives. However, Parkour can help to overcome this mentality.

Parkour is an art form and discipline that teaches us to view obstacles not as roadblocks, but opportunities. It demonstrates how you can overcome your fears. While

many view Parkour as a sport of risk and danger, it just teaches simple human movements, but in a creative way.

You can apply the moves you know to explore your environment with creativity and efficiency.

Contrary to popular belief, Parkour is about more than doing backflips off buildings. Parkour is actually about preserving the body, so pretending you can fly isn’t always the greatest idea. This also leads into one of the main points about Parkour, progressions.

Parkour is as much a mental as it is a physical sport.

Trying a new move can seem scary, but by easing in to it and using progressions, or baby steps, the fear is overcome.

When learning new moves in Parkour, there is more to it than just attempting it head on. For example, if you want to learn a front flip, simply going out trying it will likely result in failure. To learn, you must use progressions. Sticking with the front flip example, you must learn the forward roll, then the front handspring (a front flip that uses your hands for assistance), and then the actual flip itself. Once introduced to the thought of progressions, the danger of Parkour soon vanishes. This opens many new possibilities of tricks and moves to learn.

While the philosophy of progressions is useful in Parkour, it also can be transferred to any problem in real life.

When faced with problems, you are more likely to think of easier and more creative ways to approach them. For example, I never studied in middle school. So, when I got to high school, I didn’t really know how. When I had to study, I tried cramming it all into one night, much like trying to face problems head on. Needless to say, my grades weren’t spectacular. But, when I spread my studying throughout multiple days, like progressions, my grades were much better.

But what does parkour mean to me? I enjoy Parkour not only for the reasons listed above, but for the movement. The exploration of new movement is infinite, and I think Parkour is a great outlet for creativity.

Parkour is not always what it seems. It is not a sport of risk, but one of creativity and problem solving. The lessons learned when training can be applied to everyday life.

But most importantly, when we see obstacles in the future, don’t think about them as a stumbling block, but think about how you can make yourself a better person.

Josh is a staff reporter for The Roar. Want to discuss the true meaning of parkour? Contact him at the.roar.weimer@ gmail.com.

Self-educated pun master gives advice on how to tell perfect joke

jennifer zhan

staff reporter

I was born with an incredible talent.

Even as a child, I was an expert on humor, known all over the world, adored by many...

Yeah, I wish.

Truthfully, I was a complete social recluse when I was little. My friends consisted of my family members and the woodland creatures in our backyard. When a stranger asked me a simple question like what the date was, I would panic and sputter something stupid like “September o’clock.” Then I’d sprint away, mortified.

The first joke I ever heard was a classic (Knock-knock. Who’s there? I eat mop...).

Although my opinion has since changed, at the time I thought it was the funniest thing my ears would ever have the privilege to hear. I suddenly discovered that my dislike of public speaking did not compare to my desire to trick people into saying they ate feces.

I became quite obsessed with jokes

from that point on. I didn’t need to be friends with someone to tell them a joke (although I did make most of my first friends that way). Admittedly, telling knock-knock jokes is probably no longer a reliable way to make friends. But it’s still the same ideayou’re sharing something that makes you happy in order to make someone else happy, too. What’s stopping you?

You don’t know how to tell jokes? Well, you’re in luck. You will once you read my comprehensive, easy to understand guide!

step 1: target

Obviously, it’s necessary to have a person in mind and a joke at hand. As previously mentioned, it’s not required to know the person, but saying “a plateau is a high form of flattery” might not make everyone laugh. You would probably be better off with “after 24 hours, astronomers got tired of watching the Earth rotate on its axis and decided to call it a day.”

Wait, before the joke has even been told you have to make decisions?

“WHAT IS THIS MADNESS, JENNIFER?” you scream. Please calm down: I know I make it seem effortless, but I promise this step is not difficult.

step 2: delivery

In step two, you actually tell the joke.

There’s really nothing specific you have to do here. As long as you don’t mix up parts of the joke like Nemo’s dad did, you should be fine.

A side note: sometimes a joke is so funny I laugh before I finish it. That is not good. Do not do that.

step 3: punchline

This is the “ha ha” moment. Add a dramatic little pause right before you say it (the internet’s favorite animal is...the lynx, the fire at the circus was...intense, Humpty Dumpty loves autumn because he....had a great fall). It doesn’t matter if the person is telling you they don’t care why the Razzi family had so many pictures together (spoiler alert: It’s because of their dad, Papa Razzi). By stopping, you make their very souls ache for closure. This works especially well in puns, my personal favorite category.

If you are telling an incredibly bad joke, laugh after the punchline. After all, if it doesn’t look like you think your joke is funny, how are other people supposed to laugh? Just keep laughing, there is a 100% chance someone will join in. My friends claim this is because people start laughing at me, but I consider that a minor detail.

step 4: love yourself

This is the final part. Don’t get discouraged if people walk away from you, or face

palm, or kick the closest piece of furniture.

It just means your joke has frustrated them with its ingenuity.

Trust me, I speak from experience. My friends constantly commend my joke telling ability. On a daily basis, they shower me with praise like “get out right now,” “I am so done,” “Jennifer, why are we friends,” and best of all “it’s 3:30 and you woke me up to tell me that your couch is sofa away?!”

(Maybe not that last part.)

Unfortunately, sometimes someone just won’t react to your joke. This happens to the best of us. In fact, just recently, I tried telling a friend how a cannibal arriving late to a party had been given the cold shoulder.

“What’s a cannibal party? I don’t get it,” she asked me. “Also, what is a cold shoulder?”

It’s quite humiliating to have to explain a joke, and the humor is most certainly lost.

But I encourage you not to be disheartened by any failures you face, and to go out and have fun with jokes. Find out what type you like best.

To me, puns will always be a very rewording experience.

Jennifer is a staff reporter for The Roar.

Got any jokes to share? Contact her at the. roar.zhan@gmail.com

10 | viewpoints | the roar

friday, feb. 13, 2015

OPPOSING DO YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO OFFEND OTHERS? “It is freedom of speech, but it’s not necessary. It crosses the line.” junior

D’ANTHONY HARDEMAN

“As long as it isn’t with malicious intent. It’s OK when it’s the kind where you just tease your friend.” junior ALBERT LI

“To no extent, unless the person you are offending is angry or evil.” sophomore SHELBY STRATTON

“You have a right to express opinions, but you don’t have the right to do it with the purpose of bringing offense.”

junior MAX RUSSO

“I don’t think anybody should have the right to offend somebody, but they have a right to say what is on their mind.”

senior RYAN BRAUER

How “free” is freedom of speech?

the roar's consensus

Freedom of speech not without limits “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.” – a quote falsely attributed to Voltaire.

This quote explains how many people (especially those who work in journalistic endeavors) feel about the freedom of speech.

After hearing about the Charlie Hebdo shooting, our collective response was #JeSuisCharlie. We are all Charlie. We stand with those who died in the name of free speech.

But after the initial shock, it was necessary to have a serious conversation about the shooting. Charlie Hebdo published offensive, sacrilegious and racist cartoons which offended many people, especially the millions of Muslims in France and throughout the world. This is why the point Voltaire’s philosophy makes is crucial. You can support the principle without supporting the message.

As you can see (from many of the quotes to the left) we seem to want both free speech and freedom from being offended. Given the subjectivity of the latter, we have to choose a side.

We support freedom of speech. But we also realize that free speech can be abused. Charlie Hebdo often used a form of satire called Juvenalian. This is meant to offend a group in order to change societal thinking on a topic.

Outside criticism can make us defensive, but can also show how others may perceive us.

However, Juvenalian satire is a double-edged sword. We would agree with a cartoon that lambasts and ridicules the KKK. We’re fine with harsh satire that offends groups to which we don’t belong, but as soon as we’re offended, we cry bloody murder.

One of the great things about America is freedom of speech. But let’s be conscious of the impact of what we say, especially when we engage in satire.

Just because you have the right to offend does not mean you should use it.

The Roar 2014-2015 Staff Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Executive Editor Senior Editor Online & Photography Editor News Editor Opinions Editor Sports Editor Entertainment Editor Assistant Editor

Staff Reporter

Faculty Adviser Assistant Adviser

Shilpa Saravanan Rojas Oliva Annie Zhang Stephanie Palazzolo Elizabeth Reed Aaron Ross Alex Coopersmith Austin Coats Zach Kluver Vi Burgess Sydney Garrett Rachel Lamb Haley Mitchell Maya Girimaji Olivia Garrett Darcey Rydl Josh Weimer Jennifer Zhan Michael Williams Chauncey Lindner

The Roar Editorial Board

Shilpa Saravanan • Rojas Oliva • Alex Coopersmith

CHARLIE HEBDO Charlie Hebdo is a weekly French satirical newsmagazine known especially for its provocative cartoons. It’s part of a long tradition of political satire in France.

The magazine made fun of prominent politicians, religion, and pop culture, but it lampooned the Prophet Mohammed with particular zeal.

Three gunmen attacked the Charlie Hebdo offices on Jan. 7. They killed twelve people and injured eleven more. The gunmen had links to international terrorism, though it’s not known if their attack was planned or funded by AlQaeda or any other group.

Source: Vox News

The Roar is produced by the Advanced Journalism class at A&M Consolidated High School, 1801 Harvey Mitchell Parkway S., College Station, Texas, 77840. The opinions expressed are those of the writers and are not reflective of the administrators, faculty or staff of the College Station Independent School District.

Submissions to the editors are welcomed but must be signed and should not exceed 300 words. The editor reserves the right to edit submissions in the interest of clarity and length or to not print a letter at all.

Letters containing obscene or libelous material will not be considered. The Editorial Board consists of the editor-in-chief, managing editor and opinions editor.

The Roar is a member of the Interscholastic League Press Conference (ILPC), the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) and the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA). The Roar is a winner of the CSPA Gold Crown, the 1997, 1998, 2000-2014 ILPC Award of Distinguished Merit, the CSPA Gold Medal Award, the NSPA All-American distinction and 2005 & 2014 ILPC Bronze Star and 2007-2013 Silver Star.

College Station Independent School District does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex or handicap in providing education services. Glynn Walker, Director of Human Resources, 1812 Welsh, College Station, Texas 77840 (979-764-5412) has been designated to coordinate compliance with the nondiscrimination requirements of Title IX. Catherine George, Director of Special Services, 1812 Welsh, Suite 120, College Station, Texas 77840 (979-764-5433) has been designated to coordinate compliance with the nondiscrimination. requirements of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.

couples therapy

the roar | snapshots | 11

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Rojas Oliv tt by a. e r ar

Longtime couples give advice for healthy relationships “Be legitimate with each other. If you decide to go anywhere with someone, start a relationship with them. It’s got to be real, because you don’t know how the other person feels, and if people are on different levels on how they feel with each other, then things don’t always work out.”

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“Date your best friend. Get to know them really well before you start dating. Like, as a friend.”

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“We’re both very strong-willed people, and set in our ways. Recognize which arguments are worth having.”

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“Communicate. When you’re mad about something, when you’re happy about something, if there’s something you don’t like about them, tell them. And either they choose to fix it, or they don’t.” ric de

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“None of that ‘relationship goals’ trash. Like the whole ‘the woman is always right’ stuff. We see it on Twitter, and we’re just disgusted by it. But like, don’t have high expectations, like expecting roses at your doorstep. That doesn’t need to happen for a good relationship.”

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12 | student

life | the roar

PENTA

when one member of a team kills every member of the enemy team (there are five people on each team, hence penta) before any of them re-spawn

DUO

when you play with a friend on the more competitive part of League called “ranked” (kind of like tennis), so you go in knowing one of the other four people you’re playing with

RAGE QUIT

when someone on the team isn’t playing very well, so they become frustrated & leave the game, causing their team to be at a disadvantage

GANK

when the jungler on the team comes to help other lanes/players to put them at an advantage

JUNGLER

the person in the jungle

LoL [terminology]

courtesy of seniors phillip dusold & lily xiao

friday, feb.

in the big

LEAGUES

Wildly popular “League of Legends” inspires community vi burgess | assistant editor His face crumples when he dies. It’s the third time that week. In “League of Legends”, death is all too common.

“League” is a MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) that connects players in teams of five on five. Each team tries to destroy each other’s towers in the wildly fantastical game. “‘League of Legends’ has its own language,” senior Phillip Dusold said. “If you’re talking about the game to someone else and they also play it, they’re going to understand what you’re talking about, but if you’re talking about it to another person, or if someone overhears you talk about it, they’re going to be like, ‘That person’s not even speaking English.’”

In addition to the exclusive language such as “shoutcasting”, “feeding” and “carry”, “League of Legends” has developed a huge following.

“It’s becoming e-sports, like colleges are giving out scholarships for it,” Dusold said. “The World Championships for ‘League of Legends’ last year filled up the Seoul, Korea Olympic Soccer Stadium, which is ridiculous.”

Like many other games, “League” has also developed a lucrative money-making aspect for top-ranked players like junior Felipe Castro.

“People would put in requests for coaching, I would have a one-hour Skype call with them, teach them, and they would pay me,” Castro said. “I didn’t do it for very long, but 600 dollars at least; you can get paid a lot of money for it. It’s a little bit insane.”

Castro has been playing “League” since its release in 2009. Through his years

If you’re talking about it to another person, or if someone overhears you talk about it, they’re going to be like, that person’s not even speaking English.

—senior PHILLIP DUSOLD of experience that led him to a semi-professional team, he has seen the community grow exponentially.

“The really bad players can be children or they can be thirty-year-olds,” Castro said. “I know a player who was fourteen and he was better than I was; I know a player who’s thirty and better than I was.

The community’s very diverse.”

However, “League” is infamous for its

community that has forums often too large to moderate effectively. For some, like senior Colin Xie, the community was the reason to quit playing competitively. “[The community’s] basically like Reddit. Everyone’s really negative if you’re doing badly; everyone blames everything on you, and that’s really sad, it’s like tearsdown-face,” Xie said. “It’s not fun anymore because everyone wants to beat each other; it’s kind of like a social status, like ‘If you’re not platinum, don’t talk to me at school’. I think that ruins the fun out of the game.”

Like most other video games, “League’s” community is largely one gender, which has inspired criticism leading up to the so-called “Gamergate” last August.

“I actually made friends with some kid in Australia and over there the girls are actually really competitive in ‘League’,” Xie said. “Over here, mainly males play ‘League’ with American servers and the girls usually end up playing [a supporting position].”

The main draw of “League”, however, is the the most common—avoiding school and building friendships.

“Every single time I start a new game with my friends, we type in GLHF, which stands for ‘good luck, have fun’,” Xie said.

“It’s a new start. Whenever I type in GLHF it’s really refreshing and it brings back good memories.”

THE EVOLUTION OF A PHENOMENON | how “league of legends” took o 10.26.09

“League of Legends” is released by indie game developer Riot Games.

“League” is Riot’s only release to date.

05.01.10

Riot hosts its first “League of Legends” tournament, with 16 teams and $1,000 in prize money.

11.01.12

“League” reaches 32.5 million registered players, making it the most popular game in the world.

03.01.13

Riot makes “League of Legends” available for Macs.

the roar | student life | 13

13, 2015

a

LEAGUE of

THEIR OWN

Female gamers discuss, debunk stereotypes, find joy in hobby maya girimaji | staff reporter

ILLUSTRATIONS BY SHILPA SARAVANAN

over (and continues to take over) the world 07.11.13

The United States recognizes “League” pros as professional athletes, simplifying the visa registration process for them.

01.23.15

Korea’s Olympic committee recognizes “League of Legends” as a second-tier sport, thereby recommending consideration of “League” as an Olympic sport to the International Olympic Committee.

Eyes dart across the screen, focused on destroying enemies. After several hours of gore, hacking, slashing and intense playing, another hard-fought victory is earned.

A smile appears on her face as she vanquishes yet another adversary.

For many, the fact that a girl is playing such a violent game comes as a surprise.

Generally, girl gamers have been stereotyped as untalented or playing to get attention.

“It’s extremely frustrating because [girl gamers] have to have a specific and set name,” freshman Taylor Saputra said.

“And the stereotype that you’re a girl gamer because you want to get boys’ attention is kind of ridiculous. I’ve grown up playing [games] not just to impress boys. I do things for me and not for other people.”

Even if a girl is very talented, there is always a level of condescension among the guys who play against them.

“Guys think that all girls are terrible at games,” senior Lily Xiao said. “So then if you are not extremely terrible, you are extremely good for a girl gamer.”

Xiao explains how all gamers are the same. She describes her encounters with other gamers at events like Game Wars.

“I meet up with many people at Game Wars and there are a large number of talented girls at conventions,” Xiao said.

“There’s no such thing as ‘good for a girl gamer’. You’re just good.”

In online gaming, male gamers tend to be surprised when they find out that they’ve lost to a girl, as they often mistake the mysterious other player for a guy.

“There are quite a few girl gamers.

Don’t always assume that it’s probably just another guy,” sophomore Josey Meyer said.

“Most people don’t think that gaming is a girl thing, but it’s actually quite common.

I have a whole group of friends that are all over [the gaming world] and we give each other recommendations on what to play and what not to.”

Despite all of the negativity, these girls truly enjoy gaming. Meyer says that gaming is a whole different environment from the real world and allows you to go on adventures without leaving your home.

“I like adventure games that have a few puzzles to them. One of my favorite games is ‘Kid Icarus Uprising’,” Meyer said.

Gaming is also extremely competitive.

Several clubs exploring different facets of gaming, such as Game Design, exist at Consol and allow participants to improve their skills.

“As of now, it’s just a hobby, but I started getting into game design for SkillsUSA,” Saputra said. “SkillsUSA is a great competition that really tests my abilities as a gamer and a designer.”

Meyer said that by playing these games, she has become a quicker thinker.

“It’s been proven that gaming helps with hand-eye coordination, and there are quite a few puzzle games,” Meyer said.

“Even the biggest games have puzzles in them, like having to figure out codes or picking a lock.”

Overall, girl gamers look forward to a time when they aren’t seen as outsiders in the gaming community.

“More people are getting into it and I think that’s great,” Saputra said. “I hope to see fewer stereotypes towards gamers, guys and girls, but more so girls because that seems to be a huge problem. It’s more about equality and how everybody should be treated equally and not be put down for liking something.”

14 | people | the roar

friday, feb. 13, 2015

Siblings inspire each other with shared passion for art, self-expression Senior Rachel Reckling and her sister, sophomore Stephanie, speak almost as though they share one voice—when one of them begins to fade out, the other jumps in, eloquently finishing the idea. Cohesive in a way that few siblings manage to achieve, these girls weren’t always this close, but their shared interests brought them together. They even created a graphic novel together called “Auntie Farsnoes Road Rascals.”

“I’m really good at coming up with the ideas and she would illustrate them,” Rachel said. “Stephanie is really good at cartoons.”

Stephanie and Rachel do the normal-sibling things, but their bond doesn’t end there.

“We have a pact that when we’re extraordinarily old, and we have white hair, and our husbands are dead, we’re going to dye our hair crazy colors and we’re going to move in together,” Rachel said.

Rachel and Stephanie, both tall with long red hair, share more than just a striking resemblance.

Coincidentally, the Reckling girls are both remarkable artists. For them, art factors into much of their daily lives. Even doodles on math homework can find their way into a piece of art.

“If you tilt your head a certain way, then you can see the world in a whole new way and you’ll be like, ‘I have to draw this,’ ” Rachel said.

Inspiration can come from anywhere, but the end result can often reflect something completely different.

“As a piece of artwork evolves, you often get to a point where you just have to let the painting be what it wants to be,” Rachel said.

To the Reckling sisters, art is more than just a hobby. They believe that, more than other media, art allows for a form of self-expression that can have significant meaning not only for the artist, but the viewer as well.

“With a painting, you can express a topic that might seem a little controversial if you were to write about it,” Rachel said. “People can interpret it in their own way—maybe the meaning can be something more than what you originally intended, or more acceptable, like in the case of political cartoons.”

For Stephanie, her love of art began with drawing cartoons. Now in the Painting II class, Stephanie plans on taking AP art in the future.

olivia garrett | staff reporter

“We have a pact that when we’re extraordinarily old, and we have white hair, and our husbands are dead, we’re going to dye our hair crazy colors and we’re going to move in together.”

“Art allows me to express myself in a way that words definitely could not,” Stephanie said. “It allows me to let out all of my thoughts.”

Though Rachel also enjoys acting and writing, she feels most —Rachel Reckling comfortable with her abilities as an artist.

“Art makes me feel alive,” Rachel said. “I’ve always had these grand notions in my head, but when I put them to paper, it brings them to life in a way that makes me feel like they are more than just simply thoughts.”

Stephanie also enjoys photography and even has her own YouTube channel where she explores fashion and poetry.

“I love making videos,” Stephanie said. “It’s just [that] I’m not really that good at putting myself out there publicly yet.

I’m getting better at it though, and my confidence has sort of grown.”

Of all her AP classes, Rachel believes that art has been the most intensive, because of the constant creative outpouring.

“I feel [that] because of AP art I am a different person,” she said. “It changes completely how you see the world.”

While Stephanie hopes to one day write a comic book series or children’s book, Rachel plans to work as an art industry professional.

“I want to make a change in the industry,” Rachel said.

Before this can happen, though, the girls will need to attend college. And while many teenagers enjoy moving away from their families, the Recklings hope to stick together.

“We actually want to go to the same college because we have separation problems,” Stephanie said.

Unfortunately, the sisters will have to spend some time apart once Rachel graduates. Supportive as ever, Rachel sees a bright future for her younger sister.

“Stephanie is so inspiring to me. There’s a natural grace in what she does,” Rachel said.

“She makes me so excited because I can see how much potential she has and it’s going to be really interesting to see what she does with her future.”

PHOTO OF RACHEL & STEPHANIE RECKLING BY OLIVIA GARRETT

friday, feb. 13, 2015

SPENCER’S TUMORS After the operation, the surgeons drilled a hole in Spencer Williamson’s skull to drain fluid. It will never heal.

Surgeons removed Spencer Williamson’s largest tumor on the bottom right; they left the smaller tumor on the far right.

PHOTOS OF SPENCER WILLIAMSON PROVIDED BY THE WILLIAMSON FAMILY

PHOTO OF SPENCER WILLIAMSON BY VI BURGESS

mind over matter

the roar | people | 15

Freshman discovers massive brain tumors, still recovering after removal haley mitchell | assistant editor Curl your fingers into your palm and make a fist. That’s how big Spencer Williamson’s tumor was when they found it in his head.

“I went to the eye doctor and they dilated my eyes,” Spencer Williamson said. “They found something in the back of my eye that was swelling up called papilledema.”

Papilledema is swelling caused by the pressure inside of his head. It was so great that the optic disc was completely flat, instead of curved like it should be.

“I knew something was wrong when the optometrist pulled me into a separate room,” Spencer’s mother and algebra teacher Michelle Williamson said. “She started listing off all these things that could be wrong: a lesion in the brain, blah blah blah, and I could hear from her tone that she was holding something back.”

To the optometrist, the substantial pressure in Spencer’s head could only mean one thing: a brain tumor. The next day Spencer and his family headed to Houston, where the Texas Children’s Hospital is located.

“I hadn’t even put my bags down when I said ‘Hi, I’m here to check my son in’, and the lady at the desk said ‘Are you Spencer’s mom?’,” mother Michelle Williamson said. “I now know that that’s a really bad sign. If they’re waiting for you, it means they’ve already gotten your images and are interested in seeing what’s going on. [It means] you are not in good shape.”

Spencer spent the night in a pediatric intensive care unit.

“They didn’t know it at the time, but I was allergic to the antibiotic they were giving me,” Spencer Williamson said.“Time became very fluid and went by really quickly, so every time I fell asleep and woke up I thought it was another day.”

Spencer had to be woken frequently throughout the night because he was forgetting to breathe.

“With that kind of pressure in your brain, your brain starts to shut down your body,” Michelle Williamson said. “We’d have to wake him up and remind him to breathe, and we constantly had to watch his vitals.”

The next evening Spencer had surgery performed by one of the nation’s top pediatric neurosurgeons, Dr. William Whitehead. That’s when they were able to remove one tumor and found the second.

“That is the piece that they’ll monitor for a long time, because they’ll want to know if it will grow,” Michelle Williamson said. “The brain tissue looked fine, and felt normal. It didn’t look cancerous so they left it there.”

The second tumor measured 1.7 centimeters, which was still fairly large by brain tumor standards.

“When I first started reporting to people the size of the tumors they thought I was wrong,” Michelle Williamson said. “They thought I had gotten confused in my units because usually brain tumors are millimeters, not centimeters.”

The first was 7.6 centimeters, about the size of a tangerine. After a 13 hour surgery it was successfully removed, and Spencer’s road to recovery began.

“I woke up like ten minutes after the surgery,” Spencer said. “I really don’t remember because I was on so many pain medications, but I know I flirted with the nurses.”

Spencer went into the surgery a GT student and left with only one tumor and some balance and concentration issues.

“You don’t ever really fully recover, because I still have left hand coordination and balance issues,” Spencer Williamson said.

And while his story might remind some of Augustus Waters from “The Fault in Our Stars”, Spencer still has not read the book.

“There was actually like an 80% chance I would die. They don’t tell you the chances till you’re out of the hospital a year, because even after the surgery only about 50% live,” Spencer Williamson said.“So [TFIOS] hits a little too close to home.”

16 | people | the roar

ON ET T GARR NEY SYD BY

up, up y & awa

friday, feb. 13, 2015

PHOTO OF TO RI EID S

Traveling junior explores Spain, learns more than just new language darcey rydl | staff reporter If you have traveled to Spain and think a two week stay in Barcelona or Madrid means you know Spanish culture—think again.

“There’s a big difference between traveling, like vacationing, and immersing yourself,” junior Tori Eidson said.

“You can’t experience different cultures just by going to the resorts.”

Inspired by her mom, a study abroad coordinator at Sam Houston State University, Eidson has had frequent opportunity to visit Europe. After exploring the Spanish coast twice and falling in love with the people, scenery and culture, Eidson decided she wanted to stay there.

“I am seriously so lucky that I have been able to experience so many different cultures through my mom,” Eidson said.

Instead of studying abroad through a program, Eidson planned the entire trip herself. “[She] took the initiative in finding

out all the details,” Karla Eidson, Tori Eidson’s mom, said. “She attended a private school she already knew of and lived in a city she had already been to.”

Even though Karla and Tori Eidson have significant traveling experience, Karla Eidson never expected Tori Eidson to study abroad until after high school.

“We really missed her when she was gone,” Karla Eidson said. “[Now that she is back], she is not only fluent in another language and culture, she has a renewed sense of self-identity, and that is huge.”

‘‘

TORI’S TIPS FOR TRIPS DON’T BRING MULTIPLES

You can’t experience different cultures just by going to the resorts.

Tori Eidson’s originally assigned host family did not work out because of the distance from their house to the school. Until she was assigned to a new family, she lived with a family who had recently moved from the United States to Spain.

IF IT’S NOT YOUR FAVORITE, DON’T BRING IT

“The daughter, Madison Beam, and I ended up being really close friends,” Tori Eidson said. “It was nice to have an American family helping me before going into a full Spanish family that didn’t know English.”

Unfortunately, Beam did not have this advantage when she moved to Spain.

“I was a tall blonde American living in a country full of brunettes speaking Spanish,” Beam said. “I didn’t know any Spanish when I moved here, and when I started school, I felt like a complete outsider.”

Their similar challenges strengthened their friendship, and the two friends continue to keep in touch every day.

“I have lived in Valencia for 18 months,” Beam said. “When I first got here, I missed my friends and family. I still miss everybody, but I have learned to cope with the feeling. I was very happy to have another American who I could relate to.”

Tori Eidson’s biggest challenge wasn’t fitting in, like Beam’s, but overcoming the language barrier.

THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS TOO MANY SHOES

“It was a definite learning curve,” Tori Eidson said. “When I was first with my host family, I was really nervous speaking Spanish and was very intimidated by the language as a whole.”

Besides the language, Tori Eidson had to adjust to the unusual amount of freedom that was in Spain.

“There wasn’t really any curfew,” Tori Eidson said. “There was a lot of trust placed in me and in the students.”

In the schools, students were allowed to freely talk while the teachers were talking.

“To me, it seemed almost rude,” Tori Eidson said. “To them, it was an accepted thing.”

In the future, Tori Eidson hopes to pursue a job that allows her to travel so she can continue to have similar experiences in all parts of the world.

“If I learned this much in such a short amount of time,” Tori Eidson said, “think about what I can learn the rest of my life.”

NEUTRAL COLORS ARE THE BEST COLORS

the roar | people |17

friday, feb. 13, 2015

Music duo defy categori

su

m

an a

gin

g ed

itor

ty rdi

happens is up to them, I’m just here for the show,” Oxford said. “I’m just here to experience a part of what they do. I’m here for their music.”

The music is closely guarded; Gage and Lambert only release songs when the time is right, despite constantly freestyling with each other.

“Whenever we feel the people need it,” Lambert said.

Their message for the people is all in their name.

“We try to respect your parents, but we’re respecting your parents, not respecting ours. Like, he respects mine and I respect his,” Lambert said.

Gage clarified.

“My parents, I would cuss them out, but with Allen’s parents I’m like ‘hey Mrs. Lambert, what’s up?

Lovely weather today,’” Gage said.

Because of this, they don’t really consider themselves role models.

“Look up to us,” a| li v Gage said. “But don’t o s roja get influenced by

ab

us.”

PHOTO OF RYAN GAGE & ALLEN LAMBERT BY ROJAS OLIVA

they had their lineup set, Gage and Lambert commited themselves to RYP, even finding a way to use their positions on the boys soccer team.

“It’s actually helped a lot,” Gage said. “[It let us] reach out to different schools.”

They mean this literally.

“After soccer games, after the goodgame handshake, sometimes I’ll be like ‘hey, dude, check out our mix tape on SoundCloud,’” Lambert said.

This aggressive form of advertising has led them to build what they call their “entourage.”

“Like how Wu-Tang is a big clan, but only two people rap. That’s kind of like RYP,” Lambert said. “We’ve got 15 people in the entourage but there are only two actual musicians.”

Also like Wu-Tang, RYP has swag for its members.

“We’ve probably sold six wristbands,” Lambert said.

Sophomore Hunter Oxford is a member of RYP’s entourage and is considered the group’s “hype man slash entrepreneur slash videographer slash choreographer slash manager slash visual producer.”

Oxford sums up the role of the entourage.

“This is what it’s like: I sit back. I think to myself what can I do to better the group, because whatever

e

RY P are sure of their music.

“A word to describe it?

Probably ‘the best,’” group founder junior Ryan Gage said.

Junior Allen Lambert, the new addition to the now-duo, tries to nail their style down.

“I’d probably say it’s rap mixed with hip-hop mixed with yodeling mixed with alternative,” Lambert said. “Probably a combination of all those.”

RYP stands for Respect Your Parents, a self-proclaimed “music group” that has released five songs to wide acclaim. The project started with Gage and his little brother, Trey Gage, who left the group after their first, and biggest, release, “Rain Drops.”

“He felt the pressure,” Gage said.

“Right after the first song, when it got over a thousand views, he felt pressured and said he didn’t want to do it anymore.”

His loss is constantly referenced in RYP’s mythology.

“I respect Treygee (Trey Gage’s stage name),” Lambert said.

“He might be in seventh grade but he spits bars like he’s in 12th.”

Once

zatio n, e mb ra c

13 | people

| the roar

friday, feb. 13, 2015

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SNICKERDOODLE RECIPES “Of course, the blades proved difficult to clean, so we resorted to a spatula and two repetitions of Katy Perry’s “Hot N Cold” for all subsequent steps involving heavy mixing, like the one in which we had added the egg and vanilla extract. And the one in which we added the flour, cream of tartar and baking soda. Our arm muscles grew. We are strong. We are SWOLE. We are — Hugh Jackman as Wolverine?”

STATE OF THE ONION “The State of the Union is the most important non-important speech of the year. In it, the President tells the nation that the state of the union is strong, then proceeds to lay out his legislative goals and message for the year while getting multiple applause lines, prompting either partisan or bi-partisan applause.”

SCHOOL EVENTS JAN. 11 | “The Environmental Club held its first charity fish fry and silent auction last Saturday, raising almost $2000 to purchase four clean water packages from Heifer International that will install and teach communities how to use treadle pump systems.”

JAN. 30 | “Students dressed in 1920s style clothing, brought finger food, danced to the Charleston and drank champagne, or in this case, sparkling grape juice.”

AND MUCH MUCH MORE... monday THIS WEEK’S BREAKFAST:

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& Annie as they try (& fail) to bake fun treats for the fam

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the roar | sports | 19

friday, feb. 13, 2015

Female athletes of so-called ‘manly’ sport deal with stereotypes, prejudices elizabeth reed online & photography editor Girls’ powerlifting? Is that a thing?

Isn’t that for men? What kind of girl wants muscles?

Don’t all of those girls look manly and gross?

It’s time to get serious about girls powerlifting, and none of those stereotypes matter to Consol’s girls powerlifting team.

“It gives me a sense of confidence that I didn’t have before,” senior Kyndall Foust said. “Every morning, I wake up and go lift at 6 a.m. because I love it.”

Despite it being labeled “girls” powerlifting, there are no differences between the girls and guys team in workouts, suits or competitions.

“We were all raised [to believe] that boys and girls are different, but when you look at the muscles, the muscles are the same,” powerlifting coach John Mitchell said. “The difference is I have to watch the guys more because they skip [workouts]; girls are much better at ‘this is what you have to do,’ and they will go do it.”

Along with being more efficient members, the girls are also the motivators of the team.

“For [the guys team] to see a girl lifting more than them kind of pushes [them],” Foust said. “It’s hard for the guys to see the girls lifting more than them.”

However, many only hear about guys’ powerlifting.

“Our girls’ team got second place [in a meet], and I heard a lot of people in school going, ‘I didn’t even know we had a girls’ powerlifting team,’” senior Christi Corkran said. “It’s cool that we can go out there and do a sport normally based around guys and that we can be good at it, too.”

Many girls on powerlifting have been recruited from other sports, creating a diverse group of lifters and body types unlike the old idea of “manly” girl powerlifters.

“We have cheerleaders who are powerlifting; we have all types of people,” Foust said. “Me? I play a lot of different sports, and it’s not just because we’re built like men. We like to lift and we have muscle and we can do that.”

Often being overshadowed by their male counterparts, girls take more measures to do well.

“The week before the meet I try

to eat really healthy, in case I need to drop down a weight class,” Corkran said. “If you’re in a weight class, you want to be the lightest you can be because if you tie weight with somebody the lightest person gets first place.”

Many of the girls eat healthily along with additional methods to stay in their weight class.

“The team calls me the extremist because to stay in my weight class I spit into bottles to get all the water weight out of myself, because you hold about ten pounds of water in your body and that’s a lot of weight,” Foust said. “I’ve slept in trash bags—when you wake up you have sweat in the bottom of the trash bags which is water weight.”

Foust’s dedication to the sport serves as a model to the rest of the team; many rely on her and the senior girls to lead the way.

“Kyndall kind of takes the motherly role, making sure everybody has their wraps and their suit on right,” Corkran said. “She takes it into her own hands, which is good because powerlifting can be so scary if you’re new to it.”

While Foust may donate time to picking up teammates for workouts or making sure members finish the workouts, Corkran also guides the team.

“Christi is more the silent leader,” Mitchell said. “She just gets there and gets her work done, she leads more by example.”

During practice, powerlifters work out as a team. However, during meets it is considered an individual sport and competitors try to improve upon the squat, bench and deadlift.

“Every time I go to a meet I don’t think about beating the other person— I think about beating myself, beating the numbers I got before, doing better than the week before,” Corkran said. “I just like how it encourages you to be better.”

While powerlifters can get advice from coaches and teammates, the potential to do well mainly comes from self-motivation.

“Our coach doesn’t push you during practice,” Foust said. “During a meet, that’s when you get pushed to see how much you can lift.”

Although powerlifting requires vigorous physical exertion, it provides valuable mental challenges as well.

“I kind of just stepped out of my comfort zone; [no one] would have to tell me to put on weights because I was already doing that” Corkran said. “I guess it’s just been in me from the beginning to do that.”

LIFT LIKE A GIRL

PHOTO BY STEPHANIE PALAZZOLO

20 | the roar | sports

GROWING UP

friday, feb. 13, 2015

Team members see leadership in different ways shilpa saravanan | editor-in-chief High school’s cyclical: people go, but younger people always come to replace them.

It’s a truth that’s often forgotten when a beloved senior class leaves.

“When you lose 13 kids, the whole dynamic changes,” coach Stuart Keogh said.

“We’ve had a lot of opportunities for people to step up in leadership positions, just due to the natural ebb and flow of graduation.”

Senior Mamie Barnhardt tore her ACL after playing just two matches with the Consol team in the 2014 season, which put her out of action for the remainder of that year— and, as she discovered some months ago, the injury has benched her for this season as well.

Despite that, Barnhardt is now the team’s captain. Keogh points to Barnhardt’s work ethic—both on the field, during her recovery from such a long-term injury, and in the classroom—as just one of many captain-like qualities that Barnhardt displays daily.

“She’s incredibly responsible, and she’s mature, emotionally, in how she talks to people,” Keogh said. “For her to not be able to play this year and still mean so much to the team—I think that’s pretty important.”

Barnhardt characteristically downplays her own role as captain, citing one of her most important duties as “doing laundry” and pointing to others on the team who’ve had similar impacts this season.

“It’s an honor to be captain. I was surprised,” Barnhardt said. “But everyone’s kind of a leader in their own way. We have a leader on defense, one in the midfield, one up top. I just help them warm up.”

Indeed, other players, including senior Macie Morales, have stepped up to fill the

various on-field roles of a more traditional captain.

“What Mamie can do, she does a really good job at,” Morales said. “What she can’t, me and [senior] Julia [Edrington] help with that.”

Morales’s role on the field is primarily motivational, involving keeping each team member’s morale up throughout the grueling 90 minutes of a soccer game.

“It’s just about trying to get people pumped up to win the game, to really play to the best of their abilities,” Morales said.

“Part of our job is to get girls who aren’t in the mood to play that day to step up and give it their all.”

The particularly young nature of this team—which consists of six seniors, a “handful” of juniors, and plenty of sophomores and freshmen—has led to a “drop in maturity,” according to Morales, which makes strong leadership even more important. However, Morales feels that it’s not something the team struggles with.

“It’s definitely noticeable, but I think we’ve done a good job of showing the girls how to play at the varsity level,” Morales said.

“They’ve done really well so far.”

Barnhardt, similarly, thinks the team’s dynamic this year is “really good on and off the field.” She finds that each member of the team—regardless of whether she’s a leader in the traditional sense or not—fills an important role.

“There are people who lead by saying ‘let’s do this, let’s do this,’ and people who lead by example. Both are good,” Barnhardt said.

“Some people are also really good followers.

That’s important, too.”

PHOTO OF NICOLE VAUGHN BY SHILPA SARAVANAN

UNMARKED

Freshman soccer player lacks arm, doesn’t let difference define him austin coats | sports editor If you walk by freshman Michael Fink, you might not really notice him because at first glance he seems like a normal kid. And, really, that’s true.

He shows up to school, smiling with his shorts and t-shirt and knocks out Honors and Pre-AP level classes, as well as a pre-med class. Then goes home, plays Playstation, does him homework, and just does whatever he wants. If it’s the weekend he heads towards Waco to fish and hunt at his family’s ranch.

It might take you quite a while to realize that he has no left hand.

“I was born like that,” Fink said, smiling big.

But isn’t that a big deal?

“I guess there [are] some things I can’t really do, but I’m used to it now so I can do almost everything,” Fink said.

Fully formed fellows not impressed? He plays soccer too.

“I’ve been playing it since I was like seven,” Fink said.

Fink’s done it all in his soccer career. He’s played with Aggieland division of the Houston Texans Soccer Club, the local recreational league, College Station Soccer Club, “And now I’m here,” Fink said.

Fink plays for the junior varsity-B team as a midfielder, either as an attacking midfielder or wing according to his

coach, Mark Hollis.

“I thought he was somebody who could help us on the team and that’s the reason we kept him,” Hollis said.

But how does he do it all with the full use of only one arm? He doesn’t let it bother him.

“This could be seen as a hurdle for a number of people, but he doesn’t see it that way,” soccer coach Stefano Salerno said.

“I think everyone here has a future in the program if they work hard enough and they’re dedicated enough to what their goal is.”

For Michael, this attitude towards his “challenge” comes naturally.

“I just sort of have [that attitude],” Fink said.

Salerno and Hollis complimented his attitude, and both said that they had never even talked with Fink about his lack of a left hand.

“We never really needed to have that conversation,” Salerno said. “It really does not limit him.”

This attitude also applies on the field. According to Salerno, Fink has a great work ethic and takes that through

PHOTO BY AUSTIN COATS

the roar | sports | 21

friday, feb. 13, 2015

all aspects of the game.

“He’s an extremely disciplined young man,” Salerno said. “[With] something simple as warming up [he gives] everything that he has.”

And if he keeps that attitude and work ethic up, Fink could be on his way to bigger and better things in the soccer program, like reaching varsity, which is his goal by senior year.

“I think everyone here has a future in the program if they work hard enough and they’re dedicated enough to what their goal is,” Hollis said.

Fink’s life to this point has been all about adaptation.

The urge to do everyday things has taught Michael to do things in unorthodox ways. However, his method of achieving some goals doesn’t seem so extraordinary. For example, he explained how he plays video games: “On this arm (indicating his left arm) I just use the end of this bone to move the joystick on the left and I do everything on the right with my right hand.”

In fact, most of the things he “can’t” do stem from the fact that he’s just never really tried them, not because he’s physically unable to do so.

“I never really learned how to ride a bike,” Fink said. “I probably can but I just haven’t learned.”

So all-in-all, is Michael Fink really handicapped?

“I would have to say no, absolutely not,” said Salerno.

22 | entertainment | the roar

friday, feb. 13, 2015

the roar’s pick Did you know the school has free books?

You can just take them. Here are the ones we took.

THE ONION BOOK OF KNOWN KNOWLEDGE The Onion’s articles are always really funny, and needless to say, their books deliver articles that are just as hilarious.

If you need a good laugh, be sure to check them out. But of course, as a newspaper staff, we may be biased. Just make sure you know it’s parody. recommended by zach kluver, entertainment editor

William Faulkner

THE SOUND AND THE FURY

In the years surrounding its publication, the still unknown William Faulkner had a few creatively swell years. The best in all of history ever? Money is a pretty swell motivator. Most find this, a novel for lovers of language and minds and patience, its pinnacle. It’s also got a great title.

Spoiler: he ends up making oodles of cash, and a Nobel too. recommended by rojas oliva, managing editor

OVER A THOUSAND HILLS I WALK WITH YOU

Hanna Jensen

“Over A Thousand Hills I Walk With You” is a fictional account of the Rwandan Genocide based on the actual experiences of Jeanne d’Arc Umubyeyi, who lived through it. Written as a tribute to Jeanne by her adoptive mother, memories from before the genocide, tales of shocking violence, and glimpses into Jeanne’s life with her new family interweave to form a powerful narrative. recommended by olivia garrett, staff reporter

Joseph Heller

Catch-22

This novel is a test of perseverance. If you can get past the seemingly aimless (albeit hilarious) first 75% of the book without feeling too bad about laughing at Joseph Heller’s pitch-black sense of humor, you’re in for a treat at the end. This book will change the way you see everything in a MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR way. recommended by shilpa saravannan, editor-in-chief

the roar | entertainment | 23

friday, feb. 13, 2015

sweet talk.

the roar’s got you covered for valentine’s day— whether you’re spending it with someone special or flyin’ solo!

SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW most underrated date spots

A

B

WE’VE GOT HISTORY The earliest surviving Valentine was written in the 15th century by the Duke of Orléans (while he was being held prisoner in the Tower of London after the Battle of Agincourt) to his wife.

I am already sick of love, My very gentle Valentine, Since for me you were born too soon, And I for you was born too late.

God forgives he who has estranged Me from you for the whole year. translated from the French

C

A. Take your loved one on an adventure without leaving the bench at the end of the foreign language hallway.

See page 22 for book suggestions.

B. The first landing of the secret staircase is nice and removed from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

C. “If I could rearrange the periodic table, I’d put U and I together.”

SOBSTORIES (these guys had it worse than you) Seven people died in Chicago’s ST. VALENTINE’S DAY MASSACRE of 1929.

▪Victim FRANK GUSENBERG,

despite having 14 bullet holes in his body, was still alive when police arrived on the scene. His only words? “Nobody shot me.”

▪Victim ALBERT WEINSHANK’s resemblance to the intended target was the reason so many people died in the first place— the target hadn’t even showed up when the shooting started.

▪Victim JOHN MAY got caught

up with violent crime because he was trying to support his wife and seven children.

Famed English explorer CAPTAIN COOK was murdered by Hawaiian natives on Feb. 14, 1779.

On Feb. 14, 1945, during World War II, American and British forces began fire-bombing the German city of DRESDEN. SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA

HONEYBUN edible consolers of the lonely

A. Clementines contain Vitamin C, which helps protect your skin from hotness.

B. An apple a day keeps the doctor away, unless your doctor is cute.

C. When life gives you lemons, throw them at happy couples.

24

| etcetera | the roar

ridiculously

friday, feb. 13, 2015

GOOD-LOOKING

Zoolander fans form Consol Male Models, mock stereotypes, criticisms annie zhang | executive editor “I’m pretty sure there’s a lot more to life than being really, really, ridiculously good looking. And I plan on finding out what that is.”

There’s your stereotypical male model Derek Zoolander, the inspiration for “Consol Male Models,” a group of seniors whose main goal, along with walking at Invisible Children’s fashion show, is to create their own “Zoolander” experience.

“We’re all just a group of friends who is obsessed with “Zoolander” and modeling, so we joined the fashion show,” senior Riley Garner said.

Consol Male Models began a year ago, when seniors Parker Baumann and Aaron Leventis first showed Garner the movie “Zoolander.”

“They just started going around making that “Zoolander” face,” Garner said. “Once I saw it, I told a couple more friends, they told a couple more friends, and it just became a group of Zoolander-loving people.”

After seeing fashion show tryout posters

in the hallways, the “Zoolander” fans decided they wanted to try modeling, too.

“They base their group aesthetic off of [that] movie. All of them do that ‘Blue Steel’ face,” senior Mattie DeWitt, who supervises the fashion show, said.

Not surprisingly, the same stereotypes prevalent in “Zoolander” are often applied to the guys themselves.

“People think it’s cliché, football guys who think they look attractive, but they’re kind of poking fun at themselves, making a joke out of something and making it even better,” DeWitt said.

“They’re making it into something that they own instead of pretending that they’re not a part of it.”

The group even created an Instagram account that describes itself as “just a few manly men who enjoy looking good.”

“We were at lunch and [Luke Benden] thought, since we’re all obsessed with “Zoolan- der”, the fashion show a n d modeling,

wouldn’t it be a great idea if we had a modeling page?” Garner said. “And I thought it was the best idea ever, so I created one. Whenever someone [takes] a picture, we just find some nice captions [and] have fun.”

Since its conception last December, the account has garnered over 160 followers. Yet it drew critics in the same way that news of the group’s modeling venture did.

“A lot of people gave them flack as soon as they started the Instagram account, but they know it’s a joke, and it is kind of subtly making fun of girls,” DeWitt said.

But Garner concedes that “female models are actually more important.”

“Girls really care about fashion more than we do, so the fashion show is more of a joke,” Garner said. “We don’t take it too [seriously].”

However, DeWitt thinks otherwise.

“I don’t want to betray them or anything, but the secret about these guys is that they do take it seriously, probably more than anyone else does. They care about it a lot,” DeWitt said.

As for that aspect

of life that Zoolander was looking for?

The guys already found it.

“Every time I tell someone that I’m going to fashion show practices tonight, their initial response is to crack up and start laughing because they actually think it’s serious, like ‘you actually think you’re a model’ type thing,” Garner said. “You know, there’s so much more to it than being ridiculously good looking; it’s about having fun with your friends, promoting the views of Invisible Children and promoting clothing brands as well.”

To clear up any misunderstanding, Garner recommends a simple solution.

“Honestly, I feel like other people who don’t know us well would think that we’re not joking about this modeling business, that we’re being serious and we’re all concerned about our good looks and being vain,” Garner said. “But I would want people to watch “Zoolander” so they would get all the jokes. And you should definitely go [to the fashion show] because I’m going to be there.”

The fashion show will be held on Mar. 28, and all profits will go to Liberty to North Korea.