Volume 33, Issue 1 (June 2002) - The Rampage by The Rampage

e RamPage

Volume XXXIIl Number 1

The Ramaz Upper School

Ramaz students joined the 200,000 people "'ho demonstrated in Washington D.C. in sup port of Israel.

Inside this Issue

Mock trial wins -page 5 Celebration of the Arts -page 7

Sun vs. Times -page 4 No more Score Choice -page 4

Ramaz Students Storm Capital in Support of Israel

By Sam Siegal Not even the swcllenng heat could hold them back. On Monday, Apnl 15, an esti mated 200.000 demonstrators gathered at the Capitol bu1ld1ng in Washmgton, D.C. for a rally m support of Israel dur ing this lime of war. Jews and Gentiles alike comprised the delegations that JOtncd the demonstration from alt over the country. Smee the Second Intifada began m September 2000, it has been a hard time for Jews all over the world, particularly for those m Israel. The rally was an opportunity for American Jews and non• Jewish friends of Israel to dis play their sohdanty and sup JX)rt of Israel during this en Il eaI period. "It 1s 1mposs1blc for us to stay here wh,lc the people of Israel arc in such cnsis," said Rabb, Haskel Lookstem. "For Isrnchs, 1t was a real source of support, and I'm sure that President Bush was moved by it. I thmk that we did do something of value." The Con fercnce of Presidents of MaJor Jewish Organ11..auons announced the rally only s,x days before 11 was scheduled to happen. Due to the very shor1 notice, planning had to start quickly. ll1e Tuesday before the rnlly, the Rnmaz and KJ odmm1stiat1on gathered in !\obb, llaskel Lookstem's

office and made the dcc1s1on to trnvel to Was)ungton, with as many students and congre• gants as possible. A letter was sent by Rabbi Look.stem to all Ramaz and KJ fam1llcs asking them to attend, and 3JI Ramaz studcn1s from third through twelfth grade were rcqum:d to go, and their parents urged to Join them. Ramaz and KJ had prcv1• ously attended two rallies together, the first to support Israel dunng the S,x Dny War in 1967, and the second, m I 982, m support of Soviet Jewry. Tlus was the biggest rally ever held supporting the State of Israel or Jews' well bemg in general "It was amazing to stand with thousands of Jews, showing the world our sup• port," said Daniel Marans '05. Eric Rechtsehaffcn '02 echoed his sentiment, "I was very unpressed. This was the first rally that I've been to wh,ch d,dn 't feel hke a camp reumon." Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and former Russian rcfuscn1k Naian Sharnnsky, former Israeli Prime M mister BcnJnmm Nctanyahu, Nobel Pence Prize rcc1p1ent Ehc W,csel, U S. Deputy Secretory of Defense Paul Wolfowllz and fonncr New York City Mayor Rudolph G1uhnn1, among m::rny others, nil spoke (co,11h111ed 011 page 4)

June 2002/Elul 5762

Retirement Set for Top Administrators

By Sarah Boxer and Alex Tale( After a 3 9 •year stint at will be missing out on a great Ramaz, Robb, Joshua S. teacher and admm1strator." Bakst, has elected to retire. Rabbi Bakst was appomt• Effcet,vc 111 June 2003, Rabb, ed Headmaster of Judaic Bakst. considered to be one of Studies of Ramaz 111 I970. the most rc\'olut1onary teach• After studying for several crs m Ramaz's history, will years at the Chevron Ycsh1v::i step dov,'Tl, to be replaced by m Israel, Rabb, Bakst Rabbi Ehezer Rubin received sm1cha from the Rabbi Rubin, headmaster Ycsh1\'a Torah Vodaath. Soon of the Mtddle School, will thereafter. Rabbi Bakst earned assume rcspons1b1ltt1cs as a teachmg degree from Dean of Judaic Studies while Herzelrnh Hebrew Institute. Mr. Ira Miller Wlll become Before commg to Ramaz. he Dean of General Studies. At held the pos1t1on of Assistant the same ttme, Dr. Noam Prmc1pal at the Yeshiva Rabbi Shudofsky will be handing his Moses Soloveitch1ck. respons1b1htics as the school's "He was one of the finest administrator over to Mr. teachers I had during my lime Kenneth Rochlin. In an at Ramaz:· recalls Eva announcement to faculty. Rotner, Ramaz graduate and Rabb, Haskel Lookstc111 said fonner student of Rabbi that he expected both Rabb, Bakst. "He brought an cle Bakst and Dr. Shudofsky to ment of scholarship to the serve in a consulting capac,t.y c\assrnom. and be w,\\ be sore the school. ly to missed alJ." by These recent develop Or. Shudofosky's service ments have, needless to say, to Rarnnz 1s of s1m1kl.r length shaken the Ramaz community to Rabb, Baskt's. Ahhough he and taken many by surpnsc. ·•1 began at Ramaz as a faculty couldn't believe ll," member, he QUJCkly gravitated exclaimed L::iur::i Friedman to the business end of the '03. "Rabbi B,kst IS Ramaz." school's operations. Faculty Ben Sp,rn '03, laments Rabb, cannot 1mag111e Ramaz wllh Bakst's departure as "unfortu• out these two pillars of mst1tu nnte, because fu1urc students t1on.

GO Elections Held

By Alex Tole!

Amidst an outburst of recent allegations cla1mmg G.O inefficiency, students gathered m the Ramoz aud,to• num on May 14 to hear the 0.0. candidates plead their cases. The first GO. race, for the office of treasurer, pitted Sam Goldberg '05 agn111st Jeremy Nov1ch '03. Goldberg began his speech by focusing on ::a "student rebate" pro1,>r:1m, a gag advocatmg the payment of students m return for their attendance in cl::asscs. Goldberg's various platfonns, however, proved no match for Nov1ch's campaign. \Vhilc rccitmg his speech m n man ner s1011lar to that of an lt::ihnn mobster, Novich won the crowd's adulation and then proceeded to promote a refonncd tc:stmg syslcm, the return of soda 10 the cafeteria, and the mcrcnsed presence of cookies in school. Nov1ch nlso spoke m support of

mcreased student parl!c1pa tton rn G.O. meetings and improved pcrfom1a.ncc on the part of the school vendmg machines. The candidates for the pos111on of secrern,ry were next to compete. Jeremy Waldstrc,eher a '04, Connecticut native who Jested about his ded1cat1on to remote Ramaz, emphasized the necessity of a bond between the 0.0. and the student body, sncaker-pemuttcd days, and the introduction of teacher evaluations. However, Leora Goodman '03 would win the pos1t10n, with hc:r witty speech filled with puns regarding her surname. Goodman encouraged dress• down dnys, late mornings af'ler large-scale school events, and more attentton paid to celebratory days. She also made n pomt of raismg (co1111',wed 011 page 4)

Pnge 2

Editorial Page

GO Close But No Cigar

In past years. the RamP:igc cdnonal staff has been extreme ly cr111cal of the GO and the manner in which Its elections nre held. We fully believe in the potenual which a student govern ment can posses, and 3rc anxious to behold student representa tives who demonstrate the ability to exercise this capab 1 hty. While the newly elected GO docs seem capable of prcscntmg unique ideas and ach1cv1ng substantial modifications to student hfe, there arc ccr1amly sllll flaws that arc inherent m the elec tion process llself. A GO clccllon has become a potential ground for racial and cultural d1sparagemcnt, subtle as the mto nallons may appear. h seems that every year there is on,c more dtsrespectful Joke, one more 1noppropr1a1c comment, one more step over that lmc which divides racism and ethnic "baslung" from mere banter. As Josh Rmg '03, this year's runner-up m the presidenual race, contmucs to remind us, the atmosphere that Ramaz fosters 1s m no way ind1catwc of the d 1vcrs1ty and hetcrogcncuy cvt• dent in the world in which we hvc. However, the student body h:1s twice refused to elect Rmg, either out of rcfus:11 10 hsten 10 his message to bronden our honzons. or failure to comprehend its s1gmficancc. \Vh1lc Rmg was not elected, :1 fellow candidate, nmrnng on the "donut-eatmg Mafioso" ticket, was. llus candidate's use and abuse of .:m infamous cultural gcncrahzation would have offended any hahan-Amencan trying to escape :rn age-old "nil Italians arc in the Mafia" stereotype. 1-lowcvcr, 11 appears that the people have spoken. Although he proved v1ctonous, the speech dchvcrcd by senior vice presidential candidate Yogi Schulman '03 did not seem 10 be received with open arms by the student body. An overwhelming consensus of voters felt that Schulman 's speech was condescending or unproductive and somethmg for which a GO clcc1ion assembly 1s neither tJ1e tune nor place. However, m a GO age which has seen a homophobic slur directed toward a much-loved 1eachcr and an accent-infested 1m 1 tat1on of a cafetcn:1 lunch lady. Schulman should be com• mended for the dignified manner m which he conducted him self while on stage. Although his speech was not replete wtth d)'nam1c platfonns and quips, pullmg 11 in sharp contrast wuh C\•cryone else ·s. Schulman. hke Ring, made a valiant attempt to open our cycs.1l1e blame for shoddy elccuons really docs not fall solely on the shoulders of the candidates and their faculty advisers. but, rather, on the audience to whom they are preach• ing. Too few of us realize that there is a world beyond the Caucasian, Orthodox.Jewish environment represented by the stlver edifice on 78th Street Perhaps we need to re•cvaluatc the pnority system according to which we choose our leadership. A httJe introspection could go a long way.

The RamPage Staff wishes everyone a great summer. See You Next Year!

The R.tunPagc

June 2002ffommuz 5762

GO Letter

As tJ1is bizarre and tense year comes to a close, we just wanted to let you know about a few of our aspirations for the GO. next year. First, we feel privileged that you, the SIU· dents, have chosen us as your representatives, and we hope that, above all, you will remember that we arc here to represent you. We would hkc to set up a system that would allow you to c•mall the GO. regarding any suggestions or issues that you would hkc us to consider. In addition, we plan to arrange rncctmgs wtth each grade, smcc we believe that 1t is

1mpcra11vc that the G.0. be mg as your student govcm well acquainted w11h the stu mcnl next year, and we will do dent body. We also wanl to everything m our power lo issue the next GO. newsletter, m:ikc 1t an ancrcd1blc year for to let everyone know what we you. Good luck on finals and arc up to. Some other 1dc:as that we have 3 great summer! intend lO Jmplcment arc: a Smcerely, grades appeals day (or oppor Jesse B1encnfcld '03run1ty) next September, dunng which you can discuss any Prcsidcnt Yogi Schulman '03grades with which you arc upset from 1h 1s year's spring Scmor Vice President Jonathan Goldman '04semester; a policy l!mtlmg work on big game nights; the Jumor Vice President Leora Goodman '03sale of Ramaz apparel: and, last but not least, a foosball Scerctary Jeremy Nov 1 eh '03table for the student lounge. We look forward to serv- Trcasurcr

Ramshackle s

by Miriam Grunfeld

EDITORS L" cmEf Sanh Boxer ♦ Ala Ta.lei ♦ Oarud Waner ASSOCIATE EDITORS Zev Rosen, Aro

Mtnam GrunfdJ. Ncv.s·

JIJ1\'10R f..DITORS

�L\.NACING EDITOR

O.ll\1-cl Scbumastcr LE1TERS EDITOR

PIIOTOGRAPII\' EDITOR

E,t.in llochstC"T W&BEDITORS

fACULTY ADVISER

M.r AlbutGoctz_ Rt'ma Pou,�n•* was a u,111nb111,,,g phf>l<>gropherfor 1/us wwc

June 2002/Tammuz 5762

The RamPage

GO Jol(es for Votes

By Harri.Jon Levy It 1s true that you will nc, er sec a candidate for the Umtcd Stoics Presidency do o st.ond up comedy rout.me m place of o compo1gn speech. I lowcvcr. the maJor issues m lhosc races arc not Parmesan cheese and neck tics. Personality 1s cvcrythmg in Rnmaz. \Vh,le people soy that our clcchons arc nothmg but s,lly populonty contests, I beg 10 differ. \Vhen I look ot o ballot, I think about which of the eond1dates has mode the best 3nrmpt to get me to hkc him or her. despite the fact that we an: not really fnends. The 1mprovcmcnt of stu dent hfc at Ramaz 1s a very scns111vc issue. Those who help "'Nn" the school odvcr usc this 1nst1tutton as ..the greatest place in the world." Those who oucnd 11. portray 11

as a pnson with the added . "luxury . of davenmg require ments. While I do have the utmost respect for those who serve on the GO., I hove my doubts as regards the "vahd11y·· of their work. Often, changes thot the Romaz Admm1strat1on enacts arc rarely a result of the "ardu ous" efforts of GO. officers and more o result of school admm1strators dec1dmg th:it a pan,cular "mod1fica11on" 1s "accepublc.'' It IS, m truth, the power of persuasion which enables a sccmmgly "log,col" mod,fica uon to student hfc to be appro,·cd by the admmistn11on. This 1s why I have always voted for the GO. c:in d1date who makes me laugh the most ond who ,s able to get me ··on their side." Jf I am to

someone m the he:id. These are not the most inJunous s1t uat1ons. but they certainly arc unnerving. I have even seen o badly aimed kick knock over To 1/1• Editors a bowl of cereal, wluch 1s a I agree wholeheartedly waste of both money and food th:ll hackys:ick 1s an extreme aside from the ttme the Jam• ly cnJoyablc game-but only tors spend clconmg II up. for those currently playmg 1L Although coch one of The truth ,s. this game these gnc"anccs 1s a mac must be restricted to less nuisance, the aceumulatton "busy" areas of the school ccnamly amounts to some hallways A nng of students thing s,gn,ficant Onginally, I kicking o ball around has the believed hockysack should be potcn11al to obstruct traffic on banned from the school alto an entire floor, depending on gether. llo"cvcr, I also rec where the game 1s located. ognize the nght of the stu Maneuvcnng around a game dents to have fun. As a result, that 1s situated on the fourth I have reconsidered my stance noor OUISlde the back door of and merely request that those the library isn't difficult who play the game be cons,d because there's plenty of cratc and play m areas that room to g o around. But 1J a will not congest the hallways. group of SIX JUnJOrS IS playing hockysack in the middle of Sincerely, the fifth noor bndge, how ,s Daniel Sterman '02 one supposed lo get by? The circle 1s wide enough for one end to be agamst the elevators and the other against the ra,hng Barging through the circle nsks gelling kicked To the Editors: As I wrap up my fresh in the head by o wayward .. I realize foo� and the skills of Rnmaz men year at Ram:11 students ore great enough that exactly how far I've come ,f one waits for the ··hack" to Before the ycor begon, I was end, 1he period may have this innocent kid who hid already Slorted I mysclfhovc under the Shabbat table m been held up multiple limes fear of h,gh school a1,d oil of trying to gel to class by a the pressures th:&t come w11h 11 Durmg my first few weeks hackysack gomc One 11mc I was even dn at Ramoz . I dodged ony kind of m1cract1ons w11h upper vcn 10 d15rupt the game dchb cro1ely in order lo get by. A classmen. took the sla1r(l lcu resolute person 1s oflcn whenever I could so ns to nvo1d gelling shoved out of forced lo lake a long detour. In add1t1on1 even when the elevator, on<l did every one 1s not actually nav1gatmg thing ,n my power no1 10 through 1hc hallways, hocky stand out I also ran for clai;s sack cin be a very d,srupllve prcs1dcnl� and gove u1> nll game Often the boll 1s lucked cffom to be inconspicuouJ I out of the c,rclc enllrcly, :md was dctenmncd 10 have my more than once 1t has h� I vo,ce heard by all members of SFAC; cl:rss prcs,d,nrs, ao

My First SFAC

Much Ado About Nothing The Observer

be depnvcd of my homeroom and forced to surrC'nder five valuable tcachmg minutes from each pcnod, I want to cnJ0Y an hour-long, GO. By Diane Kolateh It's the end of the year really can't do nothing. The assembly I do not want to be lectured on my lack of apprc again, and there 1s cager anuc- phr:lsc itself is an oxymoron� e1011on for my school and I ipauon buzzing in the :11r. \Ve Jt 1s impossible to "do'' noth also do not want to hear about 1arc all excited for the end of ing because 1f you're ''doing" ideas which arc not only school, anxiously awaiting the 1t, then it's something. We desire "nothing'' when unfcas1blc, but arc never even prospect of remaining m bed raised either at SP'AC meet well tnlo the morning, soaking we wish to escape from our circumstance� ings or m pnvatc conferences. up the blaz.mg summer sun. present We arc only a high school and and relaxing poolside wtth because we know that the we should stop trymg to friends. In foct, what we arc "not.lung" t�t we seek 1s equate our Ramaz GO. clcc perhaps most excited for isn't unattainable, and human t1ons with, say. a U.S. anything at oil. Really, the w.sunct causes us to feel con hole joy of hov,ng a break fined by set hm1ts that we Prcs1dcntJ:1I clcct1on. Ulllmatcly, the "hardships" from school is found in cscop know "c can achieve. we endure arc not really that ing every aspect of our crazy Unau.:nnablc goals arc, m a awful. So, for once, Jct us for lives at Ramaz, and just being woy, more lofty � than rcahries, ond therefore repre get about the "issues" ond the able finally, to do nothing. "Doing nothing'" has been sent mnatc escapes from a real "platforms." I say, a funny speech provides for a funny around for ages. It 1s what the \\Orld filled with real _Prob overachieving workaholic lems. GO and a more fun Ramaz. yearns for m the winter :rnd Thus, ''nothing" has thrives in come summer. It become the dream of the yields the answer to pcrpctuol oppressed workc(. \Ve love ond (gulp!) the Romaz intcrrogat1ons that parents thinking we :ire actua1Jy thrust onto their ch1ldrcn "doing nothing" when we are Adm1n1strat1on. My first SFAC meeting "What did you learn 1odoy? sunply relaxing, because we was announced unexpectedly What ore you doing tonight?" know th.11 no matter how close at the ending bell of a double It's that good old response that we thmk we arc to domg noth R:ibb1 Gordon Talmud class. keeps the cycle gomg? ing, we will never octually get there Deep ms1dc. we know Seeing 3S how he knew that I ''Nothing " What is II about nothing that c:vcn relaxing m its grand was m school that afternoon, I made II my first pnonty to get that ,s so appeahng? \Vhy ,s 11 est form sctvC'S great purpose, to SFAC on bmc, even if 11 what we desire when we arc comfortmg and calming us meant d11chmg lhc cvcr- undc:r prCMu.rc Wld bask m from 1hc trials ond tn'bubtionl 1mport.1nt volleyball team·s when we arc not? \Vhy has of everyday hfc. Perhaps llus 1s also why practice. R:Jcmg up the stnrs "nothing" become the popular after buying my usual Fhk way out of :umoymg or \\C use the word "nothing·· to cookies ond knish. I looked poignant quesuons? In fact, 11 encompass a whole day·s down and rc3hzcd I ,, as appears that human nature Yi. orth of events, forc,'cr con doomed Sneakers' Why, oh dictates the opposite d�1re, o ccahng a cnustroph,c duung why, did I ha,·c to wear sneak strong craving 10 be eternally room sp, 11 or hystcnc:il gym ers today'/' If only I hod JUSI busy. After oil, we have hob class blunder. By ollowmg the worn normal shoes hkc a nor b1es-oct1v,11cs we do happily word ''nothmg" to represent mal person. I would be able to in our spore time out of free so much, wc have subcon survive the cnt1c1sm of the will. Why do we allow hob sciously defined lhc 1mpossi adm1mstrn11on. All I could do bies to cut into our possible b1hty of the concept itself, and "nothing" tune? Why, ,f we all oddcd countless implications no\V was pray for the best. As we ull took our scats to arc so in love with nothing, do lo the concept. " And so I urge you, fellow begin the mcctmg, I we so much enjoy trnvchng rearranged the chairs franti the world and mccttng new students, that if you arc bored cally to sit next to my co-prcs- people? Why do we volunteer nt any pomt tlus summer and 1dcnt, Alex M1erow1tz. If we lfor anything? In fac� why do arc, by virtue of huma� had to go through th,s, we anything at all which ,s not nature, lookiog for something to do, try domg nothmg. And,, would go through 11 together. absolutely necessary? Perhaps what is so won by all means, should you suc The first issue that came up was that of test schcduhng. derful about nothing is that ,t ceed, please let the rest or Recalling the odv,cc that is on unreachable goal, After know what you didn't do to President Jonah Shulman all, if you thuuc about I� you get there. gave 10 a pnor meeting, I tncd dorky, hllle kid who lud from I expected. I d,dn·1 even get 10 appeal to the admm1strat1on high school l lowevcr, I b�ted for wcanng sneakers. a \\llh my suggcsuons. I said, decided that I would not ploy c:nmc that, aflcr the recent caullously, that the teachers that meek. 11m1d role any "dress-code crackdown ... and adm1mstrolors. as well :is longcr. I Jumped nght back at could wnmrnt o pumshmenL the students, would benefit Dr. Zc11ch1k, telling him that As the year comes to a from clear testing guidelines. ns long as teachers gave tests, close, nnd new chiss presi 111c confi<lencc I felt hov students will complam, but DI dents toke office. I am bcgm mg limshcd my address with least written mies would be a mng to unt.lcrstond that the out sluttcrmg or saymg the step m the nght d1rcchon. 111c end of one 111111g really s1g111wort.I "like" wos soon cx1er- issue we were d1scussmg was fiC's the l>cg111n1ng of nno1her. 111111otcd by Dr. Zc 11cl11 k. lie almost sccondnry to the fnct A new "me" hns evolved over asked me 1f I was a freshmen, lhal I responded. I was plcus the course of 1hls school ycnr. nnd then slalcd 1h01 I wns anlly su�mscd 111 my ab1hty 10 I um not that hlllc kid who naive for lhmking that testing overcome 1he m11m1dat1011 or lmlcs from lngh school any gu,dchnes would be able 10 older students, teachers, nnd more I now hide from SAT'sl hnlt,ng the complaints of stu adm1nistrahon offic1:ils. dents Was I really naive? Of Ult1motcly, the night was Sincerely, courso I was! I wos still a ''<lrj,Hs1ntl>' hloc'c! tM�lil 1hari '. Erlto Kc!stcnb:n'rm 'OS\

Letters to the Editor

One Hack Too Many

Page 3

Pag< 4

Tb• RamPag•

Sun Rises Over Time s

By Evo ubwobl As pohucs 1n the Middle East h>vc hcoled up, r eaden ha\lc been studying Lht1r newspaper,' covcngc or the cns1s closely :ind r cacung to ,t. The mannc-r m wh,ch news 1s reported m the mcd10 1w chc11cd feedback from the Jewish community m New York Pho1ograph1c subiccts, news slant, and an,cle place ment arc JWt a few of the m::my i ssues 1hat have come under close scrutiny. Some New Yor ken h>ve declared these issues to be dc tcmunmg factor, m deciding which new spaper 10 support and \\h1eh lo r q,nmand.

Dcgmmng

Yorn

Ycr ushalay,m, May 9, mcm bcts or Congrcganon Keh,lat h Jeshurun " er e urged by Rabbi H askel Looks1c1n 10 suspend subscnpuons lo the New York Times for one month The fi r st campaign of this k ind was held from Rosh HaSh:inoh to Yorn K1 ppur m 200 1 Readers' d1sSJt1sfacnon with the Ti mes· rcpo ru ng has conlmucd, and Robbi Looks1em or CKJ said that oner that first campaign, ther e was a "groundswell" or sup pon from community mem bers. pressing for the same ac tion to be t3krn aga in. Rabb, Lookslcm 1s confi-

dent 1h31 the support bast or people part1c1pa1mg m this campaign will make a differ ence. He hopes lo h>vc many part1c1pants, and thinks they will h>ve an impact on the newspaper's covcr:ige or the M 1ddlc- E>s1 con0ic1 Organizer, or this cam paign :ire trymg lo cr eate m3SS support by making the effort viable. Most people rely on

"It s time to send another message to The Times. "

T he Ttmes as a prominent news source, and might not pa.rt1 c1pa1e m the effort for an extended pcnod of umc By suspending subs<npuons for a month, many people ",II reel more comfortable taking pan, Rabb, Lookstc,n expla ined ..The goal 1s 10 make the Tim es mo r e sci r-consc1 ous about the he.ad hncs, the choice or ston es. and especially the c hoice of pictures. '' Rabbi Lookstein said. He c11cd the pictures and artic les or Pales tini an su fTcnng, d1s1r.1ugh1 th:lt the same types or p1crurcs and artJclcs represent• 1ng the phghl of lsrach terror vic tims were lac king. " The

GO Elections

(rQfttmued from page I) lhc nouon or the 1mplcmcntataon of an mtra• mur al lacrosse team, :in 1dc:i st:1 unchly supported by much or the srud cnt body. Jona than Goldman '04 and Ruthie Arb11 '04 then squa red off for the utlc or Vice P resid ent. Junior Goldm:in, the eventual wmncr. int roduced the concept or SFAC rcf o nn and GO. -faculty J01nl venrurcs. Goldma n also spoke ,n favor of the rerum or sugar cereals to the R•maz break fast t ray and mcrc=d cultural a wareness days. ; rb1 t. hkc other can d1suggested dates, had studc n t- 1cacher imp ro ved r,labOnsh,ps a nd further G.O. empowcn nent. but also introduccd the o ng,nal proposal or startmg fmal exams later in the morning. It was Yogi Shulman 's '03 surp nsc speech which throst him over Ma rc Fein '03 fo r the posuion or Sen ior Vice President. Shu lman 's speech urged the ,1uden1 body to engage m • scnous introspccuon. Shulman pleaded for a

then. Fem concentrated on platfonns such as the allot mcnt of more free ume for s tudents. ca.sual Fnd3ys, a girls hockey lcom a nd, once again. 1ntra -mu ra1 laerossc. Josh Ring '03 and Jessie B,cnen fcld ' 03 spam:d for the office of GO p resident. R ing's speech was a source of much anuc1pa11on, as 1l was JUSl last year that his conu-o vc rs101ly open -minded ideas had failed 10 gel him elected. nus year, Ring urged 1cachen and students 10 fonn a stronger connccuon through the ,mplcmcntauon or uruty cxpcnenccs. Rmg also p re scnlcd cultural mtcgrauon days and his "Lunch 'n wh ich MoVJc" p rogram, would entail rolling down the pr oJcctor in the aud 1tonum, affordmg people the opportu· n,ty to watch a mOVIC dunng a month. lunch o nce Biencnfcld, howeve r, would p rove viclon ous. 11>e now GO prcs1denl spoke in favor or a game room in the rarely used 70 I, the sale or Ramaz appa re l, and a ro1aung lunch In add it ion, schedu le. senous a11 11udc change m lhc B1cncnfcld advocated hol school a, , an end lo new- beverage machines an� GO found har r ,,ws o f student hfc, ,administration community. . . :, : such as the ' rcccn! wav� J', .. .

pictures arcn 't there and the follow-up stones arcn ' t there," h e added. In an article by Robb, Lookslcin, cnllllcd "ll's lime 10 Send Another Message to The Times," he wrote lhal "Examples or bias and d1s1or uon m what 1s pnnted and whot 1s om1llcd abound." In the article he pr oposed the susJ)(:ns1on of subscnpllons along with a halt on sending ob1tuancs to the newspaper. "The message will get through," he s:iys. On the Shabbat or May 4, Jubb, Lookstcin spoke lo the congrcgauon or KJ about the upcoming effort. "We don't hkc the woy the New Yori< limes h>s been reporting on lsncl," he said, but "they arc hca.n ng our message." Rabbi L101cr, a Talmud teacher and formc, sub«nbcr to The 1,mes. reels !hat The Times "presents its nC',,\'S m what I fell lo be an unbal anced "ay •• Ile canceled his sub• scnpllon or his own aecor� before he knew of • larger movrmcnt of other d1ssa11s fted reade rs al so domg so. The New York Sun, a new popcr which began pubhca uon at the begmning or May, hopes to offer New York read ers a new appro3Ch to New York news. Seth Li psky, Sun ed11or

Jun• 1001/fammuz 5761

•

I •

New Yo rk Tb• Ramu library ba.1 replaced copies of The Tim<S with Tb• Sun. and prcs1dcnl, said th:lt the lhc Jewish state," Lipsky said, paper was st:irt cd bec ause "Jt's an i m portant issue to "there was a need for an add1- me," he added In late Apnl, four anony t1oml vo ice tn New York. a vo ice tlu:t ""'II provide scnous mous mc mbcts or KJ spon coverage or New York C1ly as sored four weeks' dchvcry of o its top pnonty. " lie said that lhc New Y ri< Sun 10 every n 's not a Jewish newspapc:r, congrcp uon member. M s. Esther Nuss baum, a but "3 general in terest news paper" and will focus on New R.omaz hbranon, has also been York issues of poh ucs, cul• d isappoin ted w11h news covcr ture, and business. aa;e in the New York Times Nevenhelcss, rc:i.ders are and 1s looking for an altema• responding to some or the pro uve. As she explores both Israel senumenl that they h>vc n auon:il and New York news found m the newspaper. "'The p::a pers, she s:iys, "I'm not Sun hu had some cd1 tonals looking for pro-lsr.icl cover that ha ve been pro - I srael, age as much as fair and unbi whi ch has gotten some nouce ased covcngc." among people who care about

Score Choice Eliminated

By �Urlam Krul• and Emily Mey<r The College Boa rd 's In a recent press relcas<, he said. "Now people wtll not Gu idance and Adm1ss1on the College Boord admitted to.kc the test a gazi llion limes." Assembly Counc il, m a ncorly that the Score Choice opuon Rllc hcl Fnedman '04 agrees unan,mous vote, ha.s abol- gwcs an edge to wealthier stu- that "it'll be more cffccuvc. 1Shcd the score choice opuon dents, those who can afford llns way will let the colleges on the SAT II subJcct tests rclcsung and the additional gel a better look at the slU• rec. Some students arc skcpt1- dents' acrual abihucs." cffecuvc ,n the fall or 2002. Estabhshed m the fall or cal as to whether or not the Much opposition has I993, Score Choice enables ansen from the srudcnl body students 10 w ithhold their m response 10 lhc College d ·•1 can 't scores on SAT-II subject tests Boar 's dec1s 1on. from the colleges ,r they so help but feel really frustrated. choose. Once they decide W1thoul the Score Choice wluch sco res to put on thelf option, there is a lot more college transcnpls, the stu pressure on the student to get dents can re lease their chostn a good scor< on the first test. scores. The colleges will sec ,r WC As or next fall, the col• ever make mistalc:es, " said lcgcs will have access lo all Orly Halpern 'OS. Laura SAT Il scOr<S taken after June dcclSlon will actually level lhc Fncdman 'OJ can not under 2002. The Board's decision playing field for srudcnts. stand this change m policy: "It will not affect scores that arc ..El iminat ing score choice Just seems like Score Choice currently being held on Score won 't accomplish anytlung. would be such a money maker Rich kids w ill gel tutors, for the College Board ". Cho1cc. Many seniors now have In rctrospcc l, the College regardless. Should the collage Board realizes that the Score board ban lUlor sT' exclaimed onothcr reason lo add to their f 11st o why they 're glad to be Choice option was problcrnat Becky Abrams '04, Sam Frommer '02 sup done ,vith the collc-gc admis ,c fro m the start. Many seniors would forget about ports the College Board's sion proces s. "I'm just glad r some or their scores that !.·ere decision. "It gets rid o those that score choice was aV3ll• ! being held, and wou ld miss pesky, annoying people who able when I was testing " said ! the deadline for subm illing take the lest twenty-two and a one senior, "l 'm done with it " • halft\m� !�� l?,&�t an ��; them lo colleges. ;,

"Now peo ple will not ta ke the test

a gazillion time . "

June 2002ffammuz 5762

The RamPage

Page 5

Final Verdict: Mock Trial Wins State Championship

By Sarah Boxer On the charge that the Ramaz Mock Trial team is the best in New York State, the jury finds the accused gmlty. After an intense season, the Ramaz Mock Trial squad, under the tutelage of Dr. Jon Jucovy, won recognition as the best team in the state for the first time m its 21 year his tory. Following an undefeated season, the group traveled to Albany for May 8-10 to com pete in the final championship rounds. "\Ve were finally within grasp of v1ctory," said Daniel Marks '03, a witness on the team. The team went on to defeat William Floyd, a Long Island public high school, to clinch the title. It was the fourth time in the last 20 years that Ramaz has ventured to the state finals, the first New York City team to accomplish this. In the past, Ramaz finished fiflh on one occasion and third on two other occasions. In each trial, there is a muximum of 33 points that can be awarded to each team.

Each part of the trial (a wit ness's testimony, for exam ple), 1s graded on a scale of I to 3. All of the competitions up to the finals were presided over by an assistant d1stnct attorney. Slate judge George Bundy Smith judged the

championships. The tnp to Albany was wrought with "questionable" performances, on the part of Ramaz learn members. At one pomt, certain team members felt sure "that we had lost." In fact, Michael Nadler '03, a lawyer on the Ramaz team, was "more surprised to have qualified for the finals than he was about actually winning them."This year, the case assigned to all Mock Trial teams involved a family's

la wsuit against a bank in it had invested a mort gage. The bank had 'leaked' the family's information to other companies without con sent. The bank proceeded to send the family bogus charges and claims. "Even though the case may not have been as shmu latmg as those of past years, and even though there were many relentless practices 11 was always fun," remarked Michael Nadler. TI1c team and its coach were ecstatic about the victory: "It was a tough Journey, but we made 1t," said Marks. Dr. Jucovy, the team's coach since 1983. noted that this elusive victory was a tnb ute to an exceptional team this year: "These kids were not just enormously talented, bnl hant, and hardworking; they displayed an enormous amount of rntcllcctual depth and really worked well togeth er. I am very proud of them." The win was "very satisfy ing," he noted, "like a dream come true."

ignored. Rabbi Segal defended the day's programming, saying that he "desperately tried to fit in a schedule combining aspects of both fun and chcsed into the Lag B'Omcr pro gram." Although the adminis tration attempted to construct a day embracing all of Rabbi's Segal's propositions, it ulti mately felt that, in a year of perpetual Israel rallies and assemblies, teachers could not afford to lose any more class time. Shira Bender '04 said that she was "discouraged by the absence of Lag B'Omer aetiv-

ities," and noted that. "the way the school dealt with Lag B'Omer was disgusting." "Getting out of school an hour early docs not enhance the holiday in any way. The stu dent body did not even thmk about Lag 8'Omer once throughout the course of the day," added Josh Smger '04. "Most other Yesh1vot go on trips m honor of Lag B'Omer. We should to," noted Lianna Wolfson '03. "We regretted not being able to have some thing. but next year we expect to make up it big.time," con cluded GO prcstdcnt Jesse B,enenfeld '03.

The win was like "a dream come true"

which

log B'Omer is a Bummer

By Arielle Anhalt Unlike the usual Ramaz celebration of Lag B'Omcr, which often includes a trip out of school, this year's celebra tion was commemorated with an outdoor picnic lunch and a 3:45 PM dismissal. While the food appeared to satisfy some, many students seemed disap pointed with the lack of spe cial programming and most significantly, wHh the absence of a Lag B 'Omer tnp, a tradi tion which has become preva lent among many Yeshivot. As a result, many students felt cheated by the administration, feeling that the festive aspect of Lag B'Omer had been

Roskies Returns

Uy Jenny Mcrkin For the past few months, a Ramah, a program operated certain student has been by Camp Ramah, which absent from the Ramaz hall allows its part1c1pants to comways. At the end of his first plctc their second semester of semester of sophomore year at sophomore or junior year in Ramaz. Arych Roskies '04 Israel. The school is located in dcc(ded 10 go to (srael in order the Goldstein Youth v1llagc, 10 compl ete his second semes which houses youth aliyot ter. Courtesy of Camp Ramah from a variciy of different and Ramaz's "ncxibility" nations. While In the Youth Arych was able 10 accompany Village, Rosklcs learned whal his fathcr1 who was on sabbat he called, "normal subjects. Hebre w was required, but ical, to Israel. He was able to fullfill lus ther e was no Tnnnch O\ cumcu 11 . �- ·,. u \Va ,. �.....11ie,r, wish courtesy of T,chon 1i0Imuu.

·m· t,

(

Danielle Shefi, S, of Adora, was one of four Israelis killed when terrorists infiltrated the settlement Adora.

Ramaz Students Learn for Israeli Terror Victims

By Ben Bernstien On Shavuot Ramaz held a Learn.a-Thon, organized by the Israel Emergency Fund, to benefit the fam11Jes of terror v1ct1ms in Israel. The Israel Emergency Soildanty Fund sponsored the event, All learning on Shavout night was dedicated to the memory of Danielle Shefi, who was mur dered on Apnl 27, 2002. Danielle Shcfi, a five year girl, old was murdered in her parent's bedroom in the com munity of Adora. That morn ing, her father, Ya'akov, was m shut for Shabbat services. Danielle was playmg with her two younger brothers and her mother in her parent's bed room. Two terrorists wearing IDF (Israel Defense Force) uniforms and flak jackets entered the community and opened fire on several homes. They burst mto the Shefi home and, despite Danielle ·s mother's attempts to protect her daughter, the terrorists shot Danielle m the head. Damelle 1s JUSt another on a long hst of innocent Israelis who have been murdered smce the Intifada started m September 2000 . The Israel Solidarity Fund

preselected Danielle Shcfi for Ramaz. Students sponsored for leammg m her memory approximately collected S 1.500. All money raised was sent to the Israel Sohdanty Fund, who then sent 11 lo fam ilies of terror v1ct1ms m Israel. Rabb, Segal said, .. I thought 11 was a !,'Teat way to Uc together two thmgs that were on our students minds leammg Shavuot mght and the situation m Israel." The lcam a-thon provided students w1th lhc opportunity to stay up all mght leammg with fnends and enabled them to dedicate that learning to Israel. Many students felt com pelled to part1c1pate because, as Rabbi Segal said, "Israel ,s on everyone's mmd," and there was no better way to support it than this. Rabbi Segal hopes that next year there will be another Shavout Learn-a-Thon. One student said, "we should all pray the situation gets better and that our lcammg next year will not be dedicated to the memory of an mnocent five year old, but rather m honor of our land, our State of Israel."

Ramchops

Alicia Oltuski '02, co-edi tor of Parallax, has been awarded numerous scholastic writing awards in past �onths. Alisha beat out over ,, entr,·cs " 'or ZS0,0OO Nc,v vork lthrce of the state's Gold Key Awards, under the genres of Short Short Story, Poetry, and General Writing Portfolio. Oltuski also won a National second place prize for her Short Short Story. An awards reception will be held in lwnshinglon D.C this summer

soliloquy from Hamlet, and a complete set of the works of William Shackspcarc

was awarded

based upon the Israel Core , · '03 R ccently, Josh Levme Course, which focuses on the . Lousv11le, to traveled history of Judaism and the Kentucky for 'the .. Iilte! modern state of Israel. Jntemational Science and However, ICC also places an Engineering Fair. Levine, as emphasis on t,ulim around well as 14 other 1'cw York Israel, lectures given by gueSt reglonnl finalists, wns selected speakers nnd army training. to attend the fair, which fca Aryeh says that the currieulured I, 200 finalists from'39 um hard was ... y ev "not r ) e and countries regions. lhing was very laid back."The Levine's project wa s Jitled:, Rnmoh campers dormcd Ill between €ongratulotions to Davino Correlation small grou,ps �nd were pair�d evelson '03 on her victory in Crystollograph,c , on � • w ,th famlhes m Ran ot, n viib!c Ddih'irt" o'troJI; · 1 -1.1 q.,] ,,1') 111 •••, , this year•! IShbkcsilcarc•com 1 •Sp 0c\ro-{c,o' "' •�P WltA'ii lft-Jff, � • ·..omplc.xes. • Me ull petition, Davina recited (co111/nued 011 page II)

P1ge 6

The lumPage

New Engli sh Courses O ffered to S eniors

Dy D•nltl Scbumel.st<r Al o grade-wide meeting on lote May, the Junior c lass w35 on formed that there would be chonges made to the struc f ture o General Studies pro gramming for their senior f ycor . O the courses offered one only 1rod111ono lly, advanced English class has been: Advanced Plocement English. In the coming year, ho,,c,'rr, two add111onal hon ors English courses w,11 be taught. The AP class, 1augh1 by Mr Ira Mil ler. lk•dmaster f and ch:11rman o the English dcpanmcn t. has been an extremely populor class, often enrol ling close to 1h1rty stu dents per ycor. Next year, howc,·cr, th,s not be the cosc AP Eng lish w,11 be • much smaller class, with :m enrollment ofnmc1ccn

"'II

students In add111on, the I\\o honors sccllons w,11 be cappt-d at nineteen. f As a result o the English departmen t' s desire to hm11 f the number o students taking Mr. Miller 's AP course, the sclechon process for th,s closs was much more ngorous than 11 had been in previous ycor s. Acco rd ing to Dr. Honig, f English teachers o the Junior class and Mr. Miller selected the students who arc eligible. Dr. Honig said 1h01 those selec ted for the AP hod demonstrated great abi lity both on wnong and on class d1scuss1ons. To accommodate the number of apphconts for AP English, many of " horn have demonstrated defin,1e ability in Eng lish. but not qulle to the f level o the AP, two "honors"

s«:hons \\C c created. The f overflow o English students wishing to uikc an advanced Eng lish cou rse next year would be placed 1n10 two revised honors courses. These honors courses will be Literature: " Amcncan Multiple Vo,ccs, " taught by Ms. L1twack, and "Poetry and Prose: Parallel Themes in Different Modes, " taught by Dr. llomg. Wh ile these class es hove been offered on the pasl, they have not been on an honors level Lil rigor and therefor e, have not been des ignated as "honors" courses. All Ad'Onccd Placement and honors sections " ,II be in the f same band o classes. Although these hono rs English courses will not be (Co111111ued 011 page 9 )

Yatl Sltlatr '04 make use of the new lumaz website

By Jen ny M erkin

Speakers Enliven Yorn Ha' Atzmaut

It wa� not a typical Yorn Ha' AtzmauL As much as fac ulty and students have loved the usual celebratory half-day, somehow all seemed to know that the customary pattern was inappropnate. "The feel ing was that because of the matzav and bcc:ausc there were sol diers fi ghti ng and dying, 11 should impact on our cc lebra11on. \Ve took our lead from tow ns in Israel that canceled celcbr a uons because of the matzav,"' explomed Rabb, Goldmintz. It was dec ided that the aflemoon would be devoted to studies and that some lime would be ded,cated to cclebranon and special cducat,on programs about Israel. Mony students appeared upset about the unexpected loss of their free afternoon. However most understood the mo11vo11on behind the sched uling dec1S1ons. "Although it wos hard to give up our rare free nme. 11 ,s completely understandable why our celc-

brauon was curtai led. Besides, ,t would have been hard to celebrate under the c1rcum• stances:• says Shawn Levine

campuses were not sufficien t ly in formed about the facts m Israel He arranged for three Israe lis, each wtlh di fferent '04. backgrou nds but who had all A lot of thought went onto served in the ar my, to speak to the programming of the day. students. Ong,nally, there was 10 be an The three Israelis, Natalie as sembly dcahng with the Nareyn, Sharonc Hendel man, voyage of the Exodus. M s. and lyar Tzemel, spoke to the D ene! had located a navigator whole student body and, sub of the ship, Nat Nodler, ond o sequently, went to speak to ioumalist who had been di fferent grades. assigned to oovcr the story, "I really apprcc,atcd R uth Grueber. These two wit Sharone 's honesty about nesses were to tell their story expressing her fears 1n every and narra te a movie about the day h fe. I got t he 1mprcss1on iou mcy. "After the Yorn that she was trying to gwe us a !fa' Shoo program which taste of what she has to go focused on Displaced Persons, through everyday," said L,at I thought 11 would be • n,cc Olenick '04. eont1nuat1on to sec what some "lyor's open-mindedness of the DP 's did ofter leov1ng was pretty opt1m1s11c consid the camps," explained Ms. eri ng the circumstances," stat• ed Den Demstc,n ' 03. Dcncl. The OMual chag,ga fol However, plans changed. Joseph Lowe, the father of lowed the speakers. " The Daniel Lowe '05, called Ms. chag,ga really remmded us Benel and presented an olter 1h01 there is still so much to be nallve progr,un. lie was con happy about. Espcc,ally now, cerned that Jewish students on (Cont/111,ed on page II)

June 2002/Tammuz S762

Traveli ng on Ramaz Su per-highway By Brandon P1roly A new RJimaz webs,tc ms been launched on an onempt to rcvolut1on1zc the organ1zat1on ofclBSs work and student cal endars. The site includes m3ny new and mnovotivc fea tures, ,ncludmg personalized course syllabi and, most importantly, test and assign ment schedules. However. many teachers have not yet entered matenals onto the site. M r. Miller f cxpl31ned that "Pan o the f idea o mtroducong the wcb s,tc at th,s point on the year ,s for people to start scn,ng o n ented, tro,ne<l and to sec all the advantages of using the wcbsuc- " The admm1strauon f hopes that by the beg1Mmg o next year, the website will become :a maJor aid to the cu r• nculum, and a med ium for commun1c:it1on. Josh lshal '05 has v1S1ted the webslle, and so far has only seen one quiz posted. "I had a quiz posted on the web site, and the quiz was post· poncd, but the "cbs1 tc sllll showed II at the ong,nal dote. " Nevenheless, Josh noted that "it's a good idea, but unless they put 11 mto action, havmg a webslle ,s not going to help al all." Th,s system should prove more successful than that of the ominous tcsung-calendars in the s,xth floor office. Mr. Mtllcr claimed that "As soon as somctlung ,s reported and approved. it 's up there. It's co nstantly bemg updated. " Though the sue IS sull on the road to oom plcuon, there arc seve ral brave teac hers wd hng to post curriculum assignments on the si te. �· \Ve were encour aged to use the site ,n any way possible," said

Dr. Jucovy " The site was sup posed to be up and running by the fourth quarte r. " Dr Jucovy quickly learned to r maneuve his way around 1hc website and has already rcg1s• tercd assignments on the ca l• cncbr. Dr. Jucovy also has maior plans for expanding h,s use of the sue m the near future. "I intend to post the course sy l lobus next year wuh all of the read ing assignments, tests, and research papers so the stu dents know ,n advance. " lie cl31med that all of the 1nfo r mo11on for reports w, II be on the site, including links to web pogcs w,th related research mformot,on, and the students w , 11 also be able to email Ihm reports to D r. Jucovy, allow1ng him to grade them on hnc and return them without need mg to p n nt them again Dr. Jucovy app rcc ,atcs the advan tage of viewing graphics, such as political cartoons, on the SIie as they would be easier to This fac tor "make out. " would save teache rs the cho re of having to pnnl up so many copies for the whole class. Like many lumaz teach ers, Rabb, Kob nn has yet to post any ofh,s assignments on the website. He intends to be savv1CT by next yc:t.r as he feels that many students arc capable of navigating the web. Jubb, Kobnn beheves that the wcbs, te wtll be a faster and more e ffic ient way to commu• mcatc ffl3tcn:il to students. h seems that many teach ers arc follow mg Ra bb, Kobnn 's example and by the beg1Mmg of next year, the student body ,-,II be able to fully rely on the wcbsue for their cumcular schedul ing.

Kyra Bernsttln '03 and the lumaz bond spiced up tbe Yom Ho'Atzmaut atmosph<r<.

June 2002/fammuz 5762

Page7

The RamPage

Yom Yersuhalyim Observed in a Different Way

Many students have become wary of leaving their knap sacks unattended.

Rams' Home Becomes Den of Thieves

ByDiane Kolatch Juha Pans '04 believes that ··nothing can be done." Mr. Miller 1s being ··watchful and careful." Shira W1sosotsl..-y '05 1s JUSt plam "annoyed.'' Recently, a new wave of theft at Ramaz has stanlcd both faculty and students ahkc. In fact. the problem has even warranted an announcemcnt in the daily bulletin. gently, but sternly. remmdmg students to watch their valuables closely at all t I m c s . / J Unfortunately, the gentle remmders came too late for Shira W1sotsk-y. Wisptskyhad her • wallet stolen just a few months ago, on the Friday before the Ramaz Dance . Dmner "Tiiere was one W class I d1dn't want to m�ss when r was re h e a r sin g , " explained Shira, a member of the dance team. The squad was rehearsing its Dmncr Dance r0utmc for most of Fnday, January 18... I went mto class for about 3 minutes, leaving my bag nght outside the room and when I came back outside, my wallet was gone." The wallet, she said, mcludcd almost S45, J ro cards and 2 metro cards. ·•1 had an idea of who it could have been iust by lookmg at the people who were standmg outside the room. but there was nothing I could do about 1t. There was nolhmg the office could do about 11 either. I don 'I thmk 11 was the office's responsib1hty to rc1mbursc me, but I wish they could have found out who had

done II. I am JUSI really annoyed ." Shira ·s frustration 1s shared by many of the theft vicums. including Atara Mandel '03. Oamcllc Rabinowitz '03. and ll:ina Feuer •04_ Each of these v1c t1ms 1s concerned with findmg out who 1s at the root of the school theft cp1dcm1c. Mr. Miller seemed confident in allaying the student's fears: ··From time to time there 1s a rash of thefts which happens because one person has an illness. From my expencnce. we always find out who 11 ,s, and WC get them help because the ind1v1dual has a sickness. Friends of lhe thief do care and do reahzc their responsibility to - that person and • ,, want to help." Julia Paris '04, a victim of the thefts twice this year. did not seem to share Mr. Miller's faith m the system- "I reported the thefts both times, but noth ing could be done," she said, with an obvious note of frus• tration. "Maybe they should put in surveillance cameras where all the knapsacks he around," she suggested. Many of the students who have not been v1c11m1zcd appear to share a great deal of concern as regards the s1tua 110n. Alcss:mdra Szulc '04, feels that the steahng 1s "s1m smcc mcorng1blc," ply "everyone in this school 1s privileged enough. Nobody has to take from other peo pie."

"•hey shouId put SLJrve1/lance cameras h ere all fhe b8Ck packs /Je

The RamPage welcomes letters to the Editor. All submissions should be placed in the RamPage mailbox in the sixth floor office.

By Sblfra Mincer Yorn sentation, Michael W1dlansky, year, This Yerushalyim was commemo a graduate of Ramaz and a rated amidst the homfic ter Media Lmc reponer, spoke ronsm that has shaken Israel about the role played by the ond 1ts people. To open the Palcstm1an media m the cur Mr. "intifada." Yom Ycrushaly1m assembly, rent Rabb, Goldmintz spoke of the W1dlansky, who 1s fluent in matzav in Israel and the bal• Arabic, Enghsh and Hebrew, ancc each person has to screened chps of PLO propa achieve m his mmd between ganda mtendcd to spurn both JOY and sadness dunng these suicide bombers and anti Israel sentiment. trymg limes. Many students felt that the In order to portray a sptri• tual Ycrushaly1m, last year's assembly was vcty appropn Ramaz graduates currently atc, and cn Joyed the video par studying m Israel were mtcr llcularly. ··11 was a good bal v1cwcd m Jerusalem and these ance and 11 was very important mterv1cws were shown to the for the student body to hear. It school via vtdeo. The gradu was very mformative," said ates shared their spmtual Aviva Segclman '03. Some students, however, talcs, cxplammg what Israel felt very different about the means to them. Followmg the video pre- assembly, md,catmg that they

thought the presentauon was a direct accusation of Arafat and his regime. "What he said was obviously only one view but m a highly Zionist school hke Ramaz the Arab side obvious ly wouldn't be represented. I found II biased and slanted towards Israel," Marc Fem '03. felt students Many uncomfortable celebratmg as Israel endures a lime of such unccrtamty. •·1 learned a lot from 1t and I thought it was mtercstmg, but 11 wasn't so . appropriate for the day,. said Av1 Rodm ·oJ. L1ron Kranzler 'OJ agreed, saymg that ··t though ti was important 10 address 1he poliucal s1tuat1on but 1t was a little too intense for a happy day."

Two Students Found New Club

By Geoffcry Kidcrman In the crowded Ramaz cafctcna last year, Daniel Sterman '02 and David Pollack '02 devised a plan to tum one of their cntertaming pastimes mto a unique extra curricular activity. "David and I used to play the 'Whose Line 1s it Anyway' game dur ing lunch all the time," recounts Sterman. "\Ve decid• ed that it would be fun to play the game wtth others in a club after school. Our thought processes arc almost alike; we always thmk of thmgs at the same time." The program !;tcrman was referring to. "Whose Lmc 1s 1t Anyway," was created as a London radio snow fn 1988 before becoming a smash hit on the U.S small screen ten years later. It 1s self-proclaimed as "the show where everything 1s made up and the points don't matter" and is hosted by comic Drew Carey, who is Joined every week by a sclcc11on of four other comedians who display their wit and humor through numerous improvisational games, acts, and songs. Sterman and Pollack have

always been devoted fans of Quirks," a game m which one the show, and felt that others contestant hosts a party and would also enJO)' being able to must guess the strange charac re-enact their own vcnion of tensttcs of its guests, and it in a club environment. ''Foreign F11m Dub,'' where They began actively two contestants act out a scene rccru1tmg members, such as m an exotic dialect which the Michael Javitt '05. "I was other contestants must trans walkmg to the bus to go late. home," said Jav111. "Sterman Although the students agree that their .3Cts do not quite measure up to the comedic standards of the actu al 1clev1s1on show, they believe that the club has its bcnc lils. One member claimed to have gamed "sc]f confidence" from the club: another explained that the allure if the club 1s m leaching the participants "how to look hkc an idiot without feeling like one." Sterman behcvcs that and Pollack asked me 1f I "You learn absolutely nothmg wanted to Join thclf club, and I from this club, but people satd ·cool' because '\Vhosc should come anyway. \Vc'rc Lme' ,s definitely one of my Just having fun. Even when favontc shows." it's not funny. 1t's enjoyable to Since the begmnmg of the be pan of the games." year, around seven students 'The best pan about the have stayed after school on club 1s that we're not rc.31ly a Mondays to engage m good club,'' Sterman concluded. humored contests and act out "We don't have a foculty the haphazard skits. Among adviser, so officially, we don't the favorites arc "Pany exist."

"The best part about the club is that we 're not really a club."

Ramaz Celebrates the Arts

By Rosalyn Spier

Celebration of the Arts is an opportunity for artistic, musical and poetic students to have a chance to showcase their talent. As usual, the walls of the auditorium were cov ered with paintings, drawmgs, sketches, and photographs. This creative set-up drew large crowds of admirers. Students. teachers, fnends nnd family all gathered in the oudltonum to take part m the much anllc1pntcd night /\s,thc

lights dimmed, many quickly found that there were no scats left, ond spent the rest of the cvenmg standing against the back wall. The show began with an affable grcctmg from the emcee's, Alicia Oltusk1 '02 and Ilana Stone '02, who per sisted m urging the audience to an11c1pate the "funk" that would accompany the evening. Shonly nftcr on ongmol

opening piece by Mr, Elisha's percussion ensemble, the audience was once agam on its feet, this lime apploudmg the musical pcrfonn.:mcc given by Liron Kranzcr '0), who ployed and sang n song which she had written. Fellow performer Liz Lee '04 felt that Liron's act was "�m outstond mg origmnl piece, brought to life by a talented voice ." Indeed. 11 was the vanous

(�011ti1111cd 011 page /0)

Page 8

Point: What Bias?

By l\hxwell Dryer On Yorn lla'Atzmaut news rcpon 1s even-handed, 2002, mnth and tenth grade The fact ts that Israel, students were oddrcsscd by though our beloved homeland, Mr. Meir Wcingancn, who 1s not above cnt1c1sm. \Vh1lc claimed the Amcnc:m media Ancl Sharon's walk on the demonstrated an intolerable Temple Mount twenty months bias agamsl Israel. Mr. ago docs not excuse hom1c1dc Wcmgartcn distributed a bombmgs, It was provocative packet of matcnals to each and docs warrant crit1c1sm. student that contained several When the lsrach army levels articles from The New York c1v1h:m homes w ith tnnks, 1t 1s Times and a transcnpt of a appropnatc to question the tclcv1s1on newscast from ABC force and mtcns1ty of the N1gh1ly News. all of which he allacks. Ncnhcr of those ,s an cla,mcd represented anti- example of bias: they reflect Israel and anu-Sem1t1c brns. honest rcportmg. In his forty minute ttradc American Jews need to Mr. \Vcmgancn laid out what accept that JUSt because we he pcrce1,1 cd as anu.Jsracl don't neccssanly want to hear bias m the Amcncan media about an lsraeh m1htary raid He claimed that the over- that kills Palcstmi:m c1v1hans. whelming majonty of albeit madvcncntly, that does Amcncan mcd1a-smghng not mean that the assault did out The New York Times-is not occur or that Palestm1an completely anll-lsracl. and bystanders. including women c11cd his d1stnbu1cd packet of and ch,ldrcn. arc not dead. ar11cks for their respective The Job of a newspaauthors' '"slanted" word per 1s to report the facts obJCC• uvcly and accurately, not to choice as proof. Unfortunately. Mr. tailor those facts to suit a sp:Wcinganen falls prey to the c,fic interest group. Although same trap as do the vast a newspaper report favoring maJonty of people who claim the Jewish or lsrach point of that the media 1s anti-lsrncl. view 1s more plc:ismg to us. He cites the same the fact 1s that we three newspaper would loose our fa11h m the obJcc:imclcs perceived as reflecting antitmly of the pub hcat1on Israel bias. and and hence our ab1hty uses them as a general md1ctto rely on that newspaper for mcnt of the the true "facts." Amencan med i a's It 1s not a news• o b J e ct i v 1 t y . +. paper's job to However. some / S. bcheve the vast simply tell us spectrum of Amencan media. what we want to hear. if anythang, reflects a pro• The reality 1s no news Israel b ias-Just ask any Arab an,cle can ever be completely sympathizer. Indeed. "bias" 1s unbiased. Out not to read a m the eye of the beholder who newspaper because we .. claims "unfair preJud1ce believe that 11 1s not rclahng when the tone of leg1t1mate the news as we perceive 11, news coverage vanes With his and to rely instead on newspa pcrs that echo our own bras own percept i on. Mr. Wemgarten's view has a two-fold negative stems from the fact that he, impact F,rst, we bury our hke many American Jews, heads in the sand and bhnd secs any cnt1c1sm of Israel as ourselves to the other side of ant1-Scm1t1c. The Amencan an issue, thereby preventing media and espec i ally leaders us from being able 10 advocate m the field such as The New our position mtclhgcntly. York Times would not be rep- (People who tum to The utablc and would not be Jewish Weck for all the ir news repeated w1Mcrs of Puhtzer arc hardly receiving a bal Pnzt!�"l,V�r�• they to ollow anced account of events.} themlifief the luxury of Second, we cheat ourselves by rcpor1mg news \V'llh an over� accepting mfenor coverage of Jay of personal b,as. The a "news" rcpon that 1s hkely medi a 1s not bent on branding to be at least partially inaccu Jsracl as racist and m1htanst1c. rate, though far more pleasing but in most cases simply try· to our ears. mg to report on the facts as No matter what, cvcnaccurntely as 11 can. handed news sounds biased to There 1s sec an error m any reader who advocates a pcrspcctavc here on the part of strong position one way or 1hosc American Jews who pre- another. American Jews must fer to behevc that Israel can renhzc thot being informed do no wrong. It 1s this group sonlcllmcs means considering that haJ no obJcc11v1ty. Such the nouon that the State of ind1v1duals believe thot tlus lsrncl from lime to time docs reporting ,s biased aga1Qst make mistakes and that those lsrac:J, J"f•'�flY,, �C'!,U1)' )?�,,. m!W:�•N,Q,O�}� A'/1f��•f, •,.

"The job of a newspaper is to report th e t ,,

June 2002ffammuz 5762

The RamPagc

Counter-Point: Media Remains Slanted By Miriam Grunfcld and Gabriel Opeohcim As pan of our respons1b1l- Israel to pull out. The pubhc ,ty to be knowledgeable about was fed descnpuons of heaps the so-called matzav in Israel, of rubble, piles of corpses, and we must cv3luatc whether our inhumane cond111ons m the sources of mformallon arc camps. The media labeled the prov1dmg accurate coverage operation as the "Jcnin of the confl1c1. It has become Massacre,'' Yet the press very difficult to find a news- failed to account for how paper or other fonn of mcd13 lsrach soldiers went from that contains a truthful door to door in their search for account of the s1tuat1on smcc wanted tcrronsts despite the so many favor the Palcstm1ans Israeli casualties that these and portray Israel as barbaric endeavors wrought. Trucks m\'adcrs of Palestinian tcmto- with suppl ies for the mhab1ry. 1t ,s part,cularly frustrating tants were indeed brought in. that respectable papers like desp ite claims that no human The New York Times create 1t:man a i d got mto Jenm. The an image of the Israeli media successfully made Defense Forces as being Israel seem h kc cruel wamors aggressors agamst helpless for going mto the \Vest Bank Palcstm1an c1vthans when the by glossing over the army's real emphasis should be the underlying purpose and me1h suic1dc allacks that impede ods in the temtor ics. every day hfc in Israel. Another d,fliculty w11h There 1s clearly a bias m the prcss•s coverage of events the media if so much of the m Israel 1s the referral of world cnt ic1zes Israel's opera- actions on both sides :1s :l t1on m the West Bank and fo i ls "cycle of violence." 1 his term to comprehend the compul- makes II seem hkc a lcrrorist s1on of a country to protect 1ts c111zcns from future bombs. The media 1s not necessar1ly trymg 10 tum the tables agamst lsracl. and there arc articles which denigrate Palestm1an aet1v111cs. Ccnainly, Israel 1s not blame less and there arc mhcrent flaws m some of its polic ies that the media has every nght to pomt out. The problem 1s that articles that sympathize with the phght of the Palestinians seem to outweig.h the JUShficatlon for Israel's achvthes. and httlc details, hke the Israel's comphcatcd and careful operation in Jcnm, get lost m the shadows. A perfect example of the emphasis on the duress of the Palcstm1ans would be the pic ture featured on the front page of the Times the day ofter the Salute to Israel Parade. attack 1s an adequate measure Although the number of peo for the Palcstimans to lake m ple support ing Israel s1gmfi order to achieve the ir goals. cantly outnumbered those m This tacuc of equating lsrneh support of the Palcsllnians, a occupation and su1c1dc bomb group of protesters were ing might JUSI be tnd1cattvc of prommcntly displayed m the an effort to be more obJCCh\'C foreground while the parade by trying not to suppon either marchers were scenery m the side. I (owevcr, the JUXtapos111on of an c.xplos,on on the background. Considering the way m first mght of Passover rn winch the m1ss1on m Jcmn Nctanyn with the presence of was reported, 1l was under• Israeli troops m the tcmtones standable that so many 1s an unfair comparison. Americans were anxious for S1m1larly, the assoc1at1on of

"A giant dis tortion in the news is the portray al of the Israelis as the attackers and the Palestinians as the weak victims."

the martyr from Al Aksa with the Jewish girl shopping for groceries on a Fnday afier noon was d1sgustmg. A giant d1stort1on m the news ,s the portrayal of the Israelis as the attackers and the Palcsttmans as the weak victims of war crimes. The 1.O.F. d,d not go into Jcmn and Tulkarm m an attempt to flex its muscles and punish the Palestm1ans. The army went m to curb the amount of ter ronsts leavmg the temtoncs by scrupulously searching out w.::mtcd members of tcrronsl orgam1.at1ons. This ph1losophy stems from the tendency to favor the underdog. 10 sympathize with the people who don ·1 have trained armed forces and high tech weapons. CNN mtcr v1ewed countless Palest1nums with emotion:il stones of their sufTenng. and the Times ,s filled w i th capt i ons lake "Palcs11n1ans walked amid garbage" and headlines such as "The Dead and the Angry Amid Jemn's Rubble." These sources arc among many which arc mcxcusably devoid of reports of lsrach children who can't go to the mall any more or nde on buses \Vhy arc- the su1c1de attacks on page 7. wh i le p i ctures of Palcsumans inconvenienced by sccunty checkpo ints arc on the front page? The current s11uallon m the media has led 10 less sym pathy offered to the lsraehs, who must deal ,vtth the uncer tainty of an explosion al any l ime m any place. and more towards the Palcstm1ans, who raise their ch i ldren to harbor hatred toward the ne,ghbonng Israelis. There 1s 3.lso an unJust amount of cnt1c1sm given to the Israeli army, wh i ch 1s merely defending its to the people, than Palcsunians who arc murder ing the people with whom they arc m confl i ct instead of peacefully negot iating. September 11 taught Americans the dangers of ter• ronsm and the need for democracy and diplomacy m crad1c::iung It. Its lime we rcc ogmzcd that Israel 1s fighting the same battle as we. We need to be educated as such through the media.

Computer Virus Strikes

Dy Rathel Trag<r On the morning of Mr. Av, Dav1dow11z. Wednesday, April 24, Ramaz Ch,cf Technology Officer of students entered the school's Ramaz, as well as a past hbrnry to discover •;Do Not Ramaz computer teacher, was Touch The Computers" signs given the task of tdcnhfying posted on every computer and curmg the vm1s. Mr. screen. The computers would Oavidow1tz v1siled lhe Norton not be usnble until the virus Anti-Virus website, deter that hod contominated the mined that the virus was computers was obhteratcd. •• na11orl<ll1de ':Ind tha{'tl\ls latesl'

version had been released on Apnl 17. A cure had been available since Apnl 23rd, so Mr. Av, Oavidow1tz and Mr. Josh Janov were able to down load the cure and end the virus thot hod 1nfcctcd around one quarter of Ramnz's comput-

June 2002/ l 'a mmuz 5 7 62

__. -

- •=- -

T he RamPage

Teac

By Sam Siegel Robbi

Abraham

Weintraub ' s Rama,; cruttr got

ff to • confusing start, and

U St because students J thought that he was a member

no t

of the Judaic Studacs dcp.irt mcnt It t ook Rabbi . Wei ntraub, now comp leting

his fi r st y ear of leaching at Ramaz. a certain amount of

lime to become

potiiglt

" Biblical archaeology 1s very big in Israel."

"much more scnous atmoS•

Weintraub co ns1dercd pursu

here because students know

one

point ,

Rabbi

ing a career m Jcw 1Sh cduca uon and recei v ed sm1cha fr om Yeshiva U n i vcrs11y. He want ed to teach Judaic studies or

Kashrut Howe ver, a job ope n• . ing in the moth department of

phere.

It is pleasure to teach

that the more you learn 1n high

school, the better off y ou arc for co llege and for hfc." As

bec ame

schedule, so much so that few

love

teac her,

Rabb,

models himself D r.

Mchon Sc lsky , who taught him biology •

Judaic studies As . Weintraub notes,

schools where he has t2ught,

Ramaz

(whe re

B r

o k ly n

Co llege

"w ith

such cn thusi• Jumaz math asm and cnc r• gy that he icru• ally turned · us into lifelong learne rs. " "Besides the actua math l that Rabbi Weint raub has t2ught me this yea r, he has also t2ught me to be cnthUSI· ast1c about all of my lcam

mg, " says Ben Levin 'OS. Rabb, Weint raub has, after a somewh:u d1so nenttng

(continued from page

Ad vanced

Placemen classes they will , t no t vastl ydiffe r m nature from

t he AP T he Eng hsh . Depa rtmen tclai med tha tsince the AP test doc no require s t an spe cific readings t hose y , takmg the hono rs classes will

b eequall y p repa red to take the tes ta s those m the A P section. end o f Janua ry

honors students who

those , wlSh to

tak th e AP tes t must decl are e thei r 101entlon to do so. T hen , in th week s leading up to the e A P exam ination o n AP "prep " , class w,11 be created to p r e lanning lo all student ar p e s p take th e exam Thi s p rep a ra . tor y clas will familia riz e stu s dent s wit h th e exam ,

" Those involved in the decision wished to avoid an artificial hierarchy. " ing

mak e

English

m sm_aJlp f, !?Pf.CC jnp aJ� c1a.fs1 ,

member of the Ramaz soccer

team. However, Samuels' fame IS

most cl osely tied physical appe a rance.

mothe r, 1s I s rae li g r a ndpa rcnlS a rc

dec ision

w1Shed

1 ,.,111 .;.,J ,in,

Ayo 's

a nd

has

Jew ish

Iraqis. 1 ncsc ge netic comb 1nat1ons gi ve Samuels the phyS1ognomy of any male of Middle Eastern descent.

While hlS appearance may not have been so rema r k able m a time before

dents have inven ted. " Peop e l call him names hkc ' the Kabu l Kid', ' the Synan Scnsa llon', and 'the lrres ,st1ble Iraq,',"

said

BcnJamin

Sp,ra

'03

than

avoid an

'"'l•J• f• M

tions tcrronsts tn class there 1s

name,·· my Sa muel s.

rema rked

on ly

ones

recogn ize

those

Arab

descent. foct� been

Studen ts

Samuels'

we re

not

the

resemblance

Samuels has, in stopped on severa occasions l by Ramaz sccu r uy guards and

has

been

for p roper Wh ile, many

asked

1dcnttficat1on.

have applauded

these ac tions

because they dcmonstrote that

the guards truly arc at1cnt1vc, 11 has also

created an other oppor tu ni ty for

his

200 1,

s tuden t s

looks v

become

Ay o I

concern

A y o I

assaults

S 3 I d ,

for

however, that "1t

. I

doesn

bother me

Indians ,Samael ' Middle-Eastern gcncology and onany -bas piqued student interest. y

hkc that " , Singer '04. Shira Beche '03 said " was I wo r ried that people would a terroris think Ayo was t or l that people would JUSt try to who

look

Josh r

ven their anger by harming t th efirs tAnb looking guy they Samuels howeve r , , d note tha the ••wa s neve rwor•

s aw.

ried tha people would try to t hun me. There were only a few cases, fo rtun ately, where

things like tha thappened. " Still ,th e app rehe nsion for Ayol's well bemg docs no t full y accoun t fo rBicncnfeld's query and for the gener a l cra:z:c to learn abou Ayo t l Samuels . S m e e 9/ 1 1 ,Samu els f ha s als o been the recipien to anti -Muslim

slurs

and

hos been accused f facetio usly s o m etimes o , being·• Muslim llinat, c terrorinsults , and

r e a I I y

Ame ncans,

many

mock

Samuels.

sou rce

reported

a teac her men

Sep tember

1 1,

friends

though th ey would be m no way. Sh e als onoted tha t hav i ng onl y on eAl'sec tion would allow the English de partmen t to have a class for those stu• dent s who or e th e mos t tolent ed .

to hlS

o that region, I immediatel f thought of the well being o

sections. .. Dr . Honig responded tha t two honors sections had been rather three

Scott

but Ithink It would have been jus ta sgoo d to create more AP

dcv1Sing

s:ud

He IS also a

one who looked hkc a native

a rtificia l "hierarc h " o f class y es. Smee Mr. Miller would only be tea ching one scct1on , 1 1 was beli eved tha t the other two section s migh tb e conS1d cred o fa lowe r caliber , even

•

cl ass mates,"

Mocrdler '03.

A r a b ·

S1mply sections because those invol ved ,n the

the English departmen t and theadministratio n ar c try·

the Junior class a nd "IS hi ghly by many of his

shon time here, become • pan o fthe Ramu commumty.

created

that

·os

"When heard o f the

his

teaches

ManyJunior sarc amb i va len tabou t the new schcduhng. Marc Fein '03 said "I t's mee :

to encour age cducatton about

the Mushm -Ar.lb community.

the

beg mn mg, maste red Ramaz schedule and, 10

Ne w Senior Ele ctive s Offe re d

conside red

A t the

for

a fter

Rabbi It \Vc mtraub . r hos been o long Rabbi Welntnub Is the newest member o the road lo the dcp:a rtmcnL Ramu Upp e r Schoo l Bo rn 10 Te Av v m Torah Tem1mah led Rabbi i . l \Vemt:raub to pursue 3 ca reer I95 7, Rabb Wemtr.lub 's fam i he in mathematics. AOe il moved to Crown Heights. r y Rabb, began teaching, whe n he was st111 a child As . Wei nt raub reahzcd that he a boy, Rabbi Wei nt raub "could actually do thlS thmg exp ressed 1n1crcs tn both t Afte r leaving quite well " Judaic Studies and mathema t . To rah Tem1mah, Rabb ics While anendmg Yesh iva i . Weint raub also taught math at Rambam m Brooklyn, his ele a scnes o yesh 1vot whe re mentar y schoo yea rbook . f l although teaching a secular noted tha he wanled to be an t a rchacolog1st, a career which subJcct, he felt a home . t In comparison to the other would have ent2iled sc1cncc,

81encnfcld asked his question

tn conj unc tion w i th a proposal

and even some more novel

nicknames which Ramaz stu

always some kid to yell out

We i n t r a u b

For

'03 during his clcc tlon speech.

respec ted

great ."

President, Jesse 81en cnfcld

ist. S amuels has been called o

terrori st. Osama bin Ladin,

Ms. Lei tman IS computer msu r• ancc company.

inqu ired G.0.

" Whenev er

ma 1or

doin we ll. g And the food 1s

"Do you know who Ay ol

Samuels is?"

The wa it 1s O\'cr. Ayol Samuels IS • member of

analyst

whe re schoo l e ve r yone 1s

By Daniel Welner

fonncr

encc kids wont ; to learn I 've . ne ve r been tn a

, Rabb i

and

stu• de nt 's mother.

It 's a Ramaz. great c.pen

and

to Susa n

Lei tman,

Weintraub a nd

Ho we ve r after . master i ng the rotation, Robb, We i n t r a u b

math

e ngaged

Ms. Leitman met c. 1 a bhnd date set up by a

c l a s s e s , "

interested

Wcantr aub

Rabbi

"act ua l l y

announced

Rabbi

they were mar• ried on June 1 0

Ramaz s • r ota t•

says,

w as

Febr u a ry,

m issed a

.R amaz Student Fights his Appearance

Al gebra I, 11 and Ill) has a

acc u s tomed to

Page 9

make

look

fun o

hkc

the

that pie

pcocall

those

n:imcs

fact Arab. "

or that I Ayo l not an

ad�•� " know I'm I . Arab. I'm an Israeli , and I'm proud ofthat. "

Some people, however , arc less quick to d1Sm1Ss this "slande r " as harmless k1ddmg

around. " don 't think that I thlS name calhn; I S ap ropnt1· .1 •r, ate at all and 1s tn ac t an , f

example o racism tha must t stopped " said Sima , Greenbaum '03. This name colling whi ch , ong1natcd as a solely Junior clas s Joke , has now begun to

spread throughou t the school. Even th e socce r team has now f

adopte d th e slogano "Do you ?"

know who Ayo l Samuel si s

It s n,c rclaim s tha t ifyou wish

discover the answer the this fina l question , yo u mus tauend Rama z soccer games . Soon everyone in , Ramaz will be able to soy " I know who Ayo l Somucl sis.'' to

answe r to

SpTo•·rts

September 2000/Elul 5760

Page 10

Tennis Teams Triumphant

Claire Distenfeld '04 waits to return a serve

New Soccer Team Kicks Off

By MaxweU Bryor

The inaugural season for

the Rllmaz girls' soccer team has been an unexpected suc cess. ln tts first year of exis

tence the team reached the semi-final round of the league playoffs. far exceeding the expccl311ons of even lhc play ers themselves. "Our first loss ( I 0-2 agamst Fnsch) was pret ty upsetting: but looking back on t�c season and how far we got, we did much better than I

mcxpcncnce,

improving

greatly os the season pro

gressed. The team ·s run came to an abrupt halt m the scm1fi nals when goaltender Elisa

really helped a lot." The team would not be hindered by us

Mala '04 was inJurcd. Team members feared that this would spell cerum defeat for the team and 11 did. Dcsplle the d1sappom1mg loss in the playoffs, the future looks quite bnght for the team. Its marked improve ment over the course of its first season will hopefully 3CI as a harbinger of lhmg.s lo come, The success of 1h1s year's team 1s expected to generate interest in girls soc cer that w11l give next year's team add1t1onal depth. Diana Sercls '04 believes in the ris ing success of the squ3d, say mg, "J expect us to go even funher next year. We showed a lot of improvement this sea• son and next 11me around I think we'll do even better."

(colllinued from page 6) musical performances of the night, with instruments rangmg from electnc guitars to viohns 10 even a harp which seemed to win the crowd's favor. The Rllmaz Band. mdependent ensembles, and indi vidual students energized the audience with their perfor mances, which spanned rock and roll to classical. Dance and literary perfor maH�e's 'were also viewed as h1ghhghts of the evening. The crowd seemed to find Eve Lcbwohl's dance and Davina Kcvelson ·s soliloquy particu larly enthralling. An depart ment chair, Ms. Rosen, bnefly v1s1hng from her time away on sabbatical, had a lot 10 say about the events of the night. Given that she was unable to help coordinate the event, Ms. Rosen pointed out that "II was anlcrcslmg lo view the night as both a participant ns well as an outsider. I obtained 3 more d,stanl and brooder perspec-

11ve." Ms. Rosen felt that there was ''unfortunately not enough space for ort work," yet she still "enjoyed the flow of the perfonnances" and felt that the night was "amazingly well-attended and well done by the emcees." The night would not have been nearly as successful without the hard work of art teachers, Ms. Rabhan, Ms. Abramson, and Ms. Ehmcliah and music teachers, Ms. Goldberg and Mr. Ehsha. They had a great deal of help from slUdcnt coordinators. Sarah Boxer '03, Davma Kevelson '03. ond Scott Mocrdlcr '03, who spent the doy organizing and decorating the room with the help of a small staff, makmg sure thal all was perfect for the big night. W11h what seemed 10 be one of the highest Celebration attendances in history, it appears those high aspirations were effectively met.

expected we would" said

Aviva Schick '04. lm11ally proposed by Eve Lcbwohl '04, the soccer team had to overcome many of the

problems that w,11 plague any team in its debut sc:>.son such as lack of experience. Aviva Schick ·04 acknowledged "in Lhe beginning, many of us d1d n 't even know how to play,

but our hard work and our cOach

Jordana

Konov1chs

By Gabriel Op<nheim Over two days full of close games, strong players, and bitter cold, the Ramaz ten nis teams achieved a champ1onsh1p and runner-up title in the annual Metropohtan Yeshiva Hi gh School Tennis League Champ1onsh1ps at the National Tennis Center in Flushing Meodow, Queens. On Sunday, May 19, the Ramaz girls' team over whelmed HAFTR by a 5-0 score m the tournament scm1finols, while the boys defeated Flatbush by a 4-1 score. Both teams entered the finals undefeated. The boys hod gone 6-0 and the girls S O in league play.to qualify for the semi-finals. The Sunday victories enobled both teams 10 advance lo Monday's finals, in which the girls competed against HALB, and the boys faced Fnsch, • team they hod beaten dunng the regular season by 3 4-1 score. previously HALB. unbeaten, was no match for the Rllmaz girls. Gabnclle and Emily '05 Hess Rosenbaum 'OS 31 second doubles won the first of the Ramaz v1ctoncs. They played against J. Thomas and L. Stahler of HALS, and though Hess ond Rosenbaum fell behind at first, they pulled through and won, I 0-6.

Jackie Markow11z '03 and Jenna Oppenheimer '02 were tough compc111ors 31 first dou bles, ond scored the second Ramaz VJCIOry, al I 0-2, against R. Sch, ff and A. Estes. A. Dorf of HALB proved 10 be no match for Stefani Markowitz '05 at first singles, and Stefan, easily won, I 0-0. Lena Hourwitz '03 seemed 10 find her equol in A. Mac!. They were lted for most of the match, but Lena eventually pulled ahead and won 10-5. Margot Schachter 'OS beat A. Feinberg, 10-5, securing the girls' title as champions. The girls completed an undefeated season. Their coach, Mr. Albert Goetz, was particularly proud that every smg1e one of the twelve girls on the team p:1r11c1patcd at least once dunng the season. He credited the team's success 10 "strong leadership from the older girls and four outstand ing freshmen ... The boys' lc.'.lm, however, was not as successful as the g11ls. Fnseh m.,noged 10 upset the boys by a 3-2 score. Kenny Rubin '02 and David Rackmon '02, after falling behind in111ally, rolhed to whip their lirst doubles coun terports from Frisch, I 0-8. The second doubles team, Zach Berg ·04 and Ben Spira '03, fell 10 Judoy Fuld and

Gavnel Webber, 10-2. After Maury Slevin '04 al th,rd sin gles defeated his Frisch oppo nent 10-5, Ramaz needed only one of the two other singles matches to take 11.s first Yeshiva League utlc ever. Unfortunately, 11 was not to be. Jake SleVJn '02 lost 10 Daniel Ba sloe, I 0-6, m • replay of a match from the rcgulor season that had the same score. J3cob Polcvy, first singles for Fnsch, played msp1rcd tennis agamst Eric Rcchtschaffcn and Jumped out 10 a 5-1 lead. Polevy was missing nothing and showed dctcrmmatton and spml. Although Rcchtschaffen played Polevy virtually even aflcr the disastrous start, the Fnseh sw eventually held on for• 10-4 VJclory. spo1hng the ten ms team's chances for swccpmg the champ1onsh1ps. While the boys were proud of reaching the linals. the gtrls were dehghtcd w11h their victory. 1..3.st year was the first umc m the history of the 1crm1s league that the girls did not win When asked, Mr. Goetz remarked that he hoped the girls· trophy would stay at Ramaz for another several years. "'\Ve are losing some key seniors next year on both lc:i.ms. but the talent we h:,,vc JS very deep. I hope we w,11 be b:i.ck to contend ncxl year."

Celebration

Mr. Elisha •••rgelkally leads the preeussloo tnsemblc al the eommcncemnl of the e,·enlng's fcsth'itcs.

Washington Rally

(co11ti11uetlfrom page J)

in support of rsrael and m condcmna11on of the use of terror os a ncgotJatmg tool. Rabb, Lookstcin IS convmced that 1h1s rally, s1m1lar 10 the two that Ramaz/KJ prev1ously attended together, will leave a lasting impression on all who attended. "Every student in Ramaz who went will

never forget that he went to us very proud of the fact that support Israel at 3. time when we don't JUSl use our words.'' )sracl needed American sup- said Mr. Rochlin "but we show through our acllons the port;' Rabb1.Looks1cin said. For the Ramaz students ore urged way WC feel. , to conunue Ooodmg the Wh1Je Ram37JKJ communuy, ,t eerHouse with lcnen and c-moil, tamly was 3 very beneficial buying Israeli products. and thing for so many of us to b-avcling lo Israel. "All the come logelhcr ond take some things that people arc doing m pos1ttve action to show our .tJii;,c.o.1J1J1.JYn�y...£19!'J�.!l!'!.�� ••t'!lll'9.U.fi>r.!K".S!.;.'•.,.,.,.,.__

IJ June 2002ffammuz 5762

A Scandal of a Different Sort

By Elad Cohen In the past few months. 1t has become increasingly rare for Israelis to be able to focus on anything bul the taxmg s1t uauon at hand. l-lowcvcr, 1f there were anything that could possibly make them less an about apprehensive 1mpcndmg :ittack for at least for a couple of hours, It would be a soccer game. Soccer has always been the ntost popular sport ,n Israel. It 1s rare to find an lsra�h teen who can t play soccer or docsn'I auend gomes tot mn1s:uc some of the burdens ofWaS doily hfe Unfortun o1<1rlOnger for these soccer fans, the sport which used to be welcome and haven source of cntcrtammcnt has become entangled m what may be the most shocking con1rovcrsy m the h1s1ory of the sporl in brae\. 1 he nal!onal obscss1011 was dealt a huge blow on May 5 ancr It was revealed that several lugh r:mkmg referees were involved in a scandal that mcludcd fixmg lhc out come of a large number of games . The referees took bribes from gamblers m return for 1ssumg more red and yel low cards to the opposing team, as well as haltmg the game in order to allow the team that 1s being bet on to discuss 11s str.1tegy. Six referees have already been arrested and arc being questioned Five of them arc from the northern sector of the

Sp'O'i-ts

league. Among these, Sabi Elnckavch 1s being questioned on games that were fixed over 4 years ago. The sixth refer ee, Yanv Ma 'atuk, officiates m the lower d1v1s1ons. Ma'atuk has been indicted on charges that he fixed a match between l-lapoel Kfar Sava and l-lapoel Ramal Gan where he dispensed two penalties to the lower ranked team, Ramal Gon, playing agamst the most dommant one m the league this sea son. De s p i t e this latest scan dal. which 1s sure to decrease inter• est m soccer and lead to more even misery for soc• cer fans m Israel, the league plans on gomg ahc::id as scheduled w1ththc second-to-last round of the season. w11h Maccab1 11:ufa po�£cssmg tl1c lirst scfd and Maccab1 Tc-I Aviv sccur mg a spot in the UEFA Cup. This 1s yet another d,sap pomtment that the lsraeh pub he has had to face recently. If the accused referees did m fact commit this great folly. they were apparently not thmkmg about the possible conS(!qucnccs 1f they were caught, much less the toll that 1t would take on Israeli c1v1l1ans. They did not realize that soccer was no longer Just a means of recreation and athlct1c1sm anymore - It had become a sanctuary. an osy lum which may be m danger of collapsing.

Page 11

Boys Soccer Kicks Around Competition

By Elad Cohen Smee its mccpt1on several season, Coach Hulzmgcr graduated after last season. years ago, the boys' soccer observed, "Over the course of Concerning its o1Tcnsc, J eff team has been regarded, by the season, the team has Smtih '03 said. "If we can many, as one of the most matured, ond they really have conlrol the ball. the game 1s mtngumg and .ntcnammg of become a umt. In the begm basically ours. because then •II Rnmoz sports teams. In the nmg, the players d1dn·1 pay we set the pace, and we don't two pnor seasons, the team enough attention to defense, have 10 worry about defense went undefeated. The nearly d1dn 't come out with enough as much. Our scoring 1s excel 20 ploycr squad competes for fire. However, the tc:im's lent so we then feel good our about 4 quarters, chances·• 15 minutes T e a m each, ut1hz members mg what the attribute team calls, a maJor aspect " r u n-a n d gun style. of the tc3m 's exhilarating success to fan offense." turnout, even T h C though they Rams Just some• can f1n1shcd what under• another wmstand circum nmg season stances which m which p r e v e n t 1hcy went 6Ramaz stu 2 (The loss dents from es. 10 MTA a t t e n din g d Dlllnlel Linder '04 prcplllrcs to strike the ball, in Ramaz•s game their games n a Marc Fem Westchester, against HAFTR. were both m away games ) understanding or the game '03, holds that ..Fan turnout l11ey controlled the third Jecd developed and now most or makes us p\ay beyond our• in the playoffs, but were chm th<.· player'\ arc dedicated and -.clvc� and forces u� lo T mated after a loss 10 1-IAF R focused enough to wm 11 all .. absolutely give II our all lt The co:ichcs have been can also 111t1m1date the other m the post-season. ll1e soccer team ended the instrumental m 1hc success of team, especially in a small regular scason on a tear, ,, m the Rams, but a lot of the gym hke ours." nmg its last 2 games agamst acclaim should be directed at 11,e team knows for a fact TAB by n sprcod of 11-5 and the hard work of the players that a large suppon1vc crowd 8-2. respective ly. The team Of the 19 ploycrs on the teom, can give a team an extra JOit. has been led m sconng by each gets to pan1c1patc m the The players remember playing More Williams ·02 ond Yogi games and all arc vcrsaulc agamsl TAB two years ago, Schulman '03, under the guid enough to play multiple pos1- when TAB fans' large turnout ance of Coach Rafi Jshkan1an 11ons. The team has a "killer with loud drums mhm1datcd ond Ass1s1,n1 Cooch Lutz instinct'' sa1d Jared Bernheim them. GO Trcasurer Jeremy Hulzingcr. '03. The Rams' league leading NoVlch '03 suppons the team, Coach Hulzmgcr con 72 goals ccrtamly seems to noting. "It 1s 1mponant that ducts drills during practices attest to this both students ond foculty try The team also benefits to attend athletic events to and has worked w11h the team's defense Mc has taught from the expcncncc of scmors show our suppon and apprcc1pl::iycrs how to slick wnh their Alex: Glasser, Marc W1lllams, at1on for their efforts. I hope opponents more effic1cntly, ond Jordan Bryk. The three that we c::in work to improve nnd he olso helped ehonge have had 10 compensate for attendance at important sport their defensive strategy. the loss of Gary Feigenbaum mg events m the coming to the Juniors. (co11li1111edfrom page 6) While rcncctmg on the team's and the other scmors who school year " of chair Mcrkrn, L1uren Israel 1s such a miracle," says t�e Upper School Lrn1son Rosie W1mpfhc1mcr '05. Subsequently. lunch was Comm1t1cc, cxplamcd that '"' �Jnca served at a nonnal hour. TI1e one of the reasons bchmd the (co11tim,edfrom page 5) were near G1lo and we could 1ous: .. , thought 1h01 1, would usual lunch periods were presentations of these add1Youth the lo adJ>Ccnl !age West the m fighllng the hear 11·s such because depressed be turned over to Mayer t1onal speakers was the desire V1llnge Bonk. One becomes very a great cxpenencc and evcry Weingarten, who spoke to the to present, for the student Aryeh felt that the experi involved you come to your tlung 1s much slower here, but freshmen and sophomores, body, "clear mfom1at1on ence was "IIfc c hanging. donn room and one of the first ll's really not as bad as I nnd Gnry Rosenblnll, editor of nbout Israel, pnrticulorly ,s 11 Evcrythmg stands oul m my tl11ngs you do 1s watch the expected. My whole mentality lhc Jewish Weck, who spoke relates 10 the med1a 's portray mmd. I loved the lnp lo the news You meet people who 1s 1h01 I really have alreody al of 1hc s11ua11on." Negev, where we camped out either have been affected or made ohyah, and rm rcolly side with the Bcdoums, and know someone who has been settled m lsr.1cl. and nght now the Gadna anny trammg." IJc affected by the s1tuat1on, and I'm on vocation from thaL"ln nlso feels 1h01 the seventy of over time. you know someone the future. Aryeh hopes to the current "matzav" m Israel ns well. It wos •II very moke aliyah officially and 1s did not dctrncl from his cduco- intense," seriously cons1dcrmg Jommg 1\onal adventure: "It wns not As the time approochcd the Ism.cl Defense Forces, scnry nt all we were very well for h1m to return to New York, Until then, he'll rcmnm on pro1cc1ed, The first monlh the prospect of commg home vacatton here nt Romnz and m www.highwired.com/ramaz/rampagc was ncrvc-rnckmg because we made Roskies somewhat nnx- New York.

They did not realize hat SOCCer nO jUSt a means oif recreation

Yo111 Ha'atzmaut

Roskies Returns

Visit the

RamPage

on the internet:

Arts

Pogc 12

The lumPoge

Book Review:

Ramaz Graduate Se eks Out Terrorism lly Eve Lelrnohl "Revenge, " by Laur a Blumenfeld, ,s a thoughtful chromclc of Ms. lllumen fcld·s O\\n cxpcncnccs m lsr :ic 1. f rn, cstigatins the nature o revenge Ms Blumenfeld tells f o her father. R:ibb, D•'"•d Blumenfe ld, " ho was shot by a P.1 kslin1an tenonst m Jerusalem, but not foully ,, oundcd In the conte'-t of her cmo l!ona l l> charged quest for re, cngc. she con• s1dcrs her fanu h31 rr13uon• ships and her hfc m gener al. Bl umenfeld mo,ed 10 JCrllS3lcm for her honey moon ) Car and sprnt hc:r umc m:iJ.. mg sense of her father 's Blbck, ::in incident th3t de, :1st:1tcd her. Throughout the book. she searches d1hgcntly for "n way ho cha llenge the 1er ron st \\3Y of thmk mg." T11c tc-rron t. ,, horn she disco, crs 1s 3 man named Om:ir ::1l•Khallb, 1s SCTV1ng out his sent ence ,n :ln Israeli pn son ,n Ashkclon Dl umen fcld masterfully bl ends her own detac hed soc1ol og1cal study of rc,cngc wuh :ln mtro spcct1vc 3ccount of her pcrson31 n«d to 3\ cngc the 1tnons1 act 1hat "as m,l cnded to kill her father. As :m Amcn c:m rcponcr, cmba.rkmg on a quest to find her f athcr·s attacker, Ms. Blumen feld si mply m rroduccs hersel f os ' Loura,' withholdmg her last name so as not to

rcvcnl her personal tustory. In d11Tcrcnt cultures. Sccmg the Israel. she Journeys m search threads of p n m1t1 ,·c hum::an f o both murderers ond v1cums need "h1ch run th rough these \\ ho ha, c been 1m•ol\ cd first practices, M s. Blumen feld, hand in baulcs of rc\'cngc. In a tncs to fom,ulatc her own the maneuver laden \\ 1th both ones about revenge and app ly sclf-::a,\arencss and na ivete. them 10 her own situation. She r f Ms. Blumenfeld bnngs hcrsc l slips m and out o her role � a JOUl1l•lisl, wnting a book f as a means o ma mtam mg and h1dmg behind profcs s1onahsm :as she pursues a lmc of study that IS mean ingful lo her. ''The other person m me. the avenging ch ild, knew that whal was coming would be ha rd I would Jose all dista nce from my subJcct. Worse. I would become my sub Jcct," she tells herself at the onset of her Journey. Talons us through her issues, own personal B lu menfeld shows the f deep human uy o her char ae t(."f'. She opens herself up mt.o close con t.Qcl with the trr to consider her O\Yn 1d�nh ty ond responS1b1lny toward her ronst 's farmly. As an cx pcncnccd JOUr• fom,ly, her momogc, and the \\ r1 lh ,\hom she Palcstam:ans nah,L Ms. Blumen feld rcpons on the moti ves, goa l s. :md becomes c lose. Becnusc her psycholog,cal e,planollon for life 1s a \\Cb of her work and c rctn bution ::as interp reted by soc ial li fe, Dlumcnf ld is able a ll cla sses and soc 1c11cs to offer a delicate bu1 honest "Report ing a book about ond bold portrayal of a pon,on rc\ocngc was an mtcllcctu:il of her h fc . The reader IS c h::allcngc, ::an exe rci se m brought th roui;h o sh,fhng, but empathy," she says On lnps e\'cntunlly tnumphnnt, study from Serbia to the small towns of \\ hat Dlumenfcld looks for of the West Bank, she srudics m revenge and how she finds the d1 1Tcrcnt code., of cond uct II and the use of rctn butaon m

Senior Play a Success:

"Here's Looking At You Kids"

By Lah••• llorkov When I go 10 a school ploy, I don 'I come cxpcclrng much 10 be entirely hon est . What I do ex peel is I 5-ycar old students playing 1 7-yeor old students' parents. amn1eur1sh dancing in mus1c3ls. ;1nd botched Imes The senior's production of "Casoblonca" however. v. cnt above :ind beyond the "coll of duty," far cxcttdm; my e.xpcctataons The scmors \\ere pos111ve ly 1ncrcd1blc. Ilsa (Jenny Dloom) mode the audience cry, and J3cob SaV3gc·s mter cstmg 1mpro, 1s::a11ons as Renault, made 1hc audience laugh. We prayed for Victor I a,lo's (M,chacl Marco) life :ind L I S1rnsscr's ( O.1n1cl 1rnuss) death l:vcry o:;emor m "Cnsablonca" was tr;ins fonned mro a completely dif ferent pcr,on when they

walked onlo the stogc. While n hnlc 10 be lhe1r accents desired, all of the actors, fro m David Pollock's portrayal of a funny :rnd confused Gcmum, to Daniel F1schler's phcnomcnol performance as Rick Blaine, the octors brought 10 life every aspect of their charocrer's personolil1cs. Good acting was not the only thmg that contnbutcd to a great performoncc The cxccpl!onal scl also helped out The crew monagcd to pul together • beoullful scl, while keeping m mind the ad::age "less as more " 1l1c srogc "us d1v1ded mlo h\ O h3lves One side con• sis1cd of muluplc 1oblcs ond chairs. sci up to serve as "Rick's." The other holf, w11h a couch and table, served as at lc,sl four d1fl'ercnl loeouons

tcn

thor changed w1lh the swllch ,ng backgrounds. The "Rick's" half of the scl olso served as lhc stage for numerous songs and dances. which rudely inlcrruplcd ncar ly every scene While Ilona Stone's choreography was superb, ond every singer song beou11fully, I wos disturbed by the directors' (Av, Flombaum and Rena Wasser) choice of odd1ng Michael Jackson ·s 1 980s hit "Thnller," lo a play that 1s set dunng the 1 940s. O1hcrw1Se, I thought their choices of music were 1mpcc• cable, rrom the forcsh3dowmg "I Wonl To Grow Old Wnh You," to 1he1r grand finale or "Rock ond Roll 1 1,gh School" ' (The K..amoncs) My finol vcrd1cl on Ca�ablanca'/ "Play at ago in, Sam 1 "

Junt 2002/fo mmuz 5762

Mo vie Re vie w: Sp ider-Man Cl im bs to th e Top

By Zcv llosrn

Dtr· Sam Raum Slarr111g Tobey Maguire, Willem Dafoe. Ki rsten Duns/ /2/ mm. PG· 13

Anyone seeking ano1hcf hackneyed llol lywood thnll ndc will be d1soppoin1ed wi th Sam Ra1nu 's adapCl l!on or the closs1c Sp1dtrrnan comic This version correctly cha nnels the same ,3mou nt of energy into the rruin to the spider. When a gcnet1co lly cng,necrcd spider bites Pe ter Parker (Tobey Magu i re), an awkward h igh school science geck, he wakes up a new man. Not on ly 1s he +. stronger

oble ends The re ,v;is 3 lot of cont ro versy in castms Mr. Magu i re. but 111s qui rky facial lies we re almost pe rfect in captu ring the "I ' m not su re 1f I t.3n do tlus, bul I must " mentality inhe rent ,n the role Willem Da foe IS also bn lliant ,n h!S portrayol of lhc s1and,rd \'lllam. ' 'The Green Gob hn," who. hke Sp,dc r-M:m, has an alte rnate pc rwn:a hty: a rich sc1ent1s1 named No nnan Osbo rne Osbo rne ·s son 1s. co me1dcn• Cllly, ,n love w!lh Mary Jone well. which m3kes the typ1cal good versus e\ll story qu11c complex. The rcohty dual Peter \\ h1ch as foces S p 1dcr• M a n and 35 Peter the Pa rke r: fight \\ Ith the evil G reen Gobhn. and !he attempt to wtn Ma r y J ane 's lo,e all corre 1n10 conflact m the final shov. do" n ParL.er muse e hooo:;e \\ hat 1s mor e 1 mpor1.3nt h as own lo\ ·c or his social rcspons1b1l1t1es O,cr:ill, Ra1m1 's tcchmC3l bra »do. as demonstrated m the action S('quenccs. fine act• mg and a com pell ing. c mo t1 ona lly nch stor y make Spider- Man mor e than Just a simple escopc from the tra v01ls of do1ly lt fe. Spider- Man becomes a profound ule of h uman dc\"el opment.

.. Spider-man b

ecomes a

andp r0t 0Un d tale of h uman de velopment

faster, but he 's also able to shoot whi te Sti cky webs out .is wn sts, of h and sca le walls. Tncsc newfound nb,111 ,cs an, USC• • ful 1n avoiding bullies ol school and m dr.m'lng the a1tcn 11on of n<ighbor and classmate Mory Jane (Kirsten Duns1) A h1lan• un folds as scene ous M:1gu1rc 's character 1s try ing out his ne,\ web-shoo ter s, a.nd conunucs to shake hlS hand back and forth unul the white substance comes out, reflcc l mg the movie 's cmpha 1s on Sp1 dcr-Mzm 's ho rmon31 m:i.n1When Peter's fcstat1ons. uncle 1s murdered, howc"cr, he rcn hzcs thal his nb1h11cs cnn go towards more honor-

Virus in Ramaz

(co111i1111 cd from page 8)

crs.

llus na11onw1dc virus 1s said to h.1vc slowed the com puter 's programs, cvcnlunlly causing them to stop funcllon mg. The Group e-mail \Vase h:ad service stopped send mg mail alto• gcthcr. Though 1t was cssenllal to the remove virus from lhe computers. some students oppcared 10 be ag1toted by tl1e thought o f • day wnhoul their computers. Senior Onnrcl Stcrmnn's somcwh3t focc11ous reaction to the mncccss1b1h1y

of the computers was, "I've been b r eaking out m cold sweats and h::ave a fever of 104. " Other students were not as a fl'cclcd. Som Raymond '02 even seemed slightly plcoscd Ol lhe m!Shap . .. , don ·1 have com puter cl::ass today," he said with a shrug while he enJoyed h IS free penod with fr iends at a table m the library. For better or worse, this virus was cured w11h efficiency. cnablmg students to once ncorn use 1hc computers for r csc3rch, wntint, nnd c•ma1l mg

For better or worse, this virus was cured with efficiency