Volume XXXIII Number 3
The Ramaz Upper School
March 2003/Adar II 5763
Mercury Addiction on .�- . � High in __ #...- 1 Ramaz
The final ex.ants ,,ere heisted from the c:ablnrts of tbc Sixth Floor Office.
E1tan Hochster
Final Exams Stolen From Sixth Floor
By Jon>thon Berken 'OS There 1s a wcll-1,,,--nown front doors of lhc Upper nursery rhyme about old School were 1mmcd13tcly Mother Hubb3Td ond her rcpbccd for the thml lime. unfortUnatc trlp td'7lft�c\1\i pa:ia!l}' constructed electri• board from which she was lied doors, bought with the un3blc lo rctncvc a bone for proceeds obt.a,ned from a hq her poor hungry pooch. A u1dat1on of the entire contents s1m113r seen.mo played out of the book room, were dunng finols "eek when the installed. Dr. Berkowitz was cupboard containing the final gracious m ofTmng the tcx1cxammauons for honors b10l boolcs for such a wonhy ogy, World Jewish l·hstory 11, cause. noting th3t he ''d1dn ·1 iumor Enghsh and AP chem hkc to be cooped-up in that istry was disco, crcd by room anyway." \Vh1lc he was adm1mstr.uors 10 be bare JUst unable, to come up WJth a ""theory" to explain the disap one day before 1cs11ng umc. Under lhc assumpt10n that pearance of the final exams, this was a grand larceny case Dr. 8C"rkown.z did seem to ofGo!d,locks propon1ons, the mutter something about the
Huguenots being at fault. The entire Ramaz staff was mtm-ogatcd in the search for clues concrnung the miss• mg exams :md told by Mr Miller to trust no one. With nsmg candy pnccs, anyone might be mouvatcd 10 steal for spare ch.:ingc, he cxpl:uncd. Ms Newman, clearly out• raged by the loss of her exams. suggested that a he detector test be adm101stcrcd to each student 1mmcd1atcly aficr davcnmg, when spmtu3hly would be high and a ten dency to fabnc>te low This was rcJcctcd by the rest of the (cominucd 011 page 8)
Creative Classrooms headline By N•omi Birboch '04 and Rochel M. Trager '04 \V 1 1h :m mcrc-asc m wuh students, the adm1mstra Ram01 high school accep- tors "ere forced to find more tanccs, and a bu1ldmg struc• mnovauvc ways of confinmg lure wh ich has m:11nta1ncd its students The sti:urwells have current sue. admin i strators were faced with the task of become senmgs for many bcmg crcauvc -conver1,ng English class.es The adm1n1s• unlikely spaces into class- trators believed that the close quarters would nurture the rooms This was not a new ven t1gh1 knit environments which ture for 1hc Ramaz ::admm1stra arc charactensllc of English tors In the past, room 701. an classes. Shira Bender '04 exclusive home for cleaning remarked, ""Thoreau staled, utensils, had been convc-ncd 'S1mphfy, s1mphfy, simplify' into a rcpubhc of brooms and and I think we're doing a prcl· students ·1nc results were ty good Job following his foot• steps." pos111vc and the room has Mr. Kuck admlltcd 1ha1 been known to scat up to tlur· having classes m stairwells 1y Sludents and one teacher. This year, w11h all the gave him an air of dominance broom closets already filled "I stand at the 1op (of the
sleps] and the students need lo st:ram their necks to sec me and 10 let me know that they arc paying attention I lo,·c IL" llowever, 1hc stairwells arc not islands of paradise Although sludents arc known 10 fovor the elevators, a small number of R:unaz bourgeois often use the steps to get from Ooor to Ooor M ,cha cl Vers1and1g '04 adm11tcd h,s displeasure with pedestrians frequently intcrrupllng his studies "It's not lhat I mmd losmg a few minutes from class 11mc. It's more of a problem 1ha1 I need to con slantly shift my pos111on in
(co11wwed 011 page 6)
By Lahov Harkov '05 After several rcponcd mcidents of mercury poison• 1ng, the admm1stra11on announced that rouunc mer· cury tests for all students and faculty arc m order. As a result of FLIK's infamous Fr iday lunch being served weekly and the availability of tuna every d:ay, the admm1s• trauon found 11 necessary to admm1ster these tests. In January 200 I, the EPA and 1he Food and Drug Admm1strauon took the unp·reccdentcd step of 1ssu1ng a statement cauuonmg preg• nant women, nursing women. women who may become pregnant, and young children to hm1t their tun3 mu.kc to twelve ounces per week� Citins the!e new alerts. Consumers Union rccom• mended that the average adult eat only one 6-ounce can of luna per week, about the equ1valcnt of one hundred Fnday lunch tuna sandwiches. Side effects of high mer cury le,•els mcludc chronic bad breath, upset slomachs, and foaming 3t the mouth The most harmful effect of the mgcsuon of mercury, ho" cv• er, 1s its high add1chon rate. ..The add1c11on rate among students 1s 3t an all•llme high, and qullc frankly, I am appalled," said Rabb, Segal.
Mony behcvc 1h01 the Ram3Z environment 1s con• duel\c to high consumption of the dangerous fish "Most students would not think of stan,ng to mgcst mercury 1f u weren't for the tremendous amount of peer pressure around them,'" explaans Jessica Spiegelman '05. ..ff cvc-ryonc else 1s cahng II, 1t's . hard to say no. . Easy access to the subst3ncc 1s also behcvcd to fos1cr the high rate of 3dd1ct1on among lunchcrs at Ram37 Followmg m the footSteps of II AFTR 's random drug tc-sts, R:imaz has decided 10 adopt these safety precautions with the hopes of complete rehab1htat1on for all Ramaz studt,,t.s nnd faculty Dcsp11e these pro1ccuvc students reasons, some opposed these tests, claiming that they arc "'an mvis1on of our pnvacy." Daniel Ma.rans '05 asks. "Why should every one be penalized 1f not every• body 1s doing 11 1" Others :agree with Ramaz's decmon to test ran• domly Sara Sabshon ·os con tends, "People want to have some mercury once m a while and that's okay, but once they become rch3nt, desperate measures must be taken "
Many te achers have hccn forced to move their classes Into Ellan Hochslcr the stolmells.