..
..,.
•
asApsic Townsend Harris High School at Queens College
F 00I
149-11 Melbourne Avenue.· Flushing, NY 11367
Ditching the dish: Defective music to get tune-up
Editors: Andrew Goldberg, Lauren Paley Bosede Adenekan, Rebecca Munoz, Audley Brian Wilson, Lucy Hong
~
I
Writers: Carolina Chang, Angela Horn, Lorraine Kapovich, Victoria Kowanetz, Alice Lee, Anna Olson, - Sylvia Stanojev
by Lauren Paley and Sylvia Stanojev The multi-purpose, but notalways functioning, satellite dish that sits atop the school will take its last temperature reading at the end of next week and will be removed on April 29. Technicians from Queens College say the dish is responsible for the "defective" music that is often heard at the change of the bands. Turbulence in the solar wind as the sun approaches peak activity has caused a freak phenomenon in the ionosphere. Thus, signals from Townsend Harris. are being received by a Chinese monastery and visa versa. In addition, electrical discharges in the antennae have made the CD player skip from time to time. Elle Etric, consultant for the School Construction Committee, said, "This interception is why unusual pieces of music were played here over the past two years." This includes the chants played this month. Signals transmitted from radio station W-OMMMMM in China were
mistakenly picked up, allowing broadcasts of the radio show translated as "Monks Monkeying Around With Melody" to echo
Art of Fortune Cookie Writing, she visited the Beijing Monastery a11d their radio station responsible for broadcasting meditation mu-
through the -Townsend Harris halls. No one caught the faults in the system until sophomore Loudin Static returned from a visit to China. While involved in an exchange program seminar on the
sic throughout China. "I was used to hearing Chinese all around me for days until I visited WOMMMMM," Loudin said. "While I was touring the control room, I heard a very familiar voice say, 'Please excuse the in-
terruption; that was a false alarm."' The engineers there described the interference problems they had experienced over the past three months, not to mention the scare they had the first time they heard the voice. "Let's just say they thought they were hearing a higher authority than a Board of Education administrator," said Loudin. "The brothers couldn't stop talking about it." She tried to explain that they'd been picking up the announcements of Assistant Principal of Disorganization, Makeme Bossman. "I was worried they wouldn't understand me because I couldn't for the life of me remember how to say 'pyromaniac' in Chinese,:· Loudin said. "I had to explain how we taught chemistry in America." Upon returning, she notified Technical Coordinator Richie Tiffile, who later called Dr. Etric, as well as Queens College technicians Connie Fixit and Louise Wires, to help him inspect the dish. Unable to change its frequencies, all four received approval from Principal Makeme Largeman to disconnect and remove Continued on p. 3
Up the down escalator: New honors gym to run Artwork: Lucy Hong, Emily RivlinNadler Kerry Purtell, Rachel Schiffman Photography: Audley Brian Wilson
rAdvisor: lisa Cowen
Principal: Malcolm Largrnann I~
I
by Rebecca Munoz and Angela Hom In response to recent complaints made by some students and members of the physical education department about the lack of a physical education class suitable for the most athletic students, Principal Makeme Largeman announced yesterday that he planned tO install escalatorS in the middle s~ircase over the sumlller. Starting next September, students will be able to get a "real" workout by climbing up the escalators that will, in fact, move in a downward direction. "I am very pleased with his decision," said Dean Wanta PixKnicks. "I have been asking for years to teach a physical education class that would be ·comparable to an AP or honors class. Students should be able to reach· new heights in gym as well as science," she said. She plans to conduct a new gym elective entitled "Ralph Shows Off Not Only His Volleyball Skills But His Great Ability To Run Up Stairs." Students will strengthen their calf
muscles by running up the down escalators. And for those who are not able to take the elective, the escalators will run from 7:30 am to ~: 3 0 pm ~ daily, so stu- 7_ ~ dents can treat ·(~""· · them{
1''1 )/J
lunch in the middle of the day, or Funds for the construction will from the sixth to fourth floors be- come mainly from the Parent's tween periods, can think again. Association's newest fundraising The only way students will be . scheme. On the first annual Mascot able to make use of the escalators Day, to be held on May 16, Harrisites is if they plan to climb up. In or- will dress as Hari the Hawk, and der to ensure that students do not . stand on various street corners in try to stretch their escalator privi- ' Manhattan asking for money from ry" leges, Dr. passersby. Not only will Harrisites (\ ~ Large man beg for money; they will also try to I~ planS On peri- hawk the USe}eSS printing equipment ~ odic ally put- that lines the wall of room 511. u n~ / ting on his fortunately; i.t is against the law to I sweats and sell property that the Board of Education has allocated to a school, but whatever. If all goes as scheduled, construction should begin at the end of June and be completed by Labor Day weekend Some students and teachers have voiced objections to the buildfng of the escalators. "I don't think it's fair that they will be built in the main _stairwell," said sophomore Daisy Upsy at Consultative Council meeting. "I am certainly not going to use them and that means I will aljoining in on the action. "I don't ways have to walk to the end of the intend to spend thousands of dol- hallway." But her comment was Iars so that youngsters can take it greeted with low murmurs and one easy," said Dr. Largeman. Continued on p. 4
;.r--
r
of
a
selves to this state-of-the-art work-out in their free time. Those students who hope to use the escalators to go down to