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Rock Bridge High School • 4303 S. Providence Rd. - Columbia, MO 65203 • Volume 38, Issue 5 • February 25, 2011

photo by Kylee Fuchs

Faculty hears from Belcher about budget

Cyberbullying victim’s mother speaks out

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n Feb. 9 Tina Meier, mother of St. Louis teen Megan Meier, spoke in the PAC to explain her daughter’s experience with cyberbullying.

When Megan used social networking site MySpace, she encountered electronic harassment, which ultimately resulted in her suicide.

Because bullying was not tried through electronic devices, the courts were unable to hold the perpetrator accountable.

CRAIG CHVAL

S

Read on page 5

photo by Kylee Fuchs

photo by Tessa Vellek

District to hold meetings for new boundaries

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he CPS boundary committee will be hosting a series of meetings in March that are open to the public concerning the redistricting necessary for the upcoming Muriel Battle High School.

Teachers will be redistributed among the three high schools when BHS is completed. Families will know 19 months in advance which school their children will attend.

Read on page 3

New energy plan aims to cut costs with inspections

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PS plans to institute a new energy conservation policy this year aimed at reducing the energy waste in the district.

Schools will be subject to random inspections regarding their energy usage, as well as air pollution. This means that teachers can no longer have couches, stuffed chairs or non-sanctioned electronics like microwaves and refrigerators in their rooms.

The inspections will also check for lights that are turned on unnecessarily and electronic devices that are in use without reason.

Read on page 3

photo by Savannah Viles

Keeping roads safe: To prevent future accidents on Missouri roads, State Bill 11 will allow Missouri State Highway Patrol to pull over drivers of all ages texting while driving.

Bill bans texting and driving for all ages ALYSSA MULLIGAN

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issouri State Highway Patrol announced that Missouri State Sen. Ryan McKenna launched a regulation banning text messaging and driving for all ages, which would remove the age restraint from the existing law.

The present law has limited texting for drivers aged 21 and under since 2009, but allowing ages above 21 to text and drive will soon end. Senate Bill 11 will be in effect beginning Aug. 28, allowing MSHP to pull over anyone texting behind the wheel.

The Senate Transportation Committee approved the anti-text messaging law Jan. 26, but the House of Representatives still needs to examine the bill further.

SB 11 “took away the age restriction. The fine is still the same; it’s what’s called an infraction, which is similar to a seat belt ticket,” McKenna said. “The fine is up to $200 and the judge would have discretion on what to set the fine at. We still have to read the bill before we send it. There might be some issues with the bill because of an amendment that was added, which may derail legislation, but not for the texting law.”

Sophomore Jay Offerdahl said the Missouri Traffic Unit applied the law to all drivers based on the number of texting-related accidents.

“Texting and driving is dangerous because it requires you to constantly look down at your phone, and before you know it, you’re about to rear-end someone or you’re swerving off the road,” Offerdahl said. “I’ve seen other drivers texting, and the two I’ve

Snow days back up more than just classes WALTER WANG

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new bill may allow schools to exempt snow days that occurred during the week of Jan. 31 to Feb. 4. State Rep. Joe Aull, a Democrat from Marshall, is proposing this bill. For Columbia Public Schools, this would mean that instead of staying until June 2, there would still be three unused snow days built into the calendar.

“I’m just trying to give the schools a bit of relief from all of the snow,” said Aull, a former teacher and superintendent who taught for 24 years. “It’s been an unusual year, with three to four winter storms [and] with a lot more snow days than usual. Instead of making schools keep going into summer, especially with summer school coming.

And along with the fact that there are some classes teachers want to take, [the bill] will let schools end earlier. Many schools have used eight to nine snow days, so this will help them. [Students] don’t get that much done the last few days anyway, so I think this is a fair compromise.”

However, Superintendent Dr. Chris Belcher

believes the bill is superfluous.

“I don’t think [the bill] is necessary,” Belcher said. “The current policy of reducing snow days after six days seems adequate. So far, the snow days have only added one day to our current calendar.”

Meanwhile, executive orders 11-03 and 11-04 will expire Monday Feb. 28. Gov. Jay Nixon issued these orders in response to the blizzard that swept across most of the nation. Nixon declared a state of emergency for Missouri in executive order 11-03, while 1104 activated the National Guard’s resources for rapid responses to any potential situation. Columbia received more than 18 inches of snow, and schools closed for four and a half days.

The University of Missouri— Columbia also closed its campus for three days, something that almost never happens. This February blizzard was the first since 2006 that shut down the MU campus.

Index News Features In-Depths Editorials Commentary Sports Arts & Entertainment

seen were coming into my lane, so I had to swerve just to avoid a collision.”

According to studies of drivers aged 21 and under, 87 percent thought there should be a law banning texting while driving, but 80 percent of that number said they text and drive, McKenna said.

“It’s kind of a weird dynamic,” McKenna said. “I don’t know if passing the law changes their behavior or not.”

Junior Jordyn Stanford said texting while driving adds one more distraction to the driver, but drivers do not realize multitasking threatens people around them. Stanford experienced the consequences when she lost a friend in a colliding accident resulting from preoccupied drivers.

“My friend lost his life because of texting and driving. There are so many people who get in accidents because of it,” Stanford said. “No matter how good of a driver you think you are, your phone is still keeping you from having all of your attention on the road. One text message is not worth the possibility of putting your life or [another driver] in danger.”

Questions arose in the Senate regarding the government interfering with personal lives because of SB 11, but McKenna said he believes this is a reasonable bill.

“If you [support] this rationality, then we shouldn’t have [driving while intoxicated] laws; we shouldn’t have speeding laws,” McKenna said. “We ought to say as a state that it’s our public policy to say that it is dangerous for someone to text while driving a car.” story continued on page 3

peaking at the faculty meeting Feb. 16, Superintendent Dr. Chris Belcher addressed faculty about Columbia Public School’s ongoing budget issues, which include about $2 million in cuts for the 2011-’12 school year. At the meeting Belcher referenced a number of plans CPS has considered to meet budgetary needs, including cutting district athletics.

“I don’t want anyone to ever think that bad things can’t happen where radical change can be imposed upon us,” Belcher said at the meeting. “I’ve been talking about everything I can to people, and we had about 150 people that were swimmers come to the board meeting Monday [Feb. 14] to talk about eliminating the swim program. We’ve talked about alternative education. We’ve talked about class size. We’re trying to make sure that people get it that these tight budgetary times are brought on by local state revenues.”

The board shelved Belcher’s plan proposing the elimination of the district swim program, which costs about $40,000, after the teams’ support at the board meeting Feb. 14. However, Belcher proposed a cut in all athletic funding, on which the board has not yet decided.

“My strategy has been just keep doing what I’ve been asked to do for the balanced budget,” Belcher said at the faculty meeting. “We’re not going to go out and pray, and I think that’s what we’ve done. If we pray a little bit that we don’t lose money, we’re going to lose all of this, and that ain’t good.”

The budget cutbacks of the past three years have adversely affected teachers’ working conditions and salaries. CPS stopped the usual increase of teachers’ salaries over the past two years, and although the ladder resumed this year, the National Education Association wants the district to restore the lost money from those years, said English teacher Jennifer Cone, the NEA representative at RBHS. “As far as the budget is concerned, we have 2008-2009 [and] 2009-2010 that [the] salary was frozen,” Cone said. “And that has a great influence on retirement and all of that. And it’s especially hard on new teachers who don’t get a whole lot in the first place. story continued on page 3

“The declaration of a state emergency authorized the state to use its resources to help local government with preparation and response to the winter storm; by activating the Missouri National Guard, the governor was able to have hundreds of Guardsmen in place around the state before the storm hit, so they could be able to help quickly,” Press Secretary Scott Holste said. story continued on page 5

photo by Kristen Williams

Snowed in: Sophomore Brett Williams shovels his driveway in the days after the big snow storm hit Columbia Jan. 31

Upcoming events

pg. 1 pg. 7 pg. 12 pg. 14 pg. 17 pg. 18 pg. 22

Rapper and Kansas City native Tech N9ne will be at the Blue Note March 2.

art by Dan Hainsworth

The spring play, “You Can’t Take It With You,” will be held in the PAC March 4-5 from 7-9:30 p.m. Admission is $5.

art by Sawyer Wade

Auditions for the annual Capers talent show are March 8 and 10 starting at 3:30 p.m.

art by Brandon McGonigle

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February 25, 2011

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News · 3

February 25, 2011

The ROCK

Belcher announces budget cuts story continued from page 1 So we’re wanting them to restore the steps.”

However, the district must decide on the budget before meeting some of these teacher demands, which include the salary issue and decreased class sizes. Cone said the board should propose a tax levy before Battle High School opens after decreasing the reserves of the district.

“Right now there’s 25 percent in our reserves — money tucked away. It’s proven that a district can survive with 16 percent tucked away, and we want that money being used to pay teacher salaries,” Cone said. “You can take it down to a very workable amount in reserves, and then when that building opens up and you’re lacking some funds, that’s when you can go to the public and say, ‘OK, now we need to ask you. We’ve tried to hold back, and now we need to ask for a tax levy.’”

Some representatives from

teacher organizations like the NEA and the Columbia Missouri State Teachers Association are pushing for the board of education to propose a tax levy to Columbia as a revenue increase. The board proposed a 54cent levy in April, 2008, but it failed when voters denied it. The city did pass a bond issue last April, but that decision did not raise taxes.

“Federal and state funding is always up in the air. Our state funding is a good example with them not setting forth the budgeting parameters until now, and even

then, taking away those funds at the last minute,” said Kari Schuster, president of CMSTA. “If the public wants education to stay the same or improve, more funds are going to be needed, as expenses go up each year with inflation, or even in years w h e r e there has been a recession.

One of these ways is to ask for a tax levy.”

To help ensure the interests of teachers, the NEA wants the district to participate in collective bargaining, Cone said. This would help alleviate some of the tensions that exist between

“If the public wants education to stay the same or improve, more funds are going to be needed.”

Kari Schuster CMSTA president

teachers after the frozen pay scale and prevent similar problems in the future.

“If we have collective bargaining with exclusive representation, then members of NEA, which is a national organization, would sit down with our board of education and our school board and together they would put together our contract and [decide] what is reasonable,” Cone said. “Right now we really don’t have a lot of say in what’s expected of us as teachers.”

Although students may not easily witness the effects of budgetary problems or collective bargaining in the district, the elimination of programs by CPS brings the issues to students through faculty and staff.

“If your staff is suffering, then your students are suffering.

If classes are too big and if the teachers feel overwhelmed, it eventually affects the children,” Cone said. “You’ve got to take care of students.”

Bill limits all texting and driving story continued from page 1 Senior Michelle Haas said the only person that anyone can control on the road is herself, so everyone needs to give all attention to the road, the signs and other drivers.

“I like that the law [for all ages] is going to pass,” Haas said. “It doesn’t matter if you just got your license or have been driving for 30 years. Everyone needs to pay attention to the road and everything happening around them.”

Enforcing texting and driving for drivers aged 21 and under may seem as a hit-or-miss accusation when guessing age, McKenna said.

“One problem that [police] tell me is how they distinguish how old someone is by driving past them,” McKenna said. “I look young for my age, and when I was 22, I looked like I was 16.”

But junior Sarah Henzel said SB 11 will not solve traffic safety, and pulling over texting drivers is an inefficient process because she believes people will text even with the new law.

“I don’t think it’s really going to stop people from doing it. Plus, who’s to prove you were texting and not just dialing someone’s number to call them,” Henzel said. “It’s a good idea; I’m just not sure how effective it will be.”

Social studies teacher Evan Adams noticed the driver behind him was occupied with texting on his cell phone as the driver’s eyes pivoted up and down in order to multitask.

“I stopped at a red light and someone was obviously texting behind me,” Adams said. “They didn’t see me, and they almost hit the back of my car. If it is a good idea to do it for young drivers, then it is a good idea to for older drivers.

If the rate of car accidents goes down, then this convinces me it’s a good law.”

McKenna introduced the bill in 2009 to the Senate without an age restriction. However, the House added the age restriction.

McKenna continues to declare his original plan for legislating SB 11, where it was altered in past years.

“I initially had the bill two years ago in 2009, and the way the Senate passed it, we didn’t have an age restriction,” McKenna said.

“It got over to the House of Representatives, and they added an age restriction. I spent the last two years trying to just go back to my original intent of law. Last year it passed in the Senate again and got over to the House of Representatives, and there was an amendment added that said that you can only text on gravel roads. I killed the bill at that point because that has no common sense. It is poor public policy to say that if you’re 22 years old or older that you can source: www.driveandstayalive.com text and drive.”

The risk of multi-tasking

infographic by Sawyer Wade

Senator introduces bill saving summer school JOANNE LEE

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rom the outset Columbia Public Schools shortened their summer school program from 24 to 20 days.

However, this plan may change back to the full schedule of 24 days because of legislative changes in funding summer schools.

At a legislative forum in Jefferson City

Feb. 15, David Pearce, chair of the Senate Education Committee, told administrators that Missouri senators will discuss Senate Bill 247, which does not affect the summer school funding, thereby relieving financial stress from CPS. Before this funding was announced, Pearce introduced Senate Bill 12, which would remove summer school funding. SB 247 preumpted SB 12.

“We learned that SB 12 appeared to be losing steam, and have been told by our legislators that we should expect full funding as planned,” CPS Chief Financial Officer Linda Quinley said. “If that is the case, then we will be back on for the entire program nearly exactly as done last year. The problem is that until the state budget is finalized, which has to happen by mid-May, we can’t be sure of anything.”

Tension builds in Libya as opposition gains ground

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iolence in Libya continued to erupt Feb. 22 as clashes in the capital, Tripoli, intensified. Sixty-two people have died in the violence in Tripoli so far, according to Human Rights Watch. Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi vowed to “fight until the last drop of my blood,” showing that the chaos was not near coming to a close.

According to several residents, Qaddafi participated in night massacres, opening fire at will at the backs of pickup trucks as he drove through the streets. Witnesses described the streets of Tripoli as a war zone.

Along Libya’s 1,000 mile Mediphoto used with permisson from AP terranean coast, opposition forces T r i p o l i , L i b y a : P r o claim to hold Qaddafi supporters join at a string of cit- Green Square to protest. ies spanning the length of approximately half the coast.

Qaddafi appeared on state television for a second time when he delivered a 73-minute harangue, sometimes shouting and trembling with anger. In the mostly rambling address, he said those challenging the government “deserved to die,” and he attributed the rebellion to foreigners.

He blamed the unrest on a small group of people distributing pills to brainwash others and the youthful desire to imitate the rebellions in Egypt and Tunisia.

The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting Feb. 22 to discuss the discourse.

International forces criticized the bloodshed. The Obama administration condemned Libya’s use of violence in reaction to peaceful demonstrations, saying the United States was “gravely concerned” Feb. 20. However, the Libyan ambassador to the United Nations, Abdurrahman Shalgham, said he was siding with Qaddafi.

New Zealand earthquake damages Christchurch

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n earthquake struck Christchurch, New Zealand Feb. 22, killing at least 65 people. The 19th century city of 400,000 residents turned to rubble from the 6.3 magnitude earthquake.

Rescue crews spent the night searching for people still alive in the rubble throughout the rainy cold night, but officials warned there may still be more deaths because of the high numbers of missing people. By the afternoon of Feb. 22, police said all the ambulances were busy from urgent calls, and none was available for any more emergencies.

Videos show people running through the streets trying to avoid the damage, landslides throwing rocks and debris down suburban streets and buildings becoming demolished. The damage extended to the city’s main cathedral, as one video showed a person grasping a window in the cathedral’s spire.

Twenty-three Japanese students were trapped in their language school in downtown Christchurch.

One witness considered the event “the most frightening thing of my entire life.”

Although there was another earthquake that hit in September with a magnitude of 7.1, this caused no casualties and was not as damaging to the area.

—source: nytimes.com —stories by Tessa Vellek

CPS restrains electronic devices New school changes district WALTER Battle High School to open without seniors in first year JOANNE LEE

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unior Emily Parks has an older brother who went to Hickman High School, and she has a younger brother, Alex, currently in eighth grade, who may end up at Battle High School.

Such changes happen when school boundaries change, and Columbia Public Schools has created a boundary committee to examine the attendance lines separating the schools as it prepares to open the doors to those in grades 9-11 in August 2013.

To discuss the boundaries changing with the opening of the new high school, there will be a chance for community input throughout March.

“The committee will host forums in March,” Assistant Superintendant Dr. Wanda Brown said, “to explain the transition process to parents, students and the community” Public forums concerning the secondary boundary will be held at 7 p.m. March 1 at HHS and March 3 at RBHS in both media centers. Since the beginning of January, the CPS enrollment planning committee began

arranging the boundaries for the high schools, as well as the three middle schools that currently house grades 6-7 and three junior high schools, which have students in grades 8-9.

However, when the new high school opens, the six middle schools and junior highs will convert into intermediate schools, opening to those in grades 6-8 to “reduce a transition and reduce the populations of all our secondary buildings,” Brown said.

None of these changes will affect students now in grades 9-12. However, the change in high school boundaries can affect students currently in grades 4-8, and students in third grade and below will be the first students to go through the reorganized secondary system, such as the grades 9-12 high schools. Teachers will also be redistributed among the six buildings that will house middle grades and high schools. The board of education is in the process of making decisions regarding the transfer policy.

“When the board finalizes boundaries,” Brown said, “families will have nearly 19 months to know which buildings their students are going to attend.”

I

WANG

for inspections. It’s taking us a little while to get through each school.

When we do the inspections, we’re also going to be testing the quality of the air, among other things. [The inspections] are totally random.”

CPS has tried to implement this environmentally friendly policy before. However, inspections did not occur last time.

“Last year when they tried to do this exact same thing, an ‘on your honor’ sort of thing, we all made a really concerted effort.... We didn’t have anything, and basically it didn’t make any difference,” English teacher Matt Webel said. “I feel like as teachers, we don’t get a lot of compensation or perks anyway.

I guess I just feel disappointed that

n the interest of energy conservation, economic budget and environmental welfare, Columbia Public Schools has decided to implement a new Energy and Environmental Policy. The goal is to reduce the energy footprint of RBHS and other CPS schools, said Alan Forbis, energy manager of CPS. The policy will eliminate non-CPS approved electronics and stuffed furniture in an effort to improve indoor air quality and energy efficiency.

CPS spends $4 million each year on utilities, Forbis said. The goal for the new EEP is to save about five percent of that cost ­— about $200,000.

“We’re just trying to be more cognizant about the environment and enStudies ergy,” Forbis said. “We’re trying to set new guideMath lines so everyone’s on the same page, so everyone knows the lighting Music guidelines or to turn off Art the computers. It’s really something we’ve already been doing for the last 15 Science years; it just hasn’t been Foreign written down. We have Language another two schools set

the school district feels that they need to micromanage what teachers do to that degree.”

Part of the new EEP is teachers may not have non-CPS approved electronics. This means no microwaves, more than one personal lamp or coffeepots. Webel still has a refrigerator, a coffeepot and a few lamps in his room. Social studies teacher Dan Ware also has several non-CPS approved electronics.

“I think there are far better ways to improve our energy efficiency,” Ware said. “I thought it’d be O.K. at first, but now it’s just too much of a hassle to get rid of everything.

I’m just going to wait until someone tells me to get rid of the stuff before I do.”

Banned Home Furnishings RBHS teachers were notified of the CPS pilot program to protect the environment by lowering electronic use and allergenic furnishings Jan. 27.

infographic by Grace Priest and Laura Ge Song

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News · 5

Febuary 25, 2011

The ROCK

Cyberbullying causes local concern TESSA VELLEK

make illegal. Just because something is unpleasant doesn’t mean it’s illegal, and it’s very hard to find the right line ore than 100 people for this subject.” gathered Feb. 9 in the Former governor Matt Blunt signed performing arts center to the first legislation to confront cyberlisten to Tina Meier talk bullying June 30, 2008, which was the about her daughter’s experience with first time cyberbullying appeared in cyberbullying. Meier was the mother the stalking and harassment statute. of Megan Meier, a St. Louis victim of However, cyberbullying was an issue cyberbullying who ultimately com- among teens before legislation could mitted suicide as a result of harass- catch up to the new advanced techment. nology.

The Meiers wanted justice followMegan Meier was a victim of this ing the tragedy of their daughter’s type of electronic harassment before death but found none through the the law confronted the problem at court system because the harassment hand. Throughout elementary and and stalking laws did not address middle school, other students contincommunications on the Internet nor ually taunted Megan because of her on other elecbody type, and as tronic devices. result she was “We would not have aoften To address depressed. cyberbullying M e g a n thought of bullying problems like “thought she was being something this, lawmakthe ugliest, grossers held a press est girl by far,” a person could conference Feb. Tina Meier said. communicate over a “And the reason 14 to discuss the House bills boys would distance over time.” was sponsored by stomp up behind State Reps. in the lunch line, Sue Allen and calling her ‘fat Sara Lampe. cow’ and an elThe bill more ephant [to] the clearly defines point that Megan cyberbullying stopped eating through eleclunch. But as a tronic devices like the Internet and parent, she didn’t come home and tell cell phones. me about this because it’s too embar“Bullying is an assault kind of rassing. I found out because her lunch charge — an act, either physical or account wasn’t coming down. So [I] a threat. And we would tradition- went to school one day and kind of ally think of it in terms of a personal peeked in, and saw her sitting at the encounter: somebody pushes you or table with her friends with a water threatens you in the hallway or on the bottle and a napkin. ” street or something like that,” State After a difficult seventh grade Rep. Chris Kelly said. “We would not year, Megan’s parents transferred her have thought of bullying being some- to a private school where she seemed thing that a person could communi- much happier. Within three weeks cate over a distance or over time, but Megan wanted a MySpace account. we’ve seen the emergence of a new After much pleading, Meier gave in, technology that has produced a new but with stringent restrictions, which type of action that has proven to be included only Megan’s parents knowactually dangerous in society.... The ing her password. Soon after Megan law is trying to get at this new form joined MySpace, a mysterious “hot” of intimidation.” boy, Josh Evans, sent her a friend Kelly commented on the bill, not- request. Meier allowed Megan to acing both the positives and negatives. cept the request because Meier had Although the idea is beneficial, the fear that he would contact Megan in a implementation becomes more diffi- context she could not control. cult when discriminating what should After talking for five weeks, Evand should not be illegal behavior. ans suddenly changed personalities.

“The merits are that it will help He went from telling Megan she was keep people protected from this inap- beautiful to telling her she was worthpropriate behavior,” Kelly said. “Its less and he never wanted to talk to shortcomings are that it’s very easy her again. The next day, after comto go overboard in this area. There is ing home from school excited about a lot of nasty kid stuff that you can’t handing out her birthday invitations,

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Chris Kelly state rep.

Megan asked her mom to log onto MySpace.

Meier logged her on and took her other daughter to an appointment. When Meier came home, she found Megan depressed and hysterical. Her emotional state had turned upside down in just two hours.

After Meier told her daughter she should have gotten off MySpace, Megan “looked at me and said, ‘You’re supposed to be my mom. You’re supposed to be on my side.’ And she took off running to her room,” Meier said. “I heard her dad get up, and I went into the kitchen to talk to him.… It was probably 20 minutes that I was talking to him about [social networking], and I just had an absolute, horrible feeling strike though my entire body. And I took off running upstairs to Megan’s room, and I found her hanging in her closet. As a parent, your absolute worst nightmare.”

Later the Meiers discovered Evans was actually their adult neighbor who had a daughter the same age as Megan. The Meiers photo by Tessa Vellek lost in court against her neighbor but re- Unable to forget: Tina Meier, mother of late St. Louis student Megan ceived national attention, including cover- Meier, talks about how cyberbullying caused her daughter to take her own age on Dr. Phil, and life. Nearly 100 people attended Feb. 9 in the PAC. the Meiers have made several in-person presentations about often delete those because they’re vent others from taking their lives. their experiences. hurtful, and you don’t want to keep “It’s really, really important that Cyberbullying and depression those around, but they need to keep they tell an adult,” Miltenberg said. have impacted students throughout track of that so we have records for “And I know a lot of times students the nation, including those at RBHS. it. Come see their counselor, come see are worried, like, ‘Oh, my friend will Guidance counselor Matt Miltenberg their assistant principal, go talk to Of- be mad at me.’ Well, it’s better for explained how RBHS prevents bul- ficer Edwards, especially if it starts to them to be mad at you and for them lying by giving talks in sophomore interfere with the learning environ- to have the time to get over it than advisory and outside of the school. ment. And also they really need to tell to not be here. So it’s just absolutely He said there are steps students their parents; make sure their parents essential that you try to get them to should take after cyberbullying has are aware of it because a lot of that come talk to us, but if they’re not occurred. computer stuff is a home issue.” willing, then you’ve got to just come “Keep all of the records of it, so RBHS has had attempted suicides, talk to us about it and let us follow don’t delete it. Or if you do delete it, several because of students’ depres- up. Somebody needs to know bemake sure you save it or print it first,” sion caused by their perception of cause it’s just too risky to play with Miltenberg said. “I think the same themselves and others. Miltenberg of- a decision that you can never take thing about text messages. People fered some advice about how to pre- back. “

Snowstorm affects school length story continued from page 1 “In addition to National Guard troops, the governor also placed more than 35 generators in locations around the state to help power public facilities if power outages occurred.”

CPS was closed for nearly five days, setting back classes and the end of the school year. This causes the problem of how AP classes will be able to teach all of the material by the time of the testing date.

“In order to maintain our high academic standards, it is imperative to catch up on all of the materials we missed,” junior Riaz Helfer said. “Otherwise, we’ll be at a disadvantage when it comes to

the AP test. I don’t think we can just rush through things because we won’t learn the material as well, but I don’t see any other way to get through everything before the tests. ” CPS classes will end June 2. If any more snow days occur, a 50 percent forgiveness policy will be in effect. Thus, if school is closed for two days, only one day will be made up, until the tenth day is reached. The district will not account for any more closures after that, so the very last day of school possible for students will be June 7.

The 50 percent forgiveness policy is “all based off of state rule and policies.

What the state requests are days [stu-

dents] are in school, and then those days need to add up to so many total hours,” principal Mark Maus said. “I think that the state looks at, rather than forcing people to come back two full days because we missed two full days, they’re saying, ‘Well, because we know that you guys have built in time, and we count half-days as full days, we’ll let you guys combine those so we don’t drag out summer.’”

On the other hand, snow days are not factored into senior graduation. The class of 2011 will still graduate as planned May 21.

“It’s awesome because snow days don’t affect my graduation date,” senior Marc Micatka said. “Bring them on.”

MU increases 2011-’12 tuition

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he University of Missouri—Columbia is increasing its tuition for next year by 5.8 percent. This increase could cost students attending MU next year up to thousands of dollars, including approximately 150 RBHS students last year who now attend MU. MU had not increased tuition since 2008, but the board of curators now raised the price because of inflation of services.

“Our general operating budget is based on two major revenue sources: tuition and fees and revenue from the state,” said Christian Basi, associate director of the MU News Bureau. “In 2009 [the governor] agreed to maintain the current funding levels if we would not raise tuition. In 2010 the governor agreed to only cut our budget by five percent if we would not raise in-state tuition. However, keep in mind that while our budget remained flat or was cut five percent, costs such as utilities, maintenance, supplies, etc. still continued to rise.”

Students at RBHS who have decided to go to the MU next school year have concerns about the recent college tuition increase.

“I think I’ll have to pay a little bit more to go there. I will have to probably try to get more scholarships to go there and pay more,” senior Marie Schaller said. “I’m

not happy about it, but if I work a little Senior Amanda Baghal believes colmore on scholarships this year, then it leges should offer more scholarships. will compensate for it, hopefully.”

MU offers many scholarships such as the The tuition increase will cause stu- Diversity Award to African Americans, dents to pay more for their college, but at who only made up 6.1 percent of MU stuthe same time, MU is still putting aside dents in 2010, according to the U.S. Cenmoney from the revenue for financial aid sus Bureau. However, there are not a lot and scholarships to attempt to help stu- of scholarships for the average students, dents afford the extra payment. she said.

“We understand that any increase, no “They need to make more scholarships matter the size, could create challenges because they have a lot of scholarships to for students,” Basi said. “That is why we athletic people and for the people that are set aside 20 percent of the revenue gener- in the girls state and boys state and ... for ated by this increase and use it for finan- the minorities,” Baghal said. “But they cial aid, such as scholarships and grants. barely have any for the people who really In addition, we received a lot of money need scholarships, so they need to make from our recent development campaign more for those people who are struggling and were able to establish several new still.” scholarships for students.

In-state Tuition Financial access to higher education is something we are always concerned about, and we will always work with a student directly to help them identify ways that can help them receive a college education.”

2006-2007 2010-2011 2008-2009 2009-2010 2007-2008

$8,501

$8,099

$8,467

$7,784

$8,501

infographic by Sawyer Wade

ASHLEY HONG

Online registration saves guidance time EMILY WRIGHT

W

hile choosing their classes for the 2011-’12 school year earlier this month, students not only had to make course requests on the form distributed by the guidance office, but they also had to enter their requests on the Columbia Public Schools home access website.

“I think maybe in the past there’s been a misconception on the student’s part, like their courses were screwed up from what they put on their card,” counselor Matt Miltenberg said. “This way they’ll be able to see a little more into the process of how they request stuff.”

When students logged onto their home access account, they saw a new tab on the left side of the screen titled “Course Requests.” By clicking on this tab, students could select their desired classes and submit them to guidance. Although an added task for students, this process saved the guidance department a significant amount of time.

“In the past the student would fill out their card, and the counselor would have to re-enter 300 of their students’ cards online, which took a long time for the counselors to do,” Miltenberg said. “It didn’t really seem to be a good use of counselor time.”

Miltenberg said students would only have to spend a couple of minutes entering their classes, allowing counselors to devote more time to interact with students during the school day. But students, such as junior Nicole Montgomery, are doubtful about the helpfulness of this process.

“I think it’s kind of a hassle because you have to get your schedule card filled out, your teachers sign it and you have to go online at your own time and you have to do it online as well, which is helpful for the guidance people, but it isn’t helpful for the kids,” Montgomery said. “I also think there will be a lot of mistakes because once you save it, it’s stuck that way. So you have to be sure of what you want, which not everybody is.”

Despite her doubts, Montgomery admitted making her course requests was not difficult. She said she was able to find and select the classes she wanted with ease. Even though it was an added step, Montgomery said it went quickly.

“It was a little overwhelming,” Montgomery said. “But once you get started and know what you’re doing, it’s a pretty easy process.”

In the end Miltenberg said he thinks this will be beneficial for students, allowing them to be more active in the role of selecting classes, along with counselors as they have more time to devote to students.

“Really, we wanted students to feel like there’s nothing getting in the way of their process of selecting classes that they most want to be in,” Miltenberg said. “It’s just much more efficient.”

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Features · 7

February 25, 2011

The ROCK

SHIVANGI SINGH

O

RECOVERY

ne innocent summer day eight years ago, senior Bethany Bailey was looking for a sense of belonging. What she found was a group of people willing to provide her just that and more.

They offered her long nights in clouds of smoke in exchange for their company and agreed to let their habits spread to her: she was smoking marijuana in fourth grade.

That was the year she got addicted to drugs. By sixth grade she had started using cigarettes and alcohol. By seventh she stole medication from her mother’s cabinet and drug stores. And by eighth grade she was hooked onto cocaine.

“I was just at my boyfriend’s house, and I didn’t know he did a lot of cocaine,” Bailey said. “But at that time I got snowed in at his house. He was like, ‘Hey, since we are stuck here for three days....’ He gave me some coke, and I guess I fell in love [with it]. I started doing cocaine and ecstasy a lot more.”

Bailey’s addiction had already led to physical fights with her mother, abuse by her boyfriend and abandonment by her family — six months homeless in downtown Columbia. She would regularly sneak into the woods by her house to get high four times a day or have multiple beers until one night an unexpected course of events changed her life forever.

Bailey was getting high with one of her friends when suddenly she heard laughing and shouting close by.

“I thought that there was a party going on, and I tried getting in to see what it was and see if we could get in the party,” Bailey said. “We went towards [the noise], and it ended up [that] one of my friends from elementary school was in the group. I started talking to her, ‘What are you doing here?

I haven’t seen you in years.’ And she was like, ‘Oh, this is a sobriety group. We are working with rehab.’”

Thinking the sobriety group would be a good opportunity to hang out with friends, she showed her parents the card for the rehab that her friend gave her. But Bailey had no intentions of going; her plan was to act sober and get her parents off her back about her drug problem.

The night before, Bailey had arranged for a dealer to get her some heroin as soon

OUTPATIENTinpatient-

as possible.

But “two days later I got arrested [for possession of drugs on school property].

And the judge basically gave me the option to either go to the rehab that I found or go to [juvenile prison],” Bailey said. “And I was like, ‘I’ll go to rehab.’”

Before she received the heroin she had ordered two days earlier, Bailey left for the rehab program her friend had referred her to in St. Louis. Under 24-hour surveillance, she lived with a family she had not met before. Without a phone or any access to her past life, she was to withdraw from drugs both physically and emotionally.

Bailey said her first battle was detoxification. Her body was so dependent on drugs that stopping everything suddenly made her body “freak out.”

“I was really sick for the first two days,” Bailey said. “I had a big fever, and I was throwing up. It just sucked ... so much.”

The bigger struggle was, however, the mental attachment to drugs. Bailey said her addiction had clouded her emotions, and so she never fully understood what was going on in her life.

“I had been kicked out of my house. I [had] barely any friends. My life just sucked; my family hated me, [but] I did not care,” Bailey said. “And as soon as I got sober­ — they say you get your emotions back. I realized that I didn’t have any friends. And the friends I did have, I treat [badly]. My family hated me ... and so [I broke] down.”

With such stressors Bailey wasn’t sure about quitting. Although she stayed sober since the start of her treatment, she said it took her two months of rehab to take sobriety seriously.

“I was pretending that I was taking it seriously just to make people think that I wasn’t that bad of a kid and that maybe I could get released earlier,” Bailey said.

“But then finally … there’s a phrase called, ‘Fake it till you make it.’ I was pretending to work a program. I was pretending to enjoy sobriety, and then after a while, I was as actually enjoying sobriety.”

After two and a half years, everything seemed to be getting on track, but then tragedy struck. On Sept. 11, 2010, Bailey came home to find her mother’s body sprawled across the kitchen, cold and stiff from a suicidal drug overdose.

“I found [my mom]. She was on the floor, and I freaked out,” Bailey said. She called her father, siblings and the EMT and had

to “tell all these people that my mom had died. We were sobbing.... We were having trouble breathing. I had an asthma attack.

As soon as people started calming down, I went downstairs into my bedroom. And almost as a reflex ... I got on my computer and I looked up my old heroin dealer’s number.”

Bailey was going to get heroin. She had money and car keys in her hand. She walked out the door, got into her car and prepared to start the engine. But then Bailey stopped.

“I was like, ‘What am I doing? My mother just died of a drug overdose. I am about to go blow two and a half years to go do drugs,’” Bailey said. “I went back inside….

I had a text message from a friend saying how much she loved me and how she was so glad I was sober and in her life. And how many things [I had done] for her and all the stuff. I was just like, ‘Wow ... I cannot get high now. She’s telling me how happy she is because I am sober, and I am about to go get high.’”

Bailey has resisted her biggest temptation to return to her old days of running away and getting high. So far she is among the 10 to 50 percent who haven’t relapsed, according to www.caron.org, which says the severity of addiction can influence the rate of relapse.

RBHS dropout Nate Rodgers understands all too well the struggle that comes with maintaining sobriety. His addiction to alcohol and marijuana already affected his high school career when he dropped out in April 2010.

“I was failing all of my classes last year,” said Rodgers, who was a junior here at the time. “I had an F in every single class. And I was in St. Louis, too, [for rehab]. I had to take time off from school to figure out myself.”

Rodgers said his parents forced him to seek a rehabilitation center because they were tired of him running away to get high. He joined a program in St. Louis and stayed clean for 52 days but then relapsed.

According to www.drugsupport.org, quitting becomes an everyday battle because the changes in the brain from the drugs cannot immediately be reverted when the person stops using them.

However, Rodgers entered sobriety again for 40 days until, once more, he became unable to control his impulses.

“Honestly, I liked getting high. That’s

Detox through drug education and/or meetings. "The main thing is being invested in it and having family to support you [in getting] through the process." - Dr. Fatima Nasir, child and adolescent psychiatrist at the University of Missouri—Columbia Detox through intense counseling and recovery tools. “Depending on how severe the addiction is and how bad the withdrawals are, [doctors] may want to keep you in the hospital and monitor you while you detox.” - Dr. Nasir

pretty much all I did for, like, four years — getting high like every day,” Rodgers said.

Then “I got caught relapsing. I got kicked out of the program, got kicked out of rehab and was sent home for two weeks. [I tried] to figure out what I wanted to do. And that’s kind of like when my recovery starts.”

When Rodgers decided to seek sobriety again in August, he attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings every day for two weeks. Finally, because of Rodgers’ diligence, the owner of the program in St. Louis decided to admit Rodgers in again as an outpatient.

Rodgers has successfully completed six months of rehabilitation; however he said he doesn’t know how things will be in the future because recovery is an everyday battle.

“Part of rehab is figuring out who you are and why you take the action you take,” Rodgers said. “Sometimes I will [relapse].

It’s what I want. People do drugs because they don’t like something about themselves, and doing drugs makes you forget about that thing while you are high. And when you [become sober], you remember [the bad things], so you want to get high again, but I am not going to get hacked on those feelings.”

Rodgers recognizes that recovery is possible, as it has been for Bailey. Apart from her urge to return to her old ways when her mother died, she suffered countless other tests.

Two days after returning from St. Louis, she saw her old drug dealer walking on her street. He lived just two blocks away.

Her friends were also a problem. When she returned, they were curious about when she would accompany them in another drug adventure.

“A lot of [resistance comes from] my mom, thinking about how my mom died from drug overdose and how I couldn’t do that to my family now. I don’t want to die.

Part of it is also ego … kind of in a healthy way. I do have an ego of the fact that I almost have three years sober. Throwing that all away would suck. I have worked so hard to get to this point, and getting loaded would just waste it — waste it all,” Bailey said. “The only time it’s impossible for you to quit is if you don’t want to quit. If you really in and out and through and through want to quit because you know that your life is that bad, then you can do it. It’s a selfwill thing.”

Completion of an inpatient or outpatient

“It’s tempting [to go back] because Successful program. of peer pressure. It’s also the kind of group hang out with and the availability of the Recovery - you drugs.” - Dr. Nasir all art by Brandon McGonigle source: www.drugrehabcenters.com

8 · Ads

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February 25, 2011

Features · 9

February 25, 2011

The ROCK

Leukemia survivor uses experience to help others EMILY WRIGHT

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or most 1 1/2-year-olds, an occasional fever is not a problem; sickness comes and goes frequently at such a young age and generally is not any more problematic than the common cold. However, for junior Pascale White, a fever turned into a life threatening illness.

With lingering symptoms, such as hay fever, White’s parents took her to a doctor. Her battle with cancer had begun.

“We found out that I had leukemia because I had a fever. It kept coming, and it wasn’t going away,” White said. “So my parents took me to the doctor, and they said that it didn’t look so good and that I had leukemia. The very next day I started treatments.”

According to mayoclinic.com, leukemia has caused more deaths of people under the age of 20 than any other cancer. The earlier she could get treatment, the more likely White would be to survive. However, defeating her cancer would still be a huge challenge for White to face.

Luckily for White, the leukemia went away quickly after early treatments, and she was in remission, meaning the cancer was finally leaving her body.

The doctors told her family that if she could stay in remission for five years, they could confirm that White’s cancer was completely gone. Four years went by with no sign of relapse, but on the 12th month of the fifth year, tragedy struck once again.

She received the worst possible news.

“The leukemia came back very strong,” White said. “I had full body radiation, chemotherapy and many IVs. I was not doing well.”

Days went by in the children’s hospital, during which White’s condition only worsened. No one knew how much time she had left. Her family feared it would only be a few weeks or less. White and her family knew that her chances of survival were diminishing each day and that the doctors had to act quickly in order to save her and give her a full life.

“At the children’s hospital, the doctor said that a bone marrow transplant worked for two out of four kids,” White said. “They said it was the last chance to save me.”

In what White believes was a miracle, the bone transplant helped clear her body of the leukemia. But the fight was not finished. White had to continue intense treatments of radiation and chemotherapy to rid her body of the cancer entirely, a process that made her lose a dangerous amount of weight, weakening her to a point that made her healing process more difficult.

Donates TV sets

Hosts a yearly dinner and auction to raise money for families in the hospital

Sends personalized gift baskets to inpatients Sponsors Christmas festivities

“The doctor said that a bone marrow transplant ... was the last chance to save me.”

Pascale White junior

Dogs encourage patients to heal LAURA SONG

A

t the Daniel Boone Regional Library, a child read out loud at a Reading to Rover session: “And so they lived forever and ever together.”

Right next to her, a golden retriever lay lazily, its ears perked for a command from her trainer. A couple of feet away, two other trainers sat with their dogs, a border collie and a German shepherd, both lying next to their own readers.

Ann Gafke, a local Columbian certified as an evaluator for Therapy Dogs Incorporated, runs and manages Ann Gafke’s Teacher’s Pet, a boarding school for dogs. One of the school’s major projects is training therapy dogs — dogs certified to work with elderly, the handicapped and children.

In addition to going to Daniel Boone Regional Library frequently for Reading with Rover, Gafke also takes trainers and dogs to the University of Missouri—Columbia’s Rehabilitation Hospital to offer care and comfort to its patients.

“One woman we knew was in hospice,” Gafke said. “A dog she loved visited her frequently, and now she is out of hospice. Was it the dog? [You] can’t prove it either way.”

Responses to therapy dogs are varied with each person. Patients have credited Gafke’s trainers and dogs with helping them get out of the hospital faster. Gafke has also said she has had patients who were allergic and some who did not like dogs.

No matter the situation though, all therapy dogs have similar traits.

“Therapy dogs allow anyone and everyone to pet them and hug on them,” said Billie Smith, manager of Therapy Dogs, Inc. “Therapy dogs require good temperament. The dog has to be able to tolerate a lot of hands on it at one time or a pinch or pull on an ear or tail from an Alzheimer’s patient and even a wheelchair possibly running into it if it is a large dog.”

While temperament is important for a therapy dog, each therapy dog has to go through a series of training and tests in order for it to be registered for “work.” Each of Gafke’s trained dogs wears a red bandana, signaling its completion of the Therapy Dogs, Inc. program and its certification to work with children, the elderly and the disabled. Multiple organizations in the United States offer this testing service.

TDI “is a basic obedience test and three observations,” Smith said. “Our members do their training prior to coming to us for registration. We are looking for dogs with good basic obedience skills, good manners ... and in control on a loose four-feet leash.”

Although therapy dogs spend most of their visiting time quietly with their patients, they may also engage in many different activities. Locally, Gafke often takes her dogs to do tricks to entertain special patients.

“Sometimes we play games, children get jumped over or tunneled under or we may do tricks for hospital patients,” Gafke said. “We choreograph dogs to music and will give musical performances for groups.”

Not only has Gafke met many patients who tell her that they have recovered thanks to her dogs, but she has also seen circumstances where the dogs have done nothing short of amazing. For example, she saw an autistic boy who spoke to the dog a volunteer brought for him and also a depressed, suicidal girl who smiled and stroked the dog that unexpectedly jumped into the girl’s hospital bed. Those, however, are not the only remarkable things she has witnessed.

“There was a young man who was the only survivor of four teens who were in a car accident,” Gafke said.

“He had been in a coma for more than a month, but they felt he was still in there, but just had not been able to reach him. As we walked past his door, his mother commented, ‘Oh, he likes dogs,­’ and with that the nurse rushed out and asked us to come into his room. She asked us to have the

“I didn’t eat for quite a while, and I had to go on a feeding tube in the nose to try to get me back to a normal size,” White said. “I missed a lot of school, and it did impact me with my learning. So I had to work a lot harder than a normal kid.”

Because they had endured a tremendous amount of pain during her second battle with cancer, White and her family gained the experience and motivation to help others in similar situations. Although the pain she had to experience at the time was torture, it inspired White when she looks back on it. After spending time in the hospital, White’s family created a non-profit organization to reach out to hospital-bound children — Pascale’s Pals.

“When we were in the hospital, all we could do is really watch TV. So my mom started at the first floor of the children’s hospital, and she just did bake sales and stuff to try to raise money,” White said. “All that money went to the kids in the hospital. We started with just simple things like adding more movies and more games to try to help out. It grew and grew and got to the point where now every room has a rocking chair for the parent. We put washers and dryers in the Ronald Mcdonald House. We have flat screen TVs in every room; we have Wiis and Blu-ray DVDs in each room. We just try to make it [as] comforting as we can because we have been through the parents’ shoes and we know how they feel.”

Pascale’s Pals continues to gain support, hosting a yearly dinner and auction to raise money for families in the hospital. Each year, White said the organization gains more funding and are able to continue their service to children in the hospital. White and her family make attempts to reach out to children in every way possible. Pascale’s Pals personalizes gift baskets to hospital-bound children, donates toys to the children’s wing of the hospital and sponsors Christmas festivities with Santa.

“Our organization just really tries to make it a lot more comforting place for the families, and we try to help them in any way that we can,” White said. “Now at least 500 people are involved in some way to try to help the children in need.”

After 10 years of remission, filled with catching up with school and assisting her family with Pascale’s Pals, White said she can look back on her experience with leukemia and say that it has made her appreciate life in a whole new way. ”I know God has a purpose for me in life, and now it’s my job to try to help others any way I can,” White said.

Today White not only devotes her time to maintaining her consistently good grades, but also to being the manager of the cross-country and track teams, a member of the cheerleading squad and an employee at Hy-Vee. Through staying involved, she hopes to live life fully while staying connected to those close to her.

“Life is a gift, and to see your family flash before your eyes, to see your friends almost disappear, it’s a very scary thought,” White said. “So I try to keep everything I can close to me so I don’t have to feel that disappearing feeling again. I am planning on living my life to the fullest.”

photo by Kylee Fuchs

Spreading hope: Marcia Gafke owns Misty, a 2-year-old border collie who serves as a therapy dog.

Misty was originally owned by a family friend who lived in Scotland that got Misty as a celebration for overcoming cancer. Unfortunately, the cancer came back and took her life. She passed away knowing that Misty would journey to the U.S. and be in the care of the Gafke family. dog stand beside the bed. She took his clenched fist — which he had not opened since the accident, nor could they pry it open — and started stroking the dog. Then he would let the fist rest on the dog’s back. This went on for more than five minutes, and then during one of the resting periods, his fist slowly opened, and he rested an open hand on the dog. His mother started to cry with joy.”

Despite the numerous inquiries, the reaction between humans and dogs are still shrouded in mystery.

According to a study by S.B. Barker et al., “Measuring Stress and Immune Response in Healthcare Professionals Following Interactions with a Therapy Dog: A Pilot Study,” health care professionals are less stressed after as little as five minutes of interaction with a therapy dog.

Although many RBHS students also do not understand the biological explanations among humans, dogs

and therapy, many agree that therapy dogs help patients recover faster and better.

“I don’t know if dogs make you healthier, necessarily,” junior Sandra Berndt said. “But psychologically, I think they make you happier.”

Some students, although not doubting that having dogs by one’s side helps a person recover, remain skeptical about whether or not it is the connection between human and dog that helps quicken recovery.

“I do think it works because a lot of times in nursing homes, you need companionship,” junior Kelly Brucks said. “But I do also believe that since there’s a theory that exists that [the dogs] are helping them, they may just think it helps just because the theory exists. It’s like the placebo effect.”

Smith said other underlying principles may lie between the connections of human and these friendly canines.

”The unconditional love that a dog shows a human is what draws the human to the dog,” Smith said. “The dog could care less if you are young or old, sick or healthy, pretty or not.

It just knows that the patient in the hospital or the child in the reading program is there to pet them and they are there to please that person for the time being.”

However, to the volunteers, the biological questions surrounding therapy dogs do not matter. Whether or not they have a healing power, dogs do cause an unexplained improvement in patients and will continue to as long as the visits keep going on.

“There are many reasons we do this with our dogs, and I can’t say one is more than another,” Gafke said. “It is a way to help people and a way that we happen to do very well. It is a way to demonstrate to people the positive things dogs can do for society and people.”

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Features · 11

February 25, 2011

The ROCK

Fear factor: tangled with terrors HALLEY HOLLIS

S

enior Caroline Brumfield was sitting in her math class working out a difficult problem when she noticed something unusual: one of her classmates was bent over in his seat with his head under his desk. Then, out of nowhere, he emerged and, to Brumfield’s surprise, threw his shoe on her desk. Most people took his actions casually, thinking it was a joke just as the guy had intended. However, Brumfield began to cry and hyperventilate.

That day in seventh grade, Brumfield discovered something about herself that most would consider unusual: she had podophobia.

Feet “are nasty. They look gross,” Brumfield said. “People touching my feet or putting their feet on me: never O.K. That’s really what gets me the most.”

Brumfield said she does fine at the pool, even when people walk around barefoot close to her. However, as soon as she enters a classroom in which someone does not have their shoes on, she freaks out. She tries her hardest to stay away from bare feet as often possible.

“I had someone decide it would be a good idea to hold my foot one time and stick their fingers through my toes,” Brumfield said. “I thought there was a really good chance I was probably going to throw up on myself.”

According to the American Psychiatric Association, one in 23 people suffers from some sort of phobia. Junior Emily Gaunt is one of those people. It all started the day Gaunt’s mom sent her to run errands alone.

“My mom made me go into the store alone to get ice cream,” Gaunt said.

“That’s when I knew I couldn’t handle it.

A store just gives me the creeps, everything about it. Plus, I always have awkward experiences when handing money to people, which is embarrassing.”

Gaunt doesn’t only dread grocery stores; she fears gas stations as well. She said she is not quite sure what it is about them that scares her, but she does know they are very unsanitary.

“Grocery stores are the main fear, and I’m not sure why, but I used to not like gas stations,” Gaunt said. “For the most part, I got over that, although I still won’t go to one by myself at night.”

Gaunt thinks her fear of going places alone is understandable, especially considering the anxiety from which she suffers. Anxiety is something that she deals with on an occasional basis, and she thinks that makes her phobia of stores worse. Gaunt said she takes certain steps before she ever goes into a grocery store alone.

“If I absolutely have to go into one alone, I usually first see if there’s anyone who will go with me, and if not, I won’t go,” Gaunt said. “If I have no other option, I will just run in and run out — literally run.”

Despite some of the unusual behavior her phobia leads her to, Gaunt said she’s

noticing improvement. She can go into Walgreens by herself, and she said one day she hopes to be phobia-free.

Unlike Gaunt, though, senior John Austin Miles feels he will never overcome his fear. Miles has been afraid of heights since he can remember. His family decided to visit the Empire State Building when he was just a baby.

“There’s this little outside thing that circles around that you can walk on,” Miles said. “My dad picked me up and held me up so I could see over the edge. I started crying.”

Miles’ fear of heights — acrophobia — has carried on into his teenage years. He said theme parks are still an issue for him.

“I never went on a roller-coaster until I was 14 years old,” Miles said. “I was forced to go on one by my friends. I just don’t like heights, no one else in my family is afraid of heights, though.”

Like Brumfield and Gaunt, Miles does not know where his phobia originated. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, some phobias have hereditary components, while most are triggered from a past traumatic event.

“There is no known cause of phobias,” said Kenneth Sher, professor of psychological sciences at the University of Missouri— Columbia. “They generally start after a traumatic event, but then there are also things that people are just very cautious of and aren’t such a big deal.”

For senior Penny Komes, her phobia of being stabbed in a shower and not being able to defend herself started after watch-

Getting hitched

Couple prepares for summer wedding KIRSTEN BUCHANAN

I

t was Nov. 23, 2010 — junior Leigh Ann Browning’s 17th birthday. She was celebrating with a special dinner when, without warning, her boyfriend of 16 months, Chris Conteh, stood up.

Browning’s eyes widened as he crouched down on one knee in front of her and her family.

“Leigh Ann,” he asked, “will you marry me?”

He proposed “perfectly,” Browning said. “There was no sign that he was nervous or scared. He was fully dedicated to it.”

Browning immediately accepted the proposal, delighted she was finally engaged to the love of her life. Her family smiled at their daughter’s joy; they had no problems with a teenage engagement and knew it was going to happen sooner or later.

“My family loves Chris, and they know how much we love each other. Of course, my mother questioned if this was what we really wanted, but she never doubted us,” Browning said. “My whole family has been really supportive because they know this is what both of us want.”

Although she is a minor, Browning is positive she has found the man she wants to spend the rest of her life with. She said her relationship with Conteh is unlike other teenage romances.

“He is everything that I could ask for. He is very supportive of everything I do, and if anything is wrong, he is there to help me. He is my best friend because we are so similar in every way, shape and form, and he understands me,” Browning said. “Our relationship is not like the average high school fling. I never get tired of just sitting and talking to him.”

Although Browning is confident in her choice to get married next summer, statistics show it may not last. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, almost half of marriages with a bride who is 18 years old or younger end in separation or divorce. Counselor Jane Piester sees teenage marriage as a difficult feat to pull off.

“There are inherent difficulties when teenagers marry, [such as] financial, educational and emotional [problems],” Piester said. “I can imagine the divorce rate is very high.”

According to “Teenage Brain: A Work in Progress” by the National Institute of Mental Health, most people reach a state of mental maturity around age 25. Before then their minds make decisions based on emotions and instincts rather than consequences and objective reasoning. The study

concludes people younger than age 25 are typically unprepared for the emotional commitment a marriage requires.

Browning understands odds are Conteh and she will not stay together. Marriage is a huge commitment, she said, but she is positive it is the right decision for her.

“I know there is always going to be people judging and speculating our decision of getting married young, but in the end I feel like the only people’s opinions that matter are [Conteh’s] and mine,” Browning said. “I feel like I’ve found my soul mate, and that’s why we’re getting married.”

Marriage is uncommon in teenagers, Piester said. She has only seen a few married students at RBHS. While it does happen, many times a relationship can fall apart before the wedding, as in the case of senior Mike Kollars. When Kollars’ fiancée began having second thoughts, the proposal was all over.

“I decided that I wanted to get married because I thought that I was with the one I’ve been looking for. Once I had the courage to ask her to marry me, I knelt down to one knee and popped the question, so to say,” Kollars said. “She was excited and accepted. We were together for almost one year [and] seven months when I asked her. Then she started having second thoughts about the marriage proposal a couple weeks later, and then she started to panic.”

After a little thinking time, his fiancée began to worry. She backed out of not only the engagement, but also out of the relationship altogether.

“She was scared of what would happen to us after we were married, and then she decided to tell me that we should start to see other people. And I was saddened about this, but we had a mutual agreement that we should,” Kollars said. “My advice to the young teenagers that want to get married now is that you should wait a while and take your time to find that one person that you love and care deeply for so you can have a life with them beyond what you could have ever imagined.”

Browning tries not to worry about future problems she and her fiancé may experience. Instead, she happily dreams about her wedding but keeps a realistic view on her current life and schoolwork.

“We have looked at a couple places we might want to have it at, but we are still looking for the right place,” Browning said. “Since it is still two summers away, we have decided not to worry about the little details until the summer so we can both focus on school for right now.” art by Grace Priest

ing countless horror movies, especially Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho.”

Since she watched “Psycho” in fourth grade, she thinks someone is outside the curtain trying to stab her every time she takes a shower. Because of this irrational fear, she tends to plan her shower routine.

“I try to take showers when other people are in the house and [I am] not home alone,” Komes said. “I make sure all the doors are locked in my house, especially the ones in the bathroom and all the other doors leading to the bathroom. I make sure all the doors are locked and all the lights are on.”

She said she even periodically lifts the shower curtain to make sure no one is out there. Since that age of nine, Komes has not been able to defeat her phobia, just like Brumfield.

Being around feet and people touching her feet is just not something Brumfield sees becoming likely in the future.

“I have gotten much better about it, but I don’t think I’ll be able to get foot massages or be O.K. with people tickling my feet, ever,” Brumfield said.

Many people never overcome their phobias, but with treatment it is possible. Different types of treatments include relaxation, stimulation and therapy.

“Most of the treatments generally are called exposure,” Sher said. “It’s about having them engage with their phobia over time.

Eventually the fear or phobia will decrease.”

photo illustration by Savannah Viles

Black History Month sparks debate OMAR TARANISSI

D

isturbed to find that history books of the time largely ignored the black population, Dr. Carter G. Woodson established Negro Week in 1926, which he chose to contain the dates Feb. 12 and Feb. 14 in honor of the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.

Since then Negro Week has evolved immensely and become what we refer to today as Black History Month.

“The historical purpose has been to recognize the contributions of black Americans to our country’s history and society,” African-American experience teacher Patti Price said. “Black history is American history and has often been left out of our history books. Slavery, the Harlem Renaissance and the Civil Rights Movement, the most dominant topics in history books, do not encompass the scope of black history.”

Black History Month invites students of all colors to celebrate a culture that has risen to prominence in our society. This opportunity, sophomore Eryn Wanyonyi believes, is important in maintaining the status of African-Americans today.

“It remembers the many accomplishments of black people both past and present,” Wanyonyi said. “It turns people away from some of the negative connotations associated with black people and highlights the positive things that they have and can achieve.”

However, some argue Black History Month has outgrown its practicality. While senior Justin Burger sees the benefits of celebrating African-American achievements, he believes the cultural month’s initial purpose of education is outdated.

“I think it’s necessary for little kids who are still in elementary school,” Burger said. “For them, Black History Month can be eye-opening. But by the time I was in high school, I think I understood how African-Americans played an important role in America.”

Others have different complaints about the holiday. Senior Alan Ni feels Black History Month highlights the fact that other ethnicities are underrepresented in society, though he said the fault lies mainly on those ethnicities.

“If African-American history month is to continue, I’d like for other months,

other ethnicities, to get the same kind of recognition,” Ni said. “It goes back to the fact that African-Americans generally have more voice nationally than other ethnicities. If you look at black politicians, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, as opposed to Asian politicians — like the Secretary of Energy, I believe, is Asian — they’re not as recognizable. They don’t lobby as much for their own race. I’d like for that kind of recognition to apply to all races if AfricanAmericans are going to have their own separate month.”

While there is both a Hispanic Heritage Month between September and October and a month for Asian-Americans in May, Ni believes their lack of recognition is a problem. He said the people of these ethnicities should take necessary action to achieve the acknowledgement they deserve.

“I think the first step is for AsianAmericans and Hispanic-Americans to be more active politically,” Ni said. “I know a lot of people in the Asian community who don’t vote or aren’t as active politically. So if those minorities want to see the same kind of recognition, then they definitely need to let their voice be heard through casting ballots.”

Along with activism among minority groups, Ni said society could change the way it approaches ethnic months.

Wanyonyi, who agreed with Ni’s viewpoint, proposed a similar plan.

“The United States of America is a country made up of all different races, and that is what makes it great,” Wanyonyi said. “I feel, though, that instead of a separate month for each specific ethnic group, there should be a diversity or multicultural month where the emphasis is about learning some cool things about all races.”

Despite the controversy that surrounds Black History Month, most students agree it is important to remember the struggles African-Americans have been through.

While it may seem distant, Ni said we cannot forget racism was prevalent in the United States not too long ago.

“I still think it’s important, because we’re not that far removed from the Civil Rights Movement, to remember that there was this discrimination going on,” Ni said. “Black history is definitely a very important part of American history. We need to remember the injustices of the past to ensure they don’t recur in the future.”

12

In-De

The ROCK

Everyday talents bring heroes to light TESSA VELLEK

A

lthough people can look up to idealistic superheroes, realistically they cannot crawl on vertical surfaces like Spider-Man, understand any form of language like Wonder Woman or fly around the world like Superman.

Students, however, can apply these inflated examples of good conquering evil to their own lives, finding their own heroes within the real world. They can look up to these people as role models and mimic their behavior to find superhero characteristics.

Psychology demands role models for learning social rules and how to handle challenging situations, psychology teacher Rachel Proffitt said. Children learn to mimic the people around them, especially their parents, so it is most important to learn to give and receive affection early in life.

“Developmentally, as we are learning how to negotiate the world, we learn through observation,” Proffit said. “We learn what is expected of us through observation and how to handle situations, and it’s nice to have someone who seems to handle it in the best way to look up to.”

Junior Christina Wang looks up to one of her friends, senior QinQin Yu, for an example of how to live life. Wang has strived to be just like Yu since they first met in fifth grade.

“She’s a great friend, and she’s good in all her classes. She’s very smart, she’s talented in music and she’s well-rounded,” Wang said. “She’s just perfect in every aspect. She’s not fake, but you can tell she’s naturally talented at all these things. And it’s impossible to hate her.”

Wang mimics Yu every chance she gets and hopes she attains similar qualities. She started the flute in sixth grade, began playing tennis in eighth grade, took nearly all the same classes and participated in clubs and other extracurricular activities just as Yu did. Having a hero in her life has helped Wang plan and set attainable short and long-term goals for the future.

“I don’t want to be just like her, but I do want to be just as successful as her and as influential and friendly as she is,” Wang said. “I try to be the same as she is towards friends, like I try to be more open to people and more accepting and always positive. And then I try to do her academic stuff and study as hard as she does.”

Junior Amy Scott finds her hero within her family. Scott has always looked up to her mom for guidance and how to act as a mother herself one day.

“We are really good friends, and we don’t really have a normal mother-daughter relationship — it’s more of a best friend relationship,” Scott said. “She’s really open, and we can talk about anything, and she has a really good sense of humor.”

Although Scott strives to be like her mom, she sometimes diverges from the path, as she does not want to become a teacher. Scott sees her mother as more of a holistic role model.

“She’s just really smart and always willing to help you with whatever you’re going through, and she’s always willing to put us over herself,” Scott said. For example, “I don’t have my driver’s license yet, so she has to give me rides to places a lot, but she doesn’t say, ‘Oh, you can’t do this because you don’t have a ride.’ She’s always willing to give us rides.”

Like Scott, sophomore Luke Waltman finds his hero within his family — his two older brothers, David Waltman, a junior in college, and senior Richard Waltman.

“I’d say my hero[es] [are] my two older brothers because I always looked up to them to give me guidance and show the way,” Waltman said. “I could always come to them for help, like if I needed help with my homework or just a personal problem.”

Waltman’s brothers have always helped him with different aspects in his life, and both are still his role models that give him advice for

n i d r O

success.

“I’d say my oldest brother is more open — he helps me with my personal problems,” Waltman said. “He’s pretty caring, like he seems to be full of knowledge, wisdom and all that. And my middle brother, he helps me with more of the homework aspect, so I don’t really connect with him as much, but he’s still there for me and I can talk to him about a few things.”

Instead of finding someone to talk to or help with homework, junior Kira Lubahn looks up to her past English teachers as she tries to find a her future career.

“I was thinking I’d actually become a librarian at the beginning of the school year, but then during AUT, I came in here and I watched [English teacher Matt] Webel teach a lesson about ‘Lord of the Flies,’” Lubahn said. “And I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s so cool! I want to do that!’… It was inspiring; the kids were actually answering questions, and they were genuinely interested.”

Lubahn spends time outside of school to enhance her own passion for English, as she reads and writes urban fantasies. After reading Suzanne Collins’ “The Hunger Games,” one of her favorite books, she tried to mimic the unique style as she wrote in first-person present tense in one of her pieces. Lubahn looks toward her past English teachers for guidance in how to teach in the future.

Susan Botkin, her eighth grade English teacher, “was really creative in how she did lessons, and she was really fun,” Lubahn said.

“She would make jokes, and it wasn’t really stuffy or boring.”

Like Lubahn, Scott looks t o

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her role model for an example of the person she wants to become. With her mother as her role model, she has learned to persevere through all hardships life throws at her.

“It’s made me strive to be like her,” Scott said. “It’s made me a stronger person because I’ve seen the way she deals with things, like the way she dealt with getting divorced from my dad. She handled the situation wisely and put her kids before anything else in that situation, even though that was really hard for her. And that has made me able to handle hard situations better.”

Scott believes her mom’s talent of handling situations comes from her “superpower” of multitasking. Other role models have their own unique “superpowers,” which can help them know how to live life. Scott thinks looking up to real-life role models is more beneficial than trying to become like idealistic animated superheroes.

“A cartoon superhero is more superficial, and even though they may do good things for people, they don’t show you how to live your life as well as a real-life hero would,” Scott said.

“A real life hero is more personal, and you relate to them more personally…. It gives [you] a feeling of self-worth, like having someone who cares for [you] and that [you can look up to really helps them to stay on the right track.”

e z i it s

13

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February 25, 2011

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Bystanders strive for better world JACK SCHOELZ

B

rooklyn resident Derrick Oakes became a national hero when he grabbed an unconscious woman from subway tracks in early February. Rather than becoming a witness to a grisly accident, Oakes went out of his way to help a stranger.

Although the stakes are often much lower, the opportunity to help strangers presents itself to nearly everyone every day. School resource officer Keisha Edwards said although people have no responsibility to help, choosing to assist a stranger shows true character.

“I would hope that if somebody sees somebody in need, they would lend a helping hand,” Edwards said. “If they don’t choose to, I wouldn’t think any more or any less of them.

But when they do choose to, it shows a kind spirit. It shows that kind spirit that most police officers have, which is the spirit that says, ‘I will help others in need.’”

To see if the student body shared Oakes’ helpful attitude, The Rock enlisted the help of four students: sophomores Jaynell Lardizabal and Ian Meyer and juniors Jonathan Haught and Mackenzie Mayer. During A lunch Feb. 10, each pretended to be in need of help at different parts of the school.

In the studies wing, Meyer dropped to his hands and knees, pretending to look for a con-

tact lens. Almost immediately a group of five or six students came to his aid, joining Meyer on the ground in search for the “missing” contact lens. Among the helpers were juniors Alexis Lacy and Payne Brockert. Even though they didn’t know Meyer, Lacy said helping was the right thing to do.

“I would have wanted help for me,” Lacy said. “I would have wanted people to help me find my contact lens.”

While Brockert and Lacy moved to the rescue, junior Sarah King stayed behind at their lunch table, not taking part in the search.

“If there was a contact on the floor, I would actually be able to see it from here,” King said.

“If I knew the person, I would probably help them out. It just depends on the situation, I guess.”

Meanwhile, in the fine arts hallway, Haught dropped a pile of papers on the floor. As he bent to clean up the mess, five students, among them senior Annie Barksdale, standing a few yards away kept their distance, barely taking notice of the incident in the otherwise empty hallway.

“I mean, if someone dropped their stuff in the middle of a busy hallway, I would be like, ‘Oh, I’ll help you with that so you don’t get trampled and people don’t like yell at you or something,” Barksdale said. “But I didn’t really notice. I was busy talking about show choir.”

In another part of the building, Mayer

dropped her pens in front of the activities office. Of the roughly 30 students in the area, six came to her aid. Sophomore Dylan Linneman, who helped pick up the pens, felt it was obligatory to help someone in need.

“I thought it was the right thing to do. It’s something any nice person would do,” Linneman said. “It would be nice if someone helped me, too, because it’s nice that people care.”

In front of the old DECA den, Lardizabal fell to the floor, pretending to be in pain. Three students eating lunch nearby came to help right away. A fourth student passing through the area made sure Lardizabal was all right and helped her pick up items she dropped during her fall. Another group of students watched from where they were eating lunch but did not offer any help. Sophomore Shantavia Johnson said providing help was an important thing to do.

“We are all around eating lunch and relaxing, and she dropped her stuff, and someone should have helped her,” Johnson said. “I didn’t pay attention to whether she said thank you or not. I just gave her the books and was like, ‘Have a good day.’”

The experiment found that most of the time, students will reach out to help somebody around them in need, even if that person is a total stranger. Edwards said these results are not surprising and are consistent across the

community as a whole.

“Ninety-eight percent of the people here in Columbia have that willingness to help other people,” Edwards said. “I would say Columbia as a whole has the mentality of helping others in need, and I see that a lot. That’s reflected a lot by when I worked patrol — the amount of concerned citizens that come in [saying], ‘Hey, I just saw a guy on the shoulder road — looks like he’s broken down. Can you send an officer over there to check on him?’”

Edwards said helping others often can be a more important act than it seems. Citizen misconceptions about the number of officers available at any given time in the city may lead residents to believe help may arrive on a scene faster than it actually will.

In order to keep the community safe, Edwards said citizens need to intervene by helping out or calling 911. Edwards said out of 150 police officers, the Columbia Police Department has roughly 18 to 28 officers out at any time ensuring the safety of the city.

“We cannot be the eyes and ears of Columbia without the community. The community has to take a stance in taking ownership of their community,” Edwards said. “We’re not on every street at all times, and we’re not on every corner of every street at all times, and that’s a misconception people have about the police department: ‘They’re on our block; I know if something happens, we’re protected.’”

14 · Editorials

February 25, 2011

The ROCK

Democracy

M

RBHS students take the soapbox and make their voices heard Ignorant wield blind patriotism as political weapon JOE

T

LaROSE

o be called a patriot is to be placed among the fabled founding fathers, a champion of liberty. Unfortunately, savvy politicians and the inflammatory rhetoric of pundits have reduced the word to political cannon fodder.

As I listened to people accusing others of being unpatriotic, it occurred to me that the shameless accusations might come from a simple misunderstanding: perhaps we just do not use the same definition of patriotic.

But why would a definition matter? It turns out it is important, and the different understandings of patriotism have justified many abuses of power in governments like Nazi Germany and in resistance movements like the Irish Republican Army. Officially, patriotism is love for or devotion to one’s country. But what does loving one’s country look like?

Actually, it depends on the person, place and time. Americans’ use of the word “patriotism” has fluctuated during the last 240 years. Patriotism started out as a term exclusively for those who supported the rights of the individual and resistance to tyranny during the American Revolution. Throughout the years, as America grew into its expansionist, dominant role, patriotism changed to mean loyalty to the state. It has since stayed relatively the same.

However, the number of people who consider themselves patriotic has waxed and waned. Since Vietnam moments of unifying national pride like 9/11 have been accompanied by strong counter-movements criticizing the government’s actions.

These counter-movements, in particular the movements against various American involvement in overseas conflicts, have received unmerited accusations slamming their patriotism.

Love for one’s country is great in theory; it no doubt propelled thousands to defend their country against the threat of Nazism during World War II. Unfortunately, there are those who believe devotion to one’s country means blind devotion. It is an easy trap to fall into because we are taught from infancy that we live in a great country — the very best. If what we believe in is flawed, what does that say about our intelligence?

Plain, ugly pride lies at the middle of blind patriotism, the kind of pride which does not allow people to admit their mistakes.

This is the kind of pride that stops Turkey from declaring its 19141918 massacre of more than 600,000 Armenians “genocide.” Or, uncomfortably, why the United States does not call its removal of 17,000 Cherokees (the Trail of Tears) that same word.

In fact, nationalism, the ideological beast that at its worst spawned the fascist Nazi party and the Klu Klux Klan, contains fervent blind patriotism at its core. Nationalism is the active striving in the interests of a country. The difference between the two is the difference between an emotion, patriotism, and action, nationalism. Patriotism is the feeling of pride or love which may very well inspire someone to become a nationalist.

Blind devotion can be devastating. Had the German people stayed rational as Hitler appealed to their national pride, he may not have been able to pull off his many acts of injustice.

In our very own America, the ridiculous but destructive anti-communist mania of McCarthyism revealed our own susceptibility to irrationality when faced with a unifying threat like Soviet Russia.

McCarthy also provides an excellent example of how a bigoted incompetent managed to bring down respected public officials with a vicious smear campaign by hiding behind a façade of patriotism. This infamous use of patriotism as a political weapon is not unlike the current quests of xenophobes masquerading as righteous patriots to slander President Obama via discrediting his birth certificate. Clearly, patriotism defined simply as “love for one’s country” can be used to justify inhumane, destructive and even evil acts. For this reason, a patriot must take pride in his country but also constantly seek to improve it.

Remember that all governments, even America’s precious democratic republic, are composed of humans who make mistakes. The government, consisting of a few people who make a few decisions, is not the country. If country and people were one and the same, blind devotion for one’s country would be harmless. Since there is disparity between government and people within a country, people must question their government’s actions. To do otherwise is not unfaithful or disloyal; criticism is essential.

On the other extreme, glorifying dissent between government and people allows people to hate and defy a government under the banner of patriotism. As our very own Thomas Jefferson said, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” Yet many anti-government groups that use violence (IRA in Ireland, FARC in Colombia) are generally considered to be destructive. Then is patriotism really, as Samuel Johnson put it, “the last refuge of a scoundrel?”

True patriotism means wanting one’s country to be the best it can possibly be. This includes not just taking pride in the positive aspects, but also acknowledging the faults: criticism of one’s country is patriotic. True love may be irrational, but true patriotism should not be. In our lifetimes the United States may face a crisis much larger than anything it has experienced since the Second World War. We must remember that the love that is patriotism can be used as justification for the worst of acts.

Reason alongside emotion can assure the endurance of American patriotism.

The Rock Rock Bridge High School 4303 South Providence Rd., Columbia, Mo. 65203-1798 Vol. 38. Issue 5 The Journalism: Newspaper and Honors Seminar classes produce The Rock. Call us with comments at 573-214-3141, ext. 1.

The Rock’s purpose is to inform, educate, enlighten and entertain readers fairly and accurately in an open forum. The Rock is a member of the National

onth-long protests in Tahrir Square came to a conclusion two weeks ago when Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced the end of his 30-year reign. Following the decision, proud citizens gathered in the streets once again, this time in celebration of the revolution they had just incited.

But not everyone could hold their heads up so highly. While the protests were a milestone for the North African nation, they also brought to attention startling information concerning United States foreign relations. During the 30 years that Mubarak had both separated the people from their rights and robbed the country of its assets, the United States was handing him billions of dollars in direct military aid.

Mubarak is not the first military dictator the United States has supported.

From the Iranian Shah in the 1960s to Saddam Hussein in the 1980s, the United States has an extended history of aligning with dictators who practice torture, arbitrary detention and suppression of free speech.

Unfortunately, this trend continues today. Despite the ideals of freedom and democracy this country claims to adhere to, we continue to back leaders who bar the same ideals from their citizens, a development that is hypocritical at its least and disgusting at its worst. In the spirit of democracy, the United States should cut off all friendly relations with

United States continues to support dictators despite democratic values oppressive dictators around the world.

In the United States, there isn’t a history class one can sit through or a politician’s speech one can listen to without hearing the words “freedom” or “democracy” at least once. We have adopted these words as ours and claim they play an integral role in our government. But considering the United States’ current allies, these words might as well be useless.

In November the Obama administration announced it was seeking to sell $60 billion of weapons to Saudi Arabian King Abdullah. In essence, the United States would be providing massive amounts of resources to a man whose human rights record includes, “systematically suppress[ing] or fail[ing] to protect the rights of nine million Saudi women and girls, eight million foreign workers and some two million Shia citizens,” according to Human Rights Watch.

It gets worse. Turkmenistan received $2 million in aid from the United States in 2010 despite reports of torture, violence against women and denial of due process. Oman, Equatorial Guinea, Jordan, Cameroon and Chad are some of many other countries whose ruthless, sometimes violent leaders have the United States’ seal of approval.

Uzbekistan may be the worst example, though. Even while governmentinitiated forced child labor continues in the country, according to Human Rights Watch, the United States is currently

looking to repair relations with the nation that in 2003 boiled two prisoners to death, according to The Guardian.

In all of these scenarios, the United States’ actions starkly contrast its ideals to the point that they go out the window.

Political gain outweighs democracy, and the chase for global supremacy outweighs freedom.

With anti-dictatorial protests sweeping Africa, now is the time to reverse this cycle. When the Founding Fathers established this country, they were willing to face death in search of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Today, we are so far removed that we won’t even risk elevated oil prices.

Democracy and freedom are ideas that should apply to everyone. However, without people who strongly believe in these ideas, they mean nothing, and their relevance to society vanishes.

Right now the government is contributing to the gradual diminishment of its ideals by contradicting the values this country was built on. While, unfortunately, this is America’s past and present, it does not have to be its future.

The United States should end its support of dictatorships around the world, both as empowerment of the ideas it preaches and as a measure of basic civility. While daily reports of global suffering will always remain horrific, at least we will not have the burden of knowing our tax dollars may have been their cause.

DOUB D O U B LE L E TAK TA K E E In the spirit of democracy, should the United States end relations with military dictatorships around the world?

“The U.S. has a lot of relationships with a lot of different countries, and what the U.S.A. is supposed to do is be a place of peace. What they do with it is their choice.

We can’t tell them what not to do with it because that is when we’d be stepping over a line.”

Kyle Kolostov, sophomore The Rock Staff

Yes

“I don’t think we should because we’re already trillions of dollars in debt, and we kind of need to figure out our own debt before we start giving money to other countries.”

Beau EuDaly, senior

No

27 4

Rock Bridge Students

Yes

No

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photos by Savannah Viles

“I just think it would be somewhat condescending to say, ‘Because of your views, we can’t give you any money because you might be spending it on this.’ We don’t know if they’re going to spend it on their military or they might actually be spending it on their people.”

Rachael Starr, junior art by Laura Ge Song

Snow days cause debate over school year length

E

arlier this month a record-breaking blizzard rewarded students with another four full days off of school, bringing the total snow day count to eight.

While this would normally mean additional school days at the end of the year, State Rep. Joe Aull has proposed a bill that would give districts the option of not making up these four days, Feb. 1- Feb. 4.

Although utility costs and the salary of teachers will remain unchanged, the $40,000 the district spends each day in transportation would disappear. If the bill becomes law, CPS should seize the opportunity to relieve $160,000 from an

Scholastic Press Association and International Quill and Scroll.

Advertising is $50 for a quarter page, $90 for a half page and $130 for a whole page.

The Rock accepts letters from the students, teachers and community members signed with a valid signature only.

The Rock reserves the right to edit contributions if they are libelous or obscene. Any grammatical errors at the fault of the writer will be printed.

Editors-in-Chief: Craig Chval,

already strained budget. cut $160,000 in transportation The state and district costs, it could save two are in a financial crisis with teachers from getting laid off. more budget cuts on the way.

Excusing four days of During the last four years, the school in order to save money district has for the district is cut 250 jobs. worth the cost If Senator Aull’s While the of four days bill passes, amount cut of education, should CPS each year is especially since decreasing, those four days at exempt snow the budget the end of the year days and end the s h o u l d amount to little. school year early? have been One-third increasing of the school, 25-Yes to match the seniors, will s t u d e n t already be gone.

6-No enrollment.

Another third, Next year the sophomores, the district is headed for a will be finished with end-of$1.8 million cut, which would course exams and many equal the loss of 20 more jobs.

Were the district to

students enrolled in Advanced Placement classes will have completed these tests at the beginning of May. A few will have left for pre-planned summer vacations, and many other students will already be mentally checked out.

To give students four more days of “education,” the district could not logically spend $160,000 just on buses, not with jobs at stake and not with the crisis in the budget. If Aull’s bill passes, the district would have the option of ending the school year four days earlier. CPS should recognize the financial benefits and exempt schools of these days.

art by Laura Ge Song

Omar Taranissi Production Manager: Missy Wheeler Chief Financial Officer: Craig Chval News Editor: Tessa Vellek Features Editor: Shivangi Singh Editorials Editor: Omar Taranissi In-Depths Editor: Avantika Khatri Commentary Editor: Brian Dresner Sports Editor: Mary Herndon Design Editor: Brian Dresner

Art Editor: Laura Ge Song Graphics Editor: Brandon McGonigle Arts & Entertainment Editor: Lauren Baker Artists: Dan Hainsworth, Grace Priest, Sawyer Wade Photography Editor: Kylee Fuchs Photographers: Muhammad AlRawi, Parker Solomon, Savannah Viles Staff Writers: Kirsten Buchanan, Rachel Craig, Maddie Davis, David Duffeck, Shannon Freese,

Erika Holliday, Halley Hollis, Ashley Hong, Jimmy Hunter, Abby Kayser, Joanne Lee, Alyssa Mulligan, Leslie Neu, Jackie Nichols, Sami Pathan, Jack Schoelz, Caraline Trecha, Alex Walters, Walter Wang, Emily Wright Advisor: Robin Fuemmeler Stover

Editorials · 15

February 25, 2011

The ROCK

Blizzard highlights city’s problems

“The first step is to start conserving energy.”

CRAIG CHVAL

O

Going green for cash

editorial cartoon by Grace Priest

Politicians manipulate global warming data LAURA SONG

T

he snowstorm during the first week of February broke records in at least six U.S. cities. A massive winter storm left thousands in London without power. In China heavy snow and freezing rain forced 2,700 people to evacuate their homes in Hubei Province, according to www.weather.com.

The belief of man-powered global warming is completely political. According to data from ice cores in Antarctica and tree rings, the Earth’s climate has warmed and cooled in a consistent pattern; the “abnormally high and low” temperatures are nothing extraordinary. Are the scientists and politicians mistaken in their advocacy for fewer carbon emissions in the atmosphere? A more plausible explanation concerns politicians and their use of global warming as a platform for political success and monetary gain.

Former vice-president Al Gore has had his share of global warming’s political and economical benefits. Gore has won a Nobel Prize and an Oscar in the name of reducing the effects of global warming.

The support for Gore and his laws regarding global warming stem from citizens believing in reducing

carbon dioxide.

Michael Bloomberg, New York’s At the same time, Al Gore in- independent mayor, of having envested large amounts of money in couraged Wall Street to straighten “environmentally friendly” proj- itself by financing renewable enects, resulting in a large increase ergy and products. of his personal fortune. Global The political advantage for the warming skeptics say Al Gore is global warming theory lies not only on the way to being the first car- in producing these energy efficient bon billionaire. Ironically, the for- products, but also in the public’s mer vice-president uses 20 times tendency to believe. To some polithe national average in power. ticians’ content, we as consumers Gore is not the only politician in fall into the trap of global warmthe United States benefiting from ing politics, enriching their power the public support of global warm- on the political platform as well ing. The Kyoto Protocol, signed as, in some cases, expanding their but not ratified in the United personal bank accounts.

States would have In the last required America few years, “enA more plausible and other developvironmentally explanation ing and developed friendly” labels concerns countries to dehave appeared crease their emison everything politicians and sion of greenhouse from home applitheir use of global ances to hybrid gases.

Developing cars. In a rush to warming as a countries claim the “better” the enviplatform for problems revolve ronment, citizens political success. around industrial have established nations and how a mindset that developing economies in devel- being “environmentally friendly” oped countries should not have is good, labeling these products to be constrained by the gases. as “green.” Manufacturers whose Lowering the emission of green- products release less carbon dioxhouse gases would require better ide label this fact on the packagtechnology and thus more of a ing and receive praise from other country’s funds, making them less agencies. Our appetite for these competitive on the global mar- goods fuel political leaders to use ket. Inside America some suspect global warming as a powerful

public support tool.

Days before the Copenhagen Summit, unknown hackers uploaded a series of more than 1,000 e-mails from the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, where a number of scientists track the global temperature records used in most major climate models, revealing the manipulation of data to hide the actual decline in temperature. Support of global warming means more grants from companies and politicians. Hidden from the public, these artful manipulations of our knowledge pose a significant political advantage to some.

So who do we believe? The science of the “facts” or politicians — or neither? Global warming shows us that the ever-present politics can manipulate science and research and that perhaps it is time to rethink how much we trust the “facts.”

Global warming is neither an extraordinary phenomenon in the world, nor does it legitimize the reduction of carbon dioxide by extreme degrees in order to protect our environment. Both are normal phenomena in our world’s climatic pattern; the change in the average world temperature should not cause a scramble for research papers nor should it be an output for political power.

ne of the largest snowstorms in Columbia’s history effectively shut down most of the city Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 1-3. With 18 inches of snow, Columbia revealed its inability to deal with challenges that a mid-sized city must face. With an increase of more than 30,000 people during the last 20 years, the city must develop an infrastructure to support such growth.

For many years Columbia has been a small city, and while it is still not large — about 102,000 at the 2009 estimate — this small-town mind set cannot continue further into the 21st century. A number of problems plague Columbia, and they are compounded by the city’s general lack of efficiency in addressing them. Uncoordinated traffic lights, few major roads spanning the length of the city and seemingly endless construction projects highlight Columbia’s issues, and these concerns create the illusion of an even bigger city because of the higherthan-normal scope of traffic.

The population is expanding at a pace at which the slowly adapting city cannot sustain. According to KOMU, Columbia failed to plow 60 percent of residential roads by mid-afternoon Feb. 3 — more than two days after the storm started. The limited transportation options forced businesses to close, and CPS shut down for four and a half days.

Columbia can look at the example of other cities that were better prepared for the snowstorm if it wants to improve its infrastructure. Davenport, Iowa, a city of slightly less than 100,000, plowed almost all of its roads by Thursday afternoon, according to the Quad-City Times, despite the storm reaching the area several hours after it hit Columbia.

Columbia reported it uses an average of 4,000 tons of salt per year on the roads, while Davenport had 9,000 tons available for the storm, according to the Times. There is no reason why our city cannot have a similar reaction to a storm that weather services predicted far in advance. If Columbia does not have the budget to make its roads serviceable, then it is the duty of the city to alter its finances so that it can maintain transportation.

However, there have been some signs of improvement for Columbia. It’s relying on more salt instead of cinders for snow, and the giant new garage (while aesthetically questionable) helps alleviate the massive parking shortage downtown. Providence Road is the only major street besides Highway 63 that runs all the way through the north-south axis of the city, but construction on Scott Blvd. will minimize traffic if the nearly two-year-long project is completed soon.

The third high school will help relieve CPS’s crowded halls and classes. However, these developments are slow and insufficient, and our town has yet to create a plan to solve booming population growth.

The snowstorm from this month should serve as a wake-up call for the city. Sure, 18 inches of snow is rare, but it exposed major problems. Therefore, Columbians must put their support behind such improvement by voting for programs and officials that bring the city toward progress. Columbia must establish a strategy to address these problems in the long-term while also making small adjustments: better coordinate traffic lights to lower congestion, fix confusing traffic signals and patterns, hire more personnel to deal with potential problems like the snowstorm. With a long-term plan in mind and small, step-by-step programs, Columbia can move toward becoming an effectively run city that can serve the interests of its burgeoning populace.

Mainstream music lacks talent

College sports keep competition alive

P

SHANNON FREESE

DAVID DUFFECK

opular music artists today are a laughable excuse for talent: guitars replaced by synthesizers, bass taken by computer beats and even singing, the one thing you would think you couldn’t fake, replaced with auto-tuners.

So where’s all the talent? It’s still out there, just not on radio, or at least not on the stations most kids listen to. Lupe Fiasco’s new hit “The Show Goes On” has exploded on to the scene recently, but most people don’t know that the song is not originally his. It’s a remix to the band Modest Mouse’s song “Float On” borrowing its melodies and riffs. Artists today are resorting to using songs and taking the credit for them with unoriginal lyrics.

When artists don’t borrow other’s songs, they might as well have, as their own melodies and lyrics are so unoriginal. Hip-hop artists are becoming increasing popular, consistently making the top 100 charts, yet the sound is becoming increasingly similar.

Why is it that on every song a rapper has to make a point to say his name a hundred different times? Maybe it’s because if he didn’t, it would be difficult to recognize the artist with lyrics that are all the same and beats taken from studios where the rapper has almost no input.

Artists that actually have originality have a hard time achieving mass popularity in a scene controlled by lyrics that only talk about partying.

There are a talented few rappers that don’t only talk about the same things, such as Canadian rapper K’NAAN. He grew up in Somalia during an extremely brutal civil war and now has gained some popularity in the U.S. K’NAAN calls out the American hip-hop scene, saying in an interview that rappers on BET today remind him of “spoiled brats” and that he “comes from a place where it’s not special to be hardcore.”

Aside from the few talented rappers out there, it’s more than just unoriginal lyrics that are destroying popular music though — it’s even their voices.

It’s no secret T-Pain’s success has come from his auto-tune pitch correction effects.

This program allows anyone, regardless of singing ability, to sing perfectly on pitch to any song. So if the “singer” T-Pain can’t really sing, why does he have two Grammys?

It’s because Americans don’t care about the talent necessary to make real music.

T-Pain won his first Grammy for “Good Life,” a song he did with Kanye West in auto-tune, and then he received a second for “Blame it (On the Alcohol),” again all in auto-tune. In the song it’s also hard to tell when the other artist on the track is singing and when T-Pain is singing.

DID YOU KNOW?

• To win a gold disc, an album must sell 100,000 copies in Britain and 500,000 in the U.S.

Popular music is so easy to create anyone can make it for only $2.99 on the iPhone’s “I Am T-Pain” app. The app allows people to sing into their phone over songs and sound just like any artist using the technology. It’s just a cheap version of what artists like Akon, Kanye West, Ke$ha and even the rock band Weezer are using.

Even with such music mega-stars, the industry is struggling because of the Internet and illegal downloading, but that’s not the reason is headed towards death; it’s that the industry doesn’t promote creativity or talent or the message to make music.

Songs should be priceless, not $2.99. We must stop accepting popular music as music and demand substance. Substance can’t be faked with chants or auto-tune or computers It takes talent and heart, qualities popular music charts desperately lack.

• The harmonica is the world’s best-selling instrument.

• The CD was developed by Philips and Sony in 1980.

source: didyouknow.org

• 40 billion songs are downloaded illegally each year (90% of all song downloads).

infographic by Dan Hainsworth

P

rofessional sports are supposed to be the best of the best.

Top players are recruited and money is shoveled into their pockets in exchange for their play. But professional sports don’t have the edge that college does.

In 2009 North Carolina won the NCAA Division I Basketball Championship.

The following year Duke University defeated Butler University by two points to win the championship.

In the NFL the Pittsburgh Steelers, who just made a Super Bowl appearance this year, have made three trips in the past six years. Professional sports have not displayed the intense competitive edge that collegiate sports have shown over the years. With a lack of determination and greediness at the hand of excessive payrolls, professional sports have fallen into a category the common man calls “boring.”

While collegiate sports must recruit and offer scholarships to potential players, any professional organization can pay a player in order to claim them under the association’s title. Salaries are skyrocketing every year as demand for higher wages increase.

For instance, the New York Yankees are the most

successful team in history and also have the biggest payroll of any American sports team: $206,738,389 in 2010, according to espn. com. However, in Division I college sports, the money difference among scholarships are much slimmer per school than those amongst professional sports teams.

In almost every collegiate sport, there are no lasting “dynasties.” For instance, the 2010 NCAA football champion Auburn Tigers went 3-5 in the SEC in 2009. This goes to show that any team at any time can compete with each other in the NCAA whereas specific professional sports teams reign over each respective sport. This makes professional sports humdrum and lacking surprise.

Professional sports have lost their edge. In the lower level of play, college sports are not driven by money but an attempt to achieve the most for their team, future and college. With more underdog teams like Northern Iowa stepping up to beat No. 1 Kansas, collegiate sports display their undeniable unpredictably and overall enjoyable nature. Even though professional players may have more money invested in their play, the collegiate levels are — hands down — much more invested than a dollar will ever be worth.

16 · Ads

February 25, 2011

The ROCK

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Commentary · 17

February 25, 2011

Stalls, sinks stink MADDIE DAVIS

A

often empty.

If only students would not put unneeded items in the sinks, they would be somewhat usable. But, nonetheless, that doesn’t take away from the fact that the mess made from the sinks is impossible to clean up. In order to fix this, students should not take 10 paper towels at once but, rather, only use what they need. By saving paper towels, cleaning up the bathrooms would be much easier and actually viable.

When I finish the agonizing task of using the school restrooms, I have wet hands and the undeniable urge to return to class. The unsanitary problems cause a hassle and are unavoidable.

Ultimately, the problem comes down to a poor ability to keep the bathrooms fully supplied and stocked along with the inconsiderate manners that many students possess.

Both factors go hand-in-hand when it comes to preventing the public bathrooms from being bearable. The solution seems unreachable unless students begin to think about their actions.

We should all become more respectful of public areas. With a little bit of thought, the school bathrooms could actually become decent.

source: www.hubpages.com

round second hour every day when my coffee begins to kick in, I find myself fighting the all too familiar feeling of needing to use the restroom. I tell myself that I can just go at lunch when I am somewhere out to eat, but as the class period ends, I know I cannot wait until 12:49 p.m.

There’s nothing else to do but admit defeat as I decide it’s time to face the most dreaded communal location ever: the school bathroom.

Every time I walk into the girls’ restroom, I feel uncomfortable. The gray floors have excess water and damp paper towels all over them. I don’t understand why people can’t throw away their used paper towels and not allow water to splash everywhere. On top of that, it can be difficult to find a stall that actually locks. If all of the stalls are full except for one with a broken lock, then two inconvenient choices occur: wait or find a way to block the door.

Going to the bathroom without a lock is awkward. There’s nothing else to do but block the door with a foot or bag and hope for the

best. However, waiting does nothing more than present an obvious time crunch.

On top of the difficulty of guaranteeing privacy, the toilet paper is nearly impossible to use. It is hopeless to try to get it out of its bin unless it is taken square by square, not to mention it rips so easily. I can’t help but get annoyed with the time-consuming task. If the old holders were fixed or the actual toilet paper were stronger, going to the restroom would be far less irritating and much less of a hassle.

After I emerge from the actual stall in the bathroom, the sinks are a disaster within themselves. Half of the time, the clogged-up drains are filled with hair or some type of food that manages to get stuck. The sinks are disgusting and flood because of the blockage.

Next, after facing the unavoidable faucets, there is a mess on the counter-top. The white sinks look like a flood came through with puddles surrounding anything that is sitting on the counter. Because of the hassle, I can’t set my phone down on the counters unless I want it to have water damage. The excess water also creates a hassle. But whenever I go to wipe up the water, the paper towel dispensers are too

infographic by Sawyer Wade

Memories left in wake of death Loved one’s passing promotes loving realization KIRSTEN BUCHANAN

S

he may have been 86 years old, but to me, my grandma was one of the coolest people in my life. Sure, she had to use a walker and would throw out large words, such as “encumber” (to weigh down), just to impress people, but I loved her.

She never ceased to amaze and entertain me, and as I grew older, we became closer. When I was 6 years old, our relationship consisted of me running away, screaming when she threatened to brush my ever-tangled hair.

As a teenager, I discussed theology with her, helped her wrap her Christmas gifts and listened as she chatted about the handsome guy in her Sunday school class who may or may not have been married. Whatever we were doing, I had a sense of joy when I was around her.

She was never afraid to say exactly what was on her mind and do exactly what she wanted to, and when I was around her, I felt the same way. Never mind the fact that we sounded strange talking about how my dog resembled a polar bear, how beautiful the organ at my church sounded or different

meanings of common words; we both enjoyed being around each other.

She was always in and out of the hospital, but I chose to ignore the fact that my time with her may have been limited. Last Thanksgiving when she started throwing up during our meal, though, reality began to sink in.

After being rushed to the hospital, she stayed there for t h r e e months before finally passing away.

After y o u t h g r o u p one night when I heard the news she had died, all I could do was cry; it felt as if a part of me had died, too. But when I got home and saw the swollen, red eyes of my mom and uncle and aunt, I decided I should be strong for their sake. They had just

lost their mom, whom they had all known more than 40 years, while I had lost a grandma I had only known for 16 years.

The next few days at school were difficult beyond words. I was pretending everything was all right; in fact, I had told few about my grandma’s death. But while I appeared happy a n d content on the outside, I was breaking on the inside.

My few friends w h o k n e w about my grandm a ’ s passing tried to treat me as normally as possible to help me move on from the tragedy. I appreciated that, but secretly I felt like if I had to fake another smile one more time, I would crack.

However, I had to keep this brave act on to prove to everyone

The one place I had felt comfortable being myself was around my grandma, and now she was gone forever.

that I was O.K. I had never really gone through the death of a person I was very close to, and this seemed the way to deal with it. The one place I had felt comfortable being myself was around my grandma, and now she was gone forever. I felt like I would never truly get to show my personality again.

At lunch that day, my friend saw through my act and could tell I was about to break. Instead of distracting me, she plainly said, “Kirsten, are you alright?” When I didn’t answer, she said, “If you ever need to talk, I’m here anytime.”

Through my sadness, I began to experience a strange sensation: I wanted to smile­ — not fake smile, but actually smile. She had no idea what she had just given me. I realized even though my grandma had died, I could still live on and be the same person I was before.

While my grandma had helped me feel comfortable with who I was, I knew I didn’t have to change just because she had died.

Some part of me is gone, buried deep down in the ground in my grandma’s heart, but the rest of me still lives. I know I’ll never forget her wacky personality, and I know some part of her unusual behavior lives on in me, too.

The ROCK

Complications cause familial hope to grow ALEX WALTERS

D

uring a sunny afternoon in October, when I heard my father, who was always so brave and able to handle whatever life threw at him, had cancer, I was totally unprepared. I choked back as many tears as possible and struggled with the idea of my father’s death. I wanted to sit in my room and let life pass by without talking to anyone or going to school, and I hated the thought of seeing people going on with their normal lives while mine was collapsing around me.

I could not imagine what life would be like without him. My dad, happy and funny, even a little embarrassing, might lose that vitality I had always loved to see in him.

When my sister told me the news, I thought back to the times when I had not said the things I needed to say, when I had not been the best daughter I could have been. Sometimes, I had even pushed my dad away. After that, when I thought he was going to die, I regretted those times. I thought he may not have felt that I loved him as much as I did during those times, but deep down I knew that he did.

I felt helpless because I knew I could not change anything I had done. Life looked immensely fragile. But when I saw my whole family together, looking strong for one another, I knew I could draw on their strength to become the better daughter I wanted to be for my father.

The first time I saw my dad after I heard he had cancer, I assumed he would look different. I expected him to look weak and frail, but he looked exactly the same, if not stronger than before. I could tell he was ready to fight, and I wanted to help him in whatever way I could.

My dad had coached my basketball team when I was younger so that I wouldn’t be afraid to play, and he had always attended my dance recitals and plays. I loved seeing him in the crowd cheering me on. He also knew exactly what funny thing to say to lighten the situation, and even during the hardest time in his life, he was still cracking jokes. My dad had the fight in him, and he wanted to win. This was not like playing “Old Maid” when I was little when he always let me win; he would not throw this game.

The drive I saw in him gave me the confidence I needed. I realized everything was going to be O.K. and the cancer would not beat him.

My father began to heal, as did my family.

After the initial shock, we all found out everything we could about cancer. Treatment started almost immediately, and though it was new, everyone adapted to the change. I realized life was going on. My dad was not dead, and he was fighting with everything he had. He was determined to win, and the whole family was there to support him, calling or sending cards to my dad wishing him well and saying they were praying for him.

I knew those times that I had not said or done the things I should have were over; I could not change the past, but I could change my actions in the future.

So I did the only thing I could think to do in that moment. I prayed. I started to pray a lot. I prayed for my dad most of all, but also for my mom and my sister and all of the family because during that time we all needed to be strong. My dad needed to fight, but my family and I had to fight with him. I found that just praying made me feel better. Talking to God helped me feel less helpless. I found that God had a plan for me and he would help me through anything.

After I prayed, I could see that God had put strength in my dad and that what God had put us through brought us closer as a family.

From this difficult experience, I have become a strong believer. I saw how something that looked so bleak could make my family come together. Now my family is stronger, and we stick together even in the roughest of times. I realized I cannot change the past, and as I begin to look to the future, I realize what I was going through was something worth changing for.

Readers dig too deep when interpreting literature LAURA SONG

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fter many books follows a list of critics whose analyses are almost as long as or longer than the actual work itself. It has been more than two years since anyone has brought the topic of literary over-analysis up to me, but as I was sitting in my English class analyzing — overanalyzing — the peripheral and hidden meaning of the poem “Southern Mansion,” my old distaste of the subject surged up again. In fact, books, poetry, essays and short stories of any form are subject to criticism from both literature lovers and book burners.

Literature, unless specifically directed by the author, is meant for people to enjoy. It is not, under any circumstances, written for critics who are prone to analyzing everything from use of language in the work to its syllogism, rhetoric

and symbolism to pick to pieces, regardless of the actual existence of the use of the device in the piece of literature.

When I listen to my classmates debate whether or not Arna Bontemps was a “genius” in comparing a seemingly harmless natural scene to the issues of slavery during the 18th century, I sustained the urge to ask how they knew she meant the piece to be interpreted in a political sense and not a purely descriptive one.

How did they know that the “death” was used as a description to confirm the witness of the trees? How did they know that the author had purposely used the word “marble” to contrast with the twisted word “roses” 10 lines afterwards?

These types of stretched understandings and interpretations of a literary piece make me wonder whether or not the original critic extrapolated a little too much when deciphering the

intentions of the poet.

The political activity of a period does not necessarily dictate what a poet or author writes.

Although certain major political events in different time periods do arouse a multitude of literature, neither politics nor controversial issues set a standard for which all literature of the time period must meet.

I cringe whenever I hear television talk shows, literary blogs, radio stations and critics overanalyze the meaning and devices used behind a literary work without some other primary source to back up their discoveries. We tend to overgeneralize and exaggerate whatever we see, literature included.

Take, for example, William Shakespeare.

Critics have analyzed, reanalyzed and overanalyzed his compositions, listing under them a line of specified vocabulary reserved for the occasion. But to Shakespeare’s contemporaries

and even himself — did they ever delve that deep into his art, analyzing every single sentence from 90 different angles and listing all the rhetorical devices of poetry that he used in it, making some seemingly unnerving and impossible comparisons? The writing of the actual literature probably mattered more than listing what rhetorical or literary devices the author uses.

This is not to say we should not continue to analyze poetry, fiction and other writing. But next time we pick up a piece of literature in class, instead of sticking it in an awkward position on the norm of the time period or overanalyzing it to the point of extrapolation­­ — instead of spending three hours analyzing a poem that might have taken the author 30 minutes to write, we should look at the poem as the author did when writing rather than extending its meaning.

18 · Sports

The ROCK

MSHSAA gives new proposition for playoff system SAMI PATHAN

I

n January the Missouri State High School Activities Association proposed a new playoff system for high school football as a replacement to the current system, which is in its third year of a four-year trial period.

“The football advisory committee has been working for a year and a half, almost two years now, along with the football schools to come up with a new proposal or to vote in a current or past proposal,” MSHSAA Associate Executive Director Harvey Richards said in a phone interview.

“It’s the end of a four-year experiment, so we have to change.”

In the existing system, schools play 10-game schedules within their divisions with the last three games as playoff matches. This has made the current system unpopular with some high school coaches because it lessens the importance of the regular season.

“Right now you basically have seven glorified preseason games and three regular season games that determine the outcome of your season,” head football coach A.J. Ofodile said. “By doing it the way the new playoff proposal is structured, your performance during the season and your regular season games mean something. It helps you to play quality opponents, and it also helps you to be successful against those quality opponents.”

With the MSHSAA proposal, teams would play the same 10-game schedule, but only the last game would be a playoff game. Each team will earn points for their performance in each of the nine regular season games.

MSHSAA will then seed the teams based on their point total. The highest-ranked team plays the lowest, the second-highest ranked team plays the second-lowest ranked team and so on.

“You just have a better shot with the new proposal. There are some days that your team is just going to be off,” junior football player Michael Stannard said. “I don’t really like how the last three games are [currently] the only way you can move on or not.”

However, the proposal creates some slight problems with scheduling games for upcoming seasons.

Because the current system has three of 10 games as playoffs, coaches and athletic directors only have to schedule seven teams to play. In the proposal schools would have to schedule nine different teams to play, which is problematic for a large school like RBHS because smaller schools surround it geographically.

“It definitely creates some difficulty; you have to beg, borrow or steal sometimes to find someone who has a spot who wants to travel to Columbia once a year when most of those schools never travel outside of St. Louis or Kansas City,” Athletic Director Jennifer Mast said. “Or you might have to go out of state, which we’ve had to do before.”

Ofodile also said schools might face increased travel with the new system; however, RBHS deals with this already, being one of the few large schools in the mid-Missouri area.

“If you sit in a set, eight-team district, then the travel is going to be more spread out for certain teams, but we’re a victim of that anyway,” Ofodile said. “So really it doesn’t change our situation at all.”

Mast said the current playoff system is unpopular among many schools in the state because of the decreased pressure to perform in the regular season and is perhaps one of the reasons the proposal is favorable among many.

“We are currently in the process of sending out a ballot and a questionnaire to administrations across the state of the schools that play football and also a questionnaire to the coaches that are involved in football,” Richards said. “And we are currently getting feedback of about 60 percent moving forward with the new playoff system.”

This indicates a likelihood that by the 2012-’13 school year, high school football in Missouri will have a new system of playoffs aimed at increasing the importance of the regular season.

“I think that, overall, this is a really good idea. The regular season is more important, and your performance then actually matters,” Stannard said. “Hopefully we get a positive impact from it.”

February 25, 2011

Boys’ basketball team vies for district championship tonight team, including Jorgenson’s 14-point contribution to Tuesday’s win. Their strength is not outdone by the seniors. Out of the three top scorers in the hird time’s the charm, or so Hickman had game against HHS, two were seniors with Kelly hoped. Entering Tuesday night’s game, scoring 14 and Karon Hayes adding 13.

Hickman was searching for a win against “For the seniors, districts are really important RBHS, their long-rivaled opponent, and because it’s their last year and they are leading they did not find one in Jefthe team. It’s their year right ferson City. now, and they’ll take us as The Bruins came out far as they can,” head coach fighting for the third time Jim Scanlon said. “They this year, beating the should be playing their best Kewpies 60-46. For the first basketball now.” district game this season, Each boy has different the Bruin boys looked unways of preparing for games; contested, as four starters districts and beyond will be scored in the double digits. no exception. “Pump-up” Ranked top seed in dismusic is common, but some trict play, the boys’ basketadd more spiritual facets ball team is feeling confito the game. One of the last dent. The seniors plan to things Cheadle does before make it a post-season to he gets on the court is appeal remember. to God. “I feel like it is my last “The way I prepare bechance to get a state chamfore a game is to pray to God pionship,” senior Robert and thank Him for giving Cheadle said. “It makes me me teammates that are like more motivated to get wins brothers and pray that we’re and help my teammates injury-free,” Cheadle said. out.”

Fellow senior Justin MillFor the seniors on the er prepares for the games team, it is the last chance to on the bench rather than the go the distance in the postcourt. Coming into the seaseason, and the boys have son, Miller expected his seto consider that every game nior year to be his best, but could be their last. Cheadle plagued by a previous ankle and senior Matt Kelly plan injury, he was forced to have to play basketball after high surgery and miss the rest of school but haven’t made the season. any final decisions as to “Every game is really where, so every game could hard to watch, especially be their final performance. the Hickman games,” Miller “My mindset before said. “It’s hard not being able each game is to win no matto do something that I have ter how bad or good our opdone all my life, and it’s even ponent is,” said Kelly. “I go harder to sit and watch after into every game as if it’s my playing at Rock Bridge since last.” freshman year.”

The Bruins have only But Miller doesn’t let the been to the Final Four once fact that he cannot contribute as long as the current memon the floor hold him back. bers have been on the team.

He has become a source of Kelly, who has been on the support for the team, motiteam since his freshman vating the guys to perform at year and appeared at state their highest level of compehis sophomore year, said he tition, no matter the circumfeels some pressure for one stance. last shot at state.

“The whole experience photo by Kylee Fuchs “Well I think you have to has been a character builder take it one game at a time. Nothing but net: Senior Matt Kelly scores a contested lay-up during for me,” Miller said. “I’m tryI’m confident in my team to the game against Jefferson City Thursday, Feb. 10. The Bruins won 69- ing to look at the positives make it to state,” Kelly said. 51, pushing them into district play, en route to the state tournament. that came from it.”

JACKIE NICHOLS

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“But it’s not going to be easy, and when adversity hits us, we can’t fall apart, and there’s always going to be pressure every year.”

As the older boys lead the team, they put their faith in teammates that lack experience in district play. Sophomore Travis Jorgenson and freshman Nick Norton have vital roles on the

First bowling team rolls into town ERIKA HOLLIDAY

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or nine students, a common hobby could now become their biggest commitment.

Similar to lacrosse, bowling is not a MSHSAA sport, but RBHS students have organized it as a club sport. Although Columbia Public Schools does not include bowling in its sports options, these students spend hours practicing at AMF Town and Country Bowling, 1508 North Providence Rd., Tuesdays and Thursdays.

All this work is in preparation for their first match Sunday, March 13. During the season they will face students from six teams, including Hickman and Jefferson City.

“I’m looking forward to it,” junior Morgan Dahlke said. “Since it’s our first year, I hope everything goes well.”

Unlike some of the other members of the team, Dahlke is no stranger to the sport. She was on the AMF Saturday Bowling league before trying out for the team and placed fourth in the nation in 2006.

“I’ve been bowling for seven years,” Dahlke said. “I would like to bowl in college, so I really hope being on this team brings a lot of college attention.”

Although other members of the team may not bowl as seriously, they still are looking forward and have optimism for the future matches.

“I think the team will do fine,” junior Ryland Plummer said. But “you never know how it’s going to go because Rock Bridge has never had a team before.”

In the past Plummer preferred to bowl for pleasure, leading to his decision to tryout for the team.

“When I was younger, I started to bowl, and I liked it,” Plummer said. “So I decided to try out, and next thing I knew, I made the team.”

Senior Amanda Strickland saw tryouts as a way not only to get in more training with her bowling skills, but also as an opportunity to meet new friends.

“I decided to try out for the team since I’m on a youth bowling league already and thought this could be a way to get more practice,” Strickland said. “I also thought it would be a way to meet new people and just have something to do after school.”

Coach Mike Findlay was a bowler for 10 years and had an interest in coaching the team early on, and Tina Balser, coordinator for all the high school bowling programs in the area, liked the idea of Findlay coaching the team.

“I coached several years ago on a loose league

in St. Louis,” Findlay said. “I approached Tina [Balser] about coaching about a year ago, and then this year they asked me if I was still interested.”

The goals Findlay hopes the team will accomplish by the end of the season not only involve advancing their bowling skills. He also aspires for the group to grow in their teamwork by encouraging one another and rooting for each other at tournaments and matches.

“Initially, I would just like to improve their bowling and to be able to become a better team,” Findlay said. “I would like us to work our way up and eventually be one of the two teams that make it to the state finals.”

The state finals will include the two Missouri high school league teams who won the most matches and tournaments and will be in Springfield, Mo. Saturday, May 28.

For now, Findlay, along with two assistant coaches, Billy Bobbeet and Gage Long, hopes the members will have fun doing what they love and that more people will take bowling seriously as a sport.

“A lot of people don’t consider bowling to be a sport,” Findlay said. “It’s easy to roll the ball down the lane half heartedly, but once they start to bowl accurately, persistently — once people really start to bowl, they get it.”

photo by Mary Herndon

Three strikes and you’re in: Already an experienced bowler, junior Morgan Dahlke bowls at tryouts Feb. 10 at AMF Bowling for the newly founded bowling club.

Dahlke and senior Amanda Strickland, the only two girls that tried out for the team, both made the bowling team after making several strikes while warming up and during the tryout game.

Sports · 19

February 25, 2011

Girls’ basketball goes to districts with spirit JACKIE NICHOLS

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he girls’ basketball team won its district game with a score of 37-21 Wednesday against Smith-Cotton High School. The team will now look to continue this winning tradition.

The girls will play Troy-Buchanan High School tonight at 5:30 at Troy.

On Friday nights in the winter, one expects to arrive at least 30 minutes early to boys’ basketball home rivalries, as the stands are packed before the junior varsity game in anticipation for the varsity showdown.

But if one shows up to a girls’ basketball game on any random weeknight, a front row spot is almost always guaranteed no matter the arrival time.

“As bad as it sounds, we’re kind of used to it,” said senior guard Allison Marshall. “We would love to have more support, and I think we deserve it. We have had a very successful season, but recognition is not really what we focus on. We have

fun with or without a crowd.”

Most girls on the basketball team are not blind to the lack of attendance at all of their games. Their team may not quite have attracted the fan base of the boys’ team, but that does not change their attitude every time they take the court.

“I don’t notice it too much except when I look at game attendance,” said junior guard Carmen Boessen. “It does bother me quite a bit how students [don’t] come to girls’sports, not only Rock Bridge, and I think if they would just try it out, they would be pleasantly surprised by the caliber of girls’ sports at Rock Bridge.”

E v e n though RBHS girls’ sports have had just as much success — if not more than guys’, male sporting events consistently turn out more spectators. The school does not send a spirit bus when girls are past district play because students do not often take advantage of the amenity.

“I’m not sure exactly why successful girls’ programs at RBHS are

“We have some great athletes coming in that are sure to take teams to state.”

Carmen Boessen junior

looked down upon. Like last year when the girls basketball team won districts, at the sectional game there was only two students who came to Union,” said senior guard Megan Marshall. “There was no spirit bus like the boys get.”

However, head coach Jill Nagel said she believes that despite the students’ general lack of interest in cheering for her players, the school shows equal support for both the boys’ and girls’ teams.

“I think they do a good job of sending buses for the students and creating plenty of equality,” Nagel said. “Do the students participate equally? Probably not, but that’s just the way it goes across the board. I’ve always been partial to the girls. I think they work very hard.”

The hard work is sometimes all the girls have to show for their athletic ability. However, they said they do not let the amount of students that fills the stands or congratulates them after a win affect how far they go in the playoffs. But they hope for all future women athletes to come through RBHS that they don’t have to struggle with these situations, as well.

“I think the future for RBHS girls’ athletics is bright. We have some great athletes coming in that are sure to take the teams to state,” Boessen said. “Hopefully students in the crowd will want to be a part of those victories as well.”

District Championship

eat P 3

State bound MADDIE DAVIS

T

he Bruin Girls have high expectations as they head to state with a new team after winning nationals in the poms division last winter. The team lost 13 seniors but gained eight sophomores, which leaves the girls with 12 competitors.

Despite the small numbers, the squad plans on performing as if it lost no one at the upcoming state competition at Francis Howell Central tomorrow.

“I really think that we have a chance of getting in the top three at state because everyone is motivated and ready to improve,” senior Lexie Hollinger said. “Our dances are both such fun dances and very entertaining to watch, so I think we have the full package and will do great at state.”

The Bruin Girls will perform one prop dance and one jazz dance at the state competition. The prop dance is Barbie-themed, in which some of the girls will dance in large pink boxes. For the jazz dance, the girls have taken on a money theme in an attempt to secure a win.

“The prop dance is harder to consistently be good at because formations easily get messed up. The first boxes we made were too small and looked really trashy, so one girl’s dad had to remake them, and now they look really good,” junior Kathleen Oglesby said. “The jazz dance looks really amazing when we hit it because the skill level is harder. As long as we do our best, we have the right dance and technique to win.”

With a younger squad this year, the girls have had to set time aside to teach technique and other skills that the upperclassmen have gained from their experience. During practice every member on the squad works on perfecting their turns, routines and teamwork with all the new members.

“Being a sophomore puts a little bit more pressure on us because the seniors have to teach

The ROCK

Wrestling comes back from state successful

SHANNON FREESE

A

fter a nail-biter district tournament, the wrestling team qualified for state and began preparing for the state tournament Feb. 17-19. Individually, freshmen Quinn Smith and Samuel Crane, junior Harry Schauwecker and seniors Josh Braselton, Tez Wells and Josh Gaskins all qualified for the state meet, giving the Bruins enough athletes to send the team to the state championship.

Smith, a freshman at Jefferson Jr., competed in the 103-pound weight class and made it through three rounds before falling to Park Hill’s John Erneste, who went on to win the title for state. Smith captured the fifth-place title in his weight class.

Samuel Crane, his fellow freshman qualifier, competed in the 125pound weight class and achieved a second-place victory after persevering through four rounds of wrestling.

The way Crane thought about his youth helped him relax and do well in the match.

“Being only a freshman made me think that I have absolutely nothing to lose and the seniors would go against anything if it meant they wouldn’t lose,” Crane said. “Knowing how well I did this year, I will only get better throughout these next few years to hopefully make it a little bit farther.”

With strong leadership graduating this year, the youth’s energy is preparing to drive the team.

“A lot of the older guys kind of needed a jump-start some day because it was just same old same old for us,” Schauwecker said. “And that’s what the young guys provided because it was all new and exciting for them.”

The leadership duties fell on the older wrestlers. Coach Travis Craig found their leadership vital to the success of the team.

The seniors “did amazing things for our program. They’ve through their time at Rock Bridge began to establish the type of tradition that a program needs to have in order to succeed,” Craig said. “They set the tone for what’s expected as far as attitude, work ethic and commitment to each other.”

One of the team’s leaders, Braselton, wrestled through two rounds until falling to an unde-

feated Benjamin Poeschl of Lee’s Summit West. As a matter of fact, Braselton’s only losses throughout the season had been to undefeated opponents. Braselton ended the season with a fourth-place finish in his 215-pound weight class, achieving four places higher than his 2009-’10 season.

Braselton “has been my drill partner in practice. Without him teaching me moves and just kind of kicking my butt in practice every day, I wouldn’t be anywhere as good as I am now,” Schauwecker said. “He would always walk me to my matches and keep me calm because he knew I would always get really nervous. I love the kid and am going to be lost next year without him.”

Gaskins and Wells experienced immediate losses followed by another, not making through a single round of the tournament. Despite this, the team valued their leadership throughout the season.

The seniors “made sure throughout the year that we would keep the same intensity that we had in the beginning until the end,” Crane said. “They kept reminding us how good it would feel to be a state placer or even to be a state qualifier.”

Schauwecker began his trek for state with a third-place finish at districts, but Schauwecker fell to Seckman senior Timothy Niewald in his first match.

Even though he went down, Schauwecker won two more rounds in the loser’s bracket. In his third round, he was defeated again, discontinuing his run.

Getting third place in districts “was very encouraging because to be third meant that I would wrestle someone who got second in another district [at state] instead of placing fourth and wrestling someone who got first in another district,” Schauwecker said. “It’s really hard to explain how big of a difference it is, truly.”

The wrestling team ended the team tournament tied for 11th place with crosstown rival Hickman. The Bruins finished their season with four wins and two losses with three state medalists.

“We had the best season that we’ve had since I’ve been at Rock Bridge,” Craig said. “All were the best since I’ve been at Rock Bridge and probably for some time before.”

“They kept reminding us how good it would feel to be state placer.”

Samuel Crane freshman

art by Sawyer Wade

Bruin Girls’ team prepares for state-wide competition

us how to do everything the same as them,” sophomore Sammy Baker said. “We’re all trying to be the best and at the same skill level as them.”

Despite the lack of experience, the girls maintain confidence as they close in on state.

With more practices the team plans to correct formations and increase the level of difficulty in routines as compared with what they danced at regionals. Even though it’s the first time competing for some girls, they don’t let that stand in

their way from a win.

“I myself am very excited to see the girls’ hard work pay off at state,” head coach Shannon McDaniel said. “Our goal of top three at state won’t be easy, but the girls are making sure it will happen.”

At regionals Jan. 30, the Bruin Girls placed fourth in both dances the squad competed in.

Though not completely satisfied with the close scores — only two and four points away from placing second — the girls intend on coming

back in full force for state.

“The girls did great at regionals, and it was a great opportunity for the girls to perform in front of a crowd and judges,” McDaniel said.

“For state, it’s a matter of the girls putting 100 percent to the team and pushing themselves.”

To help push for at least a top-three placement at state, the team has three captains to lead the underclassmen. Hollinger and seniors Natalie Fischer and Caroline Brumfield all help the team by making decisions and organizing formations and routines.

“Being a captain doesn’t change my view of the team at all. It has some difficulties, but I’m trying to maintain a friendship and a leadership role with the girls,” Brumfield said. “In dance there’s no way to sit a girl on the bench if you feel she’s not up to par; there’s no way to hide her. So that’s been our main goal this year: just to make everyone a better dancer.”

The squad has encountered a few minor setbacks throughout the season. Four girls, three of whom are seniors, quit early on in the season because of other commitments. Routines had to be re-worked, and the captains forced themselves to kick it up a notch. Because of these speed bumps, the remaining members have had to step up their game and dance with all they’ve got.

“I’m so proud of every single photo by Shaun Gladney one of the girls because they all We girls can do anything: At halftime of the courtwarming game Feb. 12, sophomore have worked so hard these past Leia Tarbox dances solo in the Bruin Girls’ prop dance. Posing as Barbies in boxes behind few weeks to prepare for comBrumfield said. “They Tarbox (left to right) are senior Lexie Hollinger, juniors Abby Spaedy and Kathleen Oglesby petition,” all want to win so badly, and and seniors Natalie Fischer and Caroline Brumfield. Having placed fourth at the regional that’s what makes me proud to competition in January, the Bruins will attend state tomorrow. be on Bruin Girls.”

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February 25, 2011

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Sports · 21

February 25, 2011

The ROCK

New lights shed on local equestrians

ERIKA HOLLIDAY

T

he winter season brings troubles for more than just timid drivers. For seniors Kelli Brown, Leah Easley and Marissa Stewart, the chill and frost give them difficulties in performing their favorite activity, equestrian riding.

“Wintertime makes riding much more difficult because you have to take more time warming up and cooling the horse down,” Stewart said. “If you have a hard workout, you can’t just turn the horse back outside while they’re still hot and sweaty. Plus, you have to watch the temperature.

If you ride when it’s below freezing, there’s the chance that the moisture in the horse’s airways can freeze and get into their lungs, which would be bad.”

Riding and training have been particularly difficult for the riders with the recent blizzard that came through mid-Missouri. Easley said it is complicated to ride at all in such circumstances.

“The winter is a lot harder, especially if you don’t have indoor facilities to work in,” Easley said. “For example, our snow days made it impossible [to ride. You] just can’t put a lot of pressure on your horse like you would in a normal training session because you don’t want your horse to injure itself or you.”

Training horses can take place at virtually any time during the year.

“I board my horse at a local barn.

This makes it more difficult for me to get out there, especially when it snows as much as it has been,” Brown said.

“Comparing that with the summer, the biggest issue is the heat. Living in Missouri, it is especially important to adapt to the humidity.”

Brown said she stays prepared to ride in all seasons by dressing appropriately: a Carhartt jacket and jeans during the winter and a tank top and

breeches for the summer.

The most common styles of equestrian riding are Western and English.

Stewart rides English, meaning she does a three-part event: dressage, cross-country and stadium jumping. Dressage requires the rider to guide the horse through maneuvers by slight hand, leg and weight movements, while stadium jumping is when the horse and rider must complete 12-15 jumps in 90 seconds. Each part has specific actions in which both the rider and the horse have to cooperate.

“The key is for the rider to communicate to the horse what he or she wants the horse to do by using the smallest of movements so that each movement appears effortless,” Stewart said.

The last competition Stewart competed in was the May-Daze Horse Trial in Lexington, Ky., during which she placed third out of 15 riders. Unfortunately, her horse, Cappy, developed tendonitis last spring, making her unable to compete for the rest of the year. This, however, has not kept Stewart away from the stables.

“This past summer I was working and helping to train a 6-year-old thoroughbred gelding by the name of Talker,” Stewart said. “We competed a few times and placed consistently within the top five.”

To be prepared to train a horse not only deals with the status of the rider, but the status of the horse, as well. Keeping the creature healthy, along with dealing with other aspects of competition, can be difficult.

“Equestrian riding is by far the most time-consuming sport or hobby that anyone could partake [in],” Brown said. “Every time I go out to ride, I put at least three to four hours into it, which includes grooming the horse, tacking up and 90 minutes of actual ride time.”

Both Brown and Stewart share the same event coach, Sharon Rose.

Three obscure sports: imported from oddity Some people don’t think of horse riding as a sport, but it’s certainly more of a sport than others. There’s a whole world of obscure sports, waiting to be discovered. Here are three of the most remarkable out-of-the-blue sports.

extreme ironing

Particularly popular in Britain, Germany and Australia is extreme ironing. The sport includes ironing clothes — with a battery-operated iron, of course — in any number of dangerous or extreme situations: go-karting, in a

Rose is proud of the effort the girls put into riding and success they have achieved from competing.

“Both girls make sure everything is done in the correct manner,” Rose said. “They both pay attention to detail to keep the horses and riders in top shape. They are always ready for events.”

The ability of equestrian riding depends on both the horse and the rider, for riding is a two-element activity.

“Most people that aren’t a part of horses don’t have a clue how intelligent they are, but I swear to you that they’re more like people than you can probably even begin to fathom,” Easley said. “They can definitely be frustrating ­— don’t get me wrong — but so is anything that takes hard work.”

The girls agreed the horses provide just as much effort to the sport as the rider whether it’s jumping, running long distances or doing specific moves. This is what brings them a feeling of accomplishment and thrill in the end.

“Riding is not a one-sided sport. Your horse is giving you a lot, considering that they could very easily do whatever they wanted,” Stewart said. “In my opinion it’s the photo by Kylee Fuchs least you can do to give back to your horse, even if it’s just Saddling up: After grooming her horse, Cappy, senior Marissa Stewby giving them a few minutes art puts on shin boots to protect her from further injury. Cappy’s to rest and, of course, a few front right foot was injured last March, and she is under recovery. treats afterwards.”

In the end Stewart can narrow their footfalls sound, or the narrow- Cappy, she’ll start to slow down, put down what she loves most about rid- ing of an eyelid, can suddenly be her head up and her ears forward. ing as the time she can spend with translated,” Stewart said. “For ex- But I always know that she’s going Cappy. ample, I know Cappy is relaxed by to trust me when you feel her strides “After a while you become so in the way her ears fall slightly to the lengthen and her back start to relax. I tune with your horse that the small- side and start to flop. Or, when we love the way that everything just goes est of movements, such as the way are approaching a jump that worries silent when I ride.”

mountain crevice, on top of a taxi in New York City, repelling down a cliff, hang gliding and sailing a yacht. Of course, there’s also underwater extreme ironing and bungee-jumping ironing.

The world’s first Extreme Ironing World Championship was in 2002, as Germany played host to 12 teams of ironers.

“You can just iron at home, not on top of a taxi,“ junior Taylor Buster said. “I don’t know how it’d work, but I’d want to try.“

against the ceiling of ice. Water temperatures get as low as 35 degrees Fahrenheit, and people usually play without oxygen tanks, surfacing from the game every minute or so for air.

Eight international teams competed in the first underwater hockey world cup in 2007.

“I’ve played hockey before, but this underwater hockey sounds pretty dangerous. It’d be definitely interesting to watch, though,“ junior Ian Gould said.

This is one of the craziest, most dangerous of obscure sports. Players cut a hole in a frozen rink, pond or lake; it’s like hockey upsidedown in the water while players push the puck

Radball, or cycle ball, is basically soccer on a bike, invented in the late1800s. Most players can

underwater hockey

radball

only use their bikes or heads to steer the ball toward the goal; the goalie, also on a bike, is allowed to use his hands to block the ball.

The teams are two-on-two, including the goalie, which may be why the games are only two seven-minutes halves. Because the bicycles have no breaks, players must be proficient in steering to avoid injury and score any goals.

Media assistant Stephanie Burkes is comfortable with cycling, but, the idea of moving anything with a bike intimidates her.

“I might kill myself,“ Burkes said.

—story by Mary Herndon art by Grace Priest

RBHS girls’ swimming ends with season’s partially achieved goals to qualify state EMILY WRIGHT

A

s the RBHS girls’ swimming team went into their Last Chance Qualifier meet, they had one goal in mind: to qualify for state. From day one of the swimming season, the swimmers practiced, traveled and competed with deter-

Just missed:

Freshman Kortney Betz, who qualified earlier for an individual state event, rests in disappointment after an event at the qualifier Feb. 12.

Betz’s relay team missed the state qualifying time by just a few seconds.

mination, hoping to show the team’s strength.

“I would say that I was always swimming for my teammates,” sophomore Annie Rumpf said. “We all wanted [to qualify for state] really, really badly. In the beginning of the season I saw them as my teammates, and now they’re family. We are really all like sisters.”

The 200-meter freestyle relay for freshmen Kortney Betz and Ashley Shahan, sophomore Maggie Washer and Rumpf was their last race for this season because they barely missed the qualifying time for state. They knew they had done all they could for each other and that it was not their last opportunity to qualify in high school.

“We were disappointed that we

didn’t qualify,” Rumpf said. “But we got really close, and we know that we can definitely qualify next year.”

Even though they did not go to state in the 200-meter relay, Rumpf said swimming allowed her and her teammates to bond on overnight trips and practices. The one experience that stands out most in her mind was a day where the team got to meet race car driver and Columbia native Carl Edwards at Hickman pool.

“Carl Edwards had to rent Hickman pool to learn how to kayak, and he got to know us all,” Rumpf said. “He even gave us athletic pep talks, and we are on a first-name basis now.”

While having a brush with someone famous was exciting, Betz said that being the only swimmer from her team to qualify for state this season was most memorable for her. Betz qualified for state in the 100-meter freestyle with a time of 55.45 seconds and the 200-meter freestyle with a time of 1:59.9.

“I qualified for state in my very first race,” Betz said. “Being with the team on overnights really made us close, and if I ever had a problem or a worry about a race, the girls or coach would always be there photo by Mary Herndon

to back me up.”

At state Betz faced a competitive field of swimmers. Despite her previous participation in large meets, she had never raced against such talented competition. Despite not advancing to finals at the state meet, Betz said she was satisfied with her final races of the season.

“It was very competitive,” Betz said. “Even though I didn’t make it to finals, I dropped time, so that was good.”

Betz and her teammates said they attribute their success this season to coach John Hamilton, who they said helped them see their full potential as an athlete. On the other hand, Hamilton said he believes the attitude of the girls was what led them to success.

“They all have an unselfish attitude about them. They are willing to put others above themselves,” Hamilton said. “That’s what makes a team gel and relays become successful.”

Hamilton said the enthusiasm of the young team propelled them forward, allowing them to push each other and themselves.

“With youth comes enthusiasm,” Hamilton said. “The girls were excited and positive at every practice.

This rubs off on everyone, including me.”

Overall, Hamilton, Betz and Rumpf said they ended the season on a positive note due to the strong team atmosphere.

“The season started out as me the coach and the girls the athletes,” Hamilton said. “As the season went along, I saw us as friends. I will take away from this season the feeling of friendship.”

22 · Arts & Entertainment

February 25, 2011

The ROCK

New films duel for Academy Awards CRAIG CHVAL

T

his Sunday the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood will host the 83rd Academy Awards. The best movies of the year — from “Toy Story 3” to “The Social Network” to “Winter’s Bone” — will fight it out for a coveted Oscar. Here are The Rock’s picks for who will come home with the big awards. Percentages indicate student body’s opinion from survey of 134 students Feb. 23.

Best Picture

The race for best picture is an intriguing matchup: the critics’ favorite vs. the Academy’s favorite. “The Social Network” won at the Golden Globes, but that is never a real indication — “Slumdog Millionaire” was the only film of the past six years to win both. “The King’s Speech” is the kind of film the Academy likes: a dramatic period piece. And while the comedic nature of “The King’s Speech” hardly follows in the footsteps of “Lawrence of Arabia,” it is still a better match for the voters. “The Social Network” exemplifies all the Academy has historically spurned: modernization and youth.

So, although my movie of the year is “The Social Network,” The slight edge goes to “The King’s Speech.” It is an excellent film in its own right with clever banter between Colin Firth as King George VI and Geoffrey Rush as speech therapist Lionel Logue. Perhaps the Academy will start to grow past its mores, but after Christopher Nolan’s latest snub (0-for-3 for “Memento,” “Dark Knight” and “Inception”), it’s not looking hopeful.

lifetime achievement. Aging actor Art Carney had to win in 1974, so Al Pacino got nothing for “The Godfather Part II” in 1974.

Therefore, upand-coming actors Eisenberg and Franco will have their shot in the minds of the voters, so the award will go to Colin Firth as the stuttering King George VI. The movie focuses on his relationship with his speech therapist, played by Geoffrey Rush, and it would not work without the emotional draw that the two of them create. It is only because of Firth’s nuances that the audience can note the king’s evolution throughout the film.

the spot as lead dancer in “Swan Lake,” she repeatedly fails to live up to the director’s expectations to play the treacherous “black swan” in addition to the innocent “white swan.” She grows paranoid that her understudy is sabotaging her, and her hallucinations run wild. “Black Swan” is very much a study into Sayers’ mental deterioration, and Portman’s portrayal is eerily dead-on.

Best Adapted Screenplay

While this could be the big victory for “Toy Story 3,” “The Social Network” is the clear favorite, especially if the Academy deprives it of best picture.

Aside from great acting, Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay makes “The Social Network.” From the opening scene, the audience is exposed to Zuckerberg’s witty and socially inept discourse. His interactions with friends Eduardo Saverin and Sean Parker drive the movie, and the film remains engaging throughout its running time thanks to Sorkin’s writing.

25% agree

31 % agree

Best Actress

The race here is between Annette Bening (“The Kids Are All Right”) and Natalie Portman (“Black Swan”). Bening has Academy tradition going for her: an aging star with three nominations and zero awards in a role the Academy will certainly like – a lesbian mother dealing with her partner’s infidelity. However, Natalie Portman seems to have the upper hand as mentally unstable ballerina Nina Sayers, having won at the Golden Globes and the Screen A c t o r ’s Guild already this year.

Portman’s performance is haunting in this oddly melodramatic thriller.

After she earns

15% agree

Best Actor

The group of actors includes newcomers Jesse Eisenberg (“The Social Network”) and James Franco (“127 Hours”).

Both were superb: Eisenberg as the fasttalking, witty Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and Franco as entrapped canyon explorer Aron Ralston.

However, the Academy Award for best actor is not a single achievement — it is a

78 % agree

Best Original Screenplay

While a win for “Inception” here would make up for Nolan’s directorial snub, the Academy hates him too much for that.

It appears “The King’s Speech” will cap off a big night with another award. Among the other candidates, “The Kids Are All Right” stands the best chance. It’s the kind of comedy writing the Academy likes: not laugh-out-loud but situational and ironic awkwardness that got Woody Allen so much acclaim.

However, the banter, both comedic and dramatic, of “The King’s Speech” will most likely earn David Seidler the award. The relationship between King George and his speech therapist, the central focus of the movie, is accentuated by Seidler’s writing from the opening few words George stutters to the final dramatic speech to the entire British Empire.

13 % agree

all art by Dan Hainsworth

MTV show exaggerates teenage experience ABBY KAYSER

O

ne of the newest shows hitting television screens is a bold series called Skins, which portrays different high school issues, such as dysfunctional families, sexual orientation struggles, substance abuse and sex.

Skins is the American adaptation to the British teen drama, by

the same name, originally shot in 2007.

When Skins first aired Jan. 24 on MTV, it caused quite a stir around the country. The television show offended the Parents Television Council, which denounced Skins for its “harmful, irresponsible, illegal and adult-themed behavior.”

The new series not only offended adults, but several students also concluded that it did not accurately

portray their lives.

“I’ve only seen part of one episode,” senior Molly Reed said. “I hated it because it’s not only a horrible representation of teenagers, [but] it [also] sets a terrible example for people our own age and who are in high school that might be struggling with this stuff already.”

Others say Skins is just a reality of actual high school on a much heavier note. Senior Ty Sipp be-

If the characters of Skins are supposed to represent teenage life, how do their activities compare to the real world?

How many teenagers...

Drink?

According to Skins: 100% According to reality: 26.4%

Smoke weed?

According to Skins: 62.5% According to reality: 32.8%

lieves the show is almost accurate in its portrayal of high school, though slightly exaggerated.

“I’ve only seen Skins a few times, but from what I’ve seen from it, it’s kind of a reflection of what high school is like, except it’s a little more dramatic,” Sipp said.

“There is sex, drugs and partying in high school, but the show is a little on the extreme side of the representation.”

Have sex?

According to Skins: 87.5% According to reality: 46%

source: www.esquire.com

art by Dan Hainsworth

‘Tiger Mom’ builds confidence, strength JOANNE LEE

A

my Chua’s memoir, “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom” is an unprecedented topic. This book digs specifically into the Asian parenting method — which is usually practiced behind closed doors — in American grounds with two Chinese-Jewish-American kids.

Chua herself went through a challenging upbringing: called “garbage” by her father, him telling her to “never disgrace me like that again” when she earned second prize for a history contest and graduating from Harvard with two degrees.

Then she marries a Caucasian colleague, has two daughters and the war begins. Chua did not allow her daugters to “attend a sleepover, have a play date, be in a school play, complain about not being in a school play, watch TV or play computer games, choose their own extracurricular activities, get any grade less than an A, not be the No. 1 student in every subject except gym and drama, play any instrument other than the piano or violin.”

One of the early, ugly incidents involved seven-yearold Lulu practicing for hours on end — “right through dinner into the night” with no breaks for water or even the bathroom until she learned to play the piece. As an everyday lifestyle, Chua’s parenting included threats (saying she would burn every stuffed animal), bribes (which led to two dogs), orders (“Go practice your violin for six hours”) and compromises (“Ok, five hours if you set up the table”) with her daughters.

Glad that you didn’t have such a mother?

I have to say Chua’s methods were extreme, but her firstborn daughter, Sophia, went to Carnegie Hall; Lulu was concertmaster at a renowned youth orchestra, studying the violin with a Juilliard School professor. Chua’s point throughout the entire memoir was on how her “Eastern style” of demanding parenting assumed her child’s strength rather than fragilities, whereas “Western parenting” is constantly concerned about the child’s self-esteem, therefore congratulating them in what Chua would say is “second best.”

This book isn’t just about the art of Eastern-style parenting. It was an opportunity to explore a culture of Asian and Caucasian fusion like her relationships with her artistic Jewish mother-in-law.

The book helps open eyes from our stereotypes for those who think Asian parents are all indifferent, and all Asian kids are good at math. As a Korean-American, with somewhat similar Asian (but indeed less extreme) parents, I understood what Chua was talking about: rebuking because the parents know their children can do better — the filial piety aspect of everything. I never was forced to play my cello for six hours, nor was I forced to sit at my desk drilling 1,000 math problems, but both my parents instilled a kind of confidence in me that whatever I do, I should never settle for “second best.”

That’s why I didn’t quit in the middle of hiking a monstrous mountain with only one personal water bottle from the break of dawn till dinner time (to this day, the thought of it still gives me chills).

That’s why when I was in America for the first time in three years during ninth grade, with just my older sister, I managed to overcome my loneliness.

That’s why I managed to come this far, however far it may be.

Review

Teen heartthrob’s fame will fade with time

Bieber’s struggles created true ladies’ man

BRIAN DRESNER

ABBY KAYSER

S

ince I am a male high school student, people think I only dislike Justin Bieber because it’s typically inherent. This is actually untrue. When Justin Bieber started to become popular, I tried to approach him with an open mind. For the sake of fairness to an upand-coming artist, I wanted to give Bieber as much credit as he was due, which turned out to be very little.

I started with his first album, My World, but the dang thing only has seven songs on it. Great; produce a CD that doesn’t even have enough music to drive to Wal-Mart and back. Bieber probably sleeps in till noon every day and never takes out the garbage, the lazy ragamuffin.

Regardless, the music is that too-generic, toocatchy hip-hop soul music that gets obnoxious when it’s entrusted to a 16-year-old boy, sort of like something you would hear in a Limited Too store. Songs like “Baby,” “My World” and “One Less Lonely Girl” are original hits, yes, but after a while they seem to overlap into the same blend of repetitive pop noise with enough of Bieber’s syrupy, pre-pubescent crooning to give someone diabetes.

But why is this such a problem? I mean, we’ve all heard our fair share of bad music that’s simultaneously popular. For example, look at “Who Let the Dogs Out?” The only thing is I’ve never seen a teenage girl go into an ecstatic rampage over the Baha Men. How does Bieber do it? Even in his songs, he boasts and broods about all of his heartbreak with his “favorite girl.” How many girls has this kid gotten with already if he’s already picked out

his “favorite girl” from “all the girls?” I mean, geez, I only had my first kiss was when I was Bieber’s age.

I have heard girls say they would marry, kill for and even take bullets for the Biebs. I wouldn’t mind Bieber so much if he weren’t breeding the modernized, pop-culture equivalent of the Hitler Youth.

Yeah, I saw the movie. It actually wasn’t too bad in terms of showing Bieber for what he really is: a self-made success and a sensation that will leave the scene as abruptly as he came in. Even in the film, his manager says the biggest difficulty they’ll face is keeping Bieber’s Point career alive after his voice deepens and he becomes too old to be a teen idol. Most musical artists’ careers are ruined by crippling drug addictions or domestic abuse scandals; Bieber’s will be ruined by something as natural and mundane as puberty.

Bieber will travel the way of Hanson, disappearing into the annals of tween history when his voice changes, only to have a 20-year comeback concert where the only attendees are 30year-old, overweight single females who will go to remember the good old days.

J

ustin Bieber was one of the most famous up-and-coming artists of 2010 his successes included the selling-out of Madison Square Garden in 22 minutes for his last tour. Lately, the pop star has graced us with his presence more than usual, and most high school girls, including me, aren’t complaining about seeing that dreamy face.

Recently, Bieber came out with his own movie, “Never Say Never 3-D,” and made about $30.26 million in first week. After I saw Counterpoint the the movie and, admittedly, shed quite a few tears, my admiration for him has grown. You can’t deny the perseverance he has after growing up fatherless with an 18-yearold mother while living in a financially-troubled home. You can tell he worked very hard for the fame he has earned, and I think that means he deserves every bit of it.

If all those “non-Beliebers” saw the movie, they would change their minds about hating him just because they are jealous of the thousands of teenage girls drooling over him. All of those haters can’t deny the talart by Dan Hainsworth

ent he has; he has a wonderful voice. His good looks are undeniable too, which brings me to my next point of why I am so infatuated with the talented Justin.

I, along with thousands of other teenage girls – and maybe a few boys ­– suffer with what many call “Bieber Fever.”

Whether the cause is his luscious, silky brown swoop, his perfect smile or maybe for what he actually became famous for in the first place: that dreamy voice.

If Justin Bieber singled me out in the middle of one of his performances and told me I would be his “Baby,” my life would seriously be complete.

Bieber has also shown the world what he’s made of by coming out with four albums. And yes, his first album, My World, only had seven songs, but you have to give him a break: studio executives thought that this was the best idea, not knowing how much money they were going to make off of him or how much of a success he would end up becoming.

Many of the songs from his first album, My World, and also his second one that came out March 2010, My World 2.0, both became hits and reached the top 10 on music charts across the world. Bieber’s two other albums My World Acoustic, and Never Say Never (The Remixes) have also become very popular and successful albums.

For some “JBiebs” isn’t just a perfect example of pure talent and ridiculous good looks.

Bieber is also a wonderful role model as a respectable young man. Whether you choose to love or hate this handsome and gifted young man, his perseverance and talent are worthy of praise.

Arts & Entertainment · 23

February 25, 2011

The ROCK

Cast grows closer RACHEL CRAIG

T

he RBHS theater cast will perform “You Can’t Take It With You” March 4-5 at 7 p.m. Preparing the production led to crazy moments both onstage and backstage. All the time at school, after classes and on into the evening allowed the students to bond and create memories.

“A lot of the kids in the play are also doing show choir, have a job or reader’s theatre and stuff. Most of us are so sleep-deprived, so we’re really slap-happy. It’s never boring, that’s for sure, and backstage moments are a whole different story,” junior Sarah Henzel said. “If anyone came and watched us before rehearsal started, or even during, they’d be laughing. The things that we say and do are so random, and we’re always laughing.”

The cast has been practicing every Monday through Thursday since the auditions right after Christmas break.

The snow days added a small setback, but the cast practiced even on the days school was canceled. Not only did members run through lines for hours during rehearsal, they also memorized lines and developed their characters at

home.

“We’re all friends and growing in our acting together. There’s no judgment in the cast,” junior Ellen Thieme said.

“We all have fun and respect each other’s characterization.”

The cast tried different angles to play their characters and chose the best ones. Henzel said it is not something to work on solely at practice; otherwise, the person would not fully commit to their character.

“We are always told to do stuff, like if you’re making a sandwich for lunch to do it as your character — how would she make it? It’s so random, but little stuff like that really makes you understand them,” Henzel said. “My character is a ballet dancer, and she dances almost during the entire show.

So I’ve taken some lessons, and it’s really helped.”

In the play a sensible young lady, Alice Sycamore, played by junior Mackenzie Mayer, loves her eccentric, crazy family. When she meets and falls in love with a similar man named Tony Kirby, played by senior Kyle Sherman, whose family is sane and practical, she worries he will find out about her own family. Throughout the play, Alice tries to hide who her family is so that Tony will not run away from her.

photo by Savannah Viles

Acting out: During one of the many late night practices, cast members of upcoming play “You Can’t Take It With You” rehearse a chaotic and comedic scene. Performances run March 4 and 5 at 7 p.m.

Mayer said she puts herself into her character’s own shoes.

She closes her eyes and imagines how she would handle the scene if she was as torn as Alice is between the man she loves and the family she loves. Mayer thinks about things her character would do to develop her personality, like what her favorite food is, what a daily routine for her looks like or what her best friend would be like.

“This play is one whose foundation is the plot. The play

True/False Events

For film-lovers

Ticket Sales (non-passholders) Tickets go on sale at noon Thursday, March 3 at the True/False box office on the corner of Ninth St. and Cherry St. Downtown. With a valid student I.D., tickets sold at the box office are only $6 instead of $8. At the individual venue doors, the $6 student prices are only available at The Missouri Theatre and The Blue Note.

The True Life Fund (Ongoing) The True Life Fund spotlights one movie each year to raise money for the people it is about; this year “The Interrupters” is the True Life Fund film. By attending any showing of the movie, the money from the ticket is donated to the cause: “a group of former gang leaders in Chicago who now work to combat violence in their neighborhoods,” according to David Wilson, co-director of True/False.

Gimme Truth!

Saturday, March 5 / 9:30 p.m. / Blue Note This event features a game with several short documentaries but with a twist: some are fake. Each attendant gets the chance to distinguish between reality and false story-telling with comedic host Johnny St. John, who is also featured in the comedy night.

For event-lovers True Life Run Saturday, March 5 / 8:00 a.m.

A new premiere other than movies, the True Life Run will run its course for the first time this year. The run is a 5k through the streets of downtown Columbia beginning at Flatbranch Park. $30 gets you a T-shirt and breakfast.

Comedy Night Saturday, March 5 / 11:15 p.m. / Blue Note Lee Kern is an artist, writer, comedian and filmmaker. Jonathan Gotsick, also known as Johnny St. John will be performing stand up.

Passholders get in free; others are $5.

Thursday Night Showcase Thursday, March 3 / 9:00 p.m. / Café Berlin The very beginning of the fest gets kicked off with this concert at The Berlin Theater/Café Berlin. Doors open at 8 p.m, and the show starts at 9.

Friday Night Showcase Friday, March 4 / 8:00 p.m. / Café Berlin A concert full of roots music. Doors open at 8 p.m., and the show starts at 9 p.m. sources: www.trueflase.org, and David Wilson, co-director of True/False

art by Sawyer Wade

is so famous because the characters are funny, lovable, relatable and realistic,” Mayer said.

“Sometimes it’s hard to channel those aspects all at once.”

A character named Gay Wellington is an actress that is continually drunk. Sophomore Maddie Magruder first had some trouble with the physicality of this part, so the cast spun her around in circles before she went on stage to perform and had her do the scene dizzy while being portrayed as

drunk.

“I get hauled around stage, literally on people’s shoulders, in attempt to get me out of the way. I have let my mind be the character, not just pretend to be her. ‘I am drunk. You’re not making the best choices now, remember,’” Magruder said. Senior “Kristen Thackery [spun me around] before we started rehearsing one time, so the cast was saying they should do that to me before I come on. I can’t imagine how

disoriented that’ll make me.”

Henzel said it is fun to dress up and become someone else while being on stage and hearing people laugh, which she claims is the best.

“It’s really funny, and you can see from our faces how much fun we have while doing it,” Magruder said. “We’re like a family because of all the time we spend together, regardless of how cliché that sounds, and I wouldn’t give it up for anything in the world.”

Art shows expand perspectives KYLEE FUCHS

something that is cliché or illustrative or that’s been done a million times.

That’s the intellectual part, and that’s tudents are putting the finish- the part [my students] love,” Hyatt ing touches on their work before -Wade said. “The interesting thing is submitting them to art shows in how I can so often back up and listen March. Art students have the opportu- to them collaborate artist-to-artist. It’s nity to enter their pieces in profession- a very student-driven environment in al shows each year which open doors that way.” to amazing opportunities, art teacher Daylor said along with the help Sharyn Hyatt-Wade said. of her fellow classmates, Hyatt-Wade AP Studio Art students typically always offers advice when she gets submit art to six professional shows stuck or has trouble with her piece. in the Columbia area and one student “I’m really involved in the brainshow at Columbia College each year. storming, but I don’t touch their work “‘Hybrid Iden— every brush tity’ is going on stroke is their “The interesting right now, and in every thing is how I can so own, four weeks it will pencil mark,” switch to ‘Based H y a t t -Wa d e often back up and on a True Story.’ said. “So when listen to them collab- you look at it, This runs concurrent with the True/ there is not the orate artist-to-artist.

False Film Festihand of Hyatt It’s a very studentval,” Hyatt-Wade on there — it’s said. “A lot of the all theirs.” driven environment directors and proAs the brainin that way.” ducers will actustorming proally be in the Art cess is one of League looking at the most imporSharyn Hyatt-Wade tant aspects of the work because they have [a] recreating a piece, studio art teacher ception there.”

H y a t t -Wa d e Senior Jamie recognizes the Daylor has featured her work in four importance of allowing her students art shows so far this year, two of which to become independent and work towere professional and two of which gether to generate ideas. Many stuwere student shows. dents base their work off something “It’s just awesome to go to the personal; others base theirs off major openings and see everyone else’s influences in their lives. Daylor said pieces,” Daylor said. “We’ve worked a much of her inspiration derives from really long time to make a piece for a her Christian faith. certain theme, and it’s really cool to go “Most of my art has something to and see how every one else took that do with how Jesus has saved me and theme and what it meant to them.” what that means to me,” Daylor said.

Students typically spend six class The “Hybrid Identity” show theme periods on an assignment, but they is about paradox and illustrating the also spend a considerable amount different sides of self, which artists take of time out of class perfecting their in different directions. This theme will pieces. This artistic process, like many change in about three weeks to “Based projects, begins with brainstorming.

On A True Story” in conjunction with “We really have to push the ide- the True/False Film Festival. While ation process because you don’t want the “Hybrid Identity” theme focused

S

more on the different sides of individual people, “Based On A True Story” focuses more on the struggle between fact and fiction in any context.

“Their work has to have sort of a narrative feel to it. Even though it’s called ‘Based On A True Story,’ because it runs concurrent with True/False, there’s always that questions of ‘What is really true’ and ‘What is fiction,’” Hyatt-Wade said. “You can play with that idea of the inaccuracy of memory.

It’s more of your perception, but each piece will have a narrative quality.”

Senior Dylan Koenig eagerly awaits opening night for the “Based on a True Story” show, as it will be the first professional art show he has had a piece displayed in. Koenig said his art for the show has been the piece he has worked the hardest on so far.

“I think my art tightens up more [when I know it will be in an art show],” Koenig said. “I try to become a little more meticulous when I am working on a piece that I am entering in a show.”

As students learn more about the art world from a professional’s standpoint, they gain more respect. Koenig said becoming part of a larger art community has opened his eyes to art.

“My perspective on art has changed a lot. I respect so many more artists now. Even down to architecture and things like that. I can walk down streets and just enjoy life so much more just because I know how much work was put into everything now,” Koenig said.

“I just feel like I am a lot more interested in the world around me now.”

Participating in local shows enables students to get a glimpse of what professional artists experience in the world of art shows. Hyatt-Wade said her favorite thing is when a professional artist walks up to one of her students and compliments them on their work.

“I just can’t believe the kind of work they do. I can’t believe how hard they work and what deep thinkers they are,” Hyatt-Wade said. “I am just incredibly proud of them.”

Stephens College dancers prepare for spring dance premiering next week LAUREN BAKER

W

hen she was a senior in high school, 2009 RBHS graduate Jamie Andes never expected to go to Stephens College. After taking most of the Columbia Area Career Center broadcast courses with instructor Haley Brueck, Andes’ initial plan was to attend the University of Missouri—Columbia for a broadcast journalism major.

But with the expense of college and the discount she would receive because her father was an educator at Stephens, she opted to become a dance major there instead.

“I’m really happy I did [decide to attend Stephens] because I’ve met the greatest people in my life here,” Andes said.

Beginning March 4 the Spring Dance will display Andes’ aptitude, along with other dancers’. Despite her strong love of dance, Andes has felt a little less prepared compared to her fellow dancers. Since she only started to “dance intensely” in eighth grade at Dance Arts in downtown Columbia, she admitted other students have had more preparation.

“I’ve definitely had to work harder because I haven’t been doing dance as long,” Andes said. “But it’s kind of good because I’ve been

able to improve ... easily because I’m slowly getting better. It’s kind of hard because I don’t have as much experience, but I like having a challenge.”

Even with having to work harder, Andes has not had a difficult time with auditions, noting the Stephens Dance Department for mimicking the “dance scene.” The emphasis on auditions places all grade levels of dancers “on the same level.”

For auditions, “We all just go out and try, and then they pick who they want. Last year there was kind of a little controversy thing because none of the seniors made the modern piece and [the teacher] picked mainly freshman, and that was kind of a shock,” Andes said. “But that’s just because [the choice] was solely off of auditions, and she found what she wanted in certain people.”

Similar to Andes, second-year dance major at Stephens and 2009 Hickman graduate Emma Montgomery said the staff aims to prepare dancers for the real world but noted it is a little more personal since the students are not required to wear numbers at every audition.

“At Stephens they say even if you’re not going to be in it, audition anyway because they really want to get you acclimated to the fact that if you are a dancer and have this dancing

life, you have to basically audition every day,” Montgomery said. “And you know you can’t get freaked out about it or really stressed or cry afterward if you don’t get the part you want.”

Montgomery likes the different atmosphere the Spring Concert brings since staff members and guest instructors teach the dances instead of third-years. The guest instructors teach a piece in a different style in what is called the “World Dance.” This year Stephens had Gawanda Chabikwk teaching an African dance and Liliana Morales for Flamenco.

“The teaching at Stephens is really classically based,” Montgomery said. “Like our ballet teacher, she prepares us for classical ballet, and our modern teacher is kind of an ‘old modern.’

And that’s all we do, really: modern and ballet. So having [guest instructors], it’s really interesting having modern people who are in the dance scene now come teach us about etiquette in general that is completely different [style] from what we do. I love it, it is so interesting.”

Stephens dance department chair Carol Estes said the “World Dance” portion is an important aspect of the school’s program. Like auditions for other dances, she notices a lot of people that she wouldn’t normally expect stand out.

“When the world dance teachers come here, the students generally have not studied that

style — it’s always something pretty much new. So that is a pretty intense process: they do seven weeks of classes and then they audition shortly after their choreographer gets here and then start rehearsing that piece at night as well,” Estes said. “So it’s very intense; it’s a really indepth — somewhat short — but really in-depth experience in world dance culture. It’s just really fun, and again, that’s a place that some people find things out about themselves that they didn’t know, like that they like something they didn’t know about.”

Performances for the Spring Dance are March 4, 5, 11 and 12 at 7:30 p.m. with one matinee at 2:30 p.m. on March 6. Tickets are $14 for general admission or $7 for seniors and students with appropriate I.D. Montgomery looks forward to the performace for the entire atmosphere.

“I really like the whole busy scene and when you have a performance, just everything.

Because you have rehearsals … every day, and when it comes to be tech week, you’re there from like 6:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. or 12 [a.m.] And then you have your first day and everything is so hectic, and you ask yourself ‘Do I have everything?’” Montgomery said. “And at the end of the night you’re like, ‘Oh, my god. That was crazy. Let’s do it again.’”

24 · Backpage

February 25, 2011

The ROCK

Global Village celebrates cultures

Volunteers band together to savor international cultures, countries RACHEL CRAIG

T

oday students get a break from class to go from booth to booth sampling food and learning about other cultures.

Some people may even find a country they have never heard of before.

Setting up and preparing for Global Village has been on the mind of students for weeks in anticipation for the week-long annual event.

“A lot of people have cultures they come from that they only get to share with their best friends or people at home,” sophomore Maria Kalaitzandonakes said. “But to be able to share the pride that you have from your motherland, it’s something you don’t get to do every day, and it’s encouraging.”

Global Village week kicked off with a day of international art and henna Tuesday, a fashion variety show Wednesday and the dancers’ performance in the main commons during the Thursday lunch shifts. The week ends today with a school-wide celebration with booths and national flags throughout the halls for guests to visit and learn more about countries throughout the school.

The Indian dancers, choreographed by senior Reshma Khanna, blend traditional, bhangra and hiphop dance styles into their Global Village dance. Khanna started planning for this dance as soon as she finished Global Village last year. The dancers practiced for as long as it would take until everybody knew it perfectly.

“We had only been preparing for a couple weeks before the [assembly] performance,” junior Nikhilesh Sharma said. “The hardest part would definitely be the time crunch and the stress of getting everything as perfect as possible in as little time as possible.”

At first the dancers had meetings once or twice a week starting after winter break, but the week of the Courtwarming assembly, they met every day. The dancers had to plan rehearsal locations based on parking availability after the snow storm, making it more difficult to practice, Khanna said. After learning the dance, the performers worked on putting emotion and energy into dancing.

“The performance hinges on the cohesion of the group as a whole, so if even one person were less devoted, the end result wouldn’t be as spectacular,” Sharma said. “Many people are ignorant to certain cultures, and it is important to dispel any stereotypes that might be had of a specific

culture.”

Representation of cultures, mannerisms and food is the main goal of Global Village. The booths’ hosts can be from a foreign country or an American representing a foreign country by teaching students about its traditions and overall culture.

“It’s fun when people ask you questions about where you are from.

Some people might not like it, but I think it is cool to enlighten them of what is going on and what is this and that,” junior Mehdi Ben-Ayed said. “A lot of people don’t know many countries, and now they can. Now every year people know what country I’m from. Instead of Indonesia, they know it’s Tunisia. It’s not just that country in Africa and not just my country — all other countries.”

Senior Hannah Reese, head of the French booth, said she has planned on having trivia and information about France at her booth. She also plans to set out French children’s books and various posters with French sayings on them.

“When you’re working, there is always a really long line, and it’s great to see people that want to come to our booth and are willing to wait,” Reese said. “It’s cool that a lot of people are interested.”

Despite emphasis on education, food is one of the main attractions when students visit the booths throughout the hallways. The Greek booth is having spankopita, pita bread with spinach and feta. They also Americanized a traditional Greek dessert by putting ice cream underneath it, creating a baklava sundae.

“I go to a Greek Orthodox Church, and probably 80 percent of the people there are old women. So I have this huge recipe book that I have compiled over the years of all of their recipes so some of them are going to be from that. I cook these kind of things every weekend because my house is mainly Greek,” Kalaitzandonakes said. “We go to the International Harvest to get some of the stuff, and also G&D sells feta cheese, as well, which is great because they get them in huge bulk. So you can get it better there.”

While eating, students learned about the culture of the different countries and regions. The Greek booth wrote people’s names in the Cyrillic alphabet, which Kalaitzandonakes learned at Greek school.

“The food is the best part,” Kalaitzandonakes said, “but I think it’s also that people get to see a little window of what life is for other people around the world.”

photo by Kylee Fuchs

Working the runway: Junior Serina Yamamura, a Japanese foreign exchange student, walks the runway in the main commons during B lunch Wednesday, Feb. 23. Students brought traditional clothing from the country they will be representing at Global Village today.

2) photo by Kylee Fuchs

1) photo by Savannah Viles

1) Being crafty: At an activity booth put on by Spanish Honor Society during lunch Tuesday, junior Katie Hobbs crafts a flower out of tissue paper and pipe cleaners. The various crafts at the table all related to Spanish culture and were meant to teach students about the country. Tables were set up around the commons displaying activities from different cultures, to celebrate diversity during Global Village week.

3) Fashions from all over the world: Senior Farah El-Jayyousi twirls at the end of the runway at the Global Village fashion show in the main commons during B lunch Wednesday, Feb. 23. The fashion show is a part of Global Village week, and students sign up beforehand with clothes representing their favorite countries.

5) photo by Savannah Viles

4) photo by Parker Solomon

2) Finishing strong: Global Village dancers performed at the Courtwarming assembly Thursday, Feb. 10. Students began collaborating for the dance a month prior to the assembly.

4) Body art: During lunch Tuesday, sophomore Duha Shebib applies Henna to a fellow student. The table allowed students to choose a design, leaving a temporary tattoo.

5) Semi-permanent: Talking to friends in the main commons during his lunch period, senior Jason Hamilton allows the henna on his face which he had done earlier in the day to dry and set.

After letting it dry, the henna leaves an eye-catching design.

3) photo by Kylee Fuchs