The Rock October 2013

The Rock

CACC healthcare course offers real world experience Brittany Cornelison

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y offering classes that aid students in the direction of their career paths, the Columbia Area Career Center prides itself in preparing students for their futures after high school.

Most of these classes offer handson experiences allowing students to get a feel for the jobs that they plan on pursuing post-high school.

Professions in Healthcare, a class at CACC, focuses greatly on skill application in the real-life setting. Students enrolled in this class learn medical terminology, basic communication and patient care skills in the classroom and practice these learned skills in the CACC hospital-style lab.

However, starting Oct. 21 students began their introduction into the clinical setting. Professions in Healthcare instructor Monica Duemmel attends clinicals with her students twice a week and watches over them as they put the skills they’ve learned into practice with the nursing home patients.

The purpose of clinicals is “to get students a hands-on approach of taking care of residents, learning the basic nursing skills, interacting with them, giving them an idea of what it’s going to be like as a future healthcare provider,” Duemmel said. “They’re allowed to do quite a bit as far as basic care; any of the activities of daily living, some of the needs like going to breakfast, getting dressed, brushing their teeth, combing their hair, going to the bathroom.”

For their clinical experience, students will be bused to Lenoir Woods, a senior services community, twice a week for several months to work oneon-one with residents. Before entering this clinical setting students learned a number of skills. They progressively increase knowledge in class in order to better participate in clinicals.

“They have to know some basic orientation, some basic nursing skills, safety issues, how to safely transfer someone, how to walk with someone, how to feed and help someone eat, basic showers, communication skills [and] how to deal with the confused,” Duemmel said. “Some of these skills we work on all year long so I don’t expect them to be perfect that first week, but you got to kind of know an idea of what to do, and then we’ll work on them as we go through clinicals.”

Continued on Page 2.

DHHS provides flu shots for students Anna Wright

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ith flu outbreaks beginning as early as October, according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, many health-conscious individuals are choosing to receive influenza vaccines.

Throughout the current and coming months, students in Columbia Public Schools will be able to receive flu vaccinations free of cost, thanks to a generous partnership from the David B. Lichtenstein Foundation and the University of Missouri Children’s Hospital.

Coordinator of Health Services Lori Osborne, said the free flu shots will be available to all students under 18 and will be provided at school by health clinicians who will travel to elementary and middle schools.

“Columbia Public Schools students in grades preschool through eighth grade have the opportunity to participate in a school based seasonal influenza clinic during the month of October and early November,” Osborne said. “A signed and completed consent form by a parent or guardian is required before the vaccine will be administered.”

The influenza clinics will not travel to the high schools: however, students aged 18 and under who still wish to receive their free vaccines can do so at the Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services, accompanied by a parent or guardian or with a signed consent form. Flu vaccine clinics held at high schools in the past had low student attendance, Osborne said, which is why the clinics will only travel to preschool, elementary and middle schools.

“At this time the school-based seasonal flu clinics are not held at high schools,” Osborne said. “We have included all high schools in a vaccination clinic in the past and saw a significantly lower participation rate with this age group as compared with the younger grade levels. Therefore, it was a decision by CPS and the Health Department to make sure that any student who was not able to receive the seasonal flu vaccine at school would be able to receive the vaccination free at the Health Department.”

Nurse Tammy Adkins said although flu shots do Sophomore Rachel Spollen said she plans not always end up covering the strain of on jumping at the opportunity to receive illness which ends up spreading, it is a free flu vaccination. She has expestill useful in lowering the period [CPS] rienced influenza in the past, and of time during which an indistudents in grades said she gets an annual flu shot vidual will remain ill. A faster preschool through in order to prevent this unrecovery time is better than eighth grade have the necessary pain and hassle. nothing, she said. opportunity to participate in a “I have [had the flu] “The flu shots, ... they school based seasonal influenza several times,” Spollen have certain strains in clinic during the month of said.

With influenza “you it,” Adkins said. “Somecan’t move, you feel icky, October and early November. times the strain that gets you feel like you’re going to through that people get be sick and you have a reisn’t always covered by the ally high fever. I think I will flu shot, however, usually Lori Osborne take advantage of the free flu the symptoms don’t last as coordinator of Health Sershots because that way my parlong. So if you didn’t get the vices ents won’t have to pay.” flu shot and you get the flu, [you Receiving a yearly flu shot is in will be sick for] five to seven days at the best interest of most individuals, least. If you did get the flu shot, but you Adkins said. Coming down with influenza can still got the flu, [the illness will last] three to five not only result in misery and additional illnesses, but days. It’s just a quicker recovery usually.”

photos by Maribeth Eiken

Fight off the flu: A student receives an influenza vaccine at the Boone County Department of Health and Human Services, on West Worley St. The district does not provide these shots to RBHS students at school. However, the influenza clinics will travel to all elementary and middle schools in the Columbia Public Schools school district.

Protect yourself: A new needle sits on a table, ready to be injected. High school students will still be able to recieve a vaccination free of charge by going to the DHHS building with a parent or guardian. can hinder students’ academic success by keeping them home from school for an extended period of time, she said.

“If you get the flu, you’re pretty much out at least a week of school,” Adkins said. “Not to mention, then you’re at risk for secondary infections a lot of times that come from the flu [like] sinus infections, pneumonia, those kinds of things. Getting influenza can lay you flat, and in high school, missing that much school can be pretty detrimental.”

Osborne said that getting the flu can not only be painful and inconvenient, but also fatal. She offers up a reminder that like any deadly disease, it should be taken seriously and students should take measures to preserve their own health and the health of their peers.

“Thousands of people die each year from influenza,” Osborne said. “Influenza is not something to be taken lightly as it can make a person very ill. Getting your flu vaccine is one way to protect yourself and others around you.”

Columbians upset with changes to Disney’s policy on disability passes Nicole Schroeder

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photo courtesy of Alex Schroeder

The crowd gathers: Tourists mingle in the shadow of Cinderella’s Castle. The company recently said in a statement that they will cease providing passes for disabled people.

ore than 35,000 people have signed a recent petition opposing a new disability assistance policy in Disney Parks, enacted Oct. 9.

Guests will now receive a Disability Access Service Card, which “allows guests with disabilities—as well as an allotted number of people from his or her party—to schedule a return time at a specific attraction that is comparable to the wait time when they first arrive,” according to the Walt Disney World website.

In the past, customers with

disabilities could receive a Guest Assistance Card (GAC), giving them the opportunity to enter the attraction through an alternate entrance with shorter wait times and easier accessibility.

In a recent letter to disability advocacy groups, Meg Crofton, president of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Operations in the United States and France, explained the reason for the change.

“Unfortunately,” Crofton wrote, “our current program for providing access to attractions for guests with disabilities has been abused and exploited to such an extent that we are

no longer able to effectively sustain it in its present form.”

Specifically, this change comes after a group of Manhattan moms hired disabled tour guides to take them through the parks and use their GACs to bypass the regular lines.

The New York Post quotes one mom as saying, “You can’t go to Disney without a tour concierge. This is how the one percent does Disney.”

Despite the decreased potential for abuse, Columbia parents are upset about the implementation of the new passes.

Continued on Page 3.

FEATURES

SPORTS

Mast, Egan have weddings this fall

Concussions pose serious danger to high school athletes’ mental, physical health

Jennifer Mast, in her first year as principal of RBHS, married Jeff Rukstad this October. David Egan, who replaced her as RBHS’s athletic director, will marry Kim Schweikert in November. PAGE 8

BEARING NEWS For constant coverage of Rock Bridge news, sports and other content, visit BearingNews.org

There was a time, not that long ago, when football was a sport of unrestrained violence. Penalties were scarce and big hits were common. Players constantly hit with their helmets. PAGE 19

Issue inside this

News • • • • • 1 Briefs • • • • • 3

In-Depths • • • • • 5

A&E • • • • • • • • 12

Commentary • • • • 8

Community • • 14

Editorials • • • • • • 10

H&W • • • • • • • 16

Features • • • • • • 11

Sports • • • • • • • 19

2

News

photo by Sophie Whyte

Working hard: Sophomore Clayton Warder picks up trash by the North lot after school Oct. 15. Both trash and recycling were collected to improve the environment . Five of RBHS’s service organizations came together to help tidy up the school grounds in the first club combined service project, including RBRO, Tri-Theta, NHS, SEC and Key Club. Over 40 students participated in the clean up.

Five service clubs come together to clean up trash around Rock Bridge Sophie Whyte

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or the first time, five of the school’s largest clubs met up in order to aid the school environment. Rock Bridge Reaches Out, Tri Theta, National Honor Society, Key Club and Student Environmental Coalition joined together to complete their group project on the afternoon of Oct. 15.

Participating students met in the atrium after school to meet up before taking bags around the exterior of the school to clean up litter.

“We wanted to do a group service project with all of the service clubs at Rock Bridge so we could kind of get to know each other,” senior Kelsey Harper, president of RBRO and organizer of the service project said. “We share a lot of members already so it was a good way for people to get to know what all of our other service clubs do. We wanted to start with something simple that would be really easy for us to pull off. We’re actually planning on doing more group projects in the future. But

cleaning up Rock Bridge was did good for the school at the a really easy way to give back same time.”

The participants broke up to the school and get a lot of into smaller groups in order kids involved.”

Harper also found aid to cover more areas of the from senior Nate Horvitt, school grounds. Cups, soda Key Club leader, senior cans, fast food bags and other Whitney Cravens, Tri Theta disposable items rested on the lawn and parking leader, and senior lot, which the Trisha Chaudvolunteers hary, leader “ We separated of NHS. wanted to into recyHarper’s do a group service cling and c o project with all of the trash. presiservice clubs at Rock “It’s dents Bridge so we could kind of not that o f get to know each other.” h a r d and you really do RBRO, Kelsey Harper make a seniors difference Sophi senior by cleaning Farid and up the school,” Katy Shi, also junior Wyatt Sherhelped to plan the man, member of Key Club, project. Communication was key when finding a way said. “And it just makes it a to bring together five of RB- nicer environment.”

Sherman expressed interHS’s largest clubs together.

“I think [the service proj- est in participating in future ect] was important because joint club service projects.

Around 40 people showed it erased the categories of the different service organi- up from the various clubs to zations at Rock Bridge and help, and eight full trash and made everyone come togeth- three full recycle bags were er in the name of service.” collected.

“You get to hang out with Cravens said. “It was fun and

your friends,” Sherman said, “and you’re also doing something good.”

After about an hour of cleaning, the club members met back at the atrium to drop off their bags of litter and recyclables. As a reward for their work, the members enjoyed free snacks and drinks provided by the club leaders.

Many stayed afterwards to eat and chat with friends before they headed off.

“I think [the service project] was successful because we picked up a lot of trash and bottles,” Cravens said.

“Rock Bridge wasn’t that dirty to begin with, but every little bit helps for sure. I would definitely do it again in the future.”

While they don’t have any solid plans for future projects, they have some ideas. Instead of just focusing on RBHS, the clubs may turn their attention to the community of Columbia as a whole. With the participation of even more students next time, perhaps a bigger difference could be made. One thing is certain: the project greatly helped RBHS and was an inspiration for future service projects.

photo by Sophie Whyte

A job well done: Juniors Aaron Ghidey and Brendan McLaughlin relax after helping clean up trash around RBHS during the joint project.

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News

news in

International

Congress listens to victims of drone strikes in Pakistan tell their story

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photo by Maribeth Eiken

Having a laugh: The Homecoming Queen candidates chuckle as they watch the representatives from the different RBHS sports take part in the Oreo-eating competition. They attempted to slide an Oreo cookie down from their foreheads into their mouths and swallow them.

Assemblies will continue using class time Despite initial plans, Bruin Block is not the solution for time drain dilemma Anna Wright

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uilt into the daily routine, Bruin Block is as a period during which, on certain occasions, juniors and seniors would attend their class meetings in order to avoid losing valuable class time. However, after less than 50 percent of students attended the first senior class meeting, with many choosing to go to lunch instead, the administration made the decision to pull students out of class for these meetings, in order to ensure full attendance.

David Bones, director of activities, said the change in class meeting times resulted from the administration trying to ensure that every student receives important class information, especially seniors.

“What we looked at was wanting to make sure we got all this stuff to as many folks as possible, and so we decided we would move it up into class time to make sure we could get [as many] seniors there as possible, because it’s crucial,” Bones said. “If seniors miss getting their cap and gowns ordered, it’s actually quite a steep additional cost if they don’t order them on time, and obviously a huge headache for them.”

Bones said that although seniors who chose not to attend the first class meeting can get the information later on from the school or their friends, this method doesn’t have the same effect. He said the change in time

when class meetings occur will en- when the students have a bunch of sure that students aren’t scrambling freedom, no one is going to go.” to find out vital information that can Math teacher Travis Martin be delivered easily and clearly when agreed that the responsibility should students attend. be in the hands of the student, rather “If a senior misses [a class meet- than the school, to make sure they ing], sure, they can get the informa- know any important information retion, but they’re not going to get the layed during class meetings. He said total package information that they he believes the meetings should rewould get being at the meeting,” main during Bruin Block rather than Bones said. “We want to make sure the administration accommodating we’re getting the accurate instudents’ lack of responsibilformation out to everyity by re-scheduling the one.” meetings during class “ We Senior Piper time. decided we Stretz said be“I think we would move [the cause the should still assemblies] up into first senior be having meeting those meetclass time to make happened sure we could get every ings durduring the senior there as possible, ing [Bruin upperclassBlock], and because it’s crucial.” men’s 68 if a senior minute lunch doesn’t find David Bones period, she out something Activities Director did not attend. about graduation However, she said because they chose she recognizes the to skip that senior importance of exercising meeting and they don’t responsibility given the freedoms get their cap and gown ordered, well that RBHS grants students. then that’s a consequence that they’re “I think it’s definitely the student’s going to have to figure out,” Martin responsibility [to find out informa- said. “They’re going to have to take tion they missed at a class meeting],” some time out somewhere else to go Stretz said. “If a student misses get that ordered and figure out what those meetings, they’re not going to they missed from the meeting.” get the information and then they’re Martin said the rescheduling of not going to know what’s happening. the class meetings contradicts RBHS’ But at the same time, if the adminis- motto of giving students freedom tration schedules them during a time with responsibility. However, he also

recognizes the difficult position the administration is in and commends their attempt to make sure students have the information they need to get through senior year with as few road bumps as possible.

“I would say it goes against the motto of freedom with responsibility because the way I interpret it is you get the freedoms as long as you’re being responsible. So as soon as you start being irresponsible, you start having freedoms taken away,” Martin said. “I also know from a school point of view we are here to educate and help our students, so you could argue that point as well that, ‘Well but if they’re not going to come, they really need this information, we need to make sure that they get it.’”

Regardless of when class meetings occur, Bones said it is especially vital that seniors exercise responsibility by attending the meetings and gathering necessary information about graduation. Without this information, he said, added stress may hinder students from enjoying the senior year experience.

“Senior year is an exciting time, and there’s these two meetings where they can get information that’s important for making sure the year goes smoothly,” Bones said. “It’s really important that students are responsible, get to the meeting, get the information because they can just take care of it all at once and move on [to] the million and one other things they have to take care of this year.”

Disney’s new disability policy whips up opposition among Columbia’s residents Nicole Schroeder Continued from page 1.

photo courtesy of Alex Schroeder

Rising above: This ornate monument to the world of Disney towers above Disneyland. The park announced that they will no longer provide disability passes.

Lisa Kent, who has a daughter that benefited from the old program, said while she believes the new policy sounds helpful, it simply won’t work out for many families with special situations.

“It just puts so much restriction on it,” Kent said. “It doesn’t seem like really a whole lot of extra benefit anyway.”

Kent isn’t the only one upset with the change. Though Nicole Morris, a chairperson for the Columbia division of the PTA, isn’t affected by the new passes, she still believes the changes will do more harm than good.

But she doesn’t believe the new policy will necessarily prevent the misuse of passes in the future, either.

“I think it is a shame that Disney has had to come to a decision such as this,” Morris said.

“It will make it more difficult for those who are abusing the system, but at the expense of those whom the program was developed to enjoy the magical experience. They should not be the ones paying the price.”

According to Inside the Magic, a website that provides information on Disney Parks and Resorts, many disability advocacy groups such as Autism Speaks have also voiced opinions on the new policy, saying it will hinder guests with special needs’ abilities to enjoy the parks.

Laura Rod, a special education teacher at Gentry Middle School, said she doubted many of her students would be able to handle the

long lines that they would now have to face in Disney Parks.

“I think it’s wrong, but I think there’s got to be a way that you could… make sure the person that’s disabled really belongs with that [family],” Rod said. “I mean… there’s always gonna be people out there trying to get away with something. Maybe with the peer pressure… those people might think twice about what they did.”

One of Rod’s former students now attends RBHS as a freshman. Dan Nemec said he used the old policy in the past. The lines “were very long,” he said. “I liked the short lines [better].”

His mother, Mary Nemec, agreed, saying she doesn’t believe the new policy would be able to help her son like the old policy did.

There are still those at RBHS who see the new change as a positive one. Leah Maxey, a sophomore, said she believes the change in the program will make queue lines fair and hopefully help with the recent abuse.

“Just because they have a disability that doesn’t mean they can’t wait in [longer] lines,” Maxey said. “I think [the new passes] will be better since you can’t really abuse them.”

A Disneyland Resort spokeswoman told The Rock that along with the new policy, Disney Parks will continue to provide services to ensure guest’s individual needs are met. If a family believes the new passes won’t be able to accommodate their specific needs, the source said Disney will work especially with them to design a new plan in order to better provide for that family.

source: www.commons.wikimedia.org

ongress heard an account last Tuesday, Oct. 29 from the family of a victim of an alleged United States drone strike that hit Pakistan a little more than a year ago.

Rafiq ur Rehman, the son of the 67-year-old woman killed in the drone strike, noticed many people burying a body at a small graveyard near his house on his way home. Rehman got a little worried and asked a boy if he knew who died and what happened. The boy told him that the person buried was the mother of someone named Latif Rehman, who turned out to be Rafiq ur Rehman’s brother.

He remembered his children were with his mother for the day, so he rushed home to see if anyone else was hurt. Two of his children were hurt in the strike. Nine-year-old Nabeela ur Rehman and her 13-year-old brother Zubair ur Rehman were two of the people who talked to Congress this last Tuesday describing the strike.

Drones strikes are a new method that the military uses to attack their opponents in other countries, but these drones also cause a lot of collateral damage. The question arises about whether or not the innocent people that are killed make up for the terrorists who are also killed by the drones. This debate over drone strikes will continue for a while to come.

National

Recent reports indicate that the NSA is spying on our allies

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ew reports show that the National Security Agency spies on many United States allies, including Germany, Brazil, France and Spain.

Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, recently came out and told President Obama to stop listening in on her phone calls. Recent reports indicate that our government was wiretapping 60 million Spanish phone calls. The flow of this information started with Edward Snowden and has continued since.

source: www.commons.wikimedia.org

State

Special prosecutor put on rape case of 14-year-old girl

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new Kansas City prosecutor recieved the job of the reopened case of the rape of 14-year-old Daisy Coleman, who is now 16 years old. The case received national attention when the girl and her mother, Melinda Coleman, said that the original Nodaway County prosecutor did not do enough for the case before the charges against Daisy’s accused rapist were dropped.

Daisy was allegedly raped at a high school party while intoxicated. She was left in front of her house passed out on top of a foot of snow while wearing almost nothing when her mother found her and took her to the hospital. The evidence on her body showed rape.

Local

New parks designed for the disabled coming to Columbia

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oone County, Columbia Parks and Recreation and Boone County Family Resources put their minds together to build a playground designed specifically for the disabled, both children and adults. This is part of a bigger project started in 2003. The project is raising money to build seven playgrounds of this type in Missouri, Illinois and Wisconsin. The project’s total cost is $1.6 million. stories written by Abdul-Rahman Abdul-Kafi

Follow this code to Bearing News

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News

Professions in Healthcare introduces realistic clinical setting Brittany Cornelison continued from page one Classified as nurse assistants, students in the Professions in Healthcare still don’t have their certification.

However, they are still allowed to do the amount that a Certified Nurse Assistant can, once under the supervision of their teacher and the charge nurse on site, according to Jill Layne, Health Care Services Administrator.

“As long as they have taken their first 16 hours of clinicals they can come to us and do everything a Certified Nurse Assisstant can do,” Layne said. “What we like about [having the students] is first of all it gives them the opportunity to develop their skills, and our residents absolutely love it when they come because they get one-on-one attention while they’re here … so it’s a win-win for all.”

Such clinicals also give students a unique chance to get a feel for working with actual people and helps them to decide whether or not they want to work in patient-focused care or if they are uncomfortable in that setting, according to Duemmel.

Senior Maddi Allen-Hanson is a student in Duemmel’s afternoon Professions in Healthcare class. She plans on going into healthcare when she graduates from high school and the program, but is unsure of what specific field she would be the most apt for.

“I took the class to decide if I like working with patients and being hands on with them or if I want to do the separate side of it and do independent medical research,” Allen-Hanson said. “The benefits [of clinicals] are just realizing what the patients actual needs are … and being able to learn if you like to work with patients or not” The students will work closely with each of the residents getting to know them and their needs. Though they will display their nursing skills, they will also be tending to the resident’s social and emotional needs.

“Of course they do the physical needs … they do basic care they do bathing, they do toileting, they do dressing, grooming, just different things like that,” Layne said, “but most of it is emotional needs just talking to them, hav-

photo by Maribeth Eiken

Getting connected: Students enrolled in the Professions in Healthcare course at the Columbia Area Career Center attend clinicals at Lenoir Woods, a local senior center. Those enrolled in the class learn the skills needed to take care of a variety of possible cases they may be presented in the profession. ing someone there to converse with.”

Several nursing programs, in addition to the one at CACC, use Lenior Woods as an outreach to practice their skills in a real-life setting.

After spending 100 hours at Lenoir with the residents, several of the students will have the opportunity to continue care in that same facility.

While CACC students progress in their Professions in Healthcare class they will try and demonstate their ability to work in such a geriatric care setting to the staff of places such as Lenoir.

So not only are the teachers assessing the skills, but also the professionals on

the site are evaluating to see who would work well in their facility in the future.

“We have the Mizzou [Registered Nurse] program here, we have State Fair Community College students, we have the Career Center when they have a class and their [Licensed Practice Nurse] students here and then we have Moberly Area Community College LPN’s,” Layne said. “Our CNA’s that are our employees are assessing [the students] the whole time.”

The Professions in Healthcare course accounts for three credits on a student’s transcript, meaning that they meet everyday of the week for two and

a half hours. Though this may seem like a lot of time to spend in one class, much material is covered in order for students to be able to pass their final assessment at the end of the year.

This test, called the Certified Nursing Assistant assessment requires for students to have 75 hours of in-class instruction time as well as 100 hours in the clinical setting.

The department built in enough clinical days for students to be able to miss four days of clinicals and still be qualified to take the CNA assessment. With these steep requirements, students must be devoted to missing as little school as

possible so that they can meet assigned markers for this demanding program.

“It’s not hard it just takes time, you’ve got to have really good attendance because we don’t have a lot of time and you have to get 100 hours in, so attendance is a big issue. We have days built in for absences, but not a lot,” Duemmel said. “Snow days, those are days that we will make up sometimes at the end of the year. Right now we test in April and it gives us about a months time in case we do have snow days. It’ll get done, we’ll just go to clinicals four days a week instead of two if we have to, to get them in.”

In-Depths

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Traumatic experiences lead to lifelong phobias Afsah Khan hen senior Audrey Clark was six years old, her dad and brother were gone on a camping trip, and her mother left her home alone.

While Clark waited for her mom to come back home, something on television caught her attention; the experience scarred her young brain.

“My mom left me to go get something from the grocery store and the movie ‘It’ was on TV,” Clark said. “And there was this clown that was eating children. At first he was all happy, and then all of a sudden he got these huge teeth and grinned and just ate them. And I didn’t know how to shut the channel, so I was just on the bed with the pillow over my face, and I couldn’t stop watching it.”

Though this event occurred more than 10 years ago, the violent actions of the clown in the movie caused Clark to develop an extreme phobia of clowns. This fear, known as coulrophobia, still causes some difficulties for her.

“I know a lot of people are scared of clowns, but I’m violently scared of clowns. My friend ... sent me a picture of a clown once. I was asleep, and I woke up and there was a clown on my phone, and I threw it across my room and broke my phone because I was so scared,” Clark said.

She “can’t even think about them without getting [scared].”

Clark avoids clowns because of the fear she feels when she’s around one. Even though she does not see clowns on a daily basis, she still has anxiety because of how often clowns appear in shows and entertainment.

“I was in Utah at a Memorial Day parade, and there was this clown on a bicycle, and he would drive up really close to you and be like ‘Hi,’ and I ran away to my car and sat in my car the whole parade because I didn’t want to deal with the clown,” Clark said. “So anytime there’s a clown I’ll run away, and anytime there’s a clown movie or a clown on Reddit or iFunny I’ll just shut it off

and freak out. It’s bad.”

Senior Jake Phillips, like Clark, also has a phobia, but his developed in a different fashion.

When Phillips was only a toddler, still tripping on his own feet and learning how to walk properly, he visited his grandparents on their farm. That day, Phillips strayed away from adult supervision and got bitten by a snake, an unfortunate incident that left him terrified of the reptiles.

“My older cousin was supposed to be watching me, and she turned her back on me for one second … and I just started walking towards the tall grass because I was young and adventurous,” Phillips said. “And so my cousin turned around and looked back, and she … started screaming and everything. [But] by the time that she got to me I was already crying because the snake had come up to me and bitten half the skin on my shin off.”

A phobia of snakes is known as a ophidiophobia and affects 51 percent of American adults according to a 2001 Gallup poll. For Phillips, it wasn’t the disturbing appearance or danger of a snake that led to his phobia. Though the snake bite may have spurred Phillips’ ophidiophobia, he had no recollection of the incident because of how young he was at the time. Without hearing the stories of the incident from relatives, he wouldn’t have figured out why he had this fear.

“I would have never known why I was afraid of snakes if it wasn’t for my cousin telling me a couple of years ago because I’ve always been deathly afraid of snakes,” Phillips said. “When we went to a museum and we were just looking at the snake exhibits, I would just freak out and start having a panic attack and I would run away.”

Dr. Sarah Coller, a clinical psychologist with a private practice in Columbia, explains phobias are a form of anxiety disorders and can be attributed to either genetics or real-life experiences, or a combinations of both. She pointed out that, for example, it’s possible for a fear to stem from a relative’s phobia both because of genes and because of watching them suffer from the phobia

over time.

“There is often a hereditary component to anxiety disorders, which means a biological [or] biochemical component,” Coller said in an e-mail interview. “Also, they can be learned, meaning a negative association may have been learned in the family … or there may have been a negative event associated with the development of a phobia. I believe that there are common phobias with things, animals or situations that are potentially harmful [such as] fear of heights, snakes [and] spiders.”

Phillips has attempted to overcome his fear in the past; however, his efforts have been fruitless.

Despite trying to get close to snakes and make contact with them, he is still as afraid of them as he was before his ventures.

“I have tried [to get rid of my phobia],” Phillips said. “There are times when I go over to a friend’s house and a couple of my friends have pet snakes, and they’d always pull it out of the cage and play with it and everything, let it crawl around on them and everything, and I would try to touch it, but everytime … I would freak out and run away.”

Even though Phillips attempted to rid himself of his anxiety, Clark sees no point in trying to do so. She doesn’t believe it is worth it to make the effort to get rid of a fear that doesn’t cause her daily anxiety. Clark’s opinion isn’t uncommon though; according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, only about one-third of people affected by an anxiety disorder, such as a phobia, receive treatment.

“I think if I wanted to, I could befriend one of these clown guys and then be fine, but I have no desire whatsoever to do that, because clowns aren’t part of my daily life,” Clark said. “But if it were something I encountered everyday … then I would want to get over that.”

Even though Clark does not feel the need to seek help for her phobia, treatments do exist. Coller says there are many therapies and drugs that can lessen the effects of a phobia on everyday activities. For example, anti-anxiety drugs such as

Xanax are prescribed to treat mild fears.

“There are ways to overcome phobias: Visual imagery coupled with relaxation exercises and gradually exposing the person to what they have a phobia over. Also, if there is some general anxiety, especially more than one phobia, medication can be helpful,” Coller said. “A combination of psychotherapy and medication can sometimes be the most helpful way to deal with phobias that are more extensive [and] interfere with quality of life.”

Clark also believes if she were not afraid of clowns anymore, there would be another fear around to take its place in her mind. She believes most, if not all people have a fear or phobia. In reality, anxiety disorders affect 40 million adults in the United States, according to the ADAA. Since they affect about 18 percent of the population, these anxiety disorders are known as the most common mental illness in the country.

“I think that everyone’s scared of something,” Clark said. “Before it was clowns, I was just scared of being scared. I didn’t watch scary movies, I didn’t go to fear fests, I hated Halloween. [It’s] because I was just scared of that feeling of being afraid.”

Phillips agrees with Clark and considers himself lucky because of the fact that he cannot remember the moment that sparked his fear of snakes. He believes if he remembered, it would only feed his fear and make it a bigger problem in his daily life, since he would be able to constantly access the memory.

“There’s different levels of phobias, and it all just depends on your encounter and how your phobia was created,” Phillips said. “Like for mine, [it] was at such a young age that I didn’t even know why I had this phobia; it was just there. And for other people, they get it later in life and they can remember the exact instant when they had this phobia and it has the potential to grow and become worse because they are constantly able to think about that one moment.”

6

In-Depths

Something wicked this way comes Scary movies invoke reactions of fear, discomfort Luke Chval orror films, such as Dracula and Frankenstein, have been a significant part of the American film industry ever since Universal Pictures began producing such films in the early 1930s.

The suspense and psychological tension that scary movies exude cause people to land on both ends of the spectrum of love and hate of these films. Junior Asha Davis has been a fan of horror films for as long as she can remember.

“I’ve been watching horror films forever,” Davis said. “The one I can remember the most as ingrained in my memory would be the films of the Halloween series.”

About a quarter of college students polled still experienced effects from horror films they viewed during their childhood, according to a study the University of Michigan conducted. Nearly 60 percent of these effects included trauma from well-known films such as Jaws and Halloween, which explains the reasoning behind the strong memories of Halloween as the acclaimed horror films should have the strongest effect on the people who watched such movies.

Sophomore Alice Yu has a strong dislike for horror films and the effects that she receives from movies that would not even be characterized as horror films.

“I remember when I watched Harry Potter, and the figure of Voldemort gave me nightmares,” Yu said. “Also other characters from movies that are kind of disfigured make me uncomfortable.”

Yu said there are aspects of horror films in many movies, such as popular Disney films, so that people are introduced to these aspects at a very young age.

“I remember when I was really young and I saw Sleeping Beauty for the first time,” Yu said. “And the wicked fairy Maleficent frightened me very much.”

Davis does not experience the effects of fright as strongly as Yu, and she believes she enjoys the parts of the movies that fearful viewers such as Yu would not.

“My favorite parts in a horror film are the suspense leading up to the violence,” Davis said. “But I have seen people who are the exact opposite and hate the suspense or the violence or both.

I also think that some people hate horror films because they take the situations in the movie past the movie into real-life, whereas people like myself are able to reassure ourselves that there is no real violence; there is no real villain.”

Although not present in the movies that she watches, Davis also believes fear is important to humans.

“I think that everyone should fear something,” Davis said.

“Fear is part of being a human, and everyone finds it somewhere, whether it’s in horror films or not.”

Evolution influences fear of darkness Childhood night-time jitters rooted in natural human instinct Anna Wright he dark always seems to cast a shadow of fear across the human consciousness, evoking fright in individuals of all ages and genders. Be it a paralyzing phobia or a simple uneasiness, many individuals fear the vast unknown before them when light is not present.

Math teacher Megan Gabel said she experienced this fear as a child, and even as an adult sometimes still feels uncomfortable in dark rooms.

“I was terrified of the dark when I was a kid. I’m still slightly scared every once in a while,” Gabel said. “Mainly [when I am] in my house alone and things like that, I just have this fear that someone’s in the room or someone’s behind a corner that I can’t see.”

In her youth, Gabel said her fear of the dark was so severe she would go to irrational lengths to calm her anxieties. Her fear manifested itself at night when she went to bed, and one day her anxiety-induced rituals ended up backfiring.

“The biggest thing was when I would try to get into bed at night, I was always afraid someone would grab my ankles, so I would basically take a running start from the hallway and long jump into my bed,” Gabel said. “One day I was especially scared and ended up over jumping and nailing my face on the headboard.”

Psychology teacher Tim Dickmeyer said Gabel’s childhood fear is not uncommon. Dickmeyer said fear of the dark is common among young kids, and it is not unusual for the phobia to carry into adulthood as well.

“According to some recent Gallup polls, between 5 to 8 percent of American adults report that they are afraid of the dark,” Dickmeyer said in an email interview. “This number is significantly higher in young children; although it is absent before age two and disappears in most people by late adolescence.”

Sophomore Lauren Brown is one such person who had a fear of the dark during her childhood years. She said she believes the phobia stems from an inherent fear of the unknown, as it is difficult to see well in the dark.

“It was my basement that I was mostly scared of because it was never finished and it was always dark and so I would have to go down there sometimes and get some stuff and I would walk down there and just feel like I saw things but I really didn’t,” Brown said.

“I think it’s the fear of not knowing ... because you can’t really see in the dark very well. It’s just not knowing where everything is and the light’s all you can see.”

Brown is not far off in her assumption about why humans frequently experience a fear of the dark. Dickmeyer said evolution may have ingrained this phobia in the human consciousness, due to the dangers posed to our ancestors during the night when not much light was present.

“From an evolutionary psychology standpoint, modern humans’ behavior can be explained in terms of behaviors that helped our ancestors (stretching back millions of years) survive,” Dickmeyer said. “We are diurnal (primarily awake during the day), as

were our ancestors, and there are many factors that endanger our survival at night.”

Among these factors is the increased likelihood of being attacked by an unseen predator at night, Dickmeyer said. Before man-made forms of light were invented, humans had no way to see well in the dark, which lead us to fear the dark and the perilous risks associated with it.

“Nocturnal predators hunt at night. With poor night vision, fatal accidents are more common, especially in the times before artificial light,” Dickmeyer said. “With all these dangers at night, it might be inferred that a fear of the dark was actually a survival advantage for our ancestors.”

In 2011, University of Minnesota professor Craig Packer led a study collected data that supports the theory that humans’ fear of the dark has an evolutionary background. The study “measured the food intake of African lions across the lunar cycle and tested whether moonlight affects the timing of lion attacks on humans in southern Tanzania where over 1000 people were attacked between 1988 and 2009.”

The research concluded that African lions had an increased food intake on nights with less moonlight, confirming the idea that predators were more likely to hunt or attack our ancestors in darker conditions. This may provide an explanation for why we feel unsafe in the dark, and why this fear gives us an evolutionary advantage.

Regardless of the reasoning behind why humans fear the dark, Dickmeyer said it is important to seek professional help for any severe phobia. If a fear of the dark interferes with one’s daily life, it is especially pertinent to ask a therapist for help.

“Any severe psychological issue should be treated by a professional,” Dickmeyer said. “If a person suffers severe debilitating anxiety due to night phobia (Nyctophobia) that prevents necessary routines, they should seek help from a professional therapist.”

If the phobia is not severe, however, Dickmeyer said an individual can overcome their fear by simply associating the dark with an activity which brings them joy. He recommends listening to relaxing music or enjoying a favorite snack while in a safe dark area such as a backyard.

“For simple mild fear, a self-administered course of counterconditioning could lead to positive outcomes,” Dickmeyer said. “A lot of mild fears are simply learned responses. We can overcome those fears by attaching the event that causes our fear to a pleasurable event. After repeated pairings, the person might begin to associate the dark with these pleasure-causing things.”

Once an individual learns to overcome their fear of the dark, life will become much more enjoyable, Dickmeyer said. He relates his advice to his own personal experience with Nyctophobia, and said once he overcame his own fear, the dark became a peaceful environment rather than a threatening one.

“On a personal note, I cannot recommend overcoming fear of the dark enough,” Dickmeyer said. “As a child I was afraid of the dark, but if I hadn’t overcome it, I would not be able to enjoy laying outside on a clear night and enjoying the wonder of the heavens.”

Randolph Blake, Ph.D., from the Vanderbilt University’s psychology department, agrees, and explains that fear is essential to human processes.

“Fear keeps us out of harm’s way,” Blake said. “It’s a kind of emotional SOS message that signals an immediate need to react to threat. We need fear.”

While Davis said the suspense of the movie repels some viewers, Yu has completely different reasons for disliking scary movies.

“It frightens me the most when faces are contorted,” Yu said. “Of course it isn’t always, such as in cartoons, but if there is blood dripping out of their mouth and their eye sockets are really huge, in Voldemort and characters like him, then it’s very frightening for me.”

In-Depths

7

Superstitious beliefs based in reason Justin Sutherland rom the small act of throwing salt over your left shoulder to risking seven years of bad luck by breaking a mirror, all superstitions have a history. Even the common courtesy of saying “bless you” after someone sneezes possibly dates back to Pope Gregory the Great, when the Black Death grew rampant, according to the Library of Congress. To this day, this tradition rests within the culture of our societies and many practice this “courtesy,” offering a short phrase as a bit of luck. At RBHS, Senior Bri Thompson tries to say “bless you” every time she hears someone sneeze.

“I think you should always say bless you,” Thompson said, “because you don’t want someone to get sick or anything like that.”

Another reason the tradition of blessing someone took hold in the past is because when one sneezes, their spirit may leave their body, according to Jim Meyer, Introduction to Mythology teacher, which gave an opportunity for the potential of a ghost entering your body.

Not only do people take small gestures, like saying “bless you,” seriously; people allow ideas, such as Budweiser’s new slogan,“it’s only weird if it doesn’t work,” to make them more superstitious about their daily lives. People believe specific clothing, such as lucky jerseys, underwear or even scarves can enhance their luck or even their team’s luck. For Thompson, these would be her shoes she has performed every choir concert in.

“They’re good luck so that I can go on and have confidence,” Thompson said. “It just makes me feel more sure of myself, but I don’t see them as super lucky, just more of a confidence boost.”

These actions work as a placebo effect, according to neurology.org; this means that, for example, if one is given a sugar pill and told it will give them less pain, they feel less pain. Though these may seem harmless and even positive, not all superstitions are. For example, Thompson believes a “creepy old lady” at a store downtown put a curse on her when she passed by the lady.

“I felt really weird after [she gave me an eerie stare], and I thought ‘Oh, my gosh, what if she put a curse on me?’” Thompson said. “Ever since then, after nine o’clock I have seen a cat wherever I am.”

Cats, especially black ones, are a cause of concern for many. According to a survey done by University of California-Berkeley, 182 experienced cat owners said that cats with tortoiseshell or black fur are typically referred to as “intolerable,” meaning they are not as friendly and are less playful than other cats. This stems from the belief that when a black cat crosses one’s path, it delivers bad luck; however, according to petcare.net, this fear comes from the fact that black cats are hard to see. If a cat crosses someone’s path, they could easily trip over the small animal. In fact, Meyer said most superstitions and even myths have practical reasoning and are a type of coping mechanism.

“I think a lot of it has to do with a lack of comfort with the randomness of life,” Myers said. “Because so much of life cannot be controlled, superstition allows us to feel like we’re asserting some kind of goal. This makes us feel like we have some kind of control.”

These superstitions may have practical value to the believer, Meyer said, but that does not mean that the believers need to know their original ideas to help with that. One of Meyer’s favorite myths is an old MiddleEastern Mediterranean belief in “The Evil Eye,” which refers to the eyes of those who covet or want what others have.

“To this day you see people wearing pendants to ward off this Evil Eye,” Meyer said. “One of the things that was the most envied was male children. These more patrilineal, patriarchal families are passing down power through sons. As a result, young boys were dressed as girls, the reason being that if it’s not obvious to the world that your child is male he wouldn’t be envied.”

In ancient times, children were more likely to get sick since they had weaker immune systems, Meyer said, and MiddleEastern families thought they could protect their precious sons by avoiding the Evil Eye by dressing their young male sons as girls until they came of age, which was after puberty.

This, along with other beliefs - such as a fear of black cats, broken mirrors and avoiding cracks on street to ensure your mother’s well-being - began with serious meanings and lessons. Now, out of context, people take these superstitions less seriously and make them into more of a joke.

“There’s a certain point at which these superstitions or beliefs or even religions can be taken without any doubt or curiosity about them,” Meyer said. “A blind faith in these keeps them from having the true value that they did originally. Whatever it was that we were trying to avoid by doing and believing them is now lost.”

art by Maddy Mueller

8

Commentary www.bearingnews.org • The Rock • Oct. 31, 2013

O l d e r t r i c k- o r - t re a t e r s r u i n holiday for younger children Derek Wang

S

ometimes high school students confuse me.

Why would someone still go trick-or-treating at 16? Trick-or-treating is for little kids; teenagers should be the ones handing out the candy. It’s really awkward, handing out your candy to kids your age, when you can see a group of children walking down the street towards your house and you are running out of candy.

Two years ago, I was giving out candy to children as I do every year when at 9 p.m. I answered the door for a group of junior high and high school students. Imagine my surprise as I handed the last of my candy to these teenagers, thinking there wouldn’t be any more trickor-treaters that night. I was wrong.

Half an hour later, the doorbell rang again. I looked outside and saw a small group of children with their parents standing nearby. Surprised, I scrambled to find some candy as my mom answered the door. I tore through my cupboard in my search, eventually scrounging together just enough to give each kid a few pieces each.

Afterwards I felt terrible.

Not having enough candy to give to children on Halloween is really embarrassing, and got me thinking, why do teenagers go trick-or-treating? Isn’t that for the kids, with the adults and teens staying home and distributing the treats? Shouldn’t teenagers at least be at Halloween parties rather than going door to door for candy?

This moment transported me back to my childhood, when I spent my Halloween walking down cold, dark streets to receive candy from strangers. I reminisced about dressing up in cheesy outfits that I never used again, and bringing buckets of candy back home. I remembered when I ended up in a group of about five kids with our parents, walking through many different neighborhoods when a

group of teenagers turned the corner in front of us. As they walked away, my group entered the neighborhood they had just exited. Many of the houses did not have any candy left, and most of them had only a little left. I thought nothing of it at the time, but that night two years ago made me think if it was those teenagers’ fault that my group didn’t get much candy from that neighborhood.

Last year, I made sure I bought enough candy to give to everyone, ending up with a surplus of sweets. I was glad that not as many teenagers came to my door. Most of them were just escorting their younger siblings, which I applaud. Others, however, were still going around getting candy. Before the night began, I thought about what I was going to do about the teenagers that would inevitably still be trick-or-treating.

Would I answer the door for them? Would I turn them away? After much contemplation, I still gave them candy although I gave them less than what I gave the younger kids.

Despite my discrimination, I do understand part of the reasoning behind trick-or -treating at this age. Everybody likes sugar and sweets, and everyone likes free stuff.

Halloween has both of these things at every few feet. Each house is pretty much a convenience store giving out candy for free. However, at the age high schoolers are at, most of them can drive to a store themselves and have jobs that will refill their pockets after they spend a few dollars for a large bag of candy or two.

Maybe high school students are finally maturing, or maybe they are just getting busier. Whatever the reason, there was a decline of teenagers trick-or-treating in my neighborhood. This is a good sign for children and adults alike. People will give more candy to kids, and families will not have to spend as much money to satisfy the needs of the trick-or-treating community. Maybe our high school population will finally start acting its age.

Decline of Halloween customs across neighborhoods proves tragic Urmila Kutikkad

W

hen I was growing up, Halloween was quite the affair. To an elementary student, there’s something profoundly genius about the concept of getting to parade around in costumes and receiving free candy in return - perhaps something questionably generous, but something to revere in that earnest, five-yearold way.

You knew Halloween was coming when the soft underbelly of autumn’s air developed a bite, when you stepped outside and everything smelled vaguely of smoked maple syrup and the plumes of burgundy and gold leaves had given way to some shriveled brand of brown. The overzealous neighbors would’ve strewn their houses with Halloween lights and their yards with massive, inflatable ghosts and Frankensteins; the stores would be teeming with parents and giddy children, finally there for the Spiderman costumes and candy corn that had been put up about two months too early.

And then came the planning of the costumes. Like most children, there were the years where my parents stuffed me, reluctant, into princess costumes against my will, and all the pictures featured my sugar-high grimace. But after that I bullied them into letting my Halloween costumes function as

a personal creative outlet, which meant costumes primarily centered around cats and Harry Potter and Mulan, the best princess of all.

The build-up was almost better than the actual thing.

Almost.

In the end, nothing could beat the day itself. Hearing the last bell of the school day and fully understanding what lay in store for that night. Or finally, finally, getting to put on the Best Costume Ever. Or the unique thrill of trick-or-treating, enhanced by its exclusivity to one spooky night a year.

More and more, though, the trick-or-treating is fading. Whether parents are concerned about their children’s safety or whether they just aren’t overly friendly with their neighbors or whether they prefer to have a nice party in the warmth, the number of children trick-or-treating on our streets is on the decline, and that is tragic.

Trick-or-treating is arguably the best part of Halloween.

There’s an excitement in trying to predict which house will give you that lame apple, which house will leave the basket of candy out front with a “Please take one!” note to tease itching hands and sweet tooths or which house will be more invested in frightening trickor-treaters than wholly necessary.

There’s something irreplaceable about shouting “Trick or treat!”

too loudly at the slightly alarmed neighbors, about the backhand candy deals made while scurrying from house to house - 10 Tootsie Rolls for a Twix, an arm and a leg and most of your soul for some Swedish Fish.

But more than anything, trickor-treating builds community and relationships. Even if it’s just that one night a year, something about the trick-or-treating bond lasts.

The decline of trick-or-treating is reflective of a greater trend in our society: the decline of community; no one gets to know their neighbors anymore.

My neighborhood when I was growing up was like something out of a ‘90s TV show. It was fairly small with wide roads framed by grand trees and adorable houses.

Everyone knew each other, would walk over to the next house to borrow sugar, would routinely have shouted conversations with people across the street while gardening and would give each other cats and trampolines.

The best part, though, was the group of kids. Regardless of how old we were, the kids on the block would hang out, come bright winter morning or sedated summer noon, playing Ghosts in the Graveyard or flipping on the trampoline or setting up elaborate basketball tournaments. We would build secret hideouts and invent recipes and talk. I grew up

with these kids and their families; I grew up learning to be open and friendly and generous, to care about other people and their stories, to appreciate community and relationships, and its value has been immeasurable.

Maybe lamenting the decline of trick-or-treating seems trivial, the angsty pet project of a nostalgic teenager, but it’s about more than a fun childhood activity; it’s about community, about people and their stories. Building community engenders healthy and happy societies and healthy and happy people; studies have even proven it to reduce crime.

I moved to a new house this summer, the only other one I’ve lived in in my entire life, and it’s not the same. Coming from an old, close-knit neighborhood to a new and sparse one is a transition that’s hard to swallow. Nobody comes over to chat about Thanksgiving plans or drop off zucchini bread on a whim. We haven’t bonded over scooter races down the hill.

Our neighbors haven’t met my cat, Butterbeer, the best cat in the world, and we haven’t met whatever pets they naively claim to be the best in their world. We’ve met our neighbors, but we haven’t really met them at all. The ever-important sense of community is gone, and I’m left imagining stories to fill the enigma that lingers in the houses and the people around us.

Combination of Halloween, birthday creates tradition during childhood Luke Chval

H

alloween is not a normal holiday. It has no acknowledged religious affiliation, such as most holidays, and it has no American historical or governmental significance, being one of the few widely observed holidays that doesn’t fall into either category, like Valentine’s Day or St. Patrick’s Day. Despite the lack of tremendous influence on peoples’ lives, Halloween is the second most celebrated holiday in America today.

Birthdays, however, aren’t even holidays really, just something celebrated once a year by close friends and relatives. Although not a communal holiday, birthdays are most likely one of the most celebrated days of the year for a person.

Having a birthday on Oct. 31 made this date very different for me than most people; I can’t associate one holiday in my head without the other.

I always received candy and presents on the same day. I dressed up in a costume on my birthday as a young child and my birthday cakes often displayed black and orange decor.

Because the prominent source of cultural infusion in my life came from my father, I am an ardent traditionalist. I am an avid fan of Notre Dame football, I rarely enjoy music from this century, and I prefer classic books and movies. This traditionalism has had a major impact on my life, including the fact that I have spent many of my birthdays consuming candy while watching some of my favorite quintessential Halloween and thriller movies, such as “Halloween” and “Psycho.”

While many people have either told me that I’m lucky or unlucky to having this shared holiday, there are no definitive emotions that I have for having my birthday on the same date as Halloween. There were benefits and drawbacks. My neighbors who knew it was my birthday usually gave me double amounts of candy; however, I don’t remember having many birthday parties

throughout my life, probably because a young child could never schedule a party on Halloween.

Now, that it has been 16 years of having Halloween and my birthday on the same day, there’s no life altering change that comes with having a birthday on a holiday. It doesn’t dramatically alter me as a person, but I would like to think that it fed to my personal development as a young child, when views can be most skewed. Just like everyone else in the world, I have self-confidence issues, self-esteem issues and all that go along with those. Being born into a family where achievement and excellence are highly prioritized, I believe it was important to the psyche of my much younger self that my birthday meant something to other people, people who didn’t know me at all, as there are fewer opportunities for achievement the younger a child is.

Just as things were added to and subtracted from each aspect of the duality of Oct. 31, I missed out on some key parts of birthdays and Halloween such as the birthday parties I lacked as a young child. I stopped trickor-treating younger than most of my friends; I had outgrown it and wanted to spend more of my day celebrating my birthday.

My birthday may have ruined Halloween for me; however, when I sit down to watch those movies that remind me of how much I enjoy the holiday, I still look back on it fondly as a part of my childhood. I don’t regret this because most people abandon Halloween as an essential holiday at some

art by Maddy Mueller

point and because I have already done so, it has allowed me to celebrate my birthday like I never have before.

While I didn’t exactly need the help, having my birthday on Halloween most importantly established a day filled with great traditions for me once a year. Tradition can be vital, a bright spot in dark times. It can be a routine in a hectic and crazed schedule filled with stress. Everyone and every place create their own traditions because people want to look for the few things in their life that never change, the few things that they can always count on to be the same.

TRIPLE Manal Salim

A

mong married individuals, 5.4 million couples in the United States are interracial, or comprised of parents of differing ethnic backgrounds, according to usatoday.com, which doesn’t make my multicultural family anything unusual. Regardless, I’ve always felt a little different from everyone else.

Because my dad is Palestinian and my mom is Bosnian, the mixed Arab-European environment I grew up with has presented me with a unique mixture of two very different cultures that have blended with one another seamlessly, shaping me into the person I am today.

From visiting my dad’s side of the family to the virtues I grew up with at home, the Palestinian culture has been an everpresent aspect of my life. One of the most prevalent Arab qualities I can recall is the unwavering importance of respecting my elders. As a child, and even today, it is not just an expectation, but rather a duty of mine to assist my parents and grandparents in any situation, without hesitation.

If my grandmother desired anything, it would be a battle among my siblings, my cousins and me to see who could spring to action the quickest.

On the other hand, the second half of my family ingrained a different concept into my personality. Upon visiting Bosnia when I was younger, my grandparents praised me for all that I accomplished, whether the task was small or large, thus instilling the importance of a good work ethic and diligence. My grandparents themselves were hard workers, as my grandfather used to be the mayor of his town, and my grandmother is the proud owner of a thriving garden she devotes extensive amounts of her time to.

Though both characteristics seem quite different, stemming from two opposite cultures, the values I was raised with are far more alike upon closer inspection. Because my Palestinian father taught me the importance of respecting others combined with my Bosnian mother’s en-

couragement of working hard, I developed an overall mindset to make it a goal of mine to further myself in life by pushing myself, while also accommodating those around me.

The path to success cannot be derived from stepping on others to get there, rather cooperation and mutual happiness is the most effective route. The way in which my parents were able to breach boundaries and marry out of their ethnic races and were able to live a happy life together despite their differing backgrounds, goes to show me that they also practiced the concept they taught me. They worked to maintain good relationships with those around them, keeping our multi-national family seamless and as content as ever.

Being multiracial has assisted me in maintaining good relationships with others, since I feel as though I have an easier ability of understanding most other people around me because I myself had to learn to understand my own family. With parents of different nationalities, I have developed a greater opportunity to obtain exposure to two varying cultures, which allows me to have a better idea of where other people are coming from when I meet them.

And as I meet other people, it is even easier to interact with many of them since the number of interracial couples and families has increased significantly. Many Americans have realized the importance of reaching out to the cultures and backgrounds of others, since according to usatoday.com, the number of interracial couples has gone up 28 percent since 2000.

My multicultural family has given me the opportunity to interact with a wider variety of people, have a taste of an assortment of cultures, and gain a more open-minded view of those around me starting from a young age.

When I say I understand another person, the gesture is genuine as the interracial background I possess has taught me a great deal about dealing with other people and the importance of maintaining good relationships to achieve success in my life.

Commentary

9

the ethnicities the knowledge

Source: www.tck.com art by Yasmeen El-Jayyousi

Modern trends disgrace, disrespect people, achievements Renata Williams

T

he other day while I was on Twitter, I scrolled through my feed when I came across one of the people I follow who had tweeted a picture that basically depicted a photo that jokingly said our generation’s kids, or even grandkids, are going to be going to dances with a 2010s theme, and they’ll be twerking.

It initially never came across to me as anything but a scenario that could quite possibly happen. But even though the guy who tweeted this did it all in good fun, it in some way has got a point. This generation, at this moment, is pretty frightening.

Now, I don’t mean this in a completely horrible way. Our generation may not be the most attentive, hard working or impressive group of people there has been, but one thing is, we are creative. Some of the technological advances we have come up with, and will continue to invent, are pretty interesting to say the least. CNN.com reports an average teenager sends about 3,339 texts per month. Being able to spread something as we can today, whether negative or positive, is quite astounding.

But when we are 50 years old, looking back, I can’t help but think, am I going to be proud or embarrassed? And as of late, I would venture to say I’d be kind of embarrassed.

When I turn on the radio or open up a social media site, it’s all about Justin Bieber wearing pants with his crotch down to his ankles, or Miley Cyrus twerking once again, and it’s almost repulsive how focused our society is on these disgusting fads we allowed to grow. Teenagers today spend more than seven and a half hours a day consuming media, such as TV, Twitter, Facebook, etc., according to the Washington Post,.

I mean, it’s great that we can share our opinions with millions around the word so quickly and create these relations with people that one wouldn’t have ever been able to had social media not been so accepted by this generation. The problem with our

photo by Mikaela Acton

openness to share is when what we are sharing is incredibly careless.

Also, we spend most of our days sitting on our phones, doing who knows what, rather than paying attention to the class that is trying to prepare us for a better future. In the Pew Research Center, located in Washington D.C., findings, almost 90 percent of 2,462 teachers said that technologies were creating “an easily distracted generation with short attention spans.”

And I am just as guilty as anyone, which makes me feel very hypocritical because I can sit here and say all of these stupid things our generation does, but I’m still listening to the same music, watching the same Vines, and ignoring the same classes. I do these things that I say I’m embarrassed of, and I doubt I will stop because it’s what I’ve somewhat grown accustomed to. But I know better than to cuss in every sentence on social media or post pictures where I am half naked, because one day, when I want a serious job, I really do not want the reason I don’t get hired to be my ignorance on the internet.

So, 30 years from now, I guess I will just have to accept this generation’s embarrassing fate, while I send my kids off to their dance to twerk in booty shorts or hipster clothes, knowing I was fully a part of the mockery that will come in the future. Unless we can, as a whole generation, overshadow our past with better actions, the outcome is inevitably bad.

Though I may just be pessimistic about this generation for everything bad we have done instead of looking at the good, it sometimes is easier to point out the wrongs. I can see that we’ve become such a technologically advanced generation, but I can’t help but be judgemental.

All I know is, that photo on Twitter really made me think. It has forever been etched in my brain.

I no longer want to act in the way our generation seems fit. I don’t want to become a part of the travesty and I sure hope as this generation matures, the past will be overwritten with beautiful achievements and future generations don’t fall into the inevitable foolish mockery that our generation is currently enduring. But at this point, I can only hope uphill is the only option left.

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Editorials

The Rock

Rock Bridge High School 4303 S. Providence Rd., Columbia, Mo. 65203 Vol. 41, Issue 1

The Journalistic Production and Honors Seminar class produces The Rock, Bearing News and Southpaw.

Call us with comments at 573-214-3141, or email us at co nt a c t u s @ b e a r i n gn e ws. o rg The paper’s purpose is accurately to inform, educate and enlighten readers in an open forum. The Rock is a member of the National Scholastic Press Association, Columbia Scholastic Press Association and the Quill and Scroll.

Staff Editorials are the only articles in the Rock which will appear without a byline, but the author will appear on the bottom of the story each issue. **DISCLAIMER: Staff Editorials are reflections on particular issues which portray the opinions of the entire staff. These pieces do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the individual authors who write them.** Advertising is $55 for a quarter page, $95 for a half page and $135 for a whole page.

Publication: The Journalism Newspaper class produces the Rock at Rock Bridge High School, located at 4303 South Providence Road, Columbia, Mo. 65203 The Rock Editors-in-Chief: Ashleigh Atasoy, Trisha Chaudhary, Manal Salim Bearing News Editors-in-Chief: Urmila Kuttikad, Afsah Khan Production Managers: Brittany Cornelison, John Gillis Arts and Entertainment Editor: Sophie Whyte Art Editor: Yasmeen El-Jayyousi Commentary Editor: Luke Chval Community Editor: George Sarafianos Design Editor: Renata Williams News Editor: Brett Stover Features Editors: Justin Sutherland Editorials Editor: Hagar Gov-Ari Health and Wellness Editor: Anna Wright In-Depths Editor: Emily Franke Photography Editor: Maribeth Eiken Sports Editors: Brayden Parker, Harsh Singh Web Master: John Gillis Staff Writers: Abdul-Rahman Abdul-Kafi, Molly Mehle, Madison Mertz, Sam Mitten, Ross Parks, Graham Ratermann, Joshua Ripley, Pen Terry, Derek Wang, Jay Whang Artists: Alex Carranza, Madeline Mueller, Sarah Poor, Kristen Buster Photographers: Mikaela Acton, Morgan Berk, Randi Obermiller, Rachel Kirchoffer Videographer: Eric Glennon

Want your voice heard?

Send a ‘Letter to the Editor’ to contact@bearingnews.org or to Hagar Gov-Ari, Editorials Editor. Names will be held upon request.est, but the original copy must be signed.

Lack of administrative control lashes back Fre edo m deemed haz ard o u s u n d er new p o l i c y RBHS has worked to promote the infamous freedom with responsibility clause while enforcing new school policies. Have the Bruin-Block fiasco and the Like-Day Schedule threatened this policy?

The Rock staff voted

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yes.

n last year’s visit from Wayne Walker, the first principal and founder of many of the school’s core ideals, remarked on how he remembered the school, and how he felt proud the school has stayed true to how he formed, and eventually left, it. It must have been a proud moment to stand in front of his brainchild of ideals, and former place of work to see what he created, alive and well; however, that was last year, and after this year, perhaps those core ideals Walker strived for are no longer the same.

“Freedom with responsibility,” a slogan well known here at RBHS, forms the pillars of who we are as a student body.

As a school, RBHS is original, forward thinking and liberal in views on students and the level of freedom, coupled with responsibility, that is bestowed upon high school students, and more importantly, young adults. Since the inception of this school, its policies have been unique, but more importantly, they have been effective.

In the short, progressive and expansive life as an institution of education, these walls have given birth to numerous leaders, thinkers and activists within this immediate community and across the globe.

The school has always maintained a central identity and mantra on education that is far outside the norm and has upheld an ideology on education that has not only been authentic but consistent.

In all ways, the school and its administration has served up numerous opportunities for students to prove their level of responsibility and how much they deserve the freedom they are given.

The idea behind how the school operate makes sense. We are young adults, entrusted to hold jobs, drive cars, pay taxes and decide where we belong in the world, so it makes sense that we be treated like the adults we are every day of our lives while we are in school.

In the recent changes made to the school, accompanied by the addition of a whole new grade level, these changed provided the administration an opportunity to exemplify and illuminate the unique and productive attitude RBHS holds toward education.

Among these alterations and stressors arose the idea of Bruin Block, a small section of the day dedicated to community building for the two lower grade levels, community building. For juniors and seniors, it was intended to be a generous hour long lunch that on occasion might be interrupted for assemblies or class meetings.

In all, the plan was one that held true to the core of our view on free time and student responsibility. The administration was right to enhance advisory with a stronger sense of community and to entrust the students to safely enjoy their long lunches.

However, because of poor attendance at the senior assemblies, administration opted for a mandatory reconstruction of a weekly schedule, rather than use the hour provided by Bruin Block in order to ensure a full assembly. Therefore, the administration created “Like Day” schedules instead of cutting from class time to remedy the “issue” of attendance at such meetings.

Everyone just went through a day of “Like Day” schedules,

and while we cannot change the past, this does not stop us from considering it. Basically, the message the administration is sending is that they administration donot trust us to attend the assemblies that are created in large by and for us.

Now, before this moves too far ahead, it must be readdressed, that yes, before this year, all assemblies were taken from class time, and hour lunches were unimaginable. Teachers stood guard at the exits, and we all filed into the gymnasium to attend the mandatory assembly, every single student, happy and eager to hear what there was to be said about the things upcoming in the school.

But wait, that wasn’t the case.

The gymnasium was never full, and despite the efforts to guard the doors, many students found their way out of the school or perhaps toward other areas of the school and some even to lunch or home.

Though this behavior, in truth, was not endorsed, it was commonplace and little seemed to be done about it. Those who attended the assemblies did so because they wanted to or had nothing better to do.

Those who didn’t want to, found a way to not go despite the urging that they do.

Ironically, the same methods are being used this year to increase attendance at school gatherings, despite the entire hour that then gets cut into.

So, in short, the administration has now altered entire days of a week, and cut into the allotted time for assemblies, to increase or assure, full attendance at assemblies.

Nonetheless and despite how little sense that may make, that truly isn’t the issue here.The root of the issue is that, in this year of change, RBHS has the opportunity to strengthen and show off its unique way of educating.

This year, with the incorporation of a new grade, and this new, unexplored Bruin Block idea, the ideals of “Freedom with Responsibility” could have been given a chance to be proven more a truth than ever before. Instead, administration has gone to great and complex lengths to ensure a coddle method for attendance, a method in no way aligned with our traditional view on student trust.

In truth, if students are not interested in a meeting, then they shouldn’t go. Just as club meetings are not mandatory, then neither should be an assembly.

Just as in any other meeting, it would be much more enjoyable for those who want to be there, would show up. Perhaps, the worry is that students won’t attend because they won’t be forced to, and then nobody will care to take part if “nobody” shows up.

However, the counter argu-

photo by Maribeth Eiken

ment is just as, if not more logical.

Students who feel they have an option to attend, will more than likely fill the bleachers, to see things that they want to see and be a part of the assembly.

If the gatherings are about the things we are really interested in, then we will show up; otherwise, the administration should insert the information into the announcements.

Overall, as students and fellow Bruins, it doesn’t seem clear what more we should do to prove we are worthy of our freedom.

RBHS students perform at high levels, far above standard, and remain out of trouble as a whole, and for those few who do fall into trouble, there is a system to realign those individuals. These select few should not cause the release of a blanket statement for the entire school.

Honestly, if not showing up to the meetings really hinders graduating, then many seniors shouldn’t be walking across the stage this year since they haven’t shown up for senior meetings, but it’s doubtful that will happen.

In all, there are two options; to adopt a new school slogan, “Confinement with distrust”, or prove to the administration that we deserve what we have always had, and what has made this school unlike any other for all the right reasons.

Staff editorial written by Ross Parks

Constructional expansion poses threat to unique Columbia culture George Sarafianos

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n the month of July, Wal-Mart announced it would be partnering with Columbia Realtor Travis Mcgee, owner of The Lofts at 308 9th St. to launch an on-campus Wal-Mart at The University of Missouri- Columbia. Being the fourth university since 2011 to add a Wal-Mart on campus along with The Universities of Arkansas, Arizona State and Georgia Tech; Mizzou’s campus Wal-Mart schedules to open early next year and be 2500 by 5000 square feet.

When this news wandered into the public eye it is almost unimaginable that it was met with enthusiasm by members of the community. Wal-Mart has been protested and publicly for the past several years, or at least it feels like. In fact, the curriculum of ninth grade Government/ Economics at West Jr. High School at one point mandated the viewing of a documentary focusing on Wal-Mart’s vices called: ‘Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices’, along with that, the constant ‘Boycott Wal-Mart’ groups crowding social networking sites both prove the distaste for Wal-Mart evident among community members. It seems that large businesses, Wal-Mart in particular, have become an enemy of everyone. But in this case it is hard to see a negative outcome of art by Sarah Poor and Maddy Mueller

adding one on campus. It would create jobs and in- Mark Timberlake said, “I grew up here, and downcrease cash flow, not to mention what a convenience town was really thriving until malls took over the it would be to students living on campus who don’t world.” The article went on to refer to The Hair Hole as “nondescript,” Which means: “lackhave the option of driving to the grocery store.

Making Columbia as great as it can be ing distinctive or interesting features or characteristics.” Timberlake also should be important. This Wal-Mart What will not do anything but help with said in the story that he plans the people that. But there are also ways in to “make an artistic statement making these with the building” yet earlier which people are attempting to on said the building would change Columbia, that are not buildings do not realize be marketed toward “pronearly as effective or helpful is that ... the popping as simply opening up a minifessionals and retirees.” up of more fancy mart on the bottom floor As it was said towards apartments will only the beginning, endeavof an apartment complex. make it more expensive ors that do the community Earlier this year, in the to live downtown. good should be encouraged; month of March, the collective performance venue however, the addition of yet formerly known as “The Hair another expensive, upscale project led by the Odle brothers is not Hole” played its last shows, before being shut down in order to make room something that would do much good at all.

With establishments such as The Hair Hole for Brookside Apartment developers Jon and Nathan Odle’s new project: a five-story apart- in a community, we get diversity, creativity, proment complex with a restaurant and offices. ductivity and comradery; with a five-story ofIn a Columbia Tribune article by Jacob Barker fice and apartment complex, we get more of regarding the occurrence, local engineer (and origi- what is already there, in abundance might I add. nator of the project that got rid of The Hair Hole) Not to mention that even though all of these

new fancy apartments are supposed to lure people in. What the people making these buildings do not realize is that they are luring in only those who can afford it, which is becoming fewer and fewer each day considering the fact that the popping up of more and more fancy apartments will only make it more expensive to live downtown.

This whole situation is kind of foolish to be honest, so many people are trying to better the community by creating upscale buildings, but they counter this by getting rid of the places that actually make Columbia unique and enjoyable in the first place.

The Hair Hole was an outlet for creating music, something with proof of countless psychological benefits. The building going in its place is meant for business men and retired people … it’s pretty hard to see how that helps the entire community, considering the abundance of offices and apartments and the rarity of DIY music venues such as The Hair Hole.

Bottom line, if people like something, they’re going to keep doing it, be it creating large, unneeded buildings, or playing music. What needs to be done is simply working on not negatively affecting other people while you’re doing what you enjoy. It’s a fairly basic concept, but one that seems to be nearly impossible to grasp.

Features

Choreography weekend continues for Show Choir Justin Sutherland

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hough the homecoming weekend’s dance ended at 11:30 p.m. Friday, the dancing didn’t end there for the RBHS Show Choirs, Satin ‘N’ Lace and City Lights.

Throughout the weekend, these choir members, along with director Mike Pierson and choreographers Kevin Breazeale from Atlanta, Ga., Antwon Chavis from New York City, N.Y. and Tammy Walker from Columbia put in 16 hours to learn choreography for their shows, which they need, Pierson said.

“It takes about an hour to teach 30 seconds of choreography and to clean it up,” Pierson said.

“We spend quite a bit of teaching in two different regions, one for City Lights, one for Satin ‘N’ Lace. Plus, when you have choreographers coming in from out of town, it makes sense to cram it into one weekend because it’s easier to do that and keeps the cost

of hotels down as well.”

The themes, chosen through a collaboration among the choreographers and Pierson, are “The Latino Experience” for Satin ‘N’ Lace with some spicy hip movements and traditional ballads, and “Gatsby,” that depicts the novel

by F. Scott Fitzgerald through music and dance, for City Lights.

“We bat some ideas around, look at some music and songs, watch some YouTube videos [to pick the show],” Pierson said. “We have to decide between do we just want to have a show with different songs put together or a specific theme. If we decide to do a theme, we look at songs we think will fit that theme.”

Senior Meghan Shwartzkopf, member of Satin ‘N’ Lace, said these themes should not only be fun to perform, but also have the potential to push the Satin ‘N’ Lace show choir far.

“I honestly think that this is one of the best concepts I’ve seen come out,” Shwartzkopf said. “It’s

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original and I just don’t think it’s done to the scale on which we are doing it. I think it will be another good chance of the female show choir to be undefeated.”

City Lights junior Alex Futchs said he enjoys the theme of “Gatsby” for his first year in show choir, but for males in particular, the dancing can be a little bit harder for them to learn.

“There’s a lot of hip work that the guys aren’t as used to,” Fuchs said. “Most of the girls are more experienced, too.”

Though it may be hard for males to learn, according to Fusch, Pierson said the themes are stong and should make for good performances.

“I think they’ll both be exciting shows,” Pierson said. “The Gatsby show is pretty current and pretty fresh with the new movie that just came out and the Latin one is one that is not done very often but its got a really good variety of Latin style in it that should keep it fresh.”

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1. Get down: Senior John Crader and junior Thelton Cobb get down as they dance in the number based on one of the party scene featured in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

2. Extended: Satin ‘N’ Lace stretches before dancing to reduce the chance of pulling muscles.

3. Chairing is caring: Junior A.J. Fuchs takes a seat during a set move in the song.

4. Dramatic dancing: Senior Megan Kelly dances by herself in a short moment of solitude.

5. Follow your instructions: Satin ‘N’ Lace girls dance, turning with eachother as instructor Tammy Walker watches to make sure all of their steps are correct and put together well.

6. Let Yourself Go: Prior to dancing, Satin ‘N’ Lace girls make sure they are limber before dancing to their songs, since prior injuries easily come up to the surface while dancing.

7. Hold Your Hands Up High: Tammy Walker displays what the girls in Satin ‘N’ Lace should be doing and they follow each step, raising their hands as their instructor raises her own.

8. Shake That Leg: Seniors Nicholas Hardeman and Samantha Ryan, along with other pairs move their feet to the rhythm of the beat during part of the City Lights show on Gatsby.

Administrators prepare for changed lifestyle after marriages Harsh Singh

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aking on the responsibility of marriage was yet another one of the many jobs Jennifer Mast, principal at RBHS, had once she decided to married to Jeff Rukstad on Oct. 12. Although she was very excited prior to wedding, Mast needed to balance her time as a principal with planning her wedding. She said her experience of completing her doctoral degree helped her handle stress brought by her marriage.

“Following some of the same patterns I had while I was a student, I would often get up very early and set a certain amount of time to work on the wedding. When the time was up, I switched to principal work,” Mast said. “Starbucks opens at 5:30 a.m. on a weekday and Panera at six, so those spots are often my early morning office. On the weekends, I really focused on the wedding, since I had more access to Jeff and my parents than during the week.”

Similarly, David Egan is also going through the same amount of work. With his marriage to Kim Schweikert on November 16, Egan has to manage his time planning for a wedding and doing his duties as the RBHS athletic director.

“I pretty much just try to devote most of my Sundays and if I’m lucky some of my Wednesday evening to helping Kim with wedding planning,” Egan said.

“Sunday and sometimes Wednesday are pretty much the only days when I don’t have something going on related to my position as the athletic director.”

Even though Egan and Mast are both equally excited their new lives, Mast had to many duties before actually getting married; however, Egan had fewer and more relaxed duties. Both believe

women have more commitments before weddings, as compared to men.

“I am in the fortunate position that my fiance is doing most of the wedding planning, and so I haven’t really felt that anxiety of making sure everything is planned,” Egan said. “Truthfully, I don’t know if it’s a product of our culture, but more pressure and responsibility seems to fall more to the bride during a wedding.”

Three out of every five women said they played a more responsible role in preparing for a marriage, according to a survey of 300 women by the Huffington

Post. Mast said she had many responsibilities to commit before her wedding.

Specifically, Mast had to do things like make a guest list, manage the RSVPs, communicate with caterer, and purchase hostess gifts for all events.

“I don’t envy Dr. Mast because I am sure there are more steps she has to take than me,” Egan said. “I am not really sure that there is much that I’d have to take that she wouldn’t besides the rehearsal dinner coordinating the attire and information with my groomsmen.”

Mast also did many things to alleviate her stress, like continuing to do things

that were important to her. She participated in the Multiple Sclerosis Bike Ride and visited her family in Springdale, Il. Mast said the biggest stress reliever was when her and her husband went to a Cardinals game the week of the wedding.

“We had a lot to do in preparation for the big event, but taking the time out to go to a playoff game was a really cool memory for us and gave us a chance to get away before the whirlwind of the weekend,” Mast said. “We questioned whether we were doing the right thing before we went, but it was worth it.”

Egan said women have a central role

photo provided by Jennifer Mast

Marriage in mind: Though the bride usually takes on planning, Mast’s new husband, Jeff Rukstad decided to instead. Along with Principal Mast’s wedding, RBHS’s athletic director, David Egan, will wed Kim Schweikert Nov. 16.

in preparing for a marriage because they typically have more expectations for itthan the grooms He said it has been rooted with the American culture for a long time.

“It’s a process that would probably take decades to change,” Egan said.

“Plus, Americans value tradition and so I’m not sure there is much of a cultural demand to change expectations with regards to male versus female responsibility with wedding planning.”

With the burden of preparing for a wedding, Mast also had to balance preparing for a wedding and being a principal. She said she was already pretty good with managing time, which helped her.

“Every day, there was time allotted for being principal and time allotted for wedding planning,” Mast said. “For the most part, the two didn’t mix.”

Mast also said having two important jobs simultaneously helped her interpersonal skills. She said having two crucial jobs forced her to create a neccessary balance.

“In a way, it was a good start to the principal’s position for me to be planning the wedding because I wasn’t allowed to give an unrealistic amount of time to the job,” Mast said. “It also helped me learn to delegate tasks within the job I might not have otherwise.”

Both Mast and Egan have similar outlooks on the changes they will face after marriage. Other than the fact they will start living with another person, Mast and Egan said there will also be some things they will have to adapt to before things get back to normal.

“The quick answer is life will become about ‘we’ and not ‘me’,” Mast said. “We believe a union is greater than each of independently.”

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Halloween DIY crafts for decoration, inspiration Low-cost, easy, fun artistic ideas to enhance holiday festivities Anna Wright

Mummified Candle Jar Inspiration: mojosavings.com Total cost: $8.27 Assembly time: 15 minutes Materials: Single quart glass jar ($1.87) Thin orange ribbon ($1) Gauze pads ($2.44) Wiggly eyes ($0.97) Unscented tealight candles ($1.99) Mod Podge, or other crafting glue Foam brush Scissors

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n honor of the spooky season that is upon us, I took an afternoon to craft some delightfully scary Halloween decorations. After acquiring all the necessary supplies for both projects during a quick trip to Walmart, I sat down to put my creative skills to the test. One hour and a little less than $25 later, I had two downright adorable seasonal decorations to spice up my home for October.

Halloween Tulle Wreath and Plaque Inspiration: littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com Total cost: $15.91 Assembly time: 45 minutes Materials: Foam wreath ($3.97) Three yards black sparkly tulle ($1.49) Oval wood plaque ($0.97) Adhesive letter stencils ($2.77) “Sequin black” acrylic paint ($1.77) “Pumpkin orange” acrylic paint ($0.97) Roll of thick purple ribbon ($4.97) Foam brush Scissors

Directions Step 1: Cut or tear the gauze pads into long strips one to two inches thick.

Step 2: Using a thick foam brush, coat the glass jar in a thin layer of mod podge or crafting glue.

Step 3: Wrap the gauze strips around the glass jar, until it is completely covered. You may wrap the jar in as many layers of gauze as you please, keeping in mind the candle will shine through either fairly bright or rather subtly, depending on how much gauze you use.

Step 4: Cover the wrapped jar in another layer of crafting glue in order to seal any loose ends of the gauze strips.

Step 5: Tie a piece of thin orange ribbon in a bow around the top of the glass jar, just below the opening.

Step 6: Using more crafting glue, press on two wiggly eyes, in order to give your mummy jar a face.

Step 7: Light one tealight candle, lower it into the jar, and enjoy the soft and spooky glow of your finished mummified candle holder.

Directions Step 1: Using a wide foam brush, cover the wood plaque in two coats of orange acrylic paint and hang to dry while you make your wreath. *Important: Be sure to leave on the plastic hanger that comes attached to the wooden plaque. You will use this later when tying the plaque to the wreath.

Step 2: Cut the tulle into strips anywhere from two to four inches wide and six to ten inches long.

Step 3: Tie each strip of tulle around the foam wreath with the edges sticking out around the outside of the wreath. In order to give your wreath a fuller look, push together the tied strips of tulle so that they bunch together and the wreath underneath is not visible. Continue tying strips of tulle around your wreath and bunching them together until the entire circumference has been covered.

Step 4: Check to make sure the painted plaque is fully dry. Stick on your adhesive letters to make whatever scary message or phrase you want to have painted on the plaque, as well as whatever decorative stencils you would like to use. I chose the phrase “enter if you dare,” along with three spooky chandelier designs.

Step 5: Paint over your letter and design stencils with black acrylic paint, and peel the stencils off when you are finished. Hang the plaque back up and wait for it to finish drying.

Step 6: Cut a long piece of thick purple ribbon and thread it through both the plastic hanger on the plaque and one of the pieces of tulle tied to the wreath.

Step 7: Hang your wreath and plaque by tying the purple ribbon around the handle of the knocker on your front door. You’re done!

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Picture 1: Finished product of tulle wreath hanging on a door.

Picture 2: Materials needed to create the tulle wreath.

Picture 3: Finished mummified candle jar in the dark with lit candle.

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photos by Anna Wright

Microsoft Surface proves superior to Apple iPad

Surface cheaper, has more space, predownloaded apps to enhance user’s tablet experience Abdul Rahman

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war exists among dozens upon dozens of armies and it is happening at all times in the United States while many do not see it or even feel it.

All tech companies, like Apple, Samsung and Microsoft, among many others, are competing to make the best product in every possible field, like the best cell phone or the best car.

I like to call the war between them the tech war; each battlefield has an ongoing fight between two or more armies. There are no sides and no allies. Between Apple and Microsoft there is the computer battle and between Google and Bing occurs a search engine battle.

The list could go on forever, but there is one specific battle that is raging between at least five different companies, with many coming and going as they please. This is the tablet battle.

Apple first released the iPad, considered the original tablet, on April 3, 2010. The most recent models, the iPad Air and the iPad Mini, were continuations of the basic iPad model.

One year ago, a likely competitor launched its new product as well. With the release of the Surface RT and Pro, Microsoft entered onto the battlefield of the tablets.

There are many reasons why I prefer the Surface to the iPads we received this school year. The Surface has a kickstand, which allows people to watch movies and videos and read things with ease. Instead of holding the tablet in your hands and getting them tired or having to place something behind the tablet, just extend your stand, sit back and relax.

Most notably, the Surface has a built-in USB port and a microSD port, which allows for up to 64 more gigabytes of extra space.

For an extra $80, people can buy a keyboard made specifically for the Surface that fits neatly and easily onto the bottom of it by way of magnets. It may seem like an expensive accessory, but if someone is going to buy the Surface, it would be a loss if they don’t purchase the keyboard.

In a lovely addition by Microsoft, the Surface comes with Office Home and Student 2013 RT for free. This is the biggest thing that sells me for the Surface. It allows me to type with a laptop-like keyboard into a program that is on almost every PC and that is compatible with almost every type of word-processing program. On top of that, I can easily plug in a USB and transfer files from my Surface to any computer.

In order to decide between two similar, but different products, the main idea that comes to mind with most people is the price. Surprisingly, the Surface RT is only $349 compared to the $499 price tag for the iPad 4. With the keyboard, the

price comes out to about $430, still almost $70 cheaper than the iPad. In my view, the pros of the iPad are minimal and do not give a solid reason to buy it. The largest positive the iPad has is the retina display, which is only useful in an extremely close view and even then is barely noticeable. The iPad has two hours of extra battery life compared to the Surface, which is a positive. Apple, however, had two more years to develop a good battery in comparison with Microsoft, while Microsoft was able to make an eight-hour battery life in its first tablet.

Microsoft is sure to improve its battery life in future tablets.

In my opinion, I do not care if the iPad has the best display in the world if it does not help me do what I need to do on it. So what if the iPad has a good display and the Surface doesn’t? I can live with a little worse display in the Surface as long as I am able to work easily and comfortably.

Every time I try to use the on-screen keyboard for the iPad mini, the autocorrect beats me. I notice the typing has a slow response, which allows for many typos to occur if you are trying to type quickly on the screen. Once you make a typo, it always seems the autocorrect chooses the most bizarre choice for correction.

For example, a few days ago I was trying to write the word “might” and because of the slow response of the keyboard, it turned out to say “migt,” which for some reason autocorrected to “mitt.” With an actual keyboard, I am able to type faster and better, which overall speeds up my work. Yes, you can buy a case for the iPad that has a keyboard, but those keyboards use Bluetooth, which drains the battery.

A couple weeks before the Oct. 22 release date of the Surface 2 and Pro 2, Microsoft announced that they already completely sold out both products, showing better sales than the Surface RT and Pro released a year ago. The next generation of the Surface will be much stronger of an opponent to the iPad. If I had a choice between the iPad Air, the newest version of Apple’s tablet, and the Surface 2, the newest Microsoft tablet, I would definitely choose the latter. The Surface 2 has a $449 price tag for the 32GB model and a price of $549 for the 64GB model. On the other hand, the iPad Air has a cost of $599 for the 32GB and $699 for the 64GB. Cheaper and better? Microsoft just made my choice easier.

After squeezing through the other “armies” on the battlefield, Microsoft now face their strongest challenge yet. Will they be able to win the tablet battle against Apple? I think they have all the right ingredients to win and that soon, there will be no arguments against the Surface as the supreme tablet.

photo by Maribeth Eiken

Tablets up for comparison: Best Buy displays electronics in a row for customers to test features of the products before they make their final purchase.

Ads

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Community Haunted house scares the life into community George Sarafianos

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photos by George Sarafianos

A long road ahead: Although the process of decommissioning Pickard Hall is already underway, it is not certain when the process will be complete. The process begining with the evacuation of the building, The Museum of Art and Archeology has already begun moving to Mizzou North Campus. All classes held at Pickard will follow suit at the end of the semester in order to continue decommissioning by surveying the entirety of Pickard in order to ensure that all other areas of the building are not harboring radiation.

Radioactive materials in Pickard Hall George Sarafianos

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n Nov. 17, 2009, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commision became aware of the presence of naturally occurring radioactive material in Pickard Hall, located on the corner of Ninth Street and University Ave. at The University of Missouri-Columbia.

The building was at one point a place for radiation research from 1913 to the mid 1930s, but because of the update of the USNRC’s policies, the Museum had to close its doors on Oct. 1, Alex Barker, the director of the Museum of Art and Archeology, formerly located at Pickard Hall, said.

“I think that people knew about it for a long time. But up until about seven years ago that radioactive material was covered under state law,” Barker said. “Since the law has changed, it came under federal control and those guidelines are very different. There was a lot more monitoring and more move to take care of that material.”

The USNRC is an independent federal agency in charge of regulating the nation’s civilian use of byproduct, source and special nuclear materials to ensure adequate protection of public health and safety. Because of The Energy Policy Act of 2005, the USNRC’s regulatory jurisdiction became larger to include discrete sources of Radium-226, a naturally occurring radioactive material. Said material locatred in Pickard Hall, Mary Aldrich, Senior Health Physicist in Mizzou’s Department of Environmental Health and Safety. said “Pickard opened in 1895, which is the same year that Wilhelm Rontgen

discovered X-rays. The next year Henri been able to test. The building has been Becquerel discovered radioactivity when renovated since the 1970’s and there are a photographic plate is exposed after areas you cannot easily get to without storing a rock on it. Three years af- disturbing all the museums collections. ter Pickard opened, in 1898 the Curies There are areas where there seems to be discovered Polonium and Radium. So contamination and other areas that do Pickard opened for business just as the not,” Barker said. “A large portion of science of radioactivity was being dis- the objects have been tested and we have covered and it was a pivotal time,” Al- found no signs of radiation with any of drich said. “By the 1920s scientists were them. The problem isn’t that there is raclearly aware of the benefits of radioac- diation at the surface or that it has gotten tive material. They knew that they could into the works of art. It’s more so when diagnose and treat diseases with X-rays it gets into the walls and floor, you can and radioactive material. Radium -226 then get into an area that has radiation was being used in cancer treatment and so up until now, we haven’t been able it commanded a high price tag to find things that have been 8 grams was worth nearly damaged or contami$1,000,000 in 1920-1930 nated by radiation.”

“There dollars. They were With their reare some areas aware of risks by this location to Mizwhere testing has time as well. They zou North been done and we have established the campus, the shielding and othentire museum found it, but there are er safety practices staff ,includother areas we haven’t were needed.” ing Dr. Barker, been able to test,” One research now spend the project conductfocus of their ed by Dr. Herman days on movAlex Barker Schlundt involved figuring everything into Museum Director ing out how to process the their new location. raw uranium ore to separate “The entire staff has out the valuable daughter products just been working on the move like Radium-226. The plan was to see if now for several months and will conit was feasible to process the ore at the tinue to do nothing else until the end mine site instead of transporting raw ores of the calendar year. We closed the by train all the way to a processing plant. museum at the end of September and This experimental process is likely the has been continuing six days a week source of the residual contamination.” since then,” Barker said. “We don’t That is not to say, however, the know how long we will be at Mizzou entire building is contaminated, North, because we don’t know how nor its artifacts, Dr. Barker said. long the process of fixing will take.”

“There are some areas where testAlthough the USNRC has deemed ing has been done and we have found Pickard “habitable,” Aldrich said, it, but there are other areas we haven’t they still need to excavate thebuild-

ing of radioactive materials, which could take any amount of time.

“We are obligated to adhere to current NRC regulations and we do need to remove residual contamination that is present in places like abandoned drain lines, subsurface concrete and old fume hood vents. In order to do this the University needed time to figure out how to achieve this so we requested a delay in order to figure this out. Ultimately the decision was made to move the museum and begin the process of “decommissioning,” Aldrich said. “It is difficult to predict how long the decommissioning process will take. The first step is moving the museum and staff and that is expected to be completed by the end of the year. The next step will be to evaluate the building and to fine tune exactly where contamination is present, how much is there and how to most safely remove it. This is called the characterization phase and the goal is have that completed within a year.

Following that a facility would submit a plan to the NRC that outlines how they plan to decontaminate the facility and once that is approved, work can begin.”

The University has not hesitated in making sure to keep things on track in order to have the museum open as soon as possible, according to Christian Basi, spokesperson for The University of Missouri-Columbia.

“The Museum is utilized by many people throughout the community. By moving the museum to Mizzou North, we are able to keep it open,” Basi said.

“We hope it will continue to be used as an important resource by the Columbia community, our students and our faculty.”

Full Disclosure: Author of story interviewed relative.

n a breezy October night, chatter fills the air as people of all ages stand in line outside of Fearfest Haunted House. For some it is their first time at Fearfest. For others, the haunted house has become a Halloween tradition for them and their friends, something to create memories around, something fun, something scary.

Fearfest owner Greg Allen has been running the haunted house attraction for a decade and has been in the spooky business even longer.

“It all started when my ex-wife gave me a sign that said, ‘Bates Motel,’ and I put a few pieces of wood up in the driveway and painted doors on them and people started stopping and asking where the haunted house was.

And I was like, ‘Seriously?’” Allen said. “So we opened up the garage door and put a little Frankenstein lab in there and then before we knew it, a year or two later we were getting about 650 people coming through my yard, so it was getting a little crazy. And the neighbors said, ‘OK, that’s enough’. And then in 2003 we were looking for a place to do a haunted house, and we just happened to stumble across a property here in Columbia.”

Wanting Fearfest to be a frightening but lighthearted experience for all ages, Allen makes sure all customers are aware of what it is they are getting into.

“When I see a child about to go through the haunted house, I ask them what their name is and talk to them and the parents. I just give them a heads up and tell them that we’re gonna pretty much put them in their own movie,” Allen said. “All we’re trying to do is scare you, but we’re not trying to give you nightmares. I try to remind them that it’s all fake, all smoke and mirrors, but we are trying to scare you. I just say to them that they know their kids way better than we do, we’ve had three year olds make it through the whole thing, we’ve also had 30 year olds not be able to make it through the front door.”

But the customers are not by any means the only ones having a good time at Fearfest. Senior Kyle Zynda has been working at Fearfest Haunted House for two years now and is very appreciative of his unique work environment.

“There’s some times when you just scare someone so good and they have such a great reaction that, at that moment you realize that it’s the best job in the world, I would work there for free any day,” Zynda said. “It’s definitely something that I look forward to.”

Becoming a larger part of Columbia every year, Fearfest acts as an escape from everyday life, allowing for people to simply relax and be entertained, senior Katie Neu said.

“As soon as you step into the house, everything else kind of melts away,” Neu said. “You don’t think about school, or work, you’re just focused on having a good time with your friends, and thats something that everyone needs.”

A firm believer that Fearfest has done nothing but help her, Neu believes that it does good for all who attend.

“Every time I go in, I have this huge goofy smile come across my face. I get so excited just standing in line, knowing that i’m about to go through the house because I know how i’m going to feel once I go in,” said Neu. “I don’t think I can even adequately describe how great Fearfest is. It kind of feels like when you get off of a roller coaster. I try to go as many times as I can because I know it’s the most fun i’ll have all year. It does so much good for people, and they don’t even realize it, it’s a legal, healthy and cheap way to make memories.

And you’re not stuck inside. I can’t imagine Columbia without it.”

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Health & Wellness

source: aicr.org infographic by Yasmeen El-Jayyousi

Research suggests some foods may reduce cancer risk Manal Salim

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bout 580,350 Americans total are expected to die of cancer by the end of 2013, which comes out to approximately 1,600 people per day, according to the American Cancer Society at cancer.org. Cancer is the second most common cause of death in the United States, exceeded only by heart disease, and accounts for nearly one of every four deaths.

On the brighter side, although research is currently inconclusive, preliminary evidence suggest that some components of food may play a role in decreasing the risk of developing cancer, including certain foods that contain phytochemicals, antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids, according to the Stanford Medicine Cancer Institute.

“Studies suggest that people who eat meals that are rich in fruits and vegetables have a lower risk of cancer,” Jed Fahey, a faculty research associate at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said. “A variety of chemicals from plants known as phytochemicals also seem to protect cells from harmful compounds in food and in the environment, as well as prevent cell damage and mutations.”

According to cancer.stanford.edu, phytochemicals are chemicals found in plants and protect against bacteria, viruses and fungi in those plants. Eating large

amounts of brightly colored fruits and vegetables, whole grains and cereals and beans, which contain phytochemicals, may decrease the risk of developing certain cancer because they act as antioxidants or prevent cancer causing agents from forming.

Despite current research about foods that have the potential of reducing the risk of cancer, senior Mubinah Khaleel explains the concept of cancer reducing foods is not anything new for her. Since her mom is a nutritionist, the idea of eating a wide variety of healthy foods has been a concept instilled in Khaleel from a young age.

“I do believe all the studies about foods that have the chance of reducing the risk of cancer,” Khaleel said. “I think cancer has to do with what you eat. My mom always taught me that if you don’t eat healthy, you may be prone to get a specific type of cancer, or any other disease really. She told me that eating healthy is so important because you will have a better lifestyle and you can live so much longer.”

Jill Crossland, a clinical dietitian at the University of Missouri Ellis Fischel Cancer Center, believes most people would agree that fruits and vegetables are good for the body and they protect it from disease. Many individuals, like Khaleel, recognize the benefits of choosing

healthy foods. However, Crossland said she doesn’t believe most individuals have a full understanding of how individual foods impact cancer risk.

“Part of this [lack of awareness] could be access to education and the current research available. I also believe that we don’t have definitive research in this area to make

foods are more healthful than what they really are,” Crossland said. “For example, drinks that claim to be healthy because they have added vitamins or minerals aren’t as beneficial as whole fruits and vegetables.”

Besides making sure to consume an overall varied diet, having a good idea of the specific foods and their benefits can be helpful according the American Institute of Cancer Research (AICR).

Eating fruit, including berries, decreases the risk of lung cancer and could “I think cancer also prevent cancers of the mouth, has to do with what esophagus and stomach, accordyou eat. My mom always ing to the AICR. taught me that if you don’t Similarly, broccoli is another eat healthy, you may be prone one of these “super foods,” to get a specific type of cancer, along with cabbage, kale and or any other disease really.” cauliflower, containing phytochemicals that produce protective enzymes.

Though Khaleel’s mother never advised her about the specific Mubinah Khaleel foods that could reduce the risk of senior cancer, Khaleel explains that she always recommends teens watch what they eat, strong and not only eat healthy, but also be sure recommendations for they are leading an overall healthy lifeany one type of food, but that the body style. of evidence leads us to believe that cer“My mom always reminds me that tain groups of foods have ‘cancer-fight- I need to balance out my diet more,” ing’ benefits. We are also bombarded Khaleel said. “She reminds me about with fads loosely based upon research eating more veggies, and dairy products that cloud the truth implying that certain because I usually am lacking in those

Crash diets wreck personal health Underconsumption, juice fasts may harm well-being of dieters Renata Williams

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xtreme dieting and detoxing are popular trends in 2013, promising results such as quicker weight loss or a cleaner and healthier system, but leaving out the negative impacts that could potentially make these diets no longer worth the trouble.

Radio advertisements as well as television commercials push products that will ensure these results though these options don’t perform in the long-term.

“I suppose the most long-lasting issues that are difficult to deal with are the psychological things,” Shellie Shaw, RDN, LD, CLT said.

Shaw explains that dieters get into a trap where they want “all or none,” leading to a difficult time eating in response to their true hunger.

“For example,” Shaw said, “a person that begins a new diet may follow the rules perfectly, but in a moment of temptation, they may eat something not of the diet. Once the diet is broken they throw the towel in and overeat or binge on foods, with the intent to start fresh the next day or next week.”

This desire consumes the person, initially giving so-called results that are often times just fluid shifts, not fat loss.

A juice fast is a common cleanse prevalent lately among dieters. A juice fast is where a person limits their diet to fresh fruit and vegetable juices, as well as water, for a certain period of time to cleanse and detox one’s system. It can seem healthy at first because of all of the nutrients that are included in each individual drink, but limiting the body to only juice can leave out nutrients your body needs to function properly that you would get from other food groups.

“I wasn’t a fan of [juice fasts] because I felt run down,” senior Abrianna Porter said.

Porter has tried many different cleanses, including a banana cleanse where all she eats is bananas, and said juice fasts didn’t appeal to her lifestyle given she is an athlete. Shaw said programs exist in order to help people diet correctly and avoid lethargy.

“For individuals wanting to feel better and learn how to eat for the rest of their life, I recommend intuitive eating programs,” Shaw said. “This program is ideal for individuals with food issues, emotional eating or a history of dieting.”

Junior Sarah Freyermuth adopted a way to keep her body feeling great, while maintaining a healthy system.

groups. Besides foods, I maintain my weight, exercise, so that while I’m growing up, I won’t have to worry about coming across any health complications like cancer.”

To make this process of eating healthier a little easier, the AICR’s “new American plate” plan offers an easy cheat sheet on eating to prevent cancer. Fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains should cover two-thirds of your plate. The other one-third should contain lean meats, fish and low-fat dairy.

In correlation with the advice Khaleel lives by, Crossland explains that if one is aiming to slice the risk of many cancers across the board, they should be sure to load their plate with a variety of foods from different food groups in order to provide an assortment of nutrients on a daily basis.

“I recommend to many of my patients to try to incorporate five servings of fruits and vegetables per day. They can do this by choosing one serving of fruit or vegetable at each meal and one serving at a mid-morning snack and evening snack,” Crossland said. “I also recommend to fix meals without meat and instead use a high protein plant-based option such as quinoa, beans or legumes.

Cancer is not just a disease found in the older populations. Take advantage of your youth and form good eating habits now.”

Beyond Meat introduces animal product substitute Sophie Whyte

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photo illustration by Rachel Kirchhofer

“I usually try to eat a big breakfast and then a smaller lunch,” Freyermuth said. “Then the dinner is the smallest meal cause that’s the most healthy thing for you.”

Freyermuth does this on top of daily exercise and has noticed a big difference in her endurance.

“I can do about three

miles at a time and I usually would never have been able to do that before at all,” Freyermuth said.

Freyermuth limits the amount of fatty foods by replacing them with healthier options such as yogurt mixed with fruit and granola. This kind of diet focuses on eating foods that are better for

your body, instead of limiting food intake. Other extreme diets, such as the juice fast, can cause serious complications.

“Usually, it just makes people have more food issues,” Shaw said. “But it can also cause issues with losses of nutrients, create cravings and feeling lousy.”

eet the man who is redefining meat: Fu-Hung Hsieh.

Beyond Meat, a new company providing a nutritious animal product alternative, is skyrocketing, and it was all possible thanks to Hsieh, an innovator right here at the University of Missouri - Columbia. The company was listed by CNN and Forbes as one of the most innovative rising companies and was also backed by Bill Gates.

Hsieh, professor of bioengineering and food science at the University of MissouriColumbia, helped create a new meat substitute product made from vegetables that mimics the texture of muscle meat from animals.

“This was started in late ‘80s and early ‘90s … in the Food Engineering Lab at the University of Missouri,” Hsieh said. “The desire to create a product having quality attributes that meet the needs and acceptance of consumers was in my mind when I came.”

Beyond Meat commercialized the mock chicken product and it has appeared in various restaurants around the country. Within Columbia, the product is being used

by Main Squeeze, Smokin’ Chick’s BBQ, Natural Grocers and Clover’s Natural Market.

Junior Mikayla Roach said products like Beyond Meat are helpful in supplementing her meat-free diet.

“Being a vegetarian really limits the things I can eat,” Roach said. “So I’m always open to trying new things…

I personally really like [meat

alternatives].”

Faux-meat products, such as the popular brand, Tofurky, became more common in recent years to accommodate for those who don’t eat meat for health, religious or ethnic reasons. Meat is also a luxury food product for many in third world countries, since it takes many resources to produce.

“Meat, in the form of animal flesh, and fish are the most common sources of high protein food,” Hsieh said. “However, oftentimes the high cost of meat products prohibits people from buying them and, thus, makes them unavailable to many people in the world.”

Senior Sara Ashbaugh said inventing Beyond Meat was a good move on the part of Hsieh. It is a very lucrative product to have on the market today, she said.

“I think it was very smart of [Hsieh] to make this,” Ashbaugh said. “I think that there’s a large market out there for meat substitutes that only a few companies take advantage of that I’ve seen.”

In 1999, the Federal Drug Administration claimed “Soy protein, combined with a diet low in saturated fat and dietary cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease.”

Hsieh’s product has higher levels of protein than chicken, and also has no cholesterol or saturated fats.

“I would like to see the product quality continue to improve and the product become more affordable by the general public,” Hsieh said.

“So that more people will [benefit] from its nutritional quality.”

17 Gluten diet leads to discomfort Health & Wellness

Afsah Khan

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photo by Mikaela Acton

Confectionery holidays prove detrimental to healthy diets Ross Parks

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alloween is just the beginning of the many banquets offered up by the holiday season. However, in terms of health and the theme of the holidays, it’s by far the scariest.

It is a time given to the sole purpose of eating exactly what one has always been told not to and is so entrenched in confectionery goods that the American population consumes 35 million pounds of candy in just one night according to livescience. com. Whether one attends a party, or still goes out with pillowcase in hand, there is bound to be candy at every turn on Halloween.

“I’ll probably just buy some junk food and sit around and watch scary movies,” sophomore Melina Griner said. “I’m not too worried about overeating; it’s Halloween.”

Still, while some may appear apathetic to the temptations of eating too much of Halloween’s bountiful harvest, if you pick right and want to remain on a diet, it may be possible.

It is far from the truth to attest that there exists a candy that is common, cheap, delicious and healthy. More so, it’s a case of the lesser of evils. In an article published on Reader Digest’s website, there were few candies that made a list of under 100 calories per serving, and the best news is, they weren’t apples. According to the site, 3 Musketeers, Jolly Ranchers, Tootsie Rolls and Peanut M&M’s all made the cut. In all, perhaps a diverse list of calorie conservative candies.

However, despite some calorie savvy candies, the more worrisome is that there are more commonly eaten candies that can pack on the pounds pretty quickly. Perhaps it may behoove one to look more closely at the unhealthy candies to avoid them.

“I would have to say that the best candies are Baby Ruths, Hershey’s Bars and Twizzlers,” senior Laysie Doorman said. “They’re really all [the candy] I eat on Halloween.”

According to Reader’s Digest, some of the candies which exceed any justifiable amount of sugar, fat or caloric

intake include Baby Ruth, Reese’s Peanut Butter Pumpkin and Twizzlers, among others, all of which either matched or far exceed 150 calories per serving. To better put that into perspective, it would only take about 12 mini Butter Fingers to reach one’s daily calorie limit, assuming one eats 2,000 calories a day.

“Candy is by far the best part of Halloween,” says junior Alex Gompper. “Butterfingers are my favorite, but they’re kind of rare.”

Overall, while some may want to be considerate of what they eat, not only on a regular basis, but even on special occasion, the truth that is most people aren’t. That poses a problem, because according to the American Heart Association, “... our bodies don’t need sugar to function properly.”

According to the AHA, nobody needs to ingest sugar-related products unless they have a condition where one would need to manipulate their blood sugar levels. Everyone actually gets plenty of sugar from their daily food intake.

Despite its scary dietary appearance, the day is really a time for creatures and characters of the past, present and nether realm, to come out and enjoy the little things in life, and a lot of them.

While Halloween may get a bad rap as an unhealthy holiday, it is actually just one of the many American celebrations that condone the consumption of sweets. According to Livescience.com, while Halloween reigns supreme in amount of candy bought, a whopping 2.3 billion dollars worth in the 2011 alone, it is still followed, closely by both Easter and Valentines day.

Nevertheless, this year, like many before, Halloween will be a time when goblins gobble, monsters munch and human children of the western world consume unholy amounts of sugar all in one night in the name of fun, whatever form it may take.

“I might go [out]” Gompper said, “but more than likely I’ll just stay at home and eat hand out candy.”

hen the bell rings for lunch, hundreds of students pour into the cafeteria every day, snatching up Bosco Sticks and slices of pizza as part of their daily routine. But senior Makenzy Hollis isn’t among this huge crowd. Hollis, along with the rest of her family, follows a gluten-free diet and can’t eat many of the foods the RBHS cafeteria offers.

“It was a suggestion that my cousin gave my dad because my dad has a lot of stomach issues, so we all started doing it because it was just going to be easier if the whole house was gluten-free,” Hollis said. “And I just thought that my stomach was messed up, just because after I would eat something it would just hurt all the time, and it doesn’t anymore.”

Before embracing a gluten-free lifestyle, Hollis hadn’t heard about the diet much. But after switching over, she saw the benefits and realized that her body didn’t respond well to gluten-rich foods in the first place.

“Some people are like, ‘Oh, that’s all in your head,’ and I’m like, ‘No, seriously, if you only knew.’ My stomach doesn’t hurt at all anymore,” Hollis said. “It’s what’s in it. It’s the wheat; it’s the barley; it’s the rye.

That’s tough to digest. Gluten-free is supposed to heal your stomach.”

The gluten-free market “has continued to grow even faster than anticipated, reaching $4.2 billion in 2012,” according to a 2012 report by market research publisher Packaged Facts. From 2008 to 2012, the market grew 28 percent. Hollis said the market will grow as people start to discover the benefits of the diet.

“I think it’s going to be huge because so many people don’t realize that this is so hard on their stomachs, and they just deal with the stomach pains and the cramps after they eat something, which is ridiculous,” Hollis said. “You shouldn’t be sick after you eat. I think it’s a big deal.”

Pauline Landhuis, assistant professor of nutrition and exercise physiology at the University of Missouri- Columbia, thinks there are different reasons people start the gluten-free diet. As long as they get enough nutrition, she thinks anyone can try the diet.

“A lot depends on what reason you have for trying the diet, and how long you are willing to work around the difficulties.” Landhuis said. “It is important that people use grains ... in their diet to deliver needed nutrients to their bodies. Grains deliver many things, so the answer is not

photo by Morgan Berk

just to cut out a certain set of grains, but to find good substitutions.”

Sophomore Faramola Shonekan also follows a gluten-free diet, but her case is different. During the summer before she started high school, she discovered she has an allergy to gluten and was forced to stop eating any foods containing gluten.

“My reaction is actually, when compared to others ... not as bad. My face breaks out, I get all pimply … and it just doesn’t look good,” Shonekan said. “For some people it’s life-threatening, so I’m pretty lucky that it’s only a physical kind of allergy.”

At first, Shonekan struggled with adjusting to the new lifestyle. But with time, she learned how to eat the foods she wanted to eat, with no gluten involved.

“When I first became gluten-free, I felt like I couldn’t eat anything cause ... most foods have wheat,” Shonekan said.

“So I did feel very restricted and it took me a while to get used to it, but I actually started to get used to it and started to see the benefits of it.”

Along with Shonekan, Hollis has also adjusted to her gluten-free lifestyle. Gluten-free foods are not hard for her to find, and she doesn’t feel deprived because of their growing market.

“There are areas in almost every grocery store that you can go to that’s just gluten-free. Most restaurants have a gluten-free menu, you just don’t know about it ... it’s pretty normal stuff,” Hollis said.

“I still eat everything [I want].”

Although Hollis and Shonekan each had a health-related reason to go glutenfree, Landhuis thinks the popularity of the diet can be accredited to celebrities advocating it.

“Many people ‘get on the bandwagon’ … they will try it for awhile, whether they know much about it or not,” Landhuis said. “And that is definitely their right.

Not everything that is written need be tested scientifically ... what [celebrities] say is valued … because people recognize the name ... rather than knowing factual, scientifically explored aspects.”

Landhuis also points out that glutenfree foods aren’t produced on a larger scale because manufacturers must make a painstaking effort to ensure the safety of severely allergic consumers.

“To be entirely free of gluten means that a flour must be processed ... in spaces that have never had any wheat products on them,” Landhuis said. “Some people are so sensitive to gluten that even baking something in the same oven ... can be enough gluten to cause problems.”

Although Shonekan and her mother are not as allergic to gluten as others, they still pay special attention to how they cook. But Shonekan said her family is not bothered by the meticulosity.

“My family ... actually works well with it. On the dinner table, ... my mom will have two bowls ... gluten-free and regular,” Shonekan said. “But usually we have food that we can all eat.”

Since Shonekan became gluten-free by force, she is impressed with those who willingly follow the diet. But she knows these people will see major health benefits, like she did herself, “I think it’s inspirational that they want to do it even if they don’t have to, sometimes I don’t understand people who become gluten-free by choice because I became one by force, and sometimes it can be hard,” Shonekan said. “It’s good for you; it really is, and I commend everyone who tries to do it by choice.”

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Sports Bruins to play Jays in football districts Pen Terry

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he first week of playoff football with four MidMissouri teams in action, including the Bruins traveling to Jefferson City to take on the Jays. The games will be elimination style with the losers ending their season, and the winners advancing to play again the following week.

In addition to the Bruins facing off against the Jays, Missouri’s class 6 district 3 has three other matchups taking place Friday night.

Hickman vs.

Francis Howell Central The seventhseeded Hickman High School Kewpies (3-5) travels to Francis Howell Central to take on the secondseeded Spartans (6-3). This will be the first meeting between the two schools this year. The Kewpies were intially talked about as a contender for the district title and number one seed.

Over the season, the Kewpies managed only three wins from their eight game schedule none of those wins coming against class six opponents.

Two of Francis Howell Central’s losses were to state contenders and previous champions; however, searching their schedule it is hard to find many quality wins.

Rock Bridge vs.

Jefferson City The second game between the teams in two weeks will feature the fifth-seeded Rock Bridge Bruins (4-5) traveling to the fourthseeded Jefferson City Jays (6-3).

RBHS fell to the Jays in Columbia last Friday 21-31 The Bruins are in the midst of a four game losing streak and look to be two key starters Logan Twehous, will be out to a concussion and starting running back Eli Caldwell-Stout due to a shoulder injury. Jefferson City lost to only one class 6 team,

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Rockhurst, all season.

Fort Zumwalt West vs. Timberland In a rematch of a game from week four that the Fort Zumwalt West Jaguars (6-3) won 213, the Timberland Wolves (5-4) will return to face the Jaguars, this time in an elimination game. The Jaguars ended the year with losses to only RBHS, Francis Howell and Francis Howell Central.

Francis Howell vs. Troy Buchanan The defending district champion and first-seeded Francis Howell Vikings (7-2) will host the eighthseeded Troy Buchanan Trojans (3-6). The Vikings trounced the Trojans in the teams regular season matchup, 49-7.

Francis Howell losses to Christian Brothers College (7-2) and Elder (72) out of Cincinnati, Ohio. Troy, on the other hand, photo by Maribeth Eiken didn’t have a win against a single Looking for an open receiver: Junior quarterback Logan Twehous scanned the field Friday, October 25 at the RBHS homecoming district opponent. game against the Jefferson City Jays. The Bruins struggled against their oponents, losing 30-21 ending a season of ups and downs.

Boys soccer prepares for districts during 10-day break Luke Chval

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hen the RBHS boys soccer team entered the season at the beginning of the school year, they were nationally ranked at 28, an amazing feat for a public school in Columbia. Senior midfielder Salim Gumati said his team had high expectations prior to the season.

“At the beginning of the year, I wanted to go undefeated. I saw those rankings, and I wanted us to be great,” Gumati said. “We wanted to beat Chaminade, but we didn’t; we wanted to beat as many private schools out of Kansas City and St. Louis as possible. We wanted to show that we belonged with the highest competition.”

RBHS’ Soccer coach Alex Nichols is preparing his team for the MSHSAA Class 3 District 9 Tournament that starts Nov. 5. RBHS (16-4-1) is scheduled to face Smith-Cotton High School (13-8-1) of Sedalia, Mo. The Bruins recently finished the regular season with only one loss and are the No. 1 seed heading into the Districts

Tournament. The team has high expectations for the districts.

“We prepare the same way [despite the long break in the Bruins’ schedule],” Nichols said. “We work on most glaring weaknesses and get better with area that we are successful in.”

There are drawbacks and benefits to this 10-day break that senior striker Jacob Kovarik sees in the practice time. The long time allows the players to rest but can also get their minds off the game. Kovarik said his team has to stay focused during this time.

“The break between games just allows us to train harder than normal,” Kovarik said. “We don’t have to worry about wearing ourselves out for the game with it being next week.”

Although the break will certainly give the Bruins’ a rest, Gumati thinks that maintaining the performance level the Bruins’ have upheld all season long could be difficult.

“We’re going to have to work harder during practice now because we won’t have other teams to play against, we’re going to have to make ourselves better,” Gumati said. “And

that’s a big point that [Coach] Nichols made throughout this week.”

Kovarik, Nichols and Gumati stressed that the main goal of the team right now is to win the state title. Nichols believes anything less than winning it all would be underachieving for this team.

“For the last three years our goal has been to win state,” Gumati said.

“Even getting to the finals is not our goal; our goal is to win state.”

Kovarik has the same perspective on the playoffs as Nichols and Gumati, and their goal is to win state. Kovarik knows there is talent on his team, which is the reason he, his teammates and coach all believe deeply in the success of the Bruins.

“Each player on our team has a large amount of individual skill,” Kovarik said. “And our success came when we were able to combine all of our individual skills and make one team out of it.”

The postseason will have six games for RBHS, which means that high school soccer will soon be over for the seniors, including Gumati and Kovarik. Both are reminiscent about the game of soccer and what it has

done for them in their lives. Kovarik especially appreciated the camaraderie of the soccer team during his years at RBHS. “Soccer has given me discipline and entertainment,” Kovarik said.

“But most of all a huge group of guys that I pretty much call my family.”

Gumati has similar thoughts as he sees his experiences of the sport impact every other area of his life.

He believes soccer has improved his work ethic for his academics also.

“It’s taught me a lot about character, about how to work with a team, how to be a leader,” Gumati said. “And all of those qualities have shown through in school and other activities that I’ve done.”

The Bruins have many strengths that other teams will have to keep up with in the early rounds of the state tournament, but in later rounds the Bruins’ will have to use their strengths to exploit the weaknesses of other talented teams. photo by Randi Obermiller “Other teams struggle to match our speed,” Kovarik. “And our speed Down the field: Senior Blake Hausman passes to will play a huge part in our ability to an open team-mate. The Bruins won 1-0 after a tight game against the Jeff City Jays last Tuesday. beat teams.”

20

Sports

RBHS students learn lessons from DBLL Challenger League Molly Mehle

W

hile many of his peers sat at home, stressed over homework or catching up on the latest missed episode of their favorite TV show, junior Jack Knoesel stood, forfeiting his Monday nights, playing sports with many disabled kids.

RBHS has a diverse variety of clubs offered, many of which do volunteer work around the community.

From picking up trash to working at food banks, RBHS students are helpful influences in Columbia. Key Club, a ‘student-led organization with the goal of teaching leadership through helping’ at RBHS, participates in a unique form of volunteer work.

On Monday nights, Key Club members play baseball with a group of mentally and physically disabled children at the Daniel Boone baseball fields.

“I was working with a kid named John one time, and he wouldn’t talk, he wouldn’t say anything,” RBHS Key Club president, senior Nate Horvit said. “I was singing ‘Take me out to the ball game’ by myself. I forgot the lyrics and he ended up finishing the song for me; that was the first time I’d heard him talk all practice.”

Not only do the club members get to hang out with friends; they, at the same time, have the opportunity to make an impact on many kids’ lives.

“Challenger League is a really fun experience. It gives you such a rewarding feeling knowing that you are making a change in someone’s life,” sophomore Megan Sherman said. “I remember working with a kid who looked forward to Challenger League every week. Although he couldn’t communicate with us, you could see how happy he was; he went for every ball that came his way.”

Little League Challenger Division is a world-wide organization. Established in 1989, Challenger League is generally for mentally or physically challenged kids at the ages of four to 22 depending on if they’re still enrolled in high school. More than 30,000 kids take part in more than 900 Challenger Divisions around the nation and around the world.

RBHS Key Club works with Challenger Division at the Daniel Boone baseball fields in Columbia. As big an impact Challenger League makes on the disabled kids, it’s an incredible experience for the RBHS students, too.

“Every Monday we get out there and do Challenger League Baseball,” Horvit said. “It’s a really rewarding experience, just seeing that you’re working with the player and they’re playing baseball just like everybody else. You’re making an impact on their life.”

Challenger League runs because of people who care for the cause and the kids involved. Karen O’Connor has been a Challenger League volunteer for about six years and loves getting the opportunity to work with different kids with various disabilities.

“I called and said I wanted to be a volunteer one night kind of like what you guys are doing, and they asked me if I wanted to coach, and then the next year I took over,” O’Connor said. “I love it because it gives the kids an opportunity to play an outdoor game that sometimes they don’t have the opportunity to do. And it also is great because they get to be partnered up with kids about their age so they get the chance to work with peers and even learn how to play a sport.”

Challenger League serves as an influential experience for the kids and the RBHS students who help out with the activity. Key Club contributes an uplifting form of volunteer work that effects the students and the kids they’re spending time with.

Knoesel had the chance to watch a boy, who was confused and hesitant at first, get into the game and have a great time. Making it possible for the kids to feel comfortable and enjoy themselves ultimately makes Challenger League the worth-while experience it is.

“I really like coming to Challenger League because it’s really cool to see the kids have fun, and do something that they normally wouldn’t be able to do without something put on like this,” Knoesel said. “The best part about it is like last time, I helped this guy named Wes, and he didn’t really know what was going on, and then as the day went on you see him start smiling and having fun. And that’s really the whole reason I come: to see these kids smile and laugh and have fun, even if it is only an hour.”

photo by Maribeth Eiken

Up in the air: Members of the Rock Bridge varsity and junior varsity cheerleading teams are lifted above the crowd at the Homecoming Assembly last Friday Oct. 25. High school cheerleading is the cause of 40 concussions and other head injuries in the state of Missouri every year.

Increase in violence raises awareness for concussions

Popularity of head injuries causes scare, initiates talk of new forms of protection Josh Ripley

T

here was a time, not that long ago, when football was a sport of unrestrained violence. Penalties were scarce and big hits were common in games. Players constantly hit with their helmets for the jarring collisions produced and the elevated chance to knock the ball loose. It was a rough game in which leaving the field with an injury was perceived as weakness. Exiting the game after a hit to the head was all but unthinkable.

Nowadays, everything has changed.

Penalties exist banning head on collisions and targeting players with the helmet and aiming above the shoulders in general. Hard hits to the head, once considered part of the game, now prompt thorough evaluation from team trainers searching for signs of a concussion, the injury that has risen from obscurity and grabbed full attention of the sports world in the last few years.

Described as a ‘bruise to the brain’

by RBHS trainer Greg Nagel, concussions have become the most prominent injury in sports today as more research emerges revealing the scarring and permanent side effects caused by the injury.

These side effects have proven to shorten players careers.

The National Football League, the biggest professional sports league in North America, has found itself in the midst of a massive concussion problem in recent years. As parents are made aware of the effects of concussions, high school athletes now have to fill out a concussion form. that used to not be required. Concussions are no secret anymore, and they are revolutionizing the perception of head injuries forever.

In 1994, NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue approved the organization of an NFL sponsored committee to research the effects of concussions and report their findings. The committee was not without controversy as the head of the team, Dr. Elliot Pellman, was not a neurologist and possessed limited knowledge of head injuries.

At the conclusion of the investigation the committee ruled that there was no long-term damage associated with concussions and that they were not to be considered a serious injury, despite opposing investigations that concluded that concussions caused long-term brain damage.

Today the NFL concedes that concussions are a significant problem. Subsequently the league has taken significant steps to reduce the number of head injuries suffered. This includes moving kickoffs up, enforcing rules about targeting with the helmet, and not allowing a player to return to the game after suffering a concussion.

Despite it’s best efforts at damage

control, the NFL’s refusal to acknowl- likely be out this week in a state playoff edge the danger of concussions previ- rematch against the Jays. ously has landed it in the crossfire of Nagel says most of the concussion countless lawsuits issued by former play- victims he sees come from three sports ers with long-term brain damage, deliv- at RBHS: football, wrestling and cheerered a crushing blow to its once sterling leading. Combined, high school athletes reputation, and even put the future of suffer an estimated 136,000 to 300,000 the sport in it’s current state in question. concussions per year in the United The impact concussions have made on States. the NFL has trickled down to collegiate, “It’s definitely a pretty high number,” high school, and even to little league Nagel said. “The ultimate goal is obvisports. Nagel says he does not neces- ously to reduce that number but there’s sarily see any more concussions than he only so much you can do.” used to before. However, the awareness Long term effects of concussions are and anxiety that goes along with known to increase the risks of them have elevated. contracting various illness“Concussions are es, including dementia, dangerous because Parkinson’s disease “I think if you don’t hanand depression. awareness has indle them right This is caused creased recently and I they can beby the masexpect that, as equipment come a huge sive amount problem,” of brain trauand technology improve, Nagel said. “I ma suffered concussions will become think awarefrom sustainless of a threat.” ness has ining multiple creased recentconcussions ly, and I expect throughout ones Greg Nagel that, as equipment sports career. athletic trainer and technology im“We only have prove, concussions will one brain, so that’s what become less of a threat.” makes this type of injury so While concussions may sound like important,” Nagel said. “It affects the a scary prospect to most, some of the central nervous system and really manimost at risk people don’t appear too fests itself in bizarre ways. It can lead concerned. A study by the Cincinnati to all sorts of problems such as memory Children’s Hospital Medical Center re- loss, balance issues and difficulty perported that 50% of high school football forming regular functions.” players would alert their coach if they While concussions are mainly assosuffered a head injury rather than hold- ciated with athletics, any time a person ing off in hopes of returning sooner to hits their head doing anything they are practice and to competition. at risk, as the brain is moved around un“I’m not really worried about con- protected. Senior Breta Phillips found cussions,” junior football player Love out this startling fact a year ago. Phillips Patel said. “When I signed up, I knew I was running through Rock Bridge State was joining a contact sport and concussions happen.

It doesn’t happen often, and when it does it’s not severe.”

While the overall generalization is that football players are invincible the fact of the matter is that the risk of reciving a concussion is very probable. Just this past week starting varsity quarterback junior Logan Twehous suffered an injury in a loss to Jefferson City, which medical staff later diagnosed as a concussion. Twehous will

Park last November when she slipped and fell into the Devil’s Icebox Cave.

Phillips was airlifted to the hospital and was treated for numerous injuries. One of them was a severe concussion which has left lingering effects that have continued on to this day.

“I lost a lot of coordination,” Phillips said. “I now wear reading glasses even though I had perfect vision before the fall. I suffered bleeding of the brain and there was heavy memory loss. A lot of the time things would get hazy. Concussions also affect your hormone levels so I also had some mood swings.”

Nagel said he treats concussions with total brain rest and eliminates stressors such as bright lights, loud noises and even spicy foods. Phillips said she received several treatments including rehab.

“I received rehab for the fall, which was primarily physical,” Phillips said.

“As for the concussions, I underwent a lot of testing to make sure I was functioning mentally. If I ever get another concussion I can never play sports again.”

While circumstances such as Phillips’ are rare, she is an example of the long term effects concussions have the ability of having on all of us. Nagel believes that, in general, the prognosis on concussions has a hopeful outlook.

Nagel also speaks of a time, hopefully in the near future when dangerous head injuries, such as concussions and other trauma, will fade to black.

“Concussions are dangerous among the uneducated,” Nagel said. “But any publicity right now is good publicity and I feel like the situation can only improve.

Concussions will never completely go away. But they are definitely trending downward, and that’s a very good sign.”

art by Yasmeen El-Jayyousi