Volume 50 Issue III December 16, 2009 6001 Cassia St. Boise, ID 83709 borahtoday.com

2 Volume 50 Issue III December 16, 2009 Letters TO THE Editor

Senator’s Mission

Statement

Editor-in-Chief: Ayla WashamAssociate Editor: Megan MizutaPage Editors: Letters to the Editor: Katie CorpIndex: Megan MizutaNews: Jesse Conklin/ Alexis AndersonOpinion: Megan MizutaCenter Spread: Ayla WashamLife: Megan HarrigfeldArts and Entertainment: Felicia ArnoldQ&A: Kari SchuhknechtPeople: Summer GalindoSports: Parker Simmons/ Katie Helm Fun & Games: Mike BinghamPhoto Editor: Katie CorpAssistant Photo Editor: Katie HelmStaff Photographer: Megan MizutaGraphic Artists: Lisa Garrard, Ryan Hester, Christine Lawson, and Nick ParentiIntern Writers: Zulfiya Amrulayeva, Wendy Aquino, Matt Bergman, Ali Clapier, Maricia Gaddis, Ryan Hester, Kristina Hudson, Hailey Huffield, Jamie Jones, Justin Kirkham, Mersay-deze LeDesky, Becca Leija, Samantha Miller, Shane Norman Cox, Carlee Parsley, Hilary Platt, Nicole Schoenberger, Zach Thomas, Erika Vaudrin, Samantha Whittaker, and Kayla YackText Editor: Megan MizutaWebsite Editor: Kevin MiddletonWebsite Manager: Jordan RiversAdvertising Manager: Kari SchuhknechtAdviser: Michelle Harmon

Senator Staff

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR How to send a letter to The Senator:

Let the people’s voices be heard! The Bo-rah Senator accepts all letters of school appropriate subjects. The Senator will

not accept anonymous letters.

The Senator’s duty is to inform and enter-tain students and faculty in an accurate and timely fashion. The paper covers events and information that affects the student body. The Senator is a non-profit organization.

The Senator is published monthly by Bo-rah High School, 6001 Cassia St., Boise, Idaho 83709. Phone 1-208-854-4370 ext. 142. Circu-lation 1700. The Senator is printed by Idaho Press Tribune.

The Senator maintains membership in the National Quill and Scroll Society and the Jour-nalism Education Association. Additional rates are available upon request.

All signed commentaries that appear in The Senator are strictly the opinion of that individual and do not necessarily reflect the general opinion of the Senator staff.

The Borah Senator received the 2008 George H. Gallup award from Quill and Scroll, the International Honorary Society for High School Journalists. The Quill and Scroll was founded by Dr. Gallup in 1926.

High school newspapers considered for this award seek recognition because of overall superiority in inform-ing, influencing, and entertaining.

1. Type letter2. Sign it

3. Bring letter to room 503or Email it to

kcorp@borahtoday.com

Dear Borah Senator, I am writing this letter in regards to the article about the Rowdies and the athletes not support-ing the band. First of all, where does the band get off acting all high and mighty just because they “support” the football team? Has any band member even stepped foot anywhere near a softball field? A lacrosse field? A soccer field? There are plenty of other sports/activities the band could attend and yet I haven’t seen them at any. Why should they tell us to come support them when they don’t support us? Furthermore, can they really say they are supporting the football team when they are required to be there for a class? How many of the band people would go to the games if it wasn’t required? Secondly, high school students don’t attend music events because they are boring! Those of us who aren’t in band, aren’t for a reason. We don’t want to go sit in silence for hours on end, listen-ing to music that doesn’t interest us! My third and final point involves the cheerleaders. The Rowdies don’t follow their cheers because all of their cheers are meant for cheerleaders, and cheerleaders only! Not all of us were blessed with the ability to be peppy 24/7. The Rowdies just start cheers we can actually do! If the cheerleaders did cheers like “Truckin” and things where we mimic them, they’d be more success-ful! -Kara Perry Senior Letter received 11-10

For the record, school spirit can’t be measured by class requirements

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Volume 50 Issue iII December 16, 2009 3

What’s Inside?

IndexLetters to the Editor……......................................................…………….2News..…………….......…...........................….........................................................…...4&5Opinion……….…………..................................................................................………6&7Spread...................................................................................................................8&9Life………......……….................................…………...........................................................10A&E………….......……................…........…………..................................................……...11Question of the Month........................…………..................................................…..12People…………......…..................….......………………..................................................…13Sports……….....……........................……..................................................……….14&15Fun & Games...........................................…….................................................……..16

By Mike Bingham

Nick Parenti, a senior of 17 years and the student behind this issue’s cover, is a brilliant graphic artist who hones his skills off-campus at a graph-ic design class. He generally prefers a digital medium and has done other projects for the paper earlier in past issues. He creates his art, which can only be described as abstract, with-out having to draw from other artists for inspiration. Images come quickly and easily to him, and he admits that he had little to no difficulty in creat-ing the cover after editor-in-chief Ayla Washam suggested creating a “wordle” out of the Q&A perceptions of Borah. His current goal is to even-tually design clothes and open his own clothing line.

“I’m a fan of TV,” he said when asked about his interests. He also enjoys videogames, collectible card games, and tennis. Nick is a profi-cient tennis player and has been on the team for some time now. He likes listening to music, and is able to enjoy any genre except country. His favorite types of music are Alternative, “Hop of the Hip”, and Screamo. Nick maintains a good relationship with his family, all of whom love to travel during the holidays. This year they’ve

On the Cover: Artist Bio

Check out bumper stickers

from Borah’s parking lot on

pg 8.Who has a

javelina in their classroom?Turn to pg 9 to find out.

Turn to pg 16 and see if you can complete the scavenger hunt of

art around campus.

planned a trip to sunny Florida over the break.

On the outside, Nick appears to be very relaxed, and after talking to him for awhile, he appears very relaxed on the inside as well. When confronted with the subject of senioritis, he re-plied “I don’t do work,” then laughed. He admits some of his classes, like cal-culus, can be difficult, but he doesn’t take problems too seriously and still finds enjoyment in his art.

To sum things up, Nick could be described as a very vague yet talented individual, whose art and style may forever be beyond our understanding.

Photo by Katie Corp

4 Volume 50 Issue I October 12, 2009NewsProgram provides supplies to Borah families

Deck the Halls

Japanese Club

Alya Washam

Creative Writing elective dropped due to lack of interest, budget

Borah lost the Creative Writing elective this year. The class was taught by English teacher Chuck McHenry, and before him Language Arts de-partment head Rod Wray.

McHenry said, “It was primarily focused on allowing students to hone their fiction writing skills.” The stu-dents wrote three to five major short stories, read 15 to 20 famous short sto-ries, and completed 50 “short writes.” At the end of semester, the students composed a 25+ page portfolio of their best work.

“If the numbers aren’t there, it’s time to kill it,” McHenry said. Last year 39 students enrolled, but this year McHenry reported that only a couple of students signed up for the class.

Wray said, “I am not happy about losing it this year. There are not enough electives in the Language Arts department.” Core requirements are going up, so districts have to use their budgets to fund teachers for the re-quired classes.

“Public school programs are like your body when hypothermia sets in: the extremities are sacrificed so the core can survive awhile longer,” McHenry said.

By Alexis AndersonOccupied with anime, costumes,

painting, parties, potlucks, and ice-skating, this year’s Japanese Club has been very busy with several projects and activities.

“We accomplish what we set out to do slow but steady, and have fun while doing it,” commented club president and senior MaryAnne Bowen.

The promotions committee is completing a request from history teacher, Amy Everson, to paint a se-ries of murals for her classroom.

In addition, they plan on throw-ing a Christmas party tomorrow. “We have fervently been planning for this party,” explained Bowen.

The celebration will include a potluck. They will also dress as an-ime characters, and have a Secret Santa gift exchange. In the future,

they hope to take an ice-skating trip and skate in costume.

They are also hosting Anime Week twice a year, where the Anime com-mittee will bring together anime mov-ie clips that are appropriate for the time of year.

“Anime is a big part of Japanese Club,” stated Junior Matt Carrillo. Anime is Japanese animation that be-gan at the start of the 20th century. The Japanese term otaku is used in America as a term for anime fans.

“We want the club to be Japanese Club, not Anime Club, so we’re also trying to move away a little bit from Anime,” noted Carrillo.

The club holds meetings every Wednesday and uses funny video clips to get everyone’s attention to start the meetings. During the meetings, mem-bers discuss future plans.

By Katie HelmDeck the Halls, an annual tradi-

tion, brings the holidays to the halls. Sophomores, juniors and seniors com-peted to see who decorated the best door. “We are trying to make it a big deal again,” commented junior Walter Nosalskiy, Student Council member.

As for breaking the themes, the sophomores turned C-hall into a Win-ter Wonderland, juniors made A-hall into the Grinch, and seniors took on Charlie Brown for B-hall. Student

By Summer Galindo

The Borah Adopt a Family pro-gram is an annual campus event since 1988. Students, teachers, and workers in the community send fami-lies experiencing hard times holiday care packages.

Although this is an organization run by the school, there are many other Adopt a Family programs around the nation, including the Sal-vation Army’s as shown at salvation-army.org.

The organization is an anony-mous service that social worker Becky Woodland arranges each year. Woodland picks Borah families in need and sets out to help them. She sends a mass e-mail is out to every teacher about how they and their

students can help. Clubs as well as classes sponsor families. Even families can become sponsors. For example, this Thanksgiving the office staff said that they helped a family in need.

The program is active from No-vember through the winter holidays and helps families stay nourished as well as happy.

Students and staff prepare a bas-ket or a box of food, gifts, and other supplies including pet food and do-nated clothing. Woodland delivers the packages to the families.

Adopt a Family helps about 20 families each school year. “It seems to bring us closer together,” said Wood-land. “I like that it’s Borah helping Bo-rah. Unlike most school food drives, you know that your donations are go-ing to a nearby family that needs it, the only difference is that you don’t know exactly who.”

Council decided the themes. “This tradition has been going on

for at least 20 years,” added Korrin Rue, Student Council adviser. Over the years, Deck the Halls has regressed from a big deal to a smaller deal that Student Council is bringing back.

The Door Decorating, also spon-sored by Student Council, is a school wide competition in which students decorate during sixth period. The wining classroom wins an ice cream party provided by Student Council.

Illistration by Ryan Hester

NewsVolume 50 Issue iI November 17, 2009 5

Light reaches into the ceramics room as kids and adults alike immerse themselves in the Borah art commu-nity.

The art department at Borah on Tuesdays from 3-5 p.m. provides a ha-ven to channel creative ideas in a safe place. Open Art Studio is an after-school program with access to both art rooms, and every so often even the dark room.

Art teachers Jennifer Compton and Pat Rose have facilitated the ac-tivity for several years.

Open Art Studio has a place for everyone, not just school wide, but community wide. “Anyone in our community can come,” said Comp-ton, “it’s a good community builder.”

The Student Store and Java Den are more than just places for learners to devour food and purchase Borah paraphernalia. From German choco-lates and popcorn to frozen yogurt and empanadas, the stores are hubs for fundraising.

The store sells more than just Fra-zils, pretzels and personal pizzas; ev-eryday, a club is raising money for up-coming activities.

Spanish Club sells hot cocoa and bilingual holiday grams while German Club hawks chocolates and taffy. Both groups participate just for fun, saying, “Hi, we’re here!” explained German Club adviser Barbara Beautrow.

Marketing classes put their pro-ceeds from the Java Den toward dis-trict, state and national champion-ships. Advertising Club also sells candy apple suckers and lanyards in front of the Student Store to help reduce the cost of printing their newspaper.

By Jesse Conklin

The Dehryl A. Dennis Profes-sional Technical Education Center is one opportunity that students have

to collect skills that can help them in life af-ter high school.

The Tech Center has more than 55 classes in 30 courses of study. These classes range anywhere from auto body classes to zoology.

“The courses are all student interest driven. Every class offers specific benefits that will give them opportunities in either two avenues: one is to go directly into the workforce or to attend a junior college and further their education,” Prin-cipal Jim Marconi said.

Students who take classes at the Tech Center have the opporunity to gain certifications in their fields or enter internships with businesses around the Boise area that will teach them and give them more hands-on experience.

“Only about 10 percent of the 1,000 students that attend the Tech Center get certified or an in-ternship,” Marconi said. Students who have a B average and are entering a third year of a tech subject are eligible to participate.

By Alya Washam

Next year comes with its own surprises“It’s going to be a real opportunity for kids,” Al-

ternative Schooling Director and Borah alumnus Coby Dennis said about a long-distance learning program.

Broadband Teaching is a way for students in smaller districts and schools to take classes that schools like Borah offer. Two-way, high-quality digi-tal video allows students to push a button, raise their hands, and watch a live class.

“It will be several years before the full swing,” Dennis said. Broadband Teaching is a goal that the district is preparing to launch next year at Borah as a pilot program, but it’s a matter of how many classrooms Borah will have the equipment in. Borah was slated for a modified block schedule next year, like the schedules currently at Timberline and Boise. Since the program would potentially in-volve other districts, coordinating the two issues has taken priority. Either way, the participating schools need to have the same, if not a very close schedule

Parents, teachers, students, and even an Ambrose Elementary School sec-ond grader have attended.

“It’s a place to release positive creativity,” commented sophomore Claire Richardson. The program stretches the art department to more people, providing materials such as the clay and potter’s wheel, paint and other supplies for a broad artistic ex-perience.

Since the program exists not just for art students, it gives other people the ability to dabble in an art experi-ence. Borah students also can come plainly to do extra work, or finish up a project.

“It’s the coolest thing going on during a Tuesday afternoon,” said Rose. “We’re very happy for anyone to come by—the more the merrier.”

Gateway to a creative mindArt Department’s Open Studio lets community to be artisticBy Megan Harrigfeld

Borah orginizations offersstudents a varity of sweets

as Borah’s. How to coordinate all the details among the schools involved in the Broadband Teaching program is still being determined.

Curriculum Director and Borah aumnus Dr. Don Coberly said, “It opens up so many possibili-ties.” Broadband Teaching allows a student in a town like Weezer to take one of the many AP (ad-vanced placement) courses Borah offers, if their school doesn’t offer them.

On the other hand, Coberly said teachers have expressed how important a block schedule is for al-lowing time to complete labs.

“Possibilities of block still depend on who we share the Broadband Teaching with,” Dennis said. Dennis explained that the two separate discussions of making Broadband Teaching available and con-sidering a modified block schedule have to occur simultaneously.

“I think Borah is interested in playing this game,” Principal Bonita Hammer said. Borah is slated for some equipment from the IEN (Idaho Education Network) next year, but how much or in how many classrooms is undetermined.

Photo By Katie HelmStudent begins to spins a pot on the potter’s wheel during Open Studio.

Tech Center offers

interships, certification

Block schedule’s fate in hands of wireless classroom learning

because of where we’re located.”

W h e n asked their p e rc e p t i o n of Borah, students all across the valley had a lot to say. Not a single per-son with a disapproving comment would say any-thing on the record. The conclusion we gather from this is that most ill feelings toward Borah lack rea-son— when asked to explain a negative comment, students just shrugged and walked away.

The reflection of any school lies in the com-munity feelings about the school. If a school can-not come together as one, then that school will be vulnerable to all criticism. When unified, a school is much stronger and has the ability to easily disprove any pessimistic accusation or comment.

Borah’s new principal Bonita Hammer thinks very highly of Borah. “We have diversity in our population, which I think is an advantage,” said Hammer.

We would agree that our school is extremely diverse and that diversity has potential to be an advantage, but it’s an advantage that would be so-lidified if our student body became less divided and more united.

What the students, faculty, and parents at Borah think of Borah is what makes or breaks the image we uphold in our community.

The perception of Borah isn’t all bad or all good— we suspect it wouldn’t be one hundred per-cent in either direction for any other high school, either. The only way to improve the perception of Borah is to ignite a stronger feeling of Borah pride within the school itself.

We aren’t necessarily lacking in school spirit, but we aren’t fully embracing the diversity we are so lucky to have. If we don’t work together, it is nearly impossible to change first impressions people form from when they meet us individually. No Lion can fulfill his or her full potential among a divided jun-gle. We are Borah, and we have no reason to hide our pride.

OPINION6 Volume 50 Issue III December 16, 2009

Opinion is taken from an anonymous survey of Senator staff members.

Senator Staff

Opinion

Perceptions of BorahUnity can combat image of cockroaches, chew

Staff Editorial

First impressions are often what people base their entire perception of something on and can be difficult to change. However, our school is so diverse that we aren’t known for any one thing, but rather a wide range of great characteristics and grave short-comings.

“Cockroaches and chew,” remarked Timberline senior Monika Svahn with no hesitation. “That’s my perception of Borah.” With the haunting picture of a cockroach engraved in her mind, and having friends at Borah who chew tobacco, Svahn formed this perception.

Capital sophomores Katy Jekich and Lucy Herandez view Borah in a similar way. “I think Borah’s pretty much the same as Capital, only you guys have cockroaches,” said Jekich.

Borah may be famous for its insect population, but that is not all it is known for. Boise senior Ka-trine Franks views Borah as an artistic school. “Bo-rah gets a lot of really creative kids. All the kids I’ve met from Borah are really artistic,” reminisced Franks.

Other Boise students had no input about Borah, and said that they don’t think anything good or bad about our school.

“Boise is the best,” noted Boise junior Con-nor McLeod. Boise sophomore Roberto Negron agreed saying, “I just like Boise better [than Borah]

Illustrations by Lisa Garrard

Borah sweeps the Economic Summit.

BSU earns a berth in the Fiesta Bowl against Texas Christian University (TCU.)

Metallica plays soldout concert at the Idaho Center.

Panda Tai Shan of the Washington D.C. Zoo is to be transferred to China in early 2010.

Tiger Woods is accused of cheating on his wife.

Sarah Palin releases her memoirs, “Going Rogue.”

President Obama approves troop increase in Afghanistan.

Like Indifferent Dislike

Illustration by Chris Lawson

OPINIONVolume 50 Issue iII December 16, 2009 7

Anchors make mockery of the morning video broadcast

By Mike Bingham

Recently, seniors were given a survey known as the “Strong Interest Inventory.” The survey asked questions about students’ interests, opinions, and preferences. Based on the data, outbound gradu-ates were matched to potential jobs and careers. Interesting enough, but are these tests really worth Borah’s time and money?

Some students have complained about their results, claiming to have been matched with ca-reers they would never consider. They were con-fused at not having gotten the jobs that they were expecting. In some people’s minds, the tests are a pointless expense because they provide unhelp-ful information, and the time and money could be used better elsewhere.

But it’s possible that these people are missing the point. The Strong survey has plenty of pros to outweigh the cons. While it’s true that the dis-trict pays over $13,000 to distribute them to stu-dents, it only comes out to around $7 per person. Compared to the almost $100 that it would cost to take the survey at a career counseling center, it’s definitely a good deal. Students, in fact, take an entire period to answer the questions and don’t have to pay a cent, so they’re the ones benefitting the most.

The problems with the results are actually the cause of an ignorant misconception. The tests run students’ answers against answers from pro-fessionals in various trades. If a student’s results correspond to an undesirable job--car-salesman, for example--it doesn’t mean the student lacks the skill necessary for the profession they had hoped to get, and it definitely doesn’t mean that they’re qualified for the profession they tested for. It sim-ply means that their interests match the interests of people who hold jobs in the areas the student received on their results.

And honestly, if a student is deliberately try-ing to match up with their dream profession, then they’re not taking the survey correctly. They’re the ones wasting the district’s resources, rather than the other way around.

The Strong Interest Inventory is really more of a matchmaking service, rather than a skills evaluation, and if more people understood that, then perhaps they’d see it as a more worthwhile endeavor.

“Strong Interest” testresults justify cost, even if students don’t like them

By Megan Mizuta

At the top of second period every day, Borah is subject to the morning announcements. Produced and anchored by students, the morning broadcast can often seem like little more than a bad joke. May-be it’s the obese animals pictured behind our an-chors, or that our news has been anchored by Mario and Luigi. Maybe it’s the feeling that information must be dug out from underneath showy transitions and frothy deliv-ery. Whatever it is, the announcements seem more like play time than anything else.

Senior Challis Popkey, who an-chored as Mario, said that often students “tune out” the an-nouncements. She said the purpose of the announcements is to inform stu-dents, but “at some point people just get bored watching.”

However, the morning broadcast can sour for viewers when the actual news is buried under wigs and mustaches.

Junior Steven Rupp found the Mario Brothers “distracting.” Rupp added, “I get nothing out of it.”

Senior Mary Shake, who anchored as Luigi, stat-ed that the announcements are intended to spread the news, but said that her purpose “is to make people laugh.” Of the Mario Brothers edition, she stated, “If I offended anyone, that wasn’t my goal.” Shake then reiterated that her intent was to bring “the little bit of entertainment we get.”

Video broadcasting adviser and business teacher Brad Baumberger said that he receives mixed feed-back on the morning announcements. “Some of them like them because they’re entertained; some don’t because they think they’re unprofessional.”

Currently the announcements seem polarized in favor of entertainment, despite recent blazer-sport-

ing anchors. But it doesn’t have to be either or. A line exists between Ron Burgundy tag lines and MSNBC sign offs. Our anchors are fully capable of walking that line, and giving us an interesting broadcast without eclipsing their purpose of im-parting information and abusing their platform.

“The purpose [of the announcements] should be to inform students about what’s going on,” Rupp stated. But instead the announcements are used to “screw around” and for “the anchors to make fools

of themselves.” We want Borah

to produce a pro-gram worth our at-tention and time.

We need look no further than Capital to see an example of how stellar high school announcements can be. Adviser of 10 years Rob Parsons said that the award winning program is “run like a busi-ness.” This business entails an environ-ment like a TV sta-tion, and producing various videos for

the community. Capital students in Video Production II rotate

through different sets of responsibilities: produc-ing, anchoring, and creating the two sports shows, among others. If Borah were to emulate Capital in its use of rotations, we would have fresh an-chors, and students in the class would end up better rounded.

But better broadcasting days—in the announce-ment department at least—are not only the respon-sibility of our broadcasting class, but of everyone who submits an announcement. The announce-ments are limited to five minutes; condensed sub-missions would be beneficial to all involved.

If the announcements want our attention, they need to earn it through more than pageantry. What we would find most captivating is a concise, well put together broadcast, because we know that’s what Borah video broadcasting is capable of giving us.

8 The borah senator Volume 50 Issue Iii December 16, 2009 9AboutBorah.com

Walking around Borah’s parking lots before school, lunch, and even af-ter school, one may recognize the many bumper stickers on fellow students’ cars.

The rules require a permit, license and registration to park on campus, but there aren’t any specific rules on the type of stickers on a car.

“I don’t mind them at all as long as they aren’t offensive or derogative to-wards a specific group of people,” stat-ed Assistant Principal Quane Kenyon.

People who prefer bumper stickers on their cars normally

By Felicia Dawn

Bumper stickers express the many personalities in the Borah parking lot

use them as a way to express them-selves, even as a promotion for larger companies such as Boise Weekly and the Record Exchange.

“The funniest bumper sticker I’ve ever seen was ‘My kid can beat up your

Honor student,’” stated Student Re-source Officer Steve Kincheloe.

Ironically, the only rule regarding bumper stickers is vulgarity, which is not allowed on a vehicle, unless it isn’t visible.

However, some stickers around campus might be considered stretching the rules.

For example, the most unique stickers that are around campus

are ‘I got pierced at Imperial’, ‘Record Exchange’, ‘Mr. Zogs original Sex Wax: the best for your stick’, ‘I’m a Liberal, it’s okay if you’re not!’ ,‘We Won the Science Fair’, ‘Patagonia organic’, and ‘Buy hemp ‘n’ let the trees grow’.

“In my opinion, I like bumper stickers that are comedic, more than the ones that attack other people’s opin-ions,” said Kincheloe.

Students who have bumper stick-ers like to have meaning behind them, for example, some of them are vegetar-ians who support all natural things, and

others just like to show their support of their favorite bands or sports. Students’ opinions, other unique humor, and in-spirational quotes can also be found.

“I think people put organic bumper stickers on their cars for attention. That way they let the people know be-hind them that they can prove something they may not be, and be like ‘Hey, I’m organic,” stated sophomore Stephen Winter.

Photos by Katie Helm

Club T-shirts have become something of a tradition. Each one is unique and has its own theme, according to club mottos and goals. Clubs have shirts made each year in-cluding German, French, Key Club, Student Council and the Rowdies. However, some clubs produce their own.

By Summer GalindoClub t-shirts turn heads

This year, ACE Club’s design included tie-dye, which each person created themselves during a club meeting. The idea came from junior Kelsey Wonacott and was then voted on by the class.

German Club’s design was devel-oped by junior Katharine Bre-ithaupt. The shirt shows the German flag’s colors as well as the quote, “with the heart of a lion,” written in German.

The Rowdies also had a scheme planned. The attire was formed by the “fourfathers”: seniors Sydney Por-ter, Bryce Johnson, Katie Moden, and Eddie Charters. It was a group effort and Johnson drew the final product.

“They unlock the key to awesomeness,” Key club’s ad-viser Jayne Davis stated about Key Club’s 2009-10 shirts. They were a team effort and were voted on with an almost unanimous result.

French Club’s group effort was the backbone of their shirts. Each member added his or her own personal “doo-dle” to the design, said adviser Isabelle Hope. “They turned out perfect!”

Student Council’s t-shirts were also differ-ent from the rest. Senior, Matthew Fouts, came up with the idea for the arrangement and de-sign that has long sleeves, which makes them “special,” Fouts said.

Photos by Katie Helm

8 The borah senator Volume 50 Issue Iii December 16, 2009 9AboutBorah.comLooking closer at a teacher’s deskBy Megan Mizuta

AP language and senior English teacher Chuck McHenry is known amongst his students for not only his frequent witticisms, but for his eclectic classroom décor. McHenry described his room to one of his AP language classes as channeling a “grandfather’s den.” Contained even within the small desk space is a sampling representative of the rest of the classroom.

The jave-lina has been housed in McHenry ’s room, just above his desk, for five or six years. M c H e n r y acquired it from Steve Tipping’s bi-ology room. M c H e n r y said that he originally “wanted this sweet Turkey Vulture, but it was spoken for.” He then settled for the javelina instead, having seen them run wild in his southwest childhood home.

McHenry be-came the owner of these Edward Scis sorhand- l ike shears after being entrusted with them by a former Borah librarian.

“I’ve had a mug the last couple of years that some seniors had made for me that suggested I’m a -- and I’m paraphrasing here -- “cranky teach-er who hates everybody,” which, of course, is patently untrue. I thought a change was in order this year, so I went with a polarized version of the cranky teacher image; and I think that’s Tin-kerbell. True, she’s sort of a prankster, but a benevolent one, I think. Plus, it’s just harder to get angry with your stu-dents when you’re holding a pink coffee mug with a Disney fairy on it.”

Photos by Megan Mizuta

This bust of Ear-nest Hemingway serves as a bookend for several volumes of Shakespeare, among others.

New this year are the neon signs taped to the front of McHenry’s metal desk. McHenry said they were created by “Some kid with too much spare time and too many highlighters...”

Two days until winter break, and anticipation is rising.

Winter break has virtually arrived and students will have a break from tests, labs, and socializing. How to oc-cupy 336 hours can become a bit of a trial.

Although snowboarding/skiing and going out of town are obvious op-tions for taking up the winter days that are blank with no school, Boise offers a plethora of activities when there’s nothing good on TV.

“Goose hunting, lots and lots of goose hunting,” said senior Eddy

By Megan Harrigfeld Charters about how his winter-break days were going to be taken up.

Junior Jordan Taylor also plans to spend his vacation hunting. However, f a i r - w e a t h e r hunters, such as junior Son-ny Hobdey, plans to just hang out with friends and avoid the late hunting season chill.

Events around the valley are boom-ing due to the season as well. City li-braries are hosting events, including

the Hillcrest Library’s weekly teen pro-grams with a Manga night on Dec. 22, and a “special events” night on Dec. 29, according to the public libraries web

site.Get athleti-

cism on at the YMCA and the Front Climbing club. The YMCA offers Teen Nights the first and fourth night of every month.

Enjoy bouldering on plastic rocks any day at the Front Climbing Club on Chinden.

Then there are the people who sim-ply have an objective to avoid people. “[I plan on] not seeing a single teen-ager,” said English teacher Stefan de Vries.

Students like sophomore Caytlin Green choose to go “hooky bobbing,” an activity in which a rope is tied to the back of a car and the participant slides on his/her feet on snowy streets; but these days most slide on a sled.

“I’ll go shred some pow,” said ju-nior Jake Busche. In other words, he will go to a ski resort to snowboard. When all else fails, it’s time to go up to a ski hill to do what many think snow is meant for.

Winter break allows for alternative activities

“[I plan on] not seeing a single teenager,”

-- Stefan de VriesEnglish Teacher

Life10 Volume 50 Issue 3 DECEMBER 16, 2009

260 less chances to get swine fluBy Megan Harrigfeld

Last Thursday, Borah did its part to cooperate with the government’s pandemic flu plan, making H1N1 vaccinations available to all students and faculty in the new gym free of charge.

“It’s important to get immunized,” said nurse Barb Thomas.

H1N1, or the swine flu, has been very preva-lent here, according to Thomas; she estimated 100 to 150 students have been infected with the virus when it hit the hardest during and around Home-coming week.

Approximately 260 people got the immuniza-tion Dec. 10, but other students such as sophomore Lauren Spengler got it before the vaccine was of-fered at school.

The number of immunizations was surprisingly low, considering that the school blocked out more then three class periods in anticipation that many students would be eager to have more peace of mind.

However, some didn’t even get the vaccination by choice. Seniors Tyler Castor and Carrington O’ Leary report their parents are the people that

pushed them to get the vaccina-tion.

There are, on the other hand, students that simply choose to be healthy, such as seniors Bryce Johnson and Challis Popkey.

Although the virus has seem-ingly gone down, medical pro-fessionals are saying that the virus will come back in the near future.

“[The virus] seems to be af-fecting younger people in a more serious way,” said Central Dis-trict Health worker Sonja Red-den. Commenting that the virus is very contagious, she strongly urges people to get it.

“It lingers longer in the air,” she added, “all it takes to get it is for someone [infected] to sneeze.”

Since the vaccination has been available, it has only been an option to certain, high-risk groups of people. Now that it is more accessible, the vaccina-tion is open to all people ages six months to 65 years

regardless of health condition.The next point of dispensing for the vaccine will

be this Monday from 3:00 - 7:00 p.m. at the former Comp USA store.

Photo by Katie CorpSophomore Mason Bilger gets the facts straight about H1N1 from nurse Barb Thomas.

Coffee is the new cup of tea

By Katie Corp

“Black Gold, Texas Tea.” Just as the Beverly Hillbilly’s struck it rich with oil, some of

Borah’s enterprising busi-ness students are finding val-ue in selling their own black gold.

“Coffee is a gift from the gods,” said health fanatic Steve Tipping, a biology teacher. One of Tipping’s fa-mous lines is “[coffee] is good in moderation.”

Senior Mary Shake agreed with Tipping; “Don’t drink too much, but once in a while it’s ok.”

Shake is supervisor of the Java Den’s 10 employees who raise money for Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) and Business Profes-sionals of America (BPA), two

campus clubs. Shake said the Java Den is

“the best business experience you can get in high school.”

According to Shake and BPA adviser Brad Baumberg-er, this represents the most profitable year in the Java Den; 30 cups on average are sold every day.

Before Baumberger began teaching at Borah, he said coffee sales were non-existent due to lack of advertising.

The newly added mural, painted by Borah ’09 gradu-ate Emily Konkel, attracts customers.

Why doesn’t the Student Store sell coffee? The answer is found in health laws.

Last year many non-nutri-tional food items such as Air-head candies, Pop-tarts and sodas were sold on a regular basis in the Student Store.

This year those items were taken out because the health department requires a cer-tain percentage of food sold in schools be nutritional.

Coffee can be sold in the store now that such items have been discontinued.

Baumberger and DECA adviser Mark Bilger plan to sell coffee for the first time in the Student Store after win-ter break. “It is the perfect time to start sales, when it is cold,” said Baumberger.

He also said hot choco-late, cider and tea are avail-able for healthier non-caf-feinated alternatives.

Caffeinated tea is also available. The coffee flavors in the Java Den are Swiss Mocha, French Vanilla and another flavor that changes periodically; currently the choice is mint chocolate.P

hoto by Katie Corp

“I feel this genera-tion loves the special

effects and that is what pulls us in to

the most important part, the story line.”

--Teacher Micheal Gibbons

A&EVolume 50 Issue iiI december 16, 2009 11

Remakes have become too cheesy

Everybody these days loves special effects. It’s what attracts so many adults and kids of all ages. With movies such as the re-make of “Star Trek” out, the question is which is better, the original version or the modern version?

Economics teacher Michael Gib-bons said, “I really like the old version because where they lack in special

Photos from Google images

By Parker Simmons

effects they make up for in the story line.”

If you’ve ever seen the new “Land of the Lost” starring Will Ferrell, you might say it’s really funny, but kind of tacky. The old version far exceeds all cheesiness imaginable. “As a kid, it didn’t take much to impress me, but now it’s so bad. How did I stand watching that?” Gibbons said.

“Land of the Lost” is a combina-tion of dinosaurs and aliens. The con-fusing mixture fascinated people of that time and the special effects were very advanced. However as times change, past technology becomes ob-solete.

The new version of “Land of the Lost” is still corny, but not because of the special effects. It’s the story line that has been cheapened. The fact that these strange alien creatures are attacking the characters along with massive dinosaurs is a bit of a head scratcher.

This may go to show that not only are the special effects evolving, but so are the storylines. Storylines from years ago are no longer up to par with modern storylines.

This raises the question, do viewers watch movies for the special effects, or the storyline? Senior Jared Wood said, “Our generation is used to the ad-vanced technology with action packed films compared to past generations who were used to story driven films.”

Country music show manages to massacre holiday cheerBy Katie Helm

Gibbons however, doesn’t feel the new generation lacks respect for the story line. “I feel this generation loves the special effects and that is what pulls us in to the most important part, the story line.”

The movie experience is ever evolving. The next generation may look back at movies these days and laugh. It’s a strange thought but one day we will be in Gibbons’ shoes ask-ing ourselves, how did I watch that?

Walking into Qwest Arena on Nov. 29, any person with a Sarah Evans concert ticket was probably not ex-pecting a horror show. For one thing, I am not a country fan at all, but I kept an open mind.

For another, only about 100 people attended, and they were mostly the el-derly and young children.

Evans finally bolts onto the stage singing a glass-breaking high note. The sound is about eight times louder than it should be. I don’t know if it was to compensate for all the old peo-ple’s hearing or just the lack of letting the sane people stay sane.

After the third or fourth song, I re-

alized that she sounds just as bad in person as on the radio. At this point, I came to the decision that it was going to be a long night filled with horrible music.

Evans decided to break the con-cert into halves, one of just her hits and the other of Christmas music. I felt a sense of relief, since nobody can ruin Christmas music. Well Evans was able to.

Not only did she flatten Christmas music, but also had the guts to imper-sonate Elvis. Once again she failed miserably. All in all this was the worst concert I have ever attended. The best part of the whole show was the 10 minute intermission; pure quiet bliss.

interested?E-mail: senator_borah@

yahoo.com

YOUR AD HERE!

(top right) Will Ferrell in the 2009 release of ‘Land of the Lost’ has a look of exaggerated

fear.

The original cast of ‘Star Trek’

Sarah Evans concert

What is your perception of Borah?

“I think that Borah is perceived by other schools as ghetto and the poor school, but in reality Borah is probably one of the best schools out there. We have a great staff, who, in my personal experience, actually care about the students. They’re always there to ask what’s up or how things are going, and I know that my teachers can always tell when things aren’t ‘peachy.’

We also have a pretty decent sized student body, too, so the student to teacher ratio isn’t as good as other schools, but the teachers still try. So we may be ghetto and poor to other schools, but we do have one of the best faculties possible. I’m glad to be known as a Borah lion.” Tawni Beierlorzer, junior

“I think that it is a very good and all around respectable school. The teachers are great, the school is clean, and the administration is help-ful. Borah students have a lot of pride and respect for the school. We as a school are a big part of the commu-nity. We also have some of the most talented and bright kids around. Borah is what it always has been: a fantastic school.”

“The diversity of Borah’s student body creates a great environment for students to develop cultural and ethnic awareness and open-minded-ness (which is of obvious impor-tance). Also, the varying styles of talent (whether athletic or non-ath-letic) displayed by the students of Borah provide creative avenues for all interests. Thus, the diversity of Borah’s students and their talents create a perception of high creativity and cultural diversity. I would encourage everyone to come out to some extracurricular events and support your lions.” Alex LaChance, teacher

12 Volume 50 Issue III December 16, 2009Q&APhotos by Katie Corp

“Borah High School— land of the lions— all I can say is that it’s falling into a spiral-ing, self-destructive, shamble of the original potential in 1959. Broken classrooms and people are ignored, and the collapsing infrastructure is glided over. I don’t hate Bo-rah, by all means I take it in stride like most pension— it’s just obviously clear that its reputation is deluded into grandeur presumptions.”

“When I think of Borah, I think of stuck up people who never leave their cliques; people who do not accept outsiders, or those who are different. I think of when I had to fight to be able to take normal classes. In the end, I can say Bo-rah is an isolated ignorant island.” Jessica Meyers, junior

“I have no spirit in Borah. The bathrooms stink and as far as I know, Borah doesn’t even have enough money to replace the bathroom stall doors in the math hall, which have been missing for the past two years that I’ve been here.” Dan Lackaff, junior

For more responses, please visit pages 8 & 9.

“Big, Original, Righteous, Accepting, Happy.” Roxanne Lewers, junior

“Beautifully Original, Radiant, Awesome High School.” Melissa Lee, junior

“As a student body, Borah has no school spirit.” Courtney Connor, senior

“My perception of Borah is like a car crash. You like to watch, but not be in one.” Ryan Clark, senior

“Borah is a cool school, but would be better with a decent football team. We’re not as ghetto as everyone thinks, either.” Savannah Tjaden, sophomore

“I feel that Borah’s exterior does not reflect its interior. I feel that the people at Borah are awesome, yet our facilities seem old and out of date.” Spencer Nelson, junior

Katharine Breithaupt, junior Jeff Flaherty, junior

“You ever been in a place you don’t want to be, but you have to? That’s how I feel about Borah.” Ryan Dodson, junior

By Megan Harrigfeld

Borah is losing a hard-working academic counselor at the end of this semester. Counselor Sylvia Johnson is retiring in January to move on to what she described as peaceful, more relaxing things.

Johnson has been in education in the Boise School District for 36 years and a counselor here for 10. Before her career as a school counselor, Johnson taught child development and foods/nutrition classes here.

Working at the same place for so long leaves a lot of time for personal rela-tionships to develop. She reports that she has made “a lot of good friends” in her profession. “It just becomes part of your life,” she said.

This wasn’t, however, Johnson’s initial career plan. Exploring many angles in college, from administration and counseling, to family consumer science, it wasn’t until she began student teaching that she discovered her pas-sion for it. Johnson said she was shy and didn’t know what to expect from the experience.

Many of her col-leagues mention what a joy she is to be around. Comments about her sense of humor go on and on. “We love Syl-via,” commented Coun-selor Dawn Tolan, “she’s a wonderful lady with a big heart.”

Johnson remarked that she isn’t worried at all about how she is going to be spending her time once retired. “I will just do whatever I want,” said Johnson.

While involved in the district, Johnson has put in her fair share of involve-ment and accumulated achievements. She was involved with the first W.E.B. Dinner, where her students cooked the meal. Johnson was also one of the first people on the committee to start the high school Career Day here in Boise.

But Johnson hasn’t just been a part of events to benefit the students. One of her other noteworthy career legacies is Parent Survival classes, in which parents learned how to cope with troubled adolescents.

“Sylvia is a tremendous voice of reason,” noted counselor Cary Cada, “and has been absolutely a treat to work with—I’m really going to miss working with her.”

The new hire will have some warm, smiley shoes to fill.

Volume 50 Issue iII December 16, 2009 13PeopleCounselor retires after 36 years of service

By Zack Thomas

Each person and their own travel adventure offer its own bit of character, and art teacher Jen Compton recently lived the character of Jordan.

“We got to do a lot of things,” she said. “We started out in Amman, a big city of two million people.” While in the Middle East, she toured Roman ruins and the largest mosque in the country.

After the capital city, they headed south through Karak and Petra. While in Petra, Compton said she was very attracted to the art. “It had such value with ancient culture in it,” she said. “It was the history of humans in art.” The art contained three of the world’s largest religions within them.

Compton mentioned riding camels and having a tea ceremony and even a traditional dinner with some Bedouin’s nomadic people. She made her way to the Red Sea for a night and up North to the Dead Sea where she saw Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Bethlehem. The group of educators selected by Project Citizen spent one more night on the Jordan River where they visited the loca-tion of Jesus’ baptism and then returned to Amman.

“One of the main things I found fascinating was our cultural ignorance about the area,” she said, “I think we only get little snippets and sound bites of the area that don’t betray a round picture of things that are actually happening there.”

She gained a closer look at how a Palestinian all girls school handles conflict. She observed sophomores identify a school problem and work together to solve it. “They spoke fluent Arabic and English,” she added. “They were also very open minded.”

Such experiences gave her better awareness of this culture. For example, water is trucked in or collected from rain. She observed how sparingly water is rationed. “We don’t realize how lucky we have it,” she continued. “They work so hard making things better, while we wait to get something better given to us.”

She emphasized the hope the girls have even despite their personal and legal struggles: They not only are refugees sponsored by the United Nations, but they also have no legal status to earn citizenship.

“As far as my favorite day it would be Petra.” There she got to unravel some history, but not only that. She also dug in to the art of the culture. “It was stun-ning; the desert landscapes and the incredible, huge, Mashhad with a mixture of Egyptian, Greek, and Roman architecture carved out of the sandstones.”

Project Citizen sponsored Compton’s and other Idaho educators’ travel to Jordan. Compton said the application was simple and, having been selected, requires her to create a lesson plan. She plans to teach a unit on Islamic art.

By Katie CorpCounselor Sylvia Johnson learned that her passion is to help students, parents and those involved in the school community.

Art teacher travels to Middle East on humanities grant

“They work so hard making things better, while we wait to get something better given

to us.”--Jen Compton

Sports14 Volume 50 Issue III december 16, 2009

No spots in weight class for regularsStudents not partaking in a school sport are trimmed from weightlifting classesBy Ayla Washam

Weightlifting class enrollment de-pends on numbers.

“We have to have guidelines,” counselor Cary Cada said. The weightlifting program at Borah tries to accommodate regular students, but athletes come first. Cada said that the coaches are trying to be consistent with the enrollment of the weightlift-ing class.

“You’ve got to work with the num-bers,” physical education teacher and football coach Chester Grey said. De-pending on the year, 10 to 20 students are denied enrollment in the weight-lifting class. For sophomores, the class is labeled Acc. Physical Education, for juniors and seniors, it’s labeled Physi-cal Fitness.

Some students’ schedules conflict with the weightlifting class, but for those who aren’t able to take the class

“Agility, cardiovascular,” Grey said, “we hit all bases of fitness.” Grey em-phasized that the class is not a stroll in the park, but a class with high expec-tations.

Athletic Director Vince Mann said, “The weight room is needed for ath-letes to keep them safe.” He explained

that athletes need to build their bodies to protect their bodies.

Currently uninvolved in sports, senior Alen Kuljancic said, “As long as I’m trying out for a sport, I can be in there.” Kuljancic is trying out for track in the spring and is in fifth pe-riod weightlifting class, which had an enrollment slightly lower than other periods.

Lifetime Fitness is a class in which regular students who don’t play sports can work on fitness, including using the weight room. Due to lack of inter-est and enrollment, the class was taken off the schedule this year. Grey said that the class was “off and on,” and only with increased interest from the students will it be offered again next year. This class, if reinstated, could cover the over enrollment. Grey and Mann both agree that the system now set in place is the one Borah should stick with.

during school, and still want to lift, the weight room is open after school.

“If I know you are an athlete and you represent the school, you deserve to be in the class,” Grey said. Grey ex-plained that if a student isn’t involved in a sport, it’s hard for him or her to find motivation to work hard.

Photo by Katie CorpThe weightlifting room is open to anyone after school which these two students are taking advantage of.

Road to the BCSThe Broncos are Fiesta Bowl bound for the second timeBy Parker Simmons

Boise State head football coach Chris Peterson emphasized all year that if the team takes care of what they can control, he trusts the Bowl Championship Series system to put them into a bowl game. Now that the Broncos are undefeated with an overall regular season record of 13-0, and have another Western Athletic Conference title, they are headed to their second Fiesta Bowl appearance in three years against Texas Christian University (TCU).

It was a bit of a surprise to see the BSU vs. TCU match up. It’s the first time ever two non-BCS teams will play each other in a BCS bowl game. For some, it couldn’t get any better, but for others, it’s less than ideal.

The most interesting thing about the BSU vs. TCU match up is the fact

that the two teams played each other one year ago in the Poinsettia Bowl. It was a hard fought game that BSU had every chance to win but fell just short and lost 17-16. This is where you find unhappy TCU fans. They see it as they’ve already beat the Broncos, and they want a powerhouse oppo-nent so they can really prove them-selves against a BCS conference team. On the other hand, most Bronco fans are happy to be in another BCS bowl game, with a chance to avenge last year’s devastating loss against TCU.

The last week of the regular sea-son, week 14, was a wild one in college football. An important game for BSU was the match up between the Uni-versity of Texas and the University of Nebraska. Nebraska came in ranked number 22 in the nation with Texas at number three. When number two Al-abama beat then number one ranked

Florida, all Texas had to do was win the game and they would play in the national championship.

However, Nebraska played an un-believable game and both defenses played great. The final score was 13-12 as Texas won it on a last second, game winning field goal. Had Nebras-ka won the game, BSU may have been kicked out of the BCS and TCU could have been considered for the national championship game. Fortunately, that didn’t happen and all is well for the Broncos as they have their BCS bowl.

The BSU vs. TCU match up al-ready is being talked up by some sports analysts as the second best bowl game this year, behind only the national championship game. While some may be calling it the “non-BCS” national championship game, it is nevertheless expected to be a great game between two talented teams.

Photo by Katie CorpSenior Craig Spjute made the game winning, buzzer beater shot to beat Boise High 45-44. He finished the game with 28 points leading Borah in scoring.

SportsVolume 50 Issue iiI December 16, 2009 15

Wrestling benefits with a full rosterWith wrestling season underway, one of the

new exciting and promising aspects for success is a full team, according to senior Josh Bund-schuh. “We have a full roster for the first time since I’ve been here and what that means is that we have players that can fill in for players out with injuries or any other reasons.”

Last year Bundschuh sat out much of the season with a knee injury. This year however, Bundschuh is looking to be a key element in Borah’s success. “I’m looking forward to Tour-nament of Champions in Reno,” Bundschuh said. Tournament of Champions (TOC) is a nationally ranked tournament where wrestlers from all over the country compete in front of several college coaches from all around the U.S.

Borah will be sending a select few from the varsity squad to compete in the tournament. Also competing in TOC is junior wrestler Pat-rick Evans. “I will be competing in Reno,” said Evans. “It’s a tough tournament that I’ve com-peted in before.”

Last year Evans led the team in pins. “I only placed sixth in state last year, but I led the team in pins and that has given me an edge this year, to break it.” The record Ev-ans will be gunning for is 22 pins; first set by Brad Price in 2005, and tied by Jake West in 2006.

Evans entered this season with an opti-mistic and positive outlook. “I am wrestling much more aggressively than I did at state and, so far, I’ve only lost two matches this year by one point,” said Evans.

The team’s lineup consists of three play-ers returning from state tournament places. Head coach Bill West said, “We want to prove our stronger line up from top to bot-tom.”

Part of this entails “staying healthy, fin-ishing with a winning record, and placing at Tournament of Champions, along with a return visit to the state tournament,” said Bundschuh.

According to West, “We need to build around the kids we have with experience.”

By Parker Simmons

Photo By Katie HelmBorah Wrestler________130 weight class takes on Eagle in the first match of the season. Borah comes out with a victory, the final score of the match was 58-18.

Track athletes get a step up on their game with season of indoor track practice

By Megan Mizuta

It may be December, and there may be snow on the ground, but Borah track and field athletes are up and run-ning, jumping, and throwing, and they’re doing it indoors.

The indoor track and field season is sponsored by the YMCA, and has attracted several Borah athletes, among them senior Erik Diehl. In his fourth season of indoor, Die-hl said “anytime I have the option to pole vault, I’ll take it,

Photos By Megan MizutaCoach Jeremy Doval gives Megan Suitts advice on throwing.

Senior Katie Moden practices throwing at the indoor facility.

because it’s my passion.” The indoor season runs from late November to mid February, and houses its athletes at the Jacksons Indoor

Track Facility in Nampa. The facility accommodates a banked 200m track, as well as jumping pits and a shot put and discus area.

Of running on the banked track, senior Carrington O’Leary said that it is “way different” and “actually helps quite a bit.”

Participants, who number a little over 100 according to O’Leary, practice two hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Jacksons Track.

FUN & Games16 Volume 50 Issue IIi December 16, 2009

4 21 9 5 6

8 61 9 8 5 7

5 9 3 87 23

4 5 82 7 6

Directions: Each row, column and block must havenumbers from 1 to 9 in them. No number can appear more than once in any row, column, or block. When the entire puzzle is filled, with all the rules above, then the puzzle is solved. Level: MediumBy Felicia Arnold

Art is all around us at school, above and below. While walking around with some friends, use these clues to help you find the following pieces.

* “Welcome” from around the world: 60 strides of greetings meet you each step as you start the day.* 2009 Senior Gift: Westward lion sleeps here tonight; rests with Anne Frank.* Colors of the Rainbow: find the pot of gold on your way to math class.* Coffee Drinker: Above Meet the caffeine host of “The Den” entrance.

The following art pieces are in Jen Comp-ton’s room 408: The longer you’re there, the more interesting things you find.* The Blue Tree: You figure it out.” Man or God?” Up. * Joe Brown ’05: Count every 4th grey tile in the paint room and look up. * Beautiful Songbird: Music notes will guide you on your way to Kristin Chastain ’08.* Octopus Below the Sea: Behind the cart awaits the beast of 2010. * Punk Teddy Bear: With his rebel attitude, it’s hard to miss Chef the’07 bear.

Spot the art!

By Mike Bingham

The holidays are a time of festivity and merriment, but in this day and age, political correctness is preva-lent throughout society, and it’s hard to throw an acceptable celebration without offending some group or an-other. So this year, I’m going to help you plan the perfect politically cor-rect holiday party; something that’s completely all-inclusive and non-of-fensive. Throwing a PC party is easy. Say you normally celebrate Christmas, for example. You probably have a tree, some lights, mistletoe, and a plastic Santa or two already set up hap-hazardly around your house. These

you should carefully take down, and place in a large pile in your backyard. Then douse them with petrol and set them on fire, as these symbols are af-filiated primarily with Christmas and will only serve to exclude anyone who doesn’t celebrate it. No holiday party is complete with-out food. However, remember that gingerbread houses and fruitcake will offend those of Non-Christian reli-gions (fruitcake, in fact, will offend everyone regardless) so you should avoid these foods at all costs. Meats and cheeses will offend vegetarians, so it’s best to serve substitutes such as tofu and non-dairy cheeses. Unfortu-nately, they’re about as appetizing as stale cardboard, so no one’s actually going to be eating them.

The next part you need to plan is the entertainment. Everyone will no doubt have their own favorite way of celebrating the holidays, and for-getting to include even one of them might offend someone. Consequently, you should only plan activities that ev-eryone can enjoy, like sitting around the table and occasionally coughing politely. Songs can be a source of whole-some entertainment during parties, but since many traditional songs can deeply offend those who don’t cele-brate certain holidays, it can be tough to find appropriate musical material. Luckily, the pitches “B Flat” and “G” are currently regarded as ethnically neutral, and your guests should be able to hum these two notes to their hearts content. The most important pieces of the party are the guests. Obviously you can’t leave out any of the world’s many ethnicities, because that would make you an inconsiderate, racist bigot. You should also remember not

to invite more of one group than an-other. No religion should outnumber another, and there should be exactly one woman for every man. Essential-ly, you should have an even number of people from every race, every re-ligion, and every gender in the entire world. I’m not smart enough to work out the exact numbers, but I’d say that if your headcount hasn’t hit the six-figure mark yet, you’ve probably left someone out. When everything’s prepared, you can all gather around the table (a round table, so no one’s excluded) for the celebration. Everyone will enjoy staring blankly at the disgusting food while humming “B flat” and coughing occasionally. It’s sure to be the great-est holiday party ever thrown. Of course, your other option is sim-ply to go about your normal prepara-tions, celebrating your own holiday while shamelessly excluding anyone who doesn’t want to celebrate with you. That’s what I’ll be doing, any-way. Merry Christmas!

Merry

Rama-hannu-kwans-mas!