in this issue december

BWthe black and white

the black and white. Dec. 2010. volume 19 issue 5. 5152780449. 6501 NW 62nd ave. johnston. iowa one copy free

Thirteen Johnston gradu-ates share their insights about college life and things you need to know before you get there.

eight-nineTake a look at the Black and

White Awards. Find out what we voted as our favorites from this past year and why.

sevenMultitasking has become

an epedemic. Read the Black and White’s opinion about how it is ruining students’ ability to stay focused.

sixAs winter approaches, the

weather becomes rather chilly. Turn to this page to discover the warmest product for every part of your body.

twelve

SNOWSPORTS

p.13

in th

is is

sue.

..

Health11 Tips and tricks to cure dry skin caused by winter weather

Fashion12 Keep yourself nice and toasty this winter with fashionable cold weather apparel

Doubletruck8-9 JHS grads give their top 13 pre-college tips

Entertainment7 The Black and White’s best of the year awards

December 2010

1413 16

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Want the B&W online?Send us an e-mail, to jhsblackandwhite@gmail.com and we’ll send you a PDF of the pa-per every month

Sports15 Athletes get drafted to college teams

Smaha sounds off with “Full court press”

Backpage16 The low-down on JHS Girl Scouts

3

News3 Proposed 1:1 student laptop plan

*THE BLACK & WHITE

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFKelsey Kruse

DESIGN EDITORKelly McGowan

PHOTO EDITORMichael Knoedel

NEWSMike Shi

OPINIONKristine Hayes

EDITORIALZach Winjum

ENTERTAINMENT/REVIEWEvan Culbert

FEATURELauren Coffey

FASHION/HEALTHSpencer Vasey

SPORTSRyan Smaha

BACKPAGEEthan Meng

STAFF WRITERSIsabella Engblom, Wes Monroe, Alexa Anderson, Rachael Meyer

DISTRIBUTION MANAGERIan Dunshee

PHILOSOPHYThe Black and White is published solely by the Johnston High School newspa-per staff. Its goal is to inform, enlighten and entertain Johnston students. It is an open forum. In accordance with Iowa law and board policy, students assign and edit material. The paper is published nine times per school year. The paper will avoid material that is libelous, obscene or an invasion of privacy. The law does not require parental permission to use student quotes. Ethically, we believe students can speak for themselves. Staff editorials represent the opinion of a majority of the editorial board. Editorial and opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the adviser, school officials or the district. Letters to the editor must be signed. Like all material, letters may not be libelous, obscene or an invasion of privacy. Bring letters to room 413 within one week after publication to be considered for the next issue. The Black and White strives to report accurate and timely information. If you believe that an error has been printed, please contact the editors at jhsblack-andwhite@gmail.com. The Black and White is a member of CSPA, NSPA, Quill & Scroll, and IHSPA. Recent issues of the paper earned these honors: Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Medalist, National Scholastic Press Association First Class rating, Quill & Scroll Gallup Award, IHSPA state placings and sixth in the National Best of Show.

on the cover: Junior Tyler Moriarty snowboards down a hill in his backyard.photo credit: Kelly McGowan

Feature13 Snow lovers!

JHS students express themselves through art14

5 Guest Opinion: Elissa Lowe confronts commercial food productionThat’s what Shi said: Character Counts

Opinion4 Iowa: fields of opportunities, fields of awesome.

Appreciate Advisory, it’s not that bad

IllustratorsRosemarie Freymark, Trevor Fisch, Austin Smoldt-Saenz

Review10 Timed lunches: Ever wonder where you can go in one lunch period? Smaha has.

Roku Box is revolutionizing television

Editorial6 Could excessive multitasking be ruining our nation’s youth?

news dec 2010

words & layout Alexa Anderson

Discussing the possibility of have one laptop for every student

Looking at schools with laptops

Advantages and Disadvantages

One to one

“Having laptops really would level out the playing field. It would allow students that can’t afford computers to have access to one and make it easier for research,” Sparks said.

Eventually classes may start to use on-line textbooks. The advantage would be

What’s next?

The committee has already presented in front of the school board. More commit-tees will need to be formed, (like finance, structure, hardware, community support, curriculum, ect.) much like Westside.

Along with the committees, several new staff members would need to be hired so that all areas and aspects of getting lap-tops would get covered. “If you are going to have a tool, you have to look at what’s needed like desks, tables, or places for in-dependent work,” Stratton said.

If the district chooses to adopt laptops students would most likely be issued them in two to four years. The earliest would be in a year and a half.

“This is really just a work in progress right now,” Sparks said. The committee does not know if getting laptops is possible.

“The reality is that it could happen two years from now,” Guthmiller said. “It’s only a tool and it will probably never replace the teacher but I think it prepares our kids bet-ter for the future.”

Recently, director of technology Tony Sparks, Instructional Technology Coordi-nator Ann Wiley, Associate Principal Jerry Stratton and Superintendent Clay Guthmill-er went to Westside High School in Omaha to see what it is like for a school with lap-tops. “Our district is continually looking for what is best for learning for our kids and 1:1 laptops would be a tool,” Stratton said.

The group decided to look at the Omaha school because they wanted to observe a larger school that would be more like Johnston. “Small schools in Iowa have laptops but larger schools have differ-ent needs,” Sparks said.

When they walked into Westside high school, they noticed several differences. “Westside is a school with a significantly different day structure called a module sys-tem,” Stratton said.

While there, Wiley noticed that there were a lot of things happening. “Kids were sitting in the hallways with their laptops open,” Wiley said.

“The laptops would be portable, less expen-sive than books, more sercure and lessens the strain on your back.” -Sophomore Andrew Schwaderer

“I think that it’d be a good idea because there would be no excuse not to get homework done.” -Senior Victoria Or-rante

“I don’t like it, be-cause (the seniors) survived without them. It causes more issues with in-nappropriate sties.” -Senior Trevor Fisch

“We should have lap-tops in school because it would take out the weight issue for books, but it would be a bad idea because of the eyestrain.” -Sopho-more Megan Albers

“I think that laptops are beneficial, however, I am against getting them because to me it’s go-ing to be an additional distraction.” -science teacher Matt Jaschen

“I think they would be a great resource instead of teachers needing to check-out the labs for use everytime. ” -Junior Malia Meyer

“At my old school we had laptops and it worked out well.” -Senior Caylan Cordaro

“I think we should get laptops because we wouldn’t have to buy books, teachers can utilize websites and it’s eco- friendly.” -Sopho-more Erik Rasmussen

opinions

Cost?

Apple has a combined price of many dif-ferent unknown factors until the district de-cides to take laptops into action.

Right now the committee does not know exactly how much laptops would cost. “At Westside [laptops] cost about $1.3 million per year so it would probably cost a little less here,” Guthmiller said.

that the textbooks would be updated yearly instead of waiting ten years to get the next one with updates.

Another advantage of having laptops is that computer labs wouldn’t be needed which would open extra classroom space.

“Knowing that every student in our build-ing would have access to an edu-cational tool to un-l imited

access of information is an advantage,” Stratton said.

However, Sparks said that there isn’t a lot of research out there that proves getting laptops for each student would im-prove test scores.

“We would also have to be careful of po-tential dangers to students on the internet,” Stratton said.

Advisory attitudes need adjusting

the b&w opinionp.4 dec 2010

The school came up with an inge-nious way to help students survive the week. Not to mention they managed to make it useful time for the staff as well. Wednesday late starts make the mid-week slump turn into a weekly high-light. Another issue comes with every Wednesday too: Advisory.

It is a new program so naturally there will be problems. Guidance counselor and member of the Advisory board Au-drey Bell said, “It is impossible to start a brand new program and not have some things go wrong.” It is a learning curve. The biggest problem is the mind-set of students and teachers.

If you go to Advisory with the mind-set that it will be dumb, then no matter

how hard your teacher tries or what you do, Advisory will be dumb. It does not matter that the skills you are learning will be useful in the future or that the Dollars for Scholars portfolios will even-tually get you money for college, if you expect it to be boring or bad, it will be.

I like Advisory. Mixing that many per-sonalities randomly makes it impossible to ensure that everyone will be happy. However, there is the possibility that you will gain some insight or friendships from this experience so you should at least give it a try.

Contrary to popular belief, Advisory is not just about bonding, it is about build-ing skills useful in life, having an adult at the school that you can talk to and fi-

nally a place and a group of people that you, under normal circumstances, may not ever associate with that you can get to know. Either way you will never know if you do not try. There was too much work put into Advisory to just let it go.

Did you know that just six people are in charge of everything we do in Advi-sory? Or that they volunteered to do it? The curriculum has been a work in prog-ress since 2008 to make the most of the 23 minutes we spend in Advisory. They have spent many hours on this. I think that deserves some appreciation. If not appreciation then at least respect.

Students could try to participate in the activities and who knows, maybe they will get something useful out of it.

Goals of Advisory

words & layout Kristine Hayes

Many times, the benefits of living in the Hawkeye state are more than overlooked, they are despised. When was the last time you heard someone say, “I am so glad to live in Iowa”? For me, that is about as rare as finding a four-leaf clover in the desert. Not only is it that Iowa is looked down upon, but the same people that diminish its greatness seem to glamorize the East and West Coast in a way that makes the rest of the country appear to be substandard.

Perhaps the coasts sound so amazing because of the dense population or the attractions that the Mid-west seems to lack, but since when are large crowds a good thing? Hu-man nature tells us that people enjoy being around other people. It does not mean that behemoth-sized cities are ideal conditions. Living where parking is impossible, traffic is a nightmare and people are practically breathing down your neck constantly sounds all but enjoyable.

Civilians are not the only ones that put the coastal life-style on a pedestal; media is also notorious for it. When was the last time a network TV hit took place in Middle-America? If there are any, it is a rare occurrence. Almost everything we see on television has a setting in New York or California. It is as if there is a lack of creativity in the television planning. Although it may sound cheesy to con-duct a television show from Des Moines, Iowa, it makes a little more sense than all the rest that take place on the

coasts, due to the fact that Iowa has a lot more to offer besides corn and hogs. Our public education is one of the best in the country, we have a low living cost compared to the coastal regions, and we also are able to experience all four seasons to the fullest, just to name a few.

As Iowans, we also have little to worry about. For ex-ample, a stolen iPod is about as malicious of a crime we will ever encounter, and the only real threatening natural disasters we face are tornados and thunderstorms. Com-pared to the rest of the country’s problems, these are rather minuscule.

One of the unnoticed benefits of living in Iowa is the quality of meat that makes it to our dinner table. No matter where one would travel to in the entire country, it is nearly impossible to find a better cut of beef or pork than in the great state of Iowa. Having these delicacies produced so close to home not only fuels our stomachs, but our econ-omy as well.

Don’t get me wrong, the cities of the East and West Coast are great places to visit, but living in such places would be unbearable. The cost of living is outrageous, and say goodbye to any dreams of a backyard if you wish liv-ing the “luxurious” city life. Football games, concerts and Black Friday probably only scratch the surface of the large crowds that New Yorkers face on a daily basis.

Giving each student a staff member to connect with. Improving relationships between students and teachers.

Making everyone in the school feel more like they are a community with a stong atmosphere of equality.

Advocacy

Community

Skill DevelopmentBuilding 21st Century Skills (i.e. critical thinking, problem solving, communi-cation, collaboration, creativity, and innovation.)

Invigorating ExpierencesDoing group activities like door decorat-ing, canned food drives and games during Advisory.

words & layout Zach Winjum

Provided/Wikipedia

Landlocked and lovin’ it

the b&wopinion p.5dec 2010

words Mike Shi

That’s

wha

t

said

Mindful eating

Looking through the Dollars for Scholars application, everything looks simple, just the basic extracurriculars and volunteer stuff, with the occasional essay. As I get to the last page, I stop. What’s this? Citizen-ship? Responsibility? Respect? Trustwor-thiness? Fairness? Caring? In Bold?! Holy

cow. Character Counts.I remember in elementary school at Wal-

lace and Beaver Creek being taught about Character Counts. Those six pillars and the golden rule were everywhere. In every classroom and in all of the halls there were six different colored posters with the guide-lines for Character Counts. I still even have a magnet on my fridge with all of the pillars. Seeing that application makes me wonder, what happened to Character Counts?

For some reason, when we got to the 8/9 building, we never saw or heard of Charac-ter Counts again, at least that’s what I can recall, it might have changed or maybe I misremember. Gone were the days of color coded codes of conduct. Instead, we had seminar and workbooks to teach us how to be good citizens. Those worksheets in seminar never really clicked for me like

Character Counts did. Sure, I may have been a naïve, impressionable kid when I was taught Character Counts, but it sure beat that stuff we did in middle school.

A part of me misses Character Counts. I’m not saying we should start teaching Character Counts again in advisory or something; it’s just that seeing that rubric on Character Counts made me a little nos-talgic. I mean, what’s not to like about Char-acter Counts? It’s that little piece that con-nects you to those early elementary years.

To think, some of the first things we were taught in elementary school are now being used at the very end of our school careers. It’s like we’ve gone full circle or something. Only this time, instead of using Character Counts to better ourselves and our commu-nity, we’re using it to get cold hard cash. Funny how that all ends up.

Whatever happened to Character Counts?

Reusable bags, refillable water bottles, efficient light bulbs — these are all ways that many young Americans are choosing to go green. But for a nation that is becoming more environmentally aware, is it possible that we’re overlooking one of the most environmentally destructive factors? Is it possible that the stan-dard American diet is responsible for universal terrors like water scarcity, world hunger and deforestation? While it’s hard to imagine that something as simple as food could have such an extreme impact on the world around us, the produc-tion of some of these foods is quite complex and damaging. The culprit is hardly innocent, yet the majority of the American population unknowingly contributes to the 2.7 billion tons of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere each year (United States Humane Society, 2008).

But what exactly are we eating that is so destructive? According to a study conducted by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the live-stock industry harms the climate more than all cars and SUVs put together. A study by the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science in Japan found that 2.2 pounds of beef is responsible for the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide generated by a standard car every 155 miles. In simple terms, the ex-cessive consumption of meat is affecting our planet. If you take into account that 30 percent of our planet’s ice-free land is involved in livestock production, it’s no wonder that this industry has had such a devastating impact on our world.

However, it is not hopeless. The livestock industry, like any other industry, will respond to consumer demands. By supporting and purchasing from local, family operated farms, you will significantly reduce your carbon footprint while increas-ing the likelihood of humane treatment to the animals you consume. Luckily, money talks and you can encourage eco-friendly practices throughout the live-stock industry without ever having to say a word. Everything from the light bulbs you use to the food you eat makes an impact on the environment. Whether that impact is good or bad is entirely up to you.

guest opinion Elisabeth Lowe

Senior Elisabeth Lowe poses with sophomore Paige Cramer’s chicken. Cra-mer does not use animals for consumption, she shows them through 4H. Ac-cording to VIva!USA, a non-profit organization against commercial livestock production, an estimated 23 million chickens are killed in the U.S. for food each day.

Kristine Hayes/BW

Illustration/Rosemarie Freymark

the b&w editorialp.6 dec 2010

Pencil, paper, history book, page 105, title, “The Fall of the Roman Empire,” first paragraph, phone rings, read text, send text back, back to book, second paragraph, new text, new return, phone call, answer, finish conversation, back to book, third paragraph, use computer to play music, check e-mail, check Facebook, check Twitter, back to book, paragraph three or four? Oh well, start over.

Sound familiar? Students have lost their ability to focus and thus have succumb to the allures of mul-titasking. Trapped in a bubble, multitaskers do not realize that they are only hurting themselves.

It is easy to see why so many people buy into the idea of multitasking. Honestly, once multitasking is discovered, time feels wasted when only one task is being completed. In theory, with the same amount of time, someone could complete two or more tasks. Unfortunately, people need to wake up and face the facts. Multitasking not only doesn’t work, it takes more time.

The human brain operates linearly, which is to say that the human brain can only focus on one task at a time. This means that, in reality, the modern view of multitasking is a myth. On the other hand, what can happen is the brain can switch back and forth from one subject to another extremely fast, which gets the job done in most cases. Only if even one of those tasks requires more than surface level thought, mul-titasking drastically slows down the pace of both ac-tivities, and is inevitably detrimental to the final result. A person can listen to music and brush their teeth, but they can not listen to music and read “The Great

Gatsby” for more than just surface level value.Multitaskers say that they just need something to

calm them down so they can pay attention to what they are doing. “I think silence is one of the loudest things,” senior Megan Curtis said. “I can’t work with-out noise. I get distracted by the silence and think about a million other things.” Unfortunately, things like music and Social networking have become al-most entirely fluid. This means that students can switch their attention to the distractions without no-ticing and waste large amounts of time and energy.

“Because of all the sensory overload, we have a generation of children who are almost scared of silence,” Jesse Dowell said. “They can’t be sensory deprived.” Without the constant stimulation that mu-sic or a cellphone brings, students can’t function. Multitasking has almost become a drug. When stu-dents are pulled away from their social media, their minds become scattered. All they can think about is what they are missing. Multitasking obsessed stu-dents spend their free time searching to get their next social media fix while in the mean time, their schoolwork suffers.

When doing homework, or any type of work for that matter, students need to be able to sit down and work until the job gets done. If a student gets dis-tracted by their phone, they need to turn it off. If a student gets distracted by the Internet, they need to unplug it. They will find that they will have much more free time and that their stress levels will drop. Focus is now a skill that needs work. It’s time to separate work and pleasure; sit down and get it done.

How technology and multitasking are destroying students’ ability to focus.

A Lot on Your Mind

>Provided/RCA Music Group

Provided/Warner Bros.

Biggest “Uh-Oh”

Oil S

pill

layout Evan Culbert & Kelly McGowan

entertainment the b&w p.7dec 2010TH

E

awardsBest of 2010. The Black & White has voted to bring you the best of the best in entertainment, from month long obsessions, to best video game. Here’s the second annual Black and White awards. So you can run and tell that homeboy.

Black &White

Provided/Mila Zinkova

2 0World Cup

It’s no wonder why T-Swizzle is on the B&W Awards for the second year in a row. Her third album, Speak Now, sold over 1 million copies in the first week alone. Look out for Swifty in the awards next year she shouldn’t be going any-where soon!

Best Artist-Taylor Swift

David Shankbone

Best Album-Animal Ke$ha

Inception is an epic science fiction adventure that throws the audience into an infinite world of dreams. From tangled layers of dreams to distorted views of reality, Inception keeps its viewers heads spinning for hours after the ending. There’s no competition, Incep-tion is the movie of the year.

Best Movie-Inception

Last minute gift?Buy “Cannibal” Location: Best BuyCost: $19.99

Last minute gift?Buy “Inception”Location:Best BuyCost: $16.99

Last minute gift?Buy “Toy Story 3” Location: Best BuyCost: $14.49

Which animated Disney Pixar movie’s sentimental ending made millions of soon-to-graduate teens pretend they weren’t cry-ing in the theater? The same movie whose trilogy spanned 15 years, becoming a memorable part of the childhoods of its main character’s age

group. It was Toy Story 3, and It. Was. Phenomenal. TS3 is the best movie of the year because it has always been a part of our lives, so watching it brings out such a feeling of nostalgia towards the simplicity of childhood before we, like Andy, drive off into the cloudy wallpapered horizon that is the future.

Season seven’s first 2 minutes and 24 seconds were spent on the hilarious lip dub video featur-ing all my beloved office characters lip syncing and dancing around the office to the song “Nobody But Me,” (if you missed it, look it up. It’s fantastic...I mean, Kevin in shades and a fedora with Meredith strapped to his back exposing “nobody” written across her stomach. lolz.) And so far we’ve seen Pam get herself stuck in an elevator with Dwight, result of a failed prank. We saw Dwight try being classy for an episode, then return to his regular “I AM A BEET FARMER” self. Michael’s love for the unavailable Holly grows. This is clearly the best show of 2010, best show ever, actually. Sadly, Michael Scott (Steve Carell) will not be there next season. “It doesn’t mean the end of the show,” Carell told E! News in June. “It’s jut a dynamic change to the show.”

0Best month-long obsession

Runner up best movie-TS3

BP

1

In the 365 days of 2010, the most popular album came out the first day. Hit singles like “Blah Blah Blah,” “Your Love is My Drug” and “Take it Off” helped keep Ke$ha in the spotlight throughout 2010. Animal brought in fans with its catchy hooks and party-girl vibe. It did not go with-out criticism, though. Heavy use of Auto-Tune left some people wondering if she could actually sing. Either way, the masses, and our staff, fell in love with Animal.

the b&w college prepp.8&9 dec 2010

( )13 thingsyou should probably learn

before college

1 COLLEGE CREDIT COURSES Jon Coen ‘10 University of Northern

Iowa ‘“I really wish I studied harder to instill better study habits. More

importantly, I wish I had taken more college credit courses, they’re a lot

cheaper and put you higher on the priority list when you pick classes if

you are a sophomore or very short of it.”

2 TAKING RESPONSIBILITY Carly O’Keefe ‘10 Grand View “Take re-

sponsibility for yourself, like you have to pay bills and be responsible for

loans you have. Yeah, your parents co-sign the loan with you but you’re

still signing. You have to be responsible for your future. It’s not just like a

math class, it’s your future.” 6 SLEEPING MOTIVATION Libby Elmitt ‘10 Central “When you wake up

in the morning, you have to decide whether to get up and go to class or

sleep in. It sounds dumb, but not getting motivation is really hard . And

it’s really easy to not go to bed, to not have a bedtime.”

5 DO YOUR HOMEWORK WITH DORMS Lucas Dunshee ‘10 Iowa

State “Check out your dorms so you can find out what each dorm is

like, because they are different. There are dorms that if you want to be

anti-social and just study all the time, and then there are the party dorms.

I didn’t really do my homework but it worked out fine, you just have to fig-

ure out what you’re going to college for. If you’re going to study or party

all the time or find a happy middle.”

3 PROCRASTINATION Preet Dhugga ‘10 University of Iowa “I think that

something I wish I learned was how to study. In high school everyone kind

of slacked off. I didn’t study and still passed through, you could always

do your homework in the class right before it, but in college you don’t just

have some worksheet, you have to write a five page paper that takes

hours. Sometimes you have to sacrifice going out with your friends to

study. I’m still struggling with it, and I’m already far in the first semester.”

7 TRANSFERABLE CREDITS Jordan Sandquist ‘10 Iowa Central Com-

munity College “For me, I came here because of a softball scholarship

and I plan on transferring to a four year college. I took some design

classes, and I wish I would have learned that those design credits don’t

transfer to Iowa State. You have to figure out how long you’re staying at a

college and when you’re transferring to another college.”

9 EATING HEALTHY Paige Doherty Iowa State ‘10 “Learn how to eat

healthy, I was eating bad and started to feel bad. You have to eat healthy

then you feel good. I have fruits and veggies in my dorm room to eat.”

10 NOT THROWING AWAY YOUR COURSE HANDBOOK LIKE YOU DID

IN HIGH SCHOOL Krista Shoeman ‘10 Iowa State “You really have to

be organized. You get syllabus’ and you have to go exactly by it. In high

school you usually got it and then threw it away, but here it has all your

reading assignments, when assignments are due and when tests are.

You really have to be organized and work on scheduling your time more.”

11 CHECK OUT THE CLUB SCENE Ben Jacobson ‘10 Iowa State “Look

at clubs and stuff, the first couple weeks you’re just bombarded with all

these different extra-curriculars. In the first few weeks you can try any-

thing out. You’re stuck for the semester if you don’t join any. I am going

to join investment club, and international business club. There’s lots of

different clubs you can join.”

12 DO YOUR OWN LAUNDRY Austin Polson ‘10 Iowa State “I definitely

had an issue with laundry, I had to call my mom a few times. And cooking

I had issues with too.”

4 ROOMMATES 101 Amy Bowers ‘10 University of Northern Iowa “I wish I

would have known my roommate better, we don’t really hang out or have

that much in common. There are pros and cons to rooming with a friend.

If you don’t have problems then you could become even better friends

with them, but if you fight with them then it’s hard to change rooms at

semester and you could lose a friend.”

8 EXPERIENCING THE WORK WORLD Jordon Thompson ‘10 DMAAC

“I wish I would have gotten more job experience because I applied for a

couple jobs and no one is calling me back. I worked for my parents so

more job experience would be good.”

13 FIGURING OUT YOUR MAJOR Alex Erb ‘10 Iowa State ‘“Try to fig-

ure out what you want to do in high school, so you can take a lot of AP

classes (that will help you with your major). I came to college two credits

short of being a sophomore, which is good because the less classes you

take, the more you can figure out what you want to major in.”

Z

ZZZZZZ

bacon

Compiled by Lauren Coffey & Kelly McGowan, layout by Kelly McGowan

the b&w reviewp.10 dec 2010

Many of us have heard the “back in the day” rants of our parents and grandpar-ents many times, and are well aware that their “television sets” only had four black and white channels. It seems crazy to us today, but in 50 years what will we be say-ing to our grand kids? “Back in my day we only had thousands of high definition chan-nels on our 72-inch flat-screens!” For now, technology continues to improve, with new developments transforming the way we entertain ourselves each day. Perhaps the

words & layout Evan Culbert

the end of cable? satellite?

newest tech that is rising in popularity is the Roku box.

Today many American families sub-scribe to either cable or satellite TV. Fami-lies spend hundreds of dollars for service and usually end up watching a handful of channels out of the hundreds that they pay

for. This is where Roku saves you the big bucks. Starting at just $59.99, Roku hooks up to any TV and instantly streams media anytime. Roku is compatible with Netflix, Hulu Plus, MLB.TV and amazon video just to name a few. Perhaps the most popular of these is Hulu Plus. For those unfamiliar

with the website, Hulu is a way to stream thousands of TV shows to your computer anytime. Hulu Plus on Roku allows you to watch any episode from any season of your favorite shows, without the buffering of a slow computer. For just $12.99 a month you have access to Hulu Plus, half the price of DIRECTV’s cheapest plan.

For movie-lovers and sports fans look-ing for a more cost efficient and easy way to watch the game, or rent that movie, Netf-lix and channels like MLB.TV have you cov-ered. Rent movies using Netflix and watch them instantly, or watch any game live in HD. Choose from multiple channel options to customize your own Roku box.

Roku won’t replace satellite or cable anytime soon, but it certainly won’t blow over as a trend either because of its con-venience.

Point of no return...

The Roku box streams channels like hulu plus to your T.V. de-livers Netflix movies instantly. Roku boxes start at $60.

Senior year brings privileges, one being the option to eat out. But how do you know how far is too far to venture? The B&W set out to discover how long it took to drive, order and get back; eating time not included. The clock started when the car did and stopped when the car was shut off back at the school parking lot.

Panchero’sFood styles: MexicanTime to drive/order: 19:58

PaneraFood styles: Sandwiches, breakfast, soupTime to drive/order: 18:05

Johnston Little League Baseball/Soft-ball fields

Johnston High School

Summit Middle School

Wallace Elementary

Horizon Elementary

Culver’sFood styles: Burgers, tradi-tional lunchTime to drive/order: 23:55*Point of no return

McDonald’sFood styles: Fast foodTime to drive/order: 23:55*Point of no return

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HyVeeFood styles: Chinese, deli, traditional lunchTime to drive/order: 17:34

NW

86t

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tN

W 8

6th

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words & layout Ryan Smaha

the b&wdec 2010health p.11

words and layout Rachael Meyer & Kelsey Kruse

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Dry Skin4

Avoid using tap water to wash your face. Use mineral water instead. A 33.8 ounce bottle can be purchased at Target for $1.39. Also, avoid hot water when washing your face or taking a shower, because it drys out the skin. Think lukewarm instead.

Lips can be moisturized with Vaseline. Before applying, take a toothbrush and brush your lips in a circular motion to remove dry skin. A 3.75 ounce jar of Vaseline can be purchased from Target for $1.82, and a 13-ounce jar for $3.24. Doc-tor Stefania Gatica, Advanced Reg-istered Nurse Practitioner (ARNP), also recommended vitamin E to keep lips healthy.

Invest in a humidifier. Air full of moisture is good for the skin, and in the winter, the air outside is dry and so is the heat that comes from furnaces. According to About.com, your skin needs at least 30 percent moisture and a room heated by a furnace can have as little as 10 percent. So, buy a humidifier from any supermarket (Target sells the one above for $26.99) and keep it on in your room while you sleep. Make sure you keep your door closed to keep moisture locked in.

info from about.com unless otherwise stated

To keep hands from cracking, instead of always washing your hands with water, try using hand sanitizer. According to Gatica, unless hands are visibly dirty, hand sani-tizer is better to keep skin from drying out. If the hand sanitizer stations around the school aren’t enough, 2.7 ounces of Gold Bond sanitizer and moisturizer can be purchased from Target for $3.54, or an 8 ounce bottle of Germ-X Moisturizing Hand Sanitizer is $1.84 at Walmart.

the b&w fashionp.12 dec 2010

Warm Wear for WinterAE Cableknit Trapper HatA soft fleece lining and thick knit exterior covers your ears and head to keep you warm. Get it: American Eagle Outfiters,

$24.50Pictured: Shae Atterberg

The North Face Men’s

Chromium Thermal JacketThe North Face designs jackets specifically for only one purpose: to keep wearers warm,

and this jacket is no exception.

Get it: Scheels, $149

AE Cableknit Con-

vertible GloveClassic gloves with a twist. These gloves can oonvert into a mitten for

days when it is extra chilly.Get it: American Eagle

Outfitters, $19.50

Nike Light-weight Running

GloveDesigned for run-ners, these gloves are

lightweight and close-fitting to keep your hands warm on

the go. Get it: Nike.com, $18

VS Sig-

nature PantFinding sweats that

are both warm and good looking is difficult, but Victoria’s

Secret signature pants feel like your favorite sweats and look fashionable.Get it: Victoria’s Secret, $39.50

HikingMedium Crew SockSmartwool socks are

made from the thick wool of alpine sheep and are designed to

keep feet warm in cold temperatures. They come in all heights and styles so they can be worn for all occa-

sions. Get it: Smartwool.com,

$17.95

UGG Australia Classic Short BootReal sheepskin lining makes all UGG boots soft and warm while the thick soles prevent any snow from getting inside. Get it: Dillard’s, $140

words & layout Spencer Vasey

the b&wfeature p.13dec 2010

Let it SnowRiding on an intertube connected to a snowmobile driv-

en by senior Collin Bisenius, senior Joe Kraber ran into his gazebo when Bisenius turned too fast. “I was dizzy af-terward but I got back on and kept going,” Kraber said. However, Kraber said if he hadn’t been wearing a helmet, he could have cracked his head open.

Kraber and his family purchased three snowmobiles five years ago and have been using them for winter entertain-ment up until recently when Kraber sold two of the three due to new housing developments.

He advertised them on Craigslist and the ad was an-swered two weeks later. He got $1,000, making a profit since he bought them for $800. They decided to keep and fix the third snowmobile instead of selling it. “We wanted to keep at least one so we have something to do when it’s snowy,” Kraber said.

It takes three to four inches of snow at the minimum to snowmobile, but it can only be run over once, so six inches and above is ideal. However, Kraber said, “If there’s a lot of snow it’s too thick and you fall in.”

The snowmobile they kept wasn’t the only one that’s

snowboarders

broken. “One of the snowmobiles doesn’t have brakes,” Kraber said. So if you want to stop you have to turn back and forth really quick and let go of the accelerator. But, “We could stop the snowmobile about the same distance it took the other (to stop),” Kraber said.

Kraber’s brother didn’t realize the snowmobile didn’t have brakes the first time he drove it and he ran into a fence. The fence was made of wood and he knocked it right over, and drove through without a scratch. “That was kinda funny cause I watched it happen,” Kraber said.

However, snowmobiling can be dangerous. Once, Kra-ber hit a deer. “The deer broke my hood, my windshield and knocked me off,” Kraber said. “When I got up I looked and (the deer) got back up and ran off.” The damage: the deer had a little limp and Kraber had whiplash.

As for staying safe when riding a snowmobile, Kraber recommends that you should always tell someone where you are going in case of an accident, and to know the area where you are snowmobiling so you can avoid holes and poles. His last piece of advice was, “Wear a helmet, and always use the buddy system, of course.”

snowmobilerswords & layout Kelsey Kruse

He can Method, Indie, 180 and 360. The lack of snow caused him to wake up every morning and pretty much cry. He is obsessed with snow-boarding, and so is his best friend.

“Around here I go to Boone, which is Seven Oaks,” junior Tyler Mori-arty said. Moriarty and junior Sam Wendell snowboarded for the first time this winter on Dec. 10, opening day at Seven Oaks. Until then, they had to find another way to quench their thirst for snowboarding.

“We went the whole summer longboarding,” Wendell said. Wendell said he heard that longboarding had a snowboarding feel, so they de-cided to give it a try. “That’s what kinda kept me sane during the summer,” Wendell said.

While longboarding, Moriarty and Wendell were about to practice carving and sliding, two things they can do while snowboarding as well. “(Carving) is like being able to turn really sharply,” Wendell said. He de-scribed sliding as kicking out your back foot so your board goes perpen-dicular to the street so you’re literally sliding on the street.

One thing you can’t do while longboarding is go off jumps, Wendell’s favorite. “You can’t really go off jumps because you’re not strapped into a longboard,” Wendell said. The best jump Wendell has ever gone off is in Dubuque, Iowa. “It was literally like a 40-foot jump,” Wendell said. He makes an annual trip there between Christmas and New Year’s.

Every spring break, Lutheran Church of Hope goes on a mission trip to Denver, Colorado. Moriarty attended last year and plans to bring Wen-dell with him this year, who has never been to Colorado. There are two days of actual missions, and then they hit the slopes. “I’m expecting a lot of fun and a lot of snowboarders that are better than me,” Wendell said.

Junior Tyler Moriarty jumps over junior Sam Wendell on his snowboard.

Top: Juniors Tyler Moriarty and Sam Wendell pose with a “Do Not Sled Here” sign. Bottom: Moriarty and Wendell build a ramp.

Senior Joe Kraber poses on his snowmo-bile at age 15.

Kelly McGowan/BW

Kelly McGowan/BW

Provided/Joe Kraber

the b&w featurep.14 dec 2010

words Isabella Engblom

Behind the brushNot many students can say that they

have been to an art exhibit, let alone have their work displayed at one. Senior Tawny Walker-King has her own art ex-hibit at the Polk County Art Gallery in the Polk County Office Building. Visual arts teacher Dan Weiss suggested that she enter some of her best work in their gal-lery. She submitted three of her pieces, and one was selected.

In art classes at the high school, taught by Weiss and Teresa Francois, students can study drawing, painting,

sculpture, video mak-ing, music and photog-raphy. “Art education is now about how art functions within the social context and is no longer presented

in the way of materi-als, processes and product outcomes,” Weiss said. Walker-King paints, draws and makes her own jewelry.

Walker-King’s parents signed her up for classes at the Des Moines Art Cen-ter when she was seven. At the high school, she has taken Essentials of Art, Drawing and Painting, which she says is her favorite class. “I like to paint be-cause it is healing. It is therapeutic for me. To be able to express yourself is very important to me, and this is how I do it,” Walker-King said.

Weiss has been an inspiration to Walker-King. “I’ve learned a lot from Mr. Weiss within the past two years and that has allowed me to be proud of my work and feel as if its a finished piece,” Walker-King said. “You can learn a lot about painting within art history, which I have, you can always rely on history for a good lesson,” Walker-King said. “It took me a long time to get to this point in my life; where I am satisfied with mostly everything. I’m generally content, doing my work and going public. When you’ve found something to strive for, you need nothing else.”

Kayla Sullivan ‘13

Noelle Liljedahl ‘11

Mason Johnson ‘11

Sophomore Kayla Sullivan is new this year and moved from Dowling Catholic High School. Sullivan is not currently in any art classes, but definitely wants to get involved. “I like to draw all dif-ferent things, people are the most challenging, but I love it. I main-ly stick to drawing, but when it comes to glass jewelry, sculptures, and painting I like to be creative,” Sullivan said. “I have been in art classes at the Des Moines Art Center and throughout elementary and middle school.” Sullivan said. “We had hobby shows [at the Art Center] to display our work, and people thought I was pretty good, so it motivated me to keep drawing.” Sullivan wishes she was in a drawing class here at the high school, and is attempting to fit a drawing class into her schedule for junior year.

Tawny Walker-King ‘11

Senior Tawny Walker-King’s artwork appeared at the exhibit at the Polk County Heritage Art Gallery. The title of her exhibit is “Fire” and the display is made of acrylic and tempera paint on a canvas.

Senior Mason Johnson spends his time painting and doing photography. “Outside of school when I’m not working, I’m usually painting or trying to get something [artwork] done,” he said.

Johnson says that his art classes are what he tries hardest in at school. “For me, it is a lot easier to express myself visually,” he said. “I like putting everything I know into a photograph I make.”

Johnson has different places from where he gets his inspira-tion from and also bases it off his own ideas. “A lot of my pho-tography derives from the idea that as humans, we are fake, and wear masks,” he said. “The masks are what we want people to want people to see us as, not as who we actually are, so it’s a lot of portrait studies, and somehow I distort the face.” He has done this with paint, on one project where he put paint on a photo of junior Zach Vander Ploeg’s face.

Art has always been an important part in Johnson’s life. “My mom is really big into carving and my brother is a film dude,” he said. “And my sister got me into coloring, so [art has] always kind of been there.” He plans to keep art in his future as well, and he has thought about going to an art school.

Senior Noelle Liljedahl has been drawing throughout her whole school career. “I started off with just drawing stick figures with crayons,” Liljedahl said. “I started looking at people’s drawings to try to make my drawings more realistic.”

Liljedahl is planning to graduate at semester, which will give her more free time for art. “After I graduate I’m just going to go to Hobby Lobby and just buy everything there.” Liljedahl’s favorite type of art is portraits. “This is kind of weird, but I like to watch people and draw them. I think that it’s so amazing the way the body works, I like to study that.” Although Liljedahl has a passion for art she plans to pursue film. She wants to continue drawing in her free time at college. “I like to draw because it is a form of ex-pression. There is something completely amazing about people being able to capture a specific moment, person, or emotion, al-most like taking a picture, except you can be the camera.”

Senior Mason Johnson holds up one of his pieces of negative photography art work.

Sophomore Kayla Sullivan displays her favorite drawing.

Senior Noelle Liljedahl paints a still life picture of her “perfect meal.”

Emily Welch/The Dragon

layout Ethan Meng

layout Ryan Smaha

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Full-court Press

By: Ryan SMAHA

the Florida Gators, but there are indications that this will also be his last game as the head coach for the Maize and Blue.

Rodriguez came in three years ago to replace the retiring Lloyd Carr, promising to take Michigan football back into the national spotlight with a high-tempo, spread offense. At the time, the players in the program were physical, pro-style athletes whose special-ties were to play tough Big Ten football.

Now, after experiencing a couple of down years and installing his offense, Ro-driguez is in charge of the offense that puts up the most yards in the Big Ten. Come Jan. 1, that still may not be enough to save his job.

Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez is one of the most polarizing figures in the his-tory of Michigan football. His team will be playing in the Gator Bowl on Jan. 1 against

This newfound trend in college football, that new head coaches should be able to work miracles, is dangerous to the sports that we as Americans have grown to love. If coaches aren’t given time to install their own system and get their own players into the program, the chances of success in that program are very slim. In fact, new coach-es in automatic qualifier conferences, plus Notre Dame, are a combined 69-77.

This growing trend isn’t only affecting college football though, this epidemic has affected almost every major sport. Earlier this month, Denver Broncos coach Josh McDaniels was fired after two seasons.

The challenge of rebuilding a program

College, pro coaching ex-pectations unrealistic

from scratch is one that used to be enticing for up-and-coming coaches. Just ask our state’s highest paid employee. Kirk Ferentz went 4-19 in his first two seasons, since then he is 84-38. But now, with job secu-rity not guaranteed and quick turnarounds expected, young coaches are less moti-vated to take lower-tier power conference jobs. Look at Utah football coach Kyle Will-ingham, who has been offered countless jobs at the major conference level, but has turned them all down.

In order to save the sports that Ameri-cans love, we need to become more patient as fans. Give new coaches some time and be patient, and teams will recover.

words Wes Monroe

Fresh off a rigorous summer of scrimmages and college visits, senior guard Corey Schaefer signed his letter of intent to play at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. “I was relieved once I picked,” Schaefer said. He had scholarship offers from North Da-kota, South Dakota, Northeastern, and more but decided to continue his basketball career at Lehigh. “There was an overall comfort level (there),” Schaefer said.

His recruiting process began by sending out information to schools he was interested in playing for. Over the summer he played on an AAU team that traveled the country. Coaches are only permit-ted to scout the recruits during the month of July, so Schaefer’s AAU team took part in a 15 day spread of three tournaments that month. Coaches from schools he was interested in came and watched him play during these tournaments. “There might be 15-75 there at once, if they like your game they will contact you during the contact pe-riod,” Schaefer said.

Once all schools had contacted him and offers were on the table, he narrowed his list to three, Nebraska-Omaha, North Dakota and Lehigh. He then visited each campus to see which was the best fit. During these visits much was accomplished. “I looked around campus, met with advisors, scrimmaged, met with coaches and ate a ton,” Schaefer said. “When I got off my plane to land in Allendown for my visit to Lehigh they had ordered me Applebee’s and it was waiting for me.”

After a lot of deliberation, Schaefer decided that Lehigh was the best fit. “I like the players, coaches and they have a good basketball program,” Schaefer said.

JHS GOES D1sports dec 2010 the p.15b&w

Emily Parker

Basketball

Holy Cross

“This was a totally dif-

ferent experience, I was

introduced to so many

different people.”

Dahlia Gordon

Diving

La Salle

“When I visited La Salle I

just knew it was the right

school, it just felt right.”

Tory Knuth

Volleyball

Iowa State

“I didn’t have a hard

choice, I have always

wanted to go to Iowa

State and play there.”

Corey Schaefer

layout Ryan Smaha

the b&w backpagep.16 dec 2010

COOKIES

Samoas

Do-Si-Dos or Peanut Butter Sandwich

Tagalongs or Peanut Butter Patties

Lemonades

Thanks-A-Lot

Trefoils or Shortbread

Thin Mints

Continuing with Girl Scouts has motivated the girls to work towards their Gold award. The Girl Scouts’ Gold award is the equivalent to becoming an Eagle Scout. Once the program is complete the members of the troop will forever be ambassadors to the Girl Scouts of the USA. “The Gold award re-quires 50 hours of work, including planning and ac-tually carrying out the project,” junior Kaitlyn Aldrich said. “So it’s a big time commitment, and I think that that is why a lot of girls end up quitting.” Working towards their Gold award the girls plan to do things such as planting trees or flowers at a church, make care packages for children’s hospitals, and volun-teering at ChildServe.

Thin Mints 27%

Samoas 35% Tagalongs 15%

Do-Si-Dos 5%

Trefoils 5%

Daisy Go Rounds 1%

Thanks-A-Lot 3%Lemon Chalet Cremes 3%

Thank U Berry Much 1%Dulce de Leche 1%

Lemonades 5%

provided/Girl Scouts of the USA

FAVORITES

THE

Tagal ng with the Girl ScoutsGOLD AWARD

From a young age, the girls have been continual-ly passionate about volunteering. “We started in the third grade with 12 girls in the troop,” Aldrich said. “Now there’s only four.” Their lack in numbers has not affected the amount of charitable work they do throughout the community and the year.

Even though they put so much time into their work, it does not seem to bother them. Being with their good friends and doing something positive for the community is all they seem to need. “It’s easy when you’re helping an organization that helps other people,” Aldrich said.

“For our Bronze award, we made craft kits for a children’s hospital in 2006. This year, my sister was in the children’s ward and overheard the nurses still talking about how much the kids love them. It just goes to show that what goes around comes around.”

VOLUNTEER WORK

As busy as the girl scouts find themselves to be, they are still able to spend time with each other in and outside of school. School events and teams such as marching band are the only opportunities the girls have to spend time with each other outside of Girl Scouts. Though they spend numerous hours on their Gold Award, they still manage to find time to spend together as friends. Every other Monday the group gets together at one of the girl’s homes. While at meetings the girls accomplish things to get proj-ects planned in a relaxed environment. “We really try to get planning done,” junior Elizabeth Mills said. “We have a lot of badges we still need to get up to the Gold award because there are prerequisites.”

BONDING

In our younger years, we tend to believe that anything is possible. There were endless opportunities; you could be a firefighter, an astronaut, a rock star. We try everything, believe everything and want to do everything. Unfortunately, the downside of this is simply stated: people change. However, a lucky few are able to hang on to the good will of their childhood, and they strive to make the community a better place. Some might call them passionate do-gooders. We call them girl scouts.

compiled by Ian Dunshee and Ethan Meng

Juniors Kaitlyn Aldrich, Elizabeth Mills, Anne Dieseth, and Aly Vukelich pose for a photo after recieving their Silver award. The girls of troop 1132 are cur-rently working towards their Gold award which they will need to complete be-fore they graduate.

Provided/Kaitlyn Aldrich

THE