lance issue 5
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Westside High School paperTRANSCRIPT
Lance
PAGE 6feature sports
PAGE 8See what rising direc-tor Luc Murphree has been working on.
Will senior Molly Kroeger lead the swim team to the top this season?
8701 Pacific St. Omaha, NE 68114 Volume 56 Issue 5 February 3, 2011
superintendentDistrict hires firm to assist in search; students provide input through student interview panel
Where senior Jennifer Buirst comes from, it’s a little qui-eter.
Buirst’s mom is deaf and her dad is hard of hearing. Buirst learned baby sign language before she could speak, and of-ten acted as the intermediary between her mom’s silent world and her own, full of sounds like her keyboard and banter among her four siblings.
“I think people definitely take hearing for granted,” Buirst said. “Sometimes, when I’m talking to my mom, I feel terri-ble.”
According to the Gallaudet Research Institute’s compila-tion of federal data, about one million people over 5 years old are deaf in the United States. At the high school, eight stu-dents are either deaf or hard of hearing. Three of these stu-dents use translators who are fluent in sign language.
A decade ago, these students might have attended a special-ized school for the deaf. Today, Alison Winkler, the district’s deaf education instructor, said the movement is towards in-clusion. The Nebraska School for the Deaf closed in 1998, and Omaha Hearing School closed this past summer.
Some public districts send their students with hearing loss to the same elementary, middle or high school, where they are shuffled from one interpreter to the next. At Westside, stu-dents are spread throughout the elementary schools and stick with one interpreter. Because of this one-to-one approach, Winkler has seen some deaf students form bonds with their translators.
“The interpreter and the student get to know each other very well,” Winkler said. “Sometimes the interpreter will even form a bond with their student’s family. Additionally, if the student joins an after school activity, such as a club or a sport, the interpreter will often interpret for them there as well, thus supporting the student both inside and outside of school.”
Freshman Danny Glazer met his translator, Ann Schoen-ing, on the first day of fifth grade. Like Buirst’s mom, Glazer was born deaf. Schoening has traveled with him from grade to grade for five years, and they said they know each other well.
Although Schoening translates Glazer’s classes into sign language, Glazer prefers not to sign himself. He likes to speak and engage in a verbal, rather than visual, conversation.
“I like to talk and have a real conversation, but some other deaf people don’t really know how to talk as well or they can’t read lips or they stutter,” Glazer said.
Occasionally, he has found himself in challenging situa-tions. In sixth grade, Schoening accompanied Glazer to Out-door Ed. In the planetarium, the lights went out so students could get the full effect of the stars. Glazer, though, couldn’t see Schoening interpreting the information about astrology.
“Didn’t we have a flashlight or something?” Schoening said. “That was hard. Once in a while, we encounter those kinds of
By Ali TomekEDITOR-IN-CHIEF
The energy in the room buzzes. Curious com-ments are exchanged about the next candidate. How much experience does he have? Why is he interested in Westside? Does he support tech-nology in schools? The anticipation grows until it reaches a dull roar, and then all is silent. A man in a suit and tie with a wide smile stands at the door.
Current Westside superintendent Jacquie Es-tee announced her plans Aug. 8 to retire at the end of the 2011-12 school year. The Board of Ed-ucation then chose to hire the executive recruit-ment and development service, McPherson and Jacobson, to find Westside’s next leader.
“The board, in an open meeting, defined what we saw as our key objectives — what are the crite-ria? What are the qualities we would like to see in our next superintendent?” said Scott Hazelrigg, one of the directors on the Board of Education. Hazelrigg has headed local organization of the search process for the board.
McPherson and Jacobson used the criteria the board established and the Stakeholders input report to select certain individuals to encourage applying.
Westside received 28 candidate applications; Jan. 3 the school board worked with the search firm to narrow the candidates down to five final-ists.
From Jan. 16-20, Westside hosted the five fi-nalists of the superintendent search for a series
of interviews. Each day, a different candidate was welcomed into the Westside community by a coffee with school board members. The candi-dates then went on to participate in interviews with students, community members, teachers, administrators and the Board of Education.
“We know on paper every one of our five fi-nalists has the potential to be an excellent super-intendent,” Hazelrigg said. “The questions we want to ask are the things that we wonder about — which one of the candidates would be the best superintendent candidate for Westside at this time?”
Though the board will ultimately make the decision about who the next superintendent will be, students received the opportunity to be in-volved in the process.
“One of the things we liked about this consul-tant was that they historically engaged a student group in the process,” Hazelrigg said.
Every morning a small group of juniors and seniors gathered in the conference room to meet the candidates. These students were chosen on the basis of being prominent leaders at Westside.
The questions the student panel asked in-cluded, “Why/how do you feel the input from students is necessary when making choices?” and “How do you make sure all students’ needs are met with so much diversity?”
Junior Maddie Ryan led the student panel. Ryan prepared for the interviews by compiling questions suggested by the search firm in addi-tion to those students requested, and doing pre-
By Maddie GoodmanMANAGING EDITOR
see SUPER SEARCH page 2
see WITHOUT SOUND page 7
The student panel interviews the superintendent of Haysville Unified School District in Kansas, John Burke. Burke withdrew his application from the superintendent candidacy. Photo by Sara Guo
HELLOmy name is...
Jacquie Estee
Sign language impacts lives of students at home, in school
Famous trumpet player gives concert, clinics
Yamaha performing artist Wayne Bergeron came to the high school Jan. 30 to workshop the bands of 18 schools, including Westside’s Concert Jazz Band and Stage Band.
Bergeron has been featured in over 300 movie and TV soundtracks including Toy Story 3, Star Trek and the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
“More than likely, everyone you know has heard Wayne play more than a few times,” band instructor Roger Groth said.
While here, Bergeron worked with each band for 40 minutes and performed with Concert Jazz Band and the Omaha Big Band Jan. 31.
Drum majors selectedSeven students auditioned Jan. 19 to lead
the band in the 2012-13 school year. Sopho-more Colleen Hacker and juniors Carolyn Hanus and Shay Maulsby were selected as next year’s drum majors. The new drum majors will work throughout the spring and summer in preparation for band camps and the following marching band season.
Art contest opens for submissions
The Omaha Young Artist Exhibition is now accepting entries for the 2012 Omaha Summer Arts Festival. This exhibition features work from students in grades K-12 from the Omaha metro area. To enter student artwork, art educators can contact festival coordinator Ashley McNabney by Feb. 3.
Board of EducationCaucus held
The Westside Community Schools Cau-cus was held Thursday, Feb. 2 in the audito-rium at 7 p.m. The Caucus gave candidates for the Board of Education an opportunity to give speeches to rally support.
Other candidates could also have been nominated from the floor of the Caucus. The top four candidates will be placed on the general election ballot in May. After the statewide general election, the top two candidates will be appointed to a six-year term on the Board of Education.
“Our Caucus, in simplest form, is West-side’s primary election,” said Kent Kings-ton, the administrator in charge of the Caucus. “This process is very unique, and I know of no other school district in the state that conducts a selection of Board candi-dates this way.”
Early voting was open from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Feb. 2 at the high school, and regular voting took place at the Caucus. The three candidates who were placed on the early voting ballot were Mark Drabik, David Williams and incumbent Rosie Zweiback.
Quiz bowl team wins bigThe quiz bowl team, consisting of sopho-
more Emma Johanningsmeier, juniors Andrew McVea, Mac Mikkelsen and senior Jake Poots, won first place at the Educa-tional Service Unit 3 tournament Jan. 30. The team beat its rival, Elkhorn South, and was undefeated throughout the tourna-ment. This victory qualifies the team for the state competition in Holdrege.
BRIEF BOX
news2 l February 3, 2011
-liminary research on the candidates.“I think that it’s a really great oppor-
tunity that they are asking students, and I hope that whoever the superintendent is will continue to have student involve-ment,” Ryan said.
During the interviews, all students were engaged by asking candid questions and diligently taking notes.
“Everyone is pretty engaged; they are asking really intelligent, thoughtful ques-tions,” Ryan said.
While the student favorite was a tie be-tween McCann and Rikli, the board will take all focus groups’ opinions into con-sideration. Other focus groups include teachers, key community members and members of the Westside Foundation.
The student interviews allowed the board not only to get insight into what the students thought of the candidates, but also provided the candidates with an op-portunity to hear from the students.
“There aren’t any adults there, which is really nice because I think students are
more open, and I feel the candidates are more receptive because you’re not worried about what sounds good or what would of-fend someone,” Ryan said.
The conclusion of each interview was just as lively as the beginning, with can-didates and students shaking hands as the interviewee left for a day of four more interviews and extensive tours of the dis-trict.
“I think it gives [the candidates] really good insight, and us a really good insight too,” Ryan said.
SUPER SEARCH: students interview superintendent candidates
continued from page 1
Current school district: Westside District 66Current position: Assistant Superintendent of Administrative Opera-tionsViews: Rikli does not see Standards-Based Reporting at the high school. He believes in the 360o method for decision-making. Rikli would like to see iPads intro-duced in the elementary schools.
Andy Rikli
Blane McCann
Current school district: Shorewood in Shorewood, WICurrent position: Superintendent Views: McCann supports individualized education. He wants to implement student and teacher focus groups. McCann also supports building a culture of safety and compassion.
Current school district: Westside District 66Current position: Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Views: Weber hopes to see early childhood education available for all kids in the district. He is generally in favor of Standards-Based Reporting, but be-lieves the administration must come to a concen-sus. Weber hopes to have parent and student in-volvement when making decisions for the district.
Eric Weber
Current school district: Park Hill School District in Kansas City, MOCurrent position: Deputy Superintendent Views:Miles is interested in getting to know the Westside community. He is committed to checking in at all the schools in the district. Miles recognizes the need to balance views of students and parents.
Mark Miles
John Burke
Current school district: Haysville Unified School District in Haysville, KSCurrent position: Superintendent Views: Burke wants to be transparent to the Stakeholders in the district. He has a reputation of being an in-novator. Burke also has ideas to support students who want go directly into the work force. *Burke withdrew his application from the superin-tendent candidacy.
superintendentBIOS candidates
news February 3, 2011 l 3
For years, Westside has had the same morning routine: homeroom announcements, attendance, grade checks. In the following school year, Westside, along with every other public school in Nebraska, might have to add another task to its to-do list: the Pledge of Allegiance.
Nebraska State Senator Tony Fulton, along with several other Lincoln citizens, has proposed a bill that would require all public school students grades K-12 to say the Pledge in every classroom every day.
The bill was created because Ne-braska is currently one of seven states that don’t require the pledge to be recited in all public schools.
“Nebraska is behind the curve,” Fulton said. “We have modeled this bill after other state bills of similar proportions, so this is not new to anyone.”
The bill would require all stu-dents to say the pledge, but would also allow certain students to opt out for religious purposes.
“When we wrote the bill, we made sure that it did not infringe on anyone’s constitutional right,” Fulton said.
At the high school, the pledge is rarely recited, and at the middle
school, it’s recited once a week. Ad-ministrators don’t see a change as bad.
“I don’t see how it would have any negative effect on our schools,” As-sistant Principal Trudi Nolin said. “I know the elementary schools al-ready recite it daily.”
For Westside, this would not be a significant change, but for other schools across Nebraska, it might be something new.
“There are schools across the state that do not recite the pledge at all,” Fulton said. “Getting them to abide by the bill is the main goal.”
Schools that don’t recite the pledge don’t have flags, according to Fulton.
However, schools still can re-ceive flags through donations.
“If the schools cannot afford flags, we’ve already talked to sev-eral American Legions and veteran associations who would be more than willing to donate flags to the schools,” Fulton said.
The bill does not have a set hear-ing date, but Fulton said he wants to put it into action as soon as pos-sible.
“The Pledge of Allegiance is a quick and easy way of instilling citi-zenship in our kids,” Fulton said. “It’s an American tradition that kids should learn about and partici-pate in.”
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By Nick SelineA&E EDITOR
Educational assistant Louise Rasmussen and first graders Jackson McIntyre and Aaron Ostdiek recite the pledge at Swanson Elementary School. Photo by Sara Guo
opinion4 l February 3, 2012
The Lance is a school-sponsored publication of Westside High School, Westside Community Schools, 8701 Pacific St., Omaha, NE 68144. The Lance office is located in room 251. Phone: (402) 343-2659. The Lance is an in-house publication.
The paper is distributed every month to all students, except in vacation periods. Subscription rates to others are $25 prepaid. The Lance is printed by White Wolf Web, in Sheldon, IA.
Advertising rates are avail-able upon request. The Lance editorial staff reserves the right to edit all ads for clarity and grammatical errors. The editorial staff reserves the right not to publish any ads that are libelous or that con-tain non-factual information.
The Lance editorial staff also reserves the right to nullify contracts at any time without prior notification. The Lance also refuses ads that promote activities illegal to a majority of the student readership.
Reader response is wel-comed in the form of letters to the editor. Letters should be less than 300 words, signed by the author and sent to room 251. Names may be withheld upon special request. Lance editors will decide whether to honor such requests.
The Lance editorial staff reserves the right to edit let-ters for clarity and grammati-cal errors. The editorial staff also reserves the right to not publish any letters that are libelous or that contain non-factual information.
The Lance is a member of the Nebraska High School Press Association, the Colum-bia Scholastic Press Associa-tion, the National Scholastic Press Association and the Quill & Scroll Society.
The Lance staff recognizes that the administration of Westside Community Schools controls the curriculum and, thus, sets the parameters of the production process of school publications. The Lance staff also recognizes its own responsibilities to inform, enlighten and entertain its readers in a way that reflects high standards of journalism, morals and ethics.
Editors-in-Chief Allie Fisher, Ali Tomek; Managing Editors Maddie Good-man, Sara Guo; Business Manager Kate Durst; Copy Editor Emma Johannings-meier; Graphics Editor Kate Laing; Design Editors Sophie Goldberg, Casey Seline; News Editor Aaron Calderon; Opin-ion Editors Zane Fletcher, Colette Rector; Feature Editor Joe Hack; Sports Editor Matt Sockrider; Arts & Entertain-ment Editors Andrew McVea, Nick Seline; Staff Writers Ari Juster, Skylar Harris; Colum-nist Tom Schueneman; Photo Staff Aaron Boyle, Dalton Taylor; Adviser Rod Howe.
Lance
Graphic by Kate Laing
The school district hired the firm McPherson and Jacobson to assist in the search for our next super-intendent. The firm specializes in executive searches and has helped with both the advertising and inter-viewing processes.
Out of 28 candidates, the firm and school board selected five as finalists who went on to complete in-depth interviews.
Five different panels — a student, Westside Foun-dation, volunteer, teacher and administrative panel — interviewed each candidate separately.
All five panels submitted a formal write-up detail-ing their opinions of the five candidates. The school board will take the panels’ opinions into consider-ation when making the final decision.
When Jacquie Estee was hired in 2008, the de-cision-making was done internally, mainly through the school board and administrators.
The Lance has no criticism of the method used to hire Jacquie Estee. That being said, we believe hir-ing an experienced firm to help with selecting our next superintendent was a great idea.
The hiring of a superintendent is arguably the most important decision a district must make. A su-perintendent is the head honcho. Choosing him or her should take time and careful consideration. The selection should also be made without any bias.
McPherson and Jacobson was responsible for bringing in 28 candidates from all over the country, giving the district greater variety than it would have had choosing a superintendent internally.
The firm also oversaw a more extensive selection process. It suggested the district create the five pan-els to interview each candidate, helped choose the panels and provided questions the panels should ask the candidate.
The superintendent deals with the entire commu-nity, so it is only logical that the decision is a com-munity effort.
The five panels have different ideas on the desir-able qualities in a superintendent.
“They all have their own agendas,” Principal Maryanne Ricketts said. “My thoughts, as an ad-ministrator, about what I want in a superintendent are probably different from those of a community member.”
The Lance is especially excited students were able to offer input through the student panel. Because the sole purpose of a school district is to educate students, we need a superintendent who looks out for our best interest. The opinion of a student panel will help better inform the school board of what we, as students, want.
“[The school board] gained a student opinion, a
thoughtful, careful consideration of us and what we want in a superintendent, which they can’t always get themselves,” senior and student panelist Jacob Lehr said.
This process allowed each group to offer its unique perspective and will encourage the school board to choose a well-rounded candidate.
“I think they wanted to embody the whole dis-trict,” junior and panelist leader Maddie Ryan said. “It feels really good just to know that the [students] can experience a great school district because of our input.”
In addition, this extensive process will hopefully produce an unbiased decision.
“I was very pleased with how it went,” Ricketts said. “I liked how all the Stakeholder groups were involved. I liked that we had a student group who met with each candidate. Everybody took this very seriously. The groups gave the school board good feedback.”
Every part of the process went through the firm, and, as a result, the process went smoothly.
The Lance believes the school board made the correct decision in hiring McPherson and Jacobson to assist in the superintendent search — now it must make an even tougher decision: choosing a super-intendent.
Intramural sports are a good thing. It’s fun to be on a basketball team composed entirely of your friends, where things like “skill” and “athleticism” don’t matter. Even if you aren’t on an intramural team, it’s always interesting to hear about vaguely sports-related antics the next day. There should be more intramural sports than just basketball. Soccer and ultimate frisbee would be good places to start.
There will always be dissenters, but it seems the majority of students are happy about the Warrior Hut’s recent switch from Pepsi products to Coke products. Coke is delicious, and Pepsi is far too
sweet. It also means that next holiday season, there will be pictures of adorable polar bears on the sides of our beverages.
The coldest drinking fountains in the school happen to be the two most conveniently placed: the one in the weight room and those in the locker rooms. You can never have too much water during a workout and it’s difficult to have too much after one. Whether it’s on purpose or purely coincidental, the presence of the coldest water fountains in the places where they are most needed is nice.
There aren’t many positives about the beginning of a new semester, but there is one notable exception. For the first three to four weeks, teacher don’t assign that much homework. There is very little actual work to be done, and as long as you do reasonably well on the few assignments you do have, there is no reason to worry about grades. If you can avoid being lulled into a false sense of security, it’s one of the best parts of the year.
Most days, there is at least one mod in which any attempt to get food at the cafeteria ends in a line that stretches to the entrance. It makes sense that lunch mods are busy, but sometimes the number of people in the checkout line is just absurd, and it can be a little claustrophobic.
For months, students have refrained from exposing the website Reddit to teachers, out of fear that any attention brought to it would lead to a Tech Support ban. But once iPrism reared its ugly head following winter break, it was only a matter of time before Reddit was blocked, and now this
tragedy has come to pass.
iPrism has been a fairly constant annoyance for the past several years, but those with smartphones used to be able to get around it if they needed something in a pinch. Now, though, iPrism seems to be tied to the school’s wi-fi, meaning even non-school computers and smartphones are subject to its limitations.
Whether you’re struggling to find space in your schedule for another class, or wishing you didn’t have to take as many as you do, pretty much everyone can agree guidance classes are unnecessary. The information they contain is of little interest to the majority of students, yet everyone has to sit through them.
The weather this winter has been surprisingly mild, which is nice, but it would be great to have a snow day or two before the end of the year. It probably won’t happen given how late in the winter it is, but it can’t hurt to hold onto a little hope.
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FIRM DECISIONDistrict hires unbiased executive search firm
opinion February 3, 2011 l 5
Picture the Siberian tundra. Mile after mile of flat, depressing land-scape. Now, think about the Internet – supremely interesting and home to seemingly endless web-sites with incredible va-riety. Where would you rather spend your time? Under proposed legisla-tion, the Internet as we know it would quickly morph from the carnival that it is into the frozen tundra of Siberia.
Facebook. Wikipedia. Twitter. Reddit. Four of the most popular websites on the Internet that could be rendered un-usable by two pieces of proposed legislation: the Stop On-line Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA). These aim to crack down on copyright infringement laws (and therefore, many such websites) and ultimately re-shape our Internet.
SOPA is a bill proposed in the U.S. House of Represen-tatives by Lamar Smith (R-TX). The purpose of the bill is somewhat logical — to eradicate copyright infringement on the Internet and fight online counterfeiting. The prob-lem with this bill is that it includes a zero-tolerance policy — websites with any content that violates copyright laws would be taken off search engines and blocked by Internet Service Providers.
The second bill, PIPA, was introduced in the U.S. Senate by Patrick Leahy (D-VT). It is similar to SOPA in its goal — to restrict access to websites that infringe on copyright laws or host reproduced content. This bill would also force many user-generated websites off the Internet almost instanta-neously. A system administrator on Reddit.com, Jason Har-vey, put it eloquently when he likened these bills to “killing a basket full of kittens in order to defeat a lion.”
I, as well as many other teenagers of my generation, am a Facebooker. I am a heavy user of Wikipedia. (How else would we pass our classes?) I also frequent Reddit, perhaps a little more than is healthy. These bills are an affront to
me and to our generation. It can’t be up to a room full of older, less tech-savvy men and women to make a decision that would affect our lives so greatly. The repercussions of these bills’ passing would be enormous. If one single person posted a copyrighted image or saying (including song lyr-ics) on Facebook without written consent of the content’s creator, the website could be instantly blocked. User-driven websites like Reddit and YouTube would last a grand total of 30 seconds under these bills.
Even worse, it is widely known and accepted that these bills wouldn’t stop Internet piracy. These bills focus main-ly on domestic website domains, leaving foreign Internet alone. Ironically, the U.S. State Department has installed tools to circumvent the very forms of Internet restriction proposed so people in oppressive regimes can enjoy unlim-ited Internet access. When all is said and done, piracy will still exist, and the U.S. will merely have descended into an increasingly Orwellian society of government regulation and censorship.
Recently, websites have begun protesting these bills. Jan. 18, Reddit and Wikipedia, among others, went dark in pro-test of SOPA and PIPA. They said their goal was to show people what the Internet would look like should these bills be passed, and I for one am not pleased with the prospect. We live in America, the “land of the free,” the land of de-mocracy, of free speech. We hold certain truths to be self-evident: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. These bills infringe greatly upon these rights, rights which web surfing readily provides.
The vote on SOPA has already been tabled for later dis-cussion. The vote for PIPA was Jan 24. I have already called our senator Lee Terry to ask him to remove his sponsorship of the bill, and due to the large volume of these requests, he has done so. However, we can’t stop there. Should PIPA and SOPA be passed, we will enter an age of government regulation that Big Brother would be proud of. Our creativ-ity would be weakened, our initiative destroyed, all to stop something that wouldn’t even be slowed in the least. Fellow Internet users, I leave you with this: my vision for America and our Internet in the future is one of hope and one of pros-perity. The legislation put forth in the last few months com-bats my vision and the vision of millions of other Americans. Stop SOPA and PIPA. Sign the petition. Save our Internet.
It’s ten o’clock the night be-fore a huge exam. You sit at your desk with three cans of Redbull and a half-eaten bag of Doritos. You turn on your favorite Pandora station and spread all of your notes from the past month and a half over your bedroom floor. Stress be-gins to saturate the air as you struggle to retain the infor-mation that was taught while you were snoozing in the back of the classroom. The hours creep on with little luck and
increased frustration as your hope for success dwindles. Sud-denly, from the back of your mind you recall one crucial piece of information. A sigh of relief escapes your lips as you think to yourself, “It’s okay…I can retake this.”
For many students, retaking tests has been an option since elementary school. Teachers promote the idea to give students a second chance to test their knowledge. However, how would someone have a legitimate reason for doing better on a test two days after taking the original test?
Students create any number of excuses to deceive their teachers into allowing them to retake tests. They conjure up any number of diseased relatives or bad signs from horoscopes and other star alignments. These translate into “There was a Gossip Girl marathon last night and I didn’t feel like studying for your class.”
The most common reason for poor results on tests is a lack of preparation. With the knowledge that a second chance will be offered, anyone would naturally be more lax with his first attempt. School is no exception.
Many of the lessons and skills we learn in our classes are not solely meant to be applied in the walls of a high school. Teach-ers and administrators use different tactics to equip us with ex-periences and knowledge to apply in the real world.
Retakes are not practical tools for life beyond high school. When people make mistakes in life, they seldom get the oppor-tunity to go back and fix them.
“Gee, officer, I didn’t intend to drink a bottle of vodka and then get in the car. Can I go back and do it again?”
“Sorry, patient, I didn’t mean to completely cut off your leg during that surgery. I’m just going to redo it.”
“Oh, honey, I didn’t mean to sleep with that other woman! Let me go back and undo that.”
While these examples may seem extreme and ridiculous, the general concept can be paralleled.
I do think there are some exceptions in which retakes should be allowed. In every English class I have taken, I have been giv-en the opportunity to redo out-of-class essays.
In classes such as math and social studies, the information students are tested over is specific, and the questions have only one answer. However, essays are much more creatively involved. By rewriting an essay, students are encouraged to expand their understanding of a book or story and to think be-yond the surface level.
While students may find retakes to be the perfect solutions to procrastination, they are not practical for high school or the real world. If at first you don’t succeed…too bad.
ZANE FLETCHERopinion editor
Who’s your favorite superintendent candidate and why? VOICES
He was very personable, and I thought he could improve school spirit.JACOB LEHR Senior
He’s professional and per-sonable. He’s both stu-dent- and teacher-driven.LIBBY SLOSBURG Senior
He had a good idea of what the students needed and a lot of experience.MAX KASLON Senior
He has lots of ideas, lots of experience. Seems like a good guy to run West-side well.CAROLINE ROCKMAN Junior
Bill threatens Internet freedomDrop the SOPA
BLANE McCANN BLANE McCANN
from the student superintendent panel
RETAKESIdea creates bad habits
BLANE McCANNBLANE McCANN
COLETTE RECTORopinion editor
Gra
phic
by
Kat
e La
ing
feature6 l February 3, 2011
Senior Luc Murphree hoped his summer internship answering calls at Lee Terry’s of-fice would launch his political career, but he came away disenchanted.
“I didn’t do a whole lot,” Murphree said. “The congressional office is a lot of nothing. I took a lot of calls, and they went nowhere. Afterwards we’d say that they were going to the congressman, but half the time I’d come back to my desk and there’d be the same calls there the next day.”
However, Murphree mined those eight weeks of bureaucratic drudgery for creative inspiration. As a theater student and film en-thusiast, he decided to make a movie.
“What I took out of it was that there wasn’t a big purpose in the office, so I channeled that and took some of my personal experi-ence with absurdism and incorporated it into a movie,” Murphree said.
The movie, “The Nation’s Crisis,” follows a young intern, played by senior Alex Glow, through his first day of work at a political campaign office. When he walks in, he’s met by a stern administrator, played by senior Dana Cassling, who promptly orders him to get cracking on the “national crisis,” which is never explained.
People bustle about the office while the in-tern puzzles over the contents of the folder at his own desk — pages of binary code, a list of herbs, an advertisement for strippers.
Frustrated and confused, the intern has an unnerving coffee break with another worker, played by junior Michael Keefe. In the ab-surdist monkey metaphor that follows, he’s compared to a new monkey reaching for a banana.
Nothing makes sense, everything is circu-lar and confusing, and he’s the new monkey in an office of mindless drones. Finally, he meets the intern supervisor, who leads him to a room. The final shot features another mes-merizing absurdist image — an American flag with the Soviet sickle and hammer pasted over the blue stars.
The film is reminiscent of Brazil, the 1985
dystopian classic, with its Orwellian under-tones and flat characters. It seems to be a criticism of bureaucracy and mindless com-pliance, but Murphree didn’t write it with an agenda.
“It’s always been my opinion that what people take away from film is what they take away from it,” Murphree said. “It’s not really the author’s place to speak for a film, because the film should speak for itself. Whatever they think it is becomes the message.”
Besides, Murphree had enough to worry about as a first-time filmmaker.
Murphree banged out his first draft in two hours at the beginning of August, but the script wasn’t ready for production until Octo-ber. He cast the movie with students from the theater program and arranged to shoot at his
mother’s office. After three weeks of rehearsal, the film
shot for two days around fall break.With a week of film school, one $400 Sony
camera and a copy of How to Shoot Video That Doesn’t Suck, Murphree had to teach himself how make the movie.
“Little things that you don’t think about I had to learn, like the amount of time between cuts, the average number of shots in any given scene, and how to position cameras to capture a good scene of dialogue,” Murphree said.
Murphree estimates he shot each scene at least ten times, amass-ing six and a half hours of footage. It took him a month to edit the mate-rial into a seven-minute film.
“In film, you have to do everything in the-ater, but you have to be the audience at the same time, and it sucks because sometimes you don’t know what angle to come at it from,” Mur-phree said.
As a theater student directing other theater students, Murphree had to adapt and direct his actors to act in a different manner, ac-cording to theater instructor Terry Fischer.
“The style of acting is different,” Fischer said. “When you’re film acting, you have to be more realistic because everything is inches away.”
When people walk into a theater, they’re willing to suspend their disbelief, but with movies, they expect a greater level of reality.
“I am most definitely a stage actor where I have to be over the top a lot,” Cassling said. “But on camera there are close-ups, and the camera can be right in your face and you have to pretend it’s not there. It’s a bit daunting to jump from stage to camera.”
To ease the transition, Murphree had to precisely articulate his vision to his actors.
“Overall I think Luc did a great job di-recting, especially in the rehearsal process,” Cassling said. “He knew exactly what he wanted from every scene and every line — he
gave a lot of great notes and direction.”While some of the shots are shaky, most of
them are staged well. There’s even a close-up of coffee being poured, an homage to one of Murphree’s favorite directors, Quentin Tar-antino. Fischer thinks Murphree made up for his technical inexperience with initiative and independence.
“I was simply a very minor go-to person,” Fischer said. “Truly, it was very self-driven. I’ve had students who go on to pursue film, but none who have been so proactive. He’s
the most active, en-gaged film student I’ve ever had.”
Murphree finished the movie in time to submit it to film schools. His top choic-es are New York Uni-versity and the Univer-sity of Southern Cali-fornia. The film can also be seen on You-Tube under the title “The Nation’s Crisis: Lucian Productions.”
Murphree has en-tered “The Nation’s Crisis” in the Omaha
Film Festival, and plans to stage one of his plays, “The Bikini Islands,” this spring at Westside.
Like “The Nation’s Crisis,” this play has ab-surdist elements.
“The whole thing is about memory loss from radiation, the misconduct of the mili-tary,” Murphree said. “It’s about the insanity of time with an absurdist take.”
Absurdism has been a major artistic influ-ence in Murphree’s work thus far. Tom Stop-pard, the acclaimed absurdist playwright, is one of his greatest creative influences.
While Murphree has looked to the Stop-pard in his writing and Quentin Tarantino in his directing, ideally he’ll be the next Tina Fey.
“I would much rather be a director and make a dream come true,” Murphree said. “I think it is possible for me to spearhead an idea on television and make a TV show hap-pen. I feel like it’s possible if I work really hard. That’s my dream job.”
Aspiring director creates short filmThe Nation’s Crisis
By Joe HackFEATURE EDITOR
Senior Luc Murphree created a short film, The Nation’s Crisis, starring senior Alex Glow as an intern in a political office. Murphree submitted the film to the Omaha Film Festival. Photo illustrations by Aaron Boyle
What peo-ple take away from the film is what people take away from it. LUC MURPHREESenior
“
feature February 3, 2011 l 7
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things.” Classes can be awkward. Students
often don’t know how to approach Glazer if they don’t know sign lan-guage, but Schoening points out the obvious: Glazer can easily write mes-sages back and forth.
“They feel that they can’t talk or they have to talk really slowly or re-ally loud and move their lips a lot,” Glazer said. “That kind of gets annoy-ing.”
Sign language is an art that in-trigued Winkler as a high school student. Most often, students in the district learn Signing Exact English (SEE II) or American Sign Language (ASL). SEE II follows English word order, grammar and structure rules, replacing spoken words with signs. ASL, like a foreign language, has dif-ferent grammar.
“Sign language interpreters are incredible in what they do,” Winkler said. “In seconds, they have to take in information auditorially, make meaning of what is said, and figure out how to effectively convey the message with their hands. They al-most never are able to hear what is said and simply match each word up with a sign. It’s more like conveying a message they hear, into a picture.”
Schoening has worked as an inter-preter for 24 years. She learned sign language to communicate with her best friend, who was deaf.
“Her parents refused to let her
sign,” Schoening said. “I saw her struggle so much. She was really be-hind in school. It was awful. I thought, ‘Wow, there has to be a better way.’”
Schoening’s friend ultimately be-came successful, and Glazer doesn’t think there’s anything he can’t do. Buirst said her mom has sometimes struggled, but Buirst and her siblings rallied to help her growing up.
As a 6-year-old, Buirst translated doctor appointments and later, par-ent-teacher conferences for her mom. Her role as the intermediary forced her to mature faster than her peers. Until recently, she wasn’t sure wheth-er she belonged more to the hearing or deaf world. After “a bit of an aha moment,” Buirst decided she is a part of both.
“I think people think [being deaf] is basically exactly the same as be-ing hearing, the only difference is you can’t hear, but it’s not,” Buirst said. “There’s a whole culture. There’s a whole language. There’s an intimacy to it.”
For years, Buirst begged to get a keyboard for Christmas.
“When I finally got it, my head might’ve hit the ceiling, I jumped so high,” Buirst said. “I’ll play it, and my aunts might come over and they’ll hear me play, and they’ll talk about how beautifully I can play. My mom’s always saying, ‘I wish I could hear it.’”
Now, her music doesn’t seem as important as what she has cared about her whole life: her mom.
continued from page 1
TOP: Freshman Danny Glazer works in the Social Studies IMC during an open mod. Glazer was born deaf and is one of three students at the high school who use interpreters. BOTTOM: Senior Jennifer Buirst demonstrates the signs for love, school and work. Buirst often signs at home with her mom, who is deaf. Photos by Dalton Taylor and Ali Tomek
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WITHOUT SOUND: student signs with mom
sports8 l February 3, 2011
A warm-up passing drill, a couple of laps, a scrim-mage and lifting: nothing particularly interesting or unique appears to be happening as the rugby team begins its practice. That is, until one hears the sing-ing. Every rugby player down on the field sings be-fore practice.
“In the games, we yell a lot so it really helps to sing,” said senior Sean Burns, rugby captain. “The singing helps with cardio and is fun.”
Burns, along with the other captains, seniors Janak Wall and Trevor Ford, looks forward to the season and hopes it will help the team improve on last year’s 2-9 record.
“Last year, our team was made up of people who had never played before,” Wall said. “This year we have returning players making up 70% of the team.”
Experience in rugby is important. A more expe-rienced team can run more advanced plays, is less likely to foul and can spend more time working on more difficult techniques. According to Wall, the most important thing that comes out of having ex-perience in rugby is team chemistry.
“Team unity is a big deal,” Wall said. “You have to be prepared to hand off the ball to everyone — you can’t be the hero.”
Many of the first practices of the team’s season re-volve around fostering team unity and acquainting new members with the game. Although considered tedious by more experienced members of the team, the captains agreed the first practices are among the most critical parts of the season.
“[In practice] we focus on camaraderie,” Ford said. “We try to make practice laid-back. We joke a lot.”
This laid-back attitude has helped Westside be-come one of the largest rugby schools in Nebraska. The Warriors compete against mixed-high school teams, such as Omaha United and Lincoln United, but is one of only a few schools in the state with enough rugby players to form its own team.
Despite large numbers, the team is always look-ing for new players.
“We need numbers,” Ford said. “Rugby is a sport for anyone. We will take literally anyone and make them a rugby player.”
Experience and numbers are a winning formula that has worked for the Warriors in previous years, and the team is optimistic for the upcoming season.
“My freshmen and sophomore year we did really well,” Burns said. “Those guys had played together all through high school and knew each other really well. By the end of the season last year, it was obvi-ous that we knew the game and could win.”
By Andrew McVeaA&E EDITOR
Sophomore Jacob Spaulding prepares to catch the ball during a four-corners drill. Rugby practices start in February. Photo by Emma Johanningsmeier
By Sara GuoMANAGING EDITOR
Chlorine-bleached hair, pruney fingers and goggle imprints. These features have become a part of senior Molly Kroeger’s life.
When she was in second grade, Kroeger enrolled in stroke school. Soon after, she joined the Swim Omaha program and established her pas-sion for swimming.
“It’s fun to race people, and it’s fun to compete,” Kroeger said. “I think competi-tion is my favorite part, and that’s why I love [swimming].”
Now, Kroeger excels in the water with the help of varsity swimming coach Doug Krecklow. In his five years of coaching Kroeger, Krecklow has spotted many posi-tive attributes.
“Molly’s greatest strengths are her abil-ity to press her teammates to stay on the intervals and to train at the level they need to train at in order to get better,” Krecklow said. “She understands the importance of training and what she has to do in order to make sure she’s pre-pared, and that helps drive everybody else.”
According to Kroeger, her most important duty is to motivate her teammates. Kroeger hosts movie nights for team bonding and shares inspirational quotes.
Senior Katherine Lincoln recognizes Kroeger’s important posi-tion on the team.
“Molly’s motivation, hard work and consistent effort are her big-gest strengths,” Lincoln said. “She also encourages us to perform to our true potentials.”
In addition to motivating her teammates, Kroeger believes lead-
ing by example can produce victories, and ultimately a state title.Last year, Kroeger placed third at state in the 200 freestyle, 500
freestyle and two freestyle relays. She also holds a school record in the 200 freestyle relay.
“[Molly] excels in our relays,” Lincoln said. “Relays are double the points, so they are important points that our team needs. She
also has the potential to score really high in her individual events this year.”
Currently, Kroeger is in the top 10 in six events, and Krecklow said she is a frontrunner for several events at the state level.
The highlight of Kroeger’s swimming career occurred at last year’s Lincoln Southeast Invi-tational. Westside was behind Millard West by five points going into the last relay. The team had to win the relay to win the meet.
“We get up on the blocks. We are so pumped up and we just want to win,” Kroeger said. “The first leg goes and we’re pretty much tied, second leg goes and we’re a little bit ahead. We are a second ahead, and people are screaming, going psycho. I dive off the blocks and I was just kicking my legs as fast as they would go.”
As the fourth leg of her relay, Kroeger needed to maintain the lead to win the race and the invite.
“The thing that I said to myself was, ‘It can either hurt now, or you’re going to feel terrible after this when you lose,’” Kroeger said.
With a positive mindset, Kroeger was the first swimmer to touch the wall, and Westside returned home with a victory.
Kroeger has signed a letter of intent to swim for Xavier Univer-sity. With the help of her family, friends, teammates and coaches, she hopes to be successful in the future.
“I think she is capable of becoming a collegiate all-American,” Krecklow said.
Senior Molly Kroeger swims butterfly during practice. Kroeger has signed a letter of intent to swim for Xavier Uni-versity, a Division I school. Photo by Sara Guo
Swimmer lands scholarship
Rugby teamworks on unity
It can either hurt now, or you’re going to feel terrible when you lose. MOLLY KROEGERSenior
“
sports February 3, 2011 l 9
Boys swim team works hard
With only two individual state qualifiers this season, Westside’s boys swim team is working hard during the last few weeks of the season.
“Our relays are strong,” coach Nick Joslin said. “We just want more individuals to qualify to help us earn points and place higher at state.”
The state competition will be held at the Devaney Center in Lincoln Feb. 24-25.
“As a team, we averaged 84,000 yards in six days for hell week,” junior Matt O’Dell said. “[Coach Krecklow and Joslin] see our potential to do well and want us to finish the best we can.”
The team’s effort was seen at the Westside Invitational when it took third place, only 19 points from first place. Westside won the 200-meter freestyle relay with Cody Andrews winning the individual 200-meter freestyle race.
Wrestling places at Metro
The wrestling team’s strength and skill was on full display at Metro Jan. 13-14, but so was its unity.
The team worked together to place 10th. Individually, juniors Antoine Tureaud and Erik Vargas placed third and second, at 152 and 126 pounds, respectively. Senior Marcus Pierce placed second, as well, at 160 pounds.
“Our Metro and district competition are tough, so I am happy with how well the team did,” junior Antoine Tureaud said.
The district tournament will be held Feb. 11, and state will be held Feb. 16-18.
“It has been a good season, and a lot of people have been able to redeem losses,” Tureaud said.
Girls basketball works as a team
Thanks to its focus, the girls varsity basketball team had an 8-6 record as of Jan. 27. Though head coach Steve Clark said the team needs to become more consistent, the leadership and concentration on the team are always strong points.
“[The players] work extremely well as a team,” Clark said. “They play with heart, and aim to inspire each other every game.”
The team plays its next game at home Feb. 3 against Omaha North, followed by another home game against Lincoln Southwest Feb. 4.
Boys basketball propelled by defense
The boys varsity basketball team is ranked 10th in the state after its defense helped lead it to a 9-7 record. Assistant head coach Jim Simons thinks the team’s toughness has helped both the players and the team.
“[The players] like each other and play hard together,” Simons said. “We play our best as a group.”
Although it plays well, Simons said the team still needs to run the offense more consistently.
The team plays its next two games at home: Feb. 3 against Omaha North and Feb. 4 against Lincoln Southwest.
BRIEF BOX
Sophomore Darren McGuire defends freshman Karim Ereikat during practice at Hillside Elementary School. Lacrosse is a non-sponsored school activity and has a coach from outside of school. Photo by Sara Guo
When senior Jeff Dirks started high school, he needed a sport to play. But football and basketball weren’t for him. He saw the lacrosse table at Club Fair Day and decided to check it out.
Dirks said he fell in love with the sport on the first day of prac-tice. He’s been playing it ever since.
Dirks described lacrosse as a fast-paced game that’s always ex-citing.
“It has the contact of football and hockey, the speed of basket-ball and the endurance of soccer,” Dirks said. “It’s just a big smor-gasbord of everything, and it’s just a blast to play.”
Westside’s lacrosse team has almost 30 players this year. It practiced at the Westside Community Conference Center field this past fall, and in the Hillside Elementary School gym in the winter. Practices will start in earnest in the spring. The season starts at the end of March and lasts until the beginning of May. The end-of-year tournament to determine the state champion is in May.
Not every high school has a lacrosse team. Westside plays five teams from Omaha, as well as a Lincoln team and one from Des Moines.
“When we travel, we tend to do round-robin sorts of things where it’s not really a tournament with a champion, but a group of teams all meet up and we all play each other in a pretty short period of time,” Dirks said.
Since its founding about five years ago, the team has had several coaches, none of whom have taught at Westside.
“It’s been that our former coach, as he’s left, he’s cared enough about the team that he’s found another coach to help our team,” Dirks said. “We’ve been blessed enough to have a nice line of coaches that have done a pretty good job coaching the team and making sure it stays a team.”
Current coach Rob Ross moved to Omaha two years ago and started a lacrosse team in Bellevue. When the former Westside coach, whom Ross had worked with, left to coach for Creighton Prep, Ross took over. This is his first full season as coach.
Student leadership has also changed through the years as differ-ent players assume the role of captain.
“This year it’s mostly been me,” Dirks said. “It just depends on who the team looks up to, who’s capable of organizing things.”
Key players include Dirks, junior Dustin Ecklebe and sopho-more Darren McGuire, all of whom are on the all-state lacrosse team.
Dirks said the Westside team likes to have fun, and practices are relaxed, but players care about doing well in competition.
“We all like to win,” Dirks said. “We don’t want to sacrifice that for the cause of fun. We do have fun, but I think our main goal is to win.”
Athletic Director Tom Kerkman said the Nebraska School Ac-tivities Association (NSAA) does not sanction lacrosse. As a result, he can’t help the team schedule games. He has, however, allowed it to use the Westside field at times.
“I’ve helped them out by allowing them to play their home games on our field,” Kerkman said.
Since lacrosse is a school-affiliated group that does not have a faculty sponsor, it relies on Club Fair Day and word of mouth to recruit new players.
“We very seldom have players who have any prior experience, so that’s always one of the challenges,” Dirks said. “But I think part of the fun thing about lacrosse at our school is that it’s so new and fresh that when people start playing, they get pretty excited about it.”
Still, Dirks said the team hasn’t always had enough members to do well.
“In the past, we’ve had issues with getting enough players, and so stamina’s a problem,” Dirks said. “Teams have been able to run a lot of guys at us, so we’ve been having a hard time winning late-ly.”
Like Dirks, Ross said it can be difficult to find enough members for a team. He and a group of other coaches are starting a youth league that will feed into the high school teams. He’s concerned about next year for the Westside team, which will lose several key seniors.
Kerkman thinks the only way lacrosse will really grow is if it be-comes NSAA-sanctioned. So far, he hasn’t heard anything about this happening.
Still, Ross is optimistic for the future.“It’s going to be an uphill battle, but I think a lot of kids at the
school will see how much fun it is,” Ross said. “Soon high school lacrosse will become a regular part of the programming. With peo-ple like myself pushing the sport, it’ll grow on its own.”
LACROSSELittle-known team promotes sport
By Emma JohanningsmeierCOPY EDITOR
arts & entertainment10 l February 3, 2011
It has been said that silence is golden. Never has this been more true than at this year’s Academy Awards, where The Artist, a silent film, looks poised to win a golden statuette for Best Pic-ture. Of all the movies this year, none is as innovative, moving, funny or simply enjoyable to watch. The story itself is very simple. The Artist fol-lows George Valentin, a silent movie star who is the toast of Hollywood and can do no wrong. While at the top, he helps a young starlet named Peppy Miller get her big break, and as they begin to fall for one another, the talk-ies are introduced in cinemas across the country. Suddenly, Valentin is a washed-up nobody slowly drinking himself to death while Miller rises to superstardom. Miller hasn’t forgot-ten about Valentin, though, and the remainder of the movie is spent with Miller trying to help Valentin back to the top even as he self-destructs. As feel-good as that sounds, it is actu-ally a comedy, and the humor of the film mixes seamlessly with the drama.
During multiple scenes in the movie, I wasn’t sure if I should laugh or cry. Despite being set in the ‘30s, hav-ing no sound and being in black and white, The Artist does not feel dated at all, and the audience can instantly connect to it. Everything about this film comes together amazingly, with wonderful acting, a great screenplay, a stirring score and even a dog. Nor-mally, a film featuring a dog as one of its stars would make me groan, but it was handled so perfectly I felt like Uggy the Jack Russell terrier should be given an acting nomination. With a Critic’s Choice Award, a Golden Globe and a Producers Guild of Amer-ica Award, an Oscar is the next logi-cal step for The Artist. The Descen-dants, directed by Omahan Alexander Payne, looks to be a contender too, af-ter a Golden Globe win. Martin Scors-ese’s film Hugo is also in the running, but ultimately, it will be the creators of The Artist giving their acceptance speech come Oscar night. My Pick: The Artist
Of all the categories in this year’s Acad-emy Awards, the award for Best Direc-tor seems like the most competitive and least predictable. As the awards season has progressed, just about ev-ery awards show has chosen some-one different as the best director, and I, like most critics this year, am torn. Best Director and Best Picture usually go hand in hand, so Michel Hazanavi-cius should win for The Artist. He de-serves it too — the title of The Artist is as much a reference to Hazanavicius’ great filmmaking as it is to anything in the actual film. Nothing in the movie feels forced or dated, and because of Hazanavicius’ direction, The Artist wasn’t just a gimmick, it was the best
movie of the year. That being said, I also would not mind seeing Scorse-se win for Hugo. This is such a huge departure from the type of movie he usually makes it’s surprising, but ulti-mately rewarding. Some have dubbed Hugo a “kid’s movie,” but just because it is a movie appropriate for children to watch does not make it a film for 7-year-olds. It is a movie everyone can enjoy because of its beautiful vi-suals and lovable characters. Scorsese is currently favored to win his second Oscar for Hugo after his Golden Globe win, but Hazanavicius, Woody Allen, Payne or Terrence Malick could steal the show. My Pick: Martin Scorsese
Best Picture
Best Director
Best Actor The Academy awards have gone international this year with the Best Actor category. Three of the nominees, Gary Oldman, Jean Dujardin and Demián Bichir, are not from the United States, and each is nominated for the first time. Of the nominees, from America or otherwise, Dujardin’s performance in The Artist tops the list and should win the Oscar. Dujardin plays George Valentin, a silent movie star whose art form suddenly be-comes obsolete and who drinks himself into pov-erty and depression. Dujardin manages to skirt the line between great acting and the overacting that was so prevalent in the height of the silent movie era. Dujardin’s face is so expressive he can convey his character’s every thought and feeling to the audience while still maintaining the subtle-ties of a modern powerhouse performance. Plus, his smile is so magnetic — it’s hard not to root for him. He’s already won a Golden Globe, and an Os-car could be coming his way too. The two other favorites are perennial contenders, George Cloo-ney and Brad Pitt. It will be a close race, but Cloo-ney will probably end up taking home his second Academy Award this year for his Golden Globe-winning turn in The Descendants.My Pick: Jean Dujardin
Graphic by Kate Laing
Graphic by Kate Laing
Best Supporting ActressWhile the Best Actress category is dominated by ex-perienced actresses who are no strangers to awards shows, the Supporting Actress category this year is exactly the opposite. Of the nominees, only Janet McTeer has ever received an Oscar nod, and her nomination came over a decade ago. Not that the nominees are complete unknowns. Melissa Mc-Carthy, who is nominated for Bridesmaids, won an Emmy this year, and Jessica Chastain starred in The Debt and Best Picture nominee The Tree of Life, along with her nominated supporting role in The Help. Although she is not as well known in the Unit-ed States, Bérénice Bejo, who is nominated for The Artist, is a star in France, and for good reason. Bejo is an incredibly versatile actress, and her superb tal-ents are showcased throughout The Artist. In the movie, she plays Peppy Miller, an aspiring movie star who gets her break from a silent film star whose fame she later eclipses. Unlike more conventional roles where the character’s emotions are expressed through speech, Bejo had the daunting task of ex-pressing everything through her body language and facial expressions, and she is very effective at this. She is also a wonderful dancer, and her performance went beyond the usual Oscar bait that can dominate awards season. Bejo deserves the win, but look for a showdown between her and Golden Globe winner Octavia Spencer on Oscar night.My Pick: Bérénice Bejo
Best Supporting ActorSadly, out of all the major categories this year, the Supporting Actor category is the weakest. None of the nominees had an outstanding or career-defining performance, and because of this, there is no clear frontrunner. Some might say this means a category with little excitement, but there is some local inter-est. Nick Nolte, a Westside High School graduate, scored a nomination for his work in Warrior, in which he plays the alcoholic father and coach of a mixed martial arts fighter. Another nominee to root for is Jonah Hill, best known for his comedic movies like Superbad and Knocked Up. Hill was nominated for Moneyball. The Academy often rewards comedi-ans who take a dramatic role, and I would love to see Hill take home the award. The most likely winner this year, though, is Christopher Plummer in Begin-ners. Plummer plays a father who comes out as gay in his 70s. He has already won a Golden Globe and Critic’s Choice award for his performance. My Pick: Nick Nolte
Best ActressThis year’s Best Actress field is looking very familiar. The five nominees have been previously nominated 24 times collectively, and only Rooney Mara is a first -time nominee. Of those 24 nominations, a whop-ping 16 come from Meryl Streep. Streep has one of the longest award droughts in history. The last time Streep won an Oscar was for Sophie’s Choice in 1982, before her main competitor Michelle Wil-liams was walking and before Mara was even born. Streep’s career aside, she had an amazing perfor-mance this year playing Margaret Thatcher, show-ing the vulnerability, but ultimate strength, of the former Prime Minister. She looks to be at the front of the pack again with a Golden Globe win, but Wil-liams, whose portrayal of Marilyn Monroe also won a Golden Globe, is a definite contender too. This is a good pack, though, so the other nominees, Mara, Viola Davis and Glenn Close, could pull off an upset on Oscar night.My Pick: Meryl Streep
The Departed2007
No Country for Old Men
2008
The Hurt Locker
2010Slumdog Millionaire
2009
The King’s Speech
2011
Best Adapted ScreenplayIt seems like in this category, it isn’t who is going to win the Oscar — it’s who is going to win his second one. Past winners Payne, Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian are all nominated this year. Even George Clooney, who has previously won for his acting, is nomi-nated in this category for his political film The Ides of March. He also stars in The Descendants, which should win. At the beginning of the film none of the characters in his movie are real-ly likable, yet as Payne’s story unfolds, something wonderfully human begins to form, and by the end, it is difficult not to feel for the dysfunctional clan. The Descendants is the definite favor-ite to win in this category, with only Hugo posing a significant challenge.My Pick: The Descendants
Best Original ScreenplayIt is amazing how a film with so little dialogue can be so moving. The Art-ist had far and away the best story this year, and deserves the Oscar. Hazanavicius managed to tell a story that was compelling, poignant and surprisingly funny without saying a word. What little dialogue is included in the film is pithy and filled with wit. After his Golden Globe win in this cat-egory, Woody Allen is the favorite to win for Midnight in Paris. However, the fact that he shuns awards shows like the Oscars could hurt his chanc-es. It would be a stretch for the other movies to win, but the Iranian film A Separation could be a dark horse for the award. My Pick: The Artist
By Andrew McVeaA&E EDITOR
The sun explodes and fireballs rain from the sky. Dismembered, rotting corpses wander the streets in search of brains. There is one question everyone must be asking himself in preparation for the predicted 2012 apocalypse. What will be playing on the speakers as you witness the last sunset? Here is the rundown of the top ten songs that must be included on your doomsday playl-ist:
1. “Stairway To Heaven” – Led ZeppelinAs cliché as it sounds, “Stairway” is an amazing song. Zeppelin
hasn’t received all the hype its gotten over the years for nothing. Not only is “Stairway” a good apocalypse song, but it’s also fairly easy for
beginning guitarists to play. The soothing back riff by Jimmy Page builds and climaxes with Robert Plant’s squealing vocals. If you haven’t listened to this audio roller coaster yet, check it out.
2. “Imagine” – John LennonIn the event a nuclear war breaks out, “Imagine” would be the ideal song to listen to. “Imagine there’s no heaven/It’s easy if you try/No hell below us/Above us only sky/Imagine all the people living for today/Imagine there’s no countries/It isn’t hard to do/Nothing to kill or die for/And no religion too/Imagine all the people living life in peace.” Even in the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust, these lyrics would be comforting soundtrack to close your eyes to and escape to a better world.
3. “Dirty Harry” – The GorillazThis isn’t the last song you should listen to before you die. This is the scour-ing-barren-wasteland-looking-for-supplies song. The mellow beats are off-set perfectly by the chorus singing quietly in the background about despair and fighting to stay alive. It’s perfect for the struggle for survival everyone will surely be facing.
4. “The Number of the Beast” – Iron MaidenAfter obtaining supplies, there’s sure to be a terribly gory zombie-extermi-nation fight. Now, running through the city, fending off brain-thirsty corps-es, there will be a need for a song that inspires bodaciousness. A number of Maiden songs allow this, but none better than “The Number of the Beast.” When Bruce Dickinson rips into the chorus screaming, “SIX! SIX SIX! The number of the beast!” and Steve Harris pedals a driving beat on his bass, it’s next to impossible not to feel empowered.
5. “Children of the Grave” – Black SabbathNow, after other survivors have been found, we’ll need a song that unites the tribes. “Children of the Grave” tells of revolution with lyrics like “Children of tomorrow live in the tears that fall today/Will the sun rise of tomorrow bring in peace in any way?/Must the world live in the shadow of atomic fear?/Can they win the fight for peace or will they disappear?”
6. “Violet Hill” – ColdplayBad news. A toxic zombie has bitten the love of your life. He/she has only a few hours to live as a human before transforming into part of the legion of the undead. Coldplay’s “Violet Hill” will be the mellow song playing behind your final discussion, with him/her begging you to let go. It’s for your safety, after all. Now you must either listen to your significant other’s command, get infected or watch him die. The lines, “When I’m dead and hit the ground/A love back home, it unfolds/And if you love me, won’t you let me know” will help you through this difficult time in your life.
7. ”Riders on the Storm” – The DoorsMore bad news. This just hasn’t been your day. The tribe’s discovered a trai-tor in your midst, and you have no idea who it is. Who would turn against mankind and join the animated dead? The Doors’s “Riders on the Storm” will lead you into the depths of your mind to find the culprit. Once he’s found, feed him to his precious zombie brethren.
8. “Monkey Gone to Heaven” – The PixiesYou don’t know how to feel anymore. Everyone you’ve ever loved is either mutilated beyond recognition or lusting for your brains. Staring bleakly at the wall, your thoughts linger on the faces of the zombies you’ve ended. These monsters were once human like you. Faintly, in the background, you hear “Monkey Gone to Heaven” by the Pixies. “The creature in the sky/Got sucked in a hole/Now there’s a hole in the sky/And the ground’s not cold/Everything is gonna burn/We’ll all take turns/I’ll get mine, too/This monkey’s gone to heaven” are some of the lyrics that eerily fit the scene at hand. You accept your fate and find a spot on the roof to watch the final scenes of your life.
9. “Violence of the Sun” – Wolfmother“Look into the sky/Never wondered why/The violence of the sun.” The open-ing lyrics of this score, accompanied perfectly by Andrew Stockdale’s beat-ing guitar, match your thoughts. Listlessly, you watch the sun start to burn darker and darker, until it almost blends with the black sky.
10. “Dark Star” – Grateful DeadSuddenly, the world falls into the darkest night, the blackest black imagin-able. You can’t even see your hand in front of your face. It’s cold, freezing. You know if you don’t freeze to death, you’ll starve. You’re going to die. “Dark Star” by the Dead lulls you to sleep as your aching body relaxes to the sooth-ing guitar and harmonies. This dark star that’s going to end your life is also lolling you to sleep.
arts & entertainment February 3, 2011 l 11
2012 DOOMSDAY
By Skylar HarrisSTAFF WRITER
It’s time to dust off the gas masks, restock the fall-out shelter and brush up on our survival skills. With 2012 already here, yet another possible apocalypse is on its way.
After Harold Camping and Y2K, it is understand-able if you would prefer to just ignore 2012, but this possible doomsday is actually much more scientifi-cally plausible than most previous doomsday pre-dictions. The basis for the myth is the fact that 2012 is the end of the 5,000-year Mayan Long Count Cal-endar, one of the first accurate ancient astrological calendars.
The end of the world isn’t actually supposed to happen until Dec. 21, but many 2012 apocalypse be-lievers are preparing themselves for multiple disas-ters throughout the year, culminating on the actual date in December. The first month of apocalypse has been pretty tame so far, but perhaps it will pick up later in the year.
Although the date of the predicted apocalypse is known, the actual catastrophic event that will de-stroy humanity is still unknown to believers. Pos-sible scenarios include a massive solar flare that would fry our atmosphere, an asteroid smashing into the Earth’s surface or a new planet throwing us out of orbit. The most plausible would be a shift in the Earth’s magnetic poles. The scientific communi-ty is not in agreement on what would happen if such an event occurred, but 2012 believers are expecting
lots of death and destruction. Not surprisingly, the 2012 apocalypse has been
widely depicted in the entertainment world. Many of the possible catastrophes have been referenced in pop culture, but the most well-known way for the Earth to perish comes from the movie 2012. In this movie, earthquakes, tsunamis and floods abound. Los Angeles falls into an abyss and somehow Mount Everest is sucked into the ocean. Yet for whatever reason, Africa manages to survive, and all the sur-vivors head there, a ray of hope in an otherwise dis-mal film.
Musically, 2012 has also become a hot topic with songs such as “2012 (It Ain’t the End),” in which Jay Sean and Nicki Minaj rap about partying like it’s the end of the world. Perhaps a safer bet for a doomsday playlist would be the aptly named song “2012” by Gossip, an urban-sounding punk-rock group, and of course R.E.M.’s classic song, “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine).”
With all the rumors and misconceptions sur-rounding 2012, it may be difficult to sift through the ramblings of the crazy believers to find out what is actually plausible. Fortunately, 2012 has its has own website, December2012endofworld.com, which in-cludes tons of background information on the idea, along with links to chat rooms and blogs for people to follow.
Whether you believe it is the end of the world or not, 2012 has become a big deal. Soon all of us will have to deal with its effects, whether the world ends or not.
By Andrew McVeaA&E EDITOR
Orpheum Theater:• Peter Frampton 3/31/12 $86-$349The Sandbox:• The Decatures 2/11/12 $5The Slowdown:• Cursive 3/3/12 $13 in advance, $15 at the
door• G. Love and Special Sauce 3/13/12 $20 in
advance, $25 at the door• Lost In The Trees 3/13/12 $10Sokol Auditorium:• Chevelle 3/14/12 $25 in advance, $25 at the
door
• Testament 2/13/12 $22 in advance, $25 at the door
• Twin Sister 2/15/12 $10• Mayday Parade 2/27/12 $17 in advance,
$18 at the door• Chris Webby 3/1/12 $15 in advance, $18
at the door• Elliott BROOD 3/6/2012 $8 in advance,
$10 at the door• Eisley 3/11/12 $13• Nada Surf 3/30/12 $16 in advance, $18 at
the door
U PC OMING SHO W S
APPROACHES
Doomsday Playlist LISTEN BEFORE
YOU DIE
Graphic by Kate Laing
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Preparing Westside Students
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