march issue 2013

Volume 89 Issue 4, March 1, 2013 1410 NE 66th St. Seattle, WA 98115

The Roosevelt News

Adderall

TAke one every morning wiTh food.

TAke one exTrA before TesT.

how high will you be to succeed?

2 the roosevelt news march 1, 2013

News StaffEditor in Chief

Abby Zieve

Online EditorMitchell Smith

Design EditorWillow Tansel

Managing EditorEmma Parks

Graphics EditorsCole Garry

Sasha Anferov

News EditorsEmma Dunlap

Rhian Lindhjem

Opinion EditorsGalen Caldwell

Mira Fisher

Feature EditorsBea Misher

Ellie Neilson

Sports EditorsJules Puckett

Mitchell Smith

A&E EditorsCarmen Abbe

Tamar Shuhendler

Copy EditorElizabeth Nellams

Staff ReportersAdam Houston

Alex FariasCharlotte HevlyHannah Brown John PetersonJordan WoltjerLisa Colligan

Madeline FoleyMenaka Narayanan

Sarah KoseffSophie Jones

Zoe Ness

IllustratorsAmy Pelz

Anna BaldiDustin McPhillipsEmily Nordberg

PhotographersCaleb Albright

Josie Diether-MartinSophia Mosshart

Vy Nguyen

CoverCole Garry

BackpageSasha Anferov

Web DesignNathan Pierce

AdviserChristina Roux

Mission StatementThe Roosevelt News aims to represent

the diverse student population at Roos-evelt. We strive to provide accurate, fair and unbiased news in order to increase reader awareness of issues apparent to the immediate and global community. We are a student-run publication serving stu-dents, staff, parents and alumni and are an open forum for opinions of all those we serve.

Signed opinion pieces represent the views of the writers and not necessarily those of the Editorial Board. The Roos-evelt News accepts signed letters to the editor. Please submit them to Room 235 or Ms. Roux’s mailbox or by email to [email protected]. The Roosevelt News reserves the right to reject any ad-vertisement deemed unacceptable for publication. The Roosevelt News does not run illegal, hateful, or inappropriate advertisements. If you are interested in placing an ad, call (206) 252-4880.

This monTh in The RoosevelT news:

4 Secrets of the sandwichNumbers in the News

5 Women stand at the frontlinesThe ABC’s of registering for classes

6 Scout’s honor: Boy Scouts discuss honorPowerSchool: teachers struggle with upgrade

7 A sparkle of inspirationWashington proposes eliminating freshmen

news

14Suiting up through the century

15Spring into actionDreams

16 Leveling the playing field The perks of having an imaginary

girlfriend

17The force has been unleashedPredictament: guessing for greatness

spoRTs

18 From struggle comes successMichael Tougias’ new book sails the high

seas

19Perusing Pike Place Max’s thoughts of the month

20 Student voices take a standTaking home the gold: TRN takes on the

Oscars

21 Bringing magic to the mugglesGreekin’ it out at Olympic Pizza and

Pasta

ARTs & enTeRTAinmenT

8Dangers of drone diplomacyPooped out with all the potty talk

9Head banging with BrahmsMightier than the Magna Carta: guy code

10SPS segregationEditorial

11Hollywood doesn’t teach historyTeachers deserve a knight in shining

armor

opinion

12Higher pressure, higher doses Exposing the underground use of prescription drugs among modern teens

host a youth Leader or Teacher from bosnia-herzegovina

April 20-May9, 2013

The Youth Leadership Program wth Bosnia and Herzegovina will bring 21 high school students (ages 15-17) and teachers from Mostar, Jajce, and Bijeljina to Seatlle. Homestay hosts are neded to share local life & culture with members of this very special group. Hosted particpants will engage in leadership programming on the University of Washington campus on weekdays, and will spend most evenings and weekends with their host families.

Learn about a new part of the world and share the city you love with an international visitor!

Apply to be a homestay host at:www.fiuts.org/community/homestay/hostapplication

For more information go to:www.fiuts.org/community/homestay

Contact:[email protected] see Mrs. Magidman in Room 239

3the roosevelt newsmarch 1, 2013

Heard in the Halls

@sagebell_e_z: I’ve always wondered if my dog is popular in the dog community or just like a huge weirdo

@callmemals: I’ve always felt bad letting guys pay for every-thing but then I remember that they don’t have to give birth@annawysen: “@jreavis3hun-na: what you know about death threats? Cause I get a lot” << finally a lyric I can relate to.@hiyA_shi: Real question who can ACTUALLY make their ass clap…?

#tweetsofthemonth

@meganboullin: Just walked past a bus driver who had parked the bus and was casual-ly peeing on someone’s lawn on Latona #okay

ASK ABBY

Dear Abby, Senioritis is begin-

ning to get the best of me. I know I still should still be engaged and still be learning, but it’s so damn hard! Got any tips to keep me in class?

Sincerely,Senior and Slipping

Dear SS,I really don’t think

there’s anything I can say to make you go to class. I guess I’ll just remind you that we do have security camer-as, meaning when you wander the hallways or doing something weird, like light a soap dispenser on fire, peo-ple are watching you. So just stay away from flammables, make a clever comment when you do show up for class and you’ll be fine!

@bencgauld: Has Taylor Swift ever considered that perhaps she is the problem?@kgschendel: did you actually laugh or did you just tweet that you did RT @juliatorgs: Current-ly laughing at the men getting roses at the store right now@samJames23: Sophia was getting ready for bed and such in the bathroom then I walked in and started to pee and she left. Needless to say I won this one.

“This may sound wierd, but I guess I wish I got paid to be a couch potato.”

“Look I got new crocs!”

“Have you seen my brother’s skin recently?”

“What does Nigeria look like?”

“It’s a good thing I wore cute underwear.”

“So I just looked up at her tits, they were just there, staring at me, cause I’m so short.”

“No, dude, 21+9 is definitely 37.”

“I couldn’t even open it with a shopping cart.”“She had toads for ears.”

“‘But dude, you’re white!’ ‘I know I feel really guilty about it!’”

RetRogRade.................................................BReezeBlocks..............................................FaR NeaReR.................................................latch Ft. sam smth.....................................maddeR Red................................................catch & Release..........................................hollywood FoReveR cemeteRy siNgs................speak iN RouNds..........................................BReakeRs....................................................Blue velvet.................................................the Bay......................................................lemoNwoRld................................................attRactiNg Flies..........................................FRee the RoBots..........................................up iN the aiR..............................................wild FiRe Ft. little dRaoN............................deaR FRieNds...............................................1991.........................................................telepoRt 2 me Jamie....................................

................................................James Blake

..........................................................alt-J

......................................................Jamie xx

..................................................disclosuRe

.....................................................yeasayeR

..............................................local Natives

.......................................FatheR JohN misty

................................................gRizzly BeaR

..............................................local Natives

...................................................childhood

..................................................metRoNomy

...............................................the NatioNal

...............................................aluNageoRge

...............................................capital steez

.............................................dumBFouNdead

.....................................................sBtRkt

............................................................sol

..............................................azealia BaNks

.....................................................kid cudi

Songs for spring

“Whose is that yawning on me?”

Dear Abby, I’m a senior girl

and I am soooo stressed out about prom! Like, what am I gonna wear, who is gonna ask me, how much should I spend on make-up, jewelry, shoes and oh my god I need to start tan-ning! I should prob-ably start my turkey cleanse soon too...

Sincerely,“Prom”-a Queen

Dear PQ,I’m not really sure

what I can do for you here. Prom is three months away.

Comments? Questions?

Send a letter to the editor!

Drop by Room 235 during the school week or send an email [email protected]

Your loyal editor-in-chief is here to help you navigate the daily struggles of Rider life.

“Does anyone have a tissue? There’s an almond in my nose and I need to sneeze.”


On February 14 2013, the Roosevelt students’ cher-ished lunchtime location assembled its last deli-

cious bite. After nearly 19 years of serving the Roo-sevelt community, Secret Chef catering business and sandwich shop closed, a grievous moment for students who spent their lunch hour indulging in superlative subs wrapped in yellow paper.

A factor in Secret Chef ’s decision to close was per-sisting difficulties with the building’s landlord. The white, walk-in-shop and the adjacent yellow house are both owned by Tom Dodgson who is, according to the shop’s owner, a close friend to the well-known Roos-evelt neighborhood landlord Hugh Sisley.

Dodgson wants to expand the property. By doing so, he raised the shop’s rent to twice its amount with in-cremental increases over a ten-year lease. By the third year into the lease, this would total $4500. As part of the terms in the original lease, Secret Chef would be ex-pected to manage the property as well as be financially responsible for it. This includes the house on the prop-erty, which remains vacant since the previous tenants were kicked out this past December.

“The landlord seems a bit erratic, unintelligent, grasping for money and land,” the store’s owner Linda Campbell said hesitantly. “He’s asking us to manage this property without any compensation in our rent.”

In the past 19 years of Secret Chef ’s residence, the owners have experienced water-damaged sinking floors, damaged plumbing and electrical appliances, and a con-tinuing list of other structural damages, none of which were repaired by Dodgson.

“We paid about $180 to patch up these holes so rats don’t get in,” said Campbell, pointing to the decrep-it wood walls connecting the back of the store to the

house. “All of the painting we’ve had to do ourselves. He hasn’t painted in 19 years,” she said.

In between the kitchen and the basement, she point-ed to a piece of plywood with a sign reading, “This is a fire break door between the house and deli. Please keep it closed. –Tom.” Campbell commented that, “Not only is this hazardous, it really shows his carelessness for this property. In fact, he gets most of his management ideas from his good friend Hugh Sisley.”

“It’s obviously not a Class A food facility we’d like it to be,” continued Campbell. “[Dodgson] should want to make the biggest and best use out of the space and yet he wants a Class A property without any repairs.”

With the work put in to the location, the shop’s em-ployees have found it increasingly difficult to make a profit. Over the past few years, Secret Chef has had to increase the prices of their sandwiches, drinks, gum, and candy by a third to keep up with the increasing costs of food. “We can’t charge ten dollars for a sandwich,” said Campbell. “Even last year with the increasing costs of lunch meats, we tried to keep the sandwiches below five dollars. This year, our prices have increased by 40 percent.”

In addition, Campbell supported her employees by covering health insurance costs and paying a sustainable amount of $15 an hour. “Our margins are shrinking,” concluded Campbell. “Enough is enough.”

Regardless of its positive reviews as a lunchtime fix-ture and catering company, the shop’s employees saw no interest in continuing business for another ten years. “The timing couldn’t have come better,” said employ-ee Becca Salzman, who frequently ran the cash regis-ter during lunch. “Linda was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and will be using this time off to tackle that.” She continued saying that “I’m starting grad school this

March to receive my teaching degree and I will be con-tinuing coaching track at Blanchet High School. And Stephanie {the store’s third employee} is pregnant.”

Although the shop often struggled with maintaining the property, business was rarely an issue for the shop. Along with their popularity among Roosevelt students, Secret Chef prospered by catering for reputed clients such as Fox News, the University of Washington, and Pacific Northwest Ballet. “Business has been awesome over the past couple years,” explained Salzman. “We’re

thankful that the Roosevelt students appreciated us so much, but it’s for the best we’re closing. We’re just all busy now and moving in our separate paths.”

In regards to the newly vacant property, neither Salzman nor Campbell is sure who will occupy the Se-cret Chef residence in the future. “I don’t know what Dodgson plans to do with the building after we’re gone, considering we’ve been taking care of it,” said Salzman. “It’s possible there could be some sketchy people mov-ing in here, considering our proximity to the Sisley Slums.”

Secrets of the sandwich

$490 million was the projected price needed in order to build the new Sonics arena. The plan includes improvements to Key Arena, which is where the Sonics will play until the new arena is built in the SODO area

south of d o w n -town.

1415 was the last year when a Pope re-signed from the Roman C a t h o l i c C h u r c h . Pope Ben-edict XVI announced on Febru-ary 11 that he was step-ping down, joining the small handful of popes who have resigned.

$125 million was estimated as Lance Arm-strong’s current net worth. After admitting to doping, Armstrong lost all of his major endorse-ments including Nike and Oakley. Armstrong p r e d i c t s he’ll lose $75 mil-lion due to the scan-dal in the next few years.

25 students in the Roosevelt Jazz band that qualified for the 2013 na-tional Essentially Elling-ton competition held in New York City.

2021 is the first year Roosevelt students will be able to disem-bark from Sound Tran-sit’s Roosevelt Station. South Transit expects four thousand people to use the station every day.

Numbers in the News JoRdAn wolTJeRsTAff RepoRTeR

After 19 years, Secret Chef closes amid changing rent demandssARAh Koseff

sTAff RepoRTeR

An outside view of Secret Chef. The sign will be taken down when it is decided what will be done with the building.

A rathole inside the shop that had been covered by the store owner, Linda Campbell.

The back door of the Secret Chef building with a step latter up against it.

The landlord seems a bit errat-ic, unintelligent, grasping for mon-ey and land ”

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NEWS


Women stand at the frontlinesA new era of recognition begins for women in the armed forces

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta recently lifted the official ban on women in combative roles in the

United States Military. This decision will affect Roos-evelt students, male and female, who plan on joining the military. This action overturns a 1994 pentagon rule that restricted women from artillery, armor, infantry, and other combat roles.

Despite the ban, 800 of the hundreds of thousands of women who have been deployed were wounded and more than 150 died in Iraq and Afghanistan. “They were on the front line, they were serving in coed units, they were in the theater of war but they were not getting the official title of ‘soldier with mission to kill’. But they were going in to theater [areas of warfare], pulling sol-diers out of theater, doing mail service, supply service, maintaining tanks, getting shot at. They were there too,” said Ms. Jermann, Roosevelt teacher and a former member of the Army Reserves. Despite what women have been through, they could not be recognized as being in combat because women were not allowed in combat. This made it difficult for them to be promoted, as combat experience is a major factor in military pro-motions. Many groups support the removal of the ban not because it allows women to stand at the front lines, but because it makes it pos-sible for the military to accept the reality that women are, and have been, serving on the front line.

Panetta’s decision to lift the ban was influenced by civil rights groups as well as military officials. The military’s support was shown in a letter to Panetta on January 9 from General Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Gen. Dempsey wrote that the Armed Service Chiefs were in agreement that “the time has come to rescind the direct combat exclusion rule for women and to eliminate all unnecessary gen-der-based barriers to service.”

Senior A.J. Shropshire, who is heading to officer training at West Point, agrees with the Armed Service Chiefs. “I want to fight to defend the freedoms that we all have,” he said, as he described what caused him to want to join the military. “I don’t think that a woman feeling the same way I do should not be able to fight.”

Before the barriers are completely knocked down, the military is required by the Pentagon to fully evalu-ate the changes that have to occur. The decision to lift

the ban marks the beginning of a process in which the armed forces will gradually eliminate gender inequali-ties. Military branches have been given three years to make plans and decisions regarding which positions women will be allowed to hold. There are currently 237,000 positions closed to women, many of which will be opened during the next three years. The branch-es can also decide the physical standards that women must reach before joining. “The army, the navy, the air force, and the SEALs are being given the ability to set the standard. They can say that if you want to be in combat, if you want to be a female infantry soldier, the standard should be the same between men and wom-en,” said Ms. Jermann.

While this is a step forward for gender equality, some worry that it may upset the some of the safety and stability that the armed forces currently maintains. At this point, it’s unclear whether or not women will be permitted into the Spe-cial Forces or other commando forces. If they are, many are worried that the women couldn’t cope with the physi-cal demand, lack of privacy, hygiene, and the primal living conditions. However, Shropshire said that

the phys-ical de-m a n d s w o u l d not be a problem. “For West Point, the w o m e n as well as the men

have to pass a physical test.” This means that “the correct physical conditions are being met, so women would be just as safe.”

Some say that allowing women a more extensive role in the armed forces may also disturb the camaraderie and brotherhood of the armed forces. However, Ms. Jermann experienced camaraderie in her coed unit. “I had experi-ences in the military where there was no question that my

peers treated me as an absolute equal: fully capable, with the absolute ability to be depended on...they had my back and I had theirs. There was no question and there was true camaraderie in that case.” However, she said that there were some who believed that serving in military was a man’s role. She believes that changing that aspect of military culture should be the next step to successfully integrating women into combative roles. “I think there will be a transition period, but I think it is a lot about… the army taking their time to create the ability to have a culture that receives women,” said Ms. Jermann.

With the ban lifted, the United States armed forc-es will be entering a new era, but this change will not be evident right away. The removal of this ban is only the beginning of a process. Hopefully this process can transform the United States military to benefit future generations.

The ABC’s of registering for classes

While students are still getting used to their second semester schedules, Roosevelt’s academic coun-

selors are already planning for next fall. The distribution of class registration packets and Hands for a Bridge ap-plications are subtle signs of the frenzied planning that began last month. “This is just the first step,” said head counselor Wendy Krakauer, “we don’t finalize schedules until students are gone for the summer.”

When students receive their course registration packets, it’s their responsibility to complete and re-turn them by March first. The more consideration put into the packets, the better, said Krakauer. “We make the master schedule based on what students say they want and that’s why it is really important for students to think carefully because we don’t make many extra sections. We look at what students ask for and then we make that work with what teachers we have in the building.”

Unfortunately, Krakauer can’t guarantee that check-ing the correct boxes will get you your dream schedule. “It’s not a perfect system [...] we can’t individually match students with teachers. There are too many students; its impossible,” she said. Instead, a random computer program assigns as many students as possible to their first choice classes. “We actually go through all of the students in our case load individually” said Krakauer, “and you can help us by reading the directions, paying attention to deadlines, and thinking carefully about the classes you choose.”

Krakauer shared some tips for those intimidated by the registration process: “For next year’s sophomores,

the biggest question is if they should do AP Human Geography and LA10 in a block, or as two separate classes,” said Krakauer. The curriculum is the same ei-ther way, so the choice depends on whether you crave the community atmosphere of a block.

Those entering junior year must choose between AP U.S. History and the standard class. “We want [stu-dents] to challenge themselves, but we also want them to understand that if they sign up for AP and change their mind, there might not be any spots left in the nor-mal class,” warned Krakauer. She also weighed in on the class’ notorious workload, saying, “It’s an AP class, and if you do AP LA as a junior then having AP U.S. History, AP LA, and perhaps an world language is a large ac-ademic course load.” Class of 2015 also has to decide whether to take AP LA or College in the High School next fall, or wait until senior year. “I don’t think there is an advantage either way, it’s up to the student” said Krakauer. Those applying for Hands for a Bridge, however, should sign up for College in the High School or AP LA next year so if they don’t get in, they will have space in their sched-ules senior year to try again.

This year, many students were sur-prised by the early release of Hands for a Bridge applications. “This year, we had no mid-winter break, so [Hands for a Bridge] moved our travel dates to April and that means that when we get back there would be no time to have students apply, so we had to move the application date up,” explained HFB

teacher, Ms. Macdonald. Those looking forward to their last year at Roosevelt

shouldn’t check out early, said Krakauer. “Understand that colleges expect you to continue to challenge your-self to not only get into college, but also be ready for college.” She recommends continuing with math, sci-ence, or both, and to stave off senioritis.

In times of stress, confusion, or planning for the future, students should remember their friends in the counseling office are eager to help. “We are more than happy for students to come in and ask any question, no matter how silly they think it is,” insists Krakauer.

“We really appreciate it when students try to make sure they are on top of things [...] we want to answer your questions!” It is never too early to get help planning your high school career and what lies beyond, and Roosevelt’s academic counselors are a great resource.

ChARloTTe hevlysTAff RepoRTeR

sophie JonessTAff RepoRTeR

I don’t think that a woman feeling the same way I do should not be able to fight”

”

NEWS


Scout’s honorBoy Scouts discuss equality

In 1909, Chicago publisher William Boyce was inspired by a British Boy

Scout’s act of humility, and founded the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) in 1910.The ban on homosexuality among The Boy Scouts of America was upheld by the Supreme Court as part of free speech in 2000. Now, thirteen years later, the BSA is rethinking their position on the ban. The decision to lift or keep the ban will be decided in May. Some want to preserve the ban as a part of preserving the history of the BSA. However, some think it’s time for a change. “Gay peo-ple can coach boys’ sports teams, so it’s the same thing. It doesn’t matter be-cause they’re not going to have sexual relations. I feel like they ban [gay Boy Scouts] because of ‘sexual tension’,” Boy Scout of Troop 166 and senior Tommy Colligan comments. Colligan disapproves of the prohibition. “You can restrain yourself in school, and you can restrain yourself in Boy Scouts,” Colligan adds. “The ban was made in an era where homosexuality was not accept-ed and right now the times are a changin’ and homosexuality is more accepted.” However, tradition still runs strong. When they reach the applicable age, male members of the Mormon Church are automatically enrolled in Boy Scouts. Thus members of the Mormon Church represent 15 percent of all Boy Scouts, influencing the BSA. The Church of Je-sus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) has sponsored the BSA since 1913. The LDS disapproves of homosexuality. With the heavy influence of the churches on the BSA, advocates for the lifting of the ban are having a hard time putting it through. The subject of morals, an extremely tender thought, plays a large role in this controversy. Part of the Scout Oath is to keep morally straight. But what is ‘morally straight’? Condemnation of ho-

mosexuality lies among Mormon mor-als. Many Boy Scout members share the same moral perspective, but others think differently. Boy Scout of Troop 166 and freshman Sam Skalbania think that, “it’s unfair that they’re not treating ev-erybody equally...and they’re not really doing it for a reason.” If the ban was lift-ed, Skalbania anticipates no noticeable change in his troop. “[The ban] is part of freedom of the as-sociation,” states Boy Scout and senior Regan Klepac. “If people argue that they can’t get the same leadership that Boy Scouts offers for them, well, that’s not necessarily true.” Adventure Scouts,

created by the BSA, is a coed and non-discrimi-natory group. This pro-gram is open to all youth who love to venture. The few differences between Adventure Scouts and Boy Scouts reside mainly in uniform, ranks, gen-der, and age. Although the ban has freedom of speech, Troop 166 Scout-master Bill Montgomery

believes that, “the ban is unnecessary and harmful to the organization because it portrays [Boy Scouts] as discriminatory.” If the ban were to be lifted, he thinks, “it may help in recruiting new members because parents would not have to keep their boys out of Scouting to protest against the ban.” In 54 years of being in Scoutmaster (two years in Troop 13 in Walla Walla and the rest in Troop 166 in Seattle), Montgomery has never seen the issue as prevalent as today.With religion out of the picture, some may see that the Mormons have a valid point. Boy Scout and senior Hank Re-imers brings to attention that, “it’s not that they’re against gay people;its that it’s a private organization. They kind of have the right to do what they want.”

lisA ColligAn

stAff rePorter

At the start of the new semester, Se-attle Public Schools made changes

to the online resources used by students and teachers, adjusting the way teachers input their students’ grades and how stu-dents view them. The system is called, “PowerSchool.” PowerSchool is currently the fastest growing online resource and allows for students to access grades and information for their classes. The system is used in all 50 states in the U.S and over 65 countries across the globe.

The switch was proposed because many Seattle Public Schools officials be-lieved the current system was outdated. These officials moved to fund the new program and the Board approved their motion to purchase the software. In or-der to cover installation, training, and the cost of the pro-gram itself, the Se-attle School District paid over half a mil-lion dollars toward its activation. Al-though PowerSchool representatives did not wish to comment to TRN on their pro-gram, students and teachers at Roosevelt have strong opinions on the new soft-ware.

PowerSchool has a new grading sys-tem for teachers, called “PowerTeacher.” It aims to create a more efficient way to input student scores but, for Latin and Language Arts teacher Nora MacDonald, the new grading system is a hassle in her classroom. “It’s a poor solution because they didn’t ask for the teachers input be-fore it was created,” she said, “and most of these things are created by people who haven’t taught for 35 or 40 years.” Mac-Donald says it has significantly slowed her ability to input students’ points and has been an inconvenience to her while

trying to run her class. The changes on the new Source page

have been a tough adaptation for many students at Roosevelt. The new Source does not include a “class page” for the students’ courses where as the old Source included one for each class. Any infor-mation about assignments, upcoming reminders, or any documents or Power-Points are now only located on “Fusion,” a separate website. “I think two websites make it way more confusing,” said soph-omore Abby Merritt. The switch had been not only confusing, but is a diffi-cult adjustment for many students. “It’s frustrating having to go back and forth between the websites. The class page should be right next to the class grades. That would be way more convenient for students,” agreed sophomore Sophie Klein. The separation of class informa-tion and grades is perceived to add an un-necessary and inconvenient step in most

students’ processes to re-trieving information.

The PowerSchool sys-tem is a currently con-troversial change in the Seattle School District. Some may argue the

PowerSchool system will be a help in the long term, and that it

is a modernized resource that will allow teachers and students to access information and upload informa-tion more efficiently. Others may say it is not aiding the education of students nor helping teachers aid the education of stu-dents. Whether the system is favorable or not, it has parents, staff, and students wondering if the switch is beneficial. So are those opposed just unaccustomed to the new software, or is the new software unable to provide the level of support that our schools need?

Alex fAriAs

stAff rePorter

PowerSchoolTeachers struggle with upgrade

The ban is unnec-essary and harmful to the organization because it portrays [BoyScouts] as dis-criminatory”

”

Social Studies teacher, Karen Grace works on her grades in the new grading system as part of the new PowerSchool called Power-Teacher. There have been many reactions to the new system and all the teachers have been through training to learn how to use the new system.

It’s a poor solu-tion because they didn’t ask for the teacher’s input be-fore it was created”

”

Photo by J. Diether-MArtin

NEWS


A sparkle of inspiration Juniors Torgerson and Benson create business that turns a profit

J&H Hair Accessories is an up and coming business in Seattle. A business that started right here at Roo-

sevelt.It all began at a fire drill. Junior Julia Torgerson ob-

served her surroundings and came across something she liked. Across the Roosevelt field she noticed a fancy hair tie supporting some unknown persons hair. Junior Hannah Benson happened to be standing by as Torger-son made a casual comment about it. This subtle ob-servation of fashion sparked conversation between the two girls.

As it turned out, Benson had been thinking about making hair ties for some time. The girls put two and two together and thus J&H Hair Accessories was born.

To begin the process, Torgerson and Benson browsed the Internet and found a website where they could or-der elastic in different colors and sizes. However, mak-ing the final product wasn’t that simple. On December 7 2012, the two girls gathered their friends, juniors Myl-

es Goueveia and Sam Black, and they all began to create what would become J&H hair ties.

“We had to cut each tie to a certain length, melt the edges, and tie the ends in a knot,” said Benson, “it prob-ably took about a minute to make each one.”

In the beginning, the hair ties were only sold among friends at Roosevelt, but after they became quite pop-ular it was clear that expansion was necessary. “We de-cided to expand by making different packs, like purple

and gold ties for the huskies, and blue and red for a hale pack,” said Torgerson.

Initially, the hair ties were advertised on Instagram. However, J&H Hair Accessories were displayed at an annual art show, where the owner of Swink, a popular hair styling salon with locations in the University Vil-lage and downtown Seattle, happened to be in atten-dance.

Clearly impressed with the two girls work, the owner of Swink bought a fair amount of the hair ties, and they are now being sold in the store itself. This was the big-

gest step for J&H Hair Accessories, and made it clear to Torgerson and Benson that they should continue to sell the hair ties, and even acquire a business license.

“I think the best part was learning to work with oth-er people,” said Torgerson, “Hannah and I are a dynam-ic duo. It was a partnership. It was all just really fun.”

Benson also commented, “it was all a new experi-ence. I learned how to work with finances. Also, Torg-erson and I are both pretty OCD so it worked out well. We became much closer through the process of making the business.”

Torgerson and Benson plan to progress J&H Hair Accessories into a larger business, and they may even use this experience to form a senior project.

Look out for J&H hair ties, and remember, behind every product there is a story.

MAx rose

stAff rePorter

Washington proposes eliminating freshmen

Borne through the wave of political correctness that has swept through the 21st century, gender neutral

pronouns are about to make their way into state legisla-tion. With the interest of being more respectful, accept-ing and professional, words such as, “longshoreman”, “manhole”, and “freshman” are in the process of being of-ficially changed to, “longshore worker”, “utility hole” and “first-year student” respectively.

These changes have been explained as both adjust-ments to acknowledge the presence of women in high places, and also to better expand vocabulary to include people who identify as neither female nor male. As part of

this endeavor, the Washington State Code is currently be-ing scrutinized line by line for masculine pronouns, which will be changed to be gender neutral. For example, “he” becomes “he or she,” “him” becomes “him or her,” “his” becomes “his or hers.” This project, led by Kyle Thies-sen, must also find new words for traditionally male pro-nouns including “chairman” and “penmanship” changed to “chairperson” and “handwriting”, respectively.

“I don’t think this is merely a case of political correct-ness,” said Women’s Literature teacher Cora Mackoff. “This is a very honest attempt to legitimize and perpet-uate gender neutral language. Language affects culture. When the powers that be make an attempt to change something like this that has been so traditionally not that way, I think it’s a metaphor for change...When language changes, it becomes part of the fabric of our communica-

tion.” Mackoff’s curriculum deals with the true meanings of the terms “sex,” “gender,” and “stereotype,” discussing the power that words have to shape society.

The trend of gender-neutrality first surfaced in the 1980’s, and has since been addressed by more than thir-ty states, Florida being among the first with a completly revised state manual finished in the 1990’s. Also among these states are some the country’s oldest and youngest states, New York and Hawaii, both of which have amend-ed their constitutions to include gender neutrality.

Bill 5077, the fifth of the gender neutrality bills to reach Olympia (following the 2011 bill which passed 76-21 and the 2012 bill which passed 66-32), is a 500-page behe-moth, which was brought to Senate on Monday, February 18.

Zoe ness

stAff rePorter

Juniors Hannah Benson and Julia Torg-erson started a hairtie business after having inspiration during a fire drill.

The girls originally started selling hairties to their friends around school; however the ties took off and the girls realized that expansion would be necessary.

After the girls’ hairties were shown at an annual art show, the owner of popular hair salon, Swink, started selling them in the store.

Pho

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NEWS


Dangers of drone diplomacy We are now the leaders of drone use...but what else do we know?

Being a girl, the inside of the boys’ bathroom will forever remain a mystery to me. All I can imagine

is that they’re dirtier and somehow more of a fire haz-ard. However, what I know for certain is that school bathrooms--whether it’s the boys’ or girls’--are claus-trophobic places of germs and odor. This seems like a fact of life, which is why I have such a hard time understanding how the bathroom manages to draw huge groups of girls. Many occasions call for it: when they need to blankly stare at themselves in the mirror, avoid being called on in class, perfect their hair and makeup, gossip, laugh, cry, and on the rare occasion, actually use the toilet. While this is understandable, I wish students would learn that just because the bathroom provides an escape does not mean they can completely disregard all common sense and consider-ation of others.

For example, please don’t continue to stare at your-self in the mirror while someone is patiently waiting to wash her hands behind you. This is rude, com-pletely unnecessary, and creates awkward eye contact in the mirror. Let me be the one to assure that you probably look fine. And hey, even if you don’t, no one really cares. In a week no one will remember that one day that your hair wasn’t parted perfectly. Instead of continuously staring at your reflection while nothing changes, let the waiting person do the productive act of hand washing so they can quickly go back to class. You can keep observing your facial features from ev-ery possible angle once they leave. Or, if you’re in a rush, just sneak a quick glance at a trophy case en

route to your next class. This is a classic move practiced every type of Roosevelt female.

Another annoying girl habit I have noticed is the need to take bathroom trips in large groups, resulting in a lack of space for everyone else. Again, being considerate of others won’t hurt you much, but it relieves the frustration that occurs every time someone opens the door of the bathroom to find that they have to push through people in order to get to a stall. If you aren’t using the restroom, try waiting for your friend outside.

Any scolding of bad bathroom habits would be incomplete without mention of grafitti. Honestly, no one should ever have to tell you not to scribble profanities on the stall door in silver sharpie, yet here I go. What do you gain by writing on the walls of the stalls? Maybe an-other girl will later write a faint response with her pencil, but by the end of the week you can rely on the fact that the janitorial staff will have painted over it.

It seems like all of the issues in the bathroom relate back to one thing: female insecurities. We are too insecure to walk the halls without full knowledge of what our hair looks like, and too insecure to go to the bathroom without an entourage of friends to accompany us. But these insecurities won’t make us any prettier. It’s fine to worry about appearances, but it doesn’t con-stitute a disregard of others.

So ladies, just use your common sense. Strive to see the big picture; be considerate, be re-spectful, and don’t ever leave your hair in the drain of the sink.

ChArlotte heVly

stAff rePorter

When I say “armed military drone,” what comes to mind? If you are imagining R2D2, Pixar’s Wall-e,

or anything from Star Trek, stop. You’ve got it wrong. Drones are remotely piloted aircraft of many shapes,

sizes and capabilities, but the US primarily uses them as armed predators. These winged killing machines, graceful at first sight, are 30 foot-long paper cranes laden with malignant missiles.Our military has used unmanned aircraft since 2001, and yet many Americans are still misinformed about their true nature. As a nation we are becoming increasingly removed from all of our foreign con-flicts, but today, drones threatens to isolate us from the battlefield alto-gether. Drones save American sol-diers’ lives and cost significantly less than manned operations, but their questionable accuracy, legality, and bur-geoning civilian death toll has sparked controversy.

According to the Bureau of Investi-gative Journalism, drones in Pakistan have killed as many as 3,468 people, and in Yemen, 1,112. Innocents in the area live in constant fear of indiscriminate attacks piloted by US operators stationed hundreds of miles away. These drone attacks, of which many Americans are blissfully unaware, are quickly becoming the face of US

foreign policy. Pilots control drones by remote, absolutely safe

from the violence they perpetrate. To a soldier on the ground, the reality of civilian death is striking, but to a drone operator, the destruction is oceans away. This desensitization is common in the US military; new re-cruits play violent video games as a part basic training.

However, encouraging mindless killing among our troops has consequences, especially when combined with remote, mechanized killing machines. Drone pi-lots are physically and mentally removed from the real-ity of death, a dangerous combination.

Recently, controversy has arisen over a list, com-piled secretly by the government, of overseas Ameri-can citizens who pose a “significant terrorist threat.” The document authorizes the remote killing, without trial, of American citizens abroad linked to terrorism. No matter how suspicious they may be, US citizens are constitutionally guaranteed the right to a fair trial be-fore punishment. How can a country founded on the concept of “innocent until proven guilty” justify the assassination of its citizens without trial? If we allow the secret killing of suspected terrorists, where do we draw the line? Could drones be used to silence violent protestors, troublesome activists and other threats to authority? This apocalyptic future may soon be

the reality for enemies to the Commu-nist Chinese regime. In 2010, China unveiled 25 missile-firing drones that could potentially be used to silence dissidents seeking protection over-seas.

In the aftermath of WWII, world leaders at the Ge-neva Convention set standards for the use of emerg-ing biological and atomic weapon technology. Today, drones are as revolutionary as the killing machines that debuted in WWII, so why haven’t we established any rules?

The United States, which monopolized the technol-ogy a decade ago, never self-policed the program, and no other military power has made an attempt to impose rules. If American drones can fly freely over Pakistan and Yemen and attack civilian areas without warning, then other countries can legitimize doing the same to us. We, as Americans, as a military world power, and as pioneers of modern warfare, need to take responsi-bility for our past actions and prevent future atrocities by implementing a clear legal framework that respects innocent lives, sovereignty, and privacy.

Perhaps unmanned drones can replace Americans in combat just as pistols eclipsed cutlasses. Indeed, drones keep our troops out of harm’s way, but we must ensure that the tally of American lives saved isn’t eclipsed by a rising civilian death toll. I support decreased fatalities in the military, but I can’t condone risking entire inno-cent communities to keep soldiers off the battlefield. In order to protect innocents, drones must evolve to accurately target specific individuals rather than to dec-imate large areas.

Unmanned combat has the potential to save lives and slash military spending. However, if we do not im-plement clear rules, our newfound military capabilities will backfire. It doesn’t matter who’s pushing the but-tons; without the proper regulation, drones are impre-cise killing machines. As a world power and the innova-

tor of drone technology, it is our responsibility to set an example for other countries and implement long

overdue regulations on unmanned aircraft.

soPhie Jones

stAff rePorter

I’m pooped out with all the potty talk

OPINION


Mosh pits, head banging, wild fans belting out the chorus, raucous socialization…Vivaldi? Oh yes,

oh yes indeed. Elvis Presley may have been the king of rock n’ roll, but classical music invented the rock star.

Going back to Bach--back before iTunes and GarageBand, before CD burners, before mix tapes, before vinyl--marked the real Golden Age of music.

Nowadays, classical music is now consid-ered wrapped in a package of stuffy and snooty elitism. As we all know, the mere word “opera” brings images of old bejeweled millionaires spend-ing endless hours in suffocating clothes at the the-ater. Kids would rather munch on rusty nails than spend a night at the symphony, and ain’t it a damn shame.

When I listen to classical music, I feel like I am listening in on a conversation between Earth and Heaven. Artists now write for exes and tractors and hair. Artists then wrote for angels, and had wild concerts, too.

The stiff-collared, formal affairs of today are a far cry from operas of the 1700’s, 1800’s and even early 1900’s. People went to each show five or six times, and would join in the chorus just the way we do today at rock con-certs. They were social events, not black tie events, and the audience’s contribution to the overall atmo-sphere was considered an integral part of this musical culture.

Nowadays, nobody seems to un-derstand how incredible this music is. Just considering that what was written over three hundred years ago remains relevant in movies and on

the radio should be enough to amaze. Not to mention the fact that these composers wrote out all those notes by hand, using quill and ink. They didn’t have com-puters to create and play their music for them. Rath-er, there were brilliant sight-readers who could learn a piece of dizzyingly difficult music within hours, along with amazingly improvising on the spot. These music men had enough mathematical genius to rival Einstein and enough passion to put Michelangelo to shame.

When someone listens to the radio and hums along to the chorus, they don’t think about the thousands of sound waves that are vibrating through their speakers at exactly the right frequency to make that harmony. They don’t think about the fact that there is a loga-rithm which can describe the exact difference in fre-quency between the notes to the ten-thousandth place, and which mathematically proves that the interval is consonant or dissonant. This marriage of left and right brain--of creativity and practicality--was a beautiful necessity for classical music and its creators. This use could be the greatest contrast between the music of then and now.

This music has shaped human society, and will con-tinue to be persevered throughout the ages long after we’ve forgotten about uncreative One Direction or Katy Perry. These musical masters deserve it; the first kings of rock will forever be unbeaten.

Songs to Make You a Classical Fanatic

The Four Seasons - Vivaldi

Ride of the Valkyries - Wagner

Peer Gynt Suites - Grieg

William Tell Overture - Rossini

The Girl with the Flaxen Hair - Debussy

Carnival of the Animals - Camille Saint-Saens

Peter and the Wolf - Prokofiev

Academic Festival Overture - Brahms

Piano Concerto No. 17 (Allegro) - Mozart

Idylle - Chabrier

Arabesque No. 1 - Debussy

Over the course of history, the greatest of men have pains-takingly constructed a sacred constitution outlining

what exactly defines a man. Mystical in its wisdom and pow-erful in its prose, this document has been devotedly followed for centuries. In order to consider one’s self a true man, it is im-perative that this tradition be followed. Here is the scripture in its original state:

1Thou shalt not discuss the Guy Code in front of womenfolk

2Thou shalt not stare another man in the eyes whilst eating a banana

3Thou shalt not dance with another man unless doing the Dougie

4Thou shalt never scuff another man’s shoes

5 Thou shalt poop at least once a day, preferably at 1:54 pm

6Thou shalt never use a urinal adjacent to another man

7When sharing a bed with another man, thou must be separated at all times, preferably by sleeping bags

8While in locker rooms, eyes must remain abovenipple level

9 Thou shalt never cause petty drama similar to that of our

women

10Thou shalt always solve problems with violence

11 Thou shalt only play with dogs, because as we all

know, dog is man’s best friend.

12Thou shall not compliment an-other man’s mother on her looks

13Thou shalt never have more than two pierc

ings

14Thou shalt never hold in one’s farts

unless in the presence of a fine female

Head banging with BrahmsIn a modern world of phony one-hit wonders, classical music lives on

Mightier than the Magna Carta: guy code

Zoe ness

stAff rePorter

Dustin MCPhilliPs

stAff illustrAtor

OPINION


The student body of Roosevelt High School has fallen out of touch with its rights.

We attend a wealthy and liberal high school where freedom of student speech is seldom an issue of conflict. Given our relatively comfortable school setting, one could argued that a reestablishment of our student rights is unnecessary. Therein lies the problem: our submissive adaptation to teacher-student hierarchy has somewhat obscured the awareness of our capabilities. The assumption that everything is running smoothly is exactly what’s preventing us from exercising our rights, and worse still, may end up convincing us that we don’t even have them.

Of course, we cannot forget that Roosevelt joined the massive student Occupy protests of the Walkout last fall. This showed some progress, but soon after, the whole affair proved itself incapable of maintaining much significance; the quickly passing storm of inspiration acted more as a fad than anything else.

What should be recognized in light of that chaotic time is that such student expression (granted, on a smaller scale) should be seen in schools daily. It’s an essential aspect of learning—the doubting and debating of information given to us. As students we shouldn’t need the motivation of three other high schools or the prospect of making it onto King 5 News to be the drivers of our own vocal integrity.

When it comes to being outspoken over controversial school-board issues, the Roosevelt culture as a whole is just plain meek. Maybe it’s because overall, we haven’t had much to complain about at this school. However, staying submissive is riskier than one may think, even though we may consider the present a stable time, unfit for rebellion. What will we do when legitimate issues unexpectedly arise?

Like educating and preparing ourselves for an overdue earthquake, we students need to prepare to fight when an issue actually arises. It’s time we clarify the rights that have been ours since the first day of Kindergarten.

The majority of us don’t know the Seattle Public School’s thick packet of “Student Rights and Responsibilities” exists. After the clear and undisputed rights such as freedom of religion and freedom from

discrimination come the ones with slightly fuzzier meanings. Read your rights for yourself:

The 1988 Supreme Court case Hazelwood vs. Kuhlmeier gave students broad rights, only limiting them when they work against a school’s “basic educational mission.” Educate yourself by speaking out productively, and you are completely protected against a school crackdown.

Politics within the school’s walls are eternal. Students are the ones that are expected to thrive in school systems, so we deserve a say in the operation of schools. Unfortunately, we rarely act as if this were the case. Students prefer to act the victim instead of taking action. These are fundamental rights that have been fought for by students of the past. We have been tossed the ball of power only to stumble and fall in our pitiful attempt to catch it.

As high school students, we complain endlessly as if we had no power to do anything about our problems. But we do. Next time you grumble about the disappearance of AP Euro talk a teacher about it or start a petition. If you feel like the school policy on drugs causes a battle between security and students, then start a realistic conversation about solutions. These issues matter to us more than anyone else; if we don’t exercise our right to raise our point of view on these issues, no one will do it for us.

It has been said that those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it. Apparently the Seattle

School Board needs a history lesson. Based on our new school assignment plan, it is clear that they have set our school district on a path that is leading us to widespread racial segregation.

In 1896, the Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that segregating schools was constitutional, as long as all schools were made to be “separate but equal” in their educational opportunities.

As one might expect, schools ended up quite separate, but certainly not equal. African American students suffered in crowded schoolhouses with few teachers or textbooks and no funding to improve the school. Schools for whites were better funded, had more resources, and were able to ensure a good education.

However, in the landmark court decision Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court ruled in 1954 that segregation of the public school system was unconstitutional, overturning Plessy v. Ferguson.

In their unanimous decision, the justices stated, “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” Following this decision schools across the United States were integrated. In Seattle, however, it seems that the school board has forgotten the outcry against segregation.

In 2009, a new student assignment plan was created in order to send students to neighborhood schools. The goal was to “provide every student with access to a quality education that supports enhanced achievement for all students, including elimination of the achievement gap.” The board hoped to build community in neighborhoods, reduce transportation costs, and foster diversity. All of these goals are admirable, but the school district’s implementation of the plan has not achieved them, especially the last goal.

Look at the statistics: Roosevelt is 62 percent white. Ballard is 67 percent white. Nathan Hale is 56 percent white. On the other hand, Rainier Beach is only five percent white, 56 percent black, 25 percent Asian/Pacific-Islander, and 12 percent Hispanic.

The statistics are even more shocking at elementary schools: Bailey Gatzert Elementary is 97 percent ethnic minority and three percent white. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary has the same statistics. It appears from this data that although Seattle schools are not completely segregated, they are approaching it.

This school segregation results from the spatial separation of the different races into different neighborhoods of Seattle, which was put in place by discriminatory real estate practices known as redlining. In the 1960s, real estate often came with a “housing covenant,” many of which forbade African Americans from purchasing the property. Although it will take a huge shift in economic circumstances to desegregate the neighborhoods of the city, it is possible to desegregate our schools.

In 1978, the school board implemented a plan to bus students to schools outside their neighborhood in order to increase racial diversity. Within three years, all schools except for Cleveland had met the diversity benchmarks set by the school board. However, the plan was abandoned because it did not improve academic performance, and many of the schools remained internally segregated within classroom, activities, and academic programs.

According to Mr. Nolet, one of Roosevelt’s Hands for a Bridge teachers, this is exactly what must be avoided.

“Public schools are teaching us about our

democratic public,” he said. “They are our introduction to citizenship.”

He believes that racial diversity in the classroom is one of the most important factors to getting a good education. School isn’t just about studying a rigorous curriculum; it also entails learning how to interact with people whom you may perceive as different from yourself.

“When we grow up, we have to make decisions that need sophistication in human relationships,” said Mr. Nolet. As our schools are becoming increasingly segregated, it will become nearly impossible to interact with a diverse group of people. Removing such a key element of education will almost certainly have detrimental effects on society.

Despite the segregation, the Seattle School District does have some admirable programs. In general, schools with low-income student populations receive the most funding, while wealthier schools receive less funding.

This system is different from some school districts, where school funding is derived partly or wholly from the local property tax. This results in shocking funding disparities, where extremely wealthy neighborhoods with high property values have the best-funded schools, and poor neighborhoods have to make do with the bare minimum, even with a high property tax.

Educational activist Jonathan Kozol describes this system as a “persistent betrayal of the whole idea of equal opportunity in America. It’s a betrayal of democracy.”

Although Seattle does not fund its schools this way, there is obviously a link between poverty and academic success, and segregated schools have higher percentages of low-income students.

For example, at Bailey Gatzert Elementary, the student body is 97 percent ethnic minority and 92 percent of students are on free or reduced lunch. The school was also below district average on the state reading and math tests.

However, these students are obviously not educationally deficient: fourth graders at Bailey Gatzert exceeded the district average on the state writing test by seven percentage points.

The problem with segregating by neighborhood is that it often ends up segregating schools economically as well. A school composed of low-income students is a school composed of students who may lack resources or parental involvement at home, which are key components to getting a good education.

It will take time to desegregate our city, but we can start by desegregating our schools. Although busing may not be the answer to increasing racial diversity, the new student assignment plan is certainly not helping, and must be changed. The American public education system is the foundation of our democracy, and if segregation threatens it, we may as well have reverted to the era when your skin color decided if you could use a water fountain.

SPS SegregationAssignment plan has grave repercussions

eDitoriAl

trn eDitors

ADAM houston

ConCerneD WAsP

Our rightsAn end to helplessness blues

Seattle School District Diversity

DiverseSomewhat diverseNot diverseVirtually segregated

“Students have the right to FREEDOM OF SPEECH and may express their personal opinions. That freedom does not allow personal attacks, swearing, threats of violence, or interference with other people’s rights to express themselves.

• Students have the RIGHT TO ASSEMBLE peaceably. Any such gathering that interferes with the operation of the school or classroom is inappropriate and prohibited.

• Students have the RIGHT TO PETITION appropriate school authorities when they feel that they have been treated unfairly.

• Students have the right to FREEDOM OF THE PRESS and may express their personal opinions in writing. They must take full responsibility for the content of their publications by identifying themselves as authors or editors of the publication. They are not allowed to make personal attacks or publish libelous or obscene material.”

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OPINION


Sometimes I really hate people. Call me cyni-cal, but I really wish some people would just

shut up. Believe me, I’m all for expressing student voice; why else would I have joined newspaper? However, when student voice is blatantly abused to disrespect teachers, it should be silenced.

I understand that teachers are people, too, and people aren’t always going to agree with each other or get along. That’s simply human nature.

We all have our opinions, and it’s only right that we express them sometimes. I haven’t liked ev-ery teacher I’ve ever had, and not all teachers are good teachers. But that doesn’t justify being rude to their face and causing a disruption in the middle of class. You might care if you don’t like someone, but rest assured that no one else does. Your selfish version of “classroom justice” is doing more harm than good.

High school teachers have one of the hardest jobs in the world. They spend their entire day try-ing to put knowledge into the minds of whiny ado-lescents, only to receive dismal pay and long hours of grading papers in return. Can’t we give these poor, brave souls a break? Maybe some of their policies seem unfair, or their class is hard, or they don’t like you, but a year in their class won’t kill you. Learning never killed anyone, except maybe Marie Curie. Does no one ever ask themselves why people become teachers in the first place? 99 per-cent of the time it’s not so they can have a power trip over a room full of teenagers. Most prospec-tive teachers simply want to make a difference in the world.

Sadly, education is one of the most underval-ued things among teenagers in this country. I’m

not trying to be preachy here, but we are incredi-bly privileged to have free schooling. Most of the world doesn’t. So the next time you find yourself saying, “This teacher hates me so they’re failing me,” take a look back and evaluate your classroom experiences: did you spend that class arguing with your teacher instead of listening, or did you make an honest effort to understand what was going on? At least try to appreciate the advantage fate has given you.

Allow your time in high school to be awesome. It really isn’t as bad as some people make it out to be, and holding a grudge against a teacher is surely putting a damper on the whole thing. Oftentimes in life we have to do things we don’t want to, and if high school really isn’t your thing, it’ll be over soon enough. Four years is a tiny portion of your life, and no one wants to look back on their teenage years to realize that they were an insolent pest to their teachers. You’re only making their lives more difficult, and if you have a legitimate problem with something in a class, don’t waste everyone else’s time with it. We all have to be here, so just grit your teeth, get through it, and enjoy the rest of your life.

Hollywood doesn’t teach historyIf you want accurate information, watch a documentary

MenAkA nArAyAnAn

nAiVe MoViegoer

MADDie foley

teAChers Pet

Teachers deserve a knight in shining armor

I love movies. I can describe the pre-movie Regal Cinema roller coaster in my sleep. My free time

doesn’t begin until I have finished reading Entertain-ment Weekly cover to cover. That is why my favorite way of learning about the world is through political movies.

It’s just so convenient - it’s not a documentary (you’ll stay awake while watching it), it almost always has one of your favorite actors in it, and by the end of the movie, the impossible was just made possible - you had an entertaining, even thrilling, history lesson!

I learned about the Holocaust from my favorite teacher, Steven Spielberg, through “Schindler’s List”. “Gandhi” helped me understand India’s fight for free-dom, and “Hotel Rwanda” taught me about the geno-cide in East Africa. This year, the countless political movies released (“Lincoln”, “Argo”, “Game Change”, anyone?) served as fun history lessons to moviegoers across the country, including myself. But as critics dis-sect the factuality of these films, the question must be asked - are political movies accurate enough to be used as teaching tools?

A man quivers on the stone ground with his hands and feet pinned down by guards. The agent ties a dirty cloth around the prisoner’s face. Slowly, ruthlessly, the agent pours water over the cloth. The man gags and

chokes, gasping for the air that will free him from the unbearable drowning sensation. Just as the convict’s eyes widen for one last hopeless look at the world, the agent stops and unties the cloth.

So begins one of the most controversial moments of one of the most controversial political movies of the year – “Zero Dark Thirty”. The scene depicts a CIA agent in his search for Osama bin Laden brutal-ly wheedling information out of a captured al-Qaeda member.

Sitting in the theater, I flinched repeatedly as the detainee was water boarded, verbally abused, kept awake for 96 hours, sexually humiliated, pulled around by a dog leash, and shoved into a television-sized wooden box. It was a shock to see American CIA op-eratives treating a prisoner - no matter how evil his crime - so brutally. In a liberal city like Seattle, it is near impossible to come across someone who would commend torture, even if it led to the whereabouts of the most-wanted man in the world.

No way, was my first thought. Obama banned “en-hanced interrogation techniques”! America stands for rights of prisoners! But, blindly trusting the facts of my political movie, I brushed it aside, thinking that if the movie said torturing led to finding bin Laden, torturing must have led to finding bin Laden.

As soon as the movie ended, I rushed home to val-idate this fact on the Internet and found a war being waged over the factuality of the film. Some patriotic American viewers were outraged, accusing director Kathryn Bigelow of embellishing torture. Others re-futed by pointing out that the movie, even if unpleas-ant, had showed the truth about torture, as it had in-deed been used in the early 2000s.

Nevertheless, one thing I have to admit was that the facts were dramatized. The torture of Ammar in 2003 did not provide the information about bin Lad-en’s courier that led to his death in 2011. After this piece of news, I was left scratching my head and won-

dering - if this wasn’t true, how many of the “facts” stored in my head are actually exaggerated scenes from political movies?

“Zero Dark Thirty” started off with a bold mes-sage, “Based on Firsthand Accounts of Actual Events”. These words were what made people start raising eye-brows and pointing fingers. The makers of the movie have experienced their decisions coming back to bite them a bit. The film received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, but Bigelow was snubbed a nomination for Best Director.

My soft side for filmmakers makes me ask - why would they take the risk of being incorrect? One an-swer is straightforward - there’s only so much you can fit into two and a half hours. From a director’s per-spective, if you want to include torture, you have to weave it into your plot. Controversy can have a silver lining – “Zero Dark Thirty” has raked in millions as people run to theaters to find out what all the debate is about.

And, finally, it’s just a good ol’ movie. The whole point of a movie is to play with the emotions of the viewer. Movies have to be thrilling, appealing, enter-taining, memorable...this is what makes them fun to watch. If filmmakers wanted to prioritize being spot-on accurate, they would have gone into the documen-tary-making business. And honestly, if “Zero Dark Thirty” was a documentary, about five percent of the audiences would have watched it, and 85 percent of those people would have watched it in social studies.

All prejudices aside, the biggest thing “Zero Dark Thirty” taught me is not how Osama bin Laden was killed. It is that you can’t always trust films to be histo-ry teachers. I’m not telling you to avoid political mov-ies - in fact I would tell you the opposite. Go watch “Zero Dark Thirty” and marvel in its 160 minutes of fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat adventure. Just make sure you also stay awake for that documentary in your second period that gives you the real facts.

OPINION


For the millions of people around the world with ADD and ADHD, the drug Adderall is their greatest chance to live unaffected by their disorders. For others, despite the fact that it’s a federal crime to

acquire it without a prescription, ADD or ADHD medication is their shortcut to an easy A. At many high schools and colleges, the pressure to perform academically has led to the increased use

of Adderall and other “focus” drugs. Distributing this addictive stimulant has become a way for some to make quick money.

“It’s a fairly easy business to operate,” said John*, a Seattle high school student, who sold drugs to other high school students for two and a half years.

“Even though the risks are pretty big, it’s not that hard to not get caught. It’s a vast in-crease in the money I’d be making than if I worked a part-time job, and I don’t have to work at all.” Although the buying and sell-ing of focus drugs draws up images of shady,

back-alley transfers, within many high school social settings, Adderall abuse is very common.

So what’s the big appeal? Many students desire an easy way out

of the endless hours of preparing for finals. Some rely on stimulants such as Adderall de-spite the risks, because they believe it’s worth it to enhance their performance on tests such as the SAT or ACT. They assume that with the help of such drugs, there’s no doubt that their scores will be higher, though that is not nec-essarily the case.

High school student Rachel* took her SAT’s twice: once while on focus drugs, and once without. “I actually scored around 200 points higher when I was not on focus drugs,” she said. However, Rachel also said she had a friend who scored 150 points high-er when they took Adderall.

The drug has been nicknamed “Ivy League Crack” because of the measures stu-dents will take to cope with the madness of a stressful school setting.

Those who intend to use Adderall only for their most important tests might still eventually find themselves addicted. Many colleges now have strict rules regarding the use of Adderall because of its potential as an illegal study-aid, and consequences of using the drug for testing in college include academic suspension or expul-sion. As the use of Adderall has become

increasingly popular on college campuses, the consequences have also become greater.The community of students within the Se-

attle area who have taken illegally-acquired Ad-derall for testing has also grown in recent years.“I have sold to around 50 to 75 different people,” said

John, “occasionally at different schools but generally at my high school. I sold to a lot of seniors—when I was younger—and juniors.”

For John, this has always been purely business. A couple of years ago, John was selling Adderall, Vy-vanse, Ritalin, Concerta, and occasionally Vicodin, Oxycontin, and Percocet to students. “I made $300 dollars for 40 pills, which is about the average prescription. But I buy it at half price so it’s about a 50 percent markup.”

“I have used what I’ve sold in the past,” said John, “but not on a day to day basis, like the people I’m selling to.”

A few years ago, John often took Adderall, and “for the ACT and SAT, I used it both times, even though I wasn’t selling at the time.” John said that “there’s a lot of side effects in Adderall; those amphet-amines in particular have a bunch of side effects and I’ve felt all of them. Sometimes you get depressed and other things happen.” He went on to add that depsite the side effects, he still found it to be worth it.

While Adderall has often been abused in academic settings, for those who have been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, Adderall is essential in order for them to focus on their studies. Seattle high school student, Mary*, was diag-nosed with ADHD when she was six years old. She began taking Adder-all but found the effects to be too strong, so she went stopped takin

git until eighth grade. “It helped me a lot. You feel like you should get everything done, you’re like, ‘I should do this, I should do that’—so you do it. You’re a lot more energetic and willing to do your work.” However, even for somebody prescribed stimulants, the effects of the drugs can sometimes be too overwhelming for the body. Mary is prescribed to Vyvanse as well, an amphetamine similar to Adderall. Vyvanse can have similar side effects to Adderall, along with more dangerous side effects such as seizures, severe mood swings, increased aggression, fainting, hallucinations, muscle tremors and slowed thinking. For Mary, Vyvanse was too strong for her body and made her sick. Mary said, “Vyvanse is long-lasting, so it will take two hours to kick in and it lasts all day... With Adderall it will kick in right away and I don’t get sick from it.”

Instead of taking her Vyvanse, she sold it. “I wouldn’t necessarily say I’ve ‘dealt’,” said Mary. Instead, she sold pills for about five dollars per 50 mg, strictly to her friends when they requested it. Like John, Mary said that the weeks of standardized-testing were when most people requested Adderall or Vyvanse.

“I gave it to people when they had a huge thing to do or tests, but I give a lot away for SATs, ACTs and finals week,” said Mary. Rather than considering it a business like John, Mary had sold only to a select group of friends, roughly 15 people.

“I was never diagnosed with ADD or ADHD or depression or anxiety or anything,” John said. He gets the stimulants “through students I know who are prescribed them. I just buy them from someone who has them and doesn’t use them, doesn’t like them. I have a sibling who has friends who are ‘in this [business]’ so it’s not very hard.”

John said he had never went to a psychologist in pursuit of faking ADD or ADHD for a prescription. “I have only known a few people who have gone to the doctors with the purpose of getting prescribed it and gotten prescribed it,” said John. “It’s kind of hard because you have to talk to a psychologist; it’s a sticky situation.”

People may assume they know what ADD or ADHD are, but even psychiatrists find diagnosing the disorders a difficult task. ADHD shows itself in early adolescence as a chemical imbalance in the brain’s dopamine transmitters. ADD is a subtype of ADHD that doesn’t include the hyperactivity and impul-sivity which makes ADHD more easily recognized. The only constant between all people with ADD is a difficulty in focusing. Some of the other symptoms of ADD are similar to those of depression and anxiety, so it’s harder to correctly diagnose.

When considering that a patient may have either ADD or ADHD, psychiatrists will look for common symptoms such as excessive talking, hyperactivity, impulsive behavior, and an inabil-ity to concentrate. Because these symptoms can be faked, some teenagers will act as if they have these behaviors so that they can be diagnosed with ADD and prescribed Adderall. Psychotherapist Ed Mosshart said he thinks that ADD and ADHD are too easily diagnosed.

“There are times that kids are distractible for whatever reason and parents feel this pressure to follow this up even if the diagnosis is undue. I’ve seen kids that are very motivated to get that diagno-sis, not just for testing, but because they like the effect. It’s a drug, and some of these kids are so smart and savvy they can look up the diagnosis on the Internet and tell the doctor what they want to hear. So I think the doctor has to be very careful and get collateral information that supports the diagnosis.”

Adderall is more present in teenage culture than one might think. “As the director of the largest adolescent chemical dependency treatment center on the West Coast for sev-en years, we saw 400 to 500 kids a year. I would say for probably about 25 percent of those kids, their drug of choice was Adder-all,” Mr. Mosshart stated. John has a theory that “in our soci-ety, everybody would have what ADD is technically.” Roosevelt student Myles Gable agreed. “I think ADD and ADHD aren’t real disorders. Every teen gets distracted.”

In a June 2012 New York Times article, a 17-year-old fe-male from Europe submitted her own thoughts on Adderall and ADD, along with many other young adults.

“I go to an international school in Europe,” she wrote, “stimu-lant abuse

hAnnAh broWn AnD soPhiA MosshArt stAff rePorter AnD stAff PhotogrAPher

Tadek duschek, Junior

Berlin, Germany

The RoosevelT News: is

the Pressure to get into

Colleges higher?

Tadek duschek: I think

the huge difference is

just the money, so its a

whole different thing.

TRN: Do you knoW Peo-

Ple in gerMAny Who Are

DiAgnoseD With ADD or ADhD?

TD: I [don’t] know a lot but some. Probably in

my whole school time I have known 5 to 10.

TRN: Do you see PeoPle tAking unPresCribeD

Drugs for sChool?

TD: Just prescribed. [Throughout] my high

school [experience] I never have seen

people take it. I never noticed people taking

drugs for testing.

Q&a wiTh RoosevelT’s exchaNge sTudeNTs

FEATuRE


git until eighth grade. “It helped me a lot. You feel like you should get everything done, you’re like, ‘I should do this, I should do that’—so you do it. You’re a lot more energetic and willing to do your work.” However, even for somebody prescribed stimulants, the effects of the drugs can sometimes be too overwhelming for the body. Mary is prescribed to Vyvanse as well, an amphetamine similar to Adderall. Vyvanse can have similar side effects to Adderall, along with more dangerous side effects such as seizures, severe mood swings, increased aggression, fainting, hallucinations, muscle tremors and slowed thinking. For Mary, Vyvanse was too strong for her body and made her sick. Mary said, “Vyvanse is long-lasting, so it will take two hours to kick in and it lasts all day... With Adderall it will kick in right away and I don’t get sick from it.”

Instead of taking her Vyvanse, she sold it. “I wouldn’t necessarily say I’ve ‘dealt’,” said Mary. Instead, she sold pills for about five dollars per 50 mg, strictly to her friends when they requested it. Like John, Mary said that the weeks of standardized-testing were when most people requested Adderall or Vyvanse.

“I gave it to people when they had a huge thing to do or tests, but I give a lot away for SATs, ACTs and finals week,” said Mary. Rather than considering it a business like John, Mary had sold only to a select group of friends, roughly 15 people.

“I was never diagnosed with ADD or ADHD or depression or anxiety or anything,” John said. He gets the stimulants “through students I know who are prescribed them. I just buy them from someone who has them and doesn’t use them, doesn’t like them. I have a sibling who has friends who are ‘in this [business]’ so it’s not very hard.”

John said he had never went to a psychologist in pursuit of faking ADD or ADHD for a prescription. “I have only known a few people who have gone to the doctors with the purpose of getting prescribed it and gotten prescribed it,” said John. “It’s kind of hard because you have to talk to a psychologist; it’s a sticky situation.”

People may assume they know what ADD or ADHD are, but even psychiatrists find diagnosing the disorders a difficult task. ADHD shows itself in early adolescence as a chemical imbalance in the brain’s dopamine transmitters. ADD is a subtype of ADHD that doesn’t include the hyperactivity and impul-sivity which makes ADHD more easily recognized. The only constant between all people with ADD is a difficulty in focusing. Some of the other symptoms of ADD are similar to those of depression and anxiety, so it’s harder to correctly diagnose.

When considering that a patient may have either ADD or ADHD, psychiatrists will look for common symptoms such as excessive talking, hyperactivity, impulsive behavior, and an inabil-ity to concentrate. Because these symptoms can be faked, some teenagers will act as if they have these behaviors so that they can be diagnosed with ADD and prescribed Adderall. Psychotherapist Ed Mosshart said he thinks that ADD and ADHD are too easily diagnosed.

“There are times that kids are distractible for whatever reason and parents feel this pressure to follow this up even if the diagnosis is undue. I’ve seen kids that are very motivated to get that diagno-sis, not just for testing, but because they like the effect. It’s a drug, and some of these kids are so smart and savvy they can look up the diagnosis on the Internet and tell the doctor what they want to hear. So I think the doctor has to be very careful and get collateral information that supports the diagnosis.”

Adderall is more present in teenage culture than one might think. “As the director of the largest adolescent chemical dependency treatment center on the West Coast for sev-en years, we saw 400 to 500 kids a year. I would say for probably about 25 percent of those kids, their drug of choice was Adder-all,” Mr. Mosshart stated. John has a theory that “in our soci-ety, everybody would have what ADD is technically.” Roosevelt student Myles Gable agreed. “I think ADD and ADHD aren’t real disorders. Every teen gets distracted.”

In a June 2012 New York Times article, a 17-year-old fe-male from Europe submitted her own thoughts on Adderall and ADD, along with many other young adults.

“I go to an international school in Europe,” she wrote, “stimu-lant abuse

in high school is a largely American phenomenon, but I’m beginning to see it here, spreading from international to local schools... Among my friends at public schools here, ADD medication is a joke. If they ever get their hands on stimulants, they just take them to stay up all night dancing.”

Some foreign exchange students have similar thoughts on this. German exchange student Raphael Kuhland said that “school is a bit harder in Germany. [There is] way more pressure there.” He says the stress toward the end of high school is especially heightened. “It’s a big pressure the last two years.” Similar to in the US, Raphael said, “you need a really good GPA to get into university.”

Marion Bieysse, a French exchange student, had similar views. “I’m in a Catholic private school in France so I have school ten hours a day. We don’t have the same schedule every day, and we have way more classes than you guys.”

Even though the academic pressures are just as great, if not greater, in Europe than in America, the illegal use of non-pre-scription drugs has not followed the same trend overseas. In Germany, said junior Luke Hadler, an exchange student at Roosevelt, “People who don’t have ADD don’t take Adderall for tests.”

In America, however, students are following a progression toward using “focus” drugs, in some cases to alleviate pressures brought on by a typical school environment. As a society that emphasizes working hard to achieve, we must ask ourselves if we condone the misuse of these drugs to help pave our way to success.

86%of students polled by TRN know a person who has ADD (Attention Defecit Disorder) or ADHD (Atten-tion Defecit Hyper-activity Disorder).

53%of students polled by TRN* think that using Adder-all, a type of focus medication pre-scribed for ADD, to enhance a student’s performance on tests is considered a way of cheating.

38%of students polled by TRN* know at least one person who has taken un-prescribed Adderall medication for SAT and ACT testing.

10%of students polled by TRN* have used Adderall without a prescription as a performance-en-hancer for studying and testing.

* The Roosevelt News

Photos by C. gArry AnD s. MosshArt

Q&a wiTh RoosevelT’s exchaNge sTudeNTs

marion Bieysse, seniorParis, France

raPhael kuhland, Junior coloGne, Germany

The RoosevelT News: Do stuDents in your Country tAke ADDerAll Without A PresCriPtion?

Raphael kuhlaNd: I have never heard about that drug for the focus. Nobody in Germany does that. TRN: is the Pressure to get into Colleges higher thAn in the uniteD stAtes?

Rk: Yes because we now have 12 years until 13 years so time is short. We have to learn a lot of stuff and we need a really good GPA. [To be a doctor] for example, you need a really good GPA.

TRN: Do stuDents in your Country tAke ADDerAll Without A PresCriPtion? MaRioN Bieyesse:Well in Europe, [students] smoke weed and drink [alcohol] but for [doing] all other kind of drugs, I’m not going to say it doesn’t exist, because that’s not true, but it’s not common. In my high school, I maybe have one or two people who really [experie-ment with] different kinds of drugs.

TRN: is Abusing PresCriPtion Drugs A ProbleM in Colleges?

MB: More likely in colleges, its way more common in colleges but not as common as it is here.

TRN: is the Pressure to get into Colleges higher thAn in the uniteD stAtes? MB: We have exams for all our classes, and your grade is your average of all your

classes. Out of 20 if you have more than 10 you can graduate, but for example the school I want to get in they want me to have at least a 16 out of 20. Its

about 4 to 5 hours of writing for every class.

As the director of the largest adolescent chemical depen-dency treatment center on the West Coast for seven years, we saw 400 to 500 kids a year. I would say for probably about 25% of those kids, their drug of choice was Adderall”

”

* Names changed to protect the identities of the students.

What is Adderall?

illustrAtion by e. neilson AnD s. AnferoV

Adderall is an addictive stimulant, pre-scribed to people with ADHD in order to

calm their hyperactivity and lower impulsivity. It is a combination of amphetamine and dex-

troamphetamine (which is also found in Meth), and both drugs affect the chemicals of the hu-man brain by raising the levels of dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin to an average

level, improving the person’s concentration and therefore increasing their productivity. Yet

when people with normal levels of dopa-mine, norepinephrine, and serotonin

take Adderall, they’re left with an unbalance of these vital chemicals when it wears off, and their brain will no longer maintain that ideal balance by itself.

Since Adderall changes the chemical make-up of people’s brains, it has serious side effects in people of all ages. These side effects are often even more severe in people who take Adderall without having ADD or ADHD. Stimulants con-taining amphetamine are highly addictive, and withdrawal symptoms can be dan-gerous.

FEATuRE


In the 1960’s, the cheer team, then called the Ted-dy Pepsters, was comprised of two groups, the

song leaders and the yell leaders. The song leaders, or the female cheerleaders, wore pleated skirts that went down to the knee. Their tops (either turtle-neck sweaters or looser long sleeved shirts) had a music note on them rather than the Roosevelt lo-gos on uniforms now. With their uniform they wore classic saddle shoes. The boys, or the yell leaders, had much different uniforms than male cheerlead-ers today. Their uniforms were less suited for ath-letics, consisting of saddle shoes, slacks, cardigans or sweater vests, and ties.

At the beginning of the 70’s, the music note

was still the symbol on the uniform, but as the decade passed, it changed to an “R” similar the more square one that appears on Roosevelt uniforms and clothing to-day. Other additions were pins added to the sweaters and the slightly longer socks worn by the song leaders. True to the 70’s, the yell leaders replaced their clas-sic slacks with trendy flared pants.

The cheer uniforms continued to pair their pleated skirts with sweaters. Patches became

more prominent on the sweaters, and they were soon dotted with pins, names, numbers, and school symbols. The yell leaders’ uniforms became more athletic during the 1980’s, a comfortable change from the ties and sweaters they had previously worn. At the end of the decade, the song and yell leaders’ uniforms were more similar, closely resem-bling the cheer uniforms now.

Cheer: During the 1990’s, cheer uniforms made a big

change from the song leaders and yell leaders of the past to the cheer team of the present. The skirts continued to grow shorter and tighter, and the tops became less of sweaters and more athletic.

Suiting up through the centuryCheer and mens’ basketball highlight both uniform and culture changes

The boys’ basketball uniforms in the 1960’s were much smaller and tighter than they are today.

They wore short shorts with belts and short-sleeved jerseys. The shoes were also less advanced. Back then, Chuck Taylor’s, with practically no support were worn in the place of the large basketball shoes worn by players today. With the shoes, they wore the only part of the basketball uniform that has not grown larger over time: the socks. Basketball play-ers in the 60’s wore long socks that protruded far above their Chucks. At this point in time, polyes-ter and nylon were gaining popularity, providing an athletic and movable fabric for the uniforms. The tightness of the uniforms followed the trends of normal clothing in the late 60’s and continued into the 70’s.

A major change in the bas-ketball uniforms from

the 60’s to the 1970’s was the name adorning the front of the jerseys which changed from “Teds” to Riders. Another ma-jor difference was the addition of the girls’ basketball team. As they were just starting out, nat-urally their uniforms were sim-ilar to the boys’ but of worse quality. At the very beginning, their uniforms were were more like t-shirts than jerseys. Devel-opments in the men’s uniforms included longer socks and a switch from short-sleeved to sleeveless jerseys. The unoffi-cial addition to the uniform was the sweatband, needed for holding back their long hair. Towards the end of the 70’s the girls’ uniforms improved greatly, including the addition of collars.

In the 1980’s, the girls’ basketball uniforms improved in quality while the boys’ slowly shifted from the

short shorts and tight tops from past decades to the baggier uniform that the team wears today. Along with the looser uniforms, basketball shoes also grew in size. They were more like basketball shoes today as opposed to the thin, flat-soled Chuck Taylors that were previously worn.

In the 1990’s the entire bas-ketball uniform grew in

size. The shorts got longer and the tops got bigger. This took a large step towards the uniforms that we have today.

It’s strange to imagine Roosevelt teams playing in any uniforms other than the ones they use today. In the 1960’s though, Roosevelt’s

uniforms were drastically different; from the lengths to the type of fabric to the name on the front of the jersey. Looking back makes it easy to see the trends and changes through the decades of Roosevelt history leading up to the uniforms that the student body knows to-day. While the court they played and performed on is the same, the mens’ basketball team the cheer squad looked quite a bit different in 1960 than they do now.

ChArlotte heVly

stAff rePorter

Photos Courtesy of strenuous life

1960’s

1970’s

1960’s

1980’s

1990’s

1980’s

1990’s

Present Day

Senior Julie McConnell sports one of the cheer team’s uniforms. RHS graduate Turner Huletz in a home game last year .

Since the 90’s, the cheer uni-

forms lost some material, and the basketball uniforms gained some mate-rial. The photos on the left and right are fantastic exam-ples of the uniforms Roosevelt students are used to seeing at every basketball game and cheer per-formance.

SPORTS


Spring into actionMany teams plan to improve on lowly last season

DreamsIt’s a miracle, eh?

Boys’ and Girls’ Track and FieldThe 2012 track season was very successful. Al-

though the team lost many seniors the previous year, they ranked 3rd in the Kingco Division. Many athletes competed in Districts and five athletes competed at State. This year, the team is shooting to exceed the expectations set by last year’s ath-letes. They have many promising competitors in all events; like State qualifiers, Will McKinley (shot put and discus) and Hannah Swanson, (800m run) who will help lead the way. “We have a lot of returners that will not only do well for the team’s success, but also help by providing experience and coaching along with our superior coaching staff,” said Senior throwing captain Will Mckinley.Prediction: Finish 2nd in Kingco

Alex fAriAs

stAff rePorter

During the 2012 season, the Roosevelt boys’ soccer team exceeded all expectations. They

ended the season with an impressive 12-4-2 re-cord, and won Roosevelt’s first ever Kingco cham-pionship in soccer. Though the dynamic on the field will be different this year after losing several talented senior contributors from last year, the team is determined to make it’s mark during the 2013 season. “People that come out to games can expect to see lightning fast counter attacks and lots of goals,” said Senior Captain Charlie Spurr, “We’re poised to make another run at Kingco and then hopefully a good run in state.”Prediction: 13W-2L-3T

Boys’ Soccer

The 2012 softball team was described by Se-nior Emily Pellinger as “Inexperienced and

young.” The team had a tough season last year but is optimistic about the upcoming season. They will be doing a lot more practicing and have many new players, along with a new coach. “We are going to have a decent infield and outfield, we’ll just have to work harder than usual be-cause a lot of girls haven’t played before,” noted Pellinger.Prediction: 5W-13L

Softball

Last year the Roosevelt baseball team strug-gled against the other teams in their con-

ference. The team had talent, but lacked or-ganization and failed to deliver against many of the teams in Kingco; arguably the most competitive league in the state. But, this year’s season is looking brighter for the Riders. “We have a new head coach who is dedicated to turning this program around,” said Senior Mitchell Bouldin. The team is set on being much more prepared when they step on to the field this season. “This year, we are much more focused on improving what we were weak on last year, and we have our minds set on win-ning games,” added Bouldin.Prediction: 6W-12L

Baseball

The girls’ golf team had many underclassmen last year, and the young team was unable to beat

many of their Kingco rivals. Although the team lacked success, two of the girls on the team made it to districts last season. This year, girls’ golf will be led by much more experienced players, “Usually we have to start over from the beginning,” said Senior Mitsue Kanai. This year however, many have been putting in work in the off-season, “There are peo-ple who have been practicing throughout the year,” Kanai added.Prediction: 2W-6L

Girls’ Golf

Last year, girls’ tennis fell short on bringing in wins, but Junior Julia Haussmann foresees a much

more successful season. “We are getting some girls who were on varsity teams at their other schools,” she said. The team was very closely bonded last year, and with a chance to be much more competitive, they could be seeing significant improvement. “We might surprise people,” said Haussmann.Prediction: 3W- 5L

Girls’ Tennis

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Junior Claire Teranishi and her team hopes to improve last year’s dissapointing record.

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This is the fourth of six profiles of RHS athletes who are master-ing sports not usually covered by The Roosevelt News and not

supported by Roosevelt High School. This month’s subject, Jesse Lu-bin, has been playing hockey for four years. The trouble is, she prac-tices regularly in Everett and has tournaments in Canada on the weekends. On Saturday and Sunday, the only time Jesse has at her house is to sleep, but this doesn’t get in the way of her love: hockey.

The Roosevelt News: What made you want to start play-ing hockey?Jesse Lubin: I am not really sure what possessed me to want to play hockey. I wasn’t related to someone who played, I didn’t know anyone who played, at the time I didn’t even know there was a national hockey league. It was just always something I wanted to do, but when I saw “Miracle on Ice”, that sealed the deal. TRN: What did you family think originally about hockey?JL: When I first asked my parents to play, their answer was just straight out “no”. Over the years I asked a few more times and the answer was still no. Finally in eighth grade I went up to my mom and said, “hey mom can I ask you a question that I have already asked a lot?” She said, “alright, what’s the question?” At that point I had met two other girls who had played who both strongly encouraged me to do the same. I guess my parents’ major worry was that I would get hurt because of checking, but they eventually found out that I could play on an all girls team where the boys wouldn’t be allowed to check us. The next day I went shopping with my dad for gear. TRN: What do you like about hockey? What makes you keep coming back?JL: I like the strategy, the fast pace and physical aspects of the game but I have to say that the thing I like most about the sport is the people. They are people that I can truly be myself around because they are like family. From my coach-es to my teammates to their parents, I can really feel the love. My teammates are my friends that I (as the captain and their friend) protect as if they were my siblings. My coach protects me like an older brother and my other coach does the same but like an older sister. All of my friends’ parents immediately take responsibility to take care of all girls on the team like their own. Because this is my last year, I know I am really going to miss my hockey family.TRN: Tell us about your development as a hockey player.JL: I really did the whole “I’m going to play hockey” thing backwards. I bought all of the equipment, joined the league, the association, the team, and then decided that it would be a good idea for me to learn how to skate. Ice hockey is two sports; ice skating and playing hockey. Over the summer before my first season I drove to highland ice arena more than the employees did and finally got my knees and ankles from being sideways and started skating away from the wall. I showed up to my first practice to play with girls about 3 years younger than me but ten times as good. My first two years I had no one really telling me all of the technical as-pects of the game, for example that you have edges on your blades to help you turn, bending your knees helps you bal-ance, or how to stop. At this point though, I can finally keep up with the rest of the girlsTRN: What have been some bumps in the road? JL: At the last practice of my first season a friend of mine knocked me down and I hit my head on the ice harder than I ever had before and ended up with a really bad concussion. This wasn’t my first concussion, so it kept me out of school for about three weeks and even then my doctor told me that I shouldn’t go and that my head needed rest. Even after I returned to school I was not allowed to play until the next season. I’ve noticed that now I have had troubles with tasks that should be simple for me. I no longer posses the ability to do simple mental math, memorize any length of writing, read at a decent speed, or take certain concepts and apply them to a situation which is different than the one I learned it in. A permanent learning disability should have made me want to quit hockey but it was never a thought that crossed my mind. TRN: What do you see yourself doing with hockey in the future? JL: I always dreamed about myself playing at higher levels like college or the Olympics but because I started so late I have a ton of ground to make up before a team will take me. TRN: And lastly, what has hockey meant to you in your years so far?JL:It has meant so much that trying to put it into words would really do the whole experience injustice. I have devot-ed four years of my life to this sport, I’ve bled, I’ve cried, and lord knows that I’ve sweated. It has been an uphill battle the whole way where there was never a time without some hardship but I would never trade it for anything.

MitChell sMith

online eDitor

Talented young runners Malcolm Roux and Nathan Wolfe hope to improve on last year’s solid season.

Junior Jacob Van Der Peet is likely to have a contributing role on the baseball team this year.

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SPORTS


Leveling the playing field Table tennis: the sport that doesn’t discriminate

Ask Eric Pattison about ping pong, and he’ll tell you he doesn’t play. De-

spite the dozens of balls and handmade paddles in his bag, he doesn’t play ping pong. He plays table tennis. There is a fine line between the recreational game that many of us play and the sport that is contested at the Olympics. Eric Pat-tison, a Para National Table Tennis team member, has crossed that line with hours of practice, a deep understanding of the

physics of the game, and a hefty dose of natural talent.

Pattison, who gets around school in a wheelchair and has limited mobility while standing up, says he tried table tennis two years ago after watching an 84 year old man returning serves without moving his legs. Pattison realized that if the old man could play without mov-ing around, he could too. Since his first game of table tennis, he has been tire-lessly committed to improving his play, practicing at the Greenlake Table Tennis Center for nine hours on the weekends

and playing against a robot serving ma-chine every night. Pattison is coached by Dr. Tom Veatch, a table tennis aficionado who goes to great lengths to help Patti-son improve; he even bought a wheel-chair so that the two would be the same height when playing.

His unique playing style is based on an understanding of the physics of ta-ble tennis. “You have to master the ex-treme angles,” he says, demonstrating by returning one of my shots at such an angle that it was impossible to hit. A master of spinning the ball, Pattison’s

shots seem to curve in one direction, but then bounce and fly off on a completely different trajectory. Pattison also designed his signature paddle, which is made out of light weight balsa wood, giving the pad-dle greater acceleration but requiring less force. A true student of the game, Pattison invent-ed his own paddle grip, called the “Bill Ryan,” which gives him a lon-ger lever, allowing him to hit with twice as much power and more spin and speed than his opponents. Combining his unique grip and pad-dle with hours of prac-tice, Pattison is a force to be reckoned with at the table.

All his work has paid off: Pattison has won numerous wheelchair championships in Seat-tle, and most recently placed second in the open wheelchair divi-

sion at the US National Championships in Las Vegas, which he described as, “the greatest experience in my life.” The run-ner-up finish makes him a member of the US Para National team, qualifying him

for international competition. He also has sponsorships from Nike, Ralph Lau-ren, and Stiga, the premier table tennis supplier. Although he hasn’t decided yet, Pattison may take a trip to Germany for the German Table Tennis Open this year.

Despite his lofty accomplishments, Pattison has a humility you might not expect from a US National team mem-ber. He is a regular at Roosevelt Ping Pong Club, and loves helping out begin-ners. Although he defeated me easily, I learned how to spin the ball and got a useful piece of advice: “Hit the ball at the top of the bounce, so gravity works with you.”

It seems like Pattison is always smiling while playing table tennis. When asked about his favorite part of the game, he replied, “It is a great equalizer. Anyone can play, regardless of age, height, gen-der, or physical ability.” Table tennis may be an equalizer, but any game played against Pattison is certainly not equal; with his talent and dedication, he’s near-ly impossible to beat.

ADAM houston stAff rePorter

The world is a harsh place, we know that for sure. It seems that no one can be happy, con-

sidering that so many find happiness through causing others grief. A victim of this pessimistic observation is former Notre Dame linebacker, Manti Te’o. In the fall of 2012, Te’o spoke to the media about his girlfriend, whose health was failing quickly. She had been in a serious car accident, and was soon after diagnosed with Leukemia. Te’o told the media that he would not let this unfortunate happenstance affect his football career, however, he was very distraught about the situation. A couple months later, it was discovered that Manti Te’o’s girlfriend did not actually exist.

As you can probably imagine, Te’o received nothing but ridicule from our media fueled so-ciety. Twitter blew up with jokes and hateful comments directed at the college linebacker. Personally, I think Te’o had it right all along. Women are a handful, they can be high main-tenance, clingy, and annoying. So what if you could fabricate the perfect girlfriend in your head, even if she wasn’t physically tangible, would it matter? I understand if you’re having some sort skepticism about this idea, so let me walk you through this golden concept.

She would be hot. Here’s a scenario for you, your friends are making fun of you because you never get any, but now you can pull this card, “Jokes on you guys because I have a girlfriend and she is fine. You will probably never meet her, but I can assure you she is a perfect 10. I’m going home to her tonight and we are getting it on, you already know.” Obviously you would not actually go home to her than night, but

all your friends will think you’re a G, and thats all that matters, right?

Are you lazy? You don’t have to lie about it anymore. It is totally understand-able to an indolent male who does not worry about specifics, such as birthdays and anniversaries and what not. Lethargy is the death of many men who have fallen into the trap of ‘serious relationships’. A relationship with a fabricated girlfriend is as serious or casual as you want it to be. You forgot her birthday? Nonsense, she doesn’t have a birthday. I think you may be starting to see my point.

Are you tired of women who think it’s ok to be strangely clingy? With this mag-ical idea, the snap of your fingers would make her disappear. Sure she was never there to begin with, but that’s not the point. Men like to be in their natural state, i.e., naked and sloppy. Then the women came along and thought they could take that away from us. With the use of Te’o’s brilliant new idea, we no longer have to deal with this.

In order to practice what I preach, I have put this new concept to the test. My girlfriend and I have been together for a while now. She doesn’t bug me, and she un-derstands me. Not to mention her beauty; her beautiful blue eyes that are practical-ly so clear that you can see right through them. Here’s the best part: If it turns out I want to be single again, no problem. She’s gone. I’ll miss her, but if worse comes to worst then I’ll find a new girlfriend at ‘Manti Te’o’s Home for Imaginary Girl-friends’. God bless you Manti.

The perks of having an imaginary girlfriend MAx rose stAff rePorter

[Table Tennis] is a great equalizer. Any-one can play, regard-less of age, height, gender, or physical ability.”

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Eric Pattison focuses on returning a shot during one of his recent tournament matches

SPORTS


Scoring: Closest to actual result receives 6 points, next closest receives 5, etc, using equation [(actual score of team 1 - predicted score of team 1) + (actual score of team 2 - predicted score of team 2)]. Predictor of correct winner receives bonus of 1.

John Peterson Spencer Farias and Jules Puckett

Mitchell Smith & Galen Caldwell

Max Rose & Alex Farias

Emily Nordberg & Emma Parks

Willow Tansel & Abby Zieve

Cumulative score(Previous score)

points 78(62 points)


points 67 (54 points)




Flyers vs Penguins 6-5

Flyers 4-3 Penguins 6-4 Penguins 5-3 Flyers 5-4 Flyers 7-6 Penguins 3-1

Player to be traded before NBA Deadline

Eric Bledsoe-Not traded Josh Smith-Not traded Rajon Rondo-Not traded Terrence Williams-Not traded Pau Gasol-Not traded Pau Gasol-Not traded

Hawks vs Kings122-108

Hawks 106-92 Hawks 102-88 Hawks 98-89 Hawks 98-84 Hawks 81-63 Hawks 93-88

AC Milan vs Barcelona 2-0

Barcelona 1-0 Barcelona 3-1 Barcelona 3-1 1-1 tie Barcelona 1-0 Barcelona 3-2

Photos by Jane haas

The force has been unleashedRoosevelt graduate Willie Spurr turns heads in freshman season

Predictament: guessing for greatness

Lets take a trip down memory lane to roughly 9 months ago. It’s a dry Seattle night in May, and un-

der the lights at Memorial Stadium, the Roosevelt var-sity boy’s soccer team is playing in the first round of the state tournament. This is not a familiar place for this team, and it’s showing. Despite their ranking as a number one seed coming into the tournament, they’re faltering at the hands of eighth seed Skyview. The Rid-ers have given up their early one goal lead and now find themselves 3-1 behind with the clock winding down. The crowd starts to shuffle and you can see the faces on the senior players tense as their curtain starts to close. Star senior midfielder Willie Spurr is desperately at-tacking and pushing forward trying to find a goal along with the rest of his team. As they advance up the field in pursuit of a goal, they’re exposed at the back, and Skyview slots another one home, 4-1. The minutes wind down and the whistle sounds.

The Roosevelt squad slowly saunters off the field to the dressing rooms, heads hung in disappointment. The boys avoid eye contact of the fans, who are cheer-ing their KingCo champions on regardless of their de-feat. The season is over, and for many of the seniors a harsh reality starts to set in; competitive soccer as they know may be over.

Senior Willie Spurr is heading off the field with the rest of the squad, thinking just that. At the moment he has plans to attend the University of Arizona, a school with no men’s soccer program. It seems he is fated for a life of frat boy intramurals and beer league matches.

But whether it was the lust of soccer or the appeal of having a geoduck as a mascot, Spurr made a change of plans soon after that game, trading the big traditional college experience for a local alternative one: Evergreen State College.

Evergreen is not your typical school; it’s a state fund-

ed liberal arts and sciences college often associated with hippie culture and alternative learning. Evergreen, be-cause of it’s size, competes in the NAIA (think NCAA DIII but with scholarships). But after talking to the coaches at the school and visiting the campus, it was clear to Willie that this is what he wanted. Now more than halfway into his first year there, to say it’s been a good fit for the budding scholar-athlete would be an understatement.

The class of 2012 Roosevelt grad is not only fitting in at Evergreen State College, he’s thriving. Since day one Spurr was turning heads. Despite being a little nervous, when talking about his first day with the team Spurr said humbly, “I played pretty well, scored a couple goals.”

From then on it was go time as the team headed into a rigorous preseason. “I played more soccer then I ever had,” Spurr said. And the practice paid off. The goal-scoring prowess exhibited on his first day must have caught the eye of head coach John Purtteman, because placed Spurr as a starting striker. This would prove to be an excellent decision.

In his first game, Spurr recorded a goal and an assist, making a good impression as the newcomer. He proved this wasn’t just beginner’s luck as the “Spurr effect” kept on, never fading. Despite being just a freshman and the youngest player on the team, he scored ten goals, lead-ing the Geoducks this season, not to mention his three assists. He was given the chance for this glory by start-ing in 18 of the 19 games.

This performance propelled Evergreen to a 13-6 fin-ish, a huge improvement from their 2011 record 6-2-10. Evergreen’s finish at 13-6 placed them second in their conference, the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) and earned them a place in the CCC championship.

They went through the semi-final with ease, defeat-ing Warner Pacific 4-1, Willie leading the way with two goals. Unfortunately in the Championship game they fell short, losing 2-1 to Concordia, ranked #16 in the NAIA. Had they won the game and then a following

regional match, they would have qualified for Nation-als in Alabama. Although unsuccessful in that respect, Spurr has put it behind him and is refocused. “The goal this next year is to make nationals,” he says confidently.

Clearly, Spurr’s championship hunger has yet to be satisfied after winning the KingCo championship last spring with Roosevelt. Many of us here at RHS can still remember watching Spurr, a 1st Team All KingCo player demonstrate his incredible ability dancing with the ball around defenders, almost toying with them at times.

Although he’s had no championship success with Ev-ergreen yet, he seems to be enjoying more then his time with Roosevelt. He’s recently been recognized for his individual season. The CCC named him 1st Team All Conference, and he has also been given the Newcomer of the Year award. “It feels like I’m a little more effec-tive,” says Spurr. This can be largely attributed to his move to striker, but may in fact be also in part to the difference in formation of the two teams.

Roosevelt plays a 4-3-3 a system with four defenders, three midfielders, and three strikers. This system plac-es the attacking mainly on the shoulders of the three up top, marginalizing the role of the outside midfield-er, who in a basic 4-4-2 formation has lots of space to attack on the flanks. Now that Spurr is a striker in a 4-4-2 system, he has ample room to attack and score.Evergreen is the glass slipper for Spurr’s magical feet and the shoe fits even off the playing field.

Spurr’s transition to collegiate academics has also been smooth. Being named a Washington Athletic Club scholar-athlete while at Roosevelt, it was clear Spurr was not a one trick pony. Spurr has continued to prove his work ethic by studying hard while balancing a com-mitment to the team.

After all of Spurr’s hard work at Roosevelt, it seems he’s found the perfect place to unleash his athletic and academic force. Spurr is currently gearing up for next season, taking part in conditioning and practices two to three times a week. When asked what his personal goals were for the coming season, he simply stated, “As long as we’re winning a bunch of games I’ll be happy.”

This is the same selfless and humble attitude Roos-evelt remembers.Willie Spurr remains grounded as he rises to stardom.

Jules PuCkett

sPorts eDitor

Willie Spurr heads the ball past Warner Pacific goalie in the semi-final of the CCC Championship.

Willie Spurr dribbles through three defenders.

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SPORTS


Tupac Shakur once wrote, “Through every dark night, there’s a bright day after that. So no matter how hard it gets, stick your chest out, keep your head up, and

handle it.”Keaton Kinnaman was five years old when his dad placed a shiny new guitar in

his hands, and he knew music would forever play a leading role in his life. Kinnaman began attending guitar lessons and learning to play the songs by his favorite bands. As he grew older, he continued exploring musical genres and soon became especially fascinated with the storytelling masters of hip-hop. He was captivated by the honest voices of legends like Tupac and Biggie Smalls, and felt connected to local Seattle groups like the Blue Scholars and the Knowmads.

It wasn’t long until Kinnaman had fallen in love. “Music, metaphorically, is that girl who has never done me wrong,” he said, smiling, “It has always been there for me.”

At the same time Kinnaman was discovering his love of music, he began having trouble in school. In third grade, he was told he had dyslexia, and suddenly, he noticed he was not being held to the standards of the other children in his classes. “Kids would have to write an essay and they would say ‘Okay [Keaton] just write a paragraph’,” he recalled. With every giggle in class as Kin-naman tried to read aloud, every hurtful comment about his spelling, and every pas-sive aggressive remark from a teacher, he felt the bar being lowered, and with it, his self-esteem. Teachers doubted him, and somewhere along the way, Kinnaman began to doubt himself.

When he reached high school, things began to slip. “I could have been that kid

[that gives up], I had everything set up to be that kid,” Kinnaman remembers. But, he looked to music and found purpose. “I refused to be just a worthless piece of so-ciety,” he explains, “I wanted to prove them wrong.”

Kinnaman began doing this by writing lyrics everyday, shaping his misfortunes into art. “I have had a lot of [people] say I won’t amount to anything. That is fuel. I have learned to transfer that negativity into energy,” he said.

In a world where rap music has evolved into a reflection of drugs, money, partying and women, he decided to use his words to question and analyze life instead of create an unrealistic expectation of it. “I don’t want to be better than the rest, I am just describing what it’s like to be a normal high school student,” he explained, “I’m just an average kid, with average struggles.”

Kinnaman spends hours a day working on his music. He searches for beats or in-strumental tracks, carefully crafts verses and then produces a final product. Last year, Kinnaman was able to create an album along with the help of his friends. Despite his

success, Kinnaman was not ready to let up on his hard work. In order to build a new studio inside his garage, he worked around 35 hours a week, bussing tables at a local restaurant. Now, with new studio equipment, he is working on his next album.

Kinnaman has finally found a voice and a way to share it, but he still faces obstacles. While shaping his dream and putting in hours of work, he sometimes finds it hard to be in an adolescent

atmosphere. “It’s hard to pursue your own passion when you’re around kids that hav-en’t found their passion and they don’t understand you,” Kinnaman explained, “I am so blessed that I have gotten that gift to know what I want to do.”

Though he spends some of his time withdrawn from the social scene, Kinnaman understands the importance of living life and being a teenager, because these are things he draws his inspiration from. “[I] don’t have anything to write about if [I]

don’t go out and live, it’s just about finding that balance,” he says. Even with the pres-sures of high school, he refuses to loose sight of his dream.

For Kinnaman, knowing what he want-ed wasn’t always as easy as it is now. He had to discover a way to quiet the voices of others so he could find his own. “It’s [about] taking yourself back and never let-ting someone tell you ‘no’. It’s just training your mind to believe in yourself, find your-self, and then follow that,” said Kinnaman.

Although he has come a long way from where he once was, the road is nowhere near its end for Kinnaman. “I am barely even getting started. Obviously I would love to be able to sell out Key Arena,” he said, laughing, “but the biggest goal for me is to provide [for myself] solely off my mu-sic. As long as I can wake up every morning and not have to sit behind a desk, as long as I can pay rent and do what I love to do, I’ll be happy.”

Kinnaman will continue to overcome adversity and use the power of his voice to tell a story. “Music is so much more than hitting a record button. Music has such a feeling, knowledge, and wealth. It’s so much more than just words on a page,” he said. For Kinnaman, a grade on an assign-ment will not define him, his stories will. “Music will be a part of my life forever,” he promised, “you can count on that.”

From struggle comes successKeaton Kinnaman takes on high school one lyric at a time

Michael Tougias’ new book sails the high seas

If you’re searching for a lustrous tale of lovers at sea, this book is not for you. The nonfiction book

“A Storm Too Soon” captures the experience of three men in the deathly grip of a tempest. In a nutshell, the story outlines how incredibly strong men can be when looking death in the eye. In the beginning of the story, three middle-aged sailors, strangers at first, embark on a transatlantic mission from Florida to France. Starting out on May 2 2007, the men rode the Gulf Stream - a current that runs fast and warm from south to the north - a catalyst on their journey. Or so it seemed, until the almighty Poseidon strikes his trident and unleashes the ocean’s fury. Turquoise oceans transform into nasty grey waters in a matter of days. Mountains could easily com-pare to the combers measuring 80 feet. Waves thrashed and punched the men, expressing nature’s power.

Michael J. Tougias has a sharp, factual way of writing. His sturdy prose fits the mood of the book - strong and concentrated. However, Tougias digresses from the sail-ors’ story a lot. For example, in the middle of explaining the condition of the sailors’ boat, he goes off track and describes a lawsuit involving a cruise. Although reading about the lawsuit was tedious, I craved to know more

about the sailors’ states, and that kept me reading. He also uses a lot of nautical jargon. Many times I caught myself stranded by the vocabulary while reading. Oth-er than that, Tougias’ depiction of the storm was quite beautiful. Learning that there are winds that reach 80 knots and waves that can snap nearly every bone in your body in less than a second is humbling. My dad always took my siblings and me out on his Snipe (a sailboat) during the summer and fall. Whilst reading this book, I could understand the sail-ors’ thrill and love of the sea and what she has to give: beam-ing waters, salty wind, and the adrenaline that courses through your body at all of her unexpected gifts. The biggest wave I have ever ex-perienced was about 10 feet tall - fright, amazement, and terror are mere words to what I felt. So, reading about waves eight times larger than what I had experienced horrified me.

I would recommend this book to people who enjoy action and suspense, or those who are looking for a quick and fun read. This book deserves four and a half

stars for clear writing and a proper depiction of a terrifying expe-

rience.

It’s so much more than just words on a page.””

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Kinnaman records some of his new lyrics in the studio he built for himself, working for hours at a time.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT


The red neon sign, which hums like a benevo-lent beacon above Pike Place Market’s gaping

maw, is one of Seattle’s most iconic (and clichéd) landmarks. On any given day, rabid tourists are duped into buying pricey souvenirs, witty t-shirts (“someone who loves me went to Seattle!”) and local specialties. The market is a wilderness of crooked alleys and subterranean mazes that har-bor vendors of everything from emu eggs to tarot cards, but blinded by charismatic fish-throwers and infinite free samples, naive cruise-goers by-pass the real treasures.

The market’s best shops are hidden under-ground. Shielded from chilly waterfront weather, the cavernous “down under” holds tiny, unique shops like The Antique Touch (1501 Pike Place Market, #318), which sells vintage salt-and-pepper shakers and other trinkets. Thousands of ceramic

figurines create an initial horror-mov-ie vibe, but get cuter the longer you explore the dusty shelves. Af-ter a few minutes of rummaging through The An-tique Touch, salt-shaker collecting seems like a very attractive hobby.

A few doors down, the de-ceptively gener-ic-looking Pike Place Chinese Cuisine (1533 Pike Place) serves up fresh, familiar

Cantonese favorites. Flooded with natural light, friendly grins, and tempting smells, it’s the perfect place for a satisfying meal or snack. The portions are generous, the rice is fluffy, and the Crab Ran-goon is divine. The multi-lingual menu’s highlight is the sesame rice balls; puffy and fragrant, these heavenly desserts are to die for. A small to-go win-dow also offers voluptuous Hum Bao and sticky, almond-studded rice dumplings swathed in bam-boo leaf.

Another local landmark, America’s oldest comic store, Golden Age Collectables (1501 Pike Place, #401) is tucked away in a nearby corner of the market. This temple of nerdy pop culture is packed with customers, but like the TARDIS, it’s bigger on the inside. Cardboard cutouts of One Direction, Harry Potter, R2D2 and several regen-

erations of The Doctor guard the entrance. Mugs, bobble heads, comic books, posters, lunch boxes, scripts, action figures, stuffed animals and knick-knacks from every comic, movie, game, book, TV-show and fandom imaginable (not to mention crowds of squealing fans) fill the crowded shop. The merchandise is infinite, and with the excep-tion of a few glass-cased treasures, reasonably priced.

Next, venture outside (ah! what is that blinding light?!) to the World Spice Market (1509 Western Ave) and explore a selection of spices, herbs and teas from over 50 countries, whose heady aromas will induce powerful cravings for exotic curries, gumbos and tagines. The Cinnamon Toast Spice Blend is especially fragrant, and you can sprinkle

it on cereal, in coffee, or anything buttered for a perfect breakfast. The friendly staff, who seem to be mildly intoxicated by the constant spicy scent, won’t mind if you hunker down in the back of the store with a good cookbook, as long as you don’t drool on the pages.

Just down the street, The Spanish Table (1426 Western Ave) and it’s sister store, The Paris Gro-cery (1418 Western Ave) stock imported delica-cies from Barcelona to Bordeaux. Planet-sized paella pans, escargot, mysterious canned seafood, humane foie gras and unfamiliar candies tempt Francophiles and Spanish-speakers alike. The Paris Grocery boasts a pastel rainbow of dainty macrons: creamy fragrant filling slathered be-tween delicate biscuits. If you are thinking about making paella (which you will be after visiting this store) then buy a gallon jug of clam juice, which the enthusiastic owners of The Spanish Table use as their secret ingredient.

After the steep climb up to First Ave, reward yourself with a rich bowl of gumbo or a hefty po boy at Bayou’s on First (1523 First Ave). Snag a win-dow seat and savor your complimentary steaming cornbread muffin while you study the eclectic mix of pedestrians who walk or stumble past. Luxuri-ate in flavorful, fresh seafood jambalaya, fiery red beans and rice, or an overflowing muffaletta and enjoy the southern hospitality. Add a few extra shots of Tabasco, and it’s hard to believe you ar-en’t relaxing on a New Orleans patio on a balmy southern night.

Before you head home, make sure you visit Steinbrueck Park and giggle smugly as aggres-sive pigeons and harmless stoners terrify tourists. Don’t miss the view, which astonishes even the most cynical of Seattleites.

Pike Place Market is brimming with of bur-ied treasures, undiscovered hole-in-the-walls, and hidden gems, but the local flavor is often overpowered by hustling vendors attempting to showcase and package it. Al-though more than 10 million people flock to Pike Place Mar-ket to sample cliché region-al specialties (smoked salmon, Starbucks, big whoop!) the real charm is found in the constant diffusion of eclectic cultures that have revital-ized Seattle’s neighborhood market.

Perusing Pike PlaceA hitchhikers guide to the Market

As times change, cultures develop, and idiotic fads come into exis-tence, I have more to shake my head about, yet conversely, I have

more to praise. Welcome to Max’s Thought Of The Month. This column is solely dedicated to my rants, ideas, and all around random thoughts. Occasionally I will give suggestions and constructive criticism, how-ever, it is much more likely that I will point my finger at you and laugh.

The purpose of this column is not to bully or put anyone down. We all have opinions, mine just happen to published in a school newspaper. Sit down, relax, and learn what I’m thinking about. If my thoughts piss you off, then take a moment to consider what you would share in a newspaper if you had the opportunity. Welcome to my mind.

Laziness is my biggest pet peeve. It is arguably the cause of most of the worlds problems, and it crawls under my skin like no other intangible quality.

To state the most obvious example, global warming is the result of excessive carbon emissions, but that’s just a sci-entific way of saying that humans are sluffin’ big time. Our indolent natures have consumed us almost to the point of no return. We see the consequences of our actions, yet we fail to change our ways. Why? Laziness.

However, the point of this article is not to bash on the human race and act as if I am a perfect angel. I like to believe I’m not that pretentious. In fact, laziness is my biggest pet peeve because I am one of the laziest people I know; or at least I used to be.

When I was in second grade, my mom attempted to get me active by signing me up for rec. basketball. I was the kid who was constantly on one side of the court... Defense was a little too strenuous for me. In fourth grade, my mom signed me up for soccer. Needless to say, I played goalie. However, it’s a bit of a stretch to say that I “played” goalie. Unless you consider playing with grass a role of goalkeepers.

After realizing sports were not for me, my mom signed me up for theater to get me out of the house. This phase lasted a few years, however, I rarely learned my lines, I rarely went to necessary rehearsals, and most of all, I rarely payed attention to what was asked of me.

Being in middle school at the time, I had a “I don’t give a f@#k” attitude, but as I grew up I slowly began to realize the folly of my ways.

Without any exercise, I began to gain weight, and my blood pressure was taking a turn for the worse. Without any drive to succeed, my grades began to cliff dive, along with my motivation to do anything, my relationships, and most of all, my happiness.

As contradictory as it sounds, I had a perpetual desire to do absolutely nothing with my life. In other words, I was lazy. So what changed?

At the beginning of 8th grade, I heard a song that would eventually become a determining factor of my entire life. When I heard “Creature Fear,” by Bon Iver, I was close to tears. It struck me how a song so simple, could be so amaz-ingly beautiful. Then a hundred imaginary light bulbs began to spring to life above my head, fueled solely by the best idea I’ve ever had. What was stopping me from making my own music? I had basic piano skills, and enough money to build an amateur recording studio. That’s exactly what I did.

I was living life through a foggy window, I didn’t have any idea where I was going, and I didn’t particularly care either. Until I found my passion.

I believe that passion is the single most important thing that a person can possess. With passions come dreams, and with dreams come visions. Visions propel us into the future simply because we know exactly where we want to be.

Don’t let laziness affect your life the way it affected mine. Find what matters to you, and cherish it. Whether it’s music, education, success, or even love. Once you know what mat-ters, you’ll find it impossible to be lazy another day.

MAx rose

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MTOTMLet it form us

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Golden Age Collectibles

Steinbrueck Park

World Spice Market

The Antique Touch

Chinese Cuisine



Student voice takes a stand

Taking home the gold - TRN takes on the Oscars

The Poet’s Committee brings RHS together through poetry

Quotes of the Night:

“It’s a Sunday. Everyone’s all dressed up. It’s like church, but more people are pray-ing.” - Seth Macfarlane

“[Django Unchained] is the story of a man fighting to get back his woman, who’s been subjected to unthink-able violence. Or as Chris Brown and Rihanna call it, a date movie.” - Seth Mac-farlane

“The first time I saw [Af-fleck] with all that dark facial hair, I thought, ‘My God, the Kardashians have made the jump to film,’” - Seth Macfarlane

Best PreseNters:-Jack Nich-olson and Michelle Obama,-Sandra Bullock

the WiNNers:Best Picture: ArgoDirectiNg: Ang Lee – Life of PiActor iN A LeADiNg roLe: Daniel Day Lewis – LincolnActress iN A LeADiNg roLe: Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings PlaybookActor iN A suPPortiNg roLe: Christoph Waltz – Django UnchainedActress iN A suPPortiNg roLe: Anne Hathaway – Les MisérablesANimAteD feAture fiLm: Brave

music (origiNAL soNg): “Skyfall” by Adele – Skyfall

MADeline foley

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MenAkA nArAyAnAn

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One of Roosevelt’s lesser-known clubs is the Poet’s Committee,

whose main focus is spreading student voice within RHS. Every month they hold an Open Mic for students to per-form at, and they are current-ly organizing a school

wide poetry slam.However, despite

their active role in the school community, many students still don’t quite understand who they are and what they do. C o m m i t t e e member

Katy Morrison stepped out of the shad-ows to clear the air of some misconcep-tions about Roosevelt’s lesser-known group. “I started going to Open Mics freshman year. It was something that made me feel like a bigger part of this school, and I wanted to be more in-volved in it,” said Morrison on her de-cision to join. “We want to make it so people feel like they’re heard in this school, and make them feel that they can express themselves. People say, ‘ew poetry, that’s lame’. They think you’re “emo” and write about how your heart is black...the stereotypical teenage poet.

We don’t want people to think that.”Tom Nolet, a language arts teacher

and advisor of the commit-tee, cited a lack of creativi-

ty as a key issue

for the Poets Committee in recent years. “Student voice isn’t particularly strong at the moment,” he said, “This idea of cre-ativity, at the moment, doesn’t seem to be celebrated very much. So that’s what we do, that’s what the opportunity [of an

open mic] is.”Nolet stressed the importance of stu-

dent voice. “This is not a transitional moment in a student’s life. This is the moment in a student’s life, these are things that you think now are as import-ant as anything you’ll think when you’re forty.” Nolet continued, “Now is an im-portant moment to celebrate. Yes, you are becoming, but you also have become, and that’s what creativity does; it cele-brates the ‘now’ the ‘who you are’, and I

think that’s the beautiful moment of Open Mics.”

This year, poets committee has added several opportunities for students to show off their cre-ativity in addition to Open Mics. “We started the poetry wall in the corner across from Mr. Nolet’s room, and have tried reaching out to people through writing circles as well,” said Morrison. In addition to more creative outlets, Poet’s Com-mittee is hosting Roosevelt’s first ever poetry slam. “Slam is compet-itive spoken word. People sign up ahead of time, and write a poem to perform to a panel of judges, who give them a score. Those with the highest scores move onto the next round, and a winner is decided. The point is to move judges, so it’s usu-

ally very personal.” Cleveland will be hosting the district competition, and those with the highest scores from

Roosevelt’s slam will have the opportu-nity to compete at Cleveland, along with fellow performers from schools across

the district.

Many students have felt the effects the creative efforts of Poets Commit-tee. “There aren’t a lot of opportunities in high school to show off what you like to do, and that’s why Open Mic is such a great thing,” said sophomore Justine Cameron. “It gives people a safe place to show their passions and talents to [an audience] who won’t judge them. Open Mic makes me feel accepted,” she said. “If there were more things like Open Mic, the school would be less cliquey and become more of a supportive communi-

ty,” Cameron continued. For anyone interested in joining Poets

Committee, talk to Mr. Nolet. “Students have just asked me ‘can I join poet’s com-mittee?’ and you can,” he said. “If poet’s committee is something you want to do, then you probably can.” Poet’s Commit-tee may be one of the lesser-know clubs,

but it certainly makes its voice heard.

[Open mic] gives people a safe place to show their pas-sions and talents to [an audience] who won’t judge them. ”

”

Best Dressed Male:Daniel Day-Lewis

Best Dressed Female:Amanda Seyfried

Last issue, TRN supplied you with its predictions for the 85th Academy Awards. The Oscars, held Sunday, February 24, hosted by Seth Macfarlane, ended the awards season with a bang. For those of you who tuned into this dazzling show, as well as those who missed it, here are the highlights for your consideration.

Best AccePtANce sPeech:Daniel Day-LewisDay-Lewis’ delivered a touching, sensi-tive and comical speech, “I really don’t know how any of this has happened. I am so grateful to the Academy for this beau-tiful honour,” he said.

Worst AccePtANce sPeech:

Visual effects team from ‘Life of Pi’The only memorable part of the speech was the team’s spokes-man getting cut off by the in-creasing volume of Jaws music until his voice was barely audi-ble. The Jaws music was a con-stant presence in the show.

Poet’s Committee Poses for a picture. From left to right: Nadine Philp, Adam Westerman, Benjamin Briggs, Madeleine Bertagnole, Sarah Bowen, Laura Jagels. Committee members absent in photo: Katy Mor-rison, Carmen Abbe, Lucy Davis, Zoe Saccio

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Bringing magic to the muggles

Greekin’ it out at Olympic Pizza & Pasta

The little hole-in-the-wall restaurant called Olympic Pizza and Pasta (OPP) is on Roosevelt Way, just around the corner from RHS, across the street from

Sleep Country USA and right next to Ten Thousand Villages. If you didn’t know it was there, or didn’t get a referral from an OPP insider, you’re in good company. It’s easy to overlook.

You’ll love this place if you don’t mind paper menus, huge portions and great service. The staff is an older couple and their daughter, not overly sociable, is all the same, as Greek as they come. The restaurant shows its age: as it has not been updated in decades. However, it’s a place where everyone knows each other. At least the regulars do, since they’ve been OPP addicts for years.

Olympic Pizza and Pasta is famous for their delectable and juicy pork steak. Yes, it’s as delicious as it sounds. If pizza or huge pork servings are not your thing, Olympic Pizza and Pasta also serves excellent Greek pasta and authentic souvlakis. For those of you not familiar with Greek cuisine, a slou-vlaki is grilled meat served on a skewer, often accompanied by vegetables.

If that isn’t enough, try their tasty Greek soup Avgolemono: a pureed mixture of egg, lemon juice and spices;

or you can try a gyro: lamb steak on pita bread smothered with vegies and Tzatziki, a spicy yogurt, cucumber, and garlic sauce. Mmmmm, mmmmmm, good.

For the unadventurous, order a dish of spaghetti noodles smothered in flaked feta cheese, garlic and olive oil. But don’t go kissing your girlfriend in the hallway after-wards – unless she shared the garlic manifesto with you.

I ordered pizza when I recently dined at OPP because I wanted to sample one of their more popular dishes. The pizza was served sizzling hot and looked absolutely delicious, it was caked in cheese - the Greek way of making Pizza. I have eaten au-thentic Italian pizza for most of my life, as my grandma owned an Italian restaurant, and while different from what I am used to, the Greek pizza proved to be savory, filling, and gave my taste for Italian pizza a run for the money. The pizza is large but

if you love food you’ll probably want one all for yourself.

This restaurant has a friendly vibe and more than a hint of times past. I recommend it because of the in-credibly good food. If you’re looking for a new place to eat, in which vir-tually no one else in your group has ever stepped foot, you’ll get bragging rights and a great story about the lunch or dinner you ate at Olympic Pizza and Pasta. This is The Roos-evelt Gourmand giving Olympic Piz-za and Pasta 4.5 stars out of 5.

Roosewarts: what happens when RHS turns to magical wands and brooms

It has been over a year since the final installment of the Harry Potter movies was released. For us die-hard Potter fans, this has meant frantic rereading of the books,

asking for the Ultimate edition DVDs for Christmas, and saving up to take a sum-mer trip to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando. But even with these measures, we can all feel it: there is a lack of magic in the air. As a solution to fix this problem of our Muggle world, here is a plan to transform Roosevelt into the one and only Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

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Quidditch fieldQuidditch would not be taught as a separate class, but would be on the syllabus for the Team Sports class, following Ultimate Frisbee. If you wished to try out for the highly competitive Quidditch team, private flying lessons with Coach Nelsen would be offered. Your ASB card and physical form, as always, would need to be turned in. Matches would take place weekly against Ballard-Beauxbatons and Gar-field-Durmstrang.

Broom rackYour Cleansweep Seven or Firebolt would not fit in your locker, so this handy rack would be available to stash your broomsticks during the school day. Lacrosse sticks would fit as well. Customized RHS broom locks would be on sale for $10 in the student store.

Whomping WillowAs you know, this old willow tree is not as harmless as it looks, so you would have to toilet-paper it at your own risk. As a result of the tree’s proximity to the build-ing, the classes in the southeast corner of Roosevelt (Magidman, Roux, N. Macdonald, Meing, J.Miller, Jatul) would be perform-ing the “Flying Branch Dodge Drill” once a month, in addition to their earthquake and lock-down drills.

Thestral CarriagesWith these thestral carriages, you would never have to take the 71 again! Special care would have to be tak-en on the one-way, as other cars will not realize you are being pulled by invisible creatures. The carriages would be free to those living outside the two-mile radius of the school - oth-ers would have to pay an

apple per thestral.

North TowerAll the arts classes would be moved to the North Tower, to use the view from the balcony as a subject and inspiration. But don’t worry - we would have many moving staircases, and students would be spared from the agony of climbing four more sets of Roosewarts’ brutal stairs.

Great Hall:The commons would be transformed into the Great Hall. Four long tables and a staff table would replace our current tables. We would, of course, be seated according to house: Slytherin House being the sly freshmen, Huf-flepuff the kind sophomores, Ravenclaw the intelligent juniors, and Gryffindor the brave and noble seniors.

HermioneAre you looking for someone to help with your studys? Well, your wish has been granted, with Roo-sevelt’s Hermione Granger look-alike, Salome Hertli. Just remember for when you’re around her, it’s Wingardium Levi-ohh-sa, not Levio-sah.

Headmaster VanceEveryone wishes that they had a headmaster like Albus Dumbledore to guide them through the turbulent life of a young wizard. What many students don’t realize is that they do! Our own Mr. Vance is always prepared to give wise advice when he isn’t coming up with more uses for dragon’s blood or organizing the Order of the Phoenix.

DracoIf your world ever needs a Draco Malfoy to bring Death Eaters into the castle, look no further than Roosewarts’ own senior Kyle Bove.

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22 the roosevelt news march 1, 2013CLASSIFIEDS

23the roosevelt newsmarch 1, 2013 CLASSIFIEDS

Roosevelt High School1410 NE 66th streetSeattle WA, 98115

march issue 2013

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