october 2011
DESCRIPTION
October Issue 2011TRANSCRIPT
The Roosevelt NewsVolume 88 Issue 1, October 2011 1410 NE 66 St. Seattle, WA 98115
Editor in ChiefMargaret Kahn
Managing EditorAbby Zieve
Graphics EditorsTheo Henderson
Reed McCoy
News EditorsGilly FriedmanHart Hornor
Opinion EditorsFiona HofferWillow Tansel
Feature EditorsEllie NeilsonBea Mischer
Sports EditorsJoe Knight
Mitchell Smith
A&E EditorsTamar Shuhendler
Abby Zieve
Copy EditorEmily Yockey
Staff ReportersCarmen AbbeGalen CaldwellBaker Conte
Maggie ColburnEmma DunlapMira FisherJosh Grega
Laura JansenRhian Lindhjem
Alex MoonEmma ParksJules PuckettBen Siegel
Clara Sutton
IllustratorsAmelia Batayola
Ian CoulterKellen Lambert-VailGwen Van Der Zee
PhotographersCole GarryJane HaasVy Nguyen
Web DesignAlex Sanchez-Stern
AdviserChristina Roux
Mission Statement
The Roosevelt News aims to represent the diverse student population at Roosevelt. 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 students, 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 Roosevelt News accepts signed letters to the editor. Please submit them to Room 235 or Ms. Roux’s mailbox or by email to [email protected] Roosevelt News reserves the right to reject any advertisement deemed unacceptable for publication. The Roosevelt News does not run illegal, hateful, or inappropriate advertise-ments. If you are interested in placing an ad, call (206) 252-4880.
2
14Riders come home with anchorBike Polo world cup rides through Seattle
15Seattle sports summer updateSelect team costs strangle player development
Spring Sports Schedule
16 ESPN ‘Rise Up’ comes to IngrahamRoosevelt’s pay-to-play cost increase
17UW’s young talentSports calendar
Predictament: guessing for sports glory
18The lives of the laureateThe hipster: a hipstory
19 Badass talents abound in our hallsBlast From A While Ago
20Making the arts accesible to all‘Northwest, making you feel the vibe’
21 The new niño on the block VK’s legacy of inspriation and illumination
8RHS writer suggests ‘Republicrats’ partyI’ll only pay Sinatra for the moon
9 It costs less to care, more to criminalizeRants and Raves: Announcements
10Booing: a friendly pat on the backRants and Raves: Bicyclists
11Davis reveals death penalty demonsRants and Raves: 71 Metro bus
Opinion
Sports
Arts & Entertainment
OctOber
4 Revamping Roosevelt Numbers in the News
5 Hands for a Bridge changes it upExchange students: RHS on the map
6 Paying for public schoolSeniors aim to raise $20,000
7 Grosskopf returns from Computer class added to curriculum
Feature12-13
Drama Fest starts November 14!1. The Clod Reed McCoy, Ella Mora, Theo Henderson, Zach Horton, Celeste Nygren, Director Maddie Daviss,
2. H.R. Madie Polyak, Michael Kaczkowski, Merrill Poepping, Leo Garib-aldi, Director Kai Daly, Assistant Director Ellie Neilson
3. Down to MoletownAdam Westerman, Mac Jaffe, Lorenzo Manuel, Kayla Swedlow, Nabila Ramadhyan, Alex Brooks, Noah Foster Koth, Dominique Weeks, Omar Al Alami, Director Joshua Wagner-Smith
4. Dead Rats Lucy Given, Sofia Truzzi, Douglas McCulloch, Alex Hume, Bay Loovis, Director William Lavely
5. Dear PapaKelsey Packwood, Ella Otanez-Carter, Sage Bradley, Abby Bern-hard, Alex Lewis, Director Iris Wood
6. A New Beginning Gilly Friedman, Connor Davis, Elijah Ostrow, Director Rachel Guyer-Mafune
7. The Happy Journey Justine Cameron, Solea Pfeiffer, Liam Keenan, Maggie Colburn, Max Delman, Abby Jernberg, Director Ella Stern
8. The Sandbox Alex Belmore, Sam James, Ani Schroeter, Joe Ptasnik, Director Jake Larson
9. Why Do We Laugh?Max Koh, John Otten, Thomas Clinkenbeard, Erik Strandoo, Emma Parks, Bridgette Wood, Hannah Horton, Brenna Power, Director Domini LaRussa
10. The Auschwitz Quintet Corbin Hughes, Ben Briggs, Jake Isler, Mason Brewer, Michael McLaughlin, Evan Pengra-Sult, Director Sam Gelband, Assistant Director Abby Zieve
Who is watching Roosevelt?
Who is listening to Roosevelt?
Heard in the halls:
-“Milk, spaghetti and bread.”
-“I can’t trust anybody.”
-“If I wasn’t so skinny and weak, I would
consider playing football.”
-“I have a picture of me with my arm
around his horse.”
-“Just you wait...”
-“Lower your shoulder, kid.”
-“If you come, I’ll give you a hug, and
that’s not a bad thing.”
-“I like how short your texts are.”
-“Lose hope.”
OctOberthe rOOsevelt News
3
8. The Sandbox
1. The Clod 2. H.R.
3. Down to Moletown
4. Dead Rats
5. Dear Papa
6. A New Beginning
9. Why Do We Laugh?
7. The Happy Journey
10. The Auschwitz Quintet
NewsThe RoosevelT NewsocTobeR
4
•
Numbers in the
News
Pho
To b
y v. N
gu
yeN
35,615 The number of fans who came to the final Sound-ers game in the U.S. Open Cup, set-ting the record for the largest crowd throughout the entire competition.
50,000 The number of overripe tomatoes thrown between members of Seattle’s Super Geek League during their inaugural To-mato Battle held at Pioneer Square’s Pyramid Alehouse in late September.
35,800 The cost, in dollars, per couple to dine with President Obama during his visit to the Medina neighborhood, at the home of Microsoft’s John Shirley. Obama’s visit to Seattle was to fundraise for the 2012 presidential campaign.
1 million The debt, in dollars, that Amanda Knox and her family have accumulated to finance her trial and time in jail.
3 million The es-timated cost, in dollars, of Judy Gar-land’s original ruby red slippers worn in “The Wizard of Oz.” They will be auctioned off in December for the Hol-lywood Memorabilia Collection.
By 2025, the Roosevelt neigh-borhood population is expect-
ed to double. This projection is based on a proposed “legislative rezone,” which envisions large-scale residential and commercial development on all or parts of 18 different blocks, centered around the planned Light Rail station on NE 65th Street and 12th Avenue NE.
Residents of the area gathered at a public hearing at Roosevelt High School on Sept. 19 to ex-press to the City Council how they think the developments should be carried out. “My one request is for you to lead us,” said one resident speaking to the Council.
A particularly contentious issue at the meeting was the planned construction of a large apartment building on the corner of 65th and 15th, located south of RHS. The owner of the prop-erty is Hugh Sisley, who has leased it to the local developer Roosevelt Develop-ment Group (RDG).
According to Jim O’Halloran, chair-man of the Roos-evelt Neighborhood Association’s Land Use Committee, Sisley and the RDG originally wanted a building around 16 stories tall, which most residents were not prepared to allow. The RDG seems willing to settle for a building of six stories, but most neighbors and community mem-bers would prefer a building with four stories or less.
If granted six stories by the City Council, the RDG said they will quickly begin get-
ting rid of the old houses along 15th and begin construction on the new building, hopefully com-pleting it in a couple of years. If only four stories are permitted, the RDG said they will not move forward, and instead will leave the old houses intact for a number of years. “Some folks in the neigh-borhood think that this is a bluff’ in order to get approval for six sto-ries,” said O’Halloran. “Both Sis-ley and RDG are hoping to receive rental revenue over a long period of time. The bigger the building, the greater the revenue.”
Due to the uncertainty sur-rounding design, scale and height, the total cost of the project is unclear, but even a four-story building would cost several mil-lion dollars or more, according to O’Halloran.
With the development of a new building of any size comes con-struction noise, pollution and other issues. The long-term ef-
fects could turn into more diffi-cult commutes for the students and staff of RHS. “It will be a con-gested intersection and we worry about the safety of our kids,” said Laurie Hemingway, a member of the Roosevelt Neighborhood As-sociation who spoke at the hear-ing.
Despite residents’ concerns, the development plan does have the po-tential to make a positive impact on the area, especially to the extent of removing the dilapidated housing surrounding RHS.
As O’Halloran said, “I think that the effect of a new building of proper scale and design will be positive for the neighborhood because it would displace the existing run-down struc-tures.”
Depending on how quickly deci-sions are made and how fast the project moves forward, the Roosevelt neighborhood will find itself looking quite different then it does today.
Revamping Roosevelt Development plans spark discussion at community meeting
Rhian LindhjemStaff Reporter
Emma DunlapStaff Reporter
The RDG plans to demolish old buildings, such as this one, along 15th Avenue NE if granted six stories by the City Council.
Illu
sTRa
TIo
N b
y R.
Mcc
oy
Illu
sTRa
TIo
N b
y R.
Mcc
oy
1 monkfish gone from Pike Place Market. Because of the market’s deci-sion to serve only sustainably caught shrimp and scallops, the iconic tour-ist attraction has been removed.
ocTobeR The RoosevelT News
5
•News
Hands For a Bridge changes it up
PhoTos by c. abbe
Roosevelt Hands For a Bridge students welcomed South African visitors in early October.
The Roosevelt Hands For a Bridge program, well known for its an-
nual international travel, celebrates its tenth anniversary with a change in the course. This year, HFB students and staff will not be taking their usual trips to Northern Ireland and South Africa. This year’s class will still host i n t e r national visitors, but will travel more locally, in Seattle and throughout Washington State, to spur change and build bridges closer to home.
According to HFB teacher Tom No-let, these changes have been welcomed by students and staff with great en-thusiasm. “In many ways I consider this the most exciting year of all,” he said, “I’m enjoying it immensely.” He is finding it easier to focus on what he is teaching without worrying about the logistics that come with planning inter-national trips. Mr. Nolet discussed the importance of learning about our city and explained that this year is a rare opportunity to do some work at home, which has been less of a focus in recent
years. The Hands For a Bridge community
is confident that the decision to stay in Washington will not significantly alter the program and its fundamental val-ues. “I don’t think it’s going to have
that big of an effect, frankly,” said HFB teacher Janine Magidman, adding that the curriculum of the class is similar to that of years past, and students are studying the same cultures and con-flicts, such as Northern Ireland and South Africa.
Senior Margaret Olwell, a current
Hands For a Bridge student, has found
HFB’s local focus to be very powerful. “It’s an action-oriented class. We talk about what changes we want to see in the world and then we go out and do it,” she said.
Olwell is one of a group of 32 enthu-siastic, and perhaps especially dedi-cated, Hands For a Bridge students.
Though in past years the attraction
for most participants was the prospect of international travel, these students possess a deeper commitment. As Ol-well said, “We’re bound together not by this idea of traveling but by our com-passion and concern for our local com-munity.”
Hands For a Bridge students had their first chance to demonstrate this concern when South African students visited in early October. During their stay the American and South African HFB students spent a day attend-ing five other Seattle schools includ-ing Garfield, The Northwest School, Franklin, Chief Sealth and Cleveland. The experience afforded students new perspectives on these other schools. “I didn’t realize how similar [Garfield was to Roosevelt],” said HFB senior Ian Howard, who attended Garfield for a day.
To continue their local work, HFB students will help to organize Diver-sity Week this year as well as create their own activist projects to make an impact on Roosevelt. They may also visit some Native American reserva-tion schools and have an assignment centered on learning about homeless-ness in Seattle. With all of these possi-bilities, there is great potential for what can be achieved.
Tenth anniversary is a celebration of changeBaker Conte
Staff Reporter
Exchange students: RHS on the mapPh
oTo
by
R. M
cc
all
Roosevelt High School is excited to welcome ex-change students from all over the world. Wheth-
er they are participating in clubs, gracing the stage in drama productions, or bringing home victory for our sports teams, exchange students are a integral part of our Roosevelt community. Take some time this year to get to our new Rough Riders. Keep read-
ing to learn about the dreams of a surfer, the parties of Rome, a passionate actress, and one long plane ride.
Markward Stepp Age: 15Munich, GermanyAlthough Markward Stepp doesn’t know what he wants his future ca-reer to be, he knows he is going to be self-sufficient. Before he gets too settled down, however, Stepp wants to take a year-long road trip down the Pacific Coast. “I love surfing,” said Stepp, who plans to spend his road trip surfing down the coast in a bus full of surfboards.
Nabila RamadhyanAge: 17Jakarta, IndonesiaActing and dancing since she was in kindergarten, Nabila Ramadhyan has a passion for the arts. Now taking drama at RHS, Ramadhyan wants to try out for the Winter Produc-tion; she is already part of Roos-evelt’s Thriller Club and Key Club. The aspiring doctor plans on apply-ing to the UW and traveling across the globe, “I want to make peace all around the world.”
Ahmed BamohirAge: 16Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Ahmed Bamohir traveled 7,550 miles from Saudi Arabia to Seattle; his first trip traveling out of his country. Bamohir loves playing soccer and is adjusting well to the large Roosevelt student popula-tion, very different from his own small school in Saudi Arabia.
Federica CusumanoAge: 17Rome, Italy
“When I throw a party, all of Rome comes,” said Federica Cusumano who wants to become a manager in show business. The aspiring millionaire loves to cook and has traveled across the United States with her best friend from Italy.
IllusTRaTIoN by v. NguyeN
Carmen AbbeStaff Reporter
OctOberNews
6
•the rOOsevelt News
Paying for public school
On the first day of school, as RHS students acquaint
themselves with their classes, they often find themselves with an growing list of fees to pay. Many classes and activities at Roosevelt require or suggest a fee. Few students are aware of the overall sum of these fees as the responsibility of paying ul-timately falls to their parents.
The fee for each class var-ies greatly depending on what materials are necessary for that specific course. Students who take a world language will usually need to purchase a workbook or textbook that will be used throughout the year. The cost of one of these books can range anywhere between $10 and $50. As a whole, Roosevelt students pay about $25,000 a year in fees for world languages. “It’s not that bad,” sophomore Alec Roseto said in regards to the $15 workbook fee he paid for Spanish 3.
Spanish 3 and other world language classes at a compa-rable level require very small fees compared to those man-dated by Advanced Placement classes. Not only are the ma-terial fees higher for AP lan-guage classes ($40 to $50), but students are also strongly en-couraged and expected to take the AP test for their subject.The cost to take an AP test is $87. Last year, Roosevelt stu-dents took a combined 1,066 AP tests. It is very rare for a freshman to take an AP test, and most sophomores only take the AP Human Geogra-phy test. However, many up-perclassmen take at least two AP tests a year. Senior Sarah Sliker took three AP classes last year. “I think it is silly to charge so much, especially when the SAT only costs about half the price of an AP test,” said Sliker in response to the cost of the AP tests.
Whereas the AP test costs are more of an issue for upper-classmen, sports fees and pur-chasing an ASB card affects all grade levels at Roosevelt. ASB cards cost $50 and students participating in sports, clubs, drama, and the music depart-ment are required to have one.
Seniors aim to raise $20,000
Ben SiegelStaff Reporter
Junior Adam Shimabukuro paid about $330 in fees this fall for classes and extracurricular activities. “I think they’re pret-ty excessive,” he said about the fees he paid. However, he added that his parents paid the required costs and that “they think the fees are fair.”
Like Shimabukuro, senior Jake Tull pointed out that “Some fees can be a bit much.” But he also recognized that “You have to expect classes to get money in some way for supplies.”
This year so far Tull has spent $270 on sports fees, an ASB card, a science fee, and a photography fee.
Sports fees primarily fund bus transportation for Roos-evelt’s athletic teams. Money generated by the sale of ASB cards is distributed to clubs, athletics, and the drama and music programs, in addition to other activities that require an ASB card for participation. The photography class has an $85 fee that is used to pay for about 25 different pieces of photography equipment and supplies including cameras,
Mac computers and darkroom equipment. In addition, stu-dents have access to the dark room for printing twice a week. The fees collected for marine biology, and most other sci-ence classes are used to pur-chase lab supplies such as chemicals for experiments or specimens for dissection.
Roosevelt’s fiscal specialist Holly Poulias highlighted the fact that many fees are not a requirement because public education is free. Lab fees are mandatory for art classes but not for classes such as world languages and sciences.
Most students pay the sug-gested fees so that they can use the supplies that are sug-gested by teachers.
“Wow that seems like a lot,” Tull said after realizing that he’d spent $270 total this year on classes and activities. “But some classes cost quite a bit,” he added.
EXPENSES FOR STUDENT 3 $250 Vocal Jazz trips
$235 Athletics, ASB,
& yearbook
$200 Jazz Boosters
$30 PTSA
$30 APLA textbook
$25 Senior yearbook photo
$20 Science lab fee
Total: $790
EXPENSES FOR STUDENT 1
$100 Athletics
$85 Photography
$80 ASB and yearbook
$35 Marine Biology fee
Total: $300
EXPENSES FOR STUDENT 2
$100 Athletics
$100 Jazz Band
$50 ASB card
$40 APLA textbook
$20 Science lab fee
$20 Latin
Total: $330
For the past three years, the class of 2012 has raised
money toward its goal of ap-proximately $20,000 by the winter of this year.
Most of the money will pay for events such as prom, SPREE, senior luncheon and graduation. Because the mon-ey is kept in two separate ac-counts, one for the ASR and one for the PTSA, it is unclear exactly how close the class of 2012 is to that goal.
Contrary to popular belief, this lofty goal is not a result of mismanaged money or debt, but an aim to make the con-stantly changing costs of these
events affordable to students, and to raise enough money to leave some of it for the school.
Though many students have spoken otherwise, the senior class hasn’t suffered any major financial loss. There have, however, been some smaller losses, particularly in the sale of t-shirts.
A few “senior girls” shirts have gone missing, and the ASR is struggling to get rid of the remaining “’12” shirts, the latter of which they hope to just break even. These are mportant, but not significant enough to create what some students have called a “defi-cit.” Any fiscal loss caused by misplaced or unsold shirts will be easily made up, whether
it comes out of the pockets of those selling the shirts, or the price is raised to cover the costs. These mistakes are in-significant setbacks to attain-ing the $20,000 goal.
“The $20,000 is not a hard-set number each year, in fact I think it’s actually closer to 25 or 30 thousand dollars to help offset the costs,” said Melissa Boswell, Roosevelt’s activity coordinator and ASR advisor.
The costs of senior events change from year to year and are increasing because of the stagnating economy, and as a result today’s classes are bur-dened with much larger goals for fundraising than those of five years ago.
Despite the difficulty of rais-
ing such a huge sum, the class of 2012 has raised enough to reduce some of the expenses to students. SPREE would or-dinarily cost $200 for an indi-vidual, but the ASR will charge less than half of that cost, the rest offset by relentless fund-raising. Through profits from events such as Homecoming and the Mr. Roosevelt pageant, the PTSA and the ASR hope to reach the $20,000 target by this winter. “We don’t have to raise that much money,” Ms. Boswell said, “but that would just mean that students could expect to pay $100 for a prom ticket.”
The other major reason for the huge goal is the class’ de-sire to leave a sum of money
for Roosevelt at the end of the year. Senior class coun-cilmember Thomas Clinken-beard explained that if the class of 2012 has a surplus at the end of the year, the left-over money will be given to the school as a gift. Though many recent classes haven’t fund-raised enough to leave a dona-tion, last year’s class of 2011 left a few thousand dollars with which the school plans to make a mural on the cement wall at the east end of the foot-ball field.
The senior class has high hopes to leave a gift after grad-uation, but in order to do so, it must face the challenge of first raising the money they need, and then raising more.
Josh GregaStaff Reporter
AMOUNT STUDENT BODY HAS PAID THIS YEAR
$92,742 *AP tests
$55,000 ASB cards
$25,000 Science lab fees $25,000 World languages
*For tests taken in 2010-11 school year.
Source: RHS Fiscal Specialist Holly Poulias
Roosevelt families shell out hundreds of dollars in fees each year
OctOber the rOOsevelt NewsNews •
7
Grosskopf returns from Hungary
A year ago, as Roosevelt students were geared
for another year of academ-ics and all-nighters, so were students in Barcs, Hungary. What’s the connection? One beloved Roosevelt teacher, Da-vid Grosskopf, spent the year in Hungary teaching students just like us Rough Riders.
A life-changing year later, Mr. Grosskopf is glad to be back at Roosevelt. “It’s nice to be able to have big complicated discussions again in class and go hiking in the mountains,” he said.
Last year Mr. Grosskopf switched places with Hun-garian teacher Tibor Devai through the Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program. Mr. Gross-kopf and Mr. Devai not only switched jobs, but houses, cars and lifestyles as well.
“I wanted to have an adven-ture with my family,” Mr. Gross-kopf said. So he packed up his wife and three children and went to an entirely new country where he knew little about the language and culture.
Once he arrived in Hunga-ry, he began teaching English as a foreign language to about 160 students, most of whom he only saw once a week. But that didn’t stop him from con-necting with them.
One of his favorite memo-ries from Hungary was when he and his students went on a day-long outing. They played games and cooked meat in a cauldron, (a Hungarian tradi-tion). What really made this memory stand out was the funny behavior of some of the
students throughout the day. Because it was hot, one of Mr. Grosskopf’s male students had his shirt off, and a female teacher commented that he looked like a Greek statue. Mr. Grosskopf remarked that in America, that would be con-sidered sexual harassment. That really excited some of the students, who spent the rest of the day screaming, “SEXUAL HARASSMENT!” and slapping other students’ bottoms.
Mr. Grosskopf also enjoyed the many cultural differences that he experienced while in
Hungary. For example, teach-ers can buy alcohol for students. This contributes to a much more relaxed attitude between teachers and students.
Mr. Grosskopf found many hardships to plague the Hun-garian students. “The kids were dealing with so much… They had to deal with a bad economy, an uncertain future, and a much higher level of al-coholism [than found in the U.S.],” Mr. Grosskopf said, but then he went on to say that no matter what, they had friends and family to turn to and find
comfort in, compared to Amer-ica where we mainly find value in material things.
Mr. Grosskopf also learned that no matter where you go, kids are just kids. The stu-dents in Hungary, however, did seem to have longer at-tention spans than students in the U.S. On a long bus ride with the students, Mr. Gross-kopf noticed that they just sat quietly. They didn’t need tele-vision or iPods or books to sus-tain their attention, they could just sit and think. Mr. Gross-kopf was surprised when the
students gradually taught him this technique of “doing noth-ing.” Barcs is in the country-side, and Mr. Grosskopf found that he could sit by a forest or a stream and simply think.
That is one of the many things Mr. Grosskopf miss-es about Hungary, but he is happy to be back. Students in turn, are happy to have him back. Junior Brianne Thomp-son was particularly happy to see Mr. Grosskopf. “[Mr. Grosskopf is] a really good teacher,” she said. “He engag-es everyone and explains ideas really well.” Another fascinat-ing aspect of Mr. Grosskopf’s trip was that he kept a blog that he frequently updated throughout the year. On it, he told stories of his classes and trips, and how he and his fam-ily felt while in Hungary.
Upon returning to Roos-evelt, Mr. Grosskopf is shocked at how much more work it is to be an American teacher. In his blog he said, “From a foreign language position with mini-mal meetings and planning and almost no paper grading, as well as exponentially fewer hours, I looked back on my job at Roosevelt and thought man, that is a big job.”
Today, he is very grateful for the life-changing opportunity he received by going on this trip. “Every day I see someone who re-minds me of someone from Barcs and my heart falls a little,” he said. He may miss Hungary, but Mr. Grosskopf is looking forward to the adventure of another out-standing year at Roosevelt High School.
Read Mr. Grosskopf's blog at http://march2barcs.blogspot.com.
Maggie ColburnStaff Reporter
New computer class comes to RHS
Have you ever wished you could program comput-
ers? At Roosevelt there’s an AP class for that, making its début at Roosevelt this year during third period in room 319.
The class was added to ex-pand the number of electives at Roosevelt. Principal Brian Vance said he thought there was an audience for AP Com-puter Science at Roosevelt so it made sense to add it to the course catalog.
Garfield also started its computer science program re-cently, but Mr. Vance stated that the start of the Garfield program had nothing to do with beginning a similar pro-gram at Roosevelt.
Andrew Davidson, the teacher of the new class, has another view on it. He sees pro-gramming as something every-one should learn. To illustrate this idea he pointed to a quote from “The Sorcerers and Their Apprentices,” by Frank Moss: “Simply using computers is like knowing how to read and not knowing how to write. In our society, you need to know how to do both.”
During a recent class pe-riod, most students were de-signing a program that would print an image of the Space
Needle made out of slashes and asterisks that could be re-sized by changing one number in a code. A few select students were starting a different proj-ect: a random seating chard generator that Mr. Davidson could use for all his classes.
Writing a code itself seems bland. The screen appears somewhat like Microsoft Word: you type in the code and when you run it, the code’s output appears in a different window.
Despite this, Mr. Davidson assured the class that things would get more interesting as the year went on. As a demon-stration, he showed the class a program that designs behav-iors for different animals, rep-resented by symbols that run around a screen. He informed the students that they would have the chance to make the same kind of program later in the year.
Mr. Davidson was hired just last year to teach the AP Computer Science class. At the time of his hiring, he had 25 years of professional expe-rience in programming, and a masters degree in computer science. His hiring coincided with Dan Norton-Middaugh leaving Roosevelt who, accord-ing to Mr. Vance, left for “per-sonal reasons.” While it was too late to add AP Computer Science to the course catalog, Mr. Davidson did take over the Web Design classes that
Mr. Norton-Middaug has been teaching, and also started a Intro to Computer Science class halfway through the year to segue into the full-blown AP Computer Science class.
When you look at the dy-namics of this new AP class, it’s obvious that the Intro class was a success. Nearly half of the 26 students are returning from either Intro to Computer
Science or the Computer Sci-ence club, which was created after kids heard about the In-tro class. Because of this, as one student said, “Everyone in Computer Science wants to be in Computer Science.” Junior Kevin Ault described the class as “Just one of those things you where you get it or don’t.” He went on to say that “It’s a really useful field; everywhere you go to work there’s a use for programming. Everything runs on software,“ but tem-pered that with, “You have to think a lot because there’s a lot of logic involved… you have to think like a computer.”
The hardest logic-based piece of programming is what you learn at the beginning: how to talk to the computer. Once you can do that, then creativity plays a big role. “What it’s about is taking the logic-based computer and connecting the dots to make it useful for people,” is how Ault described programming. Mr. Davidson agreed, saying that artists and musicians could get just as much out of pro-gramming as math and sci-ence people.
Galen CaldwellStaff Reporter
Students in AP Computer Science design a program that draws the Space Needle using slashes and asterisks.
PhO
tO b
y v. N
gu
yeN
Mr. Grosskopf poses with his students in Hungary. He spent a year teaching English there.
PhO
tO c
Ou
rtes
y O
f Dav
iD g
rOss
kOPf
Roosevelt welcomes back a beloved language arts teacher
The RoosevelT News opiNioN•ocTobeR
8
RHS writer suggests ‘Republicrats’ partyPolarization between Democrats and Republicans seen in the political polarization of RHS
Everywhere you turn nowadays, from Fox News Channel to “The Daily
Show,” you are reminded of how dys-functional our political system is. The 2012 presidential election is coming up, and most candidates have initiated million dollar ad campaigns to tell us how their opponent is not only wrong, but out to destroy life as we know it. Anyone who is paying attention to American politics has probably heard a mention of “polarization” between the two parties, but some ask, what does polarization mean? You could go with the dictionary definition: “The partial or complete polar separation of positive and negative electric charge in a nu-clear, atomic, molecular, or chemical system,” but that doesn’t get you very far. If you’ve taken physics and under-stand why people use “polarization” as a metaphor, great, but I for one haven’t finished physics, so I’m sticking with what I know based on context.
Polarization, as meant by politicians and news hosts, describes how the po-litical parties are becoming more and more adversarial. In America today it seems that a person is either a Demo-
crat or a Republican. People see no in-between. This causes constant bickering between the parties in D.C, keeping our government stag-nant. Just look at how they dealt with the budget crisis. Two months were spent arguing about how to deal with the debt ceiling, time that could have been spent coming up with something constructive.
This polarization isn’t just in our capital; it manifests itself in our com-munities as well. Voicing conser-
vative ideals in a class discussion at Roosevelt provokes polarization to rear its ugly head. As Roosevelt junior Ben
Briggs put it, “Being conservative in this school is like walking around with a Ku Klux Klan hat.”
He went on to say, “People are afraid to talk about it.” If you try to voice a conservative opinion, people will just interrupt or shout you down. I’ve seen
it happen in classes before. Oftentimes you can’t even get your whole idea out without someone calling you a bigot.
Briggs agrees with the majority of kids at Roosevelt on most issues, but be-cause he has voiced alternate opinions, at times he stands out.
At our school you are considered a Democrat until you say something
that marks you as a Republican, much like people in our courts are seen as innocent until they say something in-criminating. This was apparent when I asked around about conservative stu-dents. I heard answers like, “She had a project that was anti-abortion, so she’s
probably a Republican.” Yet this might just relate to her religious beliefs and on all other topics she might have been
liberal.Stereotyping goes both ways.
While conservatives and Republicans do exist in Seattle, people who don’t live here see only that side of the lib-eral city. Never mind that Bellevue is quite conservative, as well as much
of the Seattle metropolitan area. Our city is as much a victim to this
all-or-nothing view as anywhere or anyone else. In the same way, hav-ing a liberal majority qualifies Seattle as Democratic, a person with 70 per-cent liberal and 30 precent conserva-tive views qualifies as a Democrat. Why is that? You don’t call juice that’s 70 percent apple and 30 percent cran-berry, apple juice. No, you call it cran-apple juice. So maybe,when we look at regular people, we should see them as Republicrats. Most of us are really hybrids, having views from both sides. You can’t fit everyone in the country into categories. This whole polarization issue is a case study in stereotyping, one that people have come to accept without question.
The real cause of all this is the politicians. They condemn opponents’ ideas because it benefits them to do so, not because they feel passionate about the issue. The public’s views aren’t that polarized. All they want is a healthy economy, a safe country and a future for their children. All this infighting caused by polarization stops us from working toward these goals. So maybe next time someone voices a different politi-cal opinion than yours, take a second to lis-ten to it and maybe you’ll learn that the two of you aren’t that different after all.
I’ll only pay Sinatra for the moonNASA to spend billions while our schools lose millions
Kellen Lambert-VailStaff Graphics & Reporter
The financial cost isn’t even the most concerning problem that this rocket imposes on us. I’m not talking about greenhouse gases, but waste in the atmosphere. Once the rocket breaks Earth’s gravitational pull and no longer needs the thrusters, the top pops off, and everything else is discarded as space junk. They said we would be able to see the ISS clear-ly by 2015, but I think what we’ll re-ally be able to see is debris lining our night skies. “Is that a shooting star, dad?” “Ha ha, no, Jimmy, that’s a fuel tank burning as it falls through the atmosphere to Earth’s surface. Ain’t it pretty?”
That is just atrocious. I know there isn’t nec- essarily a way to prevent space litter if we want to have space travel, but don’t you think we should be smart enough to limit that to a minimum? Come on, America. Get it together. I would rather see the Ori-on constellation than the Orion
rock-
et fragments. As for us, RHS seniors will be in their 30s, presumably with young children of their own by the time the Orion capsule actually lands on an asteroid. So does this ten or 20-year gap make our beloved space shuttles a work of fiction for this coming generation? Like we now admire cars from 1950, kids in the future will look at our orca whale-patterned ships in awe and amaze-ment, and say to themselves, “Oh god, they used to ride in that?”. But you know, that’s just how fashion works. In 40 years people will wear space shuttle bits on lanyards, while at the same time, they won’t be able to go to college due to lack of fund-ing. Just a thought, but perhaps we should wait for a more stable time to start big spending again? Who cares if China or India catch up to us in the Space Race? It’ll be a humbling experience for our uptight competi-tive Americans.
““ ‘ Is that a shooting star, Dad?’
‘Ha ha, no, Jimmy, that’s a fuel tank burning as it falls through the
at- mosphere to Earth’s surface. Ain’t it pretty?’
This past July, the space shuttle Atlantis ran its last mission
to the International Space Sta-tion (ISS), marking the retirement of the space shuttle, the world’s first reusable space craft. But this does not necessarily mean that we should take off our 3-D glasses as we leave the theatre. The show’s not over yet. Tests and studies will still be conducted in the ISS for the next how-ever-long-it-takes-for-NASA-to-be-satisfied.
While the Russian spacecraft Soyuz runs supplies and Russian and American astronauts (oh, the irony) back and forth to the ISS, engineers at NASA will be working busily on a new model of a rocket. Based off of the basic shape and design of the Apollo capsule, this rocket will take Americans to space in about 12 years. In 2015 we will land on asteroids, and in 2035 we will not yet visit, but orbit Mars! I’ll
be old by then. Shucks, guess that means I’m out of the space race.
It is estimated that by the time the first test run is initiated in 2017, NASA will have spent $18 billion on the project. Ouch. Is this really a good idea? I am extremely excited for the new discoveries to be made, but I am wary in agree-ing that this will in any way have a beneficial or even neutral effect on the economy. Apparently this will make plenty of new jobs, at least, for that .005 percent of people who have specialized in space aero- nautics and e n g i n e e r i n g . Those people will sure be paid well! M e a n w h i l e , NASA will spend $19,000 million next year alone. That’s enough to pay for about 600,000 schools to actually have good school lunches. Real food.
Galen CaldwellStaff Reporter
“
“Being conservative in this school is like walking around with a Ku Klux Klan hat.
illu
sTRa
Tio
N b
y i.
co
ulT
eR
illusTRaTioN by K. lambeRT-vail
The RoosevelT NewsopiNioN •ocTobeR
9
It costs less to care, more to criminalizePortugal proves we’re paying to dig our own graves as a result of U.S. drug policy
Not only are we paying at the mercy of broken systems, but we’re doing so in light of a growing mountain of evidence that our criminalization of drugs is only worsening cycles of our most pressing political prob-lems. Please go online. Americans need to know these contradictions; we need to challenge them. For decades America has been suffering from what I like to call the “Lumpy Rug Syndrome.” We push prob-lems like addiction, the homeless, obesity etc. under the rug with “quick fixes” such as imprisonment, diet pills etc. But all that stuff is still there and now we are tripping on a lumpy rug. We must institute drastic change to return focus to the care of the American people or it will be our generation that pays for our own
Fiona HofferOpinion Editor
Portugal AmericaBeginning in 2001, Portugal
changed all policies concerning personal drug possession from a criminal issue to a health concern. Now someone caught with drugs commits a civil offense, not a crimi-nal offense.
An offender is now sent in front of a panel of three people: a social worker, a health-care professional, and someone with a legal back-ground. Instead of the more expen-sive jail/prison time, which does little to address the source of the problem, treatment is now offered to any person who seeks it. Other things such as a small fine for pub-lic use, or sanctions (such as being banned from a certain neighborhood or the loss of a license) are occasion-ally used as well.
This does not include drug traf-ficking, which is still illegal. In fact, Portugal’s policies have better al-lowed them to address large-scale
drug trafficking now that their po-lice force can focus on bigger issues. Like the U.S, Portugal was perceiv-ing exponential growth in the epi-demic of addiction. They switched their policies from punishment to rehabilitation at the suggestion of a national commission hired to assess the nation’s drug problem.
The huge amount of money saved went to more cost-efficient, commu-nity-based support programs and treatment. The number of people seeking treatment doubled, drug use has not skyrocketed but instead fallen in nearly all categories, over-dose deaths have been cut in half, and in only six years, new annual HIV cases dropped from 1,400 to 400. In ten years Portugal has suc-ceeded in greatly reducing the effects of addiction through treatment, safe injection sites, and a lack of stigma, creating safer, healthier and more productive communities.
In contrast, June 17, 2011 marked America’s 40-year anniversary of the
War on Drugs. U.S. Drug Czar Gil Ker-likowske stated in 2009 that Obama’s Administration would bring the end to the drug war. Your tax dollars beg to differ.
America has some of the harsh-est criminal drug policies but also the highest cocaine and marijuana usage rates by a long shot. One-and-a-half million Americans are arrested for drug possession every year, 46 percent for marijuana possession alone.
It takes an average of $20,000 less per person per year to treat addiction than it does to incarcerate someone. Meanwhile, the 2010 projection for only state prison budgets is $50 billion per year, while 53 percent of state prison-ers qualify as having addiction issues.
Overdose is now the second leading cause of accidental death in America.
One-third of annual new HIV cases in adolescents and adults are from dirty needles. Over half of the babies now born with HIV were infected by their parents’ lack of clean needles.
Our policies also brought shocking racial discrimination. By 2003 African Americans and Latinos were arrested for drug-law violations at a rate 238 percent greater than whites, although all use drugs at similar rates. Such policies have been ripping apart family systems and killing prospects of a bet-ter life for Latinos and African Ameri-cans for decades.
Our streets are filled with the suf-fering, sick, insane and homeless like they never were 40 years ago. The re-sult of our 40-year, trillion dollar drug war is that our people continue to pay for the demoralization and breakdown of our society at a higher cost for tax payers than rehabilitation.
downard spiral, and that of our children. Addiction is just like abuse of power. It doesn’t care who it affects and once
it gets hungry it will take as much as you allow it to. First they tell us there is an “undisclosed” military budget. Then school budgets start getting massive cuts. Then people fall into debt with student loans not for four-year univer-sities but for the growing tuition of community colleges. It is all connected and it will continue unless we stop it. Go online, read, empower our generation, and see for yourself how much our broken systems are already taking from us.
For a full works cited and to read more and empower the people visit: http:/www.therooseveltnews.org/It_Costs_Less_to_Care/Welcome.html
ants & Raves
illusTRaTioN by G.vaN DeR Zee
Decriminalization. If you are expecting to read some hippy dippy doctrine of “free love means free drugs!” as seen in
the eyes of some rebellious teenage writer, go read something else. In my research to substantiate decriminalization as a proactive model for America’s perceived growing epidemic of addiction I gathered over a dozen reputable literary sources, a third of which were independent, evidence-based scientific journals.
I was appalled by the data I discovered.Originally I planned to show this evidence in response to
the three most common arguments against decriminalization. However, the evidence proved too much to present in half of a newspaper spread. I implore you to visit http:/www.theroosevelt-news.org/It_Costs_Less_to_Care/Welcome.html as soon as possible and read what I originally intended to show you.
I know our systems are broken. I’ve watched communities
and friends fall and die at the hands of a War on Drugs that punishes those suffering from the genetic disease of addiction as if they were born criminals. However, a staggering body of evidence reveals America’s 40-year-long War on Drugs to be much more costly to our entire nation than I ever could have imagined. The contradictions in stigma surrounding policy, unjust legislation and the horrendous cost of incarceration are shamelessly cheating not only addicts and alcoholics, but our entire nation. The addict’s fate is not at all their own; these startling figures reveal how much the everyday American tax-payer is paying for the breakdown of our economy, health, education and public safety and the crippling of our future. If you care at all about your future, find time to go online and read these ignored truths. For now, here is a comparison of Portugal’s ten-year anniversary of decriminalization and America’s 40-year anniversary of the War on Drugs.
VS.
illusTRaTioN by i. coulTeR
AN OLD SCHOOL PROJECTOR AND A
COUPLE OF TELEVISIONS! IS THAT HOW I HAVE TO GET MY IN-FORMATION? DO I THINK THIS IS WORKING? NO! NOT AT ALL. I’M A NEW STUDENT, SO I WANT TO BE IN THE KNOW. I FEEL OUT OF THE
LOOP! I THINK THIS CHANGE OF ANNOUNCEMENT POLICY HAS LEFT MANY PEOPLE, NOT JUST NEWCOMERS, IN THE DARK. THE PROJEC-TOR THAT HAS BEEN SET UP IN THE LUNCHROOM IS MEANINGLESS BECAUSE NOBODY LOOKS AT IT. NOT EVERYBODY EVEN EATS IN THE LUNCHROOM, AND IF PEOPLE ARE IN THE LUNCHROOM, THEY
HAVE BETTER THINGS TO DO THEN LOOK AT A BRIGHT UGLY SCREEN DISPLAYING A NEW ANNOUNCEMENT EVERY FEW MINUTES. IT’S A BAD SOLUTION. IT’S SO BAD THAT IT SHOULDN’T EVEN BE CALLED
A SOLUTION. I CAN’T SAY I MISS THE OLD ANNOUNCEMENTS BECAUSE I WASN’T HERE, BUT FROM WHAT I’VE HEARD THEY
WERE FULL OF GOOD INFORMATION AND SOMETIMES EVEN FUNNY. INSTEAD, I HEAR SNIPPETS THROUGH TEACH-ERS ABOUT SCHOOL EVENTS. “OPEN MIC TONIGHT,” “YOU SHOULD GO. I‘LL GIVE YOU ExTRA CREDIT…” NO I CAN’T, I AL-
READY HAVE PLANS BECAUSE I DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT IT EARLY ENOUGH! DAMN. THE ONLY SPEAKER ANNOUNCEMENTS I HAVE HEARD WERE SOME IN SIxTH PERIOD ABOUT HOW
EVERYONE SHOULD ATTEND THE VOLLEYBALL GAME. GOOD LUCK TO THE TEAM, BUT THAT’S NOT ALL THAT SHOULD BE ANNOUNCED! WHAT ABOUT OTHER SPORTS TEAMS, CLUBS, EVENTS, FUNDRAISERS, LATE STARTS/EARLY DISMISS-ALS, CURRICULUM NIGHT? I DON’T KNOW ABOUT ANY OF IT, IN FACT I LEARNED ABOUT THE LATE START THROUGH TWITTER.
I SAY BRING ‘THE ANNOUNCEMENTS BACK. - JULES PUCKUTT-
Clara “Sassy” SuttonNon-offended Sophomore
The RoosevelT News opiNioN•ocTobeR
10
Booing: a friendly pat on the backEven underclassman think it’s all fun and games
workout or, god forbid, a popular (but not too mainstream) cafe. perhaps someone should inform our pedaling friends of the basic laws of physics. even as a girl, i am aware that if even a small sedan and a bike have a head-on collision, that the bicy-clist will not come out resilient and ready to power up the next hill (in the middle of the road). do not simulate the tour de france; this isn’t eu-rope; we have roads here. the last thing a commut-er
Every year, seniors boo at all the underclassmen, particularly the in-coming freshmen. mr. vance even addressed the “problem” at the
2011 homecoming assembly to the entire student body. my question is: is it really that huge of a deal? answer: no, not at all.
none of the freshmen seem to be personally offended by it. they all un-derstand that it’s a joke. ninth grader isaac cordes said that “everyone i was with… we were all laughing.”
though there has been bullying and all-around rudeness to freshmen in the past outside of assemblies, it seems to be mostly gone this year. i say this is be-cause there are no hard feelings between the two groups. booing of freshmen by upperclassmen is a tradition. every class knows what it feels like to get booed at when they’re freshmen. the same people spend the next few years learning how hard high school can be, and when they get to their last year they want to give freshman a taste of why, yes, they do think they’re superior...not because they’re better people, but because
freshmen haven’t had to bust their asses for four years with tons of homework and drama and all the other things that come with being a teenager.
when students become seniors, they want to show off their new status at the top of the school. if some freshmen take offense at it, they should realize it’s nothing per-sonal. the senior class isn’t booing at them because they have a problem with every person in the new class. it’s just a rite of passage. the students so close to graduating get to show off their seniority by messing with the new kids.
this year, the only time the freshmen were booed was during a cheer that barely any of them participated in. when a class lacks school spirit (or more likely, they don’t know the cheer), it seems only fair for the older students to show a little disap-proval in a joking manner.
while the rest of the student body boos freshmen during the assembly, you can still find upperclassmen and freshmen friends in the hallways. i’m not saying that bullying is okay, or that being rude to someone just for being an underclassman is cool at all. i’m just pointing out that really it shouldn’t be a big deal, and every person i was with knew it wasn’t personal. we all shook it off as a joke. seriously, a little teasing between classes shouldn’t be seen as so horrible.
Joining the “be-cause-i-don’t-have-to-work” tennis moms and the aloof and self-absorb-ing hipsters is an emerging breed of contemptuous Jerk: the biker. yes, they are getting excel-lent ex-
ercise and yes, they’re reducing their “carbon foot-print,” but i won-der if their actual footprint is shrink-ing, as it seems bik-ers are suffering from a serious na-poleon
complex. never have i been more terrified of be-ing mowed over by a bicycle than being hit by a car. i pray not to be in the way of an intense cardio-
needs is to worry about a pair of guy pals wearing lance armstrong costumes passing them at ev-ery stop sign. if bi-cycles want to own the road, give them a separate road. or even better, teach them some manners. -emma parks-
ants & raves
illu
sTRa
Tio
N by
G. v
aN d
eR z
ee
illusTRaTioN by G. vaN deR zee
The RoosevelT NewsopiNioN •ocTobeR
11
Davis reveals death penalty demonsAre felons the only criminals in the courts?
Before he was put to death in a georgia prison just last
month, not too many people, especially around these parts, had ever even heard troy da-vis. not many knew about his 1991 conviction for murdering an off-duty police officer. they didn’t know about the murder weapon that was never found, nor did they know of the nine witnesses, on whose testimo-nies davis’ tragic fate rested. they certainly didn’t know that seven of those nine wit-nesses later recanted their tes-timonies. and yet on sept. 21, 2011, davis name—and the missing gun, and unreliable witnesses, and all the feeble
ground on which his convic-tion was built—was inescap-able.
while davis’ story was un-kown by most seattleites, tucked away in our sheltered corner of the country, virtually until he was already gone, his sad saga had been dragging on for over two long decades in the opposite reaches of the nation. the details of his story, includ-ing appeal after rejected ap-peal, four separate scheduled execution dates, and multiple petitions from his trove of sup-porters, as moving as they are, came too late for many.
i’m not going to tell you that troy davis was innocent. the only person who could have said that with any real certainty (davis himself) was forever silenced a month ago in Jackson, georgia. but one thing that we can be absolute-ly certain of is this: troy da-vis’ execution was a horrible, appalling mistake that should never have happened. even if he was guilty, the enormous amount of doubt surrounding his case—the very chance that he was innocent, as he main-tained that he was until his last breath—reduces his exe-cution to a glorified murder in its own right. the fact is that the life of any human being is far too precious to be thrown away on such insubstantial grounds.
davis’ execution serves as a cruel reminder of how blood-thirsty a country we actually live in. since the death pen-alty was reinstated in 1976, more than 1,200 people have been executed, including five in washington state, with one having happened just last year. by far the most savage state in the union is texas, with 464 executions since 1976 and 17 last year alone, and 24 the year before that (statistics from deathpenal-tyinfo.com). if these numbers aren’t enough to convince you of america’s barbarism, con-sider that texas governor rick perry was met with spontane-ous applause and cheering at a recent debate when the me-diator mentioned his record: 234 executions during his ten-ure alone.
despite the explosion of me-dia attention, both news and social, that davis’ death gen-erated, we now see an impor-tant opportunity passing us by. with all the compassionate and infuriated facebook and twitter updates now buried under an ever-growing moun-tain of new information, the tragic lesson of davis’ case is fleeting, disappearing from the minds of many of those who were briefly moved to make a difference. it’s imperative that we take advantage of this mo-mentary flare of humanity be-fore it vanishes completely and leaves us to face the harsh and bloodthirsty reality of our country’s capital punishment habit.
considering the fact that we live in a relatively protected region of the country—that is to say, executions are far less commonplace in our state then in others—the most im-
portant course of action is to raise awareness within our own community. seattleites have a vision of themselves
as a progressive, forward-thinking group of people. why, then, has the death penalty not yet been abolished within our state, while 16 other states (as well as the nation’s capitol) have long done away with the punishment? it is the duty of
the citizens to push our lead-ers to do away with this bar-baric practice, fulfilling the progressive image we have
made out for ourselves, and hope to lead the rest of the union by example.
Theo “Da’Truth” HendersonConcerned Citizen
ants & raves there are so many problems with met-ro buses. there are screaming babies, crying girlfriends (not mine), hobos talking to them-selves, and other sketchy characters. but no bus that i have ever ridden is as con-sistently awful both physically and emo-tionally as the 71. it is like a kennel of mangy, unhappy pit bulls, and most of them are freshmen. why do they have to make an already ar-duous chore incon-ceivably
worse by stand-ing there, scream-ing, making faces at cars,yelling at them to honk, throwing trash in the street trying to get cars to run over it, and making us all wish we took a different bus? it is complete mayhem, and it makes me feel bad for the bus drivers, because they deal with it ev-ery day as well, cart-ing us around like chauffeuring a pack of hungry hyenas. honestly though, i could handle all this if it weren’t for the fact that the bus manages to be late every single day. honestly, this
is the one thing that puts me over the edge. yes, almost every bus in seattle is late, but usually only by a few minutes, if at all. in the morn-ing, the 71 should be at my stop at 7:23 and yet, i can’t remem-ber the last time it came before 7:35. it’s worse in the after-noon. it should come at 2:45. seriously, can anyone remember the last time it came at 2:45? or even 3:00? i didn’t think so. and because apparently, metro’s sole purpose is to make everyone’s life miserable, they have raised the bus fare
50 cents. are you kid-ding me? am i actually supposed to pay that much? they should be paying me for the horror that they put me through every day! pull it together metro. i’m sick of rid-ing in a hellhouse. -cole garry-
““ Davis’ execution serves as a cruel reminder of how bloodthirsty a country we actually live in.
illusTRaTioN by T. heNdeRsoN
illu
sTRa
Tio
N by
G. v
aN d
eR z
ee
How did students react to the in-stallment of the security cameras?
When student Toby Rose arrived at school for his first day of se-
nior year, he was appalled to find that numerous cameras had appeared, 53 extra pairs of eyes lined the hallways of Roosevelt High School. Curious, Rose felt that he and the rest of the student body deserved an answer. “We don’t even know the deal. We should know. We deserve an explanation,” said Rose, “The cameras have given the adminis-tration a bad reputation and have only resulted in an anxious student body.”
Rose is not the only puzzled student at RHS. Now, after almost two months under camera surveillance, the Roos-evelt student body demands answers.
Most students have discovered the cameras through the rumor mill or simply by looking at the ceiling, fac-ing Roosevelt’s newest addition to the security entourage. The overwhelm-ing amount of cameras have students pushing for more information. How-ever, there is no legislation that gives public high school students a right to know. “If I saw a camera in my classroom I would be furious,” said social studies teacher Ian Malcom.
“I can see why students are upset.”Rose argues that the hastily-as-
sembled cameras, put up with no forewarning or explanation, have created an unfriendly barrier be-tween students and administration, which only reinforces the “us ver-sus them” mentality among students.
“Why should we respect [the ad-ministration] if we know they don’t respect us?” Rose remarked. Junior Lucas Marshall agreed, “If they treated us better, maybe there wouldn’t be so much student resentment toward the school and we might actually enjoy it.”
According to Rose and Marshall, the security cameras only enforce the no-tion that administration are more out to discipline students than to nurture their academic growth. “When you walk into a public store or a mall, you are a guest. They don’t know you, so it makes sense that there are cameras,” added Rose, “but school is supposed to be a community, a second family, a place to learn and grow. It’s ironic when the administration tell you that they trust you but then put cameras up to monitor you.” Rose, Marshall and several other students believe that the cameras are doing nothing but raising questions: Who looks at the cameras? How often? Where are the cameras? Not only are these answers not clear
to students, but they are also creating a nervous and anxious student body. “These cameras have a chilling effect on academic freedom,” said Mr. Malcolm.
Who monitors the cameras?
According to Julie Rogel of the security department at RHS, the installment of the cameras has been a “long time coming.” Ms. Rogel added that only the security staff, Principal Brian Vance, and the district security (located down-town) have access to what is recorded
by the cameras. The camera feed is monitored 24/7 by the central district security office. “The central district security is the most advanced system
in the district,” explained Ms. Rogel. “The cameras are for prevention and
intervention, not for surveillance use,” stated Mr. Vance, yet many students still feel that their privacy is violated. Students believe that the idea of a per-son monitoring their actions is absurd and intrusive. However, student privacy rights are rarely talked about and most students do not have an idea of what their rights are. Because of little knowl-edge on privacy rights, protection and a violation of privacy are easily misjudged in many Roosevelt student minds.
What many students may not know is that the administration of a school has more power over restric-tion of privacy of public high school students than they do over any other student right. In fact, students at-tending public high schools do not have the absolute right to privacy. Student privacy rights are hard to locate, as they are not listed in the student handbook. These hand-books only provide details for stu-dent’s rights to freedom of speech, right to assemble, right to petition, freedom of the press, freedom from unreasonable search and seizure,
and equal educational opportunity.
The RoosevelT News The RoosevelT NewsFeaTuRe FeaTuRe• •ocTobeR ocTobeR
12 13
Roosevelt’s new ‘Big Brother’ draws attention to privacy rights Is Facebook safe?
Beyond a fad or a trend, Facebook is a trademark of our generation,
and thanks to it, we are able to con-nect with thousands of people with a single click. Today, the social network-ing site has over 800 million active us-ers. Basic information like usernames, profile pictures, photos and contact information are visible to Google and
to any other search engine. The con-cern is that social networking on the web blurs the line between what is private information and what isn’t. Privacy settings on Facebook are con-stantly changing, putting users at risk for showing more of their profile then they may mean to. These recurring
updates spark debate: do we really have control over who sees the infor-mation we put on the web anymore?
“The difference between the security cameras and Facebook is that on Face-book, you get to decide what you’re put-ting out there. You have more control,” said sophomore Josie Diether-Martin. To Diether-Martin and most adoles-cents who use social networking sites, the sole purpose is to interact with
their friends. “If you want people to know [ some th ing ] , you put it on F a c e b o o k , ” said Josie.
One anony-mous student who frequently posts the infa-mous red-cup shots, or the classic beer can in one hand,
Jets sign in the other, doesn’t usu-ally think twice about posting her/his risqué pictures. “It doesn’t mat-ter, I’ve blocked people,” said the stu-dent. This person is aware of the pri-vacy settings available, and uses them. Even with the risks of unruly photos like these being posted online, the
student feels that Facebook is more private and safe than Roosevelt is.
“You’ve got to have discretion on what you post online,” said Mr. Malcom.
However, another anonymous stu-dent argues that people who regularly post private information in a widely accessible place like Facebook, don’t deserve the right to be angry or feel violated when a larger institution, such as a public high school or the govern-ment, begins to monitor their behavior.
Are recent security measures supported by the government an
invasion of privacy?
After Sept.11, 2001, many more ar-eas of people’s lives have become
open to scrutiny. In the quest to make our country more secure and safe af-ter the attack, airplane security, phone tapping, financial records and Internet surveillance have been kicked into high gear, with a security camera installed on almost every other traffic light.
After 9/11, a Pentagon Program called Total Information Awareness proposed hunting for potential attack-ers by finding patterns in immense collections of public and private data such as visa and passport information, telephone calling records, email, travel
data and credit card transactions. Mr. Malcom regarded the government’s search through data for patterns involv-ing terrorism threats as a “giant fishing expedition of ‘can you find that needle in the haystack.’” Many students are concerned with their privacy, but oth-ers override these concerns with the is-sue of security. Senior Erik Strandoo also shared his thoughts on how easy it is for strangers to find information about you that you might not have wanted to be visible to the public, sim-ply by typing your name into a search engine. “More and more things are be-coming less private,” said Strandoo.
Hackers are constantly seeking pri-vate information and are often success-ful in obtaining it. The use of social me-dia by government organizations poses the question: Are the privacy rights on your social media network in play? How much control the average Ameri-can may think they have over their own privacy may not be accurate. There is no way to know who is watching.
Whether in society, social media, or even within the halls of our own school, the privacy of the individual seems to be constantly recorded and reviewed. Echoing the thoughts and sentiments of many Roosevelt stu-dents, Rose pondered “Is it worth feel-ing like everybody’s being watched?”
The new ubiquitous security has a "chilling effect on academic freedom" and enforces the "us versus them" mentality amongst students and administratorsEmma Dunlap and Emma Parks
Staff Reporters
Student opinions about privacy rights:
“I feel uncomfortable that the government can access personal infor-mation.” – freshman Alex Mountsier
“Based on past events in this nation, I believe that these security measures are just and reasonable.” – junior Mitchell Shepherd
“For the sake of security, sometimes it [the cameras] has to invade privacy. In the rare instances, it’s worth it.” – senior Erik Strandoo
“Laws are for a good cause, you got to do what you got to do to keep people safe.” – sophomore John Otten
w
The Roosevelt News polled a random 71 stu-dents to represent the student body on their opinions about their privacy in three different topics: Facebook, school, and public world.
How much do you know about your rights as a public school student?A LOT, A LITTLE, NOTHING AT ALL?
Have you ever thought about who looks at your Facebook page? A LOT,SOMETIMES, RARELY, NEVER?
How much do you think the government regulates your actions as a citizen? A LOT, A LITTLE, NONE?
53 cameras that were installed over the summer, both outside and inside Roosevelt High School.
112,609 dollars spent on the entire project, includ-ing the installment of the cameras. The money put forth for the cameras was reserved for projects of a much larger importance than that of stu-dent activities and school materials.
500-1000 dollars spent on a single pulled fire alarm, charged by the Seattle Fire Depart-ment.
28 students (out of the 71 stu-dents polled) do not know anything about their privacy rights as a public school student.
Numbers in the
Feature
Pho
Tog
RaPh
by
c. g
aRR
y
Two of the security cameras in-stalled in the hallway.
Pho
Tog
RaPh
by
c. g
aRR
y
Bea Misher and Ellie Neilson Feature Editors
Mitchell Bouldin catches a deflected pass in the end zone to get a crucial two point conversion in the fourth quarter.
The RoosevelT News spoRTs•ocTobeR
14
Riders come home with anchorRoosevelt football team fights for win versus Ballard
Bike polo championships ride through Seattle
This past August, the World Hard-court Bike Polo Championships
were held in Seattle. Seventy-two teams with three players per team par-ticipated in this annual tournament. Bike polo is similar to the sport polo, in which the players ride on horses as op-posed to bikes. A team consists of three players, each wielding a mallet. Simply put, each team must attempt to score a goal by hitting the ball into the oppo-nent’s goal with their mallet.
Hardcourt bike polo has grown sig-nificantly since the first tournament in 2003 and Seattle has developed into one of the most popular bike polo cities in the world.
Bike polo began receiving more at-tention following the World Cycle Mes-senger Championships held in Seattle in 2003. An informal bike polo tourna-
ment was organized as part of the festivities in 2003 and the sport quickly ex-panded to cites around the U.S. and the world. “Seattle is one of the most prominent cities,” said Matt Messenger, who has been playing since
1998 and is one of the founders of the sport in Seattle.
The number of annual bike polo tournaments has increased from one in 2003, to 90 in 2009.
The recent World Hardcourt Bike Polo Championships were held at Mag-nuson Park. “It was a big deal,” said Messenger, “This was the birth place of hardcourt bike polo.” Seventy-two teams participated in the event, includ-ing the 12 which emerged from the 48-team wild card tournament.
The bike polo community is at-tempting to promote their sport, but is still struggling to gain attention and recognition. RHS junior Lynden Dow-ell, an avid cyclist, said he has “never heard of bike polo.” However, Dowell mentioned that “it might be interesting to watch how people maneuver their bikes.” With courts located as close as the 65th Street park and under I-5, Roosevelt students and neighborhood residents have an opportunity to watch or play hardcourt bike polo as it con-tinues to grow in Seattle.
Ben SiegelStaff Reporter
Senior Garrett Mack leads the football team into the Homecoming assembly. He, along with the entire senior class, have never lost the Anchor Bowl to Ballard.
IllusTRaTIoN by a. baTayloa
The homecoming crowd was one of the largest so far this year.
The Roosevelt marching band forms their traditional “R” to conclude the halftime performance.
History of the Anchor Bowl
2003: BHS 32-02004: BHS 28-72005: BHS 33-282006: RHS 7-62007: BHS 20-102008: RHS 22-102009: RHS 21-14 (OT)2010: RHS 21-02011: RHS 28-19
On Oct. 13, the Roosevelt football team defeated the Ballard Beavers 28-19 at Memorial Stadium. Using an army of seven running backs who gained
over 275 yards on 56 rushing attempts, the Riders were able to overcome early mistakes and pull out the win. Johnny Verdiun led Ballard by completing 9 of his 23 passes for 189 yards and 2 touchdowns. Roosevelt had the 14-13 lead
at the half after a missed PAT by Ballard, but the big story of the game was Roosevelt’s second half defense, limiting Ballard to only 6 points after the break. A late touchdown and reception by Mitchell Bouldin on the ensuing two point conversion put the game out of reach with just over two minutes left.
phoTos by M. sMITh
IllusT
RaTIo
N by I
. coulT
eR
Note: the Roosevelt vs. Ballard football game gained its nickname “The Anchor Bowl“ in 2008. However, these two teams have been facing each other in all sports ever since both schools were es-tablished in the early 1900s.
“ “
Becoming a great athlete takes a lot of effort and
time. Does it also take a lot of money?
Playing a select sport can now cost over $2,000 a year. This cost doesn’t include out-of-town game expens-es such as transporta-tion, hotel rooms, food and gas for games as far away as Portland or Spokane.
Seattle United soc-cer player and RHS sophomore Hayley Miller pays $500 every two years for her Se-attle United uniform and supplies. “All the girls were higher class and defi-nitely didn’t have any money issues,” she said about one of her past Seattle United teams.
For players who can’t pay the high cost, most clubs of-fer scholarships. Seattle Unit-ed, the dominant select soc-cer program in the Seattle area, spends 4 percent of the club’s budget on scholarships. “This year the club is spend-ing $89,000 on financial as-sistance,” said SU President Bret MacPherson. Five percent of all the Seattle United play-ers have been provided schol-arships in the last two years, and although these scholar-ships are helpful, they are not always enough.
“Even if I got a scholarship I wouldn’t be able to afford select soccer,” said Corinna Wagner-Smith, a RHS sopho-
more. “I wouldn’t be able to afford it because of travel-ing costs; the hotel costs and gas costs. The amount of time my parents would spend tak-ing me to games is time they could be working and making money.”
Wagner-Smith’s parents each work 11 to 12-hour days
and wouldn’t be able to spare the time to take her to prac-tices and games. Her family is already struggling to support her older brother through col-lege, so even with a scholar-ship, select soccer is just not an op-tion.
“I would really like to do select soc-cer,” said Wagner-Smith, “Rec isn’t helping me improve at the rate I want to… I want to be able to keep up with everyone.”
Wagner-Smith’s only opportunity to play on a hard-training competitive team is at RHS. “I am using school to improve,” said Wag-ner-Smith, “It is my
select.”If players want the com-
petition and want to improve their skills but can’t afford the cost and time of select sports, what options do they have? Although playing on a recreational team is an option because the cost is low, recre-ational sports don’t offer the
intensity, competition and skill improvement that select teams do.
If year-round sports teams were available to students at low costs, it would help a large num-ber of students who can-not afford the current cost and commitment of select sports. If year-round teams were pro-
vided that included the com-
petition, year-round training and skill building that select teams do, but without the high cost and traveling commit-ments, low-income students would have the opportunity to improve and prepare to play at
a college level. “I think that regardless of
their family’s income, every student should have the op-portunity to achieve their ath-letic potential,” said Wagner-Smith.
The RoosevelT NewsspoRTsocTobeR
•
15
Seattle sports summer updateFor those who still think that the Mariners are good and the Huskies are badAlex Moon
Staff Reporter
Select team costs strangle player developmentCarmen Abbe
Staff Reporter
The Mariners gave their fans some hope at the beginning of the season, entering the All-Star break with a surprising record of 43-48. But in July their over-performing young team started to play like any other inexperienced team and a 17-game losing streak took them from play-off contention, and landed them in last place in their division and second to last place in the MLB. Realizing that the team wouldn’t make the playoffs, they traded two of their best pitch-ers: Erik Bedard to the Boston Red Sox and Doug Fister to the Detroit Tigers. In return, they received young, talented players. The Mariners have utilized this strategy of trading aging talent for young pros-pects ever since 2002, with the idea that it will pay off in the future. So far, it hasn’t been too successful.
New starting quarterback Keith Price and veteran running back Chris Polk are leading the Hus-kies to a surprising 5-2 record and a high ranking in the Pac-12 North Division. Some Husky fans had their doubts about the defense and whether it was good enough to lead them to the top in college football. But with their strong performances against good Pac-12 teams, it’s fair to say that both the defense and offense have the ability to contend with the best.
The Seahawks have started off their season with a record of 2-4, highlighted by an unlikely win at New York against the Giants, while the lowpoint was a crushing shutout against Pittsburgh. Fans were worried about the lack of leadership on the team, but Tarva-ris Jackson seems to have taken over that role. He led the no-huddle offense successfully which helped Seattle to a good showing against Atlanta and the win against the Giants. The only ques-tion now is Jackson's shoulder injury, which he sustained against the Giants, and how it will affect the Seahawks in the future.
These days, many people have lost faith in Seattle sports teams. Pessi-mism and low attendance are com-mon at Mariners games. However, more and more people are attend-ing the Sounders games. Although you don’t hear about the Sounders as much as the Mariners or the Se-ahawks, they have one of the high-est attendance records and some of the loudest fans in the MLS. They recently won the U.S. Open Cup, and are currently in second place in the Western Conference, going on to the playoffs to face Real Salt Lake.
Illu
sTRa
TIo
N b
y I.
co
ulT
eR
Mariners Sounders
Seahawks Husky football
IllusTRaTIoNs by G. vaN DeR Zee
I think that regardless of their family's income, ev-ery student should have the opportunity to achieve their athletic potential.
Clara SuttonStaff Reporter
Roosevelt athletes planning on playing a sport this year were met with an inconvenient surprise. Due
to increased transportation costs, the pay-to-play (PTP) amount doubled. This year, it costs $100 for the first sport, $50 for the second, and the third is free. Pay-to-play is the fee students must pay before they can participate in a school sport. But this wasn’t just a Roosevelt decision. Schools all over the Seattle Public School district are raising the cost of school sports. “It was a district decision, not ours,” said senior Michael Steckler, treasurer of the Roosevelt ASR. “ASR was invited to the meeting, but the district made the decision. I think it was the right thing to do.”
According to Athletics Secretary Laura Remme, the raise was due to transportation fees for the hundreds of students participating in RHS sports. Weekly games demand many buses to bring the athletes to their events, and in a sport like baseball, that can
require hiring a bus about 20 times a season for each team. Baseball transportation costs alone can reach $80,000. All sports money is put into a fund, and fees are withdrawn as needed.
In reality, Roosevelt has relatively low PTP costs compared to how much money the school spends on equipment and other
necessities. For example, football helmets have to be recertified for safety (or
more often, replaced) every single year. Roosevelt has been able to keep fees down for so long because of generous donations from boosters. Boosters also
pay for a lot of equipment. On Oct. 10 they replaced the wall padding for the wrestling teams, and the swimming clocks for the swim teams. In addition, they always pay for uniforms. Mike Scott, RHS athletic director, said “they’re a very valuable asset. We’re lucky we have them. They’re the reason we can
provide such a big program.” However, we might not be able to rely on this system for much longer if more profit isn’t generated to support our teams. The only question is, will the price go up again? “In time, I think it’ll go up again,” said Steckler. “Not anytime soon, but in a while.”
On June 23, 2011, sports network ESPN selected Ingraham High
School to be part of “Rise Up,” a new show called that organized, funded and documented the renovations of the athletic facilities of four high schools around the country. The renovation and construction at these high schools as well as the reactions from students and staff on the projects were all filmed and compiled into one-hour shows for each school. The show about Ingraham aired nationally on Sept. 20.
One reason Ingraham was selected is due to the fact that its gym floor hadn’t been updated since the school was built in 1959, making the surface extremely slippery and dangerous. Another was that the bleacher system in their gym barely worked. But now, thanks to the project, Ingraham has a new gym floor, a functional bleacher system, a new weight room, and new uniforms for all of their sports teams. The show not only chronicled the entire construction process, but also the impact the renovations had on the Seattle school.
The effects this had on the Ingraham community were huge. As mentioned
during the show, Ingraham sports have had a poor reputation around the city and the athletic facilities were the joke of the league. Now, however, they are doing their best to shake off these old reputations, and so far they have been successful in doing so. The football team
won four of their first five games, their best start in a decade. The renovations have energized other athletic teams in
the school as well. “It’s given life to all of our p r o g r a m s , ” said new head boys b a s k e t b a l l coach and a s s i s t a n t s p e c i a l e d u c a t i o n t e a c h e r Barry Jones. Coach Jones is looking
forward to the upcoming basketball season, “We’re extremely eager,” he
said.One of the reasons Ingraham was
chosen to receive this gift was because of their tremendous school spirit. During the show, host Chris Spielman described how he and ESPN felt “such a sense of community, a sense of
family, a sense of spirit,” at the school and how this made them want to help Ingraham.
And help out they did. “‘Rise Up’ coming to Ingraham really helped everyone come together as a team and a school and focus on being a family both on and off the field,” said senior cheerleader Mel Ellis. “It makes people want to come to school,” added Malik Barnes, a senior star football and basketball player at the school. Barnes described how the experience affected him: it made him step up and play harder and he now respects the school more and realizes how lucky he is.
Coach Jones talked about how ESPN “Rise Up” “brought a lot of relevance [to the school] again” and how Ingraham “has been revived” because of it.
“It’s given life to all our programs,” he added, “especially football and basketball.”
Athletic Director Traci Huffer echoed Coach Jones when she said that “Our athletes have a renewed sense of pride, enthusiasm, ownership of our building,
a n d community mainly due to the energy from our c o a c h i n g s t a f f , and the opportunity ESPN and ‘Rise Up‘ have given us.”
In the end, the shine from these gifts will fade. For now, they will serve to energize and inspire this community. Looking at Ingraham’s
whole experience with ESPN “Rise Up,” there are certainly lessons other schools can learn, such as appreciating what has been given to you and always being proud of your school despite the difficulties you might face. At Roosevelt, we can definitely take these two messages to heart. Ingraham represented both of them and ultimately, their patience paid off. ESPN could not have selected a more deserving school. Although their gifts might get old, the effects ESPN “Rise Up” brought with it will continue to have an impact on Ingraham High School for years to come.
The RoosevelT News spoRTs•ocTobeR
16
ESPN ‘Rise Up’ comes to Ingraham
Roosevelt's pay-to-play cost increase
Baker ConteStaff Reporter
Past Ingraham Records (Football, Basketball)
2010: 2-7, 2-8 2009: 1-9, 7-172008: 1-8, 9-122007: 1-9, 6-16 2006: 3-7, 0-20
400The number of students participating in fall sports, an increase of seven from last
year’s participation (393). While PTP costs may be inconvenient, they do not
seem to be an issue.
100The number of dollars athletes must pay to play a sport, doubling the former 50
dollar fee.
With new and improved facilities, Ingraham’s sports teams are optimistic and motivated to compete for state champion-ships.
Rams receive new facilities and uniforms
Roosevelt athletes still show up and play hard despite increased costs.
The RoosevelT NewsspoRTsocTobeR
•
17
UW's young talentSeattle athletes become prominent Huskies
Predictament: guessing for sports glory
Sports Calendar
Joe Knight Baker Conte Jules Puckett & Ellie Neilson
Emily Yockey Galen Caldwell Mitchell Smith
Cumulative Score 17 points 24 points 20 points 18 points 13 points 23 points
Washington Football @ Stanford
UW 31-23 Stanford 45-38 Stanford 28-14 Stanford 31-14 UW 24-21 Stanford 34-24
Seahawks @ NY Giants Giants 31-0 Giants 27-17 Giants 20-7 Giants 38-6 Giants 38-14 Giants 20-13
Sounders vs. Chicago Fire
Sounders 1-0 Sounders 3-1 Sounders 2-1 Sounders 3-1 Sounders 2-1 Sounders 2-1
RHS Football vs. Bal-lard
RHS 17-6 RHS 28-21 RHS 28-14 RHS 24-10 RHS 23-0 RHS 38-7
It hasn’t been this good to be a Husky fan in many years.
Far gone are the days of the winless football program, first round March Madness exits, and underperforming sports teams of the University of Washington. Despite recent rough patches, the UW has long been an athletic powerhouse. They have done this by consistently having good recruiting classes in all sports, but especially football and basketball. The UW’s new classes are no exception and that is what’s leading this influx of talent for the future.
In recent years the Husky talent has been showcased especially by its basketball team. The tradition continues with additions such as Tony Wroten from Garfield who is ranked #14 in the nation for incoming freshmen by Rivals.com, and Hikeem Stewart, ranked #116, from Rainier Beach. This freshman class, which is assured to get some significant playing time, is ranked #19 overall in the country by Rivals ahead of programs such as Pittsburgh, Michigan State and Kansas. I got a sense of how
Washington gets these players when I spoke with the highly touted Stewart. “Coaches were calling and all asking the same things,” said Stewart. It was “hectic.” He picked Washington over programs such as Kansas because “They’re a great program” and they have a “reputation for guards,” he said. He’s right. Guards like Brandon Roy (Garfield), Nate Robinson (Rainier Beach), and Will Conroy (Curtis) to name a few have all attended the UW. This brings up another reason why he wanted to play at the UW: hometown pride. In the past decade it has been part of the basketball culture in King County to play for the Dawgs. Stewart said he and good friend/fellow recruit Tony Wroten really wanted to “represent Seattle.”
The biggest reason, however, is Coach Lorenzo Romar. Romar has been in contact with him since sophomore year. “He was always checking in, and asking how the family was doing,” said Stewart. That’s how he knew he wanted to be a Husky early on in high school. Officially committing he said was just the “icing on the cake.” It will be very exciting to see what he and others can contribute
to what should be another special year of basketball at Washington.
On the other side of the spectrum, a team that has not been as good in recent years is the Husky football team. But the team has been progressing since the 2008 hiring of Athletic Director Scott Woodward and Coach Steve Sarkisian. Sarkisian is a good coach and a great recruiter. In fact, the entire freshman class for football was ranked #23 nationwide ahead of teams such as Wisconsin, West Virginia and Penn State. Big recruits such as Austin Seferian Jenkins, Danny Shelton, Bishop Sankey, Kasen Williams and James Sample, many from local high schools, have already made an impact.
The importance of these quality recruiting classes is huge. Because of the coaches and the players they are bringing in, there is a lot to look forward to this season and for years to come. You can almost see the glory days and championships just on the horizon.
Top UW Recruits In the Last 10 YearsBrandon Roy: Ranked as the #6 incoming freshman shooting gaurd in the nation in 2002Joel Smith: #19 incoming freshman small forward in 2004Justin Dentmon: #22 incoming freshman point gaurd in 2005Jon Brockman: #5 incoming freshman power forward in 2005Martell Webster: #3 incoming freshman shooting gaurd in 2005 (decommited and entered NBA draft)Spencer Hawes: #2 incoming freshman center in 2006Quincy Pondexter: #6 incoming freshman small forward in 2006Adrian Oliver: #8 incoming freshman point guard in 2006Phil Nelson: #25 incoming freshman small forward in 2006Matthew Bryan-Amaning: #15 incoming freshman power forward in 2007Isaiah Thomas: #17 incoming freshman point guard in 2007Justin Holliday: #19 incoming freshman small forward in 2007Scott Suggs: #11 incoming freshman shooting guard in 2008Elston Turner: #23 incoming freshman shooting guard in 2008Abdul Gaddy: #2 incoming freshman point guard in 2009Terrence Ross: #3 incoming freshman shooting guard in 2010Desmond Simmons: #25 incoming freshman power forward in 2010Tony Wroten: #4 incoming freshman point guard in 2011
Jules PuckettStaff Reporter
Volleyball (12-1)KingCo Tournament:
Oct. 27-29State Tournament:
Nov. 11-12
Football (4-4)KingCo Tournament:
Oct. 29-Nov. 12State Tournament:
Nov. 25-Dec. 3
Soccer (4-8-3)State Tournament:
Nov. 18-19
Cross CountryState Tournament:
Nov. 5
The RoosevelT News ARTs & eNTeRTAiNmeNT•ocTobeR
18
The lives of the laureateRHS poets Anthony Germani and Alex Morrison ponder their past
The hipster: a hipstory
Mira FisherStaff Reporter
At first glance, our poets mingle amiably in the
Roosevelt sea of baggy jeans, sweatshirts and stony faces. But look closer and you might no-tice their subtle quirks: senior Alex Morrison sports a full-fledged beard (kept in tip-top shape) while se-nior Anthony Germani’s long brown ringlets maintain a conditioned gloss that not even I can achieve.
These two looks are hard to pull off for the average joe, making their ability to do so as profound as their poetic prose. But despite that, here are two boys who are as humble as ever. Yet as they speak, they reveal pleasant eloquence and thoughtfulness.
Morrison’s poetic begin-nings stand in sharp contrast to his present. “[At the start]
I never felt satisfied with my writing,” he explained. He was a victim of incessant self-criti-cism, a plague that infects us all from time to time. “[To this
day] I don’t feel like [my poetry] is ever good enough,” Morrison humbly remarked. “But I enjoy presenting and people seem to like it.” Morrison is certainly correct on this point; he has managed to establish himself through the years as one
of the most prominent voices of Roosevelt Open Mics.
Germani found his passion for poetry in sophomore year during one of language arts teacher Tom Nolet’s creative writing projects. “After the project was over I suddenly realized, ‘Hey. I really liked that!’” Germani explained. And so began his journey to becoming a poet laureate. For these two, poetry is something more than mere-
ly playing with the English language. It is a more power-ful way of communicating be-cause of the thought, feeling and creativity involved.
Open Mic has been a bless-ing in more ways than one. During the few assemblies each year, the Poets Commit-tee has had to face the chal-lenge of performing in front of a blatantly insensitive audi-ence with the attention span of third graders. If these un-comfortable events were the only chances that the poets had to show their work, con-
fidence levels would plummet. “The Poet’s Committee is hesi-tant to present at assemblies this year. What’s the use if no one’s going to listen?” asked Morrison.
This really says something about the value of a respectful audience, seeing as he and the
rest of the committee are more than willing to share their work at Open Mics. Germani brings up a thought-provoking point. “If it weren’t for Open Mics, I wouldn’t share. But because of them, I have been inspired to share beyond that.” The peer support that has thrived at Open Mic has played an essen-tial role in the blossoming of stu-dents’ personal
talents. We all
can learn a little from our poetic peers. Some are simply gifted with self-confi-dence while others in-sist that they are com-
fortable sitting silently in the shadows. Morrison and Ger-mani remind us, however, that there is no excuse for wasting the creativity of these precious teenage years.
To those timid souls out there, just remember that peo-ple as supportive as our poets
will always be around to listen and take great interest in what you have to say. “Being able to express yourself is the best part of being a teen,” said Mor-
rison. He and Ger-
mani urge that poetry should not be reserved for the deep soul-search-ers and philoso-phers. It serves as a vent that all of us can use to express, question and relate. How-ever, in order to do this, students should be encour-
aged to become more familiar with this genre of free expres-sion, rather than be intimi-dated or alienated by it. This is where our high school poets so brilliantly uphold a seemingly long-neglected art. They have helped establish the fact that anyone can do it. “We all have our personal problems,” Mor-rison concluded. “There is no problem too small.”
Poet Laureate Anthony Germani.“
“We all can learn a little from our poetic peers.
Poet Laureate Alex Morri-son gives a smile.
Hipsters.” The word elicits rolled eyes, laughter and
sarcastic comments. My sister and I punch each other when we spot a hipster, instead of a VW bug. Youth might listen to “indie” music, or wear clothing from American Apparel and Ur-ban Outfitters, but what does it really mean to be a hipster? And where did hipsters come from?
Hipster culture began in the 1940s. Bugs Bunny was the first hipster role model; sass-ing authority, and doing ev-erything parents tell their kid not to do. The first group to be called hipsters emerged soon after this cartoon.
Anatole Broyard, author of the essay “A Portrait of the Hip-ster,” insisted that the hipster, both black and white, was in essence about superior knowl-edge. The movement grew after Norman Mailer wrote the essay “The White Hipster” in 1957, in which he claimed the defin-ing attribute of the hipster was “the desire of a white avant-garde to disaffiliate itself from whiteness.”
The image of the hipster changed over the next decades,
but by 1999 the hipster was consistently and solidly defined by their attitude of having su-perior knowledge.
The irony of the hipster was that the numerous symbolic trends they took from other cultures had no mean-ing. Trucker hats were worn by punk rock-ers in the late ‘80s through the Rea-gan-Bush reces-sion as a symbol of lowered ex-pectations. The keffiyeh, Arab headscarves, were worn by hippies in the ‘80s to support Palestine, and alter-nately worn by hipsters as a fashion statement.
S o -cial critic T h o m a s F r a n k called this group the rebel con-sumer. The rebel consumer adopts the social but not po-litical aspects of a countercul-ture. This meant that buying the right mass products would
make a person a rebel. Buy-ing the products of authority turned into the only act against authority. It was all about spot-ting the new trend before the next hipster did.
By 2003 the word “hip-ster” was no longer a syn-
onym for truly being “hip.” Instead, it was a synonym for poser, faker and scenester. No one wanted to be a hip-ster, and yet the hipster population kept growing rap-idly.
The contem-porary hipster was
born under the advertis-ing industry’s microscope, c o n s t a n t l y being moni-tored by “cool-hunt-ers,” who
t o o k n o t e o f h o w
the hipsters dressed and what they con-sumed, re-packaging it and selling it back for a profit. The hipster is simply a consumer
group, and a very profitable one at that. As most stores strug-gled in the past few years dur-ing the recession, Urban Out-fitters reported record sales, a clear sign of the buying power of this demographic.
So the hipster went from being a jazz subculture to a consumer demographic, the laughingstock of our genera-tion, and a failed subculture with no authenticity.
The teenage demographic of RHS makes up the biggest con-sumer group in the U.S. We are constantly being bombarded with messages telling us how to be cool. Though only a small percent of people live in full commitment to being hip, all of us participate in its temptation. We decide what is hip and what is not. The catch is authentic-ity, something that one could argue is generally lacking in high schoolers. It doesn’t mat-ter if a person is “alternative” or “mainstream.” What matters is that they understand how and why they are a part of consum-erism. The hipster will keep evolving, but it’s up to us how authentic it will be.
“Hip” comes from a Wolof, West African verb, getting its begin-nings in a term of en-lightenment. Sound familiar to the “enlight-ened” musical taste of the contemporary hip-sters you know?
1700 1940s 1950s 1957 1960s 1990s 2003
The hipster r e p r e s e n t s a black sub-cultural figure of the jazz age.
Within this de-cade, the hipster evolves into white m i d d l e - c l a s s youth trying to emulate the life-style of the largely black jazz musi-cians they follow.
After World War II, a literary scene including Jack Kerouac, poet Allen Gins-berg, and Nor-man Mailer be-came part of the hipster culture.
The “hip-pie” re-places the “hipster.”
The contem-porary hipster emerges from a 90s indie/alterna-tive youth culture wearing flannel and listening to Nirvana.
The hipster has grown so well-known that people begin to ridicule & resent the lifestlye. Robert Lan-ham’s “The Hipster Handbook” is pub-lished. Hipster Bingo comes out, and the popular blog “Look at this F***ing Hipster” is born.
No, I swear I’m not a hipster!
How does RHS define “hipster”?
-A person who likes folk music, wears folk clothes, cigs, and loves hacky sack. JosA bANTzeR
-Someone who dresses and acts like they are too cool for things that are actually in style. clemeNTiNe DilloN
-Someone who goes out of their way to avoid conforming to mainstream topics. TRevoR spRiNg
-A happy-go-lucky person who wears funky clothing, loves hacky sack, and listens to alt music. NATe sAmpsoN
-A person who dresses like peo-ple on tumblr. bebe lum
Are you a hipster, RHS?-No, I do not share their beliefs. sAm JAmes
-Yeah, because I always buy things secondhand. mARiA AchesoN
-No, I didn’t put that MGMT sticker on my ukulele... sAm gelbAND
-Yes, because I wear rasta. mATT lAsley
-No, I’m just not hip I guess. speNceR FARiAs
Laura JansenStaff Reporter
illusTRATio
N by R. mcc
oy
The RoosevelT NewsARTs & eNTeRTAiNmeNT •ocTobeR
19
Badass talents abound in our hallsA little peek into the lives and skills of four talented RHS students
The first thing that comes to mind when I think of badass talents
is someone skateboarding through hoops of fire over a pit of snakes. That sounds pretty badass, right? Unfortu-nately, since I have yet to see anyone at Roosevelt accomplish this amazing feat, I resigned myself to something a little more “normal” in my search for badass talents. However, upon further examination I learned that Roosevelt is bursting with unrecognized and re-markable talents that are anything but normal.
piANo mANTake senior Chris McCarthy. He has
the extraordinary gift of being able to play almost any popular song by ear on the piano. After hearing McCarthy play an impeccable mash-up of “Paparazzi” and “Poker Face” that rivaled the talent of Lady Gaga herself, it became clear that this frequently overlooked talent is one that deserves much more recogni-tion. Of his gift, McCarthy says, “Music has never really been a challenge… For me I’m always playing at the piano, not working.” This is why he has made the bold choice to make music his career.
McCarthy is planning on attending a music conservatory after completing his final year at Roosevelt. Without a doubt we will be hearing much more of McCarthy and his badass piano skills in the future.
RoosevelT’s owN veRA wANg
Another Roosevelt student whose badass talent will lead to a bright fu-ture is junior Natalya Czosnyka. Al-though she has a plethora of note-worthy talents, clothing design is by far the one she is most excited about. Czosnyka has been designing since eighth grade, and started sewing her own clothes this past year. Right now she is working on her college portfo-lio, which consists of three collections which she describes as “chic, country, and dancer.” A self-taught seamstress and designer, she defines her creative process as such: “I hear songs and get entire collections in my mind with col-ors and patterns and shapes to go with the music.” Czosnyka hopes that this creativity will lead her down a career path in fashion.
DiviNg To success
Sophomore Julia Morgan is anoth-er talented RHS student. She decided freshman year to broaden her horizons through one of Roosevelt’s many ex-tracurricular activities: the dive team. Many students aren’t even aware that Roosevelt has a dive team. But come to a swim meet, and you’ll understand just how talented Morgan and her fel-low divers are. She can do flips, spins and backward dives, all of which are in-vigorating to watch. In her own words, Morgan says that “Diving is dangerous. I’m always close to hitting the board with my head.” Indeed it is. Watching diving welcomes a nerve-wracking af-fair every time, even though after at-tempting a daredevil stunt off the board, Roosevelt’s pro divers almost always land gracefully in the water.
lighTs, cAmeRA, michAel!
In the bowels of Roosevelt High School, one can hear freshman Michael Kaczcowski rehearsing a monologue or putting together a scene for his Dra-ma 2 class. Kaczcowski’s acting talent sticks out from the rest because of his incredible ability to transform himself into anything from a pre-pubescent girl to God in a matter of seconds. “It’s my passion; I’ve always loved to be on stage. I love how acting can turn you into so many people but still let you stay true to yourself.” Kaczcowski says. He’s not afraid to do anything, no mat-ter how embarrassing or emotional, to achieve what he loves; an important attribute at the heart of every badass talent.
If this wasn’t enough to convince you that Roosevelt is bursting with unrivaled abilities, just take a look around you. Every day students are hard at work, cultivating their unique styles and talents. Very few students are as lucky as we are to be surround-ed by such distinctive and thoughtful individuals. Everyone at Roosevelt, in-cluding you, has their own badass tal-ent, and although it may not be jump-ing through hoops of fire, it deserves to be recognized and celebrated.
Blast From A While AgoWelcome to Blast From A While
Ago, the column that has been in-explicably granted to me to write about old stuff that I think is cool. Sure, it started as a funny title without much thought toward content, but don’t wor-ry about that. It’s going to be great.
Before I get started, we should quick-ly define the parameters of the column. What constitutes “a while ago”? Well, that could be interpreted in a lot of different ways. “A while ago” could be anywhere from a few million years to a few minutes ago. So anything that falls into that span and catches my interest is fair game. Generally we can restrict that to the last couple centuries, but who knows, if I get lazy one month you may well be hearing me write about the Big Bang.
Our very first Blast From A While Ago almost didn’t make it to see pres-ent day. Shortly after it was released, the German silent science fiction film “Metropolis” was severely edited down. For a vast majority of the decades since it was released in 1927, it was thought that no copy of the film in its entirety existed. It wasn’t until three years ago that a virtually complete print of “Me-tropolis” was discovered in an Argen-tinean film museum and quickly made available to the public once again. The timing of this discovery, for many
Americans, is impeccable. The long-lost wisdom of this landmark piece of expressionist cinema may help shed light on some modern issues.
“Metropolis” examines the societal workings of the titular city, a fu-turistic and d y s t o p i a n Babylon on the brink of civil war. Metropolis is really two cities; one deep below the ground, where the p r o l e t a r -ian work-ers man the m a c h i n e s that keep the city, and the whole tense s o c i e t y c o n t a i n e d within, from collapsing. The second city has been built high above the ground in massive tow-ers that contain the bourgeois ruling class: the wealthy architects, scholars and intellectuals who originally con-
ceived of the enormous city and have since benefited greatly from their vi-sion, but only with the sacrifice that allowed them to realize it.
The relationship between the two classes has reached a cri-sis point at the time of the film’s events, and the city is in desper-ate need of a mediator be-tween the two factions in or-der to save the city from de-scending into des t ruc t i on and anarchy.
When the young and p r i v i l e g e d Freder, the son of the cor-rupt ruler of Me t r opo l i s , witnesses the plight of the workers in the city’s depths, he is moved to take up the
role of the messianic mediator in order to save the city. As his father conspires against him, Freder races to quell the tides of revolution that have begun to
shift in the lower reaches of Metropolis. Standing in his way is a female robot—perhaps representative of the danger that technology poses to society—that is determined to raise the frustrated proletariat in an uprising that would both overthrow the bourgeoisie and de-stroy the city.
The story of Metropolis was influ-enced strongly by the work of Karl Marx, yet to call it Marxist isn’t entirely accurate. The film doesn’t condemn capitalist society, it merely warns of the inevitable violence that will take place if the two ends of that society are allowed to lose sight of each other. As the film poetically phrases its mor-al, the head and the hands of the city must have a heart to connect them.
While “Metropolis” is very much a reflection on the times that produced it, it has by no means lost its place over the decades elapsed since its release. With utterances of “class warfare” popular among today’s politicians, and the frustrated and listless middle class mobilized to incite drastic change, the film may soon regain much of its origi-nal relevance. Massive protests such as Occupy Wall Street have suggested that the financial movers and shak-ers of our own country have indeed lost touch with the rest of the country. Luckily for us, “Metropolis” has a hap-py ending, and if modern audiences are willing to listen to the message of this silent film, we may just find our way out of these uncertain times.
Theo HendersonGraphics Editor
Maggie ColburnStaff Reporter
illu
sTRA
Tio
N by
T. h
eND
eRso
N
The RoosevelT News ARTs & eNTeRTAiNmeNT•ocTobeR
20
Bellevue Art Museum ReviewWalking into the Bellevue Arts Museum is an experience in itself. The giant, architecturally appealing building draws you inside through a revolving door into a large reception area filled with exciting tastes of the exhibits. As I entered to see the current exhibit, “Travelers: Objects of Dream and Revelation,” I was immediately pulled in by an enormous and elabo-rate chandelier of crystallized sugar dangling from the ceiling.
Up the wide, winding stairs there were plenty more thought-provoking, contemporary wonders to behold. I wandered through the multi-room exhibits, stood in a sky-high, in-tricately felted tent, and observed a table where forgotten letters have been re-written in embroidery.
The well-organized layout certainly cast me into a dreamlike mood as each piece of art proved a worthy object for contemplation. The Bellevue Arts Museum is a little off the beaten path, but with the extensive collections of impressive art, it is well worth a visit, and is one of the many venues to which Teen Tix offers access.
Making the arts accessible to all
Alot of us are pressed on cash these days, and when it comes down to buying a
sweater or a ticket to see the ballet, the arts are not often the first priority. Luckily, Teen Tix makes it possible for youth in Seattle to experience extensive arts in the area for just five dollars.
Arts educators have struggled to have the arts taken seriously in public schools for years. As emphasis increases on math and science scores while the budgets keep getting smaller, the arts are repeatedly cut. How-ever, studies show that engaging in creative activity or simply attending some kind of ar-tistic event is both stimulating and can re-lease stress. Arts involvement can widen and strengthen social bonds, and one is sure to gain new knowledge by attending arts events. A study done at the University of Washington concluded that “the arts provide the means to know one’s culture at a very deep level,” and “provide the means for the human brain to function at its highest capacities.” Teen Tix lets youth receive the benefits of the arts out-side of school.
Teen Tix was started in 2004 in a partner-ship with ten of the resident arts organiza-tions at the Seattle Center including Seattle
Repertory Theatre, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle Opera, Seattle Shakespeare Company, EMP|SFM,
and Seattle Children’s Theatre. By 2006 the program had expanded and now includes 38 participating arts
organizations all over the Puget Sound area, and has facilitated the sales of over 16,000 discount tickets to teens.
It's easy to obtain a pass, requiring only that you go online and fill out a form. The pass is sent within two weeks, completely free, and works until you are 19, allowing you to experience movies, museums, laser shows, theatre, improv, music and dance throughout the city. RHS senior Johanna Brunner got her pass in 7th grade specifically to see ”The Nut-cracker,” attending a show that could easily have cost $150, for only $5. "They're just a good way to get into the city and see things you wouldn't normally," Brunner said of Teen Tix passes. Brunner has also used her pass to go to The-atre Sports, the "most professional improv show the Northwest has to offer," located in Pike Place Market's Post Alley.
Teen Tix gives youth many opportunities to see things that might otherwise go unno-ticed. Senior Laura Gillespie got to see the Seattle Symphony’s “PLAY! A Video Game Symphony,” in which the soundtrack of 25 popular video games like World of Warcraft, Halo, and Super Mario Bros. were played live while graphics were projected overhead. This kind of unique experience makes sign-ing up for Teen Tix totally worth it.
Laura JansenStaff Reporter
Teen Tix gives students intelligent entertainment on a $5 platter
Teen Tix also gives students oppourtunities to volunteer or showcase their talents in programs like The VERA Project and Reel Girls.
Pho
To b
y J.
hA
As
Register for Teen Tix1. Fill out the online form for your ticket at teentix.com.2. You will receive a conformation email and a second email which contains a Temporary Teen Tix pass. Print this pass and use it until the real one arrives.3. In about one week, your Teen Tix pass will arrive in the mail. 4. Decide what to go see by visiting the Teen Tix website or reading your weekly Teen Tix e-newsletter. Show up any time on the day that you want to go, go the ticket window, show your Teen Tix pass and your school ID or drivers license, and buy a $5 ticket with cash on Sundays (at our participating performing arts and film organizations).
Blue ScholarsFormed in 2002 while members George Quibuyen (Geologic) and Saba Mohajer-jasbi (DJ Sabzi) were students at the University of Washington, the Blue Schol-ars have influenced an entire musical movement. Though the Seattle hip-hop scene ex- isted before the group did, they earned it national recogni- tion. The success of the Blue Scholars lies in their lyrical themes. While many hip-hop artists write lyrics about drugs and gang life to gain popularity, the Blue Schol- ars rap about social and politi-cal issues such as personal freedoms and the economic chal- lenges of minorities. RHS senior Cooper Johnson stated that “They really use the music to talk about real issues and pres-ent them in a way that is likeable and can easily get peo-ple to think about things.” The Blue Schol- a r s have be-come vener- ated by their Seattle a u d i -ence for their p r i d e as Seattleites. Many of their songs such as “The Ave” and “North by Northwest” express their political messages d i r e c t l y i n relation to the ge-ography of the Seattle region, making their m u s i c extremely relatable to their hometown’s fan b a s e . Senior Derek Lum said, “Whenever we get someone w h o ’ s proud to be a Seattleite and they write about stuff we know about like downtown, Green Lake or Lake Union, it’s like ‘Hey I know what this guy’s talking about!’”
MacklemoreAccording to senior Jeff Cayton, “It seems like everybody in Seattle loves Mackl-emore.” It’s hard to disagree. Recently, Macklemore has become nearly deified by
young Seattleites, in the envy of even Nirvana.
Like the Blue Scholars, Macklemore’s popularity originates with deep, mean-ingful lyrics in songs like “Otherside,” “Life is Cinema,” and “My Oh My,” using deep string and brass instruments as background. “Macklemore really focuses on his lyrics,” said Johnson, “It’s almost like every song of his is a poem.” His poetic lyrics deal largely with high school issues, such as drug addiction or party-ing in parks at night. Thus, Macklemore’s audience con-sists largely of high school students. “I don’t even know of many middle schoolers who listen to Macklemore,” stated Lum. “He’s targeted toward kids beyond their freshman year.”
The esteem that Seattleites have for Macklemore originates from a similar fac-tor that gave the Blue Scholars a loyal Seattle following, the use of Northwest-centric themes in their music. “People take pride in living in Seattle,” said John-son, “so why not advertise that?”
Even though Macklemore and the Blue Scholars have many devoted fans in Seattle, it’s difficult to know how much longevity the groups will attain. Most Se-attle hip-hop acts don’t make enough money on their music alone to maintain a long career, and as today’s music continues to become more electronic, these so-phisticated hip-hop artists who counter such trends may eventually be forgotten. “When it comes to being an artist, you have to make money to exist,” explained Lum. “If the public continues to pay for digitized music, Seattle hip-hop groups won’t make it. But if this anti-electronic resistance becomes mainstream, those groups will flourish. It’s all up to society.”
Seattle’s millennium generation has become attached to a movement within the city’s local music scene in a similar way that the ‘90s generation adored
grunge bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam. Seattleites simply refer to this music
as “Seattle hip-hop.” Groups such as the Blue Scholars and Macklemore have gained audiences and critical acclaim across the country for their profound lyr-ics, but are particularly revered by Seattle’s youth for their Seattle-based themes and their drive to make hip-hop music more meaningful than just an expression of gang life.
Josh GregaStaff Reporter
Sounds of Seattle1. “Life is Cinema” by Macklemore2. “The Ave” by Blue Scholars3. “Dear Friends” by SOL4. “Big or Small” by Fresh Espresso5. “Magnetic Blackness” by Cham-pagne Champagne6. “My Volvo” by Grinch7. “Electric Sheep” by Mad Rad8. “This is Why” by D Black9. “The Youth Die Young” by Mad Rad10. “40 Acres” by Common Market11. “Prom Quiz” by Grayskul12. “Pause” by Thee Satisfaction
‘Northwest, making you feel the vibe’
illusTRATioN by T. heNdeRsoN
The RoosevelT NewsARTs & eNTeRTAiNmeNT •ocTobeR
21
VK’s legacy of inspiration and illumination
For the p a s t
33 years Roosevelt d r a m a t e a c h e r R u b e n Van Kem-pen has directed 34 m u s i c a l s and over 45 plays that have been shown at many ven-ues around the RHS c o m m u -nity. His work has t r e n g t h -ened the RHS drama p r o g r a m , bringing it to its inter-nationally renowned s t a t u s . Many of his stu-dents have gone on to become professional actors in television, film and re-gional theatre. He also has students who have gone on to Broadway, concert and operatic stages. But even before preparing these students for some of the finest theatre programs in the country, Mr. Van Kem-
pen was on the stage as well.VK was first involved in the theatre in eighth grade,
predominantly in plays. In high school he moved to-w a r d m u s i -cals be-c a u s e h e l o v e d t h a t side of d rama m o r e . A f t e r gradua-tion, he b e g a n working on the regional s t a g e . T h e coveted o p p o r -t u n i t y to move to New Y o r k c a m e his way, b u t he de-c l i n ed , s a y i n g that the decision
to stay in Seattle would make his life more well-rounded. He stayed in Seattle and got his masters degree in theatre education, and so began the legend.
In his first five years of teaching, VK acted on re-gional stages around Seattle. Over the years, using his connections around the area, Mr. Van Kempen
has brought major opportunities to Roosevelt drama students. He helped start residency programs in places such as the Seattle Repertory Theatre and the Intiman Theatre, as well as Seattle Opera. Another improvement for drama students in our area is the Washington State Thespian Society, an honor pro-gram for drama students. Through this program, college theatre programs come to Seattle and drama students may audition for acceptance. Mr. Van Kempen is the co-director of the society for the entire state.
Over the years, there have been many highlights in VK’s career, from performances to everyday class to future success; but VK says that one of his favorites is “Seeing students do what I hope I inspired them to do. And of course when I see them on Broadway it…it gives me goose bumps.”
As for having the unique experience of teaching theatre in a high school, he said that “My students keep me challenged to learn new things all the time.” He believes that his knowledge on up-and-coming theatre and the entertainment world is ever-expanding because he must keep up with his students.
On the flipside, Mr. Van Kempen’s students gain great knowledge from him as well. On drama class, sophomore Lucy Given said that “He makes you want to do your work because when the show comes to-gether and you know [Mr. Van Kempen] has worked on it for you …it’s like a movie!”
In the future and beyond RHS, VK would still like to act. As for directing, he said his last play will have to be one of his signature plays, or something brand new that catches his eye. Although he doesn’t give any hints, he said that if he does plan to leave RHS, he will make it a nice and slow transitional process.
Rhian LindhjemStaff Reporter
VK’s favorite play he ever directed was “And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank.” In this production they were able to fly in a Holocaust survivor from London and have her talk to the audience after every performance. Then the cast and VK were able to tour with the show.
Pho
To b
y K
. lA
mbe
RT-v
Ail
For over 30 years Mr. Van Kempen has called Roosevelt home, leading dozens of students to the stage and even to Broadway.
Can San Pio live up to the high expectations Jalisco left behind?
The new niño on the block
As most Rough Riders probably already know, San Pio is the new Mexican restaurant located
on the corner of NE 65th Street and 12th Avenue NE by Roosevelt. This isn’t a coincidence, considering that the last restaurant that owned the space was the successful Jalisco, a restaurant very much like San Pio, and very popular with the Roosevelt students.
Overall, I think that San Pio is a decent restaurant. It has a nice Mexican atmosphere and has very good service. As soon as I sat down I almost never found myself without food; I was brought a basket of chips before I even ordered and I hardly ever saw it empty. With Jalisco there were times when they wouldn’t re-fill my chips, but at San Pio, they seemed anxious
to get me more. Just like Jalisco, San Pio has a special menu for Roosevelt stu-dents from which they can get a meal for five dollars that consists of an enchi-lada or quesadilla with a side of rice and beans. San Pio has about the same amount of food with a slightly cheaper price, but the quality just isn’t as good as Jalisco.
The tortillas seemed grainy, which made them taste more like wheat tortillas than flour tortillas, which are my personal favorite. If you order a chicken enchilada off the Roosevelt menu you will find that the chicken is a little bit dry. Jalisco had the same problem, and I was disappointed that San Pio didn’t fix it. The chicken in the De-luxe Burrito on the regular menu is fine so it may only taste dry be-cause it costs five dollars. Even so, I would recommend not getting the chicken enchilada, instead going for the shredded beef, which has a little more flavor to it, or even the rice and bean burrito so you don’t have to worry about it being dry or not.
For San Pio’s regular menu it is pretty much the same story: the tortillas taste like wheat tortillas,
and for all I know it might even be a wheat tortilla. Jalisco gave you a bigger portion, but San Pio still gives you enough to be full at the end of your meal unless you are extremely hungry. Though San Pio is cheaper, it seems that they had to sacrifice the qual-ity of their ingredients to cut the price down, which is a sacrifice some are fine with, but one for which others would gladly pay the extra dollar.
San Pio is a good restaurant, but it had some big shoes to fill left behind by Jalisco. Some people are having a hard time accepting that it has replaced Jalisco, especially since the food just can’t measure up to the expectations that so many students had set. But that doesn’t mean that it is a bad restau-rant, and it’s definitely better than nothing. Even though it may not be as good as people wish it was, I still think it is good enough to keep around and that people should try and go there as much as possible to support a local business.
Alex MoonStaff Reporter
Pho
To b
y v.
Ng
uye
N
The beef burrito off the five dollar menu at San Pio.
San Pio replaced Jalisco this summer to many students’ suprise.
Pho
To b
y v.
Ng
uye
N
The RoosevelT News Classifieds•oCTobeR
22
The RoosevelT NewsClassifiedsoCTobeR
•
23
ADVERTISE WITH US!
Want to advertise with the Roosevelt News? Grow your customer base and support a high-school newspaper. Our expanding readership includes students and families across Seattle, patrons at local businesses, and local working professionals.
Pricing:1/8 page $801/4 page $1301/2 page $250Full Page: $325
ONLINE OPPORTUNITY IS NOW AVAILABLE: Advertise on our blog! www.therooseveltnews.org
Send ads and inquiries to: [email protected]. Thank you for your business!
Serving the Green Lake area and Roughriders for over ten years.
Ask about our free 15 minute injury screen!
greenlakesportspt.com(206) 524-5115
408 NE 72nd St. Seattle, WA 98115
Roosevelt High School1410 NE 66th streetSeattle WA, 98115