Niskayuna High School

Since 1974,Now Weekly

September 26, 2003 Volume 30, Issue 3

HIV/AIDS Walk in Albany raises fundsMany residents of the Capital Region

turned out on Saturday, September 20, towalk in order to raise funds for the HIV/AIDS community, as well as stir aware-ness of the disease’s impact.

AIDS Walk is an event organized byCommunity AIDS Partnership of theCapital Region, or CAP-CR, foundedin 1994. In its seventh year, this walkhas brought the community together andraised thousands of dollars a year forlocal agencies. These organizations, suchas the Albany Damien Center andPlanned Parenthood, offer AIDS pre-vention resources, provide medicalcare, and support HIV/AIDS patientsand their families. In addition to thedonations raised by the walkers, the Na-tional AIDS Fund contributes $1 for ev-ery $2 raised.

Among the various organizationspresent was the NAMES Project, with

the AIDS Memorial Quilt ondisplay. This quilt, now toolarge to assemble completely,is a patchwork of panels, eachof which is decorated in me-morial of someone who hasdied from AIDS. Many feelthe quilt is moving to see be-cause families and friendshave put a very human faceon the otherwise impersonal“AIDS patient.”

Many groups f romNiskayuna High partici-pated in this event, includ-ing NICS, ACTIONS andVisibility. Visibility hasbeen attending the walk fora few years now, raising al-most $900 last year, andnearly $500 this year. NICS also raised$550 this year. In total, Niskayunaraised nearly $2000 after CAP-CR’smatching program. This money is con-

by Amy Van SaunNEWS

Students enjoy new German I/II class

NEWS

by Elspeth Edelstein

While Niskayuna studentsno longer have the option oftaking German in middleschool, the 2003-2004 schoolyear saw the advent of a com-bined German I/II acceleratedand German I class at the highschool. Taught by Germanteacher Joseph Carosella, thisclass, intended to function simi-larly to Latin I/II, should pro-vide a strong basis for studentsto progress to higher levels ofGerman study.

As with Latin classes, themajority of students in Ger-man I/II have previously stud-ied a foreign language, allow-ing them to keep up with thefaster pace. “You absorb [a sec-ond foreign language] thatmuch more easily,” Carosellaexplained “[The students] are

especially motivated. Plus,they have the experience nec-essary.” Commented sopho-more Stephanie Cogen, “I

wanted to take a more ad-vanced German course so Icould get more [German] intomy high school experience.”

Agreed tenth-graderRhiannon Kelsh, “I wanted tobe able to take the Regents atthe end of high school.” AdrianIvan, a sophomore, alsopointed out that, in an accel-erated class, it is possible to“learn more, faster.”

While students’ reasons forbeginning German varied,many found the opportunitiesit provided appealing. “I likeGerman. It sounds funnywhen you say it,” laughedIvan, who wants to attend the2006 Soccer World Cup inGermany. “ It looks good onthe resume,” he added, “if youspeak more than three lan-guages.” Kelsh, who also ex-pressed a desire to visit Ger-many, explained “I wanted tolearn another language.”

(Continued on page 3,GERMAN)

New class expected to draw more students to the German program

tributed to the Albany Damien Centerbecause it is a supportive and essen-tial place for HIV/AIDS patients andtheir families.

Warrior photo / Jackie NguyenMEHR HERR CARE: Students listen with intent to Herr Care as heteaches the new course.

REMEMBERING THOSE PASSED: Part of the AIDS quiltwas present at the walk in Albany.

Photo Courtesy Perdue University

2 News September 26, 2002 The Warrior

Students turn out for prayer at flagpoleby Steve Chao

NEWS

On September 17, many stu-dents throughout the UnitedStates crowded around theirflagpoles in silence, praying toGod to bring moral and spiri-tual help to them andthose around them.

This tradition, called“See You at the Pole—National Day of StudentPrayer,” started in Texasin 1990. This event hasreached Niskayuna HighSchool. Many studentsnoticed members ofA.C.T.I.O.N.S. (Associa-tion of Christian Teens InOur Niskayuna Schools)standing around the flag-pole last Wednesdaymorning praying.

Members of the clubthought very highly of“See You at the Pole.”Sophomore HeatherYager said, “It’s awe-some that we can taketime to out of school to do[things like] that.” JuniorDavid Leib agreed, saying that“It went well.”

Not all agree, however, thatprayer of this nature belongsin school. Some others ex-pressed concern about the pray-

ing. Senior Sara Miller-Hornick, president of NCSY,one of the local conservativeJewish Youth Groups said, “-Well I mean, if there were aMuslim group in school thatprayed, people would make

such a big deal about it, butsince its Christian nobodycares. Its something we haveto deal with since Christianityis the majority but still, I justthink that its unnecessary,have your youth groups out-side of school.” Junior Amol

Metha weighed in saying, “Well,the national day of prayer didn'treally affect me. But, one canclearly see that Christians makeup the majority of the school andare praying, but now, rights forother religions should be granted

by schools (for equality). Now thisprayer by ACTIONS has provokedthe issue of equal rights to practicereligion in high schools today. Thatsort of praying fails to be all inclu-sive for all religions.”

Principal John Rickert, on theother hand, said that such prayer

in school is acceptable, stating,“[The Club] is within their rightsto meet before school to pray.”Rickert, who has been known toattend this function in past years,was unable to attend the eventthis year due to a conflict in his

schedule.Although some students

still seem uncomfortablewith prayer, “See You atthe Pole” Day seems to begrowing in popularity.When SYATP started inTexas in 1990, 45,000 stu-dents attended. Last year,in 2002, over 2.5 millionteenagers met in prayerfrom all 50 states. TheUnited States is not alonein this effort to pray for thewell-being of others. Coun-tries such as China, Aus-tralia, Bahamas, Domini-can Republic, Germany,Guam, Turkey, IvoryCoast, Canada, India, Ja-pan, Kenya, South Korea,Romania, Uruguay, Phil-

ippines, and the United King-dom also have had a “See You atthe Pole” day.

For further information about“See You at the Pole,” or to ordera video, you can go towww.syapt.com or call817.HIS.PLAN (447.7526).

Warrior photo / Dan Naylor

Courtyard Dance to be held in OctoberOriginally planned for last

Friday, September 19, the an-nual Courtyard Dance, spon-sored by Niskayuna Inter-Community Service club(NICS) has been rescheduledfor Friday, October 17, be-cause of a series of setbacks.

There was some concernprior to the event, as a resultof the impending effects ofTropical Storm Isabel. Al-though the expected rainnever appeared Friday after-

noon, tropical winds forced thefestivities to be relocated in-doors, to the Blatnick Gym.

At this point, it was discov-ered that the laser sensor sys-tem in the Blatnick Gym hadmalfunctioned. The laser sen-sor system is designed to triggerthe fire alarm system whensmoke reaches within a few feetof the ceiling of the gym. TheNew Gym and the Old Cafeteriaare also equipped with such la-ser sensor systems.

Two sophomores, JeffRoeser and Adam Schwartz,will be DJing the dance, andhave planned and preparedseveral surprise details,which have not been seen atNiskayuna High Schooldances in memorable history.“It will probably be one of thebest dances all year,” com-mented Schwartz.

NICS still looks forward toa large turnout at the dance.����� Jeremy Wolos

A TIME OF PRAYER: Members of A.C.T.I.O.N.S., and other students, gathered at theflagpole for See You at the Flagpole Day, a day of prayer.

3NewsSeptember 26, 2003The Warrior

High school welcomes language teachers

German students happy with new classes

by Julia SchnellNEWS

Walking into the foreignlanguage resource center, youmay see some new and possi-bly unfamiliarfaces amongstthose whom youknow and love fromlast year.

Having taughtfor 10 years inBedford, NY andone year on LongIs land, ThomasCaffrey is no new-comer to teachingLatin. He says heenjoys Latin morethan other lan-guages, “Becausekids like to learnstuff they knownothing about . ”This s tatementseems to hold truefor his current stu-dents , as wel l .“They seem to en-joy learning, forthe most part,” hesaid, jokingly.

C a r o l i n eGardiner seems toprefer languagescurrently being spoken inthe world, teaching bothFrench and Spanish, as wellas speaking Italian and hav-ing a semester of Latin un-der her belt. This year willbe her second year of teach-ing, having spent one-yearprior in Greenwood, NY. Shelikes her job because she en-

joys sharing what she likes,and has found already that“kids here are very polite, forthe most part.”

Returning after a 1-year

sabbat ica l i s Germanteacher Joseph Carosella.He spent this year on aFulbright Exchange pro-gram teaching English tostudents in Spain.

This was not his first timeteaching outside the US. Hehad also taught in Venezuelaand Japan years before his

year-long sojourn in the Ibe-rian Peninsula.

He quotes his exchangepartner , MercedesGonzales-Sabariegos when

he says, “Here all the re-sponsib i l i ty i s on theteacher, and there all theresponsibility is on the stu-dent.” Classrooms are notdecorated with festive bulletinboards, they’re merely places oflearning. After-school help israre, as students enter the class,take notes, and leave. Perhaps

a better system? With manystudents failing two or threecourses a year—and planningfor it in advance— some mayargue that American educa-

tion philosophy isbetter.

Carosella’s sons,then ages sevenand nine, wereskeptical of themove, unlike hisdaughter, theneleven, who morequickly saw thevalue in such anexcursion. “Weheld out some car-rots”, he says.Watching televi-sion, an activitynormally not per-mitted in theirhouse, was encour-aged when inSpain, so as to aidin the children’slearning of thelanguage.

While the kidsbegan theirpreparations forthe trip in only ayear before theird e p a r t u r e ,

Carosella first heard of theexchange at a conference in2000, and, after the long andarduous task of applying,was finally accepted in Janu-ary of 2002.

The department looks for-ward to several excellentyears ahead with theseteachers.

Warrior Photo / Leanne Merrill

Commented Cogen, “I’ve been inter-ested in German since Middle School,but my parents made me take Spanish.”Though she finds all languages “intrigu-ing,” part of German’s appeal, accordingto Cogen, is that it comes from the Ger-manic branch of languages, as opposedto the Romantic, which includes bothFrench and Spanish.

With interest in German having de-clined in favor of Spanish and French,

Carosella was quick to point out that notonly does the German language repre-sent centuries of culture, but that knowl-edge of German can be useful in thefields of science, medicine, and technol-ogy, especially since Germany remainsan economic force in the world. He alsorefuted the myth that German is moredifficult to learn, pointing out that it “isvery similar in structure to English.” Inaddition to the fact that German is stillvery relevant in the world today,Carosella suggested that “[taking Ger-

man] is a good decision for people inlanguages and humanities.”

Though this year’s beginning Ger-man class is small, hope exists thatthis course will become more popular,as happened with Latin I/II in the lastfew years. “[German I and I/II] arenow the feeder programs for the upperlevels,” explained Carosella. “I amhopeful that interest will increase.” Sofar, students reaction seem positive.“I’ve learned a lot,” said Kelsh. “I’drecommend it.”

(Continued from page 1, STUDENTS)

BONJOUR, HALLO, SALVE: Foreign language teachers Thomas Caffrey and Caroline Gardinerare welcomed into the department. Joseph Carosella, right, is returning after a 1-year sabbatical.

Two new teachers in department, one returns after year in Europe

4 Opinion4 Opinion

The Warrior

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warrior/

T H E S TA F FEDITORS-IN-CHIEF: Tae Andrews,

Elspeth EdelsteinNEWS EDITORS: Jesse Conti, Leanne

Merrill, Julia Napolitano, JeremyWolos

ASST. NEWS: Nate StaudingerOPINION EDITORS: Kishori Rajan, Alec

WilsonASST. OPINION: Evan BallanENTERTAINMENT EDITORS: Stephanie

Blair, Matt LarkinSPORTS EDITORS: Jonathan Chow, Lisa

D’AnielloASST. SPORTS: Peter ChalfinMAGAZINE EDITORS: Alice Lee, Anna Yu,

Kathryn FantauzziASST. MAGAZINE: Anjana RajanDISTRIBUTION MANAGER: Jackie NguyenBUSINESS MANAGER: Erik DonhoweADVERTISING MANAGER: Jonas ChangGRAPHICS COORDINATOR: Evan FenaroliCOPY EDITOR: Abby AlgerADVISORS: James Edgar, Russell

McDowell

EDITORIAL POLICIES

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR are wel-come from all members of theschool community. The Warriorreserves the right to edit lettersfor grammar and length.

SIGNED OPINION ARTICLES AND CAR-TOONS express the opinions oftheir creators.

UNSIGNED EDITORIALS representthe consensus of the paper’s edito-rial board, which may not reflectthe majority of the students’ views.

THE OP-ED PAGES are a forum forstudents’ opinions and ideas.

September 26, 2003 The Warrior

Reinstate official naptime

A visit to the Old Cafeteria at the start of theschool year gave Niskayuna students a pleas-ant surprise. The large-scale renovation projectwas nearly complete and the “old cafe” wassuddenly not so old anymore.New lights, larger space, andeven nifty bars were all wel-come additions. Unfortunately,the same old vending machines and applianceswere present as well. As nice as the renovationswere, they could have gone further.

The outdated appliances, with their limitedoptions, specifically the microwaves, are ex-tremely hard to operate and should be replaced.One finds often it necessary to repeatedly punchin the same setting after setting just to heat upa cup of soup. Shortcut buttons are a very goodidea, but the microwaves need to allow studentsto set it to what they need. Food products todayrequire settings other than “dinner plate.”

Also frustrating are the turntable vendingmachines, which never seem to stop in theright place. You could also have the pleasureof having to use the one that turns in only one

direction, so if you miss it thefirst time you get to make around trip.

Finally, the most obsoletepiece of machinery is the one-dollar changemachine. Why would anybody need quar-ters, except for the phone? All the vendingmachines take dollar bills to begin with, sothere is little point of cashing in for quar-ters. A five-dollar change machine wouldbe much more useful. Many students haveexperienced the frustration of having themoney, but being unable to use it.

Useful and – most importantly – oper-able appliances would be a welcome andwell-spent investment for the high school.

Renovate the machines, too

EDITORIAL

A CUP OF TAE

by Tae AndrewsSPORTS

It’s time to bring back thenap. For too long haveNiskayuna High School’spupils’ pupils been red andpuffy from a lack of life’s mostprecious commodity, asidefrom money and free blocks.Pardon the double entendre,but let’s face it: who herecouldn’t benefit from moretime in the sack? Or on thecot, as it were. We couldeven have outdoor ham-mocks.

It’s clinically proven thatthe average teenager re-quires at least a good, solideight hours of sleep per nightin order to be functional. Iwould argue that ten to fif-teen would be the more rec-ommended dose, but I’ll settlefor eight as the bare-bonesminimum. Unfortunately,time constraints on studentsranging from detention, tosports, to after-school clubsand extracurricular activi-ties, sap our time and en-ergy. After hours of tedioushomework, students oftentimes have to settle for sixhours of sleep, or less, ifthey’ve really been given theshaft on that particular night.The effects of what I havetermed Sleep Accumulation

Restriction Syndrome, SARSfor short, are drastic. Hordes oflong-suffering SARS zombiesshuffle daily into our school,seemingly more corpse thancoherent. By and large, firstblock is wasted upon studentsunless they’re beaned on coffeeor tea. By the time they’ve suf-ficiently regained consciousnessand are able to learn, it’s at

least homeroom or later. Sec-ond block is fine, but then thelunch blocks, while vital for re-fueling purposes, make fourthblock all but impossible to stayawake in, for who can stayawake on a full belly? Surelyyou’ve seen victims of SARS inyour daily classes; they are of-ten afflicted with red marks ontheir faces and groggy expres-sions. If you’ve ever woken uplying face down on your desk ina pool of your own drool, youknow what I’m talking about.

I propose a block reserved fornaptime, immediately after thelunch block. After refueling, al-low students to recharge. I evencommend a Bring Your OwnPillow to School policy. Order ofpreference in terms of choosingnap places should be given firstto seniors, and then on down by

grade level. Sorry freshman,but rank has its privileges.Personally, I call a floatinglounge chair in the pool.

Remember the good olddays of kindergarten, whenyou had a bike parked in yourdriveway instead of a car anda long day at school consistedof the ABCs and intensesessions of playing withblocks? Back in the day,our teachers had the rightidea by pushing the wholenaptime thing, even

though most of us dislikedit. What I wouldn’t give tohave those precious hoursback.

The return of the napwould bring more smiles toour high school. It wouldmake students more alertand attentive in class, lead-ing to better grades andstandardized testingscores. Athletes would per-form better. Teacherswould give fewer deten-tions. The roof would stopleaking. Generally speak-ing, every aspect of our highschool life would improve.I believe my position canbe summed up by a quotefrom the immortal

Joan Klempner: “Toachieve the impossibledream, try going to sleep.”

5OpinionSeptember 26, 2003The Warrior

by Jon HorowitzOPINION

So, once again we’re back at school,which usually means someone writes anarticle about how great the summer was,and all the “amazing” things that hap-pened. Well, this year, I’m writing up thesummer, and since I tend to be a littlemore cynical, I’d rather view things onthe opposite end of the spectrum. I feelthat summer isn’t all happy times, be-cause it’s not like school isthe worst thingin our lives. Look at the world around us;there are plenty of fractures in this vividlandscape society paints, and perhaps thisarticle will open you up to some of them.

1. Our Texan leader proclaims himselfas the new peacekeeperbetween long-time en-emies, Israel and Pal-estine. George W.Bush, not my fa-vorite president,tried to make“steps” towardsachieving peace be-tween the Israelisand the Palestin-ians. By “steps,” Imean that he cameup with an extremelybasic plan, that divides up Israel, andappeases only a small percentage ofpeople in the conflict. Hey, Mr. Presi-dent, before you declare yourself as aneutral party in one of the longest last-ing feuds in human history, make surepeople can actually take you seriously.Try doing the simple things in life cor-rectly, like speaking English, not chok-ing on pretzels, and about 87 billion otherthings.

2. Kangeroo Jack released on DVD. Tobe honest, I’ve never seen this movie, butgetting through the 30-second trailer waspainful enough. The movie is somethingabout a kangaroo who steals money frommobsters, and talks to them in a dream.I’d like to know what the writers of thismovie were on, so I’m sure that I neverproduce such meaningless dribble. Eventhe advertisements agree with me: “Getjack- Kangaroo Jack.” That’s exactly whatyou’d be getting if you bought the DVD-jack. I refuse to believe that anyone overthe age or IQ level of 5 could watch morethan four minutes of this movie withoutexploding, let alone buy it!

3. Two words, one spelled completelywrong: Fitty Cent. He put out even more

songs, which poured incessantly fromthe radio, a poisonous fog of words andnonsensical beats. People think this guyis really tough and cool since he got shotin the face twenty times. Personally, Ithink it just explains why his lyrics arethe way they are. I mean, I have noproblem with hip-hop or rap itself,but I’d like the lyrics to beless superficial, sincesongs aren’tabout su-perficial-i t y -they’res u p -posed

to be art! I think Fitty needs to spendsome time alone and realize who he re-ally is. Too bad he won’t, since he’s offmaking billions by being a P.I.M.P. andhating on “wankstas”.

4.Pepsi Vanilla. Hmm, that soundsvaguely familiar. Almost like that drinkreleased 8 months ago, Vanilla Coke.But don’t worry, Pepsi isn’t acting likeit’s a revolutionary soft drink company;in fact, they clearly note in commercialsthat Coke is the original vanilla. I RE-ALLY HATE THAT COMMERCIAL! Itfeatures two truckers, one with a PepsiVanilla truck, and the other with a Va-nilla Coke truck. The coke driver turnshis speaker up, and then magically, 50-inch speakers pop out of the side of thePepsi truck. Apparently, colas are nowjudged upon how loud the truckers canturn up their stereo system. That’s themost ludicrous concept ever conceived!“Mommy! Mommy! I wanna drink cokebecause the speakers are so loud, thewaves would crush all the soda in themachine.” I hate Pepsi, and people whodrink/are sponsored by it.

5.That massive power outage that hit

massive amounts of the US. Actually,this didn’t really upset me. On the con-trary, I thought it was kind of funny.Watching people drive in their cars, with-out any traffic laws, was reminiscent ofbees flying free once their precious queenis lost. The thing that really ticks me off

about the outage is that I missedSeinfeld. C’mon America! The

only good thing to come out ofAmerica in the past 20 yearsis Seinfeld. Let’s not dim thealready dull shine on ourbronze trophy. Now, if some-one else was writing this ar-

ticle, they would have prob-ably said something like,“it ended extremely tooquickly.” However, I’m notsomebody else, and I thinkthat’s in this article’s bestinterest. To be candid,though, I’ve just becometired of listing thingsthat annoy me, becausethat in itself frustratesme. Anyone who knowsme knows that I couldhave continued for

ages, beyond the fivelisted. I hope this article has

opened you up to all the negativeaspects of the world. I’d like you to join mein the fight against layering everything witha sugar coated topping, so that the flow therobots directs continues.

Student reflects on low points of summerFrom Bush to Jack: society swamped in a deep level of stupidity

Warrior art / Anjuli Nirmalan

To our readers:

The Warrior encouragesletters to the editors and

signed opinion articles fromthe Niskayuna community.

Please send them to:

TheWarriorOpinion@yahoo.com

6 Entertainment September 26, 2003 The Warrior

by Young YoonENTERTAINMENT

Disappointing. That was theonly word that could describemy feelings toward the so-called“100 Greatest Guitarists” listcatalogued in Rolling Stone’sspecial issue. Being the mostfamous music magazine in theworld today, Rolling Stone seemedworthy of my respect, and evenafter my 4-for-1 deal subscrip-tion ran out, I continued to browsethrough it every month while lean-ing against the newsstands inPrice Chopper. Therefore, it waswith a great degree of curiosityand expectation that I bought thisspecial issue for four precious dol-lars out of my own pocket.

The first page, which began withthe last few guitarists on the list,totally disgusted me, as it musthave many other hard rock fans.Angus Young (of AC/DC), RandyRhodes, and David Gilmour (ofPink Floyd) all under number80. Something had to be wrong.Whoever in the magazine madethis list appeared to be an idiot,considering how even my littlesister, 12 (I think), recognizesthe majesty of the music theseartists have created. By the timeI reached Ritchie Blackmore (ofDeep Purple) only at 55 (Eddie

Van Halen was 70, maybe theymessed up and added a zero afterthe 7), I foundmyself desperatelyhoping: “Okay, they must havesome out-of-this-side-of-the-uni-verse people in the top half.”Blimey, I had overestimated Roll-ing Stone.

My next gripe with the list camewhen I found Tom Morello (ofRATM and Audioslave), one ofthe most innovative guitaristsever in my opinion, was rankedthe 26th. What made me reallyfurious was not the low number ofranking, but the fact that Tomwas lower than The Edge (of U2)Come on, I was that good after sixmonths after picking up the in-strument, and I still refused toplay like him. A little consoling tomy disappointment from the firstfew pages, the top half did havebetter people (except the Edge).Seeing the names of often-un-derrated guitarists, includingRoy Buchanan, Ry Cooder, Rob-ert Johnson and Duane Allman,was a pleasant experience, Imust admit, despite the low fi-delity of the list overall.

You might think I am biasedtoo much towards hard rock.But wait till you see the top ten:

1. Jimi Hendrix2. Duane Allman

3. B.B.King4. Eric Clapton5. Robert Johnson6. Chuck Berry7. Stevie Ray Vaughn8. Ry Cooder9. Jimmy Page10. Keith RichardsIf that’s not biased too much

towards blues, I don’t know whatis. Since it is the world’s leadingmusic magazine, I would expectRolling Stone to be more objec-tive and embracing to othergenres, but it seemes to havefailed miserably at this. One can-not help noticing the strategicmove the magazine has made bygiving some no-talent but popu-lar guitarists a lot of credit theydon’t deserve. Some of these in-clude Kurt Cobain (of Nirvana)at 12, The Edge, mentionedabove, and Johnny Ramone(ofthe Ramones) at 16, who accord-ing to Rolling Stone “inventedpunk-rock guitar.” Simply nottrue; What about the Sex Pis-tols? (If we’re talking about “pop”punk, sure.) Giving Hendrix thecrown, although understand-able, seems too predictable, es-pecially when there are guitar-ists that have had greater conse-quence in the history of music.“They just said that because it’s

New Jane’s Addiction CD is really great

Rolling Stone’s top guitarists list flawed

by Matt EisensteinENTERTAINMENT

Jane’s Addiction, the innovative80’s alternative rock band thathelped revolutionize modern mu-sic, is back with their new CD,Strays. Just as I had hoped, leadsinger Perry Farrell’s unique voicemixes with Dave Navarro’s amaz-ing guitar riffs. The new bassist,Chris Chaney, is not on par withFlea, RHCP’s amazing bassist whohad a short stint with Jane’s Ad-diction, but he still manages to doan awesome job throughout the CD.“Just Because,” the first single re-leased, is far from the best song onStrays, where a new sound, helpedout by their slightly cleaner atti-tudes, has replaced the old powercords that Jane’s used to slam out.My favorite song on Strays is “Price IPay,” which has a driving bass that moves

this song from mellow to one of the hard-est on the CD. Don’t get me wrong, thedrug-induced music is still as big as ever,

but their songs have a theme connectedmore to what lies in the future and the

past they escaped. The band, formed inthe mid 80’s, has overcome heroin addic-tion, multiple fights onstage, and a tem-

porary break-up. It’s amazing thatthe members aren’t dead consid-ering all that they’ve done to them-selves. Jane’s impeccable stylesare still there if not better, withNavarro’s wife-to-be CarmenElectra helping put together theband’s wardrobe, making for sometight clothes and outfits that makeit an interesting sight. Spin’s Au-gust 2003 issue did an excellentarticle on Jane’s Addiction featur-ing interesting pictures and historyof the band. Strays is definitely worthchecking out if you’re into the alter-native rock scene or if you just wanta change of pace. Jane’s Addictionhas once again created a master-

piece that can easily compare to any oftheir earlier CD’s.

kind of expected. It’s what peoplewho don’t listen to other amazingguitarists say,” said senior JonHorowitz. Jack White’s rankingin 17th place is a clear indica-tion that popularity affected thelist quite a lot. Don’t get mewrong, I love his style, and ad-mit that he as a guitarist and hismusic are exceptionally goodcompared to most bands today.But I’m sure many of you willagree that it is wrong to placehim over all these 6-string gi-ants on whose shoulders Jack ismerely standing.

I tossed the magazine intothe bin with mixed feelings; ut-ter disappointment was one, bythe fact that the representativesof music had compromised withthe society that would read anarticle on guitar only if they seethe picture of Jimi Hendrix inhis flashy costume on the cover.Another was frustration withthe music industry today itself,that came to value how hand-some or “bad,” and therefore howpopular the artists are, ratherthan the music they write (somedon’t even do that!) Nevertheless,I’m still hoping for a better future,when people would appreciateartists that are “musicians first,clowns second.”

Photo Courtesy MTV.comMATT’S ADDICTION: The band poses after a great show. Thegroup’s members can smile again after overcoming great adversity.

7SportsSeptember 26, 2003The Warrior

Girls’ swimming holds first race in pool

TOO COOL FOR POOL: Junior Allie Jordan does thebutterfly in Monday’s meet

by Caitlin McTagueSPORTS

September 19th marked thefirst victory in what looks tobe a very successful seasonfor the girl's varsity swimteam. Niskayuna easily de-feated Guilderville (a combi-nation of Guilderland andVoorheesville), winningnearly every event. Thestrength and success of theteam was clearly visible inthe swimming and divingevents, and also in the strongsupport swimmers showed fortheir teammates, as evidentin the final score, a blowout of134.5-51.5 points.

"Over the past six years Ihave seen the Niskayuna girls’swim team grow to become astronger and more experi-enced team,” said senior co-captain Diana Mitsche.“Thisyear, the swim team is defi-nitely the strongest it has everbeen.” The Niskayuna girls’varsity swim team has becomea big threat to every team inthe Suburban Council andSection II, and the new poolhas given them an added edge.

"Having the pool has reallycut down on stress,” com-mented junior Allison Jordan.

“We have more time for school-work, and we also have theopportunity to get more in-volved in clubs and other ac-tivities outside of school. Lastyear we got home from prac-tice at 8 p.m. Now we get tohave more time in the poolwithout traveling." Althoughall of the girls agree that notmaking the daily commute toMohonason High School isgreat, they do miss the teamcamaraderie that developedover the long bus rides.

"On swim team, it is hardto get to know the girls duringpractice because we are al-ways in the water, which iswhy we try to get togetheroutside of practice," saidMitsche. "Every year we haveone or two sleepovers. All ofthe girls will bring their sleep-ing bags, and we will just hangout and watch movies and playgames. We also have ‘psych’parties, during which we'll tie-dye shirts and eat dinner as ateam."

The swim team also hasplenty of traditions, whichhave helped unite the teamand create enthusiasm andspirit for competition. "Onetradition that the swim team

has is passingon a T-shirtfrom a seniorto a fresh-man,” said se-nior Erica Ar-cher. “It onlyhappens everyfour years, butover this timethe freshmanthat receivedthe T-shirtadds her owncreations to it.When she is asenior, she willpass on the T-shirt to afreshman whoshe believesbest exempli-fies the stron-gest qualitiesof the team.There is also

the swim-ming captradition:s e n i o r swill sign acap, andm a y b eleave abrief mes-sage, andthen passit down toa junior.Fundraisingto lowerthe cost oft e a mswimsuitsand warmup outfits,has alsob r o u g h tthe teamtogether. "During pre-seasonwe had a garage sale at DianaMitsche's house. We raisedover three hundred dollars,and it was a great way to worktogether as a team," said se-nior Stephanie Miller.

As co- captains, senior ErinMosher and Mitsche share theresponsibilities of leading theteam. "Basically our job is toorder the team clothing, leadstretches, and lead cheers be-fore meets," said Mosher.

Jordan attributes some ofthe team's success to havingthe same coach for four years."In the past it was difficult toget into a good routine be-cause we were constantly hav-ing to adapt to new coachesand their different methodsof coaching. Having the samecoach, Kate Blener, for thepast four years has allowedthe team to really focus onswimming and competing."

Despite the consistency ofhaving the same coach, ev-ery year has been unique."Each year has been differ-ent, depending on the groupof seniors that were leadingthe team,” said senior TarahMarvell. “As freshmen, [wehad] a very enthusiasticgroup of seniors that reallygot the team excited and mo-tivated to compete." This

year, as a senior, Marvellplans to bring some of herown experience and enthu-siasm to the team.

The girls are looking for-ward to improving on lastyear's winning record ofeight wins and three losses,as well as sending some oftheir relay teams and indi-viduals to the state meet,which takes place in earlyNovember.

"I definitely think thatmany of the girls have thepotential for making it toStates, in both the indi-vidual events and in relays,”commented Coach KateBlener. “Last year we hadseveral girls just barely missmaking it to States.” The en-thusiasm and confidencethat Blener has in the teamis reflected in the success ofher athletes.

With a strong coach, and agroup of enthusiastic seniorsto lead the team, this seasonlooks to be one full of victoriesand personal achievements.Eleven out of fourteen of theNiskayuna swim meets are athome, giving Niskayuna stu-dents and residents an oppor-tunity to show their supportand watch as the Niskayunagirls swim team vies for a topspot in Section II.

Warrior photo / Jon Chow

LORD OF THE BOARD: Sophomore Carolyn Darttperforms a superb dive against Scotia and Schalmont

Warrior photo / Jon Chow

Sports September 26, 2003 The Warrior8Aaron Mednick: Student athlete of the month

Weekly Highlights (September 14 - September 20)

Boys’ Soccer:

Boys’ Volleyball:

Boys’ XC:

Football:

Golf:

by Ryan DoyleSPORTS

Soccer star and Niskayuna HighSchool senior Aaron Mednick is thismonth’s Student Athlete, because ofhis commitment to both academics andathletics. “Aaron is a key part in ouroffense,” said senior Niskayuna War-r iors Soccer Team Captain DanJohnson. “If [Aaron] has a good game,we have a good chance at victory.”Mednick has been playing soccer withNiskayuna since elementary school,but has reached his peak at the highschool level. He has put away five con-secutive goals in the last three of theWarrior’s games. His first was inSaturday’s game against Colonie, whenhe deftly outmaneuvered the Raiders’goalie and defense to finalize theWarrior’s 7-0 destruction of Colonie.

The highlight of Mednick’sscoring career came early lastweek against r ival schoolShenendehowa. Aaron turnedhis first three shots into threesolid goals for the Warriors,leading them to a decisive 3-2victory. Captain Johnson said ofthe game, “Our strikers had agood game and worked hard toget the ball up the field and giveour offense, and Aaron, a chance toscore.” Mednick’s performancedidn’t end there: he scored the firstgoal of last Thursday’s 4-0 rout atColonie. “I really enjoy playing withthe team, they’re a great bunch ofguys and we should continue to besuccessful throughout the season,”Mednick commented.

When he’s not dominating thesoccer field, Aaron enjoys hang-ing out with his friends, eatingveal parmesan –his dish of choice,and taking jazz piano lessons, forwhich he performed this summerat Proctor’s Theatres. Aaron stillseems to bring his powerful pres-ence in athletics to other sports,including tennis. Mednick hasbeen on the varsity team since8th grade, and been team captainsince his sophomore year, mak-ing him a key figure in variousNiskayuna athletics.

Aaron is also an active mem-ber of the community, partici-pating in a program called SAFE,for “Sports Are For Everyone.”Besides helping his team suc-ceed, he guides children in theregion to achieving their own

successes. Each week Aaron gives uphis own time to help autistic and men-tally challenged youths participate andenjoy sports they normally couldn’t.Despite finally being a senior, Aaronstill commits himself to a demandingschool schedule. “Yes, I’m still takinga lot of classes: CEIP (an internshipprogram), calculus, politics and publicaffairs, and so on; I still have plenty ofwork to do,” he commented. Mednicksays he still seems to find time tospend with his friends in betweenschoolwork and soccer. “It’s hard,” hesaid, “ but it’s fun also.”

The Warriors are now 6-2 overall, thankin large part to both Aaron’s individualsuccesses as well as the achievements theteam has made as a whole. “I couldn’t do itwithout them,” he says. Their next gameis Monday, September 29th at Bethlehem.

Win vs. Shen 3-2Win vs. Colonie 4-0Loss vs. Guilderland 3-0

No results reported

Win vs. Averill Park 18-45Loss vs. Guilderland 22-34

9/20 game vs. Averill Parkpostponed

No results reported

Tie vs. Burnt Hills 0-0Win vs. Guilderland 2-1

Win vs. Columbia 3-0

Win vs. Guilderland 19-40Win vs. Averill Park 20-37

Loss vs. Burnt Hills 1-2Win vs. Saratoga 3-0

Win vs. Saratoga 5-4

Girls’ Soccer:

Girls’ Volleyball:

Girls’ XC:

Field Hockey:

Girls’ Tennis:

Warrior photo / Jon Chow

HATS OFF: Mednick scored a hat trick against Shen

Warrior photo / Jon ChowMONEY: Mednick has cashed in as The Warrior’s Sep-tember student athlete of the month.