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Vol. XXVIII · Issue V

december 16, 2011

Newton South High School’s Student Newspaper · Newton, MA · Established 1984 · www.thelionsroar.com

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ADDICTION that never sleeps

Shedding [blue] light on the consequences of smart phone use

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By Lee Schlenker photo by Olivia Kennis

hen midnight comes after hours of homework for junior Zach Holt, he shuts off his overworked brain and goes to sleep — something his iPhone does not do. In fact, since he got his iPhone over four years ago, Holt has never powered down his “most important possession,” whose alarm wakes him in the morning and whose songs put him to bed at night.

“It’s on all day, every day,” Holt said.

“I always have it with me. I feel naked without it.”

According to a Nielsen survey conducted in October 2011, 38 percent of kids age 13-17 own a smartphone. An Edison Research report from six months earlier confirms this data and predicts that if current trends continue, the number could rise to 60 percent by 2012.

Smartphone fixation has become an increasingly common phenomenon among students, and Holt’s sentiments are hardly unique.

Sophomore Sammi Suga, who also owns an iPhone, said, “I can’t imagine my life without my cell phone.”

South’s growing reliance on these ubiquitous devices has left some faculty and students alike concerned about this generation’s over-dependence on its new best friend.

This issue particularly troubles Juniors Beatrice Hernandez and JesSouth psychologist Andrew Aspel. sica Rezqallah conceded that they are adHe said he worries that communica- dicted to their smartphones. “You always tion via smartphone inhibits students’ abil- want to be updated,” Rezqallah said. ity to respond to body language and other Hernandez agreed. “You always want gestural cues. to know what’s going on in the world,” she “If you can’t gauge someone else’s said, while browsing through pictures of reactions, then you can’t gauge or adjust bracelets on her Blackberry. your own social content,” he said.

Senior Olivia Kennis said she feels Because of this the same way, citing To read The insularity, Aspel said the access to anything that smartphone mis— from movie times to Roar’s editorial use has played a major map directions to the on the paradox part in the student name of that actress of smartphones, see generation’s diminishthat frequents the tip ing sense of social tact of her tongue — as the pg. and etiquette. “People chief reason for always have to learn that there’s a time and place to having her phone nearby. “[Being on my respond to technology,” he said. “If you’re phone] has become second nature while sitting with your friends, why should you doing anything else,” she said. “The more be on your phone?” there is to do [on a smartphone] the more The answer lies in the psychology of addicting it can be.” addiction, according to psychology teacher Even Turley, who owns an iPhone Sean Turley. and understands why it is addictive, is “[Smartphones] are addicting in the not above the device’s behavior-changing way that everything that rewards occainfluences. sionally is addicting,” he said. “Things that “Before I owned [an iPhone], I reward every time are great as long as they would almost never check my phone for provide you entertainment, [but] as soon any reason. Now I find myself checking it as they fail to give you something posiseveral times in a single car ride,” Turley tive, you stop using them; if the reward is said. “Even with knowledge, addiction can variable, you want to stick around and see be quite burdensome. I have to consciouswhat happens next.” ly think not to do it.”

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B.J. Novak The Roar sat down with “The Office” writer and actor.

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

South Spirit An investigation of when school spirit goes overboard.

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Senior Jonah Reider, who now owns a simple flip phone after his Android HTC Aria was severely damaged, looks back on his smartphone overuse with contempt.

“It [was] a huge time waste,” he said.

“It consumed my life.”

Junior Dan Kaufman, who vowed never to own a smartphone, said he has a problem with smartphone owners “not at all interacting with the real world.”

“Any free minutes when [smartphone owners’] hands are available, they go on their phones,” Kaufman said. “I’d be fine if [kids’ use] was productive, but the games they play aren’t worth the brain energy; they’re occupied in the least intellectual way.”

Sophomore Devlon Grasley shares a similar antipathy for smartphones but implicates constant texting instead of phone games as the impetus for his criticism.

“People now text instead of talking. They are communicating without actually communicating,” Grasley said. “What’s created are really shallow people whose entire life is their smartphone — all they do is text all day.”

Senior Isabelle Granahan-Field has a more balanced take on smartphone use.

“It can encourage personal connection.

Someone can always be reached. People SMARTPHONES, 12

Reflection

Four community members share their thoughts on the word.

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NEWS 3 FEATURES 8 EDITORIALS 14 CENTERFOLD 16 OPINIONS 20 COMMUNITY 25 SPORTS 28

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cartoon by Adam DeAngelo

news volume 28

december 16, 2011

"#$%& "'#%( compiled by Roar editors

Passin’ Time Students and faculty will be given the opportunity to perform during Passin’ Time on Dec. 20. This will be the third year of the event, which features the musical talent of the South community.

Junior Coffee The junior “What to Expect” Coffee will be held today at 56 Solon Street. The event will be hosted by Housemaster Donna Gordon, and will offer a forum for parents to ask questions concerning their children’s junior year.

GSA Story Share The Gay Straight Alliance will hold its annual story share in the lecture hall on Wednesday, Dec. 21. Students in the GSA will tell their life stories to students who attend the event.

Upcycle for Success™ Currently, students can recycle unused or obsolete electronics by dropping them off in house offices, the main office or the athletic office as part of a program to turn wasted electronics into useful materials for future use. The materials will be donated to Causes International, a company specializing in creating new uses for old electronics. A list of acceptable electronics can be found on the PTSO website.

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Left Behind photo illustration by Carly Meisel

After the second consecutive cancelation of the French Homestay Trip, faculty and students present their opinions on the benefits of the trip Julia Lee & Dipal Nagda News Contributor, News Editor

The French Homestay Trip has been canceled due to a lack of student interest for the second year in a row. Teachers have observed a decline in the number of students signing up for the trip as a result of both financial and social issues.

The trip would have offered two roundtrip flights to Paris, three nights in a Paris hotel, museum entrance passes and a weekend stay with a French family for $2,700.

French teacher Meg Weston said that the experience is worth the money. “It’s amazing to have students see things and have them see linguistically that they can succeed,” she said. “Students are immersed in the culture with families — it’s an extraordinary experience.”

Senior Andrew Grusby had signed up for the trip before it was canceled. He said that he had hoped the program would provide personal interaction with the French culture.

“I just thought it would be a unique way to … travel to France and experience the culture there,” he said.

For the past two years, however, the trip has not attracted enough student applicants. Weston and French teacher Sebastian Merle conducted a survey among all French students above the freshman level, in which students listed all the reasons for choosing not to go on the trip.

Their results confirmed that students were reluctant to travel primarily because of financial and academic concerns. “The financial piece had a lot to do with it. Even if they knew about financial aid, it was still an issue,” Weston said.

Out of the 145 responses received, 50 indicated that students could not go on the trip for financial reasons. With the recent recession, Weston said she acknowledged that money is tight for many families. “For some, that [$2,700] is a sum of money that the families just don’t have the funds for,” she said.

Grusby said that the fee detered many students from signing up for the trip. “I think

that probably a lot of the reason [for the decline in interest] is that [the fee] is sort of expensive now, especially with the economy,” Grusby said.

“I think money is a huge concern for a lot of people, and that’s starting people to sort of shy away from signing up.”

According to the same survey, 50 students also responded that they did not sign up for the trip “because I didn’t know anyone else that was going.”

Junior Alexandra Dellheim said she did not sign up in fear of not knowing any other students. “It’s a lot easier to do something, especially if it’s school-related, with someone you know,” she said. “I would feel more comfortable if I knew people.”

However, junior Zoe Clayton said that social concerns did not affect her decision to sign up, although she said she would have felt more comfortable with her friends. “[My friends] helped confirm it, but I probably would have gone anyways,” she said, “[My friend’s coming] was a bonus.”

Grusby agreed that the other benefits of the trip outweighed concerns about who was going. “I think I would have been more comfortable [with my friends], but I still would go on the trip without my friends, because I think it’s a new experience,” Grusby said.

Merle said he has noticed that students recently have overlooked some of the major opportunities the trip presents. “The core [of the program] is staying with a French family, something that students just aren’t interested in anymore,” he said.

Among other responses, 23 students replied that they had college visits to make during February vacation, 27 answered that they had sports commitments, 30 responded that they had plans to travel to France with family and 39 said that their families were traveling elsewhere during February vacation.

Dellheim said that, in addition to social concerns, she did not sign up for the trip because she had already traveled to France with her family. “With school people and teachers, it’s a lot different of a feeling from family vacation,” she said. “I feel like I would

get more out of it with my family.”

Delheim said she felt that going only with students would limit her experience.

“I feel like being with kids our own age … would only give a sense of just one aspect of French culture,” she said.

Merle said he was not surprised by the opinions of students who are less interested in the trip. “Kids here are extremely busy, and they have to set priorities,” Merle said.

Clayton said she could understand why other students chose not to sign up. “It really ranges for each person … whether financial issues or whether their families take vacations together, or whether if they just didn’t want their kids going,” she said. “Some people are weird about having their kids overseas.”

Clayton said she had been looking forward to the trip, however, and was upset that the trip was canceled. “I was disappointed,” Clayton said. “It was kind of a big deal for me just because it’s exciting going to a different country, speaking a different language, and I really enjoy doing that.”

For future years, Weston said she wants to highlight that the group meets five to six times before the trip, allowing students to interact with each other beforehand. “We’ve never had trouble with kids getting to know each other,” she said.

Weston also said she hopes to emphasize that immersion into a French family is an once-in-a-lifetime experience, one that is unique even without friends and family.

Weston said that next year, she might use North’s strategy to present the program to students, hopefully increasing their interest. At North, the students who traveled to France in previous years introduce the trip and share their experiences.

According to world language department head Suzanne DeRobert, the trip is designed to challenge students academically.

She said she hopes students will look past outside issues and sign up in appreciation of the trip’s educational potential. “That’s what this trip is really about,” she said, “opening students up to something beyond their comfort zones.”

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thelionsroar.com/news

news

An evening with

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photo courtesy of Southside

Actor, writer and ‘97 graduate B.J. Novak returned for a Southside fundraiser on Nov. 22. The Roar sat down with him to talk about his experiences at South and how they affected his life after high school.

The Lion’s Roar: How does it feel to be back at South and back in Newton?

B.J. Novak: There was something special about walking backstage at South, where I have been on stage a lot in plays, and memories came back that haven’t come back in a long time. It’s a certain type of excitement.

LR: Can you describe how you felt?

BN: It was nice to feel connected and realize that [South] is still a part of me, and that the nerves I feel before I go on stage as a stand-up are the exact same as the nerves I felt going on stage as an actor in a South play.

LR: What was your experience like when you were at South?

BN: I always tell people that I was a kid who sat in the middle of the bus. And everyone, it seems, always says, ‘Oh, you sit in the front of the bus or the back of the bus,’ but most people sit in the middle of the bus. That’s how buses work.

So, I was a middle of the bus kid in that I did my homework but also wanted to know if there were any parties around that weekend. I wasn’t especially cool, I wasn’t especially uncool, I would challenge teachers a lot, I would come up with pranks in class, I would be distracted — but at the end of the day, I would do my work.

LR: How did you get involved in The Roar and in journalism?

BN: I wrote a couple pieces for Denebola and The Roar my freshman year. I would review a school play or arts stuff, and then I just chose The Roar and loved it. It was really exciting and independent. I really enjoyed writing for my peers. I really enjoyed that this was not mandatory reading; this was optional reading for other students, they would have to choose to read what I wrote, and I would have to get their attention or entertain them. If I didn’t work hard enough, they’d think it was lame; and if it wasn’t funny enough, they’d think it was unfunny; and if it wasn’t smart enough, they’d think it was stupid. That really motivated me more than any other type of writing — the idea that at 8 a.m. in the morning that stack of papers would go on that counter in Goodwin House and people would take them because their friends wrote stuff or stuff was [written] about them;

the idea that my stuff would be read, my stuff would be laughed at; if I was the editor, that I was making decisions on what should be on the front page. I almost always wrote funny pieces, but one time I did an investigative piece on who the new principal would be. I sort of tricked [former Superintendent] Irwin Blumer into narrowing it down to two candidates, and I put it on the front page. I remember teachers reading it because even teachers didn’t know that yet, so that was a cool news scoop for me.

LR: How did your teachers at South influence you?

[Shakespeare] made me realize that you can’t think in terms of ‘homework’ and ‘cool’; it’s just about how intense something is.

- BJ Novak, Class of 1997 BN: Mr. Honeyman was very influential, in that he taught very serious acting techniques and approaches that I sort of took for granted. I thought any teacher at any school would teach those things, but I realized much later that no, he was exceptional and exceptionally serious and he made the students take it very seriously. I learned more, probably, about acting in high school than I did in college, because [his class] was very serious and demanded you to be very serious about acting and the fundamentals of understanding a character. The other thing that was extremely influential was “Shakespeare and Company,” not only acting wise but philosophically even, like my whole outlook on life. I think I went back and forth on whether I was going to be a good student or not, whether I thought that was cool or not, and Shakespeare is so synonymous to most people with boring, nerdy, scholarly stuff. The way they made me realize that

it was so more rock-and-roll, and rebellious, and sexual, and crazy and sort of exciting and scary than anything else.

That’s why it was in your textbook. Everything great ends up dead in a textbook, unfortunately. Everything great in history, every crazy war and torture device and piece of art and piece of music just becomes homework for people to memorize. So that kind of jolted me out of that [feeling]. It made me realize that you can’t think in terms of ‘homework’ and ‘cool’; it’s just about how intense something is.

LR: What was your plan for when you graduated from high school? Did you plan to go into acting? How did you eventually get into acting?

BN: My plan was to be a writer. I liked to perform. I never quite gave it up, but I wasn’t as serious about this at all. I had different ambitions. Part of me wanted to be David Letterman, part of me wanted to be Alfred Hitchcock, in terms of having his own show, even though he’s a director.

[Quentin] Tarantino is the perfect example, and he is my hero because he was more famous than any actor and more exciting than any actor, but it was because he wrote and directed such a great show. So that’s what I tried to do right out of college, but I would get jobs that I didn’t want to turn down. Even though [writing for the television show] “Raising Dad” wasn’t my dream, it was still a real job.

LR: You said at the beginning of the presentation that writing was the most important thing to be good at. Why do you think that?

BN: If you can write your way out of anything, it’s like talking your way out of anything — especially in the Internet era. If you can be persuasive and demonstrate that you’ve thought about something, you can be extremely influential, whether it’s for your own cause or someone else’s. It’s hard to be a good writer without being a good thinker. If you’re a good thinker, you’ve got to put a lot of effort into your writing, and there’s no limit to what you can do — but it means effort. It means ‘How do you be interesting?’ You’ve got to read a lot, you’ve got to think a lot [and] you can’t just dash everything off on an iPhone. You need to think about the reader, and what they’re thinking when they read what you write. And then the sky’s the limit.

december 16, 2011

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!"#$%&'%($)*+' Celebrate Newton, a holiday craft fair held annually at South, took place on Dec. 4. The event gave local artisans the chance to showcase their products, ranging from necklaces to knapsacks.

By James Wu With his artwork, ‘98 graduate Ari Hauben paints pictures with words.

“Essentially, it’s like painting with newspaper,” he said.

“I recontextualize newspaper articles to send a message through the image that I create.

You use the article and whatever it’s about, you make it into a shape, and it creates a message through the image.”

Hauben said he uses old newspaper articles from around the world related to the artwork’s subject, pastes them onto plaster and paints over them to create a new element altogether.

His pieces include portraits

Ari Hauben

of historical figures such as Einstein, Lincoln and Sitting Bull, as well as cityscape artwork and abstract messages.

When asked about the inspiration for his work, Hauben said that teaching at McKinley South End Academy, a school for students in Boston who have been expelled from other schools, has affected his work and inspired him to teach through his artwork.

“I like the idea of reintroducing historical figures to [my students],” he said. “These kids have never heard of Sitting Bull before ... some kids haven’t even heard of Lincoln before.”

“It’s important to reintroduce them to these figures ... and I do so with this art.”

Right: One of Hauben’s original prints Making unique pastries is in the blood of artisan baker Mary Hamel.

“My mother was an award-winning baker,” she said, “and I spent a good amount of time in the kitchen.”

According to Hamel, her mother inspired her to become a part-time baker.

“I’ve been a baker since age 9, and I grew up in a bakery, so I was was a chip off the old block.

After I [went] to Switzerland and France, where I saw shaped breads, the idea started.”

Hamel takes challah bread and shapes it into designs of animals, people and other objects.

Hamel works as a part-time sales trainer along with running an online business for her

baked goods. She showcases and sells her work at Celebrate Newton every year.

Along with baking, Hamel works as a consultant for formal events such as showers and banquets, trying to make the food at the events more aesthetically pleasing to her customers.

“I like entertaining. I like visual things,” she said. “I try to give my opinion in making all food more artistic.”

Left: Some of Hamel’s baked goods

Mary Hamel

photos by Olivia Kennis

Celebrate Newton, which was held in the student center, featured items that were all created by local artisans.

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“An Evening with B.J. Novak” raises money for Southside Carly Meisel & Julia Smith News Contributors

South alumnus, actor and writer for the NBC show “The Office” B.J. Novak spoke at a Southside fundraiser on Nov. 22.

Members of Southside, a special education program that operates as a smaller learning community of select students, cooked for the bake sale, ran the ticket sales, made posters, and set and cleaned up the event.

Southside director Steve Feinberg said he was pleased with the outcome of the event.

“It was a lot of hard work [by the students] … but a lot of fun as well,” he said.

According to Feinberg, hundreds of people, including students and parents from towns other than Newton, attended the event, some waiting outside for hours beforehand in anticipation.

Several students sported “Dunder Mifflin” T-shirts in reference to the fictional paper company featured on “The Office,” showing their enthusiasm about Novak’s appearance.

South parent Marcia Bergman said she attended the event to show support for

Novak because she felt a sense of personal connection and pride for the celebrity, who grew up in Newton and attended South.

“We really wanted to come and see him because he is very famous [and] he’s ... from Newton,” she said. “We’re Newtonites, so we wanted to ... come to hear all about what he’s been doing.”

Freshman Nathan Reider said he attended because he knows of Novak from “The Office.”

“I heard that this was going to be a blast and that [Novak] is brilliant, so I got here early,” he said.

Although he is a fan of “The Office,” Reider said he does not know much about Southside. Similarly, sophomore Madeline Meye said her admiration for Novak, rather than her desire to support Southside, motivated her to attend the event.

“I adore B.J. Novak and love ‘The Office,’” she said.

During the event, Novak showed exclusive footage from “The Office,” enthralling and engaging the audience.

He ran a lengthy question and answer session, during which he described the advantages and disadvantages of being in the

public spotlight.

Novak also recalled mischievious pranks he pulled as a child and his time spent as a student at South, explaining how South Stage drastically influenced his career choice.

He also offered advice to students about a wide range of topics.

Most of the money raised during the event will go to Southside’s funds.

“Some of [the money raised] is going toward ... incentives and rewards for students when they are doing well,” Novak’s mother, Linda Novak, a Southside teaching assistant, said. “Some of those funds are going to be used to pay for trips and to help pay for some of the students who are in need of a little extra boost so that they can join the trips.”

According to Feinberg, the remaining money, about 25 percent of the profits, will be given to the “student-in-need fund” that the South organizes. This money will be available to all students who apply, not only students within Southside.

Novak said he got involved with the program because his mother is so devoted to it. He supports Southside’s mission to encourage and motivate students to reach their full potential, no matter what their

individual circumstances may be.

“It’s great [that] whatever level of attention anyone needs to succeed, South can give it to them,” Novak said. “If you need a little, if you need a lot, if you need a little some days and not others, there are actually people there to help. It’s not condescending; ... it just takes people seriously. I think [Southside is] a great program.”

Southside student junior Bryce Summers said he appreciates the sense of community that the program provides.

“Southside is a program for anyone who has made some bad decisions in the past, but is trying to turn it around,” he said.

“It has a lot of different supports in place for kids with different needs. Some of us are here for academic reasons, some for behavioral.

It’s like a one-size-fits-all for everybody.”

The event did not only entertain the crowd, but also brought in a large sum of money that will be used for Southside programs.

“The event was wonderfully successful,” Feinberg said. “Enough money was raised through this event to help cover many of the operating costs of running a program like Southside.”

december 16, 2011

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photo by Amanda Yong

Arcade Night, which the Habitat for Humanity club held in the student center, offered students the chance to play video games while raising money to support the club.

Habitat for Humanity club hosts Arcade Night Emily Ho News Editor

The Habitat for Humanity club held its inaugural fundraising event, Arcade Night, on Dec. 2.

“We had all different kinds of games, from ‘Rock Band’ to ‘Just Dance’ to ‘Mario Kart,’” junior and club treasurer Laura Kessel said.

“Everyone was finding something they liked.”

The Habitat for Humanity club was created last year in affilia-

tion with the international Habitat for Humanity organization. “[Arcade Night] was very ambitious for a first event,” junior and club vice president Jenny Kaufman said, “but we had a good turnout ... and everybody had fun.”

Although the event was originally planned last year, it was canceled due to scheduling difficulties.

According to science teacher Alex Kraus, who started advising the club at the beginning of this

year, an increased sense of focus within the group members was instrumental in the success of the event.

“When I came in as club adviser this year, the kids had an agenda and were ready to move forward with it,” he said.

Junior Nicholas Reed attended the event and said that he felt the strength of the event lay in its unique theme. “There [are] a lot of dances, but not a lot of arcade events,” he said.

Freshman Sam Fidler agreed that the event was unusual and therefore appealing.

“It was a good idea for an event,” he said. “I met a lot of people and learned that a lot of people are better at video games than I thought.”

According to Kessel, the event raised $418.

Kraus said that the club plans to expand its reach in community service by using the money from fundraising events.

“We’re now in a financial position to establish ourselves as a formal chapter of Habitat for Humanity,” Kraus said. “Ultimately, [the event] will help get us one step closer to actually building houses.”

According to Kaufman, club members are looking forward to building a stronger core.

“With the help of our adviser, [the event] was able to be successfully carried out,” she said. “We hope to continue to advance as a club and gain more members.”

Ask The Principal The Roar asks: What does South want to know about Principal Joel Stembridge?

Sophomore Anna Rhatigan wants to know: What is your favorite place to eat in Newton?

JS: I don’t usually tend to eat in Newton, but when I do, I like Baker’s Best for breakfast.

Senior Jake Gusman wants to know: What is your favorite high school memory?

JS: Playing bass and bass guitar in the jazz choir that we had at [my high] school ... it was a great way to start the school day.

Junior Louisa Warnke wants to know: If you had to live in another country, which would it be and why?

JS: I love Italy. I’m food-centric, and that area of the world has food that I love. Also, I’m part Italian.

Junior Curt Lyon wants to know: What is your favorite Pokémon?

JS: Gyarados, because my son hasn’t beaten that deck yet.

features volume 28

issue 5

december 16, 2011 t thelionsroar.com/features

Several students enjoy using replica firearms, but is airsoft more than just fun and games?

By Tom Howe & Anastasiya Vasilyeva photo courtesy of James Sherman-Caffray

Sophomore James Sherman-Caffray has learned firsthand that airsoft players must take proper safety precautions to prevent injury.

T

he first time sophomore James Sherman-Caffray saw an airsoft gun, he was a 12-year-old on a play-date. “I went over to [sophomore Dylan Shuler’s] house, he showed me his little CO2 pistols and I was blown away,” he said. “I liked playing with little plastic toy guns when I was a kid, and this was just like a step up for me.”

Since then, Sherman-Caffray and Shuler have introduced sophomore William Alperin to airsoft, an activity in which players launch nonmetallic pellets from replica firearms at one another.

They, along with other South airsoft players, said they have learned that though airsoft is a recreational activity, they must take precautions to maintain a safe environment.

Sherman-Caffray said he initially did not understand the attire required to participate safely in airsoft. “When I first started airsoft and went to this field, I really didn’t know what to think about gear, and so I just threw on a green T-shirt and camo shorts,” Sherman-Caffray said. “I had a … crappy gun, and … people were in full military camouflage, huge vests, and they had huge guns. I was so intimidated.

We learned very quickly that what we were wearing wouldn’t really do.”

The boys learned to protect themselves with military-grade eyewear that is required by safety standards for airsoft.

Motti Fine, father of junior Omer Fine, said that he has no safety concerns related to airsoft and that he made sure he felt the activity was safe before allowing

his younger son, 11-year-old Ariel Fine to begin playing with an entry-level airsoft package.

“We did research … to know what specifically it is and what they do with it, and after, we realized that it’s something that didn’t really seem too harmful to us,” Motti said. “We spoke with [Ariel] about how he’s going to use it, and when he’s going to use it, like he’s always going to use it with the goggles.”

Omer agreed that the eyes are susceptible to injury but said that his brother often ignores this concern.

“It doesn’t really hurt to get shot anywhere else [besides the eyes],” he said.

“My brother has a mask. He doesn’t wear it though.”

Junior Brian Spink and his friends

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divide into teams to play airsoft. He said that though players should wear protective gear, the expense and inaccessibility led most of his friends to opt to play without it. “[The gear] was all my friend’s stuff, so only three of us could get the masks and everyone else would just hope not to get [hit] in the face,” he said. “We just kind of just wore long baggy pants and shirts, so that could kind of absorb it.”

Before ever going to an airsoft field, Shuler, Sherman-Caffray and Alperin played airsoft in their backyards. Shuler said they then realized that the activity appeared dangerous and would concern observers.

“We have had a few close encounters with the police, but [airsoft] is not what people assume it to be,” Shuler said.

“We look like a bunch of people running around with guns.”

According to Shuler, orange tips clearly distinguish airsoft guns from true firearms. He said, however, that Newton residents often do not recognize airsoft guns, so they call the police, which can be dangerous for airsoft participants.

Because of the potential for misunderstandings, Sherman-Caffray said extra precautions are necessary.

“People really shouldn’t be playing airsoft in their yards. They should be going to a field because I actually had a run-in with the police one time,” Sherman-Caffray said. “That was a very scary moment for me in airsoft, and it almost got me arrested.”

Now Sherman-Caffray, Shuler and Alperin travel to New Hampshire to play airsoft at a field named Feel Good Farms.

Sherman-Caffray said that playing airsoft there eliminates the risk of police involvement.

But the field does not eliminate other worries — Sherman-Caffray said he has witnessed injuries caused by BB guns used in airsoft. “I’ve seen kids that got shot in the lip with BBs [that are] actually still in their lip. It’s not a fun sight to see,” Sherman-Caffray said.

Motti said that he allows airsoft in the backyard because Ariel is only allowed to aim at objects, not people. At the entry level and with proper rules in place, Motti said that airsoft is not dangerous. “[Ariel] shouldn’t aim at other people. Even if the airsoft gun is not loaded, he shouldn’t aim at other people,” Motti said. “We only bought him a limited supply of beads ... when the kid starts, it’s basic stuff.”

Spink said he has seen serious injuries when players aim airsoft guns at one another, causing parents to worry about their children’s safety.

“I shot one of my friends in the neck, and he started bleeding, and his parents said we were stupid and that we should probably stop,” Spink said.

Alperin said that although physical injuries are concerning, airsoft is not any more dangerous than other sports.

“There is potential for harm to be done during airsoft, but that’s generally the same during any sport or activity, whether it’s football [or] hockey,” Alperin said. “Using your head is what is going to keep you and everyone around you safe. It’s very important to understand that there can be potential harm in [airsoft] and to make the correct decisions.”

december 16, 2011

features

9

Student performers defy circus stereotypes Yonatan Gazit & Hannah Shields

Features Contributor, Features Reporter For his eleventh birthday, freshman Max Cooper brought his friends to experience the trapeze at Jordan’s Furniture. Although the party may have been a unique glimpse into the world of circus for his friends, Cooper has continued lessons in circus arts ever since.

Senior Lily Maltz, who has participated in circus programs for nine years, knows first-hand that it is not a joking matter.

“Most people don’t know that [circus is] a real thing and that people go to school for it,” Maltz said. “There are colleges … where you can major in aerial hoop and minor in partner acrobatics.”

Several South students have committed themselves to circus performance, dispelling misconceptions about the seriousness of their pursuit.

Junior Rose Taylor and Maltz both participate in a youth program called Circus Smirkus. Taylor said that the program’s summer camp gives students opportunities to both practice and perform. “You can spend the time making your own act or … spend a week doing different shows all over the New England area,” she said.

Cooper, another Circus Smirkus performer, said he has put more emphasis into circus training as he has gotten older.

“I focus more specifically on clowning and juggling,” Cooper said. “I got more serious about juggling about two years ago.”

Cooper said that observers usually define juggling as tossing three or more objects between one’s hands. To Cooper,

however, juggling is more complex. “I do a thing called cigar boxes, which is where you have three or sometimes four boxes,” Cooper said. “You take out the middle one and then manipulate them so they look like they’re doing different things.”

According to Cooper, jugglers learn to use their natural abilities to their best advantage.

“Juggling is extremely difficult, but it also is something that anyone can do,” Cooper said. “There’s a part of your brain that processes physical patterns that isn’t used unless you do something like manipulation of physical objects.”

Taylor’s mother, Elizabeth Marks, said that circus activities both challenge and educate performers without becoming overwhelming. “It needs hard work and practice, and they get skills, but it isn’t competitive,” she said.

Senior Michal Lieberman, who has also attended Circus Smirkus, said she thinks that nailing circus routines is both a physical and mental challenge.

“There are all these long progressions of complicated steps that you have to remember,” she said. “It’s a discipline that’s very outside of the box, so you can invent your own tricks, you can put tricks together that most people wouldn’t think to put together, you can come up with very interesting transitions between them — you can really do your own thing.”

Cooper agreed with Lieberman that personal creativity often extends into circus acts. Movies lead audiences to believe that circuses must always follow a formula

including animals or sideshow features, according to Cooper.

Cooper said he would like to break down such false stereotypes. “Fifty percent [or more] of circuses do not use animals.

That’s a common misconception,” he said.

“Bearded lady, riding an elephant, that’s not a skill … Those are more like carnival things.”

According to Marks, students at Circus Smirkus do not incorporate carnival acts into their performances.

“Kids at the circus don’t work with animals or people with abnormal talents but do things like clowning and juggling,” she said.

Lieberman said that new styles of circus performances in recent years have further disproven circus stereotypes.

“There’s this new movement of new circuses like Cirque de Soleil, … which doesn’t have animals or loud gaudy clowns, and it’s much more modern,”

according to Lieberman. Now, students like her can take on circus as a hobby without abandoning everything else.

“One thing that people may not realize is that in the past if you performed in the circus, that was all you did,” he said. “Now it’s becoming much more of a recreational thing, so it’s much easier to learn about circus.”

she said.

“It only has people in it; they don’t use animals. It’s much more artistic and subtle, and less showy.”

Circus audiences often also fail to recognize how performers’ lifestyles photo by Josh Cohen have changed over the years, Freshman Max Cooper has gotten serious about his juggling.

Sophomore creates application, learns skills Dylan Block & Julia Snider Features Contributer, Features Reporter

When sophomore Gabe Honigsberg was in kindergarten, his mother, Naomi Steiner, nicknamed him ‘the project manager.’ “[Gabe] would have huge construction things that would be all over the whole apartment; they were so complicated,” Steiner said. “He would draw something and then continue on to build his structure proportional to the drawing, before he even knew what the word

proportional meant.”

Since then, Honigsberg has moved on to larger feats. He said his purchase of an iPad over the summer inspired him to create an application of his own. Thus he created Bubble Dash, an app now sold in the App Store for 99 cents.

According to Hongisberg, Bubble Dash is a simple game. Players drag a blue ball from top of the screen to a green ball at the bottom of the screen while avoiding different types of obstacles.

Steiner said that although she was supportive of Honigsberg’s pursuit of app

photo by James Wang

Sophomore Gabe Honigsberg spent his summer creating an app now sold in the App Store.

design, she had no background in the area.

“I don’t know A-Z about app building,” she said.

Steiner said Honigsberg’s creation of an app did not come as a surprise to her.

“Building an app is nothing really out of the ordinary for him,” she said.

Though Honigsberg did not gain his technical knowledge from his parents, he said they taught him other valuable lessons. “I expressed myself while making the app which … is one of the morals my parents taught me … everyone has a creative outlet and I expressed mine through different projects. Right now Bubble Dash is my focus and my project.”

According to Honigsberg, creating an app took both time and dedication.

“It took about one and a half months with coming up with the idea, learning how to program and programming,” he said. “It’s a really big project — there’s over three hundred different files and 10,000 lines of code, which is three times longer than a Shakespeare play.”

According to Steiner, Honigsberg maintained a positive attitude when facing the challenge making an app created.

“I would ask ‘How are you going to do this Gabe?’ and his reply to everything seemed to be ‘I’ll figure it out,’” Steiner said. “Writing code seems like his creative outlet.”

Honigsberg said that online forums for app programming helped him resolve glitches and difficulties. “On one of the

levels, balls started jumping around the screen way too fast, and it took a while to figure out how to slow them down so that you didn’t automatically lose the game,” he said.

Honigsberg said that before an app can be published to the App Store, Apple must review it for a week.

“There’s always a curiosity about what goes on in Apple Headquarters,” Honigsberg said. “I was basically checking my Apple account every two minutes to see if it had gone through.”

When Bubble Dash was published, Honigsberg was relieved. “Seeing my name on the App Store was … really exciting.

I basically ran around the house telling everyone it went through,” he said. “It’s definitely among the most exciting moments of my life.”

After much deliberation, Honigsberg decided to price the app at 99 cents, out of which he receives 70 cents for every purchase. Honigsberg said that he has chosen not to share the details of his profits with others.

“I don’t tell people how many I’ve sold because I don’t know the type of reaction they would have if it was a lot or if it was a little,” Honigsberg said. “It’s always changing, how well it’s being sold. I’m definitely not a millionaire, but it has had some success.”

Honigsberg said the app has even BUBBLE DASH, 10

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features

Relationships: Girl overcomes abuse

EDITOR’S NOTE: Every issue The Roar publishes a different anonymous student’s perspective on relationships. The views expressed in the “Relationships Column” do not reflect the official views of The Lion’s Roar, nor are they intended as a guide or source of advice for others.

I don’t think there is such a thing as a typical high school girl. I know I am not; I feel pain and fear. I, however, also have resilience, which is rare amongst people my age. After being emotionally and physically beaten up for so long by my abusive ex-boyfriend, I still had enough self-respect to fight for my safety. I courageously faced him in court, eventually obtaining the restraining order that allows me to walk around South fearless because he does not attend this school anymore. In order to eliminate my fear, I had to fight it. I can now go anywhere I want, and he cannot follow me.

Wherever I go, though, I still worry that he will suddenly appear. At an airport this summer, I thought I saw him and started to panic. I froze in place, not knowing what to do. Luckily, it was some random person, but I always fear that the protection I have is not enough.

I have flashbacks, mostly bad, to memories of my ex-boyfriend. I loved him, and I couldn’t let go. In the beginning, he was kind and charming; he seemed like such a catch. His behavior was gradual, but I fell hard for this evil demon.

When I walk around school, I try to avoid the lockers he slammed me into, the places where we used to fight and where he called me “bitch,” “whore” or “slut” because I talked to other boys. Sometimes, when I’m trying to fall asleep, I remember all those nights spent bawling my eyes out. Loneliness became my reality as I drifted from my parents, my sisters and my best friends to be his property. They had no idea why I was so distant, and I feel so guilty that I was unable to open up to them.

I try to hide the scars he left me with, the broken family relationships and the burns on my left wrist from when I needed an outlet for the pain I was feeling.

My relationships, scarred, are now fixed, but my wrist still carries the constant reminder of the torture I endured and how I felt.

It was hard keeping up with school, which has always been a priority of mine.

I had always been a good student, a bragging right for my parents. Last year was an exception. I desire to regain my parents’ approval and for them to brag about me once again.

I have a responsibility to look out for other teenage girls, spread the message and fight back. What I endured was horrible, and I cannot bear to see another girl in an abusive relationship. Recently, I provided an anonymous interview for an article about teen dating in the October issue of Boston Magazine entitled “Fatal Attraction.” My hope is that this article will educate other adolescents because it shows that I have successfully put my life back together again.

thelionsroar.com/features

Reflections eliminates exclusivity Charlotte Huth & Parisa Siddiqui Features Reporters

Reflections, an arts and literary magazine advised by English teacher Natalia Taube, meets every Thursday to discuss artwork, writing and photography. The club then votes to determine which pieces will be published in the annual magazine.

Although Reflections has existed for many years, Taube said the magazine lacks a concrete following. “We don’t have enough exposure for kids to submit to it, or even know about it,” she said.

Senior and editor-in-chief Jonah Reider said that in previous years, Reflections has lacked a broad readership “The only people who read the magazine were either us [members] or our friends.”

According to Reider, this lack of diversity has negatively affected Reflections’ exposure.

“Nobody knows about Reflections,” Reider said. “I’d like to make it wellknown. Besides artsy people and English teachers, nobody knows what it is, and I’d like to change that.”

Senior and editor-in-chief Cecilia MacArthur said that Reflections’ lack of diversity can be attributed to a history of exclusivity. “The past couple of years it has felt a little bit exclusive,” she said.

“There had probably been a little intimidation or a little weirdness regarding Reflections, just because people thought it was kind of an environment where people would be judged, or their artwork was put on display in a way that made them uncomfortable,” former editor-in-chief and 2011 graduate Gabe Goodman said.

“People were sometimes a little hesitant to come to meetings and join.”

Sophomore Ko Takasugi-Czernowin, a music editor for Reflections, agreed. “There was just a specific group of people in Reflections, and it was almost as if they shared the same opinions,” he said.

Reider agreed that former members had similar interests, and the magazine’s environment was intimidating to nonmembers.

“It would just be a bunch of artistically inclined people making very snide

photo by Yoonchan Choi

Reflections, the arts and literary magazine, is making efforts to diversify its membership.

comments about other peoples’ work,” Reider said. “It just didn’t seem as welcoming and inviting of an environment as it could be.”

Despite this history of exclusivity and lack of readership, Reflections is taking strides to become a publication that truly reflects creativity of the South community.

This year, the club is making use of resources and taking action to spread awareness of the magazine.

“We … have Teabarns and coffee houses, which are basically events where we have poetry readings and music concerts with South students,” MacArthur said. “We’ve just tried to really branch out.”

According to Takasugi-Czernowin, Reflections’ previous lack of diversity has hindered its ability to properly represent student artwork in its entirety.

“We are encouraging more people to join it, and with that diversity we get more diverse art,” Takasugi-Czernowin said.

“We have to represent the student body as a whole artistically.”

According to Takasugi-Czernowin, Reflections has taken immediate action this year to recruit new members, artists and writers.

“We’ve been doing all sorts of stuff with advisories,” Takasugi-Czernowin said.

“In the club fair, we’ve been a lot more ag-

gressive [with recruiting].”

According to MacArthur, the only requirement for a Reflections member is to have an interest in the arts. “There is no ‘typical’ Reflections member. We are open to anyone and everyone who wants to join,” she said. “The basic criteria is enjoying talking about art, music and whatever we look at in Reflections.”

By increasing awareness about Reflections, Reider said he hopes to discover previously unshared student artwork and writing.

“This year, we’re trying to make Reflections something that will really bring creativity at South to everybody in the community,” Reider said.

“We’re trying to get submissions from all sorts of people from around South because I know that a lot of people under-the-radar are doing art or music or poetry,” Reider said.

Takasugi-Czernowin said he wants Reflections to serve as a way for all students to display their work.

“Some random kid can make some masterpiece and no one would know about it because they wouldn’t share,” Takasugi-Czernowin said. “With Reflections, we encourage people to share their art so that it can be appreciated by everybody.”

Student creates Bubble Dash app BUBBLE DASH, from 9 been sold internationally. “It’s a bit creepy — I don’t know how it’s sold in Slovakia or Italy.”

One of Honisgberg’s friends, sophomore Matt Muller, said that Bubble Dash is “fun, addictive and well-made.”

Honigsberg’s friend, sophomore Matthew Joe, said Honigsberg appreciates feedback on the app.“He always loves to hear feedback about his game and always asks what could improve it,” Joe said.

“When I get positive feedback, it makes me want to make more apps and more levels,” Honigsberg said. “Once you put a lot of effort into something, it’s nice to know that it was a success.”

Joe said that Bubble Dash has broad appeal. “Its a great game for all ages. Gabe had made his game very clear and simple so that way there would be no confusion when playing it,” Joe said. “Overall it’s a

very addicting and worth-buying game.”

Honigsberg said that positive feedback about Bubble Dash has inspired him to continue making apps. “I’m working on a Bubble Dash Holiday right now, which is going to come out hopefully during the holidays, and if that works out, I’m planning on doing a Bubble Dash 2,” he said.

“If I hadn’t received all the feedback and support, I would not be making it.”

Sophomore Inseok Chang said he was surprised at how technologically talented Honigsberg is. “I knew he knew how to because he took a web design class with me, but I didn’t know he was so into game-creating,” Chang said.

Chang said he is impressed by the app’s addictive qualities. “It’s fast paced, and you get really into it because it starts again right when you die and you really want to complete the level as you play.”

“It has been a lot of fun testing people, getting feedback [and] improving[the

app],” Honigsberg said.

He said that marketing plays a significant role in the success of an app.

“People should buy this app because it’s really addicting, it’s really fun and if they are reading The Lion’s Roar, they … know the developer, which is pretty cool,” he said. “It honestly is a fun game and people have a lot of fun playing it.”

Honigsberg said because the project was done independently, it required selfdiscipline. “I just had to be determined and make sure I worked on it at least a few hours a week because otherwise I knew it would never get done,” he said. “Now [the app] is successful, so I understand that discipline is an important part of success.”

According to Honigsberg, his story should teach people that the Newton community is full of people with different interests. “In the community, you always know people … but you don’t know about what they do.”

december 16, 2011

features

!"##"$%#&% #'"%()*#&$ !"#$%&'(!"#$%&'()*!+,-.&/0!1()!23/4 /)51&3/67!-/!-81&5%)!*)1-&%&/0!1()!*&94 9&5#%1&)'!1(-1!'1#*)/1'!9-5)!&/!9380&/0!

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A#&*-/5)!B()%%C!D380!:831)!13!!"#$ %&'($&/!8)'"3/')= I read with heightened interest an article in the most recent edition of The Lion’s Roar entitled “Making the Connection: Students report difficulties in forming personal relationships with guidance counselors.” For me, it was disconcerting to read that of the 234 students surveyed for the article, 80 percent answered “no” to the question, “Do you talk to your guidance counselor about issues related to your personal life?” But while thinking about this further,

I had to wonder what the reporter actually meant and what students understood her to be asking when they responded.

Are academics related to a student’s personal life?

Is helping students connect academics to their college and career aspirations related to a personal life? Does helping a student become a stronger self-advocate relate to one’s personal life? I’m inclined to answer “yes” to the above. Another question remains unanswered

for me: how did the author and those students surveyed define “issues related to their personal life?” While I can’t answer this for students, I can instead speak to the role of counselors and the goals of the guidance department.

It’s the mission of our department to develop strong connections with students and families by staying attuned to the academic, social and emotional needs of our advisees. It’s our role as counselors to strive to effectively establish relationships with students by developing a level of comfort and trust.

A typical day for a counselor includes meeting individually with students at all grade levels for a myriad of reasons; going to advisories to talk to students in groups; talking and/or meeting with parents about concerns or questions related to their son or daughter; attending meetings with teachers, housemasters, program directors and others on behalf of students; providing resources and referrals to

students and families; writing college statements and other letters of reference or recommendation; helping a student understand the consequences and implications for their actions; and much more.

Truthfully, the most typical thing about a counselor’s day lies in the fact that no two days are any more alike than any two students on their caseload.

The breadth and depth of the relationships counselors develop with students is in many ways a reflection of the student himself or herself.

For some students, opening up to their counselor about personal issues comes easily, while for others it’s difficult and may never happen. But the goal remains the same for every student with whom we work: to help provide insight, guidance, planning and goal setting; to help students to become stronger self-advocates when faced with challenges; to engage students in positive interactions and relation-

11

ships; and to help students take personal responsibility for things in their control and to draw lessons from the difficulties they face.

Each and every day counselors meet with students for many reasons.

For some, it’s a conversation about switching a class or about a difficult matter at home or school, while for others it’s fine-tuning a list of colleges or getting help with applications. Regardless of the reason (there are too many to mention), the common thread that runs through the guidance department and every counselor’s practice is helping students.

So yes, for some it is difficult to open up to their counselor about issues related to their personal life.

But as long as the adults in our school community continue to stay attuned to the academic, social and emotional needs of students, South will continue to be a place to make personal connections.

Carol celebration unites Latin community Hyunnew Choi & Caroline Zola

Features Reporter, Features Contributor Christmas caroling comes with a twist at the First Baptist Meeting House in Providence, Rhode Island. One day each year, South students join carolers to sing in Latin with instruction from Brown University faculty when knowledge of the ancient language falters. “There’s usually someone in the balcony above us with a Latin sign that says ‘Laugh’ in Latin or ‘Applaud’ or ‘Don’t Applaud,’” Latin teacher Alice Lanckton said.

Sixty-four years ago, the Brown University Classics Department began its annual Latin Carol Celebration. According to participants, the event provides immersion in Latin language and a community greater than what is available in the classroom.

Lanckton has attended the Latin Carol Celebration many times herself and began bringing along her students last year. Lanckton said that the celebration brings joy to the study of Latin. “[It’s] a real ancient languages festival … done in a merry spirit,” she said.

Approximately 20 students attended this year’s Latin Carol Celebration, which occurred on Dec. 5.

Language department head Suzanne DeRobert said that because of its structure, the sing-along fully immerses students in Latin language.

“The entire program is conducted in Latin, all the greetings, all the introductions,” she said. “Then there are formal presenters with the singers, and the audience participates.”

DeRobert said that the celebration also offers students a chance to improve their language skills because it requires significant audience participation. “[The

trip helps students] in terms of piquing their interest and helping them read aloud,” DeRobert said. “It’s listening, the whole phonetic system and how that works.”

Susan Furtado, an administrator at the Classics Department of Brown University, agreed with DeRobert that singing aloud adds to students’ Latin comprehension.

“I think [singing in Latin] is another dimension in learning … and hearing the language,” she said. “It’s an opportunity to really be immersed in the Latin language and come together in celebration.”

For senior Livia Graf, who went to the Latin Carol Celebration, the community building aspect of the celebration added to the educational benefits. “This trip [is] a really great way to get together with other Latin students and bond as a class,” Graf said.

Another asset of the celebration, according to senior Seo-Young Hyun, is engaging with Latin speakers outside South.

“It was really great because I’ve never met other Latin students from other classes …

I’ve been only with my class,” Hyun said.

Lanckton agreed that the formation of a greater community of Latin speakers benefits South students. “[Students] love meeting other students from other schools,” she said. “We are usually one of just a few high schools that go, but the whole room is full of people who can … sing in Latin and who understand some of what they say,” Lanckton said.

According to Kenny, the Latin Carol Celebration enhances his learning in Lacnkton’s classroom. “It gives the material [we’re] learning in class a little more of a cultural lens and perspective, and it gives it more substance,” he said.

Furtado said that experiences outside of school give students unique

educational opportunities. “It’s exciting to have the world as your classroom and experience new things in as many different ways possible,” she said. “It elevates learning to a higher level.”

Hyun said she enjoys leaving the classroom because she can connect with Latin enthusiasts from South and other

communities on a deeper level. “In the classroom, it’s learning with a book, but singing and hearing the Latin read by other people or together as a really big group … was enriching,” Hyun said. “I get a general sense of community … because it’s more of an individual thing in the classroom.”

photo by Lauren Ashbrook

Senior Peter Natov sang at the Latin Carol Celebration hosted by Brown University.

12

thelionsroar.com/features

features Spreading holiday cheer for all to hear Annie and Lili Kadets Are You Seeing Double?

Jingle bells, frightful weather, dreidels, candy canes and Rudolph unite to create the best season of the year. Studies have shown that sitting by the fire, sipping hot cocoa and watching snowflakes during the winter can put everyone at ease! (Okay, we just made up that study...)

But who can argue with that? There’s nothing better.

What does this holiday season mean to you? Food? Family? Presents? Let’s face it. You’ve started your Christma-hannukwanzaa-kah list. You finished it in July.

So, what are you asking for this year? The new iPhone? A Patagonia sweater? A Starbucks gift card? All classic.

We bet, though, that you haven’t yet thought about what you are giving this holiday season. We don’t mean to say that we are all selfish all the time — because we’re not. But as we roll out of 2011 and into 2012, let’s drastically change our focus. After all, if the world is going to end, let’s end it with a bang.

Rather than discuss the stress you feel when writing those letters to Hannukah Harry or Santa, let’s think more locally. Rudolph wants to know, “How can I help out my family and community this winter?” Well, we don’t want our favorite little red-nosed reindeer to worry, so never fear! The twins are here! (Holiday edition!)

We would like to stress that the holiday season is about appreciation. Whether dysfunctional or not, your family is your family. Therefore, there’s no excuse not to give gifts, especially to those closest to you.

Your mother might need something practical: an apron or some mittens perhaps. And your father is probably tired of those ties and paperweights. We’re talking simple here, folks. The holidays have enough glamour already thanks to Hallmark and Bloomingdales. No one has ever turned down a thoughtful card, some homemade cookies and a hug. Your family supports you 365 days a year. Let’s extend the “giving thanks” part of Thanksgiving a bit longer.

As you probably know, not only family members, but also special other people deserve a little something too.

But relax! A gift is a gift not because you bought it at Best Buy or Sephora but because you took the initiative and thought to give. It’s important to remember that not everyone gets to experience the satisfaction of giving or receiving.

Need a little hint? Here’s an effective holiday tradition in play-by-play format for your family to adopt: Step 1: Meet up with the family and discuss each member’s favorite organization.

Step 2: Each member picks a name out of a hat, Secret Santa style.

Step 3: Donate $25 to that person’s fund of choice as your gift.

(Ex: You picked your little sister.

Now you’re donating to the Animal Rescue League!).

By completing these steps, you’ve made your family and those less fortunate than you happy. Congratulations! But one more thing before we send you out to spread holiday cheer: Rudolph might appreciate a carrot on Christmas Eve.

!"#$$%&!'()*+, Several students don creative clothing accessories as a form of self-expression Kylie Walters

God, she has a tail,’ and they either say ‘Why are you wearing a tail?’ they meow or they just look at me strangely,” she said. “I like wearing my tail, and I don’t care what people say about it.”

Though Gong said her mother does not approve of her wearing a fox tail, Pettingell said her parents support her because her tail is a form of expression.

Pettingell currently has a collection of six different tails.

“I have a really big fluffy fox one which is black and white, I have a very long black cat tail that’s about three feet, I have a short, gray cat tail that’s about a foot, I have a bunny tail … and then I have a devil tail which is red with a glittery tip,” Pettingell said.

According to Pettingell, wearing a tail every day for the past few months has affected her. “I just sort of feel odd, like not as much myself [when I’m not wearing my tail],” she said.

“I feel like I’m missing something. It affects how I act.”

Pettingell said her cat tail is essential to an image she has created for herself.

“I gave myself the persona of the cat girl, and without the tail I wouldn’t have my persona,” she said.

Sr. Features Editor

When freshman Joslin Pettingell is not wearing a tail, she said she feels less like herself. “I don’t feel as energetic [and] like doing as much stuff because [my cat tail] is sort of what makes me, me,” she said.

Pettingell said that she and her friend, freshman Caroline Gong, purchased their tails at a renaissance fair, King Richard’s Faire, earlier this year.

According to Pettingell, she and Gong decided to wear tails in an effort to stand out. “We decided that it was either go big or not do anything at all, so we chose to just go big,” Pettingell said. “I like to stand out, and I like to be different, and my tail helps me express myself.”

Both Gong and Pettingell said that they attempt to wear their tails to school everyday.

Gong said that at school, students sometimes react to her tail in a rude fashion.

“Most of the time they’re just like ‘Why do you have a tail?’ I try not to answer them because they’re kind of rude like that,” Gong said. “If people ask politely, I’ll tell them.”

Pettingell said that reactions to her tail have even included cat sounds. “[People] are usually like ‘Oh my

photo by Julia Hurwit & Katie McGauley

Smartphones change social interactions SMARTPHONES, from 1 are never unavailable,” she said. “But it’s insulting when people would rather be checking Twitter than talking to someone sitting in front of them … when they choose virtual communication over personal communication.”

Ana Martinez Alemán, a professor at Boston College’s Lynn School of Education who studies adolescent media consumption, said that this disregard for human-to-human interaction might have serious implications for students’ emotional intelligence.

“High school is the time to learn to interact with each other,” she said.

“Honestly, we don’t know quite yet, but [it seems] as if technology is stunting [students’] affective development.”

Sophomore Sammi Suga disagreed about the negative social consequences of smartphones.

“The only reason I don’t like my iPhone is that you can’t take the battery out, so if it starts acting slow, you can’t restart it,” she said.

For Suga, problems arise only within the realms of virtual communication itself.

“The biggest issue is now you can see when someone reads your text,” she said.

“Sometimes you don’t want to answer, but you have to because they know

you’ve read it,” she added.

Hernandez sympathized but said that it’s equally frustrating to be on the other end — when she can tell someone has read her text but hasn’t responded. “It gets me thinking, ‘What are they doing?

Why are they ignoring me?’” she said. “It makes my heart race.”

Tension with respect to smartphone

People have [always argued] that technology isolates to the point that we lose some essential connections ... It is simply a trivial worry of every age.

- Sean Turley, Psychology teacher communication is not unique to this technological feature; stress is also induced in how people use smartphones, like when people within a social gathering text each other about the ongoing interaction. According to Granahan-Field, “Girls definitely text each other when they’re with other people.”

“They’ll text about something

someone else has said, [and] it’s generally negative things,” she said.

Suga said she has had similar experiences.“People definitely pick up on it; it’s not as subtle as people think,” she said. “It’s frustrating … because you just never know — you’re not reading other people’s phones, so you never know if they’re talking about you.”

“People are paranoid, and it makes the atmosphere awkward,” she said. “It happens a lot.”

Turley warned against “apocalyptic” predictions about smartphones’ negative effects on social interaction.

“For hundreds of years, people have made the argument that technology isolates to the point that we lose some essential connections that make us human beings,” he said. “It is simply a trivial worry of every age.”

English teacher David Weintraub had no such compunctions, calling smartphones “beautiful distractions from our imminent demise.”

He stressed that awareness is essential in using smartphones properly. “The goal is to use and not be used by technology,” he said.

“The problem,” he said, “is that not many people know the difference.” *Additional reporting by Ari Ebstein

december 16, 2011

features

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!"#$%"&'' ()*+"+,"&#-**.

By Jenny Friedland & Kylie Walters Brazilians take several days off of work every February for Carnaval, a massive parade celebration complete with detailed costumes, samba music and dancing. Sophomore Sophie MacArthur, whose mother is from São Paulo, said that Carnaval manifests itself differently depending on the location.

She said that in São Paulo, intricately adorned costumes play an integral role in Carnaval.

“There’s a lot of large feathery things … scantily clad women, people in masks,” she said.

MacArthur said that samba music and dancing are also significant parts of the celebration. “[Samba] is pretty unique to Brazil.

It has a lot of drumming, percussion instruments mixed with singing. There’s also a dance called samba, so it’s music and dancing,” she said. “The drums are really fast, and when people dance to it they move their feet really fast and move their hips really fast.”

According to MacArthur’s mother, Silvana MacArthur-Sawaya, Carnaval provides many opportunities for joyous expressions like these.

“Usually everybody is very happy because people just break out in dance and song,” she said. “You talk to other people

A Celebration in Color Carnaval festivities come to life in São Paulo

photo courtesy of the Associated Press

Sophomore Sophie MacArthur said that she enjoys the intricate costumes, music and dancing that comprise the annual Carnaval. you’ve never met before, and everybody is just sort of wanting to party and dance and be happy.”

According to Silvana, Carnaval yields thousands of visitors, necesitat-

ing large venues. “When I was little they used to have it just in a large avenue, but nowadays they have a special place called Sambadrome where they have bleachers,” she said.

She said that Carnaval has become a tradition for Brazilians, reflecting the nation’s diversity. “Brazil is a big melting pot of many cultures coming together; Carnaval is just like that too,” she said.

Family keeps updated on current events of Brazil

graphic by Eleanor Richard

Country meets religion at church If home is where the heart is, then Framingham is it for senior Camilla DaSilva — and the Presbyterian New Life church is at the center of it all. “You can’t walk around Framingham and not hear Brazilians,” she said. “I don’t think there’s an American in our church.”

For DaSilva, who has always lived in Massachusetts, Presbyterian New Life has stimulated her family’s Brazilian culture and sense of community since she began attending in third grade.

The thread that has kept DaSilva tied to the church is her ability to form friendships with those whose cultural backgrounds mirror her own. “Every-

one has their different lives, like you have your school life, you have your social life,” she said.

“I have my school friends and I have my Brazilian friends, which are just a whole different thing.”

DaSilva said that her personal expression changes in the presence of other Brazilians.

“When I’m with [my friends from church], we act differently, we talk differently. We can talk between two languages,” she said.

“With my Brazilian friends, I’m more free to be myself.”

DaSilva’s mother, Sheila DaSilva, said that a strong community of Brazilian friends in Framingham helps her daughter better appreciate the family’s cultural heritage. “They go to dif-

ferent schools, different cities, but when they are together, it looks like one complete gathering,” she said.

DaSilva said that even casual conversations at church enhance her knowledge of her culture.

“The parents are always like, ‘Oh yeah, when we were in Brazil growing up.’ They’ll tell stories, and we all connect really well,” she said.

According to Sheila, DaSilva’s involvement in the Brazilian community is key to her continued connection to familytradition. “If she stops doing it, … that’s not good,” Sheila said.

“We need to continue doing the things we always did.”

When sophomore Alexander De Souza wants to find news from Brazil, the country from which he emigrated last December, he adds two extra letters to the Google URL: ‘B’ and ‘R.’ De Souza said he keeps up with Brazilian current events to maintain an understanding of everyday life in Brazil. “Normally, the news that I would be following would be like the sugar cane plantations and the use of sugar cane for fuel, which was a really efficient way [to power cars] in Brazil,” De Souza said. “When they would have overstock ethanol because we were right next to the plantation, [ethanol] would be like 75 cents a liter.”

De Souza said he has particular interest in reading news of Brazil’s sugar cane plantations and ethanol production because he may one day be involved in those industries himself. “When I graduate here, I’m planning on [studying] mechanical engineering,” he said. “We have a lot of fertile land [in Brazil], many factories, agriculture and auto tech, so that’s [why] my mom said it would be a good idea for me one day if I wanted to stay in Brazil [to] go and work there.”

De Souza’s mother, Silvana Milani, said that De Souza and his brother, freshman Vinicius De Souza, gain appreciation for world cultures by reading news from countries other than America. “People here, they think that it’s important just to look at or listen to American things, what’s happening here,” she said. “I don’t think it’s good not to open your mind to whatever is outside.”

Milani said her family stays updated on a range of Brazilian current events. “If it’s something from there, it’s important for us to know,” she said.

De Souza said that reading Brazilian news helps his family understand daily life when they visit Brazil. “Keeping up with the current events keeps you more informed about your own country, so when you go back, you know what people are going through ... or what the new news is,” he said.

According to Milani, her sons can develop a unique identity by living in the United States while still maintaining a connection to Brazil. “I told them to get what’s good from here and there, and they can make a third culture,” she said.

editorials volume 28

issue 5

december 16, 2011 t thelionsroar.com/editorials

$ ) ( ' & % $ # !"

*#+, by the Roar Staff

All the news that’s fit to print ... and then some!

Seniors celebrate arrival of Dec. 15, National Bill of Rights Day National Bill of Rights Day has been the fixation of many seniors for the past few months. Senior Andreas Jackson and his peers all eagerly counted down the seconds until midnight Dec. 15, unable to wait until morning to commemorate American liberty. “A bunch of friends and I dressed up in colonial garb and pranced down Parker St. with muskets,” Jackson said. “One girl even brought a horse.” “Yeah, I brought a horse,” senior Paula Revere said. “It got me in the mood.” Equestrian festivity and period-appropriate artillery were not the only ways students expressed their patriotism.

“I painted my right nipple blue, so my entire chest would bear the colors of the American flag,” pale senior Will Clinton said. Apparently, some students stayed home waiting for college decisions, or something.

Under bourgeois pressure, History Dept. endorses capitalism Fearing a second encounter with Newton parents this year, the History Dept. caved to pressure from the professional class and officially endorsed the economic system of capitalism. “If you can deal with the implicit inequality, social problems and commercialized culture,” history teacher Jamie Rinaldinho said, “it totally works.” Student teacher Oliver Sacks said he has learned a lot about capitalism since joining the History Dept. “I mean, I used to totally see it as the root of all evil in American society,” Sacks said, “but I’ve learned to appreciate the charm of things like the GoDaddy.com, Bowl and midnight syndication of ShamWow infomercials.”

South parent Marsha Cohen was particularly pleased with the official support. “With this pivotal endorsement, we can finally take this system global.”

Crack junkie puts down pipe, picks up Words with Friends After ten debilitating years of hardcore crack addiction, town junkie Aaron Belowich has successfully detoxed. “It’s a miracle. I pray to Jobs every day,” Belowich said. He was finally able to kick his habit after a new addiction — Words with Friends — was even more compelling. “I have at least twenty games going on at a given time, including three with Sean Turley,” Belowich said. “I need that many just to stay clean.”

Belowich added that detox is not the only benefit Words with Friends has given him. “It’s helped me to foster deep interpersonal relationships,” Belowich said. “For example, one time my friend played ‘Genealogy’ and I attached ‘Otiose’ to the ‘o’. I’d never experienced a connection like that before. It was the stuff of lore.”

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Smartphones require conscientiousness The editorial board of The Roar found consensus on two trends when discussing the use of new technology as tools for communication.

The first is that the expansion of this tendency is certain. As technology advances toward the point at which the devices that we carry in pockets have every capability of our relatively bulky computers, our use of those hand-held devices will, inevitably, increase. Even just 10 years ago, it was inconceivable that anyone could read email on a cell phone; now, in some circles, such accessibility is expected.

The implications of this newfound, collective assumption of easy contact are profound. Intuitively, children raised in a decade dominated by instantaneous communication take for granted the ability to update and make requests of their parents. Conversely, parents are responsible for being in touch with their children far more of the time. Never before in history have humans been so accessible to one another — nor have we ever carried such a burden of responsibility.

The time for discussion about whether or not this pervading trend will have a net positive or net negative influence on our society has passed. The dialogue now should concentrate instead on how to harness, for good, this inclination toward seamless communication through technological devices.

The second part of The Roar’s consensus is that the etiquette surrounding this ever-snowballing use of communication technology has not caught up to the trend itself.

Our society’s mores, it seems, simply cannot compete with Apple and Microsoft: technological corporations rely on novelty to market their products, but social conventions cannot develop quite so readily. A framework of social conventions,

however, limiting the freedom and entitlement with which we contact our friends and family members just because we are able to do so will emerge as the era of instantaneous communication wears on. Some liken the Internet to the Wild West for its lack of rules and customs; the same problem allows smartphone users to utilize their devices in sometimes obnoxious manners at some obnoxious times.

To some extent, these flaws, which correspond with the advancement of technology, will be mitigated as the inevitable platform that is beginning to regulate social norms surrounding smartphone use continues to develop. This platform will be instrumental in minimizing the burden of

Sure, we’re connected; but are we connected to reality? responsibility that accompanies instantaneous communication, while continuing to maximize human accessibility.

“The addiction that never sleeps” (pg. 1) outlines these trends more comprehensively. At the crux of that article, as well as at the crux of the discussion The Roar’s editorial board engaged in before compiling this piece, lies a debate over whether or not reining in the use of communication technology is a worthwhile endeavor.

As stated above, the editorial board of The Roar finds this debate irrelevant; the unlikelihood of an abrupt reversal of the prevalence of technology in the foreseeable future is overwhelming. Still, this debate occurs frequently in school policy meetings, in the media — even in the political sphere.

And at the heart of this debate lies a paradox: our cell phones,

Editorial Policy

computers and smartphones, while advertising heightened “connection,” actually make us less connected people.

Now that we can so easily reach our friends and family members — even those who are hundreds of miles away — we are, indeed, less present in the physical world. We talk on our phones as we drive. We compose text messages while we eat lunch with our friends.

As so conclusively illustrated in “The addiction that never sleeps,” our generation tends to live only partially in the world that surrounds us during every moment of every day. Far too large a part of our lives we live virtually.

Sure, we’re connected; but are we connected to reality?

The Roar urges more conscientious use of smartphones.

Instead of calling your mom after school and demanding to be picked up, make a plan in the morning and stick to it. Remind yourself that your friend is at a movie and may not want to respond to your text message. By all means, use your smartphone to look up the spelling of “ophthalmologist” after you miss it on the qualifying round in the bee. Snap a photo of the last leaf hanging on that oak across from your bus stop, if it catches your eye.

We should be as considerate and resourceful in the virtual world as we are in our reality.

The key to resolving this paradox lies not in the prohibition of technology, but rather in the careful, controlled use of it. Limiting use of smartphones directly is inefficient and counterproductive. In order to establish nuanced social norms we need to encourage smartphones to do their jobs — and nothing more.

Now, we must foster an environment in which these customs will grow. It can be accomplished only through more conscientious use of our technology.

The Lion’s Roar, founded in 1984, is the student newspaper of Newton South High School, acting as a public forum for student views and attitudes.

The Lion’s Roar’s right to freedom of expression is protected by the Massachusetts Student Free Expression Law (Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 71, Section 82). All content decisions are made by student editors, and the content of The Lion’s Roar in no way reflects the official policy of Newton South, its faculty, or its administration.

Editorials are the official opinion of The Lion’s Roar, while opinions and letters are the personal viewpoints of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Lion’s Roar. The Lion’s Roar reserves the right to edit all submitted content, to reject advertising copy for resubmission of new copy that is deemed acceptable by student editors, and to make decisions regarding the submission of letters to the editors, which are welcomed.

The Lion’s Roar is printed by Seacoast Newspapers and published every three weeks by Newton South Students. All of our funding comes from advertisers.

In-school distribution of The Lion’s Roar is free, but each copy of the paper shall cost one dollar for each copy more than ten (10) that is taken by any individual or by many individuals on behalf of a single individual. Violation of this policy shall constitute theft.

december 16, 2011

editorials

Editor criticizes cliques, advises underclassmen to reach out

!"#$ #%&!'()*$$$%#*+ Danny Gifford Editor-in-Chief

A few days before Powderpuff, I had the following interaction with a senior girl: Senior girl: Ugh, the juniors are such bitches.

Danny Gifford: Why, what’d they do?

SG: Literally, they said they were gonna, like, egg our houses tonight. Isn’t that, like, so obnoxious?

DG: I might be wrong, but wasn’t that in response to your plan to Saran Wrap their cars while they were out to a team dinner?

(Pause) SG: Yeah, but that’s funny.

I’d say this conversation pretty well captures the depressing zeitgeist Powderpuff has come to be associated with. For virtually the entire year, South is completely devoid of anything resembling spirit; few students attend school plays and sporting events, and even fewer kids attend school plays and sporting events sober. Then, during powderpuff, the one time the junior and senior classes band together in an attempt to display of unity and spirit, they invariably take it too far.

Instead of ending up with increased class spirit and unity, we end up with hurt

feelings and an even greater divide, year flag football game can provide if it is to after year. be cured.

It comes down to one simple fact: As I can speak most definitively about it is right now, South just can’t do spirit. the following phenomenon as it has afEither we’re neglecting it entirely or taking fected the Class of 2012, but I’ve seen it it too far; we can’t seem to find any sort of manifest itself similarly in other grades. happy medium. It’s not that I’m saying a From day one of high school, we chose to lack of spirit is inherently a bad thing — separate ourselves into discrete, well-deanybody who knows me will testify that fined, unalterable cliques. It didn’t matter I’m not exactly going whether we fit perto win Most Spirited fectly into any one ‘12 — but I find the of the given stereoSome of them are reunderlying reasons types; we made our ally great people, people for this apathy exchoices, and that was whose friendship I’ve tremely concerning. that. Quickly, these When asked why we arbitrary groups missed out on because I as a student body turned on each was too proud to get past lack a strong sense of other, each member unity, most kids will considering himself my prejudices. read off a generic list and his friends to of reasons. “South is be better than their too stressful,” they’ll say. “We’re too busy. peers. Any hope for a united, spirited We have too much work. Our sports teams class was immediately lost. When we suck.” choose to divide ourselves into disparate When it comes down to it, though, fragments, how can we ever hope to I think we all know that these are just come together? rationalizations. If we really wanted Now, I don’t want to sound like I to be spirited, to find unity within our was above this trend; if anything, I was a grades and our school, there wouldn’t be founding member. anything holding us back. The source of Coming in as a supercilious, overour disunity is much more deeply rooted confident freshman, I loved the idea that in the minds of students, and it requires my friends and I were secretly superior to a much greater overhaul than an annual those around us. I clung to this complex

Volume 28 !"#$%&'()*$+',Newton South High School’s Student Newspaper The Lion’s Roar 140 Brandeis Road Newton, MA 02459 srstaff@thelionsroar.com

Editors-in-Chief Emily Breuer

Danny Gifford

Managing Editors Jessica Bolter

Ari Ebstein

Peter Haskin Ali Meisel

Section Editors Centerfold

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Joe Joseph James Wu

Julia Gron Peter Szabo

Anqi Gao Ravi Panse

Features

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Emily Ho Christina Lee Dipal Nagda

Jenny Friedland Kylie Walters

Yoonchan Choi

Emma Loeb Julia Snider

Graphics Managers Ale Diaz Eleanor Richard

Faculty Advisers Brian Baron Ashley Elpern Paul Estin Thomas Murphy

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Sports

Dani Glasgow RJ Hayes Victor Moisescu

Photo Managers

Business Manager

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Copy Editors

Dylan Block Olivia Kennis Jack Lovett Derek Mei

RJ Hayes

Rachel Hurwitz Charlie Yang

for the better part of high school, never doubting its truth.

Over the past year, however, I’ve come to see how wrong I was. I’ve gained a bit of perspective and begun to talk to some of the people I had previously looked down on. And some of them are really great people, people whose friendships I’ve missed out on for over three years because I was too proud to get past my prejudices.

As a grade, I think we’re making similar progress. It has taken us our entire high school careers, but we’ve started interacting. We go to the same parties, talk to each other and even sign Dan Rozenblum’s chest together. We’re not perfect — even when we’re together, we still spend most of our time in our cliques — but we’re making progress.

So this is for the freshmen and sophomores, those of you who are just beginning to separate yourselves. I know it may be tempting to cling to your group, but if we are to change the fabric of the South community, it won’t be by sticking to the status quo. So next time you’re at a party, invite the artsy kids. Tell the jocks to come over.

Get past the titles, ignore your prejudices and get to know some new people. You just might be surprised by what you find out.

Join The Roar!

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By Ali Meisel

or junior Sammy Boucher, school spirit meant having picnics and bonding with her classmates at every Powderpuff practice. “I had the best time during our junior Powderpuff practices,” she said. “I had so much fun, and I met a

bunch of new people, too.” Though practices leading up to Powderpuff were a positive experience for Boucher, she, along with others, said that the actual day went beyond what was enjoyable. “When [seniors are] targeting other grades and they’re being really personal about [the rivalry]…that takes it overboard,” she said.

According to senior class president Greg Ly, events that occurred prior to Powderpuff last year affected the display of spirit at this year’s game.

“When we were juniors, there was a lot of chaos,” Ly said. “Girls showed up early in the morning, there was vandalism on school property, cars were smeared with ketchup, mustard and shaving cream, and it caused a safety hazard.”

In response to the events last year, members of the administration met with both teams two weeks before the game to discuss regulations and consequences for disregarding the rules.

“Most of the guidelines were developed by students and the housemasters working together,” principal Joel Stembridge said. “My big concern was based on the safety of the students, based on what happened last year.”

These meetings were also used to plan new ways of exhibiting spirit, to create what Cutler housemaster Donna Gorden called a “fun and positive experience.”

“One of the ideas [we thought of] was that … seniors can park for free in the senior parking lot on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving,” Gorden said. “[A few students] asked if the senior girls could make posters and banners and hang streamers in the senior commons, and we said, ‘That sounds great, as long as it is supervised by an adult and is appropriate.’”

Stembridge said it was important that that these meetings helped students find ways to display spirit, rather than just setting boundaries regarding it.

“My job as a principal and our job as adults is to try to find a way to say ‘yes’ to students,” he said. “That is one of the things that I really pride our housemasters and our administrative team [on].”

Some students said they had mixed feelings about the rules created this year. For senior Sarah Lushan, the administration provided an opportunity to show school spirit in a positive way. “It’s a tradition for the senior class to take down the junior class, but this year, now that the rules changed, we had to make it more fun than anything,” she said. “Dressing up in a goofy way and showing more of a positive attitude than a bad attitude toward [the junior class] helped lighten the spirit.”

Though she said she made the best of the situation, Lushan said she was not completely satisfied with the changes to Powderpuff this year.

“I understand why the rules [were made], but I wish they could’ve been a little more lenient toward the seniors,” she said. “If we wanted to write ‘seniors’ on [the juniors’] cars and know we weren’t doing it in a harmful way, that would have been okay, but [the administration was] pretty strict about everything.”

In addition to making posters and decorating the senior commons, Boucher said that some seniors acted “poorly” toward juniors, which tainted her Powderpuff experience.

“Seniors [wanted] to make sure they were known as the best in the whole school, which is understandable because I think next year, when our

grade is seniors, we’re going to want to do the same thing,” she said, “but they took it to a whole other level.”

Boucher said that the rivalry between grades affected friendships as well. “Even if we’re friends with them, they completely cut us off for that week,” she said.

Though not all members of the senior Powderpuff team acted this way toward juniors, senior and Powderpuff captain Jon Katz agreed that these negative sentiments affected the atmosphere on game day. “It was pretty unfortunate that emotions were running so high that they could interfere with such a long-lasting tradition at South, which is supposed to be fun,” he said. “I thought personal skirmishes and emotions really got the best of us this year.”

Aspects of the school-wide pep rally, which occurred before Powderpuff, also heightened emotions.

When a group of juniors performed a choreographed dance, some senior girls stood with their backs to the dancers and then ran onto the floor, interrupting the dance.

“We planned this really fun flash mob dance where the guys went up, and the seniors completely ruined it and went in the middle of the dance, and none of the senior guys watched,” Boucher said.

According to junior and Powderpuff coach Sam Houston-Reed, the rivalry was acceptable until the dance was interrupted. “The seniors messing up the dance at the pep rally was a little too far I’d say, but otherwise [the rivalry] was all in good fun.”

Referring to this incident, Stembridge also said he was not happy with the interruption. “I didn’t like the fact that students were not able to finish something they had prepared because it was interrupted by other students.”

Stembridge said, however, that the pep rally was not discussed much when the teams met with the administration. “That is definitely a growth area for us so that students understand what’s okay and what’s over the line,” he said. “We don’t have a lot of pep rallies, so I wouldn’t expect students to necessarily understand that without conversations first. That’s our job — to educate.”

Alhough some people did not approve of the seniors interrupting the dance, Lushan said the senior flash mob was a way to show spirit without physically hurting anyone. “I liked the idea [of the flash mob] because it was something we could do to the juniors, … and it wasn’t harmful to anyone, it was just funny,” she said.

Even though Powderpuff resulted in grade rivalry, several students said the game promotes a general feeling of school spirit that is not usually present at South. “[Powderpuff] may be the only time during the school year when classes take pride in their class,” Ly said.

Houston-Reed agreed.

“Powderpuff is definitely something that should continue no matter what,” he said. “It’s such a nice event, and everyone should make an effort to go.” *Additional reporting by Peter Szabo photo illustration by Olivia Kennis

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photo by Ben Johnson

A group of junior boys cross-dressed to perform a cheerleading routine at the pep rally, inciting discussion about the portrayal of gender in the dance and whether this performance solely provided entertainment or also mocked struggles with gender identity.

Jessica Bolter Managing Editor

As 16 junior boys shed their sweatpants and T-shirts, revealing cheerleaders’ tank tops and mini-skirts, at the pep rally on Nov. 22, they wanted only to have a good time. “We know there was some dignity that was going to be lost, but it was going to be worth it in the long run because it was going to be absolutely hysterical,” junior Marini Lopci said. “Guys dancing to ‘Single Ladies’ is ridiculous, but we had fun with it.”

The idea of cross-dressing as a way to display school spirit has provoked debate among administrators and students over its purpose and appropriateness.

At the pep rally before the Powderpuff football game, a miscommunication between administrators and the junior boys who participated in the cheerleading routine led to several conversations about the possible effects of doing such a routine.

Principal Joel Stembridge said that a routine involving cross-dressing worries him mainly because it could unintentionally cause discomfort for viewers. “If we have students who are having issues with their identity … and then they see this dance where now they’ve got boys dressing as girls and everyone laughing at them, that can feel very unsafe,” he said. “If the whole school is laughing at boys dressing up as cheerleaders, and three people are feeling awful about it, I think that’s not okay.”

Goodwin housemaster Charles Myette said that when he discussed the dance after the pep rally with the boys who participated, he tried to stress the importance of mindfulness. “Be aware of what this might make someone feel,” he said.

“It’s not a yes or no; it’s be aware if you do Cohen said he viewed the dance this, some people may be offended or feel and the costumes as a way to invigorate uncomfortable.” the audience and excite the school for This awareness is of the utmost Powderpuff. “It was good school spirit,” importance according to Stembridge, who Cohen said. “I think most people found it said it is critical to treat potentially ofentertaining; it got people psyched.” fensive entertainment with caution. “That’s Lopci agreed that the routine was a fine line, making fun versus having fun,” intended only to bring positive results. he said. “It’s the difference between some“[The purpose was] to bring our grade one laughing with you and feeling like together, if not our entire school, because you’re laughing at them.” it’s hysterical,” he said. “Everyone loved it, This distinction was not a considand maybe we can start a tradition of the eration for junior Jake Medoff, one of juniors and seniors [cheerleading].” the cheerleaders.

Although “I really didn’t Lopci said he think there was thought his group’s It’s the difference beanything offensive demonstration about what we did,” tween someone laughing of school spirit Medoff said, “so I would leave behind with you and feeling like was a little shocked a positive legacy, that somebody was Stembridge said he you’re laughing at them. offended by it.” harbored some con- Joel Stembridge, Principal Junior Scott cerns. “I don’t know Cohen, too, said he that people who was surprised that would be offended others might interpret the boys’ costumes would actually speak up,” he said. and routine as offensive. “We weren’t even Stembridge said, however, that making a statement of any kind,” he said. exploring identity is important to South’s “It was really just go out there and dance.” culture, as long as the routine promoted Several of the male cheerleaders that, rather than mockery. “[The cheeragreed that cross-dressing, for them, was leading routine] is a tribute to South and solely a way to have fun, to entertain their the fact that we allow and respect and audience and to show off the dance they encourage people to be themselves and had worked hard to organize. wear whatever they want to wear and dress “We assumed that everyone would however they want to dress and be whotake [the routine] in good fun, because ever they want to be,” Stembridge said. that’s what it was,” Cohen said.

Cohen said he wishes this openThe costumes, Lopci said, were mindedness were more apparent. He said crucial to complete the cheerleaders’ perthat after performing the dance and subformance and evoke a reaction. “We were sequently hearing from Myette that “the [cross-dressing] because it added humor cheerleading outfits were inappropriate,” to our [dance], and cheerleaders wear he felt confused. “We were all under the cheerleading uniforms,” he said. impression that Newton South prides itself

on being quite liberal,” Cohen said.

Stembridge said he hesitated to condone the dance though he also did not want to bar any display of spirit. “I don’t see any problem with people pushing social mores on what’s acceptable in terms of clothing and that type of thing,” Stembridge said. “You want to be creative, and yet the more creative you are sometimes, the more risks you take, and risk-taking sometimes ends up with lengthy conversations that end up in this office.”

Myette said that even though the administration had some concerns over the appropriateness of the boys’ routine, over the years, cross-dressing has become more sophisticated. He said that 10 years ago, when pep rallies were optional and thus smaller ordeals, the spirit was disorganized and ineffective. “Ten years ago … some people were dressed as cheerleaders. They would put on wigs and makeup and prosthetics and, you know, that’s not funny,” Myette said.

This year, though, students and faculty alike reached a middle ground. “It looked to me like [the male cheerleaders] were intending to have [their dance] be in good fun, and they weren’t intending to make fun of anybody by doing it,” Stembridge said. “That’s the way it was received … so I think they did a good job with what their intentions were.”

Regardless of the potential consequences of a routine that crossed gender stereotypes, the reactions to the routine and to the pep rally, were overwhelmingly positive. “This was one of the best [pep rallies] yet in terms of energy and feeling really good,” Myette said. “We’ve come a long way from a voluntary pep rally.”

Additional reporting by Julia Gron

december 16, 2011

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Opinions Contributors The Roar used to run a recurring feature called “The Clique Files,” documenting the whereabouts and opinions of four students from four distinct cliques within South. The articles focused on four categories: the “Party Animal,” the “Theater Kid,” the “Jock” and the “Brain.”

These four basic archetypes, along with several others, characterize the high school experience at South and many other high schools. Every show about high school has some variation of this model, playing off of the tension between different cliques and referring to some sort of popularity hierarchy. Fox’s “Glee,” however, takes this model to a new level, boxing each character into an extreme and polar stereotype.

I originally thought the choice to make each character embody a certain clique on “Glee” was an easy way out of having to build characters over time. Making each character fit the mold of “jock,” “party animal” or “brain” is a simple way for viewers to understand the characters, what they are likely to do and whom they are likely to interact with. Although the characters sometimes act outside of their ordinary personas, they are generally quite static and do not deviate much from their

archetypes. The same conflicts have continued for seasons: bullying, popularity and conflict between cliques.

After exploring the show more deeply, however, it seems that having characters embody the stereotype of each clique is a way for the producer to poke fun at the high school experience.

Glee can be seen as a caricature of what high school has become. The producers and writers inflate the ridiculous parts of high school to make them clearer.

Having such distinct characters makes for a more entertaining show while holding up a mirror to some of the truths about high school. Aside from the conflicts between cliques, “Glee” shows how music transcends clique limitations. The producers have made sure to dabble in almost every genre of music.

As a show about high school, “Glee” sets itself apart by helping young people develop a respect for music. The choreographers and writers continue to challenge viewers by providing a wide range of music, from recent pop music to music from decades ago. The show has covered music by Aretha Franklin, Elton John and Queen to Britney Spears, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga.

The producers have created a show that teaches people to respect good music.

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by Ale D

People don’t watch the show just for the plot; the music has been a central focus to the direction and appeal of the series.

When “Glee” covers a song, the show sparks an interest in the viewers to find the original version of that song and the other work by that artist.

On “Glee,” the reflection of the high school experience in conjunction with its emphasis on creating a new appreciation for music has created a show unlike any other. “Glee” is also a show that appeals to a large audience, with a relatively even distribution of viewers from ages 12-65.

The target audience of the show has been a little murky, however. Sometimes the show seems as though it is aimed toward 12- or 13-year-olds, but then the writers throw in more mature cultural references that most 12- or 13-year-olds would not understand.

If 12- or 13-year-olds, people who have not even entered high school, are watching “Glee,” should they be getting the idea that high school is a stratified mix of cliques?

High school students can recognize when the producers are intentionally stereotyping them, but exposing young people to shows like “Glee” before they have an accurate idea of high school can perpetuate cliques.

When I heard that it was on the shelves, I rushed to Barnes and Noble and purchased a copy for far too much money.

To the dismay of my younger brother, who was riding shotgun and waiting to get home, I opened it up and began reading the book in the parking lot. When I got home, I did nothing for a day and a half except read the book; that’s how excited I was.

At around 4:30 p.m. on day two, I closed the book, thought about it in its entirety and realized I was disappointed.

It pains me to say so, but I found Christopher Paolini’s “Inheritance,” the last book of the series that began with “Eragon,” to be a lackluster culmination of the fantasy books that have so engrossed me in previous years. Although the books have been noticeably losing steam since “Eragon,” I hoped the last book would redeem the entire series in a thrilling finale that would answer all questions the way I wanted them answered. ‘Twas not so.

While many of the loose ends were tied, a fair few were not, and it left me to wonder for the rest of eternity because there will be no fifth book.

To be fair, I’ll admit that I built up very high expectations for this book, and they were probably unrealistic. Maybe I expected that upon finishing, I’d feel like I could die happy, or that I’d reach nirvana or something.

Whatever I expected did not come, but I feel bad pinning it on Paolini. To be honest, I can’t find much technical fault with the plotline itself, as it was coherent and contained all that its predecessors in the series promised it would.

Additionally, I concluded that taking three more years of high school English classes since I read the previous book in the series may have refined my tastes in literature, as I also felt the writing was a tad simplistic.

Don’t get me wrong; reading this stuff feels like a massage after stumbling through “The Scarlet Letter” (‘sup Mr. Kennedy), and I can’t say that “Inheritance” wasn’t a pleasurable read. All I’m saying is that if you’re looking for the newest literary classic, look further.

I figure part of my bias also comes from the fact that Eragon never got Arya, his voluptuous elven crush. They came maddeningly close, but no cigar. It was kinda like the author was flipping me off after suggesting that Eragon would eventually get his sword honed after years of hapless pursuit, but dragon dung happens.

I was rooting for him.

The ending also further cemented my theory that the plotline of the series bears a slightly too coincidental likeness to that of the “Star Wars” saga, which kicks its ass any day.

If you’ve read the first three books, the fourth is a must-read, but maybe for the wrong reasons. If you haven’t started any of them, they’re fun, easy and a lovely, fantastical escape from the drudgery of earth.

If you’re searching for a revelation in the fantasy genre, you shall be disappointed.

opinions volume 28

issue 5

december 16, 2011t thelionsroar.com/opinions

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New copyright bills limit Internet freedoms Patrick Carberry Opinions Contributor

In the past six months, you may have noticed that a few arbitrary laws have been proposed to Congress including S.978, Protect IP and SOPA. Each of these bills attempted to obtain and control certain aspects of the Internet through means such as the removal of copyrighted music and video content, making the use of copyrighted material that had been identified by big corporations a federal offense.

Over time, more laws were proposed and came closer to being passed. People rebelled against all of them, but Congress grew more and more accepting.

At this second, 2 billion people around the world are connected to the Internet, and chances are, you’re one of them. S.978 would take away our creature comforts on the Internet. Instead of posting anything online with the knowledge that you will be protected by freedom of speech, you would have to make sure you don’t say or do something that is already labeled or trademarked.

Under this bill, you would have to make certain that no music or videos are playing in your video’s background. For example, if you were to have a song by Michael Jackson playing in the background of a video you created, you could face up to five years in prison for using it. That’s four years more than the doctor who got Jackson killed.

Additionally, the bill could ruin many people’s careers. Many musicians got their starts from online popularity, a phenomenon S.978 would ruin. Justin Bieber,

for one, got his start on the Internet singing copyrighted songs.

SOPA and Protect IP threaten to disconnect foreign websites that contain copyrighted material, and they allow corporations to sue and destroy websites within U.S. borders that have copyrighted material on them.

In this past year alone, blogging and video websites have helped put power back into the hands of protesters from America, Libya and many other countries. The riots and rebellions in Egypt struck the world, inspiring people everywhere to take action in order to improve their own countries.

But many of these websites that empowered protesters also illegally contained copyrighted material.

If laws like SOPA were passed before these events, these glorious revolutions would never have occurred, and we would never have been inspired to start our own: the Occupy movement.

All of these acts are wrong, and we, as citizens of a new online generation, have to fight back to stop them. We cannot let big corporations corrupt the government and infringe upon our rights, creature comforts and ability to speak our minds so that maybe, just maybe, we will buy a new DVD. The Internet is a place for expression and exploration, not a place for laws, restrictions and government.

Big companies are growing richer and more controlling and are beginning to try to take away more and more rights from the American people. We must stop them before they continue this behavior any more. graphic by Alex Cohen

Freer curricula, use of technology would improve U.S. education JH McBreen

Opinions Contributor Finland’s school system ranked first in the world for more than a decade. In contrast, the U.S. school system’s world ranking has been hovering in the teens. Why? Finland’s success has nothing to do with money — the country’s average gross income per capita is $45,680 to the U.S.’s $47,240, and Finland’s schools spend less money per student than American schools do.

Finnish students are assigned little work and take very few high-stakes tests, the high school (or as they call it, upper secondary school) entrance exam being one of the major ones. Finnish students have no finals or midterms.

They take only two or three 90-minute classes per day and enjoy 50-minute breaks between classes. Despite working less intensively, Finnish students scored the highest on each individual subject of the PISAs, an extremely difficult international exam created to test the education systems of each country.

Okay, great; Finnish students do less work and take fewer classes every day. Aside from moving to Finland, there’s no way any of the students at South will experience exactly that. But there are slightly more subtle ways that Finland’s schools outdo ours– and they are all reasonably within reach.

South students have extensive access to technology

in the forms of smartboards, ELMOs and computer labs, but most of this technology is used only to help teachers project images onto a board or to show something to the class using the Internet. In Finland, much of the technology used in schools actually aids students in performing tasks. Along with viewing projected images from their desks, Finnish students get hands-on experience with technology by reconstructing circuit boards and conducting research on the workings of social networking sites.

Finland’s schools also have a much more intricate and valued vocational education than American schools do. In fact, 45 percent of Finnish students enroll in vocational education, or education that teaches the student a trade. Finns that choose to enroll in this program instead of standard academic schooling are taught to perform tasks using cutting-edge technology that they can expect to use while part of the workforce.

Although South is known for sending many of its students to college, many could benefit greatly from a strong vocational program. Rather than putting students through years and years of expensive education, vocational training immediately prepares young Finns for a well-paying, well-respected job with far less schooling.

The Finnish government also holds schools to much looser standards than the American government does. In America, standardized tests such as MCAS

and the APs set strict parameters for what classes need to cover, and there is often very little time to experiment with alternate teaching styles and state-of-the-art technologies. Rather than consuming a large amount of material, Finnish education puts a premium on teaching students to think critically and act as responsible citizens of a global community. Students start learning about things like renewable and non-renewable energy as early as second grade, and projects often combine many aspects of a well-rounded school experience into one piece of work.

It is not uncommon for students to spend weeks doing in-depth research on a single country or topic, gaining an incredible depth of knowledge in exchange for the breadth demanded by American standardized testing. South could benefit greatly from a less stringent curriculum; classes where the teacher goes slightly off the track of the curriculum often end up being the most valuable.

Although South isn’t going to cut its class load in half and eliminate testing, the school can definitely take aspects of the world’s highest-ranked education system and implement them. Although bound by tradition, South – and U.S. schools in general – can start taking steps to improve its education by giving teachers more room for interesting and varied lessons, using more technology in the classroom and putting more value and emphasis on vocational education.

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Administration ineffective in dealing with Powderpuff Dan Kaufman

Opinions Contributor South’s mission statement includes a dedication to equality, responsibility, self-confidence and integrity, none of which were present during the pep rally and Powderpuff football game on Nov. 23. Endorsed by teachers, administrators and students alike, the Powderpuff game and the melodramatic frenzy that accompanies it have become a time-honored tradition.

While many teachers and students find the all-girls football game to be a fun, community-building event, the annual recurrence of overtly aggressive behavior and administrative incompetence in dealing with this behavior raises the question, “Is the annual Powderpuff game a constructive school event?”

Amidst the roar of insults flying back and forth between juniors and seniors (with the occasional underclassmen chiming in for good measure), it was hard to pinpoint the main objective of

the pep rally.

How did an event intended to bring the school closer together so rapidly deteriorate into a full-on war between age groups?

The answer to this question is hard to discern mainly because the

In order to effectively change how the student body conducts itself, the administration needs to implement longterm changes in school policy instead of short-term changes that only paint a deceiving portrait of bureaucratic efficiency.

Year after year, the Powderpuff game tears the community apart, dividing juniors and seniors, underclassmen and upperclassmen, popular and unpopular.

source of aggressive Powderpuff behavior stretches back further then any South student can recollect. Unlike students, however, administrators have witnessed the evolution of Powderpuff aggression, and it is for this reason that the onus falls on them to put an end to the online death threats and car vandalisms that take place every year.

Yet the tradition continues due to the administration’s aptitude for sweeping the previous year’s mistakes under the rug, as well as its inability to introduce a constructive alternative.The annual Powderpuff game illustrates just one of the many shortcomings of South’s administration in terms of community-building activities.

Take, for example, the

Newton Problems

school’s recently implemented anti-bullying initiative.

Consisting of a rather offcolor and ineffective “Rachel’s Challenge” presentation, as well as four extended advisory sessions in which confused teachers stumble through poorly designed anti-bullying PowerPoint presentations, South’s anti-bullying campaign demonstrates yet another ineffective short-term solution put forth by the administration, this time to meet state requirements.

Challenge” and bought the entire school anti-bullying textbooks (ask your advisory teacher about them).

At the end of the day, it’s up to the administration to make the big decisions that affect students.

Although South senators and class officers hold some sway over South’s policies, any decisions of importance greater than the color of the new recycling bins are ultimately deferred to some administrative figure.

It’s time for the administration to claim responsibility for its actions and meet the student body halfway in creating a stronger and healthier community.

Instead of sitting down and coming up with an effective and efficient way to utilize the ten hours of anti-bullying education required by the state (St.2010, c.92), the administration outsourced the job to the fearmongering Shane of “Rachel’s

graphic by Alex Cohen

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december 16, 2011

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Since the new millenium, the rap genre has carried a stigma despite its commerical success Allie Haber & Hannah Leikin Opinions Contributors

It’s no surprise that dubstep is currently one of the most popular musical genres of our day and age. After all, didn’t people years ago assume that the music of our technology-infested generation would be boiled down to computer-generated beeps? What happened to the good stuff? To quote our dear friend Ari Ebstein, “I love Eminem, but his latest stuff is just all about shocking his audience with profane imagery and unnecessary cursing.”

We know even Eminem’s debut album was pushing the envelope, but now he just sounds like he’s either crying or nuts.

Today’s rappers may continue to have great beats like they did in the past (thanks Timbaland (pictured right)), but the lyrics are nonsensical and mundane. There’s even a website (snacksandsh*t. com) dedicated to ridicu-

lous rap lyrics. Song titles are written in internet shorthand (“Kiss Me Thru The Phone”) and repeat the same two topics: drugs and sex. Respectable rap still exists, but it is a bird awash in a sea of pigeons.

During Eminem’s hayday, rap told a story. Artists like A Tribe Called Quest didn’t even need to swear in their songs because the lyrics were strong enough to stand on their own. Swears aren’t the problem, though. We’re all for a nice swear here and there if it’s complimented with good lyrics. Furthermore, it’s pretty much agreed upon that everyone misses the days of Tupac and Notorious B.I.G. when their raps were littered with swears.

In today’s culture, though, rap has a bad rep even though it’s the most popular music genre.

WJMN 94.5 and stations alike cause most listeners above the age of 21 to turn the dial. This type of music is in its element at clubs and house parties, but beyond that it seems to be out of place. Why does it have to be this way? Why does our music have to change into computer-generated noise?

Why did Biggie have to get shot? Where have all the bad girls gone?

Being a bad girl in Hollywood currently implies being sloppy or checking in and out of rehab. Amy Winehouse was a train wreck, not a spunky broad.

Gwen Stefani, we miss your No Doubt ways and days so much. This girl had a clean slate. Most of you are probably rolling your eyes and recalling the questionable music video for “Hollaback Girl,” but before her days of spelling bananas and prancing around with Harajuku girls, Stefani was the lead singer of a hit 90s ska band called No Doubt. She was the only female member of the band and led them to glorified success.

Though Fergie thinks she is to the Black Eyed Peas as Stefani was to No Doubt, Fergie’s role is simply different.

Stefani rocked bikini tops layered over mesh, bowler jackets and sweatpants complete with a visor. Who could possibly pull off this confused look? Our girl Gwen!

She also sported knuckle rings that said “ROCK STEADY.” Bottom line is, she had charisma. Her feisty demeanor is currently extinct in today’s pop culture.

However, we understand that those No Doubt days had to end because after all, she is a 42-year-old mom. Nonetheless, we still have the right to miss it. Attention Hollywood Music industry: please bring back the swag.

Newton community unreceptive to Palestinan views Marini Lopci

Opinions Contributor Just the other week, I overheard a conversation in the library about the IsraeliPalestinian conflict.

“Well, what about when Israel tortured those Muslim women?”

“That’s enough. If you really believe those slanderous things, you’re an anti-Semite.”

Sadly, this is how many arguments dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that I overhear at South end. No longer can the person being called an anti-Semite continue to convey his or her opinion, for now he or she is on the defensive.This sort of disruption to a discussion is an atrocity in itself.

How can one call another an anti-Semite for trying to criticize Israel’s government? The Israeli government has power and decides what to do with that power; this is why

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we can criticize it. Likewise, we can — and do — criticize the American government. The Republican Party is practically dedicated to the opposition of our current president, but should Republicans be called racists for criticizing his use of power?

Of course not. This flawed method of thinking can be used to criticize those who support Palestine, but it is ignorant to call someone an anti-Semite just because he or she objects to the actions of the Israeli government.

I believe that because of a constant fear of being persecuted and unjustly labeled as anti-Semitic, a portion of the student population has lost an opportunity to argue. The Palestinian view has been largely suppressed at South. Without representation for both sides of the debate, there is

no longer an argument.

I believe that some students’ parents are a factor in this suppression of an open forum at South.

While parents are there to help guide us through our lives, we must personally interpret the information we take in each day.

I believe some parents — especially those that limit support of Palestine — inhibit the possibility of their children viewing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with disinterest. It is perfectly acceptable to promote support of Israel, just as it is perfectly acceptable to promote support of Palestine.

In my experience, though, too many parents at South try to suppress support of Palestine. When parents begin to speak out against information their children are learning because it doesn’t agree with their personal beliefs, they are not only

removing a piece of the story - they are also limiting their children’s full potential to view the Israeli-Palestinian conflict without bias.

When a parent tells his or her child what to believe instead of allowing the child to decide for himself or herself, the essence of education is tainted. This is where the faculty at South — and more specifically, the history department — excels.

My history teachers always maintain unbiased environments in their classrooms and continue to teach all sides of every story.

They allow students to make their own decisions.

What matters is that as students, we should be allowed to ask questions.

Why can’t we believe in something different from the majority of our community? Why does the majority persecute us for believing something different?

The holiday season is approaching, and many decisions must be made, like which color tattoo to get, or even which holiday to celebrate. But we are often too distracted by these ultimately petty problems to even begin to grasp what is so clearly the ultimate dilemma – what to drink.

To save you the trouble of trying every drink, we have tried every drink for you and created the drinker’s guide to drinking. Let’s begin.

Chapter 1 – “THE JOURNEY” It was a dark and dreary afternoon.

Mongooses were crawling suspiciously out of holes in the street. Jake’s saxophone was trembling with fear. Jonah’s shirt had its sleeves cut off. He pinched it together in a way that showed his nipples.

Chapter 2 – “THE STARBUCKS” We stepped in the door and were immediately violated by the overwhelming cacophony of holiday celebrators. After shimmying through the crowd to reach the register, Jake’s shirt had no sleeves as well. We got two kiddie-sized peppermint hot chocolates, a “seasonal” as well as yearround favorite. Why this item can be enjoyed in June, we do not know. Anyways, the drink was pretty good, and there was a lot of whipped cream. It also had chocolate shavings – a true seasonal offering – which reminded us of baby hair. Mmmmm.

Chapter 3 – “THE DUNKIN’ DONUTS” Upon entering the desolate Dunkin’ Donuts, our holiday spirit fell to a new low. The torrential downpour did not help.

When we asked to try a popular holiday special, we were served (to our dismay) two cups of coffee with flavorless pumpkin and gingerbread syrup. The syrup actually detracted from Dunkin’ Donut’s normally robust, hearty, fruity, rich and decadent coffee. Also to our dismay, amidst sipping our flavored coffee, a squishy food item slid out of the cup and hit me in the face.

This item was later identified as a mozzarella stick from TGI Fridays.

Chapter 4 – “THE PEET’S” At Peet’s, we tried the eggnog latte as well as the peppermint mocha. Both were delicious – for the first five minutes.

Look, it should be considered that our stomachs had been conquered, ravished, assaulted and pillaged by six previous disgusting holiday beverages with way too much sugar, enough caffeine to kill 10 bears and other s**t. After a while, though, these Peet’s drinks became too much to even look at. The peppermint mocha had a layer of oil on the top and the eggnog latte developed a film of congealed dairy product, nutmeg and sand. I was forced to inconspicuously throw up into a nearby customer’s shoe. It goes without saying that his holiday spirit declined as well.

Chapter 5 – “THE DÉNOUEMENT” Christmas, Chanukah and Ramadan. Moe, Larry and Curly. John, Paul and George. In a world of threes, it is easy to get distracted from our priorities. But even when submerged in the ultimate threesome – Starbucks, Dunkin’ and Peet’s – you will always lose. There are no winners in this game. Happy Holidays.

24

thelionsroar.com/opinions

opinions

Students slack off in art classes to detriment of work environment Marissa Vertes Opinions Contributor

Some students and adults believe that the arts are a waste of time and should not be taken seriously. Art classes are generally not as impressive on a college application as AP courses, and God forbid a child decides to major in the arts.

I’m sure you are familiar with the stereotype of the artist who graduates from art school and then lives the rest of his or her life as a washed-up nobody with an art degree. This is known as the “starving artist complex,” which suggests that the arts are useless in the long-term and are therfore not worth focusing on now.

This idea is apparent at South. I have been enrolled in a variety of South’s art classes, from graphic design to ceramics to mixed media. I am not the next

Pablo Picasso or Dale Chihuly, but I take art classes because I love being creative and having fun.

I have noticed, however, that a number of my peers take art classes not out of a genuine interest in art, but to have a class they can either skip frequently or do their homework in.

A boy in my mixed media class last year only showed up once. On the one day he did, he left within the first five minutes to go to Dunkin’ Donuts with his “boys.”

He thought that the class was a joke unworthy of his time. Some students are like this boy and skip class, and even more treat the class as a study hall.

I can’t tell you how many times I have been sitting in art class working on a project while the person next to me does his or her homework.

Slacking off is acceptable if it happens once or twice, but many students take advantage of their teacher’s leniency and repeatedly work on assignments due the same day in another class.

Once someone [in an art class] sees that a peer is not working, he or she often stops working as well.

The lack of seriousness in art classes is truly detrimental to the learning experience.

Classes like mixed media and ceramics have extremely limited space, and students who use them as free blocks are taking away spots in the class from students who want to create beautiful art.

Once someone sees that

a peer is not working, he or she often stops working as well. The spreading lack of focus in art classes hurts the atmosphere of the classroom and affects everyone – even those who want to make art. I feel lame when I am sitting and working on my project and everyone around me is slacking off.

When the majority of the class does not take the subject matter seriously, the purpose of the class is lost.

The lack of productivity in art classes is the fault of teachers, as well as students.

Teachers need to help students realize that their classes are not for lollygagging and goofing off.

Teachers: if kids are sitting in class doing homework, tell them to stop, or even mark them as having an unexcused

absence. Better yet, ask them to leave the classroom.

For the students who skip the classes, teachers should thoroughly embrace the “N” rule and deny students credit when they skip class three or more times.

Alternatively, at the beginning of the year, teachers could get all of the students’ home phone numbers so if a kid’s behavior is unacceptable, he or she will get in serious trouble with his or her parents.

The arts are not a joke, despite what some people think. The arts help people think outside of the box, take risks, and provide a safe environment free of tests and quizzes.

They stimulate the imagination and reward creativity.

But most importantly they are not a good way to get credit for a free block.

“My Little Pony” gains popularity with older viewers Jack Rabinovitch Opinions Contributor

Bronies: you may have heard of them, know one or even be one. A “brony” is someone who follows the now-popular “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” (MLPFIM) television show. Though many people find it embarrassing to love a show with a target audience of 8-year-old girls, MLPFIM’s popularity with older fans is surprising and great. The fantastic animation, characterization and story lines keep one watching.

The fact that there are enough adults and teenagers who can swallow their pride and make a large demographic impact on the show just tells us that people can ignore what the world might think and genuinely enjoy what they want. That is rare for something as simple as a TV show.

Lauren Faust, the creator of “The Powerpuff Girls” and “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends” developed MLPFIM. It first aired on Oct. 10, 2010 and is currently releasing its second season, with episodes appearing every Saturday morning on The Hub. Its third season is currently in production.

Throughout its seasons, MLPFIM has taken on not only the originally-expected audience of 6-to 8-year-olds viewers but also a large number of 25-to 35-year-old viewers.

Why would anyone above the age of nine watch such a show? Many of us remember shows such as “SpongeBob SquarePants” and “Rugrats” and may continue to watch them not only

for nostalgia’s sake, but also for references that are aimed at older audiences.

Despite its innocent nature, MLPFIM contains similar adult references, which occur more frequently as the writers capitalize on the huge older audience following the show.

The main character, Twilight Sparkle, chronicles the shows admittedly obvious messages through her reports on the magic of friendship to Princess Celestia.

These messages include accounts of social interactions and moral dilemmas, and offer methods detailing how to react to them appropriately. This all happens while the show entertains the openminded watcher with a production that, once the viewer accepts that the main characters are colorful ponies and unicorns

who live in a town called “Ponyville” (though Rainbow Dash’s domain is actually on the city limits of Cloudsdale), has truly relatable characters. Their problems and characteristics include, but are not limited to pride, introversion vs. extroversion, envy, greed, insecurities, sentimentality, mania and depression.

Although they are ponies, the characters are relatable enough for a viewer to apply human characteristics to them, and they are unique enough to form interpersonal conflict that gets to the point of mild violence. The show retains an ambiance that captivates many – teenagers included – while showing moral justices and reteaching life lessons that one may have forgotten. For example, Twilight Sparkle, a major character, has both wonderful and aggravating self-destructive qualities. Her best attribute is her tendency to figure things out in a scientific

and non-superstitious manner. On the flip side, she has a need to get things done perfectly (mild OCD) and an anger that surfaces when she is not able to do so.

Pinkamena Diane Pie, or “Pinkie Pie,” is another example of the depth of character development in the show. Raised on a rock farm (a farm whose sole purpose is to grow, move and distribute rocks), Pinkie was born into a depressing and boring lifestyle.

Her extroversion, however, led her to the city, where she helped out at a bakery and became a prominent member of the Ponyville community.

Still, she sometimes doubts her friendships and goes into a bipolar state in which she aggressively tries to find out why her friends are being uncommunicative. Her mania sometimes drives her friends away, and her eccentric attitude can cause them to ignore her opinions. Overall, the show reveals amazing talent. Faust’s animation, deep plots and beautifully complex characters have created a show worthy of immense praise. (The immense fan base is large enough to disrupt internet traffic and show up on news networks such as Fox and MSNBC.) This fanbase is minimized only by the the fact that the show is animated and about ponies.

The men and women who watch this show, regardless of the criticism they receive or how they may closet themselves, are little reminders that this world still has a gleeful innocence and positive tone and that sometimes the way it must be expressed is charmingly ridiculous. graphic by Esther Chang

community volume 28

issue 5

december 16, 2011 t thelionsroar.com/community

page

25

photos by Yoonchan Choi

Customers can be found engrossed in books at The New England Mobile Book Fair, which will see changes under a new owner with goals to reorganize and modernize the store.

New owner plans to reanimate local bookstore Yoonchan Choi Sr. Community Editor

Tracy Groves weaved between the rows of shelves, his head pivoting left and right as he scanned the labels on the shelves. The musty scent of old books hung in the air as he continued his pursuit of the “perfect Christmas gift” for his son.

Groves finally emerged from the maze of shelves with a stack of books in his arms, many more books than he had originally planned to choose. He dropped the load on the counter, creating a thud that echoed through the cavernous room.

“I came for one thing, but...”

Groves is not the only customer who has left The New England Mobile Book Fair, an independently-owned bookstore on Needham Street, with more than he had expected to buy.

According to front desk manager Julia Williams, the Book Fair’s large selection creates this experience for customers.

“Because it’s so big, [customers] just stumble upon things they like while looking for something else. You never know what you’re really going to find,” Williams said. “There’s always a sense of adventure around here.”

Senior Lily Maltz agreed. “It’s sort of disorganized, in a good way,” Maltz said.

“It’s fun to go to the Book Fair because you always find something that you don’t need; I always walk out with more than I intended.”

Thomas Lyons, owner of the Book Fair, said that this makes the store unlike any other. “[The Book Fair] never got rid of books, so people find books here that are worth hundreds of dollars now that they’re out of print. They’re all just sitting floor to ceiling in 32,000 square feet,” Lyons said.

Williams said that the Book Fair rush. “The inventory is not computerized, is unusual because of its wide range and and that makes it hard for people to call unique arrangement of books. “We have and ask if we have a book or not. If it’s a all kinds of stuff that might not be at lesser known or obscure book, it’s going to other places,” she said. “They’re arranged take the staff a bit of time to find it,” Lyons by publisher, rather than author name, said. “Computerizing the inventory is a because a long time ago we mostly sold priority.” to librarians, who often buy books by The current lack of a formal inpublishers.” ventory or conventional organization, Rochelle Cohn, who shelves books and however, is less important to many of works in customer service at the Book Fair, the Book Fair’s long-time patrons. “You said that although the unique arrangement can’t find a bookstore like this anywhere,” provides opportunities for interesting finds, customer Carolyn Love-West said. “There’s it can confuse customers. “I work with cus- something for everyone. If you look and tomers that aren’t comask around, there fortable with finding are people here their own books,” Cohn of all different It’s fun to go to the Book said. “I know sometimes ages and from all Fair because you always [the publisher-based different profesarrangement] may consions.” find something that you fuse people. It’s fun, but Wilnot useful for everyone.” liams said loyal don’t need.

This confusion customers like - Lily Maltz, Class of 2012 will disappear when Love-West make Lyons, who recently up a significant purchased the Book portion of the Fair, starts making changes after the holiday Book Fair’s patrons. season.

“There are people that have come One of his many visions for the store here for 10, 20, 30 years, then with their is the reorganization of books into catego- kids; it’s good to see that there’s still some ries. “The current organization makes it faith in actual bookstores,” Williams said. difficult and time-consuming for people to Customers and employees agreed find books,” Lyons said. “If you’re looking that the growing market of electronic for books on a certain topic, you might books and online shopping will affect the end up going to six or seven areas for any future of bookstores like the Book Fair. publisher that may have printed books on “It’s hard to tell in specifics, but with the subject.”

Amazon becoming as popular as it has in Williams estimated the combined the past few years, it’s got to make a differnumber of books to be around a million ence,” Williams said. but said she was not certain because the Junior Zach Halpryn said he was Book Fair does not have a digitalized uncertain about what the future of bookinventory. stores would look like. “Maybe someday This is another change that Lyons we won’t have [bookstores] in the future, said he wishes to enact after the holiday maybe we will,” he said. “So many people

read books online now, but there are other people, like me, that still go to stores to buy books.”

Cohn said the Book Fair will survive in the coming years despite the growing popularity of electronic and online books because of its many advantages.

“First of all, there’s a 20 percent discount on everything — we can offer this deal because we get books in bulk for a cheaper price,” Cohn said. “Some people will always come here because they just like the feel of an actual book, rather than reading it on an iPad or a Kindle.”

Groves agreed with Cohn. “I have a Nook, but I just use it for travel because it’s lighter than carrying around a real book or two,” he said.

Although he said he appreciates customers like Groves, Lyons has plans to digitalize the store to keep up with the changing consumer market. “We’ll be re-doing the website so that you can buy books from home, and have e-books available as well. We know we’re in an electronic age,” Lyons said. “If people are going to be buying books, we want them to get them from us ... it may be a very small margin, but it’ll keep the lights on.”

Cohn said, however, that the actual experience of going to the Book Fair is superior to any online transaction or download. “When a customer is looking for a book, someone who happens to be around often chimes in, saying ‘Oh, that’s a great book,’ or ‘You should also check out this book,’” she said.

According to Cohn, shopping at the Book Fair is not just a purchase but a “cultural experience.” Lyons agreed. “My first goal is to make sure the bookstore stays open — I think it’s too important to the community. It’s a cultural center of Newton, an icon,” he said.

26

thelionsroar.com/community

community

ONE WORD, ONE COMMUNITY

Every issue, The Roar asks four members of the Newton community to expand upon a one-word prompt

photo courtesy of Karen Day

Karen Day

Children’s book author Since I was 9, I’ve kept a detailed, almost daily journal. Over time my entries changed quite a bit, but something I’ve always done, come Dec. 31, is reflect on the year. In elementary and middle school this might include listing the tennis matches I’d won or where I’d gone on vacation.

As I got older, I found myself reflecting on who I was and how I related to others. Had I grown as a person? Had I

learned something about myself? Could I have been kinder, more helpful to my peers?

Reflection isn’t easy, especially if you see things you don’t like about yourself.

But it’s a powerful tool in helping you understand yourself. And reflecting on others — why they do or say certain things — is a great way to try to understand others, too.

I no longer wait until Dec. 31 to reflect. I try to do it every day. I think it’s made me a more compassionate person.

And I know it has made me a better writer.

In my novels for middle school readers, I try to write about interesting characters with strong, well-defined inner lives. I sometimes spend months, even years, writing about my characters in my journal.

Who are they? What is their story?

Why do they act this or that way? My years of reflection have made this exercise possible, and a lot of fun.

But you don’t have to be a writer to use reflection in your life. Taking a few minutes out of your day to ask questions about yourself and others, rather than throwing out labels or accusations, can go a long way toward making this world a better place.

photo courtesy of Antonia Nichols

Antonia Nichols Class of 2012

As my years at South draw to an end, I have been doing a lot of reflecting.

I see reflection as careful thought about previous actions, events or decisions.

Despite the common attitude among seniors of wanting to get out of high school as fast as possible, I will sincerely miss it. I have thoroughly enjoyed my years at South and the people that have been a part of them.

Contemplating the decisions I have made in the past three years, I realized that for the most part, my choices have made me happy.

I am happy with my decision to focus not only on my schoolwork, but to be involved in school activities, such as Environmental Club, and Newton Tanzania Club — I was even the mascot at this year’s Powderpuff game.

It has been difficult at times to balance all this while dancing six days a week, but when reflecting upon these decisions I know that doing all these activities kept me healthy and well-rounded. My time was not perfect; like everyone else, I wish I had handled certain things differently, but all in all I have very few regrets.

I often wonder if the decision to take no honors classes during my past three years will affect my future, but in the end I know that I cannot change the decisions I have made. Reflection is about understanding what has turned out positively in the past, and what hasn’t — and why.

Deliberating whether or not you can change what has already happened is just a waste of time, but realizing how it can change the future is important.

Reflection

photo courtesy of Isabelle Albeck

Isabelle Albeck Newton Resident

I remember a room in which there are several adults talking. Some are children of Holocaust survivors and some children of Nazi perpetrators. “It is so hard to carry the knowledge of what my father did. I feel so guilty,” a child of a Nazi perpetrator said. One child of a survivor did not say anything but thought, “Good, I am glad you are suffering.”

That survivor’s child was my husband, and to him, the other person was only a child of a perpetrator — not a real person. I witnessed this scene in 1992 when an Israeli psychologist asked volunteers to participate in a Dialogue Group.

He had met several adults who were traumatized by the roles of their fathers during

WWII, and thought it would help them to meet face-to-face with those whose parents were victims in concentration camps.

My husband and a few of his friends were approached, and they created a group called “One Generation After.” They met to talk about growing up with survivor parents. “I’m not sure what exactly happened in the camp. My father doesn’t want to talk about it,” many of them said.

“I remember getting a C, and my mother said, ‘I survived what the Germans did to me for you not to study?’” one said.

Before going to the meetings, my husband and the others had nightmares, finding themselves or their parents imprisoned once again.

That first day in 1992, there were two groups in the room: the children of survivors and the children of perpetrators. At the beginning, most children of survivors were glad that life was difficult for the Germans. After a couple days spent sharing their life stories, however, the children of perpetrators became real people; they had names, jobs, children, likes and dislikes; they were struggling with their fathers’ pasts. And so the children of survivors were sad with them.

For six years, the Dialogue Group met once a year for about ten days. People had to see the real people past the labels.

We often avoid reflecting on events we wish to forget. My experience taught me that reflecting even on the most terrible events can lead to positive results.

photo courtesy of Terry Sack

Terry Sack

Founding editor of The Roar I started The Lion’s Roar as a conservative alternative to the status quo of the official school newspaper, Denebola.

I was a disaffected editor at Denebola, an outsider among the politically liberal elite, who I felt used the establishment paper to further their own politics.

They were perhaps so oblivious to the perception of the paper and its staff in the school that they were impervious to what the competition would mean in the present, and certainly in the coming years.

Our fledgling staff produced three well-received newspapers during our humble beginnings, limited more by funding than by lack of copy or interest.

Although our op-ed pages reflected

a conservative viewpoint, the attitude of our staff was more libertarian than conservative, and the make-up of our staff was more egalitarian than the conventional school newspaper staff norm of future journalism or English majors.

We also tried not to take ourselves too seriously — we made sure that although we worked hard at this endeavor, we had fun doing it.

Although The Roar was naturally a reflection of its staff, I had to fight the perception that I had started the paper for the selfish reasons of “sticking it” to Denebola or of making it merely a vehicle through which the staff and I could pad our college resumes. If The Roar ceased upon my graduation, people could have rightfully made such claims.

But our staff consisted of more than just my senior classmates; we had recruited underclassmen to ensure that The Roar would have a future life.

In order to defeat the misperception of our motives, The Roar would have to be able to not only survive but grow on its own.

After surveying a few of the most recent issues of The Roar, I am proud to say that it continues to be a reflection of our original vision, still a journal of opinion that goes beyond the confines of the South campus.Today The Roar has a vibrancy that reflects our original goal of leaving the paper in the competent and capable hands of future staffs and future generations.

27

thelionsroar.com

fun page Columns, rows and squares Each take a digit, falling Between one and nine.

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By Danny Gifford

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bad haiku by Tony Vashevko " Rob Hass puzzles courtesy of websudoko.com

1. Former Penn State assistant coach, jailed for sexual abuse.

2. Head coach during 1 down’s tenure.

3. Characterized by extreme anger.

4. Prefix meaning “with,” or the Centennial State’s abbreviation.

5. Brock’s primary Pokémon.

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14. Famous sunglasses brand, or a 1990s Knick.

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20. Three of its bones are the hammer, anvil and stirrup.

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Embarrassing Roar Staff Photo of the Month:

Choi surprised many with his “No Shave November” performance.

sports volume 28

issue 5

Start ‘em young december

16, 2011 t thelionsroar.com/sports

!28

page

Under pressure from parents, some kids specialize in a single sport in hopes of earning scholarships Dani Glasgow Sr. Sports Editor

“It used to be [that] you played football or soccer in the fall, you played basketball, hockey or wrestled in the winter and you played baseball, lacrosse or ran track in the spring … Now everything goes all year round,” athletic director Scott Perrin said.

Levy agreed that specialization is noticeably different in sports today than a decade or two ago.

“My impression is that the select group [of kids specializing in one sport]

It is 6 a.m. on a Monday morning, and junior Kayla Burton is in the gym shooting 3-pointers. She must make 200 before she can go to school. Burton’s younger brother Austin, who is 13, and her younger sister Veronica, who is 11, are also in the gym practicing. Burton’s parents are there too, making sure the kids stay on task.

Burton started playing basketball at age 6, and since she was 8, has been going to the gym six mornings each week to practice with her dad. She said the message from her father, Steve Burton, was clear: “I don’t care what sport you do, but you are going to work hard at it,” he said.

Burton is not unique in that she has parents who have expected her to perform at a rigorous athletic level from a young age. Over the past two decades, there has been a a nationwide rise in children specializing in one sport from a young age, coupled with a nationwide rise in parents expecting their children to excel in athletics from a young age. Newton has not escaped this trend.

According to Paul Levy, who has coached Boston Area Youth Soccer (BAYS) for 23 years, an increasing number of parents push their children to excel at a certain sport from a young age. “There is is bigger than it would have been 10 or 15 a certain cadre of parents who push their years ago,” he said. kids to try to be on high level teams and to Perrin said the principle reason for join multiple leagues,” he said. “You’ll have specialization is that parents are trying to parents who think their kids are above avgive their children advantages. “There has erage and therefore think the regular BAYS been a rise in [early] specialization for a program isn’t sufficiently demanding for couple of reasons,” he said. “One [reason], their kids, so they put them in some other and it directly correlates to [what happens club team, thinking that they will be better in] other aspects of kids’ lives, whether off, and they will do better in college and it is math tutoring or English tutoring high school athletics and so forth.” or something else that is specialized, is South parent Sheilla Barnett, whose parents feel they are getting a step up in a two children have situation — participated in a something variety of sports, that gives agreed that comtheir child petitiveness in atha unique letics has increased. advantage.”

“There is a push Perto specialize and rin, however, get more help,” she is unsure of said. “I know kids exactly what who play baseball; advantage - Sheilla Barnett, South parent they have a pitching parents coach. If you play seek to give soccer, you don’t their kids by just play soccer for the town — you play it pushing them to excel at a sport. “Are you for the club league as well. So you have kids trying to obtain self-confidence for the being on two or three teams for one sport, child? Are you trying to obtain a college ... just doing that one sport.” scholarship? What are you actually trying Because many high school athletes play to do?” he said. the same sport three seasons each year, speAccording to South parent Matt cializing in one sport is all the more common. Pawa, who has been familiar with youth

There are advantages to being really good at one sport when it comes to getting into colleges.

sports since his son started playing Little League 10 years ago, the advantage parents hope to gain by pushing their kids to excel at a single sport is linked to a hope that their children will earn college scholarships.

“In hanging around kids’ sports, you find that there are a hard core group of parents who are already thinking about [college],” he said. “It starts at a ridiculously young age.”

Steve Burton, Kayla’s father, agreed that parents often push their children too hard at too young of an age.

“A lot of parents want their kids to be All-Americans at age 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,” he said. “It really doesn’t matter how good you are at that age, as long as you’re getting better.”

Steve, however, said he believes that setting high goals for young athletes is important in teaching them to succeed.

“Shoot for the moon,” he said.

“In other words, set your goals high. Because even if you miss the moon, you never know what star you will land on.”

Barnett said that since the merits of athletic scholarships are

very real, young athletes often set collegiate athletics as their goals.

“In a town like Newton, there are advantages to being really good at one sport when it comes to getting into colleges,” she said. “I hope it doesn’t influence everything, but I think it probably influences [students’ lives] to some degree.”

Levy warned against the dangers of putting too much pressure on young athletes.

“The result is [that] a lot of these kids play too much. They end up playing every day of the week at age 9 or 10 and, developmentally, that’s not a good thing to do,” he said.

“If you do anything too much, the joy goes out of it, and you burn out. But also physically, it’s not good for kids to only play one sport,” he added.

Perrin agreed that pushing too hard on young athletes often backfires.

“What happens is [that] ... kids

who specialize on one sport from a very [young] age will burn out and give that sport up,” he said. “It will be the same way with kids who are hyper-focused on a specific instrument from an early age. So it’s a very fine line to walk on.”

Pawa said that as a parent, it is important to recognize the line between being supportive and pushing too hard. “You have to be careful to make sure [sports are] fun at all times and kids are doing it for the right reasons: personal growth and teamwork and those kinds of things,” he said.

“When a coach or parent starts pushing kids in the wrong direction, that’s when you have to be vigilant,” Pawa said.

According to Levy, parents are often simply misguided in their intentions. “[Specialization is] motivated by a lack of understanding of ... what youth sports is all about.” he said. “[Parents displace their] own desires for high achievement onto their children. We know that happens academically all the time, and ... it seems to happen in sports.”

Kayla Burton said her parents put pressure on her as child, but she is glad that they did.

“Originally, when my parents got me up, when they weren’t looking and I was doing a drill, and I didn’t want to be there at all, I would walk, and when they looked at me, I’d run. I felt forced. But now I’m so happy that they did that,” she said. Following in the footsteps of her older sister, who plays at Villanova University, Burton is now on track to receive a Division I college basketball scholarship.

Still, the question remains: when is it too early to set one’s sights on such lofty goals? Levy said one parent of a 9-yearold once asked him, “Should my kid get extra coaching? Because I want her to get an athletic scholarship for soccer.”

december 16, 2011

sports

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!"#$%&' ()*+&',-+' ./$01'2)%% Michael Duggan Senior Column

There are some things in life that give me hope and allow me to believe that anything is possible, that maybe this world isn’t full of greed, disloyalty and hubris. Then there are events and occurrences that make me wonder if it contains anything but those characteristics.

On Oct. 28, Albert Pujols played his last game as a St. Louis Cardinal. Pujols came off the field, along with the rest of his teammates, as a world champion of baseball. For the second time in six years, the World Series trophy would belong to St. Louis, a city Pujols called home for 11 years.

But this championship came with an underlying bittersweet mood as the face of the Cardinals’ franchise entered free agency. Pujols – a three-time MVP, nine-time All-Star, six-time Silver Slugger, two-time Gold Glover and former batting photos by Yoonchan Choi champion described by many as the best Students who do not consider track to be their main sport join, and add to, the team to stay fit while their primary sport is not in season. player in modern baseball not to inject himself in the butt with a performance enhancing drug – would certainly stay in the Midwest city where he had enjoyed so much success, wouldn’t he?

He wouldn’t bolt to some huge Eastas their primary sport bring a positive they are doing ... they contribute to the William Fleisher & ern city full of fair-weathered fans. There’s attitude to the team.

“For the most part, team, ” she said.

Michael Horenstein no possible way he would ever head out everyone who joins the team is pretty Norton said athletes often begin Sports Contributors to the Left Coast to catch some more face dedicated. Some kids do use track for con- running track for conditioning purposes, time on TV. Nah, not Pujols. The guy isn’t Junior Jake Alexander has played ditioning, but they still try their hardest,” but end up pursuing the sport competia traitor. Especially if the Cards offer him football and lacrosse since he was seven. she said. tively. “I am aware that there are kids that north of $200 million to play first base for This winter offseason, he decided to run Bridi said that the hard work of are just there for conditioning, and I tell the next 10 years of his life. No way is this track as well. “I’m doing track this winter the athletes is more important than their them that that is okay, because what they guy going. because it’s really good for my conditiondifferent reasons for competing. “I don’t get out of the program is going to be But sure enough, Pujols went. ing,” he said. “I’ll be able to lift and run, think most kids know I’m doing this for physically challenging for them,” he said.

Pujols agreed to a contract offered by The and it’s something competitive rather than conditioning,” he said. “I try as hard as I There are also multi-sport athletes Los Angeles Angles of Anaheim (talk just doing nothing.” can, but I know the main reason I’m doing who switch to track all together. Last year, about a mouth full) worth about $254 Alexander is not the only athlete this is to stay in shape [for soccer].” sophomore Emily Caggiano played soccer million over 10 years to become their who started to run track in high school According to senior boys indoor in the fall, indoor track in the winter and designated hitter; to sit on his ass for 90 for conditioning purposes. Senior George track captain Daniel Cutright, however, lacrosse in the spring. This year, she ran percent of the ball game, walk up to the Bridi also started running track his junior there are certain athletes who take away cross country in the fall, is running track year to stay in shape for soccer. “I figured from the serious practice environment. now and intends to run track in the spring plate three or four times, do what he does best and walk back to the dugout $44 it didn’t matter if I was competing well as “There are kids that aren’t really dedicated as well. “It was cool to be on a team with million richer than he would have been in long as I did the workouts,” he said. “I can’t and they do it just to do a sport,” he said. people not solely devoted to winning, but Missouri. really workout without being motivated, Cutright said athletes who join track also to helping everyone improve,” she Now, of course $44 million is a huge and this discipline keeps me motivated. for conditioning purposes do not necessaid. sum of money for any individual. But Alexander agreed and said that sarily negatively affect the team, but said Junior Kyra Visnick did gymnastics being part of the track team motivated there are athletes who join the track team in the winter and track in the spring before that’s really not the point. The fact is that Pujols had a chance become a legend; he him to stay in shape. “Originally I was but do not take it seriously. “A lot of kids switching to only track this year. “Track is had a unique opportunity to stick with not going to do a sport, but then I realjust waste their time and make things very a skill I can use for my entire life, whereas ize you need competition to succeed,” he annoying for everyone else,” he said. gymnastics is a sport you can only do for a one club for his entire career, a club that helped him become a better player and a said. “[Track] is good for the competition Rhatigan said that even track athcertain amount of time,” she said. better person. because there are kids who run a lot faster letes who use track for conditioning help According to Rhatigan, track is But Pujols took the bait. He disapthan me, and that’s driving me to get faster the team win. “As long as they are trying an easy place for people to find a home. pointed those who believed he wasn’t and stronger.” their hardest and putting effort into what “We’re a very close group,” she said. like what seems to be the vast majority of According to boys indoor track greedy, disloyal free-agent sports players coach Ted Norton, the high percentage of in the modern era. multi-sport athletes and first time track In my mind, Pujols’ decision was competitors on the team generate an worse that LeBron James’ back in July atmosphere unlike that of other sports at 2010, when James famously stated on South.“[The students who use track as a an ESPN telecast that he was “taking his conditioning sport] sort of bring a differtalents to South Beach.” Sure, Pujols held ent personality to the team,” he said. “They no telecast; he is still a man of class. But break up the standard character of the loyalty and selflessness are qualities he team,” he said. does not possess.

Senior girls indoor track captain Only time will tell how Pujols’ Hannah Friedman said there is no divide decision will pan out; for all I know, his between athletes for whom track is a prisuccess will continue for The L.A.A.A. mary sport and for those whom it is not.

But no matter what, his decision to flee “Although some of the kids are just doing the city that helped him earn recognition it to stay in shape, they are still putting in and offered him $210 million to finish his the same amount of effort,” she said. “The career as a Cardinal reminded me that coach gives them the same workouts and sometimes the only things that matter are they still work as hard as everybody else.” the numbers following the dollar sign on Sophomore Anna Rhatigan agreed that pay check. that athletes who do not compete in track

Athletes join track to stay in shape

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thelionsroar.com/sports

sports

Ngo sisters take their golfing talent abroad Ben Tuval & Brendan Duggan Sports Contributors

Three weeks ago senior Ngo Vinh-Hoa and sophomore Ngo Vinh-Hop returned from competing in the South East Asia (SEA) Games in Indonesia. The sisters were two of the three female golfers who represented Vietnam in the biennial SEA Games, during which athletes from 11 Southeast Asian countries showcase their talents in over 40 events.

According to Vinh-Hop, getting selected was a significant accomplishment. “I was very excited, because it’s not easy to be chosen to represent your country,” she said.

A year before the SEA Games Vinh-Hoa had sent an email to the Vietnam Golf Association (VGA) asking to represent Vietnam in the SEA Games. Eight months later the VGA emailed her back saying she had been selected, and asking if her sister would represent Vietnam, as well.

According to Vinh-Hoa, she was selected based off her second-place performance in the Vietnam Ladies Championship in 2008, and Vinh-Hop was selected based off her performance in local, national and international tournaments in America.

Sophomore Jung Min Lee, Vinh-Hop’s friend, said she was surprised the sisters were selected. “I knew that they were really good, but this time they were competing as players representing a country,” she said.

Vinh-Hoa said that in addition to being an impressive career milestone, playing in the SEA Games was a meaningful experience. “Bonding with teammates and having a team atmosphere was the most important part [of the SEA Games], and also representing your country,” she said.

According to Vinh-Hop, it was remarkable that both sisters were selected. “It’s very rare to have siblings be on the national team together,” she said. “I believe we were the only siblings, male or female, who played in the entire golf tournament.”

Vinh-Hop said that playing golf with her sister has made them both better players.

“We look out for each other and fix each other’s mistakes,” she said. “I always try to beat her, and she always tries to beat me. That’s how we motivate each other to work harder and become better.”

According to Lee, however, Vinh-Hop is motivated

photo courtesy of Vinh-Hoa Ngo

Ngo Vin-Hop tees off with the Malasian and and Filipino teams looking on in the South East Asia Games, held in Indonesia.

by more than the drive to beat her sister. “[Vinh-Hop’s] whole life is about golf. If you see her art projects, all of them are about golf,” she said. “I have never seen anyone who can like something as much as Vinh-Hop [likes golf].”

The sisters, however, did not win any awards in the SEA Games.

“I was very nervous in the beginning, and that’s why I didn’t play well, I think,” Vinh-Hoa said.

Vinh-Hop agreed that though the SEA Games were a positive experience, playing in such a big competition posed new challenges. “It’s a one-of-a-kind experience that we will always remember,” she said. “We got to meet players from all the neighboring countries of Vietnam and experience golf on a whole new level, but it’s very pressure-packed because everyone from your country is counting on you.”

Vinh-Hai, the sisters’ father, said despite the poor performance, his daughters will have more opportunities in the future. “The good thing is they have learned a lot through this event and they are still young,” he said.

“Now, at 15 and 17, they may have more opportunities in the coming events because there are no age limits at the SEA Games.”

Vinh-Hoa also said she learned a lot from the tournament and that the experience will help her next year when she plays golf for Boston College. “Golf is a very individual sport so playing in team competitions helps me a lot for a college golf team,” she said.

She also said she looks forward to playing in future golf tournaments.

“I plan to compete in the SEA Games in the future and hopefully win something,” she said. “Next time I’ll have more experience so I could play better.”

Girls basketball fills gaps left by last year’s seniors

photo by Yoonchan Choi

Despite the loss of strong seniors, the girls basketball team looks forward to its season.

Jack McElduff & Darren Trementozzi Sports Reporters

Last year, the girls basketball team was one of the strongest in years, climbing to a 22-2 record and marching to the divisional semifinals. Three of the last year’s seniors graduated, however, leaving this year’s players with an uphill journey if they hope to replicate the team’s recent success.

Junior Charlotte Levine said that last year’s seniors were pivotal to the team’s success. “They had a huge impact,” she said. “They had great skills, and they were

extremely motivated. They were always going all out 100 percent of the time.”

Junior and captain Kayla Burton agreed and said that the team is not expecting this season to unfold the same way as it did last year. “It’s going to be a different year, that’s for sure,” she said. “We lost height, we lost some athleticism, but we gained people who are willing to work maybe even harder this year.”

According to sophomore Eve Zuckoff, not only does the loss of last year’s seniors affect the team’s morale, but also how they play the game.

“The whole coaching style is different

… and the way we play is different,” she said.

“Anyone who went to the games last year will be able to see the different plays, the different ways [head coach Sam Doner] talks to us.

Everything is new.”

Levine said, however, that the loss of last year’s seniors will not prevent the team from having a successful season. “We have a lot of talent returning and a lot of talent coming in,” she said.

Burton also said that by training in the offseason, the team has prepared for a successful season. “There are girls who are working, and have been working, since the summer,” she said. “They know the offseason is the time to practice and really get better.”

Doner agreed that the team will have a strong season.

“People think that since we lost very valuable players that the magic will be lost, but I don’t look at it that way at all,” he said.

“I think the magic will still be there.”

Doner said this year’s players will follow the example last year’s seniors left behind.

“I think the kids will try to simulate what the older kids have done,” he said.

According to Zuckoff, the team prepared for this season through the preseason practices that Doner ran. “All the camps and clinics [were] huge for us,” she said.

“[Doner’s] clinics and camps are like no other camps I’ve been to ... You feel yourself getting better.”

According to senior captain Ana Horowitz, the team will have to overcome certain challenges. “I think the hardest [adjustment] will be our team chemistry,” she said. “Getting to know how each player plays will take a lot of time.”

Horowitz said, however, that she is confident the team will build chemistry as the season progresses, though. “I think we’re going to be able to bond, both on and off the court,” she said.

Burton also said that the team cannot expect success to land in its lap. “We have to work hard, on defense especially,” she said.

According to Burton, working toward success rather than banking on talent has always been part of the team’s identity.

“I know our coach doesn’t take in players that are good,” she said. “He develops them.”

Doner said that even if the girls do not match last year’s 22-2 record, they can still have a successful season.

“As far as wins and losses, I don’t look at that as a successful season,” he said. “I think if we have passion, then we’ll be more than fine.”

december 16, 2011 Girls Basketball

sports Boys Indoor Track

Boys Ski Team

Record: 22-2

Record: 4-1

Record: 12-18

Coach: Sam Donor

Coach: Ted Norton

Coach: Mike Swain

Captains: Kayla Burton and Ana Horowitz

Captains: Dan Cutright, Victor Moisescu, Brooks Remy and Youssef Elkorchi

Captains: Jonah Seifer and Andy Webber

Quotation: “I think team chemistry is a major aspect of the game, and if we work together, good things can happen.”

-Kayla Burton

Quotation: “We are a very young team, but we have a lot of talent and will be a top competitor in the DCL this year.”

-Dan Cutright

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Quotation: “We have a high number of freshmen joining and an unusually high number of people who have raced before, so I’m optimistic.”

-Jonah Seifer

Winter Previews

Wrestling

Boys Hockey

Boys Swim/Dive

Record: 9-12

Record: 7-11-2

Record: 5-7

Coach: Alan Rotatori

Coach: Chris Ryberg

Coach: Carl Valle

Captains: Sam Caggiano, Roy Milstein and Aaron Davidoff

Captains: TBD

Captain: Ben Eisenberg

Quotation: “With a lot of other teams rebuilding just like us, it will make the schedule a little bit easier.”

-Peter Block

Quotation: “We have a great spirit on the team, and I think we’re going to do really well.”

-Ben Eisenberg

Quotation: “We have a solid crew of guys throughout all the weight class which we did not have last year.”

-Roy Milstein

Information compiled by RJ Hayes and Zach Carney

december 16, 2011

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