WEST SIDE
STORIES March 2012
• Wauwatosa West High School • 11400 W Center Street, Wauwatosa WI • Volume 16, Issue 5
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www.wauwatosawest.com
Ben Makhlouf g West Side Stories WEST JUNIOR CHINA CHAMBERS felt particularly affected. “I saw all these people getting hurt and all this stuff happening. I thought I was the only one who was alone in the world,” she said. The “If You Really Knew Me” board erected by Wauwatosa West’s SPIRIT committee was displayed in the Learning Center February 20-24. Students submitted anonymous note cards describing the struggles they went through each day. Administrators sorted through the note cards turned in and removed any note cards that were inappropriate or contained identifying information.
“We the People” to D.C.; Most Wins in WI APPSE team members prepare statements for fifth consecutive appearance at national competition Sabrina Black g Staff Writer
APPSE, or American Public Policy Special Emphasis, is a version of the usual junior-level Social Studies class, American Public Policy (APP), which focuses on American government. What makes this class different? The class’s teacher here at West, Chad Mateske, explained that “this particular section knows that they are going to take part in the accelerated learning of the material, so that
by semester, they will be prepared to take a [. . .] state competition for the We the People program.” The “We the People” web site clarifies, “the competition takes the form of [a] simulated congressional hearing. During the hearings, groups of students testify as constitutional experts before panels of judges acting as congressional committees scoring the groups through a performance-
based assessment.” The students themselves, but perhaps this year will bring an already-written, four-minute be different. statement, but they cannot know exEven before the funding cut, not actly what the judges will ask, an expe- many schools participated; Mateske rience which Dana Kautzer, a current pointed out, “you need kids who are APPSE student, describes as “nerve- willing to do the work and take part wracking.” However, the students are in the competition…you do need a able to predict and prepare for things teacher who is dedicated to put in the that might come up. time beyond the contract time period, In addition to West’s team, Wau- to get the kids ready, and is willing to watosa East has two teams, South have their name shown as part of the Milwaukee has a team, and Hartford product at the competition [. . . .] A lot has an exhibition team (a participat- of teachers might be [. . .] intimidated, CULTURE ing team which is not in competition to [thinking] ‘Look! Those kids are about win). West’s team placed first at State, to go out there, and all day long I can’t meaning that these APPSE students do anything about it, and they’re going will be competing at Nationals in to say what they’re going to say, and Washington, D. C. that might make me As well as the A lot of teachers might be [. . .] intimi- look bad.’” usual challenges of dated, [thinking] ‘Look! Those kids are The APPSE team Katherine Janiszewski g Staff Writer the class, this year about to go out there, and all day long will leave for NaThe hallways of Wauwatosa West High school are a medley of many culthe financial part is I can’t do anything about it, and they’re tionals on Friday, tures and ethnicities; there are African-American students, Latino students, harder. Previously, going to say what they’re going to say, April 27th and rewhite students, Asian students and so many more different races and culfederal funding was and that might make me look bad. turn Wednesday, tures. Wauwatosa West is literally a melting pot of cultures and traditions offered for any class May 2nd. The comfrom all over the world, and the purpose of the Multicultural fair is to make that wished to make use of the curricu- petition is the Saturday and Sunday, everyone aware and proud of their cultures, and how their cultures can come lum. Unfortunately, this year, the fed- and if West’s team places in the top together to make Wauwatosa West a very interesting place. eral funding has been eliminated. ten, they will also compete on a third Señora Patrias, the head of a small committee that runs the Multicultural Due to this lack of federal funding, day. In fact, two years ago, West did fair, hopes that the cultural fair will make students aware and proud of their the APPSE students’ fund-raising goal have the opportunity to compete on the heritage. It is important to know that everyone has a culture. Patrias said, is even higher this year. There has third day, finishing as the tenth team “in homeroom... all the white students said that they had no heritage...but been plenty of fund-raising going on in in the country. Mateske reminisced, they do.” They can be Irish or German or Polish, each of which has a full, rich an attempt to reach the sum of money “[they] got to compete in the Senate culture that can influence their lives. required to pay for the trip to Wash- hearing rooms on Capitol Hill, so they The Multicultural fair is divided into three parts. The first part is an outington, D. C. In previous years, the were literally sitting in the nice, leathreach program that allows high school students to g Please see p. 9 g Please see p. 5 students have never needed to pay for er seats, speak-
Embracing Diversity Preparations underway for Multicultural Fair
Features
2
WEST SIDE STORIES March, 2012
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To help the plastic situation, Jeffrey Roznowski, a Wauwatosa Alderman for the 6th district, is the local leader of an organization called Bag-it. “The purpose of our Bag-it organization is to educate people of Wauwatosa about the danger of using plastic.” Roznowski said. He added, “We’re some concerned people.”
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“They’re just piling up in landfills somewhere,” said freshman Sarah Lazewski, regarding plastic. Plastic bags normally get stuck in landfills or become litter on highways and in rivers.
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The Bag-it organization is a small start to get people aware of what plastic is doing. “We’re really starting this on a grassroots [level], with some local people, trying to start that here in Wauwatosa.” Many other cities are thinking about these things as well. According to a New York Times article titled, “Seattle Bans Plastic Bags, and sets a charge for paper,” many cities including San Francisco, Washington, Portland, and Seattle have put fees and bans on plastic bags. In the article, the vice president of a plastic producing company called Hilex Poly, Mark Daniels, said, “Moving consumers away from plastic bags only pushes people to less environmentally friendly options such as paper bags…and reusable bags, which are not recyclable.” It may be true that a ban or fee on plastic would sway people to paper bags and canvas bags, but the definition of recyclable is to
use again.This means that every time someone reuses a bag, they are recycling. Unlike plastic, both paper bags and canvas bags are reusable and biodegradable. Government involvement is one option for getting rid of plastic, and Roznowski believes it could be done “eventually,” adding, “I don’t know, but the more we educate people, we’ll find out.” He feels that banning plastic bags would be a “drastic” move on the government’s part and instead suggested a tax on the bags. That way, it would be easier to encourage people to use other bags. Freshman Juhi Mody had another suggestion: “The stores can stop handing out plastic bags. The consumers can bring their own bags from home.” Freshman Pauline Sharping believes, “Everyone should try to buy things that they can recycle.” The people involved in Bag-it will continue to show their film, “Bag-it”--which has been viewed at the Wauwatosa Public Library--to teach people about plastic. “What we’re trying to do when we show the movie is collect names and e-mails,” said Roznowski, “We want to kind-of create little communities.” When asked if he had anything else to add, Roznowski said, “I think Wauwatosa should be known as a sustainable city or a green city, and one of the ways that we can do that is through this Bag-it group or reducing plastic.” “This is going to take some time”, said Roznowski, “We need lots of people to help, and help spread the word.” “Now’s the best time to start,” he added.
About 1
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Over 1
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More than
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of plastic bags, sacks and wraps were discarded in 2008. Maddy Jordan g Staff Writer Stephanie Eberle g Editor-in-Chief
Opinions 3 WEST SIDE STORIES
ENTERTAINMENT
March, 2012
Nicolas Cage: A True National Treasure
All the reasons you too should love Nicolas Cage Natalie Mullins g Staff Writer
This sad world we live in is divided into two different types of people: those who passionately love Nicolas Cage for the splendid actor that he is, and the rest. The former are upstanding citizens with great taste in cinema; the latter a sad, bitter people that do not deserve to see the light of day. If you belong to this category, you deserve to be condemned to eternal damnation. However, in the spirit of Ghost Rider: The Spirit of Vengeance (in theaters today!), I have decided to give you this chance to be converted and saved. Nicolas Cage is good actor, but he is too often misunderstood. Many people believe him to be a phony, or completely insane, because he so embodies the spirit of the characters he is playing. When he plays a middle-aged assassin that falls in love with a deaf pharmacist in Bangkok Dangerous, he truly becomes a gruff figure with the ability to aim and shoot long-range sniper rifles. This is what is called method acting, and it’s something all great actors do. The great thing about the Cage is that he takes it further than any Brando ever would. He is such a great actor that he literally is all the characters he plays, be they one-armed opera lovers, coked-up detectives, or apiphobic (bee-fearing) men in bear costumes. He carries these characters around with him, pulling on each to add to his new role. Thus, when he plays a mullet-headed knight in the latest medieval buddy comedy, he is not only that knight, but also a helicopter-flying, cockroacheating, wizard. That makes it fun to see him on the screen, and all the more amazing that he can carry the baggage of sixty-nine movies while still acting the hell out of his latest character. Even if you despised all of Nicolas Cage’s previous incarnations, there is still something to be said in going to the movies just to see him. And I am not talking about Nicolas Cage. As every fan knows, each Cage performance is a two-man show, a glorious duet between him and his hairpiece. I believe that I’ve seen just about every incarnation, from the subtle comb-over to the full-on lank-haired business in the front, party in the back mullet. Sometimes the hairpiece out-does Cage himself, and you spend the entire movie just wondering at it. No other man alive today can claim such a beautiful use of malepattern baldness, a beautiful kind of fault that actually adds to the greatness of the Cage.
NATALIE MULLINS, crazed fangirl and self-proclaimed number one fan of Nicolas Cage made one desperate attempt at gaining the attention of her idol. Mullins admires him because, “He has the charm of an insane, slightly unstable Lawrence Olivier.”
I remember the first time I saw the Cage on screen. He was playing H.I. McDunnough in the Cohen Brother’s Raising Arizona. I think I fell in love after seeing those trade-mark bugged out crazy eyes, as Cage’s character sprinted away from the shot-gun wielding convenience man with a bag full of Pampers. Here was a perfect embodiment of the zaniness of the movie, the zaniness in general of life. Although I’ve never kidnapped a baby because of infertility, I could truly empathize with Cage’s character in that moment. Seeing that panicked expression, I could immediately empathize with his character. Ever since then, I have derived enormous pleasure from seeing Nicolas Cage’s freak-outs on screen. His panicked mode is not just bad acting, or a tired schlub doing the same shtick over and over again. It’s deep. Cage’s ultimate trick is a symbolic representation of man’s struggle in this insane world. His screaming and twitches are those of a society on the edge, forever held back by convention
and morality. Watching Cage on screen allows all those frustrations to leak out of me, as if he is taking all those burdens off of my own shoulder. That not only makes him a great leader, but a type of therapy for a nation on the edge. I understand. Nicolas Cage can be a tough person to get along with, but he’s not so bad once you really get to know him. He’s a weird little man that makes strange movies where he sometimes lives out his own narcissistic fantasies (did the first Ghost Rider really need him making out with Eva Mendez that many times?). In reality, he’s just a harmless nerdy guy who, amazingly, has been able to absorb and regurgitate numerous neurotic personas over the years. I believe that, in the end, no person can help but like him. As Mr. Cage would say: “I am not a demon. I am a lizard, a shark, a heat-seeking panther. I want to be Bob Denver on acid playing the accordion.” Enough said.
RELIGION
Quran Burnings Reminiscent of Wild West Mark Salamone weighs in on the Quran burnings by U.S. soldiers inciting violence in Afghanistan
Mark Salamone g Staff Writer
Word on the street says it’s time to round up the posse. The local bandits are at their mischief again, and it’s up to the law-abiding citizens to defend themselves. The point of that announcement wasn’t just to evoke all of our memories of old west shoot-outs, cattlewrangling, and yes, posse law. The point was to draw attention to what is currently breathing fire into the hearts of the Afghan populace: the burning of a Quran, yet again. We all remember pastor Terry Jones’ Quran burning in 2010. 30 people were killed in the Mideast’s reaction to the burning. An observer might be fooled into thinking that region would be less shocked the second time around; hindsight now teaches us that no such thing will happen.
The facts of the matter are thus: soldiers from the United States were discovered burning a copy of the Quran at the Bagram Air Base, near Kabul, Afghanistan. Fueled by the encouragement of the national council of Islamic clerics, the anger of the locals has spread, and at this point, approximately 41 people have been killed in reaction to the burning. The apologies by top US generals and later President Obama himself were futile in dissuading the masses. One can only puzzle at the actions of the enraged rabble. Their anger over the destruction of a few pounds of paper and binding glue is palpable, yet to the eyes of a western observer, the sentiment is merely inexplicable religious mania, redolent of the self flagellation and massive protests
unique to the Mideast. My personal explanation for all the fuss is that the Quran in question was part of a collector’s edition set, complete with bobble heads of Mohammed and Abraham themselves. Now that the harmony of the set is broken, thousands of adult-bodied children throw a preadolescent tantrum, seeking the pacifier of infidel blood. Those of a more discerning eye and placatory mind point out the holiness supposedly contained within the earthly pages of the Quran. In the eyes of Muslims, the Quran is the explanation of God’s will, dictated by Mighty Mo himself. Still others might argue that the killings are a natural result of the unreasoning deification of the Quran. In no other religion can be found such fa-
natical dedication a few pounds of cellulose and black dye. This religious fanaticism was present in the crowds that cheered on Torquemada and the Inquisition; in Aztec priests, as they ripped the beating hearts out of their sacrificial victims; and in the German citizens who betrayed their Jewish neighbors in service to the Reich. Functionally, this whole affair will amount to one more reason for the people of the Middle East to hate the US. Combined with mounting civilian casualties, and inaccurate drone raids, this will only make the American objectives harder to achieve. The mob has enforced ‘justice,’ and the Wild West will soon return to normalcy. Until then, the death will only continue.
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Features WEST SIDE STORIES March, 2012
Random Chatter
Everything you wanted to know about Wauwatosa West biology teacher Dwight Osmon and more ANDREW ALBEE g Guest Writer
CAYLIN ROSENE g Photography Editor
1. How much could a woodchuck chuck?
Never counted.
I’m going to answer your question with a question. If a woodchuck could chuck eight pounds of wood in an hour, how many minutes would it take to chuck eighty-four trees if each tree weighs three hundred and fifty pounds? (Editor’s Note: 220,500 minutes) 2. If you were a Star Wars character, who would you be? Obi-wan, because he has the ability to fight or think his way out of any trouble. 3. What is your favorite Sci-Fi novel or series? Star Wars and the foundation trilogy. 4. How many strokes does it take to brush your teeth?
5. Do you put your left sock on or your right sock in first? If I actually think about it, my left sock is what I do first.
to outer space and outer space is cool. 9. How do you feel about bears? I hope we beat them every time we play them.
6. What did you want to be when you were a kid?
10. If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
A pirate a because I thought it would be cool.
I can, I just haven’t. I trust my mother.
7. If you were a singer, what would you sing?
11. Did Han shoot first?
I actually play in a Christian rock band at my church, but I’m not allowed to sing at all. I’m a guitarist. 8. How would you rather die: stampeded by a moose singing show tunes or via black hole spelunking? Black hole, because that would imply I’ve been
He shoots first in the original movie, so it depends which version you watch. Nerds unite! 12. Who shot JR? (JR is an oil tycoon from the TV drama Dallas. In the show, JR’s killer is unknown.) Not sure, but I do know my mom had a mug saying “I love to hate JR.”
LOCAL
Cleopatra Exhibit Graces Milwaukee
Artifacts from this Pharaoh’s time in power displayed in traveling exhibit at Milwaukee Public Museum Brianna Blinkiewicz g Staff Writer
Izzy Fangman g Staff Illustrator
Imagine delving into a world of ancient mystery, power, and romance. Experiencing the mystifying past of Egypt’s
greatest and last in the line of pharaohs. You will experience all of this and more if you visit the Milwaukee Public Museum’s Cleopatra Exhibit. Although the admission price of $23.50 Mon-Thurs. or $25.50 Fri-Sun (with the student discount) may seem a little on the pricey side, the exhibit awaiting you makes it worth every cent. You start with a brief film that gives you a little background on the life that Cleopatra lived. As soon as the movie concludes,
is
screen lifted and
you are allowed to enter the world of Cleopatra. Immediately, you are surrounded by real ancient Egyptian artifacts and presented with items that Cleopatra herself may have touched. From a lamp that may have possibly anointed this great pharaoh’s head to a mound of gold coins with Cleopatra’s supposed profile on their face (the only real glimpse we have of what she might have looked like) this exhibit was not in any way lacking. The real highlight was seeing the 16-foot tall coronation statues of a king and queen between which many individuals assumed the position of pharaoh. These statues have actually been dragged up from the Bay of Aboukir, which now covers Cleopatra’s beloved city of Alexandria. It is rumored that as a young girl, Cleopatra walked between these two statues when she took the throne for the first time. Through this exhibit, we are privileged enough to get a glance at the secretive life of Egypt’s greatest queen. It is also one of Milwaukee’s must-see attractions right now. Closing on April 29th, it is important to see this incredible exhibit as soon as possible to learn about the mysteries of Egypt and one of the most famous and powerful women who ever lived.
Did You Know...? • Her full name is actually Cleopatra Thea Pilopator VII. • She was the last Pharaoh of Egypt. After her death, Egypt fell to the Romans. • She actually wasn’t Egyptian. • She was of Macedonian Greek origin and a descedent of Alexander the Great. • She fluently spoke nine different languages. • She married her 12 year old brother when she was 18 in order to take the throne. • In order to seduce Julius Caesar, she had herself rolled up in a carpet and delivered to his chambers by soldiers. • The only surviving images we have of Cleopatra are on the money the people used at that time. All the other images of her were destroyed when Rome took control. • She committed suicide by having an asp (an extremely poisonous snake) bite her. Some say that she did it due to her grief over the recent suicide of her love Marc Antony. Others say that she killed herself in order to escape the humiliation of being paraded around the streets of Rome by Octavian.
FEATURES 5 WEST SIDE STORIES March, 2012
Caylin Rosene g Photography Editor Jennifer Flynng Copy Editor
Look The Milwaukee Art Museum
Hear Explore Wear The Exclusive Company
Hours: Tuesday-Sunday: 10am-5pm Thursday-10am-8pm Address: 700 N. Art Museum Drive.
Hours: Monday-Saturday: 10am-9pm Sunday: 11am-7pm Address: 1669 N. Farwell Ave.
The Milwaukee Art Museum is home to many different pieces of art. It showcases both well-known and lesserknown artists. The museum is full of different exhibits, treating visitors to a variety of medias as well as styles of art. There are spaces open to travelling exhibits as well. Visitors to the art museum will get the chance to experience art in a new way by getting up close and being able to notice little details that may not have been noticeable in books or on the internet. I recommend going to the Milwaukee Art Museum to anyone— from art lovers to people searching for inspiration, or even to anyone wondering what is inside this well-known and interestingly shaped Milwaukee landmark. It is open to all, and with decent prices (including a student price, so bring your school ID!), it will create something fun and different to do on any afternoon.
The Exclusive Company, which boasts the title of Wisconsin’s Largest Independent Record store, is about a mile and a half from Beans & Barley. We spent at least an hour wandering around and looking through the incredibly extensive collection of CDs and records, of which there was a much larger selection than can be found at Target or Barnes & Noble or even other, closer record stores. The best part was that there were nearly as many used as new albums, all for around half or less of their regular new selling prices. And if you’re not in the market to buy music, they have a few other products as well, including music equipment. There is also an online store if you don’t want to go to the East Side. The Exclusive Company has seven other locations in Wisconsin, including one in Greenfield, which is located on 5026 S. 74th St.
Milwaukee Public Market Hours: Monday-Friday: 10am-6pm Saturday 8am-7pm Address: 400 N. Water Street Located in the Third Ward, Milwaukee Public Market is home to a multitude of indoor vendors. The majority of these sell food and beverages, although there is also a Locker’s Floral vendor and Brew City Apparel. Available food ranged from bakery items to ethnic cuisine to a cheese shop. While I got a smoothie from Cedarburg Coffee Roastery and a cookie from C. Adam’s Bakery and my friend Leah got soup from the Soup & Stock Market, some of the more unique of the nearly twenty food vendors included Sushi-A-Go-Go, Aladdin Tastes of the East, and The Green Kitchen. While seating at each of the individual vendors is limited to counters, there are additional tables upstairs. If you’re looking for something to do, Milwaukee Public Market is a fun place to look around while we decided where to eat (and the food, we agreed, was delicious).
Urban Outfitters
Eat Beans & Barley
Hours: 1937 E. Kenilworth Place Address: Monday-Saturday: 10am-9pm Sunday: 11am-7pm
Hours: Monday-Sunday 8am-9pm Address: 1901 East North Ave.
As the weather is finally changing and getting nicer, it’s time to put away the winter jacket and get some new clothes for the warmer temperatures. If you’ve never been to Urban Outfitters before, you’ll have to try something new for your spring shopping trip. While Urban Outfitters isn’t unique to Milwaukee, the store located on the East Side is one of only two in Wisconsin (the other is in Madison). The store, known for its trendy—and notoriously hipster—style, has an equally interesting selection of other non-apparel merchandise, including music, cameras and photography equipment, books, gifts, and home décor. The amount of floor space dedicated to clothes is relatively small in proportion to the size of the store, but there’s easily enough else to explore to make up for it.
Beans & Barley is a “specialty” grocery store on the East Side known for its vegan, vegetarian, and otherwise health-conscious options. Being hungry—and not in the market for anything too healthy—my friends Caylin, Jordan, and I instead opted for chicken burritos and a chicken quesadilla from their take-out deli, which also included a bakery. While we were waiting for our food, we had the chance to look around the rest of the store. In addition to regular grocery items, there were gifts and even a small books section, and the other half of Beans & Barley is a sitdown restaurant. The main draw for us—and anyone not needing to go grocery shopping—was the restaurant and deli. While it may be unlikely you’ll go across town just to go here, if you’re ever in the area, Beans & Barley is definitely worth checking out.
APPSE g Countiued from
p.1
-ing into microphones and stuff [. . . .] It was pretty cool.” Mateske will allow his students some time to make up for the four missed school days once the class returns from Nationals. He reasoned, “Some of these kids are taking AP classes, so their AP tests are coming up [. . .], so I’m going to give them about a week or so ‘recovery time,’ academically and whatnot. [After that,] for a couple weeks, we will go through all the material we used, all year long, and file away the good stuff that was helpful and useful. They will create little cheat sheets of things that they used by topic [. . .], and they will put [them] away for kids in the future to be able to use.” Of course, the students are required to do more work than other APP students. “The kids have to do summer work because we have to know all the ins and outs of our government [. . .] around the first week of January, so they have to learn the entire textbook over the summer, and then they [. . .] learn from the entire We the People book for the first ten weeks of the school year,” said Mateske. From there, they split into six units, one for every
section of the textbook. Each group has one leader and three or four other members. While the class does compete in these individual groups at competitions, the total score from each is added to be the team’s official score. Mateske believes that “[APPSE]’s a good class to take because it [. . .] asks kids, in some cases, to learn lots of material, and not just be able to regurgitate it, but to internalize it and understand how to use that information. For example, in the competition, the judges will listen to a prewritten, fourminute statement by the group on a given topic, and then the kids have to be prepared to respond to six minutes’ worth of follow-up questions [. . .], showing arguments on one side of the issue the judge asked about, arguments on the other sides, [supporting] it with court cases, amendments, historical examples, current events in the news . . . and so they really need to know their material and how to use it, and how to argue it, and [how to] stand behind it.” Indeed, many seem to agree about the class’s beneficence. The class is so popular that it is sometimes necessary to examine the enrolled students’
past grades, attendance, and discipline track records, and for students to write one-page reflections about why they wish to be in the class, what they could offer to the class, and what they would learn from the class. The top thirty in this process are accepted. The 2012-2013 school year will be such a year, as so many students have signed up. Students seem to enjoy the class so much that some APPSE students sign up to be teaching assistants the following year. One such student, Maggie Overholt, explained, “Whenever we have a question we can go ask [the teaching assistants] and they’ll have multiple answers for us, and I just think it would be really great to experience the class again, but from a different prospective next year.” Kautzer feels the class is very beneficial. “It’s [my] favorite class I’ve taken since I’ve been in high school. I definitely would recommend this class. It makes you work pretty hard, and it’s a pretty big time commitment, but I would say it definitely pays off.”
Jen
if you
REALLY knew me
MARK SALAMONE g Staff Writer
O
ne note card reads, “I cry myself to sleep every night.” Another says, “I’m constantly searching for approval,” and still another person wrote, “I used to drink my problems away.” These were all written by students, using notecards, and then tacked to the “If You Really Knew Me” board. The board was created by the Wauwatosa West Spirit Advisory Committee. The board was put up on Monday, February 20th, and was up for a little over a week. In the words of Will Harrington, one of the committee’s members, the board is intended to “help West’s students to be aware of the issues faced by other students.” While conventional projects that are designed to enhance unity within the student body are capable of achieving a similar effect to that of the board, the committee hoped the board would provide a unique opportunity for students to anonymously express their feelings. What they perhaps couldn’t say out loud they could write on the board. Junior Cheechia Vang, another member of the Spirit Advisory Committee, summed it up: “The board allows students to talk about themselves, especially what they normally can’t talk about.” For the period of several days during which the board was up, hundreds of students participated in the project. They submitted cards containing what sometimes amounted to highly personal messages. The messages that mentioned low self esteem, depression, and similar problems, like the cards mentioned above, garnered an exceptional amount of attention. Most students were at least somewhat surprised by the emotion and content of the cards. “I come to school every day, and I see happy people with smiling faces,” explained junior Jennifer Lor, “but I never knew kids were going through this.” This sentiment was echoed by Justine Langlas, a sophomore. “I knew that people had their monsters,” she said, “but it’s something new to see them all displayed so clearly.” As Vang put it, the content of many of the cards was surprising, “But I was happy to see so many people expressing what they normally won’t.” He also said that the board enabled students to get “insight into each other’s lives.” The cards also held a personal connection for some students. Tim Mueller, a sophomore, said, “When you see people going through this, you want to help them.” Others felt that the
“I come to school every day and I see happy people with smiling faces... I never knew kids were going through this”
WHAT MAKES UP an average student? To give students a voice, the Spirit Advisory Committee erected the “If You Really Knew Me” wall. Writer Mark Salamone investigates how the wall has affected and reflected West’s student body.
CAYLIN ROSENE g Photography Editor
cards were healing all on their own. “The cards help people who feel alone,” said sophomore Michaela Francour, “when they can see that others feel like they do.” On the other hand, many students felt that there were mistakes made in the implementation of the board. Among the most common of the complaints made was the way the notecards were censored before they got on the board. Students were especially frustrated by the presence of cards like the one saying “I like Pita Chips.” “The people in control of it weren’t doing a good enough job, clearly,” said sophomore Brittany Hunt, “if they let those ridiculous cards get on the wall.” Alex Halloran, a freshman, agreed, saying that “it was annoying when people didn’t really take it seriously.” Others disagreed with the fundamental idea of the board. Carly Gomez, a sophomore, said that “I think it was kind of ridiculous, because some of these people need help, not attention.” Freshman Jackson Campbell was of a like mind. “I can understand what it was supposed to be,” he said, but “it just seems like advertisement, not truth.” The board was taken down after school on Wednesday, February 29th. According to the Sue Walczak, the district social worker, “It would have been distracting to the purpose of conference night.” Additional reasons for the removal included the desire to prevent students from being “identified by their parents or guardians,” and to “avoid family confrontations,” said Walczak. Principal Frank Calarco said that after being up for seven school days, “the wall had served its purpose.” However, some students were upset that the board was removed. Freshman Taylor Lalk said, “A lot of people were angry that the board was taken down before conferences like they didn’t want parents to see it.” In the words of Mueller, “the board should have been kept up all semester.” Asked what the committee should have done, Mueller said, “They should put it back up, so that everyone can take part.” With the wall down, students are wondering what’s next for the Student Advisory Committee’s efforts to spread awareness in the school. According to Walczak, the committee is anything but done. “The committee is just getting on its feet,” she says, “I am sure we’ll do more thought provoking activities in the future.”
“I was happy to see so many people expressing what they normally won’t... [it allows] insight into each others lives”
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Features WEST SIDE STORIES
March, 2012
College Talk
Everything the soon-to-be senior needs to know
g Mitch Bultman
Danielle Jelinek g
How do majors effect the college search? What if I’m undecided? Do college visits really matter? Watch these seniors as they describe their experiences with college applications and give their advice to all those soon-to-be seniors who will be going through this process in the near future. They talk about it all--from choosing a college to applying for scholarships. Learn from their successes and, most of all, their mistakes. Juniors, heed their warnings as you begin your college quest. Freshmen and sophomores, do not think that you can ignore their words. This will be you faster than you think. Find out what they said.
Eden Bekele g
Mitch Stingl g
g Jordin Schnell
Monica Wojnowiak g
News 9
WEST SIDE STORIES March, 2012
Second Annual Multicultural Fair g Continued from p. 1
work with younger students at Eisenhower Elementary school, where the children play a game called Box of Crayons. “[Box of Crayons] lets kids think about how they are different... Our students do that; it is a way for our students to get outreach with elementary kids,” said Patrias. The second part of the Multicultural fair is homeroom activities. Soon, there will be an hour and a half homeroom that will include eating lunch together, a guest speaker, and several activities, including “Cross the Line,” which, according to Patrias, is “a very powerful game.” The main event of the Multicultural fair is the actual fair itself, which will take place on Thursday, March 29th from 6:00-8:30 pm. All evening there will be live entertainment. “In addition to [outside dance groups] we are trying to recruit as many of our students as we can,” said Patrias. Last year, a student preformed the salsa, and another group sang R&B. There will also be food sold, which is the only thing that costs money at the fair. Upon arriving at the Multicultural fair, the one gets a “passport” that they can take from booth to booth to get stamped. “The little kids loved the passports, but so did the adults,” said Patrias; “There were grown men walking around having them stamp their passport.”
There will also be an arts and gami, use chopsticks, and write their that there will be more booths and crafts table in the cafeteria that has names in Korean calligraphy. Chil- students involved this year. It is very included things such as henna tat- dren can also get their pictures taken important to the success of toos, Mardi Gras masks, and book- in front of a green screen. Their image the Multicultural fair marks with Latin American designs is then put on a background of, say, that students are on them. Also in the cafeteria will be France and printed as a involved. cooking demonstrations. “Last year, postcard. Patrias is althey did guacamole; someone did “All of this could ready working spring rolls... This year... we are going be subject to minor with students to to have crepes, the spring rolls again,” change,” said Patrias, make 2012’s said Patrias. So far, nothing is set in “but the majority will fair a sucstone, so there is still time for a stustay the same.” cess. dent to volunteer to make something She hopes to sell or to demonstrate how to make the food. There are also culture booths, where a person can go to have their passport stamped or just to learn about the culture. This year, Patrias said, “We are really hoping the booths will be expanded...an Irish table... we’re hoping there’s going to be a Polish table, and more Asian and an African.” Any students interested in working at a booth should talk to Patrias. In addition to the fascinating culture booths, tasty food, and fun crafts, there will be demonstrations. Last year, students learned h o w to fold o r i - PERFORMERS in the Wauwatosa West auditorium at the 2011 Multiculural Fair. This year’s event will also include many presentations.
Get Personal!
We invite you to see how you fit in at Mount Mary College. Schedule your customized individual campus visit today or attend one of our upcoming group visit events. Whether it’s a visit during the day, in the evening or on a Saturday, there’s a visit option to meet your needs. Schedule your campus visit online at www.mtmary.edu/campusvisit.htm or by calling 800-321-6265.
Sports 11 WEST SIDE STORIES March, 2012
INJURIES
The Road to Recovery
Injuries can immediately take an athlete out of a game, but recovery is a much longer process Ellyn Kirtley g Editor-in-Chief
Torn ACL. Double-sprained ankle. Broken fingers. Prosthetic knuckle. Concussions. Torn meniscus. This may sound like the aftermath of a bloody battle, but in reality, it is simply an inventory of the sports-related injuries obtained by two Wauwatosa West students: junior Andre Santiago and senior Jenna Lahmann. Most students’ high school careers include a sport, and because many of them participate very competitively, it’s no wonder that student athletes have high chances of injury. Tom Engel, Director of Musculoskeletal Programs and Rehabilitation Services at Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin, estimated, “We probably have about 20-25% of our volume from student athletes. The rest will be college and recreational athletes and even younger than high school athletes.” Of these high school athletes, most suffer from ankle injuries—sprained ankles, with and without surgery—are quite common. “You also get a lot of knee injuries,” said Engel: “tears in tendons like the ACL [as well as] strain… it can be minor things to major things.” Jenna Lahmann was sidelined by both a double-sprained ankle her sophomore year and a torn ACL as a junior. Lahmann, who plays basketball, soccer, and volleyball (and who also played softball for seven years as well) was especially susceptible to injury due to her high level of involvement. As a result of her injuries, she spent two months in therapy at Froedtert. “It was a lot of strengthening of the leg and working on balance,” remembers Lahmann. This is consistent with a typical stint in therapy for an ankle injury, which Engel says can take “anywhere from a couple visits to a few weeks of visits depending on the type of ankle sprain.” ACL injuries, however, take much longer to heal. “If you have an ACL injury, you are looking at— from time of surgery to getting back to sports without any restrictions— somewhere from 7-9 months. You may physically be a little bit ready before that but learning to run and jump and play the sports without favoring the leg takes additional time,” related Engel. Typically, it takes around four months for an athlete’s leg to recover from ACL reconstructive surgery, and additional recovery time is used to relearn how to play the sport without jeopardizing the leg again. They are also more expensive. “When you’re looking at an ACL surgery, you’re looking at a $15,000-30,000 cost for the surgery, therapy, and radiology, depending on the severity of the tear and whether [the athlete] is an inpatient or an outpatient,” Engel remarked. Lahmann, it seems, was one of the lucky ones: most of her medical costs were covered by insurance and she was cleared to play club soccer after only 7 months of therapy. But even then, it was not a fun experience. “it was so hard sitting on the bench...but can’t” she recalls. Santiago, who plays football and rugby, suffered from a torn meniscus that meant he missed an entire football season and had to do three to four months of therapy. When he was thirteen, he also injured his pinkie. As a result, he had two separate surgeries and a prosthetic knuckle put in place. “I think it cost about $20,000 for the surgeries and knuckle,” recalled Santiago, who doesn’t let the potential for injury keep him from playing football and rugby. “I try not to let it affect me because I love sports so much and I want to stay active,” he said. One of the best ways to avoid such injuries is to focus on proper form and technique. It’s important to work on “not only strengthening and conditioning but teaching your body... to perform the mechanics correctly, so you don’t have your knees angled in or land with your legs straight,” said Engel. This is even more imperative for female athletes, who Engel says are more prone to injury in the first place. “Typically girls are weaker in their lower extremities and [in terms of] the ratios of the quad and hamstring for their size,” said Engel. Exercises to increase strength and improve technique can drastically reduce the risk one runs of injuries due to poor mechanics, but, as Engel notes, “It doesn’t prevent injury if someone hits you in the knee.”
WEST SENIO JENNA LAHMANN has suffered a torn ACL and a double-strained ankle while playing three sports. WEST JUNIOR ANDRE SANTIAGO suffered an injury to his pinky resulting in two surgeries and a prosthetic knuckle.
Sullivan Voyd g Guest Illustrator Tyus Stoltenburg g Photgrapher
12 Sports WEST SIDE STORIES March, 2012
Boys Tennis
Coach Zervas talks about upcoming varsity season
Tom Fossell g Guest Writer
What to watch for:
I’m excited for this upcoming season. We have a good number of returning players from last season with a lot of varsity experience. I think we’re going to be especially strong with our doubles play and I’m anxious to see what our singles players can do. I know many of the players played a lot during the off-season, which will help them begin the season ready to play at a high level.
THINGS 12
You Should Know About Girls Soccer
Getting the win: We have to have consistent play from our whole lineup. Last season, only certain spots stepped up and got us victories. This season, I’m expecting solid and consistent play from everyone. If we can do that, we should have a successful season. Sabelle Seabrook, Jessica Pike, Ellen Sauter, Jenna Engel and Maggie Boyle
Coaching Improvements:
As a coach, you always work on how you can become a better communicator and how to get your players to buy into your system. For this season, I want to make some adjustments to make our practices more challenging and enjoyable. We’re going to have a lot of competition, so implementing new drills to improve our match play will be an important aspect in our practices.
Season Predictions:
Biggest Worry:
I have no fear with our team or the season. I am confident in our abilities and it will show when we walk on the tennis courts. I always tell my players that our play and behavior represent Wauwatosa West. We will always show good play and good sportsmanship.
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Pump-up Prep:
If you cannot be pumped up to play a match, then you shouldn’t be playing tennis. I leave any rituals to the players. They may have some things that help them get ready for a match…I shouldn’t have to help them get ready to play a match.
Biggest Threat:
Year in and year out, Greendale is usually hard to beat each season and I don’t see it being any different this year. I think we can play with anyone in our conference.
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Wajahat Ali g West Side Stories
They coordinate their jersey on game day so they all match during the school day.
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Each year they host a family night where they hang out with younger kids and play soccer with them. Freshmen on varsity have to pick up all the soccer balls after practice, and fill up the older players’ water bottles.
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Every year they go up to Madison and compete with some of the best teams in the state. They watch inspirational videos before most games. The varsity team is looking to defend their Woodland conference championship this year.
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Coach Baily, the head coach, gives amazing speeches before games.
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They have team dinners at someone’s house before every game.
They are really close and like hanging out with each other outside of soccer.
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As a coach, I don’t like to make predictions, nor is it appropriate to make predictions. I’m confident that our team will have a very successful season and we’ll definitely improve on last season’s record. It will be a fun season!
Every player on the team said they feel that they are one giant family.
At practice, they sometimes do a juggling exercise holding hands and moving across the field in a cirlce.
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There will be no freshman team this year. Instead, there will be two JV teams.
Adam Polivka g Guest Writer
Back
to the
Track Conversations with coaches Tom Fossell g Guest Writer
Scott Jordan: Boys Varsity
Jack LoPresti: Girls Varsity
Off-Season: Our staff attended the annual Wisconsin Track
Off-Season: In many events we will have some real super
Coaches Association clinic and are coming into the season fired up...We have had a good amount of our athletes training in the off-season so we should have a good start.
Watch For: We are very excited to get Patrick Campbell,
Taylor Floyd-Mews, Reggie Cole, Kenny Spenc, and Collin Joseph back on the track. These guys could have huge seasons.
Predictions: We will be as competitive as we were last
year. But we do have some big shoes to fill. New Berlin West, Pewaukee, and South Milwaukee will give us good competition.
Newcomers: This should be an interesting year for us. We may end up calling on underclassmen to fill big roles.
athletes and they have put in some serious training this winter...so I’m excited.
Watch For: Beth Garncarcz and Zaina Lalk (throws), Shan-
non Wilson (jumps), Rachel Longo and Jenna Hui (pole vault), Brigid Jensen and Casey Grabow (distance), Laurel Stutz, Nyreesha Ditschiet, and Elise Ditschiet (sprints), Colleen Seefeldt (hurdles)
Predictions: Newcomers:
We have an excellent team this Spring.
We should do real well with experience and new arrivals... A host of newcomers will make our throws group a very competitive bunch.