Since sixth grade, you’ve heard countless rumors and stereotypes about how each year of high school is sup- posed to be. Freshman year is when you get picked on, soph- omore year is when every- thing you do starts to count, junior year is the hardest year of your life, and senior year is the time to relax and rule the school. However, this is definitely not always the case. If you enter the senior lounge during a free block, there are two drastically dif- ferent scenes you could walk into. Sometimes, you may walk in as music is blasting from someone’s computer and people are loudly joking and laughing. However, a more frequent occurrence is a com- pletely silent lounge where a few students busily work on homework, college applica- tions, or SAT studying. The at- mosphere is tense as seniors try to make a dent in their massive buildup of work, and even the slightest noise is considered a disturbance. Free periods, rather than times to relax in the middle of a busy day, have become necessary crutches to deal with the workload. The fact of the matter is, at this busy time of the year, no senior can be completely stress-free. tember, October, and Novem- ber become times to cram in review of subjects that most se- niors took last year or long be- fore, on top of regular classes. Furthermore, classes in se- nior year are nothing like those of years past. Most seniors have full schedules composed of IB, AP, and honors classes in extremely difficult subjects. Classes move much faster, homework can take anywhere from 1 to 5 hours a night, al- most every class regularly as- signs long essays, science lab reports are much longer and must follow a meticulous for- mat, and tests and quizzes have become much more frequent. Finally, the year ends with countless AP, IB, and senior exams. To a well-organized person, the workload may seem easy enough, but unfor- tunately, senior year involves much more than just this. Extracurricular activities are a huge part of college ap- plications and most ASP stu- dents’ lives. Though most students participate only in activities they truly enjoy, the extra work is also extremely time-consuming. One senior, Guillaume Julian, says his “involvement in demanding extra-curriculars adds a lot of Why Seniors Deserve Treats Abby BELANI Obama pgs. 10-11 Inside This Issue For most of us, January seems very far away. Howev- er, with application deadlines looming before us, this time is ominously close for most seniors. College applications are extremely extensive and require considerable planning before the work can actually begin. Whether or not the com- mon application is used, there are countless essays to write, and tedious forms to fill in. As if planning and writing these sections isn’t enough, seniors also have to find a teacher who will write a good recom- mendation, make sure all their transcripts are sent, and dazzle Mme. Vincens during college meetings. In fact, the seniors aren’t the only ones under pressure at this time of year; teachers, counselors, and the entire guidance office are bus- ily writing recommendations, conducting meetings, and fill- ing forms for every single one of us, which, when you consid- er the size of our senior class, is no easy feat. Sadly enough, that’s not even the end. That’s just the application process. The other, most daunting thing that seniors face is the SAT. Granted, this intimidat- ing milestone is usually one of the things that makes junior year terrible, but most seniors retake it early in the year to try and improve their scores or to take subject tests. Thus, Sep- Music pg. 6 Smoking pg. 9 November 2010 Vol. 3 Issue 2 Sports pgs. 2-5 Continued on Page 6
Transcript
Since sixth grade, you’ve heard countless rumors and stereotypes about how each year of high school is sup-posed to be. Freshman year is when you get picked on, soph-omore year is when every-thing you do starts to count, junior year is the hardest year of your life, and senior year is the time to relax and rule the school. However, this is definitely not always the case.
If you enter the senior lounge during a free block, there are two drastically dif-ferent scenes you could walk into. Sometimes, you may walk in as music is blasting from someone’s computer and people are loudly joking and laughing. However, a more frequent occurrence is a com-pletely silent lounge where a few students busily work on homework, college applica-tions, or SAT studying. The at-mosphere is tense as seniors try to make a dent in their massive buildup of work, and even the slightest noise is considered a disturbance. Free periods, rather than times to relax in the middle of a busy day, have become necessary crutches to deal with the workload. The fact of the matter is, at this busy time of the year, no senior can be completely stress-free.
tember, October, and Novem-ber become times to cram in review of subjects that most se-niors took last year or long be-fore, on top of regular classes.
Furthermore, classes in se-nior year are nothing like those of years past. Most seniors have full schedules composed of IB, AP, and honors classes in extremely difficult subjects. Classes move much faster, homework can take anywhere from 1 to 5 hours a night, al-most every class regularly as-signs long essays, science lab reports are much longer and must follow a meticulous for-mat, and tests and quizzes have become much more frequent. Finally, the year ends with countless AP, IB, and senior exams. To a well-organized person, the workload may seem easy enough, but unfor-tunately, senior year involves much more than just this.
Extracurricular activities are a huge part of college ap-plications and most ASP stu-dents’ lives. Though most students participate only in activities they truly enjoy, the extra work is also extremely time-consuming. One senior, Guillaume Julian, says his “involvement in demanding extra-curriculars adds a lot of
Why Seniors Deserve TreatsAbby BELANI
Obamapgs. 10-11
Inside This Issue
For most of us, January seems very far away. Howev-er, with application deadlines looming before us, this time is ominously close for most seniors. College applications are extremely extensive and require considerable planning before the work can actually begin. Whether or not the com-mon application is used, there are countless essays to write, and tedious forms to fill in. As if planning and writing these sections isn’t enough, seniors also have to find a teacher who will write a good recom-mendation, make sure all their transcripts are sent, and dazzle Mme. Vincens during college meetings. In fact, the seniors
aren’t the only ones under pressure at this time of year; teachers, counselors, and the entire guidance office are bus-ily writing recommendations, conducting meetings, and fill-ing forms for every single one of us, which, when you consid-er the size of our senior class, is no easy feat. Sadly enough, that’s not even the end. That’s just the application process.
The other, most daunting thing that seniors face is the SAT. Granted, this intimidat-ing milestone is usually one of the things that makes junior year terrible, but most seniors retake it early in the year to try and improve their scores or to take subject tests. Thus, Sep-
Musicpg. 6
Smokingpg. 9
November 2010Vol. 3 Issue 2
Sportspgs. 2-5
Continued on Page 6
2
This year, the World Cup graced the African continent for the first time in its illus-trious history; it was a huge success for the organizers and South Africa in general. The whole world crowded around their television sets to wit-ness unforgettable moments of football. Spain unsurprisingly walked away as champions, Brazil was disappointed, Eng-land fell to the usual World Cup curse bestowed upon them, France left in shame, and the African teams with the ex-ception of Ghana failed to live up to expectations. It’s time to reminisce and give credit where due.
Best Manager: Joachim Low (Germany)
Joachim Low inspired a young and inexperienced Ger-man team, propelling them to the semi-final against all odds. He was able to contradict all the pundits who had written off Germany at the beginning of the tournament due to a lack of experience. This team was definitely one of the surprise packages of the World Cup, with sublime performances against Australia, England, and Argentina, scoring four goals in each, leaving Maradonna and the world stunned. Low, in his blue v-neck shirt and black blazer, orchestrated a tactical masterpiece using Germany’s pace and strength on the coun-ter attack to dismantle oppos-ing teams and secure vital vic-tories.
Worst Manager: Raymond Domenech (France)
This was, quite frankly, an embarrassment to France. The whole French team went way beyond the realms of accept-able behavior; Domenech had absolutely no ability to control his players and never really tried to. With a look of disinter-est throughout the whole affair, he sent out teams with nega-
tive formations and no coher-ence. While players were being played out of position and not performing anywhere close to acceptably, the French man-ager was happy to stand at the bench and do nearly nothing about it with zero emotion and zero interest. France had one of the simplest groups but still managed to finish rock bottom and lose to South Africa and Mexico convincingly. In one word, the French and Dome-nech were a “shambles.”
Most Controversial Save: Luis Suarez (Uruguay)
Saves rarely tend to be con-troversial, but when an outfield player is the culprit and a spot in the semi-final of the World Cup is up for grabs, contro-versial may be an understate-ment. Luis Suraez, playing as a striker, pulled an impressive goal line save with his hand in the closing stages of his sides quarter final match against Ghana. This of course is against the rules of football as only the goalkeeper of each team is al-lowed to use his hands and Su-
arez was red carded for the of-fense. Asamoah Gyan Ghana’s World Cup hero had the chance to score from the penalty spot and send Ghana through. Sadly for Africa he missed and Uru-guay went on to the semis. Su-arez’s handball was the most famous handball since Diego Maradonna’s famous “hand of God” against England in 1986. Suarez went on to say in his post match press conference that “The hand of God now be-longs to me!”
Most Memorable Post Match Press Conference: Iker Casillas (Spain)
After winning the World Cup for the first time, it is un-derstandable to be emotional; emotional is exactly what Spain goalkeeper and captain Iker Casillas was when being interviewed by Spanish televi-sion soon after his side’s victo-ry over Holland. The journalist interviewing Casillas happened to be his girlfriend, and there-fore halfway through the inter-view, he promptly interrupted his own answer and proceeded
to kiss her on national televi-sion. It’s funny what winning the World Cup can make you do.
The World Cup saw its fair share of refereeing howlers. Assistant referee Mauricio Es-pinosa from Uruguay collects this accolade for his remark-able miss when judging a shot by Frank Lampard of England against Germany in a tense af-fair. The above picture says ev-erything!
Goal of the Tournament: Fabio Quagliarella (Italy)
Sadly for Italy this was the only high point of their tourna-ment, as the former champions bowed out in the group stages. Quagliarella’s sublime 25 yard chip against Slovakia in a game that the Italians needed to win in order to qualify was a touch of class that the Italians did not show much of for the rest of the Cup. The control and abil-ity needed to be able to pull off such a move is what makes it
World Cup AwardsTaymour ROUSHDI
Sports
3the goal of tournament.
Most Disappointing Team: Serbia
Most tipped the Serbians to be the surprise package of this world cup, but it was not to be as they crashed out early. A gutsy 1-0 win against Germa-ny was all the Serbians had in their locker. They managed to beat the toughest team in their way but not the other two. As a result their coach Radomir An-tic was sacked.
Surprise Team: ChileNot many expected much
from Chile at this world cup. The team thrived as the under-dogs and was able to snag a place in the last 16 for the first time since 1962. An impres-sive performance against Spain and a victory over Switzerland showed that they meant busi-ness. Coming up against Brazil in the last 16 Chile lost gal-lantly playing good football and holding Brazil goalless for the first half.
Result of the Tournament: Brazil 2-1 DPR North Korea
Many may ask “well Brazil won so why is this a shock?” North Korea entered the World
Cup in the same group as Por-tugal, Ivory Coast, and Brazil and were expected to be the whipping boys of the group. However they proved that they deserved to be in the World Cup, with an amazing result against the almighty Brazil. It was a close match throughout the 90 minutes and the perse-verance of North Korea very nearly paid off.
Worst Tackle: Nigel De Jong (Holland)
Words cannot describe this tackle. The only two things that can be said are that somehow Xabi Alonso was able to con-tinue playing and De Jong was allowed to – both shocking.
Most Passionate Player: Jeong Tae Se DPR (North) Korea
Jeong started crying during the national anthems against Brazil. He ran after every single ball endlessly and never ever gave up on anything through-out his 3 matches. Jeong showed the spirit and determi-nation of a true footballer and came extremely close to scor-ing against Brazil. If he had, he would have most likely started
crying again. That, my friends, is passion.
Player of the Tournament: Wesley Sneijder (Holland)
Wesley Sneijder was the main reasons Holland made it to the final. His ability to make the right pass at the right time and to be so accurate whilst doing so was instrumental for Holland. He took on the role of playmaker remarkably well, al-
lowing Arjen Robben to bomb down the flanks. As well as his beautiful array of passing, Sneijder was also able to score vital goals throughout the tour-nament and came close to a winner’s medal. A great season for Inter Milan (winning the treble) brought him the neces-sary confidence to become the star man for Holland. All in all a terrific World Cup
Sports
Sports at ASP are more than just athletics. Which such a high turnover of students each year, there are always a number of new and returning students wanting to get involved in the action and make friends. Now into our first season of sports, new athletes have already ex-perienced their first away game and housing experience. It’s definitely something of a new concept for people who haven’t been in the international sys-tem for long- staying at the house of an opposing athlete with one other teammate. It’s a wonderful bonding experience for everyone involved: you get to become good friends with whomever you’re housing with and also with your “houser.”
You meet other international families, so the athletics pro-gram becomes a cultural pro-gram where you might end up with a family from India, Japan, New Zealand, Venezuela, Aus-tralia or even someone from your home state. You’re able to realize (if you haven’t already) that it really is a small world.
Sylvain, the boy’s varsity volleyball coach, once told the girls varsity squad that team sports are built upon trust- that you have to let your teammates pull their own weight and trust that they’ll be playing their po-sition and to cover your back if you need. Considering the number of new students, our athletes have been quite suc-cessful in trusting their team-
mates. In the 2009-2010 year, ASP’s girl’s volleyball and softball both won the Interna-tional School Sports Tourna-ment (ISST), leaving only one team in Division II. Though we may not win as many champi-onships as other schools in our league, we are one of the small-est schools, which shows a fair amount about our school’s atti-tude towards athletics and each other and out ability to quickly accept and adjust to new teams.
On one sports trip to ACS Cobham, the girl’s varsity vol-leyball team continued their winning streak from the 2009 season with decisive victories over the American Community School of Cobham (COB), the American School of London (ASL) and ACS Hillingdon (HIL). The JV girls were also victorious, coming up with three wins against COB and HIL. Boy’s varsity split wo
wins over COB and HIL and two losses against COB and ASL. JV boys results were two wins and one loss. Boy’s Varsity Soccer had two wins against HIL and COB and one loss to COB; goals by Marko Stojkovic, Jose Alencar, James Mackenzie and Tae Woo Kim.
Editor’s Note: Since the writing of this article, ASP has two ISST champions:
Girls Varsity Volleyball, and Olivier Torchiana for Cross Country. Congratualtions to all, and a round of applause for all who participated! Great job!
Sports RecapDanielle IWATA
4 Sports
The season began on Sep-tember 10th when ASP trav-eled to Cobham. ASP boys suffered a mauling, losing 4-1. By halftime they were down 2-1. James MacKenzie scored the lone goal for ASP in the first half to put the team back in the match. However, ASP was not able to take advantage of this momentum, and within the next 45 minutes conceded 2 more goals. Although this was their first match playing as a new squad, the boys knew they had to do better.
The following day the team achieved their first win of the season. A combination of James MacKenzie’s, Marko Stojkovic’s (brace) and Jose Alencar’s goals punished Cob-ham 4-2. ASP dominated pos-session, their passing was ter-rific, and throughout the whole game Cobham was on the back foot. Marko Stojkovic, son of the legendary Serbian Dragan Stojkovic, found his first goal in the blue and red colors. He opened the scoring with a neat finish, making the score 1-0 at the break. After the first half, Jose pulled in down the right-hand side to header in a cross into the top corner. Soon after, James MacKenzie received a pass in with one touch, using his second touch to shoot the ball past the keeper and into the corner. Although Cobham came back with a free kick and scored another goal towards the end of the match, Marko put the game to bed with an-other sleek finish.
On the same day that Cob-ham was defeated (4-2), Hill-ingdon suffered a similar hu-miliation. The boys easily put 3 past their goalie, to make the final score 3-0. Tae Woo scored two goals, one being from a brace and the other tucked away cleanly with his feet. Marko Stojkovic was again in the score sheet as he bagged
one in-between Tae Woo’s goals. The game was as easy as a training match for ASP; the team could have ended it in double figures.
September 24-25, 2010:The first home match of
the season was played on the deteriorating field of Stade de La Marche. The Varsity Boys’ opponent was the American School of The Hague (ASH). The game was filled with con-troversy – as with many school organized matches – due to the referee’s calls. James MacK-enzie led the team, taking the ball from outside the box and placing it in the left corner. However, minutes before the final whistle, ASH scored the equalizer. The boys and coach protested: the goal was clearly offside. It appeared that the goal scorer was 2 meters be-hind the defensive line, and yet the referee didn’t agree. The final score remained 1-1, a dis-appointing result for the boys.
The next day, ASP traveled to BSP’s pitch. There, they played ISH (The International School of the Hague), defeat-ing their opponents 4-2. James was once again on the score sheet, with two goals to his name. One of them was a fan-tastic little chip over the goalie right outside the box. Marko Stojkovic found his fourth goal for ASP. Next in line was Tae Woo Kim, who showed great reflexes as he tapped in a re-bound to make it 4-2. Other than two defensive blunders which lead to ISH’s goals, the game was a great all round per-formance from ASP.
In the 72nd minute, a heat-ed argument arose between the two teams due to a hard chal-lenge on Rayan Sharara. This tackle left Rayan sidelined for several weeks.
September 28, 2010:The next game, the Paris
Derby, was against BSP. This
match has been always been entertaining due to the rivalry between the two teams. For the past several years, ASP boys have come out of victori-ous, and this year was no dif-ferent as ASP beat their rivals 2-1. James MacKenzie again showed his worth with a goal, while Evan Leonard found his first goal of the season as he placed a penalty into the back of the net.
October 1-2, 2010:October 1st is a day to
forget for ASP boys, as their match against ISB was filled with controversial decisions and actions. ASP, who before has never been awarded a card, received 4 yellow cards and one red card. The red card was aimed at the central midfielder, Marko Sotjkovic, who openly insulted the referee. Accord-ing to the team, the referee was making faulty decisions during the course of the match. When ISB scored a last minute goal, the boys exploded. Players charged at the referee in protest of his poor calls. Even the sub-stitutes bashed the referee; Jose Alencar, while on the bench, was booked.
The next day, ASP im-proved the scoreline by tying ISB. This time, Jose found himself in the scoresheet in-stead of in the referee’s book. However, ISB pulled one back to make level the score in the second half, and there were no more goals for the remainder of the game.
October 8-9, 2010:The gameweek of October
8 was overshadowed with the dismal performance of the boys. Again, the focus of the match against St. John was scrappy goals. All 3 of St. John’s goals were avoidable, although the blame cannot be fully placed on the defense: everyone in an ASP jersey played a game that is best forgotten. James
MacKenzie gave the team a chance for a win just before the first half ended by bringing the score back to 2-1, but it was not enough. St. John’s came out the victors 3-1.
The next day, ASP played BSN. Rayan Sharara, James MacKenzie, and Alex Murdock were all out due to injuries while many others were miss-ing for various reasons. Junior Varsity players were brought in to accommodate but the ASP team just was not strong enough to win with the missing players. The final score was an unfortunate 2-0 loss.
October 15-16, 2010:The most recent games
took place during an away trip to Frankfurt. ASP lost both matches, playing 3-0 and 4-0 respectively. The games were definitely not matches to re-member for many reasons. Junior Varsity players were again asked to come up after their own game and help out, as both ASP teams had a large number of missing players. On Varsity, only 10 of the 16 play-ers were present. With those 10 players, the results were humiliating. James MacKenzie can testify that these particular matches were disastrous as he obtained an injury. He received a last minute tackle after which he was rushed to a hospital in Germany. He tore some liga-ments in his shoulder will be sidelined for 2-3 weeks; it is doubtful that he will be healed in time for ISST’s. With only days remaining to the kick off of the big event, the pressure is building on the players. The school will be supporting the boys and hopefully, they can bring home the trophy. Follow our next issue for full coverage of ASP’s performance during ISSTs.
Editor’s Note: The boys’ team finished seventh at ISST’s after a valiant effort
The Road To ISSTs for Varsity SoccerAlexandre TERRIEN
5Sports
Alexandre Terrien: What were the highlights of the season thus far?
James Mackenzie: For me, the biggest highlight of the sea-son so far was when we beat Cobham 4-2 the day after they had beaten us 4-1. As a unit we played magnificently and we passed the ball tremendously, showing Cobham what we are actually made of. Cobham is always one of the stronger teams in ISST’s and this is why I believe that this game was one of the highlights so far.
AT: What needs to im-prove?
JM: There is always room for improvement in every area of the field. Everybody keeps on blaming the defense for leaking in soft goals but I be-lieve that to prevent this, we need to play more as a unit like when we played Cobham. Our team has a lot of skill and we just need to take it easy and not go into games nervous and un-easy.
AT: What is the strength of the team?
JM: This year, our team has a lot of skill in the midfield and attack. Four of the six play-ers in the midfield and attack play on good club teams. Our starting attackers and midfield-ers are definitely stronger skill wise because they have been playing for a while and play on a consistent basis. The de-fensive players are maturing, becoming extremely good.
AT: How would you com-pare this team to the previous ones?
JM: I have been lucky enough to be on Varsity Soccer my whole high school career and I honestly believe that this year’s team is one of the best. We may not be the biggest or strongest team physically, but we have an extremely strong team skill wise and in other areas.
AT: As captain, obviously you would like to win, but what do you think your team can achieve during ISSTs?
JM: I’m obviously going to say that we can win it all and I actually believe that we can. But if I was to give a more concrete position of where we
want to be at least then I would say in the top 3 for sure. We will feel extremely disappoint-ed if we are not at least in the top 3 because as a team we are confident of winning the whole tournament.
AT: ASP has been unfortu-nate regarding injuries, was that a major reason for the rather poor performances?
JM: Well if you look at our results when we have had our full squad available and when we have not; that tells you ev-erything. With our full squad we have won four matches, drawn one, and lost one. Obvi-ously we cannot entirely blame injuries for some of our poor performances, but they defi-nitely have not helped. Four or five of our starting eleven have been out for a few weeks of the season and it definitely shows. Others have had knocks that have kept them out of odd games. We have only had our full team for 5 games of the season and four of those we won.
AT: Are all the players ex-pected to be back in time for the ISST’s?
JM: If what I’ve been told is correct, I believe that our full team is going to be avail-able for ISST’s. A couple of players may still be carrying minor injuries but for the most part every single player is go-ing to be ready to play for the tournament.
AT: What are your thoughts regarding the coach, Chris Ewing?
JM: I believe that Chris is an extremely good coach and helps every kid on the team improve their skills. Chris is the type of guy who hates losing, which is an extremely good quality that flows throughout the whole team. A winning mentality is one of the most important parts of the game and he does his best to drill that into our heads. Personally, I feel that I have improved different parts of my game year by year and I have Chris to thank for all of it. The fact that Chris has played professionally and is extremely knowledgeable about the game helps a lot. Because of this, we know that whatever he tells us to do is going to help us.
An Interview With James MackenzieAlexandre TERRIEN
6
Imagine yourself in 60 years: grey-haired, wrin-kly, crippled, with little to no memory, and even completely deaf. Why so? As conventional modern-day teenagers, we play music until our ears sizzle. And although we can all agree that doing so is outrageously enter-taining, this ultimately causes a riot in our auditory system…
It is safe to assume that al-most every student at ASP, even the non-music enthusi-asts, listen to music in one form or another. Whether it be Daft Punk, Eminem, Pink Floyd or Beethoven, music alters our emotional state, be it relaxing or exciting us. Yet, it is when the music is being listened to at excessively loud lev-els that it may start to impose devastating effects on the ear.
Whether music comes from an iPod, the radio, or nightclubs; you are constantly battering your ears without realizing it. Teenagers are in-creasingly being exposed to music at dangerously high volumes, partly because music acts as a self-medicating drug: “Raising the loudness of mu-sic, like a double shot of whis-ky, elevates the intensity of the experience” (Barry Blesser, PhD). Even from the psycho-logical benefits of increased arousal and neurological at-tentiveness, evidence suggests
that mental dangers arise from this: when a person is exposed to high-level sound, the brain releases neurotransmitting chemicals (such as Dopamine) that are also found in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia. The brain of schizophrenic patients produces more dop-amine than normal brains. In parallel, loud music triggers an increase in dopamine activity.
But what really is “loud mu-sic”? Sound pressure level is measured in units called deci-bels (dB). The greater the num-ber of dB, the louder the sound and the more harmful it is. This ranges from 0 (being the soft-est sound you can possibly hear) to 180 dB (equivalent to the sound of a rocket launch). It has been proven that sound at 85 dB and above can harm your hearing. Considering this, the fact that music from inner-ear headphones and clubbing can create sound levels up to 140 dB is a disturbing one. A nightclub is 32 times louder than an ordinary conversation.
To all avid music fans: your eardrum is crying for help! In layman’s terms: There are cells with hairs sticking out of them in an organ within your inner ear. When loud music plays, vibrations are sent from your eardrum, onto a complex organ called the oval window. These vibrations are sent through a
thick fluid called the endo-lymph, moving these hair cells. The hairs (Stereocilia) pick up vibrations depending on their length. Loud music causes your eardrum to vibrate rap-idly, and pushes the Stereocil-lia so much that they start to lie down instead of standing up straight and transmitting sound gently. Once the Stereocillia are damaged, they may never return to their upright position and your hearing will be dam-aged…forever! This is a good reason to think twice when listening to your ‘Beats™ by Dr. Dre™’ at max volume, as these headphones release up to
a staggering 105 dB of noise.Yes, I am an utter hypocrite
for writing this article, as I am constantly pounding my ears with loud music. But knowing the dangers pushes me (and now hopefully you) to moder-ate the volume when listening to an iPod, or to take a 5-min-ute break from all the music when out clubbing. Do you re-ally want to wear an earpiece later on? Do you really want to demolish your chances, 60 years from now, of still being able to listen to your favorite music or to hear your spouse complain about life? You can thank me in 60 years time…
Arts & Entertainment
The Seductive (Yet Destructive) Appeal of Loud MusicGuillaume KRESS
stress, but [he] still enjoy[s] it.” At this point of the high school career, most people are part of several activities or clubs, and this participa-tion requires time, effort, and energy. In fact, many people are forced to give up certain pastimes that they love sim-ply for lack of free time. Some
even weigh their choices about which extracurricular activities to pursue by how they look on college applications, giving up their favoite things to make time for more prestigious but often less exciting prospects.
Taking it all into account, the pressure of this massive work-load is high. However, this is only the beginning of the hard-ship a senior faces. Many of us
fall victim to the thought that this half of a year decides our entire future; thus, the pressure from ourselves can be over-whelming. Additionally, our parents try to encourage us to make the right choices, stay on task, and push ourselves, and often times, this encour-agement can be construed as an additional burden. Finally, teachers and counselors try to guide us to the right study habits for this stressful time in our lives without realizing that they actually add to the strain.
“Parents and, more so, teach-ers set forth certain expecta-tions to do well in school while we’re battling constant disap-pointment with grades that don’t live up to those expecta-tions,” says Jonathan Dunlap.
All in all, senior year defi-nitely defies its stereotype. With stress coming in from all sides, it’s clear why we seniors deserve our monthly treats. Unfortunately, it’s some-thing an underclassman can never truly understand until they’re forced to experience it.
Senior StressAbby BELANI
Continued from front
7Arts & Entertainment
Up close, you see dancing swirls of color. As you step back though, a picture forms on the canvas and the swirls fall into the outlines of water lilies. You now realize that you are looking onto the cool waters of a pastel-blue pond. Of course, this could only be the French artist who is so often men-tioned replicated, cited, and worshiped: Monet. We skim over his paintings in a glossy art book or on cheap postcards in tourist shops and don’t think twice. Maybe it is time we re-connect with the genius of his work, as we would an old friend with whom we have lost touch.
Claude Monet was born in Paris in 1840 but moved to Le Havre, in Normandy, when he was five. Like many great art-ists, the young Monet was not a brilliant student in school al-though he already had a keen interest in drawing and would fill the sides of his notebooks with sketches. Living in Le Havre had a strong impact on the artist as he fostered his skills. One of the artists who taught him was Eugene Bou-din, a revolutionary in the art world. In the past, artists would sit and paint in studios, even if the scene represented was out-doors. This French artist took his canvas and paints outside and painted out in the fresh, open air. He taught this method of painting to the young Mo-net, who adopted the practice immediately and remained true to it throughout his career. He started producing oil paint-ings of landscapes around him, already picking up on slight variations of light. When Mo-net visited Paris, the artistic scene further influenced him, especially the work of Charles Daubigny and Eugene Dela-croix. Yet the Louvre with its rigid academia and traditional themes left him cold and he
returned to the art that he pre-ferred. He painted what he saw around him: city streets, the milling about of people…
It was Monet’s interest in depicting what he saw that would be a driving force in his artwork throughout his career. He talked and exchange ideas with important artists such as Renoir, Pissarro and Manet, who also were developing a new outlook on art. They were beginning to reject the tradition-al art as taught by the grand art schools of France, where real-ism and method were engrained in all levels of art production. Monet took a different path in representation. Rather than try to cover up brushstrokes, he would apply paint directly on the canvas, confidently letting dots and lines show.
Perhaps one of the most important influences on his work, though, was light. As we can observe in the naming of his artworks, Monet was sometimes more concerned with the impact light would have on his scene than the actual subject he was depict-ing. In his “Le Voilier. Effet du soir” (“The sailboat. Effect of evening”), we see a roughly painted boat overwhelmed by a landscape of indigo and pink brushstrokes. Monet looked at the effect that the approaching night had on his scene and the colors it created. We see this as well in “La Seine à Port-Villez, Effet Rose” (The Seine at Port-Villez, Pink Effect). Monet made more than one painting of this scene, rapidly capturing the changes that light brought.
The artist began to explore this new way of depicting life surrounding him. It was during this period, in 1872, that he cre-ated one of the most influential paintings of art history: “Im-pression, soleil levant” (Im-pression, sunrise). It is a medi-
um-sized painting that does not jump out at the viewer immedi-ately, yet if you rest your eyes upon it for a few seconds, you will immediately be drawn to it. It depicts a dock immersed in the blue haze of the morn-ing mist. Dark shadows of boats dot the sheer water as life picks up in an industrial city. Yet our eye is drawn straight to the centerpiece of the painting: the sun. A bright orange orb pierces through the hazy blue and casts its ray of bright light upon the water. This is the im-pression—the quick breathtak-ing image of the first hours in a day, which Monet caught with his quick and assured brush.
It is near the end of his life when Monet settled in Giverny, the beautiful home with which we most often associate the artist. It is in this dwelling that he painted his radiant gardens: lush willow trees bending over ponds of water lilies, arching bridges surrounded by bright forest… These are the im-ages that millions of people throughout the world recognize and love. They tremendously influenced artists in the 20th century who were captured by the myriad of colors and lines. Monet’s work explored light and color in a way no artist had before him: allowing feeling to
conquer recreating. The art ex-hibit “Monet et l’Abstraction” that just finished in late Sep-tember explores this very cor-relation. It demonstrates how influential Monet’s work was by juxtaposing it with work of abstract expressionists. When one stands looking at a wall with a late Monet on the left and Pollock on the right, the correlation is breathtak-ing. There is the same swirl-ing, instinctual brushstrokes that overwhelm the viewer and pulls on our emotions.
We cannot ignore it, nor forget it—Monet was pioneer in the art world. From the 22nd of September to the 24th of January, there is an amazing retrospective of Monet’s work at The Grand Palais. This is a major event in the Paris art scene and is causing a lot of buzz: it is the first retrospective in 30 years and will feature 200 of his works. You will see the landscapes of colored light, the swirling pastel ponds and many more jewels of Impressionism. Yet I encourage you to go with a cleared mind, forgetting all you have read just now and simply let yourself respond to the art itself. But I am warning you from experience: buy your tickets online, and in advance!
Monet: Reviving the Genius
Chloe DORGAN
8
They inhabit our minds, roaming the corners of our imagination, having embarked on the shores of conscious-ness from the pages of our most beloved fantasy novels.
Over time, there have been two major fantasy sagas that have truly captured our imagi-nation. One holds promises of sparkling vampires, fragrant blood, a rainy Washington town, and the Volturi: vampire government. The other sports a hidden school with ethereal creatures and secret passages, a sport played on flying broom-sticks, a dark wizard rising to power, and a Ministry of Magic to keep their world concealed from Muggles: non-magical people. Each story chronicles times of darkness and light. Each story has its pros and cons, some more than others. And each story has its fan base.
For over a decade, Harry Potter had been dominating the fantasy front until Twilight hit the bestseller lists and began gathering hordes of teenage girls. Within the latter saga is etched a hypnotizing love triangle: Isabella Swan, Ed-ward Cullen, and Jacob Black. Bella is a human, demure and submissive. She finds herself torn between Edward, a blood-thirsty vampire, 107 and count-ing, and Jacob, a Native Amer-ican werewolf. The novels have been loosely compared to Romeo and Juliet under the pretext of forbidden love.
In addition, Bella must choose between what’s right and what she wants. In this case, this choice falls between what her father wants (Jacob) and what she wants (Edward). This is a prominent reason why Twilight has gained so much public acclaim, particularly from female readers: it embod-ies themes that are relevant and relatable in teenager’s lives, such as wanting what
you can’t have, and not fitting in. Modern anthropologists consider vampires a symbol of teenage awkwardness and sticking out from the crowd, according to Mr. Friendly, a clear authority on the subject of vampire romance novels.
Furthermore, the main char-acter of Twilight, Bella, nar-rates the majority of the saga, and yet leaves her appearance and personality ambiguous and indistinct, leaving room for teenage love-mongers to slip into her shoes and get the full Edward experience. This makes Edward special and desirable, while Bella is relatable and average, so readers can easily imagine themselves in her position.
Beyond the novels is the mania over the Twilight mov-ies. A hardcore Twilight fan, Alix Villanueva, explains her preference: “I like love sto-ries, and Edward is hot.” Every Twilight fan mentioned the ac-tors’ appearances and physi-cal appeal. It seems, therefore, that part—if not most—of the reason diehard fans are gaga over Twilight is because of the pretty-boy actors and practiced makeup artists. Two fans even went so far as to claim that they “look like Edward Cullen.”
On the other hand, Harry Potter has been a hit since the first publication of The Phi-
losopher’s Stone in 1997, at-tracting fans of all ages and backgrounds. With worldwide acclaim the series has been been translated into 67 lan-guages, grossing billions of dollars a year. Four books of the series were even recorded as the best- and fastest-selling books of all time. In 2009, The Half Blood Prince was in box-office for 22 weeks straight. Midnight showings were sold out weeks in advance. The movies are anticipated years before the trailers are released. To put this in perspective with our vampire counterparts, Twi-light’s Eclipse remained in box office for 10 weeks and grossed 67% as much as Harry Potter’s Half Blood Prince did. But these numbers, facts, and fig-ures don’t come close to doing the Harry Potter series justice.
The Harry Potter series chronicles the adventures of a trio of young wizards: Harry Potter, Ron Weasly and Her-mione Granger, in their fight to take down the Dark Lord Voldemort. The wizard world of Harry Potter is a kind of mighty and glorified parallel to our own world. The three main characters all attend Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wiz-ardry, the wizard equivalent of middle and high school. While we have Chemistry, Harry Pot-ter has Potions. We have cars.
They have flying broomsticks and apparition. The list goes on with Hershey’s kisses to chocolate frogs, Football to Quidditch, marauders’ maps to GPS, technology to magic. It’s this kind of familiarity, yet su-periority and difference, which makes Harry Potter’s world so revered. Harry Potter isn’t just a fantastical story any toddler could dream up. It has basis on fact. Its foundation and skel-eton are formed from modern society and problems in today’s life. Voldemort discriminates and persecutes the different, killing half-magic and non-magic people by the masses. Many important motifs are explored throughout the saga as well, such as celebrity, loss, perseverance, and morality.
The story hits close to home and provides a majestic escape to the wizard world for readers everywhere. With flawless ex-ecution of the plot and history of wizardry, the story becomes believable and easy to slip into. The books take on an uncanny realism to them, because of the many individualized and vivid details. Rowling’s syn-tax breathes life into the im-ages planted in our minds. She brings fiction to a whole new level with Harry Potter. She doesn’t just construct a story; she constructs a universe.
In a poll of students and teachers in our Upper School, 90% prefer Harry Potter. 10% voted for Twilight. Harry Pot-ter has spawned a plethora of followers and enthusiasts, mak-ing Twilight’s fan-base seem almost meager in comparison. Maybe Twilight just can’t be measured on the same scale as Harry Potter. Lines for Harry Potter films may stretch half-way down the Champs-Ely-sees. But try to respect Twilight fans, who have always stood up for what they believe in.
Twilight vs. Harry PotterCassidy HOWARD
Student Life
9
When your parents were young, smoking was adver-tised all over the media. It was possible to buy and smoke cig-arettes everywhere. Nowadays, we are more conscious about the detrimental effects caused by smoking tobacco. Cancer, emphysema and other malig-nant diseases come to mind when one thinks about the con-sequences of smoking. Despite all the disadvantages it brings about, there is still one reason to why people smoke, and the answer to that is addiction.
Nicotine is the most widely used drug in our society. Us-ers can quickly become de-pendent on its effects which could be both stimulating and depressant. The body and mind swiftly become used to the nic-otine in cigarettes so that in or-der to feel normal, users must smoke. If someone suddenly stops taking nicotine, they usually experience prolonged withdrawal symptoms such as anxiety and mood swings. This causes them to crave the drug in order to try to reverse these unpleasant feelings. As a result it gets arduous to quit.
Nevertheless, as a drug, nicotine has few adverse ef-fects on physical health. But it’s the other chemicals found in cigarettes that cause a more preeminent damage. Hundreds of harmful constituents are burned along with tobacco while one smokes a cigarette. Among these toxins; arsenic, cyanide, formaldehyde and tar, constitute the most det-rimental chemicals found in cigarettes. The most inherent problem that comes about with this issue is that our society has around 3 million adoles-cents that smoke. According to kidshealth.org, 9 out of 10 tobacco users start before they are 18 years old. This means that since a significant part of our population starts smok-
ing at a really young age, by the time they reach adulthood, their lives will be shortened by 10 years or more. In addition, teenagers who smoke experi-ence changes in the lungs and reduced lung growth, facing the risk of not developing nor-mal lung function as an adult. Another factor that comes into play is related to the availabil-ity for young people to acquire cigarettes. In less developed countries, the anti-tobacco laws for minors are not as strict as they are in the United States, or other developed countries. This is also considered as inherent, due to the fact that govern-ment action could ease out the numbers of underage smokers.
Besides the health com-plications that are caused by smoking, research shows that teenagers who smoke on a dai-ly basis are more likely to turn to other drug substances. Also, smoking is intimately related to underage drinking. While
drinking may be a singular problem behavior for some, research suggests that for oth-ers it may be an expression of general adolescent turmoil that includes other problem be-haviors and that these behav-iors are linked to unconven-tionality, impulsiveness, and sensation-seeking. This just keeps adding up problems that smoking brings to our lives.
Normally, teenagers who smoke were introduced into this habit by peers or family members who use or have fa-vorable attitudes towards to-bacco. Nevertheless, it is more common that adolescents start smoking because they think it’s a cool habit. They find this as a way to fit into social groups in school and because it is so for-bidden in some societies, it be-comes more alluring to teens.
It is quite doleful that, even though teenagers and adults are aware of the risk of smoking, they do not find this persua-
sive enough to get them quit this rather deleterious habit. Still, considering the finan-cial consequences of smok-ing may help some readers to reconsider whether to keep it or get rid of this pernicious activity. According to mon-eycentral.msn.com, research shows that a regular smoker spends around $1,638 per year (or €1,252). Putting things into perspective; this amount of money could easily be used for a memorable vacation or in the case of young smokers, it could be used for saving mon-ey for college and establishing a well-balanced savings plan.
Currently, there are innu-merable factors that could dis-suade an individual from smok-ing, as previously stated. Once a person reaches the legal age for smoking, it is entirely their choice if they want to smoke or not, but it is preferable that one stays away from such a vice.
Nicotine Issues: The Real Costs of SmokingJavier RAMOS
Student Life
10 Opinion
Let us begin with the War in Iraq: a war that is gener-ally considered to have been carelessly initiated during the Bush administration and led to a large amount of international hostility with regards to Amer-ica and Americans everywhere. Most people dismiss Iraq as the Vietnam of the twenty first cen-tury: a useless endeavor moti-vated by greedy politicians and big oil industries. What people consistently fail to consider is the status of Iraq today in com-parison to the status of Iraq under the regime of Saddam Hussein. Under Saddam Hus-sein’s ruthless and murderous reign, Iraqi’s had no freedom of speech, those opposed to the dictatorship were interned, and Kurds and Shi’ites were persecuted restlessly as a re-sult of their ethnic affiliations. After the fall of Saddam Hus-sein and the fighting of ter-rorist groups in Iraq, the US managed to settle a demo-cratic government and liber-ate several provinces of their extremist handlers, allowing Iraqi’s a freedom which they had never before possessed.
Over 4,400 American sol-diers died in this process. Re-cently, President Obama pulled out of Iraq. This was probably the most desperate political maneuver of the 21st century. Iraq is currently in the process of stabilizing its government– its police forces have yet to be fully trained, and insurgency has begun to rise as a result of the American retreat. This is possibly the worst time – other than just after the fall of Hus-sein’s regime –to pull out of Iraq. The country is currently extremely reliant on the United States. Iraq was on the preci-pice of real progress, and it is as if just before its progress was solidified, it was thrown back down into the abyss of desperation with no one
to rely on. Nonetheless, the Obama administration “hopes” that Americans will look up the withdrawal favorably.
Today, President Obama’s approval rating has hit an all time low of forty one percent, down twelve percent since January 2010. It must have to do with the hundreds of bil-lions of tax dollars invested into the economic stimulus package of 2009 that is fail-ing to stimulate employment, his failure to successfully close down Guantanamo Bay (yes, its still open, and function-ing), and his unpopular health care reform. I could be wrong though, but it seems to be an attempt to distract the Ameri-can public at the expense of the Iraqi citizens, at the expense of the men and women who gave their lives to a cause that was terminated in an attempt to divert the American critic.
The health care reform came in the shape of a 940 bil-lion dollar investment during the greatest economic down-turn since the Great Depression of 1929. The bill was passed through Obama’s employment of aggressive politics and the cornering of the Republican minority, which destroyed any chance that President Obama had at making a lasting bi-par-tisan congress (yet another one of his campaign promises). He employed aggressive tactics in order to get the Health Care Bill passed, and took advantage of the Senate’s quasi-filibuster majority, if not for the death of Ted Kennedy, he would have passed it without even consult-ing the Republicans. I don’t consider this to have been suc-cessful. Although I do recog-nize that the health care system in the US required reform, I honestly believe that the timing of it demonstrated President Obama’s impatience, and per-haps this impatience comes as
a result of his relative political inexperience. Ask yourselves, “who is going to pay off the 1.5 trillion dollars of debt?” The simple answer is: You. And me. And our kids, and their kids. As Americans we are look-ing down a long and narrow hallway with an abundance of taxes, income tax, inheri-tance tax, property tax, sales tax, everything taxed. Good luck, at least you have hope.
Don’t get me wrong, I honestly believe Obama to be a brilliant man on many lev-els – his charisma is astound-ing. During his campaign, the words “hope” and “change” filled the hearts of voters with expectations all around Amer-ica. However, when we really
come back down from the ex-citement that is provoked by the carefully chosen words of an extraordinarily captivating speechmaker and see whether or how he is following through with his promises, we cannot help but be disappointed. Re-treat in Iraq came too early and at the expense of future Iraqi stability. Health Care added 940 billion dollars of debt to a country that was already 1 trillion dollars in debt during a great recession. Guantana-mo: not happening. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: failing to stimulate the job market and reduce unem-ployment. But hey, accord-ing to Obama, we all need to “give the president a break.”
An Assessment of Obama’s PresidencyAnthony GHOSN
11
“Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America: They will be met.” On January 20th, 2009 Barack Obama took the oath of office and was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America. Riding the wave of hope and change so iconic of the Obama campaign, the President took to the White House with high expectations for himself and from the na-tion. At the time, America was fighting two wars, in the midst of the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, facing social problems from health care to Social Secu-rity, and reeling from 8 years of unpopular and polarizing Bush policies on both a na-tional and international level.
Merely one and a half years later, the United States is in a far different situation. Since Obama has taken office Con-gress has passed sweeping and unprecedented Health Care Legislation; Financial Regu-lation; a $787 billion Dollar Stimulus package; Consumer Protection Legislation; and aid packages to help states keep teachers, police officers, and firemen employed. The Obama administration has also initiated the process for clos-ing Guantanamo Bay, pulled combat troops out of Iraq, and focused American efforts on the war in Afghanistan. In light of all the progress already made by the President, his ad-ministration, and the Demo-cratic majority in both houses of Congress, why does public opinion seem to be distanc-ing itself from the President?
It is unquestionable that America is far better off than it was a year ago; surprisingly,
most of the promises of the Obama Campaign, such as health care reform, have ac-tually come true. Taking all this into consideration, why is Obama getting such a “bad rap?” His current approval rating of 45% is a far cry from the nearly 80% approval rat-ing the President rode into the White House on. This para-dox is, in fact, very simple and can be summarized into two points: the economy, and an over-the-top, flamboyant, yet ultimately benign opposition.
Although GDP – a well-known indicator of economic growth – has been growing at a relatively stable rate this past year, the general senti-ment among Americans is that the economy is in trouble. The 9.6% unemployment rate is obviously staggering and a cause for concern, however, placing the blame for this on the Obama administration is misguided. The President pushed for the passing of the massive Stimulus bill to rein-vigorate the economy. This bill has, without a doubt, helped avoid the worst of what could have been a sec-ond Great Depression; yet people only focus on its short-comings. Republicans are quick to criticize the Stimulus bill. Their argument is based around the perception that it was a waste of money and ultimately brought nothing to the American people; this logic is deeply flawed. In De-troit, the city the most affected by the recession, a new battery factory is being built with the help of stimulus money. This factory will make batteries for new Hybrid vehicles; it is es-timated that said factory will create up to 900 new jobs. This is but a fraction and an example of the estimated 3.5 million jobs the Stimulus Plan
either created or saved. The process of economic recov-ery is a slow and arduous one. Indeed, the Great Depression was not fully dissipated until after World War Two, almost 10 years after the Stock Market Crash. The fact that the Unit-ed States was able to mitigate the worst of the depression is impressive in and of itself. It is important to remember that it was the Bush and Regan era business-oriented, supply-side policies that got America into this mess in the first place. By deregulating financial institu-tions, the Republican govern-ment under Presidents Bush and Regan let certain compa-nies take part in risky, unregu-lated trading which eventually brought the economy to its knees. These same policies, which have been so disastrous for the American economy, are exactly what the Congressio-nal Republicans are offering as alternatives to the President’s economic recovery plan.
Since it is clear that the President has already done a great deal for America, why is he still being met with such strong opposition? Obviously people expect immediate re-sults --and this is true for both Republicans and Democrats -- but at this moment and for this President, the problems are much deeper than sim-ply economic woes. Indeed, recently a new movement known as the Taxed Enough Already Party, (TEA party for short), is, through spreading fear and inaccuracies, making the Presidents job of chang-ing the nation, much more difficult. This syntax chal-lenged group, headed by the likes of Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin, has radicalized the Re-publican Party and caused them to vote “no” on almost every single Democratic pro-
posal, even those like saving the jobs of teachers. When a group is created with the sole purpose of counteracting and even repealing the work of another, it obviously serves as a hindrance to effective governance. This relatively small “Party” should not have such an effect on American Society, much less on public opinion, yet it continues to be a major force in this political climate. Considering the fact that Political Pundits – most of who happen to work for the Fox News Chanel – are sup-porting and propagating the actions of this group makes their ultra-conservative ideas available to main-stream, po-litically indifferent citizen’s already upset about the econ-omy. The mix of the economy and the TEA Party creates an unfortunate situation for the President, and for the well be-ing of the country as a whole.
Obviously, there are other factors that are making the President seem less popular. It would be both wrong and short-sighted to blame all the woes of the current Demo-cratic leadership on the TEA Party and the economy, but it is unfortunate that a Presi-dent who has already done so much for America is being unjustly portrayed as a “com-munist” “socialist” “Nazi” by a group whose regressive ideas serve only as a divisive tool in the greater scheme of American society. As a coun-try, let us not be so quick to judge our President, he has accomplished quite a bit for our country and if given the opportunity, he can and will do much more. Sometimes, time and perspective are much more useful than ag-gressive short-term solutions. We learned this the hard way in 2008 during the recession.
