The Husky Howl Hirschi Math Science IB Magnet High School ~ Wichita Falls, Texas ~March Issue, 2011

EditorsCatherine Fells, News

Paige Scherer & Lauren Sralla,

Editorial

Amber Manriquez, Sports

Class of 2011

Class of 2011

Class of 2012

CJ Lowder, Entertainment

Class of 2011

Class of 2011 & Class 0f 2012

Cayley Burleson & Nour Azzouz, Feature

Copy Editor, Shri Ganeshram

News 2by Jessica Lunte JROTC has a new mis-sion. Their goal is to help raise funds to renovate Wichita Falls’ historic Kell House. “We would love to have the help of the commu-nity and the school to keep this historical sight alive” senior Catherine Fells said. JROTC is a military based program that encourages involvement in the communi-ty. “Our mission is to mo-tivate young people to become better citizens” SFC (Ret) Ron-ald Williams said. The Kell House was the home of one of Wichita Falls founders, Frank Kell. He and his family bought the land and built the entire house from the ground up. With fourteen rooms, the Kell House was the haute-cauture of Wichita Falls for several years. In 1980, when the last member of the Kell family passed away, the Heri-tage Society of Wichita Falls bought the house and made it into a museum. However, age has not been kind to the once-beauti-ful Kell House. The 102 year old house is suffering from structural damage and plumb-ing issues. The house’s cura-

tor estimates that three to five years of intensive repair will be needed to completely fix it. With estimates at 250, 000 dollars worth of repair, any donations are being accepted, as well as volunteer work. “We thought it would be a great idea to help preserve such a great treasure” Fells said. The Kell House is truly a major and historic part of Wichita Falls. It would be a great loss to the community’s culture if the Kell House had to be closed. Hirschi’s JROTC makes it their main objective to help the community. Their last project, Operation Children’s Miracles, collected toys for ill children at the Cook’s Medi-cal Center. With the success of their last project under their belt, JROTC is ready to tackle another project head on. If you wish to help save one of Wichita Falls’ most iconic structures, donations can be given in the front office or in the JROTC room. For more in-formation, contact either CSM (Ret.) Martin, SFC (Ret.) Wil-liams, or Cadet LTC Kolten At-nip. “Any amount would help out a great deal” Fells said.

Help the Kell Houseby Catherine Fells UIL season is quickly approaching and the Huskies are ready. Several students are competing in various academic events such as Prose and Po-etry, Mathematics, Science, History, News Writing, Head-lining, Spelling, Accounting, Ready Writing, ect. The results are promis-ing. Last year, the Mathe-matics team went all the way to compete in Austin at the state level of the competition. “State is like the US senate, only a few successes come out of it, but everyone still has warm fuzzy feelings at the end of the day.” Junior Shri Ganeshram said Hirschi has always had enormous success with UIL. The Math Team has gone un-defeated, our science team has gone all the way, and the one act play team made all the way to state, performing in Austin in front of hundreds. This year the expecta-tions are still the same. HTS has worked really hard to maintain their award winning status. Senior Anthony Garza is especially excited about this year’s competition. “Its not so much “ex-citement” as it is “nerves”. Pressure is on us to get far

again this year. I don’t really care about getting far in com-petition though. All I want is to make this an unforgettable show that sends a message that rings clear throughout the audi-ence.” To the OAP (One Act Play) team this year is espe-cially special. “I’m definitely excited about the new cast-mates and our trips. Its always the bond-ing and laughs that make the most valuable memories.” said Garza The Mathematics team is also working towards reachieving their state award winning status. They have also worked really hard and are looking forward to competing again. “I expect that the team will be vary successful.” Gane-shram said The coaches this year are ready for the fast paced sea-son. “I am expecting to ad-vance past district since all of the students that I have are stu-dents with vast experience and knowledge about the areas in which they are competing. The experience that these students have will greatly benefit Hirs-chi’s journalism competitors.” Teacher Lana Borgman said All of the teams are ready to do well.

UIL Season Is Finally Here

by Anthony Garza Everyone get ready to be amazed yet again by the award-winning One Act Play group, as Hirschi Theatrical Society has started rehearsals for Wit. Wit is a play focus-ing on Vivian Bearing, played by Senior Katharine Tate, a woman who is diagnosed with stage four ovarian can-cer. It chronicles her struggle throughout her treatments. Tate was also cast as the lead female last year in Fire in the Hole, the play that took HTS all the way to the State level of competition. “I’m familiar with the pressure that is on the cast, our director and I. Its not go-ing to be an easy job, but I have full faith in our capabil-ity. I’ve seen us accomplish so much, and I know I will do my absolute best at bringing this character to life,” said Tate. Just like any other play this one requires a Stage Man-

ager, and Senior Jenna Johnston has been appointed this honor. “I’ve been in HTS for three years, so I know what being a Stage Manager entails. I’m a little nervous, but I really wanted this posi-tion and I know I’m going to step up my game and get the

UIL OAP is Underwayjob done,” said Johnston. The position of Stage Manager is becoming coveted now that it is re-ceiving more recogni-tion including gaining its own award at certain levels of competition. For some, this is their first main role first the competition. “I was in One Act last year, but I only had three lines. Now I have whole scenes. It is a little scary but I know I can do it,” said Senior Catherine Fells. The cast and crew wel-comes newcomer Illaria

Tozzi, a freshman who has been cast in a role that requires the actors to portray several different characters, which is not a task for the faint-hearted. “I’m not worried re-ally. I’m actually excited. This cast is so comfortable and it’s

just a good environment to be in. It’s impossible to not find a friend in this show,” said Tozzi. HTS has high hopes for Illaria and plans to see her next year audition-ing for other productions. Some members of the show have mixed feelings about the competition. Last year, HTS made it to State and the pressure is definitely on them to reach that level again. “Oh the pressure is definitely on me. I find myself focusing on more theatrical as-pects of the production more than how to get my message and point across. Directing is diffi-cult to begin with, and when you add in the pressure of trying to make it far in competition then its just insane,” said Brownie. But the out-look is positive. “It’s going to be fantas-tic” said senior Catherine Fells

by Jessica Lunte Once a year, Hirschi honors its best and brightest. Those that strive all year for academic success are recognized by awarding them with a ceremony and cel-ebration. This year, Hirschi’s Highest was on February 17. Many stu-dents feel that the ef-fort they put into their work is meaningless and unrewarding. This occasion is a means of remind-ing and rewarding anyone who keeps their grade point av-erage above a 3.5. “ A l t h o u g h it was very hard work, it was worth it. It is always nice for someone to recognize how hard you have been working. I am proud to be honored tonight,” senior Catherine Fells said This year’s speaker was Tammy James, a 1992 graduate of Hirschi High School. After graduating, she went to the prestigious John Hopkins University and worked as a nurse in several of the nation’s busiest emergency rooms. She is also an accom-plished author, writing a book on the life of a nurse. James encouraged stu-dent’s to live to their full poten-tial. She read the Robert Frost poem, “The Road Not Taken,” and compared the dilemma of the author to student’s deci-sions in life. She emphasized that there are 3 steps in life. “First,

Follow your heart. That’s the most important. Second, be original and third, preservere.” She stressed that if any student followed those three steps, anything was possible. “I thought that she was a great speaker and very educa-tional. My mother was a nurse so I found her to be vary relat-able as well,” Fells said. After James’ inspiring speech, the presidents of each class had some advice encour-aging the students to continue striving for excellence. One by one, the creme de la creme of Hirschi’s four classes were called up to the stage to receive their certificate of excellence. “This is the first time that I have ever be to an event like this. I must say that I am highly impressed. I am not use to so many students taking the bull by the horns and striving

Hirschi’s Highest

for success,” parent Mary Vella said Once the ceremony was over, students, friends, and parents joined in the cafeteria for refreshments. “The students should be proud. I know that as a par-ent that I am very pleased with both the students and teachers,” Vella said. As Hirschi’s Highest fell asleep that night, thoughts of the road ahead were surely on their minds. Like James so gracefully said, “I; I took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” “I have never ben to Hirschi before so this was a vary interesting expeariance. The sterotypes are very incor-ect and I was very happy to know that my sister attends such a wonderful school,” se-nior Kayla Fells said.

Note From The Principal

TRUANCY COURT: SENIORS 2011 If you have been to truancy court during your educational career in Wich-ita Falls ISD, this message is for you. You have the right to have records of a conviction for the offense of fail-ure to attend school expunged if you have only one conviction for this offense. If your record is expunged, you are released from all disabilities resulting from the conviction, and the conviction may not be shown or made known for any purposes. However, all community service, fines and any other sanctions by the court must be completed prior to submitting your application. If you wish to have your record ex-punged, on or after your 18th birthday, you may submit a written request under oath, to the court in which you were convicted. The request must include the following statement: “I have not been convicted of more than one violation of Failure to Attend School. §25.094 of the Texas Education.” A fee of $30.00 must be paid when the application is filed.

by Kastyn Johnson A satellite and the un-manned rocket that carried it was crashed into the Pacific Ocean right after lifting off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on March 4. According to NASA, the protective shell atop the Taurus XL rocket carrying the $424 million Glory satel-lite, did not separate as it was suppose to during the launch, slowing down the rocket and preventing it from going into orbit, NASA officials said. The rocket carried a satellite, known as Glory, that was supposed to collect infor-mation to help scientists bet-ter understand the Earth’s cli-mate. The satellite and rocket apparently fell into the south-ern Pacific, NASA said. “This is a pretty tough night for all of us,” said NASA official Ron Grabe. The mission was de-signed to put together data that scientists planned to use to bet-ter understand how the sun and tiny atmospheric particles. Investigators spent

NASA Rocket Failseveral months testing hard-ware, interviewing engineers and reviewing data and docu-ments. The probe did not find evidence of widespread test-ing negligence or manage-ment shortcomings, but NASA denied to release the full ac-cident report, citing sensitive and proprietary information. Considering the fact that the iconic space program is in it’s final years, this is a major set back.Not only is this a major set back to the program, but this is also a major set back for those researching the Earth’s climate. “In physics we use a lot of information from major scientific organizations such as NASA, so to hear about such a thing is heart breaking,” said senior Katrina Phillips NASA is still sched-uled to conduct many other launches this year. The next launch is scheduled April 19 to fix a broken satellite. This will be NASA’s 36th’s mission to the Interna-tional Space Station. “I hope everything

Editorials 43 Editorials by Lauren Sralla As we all know there are these things called drug tests at Hirschi High School, but how do they work? That is a question many want to know. Due to the fact that the students being tested for drugs are only those that participate in school activi-ties the idea of drug testing isn’t really helping much. Yeah, you get lucky every once and awhile, and you get someone that is doing drugs, but you also test a lot of students that would never be caught dead with drugs. Those students that take part in more than one ex-tra curricular actually have a higher percent chance at get-ting picked, and those that do not take part in any do not get tested at all. So how ex-actly is the “random” drug tests helping if they are not catching the main offenders? Now, the administra-tion deserves its props for at least doing this, but should they not be doing more. Many teachers have also stated that there should be a mandatory drug test two times a year. During this test all the students will be tested, even those not taking part in extra activities. At other high schools they have been having man-

datory lock ins. At these lock ins the dogs will get taken around the school sniff-ing out the offenders and any drugs on the property. Hirschi, too, used to have lock ins, but in re-cent years these have not taken place. It has been at least four years since there has been a mandatory lock in. So where did they go. There have also been rumors in previous years of lock ins taking place, but these have never actually happened. Now, while some stu-dents may thing this is a bad idea there are also many that are sick of the drugs. Anoth-er fact is that many are sick of taking drug tests when they are innocent, and those that are guilty are not being tested. Where is the justice? Now, this article is not meant to single Hirschi out because there are also drugs still being used at every other high school, but more needs to be done at Hirschi to stop this problem from growing. There are many solu-tions to the problem of drugs in our schools, but action has to be done now. Bring back the Lock ins and bring in manda-tory drug tests for ALL. Just do something. Take action, and make Hirschi an example.

Drug Issue Rears Its Head What is being done to control it?

AdvisorLana Borgman

PrincipalWanda Jackson

The Husky Howl is published by the newspaper staff at Hirschi Math-Science Mag-net IB High School in Wichita Falls, Texas. Advertising rates are $5 per column inch. For more information, call the journalism department at (940) 235-1070 ext. 30027. Any student wishing to respond to a story published in The Husky Howl, please keep the response brief and free of abusive language or personal attacks. Please leave all letters to the editor in Mrs. Borgman’s box in the Hirschi

High School office. Anonymous letters will not be printed.

The Husky HowlHirschi Math-Science IB High School

EditorsNour Azzouz, Cayley Burleson, Catherine Fells,

Shri Ganeshram, CJ Lowder, Amber Manriquez, Paige Scherer, and Lauren Sralla

Staff MembersHerbert Bennett, Anthony Garza, Arron Graham, Tana

Harkrider, Jessica Lunte, Nicole McPeters, Javi Nieves, Tiffani Sixtos, and Joshua Tompson

by Jessica Lunte The world likes to know who is good and who is bad. None of this pansy in-between business, but clear-ly labeled wrong and right. People like to know what is black and white, not gray. In every show, book, story, war, etc. There is some terrible villain that hu-manity can blame for all of their issues and problems. Think of villains as a group therapy session for the entire population of dis-gruntled, tired, and disap-pointed people on this Earth. We have all had terrible things happen to us, and who better to shove the frustrations of our misery on, then people who seem to cause these problems. When one thinks of a favorite TV show, the mind focuses on that scallywag who causes all the problems. You do not watch a series for the good natured sweet guy, but for the rude brother with a chip on his shoulder. In the real world,

people like Charlie Sheen and Hosni Mubarak are scape-goats for everything wrong with today’s civilization. Not to say that they are undeserv-ing of scorn and ridicule. An-gels they are definitely not. However, maybe we push a little too much blame on these people sometimes. Instead of seeing them as people who have made many mistakes in their lives, society makes them into poster chil-dren for drugs and dictators. Let’s face it. We like to blame people. Villains make the world what it is. Much like darkness is simply the absence of light, good is simply the ab-sence of evil. We would not be able to over come adversity and create if it were not for that dastardly foe who tells you it cannot be done. Humans like to have that annoying bad-guy around to keep things lively. So let’s give the evil ones a little break. Without them we would have noth-ing to compare good to.

by Paige Scherer February 13th, 2011 changed the lives of many stu-dents in City View, Texas, as well as right here at Hirschi, forever. That Sunday night, City View graduate Andrew Johns and junior Tessa Price were driving down Seymour Highway. When Myron Rob-inson collided with them, causing Johns to be seriously injured, and it took the life of his girlfriend, Tessa Price. It is said by officials that Robinson, who had three outstanding DWI’s (Driving while intoxicated) since Feb-ruary 1996, was intoxicated when the accident occurred. Drinking and driving has been an issue in the United States since prohibition. Ac-cording to Bryan Snyder, attor-ney, someone dies from drunk driving every 45 minutes. Price was one of those fatalities. Many teenagers don’t understand the dangers of driving while intoxicated, be-cause of course, they aren’t old enough to drink. However, adults are aware, and should take the proper precautions to void situations like this. 11,773. That is the number of deaths caused by drunk driving in 2008 alone. Not only are these lives lost, but their families and friends

lives were torn to pieces sim-ply because someone care-lessly had “one to many,” then grabbed their keys. When you drink, it effects your central nervous system, your brain and spinal chord. Because these then ef-fect your motor neurons, your reactions and movements are slow or uncontrollable. You begin to lose your ability to see straight, and this can be fatally dangerous when on the road. As students grow older, and nearer 21, alcohol seems more appealing, be-cause it has been withheld from the younger generation. When you reach the coveted age of 21, I beg of you, please use caution when drinking and driving. Al-low someone to be the des-ignated driver, or call a cab. Don’t let the seductive nature of alcohol cause you to ruin not only your life, but also ruin another life. Alcohol may seem appealing now, and even after a tough day, but it may eventually lead to some-thing you cannot take back. Is alcohol really worth it? Is it worth the price you may pay? Those are the questions you must ask yourself. Perhaps, had Robinson done just that, so many lives wouldn’t have been torn apart, and lost, that day.

A Community GrievingRecent loss brings awareness to drunk driving

by Tiffani Sixtos “Hurry Spring Break, hurry! I’m ready for another break!” March is quick-ly approaching and many students are ready for an-other week long break. This “long” break is perhaps, the best, Spring Break! Spring Break is one of the last major breaks be-fore school ends, and one that everyone looks forward to. Spring fever has set in and all students are ready for time away from school. Spring Break. Those wonderful words. A week of no school, students will put off projects, homework and other school related assignments until the day before school resumes. Its a natural thing, procrastination, but don’t pro-crastinate too long or you’ll end up forgetting about your homework, or not doing it. Along with Spring Break comes trips, activities and hanging out with friends.

Many students plan to take trips with their families, and others plan to stay in town for practice. Students are already planning for Spring Break just as much as teachers are. During all the winter storm days, we were out for five days, and students were afraid that our spring break was going to be taken away from us. We then started com-ing back to school and our normal and crazy school lives began again. Our worries were no longer missing Spring Break or extending the end of the school year. Those worries disappeared, as test worries and homework worries came back. Dr. Kazanas, WFISD Superintendent, put in a waiv-er for our three extra days that our inclement weather days did not cover. We ought to be thanking him, but instead we blew off those weather worries and let the TEA (Texas Educa-tion Agency) take its course to approve the days or not.

If the TEA does not approve the days, then action will be taken and either some of our Spring Break days will be taken away, or the end of the school year will be extended. Most students are no longer worried about this prob-lem though. They dusted the snow off their shoulders and moved on with their academic lives. Fortunately though, the TEA approved the days and Spring Break is not being taken away from us, nor is the end of the school year extending. Due to the weather though, we have lost some half days which are now full days in school. At least, we’re not losing Spring Break though, right? Even though Spring Break is important to us is it more important than school? Of course we need a break, and a week long break would be great, but after all we do need our academic credit to move on in this chapter of our lives that we call, high school.

Spring Break VS SchoolWhat would you choose?

by Tiffani Sixtos “Tick”... “Tick”... “Tick”... “Diiiiiing” Students in Hirschi High School were anticipat-ing for 11:55am. Tapping their feet, pencils meeting paper, testing documents be-ing filled out... This is just the beginning of the killer, TAKS! March 1st, was the first TAKS test of the year starting off with the English Language Arts test. Students were coming into school with snacks, books, magazines, and of course their not-enough-sleep selves. Students were sug-gested the night before to go to bed early, and to eat a good breakfast. Most students went to bed at their regular time, and didn’t eat breakfast. Surprising? Not re-ally. Teachers and parents already knew what the stu-dents had planned and many students said that Mrs.Jack-son put more pressure on them with her announcement Monday before the final bell. Mrs. Jackson’s an-nounced how she wanted us as a school to succeed and to bring up our percentage of passing students. Most students tried while others didn’t and decided to sleep, then wake up and finish it. TAKS Week in Hirs-chi starts the last week of

April and freshmen through juniors will be preparing to take their TAKS test. As well as seniors who did not pass last year. Everyone will be studying hard to pass this test, so they are able to graduate or move on to the next grade. Students who often don’t listen to the teachers or their parents about plenty of sleep and a good breakfast really should, because they are right. It will increase their performance during the TAKS test or any test for anything. Plenty of sleep, be-tween six and eight hours, keeps your mind alert and pre-

pared. Too much sleep can re-sult in tiredness, or the same effects of not getting enough sleep. Eating a well balanced breakfast also helps your brain stimulate and refresh after a good night of sleep. Teachers know what they’re talking about when it comes down to preparing for a test. Whether you listen to them or not is up to you, but just re-member they’ve taken plenty of tests in their years of living. After all, it might just pay off for you in the end, and you might just pass the TAKS with flying col-ors, which means no retake!

Killer TAKS Shows Its Ugly FaceThe dreaded time has returned

Good VS Evil = Good?How does this work?

by Anthony Garza I would like to start by saying that the accusa-tions against me are all true and I really am feeling the remorse here, and I’ll say the most cliche thing to say in this situation: I am sorry. The piece I had put in the paper for the Valentine’s Day spread was, in fact, plagiarized. The original short story is titled Rain and the author is unknown. I was looking online for inspira-tion, something to write from. I found the story and started typing, and when I looked back on it, I had real-ized that it was essentially the exact same thing-over 50 percent of it, actually. I’m not going to ex-plain myself or define my actions because that would look a tad selfish and would be another thing for my peers to criticize me about. Although, I will say that I do not intend to get off easy or be the kid that gets

away with things because he never does anything wrong. This is not a situation where I get a slap on the hand and get to walk away. This has been handled by admin-istration and I have received my punishment according to my actions and the sever-ity of this all. Do not worry. I apologize to all that I have offended and to all I have disappointed. The last thing I wanted was to do was disap-point people. Now I face dis-appointment from my friends, my teachers, and others even outside of the academic ring. Please know that this is over. Do not make this big-ger than it already is. My ac-tions put the reputations of the paper, its staff and edi-tors, Mrs. Borgman, and pos-sibly even this school at stake. I apologize for any and all damage I have brought upon you all and I intend to fulfill my duties as a student and as a member of this staff. Thank you.

Rain RetractionAlliteration At It’s Worst

by Paige Scherer Rumors have been fly-ing around the hallways and classrooms about a change, a huge change, to Hirschi High School as we know it. Next year, Hirschi will switch to a 7-hour sched-ule, much like Rider and Old High. This would entail that you would attend every class, every day, for 50 minutes. This is where ter-ror arises in the student body. What about sports, band, the-atre, other extra curricular? What are we going to do? Both Rider and Old High have what is called “zero hour.” This would begin at 6:50 am and last until around 8:30. Band students could rehearse, sports could practice, and other students could come to school and study. However, if you don’t have any zero hour ac-tivities, you could simply show up for your regularly sched-uled classes after zero hour. The next big problem is the International Baccalau-reate program. According to counselor Mrs. McFadden, the IB program won’t suffer as of yet, however IB Coordina-tor Mrs. Linda Fain is figur-ing out all of the details for those students who are full diploma or certificate students. Fain is a huge fan of the seven hour period. After doing some research, Fain discovered that many IB schools in the nation operate with a seven hour schedules. “I love seeing stu-

dents everyday,” Fain said. “The shorter periods will in-crease their attention span and teachers will actually be able to get more done.” Another concern is the variety. At Hirschi, one of the aspects that attracts students is the ability to be involved in many different organizations. Vice Princi-pal Dr. Shannon Hill doesn’t believe that this change will negatively impact enrollment. “Our size is what al-lows for a lot of cross over with our students,” Hill said, “Other schools succeed with a seven hour schedule, and so can we.” Hirschi band di-rector Sheryl Kingcade has differing opinions on the schedule change. “Instead of provid-ing an optional zero hour, the school should just have eight periods, like we do now,” King-cade said. “It would be just as if we took all the classes students take over a span of two days, and combined them into one. They could still be involved everything they are now.” Within the band itself, which is a large organization at Hirschi, 52 students out of 75 are involved in the IB pro-gram. 50% of those students play sports of some kind, and 25% of them are involved in JROTC. Many are actu-ally involved in all three, as well as off-campus activities. Many of these stu-dents are concerned over the

Schedule To Experience Changes2011-2012 school year will bring seven hour schedule

fact that this change will make it harder for them to do things they were before. They be-lieve that getting up when they do is bad enough, with all the other activities they partake in, and by making school earlier, with a “zero” hour, they will not get the sleep they need. There are many pros and cons to this change, and one of them is the money-saver. It is very expensive to have a block schedule, and in order to keep from cutting programs or teachers, this change is necessary to save. Students, as well as some teachers, are resistant to the change. Scores have been steadily approving, and ac-cording to Mrs. Fain, teach-ers are worried that with this change, they will drop again. “I think that see-ing their students every day will actually bring scores up,” Fain said. “Students will feel more comfortable with their teachers and will be more willing to ask for help.” The students are still in an uproar though. Most stu-dents do not want to change from the block schedule be-cause they are comfortable in it, and it allows for them to do all they can do to have a suc-cessful high school education. However, until the change happens, and the students and staff at Hirs-chi experience a seven hour schedule, an opinion on this matter cannot truly be made.

Sports 6 Sports 5

“Shithrew11 innings,gaveuptworuns,and had 20 strikeouts. He did an amazing jobandreallycamethroughwhenhisteamneededhim.” -CoachJustinChavez

Sport:Baseball

Positions: Pitcher, Outfield

•Tournament MVP•Shi Bailey

Sports TodaySupporting the Unsupportedby Amber Manriquez As a Hirschi student it is pretty safe to say that we have all at least attended one football or basketball game; it is also a reasonable conclu-sion that we see the support throughout the school that is shown to these teams as well. We have pep ral-lies and participate in dress up days for the football team, while the basketball team is given support through T-shirts and even good luck wish-es on the school’s marque. In no form or fashion is this writer trying to down play this support, but rather to raise awareness of all the other sports and events that go un-supported. There are those that do attend the

other sporting events, but how-ever there is a greater deal that are guilty of not. How many of us can say we have watched a track meet? Or better yet know the results of tennis matches and how successful they are. Yes announcements are made about every sport-ing event and the results, but between the eagerness to go to lunch or listening in on the lat-est talk of Hirschi High School, we more than often tend not to give them our attention. As a Hirschi student how many of you can say you have been to a soccer game? How many of you can say you know how the baseball and softball teams are doing? Just how many of you can say you have congratulated the cross country, track, tennis, or gold teams on all of their hard work? This writer is trying to present and increase two things, awareness and sup-port for those of our teams her at Hirschi that are under supported by the student body Therefore next time you see an athlete ask them how their season is going ,and if you by chance get a free night, try to find out what sports are going on and go out and give them your support.

by Paige Scherer It’s time for dis-trict play to begin for the Lady Huskies softball team, and after a strong pre-sea-son, they are ready to take on their district competition. The softball season started for the Lady Huskies on February 5th with a scrim-mage against Mineral Wells, followed by Old High on the 11th. The team then jumped right in to tournament season. The first tourna-ment was in Mineral Wells, where the Lady Husky soft-ball put up a good fight, but came out with no wins. On February 21st, the softball team went up against the varsity team from Bridgeport, and came out on top with a score of 6-5. The next two week-ends for the Lady Huskies schedule consisted of tourna-ments in Burkburnett ,as well as the Optimist Club Tourna-ment here in Wichita Falls.

With no other victo-ries in the pre-season, the Lady Huskies are ready to move on to district play. Their first district game is against Iowa Park in Iowa Park on March 22nd, right after spring break. The next home game for the girl’s softball team is against Olney at the Optimist club. The game will begin at 6 pm and both the JV and Varsity teams will be play-ing. Support is more than welcome and appreciated!

Girls Head for District PlayVarsity Softball Looks for Success

by Nicole Mcpeters Powerlifting has ac-complished many goals this year, and the members who have been involved in it have made their way to the top. Junior Brandon Shep-perd and Junior Jamal Lewis have worked their way to re-gionals in power lifting. The two young boys have been working hard all year, and they have accom-plished their goals and then

Get Strong, Stay Strong, SucceedPowerlifting Makes Name at Regionals

some this lifting season. The both members qualified for regionals placing third, missing their chance to go to state by one place. The boys did a great job at regionals which was held in Decatur. They gave it their all but came up just shy of heading to state. The two juniors have practiced working on their strength since last powerlifting season; both plan on working just as hard their senior year

with the goal of going to state in mind. Power lifting is a sport that takes strength, but talent as well, each time you master a strength and a max you move on to the next highest one. Many people don’t care for power lifting because it involves nothing but lift-ing weights and many athletes don’t care to lift weights. Brandon Shepperd and Jamal Lewis have the po-

tential to achieve all they can while they are in high school. The two athletes came together and joined in the team of power lifting. “ I wanted to see how strong I really was so I joined power lifting” says Junior Brandon Shepperd. He joined in the game and gave it all he had, finishing further than he ever intended. Junior Jamal Lewis says he joined because, “the coaches kept talking to me and encouraged me to join power-lifting, they all thought it was a sport that I could succeed at.” The coaches had faith in their athletes and they en-couraged them to the best of their ability. The players came out on top doing better than they thought they were capable of. Everyone should con-gratulate the two young boys on all their hard work they have put into powerlifting this year. Both have done a phenomenal job, and intend to keep working in preparation for next year’s season.

Brandon Shepperd spots Jamal Lewis as he squats and works on rais-ing his personal lifting goals.

Good Luck

Huskies

The Hirschi Husky Staff Gives Their Best Wishes to the Soccer Team as They Enter Play-Offs For the First Time Ever in the History of Hirschi Soccer!

by Amber Manriquez Recently the Hirs-chi baseball team traveled to Jacksboro for an area tourna-ment. The Huskies were confi-dent and looking to go home as the tournament champions. The Huskies went head to head with the Petrolia Pirates to start the tournament off. The Huskies played a hard game, but with some struggles and mistakes the Pirates were able to come away with the (13-4) win. However the Huskies were more than determined to take the tournament by storm and put the loss behind them. The Breckenridge Buckaroos were no match for the Huskies as they worked to-gether as a team for a shut out of (15-0). The Electra Tigers were next in the tournament line up to play the Hirschi Hus-kies. The Huskies once again found their groove and quickly took the lead over the Tigers. Hirschi then went on to take another shut out of (10-0).

After beating the Elec-tra Tigers the Huskies were up to play in the championship game against the Jacksboro Tigers. The game was neck and neck the whole time com-ing down to the very last in-ning with a tied score of (4-4). Senior Cameron Parrish hit a home run to give the Huskies the win of (5-4). The Huskies went home with the Champi-onship title. Coach Chavez was more than pleased with his baseball boys and commended them on their efforts and prog-ress. “The team played well, pitchers played great, and we played some of the best base-ball we have played this sea-son,” Chavez said. The Huskies then went on to compete in the Bells In-vitational Tournament. The boys started off the tournament strong against the Bells Panthers coming out with an eight run lead, that they kept and went on to take

the win.

Making Progress

Next up the Huskies took on Gainesville Leopards. The team seemed to struggle and just couldn’t find their rhythm. Gainesville took ad-vantage of this and the mistakes that the Huskies were making, and took the win, sending the Huskies home from the tourna-ment. The Leopards put a (12-4) loss on the Huskies record. Coach Chavez was dis-appointed and emphasized the fact that the he wanted the team to be making steps forward not back. “I wanted the boys to grow and get better from Jacks-boro, we just couldn’t seem to hit the ball. We wanted to work out our kinks and it just didn’t happen. This season it will it will be up to the seniors on this team to see how far they lead us; our goal is to end our district losing streak and com-pete for a district playoff spot. Overall I am pleased at where we are in this season and the progress that we have made,” Chavez expressed.

Baseball Aims to End District Losing Streak

“Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records.”

HIRSCHI BASKETBALL The Hirschi Varsity Basketball boys made it for the fourth time all the way to Region-als in Lubbock this year. Hirschi fans have

watched, a team with tremendous talent, grow and come together as a team. These young

men have shown that through hard work and determination anything is possible, and that it is never too late to turn a season around.

Coach Donald Hedge accredits senior leader-ship from Keon Duren and Steve Ewing as a force that kept the team focused and on track to state. Hedge said that the success and deter-mination of his team as a whole is something that proved for a year filled with determina-tion and great pride in his team. Good job

Huskies you make all of us more than proud to call ourselves your fans and fellow Huskies.

Keep pursuing your dreams and good luck next year in your journey.

Feature 7 Feature 8by Nour Azzouz “People absolutely underestimate nutrition when it comes to appearance”, says Michael Roizen, M.D., Chief of the Cleveland Clinic’s Well-ness Center abs coauthor of YOU: Being Beautiful. Ap-pearance is a critical concern of many teenagers; for many, this is the time to be beautiful in life; when one is young and still full of vitality. However, the American lifestyle has poisoned not only the eating habits but the willingness to accept any other changes to it of teenagers today as well. In-stead of eating a healthy apple for a snack, most teens grab a candy bar, or far worse, fast food when they feel a hungry sensation. Grapes: What is so special about grapes? Grapes contain antioxidants and vita-min C that act as your skin’s bodyguards, repairing and even preventing premature dryness, fine lines and sagging caused. One to one and a half cups of grapes deliver close to twenty percent of a person’s daily vi-tamin C needs, and will also supply a chemical that helps preserve the protein elastin, which keeps their skin plump. IB students my find the con-

sumption of grapes beneficial to their skin because of all of the stress they undergo in the program. Healthy Carbs; Other foods useful for stressed out IB students include the healthy carbohydrates. It is normal for students to crave sweets when they are stressed out or blue, and off course it is typical for students to grab a sugary treat that they believe will make them feel better when they are in this situation as well. How-ever, most people are naïve to the fact that while a sweet treat can improve a person’s mood, its effect is only temporary. Sugary treats set up the body for a blood sugar crash which can make a bad mood even worse. A better food group that provides a more effective boost in spirits includes com-plex carbs such a chickpeas, whole-grain bread, and lentils. Fish or Walnuts: Gross! would probably be the public’s general reaction until they read far enough to learn that these two foods can magi-cally prevent acne breakouts! The foods that doctors advise teenagers with acne problems to consume include any foods made with white flour, espe

cially refined, processed carbs like white bread and sugary cereals. (One study found that these foods triggered more breakouts than a diet rich in fish, fruit, whole grains and le-gumes). Doctors recommend including foods rich in ome-ga-3 acids in a person’s diet who is struggling with acne because these foods have been found to help control inflam-mation throughout the body, including inflammatory acne. That means halibut, walnuts, flaxseeds and especially salm-on, will help clear anyone’s acne. Protein rich: A per-son’s nails are made up of many layers of a protein called keratin. If a woman, or a man’s, nails are weak and brittle, it is most likely due to a protein deficiency in their diet that could be the re-sult of chronic dieting and or other unhealthy eating habits. It is recommended that teens consume 45 and 65 grams of protein each day to uphold a healthy diet. Foods rich in pro-tein include lean beef, eggs, poultry, fish or nuts. Two eggs contain 12.5 grams of protein, 20 percent of the day’s recom-mended intake.

ter: Seven hours of school-ing defiantly does its work in draining the sunny spirits of teens. Fortunately for students, they do have the opportunity to enjoy lunch time midway through the day, which gives students the chance to refuel. Unfortunately many students end up actually end up chang-ing this beneficial opportunity to refuel into an whole new op-portunity that opens the door to gaining more weight. Instead of picking up healthy treats that will provide students with the right kind of nutrients to keep them focused and ener-gized for the rest of the day, most simply go for “what-ever tastes good”. Antifatigue experts recommend the ever popular apple and peanut but-ter treat instead of the typical Oreo fix or other similar treats. The apple combo has fiber-rich carbohydrates with a little pro-tein, which takes more time to digest than carbs alone, so that one will stay energized longer. The choice is fail-proof and delish. Also if one has at their disposal the vending machine, choosing a protein-rich bag of peanuts would also be a smart alternative.

Green Tea: The ben-efits for green tea seem to exist in a never ending list. Among the newer benefits of this meri-cal food discovered is it’s the fact that the caffeine in green tea actually slows the produc-tion of a chemical that shrinks the hair follicles and makes the hair thinner. Doctors recom-mend three cups of green tea daily, or one with every mean. If your hair problems are how-ever more serious, they may be caused form a zinc deficiency. In this case, doctors would rec-ommend eating zinc-rich foods that include crabmeat, yogurt, baked beans, green beans and pumpkin seeds. Milk and Cheese: On top of all of the stress that stu-dents face on a daily basis, the anxiety for girls is multiplied during that dreaded time of the month. Fortunately ladies, new research has been released that proves that a diet rich in calcium may lessen the side effects of PMS in most wom-en.1,200 miligrams of calcium daily (the amount in nearly two slices of Swiss cheese plus a glass of skim and yogurt) can cut premenstrual symptoms by an astonishing 48 percent! Apple and Peanut but-

Beauty Can Not Only be Painless, it Can be Deliciousby Tana Harkrider To throw the majority of the world into an astronomi-cal confusion, scientists have recently added a new zodiac sign to the horoscope world. Due to changes in the tilt of the Earth’s axis over thousands of years, the dates of many zodiac signs have changed. The twelve original signs were characterized for different periods of the year almost 3,000 years ago. As the Earth’s position to the sun changed over this time period, a new zodiac sign has come into view. The constellation of Ophiuchus appears as a man holding several serpents. This man, Imhotep, lived in ancient Egypt around the 27th century BC, and was most well-known for knowledge in medicine; the medical symbol derives from the constellation. Attributes of this sign include:• interpreter of dreams, premo-nitions• attracts good luck• serpent holder• lofty ideals• a seeker of peace and har-mony• doctor of medicine or sci-ence. One major point of confusion is whether or not a person’s sign has changed. This new sign pretains to people be-ing born after the adoption of

The Newly Added Zodiac Horoscope the new sign. “I don’t really believe in the zodiac, but I think its funny that the stars are trying to tell us something, like there is a brand new type of person in the world,” says senior Nour Azzouz. Math teacher, Mr. Borgman, explains that time is not relative, and they cannot simply change the zodiacs as they did. “Time is an abstract thing; they can’t change [the zodiacs],” explained Mr. Borg-man. The debate is still on-going as to whether or not the east-ern or west-ern zodiacs will change.

Cap r i co rn : Jan 20 - Feb 16

A q u a r i u s : Feb 17 - March 11

Pisces: March 12 - April 18

Aries: April 19 - May 13

Taurus: May 14 - June 21 by Guest Writer

What is a methylpred-nisolone? Honestly, who cares? But the question arises again, except with the bedazzle-ment of some added quotation marks: what is a methylpredni “solo” ne? Yes, the word “solo” is singled out. On February 19, thir-ty-two students from Hirschi High School tried-out for Solo and Ensemble, and Cameron Parrish (euphonium), Richard Brown (clarinet), Amy Hwang (flute), and Aaron Graham (trumpet) will go to State to play their solos. Not just anybody goes to State. First, one has to mem-orize his or her solo, and then that individual has to play it in front of a judge who then gives a score of one to five, one be-ing the best and five being the worst. The score of one gets to go to State. Now, there are not any words with “ensemble” in them that makes a person feel all giddy just by looking at them, so “ensemble” is just going to be outright said. This band-like term is mentioned for a purpose, and this purpose is to show that individuals can

Band Takes it to Statealso go to State for playing an ensemble and receiving a one. The best part about this is that players do not have to memo-rize their music. Ensembles that made it to State consist of Cody Stan-field, Bryan Gabel, and Aaron Graham in their trumpet trio, Jasmine Branch, Amy Hwang, Estie Moore, and Angel Rog-ers in their miscellaneous woodwind ensemble, and Mon Dosado, Ryan Jackson, and Cameron Parrish in their bari-tone trio. All of these students will be going to State Solo and Ensemble Contest in May. This time, they will have to put on their big boy pants to take on the tougher competition.

by Jessica Lunte Every little girl grows up hearing the fairy tale of Cinderella and her magical night at the royal ball. The gor-geous palace, the dancing, and of course, the handsome prince are all a must. However, more important than anything else, is the gown. Who can imagine a Cinderella without the long, flowing gown? A dance just would not be the same without a beautiful dress and all the ac-cesories. Sadly, prom dresses are very expensive. The fact that a dress of such caliber can only be worn once or twice creates an even more distressing pre-dicament for high school stu-dents trying to decide whether to buy one. Luckily, girls can have something to look forward to this prom season. Women 2 Young Wom-en sponsors girls from all across the region who do not have the financial means to participate in prom without help. They will host a con-ference for high school girls, where they will be able to try on dresses, accesories, and try on makeup. Students will be able to wear the outfits they have selected to the prom. If any students are interested in the event, they should get an application from

the office and give it to a coun-selor. The event will be held at Midwestern State University in the Clark Student Center on March 26. No need to wait for a magical fairy godmother or a hero to come to the rescue with a glass shoe. Women can create their own magical night with the help of Cinderella for a day. Now for that date...

Be Cinderella for a DayGemini: June 22 - July 20

Cancer: July 21 - Aug 10

Leo: Aug 11 - Sept 16

Virgo: Sept 17 - Oct 30

Libra: Oct 31 - Nov 23

Scorpio: Nov 23 - Nov 29

Ophiuchus: Nov 30 - Dec 17

Sagittarius: Dec 18 - Jan 19

Ophiuchus, the newly added zodiac sign

by Cayley Burleson As most schools do, nearly every class has its very own teacher’s pet. A teacher’s pet is the usual person who does anything for the teacher, intercedes constantly with all-knowing or self-discovered comments during a lecture or teaching session, and fights any challenger for the label of “teacher’s pet.” To see whether or not the teacher’s pet is suc-cessful within the harsh world of school, an observation has been conducted to show the final outcome for the teacher’s pet in life. A myriad of reasons has been discussed as to why an individual so heatedly works to be the class favorite, or better known as the “kiss up.” Atten-tion deficits, spiteful revenges, loneliness, or just plain stub-bornness are often key prob-lems that drive the student to fall to such servitude in order to underhandedly gain some sort of hierarchal status above his or her peers. A common

Does Brown-Nosing Really Work?How “sucking up” affects students’ reputations and their fellow classmates.

characteristic that accompa-nies each of these foundational reasons seems to be the need to triumph above others; it’s seen as the desperate attempt to grasp every fading drop of power and victory that has been suddenly siphoned from them as a challenging scholar rightfully ascends to the top of the student pyramid through sheer work and intelligence. The reason why this pet be-comes so vengeful once the limelight is stolen from them is as that they have had a taste of what it is like to be on top, thus they become threatened or angered once another student challenges them. Think of it as a drug addict having their supply taken away; they will usually do anything to get it back. To many people, the sad thing is that there should never be such vicious competition or snide battles for academic dominance, but this individual pet establishes the conniving fire of being on top, forcing

those who holistically succeed within the learning environ-ments and grading systems to start to fall to the pet’s level and work even harder to keep what is justly theirs. With these observa-tions comes the pet’s reputa-tion. As the pet is forced to find more and more ways to beat the competitors, its own personal reputation usually becomes tarnished as plans to convolutedly undermine the competition’s success develop into a grandeur scale that in-volve others outside of the classroom and school. When this plan finally reaches in-dividuals that see the actual absurdity of the situation, the pet’s plan is finally foiled and the true identity of the pet is revealed. Even though there is this damaging effect on the pet’s reputation, its victims are always affected from this complex scheme. These suf-ferers are typically the happy,

fun, smart, sometimes quiet and overall good people of the class. Their positive au-ras seem to have the effect of draining the dark aura of the pet as attention, credibility, and emulation are redirected to spotlight the new competitors, driving the pet mad. This is when the revenge tactics of the pet’s plans are activated and negative criticism about the new competitors (the victims) begins to permeate throughout the school. This action can tem-porarily taint the victims’ repu-tations and possibly cause their work ethic to fall in order to stay out of the newly negative spotlight. In worse case scenar-ios, even non-students begin to listen to the bizarre accusation of the pet’s plan, further dam-aging the victims and forcing them into a hole of banishment that is sometimes impossible to escape. Even if this problem is corrected, there always re-mains a blemish of sadness and betrayal as the victims realized

that they were deceitfully pun-ished for their hard work. No matter how twisted and how deep this pet dives into the world of the devious, the more-intelligent seem to al-ways remain on top. The whole purpose and the whole being for a pet is essentially point-less as the smarter individu-als nearly always find ways to push the pet’s antics aside and bulldoze their way on through school. After coming to these conclusions, there seems to be only one message: teachers’ pets will fail. “Fail” as in figu-ratively or literally? It can only be observed.

by Nour Azzouz What seems to be the latest way to score a magazine cover? “Get pregnant and have a baby when you’re a teenager, and do it all on TV” says Hol-lie McKay of Fox news. Ever since the premiere of Juno, the media has been bombarded with the dramas of teenage mothers, which have lately been spotlighted on practi-cally every tabloid at the gro-cery lines. Many entertainment channels including MTV and ABC Family, popular with today’s adolescence are fea-turing programs such as “16 and Pregnant”, “Teen Mom” and “The Secret Life of The American Teenager”. Whether these programs are prompting awareness or encouraging pre-marital pregnancy has been a recent topic of discussion. “It really depends on the programs that you watch”, said senior Brandon Fudge. “I believe that the show “Teen Mom”, especially when first released, depict the true life of teenage mothers and couples and did an exceptional job of realistically presenting all of the happiness and hardships that come with having a baby

The Glamour of Diapers and Pacifiersin high school”. Senior Elise Kline agrees with Fudge’s opinion, “from watching these shows I’ve really gained a sense of how difficult the lives of teen mothers in high school are. The show is honest effec-tive in presenting most if not all of the consequences that teen mothers and fathers have to deal with.” Apparen t ly, statistics agree with theses students as well. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy has proven that these shows do arouse awareness, as 82 per-cent of surveyed teens say the shows help them understand the challenges of pregnancy and parenthood - and why they should avoid it. However, not every-one shares this opinion about these shows. Mckay believes that these shows are sending the message to girls that if they get pregnant as a result of being sexually active; they could end up on TV or a magazine cov-er. Several other people have also criticized the producers of these programs for “glamor-izing” teen pregnancy. Senior

Cayley Burleson says, “I find it difficult to take such programs seriously when I consider the fact that these teenage mother are being rewarded of their discrepancies with their own reality shows,” she states. “I believe that if MTV and other channels are sincere in devel-oping these programs to raise awareness, they are presenting the issue the wrong way.” Ultimately it is com-pletely dependent on the stu-dent’s interpretations of such shows as to whether they actu-ally benefit from them or not.

Entertainment 12by Jessica Lunte Alien shows have always held some kind of fascination for American au-diences. The threat, and in some cases, hope, of conspir-acy attracts people to TV like nothing else, making shows concerning Aliens an in-stant pot of money. For me, something has been lacking in all of these shows. That certain believabil-ity is just thrown out of the window for those over the t o p - m i n d b l o w -ing special effects. F i n a l -ly, after years of searching, a (fairly) believable and really amaz-ing Alien show has appeared. “V” originally ap-peared in the 1980’s, with a pretty massive following. Last year, the new “reboot” of the “V” series keeps the same ad-dictive qualities as the original series, but manages to relate to modern day audiences with is-sues like global warming and dwindling natural resources. The story begins when randomly, hundreds of alien space ships come to Earth. Their leader, Anna, broad-casts via Television that they have come in peace and wish to help humans and the planet. The V’s (the aliens’ name) soon gain the confidence of most of the Earth’s popula-tion by coming up with cures

for cancer and fixing the ozone layer. However, not everyone is so adoring of the intruders. An underground move-ment led by the main characters in the show are highly skepti-cal of the aliens’ apparent ran-dom benevolence. Soon, they discover the the V’s have their

own agenda. With each episode, the Anti-V movement discovered ter-rible secrets about the alien’s and what they mean to do to Earth and its inhabitants. Already in its second season, the show is defi-nitely addicting. It is unique for its hybrid sci-fi

and pop feel. Something good has to be said about a show that appeals to Sci-Fi fanat-ics (me) and to Reality/com-edy enthusiasts (my mom). Not one Tuesday can go by without the daily dos-age of “V”. It has gotten to the point that if anyone so much as talks or, dare I say it, turns the channel when “V” is on, it gets very violent. Not even soccer takes precedents in my house when “V” is on, which for an European family is scandalous. If this series has the power to turn the channel from soccer in this writer’s house-hold, something about is very special. Many people should definitely take the time to check out this fabulous show.

Aliens Attack Prime Timeby Joshua Thompson Those of you with iPhones or an iPod Touch might already know about a game coming out soon to platform gamers. The game is called “Rage”, and it will be released for your computer, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. If you don’t have an iPhone, or just hadn’t the played game, it is a first-per-son shooter/racing game. It takes place after a meteor hits Earth. There are now only the survivors and mutants a r o u n d t h e E a r t h . This set-ting is very in-teresting because t h e y based the meteor off of the real one that will actually fly by Earth in 2036. The player survives the impact because he is a member of an A.R.K. A.R.K is worldwide movement that took scientists and froze them underground so they could sur-vive the impact of the meteor.

So, around the world, there are several A.R.K.’s set where a dozen people are frozen. The player comes to realize that his A.R.K. ma l func -tioned and he was the only surv ivor. So the player comes to

the surface of an un-d e rg r o u n d A.R.K. to without any m e m o r y , only to find other s u r v i v o r s

to help him. After the meteor hits the Earth, it sets a perfect en-vironment for a dune-buggy type racing. The player will find a car, and then through-out the game be able to up-grade their car by various items they can receive by racing.

When the player reach-es other A.R.K.’s, they might need help for defending bandits

and mu-tants, so he uses various w e a p -ons to do so. The in-forma-tion on whether or not t h e

player is able to customize their weap-ons has not been released yet. Rage will also fea-ture some RPG elements, This includes side missions that can alter the gameplay. The designer of the game, Tim Willits has stated that sometime within the game the racing feature and the racing feature of the game will com-bine together at the same time. Rage will be released on September 13 of this year. Rage should be a very unique game due to its mixture of racing and first person shooter genres.

The Not So New Rage Going Platform

by Catherine Fells NBC has a new su-per hero joining them on Monday nights. The new show The Cape is ok. The Cape is a mod-ern day superhero adventure completely with arch nem-esis Chess, a cruel serial killer and traducer (played by James Frain) who frames Vince Fara-day for his actions. Vince Fara-day (played by David Lyons) is an ex- policeman who be-comes his son’s favorite super-hero The Cape to get his fam-ily back after being “killed”. He then joins a cir-cus troop who also double as a group of bank rob-bers and meets the ring mas-ter, Max M a l i n i (played by Keith Da-vid). He then learns the secrets of the most sacred and skilled weapon, the cape. Through the process of his training, he battles other vil-

lains, Scales (played by Vinne Jones) and Cane, who are the h e n c h -man of c h e s s . To be c o m -p l e t e l y h o n e s t , the show is a little c h e e s y . Superhe-ro shows are usu-ally not that great. As a mat-

ter of fact, the only one I know of that has remained s u c c e s s f u l is Small-ville and this is their last season. The same applies to The Cape. I would hate to see another show from NBC fail, but I honestly

don’t think that this is going to stick around for much longer, The concept is great though. A hero trying

NBC Introduces New Show, “The Cape”to avenge his family is al-ways a great motivation but

the delivery is a little bland. There are some great qualities of the show. I mean, it’s not all bad. For instance, the main villain Chess, is actu-ally and alter ego of CEO Peter Flening when is reality he is a really nice guy. When he be-comes Chess, his eyes change as well. They have chess pieces as pupils. That’s pretty cool, but then it is over shadowed by the corny over dramatic story line. I give this show a 5 out of 10 for entertainment and an 8 out of 10 for family friendliness. If you want to watch it then , by all means, more power to you. But it is not a television show that is just so exciting that it can not be missed for a single night.

by Javi Nieves Every one knows of the world wide phenomenon known as video games. Also with video games comes the much sought after XP or ex-perience points. These XP, once collected in abundance, trans-fer into a level up! Gain enough of these “level ups” and you reach a certain level on the leader boards. W e l l now, people young and not so young, active and not so active, you can gain these XP in real life! Yes with the cre-ation of the Green Goose sensor program, people can now gain XP and level up outside the TV screen and video games and in real life! The Green Goose package comes with a Home Dock to plug in your sen-sors, the software, and mul-tiple sensors that one at-taches to there water bottle,

tooth brush, or them selves when you go out for a run or a bike ride or something. Also when you bring your lunch to school or work or where ever. Every time you do one of these things with the sensor

on it, it will regis-ter and give you lifestyle points, the experience curren-cy of Green Goose. However, not only does it track

healthy decisions made, but it also shows how much money you save. T h i s whole program is one that will get people of their butts, on the couch, or in front of the TV and into the real world, get-ting a tan while still climbing a world wide leader board. Green Goose, not even released yet, has already

Green Goose; A Way to Prestige in Lifesparked up a healthy rivalry between Entertainment editor, CJ Lowder, and Entertainment writer, Javier Nieves, who is in fact writing this column. The “player” gets lifestyle points based on the activity, the time the activ-ity was performed, at what intensity. So, for example, on your report it would say “+2 Lifestyle Points for taking a drink of water at 12:43 PM” Consume enough wa-

ter, or walk the dog enough, or even play with the kids enough at a decent inten-sity and you will be eating up the levels like crazy. The Green Goose program is

not just a time wast-er, but its more what the Wii set out to do: get people up and out and exercising. But this product can only go one of two ways. It will be either a huge suc-cess, or an enormous failure.

EntertainmentThe audience is taken on a psychological thrill ride as Nina makes a transformation from the White Swan into the Black Swan as she becomes more sinister towards her es-tranged mother and pushes herself beyond her limits and too far past her breaking point. I’ve not heard a single bad review from any paper or critic on Black Swan. I myself quite enjoyed it. The spectacle of it all is what interested me

most, as I’m very theatre oriented. In the past Port-man has achieved recognition for roles, but none like this. Her part in this film is very much an example of coming into one’s own. Even Mila Kunis, who is most recognized from her part in That 70’s Show, received critical

stardom from this film. Only good has come to everyone involved in Black Swan, and I predict more fortunate news. Portman might be the first breakout star of 2011 as she has completed “No Strings Attached”, Kunis has also completed a similar film titled Friends With Benefits alongside Justin Timberlake. What’s next for these women, and even for Hollywood? Do you sense a myriad of films in the future for these two actresses and their careers?

Black Swan Hits Theaters

Sitcom Poll!

How I met you Mother?

Or

Big Bang Theory?

by Anthony Garza Being a dramatic arts fan, I was excited, to say the least, when I went to see Black Swan during its opening weekend here in Wichita Falls. The film revolves around a fragile and dedicated ballerina named Nina, played by Natalie Portman, who is already somewhat shattered, seeing strange people on trains and having an odd rash on her shoulder that she cannot explain She has spent her life pursuing a lead role in a show, but has never suc-ceeded until she gets the part of Swan Queen in her company’s pro-duction of Swan Lake. Initially she is ecstatic and re-ceives congratula-tions from every-one, even Lily, the newcomer from California played by Mila Kunis. All is well until we start to see signs of distress. Nina has trouble getting into her role; the White Swan is not a far stretch from herself, however the Black Swan, a role that embodies the idea of sensuality and mystery, breaks whatever mental shell Nina had left protecting her sanity. Soon, Nina’s world is turned upside down when she thinks Lily is trying to steal her role, she begins to experi-ence abnormalities in her life, and her rash becomes worse.

Or

House?

TV Drama Poll!!

Glee?

by Javi Nieves Not many people know of the ingenious novel writer known as Max Brooks, but come late fall 2012, they will with the release of the the movie adaptation of his second zombie book, World War Z. The book, published in 2008 is the equal to The Zombie Survival Guide. In this novel, Brooks travels across the war-torn and recovering globe for first hand accounts of the zombie epidemic, or The Great Pan-ic, in chrono-logical order from uprising to war to recovery. The cre-ator of the book is rather a star himself, being the child of Mel Brooks and Anna Bancroft. He has writ-ten around a total of forty epi-sode s of SNL in 2001 to 2003. He has also done the voice of Howard in the 2000 television series Batman Beyond, as well as other voices in tv shows. The film adaptation will have a cast that includes (so far as the movie is still in

preproduction) Brad Pitt, who is already well know for his work in “Seven”, “Fight Club” and “Inglorious Bastards”, and Milo Ventimiglia, who is known for his roles in “He-roes” and “Rocky Balboa”. It was origi-nally said that the director of Iron

Man 1&2 would be directing this movie, but he will not. In hiss t e a d , Marc For-ester, who has direct-ed “Quan-tum of S o l a c e ” , “Finding N e v e r -land” and “ S t r a n g -er than

Fiction”, will be tak-ing over this production. For those of you who think that the movie has a 50-50% chance of being a success, this movie is a huge six-figure deal. The rights for the book was a part of a huge bidding war between War-ner Brothers and Appian Way against Paramount and Plan B.

Not Your Ordinary Undead Movie The writer of the World War Z script/screenplay is Matthew Micheal Carnahan, who has written the scripts for “State of Play” and “The King-dom”, along other big movies. As a zombie movie, it

should hold true to the origi-nal formula of the zombie genera: lots of blood, gore and violence. However, it is a “moc-kumentary”, a documentary that is over a topic that does not really ex-ist, so it will have a slow-er tempo in some places. O v e r all, the cast

and crew so far should come together to create an amaz-ing movie that should deliver something that has not been seen before in theaters. Zom-bie fans everywhere are hold-ing their collective breath in anticipation of this monumen-tal zombie milestone. But for now, they will have to wait until that milestone is reached.