Check it out!Check it out!Look at the backLook at the back

cover cover for a calendar for a calendar

of upcoming events!of upcoming events!

Letters to the editor can be Letters to the editor can be on any topic of any length. Theyon any topic of any length. They

may be edited for length may be edited for length or libelous content.or libelous content.Letters to the editor Letters to the editor

are accepted are accepted in room 220.in room 220.

EditorsAnna Claire Bradshaw

William BumpasJaylin Gardner

Alex JacobiKatie Taylor

Section EditorsHunter Todd- News

Ginny Roper- OpinionSavannah Johnson- Entertainment

Andrew Legan- FeaturesEmma Caylor- Sports

Photography EditorAlex Jacobi

Design EditorWilliam Bumpas

Copy EditorsAnna Claire Bradshaw

Katie Taylor

Business ManagerHunter Todd

Circulation ManagerSavannah Johnson

Reporters Shelby Andrews

Nic Berry Lauren Brooks

Elizabeth BumpasWalt Carter

Rachel Chaffin Logan CollierMaggie FeithZach GolsonKopper HarrisJackson Lay

Aura Mae NorthcuttMcCord Pagan

Shelby PleasantWhitney Reynolds

Tyler RobertsSam Shankle

Sean StapletonJacob Stegeman

Chris Wagner

AdvisorsSuzanne Edwards

Nancy Speck

Trojan TorchDyersburg High School125 Hwy. 51 By-PassDyersburg, TN 38024

CONTENTS

15

Trojan

News

Editorials

Features

Sports

Entertainment

p. 3

p. 7

p. 12

p. 18

p. 20

Global Youth, Feed the Children.......................................................................................................3Downtown revitalization...................................................................................................................4School/Church trips, Haiti update.....................................................................................................6Letter to the Editor.......................................................................................................................7School lunch..............................................................................................................................9Music copyright law.................................................................................................................10Glover .....................................................................................................................................12Spring break, April Fools Day.......................................................................................................13Bucket list..............................................................................................................................15Sleep deprivation, Solmon..............................................................................................................16Tennis, Basketball..................................................................................................................18Baseball, NCAA March Madness...................................................................................................19Angels and Airwaves, The Swell Season.......................................................................................20Mark Zusak review...................................................................................................................21John Mayer, The Last Song............................................................................................................22Ipad............................................................................................................................................23

19 22

3

3TrojanTorch Volume 42 Issue 5News

Emma CaylorSports Editor

With several new student-foundedclubs taking off at DHS, the stu-dent body involvement percent-

age is rising. The newest club, Global Youth,founded by junior Savannah Johnson andsponsored by English teacher Penny Switzer,is a non-profit organization that anyone canjoin, and they are. Global Youth started Feb-ruary 16th and has already finished its firstclub project.

“We recently did the Hope for Haitifundraiser where we earned $111 to donateto UNICEF,” junior Savannah Johnson said.

The club was started so students could be-come more aware of the environment andthe world.

“I wanted to give the students a chance todo something positive for the world,” John-son said.

Co-founders juniors Andrew Legan andSara Hester and senior Jaylin Gardner areright by Johnson’s side in helping the globalcommunity.

“It (Global Youth) is going to give studentsan opportunity to develop a better worldview,” Legan said.

The new club has caught the attention ofover a 100 high school students and the hori-zon keeps broadening. Parent and teacher in-volvement is also welcomed.

“Having parent and teacher help with ourclub makes it seem like such a bigger pro-duction and gives hope that maybe our clubcan become something greater than whatany of us expected,” Gardner said.

Global Youth’s next project is a benefit con-cert. The date and organization the group isdonating to will be released at a later date.

Katie TaylorEditor

On Tuesday, January 26, a select groupof FCCLA students traveled toNashville to participate in the Feed

the Children campaign.FCCLA sponsor Sandra Lanier hand-picked

president Eboni Dixon, Dominique Tipton,Alex Taylor, TiAngela Hockett, Kierra Whit-more and Alicia Martinez to help with theevent.

“I wanted these kids to understand what itwas like to give without receiving anythingin return,” Lanier said.

To even be invited to the event is an accom-plishment prompted by much hard work.

“Last year, we raised the most money in thestate out of all the other FCCLA groups forFeed the Children. A few weeks before theevent, I received an email asking us to helpout in Nashville ,” Lanier said.

The day began when the group left Dyers-burg High School at 5:00 a.m. They arrived inNashville a few hours later and joined otherschools and volunteers to help unload ten 18-wheeler trucks filled with boxes of food andhygiene products.

“We carried three boxes of stuff out to peo-

ple’s cars, and it was cold!” Whitmore said.In addition to unloading boxes, students

also distributed coats in the metropolitanarea.

“I enjoyed helping the needy; it was a nicefeeling,” Hockett said.

Although the day was frigid, students cameaway from the event with much more than apair of cold hands.

“It was a good experience because it wasnice helping other people,” Taylor said.

“Being on this trip made me realize what ismost important in life. I learned that it is bet-ter to give than to receive, and I realized howblessed we are. We should cherish what wehave because it could be gone the next day,”Tipton said.

“I was proud of how the students sacrificedtheir time. They learned that helping otherscan be fun,” Lanier said.

FCCLA (Family Career and CommunityLeaders of America) is a national organiza-tion that incorporates both a local and a na-tional focus in its initiatives. It is also the onlyorganization at DHS with a family focus.Every five years, the national focus changes;the last five years has been committed to Feedthe Children, and the following years willfocus on the Children’s Miracle Network.

Making a Difference: Junior SavannahJohnson packs empty cans to be recycled.

FCCLA joins Feed the Children effort in Nashville

Global Youth offers opportunities for world change

Photo submitted by Sandra Lanier

Photo by Emma Caylor

Feeding the Children: FCCLA students brave January cold weather in Nashvilleto help feed many needy children all over the United States.

4 Volume 42 TrojanTorchNewsIssue 5

McCord PaganReporter

Several years ago, a Mississippi business-man visited Dyersburg with plans tobuild a multi-million dollar factory in

the Industrial Park area. He was taken on atour of Dyersburg by the Chamber of Com-merce, but when he arrived downtown, hehated it. He said he would not invest in a citythat does not care enough about its down-town to renovate it. He then got back in hisvan and left Dyersburg.

True story.This event is a reminder of the importance

of revitalizing downtown Dyersburg and theneed to improve it enough to make businessesinvest and to make people want to stay here.That is why downtown is important and whyMain Street Dyersburg and the Chamber ofCommerce have been working for years to re-vitalize it and give it more appeal.

Main Street Dyersburg is an organ-ization that represents all the busi-nesses downtown and seeks torevitalize the streetscape so thatproperty owners will revitalize theirproperties. “Downtown Dyersburg has atremendous collection of quality tra-ditional buildings, a wonderfulcourthouse and square, and the po-tential to become even more spe-cial,” Dyersburg Mayor JohnHolden said.

Recently, Dyer County and Dyers-burg received two grants to im-prove the downtown area andattract more businesses to the city.Although the plans for downtownhave been around for years, it hasonly recently received the grantsnecessary to move forward.

“All the partners came togetherwith the guidance of the Chamberof Commerce. Instead of discussingwhat if, they started applying forlarge grants for the downtown dis-trict,” Director of Downtown Devel-opment Steve Guttery said.

“Every community is judgedagainst each other, and it is impor-tant to eliminate the negatives inorder to bring more businesses toDyersburg,” Main Street Dyersburg

Chairman Joe Yates said. On August 21, 2008, Dyer County received

a grant from the state of Tennessee to fundPhase 1 of the revitalization plan. The firstgrant, totaling about $722,000, will go towardsreviving the courthouse lawn.

This will include new greenery, restoring the

electrical system and adding new lighting,along with street signs and sidewalks. The100-year-old courthouse cannot be includedin Transportation Enhancement funds fromthe Tennessee Department of Transportation.

The grant for Phase 2 was granted on Octo-

ber 14, 2009. The $884,000 will go towards thecourthouse square and will involve installingnew streetlights and sidewalks.

The new streetlights, along with everythingelse, will be period appropriate and look likethe lights from the 1920s. The new sidewalkswill be inlaid with brick and have a three-di-amond detail decoration included in the de-sign. The three-diamonds are also seen indetail on the courthouse. The same style hasalready been used for the sidewalks outsideSecurity Bank. All areas of the Historic Districtare planned eventually to have the same typeof sidewalks and streetlights

The city will also be taking the opportunityto bring the downtown district up to Ameri-cans Disabilities Act compliance.

“We will be adding ramps and adding moredisabled parking,” Guttery said.

“This is a collaborative effort with every-one,” Holden said. “We will have amore inviting and vibrant down-town.”

Of course, the city can only do somuch. The state did not give as muchmoney as was originally asked for. Asa result, Dyersburg is asking down-town businesses to help them by alsoworking towards revitalization. Theplan is to get merchants to unifor-mally renovate their lots to make thearea more desirable and attractive.

“In other towns, the city will usetheir money to paint the front ofdowntown stores brown. Here, we aregoing up to businesses and asking‘Hey, could you paint your storebrown?’” Guttery said.

Many downtown businesses havealready worked on renovating theoutsides of their buildings in order tomatch what the rest of downtown willlook like. Security Bank, General Ap-pliance, Pennington Seed and Supplyand Galleria have all recently reno-vated.

“In these sorts of projects, there aretwo partners, the private sector andthe government, and sometimes it’sthe private sector that has to providea push so that things can start to hap-pen,” Security Bank President DavidHayes said.

City works with Main Street Dyersburgto bring prominence back to downtown area

“This is an excitingopportunity for

our community.”-David Hayes

Before: This outdated look will soon be replaced by abrand new, revitalized downtown Dyersburg.

5TrojanTorch Volume 42 Issue 5News

The Department of Transportation and theTransportation Enhancement Program aresupplying the grants to the city so long as Dy-ersburg can match 20 percent of the money.

The TEP supplies grants for programs thatwill improve access around towns and pro-vide a better quality of life. Part of the pro-gram in Dyersburg is to get people to startwalking around more in the downtown areaand for people to spend money there.

While each phase is scheduled to take only18 months, Guttery acknowledges that therewill probably be delays.

“When we start digging around the court-house, we expect to find something that willslow construction,” Guttery said.

Dyersburg is currently applying for threemore grants. The third grant will go towardsimproving the streetscape from Security Bankto Mill Avenue. The fourth grant will go to-ward a park next to the Forked Deer Riverdowntown, and the fifth grant will be used tohelp the Farmer’s Market downtown.

“This is an exciting opportunity for our com-munity, and it is part of my responsibility toleave this community better after I leave,”Hayes said.

The city will be spendingabout $2.1 million dollars overthe next two years to cover therevitalization project. However,as long as the city can keep re-ceiving grant money, there willstill be revitalization and workaround the city.

“We started at the logical cen-ter of town, and we plan to justwork out,” Guttery said.

Construction is scheduled tostart early in the spring.

While the construction will bea hindrance to traffic and busi-ness around the courthouse,plans are in place to minimizethe effect.

“Our biggest concerns will be the store own-ers downtown and how the new sidewalkswill affect them,” Holden said.

“We will probably have a website tellingpeople where to go, have special routes totake and have police helping to direct trafficduring the construction,” Guttery said. “Wewill be in close contact with all store ownersdowntown in order to minimize and ease theconstruction as much as possible.”

The revitalization of a downtown area is nota new idea. Many towns across the countryhave successfully done the same thing with

their historic downtowns. One of the mostprominent is Franklin, Tennessee.

Years ago, Franklin was trying to draw busi-ness back to its downtown using the samemethod as Dyersburg. Today, it is one of themost successful revitalization projects in thecountry.

“We have a wonderful old city, and if wedon’t do something, we will lose it. Those ofus in Main Street Dyersburg want to do thisone time, and we want to do it right,” Gutterysaid.

Photos by McCord Pagan

Photo courtesy of Dyersburg Chamber of Commerce

After: Part of the Mill Avenue sidewalk in front of Security Bank is an early exam-ple of Dyersburgs new revitalization process.

Planning the Construction: A blueprint of the masterplan gives a glimpse of the design that the finisheddowntown area project will exhibit.

6 Volume 42 TrojanTorchNewsIssue 5

Kopper HarrisReporter

The cry of a child in need re-sounds through the air. A manreaches out to her, offering her

food, shelter and hope. Since the dis-astrous earthquake in Haiti, numerousorganizations have reached out theirhands to Haiti.UNICEF has been focusing on han-

dling sanitation issues within Haiti sothat an outbreak of disease is pre-vented. Their goal is to establish30,000 latrines within the next sixmonths.

American Red Cross has stated thatit is updating its pledge to assist Haitifrom $200,000 to $1 million. Red Crossis now accepting any donationsthrough its International ResponseFund.

Celebrities are also contributing byjoining together to write songs to fundHaiti relief. Artists For Peace and Jus-tice is a new organization with a boardof celebritity activists who are donat-ing all their funds to recovery effortslike the rebuilding of schools, hospi-tals and orphanages.

“We are the world, we are the chil-dren...There’s a choice we’re making.We’re saving our own lives. It’s truewe’ll make a better day, just you andme.” These are words from the song“We Are The World” written 25 yearsago for Africa with the original collab-oration of the late Michael Jackson andLionel Richie. Now in 2010, over 80celebrities came together to revampthe old version of the song for Haiti.All profits made for the song go com-pletely to Haiti.

Jaylin GardnerEditor

For students living in the Dyer Countryarea, there is a plethora of opportunitesstudents have this spring to travel and

experience life outside the imaginary bound-aries of Dyer County.

There are many trips, schooland church affiliated, that willbe taking place for groupsand clubs students are in-volved in.

Cumberland PresbyterianChurch youth will be attend-ing the annual choir tour thattook place during the springlast year. The tour is spon-sored by the church and takesa lot of fundraising and hardwork. Students involved in the tour are fromDHS and DCHS, linking the two schools to-gether.

The tour will be leaving the 20th of Marchand coming back the 26th, traveling to Floridaand stopping in Georgia along the way. Thetour stops at different churches and performsin different towns. The performance consistsof songs of worship as a whole choir and assolos, along with dramatizations that studentschoreographed and planned to go along withthe theme of the music.

Along with performing for churches, thegroup also does mission work. The trip takesplace to help connect churches together andallow students to spread the word of God andbe impacted just the same.

“We are going to touch so many people’s

lives, including our own. It is incredible to bea part of,” senior Sarah Norville said.

Being allowed to take part in trips, whetherwith a church or through the school, allowsstudents to experience and gain insight intodifferent people and different cultures and tomake memories.

“This trip is a fun way to spread the wordand it is such an experience to see the reac-tions of people to the performance,” juniorLauren Lewis said.

A school trip taking place is TASC, Ten-

nessee Associations of Student Council. Thisis a state convention that takes place everyyear that Student Council attends. It will betaking place this year at Bearden High Schoolin Knoxville.

“The school should be allowed to take tripsthat are overall beneficial tothe school and students,”junior Elizabeth Finley said.

At the convention, chantsand songs are made aboutTennessee, but also studentsmeet new friends. By meet-ing these people and goingto this convention, StudentCouncil takes ideas andmakes plans for the upcom-ing school year.

“Some people see it asweird Student Council kids, but it’s a place tolet go, have fun and make plans,” senior andstudent council co-president Sarah Norvillesaid.

There are ways for students to get involvedwith organizations, clubs and differentgroups. So far students have taken the privi-lege of going on trips and used it to gain in-formation and insight and bring it toDyersburg.

Lighting UpLives: A group from a previous choir tour trip smiles forthe camera as they pose for a quick picture.

Different organizations lend helping hand to Haiti

Students experience enlightening spring break

Photo submitted by Jaylin Gardner

U.S. Government Photos

First, thank you for submit-ting your letter to the TrojanTorch. We appreciate the timestudents invest in voicing theiropinions in a professional man-ner.

Now, to address your question,we agree with your stance on thematter at hand. The definitionfor salutatorian recognizes astudent, as in one student. Hav-ing one honor bestowed on multi-ple students defeats the purposeof the recognition. It is honor-able because it is such a raretitle. Think about it: Only oneperson out of two hundred or sowill be a true salutatorian. Butwith the new system, the one ortwo students who have worked sohard to do well for the past fouryears will not receive the fullrecognition they deserve.

Additionally, we have an issuewith the whole “Trojan ScholarPoints” system. First, the sys-tem discounts point grades. An“A” is the same for everybody:There is no difference between astudent who strives to make 100sand has truly mastered the mate-rial versus a student who barelyhangs on with a 92.5. It is allthe same. With that in mind,high-achieving students havelittle motivation to do the bestthey can. Why bother when you aregoing to get the same result? Theschool is only lowering its stan-dards of achievement with thissystem.

Next, take a look at the waythe actual GPA is calculated. Al-though Advanced Placement (AP)courses are calculated moreheavily into the system, no con-sideration is taken for the rig-orous honors classes that manystudents have taken. Why botherexcelling in the honors courseswhen the AP classes are the onlyones the administration actuallycounts? The system is trying topromote incentives to work hard,but it acts as little motivationif everyone who reaches a certainstandard is pronounced as a salu-tatorian.

And last, we disagree with theACT portion of the Trojan ScholarPoints. So much emphasis is al-ready placed on this testthroughout the college prepara-tion process; why emphasize itmore? If you think about it, theschool board is saying that onefour-hour test is equal in weightto four years of high schoolwork—they both are weighted at50% of the total number of TrojanScholar Points.

One argument for this test isthat the honors and AP coursesare more geared to college prepa-ration and help students excel atthe ACT. But, to be honest, weknow that there are many intel-ligent students who cruise by intheir studies but have an ex-tremely lucky day with multiplechoice ACTquestions. With thissystem, even they can be saluta-

torians. What is even more as-tounding is that the ACT mathonly covers up to Algebra II. Soa student who masters that sub-ject and chooses not to pursueany advanced math afterwards hasthe same chances of doing well onthe test as someone who takesprecalculus and calculus. In ad-dition, students’ performance onthe reading and science portionsare relative to how fast theyread and comprehend. Thoseskills cannot be taught in theclassroom.

And finally, we understandthat the administration wants tomake a much-needed change. We ap-preciate their consideration,but the system has flaws thatneed to be addressed. Perhapssome of the issues we presentedcould be taken into considera-tion. But the real problem wehave is that it was suddenly im-plemented. Juniors and seniorsespecially have been workinghard for the past two or threeyears at getting as high a gradepoint average as possible. Now,their hard work is being castaside into the mob you describedabove. We feel that this systemshould have undergone morescrutiny and been implementedfor the Class of 2013 and theyears following.

Either way, the honor of salu-tatorian has indeed been vio-lated. We just wish somethingcould be done about it.

7TrojanTorch Volume 42 Issue 5Editorials

I’m pretty upset about the way DHS is doing vale-dictorian and top 10 this year. I know that the pointis so more people can get scholarships for being“salutatorian.” But the problem is that nearly all ofthose people aren’t salutatorians! I looked it up inthe dictionary. Salutatorian: ”The student having thesecond highest rank in a graduating class.” Whether 10,20, or 50, seniors earn enough “Trojan Points” (what-ever mathematical hocus pocus that involves) to becalled a “salutatorian,” those students haven’t actuallyworked to earn SECOND PLACE out of everybody. Ad-ditionally, the new way of doing things will deprive theREAL salutatorian from being recognized at graduation,or even told his or her ranking!

I have worked hard at DHS for 4 years, but I knowit’s not enough to be the real salutatorian. That’s a

tough spot. (Or at least it’s supposed to be.) How-ever, with my grades I’m pretty sure I would still besomewhere in the top 10. I would rather be ranked 7,8, or 9 and KNOW it, than be called a “salutatorian”when I didn’t earn it.

And for 3 or 4 people who are in the running forvaledictorian, it can only make it that much more com-petitive. Those top few students all deserve recogni-tion, but the way things are now, that will sadly notbe the case. Only one will be valedictorian, and theothers will be pushed back down into the mob of fake“salutatorians” with other people who don’t deserveit. I bet when that time comes, they’ll be a lot moreticked off than I am now… and I’m pretty ticked off.

Sincerely,So-Called Salutatorian

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9TrojanTorch Volume 42 Issue 5Editorials

Sean StapletonReporter

It is a widely known truth: Students love school lunch. It’s their fa-vorite part of the school day and not just because they get to social-ize with their friends. There are several terrific aspects that add to

the everyday school lunch experience that students just can’t getenough of. Who could possibly even dream of wanting to leave theschool to go to lunch somewhere else?

Who would wish to miss out on the complete exhilaration of runningto lunch? First, you hear the bell dismissing the lunch period beforeyou. Five minutes later, the second bell rings and you are off. You raceto the door and are smashed against the wall by some football player.

That is not even the best part, though. While sprinting down the hall-way, you send a freshman headlonginto a locker just to beat the oncomingmob of ravenous upperclassmen.

You all but jump down the stairs andrush into the commons to find out thatyou are still going to be one of the lastin line. You are out of breath and a lit-tle sore, but at least you made it.

Why would you want to trade thatout for a nice leisurely walk to yourcar where you could calmly drive toyour favorite fast food restaurant?

Now you get to wait in the lunchline. But who doesn’t enjoy listeningto the boy right behind you coughingup his lungs or watching others cut tothe front of the line unnoticed? Youdo not care; it’s just all part of the ex-perience.

Why would anyone skip the great, long wait in the lunch line just topull into Sonic and sit in your car and order whenever you’re ready?

You finally get to the front of the line and into the lunchroom. Youmight have been standing there for over twenty minutes and your legsare aching, but you finally get your food.

The lunch lady plops a large serving of today’s meal onto your trayand juice leaks into each styrofoam plate compartment. You select yourside dishes, while the flimsy tray threatens to collapse.

It is all fun and games, however. There is nothing more exciting thantrying to navigate around the masses of people while attempting tokeep the food from spilling out all over the floor.

Anybody who had left school would completely miss out, receivingtheir food in a timely, stress-free manner with almost no wait at all.What moron would want that?

Once you pay for your meal and somehow manage to cram yourselfin between two people you hardly know at your usual table, you getto play the game that everyone agrees is the most fun: Guess the Mys-tery Meat. While picking through the unknown ingredients of themeal, you are absorbed by the excessively loud atmosphere of the cafe-teria, almost as if you’re at a rock concert.

Why would students want to enjoy their hot double cheeseburgerand hand-cut onion rings as they recline in their comfortable car qui-etly listening to music?

You did not have long to eat after standing in line, but you time your-self and see if you can break your record of how quickly you can finishyour lunch. After chasing down the food that is professionallycrammed into your mouth with a deliciously frozen milk, you rush tothe trash can, deposit your tray and hurry back to class.

You are done, and you are now feeling the latent effects of the wholeevent. You lay your head down and begin to doze off. But you don’tworry because the review you are missing could not possibly help youon your test tomorrow.

Leaving for lunch is hardly similar to the experience of getting to eatat school. You do not get to see how fast you can eat your food, andyou come back to school so refreshed and content that you could notsleep through class if you tried.

Allowing students to leave for lunchcertainly would not save the schoolany money. It is not like there wouldbe less to cook or more leftovers thatwould just have to be thrown away.The lunch ladies certainly would notbecome less stressed or have an easierjob every day.

A lot of students may leave to go toservice learning, but letting them leavefor lunch would be much different. Itwould be too difficult to get studentsto get a parent permission slip signedallowing them to go and a sign-outsystem would be too complicated.

It certainly would not lessen hallwaytraffic; anyone can see that. Thingswould just be more confusing and

chaotic as some people leave and others stay.And it would not do any good as a reward to students with good

grades and good behavior. No one would actually try to work harderand to act better just so they get to miss out on school lunch.

Why would anyone want to be able to eat lunch off campus? No onewould leave; they would not even think about it. It isn’t as if so manypeople skip school now that school officials might as well give all stu-dents the right to leave for lunch.

Changes to student lunch policy unnecessary

Sitting and Laughing: Students enjoy each otherscompany while eating lunch in the Commons.

Photo by Sean Stapleton

Photo by Aura Mae Northcutt

William BumpasEditor

Music copyright law is confusing, to say the least. It’s like abottomless pit—the deeper you go, the harder it is to makeany sense of what’s going on. I’m pretty sure I know much

less about the subject now, after researching for days, than I did whenI started! All the same, I’m going to try to clear things up a little.

Have you ever bought a CD, and then let a friend borrow it to put onhis computer? Did you think twice about it? Maybe you should have.And how about downloading music you didn’t pay for?

Even though most people would agree that these practices are illegal,few seem to think of them as actually “wrong.”

The biggest argument against them is the simple fact that musiciansmake a living by selling music. If nobody bought CD’s, the musicianscouldn’t even afford to record music at all.

Downloading music is like stealing a CD. And burning music forfriends, while possibly justifiable as a form of personal use, undeniablydenies musicians of profit just like illegal downloading.

So what about online music, with websites like Pandora, Groove-shark or YouTube? Technically speaking, this sort of streaming mediais publicly available, like radio. Anyone in the world can access theradio waves to listen to free music, and anyone in the world can go toYouTube and watch a music video by their favorite artist.

Here’s the really tricky part: Back in the days before computers, whendinosaurs roamed the earth, it was considered perfectly legal to recordsongs from the radio using a cassette tape. In fact, this right was con-firmed by an act of Congress. If streaming music online is consideredin the same class as radio, then shouldn’t it be legal to digitally recordmusic from Pandora?

There are several computer programs that can easily record audiooutput and export MP3 files—could this be a legal way to obtain freemusic online? Until Congress or the Supreme Court clarifies the situa-tion, it’s up to your own conscience.

Confused? It gets worse. There’s the Recording Industry Associationof America, which rabidly defends the intellectual property rights ofproducers and musicians. The RIAA actually suggested in one lawsuitthat to import music from a CD onto your computer or iPod amountsto copyright infringement.

Then you have Digital Rights Management, encryption technologyused on media files to prevent unauthorized sharing. In recent years,several prominent online music stores like iTunes began offering DRM-free music as a special service. But don’t celebrate just yet—just becauseyour iTunes purchases are now DRM-free does not mean they’re copy-

right-free.There are several acts of Congress and a few Supreme Court cases

that must be considered as well, not to mention international copyrightstandards. Where does it end?

The problem arises from a fundamental quirk in the modern idea of“intellectual property.” Recording an album of music, just like produc-ing a movie or writing a book, requires huge amounts of time, moneyand effort. It’s natural, and right, for creative artists to feel an owner-ship of their work.

But should that ownership extend to the point that it seriously de-tracts from the experience of the audience? Is music a kind of thing thatcan be packaged and sold? —or does art deserve more than the nit-picking commercialism with which it’s treated today?

That’s something you’ll have to decide for yourself.

10 Volume 42 TrojanTorchEditorialsIssue 5

Music copyright law for dummies

Protesting for Cause: Activists for unregulated music standon a popular street making their cause known.

Photos courtesy of Wikipedia

“When you want to make it personal”

SCREEN PRINTINGVINYL LETTERING

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12 Volume 42 TrojanTorchFeaturesIssue 5

Nic Berry and Jacob StegemanReporters

Terry Glover has been a part of ourschool for over 40 years. From beingthe athletic director to being the

TSSAA West Tennessee Coordinator, he hasmade a difference in our school, our commu-nity and our future.

Q.Where were you born?A. In Graves County, Kentucky, right outsideof Mayfield, on a 70-acre farm.

Q. How long have you lived in Dyersburg?A. 47 years. I came in 1963, when I was hiredto teach.

Q. Where did you attend high school? Col-lege?A. I went to Mayfield High School. Then forundergraduate I went to Murray State andthen Memphis State for graduate school.

Q. Did you play any sports while you weregrowing up? A. I played football, basketball and track.

Q.When you were a teacher, what type ofclasses did you teach? A. I am certified to teach math and industrialarts. A lot of the workbenches and otherthings in the shop class were built by me.

Q. What motivated you to become a princi-pal?A. Well, I was a teacher and a coach. I alsohad a wife and kids to provide for. If I wereto get my Master’s and become an adminis-trator, I would get more money. Gotta paythe bills.

Q. What were some of your most memorablemoments as a principal here?A. Our trips to the state tournament in bas-ketball were great. All of the times the foot-ball team went to the playoffs were very fun.Hosting the sectional tournament in basket-ball was another one that stands out. I hadmy hands full with that one. I even plannedthe parking arrangement.

Seeing kids graduate is great. They allcome in here, and I get to know them. It is

very exciting every year to see the kids go offand do different things with their lives. I lovehow every day in high school is different.

Q. How much has the school changed inyour time here? A. A lot! I started in the old high school overon the other side of town. There was a build-ing that was right next to it that I taught in.That building was torn down awhile ago. Iwent to the intermediate school after teach-ing at the high school. Then I finally cameover to this building in 1971, and I have beenhere ever since.

Q. What do you plan to do in retirement?A. Have fun! I have a background in con-struction and building, so I will probably bedoing some of that. I like to golf, hunt andfish. The golf clubs are already out in mybedroom!

Q.What will you miss the most after you re-tire?A. All of the activities that happen here. It allgoes back to the students.

UNDERCOVER GLOVER UNCOVEREDPhotos submitted by Madonna Glover

13TrojanTorch Volume 42 Issue 5Features

Shelby AndrewsReporter

Spring break is on the way, and everyoneis ready for a break from school. Somepeople will be booked for the whole 11

days, but for those who do not have anythingto do, here are a few vacation ideas that canbe spread out over a long period of time or cutdown to a weekend get-a-way.

Although a majority of the student popula-tion would rather go farther away from hometo warm climates, here are popular destina-tions both near and far and hot and cold.

For people ready to escape the cold weather,the beach is an ideal place that can be a relax-ing time. You can spend it walking in the sandor you can turn it into a vacation that includesshopping, eating and sight seeing. Ideal placesin the South include St. Augustine, Florida;Orange Beach, Alabama; Coconut Cove,Florida; Key West, Florida; and Bald Head Is-land, North Carolina.

Those who would like to extend the winterseason can take a road trip to discover the nat-ural beauty of the Smoky Mountains. Here,tourists can decide whether they want to cud-dle up in a cozy cabin or get out and about to

discover new adventures. Suggested get-a-ways include Pigeon Forge, Sevierville andGatlinburg, Tennessee.

Other possibilities for a quick trip includebaseball games. For baseball fans who aredying for the season to start, Major LeagueBaseball Spring Training began Tuesday,March 2. These games are played mainly inFlorida in cities, such as Tampa, Ft. Myers andLakeland.

For a fast-paced city that keeps tourists en-tertained, here are a few recommendations.Atlanta, Georgia offers several things to do,

such as touring the Braves Stadium, visitingthe Georgia Aquarium and touring the Coca-Cola Factory. St. Louis offers opportunities,such as visiting the Arch and walking throughthe St. Louis Zoo. Other interesting cities tovisit include Nashville, New Orleans, andWashington, D.C.

A decision one must make when planning avacation is whether to make it relaxing orbusy. A relaxing vacation allows one time toescape from the real world and forget every-thing for a few days.

“Vacation is a break from your life, not yourlife speeding somewhere else,” said freshmanCollin Streeter.

On the other hand, people get to explore theworld and gain new experiences.

“I would rather have a vacation where I amalways on the go. That way I can do and seeas much as possible,” freshman Jean Turbosaid.

Although our spring break has been cutdown to March 18 through March 26, studentsstill have time to escape from Dyersburg andeither take time to relax and un-stress or getout and experience what they are missing.

Sam ShankleReporter

With April Fool’s Dayfast approaching, peo-ple need to be on the

lookout for this season’s newpranks. This year’s prank canrange from a food coloring fiascoto the new “nonprank” prank.April Fool’s Day can be a failureor a success depending on howwell you give and take pranksand jokes.

“When people get disrespected,a prank has gone too far,” seniorElizabeth Fransen said.

Most people agree that a prankhas gotten out of hand when the

person being pranked is emotion-ally or physically hurt. One stu-dent has opposing views.

“A prank only goes too far whensomebody dies,” junior TrevorSewell said.

Whatever your pranking toler-ance level may be, there are al-ways wholesome jokes to makethe day special.

“Knock knock. Who’s there?Figs. Figs who? Figs the doorbell,it’s broken!” sophomore EdgarMuñoz said.

“Where do polar bears vote?The north pole,” junior MattMoser said.

Jokes are a big part of April

Fool’s Day for everyone not look-ing to prank or be pranked.

“I like pranking the person whotries to pull the most pranks,”English teacher Sarah Morrissaid.

Teachers seem to feel that themost fun people to prank are theclass-clowns and the mostgullible students.

The newest prank to look out forthis year is known as the “non-prank” prank. This prank willdrive a person crazy. Leave yourvictims hints the day before AprilFool’s Day that let them thinkthey should watch their back. Youcould send your victim cryptic

text messages saying somethinglike, “I would not do my laundrytoday if I were you.” Your victimwill spend all day anticipating aprank that never happens.

If complicated pranks are notyour specialty, there are alwayssimple ones for others. Peoplelooking for a quick laugh canfood color some food or drink oruse the classic rubber-bandaround the water faucet trick.

“My favorite April Fool’s prankis to act like someone’s zipper isundone,” secretary Athena Kan-able said.

Spirit of April Fool’s Day comes alive

Get with it: Spring break’s travel opportunities

Chillin at the Beach: Millions of peo-ple vacation at beaches every year.

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15TrojanTorch Volume 42 Issue 5Features

Students, faculty create their ‘Bucket List’

Photo by Savannah Johnson

What Do Students Want to Do Before They Die?Freshmen Janara Bonds and Tiandra Gauldin have a lot theywant to do before they die, including parasailing.

Savannah JohnsonEntertainment Editor

What do you want to do before you die? This is a question thatmany humans ponder because knowing that we will not liveforever can be a scary thought. Instead of being scared, be pro-

ductive with time. Life is full of opportunities, and we must learn to seizethem.

Students have a wide variety of goals they wish to accomplish. Someare exciting and thrilling. “I want to skydive in my underwear,” freshmanGarret Parrish said.

Have you ever thought of a place you wish to visit while you are living?Many people want to see new places in their lifetime.

“I want to take a road trip from New York to Los Angeles,” sophomoreJessica Kimbrell said.

“I want to travel the world and live life to the fullest,” senior DevontaeDavis said.

“I want to go to Japan because there is a place where you can swim withmonkeys,” freshman Melissa Twitty said.

Some students have people they want to meet in their lifetime. “I wantto find my dad before I die because I want to know what he is like,” soph-omore Laci Thompson said.

“I want to play one-on-one with Lebron James,” freshman Tre’ Piercesaid.

Our faculty has experienced things that they feel everyone should dowhile living.

“Everyone needs to visit Yosemite and Glacier National Parks and visitthe Grand Teton Mountains in the light of a full moon,” Patricia Twillasaid.

“I think everyone should somehow, anonymously give help to a strangerwithout anyone knowing you did it and with no expectation of recogni-tion or benefit for yourself,” AP Human Geography teacher Neel Durbinsaid.

The entertainment world has played with the concept of making a listof things to accomplish before death. In 2007, Warner Brothers created thefilm The Bucket List. Staring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, themovie captures two terminally ill men on a road trip with a list of thingsto do before “they kick the bucket.”

MTV has released the reality show The Buried Life just this year with asimilar theme. Four guys, Dave Lingwood, Ben Nemtin, Duncan Pennand Jonnie Penn, have set out across the United States in a purple transitbus with a list of 100 things they want to do before they die. Not only arethey working towards their own list, but they are also helping people theymeet along the way with goals of their own. These guys have an inspiring,carefree outlook as they chase their dreams. You can watch them docu-ment their journey every Monday night at 9 p.m. on MTV.

Whether you want to swim with monkeys, travel the world or simplyreconnect with family, there are ways to follow these dreams. It can be assimple as making a list or as extreme as jumping on a transit bus withyour best friends.

“Before I die, I want to show people that it is possible to do anythingthey put their mind to. It is okay to stand out in the world,” freshman Jor-dan Kauwell said.

Faculty Bucket List Quotes:“I want to play golf at St. Andrews, Pebble Beach and Augusta Na-tional.” - Jeff Chandler“I want to secretly be Tommy the Trojan at a pep rally before I leaveDHS!” - Penny Switzer“I want to learn to dance the tango and buy a condo on the south-ern gulf coast of Florida.”- Deborah Gatlin“I want to get my life in order enough to save as many souls forGod as possible.”- Sandra Lanier “I want to win the lottery.” - Devon Arrington“I am planning to travel Europe. I especially want go to Tuscanyfor a culinary class.”- Vicki Hamilton“I want to play with my great-grandchildren.”- Neel Durbin“I want to take a trip on a passenger train.”- Joy Norman“I want to go on a mission trip.”- Jackie Wilder“I want to visit New York City during Christmas.”- Melissa Brous-sard“I want to bungee jump from a bridge.” -Steve Wilder “I want to see my oldest grandson, Garrett, get a major golf schol-arship and then see him make it to the pros and play in a PGA tourevent.”- Harry Ferrell“I want to visit all the national parks in the USA.” -Wanda Robert-son

16 Volume 42 TrojanTorchFeaturesIssue 5

Kopper HarrisReporter

For eleven years, Chris Sol-mon has been DHS’s dramateacher. Students are enthu-

siastic about the experience ofbeing in her class and beingaround her. But has Solmon al-ways wanted to be involved intheater?

“I was not involved in drama inhigh school. I did a couple of playsin college that were mostly musi-cals and comedies,” Solmon said.She first discovered her love oftheater in a 1991 event, the Cotil-lion Club Follies, which shechaired and participated in. Shehas been hooked ever since.

When Solmon interviewed withthe school system, she did nothave the intention of being adrama teacher. “I was a kinder-garten teacher, and I applied for akindergarten/first grade positionat Dyersburg, and DHS was look-

ing for a drama teacher, so Mr.Ramer, who had seen me act inplays, asked me if I would do it,”Solmon said. She had to go toUnion University to get proper en-dorsements for the drama pro-gram.

Once at DHS, Solmon veeredstraight into the theater scene. Theprocess of selecting plays is astrenuous one. “We read tons andtons of scripts. I don’t think any-one has an idea of the minute de-tails that have to be taken care of.We have over 80 documentswithin the computer that deal withone play,” Solmon said.

She finds ideas from plays frompublishing companies and the in-ternet.

Just by being herself and notbeing too “teachery,” she is able toconvey an intriguing sense ofdrama to her students.

“I didn’t choose it (drama); itchose me,” Solmon said.

Chris Solmon:Her life behindthe curtain

Sleep:Photo by Kopper Harris

Right-Hand Women: Chris Solmon and two of her seniors,Mary Whitnel and Deanna Plewa, take a break from class.

Its effects on teensNic BerryReporter

The majority ofteenagers suffer fromsleep deprivation,

which can affect mood, per-formance, attention, learningand even behavior. Re-searchers believe that sleepdeprivation has many differ-ent causes.

Researchers say thatteenagers should get eight tonine hours of sleep on aschool night, but how manystudents actually get evenclose to that a night?

“I usually get about sixhours of sleep on a schoolnight,” sophomore HaydenAlford said.

As teenagers experience pu-berty, their biological clocksare very different from thoseof a child or adult. Thismeans that teenagers’ bodieswant to start later than theyhave to; therefore, teens donot perform as well as theywould like to until later in theschool day. Sleeping ex-tremely late on the weekendscan also damage one’s bio-logical clock. It is good tosleep a couple of extra hourswhen possible as long as youdo not over do it. Sleepingtoo much can be just as detri-mental to the biological clockas sleeping too little.

Teenagers seem to have

more adolescent distractionsevery day. Electronic devicessuch as cell phones, TV’s andcomputers are a huge diver-sion when one is trying tosleep. Other distractions caninclude one’s social life, pro-crastinating on homeworkand even depression.

Here are some ways of pre-venting sleep deprivation:

Take a short nap afterschool with the alarm clockset.

Go to bed and get up at thesame time every school day.

Dim the lights as bedtimeapproaches.

Turn on bright lights in themorning.

TURN OFF YOURPHONE.

Sleep deprivation can beharmful to teenagers and alsoto the people who come intocontact with them. Accordingto the National Sleep Foun-dation, driving fatigue causesaround 100,000 accidents peryear and over half of thesedrivers are 16 to 25 years old.The fact that the lack of evenone hour of sleep can resultin an accident should be awake up call to everyone.Sleep deprivation not onlyhurts, it kills.

Source: BBC news and par-ent-teen.com.

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18 Volume 42 TrojanTorchSportsIssue 5

Maggie FeithReporter

Among the many spring sportspreparing for their seasons, thetennis team has been working in

hopes of having a good one.The team has lost two key players, Tal-

lon Scott and Megan Hummer, but theymake up for those losses with many newand returning players.

“Tallon will definitely be missed, butZac Bowers and Matt Wolf have beenworking really hard; I know they won’tdisappoint us,” junior Elizabeth Finleysaid.

The first home match against CrockettCounty is March 29th at 4:00 pm at theDyersburg Activity Center. Also, the teamwill face Trenton as major competition forboth boys and girls and will play in the

district tournament on May 1st.“I think both boys and girls have a good

chance to win the district,” coach MarkSchneider said.

“We will do well if everyone keeps itcool—if we don’t have problems witheach other,” freshman Josh Williams said.

Aside from bringing home trophies,however, the team hopes to better theirskills and potential more than they al-ready have.

“I want to get better at my back-handserve, increase my speed on the court andget a better sense of sportsmanship,”Williams said.

“I really want to develop my serve,” jun-ior Amanda Jones said.

“My goal is for each player to get betterand develop his or her tennis skills to thebest of his or her ability,” Schneider said.

High hopes for high-quality tennis team

Photo submitted by Roger Smith

Photo by Maggie Feith

Shooting for Three: SophomoreMadison Butler aims to score on Milan.

Returning the Serve: In one of the first prac-tices of the season, sophomore Kassey Black at-tempts to send the ball back to her opponent.

Basketball teams seasons prove helpful in long runMcCord PaganReporter

The basketball season ended recentlywith both teams being defeated intournament play. The boys team

ended 5th in districts after a building seasonof 11-16.

“We did good this year, but we all think wecould’ve done better,” senior Kody Howardsaid.

“We did good, way better than last year,”senior Tevin Taylor said.

Despite the team’s improvements over lastyear, they had some problems facing themsuch as selfishness effect them.

“Towards the end of the year we were allselfish, but (we) fixed it before tournaments,”Howard said.

This year, the girls team was young withonly one senior on the roster, but they stillcame out with a winning season.

“I think we did an okay job considering

how young we were compared to otherteams,” junior Brandi Davis said.

The girls, who went 11-15 in district playended up being put out in the first round intournaments.

“We didn’t finish strong or meet our seasongoals,” head coach Randy Coffman said.

The biggest problem the girls team facedthis year was its age. The girls team this yearonly had one senior, Britney Mosley.

“Our biggest problem this year was youth-ful maturity to handle tough situations,”Coffman said.

With this season over, both teams are al-ready looking forward to next year.

“Next year we will have more seniors onthe team, and we won’t always be the under-dog anymore,” Davis said.

“Hopefully next year we will make it to re-gions,” junior Winn Decker said.

“Hard-working young guys will see play-ing time next year,” Taylor said.

19TrojanTorch Volume 42 Issue 5Sports

Anna Claire BradshawEditor

With the snow melting and tempera-tures rising, it is that time of yearagain when we hear two famous

words: “Play ball!” The Trojan baseball team isvigorously preparing for the season ahead.With hopes of making a second appearance atthe state tournament, the team has the potentialto get the ring that every player desires.

“The players have worked hard this pre-sea-son to prepare themselves for this year. Wemust play as a team and stay focused on ourgoals. Seniors must show and display leader-ship in practice and games,” head coach TomMathis said.

“We have a very promising team this yearwith a great group of seniors. We are ready toleave our mark,” senior Jacob Gaither said.

“We play together and play to win,” juniorZack Little said.

“Our greatest strength is definitely our teamchemistry. Everyone has to do his part and playas a team,” senior Collin White said.

With the most competitive schedule in all ofthe AA division ahead, the team is preparedand ready to take on the “Goliath” schools ofWest Tennessee. These schools include Col-

lierville, Christian Brothers, Houston, HardinCounty, Jackson Christian and USJ.

“Many of the teams we are playing have beenstate champions in all three classifications andalso in the private school division,” Mathissaid.

Sports teams always set goals to be reachedthroughout the season. While these goals are tobe strived for by the whole team, individualplayers set goals for themselves as well.

“I would like for us to win the state champi-onship, of course. Also, I want to hit ten bombsbefore the season ends,” senior Jamie Stanfordsaid.

“I want to get some varsity playing time, startJV in centerfield and to bat leadoff,” sopho-more Hoyt Newsom said.

“I want to have a .450 batting average andsteal 20 bases,” senior Aaron Jackson said.

“I want to have no losses as a pitcher and towin state,” senior Shaw Dickerson said.

The Trojans open their season with an awaygame against the Jackson Christian Eagles onMarch 15th.

“We love for the students and community tocome out and support us every game we play.I invite everyone to come out and supportthese young men,” Mathis said.

Chris WagnerReporter

With the end of the college basketball seasonclosing in, one can only anticipate thegrandaddy of all tournaments, the NCAA

tournament which is quickly approaching with the firsttip-off on March 16.

A total of 65 teams will enter the tournament, with 30of those teams earning automatic bids by winning theirconference championships. The remaining 34 teamswill be granted “at-large” bids, which are extended bythe NCAA selection committee.

There will be Selection Sunday, taking place on March14, when the NCAA selection committee seeds each ofthe 64 teams and picks two bubble teams.

The two teams on the bubble will play in a “play-in-game” with the winner advancing to play in the maintournament.

The teams will be seeded 1-16 within their respectiveregions, with one being the highest ranking.

This year, powerhouses Kansas and Kentucky look to

continue their excellent performance in the tournament,while teams like Memphis and Ole Miss need key winstoward the end of the regular season in order even tobe accepted in the tournament.

The first and second round games of the tournamentwill be held in a variety of locations, including Buffalo,New York, and New Orleans, Louisiana.

The regional sites include Syracuse, New York and St.Louis, Missouri.

The Final Four, which will take place in Indianapolisat Lucas Oil Stadium on April 3-5, will be hosted by theHorizon League and Baylor University.

Villanova, North Carolina, Michigan State and Con-necticut were the teams in the 2009 Final Four, withNorth Carolina coming out as NCAA champions.

“I really hope Tennessee wins the year, but I think itwill be Kansas that will come out on top,” sophomoreHoyt Newsom said.

Tickets for the 2010 Final Four range from $315-$98,826, according to StubHub.

Baseball team strives for glory, state championship

NCAAMarch Madness set to get underway

Going for the Win: TheDrake Bulldogs move aheadof the Bradley Braves in theMissouri Valley C onference.

Catching a Fly Ball: During after-school practice, freshman Blake Rosesprints to make the play.

Photo by Anna Claire Bradshaw

Wikipedia

20 Volume 42 TrojanTorchEntertainmentIssue 5

Alex JacobiPhotography Editor

When it comes to music, itis not just the flowingideas and melodies that

create music, but also the emotionbehind it. This is what singersMarkéta Irglová and Glen Hansardcreate when paired in The Swell Sea-son.

Their debut album in 2006 intro-duced their talent, but it was notuntil the next year, when theystarred in an indie film Once, thatthey became well-known for theirmusic. This movie tells the story ofa guy (Hansard) who plays guitaron the streets in Dublin and repairsvacuum cleaners; he meets a girl (Ir-glová) and begins a musical journeywith her. Through this journey, theyeach learn the other's story and in-corporate that into their music.

This movie is representative oftheir real-life chemistry as well. Notonly do their voices and instru-

ments blend together well, but thepassion behind each individual'swords comes together to create asound with strong feeling. Thissound creates a comforting atmos-phere of refuge that each listenercan appreciate.

Their most popular song, “FallingSlowly,” was first released on theirdebut album and featured as a hitsong in the movie. It talks of keep-ing hope alive, chanting, “Take thissinking boat and point it home;we've still got time.”

Also, they have more tragic songs,such as “Lies,” that tell of a deceiv-ing relationship between two peo-ple and the heartache that comeswith it.

They recently released their newalbum Strict Joy this past October.

“For me, it's just an audio diary. It'sjust another installment of the lifewe lead,” Hansard said.

The Swell Season: Duo creates peaceful sound

Angels and Airwavesbring listeners love

Performing on Stage: Leadvocalist Tom Delonge singsone of Angels and Airwavessmash hits form their album.

Posing for the Album: (above) Markéta Irglovás and Glen Hansards lead vo-cals bring a soothing sound to the album. (below)The Swell Season comes together in perfect harmony in their recent album, Strict Joy.

Photos courtesy of Wikipedia

Photos courtesy of Last.fm

Rachel ChaffinReporter

Angels and Airwaves,a band comprised offormer members of

Blink-182 and 30 Seconds toMars, recently released theirthird album entitled Love.Fans of Blink-182 will be sur-prised to find not only thesimilar alternative qualityand familiar lead vocals, butalso a new electric tone.

Love opens up with a spec-tacularly upbeat instrumen-tal song called “Et DucitMundum Per Luce.” Eachsong flows into the next,

making the CD sound likeone collective symphony.“Hallucinations” starts witha lovely variety of strings be-fore ending with powerfullyrics. The CD closes on“Some Origins of Fire,” stillupbeat and with a promi-nent electric feel.

Love gets four out of fivestars, but the sound is noteven the best part. Love canbe directly downloaded forfree on the Angels and Air-waves website. So, if alterna-tive electric pop is your kindof music, enjoy this CD freeof charge.

Rocking Out: (above) Angelsand Airwaves Love offers musicfor everyone. (below) GuitaristDavid Kennedy jams at a concert.

21TrojanTorch Volume 42 Issue 5Entertainment

Sean StapletonReporter

Author Markus Zusak has begun to establish himself amongother popular writers such as J.K. Rowling and StephenKing with the publication of two of his books, I Am the Mes-

senger and The Book Thief.Receiving awards such as Publisher’s Weekly Best Teen Book of the

Year and the Michael L. Printz Honor Book, these novels have wonZusak worldwide public acclaim, just a few years after they reachedthe shelves.

New York Times number one bestseller,The Book Thief, tells the story of LieselMeminger, a German girl who wit-nesses the death of her brother whiletraveling to be placed in the fosterhome of Rosa and Hans Hubermannduring World War II.

Narrated by Death, the story paintsLiesel’s journey as she learns to readand finds comfort in books during thedark times in her life. Because of herfoster family’s monetary situation, sheis forced to steal books from Nazi book burnings and the mayor’spersonal library. When Hans decides to hide a Jew in the basement,Liesel forgets the books to assist her family in supporting him.

The Book Thief, though wrought with death and despair, capturesthe feelings of non-Jewish Germans during the Holocaust by tellingtheir personal stories and trials created by the war.

“It not only deplores human misery but celebrates language. Itencourages children to read while still telling a meaningful and im-portant story,” New York Times reporter Janet Maslin said.

I Am the Messenger, on the other hand, is a much lighter story aboutEd Kennedy, a less-than-average cab driver who begins to receiveplaying cards in the mail with encrypted messages and addresses

printed on them after he accidentally foils a bank robbery.Deciding to follow the cards, Ed travels from home to home,

changing arbitrary strangers’ lives by “helping and hurting” wherehe sees fit.

The story begins as a mysterious and exciting page-turner, but to-ward the end the book’s momentum dies a little bit. One finds him-self asking, “What is the purpose of all this?”

Though it is as captivating as The Book Thief, one may try to raceto the end of it just to find out who is sending Ed the messages andto discover what they really mean. He may not actually absorb the

importance of the rest of the book.Sadly, the ending is a little disappoint-

ing. Through the whole 357 pages of thebook, only about five explain the fullpurpose of Ed’s journey, as if Zusakrushed to get the book completed andwas blindly searching to find somethingto shock his readers in the climax.

I Am The Messenger as a whole canstand up to some of the best books.However, if you are expecting an explo-sive ending or a deep, inspirational mes-

sage as you begin the book, then you might want to find somethingelse to read.

“If you can just ignore the last ten anti-climactic pages, it is a ter-rific, at times moving, and thought-provoking story that can leadreaders to look at their own worlds in a slightly different way,” Com-mon Sense Media reporter Matt Berman said.

Zusak’s next book, Bridge of Clay, is scheduled to be released Sep-tember 14, 2010.

"It's about a boy. His name is Clay. And he's building the most per-fect and spectacular bridge ever. But that's all I'll say for now," Zusaksaid in an interview with English newspaper The Guardian.

zusak’s books offer new insight into modern world

“It not only deplores humanmisery but celebrates language.It encourages children to read

while still telling a meaningfuland important story.”

-Janet Maslin, New York Times

Rising to Fame:Markus Zusak showshis award-winning liter-ary skills in his latestnovel, The Book Thief.

Photos courtesy of Wikipedia

A Bestselling Novel:The Book Thief offers a chill-ing insight into the reality ofWorld War II Germany.

Aura Mae NorthcuttReporter

Ten years ago John Mayer was a virtualunknown. Today, he classifies himselfin the rock, blues and pop genres. He

has many albums, including Room for Squares,John Mayer Trio Live in Los Angeles, Try, HeavierThings, Continuum and his newest CD, BattleStudies. Songs like “Gravity”, “Waiting on theWorld to Change”, and “Daughters”, arethree of John Mayer’s most listened to songs.

“The John Mayer Trio Live in Los Angeles wasthe best CD he has produced so far,” seniorTyler Roberts said.

John Mayer is known for writing songsabout love, hurt and memories. Everyone cansomehow connect with John Mayer, whetherit is his acoustic calm melodies, his strong,powerful voice in his rock songs or even justhis soft guitar playing.

“His type of music and the message thatcomes out of his lyrics is what attracts me to

him,” junior Kandis Williams said. John Mayer has won many awards since be-

coming famous, all the way from The Best

New Artist Music Video in 2002 to winningfive awards at the 51st Annual GrammyAwards. All together he has won over 35major awards, and he says this is a big accom-plishment in his life.

Most people have a favorite song or songs,and many have a favorite song from JohnMayer.

“‘Stop This Train’ is my favorite song; Mr.Mayer has a way of punching my soul. ‘Stopthis Train’ is about being forced to grow upbut still wanting to be a child. It’s pretty rele-vant, since I’m a senior and all,” senior LizzieLee said.

“‘Waiting on the World To Change’ is my fa-vorite song because I feel that the world couldbe better, and it’s up to us to do somethingabout it,” sophomore Demetra Barr said.

To everyone, different songs speak differentmeanings, and some are louder than others.John Mayer recently started his new tour, andhis first concert was in London on January 18,2010. His touring route includes some spotsclose to home: St. Louis on March 20, 2010;Memphis on March 19, 2010; and many moreplaces in the United States.

22 Volume 42 TrojanTorchEntertainmentIssue 5

Ginny RoperOpinion Editor

New York Times bestselling author Nicholas Sparks (TheNotebook) is having yet another novel adapted to film.In The Last Song, Veronica “Ronnie” Miller’s (Miley

Cyrus) life is turned upside-down when her parents divorce andher father (Greg Kinnear) moves out of New York to Tybee Is-land, Georgia. Her life is further complicated when she is sentto stay with him over the summer after three years apart.

Her father, a concert pianist and teacher, is immersed in hiswork and has very little time left to spend with his family. Onlythrough their shared love of music are Ronnie and her fatherable to reconnect.

In this heart-warming story of family, first loves and secondchances, The Last Song demonstrates the many ways that lovecan break our hearts and heal them.

So grab a tissue and be sure to catch The Last Song when it pre-mieres March 31 in cities everywhere. Taking Chances: Ronnie Miller (Miley Cyrus) reconnects the

broken bond with her father through music in The Last Song.

Miley Cyrus shines in breakout role in The Last Song

John Mayer: A look into the past

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

“‘Waiting on the WorldTo Change’ is my fa-

vorite song because I feelthat the world could be

better, and it’s up to us todo something about it,”

-Demetra Barr

Photo courtesy of johnmayer.com

23TrojanTorch Volume 42 Issue 5Entertainment

William BumpasEditor

Speculation and rumorshave been circulatingabout the “Apple

tablet” for years, but in thepast few months that antici-pation reached fever pitch.Techie websites posted sto-ries about computer partsshipping from China and in-formation leaks by variouscorporate executives. Every-one wanted to know justwhat the Apple tablet wouldbe—a reading device to savethe newspaper and publish-ing industries? A stylus-en-abled computer likeMicrosoft’s Tablet PC prod-uct line?

But when Apple finally un-veiled its latest product,dubbed the iPad (with greatoriginality), many were dis-mayed that the device

seemed to be a little morethan a glorified “iPhone onsteroids.” It has the samelimited operating system asthe iPhone, despite the factthat it’s almost the size of asmall laptop.

The iPad does a few thingsvery well, such as webbrowsing, email access, andmusic and video playback.However, the fact remainsthat it is not a computer; theonly kinds of software thatcan be used are little “apps”of the kind currently avail-able for iPhone. Even worse,the iPad does not supportmultitasking; you won’t beable to have music playingat the same time that youbrowse the web or checkyour email, for example.

To cap things off, the iPadwill not be able to accessAdobe Flash content—in

other words, most kinds ofonline video and music ac-cess will not work in theirnative format.

With all these shortcom-ings in mind, a basic ques-tion remains: What is theiPad good for? It won’t fit inyour pocket, to be sure, butit is far too limited to replacea good laptop. The undeni-able “cool” factor usually as-sociated with all thingsApple might not be enoughto justify a price tag up-wards of $500—closer to$900 if you include morememory and a 3G networkplan.

As with all electronic prod-ucts, it’s doubtless thatApple will release a newer,better version of the iPad ina year or so. Til that point atleast, it’s my recommenda-tion that you sit this one out.

Apples latest gadgetfails to impressPhotos from Apple

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BB v. JCS (A) Soccer v. Madison (H)

SB v. Munford (H)

March and AprilSunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

April BeginsApril Fools Day

Tennis v. Westview (H)Soccer v. Haywood (A)

BB v. Covington (A)

BB v. Lexington (A)

BB v. Martin (H)SB v.

Crockett County (H) Tennis v.

Crockett County(H)

BB at Pringles ParkTrack v.

Benton, Kentucky (A)

SB v. Dyer County (A)Track v. USJ (A)

BB Easter Slam at DHS

First Day of Spring

BB v. Covington (A) BB v. Covington (A)BB v. Munford (A)SB v. Halls (A)

Sr. Choir Festival

BB v. S. Pemiscott(A)

SB Tourney at Covington

BB Wood Bat Tourney in KentuckySoccer JCS ClassicSB Brighton Tourney

Good FridayNo School

Track v.Benton, Kentucky (A)

Make Up Snow Days

BB v. Harding (A)SB v. DC (H)

Cheer Tryouts 15-17

BB v. Southside (A)Soccer v.

Crockett County (A)SB v. Covington (A)

BB v. Martin (H)Soccer v. Ripley (H)

SB v. Gibson Co. (A)Tennis v. Obion

County (H)

BB v. Obion Co. (H)SB v. Ripley (H)

Easter Sunday Progress Reports BB v. Obion Co. (A)

Soccer v. Brighton (H)SB v. Milan (A)

BB v. Ripley (A)

Spring play at 7

BB v. Crockett Co. (A)Tennis v. Obion Co. (A)

Track v. USJ (A)Soccer v. Westview (H)

SB v. Gibson (H)

Band Concert at 2NHS Initiation

BB v. Gibson Co. (H)Tennis v. U.C (H)

SB v. Munford (A)

Solo & EnsembleBB v. Gibson Co. (A)

Tennis v. Trenton (H)Track (H)

Soccer v. Trenton (H)SB v. Crockett Co. (A)

Hunter ToddNews Editor

Dyersburg High School students took the stage of the Little Theater as theyshowed off their abilities during this year’s talent show. The followingare the results for the competition:

Top 3 Winners1. Jabbawockeez Finest (Corey Smith)(shown above)2.When I Look At You (Akil Banks)3. The Bright Idea ( Elizabeth Bumpas,Will Bumpas, Rachel Chaffin, BJ Gra-ham)

National AgricultureWeek

Daylight Savings TimeBegins

Late Start 9:15 A.M.Band/Choir

All State

NHS BreakfastBB v. JCS (A)

Tennis v. Gibson Co.(H)

SB vs. Ripley (A)Spring play at 7

George Hancock Invitational

Spring play at 7

St. Patricks DayBB v. Huntington (A)

Show displays many talents

Top 10 Contestants1. Rachael Cele’a Holloway2. Kopper Harris3. When I Look at You (Akil Banks)4. Crunk Brothers for Life (Derkice Mooney,Dakota Simpson)5. The Bright Idea (Elizabeth Bumpas, Will Bumpas, Rachel Chaffin, BJ Graham)6. M.I.A. (Jeffery Gardner, TJ Nash, Tyler Hockett)7. NIABSATPOTVMMAHWE (Mathew McBroom, Jonathan Newman)8. Kady (Kady Carpenter)9. Jabbawockeez Finest (Corey Smith)10. $Z-Money$ (Zach Cathey)

Taking the Stage: JonathonNewman and Matthew McBroom amuse the audi-ence with their odd attire andweird song.

SPRINGBREAK

Photos by Hunter Todd