The 2009 school year marked the in- troduction of a new type of community service and education into the halls of Lindblom. The Art and Music Therapy colloquium serves to help develop mo- tor and communication skills of autistic students. Along with empowering the challenged students to express feelings through crafts artistically and musical- ly, students acting as mentors gain a greater knowledge into the psychologi- cal field. This new project headed by Mr.Alan Demski and Ms. Michelle Wiel- gosz, enlists many experiences that are often reserved for a person’s adult years. The colloquium combines the pas- sion of fine arts with the technical na- ture of psychology. Students born with extreme conditions that hinder them from ever being able to live free inde- pendent lives are partnered with pro- ductive students who use artistic and musically aimed projects to bond with the students. Each weekly session starts off with a 45-minute block consisting of vari- ous art activities. The activities range from finger painting to using clay and even themed projects such as carv- ing pumpkins before Halloween. The projects allow for emotions that cannot otherwise be communicated to be rec- ognized and decoded. Often there is painting or crafts con- sisting of various colors. The colors all signify different emotions and charac- teristics. For example, blues and darker colors usually represent sadness, fear and/or anger. Bright colors such as red, orange and green represent hap- piness and approval. Senior Asia Williams feels “Art thera- py isn’t just therapy for the patient but for the therapist too.” Text and read- ings are given to assist the mentors on how to develop bonds with their part- ners and to offer education on thera- peutic methods of art. Ms. Wielgosz’s prior knowledge on the topic, earned in years as an art therapist to child abuse victims, pre- pares the students for their partners’ sometimes resistant reactions. Please see ART THERAPY, page 2 LMSA is on its way to becoming an official Chicago Landmark. LMSA was approved for preliminary landmark designation by the Com- mission on Chicago Landmarks. The designation was proposed by Princi- pal Mather to the Commission, with whom he has been speaking on the matter for the last two years. The title ‘landmark’, according to the City Council website, is given to buildings that are, “a critical part of Chicago’s heritage, site of a signifi- cant event, association with a signifi- cant person, important architecture, important architect, distinctive theme as a district, or unique visual feature. It [the building] must also retain a high degree of architectural integ- rity.” LMSA’s façade and auditorium, Kee- ler Hall, have been approved because of their grand design and Lindblom’s longstanding presence in the Engle- wood neighborhood. When asked how he felt about our school as a landmark, Principal Mather replied, “I’m excited about LMSA gaining landmark status.” Principal Mather went on to explain some of his reasoning behind nomi- nating the schools features, “Any- thing that brings positive attention to LMSA is a good thing,” he said. “We’re so hidden that if you didn’t read about us before or drive down Wolcott every day, you wouldn’t know we exist. This helps to get us into the public eye.” Volume III, Issue 3 Lindblom Math and Science Academy February 2010 LMSA: A New Landmark LMSA goes Shagga- delic New colloquium uses art as therapy The Talon That’s not Shaggy, that’s my Math teacher. To help the Eagles this baseball season, Coach Welsh has created a beard-buster of a fundraiser. Each male teacher that chooses to partici- pate donates $20 and has a sponsor teacher that donates roughly $20 to the cause. Teachers, like Ms. Muel- ler, sponsor a teacher they think will go the longest without shav- ing. The com- peting teacher, cannot shave, trim or groom their unkempt beards. As each week goes by, the participating teachers con- tinue to donate two dollars on the teacher they are sponsoring, but only if the beard-growing teacher doesn’t give in and shave, trim, or groom his beard at all. All the proceeds of this fundraiser go towards the Lindblom Baseball team in their effort to install a bat- ting cage, and the baseball team couldn’t be more thrilled. Malcolm Truss, a senior on the team said, “Jeremias [a fellow senior and teammate] and I are so excited about the batting cages,” he said. “If we’re able to get them, man, that would be awesome.” If you are wondering who is partici- pating, walk down to Dr. Moore’s lab, room 225, and see the pictures on the wall. So far, Mr. Pond has caved in; he is now back to his sought-after goatee. Cheer on the teachers; after all, everyone needs encouragement. All the participating teachers, who have not given in to temptation, look like they could use a clean shave. But with Shaggy comes great re- sponsibility. Mr. Welsh By Tekhundra Stephens By Asha Walker By Shelby Light Mr. Dudek View of Lindblom Math and Science Academy Photo courtesy of Ms. Wielgosz Krzysztof Kielbasa listens to piano music as Ryah Hasan looks on. Time to Vote in Mock Elections Page 3 Academic Center News Page 6 Valentines Day - Love it or Hate it? Page 5
Transcript
The 2009 school year marked the in-troduction of a new type of community service and education into the halls of Lindblom. The Art and Music Therapy colloquium serves to help develop mo-tor and communication skills of autistic students. Along with empowering the challenged students to express feelings
through crafts artistically and musical-ly, students acting as mentors gain a greater knowledge into the psychologi-cal field. This new project headed by Mr.Alan Demski and Ms. Michelle Wiel-gosz, enlists many experiences that are often reserved for a person’s adult years.
The colloquium combines the pas-sion of fine arts with the technical na-ture of psychology. Students born with
extreme conditions that hinder them from ever being able to live free inde-pendent lives are partnered with pro-ductive students who use artistic and musically aimed projects to bond with the students.
Each weekly session starts off with a 45-minute block consisting of vari-ous art activities. The activities range from finger painting to using clay and even themed projects such as carv-ing pumpkins before Halloween. The projects allow for emotions that cannot otherwise be communicated to be rec-ognized and decoded.
Often there is painting or crafts con-sisting of various colors. The colors all signify different emotions and charac-teristics. For example, blues and darker colors usually represent sadness, fear and/or anger. Bright colors such as red, orange and green represent hap-piness and approval.
Senior Asia Williams feels “Art thera-py isn’t just therapy for the patient but for the therapist too.” Text and read-ings are given to assist the mentors on how to develop bonds with their part-ners and to offer education on thera-peutic methods of art.
Ms. Wielgosz’s prior knowledge on the topic, earned in years as an art therapist to child abuse victims, pre-pares the students for their partners’ sometimes resistant reactions.
Please see ART THERAPY, page 2
LMSA is on its way to becoming an official Chicago Landmark.
LMSA was approved for preliminary landmark designation by the Com-mission on Chicago Landmarks. The designation was proposed by Princi-pal Mather to the Commission, with whom he has been speaking on the matter for the last two years.
The title ‘landmark’, according to the City Council website, is given to buildings that are, “a critical part of Chicago’s heritage, site of a signifi-cant event, association with a signifi-cant person, important architecture, important architect, distinctive theme as a district, or unique visual feature. It [the building] must also retain a high degree of architectural integ-rity.”
LMSA’s façade and auditorium, Kee-ler Hall, have been approved because of their grand design and Lindblom’s longstanding presence in the Engle-wood neighborhood.
When asked how he felt about our school as a landmark, Principal
Mather replied, “I’m excited about LMSA gaining landmark status.”
Principal Mather went on to explain some of his reasoning behind nomi-nating the schools features, “Any-thing that brings positive attention
to LMSA is a good thing,” he said.“We’re so hidden that if you didn’t
read about us before or drive down Wolcott every day, you wouldn’t know we exist. This helps to get us into the public eye.”
Volume III, Issue 3Lindblom Math and Science AcademyFebruary 2010
LMSA: A New Landmark LMSA goes Shagga-delic
New colloquium uses art as therapy
The Talon
That’s not Shaggy, that’s my Math teacher.
To help the Eagles this baseball season, Coach Welsh has created a beard-buster of a fundraiser. Each male teacher that chooses to partici-pate donates $20 and has a sponsor teacher that donates roughly $20 to the cause. Teachers, like Ms. Muel-ler, sponsor a teacher they think will go the longest without shav-ing. The com-peting teacher, cannot shave, trim or groom their unkempt beards. As each week goes by, the participating teachers con-tinue to donate two dollars on the teacher they are sponsoring, but only if the beard-growing teacher doesn’t give in and shave, trim, or groom his beard at all.
All the proceeds of this fundraiser go towards the Lindblom Baseball team in their effort to install a bat-ting cage, and the baseball team couldn’t be more thrilled.
Malcolm Truss, a senior on the team said, “Jeremias [a fellow senior and teammate] and I are so excited about the batting cages,” he said. “If we’re able to get them, man, that would be awesome.”
If you are wondering who is partici-pating, walk down to Dr. Moore’s lab, room 225, and see the pictures on the wall. So far, Mr. Pond has caved in; he is now back to his sought-after goatee. Cheer on the teachers; after all, everyone needs encouragement. All the participating teachers, who have not given in to temptation, look like they could use a clean shave.
But with Shaggy comes great re-sponsibility.
Mr. Welsh
By Tekhundra Stephens
By Asha Walker
By Shelby Light
Mr. Dudek
View of Lindblom Math and Science Academy
Photo courtesy of Ms. Wielgosz
Krzysztof Kielbasa listens to piano music as Ryah Hasan looks on.
Time to Vote in Mock Elections
Page 3
Academic Center NewsPage 6
Valentines Day - Love it or Hate it?
Page 5
The Arabic Music and Dance Club is a fun learning opportunity. Students have the chance to learn the tradi-tional Arabic dancing called Dabke. It is commonly performed in countries like Lebanon, Palestine and other parts of the Arab world. The dancers also learn Egyptian and Nubian routines.
The musicians play different percus-sion instruments like drums and tam-bourines. There is one special stringed instrument called the oud and any student can be taught play. Oud play-ers are taught to play using the simple tab method, in which anybody without prior experience can learn it in a short time.
The Arabic Music and Dance Club performed several times for the Arabic Heritage month sponsored by Mayor Daley. They have also performed at many of our open houses. Last sum-mer the dancers and musicians at the Arabesque Festival at Daley Plaza.
The Arabic Music and Dance Club is open to anyone…even Chinese stu-dents! Ms. Goldsberry calls the club “The Arabic Music Ensemble”.
Chicago Public Schools officials unveiled a policy proposal that would utilize socio-economic factors drawn from U.S. Census tract data for admissions to the District’s selective enrollment and magnet schools.
CPS officials presented the proposal to replace the race-based admissions policy that had been in effect as part of a longstanding desegregation consent decree to the Chicago Board of Education at its Dec. 16 meeting.
The goal of the policy is to maintain, and in some cases increase, socio-economic diversity in selective enrollment and magnet CPS schools, officials said. The policy will be reviewed and adjusted if needed after the 2010-11 school year.
“Diverse learning communities benefit all students by better preparing them to live in a diverse society and to compete in a global economy,” said Ron Huberman, Chi-cago Public Schools chief executive officer, during a press conference at the District’s headquarters.
Huberman was joined at the press conference by Chicago Board of Education and elected officials, and by community leaders from throughout Chicago.
“We are committed to a fair process for all families who seek admission to our selective enrollment and magnet programs, and we believe that economic diversity in our
schools will promote equitable educational outcomes for ap-plicants in all communities of our city.
“To address a potential burden on families with more than one child in CPS, these proposed policies also ease ac-cess into these schools for the siblings of students who are already enrolled.”
In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. Con-stitution does not permit school districts to classify and as-sign students on the basis of race or national origin. Since 1980, Chicago Public Schools had been operating under a consent decree which mandated that a race-based system be used for student admission to selective enrollment and magnet schools. The goal of the consent decree was to cre-ate desegregated schools, defined as 15-35 percent white and 65-85 percent minority.
On Sept. 24, U.S. District Court Judge Charles Kocoras vacated the decree. The court found that CPS had elimi-nated the last vestiges of past discrimination. In anticipation of such a ruling, CPS began to develop a new admissions process two years ago. However, although requested by the District, no transition time was granted by the court and a new policy must be in place for the next school year.
— Press release issued by CPS
A wise man once said “Coming to-gether is a beginning. Keeping to-gether is progress. Working together is success.” This has been happening at Lindblom over the past few years. These actions have resulted in the sig-nificant improvement of the school.
Students’ behavior has been ex-tremely good as a whole since last year. Upper-classman have shown great maturity and leadership, and faculty and staff have done an excel-lent job in decreasing academic and disciplinary issues. Lindblom is reach-ing higher success.
“Students behavior has been ex-tremely good as a whole especially the junior class who was difficult to handle, at times last year,” Dean Wil-liams stated. Overall the behavior of students has improved. There have been fewer arguments and fights.
“Upper-classmen have shown great maturity and leadership skills in re-gards to making good decisions, and this has carried over to the freshman and sophomores,” Williams stated. Upper-classmen have become tutors for lower-classmen, helping them with their homework and preparing them
for future classes. It shows how Lind-blom is a positive environment and how we are willing to work together to make each other better, rather than looking just out for themselves, Dean Williams said.
Faculty and staff also have done an excellent job in decreasing academic and disciplinary issues. They have tu-
tored students to help bring up their grades. They have opened up House A and House B, which has been success-ful with the ninth graders, and they have contributed ideas to deal with discipline within the school, which has been taken into consideration in the discipline office.
LMSA Shows SuccessArabic Club Explores Dance
CPS Leaves Race Out
By Porsha Stennis
Page 2 February 2010Talon News
By Safiyyah Cole
February 2010 Volume III, Issue 3
EDITOR IN CHIEF: Benita Brown
MANAGING EDITORS: Damani Bolden, Mary Coulibaly
EDITORS (4th PERIOD): Jazmyn Taylor (News), Briatta Bell (Opinion), Takita Stewart (Arts), Nia Williams (Sports), Maleiya Porter-Jones (Photo), Bertram Gage (Online)
EDITORS (5th PERIOD): Chanel Ware (News), Asha Walker (Opinion), Tek-hundra Stephens (Arts), Tequerra Clark (Sports), Porscha McCloud (Layout), Lydia Moore (Photo)
SPECIAL THANKS: Ms. Franklin, Ms. Wielgosz, Principal Mather
STAFF ADVISOR: Mr. Dudek
TALON (tāl’ən) n. - The claw of an eagle. Among its many functions, the talon is used to dig. It is a symbol of strength and integrity.
Please send all comments, ideas, letters to the editor, and sumbissions to [email protected]
Working at Northwestern Hospital with burn victims created the sense of tenderness she holds for the students. Each session is designed to accomplish new reactions from the students. Fol-lowing an artistic session, musical de-velopment takes place.
Mr. Demski takes the leadership role for the musical portion of this class. Similar to that of Ms. Wielgosz, his previous employment at Jacqueline Vaughn Occupational High School working with cognitively impaired stu-dents prepared him to teach the craft. When in music, similar to visual art, the students are exposed to various styles of music. From jazz, to classical, to the early beginnings of hip hop, the chal-lenged students are given a chance to hear all that anyone else would. In the early part of the session, various videos and clips portraying a certain genre of music are displayed to grab students’ attention; also this gives a type of in-
troduction to what the pattern of class for that day will be. In the remainder of the time, students channel the en-ergy of music to enable their partners to dance, sing or even simply nod their heads to show they are aware of the happenings around them.
New instruments and accessories are introduced each session, giving every student no matter how extreme the disability, a chance to find a way to physically be active.
“I believe it is important to expose our students to the range of possible career choices in the arts”, Mr. Demski said. Every music class is followed by a short period of reflection by every stu-dent on the successes and sometime disappointments of their work with their partners that day.
While the sessions vary in the details of their activities, both offer a chance to students that cannot be obtained sim-ply through a basic art or music class.
The opportunity cannot be obtained simply through only distantly caring or feeling sympathy for young teens un-fortunately stalled by their disabilities. The program teaches patience as well as tolerance that is literally offered at no other Chicago public school.
Demski and Wielgosz hope to eventu-ally be able to make the class a part of Lindblom’s regular curriculum. The ac-complishment of this goal would mean all students gaining the experience and the joy that comes with the results of this class. Students move limbs they never used, make noises when they have never before exercised their vo-cals and partake in new experiences. Field trips in this colloquium have in-cluded educationally beneficial places such as the Museum of Science and Industry.
The chances offered in this course are priceless and the gains are life long.
ART THERAPY Continued from Page 1
THE TALON
Lydia Moore
The counselors meet to discuss the issues facing Lindblom.
Lindblom had the honor to host seven hundred high school students from all over Chicago at Keeler Hall to watch the performances of the Students Per-forming Troupe from East China Nor-mal University, located in Shanghai, China.
The Students Performing Troupe partnered with the Confucius Institute of Chicago for this event. The goal of the partnership was to show cultural exchange to help raise awareness and increase understanding of Chinese cul-ture through their performances.
The performance consisted of a wide array of talents that gave students a deeper insight to the Chinese culture. Dancing, singing, and the playing of Chinese instruments were a few of the showcased performances.
“I was so amazed while watching the Chinese performance, it was so dif-ferent and neat, I loved it,” said Jo-seph Nueman, a junior from King High School.
Chinese culture is one of the world’s oldest and most complex cultures. The Chinese language goes back thou-sands of years, when the language began to split into various dialects and languages. The music of China dates back to the Zhou Dynasty (112 BCE -256 BCE). Some of the oldest written
music dates back to Confucius’time. The first major well-documented flow-ering of Chinese music was for the Qin during the Tang Dynasty.
Chinese culture is very unique and an understang of it could be very en-riching. This language and culture has been such a success at Lindblom; stu-dents have received the oppurtunity to go to China to experience their lifestyle and culture.
“Lindblom was proud to host this event because we have the largest Chinese program in Chicago Public Schools,” Ms. Herford, chair of the For-eign Language Dept. said. This event was a great success and a wonderful opportunity for Lindblom.
Due to breaking hotel “no smok-ing” rules, violating team poilicy, and breaking CPS rules, four players on the varsity boys’ basketball team were kicked off the team and sus-pended from school for 10 days.
During the Christmas tournament at Jacobs High School the varsity boys stayed at a hotel nearby the school. On one of the nights, some of the boys decided to make the “best” of their experience right? Wrong. Be-cause of their behavior, the boys were sent home the next morning and when they returned after win-ter break they were told the news. “The boys thought I was their friend and forgot I was their coach and teacher,” Coach Linderman said.
Varsity Coach Linderman was dis-appointed in the boys; in fact, all of them had great potential. They were integral parts of the team and needed in every game. Each player contributed something special others could not.
Due to the shocking behavior of the players, there have been unexpected changes to boys’ basketball team. Losing most of his point guards, Coach Linderman made changes that has forced him to change many plays and switch the positions of players.
These changes presented both op-portunity and a lot of pressure upon players. Because two of the four players that were kicked off were in the starting line-up, the coach had to make some pretty tough decisions. In doing so, Coach Linderman moved up two junior varsity players to the varsity team, causing the junior var-sity coach to move up two freshman players to his squad.
The change forced the boys to step up to the plate and show the coaches what they were made of. They had to show the coaches that they wanted to play. This was lit-erally their chance to shine. Many students wondered how the varsity team would make it through season without some of the essential play-ers on the team. “Man this crazy, but it’s whatever. What’s done is done”, commented one of the players that was kicked off.
After the four players were kicked off the team, the boys’ varsity team won three out of seven games played.
Four kicked off Bask-ketball Team
China Comes to Lindblom Page 3 February 2010Talon News
AP Government is preparing for its annual mock election.
There are six campaign teams in the running: two conservative teams (strong and weak conservative), two moderate teams (moderate republican and moderate democrat), and two lib-
eral teams (strong and weak liberal). Each team is responsible for creating a candidate, real or fictional, that will lead their political party to victory.
The teams must also create a policy that fits their assigned party, not personality, on major issues such as the following: abortion, de-fense, immigration, environment, foreign policy, gay marriage, domestic policy, terrorism, the economy, and education (our fa-vorite). The policy recommenda-tion shows each team’s stance on the issue. This will help the can-didates create a way to appeal to the student body in a competitive way against their opponents.
The last major phase of the elec-tion is the debates. The debates will help the voters determine which team is strong enough to win the election.
So look out for fliers and posters and any other types of advertise-ment throughout the hallways to ensure that you get the chance to vote for the candidate that shares the same political ideology as you. See you at the polls!
Social Studies Prepares for Mock Elections
Dancers, Singers Visit from Shanghai
By Tequerra Clark
By Niara Norvell
By Kiersten Porter
Mr. Dudek
Maleiya Porter-Jones tries to sneak a peak as Jaquea Parnell casts her vote.
Mr. Dudek
The Shanghai performers entertain the crowd at Keeler Hall.
From the dawn of January 1st, FAFSA has been at the back of most seniors’ minds due to constant re-minders from anxious counselors and frequent college emails. The idea that no money will come our way haunts us, yet some seniors keep pushing it off, hoping that somehow it will fill out itself. While others have pressed the glorious submit button and cleared their conscious from the stress, others find it hard to get through the forms.
We spend an unknown amount of time stressing over what we need to get done, how we don’t know where to go, and where the money is going to come from. Ever had a full con-versation about FAFSA outside of school? It is never noticed until the end, when the realization that college is consuming our life before we can even enroll into the school. Financial aid is one of the main factors that decides our future, and it seems like we need some encouragement.
However, it’s more than the stu-dents who need that extra shove into the process; it’s the parents. Although we love them dearly, our parents have the most bizarre opinions about what happens when their social secu-rity number is entered on the inter-net. The recent cautions over identity theft have made parents uneasy and unwilling to give up their informa-tion. “They don’t need to know all that!” said my friend’s mother when he asked for her W2 form. She, like other parents, is weary of the online application.
So, what are we supposed to do? Steal the forms? Although it may seem tempting, sitting down with them explaining the details of FAFSA might clear things up. After all the information is together, get started! Our counselors are stalking our every move for a reason. We need the fini-cal aid. Think about it, once its over we can relax and hopefully, with fin-gers crossed, become closer to “free money.”
When new freshmen walk through the doors of their high school for the first time, they often enter with ideas about prom, luncheon, class trip, and graduation. Kids spend all of their high school careers raising money. Students elect officials to make decisions about these events and to entrust financial responsibility.
The students should be able to con-trol their own funds. When parents do-nate to their child’s class, the money should remain in that class. Because of the inability to maintain separate funds in the past, the class of 2010 will have to face the challenges of raising an amount of money that is
not (yet) known. They will be forced to continue the legacy of borrowing money that they cannot pay back. We have arrived at a recession within our own school.
Until this year, each class at Lindblom has not had direct control of their own funds. There was a general “students” account where all money raised was combined. It was commonly believed that all money was stored separately. “I thought all the classes had separate accounts,” stated an appalled Nicolas Phillips. When contributing to (what was believed to be) class fundraisers like Penny Drive, there was an un-derstanding among the students that their efforts would directly benefit their own class.
When asked about future fundrais-ing, Sandra Guan was not too eager to help raise money. She worries that because of previous deception within the Student Government, there is no reason for her to trust them now. The money that was raised with the inten-tion of going toward a single class was doled out among the entire school. “That should be considered our money because we raised it,” responded se-nior Noel DuBose.
We now have our own separate ac-counts for separate classes. The class of 2014 will have the biggest advan-tage to this. They will have a full four years to raise money. The class of 2010 has it the worst, with merely four months till prom.
Minutes before the basketball game, you can find the varsity team warming up and shooting lay-ups to Waka Flocka Flame or Lil Wayne’s No Ceilings mixed tape. The bleach-ers and the third-floor track begin to fill. Cheers from the student body fill the gym. In the midst of all the hoopla, the inquiry about the LMSA cheer team begins to grow. Ques-tions arise such as: “Where are the cheerleaders?”, or even “We have cheerleaders?” These questions are just two of many lingering through-out the student body.
The cheerleading team we saw at homecoming was awesome. The team showed dedication and pas-sion. All of these characteristics were shown at the beginning of the year, but as the year went on we saw a decrease in cheerleader per-formances. The girls on the team should have stuck out the season. Basketball season is basically over and the cheerleading team has let the crowd down. Word around the school is that there were too many attitudes lingering within the team which caused heads to butt.
Ms. Lloyd, Coach of the both the dance team and cheer team, was baffled about the speculations over whether there was a cheerleading team. “There was a cheer team, and they were planning on appearing at the game,” Ms. Lloyd exclaimed. When I posed the question to the cheerleading team captain, Cierra Patton, she exclaimed that, “The team was dismantled and the team
was only composed of eighth grad-ers.” It seems as if there was tension within the team causing complica-tions. Some of the team members have been secretly rehearsing and possibly preparing for competition as well as up coming games. Keep your eyes peeled for their cheer-tastic premiere and get ready to be fired up! Go Eagles!
Cheerleading... What Happened? Where’s Our Spirit?The FAFSA
Dilemma
It’s Our Money; Let Us Use It
By Mya King
By Lydia Moore
Page 4 Feburary 2010
TALON OPINION
By Benita Brown
It has been taught to a young lady that a young man should chase her. Never should a young lady put herself in the position where she would be considered being aggressive. As times progress, young girls are taught this rule less and are doing more chasing. Is this a biased rule? Is it okay for the female to chase the male?
According to the book, He’s Just Not That into You, when a guy is interested
in you, he will pursue you. If a guy sees something he likes, most of the time he will make it very clear that he likes it.
Just walking to the bus stop, some guy yelled at me, “Hey beautiful, I have a daughter, and she needs a new mommy!”
Now, no matter how disturbed I was, this man made it a point to show his interest in me. In this situation he was the chaser and I was, of course, running away.
Sometimes, males are genuinely shy
and reserved. A few are even intimi-dated by girls!
Ladies if you see something you like, go for it! What’s the worst that could happen? You get rejected? Yes, that may or may not hurt a little, but remember there’s more where that came from. “I’m on to the next one,” in Jay-Z’s words.
When I posted, “Is it ok for the girl to chase the guy or should the guy be the only chaser?” as my status on Facebook I received very interesting responses.
One was from recently-gradu-ated Lindblom student Erick Franco: “Should work both ways. See no rea-son why it wouldn’t.”
So, after I read this, asked him, ”You don’t consider that to be un-ladylike for a girl to be aggressive?”
He responded quickly, “Aggressive isn’t the word I would use. More like assertive. I find it an attractive quality in a woman.”
Coming off desperate and asser-tive are two very different qualities ladies!
The Dating Game – Assertive is AttractiveBy Chazz Johnson
SENIOR COLUMN
File Photo
Cheerleaders pose for a picture in 2008.
The yearbook is coming! The yearbook is com-ing!
The yearbook is on sale now, and for the first time it is in full-color. This year you can buy the ’09 year-book along with the ’10 yearbook for a discounted price. You can buy two 2010 books for only $65. If you didn’t get last year’s edition you can purchase it for just $20. The price for just one 2010 yearbook is $35.
This yearbook gives the students more power over what goes into the book. Students can now upload pictures into the yearbook. All they have to do is go to mrdudek.com. The link is nice and big, and it is also the first thing you’ll see. Uploading pictures is a breeze. All you have to do is click the link, browse your photos, and then wait while it uploads. Even if you have photos on your web enabled phone you can upload pictures from there. Please make sure the pictures are from the current school year and are school-relevant.
When asked how students felt about being able to contribute to the yearbook there were many dif-ferent opinions.
“It’s kind of cool because last year’s yearbook there weren’t many pictures of certain people. Now I can upload photos of me and friends and have a chance of being in the yearbook without being on a team or a club,” Danielle Stovall said.
“It really doesn’t matter. It makes no difference to me if we can because I’m not really a picture person so I wouldn’t want to upload any pictures,” Kiara Smith said.
Where to buy the yearbook, you may ask? The yearbooks will be sold in all lunches. If you can’t get it then go to Mr.Dudek’s class room 226.
Yearbooks - Now in Color!
Page 5 Feburary 2010Talon Opinion & Reviews
Valentine’s Day: Love or Hate it?
During winter break, the movie box offices were booming with adults and children alike, to see The Princess and the Frog. They were excited to see the Disney movie.
It is about a young African American girl named Tiana, whose father dreamed of owning a res-taurant. After her father’s death she wanted to fulfill his dream by trying to open the restaurant up for business. Though money was very tight she saved her money everyday, working two jobs.
Tiana was known in her home-town of New Orleans, Louisiana, as one of the best chefs, cooking beignets and gumbo that every-one loved. While she was work-ing a well known prince by the name of Prince Naveen came to New Orleans because his wealthy parents cut him off. He came to find love, and it was supposed to be with the richest girl in New Orleans by the name of Charlotte La Bouf. Jealousy came into the story, and Naveen befriended the wrong person by the name of Dr. Facilier. He then transformed Naveen into a frog and his servant into the prince. As the fairy tale says if a princess kisses a frog he will soon turn back into a human.
Sadly, he chose the wrong per-son to kiss him, be-cause Tiana was not a p r i n c e s s . They kissed and turned into frogs. This starts their adven-ture.
There were n u m e r o u s controver-sies about the movie such as, the setting, New O r l e a n s , its lack of beauty, and references to voodoo created an a w k w a r d movie for some. Arguments contesting the issue were that voodoo is magic, and many other movies created by Disney have magic in them.
Chaniqua Hardy said “It was a cute movie, and it was about time Disney created a black princess.
Jackie Reese stated, “The movie
showed people that it was the in-side that counts.”
Overall the movie had an awe-some turnout and was enjoyed by families everywhere.
By Maleiya Porter-Jones
‘The Princess and the Frog’
I can’t help but cringe when Valentine’s Day rolls around. It’s that inevitable time of year when I must endure the torture of being sur-rounded by insufferably teenage relationships (…so the drama).
I can enjoy Valen-tine’s Day for what it is: a time when everyone goes out of their way to actually try being nice to others. However, the purpose of Valen-tine’s Day is a cheap-candy-and-gift fuelled frenzy for “love” and “relationships” that an-noys me to no end.
Besides that, I am annually aggravated by
the lack of actual romance exhibited by Valentine’s Day participants. I can just feel the raging hormonal energy as I travel the halls around this time. Of course, it is hidden by the obliga-tory thin layer of love and caring one participant must display for the other; in the form of teddy bears that they serenade their lover with while they stick their tongues down their throat.
Besides this, there’s inevitably at least one breakup every year at Val-
entine’s Day. That means someone will be noisily wailing about the evil wench who stole her knight in shining armor with a pink Valentines card and a stolen poem.
There’s also the optimistic air of “true love” or at least what people perceive as “true love” gets on my nerves. On this day, people will announce how they’ve definitely just found their soul mate. In about one month, maybe, two they’ll be going out with someone else. It’s crazy and I don’t know what brings them to this conclusion.
Valentine’s Day also means that when I visit the local Walgreens, I’ll be forced to wade through rivers of pink fluff. The worst part is that it’s usually a river of cheap and ridicu-lous gifts and cards for anyone who wanted to really put effort into gifts for their loved one could have come up with themselves. While walking down the hallways, I’ll be forced to witness these poor excuses for gifts clutched by swooning teenage girls, their boyfriends smiling cockily beside them as if they’ve really made an ac-complishment.
Candy, flowers, big bears, cards; these are normal gifts that you see in the arms of girls on Valentine’s Day. The smiles on the faces of those who have received gifts from those who adore them; as they tell oth-ers what their presents are will dominate conversations. The day of love has been around since the 19th century.
“Valentine’s Day is centered on my girl, she makes the plans and I pay for it,” Asad Morris said. “As long as she is happy, it’s all good,” he laughed.
The day is dedicated to women and for men to acknowledge it. “Low-key, to me, women think that its more about the things you buy them that determines how much you really like them,” said one person, anonymously
“I wish guys would just think about what a girl is into before they just go and randomly spend money,” Chaniqua Hardy explained.
But many women think that the flourish of presents is a right of pas-sage.
“A guy shows how committed he is by acknowledging my day,” Yazmine Cole stated.
With the many different
views on Valentine’s Day, one thing is certain, the arms of LMSA students were sure filled. As the start of new relationships begin and established relationships are continued the aisles of stores are fill-ing up with confectionaries for those who want to show their worth.
Love it Hate itBy Kezia Darring By Asha Walker
By Chaniqua Hardy
MOVIE REVIEW
By Melanie WaltonThe student government was
composed a few months ago. You may be wondering what the stu-dent government has been up to lately.
Senators, Kyler Sumter and Dominique Reed, are happy that they were voted senators. “I’m happy because I can do a lot of things with the Academic Center
and help change things,” says Dominique Reed.
“I am happy because now I can fulfill all the students’ needs and wants,” Kyler added.
Both senators say that they are currently discussing the idea of a talent show. “There’s a likely pos-sibility that there will be a talent show, but there isn’t a date yet,” Kyler said.
The student government is cur-rently working hard to think of more events because students haven’t proposed a lot of ideas. Dominique wants to propose an idea for a Valentine’s carnival.
Kyler is convinced that the tal-ent show will become more defi-nite and will be before the spring intersession.
Page 6 Feburary 2010
ACADEMIC CENTER NEWSNews, Opinion and Reviews written by the Academic Center Journalism Club
Talent Show Coming Soon?
By Kyler SumterIf you have been wondering
about the Academic center bas-ketball team, wonder no more. They practice whenever the gym is open. The coach of the team is Dean Williams (who tried out for the Chicago Bulls). The assistant coach is Mr. Gettridge. There are 14 players on the team. The team captain is Mckinley Nelson.
“I think we’re doing okay but we can do better. Things can get better as we go along,” Mckinley said.
“This is probably one of the best teams we’ve had,” said Mr. Gettridge, assistant coach. A cou-ple of players on the team have won basketball championships before coming to Lindblom, so now they can help the Lindblom team win championships as well. A lot of players on the team are really great athletes. Joseph Toye
is the #1 rated track athlete. As you can see there is a lot of tal-ent on the team. Just from watch-ing the team practice you can see
that they are dedicated and love to play the game. They all have winning spirits so they will always be winners.
Basketball Team Full of Talent
Photo courtesy of Ms. Franklin
Coach Williams talks to his team.
By Melanie WaltonThe first ever Academic Center
volleyball team composed of 7th and 8th grade girls is kicking off
the season in high spirits. The coach of the team is Ms.
Franklin. “There’s quite a lot of talent
on the team this year,” she says as the girls begin practice. Last year there were eighteen sev-enth graders on the team, but no eight graders. Five players, who are now in the eight grade, were there practicing.
“So far practice is well… inter-esting,” Shelby Perzanowski says. Shelby likes being on the team and was on the team last year. She is now in the eighth grade. She is looking forward to more games. Shelby says that practice is challenging, but she loves play-ing.
For the most part, the girls on the volleyball team work great to-gether. The girls have already de-feated two schools in two games. Look out people!
The LMSA girls are as fierce as ever!
Volleyball Set to Spike the Competition
Photo courtesy of Ms. Franklin
The girls volleyball team learns some new skills from Coach Franklin.
MOVIE REVIEWS
THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG
Have you ever had out of this world dreams? Dreams that would be hard to accomplish? Dreams that everyone around you would laugh at for even thinking that you would be able to do something like that? Well, Princess Tiana had a big dream.
She wanted to have her very own restaurant! She dreamed that people from all over the world would come to her restau-rant to get a taste of her food. As she grew up she started to get closer and closer to own-ing her own restaurant. Then weird things started to happen to Tiana... “froggy” things.
This movie is a heart-warm-ing tale about following your dreams. It’s fun for people of all ages. The whole family will enjoy it. This movie came with great anticipation since its fea-turing Disney’s first Black prin-cess. If you haven’t seen this movie yet, what are you waiting for? Go out and see it, and have a great time.
— Kyler Sumter
ALVIN AND THE CHIP-MUNKS: THE SQUEAKEL
“Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakel” was released in the-aters on December 25, 2009. It’s a great comedy and keeps you laughing to the end. Alvin and the gang have competition when talented female chipmunks come along.
All of them square off in a school competition to earn the music department $25,000. But with this comedy comes the question of honesty and loyalty.
Together they have to bring Ian down and prove that they can all shine together. “The Squeakel” is the perfect choice for a family pick on family night.
— Melanie Walton
There will be a live couture fashion show held at Lindblom Math and Sci-ence Academy. The show will take place late April or early May in the Muti-Purpose room (317) by invita-tion only. The show will represent the clothing line Atelier Terece by our very own Tyehimba Turner.
Since the show will be held at Lind-blom, he decided to incorporate Lindblom girls as models. There will be a total of ten models used in the show from a variety of all grade levels. These models will get the
opportunity to walk in his fashion show wearing Tye’s fashion, as well as participate in copious amounts of photo shoots for the show.
There will be many modeling repre-sentatives and fashion industry rep-resentatives at this show recruiting the young models. “This is a won-derful opportunity for those who want to go into the modeling profes-sion or for any who wants to go into a fashion industry related career,” Tye said..
Tye is really interested in fashion and embraced the opportunity to
incorporate Lindblom as part of his show. “I decided to do the show last year once I realized I knew a lot of people here.”
Tye also has been connecting him-self with fashion for a long time. “Fashion has been an interest since the 8th grade,” he said. Being as this is his junior year he is really look-ing forward to pursuing fashion as a major and soon after as a career.
We look forward to the Atelier Ter-ece Fashion Show!
Well after a month into its re-lease, Avatar was still at the top of the box office charts. It has accu-mulated over $491,767,000 in gross sales and won the hearts of many. Recently, Avatar won Golden Globes for “Best Motion Picture, Drama” and “Best Director – Motion Picture.” First thought of 15 years ago by Di-rector James Cameron, Avatar took four years to produce.
It was well worth the wait. Avatar takes you away to a fantasy planet called Pandora, a planet that is toxic to the dwellers of earth. The 3-D ef-fects heighten the dramatic effects of the land and creatures there. On Pandora, lives a colony of blue people called the Na’vi who are one with the earth. Their God, Eywa, is a tree that transmits electrical sig-nals throughout the planet, which connects everything to one another. Also on Pandora, ex-marine Jake Sulley meets the Na’vi and becomes one of “The People.” He falls in love with the daughter of the Chief and loses sense of which world feels more real. He is faced with an epic battle that literally decides the fate of the world.
Like any great movie, there was great controversy behind it. Ava-tar was viewed as a racist movie based on the fact that the Na’vi had braided hair and lived in trees. The producers did not help their cause by having the aliens yelp like they did in Pocahantas. The controversy, instead of having a negative effect, had an incredibly positive effect on ticket purchases.
However, this movie was simply epic. The 3-D IMAX experience was surely worth the cost. “I think its one of those movies that show how we as a people can be so cruel to the world,” senior Shelby Light said. “And the visual effects were pretty
Page 7 Feburary 2010Talon Arts & Fashion
The Paris haute couture shows are fast approaching with twenty seven different houses presenting shows from Monday, January 25th to Thurs-day, January 28th. Of these only eleven are French, a sign of the trou-bling times.
In the past few years, many houses have shut down their haute couture lines due to a loss of profit and lack of buyers. For instance, a haute cou-ture garment can run upwards of a six figure price tag and are only rented out to the most selective of clients. For most, buying a haute couture piece is only a dream.
The haute couture is a blending of art with fashion, a way of preserving older customs of sewing. Most pieces are made completely by hand, and made from the finest of materials. It is not unheard for up to 25 people to work on one couture piece. Each show presents from 60 to 75 pieces in each collection.
Often, each supplier serves more than one house such as the storied embroidery company of Lesage. For
other companies, the haute couture simply means more money, more shows, more work, and rigorous in-spections.
For a company to even call itself a haute couture house, its workrooms must be in Paris, the company must pay at least ten permanent workroom staff, and then must be approved by both the government of France and two haute couture houses already on the panel.
In past years the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture Parisienne has strictly enforced these rules. However, as more and more companies can not afford to continue their haute couture lines, they have relaxed.
Usually, most of the houses are French, however, foreign involvement has grown. Some companies have taken advantage of this relaxation of rules such as Viktor and Rolf. Others have taken advantage of the lack of competition to increase their status and form near monopolies.
However, whether haute couture is dying or not, it is still here and we must take full advantage of it.
The use of digital media has tempo-rarily revived the industry with shows
appearing on YouTube, WWD, style.com, or even being streamed online by houses that could not afford to have a show in Paris. Thus, the parties will be held, and houses such as Dior, Chanel, and Franck Sorbier will present their collections. Let the shows begin!
Want a fun way to relieve stress? Consider taking Art I and learn how to make variety of bowls, cups, and pitchers.
Or better than taking an art class, is teaching one.
Junior Kyle Hinson says, “Pottery is my release other than football.”
Recently, Kyle Hinson taught 18 in-spired college graduates at Lincoln Park – all future teachers – how to accomplish the historic artform known as pottery. Ms. Wielgosz, art teacher, encouraged him to teach a one-time 2.5-hour-long class. The instructions were simple: teach the class everything that was taught in Art I about pottery.
The experience gave him a chance to get some service learning hours, more money in his pocket, and a chance to relieve the stress LMSA puts on its students. Kyle said, “I use pottery to support myself finan-cially.”
Although pottery may seem like it is for elder people or simple to do, it is actually a very complex and calm-
ing form of art. The steps are time consuming, but being able to create a unique masterpiece is priceless. Art I is not just for people who can draw or those who inspire to make a career out of it; art is another way to express oneself in a creative way.
Ms. Wielgosz said, “Kyle didn’t
know he could make such good pot-tery, until he took the class.” LMSA is filled with creative minds, so test your creativity in art. “Anybody can make pottery, but pottery ain’t for everybody. You’ll never know until you give it a try,” Kyle Hinson said.
LMSA models to walk the runway
Junior teaches teachers about pottery‘Avatar’ worth the 15-year wait
MOVIE REVIEW
By Lydia Moore
By Mica Dugas
Photo courtesy of Ms. Wielgosz
Kyle Hinson shows a group of teachers all about pottery.
By Eariel Jeffers
bryantboy.com
By Tyehimba Turner
avatarmovie.com
Haute Couture shows coming to Paris
“Lady Eagles on three…1, 2, 3! Lady Eagles!!!” The LMSA Lady Eagle’s Varsity Basketball Team is definitely stronger than ever for the 2009-2010 season.
Led by Coach SSG Dan Lawson, the ladies went undefeated (7-0) in their conference up until Tuesday, Janu-ary 19, 2010, when they played their hearts out against Perspectives-Calu-met High School and lost after Per-spective’s game-winning shot.
Before this season, the Lady Eagles didn’t have much fan support because of their continued competition with the varsity boy’s team. This year, every-thing has changed; the support is very live and much appreciated. The Lady Eagles team is pretty young but has a lot of prosperous talent.
Since the beginning of the season, these ladies have been working day in and day out. From running up and down stairs doing drills to defeating rival teams like Corliss High School in over-time, these ladies deserve much more respect than what they are given.
They practice every non-game day from 3:30 p.m. to some days as late as 8 p.m. It’s very impor-tant to add that these student-athletes are definitely students first with all team members being academically eligible.
The Lady Eagles have worked extremely hard this season with a final conference record of 8-1, which earned them a spot in the playoffs..
Lindblom is looking forward to great things coming from this team especially from Alliya Pinckney, team
captain, who was recently ranked all-city and chosen as one of the Top 25 Players in Chicago. Although she was
injured for part of the season, Alliya still proved her love for the game of basketball.
The Robotics team is off to a fast, strong, and competitive start. The team has been preparing for the First Robotic Challenge (FRC) season since the start of school, holding fund -rais-ers, finding multiple sponsors, and building a strong reliable team.
The Kick-Off for the FRC robotics tournament was Jan. 7th, and right away the robotics team was off quickly thinking of new, effective, and inven-tive ideas for their robot this year.
Mathew Truss said, “We have a strong team this year and we are super psyched for the season.” Many of the team’s seniors have already applied for many of the scholarships that FIRST offers to all of the aspir-ing students that have participated in FIRST’s robotics, including the First Robotic Challenge.
This year’s game involves designing, creating and programming a robot to play a game much like soccer, where the robot must score goals or block
the other team from making goals without picking up the ball or “carry-ing” it.
Six teams go up against one another, three on the red alliance and three on the blue. All of the teams will compete against one another to try to move on to become one of the top teams.
The top teams get to choose the other two teams they want to be on their alliance. Teams can either chose to make a robot that they want to be-come one of the top robots, or a robot that most likely will get chosen by a different top team.
They will be going up against many other teams from around the country. We all wish them the best of luck as they approach their upcoming teams from different parts of the country.
ACADEMIC CENTERBASKETBALLBy Curtis Williams
The Lindblom Eagles’ 7th and 8th grade basketball team recently defeated Earle Elementary 28 to 21. Joseph Toye scored 16 points, and had 8 rebounds to help his team defeat Earle.
The team consists of great players like point guard McKinley Nelson, and Glen Smith. “Glen Smith shows great leader-ship skills as he exhibits excellent defen-sive skills,” said Coach Williams.
The team is also coached by Mr. Gettridge, the assistant principal of the academic center. Not only do they teach great basketball skills but they also ex-press to the kids the meaning of being a student first and foremost. “We want
them to be responsible young adults” said Coach Williams. The team was off to a good start at 3-2 overall and 1-0 in their conference.
SWIMMINGBy Monica Vergara
The Lindblom Eagles Boys Swim-ming Team placed 18th out of 32 schools at a recent meet at Whit-ney Young Magnet High School. The swimming team has had an eventful month, including an important meet against Kelly here at LMSA. Coach Demski said, “I feel like they are going to do really well” at upcoming events. The swimming team will be entering the freshmen and sopho-more city championship. “We have a
young team”,said Demski. He feels they have a chance of placing well against the other schools who gener-ally have a majority senior swimming team.
SOFTBALLBy Nia Williams
The Girls Softball team is starting a fresh season at the beginning of this spring. Head Varsity Coach Ms. Franklin, and Junior Varsity Coach Ms. Shinaul, are planning to make it through the season and on to the playoffs again this year. Recruitment and early condition-ing begins in early or late February after school from 3:30 p.m. to 5 or 5:30 p.m. Announcements will be made.
The season starts in April but Coach
Franklin always wants to be ahead in the game over other teams. During the two months prior to the start of the season, new comers are taught how to play and secrets of the game. So if you do not know how to play, by the end of the two months, you will almost be pro. Veter-ans of the game are to help teach the newcomers as well as practice.
Members of the girls’ softball team last year are looking forward to defeating the top girls’ team — Gwendolyn Brooks Academy. Brooks, last year, were unde-feated but the Lady Eagles are hoping to turn that around. Their varsity team is a force to be reckoned with and their junior varsity team is just as tough. The coaches are expecting motivation from those who wish to join the team this year.
Page 8 February 2010Talon Sports
‘Go Hard or Go Home, Lady Eagles!’
Robotics Builds a Strong Team
Photo courtesy of Ms. Franklin
The girls’ basketball team huddles up during a recent game.
WINTER Sports Update
Girls’ soccer will start in March, with their first game on the 23rd, against Bowen. Although the season has not started, it doesn’t mean the girls aren’t working.
The girls are “just conditioning,” Ms. Wielgosz said. She has her team get-ting into shape and training them as much as she can. Last year the team endured some struggles within the last few games.
“This year the goal is to be unde-feated,” Ms. Wielgosz said with con-viction. There are thirty-two players, sixteen of them new to the team; eleven are freshman.
When asked what they were currently doing in the club, Andrea Calderon, one of the members, said that they were exercising and getting fit but they had started on the drills to help them with their skills. “Yeah it can be tiring but its fun,” says Calderon when asked if she enjoys the conditioning.
Yei Narvaez, another player on the
team said, ”Well its really tiring because we are working every muscle in our body...But it gets fun and challenging to do all the warm-ups.”
Apparently soccer practice is more than kicking the ball around and run-ning. Yei Narvaez said,” I have a lot of fun going to practice because we do yoga, run, and do kick boxing and other series of exercises.There is a new rou-tine everyday and everyone gets fit.”
So they sweat a lot and hang out with friends but why soccer? “Being with friends and getting to represent our school”, says Andrea Calderon.
Ms. Wielgosz has big expectations this year; the team had a hard time with the last few games the last year. So what happened? Andrea Calderon says, “Well we did good for our first year but I think that maybe it was the pressure at the end to do well. We lost our first game of the season. Then at the end when we made it to the playoffs, we lost our first game.” When playing in the playoffs once you lose a game you’re out.
