The Rexonian “Al l t he newsthey le t u s pr i nt ”

Thursday, March 12, 2015vol. vIII . . № 29

once upon a time, there was a scary beast called Nian. It came out on the first day of every Lunar New Year to raid the countryside, devour-ing livestock and villagers, especial-ly young children whose meat was considered the most delicious. To protect themselves, villagers pre-pared a huge feast on that day and presented the best dishes in front of their houses so that Nian might choose to eat these dishes instead of the innocent children. Unfortu-nately, the villagers’ generosity did not put an end to the beast’s brutali-ty, leading them to seek revenge on Nian. Moved by their tragedy, a god came down from heaven and advised the villagers to put red paper and firecrackers in front of their houses on the day when Nian would attack. Realizing that Nian was suseptible to red and loud sounds, the villag-ers hung red lanterns on their doors and pasted red paper decor on their windows. When Nian revisited the village on the first day of the next year, it was scared off by the red decorations and the firecrackers ig-nited around him. No one was killed that night, and never again did Nian return to the village.

Of course this is merely the Chinese mythology that explains the Chinese New Year (the liter-al translation of “year” in Chinese

is “Nian”), or more accurately, the lunar New Year, as multiple East Asian countries such as Korea, Ja-pan, vietnam and Malaysia all cel-ebrate this holiday. Most traditions derived from Nian’s story are still in practice today: Chinese families still put up red decorations around the house, prepare feasts, and light firecrackers during the Spring Festi-val. The Spring Festival is 15-days long, starting from New Year’s Eve and lasting until the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month, according to the East Asian lunar calendar. However, some traditions have evolved since then.

The feast has become more of a family reunion, which is usually taken very seriously by the whole family, particularly by the elders. Families hang red paper squares on their doors with the word ‘Fu’— meaning ‘bless’—written in callig-raphy. Because the Chinese word for ‘upside-down’ has the same sound as ‘arrive,’ the “Fu” paper has to be hung upside-down in order for bless-ing to come upon the family. For children, the Spring Festival is best time of year. Not only will they not* be eaten by the beast, but they will also receive a significant amount of money in red paper envelopes from older relatives. The rule is simple: the more relatives one visits during

As I repeat after Mr. Ryuji the next part of the choreography, I look around the dance studio at the Eve-ning Dance Ensemble through the mirror, and observe how much our dance group has grown. Ever since freshmen year, I have watched the dance program flourish and become more and more professional. Stu-dents have been joining, not only to learn contemporary dance, but to also learn Dabke and choreograph their own individual pieces. This year’s dance showcase was proof of all the hard work and vigor that was put into producing our all-en-compassing show. on Wednesday, March 4th, about 26 dancers per-formed our pieces, with 14 of the dancers involved in 3-6 pieces.

As we had never before done a showcase without a host, changing quickly between pieces was a skill that each dancer had to develop. The first dance was performed by our incredible dabke group, the first part of which was choreographed by Omar Lutfi. Mr. Omar has been teaching dabke at King’s for three years now, and I was one of his students for two years; I can tell you for sure that it was a fantastic experience to learn more about my own culture in a different environ-ment. What distinguishes the King’s dabke troupe is its large number of international participants; students of different cultures are willing to experience something new about the culture of Jordan. The second piece that the Dabke troop per-formed is choreographed by El-Fu-noun Dance Troupe of Palestine. Mr. Ryuji provided instruction to the King’s Academy Dabke Troupe on the choreography of the piece. Right after Dabke followed a solo piece that Raghad Akrouk ’14 and I choreographed at the end of the past summer vacation just before she left for university. It was this summer that I realised dance was something I would do in my free time, as a hob-by, and not just a class I had to take.

“A Glimpse of Our Imagination”

This past weekend, King’s Acade-my Model United Nations hosted its fifth annual conference on campus. For three days, the campus buzzed with the excited chatter of delegates, organizers, and distinguished speak-ers. Holding true to its founding mis-sion, there is no doubt that KAMUN 2015 has furthered the reputation of MUN within the school and nation of Jordan.

Founded in 2010 by four ambi-tious students who hoped to im-prove the opportunities for debate at King’s, KAMUN has witnessed enormous growth. Though the con-ference began with fewer than one hundred delegates, one would be hard-pressed to call the conference’s beginnings ‘humble.’ Hosted at the Dead Sea for the first few years, KAMUN was internationally rec-ognized as the lowest MUN confer-ence on Earth. Two years ago, the secretariat decided to cut confer-ence costs by hosting KAMUN on campus. This decision allowed for greater diversity of delegates to par-ticipate in MUN.

KAMUN today boasts over 300 participants across eleven forums, many of which are unique to Jordan. Forums such as the Jordan Model Parliament, which was pioneered at King’s Academy, have gained pop-ularity throughout the nation in both private and government-run schools. In addition, embracing the Middle East, KAMUN allows for lobbying and debate in both Arabic and En-glish, depending on the forum.

From the get-go, the conference distinguished itself by emphasizing delegate proficiency and commit-ment over the quantity of partici-pants. This year, KAMUN organizers personally interviewed most of the delegates and all of the chairs, there-by ensuring debate and knowledge unmatched by past conferences.

We sat down with Secretary Gen-eral Sun Woo Kim ’15 for an inter-view to reflect on his experience of organizing MUN and watching KA-MUN’s legacy develop.

Interview on a4

Celebrating the Year of the Sheep

Dance Mode On!

photo credit: mark foster

By Leen MaDanat

‘Justice: For all?’

Orchid in the rain Ning Bao ’16 performs in KA dance showcase

By aMeLia kenna

By Jianing zhaO

continued on a7continued on a3

opinion a2

Ahmed Al KhAlAyleh reflects on a summer at Seeds of Peace

dinA KuttAb on normalization in the Middle East

campus a3

youssef Al mughrAbi questions King’s academy’s response to water scarcity

rAmi rustom interviews the two Nihalists behind ShermIts

arts & culture a7

WAleed AlsulAimAn lists legendary video game series

CArinA ellis explores the power of language immersion

sports a5

all things basketball with hyun tAeK lim & CArinA ellis

cinema & television a6

Amin JAnJuA reviews A Most Violent Year

interviews a4

AmeliA KennA talks KAmun 2015 with Sun Woo Kim

seung hee yAng and sophiA sArmAdi speak with Orlando arellano of Seeds of Peace

Corrections, Op-Ed submissions, and letters to the Editor may be addressed to:

rexonian@kingacademy.edu.joThe Opinion page publishes individual authors and their own views, which do not necessarily reflect the views or editorial policy of The Rexonian.

ThE RExoNIAN OpiniOn MARCH 12, 2015A2

The Rexonian amelia kenna, Executive Editordaniel leal, Managing Editorxu zhaoying, Managing Editorseung hee yang, Managing Editorsuhail nahhas, Deputy Managing Editorsophia sarmadi, deputy Managing Editor

My knowledge of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict when I was young was very limited. In fact, I didn’t know there was conflict. Palestine was a word I constantly heard thrown around, but it seemed to have a certain gravity to it. I was always too afraid to ask. Israel, I had believed, was some tribe in the region that terrorized Palestinians. I saw children on the news throwing stones at soldiers and large tanks and I didn’t know what to think of it. This was what I knew of the conflict. Shocking, consid-ering I’ve lived in Jordan for most of my life. This perception went on until the summer before ninth grade. This is when I went to Seeds of Peace.

As usual, it was one of my brothers, Abdullah, who introduced me to the camp. I never really learned much about his experience there, so as I applied, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. After I got accepted, there were three days of orientation, in which decades of Palestinian his-tory were crammed into my head. My perception had then become a jumble of dates, facts, events, documentaries, and one single point of view. “This is what you might hear them say, and this is how you would respond.” I felt slightly more prepared, but I still didn’t know what to expect.

After hours of travel, we finally drove into Seeds and were greeted by music, singing, chant-ing, cheering, and jumping up and down. Three of the most memorable and gratifying weeks of my life began. Each day was essentially split up into two parts: Dialogue and activities. Dialogue was

our discussion group, consisting of Palestinians, Israelis, Jordanians, Egyptians, and Americans, in which we, of course, discussed the conflict. The latter included things like sailing, baseball, foot-ball, basketball, Frisbee, team-building games, and a number of other sports and activities, all of which also consisted of those different nationalities, as well as Indians and Pakistanis, as Seeds also held discussions for the Indo-Pakistani conflict.

That, in a nutshell, is Seeds of Peace. Of course, upon my return to Jordan, there were a great num-ber of criticisms and judgments made on the camp. Some said it was a normalization camp, others said it was a bold move that could take a very bad turn. The opinions were numerous and varied; in my opinion, it was a very fruitful experience.

Keep in mind this was my first experience in talking about this conflict. Since the orientation hadn’t helped much, I was plunged into this de-cades-long conflict, right in between the two op-posing sides. I listened more than I spoke, which was frustrating for many. I heard from one side the stories of the Palestinians, and from the other the story of the Israelis. Not only that, but I was hearing stories of the conflict from first-hand experience, primary sources, not from textbooks or news report-ers. By the end of the three weeks, I felt like I had had the best introduction one could have to the con-flict. I was not forcefully swayed into believing one side or the other; I listened to both in equal measure.

Seeds of Peace also allowed me to humanize the conflict, so to speak. One thing that frustrated me during some of the discussions was that it came

down to a discussion of death-tolls. “You killed 300 of our people.” “Well, you killed 500 of ours.” That wasn’t what I came for. By the end of the three weeks, however, the discussions changed. They tackled the essential questions of what are we to do, what is our role, why is this happening, how can it stop. I’m not saying that we all left the camp with the solution to peace. But in the last few discussions of the final week, the people in the di-alogue group could look at one another and know that they all wanted the same things. We were all young teenagers with lives as complex and vivid as everyone else’s. We all wanted people to stop killing each other and to sleep not worrying that a bomb wouldn’t come down on our homes.

There are, of course, downsides to this organiza-tion. As some have said, it could be a normalizing experience for some, meaning that one could ignore the atrocities that occur every day between the two sides and pretend all is well. For some, that may have happened. They may have left the camp think-ing everything was fine and dandy. Others say that the camp is pointless, that it won’t lead anywhere, and that it was a waste of money. Again, that may be true for some, there is no denying that. I know some who have left the camp just as they entered it. No change. But hey, school can be just the same; you can pay 4-years’ worth of tuition, not do any of the work, and you will have wasted a fortune.

Seeds of Peace is an instrument. It may not be the road to peace, but it certainly ushers people to it, and it is their choice as to whether or not they should follow it.

Printed by mr. nidal nahhas

Staff Writers

ahmed alhroobwaleed alsulaimancarina ellisamin janjuapengfei hujianing zhaohyun taek limmonya twaissiyoussef al mughrabi

Contributing Writers

ahmed al khalaylehdina kuttabrami rustomleen madanat

Publishers

mr. james magagnams. diane foster

By ahMeD aL khaLayLeh

Seeds of Peace, Seeds of Power

Rethinking ‘Normalization’By Dina kuttaB

The word ‘normalization’ had been floating around the hallways of King’s Academy in the days leading up to and following a visit from Seeds of Peace representatives. Seeds of Peace, an orga-nization that brings together teenager from areas of conflict—notably Palestinians, Jordanians, Egyp-tians, and Israelis—has stirred up a lot of contro-versy, as many believe that going to such programs normalizes the Israeli occupation. For a word that has caused so much controversy, normalization is surprisingly difficult to define.

As someone who has been to programs similar to Seeds of Peace, I have been accused of normal-ization multiple times. My first response to these accusations is to ask the person how they define normalization. It usually takes a second, but after they have thought about it the answer is very sim-ilar: normalization is the interactions with Israelis as if the Israeli occupation is normal or accepted. According to this definition, it is easy to see why so many are opposed to normalization. This type of normalization is dangerous because it allows Is-raelis to assume that Palestinians are content with the situation, and that the Israeli government’s ac-tions are acceptable. While the results of this type of normalization rarely reach this extent, meeting with Palestinians without acknowledging the con-flict makes it easy for Israelis to ignore the situa-tion and the people suffering from the occupation.

While there are programs that promote this type of normalization, Seeds of Peace is not one of them. The key point in this definition of normal-ization is not just that Israelis and Palestinians are interacting, but rather that they are interacting as if the situation is normal. If anything, Seeds of Peace

does the opposite, including sessions where camp-ers engage in discussion about the conflict. In these sessions, participants consciously work toward un-derstanding the other side and finding solutions to the situation. How can you ignore the problems of a conflict when you are constantly discussing it with the people that are most affected?

The problem is that many people define normal-ization differently. They assume that any and all interactions with Israelis contributes to normaliza-tion. This definition of normalization, however, is so broad that it prevents people from participating in programs that are actually beneficial in the fear that it is normalization. Interactions with Israelis aren’t essentially bad; in fact, they are necessary. To ensure that Palestinians are treated fairly in any implemented solution, there must be support from the Israeli population. And the only way to make a change in the Israeli population is to educate the next generation and expose them to the other side of the conflict. The only way to ensure peace is to encourage understanding from both sides, and to abolish the stereotypes and generalizations that each of us has of the other. A leader at a similar program once said to me, “it’s very hard to scream ‘kill the Arabs’ or ‘kill the Jews’ when the other day you were sharing a hairbrush with one of them, or hearing their stories of hardship. We may not change their minds, but the least we can do is make them think twice.” Seeds of Peace will probably not solve the conflict, but there is little hope for compromise and understanding if such programs do not exist. If Seeds of Peace, discussion, and un-derstanding are considered normalization, then so be it. I would then only argue that ‘normalization’ isn’t so bad.

From Front PageStudents here are diverse, interest-

ing, and as the last couple of months have shown, brimming with ideas. From the recent KAMUN confer-ence, to the Key Club and Round Square projects, the Mock Trial and Code co-curriculars, and the Femi-nist and Ecce homo clubs, students have demonstrated leadership, orga-nization, and initiative. One enter-prise, however, that has escaped the public eye, and demands attention just like any extracurricular activity, is the small, student-led business that has made Nihal a more savory place after study hall: ShermIts™.

Twice a week, at quarter til ten, hisham and Yacoub collect orders through a dorm-wide, online form, and set up shop in one of Nihal’s kitchens. With the help of several employees, the two entrepreneurs prepare hotdogs, and beguile Nihal with their culinary skills. Customers can order a simple hotdog with their choice of condiments and toppings, or opt for the Hamido’س special, which (inspired by the loyal custom-er, Hamid Al-Derhally) includes ev-ery sauce, vegetable, and decorative imaginable, along with chips and soda. once the orders are placed, the ShermIts crew processes the in-formation to create a database (us-ing an algorithm of their invention) that they use to prepare the hotdogs,

and deliver them to customers in the comfort of their rooms.

Amazed by the success and instant popularity of the business (as well as the delicious hotdogs), this reporter interviewed Hisham and Yacoub, and learned about their experience as en-trepreneurs. Here are some excerpts from the interview:

The rexonian: What inspired you to start doing this?

hisham and yacoub: Well, ini-tially, the main reason was for us to earn money in order to buy a feed for the dorm, and show teachers that we don’t need them. You could say it was an act of rebellion.

Tr: And the answer was Shermits?h/y: Actually, it didn’t start with

the hotdogs. At first, we discovered the Sunday discount at Burger Shack. People here love it, and we decided to get it to them more easily, and make a profit. We would buy meals every Sunday, and deliver them. That’s what made us special: the ease that we provided.

Tr: Then the hot dogs came along? h/y: last year, there was a hot dog

business in Nihal, but the teachers didn’t like it. There were always long lines, people were late for check-in, and there was even a food fight once.

When we wanted to start, we took into consideration the expectations of the dorm, and tried to work with them. We wanted a business that didn’t break the rules, and instead, contributed to Nihal. So, we decid-ed to give it another shot—only this time, it would be better.

Tr: What are some challenges you faced?

h/y: There were three challenges. First, the system. We had to find a way to translate orders into a system that is quick, easy, and structured. It took a lot of thinking, but in the end, we designed an excel function. This was tough, on the technical side.

Second, getting people to under-stand that this is an ordered system, different from last year’s hotdog scheme. Some people still don’t take it seriously, but once you give them rules that they must follow, with con-sequences, they will. We play it by the rules, and so do our customers.

Tr: Interesting. What are some les-sons learned that you’d like to share?

h/y: We learned that, for things to work, you sometimes need to be a jerk.

Tr: Finally, of greatest interest to our readers, what about the name?

y: Mmm…It’s actually an acro-nym. It stands for Steven Hawking, Einstein, Rutherford, Mendeleev, Isaac Newton, Thompson, and the last “s” is for plurality.

h: Let’s just say it’s a combination of letters that makes sense to us.♦

By yOusseF aL MughraBi

By raMi rustOMthe Festival, the more money he or she gets. Therefore, it’s not hard to imagine why children would get ex-cited about the Spring Festival.

At King’s, due to the postpone-ment of KAMUN, we celebrated the Chinese/Lunar New Year one week before the actual date, February 19th. Led by Mr. Ryuji and Mr. Ho, the Um Qais weekend team proctors and several enthusiastic students worked together to give the dining hall a festive makeover, complete with traditional red Chinese décor. Resident rexonian artist and col-umnist Suhail Nahhas ’16, coached everyone on how to draw dragons. As a complete beginner, the mess I drew looked more like a mutated snake rather than the noble creature of Chinese mythology. It was a hu-morous experience, to say the least.

After wrestling with the myste-rious creatures on our papers, we spent the whole afternoon cooking. Xiner Chen cooked some delicious Chinese chicken, Dong Jae Hong made Korean seafood pancakes that were questionable in appearance, but were justified in taste, Mr. Ja-mie’s rice cakes were one of the best dishes that night (the sauce was di-vine), and Mr. Ho was executive chef in charge of it all.

Here is an interview with Ms. Diane Foster, one of the first-time

dumpling-makers:The rexonian: How did you feel

about making dumplings?Ms. diane: Messy, super messy.

But it was fun-messy, so it’s okay. Tr: What was the most difficult

part about making dumplings?dF: Well, it was hard to seal them

the right way. I was afraid that the contents might fall out. I was extra careful with the dumpling skin at first, but they aren actually not as fragile as I thought.

Tr: Would you like to do it again next year?

dF: Oh sure, I did the vegetarian ones this year, so next year I really want to try the ones with meat. Also, I don’t know what happens after I made them! So curious…

Tr: Um…you actually just throw them in water and boil them!

Before dinner, we were treated to a great dance performance. The last dance was hilarious. Though there should have been more boys, Feng Jiang and Sitao Wang certainly did a great job. Then there was the New Year feast, which proved to be amazing. The only problem was that there were so many different dish-es available that it was hard to give every single one of them a try. But first-world problems aside, I’d like to give a big thanks to everyone who participated in cooking (or eating) —and Happy New Year!

ThE RExoNIAN campus MARCH 12, 2015 A3

In a country plagued by of a mul-titude of resource issues, one of the biggest out there would have to be Jordan’s water scarcity. While many governmental institutions alongside a handful of NGO’s have tried their best to put an end to our daily water problem, they have failed to make headway on the issue. Seeing this, the King’s Academy Round Square group has decided to take a step in the right direction and get to the core of how we can find a permanent solu-tion. On the 14th of February a num-ber of schools took part at a small Round Square conference centered around water scarcity in Jordan. The goal of the conference was to eluci-date this pressing problem. Private and public schools from regions in-cluding Amman, Madaba, and Zarqa took part in this conference. Through the conference, students from very different regions of the country were able to inform each other of how they felt water scarcity should be tackled in their own region. The conference allowed the students to discuss in a manner that was free and open, al-

lowing for the development of per-manent solutions. After the confer-ence, the various participants took part in smaller, more compressed discussion groups and Barrazas, taking in new information and ideas they were able to use within their communities.

Overall, collective student respons-es indicate that the water conference was a success. While I applaud the efforts of all participants, my overall impression of the water conference can be summarized with one word: ironic.

Here students are, from the second most water poor nation in the Middle East, trying to develop a solution to a crisis that has plagued the nation since its establishment. And where, in this waterless nation have stu-dents chosen to analyze the issue of water scarcity? King’s Academy: the most artificially green plot of green last in the entire nation. So, yes—I do believe that a water conference is an important step for the youth of the nation. But does no one see the hypocrisy in the setting of the con-ference? This is a school that waters entire kilometers of real grass in the

summer to ‘keep up appearances.’ Instead of planting shrubs that con-serve water, the school has commit-ted itself to the maintenance of the most water-consuming vegetation available. The water fountain outside of Beit al Mudeer spews out a stream during all seasons, be it the hottest days of summer summer or the cold-est nights of winter. Looking at it on the weekend of February 14th, I could only view the stream of water as a scathing reminder of the hypocrisy of the conference, a conference host-ed by a school responsible for such a massive misuse of water.

My question for the school is as follows: are nationwide conferences on water scarcity really helping the problem? Or would it be better to look for solutions within the school that could reduce some of its enor-mous water consumption? We need to remember that students don’t come to King’s Academy for the green grass and sound of water pour-ing into the Beit fountain. They come here for an education. So would permanently turning off the Beit Al Mudeer fountain really be such a loss for us?

King’s Academy Tackles Water Scarcity in Jordan—Or Does It?

king’s Celebrates Lunar new year ShermIts Are Nihal’s New Top Dogs

The rexonian: about your back-ground—how did you get involved in seeds of Peace?

Orlando Arellano: For me, one of the most important questions in-volves my identity. I kind of lived between two worlds, being both American and a latino. There were concerns of being too “American” or “too white”. One of the frequent question I get in the States is, “you’re American, but what are you really?”. While when I get back home in Mex-ico, there were concerns of being “too white”. One of my best friends is a Palestinian refugee from Syria and another acquaintances of mine is an Israeli. It was really through them that I became interested in the Middle Eastern World. My friend’s sister also participated in Seeds of Peace in the 90s, so she also took part in getting me into the organiza-tion. I also worked at an embassy and I had my own concept of diplomacy, but I always kind of challenged it. It was with my experience in Seeds of Peace that I had a completely vision of what a civil diplomacy could look like; “people to people diplomacy”. how could we better understand one another and get to the roots of problems that we are facing through the perspective of self. For me, that includes my identity and as I men-tioned, it is very complicated.

Tr: how does it feel as an outsider to be in someone else’s conflict?

OA: We could be very protective of the environments we live in. No matter where we live, well, maybe I could say to somebody else, “you don’t live my experience, you don’t know what you are talking about.” But actually I’ve found that when you really sit and listen, it’s like when you’re with your friends, and you have a friend who’s not involved in the dispute, the friend could pro-vide a different perspective that you and your friends could not see be-cause you are too emotional and too attached to it. I always see my role as a third party as a very important one, but I also believe that you have to be careful because it’s not my job to speak for anyone. I never want to speak for a Palestinian or in place of an Israeli because I believe people learn through themselves and their own experiences. I live an experi-ence there, but I also have to say my experiences are also influenced by my own identity. The fact that I’m not attached to this, that I have an American passport—that’s going to influence some of the experiences I

have. Someone else is going to have certain experiences because he or she is Palestinian—or because he or she is Israeli—so that will influence the experience that you’re having and also manage how you are engaging with such a difficult topic.

Tr: so you said you had a Pales-tinian friend and an Israeli friend? did that dispute ever break out be-tween them?

OA: Yeah, occasionally—they al-ways would joke, “Well, here we can get along and be really good friends, but if we were ‘back home’ we wouldn’t be allowed to be” and that was always really sad to me because they were really good friends and they always challenged each other. But now actually I understand, living in Jerusalem, that sometimes there are also structures in place that pre-vent people from being together. So it’s about asking what can you create when you build that space—can peo-ple develop something new or a new outlook, even if it’s not about com-promise but about speaking truth to your own reality and experience.

Tr: What is your organization’s mission when it comes to conflict resolution, and what is your own personal view of conflict resolution? What kind of people do you look for to take part in seeds of Peace?

OA: I wouldn’t say that our mis-sion is necessarily about resolving conflict—it’s about transforming conflict. That’s one of the issues with conflict resolution—what is a resolu-tion? Has anywhere found a resolu-tion that worked? No, because we’re still sorting through it. But in that process, can that transform how we look at conflict? When we approach it more honestly, and engage in a more honest, truthful dialogue about people’s personal experience, I see it as conflict transformation rather than resolution because I don’t think there is a resolution that we’ve found yet, and you have to allow people the space to work towards what that resolution might be for them. We welcome anyone who wants to participate—people who are inter-ested in trying something different, who are tired of the status quo, and want to step outside of the box and participate in what,at the end of the day,is an experiment, and what that could look like. As [Robert F. Ken-nedy] said, the way life could be, not the way it is—without abandoning what life is, because that’s important in terms of what we go through and what we experience.♦

A4 ThE RExoNIAN campus MARCH 12, 2015

An Interview with KAMUN Secretary General Sun Woo Kim

interview by aMeLia kennaThe rexonian: Firstly, congratula-

tions on such a successful KAMUN. Do you have any overall reflections on the conference?

sun Woo Kim: What went well about it was that we made certain efforts to make the quality of debate out main concern. We were able to follow through with that by having the Best Delegate of the Hour and other personalized aspects of com-munication to make sure that that kind of debate was possible. Just for me, it was nice to see how our efforts made for such productive debate.

Tr: For our readers who don’t know about the Best Delegate of the Hour system, could you explain what that is?

sWK: Most conferences usually have an overall Best Delegate for each commission by the end of the conference. What we decided to do was an overall Best Delegate, as well as one chosen by the chairs each hour. We wanted this hourly update to kind of serve as incentive for dele-gates to participate more and monitor their overall quality of debate.

Tr: You’ve been organizing the conference since last May, approxi-mately. What’s been the hardest part of that whole organization process? And when did it really sink in that the conference was going to happen?

sWK: Well, in February, we had to postpone the conference due to snow. We knew that it would take place but I guess it’s been a pretty suspenseful wait. We had to decide what kind of conference we wanted to put on… that’s been the most challenging part. We had to choose between running ‘the biggest conference’—bringing as many people as we could who didn’t necessarily love MUN—or running the highest-quality confer-ence, choosing specific delegates who really wanted to attend for the sake of MUN. We obviously went for the latter, because, to be honest, MUN doesn’t have a great reputation in our school among the faculty. It’s seen as a retreat for students when it’s actually one of the most educational and beneficial co-curriculars in the school. And we decided on the type of conference that we did because we wanted to show the school that MUN is truly debate-oriented.

Tr: What kind of legacy do you think you’ve left for KAMUN?

sWK: Well, what I can say is that we’ve tried. We’ve tried to make KA-MUN a debate-oriented conference known for having the most intense

debates in the region. Whether this continues all depends on what hap-pens next year—where next year’s secretariat decides to take the confer-ence. Hopefully we’re going in the right direction. Next year, we might try have a more rigorous selection process for the delegates themselves. We aim to steer the conference to-wards one where delegates want to be there and are, well, passionate.

Tr: Even though you won’t be a part of next year’s secretariat, how would you reconcile the idea of ‘MUN for all’ with this rigorous se-lection process that you’re propos-ing?

sWK: Our idea of making KA-MUN an exclusive conference isn’t an elitist concept where we only want delegates who excel at debate. Rath-er we’re trying to bring people who want to debate. We’re happy to bring the most inexperienced delegate, the delegate who has never done MUN before, even the delegate who just learned what MUN was—as long as the delegate wants to be there. Basi-cally the rigorous selection process is only to weed out the people who don’t really want to be there for the sake of debate.

Tr: Did you have a moment when you really felt like the confer-ence came together, either before or during the conference?

sWK: It’s just those moments when you walk into a forum and the delegates are about to fight with each other because the debate is so intense. Because that’s basically what we’re trying to go for here: something where all delegates feel that they can find an opponent, someone to work with or debate against. And when we see that, that’s when we as the organizers feel that we’ve done our jobs.

Tr: And, last question, tell us about how you decided on the theme of ‘Justice: For All?’

sWK: I think we all have this primal anger towards injustice. Imagine if I tell you the story of an elementary kid who gets into a small verbal fight with the son of a mafia boss. The mafia boss then goes and beats up the child in front of that child’s parents. This true story strikes a primal nerve in you—one that abhors injustice. The fact that justice is being taken away from people—it strikes a universal nerve. So I think the theme of ‘Jus-tice: For All?’ was a concept rele-vant to everyone.♦

“I think we all have this primal anger towards injustice”

interview by seung hee yang and sOphia sarMaDi

Orlando Arellano Talks Identity, Civil Diplomacy, and Conflict Transformation

A5

Lions’ Basketball Looks to zarb tournamentThE RExoNIAN campus MARCH 12, 2015

By Carina eLLisThe girls’ basketball teams had

a very busy week two weeks ago with games and tournaments. on February 25, King’s Junior Varsity and Varsity Girls’ Basketball teams faced ASG with two unfortunate losses. The following weekend, they competed with tremendous effort in a tournament that took place in Am-man, but again came up short. The Lions are led by their fearless coach Ms. Ellie Chabraja. On the topic of the team’s progress this season, Ms. Ellie commented, “We are a very young team…we are experiencing a lot of growing pains and I think it’s been tough but it’s also been a tre-mendous season for growth.”

The fact that the team is unexpe-rienced, as many of its players have not played before in a team, resulted

in the unlucky outcome of the team’s matches. Nevertheless, Coach Ellie is hopeful and positive about prog-ress. With anything, growth takes time. You can’t plant a seed and expect a prosperous tree the next day. The team has been working extremely hard for the past months and are determined to win in their upcoming games. Basketball is an especially difficult sport to master in a short period of time. The most suc-cessful teams have players that have started practicing at a very young age. Shooting, passing, and team-work are all skills that take time to cultivate. In addition, a level of trust must be reached in a team in order to function effectively. The girls are staying positive and working their best together to achieve success.

Junior player Abby hungate has a

progressive outlook on the team. She said on the state of the team: “Our team is made up of people with dif-ferent backgrounds in basketball and also different levels of commitment. The important part is that we are hav-ing fun, and I believe that by the end of the season, we can win a game if we continue to be positive.” Senior Eunsol Jun reflects similar thoughts, stating, “The main purpose of King’s athletics is to unite despite our differ-ences.” These players are aware of the setbacks that hit the team, but are still thoroughly enjoying themselves in the sport. A win in every game is not required to be successful. As long as the Lions are enjoying themselves and thinking positively, they have had an excellent season. In time, these lions will be pros on the court. Go lions go!

Under Coach Danny and Coach Imad, the boys’ junior varsity basketball team is writing a new page in the history of their team. With 13 passionate players, the JV team is thriving with several victories under its belt. This rising trajectory is actually the first stream of success in the recent history of the JV team, as there have been no victories made by the team for the past few season. Although the Jv team has only played four games thus far, the results compared to those of years past are promising. The team deserves to be complimented.

On February 8th, the Jv team had its first game. The result was incredibly good, with the team beating the American Community School by 20 points. The overall play was also great, as the King’s boys did not allow ACS to turn the game around from the beginning of the match. This victory will go on record as the first victory following a long winless streak for the JV boys. The next two games were still well-played, but not as impressive. King’s played the New English School and Amman Academy, but fell short both times. The next victory was again played against ACS, in an away game on February 25th.

The new coach of the new team, Coach Danny Kerns, first complimented the whole team at the beginning of our short interview. He revealed that his plan for the short term was winning the upcoming tournament against the Baptist School. He added that his long-term

goal is to improve the team’s play, since the players in the Jv will be on the varsity team in the future. “Based on good and tough defense, I want to play smart basketball, which will lead us to an easy victory,” he said. On the topic of the historical wins, Coach Danny remarked, “I felt great, very great. I am also happy that the boys gained confidence.” Coach Danny is multi-tasking: he is achieving JV’s short-term goals, while also building the basis of a glorious future.

In the Baptist School tournament held from March 6th to 7th, King’s was unfortunately disqualified in Group B. The team easily won its first match, as expected. However, in the following two games, against NES and IAA, JV lost in spite of their best efforts. It is important to note that the results of the tournament include the best records made by the King’s Academy Junior Varsity team. The results are also meaningful because the team had to carry on with many injured, exhausted players who couldn’t play in several games.

Meanwhile, under Coach Daniel and Coach Mark, the varsity team is getting ready for their glory. With experienced basketball players, the varsity team is building up its teamwork beautifully, with an emphasis on the key word together. Although the team got knocked out of its first tournament, it is waiting and building its teamwork up for the next game.

The first game for the varsity team was very tense, unfortunately ending with a 1-point loss against Mashrek. Despite the defeat, the game was really fun and many people

complimented the team’s teamwork and attitude. However, a victory was achieved on February 25th, right after the JV victory against ACS. Unlike JV, Varsity won against ACS very easily, without mercy.

Throughout my interview with him, Coach Daniel emphasized the importance of teamwork. He wanted the team to be more than a successful basketball team. “I want a good team that plays well together. However, as a team, I want my boys to have a good relationship between each other and learn about each other,” said the former girls’ varsity coach. He mentioned that the cooperative style of the team is still developing. Although he wants a smart and tough style of play, he also wanted the team to create its own identity. “I am feeling that we are becoming a ‘team’ compared to the beginning of the season. We are stronger now, and I am proud of it.” He added that he wants the exciting Zarb tournament this coming weekend to be successful. He really wanted the team to be one together, as the girls’ varsity basketball team was last year. Coach Daniel is a devoted coach who is waiting and encouraging the players.

In the recent tournament, varsity won 1 game and lost 2 games, as did Jv. varsity won against Ramallah Friends from Palestine and lost against ABS and IC Beirut. Although King’s Varsity was disqualified, the team showed great play during the whole tournament. Both teams are eager to prove themselves in front of a home crowd in the Second Annual Zarb Tournament this weekend.

By hyun taek LiM

growing pains, and growth, for girls’ team

KA Library Selections for Spring Break

By MOnya twaissiThere are thousands upon thou-

sands of books and there are always the ones that suit you best! Unfor-tunately, many students tend to cor-relate books with school, and thus picture them as boring and dull.

But let’s be realistic, you watch lots of movies to get over your boredom, many of which are based on books. So why don’t you read? Reading is the exact same thing as watching a movie, yet you get to enjoy the magical journey yourself! You don’t just have fun enjoying the book… you also improve your lan-guage and thoughts! When you read, you imagine. And when you imagine, you dream and achieve.

So without further ado, March’s Books of the Issue:

Looking for alaska by John GreenSixteen-year-old Miles spends his

junior year at Culver Creek Prepa-ratory School, making good friends and playing pranks. At the same time, he is also working to uncover answers about some life and death research after a fatal car crash.

divergent series by veronica RothA sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior

in futuristic Chicago wants to define her identity by between choosing five predetermined factions. This deci-sion becomes all the more challeng-ing when she finds out that the place she lives in is not perfect for her.

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie BabbitA sixteen-year-old girl and Tuck’s

family meet up, and series of events unravel; read this book to understand the meaning behind the mysterious everlasting waterfall and the old man with the yellow rain suit.

hush, hush by Becca Fitzpatrickhigh school sophomore Nora Grey

has feelings for Patch who appears to just be a biology partner but turns out to be a fallen angel.

Fallen by lauren KateLuce’s boyfriend dies in a mys-

terious fire, resulting in Luce being blamed for his death and landing her in reform school. At school, she finds herself attracted to Daniel. She suspects that she has met him before. That hunch turns out to be correct when she unravels the supernatural past.

Before I Fall by Lauren OliverSamantha dies in a car crash yet

she wakes up the next day alive and living he last day seven times in a row until she unravels the story of her death.

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The Lamentations of Amin: An Oscar Jeremiad

I am calling this an oscar rant. However, I am not going to talk about why the Academy Awards should acknowledge more indepen-dent films or why they should not operate on principles concerning whether so-and-so is an ‘oscar-type actor’. Instead, I want to raise a few comments on several of the specific decisions that the Academy made in regards to this past year’s awards. In general, this year’s awards were bet-ter and more pleasing than those of years past. I was very much pleased with the results for the Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actor and Ac-tress categories (Julianne Moore, JK Simmons, and Patricia Arquette, re-spectively.) Although The Lego Mov-ie was not nominated for Best Ani-mated Feature, which I will protest in another section, Big hero 6’s win-ning of the Best Animated Feature was well deserved and I thoroughly enjoyed the film. I was cheerful for Interstellar’s win for Best Visual Ef-fects. However, it was not nominat-ed for many other categories, which was well expected from the Acade-my. Though I was content with the result for Best Adapted Screenplay, (The Imitation Game), I think Gone Girl should have been nominated and should have won as a result of its nomination. But these small discrep-ancies of opinion are minor.

My real concern lies with the re-sults for Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Original Screenplay. While Birdman was the best film of 2014, I do not believe that Alejandro G. In-harritu deserved to win Best Director as much as Richard Linklater or Wes Anderson. Granted, Inharritu’s work was stunning. However, the works of

Richard Linklater and Wes Anderson were more deserving of the Best Di-rector award. For those of you who don’t know much about Richard Lin-klater, the man worked on Boyhood for twelve odd years. Twelve. That, in and of itself, is a triumph. The film could have easily been a disaster in this immense risk that Linklater took. Instead, it was received with critical acclaim. I feel that Linklater’s work was not treasured as much by the Academy as it should have been. Wes Anderson also did a delightful job in the Grand Budapest hotel, which, while not my favorite movie of 2014,

definitely makes the ‘top-ten’ list. The film makes my list mostly for to the contributions of Wes Anderson, all of which were so well executed. The Academy has not honored many of his films, which include rush-more, The darjeeling Limited, and Moonrise Kingdom. Nevertheless, The Grand Budapest hotel is cer-tainly one of his best, the other being The royal Tenenbaums (which lost the Best Original Screenplay award to Robert Altman’s Gosford Park, written by Julian Fellowes of down-ton abbey fame). There is no doubt that the film was worthy of Academy Award praise. Of course, it is worth

mentioning that the film itself did win in other categories, including Costume Design and Production De-sign. However, the award that it de-served was Best Director.

I was not extremely thrilled with the results of the Best Original Screenplay award. Birdman was a magnificent film and it won Best Picture. However, the Best Original Screenplay should have gone to The Grand Budapest hotel. It is because The Grand Budapest hotel is so full of humor and charming wit that it so pleasurable to watch. The Grand Bu-dapest hotel had a superior screen-play to Birdman, although I am only saying that marginally.

My final concern pertains to the results of The Best Actor category. It was clear before the awards started that the winner would either be Eddie Redmayne or Michael Keaton. To say which actor should have won really divided people. I feel that Michael Keaton should have won instead of Redmayne. Both had awe-inspiring and well-executed performances, but Keaton’s rare appearances in films, combined with his unsurpassed per-formance make him deserving of the award. Keaton’s next appearanc-es in film will likely be few and far between before his death. Thus, the Academy should have honored him with Best Actor. Though Redmayne gave an astounding performance as Dr. Stephen Hawking, the actor has plenty of years to shine will expec-tantly appear in many more films. Michael Keaton, on the other hand, will likely appear in very few, and I believe that for the years of work he dedicated to this film he deserved to win in the Best Actor category.

ThE RExoNIAN arts & culture MARCH 12, 2015

By aMin JanJua

By aMin JanJua

a Most Violent year is direct-ed by JC Chandor and stars oscar Isaac, Jessica Chastain, and David Oyelowo. This film succeeds on both entertaining the audience and posing questions of morality to its viewers. The film offers lessons on how a man has to make decisions in difficult times, a task made impos-sible by circumstances at hand. JC Chandor manages to portray realism on screen, doing so in an extremely convincing method. To begin with, the film is a gritty look at the life of a man who works hard and to achieve his ambitions. This film is not a gangster flick, but rather an intricate look at circumstances, and their ef-fect on characters. Oscar Isaac does

exceedingly well portraying Abel Morales, a man who believes that the path one takes is more important than the end result. Jessica Chastain also gives an electrocuting perfor-mance as Anna Morales, playing a woman who tries to support her hus-band in his view on the right path. What’s unique about Chastain’s rep-resentation is that she provides her character with multiple dimensions. One dimension of the character is a devoted wife, but the other is a wom-an who is ripped apart by two fac-tors: morals and the real danger of life. The script is also marvelously written, with JC Chandor managing to cultivate chemistry between Isaac and Chastain through the script and his direction. The film is not just morally uplifting, but thrilling at

times, and scenes of characters be-ing chased really captures the tone of the film, a social thriller. The film mostly succeeds through its unex-pected nature. JC Chandor shows the American Dream with a twist, making the characters human and relatable compared to those of oth-er films. Unlike other films, a Most Violent year has characters with fundamental flaws. Despite the film being called a Most Violent year, the violence is infrequent. Yet viewers be warned: when violence occurs, it is by no means meaningless, but instead praiseworthy in the meth-od by which it relates to the story and the concept of realism. a Most Violent year is an entertaining and thought-provoking film worthy of people’s attention. ★★★★

‘Better Call Saul’

“Gilligan has truly outdone himself with the creation of another show that asphyxiates its viewers with intrigue and excitement.”

After his unbelievable accom-plishments in the hit television series Breaking Bad, vince Gilligan set the bar so high that many doubted that his next work, Better call saul, would ever even come close to com-peting with the status that Breaking Bad reached. However, many others also believed in the talent of Gilli-gan’s creative abilities and predicted that he would continue to astound his audiences with his great storylines. The latter group has proven right.

Having personally been a Break-ing Bad enthusiast and admirer of the slick-minded character Saul Good-man, I knew that the criminal lawyer had to have had an interesting past. I knew that Gilligan would use this

as the basis for his prequel. Howev-er, (potential viewers be advised—we’re approaching some spoilers), I never expected the tremendous twists and revelations that would be appear within the show. It’s as if Gilligan prepared for the prequel be-fore even getting his idea approved. (To give an example: the unexpect-ed introduction of the tough stickler, Mike Ehrmantraut, into Saul’s life as a simple ticket dispenser, his slowly developing acquaintanceship with Saul through their daily disputes, and the conclusion of Mike’s help in one of Saul’s investigations of a client). Though I shouldn’t be calling our protagonist by the name he is given in Breaking Bad, since in his earli-er years he went by another name: James McGill.

Gilligan has truly outdone himself with the creation of another show that asphyxiates its viewers with in-trigue and excitement. The level of detail and consistency that the show is made with truly gives the viewer a satisfying feeling of having experi-enced the events with the characters.

I don’t want to further spoil the show for future viewers, but it is truly worth watching, and gives its audience a reason to look forward to every Tuesday night (according to lo-cal scheduling).

A Most Violent Entertaining, Surprisingly Moral, and Uplifting Year (in Film)

By ahMeD aLhrOOB

ThE RExoNIAN arts & culture MARCH 12, 2015 A7

Here at King’s Academy, global citizenship is highly regarded and revered. Language is an integral por-tion of being a global citizen. Gradu-ation requirements at King’s include both Arabic and a (for some, second or even third) foreign language such as Spanish, French, or Chinese. Last summer I spent one month living and working in a chalet in Gruyeres where I experienced authentic Swiss culture and received an exceptional education in French. I stayed with a Swiss family that housed tourists in their quaint and cozy B&B, on top of keeping over 40 cows to produce mainly Gruyere cheese. The family spoke limited English, which helped improve my French language skills and my knowledge of Swiss culture. My main reason for traveling abroad was not only to gain more fluency in French, but also to work for my room and board. I split my time between working at their chalet as a farmhand and working at the B&B. It was the most rewarding experience of my life and I cannot stress how important it is to learn a language that is not na-tive to your home country.

My daily life working as a farm hand included early mornings, excep-tional scenery, and speaking lots of French! Along with one other farm-hand and the Swiss family, I rose around 5am to fetch the cows in the fields after they had been grazing all night. For three hours, I would trek through the Swiss Alps with another farmhand, searching for and herding the 40 cows back to the chalet for milking. After feasting on breakfast and cleaning up, we would nap, rest, or study for two hours. I used this time to go on hikes or speak with oth-ers to practice my French. Then lunch would be served, eaten, and tidied up around noon. After this we would re-peat the process of herding the cows back to pasture and milking them. The night would end sitting around the dinner table eating delicious food and conversing—in French, of course.

Although I did not take part in an official language program, I had one of the most intellectually and person-ally enriching experiences of my life. There is vulnerability when faced with a situation where you are the outsid-er and you can’t communicate, but I believe this is a very healthy emotion. This feeling creates more empathy as you can relate to those who are unable to speak the same language as you.

I came to King’s Academy through the Arabic Year program, which “of-fers high school students one year of intensive Arabic language study, Middle Eastern cultural immer-sion and experiential learning.” AY has opened up so many doors that were previously closed at my for-mer school. I have been graced with the opportunity to travel to Turkey, experience homestays, learn more about Jordan, and, of course, learn Arabic. I had previously experienced a small taste of the language when I lived in Jeddah for a year in seventh grade. Through my immersion in the culture, I knew that the Middle East was a place where I wanted to study further. Returning home was detri-mental to my knowledge of Arabic. Although my sister (hannah Ellis ’14) and I continued taking Arabic classes during our free time, there is nothing like learning a language in the place where it is natively spoken. We realized that learning as difficult a language as Arabic required us to study in the Arab world.

In my experience, complete im-mersion is the best way learn both a foreign language and its culture. I am honored to be part of an institution that fosters global citizenship as one of its guiding principles. As the mem-bers of the next generation, we must build bridges to connect and unite people, especially at times like these where people are at such large odds. language is the most basic piece in the puzzle of communication. If we are not able to talk, reason with, and understand one another, conflicts are much more likely to occur.

The Power of Language ImmersionBy Carina eLLis Have you ever wondered what

makes a video game series legend-ary? All it needs is a great storyline, spectacular and attention-grabbing gameplay, and an amazing world/uni-verse that expands your imagination drastically. Quite a few video game series, in my opinion, have achieved this, with some even gaining bonuses on the way including great co-op and epic soundtracks. So without further ado, here is the list of the most legend-ary video gaming series of all time.

1) PokémonCome on, who doesn’t love

Pokémon? I personally grew up play-ing fire red, sapphire, then diamond, and was never disappointed by them. The game has not only featured a great storyline for every generation, but also redefined competitive gam-ing. Everyone who plays Pokémon loves to brag about what Pokémon he/she has caught, what nature it is, and how many Ivs it has. Pokémon values diversity and uniqueness. In other words, it is almost impossible to have a Pokémon that is exactly the same as that of your friend’s. This is one of the very many reasons why I believe that this game has to be placed at the top of the list.

2) haloA successful book series and one

of the top video game soundtracks, Halo is, without a doubt, the deserv-ing runner-up of the list, considering its extremely cinematic storyline that engages us in all states of emotions (mostly anxiety and confusion). The game mainly focuses on Master Chief,

a Spartan formally known as John-117, although there are also some ver-sions that have nothing to do with him at all. What I really must say about this game is the fact that the more is add-ed to the storyline, the better the game becomes. It seems as though this game will never lose quality through its nev-er-ending flow of inspiration.

3) ZeldaThird place goes to the much-re-

spected game series, Zelda. Zelda was there for everyone who wanted an interesting but not-so-complicated game. It contains a selection of some beautiful worlds and unique game-play. Although I haven’t played the game, my respect towards the fran-chise is highly regarded.

4) Final FantasyGrowing up under the influence

of my cousins, who are connected to this franchise, it was physically and emotionally impossible for me not to try Final Fantasy at least once. I per-sonally hated it, given that it is just not my type of game. Yet, I pay it the same amount of respect as other leg-endary games. According the crazed fans, Final Fantasy is their source of enjoyment, their refuge of happiness, and their source of calmness. The se-ries is outstanding story-wise and is special in its own style of gameplay.

5) super Mario Bros.Mario! What a game—loved it,

breathed it, and hoped that Nintendo would not ruin it. I must say that Ma-rio 64 and its remake on the DS are the best, in that they really have set a new standard for gaming. Just like most of the Mario games, they fea-ture a fantastic and original storyline and the games are rated E for every-one—which means that anyone can play and everyone can enjoy.

By waLeeD suLeiMan

Top 5 Most-Legendary Video Games of All Time

From Front Pagewas choreographed by the Evening Dance Ensemble itself. Each one of the dancers created an individual phrase and then taught it to sev-eral other people in the ensemble. “The Devil Within,” a piece cho-reographed by Jianing Zhao’16, de-rived its name from a song of the same title. Along with Aya Arafat ’18, Zhao chose to experiment with other types of music. Zhao chose to match up the choreography with The rite of spring by Igor Stravin-

sky, an influential classical Russian composer of the 20th century.

The hip-hop group performed two pieces at the showcase. Both were choreographed by Faisal Al-Mamun, a hip-hop and contemporary dancer at the National Center for Culture and Arts in Amman. Following the hip-hop performance came a dance choreographed by Mr. Ryuji himself, “Catwalk Chaos.” The Evening Dance Ensemble was taught the choreography

first, and then the formation and presentation was decided. It was very enriching to experiment with the different ways that the same choreography can be performed. After Catwalk Chaos came Ning Bao ’16, who performed “Orchid In the Rain,” a Chinese Classical Dance choreographed by Shiyi Tang and Ruirui Tong, who have been teaching Ning dance for about nine years! last but not least, was “�=3.14…Twelve Dancers With Dry Tech; Endless Peripheral Border.”

The concept and score of this dance were developed by Yoshiko Chuma, our guest artist this year. Yoshiko has been dancing with Mr. Ryuji for ten years, mostly in New York and Palestine, and came here to teach us this new improvisational, spontaneous style of dance. I felt like this piece contained a message dependent on the audience’s interpretation of it; most people concluded that is was about the chaos of life—but its meanings are as endless as the digits of �.

Annual Dance Showcase Features Student, Faculty, and Visiting Artist Choreography

Many people familiar with UFOs will know Roswell, New Mexico as the sight of a UFO crash-land-ing that involved the U.S. mili-tary. Though Great Britain has its own famous UFO-related situa-tion that brought attention to its military forces, the details of the events might be even stranger.

In late December 1980, there were reports of unexplained lights near Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, England. At the time, the U.S. air force was using the RAF Wood-bridge military base under the com-mand of wing commander Gordon E. Williams, Colonel Ted Conrad, and his deputy lieutenant Colo-nel Charles I. Halt. Over a two or three-day period, dozens of United States Air Force (USAF) person-nel became entangled in the event.

The incident took place over a four day period from December 24 to the

By suhaiL nahhas

Rendlesham FoRest: BRitain’s Roswell

27 within the vicinity of two former military bases: RAF Bentwaters, North of Rendlesham Forest, and RAF Woodbridge, which extended into the forest from the West and was bounded on its northern and eastern edges by the forest. The most fa-mous events of the case occurred on the 26th and 27th of December. On the 26th at three o’clock in the morning, a security patrol reported strange lights near the East Gate of RAF Woodbridge descending into Rend-lesham forest. At first, servicemen thought it was a downed aircraft. Upon investigation, they found an unknown object, and at the same time, felt their bodies and hair elec-trically charged. hart tape-recorded what he saw and serviceman Sgt. Jim Penniston made detailed notes on the craft discovered. The craft was described as being smooth and opaque like black glass and triangu-lar in shape with triangular landing gear, bright blue, red, and yellow streaks of light at its sides, a triangu-lar top-piece, and strange symbols carved across one side of the craft,

stretching 3 inches by 2 feet across the craft. Penniston recorded the symbols in his notebook and touched the craft, which he described as be-ing very warm. The craft then be-came brighter and silently took off. The following morning, December 26th, servicemen returned to the area and found 3 small impressions in the ground that formed a triangle, as well as burn marks and broken branches on nearby trees. These marking were plaster casted and photographed by the servicemen.

The following day, Penniston claimed to have visions of a specific set of binary code that kept on re-peating in his mind. he wrote them down in a notebook, upon which all understanding of the code left his mind until 2010, when an in-terviewer helped him to decipher the code. The code translated to:

EXPLORATION OF HUANITY 666 8100

52.0942532N 13.131269WCONTINUOUS FOR PLANE-

TARY ADVAN???

FOURTH COORDINATE CON-TINUOT QUS CbPR BEFORE

16.763177N 89.117768W34.800272N 111.843567W29.977836N 31.131649E14.701505S 75.167043W36.256845N 117.100632E37.110195N 25.372281E

EYES OF YOUR EYESORIGIN 52.0942532N

13.131269WORIGIN YEAR 8100

oddly, the numbers in this trans-lated code are coordinates that, when analyzed by experts, were coordi-nates for areas around Rendlesham forest where UFOs were reported be-fore the case involving Jim Pennis-ton and his triangular UFO. Another strange realization about the translat-ed code is that it says that this craft originated in the year 8100, a claim that the craft originates from the fu-ture. This claim is sketchy at best and remains controversial. But UFO-olo-gists can all agree that this case will be one remembered for generations as Britain’s strangest UFO encounter.

&C.

If you ever had the impulse to run into things, it would be different from the impulse received by running into things. However, I would not recommend that you spontaneously choose items to run into. Although by doing so, you would certainly learn many concepts in Physics. When choosing the most suitable item to run into, one must immediately think of what physical injuries may occur due to the force enacted on our bodies. Newton’s Third Law says that not only will we feel this force but the item will as well. In order to change the force felt and still maintain the desire to run into something, we need to increase the time interval in which the contact is made. For instance, you might easily surmise the outcome of an egg thrown against a wall, but the outcome would change if the same egg were thrown against a linen sheet. By increasing the time interval over which the force acts we can effectively decrease the force. As shown in the diagram, the Physics teacher chooses to “pad” the wall with balloons. These balloons seem to stick to the wall, another anomaly that should not be taken for granted since gravity does not take a day off work. The balloons have become charged, as their affinity for electrons has caused the hairs on his head to relinquish theirs. Now, being negatively charged, they force the electrons in the wall to repel, leaving the positive protons to which they are inherently attracted. Ah ha!—we finally have polarization, and some-thing to juxtapose the initial (polarization) weighing of costs and benefits in the desired impulse.

By pengFei hu & Mr. aLex FunneLL

Mr. Alex’s F u n n y P h y s i c s c l A s s