The Wildcat Roar
Volume 9
Number 2
Winter 2013
A Quarterly Publication of Rocky Hill Middle School
Mrs. Maisch: The Unsung Hero
Linette Kingston
Staff Writer
Mrs. Maich, all dressed up, mask and all,
ready to clean the mess left behind by
Hurricane Sandy.
Disasters, natural and manmade, have brought out the very best
in Americans. Heroes rise when we
need them and make a difference
when it matters most. In spite of the
political ramblings and blame games
that are often immediate results of
these tragedies, it is important to
recognize Americans who have
stepped up to the plate and made a
difference. We have heard about
elected officials and Hollywood celebrities who have helped victims of
these disasters. They often make the
headline news. A few citizens have
been featured in some news broadcast as heroes because of their efforts; however, not everybody gets
the recognition they deserve. These
people are the unsung heroes who
make a real difference in various
situations. Hurricane Sandy was, on
record, one of the worse disasters in
the United States. Real heroes
emerged from that disaster, and one
of the unsung heroes of Hurricane
Sandy is Mrs. Maisch.
A hero is a person who has
heroic qualities or has performed
heroic acts. It is not unusual to regard a hero as a role model. A hero
is not afraid to takes risks that would
make an eternal difference. As you
sat and watched images of the disaster come in on our TV screens, what
did you think? How could I help?
Or maybe you thought, at least it
wasn’t me. Hurricane Sandy caused
High school students from Westchester
County, doing volunteer work on Sunday, gutted a damaged home in Gerritsen Beach, Brooklyn.
Photo by Kirsten Lance from New
York Times
massive flooding in New York and
New Jersey. It originated from the
Caribbean in late October 2012 and
quickly made its way up the east
coast of the United States, causing
death and destructions in its path.
The storm left over a hundred people dead, including six in Maryland.
Thousands were left homeless in the
hard hit areas of New York and New
Jersey. Millions were without power. In his article ‘Superstorm Sandy:
Facts about the Frankenstorm,” Tim
Sharp, Live Science Reference Editor, writes, “Even so, according to
the NHC, Sandy was still only the
second-largest Atlantic tropical cyclone on record.”
With so much devastation
and so many lives affected, there
was a great need to reach out to people who were directly affected. One
person in our community decided to
respond. Our own Mrs. Maisch, a
seventh grade teacher here at Rocky
Hill, joined a team of volunteers to
help with the relief and cleanup effort. She is a trained Emergency Response Team (ERT) member, which
required a background test and eight
hours of training. “If we pass…then
we get badges that allow us to go
into the disaster area,” says Mrs.
Maisch. She traveled to New Jersey
to help with the cleanup effort. The
aftermath of the flooding and was a
painful loss. Cleaning the mildew
trying to figure out what could be
salvaged among the wreckage was
no easy task. Mrs. Maisch had to
wear a special mask to help her
breath while she cleaned and cleared
out items that were not salvageable
from the wreckage of the hurricane.
If you wonder what motivates Mrs. Maisch to take on such a
task, the answer is simple. Besides
her obvious love for adventure, she
seems to enjoy reaching out to people and making a difference through
the devotionals that she writes to
encourage people as well as her effort in various community programs.
It is not surprising that she would be
one of the few people who dared to
make a difference. She explained her
motivation to help victims of Hurricane Sandy and told us that it was
“seeing images of the disaster on TV
and the internet.” Mrs. Maisch elaborated on an interview of a woman
that she saw on TV. “In one interview, a woman says... ‘Does anyone
even know what happened to us?’
and that made me cry.” Mrs. Maisch
had to act, and we applaud her effort
because not many people reacted
with such compassion.
To Mrs. Maisch, making a
difference means “… improving the
life for someone else.” To most of
us, she is clearly a hero, even though
she did not consider herself a hero.
“I don’t consider being a hero… a
lot of people make excuses, says
Mrs. Maisch. “I think that doing
something is more important than
making excuses. It has always been
my nature to do something.” She has
also been involved with other programs/missions that reach out to
others in different parts of the world.
Her favorite project was “working in
the Hopi reservation.” This is a Native American Reservation located in
present-day Arizona with roots that
date back hundreds of generations. Mrs. Miasch recalled her ex-
perience at the reservation. “One
summer, we went there after they
had terrible monsoons…we worked
with the Hopi, fixing roof.” It
sounds like a lot of work, but to Mrs.
Miasch, “it isn’t the work that I did,
but the friendships that I formed.” It
may be safe to say that there are lasting benefits in reaching out to people after all. You make friends!
“Now when I go back each summer,
the Hopi are all excited and are like
‘Oh, you came back!” says Mrs.
Maisch.
Making a difference and
helping others isn’t as hard as you
might think. There are some that
find amazing ways to contribute.
The worst you can do is just sit
around and do nothing. “Choose to
be someone who does something,”
says Mrs. Maisch. “Everyone can do
something.” It is true that everyone
can do something, but not everybody
does, and that is why we
acknowledge people like Mrs.
Maisch. People who inspire us to
make a difference are real heroes.
“Don’t just wait there for somebody
else to do something, you do it.”
says Mrs. Maisch. She would most
likely agree with Martin Luther King
Jr. who said, “Everybody can be
great because anybody can
serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have
to make your subject and your verb
agree to serve.... You don't have to
know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You
only need a heart full of grace. A
soul generated by love.”
Find a way to make a difference. Whether it is in a small way
and may go unnoticed, at least you
know that in your heart you helped
someone who needed it. “Do what
you can, with what you have, where
you are.” –Theodore Roosevelt
Mrs. Maicsh and one of the ERT
members geared up for work, cleaning and sorting through the wreckage
of Hurricane Sandy
Table Of Contents
Front Page:
Mrs. Maisch :The Unsung Hero
Editorial Page:


And Your Point is …
Election is Over: Now What?
Editorial and Opinions:



Our Time to Act
Human Greed Lead to Elephant
Slater
Bullying At The Hill
Writer’s Corner:



Disaster is coming Down the
Road
Suspicion
The Plight of Persephone
Writer Corner Cont.:
 No East Day by Mark Owen
 Mighty Mac by Marc Waldman
 How I Survived 2012
Life On The Hill


Gift of Sam: Blood and Toy
Drive
Ah-Mazing Teacher (2)
Life On The Hill: (Continued)
 The History of Rocky Hill
1
Sports Page:
 Redskins Rise to the Occasion
 NBA Predictions
Special Feature:


What Will You Find?
Life of A Vegetarian
Special Features (Continued):

History of Rocky Hill
Current Issues



Fiscal Cliff
2012 Real or Fake
Fun Facts
Technology:



Life on Mars
Acer C7 Chromebook
Bad Reception
Back Page:


Field of Snow on The Head
What the Hill (Comic)
Editorial Page
And Your Point Is…?
By Mae McDermott
Assistant Chief Editor
It seems as though the faster
we learn to speak, the faster we learn
to persuade. Forms of cunning and
trickery are adopted shortly after birth.
Young children learn early in life how
to get what they want, whether adamantly dressing up a false point or
appealing to an adult’s “soft side”.
The world of advertising has undoubtedly become a major part of everyday
life in America, ready to pounce at
every turn.
Common advertisements used
to be intense and laborious projects.
Selling points were backed up by logic
to create temptation among customers
(or, shall we say, targets?). Every
move the seller made had a purpose, a
specific function that made an impact
on the process of selling. Much
thought and consideration was put into
each advertisement’s success.
Nonetheless, the thought process, content and persuasive strategies
behind advertising have become questionable. It seems the purpose in typical ads has disappeared and words are
no longer needed. Businesses try to
appeal to Americans with colors and
pretty pictures as if we are young children.
There is a fine line between
acceptable and offensive forms of persuasion. It seems that the route more
and more ads are taking is crossing
that line. As an American, I do not
appreciate advertising campaigns
“dumbing down” my country to the
point where a picture is supposed to
motivate me to spend money.
Take, for example, the Lincoln car brand. Ford Motor Company, created by Henry Ford in 1903,
launched the Lincoln Ford line over
90 years ago, hoping to create a successful luxury car. Unfortunately,
the Lincoln Ford has lost incredible
sums of money; the classic designs
do not appeal to customers looking
for that irresistible young, free spirit
in their vehicle. In an attempt to
revive the line, the company renamed it “The Lincoln Motor Company” to raise it to a level “beyond”
all other luxury brands by connecting it to Abraham Lincoln. The advertisement depicts Lincoln emerging from mist, gesturing to “The
Lincoln Motor Company” vehicles
surrounding him with what could be
interpreted as adoration, as if the
vehicles bring him peace.
Whaaaat?
This approach seems wrong
on so many levels. Lincoln was an
extraordinary man who overcame a
childhood plagued by poverty, illiteracy and misfortune to become a
legend. What kind of a message is
Ford sending by using Lincoln in
order to make money? Am I supposed to place my faith in Ford because Lincoln’s name is on the
product and I am an American? If
we are desperate enough to use a
deceased man’s legacy to scrape up
a few bucks, how far are we willing
to go for a profit?
One of the three key points
of persuasion derived from Greek
philosopher Aristotle was Pathos –
to appeal to one’s emotional being.
This is perhaps the most exhausted
persuasive strategy pulled from the
chamber of business weaponry in
which ads snake their way into the
audience’s thoughts and moral beliefs. It is all a well-devised plot to
lure customers into a place in which
they feel compelled, even obligated,
to contribute to a business that
seems earnest and dependable.
Frisky’s cat food commercials portray cats romping happily through “a
world of wonder” in order to sell
CATNIP. Advertising industries
work all of this heart–warming junk
into commercials to humanize themselves even though they are trying to
inhale your money like malnourished sharks. It’s certainly a tricky
business - once you say “Aaaaw,”
you’ve taken the bait.
Ethos (ethical appeal) is yet
another way to hook the audience.
Now utilized in a very basic way,
ethos uses respected or idolized
spokespeople to rake in profit without having to generate more than a
word or two. Christina Aguilera’s
commercial for her new fragrance,
Red Sin, uses several “attractive”
images of the singer in order to depict the product as seductive and
empowering to females. Aguilera is
a credible and respected musical
The Election is Over: Now What?
Nina Agrawal
Rocky Hill Page Editor
Contributions from Ms. Odey
Now that the election is
over, Obama doesn’t have to spend
hours arguing with Mitt Romney,
spend billions of dollars on campaign ads, or stress about whether or
not he’s going to win. So his life
should be easier right? Actually,
Obama’s got a lot on his plate and
it’s only going to get bigger.
First, we almost went over
the fiscal cliff, the spending cuts and
tax increase that was slated to expire
at the end of 2012. After long weeks
of debates and talks between Congress and The White House, our
elected leaders finally agreed on a
deal a day later that the deadline.
Although President Obama hailed
the deal as evidence of bipartisanship, it is clear that Democrats and
Republican do not always agree on
policies because of their ideas about
what is in the best interest of our
country.
As we listen to the news, we
hear about the debt ceiling, which
has become a new debate on Capitol
Hill. It means that our country owes
other countries and needs to pay its
debt. The debate about improving
our economy continues. Republicans
believe that we need to cut our debt
and stop spending while Democrats
would like us to reduce our debts,
but not at the expense of programs
that benefit people. The big questions of how to cut down our debts
and improve our lives continue. In a
brief speech from The White House,
President Obama warned, "I will not
have another debate with this Congress over whether or not they
should pay the bills they've already
racked up through the laws that they
passed. The president reiterated the
need to “pay bills that we've already
incurred.” According the president,
“If Congress refuses to give the
United States government the ability
to pay these bills on time, the consequences for the entire global economy would be catastrophic, far worse
than the impact of a fiscal cliff."
When it comes to the debt ceiling,
we will have to wait and see how
President Obama works with congress on this issue during his second
term.
Then there was the horrible
massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary, which has sparked debates
about gun control. President Obama
suggested putting bans on assault
rifles, but the NRA (National Rifle
Association) proposed placing
armed officials in front of schools.
They have suggested having teachers and some school official carry
guns in school. People who support
gun ownership on the premise of the
second amendment have gone as far
as suggesting that teacher be allowed
to have guns in school. Some districts have already started the process of arming teachers. Victims of
gun violence and their families, including former Congresswoman,
Gabby Giffords, continue to urge our
government to make stricter gun
control laws.
So what else does Obama
have in store? He mainly wants to do
what he hasn’t been successful in
doing during his first term, negotiating with congress, especially Republicans in Congress. There will be a
need for do more about immigration
reform. There is that issue of allowing illegal immigrants to become
citizens. Polls have shown that President Obama won over 70% of Hispanic vote nationwide. The conclusion drawn for the support of Latinos is that they believe President
Obama is the better candidate to do
something tangible about immigration reform. That would be another
issue that would be highly debated
in congress.
Then there is the energy
issue and the hope that we become
less dependent on foreign energy.
Basically citizens as well as lawmakers would like the us to try to
rely less on the Middle East for energy. Right now however, President
Obama and lawmakers are focused
on the debt. We’ve borrowed trillions of dollars from China and
we’re trying to pay it back. In case
you’re curious, currently 52% of
people approve of Obama and 48%
disapprove. Whether we approve or
disapprove, it is time for focus on
issues that really matter to us. Education should be top on that list. It is
ironic that politicians use education
in the speeches, promising to improve our education system. After
elections we hear very little about
what is actually being done to improve our educational system.
2
artist with an enormous fan base
with physical allure on her side. Unfortunately, her advertising agency
seems to believe this is all that she
needs to sell her product. Aguilera’s
fragrance has become popular with
its “red hot” theme, despite the lack
of any further description. Does this
product have anything else to offer?
Perhaps the reason famous spokespeople are hired by advertising agencies is because their answer to this
question is “No, it doesn’t.”
Lastly, there is arguably the
most important persuasive appeal –
Logos, which uses reasoning to back
up a point. This golden appeal, the
wondrous key that unlocks the gate
of successful persuasion, is severely
underused. The use of actual reasoning within ads has weakened to the
point of nonexistence, and as the use
of logic dwindles, the ethical and
emotional appeal excels beyond the
point of return, winning over customers with colors, pictures and
false concepts reigning.
The worst part is that we are
falling for it. We are sinking to the
level of the advertisers, acting as the
absent minded, gullible animals they
envision us to be. We are being
lured into their traps. To the advertising industry, consumers are numbers and components of a graph. The
next time you see an ad, consider
whether you want to become nothing
more than a statistic.
Supervising Editor
Ms. Katie Odey
Chief Editor
Neil Agrawal
Assistant Chief Editor
Mae McDermott
Editors
Anita Tharmarajah
Kristine Antanesian
Rahul Shah
Nina Agrawal
Tech Editor
Manav Mathur
Staff Writers
Indya Roberts
Anusha Chinthalapale
Sooah Sohn
Ali Tyma
Linette Kingston
Kai Hu
Editorial/Opinion Cont.
Our Time to Act
By Mae McDermott
Assistant Chief Editor
I suppose what I am now
writing is a plea… a desperate cry
for change and, most of all, for
peace.
The mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut ended the lives of
26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary
School; 20 of these lives were lives
that had just begun – students who
had loves, hopes, dreams and promise; 6 lives were adults who died protecting these beautiful, sparkling
gems of life.
We have been mourning the
loss of these young lives as a nation,
although the pain we feel doesn’t
compare to the grief being felt by the
families that have been affected.
Families with so much love to give,
families who thought they had more
time with the angels who were so
abruptly taken.
To many, it seems as though
world peace is impossible with such
violent, thoughtless acts occurring so
often, and for inexplicable reasons
that most of us will never under-
stand. Our country is spiraling out of
control. People hurt and kill each other
intentionally. Lives end for no reason,
lives shining with potential and with
love.
Among American citizens
there seems to be little hope, and even
less faith, stored for the future. With
these kinds of daily occurrences, it
seems the violence is spreading like
wildfire and that there is little we can
do to inhibit these random outbursts of
horrible, reckless hatred.
I think we as a people have
lost touch with the fact that these random expressions of hatred directly affect us. We are losing people in our
society who may have become visionaries if their lives were able to take
their course, people who played a role
in our society. All people are linked
and affect each other. It is one world,
and a world that is ours. When our parents pass down the reigns to us, what
are we going to do with it?
It seems like we have so much
time here, time to live and figure things
out as we go. But this shooting could
have happened to anybody. Our lives
could have been the ones so drastically
shortened. Our families could easily be
the ones grieving our loss. Yet we
don’t feel a sense of urgency about
our place on Earth or the role we are
going to play. In a few years we will
legally be adults, and then it is our
world. Then what do we do?
We are kids still learning
how to handle ourselves, the social
hierarchy of middle school dominating our minds. It seems the common
view among people our age is that the
world is much too big and uninteresting to be of concern to us – it’s just
not our problem yet – the future is too
distant. But it will be soon, sooner
than most of us realize. What happened in Newtown, Connecticut has
sparked this realization within me.
We need to have a plan, a vision of
what we are going to do, because we
are the future. We all agree that these
occurrences are horrid beyond belief,
but are we merely going to comment
on this violence and just continue
forth in life while the world becomes
our responsibility?
The world is all talk. Often
when these tragedies occur we are
concerned and dedicated to the future
for a week, and then we return to our
old ways, ceasing to make any significant impact. This tragedy, like any
other, has the potential to be the tip-
Human Greed Leads to Elephant
Slaughter
By Ma’Isah Sesay-Dixon
From Google images
Have you ever walked into a
jewelry store and saw a beautiful ivory bracelet? Did you put it on your
wrist and instantly fall in love with it?
Well let me tell you something, you
basically just put an elephant right on
your wrist. Don’t believe me? Let me
prove it to you. Many elephants of
every age, adult, baby, even elder
ones are being brutally killed and suffocated by poachers. More than 2,500
elephants have been killed in Kenya.
Poachers sell 22 slaughtered elephants for one million dollars’ worth
of ivory, babies included. According
to National Geographic, “Africa’s
elephant population and range have
dramatically shrunk since 1979 in
large part due to poaching.” Does this
sound right to you?
The worst part is that they
don’t even use the whole body they
just leave it there to rot away. A headline in the dailymail.co.uk reads,
“Family of 11 elephant slaughtered by
poachers in biggest mass shooting of
the animals Kenya has ever seen.”
Most of the ivory is manufactured and
shipped to China. James Rush whose
article wrote the article in the Mail-
ping point, the experience that shakes
us to our very core and truly forces
us to make a change in the world.
But it is you and I who have the
power to turn that potential energy
into motion. We hold that power to
make a positive and real change in
society. But we do not utilize this
power. If we focus all of our energy
towards an effective action, think of
all that we could do as a nation. President Obama was correct when he
expressed the incredible need for
change… we must make it.
We cannot inherit the world
without a vision. We must be ready
to embrace the future, not with urgency or panic, but with confidence
and grace, for we are the future.
Our generation could be the
key to a more peaceful world for
future generations, including our
own. The world may seem impossible to contemplate at a time when we
are still figuring ourselves out, but I
believe in the power that we all hold
within. We need a world we can be
proud of.
It is our world.
Think about it.
Bullying at “The Hill”
Online asserts that the poaching of
elephants in African is largely due to
demands of jewelry in China. According to Rush, “Demand for ornamental ivory is rising fast in Asia in
tandem with growing Chinese influence and investment in Africa.” China is known for making little trinkets
out of ivory such as chopsticks,
bookmarks, rings, cups and
combs.
Last year, more than 150
Chinese citizens were arrested
across Africa, from Kenya to Nigeria, for smuggling ivory. And
there is growing evidence that
poaching increases in elephantrich areas where Chinese construction workers are building
roads. They will do anything to get
anything ivory, or should I say elephant body parts. A poacher makes
millions for killing and hunting elephants from Asia, Africa, and India.
Ivory is one of the most expensive
and popular types of jewelry in the
world. In my opinion no matter what
the jewelry; I would not harm innocent elephants. Fortunately more than
half of the world agrees with me.
There are many laws against
poaching elephant in Africa. But that
doesn’t stop poachers. There are still
millions of elephants being hunted,
killed, and poached today in that order. The main place in Africa were
elephants are being hunted is Sierra
Leone and Congo. Thought I couldn’t
prove it to you didn’t you? Now that
you have heard it from me what do
you think?
The fact that bullying gets a
lot of attention nation-wide makes it
imperative to address it here at
Rocky Hill. We’ve heard of instances
where bullying has resulted in tragic
consequences, therefore the need to
address it cannot be overemphasized.
For the most part, Rocky Hill has
taken some proactive steps to help
kids communicate better. When it
comes to the problem of bullying, the
first step is to acknowledge that it
does indeed exist.
Some students at Rocky Hill
were asked about how much bullying
there is at our school. Our RHMS
page editor, Nina Agrawal, did a survey to determine how much bullying
happens at Rocky Hill. The survey
was a scale of “a lot,” “medium
amount,” “a bit,” and “unsure. 15
kids responded that there was a lot of
bullying at our school. 54 kids said
that there was a medium amount, and
11 said there was a bit, while 9 kids
were unsure. The highest numbers of
kids surveyed believe that there is a
medium amount of bullying at Rocky
Hill is.
The reality is that our school
is not bully free, however our goal
solve this problem. So, what kinds of
3
bullying are going on? Here’s what
some students say.
“People call people names and they
curse a lot at each other,” says Mia,
7th grader.
“I’ve seen a fight on the bus. People just stood there and laughed,”
says Tendai, 8th grader
According to Krishma, an 8th grader, “I guess in the hallways there is
bullying… people just smack each
other’s binders down,”
“There’s a lot of physical bullying,” says Jed, 8th grader
Nina reports, “From what
I’ve seen, kids tend to pick on each
other when they are not supervised
- in the hallways, playground, on
the bus, etc.”
Apparently, there is a need
to do more to address the issue of
bullying. Our school already has
programs in place to keep kids
safe. The PRIDE program every
Wednesday morning offers constructive and practical ways to get
along and communicate better. Also the Student Leadership Program
and the Town-hall meetings have
been helpful. However, there is a
need to step up. Students need to
play more active roles in keep our
school safe. It may not be a bad
idea to get parents involved in
some of the conversations and programs that we have at school. Maybe if parents come to our town-hall
meeting or get some of the
handouts that we get during our
Student Leadership Program, they
will do their part to keep help up
stop bullying at Rocky Hill.
Writers Corner
Disaster is coming Down the
Road
Kai Hu
Staff Writer
"Peggy, get over here now!"
She took a second or two to realize
that there was a tornado! “Kids, you
all get to the underground house
now!" Hi I’m the narrator. I'm the
baby Annie. Well yeah when I was 1
year old, there was a tornado that destroyed my family’s farm. Now
enough about me let’s get back to the
story. My sister Susie started screaming. No one said a thing, because of
the tragedy that was about to happen,
moments away. Everyone was worried and could not laugh. We all
rushed toward the underground shed.
Mama was carrying me. And everyone followed.
Hi I'm pretty annoying, aren't
I? Well here are a few things: First
Susie was always called little Susie
because even though she was 6 years
older than me. She was always a lot
shorter than me. Also here's my whole
family: oldest brother Harold (at that
time) 13 years old, second oldest
brother Jeffery, 10 years old, little
Susie, 7 years old, mama, daddy, and
me. We all ran inside. The storm
turned out to be even worse than the
Suspicion
By Indya Roberts
Staff Writer
8:37am, L.A.P.D department.
“Look sir, you don’t understand—
“No, you don’t understand, this is the
best I can do for now.”
“I was almost killed, let alone my family!”
“The most I can do for now is look
over the ‘crime’ scene and do little
investigating, you can start my telling
me how your day began yesterday.”
9:30am, “Good morning Tatiana.” I
said but she didn’t reply. “I said…good
morning Tatiana.”
“Good morning…” she mumbled.
“I don’t want to be late for school, I
got to go.” She stormed out the door.
Although that’s a bit unusual for Tatiana, because she’s a good kid! Then, my
day went on like any other day; well
obviously the fire was different in my
day, but nothing else.
“Well, nothing sounds unusual to me.”
“You know what….I want speak to
another investigator; it seems to me
that you don’t know how to handle a
serious case.”
“Jobs, you got the case, it seems as if
we have a…ahem…difficult one.”
“Ms. Anderson, could you give me an
outline for the case?”
“Well, yesterday morning my daughter came off rude, and that’s a bit peculiar for her, other than that my day was
normal.”
“Is there any way I can speak with
your daughter?”
“Sure thing, is it okay if she comes in
tomorrow, after school?”
“That’s fine with me.”
“Ahhhh, HELP, HELP,
Ahhh!!!” But when I woke up, it was
just a dream. I kept seeing a ring, my
14 carrot platinum ring that I always
wear. In the shower, when I sleep, to
school and back, but the night before
the fire, I had to take it off; I was
cleaning the kitchen sink drain, and
you know if I didn’t want to have the
ring go down the drain, then I had to
take it off. But it wouldn’t off really
matter my rings missing anyways. But
I never remembered to put it back on.
After the fire my ring…GONE!”
“Morgan, what am I gonna do. I got
that ring for my 13th birthday.”
“I dunno, Tati…”
“Maybe I should go to the police-“NO, n-n-no don’t go to the police,
going to the police is a bad choice, you
shouldn’t do that, and they’ll start
questioning people, you don’t want
that now do you?”
“I guess not…”
The conversation ended, Morgan and
Tatiana, went their separate ways. Although on her way, she thought about
what Morgan said, and why she said it.
“I hadn’t told my mom that
my ring was missing; I don’t think it’s
necessary, until I KNOW my ring is
missing. But Morgan was acting suspicious, I don’t know why though.”
“You think she had something
to do with it?” Ciara said interrogatingly.
“I doubt it, she’s not like that,
I don’t think.”
“Look, I’ve known her way
longer, she would do that, even if you
cross the line…just a little bit.”
“I got to go; my ma’s making
me talk to the police today.”
“But didn’t Morgan say you
shouldn’t?”
“See the only problem with
tornado! Jeffery's cat, claw of justice,
decided that day it was a good day to
go cloud watching. So what do you
know Jeffery went after him? "No
Jeff he's not worth your life, it we can
get a new cat,” cried Mama. But Jeffery still went after him.
“Boys,” Mama sighed. He
barely made it inside the shed when
Daddy locked the door. The surprising part was when he came in the
shed daddy hit him in the face. "How
could you disobey your mom like
that? Do you realize that you could
have died? Daddy was visibly upset.
“If I lose you, any of you my heart
will break into a million pieces." So
for the rest of that natural disaster no
one talked. Well no one except Susie
who kept screaming, "churro"! When
we came out, our whole house was
ruined as well as our 25 acre farm!
So we started rebuilding everything. I will never forget that tornado! I will all ways cherish my family,
because some day they will leave
you. So after that experience every
once and a while I still think about
my brother. I could have lost him if
he had not made it to the shed in
time.
The Plight of Persephone
Open the door of the dead,
Out comes a figure of dread,
With a clod hearted grab
Down goes Persephone.
As all life disappears
Demeter watched her dear
As she weeps through the night
All earth was in a fright
Down fell her frozen tears
Mortals knew winter was near
When Persephone came up in a grace
Life again showed its face
When she goes in to the den
The earth weeps again
By Mei Lu
Sixth Grade
4
that is Morgan is not my mother.”
Tatiana grabbed her backpack
and left.
“MOM, HELP, HELP, MOM,
HELP!!!!!!!! HELP! FIRE!!!!” Dad
came running into the room, along with
Mom and Chris. Their eyes looked,
amazed…scared, kind of like they didn’t know what was going to happen
next. Mixed emotions, shock is what I
felt, like how did this happen, would
anyone do it on purpose? Thousands of
questions filled my mind, like junk
mail, crowds your inbox. Like for real
though? And at that moment I wasn’t
even thinking about my ring. But as I
was trying to process it all, I heard rattling through the house.
“Mom, Mom, do you hear
that?” I whispered my words into one
ear and out threw another. I went upstairs, praying that nothing was on fire
inside the house. Chris, who is about 2
years older than me, I dragged him up
the stairs…you know for protection.
My ring, it was...gone! I panicked, of
course I didn’t let my older brother see
me, but I panicked. And from that moment, I KNEW that someone did it on
purpose. But who, surprisingly we had
a ladder in the house, and had to use
that to climb out through the middle
floor window.
I told the investigator everything I knew, how the fire went, how
we got out. He said he would take action, but not soon enough. I did some
investigating of my own. I didn’t find
much, or at least what a professional
would have found. Someone did come
in through the back door, obviously
before the fire. It looks like they could
have picked the lock with their nail. But
one person could not have pulled this
off. It had to be more than one. I couldn’t imagine. Who would wanna hurt our
entire family? It would make sense that
the person trying to hurt us was aiming
towards me. I’m not the only one in this
family that has nice jewelry.
The next day, I watched very
closely, on who was wearing what, and
where they were wearing it, but no luck.
Years went by, like the sun sets every
day, normal, nothing special, no
uniqueness.
Graduation day is supposed to
be the day you’ll never forget, well this
day, I’ll try to forget. I see her walk
down that stage, and except that diploma, with the hand, the hand wearing…
my ring! I want to jump up on stage and
shout, “That’s MY ring your wearing,
take it off now!” But knowing that I
have common sense, I wasn’t going to
do that, a plan developed, not one in the
cartoons that never worked…but a plan.
“I think that ring belongs to
me and not your finger.” I snapped at
Morgan
“Why don’t you come and put
your name on it, because…I don’t see
it!”
“Oh really, why don’t look
again. You set my house on fire…
why?”
“You stole my friends, my
popularity, and my thunder! That’s all I
wanted, you had a family that loved
you…you had everything! So I stole
what you loved...most.”
“I didn’t love that ring. It’s an
object it doesn’t love me back.”
“You got that right…” Morgan
trailed off
Writers Corner Book Reviews
No Easy Day by Mark Owen
Review by Eli Marshall
Sixth Grade
I would like to tell you about
the book No Easy Day. It was a great
book. It was written by Mark Owen.
That is not his real name for security
reasons. Most of the names in the
book are not real. Some are, like
Mack Raven and the President. The
book is based on his life as a navy
seal. In the end he is part of the commanders that killed Osama Bin laden. In the book, he is referred to as
UBL. He also talks about his childhood. He lived in Alaska. He talks
about when he and his dad were going to check animal traps.
When he got home, he was
checking his 22 rifle. He was used to
having guns around the house. When
he was clearing his 22 rifle, he
thought he had all of the bullets out
but he accidentally chambered a
round. When he pulled the trigger
(he was pointing it at the ground), a
bullet fired. His father came over, but
he was not angry. When he did, he
made sure the gun was clear. Then
his father calmly went over what he
did wrong when clearing his gun.
When it was time to go to college, he
said he did not want to but he went
for one year. Then he went the rest,
Mighty Mac by Marc Waldman
and then joined the navy. It took him
approximately 6 to 9 years to become
Seal 6 member. What I thought was
cool was some of the history that was
mentioned. There was a lot of training involved. He has a page or two
that talked about the guns and the
attachment and the vehicles they
used. Have you ever played a shooting game on the XBox? You never
think that type of equipment was real,
but it is.
They also talk about the
techniques they used though the
years. One of the techniques was fly
to the X. The X was the place that
was being attacked. He talked about
one time he flew to the X and it was
the wrong building but it might have
saved his life and his friend’s life.
There were 4 of them. In the end he
goes to Osama Bin laden’s compound. He was a commander. When
he finished clearing the guest house
of enemies, he was to go to Osama
Bin laden’s room. When he got there,
it turns out that Osama Bin laden was
still alive, so they shot him dead. He
retired and said that one of his things
on his bucket list was to write this
book and he did. I hope you all liked
my review/summary.
By Noah Abrams
Sixth Grade
Faster than a speeding bully.
More powerful than an evil motive.
Able to leap tall siblings in a single
bound. No, it's not a bird, it's not a
plane- it's just mild-mannered "social
reject" Mac Coolidge, boy blunderer
and super-multitasker: doing homework, performing household chores,
making a bad impression on the girl
of his dreams, hoisting a "ten pound
piece of chalk" to solve a math problem on the blackboard, and suffering
the torment and taunts of the neighborhood hooligans. Not to mention
daydreaming in class about having
the ability to "fly like Superman or be
as fast as The Flash.
Marc Waldman's amiable
and action-packed Mighty Mac--have
preoccupied Mac most of all, lately.
Call it a mid-school crisis, the bitterpatter of little feat, call it what you
will--deep down Mac knows he was
meant for greatness. "I was meant to
be a hero, and not a zero," he ponders. And if it means a few high
school thugs get beat up in the process of a little unfriendly fired-up
Note: Eli Marshall read this story
with his parents, and they helped
him to understand some of the intricacies of such an operation. If you
are interested in this story, we
strongly advise you to read it with
your parents so that they will help
you understand some difficult parts
of the story.
power trip-after he's done his homework, naturally-- well. That’s just
icing on the piece-of-cake life that
awaits him.
It gets even more complex
as Waldman-in addition to juggling
enjoyable subplots and secondary
characters that complement and helpfully propel the narrative--cues the
top-secrecy and secret agents, while
waiting in the wings is the requisite
nemesis, a foil to run afoul of the law
and decent society. In Mighty Mac
the dastardly villain is the nefarious
Commandant, who is ready to put
into motion his terrorist plot to destroy Washington, D.C. And it's up
to Mac, with his new super powers
and expertise, to stop him. But are
his smaller-scale exploits like invisible pranks and getting back at riffraff any kind of preparation for such
a monumental undertaking? Only
one way to find out, as Mighty Mac
sets out to save the day and make
things right, just as events are getting
worse before they get better. If they
get better, that is.
Targeted for early teens and
kids ages nine to 16, Mighty Mac is a
taut and action-packed, fast-paced
adventure that also serves a larger
purpose as Waldman attempts, and
largely succeeds, to subtly instill and
reiterate a zero-to-hero message of
encouragement, as well as a lesson in
the value of resourcefulness and setting goals. I guess the modern parlance would refer to these notions as
self-esteem and empowerment, but
here it refreshingly steers clear of the
infusing false senses of selfaggrandizement and entitlement.
How I Survived 2012
Rahul Shah
Special Features Editor
Congratulations! If you are
reading this you have survived the end
of the world! You probably hid in a
secret bunker or went on a giant metal
ark somewhere in China. Well, this is
how I survived the end. You probably
didn’t remember this happening because of reasons explained later, but
know that I saved your lives! Don’t
check. Just trust me.
Tip one: Have a survival kit.
My survival kit included Twinkies (the
only thing that can survive the end of
the word, duh), Nutella (essential to
survival), bread (because the store ran
out of toast) dental floss, my phone for
a sundial, a blanky I- I mean, blanket,
and my custom colored red Honda
jetpack. All of these are common
household items. Except for the floss,
who even uses that stuff? So I was just
checking on the pack like I do every
morning before school and everything
was there. I checked the date and
found out that it was 12/21/12. “Huh,
that’s probably not real.” I thought. So
I strutted my way to the bus stop.
When the bus came I found a seat right
away. “Wow, it must be the end of the
world; I found a seat on the bus!” I
proclaimed. On the way to school it
felt like an ordinary day. The giant volcano was spitting lava, there was a
monster terrorizing the streets, and
there was traffic as usual. When the
bus pulled in I realized something that
an old Mayan Chief told me: it was
Friday.
“AAAAAWWWWW
YEEEEEEEAAAAAH!!!!” I yelled
triumphantly. So I continued to moonwalk to my first class. That’s when the
freaky stuff started to happen.
panic. We hadn’t practiced giant
monster drills since October so we
forgot what to do. Luckily I was prepared!
Tip three:
, duh.
The monster tore through the
arts hallway. “Oh no!” the tech students cried. The monster clawed his
way to the Band room. “Dun dun dun
dunnnnnnn” played the piano that
student played. The monster destroyed the chorus room:
“♫Ohhhhhhhhh noooooooo! ♫” The
chorus students sang (off pitch.) The
monster headed toward the office to
destroy the stash of extra homework.
“YES!” the students cried. The monster scrunched his nose and ran off.
Apparently monsters are allergic to
homework. How disappointing. Anyway, I ran off toward the monster. I
broke the glass on the emergency fire
extinguisher and ran after the monster.
Tip four: refer to tip three.
Tip two: If something feels fishy, it’s
probably a fish.
Something felt fishy. The day
went as normal until the 4th block. All
of the starving kids crowded the cafeteria waiting for today’s lunch: Fish
Stick Friday. The doors opened and the
kids rushed inside yelling and screaming. The lunch lines were filled in less
than a millisecond. When the first kids
came out they groaned in sadness. It
was “mystery glop.” The schedule for
the lunches was changed because today
the administrators were feeling angry.
All of the kids threw away the glop
into the trash can. One kid threw in a
week old package of caviar. Then a
huge monster rose from the trashcan.
“Meow.” It meowed.
“D’awwwwwwwww” everyone said.
“I WILL ENSLAVE ALL HUMANS!
BLEH!” he yelled. The school was in
I chased the monster through Clarksburg as it made its way to the high
school. I turned on my jet pack and
soared swerving around buildings and
trees. I approached the monster just
as he was picking up a traumatized
crossing guard. I launched my twink-
5
ies at him, but they seemed to do nothing. I swooped down onto the monsters
head. I pulled out my blanky ,I mean
blanket and covered his eyes. The
monster stumbled and clawed blindly
at his own head, trying to get me off. I
pulled out my bread and stuffed them
in his nose. Now, if I had toast I would
be able to make him sneeze, but WalMart doesn’t sell toast. Anyway that
didn’t stop him so I resulted to my final
option. I threw my Nutella into his
roaring mouth. The monster eased up
and lied down. The monster settled
down and finally fell asleep. I never
saw my Nutella again. I made my way
back to school to accept my medals of
honor but the entire school was asleep.
Everyone drank the special milk in the
cafeteria (because milk is a comfort
food) and had fallen asleep. So the next
day everybody slept walked home and
some builders came in to fix the
school. The next day nobody knew
what had happened. So here is the lesson: Don’t throw away your mystery
glop.
Life on The Hill
“Gift of Sam" Blood and Toy Drive
By Rahul Shah
Special Features Editor and
Ms. Katie Odey
Supervising Editor
Rocky Hill never forgets!
The Rocky Hill community has had
a history of caring for students and
people in our community. On Saturday, December 15, our school organized a blood drive and a toy drive
in memory of Sam Moore, who lost
his battle to cancer in August. Ms.
Tippet was responsible for organizing this Blood Drive and Toy Drive
event, the first of its kind at our
school. It was a great success and
will likely continue because the
need. In spite of the dreary weather,
a good number of students, teachers
and parent turned out to for the
blood drive. Although there were
lengthy lines at times, parents and
teachers waited patiently to donate
blood. About 40 people donated
blood, and we may have collected
about 60 pints of blood, just shy of
Mrs. Ault and Mrs. Kemp beaming
with smiles at the success of the
Blood Drive
Mrs. Nacht feeling good about donating blood during Sam Moore Blood and Toy
Drive
our goal of 100 pints! The blood donors were very excited. They were
happy to give blood to people who
needed it. But what they didn’t expect was the size of the needle!
“Needles are not my friend,” one of
the donors said. All of the donors
were tired after giving blood, but
happy to have helped so many people!
“We are grateful for the opportunity to honor Sam Moore in this
way because of his legacy of community service. I’m so proud to be a part
of this incredible tribute to Sam and
his family. Many, many thanks to all
who participated,” says Mrs. Ault.
For those who knew Sam and knew
his charisma, it is not surprising that
he could still move people and bring
people together like this. It may be
safe to say, it is the Power of Sam!
Sam the Man.
One of the things we know
about Sam is how involved he was in
Boy Scouts. His Scout Troop and
their parents ran a bake sale during
the event. The sale was held in the
lobby area of our school and served
as a gathering place for Sam's friends
and Sam's family to remember Sam.
They raised over $400.00 which was
matched by Food Lion. Our former
principal, Mr. Whiting, who is now
the current Director of Middle School
Instruction and Achievement, was in
attendance, and so was Mr. Koutsos,
the principal of Clarksburg High
School.
“What an incredible tribute in honor
of Sam. The Rocky Hill community
should be very proud of what they
do,” says Mrs. Kemp, our school
nurse.
Over 1,034 toys were col-
Mrs. Quinn
6th Grade Math Teacher
TWR: How long have you been at
rhms?
Mrs. Quinn: I am a founding member
which means I have been here since
the start
TWR: How do you feel about being
Ms. Brouillard and Mr. Murray carrying bags of Toys donated at the event
Amazing Teacher: Ms. Mahoney
Amazing Teacher: Mrs. Quinn
Anusha Chinthalapale
Staff Writer
lected. Those toys have been sent to
Children’s Hospital in honor of
Sam! Over 100 of those toys were
collected by Mr. Lucas, who is a
parent of 2 of our kids and also the
manager at the Outback in Germantown. Kaiser Permanente also contributed to the event's success. “Our
weight room is full of large trash
bags filled to the brim, waiting to be
picked up and delivered to the kids
for the holidays, and hopefully
bring some joy and smiles to those
precious faces,” say Ms. Brouillard.
None of these would have been possible without the leadership of Ms.
Tippet and the dedication of Ms.
Brouillard, Mrs. Kemp, and Mrs.
Ault. Ms. Tippet is a power house
of energy, who continues to inspire
us to make a difference. Events and
programs like this make us realize
how truly lucky we are to be part of
the Rocky Hill Community.
Nina Agrawal
Rocky Hill Page Editor
nominated for TOM?
Mrs. Quinn: It’s an honor that students recognize and appreciate their
teacher’s efforts in helping them to be
the person that they are.
TWR: How do you describe your
interactions with your students?
Mrs. Quinn: I have a good rapport
with my students. I’m tough but I’m
also fair and willing to help any student.
TWR: What makes you special?
Mrs. Quinn: I love my job, even after
25 years. I’m enthusiastic about math
and look forward to the Outdoor education program.
TWR: What would you like your students to know about you?
Mrs. Quinn: I REALLY love teaching them and I LOVE my three adorable dogs.
TWR: What’s one thing you have
learned through your career?
Mrs. Quinn: That it’s ok to make mistakes
Ms. Mahoney
7th Grade English Teacher
TWR: How do you feel about being
nominated as Teacher of the Month?
Ms. Mahoney: I feel very honored that
I was chosen out of all the wonderful
teachers here at Rocky Hill.
TWR: How long have you been teaching?
Ms. Mahoney: I have been teaching for
6 years.
TWR: What other schools or grades
6
have you taught?
Ms. Mahoney: I’ve been teaching at
RH since I graduated from college.
But I taught at Eleanor Roosevelt
during my student teaching and I
taught eleventh and twelfth grade.
TWR: What makes you special?
Ms. Mahoney: Being able to relate to
students and being empathetic to
individual student’s needs and ways
of learning and being flexible.
TWR: Why do you like teaching 7th
and 8th grade?
Ms. Mahoney: Well I really enjoy
teaching 2 different grade levels. I
have students in 7th grade and 8th
grade which is nice because I really
get to know them… I think that middle schoolers are a lot of fun.
TWR: What made you decide to become an English teacher?
Ms. Mahoney: I’ve always wanted to
be a teacher since I was little… I’ve
always enjoyed working with kids…
I wanted to make a big impact doing
something I enjoy.
TWR: What’s your favorite hobby?
Ms. Mahoney: Biking
Sports
Redskins Rise to the Occasion
Kristine Antanesian
Sports Editor
A few games ago, the Redskins disappointed the crowds with
their loss to the Panthers in November.
Now they’ve have had a change for the
best, winning five games in a row. I’m
not trying to get your hopes up but this
time they could actually get a chance
to make it to the playoffs.
“If the Redskins lost to the
Giants in Week 13, I think that any
realistic chance that the Redskins have
of making the playoffs are over” This
statement is very true, made by an
anonymous provider, and I’m sure that
many Redskins fans are delighted to
know that they won the game and with
1 point to spare at that. Either way the
Skins have had a “rollercoaster” of a
season starting out with their RG3 introduction, raising hopes, and then
crashing those hopes with their loss to
the Falcons. But maybe this time is
different considering that currently
their win-loss record in their division
is three to one and their overall PF
(points scored) as of 12/18/12 is 381
which is considerably high for their
past records. This goes to show everyone that as a whole, The Redskins are
definitely stepping their game up.
The Redskins and fans were
discouraged by the losses at the beginning of the season. When it seemed
like they were doomed, they all
stepped up to the plate. Robert Griffin
III may just be the glue that can hold
them together for a very long time. We
all saw that they were in the lead back
Congratulations and Hail to the Redskins, NFC East Division Champions.
Photo From Google Images
when they went against the Falcons,
then suddenly when RG3 had that
concussion it turned around and they
lost by seven. It might not be the
greatest thing to rely on one person,
but with that said if they’re the right
person then they’re definitely worth
leaning on.
On 1/6/13 when Coach Shanahan decided to keep Robert Griffin
III in the game in spite of his injuries,
he faced a lot of questions and criticism for such a risky move. RG III
also faced his own criticism for deciding to stay in the game. Which
wasn’t exactly the best thing to say
because since when does any pro ball
player know when they’re well
enough to play a game? What I’m
saying is that maybe he should have
thought a little bit about the player’s
best interest rather than the game itself. Even with that “controversial” of
a move the skins sadly lost the game
against the Seattle Seahawks, but
they did win in their entire division,
which is pretty substantial. Well although the Redskins finished out their
season with a painful lost to the Seahawks 24-14. In spite of the disappointment Redskins fans were disappointed, they we excited about the
seven-game winning spree. Their
hopes for The Superbowl would have
to wait until next season.
Realistically, it is not always
a good idea to predict what would
happen during the next season, however, the players have given fans reasons to be hopeful. If the Redskins
have the same set of players next season, there is a good chance that the
Skins will go beyond the play-offs.
Clearly, RG3 has emerged as a great
leader of the Redskins. The team is
better organized team than in the previous years. According to Fred Bowen in
a Washington KidsPost article, “They
found a terrific quarterback and leader
in Robert Griffin III. They also found a
hard-charging running back, Alfred
Morris. How important were those two
rookies to the Redskins’ success?
Griffin’s passing and running combined with Morris’s rushing yards accounted for almost 92 percent of the
Redskins’ total offense.”
Most Redskins fans have
found solace in the fact that they made
it to the playoffs and are one step closer to bringing the title home. Winning
the NFC championship definitely a big
deal and the excitement continues until
the next season.
NBA Predictions
going to pull through for their fans.”
Now that we are closing in
on the playoffs, a lot of names are
being thrown around, and frankly, it
is pretty tough to predict who might
get in and who won’t without totally
basing it on opinions. So, factually,
the top five teams in the NBA as of
1/15/13 are as follows:
The Oklahoma City Thunder
The San-Antonio Spurs
The Los Angeles Clippers
The Denver Nuggets
Memphis Grizzlies
Controversy is something that just
comes as a catch for being a sports
lover, and I truly hope that this stirs
up some trouble for RHMS! Until
next time…
By Kristine Antanesian
Sports Editor
Indya Roberts
Staff Writer
There’s three seconds left on the
clock, he looks left, he looks right…
what is he going to do? He shoots…
(Buzzer rings) HE SCORES, bumping his team’s score 3 points higher
than before, leaving his team with a
sufficient lead! And that’s the end of
the 1’s quarter ladies and gentleman,
on to the next one.
As if it isn’t obvious enough
most teams, like the Washington
Wizards, would like to head to the
playoffs. And I could agree, being
that have a winning streak of 3 as of
1/14/13. Also according to the Wizards roster for the 2012-2013year,
their best player standing is Trevor
Ariza, having played with the Wizards for eight years now. These qualities are both great and beneficial but
who is the true leader in both the
eastern and western conferences?
If the NBA playoffs started
right as of this moment the leaders
for the eastern conference would
have been the Miami Heat and the
Boston Celtics, as for the western
conference the leaders would have
been the Los Angeles Clippers and
the Denver Nuggets. Close behind
in second would have been the
New York Knicks and the Milwaukee Bucks for us in the east and the
Oklahoma City Thunder and the
Portland Trailblazers, having said
that none of that information stands
as evidence that theses eight teams
will even make it to the playoffs in
April.
Sure these teams might
have a slight advantage but a few
mistakes and the door gets pushed
opened for another one of the teams to
swoop in and steal one of their spots.
Actually I had the chance to
ask a few people about who they
thought would advance to the playoffs.
An anonymous sender said, “I personally believe that the Heat will win it all,
like they always do, but I also think
that Boston will definitely make it to
the playoffs along with the Heat.” Another anonymous sender said, “I know
very well that the LA Lakers aren’t
exactly performing at their best this
season but I just know that they are
7
Special Features
What Will You Find?
Linette Kingston
Staff Writer
As you walk into your
neighbor’s garage sale, or even donation stores, what do you think?
That everything there is a bunch of
worthless junk? Or maybe all that is
there is old trashy furniture that hasn’t been sat on for years? Well, these
people found treasures worth thousands.
Imagine coming home from
a yard sale and finding out that you
got more than you actually bargained for. That is what happened to
Pam Dwyer and her husband as they
came back home with a $5 horse
painting in their hands. But they felt
as if they were getting more. Dwyer
told CBS 5, “I just have this gut feeling that there's something behind
that." And surprise! As they look in
the painting’s old frame, they find a
perfectly detailed picture of John F.
Kennedy dating back to 1961. This
sketch is said to be worth about
$2,500 to $5,000. Seeing that the
painting was signed, Dwyer found
out that the artist, Carmelo Soraci,
was a forager who was known for
passing fake checks. He ended up
staining glass windows while he
spent 21 years in prison in New
York. So, are you going to buy a
painting in hopes of striking big
bucks?
Visualize this: you’re freezing in the cold and you just so happen to go into a Goodwill store to
buy a blanket. There, you end up
buying a painting for less than it was
actually worth. Beth Feeback and
her husband went into a Goodwill
store and saw two $9.99 paintings
just sitting there to the side, which
Beth thought would make two very
good canvases to paint on top of. "I
am always on the prowl for something to paint on or paint over. It
helps the environment, and better
yet, my pocketbook," Feeback told
the Charlotte Observer. As she returned with her purchase in hand, a
fellow artist pointed out that one of
the labels stated that the artwork was
by Ilya Bolotowsky and had been
shown at the Weatherspoon Gallery
at UNC-Greensboro. Beth was
warned to research more on the artist
and their past. Many months later,
Feeback finally did her research.
Luckily, she didn’t paint over the
canvas because she found out that the
artwork, is a 1966 oil-on-canvas
painting called "Vertical Diamond."
Illya Bolotowsky is also considered a
great 20th century abstract artist. Beth
sent the art to an auction house who
valued the piece to be about $15,000
to $20,000. "I'm so excited! This is
the kind of stuff that happens to other
people, not me and my husband!"
What do you picture as soon
as you hear the words “Red Nose?”
Maybe that cute reindeer named Rudolph, or even someone’s nose during the winter season. Well, you
may not have expected this, but Red
Nose is a lithograph by Alexander
Calder worth $9,000. Karen Mallet
bought this painting for just $12.34
at a local Milwaukee Goodwill store.
She did her research on the internet,
and found out that Calder has many
other lithographs displayed in airports and other public places.
It seems as if the phrase
“don’t judge a book by its cover”
sort of comes into play in these stories. Otherwise, these lucky people
probably wouldn’t have even picked
up these unique pieces of art. Also,
there is a coincidence in which people unknowingly buy or donate artwork worth quite an amount at
Goodwill. “Family members don’t
know what they’ve got when cleaning out grandma’s attic... They have
stuff to get rid of… and then it’s all
this sudden, ‘My goodness, let’s just
give it to Goodwill.’” says art dealer
Bill Dillon. So, will you take your
chances and buy some artwork in
hopes of making some cash? If you
do, then good luck!
Life of a Vegetarian
Anusha Chinthalapale
Staff Writer
Ready to sink your teeth into
a nice big piece of broccoli? If you
answered that question with a no,
you would probably have a huge
strip of greasy bacon. But if you answered yes, you could probably live
a whole lifetime on veggies. And
some people do. Yup, they turn
down the sweet smell of bacon and
the enchanting aroma of fried chicken. They are the vegetarians.
Some people are vegetarians
because they want to. Others are because they have to. All I can say is
that these people can live up to commitments. “It’s not a commitment to
be a vegetarian. It’s just like someone choosing to eat chicken. I’m a
vegetarian because I’ve never had
the ‘pleasure’ of eating nonvegetarian foods.” says local mother,
Mrs. Hariprasadh. Others like Mrs.
Hariprasadh were raised to be vegetarians. But some choose to be a vegetarian. “Whenever I see someone
eating fish, I just want to go there
and scream at them. Do they even
know that their eating a fish that
couldn’t live to their life’s extent?
Do they even care?” says an eighth
grader at Rocky Hill. “[There is a]
draw back being a vegetarian. There
aren’t many options at restaurants.”
says Diti, a sixth grader at Rocky
Hill. “Another drawback is having to
hear someone cutting the meat bones
and all. When I hear the bones being
chopped I think about those poor
animals.” says Anna, another sixth
grader at Rocky Hill. But when you
choose to be a vegetarian, you have
to take full steps toward completion.
You can’t eat a hot dog, pepperoni
pizza or even a double cheeseburger!
Contrary to what some nonvegetarians would say, fish is a kind
meat. “Whenever I walk into a restaurant I tell the waiter that I’m a
vegetarian and I always get the same
reply, ‘Oh, yes, we offer fish,’” says
an vegetarian. Sadly, many people
think that fish isn’t meat, and all of
the vegetarians are forced to explain
to them. Here is a little friendly rule
of thumb: “If it has eyes, a heart, or
lives in the ocean we can’t eat it,”
says a vegetarian.
Back a
very long time ago people classified fish as “white meat”. This
was because the meat from the
fish wasn’t as red as the meat in
steak, bacon, or whatever. Also,
fish live in the water, so apparently nothing that lives in the water is
meat. Except for whales, dolphins,
sharks and everything in the ocean
except for fish are meat. Amazing
logic, isn’t it?
Temptation! That’s the
first word people think of when
they’re looking at the food or
things that they love. When a vegetarian looks at a piece of food
like shrimp they think, “What the
heck” and skip over it. But when
they look at the Brussels sprouts
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they take hold of it. “Whenever my
mom makes meat, I make my own
food. But I always remember to put
in a lot of vegetables.” says Anna.
Unlike us, the non-vegetarians they
don’t have the urge to grab a piece
of KFC.
There is a downside of being a vegetarian though. When you
are a vegetarian you get all of your
carbohydrates, your calcium and a
lot of potassium. But they don’t get
that much protein because they
don’t eat chicken and/or fish. Scientifically proven, Chicken and fish
are one of the few foods that contain
a lot of protein. Also vegetarians are
susceptible to vitamin B12 deficiency, however, since most cereals,
yogurts and soy products are very
good sources of the vitamins.
A vegetarian diet needs
extra planning in order to incorporate all the food groups. The are
misconceptions that vegetarian diet
is always healthy. Just like every
other diet, it takes planning and understanding the food groups. Wrong
choices like ice-cream, and French
Fries is unhealthy. Also whole milk
and cheese contain saturated fat that
are not very healthy.
Take a piece of fried chicken, swallow a hot dog and gobble up
that pepperoni pizza. But don’t forget those veggies!
Special Features Page
History Of Rocky Hill
By Neil Agrawal
Chief Editor
Anita Tharmarajah
Writer’s Corner Editor
Have you ever wondered
about the history of Rocky Hill?
Rocky Hill Middle School is one of
the five middle schools in Clarksburg. When you consider the name
of the school and its locations, it
becomes almost imperative to think
about its history, and this leads us
our curiosity about the history of
Clarksburg. Our new principal, Mr.
Edmundson, expressed his curiosity
and wanted us to find out more
about it. After an interview with Mr.
Wilson Wims, we have discovered
that there is more than meets the eye
of our beloved school.
The history of Clarksburg ties in
with Mr. Wilson Wims aged 97 who
lives right by Clarksburg High
School. Mr. Wims was kind enough
to teach us about the rich history of
the town. Back in the day, Mr. Wims
was a building foreman for Bowling
and Gardiner Contractors. Mr. Wims
shared his experiences of what he
saw around Clarksburg.. Mr. Wims
has also helped with the construction
the Clarksburg Schoolhouse.
Rocky Hill and Clarksburg
Have you ever wondered
how Rocky Hill retained its name?
“When they were digging the ground
to start building [Rocky Hill] there
was so much rock underneath that
they had to use dynamite to get it
out,” said Mr. Wims
The area around Clarksburg
has grown as well. In the 1950’s
“Houses were far an few…there
were a lot of farms around here… as
a matter of fact my father built the
first four houses up on Wims Rd to
make it look like a little town,” said
Mrs. Frances Forman . “Everything
was segregated then, we couldn’t in
in no cafeterias, no stores, bathrooms was separate. Everything was
separate. If you compare now to the
1950’s, you will realize that “The
racial amount [in the 1950’s]… only
was white and black, mostly black.
Now it is a melting pot,” says Mrs.
Karen Walker, Mr. Wims’ granddaughter.
Did you know that George
Washington actually camped not far
from our school? In the Gazette, an
article was written about Clarksburg’s past, “Lt. George Washington
and British Gen. Edward Braddock
The Exterior of Rocky Hill Negro
School
Ms. Karen Walker, standing next to her grandfather, Mr. Wims, Assistant Principals, Mr. Lee, Ms. Stewart and our principal, Mr. Edmundson
stayed at Dowdens Ordinary [a
place in Clarksburg down the road
from Rocky Hill] in 1755 for 3
days… on their march toward Fort
Duquesne.” Who knew that such an
important person in the United
States history camped right here in
little old Clarksburg.
The Clarksburg Negro
School aka the old Rocky Hill
School taught grades 1-7. Our former media assistant, Mrs. Jean
Sheer, conducted an interview with
Mr. Wims’ daughter, Mrs. Foreman,
her daughter, Tamara Jacobs, and
Victoria Hawkins about the school.
“[At the time] there were 1st- 7th
grades at Rocky Hill,” said Ms.
Foreman.” Also, when asked how
many teachers there were at the
school at the time, Mrs. Foreman
responded, “Two, one was the upper
grades and her name was Lillian
Giles, and the other was Marylin
Arter and she taught the lower
grades.” She went on to explain that
“It was just two big rooms, there
was one for fourth through seventh
and there was one from first to third,
all the students were in the two
room school.” Can you imagine
that? Rocky Hill started out as a
small two room school. About 50
years later, Rocky Hill has transformed into a 70 room establishment.
In March of 2004, our former media Specialist, Mrs. Alyson
Wilson interviewed Mrs. Margaret
Williams, who attended Clarksburg
Negro School, also known as Old
Rocky Hill School. As Mrs. Williams recalls, “I would say Rocky
Hill school was a good place to go
to school. We helped each other and
the teacher was caring.” It may be
safe to say that the culture of caring
at Rocky Hill started from its origin.
When asked about what she would
want Rocky Students today to know
about Rocky Hill, Mrs. Williams
said, “Well, the most I can say is
enjoy your plush school today! ...It
was not like this when I went to
school.
Taking a short filed trip to
the home of Mr. Wims, accompanied by our principal, Mr. Edmundson, our assistant principals, Ms.
Stewart and Mr. Lee, was a great
learning experience.
Mr. Wims
Mr. Wims himself and his
family have had a huge impact on
Clarksburg history. Susan SingerBart, a staff writer at The Gazette
wrote and published an article Titled, “A Historic Piece of Clarksburg Past on March 6, 2002. In her
article, she acknowledged, Mr.
Wims, who was 86 years old at that
time. Singer-Bart write, “After
World War II, Wims, 86 worked for
a Bethesda building contractor.. In
the early 1950s, he opened his own
business.” At one time they were
the only black family in Clarksburg.
Being a general contractor he built
all of the houses on the street he is
living on now and most of the houses on Wims road, which obviously,
is named after him. One of the
things that he told us was that he
was very surprised by the diversity
in our schools and communities
now.
Mr. Wims has earned many
honors over the years. He met with
the Clarksburg football team and led
them to victory on October 28 2006.
In 2005 he was named the tree lighting family of the year. In case you
didn’t know, the tree lighting is a
special tradition that has been going
on in Clarksburg / Damascus for
over forty years now. On April 12
2008 he met the Oriole bird at the
field at Clarksburg High School
which was named after him for his
dedication to sports. The Orioles
bird gave him pitching tips before
he threw the first pitch at the game
Clarksburg Coyotes vs. the Rockville Rams. He wore a #13 jersey to
represent his birthday on the 13th of
July.
Mr. Wims was very involved in his community. “He [Mr.
Wims] would gather all the children
on our street and take them to wrestling matches and basketball games
and hay rides and movies…,” said
Ms. Karen Walker, “He was like
Jesus.” In 1952, a huge snowstorm
hit the town of Clarksburg. “The
snowstorm was really bad. We
made it home- I made it home- and
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my mother and I were sitting up by
the window and we could see cars
stranded all the way up the road and
we thought, oh god, this is going to
be a terrible snowstorm. It ended up
that the school bus that was taking
my husband home… got stranded in
the snowstorm and could not get out.
They had to get a tractor to pull
them out. It ended up that the kids
came to my … house on a tractor,
and Bethesda-Chevy Chase Fire
Rescue Squad came up , took my
father to Clarksburg store, bought up
all the apple sauce, all the eggs, all
the bread, all the milk. My mama
and I were steady cooking and I took
5 high school girls to my room, and
we left one girl downstairs with the
elementary kids. One girl came in
and didn’t have shoes on her feet.
She didn’t realize that she had lost
them. It was a wonder that she didn’t
freeze her feet off. When I looked at
her, I said… ‘where’s your shoes,’ ‘I
didn’t know that I didn’t have no
shoes on,’… and it was in the papers
and that is an experience that I will
never forget as a child,” said Ms.
Francis Foreman.
Although this piece sounds
as though it is at its close, clearly it
is just beginning. As we explore new
ideas in Clarksburg and our community grows, our history will grow
with it. Perhaps future generations
will look back on our time with the
same pride that we felt after our experience with Mr. Wims; the sense
of honor that they have come from
such a rich historical location.
Clarksburg clearly has much to offer.
Three Generations of the Wims family,
His granddaughter, Ms. Karen Walker,
Mr. Wims and his daughter, Ms. Frances
Foreman
The life history of the individual is first and foremost
an accommodation to the
patterns and standards traditionally handed down in his
community.
Ruth Benedict
Mr. Wims and Mr. Edmundson
Current Issues
Fiscal Cliff
Rahul Shah
Special Features Editor
Contributions from Ms. Odey
Normally there are dips in
the economy. There are times where
we lead the world’s exports and
there are times where we are in a
depression. The U.S. economy has
been in a terrible shape since 2007.
President Obama, Joe Biden, and
Mitt Romney all promised to get us
out of this economy by their election. The country chose Barack
Obama and he has been one of the
few presidents to actually own up to
their promises. However he has just
gotten around to fixing our economy. The dreaded Fiscal Cliff was
mentioned during a debate and it
immediately sparked terror in the
eyes of the politicians. Immediately
the politicians and Congress sat
down, or more like threw chairs at
each other, about how to solve this
issue. As you can tell by how you
aren’t sitting in a trash heap while
reading this Congress has actually
came through. Our government has
finally gotten something done!
So, what caused the Fiscal
Cliff? There were a series of laws
passed by our beloved President
George Bush. The laws included tax
cuts, new taxes, spending cuts, etc.
When 2013 rolled in these laws were
supposed to expire. These were the
laws that governed our spending
cuts. When 2013 came these expired
laws would cause taxes to rise exponentially, increasing the debt by at
least a few billion.
To fix the budget Congress
and the President discussed what to
do. Barack Obama and John
Boehner who basically represents
The Republican view of the Cliff
debate argued and argued for a long
time. Eventually they took it in privately. Senate and the House of
Rep. argued also. Republican versus Democrat, middle class versus
rich, basically every level of the
political field was fighting. Finally,
Christmas came and the government had still not come up with an
idea. The politicians went home for
Christmas, causing almost everyone
in the U.S. to pull their hair and
stress to no end.
There was finally an agreement. The new bill that would save
us was called the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. The bill
did many things. For people that
receive an income of 400,000 or
less the taxes are the same as 2012,
as opposed to the increase that
would happen if the bill wasn’t
passed. Taxes for businesses making 300,000-250,000 a year increased again, and the current money welfare is increased for 5 years
and longer for college students.
On January 2nd President
Obama signed the bill and it was
passed. Congress has overcome one
of the most threatening issues in our
history. If George Bush’s tax cuts
weren’t brought back the U.S.
would have gone into a recession,
or if you already believe that we are
already in a recession, then a deeper
one. Our debt is rising and is definitely comparable to the Great Depression. But this time there is no
war to pull us out. We are overseas
fighting wars to help other people
live free, but our own country needs
help. As you read this our debt is
accumulating. Gas prices are going
down and stocks have been doing
well, but there is always a danger of
a crash. The Fiscal Cliff was narrowly avoided, but what will happen
when something like this happens
again? Will Congress be able to pull
together?
Lawmakers on both sides
would like us to believe the resolution of this matte was the so-call
bipartisan effort.. However, their
contention overs obvious issue
played out and they seemed more
like little children who insist on having their way. Most working adult
who had a sigh of relief after the
fiscal cliff legislation passed, have
seen a rise in their payroll taxes. According an article in National Priority, Chris Hellman and Mattea Kramer write, “All working Americans
will see their payroll tax rate rise by
2 percentage points, or around
$1,000 per year for the average
worker. Trust fund revenue into Social Security will increase.” Clearly,
nothing is perfect, but we continue
to hope that our elected official
would learn to compromise in the
interest of the people who put them
in office.
The Republican and Democratic views are splitting up the
country. Hopefully we won’t have to
deal with this any time soon. If we
do, we are going to be falling off a
cliff.
2012 real or Fake
Fun Facts
By Indya Roberts
Staff Writer
Kai Hu
Staff Writer
What were your thoughts on
2012? The Mayans made a calendar
that was similar to ours. Surprisingly
they wrote it all the way up to December 21st, 2012. People immediately thought we were going to die.
So then I did some research. Among
some of the top predictions concerning “The end” were super volcanoes,
earthquakes, tsunamis and large tidal
waves—and those are just a few examples of our superstition about the
end of the world as we know it. “The
whole thing was a misconception
from the very beginning,” says Dr.
John Carlson, director of the Center
for Archaeoastronomy. “The Maya
calendar did not end on December
21, 2012, and there were no Maya
prophecies foretelling the end of the
world on that date."
The first prediction was super
volcanoes. The big one everyone is
talking about is the volcano under
Yellowstone National Park. Writer
Jennifer L. Andrews writes, “The
most talked about super volcano that
will erupt when 2012 approaches, is
the giant one sitting underneath Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming,
USA.” Earthquakes were also a big
subject. An article from ezine articles
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explains, "Part of the fear of 2012 is
that major earthquakes will occur.
Volcanoes, landslides and fault lines
in the earth can all set off earthquakes. The effects of an earthquake
include fire, shaking and splitting of
the earth, landslides, avalanches,
floods, tsunamis and of course,
death". Finally we arrive at tsunamis.
Also by a writer of ezine articles, one
article says, “...earthquakes can cause
tsunamis and major tidal waves. Asia
in most recent years has been heavily
affected by major tidal waves." That
is one thing in particular that I am
fascinated about. Ironically, it appears
that 2012 was the year with the most
droughts.
It is important to note that the
same Mayans who predicted that the
world was going to end also predicted
more droughts and natural disasters.
Based in the natural disasters and
weird weather pattern, they were not
entirely wrong. How ironic! Are we
then to conclude that these natural
disasters are all signs of end times?
Before we get ahead of ourselves we
should remember that the millions
and millions of cars we have are contributing to pollution and cause climate change. Therefore if we don't
want our earth to be destroyed then
we should stop being couch potatoes
and start saving our planet. Every
single person can make a difference.
If we don't start saving our planet
we're all going to be gone. The world
is not going to end because of a magical curse or an interpretation of a
calendar or something. We are the
ones that are destroying the world
so we have to use our power to save
it.
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350 million people are known
to have suffered from Facebook
Addiction Disorder
In 2005, Union Square in Manhattan was flooded with kiwi
strawberry flavored fluid when
world's biggest 17.5 ton Popsicle melted…
Unless it is mixed with their
saliva, human beings do not
have the ability to taste food!
Until the 1960s men with long
hair were not allowed to enter
Disneyland.
Barbie's full name is Barbara
Millicent Roberts.
It’s impossible to stop thinking.
The Muppet Show was banned
from Saudi Arabian TV because
one if its stars was a pig.
Dogs have the ability to make
about 100 different facial expressions.
The CIA once spent $20 million
on a cat equipped with gear to
spy on the Soviets, but it was hit
by a taxi.
A group of unicorns is called a
blessing.
Today’s Technology
Life on Mars
Manav Mathur
Tech Editor
Scientists have been working
hard to explain this primordial, yet
complex question: Are we alone, or
does life exist elsewhere? There have
been missions and scientific theorems
simply created to explain life elsewhere. But what is the relevance of
this? Why do we need to know if life
exists elsewhere? What are the benefits and consequences of this thirst for
other life? “Human exploration of
Mars requires an innovative plan that
offers a return on investment at every
stage of its development.” says Frank
Stratford, writer for the Space Review
magazine.
Primarily, having contacts
with other life would show us that life
exists elsewhere, challenging advocates of intelligent design or creationism, which are theories as described
above. So what have scientists found
so far? “The director of NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory said last week
that preliminary data showed the possibility that the agency's Mars Science
Laboratory – the six-wheeled rover
that landed on Mars in August — had
found signs of carbon-containing mol-
From Google Images
explorers who find a Martian base.
The Martians can only operate in a
polar region not because of climatic
requirements, but because their
spacecraft cannot withstand the rotation of the Earth at other latitudes.
Kurd Lasswitz's Martians resemble
Earth people in every respect except
that they have much larger eyes,
with which they can express more
emotions. The base could be our
blueprint for Earth human bases.
ecules.” If it contains carbon, it is
organic. This would also launch new
space exploration programs, fully
convinced that life exists elsewhere
in the universe. This could help scientists discover new things about us,
potentially.
The topic of life on Mars
hasn’t been recently introduced. In
1888, the book Two Planets by Kurd
Lasswitz was published in German.
It talks about the story of a group of
Acer C7 Chromebook
Ali Tyma
Staff Writer
“Mom, please! Everyone I
know has a laptop.”
“We do have a laptop.”
“They have a laptop of their
own!”
“What’s wrong with using
our home computer?”
“Everyone is always up in
my business when I use it. Plus my
friends video chat each other on
THEIR laptops.”
“But sweetheart, do you
really want to lug around a heavy
laptop just to video chat people you
see almost every day? And besides
laptops are pretty expensive.”
“Well you could always get
me the new Acer C7 Chromebook.”
“Why the Acer Chromebook?”
“Because it’s got all the
latest features.”
“Like?”
“It has everything.”
It’s true. The new Acer C7
Chromebook is equipped with every
little feature to make everything
easier. But having everything has to
weight a lot, right? Not exactly. The
Acer C7 weighs only three pounds.
Imagine holding six small potatoes
in both of your hands… this is equal
to the weight of the Acer C7.
“Okay, it might not weigh
Our home is becoming overpopulated, so Mars could be a site for our
over growing world. “While for
many years to follow, Mars SF novels seemed to focus on stories revolving around the colonization of
Mars, in the 90s came a boom of
near-future mission to Mars stories…” said author John Joseph Adams. Science fiction provides exaggerated forms of life on Mars.
So, you probably learned a
lot from this article, such as potential
water channels. “Scientists say that
the best explanation so far for this
observation is the existence salty
water freezing and unfreezing over
time, creating these grooves on the
surface. No liquid water has ever
been found on Mars, despite the ice
found on the poles.”
I believe there is tons of
potential evidence on the surface,
and others believe so as well. “…
lower latitudes would support a wetter climate boosting the presence of
greenery,” says software engineer
Kevin Gill. Technology may make
the whole of the Mission to Mars a
success. But for now, we are still in
the dark about life on Mars.
Bad Reception
that much. But what about price?
And can you do your homework
easily with it?”
“Mom-”
Yes, you can do your
homework and you don’t have to
worry about losing your English
papers because you can sync your
laptop with any Android phone or
tablet and easily access files. You
can also check your email, play
games, search the web and because
the Acer C7 cares about you and
wants to make you happy, it will
even remember the websites you
love the most and always have them
right at your fingertips.
“Okay, enough about how
it can help you educationally, how
can it help you socially?”
With a battery life of up to
5 hours, you can video chat your
friends all night long (or until you
have to take a shower) without even
plugging the device in. And don’t
worry about not being able to see
your friend’s new puppy clearly.
With a HD camera not only will
you be able to see the adorable little
ball of fur, you’ll feel like you’re
right there.
“Now that we know all the
great and amazing built-in features,
what’s the price?”
“Are you ready?”
“Sure!”
The Acer C7 Chromebook
is priced at $199.00. That’s nearly
half the price of the Samsung
Chromebook 550, listed at $450.00
and still not equipped with all the
cool features explained here.
“Oh, all right. I suppose we
can get you the Acer C7 Chromebook, but I want your English paper
to be amazing.”
Anusha Chinthalapale
Staff Writer
Before and after school, you
see kids rummaging in their pockets.
What for? Their cell phones of
course! Some kids get their cells
around the age of nine. Some kids
get it when they’re younger! Cell
phones have grown from a communication system to an addictive
gadget. And fascinatingly, they’re
not that amazing.
Everybody enjoys a cell
phone, but they don’t consider the
health hazards that come with it.
First of all, you won’t believe how
many bacteria are on your cell phone
right now. There are more than ten
times more bacteria on the phone
than there are on a toilet seat. If you
have a touchscreen phone you might
not want to touch it very often due to
the bacteria on your fingers and on
the phone. Even ones without a
smartphone, you better watch out for
the buttons. They carry a LOT of
bacteria. Another problem is radioactivity. Radioactivity is released
because of the sound waves pro-
11
duced. “The radioactivity is bad,
especially if you talk on the phone
too much”, says Kimberly Tan, seventh grader. The radioactivity can
also cause cancer. In fact this is one
of the main reasons why most cancer
victims are affected.
A phone is very breakable.
Apple might say that their product is
case sensitive but how about when
you drop on the road? The battery
could pop out or worse. The whole
screen could crack! The phone bill is
another issue. If you use your phone
too much your phone bill would be
longer than a ladder. And you know
what your mother would say about
that. “I think that [the phone] is too
sensitive.
The phone bill would go out
of this world. Literally”, says Aamna
Siddiqui, sixth grader. Safety is another issue that must be addressed.
You may have fun prank calling others on your phone but would you
like it if someone prank called you?
Prank calling can lead to arrest. In
Korea, boys went to jail for prank
calling the queen. They told her that
the princess was in the hospital,
when she wasn’t. Also there is
something called ‘stranger danger’.
Someone could hack into your
phone, get all of your personal information and follow you.
Next time you look for your
phone, remember the bacteria on it,
the people who want to follow you
and the phone bill. Maybe cell
phones don’t ring true.
Hair
Sooah Sohn
Staff Writer
Contributions from Ms. Odey
How often have you heard
adults complain about gray hair?
You’ve probably heard it from your
mom, who doesn’t want to age any
more than she already has. But what is
grey hair from, anyway? How does it
happen?
Gray hair is simply when your
body stops producing melanin, the substance that colors your hair. According
to InteliHealth, “Gray hair is simply
hair with declining levels of melanin.
White hair has no melanin at all.” Dr.
Desmond Tobin, professor of cell biology from the University of Bradford in
England, suggests that the hair follicle
has a “melanogentic clock” which
slows down or stops melanocyte activity, thus decreasing the pigment our
hair receives. This occurs just before
the hair is preparing to fall out or shed,
so the roots always look pale. If gray
hair means that the hair is preparing to
fall, it must have to do with age, not
kids! This is scientifically how gray
hair happens.
The common belief, however,
that gray hair is caused by stress, has
no scientific evidence to support it.
Most people, especially adults, who are
obviously getting older, believe that
external factors like everyday stresses
from kids and jobs are responsible for
their gray hair.
“I know for a fact that the
children I teach and my own children
are responsible for my gray hair,” says
Ms. Odey, a sixth grade reading teacher. Kids are lovable, aren’t they?
Generally, gray hair seems to appear
when adults start to get involved with
children (of all ages). Stress plays a
big part in people’s logic when it
comes to gray hair. “Definitely a result of parental worries!” exclaims Ms.
Rye, a sixth grade English teacher, and
many people agree. However, the theory that gray hair is caused by the
stress that comes from being around
children in an authoritative position
and has no scientific evidence that
proves this common knowledge. Even
if it is, what’s so bad about it? Many
people feel the need to hide or get rid
of their gray hair. “I have no idea what
you are talking about. I have no gray
hair and I never will!” says Ms.
Field of Snow… on the Head?
President Obama (From the beginning of his presidency to present)
[Photo from Google Images]
Kamuf. “I keep handy my hair dye!”
says Ms. Heidary. Is it the fear of aging that causes this natural reaction in
gray- hairing adults? What’s so bad
about gray hair? I am sure the kids
have noticed a common trend among
adults when it comes to gray hair.
They conveniently blame it on the
kids. “If students would take ownership of their learning, I would have
less gray hair,” says Mrs. Reed, one of
our counselors. How about some kids
who happen to have gray hair? Well,
they can also blame it on adults.
One thing is certain: kids are
not to blame for President Obama’s
gray hair. Our nation has seen this
president hair turn gray right before
our eyes. Clearly the stress of his job is
taking its toll. Think about how he has
to worry about everybody in the United States. He even said that keeping us
all safe is one of his priorities. He also
has to worry about problems in other
parts of the world. That amount of
stress could turn anyone gray!
Here are some hair-raising facts to
consider:
 An average scalp has 100,000150,000 hairs.
 Hair is so strong that each hair can
withstand the strain of 100 grams (3.5
ounces).
 An average head of hair could
12
hold 10-15 tons if only the scalp was
strong enough!
 Human hair grows autonomously,
that is each hair is on its own individual cycle. If all our hair were on the
same cycle, we would molt!
 Hair has the highest rate of mitosis (cell division). An average hair
grows 0.3 mm a day and 1 cm per
month.
With these important facts straight
from the Library of Congress, there is
a lot more to gray hair. Although gray/
white hair is very stressful and a sign
of transitioning from a young age to
an old age to some people, gray hair is
also (usually) a sign of wisdom and
years of experience. I mean, you
don’t usually think of a wise, respected elderly as a wrinkled old lady with
perfectly normal, colored hair. “I’m
proud of it, and I don’t feel the need to
hide it because I’m proud of it,” says
the parent of a seventh grader. Aging
is, in my opinion, nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed about- it’s part
of being human.
For centuries, adults have dreaded
the aging process, which of course
include going gray, not being as fast
as they used to be, and obviously
looking different. Some have resorted
to dying their gray, pulling them out
or blaming kids for gray hair. The cosmetic industry is making millions of
dollars to help adult look their best.
Why would they want change their
looks? President Obama seems to be
carrying his own gray hair with
pride. He definitely has a natural
look. According to an article by Tara
Parker Pope in the New York Times,
“A more likely explanation is that
Mr. Obama is starting to turn gray
for the same reasons other people
do. He’s getting older.” After four
years as our 44th president, he will
be spending another four years in as
our president. That is a total of eight
years in office. In eight years, the
change will be very obvious! Seventh Graders at Rocky Hill be juniors in college! Adults need to realize that going gray is a natural process, and it’s okay. We will all grow
old and gray.
Some adults used the phrase
“salt and pepper” to describe their
hair. That may be their way of saying that they still have some strands
of black on brown hair in spite gray
hair. You have to wonder what this
“salt and pepper” theory is really
about. Why are some strands of hair
going gray while others retain their
original color? “If it was purely
based on one’s antioxidant system or
the ability to handle oxidative stress,
then you still have to explain why
some follicles can produce perfectly
pigmented hairs in a sea of white
hairs,” says Desmond J. Tobin, associate dean of research and
knowledge transfer at the University
of Bradford.
Adults need to realize that kids
have to go through changes as well.
If would be absurd if kids begin to
alter their body parts that are changing due to maturity. Gray hair should
be seen as sign of maturity and wisdom.
My honest advice for adults
who are turning gray is to be proud
of who they are. Adults need to embrace who they are; their gray hair
and all. They need to celebrate the
years of knowledge gained through
their experiences of dealing with us.
These lessons are important to the
mental and emotional health of every adult.