Plugged In
Issue Three • the official school newspaper of Speedway Senior High School • December 18, 2015
Paying tribute
Mockingjay Part Two fufills
a melancholy moment
As a sixth grader, I
delved into the dystopian
world of the fictional
teen heroine, Katniss
Everdeen (played by
Jennifer Lawrence), and
as a sophomore in high
school, I have reread the
trilogy and watched the
words transfer to the
screen.
The weekend before
JOANNA BERRY
Thanksgiving, the final
Plugged In Reporter
installment in the monumental Hunger Games
series, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 was
released to instant success, and I had the chance to see
it over Thanksgiving break. It was a melancholy feeling
as I walked into the theatre and prepared myself for the
last “first” time I’d see a Hunger Games film in a theater.
I had seen all of the movies at their release except for
Part 1, and had an emotional connection to the series
because of my obsession with it in elementary school.
While preteens like myself had matured with the
books and eventual movies, this powerful trilogy can’t
compare to series like Harry Potter, which bookwise
is much longer and lasted for 12 years as opposed to
Hunger Games’s 7 year span. But that doesn’t mean
Katniss’s first-person fictional story can’t stand alone - it
definitely can. In the past few years, young adult novels
have emerged with a female protagonist leading their
stories along with The Hunger Games: Veronica Roth’s
dystopian Divergent trilogy, John Green’s heart-wrenching The Fault in Our Stars, Cassandra Clare’s The Mortal
Instruments series, and many more.
This growing popularity in a female heroine has
had a positive impact on young girls and even older
teenage girls. Those who grew up with Harry Potter
connected with Hermione Granger, Harry’s bookworm
sidekick who stands up for herself and gave young girls
a character to look up to, and even a real woman in the
form of Emma Watson, who portrayed Hermione in the
eight film adaptations. While no girl will go through a
magic school or participate in a fight to the death, these
women have strong traits of independence, knowledge,
self-confidence, and that little bit of toughness that just
makes them so cool.
This is significant in Katniss’s case; as a sixteen/
seventeen-year old, she has to make several choices and
sacrifices even the wisest adults couldn’t begin to consider, although Katniss’s situation is much more extreme
than anything we may experience in reality.
Filmwise, the franchise has remained financially and
socially successful, in both box office and bookshelves.
The leading film in the franchise is Catching Fire, which
EN FUEGO: Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence, far right) and her fellow comrades in the thick of the rebellion against the weaking grip of President Snow and
the Capitol. The final film centers around the rebellion and the extensive sacrifices the ‘Girl on Fire’ has to make. Still from “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay,
Part 2.” (Lionsgate)
cashed in around $150m its opening weekend, but with
Mockingjay, Part 2 ranking last in financial success, cashing in $102m its opening weekend, many were surprised.
You would think that moviegoers and fans alike
would be piling into the theaters, eager to see how it
plays out for Katniss and her love triangle between Peeta
Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) and Gale Hawthorne (Liam
Hemsworth), but, unlike fellow money-making series
powerhouses Harry Potter and Twilight, the final film
was a series low for opening weekend box office success.
According to International Business Times’ article on the
significance of this all-franchise low, Mockingjay, Part 1
was heavily criticized for being “boring” and “stripped of
the color” that its predecessor Catching Fire possessed.
This popular but negative review could have put people
off and lessened the eagerness of seeing the second part,
which is a direct continuation from Part 1 and carries the
same dark, dreary mood and tone.
Before listening to critic reviews, I went to see
the movie to review it for myself (and also to see it because it was the last film, duh!). Coming from seeing Part
See A FITTING FINALE on page four
You’d better watch out
and you might just cry
Everyone knows
the jolly fat man Saint
Nicholas, and everyone accepts the story
that the man breaks
into your home, and
for cookies he’ll leave
presents to all the little
good girls and boys.
PAM ALBRECHT
The real question is
Plugged In Veteran Reporter
what happens to the
little boys and girls
that aren’t really all too good? The answer to that is Krampus. This creature from German folklore teaches children
that the naughty list is nothing to play with at all.
Krampus is the impeccable description of every child’s nightmare: seven feet tall, hairy, big bulging eyes, a whiplike tongue, pointed ears, mismatched feet (one a goat hoof, the other a bear claw), and enormous horns on his
head. In traditional stories, Krampus is armed with a bundle of birch switches and a basket to put children in. When
children are caught by Krampus, they are spanked, whipped, and whisked away to Krampus’s lair in the basket to be
punished until they can repent from their bad ways. The story of Krampus was created to try and frighten children
See KRAMPUS IS A NIGHTMARE on page four
I
N side
SEASONS
GREETINGS
page 4
Greetings from
everyone’s favorite
Christmas Devil,
Krampus! Read about
the age old monster
inside. Gruss Vom
Krampus!
FIRST FRIDAY
IS FUN FOR
ALL AGES
page 2
Captured in the Murphy Art
Center in Fountain Square.
An elderly couple enjoying
the art gallaries open for
First Friday
Photo by Josh March.
2
Features
Enjoy all Fountain Square has to offer
Art, food, and music at a discounted price
JOSHUA MARCH
Plugged in Columnist
I have been impatiently waiting
to attend a First Friday at Fountain Square
for nearly half a year. I was originally
told about First Friday this summer by a
friend of mine who had gone before and
enjoyed it a lot. Shortly after, with such
a high recommendation in mind, I made
plans to attend First Friday for the month
of July. Cue a week of torrential rain. On
July 3rd, the First Friday of the month,
Fountain Square was in the middle of
a thunderstorm so instead of walking
around in the rain I decided it best to
wait four more weeks and try again then.
Unfortunately, four weeks turned to eight;
and eight weeks turned to twelve; and so
on until nearly twenty weeks had gone
by. Finally, on December fourth I had
the opportunity to make the excursion to
First Friday at Fountain Square. I was not
disappointed.
First Fridays, as described by
wikipedia.com, are “various public events
… that occur on the first Friday of every
month … including art gallery openings,
and social and political networking.” In
other words, First Friday is a collection
of events, usually city-wide, for people of
all ages. These events can range anywhere
from concerts to art gallery openings to
food truck gatherings to anything your
city has to offer. But the best part by far is
that most of these events can be enjoyed
at a discounted price or for free!
Having waited nearly 6 months to get
to this thing, I had quite the expectation for First Friday at Fountain Square.
The district has a very interesting history
and I’d highly recommend visiting when
you have the chance. It is full of unique
shops, restaurants, and things to do. I’d
been there many times before with family
and friends for various occasions and my
own opinion is that Fountain Square has
an indie/artsy feel which only furthered
my interest as to what First Friday there
would have to offer. So at 5:30 I hopped
in my car, picked up my girlfriend, and
fought rush-hour traffic until we arrived
promptly at 6:15. After searching up and
down for somewhere to park, I could
barely contain my excitement. I had finally
made it to First Friday. After nearly 6
months of waiting, I was finally here!
After getting out of the car we
approached what could only be described
as a mob of coats, gloves, and scarves of
various designs and colors; however, despite the cold weather, I couldn’t find one
absent of a smile. I, myself, am not a fan
of the cold and wondered why nobody
seemed to be affected by the chilling 30
degree winds. But as I got closer, fifteen
bold capital letters came into view that
answered my question. High up on the
side of the building, these letters spelled
out the statement “YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL;” and after pointing this out to
my girlfriend it didn’t seem as cold and I
barely noticed the wind. The excitement
that First Friday was going to be just as
satisfying as I had imagined had taken
over.
As my girlfriend and I assimilated into the mob of winter garments, and
eventually into what I knew to call the
Murphy Building, specifically the Murphy
Art Center, I was boiling over with anticipation.
“I know there’s a gallery here tonight
called Toy Wars that has a ton of Star
Wars art.” I said to my girlfriend who
quickly replied,
“Well we’ll definitely have to go to that
one!”
So the two of us embarked on a journey
to find where exactly Toy Wars was; however, unbeknownst to me, the Murphy Art
Center is just slightly easier to navigate
than the Labyrinth and I had left my ball
of thread in the car. So instead of rush
through trying to find our destination,
we took our time and enjoyed looking
at the countless art that had plastered
themselves onto the walls of the dim
and narrow hallways. We saw posters for
upcoming events juxtaposed with posters
for concerts from a decade ago. We saw
dozens of crayon-on-lined-paper masterpieces that overflowed with toddlers’
imaginations. We saw murals of all kinds;
FREE, FUN, FRIDAY NIGHT ENTERTAINMENT. “We saw murals of all kinds; some pop-art, some
graffiti, and one perplexing visual illusion on a staircase.” Photo by Josh March.
some pop-art, some graffiti, and one perplexing visual illusion on a staircase. Our
journey, however, came to a close when
a familiar font from a galaxy far far away
caught my eye.
“There it is! Toy Wars!”
We approached a large room full of
vivid colors and the sound of people enjoying themselves. By the entrance was a
poster, about four feet tall, displaying the
name of the gallery and all the artists who
had contributed. This gallery was amazing. It contained all different art pieces,
drawing inspiration from different aspects
of the series, expressed through different
mediums.
There were paintings of Darth Vader
and Yoda hung behind a statue of the
Millennium Falcon. There were pencil drawings of ewoks displayed above
ceramic storm trooper helmets glazed in
the style of Dia de los Muertos skulls.
Along with all of the truly awesome art
were the other people within the gallery.
They all had the same look of awe that
my girlfriend and I had as we observed
all the same pieces of art; a look that you
get when something that you could only
imagine in your head has somehow made
its way onto a canvas or sheet of paper
or clay.
There was an atmosphere of overall
satisfaction and real excitement. I was
even compelled to strike up a conversation with a man dressed as an X-Wing
Fighter Pilot about the new addition to
the series (Episode VII: The Force Awakens). It was a spectacular gallery and my
favorite in the Murphy Art Center.
We left through the exit hallway of the
archaic building back into the cold. I decided that before we left we needed some
coffee to warm up, so we walked a block
east and conveniently found a coffee/
gelato shop that doubled as a boutique
for jewelry, vinyl records, and local art.
The place was magnificent; but what drew
us to Funkyard were the sounds of live
music that rang through the door.
As we waited on our barista to finish
our drinks and listened to acoustic covers
of Nirvana and Jason Mraz, we perused
through the vinyl records and found
some classic albums like Pink Floyd’s
The Dark Side of the Moon and Frank
Sinatra’s Nice and Easy. When our drinks
were finished and we sat to enjoy them
I couldn’t help but smile as I sipped my
piping hot coffee. “I can’t wait to do this
again.” I said, and I meant it.
First Friday at Fountain Square was
an experience I plan to have many times
again. If you aren’t busy on New Year’s
Day, I would urge you to make your way
to Fountain Square to enjoy all that First
Friday has to offer.
Thank Saturn for Christmas
The origin of your favorite time of year
‘Tis the season to be jolly. ‘Tis the
season to be merry. ‘Tis the season to set
aside differences and exchange gifts and
enjoy karaoke at various potlucks. ‘Tis
the season to protest sitting at the kid’s
table at the family dinner-- again.
And, as of recently, ‘tis the season to
wage the “War on Christmas” by raging
over a red cup and other forms of the
generalized and widespread celebration
of the most sacred of Christian holidays.
Proclaiming “Keep ‘Christ’ in
‘Christmas,’” these warriors are too
busy seeing red and green to realize that
this festival originally belonged to the
Romans as a week full of public drunkenness, gambling, and ceremonial rituals
to the pagan gods.
The point of the following article is
not to disprove Christianity or offend
those affiliated with it. This is solely
meant to refute those who proclaim that
only Christians are allowed to celebrate
Christmas, all Christmas Trees are
required to bear Christian symbols, and
that Santa is a distraction from the “true
meaning of Christmas”.
Saturnalia took place December
17-25 and was a time to eat, drink, and
be merry, if merry means drunk, naked,
and breaking every law in place prior
to the festival. This celebration was
created in honor of the deity of time,
wealth, agriculture and other concepts
See TAKING CHRIST on page three
ALLYSON BURNS
Plugged In Features Reporter
3
Features
What’s in a radio station?
The perfect music destination... according to me
I can’t be the only person that’s unsatisfied with the majority of radio stations
I tune in to. In fact, I know I’m not. Any
time I’m in the car with someone, they’re
constantly flipping stations and opting
to plug their own device in to listen to
music, podcasts, etc..
I don’t listen to regular FM stations
really at all anymore and for a very simple
reason. None of them, at least the ones
available to me on a daily basis, are
consistently enjoyable. The Bloomington
station, 92.3 WTTS, World Class Rock,
is about as consistent as it gets for good
music that I prefer to listen to, and even
then after about three songs it’s time to
plug my iPod in.
Alternatives to standard radio such as
Pandora and Spotify are nice if you’ve
paid for a premium version or until you
run out of skips. When this happens,
you’re back to the same problem you
have with normal AM/FM stations. And
as touched on above, you can just plain
forget about being consistently happy
with them.
Having the “if you don’t like it, do
something about it” mindset that I do, I
decided to concoct the perfect radio station. Let me rephrase that… my perfect
radio station. Each element of the station
has been placed carefully and with much
thought put into what it it
would do to contribute to
the overall quality of the
station. It is designed to
be much like a specialized
Sirius radio station.
While the station is
meant to be quite diverse
and enjoyable for most
people that would tune
in, I would say that the
larger part of the station is
dedicated to my personal
favorite genre of music,
Classic Rock.
First impressions are
very important to me.
With this being the case, I
figured that it would only be right to
start off my station with ten songs
that are particularly important to me
and that give the listener a very basic
idea of what they can expect from
the station. These ten songs are: 1.
All My Loving (The Beatles) 2. As
Long as I’m Singing (Bobby Darin)
3. Mad Sounds (Arctic Monkeys) 4.
Your Love (The Outfield) 5. Midnight, The Stars, and You (Al Bowlly)
6. The Monkees Theme Song (The
Monkees) 7. What a Feeling (One
Direction) 8. Let Me Roll It (Wings)
9. If I can Dream (Elvis Presley)
10. Livin’ Thing (ELO) All of these
songs are personal favorites of mine. I
chose All My Loving to go first because
when I discovered The Beatles, that was
my favorite song and it will always hold
a special place in my heart. I chose Livin’
Thing to go last because it’s simply an
awesome song and I think ELO is pretty
underrated.
To accompany the music in my station, there will be a historical element in
some way or another to not only educate
people on the people behind the songs
and potentially get someone into an artist
or particular song that they weren’t into
before. This can include anything from
small fun facts here and there, radio ads/
shows/interviews with various artists,
and actual live interviews with the artist
ABBY THOMAS •
Plugged In Reporter
themselves.
Like most people, I am more partial
to some groups and artists than others.
To pay special tribute to these people and
their musical masterpieces, there will be
certain days, times of day, and occasions
where the spotlight is on them. Birthdays
of artists and important historical release
dates are just a few examples of when
these spotlights would take place.
Keep in mind that this radio station is
a very idealistic thing, and whether it ever
materializes is for the future to decide. If
the opportunity is ever presented to me,
I would heavily consider it. Until then, I
encourage others to explore other genres,
artists, and eras of music. You may be
surprised at what you find.
Taking Christ out of Saturnalia
Is Christmas based on Roman ritual?
continued from page two
A poster containing the victims photographs sits among notes and flowers at the growing makeshift
memorial near the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, Calif., on Saturday, Dec. 12, 2015.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times/TNS)
Plugged In
Staff: Pam Albrecht, Joanna Berry, Allyson Burns, Josh March,
Tony Ray, Abby Thomas.
Adviser: Derek Doehrmann
Printer: JS Printing and Publishing
Some materials provided courtesy of ASNE/MCT Campus.
Saturn -- hence the name “Saturnalia”. During this time, all Roman courts were closed
and laws against gambling were discarded. The most well known tradition was role
reversal, where rich landlords would pay the poor’s rent the upcoming period and
servants were provided with table service from the masters for a day. Other festivities
included going door to door singing naked -- which eventually led to the modern act
of carolling, exchanging of gifts, parties and family gatherings, and decorating homes
using greenery and decorating trees, though they were decorated and left outdoors.
Many sources suggest that Jesus Christ was actually born sometime in mid-summer,
rather than on December 25. Early Christians, in an attempt to persuade Roman Pagans
to convert to Christianity, adapted Saturnalia and called it “Christmas”. They did away
with a variety of the original festivities, primarily the rituals and sacrifices to pagan
gods. Instead, Christians taught the birth of Jesus Christ. In fact, the recollections of
Reverend Increase Mather of Boston in 1687: “the early Christians who first observed
the Nativity on December 25 did not do so thinking that Christ was born in that
Month, but because the Heathens’ Saturnalia was at that time kept in Rome, and they
were willing to have those Pagan Holidays metamorphosed into Christian ones.”
Considering that Christmas is simply an adaptation of someone else’s holiday, who’s
to say those aren’t affiliated with Christianity or religion in general shouldn’t celebrate
it? A study held by the Pew Research Center in 2013 showed that 8-in-10 non-Christians claimed they celebrate Christmas. Could it be that humans just naturally respond
to the dark and cold season with colorful lights and being nice to one another without
asking for anything in return?
In an informal survey of twelve students at Speedway, a majority responded that
family is the meaning of Christmas when asked. So this year, instead of shutting out
what you don’t agree with, practice peace on earth and good will toward men (or
people in general)-- just for a little bit.
4
Features
End of semester new teacher survey
An opportunity to learn more about some of our new additions
ANTHONY RAY
Plugged In Columnist
There are lots of new
faces that have joined
the Speedway faculty and
staff since August. The
Plugged In team thought it
might be fun to see what
they are thinking about as
we approach the holiday
break.
Elizabeth Dennie
Spanish Teacher
What drew you to pursue
a career in teaching?
“I wanted to understand more about teaching as an
art, and better understand the political structure of
educational policy and how it influences students,
teachers, classes, schools, etc.”
Shelby Hasz
Science Teacher
What drew you to pursue
a career in teaching?
“I had a rotation at Ben Davis during
my athletic training program. Working
with the students in their program made
me realize I wanted to teach.”
Robert Garcia
Science Teacher
Have you always wanted to
be a teacher? If not, what did
you originally want to be?
I wanted to be a paleontologist.
Jasmine Johnson
English Teacher
What’s something most people
don’t know about you?
I lived in seven different states.
Craig Fugate
Business Teacher
Any advice for the seniors
who will be graduating?
“Enjoy your last few months. Also,
remember the choices you make from
this point forward, they will have a more
significant and lasting impact on the rest
of your life than before because you are
finally going to be viewed as adults.”
A fitting finale to a successful series
Katniss’s heroic tale concludes with a realistic feel
continued from page one
1, which indeed has the dark, gray-blue uniformity and
coldness that critics had complained about, I was expecting the same mood to carry into the final installment. It
did indeed carry over, but in my opinion it was appropriate for the setting and mood of the final book, which
is basically describing the uprising caused by the rebels,
led by Katniss, their “Mockingjay”. There’s no way to
positively portray the death of beloved characters like
Finnick Odair and Primrose Everdeen, let alone positively portray a rebellion.
Before Catching Fire’s theatrical release, which
was during my eighth grade year, I was extremely disappointed with the Mockingjay book, as were what seemed
a majority of the people who read it also. Of course, this
goes for any book, film or TV show - the conclusion has
to tie up all the loose ends, resolve all issues, and create
a satisfying climax that leaves readers content. This was
not the case with Mockingjay. With the first two books’
explosive successes and my personal approval of both
books, I was eager to read about what would happen in
the last novel.
Instead of the strong-willed, level-headed
Katniss so well known in the first two books, Mockingjay
created a stranger out of the heroine - an overly moody
and rash young woman who seems to simply glower at
the entire world. Not to say she didn’t do that before;
Katniss was a heavy criticizer of the Capitol throughout
the entire saga.
Also an important thing to take into account
when judging Mockingjay, novel or film: it’s a war book.
The entire story takes place during the rebellion in
fictional Panem, and it undoubtedly took a toll on every
single character involved, Katniss especially. This may
even have been author Suzanne Collins’ purpose: to
destroy Katniss emotionally in the finale. It does indeed
make the story reliable and thought-provoking; you can’t
just stay the exact same person you were a year ago after
surviving the horror and pain that Katniss does. Even
personal happiness for her is a difficulty: “... it took five,
ten, fifteen years for me to agree” on the subject of hav-
ing children with Peeta, who it is revealed is her husband
in the epilogue. Instead of a fluffy, sparkly, unrealistic
ending, Katniss is fear-struck, even traumatized, forever.
While it’s a very sad ending, it’s something those of us
who read, or watched it, could empathize with.
Despite public and critic ratings and reviews (including
mine), anyone who is a fan of The Hunger Games series
should disregard those opinions and see it, for closure if
nothing else. It’s helpful if you’ve read the book - as is
the case for any other book to film adaptation - because
the film may seem choppy and confusing to those who
opted for the films alone. Like Harry Potter, we are saying goodbye to another fantastic series, raising our hands
in that three-finger salute made so famous by Katniss,
but there are other books to read and other movies to
see. So, in classic Hunger Games fashion, “may the odds
be ever in your favor!”
Krampus is a Nightmare
continued from page one
behaving properly around St. Nicholas Day. Krampus
was created by Nor mythology in the alps region of
Germany and Austria to scare children into acting right
throughout the entire year. The name Krampus comes
from the Old High German word krampen which
translates to “claw”. According to the old Norse legend,
Krampus is the son of the goddess of the underworld,
Hel, sent to scare the children of the world. The story
originated between the 11th and 13th centuries in
Southern Germany and Austria, before moving to the
other European countries such as Switzerland, Hungary,
and even the Alps of Italy.
The tradition of Krampus is to ride shotgun with
Santa to each child’s house the night before St. Nicholas
Day (December 6th) to terrorize the children on the
naughty list. Since Krampus goes with St. Nicholas on
the eve of St. Nicholas Day, the fifth of December was
named Krampusnacht which translates to Krampus
Night. On Krampusnacht, Krampus runs around towns
and frighten the children of the town. The naughty kids
on Santa’s list are punished with his birch switches and
pitchfork.
With the release of the new movie, there has been
a larger interest in the mythological creature. In the
previous Christmas seasons, there has been a sudden
infatuation with the creature. The sudden interest in the
demonic Santa is because a lot of teenagers and young
adults are tired of the childlike hue around the holiday
season, and many people want to go back to traditional
rituals and stories. Although Krampus originated from
Germany and Austria, Americans are really into the
concept of the Christmas Devil. In San Francisco and in
Portland, there are the Krampusnacht celebrations across
the cities says the event calendar on the official Krampus
website (http://www.krampus.com/krampusnachtevents.php)
After viewing the movie on it’s release date, I can
assure you it was a well developed film. I must say, I am
a little disappointed that it didn’t scare me as much as I
anticipated; I have to say I laughed the whole film. The
concept of the movie was well developed, and the design
of the monster itself was just great (although it’s not the
description that is widely known). I also have to compliment the writers to incorporate the stories of the elves in
the mythology, and the ideas of demented toys helping
him around. The character development of the main
character, Max, and his Omi is just simply well done. I
have to give it to the producers; this movie was funny,
interesting, and intense.
As a form of “protest” to the superficial Christmas
and Santa, you can now get into the thought of a goatdemon hybrid coming and getting the naughty children
of the world. The good-cop/ bad-cop scenario with
Santa may not be too terrible of an idea, but I can assure
you that if kids were accustomed to Krampus, there
would be no shouting or crying.