Lawrence Virtual Secondary Program
School Newspaper
Issue #7 Volume #1
March 2007
Student Piercings Reflect Self, Society
by Kaylie Price, Lawrence, KS
Body piercing has been around for centuries. There is something that lures people to place holes
in their body to put metal rings through the skin. Whether it is to find themselves or if it is for some deep
ritualistic meaning, piercing has become more and more popular.
Piercing in other cultures has been evident for some time. Piercing body body parts in western
culture, however, started around 1960 with ear piercing. Ear piercing is the oldest body modification
known to man. It was popular among women duringthe 1960’s. After that, men adopted the procedure,
but it wasn’t accepted as much as with women. Men with piercings were thought of as ‘hippies’. In the
1980s piercing started to travel to other body parts. It was still looked at as taboo, and was associated
with the punk culture that had begun to form.
Now piercing is not as foreign as it formerly was. Many people have piercings in many different
places. As piercing has increased, so has the population’s varying opinion. Opinions vary from person
to person.
When asked about piercing, Lawrence High School senior Lydia Shontz said, “I think that it
helps people be in control of how their peers see them. It adds to personal style. It is also a personal
release. For me it has helped me deal with and process emotional pain and loss.” Others view piercing
as disgusting and animalistic.
Some take the phrase
“modern primitive” to heart.
America has also taken
piercing to many levels. It
seems like some piercings
come and go in phases. Right
now a very popular piercing is
the Monroe. This piercing is
a tiny metal or jeweled stud
above your lip and a little to
the side. Usually it is where a
beauty mark will be. Another
modification popular at the
time is called gauging.
Though gauging has
been around for centuries,
young adults are just making
it popular by gradually
increasing the size of the
holes in their earlobes.
LHS senior Lydia Schontz gets a lip piercing. Photo by Kalie Price.
Despite what people
think about piercing, its
popularity
is
definitely
growing. We can only what to see what will be popular next.
Culture of America
Hip Hop Is Dead: An Opinion
by Shiloh Crews, Lawrence, KS
Music in the hip hop industry today is
beginning to all sound the same. You can find snap
music in the back beat of nearly every song.
Paul Wall, and Nelly are rapping about their
grills, D4L, Dem’ Franchise Boyz, and Lil’ Jon
are all rapping about snapping your fingers. We
even have a song about Chicken Noodle Soup.
Somebody coming out with something original has
become scarce. The hip hop industry needs to
come out with something new and push the artists
to be more creative.
Next, we have R&B recording artists
Cassie, Ciara, Jojo who are all singing about how
the boys want them, but they will only choose
“you”. Although all these songs are catchy, they
are lacking in originality. I’m not the only one who
see’s the resemblance in the music on the radio
today; rappers Nas, and 50 Cent have said in their
own songs how the music today is “Bubblegum.”
Not only are the lyrics to the songs sketchy,
but some are filled with nothing but one person
wanting to kill another person, or how they have
been shot or have already shot someone else.
Being in a club sipping on any variety of liquor has
become a popular topic too. Finding something
new on the radio that doesn’t sound like everything
else has become task that is sometimes impossible
to finish.
In my opinion the industry is only sticking
with what works. I don’t think that it is necessarily
the artist’s doing. What is being put on an artist’s
record or released as their singles aren’t always
their choices to make. New lyrics would be
something like a present. The song writers need to
think up something new and original. If they were
to come out with something different, it would be
refreshing.
I don’t listen to Hip hop and R&B as much
as I used to because of the lack of originality, and
that is something that needs to be put back into
the Hip hop music on the radio. As rapper Nas
said “Hip Hop is dead.”
Shown below are two examples of the many references to hip hop on the internet.
Highlights From a Timeline of
Hip Hop
In the mid 1920’s
Earl Tucker (“Snake Hips”) was a performer at the Cotton Club during the
days of Duke Ellington. His style of
dance is defintly related that of waving that you see young Hip Hop dancers still doing today. and he also had
similar floats and back slides that he
used in his act as well.
1962
JAMES BROWN RECORDS THE “LIVE AT THE
APOLLO (LP)” THAT FEATURES A DRUMMER
NAMED CLAYTON FILLYAU. CLAYTON’S
DRUM SOUND ON THIS RECORD INFLUENCED
THE NEW DRUM SOUND KNOWN TODAY BY
HIP HOPERS AS THE “BREAK BEAT”.
1968
AROUND THIS TIME A BROTHER BY THE
NAME OF RUBBER BAND ALONG WITH ANOTHER BROTHER BY THE NAME OF APACHE,
BOTH FROM BROOKLYN, TOOK A POPULAR NEW YORK CITY GANG DANCE AND
BROUGHT IT TO THE NEW YORK CITY DISCOS
AND THUS WERE BORN THE DANCES WE
KNOW TODAY AS “UPROCKIN” AND “ROCKIN”, AND BECAUSE OF HOW BROOKLYNITES
WOULD MASTER THIS DANCE, WE WOULD
LATER CALL IT “THE BROOKLYN ROCK”
1977
THE CREATION OF THE ROCK STEADY CREW
Written by Joe-Joe, The Original B.Boy,
Rock Steady Crew ‘77
2002
Legendary hip-hop DJ Jam Master Jay
of Run-DMC was shot and killed in a
Queens studio on Wednesday (October
30)
All Timeline information from
http://www.mrwiggles.biz/hip_hop_
timeline.htm
Copy on the link above for more
history about hip hop.
Culture of America
April 2007 is...
April Is A Busy Month
MONTH
Alcohol Awareness Month
Cancer Control Month
Celebrate Diversity Month
Child Abuse Prevention Month
Grange Month
Injury Prevention Month
International Daffynitions Month
International Work Life Enrichment Month
Jazz Appreciation Month
Mathematics Awareness Month
Month of the Young Child
National Autism Awareness Month
National Child Abuse Prevention Month
National DNS, Genomics & Stem Cell Education
& Awareness Month
National Donate Life Month
National Kite Month (4/1-5/4)
National Parkinson’s Awareness Month
National Pet First Aid Awareness Month
National Poetry Month
National Sexual Assault Awareness Month
National Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs)
Ed. & Awareness Month
National Youth Sports Safety Month
Pharmacists War on Diabetes
Physical Wellness Month
Prevention of Animal Cruelty Month
School Library Media Month
WEEK
Tour de CURE of American Diabetes Association
(4/1-6/30)
Medication Safety Week (4/1-4/7)
National Blue Ribbon Week (4/1-4/7)
National Week of the Ocean (4/1-4/7)
National Public Health Week (4/1-4/7)
Horse Racing Awareness Week (4/2-4/7)
Explore Your Career Options Week (4/9-4/14)
National Networking Week (4/9-4/15)
National Animal Control Appreciation Week (4/94/13)
Animal Cruelty/Human Violence Awareness
Week (4/16-4/21)
Consumer Awareness Week (4/16-4/20)
Egg Salad Week (4/16-4/20)
Heritage Week (4/16-4/21)
National Coin Week (4/15-4/21)
National Inspiration News Week (4/16-4/22)
National Library Week (4/15-4/21)
National Volunteer Week (4/15-4/21)
Young People’s Poetry Week (4/16-4/22)
Income Tax Pay Day (4/16)
International Moment of Laughter Day (4/16)
Ellis Island Family History Day (4/17)
National Library Workers Day (4/17)
National Stress Awareness Day (4/17)
Syrian Arab Republic: Independence Day (4/17)
Support Young Adult Literature Day (4/18)
National & Global Youth Service Days (4/20-4/22)
DAY
Palm Sunday (4/1)
April Fool’s Day (4/1)
Passover (begins at sundown) (4/2)
International Children’s Book Day (4/2)
Reconciliation Day (4/2)
Passover (4/3-4/10)
National Alcohol Screening Day (4/4)
Paraprofessional Appreciation Day (4/4)
School LIbrarian Day (4/4)
Senegal: Independence Day (4/4)
Victims of Violence Holy Day (4/4)
Holy Thursday (4/5)
National Fun at Work Day (4/5)
Good Friday (4/6)
Thailand: Chakri Day (4/6)
Easter Sunday (4/8)
National Former Prisoner of War Day (4/9)
Iraq: National Day: Anniversary of Saddam
Hussein’s Fall From Power--2003
(4/9)
Philippines: Araw Ng Kagatingan (4/9)
Tunisia: Martyrs’ Day (4/9)
Commodore Perry Day (4/10)
National Siblings Day (4/10)
Salvation Army Founder’s Day (4/10)
National D.A.R.E. Day (4/11)
Uganda Liberation Day (4/11)
Poetry & the Creative Mind--Kick Off of National
Poetry Month (4/11)
National Licorice Day (4/12)
Friday the Thirteenth (4/13)
International Plan Appreciation Day (4/13)
India: Baisakhi (4/13)
Singapore: Songkran Festival (4/13)
Sri Lanka: Sinhala and Tamil New Year (4/13)
Administrative Professionals Week (4/22-4/28)
National Wildlife Week (4/21-4/29)
National Playground Safety Week (4/23-4/27)
TV Turnoff Week (4/23-4/29)
Week of the Young Child (4/22-4/28)
Earth Day (4/22)
Israeli Independence Day (4/23)
Turkey: National Sovereignty Day & Children’s
Day (4/23)
UN World Book and Copyright Day (4/23)
continued on page 7
Editorial
Zoos Are Not Where Animals Should Be
by Ashley Perdue, Lawrence, KS
Do you believe in keeping wild animals behind glass all day everyday? I mean you wouldn’t
want to be captured and put on display for people to glare at you. That wouldn’t be much fun! It is fun
to go through the zoo and see all sorts of animals that come from all around the world, but have you
noticed that some, especially bigger ones like gorillas, seem lonely or depressed sitting in a small
cage?
Over spring break I took my little brother to the henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska. This is
an exiting zoo with thousands of different creatures; they even had penguins and sharks. While I was
there, I thought about all these animals that were taken from their homes and became zoo property!
I don’t think that it is always right to hold them in captivity; I am going to tell you about reasons why
they shouldn’t and also discuss the reasons why sometimes it’s okay.
I don’t understand how they could keep a full grown alligator or elephant trapped in a fence
with not much space. These animals are meant to be in the wild and they need much more space to
roam around in then what they are being forced to live in now!
Well, a lot of these wild animals probably will be extinct in just a few years without help!
These animals are actually important to our lives! They help the nature and they keep the food chain
straight. I think it would be okay to take in the animals that are injured, so they can be treated and
have somewhere they won’t be harmed. Still, these animals need free space to roam around in but a
twenty-foot cage isn’t enough!
Now everyone knows that truly there aren’t many elephants or other animals like them
anymore because the forests
are being torn down, leaving
many dead and without
homes. I get confused when
I try to think about if they
should put those animals in
a place together to possibly
re-populate those species or
if they shouldn’t! When these
animals are taken in, they are
fed everyday by humans and
they don’t truly know how to
be completely wild after they
turn them out into the wild. If an
animal wasn’t actually in nature
caring for itself, then when they
are put back into the wild, they
might not survive. But if these animals don’t get together
and re-populate there will be no more of them!
These wild animals can be very aggressive and I’m
pretty sure none of them like it when all these humans are
glaring, yelling, or tapping on their glass. These kinds of
animals don’t need that stress they should be free to do as
they please in their own habitats!
Publicity shots like the one shown left too often yield to
the reality of the cages shown above. The picture above
is not of the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha but is used to
show conditions of some zoos.
Culture
Arsenic and Old Lace Showcases Area
Talent at Winfield High School
by Christy Rude, Winfield, KS
Thursday, March 8, 2007, at 7:30 p.m. the
curtains of WHS opened and presented a humorous
and unforgettable play, one of the best that Winfield
has seen in years. Many people thought that the
play Arsenic and Old Lace was comparable to the
movie with Cary Grant. “I thought it was really close
to the movie…it was really good,” said Taylor Fell
(junior at WHS). The play had numerous talented
performers that kept the audience on their toes
throughout the evening.
One of the many convincing performers
of the play was my personal favorite, Hank Kelly,
playing the part of Dr. Einstein; his German accent
was so consistent and accurate that it seemed
as though this actor had
always talked in such a
way. Other members of
the cast included: Carol
Gardner as Abby Brewster;
Lina Doerenkamp as Mrs.
Harper; Seth McCaslin as
Teddy Brewster; Sommer
Camp as Officer Brophy;
Ann Sanchez as Officer
Klein; Rachel Mangold as
Martha Brewster; Kylie
Groom as Elaine Harper;
Scott Thomas as Mortimer
Brewster; Austin Nickel as
Mr. Gibbs; Luke McCune
as Jonathan Brewster;
Taletha Beckner as Officer
O’Hara; Anna Knackstedt
as Lieutenant Rooney;
and Noah Tasker as Mr.
Witherspoon.
Although all
were astonishingly accurate
and spectacular, many
people think that Scott Thomas put on an incredible
performance with his character Mortimer Brewster
and was one of the best and most enthusiastic
performers of the night. “Scott Thomas really did
a good job…but they were all really convincing,”
said Taryn Miller (sophomore at WHS). But these
performers weren’t the only people making the
spring play such a huge success.
Arsenic and Old Lace was directed by
the head of the theatre department, Amanda
Porter. Others who helped with the making and
presentation of the play are: Lael Porter (Technical
Director and Set Design Crew); Norman Callison
(Set Design Crew); Claire Hunter (Stage Manager
and Sound Technician); J.J. Marafioti (Makeup
Assistant); Caitlin Waits (Light Technician); and
the Advanced Drama Class (Technical Crew).
The cast, the director, and the entire behind the
scenes and backstage people spent endless hours
preparing for the performances and making them
all that they could be by practicing, creating the
sets, getting props and costumes, and preparing
advertisement for the big nights.
The play, Arsenic and Old Lace, was
preformed three different times: Thursday, March
8th at 7:30 P.M.; Friday, March 9th at 7:30 P.M.;
and Sunday, March 11th at
2:30 P.M. There were three
different acts to the play: Act
I- An afternoon in September;
Act II- That same night; Act
II, Scene 1- Later that night
and Act II, Scene 2- Early the
next morning. This exciting
comedy that was originally
written by Joseph Kesselring
starts out as any other ordinary
comedy would: with perfect
and flawless characters that
seem to be having an ordinary
non-problematic life.
But not too far into
the first act, Mortimer, a local
theatre critic, discovers a
body in the pew of a bench
inside the house and he starts
to panic. He soon learns from
his aunts that it was their
doing and that there were also
eleven others buried down in
the cellar. Mortimer has just
asked Elaine Harper to be his bride, but with all
of these secrets letting loose, he doesn’t know if
he’ll be able to keep his head straight, let alone get
married. More mischief shows up along the way
when Mortimer’s horrible and deformed lost long
brother shows up, not to mention his crazy brother
who thinks he’s Teddy Roosevelt. Will Mortimer
be next? After all he’s the only one in his family
who isn’t completely insane. In this hilarious and
thrilling play, you’ll discover how Mortimer works
everything out and ends up happy and engaged.
Holiday History
Historical St. Patrick Not Much Like Myths
by Chloe Jones, Baldwin, Kansas
In the United States, we celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day by wearing green. Many people regardless
of their ethnic background wear green colored clothing and accessories. If you aren’t wearing green,
you will probably get pinched!
There some places that hold parades such as the New York parade, which has become the
largest Saint Patrick’s Day parade in the world, outside Ireland. In 2006, more than 150,000 marchers
participated in it and close to 2 million people
lined the streets. Some cities get really
involved in the holiday and paint the traffic
stripe of their parade routes green. Chicago
dyes its river green, and Savannah dyes its
downtown city fountains green!
But why do we celebrate this day?
Saint Patrick was a Christian missionary,
the Apostle of Ireland. He was one of the
most successful missionaries in history. At
the age of sixteen, Patrick was enslaved by
Irish raiders who were attacking his family’s
land. He was forced to work as a herder on
the slopes of Slemish and after six hard years
of working, he finally escaped.
He soon became
a patron saint of Ireland
but much of his life still
remains
a
mystery.
According to his writings,
a voice, in which he
believes to be God,
spoke to him in a dream
telling him to leave
Ireland. Patrick walked
about 200 miles and
escaped to Britain.
However, he soon
had another dream which
told him to go back to
Ireland as a missionary.
Patrick began religious
training that lasted about
fifteen years.
After
becoming a priest, he
soon began teaching
Christianity to Ireland.
The Irish culture is very
involved with traditional
oral legends and myths,
so
he
incorporated
traditional Irish rituals into his lessons of Christianity. For
example, he used bonfires to celebrate Easter since the
Irish were used to honoring their gods with fire.
March 17th became known as Saint Patrick’s Day and
is believed to be his death date. This day is celebrated as his
feast day and became a feast day to the universal church as
well. Saint Patrick was never formally canonized by a Pope,
but he is still widely respected in all parts of the world.
The Last Page...........................
April............
continued from page 3
Martin Waldseemuller Remembrance Day (4/25)
Anzac Day (4/25)
Italy: Liberation Day (4/25)
Egypt: Sinai Day (4/25)
Portugal’s Day (4/25)
Take Our Daughters & Sons to Work Day (4/26)
National Arbor Day & Arbor Day Festival (4/274/29)
Sweden: Feast of Valborg (4/30)
Italy: Feast of San Pelegrino (4/30)
Vietnam Liberation Day: End of Vietnam War
1975 (4/30)
Walpurgis Night (4/30)
Attending Prom?
Anyone out there attending a prom?
Send us your pictures!
Let’s see what your life is like outside of LVSP!
Email your picts to
[email protected] .
Staff
Shiloh Crews
Christy Rude
Ashley Perdue
Josh Vineyard
Kaylie Price
Sponsor- Charles Goolsby
This newspaper reflects only the view of its staff and does not speak for the LPS School Board
or LVSP administration. Students choose the subject matter and provide the copy and the graphics for their stories. This paper is published on a monthly basis.
Letters to the editor may be sent to Mr. Goolsby, c/o [email protected].
Lawrence Virtual Secondary Program is a part of the Lawrence Public Schools,
Lawrence, Kansas.