Class A Headline Writing
Isabelle Swanson
Omaha Marian
Down in the dumps(ter): the ULTA-mate disaster
S
inside it, and that’s all that matters.
oup (n.): the mixture of rainwater and
garbage juices that collect at the bottom of a
Life on the inside of a dumpster is strangely peaceful. A dumpster is like a tiny house,
dumpster.
except that it’s not a house, it’s illegal for you to
Unless you’re a well-versed dumpster divbe inside of and it’s full of week-old garbage.
er, you would be unfamiliar with this term—
When I called ULTA to ask
and up until about two
months ago, I was too.
if dumpster diving was really
illegal, they refused to give a
If you’re a watcher of
comment.
niche YouTube videos
like myself, you will have
You spend a fair amount
of time considering differheard of ULTA dumpster
ent strategies to enter the
diving.
If not, just know that
dumpster. If you’re lucky,
when you jump in, you’ll land
ULTA Beauty throws
on cardboard. If you’re me,
away all of their returned
products—even if those
you’ll land in a mixture of
sun-baked trash and exproducts have never been
Mull-ing it over
tremely cloudy soup.
opened.
with Ellie Mulligan
It only took about two
After that comes the realization. “I’m really in a dumphours of these videos to
ster,” you say to yourself. “This
convince two of my friends
is who I am now. There is genuine, 100 percent
and me to climb inside an ULTA dumpster late
organic garbage water on my body.” Is this rock
that night. I won’t go too far into the details,
bottom?
because I’m truly ashamed of what precisely
The answer is that probably, yes—this is rock
went down, but just a few hours later, I was
Class A - NewsWriting
Isabelle Swanson
Omaha Marian
Young Politician’s Club crusades for new mascot
isabelleswanson
T
he Young Politicians Club is
campaigning to gain support
for changing Marian’s mascot from
the Crusader. On Jan. 27, the club,
lead by president senior Brooke
Huerter, senior Maggie Dowd and
senior Natalie Kemler met with
principal Susie Sullivan to discuss
this possibility.
During their meeting, the club
presented a brief history of the
Crusades. “Our main focus is:
does the Crusader mascot actually
reflect Marian’s values?” Huerter
said. They juxtaposed events in the
Crusades to Marian’s value statements, found on Marian’s website.
This meeting was only the beginning of the crusade to alter the
historic mascot. Although Sullivan
met with the club, many more
people would be involved in this
decision if it were to be made. “I
have to make many decisions with
several other voices involved. I was
able to make the call that [students] can wear white socks… This
is big,” Sullivan said during the
Jan. 27 meeting.
Alumnae, teachers, students,
parents and the Catholic school
community are all constituents
who would have stakes in this
decision. A recent rebranding of
the school included changing the
athletic logo from an image of a
Crusader on a horse to a shield
with a Marian “M” on the front.
The only place the old logo can
be seen in the school is on banners
in the East Gym, on the glass in the
serving line in the cafeteria and on
old Marian apparel.
“We should be promoting acceptance and tolerance, which is
the opposite of what the Crusades
were. We need something that
more accurately represents the
Catholic viewpoint,“ Huerter said
in a Young Politicians meeting on
Jan. 13.
During this meeting, the club
members discussed the issues
they take with the current mascot, including how women are not
commonly positively associated
with the Crusades and how the
Crusades can be seen as a damaging event in history.
“[Crusaders] hurt people
through the process. People were
strongly affected by it. At an
all-girls school, that’s not what
we support anyway. We support
love and accepting people of all
religions,” freshman and Young
Politicians Club member Achay
Kual said.
Another change this club is
promoting is adding more to the
theology curriculum about the
Crusades and the Church’s teachings on them. “It’s important to
know the history before you put
it on a banner,” Dowd said. “We
aren’t expecting a quick change…
This will be a gradual process.”
The student body is split on this
issue, with 48 percent of students
wanting to change the mascot
and 52 percent content with the
current mascot (in a poll of 256 of
students).
Although many students wish to
change the mascot, they do not all
agree on what the mascot should
be. Only 24 students out of the 122
students who support a change
gave a specific suggestion of a
possible new mascot, but the list
of potential mascots ranges from
Mitochondria to Mammoths and
everywhere in between.
Among the students conflicted
about the mascot is the mascot
herself, senior Lauren Novacek.
“I’m not a fan of what [the Crusader] supports. It would be hard to
change, since we’ve branded it for
over 60 years. I think it is a crucial
change for Marian,” Novacek said.
During the meeting on Jan. 27,
Huerter, Dowd and Kemler cited
schools that changed their mascots
from the Crusaders to other mascots, which the most commonly
selected mascot being the lions.
Although the club’s long-term
goal is to potentially change the
mascot to something other than
the Crusader, “Our main goal is
educating people on the reason
behind this [want for] change,”
Kemler said. “I think to make any
change, before you propose new
things, getting the conversation
started is the most important
thing.”
Any students who are interested
in getting involved in Young Politicians Club are invited to an informational meeting (with donuts) in
the West Gym on Wednesday, Feb.
8 at 8 a.m. during late start.
The Network Staff
bottom. But as I slowly began to realize that I
wasn’t finding unopened $30 eyeshadows or
a sold-out shade of liquid lipstick like all the
girls on YouTube, I was getting more and more
disappointed.
I was finding a whole lot of trash, and it was
just about as exciting as opening a present in
front of the Christmas tree and finding that it’s
really just… trash.
Which is to be expected when one is inside
a dumpster, but for whatever reason, I was
shocked and offended.
I guess the moral of my short-lived dumpster
occupancy is that you should always keep your
expectations pretty low.
If I hadn’t expected to find the contents of
my beauty Pinterest board in that dumpster
in perfect condition, I wouldn’t have been so
disappointed when all I found was murky trash
water in my Nikes.
So here’s my advice: keep your expectations low and stay out of dumpsters behind
strip malls, and, you’ll never know such severe
disappointment or know have chunky garbage
fluids in your socks.
managing editors: carmenmiller & isabelleswanson
Opinion (5)
copy editor: kateschwaller
The Network is a monthly publication of the journalism students at Marian High School,
photo editor: amaleapoulos
Nebraska’s only Class A Catholic, North Central Accredited college preparatory school for
graphics editor: sydneymonahan
girls. The Network is a member of N.H.S.P.A. and the N.S.P.A. It is our goal to provide an
online editors: susanapettis & briannawessling
accurate and informative news source for the student community. Opinions expressed on
front page editor: erinwalter
opinion pages do not necessarily represent those of the entire community. Students,
news editors: amaleapoulos & sydneymonahan
faculty, and friends are invited to voice their opinion in Letters to the Editors. All letters
feature editors: emilydoll, susanapettis,
morganhobbs
must be typed, signed, and sent to this address:
amaleapoulos ellierommelfanger & briannawessling
Thegrinch
Network,ofMarian
High School, 7400
Military Ave.,
Omaha, NE
68134Ev’m the
Halloween.
dedicated
to scaring
people.
t’s noopinion
secreteditors:
that I,anahingorani
the self-pro-& laurenmayer
Listen to the facts.
Or emailed
to usunspeakable.
here: [email protected]
There,
I said the
eryone knows someone is going to
indepth
editor:
claimed
Queen
ofelliemulligan
Halloween,
I have a special flame burning
Or call us at 402-571-2618 x 1134
sports editors:
morganhobbs
In five words, I’ve disrespected
try and scare them on Halloween;
am completely
and totally
in love& maddiemingo
for Halloween because, unlike
An electronic version of this paper and exclusive content can be found here:
entertainment editors: emmaherold & nataliekemler
one of America’s
most beloved
what’s the point? I’m [email protected]
with thephoto
bestessay
holiday
known
to
Christmas, you’re not expected to
editor:
alliemorrissey
holidays and Follow
made us
roughly
92@MHSbeat
ly creatively challenged when it
on Twitter
humankind.
be cheerful 24/7. Sometimes I just
social media queen: victoriaackermann
Follow
us onme
Instagram
@MHSpub
percent of you want to
banish
comes
to pumpkin carving (and
marshakalkowski
I liveadviser:
for perfect
pumpkins
want to throw myself a pity party
Friend us on
Snapchat
@MHSpub
into a corn maze or something.
anyone
who
isn’t is obviously
The Network (October 2016)
Boo! Two thumbs down for
Holla-ween:
I
I
Halloween
If I could pick one experience
to sum up how I feel about Halloween, it would probably be the
haunted house trip I took with
some friends in seventh grade.
I decided I was going to try to
act like I wasn’t scared and had
done a pretty good job of it.
Once we stepped outside afterwards, I thought I was in the clear
until a chainsaw roared to life
behind me, and I let out a scream
that rivals the “I Knew You Were
Trouble” goat.
Couple this with the white
mask the man was wearing, and I
was already in a dead Usain Boltlike sprint towards the safety of
my friend’s mom.
My main issue with this holiday
mostly comes from the fact that
Halloween is the most overrated
holiday on the face of this planet.
I’m just as in love with the season of fall as most teenage girls.
However, the minute the clock
strikes 12 a.m on Aug. 1st, my
Twitter timeline is flooded with
anticipation for Halloween, and
these tweets continue to taint the
entire season for me.
I just don’t get having a day
It’s toad-ally eerie-sistible
and spooky skeletons and wicked
born a witch). Most costumes are
witches. My room is decorated
overdone and a waste of money
year-round with the most hip Hal(although there are a few exceploween decorations.
tions to this.) And do not even
My favorite candle scent?
get me started
Witches’ Brew by
on the atrocity
Yankee Candle.
that is candy
There is literally
corn. That is
nothing better than
straight up
Halloween.
crayon wax,
It occurs in the
and I refuse to
most happenin’
believe otherseason (autumn).
wise.
Autumn is
My defihappenin’ because
nition of the
morganhobbs & amaleapoulos
it’s crisp and cool.
word “scary”
Not to name any
has since shifted from grown men
names, but who can actually
chasing me with a chainsaw to
celebrate a holiday when there’s
adults asking me about college
two feet of frozen white semiplans. I’m not “anti-festive” -- talk
ice (from the devil) covering the
to me around the 4th of July and
ground?
you’ll see that is anything but the
It also has the cutest decoracase. It’s not that I “don’t know
tions. Forgive me, but who cares
how to have fun”. I don’t think
about red and green, pastels, or
I’m “too cool” for Halloween. I
red, pink and white?
just know an obnoxiously overratBlack, orange, purple and someed holiday when I see one.
times green? Heck yes. According
So on Oct. 31, catch me sticking
to a scientific study I just made
to my usual routine and
up, colors typically affiliated with
pretending to hand out candy at
Halloween are way cuter than any
home while I eat every last Twix
other colors. I mean come on, it’s
in the bowl.
scientifically proven!
and not be called a humbug.
I also consider Christmas to be
the general worst because it takes
up an entire month and a half (and
sometimes more!).
This is super hypocritical because I expect everyone to celebrate Halloween year round but
because no one listens to me, we
can pretend like I’m not trying
to make everyone spooky for 365
days a year.
For any haters out there, I am
on my knees begging you to give
Halloween one more chance.
Take a single night to watch
“Halloweentown,” “Hocus Pocus”
or “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and allow the spookiness to
seep into your soul. If you’re not
into classic films, watch “Beetlejuice” or “Practical Magic.”
Try baking some ghost-shaped
cookies with your friends. Make
DIY pumpkin pillows! The possibilities are endless. I know Halloween can make anyone happy.
I’ve accepted my role as Baby
Grinch for the months following
my beloved Halloween. Until
then, I’ll continue daydreaming of
ghouls and witches until I, myself,
am a spooky skeleton.
Hey guys, it’s not that deep in the journey of self-discovery
t’s not that deep.”
‘it’s not that deep’, and move on.
are deeper than they are, but at some point, you