February 17, 2016
Volume V Issue XII
The Tomahawk
Rich in News from Richfield Springs, NY
Warning Signs to
Look For
A Hearty and Harrowing History
During
Every February 14, millions of
by Gabriella Hudziak
by Carson Hula
a time where loving
relationships are celebrated, it
may be hard for some to consider that not all relationships
are loving. Unhealthy relationships do happen, and it’s
important to be able to recognize when you, or someone
you know, is in one. It is also
important to remember that
anyone can be the victim of an
abusive relationship; it’s not always a matter of a boy hitting
his girlfriend, although that
does happen.
In abusive relationships, victims can often experience physical and sexual abuse. Physical
abuse is when your partner hits,
grabs, kicks, or does anything
to physically harm you. Some
abusers may actually apologize for it and convince their
partners it won’t happen again.
Sexual abuse occurs when one
partner pressures the other into
sexual acts that they may not
want or be ready for. They can
rely on manipulation such as “if
you loved me, you would…” in
order to coerce a partner into
the desired acts. Depending
on the case, either, or both, can
occur repeatedly throughout the
relationship.
Along with the classic physical
abuse, which is what most people think of when they hear of
abusive relationships, there is
emotional abuse. This is common in abusive relationships
and can manifest itself in various ways.
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Image Courtesy of: http://highdesertblogging.com/
Ask Richie Springer: Relationship
Advice for All Types
Ever need love advice to woo the date of your dreams? Or to catch
the eye of a certain someone that happens to be in your science
class? Look no further! This is Richie Springer, coming at y’all
with the perfect love advice for the lovey-dovey season. Buckle up, buttercup, as we give advice to the lost lovers at Richfield
Springs!
ASK 1: Dear Richie, from a heartsick seventh grader. Hi, Richie!
I sit next to this cutie in Spanish class. I don’t know how to get
her to notice me! I mean, we see each other every day- since our
classes are all together- but I don’t know how to approach her as
more than a classmate?
Well, asker, I’m going to start off by saying this: find a common
interest. Most relationships start from a place of trust and friendship- keep it small at first until you can find your courage! Greet
her in Spanish class- make your presence known! Be kind and
friendly towards her and see where it goes from there.
ASK 2: Dear Richie, from a concerned boyfriend. Apparently my
girlfriend cheated on me with some guy at ODY. She keeps telling
me that she didn’t, but her friends all tell me she did. I don’t know
whom to trust!
Now this is a doozy. My advice to you, my youngling, is to
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people nationwide give gifts of
food, flowers, cards, and much
more to their sweethearts and
loved ones in celebration of
“Valentine’s Day.” Is this special day just a way for Americans to indulge in their collective sweet tooth, or get all the
signs of affection out of the
way so they can be lazy in love
for the rest of the year? Is it just
a day about celebrating innocent love and romance, or does
Valentine’s Day have a deeper,
more historic meaning?
The origins of Saint Valentine’s Day–the holiday’s full
name–date back to the time of
the Ancient Romans, who had
a pagan festival called “Lupercalia.” That name seems to
allude to a canine or wolf-like
deity–“Lupus” means “wolf” in
Latin–although it was primarily
a celebration of fertility. While
the details are sketchy, records
tell historians that the ancient
pagans would sacrifice a dog
and a goat, have a massive party with lots of wine, and participate in a series of rituals that
would qualify today as extreme
forms of matchmaking. These
included men chasing women
around with the hides of animals they had just sacrificed,
trying to whip them to make
them fertile.
It’s clear today’s celebration of
Valentine’s Day has changed
a lot since people started celebrating it. The holiday picked
up a new name–its current
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Love Advice
- Continued from Page 1 actually talk to her. You need
to be honest and upfront with
her: if her friends are all telling
you that she cheated on you,
you need to talk to her. It’ll be
uncomfortable and awkward,
but y’all need to be honest with
each other. Best-case scenario:
her friends are playing with
you—worst-case scenario: her
friends are being truthful. Stay
open minded and try to find
out the whole story before you
make rash decisions, bud!
executed under the orders of
Emperor Claudius II due to his
crimes of converting and marrying Christian couples sometime in the mid-third century.
The date of his death: February
14. Two hundred years later,
the Catholic Church made that
day the feast day of the new
Saint Valentine, using it to supersede the pagan Lupercalia.
The actual saint’s origins remain extremely mysterious, so
ASK 3: Dear Richie, from
a pining hopeless romantic.
There’s this guy I’ve had a
crush on since Kindergarten.
We’re graduating next year,
and I’m not sure whether or not
to confess? He’s shown no interest in me at all, and I don’t
know if the rejection is worth
it? HELP!
Keeping your feelings bottled
up isn’t good in any situation!
Having a crush can be terrifying, especially if it’s unrequited- but who’s to know if it is
unreturned if you don’t ask?
Confessing to someone will
take that huge weight off your
heart. If he rejects you, you
will hurt for a little bit- but
you will have closure and the
ability to move on. You never
know when someone could fall
for you; maybe confessing will
be the little push he needs! Try
to stay optimistic and do it for
you.
V-Day History
- Continued from Page 1 one–sometime around the fifth
century, also thanks to the Romans. A Roman doctor named
Valentine of Terni (or another
similar name) was tortured and
Handmade paper cards became
the tokens-du-jour in the Middle Ages.” There’s where the
cards come from; the Hallmark
Company started to mass-produce them in 1913. This generosity has extended to jewelry,
candy, flowers, and numerous
other tokens of devotion; Business Insider reported that the
US Census Bureau estimates
Americans would spend $30
billion on gifts for their “Valentines” this year.
While people today can celebrate Valentine’s Day with roses and dates and special gifts,
its history isn’t as romantic as
it seems. That won’t stop millions of Americans from showing their love in 2017, though!
lions of Americans from showing their love in 2017, though!
Stop Abuse
- Continued from Page 1 St. Valentine Image from Chatlic
Online
much so that “in 1969, the Roman Catholic Church removed
St. Valentine from the General
Roman Calendar, because so
little is known about him,” according to Catholic.org. “However, the church still recognizes
him as [the] saint…of affianced
couples, bee keepers, engaged
couples, epilepsy, fainting,
greetings, happy marriages,
love, lovers, plague, travellers,
and young people.” So the day
of love has an interesting origin story-one that’s not exactly
kind to its originator.
History has been kind to Saint
Valentine’s Day, however,
since its inception. According
to Business Insider’s exposé on
the holiday, “As the years went
on, the holiday grew sweeter.
Chaucer and Shakespeare romanticized it in their work, and
it gained popularity throughout
Britain and the rest of Europe.
Many abusers often exhibit
controlling behavior toward
their partners. This can range
from determining whom their
partner is allowed to see, to
what they’re wearing. This
can be disguised as concern
for their partner’s wellbeing,
despite it really
being about control. Concern is
normal for many
relationships,
however, the intense questioning and loss of
your own decision-making is
not.
Isolation is another common
tactic for abusers
for their victims.
Relating to controlling behavior, this is all
about the abuser
preventing their
partner from interacting with
certain people. The abuser could
prevent their partner from seeing their friends or family by
attempting to convince them of
reasons they shouldn’t be around
the person in question. The
abuser, in these cases, may feel
threatened by the people they’re
attempting to steer their partner
away from.
A major red flag concerning
abusive relationships is manipulation. This can be seen through
the controlling and isolating behavior abusers exhibit toward
their victims. Sometimes abusers can threaten harm on themselves, such as cutting or suicide,
in order to manipulate their partner into doing something they
don’t want to. Jealousy can be
used as tactic for manipulation as
well. Jealousy is super common
and can even be healthy in certain situations. However, in the
case of abusive relationships, this
jealousy can become obsessive.
When it reaches that point, it is in
no way healthy and only causes
harm.
If you are in an abusive relationship, you can get help in order to
get out of it. There is the National Domestic Violence Hotline at
1-800-799-7233, which is available to both men and women.
Opinion
We Should All
Love Valentines
by Faith Graml
Every year Valentine’s Day is
celebrated by love and affection between devoted couples.
The day is named after Christian martyr Saint Valentine and
was established in 496 AD. It
is traditionally a day in which
lovers express their love for
each other by presenting flowers, offering tokens of their
affection, and by sending greeting cards. The day first became
associated with romance in the
Middle Ages when the tradition
of courtly love flourished. This
was a age when men chose to
be chivalrous on a daily basis
and didn’t need a holiday as an
excuse to be nice.
Valentines day is a day to celebrate love, it doesn’t matter
if you’re single or not you can
still spread the love between
you’re friends and family. It’s
a day to spend time with the
ones you love, yes that’s usually a significant other in this
case but for the single people
you can celebrate with friends.
Buying chocolate and other
gifts is the usual gift but even if
you do something small it is appreciated by loved ones weather it’s a note or a home made
gift. Valentine’s day is a good
holiday because some people
might not feel loved and this is
the one day that they might feel
special. Girls figure, “Hey, this
is the one holiday where you
can get presents and pampered
for no reason, without having
to do anything in return!” I’ve
heard of series of opinions from
people. “It’s a pointless holiday!” “Ugh, Valentines day; the
stupidest holiday of them all.”
In reality it isn’t a pointless holiday it’s a day to show the one
you love how much you really
care.
We Have a Day
Dedicated
for
Love?
by Taylor VanTassel
Valentines
day is a day for
people to show people that
they actually care about them
and love them. But why do
we need a holiday dedicated to showing people love?
Valentines day is a day where
people get each other flowers,
chocolates, and other small
gifts. This holiday is just an
excuse for people to fix thing
and to show people they care.
We should show people that
we care 365 days a year, there
shouldn’t be a day dedicated to
that. I set out to see if students
of Richfield Springs Central
School thought whether or not
Valentines Day is a pointless
holiday. I had many mixed
answers from both sides, and
I got too see how others feel
about the holiday.
Most of the responses included
people saying that they didn’t
think that the holiday was
pointless. However others did
not feel the same as the others,
Sophomore Jackie Thomson
said, “People need an excuse to
stop arguing and attempt to salvage their crumbling relationships with roses, chocolates, and
dinner at overrated, expensive
restaurants.” Valentines Day is a
holiday so people can fix what
they broke and try to cover what
they did with showering others
with gifts.
Gifts can’t make up for a wrongdoing. How are you supposed to
be able to fix something with
chocolates or flowers? These little gifts and I can fix what you’ve
done. This day is made for what
people should be doing every
day. We should not have a day
dedicated to show people how
much we care about them. It’s
an excuse for people to say how
much they care about people,
that is something they should
do on the daily. When I asked
the students at Richfield Springs
Central School, I got responses
that I knew I was going to get.
Junior Ryan Miller said, “People are needy and feel the need
to be spoiled.” This is an excuse
for people to give gifts that they
were not normally give. And
it is an excuse for people to be
spoiled for no apparent reason.
If you want to show someone
you love that you love them,
don’t do it on Valentine’s Day.
This sort of affection is expected
on Valentine’s Day, no one actually not if you truly love them
or care about them if you’re
giving them something on this
day. This day has so many expectations for it, that so many
people are let down because
others don’t live up to it. True
love should not be shown by a
day or have a day dedicated to
it. Once you know how to show
love on the daily and not have
this excuse for a day to show the
love. We should not half to have
a day dedicated to affection. We
should do it on the daily and if
people can’t, Then that’s their
problem. If someone only shows
luck to you on Valentine’s Day
you should probably not be with
them. It’s just an excuse for people to show you that they care.
Image Courtesy of: shopify.com
Kennadi Butler: Babies bring love
Damen Boss: Because everyone loves
babies.
Bard: Because a grown man in a diaper
shooting you with arrows would be creepy.
Question
of the
Week:
Why Do You Think Cupid is Depicted as a Baby?
Giavonna Tremain: Pure innocence has
pure love.
Nicole Connolly: Because he is cute
Daniel Ward: Babies are cute.
Dave Santiago: Babies are the product of
love.
Taylor VanTassel: Because it’s such a childish holiday.