The Student Newspaper of Plainfield High School

Transcription

The Panther Advocate
The Student Newspaper of Plainfield High School
— Issue Three— December 2007
I Feel Like A Woman
Special points of interest:
•
Teacher Interviews!
•
Political Commentary
•
Redundancy!
•
One-Act Plays
•
Howie!
•
Mr. Murray
•
Racism in Plainfield
•
PHS Dance Team!
•
Smoking in School
Shower drains were clogging up as the long leg hairs were being removed by the pink Venus razors;
and that was only the beginning. This year, senior boys took on the most challenging task of their lives - becoming better than ever Varsity Cheerleaders in just five days! When walking into the gym on that first night
the boys were most certainly unprepared for what was in store for them. They were going to sweat. Calories
were going to burn. Voices were going to be lost. This wasn’t a fun halftime show for the Pep Rally; this was
a hard-core, five day boot camp. It all went down on November 13, 2007.
Day One consisted of gathering the essence of stunting. With only four boys to start with, positions
were easily assigned. Steve Martin quickly captured the idea of having to “pinch a penny in your butt” when
up in the air, while Kyle Sabourin realized the importance of always catching your flyer as they come down.
Unfortunately, Justin Deloge and Sam Perez didn’t have beginner’s luck. It took them a while but they finally
grasped the concept of lifting. With great success, Steve was not only able to be lifted off the ground with
grace, but also come down with even more poise.
Inside this issue:
Interviews
by Heather Fountaine
5-14
Mr. Murray!
Mr. Murray!
10
Senior Spotlight:
Caitlyn McWilliams
13
Poll Results
15
TPA Sounds Off
16-17
Nation news/political
commentary
20-24
Thanksgiving Pep Rally
Coverage
25-27
Entertainment:
Music and Movies
29-33
Christmas Facts
38+39
Then came Day Two. The boys took some time to learn their cheer and most, like Deloge, got it
down pretty fast. After the cheer, the boys went back to working on their stunts, trying their hardest to perfect the basket toss. Unfortunately, perfection was not accomplished. Deloge, Perez and Kevin Wells all
suffered the consequence of ten pushups when dropping Martin on his bottom. Sabourin and Corey Carlsen
continued to tumble all through practice, mastering their “cartwheels”. Carlsen then took the initiative and
helped teach the Soulja Boy dance to his fellow cheerleaders. It was easily mastered. Although breaking a
sweat, the last two minutes of practice was definitely worth it. Not only were the boys required to have the
proper hand-eye coordination or memorization skills when learning a dance and a cheer. The boys had to look
the part as well, yes, this meant they had to put on the skirt of a cheerleader. While looking through the tub
of uniforms, Carlsen and Perez found some bodysuits to go under the vest. Carlsen, thinking he was jacked
because of his ability to fit into it wore it with pride. However, Perez, who was truly too muscular for the
liner, needed help to zip it up. By 8:15 PM, all the boys were suited up and finally starting to look like Varsity
Cheerleaders.
Day Three came with great anticipation. Time was running out. With two boys missing, the remaining four boys had a lot to work on. Wells, Deloge, Martin and Sabourin warmed up as they did before
every practice and went straight to running the routine. The entrance now contained music and the dance was
perfected after being re-taught. Deciding to add more stunts to the dance, the guys decided to do “sailor
swings” during the first verse of the song along with some cartwheels and improvisational dancing. The boys
then worked out the kinks with the cheer sadly dropping Martin again in the process. That’s ten more pushups. After all was settled, they then performed the routine over...and over…and over…and over again fortunately having water breaks after every try by request of Wells. Sweating like crazy, the four of them rolled up
the big blue mats with Wells and Deloge trampling me along the way. Practice was done for the week…or
was it? When walking out the gym doors, the male cheerleaders entered the cafeteria to find the Sophomore
Dance going on. Sneaking a few moves on the dance floor, the guys definitely showed off the skills learned at
practice. And then…practice was over.
Continued on Next Page
Picture taken by Jerome
THE PANTHER ADVOCATE
...continued from previous page
Day Four slowly arrived after two days off. The guys had two more days of practice including this one. Practice
wasn’t much. The boys performed the routine, perfected the routine and laughed proving they were having an insane
amount of fun. The boys performed for some special guests: Sabourin’s parents and Mrs. Collins, doing a spotless performance. Wells got a new skirt that was more fitting and Sabourin continued to free-style like crazy. The squad then sat
down and ate delicious M&M brownies, home made by me while answering a few opinionated questions about the experience so far. Pep Rally was two days away and when asking how the boys felt, the responses were overwhelmingly exciting. Wells had said, “I can’t wait to make a fool of myself,” while Sabourin felt …“kind of anxious. I can’t wait to do it
and see how everyone reacts. It’s just a great time to have fun with all the senior guys.”
Day Five was the last day of practice. It didn’t last long because the boys knew what they were doing. All that
was left was to prove to the entire school that these six senior boys were real Varsity cheerleaders.
Wednesday had finally come. The students were piling into the gymnasium and the boys were getting really
pumped. This was their senior year and these boys were going to be remembered by how well they did at the Pep Rally.
Wells had said, “I feel like I’m going to explode.” They went out there during the half time of the Powder Puff game,
showed the school what they got, flaunted their assets in those skirts and heard a roaring cheer from the crowd. The senior
boys wanted to go out with a big bang and this was it. They had proven to everyone that THEY were Varsity Cheerleaders. All boys agreed that the Soulja Boy dance was definitely the best part by far – other than dressing up in skirts. The
only slightly irritating part was having to say, “I have to go to cheerleading practice,” when asked their plans for the night.
Those junior boys better start practicing if they want to top this year’s Varsity Cheerleading Squad!
Pictures taken by Jerome
PAGE 2
Pictures taken by: Nicole Dumaine
Pull The Curtain
By Jordan Thornhill
Our team: Seven mildly geeky teenagers and one new theater instructor:
Director: Mr. Michael Gowdy
‘The Teens’
‘The Guys’
‘The Gals’
Boy: Matt Radant
Jim: Brennan Collins
Barb: Jordan Thornhill (myself)
Girl: Kayla Mineau
Chuck: Dan Babbit
Laurie: Lauren Eastwood
Rob: Pat Slattery
On November 9 and 10th 2007, the Panther Player Drama Club entertained the masses in the riveting one act plays ‘The Drive In’ by
Richard Hellesen and ‘Competition Piece’ by John S. Wells.
th
Sound easy? Hardly. You, fair reader, are about to get an insider’s view of one of the plays, ‘The Drive In’, as well as the trials and tribulations that ensued. With everything riding against us, it was amazing that we didn’t fall flat on our faces. But our weaknesses only made the play
stronger, which resulted in a positively successful fiasco.
Here are a few of the problems we encountered:
The night of the play, three of the main props went missing.
A week and a half before the show, the original role of ‘Boy’, Chris Nadeau, was suspended for ten days and banned from the play. We
had to scramble around searching for someone to replace him and Matt Radant, already involved in the other play ‘Competition Piece’, took up the
challenge.
If that wasn’t stressful enough, R. Jeremy Desrosiers, who originally played the role of Jim, was forced to drop out of the play three days
before opening night during dress rehearsal weekend. Brennan Collins, also involved in the second play, took up the role. Without the time to
memorize lines, he kept a magazine in his lap with crib notes the entire show. Despite this security blanket, he managed marvelously without even
breaking a sweat. “I wasn’t nervous. No, I’m never nervous.... we got along just fine,” says Brennan.
Fellow actor Adam Credit did not share this temerity. On opening night, leading lady Kayla Mineau as ‘Girl’ became staggeringly ill.
She looked in no shape to perform but, with no understudy, she insisted on going out. As a back up, Adam Credit, who had some knowledge of the
part, was asked to stand in, if need be. “I was sitting backstage just waiting for Kayla to pass out [thinking] ‘why me’,” he stated. “It was a big mix
of emotions. I was scared, nervous… I thought it could be fun at first, but actually going out there not having a script is not fun.”
On top of all the problems with actors were the technical difficulties, primarily involving lighting. The stage had been arranged in three
parts, to represent the three different ‘cars’ at the drive in. One of these cars was supposed to be lit up at a time. However, the lighting crew’s
script got garbled the first night, leaving the poor techies to guess at when cues were to change cars. Unfortunately, they guessed incorrectly several times.
Our salvation? Improvisational skill. Six of the seven actors were also involved in Improvisation Club, which was indispensable on stage.
Both nights, with lines and scenes forgotten and faulty lighting forcing the cast to switch around with a moments notice, we were able to completely improvise over ten minutes of material that was not there.
All in all, it went spectacularly. With the up and coming musical Bye Bye Birdie in the spring there are bright plans for improving, and no
doubt improvising for the future.
PAGE 3
T h e H o f f m a n , a n d S h ee l e y W r i t e r ’ s G u i d e
Volume Two: “ R e d u n d a n t ”
By A. Erin Hoffman and Kayla W. Sheeley
We realize that coming up with original ideas is quite the daunting task. It’s difficult to come up with any original ideas at all and even
harder to come up with five pages of original ideas. Therefore, it is understandable that there may be the temptation to use the same three ideas
and merely repeat them throughout the paper. However simple this formula may seem, it is to be fervently avoided.
The act of redundancy is a heinous crime in the art of writing and should be fervently avoided at all costs. Redundancy is defined as
the useless repeating of words, phrases, ideas or words that becomes superfluous and redundant. Repetition of words, phrases, ideas or words becomes quite boring for the reader and a chore to read. Original ideas that may otherwise have merit are lost in the sea of text and similar words and
phrases.
RULES TO AVOID REDUNDANCY
1. Use a thesaurus to find synonyms of words you find yourself using more than once.
2. Use a thesaurus to find words that have the same meaning as the words you’ve already used.
3. Do not be redundant.
4. Don’t repeat yourself.
We, the esteemed authors of this column, would like to bring to your attention a very grave problem to your attention that most ordinary
people may not be aware of. The problem that needs to be brought to your attention is the problem of “self-plagiarism”. When you repeat yourself,
you are in fact plagiarizing yourself. This means that you are plagiarizing yourself, which means that you are copying yourself. This is a reprehensible act and a very heinous crime. By stealing your own work from yourself, you may be putting yourself at risk for self-lawsuits, self-kidnapping,
and maybe even self-murder.
It is very easy to avoid redundancy. All you have to do is refrain from repeating yourself. In other words, don’t repeat yourself. All acts of
redundancy should be fervently avoided. It is very boring and boring to read the same words, phrases, ideas and words over and over and over
again.
Now you have the tools you need to avoid redundancy. If you have any more questions regarding this very important issue, please contact
the PHS Department of Redundancy Department at (860) 555-4352.
The End
The End
Fin
(until next subsequent following issue)
Shake It Up
Commentary by Jessica Collins
I have heard from teachers and students that the school was thinking of creating heterogeneous classes and has currently been
doing so with freshman English classes this semester. Heterogeneous classes are basically classes without levels. For example, the
school agreed to at least have honors classes but there would be no academic or general classes; they would both be together. I don’t
understand why anyone would want to change the way the classes are set up and mix these different levels together. General, academic, and honors levels are more beneficial to the students. The general level may help those who need extra help and the academic
and honors level classes challenge the students enrolled in them. So whoever had the bright idea of putting these levels together must
not have thought it out very thoroughly.
Mixing classes leaves no room for growth. Students may progress over the years from one level to another. The levels allow
room to move up or move down based on ability. If general or academic classes are too easy then students can move up to the next
level. If honors or academic classes are too hard then students can move down to the next level that they can handle. If we don’t have
general or academic levels how will students know whether or not they need to move up, move down, or stay where they are?
I have also been informed that teachers are supposed to teach the lowest learning level in the classroom. This may be good for
general students who may need this kind of teaching but for academic students it is unfair. At the academic level you have the capability of handling a challenge. If you are being taught at the lowest learning level, how are you going to absorb and learn anything?
Behavior within these levels is different as well. General level students may need more help, however some students are enrolled in these classes because they just don’t care. They may not do any of their work and probably don’t even want to be in school. If
these heterogeneous classes are supposed to try to get them to do their work and get them to care, then that just isn’t right or fair for
the academic students. The academic students work hard and are typically more mature than students who could care less. Why do
the academic students have to be held back not only academically, but behaviorally as well? And why do general levels have to be
forced into classes that they probably aren’t prepared for? Why do they need to be in classes with other students who are going to lose
out because there is a low level of teaching going on? There isn’t going to be much of a difference for general students anyways, besides being placed in classes they may not be ready for. The teaching level is going to be similar to that of a general level class. The
ones who are really suffering are the academic students.
PAGE 4
Wound Up
My Interview with Administrator Mrs. Riley
By Crystal Rodriguez
Tammy Mailloux and I searched for Mrs. Riley during lunch and finally found her. We had a superb interview. She was very nervous at first but as we continued she
seemed to enjoy the interview.
How long have you been in Plainfield High School?
I have been in Plainfield High School for seven years, but I have been in the school system for twenty-one years. And I’m
only twenty-nine (laughs).
How long have you been involved in education?
About twenty-four years, because I used to substitute and I used to teach summer school.
What classes did you teach?
I taught science, language arts and reading.
What is the best part of your day?
What is the worst?
When I have to punish someone and contact their parents.
Do you enjoy your job?
I love it; I love my job because I love kids.
Where did you go to college?
I went to Southern Connecticut State University and I have an undergraduate in public health and then I went to Sacred Heart University and
got my masters degree in education then went back to Sacred Heart and
got my 6th year degree.
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Baltic, Connecticut
How many kids do you have?
I have three children, Alex is twenty-one, He goes to east Connecticut State University and he is in the army national
guard and he served a year in Afghanistan last year and he is now home then I have Bobby is eighteen. He is a senior at
NFA, and Haylie is twelve and in 7th grade. They are all doing fine. They are good kids.
Are you related to Mr. Riley?
Yes I am. I tell kids he is my brother. He is really my husband. He is very laid back and I am all wound up.
What is the hardest thing about punishing kids?
I think when I have to put kids out of school, that’s difficult. Things we could do instead of punishment are community
service rather than suspension.
How do you feel about the new changes in this school?
I think kids got the message. I think that kids feel safer; I think that they are happier, and will get better test scores because when you feel safe you learn. That is the whole purpose of being here is to learn.
How do you feel about smoking in the bathrooms?
In the old school they were a lot of kids smoking and now in the new school it is not as bad as it used to be. I do feel bad
about the kids that say “I need a cigarette, I need a cigarette.” But it’s a state law.
What do you think should be done to stop kids from smoking in the bathroom?
I think that they need to go to the doctor and get help or get the patch and I think it is mind over matter. They just need
to not do it.
Is there anything else that you feel I should know?
Just that I like my job. I like working with Mr. Arcarese, Mr. Worth, I think that we have a wonderful faculty. We
have hard working teachers. And I love the students. That is what makes me come in everyday...the students.
PAGE 5
Picture taken by Tammy Mailloux
When I see kids smiling and having a good time.
You Spin Me Bowne (like a record)
By: Jessica Chandler
It was the morning of October 24th, 2007 and I was walking towards Mr. Bowne’s classroom for the
interview. He was sitting at his desk and welcomed me when I entered. Students were gathering outside the health classroom as I took out my questions and recorder to do the interview. The result was
more interesting than I expected it to be.
JC: Where did you grow up?
“I am from Stonington, Connecticut and Westerly, Rhode Island.”
JC: Where did you go to high school?
“I went to Stonington High School.”
JC: When was the last time you shaved?
“I shaved this morning.”
JC: Where did you teach before here?
“I worked here for two years doing special education one-on-one and before that I was at EO Smith High School.”
JC: Describe the socks you are wearing.
“I am wearing black socks that are…with a mint cap I don’t know what they’re called.”
JC: What kind of cake? Pan or cup?
*in a puzzling tone* “Pan or cupcake?”
JC: Pancake or cupcake?
“Pancake.”
JC: Why?
“Cause there’s more.”
JC: What about math appeals to you?
“I’m very good at it. I really like doing it, it’s very logical, and it’s very cut and dry. There is no interpretation.”
JC: If you could bring one character from a book or movie to life who would it be and why?
“Wayne Campbell from Wayne’s World.”
JC: Why?
“It’s my favorite movie of all time.”
JC: What is your least favorite food?
“Mushrooms.”
JC: Your most favorite?
“Anything Italian.”
JC: What is it that you like about coaching cross country, football, and track?
“I enjoy seeing kids push themselves and be able to do things that they never thought they could do.”
PAGE 6
Picture taken by Jessica Chandler
BOWNE interview... continued from previous page
JC: What is your favorite 80’s metal band?
“That’s a tough question. There is so many to choose from. They’re so good. I am going to go with Winger today.”
JC: What would you like your last question to be about?
“It doesn’t really matter to me. Anything you want to ask”
JC: That’s what I asked.
“What I want the question to be about? I don’t know if I can come up with another question. Well, we’ll pull somebody from the
hallway to ask a question.” *calls out* “Tyler!”
Tyler: What Mr. Bowne?
“They’re asking me questions for the school newspaper. What’s a question you should ask me for the school newspaper?”
T: I don’t know. I have no idea.
“Come on! Pick a question!”
T: I’m tapped.
“You’re tapped?”
T: Yeah no questions…
“No questions? Come up with a question. What’s a question you would like to ask me?”
T: What do you mean?
“About anything.”
T: Giving me advice?
“Anything! Ask me a question!”
T: What kind of question?
“Anything question. About anything.”
T: What’s with your weird outfits? Dress normal!
“I’m a teacher and I have to dress professionally so therefore I—”
T: Come on normal is professionally. I can do just as much as a job as a teacher as I’m dressed
as you do how you’re dressed right now.
*laughs*
T: Just as well.
“It’s what’s required of a teacher is to be dressed professionally.”
T: Well how come teachers have to dress professionally? Why can’t they dress regular?
“It’s a respect thing. If I dressed like that I would look like a kid.”
T: Well not completely like this.
“Yeah…”
T: Jeans!
“I’d wear ripped jeans and a t-shirt on my own somewhere…usually around the weekends. So I’d look like a kid and how would
you guys be able to respect me or listen to me or follow my instructions if I would dress…”
T: I can respect just about anyone who dresses like a kid. I respect my younger cousin…
“Do you really?”
T: He’s—what—twelve? And to me I feel like he is more responsible than me!
“Alright. Well thanks for the question Tyler!” *laughs* “There you go.”
Part of the reason this school runs so
smoothly is because we have
two astonishing
and responsible secretaries working to make it
happen. Next time you see them, tell them
what a good job they’re doing! ! !
Mrs. Salisbury
THE LITTLE THINGS GIVE YOU AWAY
Mrs.Turenne
Interview and Pictures by: Ashley Rider
How long have you worked here?
Mrs. Salisbury– Fourteen years.
Mrs.Turenne-This is my second year at the high school.
Have you worked at any other school?
Mrs. Salisbury-No.
Mrs.Turenne-Yes, I worked at the Shepard Hill School for twenty years.
Did you always want to work at a school?
Mrs. Salisbury-When I moved back from traveling (husbands in the government, moves a lot), I thought it would be great to
work at the school I went to.
Mrs.Turenne-No, I never had any idea what I was going to do, then I started volunteering at the school where my kids went,
then it just happened, I ended up working here.
How many people come to see Mr. Worth a day?
Mrs. Salisbury-Some days a lot, some days a little. It depends on the day really. He is always very busy, so it depends.
Mrs.Turenne-Well Mr.Arcarese is closer to me, and I would say about ten students a day come to see Mr.Arcarese.
How many pair of shoes do you have?
Mrs. Salisbury-Well, I have three closets of shoes and clothes <<smile>>. One is for evening shoes, ones for summer, and
the other for work shoes. All together I have about thirty-eight pairs.
Mrs.Turenne-I probably own about twenty, and my husband thinks it crazy.
Do you have any hobbies?
Mrs. Salisbury-Yes I do, I like to cook and bake. I also have been modeling for a bridal boutique for many years; it’s a lot of
fun.
Mrs.Turenne– Ummm….spending time with my family is always nice.
What toppings do you eat on your pizzas?
Mrs. Salisbury-I don’t eat pizza very much, if I do it’s very rarely.
Mrs.Turenne-LOTS of cheese, pepperoni, but no onions and peppers.
If you weren’t a secretary, what would you want to be?
Mrs. Salisbury-If I wasn’t a secretary I would want to be a ...chef or a restaurant owner.
Mrs.Turenne-Probably, a wedding planner would be nice. I like to organize parties.
PAGE 8
Secretary Interview...continued from previous page
What type of music do you prefer?
Mrs. Salisbury-I love classical and oldies, mostly from the 40s.
Mrs.Turenne-All types of music, who’s ever in my car usually changes the station, so I listen to all kinds.
Are you a jeans person, or a skirt person?
Mrs. Salisbury-Definitely a skirts person.
Mrs.Turenne-I’m a jeans person.
Favorite store?
Mrs. Salisbury-Saks Fifth Avenue.
Mrs.Turenne-Linens n’ things.
What kind of car do you drive?
Mrs. Salisbury- I drive a Concord.
Mrs.Turenne-A Ford Escape.
Do you have any children?
Mrs. Salisbury-Yes, I have twelve nieces and nephews and one great niece. They mean everything to me.
Mrs.Turenne-I have two grown sons (twenty-seven and twenty-nine).
Do you have nicknames?
Mrs. Salisbury-Yes, my niece and nephew call me auntie; it’s kind of stuck with me. Here at the school pretty much everyone
calls me Mrs.Sals.
Mrs.Turenne-Beppy, when my sister was smaller, she couldn’t pronounce my name so she called me Beppy.
Can I use your phone?
Both - Of course Nancy.
“Who Will Buy A Lunchbox?”
Lunchtime Mania at PHS
Pictures taken by: Heather Fountaine
PAGE 9
I Will Survive
Interview and Picture by Heather Fountaine
Would you know if you had an ovarian tumor? Teachers come in and out of Plainfield High School but none are as positive and
optimistic as Mrs. O’Connell. Coming down from Newton, Massachusetts, Mrs. O’Connell has been involved in education for a total of
nine years, counting two years here at Plainfield High School. She taught at Uxbridge High School for the other seven years schooling
about fields of science such as Biology, Physics, Environmental Science and Chemistry. Although she hasn’t always wanted to be a
teacher, going back to school to get her Masters Degree in education was such a great decision for it’s been a blessing. Those who have
had Mrs. O’Connell in class know that she’s shared some life stories proving her good luck charm has not yet taken existence. For example, while riding her favorite animal, a horse, she was bucked off of it leaving her with a slight muscle sores. She and her kids also have a
tendency to get effortlessly ill. With the simplest cough or sneeze from
someone else, Mrs. O’Connell and her kids will pick it up and be sick for
another week or so.
But Mrs. O’Connell has suffered from something serious. In
2002, she was told she had an ovarian tumor, which was surprising due to
her young age. It is not yet determined what actually causes ovarian tumors but there are risk factors. Age and obesity are two major risk factors, however Mrs. O’Connell is neither obese nor of age. Ovarian cancer can also be hereditary. Whatever the case, Mrs. O’Connell was fortunately auspicious enough to have the tumor found and removed before it
spread the cancer. She says, “That was probably the worst thing – but I’m
happy to be alive. See there’s some good luck. I’ve got good luck too!”
Mrs. O’Connell is glad she has survived this disease and continues to bask
in the blessings she’s been given like her children. Ovarian tumors provide high risk pregnancies which means Mrs. O’Connell had to go on bed rest while carrying her son. Yet with the consecration from
above, she was able to have her son, and he’s a rather healthy boy as well. So the next time you’re having a bad day or something just isn’t
going your way, remember, a little optimism can go a long way.
Several Species of Small Furry Creatures Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict
By Zack DeNovellis
Mr. Murray is a tremendous math teacher. Mr. Murray has taught at Plainfield High
School for twenty-one years. For these twenty-one years Mr. Murray has taught only math
classes. Mr. Murray has taught a majority of the math courses offered by this school. Mr.
Murray does not have any particular reason why Mr. Murray wanted to teach math. Mr.
Murray originally wanted to be a veterinarian. Mr. Murray!
Mr. Murray is a friendly teacher and cares about Mr. Murray’s students very much.
Mr. Murray says that one of Mr. Murray’s favorite experiences is watching Mr. Murray’s students walk off the field after they graduate. Even though Mr. Murray really enjoys Mr.
Murray’s students, there are a few things that do annoy Mr. Murray while teaching. One of
these is students talking to each other while Mr. Murray is teaching a class.
Mr. Murray is a great teacher with a great personality. Mr. Murray enjoys teaching
and maybe after reading this article Mr. Murray will be aware of one of Mr. Murray’s nicknames. If you get a chance I’d highly recommend meeting Mr. Murray.
PAGE 10
Picture Taken by Zack DeNovellis
The other day I interviewed Mr. Murray about Mr. Murray. I was informed of various nicknames for Mr. Murray. I was curious about Mr. Murray’s nicknames so I decided to
ask Mr. Murray about Mr. Murray’s nicknames. According to Mr. Murray Mr. Murray has no
nicknames. An anonymous teacher gave me one of the nicknames for Mr. Murray. That nickname is Furry Murray.
Po s t c a r d s f r o m I t a ly Inter view by Nikia Lane
One of our foreign exchange students is Damiano Gierotto, and he was interviewed by Nikia Lane a senior here at PHS. This is how their interview
went:
Nikia – Where are you from?
Damiano – I am from the Northern part of Italy.
Nikia – Have you been anywhere else in the United States other than Connecticut?
Damiano – I have been to Buffalo New York, Niagara Falls New York, Six Flags Massachusetts , The Providence Place Mall, a beach in Rhode
Island and an airport in Philadelphia.
Nikia – Are you enjoying your stay here in Plainfield?
Damiano – Sometimes I don’t understand some things and sometimes I like it.
Nikia – Do you like all of your classes and are any hard for you?
Damiano – They are all very very very easy for me, I have no problems except for I just don’t understand my
physics teacher.
Damiano – Chemistry, because Ms. O’Connell is the best!
Nikia – Are you in any clubs or sports?
Damiano – Student Council and Max-N-Company; no thank you on sports.
Nikia – How old are you and when is your birthday?
Damiano – I am seventeen and my birthday is the 22nd of June.
Nikia – Do you speak any other languages?
Picture taken by Nikia
Nikia – Which class is your favorite?
Damiano – Italian, English, a little bit of German and I understand Spanish.
Nikia – What type of music do you like to listen to? Have you heard of Cartel?
Damiano – A little bit of American music, I don’t really have a specific kind. And I heard of Cartel from your t-shirt!
Nikia – Who are your closest friends here at Plainfield? Do you miss your friends back home?
Damiano – My closest friends in Plainfield are Meghan Marriott, Hans & Elo and Kayla Mineau. My best friends that I miss a lot in Italy are
Matteo, Anna, Silvia, Tania, Michele and Federico.
Nikia – Are you learning more here at Plainfield High School than you would be in Italy?
Damiano – Not really, I’m not taking Advanced Placement classes and all the ones I am taking are very very easy. The language is sometimes hard.
Nikia – Do you know where you want to go to college/school after you graduate?
Damiano – Either in Milan, Boston or New York.
Nikia – What do you think you will be doing when you’re older for your career?
Damiano – Something dealing with science or architecture.
Nikia – Is the American culture much different than yours? How so?
Damiano – Not so much different, except for we dress completely different. It seems we are much friendlier in Italy and Spain than the US.
For instance, how we say hello, we kiss each cheek and hug, here you don’t do that. When I was walking in the hall the other day I saw these really
close friends and they didn’t even look at each other so I didn’t understand, and I asked my friend Kayla and she said that’s normal for here.
Nikia – Who is your favorite actor and actress in the United States?
Damiano – Angelina Jolie & Johnny Depp.
Nikia – What is your favorite movie in the whole wide world?
Damiano – The Day After Tomorrow, because I like the special effects!
Nikia – What are your favorite foods? And where do you like to go out and eat?
Damiano – Pizza and Gelato are my favorite foods. (Gelato is ice cream) And I love to go out to Pizzeria to eat, which is a big area of lots of
places to eat.
Nikia – If you could have one super power what would it be and why?
Damiano – I would want to read minds and I would also make people happy who are sad and make people sad who are mean!
ELO.V.E.
By Heather Fountaine
Every year, Plainfield High School has the honor to welcome students from other countries. They are considered our foreign exchange students. This year, we have three boys in our school; Hans, Damiano and Elo. Elo is from
Georgia, a country just under Russia. He decided to come to America for the experience as well as the education and
to perfect the new language. His stay is only eight months long, but so far it’s been a great experience.
Heather: When is your birthday?
Elo: My birthday is the first of September.
Heather: Where else have you traveled to in the United States?
Elo: I was in Boston MA, I was in Providence RI.
Heather: How do you like America so far?
Elo: It’s very good, very good people, friendly.
Heather: What’s been your favorite part about the states so far?
Elo: My favorite part is having many experiences for myself. I can do things here that I can’t do in Georgia.
Heather: Like what?
Elo: Somebody would help me in Georgia but now I can do it myself – just me and change in cultures.
Heather: Who have you become closest to here at Plainfield?
Elo: First of all, my Italian guy friend here and my closest friend is also my host sister, Christine Hall, she’s very good
to me, and all the people around me like you and Nikia.
Heather: Are you involved in any other clubs or sports?
Elo: Yeah I play soccer and nothing more.
Heather: How do you like soccer?
Elo: Soccer is everything to me.
Heather: What other languages do you speak?
Elo: I speak Georgian, English, Russian German and I am learning Spanish.
Heather: What’s your favorite food? It can be here or in Georgia.
Elo: Here – the cheeseburger.
Heather: I love cheeseburgers!
Heather: One you return home, what do you plan to do?
Elo: I plan to do – I don’t know – we will see.
Heather: Are you going to come back and visit?
Elo: Yeah maybe.
Heather: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Elo: A business lawyer.
Heather: What do you miss about Georgia?
Elo: Friends, family, sister.
Heather: Who’s your favorite super hero?
Elo: Spiderman.
Heather: If you could have one super power, what would it be?
Elo: Oh yeah – a time machine to go back in time.
Heather: And that’s it. You’re done. Thank you very much Elo.
Elo: You’re welcome. Bye.
Senior Spotlight
This month’s sensational senior:
Caitlyn McWilliams
Interviewed by Kayla Sheeley
“Blah blah dance.”
“Blah blah I need a ride.”
“Blah blah.”
As I waited next to the table where Ashely Lincoln was selling tickets to the Winter Ball, this was all I was hearing. I
had to go find another place to wait for Caitlyn McWilliams far away from this table or I just needed to find her. I searched,
didn’t see her, so opted for the former option. I sat with a couple of people I knew and asked if they knew where Caitlyn might
be.
“Who’s that?”
“Is she an old person?”
Um. No.
By the time they had realized who she was, I had already located her; sitting at the next table. Oh boy.
Here is the interview that took place almost three minutes after that point, the interviewee being Caitlyn McWilliams, this
month’s senior in the senior spotlight. This is mainly due to the fact that she’s a great track runner, as well as an extremely benevolent person.
When I sat down with Caitlyn, she had just gotten her food (things in the orangey yellow boxes, and those cheese stick
things) and hadn’t even started it yet. First I asked the basics about her track career. How long have you been running? Why’d
you start track? What events do you do? So on and so forth. I found out she’s been on the team for all four years of her high
school career. She does the running and the high jumping. The reason she started track was because (and I quote), “A friend
told me about it and I don’t really have the coordination for anything else.”
I figured that was as good a reason as any. I started asking her the basic boring interview questions. Obviously, she likes music.
She listens to anything, “Just nothing that screams at you when you listen to it.” Favorite movie: The Notebook. Favorite color:
yellow. Then we started talking about the recent powder puff game in which she participated.
“What is your favorite number? Is that the one you picked for your powder puff jersey?”
(With a highly enthusiastic nod.) “17. And yes, it was the one I used for powder puff.”
“Well, now that we’re talking about powder puff, how did you feel about that game? And what position did you play?”
“It was intense. Corin is amazing. And I was a lineman I guess. I’m not really sure.”
At this point, there was approximately five minutes left of lunch. Caitlyn still had yet to touch her lunch, and it smelled like it
wanted to be eaten. So we decided to make the rest of the interview go by a little faster.
“What do you want to do when you’re older?”
“No idea.”
“College you want to go to?”
“Umm. Eastern?
“Track in college?”
“Maybe.”
“Favorite holiday?”
“My birthday. And Christmas.”
“Favorite food?”
“Mexican/everything.” (As she takes a bite of her pizza. I found this
comical.)
“What do you do when you’re bored?”
“Sleep.”
“Favorite Class?”
Picture taken by Heather Fountaine
“Sports Med.”
Hopefully, she doesn’t sleep in any of her classes.
With that, our tediously long interview ended. I don’t really like interrupting people’s lunch, hopefully I’ll never have to do
this again.
PAGE 13
The end.
This is HOWIE do
By: Stephanie Desrosiers
-Bolded words: Stephanie
-Italicized words: Howie
On November 26 I was sitting on the bus, and it stopped at a little brown house on Starkweather road to pick up Howie Carlson. He
walked passed me and I said the same thing I say every morning when he gets on the bus “Hi Howie” he stopped dead in his tracks, “Don’t you
forget Stephanie, third block.”
th
Third block rolled around and it was time to interview Howard, also known as Howie, someone who we all know. I walked into Ms. Belous’
classroom with Heather Fountaine, to find Howie sitting at his table talking with a few of the teachers.
“Hi Howie, are you ready to do the interview?”
Howie simply responded “Yes” to my question.
As we were getting ready to walk out of the classroom a few of the teachers started to make Howie laugh by saying, “Make sure you
mention me in that interview Howie”. As we were stepping out of the door we heard one of his classmates
“Don’t forget about me Howie” they said from the other side of the classroom. “Okay I won’t.”
We decided to do the interview in the library.
“Go to one of the last tables so we don’t disturb anyone who’s studying.”
“What’s your favorite thing to do?”
Howie got a little confused with the voice recorder;
“Am I supposed hold this thing up to my mouth?”
“No, if you leave it on the table you should be able to hear it just fine.”
“Oh okay I got a little confused there, well my favorite thing to do is basically basketball, I am on the special
Olympics basketball team. This is my final year after doing it for six years, and I finally get to be captain!”
“Awe.”
“Well we won third place for my first four years, and I hope to win the title this year with the help from my
teacher Ms. Belous and my coach.”
Picture taken by Heather Fountaine
“When you’re not in school what are you usually doing?”
“When I’m not in school I usually help around the house, with my mem and pep.”
One reason why I think we all love Howie is because he’s such a kind boy. Although he has fourteen dogs that he says drive him “Cookoo
cookoo” he loves them anyway. Not only does Howie love basketball and animals but he also loves this school, PHS.
“Oh yeah I love PHS, it has a great atmosphere. I just love being at this school, I couldn’t think of any other school that I would love to be in.”
“What do you like about it in general?”
“Well mostly just being with friends, and talking with the teachers.”
Well that’s good to know that some people still love school.
Howie’s a hard working man. After a hard day at school, taking care of his dogs, helping his mem and pep and basketball practices,
Howie does not stop there. He also works at Lisbon Landing Wal-Mart and the Village Manor in Central Village. After all the work is done he
likes to relax, maybe eat a cheese burger and enjoy a nice cold glass of lemonade.
“Well, I’m a very good singer. I sing for the PHS chorus choir, with Mr. Gowdy.”
Howie hasn’t sang the national anthem for any of the football games yet this year but he’s going to try his best to sing it with the rest of
the choir before the basketball games. Seeing how it is his last year.
As we were wrapping up the interview (conversation), Howie told me about his favorite band and singers.
girlfriend.”
“I would have to say that my favorite band is Creed, because that’s heavy metal. But my favorite singer would be Avril Lavegne, because I like her song
One last quote from good ole’ Howard.
“Are you happy the seniors won the pep rally events?”
“Well yes, okay, it’s a team effort; it’s about giving it your all and having fun! And that’s exactly what we did.”
“Thanks Howie.”
Favorite Things - POLL RESULTS
A Month ago MOST of you voted for your favorites!!!!!
Some of you checked two boxes, those votes didn’t count =D
By: Ashley Rider
___________________________________________________________
Red Sox beat the Yankees by 53!
29 of you voted for NEITHER
Red Sox-78
Yankees-25
_____________________________________________________________
Polka-Dots beat Stripes by 11!
Polka-dots-71
Stripes-60
_____________________________________________________________
Burger King BEAT McDonalds by 16…..24 of you voted neither.
Burger King-58
McDonalds-42
_____________________________________________________________
SPRITE had 13 more votes than COKE!!!! BUT COKE and NEITHER tied 40 to 40
Coke-40
Sprite-53
_____________________________________________________________
Luckily water beat flavored-water by a whole 18 votes!
Water-75
Flavored water-57
_____________________________________________________________
ODDS beat EVENS by only 5 votes!!!
Odds-68
Evens-63
_____________________________________________________________
It’s obvious most people at PHS write in print!!!! PRINT beat cursive by 99 VOTES!!!
Print-114
Cursive-15
_______________________________________________________________
Pen beat PENCIL by 60 votes!!!! What happened to a good old #2 pencil???
Pen-92
Pencil-32
Smoking in the Boys Room
The Panther Advocate sounds off
I’m not going to pee in a bathroom with the STENCH of SMOKE!!!!!!!!!
Personally, I don’t really care if someone smokes; it doesn’t affect me, but
doing it in school is uncalled for. If you need a cigarette that much, then you
have a problem…call the REHAB FACILITIES!!!! For one, people can be
allergic to smoke, like me. How terrible is it that someone will have to use a
different bathroom because they start to get itchy eyes and cough? If smoking
in the girls room is “cool” to you, then you don’t know what cool is! Think
about this ……“smoking helps you lose weight, one lung at a time”.
Smoking is bad. Obviously, we’ve all learned this
throughout the years. We’re taught from the time we’re
born to not smoke; stay away from drugs; etc. etc. So
why is it that people still continue to smoke? It’s your
body. I understand that. Do what you want with it; nobody can stop you. At least have the decency to not smoke
in school, at concerts, or any other public place where
there’s bound to be more non-smokers than there are
smokers. Those people would like to keep their bodies
healthy. Do what you want with yours, but don’t put
others at risk while harming yourself.
Every day I hear someone complain and act like their dying when the bathroom smells like smoke. I do not have
any problem with smoking in the bathrooms and neither
should anyone else and if you do then keep it to yourself,
don’t announce to the world that the bathroom smells like
smoke and it annoys. All your obnoxious complaining annoys me. The smell of smoke in the bathrooms doesn’t
hurt anyone so get over it.
Have you ever walked in the bathroom
and been slugged in the face with the scent of
smoke? The smell of smoke is just so pungent
that you can smell it in all the hallways. Every
time I walk in the lavatory and smell smoke I just
want to gag. When you walk out of there you
smell like smoke it’s disgusting. People who
smoke are hurting other people’s health who
does not smoke. I don’t feel like getting a blast
of smoke in my face when I go into the bathroom.
Smoking in the bathrooms is wrong. Those who don’t
want to smoke have to walk into the bathroom and
breathe in the stuffy air. Would they rather hold their
breath as they walk in? I don’t think so! People who
smoke in the bathroom should think about it first because they are poisoning the lungs of those who choose
correctly in life. It’s wrong! If those going into the bathroom have to breathe in the smoke then those who are
actually smoking do too. They think they are so cool
standing there poisoning themselves. But the truth is, we
who make better choices will live longer than you smokers will!
I think people smoking in bathrooms just have a
lot of time of their hands and are killing themselves. I mean it is a gross thing to do and it
makes you smell bad. It also gives you yellow
teeth. I just hate walking into a bathroom filled
with a batch of stench. It is gross. If I were you
I’d wait and smoke after school.
http://www.paulabecker.com/blog/images/if_smoke1_72.jpg
PAGE 16
S m o k i n g i n t h e B o y s R o o m (continued)
So one day I’m walking into the bathroom and I smell
something utterly grotesque. I wrinkle my nose and
hold my breath trying to relinquish the smell from my
brain. No, the pungent woof wasn’t the smell of someone’s “number two” left in an unflushed toilet. The
bathroom stench reeked of cigarette smoke. Smoking is
ugly enough when done at home, but when brought to
school, a place where kids feel as though they can get
away from their smoking parents, is just unbearable.
Discarding the fact that teens shouldn’t be smoking at
this age anyway, it’s just disrespectful to do so in an environment that’s meant to stay clean for fellow classmates. If I get lung cancer due to the second hand
smoke being passed along from your cigarette, I’m going to sue.
Walking In the girls’ bathroom... being hit with the scent of
smoke. ..You immediately think that someone’s been smoking in the bathroom... now the principal can stop it if he
knows it’s happening...If they get caught they can be punished. But when they don’t get caught they do it again for
two reasons: they want to and they know they won’t get
caught! So when you go in the bathroom and smell smoke do
you report it or ignore it? I chose to ignore it because it is
none of my business if you smoke, but keep it out side of
school. If you want to ruin your heath that’s your problem
but you have no right to ruin everyone else’s heath! And by
smoking in a public area, like the bathroom, you will ruin
your heath along with everyone else’s.
I am a non-smoker myself, and find cigarettes to be absolutely disgusting. I hold a strong disdain to the tobacco industry and all lobbyists for them. Their aroma is disgusting. The tobacco is low-grade dirt. The image it is associated with is disenchanting. The addictive properties of nicotine are bested only by heroin and cocaine. The selfishness of smokers that don’t respect the clean air of non-smokers is highly annoying (not to say ALL smokers are like this.)
However, despite all of this, I feel as if that the rights of people who are tragically addicted to this substance should
be altered in schools. I feel as if there should be an area for smokers to go and enjoy their cigarettes in between classes. It
would be separate from the rest of the school, and probably hermetically sealed. I feel as if this should be implemented because many young, bright minds with infinite potential have fallen prey to the deadly grip these cancer sticks possess. When
they are sitting in class they aren’t operating at their maximum potential unless they’ve gotten some nicotine in their system.
Not to mention these kids have been bending the rules and smoking outdoors anyway. Many kids have gotten in trouble because
of it. It’d look better for the school if there was a smoking section implemented, as there would be less trouble and punishments and less potential being wasted.
Smoking is bad for you. Anyone who smokes is obviously an idiot, no matter where they are. Thus, smoking in bathrooms is even worse because you are exposing others to the smoke as well. To prevent people
from doing so, a guillotine should be placed above
the window where smokers usually dispose of their
ash. Then, when anything goes outside the window,
the blade will fall on them; be it their arm, head, or finger, the perpetrator will learn their lesson and never
do it again.
Smoking in the bathroom…ew. Smoking is
unhealthy and if some one is going to smoke
don’t do it in the school bathroom where you
are making everyone else suffer because of
your own habits. It’s unhealthy and just because a few people decide to smoke in the
bathroom doesn’t mean everyone else wants
to or needs to breathe in their secondhand
smoke. Smoking is okay to an extent but do it
on your own time, you’re here to learn!
PAGE 17
Ice Ice Baby
Commentary by Stephanie Desrosiers
Picture taken from www.santaclaus.com
Has anyone else noticed how cold it is in the school? Well I notice everyday that I walk into this ice box. There are heaters all
around the school, so why aren’t they on!?
This school was built in 2005, brand new! And the one thing I noticed about this school is where all the heaters are. One day
in Mr. Decelles last block Integrated Science class were discussing how heat rises. What we all noticed is that most of the heaters in
the school are on the ceiling. What! That makes no sense, and I’ll tell you why. Because the vents are on the ceiling, all the warm air is
staying near the ceiling and not coming down on the students. Everyone who has common sense knows that heat rises, so what makes
the people who built the school think that putting vents on the ceiling was going to keep the children warm?
Everyday when I’m getting ready for school I pick out what I’m going to wear for the day. But I somehow always end up
freezing no matter what. Most of the time I keep extra sweatshirts in my locker but my locker is getting full. How am I supposed to
stuff my backpack, gym bag, books and now sweatshirts into the tiny lockers they provide for us? Well no one would have this problem if they would just turn up the heat!
It’s getting cold and as we noticed the first snow fall was on November 20th, there is going to me many more days to come
when it will be snowing and the school will remain freezing!
There are very few rooms in this school that actually have a temperature above 65 degrees. All I know is that I freeze in ALL
my classes, especially my second and third block class. Ms. Brooke’s classroom is always freezing, as well as Mr. Greene’s. Greene
Machine says, “I love it I need it I want it, it’s perfect. I sweat in the shower, I sweat eating cereal and I even turn on the air conditioning on my way to work in the winter time. I need a cold room” A little bit of sarcasm from the big guy.
I interviewed two students to find out what their opinions on the schools temperature is. I questioned a girl and a boy, because I wanted different points of views, from a male and a female.
Interviews:
Do you think the school is warm or cold?
1: This school is freezing.
2: Its warm most of the time.
What would be your guess on the temperature?
1: 63ish- cold!
2: 69- which is usually, warm to me.
How do you dress on a daily basis?
1: Sweatshirts and pants.
2: Shorts and a shirt.
Do you keep extra sweatshirts in your locker?
1: Yes, last year I had four, haha. But this year I only have two.
2: Yeah, I wear one every morning. But I usually get hot and take it off.
What do you think would be the appropriate temperature should be?
1: Between 73 and 75.
2: Should be? Around 70 to 75.
Two weeks later:
I interviewed Mr. Kettle to find out what is going on with the temperature of the school. It turns out that we have a broken
boiler. The rear wall of the boiler fell into the boiler itself and exposed it to a flame which caused it to burn out. They have been trying everything they can to fix the boiler. This happened two weeks ago. He also informed me that teachers complain about the classrooms being cold but they don't tell him. “If I don't know about it, then I cant fix it,” he says. So if your classroom is cold, tell him and
he will do something about it.
PAGE 18
Black or White
By Alexandria Vicente
Racism: Hatred or intolerance of another race or other races. On October 19, 2007 a sixteen year old boy by the name
Nashawn Williams was the victim of a violent attack. On this Monday morning the Plainfield High student was waiting for his school
bus and was brutally attacked by a group of young males that claim to be a gang that go by the name “K Nation.” He had a cup of hot
coffee poured on top of him after being dragged and as a result ended up with a concussion.
Phyllisha Williams, the mother of the student, was interviewed and stated that they had moved from the city of Norwich to
Plainfield in hope to live in a more quiet country environment. But, after this incident they found themselves rethinking their move to
Moosup. Phyllisha has said that she no longer feels welcome in her home town and finds herself feeling isolated. Through her tears on
Wednesday Mrs. Williams stated, “We don’t even want to be in our home anymore.” She now claims that they are permanently
thinking of moving.
Previously people have gone to their home and brutally knocked on their door and threw around random racist slurs. In
school Nashawn has also been called the “N-word” as many as other hateful things. Since the incident has happened neither Nashawn
nor his mother feel that it is a safe choice to send him back to school. The police were called and are in the process of investigation. So
far no arrests have been made but they have identified some suspects. Plainfield Police Chief Robert J. Hoffman has been taking the
case seriously and stated, “It’s not something that we’re going to take lightly.” Over the past five years in the Plainfield community the
amount of African American students has raised from eight to seventeen. Although there are some small issues with racism in the community, this one was extreme and caused a lot of attention.
I find that even in our own school there is quite a bit of racism. Some look at their fellow African American peers as minorities because there is such a small percentage attending school with us. I also feel that it may be because they have grown up in a small
town all their life (such as Plainfield) and have never been exposed to a diverse community. Through my eyes I think racism is ridiculous and unnecessary. Everyone is different and deserves to be treated the same with the same amount of respect. How would you
feel if you were being criticized because of the way that you look?
*Random students were asked for their honest opinions on the issue. Their names are being kept anonymous.
http://blogs.courant.com/bob_englehart
“It’s wrong that people treat others badly because of their race.”
“I disagree with racism… it’s just RUDE!”
“It doesn’t affect me or any of my friends.”
“I wouldn’t want to be criticized because of what race I am.”
“Lots of students make fun of each other in a jokingly way about their clothes
and such, I feel that just because it is about someone’s race, does not mean the
matter should be taken any other way or more seriously.”
“Racism …*Gasp*… It’s cruel to make fun of people because of what they look
like and what race they are. It’s not like they have a choice in deciding what race
they want to be. People just need to GROW up.”
“I feel it’s a right to speak your mind, no matter what your opinion is and who it
affects.”
Is this how we want to be perceived ?
“I have friends from all different races and I know for a fact that if any of them
were to feel bad because of what their race is, I’d be MAD!”’
“Racist people deserve to be shot.”
Information Taken from norwichbulletin.com and hartfordcourant.com
PAGE 19
We Didn’t Start The Fire
DID JEWS START THE FIRE? Recently a terrible disaster happened in southern California. Saturday October 20, 2007 was
the day that the entire ruckus had begun. More then a dozen wildfires spread rapidly and affected of an estimated one million people.
These people needed to flee in order to take safety precautions. It threatened an outrageous amount of structures which led to people
leaving their homes for self protection. Lots of croplands, greenhouses and nurseries were destroyed as well. The city of San Diego
was hit the hardest. There were over 250, 000 people that had to evacuate because of five fires in that one area alone. Over 1,500
homes were destroyed and nearly half a million acres of land that were scorched.
As a result approximately ten people died and overall about eighty-five citizens were injured. At least sixty of them were
firefighters that were hurt in the line of duty. Over 6,000 firefighters worked and tried to prevent the spreading of the fires. People
are still unsure of the cause of these fires and have made up their own conclusion. The neighboring states Nevada and Arizona contributed by supplying equipment to help clean up the mess. The Pentagon helped as well by sending six water-dropping planes that were
used to put out some of the fires.
On the following Wednesday and Thursday residents from several different communities were allowed to return to their
homes. The wind direction forced many shelters to close for safety. With the fire continuing to spread other shelters were opened in different areas where fire was not a
threat. Shopping centers, hotels, schools and other town buildings were used as temporary shelters. Some shelters became so full that they had to turn away citizens in need of
help. They began focusing more so on providing food and the proper necessities for the
people crammed into the given space.
As California’s governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger has been acting upon this
problem and stated his feelings about this unfortunate event. “The state did a great job
in quickly responding to the terrible Southern California fires and the cooperation between all levels of government was impressive,” said Governor Schwarzenegger. “But,
our job isn’t over yet. We need to make sure we are even better prepared for next
time.” Governor Schwarzenegger stated that at least two of the fires were started intentionally and another two could have possibly been started as well. "We will hunt
down the people that are responsible for that." Recently a ten year old boy admitted
to having started one of the largest fires. He claims to have been playing with matches
early afternoon on October 21, 2007. They have come to the conclusion on how this
fire was started but they are unaware of the real reason for the others starting.
Many people believe that the weather was the main cause of the fires. The
wind speeds were approximately between sixty and ninety miles per hour. It spread
soot and ash across the surrounding areas. On what would have been a clear sunny day,
dark clouds covered the skies. The fires were so intense that some of them were seen in space and the smoke was also so thick that it
was mistaken for rain clouds by weather radars. This year California has experienced record low rainfalls and record high temperatures. Governor Schwarzenegger also believed that the weather had a major part in the cause of the disaster. “I think that what we
need is the weather to change," Schwarzenegger said. "We need rain. We need the wind to stop and we need it to get wet out there.
That's what we need right now."
Many people have a farfetched idea of how the fires had been started. According to the website http://haggis.gnn.tv/
blogs/25495/Child_burning_jews_cause_California_wildfires, a group of people put together their own thoughts on how they believe the fires really began. This is what the article stated: “California has more slaves than anywhere else on the planet. Most of the
slaves in California are Hispanics working in Jew households (usually working 130 hours a week just for food, shelter and beatings).
When young Hispanic girls are raped by Jew slave masters and become pregnant, the Jew slave masters abort the fetuses with sticks
then burn the babies in the garden (it is part of Jew religion to murder babies). These baby burning parties by Jews have got out of
control and spread to common land and the countryside causing the devastation seen recently on TV.”
I personally do NOT believe that this tragedy had anything to do with Jews. When I read what these people had wrote and
what their beliefs were, I found myself in complete utter shock. In my opinion I think the people who came up with the assumption
that Jews began the California fires are racist to say the LEAST.
PAGE 20
www.truecolorearth.com
Dirty Laundry
Political Commentary by Jordan Thornhill
Wanna hear a story?
Once upon a time we had politicians that cared about the people. Once upon a time we had news networks that
reported both sides of the story without playing into their political agenda. Once upon a time we had a world where the
American populace had a right to know all the facts before placing their ballot.
But people, wake up and smell the coffee.
These are just sad fairy tales and dirty laundry.
Your television is lying to you.
Politics have always been dirty. Mudslinging and foul play are Washington’s pastimes. Stories are slanted, especially now that the civil differences between Republican and Democratic parties have never been more prominent (despite
the empty promises of bi-partisan relationships on both sides).
In this modern day and age it’s ten times worse because of the communication power of the internet. Blogs, YouTube videos and pop-up windows scream at you every where you click, beckoning you to one side and then another.
But to believe everything you hear is foolhardy.
Latest example: On November 28, CNN (the Cable News Network) and http://YouTube.com sponsored the
second Republican debate of the year, following the Democratic debates held on the 15th that same month. However, according to an analysis of http://freerepublic.com, Anderson Cooper was slamming the Republican candidates with particularly difficult questions while in the democratic debates he was prompted to give pre-planned ‘easy’ questions to candidate Hillary Clinton. This is after Clinton’s previous history of planted questions in the Newton, Iowa energy speech on
November 9. On top of that, in the infamous video question about gays in the military presented by Keith Kerr during the
Republican debate, many felt the need to tear the candidates to shreds for not supplying a satisfying answer. However, no
one felt the need to state that Kerr is, in fact, a member of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual Americans For
Hillary Steering Committee and a co-chair on Hillary Clinton's National Military Veterans group. That’s right, he supports
a candidate from the other party.
Picture taken from www.blognetnews.com
Moral of the story? Don’t follow any political party or single
news source blindly. Don’t just listen to the banter that presidential candidates spew out during the election campaign. Do a little homework if
you have to: Google.com is always good. The most important thing in
an election is to know where the candidates stand and what they can REALISTICALLY accomplish. And ready yourself for the dirty laundry.
Picture taken from: www.thecloroxcompany.com
PAGE 21
I Don’t Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)
Political Commentary by Zachary DeNovellis
DRUG USERS OF AMERICA UNITE!!!!!! Barack Hussein Obama at first appears to be an excellent choice for president. Unfortunately, Obama has one major problem. In his past Obama used several illegal substances; one of these drugs was cocaine. On
the website www.wilmtreatment.com a quote from Obama is, “Pot had helped, and
booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it.” Currently Obama smokes cigarettes.
According to www.ontheissues.org Obama understands why today’s youth wants to use
drugs.
This drug use could be a major problem for the government. It would be setting
a bad example for today’s youth. Even though honesty is a good trait for a leader of this
country, drug use is still unacceptable behavior.
Obama has several ideas. Obama did not want English to be the official language
of the United States government. He also wants to build a fence on the Mexican border.
He also wishes to ban semi-automatic firearms. Obama wants women registered for the
draft but not for combat.
These ideas could change The United States. Unfortunately there is no guarantee
that these changes will be for the better. Obama does have some good ideas but some of
these have to be planned out more.
According to CNN.com Obama is not winning in many states. A majority of the
states favor Clinton over Obama. Clinton and Obama are close though. In most states they are the top two democratic candidates. Perhaps several
people are not voting for Obama due to his drug use.
The drug use is a negative quality for Obama. The drugs may have affected his judgment. His ideas could change America. Before you
vote for Barack Hussein, Obama ask yourself this: Do you want an ex-druggie for President?
The Philosopher
Alright. So apparently, over in Iraq, we’re fighting nothing but a group of animalistic children armed with
Molotov cocktails and flaming American flags. The primary concern about this isn’t our soldiers well-being or
the outcome of the conflict – No. What we, as Americans should be concerned with is how we look during and
after we fight them. I mean, when you’re at war conflict, the most pressing issue is whether or not we can flex
our proverbial nuts and swing our metaphorical grapefruits all over the world in a decisive strike of militaristic
domination. Clearly, looking bad will mutate into an issue of national security -- and in the case of our enemy?
It’s not like they’ve dedicated their lives to guerilla combat in their own homes, with the ability to blend into
the environment at any given moment, placing near invisible explosives on the roads our troops presume safe.
No, there is no possibility that these are trained madmen intent on killing our soldiers by whatever means
necessary, finding glory in death fighting us.
No, these are children armed with improvised explosive devices.
This arrangement of verbal cacophony is what you’d hear if you subjected yourself to the ramblings of senator Fred Thompson, Republican presidential nominee. As said by Joe Biden, presidential candidate from Delaware, “If Senator Thompson believes we are fighting ‘a
bunch of kids’, he is totally divorced from reality.” I cannot agree with this further. It baffles me to see a presidential nominee saying such
ludicrous statements about our military, our national image, and the Iraqi forces we are fighting every day. To me, it shows one thing – that
Fred Thompson is not a suitable candidate for presidency. The very fact that he looks at our enemy with this disrespect is a sign that under
his leadership, his folly could very well lead to much more grief and suffering than the world needs. It also shows that despite the overwhelming fountain of information that is offered to American’s as to the strength and tactics of the Iraqi forces, that he doesn’t even understand what we’re up against. It shows we would have a president that doesn’t even understand the serious threat our soldiers face in the Middle East. The proof that our enemy is effective in their tactics is there. The death tolls do nothing but rise. 2007 has been the deadliest year
of the entire war for the United States. That shows that the enemy is getting more effective in their killings. I’ve spoken with soldiers and
special forces who truly understand our enemy. The way they fight, you never know when you could die. You never know when the hobbling old man in the market is about to pull out his copycat AK-47 and light up the streets.
Fred Thompson told a questioner Bernhard Steinhouse, “…we didn’t know what we were facing when we went into Iraq.”
PAGE 22
You still don’t, Mr. Thompson.
blogs.edweek.org
Political Commentary by Matthew Brown
Wake Up
This isn’t the usual useless political banter of Washington’s conservatives versus liberals. This is a question of humanity.
When you think of persecution, you imagine Nazi invasions. You picture a flock of white men performing a lynching. You imagine a
middle aged American white Christian male sitting on his couch with a can of hops shouting every racial slur he can think of at the TV.
You do not generally picture those same white Christians fleeing for their lives from a spiteful culture, being “kidnapped, killed, tortured, massacred."
And yet, in present day Iraq, Christian persecution is getting steadily worse.
Recall the hundred thousand Kurds killed under the Saddam regime? Because they were Christian. Sudan / Darfur, the latest genocide, is based on religion. The vast majority of those killed practiced Christianity. Anyone else see a connection?
Church services are, for the time being, allowed by the Iraqi government… but they are watched like hawks and by no
means encouraged by the population. The latest conflict with the western hemisphere has made it even worse. It’s gotten to the
point where Christians are now fleeing to Syria, another Middle Eastern country with very little religious tolerance, for shelter. “If
you’re going to a place like Syria, it’s because you’ve got no place to go.” claims Jim Jacobson, President of Christian Freedom International. With a population of eighteen million in Syria, only ten percent are
Christian. Not that Christians being a minority is a bad thing necessarily but
they are severely outnumbered in a culture that opposes every one of their ideals.
Most Americans see Mohamed as some kind of peace preaching, godlike Gandhi. Mohamed never preached peace. He saw Jesus as weak. He was
the one that declared a permanent jihad on any religion that was not Islam, and
was a huge promoter of white Christian slavery of the ‘inferiors’ which existed
in the Middle East until the mid 1900s and is still legal today. You don’t need
to be Christian to see that this is wrong.
“… people [hold] a false image of Islam as a religion of peace and compassion… it’s not true, unless you remain Islam,” claims Samer, a Jordanian
prisoner interviewed by http://worldnet.net.
Even in the United States Christians are being persecuted to a certain extent.
In public places such as schools, airports and offices, you’re not allowed to have
a Christmas tree… and yet, they’re establishing Muslim foot baths and prayer
rooms. Face it: radical Islam is dominating. This is insane!
Most Christians have become too politically correct and the guilt from past
transgressions stops them from taking a stand for their beliefs. This leaves only
whackadoos like televangelists and far-right nut jobs protesting homosexuality
at troop funerals to represent them. The religion itself is at risk.
Go on believing Islam is a religion of peace. Let the destruction of Christianity
commence.
PAGE 23
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/11/19/world/19policy.600.jpg
www.victoryparty.us
Political Commentary By Jordan Thornhill
Leave
By: Brittney Boyd
Caution! The United States has been invaded by illegal immigrants. Today the media is so focused on the conflicts in Iraq, they’ve forgotten to report on the number of American citizens that have been murdered by these illegal
aliens that have entered into this country. Even though it is impossible to keep track of the crimes committed by illegal
immigrants there are a number of groups that have reported estimates based on information collected from prison reports, news articles and other independent researches. These reports state that everyday there are at least twelve
American citizens whose lives are taken in result of criminal illegal aliens.
In a report founded by the American Automobile Association (AAA) foundation for Traffic Study it was stated
that in 2005 there were an estimated 42, 636 road deaths due to drinking and driving. This report also stated that
twenty percent of those road deaths are caused by illegal aliens who were under the influence of alcohol. Statistically,
there are thirteen Americans who die each day from intoxicated illegal immigrant drivers. Illegal aliens are a greater
danger to drivers in America than the American citizens whose licenses have been suspended or revoked.
Deborah Schurman of the Violent Crimes Institute in Atlanta conducted a one- year research on illegal immigrants who have been charged for sexual based offenses. In this research she concluded that in 2005 there were approximately 240,000 illegal immigrant sex offenders. Out of those illegal immigrant sex offenders on the average, they
have at least four victims a piece. Deborah analyzed cases from January 1999 through April 2006 that included several
serial rapes, serial murders, sexual homicides and child molestation committed by illegal immigrants in the United
States.
According to Edwin Rubenstein, the president of ESR Research Economic Consultants in Indianapolis, in 1980
both federal and state correctional facilities held fewer then 9,000 criminal aliens. This number increased rapidly; at
the end of 2003 there were an estimated 267,000 criminal aliens who were sentenced to serve time in a United States
correctional facility. It is obvious that illegal aliens aren’t just coming to the United States to make a better life for
themselves in the United States. They are coming over here and terrorizing the American people. Peter Wagoner, author of a new report called “The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration” states, “When we allow in the good in we get the
‘bad’ along with them.” The question is how much bad is acceptable and at what price?
Information taken from: www.wnd.com
www.usinfo.state.gov
www.immigrationshumancost.org
Picture taken from: www.philidelphia-reflections.com/images
PAGE 24
Thanksgiving Day Wrap-up
By Justin Deloge
The first thing that you would assume waking up Thanksgiving morning would be that it’s cold
outside. That was not the case this Thanksgiving morning; it was a nicer day and in the fifties, a perfect
day for the Panther Plunge. It was 6:45 in the morning and Kevin Wells and I start heading down to the
school for the delightful four mile run from Plainfield High School to Moosup Pond. Kevin decided to
wear the skirt he wore the previous day for the pep rally, I think he likes it way too much. All the runners
stepped to the starting line and when Mr. Bowne said go we were off.
Going down the schools driveway and heading down route 12 wasn’t that bad. I was running besides Mrs. Bastien and Kevin Wells for
most of the time once I couldn’t keep up with KC Collins any more. The biggest task up to this point was heading up the treacherous hill by staples. This was a killer to my legs let me tell you. Once we headed down the hill we had some nice people handing out water. It was probably one
of the smallest cups of water I have seen. It did not help me at all, I was still tired and nowhere near rejuvenated. Then we keep running and here
comes another hill. This one is a lot bigger and a lot more intimidating. Once we got to the Moosup Pond Road intersection I knew I was almost
home free. I come booking down the hill with every last bit of strength I had left in me. Finally I’m done the race with a time of thirty seven minutes and forty seven seconds. I needed water. I drank that bottle of water in about a minute. We finished with about fifteen minutes left before
we had to run into the freezing water.
The countdown began from ten and worked its way down to one. As soon as the announcer said 2 I was off and running. I ran right into
the water and feel face first. This was the coldest water I have ever jumped into in my life. I ran in and I tried to stay in for a little while but the
fridged temperature of the water made it very hard for me to even attempt to stay in. I ran right out of that water and jumped right into my many
towels and was drinking a hot chocolate that Lane Carnelli bought for me.
The annual Panther Plunge and Panther Run was yet again another big success. Mrs. Collins is one of the key supporters of this event.
She was out there with all of us kids and some adults running her tail off and beating most of us. This is a very amusing event and all of the money
goes to the Plainfield High School Booster Club, so I want to see more people come out for this magnificent event. This event is an wonderful way
to have fun with your teachers and friends.
After my nice HOT, refreshing shower it was off to Griswold High School for the greatly anticipated football game. The sun was shining
and it was a wonderful day for some Thanksgiving football. I went in the bleachers and found my spot for the game, right up front with all the
Plainfield fans. Ten o’clock came around and the kick off for the greatly anticipated game was underway. Right off the bat the Wolverines started
running the ball very well right down the Panthers throats. The Wolverines scored on the first possession of the game. They marched right down
the field like there was no defense there at all. That was basically the story for the whole game. We went into half time shut-out 28-0. If we
played like we did in the second half of the game it would have been a good game. We held Griswold to only one touchdown in the entire second
half and we scored two. The final score of the game was Griswold 35 Plainfield 15. Yet again another sad loss for the Panthers against the Wolverines. It was a hard fought game and we hope to get the win next year.
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS
By Nikia Lane
This year’s senior girls’ Powderpuff team
won the game, beating those juniors, or “kitties” 72! With a broken nose from a team player Corin
Bolles, an amazing touchdown by Meagan Marriot
and fabulous teamwork from all of the girls and their
wonderful coach Mr. Worth, they took home the
trophy! Holding it up loud and proud in their sweet
uniforms, they were then announced the winners of
the 2008 Powderpuff game! Everyone went home
smiling, including the junior girls and their awesome
trainer, coach Bowne. It was a great game, and being
that everyone knew each other and were solid
friends, it was all out of good fun! GOOD GAME
GIRLS!
PAGE 25
Picture Taken by Jerome
Picture cooked by Rachael Ray
Run It
We’re All In This Together
By Katelyn Kennedy
On Wednesday, November 20th, Plainfield High School was radiating school spirit as the traditional
pre-Thanksgiving Football Pep Rally was just around the corner. In my 4th block Early U.S History class with
Mr. Smith, you could tell the school could not wait for the pep rally to begin. As students and teachers alike
piled in the Gym, the stands were soon filled with screaming teachers, yelling students and angry janitors. I
was so nervous and excited!
The select chorus sang the national anthem and with that the pep rally began! First
they talked about the hallway decorating (the halls looked phenomenal). The scores were as
follows: in third place was the freshmen class, the second place was given to the Juniors and
lastly but ironically coming in first was The SENIORS! Being a sophomore it was sad that we
did not place! A couple of my friends began to cry in disappointment but I threatened not to
give them any more Skittles and the tears soon subsided.
The excitement began to mount as the junior powder puff team came on to the
court. The fans really began to scream as the seniors came running on to the court. The
cheering was loud and proud and it all came from the students.
In the middle of the first half of the powder puff game, senior Corin Bolles got her
nose broken. We are still investigating who the culprit might be. Any way the powder puff
game was fantastic but the seniors had it from the get go. During half time in the powder
puff, the male cheerleaders featuring Justin Deloge, one of The Advocate’s very own reporters. Good job
guys, your choreography was amazing and well planned out. I would like to say thank you to the girls who
trained them: the guys were great and you all worked really hard! I think it was an awesome job done by all.
And the score at the end of the game was Seniors: 7 Juniors: 2! Good job seniors and nice try by the juniors.
The pep rally was just what the school needed to bring up its school spirit! This was an event that
should not be missed! It was a good break from the educational torture that we deal with every day and a
great way to let out some of the energy! I would like to give a special thank you to everyone who helped put
together this pep rally.
PAGE 26
PAGE 27
You Don’t Know Me
Commentary by Kimmy Reindl
The society we live in is a primitive one. People are judged everyday, every second. No one is guiltless of performing this act either. This
is something that everyone in the world has to deal with. Having had experienced being on both sides of this continuum, I know that we
need to try to stop doing this. It’s not fun to be judged. It gives the victim reason to believe that he or she has no identity other than the one
stuck to him or her inherently. On the other hand, displaying judgmental qualities gives people around you a negative connotation of your
character.
Being labeled by people who don’t know you personally can be infuriating. Anyone who thinks they know who you are or what
you’re about by a brief glance at you is obviously an ignoramus, right? Not necessarily. This isn’t always a learned behavior. It’s instinct to
run if you see someone sporting a tattered ski mask coming at you. Subsequently, it’s also instinct to go to the nearest person wearing a
police uniform to help you. It’s something we are all born to do. Judging people and things is merely an innate sense that was a basic survival skill for the real world. Nonetheless, you judged the man in the ski mask and the one in the police uniform. You don’t really know
these people or even the reason why they appeared the way they did when you encountered them. The man in the ski mask could have been
a police officer in plain-clothes on particularly chilly morning whereas the man in the police uniform could have very well been on his way to
a raging bachelorette party. It’s not someone’s fault to judge in a situation like that. The reason for believing that a man in a ski mask will
mug you or some guy in a police uniform will help you is because most of the time, it happens this way.
Most people have it backwards and this is our problem. A person doesn’t decide to mug someone because he is in a ski mask. It’s
just that most people who mug other people are wearing ski masks. We need to apply this concept in real life. Take me for example. I am
a half-Japanese kid and I get stereotyped all the time. People think I do well in school because of natural talent (maybe not everyone, and I
thank you, “not everyone”). Asians are born with a knack for academics, right? Not really. I do well by choice. I know doing well in school
is the choice I should make because I was raised in an environment where I was told that this is what I had to do to bring success more easily
in the future. By chance, many Asians are raised to believe this as well. Thus, a lot of Asians do well in school.
God Bless the Gun Plumber
Commentary by Matthew Brown
I’ve just read something that stirs a brewing pot of anger, confusion, sadness, and disgust in the pit of my stomach. Eerily reminiscent of the
UCLA incident last November and the ever-infamous “Don’t taze me, bro!” controversy of this September; the trigger-happy police have amplified their detaining methods: Murder. Using these convenient little tools reminds me of an episode of The Simpsons. In this episode, Homer
purchases a firearm, specifically a semi-automatic pistol. He proceeds to use this pistol for every day actions such as turning off the television, and
shutting off the lights. This hilarious situation can be correlated to the police using stun guns against people they feel are “threats.”
Instead of potentially killing someone who presents no physical threat to you, why can’t they use their physical training to swiftly and safely detain someone and then cuff them? Why must they use instruments that kill upward thirty-people a year? Why must civil disobedience be squashed
with ruthless acts of laziness and improper training? Why must a family grieve forever because an officer is afraid to get his hands dirty? How can
this flagrant miscarriage of justice continue without rectification? These questions may remain unanswered forever, but I’ll be damned if I can’t
raise a proposal to set this right.
Before I raise proposals, allow me to placate any adversaries to my position. I believe that in some circumstances, while clear threat of imminent
physical harm is presented to the police officer, such as a swinging fist, an extended leg, or a tackle, the usage of these devices may be used if
physical detention of the culprit may not be practically or safely achieved. For example, if a large, disgruntled man is assaulting a solitary, weaker
police officer, the use of these devices is fine. If multiple police officers cannot successfully detain and stop an assailant, or there are multiple, the
use of these devices is more than welcome. If weapons are present or suspected, the use of these devices should be fine.
However, this is NOT how they have been used. Officers have been using these potentially-lethal tools on practitioners of civil disobedience. If a
man is angry because he has been waiting for ten hours in an airport, should he be shocked to death if he is only yelling, and not presenting a
physical threat? If a college student is trying to ask questions to former presidential candidate John Kerry, and he is willingly receiving them,
should multiple officers gang up on him and taze him? If a student is using the schools library, and forgot his ID, should he be brutalized by police
officers even though he presented no physical threat? The reason this scenario disgusts me so much is because in the 1900s, civil disobedience was
more well-received when Mahatma Gandhi employed it. No one is arguing that the people who received these attacks weren’t out of line. But is
it truly hard for multiple police officers to cuff and lead away a wimpy string bean college student out of the premises?
PAGE 28
defensereview.com
BUT WAIT!! Stereotypes aren’t always accurate, though. My cousin in Japan is doing down right terrible in school. I don’t want
anyone turning the page believing that I’m some sort of warped stereotype advocate. Most stereotypes are down right mean and wrong.
We shouldn’t step aside and let stereotypes happen. Characterization happens to everyone and it’s something we all have in common. If
you are like me and don’t appreciate these clichéd categorizations, be different, talk to everyone, give yourself a chance to know them, don’t
step aside and let it happen and separate yourself from the generalizations.
Shine On You Crazy Diamond
By Jake Wills
Roger Keith “Syd” Barrett is many things. A songwriter, a singer, a guitarist and an artist. He is best known as the English founder of psychedelic rock group Pink Floyd. He was only in the band for about seven years until his irratic and uncontrollable behavior made
him impossible to work with and he left the band. He then went into seclusion from the public for thirty years until dying in 2006.
It wasn’t long before Syd’s heavy psychedelic drug use such as LSD
or acid made his behaviour out of control. For instance, one time Syd was
noticed strumming the same chord for a whole concert because he was too
messed up to actually play the songs. Also a lot of the times Syd would just
wander around on stage while everyone else played. Because of this behaviour, one of Syds old school friends David Gilmour was asked to join their
band as a second guitarist to replace Syd when he was too messed up to play.
For lots of shows, Gilmour would play guitar and sing while Syd just ran
around on stage occasionally joining in. Syd’s behaviour got so bad that one
time when the band was on the way to a show, they all voted to not even
pick Syd up and do the show without him. After this, Syd was slowly being
pushed out of the band. Syd was asked to only write songs and to wait outside the studio while the rest of the band recorded. After 1968, Syd did not
contribute much to the band and when he did come to the band with a new
song, it was impossible to learn because Syd kept changing things. In March
1968, Syd was officially not a member of Pink Floyd.
After leaving the band, Syd did have a short solo career releasing
two solo albums. A lot of the songs on both of his albums were written from
late 1966 to mid 1967. Those were his most productive years because it was believed that Syd did not write many new songs after leaving
Pink Floyd in 1968.
Syds first solo album was called The Madcap Laughs and was produced by David Gilmour and Roger Waters, two other
member from Pink Floyd. His second album was entitled Barrett. It was produced between February and July 1970. Listening to the
album, you could tell that Syd was now in a much worse state. Although he came out with two solo albums, he did little with music outside of the studio between 1968 and 1972. During this period, he had only performed live once. It was on June 6, 1970 at the Olympia
Exhibition Hall in London. He performed four songs for a half an hour and at the end of the fourth song, he unexpectedly put his guitar
down and walked off stage.
In 1972, for a short period of time, Syd started another band called Stars with friends Twink on drums and Jack Monck on bass.
Once they played a show at the Corn Exchange in Cambridge and it was a disaster. A couple of days after the disastrous show, Syd read
some bad reviews on their performance and quit the band on the spot.
When Syd first went into seclusion from the public, he moved into a hotel and lived there. When he ran out of money he went
to live with his mother in Cambridge. He had returned to making his art, including large abstract canvases. It has also been reported that
Syd had taken an interest in gardening. The one person Syd kept close contact with outside of his mothers was his sister, Rosemary who
lived close to his mothers. Although Syd seemed happier, his health was a big concern, suffering from stomach ulcers and type two diabetes.
Last year on Friday July 7, 2006, Syd died at the Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge. The cause of death was pancreatic cancer which is usually reported as complications from diabetes. When he died, he left in his will $1.25 million dollars to his two brothers
and sisters. On May 10, 2007 a tribute concert was held at the Barbican Centre in London. It included all Syd’s old band mates from Pink
Floyd.
My information was taken from wickepedia.com
http://www.ericleonhardtbrown.org/home/images/syd.gif
Syd was born on January 6, 1946 in Cambridge, England to a middle class family. Both his dad, Arthur Barrett and his mother,
Winifred Barrett, completely supported Syd’s musical dreams. Before Syd came up with the name Pink Floyd for the band, they had many
other names such as “The Abdabs”, “The Screaming Abdabs”, “Sigma 6” and “The Megadeaths”. In 1965, they were playing a concert and
come to find out there was another band there with the same name. That is when Syd came up with the name Pink Floyd. The band consisted of guitarist Syd Barrett, drummer Nick Mason, bassist and lyricist Roger Waters, and keyboardist Richard Wright.
Purple Haze
By Jake Wills
Information and Pictures taken from www.woodstock.com
From August 15th to August 18th, 1969, the Woodstock Music and Art Festival was
held at Max Yasgur’s dairy farm in Bethel, New York. This event was founded by Michael
Lang, John Roberts, Joel Rosenmen and Artie Kornfeld. Woodstock was a concert held
with thirty-two of the best and most popular bands of the 1960
s hippie era. Woodstock is believed to be the peak of the hippie movement. The genres of music that were played at the festival
were rock, folk, blues, jazz fusion, latin rock, psychedelic rock, acid rock and alternative rock. This festival changed the history of
rock & roll forever.
Woodstock began as a profit-making concert but once it started drawing hundreds of thousands more people then they prepared for, they cut down the entrance gate and made it a free event. Before the concert was made free, tickets were $18.00 or
$24.00 if you wanted to stay for all three days.
Woodstock was a very peaceful event with 500,000 hippies chillin and just listening to the music. However, not everything
went as smooth as planned. Throughout all three days of the concert there were three miscarriages, two recorded births and three
deaths which included a drug overdose, someone getting ran over by a tractor while sleeping and someone falling off a scaffold.
On August 15th, which was the first day of the event, the bands that performed included Richie Havens, John Sebastian,
Sweetwater, Arlo Guthrie and Joan Baez. August 16 performers included Quill, Santana, Canned Heat, Mountain, Janis Joplin, who
performed two encores singing “Piece of My Heart” and “Ball and Chain.” The Grateful Dead played next but when they performed
there were some technical problems. Band members Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir both said they kept getting shocked every time they
touched their guitars. Unfortunately, Grateful Dead said that it was their worst performance ever and chose not to be put in the
movie made with all the footage taken of the concert. After the Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival played eleven songs including
“Green River”, “Suzy Q” and “Bad Moon Rising”. On August 18th, the great Jimi Hendrix was the last performance of the concert
playing sixteen songs including “Purple Haze”, “Gypsy Woman”, “Foxy Lady” and “Fire”.
There was also quite a few bands who didn’t end up playing in the festival. One band that was supposed to play was The
Beatles. The promoters contacted John Lennon and asked him to get the Beatles but he couldn’t get them. John then offered to play
with his Plastic Ono Band but his offer was refused. Another huge band of that time period that didn’t go to the festival was The
Doors. They were being considered to play at Woodstock but cancelled at the last minute because lead singer, Jim Morrison was
afraid that someone was going to try and shoot him while he was on stage. Led Zeppelin was asked to play at the concert but their
manager said that at Woodstock, they would just be another band on the bill.
In 1994, another Woodstock was attempted and was advertised as two more days of peace and music. It included bands like
Aerosmith, Cypress Hill, Bob Dylan, Metallica and Santana. Not surprisingly, the concert turned out to be a disaster. People were
getting raped and killed, things were getting burnt down and it was just chaos. I think it was like that because it was in the 90s not
the 60s and it wasn’t a bunch of peaceful hippies, it was a bunch of 90s kids just destroying things.
PAGE 30
You Are the Music in Me
By Kimmy Reindl
I am the type of person who does not enjoy sleeping in public. One particularly dreary and rainy
afternoon, I was stranded inside the school building while waiting for my marching band practice to commence. I wanted to doze off but decided against it. Waking up with unpleasant illustrations Sharpied on my
face wasn’t something I wanted to take place. Bored, I began aimlessly walking throughout the school when I
took notice of an enchanting tune. As I followed it toward the band practice rooms, I recognized the thing that was producing the sound to be
the most moving instrument to ever exist; the clarinet. I opened the practice room door and saw one of my friends from band. I asked, “What
was that song you were playing?”
“That was Allerseelen. I’m practicing it for QVMF.” “QVMF”. I had heard of this before. It was an acronym for the Quinebaug Valley
Music Festival, where music teachers from this area banded together and chose the elite from their schools to perform in one giant super-band or
super-chorus. Approximately 175 high school students were going to be performing there from schools such as the Academy of the Holy Family,
Griswold High School, Killingly High School, Marianapolis Preparatory School, Parish Hill Regional High School, Putnam High School, Woodstock Academy, and our own Plainfield High School. Luckily for me, Plainfield would be where the concert was held this year, hosted by our
own Mr. Gowdy and Mrs. Ortiz. I decided that I would attend to hear Allerseelen and hopefully other songs like it.
It was seven o’clock on Wednesday, November 28th when I arrived. I bought my ticket and was greeted by an amiable nun, presumably from the Academy of the Holy Family. She gingerly took the ticket and tore off the stub with a smile. I uttered, “Thank you sister,” under
my breath, not sure of whether that was appropriate under these circumstances or not. I proceeded into the auditorium and took my seat, waiting in anticipation. Judging by the murmur of the audience around me, they shared this excitement. The lights dimmed and Mr. Gowdy took
the stage in front of the band. He introduced himself, our school, and the conductor, Gary Kirsch who promptly appeared from behind a curtain. Gary Kirsch had an awkward atmosphere about him as he gave his brief spiel about himself and QVMF. This ambiance quickly left him as
he counted off and the first song began.
The first song was Courtly Airs and Dances by Ron Nelson. This song featured different sections representing tunes from different countries which were France, England, Italy, Spain and Germany. The song was upbeat and parts sounded distinctly European. The next song was
the awaited Allerseelen (All Soul’s Day) by Richard Strauss, arranged by Albert O. Davis. Kirsch turned toward the audience and explained what
the song was about by reading a poem about the German holiday, Allerseelen, which is when spirits of the deceased revisit their living loved
ones. The poem told of a lonely man who had recently lost the love of his life and how he searched for her in the night. The man was unable to
find her until it was very late and spent a short moment with her before she had to disappear again. The song reflected this mood well. The
audience and I felt a great deal of emotion when we heard it. The band concluded with a cheery and German Trafalgar March by W. Zeghle.
Everyone did a excellent job and stayed together. They even received a standing ovation from the crowd. The band then left the stage and the
chorus took its place, whose guest conductor was Tahme G. Adinolphi.
The chorus sang Gloria InExcelis by Antonio Vivaldi, The Lass From The Low Countree, a folk song arranged by John Purifoy, Trěs Cantos
Nativos Dos Indios Kraό, a Brazilian song arranged by Marcos Leite and The Song That Goes Like This from “Spamalot” by John Du Prez and Eric Idle.
Trěs Cantos Nativos Dos Indios Kraό was my favorite. It was a song that imitated the sounds you would hear if you ever ended up in a Brazilian
rainforest: native people singing, animal noises and all. There was an alto girl who did a startling and realistic monkey call. When she did it for
the first time, everyone looked around the auditorium as though an untamed primate could come attack someone at any time. That girl helped
me to better understand the fact that chimpanzees share 98% of our DNA. The final song was The Song That Goes Like This from “Spamalot”. It
was funny as the girls and boys essentially had a conversation with one another as they sang. They sang of a song that came “once in every show”
that was “far too long, I'm sure. That's the trouble with this song, it goes on and on and on…”. The chorus had a splendid performance and
really captivated the audience with the character they brought to the songs.
When the concert was over, I was impressed with the band and chorus. Upon interviewing
Mr. Gowdy, I found that he agreed. “I thought the concert went very well. Everything went pretty
smoothly. Nobody fell off the stage; no one was physically injured. The band played some tough selections, some of the parts were a little bit tricky but followed it through, had a nice, whole sound.
Chorus, I thought had a nice selection of tunes… there was a Brazilian tune in there. I thought it was
really neat and one from Spamalot, I believe. Quite funny. The conductors were extremely sincere
and very nice… So all in all I think we did a
good job,” he said.
Pictures taken by Heather Fountaine
A Man and a Woman
My Favorite Band:Administrative EDITION
By Nikia Lane
Mr. Arcarese’s favorite singer is Jose Feliciano! He
loves Jose because of the type of music he plays and the
type of mood Jose’s melodies put him in. Mr. Arcarese
has listened to Jose Feliciano ever since he was in college, “thirty four years ago!” he says. His favorite song
by Jose is “Light My Fire” which was originally made
by The Doors. Other types of music that Mr. Arcarese
likes to listen to are Jazz, Country Western and Rock
N’ Roll! He hasn’t been able to see Jose Feliciano in
concert, but he has seen Ray Charles in Mississippi
along with Blood, Sweat & Tears. Also he has seen
Barry Manilow, Andrea Bochelli and Toby Keith (who
his wife is in love with) at Mohegan Sun.
PAGE 32
http://www.habitat.org/html_newsletters/newsroom/Dave_Matthews_hi_res.jpg
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articlePics/article17724.jpg
Mrs. Riley’s favorite band is the Dave Matthews Band!
She likes what DMB sings about, and the rhythm of their
music. Mrs. Riley’s been listening to them ever since
they came out, and she loves them so. Her favorite song
from the DMB is a song about apartheid …but she can’t
think of the title, so if you know that song please let her
know!! When Mrs. Riley taught eighth grade, and she
was teaching a unit on Africa, she remembers using lyrics
from some of their songs, which is another reason why
they’re her favorite band because they have so much
meaning in what they sing and play about. She has never
seen Dave Matthews Band in concert before but she has
seen Queen, Grateful Dead, James Taylor, Sly & The
Family Stone and Little Feet. Other types of music that
Mrs. Riley likes to listen to are Motown, Jazz, Country
and all of 50’s 60’s and 70’s music.
December 25th
Alien vs. Predator: Requiem
A Little Less Conversation
Charlie Wilson’s War
By Kayla Sheeley
Two new screens, appropriately titled numbers eleven and
twelve, have been added to O’Neil Cinemas in Lisbon Landing.
Even though these additions were supposed to be completed back
in April of 2005 (when the theater was built), they were a huge hit
on their opening night on November 16, 2007. Technically, only
the twelfth one was open to the public, since it is the bigger of the
two, and was hosting the premier of Beowulf 3D. The eleventh
theater was finished approximately two weeks later.
This oh so wonderful new addition makes the cinema live up to it’s
title, Cinema 12.
Originally Beowulf was being shown in two different theaters. 10 and 12 were its hosts. The first week each showing was
virtually sold out. There were plenty of mixed reviews, just like
there is with any movie showing. Beowulf really only partially had
anything to do with the epic, again, much like most movies made
from books. Personally I liked it.
Anyway, back to the theater. The 3D movies are played
using digital projectors, which doesn’t mean much since I’m not
sure what type of projectors are normally used. Not digital?
(December Movie Releases)
The Water Horse: Legend of
the Deep
Persepolis
December 7
th
There Will be Blood
The Golden Compass
The Amateurs
December 28th
Atonement
Cassandra’s Dream
Grace is Gone
Honeydripper
Juno
The Orphanage
Looking for Cheyenne
Revolver
Tony ‘n’ Tina’s wedding
The Walker
Strength and Honor
Timber Falls
Midnight Eagle
December 14th
Alvin and the Chipmunks
I Am Legend
The Perfect Holiday
The Kite Runner
Nanking
Youth Without Youth
December 19th
The Bucket List
Flakes
December 21st
National Treasure: Book of
Secrets
P.S. I Love You
www.cinematour.com
The Great Debaters
Sweeney Todd
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox
Story
Information taken from yahoomovies.com
www.Google.com
Beowulf will more than likely be leaving Lisbon Landing in
about a month. The next 3D movie will be out in three months or
so and then every three months after they’ll receive another new
one, according to the managers at this theater. Other than that,
you should all probably go waste your money on overpriced popcorn and soda and watch whatever movie you want, whether it be
a 3D one with amazing glasses, or a regular one with no amazing
glasses. Clean up your own garbage though. It’s gross having to
pick up after people.
I’ve Seen that Movie Too
For the Month of December!
1st –
2 –
nd
Destiny Aubin
Patrick Dawson
11th –
Tyler Coutu
Samantha Graf
22nd –
Simon Heuangsabath
Allan Kovacs Jr.
Brian Hoffman
Bryttany Hull
24th –
Jamal Bowser
Kate Bonengel
Nicole Walmsley
Brandon Brunelle
Courtney Cyrus
12th --
Jaymin Patel
Micheal Ferderer
Nicholas D’Amico
13 –
Aaron LaPorte
Cody Roberge
3rd –
Stephanie Garcia
14th –
Adam Credit
25th –
Mallory Swabby
4 –
Mrs. Aubin
Gina Lopez
26 –
Danielle Owens
Laura Gorman
Jayne Thompson
27th -
Hayden Beausoleis
Eric MacMahon
Christina White
th
Kaycee Rainville
th
5 –
Justine Lane
6th –
Brooke Lena
th
15th –
17th –
th
Tasha Gaudreau
Howard Carlson
Kayla Salony
Jonathan Cote
28 –
Cole Fowler
Jessica Collins
29th –
Jessica Fontaine
Erin Nadeau
Sarah Cousens
Chad Nadeau
Barry Maily
th
Nikolas Ververis
30th –
Ryan Arpin
7 –
Gloria Rivera
18 –
John Pettigrew
Nathan Etchells
8th –
Nathaniel Wildes
19th –
Kelsey Bonomi
Mallory McCoy
Devaney Henderson
Curtis Needham
th
th
Mr. Murray
9th –
Evan Desrosiers
Amanda Flyte
20th -
Alec Begin
Garrett Desjardins
Brittany Ross
31 –
st
Teagan Brewster
Meagan Marriott-December 19th—P.S. WE LOVE YOU.
PAGE 34
Alice Where Art Thou?
The Art Part
We will have artistically designed panther paintings up on
the wall in the cafeteria as
part of a permanent installation created by Art II and
painting I art students. Each
year we will add more to the
installation. This one was
created by Stephaine Garcia.
Haley Connor is working
on a pen & ink and watercolor composition for the
Voice of Democracy in the
Art Form contest.
For sale only $10 any size and any of
the art students' works.
Any six pieces of art for $3. Haley
Connor thinks that is a great deal
Painting II students
created diptych
(meaning 2 painting
which are related) on
sustainability and
dismissing sustainability. This diptych was created by
Kayla Martin.
PAGE 35
This One’s For The Girls
By Justin Deloge
Last year the girls’ basketball team had a season that they would love to forget about. New varsity coach Dave
Wilcox had at least four seniors on the team last season. They had high hopes for the team but they just kept slipping
away each time the horn sounded to end the game.
This season Mr. Wilcox only has one returning senior, Kayla Perrotti. Since the lack of experience on the team this season there has to be
one big contributor other then the senior leader Perrotti. Mr. Wilcox said that, “It is hard to pick just one person to stand out. I have a lot of
young talent on this team this season like Ardra, Lexa and Talya. They all have varsity experience and are good young talent. He didn’t really give
me a prediction on how the team will do, instead he just said that we are very young and we are hoping to improve. Now with coach Kyle Sabourin
playing basketball again, what kind of affect will this have on the girls. Mr. Wilcox stated, “Kyle was good for at least three extra wins. He got the
girls fired up and ready to play their hearts out. He was a great motivator and will be greatly missed. With the team being so young and lack of
varsity experience and practice experience Mr. Wilcox says that they are going to practice on more fundamentals, and learn to be a better team.
He didn’t really want to answer if he was a tough coach or not but Marissa Dawley states that compared to Z-Man, he is the nicest man in the
world. Since Wilcox has a lack of experience on the team, who does he think will step up and become the team leader this season? He hopes to see
a lot of different girls step up. He has a very strong junior class and Perrotti.
This season should be an interesting one for Mr. Wilcox and company. He has a young team with a lot of potential and a lot of heart and
has high hopes for this year’s basketball season.
Dead End
By: Barry Maily
Sean Taylor, twenty-four year old safety superstar for the Washington Redskins, is
dead. He died on Tuesday, November 11 at the Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. Taylor
was killed at his home on Monday November 10. Police say that he was shot by an intruder at
around 1:45 am. He was in the house with his girlfriend and his one year old daughter, Jackie. Neither one of them were injured.
Taylor’s girlfriend told the authorities that the couple was woken up by a loud noise in the house. Taylor then grabbed a machete which
he keeps by his bed for protection. The door was then busted down and two shots were fired. One of them missed Taylor but the second one hit
one of his main arteries. This bullet ended up taking his life. Also, Antrel Rolle said that he as a close friend of Taylor’s that this was not just a robbery turned sour. That Sean Taylor has many enemies on the streets of Miami and that he believes they were coming for him.
The police are saying that this home invasion stemmed from a robbery earlier in the week. Police also say that he had been being tormented for quitting a gang that he was in. He quit this gang for the birth of his daughter. During the earlier robbery a knife was left on his bedside
so that he would be scared.
The killers are saying that they thought they were going to an empty house. They knew it was Sean Taylor’s house but they thought it was
vacant at the time. As they went through the house they thought that it was empty. But when they got to Taylor’s bedroom they busted down the
door and were surprised to see the twenty-four year old standing there with a machete. They then shot him.
Sean Taylor was a bone crushing hitter, a great cover guy and could get some heat on the passer. He was also starting to build his reputation around the league. He was then elected to the players committee which meets with Coach Gibbs regularly. Sean Taylor’s career was on the up
and up.
Taylor was trying to be a better person after of the birth of his daughter. This had opened his eyes to the fact that he could and should
stay out of trouble. He wouldn’t want to be a bad influence to his daughter. So he tried to stay out of the gang and look what happened to him. This
is just tragic to his friends teammates and all others who were close to him.
This death brings back the memories from just last season when Darrent Williams was shot in the back of his limousine. This followed an
argument inside a Denver night club on January 1st just last year. It also brings up the possibility that maybe the National Football league is the worst
of all the major sporting leagues in the United States, in terms of criminals. You have Michael Vick and the Minnesota Vikings and the whole Bengals defense.
Information and picture taken from http://www.espn.com
PAGE 36
www.southwestschools.org
We Got The Beat
By Samantha Young and Elyssa Dion
Why not add a dance team to Plainfield High School? This was the question that Elyssa Dion and Kayla Charlwood, who already had been dancing for twelve years, asked themselves. These girls decided that it be a stupendous idea to teach what they have
learned through dance to the girls in the high school. Initially, their plan included performing with the marching band during half-time
at football games. However, what eventually evolved was the decision, made between the coaches and team advisor, to perform at all
pep rallies and half-time during all home basketball games allowing this new team to become more comfortable. And on the topic of
team advisor, there’s a somewhat unusual story behind this new Plainfield High School position being filled by our own T.A.C Room
supervisor, Mrs. Aubin
“At the beginning of the school year,” said coach Elyssa, “we had to have rehearsals outside in all types of weather; from
scorching heat on the tennis courts to pouring rain under the front entrance rotunda.” The lack of an advisor caused their practices to be
outside. After posting fliers and sending e-mails via school bulletins, Mrs. Aubin stepped to the plate. “I wanted to learn how to dance!”
said Mrs. Aubin when asked why she made this decision, “I saw this group of girls outside and wondered what they were doing and soon
found out they needed an advisor to practice indoors. I slept on it, and then decided it sounded like it would be fun. I am very impressed with how serious these girls are about their performances and I take pride in being their advisor. It’s fun for me to see them
having such a great time at something they love to do.” Mrs. Aubin has been a great help to the team by setting up fundraisers such as
car washes and candy sales.
After a couple months of practice, the dancing divas were finally able to perform in the September Homecoming Pep Rally. It
was their first performance in front of the whole student body and the girls were overtaken by uncontrollable jitters. Thankfully, the
girls brought their “A” game and were rewarded with thundering applause. “After that performance the girls found how exhilarating it
was to perform, “said Elyssa,” and could not wait until their next opportunity.”
Over the following month they bought new team sweatshirts with the money they collectively raised. They also worked on a
new hip hop dance which was debuted at the Thanksgiving Pep Rally on November 24th, and were yet again thrilled with the lengthy
applause and ensuing compliments from the students and staff . “The girl’s confidence for this performance was much stronger than it
was for the first because they believed in themselves a lot more,” said Kayla.
Pictures by Jerome
At this time the girls are practicing for the halftime shows at this seasons home basketball games. “I am so proud,” said Elyssa,
“these girls are learning incredibly fast and are pushing themselves to do their very best. I am overjoyed that Kayla and I have been able
to blaze a new trail for the students of PHS and I am very confident that this is just the beginning of new and exciting activities offered
here to all students. It is my hope that many more students decide to give the dance team a try and that we can add a number of boys
to our roster which will enable us to incorporate a different variety of lifts and tricks to the repertoire.”
PAGE 37
I t ’s B e g i n n i n g t o L o o k a L o t L i ke C h r i s t m a s
By Sam Young
Have you ever wondered about Christmas? What’s the deal with mall Santas and who are they? Why are there so many suicides? It’s supposed to be the happiest time
of year. Here are some random Christmas facts that entertain and shock you.
Three billion Christmas cards are sent annually in the United States.
During the Christmas season, over 1.76 billion candy canes will be produced
More suicides happen on Christmas
There are about 21,000 Christmas tree growers in the United States.
In 2006, Americans bought 9.3 million artificial trees _ 85 percent of them manufactured in China.
100,000 people are employed in the Christmas tree industry
In the first week, a tree in your home will consume as much as a quart of water per day.
32.8 million Christmas trees were purchased in 2005.
Artificial Christmas trees have outsold real ones since 1991.
Christmas has different meanings around the world; Christmas Eve in Japan is a good day to eat fried chicken and strawberry shortcake.
Electric Christmas lights were first used in 1854.
The day after Christmas, December 26, is known as Boxing Day. It is also the holy day of St. Stephen.
One town in Indiana is called Santa Claus. There is also a Santa, Idaho
There are 364 gifts mentioned in "The Twelve Days of Christmas".
The popular Christmas song "Jingle Bells" was actually written for Thanksgiving. The song was composed in 1857 by James Pierpont, and was
originally called "One Horse Open Sleigh".
7% of mall Santa’s applicants were discovered to have criminal backgrounds
4,000,000 Tons of trash is generated annually from the gift wrapping and shopping bags:
28 % of Americans re-gift
20 % of Americans finish off their Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve:
http://www.uberreview.com/2006/12/ten-christmas-facts-that-you-didnt-know.htm
http://www.funology.com/thatsodd/odd_holidays004.htm
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/trees/treefacts.html
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--christmastrees-gl1119nov19,0,1825999.story
http://www.funfacts.com.au/christmas-food-facts
#1 - The Apple i-Phone.
#2 –x-box 360
#3 – Wii
#4 – Computer/Lap Top
#5 – Digital Camera
#6 – Apple Ipod
#7 - Digital Frames
#8 - Halo 3
#9 – Guitar Hero III
#10 - Clocky
PAGE 38
http://www.shadowmuse.com/
Winter Wonderland
By Jessica Chandler
A collection of historical holiday facts
http://www.wrexhamtoday.com/
-A traditional Christmas dinner in early England was the head of a pig prepared with mustard.
-Alabama was the first state to recognize Christmas as an official holiday. This tradition began in 1836.
-The Puritans forbade the singing of Christmas carols.
-Although many believe the Friday after Thanksgiving is the busiest shopping day of the year, it is not. It is the fifth to tenth busiest
day. The Friday and Saturday before Christmas are the two busiest shopping days of the year.
-Animal Crackers are not really crackers, but cookies that were imported to the United States from England in the late 1800s. Barnum's circus-like boxes were designed with a string handle so that they could be hung on a Christmas tree.
-Charles Dickens' initial choice for Scrooge's statement "Bah Humbug" was "Bah Christmas."
-Franklin Pierce was the first United States' president to decorate an official White House Christmas tree.
-Hallmark introduced its first Christmas cards in 1915, five years after the founding of the company.
-It is estimated that 400,000 people become sick each year from eating tainted Christmas leftovers.
-The best selling Christmas trees are Scotch pine, Douglas fir, Noble fir, Fraser fir, Virginia pine, Balsam fir and white pine.
-Right behind Christmas and Thanksgiving, Super Bowl Sunday ranks as the third-largest occasion for Americans to consume food,
according to the National Football League.
-The actual gift givers are different in various countries:
England: Father Christmas
France: Pere Noel (Father Christmas)
Germany: Christkind (angelic messenger from Jesus) She is a beautiful fair haired girl with a shining
crown of candles.
Holland: St Nicholas.
Italy: La Befana (a kindly old witch)
Spain and South America: The Three Kings
Russia: In some parts - Babouschka (a grandmotherly figure) in other parts it is Grandfather Frost.
Scandinavia: a variety of Christmas gnomes. One is called Julenisse.
-The first Christmas card was created in England on December 9, 1842.
Information taken from www.corsinet.com/braincandy
Love Needs a Holiday!
Important Dates for the Holiday Season
http://stuff4sam.files.wordpress.com
December 5th – Early Dismissal, Professional Day
December 24th – Start of Holiday Vacation
December 31st – New Years Eve
January 1st – New Years Day
January 2nd - End of Holiday Vacation...Back to School!
January 21st – No School, Martin Luther King Day
January 23-24th – Early Dismissals, PHS Final Exams
January 25th – Staff Development Day
January 28th - Semester Two Begins!
PAGE 39
Try Some, Buy Some
By: Brittney Boyd
Plainfield High, get out there and buy your school apparel and
support your fellow Panthers. The school store has everything from clothing
to school supplies. Items can be bought during your lunch. GO PANTHERS!!!
Black Panther Sweatshirts……….. $22.00
Girls Tank Tops………………… $13.00
Boys Tank Tops…………………. $9.00
XXL…………………… $12.00
XXXL…………………. $12.00
Short Sleeve T-Shirt…………….. $7.00
XXL…………………… $9.00
XXXL…………………. $9.00
Long Sleeve T-Shirt……………... $12.00
XXL…………………… $14.00
XXXL…………………. $14.00
Girls Black Capri Pants………….. $14.00
Girls Shorts…………………….. $8.00
PJ Bottoms……………………... $15.00
Paw Power Funtoons……………. $2.00
Car Chalk………………………. $4.00
Face Paint………………………. $2.50
Bumper Stickers………………… $1.00
Paw Print Stickers………………. 3/ $1.00
Lanyards……………………….. $2.50
Key Chains………………………$2.00
Blinking Panther Pins……………. $2.00
Travel Mugs……………………. $6.00
Coffee Mug…………………….. $5.00
Water Bottles…………………… $4.00
Seat Cushions…………………… $8.00
Frisbees………………………… $3.00
Umbrella……………………….. $12.00
Panther Bandana………………… $1.50
Panther Blankets………………… $30.00
Head Bands…………………….. $3.00
Beanie Hats…………………….. $4.50
Baseball Hats……………………. $10.00
Paw Face Stickers ………………. $2.00
Athletic Sports Towels………….. $3.50
Panther Photo Album…………… $3.50
Leather Journals………………… $4.00
Pencils…………………………. $0.25
Pens & Highlighters……………... $0.50
Binder Paper……………………. $1.00
Clear Report Cover……………...$0.25
Colored Folder…………………. $0.35
Tissues…………………………. $0.20
Pictures taken by Heather Fountaine

The Student Newspaper of Plainfield High School

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