New teachers vitalize school community
Transcription
New teachers vitalize school community
Volume LXXIX No. 2 October 1, 2009 Asheville School, Asheville, NC 28806 Nearly one-third of student body affected by virus A plague hits the school BY YVONNE KIM AND HYECHANG RHIM During the convocation on September 2, all students were required to watch a video clip that included instructions on how to wash hands. After watching this video, senior Dennis Kuzmich commented, “Why do we have to watch a video to learn how to wash our hands?” Within two days, the answer was given. A number of students began to catch a virus. According to school nurse Ms. Millard, the virus started to spread on September 4. She recalls that on each day since then, at least eight students have had to stay in the infirmary while about 15 to 20 students have had to stay in their rooms because the infirmary was full. Five day students stayed at home because of this virus and some boarding students were sent home. On September 10, 64 students had to come to the infirmary to be checked. “The symptoms of this virus include cough, upset stomach, congestion, and fever,” Ms. Millard explains. “Students need to remember to wash their hands frequently, to cover their mouths when coughing, and not to share water bottles or food.” She emphasized that even though such techniques are simple, students need to take them seriously. As a result of this virus, lunch tables have been closed, some classes have been canceled, and athletic teams have been missing key players. Director of Athletics Ms. Kern said, “Only a few varsity teams have had all of their starting players and key players at their games and practices this week.” “This fall is particularly noteworthy,” she said, “and it is definitely a concern.” As the Varsity Field Hockey Coach at the same time, she could have gone to the game on September 9 without eight players, but due to a thunder storm, the game was cancelled. According to Ms. Kern, the athletics department tries CARTOON BY LUCIE REYNOLDS to prevent any virus from spreading in the gym. In order to do so, managers add special agents into the team’s laundry in addition to upgrading the spray in fitness center to kill potential germs. She also stressed that even with this effort, it is crucial for athletes to wash their clothes, hands, and towels on a regular basis. According to Ms. Millard, a similar virus hit Asheville School five years ago, and it was so severe that the school closed for a day. But she thinks that this virus has been by far the worst one since she started to work here in 1992. Ms. Millard warns that this virus is still going on and that students should increase their awareness of it. She hopes that this virus will run its course very soon. New teachers vitalize school community Ms. Wolf, Ms. Barlow, and Mr. Tyler Montgomery join Asheville School BY LARRY KIM Ms. Wolf Ms. Barlow Mr. Tyler Montgomery PHOTOS BY DANNY CHUNG This year, three new faculty members have joined our Asheville School community, and they are Ms. Wolf, Ms. Barlow and Mr. Montgomery. Their common goal is to enrich our school community in various fields. Ms. Wolf is from New Hampshire, and after graduating from St. Paul’s School, a boarding school in Concord, New Hampshire, she attended the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in mathematics. Her teaching career began at her very own alma mater, St. Paul’s, and she taught there last year before moving here to Asheville School. As a new faculty member, she is currently teaching Algebra 2 and Algebra 2 Honors. She always hopes to teach her students proficiently and inspire them to learn. “I really want to get involved in student life and all parts of academic, athletic and residential life,” Ms. Wolf claims. Aside from teaching, Ms. Wolf coaches Varsity Field Hockey, describing her team as “a great group of enthusiastic girls.” With the help of new coaches, the field hockey teams are becoming faster and stronger. “I was really drawn to the sense of community, and I really like the small community,” Ms Wolf notes. “Everybody seems to be hard-working and nice.” As an ex-student of a boarding school herself, she came back to the boarding school life not to learn and acquire knowledge this time, but to share her ideas and experiences with students. Ms. Barlow is the new director of the learning center. She attended Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, and began her teaching career at an elementary school in Tennessee. She later taught undergraduates at Vanderbilt University as a teaching assistant. Actually, her connec- tions with Asheville School are interesting. Her headmaster in high school was a history teacher at Asheville School, while her academic teacher at Washington and Lee also taught at Asheville School. Hearing so much about Asheville School, Ms. Barlow became interested in teaching at Asheville School. Commenting about her role as the director of the learning center, Ms. Barlow hopes to “make the learning center into a focused place to study and into a place where students can be provided with study skills and resources they need to succeed.” She considers making students “independent learners” is her true goal as the academic counselor. Her activity in Asheville School extends to athletics. As a coach of the JV Field Hockey team, she loves the sport of field hockey. She played field hockey in college and continues to pursue her athletic inter- est at Asheville School. “It is always fun to watch each girl in a team learn her game and develop as a player,” Ms. Barlow says. While staying at Asheville School, she really hopes to form strong relationships with students and learn about boarding school life. Mr. Tyler Montgomery is the new member of the admission office. He went to St. Andrew’s School in Delaware, and after graduating, he went to University of Pennsylvania, majoring in political science. He worked at St. Andrew’s School as an admission officer and development manager. Working at Asheville School is a fresh experience for him. “I wanted to be independent from my father” Mr. Montgomery states. He applied for the job position here at Asheville School independently from his father, the school’s headmaster. His job as an admission officer is fascinating. He describes his role at Asheville School as simply “doing what he is told to do.” Actually, one of his main tasks is going on admission trips to attract students around the globe to Asheville School. Everyday, in front of Anderson hall, the young Mr. Montgomery can be seen with the Cross Country runners, ready to exercise. He currently helps out the cross country by running with them in practices. He is very interested in being involved in various fields of athletics. Other than cross country, he shows his interest in coaching football. Even though he cannot coach football due to his busy schedule with the admission trips, he wishes to coach someday. News and Features page 2 October 1, 2009 Asheville School drama features The Crucible BY LARRY KIM At around 3:30 p.m., dozens of earthlings begin to approach the Walker Arts Center. They seem determined and prepared for a mission. These people are none other than the infamous drama students. Under the direction of Mr. Baltazar, the students are practicing and building up their acting skills for the epic play known as The Crucible. This year, the drama department decided to display its skills through the famous play The Crucible by Arthur Miller. In an attempt to uncover more about this production, I interviewed our director and Spanish teacher, Mr. Baltazar. The Crucible is a renowned play based on the true story of Puritan purge of witchcraft in old Salem. While its setting is in the late 1600s, the play reveals ideas and social aspects of modern society through disputes between citizens of a village. The play was written in 1953 by Arthur Miller, who also wrote famous plays such as Death of a Salesman and All My Sons. Mr. Baltazar considers The Crucible “a play which can provoke emotions and feelings.” The play’s ability to sway spectators’ emotions is a significant reason for his choosing of the play. Provoking the spectators’ feelings is, Mr. Baltazar says, the main goal of theatrical perform- ances, and to achieve the goal play to show off and use the requires passion and effort. amazing talent we have,” says Moreover, Mr. Baltazar Mr. Baltazar. The play requires weighs the play’s message a big cast compared to other very importantly. Mr. Baltazar plays performed before, thus says that The the drama deC r u c i b l e ’s partment is message conutilizing its cerning “the talented consequences group of acwhen others tors and acfalsely accuse tresses. others” was As the new one of his moyear started, -Mr. Baltazar the drama detives for choosing this play. partment Through their performance, faced some changes in the the actors hope to deliver this cast. “We are lucky that we message as clearly as possible. have some new fresh blood. “The drama department has a We are excited and delighted very large cast this year, and to work with talented, intelliThe Crucible is the perfect gent, focused and creative The Crucible is “a play which can provoke emotions and feelings.” newcomers,” Mr. Baltazar states. Geoffrey Brown, a sixth former, plays John Proctor, the protagonist, while Sierra Shell, a sixth former, plays the role of Abigail Williams, the antagonist. Reverend Parris is played by John Hopkins, Judge Danforth is played by Jeff Warren, Elizabeth Proctor is played by Madeline Olsen, all sixth formers, and Hiram Poplin, fifth form, is playing the character of Reverend Hale. “Being with the drama kids in the Graham Theater is definitely the highlight of the day,” Mr. Baltazar says. This production of The Crucible is expected to be different and, of course, magnificent. Seniors experience a special program this year BY TK LEE This year’s orientation week was just like those in the past few years. Preseason warmed up athletes for their fall season. Third formers went on the annual camping trip. Fourth formers visited Carowinds at the end of the week. However, seniors had a special event called the “leadership program.” The leadership program was created this year because several faculty members, including Ms. Wall, Mr.Bonner, Ms.Legg, and Ms. Cianciulli, realized that they should train all seniors, not just prefects and proctors, to be good leaders. They have admitted that Asheville School provides various chances for seniors to show leadership at the beginning of the year; however, opportunities decrease as time goes by and seniors who are not prefects and proctors can not gain leadership. This year’s leadership program lasted two days when underformers were on various trips. On the first day, seniors played some skits and watched a movie called “School Ties,” in which different characters demon- strate leadership in the boarding school. In addition, seniors had some time to finish college common application essays and activity tables. The next day, seniors did a group activity to test how well leaders guide others and communicate with each other. In this drill, the leader for each team was muffled, and the teammates covered their eyes with some cloth. The purpose was to achieve a universal goal despite all these physical difficulties: members of a team are expected to sit around a trash can while holding each other’s hands. Head of the School Mr. Montgomery explains, “this program will help seniors complete senior college works and acquaint every senior with principles and problems of leadership.” According to Mr. Montgomery, generally all “seniors were really positive about the program.” The leadership program will remain as a great tradition for upcoming seniors. New storage system Student Council makes new causes problems regulations for clubs Some students miss the old system BY DANNY CHUNG When the end of year approaches, students are concerned with not only final exams but also storage for summer vacation. Last year, the school tried a new way of storing students’ belongings in the attic of Lawrence and Anderson. According to Mr. Mayes, the school tried a new system because the storage Pods which the school had been using did not work well. The school offered students to store their belongings in the attic, charging each of them $135. On the third day of final exams, there were two hours to do such hard work by themselves. Problems occurred in both Anderson and Lawrence – whether the elevator was involved or not. In Lawrence Hall, 20 people relied on one old elevator. “I had a hard time carrying my boxes,” claims Lucy Hebb, a returning sixth former. “I waited for the elevator for about 45 minutes.” Even worse problems occurred when students arrived after summer break. Since students were assigned to different rooms or dorms, more manual work was required. Also, the unpacking process was again scheduled during the packed orientation week. In the midst of a tiring preseason and busy orientation meetings, the majority of the students complained. Despite the help of Ms. Wall, Ms. Brooks and other day students, the unpacking process took at least two hours. In addition to the stress that people received, there happened to be more problem with the contents. Apparently, the attic is vulnerable to moisture, heat and other intrusions. Undergoing the hot and moist summer of Asheville, students’ belongings were harmed. Also, the roof cons t r u c t i o n dropped ash from the ceiling and covered up the boxes in Lawrence. Some of students’ boxes -Lucy Hebb were damaged, as Lucy Hebb says, “My stuff was full of dust and I found insects in my boxes”. Some students wish to bring back the method of storing belongings in the Pods, which preserved items in good condition. “My stuff was full of dust and I found insects in my boxes.” BY BEN GROH After hearing the rumors of student council choosing which clubs get to exist this year, it seems nice to get some clarification on the issue. The responsibility of organizations and clubs this year has shifted to the fifth form reps Terria Boston and Grace Raynor. If one would like to start a new club, those are the people to contact. Some requirements for starting a new club include finding a faculty sponsor, who you would inform of what your club consists of and how many times it meets a week. Then you should email student council, notifying them that you are starting a club. You can either email Boston, Raynor, Sierra Shell, or the student council email (studentcouncil@ashevilleschool.org). Thirdly, the organizers of the club should either make an announcement at convocation or send an email to their advisors, to be mass emailed to the school, stating the name of the club and asking for responses if interested. The new club should also have a constitution written, explaining the process of electing new officers every year, requirements for being a member of the club, club membership fees, and meeting plans, to show the council what goes on during the club time. The last requirement is to set up a meeting with Sierra Shell, and to be present on the Monday student council meeting to read your constitution to the members of Student Council. A new club can be started any time during the year. The deadline for old clubs to be considered by Student Council was September 7, so unfortunately, if your club did not make contact before that date, you will not be able to reconvene this year. Active clubs must take attendance records at every meeting, for the benefit of the Student Council to know what is going on. Anderson, Lawrence, and Mitchell are renovated BY DANNY CHUNG As many students would have noticed, the school employed a company named Dooley Mack Constructors to reconstruct the roofs of our buildings. Shortly after the residential students left for the summer break in early June, the Dooley Mack company came in and began the construction on July 7. After renovating the Lawrence Hall, workers moved to Mitchell Hall. The process is now on hold, due to the intermittent rain, which started in the second week of September. During summer, the Board of Trustees gave approval to reroof since the current roof is very old. Due to their age, rainfall leaked through crevices and damaged the Lawrence attic and fourth Mitchell. To solve this problem, the constructors are now replacing the old plywood. The process is very simple. First, the constructors take shingles off, and then lay new plywood and shingles down. Ms. Brantley, the comptroller of the business department, says, “The new roofs will maintain for another 50 years”. For the safety of the students, the orange fences surround the area where vehicles are parked and roof construction is taking place. In order to protect students from the danger of falling objects off the roof, many exits of Lawrence and Mitchell have been locked. Though some students feel uncomfortable going around the fences, these technical difficulties are bearable considering the new roofs. Currently, because of the incessant rain, the end date of the construction is yet undetermined. More News and Features Origins of Blue and White found in archives October 1, 2009 page 3 At the beginning of the school year, all returning students receive a yearbook called the “Blue and White.” The 1910 Review, announcing the formation of the annual, states, “the editorial board wishes to establish a prominent book that will improve in the future.” As the founders hoped, this legacy has successfully passed down for 99 years. Next year, the Blue and White will reach its centennial. And as the founders also wished that “everyone will take an active interest in the book,” all returning students seem to look forward to the Blue and White at the beginning of the year and enjoy reading it. DOCUMENT COURTESY MS. CROTTS From the January, 1910 Asheville School Review announcing the formation of the annual (Blue and White) Varsity Soccer finally defeats Christ School (3-2) after losing for nine straight years-For details, please look forward to our next issue The Parents’ Association Wishes To Thank The Following Businesses For Supporting Faculty/Staff Appreciation Day American Folk Art & Framing Black Dome Mountain Sports Asheville Airport Carrabba’s Italian Grill The Baggie Goose Extended Garden Bella Luna Inn Grove Park Inn Bone Fish Grill Hands on Spa Early Girl Eatery Ichiban/Wasabi Restaurants Fusion Pilates Laughing Seed Café Grovewood Café Malaprops Bookstore Hearn’s Cycling & Fitness Neo Burrito Jack of the Wood People’s Place Majestic Nails Sensibilities Day Spa Mast General Store Sourwood Inn Mellow Mushroom Sunnyside Café Noi Thai Kitchen Tops for Shoes Pomodoro’s Greek & Italian Café Wick & Greene Jewelers Ski Country Sports Zen Sushi Starting Point Wellness Center Table The Toy Box The Wine Guy Ananda Hair Studio Atelier Barnes & Noble Editorial page 4 Staff Editorial October 1, 2009 Can a student athlete exist at Asheville School? When writer Frank Deford came to Asheville School last year, he posed a question: “can the student athlete truly exist?” His answer was that it is impossible. Mr. DeFord continued to argue that the notion of the student athlete hinders the development of athletics. High school athletes and college athletes are distracted from mainly focusing on their sports because of their academic responsibilities. The term “student athlete” contradicts itself and therefore cannot exist. “Students” should focus on academia while “athletes” should concentrate on sports. In other words, they have their own responsibilities. It is impossible for one to share those two responsibilities at the same time because it will lower his or her efficiency in developing either of two areas. At Asheville School, because of this notion of “student ath- lete,” athletes cannot mainly focus on their sports. Asheville School students are required to meet minimum academic standards in order to stay at the school. If they do not, they will be asked to leave. Because of this academic standard, some athletes have to stay up late to do homework or study for quizzes and tests. This affects each athlete’s performance the next day. This problem does not just occur on game day. Because athletes sometimes do not get enough sleep, they participate poorly in practices, in which they are supposed to improve their skills and grow as a stronger team. Coaches become fed up with these athletes, not realizing the immense academic stress each student is under (particularly the AP and honors students). Lack of sleep is not only detrimental to athletics, but also to academics. A chronically sleepdeprived student suffers in all walks of life. In addition, when athletes have to travel far away, they cannot do their homework for that day. Have you ever been on a team bus before a game? All the athletes are trying to get their minds right for the game. Or they are sleeping in order to be well rested for the game. They do receive extensions for finishing the homework. Even students who do not return to school until after 10:30 at night are expected to stay up and do their homework, which affects their health. However, this homework becomes extra homework that they have to do along with their daily assigned homework. There are no breaks. Thus, the reality is that athletes fall asleep while traveling because of the lack of sleep obtained doing their homework the day before. This bad habit messes up athletes’ metabolisms and results in their poor performances. These poor performances lead to angry coaches, which then lead to depressed players who feel they have let the team down somehow. Or athletes do their work on buses while they have to focus their minds on upcoming games, which results in assignments not being completed to the best of each students’ ability. This is sad. Student athletes therefore cannot exist. The notion of the “student athlete” lowers the improvement of athletes and athletic teams as a whole. Athletes, in order to pursue their genuine goal of performing well in their sports, should not be obliged to academic duties. Athletes deserve more than a mere extension for finishing homework. They deserve some sympathy and recognition for laying their health on the line for the good of the school as a whole. These students could just have easily done mountaineering, gotten back to their dorms at 5:30, and had six hours to complete their assignments. But no. Instead, these students wanted to take on the challenge of performing well not only in the classroom, but also on the playing field. They took to heart the mission of The Asheville School, which is to better the mind, spirit, AND body. It is hard to be a student at the Asheville School, much less a student and an athlete. And it is high time that the school as a whole realizes this fact. What does a school newspaper mean to a school? BY MADELINE OLSEN After the brief battle between The Ashnoca and The Daily Omphaloskeptic, I was left wondering-what exactly does a school newspaper mean to a school? While The Ashnoca tends to focus on world issues, sports, classmates, and the like, The Omph’s spot-on observations of their 3rd Former of the Day and brief editorials can be just as newsworthy as what we write here. I mean, who does not want to see the Facebook status of the day? Besides, their news tends to be a bit more up to date, since it is a daily publication. However, I was still wondering what exactly the newspaper does for a school. I began thinking that perhaps this little friendly battle actually did more good than bad-for both of us. I know that I, for one, always look forward to reading The Omph while drinking my coffee in the morning. Not only has it been especially witty this year, once I sensed that there was a bit of hostility between the two of us, I was even more excited to see what The Omph would say about us here at The Ashnoca. Therefore, I am even more excited to read the stories that the other contributors here have submitted. This got me thinking about real newspapers. As many may have realized, in the real world, the newspaper business is slowly dying. I think that because of technology, many people are not as interested in reading the newspaper. Now, instead of waiting for an article about something to come out, you can simply Google it and get your facts instantly. I think that this is one way in which having a school newspaper is very important to a school community. Instead of writing about issues or topics that you can look up on the internet, you can see what your peers realize and think about them. A school newspaper is an important aspect of a school. For instance, we get We get to read stories that actually matter and mean something to us. Note from the Editor-in-chief to read stories that actually matter and mean something to us. Also, it invokes a different kind of school pride. While the athletes are winning their awards, The Ashnoca has won their own as well. It is just as important to have a school publication that gives you humorous articles as it is to have one that gives you facts about things that are somewhat serious. It idoes not mean that one is any better or worse. Every publication is different in their own way, and observing both the funny and serious stories, and the realworld and “AS bubble” facts has given me more proof that school newspapers will remain to be an important part of a high school. Hello! This is the second Ashnoca issue of the 09-10 academic year! Although it took us a while, we finally finished it, and it is 12 pages! Thanks to everyone who contributed. As some of you guys have noticed, we changed our nameplate. We changed to a traditional style, which the Ashnoca originally used back in the days. We hope you enjoy reading the -Hyechang Rhim school newspaper, and look forward to upcoming issues! Thanks! The Ashnoca wants to hear your opinions on the paper! If you have any comments to share with the editors, please email any of the editors with your suggestions. To publish letters on current events, submit letters of less than 300 words to Ashnoca@ashevilleschool.org. We reserve the right to edit for content. e a h T noc h s A The student newspaper of Asheville School Ashnoca@ashevilleschool.org Asheville, NC 28806 Volume: LXXIX Number 2 STAFF EDITOR IN CHIEF--HYECHANG RHIM MANAGING EDITOR--CLIFF HANICH DESIGN EDITOR--JEFF WARREN FEATURES EDITORS--T.K LEE, BRETT PORTER, ADDIE NAVARRO OPINION EDITOR--MADELINE OLSEN ARTS EDITORS--WON JUNG YUN, YOON JI KWON MUSIC EDITORS- GERRY NAM, ROY KIM SPORTS EDITORS--CHANG GUN LEE, MIN KI KIM CARTOONIST IN CHIEF--SHAWN PARK PHOTOGRAPHERS--DANNY CHUNG, KATHERINE SUN COLUMNISTS--KRISTA KIERNAN, LAWRENCE WALLER CARTOONISTS--ERIN CRAWFORD, JEREMIAH BALLEW, ZACH SMITH, KEN LAM, EDWARD TUNG, SOO JI HONG, LUCIE REYNOLDS, ZOE MCDANIEL CONTRIBUTING WRITERS--GRACE RAYNOR, BRENNAN HARLAN, LARRY KIM, YVONNE KIM, BEN GROH, RYAN DO, PETER LO, MATT EVANS PROOFREADER--MEGAN FRIEDMAN FACULTY ADVISOR--MR. GARDNER Opinion October 1, 2009 Cliff’s Note page 5 After two lessons from Black Hawk Down BY CLIFF HANICH Never in my wildest dreams did I think that my article, “Two Lessons from Black Hawk Down,” would be so popular. I have had numerous students and faculty members come up to me, asking numerous questions and heaping lavish praise. In that regard, I would like to answer two (see a pattern forming?) of these questions, both of which come from our very own Tyler Montgomery. 1. “If the U.S. commits to a military operation, then it must be fully aware of the sacrifices that must be made and fully aware of the time that the operation may take.” You sound like you agree with the Powell Doctrine. Do you know what that is? How do you feel about Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara “lying” to the American public about the Vietnam War? Should we have continued to fight the Viet Cong there? Should we have committed “everything” in the jungles over there? Or were we smart to pull out? Perhaps we should have pulled out earlier? 2. Did “the U.S. government lie to its people about WMDs” in Iraq? What is the difference between lying and being wrong? How do you figure? The Powell Doctrine, coined by a journalist and named after General Colin Powell in the lead up to the 1991 gulf war, states “a list of questions” that “all have to be answered affirmatively before military action is taken by the United States”: 1. Is a vital national security interest threatened? 2. Do we have a clear attainable objective? 3. Have the risks and costs been fully and frankly analyzed? 4. Have all other non-violent policy means been fully exhausted? 5. Is there a plausible exit strategy to avoid endless entanglement? 6. Have the consequences of our action been fully considered? 7. Is the action supported by the American people? 8. Do we have genuine broad international support? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powell_do ctrine). Additionally, Powell stated in “an April 1, 2009 interview on The Rachel Maddow Show, the Doctrine denotes the exhausting of all ‘political, economic, and diplomatic means,’ which, only if those means prove to be futile, should a nation should resort to military force. Powell has expanded upon the Doctrine, asserting that when a nation is engaging in war, every resource and tool should be used to achieve decisive force against the enemy, minimizing US casualties and ending the conflict quickly by forcing the weaker force to capitulate” I do not believe that Robert McNamara, then Secretary of Defense under President Lyndon Johnson, lied to the American people about American involvement in Vietnam. However, he did fudge the truth. He portrayed the war as a necesity for the safety and security of all Americans from the threat of communism, something he and many other high ranking officials believed at the time. The U.S. government did lie to its people about WMD in Iraq because numerous sources, within and outside of the U.S. government, had shown specific evidence to the Bush administration that WMD did in fact not exist in Iraq. The UN inspectors spend numerous months searching for any sign of WMD, and found none. Even sources within the CIA and officials within the U.S. government admitted that there was no evidence concerning the threat of Iraqi weapons of Mass Destruction. The Bush administration, believeing that all these very credible facts had missed something along with way, badgered the U.S. military and CIA into agreeing with their ascertation that Iraq did in fact have weapons of mass destruction. The administration did so in three ways: 1) By playing on the CIA’s and Military’s collective fears of a repeat of 9/11, which was still fresh in everyone’s minds; 2) By continually asserting that Iraq was hiding weapons of mass destruction, which is why the UN missed discovering them; 3) And finally by portraying the war as a cake-walk. It was an administration official who said that American troops would be, “welcomed with open arms,” by the Iraqi people once Saddam was toppled. The difference, then, between lying and being wrong is simple: One lies when all evidence points in a contray direction, but one uses fear and other propagandic devices as evidence to sway public opinion in the opposite direction. One is wrong when all current political and strategic advice points in one direction, one takes that direction, and hindsight cleary paints a better option. Basically, you are wrong if there was little to no evidence contrary to the commonly accepted plan. You are a liar, when there is a significant amount to overwhelming evidence contrary to the commonly accepted plan. Now, when it comes to Vietnam, hindsight is 20/20. It would take an entire paper to explain the various reasons why Vietnam was so avoidable in the first place (I’ll save that for another day). But the question, “should we have continued to fight the Viet Cong there,” depends entirely upon how the war was waged. Seeing how the war was waged historically, the answer would be an emphatic no; we were not fully committed to a total war effort. Instead, it was a fight micromanaged by politicians. LBJ famously would tell his generals that it was fine to bomb Hanoi, but not Haiphong harbor, the main North Vietnamese seaport, for fear of retaliation by the Chinese or the Russians. However, if the U.S. had waged total war, had been allowed to bomb all vital targets (and not have to pick and choose based on political fears), been allowed to cross the DMZ into North Vietnam, and if the ultimate goal had been regime change in the North, then the answer would have to be yes. Our problem in Vietnam was that we had no offensive plans. Our strategy was purely defensive, purely based on weeding out the Viet Cong from South Vietnam, not about destroying the providers of the Viet Cong, the North Vietnamese. To quote the Powell Doctrine, we did not have a “clear, attainable objective.” Also, if we had had a clear, attainable objective, we should have “committed ‘everything’ in the jungles over there. One either wages war or one does not. If one is not fully committed to victory, one will not win. Yet, based on the actual facts of the conflict, and not harping on how we “wished” the conflict had been fought, we were right to pull out. In fact, we should have pulled out earlier because American lives were being lost for nothing since we did not have a “clear, attainable objective.” Does the media deserve our trust? BY LAWRENCE WALLER Townhall.com columnist Michelle Malkin recently wrote an article, dated 5/20/09, which accused one of our nation’s major newspapers, The New York Times, of covering up negative stories about our president, Barack Obama, so that their online store could make money selling Obama products. This would probably mean that The New York Times would no longer be an objective news source. In the article, Malkin quoted New York Times reporter Jennifer Lee, who stated on Twitter that The New York Times has “sold $2 million worth of Obama merchandise (book, commemorative editions, etc.).” I visited The New York Times online store to see if I could verify Malkin’s accusations of media bias. The New York Times online store has an entire section devoted to Barack Obama, where 59 different Barack Obama items are sold. Barack Obama even has his own link on the main store menu. The New York Times sells “Victory” coffee mugs featuring Barack Obama ($24.95 for two), 1/20/09 t-shirts celebrating Obama’s inauguration ($32.95 each), and copies of “Obama: The Historic Journey” complete with copies of the Election Day and Inauguration Day New York Times (all for just $59.95). The website also sells assorted photographs of Obama ($199$1,129 each) taken by New York Times photographers over the campaign, with titles like “A Wink From the New President” (President Obama winks at the camera from his car) and “The Jacket Comes Off.” Yes, it’s a picture of Obama taking his coat off. Why would I pay $1,129 for a picture of anybody taking their coat off? In a Political Photography section, there are a few recent pictures of Republican presidents George W. or George H.W. Bush, but not even close to as many as there are of President Obama. No Republican has a menu on the website, while Barack Obama’s section is on the homepage of the store. I also visited the online store of NBC Universal, which operates the NBC and MSNBC news networks. Here, for a few dollars you can own a Barack Obama “Yes You Can” bobblehead, refrigerator magnet, action figure, or one of 26 other items. CBS sells 10 Obama books and DVD’s. ABC offers one Obamarelated book. The CNN and Fox News networks do not sell Barack Obama merchandise. In the article, Malkin also claimed that The New York Times covered up possible criminal behavior of then Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, based on the campaign sharing of their donor’s list with the liberal community organizing group ACORN, so ACORN could canvas those donors for additional contributions to fund voter registration by ACORN’s (supposedly) non-partisan arm, Project Vote. A Project Vote employee contacted New York Times reporter Stephanie Strom and gave her this information. Strom’s article was suppressed by her New York Times editors, a fact later confirmed by New York Times Public Editor Clark Hoyt. Hoyt admitted that there could be a connection between Obama and ACORN that violated campaign finance law, but that the “allegations could not be independently verified” by The New York Times. Sharing of a donor’s list to divert campaign contributions to perpetuate voter fraud is a federal offense. This story could have influenced the outcome of the 2008 presidential election, but The New York Times editors quietly tucked it away. We open up newspapers, browse the Internet, or watch news broadcasts to learn about events taking place in the world around us. Many people take for granted that the information relayed to the world by the media is presented accurately and without bias. Cable news personalities often display their political bias, but many newspapers and commercial television stations disguise a political agenda as news. After all, would anyone buy Barack Obama coffee cups, Obama action figures, or “Yes You Can” bobbleheads if The New York Times ran a story implicating our “Dear Leader” (as Malkin mockingly refers to the President) in an alleged criminal cover-up? A recent study of the 2008 presidential election by the Project for Excellence in Journalism and the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy showed that 47.9% of all media coverage of John McCain was negative, but only 15.8% coverage of Barack Obama was negative (journalism.org). And Americans are catching on. According to a recent Pew Research Study dated July 22-26, 2009, 74% of those polled “said news organizations tend to favor one side in dealing with political and social issues” (Pew Research Center for the People and the Press). page 6 Rockmont Day From top left, Shaunteri Skinner, Sarah Murata, Krista Kiernan, Darrah Johnson Eddy Chang, Kyla Barkley, and Yvonne Kim enjoy Rockmont Day. Matthew Gilliland throws a ball to get points for his team. October 1, 2009 From top left, Hayley Mojica, Anna Ranson, Dilly Hancock, Cicely Upham Kateri Madden, Rebecca Mckee, Merritt Smail, and Hallie Boyd take their four-year senior picture. Walker Sullivan throws a frisbee. Students and faculty gathered together at Camp Rockmont in Black Mountain Monday for a fun fieldday event of swimming and games during the school’s annual Rockmont Day on September 14. Shawn Park throws a figure. Lizzy Clemons and Sarah Bicknell attempt the ball carry. Mary Spirito, Dabney Close, Adria Shuford, Julia Sinsky, and Kateri Madden pass the sponges. October 1, 2009 Rockmont Day Cliff Hanich jumps into water. page 7 A faculty child dives into water. Taylor Jeffries, Matthew Gilliland, and Jules Gonsoulin enjoy canoeing. Seniors attempt to throw Mr. Montgomery into water. Girls enjoy the zipline. Jake Modaff and an unidentified teammate compete in team relays. PHOTOS BY NANCY PARRISH Music page 8 Nine, Nine, Oh Nine October 1, 2009 Asheville School celebrates Beethoven’s famous Ninth Symphony Dr. Evan Bonds, professor of music at UNC-CH, discusses the relevance of Beethoven’s Ninth. BY GERRY NAM “Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love; Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee, opening to the sun above.” Anyone who does not know anything about Beethoven can probably find the right melody of those lyrics fairly eas- PHOTO BY DANNY CHUNG: ily. More familiar with its melody than its name, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony visited Asheville School on September 9th. The 9th of September for Asheville School students and faculty members was a day to celebrate Beethoven’s famous Ninth Symphony. We did not just celebrate Beethoven’s Ninth Freshmen’ve got talent Freshman musicians fill the school with various instruments Stuart Chae shows talent in piano. RYAN DO One Saturday, before the dining hall opened, the dining hall foyer was filled in with great music. Third former Kirsten Jung was playing wonderful music that warmed the place up. At the same time, in First Lawrence, an electric guitar player, Jules Gonsoulin, played in such a serious manner that he impressed other residents. Gonsoulin likes to play beautiful songs with his electric guitar, while Jung does so with the piano. As you can see, third formers are filling the atmosphere of Asheville School with music. There are 13 freshmen who can play instruments: one oboist, one drummer, two flutists, two cellists, three violinists, three guitar players, and five pianists. Stuart Chae, a multi-talented musician, can play drum, piano, and cello. Also, he can beat box; he first showed his beat box skills at the end of the third form camping trip. It totally amazed everyone there. “The music is part of my life since I studied piano for seven years,” says Chae. “Drum for two years, clarinet for two years, and cello for two years. I am really glad that Asheville School has strong music programs, because I can imagine one year later, I can play those instruments better in front of my parents to make them proud.” BY PHOTO BY DANNY CHUNG Already, several freshmen participate in a variety of music programs in Asheville School, including chapel choir, chorus, and instrumental ensemble. Some freshmen even plan to make a new band. However, freshmen should more actively join the music programs. “There are many things to improve my skill in Asheville School,” says Chae. “Compared to my last school, there are less people in music programs, so Mr. Crawley, the head of the music department, can pay more attention to me. But I think we need more people for instrumental ensemble because it is hard to make a rich sound with only a few people. I hope more people will join in.” “I have been playing piano for quite a long time and recently began to play oboe,” Kirsten Jung comments. “The important thing is that I can practice my instrument, especially oboe, in Asheville School since they give me a lot of opportunities to be involved in music such as instrumental ensemble. I am sure that there are more people who can sing very well and who can play beautiful music with their own instruments, so I want them not to miss such a great chance to exercise their musical skills in Asheville School.” Recently Mr. Crawley sent an email to everyone to join chapel choir. Freshmen! Don’t be shy --this is a chance for you to join in. because of 09/09/09, but also to inspire students to start the new year of school in a positive manner. As Mr. Crotts briefly introduced the history of the symphony, the Ninth Symphony is the last work of Beethoven that contains a plethora of human emotions. In addition, it was the first symphony ever written that included voices. Although the Ninth Symphony is usually played by a huge orchestra and ten vocalists, the concert in Graham Theater was performed by only two pianists, and four singers. The grandeur and magnificence of the original work was hard to be reproduced by only six musicians, but their well-organized performance was enough to re-celebrate Beethoven’s refined work. The baritone singer Scott Joiner said after the performance, “It was really hard to sing this piece of music by myself. Usually more than 20 baritone singers sing together, so singers get to take a break once a while, but today I had to sing all by myself. It was tough, but it was also a great experience.” One interesting fact of this performance was that the singers and pianists practiced this piece only for 45 minutes together one weekend. It was impressive to see musicians producing perfect harmony with so little practice. Mr. Crotts said, “They are all professionals, and it takes just a few minutes to work with the musicians in this level.” Following the musical performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, on Thursday, Dr. Evan Bonds gave the school a presentation about the significant of the Ninth Symphony. According to Dr. Bonds, the Ninth Symphony inspired many artists, and promoted feeling of unity. It is widely used as an anthem, movie sound track, and commercial background music. Ninth symphony Beethoven’s became ubiquitous in people’s daily life now; people hear it from movie, TV shows, and even as a ring tone. The ‘Oh Nine Celebration’ taught students to appreciate the significance of the trivial melody that is the Ninth Symphony. Across the Universe Movie Review BY ROY KIM Every second, from many facilities established on the planet Earth, people receive and send out radio waves to analyze the world beyond them. Many, including the fans of the Beatles might remember the day, 5 February, 2008. With the supervision of NASA, Goldstone in California and many other DSNs (Deep Space Networks) transmitted a song to the Polaris, which is located 431 light-years away from Earth. Just like the title of the song, ‘Across the Universe,’ it was sent out across the universe, as a tribute to the 50th anniversary of NASA’s establishment and the creation of the Beatles. Following this event, the movie based on the songs of the Beatles, ‘Across the Universe’ was released in 2008. The movie was directed by Julie Taymor. Starring Evan Rachel Wood and Jim Sturgess, ‘Across the Universe’ is a romance story about Jude (Jim Stargess) and Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood) during the Vietnam War in the 1960s. After watching the movie numerous times, it becomes apparent that not only does it include a careful portrayal of the 1960s but also the history of the Beatles. This risky hybrid of long-form music video and movie musical with clearly drawn characters subtly conveys the history of the Beatles as an undercurrent beneath the main story. Every character lives within the story and the lyrics of the Beatles and explains the significance of the movie’s message. First, Jude, as everyone knows, comes from the song ‘Hey Jude.’ This song was written by Paul McCartney for Julian, John Lennon’s son, to console him after his parents’ divorce. Similar to this story, Jude in the movie leaves Liverpool for the United States, hoping to find his father, with nothing but a picture. Lucy, who falls in love with Jude, comes from the song ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.’ In the movie, Jude and Lucy meet Prudence when she comes in through the bathroom window to rent the house they were living in, and she became their friend. The last scene of the movie takes place on a rooftop, reminding the viewers of the London rooftop concert of the Beatles, their last concert together as a band. The charisma that each actor emits, and the harmony that each scene creates with the music was enticing and unforgettable. Though the movie was an musical picture, the variety of scenes provided magnificent views as if it was a pop-art illustration of a poem written by the Beatles. Do you want to write about any musician? Do you want to write about a certain music piece? Send your article ideas to Ashnoca@ashevilleschool.org Arts October 1, 2009 How much do you know about this work of art? The Masterpiece Revealed: “The Scream” by Munch BY WON JUNG YUN The painting “The Scream” by Edvard Munch is very familiar to us due to the abundance of comical parodies of it. The well-known screaming figure and the serpentine shapes behind it, as well as the variety of orange and blue colors have been used in various ways such as in movies or in marketing strategies. This piece, however, contains a melancholy and gloomy story of the artist and his dreadful experience. To fully understand this masterpiece, we must also understand the turbulent life of Edvard Munch. Having gone through a miserable and unfortunate childhood, Munch had experienced numerous deaths in his family, including his mother’s and two sisters’. These tormenting events of his childhood put Munch through many mental and physical illnesses, which greatly influenced his later life as an artist. Mental pains such as gynephobia (fear of women), agoraphobia, insomnia and alcoholism strongly ous that Munch’s gynephobic reactions explains why Munch had lived his life were amplified by the dreadful in great confusion and chaos, as screams of mad female patients. To reflected in his most famous painting, make the place even more unbearable, Munch’s close friend is known to have “The Scream.” tried to commit suiInterestingly, the cide several times at place in the background of this The universal familiarity this very place. When “The painting truly exist- with this masterpiece is Scream” appears on ed and served as a delightful; however, I the covers of books source of inspirafeel we are familiar with and magazines, the tion frequently visfirst thing to pop ited by famous it in a disrespectful way. into our heads is the artists. The landscape in the painting is known to be comical parodies of this painting. The Oslofjord, viewed from the hill of universal familiarity with this masterEkeberg, in Oslo, then Kristiania, piece is delightful; however, I feel we are familiar with it in a disrespectful Norway. To Munch, however, this place was way. The screaming figure we know so beyond a place of simple inspiration-- well nevertheless painfully transcends it was the place of nightmare. It is told the hapless life of Edvard Munch. Should we not view this masterpiece that there was a mental hospital below the hill, and people frequently could with a more serious and sincere attihear screams of its insane patients, tude? who were mostly women. Thus, it is very understandable and almost obvi- PHOTO BY DANNY CHUNG SECOND MOVEMENT, PHOTO COURTESY MONI HILL Crawford Art Gallery displayed Moni Hill’s artistic interpretations of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Studio Art II relieves the stress BY HYECHANG RHIM Albert Einstein once stated, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” In Asheville School, even though they have fulfilled their required art credits, some students go beyond Studio Art I and pursue this imagination in Studio Art II. The objectives of the course are that students will complete exercises in figure drawing, metamorphoses, sculptural painting and understand better patience and its relationship with quality. Studio Art II is composed of four units. For the first unit, students review the introduction to art and draw a selfportrait. Junior Won Jun Kim comments, “Drawing a self-portrait was weird because I was I had to draw myself, but it was definitely exciting.” After this unit, students will move on to create a family sculpture. For the third unit, students will learn to simplify the complex. And for the last unit, student artists will learn to synthesize two and three dimensions onto a sculptural. By this time, students must have completed a total of five artworks from their choice art lists. According to Kim, Studio Art II is different from Studio Art I in that it is more independent. Some students, like Kim, who already take five classes and have art as their sixth class, are required to show up twice a week as long as they meet the deadlines for their projects. Kim already takes five classes, so he goes to Studio Art II classes on Monday and Wednesday. “Sometimes, I feel I am overloaded because I take six classes,” Kim states. “But Studio Art II makes me release my stress and relax. I don’t feel like it’s a class which I have to be stressed about.” “From this class, I learn more than mere art,” Kim continues. “For this selfportrait assignment, I was late for the deadline. But through this experience, I learned how important it is to manage my time.” Kim feels that the required Studio Art I class pulled out his inner artistic interest and now art is one of his hobbies. He says that he will continue his art career as a hobby even after he graduates from Asheville School. page 9 European Studies scholars explore Renaissance art during the summer Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling enlightens European Studies students BY PETER LO If you are in European Studies class, you might have read Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling by Ross King. As a talented writer as he is, King introduces readers to the Italian Renaissance. The fresco on the ceiling of Sistine Chapel is probably most famous for “Creation of Adam.” God, described as grey-beard old man in pink clothes, descends from the sky with many naked children, supposedly angels, stretching his hand out to another naked man, seemingly exhausted, lying on the ground: this description is how one would probably look at this piece before reading Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling. King, however, enlightens readers with deeper knowledge, which will make not only “Creation of Adam” but also other paintings interesting. Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling is the story about Michelangelo Buonarroti, possibly one of the greatest sculptors and painters ever, and Pope Julius II, the pope who commissioned Michelangelo to fresco the ceiling of the restored Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo, a very self-righteous man, rejects the commission, and after getting famous for Pieta and David, he considers himself a sculptor, not a painter. Pope Julius II, however, forcefully demands Michelangelo to fresco the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, canceling his previous commission to sculpt a tomb for him. Frustrated by such sudden cancellation because Michelangelo personally likes and starts to sculpt the tomb enthusiastically, Michelangelo escapes to Florence. Then, Pope Julius II, “the Warrior Pope,” personally leads army to catch Michelangelo. Eventually, Michelangelo comes back to Rome and finishes up the fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The interesting feature of this book is the abundant knowledge that the author has. King knows that the fresco on the ceiling of Sistine Chapel was the first fresco in Michelangelo’s career. (Michelangelo has done some fresco before but it was so small in size to be called ‘real’ fresco paintings.) He knows that Michelangelo used models for every human figure he drew, which most other artists did so at that time, but Michelangelo was the only one to use male model for female in the paintings. In addition, King knows Michelangelo partly invented a new style of scaffolding for frescoing the ceiling and it is not true that he was lying on his back while drawing. He knows that Michelangelo is one of the first artists to actually draw God as a human figure. As readers read through this book, they will find out facts that would make them wonder “where did he find this?” If you are interested in art, history, or books, reading Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling will be interesting. Even if you are not interested in such fields, this book is an easy novel that you can read without any stress and enjoy finding interesting facts; for example, Raphael, another great artist, was in love with a prostitute. Or one of the kids in Michelangelo’s fresco on the ceiling is cursing with a hand shape gesture. If you have some leisure time this weekend, how about borrowing Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling from a friend in European Studies and reading it? page 10 October 1, 2009 BY ERIN CRAWFORD AND JEREMIAH BALLEW Super Mario is arrested for illegal possession of ‘shrooms. BY ZACH SMITH BY SHAWN PARK page 11 October 1, 2009 BY KEN LAM BY EDWARD TUNG BY SOOJI HONG BY LUCIE REYNOLDS BY ZOE MCDANIEL Sports page 12 October 1, 2009 Blues soccer team struggles against ACA But strong seniors and talented freshmen offer hope for the season BY CHANG GUN LEE On September 8, Asheville School’s Varsity Soccer team faced Asheville Christian Academy in the Lower Soccer Field. Against one of the top conference teams, however, the Blues were not able to form a perfect squad. Morgan Sadler, one of the Blues’ co-captains, could not participate in the game because of an illness. Moreover, quite a few soccer players who had been suffering from slight symptoms of sickness had to push themselves through the game. Despite such adversity, the Blues fought well against the swift and big ACA players. For the first 30 minutes of the game, the Blues played an even match by putting a couple of shots on the opponent’s net and not allowing deadly shots or goals. When about 10 minutes remained in the first half, however, ACA made the first goal of the game; a winger from the right attempted a pass through Blues’ defenders, and one of ACA forwards settled the ball with his right foot and scored by a strike from left foot. Discouraged, the Blues soon gave up another goal, Allen VanNoppen controls a ball. finishing the first half down by two goals. PHOTO BY KATHERINE SUN Starting the second half of the game, the Blues began final score of 4-1 with ACA’s victory, leaving some regret to put more effort on the field. Making better team plays for the Blues. and more accurate passes to each other, the Blues sought “We need to be more aggressive,” said Coach Mettee. to catch up to the two goals they allowed in the first half. “We could have done better, but our players were sick Such effort continued even after ACA scored another goal and we were not able to play as well as we thought we on Blues’ net. Finally, Hyechang Rhim, one of the cocould.” captains, defeated ACA defenders and made the Blues’ Although defeated by ACA, the Blues began the seafirst goal of the game by pushing the ball into the net with son with two victories; one against WCAA and the other his right foot. Despite the goal, the game ended with the against Spartanburg Day. The key factor for the two successive wins was the Blues’ ability to score. Last year, Blues soccer team suffered in putting balls in the net; Blues dominated the field often, but could not lead the games. This year, however, the Blues seem to realize how to deal with the problem, scoring 6 goals in first three games of the season. This improvement partly attributes to new players. Brooks Kern, a freshman, makes creative passes and smart shots on the net, directly and indirectly contributing to the Blues’ overall play. Another freshman Ben Fiedler shows speed as an outside midfielder and prove his ability to score by putting the ball in the net against Spartanburg Day. “The new players actually make impact on our play.” said Coach Mettee. “The two freshmen are committing themselves on the field and making positive contributions on the team.” Another contributing factor is the improvement of returning players. Hyechang Rhim came back with more sophisticated feet, scoring three goals in three games of the season. Other returning players, such as Nick Dawson or Nate Shepherd, Morgan Sadler, Allen VanNoppen, and Dennis Kuzmich also demonstrate their improved soccer on the field. With the overall growth of team capability, the Blues’ 2009 soccer season seems anticipatory than any other season in the past years. Blues start season with win Football team defeats Thomas Jefferson Classical 35-14 BY MIN KI KIM Cliff Hanich (53) and Matt Hansen (55) hold a defensive line. PHOTO BY MR. DARAB Attitude matters in tennis Proper etiquette is needed for fair sportsmanship BY GRACE RAYNOR When it comes to tennis, there is one major subject of controversy: line calls. Line calls have become a major issue with high school students (who judge line calls themselves), but a more recent case involving Serena Williams proves that this matter is present in the big leagues as well. In her recent match in the US Open, Serena Williams was penalized with a foot fault after her second serve. The line judge felt that her foot had crossed the line while serving. Greg Garber and the press of ESPN News states, “Instead of stepping to the baseline to serve again, Williams went over and shouted and cursed at the line judge, pointing at her and shaking a ball at her.” This is a perfect example of how one should not react on the court. When playing in a tennis match, the player has little say regarding whether the ball was in or out or if the foot was over or behind the line. Tennis is a game of judgment and you have to trust that your opponent or judge is calling fairly. In the event that a player feels as though a call is unjust, reacting the way Williams did is the wrong approach. One temper loss and a few derogatory terms have put a completely new spin on Serena Williams and her reputation, and this is not a case that will be forgotten about. Instead, a player should respectfully challenge the call if appropriate, and when the final decision is made, leave it at that. This is difficult in some cases, as we see that tennis is not a contact sport, and lots of anger is built up that may not be able to be exerted effectively; however, in order to be successful in tennis, one must show proper etiquette and acceptance of the calls that are made. Asheville School Varsity Football team kicked off the season with a win against Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy. Despite the first away game of the season, football players melted their practiced skills into the game. The score of 35 to 14 shows that the Blues dominated the game. In fact, Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy’s athletes succeeded in scoring first points of the game. The opponents led the game 6-0; however, they failed to score extra points after that. The Blues came back around the halfway of the second quarter. Gabe Darab, a co-captain of the team, threw a 45-yard pass to Leonard Martin. Martin received the ball and scored the first touchdown for the Blues. Then, the kicker of the team, Christophe Agricola brought an extra point, and the Blues started to lead the game. However, our team was not satisfied with one point advance. 19 seconds before halftime, Darab made a reverse pitch to Leonard Martin, and Martin finished the play with a touchdown following 23-yard run. Agricola made another point by his kick. At the half time, Blues led the game by 14-6. First half of the game was excellent, “It’s always good to start off 1-0. Once you get the first win, it keeps the excitement up for the next game” -Gabe Darab but Blues played even better football in the second half. As soon as the game resumed, Martin made an 80-yard-run touchdown following the opponent’s kickoff. Agricola made his third kick of the game, and the score was 21-6 to Blues’ favor. Almost at the end of the third quarter, Darab ran 51-yards by himself and scored a touchdown. Then, in the beginning of the fourth quarter, Walker Szurek received a pass by Darab and scored another touchdown for the Blues. Agricola earned another two bonus points for the Blues, making the score 35-6. Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy scored in the late fourth quarter, but it was too late to change the stream of the game. Cliff Hanich, Walker Szurek, Malik Risher, and Matt Hansen all made numerous tackles on the opponents throughout the game. Asheville School football players altogether made 333 rushing and passing yards in the game. Leonard Martin, Gabe Darab, Austin Green, and Malik Risher all had great rushes. “It is always good to start off 1-0. Once you get the first win, it keeps the excitement up for the next game.” says Darab. “The first win made us feel good, and I think this year is going to be a good year.” Asheville Blues’ football team is excited for the good kickoff of the season. They have eight more games scheduled for the season. The Asheville School community will look forward to the good results of the football team. Young tennis player makes a sensation BY MATTHEW EVANS In the Third Round of the US OPEN American tennis player Andy Roddick lost to the young American sensation John Isner. Isner pulled out the match in five sets winning 7-6(3), 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, 7-6(5). Roddick lost in the third round after getting to the finals of Wimbledon and losing the longest match in Wimbledon history two months prior. 6’9” John Isner hit an astonishing 38 aces in the match to boost him to victory, and he had no problem playing at the net as he served and volleyed most of the match. But Roddick had 32 less unforced errors. Also, Roddick won more points than Isner. It really shows that sometimes it is how you play the big points. To me, it seemed that Roddick was over confident in the first two sets so that he played casually and eventually had to dig himself out of a two set deficit. However, in the end, Isner’s serve was just too much to handle in the final tie break. After the match Roddick told the national press, “I mean, I don’t know [if] I’ve ever come to a tournament with as much confidence, into a Slam, as I did with this tournament, and leaving earlier than I wanted to.” This is, without question, the biggest win in Isner’s short career; he is also the first American to beat Andy Roddick in the US Open since “Pistol Pete” Sampras in 2002. This win is also the first time John Isner has made it to the Fourth Round of a Grand Slam. Mr. Pharr commented on the subject, “It’s exciting to see an up and coming American player doing well in the US Open.” Sua Yoon agreed with Mr. Pharr saying that the match was “awesome”, but some people were not so excited about Isner’s upset. Matthew Gilliland response of “I was just mad Roddick lost” and John Craver’s reply of “not crazy about it” show that Roddick let many people down by losing this early in the US Open. It will be interesting to see how Andy Roddick bounces back after this tough loss.