Brushton-Moira Central School District

FYI
Brushton-Moira Central School
History of Pizza
This Week in History
March 2nd, 1819 - U.S
passed its first immigration law.
March 3rd, 1845 – Congress authorizes ocean
mail contracts for foreign
mail delivery
March 4th, 1699 – Jews
were expelled from
Lubeck, Germany
March 5th, 1770 – The
Boston Massacre took
place, during which British
troops killed 5 in crowd.
African American Crispus
Attucks was the first to die
and was later held up as
an early black martyr.
March 6th, 1836 – The
Battle of the Alamo took
place after 13 days of
fighting. During the Texas
Revolution, between 1,500
and 3,000 Mexicans overwhelmed the Texans at the
Alamo. Between 182 and
257 Texans died, including
William Travis, Jim Bowie
and Davy Crockett.
Pizza has a long history. During the sixteenth century in Naples, a
flat bread was given the name of pizza. At the beginning it was covered
only by white sauce, because tomatoes were not imported until the end
of the sixteenth century. Even the
kings of the House of Savoy loved pizza. In 1889 Raffaele Esposito dedicated the "Pizza Marguerite” to Queen
Marguerite of Savoy. This pizza represented the tricolor flag of Italy with
the white of the mozzarella, red of
tomato and green of basil.
The Neapolitans (people from
Naples) take their pizza very seriously.
They argue that there are only two
true pizzas: the "Marinara" and the
"Marguerite." The Marinara is the oldest and has a topping of tomato, oregano, garlic, extra-virgin olive oil, and
usually basil. It was called "Marinara"
because it was the food that the fishermen ate when they came home
from a long day of fishing (mare
means sea).
Italians introduced pizza to
the world. Pizza made its first appearance in the United States with the arrival of Italian immigrants to New York
City, Chicago, San Francisco, and Philadelphia in the late nineteenth century.
Pizza was initially sold on the streets
of Italian neighborhoods, but it didn’t
take much time before small coffee
shops and drugstores began offering
pizzas to their Italian- American community.
Upcoming Events at BMC
3/6—Foreign Language Night
3/9—Spring Varsity sports
begin
3/10—End of 5 week
marking period
3/10—NJHS Induction
3/16– Spring Modified sports
begin
Volume 3, Issue 2
-Paola Desiderio
Josh’s
Top 5 Country Songs
1.) Burnin’ It DownJason Aldean
2.) Rollin Like a Redneck
- Jawga Boyz
3.) Ain’t Worth the
Whiskey- Cole Swindell
4.) 1994- Jason Aldean
5.) Cleaning this GunRodney Atkins
Page 2
FYI
March Madness
With March Madness only weeks away, teams are trying to make the bracket of
64 teams eligible to win the NCAA title. March Madness is similar to the NBA playoffs with
only a few differences. In both college and the NBA, all teams try to win a title to show
that they are the best team. In college it is a one game elimination, but in the NBA it is a
seven game series. In the NBA there are only 16 teams trying to win the title, but in college basketball, 64 teams try to win the NCAA title. This year March Madness starts March
th
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17 and ends April 6 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. The tournament takes place in 14 different
venues all over the United States, from Los Angeles to New York.
Back when March Madness first started it was a lot different than it is now. Originally the tournament
wasn’t even called March Madness. It was just a group of select high school teams from Illinois that played ball
to see which team was the best. As the years went by, basketball became more popular, eventually spreading to
over 900 schools trying to win one title. In 1939 Henry V. Porter gave the tournament the name March Madness, and we have been calling it that ever since. On March 27th, 1939 The University of Oregon defeated Ohio
State University to win the first ever NCAA title.
-Josh
Book Review
In The Dead and Buried, Kim Harrington tells a story about a girl named
Jade who discovers a secret her parents don’t want her to know.
The main character, Jade, has a step-mom named Marie and a little brother
named Colby. The only reason Jade has a step-mom is because her mom died from
cancer during surgery when Jade was only nine years old. Jade’s father didn’t even
take time to talk to Jade about marrying Marie two years after her mother’s death.
Jade had always wanted to live in Massachusetts, so when her family finally got the
chance to move, she was happy. She would have a new house and a new school.
Unfortunately, when they moved Jade’s happiness disappeared very quickly when
she discovered a very bad secret about her house. This secret changed everything in Jade’s life. It affected her
little brother Colby because he was scared of a glimmering girl he would see every day. It also really affected
Jade in school and at home because everyone knew about the secret. They would talk about her, and they
didn’t want to be her friend because of it. She was even frightened to be in the house. She would have nightmares about what had happened in the house.
I believe that this is a really good book. If you like ghost stories you also might enjoy it. I give The Dead
and Buried four out of five paws. What would you do if you discovered a secret that could change everything?
-Jazz<3
Page 3
Volume 3, Issue 2
Senioritis
According to the urban dictionary, senioritis is defined as “a crippling disease that affects high school
seniors.” While senioritis isn’t really a physical disease, it is a phenomena that happens when high school seniors basically stop caring about what they need to do in school - they just want to graduate already and get it
over with. Senioritis is a true disability for some high school students. It can cripple a teen's ability to learn and
has some bad consequences in the long run. These are some of the signs of senioritis:
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Poor grades
Incomplete assignments
Missing curfew
Cutting classes
Increased absences from school
Concern from teachers and school administrators
Laziness
Has a hard time getting out of bed in the morning
Lackadaisical attitude about homework and school projects
Poor hygiene
Apathy towards their future
Overly social--wants to spend all of their time with peers
Using alcohol or drugs
Most seniors will have some form of senioritis. The most common cause of senioritis is the excitement
of finally graduating from high school. You’re just so ready to be finished that you become lazy and don’t do the
work. If you don’t do the work, you won’t be able to graduate. If you can’t make it through high school, the real
world is going to hit you like a ton of bricks. Don’t let senioritis affect you because it has very serious consequences.
-M.M.
Grinds My Gears
Wanna know what really grinds my gears? That stupid expression. I can’t stand it! I felt my fingers rebelling
against my entire being just by typing out the words “grinds my gears.” Oh, my goodness. What does it even mean? What
are my gears!? Why are they grinding!? How can I make it stop!?
Since the beginning of this section in our newspaper, I’ve had to skip the title and first sentence in order to actually enjoy the little rant. I thought I would dig a little deeper and try to find out why this expression annoys me as much as
it does. I began this research by looking through mainstream newspapers online, trying to see if it’s a popular headline
anywhere else. I didn’t find much that would explain my hate, so I tried to dig deeper. I thought of previous “Grinds My
Gears” articles that have been in our paper, and I couldn’t think of anything that annoyed me so much that I suddenly
developed an extreme hate for the entire phrase. Nothing was making sense. All that came to mind was an annoying, hillbilly phrase like, “Hey, Billy-Joe-Bob, wanna stop playin’ that dang banjo so loud? It’s grindin’ my gears.” I can’t even deal
with this.
Eventually, I decided to do some deep, underground investigation. By this, I mean I googled “Grinds My Gears”
and looked at the first thing that came up. All at once, as if the entire world was put back into order, I realized I had heard
the expression years ago on Family Guy! It turns out, it’s not the expression’s fault! It’s just that I hate Family Guy more
than anything I’ve ever had the horrendous experience of watching. I’m sure most of our readers know the origin of the phrase. I, however, never really made the entire connection. But
hey, I hope we all learned something; if you really, truly despise something, why not do a little
research on it? Maybe you’ll discover that it’s not really that you hate whatever it is, you just
hate whatever it’s linked to. You may surprise yourself. So, you wanna know what really, truly
grinds my gears? Family Guy.
-Herrmannator
Procrastinators Unite
Do you ever find that you’ve waited too long to do something important? That you’ve discovered that you no longer
have the time to get your work done? I know this happens often to everyone; it happens to me as well. If you fall under this category, then here are my top five tips on how to stop procrastinating:
1.) Just Do It: Don’t wait anymore - you know when it’s due. Start your homework. You know how to do it. All you have
to do is shut off your computer and T.V., set the phone aside, and start on the work. Try doing 45 minutes of work and then taking
a 15 minute break to calm down your brain. You will be completely refreshed and ready to work after the short break. According
to an article in the New York Times, John P. Trougakos, a college professor, says that your brain works like your muscles; it needs a
break every once in a while. He says that taking breaks also reduces the amount of daydreaming, so there’s more working involved. People are able to focus better after a break.
2.) Start With The Hardest: It’s been proven that if you start with your hardest work first, then your brain will be able to
focus more on it. If you start with the easiest –like most people do- then when you get to the hardest task, your brain will be more
jumbled and not completely focused. Also, if you do start with the hardest then you’re more likely to finish faster. When you decide you want to take a break, you won’t procrastinate as long to do the easy stuff as you would with the harder work.
3.) To Do List: Grab a white board, a planner, or a piece of paper and write down all of the things you need to do. Put
your homework on there, your chores, and anything else that you know you need to get done. This is a good way to always have it
in your face reminding you of the things you need to complete.
4.) Have Someone Remind You: If you’re not good with writing things down, ask someone to remind you- someone like
a parent or a friend. Have them keep asking you if you did your homework or finished that project. Maybe you will get so tired of
them hounding you that you’ll finally do it.
5.) Set Goals To Gain Rewards: Start setting goals. For example: if I finish a certain amount of work, then I can have a
small break watching my favorite show. Doing a certain amount of work and then rewarding yourself works for some people. Just
don’t reward yourself for the smallest tasks. Don’t let it get out of hand, or things could get messy. In some other cases, rewarding
yourself for small things helps you to do bigger things in the future.
-G.B.
Winter Break in NYC
Over February break, I had the opportunity to visit some family in “the Big Apple” with my
boyfriend and his brother. We were there for the entire week and were able to see a lot of the sights that
the city has to offer. This was my first time visiting NYC, and I was not disappointed in the slightest. We
visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art (“the Met” as everyone calls it in the city), saw Kingsman at the
movies, walked around Times Square, watched The Lion King on Broadway, and got to look out over
the city from the 70th floor observation deck of Rockefeller Center (“Top of the Rock”) to name just a
few of our adventures.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a massive museum, with so many exhibits that you could
go there every day for an entire week and not see it all (we went there twice and only saw a fraction of
the exhibits on display). In fact, taking up about 2,000,000 square feet, the Met is the largest museum in the entire United States and
is one of the top ten largest museums in the world. Some of the exhibits we were able to see were Greek and Roman Art, Ancient
Near Eastern Art, European Paintings (I got my picture taken with a self-portrait by Vincent Van Gogh), Arms and Armor, Medieval Art, the American Wing (very briefly), and Musical Instruments (where, to my excitement as a saxophonist, they had an entire
exhibit dedicated to the inventor of the saxophone, saxotromba, saxhorn, and saxtuba). Like I said, this was only a small portion of
the museum. If you’re ever in the city, this is one sight you will definitely want to see. Here’s a little helpful tip should you and
your friends decide to visit the Met – although a donation of a certain amount is encouraged upon entering the museum, it is not
required. Technically, it doesn’t cost even a penny to browse the countless amazing pieces of art.
If I had to pick my favorite part of the trip it would be really difficult, but I would have to say seeing The Lion King on
Broadway. I was simply blown away by the spectacular performance. The costumes were all very elaborate and breathtaking, and
the ever changing set design and complex choreography were both magnificent… but it was the music that really made the show for
me. There are songs in the musical that are not in the movie that are truly great additions. Some of the new scenes include a conversation between Mufasa and Zazu about Mufasa's parenting, a perilous scene in which Timon nearly drowns after falling down a
waterfall, and a heartbreaking song by Simba while he reflects on his father’s promise to always be there. I particularly enjoyed the
song “Shadowland,” in which Nala receives the blessings of the lionesses and Rafiki to leave the Pride Lands and look for help.
The woman who played Rafiki (Thandazile Soni) has an amazing, captivating voice, along with the woman who played Nala
(Sindisiwe Nxumalo) and the man who played Simba (Joel Karie). I was brought to tears during one scene by the combination of
the astounding, powerful vocal performance and the intricacy of the set and costumes. It is no surprise that The Lion King is
Broadway's fourth longest-running show in history as well as the highest grossing Broadway production of all time, having made
upwards of $1 billion.
However, one of the best parts about being in the city is simply walking the streets and being around all different kinds of
people from all over the world. While I definitely had some hard core culture shock upon entering the city (Brushton is extremely
rural, after all), I enjoyed every minute of it.
-Kate
Finger Found In Frozen Custard
You might think finding gross things in your food probably doesn’t happen, but guess what? You’re wrong. It does actually happen! A man named Craig Thomas cut off part of his finger while working with a machine at an ice-cream shop. While several
employees were helping their injured co-worker, another employee unknowingly scooped the chocolate custard into a pint before
being told what had happened.
When a customer named Clarence Stowers went to put a scoop of the custard into
his mouth, he saw a chunk and thought it was candy. When he put the spoonful in his mouth,
he said ‘’this ain’t no nut.” He was shocked to discover a finger. He kept the finger in his freezer for evidence for his lawsuit. The Agriculture Department’s Food and Drug division had to
close the shop while food processing equipment was cleaned and sanitized. Beware— you
never know what you may find in your food!
-KayKay<3