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NewtoN South high School tueSday, SePteMBer 27, 2011 Volume 51, iSSue iV

Amanda Laws, coordinator of C.O.R.E. assists a student with attention deficit issues. This is the program’s first year at South.

C.O.R.E. assists adolescentsphoto by aley lewiS

Sophomores start SWAG

The modular classrooms allow the schools to continue educating their large student body.photo by aley lewiS

Inside Denebola

Modular classrooms point to future issues

Rachel’s Challenge comes to South to promote anti-bullying

By Astha AgarwalFor most kids at South, partying

is a rite of passage, but only during senior year. For one group of fresh-men, however, senior year came a little early when the Newton Police broke up a party in March of last year.

According to an anonymous source, drinks were openly available at the party, but there was an entrance fee of $5. “At first it was funny and it was a good time, but people started yelling at each other and fighting and getting out of control, and that was when a few kids started to get really sick,” the source said.

When one boy became particularly sick, an ambulance was called and New-ton police arrived.

Afterwards, housemasters, who were notified of the incident through a memoranda of understanding with the Newton police, held an informational meeting for parents and students who were involved in the party. The goal, ac-cording to Housemaster Henry Turner, was to decide “how we can communi-cate better as adults, to prevent students from making destructive and dangerous decisions.”

Motivated and empowered by what the housemasters said at this meeting, Eliza Granahan-Field, a freshman at the time, initiated a group called SWAG, Students With a Goal, to educate incoming freshmen about the dangers and excitements of high school. Along with her friends, Natasha Berezin, Mel Gundersheim, Lauren Levey, Sofia Osorio, and Jessa Rubera, she is working in an effort to make the transition to high school an easier one for other students.

“One of my very close friends went to the parent meeting last year after the horrible accidents at the party and did not like what was said about our grade and the reputation [it] now has,” Rubera said. “She was talking to me about the situation, and [because] both of us are very committed athletes and against drinking or doing drugs, we decided, not only to get our reputation wiped and to start over, but also to get the message across to younger grades and the majority of the school that we did make a mistake and should never let it happen again.

“Our main goal is to educate people who are nervous about or haven’t experienced the environment of high school,” Osorio said.

In order to achieve this goal, the group speaks to incoming South stu-dents about what they have to look forward to and beware of. They last spoke at Step-Up Day in June.

“[I think] we really made an impact on the incoming freshman,” Rubera said.

SWAG focuses on promoting ways to have fun without getting into trou-ble, teaching kids and even adults how to promote the right message and stay safe, as well as teaching kids about high school in general.

Prevention/Intervention Counselor Rich Catrambone, who spoke at the Housemaster’s meeting, has been ad-vising the group since it began.

“He’s guided us in the right direc-tion and made things happen, fast,” Gundersheim said.

Currently, the group is having meet-ings with housemasters, other faculty, to discuss and make changes.

“What we did was a mistake and

should never happen again”

—Jess Rubera ‘14

Dramatization of bullying: Rachel’s Challenge and the anti-bullying laws hope to eradicate it.photo by haNNah pittel

By Robert Wang One of the long-term issues that is

currently stemming from Newton’s elementary schools is the problem of overcrowding. To add to this matter, the additions of modular classrooms,

classrooms built adjoining the side of a school, have been delayed in Burr, Horace Mann and Zervas elementary schools. In the future, these students will come to South and possibly create similar overpopulation issues.

Over the past few years, modular classrooms have already been imple-mented at Pierce, Bowen, Zervas, Oak Hill, and Horace Mann. Last year, students were moved to Angier to al-low the school committee to make im-provements and reallocate resources. A method that the school committee implemented is the distribution of students into buffer zones. Students were spread out across different, avail-able, under-populated school districts in Newton.

While the flood of students is cur-rently restricted to certain elementary schools, problems could potentially arise when the majority enters the middle and high schools, as seen in Day Middle School. The elementary schools will not face extreme growth; as some schools grow, others are ex-pected to see shrinkage.

According to Jonathan Yeo, a mem-ber of the Newton School Committee, “Projections based on past trends and

census records of pre-schools aged children show the overall elementary population slowing in growth, but not declining.”

The middle school levels will also grow by several hundred students since the elementary schools will send their students forward. The growth bubble will eventually hit the high schools, giving both North and South around 1900-2000 students.

However, Yeo believes that “both schools [have] sufficient space to ac-commodate the growth.”

The main issue of the overpopula-tion will be the impact on student learning due to the recent budget cuts. With the increase in enrollment in high schools, the need for more teachers and specialists will also rise. The cuts, however, will force class sizes to become even larger.

Principal Joel Stembridge predicts there will be an increase in the

By Daniel Barabasi“We exist to inspire, equip and

empower every person to create a permanent positive culture change in their school, business, and community by starting a chain reaction of kindness and compassion.”

This is the mission statement for Rachel’s Challenge, a program that is responsible for a part of the the recent anti-bullying curriculum implemented at South.

Rachel’s Challenge is dedicated to the memory of Rachel Scott, the first person to die at the 1999 Columbine High School shooting. The goal of the program is to create a more accepting and understanding community for

students of all ages. There have been as many as 16 mil-

lion participants in the live presenta-tions at schools all over the country since the program’s creation. And this year Rachel’s Challenge has come to Newton South.

Over the summer, the Newton Public Schools Bullying Prevention and Intervention Committee, which consists of teachers from both North and South, convened in response to a Massachusetts anti-bullying law passed in May 2010.

The Committee based their actions on two sources: Bully-Proofing For High Schools by Jill McDonald

By Noah RivkinThis year marks the arrival of,

perhaps, the most innovative student-learning program South has ever implemented. The new program, Community Opportunity Responsibil-ity Education (CORE), serves students who need extra help on their work and projects to achieve their potential.

“We wanted to create a structured environment to have a place where [the students] can do as well as we know that they can do,” CORE direc-tior Amanda Laws said.

Laws, a new teacher at South, has already found that many people have

misconceptions about what CORE actually is. “CORE is a regular-ed program. It’s not like, say, Southside, which offers a therapeutic approach to learning,” Laws said.

Laws, who came from the Compass school in Dorchester, is a guidance counselor by trade and has taken up the challenge of pioneering this in-novative and helpful program. “There were kids [at Compass] who came from [all corners of] the city,” Laws said.

Even if South is larger than her pre-vious school, Laws is very excited to work with the numerous kids that she

will, no doubt, encounter in CORE.“I was always looking for an op-

portunity to work in an environment where I can make sure that there is more of an opportunity for the [stu-dents], “ Laws said. “I also like that South is a lot like the school I went to in [Montclair, New Jersey]. I feel like I will be able to relate to the kids a little better than the average new teacher.”

Laws can’t run such an intricate program by herself. To the casual observer, it looks like a combined His-tory and English class; but unlike the

CORE, continued on page A7

BULLYING, continued on page A7 SWAG, continued on page A7

A New Era For Denebola

News Feed

View From The Bottom: Getting Lost in South

In Memoriam: Denebola’s tribute to Amy Winehouse

Turnitin.com now mandatory for all English students

Sophomore Rides 270 miles for arab war widows

All-girl field hockey team employs male players

Summer training prepares girls’ volleyball team

Faculty Members start Fantasy Football league

View From Top: Grace Nathans dishes out wit and wisdom

September Art Focus: Senior Jackie Lebovits

Fake Chinese iPhones distributed to global market

First Year faculty’s hopes for 2012 school year

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MODULES, continued on page A7

Denebola 27 September 2011Editorials A2

Mayor Setti Warren Mayor of WalthamWanna bet that the Newton North Football Team will win the

game between North and Waltham?About 2 weeks ago -- Like -- Comment -- See Friendship

Mayor of WalthamYou’re on. Loser buys dinner.

about 2 weeks ago -- Like

AP European HistoryDue to the state giving Newton Public Schools more money,

AP Euro will now be offered at South.About 1 month ago -- Like -- Comment -- See Friendship

History NerdsOMG!!

about 1 month ago -- Like

Mayor of Waltham Mayor Setti WarrenHAHA! Time to pay up. I’m feeling sushi. Lots and lots of

sushi.About 1 week ago -- Like -- Comment -- See Friendship

Newton North Football Team...Our bad.

about 1 week ago --mayor of waLtham Likes this -- Like

All information loosely resembles the truth. Please don’t sue us.

Senator Ruth BalserVOTE NO ON GAMBLING LEGISLATION: It’s addictive

and poisons the mind!About 1 week ago -- Like -- Comment -- See Friendship

Mayor Setti Warren... Is this a bad time to mention the 40 bucks

you still owe me from our poker game?about 1 week ago --mayor of waLtham Likes this -- Like

Disgruntled TeenagerTHIS FACEBOOK LAYOUT SUCKS!!!!!!1!!!!1!!

About 1 week ago -- Like -- Comment

Mark ZuckerbergSo why are you still using Facebook??

about 1 week ago -- Like

Disgruntled Teenager....

about 1 week ago -- Like

Mark ZuckerbergExactly.

yesterday -- Like

John DoeHOLY CRAP! I JUST FOUND A CAMERA IN THE MARSHALL’S BATHROOM

About 1 month ago -- Like -- Comment -- See Friendship

Marshall’s EmployeeNice birthmark, bro.

about 1 week ago -- Like

Ray AllenHey man, did you hear our coach, Bryan Doo, saved some

Newton guy’s life the other day?About 1 week ago -- Paul Pierce Likes This -- Like -- Comment -- See Friendship

Bryan DooJust Dooing my job.

about 1 week ago -- Like

Paul Pierce

Newton HomeownerYou darn kids, always swimming in Crystal Lake at all hours

of the night and making a racket! How can I get any peace if you’re splashing around all the time?

About 1 week ago -- Like -- Comment -- See Friendship

South StudentChill bro, the lake’s public property! Everyone should use it.

about 1 week ago -- Like

Denebola turns a page in its historical past as South’s 51-year-old, official newspaper. With a fresh crop of students to lead the paper and a new set of faculty leadership, we see the transition more as an opportu-nity than as a bridge between generations.

We are seizing this oppor-tunity to propel Denebola into the future. It is time to bring the newspaper into the media-rife 21st century.

While shedding the anach-ronisms from an established institution poses its challenges, we are devoted to initiatives in both print and virtual publica-tion.

From crisper, contempo-rary aesthetics in our printed editions to an accessible and modern website, we hope to set Denebola on a solid footing in this new age.

We will uphold our mission to be the vital artery from South’s pulse to its students. While our staff strives to enrich fellow students’ lives with each story, Denebola hopes to strengthen its connection with the com-munity’s young adults.

We will channel this initia-tive through our online media. From links to scheduling up-dates and vital administrative information, to an upcoming interactive web interface, to a

virtual art gallery – a forum for any student-created images and art, Denebola is devoted to uni-fying the remarkably talented South community.

Our role in South’s fabric is to not only provide news and foster unity, but it is also to offer students with an opportu-nity to explore the nuances of journalism and the media.

Because Denebola will continue to function like a small business, it will provide students with experience in fields beyond writing. Positions developing skills in photog-raphy and artistry, business, management, and web design offer unique experiences in the professional world.

The values and missions to which Denebola has subscribed will remain the guiding light on its journey into modern high school journalism.

Denebola attributes much of what it is today to our former advisor, George Abbott White, who served as the faculty lead-ership for the greater part of two decades.

During his tenure, White helped his students transform a small, colorless publication into a newspaper that, from afar, looked professional.

His ability to provide stu-dents with copious article ideas and up-to-the-minute scoops helped make Denebola the reli-

able provider of South’s news.But what set White apart

from the advisors of most high school newspapers was his unparalleled dedication to Denebola. He cared about the success of the publication and would even supervise through-out the night and then teach in the morning.

White set the foundation for Denebola. Now, we are going to use that foundation to take this publication to new heights.

Our campaign begins with school and parental support. We could not have published this issue without the guidance of English Department Head Brian Baron. Without his and Principal Joel Stembridge’s support, we would not have a coalition of generous faculty and South parents to supervise production.

Denebola sees their encour-agement and time as invaluable contributions.

As we at Denebola turn our gaze from the past into the future, we hope to begin a new era of journalism at Newton South, a sustainable model that balances the printed traditions with newly established online conventions.

In the next months, our fo-cus will be on writing the next chapter in Denebola’s prolific history.

Denebola dives into new era

Editorials & opinionsannapurna raveL (sr.)hattie gawande

Jarrett gorin

tim newton

danieL pincus

arts & EntErtainmEntsophie scharLin-pettee (sr.)micheLLe tian

Faculty advisor Brian Baron

ExEcutivE Editor

Rutul Patel

DenebolaFounded in 1960

Editors-in-chiEF

Dan Kats and Jason Yoffe

www.denebolaonline.net

sportsnathan baskin

mike berman

Josh carney

Joe maher

Zach pawa

Graphicstim Jiang

LiZZie odvarka

victor Qin

Global EducationdyLan royce (sr.)

dina busaba

peter natov

FEaturEs Liana butchard

Jesse feLdstein

courtney foster

Josh nisLick

wendy ma

nEwsastha agarwaL

danieL barabasi

andreas betancourt

noah rivkin

robert wang

cEntErFoldJuLia spector (sr.)meLanie erspamer

wEb Editorscorbin krinsky

thibaut Xiong

photoGraphyaLey Lewis (sr.)

ray fLint

anna garik

emma sander

Jonah seifer

Managing Editor

Helen Holmes

Denebola enacts a two-fold role in the Newton South community: responsibility to the larger Newton community

and the school itself and responsibility to the individuals who contribute to its pages. This tradition extends back to Newton South’s inception in 1960, and the first issue of the newspaper.

As Newton South High School’s official school newspaper, we are engaged in every facet of the school community, which means fair and equal coverage of South’s sporting events, enrichment and art programs, school organizations, and all other aspects of school

life. Additionally, Denebola feels it is important to stimulate as well as inform discussion on the essential issues of the day.Denebola is written, edited, and published by Newton South

students. Its publication is entirely supported by advertising; the newspaper receives no funds from the PTSO or similar

organizations. Contributions are neither soliticted nor accepted. Unless stated, opinions are those of the individuals under whose

bylines they appear. Letters from students, faculty, or members of the Newton

community should be addressed to the Editors-in-Chief.dEnEbola, thE oFFicial nEwspapEr oF nEwton south high school, 140 BrandEis road, nEwton, Mass. 02459

Contributors: Dar Alon, Lauren Ashbrook, Ethan Epstein, Adam Macalister, Erik Manditch, Grace Nathans, Ramya

Ramadurai, Daniel Rozenblum, and Karen Weinstock

Special thanks to: Avinash Agarwal, Danielle Betancourt, Krisztina Bukur-Doczy, Xuemei He, Lana Kats, Michael Kennedy, David Nislick, MA Payne, Hilary Spector, Karen Temkin, David Weintraub, Aviva Yoffe, and Saul Yoffe

Volume 51, Issue 4

sEnior copy Editor

Charlie Temkin

copy Editoraafreen raJani

Join

Wanna be a star?

Check out: http://bit.ly/JoinDenebola

Editorial by Jason Yoffe

Denebola Opinions A327 September 2011

Opinions

Big Brother’s watching... but who cares?By Dan Rozenblum

I’ve been hearing a lot of displeased chatter about the recent installation of security cameras in our hallways.

Some complain that we are being spied upon at all times of the day, others find the cameras ominously creepy, and a spare few even go on to violently denounce the dark, bulbous creatures as ugly and degrading to the beauty of our school.

Angry students can be found throughout the halls yelling profanities and waving picket signs – offended at this apparent breach of our constitutional amendments.

However, if we get over the technological invasion by these voyeurs, I strongly believe we will be able to use them to our advantage.

Now many of you argue that these cameras are just a way for Big Brother to monitor us even closer. Maybe you’re right, but honestly, who cares?

If the dude spends his Friday

By Hattie GawandeAs the tenth anniversary of

9/11 approached, the public was getting more and more anxious.

In the week before the anni-versary, there were last minute interviews conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in an attempt to verify claims of terrorists flown in from Pakistan. Rumors claimed that car bombs in New York and Washington were to be deto-nated around the time of the anniversary; thus nationwide security tightened.

Closer to home, Boston residents were being warned to stay off the turnpike and to avoid large gatherings.

Still closer, Newton South students were wondering what all the hubbub was about.

In the decade since 9/11, there have been fewer than 40 casualties of terrorism in the United States, none at the hands of al Qaeda.

Osama bin Laden is dead, and experts are saying that al Qaeda is on its way out due to lack of leadership, shrink-ing funds, and dwindling support.

In other words, the terrorist threat to the United States is infinitely lower than it was in 2001. And yet the majority still acts as though another major terrorist attack is right around the corner.

The day after 9/11/11, news broke: nothing happened. There were no bombings or shootings. There were no

explosions. The masses that came out to commemorate those that died in the attacks were left alone.

Many were shocked, but Newton South was not.

“Nobody I know was re-ally concerned about a threat ten years later because 9/11 was in the past, and although a threat is still present, it doesn’t feel real,” sophomore Nicki Oppenheim said.

Oppenheim’s sentiment echoes that of most South students: 9/11 will not hap-pen again. The multitudes of security measures enacted in the years since, and our own heightened awareness of the threat of terrorism, will make sure of that.

Still, what with the situ-ation in the Middle East, people need to expect the unexpected.

Though some South stu-

dents feel that while the pos-sibility of a terrorist threat on 9/11 was exaggerated, it’s never a bad idea to be cau-tious.

“I don’t think that terrorist attacks would have been suc-cessful, but I think that it’s good to be prepared. I think

it’s reasonable for people to think that they need to have security,” sophomore Mi-chelle Tian said.

The key is balance. Too much paranoia is bad in gen-eral because it can lead to overzealous security mea-sures and a population on the verge of hysteria.

But being too lax would be foolish.

“I’m not terribly concerned with terrorism; it’s not like I’m worrying about it all the time. And I know that there are people who feel the same. But we can’t be naive about the subject. Who knows, [ter-rorists] might be planning another attack on us because we killed Osama bin Laden,” freshman Marielle Dragat said.

The opinions of most of the student population re-flect this levelheaded view of the potential threats to the U.S.

“There’s always that un-derlying concern, but I don’t feel that threatened. I know that it’s very unstable in the Middle East, but I’m not particularly afraid that some-thing will happen any sec-ond,” senior Judy Cohen said.

Many would call it shel-tered. Others would say naive. I say realistic. At Newton South we’re not about to panic at the mere possibility of a terrorist attack. But we won’t be caught unprepared in the event of an emergency.

nights with a pint of Ben and Jerry’s watching videotapes of seniors plowing through freshmen in the hallways (freshman – stop walking so slow, and stop being so small) on the mega-projector in the Field House, then so be it!

Also, these cameras can help us avoid some of the most infuriating situations that occur in school. Who forgot to return your pencil after borrowing it C block? Cameras.

Which kid in your homeroom took extra munchkins so you didn’t get any? Cameras.

W h o c o m m i t t e d t h e blasphemous act of leaving their gum in the Goldrick water fountain? Cameras.

Side note: last week I ran up and down the Goldrick stairs (okay.. more like crawled), and I can confidently assure everyone that the first floor of Goldrick does, in fact, have the best water fountain in the history of mankind.

The second floor is a close

second. The third floor just sucks (sorry Mr. Turley).

But seriously, there are many advantages to these cameras. We can avoid more thefts, and save money by not having to pay Scooby, Shaggy, and the rest of the gang to solve all of our mysteries (Mystery Inc. may seem nice on Cartoon Network, but those kids do not come cheap).

If something expensive gets stolen, we are more able to catch the criminal on tape, and give them the justice they deserve.

Yeah, I’m talking to YOU kid who stole my iPod sophomore year.

I may have seemed like an easy target back then, but now I got Big Brother on my side.

The cameras have been strategically placed throughout the school to cover as many “hot spots” as possible. There are also a lot of them in place to ensure our safety, so there is absolutely nothing to worry about.

Plus, more of an excuse to make funny faces.

By Dar Alon and Ethan Epstein

As Newton South freshmen, you have been to the infamous pool on the fourth floor count-less times.

But you should probably re-fresh the memories of the upper-

classmen who have forgotten just how wondrous a pool it is.

The entire room is covered in gold and flecks of diamond, and the water is kept clean with powdered rubies instead of chlorine.

The towels are made from the

finest silk and the chairs are made from premium platinum with Egyptian cotton pillows.

Just kidding. Unfortunately, for all students at South (espe-cially you, freshmen) such a pool does not exist. But your experiences of getting lost on

the first day do.Take your first ever math

class at South, in which you walk in twenty minutes early due to an early dismissal of your advisory.

As you confidently strut into your math class, you are shocked by how big everyone has gotten over the summer.

That’s when you recognize a camp friend and realize that you’re in a sophomore class.

As mortified as you already are, you become even more humiliated when she unin-tentionally introduces you to her whole class (including the math teacher), saying, “Hey, Freshman.”

There was really nothing you could do but back away slowly and make your exit.

When your class finally starts, your teacher (who hap-pened to witness your little scene amongst the sopho-mores) approaches you to comment upon the unfortu-

nate incident.You were so embarrassed

that you could only choke out a brief, garbled reply.

What a sense of accomplish-ment you felt just then, for al-ready you were making memo-ries you would rather forget.

Then, of course, there was the Spanish incident.

When you casually walk into what you thought was your Spanish classroom, it is the last period of the day and you are already disoriented enough from trying to find your way to the 6000’s from the 4000’s.

As you settle down and take out your pencil case, content with what you think are your superior navigation skills, you notice students walking in and saying “bonjour.”

At first, you figure that it is some sort of ironic joke.

But you get suspicious after every single person in the class greets the teacher with “bon-

jour” instead of “hola.” Then, as the class begins,

you notice the teacher “playing along” with the joke.

You don’t worry too much, though, until the teacher hands out the course syllabus.

Right then you suffer a rather rude awakening.

Suddenly, realizing that no one is trying to be funny, but rather say “hello,” you quickly gather your pencil case and consult your sched-ule to confirm your embar-rassing error.

You try to nonchalantly ex-cuse yourself as you attempt to explain to the French teacher the awful mistake you have made.

Thankfully, the teacher is very understanding and directs you to your real class.

A few weeks later, you can see the humor in your mishaps.

But right now, as humiliated as you feel, you’re just glad that you didn’t end up at the pool on the fourth floor.

“Too much para-noia... can lead to

overzealous security measures and a popu-lation on the verge of

hysteria.”

photo by annapurna ravel

View from the Bottom: Oh the places freshmen will go

graphic by adam macalister

Historic reflection: 9/11

Welcome to South, Freshmen! As your welcome present, DENEBOLA presents your guide to the best spots at South. We solemnly swear we are up to no good...

Seniors Isabel Carter and An-drew Chen like to hang out in the Mixed Media room be-cause, as Chen puts it, “The at-mosphere of the room is good because Mr. Wixon’s chill.”

PHOTO BY ALEY LEWIS

PHOTO BY JULIA SPECTOR

First-years, beware! Senior Commons can only be used by seniors. As Senior Class President Greg Ly said, “Se-nior Commons is a place where seniors go to relax inbetween classes without the distraction of freshmen. It’s a place for seniors, and seniors only.”

PHOTO BY JULIA SPECTOR

Seniors Maxwell Hamilton, Isa-bel Carter, Stefani Karr and Adam Macalister chill in the photo room because. According to Macalister, “There’s always someone I know and can talk to here. I’ve defi nitely connected with Mr. Bouchal… and it’s a break within an academic school from academics.”

PHOTO BY ALEY LEWIS

Senior Masha Uglova prefers to relax in front of the audito-rium because, “It’s an open space. It’s easy to relax there.”

PHOTO BY ALEY LEWIS

PHOTO BY JULIA SPECTORPHOTO BY JULIA SPECTOR

The L Bench boasts an open area fi lled with light. Conve-niently located between the 3000s and 2000s, it is prime real estate for hanging out between classes. Junior Ben Snyder said, “The L-Bench is chill, but it isn’t an L.”

PHOTO BY JULIA SPECTOR

By Melanie Erspamer, Dan Kats, Rutul Patel. Julia Spector, and Charlie Temkin

DenebolaCenterfold A4 27 September 2011 Centerfold A5

Denebola

Arts and Entertainment27 September 2011Arts and Entertainment A6

By Sophie Scharlin-Pettee

On September 14, 1983, Amy Jade Winehouse was born into the arms of a London taxi driver and his pharmacist wife. Years later on July 23, 2011, this English singer-songwriter joined the infamous “27 Club,” a title coined to encompass the unfortunate, coincidental deaths of various influential musicians.

Like many other members of the club, Winehouse was well-known for her tumultuous and controversial lifestyle, includ-ing a very public showcase of her drug use and passionate relationships.

That, combined with her pe-tite frame and hair the size of a small child, helped her form a unique persona in the modern music industry.

With all the wackiness that surrounded her publicized ex-istence, too often her incredible artistry was overlooked.

Winehouse released two critically successful studio albums and grew to possess popularity coveted by most vo-calists of our time; like the jazz greats Ella and Louis, “Amy” became a household name for the younger generations.

Growing up with the constan-cy of music surrounding her, she ended up attending various theatrical and performing arts schools to hone her n a t u r a l talent for guitar and singing.

W i n e -house was known far and wide for her individual sense of style, which was large-ly a tribute to her love of 1960s girl groups.

Her defining beehive hairdo and Cleopatra makeup were both borrowed from The Ronettes, an all-female group from New York City in the 60s.

Those characteristics, along with her tiny, toothpick figure added to a sense of absur-dity and ludicrousness so often conjured when Winehouse is referenced.

Along with her wild and untameable individuality was a vicious attitude which added to the popular opinion of Wine-house as a crazy, mentally inept “rock and roll” songstress.

She was claimed to have punched a fan after he insult-ed her choice of spouse, then

to have physically attacked her husband in turn as he tried to calm her.

In 2007, pictures surfaced of a beat-up Winehouse and her husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, after an alleged fight.

Much of her music concen-trated on her relationship with drugs and alcohol, with a varied gamut of her personal reactions to intoxication. As well as sub-

stance-abuse issues, Wine-house openly admi t ted to s t r u g g l i n g with depres-sion, eating disorders, and self-harm.

Possible self-medication and the death of her grandmother in 2006 may have set her off into addiction, admitted and re-admitted to several rehabili-tation institutions in the course of her young life.

Ironically, when it came down to it, evidence from her death has so far been inconclu-sive, though it has been con-firmed that it was not related to illegal drugs.

Perhaps the most tragic fact of all pertaining to her short existence is that by the time of her death, Winehouse was considered more a light-hearted joke than a brilliant, talented musician.

Though she gained five Grammy awards by the age of 24, Winehouse’s public image was more often than not used for ridicule than an example

of talent. Like so many under-appreci-

ated artists of our time, Wine-house, it seems, will have to be largely appreciated in death.

In August 2011, weeks after her jarring and sudden passing, her second album Back to Black became the UK’s best selling album of the 21st-century.

For among other things, Amy Winehouse was a singer with vocals powerful enough to rival a steam engine.

Having emerged in the wake of M.I.A.’s slow disappearance from the music industry, Winehouse soon grew to pave the way for other popular, soul-ful singers such as Adele and Jessie J.

With her debut album Frank attracting platinum sales and several award nominations, Winehouse had created a relatively sturdy presence in the music industry.

When her follow-up album Back to Black was introduced, her sultry, contralto vocals set her apart from the rest of modern musicians.

What Amy Winehouse brought back to 21st-century music, with no lack of self-assured charisma, was soul.

The bold jazz, R&B, and soulful songs on Back to Black reminded international listen-ers what a talented musician should sound like.

The album, as a collective composition, displayed Wine-

house’s stern grasp of clas-sic and con-t e m p o r a r y rhythms and lyrics.

Her explicit honesty bled through to her lyr-i c s

in such songs as “Love is a Losing Game,” which won the 2008 Ivor Novella Award for “Best Song Musically and Lyrically.”

Often focusing on the more tragic, obtrusive aspects of her life, the songs on her 10-track album spoke of a brilliant dichotomy seen only in the most sincere and mature of masterpieces.

Amy Winehouse: a farewell tribute to the songstress of soulAmy Winehouse gave

the world an album with lyrics showcasing the blunt hardships of addiction and the harsh reality of adult relationships, con-tradictory to the mu-

sic, which was kept rich and mainly

upbeat.Winehouse

was incredibly gifted in her own right, tak-ing the most tragic aspects

of humanity and turning them into something beau-

tiful.Through her strong control

over siren melodies and beguil-ing musical appeal, Winehouse took her pain and created com-plete and utter beauty.

Despite her out-of-control personality, excessive sub-stance-abuse, and a hair height half the size of her torso, Amy Winehouse was nothing short of a genius.

photos from internet source

By Ramya RamaduraiThis past summer, several South students were privi-

leged enough to be part of the talented minority that headed off to Europe for a two week excursion with Boston’s prestigious Youth Philharmonic Orchestra.

After one week of reviewing for finals, one week of ar-duous back-breaking writing of finals at odd hours of the day, and 180 days of self-deemed unnecessary school days, most high school students look forward to a sum-mer of sheer relaxation mixed with a few inevitable and possibly horrible hours of summer reading.

Some students, however, spend their time doing com-munity service or working in places they do not actually like just to make some money.

What is more, still fewer students travel with their orchestra to other continents to play with acclaimed musicians and bask in the rigorous art form that is clas-sical music.

The Musikverein, a famous concert hall in Vienna, was one of the venues graced with the presence of the talented musicians who, armed with nothing but their hefty instruments and their determination, embarked on this once in a lifetime trip.

The stage, which great composers of the past and great maestros of the future will all have stood upon, seems like a rather lofty establishment to have a group of high school kids try and fill with music.

This, however, was not just any group of kids; New

YPO Europe: South Kids Abroad

photo contributed by jaclyn freshman

By Adam MacalisterVision is only a small part

of sight. Photography teaches not only how to see, but how to look. The physical ability to see will not help you find Waldo in a crowd of obnoxiously similarly dressed people—one needs to know how to look for him. Photography teaches not only how to see Waldo, but how to look for and find him in everyday life.

All photographs exist in the world, independent of the pho-tograph. Some are staged and some are spontaneous, but they all stem from an understand-ing of what looks good in the world. This is an understanding that anyone can develop, even without photography, but pho-tography serves as a catalyst, bringing forth a better under-standing faster. When looking through the lens of a camera, the world is temporarily frozen and framed; creating a piece of art that can be captured using the camera.

After practicing photography for a while, one will develop a certain sight. This sight creates the ability to take notice of photographs and other works of art in the world, even those independent of the camera. This vision lasts past practic-ing pho tography, a l low-ing the world to be seen as a work of ar t forever and ever.

Not caring how many apps there are to help on the iPhone camera, or how many mega-pixels one’s digital camera has, the real way to begin pho-tography is with film. Using a digital camera, hundreds of photos can be taken, deleted and replaced in less than an hour. Though effective for certain types of photography, starting out with digital will l imit the development of true sight. Film photography constantly reminds the pho-tographer of

England Conservatory’s Youth Philharmonic Orchestra (YPO) is a competitive orchestra that holds auditions for only the most ardent young musicians willing to come to several hour-long rehearsals every weekend.

“You have to love it enough to put in the work,” Newton South Choral Director Benjamin Youngman said.

The level of professionalism that the orchestra brought to the stage enabled them to act in a way that overshadowed their ages: “a very high level of musicianship is needed [to be considered ready to perform]”.

Junior Yoonchan Choi, senior Aaron Wolff, and senior Jaclyn Freshman were lucky enough to be musicians, hav-ing been able to perform such difficult music in no other way than through devotion.

The level of professionalism that the orchestra brought to the stage enabled them to act in a way that overshadowed their ages.

The willingness, dedication and professionalism that such performance takes can only truly be attributed to one thing: passion.

Art has often inspired impassioned young people to pursue one of the greatest gifts to mankind: creative license.

This creative license is an inherent gift that every child, man, and woman has within themselves.

In Newton, we are fortunate enough to have music programs starting in the elementary schools.

All students can fondly look back at the year when

Photo vision

YPO, continued on page B5

THE FASHION

FILES

PHOTO, continued on page B5

What Amy Winehouse brought back to 21st-century music, with

no lack of self-assured charisma, was soul.

Rewind to mid-August: I’m working six hours a day at a consignment store in Wellesley, sweating through my t-shirt and dreaming of crisp sweater weather. While my co-worker took her lunch break, I used the lull in customers to take a quick peek at the internet.

And there it was in bold print, splashed across the screen: leg-endary fashion label Missoni will be coming out with a line for Target on September 13. Needless to say, I (figuratively) crapped my pants.

For those who don’t know (or haven’t bothered to care about) designers, Missoni is a pretty big deal. Founded in 1953, it’s a legendary Italian fashion house famous for its exuberantly pat-terned knitwear, and now all its funky splendor was available for a pittance compared to its high-end retail price.

Unfortunately, I’m not the only girl who’s realized that designer lines for Target are LITERALLY the best things ever, so by the time I actually made it to the store, there was almost nothing left.

A few battered shoe boxes lay scattered around one lowly rack. It was picked almost clean, reminding me of an elephant carcass after a whole pack of hyenas have gorged them-selves on it.

Nevertheless, I saw one green coat still hanging there, and made a beeline for it - I managed to get to my prize just before a hugely pregnant woman, who looked devastated when I tossed the coat over my shoulder.

I felt bad, but what did she want with anything extra small anyway? SO many questions. In any case, I also managed to snag brightly colored greeting cards and

FASHION, continued on page B5

By Helen Holmes

Denebola27 September 2011 News A7

Sophomore rides 270 miles for Afghani war widows on 9/11

Celina Bliss-Siegel and her father riding in the Beyond the 11th bike ride.photo courtesy of celina bliss-siegel

By Melanie ErspamerOn September 11, 2011,

South students joined the rest of America in remembering the horrid events of that day a decade ago. But Celina Bliss Siegel, a sophomore at South, did more than just remember. She biked 270 miles from Ground Zero to Boston to raise money for Afghani widows and their children in a program called Beyond the 11th.

“I was in third grade the first time I [rode the distance],” Siegel said.

Ever since 2004, when she rode with her father on the tandem, a two-person bike, Siegel has biked for the cause every year. She joined founders Susan Retik and Patti Quigley for part of the journey, and later, as she became older, rode the

entire event.After September 11, 2001,

Retik and Quigley were left widows. Both were pregnant when they heard the news of the disaster and both had other children that needed to be cared for. However, they did not face the hardships alone. “[Wherever] they went, they got support from all kinds of people; even people they didn’t know,” Siegel said. “That was very powerful for them.”

Surrounded by kindness and compassion, Retik and Quigley began to realize that they were not the only victims of September 11. Due to the war caused by 9/11, there were widows in Afghanistan, too. Without a husband, the bread-winner of the family,

most Afghani women were left with barely anything to feed themselves and their children. Retik and Quigley decided to help these victims.

When Siegel was in sixth grade, the annual trip was no longer avaible. She had just begun wanting to ride the whole journey, instead of just a small portion as she usually

did, and she was disappointed by the news.

For her Bat Mitzvah the next year, Siegel decided her commu-nity service project, necessary for the ceremony, would have some-thing to do with this cause.

“I decided to organize another bike ride,” Siegel said. Along with her father, who helped her map out a route, the two directed

the trip. “I did a lot to get pub-licity. There was an article in the Newton Tab, and I sent out emails to everyone and I made a speech at my school. In the end, I raised $10,000.”

That year, apart from Siegel and her father, there were only four other riders. But Siegel’s wish to keep the event an an-nual occasion worked. The following year, Retik joined the ride, becoming president of the organization. Quigley still involved herself in orga-nizations that helped Afghani children and widows, but left biking in her past.

“[Quigley] doesn’t want to keep being seen as a widow,” Siegel said. “She wanted to move beyond that.”

Although the event survived, in 2009 and 2010 it was not

the full 270 miles. The bikers only rode a portion of that distance. This year, though, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of 9/11, Siegel and the group rode the whole distance.

“This year was the first time I rode a solo bike,” Siegel said. “I did about 150 miles in it and 120 in the tandem with my dad.”

To prepare for riding such a long distance by herself, Siegel trained over the summer. She rode many days with her moun-tain bike, training her endurance for the long journey.

Next year, she hopes that she will be able to do the whole journey on her own.

“I really hope there’s a trip next year,” Siegel said. “This has become a big part of my life.”

Students With A Goal

CORE program’s first year

SWAG, continued from page A1

They have kept true to their goal by promoting their mes-sage of safety and anti-drugs to South students.

“SWAG is helping [us] make a difference [in society] and learn about the things going on in our surroundings,“ Levey said.

As students who have ex-perienced the pressure to get drunk at parties, they are trying to reach new students whom s c h o o l a n t i -drugs and alco-hol programs have not been able to get to, with their mes-sage.

“We wanted it to be a real-istic group; we wanted people to realize that teen-agers are going

to experiment-it’s just a fact- but they should know all the safeties, [and] they should be informed,” Granahan-Field said. “We all agreed that when the [the school is simply] telling you that drink-ing and drugs are bad, it isn’t informative.

“It doesn’t prepare you for what really happens.”

The girls are proud of their

accomplishments as a group so far, but also realize that they have a long way to go in promoting their message to the school.

Their next steps include speaking at Freshmen Par-ents’ Night, helping with the anti-bullying program Rachel’s Challenge, as well as planning fundraisers.

photo by aley lewis

student body by 100 students in the next five years. South is expected to rise from the cur-rent 1700 to 1800.

“The school will be able to handle the increase, but the budget department needs to take in to account the [num-bers],” Stembridge said.

There is a possibility that teachers may “run out” if the population becomes a severe issue.

“Currently, we are not using all the classrooms every block, but South may have to use 95% of the classes per block if the

student population were to ex-ceed 1800,” Stembridge said.

Still, the long-term problem can be curbed. Class sizes may not necessarily go up if the budget increases, and if there is preparation beforehand, ac-commodations can be made for more staff.

“It is definitely something the school committee has to fix and understand, something the mayor’s office has to fix and understand,” Stembridge said.

The school can begin making descisions when the contract between the Teacher’s Associa-

tion and the school committee has been settled.

A more immediate problem is the steady decrease of the school’s budget over the past few years. The school has not been able to bring back the same resources as previous years.

Stembridge believes that even with the same number of students, the cuts will bring problems.

“The cuts have kept com-ing. They haven’t leveled off, and so if this happens with the same amount of students, we’re going to have issues.”

More modular classrooms to be builtMODULES, continued from page A1

BULLYING, continued from page A1

and Sally Stoker, and the Rachel’s Challenge program.

The Rachel’s Challenge por-tion of the new anti-bullying program consists of an all-day assembly that will be held on October 18th, which will in-clude an after-school portion for parents, two school-wide assemblies and a bullying-prevention club that hopes to accommodate 100 students and 10 to 15 faculty.

“The club will team up teachers and students to ac-complish Rachel’s Challenge,” club director and Prevention/Intervention Counselor Rich Catrombone said. “This will be the core group for efforts around a strong school-based anti-bullying program.”

The club also hopes to cre-ate active bystanders to inter-vene in case of bullying.

According to English teach-er and active South-North bullying committee member, Alexander Kaplan, almost 85% of people involved in bullying situations are by-standers who do not step in to help the target or inform an authority figure.

However, the club and as-

semblies are only a part of a larger program taking place throughout the year that will involve parents, teachers, and the community. “We have goals for teaching and enrich-ment workshops as well as a whole variety of other offer-ings,” Catrombone said.

The main obstacle to Ra-chel’s Challenge is identify-ing when and how bullying takes place.

“One of the problems is that kids don’t talk about bullying

with us [teachers],” Kaplan said. “Victims feel ashamed about what happened to them; they feel adults only make [the situation] worse.”

Accord ing to Kap lan , “There, unfortunately, is no

safe haven to students on-line. Bullying online enters a snowball effect.”

In the annual start of the year meeting for seniors, Prin-cipal Joel Stembridge offered a hopeful message on bullying at South: “There are times when it is important to make a difference, and [now] I am asking you to take care of each other and our school.”

In spite of this, there are some doubts on the future success of Rachel’s Challenge at South.

“I think that in terms of telling students about bully-ing and keeping a positive environment, that can happen in the classroom,” Sophomore Stephanie Foster said. “In terms of enforcing it, there isn’t much [teachers and staff] can do except addressing is-sues as they see them in the hallway or classroom.”

Catrombone agrees that the efforts to stop bullying and achieving Rachel’s Chal-lenge are not going to be an easy process. “You can only change climate by changing the community both in and out of school.”

“You can only change climate by changing the community both

in and out.”—Rich Catrambone

Rachel’s Challenge at South

By Andreas BetancourtStarting this school year, the

English department at Newton South is implementing a program that requires all-student writing, aside from in class essays, to be submitted electronically to turnitin.com (Turnitin).

Turnitin is a site that, among other features, checks for pla-giarism in submitted writing pieces.

Brian Baron, head of the Eng-lish Department, said the pro-gram was instituted for a number of reasons.

First, the district was already allotting a significant amount of money (approximately $8,000 a year) for the site to be available to all teachers, but only a few were actually using it.

Second, Baron said that last year there were a number of in-stances of plagiarism the depart-ment “found pretty disturbing.”

One such case, taking place in the fall of 2010, involved a student near the top of his AP class who was found to have plagiarized a large portion of his essay.

The student did not get off without repercussions. “He got an F for the first term of senior year,” said Baron.

Due to these reasons, the English department met in the spring of last year to discuss the use of Turnitin. By the end of the meeting, they had decided that all of the English teachers had to try it out for at least one assignment to form an opinion on the website.

When the department met again at the end of the year, many teachers had found the service

useful, and the decision to use it for all the student-writing assign-ments was “really unanimous, except for one or two teachers,” said Baron.

Aside from checking for pla-giarism, Turnitin lets teachers grade, make comments and even conduct peer reviews online.

However, some teachers such as Bob Jampol still require stu-dents to turn in a hard copy of their writing, as well as the online submission to Turnitin.

Jampol, who used Turnitin for the first time this year, said, “I had heard good things about it from other teachers.” However, he is not sure yet how much it will accomplish.

The only thing he has no-ticed so far are a few comi-cal “flags” the site has put on items like Martin Luther King Jr.

Jampol said that when stu-dents have access to the Inter-net, they can, for example, look up essays on poetry instead of coming up with their own ideas but he tries to avoid assign-ing essays that can be easily copied.

English teacher Alan Reinstein also tries to create assignments that are creative and interesting enough that you can’t plagiarize them easily.

While Reinstein agrees that Turnitin offers a “modest de-fense” against plagiarism, espe-cially for students who may just be considering plagiarizing, and gives the ability for teach-ers to comment electronically, it won’t stop students who are plagiarizing very aggres-sively.

Reinstein had his students take a pledge to be academically hon-est, and also gave them a survey that showed that out of all forms of cheating, plagiarism was the least common.”

“I like to trust my students,” Reinstein said. “But forcing ev-eryone to use Turnitin can create an atmosphere of suspicion.”

While the English Department has made the decision to use Turnitin, many students were unaware that this was a depart-ment wide policy.

Senior Mitchel Wong, who is taking songwriting with Rein-stein this year, was one of these students. Wong said he knew that his class was using Turnitin, but was surprised to hear it was a department-wide policy.

Wong noted that Reinstein had talked a lot about plagiarism especially because “songwriting is a class based on creativity, and stealing someone else’s writing is really bad.”

Wong still thinks it is a positive change: “It saves paper, espe-cially if you have a long essay that you need a lot of drafts for and making it pretty obvious if work is stolen.”

Junior Robert Maratos agrees. “It makes it much easier for technologically advanced people.”

It also diminishes the amount of time and effort taken in printing papers and trying to decipher written teacher com-ments.

“It’s a deterrent,” said Baron. “If a student is caught plagiariz-ing early on, they can be taught to be more conscious of the issue, not punished for it.”

Turnitin now mandatory

CORE, continued from page A1

linked classes, it’s not just English and History. Laws re-cruited Jim Norton, the English teacher for CORE, and Kara Henry, the History teacher, to implement her unique vision.

“We are trying to give extra support to kids who need more structure to do as well as pos-sible. It takes a [significant] amount of time to plan,” Laws said.

Meeting a few times a week, Laws, Norton, and Henry plan classes that will be helpful to students.

Support blocks, commu-nity meetings, and time for individual attention are some of the few strategies CORE employs.

Even though CORE is de-

signed to help all kinds of kids with different learning styles, it is proving a little difficult to recruit kids for.

“It’s a new program, so natu-rally, not many people know about it,” Laws said. “We’re re-ally trying to create an identity [for ourselves].”

The program should see signs of heightened awareness

with the execution of a new referral process.

“We’re working on finding a way to identify those kids who need some help and who could really benefit from CORE,” Laws said. “Just by having a structured way to have new students will make kids and teachers more aware of what we’re doing here.”

For now, though, Laws and her team are mainly focusing on the things she has direct control over.

“We’re really focusing on building the community aspect of it,” Laws said. “If we can really get a sense of commu-nity, we think that CORE will be a place where students will want to be and where they can achieve their goals.”

Amanda Laws assists a student in one of her CORE classes. This is one of the innaugural blocks for the program.photo by aley lewis

“We think that CORE will be a

place were studetns will want to be and where they achieve

goals.”-Amanda Laws

DenebolaAdvertisments A8 27 September 2011

SportsSports B1

Denebola

27 September 2011

Volleyball ready for season, spent summer in training

By Joe MaherLast year, the Newton South

Girls’ Varsity Volleyball team achieved a record of 16-2 de-spite having labeled the season as a rebuilding year. This year they face much the same chal-lenge after graduating five of last year’s six starting players.

No matter how dim the out-look for the new season, the team refuses to not make a run for the Championship. “Al-though this year is viewed by most as a rebuilding year, we are going to make a commit-ment to winning,” Coach Todd Elwell said.

Elwell hopes to continue the success of past years by placing an even greater emphasis on the competitive nature of the game.

He relies on players to “buy into” his system, and for play-ers to actively participate in practices and games in order to help the team as a whole.

Elwell mentions with pride the senior leadership under captains Tori Bryan, Chloe Jackson-Unger, and Michaela O’Flaherty, who “understand the expectations of what is necessary.”

During past summers, South players have enrolled in a clinic called Gold Medal Squared, a summer volleyball program utilized by both Olympic and college programs.

For the first time in its his-tory, the program ran twice during the past summer, once in July and once again in Au-gust.

The program allows athletes to enhance their athleticism with the intelligence portion of the game, which is, according to Bryan, “the key to having a solid team.”

Another opportunity for the players to improve their skills over the summer was the high-level Beantown Volleyball, a club team that after 25 years of only male involvement de-cided to turn coeducational.

Six out of the sev-en seniors on the team, as well as several of the sopho-mores, played for the club team in addi-tion to the Gold Medal Squared program.

“[That en-abled] us to start at a faster pace and [high-

photo by jonah seifer

er] level of play than the other teams,” Bryan said.

Players took it upon them-selves to improve, and in doing so, impressed Elwell.

“We had more kids playing offseason volleyball this past year than we have in the past 20 years combined,” Elwell said.

The summer programs are vital to the success of the South Volleyball teams because, coming into high school, the players are often at a disadvantage.

Unlike many other schools in the Dual County League, South does not have a solid base of volleyball players ready to compete at the high school level.

“Some schools, such as Quincy and Mattapan, have a group of girls who have played together since sixth grade. We often have players begin [playing] their freshman year and they have to catch up,” Elwell said.

Elwell also points out a sig-nificant statistic that puts the team at a greater disadvantage: this year, half of the players on the Varsity team did not begin playing volleyball competitive-ly until either their sophomore or junior year.

“We have to take them from zero to 100 in practically no time at all,” Elwell said.

However, that is something the program seems to have compensated for.

Both Elwell and Bryan at-tribute this recent surge of volleyball spirit to the levels of competition on the court, and new levels of commitment to the team.

“When players are com-peting for a spot every day,” Elwell said, “practice becomes that much more intense as play-ers hold each other accountable for mistakes.

“This also leads to a more intimate setting.”

Senior Cecilia Macarthur agrees, and feels that “the team is extremely passionate

about the sport and about each other, which is reflected on the court.”

The sense o f c a m a r a -derie created allows play-ers to feel in-volved, and makes them

willing to give up their posi-

tion for the betterment of the team.

Junior Rebecca Hel ler moved from libero, a defen-sive specialist, to setter, a move that summarizes the scrappy aspects of the team, points out Elwell.

Athletic Director Scott Per-rin is quick to commend the student-athletes on their hard work, but also calls Elwell a “great coach, who is really im-

mersed in the culture.”Just this past summer the

team was exposed to and taught by a collegiate player from Brigham Young University and a professional volleyball player from Hawaii.

“[Elwell] surrounds his team with elite programs from around the country, and [the team] sees those programs as a level to play up to,” Perrin said.

By Zach PawaThis season, the South Field

Hockey team joined many other Massachusetts schools by adding boys to their female-dominated roster.

Two boys traded in the tra-ditional football and soccer jerseys for plaid skirts. Juniors Jon Stricker and Jake Medoff are the first boys at South to join the Field Hockey team, turning the all-female team into a co-ed program.

“After seven years of play-ing soccer, a little change was needed,” Stricker said. “Field Hockey also puts less strain on my stress fractures.”

The change is quite dramatic, but sheds a new light on the sport for the two boys. “Field Hockey is unlike any sport I have played before,” Medoff said.

While Field Hockey is an opportunity for the two to learn a new sport, they are also determined to win. “Both the boys are strong offensive play-ers,” senior and Captain Sylvie Evans said. “They help us keep the ball on the opposing team’s side of the field.”

While the South program is happy to have the two boys, other programs have become worried about the safety of the girls. “Boys are proven to be stronger and more aggressive,” Evans said. “Certain teams are concerned and want to change some rules for boys, but noth-ing has been done yet.”

This may worry teams, but the reality is that Field Hockey originated as a men’s sport, and only in America is it played as a predominately female one.

Title IX, a law passed in 1972, states, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial as-sistance.”

Without the existence of a men’s program, male players cannot be restricted or dis-couraged from playing on the female team.

“If rule changes were made, it would have upset me,” Stricker said. “We have every right to the same rules as the girls.”

The South team had no prob-lem with the boys joining. “We were received very well,” Medoff said. “Everyone on the team was open to us playing. And why wouldn’t they be? The team has been struggling the past couple of years and any new members can only be beneficial to the program.”

The new venture has been a learning experience for the boys as well. “Everyday, we im-prove,” Stricker said. “It seems each day we learn more.”

With the sport being new to the boys, and boys being new to the sport, everyone had to make some adjustments, but it has been a success.

Stricker and Medoff have become more and more inter-ested in the sport. “If I have the opportunity to play in college I would be very interested in doing so,” Stricker said. “I also plan on playing on a club team this winter.”

As for Medoff, he is not as sure of where Field Hockey will take him. “It depends on how much I end up playing,” Medoff said.

Playing Field Hockey seems to have been a good choice for the two; it has opened their eyes to a new sport and new opportunities.

Over the past couple of years, teams across the state are becoming more integrated with boys. It seems that in a few years, Boys’ teams may emerge.

“These men are an inspira-tion,” Athletic Director Perrin said. “They are doing a great thing and I give them a lot of credit.”

Boys join Field Hockey team

Golf tries to turn around season; swings for States

photos by thibaut xiong

photo by thibaut xiong

“Although this year is viewed as a rebuilding year, we are going to make a commitment

to winning”—Todd Elwell

By Erik ManditchThe Newton South Varsity

Boys’ Golf team is heading into the 2011 season optimis-tically, looking to improve on a 6-7 season that left the team on the brink of the State tournament.

The squad is captained by senior Adam Goldstein, who

is the leader of a Lions group full of promising golfers top to bottom, including junior An-ders Klumpp and senior Patrick Mildner.

The team is also bolstered by an influx of sophomores in-cluding Matt Fallon, Matthew Marcus, and Max Hooker.

Equipped with a revamped

attitude and a high level of focus, the team is looking to turn last year’s close losses into wins this fall.

“This year, we’re going to need to bring our performances from practices and qualifiers to the matches in order to qualify for States,” Fallon said. “In or-der to do well, we need to keep

all other thoughts like school out of our minds and focus on what we need to do on the golf course.”

For the Lions to succeed this fall, they will need to be focused and relaxed against consistently high-level compe-tition that includes the likes of Acton-Boxborough, Concord-Carlisle, and defending Dual County League champion, Westford Academy.

This tough schedule has been a challenge for the Li-ons thus far in the early part of the season as they have stumbled to a slow start that has included a couple of nar-row losses.

However, there is plenty of time for the Lions to make up ground.

“For most of the team, it was their first Varsity match so the nerves were high for everybody,” Goldstein said. “We’re getting better and bet-

ter and learning from every match.”

Even though the team is inexperienced, the athletes are learning quickly and are adapting to the challenges of the game.

“The learning curve is steep at the beginning with competi-tive golf,” Goldstein said. “The goal is that each player comes out better than they went in.”

The goal for the Lions, as it is for any Varsity squad no matter what sport it is, is to qualify for the State tournament.

In order to do so, the Li-ons will have to finish with a winning percentage of .500 or better to play in the State tournament.

Last fall, after starting off the season very strong, the Lions lost their last six matches and missed out on the tournament.

Even though the team lost two of those games by the slimmest of margins, the record

stood at 6-7. “Last season was rough, but

it was a learning experience for me,” Goldstein said.

According to the South golfers, golf takes more men-tal concentration and compo-sure than perhaps any other sport.

“We can’t get ahead of our-selves and [we need to] just play each match, each hole, and each shot, staying in the moment in the whole way,” Goldstein said.

South will need a team ef-fort to get the Lions into the postseason where potential is limitless.

“It’s all about getting to the .500 mark and making the State playoffs,” Marcus said. “Once we’re in the State playoffs, we’re there to win.

“And with a great captain like Adam Goldstein and a great coach like Mike Flemming, we just might get there.”

Senior Tori Bryan leads Girls’ Volleyball through rebuilding year.

DenebolaSports B2 27 September 2011

By Joe MaherLike most seniors entering their fi nal

year of high school, Michael Forman spent his summer touring colleges. The difference that separates him from his classmates? Instead of looking at the dining halls and dorms, he spent his time touring the athletic facilities of each college, talking to coaches, and performing in combines.

Michael Forman is a football player. Forman, a fullback and cornerback for the Lions’ Varsity Football team, grew up around football. Under the supervision of his father, who joined the South team as an assistant coach this year, Forman has bloomed into one of South’s brightest football pros-pects, sought after by several coaches in the northeast as well as coaches farther south.

The senior and captain spent much of his summer trying out in front of coaches at combines, which are tests

Forman looked at by collegesof one’s physical abilities. “Not many schools come up north to recruit, so I had to go down to Florida three or four times to visit coaches and schools,” Forman said.

While South’s team has been under the supervision of Head Coach Ted Dalicandro, three or four players a year have continued to play football in college. This trend does not hold true across the state, as the hot spots for college football recruitment tend to be farther south than Massachusetts.

While the odds may be stacked against him, “[Forman] has the intan-gibles in terms of speed and strength to play in college,” Dalicandro said. Dalicandro is willing to market a player as long as he understands the level of play is “a lot more intense in college and players have to be ready for the commitment that increases tenfold.”

Dalicandro also reminds his players

that they should emphasize education, and that they should only apply to a college if they could see themselves there not playing football.

Ever since Dalicandro put For-man’s name out, several schools have shown interest in him, including Uni-versity of Massachusetts at Amherst and University of Connecticut. On his own, Forman has traveled to and met the coaches at Oklahoma State, University of Pennsylvania, Florida International, Florida Atlantic, Iowa State, and Coastal Carolina.

According to Dalicandro, as of now no big-time football schools have contacted Forman, due to the fact that “they take a longer time because they recruit hundreds and hundreds of kids.”

This is something that Forman defi -nitely empathizes with, saying, “it’s really just stressful because there are so many kids at that position and it is a competition throughout the country.” Forman’s two positions, fullback and cornerback, while both very diffi cult to play, are popular positions among high school recruits, and therefore are hard to stand out in. Coming from Massachusetts, Forman feels he is at an even greater disadvantage because football recruiters tend to focus on areas of the country such as Florida, Texas, California, and Georgia.

Another point Dalicandro emphasizes that the recruitment game has changed dramatically in the past couple years, as restrictions on coach-recruit interactions have become sanctioned.

“With the media covering every aspect of recruitment, it has become just as much about grades and per-sona,” Dalicandro said. While these restrictions make college football better in the long run, they make it more diffi cult for high school athletes to be recruited.

When his peers are making their decisions on where to go to college, Forman must also make a choice, whether it involves football or not is up to him.PHOTO BY ALEY LEWIS

By Ray FlintEven though she is busy grading

papers, teaching classes, and advising the sophomore class, Spanish teacher Kara Sargent does her best to stay fi t. She loves the outdoors and she frequently enjoys strenuous outdoor activities such as hiking, boating, and swimming.

Sargent, born and raised in Lowell, attended Lowell High School. At Lowell High, she began playing vol-leyball, softball, and running track. By her junior year, Sargent participated in the Varsity team for each of the three sports. By the time she was a senior, she was also on the school’s Varsity Softball and Indoor Track teams.

Although Sargent was a member of numerous of Lowell High’s sports teams, softball was by far her favorite sport. “I always loved playing softball the most,” Sargent said. This prefer-ence comes as no surprise considering that each of her four sisters was also a competitive softball pitcher.

“My father coached us all,” Sarget said. In fact, Sargent ran pitching clin-ics for young girls with her father for years. When asked what it was like to compete with her sisters, Sargent said, “We still get into arguments about who was the best.”

Sargent was a valuable to her team, pitching a perfect game during her senior year. To this day she is the only person to have pitched a perfect game

PHOTO BY RAY FLINT

at Lowell High School. In addition to the perfect game, she

also pitched seven shutouts during her senior year. As a result of her stellar performance, she was a Merrimack Valley All-Star and an All-Conference player during both her junior and senior years.

Sargent went on to attend UMass Amherst, where she participated in intramural sports. To this day, she still enjoys playing sports, although, according to her, “nothing organized or very competitive.”

Sargent does not avidly watch sports games, but she still enjoys watch-ing a game here or there. “I get into football and baseball sometimes,” Sargent said.

When asked about her time on the track team, Sargent refl ects that she was not the best runner on Lowell High School’s Track team; however, Sargent ran the one-mile and two-mile distance races and “never came in last place in a race.” Sargent stuck with track, however, and enjoyed being part of a team.

When asked what stood out to her most about being a high school athlete, she did not choose any of her many impressive athletic achievements. She simply said, “I always remember how much fun it was to be part of a team.” The ideal teammate and a great Span-ish teacher, Kara Sargent is a joy to be around on and off the fi eld.

Ageless Athletes: Kara Sargent

By Nathan BaskinIt is September, which means the

start of a new football season. The season has begun and many of South’s students have been logging into Ya-hoo! or ESPN and are beginning to think of who they should pick for their fantasy football team.

Many students take fantasy football as seriously as schoolwork, spending hours researching potential picks. In class, they often partake in trade negotiations and discussions of who to pick up off of waivers.

The recent popularity of fantasy sports has affected not only students, but also teachers, who enjoy watching football. South teachers take the sport as seriously as, or even more seriously than many students.

To build his fantasy team, Math-ematics teacher Andrew Kelly has a golden rule regarding the players he is deciding on picking. “I usually end up picking players that I like or don’t dislike; that means no Cowboys’, Eagles’, or Redskins’ players,” he said.

Growing up in New York, Kelly nat-urally dislikes the New York Giants’ rivals. Kelly plays in a fantasy league with friends from his high school days. He has been playing fantasy football since 1999 and actually went on to

reach the fi nals of his league in 2003. The key player in Kelly’s run at the time was Rich Gannon, the quarter-back for the Oakland Raiders.

Kelly has grown up in the shadow of a famous NFL star. Green Bay Pack-ers’ running back Ryan Grant went to Kelly’s high school and was drafted by Kelly last year as a result. Unfor-tunately, Grant got injured during the fi rst game of the season, and was out for the rest of the year.

This year Kelly has a bigger prob-lem on his team. Kelly drafted Peyton Manning, the Colts’ future Hall of Fame quarterback. Manning has been suffering from a neck injury and is excepted to miss the whole season. The rest of Kelly’s team includes Titans’ wide receiver Kenny Britt, Chiefs’ running back Jamaal Charles, Saints’ wide-out Marques Colston, and Ravens’ quarterback Joe Flacco.

Another South teacher has invested much time and energy into his team. Academic Support teacher and Foot-ball Coach Ryan Augusta is hopeful this year that his team, which currently ranks fi rst in his league, can win the championship.

With a team that includes two top 10 quarterbacks in the Patriots’ Tom Brady and the Packers’ Aaron Rod-gers, Augusta has quite the advan-

tage. Augusta started playing fantasy football when his best friend started the league.

Augusta also said that he thinks fantasy football is a great way to spend some time with his friends, whose busy lives might make seeing them hard.

Ted Dalicandro, Head Coach for the Varsity Football team at South, is also an avid fantasy player.

“The game is fun; I love to com-pete, and winner gets bragging rights for a week,” he said.

Dalicandro has been in the same league with friends for 10 years. This veteran fantasy player says that he loads his teams with wide receivers and picks quarterbacks in later rounds.

This year, Dalicandro jumped on Packers quarterback Aaron Rogers in the third round.

“I don’t know how it happened, but it was a lucky pick,” Dalicandro said.

It proved to be a very lucky pick indeed, as Rogers led his team to Super Bowl victory last year.

While some of South’s teachers will spend their weekend grading tests and papers, others will be anxiously awaiting the results from their fantasy league.

Teachers fantasize football

Augusta:

Tom Brady, NE, QBGreg Jennings, GB, QBAaron Rodgers, GB, QBTim Hightower, WSH, RBMike Tolbert, SD, RBKenny Britt, TEN, WRSantana Moss, WSH, WRAaron Hernandez, NE, TEAlex Henery, PHI, KHouston Defense

Kelly:

Joe Flacco, BAL, QB Peyton Manning, IND, QBAhmad Bradshaw, NYG, RBJamaal Charles, KC, RBKenny Britt, TEN, WRMarques Colston, NO, WRJacoby Ford, OAK, WRRob Bironas, TEN, KChicago Defense

Dalicandro:

Aaron Rodgers, GB, QBRay Rice, BAL, RBDarren McFadden, OAK, RBWes Welker, NE, WRLarry Fitzgerald, STL, WRAaron Hernandez, NE, TEStephen Gostowski, NE, KBears defense

since 1999 and actually went on to

Kelly:

Joe Flacco, BAL, QB Peyton Manning, IND, QBPeyton Manning, IND, QBAhmad Bradshaw, NYG, RBAhmad Bradshaw, NYG, RBJamaal Charles, KC, RBJamaal Charles, KC, RB

Darren McFadden, OAK, RBWes Welker, NE, WRWes Welker, NE, WRLarry Fitzgerald, STL, WRLarry Fitzgerald, STL, WRAaron Hernandez, NE, TEStephen Gostowski, NE, KBears defense

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FeaturesDenebola27 September 2011 Features B3

Freshman Impresses with Vicious Rhymes

An Inside Look: a teacher’s reasons for leavingBy Wendy Ma

“‘Bulletz’ can mean bullet points, bullet trains, bullet holes, bullet casings, or God forbid… real bullets. Let’s avoid those, but I’m heading to the Middle East,” former Newton South History teacher Pilar Quezzaire wrote on her first blog post.

Quezzaire has gone to Beirut, Lebanon, to teach abroad and created a blog called Bulletz Over Beirut to document her experiences in the turbulent nation.

Lebanon, a Middle Eastern nation, is experiencing politi-cal tensions, frequent protests, regime violence, and threats of imminent civil war due to the Arab Spring, a series of politi-cal uprisings sweeping through the Arabian Peninsula.

Despite the instability of the nation, Quezzaire agreed to teach at the American Commu-nity School (ACS) in Beirut.

“It’s where I got a job in a place that I thought I’d feel comfortable socially,” Quez-zaire said. “I had other offers in the States and in Saudi Arabia, but I thought Saudi Arabia too restrictive, and I need a break from the U.S. every once in a while to get a global perspec-tive on things.”

Quezzaire’s reasons for leav-ing Newton because she is concerned about the American school system in general.

“Teachers are leaving the profession because they are frustrated that they are not

treated like professionals with expertise,” Quezzaire said.

According to CNN article What teachers really want to tell parents, parental interference, distrust, and lack of respect for teachers have led many teachers in the recent years to simply give up on the American school sys-tem and quit their jobs as educators.

N e w -ton Publ ic Schools “has a big prob-lem with this because the community is deeply con-cerned about grades, and many parents try to target teachers if the grades are not favor-able,” Quez-zaire said. “I’ve found far too many parents to be condescending at times they had no right to be. This is not universal, but it happened often enough to concern me.”

In this sort of environment, it is hard not only for the teacher to teach, but also for students to learn.

According to Ron Clark, winner of 2011’s American Teacher of the Year award, teachers feel like “parents are

breathing down their backs as they teach and have their hands completely tied.”

This is an increasing problem not just at South, but all over America.

Despite its claims to diver-sity, respect, equality, commu-nication, and creativity, South

lacked a sense of community according to Quezzaire.

“I had excellent colleagues, and I think the faculty is amaz-ingly qualified — you as stu-dents are very lucky to have them. That does not mean the faculty acts as much of a unit though,” Quezzaire said. “They tend to congregate in cliques, much as the students do. I got tired of seeing that.”

As a school with a student enrollment of roughly 1,700 and 220 faculty members, it is a very large school.

However, Quezzaire prefers a smaller school because there is a larger sense of together-ness.

“At a small school, the fac-

ulty acts more in concert, and I like that,” Quezzaire said.

Perhaps the motivating push behind accepting the job as a teacher at ACS in Beirut was her desire for a change.

“My frustrations with the system threatened to affect my work in the classroom. I did not want to feel as though I could not teach all of you, and I started to feel that way. That’s

a bad place to be, and I would rather leave than do that,” Quezzaire said. “Being abroad and facing new challenges has helped me to remember why I do the work I do.”

These philosophical differ-ences between South and her-self led her to make the drastic

decision of moving to Lebanon.

“I had Ms. Q u e z z a i r e for two years so I’m sad to see her go. It was probably a huge deci-sion on her part to move to a different country, but I’m happy for her,” for-mer student senior Joe Joseph said.

Quezzaire has been in Beirut since August 21, 2011.

“Beirut is not exactly what I thought it was going to be either. The airport is more modern, and the bureaucracy is more ancient,” she said.

She is slowly trying to learn Lebanese culture.

Quezzaire explains how the culture of Beirut and Newton South are very different and how she is adapting to her new way of life.

“Now that I have been at ACS for a little bit, I am very surprised to find that I am considered very kind and ap-proachable; I am described often at ACS as having a very friendly face,” she said. “I was frequently criticized for being ‘intimidating,’ ‘harsh,’ and ‘dif-ficult to talk to’ [at South].

“The sarcasm and toughness I exhibited in class at Newton was a bad thing, whereas in Lebanon it’s considered very good. That, I think is a com-ment on just how different school cultures can be from one another.”

In her blog, she posts top-ics from ranging Palestinian Ghettos to finding a litter of abandoned kittens.

As for her reasons of keep-ing a blog: “I am a teacher, a traveler, and an epicure. Beirut is a city that provides well for all three. It’s also a place of stark contrasts and divisions. I look forward to making some sense of the whole sordid mess, as well as getting some good pedagogy and palatables in,” Quezzaire said.

Quezzaire has left Newton South to start a new adven-ture in the city of Beirut.

“Perhaps after two years abroad, I might want to come back, I don’t know. I love to travel though, so don’t be surprised if I move around a bit,” Quezzaire said. “Check out my blog!”

“Bulletz’ Over Beirut” is Quezzaire’s tumblr blog.

photo contributed by pilar quezzaire

View From the Top: Grace Nathans

By Dar Alon, Ethan Epstein, and Karen Weinstock

It all started Wednesday, September 21. Without warn-ing or fanfare, Sam Fidler, a freshman, became a Newton South rap superstar.

A few weeks prior to his local fame, a few kids from school discovered that Fidler was into rapping. Subsequently, a kid “spit” a few verses, so Fidler “flung some back.”

Then, the same student tried twice again to out-rap Fidler, and even though he was pretty good, Sam ended up beating him. Thus a legend was born.

Many kids say that Fidler may be the next Eminem, but when asked about it, Fidler replied, “Don’t you start talkin’ ‘bout Eminem / I already know I’ll be better than him / He’s like the candy he’s named for, he’s bite sized / My motto is to always be maximized.”

It’s just that witty style that has Newton South raving over Fidler’s rhymes. When another freshman, Danny Sohmer, was asked if Sam Fidler really is better than Eminem, his re-sponse was, “I will have to go with [Sam] Fidler.”

Even though Fidler has be-came an overnight sensation, getting 70 Facebook friend re-quests in the span of two nights and starting a trend of wearing fedora hats, don’t expect to see

him let the fame get to his head. When asked why he raps, Fi-dler responded, “Big question here. While I enjoy the fame, recognition, fitting in, and the groupies, I’m really doing it because I’m an entertainer. I love the feeling that my work puts a smile on other peoples faces.”

He also said, “I used to be really unpopular and now I’m actually kind of embarrassed that people are recognizing me

everywhere I go. I’m honestly just doing what a lot of other rappers have done, except at a school.”

Although Fidler has modest opinions of himself, others think very highly of him. Fresh-man Roni Tamir notes that, “it takes confidence to do that type of thing with everyone watch-ing. It’s entertaining, I love watching the rap battles.”

Unlike most celebrities, Fi-dler won’t change who he is. He

is an inspirational, intelligent, and talented musician who will go far in life regardless of what career he chooses to pursue.

He’s not sure yet if he wants to be a rapper. “Whatever it is, I definitely want it to be enter-taining,” Fidler said.

As a parting line, Fidler had one more rhyme to share: “Denebola! If you haven’t read it, you should / It’s better than Lion’s Roar, ‘cause it’s actually good.”

By Grace NathansOkay, so, I’m literally sitting

in my bed, watching Criminal Minds and laughing at my own jokes I’m telling to people on Facebook chat, and the abso-lute last thing I feel like do-ing is writing an article that’s like, “WOOOOHOOO SE-NIO12S, FRESHMEN SUCK ITTTTTT.”

I called my friend Joe and asked him what to write about, and he said “sex, drugs, and rock and roll.”

photo contributed by grace nathans

I chose not to take this ad-vice, so I’m kind of just gonna talk at you for a while.

It seems that these days the only thing I ever talk about is college.

I can hear myself boring you already, but se12iously guys, I’m freaking out.

My dad likes to have these emotional talks with me about it where he tells me I’m gonna be fine, but honestly, Sam Na-thans does not run the world and does not know my life.

I mean, both my parents went to some rando high school in Long Island, NY.

Every time they try to calm me down, I’m kind of just like, “DON’T TELL ME HOW TO FEEL; YOU WOULD DIE AT NEWTON SOUTH, ROAAAAR!”

Like, I’m a nice girl, I won’t do anything (too) weird, please someone just let me in.

Anyway, I don’t even feel like I can get all sentimental in this because senio12 year has

just begun and I’m not even like “omg I’m gonna miss this place,” yet.

So far I’m kind of just like Suicide Watch ’12 (too much?).

So, since I don’t want to talk about college, and since it’s too soon to get emo about it, and you guys don’t want to hear my summary of last week’s episode of Dance Moms , I’m just gonna go ahead and share some tips I’ve learned over the past three or

four years. Okay, so my first one is

dedicated to all the teachers that told me I’d never amount to nothing, to all the people that lived above the buildings that I was hustling in front of that called the police on me when I was just trying to make some money to feed my daughters, and all the kids in the struggle, you know what I’m saying?

No, it’s actually dedicated to anyone who is not a sen-io12.

Okay, listen, here’s the deal. We’ve had a few probs in the past year of…certain people in other classes (2013) getting sassy about seio12ism.

Honestly, someday, young grasshoppers, you will all be seniors.

You will inherit the sweaty room that wars have been fought over, and you will have the honor of walking to the farthest away parking spaces. But for now, don’t hate.

Omg also, when prom comes, DO NOT post your dress in the group if you are anything other than a senior.

I don’t care if we have the same dress, Jane Doe Sopho-more, I am going to wear it anyway.

I will look better in it, and I will ask all (two of) my friends to glare at you.

Oh and also, the 12 as an R thing is cool. Shut up.

My second piece of advice is to never let Kylie Walters interview you for Roar (is it awkward to talk about Roar

in Denebz? Has there ever been a double agent for Roar/Denebz? Idk. Someone let me know.).

Last year she called to ask me about St. Patricks day, and I told her that I didn’t know anyone who took it seriously and that in general, people just use it as an excuse to get really drunk.

Imagine my surprise when the article came out with the line, “According to Junior Grace Nathans, St. Patricks day is ‘just an excuse to get drunk.’” I was 15. Thanks, Ky.

Thirdly, be really careful how you pose in photos. You might be accidentally standing too close to your friends, and you may appear to be grab-bin’ them when the photo gets muploaded.

As a result, you will be Ham-mered with jokes at your ex-pense.

Lastly, don’t ever get full bangs. I’m serious. Don’t do it. And, yes, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking “but Grace, won’t I look like a cool artsy girl who not only listens to good music, but also has a dangerous side?”

No, no you won’t. You will look stupid, and everyone will make fun of the way they stick to your forehead in your license picture.

Oh, also, don’t tell anyone when you’re going to take your permit test. If you tell no one, then no one can make fun of you when you fail it. Am I right ladies, am I right?

DenebolaFeatures B4 27 September 2011

Faculty Focus: Marie ShawBy Jesse Feldstein

Many students from this year ’s freshman class be-lieve that the transition from middle school to high school is complex and confusing, yet exciting nonetheless. And one teacher, who came up from Oak Hill Middle School with the Class of 2015 could not agree more.

First-year English teacher Marie Shaw is a new face among the South faculty, but to a large portion of students, her presence is anything but new. For the past 14 years, Shaw worked across the field at Oak Hill teaching Drama.

For her, the new school is more familiar than one would expect. “I find it interesting to see how students have changed, and how they haven’t changed,” she said. The former middle school teacher recog-nizes nearly half of the students at South.

But the juxtaposition of se-niors’ former appearances to their looks today is, according to Shaw, comedic. “Old stu-dents seem almost like adults,” she said. “These kids used to be poking fingers [at each other]. It’s a real gas to see them again.”

Shaw does believe, however, that high school is different from middle school in the way that it stimulates learning while

maintaining a more relaxed environment.

“It’s much more laid back,” Shaw said, “Yet the students take a responsibility for their learning. The students know when to jump on board, [thus they] are more involved in their academic pursuits.”

Shaw is also noticing the changes in schedule. “I have to remember which classes are dropped each day,” she said. “I still have to figure out my own way to work through the com-plexities of the schedule.”

For now, Shaw is responsible for teaching sophomores and seniors, a transition she had to make during the summer months. She needed to familiar-ize with a new curriculum, then plan how to teach it a couple of months later.

“I had to learn the material, then figure out a way to pres-ent it to the students,” Shaw said. “There certainly is a lot of paperwork, but that is what the job entails, and I expected that.” Shaw has also had to make the transition to a completely dif-ferent field of teaching.

“Working in a different dis-cipline, Drama versus English ... [is] like working with my children. I love each equally, but each one has its own quirks and personalities to foster to maturity,” Shaw said.

Although Shaw has a lot of

experience working with South pupils in the past, her experi-ence at South has forced her to adapt. “The work is intense. This school truly operates at a collegiate level, and I can sense that and appreciate it,” Shaw said. “Thankfully, the faculty has been extraordinarily helpful and understanding.”

At Oak Hill, Shaw had her own office in a private area. Now her office is located in the English Department, which is also a transition she enjoys.

“Working in an office is great. I felt like part of the community immediately, and that really assisted my move,” she said.

Although Shaw is only ac-countable for teaching English, she tries to instill much more broader lessons in all of her students, no matter where she teaches.

“Ultimately, my goal is to empower all of these students to become the best people they can be. I want them to exercise their full potential, whether it be academically, socially, physically, emotionally, or culturally.”

Shaw is hoping to help stu-dents with one of the most difficult parts of adolescence. “I really work to help all of my students to make appropriate decisions,” she said. “That’s really important to me.”

photo by aley lewis

photo contributed by dylan boudro

Senior spends summer on farmBy Lauren Ashbrook

I’ve been getting really into sustainable agriculture recently. This summer, that interest threw me into a sweltering cornfield with Smokey, Rad-dles, T-Dawg, M.J, Thrasher, McGregor—in total, 16 hulk-ing, sweating, swearing, in-teresting 20-something guys and me.

We were working for Syn-genta, an international biotech-nology company that creates hybrid strains of crops such as corn and soybeans.

The company strives to have huge yields while taking advan-tage of as few natural resources as possible. And yes, they tin-ker with genes.

My crew’s job was corn pollination. That sounds com-plicated, but all we were doing was facilitating the transfer of pollen from one corn stalk to another.

The pollen from one par-ticular plant’s tassels has to be poured over another’s silks. This fertilizes one stalk with the pollen of an entirely dif-ferent strain, thus creating a crossbreed. Basically, it’s corn sex that makes babies on steroids.

These offspring are geneti-cally stoked. At this point you’re asking yourself, is this really “sustainable agricul-ture?” I was asking myself the same question.

It was a rough July in central Illinois. The boys and I were in the field from 6:30 AM to 4:00 PM. With the heat index, temperatures were soaring past 110 degrees. There were torna-does, electrical storms. People

got heat strokes and fainted. It was a pretty challenging environment.

After just an hour, we were already sweating and covered in mud, but having a good crew made things easier. M.J. was often blasting “Thriller” on a handheld radio (thus the

nickname). Pitbull’s “Give Me Everything” was another favorite jam, along with every country hit of the summer. We danced and goofed around, anything to keep our minds off of the heat.

My nickname was East Coast. At first it seemed a little insulting. They were probably wondering what the heck a city girl from Boston was doing there. But after a sweltering 50-hour week, Smokey, my boss, came up to me and said, “Damn, people back home should call you Midwest!” That rocked.

Walking from row to row bagging silks or tassels could be grueling work, but the

photo contributed by lauren ashbrook

South senior skips ahead; loving the college life

By Helen Holmes Amidst the disorganized

hustle and bustle that comes with the beginning of a new school year, one particularly red-haired presence is con-spicuously absent.

As the rest of us are worrying about curfews and chemistry, one of our own is enjoying a life of independence. Dylan Boudro, who would have been a Newton South senior this year, has instead transferred to Bard College at Simon’s Rock.

I caught up with Dylan re-cently to hear his story, and to find out what it’s like to be a college Freshman when most of us can’t stay out past 11 without fighting World War Three.

Boudro’s path through high school has certainly been an unconventional one. “I decided to attend college … due to my mistakes earlier in my high school career,” Boudro said. “As a sophomore, I lost touch with how important school was and really struggled academi-cally.”

Boudro spent junior year playing catchup, but still felt less than motivated in such a stressful and academically rigorous environment. He adds that the fact that his house was “a three-minute walk away”

from school contributed to his lethargy.

Frustrated and uncompelled to finish out his high school education, Boudro found out about Simon’s Rock and decid-ed to “take the leap to a much heavier academic workload.”

But here’s where it gets interesting—though Boudro points out that “most people at Simon’s Rock drop out of high school,” he intends to return to Newton South with enough English credits earned in col-lege to graduate with the rest of the Class of 2012.

According to Boudro, his mother “made it clear” that if he wanted to skip senior year for college life, he’d have to graduate—the only difference is that he’s doing things in reverse.

Though a unique 17-year-old in that respect, Boudro is eager for the perks of senior year and adds that hopefully he’ll be able to “come back for prom and graduation!”

When he’s not studying the intricacies of internet mar-keting (his preferred field of choice,) Boudro is savoring the sweet taste of freedom from parental contol.

“What helped me survive here in terms of managing myself was the independence

you get from having a car and a job,” Boudro said. “In col-lege, you need to keep up with schoolwork, but you also need to make sure your room is clean and all your stuff is there when you need it.”

Boudro is also exploring the world of college parties—responsibly, of course. He’s living in Dolliver house, a dorm “notorious for its lounge in the basement.”

As for drugs, Boudro notes that there’s “non-excessive [drug] use on campus… every-one is very open minded and extremely understanding, and I have never seen social pressure to do drugs.”

What else is there to know about living the collegiate life? “One thing that people might not guess … is the value of good food,” Boudro said. “In college, when you eat ramen out of any container you can get your hands on, good food is like a gift from the heavens.”

Deeply enjoying his new experiences, Boudro also men-tions enthusiastically that he was “really lucky” to be the only freshman in his dorm to get a room with a balcony.

For this unconventional stu-dent, there can be no doubt that the view looks good from here.

By Josh NislickImagine a middle-aged man

paddling through a flooded city in a fragile canoe, ignoring urges for him to leave the area, in order to rescue those in need of help. This man is risking his health and safety, braving wild terrain, and living in a tent on his roof just to save his fellow countrymen and to provide relief for the helpless and desperate.

Such a book would likely be hailed as a story of great heroism and courage, and this man would be acclaimed as a fearless and daring character. Yet Zeitoun by Dave Eggers exposes Newton South students not only to the incredible bravery of an ordinary American citizen, but also to the United States’ disastrous man-agement of New Orleans after it was hit by Hurricane Katrina.

English teacher David Wein-traub, one of the people who nominated the novel to be this year’s “Two Schools, One Book” choice, believes that the novel accurately shows how Americans currently view Muslims.

“When the teenagers tear the hijab off Kathy’s head,” he said, “And when Kathy’s mother says, ‘You can take that thing off now, he’s gone,’ I think these subtler moments reveal who we actually are. This book has real power to motivate change, and it shows how life for Muslim-Americans actually is.”

Senior Muhammad Akif Hon-ca, a Muslim-American, agrees that what Zeitoun experienced reflected similar sentiments that Americans feel towards Muslims. “In regard to the biases towards Muslim Americans, it’s exactly

right,” Honca said. “After 9/11, people look at us as more foreign and dangerous when most of us are normal people.”

Weintraub also believes that 9/11 has altered the lives of many Muslims living in America. “For the majority,” Weintraub said, “My sense is that profiling has increased. There tends to be a single picture about Muslim-Americans, yet Zeitoun broadens that story.”

Honca liked the book because it portrayed Zeitoun as a normal American citizen, but he was angered by the treatment Zeitoun received by American soldiers after the storm. The novel also made Honca look at his own life compared to that of Zeitoun.

“The book made me think of my own experiences,” he said. “I’ve definitely felt the hatred felt by many Muslim-Americans.”

Sophomore Shariq Cheema, also a Muslim-American, agrees that he has felt the biases of Americans towards Muslim individuals.

“There are people that make comments or jokes about the fact that I’m Muslim and they connect me to the unfortunate attack of 9/11,” Cheema said. “I have never experienced racial profiling, though, and I believe that people view us Muslims as average and normal human be-ings and that we are a part of the same nation as them.”

Zeitoun not only provides a glimpse into the life of Muslims living in the United States, but also displays the inadequacy of the American government in handling the crisis in New Orleans after the hurricane. The

country’s disturbing response to Hurricane Katrina contributed to Honca’s lack of faith in the government.

“Even before I read the book,” Honca said, “I didn’t like the way the government treated Muslims. Just the fact that all that stuff happened in New Orleans, in our own country, made me more skeptical of whether the leader-ship in this country is the best.”

Although it could be difficult at times for readers to grasp Zeitoun’s experiences during the book, Honca and Cheema feel it was an important book for South to read. “It opened up a lot more people’s minds in terms of ac-cepting others,” Honca said.

“It showed that sometimes there are situations where people are treated badly on account of their religion of where they are from,” Cheema said.

Despite the extreme hardships Zeitoun deals with throughout the story, he demonstrates an amazing willingness to help oth-ers in times of need. According to Weintraub, such actions display a change in modern American heroism.

“I found it fascinating that it provides a glimpse of a new kind of American hero, a blue collar immigrant and a Southern Baptist woman who converted to Islam,” he said.

In addition, Weintraub feels that the central message in the novel is to show the good in America as opposed to the bad. “The book superficially criticizes the government,” he said. “But at its core it valorizes average people and shows how everyone can be a hero.”

Muslim students views on Zeitoun

science was interesting and raised some important ques-tions.

Here’s the thing—population growth projections suggest that by the year 2050 the world is going to have to produce twice as much food as it currently does.

About one-third of the planet is already used for agriculture. We can’t farm the whole planet, not even two-thirds of it, and that would lead to ecological disaster, so another solution is necessary.

Syngenta’s solution is genet-ic modification, which makes many environmentalists un-comfortable. I mean, the idea of salmon DNA in your tomato sounds pretty freaky, and who knows what the long-term ef-fects will be.

Syngenta calls this solution “sustainable.” Many crunchy organic-lovers (like me, I guess) would not.

But what does sustainability really mean? Genetics may be our only way to avoid farming the earth beyond its capacity. At this point, only corn is on the path to doubling its yields by 2050.

I would like to imagine an or-ganic paradise with butterflies and Birkenstocks, but maybe that won’t feed the planet. Syn-genta researchers argue that it’s going to take a lot of science to get the job done.

If they are right, the quality of that science and its impact are really going to matter. I don’t have the answers here, but this summer I began to see the reality of one of our world’s greatest challenges, first hand.

Arts and Entertainment B527 September 2011 Denebola

By Tim JiangGuitar wailing like a siren,

bass grooves bouncing from wall to wall, snare drum ex-ploding through the room, the second release from this first class ska act is a sonic attack from start to finish.

One of Boston’s best live bands, the Have Nots revitalized punk rock two years ago with the fantastic Serf City USA; their sophomore effort Proud expands upon their debut’s militant fury with a melodic edge.

Effortlessly, the band mixes rock, reggae, and hip hop to create the most vital ska-punk since Rancid’s …And Out Come the Wolves, or even Operation Ivy’s Energy.

It would be easy to com-pare Proud with these time-hon-ored triumphs, but in reality, it already stands as a modern classic in its own right. The Have Nots’ work sounds just as poignant in 2011 as it would in 1977.

Raw, aggressive, and hooky, Proud plays as a soundtrack to the chaotic climate of post-regression America, while also exploring a nostalgia for the values of a world long past.

Proud juxtaposes revolu-tionary anthems with tales of

interpersonal relationships that range from the inspirational to the heartbreaking.

The Have Nots successfully mix pop sensibilities with over-driven guitars to paint a por-trait of America’s dark side. The standout track ‘Louisville Slugger’ opens with the lines, “Tomorrow she’ll put make-up on the bruises, tomorrow she’ll be making up excuses…”

On this gem, frontman Jon Cauztik consoles a childhood friend fallen victim to an abusive husband, his verses alternating between pity and outrage.

The song simultaneously fills the listener with empathy and indignation — helplessly, we watch as Cauztik tries to de-

fend the girl against her tormentor.

W i t h a delivery that sh i f t s be-tween drill s e r g e a n t

barking and machine gun fire, Cauztik dedicates the rest of the album to topics such as the atrocities of war, a tortured romance, and his bond with his deceased father.

Displaying his storytelling as well as his outspoken political views, Jon Cauztik ranks as the finest blue-collar poet since Joe Strummer.

Over a backdrop of two-step thrash and gang vocal inter-

ludes, the Have Nots’ second singer Matt Pruitt’s voice seems melodic, almost tender.

Despite this, Pruitt’s delivery proves brutal by any main-stream standard; he handles most of the (relatively) mel-low material while still de-livering the band’s signature energy.

H i s s o n g s r a n g e f r o m the quasi-bal-lad ‘Farewell Show’ to the furious ‘Laser Guided Freedom Killers‘; on the latter, he asks “Would you re-sist, would you insist? If they dropped hell on you?”

Pru i t t a l so holds the distinc-tion of writing the best song on one of the year’s best al-bums, which he breaks down on the band’s of-ficial website: “So, what’s ‘The Brink’ about?”

“Well, I guess the long and short of it is this: ‘The Brink’ points to the other side of the wartime news headline, where the selflessness of our soldiers is seemingly forgotten, and the humanity that’s shared amongst us, is lost in the smoke and mir-

rors, of war-time agendas.” With a surprisingly catchy

melody and a swinging rhythm section, ‘The Brink’ offers an unconventionally patriotic take on the situation in the Middle East.

Whether he’s covering the hardships of an American soldier or screaming at the injustice of

vive the day-to-day struggles of the world and then pass that endurance on to us.

Proud offers a rare mix of social commentary and catharsis; the Have Nots pass the classic test of the great rock band — popular-ized by John Lennon, Chuck D, and Bob Marley — with a rep-ertoire that includes songs of

The Have Nots would be Proud, an album review

photo from internet source

civilian casualties in Iraq, Pruitt juggles concepts and perspec-tives effortlessly with a tuneful call, the perfect counterpart for Jon Cauztik’s raspy howl.

No matter what they may have to say about our foreign policy, The Have Nots embody a truly American phenomena, singing the ballad of the under-dog. Through music, they sur-

revolution, and songs of love.With their newest work, they

expand, they mature, and they realize that sometimes, a well-placed hook can wreak just as much havoc as a wall of distor-tion. Not only do The Have Nots want you to get up and mosh, they also want you to sit down and think. These days, that’s rare.

Proud...already stands as a modern classic in its own

right.

of shots left on a roll, and that number is never in the hundreds.Frames must be con-served, leading to a search for what is truly worthwhile to photograph and quickly moves past the shallow, cliché, Mys-pace profile picture shots.

The cost of buying film is a bit of a turnoff, but this ad-ditionally leads to a careful and sparing approach to what is photographed, resulting in products that are well worth the money. The actual shots on a roll of film cannot be seen until they are developed, creating suspense and excite-ment to discover the results of shooting.

Following the development of negatives from film, photos are printed using an enlarger in the darkroom.

Hours can be spent in the darkroom, hoping no one walks in on a solitary dance party to Ke$ha on the radio, and fingers dipped in chemicals you would not want contaminating your lunch, all to produce just a couple of prints.

Mistakes that would have otherwise been avoided lead to new discoveries and promote experimentation.

The entire film process takes money, time, effort, and a development of skills, creat-

ing a much deeper connection with the final product than the couple of minutes it takes to upload and print a photo from a digital camera. This being said, there are undeniable benefits to digital photography.

Once an appreciation for the photograph is achieved and a photographic eye is developed, digital photography can be used to fill in the gaps of and augment certain quali-ties of film photography.

The ability to Photoshop the absolute junk out of photographs gives digital a one-up on film in the color aspects as well as photo

manipulation.W h i l e

the digital process is hardly as much fun as the film p r o c e s s , the option

to spend hours in front of a computer making the tiniest of adjustments to hue, contrast, and lighting in each individual section of the photograph is the ultimate fine tune editing tool.

But this editing power is often abused, leading some to disregard the raw photograph and rely solely on computer editing tools to produce a qual-ity photograph.

However, when used prop-erly, editing software can en-hance composition possibly

beyond its film counterpart and allows for manipulations far beyond the limitations of an enlarger.

These benefits of digital photography should be fully utilized, but it is vital that sight is not lost of the values and practices learned through film photography.

The best way to begin with photography is to take the class. The projects assigned are expertly crafted by New-ton South’s Bob Bouchal to teach you how to see the world through the lens, and how to develop your skills as a pho-tographer.

If it so happens that one is taking 2,304 Advanced Place-ment classes and this is not an option, then find or borrow a film camera, buy a roll of film, and carry the camera around until there’s a roll of shots, then find a friend who takes photog-raphy to show you the ropes.

Or find me, someone more than happy to show the process and help out! But seriously, do photography, and prepare to be amazed for what vision and sight will unearth.

PHOTO, continued from page A6

Photo: Seeing the light

graphics by victor qin

toted their recorder to school, and were privy to the horrid screechings that no inventor ever meant to make possible out of that instrument.

In reality, though these mem-ories have tainted our knowl-edge of early music, these are also the events that often trigger kids to pick up different instruments such as cello, like Wolff, or as Freshman chose, the violin.

As students in an affluent town and region, there are al-ways opportunities waiting in all walks of life.

Musical opportunities are likewise abundant in the Great-er Boston area, and the only attribute required in the initial entrance of such establishments is the desire to learn.

It is in these institutions that the young, eager children become aspiring musicians filled with a passion that music

intrinsically evokes. This passion is absolutely

magnetic and can lead to some of the greatest combinations ever created.

As Youngman said, “more than any other activity or art form it is the one that truly has no borders...it opens com-munication and opportunities between two cultures when you share music...you become a traveler not a tourist....an explorer not a tourist.”

This passion creates an elec-tric energy onstage during performances, as an elder gentlemen noted, thoroughly touched by the vibrancy of one of YPO’s concerts on the tour.

The orchestra’s initial in-timidation at performing in front of hundreds of unknown onlookers did not stop them from coming on stage with an air of confidence.

Youngman added that “for-

eign countries are incredibly welcoming to musicians...especially younger musi-cians.”

The orchestra’s initial in-timidation towards perform-ing in front of hundreds of un-known onlookers did not stop them from coming on stage with an air of confidence.

“It’s never too late to ex-plore and study music,” he said, “Because even if your music doesn’t take you to La Scala or Alvert Hall, it will still connect you to both your own and other cultures.”

The kids were from the high-school generation, the audience members were often from an older or younger generation, and the music hailed from a much, much more ancient generation. How could these three or four eras meet in such a perfect harmony?

The answer lies in the tears of the old man who was touched by YPO’s concert. It lies in the zeal with which students such as Choi, Wolff, and Freshman attend rehearsal every weekend, and finally it lies in the sold out sign outside the concert halls in which YPO was privileged enough to play.

Choi, Wolff, Freshman, and many South students carry this love of music around with them everyday.

As Nietzsche so correctly put it: “Without music, life would be a mistake.”

YPO takes South to EuropeYPO, continued from page A6

photo from internet source

THE FASHION

FILES

By Sophie Scharlin-Pettee

“All through elementary school and middle school I was the more ‘athletic’ daughter in the family...but always loved being creative and interacting with people,” senior Jackie Lebovits said.

An ironic statement, if noth-ing else, as Lebovits is now an enthusiastic leader of both Newton South’s Speech and De-bate Team, AKA “Speech,” as well as the student-run improv group Children of the Candy Corn, or “Candy Corn.”

“When I got to high school, I initially wanted to try out for the softball team, but I thought that high school sports were only for talented and serious athletes,” Lebovits said.

Upon deciding there was more hope in turning to the performing

arts, Lebovits participated in the freshman play and followed her friend, senior Allie Haber, to the speech team meeting.

“I really only went to the meeting because Allie wanted to go, and I was curious about South’s extracurriculars, but once I made friends with the ‘09 Captains; Chrissy Amen-dola, Alex Brodsky, and David Schlenker; they took me under their wing and I realized just how much speech team could teach me,” Lebovits said.

Now in her fourth year as an active Speech member, Lebovits has received more than a few accolades from competitions statewide, as well as qualifying for a national tournament in Texas last June.

Along with participating em-phatically with Speech, Lebovits has appeared in several South-

Stage shows, such as 2010’s pro-duction of “Cowtown.” She has also poured all her considerable heart and humor into South’s improv troupe, Candy Corn, as a dedicated and caring member.

Through her involvement in these performing venues, Lebo-vits has learned much about her-self and her skills. “I became a better and more confident pub-lic speaker, but I also became a more confident and more sociable person in general,” she said.

B e s i d e s t h e -ater, Lebovits has dabbled in many different areas of art, including pho-tography. “I’ve taken Photo with Bob Bouchal since freshman year, and,

although digital is fun, I like black and white film the best. I’m interested in film-making as well and took a film course at Barnard during the summer of 2010,” she said.

She and Haber, a friend and fellow Speech team member, are also the co-presidents of South’s Water Aid Interna-tional, or WAI, club.

According to Lebovits, WAI

is “a lovely community service club that raises money to help aid the water crisis in third world countries.”

Despite her impressive cre-dentials, Lebovits has a humble perspective on the college process.

“I would really, really, really, love to go to college please. Don’t know exactly where that will be yet. That’s scary,” she said.

As for what colleges have piqued her interest, Lebovits commented, “Most colleges have some kind of theater extracurriculars and improv troupes — I’d also love to try sketch comedy. I am looking at schools with speech teams, but I wouldn’t say that a college has to have a team for me to commit to going there!”

For this theater-loving senior,

what lies ahead is unclear. “College speech is different from high school speech and much more intensive, so I’m not sure yet if I’m going to con-tinue that after high school.

“As of right now, I hope to continue participating in these activities as hobbies!”

Her after-college plans are still in the making, but Lebovits hopes to keep some kind of performing art still a part of her life.

“I think that the skills I’ve learned from theater, speech, and improv will definitely influ-ence my career path, although not the activities themselves,” she said.

As for advice to the newly-enrolled freshman, Lebovits has only one thing to say: get involved. “Join Speech and De-bate! Audition for Children of the Candy Corn! Join WAI!”

Art Focus: Jackie Lebovits

photo by jackie lebovits

throw pillows, unfortunately someone had already bought the Missoni for Target bicycle.

Besides my being caught up in the whirlwind of cheap, chic clothing, I had to ask myself: is the mania of fall fashion simply diverting or inherently disturbing?

Just minutes after being released to the public, the massive influx of orders for Italian luxury crashed Target’s website.

Despite campaigns to the contrary, models still strut down the NYC Fashion Week runway looking as though they’d never seen a sandwich, let alone eaten one.

I, personally, have embraced the fact that I don’t resemble an emaciated beanpole and that I’ll never be as skinny as I was when I was twelve.

My favorite food is filet mi-gnon and my afternoon snack is caramel popcorn. Sue me, I love to eat!

Fat or thin, rich or broke, I look forward to fall every year.

To me, nothing beats waking up to air scented with dried leaves and scaled with the faint-est chill of autumn, because this means that the best of my wardrobe is soon to come.

FASHION, continued from page A6

By Karen WeinsteinFor the past 42 years, Libya, a tribal

country in the north of Africa, has languished under the dictatorial rule of Moammar Gaddafi. Last spring, thousands of Libyans first protested, and then rebelled against their ruler, causing an ongoing civil war that has lasted more than eight months.

With the recent fall of Tripoli, the rebels now control most of the country. Gaddafi’s whereabouts are unknown. From his refuge, perhaps his besieged hometown of Sirte, Gaddafi has ex-horted his followers to fight on and crush the rebels, claiming to still be the country’s leader.

Some of the remaining loyalists are still fighting sporadically, defending strongholds like Sirte and Bani Walid. While others flee the country in fear of retaliation.

According to History Teacher Bob Parlin, “There still is some fighting, but it doesn’t seem, at least the way the media is portraying it, that the loyalists who have been supporting Gaddafi are

By Dina BusabaWith the Libyan revolution winding

down, the world’s attention has turned to another country going through political turmoil: Syria. The unrest began in mid-March but laid relatively below the radar due to Libya’s heavily publicized revolution.

The Syrian people are fighting for a democratic government. They want the right to vote and have their voices heard.

Large protests started in the capital city of Damascus, but later spread to cities like Homs and Zabadani. It has been questioned whether or not this is now a war based on religion or politics.

The revolution has stretched beyond the borders of the nation and on to the Internet, with protesters speaking out on Facebook and Twitter. Rami Nakhle and Omar Edilbi, opinionated protesters who have been fighting this battle over the Internet, have fled into neighboring Lebanon.

In late August, political cartoonist Ali Farzat was badly beaten by Syrian security forces. He has since been recovering in a hospital in Damascus.

Since the beginning of the rebellion, over 2,000 people have been killed. The protests have been met by President Bashar al-Assad with blood since week one.

Syria has been in a state of emergency since the mid 1960s; Bashar al-Assad lifted that state in April before the violence began again.

Troops have opened fire on the unarmed protesters countless times throughout the past five months.

President Bashar al-Assad has

Libyan rebels on the verge of victory

defended the killings, saying gangs and terrorists started the protests he was only trying to restore order in the country.

At least 52 bodies have been found to have evidence of torture prior to the killings. There are reports of tear gas and killings during funerals of the dead.

All victims were male aged 13 and older. Some people on the internet have called for more female participation.

The United Nations Human Rights Council has been investigating the protests for any violations and crimes

against humanity. The United Nations and European

Union (EU), along with the United States representatives, have been working together to impose more sanctions on the unstable country. All member states of the EU have agreed to stop buying crude oil from Syria.

Nations in the Arab League fear the violence has gone too far and that Syria is on the brink of a civil war. The Arab League has demanded that al-Assad be put under more pressure to step down and stop attacking his people.

Protests and bloodshed continue in Syria

Chinese release iPhone 5 knock-off

Members of the United Nations have been pushing for more sanctions to be imposed, but China and Russia keep vetoing further action. Russia wants to speak with both Syria and the United Nations so they can come to a peaceful agreement.

Protesters and outside observers, however, no longer believe al-Assad after his previous assertions that he would reform his government.

Many Arab countries, as well as Israel, are concerned that al-Assad could be replaced by another dictator, possibly one more warmongering than al-Assad, who had maintained peace with Israel and relative stability in the region. Even worse, anarchy could

follow his rule, resulting in inter-ethnic and –religious strife.

The fears of disorder in the Middle East, exporting violence and possibly chemical weapons, have held many nations back from calling for regime change, and continue to hold many back from assisting the opposition.

It remains unclear whether al-Assad can cling to power, but his resolve has surely been strengthened by the fates that have befallen his fellow dictators in Libya and Egypt. The success of the revolutions there, however, also gives confidence to the people of Syria, and people across the Middle East, that autocratic regimes can, in fact, be defeated.

On July 22, over 700,000 Syrians protested in the northwestern city of Hama. photo from internet source

By Ethan Epstein While millions of Americans ea-

gerly await the much-anticipated release of the iPhone 5, some people in China have already gotten their hands on one – sort of.

An online counterfeiting company in China, called Taobao, has released the hiPhone 5, a knock-off available for as little as 200 Yuan, equivalent to about $31.

Amazingly, the hiPhone 5 was released in advance of the much-anticipated iPhone 5 – extremely rare in the world of knock-offs.

The hiPhone’s design is based on a leaked picture that depicts the workers at the Wintek Factory in China build-ing iPhones.

At first glance the picture is useless, but a closer look gives a pretty good idea about what the newest iPhone looks like.

The iPhones in the picture have an edge-to-edge screen (much wider than the iPhone 4), an elongated home but-ton, and rounded edges that are thinner than the iPhone 4 (like the older iP-hones). hiPhones share these features with the apparent iPhone 5’s.

The hiPhone is 7mm thick while the iPhone 4 is 9.3mm thick, sug-gesting that the iPhone 5 will also be significantly thinner. The hiPhone has a wider, rounded glass screen and flat back, as well as a logo that is almost identical to Apple’s.

To many, the idea of replicating a product so closely is unethical as well as risky. China, however, isn’t

new to knock-offs of popular com-panies’ best-selling products. Most of these knock-offs, including the 2008 hiPhone, were released after their originals. That is what makes the hiPhone 5 unique: it was released August 1, a few months before the real iPhone 5, which is expected to come out this October.

The hiPhone, however, does have many aspects characteristic of other counterfeited products. In addition to it being much cheaper than the origi-nal, it is also lighter.

Though the company made the phone so similar to the original that customers will buy it thinking no one will notice the difference, it has a few differences to ward off lawsuits.

Despite the obvious copyright infringement, Apple is so far not tak-ing any sort of legal action, possibly because the hiPhone is just different enough from the iPhone to build a defending case, or possibly because the Chinese government is doing the work for them.

But the more likely reason as to why Apple hasn’t taken any legal action is that it is not very concerned about the loss of business – though the hiPhone is cheaper, it is physi-cally weaker and quite possibly in-ferior in other areas.

Obviously, there is little in the way of tech support for it. Therefore, anyone who was willing to pay for a high-quality iPhone before the hiPhone’s release is probably still willing to pay.

in any way going to proceed.”Libya’s future is still unclear. France

and other European nations are trying to help Libya set up a democracy in place of their dictatorship, but “de-mocracy” is still a foreign concept to most Libyans.

“There’s not a whole lot of prec-edent for that in the region, but if the dictatorship is replaced with some-thing better than it was, then it’s still an improvement,” History teacher Paul Estin said.

There is controversy over whether democracy could thrive in a tribal country, especially one with no his-tory of successful government.

“Libya has never been a unified country without a strong dictator,” History teacher Sean Turley said, “So it will be very interesting to see if they can really start a new government. In the past, there have been many tribes in Libya that do not get along.”

At least a dictatorship provides some measure of stability to the na-tion, as opposed to no government at

all. Libya may find itself in a difficult situation if a democracy fails to take hold and some other factions take control.

Parlin believes a Libyan democracy modeled after the U.S.’s government is unlikely. Until a democracy is estab-lished, there is always the possibility that other factions, such as a tribe or a religious fundamentalist faction, will rise to power and create another dictatorship.

“Some people are worried that the rebels themselves are very fun-damentalist Muslims,” Parlin said. “A country ruled by a much more conservative religious leader would look like Iran.”

Though he appears to be on the brink of defeat, “as long as Moammar Gaddafi is not caught, there is always going to be the possibility that the revolution will fail, because people will oftentimes support someone who’s not around or is in hiding,” Turley said.

As of now, Gaddafi still has loyal-ists in Libya, and may be taking cover in his tribe’s territory or somewhere deep in the desert. A new democracy would require the tribes to cooperate and give up some power to create a government system.

“It will be interesting to see if [the tribes] would give up some power,” Turley said. “The people are used to being in control of their own area and all of a sudden they will be asked to cooperate.”

Ancient ethnic conflicts and newer ones over water and oil complicate prospects for centralization and a suc-cessful civil society. Only time will tell if a peaceful democracy can rise from the ashes of Gaddafi’s dictatorship.

The hiPhone 5 (left) and the iPhone 4.photo from internet source

photo from internet source

photo from internet source

On June 20, rebels on the frontlines west of Misrata fire a Grad rocket at loyalist forces.

Global EducationDenebola 27 September 2011Global Education B6

Denebola News B727 September 2011

Divya BabakrishnaMath/Science Teacher

“[I think] i’ll have a ton of fun... This is my first job!”

Helena AlfonzoSpanish Teacher

“[I think] that students [will] be able to learn Spanish fluently.”

Melinda BrownGoldrick Secretary

“[My goal] is to have a wonderful, productive year.”

Suzi DrureyScience Teacher

“I hope to find a place and make a helpful contribution to Newton.”

Ellen LokoSpanish Teacher

“I expect 382 students to [become more fulent] in spanish.

Marie ShawEnglish Teacher

“To reconnect with a lot of people here, and to see how

they’ve matured.”

Amanda DodsonPreschool Teacher

“I hope to have a wonderful year with the preschoolers.”

Lindsay JohnstonePreschool Teacher

“To have a great new classroom and to build good relationships

with the teachers and High School students”

Jennifer MorrillHistory Department Head/

Teacher“I’m looking forward to this year

and getting to know people at South.”

Jenniffer DimmickLibrarian

“To meet and connect with as many students as possible to

advocate for a superior library program.”

Kim O’ByrneGoodwin Guiadence Counselor“To help students adjust to the

new school year, especially focusing on the transions of 9th

and 12th graders.”

Amanda LawsCORE Coordinator

“I expect to work with wonderful groups of students and staff to

start the core project off right in it’s first year. ”

Kathleen FarnsworthSpecial Education Department Head“To have an exciting year where i’ll learn a tremendous amount about Newton South and provide

high quality support for students.”

First Year Teachers Tell Denebola About Their Aspirations

Money from the state aide SouthBy Daniel Barabasi

After the tight pinch in bud-get at the end of last year, the Newton School Committee voted to return 12.6 positions and Latin classes for middle schools to the Fiscal year of 2012 budget. The sudden restoration was due to the school district receiving over $700,000 in funding from the state and circuit breaker sources in addition to the budgeted amount for the fis-cal year of 2012.

According to Principle Joel Stembridge, this allows for the restoration of two Full Time Equivilaents (FTE), which will be spread across the departments. A FTE is teaching time worth one teacher (4 blocks).Yet Stembridge says that South is still short-staffed. “Even though we got two FTE back, we are still three FTE down. That’s 12 sec-tions across the school that will not run.”

The lack of FTEs also accounts for large class sizes this year. “[A short-age of FTEs] is why a class that would have had 27 or 28 in previous year now has above 30 and why we are offering four sections instead of five,” Stembridge said.

The budget allocations also include increased library coverage and $52,000 of funding in order to hire a special education finance direc-tor for the monitoring of Newton’s special educa-tion expenses. Accord-ing to Sandy Guryan, _____, a similar posi-tion was implemented in

Lexington and has achieved success.

H o w e v e r, S t e m b r i d g e worr ies about what wi l l happen when the influx of students from current middle and elementary schools will arrive at South in the next few years. “Over the last five or six years there have been multiple cuts but there haven’t been additions to faculty, and that hasn’t lev-eled off. If those reductions continue and we have the same number of kids again we will have difficulties.”

“We have not been able to bring back the same amount of people and supplies from

one year to the next,” Stem-bridge explains. “This is often due to a rise in the price of commodities, but because all those different costs have gone up the actual amount of money has gone up slightly, but it doesn’t go as far.”

Yet Stembridge remains positive: “Can we do it? Yes. Are students still get-t i n g a g o o d e d u c a t i o n ? Yes.” He still admits that the lack in s taff ing wil l make “it more difficult for teachers to d i fferent ia te instruction for the kids who need that most. It’s not as easy to learn as South as it was last year.”

Dramatization of classes returning after the State added money to South’s budget.photo by divya agarwal

Newton South

information gathered by connor macbain

pcitures by aley lewis, hannah pittel, and divya agarwal

DenebolaAdvertising B8 27 September 2011