The OptimistBloomington High School South

Issue 3 December 9, 2011

What’s Inside:Pg. 3 Alexus ShieldsPg. 4 Science MajorsPg. 6 CollegesPg. 10 Occupy Movement

http://www.bloomingtonsouth.org

MADI TAYLOR

2THE OPTIMIST December 9, 2011Sports

Emma Sullivan News Editor

It would be unusual enough to earn a college scholarship for rowing, let alone if you’ve never rowed a day in your life. Se-nior Shelby Susnick has committed to Indi-ana University’s women’s rowing team as a coxswain, and can count on one hand the amount of times she’s been in a boat. In a crew, the coxswain is the member who sits in the stern, facing the bow, responsible for steering the boat, and coordinating the power and rhythm of the rowers. The IU coaches saw that she could potentially be a great coxswain given her size. “When my mom heard about schol-arship opportunities and realized I fit the criteria, it seemed smart to at least check it out,” said Susnick. Susnick is still awaiting scholarship information. The IU women’s rowing team is part of a Division I sport that accepts a range

of experience levels. The team does some recruiting, but understands that many high schools don’t have a rowing team, and if anything it is seen as an extracurricular. Coaches require a minimum height of 5’7 for rowers with the exception of the cox-swain who are generally more petite. “The scholarships are based off of aca-demics, but they also offer free tutoring for all athletes,” Susnick said. Practices are held at Lake Lemon and in the new IU ath-letic gym. “Coxswain aren’t even neces-sarily required to work out at the gym, but it’s preferred so you can get to know your teammates,” said Susnick. After meeting with the coaches, Susnick learned ways to get involved and gain experience before-hand. “They told me about a club at Lake Monroe for all ages that introduces and practices basic rowing skills, so I’ve been trying to get a feel for it,” said Susnick.

SuSnick commitS to iu Rowing aS coxSwain

South senior Shelby Susnick practices rowing in anticipation of her role as coxswain. Susnick will steer the boat and coordinate the rhythm and power of rowers.

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Susnick’s build attracted IU rowing coaches’ attention to her. She plans to join IU’s Division I team as coxswain in the fall of 2012.

THE OPTIMIST3December 9, 2011 SPORTS

Allison WilsonSports Editor

The amount of obstacles on a cat agility course, otherwise known as the Interna-tional Cat Agility Tournaments, a rising sport among the feliners.

The number of sports featured in the 2012 summer Olympics which will take place in London.

Matt Kemp re-signed a contract worth $160 million with the Los Angeles Dodg-ers, making him the richest player signed by the Dodgers; news on a MLB lockout pending.

The number of years it took for the US rug-by coach, Eddie O’Sullivan, to resign.

Kirby Anstead Staff Writer The word commitment describes South’s senior girls’ basketball captain Alexus Shields’ career: “Commitment to me means that I’m dedicated to what I do and that I will choose basketball over everything else.” Shields’ basketball career started when she was 5 years old. “I got started [playing] because my dad played basketball and he used to take me to the HPER with him. He saw that I enjoyed it so I started playing,” she said. She started practicing at the Banneker Center, and then joined a team at the Sports-plex. From there she played on her first AAU team called the Bloomington Shooters with other South basketball alumni such as Kayla Hulls and Jessica Parker. She played with the Shooters until she was 12 years old, and then joined the AAU team Indiana Elite, and has played with them since then. Shields looks to her dad for advice about basketball, “I take his opinion to my heart. Everything he says I try to do my best. I feel like he knows me as a player best and I just trust everything that he says. I know he’s trying to make me a better player.” Beginning her freshman year at South was different for Shields though, “I’m used to my dad being the coach or Kayla [Hulls’] dad being the coach so I wasn’t used to Winters. He’s a lot quieter and just a lot different from the coaches that I was used to so it was kind of intimidating, especially coming in with the senior girls.” She eventually got used to Winters and his coaching has improved her game throughout the years. Unfortunately, Shields’ basketball career got put on hold during her sophomore year when she tore her meniscus (a C-shaped disc that cushions the knee) about four games into the season. She had surgery on her knee and wasn’t back playing until sectionals that year. Although she lost an entire season of playing, that didn’t stop her from coming back junior year to keep working. She practices with her team every day except for game days and Sundays. She also shoots by herself before school or after practice. As a senior, Shields has bonds on the team that have grown throughout the four years she’s played, “I feel like we’re a lot closer than usual, we love being around each other. This year we all like each other a lot, and that’ll show a lot more on the court because we’ll be more as a team.” She also has high hopes for this seasons turn out, “Everybody thinks that we’re not going to be good because we lost two of our big players from last year and I just want to prove to everybody that we’re still good. It’d be great to win sectionals and regionals and continue on after that.” As far as basketball in the future, Shields is undecided whether she’s going to play in college or not.

Senior Alexus Shields takes a free throw during a practice before the Lady Panthers’ first game against Terre Haute South.

Committed to her team, committed to the game

ALLISON WILSON

4THE OPTIMIST December 9, 2011NEWS

Emily FathFeature Editor According to a recent article in The New York Times, up to 40 percent of stu-dents who plan on obtaining degrees in sci-ence or engineering end up switching their majors, or failing to achieve their degrees at all. While this occurrence remains unex-plained, some attribute the unusually high percentage to the difficulty of the courses required for science and engineering ma-jors. Others, such as Bloomington South science teacher Kirstin Milks, believe this is a problem that can be avoided. Milks, who is teaching for her first year at South, obtained her doctorate in biochemistry from Stanford University. Though surprised by the statistic, she also has an idea of what exactly is causing the science and engineering students to drop like flies. “In college, you lose that support structure that you have in high school.” Milks recalls difficult classes, as well as lecture halls filled with hundreds of stu-dents and little to no one-on-one attention.

“People who go to college don’t always know where to look for support.” Because of this, it’s important to take advantage of all possible resources, such as tutors or study groups. Milks suggests seeking out internships in order to get an idea of what lies ahead. “If you hate it, you can move,” she explained. Senior Ian Carrico, who was previ-ously aware of the unusually high attrition

rate, plans to study either engineering at Purdue, or biology at Indiana University. When he first heard about the 40 percent statistic, he was only “a little bit” discour-aged. Carrico is not reconsidering his pos-sible majors. “They’re really applicable and the job opportunities are immense,” he said. To prepare himself for the road ahead, Carrico is currently taking a variety of AP classes and actively participating in Sci-ence Olympiad. Alex Knox, another senior at Bloom-ington South, plans to study mechanical engineering at Purdue. Knox has been in-terested in building for as long as he can re-member. As a child, he played with Legos and K’NEX, then joined the robotics team when he entered high school. Knox’s choice in major has remained entirely un-affected, despite having heard from many people that the classes are very difficult. “Even though it’s more work, it’s a good profession to go in to,” he said. Ben Breen, a Bloomington South grad-uate and sophomore at Carleton College, wants to major in either math or physics.

He has not noticed a significant difference between college and high school science classes. “Bloomington South prepares us well for our college classes…in college, there’s more lab work and it’s very inter-active.” Breen has never reconsidered his possible majors. “I’ve never felt like I was unable to do the material,” he said. Milks also recommends that students strengthen their math skills while still in high school to avoid something that she refers to as the “math panic.” “People look at numbers and their brains will go blank,” she explained. This may not necessarily be due to poor math skills, but rather a notion that science and math has to be hard, which seems to be planted in our brains during our earliest years of schooling. Milks believes that with the right mindset, proper motivation, and use of re-sources, science and engineering students will be able to pull through their difficult classes, and that the subjects themselves should not take all of the blame for the at-trition rate. “Science is fun, and work is hard,” she said.

Danielle RobertsonStaff Writer The debate over the fairness of the Scholastic Assessment Test and its weight on college admissions is becoming increas-ingly popular. In a new book, SAT Wars, written by sociologist Joseph Soares, an ar-gument is made that the test “tends to favor white, male, upper income students with the means to prepare for it.” Soares’s purpose in writing the book is to encourage colleges to look past stan-dardized test scores and put more stock into students’ high school grades. In a recent New York Times article, “A New Book Argues Against the SAT,” author Re-becca Ruiz cites information from a study examining students’ SAT data in the late 1990s. The students were broken into three socio-economic classes. The study showed 29 percent of students from the highest so-cial class scored above 1400 on the test, while the middle and lower classes lagged behind. Although the lower class students

came out on top in terms of G.P.A, SAT scores have higher influence in college ad-missions. Elliott Metzler, junior, accuses the test of being “unfair.” He believes high school grades should be more important because they “prove a student’s capability to learn, not just their aptitude to take a certain test.” Soares shares a similar stance on the topic, claiming that high school grades are the “single most powerful predictor of college performance” and that “’high SAT scores over-predict how well a student is going to do in college.’” Senior Nicole Dahlstrom, however, believes the test should be important in college admissions, but that high school grades give admissions officers a better understanding of a student because “they have four years of work to look at, and some students just aren’t good at standard-ized tests.” Math and SAT Prep teacher Kareston Hall compares taking the test to playing

a game, saying that students can beat it if they learn the right strategies. For that rea-son she believes the test isn’t an adequate representation of a student’s aptitude be-cause not all students are given equal op-portunities for learning the strategies nec-essary for beating the test.

“They have four years of work to look at, and some students just aren’t good at standardized tests”- Nicole Dahl-strom, senior Supporters of the test don’t necessarily believe in the test’s ability to fairly repre-sent everyone, they feel like the standard-ized test is serving a simple purpose: to act as a standard. Hall agrees in saying “there

needs to be something to compare students across the board.” However, nearly 900 colleges disagree with that, seeing as though they’ve made the decision to make the submission of SAT and ACT scores optional. Wake For-est University is an example of one of the schools taking the leap. Their website reads this: “If you feel that your SAT or ACT with writing scores are a good indicator of your abilities, you may submit them and they will be considered in your admissions decision. If, however, you do not feel that your scores accurately represent your aca-demic abilities, you do not need to submit them until after you have been accepted and choose to enroll.” According to Ruiz, in the past three years of eliminating the SAT as a require-ment, Wake Forest claims to see “dramatic increases in minority applicants” which in part causes “greater diversity and better students.” Science and engineering majors lose steam

Colleges’ emphasis on SAT sparks controversy

“I’ve never felt like I was unable to do the material” - Ben Breen, physics major

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DECEMBER 9, 2011 FEATURE THE OPTIMIST5

Madi TaylorPhoto Editor

Bloomington High School South stu-dents have submitted their photography to hang downtown as a part of the “Inside Out” project. In a few weeks, downtown Bloom-ington will be covered with blown up faces laughing at anyone who walks by. These blown up faces are of all different ages, religion, races, genders, and sexual orien-tations but the one thing they all have in common is laughter; a worldwide human experience. The idea of this “Inside Out” project was created in spring 2011 by a French art-ist who goes only by his initials “JR.” With the funding he was granted from winning the 2011 TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) Prize, he is welcoming others to send him portraits of diverse groups of people laughing. Once these photos are sent to him he will return the approved portraits blown up to a larger scale for the photogra-phers to hang wherever they choose. This school year, students of Stephanie Benham and Staci Jennings, fine arts, have decided to team up with JR’s Inside Out project and take photos of their own. These photos from South students will be printed onto biodegradable wheat paste and hung up this month onto the walls of businesses downtown.

PhotographySpotlight

LOGAN CAIN

REBECCA COLLINS

ALEXIS CRAWFORD

PAUL LACANIENTA

CHRISTINE KASE

For more stories and a daily photos like this, visit The Optimist online at www.BloomingtonSouth.org.

Optimist Online

6THE OPTIMIST december 9, 2011Feature

-“The history here, the work hard play hard mentality, crazy sports traditions, the city itself being so progressive and also surrounded by lakes. We call it the Wisconsin Experience.”-“An open minded liberal atmosphere, and I’m not sure there is a better place in the country in that category.”

-“The atmosphere on game days...Other schools really just don’t compare to game day on the bayou. Watching a game in Death Valley is something every person needs to experience at least once in their life.” -“For one I would have to say the women: they are absolutely beautiful down here.”

Harrison has kept busy by starting his own fraternity and getting involved with a number of clubs while

fitting in time to create Wisconsin’s school anthem video ‘Teach Me How to Bucky.’

Rosalyn Sternberg- University of California-Berkeley

Quincy Harrison- University of Wisconsin-Madison

Fell also loves the duck hunting and fishing that makes Lou-siana the ‘Sportsman’s Pardise’ but despite having the dream college experience, Garrett still admits to missing his family,

dogs and Sundays at home.

-“Berkeley has a repuation for being es-pecially liberal and radical, but it’s also a huge state school. You can find people with all kinds of political opinions.”-“I feel so lucky that I had the opportunity to experience life in a totally different part of the country after high school.”

Peter Innes- University of Denver

Garrett Fell- Lousiana State University-“Campus is less than a block away from the original Chipotle. Also, we have both the mountains and the big city nearby.”-“ I love skiing, discovering new places and people and being so high in elevation all the time.”

The mountauins, the music school and the academic quality are what Innes loves about DU. When he’s not exploreing the mountainous terrain, Innes works to improve sustainability on

campus as a part of the Environmental Team.

. . .

. . .

. . . . . .

Being in such close proximity to San Francisco is one of Sternberg’s favorite parts about Berke-

ley. Although it was difficult at first, she feels that she has adapted to the Northern California

culture.

Emily Cornwell- University of North Carolina

COURTESY PHOTOS

december 9, 2011 Feature

University of Southern Indiana

Vincennes University

Indiana University

Hanover College

University of IndianapolisButler University

IUPUI

Purdue University

Ball State University

University of Notre Dame

Indiana State University

Wabash

DePauw University

We caught up with former South students who now attend colleges across the country. We asked the alumni everything from what makes their school unique to advice for incoming freshmen.

-“The atmosphere on game days...Other schools really just don’t compare to game day on the bayou. Watching a game in Death Valley is something every person needs to experience at least once in their life.” -“For one I would have to say the women: they are absolutely beautiful down here.”

-“UNC is an internationally-known university in the small, southern town of Chapel Hill.”-“I’ve become friends with so many athletes from different teams through leadership meet-ings, community service projects and organiza-tions solely for student-athletes.”

Being a gymnast on a full-ride scholarship may have given Cornwell a slightly differ-

ent experience than a lot of freshmen but she pointed out how welcoming and happy every-

one is to be at such a great school.

Quincy Harrison- University of Wisconsin-Madison

Fell also loves the duck hunting and fishing that makes Lou-siana the ‘Sportsman’s Pardise’ but despite having the dream college experience, Garrett still admits to missing his family,

dogs and Sundays at home.

Garrett Fell- Lousiana State University

. . .

. . .

Emily Cornwell- University of North Carolina

If you’re looking to stay in state for college, we picked out some of the major colleges in Indiana.

For opinions on these schools from South alumni, check out full

interviews on our website www.bloomingtonsouth.org

Kara CieplyEmma SullivanNews Editors

7THE OPTIMIST

December 9, 2011FEATURE8 The Optimist

Down the winding back-roads on the outskirts of Bedford, a talented new musi-cian and his band were hard at work shoot-ing their latest music video, “What You’re Missin.” Country recording artist, Clayton Anderson, chose his family’s home in Bed-ford, Indiana as the backdrop for showcas-ing a single from his latest album, “Torn Jeans and Tailgates.” Family, friends and locals were all in attendance as the video was shot outdoors, complete with a roaring bonfire in the background. The music was loud, the energy was high, and the people were passionate. “I wanted to shoot the video back home because I wanted to show off where I grew up to the rest of the world. We could have picked any place to film but I wanted to portray visually exactly what I’m think-ing about when I’m singing the song,” Anderson said. Bloomington high school students and couple, Holly Cornwell and Ty Smith, were also featured in the video. “It’s a challenge to capture that innocent, high school, young love,” Anderson stated, “And I wanted to portray that in my video.” This was Clayton’s second music video produced by Winky Productions, a video production company now making a name for itself in the music and film industry. Winky Productions is co-founded by Bloomington South alumni and best friends, Ben Wolin and Xavi Sotomayor. A film and photography company based out of Bloomington, Winky specializes in everything from video production, direct-ing and editing, to commercials, event planning and web design. Famous all over campus, Wolin and Sotomayor are the masterminds behind the IU Anthem, and

YouTube sensation “This is Indiana” mu-sic video, as well as filming the Little 500 promotional video “ill 5” by Brice Fox and Daniel Weber. Winky has filmed, traveled and worked with the up and coming duo Audiodax and has made lyric videos for Wale, Gucci Mane, Waka Flocka Flame, Common and Clayton Anderson. As their popularity continues to escalate, the posi-tive feedback is becoming viral. Clients praise Winky on its professionalism, artis-tic visions, comfortable atmosphere, and its ability to relate with their client base and create an out of this world online buzz campaign. Winky has expanded out of Bloomington, and worked in various cities across the country such as Nashville, Los Angeles and Chicago, while still maintain-ing their local reputation by getting in-volved with Lotus and other Bloomington events and client base. Wolin and Sotomayor are both com-munication majors, and started making projects under the Winky name together as early as December 2009. They both got involved with Dark Hound Productions at I.U., a student-based/student-driven social network for video producers. The mis-sion of DHP is to provide and strengthen a culture of independent film projects and preserve the student based aspect of video productions as well as supplying students with the necessary equipment to pursue their passion. This type of organization, ideal for Wolin and Sotomayor, is what helped give them the platform that two guys with talent, creativity and incredible drive needed to start working together and experimenting with ideas. “We were also fortunate enough starting out to have ac-cess to equipment from my dad, a photog-raphy professor at the university,” Wolin said. From this point forward both agreed that it’s all about connections. Wolin land-ed an internship at Optimus, a big budget

commercial production company in Chi-cago last summer while Sotomayor was busy with an internship for Warner Broth-ers Records in L.A working with editing and video production. “It was the best way to gain hands on experience and make con-nections out there,” Sotomayor said. Both

had opportunities to be present for shoots and shadow editing sessions, which gave them a feel for how different companies approached production. “Once we learned the process, and worked out all the likes and dislikes of the company, it was about getting feedback and producing a stylized look for us,” Sotomayor said. Larger cor-porations sometimes tend to lose the aspect of fun, and it becomes solely about busi-ness. Winkys passion for music and what they do makes it impossible for them to ever follow in those footsteps. As Wolin said, “It came as a job second to us.” They are continuing to rise in the music industry, and expand their client base. In the words of Clayton Anderson, “They’ve got it all at Winky.”

Emma SullivanNews Editor

South alums make name for themselves in music & film industry COURTESY PHOTOS

DECEMBER 9, 2011 FEATURE THE OPTIMIST9

Carleigh Fellrides under the guidance of a trainer and the other days of the week she practices solo, working on jumping and her dres-sage tests. After riding JB, she un-tacks him, brushes him again and then cleans out his stall. When Fell is sure that JB is well taken care of, happy, and in his stall correctly, she drives home to eat dinner and work on her homework. A typical weekend for Fell is just as busy as her week. From April to early November, she competes in up to two shows a month, each lasting roughly three days. In these shows Fell and JB compete in three events: dressage, show jumping, and cross-country. She said that her favorite event is cross-country because “it’s fast paced and not knit-picky like dressage and jumping can be, it’s just you and your horse.” The pair competes in shows all across the Mid-west, mainly in Lexington, Kentucky but reaching as far south as Georgia. When it’s not show season, Fell is still out at the barn every day with JB. Occasionally she travels to Edinburgh on Saturday or Sunday to practice at the cross-country course there, which usually takes an en-tire day. “Owning a horse is a lot of work,” Fell

said, “but it allows you to develop a bond [with your horse] that you wouldn’t have with a horse that isn’t your own.” Fell dedicates a large amount of time to JB, but at the same time is able to maintain excellent grades, participate in extracur-ricular activities at South, and manage to have a little time to spend with friends and family.

Though she may not get to participate in everything a typical high school student might, this doesn’t faze

Emma KuhStaff Writer

It’s 6 a.m. on a cool Sunday morning in October and junior Carleigh Fell is arriv-ing at Up n’ Over stables, the barn where she has kept her horse of two years, JB. Even though she’s tired and cold, she has to move quickly to get JB ready for their cross-country event later. Fell then puts on JB’s tack, her own helmet and protec-tive vest and warms JB up for about 20 minutes. They’re finally ready to enter the starting gate. JB is practically danc-ing with excitement as the 10 second count down is reaching its end. After school, as most students are hurrying to get ready for practice, hang out with friends, or go home to relax, Fell is making the trip to Ellettsville to the barn. “She spends her entire day horse-back riding. She goes there right after school, even in the cold,” said junior and friend of Fell, Emma Weiler. First thing on the list is to let JB out of his stall, brush him and to “check that he doesn’t have any cuts or scrapes from when he was let out[side] earlier.” She then puts JB’s tack on and rides him for about 45 minutes to an hour. Twice a week Fell

Fell. Fell takes a deep breath and the doors of the gate open. Immediately, JB takes off into a full gallop, racing against the clock. Their goal is to complete the course, full of natural objects used as jumps and obstacles as quickly as pos-sible. One minute into the course, Fell’s watch beeps, alerting her of the time and to make sure they’ve hit their first minute marker. They have just as she planned. JB and Fell finish the rest of the course with ease and sail across the finish line in their desired time. “Moments like that,” Fell said, “are what make it all worth it.”

Day in the Life of

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Fell and JB compete in a cross-country event.

Fell leans on her horse, JB, at Up n’ Over stables in Ellettsville, Indiana.

“She spends her entire day horseback riding. She goes there right af-ter school, even in the cold.”

10THE OPTIMIST December 9, 2011Opinion

Amanda Brooks-KellyStaff Writer We laughed at Occupy Bloomington, many of us. After all, Peoples Park is hardly Gordon Gekko’s natural habitat. And Occupy Wall Street protestors receive as much media coverage for their hand signals as for their concerns. Yet then we restrain our giggles and de-clare that we cannot take seriously a move-ment without some five-point plan for America—a 9-9-9 for the liberal crowd. Both of these quibbles miss the point entirely. Occupy Wall Street, shortened as OWS, does not need an agenda or a leader. We think that it does only because we are accustomed to a political world of Astro-turf movements posing as grassroots—pseudo-populist endeavors with the central leadership to provide endless variations on that great theme, How to Fix America. Oc-cupy, conversely, was born on the sugges-

tion of a small Canadian environmentalist organization. Its popularity was not pre-meditated and that popularity alone bears more weight than any trimly-articulated roster of demands. Passion originates po-litical movements; policy formulations come later. But the rage is hardly directionless. OWS decries the top one percent of the American income bracket; and American income distribution is even more skewed than that rallying point presumes. Econo-mists such as Emmanuel Saez at the Uni-versity of California, Berkeley suggest that the true disparity exists is between the top 0.1 percent of earners and everyone else. This top bracket, with minimal yearly in-comes of $200,000, controls 23.5 percent of all wealth in the United States. Anger at such inequalities as these was long overdue. Occupy has brought them to the forefront of public discourse, because of—not despite—its unusual methods. If tents and jazz hands are what it takes, so be it.

We should salute the sincerity of their demonstrations, the unbridled and un-abashed enthusiasm that has captivated the world (OWS has spread to Europe). In these cynical times, the cheesiness is reviv-ing. And effective. Politicians from Barack Obama to John Boehner have recognized the movement’s efforts. “I understand people’s frustrations,” the House Speaker conceded, though he criti-cized OWS for lawlessness. The president was more positive: “We are on their side.” The Tea Party, to which OWS is of-ten compared, has used threats and lies to make its point—recall the claims that President Obama was not an American citizen. The violent rhetoric harks back to the American Revolution more than some liberals acknowledge—Samuel Adams’ method of choice was to tar and feather. The Civil Rights Movement is a far better counterpoint for OWS. This campaign too used tactics of questionable legality and

impeccable morality. Where OWS camps in parks, the Civil Rights Movement ate at lunch counters. Of course, OWS might not be camp-ing any longer. Municipal police have ousted the demonstrators in New York City from Zuccotti Park and offshoots across the country are losing steam as winter ap-proaches. But in Bloomington, OWS persists. On Nov. 18, demonstrators marched down Kirkwood. They chanted “Banks got bailed out, we got sold out.” And they did. According to the New York Times, Bloomington is the third-poor-est Indiana city of its size—39.9 percent of its residents live below the poverty line. Though IU students skew those numbers, too few among us acknowledge these in-equalities. Bringing attention to problems like pov-erty in Bloomington is precisely the value of OWS. It inspires a nation to do better.

NBA season resumes Ian HicksCo-Editor-In-Chief Despite a 149 day lockout and Com-missioner David Stern declaring the sea-son a “nuclear winter” in an interview with ESPN, the NBA is set to begin its season Dec. 25. But if there is anything that has been learned from the labor dispute, it is how little the NBA matters in November and December. Fall is prime sports season with the World Series, football, and college basket-ball all viableaviewing options for sports fans. As such, there is just little demand for the NBA until the conclusion of these other sports’ seasons. The NBA in general has few marquee match-ups prior to the play-offs in April, and the selfish style of play is far less entertaining than that of the college game. This year’s NBA season has been shortened to 66 games, and we are all for it. With 16 fewer games than the average year, each game will be proportionally more important. If anything, we think it should be shorter, maybe in the 50 to 55

game range, and not just this year, but every year. At six months in length, the normal NBA season is hard to follow, and only draws consistent interest from the most hardcore of fans. With a shorter sea-son, the NBA is more ac-cessible to the casual fan. The only down side to the shortened season is that there is a poten-tial for schedule inequal-ity, because teams will no longer travel to every city. However, as a whole, the NBA will be do-ing more with less this year.

Owling and PlankingStewart RickertWriting Coach Yesterday, while looking for a how to do a backflip video, I stumbled upon a video with a man perched on top of a Walgreens sign. I asked myself, “Is this some modern day Batman? Or is it just a stoned home-less man?”

It was neither. It was something infi-nitely cooler. It was someone owling. Owling is a trend sweeping the na-tion, where owlers essentially squat on any kind of tall object. And then they pretend to be an owl. It is one of the many excellent recreational activities, along with its prede-cessor, planking. Its genesis can be traced back to plank-ing, an earlier form of owling, where peo-ple would pretend to be planks in obscure areas. Planking is the more common of the

Optimist opinion shorts two; it has attracted significant amounts of media attention, most notably, a story by The New York Times entitled “Planking’s Curious Staying Pow-er.” Planking has been taken up by many well-known public figures as well, such as the Olsen Twins, Katy Perry, and Hugh Hefner. But planking isn’t all fun and games. According to The Brisbane Times, a lo-cal newspaper in Bris-

bane, Australia, a man planked to death in late May. He was planking on a seventh story balcony and fell off. Planking and owling are trends I can get behind, solely because they exist to freak people out. They are both horribly uncom-fortable and have absolutely no positive results. Other than the double takes people do when they see you. That makes it all worthwhile.

A trio of Optimist staffers spend their fifth period owling near the football field.

ABBY TOWELL

Occupy movement noble in intentions despite current struggles

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION

11THE OPTIMIST December 9, 2011Opinion

South Speaks

“Macbook Pro”-Matt Helm, Junior

“A car that’s not a Prius”-Leyla Rashid, Junior

“A chance to meet Scotty McCreery”-Jake May, Senior

“A house”-Zach Simunic, Freshman

What is your dream holiday present?

“A guitar”-Kyle McWhorter, Freshman

“A mini-fridge for my room”-Mollie Welton, Junior

“A Ford F-150”-Josie Utley, Sophomore

“A laptop”-Caitlyn Chang, Freshman

Make sure to support those who are in need this holiday season! South students can donate to Angel Tree and the Salvation Army, and can volunteer their services to many good causes around Blooming-ton. See Joel McKay in the counseling office to donate.

Quinn Sternberg

Happy Holidays!

December 9, 2011

The

O

Winter Break a week away

Two hour delays on Wednesdays

The OptimistThe Optimist is a student publication of Bloomington

High School South, 1965 S. Walnut St. Bloomington, IN 47401 (812) 330-7714, ext. 2130. It is printed at The Herald-Times in Bloomington. All letters or other submissions should be signed and brought to A125.Editors in Chief: Ian Hicks, Casey Breen, andQuinn SternbergWriting Coach: Stewart RickertNews Editor: Kara Cieply and Emma SullivanFeature Editor: Hannah Alani and Emily FathSports Editor: Allison WilsonOpinion Editor: Sarah SpencerStaff Writers: Kirby Anstead, Chris Campbell, Caitlin Couch, Madi Taylor, Max Zaret, Danielle Robertson, Alek Knapowski, Emma KuhPhoto Editor: Madi TaylorPhotographers: Mark Chandler, Kevin Cochran, Abby Towell, Casey PappAdviser: Kathleen Mills

Owling is the new planking

Kevin CochranStaff Writer

Sporting events are a great place for students to have fun and socialize with their friends, however in recent years more and more students have been found to be drinking before games. This has brought up some suspicions about the possibility of being screened for alcohol before major sporting events like football or basketball games Assisant Principal Jay True denied these rumors saying “I am not aware of any changes being discussed. But, I think that would be a great idea.” The focus of the administrators at South is cur-rently on dances with drinking and grinding.

or Fact Fiction

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Top 10 holiday songs toget everyone in the spirit.

Mark ChandlerStaff Writer

10. Kurtis Blow- Christmas Rappin’

9. Twisted Sister- I’ll Be Home For Christmas

8. The Beatles- Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree

7. Adam Sandler- The Hanukkah Song

6. Kenny Chesney- All I Want For Christmas Is A Real Good Tan

5. Reverend Run and the Christmas All-Stars- Santa Baby

4. Frank Sinatra- Let it Snow

3. Run DMC- Christmas in Hollis

2. The Supremes- White Christmas

1. Snoop Dogg- Santa Claus Goes Straight To The Ghetto

PHOTOS BY ALLISON WILSON