Inside: ♦ ♦

THE HURRICANE NATION

Editors-in-Chief: Hannah Finlayson

Shaj Mathew Lauren White

Staff Writers:

Ally Allen

Nate Dawes Liana Farnese Nisa Hussain

Kevin McGuire Brian Merewitz Aron Morgan

Stefanie Moscati Emily Mutschler Garrett O’Leary Maddy Pomilla

Roopa Srivastava

Advisor: Mr. Jim Ritter

March 2010

www.thehno.com

Huntingtown High School ♦ Huntingtown, MD

Special thanks to senior Adrienne Carroll for designing the cover and Madison Gray for the picture.

Read and comment on this paper — in color — online! Access the

Hurricane Nation Digital Edition at:

thehno.com

editors’ note It’s been awhile. Snowmaggedon, Snowpocalypse, SNOMG– whatever you want to call February’s massive two-foot snowfall– has thrown off teams, left classes behind schedule and, if you were keeping track, delayed the release of this newspaper. It’s finally arrived as a March edition that covers a diverse array of topics: Winter Olympians our age, a review of MTV’s Jer-sey Shore and its fist-pumping influence on Huntingtown, Facebook privacy setting you should change the next time you login in (aka in ten minutes), and dating advice– in comic form. We also invite you to comment on any of these article online at thehno.com or submit a letter to the editor or editorial to us at thehno@gmail.com

—Shaj and Hannah

contents 3/10

3 music for relief 4 unspoken rules of high school 5 help for haiti 6 beware the perils of facebook 7 tahoma toddler trouble 8 state dept. official visits h-town 9 advice from alumni: dorm life 10 st. ledger award 11 pete carroll 12 the way sports talk should be 13 fall of tiger 15 young olympians 16 teacher ipod shuffle: mr. ritter 17 concert calendar 18 jersey shore: it’s over 19 top 5 worst romantic movies 20 singles file 21 q and a with late nite wars 22 off the shelf

23 a tech update: ipad really? 24 apps-the good and the bad 25 sartorilaist superlatives 26 no outlet 26 formspring me? 27 review: “orestes” at folger theater 28 upcoming movies 29 popular gifts for boys 30 cartoon: dating tips 31 geography is human. geography is mumbai 32 college profile: umbc 33 photo catch 34 does taking math classes early add up?

Hurricane Nation 3

news

haiti ♦ etiquette ♦ facebook

W hile the crisis in Haiti continues, the people of America and many other countries are coming together to provide support and money. President Obama said, "The world stands with you. We know that you are a strong and resilient people. You have endured a history of slavery and struggle, of natural disaster and recovery. And through it all, your spirit has been unbroken and your faith has been unwavering. So today, you must know that help is arriving — much, much more help is on the way.” Not only are there already Facebook, Twitter, and

MySpace groups, but on January 22, 2010, George Clooney and Wy-clef Jean teamed up with MTV to host a telethon — “Hope For Haiti

Now” — to gain support and raise money for Haiti. With many artists such as Bono, Madonna, Christina Aguilera, Taylor Swift, and Sting a compilation album called Hope For Haiti Now was created. The album has yet to be re-leased in physical form, but is the #1 album in about 18 countries. A project created by the members of Linkin Park called Music for Relief is also a compilation album with artists like Linkin Park, The Dave Mathews Band, The All-American Rejects, and Lupe Fiasco. You can download the album while making a donation. As of now, the telethon has made an estimated $58 million dollars, but donations are still being accepted by phone, web, text message, and mail. Music for Relief has made an estimated $3 million dollars. Keep making your donations to help out Haiti.

Music for Relief By Stefanie Moscati

Hurricane Nation 4

Huntingtown High School is faced with a growing problem, one that may take years to fix— that is, if it can be fixed at all. There have been ever increasing reports of awkward situations, annoyances, and at times even injury due to students’ lack of comprehension of the unwritten rules. It is time that high school students remember general school etiquette, so to help, here are a few rules of thumb to ad-here to.

Unspoken Rules of High School Etiquette By Lauren White

Bathroom Etiquette Bathrooms have design flaws. The designer built the mirrors above the sinks. Share the space. Hand wash-ers duck so as not to ob-scure the view, and those fixing their hair or makeup should yield the space to the hand washers. Most importantly, don’t forget to flush. The added effort won’t hurt you. Everyone de-serves a fresh bowl. As for the ladies, throw it away in the trash can (you know what I mean, so do it). Someone has to clean that and the rest of us have to see it. Keep it clean and throw it out!

Parking Lot Etiquette No, hitting pedestrians does not amount to two points. Give them the right-of-way. And pedes-trians, be mindful of where you are walking; don’t stop to talk to friends in the middle of the roadway. We are all anxious to get away at the end of the day, but drivers, be courteous and al-low others to enter the line of traffic. One car won’t set you back that much. And, don’t stop in the middle of the stream of traffic to talk to your friends. It’s dangerous . . . and annoying.

Hallway Etiquette Walking down the hall should not be a contact sport. Treat the hallways as if you were driv-ing down a road. Keep to the right (including the right

side of the stairwell and the right door), and to avoid traffic jams, if you must con-verse with your friends, step out of the roadway. Don’t barrel blindly into the flow of traffic. If you are entering the hallway from a side classroom, yield before merg-ing. And remember, a friendly apology goes a long way to smooth over a rule in-fraction.

Hurricane Nation 5

Help for Haiti By Liana Farnese

On January 12, 2010, the small country of Haiti was struck by a massive earthquake, killing an estimated range of 50,000 to 200,000 people and destroying the capitol. The world is aware of this devastation, and is now trying its best to lend a helping hand. Many celebrities have joined forces to hold donation helpers, such as the Hope for Haiti concert held on January 22nd. There are also many websites and text services available to make donations to, such as www.unicefusa.org, or texting HAITI to 90999. But what is being done here at Hunting-town? Well so far we have been raising money through the winter sports teams. We spoke to Coach Gross about the reasons why they started taking action. He stated, “You take your life for granted until something happens to you or your family.” The basketball team here at Hunting-town traveled up to Carver High in Baltimore City to play the school’s team, they noticed that the neighborhood in the surrounding area was in a more lower class situation. This reminded Coach Gross of the situation in Haiti after the earth-quake. Then when Mr. Green, wrestling coach, called him one afternoon asking if the winter coaches would like to raise money for the Haiti Relief effort, Coach Gross thought it was a great idea. Winter sports teams including basketball, swimming, wrestling, and indoor track all con-tributed to the effort. The goal was to reach $500 to send to the Haiti Relief effort. During the pe-

riod of time the school was collecting each team would have chosen a day of the week. On this day, during lunch, the students of the chosen sports team would have a bottle and they would go around the school collecting money. Also, dur-ing basketball games and wrestling matches they had a donation jug set up for people to donate to. After the week and a half of collecting was over, Coach Green counted and packaged all the money then sent it to the American Red Cross Society. Then from there they sent it to Haiti. The sports teams got involved in this relief effort and they made difference.

Comment! Read the paper in color!

thehno.com

Hurricane Nation 6

Online social networking websites such as Facebook may be fun, popular, and a great way to procrastinate, but they also present a danger to unheeding students who post inappropriate content on them. Why? Increasing amounts of college admis-sions officers and employers are accessing Facebook groups, pro-files, and pages to vet and judge applicants. In fact, according to a US News survey, one in three col-leges are at least somewhat likely to revoke an offer of admission if an "inappropriate web posting was brought to their attention and was of sufficient severity." Seven percent of all college revo-cations were due to inappropriate web postings. “Students have to expect that if there’s anything public, it's possible that we might see it,” said Princeton University Dean of Admission Janet Rapelye to a Wall Street Journal/Unigo.com panel. “Do we have time to regularly look at Facebook pages on a regular basis? No. But if there is something that is compromising on your Facebook page, or if you have done something on the web that you aren't proud of, you should probably do everything you can to clean that up before you get in the college admissions process.”

Rapelye continued: “There have been times where…something that brought into doubt a student’s character…has negatively affected our [admissions] decision.”

The message from colleges: cool it online or you might as well rip up that acceptance letter. Seth Allen, Dean of the Grinnell College, recounted a specific incident of rescinding admission to the same panel. After getting in, student boasted of how much alcohol and drugs he would consume over the next four years at the college in a celebratory Facebook status update – prompting the school to withdraw its offer of admission. So what can you do to prevent this scenario in the future?

The privacy settings page — use it!

Beware the Perils of Facebook By Shaj Mathew

1. Don't post dumb things online. Unlike saying something aloud, what you write online may be permanently accessible to a large group of people. Even if you have a change of heart and delete a post, others may have saved it, so don’t write it in the first place.

2. Limit those who can view your profile information to "Only Friends" on Facebook. The "Everyone" setting (which is the de-fault setting) literally allows any of the ubiquitous social networking website's 350 million users to view your entire profile, leaving you ripe for potential identity theft and perhaps open to stalkers. To remove this vulnerability, mouse over the "Account" tab in the top-right corner of any Facebook page and click "Privacy Settings" from the drop-down list. On this new page, click on "Profile Information." At the very least, change the visibility of "Posts by Me" to "Only Friends," though it would be advisable to do likewise for a majority of the other categories, such as photos. Go back to the "Privacy Settings" page and do the same for "Contact Information."

3. Accept only your real friends on Facebook. Admit it, you've ac-cepted someone you hardly talk to or know in the past. Notice that admis-sions officers are not actively seeking out inappropriate postings on your profile; they will only look and take action if an inappropriate update or picture is "brought to their attention" — potentially meaning one of your Facebook "friends" told them.

4. Ensure your profile is not indexed on a search engine. From said "Privacy Settings" page, click on "Search." Unclick the "Allow" box if it is currently checked. If checked, Google and other search engines can access your public profile information and index it — meaning anyone (including bosses, principals, or deans) using a search engine could get to your profile from a search.

Hurricane Nation 7

Over the past two months, the United States and several other countries have been assisting the Caribbean country of Haiti after their overwhelmingly powerful earthquakes that have utterly devastated the nation. The Ta-homa, a medium class cutter for the United State’s Coast Guard, was on a routine patrol of Haiti when the earth-quake hit and destroyed most of Haiti’s infrastructure.

The Tahoma spearheaded the Coast Guards response to the disaster and was considered the "flagship" leading the Coast Guard's reaction to the tragedy. The victims rescued from the debris caused by the quake are picked up by small boats, brought to the cutter and then taken to other hospitals in Haiti that survived the quake. The crew is also assisting as a makeshift clinic on board the vessel.

Several days after the disaster had occurred, the Tahoma, which was being used as a floating medi-cal station, witnessed the birth of a Haitian baby on its very own flight deck.

It is commonly known that American embas-sies which are located in other nations are considered to be American soil, and if a child is born on American soil, then it is thought to be an American citizen. So the question arises whether or not the baby born on the flight deck of the Tahoma is an American citizen. However, the boundaries remain unclear on whether US ships are considered territory/property of the United States or not. Either way, the idea that life con-tinues to blossom despite a catastrophe stricken coun-try filled with sorrow, shows hope for the devastated nation of Haiti.

Tahoma Toddler Trouble By Nate Dawes

The USS Tahoma while docked

Hurricane Nation 8

H ow do you fight an enemy that is willing to die to inflict more harm upon you? The audience, some 50 students in Global ICONS classes during seventh period, stood silent. They didn’t know the answer. But it was okay, for the man who asked the question didn’t know either. The thin man standing at the front of the room was Edward Alden, a member of the Council of Foreign Relations, an organiza-tion that analyzes and

debates foreign policy issues such as this one every day. The United Nations Association of Huntingtown High invited Alden to speak about the Obama administration’s approach to fighting terrorism on January 20th as a part of its ongoing guest lecture series. “He gave an interesting take from a non-American perspective on both the Bush and Obama policies to curb terrorist threats,” said ICONS and AP US History teacher Mr. James. Alden did not disappoint students either. “He is one of many prestigious speakers we have been proud to host during our series,” said Kyle Hutzler, co-founder United Nations Association. “I think we all benefited from his journalistic perspective and definitely appreciated his approachability.” Alden provided an astute, insightful, and, at times, eloquent take on the Obama administration's han-dling of al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups, emphasizing the omnipresent threat they pose to America's safety. Tasked with outlining the Obama administration’s approach to combating terrorism, Alden inevitably made comparisons to his predecessor President Bush. Alden described the former's policy as more retaliatory while the latter's as more calm and rational, quickly differentiating between their decision-making styles with respect to terrorism. He also noted the broader shift in American defense doctrine. Thanks to the advent of predator drones, among other things, the US now fights a proactive war in an effort to keep terrorist groups from estab-lishing a foothold in any nation (such as Afghanistan in the run up to 9/11). Alden pointed out a potential downside of this policy though, noting that it risked stretching America's troops too far, given the sheer num-ber of military theatres involved: Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and now Yemen. Alden’s talk, lasting roughly 25 minutes before a question and answer session with students, also touched on the recent plans to implement full body scanners at airports – and raised the question of how much privacy Americans should sacrifice for safety. The subject of the recent failed Christmas Day airplane bombing, in which plane passengers thwarted a Nigerian terrorist's plan to detonate a bomb planted in his underwear, came up during the talk as well. Though the bomber made it on the plane, Alden called the event a near miss – “not a massive failure” – and hailed US defense agencies for sharing intelligence and speedily arresting the bomber after the plane alighted in Detroit. Alden is also the author of the book The Closing of the American Border, inspired by the story of a re-nowned Pakistani heart surgeon whose return to America was prevented by a post-9/11 crackdown on visas issued to citizens of Muslim countries. Prior to his post at the Council of Foreign Relations, he served as Washington bureau chief of the eminent Financial Times newspaper. Resolved to fulfill his duties as a re-porter, Alden remembered being the “only person on the Metro, aside from the driver” going into Washington, D.C. on 9/11.

State Dept. Official Visits Huntingtown

Edward Alden speaks to an ICONS class at the end of the day on foreign policy issues.

By Shaj Mathew

Hurricane Nation 9

Advice from Alumni: Dorm Life By Brian Merewitz

Every issue of The Hurricane Nation features a column of advice from Huntingtown alumni regarding an ar-ray of topics dealing with college. This issue will feature Virginia Tech sophomore Nick Skalamera and Asbury Uni-versity (Kentucky) sophomore Joe Finlayson. One of, if not the, biggest change from high school to college is living in a dorm. Dorms provide a great opportunity to make friends and enhance your experience, but here’s what Nick and Joe have to say:

1. Do you still live in a dorm? How long did/have you lived in a dorm?

NS: No I only lived in the dorm my freshman year. JF: I have been living in a Dorm since my freshman year with the same roommate so I guess that's 4 semesters now. 2. What’s your favorite part of dorm life? NS: Meeting all of the people on the hall and not having to go anywhere to hang out with everyone. JF: My favorite part of living in a dorm is the crazy shenanigans we get ourselves into. Let me paint a picture of what life is like at Asbury College so you can understand the situation better. We have what they call "community hour" but it really is a curfew. We have to be back to the dorms by 11 every night and as a sophomore we get two extensions a week which lets us stay out until 1. Girls aren't allowed except for once a month, so suffice it to say that once 11 rolls around 200 guys in one building can get pretty crazy especially on the hall I live on, dubbed the Zoo. We host such events as highlighter raves. did you know that all colors of highlighter glow under black light? Naked Tuesday, where you can only wear a sock, Buffalo runs happen around 3 in the morning along the lines of Naked Tuesday for clothing, but its just a hall running down another hall yelling at the top of their lungs pounding on some doors. Pranks used to be common place, but our new RD is a jerk and gets us all in trouble when we do pranks ='( 3: What’s the down-side of dorm life? NS: Being in such a confined space with another person and not having as much room to spread all of your belongings out. JF: You have very little freedom sometimes to do what you want to do. Sometimes your roommate will have a paper due tomorrow while you're trying to get some sleep for that exam at 8. Small things like that. 4. Based on your experience or friends, what are the pros and cons of living in an apartment? NS: Pros: more room, more privacy, less noise, pick your roommates…overall, better environment Cons: Other than being off campus and having to drive to campus for class/meetings, I don’t see any bad part of living in an apartment.

JF: Pros, you don't have to eat in the Cafeteria, and you have a little more personal space. Cons are you're pretty much separated from campus, which kind of sucks commuting and you miss out on a ton of crazy dorm events.

5. Did you live with a friend or random student? NS: Friend : Andrew Merewitz JF: He was a random student but he's my buddy now. We get along well. 6. What’s your advice on getting along with a roommate? NS: I would just be yourself. Most likely everyone gets along fine with no problem. JF: Make sure you have time for yourself. It can get annoying having someone else around too much of the time. 7. Do you have any advice for seniors on dorm life next year? NS: Enjoy high school while you are in it. Try and get involved in intramural sports with friends and be social. Don’t just sit in your room all day. But have fun, college is great. JF: Stay out of the bathroom on Taco Tuesday. Cheers.

Nick Skalamera and Joe Finlayson discuss life in a dorm room like the one above

Hurricane Nation 10

sports pete carroll ♦ tiger ♦ olympians

The St. Ledger Award was created by Will St. Ledger in 2005, passed to Shannon St. Ledger in 2007, but with the lack of another St. Ledger, I have been granted the privilege of writing this col-umn.

The St. Ledger Award is given to an outstanding ath-lete in every issue of the Hurri-cane Nation. This athlete should be a male or female that highly demonstrates athletic and academic excellence throughout the course of each issue. This issue’s winner of the St. Ledger Award is none other than sophomore Chloe Fitzger-ald.

Chloe has certainly made an impact in just under two years. She plays sports year-round, but also manages to keep her academics up to par. Sophomores only typically have one opportunity to take an advanced placement class, but Chloe jumped all over it. She is enrolled in AP United States History.

After school ends, Chloe excels even more. The majority of sophomores play JV sports, but not Chloe. She has three varsity letters already and will get two more this year! Five letters in two years—not bad! After school in the fall, the field hockey field takes up

her time. In winter, she is an indoor track athlete. When March rolls around, she turns into a softball player. Yes, as only a sophomore, she has spent one year on varsity field hockey, is finishing up her

second year on varsity indoor track, and plans to play her second year of varsity softball this year. While most people spend two years on junior varsity, Chloe has spent four of her five athletic seasons on var-sity, and still has over half of her high school career remaining. In school, Chloe is stellar as well. On the second quarter of this year, she received only one B and the remainder A’s. As mentioned above, she also took advantage of her first AP opportunity by taking AP US History. She will certainly continue taking AP courses in the next two years and maintain her excellent GPA. Believe it or not, Chloe Fitzgerald does get some free time as well and she just enjoys spending it with friends. Some people might consider Chloe crazy for doing all of this, but she says “juggling and staying up late for homework” make it possible. When I asked her what motivates her to keep playing sports even though it takes up so much free time, she said “I just enjoy doing it.”

Sophomore Chloe Fitzgerald is a excels in the classroom, on the field, and on the track

St. Ledger Award

By Brian Merewitz

Hurricane Nation 11

W as it Jim Mora's time to be fired as the coach of the Seattle Sea-

hawks? Yes, he only had one season - that had five wins, but is he really to blame? Re-gardless, he's out as the coach; enter Pete Carroll. Carroll was phenomenal at USC and only de-cent as an NFL head coach. However, Carroll has only had one NFL season below .500, ever, his first season as a head coach. It was his first year as a head coach, where he coached a miserly New York Jets team to a 6-10 record. Now that Carroll has returned to the NFL, things look better for him than before. Here's the rundown on why Pete Carroll can (and will) succeed: Matt Hasselbeck: Hasselbeck is reaching the later stages of his career at 34 years old, but he will be solid (disregard any potential injury) for another few years. Carroll needs to draft a quarterback to be an understudy to Hasselbeck, a great mentor. Anyone else see Matt Barkley drafted in a few years? Carroll needs to find a quarterback he can nurture into an NFL icon. Draft: The Seahawks have two first round picks this year, 6th and 14th. There will be

many talented players available in those ar-eas. Carroll could choose a quarterback, or fill any other position that Seattle has troubles in such as their line or safety. The Seahawks may not necessarily draft on what they need, but rather what is available. Regardless, Seattle should stock up in the draft. Cynicism: Can Seattle get much worse? In a terrible division, there's not much room to fall further, only way to go is up. The 12th Man: It never hurts playing at home in Seattle. With a fierce defense and the crowd behind them, the Seahawks have the potential to as feared at home as the Patriots. But again, this is all the "potential" for Pete Carroll. He could end up like Jim Mora, who only had one below .500 season before coaching in Seattle. However, I think the man-agement will be far more patient with a name like Pete Carroll, provided he wins at least five games. In a few seasons, once Carroll estab-

Pete Carroll By Garrett O’Leary

Pete Carroll, former USC head coach

Hurricane Nation 12

The Way Sports Talk Should Be: Professional Athletes in Olympics? By Brian Merewitz

A s the 2010 Vancouver Olympics arrive, the question comes up as to whether or

not NHL or NBA players should be allowed to par-ticipate in the Olympics. This brings up another debate as to whether the Olympics is supposed to feature the world’s best athletes. In 1989, NBA players were allowed to participate in the summer Olympics followed by the NHL in 1998’s winter Olympics. Should they be allowed to? Whether these players participating raises interest in the Olympics is a whole different debate. In my opinion, people will watch the Olympics re-gardless. As a matter of fact, it might even be more exciting. Things like the Miracle on Ice will never happen again. That team consisted of mostly collegiate hockey players that practiced together for months for this event. Now, NHL players play for their respective NHL club and don’t really get together until time for the Olym-pics. Therefore, the build-up for this event isn’t quite what it could be. Players don’t play together long enough to form a true team and it is questionable whether or not they truly care. Sure it’s an honor to be in the Olympics and players like to play, but they know that they have pro teams to go back to and don’t have anything to prove. Rather than having amateur athletes get together as a team in world-wide spotlight, professionals get together for a few days to compete. After all, though, Olympics are supposed to spotlight the world’s best athletes. Based on that, the Olym-pics would have to feature professional athletes. Also, the Olympics are an honor. Is it right to deny people this honor because they are good enough to be pros? One thing that came up in a discussion with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman was if athletes would forgo an opportunity to play professional hockey in order to play in the Olym-

pics. While that seems unlikely, if the Olympics wants the best athletes, it may need the pros. The NHL is not committed to participate after the 2010 Van-couver Olympics and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman isn’t sure if they’ll be allowed to play after this year. Currently, the NHL takes a two week break in February to allow players to play, but the league does not have an All-Star game in Olympic years. The NBA is in the offsea-son already when the summer Olympics occur, but the players could still suffer injuries affecting their NBA careers. Some also claim that team owners should have the right to deny their “employees” from playing in the Olympics. Say an owner pays millions of dollars to a player who leads their team to success and creates large revenues for the franchise, then this player goes and injures themselves in the Olympics. Should the owner be able to save his franchise by not risking their player’s health in the Olympics? If the Olympics want to continue having underdog stories, miracles, and groups of athletes full of heart, they are better off without professional athletes. If they want the best athletes in the world, let them play.

Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Sports (2/12-2/28) Alpine Skiing Biathlon Bobsleigh Cross-Country Skiing Curling Figure Skating Freestyle Skiing Ice Hockey Luge Nordic Combined Short Track Skeleton Ski Jumping Snowboard Speed Skating

Does allowing professional athletes to play in the Olympics pre-vent another Miracle on Ice?

Hurricane Nation 13

T he Great Eldrick "Tiger" Woods, the richest athlete in the history of history. Tiger became the first bil-lionaire in sports not too long ago, thanks to winning essen-tially everything and countless endorsements. However, he has recently been in the news for some less desirable rea-

sons. First Woods crashed his SUV, ok no big deal, wrecks happen – but not a few hundred yards from your multi-million dollar estate. Wait… that's not the whole story. The rest may be left to various as-sumptions, but Tiger didn't just wreck his SUV. Wood’s back wind-shield was smashed in by his wife, Elin Nordegren, using a golf club. She claims she did it in order to get him out of the vehicle… and subse-quently left him lying in the street. I may be a bit skeptical, but I'm sure many will agree, Tiger isn't the flawless, admirable character we all thought he was. Then again, what ever made us think he was that infallible icon? Was it the various endorsements that painted the picture of an American idol? I'm not saying Tiger is a terrible person, he hasn't killed anyone (O.J.) and hasn't violated the law, that we know of. Yes, what he did was immoral on multiple levels, but he is human, believe it or not. Regardless, Tiger may have just taken one of the largest falls in sports history, amidst allegations of cheating on his wife with over a dozen other women. Not only that, but behind his SUV crash were the allegations of a falling out with his wife, maybe that had something to do with the smashed back windshield. Something's wrong with that. Tiger was on top of the world, and now he is far from that. I know you've all heard all the speculations and made plenty of jokes, but Tiger Woods will come back to golf, no one knows when, but when he does it will be something special. On a side note, in light of recent events in Haiti, Woods has donated three million dollars in the recovery effort, a very charitable act. Yet, this can not overshadow what has transpired in the last half year, Tiger has fallen further then anyone thought imaginable, but when he returns, watch out.

Fall of the Tiger By Garrett O’Leary

Tiger Woods at his recent o press con-ference. Was his apology sincere?

Brett Favre, Now What? By Garrett O’Leary

With the Vikings losing to the Saints in the NFC Championship game, Brett Favre is faced with another problem: to retire (again) or not. Favre has already un-retired twice and switched teams the same amount of times, but he still has another year on his contract in Minnesota. Brett Favre has stated that a return next year is “highly unlikely” according to ESPN’s Ed Werder. Yet, can we really believe that – again? When Brett Favre says he is “retired” it means next to nothing. It’s similar to the boy who cried wolf, but the man who said he’s retired. So what will become of the arguably greatest quarterback in history? Will he retire yet again or will he return and play the final year of his contract? As for as I can tell he will return. Yes, he said it was unlikely that he would re-turn, but he didn’t say retire and given that when he says he’s retired it means nothing, this means just as much. Favre has that second year on his contract remaining, and coming so close to another shot in the Super Bowl will resonate in his mind all summer. I doubt he can end such an astonishing career by throwing an interception which should’ve never happened, essentially ruining his shot at another Super Bowl. That game, and last season, will be like a bad itch on him all spring and into summer. We probably won’t know his decision until August though, as usual. Then again, it was his most productive season statistically, ever. Favre has one ring, but we all know why he came back, not to pad his insurmountable stats, but to have a shot at adding a second ring. Given that information I only see one conclusion: Favre will be back.

Favre in tears during his first retirement two years ago

Hurricane Nation 14

FIND OUT WHO YOUR PERFECT

MATCH IS!

Find out your results out-side of the cafeteria !

ONLY $5! Results coming soon

YOU TOOK THE TEST!

Hurricane Nation 15

Young Olympians By Maddy Pomilla

Shaun White, 23 burst on to the snowboarding scene at the 2006 winter Olympics, when he was only 19. This young athlete holds the record for the highest score in the men’s half pipe. His medal count for both the X-

The 2010 Olympics is J.R. Celski’s first Olym-pics! This 19 year old, Salt Lake City native, sustained a serious in-jury at the Olympic trials in September. A fall on the ice causing his skate to slice a 7 inch cut into his leg almost jeopard-ized his chance at the games. However,

months of determination and hard work

Hannah Teter, 23, has two Olympic medals in the women’s snowboard-ing halfpipe; a gold from the 2006Olpympics in Torino, and a silver from

Bryon Wilson, 21, an Amer-ica Freestyle skier, learned his craft of freestyle tricks when he was young by mix-ing his love of gymnastics and skiing into one sport.

Rachael Flatt, 17, has yet to won her first Olympic medal, but this girl is said to be the future of fig-ure skating. Her consistency and passion while performing makes it impossible not to notice her.

Hurricane Nation 16

style

concerts ♦ jersey shore ♦ iPad

Song: Clone High Theme Artist: Abandoned Pools Album: Clone High “Clone High is the second best show Bill Lawrence ever made. Scrubs is the first.” Song: We’re the Replacements Artist: They Might be Giants Album: Dial-a-Song: 20 Years of They Might be Giants “They Might Be Giants are the coolest, yo.”

Song: The First Cut is the Deepest Artist: Cat Stevens Album: Gold (Disc 1) “No Sheryl Crow allowed on my iPod. Yusuf Islam fo’ life!”

Teacher iPod Shuffle: Mr. Ritter Hurricane Nation asks a teacher to put his iPod on “shuffle”, and comment on the first few tracks that come up. No skipping embarrassing tracks allowed, so the student will not be able to filter their music library. Huntingtown High school gets an exclusive look into the unhindered musical library of a teacher.

Name: Jimmy Ritter Grade: 10th grade teacher Age: 23ish

By Hannah Finlayson

“I think it would be difficult to get an accurate idea of my musical taste by looking at my iPod. It’s really eclectic and I have a lot of songs for purely ironic reasons.””

Song: The Privateers Artist: Andrew Bird Album: Nobel Beast “No one can whistle as hauntingly as Andrew Bird. I don't know if he whistles in this song but he does in every other one.”

Song: I’m a Cuckoo Artist: Belle and Sebastian Album: Dear Catastrophe Waitress “I’m really building up my indie cred here.” Song: Idiot Wind Artist: Bob Dylan Album: Blood on the Tracks “I’m not half as cool as this article makes me seem. I feel like if you saw all the other stuff on my iPod, it would totally cancel out Bob Dylan’s cool-ness.”

Song: The Blues Song Artist: The Dead Milkman Album: Death Rides a Pale Cow “I honestly haven't listened to this song in years. I actually forgot I had it on here. I think I’ve outgrown the dead milkmen.”

Hurricane Nation 17

3.3.10—Cash Cash w/ Shawn Fisher, Streetlight Silhou-ette, Victory By Revenge @ Jammin’ Java.

3.4.10—Copeland (Farewell tour!) w/ I Can Make A

Mess Like Nobody’s Business, Person L, Deas Vail @ Recher Theatre.

3.5.10—Chase Coy @ Jammin’ Java.

3.6.10—Saosin w/ Maylene & The Sons of Disaster, Before Their Eyes, Storm the Beaches @ the Ottobar.

3.8.10—Jonny Craig (of Emarosa) w/ Tides of Man,

Romance on a Rocketship, Eye Alaska @ Jammin’ Java.

3.10.10—The Red Chord w/ My Children My Bride, Goatwhore, Chelsea Grin, Those Who Lie Beneath @

Sonar.

3.11.10—Jarrod Gorbel (The Honorary Title) @ Jam-min’ Java.

3.16.10—The Ataris w/ Don’t Panic & more TBA @ the

Ottobar.

3.26.10—The Hint & more TBA @ Jammin’ Java.

3.27.10—HIM w/ We Are the Fallen, Dommin, Drive A @ Sonar.

3.29.10—Dillinger Escape Plan w/ Darkest Hour, Iwres-

tledabearonce, Animals As Leaders @ the Ottobar.

3.31.10—Attack Attack! w/ Breathe Carolina, I See Stars, Asking Alexandria, Bury Tomorrow @ Ottobar.

4.3.10—Vampire Weekend @ DAR Constitution Hall.

4.5.10—Machester Orchestra w/ The Features, Biffy

Clyro, O’ Brother @ Recher Theatre.

4.6.10—A Day To Remember w/ August Burns Red, Silverstein, Enter Shikari, Veara @ Sonar.

4.10.10—Hotspur w/ The Dangerous Summer, Victory

By Revenge & more TBA @ Ram’s Head Live.

4.11.10—I Saw A Ghost w/ The Kindness of Strangers, Lakeview, New Castle, A Sense of Urgency, Freqontrol

@ Jammin’ Java.

4.22.10—Owl City @ DAR Constitution Hall.

4.22.10—Envy on the Coast w/ The Fall of Troy, Twin Atlantic @ the Ottobar.

4.24.10—Alexisonfire w/ Trash Talk, La Dispute,

Therefore I Am @ the Ottobar.

4.26.10—Sky Eats Airplane & Drop Dead, Gorgeous w/ Motionless in White, Atilla, Sleeping With Sirens @ the

Ottobar.

4.30.10—Bleeding Through w/ Born of Osiris, Sleeping Giant, Oceano, Stray From the Path, Legend @ Sonar.

Concert Calendar By Stefanie Moscati

Tickets available at: missiontix.com jamminjava.com 930.com rechertheatre.com dar.org sonarbaltimore.com theottobar.com

Copeland Jonny Craig

Jarrod Gorbel Silverstein Vampire Weekend

Cash Cash

Hurricane Nation 18

I ’s safe to say that “Jersey Shore,”

possibly the most indul-gent show on television this past year, will not be forgotten. The season may be over but the sounds of their cursing and their rowdy fights and DJ Pauly D’s beats are still fresh in our minds. Prior to the pre-miere of the MTV show in December, “Jersey Shore” seemed like just another ticket to watch a group of trashy kids live together. And while it did turn out to be just that, the fist pumping champs set themselves apart from the “Real World.” It became the most talked about and probably most popular show on the MTV channel. What is this show that started such a phenomenon? Why has everybody gone crazy for this one cliché show? Sophomore Rachel Land, an avid Shore follower sums it up, saying, “When you put a bunch of similar people [Guido's], boys with nice bodies and girls with lot’s of makeup, in one household, it makes for a raging party.” Here’s the low-down. Set in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, “Jersey Shore” features eight young people of Italian descent with stupid nicknames and grossly orange fake tans who live in the same house, work at a boardwalk shop, and party it up. The four girls, JWoww, Sammi “Sweetheart”, Angelina, and, of course, Snooki, all cat-fight like there’s no tomorrow. The four guys: Vinny, Ronnie, Pauly D, and Mike “The Situation”, all religiously go through their daily routine of GTL: gym, tanning beds, laundry (well, except for Vinny). In a typical episode, all they really do is party and perfect their ideal “Guido” appearance. It’s easy to hate the show. One scene can pro-vide several valid reasons to. It’s stupid, it’s trashy, it’s disgusting to watch people with limited amount of cloth-ing on, and the list goes on. “It’s such a horrible horrible show that should never be shown,” declared senior Shawn Spafford. Then why do so many other people love the show? If you see the number of fights JWoww has insti-gated or the sacred six-pack the Situation flaunts, it’s hard not to watch. And it’s also pretty (unintentionally) hilarious. Everybody loves watching people humiliate themselves on television and these guys do it brilliantly. They obviously over exaggerate their idiocy and “Guido”

stereotype, “embracing” their ethnicity. That’s why. That is the main controversy of the show. Their proud and frequent use of the traditionally degrading words “Guido and Guidette” to describe middle-class Italian-Americans has sparked the anger of the National Italian American Foundation and other Italian groups. The organization criticizes the show for its inaccurate portrayal of Italian-Americans. Other critics and parents believe the show is a negative influence on young people. It’s a scandalous show, but frankly it’s too absurd to even influence the dimmest of kids—at least I hope so. They watch it because it makes them laugh, not because they aspire to be like Snooki. Rachel Land shrugs it off, saying, “My mom watches it with me.” Though the show doesn’t influence behavior of kids, it did inspire a trademark dance. In fact, our very own Huntingtown High Fist Pumping Team developed on Facebook recently. Created by Dakota Fears, Scott Shepherd, and Andrew Rosnick, the group’s near 200 members show just how many people adore the show (and its signature dance move). As the show stops for now, some will pray for a permanent end to this nonsense. Others will hope this entertaining gang returns for another season of the Shore to promote their obnoxious behavior—Guido-style, just for the sake of their loyal fans. “The season may be over, but the fist pumping never stops,” said Ra-chel Land.

JERSEY SHORE: IT’S OVER By Nisa Hussain

The cast flaunts their beloved fist pump. From left, Mike “The Situation”, Jenni “J-WOW”, DJ Pauly D, Sammi “Sweetheart”, Ronnie, Nicole “Snookie”, Angelina, Vinny.

Hurricane Nation 19

Top 5 WORST Romantic Movies Oh The Notebook. So much aw-ful romance in such a long, never-ending movie. Maybe it was because I saw it so late. Or that I saw it right after seeing an actually good movie: Moulin Rouge. Or maybe it was because this really was one of the worst romances ever. Besides contain-ing every bad romantic movie cliché, The Notebook now pro-vides teenage girls an excuse to cry and eat ice cream while dreaming that one day they will get Alzheimer’s that will be magically cured by their hus-

band. It also is a great movie for guys who want to seem sensitive say they like. “I mean, I’m a man, but I’ll be honest and don't you make fun of me: I LOVE The Note-book.” Do you really? Or do you just want to score?

I’ll be honest I am a huge Katherine Heigl fan. I am such a fan that I sat through the entire 111 minutes waiting for 27 Dresses to improve. De-nied. Not the Heigl is disappointing, it’s just there is only so much one person can do with a film that

has a terrible script, an amateur director, and sub-par cast mates. To its credit: this film does not pretend to be the greatest movie ever made. It is light-hearted, but really not worth the time of watching it. Besides being exceptionally predictable, it also has some of the worst act-ing of all time.

John Cusack, in his youth, gave us such romantic mov-ies as The Sure Thing and Say Anything. That’s why I watched Must Love Dogs, despite the disappointment that the trailer seemed to promise. Should’ve listened to the trailer, which prom-ised a bad romance in the 30 second time frame. What I could take from this movie was that if you haven't found that special someone in your 20’s to early 30’s, then your love life will be centered around the pets in

your life. To find your soul mate, just look to your dog for guidance.

There really isn’t even that much to pick on Made of Honor for. Just the fact that it is completely a rip off of every wedding movie ever made. Pro : you get to look at Patrick Dempsey. Con: this is not his best acting and he fails to pull off the char-acter. There’s really not a reason to see this movie; rather, see the original movie with this story line: My Best Friend’s Wed-ding.

With a tagline advertising a director who hasn't made a good movie since the 80’s, I am preemptively predict-ing this to be one of the worst romantic movies. There seems to be no plot line; it’s more about how many famous people could be crammed into one film. The poster cover makes the movie seem just like He’s Just Not That Into You, which wasn't a great movie in the first place. I person-ally don't know why an en-tire movie could be made about Valentine’s Day, be-cause really, who cares? I predict this movie will cre-ate so much more drama over a day of relative unim-portance.

By Hannah Finlayson

Hurricane Nation 20

Artist: Kesha Album: Animals Song: “Tik Tok” Prior to coming out with this first album, Kesha featured in Flo Rida’s hit “Right Round.” The difference is that in “Right Round” she actually sang her part, even if it was just a few lines, but in “Tik Tok” she talks throughout the whole song. This is how her songs are through out the whole album (see: “Blah Blah Blah”), catchy background music and lyrics which don’t make sense and no genuine singing. This song is ideal for parties, when you are paying more attention to dancing to the beat and having fun than what the singer is actually saying.

Artist: OK Go Album: Of The Blue Colour of The Sky Song: “WTF” Everyone knows OK Go from its famous treadmill music video for their single in their last album “Here It Goes Again,” but could the band top their last album? In their single “WTF,” the falsetto voice of Damian Kulash makes the band’s case, adding an unlikely mel-ody to the rocky background music. He hits the right notes and adds his normal voice at the right time. The over all song give off the very mellow vibe that puts your surroundings at ease. This song is perfect for when you’re just hanging out.

Artist: Vampire Weekend Album: Contra Song: “Cousins” Intellectual hipster-band Vampire Weekend has come out with “Cousins,” a single with incredibly unique lyrics, uncommon guitar licks, and jarring booms from the snare drum. At first it doesn’t seem like any of the music goes together, but further into the song, the mu-sic and the lyrics illustrate what the song really is: two minutes and twenty-five seconds of pure bliss that make you want to dance around and enjoy everything around you. Or at least put a smile on your face. Lacking the band’s trademark Afro-pop rhythm, “Cousins” gets stuck in your head after the first time you hear it, reason enough to listen to rest of the album.

SINGLES FILE By Roopa Srivastava

Hurricane Nation 21

Q & A with Late Nite Wars

Q:Growing up, did you always know you wanted to be in a band? A: Q:What was your high school experience like? A: Q:Were you in any bands in high school? A: Q:Who were your influences growing up? Today? A:

Q:What’s the hardest part about touring? A: Q:What’s the best part about touring? A:

Q:Is there anything fans can to do help promote you guys? A: Late Nite Wars released its new 7” vinyl record, “Every Other Saturday,” on February 12. The band also plans to record a new EP in March and to tour the U.S. in May. It’s members are Aaron Bernard, Kevin Quinn, Erik Lipson, and John Hadely.

Making its brief TV debut on “The Real World: Cancun,” the Massachusetts band Late Nite Wars has been trying to get its name out anyway possible. From Stickcam to Twitter, Late Nite Wars has taken strides to spread its music via the worldwide web. But where did this pop-punk band start? Who were they in high school? What is their new life like? I conducted an online interview with members Erik Lipson (Guitar/Vocals) and Aaron Bernard (Bass) to find out the answers.

By Roopa Srivastava

Erik: Pretty much. My older friends played in bands and I was jealous, so I decided to start to learn an instrument.

Aaron: In my younger years I thought about being a pro wrestler. After that phase I wanted to play music.

Erik: Typical. Most of my friends were in the grades above me so when they graduated school started to get much lamer.

Aaron: It was fun. I think I spent most of my time in the media lab recording raps and making stupid videos.

Erik: Yup, I was in another pop punk band called 'Down the Stretch!' from 2002-'03. We played a fair amount of shows but came to a demise once other members had to go to college.

Aaron: Yeah there were a few bands. At some point I was in a band with Joey called Dead Rot-ting Corpses Found On Merrimack Valley Street Hardcore. I was also in an experimental rock 3 piece band, then a "hardcore" band, a grindcore band called The Intelligible Speaker Phone Pro-ject and the last was a pop punkish band called Ambry. High School was a fun time for music.

Erik: Back then, I was a part of a very popular sub culture that idolized Blink182. Dickies shorts, Hur-ley Shirts, socks pulled up — kind of ridiculous... I bet that creeped them all out, having their fans dress like them. Today my biggest influences are my friends.

Aaron: Growing up I looked up to a lot of older bands like The Kinks and The Police..I didn't get into the pulled up socks thing. Nowadays it's friends who influence me.

Aaron: I'd say the hardest part of touring is... when you’re on the highway in Florida and you get caught in one of those random flash rains while everyone is yelling because they think that the van is on fire and your almost hydroplaning off a bridge... Staying Alive.

Erik: Seeing new places, meeting new people, hanging with old friends, and playing music in a new town every night!

Erik: Tell all their friends, post on message-boards, pass out flyers at shows.. burn some of our songs to a CD and pass it along. word of mouth is huge. Aaron: What Erik said. We appreciate any and all help.

Hurricane Nation 22

Off the Shelf By Lauren White

Looking for a good book but tired of “Beowulf?” Hurricane Nation has your answer with more recent reads that are a little bit out of the ordinary.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Barrows Don’t let the name turn you away. This novel is a fantastic literary find. Told entirely through letters back and forth between the characters, it is the story of a young author who by chance meets the members of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and falls in love with all of the stories that have to share with her about World War II. Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Barrows beautifully craft their characters in a way that you wish you were acquainted with them in reality. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a novel that will engross you from start to finish.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen This is an historical fiction novel of a young man who is thrown into the brutal turmoil of a circus during the 1930s as well as the captivating whirlwind of a forbidden romance. This novel provides great insight into the inner workings of circus life as well as human nature in general. Between a money-crazed ringmaster and maniacal animal trainer, not to mention a charismatic ele-phant, Water for Elephants is full of twists and excitement that will keep you reading again and again.

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown Robert Langdon returns from The DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons in Dan Brown’s latest adventure novel The Lost Symbol. Famous symbolist, Robert Langdon, embarks on journey to save one of his dearest friends that will contradict the very foundation of his beliefs. What if science could be used to explain religion? And what if someone wanted to use that informa-tion for destruction? Dan Brown stuns us again with this fun, exciting read.

Hurricane Nation 23

A Tech Update: iPad, Really? By Kevin McGuire

A pple has introduced the newest, and possibly

the most revolutionary tablet product on the market today: an oversize iPod Touch. Seriously, that’s all the iPad is. The tablet doesn't even have Mac capabilities, or even a word processor, which is what I was expecting. The iPad was supposed to be a ultra-thin, ultra-fast tablet computer that was to bring back the near-dead tablet PC industry. Instead, the iPad has zero Mac capabilities, and the only slightly cool addition to this tablet is the AT&T 3G capability, which comes with no-contract internet access, meaning you can cut off the 3G network any time. The other model of the iPad has just the regular Wi-Fi connectivity, which (guess what!) is exactly like the iPod Touch. The

iPad has a microphone and speaker, and—guess what— there’s and app to make calls! Sound familiar? Even the cases available for the iPad are dorky. There’s a case that flips over to angle the iPad to allow for better typing, and one case has room for a notepad. But isn’t this supposed to replace the note— The iPad seems to be really the product of Apple’s “Weve got nothing” department. The best use I can find for the iPad? Affluent Apple fans can place the

$499 version on a mantle to display the most useless piece of equipment in Apple’s history. If, for whatever reason you still want to order an iPad, it will be available for purchase in April at apple.com. The iPad’s Wi-Fi version ships in late March and the 3G version launches in April.

The best that Apple can advertise the iPad is a revolutionary thin tablet. Otherwise, the iPad is just an oversize iPod Touch with a microphone.

Calvert School of Dance Excellence in Dance Education

Beginner to Advanced Training Professional Training in Classical ,Ballet, Tap Jazz, Hip Hop, Lyrical, Pointe, & Floor Gymnastics Ages 2 thru Adult

Huntingtown and Lusby Location 410-535-3320 www.calvertschoolofdance.com

Hurricane Nation 24

Apps-The Good and the Bad Okay, so you’ve got your new iPod touch and all you do is listen to music. First of all, I would ask you exactly why you bought a $200 plus iPod that has so much more capabilities than just playing MP3 files, but I digress. Let’s talk about apps. There are millions of apps that are available to anybody with an iPod touch, and more are made by Apple and other small companies, even regular people. There is even a guide to make an app, and you can submit it to Apple. If the company likes it, it will put the app up on the App Store. Like all things, there are good apps, and there are bad apps. The Hurricane Nation reviews some of the best and worst apps on the App Store.

Games Beer Pong: One of the most classic col-legiate games comes to the app store. Score points by getting your ping-pong ball into the red, green, or blue cups before time runs out. Downside: as you play, your view gets dizzier and dizzier.

Space Deadbeef: Great game overall. Control your ship by touching and maneuvering your finger around the screen. Lock on to your target by touch-ing it and release to fire your missiles. Don’t forget to avoid your enemy’s fire, because if you get shot once, your dead. Bad side: you can’t listen to your own music while you are playing.

Everyday Use

Dotopop: Watch the dots moving around the screen, then press anywhere. The dots you hit will swell up, and the un-swelled dots that touch the swelled dots will swell up. After a couple sec-onds the swelled up dots will pop. Make sure you swell and pop all the bubbles before thee all pop. Touch carefully, though, as you only get one touch on the screen to pop all

Diction-ary.com: Ever need to know the definition of a word, and not be near an internet connection? Not a problem! The Dictionary.com app allows you to access thou-sands definitions without your wireless internet connection, plus a thesaurus and a word of the day. Downside: The Word of the Day requires an internet connection.

Check-book: An easy way to track your fi-nancial infor-

mation without an internet connection. Insert deposits, withdraws, and recurring transactions with ease. You can also sync Checkbook with Excel, so you can export and print your transactions.

USAA: For those who have USAA bank, this is a great app. Check your account status, transfer funds to ac-counts, and even deposit your check if you have the iPhone.

You can even lo-cate the nearest ATM, calculate a loan, and trade stocks all from your iPod Touch or iPhone.

By Kevin McGuire

Hurricane Nation 29

Boxers: You don’t think he is man-enough to wear briefs, and you blatantly say this with the gift of boxers. Classic. A Pair

of Run-ning Shoes: I’d say it’s a subtle hint for him to get his butt in shape. An Explicit CD: Es-

pecially by some infa-mous rapper who is a clear embarrassment to society. That’ll make him a real winner.

Rock Band: Now, you can listen to that beautiful songbird voice all of the time. Or the tone-def belching that erupts out of his throat. It all depends on how you look at it.

“The Hang-over”: Point one: The chance of your man having at least one of Allen’s quali-

ties–every girl’s fantasy. Point two: What do tigers dream of? Enough said.

A Snuggie: He can stay warm, and still have his hands free.

By Emily Mutschler

A Pet: This way, after that God awful, high school-drama-filled break up comes around, he will be constantly reminded of you while picking up poo.

Popular Gifts For Boys

Hurricane Nation 30

editorials mumbai♦ photo catch ♦ hard math classes

Hurricane Nation 31

Um…is that cow going to move? The engine of the Toyota Innova (think Sienna lite) stutters to a low growl, providing an ambient backdrop in the few seconds of peace. Then a succession of high-pitched, squeaky horns arrest me, and I’m subject to the whimsy of my driver, whose abrupt lane-changes (every few seconds at least), predilection for honking (often for no apparent reason), and blatant disregard for the few traffic regulations (which may or may not actually exist) make your average Grand Theft Auto player seem like an overly cautious motorist. The cow moves; we veer back on the road; I close my eyes. Dear God, I don’t want to die young – really. I landed in Mumbai, India on Christmas Day 2009 for my brother’s wedding, before later traipsing about the states of Gujarat and Kerala. These travels helped me realize that geography is more than the capitals marked by stars inscribed in circles on the globe; more than the yellow dotted flight plan that marks my progress on the flight; more than the varying hues of blue that indicate deepness of the water, the yellows and greens on the map that show elevation. Rather, I discovered, geography is human. It is the diffusion of culture, thought, ideas – globalization. Land-scape isn’t strictly topographic, mind you. It is the flow of ex-pats in the city, the (mostly peaceful) intermingling of Hindus, Muslims, and Christians, the intersection of spectacular wealth and even greater poverty, history and pre-sent, and of course the requisite terrifying driving experience. It is Mumbai, India.

Look up and see Mukesh Ambani’s $2 billion high-rise apartment towering over the penniless, crumbling slums of Mumbai that Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire made famous. Glance at the wizened beggar lying listless on dirt in front of a garish Rolls Royce dealership. Ponder the silver satellite dish that springs up from a destitute Mumbai slum dotted with trash. Or consider the juxtaposition on the road: the occasional white Audi regally processes along seemingly nameless streets, indifferent to the adjacent dusty, decades-old auto-rickshaws literally overflowing with wiry pas-sengers. They huddle together as the door-less ten horsepower contraption – one that makes the Mini Cooper seem colossal – huffs and puffs alongside the scooters, over the ruts, and through the denizens of the city. Geography has facilitated the rise of this burgeoning city; while it has recently attained status as the finan-cial capital of India, Mumbai has its economic roots in the port and shipping industry – possible only because of its peninsular location on the Arabian Sea and Thane Creek. Unfortunately, geography’s role is not always salutary – the surrounding water also facilitated the arrival of the cabal of terrorists responsible for last year’s heinous Mumbai attacks. I am happy to report, however, that the two targets of the attacks, the palatial Taj Hotel and the more aus-tere Trident-Oberoi, stand upright, teeming with trademark elegance, and – more importantly – guests. Geography, as I’ve come to realize, comprises a panoply of different things; cities and culture, as well as cows and crazy drivers, collectively create a landscape that’s both physical and intangible, concrete and ineffable.

Geography is Human. Geography is Mumbai. By Shaj Mathew

Banner: Skyscrapers and slums dot the Mumbai skyline. Above: A market, a mural, and the Gateway to India.

Hurricane Nation 32

COLLEGE PROFILE: UMBC By Kevin McGuire

University of Maryland, Baltimore County is an in-state public honors university that seniors can choose from. It’s located about an hour and a half from Calvert County, and offers various aca-demic and extra-curricular activities. I had the chance to visit this interesting school, and found that UMBC doesn't really stand for: U Made a Bad Choice. I arrived at UMBC after an hour on I-95 and 97. Upon arriving, I noticed that the campus visits had been organized for one big day, not individual groups that tour on a regular school day. Students conducted the campus tour, and various professors dedicated their day to intro-ducing prospective students to the wide variety of classes offered at UMBC. Also, we had a range of options, including sitting in on a class, touring the campus, learning about the Honors College, and Student Life. I chose to sit in on an English 100 class, an introductory English class. A short walk in the pouring rain, and I arrived at a small, unobtrusive classroom with just a projector and a computer. The students had all arrived, and class was about to begin. A medium-size man, in his thirties or forties, walked in in tight black jeans, with a chain on his wallet, and Chuck Tay-lor's. He walked to the front of the room and sat down in the professor’s seat, and proceeded to talk about Schindler’s List, which we then watched and discussed. Overall, it was a very unusual class, but I enjoyed it immensely. Next, I sat through a session that ex-plained student life at UMBC. Since the campus is located just off 95, there is no city that sur-rounds the campus, like University of Maryland. However, there are many things to do in campus, so the student is never bored. They have activi-ties such as Tunes and Tacos, where participating students set up a taco bar and watch classic car-toons. UMBC also has various other activities for students, such as club level sports, which competes against either other teams inside the school, or other local schools. Unfortunately, UMBC does not have a foot-ball team, but the school pro-

vides many other sports such as lacrosse. In fact, two for-mer members of the UMBC Retriev-ers lacrosse team, Brendan Mundorf and Drew Westervelt, were selected to the 2010 US national lacrosse team. UMBC is classified as “An Honors Uni-versity in Maryland”. But what is an Honors Uni-versity? The Honors University is simply a part of the college that persuades students to engage in far more challenging classes than that of the regular college level. It is similar to AP classes in high school: it has a more demanding syllabus, and requires you to interpret the works or prob-lems in a deeper understanding. Many colleges have an Honors College, including Towson Uni-versity and St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Usu-ally, Honors College applications are submitted with the regular application, and usually require an extra essay or answer a few interview ques-tions. Admissions also may require higher SAT scores and a higher GPA. UMBC is a great college overall, from academics to sports to student life. UMBC is uni-versity that seniors should consider when choos-ing a college. Also, UMBC has been named the #1 Up and Coming College in the nation by U.S. News and World Report. UMBC is also number 4 in undergraduate teaching, just behind Dartmouth, Princeton and Yale. Finally, UMBC is the highest

ranked public university in undergraduate teaching.

UMBC Stats Faculty: 1,018 Students: 12,268 Undergraduates: 9,612 Postgraduates: 2,656

Photo Catch! Can you find all 10 differences between these two photos?

By Nate Dawes Level of Difficulty

I n middle school, some students felt their teachers pushed them into an algebra class by eighth grade. If the student passed Algebra in eighth

grade, they moved on to Algebra II, then Geometry, then Pre-Calc, and so on. Those who took Algebra in eighth grade have moved on to much tougher classes as juniors and seniors at Huntingtown High School and experience mixed success. Many juniors and seniors are taking AP Calc or Stats classes. Some of these students in upper level math classes are barely understanding the material. Seniors Bethany Blacker and Skylar Lewis (AP Calc 1) both agree that the work can be difficult to under-stand and tedious to do. They also say that their par-ents are making them take this class; however, Skylar now appreciates her parents encouragement. Junior Brittany Martin (AP Stats) says that she’s understand-ing it for the most part, but the student really needs to know what’s going on at the beginning of the year. She’s taking the course to pursue a career in Psychol-ogy, but if it weren’t for her career choice, she would-n’t be doing it. During lunch, in Mrs. Raymond’s room, sen-iors Luke Dohrman and Katherine Norwood debated about whether or not an upper level class is worth tak-ing. “They’re a mistake because all colleges look at are high GPA’s,” says Luke. Katherine had no problem retaliating saying that colleges aren’t only interested in GPA’s, and that they really want to see the classes you took and how rigorous they were. When the stu-dents quieted, Mrs. Raymond said that math classes are just like any other class—you get whatever you put in for them. If you push yourself, you’ll do better. “Rigorous math courses are another way we can push our students. It will benefit them.” She also men-tioned that it’s been shown that how well you do in college is a reflection on your highest level of math classes, even if students don’t get A’s. Most may not realize that when going to col-lege, the math classes are only going to continue to get

harder. If a student doesn’t under-stand ba-sics of what he takes in college, he may have to take remedial classes to catch up. Not only are the students then be-hind on their basic

knowledge on a particular subject of math, but they are also having to pay for those remedial classes. Taking these classes can be both good or bad, depending on the student who is taking them. Having an impressive transcript for college is very important for most people. When colleges are deciding whether to accept you or not, they will look at your grades. Seeing a lot of AP classes with good grades will proba-bly make their choice easier. Also, when taking AP classes in high school, it gets you ready to continue to take more difficult classes in college so you can excel. Perhaps taking so many upper level classes isn’t the best decision for some. It may start to get too hard to understand. Since the basics of math aren’t really being continuously taught through out school, it can become very hard and stressful for the student. While taking an AP class will look good, getting a bad grade in that AP class will not.

Does Taking Hard Math Classes Early Add up? By Stefanie Moscati

Photo Catch Answers

* most vehicles

Lexington Park, MD 301-862-0028

Waldorf, MD 301-870-8285

DISCOUNTS FOR

HHS FAMILIES

LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED BY CARL MEREWITZ

PARENT OF HHS STUDENT BRIAN MEREWITZ

THE WORLD’S LARGEST TRANSMISSION SPECIALIST

TOTAL TRANSMISSION FLUID EXCHANGE $69.95*