the MentorNovember 18, 2011 Manhattan High volume 99 issue 9

Last month, FFA officers attended the FFA National Convention in Indianapo-lis, Ind. Various leadership workshops and a career fair were among the activi-ties for attendees.

FFA’s fruit sales fund raiser ended recently, bringing in a total of just over $4000. The highest seller was Junior Ryan Wil-liams with $1500.

There was a leadership conference for officers on Wednesday this week.

Tribe is having another contest against Junction City High School. Manhat-tan High School proceeds will go to cancer research. You may purchase a Pink shirt to be worn Friday, Dec. 16 for the “Pink Out” basketball game at Junc-tion City High. Tribe will be taking orders for the shirts during both lunches in the Commons/Cafeteria area. Cost for shirts is $10.

TRIBE

AdvisoryPeriod

News Briefs

FFA

NEW

SCONSTRUCTING PROGRESS

The fall phase of the Manhattan High School con-struction project is staying on schedule with some new spaces ready to be unveiled next semester. On Dec. 7, 8 and 9 the old library will move from its current loca-tion to its new area in B-Hall. Adolfson and Peterson, the contractor of construction,

has been swift as possible with the project since break-ing ground back in 2010. The bookcases, which arrived here Monday, are planned to be assembled today and retired librarians will be busy organizing books at the new library shelves -- a task which appears daunting,

BY Cole AnnebergNews Editor

page 2: Staff editorial -- Copyrights, Teachers Criticizing, Race commentary

page 3: Top Chef review, Black Friday, New Releases, Piccoult book review

page 4: Football recap, Dance feature

page 5: Thanksgiving traditions, Midnight releases, Inheritance book review

page 6: Horoscopes, Thanksgiving crossword

Veterans, students remember Veterans, students remember

but assistance will be avail-able in the move, provided that an assembled moving team will be helping also. The whole library be ready for the opening later next semester. MHS’ faculty is antici-pating the shift to the new library and the opening of the remaining building also.

A few of the new features the library will have are new bookcases, better book drops alongside the library, bar sen-sors to keep track of books, and many new books as well. “We are looking forward to the new space, it being more usable by everybody, being better organized, and

manager Dean Youngers said. The amount of ac-

tivities MHS has held this semes-ter and the fact that the building constantly has people inside has put many projects on hold with the current section of the school in use. “It has been very hard find-ing time getting into the previ-ous parts to put the final details from the proj-

ects we completed last

“summer,” Youngers said. “We can’t describe how thankful we are from the students and faculty for being so patient.” The progress with the new section of the school is looking more and more ready for students spring semester. The total cost for the project is estimated at $42.4 million and the final completion of the entire building is planned for January 2013, although a few final touches will be done the next school year. “We’ve been doing bet-ter than expected with the progress of halls A and B,” Youngers said.

We can’t

describe how

thankful we

are for the

students and

faculty for

being so

patient.

-- Youngers

B-Halls new library last minute touches are almost done. Book shelves along

the north side of the library started going up this week and the front desks are

already completed.

Photo by Cole Anneberg

Construction along A-Hall is near completion with the installment of lockers and ceiling panels.

Planned usage for A-Hall is primarliy English classes, expected to be available for the school by

spring semester.

Photo by Cole Anneberg

Kayla Dieker

staff writer

With one out of five stu-dents in Manhattan having a connection to the military, Veterans Day is a holiday that doesn’t go by unnoticed. The City of Manhattan honored our vets with a variety of ac-tivities, starting with the Vet-erans Day Breakfast at 7 a.m., then moving to the State and Territorial Flag Display and the Pictures, Memorabilia and Poster Displays at 9 a.m. The annual Veteran’s Day Honor Parade down Poyntz Ave. started at 9:30 a.m. Spectators waving American flags lined the sidewalks as vets and supporters made their way through the pa-rade. Many Manhattan High School students were a part of the parade, including the

Big Blue Marching Band and the dance team. Students at the East Campus were lucky enough to watch all the action as the parade passed by their build-ing. “I love being a part of it [the parade]. It’s one of the advantages of being at East Campus,” Charlie Sprott, East Campus administrator, said. Some West Campus stu-dents were in attendance as well. “A lot of people in my family are in the military, so I care,” Shabria Page, sopho-more, said. There were even some at-tendees who had never been a part of a Veteran’s Day celebration before. “I think it’s awesome because we don’t have it [Veteran’s Day] in France.

It’s cool because it’s good to remember the wars,” Jules Guilleman, French exchange student, said. After the parade was a Commemorative Program at 11 a.m. and a Veterans Day Recognition Honors Banquet at 6 p.m.

MHS also has some vet-erans included in the staff. Ron Johnson, faculty mem-ber, served from July 1969 to October 1991 in a variety of capacities. Johnson said he wishes he would have been able to see the parade.Former MHS students now

involved in the military ap-preciate the support of cur-rent students as well as their participation in the Veteran’s Day Parade. “I think the involvement is great,” Chris Day, former MHS student and cadet at Kansas State University, said.

MHS marching band performs at last weeks Veteran’s Day parade on Poyntz Ave. All members of the band attended and

performed their music set for the parade attendees.

Photo by John Rockey

being a friendly clean facility,” Li-brary Media Print Specialist Joann Hettenbach said. Halls A and B will also open for classrooms in January with new features to students also. Some of those are an outdoor classroom in the south courtyard including outdoor furniture, a new weight room that was available for stu-dent use early November, and a couple hundred more lockers. “The best thing regard-ing the prog-ress had to be the unveiling of the new part of the school from this summer letting stu-dents use a newer facility, giving us time for the rest to be completed,” Construction

Advisory period is Manhattan High’s new program created to promote a positive school climate, and both academic and carer awareness. Advisory period made its debut Wednesday after fourth hour. During this time students brainstormed ideas about possible activities, and discussions. They also came together to generate ideas about a name to call this activity. “I think if the students buy in and the teachers buy in, and everyone commits to it, then it will be very helpful,” Biology Teacher Benjamin George said. Another goal of the advisory period is to build relationships between students and teachers. Students who participated Wednesday

Advisory Period continued

on page six

Opinion

Page

2

Find x > 3 such that ln(x) < x^(0.1). Can you solve it? It’s proven to be one of the world’s hardest math equa-tions.

If I raised my hand and asked about it in some of my classes, a majority of my teachers would stare at me and say “Figure it out your-self.”

Granted, not all my teach-ers are math teachers. But I have sat in multiple classes in which I ask how to do some-thing they’ve shown on the board and their response is “Why don’t you know how to do it?”

What happened to fresh-man year when we’d say we didn’t understand and the teacher would say “What are you having trouble with? Let’s walk through it again and we’ll figure it out.”?

Teachers are here to help. When students say that they don’t understand, isn’t that when the teacher

Accept the differencesRace always a factor

in modern society

November 18, 2011 Manhattan High

is supposed to help? Star-ing and saying “figure it out for yourself” just makes the student despise the class and ultimately fail the test that they’ll surely have over the topic they don’t understand. Sure, they have notes. Does that mean they understand them? Not all the time.

I use my resources and try my best to solve a problem or read the book for an answer, so why would I ask if I didn’t need help? The last thing I want is for the teacher to make me feel like an idiot.

We always hear about how we’re supposed to treat teachers with respect, but doesn’t that go both ways? If students don’t talk back to the teacher, obviously the teacher has no right to do it to us.

All I’m asking is for teach-ers to do what they are there for -- to help us. The extra time at the end of the hour to work on assignments doesn’t mean they can sit at their desk in the back, ignore our pleas and then yell at us when the class average is 60 percent. Maybe we’ll actually learn something if our ques-tions get answered.

“There’s no such thing as ‘Post Racial’ America,” reads an article in the New York Times.

This got me thinking, “is it possible to ever live in a com-pletely diverse country with no regards to race?”

Even when you take a test such as the ACT you are asked for your race, although it is not required.

Everyone can agree that the United States (I learned

from my Argentinian ex-change student that it is incorrect to just say America --- America applies to not only the United States, but also the rest of North Amer-ica and South America) has come a long way with rac-ism. But what you have to accept is that race is always going to matter, even if it is just the small differences in each race. And you’ve just got to accept these differ-ences and realize that they will always be there.

This summer I read the book “Blink” by Malcolm Gladwell (one of the best books I ever read; check it out). I spent 277 pages read-ing about what happens in the first two seconds when your brain registers some-thing. It basically tells you everything you need to know

about your gut instinct. The examples related to anywhere from viewing an artifact and immediately knowing it is fake, to seeing the word fe-male and immediately associ-ating it to the word ‘kitchen.’

The book talked a lot about word associations that went along with race. You can actually take a test through the Harvard website (https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/) and it gauges your response to words and pictures in the first few sec-onds of viewing them. You must complete the test as fast as possible to get the most ac-curate results. At the end it shows you your scores along with the national averages.

On average, 80 percent of people showed a prefer-ence for whites. It’s not that these people have any real

We here at the Mentor know we’re not perfect, so we’re opening ourselves up to corrections. E-mail us at mhsmen-tor@gmail.com or stop by E108 with name, spelling and fac-tual errors. Please understand, we follow AP style guidelines, which means we have to say things like “cactuses” and always “more than 900,” instead of “over...”

Corrections welcome

Hits

and

Misses

Miss: Why don’t we have college fairs? Disney Channel shows do!

Miss: Egypt couldn’t pos-sibly get any bumpier.

Hit: Aggieville’s newest restaurant, Taco Lucha, has opened behind So Long Saloon.

Miss: Maybe you would have been aware of the advi-sory period if you read the paper.

Hit: Only two days of school next week before you can drown yourself in turkey and gravy.

Question of the Week: What’s your most embarrassing Thanksgiving moment?

“We were playing football at my grandma’s farm and I tripped and fell in cow poop.”

Alex Ireton, freshman

“I was eating mashed po-tatoes. All of a sudden, I sneezed and they came out of my nose.”

Eugene Watson, junior

“My turkey farted.”Sydney Snyder, sophomore

“When I asked my wife’s dad if I could marry his daughter. That was bad.”

Pat Lamb, teacher

“I think I was in third grade and I wrote and made my sister act in a Thanksgiving play. I made her dress up as a turkey and she was screaming at me.”

Ivy Calvert, senior

“I passed out on the gravy.”Alex Tolar, junior

“I got my arm stuck under a running treadmill.”

Jimmy Risberg, senior

“One time, I was smelling the pumpkin bread and my brother pushed my face in it.”

Valerie Mays, sophomore

“I was juggling a soccer ball inside and fell back on he table outside and knocked off all the food.”

Eli Herrera, sophomore

“When I was at my grand-ma’s, I was sitting with my cousins at a table and the table flipped on me.”

Kelly Forrest, freshman

“I farted during the prayer.”Jake Olsen, freshman

“My family likes to dress up like pilgrims when we eat.”

Jonah Webber, sophomore

“I dropped my plate of food while I was walking.”

Caroline Ballard, freshman

“My grandpa was like ‘I need a ride somewhere’ and it was a liquor store. He wanted me to drop him off somewhere but I was afraid I’d get pulled over with a bunch of alcohol in the car.”

Avery Fowles, senior

“When my aunt got out her overalls from college and started singing sorority songs.”

Alex Stenberg, freshman

“Thanksgiving is my birth-day.”

Ricky Reese, senior

“A man’s teeth falling on his foot.”

Melissa Birdwell, junior

“I had on no-bite nail pol-ish when I peeled the pota-toes and it made them taste gross.”

Kendra Chandler, sophomore

“Probably the time I col-lapsed on the ground when I was trying to pull off the wishbone.”

Pierson McAtee, freshman

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Teachers urged to help, not criticize

opinions editor

CarlyCarlyTraczTracz

Th e editorial covers a topic that is discussed by the entire staff and is written by one writer. It forms our overall opinion on the subject.

If you’ve ever downloaded a song illegally, then you’re probably a normal teen-ager. However, have you ever thought of the repercus-sions that come with stealing music? We’ve all taken the chance and thought, “Eh, it doesn’t really matter. No one has ever gotten in serious trouble for downloading a couple songs right?” Wrong. People everywhere get thrown into jail or fined for tons of money for download-ing songs.

Pandora and YouTube let you listen to music for free because they are endorsed. However, there are other websites that you can use that don’t cost as much per song or just give you a flat rate price like Spotify or legal-sounds. They aren’t breaking any laws and save you some cash.

We understand that you don’t want to spend the mon-ey on a song, especially after iTunes raised the price to $1.29 for a hit song. It’s just a

way for the record companies to rake in more money.

It’s sad, however, to see how disconnected people are from the artists these days. With downloading you just click a song and it’s on your iPod. When you had to actually go out and buy a CD you knew everything about that art-ist. What they looked like, every song that would be on it, and their previ-ous works. Now we don’t even know who sings what.

It could also be a possibility that music has become me-diocre because it is in such high demand and so easy to get that artists put no time into their work, they just pump it out as soon as possible to please the crowd. But, no one is pleased by a sub par CD that’s full of songs with no meaning. Thirty or 40 years ago every-one listened to the same type

of music because they re-ally only had one source, the radio. Now everyone listens to a hodge podge of things, like rap, pop, and heavy metal. When someone gets so involved with their genre that

they start to ignore everyone else’s musi-cal taste and are not in touch with any other music, that is considered great.

We’re not saying that mp3s are the downfall of society at all. They are definitely convenient when you don’t want to

listen to the radio, but there is just something so gratifying about buying an actual CD and having it in your posses-sion. Being able to play it on repeat, read the artist’s notes, or see the lyrics to every song is much more gratifying than just downloading.

Music lovers unattached tocurrent artists

“

“It’s sad, how-

ever, to see

how discon-

nected peo-

ple are from

the artists

these days.

preference with race, it’s just that they have grown up in a society that when you have a split second to decide, you’re more likely to match the word “happy” with a white person.

I believe that people don’t try to be racist --- it is just something that has been and always will be there, even if not consciously. I just ask everyone to stop worrying about being “post-racial.” Ra-cial differences make the United States the diverse place that it is. There will always be differences and dif-ferent opinions that are faced towards different races. You need to accept the differ-ences and not deny their existence.

staff writer

KaitlinKaitlinWichmannWichmann

Story ideas? Comments? Tips? Updates?

Send us a tweet @mhsmentor. #cu@theinter-

webz

EntertainmentPage 3November 18, 2011 Manhattan High

Children are children, and as much chaos as they cause, they still have legal rights. But where do they stop? Are kids capable of governing their own bodies? I’m not ask-ing if they can control their wild hormones, I’m asking if children are old enough to control whether they decide to be organ donors or not.

Jodi Picoult’s 2004 “My Sis-ter’s Keeper” hits this point as it tells how a family’s view on this situation tears them apart, and ultimately leaves one of them behind.

Drama begins when 13-year-old Anna Fitzgerald steps into a lawyer’s office and announces her wish to be medically emancipated from her parents, Sara and Brian Fitzgerald. Anna is a biologi-cally designed donor for her older sister, Kate, who has been suffering greatly from leukemia since the age of two.

‘’I wasn’t the result of a cheap bottle of wine or a full moon or the heat of the moment. I was born because a scientist managed to hook up my mother’s eggs and my father’s sperm to create a specific combination of pre-cious genetic material,” Anna describes herself.

As the years pass, Anna has gone through painful surger-ies and countless bone mar-row extractions. Now, Kate needs a new liver, and the attention is on Anna, again. But this time, she can’t take it anymore and seeks help from a lawyer.

“My Sister’s Keeper” brings light to morals that can’t be justified by right or wrong; especially when they deal with family issues. Be-cause of this, the Fitzgeralds divide into two groups, Brian with Anna (who secretly disapproves of the pain that Anna has gone through for Kate), and Sara with Kate.

As this dispute is brought into court, it is not just about if Anna will be emancipated from her parents, but how this broken family will re-pair itself once the verdict is revealed.

It is only after reading the heart-wrenching story of Anna and her family that you understand the phrase, “There is no black or white, only gray.” There are no easy or right answers in this situ-ation.

One person cannot be judged for what they think is moral or ethical, especially in the situation Picoult has created. Decisions that sound right to mothers may not seem appropriate or “best” to doctors or siblings.

Picoult has shown this dilemma very well in “My Sis-ter’s Keeper” while handling it with sensitivity and grace. Her compassion is written clearly in the book and gives the reader the ability to re-late to the situation.

The character develop-ment is detailed so that it’s almost reading into that char-acter’s mind and deep emo-tional feelings, which gives the story more edge. But be warned: if you’re not into emotional roller-coasters, maybe you should save some tears and walk away. But you might regret it if you do.

never seen before, generates a desire to run to the store and pick up my own slice of pig. I really feel inspired

by the contestants watching them duel off for the chance on Top Chef and the prize of $100,000 as well as a display at the Food and Wine festival in Aspen and many other prizes.

It appeared that the chefs pressure to cook their best was “turned on high” in “Top Chef Texas” in the first

episode. The pressure boiled over when chef Edward Lee sliced his fingers and made a huge opening in his hand, making the kitchen look less like a clean and friendly place to more of a war zone. How-

Shawn Sheu

entertainment editor

After the turkey, foot-ball and stomach aches of Thanksgiving day are over, there comes an event equally important in some minds -- Black Friday. Thousands of shoppers all over the country flock to retailers to take ad-vantage of the deals and sales merchandisers offer on Black Friday.

“I go every year,” Senior Warren Scipio said. “Black Friday is a lot of fun, and there’s so many good deals.” Scipio said his favorite places to go are Wal-Mart and Best Buy.

The day after Thanksgiving has been viewed as the begin-ning of the holiday shopping

season since the 1900s. The title “Black Friday” comes from the infamous stock market crash of 1864. The frenzied shoppers and stores earned the post-Thanksgiving shopping day the name “Black Friday.”

“The atmosphere is very hectic,” Target employee Tyler Whit said. Whit has worked at Target for 5 years. “People are just all over the place and it gets really aggres-sive. Fortunately, I haven’t seen any fights.”

This year, Target will open its doors to shoppers at mid-night the day after Thanks-giving. According to Whit, people start lining up before the sun sets. Employees are hard at work even before the shoppers line up.

“There’s lots of things to do to prepare,” Whit said. “We push a lot of products to storage and line the aisles with special displays and new merchandise that will go quickly. It’s definitely the big-gest sales day of the year.”

Research from the market-research firm ShopperTrak shows that Americans spent $10.96 billion last year on Black Friday. Since 2002, Black Friday has been the biggest shopping day of the season except in 2004.

“It’s really crowded. There’s always so many people,” Scipio said. “But what would Thanksgiving be without Black Friday to fol-low it?”

Author emphasizes gray areas of life

Pistol Annies -- Hell on Heels

I never could stand Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Kenny Chesney, or any of the other soul cans that dominated pop country for years for the

simple reason that they had no substance. If “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy” isn’t the nadir of country music, I

don’t know what is.Mainstream country has

taken a fantastic turn in the last few years, however, and it is much more accessible to people who actually like to feel something when they listen to music. Miranda Lambert has been making su-perb records since her 2007 breakthrough, “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.” “Hell on Heels,” the debut album by Lam-bert’s new band, Pistol An-nies, is an infinitely listenable collection of 10 great tunes about pill-popping moms and gold-diggers.

When I listen to Lambert or the Annies, I feel the way I do when I listen to a great rock album. That’s what is changing in country. Lam-bert’s fond remembrance of adolescence, “Famous In a Small Town,” reminds me of Big Star’s “Thirteen.”

I try to refrain from talk-ing about how “authentic” an

artist does or does not seem, but Lambert and her band-mates, Angaleena Presley and Ashley Monroe, are the real deal, emulating Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, and Loretta Lynn while still sounding contemporary.

Grade: AFlorence + the Machine -- Ceremonials

Powerful vocals and strong melodies eclipsed by overpro-duction and needlessly grand arrangements. Florence Welch doesn’t have the skill of Karen O, who knows how to rock without overstating.

staff writer

BenBenShieldsShields

The end result is an occa-sionally brilliant record that comes together like a Par-amore album for people who read “The New Yorker.”

Grade: BJustice -- Audio, Video, Disco

I tried. I played it three times, trying to get on board with this new Justice record. But it’s impossible to deny that Audio, Video Disco is a pointless set of prog-y, un-danceable electro-farts. A few tracks are listenable, and one excellent, but anything not sucky was released as a single anyway. There may not even be a point in writing this review, it will be forgotten so quickly. Nice knowing you!

Grade: C-Lou Reed and Metallica -- Lulu

This is what happens when artists are given “the freedom they deserve.”

Grade: F

New albums offer variety for listeners

Black Friday tradition for shoppers, retailersBlack Friday

specialsTarget -- opens at midnightNikon L105 Digital Camera, $99.99Amazon Kindle Keyboard 3G, $85Milton Bradley or Hasbro Games, various, $3.99

Best Buy -- opens 10 p.m. on ThanksgivingSamsung laptop, $29942-inch Sharp LCD high-definition television, $199

Bed, Bath and Beyond -- opens at 6 a.m.20% off coupon for the first 200 people until 10 a.m.

‘TopChef’ stars Gail Simmons, Padma Lakshmi and Tom Colicchio will be hosting this season in Texas. The crew will travel

to San Antonio, Dallas and Austin.

Courtesy photo

they advanced her as one of the 16 contestants.

“Top Chef: Texas” will also feature entertainment including Charlize Theron, Pee Wee Herman, Cat Cora, John Besh, Tim Love and Patti LaBelle.

Watching 16 talented chefs from all different back-grounds fight for the name of “Top Chef” always draws me in and leaves me hungry for more. The scramble of chefs appeals to all crowds and various interests making you crave another bite of the show. “Top Chef: Texas” airs 9 p.m. every Wednesday on Bravo TV.

Photo by Allison Kinsley Photo by Allison Kinsley

staff writer

SarahSarahShiShi

The new season of “Top Chef: Texas” has been cook-ing off new competition. The season, premiering Nov. 2, started another first in “Top Chef” history, the premiere challenge.

The episode “Last Chance Kitchen” elimination chal-lenge made 30 chefs fight for one of the 16 positions in the competition before they began to formally compete across the Lone Star State -- in Austin, Dallas and San An-tonio. You might be wonder-ing, “Why is Top Chef season 9 in Texas?” Based on the show’s next step in a relative-ly “foody” simplified location, Texas won the shows heart through its historic attrac-tions: San Antonio, Dallas and Austin.

The challenge varied from groups of three butchering meat and making a dish in 60 minutes, to chefs cooking

with a chosen ingredient in under 20 minutes.

The Judges Padma Lak-shmi, Tom Colicchio, Hugh Acheson, and Emeril Lagasse rate the dish with three options: giving them a chef jacket, making them pack up their knives and go home, or placing them on the “bubble” making the chef cook an-other dish for another op-portunity to wow the judges. The addition of new host judges Acheson and Lagasse is a fresh attempt and brings variety to the table. As a “rising star” of 2010, Acheson has a personality that makes you agree with his remarks but you just can’t get past the ridiculous criteria he bases chefs on. Lagasse, well known for his cajun food in Louisi-anna and the most quoted phrase “BAM” is the sort of judge that you can connect with, besides the incredible Padma Lakshmi.

One of the contestants, Sarah Grueneberg, used pig skin to make a “pig skin ravi-oli,” advancing her to a posi-tion in the show. The unusual use of pig skin, which I’ve

‘Top Chef’ is biggerbigger in Texasever, Lee struggled on with his head in the culinary zone, placing him in a position with the show as well. I personally

enjoyed watching the strug-gle with Nyesha Arrington as she prepared ravioli also but paid homage to her roots bringing in Mexican flavors to the dish. The judges all loved her dish so much that

news editor

ColeColeAnnebergAnneberg

For additional

stories, visit us

online at

mhsmentor.com.

Taylor Weisman

staff writer

Friday night was an im-portant night for the Indians as they traveled to Derby in hopes to reach the third and final round of playoffs. In the previous two seasons Tribe has failed to reach the last round, and Friday they met with the same fate, putting an end to another undefeated season.

The Indians, who were coming off a 55-point game against Dodge City, could not get anything going offensively. They took a 14-point lead early, one touchdown off an interception return and another off a pass from Senior Dakota Harwood.

“[Derby’s] defense had a great game plan to stop our running game,” Harwood said. “We had to change our game plan, and we have to give them credit. They shut us

down.”The Tribe would go to

half time with a 21-18 lead, but it did not hold in the second half as Derby put up points, seemingly at will. Tribe’s defense proved to be inconsistent and the offense was unable to reach the end zone.

“They had a good defense,” Head Coach Joe Schartz said. “It’s the best defense we faced all year and

they made it hard to move the football on the ground.”

The game capped another

storybook season for the Tribe, who went undefeated for the third year in a row. However, this year it seemed like points would be at a premium.

Last year the Indians won two games by a touchdown or less. This season they won five game by a touchdown or less. The offense had trouble at times getting into any sort of rhythm, which was the case against Derby.

Another struggle was the defense. Throughout the season the defense had

Sports

Page

4November 18, 2011 Manhattan High photo by Connor Bliss photo by Lindsey Goff

Seniors Ben Stegeman (64) and Brooks Debord (1) go in for tackles in the game against Derby last

Friday night. The Indians fell to Derby in the second round of playoffs.

Photo by Seth Runyan

Megan Weathers

staff writer

An all-year elective

that counts for half of a

P.E. credit and half of a

fine arts credit seems

unheard of, but that’s

exactly what the dance

team is.

The dance team,

a Kansas State High

School Activities As-

sociation activity,

practices during first

hour everyday. Leslie

Stenberg has taught at

Manhattan High School

for four years and has

been coaching the MHS

dance team for the past

three years.

This year, Stenberg

sought the assistance

of Kansas State Univer-

sity Student Darchelle

Martin to help coach

the team of 18. They

began the year with 20

dancers, compared to

last year’s team, which

began with 17 dancers

and ended with 14.

Martin, a former

dancer, choreographs

most of the team’s

routines and is “very

good at field routines,”

said Stenberg. After

Martin choreographs

the routines, Stenberg

coaches the team and

makes sure they are

performance-ready.

In fact, the perfor-

mances seem to be the

most exciting part of be-

ing on the dance team.

Brianna Walker said her

favorite parts of be-

ing on the dance team

are “the parades, new

dances and games.”

In the coming basket-

ball season, Stenberg

hopes to enlist the help

of four more choreogra-

phers. With basketball

season will come more

modern choreography,

music and styles.

Football devastated at Derby in second-round playoffs

“He is going

to lead this

team to a

State Cham-

pionship one

day. He is the

best coach

I’ve ever had.

-- Harwood

trouble staying consistent and didn’t have the same dominant performances as the season before.

The Tribe’s biggest concern were injuries to some of its top athletes. One was Senior Captain Joe Ballard, who missed the entire season with a torn ACL. The absence of Ballard allowed other teams to capitalize with their running attacks. More often than not, the Tribe would give up big runs allowing the other team to set up scoring chances, making it harder to keep up offensively.

Despite injuries and offensive droughts, special teams often sparked offensive runs for the Indians this season. Senior Defensive Backs Logan Mahan and Deante Burton were key returners for the Indians, and other teams would try

to avoid kicking to either of them.

Schartz is 27-0 in the regular season and 30-3

overall as the head coach for the Indians. Having yet to lose a regular season home game, Schartz has to regroup the new team for next season in hopes to defend

the winning streak and its reign over the Centennial League.

“He is a fiery guy,” Harwood said. “He is going to lead this team to a State championship one day. He is the best coach I’ve ever had.”

The Indians have won the Silver Trophy and Centennial League three consecutive years and will look to defend both next season.

Sarah Shi

staff writer

This year, around 6,000 dancers will be tap danc-ing through the streets of New York City in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Although we may not have thousands of people tap-ping their hearts away for all of the nation to see, there is definitely a large sum of dancers who have ‘happy feet’ in Manhattan.

“Majoring in dance is definitely one of my goals, then I eventually want teach it,” Washington dancer Ju-

nior Emmianne Jagosz said. “Dance is extremely fun and it makes me happy. It has taught me to handle things with grace.”

For Washington dancer Senior Caroline Fry, dance gives her something to work forward to and it is not something she will be quick to dispose of.

“I never want to stop dancing, ever,” Fry said with a laugh. “It’s my outlet. Whenever I feel something and need to get something out, I dance. It’s my passion.”

Washington dancer Sopho-more Liz Logback knows

what she means.“It’s like dancing

your stress away. When our classmate Brett Bolton died, I had to dance because I needed to release some emo-tions I had,” Logback said.

Dance isn’t just about memorizing the step-by-step choreogra-phy that is taught, but taking that choreogra-phy and provoking the thoughts and expres-sions that technique alone can not provide.

“I love when people tell a story through their movements, when they try to show something that isn’t just correct dance technique,” Fry said.

Discipline, strength and catching on fast are some traits that are put into danc-ers, whether they’re profes-sional dancers or just begin-ners. Teaching

has also become something older dancers are learning to do at their studio, whether it’s assisting the teacher dur-ing class or helping younger dancers learn the choreogra-phy.

“I assist the second, third, fifth and sixth grade ballet and jazz classes at Washing-ton Dance Studio,” Fry said. “On top of that, I dance 13 hours a week. It’s my life.”

“I wanted to help younger children learn how to dance. If a teacher is gone, I'll lead the class and help them with their technique. Assisting makes me happy, especially when the kids get something right," Bates dancer Sopho-more Madison Long said.

To some, dancing may not be classified as a sport, but the closeness that a sport team provides is also present within a group of dancers who perform together.

“The people I dance with is one of the best things about dance. The bond you have with the people you spend so many hours dancing with is really nice,” Jagosz said.

“I’ve been dancing for 11 years -- ever since Kindergar-ten, when my best friend was taking dance classes and got me into it,” Logback said. “It so much fun. I don’t think I’ll ever quit dancing.”

Washington Dance Studio girls practice last Wednesday night.

Photo by Courtney Grice

Seniors Taylor Gros and Kelcie Dies practice at their studio. Gros and Dies dance for Bates Dance

Studio.

Photo by Megan Weathers

Washington and Bates Studiodancers share passion

Dance team looks to perform

duringbasketball

tickets and waited in line for three hours,” Junior Kayla Faust said.

How popular the item is usually determines the way it’s sold. For example, a little-known author’s first book isn’t going to be advertised as much as a new James Patter-son thriller. Barbie’s “Island Adventure” for X-BOX most likely won’t be as popular as COD MW3. And yes, “Twi-light” will make more money

than Adam Sandler’s “Jack and Jill.”

It comes down to how big a fan of the product someone is. If they love Harry Potter, of course they will go see it at midnight, but if the movie just seems interesting, they’ll wait until the ticket sales calm down so they can sit in a less crowded theater. Just be prepared to brave the lines if you’re a huge fan.

@codyameyer:“Aladdin actually takes place

in the far off future where they have genetically engi-

neered parrots. Philosophical discussions with DHayes.”

@Vannah_Hamma23:“I hate that shivering, sweaty feeling you get after basket-

balll”

@DWhip48:“If a single teacher cant teach all

the subjects, then how can they expect a single student to learn all

the subjects? #ponderingtweet”

@chony10:“Kentucky allllll the way! Da-

vis...unibrows are hot ;)”

@Bengriese:“Im a genius, i turned on my

seat warmers to keep my breakfast warm. #Truestory”

@errydayisfryday “I don’t know when the bells ring, its cold, I’m hungry, and

it smells like straight farts in ap stats @barbieparty1

#roughlife”

@BRATtanyB “It smells like diapers in

here.”

@JohnPerbeck“Advisory putting a bind on

my whole schedule”

@lierzbeerz72 “Rub my head for good luck

#magicalbuzz”

@MSueHeartsU: “The awkward moment in

McDonalds when an emo kid orders a happy meal o_O”

@michaelhornsby:“my beard looks great. in the

right light. under a magnify-ing glass.”

@Trent_Hustle:“I think manhattan has a homeless guy problem ..

Somebody should help them out”

@hananaah“twitter drama. #popcorn”

@kdbill3“I hate not wearing leg-

gings.... #kadyproblems”

@sarah_mccann5“My mom likes the od gmore

than me. #shucks”

If you want to see your tweets in the paper tweet to us @MHSmentoronline

FeaturesPage 5November 18, 2011 Manhattan High

Indians break holiday traditions

Taylor Weisman

staff writer

One of the most creative book series in recent years, the Inheritance Cycle is concluding its epic tale in “Inheritance,” the fourth and final book.

The first book, “Eragon,” introduced a land where dragons and dragon riders once ruled until an evil king named Gallbatorix overthrew them and took the land for himself. Three dragon eggs remained and that is where the story begins.

The author, Christopher Paolini, was home-schooled and grew up on a farm near the Beartooth Mountain ranges. He started writing the book when he was 15 years old and made it into a worldwide hit.

The fourth book will conclude the story of Eragon and Saphira in their quest to destroy the evil king and lib-erate the kingdom. This book has generated excitement among its fans throughout the school.

“Oh my gosh,” Sophomore Kailee Altman said. “I’m su-

New Eragon novel a

must-read

SENIORS! If you want to be in the year-book, make sure you get your senior pictures in to E-108 no

later than Dec. 21 otherwise we will use your Lifetouch photo!

Thi s i s YOUR y e arbook, t ake i t pers onally!

Photos courtesy of Google Images

per excited to read it.”Of course this is a book

that has been long awaited, taking a little bit longer to be released, but fans hope it will be well worth the wait. The book will feature the third dragon from the last dragon egg out of the original three that remained. There are many reasons why students at Manhattan High are ex-cited to read it.

“I was like ‘oh my gosh,’ I can’t wait to read it,” Senior Megan McHaney said. “But I am going to get it for my Kindle because I don’t want to stand in line at Hastings.”

Hastings held a midnight premiere for it on the night it came out and had special orders for the book so fans could reserve their copy.

Like Harry Potter, the release of the last book gener-ated a lot of excitement. The ending is something that has been long awaited to see how Eragon and Saphira defeat Galbatorix and his dragon. It is a book about love, adven-ture, magic, loss, and friend-ship and should be a hit for a long time.

Midnight releases:Yay or nay?

Cat Bridegam

features editor

New releases are always ex-citing, especially if the game, book or movie is advertised well. Many people anticipate big names like Harry Potter, “Call Of Duty” and “The

Hunger Games” and stores jump all over the opportunity to make as much money as they can. So begins the ever-so-popular midnight release.

Some customers love the idea of waiting in line for three-plus hours no matter the weather just so they can be the first people to see a movie, play a video game or get through a novel in a series. But does paying a few extra dollars to stay out all night really add to the excite-

ment of the product?For Sophomore Kodi Mi-

nocha, the midnight release for Modern Warfare 3 was an exciting anticipation.

“I pre-ordered the game from Gamehounds and picked it up at midnight. If it wasn’t on a school night,

I would have camped out,” Minocha said.

Book re-leases are also advertised for popular novels. Series like Harry Potter have release par-

ties, where fans dress up like their favorite characters and hang out at a store until midnight when the book comes out, then they sit around and read together.

“I would go to a Harry Potter release, and if the ‘Hunger Games’ had a fourth book, I’d go to that, too,” Minocha said.

As far as movies go, mid-night releases are usually the

most popular of any pop-culture release. Twilight’s “Breaking Dawn” was re-leased at midnight last night, and every theater played the movie, making 12 theaters available for the fans of Ed-ward, Jacob and Bella.

“I saw Harry Potter and ‘The Hangover 2’ at mid-night. I pre-ordered the

Photo by Miranda Hairgrove Photo by John Rockey

For additional coverage on midnight releases, check out mhsmentor.com!

Lindsey Goff

editor in chief

When one thinks about Thanksgiving, one typically imagines a turkey roasting in the oven, family laughing, and of course football on TV, but in reality that’s not how most people spend their holiday. A lot of times things go wrong like on the movie “Christmas Vacation.” The turkey doesn’t come out right or some family mem-bers have a feud. Whatever the case may be, everyone’s holiday is a little unique.

Instead of eating the tra-ditional turkey and mashed potatoes, Senior Caroline Fry’s family cracks open crab legs.

“We’ve been having seafood for Thanksgiving for about five years. It just kind of started, I’m not really sure why,” Fry said, “Crab legs are just a good time.”

Junior Sophia Harms is a vegetarian, so when the holi-day rolls around she divides the food prep tasks with her family.

“I make anything but the turkey. Last year my dad left the turkey out to marinade and my dog got to it and ate it so my whole family had to have a vegetarian Thanksgiv-ing,” Harms said, “Every year my sister and I have to recite this poem that we learned in first grade, too, about dried corn. I really don’t know why but it’s pretty funny.”

Some students couldn’t imagine a Thanksgiving without turkey, but Harms is proud of her commitment and doesn’t see a turkey-less dinner as a big deal at all.

Other students like Senior Jason Lierz focus in on the turkey during Thanksgiving.

“Ever since I got my hunt-ing license when I was 14 we’ve gone out and hunted for turkeys. The biggest tur-key that we shoot is saved for Christmas,” Lierz said.

Even though Lierz has a good time hunting with his dad and uncle, he would pre-fer a different meal during Christmas.

“I like turkey during Thanksgiving but I’m more of a ham guy for Christmas,”

Lierz said.Not all Thanksgiving tradi-

tions focus on eating. Senior Jumanna Khamis’ family gets up and moves after the big meal instead of going into a food coma.

“Every year my fam-ily has a post-Thanksgiving workout. It’s so much fun. We do push-ups, sit-ups and all kinds of stuff. My older brother usually wins but I always beat my younger brother Rami,” Khamis said.

When it comes to holiday traditions having everyone come over for the special day can set you up for some disasters.

“One year my aunt came over and when the turkey was ready she pulled it out

of the oven and set it on our wooden floor. It left a huge burn mark and we had to get the kitchen floor completely redone. It was fun, though, because we had to go out every night,” Senior Onyeka Ehie said.

No matter what happens at Thanksgiving, almost everyone can agree that hav-ing an entire holiday devoted to stuffing our faces with food and remembering what we’re thankful for with our family members is a day well spent.

“I love Thanksgiving because after I eat with my family, I watch football then fall asleep. It’s the best,” Se-nior Dakota Harwood said.

Miscellaneous

Page

6November 18, 2011 Manhattan High

editor in chief -- Lindsey Goff

entertainment editor -- Shawn Sheu

features editor -- Cat Bridegam

news editor -- Cole Anneberg

opinions editor -- Carly Tracz

sports editor -- Kassidy Scroggs

multimedia editor -- Felix Amanor-Boadu

photo editor -- Bailey Hamler

copy editor -- Jimmy Risberg

circulation manager --Taylor Weisman

adviser -- Kristy Nyp

the Mentor staff

The Mentor is published each Friday that school is in session at Manhattan High School, 2100 Poyntz Ave. Manhattan, Kan. Telephone (785) 587-2114. More than 1,800 Mentors are printed each week and distributed free of charge to all faculty members and students. MHS journalists are members of the Scholastic Press Association. The Mentor is an open forum that accepts contributions from the public. E-mail us at mhsmentor@gmail.com.

staff writers -- Sarah Shi Kori Bridegam Ben Shields Kaitlin Wichmann photographers -- Melissa Birdwell Courtney Grice John Rockey Megan Weathers

contributing writers -- Kane Aguila Kayla Dieker Maddie Ross Megan Weathers

circulation -- Stephan Shimkus Kristyn Baker Pixie Khan Austin Tatum Andrew Klimek

ACROSS3 What everyone does the day after Thanksgiv-

ing

4 The season that Thanksgiving is in

5 This side dish is pulled from the turkey

7 What some people go on during Thanksgiv-

ing break

8 This character can be seen floating over NYC

during a certain parade

9 Who comes over for dinner

11 If you mash this starch up and add a little but-

ter you’re good to go

13 Main dish at Thanksgiving dinner

14 The month that Thanksgiving is in

15 The name of our ancestors that sailed over

here

16 This vegetable is yellow

17 A delicious dessert made from pumpkins

18 What you watch after dinner

DOWN1 You wish to have the longer half of this

2 Put this on top of your mashed potatoes

3 This historical figure proposed that the turkey

should be our national bird

6 The famous event done in New York

10 An elaborate basket that overflows with good-

ies

12 You might do this after you eat turkey

Thanksgiving

Has your compass of destiny been demagnetized? Look be-low for this week’s reliable* astrological advice.

Scorpio (23 October – 21 November)Don’t stop believin’! Your

Want to ride?Bring this coupon in for a free lesson!

3841 W 69th Ave, Manhattan, KS 66503

long years of waiting and hoping seem like they’re pay-ing off.Number: 9Sagittarius (22 November – 21 December)HI--YAH! Horoscope say, you will find luck during classic

kung fu movie.Number: 1974Capricorn (22 December – 20 January)Break a tradition. You’ll find a series of fortunate events ahead.Numbers: 14Aquarius (21 January – 19 February)Studies show that cooking outside of the kitchen in-

HoroscopesHoroscopescreases chances of winning the lottery. Your lifelong de-sire to make iron toast in the foyer should be fulfilled.Number: 87Pisces (20 February – 20 March)It’s almost Thanksgiving and you know what that means. Giving thanks. Take some time to cherish those around you.Number: 1941Aries (21 March – 20 April)With all the midnight releases this season, a couple of after-school powers naps aren’t a bad idea.Numbers: 15Taurus (21 April – 20 May)I’m sorry. But because of that thing you did you know what I’m talking about you don’t get a horoscope this week.Number: ----------Gemini (21 May – 20 June)SubDeb? SubDeb. It’s what’s for lunch. Number: 0Cancer (21 June – 21 July)The forecast includes rain. Go dance in it.Number: 5Leo (22 July – 22 August)Bring a helmet, knee pads, elbow pads, wrist guards, protective boots, protective gloves, protective scarf, pro-tective goggles and protective dentures when you go out this Black Friday.Number: 2005Virgo (23 August – 22 Sep-tember)“The Phantom of the Opera” is here, inside your mind...still...stuck in your head...every second of every day.Numbers: 802Libra (23 September – 22 October)It’s almost Thanksgiving and you know what that means. Complaining about relatives. But suck it up. Patience has its reward.Number: 24*These horoscopes are in-tended for humor only. Do

not make life decisions based on these tips.

Numbers:Scorpio: the place on the Billboard Hot 100 on its origi-nal release.Sagittarius: release of “Kung fu Fighting” by Charles Doug-las.Capricorn: Books in the less fortunate series. Aquarius: percent of statistics made up on the spot.Pisces: marks the first time Thanksgiving was celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November.Aries: min-utes. Suggested length of time for a super effective post coffee nap.Taurus: That’s right. You don’t get numbers this week ei-ther.Gemini: times that I have been asked to Sub-Deb.Cancer: is the dollar amount I will not give you, if you follow my suggestion.Leo: Since 2005, Black Friday has routinely been the busiest shopping day of the yearVirgo: seats in Rezac audito-riumLibra: marks the date of Thanksgiving celebrations in Leiden, the Netherlands.

Jimmy Risberg

copy editor

Scholars Bowl is especially popular this year. With a very large pool of members, quiz-offs are being employed to determine who earns spots on the teams sent to competitions. “It’s a battle of wits,” Senior Chris Fox said. Fox enjoys the competition, as well as the opportunity to spend time with friends outside of school. According to Senior Klara Zurek, the best part is “feeling like a champion.” She enjoys the competitive environment and working together with the other Scholars Bowl members. Manhattan High School is doing well on the Scholars Bowl front this year, despite a very new group. “My seniors last year were pretty good. We’re filling in the gaps,” Dawdy said. After a 3-4 finish at Hayden last week and a second place finish last Thursday at Chapman, MHS split up to compete in Abilene and Wamego yesterday. The team’s home meet will be hosted on Jan. 17. Scholars Bowl practices every Wednesday and practices are open to the public. Those who would like to participate or observe should drop in to show off your brains and probably pick up a few trivia facts to boot.

Scholars Bowl

debated about whether this kind of meeting is a good thing.

“I don’t know anyone in my class, so I can’t really relate to anyone,” Freshman Matt Ball said.

However, Freshman Krista Dix disagreed.

“I think it is a really good idea. I got to ask teachers questions that I never had the opportunity to before,” Dix said.

Advisory PeriodContinued from page one

staff photo staff photo

Lost Items:Ring -- Bench in front of

Rezac

Shoes -- Hallway

i-Pod -- Outside of Rezac

Wallet -- West Campus

If you have lost anything contact Harold in the

security booth and make sure to lock up your be-

longings.