8
HALEY REID VOLUME 47, ISSUE 9 www.northpointenow.org @thenorthpointe SYDNEY BENSON 1 News 2 Calendar 3 Ideas 4 On Campus 5 Life 6 Reviews 7 Sports 8 Feature Ideas - Page 3 Contents NORTH POINTE FRIDAY, JAN. 30, 2015 SINCE 1968 GROSSE POINTE NORTH HIGH SCHOOL By Erica Lizza and Mora Downs CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF & ASSISTANT EDITOR Bathing in fluorescent lights for years, exposed senior Olivia O’Hara’s skin to dangerous UVA and UVB rays. That ex- posure left O’Hara’s complexion darker and skin damaged. “I usually would do it basically every single day in the winter and then all the way up until summer starts, which is re- ally bad. Then, (I would) start again once my tan goes away from the summer into the new school year,” O’Hara said. O’Hara initially saw benefits from fre- quent tanning, so she made it part of her regular routine. “I liked the way it clears your skin. I started going when I was younger ... once you started to see yourself get really tan, then you just kind of get addicted to it,” O’Hara said. However, tanning does not actu- ally clear skin. As skin gets darker from the tan, acne becomes less noticeable. When the tan fades, acne becomes prominent again. After tanning for years, O’Hara noticed how it had started to damage her skin. “I stopped because it brought out my eczema really bad. So it’s not good for you, as everyone knows,” O’Hara said. “It will give you skin cancer, but then it al- ready also brought a condition out in my skin. So it was like, ‘Oh, I should stop for my eczema before the skin cancer comes.’” According to the 2011 Youth Risk Be- havior Surveillance System, O’Hara is not alone. About 13 percent of high school students and 21 percent of high school girls use tanning booths. Senior Juliet Sonaglia tans in addition to working at local tanning salon, Total Tan. “I just basically clean around the store, and I help people. I show people the beds and how they work if they come, and they don’t know how to use it or it’s been a while since they used it,” Sonaglia said. “I can tour the beds and explain to them which one’s better and which one’s worse and stuff.” Part of a Total Tan employee’s job is to advise customers how much they should tan based on their skin tone. “Well my boss kind of tells the person at the desk what he thinks their skin tone is better for or if they burn easy. It de- pends on if you can tan or if you’re just one of those pale people that just burns, and you get nothing. So it depends. My boss usually tells them—he directs them, and I can give more input—but he’s the one who usually (does),” Songalia said. The bulbs in different booths can af- fect customers’ skin in a variety of ways based on the intensity. “Depending on where you go, there’s different levels, and there could be level one, level two, level three, level four, level five. And each one of them, the burning lessens,” O’Hara said. “I used to do level four for a long time, and (I) literally just get tan because the bulbs are so good, I guess. Some of them aren’t as good which is why they’re cheaper, so they’ll burn you more. Level five’s the best intensity, but it’s like $30.” Tanners choose the level they wish to tan at based on their skin type and the tone they want to achieve. “People usually that burn a lot go to the higher levels,” Sonaglia said. “People that go tanning a lot and then stop for like three months and go back again have to start at a higher level because it burns less, and you are more easy to burn if you haven’t gone in a while, even if you did go for a really long time before.” O’Hara has cut back on bed tanning but still tans outdoors. To figure out the optimal UV ray intensity when she wants to tan, O’Hara uses the Weather Channel app. “When (the UV rays are) at like an 8, I’ll go out and lay out there for like four hours. And then the next day, I’m com- pletely red, and from the tanning booth I wouldn’t be as burned as I get outside,” O’Hara said. “So sometimes outside can actually burn you more, but in the long run, it’s probably not as bad because you can control when you’re outside.” Senior Diajah Williams, who is aide to the Applied Medical Research class, be- lieves that most people don’t see risks of tanning. “People don’t understand things un- til it happens to them a lot of the time, and then a lot of people are ignorant to the fact that there is (about) a 75% higher chance (to develop skin cancer from tan- ning booths),” Williams said. While tanning does not immediately cause skin cancer, it can lead to problems later in life. “People that are younger typically don’t get skin cancer. It develops over the years, but a child or a teenager who tans a lot more, that’s a risk going up as an adult,” Williams said. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ON CAMPUS PAGE 4 Left: Junior Charde Goins and senior Emily Waldner select from an assortment of all-organ- ic food made by their classmates. Right: AP Environmental Science teacher Chris Skowronski samples his students’ work for the taste-testing part of their project. College over- admission causes drop in current admission rates By Radiance Cooper ASSISTANT EDITOR An unexpected extra 1,000 students arrived on the University of Michigan campus last fall. North alumnus Cart- er Bock found himself on the receiving end of some of the adjustments made to accommodate the oversized student body. “With this overflow of students, many incoming freshmen were forced to live in dorms/apartments desig- nated for upperclassmen forcing the upperclassmen to move off campus,” Bock said via email. “The school also took several study lounges in the dorm buildings and transformed them into dorm rooms taking away study space from students.” The enormous undergraduate popu- lation has created problems for those wishing to attend the university in the future. The higher number of students admitted last year has caused the uni- versity to defer more applicants this year. “It’s a problem because, for exam- ple, last year U of M over-admitted by a thousand students, so now that is affecting the number of students that they’ll take this year because they only have housing for so many students,” counselor Jill Davenport said. “So it’s kind of a numbers game that they play that we have no control over, and so this year, they’re admitting less stu- dents ... because they took too many students last year.” A deferral is when a university does not give an applicant an admission de- cision right away. The school will likely further review the student’s applica- tion and his/her credentials before they make a final decision. “As a rule, they’ll either ask for your seventh semester grades, which is the first semester of your senior year, and they’ll make a decision about whether or not they’re going to admit you after they receive your grades—Or higher ACT scores,” Davenport said. Senior Zach Backer found himself, along with many other students, on the University of Michigan’s deferral list. “When I first heard about my de- ferral, I was upset, but I wasn’t com- pletely bummed out. It wasn’t a denial, so I kept an open mind about it. It has pushed me to continue to work hard and keep up my standards during se- nior year,” Backer said via email. The University of Michigan sent out a higher number of acceptances last year, expecting some admitted stu- dents to attend other institutions. In- stead, students flocked to the campus. “They wanna take around 5,000 stu- dents a year. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 It will give you skin cancer, but then it al- ready also brought a condition out in my skin. Olivia O’Hara SENIOR SYDNEY BENSON Page 7- Girls basketball team injuries “SO SHE’S IMPERFECT. AREN’T WE ALL? I DON’T WANT TO LOOK UP TO SOMEONE THAT HAS DONE EVERYTHING RIGHT.” Glowing skin may dim overall health

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Page 1: North Pointe- Jan. 30, 2015

HALEY REID

VOLUME 47, ISSUE 9www.northpointenow.org @thenorthpointe

SYDNEY BENSON

1 News2 Calendar3 Ideas4 On Campus

5 Life6 Reviews7 Sports8 Feature

Ideas - Page 3

Contents

NORTH POINTEFRIDAY, JAN. 30, 2015

S I N C E 1 9 6 8 GROSSE POINTE NORTH HIGH SCHOOL

By Erica Lizza and Mora DownsCO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF & ASSISTANT EDITOR

Bathing in f luorescent lights for years, exposed senior Olivia O’Hara’s skin to dangerous UVA and UVB rays. That ex-posure left O’Hara’s complexion darker and skin damaged.

“I usually would do it basically every single day in the winter and then all the way up until summer starts, which is re-ally bad. Then, (I would) start again once my tan goes away from the summer into the new school year,” O’Hara said.

O’Hara initially saw benefits from fre-quent tanning, so she made it part of her regular routine.

“I liked the way it clears your skin. I started going when I was younger ... once you started to see yourself get really tan, then you just kind of get addicted to it,” O’Hara said.

However, tanning does not actu-ally clear skin. As skin gets darker from the tan, acne becomes less noticeable. When the tan fades, acne becomes prominent again.

After tanning for years, O’Hara noticed how it had started to damage her skin.

“I stopped because it brought out my eczema really bad. So it’s not good for you, as everyone knows,” O’Hara said. “It will give you skin cancer, but then it al-ready also brought a condition out in my skin. So it was like, ‘Oh, I should stop for my eczema before the skin cancer comes.’”

According to the 2011 Youth Risk Be-havior Surveillance System, O’Hara is not alone. About 13 percent of high school students and 21 percent of high school girls use tanning booths. Senior Juliet Sonaglia tans in addition to working at local tanning salon, Total Tan.

“I just basically clean around the store, and I help people. I show people the beds and how they work if they come, and they don’t know how to use it or it’s been

a while since they used it,” Sonaglia said. “I can tour the beds and explain to them which one’s better and which one’s worse and stuff.”

Part of a Total Tan employee’s job is to advise customers how much they should tan based on their skin tone.

“Well my boss kind of tells the person at the desk what he thinks their skin tone is better for or if they burn easy. It de-pends on if you can tan or if you’re just one of those pale people that just burns, and you get nothing. So it depends. My boss usually tells them—he directs them, and I can give more input—but he’s the

one who usually (does),” Songalia said.The bulbs in different booths can af-

fect customers’ skin in a variety of ways based on the intensity.

“Depending on where you go, there’s different levels, and there could be level one, level two, level three, level four, level five. And each one of them, the burning lessens,” O’Hara said. “I used to do level four for a long time, and (I) literally just get tan because the bulbs are so good, I guess. Some of them aren’t as good which is why they’re cheaper, so they’ll burn you more. Level five’s the best intensity, but it’s like $30.”

Tanners choose the level they wish to tan at based on their skin type and the tone they want to achieve.

“People usually that burn a lot go to the higher levels,” Sonaglia said. “People that go tanning a lot and then stop for like three months and go back again have to start at a higher level because it burns less, and you are more easy to burn if you haven’t gone in a while, even if you did go for a really long time before.”

O’Hara has cut back on bed tanning but still tans outdoors. To figure out the optimal UV ray intensity when she wants to tan, O’Hara uses the Weather Channel app.

“When (the UV rays are) at like an 8, I’ll go out and lay out there for like four hours. And then the next day, I’m com-pletely red, and from the tanning booth I wouldn’t be as burned as I get outside,” O’Hara said. “So sometimes outside can actually burn you more, but in the long run, it’s probably not as bad because you can control when you’re outside.”

Senior Diajah Williams, who is aide to the Applied Medical Research class, be-lieves that most people don’t see risks of tanning.

“People don’t understand things un-til it happens to them a lot of the time, and then a lot of people are ignorant to the fact that there is (about) a 75% higher chance (to develop skin cancer from tan-ning booths),” Williams said.

While tanning does not immediately cause skin cancer, it can lead to problems later in life.

“People that are younger typically don’t get skin cancer. It develops over the years, but a child or a teenager who tans a lot more, that’s a risk going up as an adult,” Williams said.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

ON CAMPUSPAGE 4

Left: Junior Charde Goins and senior Emily Waldner select from an assortment of all-organ-

ic food made by their classmates.

Right: AP Environmental Science teacher Chris Skowronski samples his students’ work for the

taste-testing part of their project.

College over-admission causes drop in current admission ratesBy Radiance CooperASSISTANT EDITOR

An unexpected extra 1,000 students arrived on the University of Michigan campus last fall. North alumnus Cart-er Bock found himself on the receiving end of some of the adjustments made to accommodate the oversized student body.

“With this overf low of students, many incoming freshmen were forced to live in dorms/apartments desig-nated for upperclassmen forcing the upperclassmen to move off campus,” Bock said via email. “The school also took several study lounges in the dorm buildings and transformed them into dorm rooms taking away study space from students.”

The enormous undergraduate popu-lation has created problems for those wishing to attend the university in the future. The higher number of students admitted last year has caused the uni-versity to defer more applicants this year.

“It’s a problem because, for exam-ple, last year U of M over-admitted by a thousand students, so now that is affecting the number of students that they’ll take this year because they only have housing for so many students,” counselor Jil l Davenport said. “So it’s kind of a numbers game that they play that we have no control over, and so this year, they’re admitting less stu-dents ... because they took too many students last year.”

A deferral is when a university does not give an applicant an admission de-cision right away. The school will likely further review the student’s applica-tion and his/her credentials before they make a f inal decision.

“As a rule, they’ll either ask for your seventh semester grades, which is the f irst semester of your senior year, and they’ll make a decision about whether or not they’re going to admit you after they receive your grades—Or higher ACT scores,” Davenport said.

Senior Zach Backer found himself, along with many other students, on the University of Michigan’s deferral list.

“When I f irst heard about my de-ferral, I was upset, but I wasn’t com-pletely bummed out. It wasn’t a denial, so I kept an open mind about it. It has pushed me to continue to work hard and keep up my standards during se-nior year,” Backer said via email.

The University of Michigan sent out a higher number of acceptances last year, expecting some admitted stu-dents to attend other institutions. In-stead, students f locked to the campus.

“They wanna take around 5,000 stu-dents a year.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

It will give you skin

cancer, but then it al-

ready also brought a

condition out

in my skin.

Olivia O’HaraSENIOR

SYDNEY BENSON Page 7- Girls basketball team injuries

“SO SHE’S IMPERFECT. AREN’T WE ALL? I DON’T WANT TO LOOK

UP TO SOMEONE THAT HAS DONE EVERYTHING RIGHT.”

Glowing skin may dim overall health

Page 2: North Pointe- Jan. 30, 2015

2 – Friday, Jan. 30, 2015 – North Pointe NEWS

Seniors adapt to limitations Traditionally each class’s student council goes to the annual

Michigan Association of Student Councils/Michigan Associa-tion of Honor Societies State Conference in Traverse City. This year, however, the senior student council collectively decided they wouldn’t go on the trip this year.

“We as a council voted since there’s a limited amount of peo-ple that can go, and we and our adviser voted that no seniors will be going because we’re on our way out the doors, and as seniors, we feel that it’s more important underclassmen … to at-tend so they learn leadership and ideas and bring them back so Grosse Pointe North can benefit,” senior Michael Sacchetti said.

The students use the conference to help come up with new ideas for functions and fundraisers.

“We learn leadership activities and different things other schools do. They put on presentations—we learned about dodgeball tournaments and different fundraising ideas and different community events that encompass everyone from the surrounding community,” Sacchetti said.

Starting with the 2014 conference, each school was given a limited number of student spots so more schools could attend the conference. This year, since there are only 30 spots, the se-niors are only sending two representatives.

“Only two seniors are allowed to go because of the limit that the conference sets on the number of people who can come,” senior Emily Aziz said.

Both Sacchetti and Aziz feel the conference is a great oppor-tunity for underclassmen to meet people from other schools and to bond with their own councils.

“I have to say just being with your friends on student council (is) probably the best part, and being able to have fun but also learn other leadership activities and ideas,” Sacchetti said.

By Dajai Chatman

College admittanceCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

That’s their target number. When you’re asking for that, you know that your class is to be 5,000 people, they’ll in-vite say 7,000 people knowing that 2,000 people are not go-ing to matriculate—that’s what it’s called, matriculating to the school— that they’re not gonna agree to go there. But last year U of M had a thousand more students ma-triculate than what normally does—that’s what drove the number up,” Davenport said.

Bock was placed in a study lounge instead of a dorm room as a result.

“Positive: larger living space, carpet on the f loor, removable windows, two doors to the room, right next to staircase for heading to class,” Bock said. “Negative: being next to the staircase can be loud, no privacy as I’m sharing one room with four guys, room gets really hot, outdated dorm furniture.”

Along with the limited dorm space available, get-ting classes at a certain times of the day has became more diff icult for students.

“More classes were created to accompany the large amount of students, but a majority of these classes are early in the morning or on Friday which some students f ind undesirable,” Bock said.

Despite the adjustments to his living situation, Bock admits there isn’t anything horrible about his predicament, and he sees one major perk to having this kind of dorm.

“I don’t feel as if I’m missing out on a traditional dorm experience because my room is stil l in a hall with a bunch of other people. It’s really like we just have a bigger room at the end of the hallway. Since we have the biggest room, we are always having peo-ple over so it acts as a hangout area too contradictory to its original purpose as a study lounge,” Bock said.

Although he is on the deferral list right now, Backer stil l hopes to attend the University of Michigan after graduation.

“I didn’t have to reapply to U of M, I just have to send them my first semester grades to further strengthen my application,” Backer said. “But I do have a continued high interest in U of M. U of M has always been number one on my list, so I want to keep my application active.”

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Choir performance on Thursday, Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. at the Grosse Pointe War Memorial

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Friday, Feb. 6 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Brownell Middle School in the Multi-Purpose Room

STUDENT COUNT DAY

Wednesday, Feb. 11

COLLEGE NIGHTThursday, March 5 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at South High School in the main and auxiliary gyms

MICHIGAN DRIVERS LICENSE TESTING

Automobile Tests: $45.00Rental Available: $20.00

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CALL TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT313-822-4400

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Facebook:Little Tony’s-Lounge in the Woods

For an electronic version please email spec request to:Print Xpress

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thanks

Tanning CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

According to a recent study, more than 400,000 cases of skin cancer in the U.S. can be attributed to tanning booths each year. Frequent exposure to UVA and UVB rays can also cause allergic reactions, irreversible eye damage, suppression of the immune system and premature aging.

“I have crow’s feet—like old woman’s crow’s feet. When I smile, there are wrinkles,” O’Hara said. “So not only can you see what’s going to happen to you, you get the immediate ef-fects. Like, oh, all of the sudden I have wrinkles at 18 years old.”

Williams believes an increased awareness of tan-ning’s dangers could help prevent non-hereditary skin cancer and other associated risks.

“They have the cigarette commercials, the drug com-mercials, the alcohol commercials, (and) they don’t re-ally have tanning commercials, and they should,” Wil-liams said. “I think it sheds a new light on it, especially since it’s something so many people want to do—not everyone wants to smoke cigarettes, but a lot of people do like to tan, so I think it would be a big thing if they were to have TV commercials like the cigarette (ones).”

To combat the damage tanning can cause, 10 states and 11 countries have banned tanning booths for mi-nors. In Brazil, indoor tanning is illegal for all ages. In Michigan, those under 18 years old who wish to tan must have a parent or guardian’s signature. However, these precautions have not been enough to combat this mostly preventable epidemic.

“It’s not like the first thing that comes to your mind, you know? It’s so obvious that cigarettes are bad, it’s so obvious that drinking is bad, but it’s not like a huge, obvious thing that (tanning) could dam-age your body,” Williams said.

OLIVIA ASIMAKIS, BILLY MOIN & RITIKA SANIKOMMU

Instant Norsemen Updates

You can followus on Twitter

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an account.

text “follow mygpn”

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Follow us for updates: @thenorthpointe

Page 3: North Pointe- Jan. 30, 2015

OUR EDITORIAL

North Pointe – Friday, Jan. 30, 2015 – 3

The mane attraction

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF: Erica Lizza, Anu Subramaniam

MANAGING EDITORS: Haley Reid, Andrea Scapini

SECTION EDITORS: Olivia Asimakis, Katelyn Carney, Brittney Hernandez, Jennifer Kusch

WEB EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Emma Puglia

WEB MANAGING EDITOR: Mora Downs

WEB SECTION EDITORS: Yena Berhane, Dora Juhasz, Kaley Makino, Emily Martinbianco

BUSINESS MANAGER: Wendy Ishmaku

PHOTO EDITOR: Alanna Sparks

ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR: Sydney Benson

ASSISTANT EDITORS: Josie Bennett, Emma Brock, Radiance Cooper, Audrey Kam, Billy Moin, Thomas Remenar, Ritika Sanikommu, Gowri Yerramalli

STAFF REPORTERS: Luke Sturgill, Addison Toutant

INTERNS: Conner Bott, Caitlin Bush, Dajai Chatman, Allison Lackner, Nathan Lonczynski, Lauren Sexton

The North Pointe is edited and produced by Advanced Journalism students at Grosse Pointe North High School and is published every two weeks. It is in practice a designated public forum without prior review. Comments should be directed to the student editors, who make all final content decisions. The views expressed are solely those of the authors or the student editorial board and do not reflect the opinions of the Grosse Pointe Public School System.

We are a member of the Michigan Scholastic Press Association, Columbia Scholastic Press Association, National Scholastic Press Association and Student Press Law Center. We subscribe to McClatchy-Tribune Information Services and iStockphoto.com.

One copy is available free to all community members. Additional copies may be purchased. Our editorial policy and advertis-ing rates are available online at northpointe-now.org. The North Pointe is printed on 100% recycled paper.

CONTACT US707 Vernier RoadGrosse Pointe Woods MI, 48236Phone: 313.432.3248Email: [email protected]: @thenorthpointeWebsite: NorthPointeNow.org

FACULTY ADVISER: Shari Adwers, MJE

Our editorial represents the opinion of the North Pointe Editorial Board consisting of the editors above. Members who have a conflict of interest with an

editorial topic do not partake in that meeting or vote.

In the scope of life, nothing seems more trivial than a haircut. It’s just a little snip. There may be a big snip here or there or some dye to top it off, but those haircuts can actually define certain eras in our lives.

Jennifer An-iston’s “Rachel” haircut marked millions in her bank account and Brad Pitt on her arm. Justin Timberlake went from frosted tips during his boy band years to a more sophisticated look that matched the release of his solo albums. The Katniss braid became a symbol of The Hunger Games and Jennifer Lawrence’s first big success.

Yes, these icons’ clothing styles also changed with their hair, but those chang-es represented society as a whole, not the individual or specific moments in their lives. A haircut is a personal choice. It de-pends on your face shape, what you like and what suits you. It can be based on a whim, or it can be something that has been deeply thought out.

As we grow as people, our hair does, too. My middle school years were marked by two side braids and frizzy ponytails until I learned how to use a straightener. (Then it was marked by split ends and poorly styled bangs for a few months.) I’ll always associate that haircut with trips to the Village and Friday nights spent at War Memorial dances. It was a time long be-fore I began worrying about my AP class-es.

My I’m-too-stressed-to-care look came a few years later and consists of un-brushed hair that I fluff before I walk out the door. Personally, I like to think my

hair is so big because it holds so much information. It’s a sort of personal state-ment I get to make—I’m in charge of my hair, and I’ll do what I please with it. The one time I let somebody else determine how my hair would look, I ended up with a shaved head and looked like a boy. I was 3. Lesson learned.

My friends automatically know it’s me walking down the hallway when they see this big poof of black hair. Despite the fact that I shed an abnormal amount and don’t have two hours of free time to straighten it, I love having this mop on top of my head. It has become my signature, a state-ment I can continue to make for the rest of my life.

Not only has my hair marked my chang-es through the years, but it connects me to my parents. I can immediately spot them in a crowd by looking for the tall duo with jet black, coarse hair. The characteristics of my hair match the characteristics of theirs, and just knowing that makes me feel closer to them. Feeling closer to my parents and the rest of my family also makes me feel like I’m a part of a bigger cultural whole—that I’m not an outsider.

The looks of our locks aren’t limited to identifying us as a part of an ethnic group. They can also make us feel a part of a social group. Some rowers shave their heads for big competitions. More creative people bleach and dye their hair bright colors to match their personalities. People who have gone to school together for years start to bear the same hairstyles. Teams plan their hairstyles for the next competi-tion so they can put on a united front.

It’s natural for us to alter our natural hair so we feel more at home in the groups we belong too. Our hair is a tool that we use to express ourselves and represent our groups. Or not.

“‘Dang’ — When some-body tells me something I don’t really want to hear it, I’ll just say, ‘dang’ to get them to be quiet.”

“Instead of saying for sure, I say ‘fosho’.”

“I’m going to be a nerd and say that I don’t try to talk in slang.”

Kristen AllesENGLISH TEACHER

Emily EbersoleENGLISH TEACHER

By Sydney Benson YOUR TURN: What is your favorite appropriate slang term?

“Grosse Pointe Public School administrators and teachers are responsible for encouraging and ensuring freedom of expression and freedom of the press for all students, re-

gardless of whether the ideas expressed may be considered unpopular, critical, controversial, tasteless or offensive.”

BOARD OF EDUCATION POLICY

Erica LizzaCO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Olivia AsimakisNEWS EDITOR

Dora JuhaszWEB NEWS EDITOR

Ritika SanikommuASSISTANT EDITOR

Anu SubramaniamCO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Brittney HernandezLIFE EDITOR

Jennifer KuschIDEAS EDITOR

Haley ReidCO-MANAGING EDITOR

Wendy IshmakuBUSINESS MANAGER

Kaley MakinoWEB IDEAS EDITOR

Emily MartinbiancoWEB LIFE EDITOR

Danaija ChatmanSENIOR

“Grind time—it means work hard and be dedi-cated.”

“Flame or roast. It means, when someone’s doing some-thing like, stupid or something like that, you would talk about them and use flame.”

Alex VanDoornSOPHOMORE

“‘Yeet,’ which means bye or get out of here.”

Imani Brown JUNIOR

Derrick HollowellFRESHMAN

MY TURN ANU SUBRAMANIAM

IDEAS

EDITOR’S DESKHALEY REID

A Swift success“What does Taylor Swift

got to shake? She’s like a walking twig. She doesn’t have anything to ‘Shake.’”

“Taylor Swift is made to be a ‘role model’ and ‘inspiring,’ yet she has had 13 boyfriend in the past 3 years!”

“Taylor Swift looks like one of those girls who col-lects her boyfriend’s hair in a jar.”

Mean Girls, move aside. The real “burn book” lies within the slanderous com-ments that litter singer and pop icon Taylor Swift’s social media accounts.

It’s 2015, and Swift has concluded that “the haters gonna hate, hate, hate.” But her response to their harass-ment certainly hasn’t ended the bullying. The world is a war zone split between the self-proclaimed “Swifties” and her tormentors. It seems there’s no indifference to the singer.

Of Swift’s many “devas-tating faults,” she is most in-famous for “ruining the lives of men nationwide.”

They say Swift has dated a lot of men. But how does one define “a lot?” Is four shame-ful? Is ten? There is a lack of evidence that Swift has even dated every single one of these alleged boyfriends.

The peak of the Taylor-tantrum raged during her romance with One Direction heartthrob Harry Styles. For some reason, the majority of Styles’ fans were set on the idea that he would eventu-ally fall madly in love with them—all 23.4 million of them—and Swift was a thief. How could she? Styles was their man. He was already in a polygamous relationship with millions of young ladies around the world when he paraded the blonde beauty through Central Park. Now, it’s understandable to feel defensive of an idol, but the death messages Swift re-ceived in response to her re-lationship were senseless.

What’s more remarkable than Swift’s list of boy toys is her ability to combat the hate and make millions off nega-tive media messages. The singer’s latest album, 1989, was released in October and sold 1.287 million copies in its first week. Swift used her bullies’ ammo to produce a slew of genius pop anthems that make a powerful, sar-castic mockery of herself. She’s a marketing mogul. In her transformation from boy toy to girl’s girl, Swift and her publicists have done it right. If anything, her powerful message and rampant suc-cess has proven that the new Swift is more of a role model than the naïve country prin-cess parents and their little girls adored.

So she’s imperfect. Aren’t we all? I don’t want to look up to someone that has done everything right. The more I adopt Swift’s carefree, hater-shaking philosophy, the less apologetic and self-conscious I’ve become. This isn’t to say that Swift is the Mother Teresa of the music industry, but we could learn a thing or two from the girl.

We’re all guilty of this sad disregard of a celebrity’s hu-manity. There’s a distance between haters and their ce-lebrity targets, and this non-confrontational bullying has no serious repercussions. But Taylor doesn’t care. She has set an example of toler-ance and productivity, and that’s something to respect. So let’s cut her some slack and remember that she’s got a blank space, and she wrote their names.

No picture is worth prison time

One click. A camera, an absence of clothing and a lapse in judgement can land a minor in turmoil beyond just social consequences.

With the widening vortex of social media and the growth of lax behavior online and over text, the prevalence of sexting scandals is on the rise. Take Rochester Adams High School, for instance, where 31 students under the age of 16 are cur-rently facing prosecution for the possession and distribution of explicit photos. Twenty-four girls and seven boys, some from nearby Van Hoosen Middle School, are involved.

Schools and parents alike have taken measures to edu-cate children and teens about the moral and social dangers of sexting, but the legality of sending nude photos is often skimmed.

These charges are far from embarrassing misdemean-ors. Those convicted of creating, soliciting, distributing or possessing explicit material featuring a minor face a felony charge, with penalties potentially exceeding 20 years in prison.

It’s illegal for a minor to even take a nude photo, let alone send one. Registry on the sex offender list is required after such an incident. Of course offenders could face social rami-fications among their peers or at school, but those would be incomparable to the life-altering legal consequences which stem from a single photo. A single click of a button.

So where’s the fear of this lengthy list of repercussions? Children and teens seem to possess a feeling of invincibility. This “it couldn’t possibly happen to me” mindset has become toxic. It’s doubtful the teens involved at Rochester Adams High School had any knowledge of the serious consequences they would later face, yet scores of them are paying the price.

Social campaigns such as #FreeTheNipple and a general increase in the acceptance of nudity have painted sexting as less harmful than it is. However, teens are forgetting that the law doesn’t bend to such trends. This behavior is still legally forbidden to minors, and no social movement will sway that.

Besides, what teens may think is normal and mainstream often isn’t. Popular British tabloid The Sun recently decided to ditch its famous topless models featured for more covered skin. While acts like this signal a reach for conservativism, the mass majority of teens seem to be pushing it away.

Social status may be a factor in the growing trend of send-ing and receiving. While the initial sending of an explicit photo is typically meant as an intimate act, the widespread sharing isn’t. This initial boost in social status as a result of sharing explicit gossip with peers can be tempting.

Distributing explicit photos, messages and videos alike have become more of a casual pastime among teens rather than a forbidden deed. There is no doubt that teenage hor-mones will continue to rage despite the illegality of sexual media and acts among minors. The biology is unchangeable. It’s the education on these topics that needs a better aim.

Start young. Rochester High School was not alone in the sexting scandal. With a nearby middle school also involved, it’s evident the high school’s problem has trickled down. Between parents and health education programs in schools, sexting needs to be addressed and firmly tackled before students reach high school. While high school education is beneficial, the lesson can be engrained more effectively at a younger age and reinforced later on.

To really get a teen’s attention, outline the legal conse-quences of sexting and distributing these photos clearly and in detail. Emphasizing that these are felonies with a hefty sentence can deter kids from engaging in sexting. Teach-ing kids about morality and social consequences is equally important, but teens seem to be more informed morally than legally. The importance of keeping a clean legal slate should grab the attention of teens with their life ahead of them.

Page 4: North Pointe- Jan. 30, 2015

4 – North Pointe – Friday, Jan. 30, 2015

FACES IN THE CROWDNuha Mosa

After dining at a Chinese restaurant, the bill is ac-companied by a little cookie containing a slip of paper. Opposed to skimming the fortune and merely throw-ing it out, junior Nuha Mosa keeps these.

“I have a little bit over 20,” she said.Mosa began collecting a couple years ago af-

ter eating at a Chinese restaurant.“One day I just started,” Mosa said. Though she doesn’t believe the cookies

actually tell the future, Mosa still finds them insightful.

“I just like reading them because sometimes they’re not really real fortunes, they’re just fun-ny things ” Mosa said.

But there’s one that stands out.“There’s one that says, ‘You shall seek out

new adventures,’ and that’s one of the ones I like the most,” Mosa said. “I think that’s the one that I see myself doing the most, even though I don’t really believe in them.”

Vince Alibri A man with a huge mo-

hawk, dyed different colors on both sides, and a golden retriever dressed as a lion are just a few of the bizarre things that have crossed sophomore Vincent Alibri at his job at Prime Parking.

His dad owns the parking lot in downtown Detroit, where Alibri has been working since he was young.

“I would go down there just to go with him when I was 5, but I liked working down there ‘cause I got to see a lot of cool people downtown and just enjoy the atmosphere,” Alibri said.

Despite his dad encouraging him to go his own way, Alibri is interested in taking over the business someday.

“I think because my dad kind of owns it, he can teach me to go through all different types of things rather than other things that kids have to learn on their own,” Alibri said. “They basi-cally have to trip and fall in order to be able to become good at their job, but for me, my dad helps me out.”

Jackie VeneriSophomore Jackie Veneri’s

passion for theater led her to be an assistant director for this year’s school musical, Catch Me if You Can. Veneri is following in the footsteps of her sister, Courtney Veneri, who graduated in 2013.

“My sister used to assistant direct the musi-cal before she graduated, and she loved it, so I just kind of took her place, and it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made,” Veneri said.

As an assistant director, Veneri organizes contact and prop lists to keep everything in or-der and help director Sean Kifer. Her favorite part about the job is forging new friendships.

“All the people affiliated with (the play) are some of the funniest and best people to be around,” Veneri said. “It’s cool to see the pro-duction come together after all our rehearsals.”

Catch Me if You Can runs March 5-7 in the Performing Arts Center.

By Billy Moin, Emma Puglia & Gowri Yerramalli

ON CAMPUS

By Andrea ScapiniMANAGING EDITOR

As a lifelong sports fanatic, it would seem second nature for counseling intern Melissa Kuznar to join a foot-ball team—just not a co-ed one.

“I love the co-ed aspect of it be-cause I never played on a co-ed team in high school, and I didn’t play in college,” Kuznar said. “I’m a really healthy person, so I like to stay in shape. I’m competitive, so I love that aspect of it.”

Kuznar joined the Detroit Social Club co-ed football team looking for a more relaxed atmosphere.

“It’s fun, but it’s down a level as far as it’s not crazy competitive like high school, like you’re gonna die if you don’t win,” Kuznar said. “It’s a really good mix of fun and being healthy and competitive.”

Kuznar played a wide array of sports in high school from t-ball to swimming, running track to cheer-leading. She contributes her dedica-tion in sports to her success in school.

“In high school it definitely taught me time management be-cause it was so rigorous, and I was a straight-A student, so I really need-

ed to learn how to get all of the hours of homework done every night and then two hours of swim practice or track or whatever,” she said.

Kuznar got over her initial ner-vousness about the rough stereo-types associated with football.

“It’s f lag football, so you can’t even touch. I went into it knowing that I might get a couple bruises and scrapes, and I did, but it was super fun.”

Aside from playing to stay healthy, Kuznar wanted to learn football in a more hands-on environment.

“I like football because it’s new, and I’ve never done it before, and I was really excited to learn, and I think it’s one of the sports that’s been around for so long, and I just think the history is really cool, and I like sitting around watching Sunday foot-ball,” Kuznar said.

With a refreshed love for the sport, Kuznar is becoming more invested in games.

“My feelings during the game are that I’m super focused,” Kuznar said. “I do anything the quarter-back tells me to do. I just focus in, and I see the flag.”

Counseling intern Melissa Kuznar began playing on a co-ed football team two years ago. “ I love football, and I wanted to learn how to play the sport more by actually playing it,” Kuznar said. “I love sports, so this was a great way to get involved in sports as an adult.”

Counseling intern Melissa KuznarFIVE MINUTES WITH

Will you miss being a teacher and adviser?I miss it already. There’s so much I would miss, or I do miss. Probably getting to see kids with other kids. As a counselor, you kind of only see more one-on-one, and I love seeing the personalities. If I didn’t laugh like 45 times a day, there was something wrong because they’re so funny and just kind of the answers that kids would give.

What made you go into counseling?I taught for about 11 years, and I just feel like so much of teaching, for me to be a successful teacher, I got to know the kids so well, especially the news-paper kids because we were working together long hours and had pizza, and we just got so close ... I just really loved that aspect about it, and I would find kids coming after school just to talk, and it would be five, six, seven o’clock at night, and some-times I would hate having to turn them over to the counselors because you legally have to do that. I just figured that I can connect really well with kids, and they’re coming to me, so why not go into that.

What are you studying right now?I’m finishing my master’s in counseling and keeping up my teaching certificate as well since I used to teach English and journalism.

Do you think your 1-year-old daughter will get involved in sports, too?Oh yeah, I’ve already had her in swim lessons … and I am hopefully going to get her into gymnastics when she’s old enough. She’s not old enough to do lots of the stuff yet, and I want her to be a little ballerina. It really helps with rhythm, counting, coordination. Dance really helped me with sports a ton.

ANDREA SCAPINI

Students from AP Environmental science classes prepared all-organic food for a competition on Friday, Jan. 16

Science students sample organic snacks By Sydney Benson

PHOTO EDITOR

ABOVE: After each presentation, AP Envi-ronmental Science teacher Chris Skowronski grades the students based on their slide-show. “I would keep this going in the future,” Skowronski said. “Students get to see how we can incorporate organic foods into our diets, and the idea with organic foods is that it doesn’t always taste the best, and it can be boring and bland, and people can be really creative and create dishes that’s fun, that’s tasty, and it can be healthy at the same time, so learning that is key.”

LEFT: Senior Courtney Lamparski evaluates the organic dishes presented by a group.”It was actually kind of hard to find the organic stuff, but then it turns out that this one com-pany, Organic Simple Truth, has everything we needed, and it was kind of expensive,” Lamparski said.

ABOVE LEFT: Seniors Jake Howard and Charlie Annas prepare their organic apple crisp for the taste test. “(The project) was a lot of fun just because we got to do our own thing, and we got to do something different outside of the classroom,” Howard said.

ABOVE RIGHT: Diving into one of the many organic dishes, senior Emily Hoshaw says she enjoyed this project. “I thought it was fun to try and get all of these ingre-dients together and think of what can we make with everything in Michigan and that’s organic, so I thought it was awesome,” Hoshaw said.

Page 5: North Pointe- Jan. 30, 2015

LIFE North Pointe – Friday, Jan. 30, 2015 – 5

Slang slung into everyday life By Wendy Ishmaku & Radiance Cooper

BUSINESS MANAGER & ASSISTANT EDITOR

“Swag money” is defined bt The Huffington Post as a phrase used to emphasize “rich greatness.”

“Swag money sounds to me like somebody must be in possession of an excessive amount of wealth or the person is possessive of an exceptional amount of swag-ger, is feeling hip that day and thus is monied in a swag sense,” English teacher Charles Crimando said.

The limit that 140 characters puts on typing and texting has forced this shift in word culture. “Swag” was once “swagger.” “Bae” is short for “before anyone else” and “my mains” means “my main friends.” Younger generations are constantly pa-trolling social media and texting non-stop, and this limit has helped create acro-nyms for just about anything. This can leave older generations in utter confusion over “what those crazy kids are saying.”

Students are trying to communicate with educators this way, and slang is mak-ing its way into essays and impromptus.

“Every day. Every hour, every day,” English teacher Diane Montgomery said. “I usually just circle and write notes like, ‘That’s not appropriate.’”

While senior Katie Roy understands that there are instances where slang should be exempt, she believes there are exceptions. For instance, in AP Literature and Composition, Roy believes this slang can convey certain traits in characters that other words might not.

“Sometimes it’s necessary to show the integrity of the characters in it, and that’s the only way to say it the way you want it to be interpreted,” Roy said.

Since the use of slang has been banished from the classroom, students look for other outlets to use their terms.

“I only usually use slang if I’m trying to be sarcastic, like not even in a real conversation,” junior Rebecca Flynn said. “I don’t mean it seriously. I usually use it sarcastically. Yeah, except for OMG. I usually use OMG.”

It’s not uncommon for slang to accidentally become a part of a student’s every-day language after initially using it satirically, and it may have its benefits.

“I think when they are used in the appropriate situations, it’s f ine,” Montgom-ery said. “I think it’s one of the things that kind of helps bond people together with their use of common slang words.”

Junior jumps continents for church choirBy Olivia Aisimakis NEWS EDITOR

Clutching her passport in one hand and a plane ticket in the other, junior Emily Brown Baker was ready for her British adventure.

Brown Baker is currently a part of Christ Church Grosse Pointe’s Choir for Men and Girls and has been invoved in the church’s music programs since fifth grade.

“We started going there with some family friends, and I heard it, and I just fell in love,” Brown Baker said. “I knew I really, really wanted to do it, so I joined the children’s choir, and then when I was old enough, I joined the girls’ choir.”

Aside from being a part of a group she adores, Brown Baker gets the opportunity to travel over-seas to perform. During the summer of 2013, she went to England for three weeks to sing. In the summer of 2016, Brown Baker and her church choir group will travel to Spain.

“I love the history and knowing that I’m a part of a tradition of church choirs that has been going on for almost a thousand years, and even before that, there has always been church choirs,” Brown Baker said.

Scott Hanoian, the organist and Director of Music at Christ Church, has been traveling with the choir for years including sites like England, Italy and France. He not only works with the Choir of Men and Girls, but he also directs the Choir of Men and Boys and the Christ Church Schola choir.

“(It was) founded in 1949. The Choir of Men and Girls serves as the principal choir for the 9 a.m. service each Sunday. The choir consists of approximately 20 girls from fourth through twelfth grade and professional singers from Grosse Pointe and the surrounding area who sing alto, tenor and bass to complete the traditional choral sound,” Hanoian said via email. “Schola serves as the ‘floating’ choir and singing for any of the Sunday liturgies. (It) is the choir in residence when the boy and girl choristers are away and sings on the annual concert series. Schola is made up of select girls in ninth through twelfth grade and professional singers from Grosse Pointe and the surrounding area.”

Brown Baker not only enjoys singing but also the history of the songs. Her favorite hymn to sing is “Cantique de Jean Racine” by Gabriel Fauré because of its beauty.

“It’s classical music, so things that were written from the 1500s on, many, many different lan-guages like Russian, Italian and lots of Latin, obviously. It’s difficult music— I’ve learned a lot about music theory there, like the math behind music and the chord progression,” Brown Baker said.

The group is not only a way for Brown Baker to express her love of singing, but it’s also a sanctuary for her.

“It’s basically my favorite thing in the world. There’s a very big sense of community. It’s fascinat-ing listening and performing music that I would have never been exposed to otherwise,” Brown Baker said. “It’s really rewarding.”

While Brown Baker started the trips in the past few years, Hanoian has been advising these trips for decades.

“The experience of the choristers was so positive, we have continued the tradition to this day,”

Hanoian said. “We have done everything from singing in St. Paul’s Cathedral, London to St. Pe-ter’s Basilica at the Vatican to visit Stonehenge, ride the London Eye and climb the tower of Notre Dame Cathedral. Traveling with the choirs from Christ Church is always an adventure. Perform-ing in some of the most stunning, sacred spaces across the globe is exhilarating on every level. In addition, the bonds that the singers form during our travel is one of the best byproducts of touring. Friendships are created and forged that are meaningful and long-lasting. ”

Brown Baker has seen and harmonized in her fair share of historic places, from the Washington National Cathedral to Tewkesbury Abbey in England, her favorite place to perform.

“It’s so cool because everything is so much older there than it is here,”Brown Baker said. “I forget to miss my family, to be honest. It’s so fun. It’s one of the greatest memories of my life. I think about it all the time. Going to England with all of my friends and doing one of my favorite things—it’s really amazing.”

Although he works with large group of singers, Hanoian has been able to build relationships with each of them.

“Conducting these choirs is a privilege and something I look forward to everyday. I’m so thrilled that I have the opportunity to work with these young singers on a daily basis,” Hanoian said. “I enjoy working with the very bright and talented young singers to create a unified and collective sound. To be able to express an artistic vision as a group is what keeps us going from day to day. Em-ily is an exceptionally talented and intelligent singer. She brings hard work and dedication to every rehearsal and service, and she has become a real leader in the choir.”

The choir takes their voices to thousands of people in order to spread the joy music brings. Brown Baker does it for the relationships she builds and the memories she makes.

“It’s just for the love of it. We can make something beautiful, so why not?” Brown Baker said.

ABOVE: Junior Emily Brown Baker and her choir perform in the St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, England. “It’s no competition. We sing in church every Sunday morning, we rehearse three or four times a week. Its just for the love of it,“ Brown Baker said.

Emily Brown Baker travels internationally with her church’s singing group most recently having traveled to England

Page 6: North Pointe- Jan. 30, 2015

6 – Friday, Jan. 30, 2015 – North Pointe

REVIEWS

ALBUM

WHAT A TERRIBLE WORLD, WHAT A BEAUTIFUL WORLD

Upon clicking the link to The De-cemberists’ video for their new song “Make You Bet-ter,” it’s hard to be sure if the 70s-quality, low-bud-get talk show on

the screen is a music video at all.For the first minute and a half, no music

plays, and no other band members are in sight—just an older guy being interviewed by a confused Russian anchorman. Right as it seems time to click exit, suspecting a 2015 edition of being “Rickrolled,” a stage pops on the screen, and the older guy, turned lead singer Colin Meloy takes the mic.

The odd stage presence produced by the band of middle-aged men and women is somewhat reminiscent of aunts and un-cles at karaoke night having one too many drinks and strolling up to the platform. One look at the motley crew, and it seems clear this is going to be a disaster.

But truthfully, The Decemberists know what they are doing. With the very first per-fectly hit, vibrato note Meloy sings, it’s ob-vious this band is no joke. Combining a 90s Blink-182 vibe with a more relaxed, indie-folk sound, they play off of their goofy ap-pearance to leave the listener in awe of how up-to-date the music really is.

The Decemberists’ new album What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World is their strong comeback from a four-year hiatus. It’s perfect background music for cramming in some late-night studying or for singing in the car at the top of your lungs.

The Decemberists are a perfect reminder to never judge a book by its cover, or in this case, a band by its members and to consider giving uncles the mic at karaoke sometime. They might actually be good.

The Decemberists; What a Terrible World, What a Beau-tiful World; Capitol Records

By Kaley Makino

WWW.AMAZON.COM

APP

DOT UP !

Dot Up! is a no-brainer. It has no frills, but its simplicity is what makes it enter-taining.

The goal is el-ementary: get through as many

obstacles as possible. The obstacles in-clude seesaws, revolving bars and even a sliding door motion obstacle. The first tap determines the motion of every obstacle throughout the game.

This game is a step down from Circle Pong. Both apps are created by App Cow and have similar styles. Circle Pong has a much faster pace and is frustrating to the point of deleting after the first play. Dot Up! is more luck of the tap. It takes little skill.

All a user has to do to succeed at Dot Up! is tap the screen and manage time. If the dot hits the bottom of the screen or an ob-stacle, it counts as a death. But every time the player makes it through a barrier, a point is added to his or her score.

The desire to beat a previous high score becomes addicting. The game has no lev-els, and is a never-ending cycle of tapping.

The layout is clean and simple, mak-ing for non-distracting play. It has a simple one-colored background that changes with every play, and the obsta-cles are white rectangles.

There are ads at the top of the screen which can get in the way sometimes. There is also no option to turn the sound off, so without silencing the phone, players are stuck listening to a high pitched ding every time they tap the screen.

This game is a great time waster. All that’s needed to play is luck, great timing and a few hours because it’s hard to stop once started.

Dot Up!; App Cow; Nov. 15; Free; Apple

By Caitlin Bush

WWW.APPS555.COM

BOOK

THE LONGEST RIDE

The film a d a p t a t i o n of Nicholas Sparks’ latest book, The Lon-gest Ride, is set to hit theaters April 10. The book’s success

was soon followed by a movie deal and the trailor was recently released.

Published in 2013, the book deliv-ers the romantic charm that readers have come to expect of Sparks. Set in North Carolina, the story shifts be-tween Wake Forest University, a ranch in a small town and a car crashed off the highway. The narration alternates between the three main characters—Sophia, Luke and Ira.

Unlike Sparks’ other works, The Longest Ride simultaneously tells the love story of two different couples. Ira, a 90-year-old man, is stuck in a totaled car buried in snow in a ditch by the highway. He retells the story of his 50-year romance with his late wife, Ruth. Sophia is a student at Wake Forest University who falls for a small-town rancher and bull-rider, Luke. Their stories are polar opposites, yet Sparks finds a way to mesh the two together.

With the characters’ health, rela-tionships and livelihoods at odds, the reader feels compelled to find out how these two tangled love affairs turn out.

Sadly, the book reeks of the same cliche plot that Sparks has used for over a decade: boy meets girl from a different world, girl and boy fall in love. The characters grow on the read-er throughout the book, but one can’t help but think, “Where have I heard this before?”

The Longest Ride; Nicholas Sparks, 2013 Grand Central Publishing

By Anu Subramaniam

NICHOLASSPARKS.COM

MOVIE

PADDINGTON

P a d d i n g t o n , the lovable bear of children’s books, has made his way into the-aters. The self-titled movie with its pleasant story line and witty

characters is a great flick for the whole family. The fact that the main character, Paddington, is a talking bear just adds to its overall charm.

The movie’s storyline is smooth and doesn’t jump around like most chil-dren’s movies. It allows for a lot of character and theme development that gives viewers a clear understanding of the characters’ inner workings. It also helps the story move cleanly without confusing the viewer.

On the other hand, the one-di-mensional plot has some setbacks, and there is some monotony. But the pinches of hilarious dialogue here or there or some much-needed action (like when Paddington flooded the bathroom) help compensate.

The characters in the movie are en-joyable. There is a range of person-alities from completely reserved to extremely outgoing, and their devel-opment over the course of the movie is relatable and interesting to watch. It was satisfying to see not-so-stereotyp-ical personalities like having a strict mother and a more lenient father, too.

This movie though, is definitely for younger viewers. It has some jokes that older audiences could find funny, but for the most part, it appeals to children. It’s not a movie for someone who dis-likes childish themes. The average teen viewer might skip this, but would be perfect to see with a younger sibling.

Paddington, 2015, Paul King, PG

By Josie Bennett

WWW.REELCINEMAS.CO.UK

G o t h a m

Unbroken (2014)

Directed by Angelina Jolie

PG-13; 2 hours, 17 min.

By Thomas RemenarASSISTANT EDITOR

Batman is one of the most popular su-perheroes to ever exist. The caped cru-sader has had many of his own movies and TV shows that each have tried to take a spin on the classic storyline. Fox’s new show, Gotham, is different. The show tells the story of the famed dark knight’s orgins as well as many of the infamous villains associated with the state of Gotham City.

Gotham centers around Jim Gor-don (Ben Mckenzie), a new detective at the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD), who is paired with the veteran detective Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue). The pair are tasked with solving the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne, later finding their deaths are connected to mafia crime families and corruption in the GCPD.

During this investigation, Gordon en-counters younger versions of Batman (Bruce Wayne), Catwoman (Selina Kyle),

the Riddler (Edward Nygma) and the Penguin (Oswald Cobblepot), all who have not yet committed the acts they are known for in the comics. The show also hints at younger versions of many other famous Batman characters like Bane, Poison Ivy and Two-Face.

Gotham is a show that seems to be too ambitious for its own good. It tries to be a dark and serious crime drama and tell the original story of Batman and his vil-lains. The show doesn’t handle its goals very well either, often forgetting a part of its story until it becomes relevant again or neglecting to provide proper lead up to an event or character. It only reinforc-es the idea that Gotham is trying to keep too many plates spinning. The show bit off more than it can chew.

The writing isn’t very good either. The overarching story is dry and pret-ty predictable. Characters often spout lines that no human would say. The only thing that this achieved through the un-natural prose is plot continuation and making the characters unrelatable to

the viewer. The most contrived writing, though, comes each time the show tries to introduce a famous Batman char-acter. The classic villains do their gim-micks in the most ham-handed way pos-sible, like when Nygma asks elaborate questions to go along with his findings on his job as a forensic scientist, or Os-wald Cobblepot limps strangely lead-ing people to call him “The Penguin.” It presents the characters merely as caricatures or two-dimensional beings, rather than complex characters.

The special effects also leave a lot to be desired. They look stiff and unnatu-ral, generally seeming out of place. The action scenes are dry and boring, and they are sometimes hard to watch when the cinematography is shaky. The cam-era never sticks to one shot for more than a couple seconds.

The tone of the show seems to be a lit-tle too dark. It tries to be grim and serious but does so around material that is inher-ently silly. It doesn’t seem to be having any fun with its story or characters and

has little to no amount of self-awareness. However, the show does seem to be

steadily improving. The writing gets bet-ter, and the effects have become better incorporated. Action scenes are becom-ing more frequent and more interesting as the show continues, and the cinema-tography has become more stable and less erratic. The tone has begun to light-en up a bit, too. It’s still generally serious but accepts that its content is a bit silly.

The characters are also becoming more likable. They seem more human and are easier to connect with. Bullock particularly goes from being one of the more unlikeable characters to being one of the most interesting to watch. The Penguin though, consistently gets the best lines, and is generally fun to watch.

Gotham is an astoundingly mediocre show. It ends up having decent writing and characters but a bit predictable. It does seem to be improving, so it might be worth keeping an eye on. For now, it’s a long walk from good, but is still quite watchable.

Gotham (2014)TV-14

Fox

WWW.PIXABAY.COM

Page 7: North Pointe- Jan. 30, 2015

North Pointe – Friday, Jan. 30, 2015 – 7SPORTS

While they started the season with 11 players, the girls varsity basketball team lost four to injury and illness

AND THEN THERE WERE SEVENBy Anu SubramaniamCO EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

The term “7/11” takes on a new meaning for the varsity girls basketball team—only seven players out of the eleven-girl team are able to practice. Two players are sick and two others are recov-ering from injuries, including junior Emily McPharlin.

“I completely tore my ACL and meniscus. I planted my leg, got hit from behind and twisted my knee in the fourth game of the season. It hap-pened with 30 seconds left in the second quarter,” McPhar-lin said via email.

Senior captain Megan Le-sha is one of the remaining healthy players on the team and has noticed the differ-ence that fewer numbers can cause.

“Having only seven players makes practice difficult. We don’t have enough players to run most of our drills or play five-on-five. It makes it hard to prepare for games when you can’t run your plays against a defense,” Lesha said via email.

Coach Gary Bennett said that illness and injury are not uncommon during the sea-son, but seven is an unusu-ally low number for the team.

“Every year you have inju-ries, and every year you have somebody that gets sick, and what you’ll do is hope that it doesn’t go through the team. So one of the things you try to emphasize is don’t share water bottles and things like that,” Bennett said. “Stuff like this happens all the time. Normally I have 12 people on the team, and we only had 11 to start with, and then we have four injuries or ill-nesses—now we are down to seven. That’s a low number.”

Some of the players who are unable to join their team-mates on the court still watch from the bench or bleachers.

“I’m disappointed I’m not playing, but I have learned how to support my team from the bench, and this experi-ence has made me even more determined to come back better than ever next year,” McPharlin said.

For junior Lucy Dodge, the physical exhaustion from be-ing sick has made it harder to watch her team’s games.

“I want to support the team, but right now, just be-ing so physically tired, it’s hard doing anything right

now,” Dodge said. “I saw the one game last week—that’s the first game I’ve seen. They’re giving it a lot of good effort.”

Bennett sees the disadvantage low numbers can have during practice, but doesn’t think it has a substantial effect on the girls’ games.

“It’s the practices where you are trying to practice five, against five and you can’t because you only have seven people. And it’s kind of discouraging in prac-tice—girls don’t get as much rest between things—so it’s tough on the kids that are healthy. Same token, it gives everybody their chance to play in the game, ” Bennett said. “We like to full-court pressure, so it means that the seven people that you have have to be in really good physical condition because they are not going to get a break. They have to stay in there, and they have to keep working.”

Bennett also believes the quality of play has remained unchanged.

“I give a lot of credit be-cause kids—they come to practice even though the numbers are so low in prac-tice—we are still getting stuff done in practice, and they are improving,” Bennett said.

Lesha has also seen growth from the seven players still able to play on the team as the team adapts to the situa-tion.

“I feel badly for the girls who can’t play because I know how much they want to be out on the court with the rest of the team. For me, it’s frustrating because there is nothing I can do to bring them back any faster. The only thing I can do is try to get boys to come and prac-tice with us, but that’s diffi-cult sometimes,” Lesha said. “We are missing some valu-able players, but those of us who are healthy and able to play have stepped up our game as best we can.”

McPharlin sees this situ-ation as something that has brought the team together.

“All players are stay-ing positive, working hard and rising to the occasion. Through this situation we have learned true teamwork, leadership and how to sus-tain our effort in the darkest times,” she said. “I’m looking forward to supporting and motivating my team through the rest of the season.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF JEN CARNEY

TOP: The team shoots a photo following a recent home game, prior to their loss in players. LEFT: Senior Megan Lesha leads the team through the JV team’s tunnel to do warm-up drills. “There always are inju-ries in girls basketball, so that hasn’t changed this season. Our team has just been hit really hard with illnesses on top of injuries, so that is different for us.,” Lesha said. RIGHT: Junior Erin Armbruster tips the ball at the girls’ home opener against Ladywood High School.

108,700,000average # of Super Bowl viewers

111,300,000viewer world record broken during Super

Bowl XLVII

0 50 100 150 200 250

4 million dollars per 30 second ad

240 million dollars paid for in ads in Super Bowl XLVII

New England quarter-back Tom Brady

4,109 passing yards33 touchdown passes

9 interceptions

Seattle quarterbackRussell Wilson

3,475 passing yards20 touchdown passes

7 interceptions

New England tight end Rob Gronkowski

82 receptions1,124 recieving yards

12 touchdown receptions

Seattle running back Marshawn Lynch

280 carries1,306 rushing yards

13 rushing touchdowns

#11 rated o�ense vs. #1 rated defense

Super Bowl XLIX On Feb. 1, the Seattle Seahawks will face theNew England Patriots. Both teams are 14-4.

SYDNEY BENSON SYDNEY BENSON

New England Patriots Seattle Seahawks

By Nathan LonczynskiINTERN

108,700,000average # of Super Bowl viewers

111,300,000viewer world record broken during Super

Bowl XLVII

0 50 100 150 200 250

4 million dollars per 30 second ad

240 million dollars paid for in ads in Super Bowl XLVII

New England quarter-back Tom Brady

4,109 passing yards33 touchdown passes

9 interceptions

Seattle quarterbackRussell Wilson

3,475 passing yards20 touchdown passes

7 interceptions

New England tight end Rob Gronkowski

82 receptions1,124 recieving yards

12 touchdown receptions

Seattle running back Marshawn Lynch

280 carries1,306 rushing yards

13 rushing touchdowns

#11 rated o�ense vs. #1 rated defense

Page 8: North Pointe- Jan. 30, 2015

8 – North Pointe – Friday, Jan. 30, 2015 FEATURE

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holy health: big diet fads

gluten free diet

intermittent fasting

paleo diet

volumetrics

raw food diet

Every year, a whirlwind of weight-loss resolutions leaves people scratching their heads as to how the

weight will come off. Let’s take a look at some of the most popular diet fads and what they’ll truly cost

By Mora Downs, Billy Moin and Audrey KamASSISTANT EDITORS AND IDEAS EDITOR

This diet excludes gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and rye and some oats. This

diet is meant to help with weight loss by ignoring these substances, which are commonly found in bread, pasta, ce-real and a variety of other food products.

PROS: includes lots of whole foods and few processed ones that are high in sodium and preservatives.

CONS: It’s easy to overeat gluten-free foods, which are usually filled with sugar and fat. The large portions lead to weight gain, and not eat-ing whole grain foods can leave out necessary nutrients.

This diet is based on the theory that human bodies are meant to fast and feast. On two

days every week, followers will only consume 500-600 calories and can eat anything the other

five days. It is meant to help with weight loss and increase lifespan.

PROS: All food is allowed, and the diet promotes exercise. CONS: The science behind this idea is controversial. The body can become short on certain nutrients, and the diet doesn’t promote healthy habits. Possible side effects in-clude headaches, irritability and hunger.

This popular diet follows the habits of our Paleolithic

ancestors who mainly ate fresh fruits and vegetables, healthy fats and lean meat, discludes what they wouldn’t have eaten: refined sugars, saturated or trans fat, yeast, dairy or

whole grains. It claims to promote athleti-cism, leanness, an acne-free complexion and

may lessen symptoms associated with asth-

PROS: This diet’s mainstays are lean meats, fruits and vegetables. It is usually low in sodium, and it promotes regular exercise.CONS: Entire food groups, like dairy and whole grains, are exclud-ed. This can lead to nutrient deficiency, and poor meat choices in-crease risk for heart disease. The diet also limits nutrient intake

and is dangerous for people with certain illnesses like kidney disease. The fresh food can be pricey, too.

the healthiest option: balance

Food is not cooked above 116 degrees Fahrenheit. Meat, bread, beans, lentils and eggs are not eaten.

Unpasteurized milk and cheese, raw fish and raw meat are popular choices for those on this diet.

PROS: The diet includes a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables.CONS: Meal preparation is tedious and has high risks for E. coli and Listeria contamination. It can also result in vitamin deficiencies. Another difficulty is that this diet makes it hard to dine out or eat at parties.

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On average, teenage girls need to eat 2,200 calories per day, and teenage boys need to eat 2,800 calories a day. The calories should come from fruits, vegetables and grains. Low-fat foods containing calcium should also be included as part of a daily diet because they improve bone strength. Lean protein in one’s diet helps build muscle. Cutting fatty or sugary foods out of a diet can also increase energy levels throughout the day.

In order to maintain a healthy lifestyle, experts recommend 60 minutes of exercise per day. Exercise should be a combination of both cardiovas-cular (running, walking or swimming) and strength training (pushups, lunges, crunches or bicep curls).

2800 calories a day

2200 calories a day

fromHEALTHYFOODCLEANSE.COM PSDGRAPHICS.COM BBC.CO.UK FAVIM.COM PIXSHACK.COM FR

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This diet promotes foods with low energy densities, meaning there are less calories

per gram. This follows the idea that these foods will fill stomachs without loading up

on calories. Users avoid sugar and fatty foods and replaces them with fruits and vegetables

when possible.PROS: The diet promotes eating to feel full, and

the water-rich foods tend to be healthier.CONS: The limitations mean always having to eat at

home, and the feeling of being full can wear

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INFORMATION COURTESY OF HEALTH.USNEWS.COM | CELIAC.ORG| KIDSHEALTH.ORG| LIVESTRONG.COM

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