Northwest Passage (October-November)

Northwest Passage, October-November 2014

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Contents

Cover art by Emma-Grace Shoppa

Gay Rights and Northwest COLORS

by Grace Christopher Page

Microsoftian Happenings in the News

by Aaron Fennell-Chametzky Page

Google Play App Attack

by Theo D. Page

News on Scotland

by Aaron Fennell-Chametzky Page

Hopefully, The Average Text

By Erin Leigh Moses Page

League of Legends

By Eebbaa Felema Page

Shovel Knight

By Eddie Page

Maze Runner

By Carmela Cohen-Suarez page

Doctor Who: Colin Baker is not the worst Doctor

By Harry Westergaard Page

Minecraft Review

By Raymond Yang Page

Various Reviews

By Sam Anderson page

Stutter of Faith


The Small Black Cat

By Emma Gibson

Various Poem


Puzzle

Staff

Sam Anderson

Grace Christopher

Carmela Cohen-Suarez

Maia Degrazia

Theo D.

Eebbaa Felema

Aaron Fennell-Chametzky

Emma Gibson

Erin Leigh Moses

Harry Westergaard

Eddie Wilson

Raymond Yang

https://sites.google.com/a/iowacityschools.org/nwp/news/doctorwhocolinbakerisnottheworstdoctor


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Gay Rights and Northwest COLORS By: Grace Christopher

In this school there are lots of things that are thrown around at people like “that's so gay” or fag/faggot. I was wondering why, and what they mean, so I joined COLORS. If you are interested in supporting people who are gay, lesbian, transgender, etc., or just spreading the word that being lesbian, transgender, gay, etc. is okay, you should join too. Once I learned what these words meant I wanted to know what others think these things mean.

What do you think “gay” means? Definition 1-Sexually attracted to someone who is the same sex. (Merriam-Webster) Definition 2- Happy and excited (Merriam-Webster)

Happy

Two males like each other

Two males have a crush on each other

Two males that are dating

Two males that are married

What do you think “that’s so gay” means? Definition-Used by people as an adjective to describe things that are bad, unpleasant.

Derogatory term

That being gay is not okay

That it is wrong and not okay to be gay

That you are gay and that is wrong

I asked students and teachers the following question: Have you heard what the word faggot/fag is? Teachers:Mostly yes 8th graders:Mostly yes 7th graders: Mostly no

What does faggot/fag mean ? Definition 1-A bundle of sticks or twigs, when they are bound together and used as fuel (dictionary.reference.com) Definition 2-A male homosexual; slang, mainly US & Canadian. (dictionary.reference.com) Teachers: Derogatory. Slang. Term used as against someone who is homo or heterosexual. 7th graders: I don’t know. Never heard it. 8th graders: A rude term. Slang. Used against someone who is homo or heterosexual. A bundle of sticks.

Do you believe that people should be able to be legally married gay or lesbian? Everyone said yes or that it should be a personal decision. It is okay because love is love.


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Do you know what transgender is if so do you believe that people should still be able to be transgender?

About half of people knew what it was, most people who didn't know what it was got it confused with bigender.

Bigender: To move between masculine and feminine gender-typed behavior depending on the con-text.

Transgender: Surgically changes to the opposite gender they were born. Most people said that it is a personal decision and that they have no opinion. No one said that they should no longer have the right.

Microsoftian Happenings In The News

by Aaron Fennell-Chametzky

Microsoft® is probably still the most powerful technology corporation in the world (Google® is close). Before

Microsoftian Happenings begin to be told; you must know this: Bill Gates is not, repeat-NOT the CEO of Mi-

crosoft; it is Satya Nadella. Gates hasn’t been the CEO since 2000, when the often-hated Windows® ME was

released. Gates was succeeded by the energetic, larger-than-life (figuratively) Steve Ballmer, who resigned

earlier this year. Ballmer is now the owner of the Doc Rivers-coached Los Angeles Clippers of the National

Basketball Association. Now the real news- Microsoft may rebrand all future versions of Windows® as just:

“Windows.”


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Google Play App Attack

by Theo D.

Action Games: Vector: A parkour, action game played in an artistic art style of Black, Blue, and white

Star Command: A space adventure game based around strategy and collecting upgrades for your ship to destroy other ships

Rope’N’Fly 4: A rope swinging game based in cities like Chicago and Cincinnati Armed Heros: A Third Person RPG based around magic with 5 classes.

Puzzle Games: Sushi Cat: A puzzle game where you drop a cat that tries to eat sushi and gets fatter with each sushi he eats.

Deemo: Another piano game! But this one is special since it has timing and a real story!

Tiny Dice Dungeon: A game about rolling dice to try and capture and/or defeat monsters

Horror Games: Five Nights At Freddy’s: A horror/survival game based around 3 chuck-e-cheese characters wandering around a pizza par-lor names Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria.

Indie Games: The Sandbox: A building game where you can build things but with a sciency twist. Terraria: A 2d platforming game close to Minecraft but more advanced

News on Scotland

by Aaron Fennell-Chametzky

Scotland, which as many of you know, is part of the United Kingdom and has

been for hundreds of years. Also what many of you know is that on Thursday,

September 18, the Scottish people voted to stay that way, with over 55% percent

of the vote in favor of remain part of Great Britain. Many people are divided, in-

cluding people here at Northwest! Well, it’s an issue that will continue to be de-

bated.


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Maze Runner

by Carmela Cohen-Suarez

Do not read this unless you are ready for spoilers!!

I just went to see The Maze Runner which was released on September 19, 2014 and I

have to say I really enjoyed it. The Maze Runner, directed by Wes Ball is a dystopian PG-13

movie based on the trilogy by James Dashner. I think that this about a hundred minute movie

movie is definitely worth the time and money to see. One of the reasons why I think it was so good was that once it started I immediately was

sucked in. It started with the main character, Thomas being rushed upwards in an elevator with

supplies in it. Once Thomas gets out of the elevator he finds himself in a place called The

Glade which is surrounded by a huge gray maze, the thing is he can’t remember anything ex-

cept his name. He soon finds out that they are trapped and that there are dangerous mechanical

monsters called Griever in the maze. He also finds out that no one else remembers anything

except their names and that every day Runners go out into the maze to try to find a way out. I

liked how it started because, along with Thomas you are also trying to find out what’s happen-

ing. The second reason why I think this movie was awesome was that the maze looked very realis-

tic. In the movie the maze looked almost exactly like what I imagined it would look like per-

haps better. I also liked how the maze sounded realistic when it was changing. The third reason why I liked it was because of the action in it. One of the parts that had action

in it was when Thomas and Minho were stuck in the maze at night and were being chased by

the Griever. This part showed action because they were running for their lives in a large maze.

Another part where there was action was when the doors of the maze didn’t close and the

Grievers came out and started attacking the Gladers. I really liked this movie although there were still some parts that I didn’t particularly like such

as how they kept setting up the movie for a sequel. But I would definitely suggest watching it.

I would recommend people from the ages of twelve through fifteen who like action, suspense,

adventure, and dystopian movies to watch this movie.


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By: Eebbaa Felema

Welcome to Summoner’s Rift! This info article is about the game League of Legends. The League of Legends

consists of summoners (you, the player), and champions (the characters you choose to play as). In Valoran, the

continent where this game takes place, summoners choose a champion to fight for them in one of four arenas.

Summoner’s Rift, the most basic of arenas, is the one this review will focus on. In Summoner’s Rift you can

play with four other friends against five bots (AIs), or five other players. On average, a game in Summoner’s

Rift can take anywhere from 30 to 80 minutes. The geography of Summoner’s Rift has three lanes, and a jun-

gle. The point of the game is to destroy the opposing team’s turrets, inhibitors, and their sole Nexus. Once the

Nexus is destroyed on the opposing team’s side of the field, you win! Inhibitors are at the base in front of the

Nexus. The inhibitors spawn minions, which help champions fight, and give gold and XP when killed. And of

course, champions. As stated earlier, you choose a champion to play as. Champions are the key part to League

games, since they are played by you. Certain champions have certain roles and lanes they are recommended to

play in. You can buy champions, as well as various other things, like Summoner Icons for your profile, and

skins for your champions, not to mention the champions themselves, with Riot Points and Influence Points, the

currency of the game. You gain Influence Points for every game played, but you only gain Riot Points from

the starter amount given to you, and from cards you can buy at gaming stores like GameStop. The more ad-

vanced the item or champion you want to buy, the more points it costs. There are also free Champions. There

is a new free champion rotation every week, but depending on your level, they might give you easier champi-

ons to play like Garen, Ryze, or Annie. For more advanced players, a non-modified rotation is available. Well,

that’s it for this information article. Until next time, readers!

http://gameinfo.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/game-info/champions/garen/

http://gameinfo.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/game-info/champions/ryze/

http://gameinfo.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/game-info/champions/annie/


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Shovel Knight By Eddie Wilson Recently I’ve been playing a game called Shovel Knight, it’s a game you can buy on the 3DS, Wii U, or Steam. The game is about a knight who has a shovel who is trying to rescue Shovel knight from the Enchantress. The game is a side scrolling platformer. The entire game acts as if it’s from the days of the NES, it has 8 bit graphics and you feel as if every time you die it’s completely your fault. You never actually get tired of the game because each level is completely different, you can be in a peaceful grass field one level, and the next you’re in a graveyard, or underwater. The shovel that you wield has many purposes, it can be used to pogo stick jump off of enemies, hit the enemies, dig for treasure, get past obstacles deflect enemy attacks, and much more. You can buy upgrades for the shovel, one of the upgrade adds an attack similar to the one from the original legend of Zelda. You can also buy armor upgrades, but choose wisely, the most expensive armor looks really cool, but does nothing. The grey armor, on the other hand, makes it so that if you pogo jump twice in a row, you do a super attack. Around the levels there are relics you can find. These relics do magic attacks like shoot a fire ball or spawn a gear you can walk on. These relics do use magic energy though and but you do regain magic by destroying enemies. Once you defeat three bosses you gain something called a meal ticket, you can use these to upgrade your health. You can also buy them from a GOAT in the town. You can also buy upgrades to your magic from some sort of creature in the town.


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Doctor Who: Colin Baker is not the worst Doctor

By Harry Westergaard Colin Baker is known by most as being the worst Doctor. This comes from most people who have only seen either one episode, only the scene from his first episode where he strangles his com-panion while suffering from post-regenerative crisis, Or because of his rather colorful costume. This is most annoying because Colin Baker’s Doctor is perhaps one of the most complex charac-ters out of any of the Doctors. His era was meant to go on for eight years, and he was meant to have a very complex storyline where he was to start out very unlikable, but was to evolve into a more likeable character as his era went on. However because of Michael Grade, controller at the BBC at the time, His era was cut short to two seasons. Why? Simply because Mr. Grade didn’t like his portrayal. He became the Doctor with the shortest run until Paul McGann, Christopher Ec-cleston and John Hurt came along. Today I’m here to give you a walk through of all of his epi-sodes, and show those who doubt him to give him a try. Without further ado, lets begin with one of his most hated, The Twin Dilemma This is just another episode of Colin Baker’s run seen as one the worst of the series. Now it does have its weak points, and it’s not the best episode, I surely don’t see it as one of the worst. The scenes in the TARDIS with The Doctor and Peri are really good and The Doctor’s old mentor is a fun edition. The child actors are annoying, but not horrible. The villain gets to do a lot of scenery chewing, with his over the top performance, and is quite fun to watch. The plot is a bit weak, and as I stated and it has suffers some padding. It’s not the best episode ever, but it’s not the worst either. Attack of the Cybermen This one is another that’s looked down upon by fans. Why?!?!?!? I actually really like this episode. The Cybermen are great, just as good as they are in Earthshock. The character of Lytton returns after appearing in the last season in Resurrection of the Daleks. He’s better this time, with more development. This episode is loaded with references to past episodes, such as The Doctor trying to fix the chameleon circuit, landing in I.M forman Totter’s lane, and the cyber controller. The cyber controller comes off as padding because there’s no reason to have him since they have the brilliant Cyber leader. This story is great, with awesome Cybermen and characters.It’s really good, better than a lot of the new series Cybermen episodes. Vengeance on Varos So now we come to Vengeance on Varos, a very different story, and my personal favorite Sixth Doctor story. It has a very creepy-satiric tone. Sil is a fantastic villain and Nabil Shaban is great in the role. Colin Baker is great here, showing more of his dark persona. The story itself is also real-ly dark and as I said, satirical, making fun of reality TV shows. I won’t ramble on about this, as I wrote about it in january for my top 7 classic episodes, but nonetheless its fantastic and if you are a fan of dystopian stories then definitely check this one out.

https://sites.google.com/a/iowacityschools.org/nwp/news/doctorwhocolinbakerisnottheworstdoctor


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Mark of the Rani Most people get the impression that The Rani stories both suck and should be avoided by most people who want to live. Well, I’m here to tell you that this is not horrible. Kate O’ Mara (may she rest in peace) is great as The Rani, and it’s really fun to see another Time Lord’s view of The Doctor and The Master’s relationship. Colin Baker as always is great, The Master is about average.There are some dumb elements like The Rani turning people into trees. But just as many good scenes to counter them. But hey, it’s WAY better than Time and the Rani! The Two Doctors Now, I bet you’re all thinking “What?” what is this doing with the Sixth Doctor? Wouldn’t it be with the second? Well, it’s with both. Yes, the Second Doctor returns to help the Sixth Doctor stop the Sontarans and this very strange scientist from achieving Time Travel. I find it to be a very good Sontaran episode, not as good as Time Warrior or Sontaran Stratagem but better than the Sontaran Experiment. Patrick Troughton returns and is great as per usual. The Sontaran redesign here sucks, but the new theme for them is great! Another really good story. Timelash Now this is another one that’s looked down on. Truthfully, this is one that I do have to agree with. The episode feels like a retread of what we saw two stories ago. With the dictator, and The Doctor coming to stop them. Except it was done a thou-sand times better in Vengeance on Varos.The cool part is the creature mask for the borad. However, this must’ve been what they used up their entire budget on, because all of the sets look like crap. This episode, while not the worst episode, is definitely Colin’s weakest story to date. Revelation of the Daleks This is another good one. It’s by Graeme Harper, probably the best director of Doctor Who, who had previously directed Caves of Androzani, on season 21. And of course, it looks great. However, while I do really like this story, it feels a bit weak when compared to Resurrection of the Daleks and Remembrance of the Daleks, the latter of which is one of the best Dalek stories to date. It’s still good, introducing the imperial Daleks, and having a lot of interesting characters. Its’ just not the best. It’s still worth a watch. All of the episodes (Except for Timelash) on this season are great! The acting here

from Colin is really good. Sadly, this was to be his last full season. The next sea-

son, Trail of a Timelord, was for the time a condensed season. By todays stand-

ards 13 episodes is the norm, but back then, it was condensed.


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By: Raymond Yang A Pocket Edition,Xbox, PS4, and Pc.

Markus Notch Persson, the founder of Minecraft made a world known single-player and multi-player sandbox game. The creative and building aspects of Minecraft allow players to build constructions out of textured cubes in a 3D. The object of the survival mode is to collect food and mine resources. in creative mode, you have unlimited re-sources and you can fly and build more amazing structures. There is also an Adven-ture mode so you can create maps that other people can play on. Markus stepped

down from the owner spot for Minecraft. On Monday, September 15, 2014 he made a deal with Microsoft. It isn’t a surprise Microsoft bought Minecraft, because Microsoft put the deal on table for a long time. Microsoft now owns Minecraft for a 2.5 billion

dollar deal. “I don’t see myself as a real game develop er. I make games because it’s fun, and because I love games and I love to program, but I don’t

make games with the intention of them becoming huge hits, and I don’t try to change the

world,” Markus said. Markus went and left Mojang trying something new, and so did 2 other

game developers. He is trying to make equally popular games today. Minecraft probably will

change due to sudden action of Markus Persson.

Mojang released a recent update the “1.8”. It was made before Markus left Mojang. It was

named the “Bountiful Update”. It added:

36 new blocks:

Andesite and diorite along with polished variants; 3 types of prismarine; 5 blocks relating to

red sandstone; 5 new varieties each of doors,fences and fence gates; as well as sea lanterns,

wet sponge, slime blocks, coarse dirt, barriers, iron trapdoors and banners

New underwater dungeon content: the ocean monument

New mobs including Endermites, Guardians and rabbits

Sheep now drop mutton

Armor stands

Potion of Leaping, Depth Strider enchantment and Overpowered achievement

Spectator gamemode, and customized and debug mode world types

Additional 'jacket' layer for player skins

Additional default skin Alex with smaller arms

http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Alex


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Changes

Rebalances to the enchanting and repairing systems

Enchanting now consumes lapis lazuli

Beacons may be colored with stained glass

Moss stone, mossy stone bricks, and chiseled stone bricks now obtainable by crafting

Cracked stone bricks and sponge now obtainable by smelting

Item frames now emit a redstone signal, and can rotate to 8 directions

Daylight sensors may now be inverted

Powered activator rail now dismounts entities riding minecarts

Arrows decelerate much more quickly underwater, and extinguish if on fire

Improvements to mobs' behavior and AI

Most mobs can now swim; notably, Slimes

Most mobs can now path find as zombies have; notably, angry Zombie Pigmen

Skeletons flee from wolves

Spiders no longer see players through solid blocks

Iron Golems attack Creepers

Babies' growth can be accelerated by feeding them

Most mobs will flee from a Creeper about to explode

Creepers, Skeletons, Wither Skeletons and Zombies drop their heads when killed by

charged Creepers

It truly was the Bountiful Update. It was the biggest update so far in the history of

Minecraft. It came out in September 3 2014.


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Various Reviews By Sam Anderson Book Reviews:

A book that is generally a good book to read is called Friends Like These by John Bacon. (John Bacon is the principal of City High). Even though it is aimed for fourth to sixth graders, I really recommend reading it to either yourself or your younger sibling or siblings. This book is about bullying and how to overcome it. Unfortunately, this book is not in print an-ymore, but you may be able to find a copy at the library or on eBay.

Another good book that I enjoyed was Ungifted by Gordon Korman, this is a comical book about a trouble-maker who accidentally got admitted into a school for extremely gifted kids.

Movie Reviews:

Currently there are not many super-great movies out right now, but one of the better still in theaters movie that I have seen would be Guardians of the Galaxy because this if the first hilarious science fiction movie I have ever seen. People who would like this are people who like comedy or science fiction movies.

Game Reviews:

A game that I have played recently played is called Pikmin 3. Pikmin 3 is about three astronauts that crash land on an alien planet and have to use local creatures called pikmin to help them get off the planet. This is a good game for anyone who has liked any kind of adventure or sci-fi game. This game does however, require a wii U and is rated E-10+. If you do not have a wii U and just a wii, you could play Pikmin or Pikmin 2 (Pikmin 3 is a reboot and not part of the original se-ries).

An old favorite game I have is Minecraft. This was the best $7.00 I ever spent in my life. You can make HUGE life size structures like the R.M.S. Titanic like me on creative mode or fight for survival against zombies in survival mode. The Xbox version of the game is rated E-10+, and pocket edition is rated 4+ on the apple app store. People who would like this game are people who like adventure games or like anything to do with architecture.


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Stutter of Faith

By Erin Moses

When I get really nervous, I stutter. I don’t feel very nervous anymore, so not many people know this. My

name is Penelope, by the way. I was in class one day, presenting a small project about self harm, and I

had forgotten to take my anxiety medicine. I broke out into a stutter, and everyone just sat and watched.

This random guy stood up, and grabbed my paper, and finished the presentation for me. Afterwards, he

hugged me, and said, “I used to stutter too.” Today, I am walking down the aisle to marry him. That gives

me hope in life. Maybe even enough to stop self harm. You never know.

The Small Black Cat

By Emma Gibson

Once, there was a small black cat named, Ordin. This was no ordinary cat. Ordin could “talk” to people. Most people who saw Ordin “talk” ran away scared in shock, but there was one kid who wasn’t scared of Ordin when he “talked”. He always heard animals “talk”. This kid's name was Landa, he had brown hair and green eyes. Landa took Ordin from his home in the park to his house. While Landa was taking Ordin to his house, he fell four times for no reason at all. Landa thought, “This cat must be cursed, he is making me trip constantly!”

Landa soon decided that Ordin wasn’t worth consistently tripping and put him down four blocks away from the park.

As Landa walked home without Ordin, Ordin was “wandering” around trying to find his way back to his home, the park.

“Why did that person do this to me? How am I supposed to get back home now?”

Ordin retraced his steps and found that Landa was just turning the corner down the street. As Ordin started to follow Landa, he devised a plan.

“I must “follow” this person.” Ordin thought. When Landa finally got home he found to his surprise, Ordin, the small black cat he had

tried to take home on his walk from the park. “What luck!” He thought. “This cat must be magical!”

Landa took Ordin inside and set him on the table, then he went up to his room. The room was two flights of stairs above the table that Ordin was sitting on.

When Landa turned into his room he found Ordin, just sitting on his bed like nothing had happened.

“Ooooookayyy. I will now throw this cat out the window.” Thought Landa. Landa threw Ordin from the window with only some difficulty, the window wouldn’t

open. Bammmm!! The window was broken!! “Okay, this cat is in the dump!” Landa yelled with some random hand movement.

Landa decided that he was hungry and ran down to the kitchen, only to find the black cat he had thrown out the window sitting in his chair. Landa proceeded to stuff the cat into the gar-bage can and throw the garbage out. The garbage was then taken out to the curb. He sat down to wait for the garbage truck. Nothing happened. When the garbage truck came he told the driver to smash the bag as many times as possible. The garbage man agreed and smashed the bag several times in front of Landa. When Landa got home the cat was back in the kitchen. The funny thing is that the cat was

stuffed.


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SOUL RIVER

By Erin Leigh Moses

A river of the dead to hold their souls, leaving sadness drowning. Souls lay scattered everywhere, floating ever so gently. Cold breath burps out of the river’s mouth. Ghosts rise from the watery grave, to haunt the world. They go to tartarus, and back, through shadowy mountains, painted black.

CHOKING

By Erin Leigh Moses

Choking on my very words, trying to talk to you. A distant being, much like I, whom I wish to chat amongst

with friends, share your story from here to the end, Pardon my language, but life right now is like trying to

take a casual stroll through hell. It’s so hard to fit in. All the girls are too girly, giggling like little prissy brats

that pretend like they woke up in that perfect makeup, and done up hair. And get this, all the guys seem

to believe them! Gawking at what probably took an hour to do, like it was so abnormal. Idiots.

PUZZLES

By Erin Leigh Moses

I am tall and dark unless lit with a spark, I melt into a puddle. What am I? _ _ _ _ _ E

I make a noise so high pitched and metal, and part of the last name of a celebrity is the

start of my name. What am I?

_ _ U _ _ _ _

I am taken with a camera, facing my suitor. What am I? _ _ L _ _ _

I correct your mistakes, and am used until out. What am I?

_ _ N

So ancient and clicky, my keys are rather sticky, as paper pops out of my top. What am I?

T _ _ _ W _ _ _ _ R

Sticky when spilled, and sweet when sipped. What am I? _ _ _ A

Documents

Northwest Passage (October-November)