“It doesn’t taste like chicken.”- Tarnisha Phiseme, 10

FocusPage 6Omaha Bryan high SchOOl

The oraTorFeBruary 13,2015

There’s something strange in the neighborhood, who ya gonna call?Unique, unusual, and interesting individuals lurk in hallways and classrooms

Lions, tigers and bears... not quite

Senior Joshua Sheppard goes above and beyond when it comes to pet ownership. He has three donkeys, eight ducks, a chicken, a golden retriever and a cat all living in his backyard. It all started when Sheppard’s mother wanted one donkey, named Houdini, but he came as a package deal with his lady friend Molly. They eventually made their newest addition to the family, Stormy, who was born during a storm. The first odd pet he’s ever owned was a squirrel. The squirrel entered their yard one day, and

after Sheppard’s family left out some food for him he just never left. The squirrel would hang around the house, but wouldn’t interact with them unless given food. The squirrel was later attacked by a hawk and eaten. Another pet Sheppard has had is a horse. Like the squirrel, it just wandered into their backyard one day.

The horse got attached to their home and just never left. The

What is the strangest thing you have ever eaten?

“I went to my friend’s house and they were having

cactus.”- Bethany Szczepaniak, 9

“My cousin made gumbo and it was mixed in. It tasted weird and slimy.”- Kwame Titsworth, 12

“A friend made me eat it.”- Luis Gutierrez, 12

“It was spicy and sour.”- Francesca Wilson, 11

Food is much like people. Some of them are bland while others are just strange. These are just some of the bizarre foods experienced by Bears.

Senior aspires to impact others through musicdown the line towards the reputation they have today and eventually started get-ting calls from different places for gigs. From the outside looking in, being involved in a band may seem like it’s mainly fun and games, but it can be a truly difficult hobby to juggle with relationships, education and personal well being. Martinez, along with the rest of EvenMe, have had to sacrifice many differ-ent aspects of their lives. “We’re all sacrificing our childhoods and being able to hang out with friends and have free time because we’re all focusing on what we can do to improve the band,” Martinez said. Even though Martinez has had to give up many of his favorite extracurricular activities, he sees the posi-tive that comes out of the negative. “Our whole band is sacrificing a lot but at the same time we’re getting a lot,” Martinez said, “There’s a balance to it.” Being in EvenMe isn’t always smooth sailing; just like any other band they encounter obstacles. Oth-ers may downgrade them because of their age and

experience causing the band to hit a bit of a road block. “Some churches see that if you don’t have a degree you shouldn’t be on stage,” he said, “but I don’t agree with that at all because Moses didn’t have a degree. Jesus didn’t have a degree. They didn’t have degrees; they had faith and spiritual-ity. They had a relationship with God.” Martinez admits that his mind set was once selfish and revolved around want-ing fame and fortune. After playing for people he knew needed inspiration and only after experiencing God’s unconditional love did his views change and push the band forward. “When God had shown me that he had an uncon-ditional love that was so burning, I decided to drop everything that was keeping me from being the person who I should be and because I made that decision, the band became even stronger and we started moving up because of that,” Martinez said. With their music and lyr-ics, EvenMe plans to change others’ outlooks on life and on the world while, leaving a lasting impact.

original owners, their neighbors, eventually just let them keep it. Sheppard and his family have lost pets in various ways. They once owned many fish, but one of the bigger fish ended up eating all the others. They also used to own more chickens, but the ducks tried teaching the chickens to swim and ended up drowning them. “It wasn’t really my choice to get all these pets. Whatever my mom wants we just go with,” Sheppard

said. Other pets that they

have had include a tortoise, hamsters, a snapping turtle, a cow and geese.

They’ve gotten pets from friends and from other places throughout Nebraska.

Sheppard and his family currently have plans to get more chickens and also a couple of sheep. Sheppard loves his pets,

but he would love to have a llama. “I would have a llama so I could ride it wherever I need to go while leading my donkeys behind me,” Sheppard said.

Holding his donkey named Stormy, senior Joshua Sheppard owns several unsusual pets.

Student by day, drag racer by night

The school offers a wide variety of sports. For many athletes, these are sports that they have participated in since they were little kids. However, senior Carley Brewer looks for a little bit more of a rush when it comes to sports. Brewer is an amateur drag racer in the Trophy Slick drag racing class. Brewer’s dad, who has been heavily involved in the sport for over 10 years, got

her into the sport when she was around four years old. Although she was obviously too young to drive, Brewer would watch her dad race and was immersed in the environment of drag racing. At the age of 15, Brewer started getting deeply involved in the sport. She and her dad worked together to modify a 1986 Monte Carlo SS into a drag car. Brewer said that she and her dad don’t worry about the cosmetics of their car. “We pride in the rust

spots and the duct tape on our car,” Brewer said. After their car was complete, Brewer moved from the bleachers to the driver’s seat. However, before she was able to race, she had to practice. Brewer currently practices on the 1/8 mile track at the Mid America Motor Plex in Glenwood, Iowa. After practicing, Brewer felt that she was ready to enter into races. Brewer has competed in three races

since entering the sport as a driver. Brewer said that she likes the technical aspect of it. Something as little as the weather the day of a race can affect how a car performs. The elevation of a race track also affects the car’s performance. “A lot more goes into it than most people think,” Brewer said. Brewer also added that just like any sport, you need to dedicate yourself to drag racing if you want to be

competitive in it. Although it may be considered a dangerous sport, Brewer said that she has never been injured while drag racing. Brewer has received all of her injuries while working on the car, such as accidentally burning or scratching herself on the car’s engine. After high school, Brewer plans to go to the University of Nebraska at Kearney and major in biology. She also hopes to continue drag racing through college.

Custodian does more than most think Although 4:00 a.m. might be the time some students go to bed, it is actually the time when maintenance techni-cian and custodian Ray Pollock is waking up. Tuesday through Friday, Pollock, who has been at the school for four years, works for the United Postal Service (UPS). Although many people work for UPS, Pol-lock’s job is unusual because he works at Eppley Airfield. Pollock’s job starts at 4:55 a.m., when he clocks in. After this, he goes to a mandatory meeting where all UPS employees at the airport stretch to prevent in-juries while working for the day ahead. After this, Pol-lock makes his way down to the runway to guide the first plane in. The first plane is a Boe-ing 757 that lands around 5:15 in the morning. Pollock is a marshaller, meaning he uses luminous sticks to help guide the plane into its place. After this is done, Pol-lock and about 30 other people unload the plane. To do this, UPS workers use something called a K-loader, which is a large machine

that can lift cargo up and down to reach the plane’s cargo hold.

The cargo consists of 32 large metal bins that are called cans. Each can weighs about 5,000 pounds and has to be taken from the cargo hold of the plane and lowered to the ground so the packages can be sorted out. Pollock’s next job is to help sort out the cargo. UPS does this because not all of the cargo is Omaha bound. Some of the cargo is for neighboring cities. Because of this, five to seven smaller planes are loaded with the cargo bound for those smaller cities. However, before any car-go is loaded onto the smaller planes, it has to be weighed. This is done to prevent the overloading of a plane. If a plane is overloaded, it can become unstable, po-tentially causing an accident during its flight. Also, if a plane is overloaded, UPS would be issued a fine.

Throughout his years of teaching, geography teacher Thomas Allen has established a reputation via his quirks. Just by looking at the mustache that resides on his face, most can observe his resemblance to the Lorax, but his peculiarities go much further. One unique asset to Allen is that he has no sense of taste or smell. Due to his asthma as a child, Allen

took steroids to open up his lungs and it caused him to lose his sense of taste and smell. Because of his affliction,

Behind Bryan’s Lorax: A man and his spoon

Ingraham proves car restoration knows no boundaries

As a child, band and orchestra teacher Kimberly Ingraham gained an interest in a male driven hobby, admiring and working on classic cars. Ingraham began fixing up classic cars alongside her father and uncle. All three shared the same interest which soon turned into a family hobby. Growing up, the trio created many memories while restoring many classic cars. Ingraham currently possesses a 1957 Chrysler

Imperial, the same car that her parents drove away in after their wedding. A little bow is still attached to the antenna from the wedding day. Early in Sept. 2014, Ingraham and her family were invited present their cars at the SAC Museum for public display. “It was nice because it was during the winter, so we had a free area to keep our cars, and we received free admission to the museum as well while our cars were being displayed,” Ingraham said.

his food preferences are all based on texture. Thus, he has a great animosity towards Jell-O.

His contempt for Jell-O began when he was a kid. On three different occasions Allen was admitted to the hospital for pneumonia where all he could eat was Jell-O. Another quirk that Allen is notorious for is that he is always armed with a spoon. The habit started when he travelled on military jets while his wife was in the Air Force. When the majority of his flights landed, most restaurants were not open. Soup from vending

“A friend wanted me to try it.”- Paul Peer, 9

Cactus

Goat Liver

BBQ mealworms

Snail

Strawberries with salsa

AlligatorJosh EstabrookEditor-in-Chief

Ruach JohnReporter

Morgan Perez-GarciaReporter

Nicole FischerReporter

Josh EstabrookEditor-in-Chief

Photos courtesy of Carley Brewer

Jasmin JimenezOpinions Editor

Left: Speeding through another race, senior Carley Brewer has been involved in drag racing for over ten years and is now a part of an amateur racing class.Right: Sitting in her 1986 Monte Carlo SS that her and her dad modified for drag racing, Brewer prepares for another race.

Photo courtesy of Kimberly Ingraham

Standing with her Roadrunner, one of the many cars she’s restored, band and orchestra teacher Kimberly Ingraham has grown up with an interest in cars.

Photo by Emily Pemble

The arts have always

contained some of the most diffi-cult hobbies

to pursue. From writing, to

theatre, to music, each individual talent requires

dedication at its high-

est. One must have a

mind set of

growth and

sacrifice to be able to delve

further into the

future of a se-

lected hobby. Senior Jose Martinez has opened up his life to the possibilities that his many talents have to offer. Martinez’s main focus lies on guitar and his band, EvenMe. EvenMe is a two, going on three

year old

band which consists

of five members. Martinez is the lead guitarist. The Christian rock band’s ultimate goal is to reach out to those who feel out of place without pres-suring them into evaluating their lives. “We want to reach out to people who feel insecure, who feel heartbroken, who feel like they’re not worth anything, that sort of teen-age mind set where they feel like they don’t matter and they don’t have a place,” Martinez said, “Our goal is to show you that God has a place prepared for you.” When the band first started it was more or less an experiment, but once they came together as an actual band they had the sort of click that few experience. They slowly progressed

Practicing his guitar, senior Jose Martinez devotes much of his time to his band, EvenMe.

Because of these dangers, UPS weighs every piece of cargo before it goes onto a plane, making sure that it does not exceed the 32,000 pound limit UPS’s smaller planes are allowed to carry. Pollock leaves Eppley at around 7:30a.m., getting at school to start his 9:00a.m to 5:30p.m shift. Pollock has been with UPS for 16 years. He said he really enjoys his job and is thankful for all of the ben-efits he receives from UPS. In addition to the ben-efits, Pollock said he also enjoys getting to be right up next to the planes and get-ting to see the sunrise during the summer months. The only thing he does not like about his jobs is the hours and the weather. Given his good experi-ence with the company, Pollock said he would rec-ommend UPS to anyone looking for employment. However, he also recom-mends working for UPS spe-cifically for college students because they offer flexible hours and, on some occa-sions, will help pay for some of their books.

machines was typically his only option, so he carried a spoon in his pocket so he could eat. While he has not had to use it, Allen has kept the same spoon in his front pocket for the past eight years. “It’s become a habit, but you should always have a spoon with you,” Allen said. His unique approach to teaching and his many quirks have made Allen a teacher most will remember for the rest of their lives.

Photo courtesy of Joshua Sheppard

Ray Pollock

Thomas Allen