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June 5, 2009 issue of The Voice
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On the week of May 4, Butler Tech an-nounced that it would pull the funding for Teacher Academy. After six years of sup-
porting aspiring teachers at Lakota West, the pro-gram has succumbed to the faltering economy.
“The cuts were made based on enrollment,” Butler Tech spokesperson Bill Solazzo said.
For the 2008-2009 school year, a total of 43 students were enrolled in the class at West, in-cluding 25 juniors in Teacher Academy I and 18 seniors in Teacher Academy II. However, an aver-age of 25 students per class is needed to support the program financially. Although numbers have increased in West’s program over the years, West has failed to enroll a sufficient number of students for both this year and the 2009-2010 school year.
“For a two period class such as this [Teacher Academy], they [Butler Tech] receive 2/7 of the funding for this student,” Vice President of the Lakota Board of Edu-cation Joan Powell said. “Butler Tech expects their teachers to teach six pe-riods of the seven period day. While the enrollment for the senior and junior Teacher Academy programs was adequate, this represents only four periods of the day. Enrollment for the other periods were very low.”
Teacher Academy is a three year program, and West provides the last two years. For the first year, students take a class at Butler Tech, com-monly known as the “leadership class”, that is not required.
“There was very low enrollment in the first year of the class from incoming juniors until just recently,” CEO of Butler Tech Bob Sommers said.
Even though West provides the classroom and space for the program, Butler Tech pays for all the supplies and other components of the pro-gram, including the teacher, Dauna Easley. Cost for Teacher Academy is about $120,000 per year,
plus intermittent costs, such as technology, which is about $50,000. Costs can fluctuate based on teacher salary.
“Finances are just very tight whether you are Lakota Local Schools or Butler Tech. Nobody works for free,” principal Richard Hamilton said.
However, Teacher Academy students and par-ents are challenging Butler Tech’s decision.
On May 11, the program’s students and parents attended a Lakota Board of Education meeting to make their voices heard. Four parents and three students spoke on behalf of Teacher Academy and its impact.
“When the students spoke, they spoke about how Teacher Academy has been a family to us,” junior Teacher Academy student and meet-ing attendee Shannon Cline said. “I, personally, spoke
about how Mrs. Easley had helped me become a more outgo-ing person because before I used to be afraid of school and now I actually kind of like it. It’s the first class I’ve ever felt like I belonged [in], and it really helped me gain friends.”
The Board meeting also became very emotional as it showcased per-sonal stories from student’s experi-ences in Teacher Academy and par-ent’s pleas for Butler Tech to find a
better alternative.“It got very emotional when my
mom spoke. She actually started crying, and then I started crying when I gave my speech,” Cline said.
Although much was said to the Lakota Board that night, the Board did not have much decision in Teacher Academy’s status.
“The Lakota Board has no authority in this particular decision, as it is not a Lakota program,” Powell said.
Along with speaking at Board meetings, Teach-er Academy students have used other approaches to save the program, including a petition that has circulated West and attempts to contact local newspapers about the issue.
“They’ve [Teacher Academy students] also made their concerns known to Dr. Sommers, who is the director of Butler Tech, to see if we can get
any moving,” Hamilton said. “We’ve also looked at other options to see what we can do.”
Lakota West is among three other schools that offer Teacher Academy, including Lakota East. Students enrolled in Teacher Academy I next year have the option to travel to East to continue the program, who has been able to keep their pro-gram based on higher enrollment.
“East is going to keep their program. Can our kids go to East? Yes they can. Is there some draw-backs to that? Yes, they’d have to take a period
to travel, which doesn’t allow them to take a study hall or take an elective,” Hamilton said.
For Teacher Academy II stu-dents, the stu-dents are able to finish up their last year at West.
“What I’d like to see is Butler Tech send some-one here to finish
up our kids that have chosen Teacher Academy,” Hamilton said. “I would like to see it come back, but what I would really like to see is it taken care of for next year.”
Students insist that Easley stay as director of Teacher Academy at West opposed to another di-rector teaching the class for seniors finishing up the program.
“Butler Tech understood why we felt the way we did and why we wanted it [Teacher Academy] to stay so bad,” junior Teacher Academy student Emily Rock said. “And now we’ve made our point clear that we want Mrs. Easley to stay here, and not just a new director coming over.”
It is undetermined whether Teacher Academy will return to West in the future, but it is clear the program will be missed.
“It’s hard to describe Teacher Academy as a class: it’s more or so an experience,” junior Teach-er Academy student Josh Chamberlain said. “It’s two periods a day and it has kids from all over the school, cheerleaders, the softball team, band kids. It’s amazing for all the people to come together. Mrs. Easley helps build an incredible friendship with kids you thought you would never be friends with. We call ourselves a family.”
Danielle SeamonNews Editor
Voice graphic headline by Dylan GeiserVoice infographic by Dylan Geiser
Teacher Academy students at a conference last year.
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Junior Josh Chamberlin is a Teacher Academy student.
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Hospital volunteers speak about smoking
High expectations, innovations for library
The Middletown Public Library System is moving forward with construction of the new West Chester Library located on
Union Centre with plans to open in the late fall of 2009.
The new 48,000 square-foot library is being built to replace the current 15,000 square-foot West Chester Library on Cox Road.
“The overall con-struction looks like it would have a lot of space,” junior Bran-don Helmkamp said.
The larger size of this library also means that more pages, em-ployees who shelve books, will be needed.
“The number of pages may almost double,” West Chester Library employee Meg Chamber-lain said.
Many additional innovations will be found at the new library, including study rooms, more computers, more and larger meeting rooms, and
even a self-checkout for books, movies and CDs.“They’re going to have a self-checkout like at
the grocery store, so that will be kind of interesting,” Chamberlain said.
The building will be one story, and pedestrian acces-
sibility will be available which will allow easy contact with the nearby park and surrounding businesses. Location is an important factor when considering the library. Being right across the street from West will make it easier for students to frequent the library.
“I could go to the library right after school,” sophomore Elaine Mylius said. “There are no li-braries near here now.”
Contact with the Lakota school district is also expected from the West Chester Library.
“I would hope that they’re planning on doing some interactive work with our school district, but
especially our high school since we’re right across the street,” English teacher Ian Avery said.
After beginning construction in early June of 2008, officials are looking to open the new library in late Oc-tober or early No-vember of 2009.
“They’re doing really well at stay-ing on schedule,” Chamberlain said.
West Chester will construct and own the building, but it will be oper-
ated by the Middle-town Public Library System. The projected cost of building construction and site improvements is about $13.3 million.
Officials are currently deciding what will be done with the old West Chester Library on Cox, with possible plans of opening a senior citizens center in its place.
On May 18, 2009, volunteers from Veteran’s Affairs Hospital came to speak at West about the dangers of smoking. Two of the
five speakers, Reverend Bell and Richard Dol-lenmeyer, had Laryngectomies. This procedure is essentially the removal of the larynx, and the insertion of a voice prosthesis, which channels air between the trachea and esophagus. Both Rev. Bell and R. Dollenmeyer had parts of their vocal cords and box removed after doctors discovered cancer on them. They lost the ability to speak until their Laryngectomy surgery, which allowed them to regain part of their voice. The vibra-tions they generate are reverberated up through the esophagus which creates sounds via the voice prosthesis. The other three speakers were Elaine Bell, Linda Dollenmeyer, both of whom are wives of the first speakers, and Sara Chaney, a speech therapist at Veterans Hospital.
Reverend Bell, who started smoking when he joined the Navy at age 18, has felt the effect of peer-influence. He attributed his smoking to the environment in which he served during his years in the Navy.
“When they told me I had cancer, I couldn’t be-lieve it,” Rev. Bell said.
After the doctors informed him of his cancer, Rev. Bell had to get parts of his vocal box and cords removed, which limited his speaking significantly. He has since gotten 34 related surgeries.
“Being a preacher, it was really difficult not having a voice,” Rev. Bell said.
Dollenmeyer, the other speaker who had un-dergone the surgery, had been smoking since 17. At age 58, he was diagnosed with throat cancer, and he recently underwent the Laryngectomy sur-gery.
While both can still eat normal foods now, post-surgery eating is tube-based for three to six
months. And even though they can eat any variety of food they want, it is difficult to have a meal.
“Eating is dif-ficult because it is slow. It’s difficult to have dinner with my family because I have to take small bites and I cannot talk while eating,” Dollenmeyer said.
Elaine Bell tried to stress to students that with smoking, they put at risk their future goals. She noted that many teens don’t even know what is in a ciga-rette.
“There are over 1500 chemicals in a cigarette, includ-ing Uranium,” E. Bell said. “Smok-ing just three ciga-rettes can make you addicted.”
D o l l e n m e y e r knows that speak-ing to teens can’t necessarily prevent them from smok-ing, but he be-lieves that educat-ing them can help them make the right decision.
“All we are are two common people, and we got
caught up in this fad,” Dollenmeyer said. “All we can do is give the information.”
New West Chester library under construction.
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Austin McCarthyEditor-in-Chief
Katie JohantgesAsst. Entertainment Editor
Voice infographic by Jessica Dukes
The Lakota West Media Cen-ter is filled with a vast amount of knowledge and information for the searching student. However, for a student to enter the Media Center throughout the day is vir-tually impossible. During 5th pe-riod study hall it is particularly difficult to get access because the teacher has to call the Media Center and request permission. The librarians have this special list of who’s in the Media Center, and if this list shows that there are less than 20 students in the Media Center at that time they may admit more. The problem
with this set-up is that some students are not ad-mitted into our spacious Media Center to get their work done for classes. At least 40 students should be allowed in the Media Center at a time.
Entering the Media Center is one thing, but, should someone need a book to read in his spare time, he must face the Media Center head on. This includes finding the fiction section, which is located all the way in the back of the Media Cen-ter. The books are not really in any specific order, so one must scour the shelves to locate a wanted novel. This proves to be so difficult that students normally decide to find a book on the computer. However, once at the computer he or she has to somehow bring up the Media Center search en-gine. At this point most people have to ask where the search engine is and end up getting a whole
tutorial of how to open an icon and then how to type into a search area. After a while he or she finds a desired novel online, only to then have to try and locate it in the actual Media Center. This takes on average 10 to 15 minutes-if you’re lucky.
The issue of saving and printing is very preva-lent in our Media Center. Flash drives don’t actu-ally work in the Media Center because the com-puter hard drives won’t recognize them. While the librarians recommend saving the document by e-mail and opening it up at home, this doesn’t work if the struggling student was using the Me-dia Center because they have no computer or a broken one at home.
Finally a student simply decides to print his paper and come back later. That is, if the neces-sary printer can be found on the list in the print box. It then becomes essential to ask which print-er is best to use and receive a list of numbers and letters, all of which must be memorized in order to find it amongst all the others. Finding the printer in the Media Center isn’t very difficult when it’s relatively quiet, but if you are with a class, it’s nor-mally noisier creating a sound barrier and locat-ing the printer by sound is virtually impossible. We should just rename the printers so everyone can find and print from them more easily.
Some students with overly busy schedules decide to write their reports after school, rather than give up precious study hall time. However, since our Media Center closes so early, students using reference books want to check them out, but Media Center policy says that all reference books are not available to check out. The Media Center should be open until at least four for busy students.
Seriously, let’s be reasonable; the Media Cen-ter is there for the students, so it should be stu-dent friendly.
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The recent recession seems to have affected almost every-one. Even iTunes hasn’t been exempt from the repercus-sions of the hard economic times. Recently iTunes raised its prices from $.99 to $1.29
per song. However, Apple must ex-
pect that raising the prices will cost them customers. Even at $.99, illegal downloading sites were popular amongst teens and other people hoping to avoid the costs of iTunes. Now that song prices have increased an-other $.30 they may lose more of their previously faithful customers to sites like Limewire and Bearshare.
With a 120 GB iPod holding up to 30,000 songs on it, this translates into thousands of dollars be-ing spent on purchasing music. This is entirely too much money to have invested in music, and now it will be even more. With this, the draw of illegal downloading becomes even more alluring. Not only do these websites provide free music, but despite the fact that they’re illegal, violators rarely suffer the consequences. It may also lose business to sites like youtube.com which allows people to legally listen to almost any song for free.
It is understandable that these economic times can be tough, but restaurants like Wendy’s and McDonalds have managed to keep their dollar menus intact. Not only this, but Apple is known worldwide; everyone knows the company isn’t suffering. So why raise the prices of music and risk losing customers? $1.29 per song is simply a little steep.
Song price up
Additional reporting by Karl Cunic
Erica ZaccagniniEditor-in-Chief
Voice graphic by Jessica Dukes
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Over the years, news has traveled by pigeon, let-ter, telegram, phone
and e-mail. These means of communication have gotten people by for centuries. How-ever, in today’s world, com-munication has been reduced
to bite-sized pieces of useless information that nobody really
cares about. A major catalyst for this disturbing trend is the website Twitter.com.
For those of you who haven’t been visiting your nest in the internet-treetops, Twitter is a social networking site (but just barely). Twitter propos-es that information that might actually let you get to know a person better is just irrelevant, and that a sentence and a short profile tab is enough to un-derstand what makes your friends tick.
Everybody knows that you don’t get to know somebody by exchanging useless in-formation. If a person randomly walked up to a potential friend in the hallway, and told them he just lost his favorite pencil, those two would not become friends automatically.
Snippets of information are just not enough. Now, let’s pretend for a second that Twitter is ac-tually a way to communicate with people. A new user goes online, makes an account, and tries to search for friends within her high school. This person would end up endlessly scrolling through a list of celebrities, trying to find anyone that she actually knows. The friend system on Twitter is seriously flawed, if you can call it a friend system.
Actually, friends on Twitter are called “follow-ers.” When you find someone or something in-teresting you “follow” them, and when someone finds you interesting, they “follow” you. Alright, is it just me, or is this creepy? If somebody said they wanted to “follow” me, I would run away scream-ing in terror. I don’t want people following me, and I don’t want to follow people. When a person goes on a social-networking site, they don’t want to be stalked, they want to be befriended.
Even if you do manage to find your friends on Twitter, the information exchange is pointless. It worries me that people find it amusing to read sen-tences like “it’s raining outside, take an umbrella,” or “Emily is enjoying some delicious pasta.” Even with my best friends, I just don’t need to know what menial task they are doing at that very mo-
ment. If I wanted to know that, I’d go and get the full story. Many people are better at talking than they are writing, and therefore, the story is more entertaining straight from the horse’s mouth (or bird’s mouth, as not to mix my animals).
However, if you are that person that is ex-tremely interesting and you have people rolling on the ground with your jokes and tales about your day, you may be one of those witty people that become Twitter superstars. Born comedians belong on Twitter, along with the people in this world who can fascinate somebody with a sen-tence fragment. Everyone has their niche in life, and if yours is on Twitter, then so be it.
On the other hand, if you can’t come up with a sentence that won’t result with your friends’ sta-tuses becoming “I’m so bored, going to nap” then you need to stay on MySpace or Facebook where you can stay safe in the realm of photos, music and many other ways to express yourself. Despite its problems, some people find Twitter cute and amusing for some weird reason, and those people are the reason why “bird is the word” on the Inter-net these days.
Teens of America, prepare to be exploited. Every single paycheck you re-
ceive will have a percentage taken out for Social Security and Medicare. In theory, you will pay into the account while you work, which will go to pay the people currently ben-efiting from these programs.
Then, when you need these programs, the youth will provide the income for the
programs to continue. In essence, if all things went according to plan, having this safety net to provide retirement and a type of health care plan for people is a good thing. Unfortunately, as with anything established and controlled by the government, it is destined to fail. Because of the Baby-Boomer generation, the ratio to paying workers and recipients will be massively skewed. This leaves our generation paying into a program that will not be around to benefit us; thus, we are exploited.
While the current generation of senior citi-zens will receive their fair share, we, as teens, will never see a dime of the money that is taken from
our paychecks returned back to us. While it may not seem like the most important issue right now, with a depression still lingering and the Iraq War still unresolved, each one of us will be drained of thousands of dollars before these programs are disestablished.
And time is running out. The Congressional Budget Office reports just came out, and even the generally optimistic government reports estimate that Social Security and Medicare will not last for our generation to reap the benefits. Social Secu-rity will start paying out more than it takes in by 2016 and Medicare has already started going into debt: last year it started collecting less than it pays out; projections have Medicare’s funding running out entirely by 2017, bankrupting the program, and Social Security is expected to last until 2037. However, the accuracy of these reports is ques-tionable, since the estimates are continually de-creasing.
Our generation has not had a reason to protest like those of the past; the sixties had civil rights and the seventies had the Vietnam War. We as citizens have grown lax in exercising our right to assemble and petition. The youth of America needs to let politicians know that we won’t sit back and let them procrastinate on issues that di-
rectly affect us. Protesting alone is not enough, though. To ef-
fectively bring about change, we need a solution to present to our officials. Since Social Security and Medicare are essentially government-planned retirement funds and health insurance, privatiza-tion is considered the leading solution. This would mean that private companies would be set up by the government to provide the same services with more choice offered to workers. Similar programs exist in the United Kingdom and Sweden. How-ever, they do not account for inflation over time, and the potential payout is up in the air, since it is not government guaranteed. Therefore, the best approach is a combination of privatized accounts and government accounts. Also, making the pro-gram non-compulsory, or giving more freedom to workers, would satisfy the political differences it causes, and would continue to provide the safety net for retirement that many believe the govern-ment is obligated to provide.
We, as teens, as citizens, need to let the politi-cians know that we will not stand to be exploited and taken advantage of. Social Security and Medi-care are destined to fail. No one should willingly let anyone steal their money, which, in effect, is what these programs are doing.
Social networking website not user-friendly
Austin McCarthyEditor-in-Chief
Emily BamforthAsst. Features Editor
Voice illustration by Erica Zaccagnini
Medicare and Social Security exploit teens
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One can find talent around every corner at Lakota West. Gifted actors, writers, painters, and athletes walk Main Street
going to classes that prepare them for the future. In Symphonic Winds, West’s top orchestra, there is a student that has already ventured out into the world to represent West with her unique talent.
Senior Mackenzie Hammel was featured May 2 playing the harp on “View from the Top,” a radio program that showcases the nation’s top classical musicians.
“I was thrilled to have the opportu-nity to perform on ‘View from the Top,’” Hammel said.
However, making it onto the show was no easy feat.
“I had to send in an audition piece with three pieces or so,” Hammel said. “I really didn’t think I had a chance to make it on the show, but now I am so glad that my teacher en-couraged me to send in a tape.”
Hammel fell in love with the harp six years ago, and has been playing ever since.
“I love the beautiful sound and appearance of the harp,” Hammel said. “When I saw the Cincin-nati Youth Orchestra harp with its gold column and gorgeous sound, I just knew that I wanted to play it.”
The Lakota band program doesn’t allow harp-ists until high school though, so Hammel couldn’t showcase her talent until her freshman year.
“I played percussion in grades six through eight, but I haven’t played it since,” Ham-mel said. “Harp is really the only instrument I enjoy playing.” Despite the restrictions, the West band program has provided plen-ty of opportunities for Hammel.
“While many of my harp friends are not able to play with their school ensembles, Mr. Sny-der [Director of Bands, Greg Sny-der] has found plenty of pieces for me to play with the group,” Hammel said. “I’ve had many wonderful experiences with the band, from our trip to the Mid-west Clinic in Chicago to the marching band trip to the Rose Parade. I carried the banner.”
Hammel’s harp prowess has allowed her to participate in many other programs as well.
“I’ve played two concertos with the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra (CSYO), and one with the Blue Ash-Montgomery Symphony Orchestra,”
Hammel said. “I also performed at the 10th World Harp Congress in Amsterdam, the Netherlands this past July. I was chosen as one of 36 interna-tional harpists under the age of 22 to perform at this event.”
This along with “View from the Top” has pro-vided Hammel with an impressive résumé. She has gotten to play many different pieces, including the program she played for “View from the Top.” “I played ‘Seguidilla’, ‘Tango’, and ‘Rumba’ from Carlos Salzedo’s Suite of Eight Dances,” Hammel said.
Along with being a harpist, Hammel partici-pates in many different activities at West. She has been on the varsity tennis team for four years as a singles and doubles player, as well as being a member of Spanish Club and the Youth Arts Council. She is the Secretary of both Mu Alpha Theta and National Honors Society, and she also practices her harp for two to three hours daily.
“Organization is the key to my success,” Ham-mel said. “I organize my schedule so that I can balance school work, harp, and tennis, and still manage to go to bed before 11. Even if I’m tired, I force myself to finish all of my work before taking a break. Although it’s tough to motivate myself sometimes, all of the organization and hard work definitely pays off.”
Hammel is a senior at West and after finishing her time in high school, will be attending Indiana University where she will be a business major and music minor.
The last day of school will be a sad one for the West Spanish Department when teacher Ginger Walther retires after 35
years. Walther has been teaching Spanish since West opened 12 years ago, and has been with the district for over 18 years. Walther teaches Span-ish III, IV and Advanced Placement. When stu-dents come back to visit her, she really enjoys hearing their life stories.
“I have always loved hearing from former stu-dents about their success in using the Spanish lan-guage after graduation,” Walther said.
Walther has many memories of mortify-ing moments during her teaching career.
“I have, on not one but two occasions worn two different shoes to school,” Walther said. “The first time it happened, I was so embarrassed that I ran home and quickly changed shoes.”
Besides being a teacher, Walther is a mentor, friend, and on some occasions a keeper of the
law.“I also chased a male student into the boy’s
restroom because he had stolen my wallet out of my purse,” Walther said, “I drug him out of the stall by his shirt as he was trying to flush my wal-let down the toilet.”
Other memories Walther will have consist of her trips with students to Spanish speaking
countries around the world so she could enrich her students with Spanish culture.
“I will never forget my trips to Europe with students and watching them experience things
that we have studied in class,” Walther said.
After retirement, Walther has decided to spend more time with her family, especially her grandchildren and to use her Spanish skills in more ways. The thing she will miss most about teaching is seeing her students everyday.
“I will miss the interaction with students and colleagues,” Walther said.
Mrs. Walther does not necessarily want to end her career in teaching, but she wants to fulfill her dreams in a career in the Spanish language.
“I can’t say I want to ‘retire’ as much as I want to use my Spanish in another capacity,” Walther said.
Walther wants to strive and get a job in the translating industry, helping others with their needs.
“My dream job after retirement would be to work part time from home, as a translator or work as a free-lance interpreter,” Walther said.
Besides working as a translator, in the future she might venture into writing educational mate-rial.
“I recently wrote a teacher’s guide for a text-book company, so that type of work is another possibility for me,” Walther said.
Mrs. Walther’s influence will be greatly missed at West, and we hope that she has the best of luck in whatever she strives to do.
Justin SharpFeatures Editor
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Mackenzie Hammel, acclaimed harpist and all-around talented West student.
Walther retires after 35 delightful years
Additional reporting by Jessica Dukes
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Mrs. Walther will give up her job in teaching to pursue a career in translating.
Voice graphic headline by Jessica Dukes
Emily BamforthAsst. Features Editor
English teacher Amanda Venable’s time at West may be short, but she certainly has enjoyed the time she has been given. Ven-
able was hired in early August by the Lakota dis-trict to finish out another teacher’s contract who had moved away. However, due to elimination of positions, Venable will not be returning to West to teach next year.
“I didn’t know until very recently that it was a possibility that I wouldn’t be here next year,” Venable said. “We [West principal Richard Ham-ilton and I] had a conversation that we will now be eliminating the position and there’s not any-thing available in the district right now.”
After working at Glen Este last year, Venable has come to appreciate all of the perks of being involved with a very fortunate school district like Lakota.
“I’ve got my laptops and 3Ms in a lot of rooms, and a great media center,” Venable said. “All of those things are really different than the school that I was at last year.”
Not only has she been fond of all of the great technologi-cal features West has to of-fer, but she has also has enjoyed the atmosphere at West and the students. Venable has formed rela-tionships and made memo-ries that will last a lifetime.
“I have just loved study hall and the kids I’ve gotten to know
in my study hall because I feel like I have a nice student/teacher bond with them,” Venable said.
However, just because she loves the time she spends with her study hall students, this in no way means she doesn’t equally enjoy the time she spends with sophomores in her English 101 classes.
“When I think about not being here next year, not being able to see my sophomores and watch them grow as people and as students... that makes me sad,” Venable said.
Venable will miss so many things about West, and because of all of her positive experiences this year, she hopes in her job search to find another school district with so much to offer.
“I’d like to try to land at a school that’s similar to Lakota,” Venable said. “It’s a good school, it’s well regarded and it has a lot of resources.”
As for now, Venable will continue filling out resumes and forming connections with other school districts with the goal of finding an-other job for next year. Although her time
at West has been limited, she hopes that her students have learned important
lessons from her as a teacher.“It’s really important to me that
students see the importance of goals in their future,” Venable said. “I really hope that they learn that caring about school is okay, that working hard is important.”
Erica ZaccagniniEditor-in-Chief
Voice photo by Justin Sharp
Additional reporting by Danielle Seamon
Venable sadly says farewell
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Though a little farther away than the other parks, this park has the largest number of activities and, if you have already bought an annual park pass in any of the parks in the Hamilton Park District, this park is included in that fee . With 2.6 miles of well-kept trails, this park is guaranteed to satisfy any camper or day-visitor wishing to get away. There are several camping sites and cabins to choose from in this park, many are lo-cated along the 156 acre lake. The lake is full of fish, sure to please any fisher-man, or amuse any rower or paddleboat rider. Also located in the park is Parky’s Farm, a great place of entertainment for any child. Whether you are planning to spend the night in a tent or by a camp-fire, or simply wanting to spend a few hours away from the hustle and bustle of suburbia, Winton Woods is sure to pro-vide the perfect escape.
Winton Woods
Keehner ParkThis fee-free park on Barret Road is perfect for the active person. This small 123 acre park has tennis courts, baseball diamonds, creeks, trails and of course two playgrounds for the little kid in you. You can easily pack up some food and set up a picnic at one of their many sheltered picnic areas or perhaps in the expansive field that can easily double as a fantastic place to play Frisbee or kick around a soccer ball. If that isn’t enough hiking through the trails or along Mill Creek often will provide a glimpse of wildlife or pic-turesque scene for avid photographers. For those who are bolder, the stage of the am-phitheatre is a great place to amuse friends and some passersby with funny antics. With plenty of shade and sun, the energetic side in all of us is sure to be seen during a trip to Keehner.
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These two interconnected parks are great for the casual bicyclist, jogger, photographer or child. These “no entrance fee” parks have a volunteer built playground, consisting of a massive castle, several swings and an obstacle course. On which even the most hyper child will be worn out after a few runs around the playground, a perfect solution for any worn out babysitter or sibling. Or perhaps you would rather be the one running through the maze of tunnels and slides in the fort. If you enjoy taking pictures of wildlife the Wetlands park is the perfect place to capture any number of ducks, rabbits, turtles or a number of other small animals. There is also a cement path connecting both parks that diverges at several places to some dirt paths that wind around the woods. This can be a nice change of pace for any jogger sick of running on a treadmill indoors. With open fields, picnic tables and plenty of benches, these parks are the perfect fit for just about anyone.
Fort Liberty Playground
t’s a nice sunny day and your friends and you want to get outside and do something, however all you can scrape up is $10. It’s not enough to get all of you into putt-putt and it certainly won’t sustain you enough to hit the rides at Kings Island, but you
certainly don’t want to be stuck indoors where you have been cramped up all winter. So, where is someplace cheap that can provide a group of teens or any family hours of entertainment? With several to choose from and many activities in each, one of the local parks may just be the solution to your boredom that also fits your budget.
Justin SharpFeatures Editor
Elise MaxfieldCopy Editor
Voice photos by Elise Maxfield
Visiting this larger park, with over 200 acres of woods and plains, a 36 acre lake and an 18 hole golf course, for one day will cost less than $5, and an annual pass will cost exactly $5. This park has over 4 miles of trails that wind through the woods and along creeks and up hills, perfect for those seeking a long walk. In the summer a wet play park is opened with wooly mammoths and saber toothed tigers shooting water at you, a great way to cool off after a long hike. Or you could take a trip out onto the lake in one of the many rental boats, including canoes and paddleboats, where you can fish or just enjoy the scenery. These can be rented from the boat center that also sells fishing gear and supplies. If you are more of a history junkie you should check out Heritage Village, a small town located in the park that consists of over 13 historical buildings from all over Ohio. Check the Sharon Woods website or their information cen-ter, located in the park, for more details on reen-actments and other activities in Heritage Village. Sharon Woods is an excellent place to find a fun activity for everyone.
Sharon Woods
Voice graphic headline by Jessica DukesVoice graphics by Jessica Dukes
I
Though a little farther away than the other parks, this park has the largest number of activities and, if you have already bought an annual park pass in any of the parks in the Hamilton Park District, this park is included in that fee . With 2.6 miles of well-kept trails, this park is guaranteed to satisfy any camper or day-visitor wishing to get away. There are several camping sites and cabins to choose from in this park, many are lo-cated along the 156 acre lake. The lake is full of fish, sure to please any fisher-man, or amuse any rower or paddleboat rider. Also located in the park is Parky’s Farm, a great place of entertainment for any child. Whether you are planning to spend the night in a tent or by a camp-fire, or simply wanting to spend a few hours away from the hustle and bustle of suburbia, Winton Woods is sure to pro-vide the perfect escape.
Winton Woods
Keehner ParkThis fee-free park on Barret Road is perfect for the active person. This small 123 acre park has tennis courts, baseball diamonds, creeks, trails and of course two playgrounds for the little kid in you. You can easily pack up some food and set up a picnic at one of their many sheltered picnic areas or perhaps in the expansive field that can easily double as a fantastic place to play Frisbee or kick around a soccer ball. If that isn’t enough hiking through the trails or along Mill Creek often will provide a glimpse of wildlife or pic-turesque scene for avid photographers. For those who are bolder, the stage of the am-phitheatre is a great place to amuse friends and some passersby with funny antics. With plenty of shade and sun, the energetic side in all of us is sure to be seen during a trip to Keehner.
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These two interconnected parks are great for the casual bicyclist, jogger, photographer or child. These “no entrance fee” parks have a volunteer built playground, consisting of a massive castle, several swings and an obstacle course. On which even the most hyper child will be worn out after a few runs around the playground, a perfect solution for any worn out babysitter or sibling. Or perhaps you would rather be the one running through the maze of tunnels and slides in the fort. If you enjoy taking pictures of wildlife the Wetlands park is the perfect place to capture any number of ducks, rabbits, turtles or a number of other small animals. There is also a cement path connecting both parks that diverges at several places to some dirt paths that wind around the woods. This can be a nice change of pace for any jogger sick of running on a treadmill indoors. With open fields, picnic tables and plenty of benches, these parks are the perfect fit for just about anyone.
Fort Liberty Playground
t’s a nice sunny day and your friends and you want to get outside and do something, however all you can scrape up is $10. It’s not enough to get all of you into putt-putt and it certainly won’t sustain you enough to hit the rides at Kings Island, but you
certainly don’t want to be stuck indoors where you have been cramped up all winter. So, where is someplace cheap that can provide a group of teens or any family hours of entertainment? With several to choose from and many activities in each, one of the local parks may just be the solution to your boredom that also fits your budget.
Justin SharpFeatures Editor
Elise MaxfieldCopy Editor
Voice photos by Elise Maxfield
Visiting this larger park, with over 200 acres of woods and plains, a 36 acre lake and an 18 hole golf course, for one day will cost less than $5, and an annual pass will cost exactly $5. This park has over 4 miles of trails that wind through the woods and along creeks and up hills, perfect for those seeking a long walk. In the summer a wet play park is opened with wooly mammoths and saber toothed tigers shooting water at you, a great way to cool off after a long hike. Or you could take a trip out onto the lake in one of the many rental boats, including canoes and paddleboats, where you can fish or just enjoy the scenery. These can be rented from the boat center that also sells fishing gear and supplies. If you are more of a history junkie you should check out Heritage Village, a small town located in the park that consists of over 13 historical buildings from all over Ohio. Check the Sharon Woods website or their information cen-ter, located in the park, for more details on reen-actments and other activities in Heritage Village. Sharon Woods is an excellent place to find a fun activity for everyone.
Sharon Woods
Voice graphic headline by Jessica DukesVoice graphics by Jessica Dukes
I
With the end of the school year in sight, it signifies the end to the spring sports season. This year not only did we have
teams take the GMC title, but we also have some State tournament qualifiers. Not to mention, the spring season helped to ensure a second place finish in the race for the All Sports Trophy. Over-all the season was a big success.
BaseballWest baseball clinched the GMC
title with a win over Colerain on May 11. This marks the fourth year in a row West has taken home the GMC title. The Firebirds finished with an GMC record of 14-4 to beat out Ma-son in the race for GMC Champion. Not only did the team secure the GMC title, but West also started the State tournament in the third seed and won against the twenty-fifth seed Edgewood. They later went on to beat Talawanda. Against North-mont, the team succeeded in defeat-ing them 8-0 to advance past the District Finals.
SoftballOn May 11 a 1-0 win over Fairfield
in eleven innings secured the GMC title for West softball over number two seed Lakota East. With an im-pressive overall record and a GMC record of 17-1, the Firebirds have taken the number one seed in the State tournament. In the first round they beat the twenty-fifth seed Sycamore and advanced to play against and beat Kings. In the District finals
the team lost 1-3 against Lebanon ending their State tournament run.
Track and FieldIn general, both the men’s and women’s track
and field teams finished strong with the men fin-ishing fifth in the GMC while the women finished
eighth. At Districts, the men’s team pushed their 3200 relay team into the regional tournament. Brandon Candella, 800 run, Jordan Griffin, high jump, Aaron Gehring, 1600 run, Stephan Hous-tin, 110 hurdles and Brady Holmer, 3200 run,
also advanced to the regional tournament. The women’s team had Amanda Shelby, 3200 run, and Yasmin Moftakhar, 800 run, sprint to the
regional tournament as well as hav-ing Akili Barnes advance in both the 100 and 300 hurdles. At Regionals, the men’s 3200 relay team placed first moving on to play for the State title.
TennisWith an overall record of 14-3 and
a GMC record of 8-1, the West tennis team took second place in the GMC conference one loss behind the un-defeated Lakota East; Wyatt Lippert clinched his third GMC title for indi-viduals. The State tournament started on May 12 with Lippert defeating all three opponents; he was the only ten-nis player from West to advance in the State tournament. At the District tournament, Lippert was the champion defeating four other players. Lippert played at the State tournament on May 29 and 30.
VolleyballFor the first time in school history,
the men’s volleyball team clinched the GMC title over Sycamore on April 30. With an overall record of 18-2 and a
GMC record of 8-0 the team looked to the State tournament. In the first round, West defeated Beavercreek and then went on to defeat Fair-mont.
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Firebirds sign to take it to college level
Many West athletes are finishing up their school year by signing with numerous colleges and universities around the
country. These athletes will represent West at all three college divisons.
Meagan McCalla - Captial UniversityWest senior Meagan McCalla recently signed
with Division III Capital University to continue playing basketball at the collegiate level. After considering other schools such as Otterbein Col-lege and Transylvania, McCalla ultimately decid-ed on Capital for a number of reasons.
“It’s not too far from home and the coaches and team are all really nice and really good at basket-ball,” Meagan McCalla said. “This past year they won their conference (the Ohio Athletics Confer-ence).”
One thing that made her decision to sign with Capital easy was the coach., of whom which was easy to get along with and very friendly.
“The coach is really well respected. She’s easy to talk to outside of basketball and she’s easy to get along with,” McCalla said. “She’s been coach-ing a long time so she knows what she’s talking about basketball wise.”
While athletics were important to McCalla when it came to choosing a school, so was the overall college experience. Academics and the at-mosphere of the college were also both very im-portant in her decision.
“They have my major and it’s in a location that’s not too far from home which is what I wanted. It’s a small school, which is also what I was looking for in a college,” McCalla said.
McCalla played post during her years as a Fire-bird. She will join a Capital program that gradu-ated many of their post players, which gives her a great opportunity for playing time.
“This summer I’m trying to work really hard to get in the weight room and get in the gym so I can go in there as a freshman and make an impact,” McCalla said.
McCalla was a member of the varsity team and played in 18 games her senior year after returning from back injuries that kept her sidelined.
McCalla plans on majoring in business at Capi-tal next year.
Bryan Beaver - Miami University (Ohio)For West stand out baseball player Bryan Bea-
ver, making the decision on where to play college baseball was easy. After receiving offers from numerous other schools, it was Division I Miami University that Beaver chose for the place to con-
tinue his baseball career. “Miami has been where I’ve wanted to go since
I was a little kid,” Bryan Beaver said. “I was think-ing about Purdue and UC as well, but I felt more at home at Miami.”
One of the main reasons that Beaver chose Mi-ami was the coaching staff. He will be joining a respected program with coaches who collectively have years of baseball experience.
“The coaching staff is great. They really know the game and they’ve established a great reputa-tion in the MAC (Mid Atlantic Conference),” Bea-ver said.
Another factor in Beaver’s decision was the team members and how they affected the pro-gram.
“The team is pretty cool. They all get along and they know how to play together,” Beaver said. “Plus I’ll be getting a chance to play next to Brad Gshwind, who was a senior at West when we won state [in 2007].”
At West, Beaver was a part of the 2007 State Championship team. As a junior he was named to the second team All-State. This season he current-ly is one of the leaders in the GMC for offense.
Beaver will join the Miami team as a preferred walk on, and plans on majoring in either mechan-ical or computer engineering.
Voice infographic and graphic headline by Jessica Dukes
Jaymee HeinekeSports Editor
Ashley JeffersEntertainment Editor
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9Kayla Akers rides to equestrian victory
Voice photos contributed by Kayla Akers
Dealing with pressure and stress is a nec-essary talent for sophomore Kayla Akers. This skill was very useful during a recent
championship at Lake Erie College from April 30 to May 3, where she won the Intermediate Eq-uitation on the Flat division. Also at that com-petition, her team from Beckett Run is the first non-boarding school team in history to win the Team Intermediate Flat championship.
“We were in Reserve Champion spot until after my placing. It put a lot of pressure on, knowing my points were the ones that could affect our team winning or not,” Akers said.
Her team won the phase of the competition that tests the versatil-ity and strength with the horse. Ex-cluding jumping events, the judges can ask competitors to complete any number of tasks. Having been to Nationals in 2007 helped prepare them for their return to the National Championships.
“I was nervous but I knew what to expect because I have been to Na-tionals in 2007. If I just competed the way I have been practicing then I knew I could do it, as long as nerves didn’t play into effect,” Akers said.
Akers attributes the win to the hard work done during the preliminary competitions and her teams dedication to the sport.
“The team is what got us the National Cham-poinship, if it weren’t for them we would never get there. We had to get a certain num-ber of points in the team divison to get there and we went through several phas-es to qualify,” Akers said.
W i n n i n g the championship is one of Akers most memo-rable moments.
“My best memory is probably, this year, win-
ning it all. We had several seniors that are moving on and it was a great way to end their year also,” Akers said. “It’s been a great season.”
Akers looks up to these graduating se-niors and con-gratulates them on their suc-cessful Eques-
trian careers.“I really re-
spect the se-niors graduating this year be-cause they have worked very hard and got full-ride scholar-ships to top col-leges, (Cornell University and Kansas State) I hope to get that
much,” Akers said.Her practice schedule consists of a two or three
day a week practice with her team and Akers rides on one of her two horses that she owns or her
most recent Christmas present, a horse that is leased from the University of Findlay.
Her interest in horses began when Akers was just six years old, after meeting her first and current trainer, Jim Arrigon, she began competing at age twelve.
“I got influenced by a farm by my house, I always used to pass it and one day I took lessons and was hooked ever since. It has made me very competitive.” Akers said.
In the Interscholastic Eques-trian Association (an associa-
tion that holds competitions to prepare teens for college riding) the host college lends their horses out to competitors as to prepare them for college
competitions. “This tests you because you don’t have time
to get to know the horse you just have to ride to the best of your ability,” Akers said.
Akers credits her ability to ride these diverse horses and compete in these difficult events because of her trainer’s knowledge and training expe-rience at Ohio State Universi-ty, Miami University and cur-rently Xavier Equestrian.
“Our trainer puts us on horses that we can expect will give us trouble so we know how to deal in big shows like nationals,” Akers said.
However, even with prac-tice, sometimes it cannot completely prepare one for everything that will occur at a competition.
“My most embarrassing moment was actu-ally this year at Nationals. The judge asked the top four riders to switch horses and get on them with no help. Of course I got the tallest horse and couldn’t get on him, my saddle slipped and I came close to falling, and the other riders were already on their horses,” Akers said. “I eventually got up there after ten minutes and everyone watching me.”
Even with a slight mishap Akers successfully channeled her stress to win her division; she also competed successfully in a division that doesn’t include her favorite event.
“My favorite event is jumping,” Akers said. “It gives you a lot to think about because you have to memorize the course of jumps and plan your turns to them, etcetera.”
This ability to memorize quickly and plan ahead also helps with school work.
“Sometimes it’s hard having homework and getting home late on weekends from competitions, I always try to get it done before the long week-ends because it adds up quickly,” Akers said.
Her dedication to school and her sport will both play a role in her plans for the future.
“This upcoming school year I will do a college talent search to see which colleges are interested in me,” Akers said.
Akers jumps obstacle during practice.
Akers shows off awards after competition.
Beckett Run Equestrian team after winning Nationals.
Elise MaxfieldCopy Editor
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The summer is a time to kick back and relax. No school, no more pointless assignments and definitely no more nagging teachers.
It’s the time of year every teenager dreams about and when it finally rolls around…you have ab-solutely nothing to do. Instead of just lounging around in your pajamas all day with the constant feeling of boredom, you should go out and ex-perience the excitement of seeing your favorite band in concert. So, get off that couch and go buy some tickets and prepare to rock out to some good music.
Riverbend has been a desirable location for numerous musicians to perform and this summer is no exception. Make sure to catch Hinder, Papa Roach, Nickleback and Saving Able on August 19. They are performing together at 6:00 p.m. so you definitely won’t want to be late. The general admission pit costs $89.50, reserved pavilion is between $69.50-$89.50 and general admission lawn seats are $35 per ticket. A concert for all those country fans is on August 8 at 8:00 p.m. when Rascal Flatts and Darius Rucker perform. Tickets go on sale July 27 at 10:00 a.m. so make sure to check Ticketmaster for further details. Fi-nally, the highly anticipated Vans Warped Tour is rocking out July 29 starting at 12:00 p.m. and
lasting for a majority of the day. Showcasing over 50 of your favorite rock bands, this is a show ev-ery rocker must attend. General admission tick-ets cost $33.50 if you purchase them early, but if you get them on the day of the show, they cost $40.
The Schottenstein Center in Columbus is host-ing a slew of shows that might pique your interest. Taylor Swift and Kellie Pickler are some of the most recognized country singers of our time and on July 17 they are performing together at 7:30 p.m. Prices for tickets range from $63-$500 de-pending on your section. American Idols Live is also holding a show featuring all of your favorite “idols” at 7:00 p.m. August 25. Ticket prices are $111-$654.
The Lifestyle Communities Pavilion in Columbus is another great location to see various concerts. Mark your calendar because on July 28 at 7:30 p.m. the popular alternative rock band Incubus is performing. Prices range from $90-$156. The Offspring is performing June 23, but the actual starting time has not yet been announced. Prices are currently $63 per ticket.
The perfect place to rock out is the Newport Music Hall in Columbus. Make sure to check it out on June 12 at 7:00 p.m. when the Plain White T’s are rocking out. Ticket prices for this show is
just $15.The Nationwide Arena in Columbus is featur-
ing a group of musicians who I’m sure every teen girl has heard of, The Jonas Brothers. They will perform onstage with American Idol sensation Jordin Sparks on August 26. Ticket prices range anywhere from $43-$496.
Last but not least, the Celeste Center in Co-lumbus is the location of pop superstar Kelly Clarkson’s latest concert on July 29. The perfor-mance begins at 7:00 p.m. but make sure to get there early. Kelly’s been known to have a huge fan base and you wouldn’t want to miss even one minute of this performance. The cost for this show is $98-$143 .
Given the current state of our economy, many of you may be weary to drop major dollars to at-
tend a concert. Many musicians are starting to realize that money is tight and not everyone
can pay $300 a ticket to watch them per-form. As a result, many have decided to
lower their prices in hopes that more will attend. Also, you can lower the cost by picking a cheaper seat in the music venue you choose. Make this a
summer to remember without burning a hole in your wallet. Now, that sounds like music to my ears.
Roost victors share insight Cappies won by students
May 2 was a peaceful Saturday night. Most teenagers were out slumming around Rave waiting to see a Saturday
night movie while over a hundred other teenag-ers were seen at West watching the Roost va-riety show. The Roost, sponsored by Student Government, is in its twelfth year and hosted by senior Sara Smith and senior Guy Nee-Whang. The hosts kept the audience entertained by jok-ing with each other, changing into one another’s clothes and even trying their hand at rapping.
This year’s show had sixteen acts performing. The show ranged from cover bands of AC/DC to colorguard routines; from singing groups to uni-cycles, and even some stand-up comedy. When all the acts were done performing, the audience cast their votes to pick the winner of the show.
When the votes were completely tallied, the hosts announced the top three win-ners. The Scarlet Lords, who per-formed an origi-nal skit about making a movie, in which, the di-rector wanted to change how the actors acted each time, received third place. Mis-unique obtained the second place honors. The three girls sang “Weak” by SWV. First place was taken by two sophomores, Nancy Corsmeier and Jeremy Myint. Corsmeier sang “More Than Words” by Extreme while Myint played guitar and sang backup.
The winning duo originally couldn’t agree on
a song to sing. Myint wanted to sing one song that had a piano and guitar whereas Corsmeier did not.
“I wanted to do ‘Two to Tango.’ I doubt any-one’s ever heard of it,” Myint said. “There were no words in it, but I thought it would have been cool.”
Both Myint and Corsmeier met last year when they both had Mrs. Lange’s English class. Myint was in a band called South End that Corsmeier ended up joining in late December. However, the band as a whole wasn’t interested in doing the talent show.
“I know Jeremy and I wanted to do it [the Roost] for sure,” Corsmeier said. “We [Myint and I] decided to do it because last year’s talent show was disappointing and I wanted to make up for it.”
When the duo decided to play at the talent show, nerves were present but they were able to
overcome them by looking up to idols. Myint especially uses this ideology every time to overcome the jitters.
“You can’t think of any gig or performance as too small so you shouldn’t do it,” Myint said. “Don’t have a bad mentality. Just play be-cause it still gives you some experi-ence.”
As for the duo winning the Roost it was a pleasant shock. They
weren’t even aware of a prize being of-fered until the day of the talent show.
“I didn’t expect to win at all hon-estly,” Corsmeier said. “Emily Far-nell had to push me on stage I was so
in shock.” Now that the Roost is over and with summer
approaching both Corsmeier and Myint plan to stick with the band and try to find more gigs to play.
Corsmeier and Myint joke around before playing.
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Cappies were awarded to senior Katie Marx and junior Elise Maxfield for Best Sound and senior Bren Harper for Featured
Actress in a Play at the Gala for the Cappies of Greater Cincinnati, an organization for high school theater and journalism students at their eighth annual gala on Saturday, May 23.
Cappies is a program that was found to give theater students the same recognition as high school athletes. At the end of the year student critics vote for awards for things such as sound, lighting, directing and acting that are presented at a formal Cappies Gala held at the Aronoff Center’s Proctor and Gamble Theatre located in downtown located in downtown Cincinnati. 27 other area schools competed, such as Ursuline, St. Xavier, and Loveland.
Harper, Marx and Maxfield beat out other schools for the award of Best Sound and Featured Actress in a Play for the fall theater performance of Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” directed by West theater director Kim Eldridge. The show won act- The show won act-ing nominations in every acting category as well as technical categories and creativity. A few other A few other nominees included seniors Tyler Ostrander for Lead Actor, Jackie Hull for Lead Actress, and Sara Smith for Hair and Make-up Design and Comic Actress.
West critics are seniors Alli Harlow, Harper, Christina Gillis, Jake Townsley, Peter Alexander and juniors Christian Carey and Jake Hamilton. Their reviews can be published in local papers like the Cincinnati Enquirer. The West theater program hopes to continue their tradition of ex-cellence in future Cappies events.
Voice illustration by Elise Maxfield
Natasha MilliganStaff Reporter
Ashley JeffersEntertainment Editor
Katie JohantgesAsst. Entertainment Editor
Voice graphic headline by Jessica Dukes
The battle pitting man versus ma-
chine continues in the fourth install-ment in the Termi-nator series, Ter-minator Salvation. Christian Bale (The Dark Knight) and Sam Worthington
(Macbeth) star in this action-packed, sci-fi thrill-er directed by McG. Although Terminator Salva-tion fails to give an engrossing plot, its intense action and special effects are sure to keep viewers on the edge of their seats.
The story is about Marcus Wright (Worthing-ton), who donated his body to science. Fifteen years later, he wakes up as a robot and has no idea he is one. After meeting with John Connor (Bale), the leader of the human resistance, he discov-ers he is not human, then Wright teams up with Connor to make a plan to save Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin, Charlie Bartlett), the teenaged version of Connor’s father, from Skynet, the computer-based enemy of the resistance.
The majority of this movie was spent watching explosions. I found it to be exciting towards the beginning of the movie but constant action with little plot began to wear on me near the end. The cinematography was common to a sci-fi movie, including lots of dark shady shots which added to the creepy feel of the movie.
The acting was satisfactory for what the actors were given. There was nothing remarkable or ap-palling about the way the actors delivered their lines, although at times they seemed bored with what they were saying.
If you are a big fan of the series, I recommend Terminator Salvation, even if it means paying ten bucks at Rave. However, if you are unfamiliar with the series I would wait until it comes out on DVD and rent it.
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Terminator Salvation
Angels and Demons
Katie Johantges
Finally, the much antici-pated movie
Angels and Demons has hit the screens. This blockbuster is directed by Ron Howard, and has an outstanding cast featuring Tom Hanks (Da Vinci
Code), Ewan McGregor (Star Wars) and Ayelet Zurer (Vantage Point). I felt that this movie was a must see and will go down as one of the best films of the year.
Angels and Demons begins with the death of the Pope. During this turmoil an old group, known as the Illuminati, threatens to destroy the entire city of Rome. When the church finds out the intentions of the group they ask Tom Hanks’ character, Robert Langdon, to investigate the Illu-minati. The ancient order stole a substance known as anti-matter that has been used to try and recre-ate the big bang which created our universe. Also, the Illuminati kidnapped four Cardinals and they are being killed one by one at certain places as ref-erenced in the book of Illuminati. Hank’s charac-ter follows clues and tries to save the Cardinals as well as the city of Rome.
Even though the cast and filmmakers tried to denounce the claim that the movie was not like the Da Vinci Code, I couldn’t help but think that the flick had the exact same feel to it. However, if you have not seen the first film of the series you will not be too confused as to what is going on. The motion picture made very few references to its predecessor.
I would recommend this film for those who enjoy mystery movies, and those who enjoyed the Da Vinci Code.
Karl Cunic
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Dance Flick met all of the medio-
cre expectations that I had. Simi-lar to movies like Scary Movie and Meet the Spartans, Dance Flick was a movie with its plot centered around
making fun of other movies. However, while the film was completely predictable, I must admit that I did find myself laughing at a good bit of it. If you’re someone who likes this sort of stu-pid and sometimes crude humor, then you will certainly enjoy this flick. Also, some of the dance scenes did feature a little talented dancing and fun routines which were enjoyable. Most of the parts with the main characters, Megan (Shosha-na Bush, Fired up) and Charity (Essence Atkins, Love for Sale) were fairly funny. Their acting was fitting for this type of humor and they didn’t seem to be trying too hard to get a laugh. On the contrary, some of the more minor characters and parts of the movie were just over the top and dis-gusting, and because of this, detracted from the humor. One example of this was the moments with the actor George Gore II who made fun of Ray Charles. His acting was too forced and not very good. I was not a fan of any of the parts in the movie involving his character.
It was not just dance movies that were mim-icked in Dance Flick. For example, the last few minutes of the movie were devoted to making fun of Twilight and other movies like Mean Girls were also included. I didn’t hate this film, but I certainly do not have a desire to see it again. It was exactly the type of humor and plot that I ex-pected to come out of this movie. But, if this is the type of motion picture that you typically like, I would give it a try.
Dance Flick
Erica Zaccagnini
Voice graphic headline by Jessica Dukes
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Grammy Award-winning Green Day’s first album in five years, 21st Century Breakdown, is a compilation of 20 new punk songs. They have significantly matured in their sound since their previous release.
“Know Your Enemy”, the album’s first single, is a feel-good albeit repetitive anthem with solid, intense guitar. The variety of this CD includes pia-no and acoustic interludes on songs such as “Rest-less Heart Syndrome” and involved guitar tracks like “Horseshoes and Handgrenades”. Just about any listener can find something they will enjoy on 21st Century Breakdown.
Having said that, even though the album is good quality, there are no standout tracks like “Ameri-can Idiot” or “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” that listeners will remember years later. In addition, Green Day seems to have abandoned their rath-er adolescent lyrics for a little more meaningful words, which can be good or bad. The band seems to have lost its edge.
This punk band’s newest release is worth the money for old and new fans alike.
I’ll admit, my first experience with Iron & Wine was hearing their song “Flightless Bird, American Mouth” on the Twilight soundtrack. I wasn’t ex-pecting anything fantastic with their latest album, Around the Well, a collection of old songs and new recordings. I was pleasantly surprised upon hearing the soft, melodic tunes of front man Sam Beam’s voice and guitar.
Upon listening to Around the Well, I enjoyed Beam’s whispering, delicate vocals over the skill-fully played acoustic guitar. A highlight of the CD is “Love Vigilantes”, due to its relatable lyrics, toe-tapping beat, and overall optimistic feel.
The biggest fault in Around the Well is the au-dio quality of the first half of the album. This is unavoidable due to the nature of the songs, but I felt myself focusing on that instead of the actual music.
Around the Well is a gem of quality music in a sea of overproduced pop hits. The peaceful, chill songs with first-rate lyrics and guitar accompani-ment make this album a must-have for your sum-mer soundtrack.
Green Day’s 21st Century Breakdown album is different than all the rest of their albums. It’s bro-ken down into three acts: Act 1-Hereos and Cons, Act 2-Charlatans and Saints, Act 3-Horseshoes and Handgrenades.
Knowing their reputation concerning author-ity, I had high expectations for the album and they didn’t disappoint. Their song “21st Century Break-down” started the album off with a bang. The chorus is catchy and easy to relate to, especially the lyric “I once was lost but never was found.”
The album had the same quick tempo, loud drum solos and the similar lyrical angst as their previous albums. However, there is a downside. In some songs the instruments overpower the lyr-ics preventing the listener to hear any words. To help this problem, Green Day attempted to have a few slow songs like “Last Night On Earth” in be-tween, however it isn’t enough.
Ultimately, Green Day pulls off a great album after five years of silence. If you’re a fan of their previous albums or alternative music this is defi-nitely for you.
Iron and Wine’s newest album, Around the Well, hit shelves with a combination of out-of-date and never-before released songs. This album has more of a folk sound with its slow strumming of guitar and soft sounds.
The opening song, “Dearest Foresaken,” gave me hope for this album. It has a rhythmic upbeat tempo and a country feel; it seems as if it has a banjo even though it doesn’t. The voice of singer Sam Beam is a raspy whisper, but yet it is almost melodic. “Serpent Charmer” had an upbeat tem-po and little rasp in the voice making the song en-joyable as well.
As more songs came and went, I had trouble identifying when one ended and another started because they mixed together. I focused more on the tone of Beam’s voice instead of the actual lyr-ics. A good thing that occurred from this album is that it helped to cure some of my insomnia.
Overall, this album is best for those who enjoy music on the slow and soft side. If you aren’t a fan of that kind of music, then I wouldn’t waste my money buying the album.
21st Century BreakdownGreen Day
Around the WellIron and Wine
$14.99 on iTunes
$9.99 on iTunes
Katie JohantgesAsst. Entertainment Editor
Ashley JeffersEntertainment Editor
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