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Good and bad, liberating and restraining, teen parties simulate the best and the worst of high school. Teens create some of their most vivid memories through parties as well as learn more about themselves and what is best for them. However, teen parties can possibly create the “one time experiment” effect: life lasting drug and alcohol addictions can result from trying a drug once at a party, and teenage students can turn into teenage parents with one-time lust felt during a party. All in all, partying provides controversy with both its positives and negatives.

A student’s high school years are known to be the most important when it comes to a student’s future in college and further

education. Lakota West Spanish teacher, Allison Billups, explains that when students attend par-ties on school nights or over weekends, grades tend to slip.

“I think a lot of students probably choose to do a lot of partying over the weekend rather than sitting down and studying,” Billups said. “But I also think that the stu-dents who are go-ing to do well and are good students don’t partake in parties [with drugs and alcohol].”

However, senior Chloe Bartram, who has attended a party and left when drugs and alcohol were introduced, says examples of students who manage to make the grade with an active partying life including drugs and alcohol tend to contradict the study-all-weekend idea.

“To some extent, partying does affect grades. But I do know some kids that party hard all week-end and are in the top twenty-five of their class,” senior Bartram said.

Although these students succeed in school

even while partying, junior Mitra Jouhari, who has never attended a party with drugs or alcohol, suggests that these teens may not be living up to their full potential.

“I know people who get great grades and are out partying every weekend,” Jouhari said. “I’m not saying they’re doing their absolute best, though, because I’m sure if they weren’t out par-tying they’d probably be doing even better.”

When students party, long and wild Satur-day nights can reflect in their academic perfor-m a n c e . W i t h t h e all-important junior and senior years associated with stress, Collin Schwi-eterman, who has once unintentionally attended

a party with alcohol, explains that teens try to find an av-enue to relieve the tension.

“I do not think that party-ing on a Friday night once or twice a month hurts your GPA at all. If anything, I think it may boost it a bit,” Schwiet-erman said. “Having fun with your friends is a great stress reliever. As long as you don’t party so hard that you have a hard time remembering your name or address, or so often

that you can’t imagine your life without it, I do not think that partying is bad for your grades.”

Responsible partying without alcohol, drugs, and sex can be an outlet to blow off steam. How-ever, www.thehealthcenter.info lists alternative methods to relieve stress, including taking breaks during stressful activities, saying “no” more of-ten to obligations, regular exercise, and eating a healthy diet.

The three biggest issues involving teenagers are commonly woven into a wild party, be-coming a parent’s worst nightmare. While

underage drinking, illegal drug use and premari-tal sex are familiar to the teen rebellion expressed at a wild party, it is no wonder high school par-ties are linked to police arrests, deadly car ac-cidents and premature deaths.

According to www.marininstitute.org, every day, on average, 11,318 American youth (from 12 to 20 years of age) try alcohol for the first time and 6,488 teens try marijuana for the first time. Many of these first time experiments with illegal drugs are connected to teen partying.

Schwieterman explains that recreational drug use is unnecessary at any age during a party, but feels alcohol is somewhat acceptable.

“I personally feel very strongly against the use of drugs for any age group. However, the con-sumption of alcohol doesn’t bother me nearly as much,” Schwieterman said. “The main reason be-ing that America is one of the few countries in the world with such a high drinking age. I feel that if it were lower, less teens would drink.”

According to German exchange student and junior Amelie Klotz, a teenager in Germany is al-lowed to drink beer, wine, and Prosecco (an Italian wine) when 16 years old, and can drink any other type of alcohol when eighteen years old. Klotz has attended parties in Germany without alcohol.

However, she explains that teenagers are not allowed to drive and have a curfew until they are

Danielle SeamonNews Editor

18 years old and there are other restrictions when teens party. Klotz also explains that the po-lice regularly control the clubs German teens at-tend, and police are allowed to take home teens that are out past their curfew.

“A lot of teenagers drink in Germany because it is a new experience for them. Sometimes they also overestimate their abilities by drinking too much, so there are also a lot of accidents with this regu-lation,” Klotz said.

On the other hand, sophomore Jonathon Fair-banks, who has never attended a party with drugs or alcohol, thinks that the consumption of both substances can result in bad decision-making.

“Doing drugs and drinking alcohol just make your decisions even worse,” Fairbanks said. “When these two things are mixed together, noth-ing good can happen.”

Mitra Jouhari, who has never attended a party with drugs or alcohol, explains that even if a stu-dent is under the influence, they need to take re-sponsibility for their actions.

“Being under the influence of any substance shouldn’t be an excuse for stupidity, because it was the user’s fault for using it in the first place,” Jouhari said.

When illegal substances are provided at a party, it can begin to take a turn for the worst. This and a combination

of other aspects can create a classic case of a party gone wrong.

“Aspects that make a party go on downward spiral include a lack of supervision from either a parent of guardian, excessive alcohol and/or drug use, and lack of experience with the kids involved,” Will Mueller, firefighter cap- tain at Station 25 Headquarters in Colerain Township, said.

Mueller has been called to several situations of teen parties gone awry.

“We [firefighters] get called occasionally to a 16, 17 or 18 year old unconscious person and we’ll get the report that they’re unconscious or intoxi-cated, laying in the middle of the roadway,” Muel-ler said. “At some larger parties, we’ve been called out to, teens will even deny who the [unconscious] person is because they don’t even want to be asso-ciated or get in trouble. So they [the unconscious teens] are hung out to dry by their friends.”

When parties become “hard

core”, Schwieterman explains that they usually had innocent beginnings.

“I don’t think ‘hard core’ parties always start out hard core. Your get-together with ten friends could turn into something you didn’t intend. Friends invite friends and soon enough, your house is full of peo-ple, some of whom you have never met or heard of,” Schwi-eterman said.

Stories of par-ties gone wrong are told through peers and siblings. Junior Stephanie Baker* explains that what her friends have done at parties prove to be unwor-thy in the long run.

“Well, I know that when people go to parties like that [with drugs and alcohol], they tend to do things they regret later on,” Baker said. “I know of peo-ple who remember having sex but don’t remem-ber who they had sex with. You lose your inhibi-tions when you’re under the influence. People get the cops called on them and end up losing their futures because of one night, and in the long run, it isn’t worth it.”

The best way to avoid an undesirable situation at a party is to steer clear of the party all together. However, sometimes the downward direction of a party can be unpredictable.

“If you realize you are in too deep, you need to call your parents and say, ‘I need help,’” Muel-ler said. If things are getting too crazy for you, the best thing to do is just not get involved and leave. Deal with the ridicule later.”

With horror stories of teen deaths, rape and addiction associated with partying, parents have reason to restrict where

their teen goes and what their teen does. How-ever, when a teenager throws a wild party, a typi-cal question runs through the minds of teens and parents alike: Where are these kid’s parents?

“Some parents want to be their kid’s friends to instill a certain amount of trust in their child. So they begin to bend to the extreme of let-ting certain behaviors continue,” Mueller said. “Another part of it is the denial issue. Parents

want to deny that it is really actually happening. Another part is some of them don’t care. Some of them are at a point in their relationship where they feel the teen has steered themselves the

wrong way too many times, and the parent wants to wash their hands of it.”

It is also common that a teen’s parents may be out of town when a party is thrown in their house. However, when illegal sub-stances such as drugs and alcohol are used in the parents’ house, the teens are not the

only ones who could get into legal trou-ble.

“If something were to happen with a teen concerning drugs or alcohol while parents are in the house, it’s over,” Mueller said. “As far as I am concerned, a parent giving his or her own child alco-hol is still contributing to the de-

linquency of a minor.”As children grow older, a mother

or father may not be as influential as they were during a child’s infancy of elementary years. School peers are known to conflict the teachings of parents. According to Jouhari, when a child be-gins school, friends and cliques begin to ascertain who he or she is.

“Peers are a teen’s biggest influ-ence,” Jouhari said. “Parents and teach-ers can only do so much, but it’s up to the teenager to de-cide who they want to associate with. If a teenager is going to hang out with a bunch of partiers, they’re much more likely to party too. I’m not saying a parent shouldn’t try to encourage their children to make

good decisions, but they can’t be with them all the time.”

In most cases, parties have a positive purpose: to celebrate an event in a social atmosphere. Students use parties as tools to make new

friends, save money, and relieve stress. Often, parties introduce students to new groups of peo-ple.

“I think that partying or the lack there of has a huge impact on students’ social lives. Teens meet other teen from other schools and other grades at parties,” Schwieterman said.

Attending parties is more cost efficient than regular weekend activities. With movie ticket and restaurant prices on the rise, the free price tag that comes along with a party seems more reasonable.

“It [partying] saves money. For the most part, partying is cheaper than movies. Besides the cost, if Hollywood keeps making Twilight movies, then there isn’t a teen guy on the planet who wouldn’t choose partying,” Schwieterman said

After a hard week at school, teens need a way to relax and have fun, becoming a reason why many students go to parties during the weekend.

“Having fun with your friends is a great stress reliever,” Schwieterman said.

Partying can also give students a rush and a sense of power by knowing they are getting away with something their parents wouldn’t approve of.

“The rush of doing something you know is wrong and getting away with it seems really ex-citing at the time. It feels like other people think you’re cooler because you’re ‘above the law,” Jou-hari said.

Although it has its downsides, partying will remain a prominent part of the “high school ex-perience.”

“You can’t talk about the negatives [of party-ing] without addressing the positives. If teens didn’t enjoy it, then they wouldn’t do it,” Jouhari said.

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Voice graphic headline by Dylan Geiser

Additional reporting by Amy Rubenstein

Voice photo illustrations by Danielle Seamon

Voice infographic by Dylan Geiser

*This is a false name used to represent a source that wished to remain anonymous.

Voice graphic headlines by Mac Gerhardt*Voice survey out of 264 students

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Multicultural Club opened the doors of Lakota West and invited Logan Sharp to share his culture. Sharp is from the

Micajah Shawnee Tribe of Native Americans in Wilmington, Ohio. Lakota West’s Mulitcultural Club has been celebrating Native Ameri-can history all November and, they fin-ished off the month with having Sharp come to answer questions from students about the rituals and struggles performed by the Native Americans.

“I speak to people often about our cul-ture. In fact just two months ago we gave a speech at the University of West Virginia,” Sharp said.

While Sharp’s audience is usually more numerous than the one at West, he enjoyed having a smaller audience and focusing on material that interested the students. One of the major discussion points was the Micajah Shawnee Tribe in Wilmington not being recognized by the government.

A lack of government recognition for Native Americans causes many struggles. For example, the children in the tribe will not be excused from school for Native American holidays, and when selecting a race on paperwork, like a college application, they are not labeled as Native Americans. As of right now, the tribe is attempting to become governmentally rec-ognized.

The Micajah teach the younger children where they come from and what they believe.

“If you know where you came from, it makes it a whole lot easier to know where you are going. It gives you more understanding of why you do the things you do,” Sharp said.

Another topic dicussed was when the settlers came over and settled on Native American land.

Because America has been established for a long time, people don’t think of the land as taken. Sharp believes that people need to hear what the first people on this land are thinking about how it is used today.

“We don’t own land and we never claimed to own anybody’s land, but we are the caretakers. This is what the Creator gave us and we need to watch over the land. So we’re stepping up, telling people you’re still on our land and we don’t like what you’ve done with our land,” Sharp said.

Sharp talked about the stuggles the Micajah faced, he also talked about the importance of

teaching and learning other people’s cultures. He emphasized that every-one needs to care about each other and thinks people should learn about other people’s cultures since it describes where a person comes from and what they’re about.

“We should be aware of other people’s cultures because we all have to live together. It’s great to have respect about each other and if you know more about that person’s culture and the way they think, you will have a lot more respect for that person,” Sharp said.

The students found the lecture informative and creative. Many people do not have the opportunity to hear the Native American’s side. Senior and Multicultural Club mem-ber, Benis Amparbeng found the

speech to be beneficial.“I personally learned a lot. I got to know how

they really feel and how they raise their kids in a way that their kids would form their culture and history,” Amparbeng said.

Abbi KearnsStaff Reporter

Members of Micajah tribe come to West

Members of the Micajah tribe educate students on Native American culture.

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With all of the recent developments in West Chester Township, it seemed to many that not a single element of the

perfect community had been neglected. The area has banks, hotels, gas stations, and several places to eat. However, the township recognized that something was missing, and a bigger library was exactly what was needed. Members of the com-munity saw what went from the skeleton of a building to what they see now—a modern library that is nearly three times the size of the old loca-tion.

“The planning took years. [The building took] over a year,” Rebecca Page, a librarian working in the children’s section of the library, said. “It took a lot of cooperation and coordina-tion with the township and the adminis-tration here, and everyone from the ad-ministration on down. And blood, sweat, and tears.”

The new library will impact community mem-bers of every age. The location is not only in the heart of West Chester; it has a lay- out unique from the old West Chester Library.

“It’s bright and spacious, a lot more light and bright colors, everything from the color of the wood to the colors of the walls to the height of the ceiling. The lighting is tremendous here. There are no shelves where you bend down anymore and are struggling to see what’s on the bottom shelf.

There’s a lot more seating for all ages—toddlers through senior citizens—especially teens, where [they] had no seating before and [they] have an entire room now. Pretty cool,” Page said.

The West Chester branch follows the Middle-

town Public Li-brary System’s mission and vi-sion in the way that it is “pro-viding an invit-ing atmosphere at the library, providing op-portunities and growth, and as-

sisting each person to find the materials or resources needed.” According to www.middletownlibrary.org, the Middletown Public Library System houses approximately 300,000 books, 38,000 sound recordings, and 33,000 video recordings. At the front of the build-ing, one can find a café area with vending ma-chines to purchase snacks while taking advantage of all of the resources. There are study rooms that are provided on a first come, first served basis as well. Not to mention a listening station where one

can put some on headphones and listen to music or audio books. According to Hennen’s American Public Library Ratings, the Middletown Public Library System scored in the top 2% of all public libraries in the United States in 2005.

Upcoming activities at the library include a college program that is coming up in January. The young adult board, which is made for 7-12th graders for the purpose of meeting new teens and was put on hold in the move, will begin again in January. The library is also convenient for students looking to fulfill community service requirements, because it is possible to earn a few extra hours by volunteering at the library. Most important, it is a place to study, finish homework, and complete projects that may re-quire book sources. The library provides a place

for those who are unable to access the school’s li-brary before it closes.

The key is that “the Library…is both the su-p e r m a r k e t of knowl-edge and the search en-gine neces-sary to navi-

gate the aisles,” part of the library’s mission and vision. Everyone can decide how they want to uti-lize the library, whether it is picking up a few CDs, collecting books for research, borrowing movies for a movie night with friends, or simply having a new place to study.

The new library has much to offer for students.

Delaney OrrStaff Reporter

Library provides quiet study for students

Voice photos by Danielle Seamon

Magazine names West one of best schools

Lakota West has quite a bit to brag about- a 95.4% graduation rate, the state designa-tion of “Excellent”, and hundreds of athlet-

ic and academic awards lining the hallways and gymnasium. Thanks to Cincinnati Magazine, who named West one of the best high schools in the area, the school now has something new to add to its list of accomplishments.

In the magazine’s list of the 30 best high schools in the Cincinnati area, Lakota West claimed a spot for its superb performing arts department.

“Our vocal, instrumental, theater, and visual arts all do outstanding work,” Lakota West princi-pal Richard Hamilton said.

West offers a variety of electives to the nearly-2000 sophomores, juniors, and seniors who at-tend the school. Fine art, band, and theater are only the beginning when it comes to all the choic-es students have.

As evidenced by the student masterpieces found throughout the school’s hallways and Media Center, West has an excellent collection of teach-ers and students in the various art classes offered. These classes include Drawing and Painting, Art Metals, Ceramics, and more, allowing students to

expand their creativity and improve their draw-ing, painting, and sculpting skills.

Another branch of West’s excellent performing

arts department is theater. Theater participants presented Noises Off earlier this year and will perform The Glass Menagerie next Spring. Sev-eral other productions are also upcoming, includ-ing Godspell next February and A Festival of One

Acts on March 27 at Lakotafest.West’s Choir is also worthy of recognition - the

talented cast of students and the school’s vocal di-rector, Anthony Nims, were part of “The Spirit of Christmas: Nativity Exhibits and Music” on De-cember 4. The event was hosted by the Cincinnati North Stake Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

West’s claim to fame, according to Cincin-nati Magazine, is the marching band’s expedition to the Tournament of Roses Parade on January 1, 2008. Nearly 300 West students crossed the country to visit California and perform in the pa-rade, becoming the first high school band to ever represent Cincinnati at the event. Approximately one-million people watched the Lakota West Marching Firebirds in-person, while an estimated forty-million more watched the parade on TV.

Thanks to an incredible performing arts pro-gram, excellent academics, and most importantly, a lively and hard-working student body, Lakota West was able to earn itself a spot in Cincinnati Magazine’s list of best high schools.

“I’m very pleased [about being chosen],” Ham-ilton said. “We’re [one] of the best in the city.”

Ty MullinsStaff Reporter

Voice photo courtesy of chca-oh.org

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In the middle of a dream, I hear the new Taylor Swift single

blaring. I roll over to glare a t the alarm clock as I

think, it feels like I just went to sleep five minutes ago. I hit the snooze and drift back to sleep only to be rudely interrupted sev-

en minutes later by the alarm again. Sound familiar?

When teens complain about how early school starts, it’s not just because we go to bed late. Perhaps it’s the school’s fault for start-ing so early; Research supports later school start time for high schools.

With a later school start time, we could receive more sleep in the mornings, which is why OGT week may be the best week of the year. Being a junior, I have yet to experience it; however, from what I’ve been told, it’s a great week for teachers and students. Students are more alert and seem to be in better a mood, which helps the teachers in having students engage in activities. Teachers would not have to constantly fight against the stu-dent who attempts to fulfill the hour or more of sleep they are in need of. And the rest of the class wouldn’t suffer by the break in learning to wake said student up.

Schools around the country, such as the Minne-apolis Public Schools, have already switched start times from 7:15 to around 8:40, see an improve-ment in the students. The later start time was reported to affect tardiness and alertness for the better. West could improve in these categories. Now, I know a later start time would mean leaving school later. And no one wants to get out of school later. I mean it would be horrible to have to make practices shorter. Think about it, the idea of going to school is to get an education. If this means that sport practices are a half hour shorter, I think our teams will survive.

As of right now, I doubt that Lakota will con-sider pushing back the start time of school. The is-sues have been apparent for too long without any thing done to improve the start time.

Many people are blaming us, the teens, for staying up too late and not being able to function in the morning. But is staying up too late the real problem, or is the real problem getting up at 7:15? School should start around 8:30 to better the quality of learning by the students. Other schools have done it, why not Lakota? There really isn’t a clear reason as to why the district is restricting the high school students from learning to their fullest potential.

Early start, empty students

Money in a teenager’s life becomes more and more important. High

school students are taught to make their own money and more critically, to conserve and spend their money wisely. However, West students cannot look to school spending as an example; money is being spent unwisely.

To start; the 3M system dis-tribution and spending is impru-dent. The 3M projectors, while they take up less space, actually do not have too much influence in classes, and a lot of money is being spent on them. 3Ms are used primarily to project notes

and charts and watch clips. These functions are not unique to the 3M. Normal projectors can proj-ect both notes and charts. They are more depend-able and most teachers have access to them. Not all teachers have a 3M in their classrooms, and the 3Ms in place malfunction all the time. Pens run out of batteries, which need to be replaced. Pens also break completely, in which case the actual pen needs to be replaced. Sometimes the 3M won’t come on or switch to the right channel. Furthermore, there are light bulbs in the 3Ms that need to be replaced, which can cost hundreds of dollars. The sum of the cost of repairs, batteries, and new pens the cost of the 3Ms outweighs their worth.

Another waste of utilities that we already have are the televisions. There is a television in near-ly every room and they are severely overlooked. These TVs can run videos and they don’t need to be repaired often. Funding was spent on these televisions, why don’t we actually use them in-stead of wasting money on alternatives?

Even more disturbing is the fact that we actu-ally should have a built in clock for each class-room but they aren’t functional. The money that should have been spent fixing these clocks was spent buying new wall clocks. Now we spent double the amount we should have on clocks,

and we have nonfunctional clocks reminding us of this fact every day. Those four little red dots con-stantly remind us we wasted money, and serve as warnings against poor spending choices.

Also, new Scantron machines were purchased for quarter exams. Why? Well, these Scantron machines give teachers and administration data about how students rank up to other students in the district. How do these machines do this when the tests aren’t standardized? Well, appar-ently they are—for sophomores. When expensive things are being bought for only a section of the high school, when it’s not really necessary and doesn’t affect the students at all, you know some-thing’s wrong.

On a minor note, this school has become George Orwell’s worst nightmare. Every inch of the building doesn’t need to be covered by secu-rity cameras. West is not Fort Knox, and its stu-dents aren’t going to steal its priceless contents. Cameras are also clumped up in groups. If we are going to place cameras everywhere, let’s at least place them evenly. It’s not a huge problem, security does need to be good, but it’s just another waste of money that could be cut.

We need to re-evaluate and understand that the objects bought for the school should serve the students in some way, and not just be extraneous technology that is harder to operate and expen-sive to boot. Instead of bumping lunch prices, and cutting bus budgets (believe it or not, our school buses are not magic and cannot hold 200 people) the school district should just look at how money is spent and refocus it towards what we really need, instead of what we just want. West’s administration should take a cue from Econom-ics classes, and learn to spend their money more wisely.

Abbi KearnsStaff Reporter

And so it begins. As winter arrives in West Chester, it

brings with it sev-e r a l things: semester ex-ams (wait, make that sec-ond quarter e x a m s ) , holidays and hot choco-late. But above all else, the winter season in Ohio-

means cold weather, and cold weath-er means snow.

For those that have attended Lakota schools for a while, you will re-

member and wholeheart-edly agree with my upcom-ing opinions. For those that

haven’t, let’s just say that come the end of winter, you’ll agree too. Lakota has a track record of in-consistency when it comes to delays and cancel-lations—a track record that has put the lives of

students at risk year after year. It seems that every school year starts the same

way. There is a snowfall that is unexpectedly sig-nificant, either right before school starts or right before school ends. Yet, inexplicably, Lakota will ignore it, and students are forced to drive in an inch or more of snow. The next day, the Board of Education sends an apology out to the parents, after receiving an onslaught of outraged parent phone calls. Then the district does what we who know sports refer to as a “make-up call.” This will occur in the form of delay or snow day when it’s quite obvious there isn’t a need for one, usually happening after a dusting of snow.

We’ve already experienced one of these days so far. On December 7, 2009, students arrived to find their parking lot completely snowed-over. Vehicles parked catawampus all over the snow-covered pavement. Students brushed off spot numbers, and were amazed to find that they had parked several spots over. Attendance was held until the end of first bell, and the halls were filled with students rushing to take off their

winter gear.Students should still remember vividly last

year’s fiasco when schools were not let out early even when several inches of snow began piling up outside of Lakota West. While we sat inside won-dering when we would get the early release signal, we watched the snow accumulate. Amid the sev-eral student wrecks, students also saw delays of over an hour to get home.

Situations that put the students at risk should never happen. Teenage drivers already are at such a high risk for accidents that when treacherous weather threatens, school districts should take preventative measures to protect the lives of their students. Sometimes just a delay is enough to al-low local officials to treat the roads to the point where it is safe for schools to open. But to force students to drive in hazardous conditions is not only dangerous, it is reckless. There is no excuse for putting young adults at risk.

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Everyone knows about it; sopho-mores long for it,

juniors think they feel it and most seniors misun-derstand it. This infamous “it” is senioritis. In the most extreme it is defined as a complete apathy for every possible association

with high school, while weaker versions are more commonly seen by the senior class as a

simple skipping of a few classes a semester by the usually rule abiding student.

However, this is all a misconception. Seniori-tis has very little to do with school at all. How on Earth do those who can’t stand yet another second of school go on to college and succeed? College is just another four or so years of classes; some of

which you may like, some of which you may hate, just like high school. Seniors use this as a poor ex-cuse to not do their work and it usually works. De-spite the hundreds of warnings from teachers and counselors about slacking off in the ending weeks and revoked acceptances, getting accepted into college automatically makes many seniors give up on their classes and grades.

Regardless, senior year isn’t even that bad; re-member junior year? After writing endless appli-cations for college (most of which must be done by December 1), senior year really isn’t that tough. The classes are not nearly as time-consuming as they were during the other three years of high school. Most of your required classes are out of the way and therefore you can pretty much take whatever classes you want, especially since se-niors get priority during scheduling. Also, there are many fun events that now can unabashedly fill up your time, like Nerf Wars.

Even college offers up opportunities for such merriment. Sledding on giant sheets of laminated paper and jumping in the schools “reflection pond” are just two of the millions of stress relievers that college students enjoy in their free time. Granted, you shouldn’t be spending more time playing in the snow than you do studying but, by now, you should already know exactly how much studying you need to do, and how much “fun time” you can have while still doing well in school.

Senior year is a necessary evil, in that it almost seems like a waste of time until you realize that unless you “suffer” through this year, you will never be really very ready for college. It’s a time to realize that there are bigger and better things out there for you to achieve. Senioritis is simply the realization of that goal, the desire for indepen-dence.

Independence, not apathy, true senioritis

Austin McCarthyEditor-in-Chief

Elise MaxfieldCopy Editor

Voice comic by Elise MaxfieldVoice graphic headline by Dylan Geiser

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You’ve seen the advertisements. You’ve seen the

T-shirts. You’ve seen the squealing teenyboppers at the movie theatre. Per-haps you’ve heard of the line of undergarments. Even if your social life is made up of channel-

flipping and web-surfing, you know very well that New Moon’s Robert Pattinson (Ed-

ward Cullen) is the heartthrob of the era. The Twilight Saga’s themes are the age-old

formula for popularity: intense romance, mod-

erate violence and fantasy framework. Beyond that, speaking as an ex-Twilight reader, the ide-alist train derails. The acting was uninspired. The simulated werewolf images were pixilated. Slow motion melodrama is not and will not be taken seriously. Not that the qual-ity of the film is what draws viewers to the c i n e m a — t h e n y m p h o m a -niacal sighing and swooning heard when Taylor Lautner’s (Jacob Black’s) shirt was peeled off es-tablishes that.

Now that films have been added to the Saga’s franchise, racier elements have become more ac-cessible to a younger audience, comprised of chil-dren still intimidated by 500+ page novels. Sit-ting in the cinema on New Moon’s date of release, I saw countless preteens and their younger sisters who were easily a decade my junior. Given, there was only a dozen or so at the movie who were merely a year or two into elementary school, but such sexual implications and a preteen audience alone?

Sex and violence are the very basis of movies and ads, perhaps even appeal itself. Freudianly speaking, the inner desire drawing us to these aspects, one’s id, is present from the start. Such advantage taken over man’s basic instinct is fine when it’s a friend watching Transformers or an older brother playing Modern Warfare, but when my 10-year-old second cousin begins reading Ste-

phenie Meyer’s vampire volumes dubbed as “se-ductive” by the New York Times, I worry about sexual sensationalism being introduced to chil-dren before the hormones have even kicked in.

Exposing younger movie-goers to these elements in film so early on will only support the celebra-tion of sex and violence already present in the media.

Not that New Moon is the hub of all corrup-tion—minds have been warped by cultural crazes for ages—but once the shrieking fan girls turn out as young as they are, maybe that commonplace at-titude toward sex and violence should be righted. I have read a great deal of the Twilight Saga, and even if one skims the first book, the basic theme of Meyer’s entire collection is clear and basic: love. Love transcending lust. Love lasting eternally. Everything preteen girls thrive upon—pretending Kristen Stewart’s (Bella’s) romantic predicament will mirror their own future revelries. Maybe that could be focused upon in movies intended for girls who just want to be liked—not shirtless men with beefcake bodies or bloodlust in every sense of the word, but romance and fairytales.

Jordan TaylorStaff Reporter

In January, at the end of the first semester, seniors with enough

credits are given the op-tion of early graduation.

There is no doubt that for some, early gradua-tion has many benefits. Graduating early can give some students a head

start on saving for college with all of the added time they can work. Some col-

leges even let students begin school in January so they can get a semester of college out of the way and have a head start over other freshman begin-ning classes in the fall. However, for a majority of students, early graduation is nothing more than wasting time that could be spent furthering their education and missing chances to participate in all of the fun and exciting events that come along with being a senior.

Senior year is what students look forward to throughout their education. It is the last year of their high school careers and finally they are the oldest in the school. Senior year is about work-ing hard and getting accepted to colleges, but one cannot forget the important social aspect of it. People who graduate early have a hard time keep-ing connections with their friends who are still in

high school. Connections with these friends can be lost, and since most plans for the weekend are made during school, those who graduate early can easily be left out of them. Not to mention, most high school students will be at school till around 2:30. If the early graduate isn’t working often, this can easily be a lot of time spent doing nothing, which is always nice for a little while, but it gets old fast.

After having spent 12 gruel-ing years in school already, almost all seniors develop senioritis, which is com-pletely understand-able. It is typical to hear so many seniors express how “done” they are with high school and how they can’t wait to be done and move on to col-lege. However, if as a senior you’ve gone through 7 semesters of high school how hard can one more be, especially when it’s the last semester of your senior year when frankly, grades are way less important than they ever were in the past. Rather than being bored of high school, why not get involved your senior year? Join clubs that interest you or get really spirited and attend all

of the sporting events. Just simply experience as much as you can and have as much fun as possi-ble before you have to part ways with your friends and leave for college. Early graduation is a way for these people to throw up their hands and give up on high school, but with all of its disadvantages, it

is not the cure for senioritis. Wanting to have

some break from school is under-

standable. School be-comes tiring, but that

is what summer is for. Even over the three month

summer so much material is forgotten by students, with early graduation the gap be-tween high school and college extends to almost 7 months, giving students plenty of time

to forget information. There are certainly situations where early

graduation is beneficial. However, if motives are not right, and one is graduating early to simply escape their last few months of high school, the disadvantages of early graduation certainly out-weigh the seven months that will be spent twirl-ing your thumbs trying to find something useful to fill your day.

Exposing younger movie-goers to these elements in film so early on will only support the celebration of sex and vio-lence already present in the media.

‘’

Erica ZaccagniniEditor-in-Chief

Early graduation good for some, not othersVoice graphic headline by Dylan Geiser

Voice infographics by Jessica Dukes

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Snow days are bound to happen at least once a school year. It’s just one of those things that everybody gets excited for.

Including most of the teachers. It’s so crazed, that it’s talked up by ev-eryone and by the end of the day, you’re just positive that it will snow ten inches over-night and school would be called off. But you can’t take any risks so you either flush the toilet at exactly ten o’ clock and not a second late, wear your pajama’s inside out or even maybe do a snow dance. But if school is called off, what ex-actly is fun to do?

If you are the type of person who likes to bundle up and go outside in the snow, then here are a few ideas for you. Have fun neighbors? If so, get involved with your neighbor-

hood. Call up a few neighbors and challenge them to a game of snow football or even a snowball fight. After a victory or even a loss, move on to the next thing on your agenda and maybe

try to build an igloo in your backyard then try and convince your mom to let you sleep in it for the night. I mean if the answer to that is a big no, make her happy, as well as your-self and possibly build a snowman/snow angels or even old fashioned sledding. Fill your day with a lot of fun things to make memories to last until the next snow day or make some money in the pro-cess and shovel driveways around your neighborhood. Make your day full of fun

which makes the time fly by.Everybody is different so if you consider

yourself as a more relaxing kind of person and want to stay inside, here are some more ideas.

Christmas is on its way, so use your day to bake Christmas cookies, listen to festive music, decorate the Christmas tree, or shop for presents. The holi-day brings in family upon family so other

options are, rewatch home movies, play board games, or watch movies. Other

options include sleeping in til noon if your parents work. You

could invite friends over, or even start a new book.

All in all, snow days are meant to be fun. I mean it’s a day without school that’s unexpected and don’t have to worry about being as-

signed homework for that night. Take my advice or come up

w i t h another ways to spend your snow day and get out and have some good winter fun.

Snow days: What to do on your day offShannon BreenStaff Reporter

Voice art by Cait Cook and Adriana Calderin

West senior board answers questionsAs a senior, if you have ever re-

ceived a pass to Ms. Noble’s room for your birthday, you’ve met se-

nior board. With the delicious candy that you receive, you may notice that these dedicated members of the senior class often go unrecognized for their services. These seniors utilize their fifth period class to brighten seniors’ days by decorating the bulletin board that is located in the front stairwell, which currently counts down the days left till winter break, and passing out candy cer-tificates to seniors who have birthdays during the current month. They also perform other “housekeeping” tasks for the senior class, as they act as class rep-resentatives. Below are a few questions that will introduce these marvelous se-niors.

2. If you had to come back as an animal, whatwouldyoube?

Greg H: Flamingo, because they are pink!

Carolyn J: Monkey because they are awesome and swinging from trees would be fun or platypus or elephant because they are fun to say.

Joseph H: Velociraptor because they are freakin’ cool.

Rachel G: A dolphin because they are awesome.

Kara M: Pig, duh.

Kara B: A duck because they go quack.

Jacob H: A polar bear.

4. Ifyouhadtobeacharacter inPiratesoftheCaribbean,whowouldyoube?Why?

Greg H: Captain Jack Sparrow, because he is funny!

Carolyn J: Elizabeth Swann because she gets to date Jack Sparrow (awesome) and Will Turner (gorgeous)!

Joseph H: The guy with the fake eye because I’ve always wanted to play pranks with a fake eye.

Rachel G: Jack the monkey because he’s a beast!

Kara B: Calypso because she’s spooky and awesome.

Kara M: Norrington because I’m evil.

Jacob H: I’d be the monkey. Who wouldn’t want to be an undead mon-key?

3. Ifyouwereacrazymoviestar,whatwouldyou name your first child?

Greg H: I would name my child Cinnamon.

Carolyn J: I’m definately going to go with Turnip.

Joseph H: Probably something like Cooper.

Rachel G: I think it would be cool if they were named Happy.

Kara B: I would name my kid Mario.

Kara M: Aaah!

Jacob H: Probably something in another language.

Elise MaxfieldCopy Editor

1. What is your favorite 90’s (childhood) TVshow?

Greg H: Scooby Doo because I love Scooby!

Carolyn J: Boy Meets World because Cory is awesome and Mr. Feeny

is basically a beast.

Joseph H: Power Rangers because what’s better than a bunch of good guys beating up bad guys?

Rachel G: Home Improvement because its hilarious!

Kara M: Rugrats, enough said.

Kara B: Boy Meets World because it was the coolest show ever and it was super funny.

Jacob H: Mr. Rodger’s Neighborhood. I don’t really remember why, I just remember telling my mom to make it come back on after it ended.

Senior board takes a photo during their 5th period planning period. (From L to R Greg H, Joseph H, Rachel G, Kara M, Carolyn J, Kara B.)

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When one mentions the Lakota West Band Program, critics and music con-noisseurs from across the nation im-

mediately turn to talk about the director, Greg Snyder. For 30 years, Snyder has been di-recting and improving band programs from all over the state of Ohio. Before coming to the original Lakota, where he taught for eight years, Snyder taught at Clyde High School. When the district split into East and West, Snyder chose to come to West.

Snyder knew that he wanted to be a band director since high school. During his senior year, Snyder took a trip to Europe, to play in the band, and that is when he clearly knew that this would be his profession for years and years to come. Sny-der studied music in college, and received his bachelor of music degree from Bowling Green State Universi-ty. He received his master of music from Vander-Cook College of Music, and is currently studying for his doctorate from Boston University.

While Snyder has been a director, he has taken his marching bands to numerous competitions

and received numerous awards. He has taken the Lakota West Marching Band to the Sugar Bowl, The Rose Bowl Parade, The Waikiki Holiday Pa-rade, and many other well known destinations.

With Mr. Snyder at the helm, fellow band members to excel as well. In 2009, 38 members of the Lakota West Band Program made the All

State Band, and 130 members made Honor Band. Also, in the 2009 season, the marching band has received five grand champion awards, the most in school history. A large achievement in itself, the symphonic winds have gotten straight supe-rior ratings at contest since the creation of West. This year, the band will go for its 10oth straight

superior rating. Out of all the distinctions Sny-der’s bands have ever received, one may stand out among the rest.

“We have been invited to the Midwest Orches-tral Clinic twice (2000 and 2006), only five high schools get to partake a year,” Snyder said.

Besides winning numerous awards for the band, Snyder has won many that are very per-sonal. For his commitment, and his achieve-ment , Snyder has been nominated for m a n y awards. In 2007, Snyder was induct-ed into the American Bandmasters Association. ABA is one of the most prestigious worldwide organizations that showcase band conductors. To be consid-ered, a band director must be nominated by an active member of ABA and a recording of the nominee’s band must be reviewed by the orga-nization. Of the 290 active members, only 30 are high school band directors.

Snyder has been making memorable music at West since the opening of the school, because of Snyder. He has pole vaulted the school to the pinnacle of marching and concert bands around the country, taking them to prominent parades and festivities around the nation. Snyder could technically retire after this year, because has 30 years of directing under his belt, but had decided to stay for years to come.

“I really love being a band director. I could retire, but I still have a passion to teach music,” Snyder said.

Around the holidays, music can be heard ev-erywhere. However, you did not expect to hear a euphonious, complicated arrange-

ment of “Jingle Bells” resounding out of the front office on your way to your car. You step into the room from which the sound is emanating, and are assaulted by a wall of festive sound. Who, do you ask, is directing this angelic chorus of voices?

The man behind the music is Anthony Nims, vocal music director at West. Nims is in his fourth year of teaching at West, and directs the freshmen chorus, Men’s Chorus, Women’s Cho-rus, Chorale, MTR (Musical Theater Review), and Chamber Choir as well as vocal part of the musical.

For someone so involved in music now, it’s surprising that Nims didn’t initially plan to ma-jor in music. He was in chorus in high school, but started out majoring in Biology at Wesleyan University. He then switched to Psychology, and then Elementary Education. Nims felt he had the capability to succeed in those areas, but none of the majors felt quite right.

“I knew I could do the stuff but I didn’t have the passion for it,” Nims said.

Finally, Music Education was the major that Nims chose to pursue. Nims finished his degree in five years and received Bachelor of Music de-gree with a voice emphasis. He then completed

his master’s degree in two years. After teaching at Anderson for four years,

Nims left to pursue his master’s degree, and then came to West to teach. When Nims came to West, he assessed the program as good, but there were recruitment issues, and the choirs were only do-ing moderately well.

“I was excited to start this job and start apply-

ing everything I learned in my master’s degree,” Nims said.

Nims has made an incredible impact. Men’s chorus has quadrupled in size since Nims arrived, women’s chorus has been going AA (highest level of music a group can take to contest) to contest for the past two years, as opposed to B when Nims started, and achieving superior ratings, and Cho-rale has gone to district and state AA and receiv-

ing superior ratings for the past four years. “I feel good about where we are right now,”

Nims said. “ I feel like we can go further, but I feel like we’re in a good place.”

Teaching music is not only about the short term though. Musically, Nims wants choir stu-dents to be able to be self-sufficient musicians so they can continue to sing in choirs and get into the best choirs in their respective towns or com-munities. Nims believes singing is something that students can do for years, no matter what age.

“Singing is especially something that, even if you’re getting older you can do,” Nims said. “You know, there’s a point where you can’t really play football anymore, but you can keep singing until your voice stops working.”

Nims also sees choir as a chance for students to escape the typical high school mentality of only learning information, and not learning about

themselves.“There’s something incredibly personal

about singing,” Nims said. “We have texts, we have poems, and we can reflect on a lot of that in our own lives.”

In other words, Nims believes that students can learn a lot of valuable life lessons from choir, and discover themselves. He feels that the arts are a valuable tool for not only teaching musical skills, but teaching these tenants of life, and the arts in conjunction with knowledge classes are essential to creating a well-rounded, happy person.

“They [the arts] can teach us how to live happi-ly, healthily, and to live a satisfying life-- and then we need to know other things also to, of course, make money and be successful,” Nims said.

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Emily BamforthAsst. Features Editor

Choral Director:

Director of Bands:

Nims accompanying a two student duet after school.

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Snyder conducts white band during 7th period.

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Voice headline graphic by Jessica Dukes

Let’s walk into West’s cafeteria for a second; what do you see? Hungry football players devouring plates of chicken nuggets, a girl

in a polka-dotted sweater carefully unwrapping her bologna sandwich, chocolate and candy being swapped back and forth resembling a busy mar-ketplace can all be seen in the large, noisy room. Now, let’s look at one particular person, who has on the table some almond milk, a tofu salami sandwich, chips, and a fruit cup.

Yes, this student is vegan, and for a week, that student was me. Let me explain; a vegan is one who chooses not to ingest or wear any animal products. This means anything that comes from an animal is off-limits.

Now, you ask, why did I decide to make this choice for only a week? Well, my reasons, rath-er than being based on strong beliefs or health, are journalistic. I wanted to figure out what be-ing vegan truly means, and to place myself in the shoes of one for a while. With these goals in mind, I began my quest.

Principles Behind Becoming VeganPeople decide to become vegan for many dif-

ferent reasons. Some people, like senior Jacob Bogart, become vegan because of moral causes.

“ I became vegan because of the ethical rea-sons,” Bogart said. “ i.e it isn’t right to take ad-vantage of animals if it’s possible to sustain life without it, and the enviromental reasons, that the meat and dairy industries account for the majori-ty of the pollution in the world and it is completely unnecessary.”

Others become vegan be- cause of health reasons, like junior Karen Smith.

“I went vegan because, believe it or not, its healthier,” Smith said.

Whatever the reason, becoming vegan is a se-rious life choice of which I was about to under-stand.

Shopping veganThis went better than I thought. When walk-

ing into the Kroger Marketplace, I thought that I was going to end up eating salad for a week. I’m not the biggest fan of salad. So, when I got into the store, I im-m e d i a t e l y picked up blackberries and raspber-ries for their nutritional value. I then headed to the premade salads, hop-ing to find something I could eat. However, when I got there, I found some of the dressings had egg in them, which I couldn’t eat, and I ended up buying plain greens.

Things were not looking good, but then I found the vegan/vegetarian aisle. There were a lot more options than I imagined, including soy cheese, soy yogurt, vegan meats, and various milk substitutes.

I tentatively filled my cart with these choices, dou-ble-checking for eggs or milk. Some of the stuff was purely vegetarian and had to be put back, but I did have some options after I was done. The question was: what would happen if I didn’t like these vegan choices?

Day to Day Vegan Living

The actual eat-ing vegan part was not so bad. I was very appre-hensive at first, not so much with breakfast, because I just substituted al-mond milk for regular milk on my cereal, but for lunch and dinner. I eat a lot of cheese and meat normally for both lunch and din-ner, and this threw me out of my comfort zone.

The week was filled with meat and milk sub-stitutes that while filling, were not the real thing. The problem with being vegan is finding variety within the diet. If one is not careful, one could just eat almonds every day. However, by utilizing a lot of grains like bread and pasta, I attempted to cre-ate the most varied diet I could with the tools I had been given.

The real problem for me was not eating as much refined sugar as I normally do. I admit, I’m a chocoholic, and I really had a problem going without the normal sweet foods I ate. Fruits were a substitute, but a girl can only eat so many berries before she goes insane.

However, I ate well during the week, only having a few problems, for example when I had to stay after school and the library vending ma-chine’s only vegan op-tion was chips. It takes

a lot of plan-ning to main-tain a vegan diet, and while actu-ally eating the food wasn’t too difficult, I was happy to be rid of the diet at the end of the week

E a t i n g out… Vegan

I eat out quite a bit, es-pecially when I’m on the go and don’t have time to go home. On

the Friday night of my vegan week, I decided to go to a movie. My friend went with me, and we headed over to Rave. Seeing our top option was sold out, we bought

tickets for another movie an hour later and head-ed to Panera Bread for something to eat.

I discovered that at Panera there is no vegan menu. Surprise, right? But, after even approach-

ing the salad menu, I ended up bugging the ca-shier to look up if there was egg in the balsamic vinaigrette dressing. After lugging a binder out and flipping to the appropriate page, the girl

notified me that there was in fact, no egg in my dressing, and while apologizing

profusely I took my house salad and Dr. Pepper and headed to my seat.

The thing about eating out veg-an is that you just have to know what you’re eating, and it’s some-times hard to get access to this in-

formation. However, if you find the right food, you are golden, which is the

way the week actually went.

ConclusionI am not becoming a vegan after this experi-

ence. I do not have the principles or health rea-sons to warrant this change, and therefore I am going to remain omnivorous. I do understand what vegans (at least new vegans) go through. I would advise this is a healthy and safe life choice that a teenager can make given the right planning and preparation. However, if you do not believe in the reasons behind this life altering choice, stick-ing to your regular eating plan would be wise.

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9Vegan diaries: complex yet sustainable

Emily BamforthAsst. Features Editor

Voice infographic by Jessica DukesVoice art by Cait Cook

Soy (soy cubes shown here) is a meat substitute used in a vegan diet.

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Tri -County Mall Santa

My favorite holiday food: Pumpkin pieMy favorite holiday dessert: Pumpkin pieThe best festive drink: Egg nogThe song I like to hear at the holidays: “Feliz Navidad”During the holidays, I like to watch: “It’s a Wonderful

Life”My favorite part of the holidays is: Giving

My favorite holiday food: Chrismas cookiesMy favorite holiday dessert: Christmas cookiesThe best festive drink: Hot cocoaThe song I like to hear at the holidays: “We Wish You a Merry Christ-

mas”During the holidays, I like to watch: “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Rein-

deer”My favorite part of the holidays: Spreading joy to all children

Kenwood Mall Santa

My favorite holiday food: HamMy favorite holiday dessert: Gingerbread cookiesThe best festive drink: Gingerbread latteThe song I like to hear at the holidays: Chestnuts Roasting During the holidays, I like to watch: “The Holiday”My favorite part of the holidays: Drinking hot chocolate by the

fire

My favorite holiday food: Macaroni and cheese My favorite holiday dessert: Strawberry cheesecakeThe best festive drink: Apple ciderThe song I like to hear at the holidays: “It’s Christmas”During the holidays, I like to watch: “Home Alone 2”My favorite part of the holidays: Spending time with family

My favorite holiday food: PizzaMy favorite holiday dessert: Ice creamThe best festive drink: Cherry CokeThe song I like to hear at the holidays: “Situations”During the holidays, I like to watch: “The Dark Knight”My favorite part of the holidays: Practicing drums

junior Jamica Scott

sophomore Ryan SchaeperVoice art by Cait Cook, Adriana Caldera, and Savanna Jones

Voice photos by Justin Sharp

Voice photos by Jessica DukesVoice graphics by Jessica Dukes

Voice headline graphic by Jessica Dukes

Additional reporting by Justin Sharp, Mac Gerhardt, and Austin McCarthy

Jessica DukesGraphics Editor

Emily BamforthAsst. Features Editor You walk into your house frostbitten after a cold winter’s day expecting to

be greeted by the festive aroma of holiday cooking. You throw off your coat, kick off your boots and wander into the kitchen to find… nothing.

Your mother is off wrapping presents for the less fortunate leaving you stranded without food. Now you have two options; one, heat up a package of holiday Zap-A-Snacks, or, you could get up, put on your apron, and get cooking. To get you started I have supplied you with some Dukes family recipes. While you cook, read some holiday secrets from both students and Santas, and perhaps adopt a few of their favorites as your own. Have some fun, and happy holidays!

Cincinnati Mall Santa

My favorite holiday food: RutabagaMy favorite holiday dessert: Peppermint ice cream cakeThe best festive drink: Peppermint MilkThe song I like to hear at the holidays: “Blue ChristmasDuring the holidays, I like to watch: “It’s a Wonderful Life”My favorite part of the holidays: Seeing my grandchildren

senior Dana Hacker

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Tri -County Mall Santa

My favorite holiday food: Pumpkin pieMy favorite holiday dessert: Pumpkin pieThe best festive drink: Egg nogThe song I like to hear at the holidays: “Feliz Navidad”During the holidays, I like to watch: “It’s a Wonderful

Life”My favorite part of the holidays is: Giving

My favorite holiday food: Chrismas cookiesMy favorite holiday dessert: Christmas cookiesThe best festive drink: Hot cocoaThe song I like to hear at the holidays: “We Wish You a Merry Christ-

mas”During the holidays, I like to watch: “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Rein-

deer”My favorite part of the holidays: Spreading joy to all children

Kenwood Mall Santa

My favorite holiday food: HamMy favorite holiday dessert: Gingerbread cookiesThe best festive drink: Gingerbread latteThe song I like to hear at the holidays: Chestnuts Roasting During the holidays, I like to watch: “The Holiday”My favorite part of the holidays: Drinking hot chocolate by the

fire

My favorite holiday food: Macaroni and cheese My favorite holiday dessert: Strawberry cheesecakeThe best festive drink: Apple ciderThe song I like to hear at the holidays: “It’s Christmas”During the holidays, I like to watch: “Home Alone 2”My favorite part of the holidays: Spending time with family

My favorite holiday food: PizzaMy favorite holiday dessert: Ice creamThe best festive drink: Cherry CokeThe song I like to hear at the holidays: “Situations”During the holidays, I like to watch: “The Dark Knight”My favorite part of the holidays: Practicing drums

junior Jamica Scott

sophomore Ryan SchaeperVoice art by Cait Cook, Adriana Caldera, and Savanna Jones

Voice photos by Justin Sharp

Voice photos by Jessica DukesVoice graphics by Jessica Dukes

Voice headline graphic by Jessica Dukes

Additional reporting by Justin Sharp, Mac Gerhardt, and Austin McCarthy

Jessica DukesGraphics Editor

Emily BamforthAsst. Features Editor You walk into your house frostbitten after a cold winter’s day expecting to

be greeted by the festive aroma of holiday cooking. You throw off your coat, kick off your boots and wander into the kitchen to find… nothing.

Your mother is off wrapping presents for the less fortunate leaving you stranded without food. Now you have two options; one, heat up a package of holiday Zap-A-Snacks, or, you could get up, put on your apron, and get cooking. To get you started I have supplied you with some Dukes family recipes. While you cook, read some holiday secrets from both students and Santas, and perhaps adopt a few of their favorites as your own. Have some fun, and happy holidays!

Cincinnati Mall Santa

My favorite holiday food: RutabagaMy favorite holiday dessert: Peppermint ice cream cakeThe best festive drink: Peppermint MilkThe song I like to hear at the holidays: “Blue ChristmasDuring the holidays, I like to watch: “It’s a Wonderful Life”My favorite part of the holidays: Seeing my grandchildren

senior Dana Hacker

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West students get tattoos with meaning

Tattoos: love ‘em or hate ‘em, they never fail to make an impression and now more teens than ever are deciding to get inked.

In earlier times, being seen with a tattoo either meant you were a criminal, in prison, part of a gang or involved in some other form of immoral activity. It couldn’t be any more dif-ferent today. Tattoos have become so much more mainstream; now seen on the skin of teachers, parents and even teens as young as fourteen. In Ohio, as with most states, any-one under the age of 18 is a minor and needs a parent’s consent to get tattooed. Whether you love the look of artwork layed out across your body or are completely repulsed by it, you can’t deny that a tattoo almost always emits a strong reaction.

“Tattoos are usually cool on other people and they’re fun to look at. As for me getting one myself, I don’t know,” senior David Mc-Donald said.

Deciding to get a tattoo is definitely not something you should do on a whim or be pressured into. It’s not like dyeing your hair a crazy color or changing your makeup; it’s something that will be on your body forever and can’t be erased easily. Sure, new technology has been developed that allows a laser to gradu-ally fade unwanted body art but it’s usually an expensive and painful process. Prices typically start off at $200-$500 per session depending on how extensive and detailed your tattoo is and by

the time the treatment is finished, you could be spending anywhere from $1,000-$10,000. That’s a lot of cash to shell out just to get your body the way it originally was. Also, laser treatments still don’t guarantee that your tattoo will be completely erased. Chances are, it won’t. So, unless you want to spend a large sum of money and time getting it removed and living with a lifetime of regret, I’d

advise waiting until you are fully committed to the idea of a permanent image on your body.

On the other hand, tattoos allow us to express who we are as individuals. Our bodies are mere blank canvases just waiting for our stories to etch themselves across our skin. Creativity and pas-

sion come through with their designs, shading and highlights. They can be used to honor loved ones who have passed and to celebrate the arrival of a new life.

“I got my grandma’s name on my arm when she died. It was probably the best thing I could’ve done,” senior Phillip Bradbury said.

True, it’s quite a tedious and painful process, but the artwork will speak for itself and stay with you for life. It’s worth it if you really ap-preciate the tattoo artist’s work.

“On my left pointer finger it says, ‘shhh’, across the top of my back it says, ‘a soldier dies but once’ and my stomach has a dande-lion blowing away and it says, ‘the Lord is my strength,” junior Reagen Kidd said. “All my tat-toos have different meanings”.

There’s no doubt that this form of body modification causes controversy. There have been and always will be opposing views.

“Tattoos are disgusting. They’re useless and a waste of money.” junior Shyam Pema said.

Deciding to get a tattoo is obviously a serious decision and shouldn’t be made while under

the influence of alcohol or any drug. Anoth-er thing to factor in is searching around for the perfect tattoo artist that you both respect and admire for their work. Some artists are better at portraits while others are more skilled in cal-

ligraphy and small designs. So, finding someone who is talented in the image you want is key for leaving with a beautiful piece of art.

When it comes down to it, getting any form of body modification, be it tattoos or piercings, should only be for your approval and happiness.

Natasha MilliganStaff Reporter

Junior Reagan Kidd shows off her tattoo that states “ A soldier dies but once.”

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On Tuesday December 1, Lakota West girls’ basketball team did something it hasn’t done since the beginning of the 2007-

2008 season: beat Mt. Notre Dame. In a rivalry that always proves to come down to the final seconds, this game followed suit, with the game winning basket by Firebirds’ sophomore Bari Schwartz scored with just 14.5 seconds remain-ing in the fourth quarter. The then No. 2 area ranked Firebirds upset the previous No. 1 area and No. 15 nationally ranked Cougars 52-51 in front of a crowd of almost 1,800 on their home court.

West senior Kindsay Brandt opened the game with a jumper to put the Firebirds ahead early with a score of 2-0 favor-ing West. As the first quarter pro-gressed, it was clear that the young F i r e b i r d team entered the game with some nervousness, as West com-mitted five t u r n o v e r s . Both teams played a fast paced of-fense, push-ing down the court on fast breaks when they had posses-sion. MND played strong defense inside the paint, and came up with most of the West offensive re-bounds. With the first 12:00 minutes down, West led MND with a score of 15-9. The Firebirds post-ed 4 fouls, with MND posting 6.

The second quarter was much of the same, with strong defense displayed by MND. They also displayed a good ability to set picks to open up lanes for shooters. West continued to hold onto the lead, and would continue to until mid third quarter. The Firebirds committed significantly more fouls than the Cougars, which enabled MND to showcase their almost-never-miss free throw shooting ability. The Firebirds made up for it with their stingy defense, causing four turnovers, which allowed West to keep their lead. With 1:47 remaining, West sophomore Summer Reeves made a great steal on the defensive end and drove the ball down the court only to be fouled resulting in another two points for the Firebirds to improve the score to 25-21. Then with 21 seconds left, MND downed a jumper, making it 25-24. During the transition, the Cougars came up with a big block at the buzzer resulting in a turnover for West, and swinging the momentum into the Cougars’ hands going into halftime.

After half time, Firebird senior Rylee Fish-man quickly sank a three-pointer to change the score 28-24 in favor of West. The third quarter

continued with both teams transitioning swiftly up and down the court. The game saw the first lead change, when MND junior Kathryn Reyn-olds made a two pointer after a time out, putting MND ahead 31-30. West junior Ronni Grandison promptly responded with two points after grab-bing an offensive rebound to give the Firebirds the

lead once again. On the following trip down the court, West junior Morgan Jones made a diving save on the offensive baseline that went to Reeves who was fouled in the pro-

cess of shooting. Reeves’ two free throws helped improve West’s lead to 34-31. The team traded more baskets, and with 1:26 left in the third quar-ter Fishman put down another three pointer to bring the score 41-38 in West’s favor. With just 26 seconds left, Reeves made a steal and completed the play with two points raising the score to 43-38. At the 9.4 second mark, MND put the ball out of play. The Firebirds inbounded the ball to Fish-man, who hit yet another three-pointer as time expired in the third quarter to lengthen West’s lead to eight points with a score of 46-38.

The fourth quarter started off with a three pointer by MND sophomore Raeshaun Gaffney to make the score 46-41. West came out and missed their first three shots of the quarter. The Cougars continued to press down the court and narrow West’s lead to a score of 46-45 following two bas-kets. MND junior Carling Daniels was fouled and

made her free throw to tie the score at 46 all. With 4:19 remaining in the game, MND took the lead once again with a three pointer to swing the score to 49-46 in the Cougars’ favor. At the 3:12 mark, Schwartz stole the ball and finished the shot for two, narrowing MND’s lead to one with a score of 48-49. With 56.6 seconds remaining, Firebirds

sophomore Tazzi Shaw made an impressive steal at half court and was fouled in the process of shoot-ing. Shaw missed her first shot, but converted on the second to make the score 49-51 MND. With only 30.8 seconds remaining in the game, Schwartz was fouled. She converted both her free throws, ty-ing the game going into the last 30 seconds of play. As MND pushed down the court, the Cougars’ player lost control of the ball, and Reeves quickly recovered it and dished it off to Schwartz down court. While going for the layup, Schwartz was fouled by the pursuing MND play-er. Schwartz went to the line and missed her second shot but made her first, giving West the lead with

a score of 52-51 with less than 10 seconds remaining. MND sophomore Breanna Rucker was fouled with 5.5 seconds remaining. After failing to sink her first shot, West called a time out. Following the time out, Rucker once

again missed her free shot. The ball deflected out of bounds off a West player. This gave the Cou-gars the ball, and the opportunity to take the lead and win the game with only 4.6 seconds remaining. On the inbound, the ball went to MND’s Gaffery, who missed the subsequent jumper. West recov-ered it, insuring the win with a score of 52-51.

Coming out of the third quarter, West led by eight points. That lead was quickly diminished by a run that produced 11 MND points. In the finals 35 seconds of the game, Schwartz converted 3 out of her 4 free shots which contributed to the final four West points that won the game for the Firebirds. Brandt

led the team with 14 points. Another major contributor was Fishman, who tacked up 9 points with a perfect 3 for 3 on three point shots. Reeves proved to be a strong presence on the de-fensive end after coming up with three steals for the game. Shaw also contributed three steals to the Firebirds stats book.

The win over MND placed the Firebirds at the #13 nationally ranked spot in the latest USA To-day Super 25 poll. The girls took the court again on Saturday December 5, where they downed Fairfield 52-19. This puts the team’s over-all re-cord at 2-0 and 1-0 record in the GMC. West host-ed to Oak Hills on Saturday, December 12. The Firebirds lost, with a score of 47-48. This changes their record to 2-1 over all, and 1-1 in the GMC.

Jaymee HeinekeSports Editor

The team mentally prepares to take on the top-ranked Cougars.

West sophomore Summer Reeves looks for the open girl against MND.

West senior Kindsay Brandt drives.

Voice photos by Jaymee HeinekeVoice graphic headline by Dylan Geiser

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Austin McCarthyEditor-in-Chief

After a series of monotonous announce-ments during your first bell class, your ears perk up to hear this fantastically-

woven tale about the Firebirds defeating a vari-ous team in an Academic Quiz Team match. But aside from a handful of these epics, one may nev-er hear more about the Lakota West Academic Quiz Team, comprised of the brightest students in the school.

“The Quiz Team, although not physical, re-quires more discipline, strategy, and brain power than most other sports. The amount of informa-tion we process daily combined with our competi-tive spirit makes us a formidable opponent for any team in the GMC,” Varsity Captain Alex Hart said.

The Academic Quiz Team schedule is made up of nine games during the Winter Sports Season. Each game has three matches: a Varsity followed by a Junior Varsity followed by another Varsity. A match consists of the Category, Alphabet and Lightning Rounds. Category Round has a set type of questions, with topics ranging from American Literature to Physical Science. The first team is given two chances to answer a question from a given category. The second team is then given a new question with two chances to answer their question. Then the toss-up question comes, in which teams must buzz in to correctly answer before the other team. Of course, these ques-tions have time limits, which put team members under more stress. Teams are given 20 random questions on a worksheet. The catch is that each answer begins with the same letter; hence, the Alphabet Round. The third round is the a l l important Lightning Round, filled with 20 rapid-fire toss-up questions. These questions are from random categories, which make it even more dif-

ficult to prepare for.As for preparation, the team practices Mon-

days and Tuesdays. During each practice, the team goes through a practice round, simulating a real match situation. Complete with buzzers and the score tables, the practices help the team train for the real thing.

There is a certain amount of strategy when it

comes to who plays when. Since only four people can play at once, it’s best to play to your team’s strengths. Team members specialize in certain subject areas, and different players are better in different rounds. Those who can think quickly on their feet are needed in the lightning rounds, while those who prefer to reason it out are more useful during the Alphabet round. The captain, Hart, is in charge of creat-ing the lineup.

“I make the lineup for each game and try to

evenly distribute playing time between players,” Hart said.

But aside from this competitive spirit, Aca-demic Quiz Team provides a sense of friendship amongst the team members.

“[My best moment during quiz team has been] the continued experience of camaraderie with my fellow teammates,” junior Eric Lechliter said.

Lechliter who specializes in Music, Theoretical Physics and History, and who is the only junior on Varsity, is not the only player who has noticed this teamwork and sportsmanship.

“[I joined quiz team because of] how amaz-ing the team and everyone on it are,” junior Sam Suchanek said.

It was only three years ago that the Quiz Team went winless at 0-18. Since then, the team has fin-ished second (tied) and third since that abysmal season, and has effectively turned the program around. Expectations run high again this year.

“I expect to win at least 15 matches, the GMC and to go to the tournament and dominate,” se-nior Merichel Swan said.

Hart expects the same, though he hopes to leave a longer lasting impact on the team.

“Last year, we handed a tough Sycamore team their first loss in three years. Also my sophomore year, we went from 0-16 the year before to hav-ing a winning record,” Hart said. “I expect to win the GMC, but more importantly, I expect the team to improve. One of the most important duties as captain is to leave a legacy, to leave the team bet-ter and more prepared than before.”

This year, Quiz Team has gotten off to a 4-0 start, after beating Hamilton and Fairfield in their first two matches.

Academic quiz team steps up their game

Voice graphic by Dylan Geiser

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Imagine spending the spring, summer and fall months enjoying the cool water of the Great Miami River, and spending the winter enjoy-

ing the indoor rowing tanks at Montgomery Inn Boathouse and the Hamilton Central YMCA. For the Greater Miami Rowing Center rowing team, this is how year round training works.

“Rowers train all year round, but we compete in four distinct seasons, Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer. In the fall we train for longer races, which take about 12-18 minutes, and in the win-ter, spring and summer we train for the sprint distance, 7-8 minutes” Head Coach Emilie Gra-ham said.

The seventh through twelfth grade rowers come from local schools such as Lakota East and West, Talawa-nda, Middletown, Fairfield, Mason, Badin and some homeschooled stu-dents.

“The competitive team houses row-ers in ninth through twelfth grade, but we accept especially talented seventh and eighth grade members. The recreational team is open to anyone seventh through twelfth grade” Graham said.

Few of these rowers started out with any expe-rience, as is the case for team capitan and West senior, Chris Gordon.

“I started rowing after my sophomore foot-ball season. I was looking for a sport for the off

season that wasn’t wrestling; I had done that the past few years and wanted to try something else. I had no experience what-so-ever rowing, I’ve been kayaking a few times but that’s about the extent of it” Gordon said.

Graham says that this is typically the case with rowing as a whole. Graham herself didn’t begin rowing until her senior year of high school and the following year received a scholarship to participate in the Di-vision I rowing team at University of Cincinnati, where she competed for four years. One of the incentives to join the rowing team is the possibility of a college scholarship.

“Opportunities for scholarship funds are definitely available in row-ing, and are particularly abundant for talented female rowers. Many colleges

have added w o m e n ’ s rowing as a means to meet Title IX require-ments since the size of the team is so large (up-wards of 40-60 wom-en)” Graham said.

However, while ex-perience is not neces-sary, it is valuable for competing in college as college’s typically re-cruit freshmen off cam-pus and experience is

difficult to find. Much like college teams, the Greater Mi-

ami Rowing Center has to recruit heavily in lo-cal schools, including West, which is how senior Ashley Dittrich discovered the sport.

“They (Graham and other coaches) were in the cafeteria trying to recruit people so I thought it sounded fun and I went to the meeting and ended

up joining the team” Dittrich said. Even if you are participating in other seasonal

sports, Graham still encourages rowing as an off season sport.

“Some of our athletes train with us all year and some leave us during specific season to participate in other sports. Some of our athletes train with us

all year and some leave us during s p e c i f i c seasons to paticipate in other sports. I think it’s great when my athletes cross train!” G r a h a m said.

For ex-ample, Dit-trich former-

ly swam for West’s swim team and was looking for an in-between season sport when she joined rowing. She ended up liking rowing so much that she now rows year-round.

Interested students should be on the lookout for Graham and other rowers in the diner an-nex or contact her at 513-892-GMRC or coach@greatmiamirowing.com. New tentative rowers are given a free trial week of practices to determine if they want to join and if so which team they want to join, the competitive or the recreational.

“ The best way to find out what it’s all about is to come out to a practice! We give each new stu-dent a week’s worth of practice to try out rowing before we ask you to sign up for the team. This way you’re sure it’s something you’d like to do” Graham said.

Elise MaxfieldCopy Editor

GMRC rowers: rowing their way into the spotlight

GMRC girls get ready for their four-person boat race.

Male rowers compete in the Midwest Championship regatta.

Voice photos contributed by Nick Schroer

West wrestlers hit the mats for 09-10Chad RichardsonStaff Reporter

Fueled by the blood, sweat, and tears shed during an intense, stringent off-season, the 2009 Lakota West Wrestling Team made

its transition into the regular season in peak con-dition, primed and ready to rumble.

Poised to follow up last year’s record breaking season in which the Firebirds finished a perfect 14-0 en route to a GMC crown, this year’s team aims to make an even greater headway with new head coach, Tim Kessler, at the helm.

Kessler, who has been coaching on the staff since 1997, took over as head coach in 2009 amidst former head coach, Scott Fetzer’s sudden departure.

“Kessler has been under Fetzer’s wing this whole time,” senior standout Craig McIntire said. “Since they ran the practices together, the struc-ture of what we do is pretty much still the same. We’re working just as hard, if not harder than we did last year.”

Despite the coaching change, expectations for this year’s youthful team remain extremely high. Seniors Craig McIntire, Devin Purkiser, and Kon-ner Blevins, along with junior sensation Ty Da-vis, who finished as state runner-up in the 135 lb

weight class, headline a stout Firebird squad.“As a team, I expect us to surprise a lot of

people with how g o o d we’ll do, even though we lost some people from last year,” McIntire said.

“We’ve filled in spots with a lot of underclassmen, but they’re all tough wrestlers. It’ll be interesting to see how we do.”

Renowned as one of the most successful wres-tling programs in the Greater Cincinnati Area, Lakota West Wrestling manages to set itself apart

from the stiff, substantial competition it faces throughout Southwestern Ohio.

“Our team values closeness and together-ness,” McIntire went on to say. “Some t e a m s

have groups of upperclassmen and un-derclassmen that don’t get along. As a team, we talk, have fun, and all wrestle each other, and that makes us better. Grade status isn’t a barrier for us, and that sets us apart from other programs throughout the state.”

The demands of enduring such a rig-orous season will indeed cause some to fold under pressure, while others will rise to the occasion. Thriving under cru-cial situations, McIntire remains driven by his will to succeed in pivotal points late in the season.

“The state tournament,” McIntire said boldly, as if taking time to envision eminent success. “The picture in my head of me standing at the top of the po-

dium is what motivates me to keep working hard, day in and day out. Like the coaches tell us be-fore every match: put your foot on the line, shake hands, and drop the hammer.”

The West wrestling team celebrates their first win of the season.

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Restaurants with fast food burgers are on virtually every cor-

ner in the West Chester area. They all are uninter-estingly similar, but if you are craving something a little more fresh and juicy than the typical fast food burger, I suggest trying the new restaurant Five

Guys located on Tylersville Road. When you walk into Five Guys, it almost re-

sembles a 50’s diner with the red and white tiles. It seems a bit more upscale than other popular fast food restaurants. The counter is completely open so that you can observe everything that is being cooked. After you order, you proceed to your table until your receipt number is called from the counter. As you wait, there are boxes of shelled peanuts near the line where you can get a basket to snack on.

The menu at Five Guys is not very diverse so if you do not like burgers, your options are lim-ited to hot dogs and grilled cheese. However, if a burger is what you want, there are four basic burger options – hamburger, cheeseburger, ba-con burger, and bacon cheeseburger. Customers can choose between a regular burger, which has two patties, or a little burger which has one. The basic burger costs $4.49, but the slightly higher price is well worth the quality of the burger and

the “100% fresh never frozen beef.” The burger resembles that of a homemade patty rather than the thin ones used at other restaurants. On the burgers, there is the choice of adding any three sauces and 12 toppings ranging from grilled on-ions and mushrooms, to the typical ketchup and mustard, all of which are free. I had a little burger with grilled onions and mushrooms, ketchup and mayo and I was extremely satisfied with the

freshness of all of the ingredients. Even though it was a little burger, the size of it far exceeded the size of even a double hamburger at other fast food chains.

Their other most popular menu item is the fries. The fries are made from fresh cut potatoes and there is a choice between regular and Cajun

flavored. The Cajun flavoring gives a unique spin to the regular fry. I have tried both kinds and can-not decide which I like better since they are both very good. There are two sizes for fries, a regular, which costs $2.59, and a large for $3.99. They are very generous with the fries. The fries always spill over the side of the cup they are put into and fall into the bottom of the paper bag. Their por-tions for the fries are very large and I can typi-

cally split a large fry with two or three other people.

The walls of Five Guys are lined with posters of praise the restaurant has received from reviews, and as you eat you will discover that all of them are true. The superior quality of the burgers and fries at Five Guys makes it unrivaled by any other fast food chains in the area and is also the reason that so much hype surrounds it. There are over 250,000 different ways to order your burgers, and while McDonalds or Burger King may

be a little cheaper, you have to remember that you get what you pay for.

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Five Guys: new local hamburger hotspot

This day and age almost everyone has a n

iPod, but the best fea-ture of said iPod is the abil-ity to have games at your fingertips. Here are the top five free apps I recommend

for your iPod Touch:

1. LineUpWhen you play this app for the first time you

become hooked. The object of the game is to get as many points as possible before you run out of “taps” (number of chances you have to click on the blocks to win 1,000 points and get 100 more chances) or before the blocks touch the top of the screen. In order to clear away blocks you have to have at least three of the same color in a row, but the more of the same color you have the higher your score. The only time this game disap-points is when you have a good game go-ing and it finally stops you because you’ve reached the end of the free play. After you reach the stopping point, you can start the game over and continue play- ing.

2. ESPN Score CenterWhat would your iPod be without a sports

application? This application is connect-ed to ESPN’s tracking of scores for all the games. You can even personalize the sco-recenter by choosing what sports you want to view and what teams you want to follow. They have football to cricket to basketball; basically any major sport you can imagine. If you want to know not only the score but the stats as well of your team it’s all includ-ed. All you have to do is click on your team and a screen will come up showing the stats. For example, with football it shows scores by quarter with a score summary and stat

leaders in passing, rushing and receiving.3. Paper Toss

Just like LineUp, this game can easily become addicting. With the availability of different levels (easy, medium and hard) and the different ar-eas that you can play you never get bored. The object of the game is to get as many paper balls in the trash bin as you can consecutively. How-ever, there’s a fan that changes direction and the amount of wind that is blown each time you shoot. This wind can cause some havoc on your ability to get the highest number as possible in the bin. This game can quickly become your fa-vorite thing to do during your free time.

4. Waterslide ExtremeWaterslide Extreme is just like it sounds. You

pick what gender you are and you slide down a waterslide. However, along the way you have to try to pick up as many green diamonds as possible to get more points. While you’re trying to pick up the diamonds there are hearts which represent

bonus lives. As you pass more levels, obstacles get in your way like a crab and a duck. With nine levels, each progressively harder, the bonus lives come into play. You end up going faster and the walls on the side of the slide get lower which al-lows you to fall out of the slide if you tip your iPod too far. This game is sure to suck you in.

5. Tap Tap Revenge 2This app was changed around a few months

ago making it better than ever. You can choose if there is one or two players playing as well as pick-ing what song you want to play. Now, you can download, for free, songs that you want to play. For example, you could download “Audience of One” by Rise Against. This app is just like Gui-tar Hero except it’s for the iTouch. If you have a short amount of free time and want to play a game without getting too far in, this is the game for you.

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Counter view of kitchen where you can watch your burger being made.

Top Five: iTouch application must-haves

Ashley JeffersEntertainment Editor

Erica ZaccagniniEditor-in-Chief

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Elise MaxfieldCopy Editor

Katie JohantgesAsst. Entertainment Editor

Pyramid Hill

Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park, known mainly as a sculpture park and outdoor museum, is offering their annual award-winning,

drive-through light display “Holiday Lights on a Hill” from November 20, 2009 to January 3, 2010 from six to ten p.m. nightly. Prices vary according to number of people and day of the week. Vehicles with one person are $10 ev-ery night, vehicles with two to five people are $15 Monday through Thursday and $20 Fri-day through Sunday, six to ten people cost $30 Monday through Thursday and $40 Fri-day through Sunday. Pyramid Hill is located on Hamiltion-Cleves Road in Hamilton. For more information call 513-887-9514.

Niederman FarmNiederman Farm, located on LeSourds-

ville-West Chester Road in Liberty Town-ship, presents their annual, free-of-charge Christmas Walk, open November 20 through December 30 from 5:30 to ten p.m. daily. The walk features a life-size nativity scene and several Bible scenes depicting the story of Christmas. Hundreds of decorated trees and live animals can also be found along the path. The atmosphere is set as over fifty speakers present

holiday music. After the walk, visitors can warm up in the barn with free hot chocolate and cook-ies. Parking is also free. For more information call 513-887-0725 or e-mail niederman@fuse.net.

Cincinnati ZooThrough January 3,

from five to nine p.m. the 27th annual “Festival of Lights” will be running at the Cincinnati Zoo. For $13 per person one can view

the thousands of lights that line the pathways around the zoo and the amazing-ly choreographed light display on Swan Lake, where hundreds of lights flash, change color and seemingly dance

to the music playing over the speakers. This truly amazing scene would not be complete without a visit to see the polar bears, which are the only outdoor animals at this time. There are plenty of

shops along the way around the loop that serve hot chocolate, coffee and funnel cakes where one can warm up. Also, the indoor sights include the reptile room and the manatee aquarium which

house a variety of ani-mals that will keep you entertained while you warm up. However, unless you want to wait an hour to get out of the parking lot that night, you should leave before it closes because traffic gets built up very quickly while the park monitors collect

the $6.50 parking fee at the exit.

Sharon WoodsThrough January 3, Sharon Woods will have a

mile long road, inside the park, lined with Christ-mas décor and hundreds of lights. This beautiful setup can be seen from the warmth and comfort of your own car. For just $12 per car on Thurs-day through Sunday, one can see the light designs of children sledding down a hill, Noah’s ark, an enormous Christmas tree, a menorah and many more figurines. There is no rush driving through, as I averaged about 5 mph through the setup, so one doesn’t feel like they just spent $12 for noth-ing.

While many may ar-gue that the iPod Touch is the best

version of the popular music player device, it is clear that the iPod Classic is the king of the iPods. This model’s sleek design is similar to the other iPods; it is durable enough to withstand the average

wear and tear. The iPod Classic also comes with the strongest battery life out of all the different types, with 36 hours of audio playback, which, when it comes to long trips where you need your music, is especially handy. The screen is large enough to view movies easily, which is often an overlooked aspect. Sure it’s nice to be able to watch videos, but if the screen is too small, it’s difficult to enjoy the feature—and the iPod Clas-sic doesn’t disappoint. But the number one rea-son why the iPod Classic is the best is the pure memory capacity. With models of 80gb, 120gb and 160gb, the iPod Classic can simply hold any music library. The next closest in size is the iPod Touch, with 32gb and 64gb models. What makes this even more incredible is the gigabyte:dollar ratio. The iPod Classic has a ratio of about $1.55 per gigabyte, making it the most cost efficient iPod. This allows for a significant number of

movies and songs to be stored, without the user having to pick and choose their favorites. For those who are looking for a music player and have a large library, this iPod will prove the best.

The iPod Touch is a marvel of technology. This device contains a number of features. Possibly one of the most convenient specialties of this de-vice is the ability to surf the web. If there is WIFI in the area, your iPod Touch can pick it up and open the Internet without much limitation. The other nice aspect of this feature is that you can access iTunes when you’d like, so you can pur-chase directly onto your iPod. This iPod also of-fers the best movie viewing experience, for it has the largest screen. But when people think of the iPod Touch, people think of the games and ap-plications, called apps. Various programs can be downloaded, sometimes for free, and sometimes for a small price. These gizmos are clever, practi-cal and fun. What makes these even better is the use of the touch screen. Many devices, such as the Nintendo DS, various touch phones, etc., don’t fully utilize the capabilities of the touch screen. The iPod Touch, however, takes full advantage of its unique properties. The downsides to this iPod, though, are the cost, which starts at $199 for an 8gb, translating to almost $25 per gigabyte. This is hardly enough room for all the songs, games and videos you want, either, so you’re forced to

upgrade to at least the 32gb version which costs $299, a little out of some peoples’ price ranges. This iPod is a cool gadget for your more techni-c a l l y -advanced user.

The iPod Nano ranks third on my list, not because it wows with its memory capacity, nor because it has very many extraordinary features; no, the Nano is third on account of its usabil-ity—it is your run-of-the-mill iPod. It appeals to the casual user. With 8gb for $149 or 16gb for $179, the dollar per gigabyte ratio is about $18 to $11 respectively. These prices definitely outdo the iPod Touch’s value, and are generally enough memory for your average music listener. The screen isn’t that large, making movie-viewing dif-ficult, but with only a couple gigabytes of space, there isn’t much room for movies anyway. On the latest model of the iPod Nano, a video cam-era comes installed, which is one of the coolest new features. However, aside from this, the iPod Nano doesn’t come close to competing with the iPod Touch with techno-gizmos. The battery life is lower than the iPod Classic, but, again, for your casual listener, this won’t be much of a problem. This well-remembered iPod is known for the wide range of colors that can be chosen. Overall, this iPod is your standard music player, and is why it comes in ranked as third.

Austin McCarthyEditor-in-Chief

Voice graphic headline by Jessica Dukes

Voice graphic headline by Dylan Geiser

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Voice photos by Elise Maxfield

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-Amanda Mason, senior

“Definitely Team Jacob because his physical transi-tion from the first to second movie is very impressive. He makes the movie worth watching.”

“I don’t care because it doesn’t matter who is cute or not. It’s about what they are supposed to do in the story.”

-Benis Amparbeng, senior

-Emily Gertz, sophomore

“(I’m Team Jacob) beacuse he was there when Edward wasn’t and he’s re-ally hot.”

-Jessica Cahoon, sophomore

“In the book, Jacob makes me mad. He tries too hard to be with Bella even though she told him they’re just friends.”

-Stephanie Ferris, sophomore

“Jacob, he’s not re-ally emotional about things like Edward is.”

“Edward’s pretty cool and so is Jacob. I like Ja-cob because he’s a wolf and that scene was pretty cool. They’re intense char-acters.”

-Kelsey Hilderbran, junior

-Johanna Kraynak, junior

“I’m Team Edward but I’m also Team Taylor. Ed-ward is amazing and very caring towards Bella. He doesn’t care about what he wants as long as Bella is happy. But Rob is not a

good Edward so that’s why I’m Team Tay-lor.”

-Valerie Kohorst, junior

“I’m so Team Edward because I didn’t think he (Jacob) was in the running. The pain she (Bella) went through for him proved un-conditional love.”

-Amanda Hobson, junior

“I’m Team Edward because when Edward leaves, Bella knows he was the right person for her. He could do so much for her.”

-Donna Green, sophomore

“(I’m Team Jacob) be-cause I think Edward acts like a jerk and I feel bad for Jacob.”

-Amy Vennemeyer, sophomore

“(I’m Team) Jacob by far. Jacob seems to support Bella and Edward sorta walks out on her.”

Voice graphic headlines by Dylan Geiser

Quotes compiled by Ashley JeffersVoice graphics by Dylan Geiser

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Brothers

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Everybody’s Fine

After opening nationwide on December 4,

Brothers has taken the number three spot at the box office. The mov-ie recounts the return to the United States of

Army Captain Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire, Spi-derman 3).

I went into this movie feeling uncertain. Not being exactly a war movie fan, I feared that I would be stuck in a theater for the next two hours, just begging the movie to come to an end. Howev-er, I was pleasantly surprised. This movie chooses not to focus on the gory, violent acts of war, but rather on what happens with the family left be-hind. Sam was thought to be dead after his chop-per had been shot down overseas, leaving behind a wife, Grace (Natalie Portman, New York, I Love You) and two young daughters. Sam’s delinquent younger brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal, Ren-dition) begins to settle into the Cahill household and develops a romantic relationship with Grace. But just as everything seems to be going well, Sam is discovered in Afghanistan – alive. His return brings awkward dinners, violent behavior, and a building tension between Sam and Tommy as well as between Sam and Grace. Sam obsesses over Tommy and Grace’s relationship, which he continues to believe despite denials from both Tommy and Grace.

In the end, this movie presents a great story line. It focuses more so on the mental state of the soldiers who return from overseas rather than the actual war aspect. For someone looking for a good, suspenseful drama, Brothers is the movie for you.

Everybody’s Fine is a heart-wrenching tale of a father’s

desperate love for his four children, and his wasted attempts at get-ting them all together as a family. The story

follows widower Frank Goode, (Robert De Niro, Meet the Parents) as he embarks on an impromp-tu trip around the United States to visit his four children, whom he hasn’t seen since the death of their mother eight months prior. Each fleeting emotion and flicker of expression De Niro por-trays the audience feels in their hearts.

The film starts out with a somewhat comic scene of Frank Goode gardening, revealing a fountain depicting a little boy peeing, as the song “Catch a Falling Star” plays in the background. As the movie progresses and emotions change from happy to confused to upset, I began to notice that many of the held suspense within Frank Goode’s family was predictable, so by the time the old wid-ower discovered the true state of his family, I had already accurately guessed the results. I will ad-mit, however, that the way the unraveling of the family played out was not only perplexing but cut me to the core.

If you’re the type of person who’s looking for a good crying film or a movie to show the average dysfunctional family, then you’ll love Everybody’s Fine. If however, you’re looking for a romantic comedy or a film that shows an ending where ev-erything has turned out according to plan, then I suggest viewing something else. Either way, this movie is sure to surprise and guaranteed not to disappoint.

The culture obses-sion for the past year has been

vampires. Sure, we’ve heard of romance mov-ies featuring vampires (think the Twilight saga) but what about

comedies? Enter Transylmania; this spoof of all things vampire is very much like the ‘Scary Movie’ series, and every bit as dumb.

A group of college students decide to study abroad in Romania. When they arrive at Razvan University, the school is nothing like they imag-ine. Before they know it, the kids are on a crazy adventure filled with strange encounters from the immortals of the underworld. The vampire king is searching for a magic music box that will re-awaken his dead loved one, the school’s headmas-ter is devoted to finding a cure for his daughter’s hunchback, and a very risqué vampire huntress is hell-bent on finding blood.

Let me just say that I was somewhat excited to see this movie. As a fan of both vampire-lore and comedies, I thought it couldn’t get any better. Boy was I wrong. Not only was the acting com-pletely ridiculous and over-the-top, but the jokes were less than humorous. Not to mention most of the jokes were highly offensive; insulting the deformed, gay, and even mentally ill. Other than that, it was just a clichéd frat movie but with a lot of vampire bashing. With its cheesy special effects and weird angle shots, it becomes both a distrac-tion and a true annoyance to the viewer. Don’t let Transylmania suck the life out of you.

Jaymee Heineke

Natasha Milligan

Danielle Dean

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GraffitiChris Brown

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Glee: The Music, Volume 2Glee Cast

$13.99 on iTunes

Amidst the rumors circling Chris Brown re-garding the Rihanna incident, the hip hop star released his third studio album, Graffiti, on De-cember 8. This collection of all new songs offers fun dance anthems and serious ballads, although Brown’s whiny vocals and lack of creative instru-mentation make this album just tolerable.

“Crawl” is the most thoughtful and inspira-tional track by far, proclaiming, “Then we’ll fly, until there is no end / So let’s crawl, crawl, crawl back to love,” to a previous lover. The intensity of the violins and drum beats escalates as the feeling in Brown’s voice swells. “Take My Time” has an exotic, Eastern-style opening, but the lyrics and the female speaking part were a bit too racy for me, as was the case for many of the other songs. The album’s closer, a ballad entitled “I’ll Go” is ex-ceedingly boring and unoriginal as Brown tries to combine piano and synthesizer sounds.

Graffiti, while by no means a dreadful CD, of-fers very little that should be considered notewor-thy regarding lyrics and the overall sound of the album.

$12.99 on iTunes

Glee took America by storm last spring with biting sarcasm, requisite high-school drama, and of course star-quality musical performances. The second collection of songs from the first season of the show includes show tunes, classic rock, and everything in between.

Lea Michele’s commanding and strong voice seems right at home in her cover of “Don’t Rain on My Parade”, a classic tune from Broadway’s Fun-ny Girl. And, while weaker than Michele’s, Cory Monteith’s vocals range from pure and sweet on “(You’re) Having My Baby” to powerful and pas-sionate on “I’ll Stand by You”. Michele and Mon-teith’s voices blend effortlessly for a brief duet on the cast’s vibrant take on Van Halen’s “Jump”. A lively, bouncy cover of Tina Turner’s “Proud Mary” highlights the two most soulful singers of the group, Kevin McHale and Amber Riley.

Compared to volume one of the series’ soundtrack, many of these songs are more relaxed and less energetic. Overall, the cast’s relentless enthusiasm makes this album a must-listen for any music fanatic.

2008 World’s Best Male R&B Artist, Chris Brown, comes out with his third full album, Graf-fiti, bringing his hip hop swagger back into the limelight. Some songs incorporate an outer space, techno feel that the album artwork has while oth-ers are more hip hop, base-pumping loud.

Brown has some high points on the album like “Fallin’ Down” which brings out a good message, “Can you imagine, the weight of a world/Placed on your shoulders, trapped in this world…I’m only human we’re all the same.” “So Cold” is a soft, upbeat feeling song that captures the listener pulling them into the sound of Brown’s voice which is full of emotion over regret for losing his girl (Rihanna anyone?). However, the album also has some low points. Brown’s loud song “Pass Out” is overpowered by the instru-ments making it difficult to hear the vocals.

Graffiti sure is an interesting listening expe-rience. I usually enjoy upbeat songs, but on this album I found myself drawn to the slower ones. Overall, Brown’s CD isn’t worth the money for the whole album. I’d recommend just buying the few songs that are actually good.

The fall smash-hit television show, Glee, re-ceived high praise during our nation’s tough economic times for being a feel good show that showed people a good time. Their volume 2 of soundtracks has a bigger variety of lead vocalists.

The Temptations renowned song, “Lean on Me” stars Kevin McHale and Amber Riley. This song is heartfelt and I found my-self bopping my head to it. “True Colors” showcases Jenna Ush-kowitz. It’s a strong and soulful song that is sung beautifully. “Smile (Cover of Lily Allen)” is a duet between Lea Michele and Cory Monteith. Their version has more of a poppy sound to the tradi-tionally slow version that makes the song seem spicier. “My Life Would Suck Without You” dis-plays the entire cast but I found it a tad overdone. I felt like one main singer would be best.

This album is sung by phenomenal singers all with strong voices. The songs are great but I often found myself thinking about the originals. As is in most cases of remixes, the originals are better. However, this album isn’t a total disap-pointment.