Volume 42 Number 3

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NORSEMANVolume 42, Number 3 • March 2013

T h e B r y a n H i g h S c h o o l

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Overcoming obstacles:Teacher turns tragedyinto triumph

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Co-editor Emma Raleigh tellsthe story of geography teacherPatricia Bailey-Jones and howshe overcame difculties.

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Appreciate each mo-ment, present is a gift

Emily NashCo-editor Personal Responsibility In Daily Ef-forts is the main goal of the Pride Team:to encourage students to work hard inschool so they are eligible to attend eldtrips by meeting certain criteria. Principal Lamond Dean started thePride Team at the school he worked atpreviously so that students would havesomething fun to work for, and to give anincentive for good behavior. “School has gotten to where it’s educa-tion heavy – which it should be, but some-times it’s not always our favorite thing todo,” Dean said.“We also wantit to be an en-

joyable place

for students tocome. We want[students] to en-

joy school andhave somethingto look forwardto.” In order to

be able to go onthese trips, stu-dents must passall of their class-

es, have fewerthan one excused absence per six weeks,and have not gone to SAC or after schooldetentions for disciplinary reasons. “It makes students be responsible, passtheir classes, come to school, stay out oftrouble, and behave appropriately whilethey’re at school,” Dean said. “It’s an in-centive program to do that.” The Pride Team has other ways of en-couraging students to do well in school,

such as passing out Viking Bucks andawarding a student of the month. “The students are able to get VikingBucks based on their ability to do thingsthat are of courteous behavior on a daily

basis,” Dean said. “That also ties into win-ning prizes as you may see with the draw-ing, as well as our students of the monththat each staff member gets to do.” As long as students meet these require-ments, they have the opportunity to go ona trip every two six weeks. The rst trip

was to the movie theater for students to

watch a movie of their choice, and PrideTeam coordinator Patty Willems saidthat they had more students eligible thanexpected, with 792 students meeting therequirements, and 494 actually attend-ing. “We took them over to the cinema inBryan where they got to see two mov-ies for free,” Willems said. “We also fedthem pizza for lunch, and I think they hada great time based on the students wetalked to. They were really surprised andexcited to actually watch the movies that

were there at the theatre.” The Pride Team took a trip to Grand

Station forthe third andfourth six

weeks, and

have an elitetrip plannedat the end ofthe year forall the stu-dents whomet the re-quirementsto go on ev-ery trip. “ T he s eare the kids

that did allthese things for the whole entire school

year, so we have planned and are pre-paring the nal details to take them toSea World in San Antonio,” Dean said.“That’s something we’re looking forwardto, to give to our student body in hopesthat they will continue to do things that

will get them on the trip.” Dean said he hopes to eventually letstudents join the Pride Team in order

to get a student perspective of what stu-dents would like to do on the eld trips. “Next year we plan on using studentsand organizations input so that we canget the student perspective of what may

be a good incentive,” Dean said. Willems said that she’s very excited tosee where the Pride Team will go in thefuture and how it will impact students inthe long run. “We want our students to be successful,not only here at Bryan High, but out into

the world as they become 12th graders

and move on to be law abiding citizensthat contribute to society,” Willems said.“That’s our goal, for everybody to be suc-cessful.”

Pride Team encourages student responsibility

Staff writer Alanis King ex-plores the fact that everyoneshould be thankful for the mo-ments they are given.

Assistant editor Yvette Ybarrasat down with BHS graduateand former Norseman staffmember Abel Lara to discuss

what she wished she would’veknown in high school that shehas now learned.

Students qualify for the final tripif they are/have:• Passing all classes for all six

weeks• No more than 2 excused

absenses per six weeks• No unexcused absences• No discipline referrals be-

yond a level 3

• Qualified for the first twoPride Team trips

Number of students at BHS:2248

Number of students eligible forTrip #1 to Premier - 791(making 35% of all students

eligible for the trip)

Number of students who wenton Trip #1 - 494• 9th grade - 183• 10th grade - 98• 11th grade - 127• 12th grade - 86

Number of students eligible for

Trip #2 to Grand Station - 491(making 21% of all studentseligible for the trip)• 9th grade - 150• 10th grade - 97• 11th grade - 130• 12th grade - 114

Number of students who wenton Trip #2 - 200

by the numbers

Juniors Hannah Wingfeld and KrystalRunyon play games at Grand Stationduring the second PRIDE Team trip.


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Jesse Baxter Staff writer With so many choices and possibilities after highschool, it is easy to become lost. It may be hard to setlife goals and do what is necessary to achieve them inhigh school. For senior Matt Walker, the path is clear.

Matt plans to pursue athletic training and work as atrainer for the NFL when he graduates. Last Novem-

ber Matt worked with the Buffalo Bills in Houston,and that experience in athletic training helped himsee what it is like to train in a professional environ-ment. “I was on the sidelines for the entire game,” Mattsaid. “I helped them warm up and got them water, andI helped them set up and clean up the locker room.” He also interacted with many famous players dur-ing the game, making it a lasting memory. “It was kind of surreal,” Matt said. “At one point I

was just swapping jokes with one of the elds, andall of a sudden he turned around I looked at him andsaid, ‘[No way], that’s Mario Williams’.” BHS trainer Doc Woodall allowed Matt this experi-ence to keep him driven, motivated, and prepared forthe future. “Being able to meet people that work at that level inthe NFL on a day-to-day basis, and being able to ex-perience that rsthand was a very positive experiencefor him,” Woodall said. Woodall and other coaches have helped Matt men-

tally prepare to work with the NFL by giving him op-portunities such as working at the Bills game. “We’re very fortunate that we have relationships notonly with college athletic trainers, but also professionalathletic trainers and we’re able to help our studentsunderstand the process that it takes to get involved atdifferent levels of athletic training,” Woodall said.

Matt played football in ninth grade, but an injurysidelined him, making him realize that training wasfor him. “Athletic training would be a cool career because

you’re getting paid to be on the sidelines of sportingevents,” Matt said. “It combines medicine and sports,

both of which I am a big fan of, so it seemed like thecareer to go into.” Matt is exible with his schedule and responsible,two qualities that make a good trainer. “Good time management skills both are importantto athletic trainers, being able to multitask and man-age different responsibilities,” Woodall said. Although training takes time and effort, italso comes with many benets such as meet-ing new people. “I have a lot of friends on a lot of teams,”Matt said. “I am working with girls soccer

right now, that’s fun. I get to get out of schoolearly sometimes and that’s always a kick, andit is a great time hanging out with the team.” Although Matt will graduate soon, he willtake many good memories with him of histime training at Bryan High. “Copperas Cove was here, in my sophomore

year, and they were supposed to win by a ton,”Matt said. “We were massive underdogs, and

we ended up surprising them and beatingthem. That was a crazy moment, it was cool to

be there with the team during that.” Matt has been working toward his goal to work with the NFL by preparing himself to goto college. “Matt’s been able to help himself be suc-cessful by really developing an understandingof not only the aspect of athletic training from

a student perspective, but also from a professional’sperspective,” Woodall said. “That way, he’s preparedlater on to understand what he is going to have to beable to do to be successful.”

Woodall knows Matt will continue to do well. Mattis living up to his expectations, having a plan laid out,

culminating in working for the NFL. “I’ve been accepted into Texas A&M and plan to bean athletic trainer with them,” Matt said. “I plan tograduate with a Bachelors degree in kinesiology. I amthen hoping to go to Canisius College in Buffalo, New

York and earn a bachelors degree in athletic training.”

Student trainer benets from opportunity to work with pro teamFeatures - Page 3

Athlete uses sport as method of escape, stress relief

Senior Matt Walker worked with the Buffalo Bills’football team last November to experience whatit is like to be a trainer for a NFL team.

Erin Garcia Staff writer “Runners set, runners to your mark.”

These are six intense words that hype athletes asthey are stepping onto the track. For sophomore trackathlete, Kaitlyn Brock these words can be the begin-ning of a victory, but to her, winning isn’t all that mat-ters.

“As long as you improve your running time, or im-prove your jump, in the coach’s eyes, you’ve already

won,” Brock said.Sports for any individual can relieve stress. For

Brock, it’s a chance for her to not only catch her racingfeet, but gather her racing mind.

“Running gives me a chance to clear my mind,”Brock said. “I do my best thinking when I’m running.It doesn’t have to be at a track meet either. Just run-ning on a paved road gives me the same peace of mind.Running is the only time I don’t have to put makeupon, or worry about my hair, or if my shoes match myoutt.”

Many hope to advance to the highest levels in sports, but for Brock, running will always remain part of herlife, regardless of where it takes her.

“I’m nowhere near ready to take track all the wayto the Olympics or anything like that, but I don’t have

to,” Brock said. “Running is something that I’m not

required to be the best in because it will never leavemy life. I can run where I want, when I want.”

Balancing grades is an important factor for manyathletes, and this is especially true for Brock.

“Track, grades, and behavior in the classroom gohand-in-hand,” Brock said. “No grades, no go. Mycoaches tell me and my fellow teammates that we are‘student athletes.’ Students rst, athletes second.”

Brock has learned many life lessons through track, but one has proved to be superior to the rest.

“My coach always says ‘hard work pays off’, and it’sso true,” Brock said. “I always think to myself ‘whenit starts to hurt, go faster,’ and by doing that I breakthrough the pain barrier and push myself a little hard-

er to go that extra mile. Every time you do something, you always get a little bit better at it. Day by day, week by week, you will get better at anything you do.”

Out of numerous memories, one track momentstands out to Brock the most.

“The time I got close to winning the 800 meter dash.I got third, but rst and second were only a couple ofseconds ahead of me,” Brock said. “I don’t know howelse to explain it other than my determination nallygot me one step further to my goal, a rst place rib-

bon.” On the team, the dynamic quickly turns from a

friendly relationship to a family bond, and this is es-

pecially true for Brock and her tight-knit team.“During meets, we yell, we cheer, we scream, some

make signs to hold up, and some stand on the eld atthe nish line screaming until the one that’s compet-ing crosses that line,” Brock said. “We are like a bigfamily.”

Track coach Stacy Beal feels the same about herteam being a close group and strongly believes in re-spect, and is humbled by Brock’s response to be re-spectful in return.

“Kaitlyn is always the type of kid that never argues,”Beal said. “Her reply is always ‘Yes ma’am’ and as acoach, that is sometimes hard to nd. She will try anddo whatever you ask of her.”

Beal does her best to make her runners feel special by rewarding them for their hard work and givingthem incentive to push further.

“I always visit with my runners about setting goals,”Beal said. “I am making special shirts for the top kidsin certain races. I also try to motivate my athletes by

buying them nice uniforms and shoes.” Although track is mostly an independent sport,

teamwork remains strong throughout the track team,ensuring that winning is for all to share.

“There’s never a dull moment with my team,” Brocksaid. “We work hard together, we sweat together, we

laugh together, and we win together.”


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Emma RaleighCo-editor “Music is really the only thing I see myself doing, Ican’t see myself doing anything else. But the only prob-lem is that I’m doing two things.” You don’t choose your passion, your passion chooses

you. But it can be complicated.“I feel like it’s something that words can’t describe,and it communicates to people what you can’t reallysay in words,” senior Rachel Warden said. “I’ve alwaysfelt like when I’m in music I’m doing what I’m sup-posed to be doing, like I’m doing my purpose.” Rachel’s two passions, playing violin and singing,have played a crucial part in her life, and with collegedecisions coming soon, she has to choose between vio-lin and musical theater.

“I want the college I attend to let me explore otherthings because I know that I want both singing and vi-

olin to be a part of my life,” Rachel said. “A lot of peopleare trying to make me choose, but I think there’s a wayto make both of them work.” Rachel started playing the violin at the age of ve af -ter she begged her mom for lessons. Ever since, she hasfelt a passion for music and for the instrument, withpracticing always being a priority. “Last year I had so much to do between violin and

balancing IB, and I was also in the musical at school,”Rachel said. “I would get up at ve in the morningand practice before school for 1-2 hours. Then I camehome and did homework after practice around 10, andI’d practice another, say, two hours till about 1 in themorning.” Rachel says this busy schedule is something she re-sorts to during times of high stress, butpractice is always necessary. “On a normal week, I go to school, Icome home and usually procrastinatefor 1-2 hours, and then I practice for upto two hours,” Rachel said. “Then I dohomework, and I go back to the violin.I like to intersperse it because if I do too

much of one thing I just get really tired of it.”

Even with a busy practice schedule, Rachel feels asthough she needs to make time for the other importantthings in her life. “I really value relationships with people,” Rachelsaid. “I want to have a social life and I don’t want tospend all my time alone in a practice room.”

Being immersed in a world full of friends and dis-tractions, Rachel nds that separating herself and fo-cusing on her music is one of the hardest things to doto. “I have to say no to friends many times, and that’s

been the hardest thing for me,” Rachel said. “But a partof me says, ‘this is what you want and you have to workhard, and this is the only way to do it’.”

Within school, she nds that the musical programsare a perfect way to express herself musically and tospend time with friends. “My sophomore year, I really missed singing and I

felt like part of my life was missing,” Rachel said. “Igot into choir and I did not regret it. I found a lot of myfriends there.” In a perfect world, she says she would do it all, but

with a clear path and a determined mindset, she knows what she wants. With this in mind, Rachel has spentcountless hours rehearsing, performing, and compet-ing. “Growing up here there hasn’t been a lot of emphasison classical music, orchestra, or strings,” Rachel said.“I spent a very long time just doing recitals for my pri-

vate teachers, but last year I did my rst concerto com-petition sponsored by The Brazos Valley SymphonyOrchestra, and that was a really big deal to me.” After she was selected as a nalist, Rachel

competed and received

third place. “That was a really good experience for me, and afterthat I thought I should probably go to a music campor a music festival, because that’s where a lot of musi-cians go during the summer to meet professors,” Ra-chel said.

Rachel applied for a summer program at The East-man School of Music in Rochester, New York, and afterattending, many doors were opened for her.

“I was so nervous, but I had such a special musicalexperience. It was more than just music though,” Ra-chel said. “It’s about a state of mind, and a sense of selfidentity.” The program taught Rachel that you aren’t solely de-ned by your instrument or your musical ability, whichis something she has struggled with. “Sometimes I think if I quit violin then I won’t be thesame, and I won’t be unique,” Rachel said.

Recently, Rachel has discovered ways to connect hermusic to other parts of her life. “At rst my faith didn’t really play a part in my mu-sic,” Rachel said. “I did play a whole lot for my church,

but I never really thought about it as God giving me atalent so I could praise Him with it.” Having done mission trips in Texas and Belize, Ra-chel has found that helping others has given her just asmuch joy as music has. “The feeling of helping people is kind of like music,”Rachel said. “It gives you a purpose, like you’re here fora reason.” Rachel knows she wants to pursue music in the fu-ture: Belmont, Ithaca College, and SMU. “I like to keep a balance between friends, church, andmusic. I really value being in a community, I’m lookingforward to college where I can have friends in orches-tra with me,” Rachel said.

Musician in disharmony measures decisions, pursues passionStudent Spotlight - Page 5


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Page 6 -

Regina Flores Assistant editor Over the past few years, statistics have

shown that gun crimes seem to be dramati-cally increasing every year since 1999. TheColumbine High School shooting of 1999,the Virginia Tech shooting of 2007, the Bat-man shooting of 2012 in Aurora, Colorado,and the most recent Sandy Hook Elemen-

tary School shooting in Connecticut in 2012,including numerous others in between,have left American hearts in pieces.So when are we going to put it to an end?Hopefully, now. As a result of these increasing gun crimes,

Sandy Hook seeming to be the last straw with the victims being children, the numberof Americans in favor of stricter gun controllaws has increased dramatically. Accord-ing to a CBS News poll, support for stricterlaws is “at a ten-year high”, jumping from

39 percent in April of 2012 to 52 percent to-day. Not only are Americans supporting it,

but 150,000 have signed a petition on The White House website asking for i mmediateaction on the issue.

However, there are always those who ob-

ject. Many Americans say that stricter gunlaws would just “keep honest people hon-est” and rob methods of self defense fromthe innocent and leave criminals with theguns. But if there were no guns, how wouldcriminals acquire them? Criminals do not

automatically have guns in their posses-sions, they have to either buy or borrowthem from others.

Why does anyone need to own a .223-caliber Bushmaster AR-15 rie? Such a weaponis only needed for war. No one in this coun-

try needs such a violent weapon.Some Americans argue that if a person

desires to cause harm, they would ca use theharm in any way they could, even without agun. Yes, this is true, however any other wayof causing harm most likely could not kill as

many people as one could with a gun, espe-cially in such a short amount of time. Somesay that in the case of Sandy Hook, Lanzacould have created a bomb or some other

way of performing his mass killing, but howmany people know how to create a bomb? It

was easier for him to obtain a gun. The moreof an effort something takes, the less likely itis to happen. Other Americans feel as though theirrights to the second amendment of the Con-stitution would be violated with stricter gun

laws, but this does not necessarily have to be the cas e. A reasonable compromise tothis issue would be to outlaw all guns exceptfor single-shot ries which would be suf -cient enough for people who like to huntand would do the job of protecting a home.

And, after all, which is more important —

protecting the second amendment, or pro-tecting the sixth commandment? No mattersomeone’s beliefs, this is still held true.

Background checks should also be re-quired with the purchase of these guns, orany weapon, for that matter. Many, manytragic incidents in the past could have beenprevented if the gun salesman only knew

whom he was s elling the gun to. Many of

these mass murderers have had some sortof mental problem or personality disorder,making them unsuitable to own a gun. Twelve days after the Port Arthur mas-sacre in Australia in 1996, Australia an-nounced a bipartisan deal to enact sweep-

ing gun control measures, and it succeeded.There was a massive buyback of more than600,000 semi-automatic shotguns andries, or one-fth of all rearms in circu-lation in Australia. The country’s new gunlaws prohibited private sales, required that

all weapons be individually regis-tered to their owners, andrequired that gun buy-ers present a “genuinereason” for need-ing each weapon

at the time ofpurchase (self-defense did notcount).

A m e r i c ashould follow

suit. Homicidesin Australia byrearm plunged59 percent be-tween 1995 and2006, according to the

Washington Post. Rob- beries involving a rearm

also dropped signicantly, whilehome invasions did not increase. There wasno corresponding increase in non-rearm-related homicides, proving the argument

that “criminals will be criminals” false, andthe drop in suicides by gun went down by 65percent. In the decade before the Port Ar-thur massacre, there had been eleven massshootings in Australia. With the new guncontrol laws, there hasn’t been a single one

since. I strongly hope Obama’s plan will suc-ceed. Not only would it provide protectionfor the citizens of the United States, but it

would also bring a sense of security to thenation as a whole. In these troubled times,

millions, including myself, are mourningand are facing fears that some have notfaced before. With rising crime rates, whomight be next? Only stricter gun laws wouldprevent further tragedies as those we haverecently experienced, as well as secure the

nation and help mend broken hearts.

New gun control laws bring hopePage 6 - School Safety / Gun Control School Safety / Gun Control - Page 7

Alanis King

Staff writer“Our number one priority, on a daily basis, is to

make sure our students are as safe as possible,” prin-cipal Lamond Dean said. “So there is a response [planfor] anything that there may be a concern [about].” Most people like to believe that students are fairly

safe at school everyday, and that’s the goal of Dean as well as the rest of the s taff: safety. However, with re-cent tragedies such as the Sandy Hook shooting, ev-eryone has a reason to begin to doubt their safety on aday-to-day basis. School, a seemingly innocent institu-tion, is an easy target for those with malicious motives.

To believe that students trying to learn can be threat-ened by an outside source can be a troubling thought,

which is why schools have procedures in place to mini-mize outside threats as much as possible. “We have safety and security plans for really justabout anything that we can think of that would be a

danger to the students or the staff, or the physical be-ing of the school,” assistant principal Blake Allen said.“It’s not secret information, this is all public stuff that

we’re trying to encourage everybody to be aware of.” If a threat is imposed on the school, there are a va-riety of different people assigned to take care of it, as

well as to protect students and staff. “Obviously if there’s a threat of [an intruder] that is

within the campus, we do different things,” Dean said.“We have our administrators, our monitors, [a nd] ourlaw enforcement [ofcers] that are here that try toaddress the situation as quickly as possible [and to]

remove the eminent threat from the rest of the stu-dents.” Recent school violence has created signicant fear,

but it can a lso serve as a reminder to everyone in theschool as to why emergency procedures are practiced.

“The school shootings that have happened recently

are terrifying, [they’re] really tragedies and it’s just

awful that we live with elements in our society that

are capable of doing pretty heinous things,” Allen said.“We talked about that in a faculty meeting right afterthe Newtown, Connecticut incident, where I told thefaculty ‘This is why we do the drills. Let’s not ever for-get the reason we do a lockdown drill.’” As far as the staff at Bryan High, safety procedures

are instilled in each faculty member’s mind in order tomake everyone as prepared as possible for a seriousthreat to the school. “Administratively, we meet weekly to discuss is-sues or concerns on our campus. We talk about things[and] try to be proactive,” Dean said. “In the time of

an emergency, everyone goes back to what they feel ismore natural - taking care of themselves - but we want

to make sure that our job is to take care of everybodythat is here.” Teachers and faculty take the safety of the school

very seriously, and they attend a training sessi on with

Allen annually. In addition to this training, staff members are given reminders of procedures in the form ofan emergency operations manual, a checklist on theirID card, an alphabetically arranged accident checklist,and a quick-reference page to deal with major emer-gencies that is kept in the classroom and in the em-

ployee handbook. “I tell the teachers that we need to act like the mili-tary does, and we train like we ght so that we ghtlike we train,” Allen said. “And when it comes time toimplement one of those drills, we’re just going to do it.It’s going to be muscle memory. We’re j ust going to act

and do it, we’re not going to lose our minds becausenow we’re going into lockdown for real.” While many students may not see a need for month-ly drills, there are valid reasons behind taking time outof class to practice them. When the people on campusare prepared, the severity of the threat is reduced.

“The reason we do [drills] is so that we minimize the

mistakes we make to save the maximum number of

lives possible,” Allen said. “Because the bottom line is, we’re pretty exposed as a campus. We have to be avail-able to the public, which means anybody can walk in,

but we also have a job to secure ourselves against anybody that’s going to do pretty evil stuff, which meansstealth is our weapon.

“When we get in a situation where there’s somebodyon campus to do harm to [our students], the best thing

we can do is hide. That’s why we do what we do. Weturn out the lights, we make every classroom look thesame so that it’s not really obvious where kids are, and

we try to hide [students] so that there’s no injury.”

Aside from the drills that are set in place, the admin-istration at Bryan High believes that each individual

should try, on a daily basis, to make the campus as safefrom threats as possible.

“Any time that there is something that happensthat’s a tragedy, such as [the] most recent school

shootings, we [start] looking at ourselves,” Dean said.“We’re in a process of doing a safety audit on our cam-pus to look at trying to be proactive, looking at thingsthat we can do to provide a more safe surrounding forour students, internally or externally.” Whether or not these procedures and safety drills

will be carried out, and carried out efciently, is notonly up to the school administrators, but everyone inthe building. Even the smallest of acts by any personon campus, from a student to the principal, can pre-

vent a catastrophe from occurring. “It doesn’t stop with the teachers, and it doesn’t stop

with the administrators. Students have a responsibil-ity too,” Allen said. “Noticing things that are out ofplace, or telling us that something’s wrong. If we addthat many more eyes [for] awareness, then we becomethat much more effective at keeping each other safe,and we’re protecting all of us at the same time.”

Minimizing mistakesStudents, staff responsible for safety of school

Andy Ramirez

Staff writer As more mass shootings take place

in America, the topic of gun con-

trol becomes more prevalent withthe public. In response, President

Barack Obama has recently made a

controversial proposal to congress

regarding the nation’s gun controllaws aimed at the nation’s weapons

holders. Now more than ever, it is

critical that citizens are familiar with

the second amendment. As a free na-tion, we must realize that we cannot

blame the masses f or the acts of the

few. More laws will not curb gun vio-lence. The notion that restricting

guns will end violence in our

country is not true. Be-

lieving that cre-ating laws con-

cerning the

limitation ofrearms will

s i m p l y

end their

use is anaive and

dangerous

idea that

may very well cost the

lives of more

Am er ic an s.

Examples of theimplementation of

legislation with this

same intent are evidenteverywhere in our society, such asdrugs. Just because drugs are illegal,

no one produces, sells, or does drugs,

right? The same is true for guns. Bycreating laws to restrict guns, one

cannot guarantee that everyone will

follow them. Prohibition is another

example of how laws like this work.Instead of decreasing alcohol use,

prohibition had the exactly opposite

effect. People tend to do things more

when told not to do them. In stead ofmaking the same mistakes, we need

real solutions to this problem.

Another important point to con-

sider is that criminals break laws bytheir nature, so why would they not

continue to break laws? Even if the

proposed laws had been in place, itis likely that the shootings would

have happened regardless. One must

consider that the people who commit

these heinous acts are criminals who

will plan and execute their crimes de-spite any law put in place.

It is our responsibility to enforce

the existing laws. Why are we try-ing to create stricter gun laws when

we’re not putting into practice the

ones we already have? The plans pro-

posed by president Obama will costan estimated $4 billion, money that

could be saved by following our cur-

rent arms laws. Before considering

passing such a costly and unneces-sary bill, we owe it to ourselves to

at least enforce the policies we have

now.One nal point that should be con -

sidered regarding gun control is the

fact that law abiding people feel saf-

er with guns to defend themselves.

Someone who goes through the entirelegal process to obtain a rearm can

be a va luable asset in an emergency.

Instead of leaving citizens unarmedor underarmed facing someone who

illegally obtained much more pow-

erful weapons, we must ensure that

we a re adequa tely p repared for a nysituation. Armed law abiding citizens

can serve to protect victims in an

unexpected gunght, and with good

people shooting back, victims mayhave a vital window of opportunity

to escape, or at least take cover.This

is not to say that guns are the only

solution, however it is important toremember that one person can make

the difference in a life or death situa-

tion. We cannot overlook these and oth-er aspects of our current gun control

laws. The solution to our problems is

not punishing the innocent, but seek-ing out the guilty. Supporters of the

gun control laws state that they will

make it harder for criminals to ob-

tain weapons, which could possiblysave lives. However, the issue arises

that if someone is as determined and

serious enough to consider commit-

ting this caliber of crime, they willmost likely obtain the weapons need-

ed by illegal means. This in itself can

give rise to a violent illegal weapons

market. The solution is to educateour population about how respon-

sible gun users are not to be feared.

We must stand b y the principles on which our constituti on was founded,

and stop attacking the innocent for

the crimes of the guilty.

Gun users take fre, punishedfor crimes they didn’t commit

Do you feel safe on campus?

*100 Students Surveyed

Why do you think there has beenan increase in school shootings?

“A lot of it has to do with the availability of rearms and I’m not saying we should crack downon it, but I think it is a factor. Additionally, Ithink a rise in other violent events inspires otherpeople to perform these action. We live in a re-altively violent culture, especially in movies and

video games that guns have some inuence onour actions and thoughts as a society.” Forrest Herman, 12

“There is so much pressure on high school

students. Also an increase in spending time withtechnology has caused people to lose empa-thy and lose the na tural connection with otherhumans. The value of a human life is drasticallydecreased in some people’s minds.” Emma Slowey, 12


7/11

Planning on a cheap date to the movies? Think

again. After buying the tickets comes the one thing

that makes a good date - the snacks. A large pop-

corn would be great to share, but unless you plan

on taking out a small bank loan, you are now stuck

with the small bag and having to smuggle in a wa-

ter and a bag of skittles underneath your jacket.

In recent years movie snack prices have sky-

rocketed. Does it really cost $6.50 to pop kernels

of corn with articial butter on them? A box of 12

bags of popcorn from the store is $3.50 for 12 bags

and theaters want to rake in almost double that for

a single bag of popcorn. In the past two years, pric-

es have more than doubled, but is it justiable?

If you get popcorn you will need something to keep

yourself from dying of cottonmouth, so prepare to

shell out ve another $5 for a drink that you could buy at any fast food place for less than $2. Sure, it

comes with rells, but getting $5 worth of rells

during one movie probably won’t happen.

Movie theaters post signs that say “no outside

food or drinks allowed” but if they really want

people to follow these rules, maybe they should

try making the prices more reasonable. Though

it would be hard to sneak a bag of popcorn into a

movie theater, you can still bring candy and other

small snacks to enjoy throughout the movie, by

wearing your biggest cargo shorts and lling your

pockets with candy.

Why not stay at home, rent a movie,

invite some friends over, and make a

quick run to the grocery store to grab

some of your favorite snacks? Even if it

costs the same, you can watch the mov-

ie in the comfort of your own home and

not worry about other people disturb-

ing the movie. If the movie isn’t yet outon DVD, the option is always there to go

early before 6:00 p.m when the prices

are nearly cut in half.

Cheaper options could be First Friday in Down-

town Bryan where the only thing to pay for would

be dinner. Downtown always has free entertain-

ment, like concerts and movies shown on First Fri-

days. If you just walk around downtown there will

always be something interesting to nd and there

are plenty of other places that you can go to with-

out spending money on expensive snack foods.

Million dollar movie date breaks bank, inspires lawlessness

Justin Sanders, 11

Page 8 - Opinions

This October, my friends and I saton the bleachers watching the Vi-king football game like most Friday

nights in the fall. Boredom struck asthe scoreboard remained unchangedand time passed slowly. Then, we weresuddenly approached by a girl. She im-mediately sparked conversation afterconversation with us, adding somemuch needed pep to our average night.(I later learned that she was a Young-Life leader). I appreciated the fact thatshe didn’t just come out and say thatshe was a leader or try to smooth talk

us into going, like some entrepreneuropening a new business would have.She took the time to get to know us

before talking about what YoungLife was and by the end of the night, we ex-changed numbers and that’s where the

journey began. YoungLife is a program that begins

with dedicated young adults who genu-inely want to take the time to support,

befriend, and teach the word of God tokids worldwide. Locally it takes place

at Life Church behind JoAnn’s everyMonday night at 7:29 for Bryan Highstudents, and I am very grateful to haveit in my life. Every now and then we’ve noticedolder-looking, college age people

walking around the Silver Cafeteriaat lunches. Typically passing out theircolorful, inviting yers and bouncingaround socially to every table, attempt-ing to spark conversation with highschool students. These are local Young-

Life leaders. Let’s be honest, how manyof us have given a cold shoulder or noteven given them the chance to speak

about why they’re here on campus? I was one of those kids, wondering ‘whatundergraduates [would] possibly want

with a student like me?’ That is un-til I actually took the time to socialize

with them and realized that their mis-sion and love for all ages of students issomething amazing, and my percep-tion of them was changed. Every Monday and Friday after that,I saw more leaders around the court-

yard and cafeteria at lunch, whom Inever really noticed before. I becamemore open to the idea of letting thesepeople into my life and seeing what

YoungLife was really about. It tooksome convincing and many ‘so are youcoming to club tonight?’ before I ac-tually did. And I’ll admit, I was prettyskeptical and hesitant, but I nallytook a chance and decided to go with afew good friends. It was around 7:29 on a Monday

night, the time I was told to arrive, when we pulled into the parking lot.I immediately noticed plenty of stu-dents that I had never thought would

be there. All were enjoying themselveson a shockingly cold Texas night, withsmiles, laughs and pure enjoyment ontheir faces. We soon reached a groupof familiar faces where we were wel-comed, introduced, and embraced withopen arms by the leaders, marking agreat start to the fun-lled evening.

After some time passed, we all rushedinto the building where good music was

blasting, people were dancing, lights

were ashing, and great times were being had. The leaders acted in funnyskits, everyone sang songs, continued

busting a move on the dance oor,and watched YouTube videos. Once weall calmed down, the mood smoothlyshifted, and it was time for the word ofGod- a topic I was a little apprehensiveabout, as most teens are. I had neverreally been taught the teachings andstories of the Bible, or at least not in a

way that I could relate or understandthem in church, but this time was dif-ferent. I was able to truly listen and soakin what the leader was saying. He dis-cussed deep topics in ways that wecould actually understand, rather thanpreaching directly at us, sternly talk-ing about how sinful our behavior isand to change our irresponsible ways.He made us feel comfortable with ourissues and assured us that everyone

makes mis-takes, butthat we canalways beforgiven. I leftthat nighth a p p yand witha strongsense ofp u r p o s e ,

and I’ve since made it a priority ofmine to continue going. The love thatis shared in that church building is

like no other, and everyone is encour-aged to be open and share their stories,heartaches, and pains with the leadersthat are there to help and support stu-dents. YoungLife gives struggling teensa chance to release their burdens in ahealthy, benecial way to people whoso deeply care about all you have to say. The decision I made to go to Young-Life has to be one of the best I’ve madein a long time. It’s a decision I nally

got right and I truly feel that Young-Life has changed me for the better.The friendships I have created with theleaders are some of my very favorites,and I know that lasting memories willcontinue to be made. If you’re a student looking for truefriends, happy times, great lessons,and support for your struggles, takethis chance. After all, Monday’s are adrag, so why not let YoungLife spice itup?

Erin Garcia, 10

Livin’ a YoungLifeOrganization helps students build relationships, connect


8/11

I was expecting paradise, tanning on the beach, shop-ping and overall, a tropical adventure on my cruise toSouth America this holiday season. Sadly, I was lessthan impressed with the ports where our ship docked.

I left the Houston Port on December 16th during thelast week of the fall semester. It was rainy and cold, andnot being a people person myself, I already wasn’t toothrilled to be boarding a ship lled with 4,000 passen-gers. The rst three days on the ship were the “fun daysat sea”, consisting of shows and activities for all ages.Rather then attending, I snuck back into my cabin andslept the entire rest of the day that we left HoustonPort. The “fun days at sea” weren’t exactly appropri-ately named. There isn’t much to do for a 17 year-old IBstudent who isn’t used to having a lot free time on herhands and no homework, so I found it kind of difcultto nd something to do. The ship’s teen club offeredchances to compete in foose ball tournaments and latenight dances, but I don’t know how to play foose balland I don’t enjoy dances. Each night the cruise required that you attend a for-mal dinner in your designated ne-dining area, whichI was expecting from the last cruise my family and I

went on. But somehow I remembered there being bet-ter food. Let’s just say the Carnival Magic chefs andI aren’t on the same page when it comes to culinary

excellence. I spent a lot of time in the bathroom andcurled up on my bed clutching my stomach because thefood made me sick. The only time I was comfortableeating was breakfast time at the buffet. You can never

go wrong with a plate full of fruit and french toast.The fourth day, we nally docked in Isla Roatan,

Honduras. From the boat I could see across the island,and I could already tell it was going to be beautiful and

that I was going to have a great time. I grabbed my backpack and disembarked the ship with my parents. We stopped at the beach for a while and it was justas beautiful as it seemed from the ship, the sand was

white and the water was clear blue. My dad got us a caband the cab driver took us to downtown Isla Roatan so

we could go shopping. While on the island, I met a little girl named Dey-

anera. She came up to me while I was shopping andstarted playing with my hair. She didn’t speak English

but I understood enough to get her name. The little girl was sweet and I made sure to buy a bunch of souvenirsfrom her mother’s stand.

Since the rst stop was great, I was expecting mynext day in Belize City, Belize to be even

better. I was sorely mistaken. The boatanchored in the middle of the Caribbeanand we had to take ferries to shore. Assoon as we docked I got off of the boat,locals were begging for us to purchasetheir products and at one point, locals

were offering the tourists drugs and oth-er contraband items. This didn’t sit well

with me. Our tour guide in Belize City was atotal rip off, and he took us to a prettysketchy part of the city eight blocks away

from the dock. I was horried and I wanted to go backto the ship. Belize wasn’t what I expected and I was notimpressed with the tourist sites. Next stop was Cozumel Island, Mexico and since I’ve

been there before on a different cruise, I was glad wasto be somewhere I recognized. I spent the day at a re-sort on the beach. It was too cold to swim but I enjoyedsitting by the pool drinking Mexican Coca-Cola. Wespent 3 hours there and then boarded the ship again.The next two days on the ship were more “fun days atsea”, but by that time I was ready to be off of the shipand on my way home.

Let’s just say the next time my parents ask me whatI’d like to do for our Christmas vacation, I’d rather

just stay home if my only option is to go on a cruise.I wouldn’t recommend the Carnival Magic to anyone,the food wasn’t that great and if you’re an average17-year-old like me, there isn’t much to do.

Adviser

Rebecca Dominy

Co-editors

Emily Nash

Emma Raleigh

Assistant Editors

Regina Flores

Andrea Mendes

Maurissa Ramirez

Yvette Ybarra

Photography Editor

Justin Sanders

The opinions expressed are those of the writers and are not reective of the

administrators, faculty or staff of Bryan Independent School District.

Submissions to the editor are welcomed, but must be signed and should not exceed

300 words. The editor reserves the right to edit submissions in the interest of

clarity and length or to not print a letter at all. Letters containing obscene or

libelous material will not be considered.

Bryan Independent School District does not discriminate on the basis of race, reli-

gion, color, national origin, sex or handicap in providing education services.

NORSEMANhttp://www.

bryanhighnorseman.com

http://www.twitter.com/

bhsnorseman

http://www.facebook.com/

BryanISDBryanHigh-

Norseman

Staff writers

Jesse Baxter Erin Garcia

David Gilman

Alanis King

Gabby Martinez

Leigh Ann Netka

Andy Ramirez

Highlight editions are published in print on the last Friday each month

As the number of students cutting classacross the nation increases, school dis-tricts have turned to extreme methods inan effort to control attendance. Several schools have implemented a

microchip device in student identication badges that monitors the location of stu-dents on campus. This topic has sparkedcontroversy in several school districts, es-pecially in Texas where it has reached thefederal courts. Tracking students through electronicmeans is unethical and irresponsible. Themicrochips are an invasion of studentprivacy. The very idea of someone track-ing a student’s every move is unsettling.Even worse though, it seems dangerous. These devices would have to emit somesort of signal to transmit information tothe administation on each student. Thisinformation could then be intercepted bya third-party, putting students at risk of apredator.

This disciplinary measure would wasteprecious funds in school districts where budgets are already limited. With recent budget cuts, basic school necessities likeresources, teachers and supplies are not

being met, so money should not be wast-ed on things that could be consideredluxury. There is more to consider than the ini-tial cost of a program like this. Who would

be responsible for the maintance and re-pair of the IDs? If a student’s microchip was damaged by themself or another stu-dent the school would have to have mea-sures to replace the ID. The back end ofthis would also require maintenance andsomeone to run the system and monitordaily. Theoretically this tracking program isa good idea because schools are lookingfor a way to keep students in school, butthere are ways to get around the system.If students skipped class, they could taketheir IDs off and give them to a friend, orleave them in a classroom to make it ap-pear that they’re on the campus. High school campuses are struggling with attendance, but microchiped iden-tication badges will not eleviate theproblem; it will only create more issues.Schools should instead work on ways tomake students want to be on-campus. --- Norseman Staff

Big brother overstepping bounds

Maurissa Ramirez, 11

Not in love with the boatOpinions - Page 9

Vacation sinks happiness, leaves passenger longing for shore


9/11

Jesse Baxter

Staff writer I was overjoyed when I heard thatone of my favorite books, The Hobbit,

was being made into a lm. I got evenmore excited when I found out that thelm would be split into three parts, al-lowing each movie to be more detailed.However, my hopes were dashed fromthe opening scene. The rst instalment of, The Hobbit:

An Unexpected Journey, contains nu-merous storyline errors, ranging from

minor to major changes. In the open-ing scene, no dwarves escaped from thefront gate when the dragon Smaug wasattacking the mountain. In the book,only dwarves who were outside themountain and two others who escapedusing a secret door and survived. An-other change is when the trolls caughtthe companions, Gandalf, Bilbo, andthe 13 dwarves, it was Gandalf whosaved them, instead of Bilbo. The movie added scenes and char-acters that were not in the book, suchas Saruman, Galadriel, Radagast, andthe barely mentioned Necromancer.

While these characters are in JRR Tolk -ien’s other works, the only reason theproducers included them was to makethe Hobbit transition more smoothlyinto Lord of the Rings and help turn itinto a trilogy. These scenes took up un-necessary time while not adding muchto the story. The character added who

changed the story the most was the Pale

Orc, Azog, who was not in any other of

Tolkien’s works. He was added just tomake the story more interesting, but itconfused people who read the book anddrew out the story. Another thing that annoyed me washow violent the movie was comparedto the book. The Hobbit was originally

written as a children’s book forTolkien’s son and did not containas much violence as the moviedid. The movie also added many

battle scenes that were not in the

book like the ght between thecompanions and orcs right beforeRivendell. They did not encounterany orcs until later in the story

when they crossed the MistyMountains. This was supposed toadd action to the movie, but I feltit did not add any value. The movie portrayed Thorin,the leader of the dwarves, as ag-gressive towards all elves. This was be-cause in the movie, the elves refused tohelp the dwarves ght against the orcsfor Moria (a dwarf mine). This relation-ship is mostly inaccurate. While thedwarves slightly dislike the elves, theyare not hostile towards the elves (ex-cept the ones in Mirkwood, who werenot included in the movie). Thorin nev -er fought for Moria either, it was onlyhis grandfather, Thrór, who died there.

Also the book never mentioned that theelves refused to help Thrór ght the

orcs, so his hostility towards the elves

in Rivendell is nonexistent in the book.

The writers adding this in made nosense to me, it was just an attempt toadd drama to an already great story. One of the most inaccurate scenes

was when the dwarves were captured by the goblins in the Misty Mountains.The tunnels in the movie were made of

wooden bridges over a chasm instead ofregular stone tunnels like in the book.Bilbo did not escape when they werecaptured, he was taken along with ev -eryone else. In the book, Gandalf madethe re go out and killed The GreatGoblin instead ghting in full light. Theescape was more stealthy in the book,

where they ran in the darkness, ghtingperiodically. Another little change wasinstead of nding the ring by chance inthe dark, Bilbo saw it at the bottom atunnel.

While all the changes were annoying,

the special effects, lming, and sound

were well done. The re and creatures were especially well done, and were very realistic. The songs were mostlyupbeat and transferred the mood wellfrom the book. From dense forests andhuge plains to mountains capped withsnow, both the Hobbit and Lord of the

Rings have extraordinary scen-ery. The acting in the movie wasgreat, with the actors portrayedthe characters feelings and men-

tality well. There were several ac-tors that I knew and liked in themovie, such as Martin Freemanas Bilbo and Benedict Cumber-

batch as the Necromancer. Thesefactors combined to make TheHobbit more enjoyable. Overall the movie was welldone, and if I had not read the

book, I would have enjoyed it im-mensely. However the inconsistencies

between the book and the movie put adamper on watching it. I would recom-mend it to anyone who does not mindchanges in the storyline and is up for agood two and a half hour movie. While Idon’t have high hopes for the next mov -ies following the storyline, I will lookforward to seeing the effects, actors,and scenery. It will be interesting to seehow the story will evolve from this in-teresting beginning.

Unexpected changes lead to interesting journey

Page 10 - Entertainment

Gabby Martinez Staff writer Two can keep a secret if one of them is dead. Thisparticular death, however, is a little more complicat-ed than most. Murder, suspense, drama and thrills:all words I use to describe the hit series Pretty Little

Liars. Actresses Lucy Hale as Aria, Ashley Benson as Han-

na, Shay Mitchell as Emily and Troian Bellisario asSpencer all star in this breakthrough show. Loosely

based off of the best selling books written by SaraShepard, these girls are put to the emotional andphysical test when their simple high school lives arecompletely turned over after one of their own goesmissing. In the ctional town of Rosewood, Pennsylvania,four friends are devastated when one of their own,

Ali, played by actress Sasha Pieterse, goes missing. A

year after her disappearance, her body mysteriouslysurfaces. While the best friends hoped this would

bring them closure, what comes instead is a slew ofunexpected anonymous text messages signed with an“A”, threatening the girls and revealing secrets fromeach of their pasts. The end of one girl’s life was the beginning of a life

of new relationships, heartbreaks, and obstacles thatmost people don’t face in a lifetime. Being stalked andthreatened at every corner, these four young ladiesght to nd out who really killed their friend, who isthreatening them and most importantly, to stay alive.The only thing keeping these girls sane in the midst

of all this chaos is the friendships they have with eachother. As a fan of this breakthrough series I have createdhigh hopes for this show, and this season has yet todisappoint me. This being the third season, relation-ships have been set, and it brings a controversial top-ic to the table. One of the girls named Emily struggles

because she’s a lesbian. Many fans don’t appreciatethat ABC Family airs this type of relationship, how -ever I think this is a smart decision.The reality is thatsome girls are going through this battle themselves.

Appealing to all young people is the goal, right? Mass

media plays a big role in how girls feel about them -selves; magazines, television, even the radio tell us

what’s “in”, making it seem that if girls don’t portraythemselves in a certain way they’re less acceptable.Showing that having this type of relationship is okaycan help boost some young girls’ selfesteem.

The writers make these girls so personable; every

girl can relate to one of these young ladies in some way. We are living their struggles every day in the real world. Our lives may not be being threatened daily, but we hurt like Spencer did when she found out thelove of her life turned out to be the reason for her suf -fering. We cry like Hannah did when her boyfriend

Caleb was shot. We feel, like Aria does for her soul-mate Ezra, and we go through loss just like Emily did

when her girlfriend Mya was murdered.Hidden agendas and blackmail keep big fans like

me on the edge of our seats. Every week I tune in andI’m thrown on an emotional roller coaster. Their sanity is tested multiple times, when per-sonal lives get involved. Protecting the loved ones ofthe girls is of the utmost importance, a trait I nd re-spectable and try to apply in my own life. The safetyof my daughter and family is always rst priority.Learning to never back down is a lesson well-taught

on this show. Pretty Little Liars is a ve-star hit in my book. I

will be looking forward to the upcoming seasons withhigh expectations. This show is more than just enter-taining, it’s a type of reality check for girls. Life is noteasy, but when surrounded by loved ones, the impos-sible struggles we face become possible.

Secrets, scandal, seduction create primetime sensation


10/11

Entertainment - Page 11

David Gilman Staff writer Watching The Fall is like

being a child again, reading your favorite bedtime storycomplete with vivid imageryand uniquely imagined char-acters. However, unlike mostfairy tales, this one is viewedthrough the imagination of adisturbed child and told by a

drug addict. The movie dark-ens as the story progresses.Despite this, the movie cap-tures a series of highly imagi-native and beautiful scenes in

both the real world and thestoryworld, from the tragicopening scene, to the nal,dramatic duel in the littlegirl’s imagination. The Fall is from the relative-ly unknown director, Tarsem

Singh, for whom The Fall ishis only real cinematic suc-cess. Despite a mostly lack-luster showing in theatres, itis hailed by critics and movielovers. This plot is centred around acrippled and suicidal ex-stuntactor’s attempt to convincea young migrant worker girlnamed Alexandria to help feed

his morphine addiction andeventually commit suicide. Hedoes this through his tellingof a mangled Spaghetti West-ern, which is what Alexandriaimagines by lling in the char-acters of the story with peoplefrom the hospital in whichthey are staying. However, thestory quickly becomes an av-enue for the stunt actor, Roy,to express his frustrations

about the people he perceivesas having led to his destruc-tion. It shows how Alexan-dria feels about individualsin the hospitaldepending on

whether theyare portrayedas good or evilin the story. This extend-

ed metaphorintersects real-ity the most atthe end whenRoy’s despairenters the storyas a series ofdramatic character deaths.However, just as Alexandriaexerts the only positive inu-ence in his real life, so doesher character, and she pre-

vents the story from ending inabsolute tragedy. One of the most commonlycited aws in the movie is its

slow pace. How-ever, this con-tributes to theplot buildup bymaking the end-ing more con-clusive.

The Fall be-comes a uniqueexperience inthe visuals.Computer gen-erated images

were barely usedin the making of the lm,instead traditional editingmethods in amazing locationspaired with excellent cinema-tography led to some of the

most beautiful scenes I haveever seen in a movie. What makes the charactersso rich and the story so en-gaging is the commendableperformances of the actors,primarily those that play Royand Alexandria. Roy is por-trayed as a broken young man

by Lee Pace, but this portrayalis not cliche, but nuanced. As

Alexandria, Catinca Untaru’sperformance is also impres-sive, and the gamut of emo-tions Alexandria goes throughare all well displayed. Any movie lover should seethis movie for it’s cinematog-raphy, but even more casual

viewers will enjoy the unique visuals and nuanced charac-ters.

The Fall raises cinematography to new heights

Emily NashCo-editor “I know so many last words. But I

will never know hers.” Not knowing her last words hauntedMiles Halter after her disappearance. In Looking For Alaska, John Greenleaves his readers wondering through-out the novel what really happened tothe wild and carefree Alas-ka Young on a cold winternight. The novel begins inMiles’ living room in Flor-ida one hundred and thir-ty six days before Alaska’sdisappearance. Miles isan ordinary teenager thatdidn’t have many friends

at the school he was at-tending in his hometown.He decided that attendingCulver Creek PreparatoryHigh School in Alabama

would be a good option forhim - not because of his lack of friends,

but, as he quoted Francois Rabelais, “Igo to seek a Great Perhaps.”

What he didn’t knowabout Culver Creek

was that the peoplehe would meet there.Green quickly intro-duces a series of char-acters early on in thenovel, the main ones

being Miles’ room-mate Chip “The Col-onel” Martin, whogives Miles the nick-name “Pudge”, and of

course, the beautiful Alaska Young, who Pudge falls in love with from themoment he saw her. At rst, the novel just seemsto be about a few teenagers at a

boarding school causing troubleand having a good time. Pudge

starts dating a Romanian ex-change student name Lara, and makes

another friend namedTakumi, a Japanese ex-change student. Thesethree, along with the Col-onel and Alaska, spendtheir time together in the

woods near the school,smoking Marlboro ciga-rettes in the SmokingHole, drinking the alco-

hol Alaska keeps hidden,trying not to get caught,and simply talking aboutlife.

However, as the novelcounts down the days,

from one hundred and thirty six days before to one day before Alaska’s dis-

appearance, the reader begins to won-der what is going to happen to Alaska.My guess was that she ran away or gotkidnapped, and I couldn’t believe it

when I nally got passed the “before”segment of the novel and reached the“after” half to nd out what happenedto Alaska, and more importantly, whyit happened. The novel kept me so interested thatit was practically glued to my hands.Green keeps the rst half very nor-mal. At some points I even forgot thatsomething was supposed to happento Alaska, which is what made it even

more of a mystery. While all of thecharacters are somewhat mysteriousin their own way, Alaska was alwayshiding something throughout the rsthalf. Her comments and answers were

very vague, she had a boyfriend thatshe claimed to be in love with, parentsshe never spoke of, and at some points,she even seemed suicidal. When Pudgeasked her why she smoked cigarettesso fast, she simply said, “Y’all smoke to

enjoy. I smoke to die.”The main question throughout the

novel was what the “labyrinth” really was. Alaska rst brought it up towardsthe beginning of the book with Pudge,creating the mystery of what was re-ally going on in her head. Does thelabyrinth mean you want to escape

sadness? Or to escape life? This wouldhaunt Pudge, Colonel, and the rest ofthe group after Alaska’s disappearanceand what it was she was trying to es-cape. Green wrote the novel in Pudge’spoint of view and while most of thetime, Pudge seems to be a typical naivesixteen year old kid, there are certainpoints in the novel where he goes intodeep thought about religion, afterlife,and love. Pudge is so relatable in every

way from feeling completely happy, tofeeling depressed, and from a naivehormonal teenage boy, to a mature

young adult experi-encing the hardshipsand mysteries of life.Through Pudge’s

voice, Green appeals

to not only teenag-ers, but also an older crowd. AlthoughPudge struggles with things everyteenager goes through, like falling inlove with a girl he knew he couldn’thave, he also talks about things somepeople his age may have never eventhought about. By the end of the novel, Pudge growsand decides that some things in lifemust simply be left unsolved. Aftertrying to nd Alaska, he nally real-

izes that although it’s hard to survivethings that seem undefeatable, there’salways a way out of the labyrinth, nomatter how bad things may seem. Inthe last few pages Pudge says, “Weneed never be hopeless, because wecan never be irreparably broken.”

Looking for Alaska

“We need never be hopeless, becausewe can never be irreparably broken.”


11/11

Page 12 - Fun & Games

Yvette Ybarra Staff writer Every team has members and col-ors, but the most important part ofany team is their mascot.

The mascot is in the backgroundcheering from the sidelines to raisethe team’s spirit. While Bryan High

has Thor the Viking, the Norsemanstaff has their own mascot – one thathas been around since I joined theNorseman Staff my sophomore year. His name is Phranklin Prime III.Not Franklin with an “F”, but Phrank-lin with a “Ph”. Prime, because, likeOptimus Prime, he is a transformer, being both a pillow and a pet. III be-cause the Norseman staff is just thatnerdy and three is in fact a primenumber. Phranklin’s story begins three yearsago and is one of grace and pride. While on patrol in the halls of theschool, Legolas, our sentry, foundPhranklin overturned, struggling toreturn to his feet.

Legolas helped Phranklin turn over,and Phranklin immediately felt greataffection and gratitude towards Lego-las. It was then that Phranklin pledgedhis unfaltering loyalty to Legolas and

the Norseman Staff. “How can I repay your kindness?”Phranklin asked. “I shall explain on the way,” Legolassaid.

And with that, Legolas led Phrank-lin to a safe haven - room 6160. On the way, Legolas told of the strange be-

ings he pledged to protect after stum- bling upon the great Dominydore.Having nowhere to go after his

homeland was destroyed by Tigers,Dominydore agreed to let this war-rior reside in her room, and in re-turn, alongside the Vikings, he wouldprotect the Norseman staff from thesame savage Tigers which was de-stroyed his homeland. When Phranklin fnally arrived andsaw everyone, he was dumbfounded. “How can so many beings with dif-ferent personalities live in harmony?” Dominydore explained about all thepoor souls that were lost in life. Theydidn’t have a path to follow, for they were so different. They had askedfor her help and she guided themto a place where everyone had theirstrange ways, but nobody judgedthem.

“Still, they feel they are being treat-

ed unfairly,” Dominydore said. “Wehave no mascot for our ragtag group.” “We’ve had others try to becomethe mascot,” Legolas said, “But un-fortunately, no one could pass thetest – to stand guard while sitting onthe couch of slumber for a straight 48hours. Countless have tried, but no

one could get past the couch’s plushi-ness.” Phranklin quickly saw an opportu-nity he couldn’t pass up and acceptedthe challenge. He had an advantage the othersprevious to him hadn’t. His shell pre- vented him from feeling the couch’sembrace. On the end of day two, Phranklinreturned and was praised. Everyoneagreed Phranklin wasmore than capableof the responsibili-ties of being a mas-cot. So to this day,Phranklin has been apart of the Norseman fam-ily. When we need ideas, afriend, or just a pillow torest our head on, Phranklinhas been there for all of us. A

m a s c o tis morethan justa per-son in acostume,they arethe em-

bodime ntof who ateam isand whatthey willo n eday be-come.

Turtles are not fun to eatLegolas, Phranklin hold constant vigil over staff

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Volume 42 Number 3