HARWOOD By Staff Writer Amanda

The

HI-LINETiger

Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012 Volume 53 Edition 13

Hurricane Katrina VictimSenior Lauren Nickerson’s great aunt is still recovering/page 5

Follow us on Twitter @ tigerhiline,Facebook at TigerHilineOnline and on our websiteat www.hiline.cfschools.org

Ann Eastman opened ‘Miss Wonderful’ downtown CF just in time for the holidays. The inspiration for the name came from this shoebox that was her grandmother’s.

On a calm Friday morning, the day after Jingle and Mingle on Main, a steady flow of cus-tomers moseyed in and out of a new shop on Main Street, Cedar Falls. A festive, vintage aluminum Christmas tree spar-kled in the middle of the shop surrounded by whimsical fifties decor. Miss Wonderful, a trea-sure trove of vintage items, is a dream brought to life by for-mer owner of Cup of Joe, Ann Eastman.

For years, Eastman has been dreaming of opening a shop such as this one. “I just want to provide a place where people feel like vintage is ac-cessible, so they can come in, they can spend a dollar in here and walk away with something vintage and have a good time coming in. From that experi-ence, to buying an investment piece like a Haywood-Wake-field dining room table and chairs,” Eastman said.

Shoppers don’t have to be looking for furniture to partici-pate in the vintage shopping experience at Miss Wonderful. “You can have the experience of spending $5, or you could buy a whole new kitchen set for $1,500, and no matter what your income level, you can come in and just experience it and walk away with some-thing,” Eastman said.

Instead of buying new this Holiday season, Miss Won-derful allows shoppers to find something unique and fun to give to others or keep for themselves. “It’s just an alter-native to buying new, and the

mid-century modern era was so colorful, playful, whimsical. I love that they weren’t afraid to have fun. Also, I love it that people younger than me can see what a fun and playful era that was.”

Eastman’s inspiration for Miss Wonderful comes from her love for vintage collecting sparked by her grandmother. “My Grandma is the one that got me thrifting, and she would let me go in her basement. She wouldn’t have called it thrift-ing, but she would let me go in her basement and say, ‘Take what you want,’ and that was my first introduction to 1950s,” Eastman said.

For Eastman, finding old treasures in her grandmother’s basement helped ultimately create the name of her store. “She ignited the passion for thrifting for me. After she passed away, my mom said, go upstairs and see if there’s any-thing you want, and I found her shoebox. I’m sure she saved it for practical reasons, not be-cause of the name, but it just made me smile. It just cracked me up that there was a shoe company called Miss Wonder-ful.”

The name, “Miss Wonder-ful” isn’t the only thing inspired by Eastman’s grandmother. “An interesting side note is her

maiden name is Lovely, Ruth Lovely, so our little tagline is ‘Vintage is lovely,’ so it’s kind of an ode to my grandma,” East-man said.

Eastman has several goals for her new shop, among these goals is her desire to keep her store changing and interest-ing for her customers. Every few days, Miss Wonderful has something new to offer to shoppers and vintage lovers. “I want it to always be in flux, al-ways changing, always be fresh for people,” Eastman said.

In addition to being acces-sible and fresh, going green is also an important theme for Eastman in her store. “I think

what’s neat about it is a lot of people are going green and trying to be environmentally responsible, and what’s neat about vintage is what you’re doing is you’re reusing and repurposing something. So you’re not buying new, you’re buying something that’s ex-isted for 50 years,” Eastman said.

Eastman found several ways to make her store more environmentally friendly. “The bags are 100 percent recycla-ble. We are wireless here with our receipts. We’re also switch-ing the lights over to be energy efficient,” Eastman said.

While the store is still young, already, it’s clear that the reception from shoppers is outstanding. Even in the middle of the day during the week, customers come in, ask questions, see what’s new and make purchases. The positive reaction from the community to vintage shows a lot of prom-ise for the growing and ever changing store.

“We’re just pleasantly sur-prised that people are loving it. I went into it thinking we’ll just see how it goes, and we’ll just go with the flow,” Eastman said. “I am so pleasantly sur-prised that people are buying vintage furniture and all of the knick knacks. I thought I would have to bring in more new items, and maybe do 50/50, some vintage, some new. But no, the reception to vintage has just been phenomenal.”

New vintage shop, doubly ‘lovely’

(Left) The 1950s color-ful jewelry selling on the counter is immedi-ately popular among the customers. (Right) shoes of all shapes and sizes decorate the store with men’s and women’s designs, there really is some-thing for everyone.

Amanda Harwood Photos

Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012 HI-LINETiger

The

NEWS2

AMJADI By Editor-in-Chief Maya

Winter break is just around the cor-ner, but the long-awaited and aspired relaxing, de-stressing nine days will not pass without long, dedicated practice from several star band members. Jan. 5 is the Northeast Iowa Bandmember’s Association (NEIBA) at Cedar Rapids Kennedy; a concert that evening will fol-low a full day of instructed rehearsal.

Band directors from schools across the area send in nominations. “Gener-ally they’ll pick the seniors that are really good, so last year I was at the bottom of the list because of all the seniors we had, but I almost made it. I made it this year. The directors [of NEIBA] choose the kids with the best nomination to be in the band so there are kids from all over,” senior Bennett Ford said. It is a huge honor to be selected, and Ford is looking forward to playing the drums in a band with the best players from all around. “I’ll be playing with kids from Kennedy, Washington, Prairie, Dubuque Senior, West, Cedar Falls and Linn Mar,” Ford said.

The band will play four songs and is directed by Dr. Robert Washut, head of jazz studies at UNI. “I’m excited to work with him. He did a clinic at the high school last year, so I know it is go-ing to be amazing,” Ford said. Ford said he looks forward to playing “Cara-

van,” a song Washut arranged. “It’s a Latin piece, his transcription of it. I look forward to playing it. It will be a chal-lenging piece for the band as well as for me,” Ford said.

Senior Luke Zahari and lead trum-

pet player for the band holds Washut in high regards as well. “He is known all over the country as one of the best jazz composers and directors, and he is di-recting our high school honor band, so it is going to be fun,” Zahari said.

Zahari is also looking forward to playing Washut’s arrangement of “Cara-

van.” “The chance to play lead on that is a big responsibility, and I don’t want to mess it up. I will definitely have to prepare my music with my band teacher and private instructor,” Zahari said.

Zahari said he knows the importance of being prepared be-cause it is his second year participating. “You have to arrive knowing your music; you can’t learn it when you get there,” Zahari said.

Chair placement has already been de-cided from the resumes of achievements and awards each director sent in. However, which players get to impro-vise during the pieces will be decided after the director hears the students play. “Improv

is different than just playing straight mu-sic. I’m not particularly good at it, but it’s fun; just play whatever you want to play,” Zahari said.

This will be senior Caleb Vander Wiel’s third year performing at NEIBA, and it will be his first year playing lead. “I am looking forward to playing re-ally challenging music with a group of

amazing musicians. Everyone there is really talented, and it is fun to get stuff together,” Vander Wiel said.

He said that the environment is not competitive. “The whole event is totally collaborative. It gives us all a chance to work together and make great music,” Vander Wiel said.

Because of his experience, Vander Wiel has some advice to future aspiring NEIBA performers at Cedar Falls High School. “Keep working hard and never stop practicing, but most of all just have fun with it,” Vander Wiel said.

These talented musicians are also excited to see some familiar faces. “You see people at these honor bands throughout the year. You get to know them,” Zahari said. Ford agreed with his classmate. “I’ve seen a lot of these kids play, but I’m excited to meet them as people and as musicians. It’s going to be really fun for me — I’m looking forward to it,” Ford said.

Other selected musicians include sophomore Michael Stow on the trom-bone and senior Ryan Ehrhardt on the trumpet. Senior Ann Fienup was select-ed as the alternate for the piano.

NEIBA selects six talented players from CFHS to play in honor band

ZAHARILead trumpet player, senior Luke

“He is known all over the country as one of the of best jazz composers and direc-tors, and he is directing our high school honor band so it will be fun.”

CF questions state marijuana changesWeed. Pot. Grass. Hash.

Maryjane. Gangster. So many names, one highly controver-sial issue for our nation: mari-juana and its legalization.

Two states — Colorado and Washington — have already legalized this drug and other states are trying their best to follow suit. However, there are many people who do not want this drug legalized for religious and health reasons.

School nurse Janet Wil-liams said it can be dangerous, especially when used by ado-lescents. “Marijuana is a hal-lucinogen, which means that people see things differently than things really are. It can be known for changing develop-ing brains, and if a brain is still growing like teenagers’, then it can completely change their brain,” Williams said.

School counselor Josh Car-nelley agreed with Williams. “If

marijuana is legalized, there will be a bunch of people in an altered state of mind, and a certain number of people will be stoned,” Carnelley said.

However, just as marijuana is known for its health prob-lems, there are some health and medical benefits that can come along with it. “There do seem to be some medical benefits for people in chronic pain,” Williams said.

The National Cancer In-stitute agrees that there are some medical benefits to us-ing marijuana. “The potential benefits of medicinal Cannabis for people living with cancer include antiemetic effects, ap-petite stimulation, pain relief and improved sleep,” the Na-tional Cancer Institute said on its website.

Cannabis is just another term for marijuana, but some people say society would

change for the worse should marijuana become legalized. “The biggest danger is that people think that if it’s legal, it doesn’t have a negative im-pact, and it minimizes the seri-ous impact that marijuana does have. People become casual with things that are legal, and they think it’s safe because it is legal,” Williams said.

Though there may be bad changes to society, there may also be some advantages to re-laxing the current restrictions. “There would be a lot less people in jail. Also, the govern-ment would tax marijuana and maybe put it up to some type of good use,” Carnelley said.

There are also some politi-cal advantages. “It reinforces constitutional rights for free-dom of choice, but there’s not a whole lot of upsides to this,” American government teacher Robert Schmidt said.

Marijuana is so controversial because there are advantages and disadvantages to it. “From a school perspective, mari-juana should not be legalized. It’s not an exactly easy subject to talk about. I mean, you have resources preventing drug us-age, selling drugs and the dis-tribution of drugs. It’s not easy to discuss,” Carnelley said.

According to some, not only is it uneasy to discuss, but it also can ruin the ties that hold our communities together. “There’s a certain thing called the fabric of society, and it can be damaged by something like this. There should be very strong restrictions and guide-lines,” Schmidt said.

Colorado and Washing-ton legalized marijuana, but what many want to know is if marijuana will become a fed-eral law. “There probably won’t be a federal law that legal-

izes marijuana. Then you have to go into the states’ rights, and that’s probably the big-gest fights states have to go through,” Schmidt said.

Some people claim that if marijuana becomes legal-ized in more states, then other drugs will as well. “There’s a possibility that it could open the door for examining other drugs, which would be a defi-nite negative. I remember dis-tinctly from high school, there was a poster contest and a stu-dent had done a poster with a door that said, ‘Pot opens the door,’” Schmidt said.

All these unanswered ques-tions will be put to the test as the new laws for marijuana are implemented around the coun-try. Washington’s new law was implemented last week.

JENSEN By Staff writer Alyssa

Colorado, Washington legalized marijuana through elections in November

Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012HI-LINETiger

The

FEATURE3Where in the world is Shel-

by Snell? Now, in her last year of high school, she is exploring the South American lifestyle staying in Argentina. Filling her time with workouts at the gym, yoga classes, the beach, knit-ting or going out with friends, Snell is completely immersed in Argentine culture.

When she first arrived, Snell had trouble understanding the fast-paced Spanish and had trouble speaking it. She has learned more than she could imagine. “I would panic and forget the words. But every-thing that you learn in Spanish class comes so much faster and makes so much more sense when you actually are forced to use it.”

New language concepts have been becoming easier and easier to Snell as she goes to school with Spanish-speak-ing students. “I´m forced to speak it since there is only one boy that speaks some sort of English,” Snell said. Commu-nication through social media gives even more opportunities for learning as Snell interacts with her peers on Facebook. However, differences in pop culture can make learning hard. “I don’t understand their humor, and a lot of the time it is hard to translate,” she said.

Adapting to Argentine cul-ture, Snell’s future looks bright as she learns from her inter-national travels. “You have to learn not to let the little things bother you and try to look at the bright side of everything.”

Being separated from ev-erything you know can be tough and can cause a sense of yearning for the tiniest things. “Your best friend, your cat, milk, peanut butter, knowing your way around town, driv-ing,” she said. “I miss driving myself a lot. But I don´t miss having a curfew,” she said.

While it can be tough, studying abroad can jumpstart personal evolution for inter-national students. “You need to force yourself to only think positively, otherwise you find yourself crying because you miss something.”

The Argentinian experi-ence is much different than the American, sporting a laid-back lifestyle. “They are so much more relaxed. Their minds don’t race around money or constantly doing something. It is completely acceptable

that I come home and sleep, because the rest of my family does, too,” Snell said.

As different as it is, Snell can find a little slice of America; a small Walmart can be found in her city. “It doesn’t have much stuff. You have to go to little boutiques for everything,” Snell said, noting the lack of chain stores. “If you are look-ing for a specific thing, you are close to screwed for finding it. Just everything is different and unique,” she said.

Argentina’s youth culture also has many different fac-tors than American culture. Snell said she thought at first that teens were being mean to each other. “They will make fun of each other and speak their mind. They call each other names, then they just laugh,” Snell said. Even if they have a straightforward manner, teens still have an open attitude and treat each other with kindness. “I don’t hear them speaking badly about each other or talk-ing about how they don’t like someone. If they don’t like them, they just don’t talk about it or they say it to that person’s face,” Snell said.

On a typical day in Argen-tina for Snell, weekdays and weekends make a difference. On a weekday, Snell wakes up at 6 a.m., gets ready for school and is out the door by 7 am. School is 7:30 to 12:30 p.m. Snell doesn’t have an actual schedule at school, leaving lots of extra time. “In the schools here, the teachers change class-es, not the students, and it isn´t the same schedule every day. A lot of the time I sleep or my friends and I just walk around school because it seems like nobody in my school does any-thing.” Because the teachers do the switching from class to class, Snell said it often creates a confusing environment since the schedule isn’t the same every day. After school, a walk with friends to the city bus stop will get her on a hour-long bus ride home. Lunch is eaten at 2 p.m., with a siesta (nap) until about 6 p.m.

On weekdays, Snell works out with a friend at Regatas, a gym an hour away from home. The bus takes her home again before dinner, eaten at 10:30. Night is a time for reconnect-ing with people from home, videochatting with family and using the Internet. Sleeping

has been quite a change for Snell. “I don´t sleep at night here well because it is much more humid than I’m used to, so I go to bed maybe around 3 a.m.,” Snell said.

Keeping a busy schedule can make it tough for Snell to find time to spend with her host family. “We are on different schedules, especially sleeping schedules, so we don’t end up talking very much,” she said. Even if they don’t see each other often, Snell and her host family have a good relation-ship. “My host mom is literally one of the best most caring women I have ever met in my life,” Snell said.

She said Argentinian par-

enting is very h a n d s - o n , as parents’ lives typi-cally revolve around their

children. A parent will keep an open wallet for the kids, giving them money whenever they need it, like for bus fares. Typically, youth do not drive or work. They are provided meals by their families and are not required to do chores. The involved parenting creates a close relationship between parents and children filled with adoration. “They respect them and appreciate what they do for them,” Snell said.

Looking at the future, any-thing seems possible. College looms above the heads of many seniors, creating anxiety, but not for Snell. Sitting on the bus the other day, she was wor-

rying about how time has flown and higher education waits in the wing for her. “I realized, I moved to Argentina alone? And I’m worried about being too young for college?”

Missing home will not be a problem for Snell in her future. “I definitely feel like homesick-ness will not be a factor I will have to worry about for college because of this trip,” she said.

Complete immersion has been tough, but Snell is still filled with amazement at the things she has learned about herself. “It is the hardest most confusing experience ever, and I don’t understand how one day I just want to come home and the next day I am convinced I am home,” Snell said. “I´m changing and becoming an Ar-gentine myself even faster.”

Student adjusting to Argentinian life

HALL By Staff Writer Martha

(Top) Senior Shelby Snell (second to left on top row) is studying abroad for her last year of high school. She attends El Colegio Nacional General San Martin for five hours during the week days. There are many things different about her school in Argentina. She has been in Argentina, living with a host family and attending school with her new friends. (Bottom) Snell explores the sights of Argen-tina, not wanting to miss out on the beautiful nature that surrounds her in this new environment.

Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012 HI-LINETiger

The

ENTERTAINMENT4MUSIC

NEWRELEASES

MOVIES

GAMES

•BRUNO MARSUnorthodox Jukebox on

Dec. 11•GREEN DAYTre! on Dec. 11•THE GAME Jesus Piece on Dec. 11 •THE WONDERREVOLUTIONFirefly on Dec. 11

ONLINEEXTRAS

•THE HOBBITon Dec. 14•SAVE THE DATEon Dec. 14•YELLING TO THE SKYon Dec. 14•STAND UP GUYSon Dec. 14•THE GIRLon Dec. 14

•THE WALKING DEAD SERIES

PS3/Xbox 360 on Dec. 11•AC III: HIDDEN SECRETSXbox 360/PS3on Dec. 11•BLACK KNIGHT

SWORDXbox 360 on Dec. 12•AMERICAN MENSA

ACADEMY Xbox 360 on Dec. 12

Cedar Falls High School hosts the newest rappers on the block. The group includes Bowd: senior Michael Bowden; Lordjord: senior Jordan Lang; Ldrizzy: senior Lindsey Davis; and Kazuhh: junior Kaz Brown. They have two songs out and are planning to make a music video ... with a green screen.

It all started when the group of rappers were on the church trip, Caravan, in New York City. They happened to pass by a man selling music, which turned out to be scam tracks, so they decided to make their own music lyrics: “Caravan led

us to each other.” The rap group has two

songs out, “Doors Closed,” and “Dueces.” Each member plays an important role in the song-making process.

“Kaz came up with part of the lyrics in New York (‘Doors Closed’). Everybody writes their own at their houses and then comes together and col-laborates at my house. [We] record and tell each other which lyrics are good, and which aren’t. Then we put it in the song,” Bowden said. Be-tween the mix of homework, sports and clubs, the group

manages to get together and spend some time recording the songs. It usually takes them a few days to record, but overall, the whole process is about five hours including all of the edit-ing required.

Though forming this group was for fun in the beginning, they’ve gotten a little more se-rious as they progress in song writing.

“Well it’s more than fun. It’s a lifestyle. We’re going to take it to the next level,” Bowden said.

They are hoping to make

a track where just Davis and Brown will be rapping, but they’re not stopping there. They’re hoping to come out with an album and make a mu-sic video, but Brown is trying to get the group to do a mixed tape.

For more information about the group, check them out on Twitter: @WeDoorsClose. There, one can find links to listen to their two songs and hopefully soon a third.

By Staff Writer Maddie

Kemp

CF rap crew spits catchy lyrics

1. Assassin's Creed IIIAssassin’s Creed III is hands

down one of the best games I’ve ever played. Its new story mode is based on the Revolu-tionary War Era. It has the same basic features as Assassin’s Creed II but with some new ways to get around. For exam-ple you can now occasionally go through windows whereas before this was not present. They have made the game so that you can easily climb al-most anything wherever you are in the game. The whole story of the game is hard for some to understand but all ties together within the storyline. Some people get confused about how the story of being in the 1700’s relates back to the modern day. For example the game starts where you are in a modern age where you are the main character, Desmond Miles, and you play through Desmond’s ancestor Haytham Kenway.

2. Hitman AbsolutionThis game has some new

features that they have added to. The graphics are very crisp and the directions on how to play are very clear. You will nev-er be questioning how to do something. This game does an excellent job of game controls although I do not think that this game is better than the Bourne games.

3. Grand Theft Auto VGTA V is based in the LA

area and is said to be the best Grand Theft Auto yet. Grand Theft Auto has been known for its capabilities of messing around instead of doing mis-sions. In this game there are more missions that are much more appealing to do. The GTA crew started making bet-ter missions in the fourth Grand Theft Auto, but now they are even better.

4. Madden 13Madden 13 is a great game.

The only reason I didn’t put it

higher on the list is that I per-sonally do not like how much the players bounce around. It is actually less realistic than Madden 09, which used to bother me a lot. Another rea-son this game is number four is because of the time it takes to make your ultimate team. It takes an unrealistic amount of time to create what is called an “ultimate team” where you build your own team with Mad-den’s coin system. Other than that, I have no complaints, and I have really enjoyed the new career system. It is relitivly easy to do good at the career mode, and now offers all play-ers to be available instead of just rookies or created players. I puts a whole new level to an already good career system. Madden games are always fun no matter the year because it is more about the player than the game, which always makes sports games fun.

5.Call of Duty:Black Ops

IIThis is a pretty good game,

but is definitely not my favorite of the series. I personally liked Call of Duty: World at War and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. I didn’t care for the original Black Ops because the graph-ics almost looked like cartoons; it made the game just have a weird feel. It seems to me that the CoD games are just being redesigned with new maps but basically the same game. For example, Modern Warfare 2 is the same game as Modern Warfare 3, the only differences are the maps, killstreaks and some of the guns. Other than that, you can tell you are just playing a newer version of an old game. But, all in all, Black Ops II is a good game, and I can’t wait to see the map packs they will release for zombies.

By Staff Writer Quinn

Stabenow

Game day

There is no better way to enjoy the winter and holidays than with some good upbeat music. Here are some great options for you this year:

Album: On This Winter’s Night

Artist: Lady Antebellum Price: $9.99 from Amazon.

comThese artists take on a new

twist in creating their third Christmas album. Their first one, A Merry Little Christmas, was released in 2010 and earned a platinum, and their newest album, On This Win-ter’s Night, is their first ever full length Christmas album that

has already reached #1 on the album chart. Combining classic songs with a few of their own originals, Lady Antebellum has created the perfect sound for this 2012 Christmas season. It was released in October of this year and can be found in stores anywhere or on Amazon.com.

Album: A Very Merry Perri Christmas

Artist: Christina PerriPrice: $5.99 from Amazon.

comYou all know her from her

famous song “Jar of Hearts,” and now she is back with some of your favorite Christ-mas songs. A Very Merry Perri

Christmas is an EP of holiday music, including the new song "Something About December" that is matched with five clas-sic songs. Already in stores, you can buy this new CD as the perfect gift or different holiday music to jam to.

Album: Christmas in the Sand

Artist: Colbie CaillatPrice: $9.99 on Amazon.

comColbie Caillat has created

her very first Christmas album this year that was released in October. She has said that she wants her first Christmas album to be one for those who don’t

celebrate a traditional kind of Christmas: “Not everyone lives in the snow or cold places for Christmas, so why don’t we write some songs for them to be able to relate to what their Christmas is like?” Caillat said. And that is exactly what she has done in Christmas in the Sand, where she has written five original songs and included 10 holiday classics. She includes Gavin DeGraw and Brad Pais-ley as guest stars on her album, creating an even better experi-ence for her fans.

By Staff Writer KarlyIzer

Artists offer new songs for seasonYOYOwith host

Richie Korneisel Learn the latest yoyo tricks

from a local ingenue

This week’s feature:HOW TO DO 1A BLINDS

Find all the weekly podcastsas well as the weekly

broadcast news show by visiting

us on the web at http://www.hiline.cfschools.org.

Staff writer shares picks for best video games

Tuesday, Dec.11, 2012HI-LINETiger

The

FEATURE5

When Hurricane Sandy shook the northeastern United States, many were reminded of the most destructive hurri-cane this nation has ever been through: Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Gulf Coast on Monday, Aug. 29, 2005 at 8 a.m. With winds up to 145 mph and a 10-30 foot storm surge crashing ashore on over 200 continuous miles of coastline, Ka-trina caused over $110 billion in dam-age. Over 1,800 were killed due to the Hurricane Katrina devastation. Homes, businesses and more were destroyed.

Marilyn Viger of Slidell, Louisiana was one of the many who lost her home to Katrina.

Before Katrina, Viger lived in Long Beach, Miss., directly one block off the beach. When she heard of the storm, she still stayed in her home unaware of how powerful it would be. “The news did not report the storm severity for the area until two days before it was due for landfall. I had my grandsons visiting me in Long Beach at the time and consid-ered staying there with them, to which my daughter, Joni, said ‘no you are not staying there’,” Viger said.

Viger quickly packed up a few be-longings and headed to Slidell where her daughter Joni Fahrenholtz lived. Having lived in Long Beach for 35 years, Viger had experienced many storm alerts, so she didn’t think much of this one. “Still unaware of the dev-astation it would bring, I just grabbed a few clothes, two pairs of shoes and my picture books my daughter had put together with pictures of John (my hus-band) and I as children and throughout our life. Then, thankfully, I drove my car to Slidell. Thank goodness for that as all my pictures still in the house were ru-ined by flood waters,” Viger said.

The drive Viger took to Slidell was 46.9 miles from her house. Once there

she took shelter in Fahrenholtz’s home. “Joni’s house was also devastated by the storm. She sustained $50,000 worth of damage and 16 trees down, including one on the house that broke a skylight in the den a few feet from people sitting on the couch. We could not leave her neighborhood till Tuesday afternoon when neighbors working together re-moved trees blocking the roads,” Viger said.

After the storm had ended, Viger and her daughters went back to Viger’s house to try and save any belongings she could. “My daughters and I went to Long Beach to check on my house, and Joni walked into and over debris to get to the house. It was eerily quiet and nothing but debris scattered over miles. Emergency crews were picking up bod-ies on my street,” Viger said.

She came back to her street of Runnels Avenue to find everything in pieces. “My entire block of houses were gone except for a concrete house and my house. A lot of the debris from those homes was literally pushed up against the back of my house since I was the last house on the block. All the homes right off the beach were destroyed entirely for about 1 1/2 blocks. My house was built tongue and groove, and I wonder if that’s why it was still standing. However, the entire inside sustained considerable damage; missing walls, furniture and a large hole in back of house (facing the beach) where my closet and bathroom were,” Viger said.

Viger’s old street and the area around it will probably never be the same after Katrina wiped out everything. “It took over a year for the infrastructure (gas,

water lines) to be repaired on my street. Temporary lines were run above ground for those who placed trailers on their property. To this day only two homes have been rebuilt on my street and only one is occupied. Almost all of the hous-es that once sat between the beach and Magnolia Ave about 1 1/2 blocks inland from the beach have still not been rebuilt probably related to high cost of homeowners/flood insurance. It cost approximately $5000/year and the length of time to repair the damage had people opting to rebuild elsewhere,” Viger said.

Chaos followed Katrina, however many stuck together to survive the af-termath of the storm. “Directly after Hurricane Katrina, neighbors banded together, shared food, resources and helped needy with repairs (church vol-unteers gutting houses for free). Our family personally helped a lone woman cut a tree off her roof that was intruding in her house and did temporary repair to the roof,” Viger said.

There were deaths all around as a result of Katrina. “My grandsons and son-in-law helped a neighbor whose brother who was killed by a tree. He and his brother went outside to check on the tree that seemed to be a prob-lem when it fell, and he was unable to outrun the tree. They wrapped his body and repaired his roof. It took two days for EMT’s to pick up the body. We drove to Baton Rouge on Tuesday late afternoon when we could finally get out of the neighborhood. We were then able to call relatives that didn’t know how we were and get a generator and supplies,” Viger said.

Katrina has changed so many lives to this day. Viger had to leave her former home of Long Beach, a place where she raised her children and called home for nearly 40 years. “I had to relocate to Slidell and live with Joni for a year because no housing was avail-able in Long Beach. Due to the uncer-tainty of when the city of Long Beach would actually be livable again and the fact most of my friends had left as well due to the loss or damage to their homes, I decided with my family to build a home in Slidell. I moved into a condo a year after the storm since there was no housing available right after Ka-trina in Slidell. I had to leave a commu-nity I had lived in for over 35 years, my friends and my church. The seven years since Katrina has left the landscape in Long Beach forever changed; barren lots, businesses not rebuilt and friends scattered,” Viger said.

Although it has been seven years since Katrina hit, the areas affected are still recovering to this day. Marilyn Viger and this country will never forget every-thing that was lost in Hurricane Katrina.

Hurricane struck close to home for student

Top: Lauren’s great aunt Marilyn’s neighbor’s house is completely destroyed by the storm. Bottom: The force of the storm was so powerful it lifted Nicker-son’s great aunt Marilyn’s refrigerator and shoved it up on her counter .

Staffwriter shares story about how family was effected by Hurricane Katrina

Writers Note: Marilyn Vi-ger is my great aunt. My mom and her siblings always loved visit-ing her house on Runnels Avenue before Hurricane Katrina tore it down. It was always their favorite place to visit. They would take a long car ride down to her house every year. Marilyn VIger and her family tried to save everything they could from her house but the saltwater destroyed almost every-thing. Marilyn Viger never ended up going back to Long Beach be-cause of many factors. She now lives in Sildell, Louisianna close to her family. Even though the house is gone, it will always be remem-bered by Marilyns kids and family. It was the house where they grew up and will always have many memories.

Nickerson By Staff Writer Lauren

Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012 HI-LINETiger

The

OPINION6Our View

DAVIS By Entertainment Editor Lindsey

The Tiger Hi-Line is a weekly publication of the journalism classes at Cedar Falls High School, 1015 Division Street, Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613. Our website is www.hiline.cfschools.org. The Hi-Line is distributed to CFHS students on Tuesdays to read during their RCTs fourth period.

Columns and letters do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Hi-Line staff or Cedar Falls Schools. The Hi-Line editorial is presented weekly in the editorial labeled Our View, and it is the view of the major-ity of the editors listed below.

Reader opinions on any topic are welcome and should be sent to The Tiger Hi-Line staff or delivered to room 208. All letters must be signed. Letters must be submitted by 3 p.m. on Thursday for publi-cation in the following Tuesday edition. Letters may not exceed 300 words and may be edited to meet space limitations. Writers should include their contact information for verification.

Editor-in-Chief: Maya AmjadiNews Editor: Katherine MayhewOpinion Editor: Maya AmjadiSports Editor: Jared HyltonFeature Editor: Sandra Omari-BoatengEntertainment Editor: Lindsey DavisHi-Line Online Editor: Martha HallStaff Writers: Ana Cunha, Amanda Harwood, Linne Hoofnagle, Karley Izer, Alyssa Jensen, Maddie Kemp, Lauren Nickerson, Quinn Stabenow, Liam Tate

Contact Us

It is with my best intentions that I come across without the slightest detection of com-plaint. Kind of tricky seeing as my purpose is to persuade you all to nix the incessant com-plaining. So as a disclaimer (because in essence I am com-plaining about complaining), if at any point you hint some sort of whining from my side, please disregard it, as I am only trying to help us both.

Complaining is annoying. Simple as that. What good for the cause does rambling on and on about the idiosyncrasies of life do? Let me answer that for you: nothing. Grumbling about how your team lost because of replacement refs does not change the outcome. Whim-pering relentlessly over your ruined Uggs won’t make your life any easier. There is noth-ing you can do to change the situation, so there is absolutely, positively no reason to gripe about it for days straight. Not only have you wasted your own time getting heated about an ultimately trite situation, you’ve also wasted other people’s pre-cious time by talking their ear off about stuff they could prob-ably care less about.

How about Twitter — the social media site created for users to have an outlet for post-ing status updates? I demand to know the fool who changed the philosophy of the website. Twitter is no longer used to let followers know where you’re at and what you’re doing; it’s a hub for complaints. “Omg my mom won’t buy me the new iP-hone.” “My friends are soooo

annoying.” “Can’t wait to get out of this stupid town full of stupid people, stupid stupid stupid.”

I’d like to inform you that h a s h i n g all your problems out on the I n t e r n e t does not i m p r o v e your situa-tion, rath-er it likely worsens it because now 300 some people know about your troubles and are feasibly ecstatic that you have them.

Now, the classic subtweet. It’s a new age thing where peo-ple practice passive aggres-siveness. Consider this. If you have an issue with someone, tell them. Indirectly asserting the problem via social media is downright cowardly. And if you just need to let off some steam, punch a pillow or something — anything other than lapsing your complications onto an-other person.

As for academics, com-plaining is ludicrous. You got a D, and this should concern you. Did you study? If yes, then I cannot say anything. Howev-er, if you decided watching TV until the wee hours of morning was a better utilization of time than studying, I am unsympa-thetic. Reasonably, your teach-ers are too. And parents. And friends. Regardless of the situa-tion, I don’t believe you reserve

the right to complain. If you studied and failed, brainstorm ways to better your study hab-

its or discuss with a teacher what the deal is. And again, if you didn’t give any ef-fort to study, how dare you complain over a bad grade. Whose fault was it? Yours and yours alone.

Am I a hypocrite? Most def-initely. I wouldn’t shut up for an entire weekend about how the shoes I wanted to buy were all sold out; sorry about that friends. I’ve let myself go on Twitter, firing tweet after tweet about something that has an-noyed me. I’ve chosen not to study, then whined about all my life failures when I received my grade. I admit that I am as guilty as anybody when it comes to pointless complain-ing.

But I’m learning. Learning how to keep my mouth shut, see the brighter side of things and, generally, how to live sim-ply. No one will ever be per-fect. We all know this thanks to Hannah Montana. But putting a situation into perspective be-fore your mouth gets the runs will make a huge impact on your life and others.

In the words of Confucius, “It is better to light one small candle than to curse the dark-ness.”

Try being thankful, quitting complaining; it’s exhausting

In November of 2008, the coldest day in the history of California occurred; Proposition 8 was passed, banning same-sex marriage in California. This spurred a fiery protest, begin-ning at the grassroots level and spreading na-tionwide to become the NOH8 campaign. The NOH8 campaign is a si-lent protest movement. People from hundreds of communities have banded together and gotten their photo tak-en for the cause, pos-ing with tape over their mouths and NOH8 writ-ten on their cheeks.

NOH8 came to Ce-dar Falls for two days, Dec. 6 and 7, to host the event at UNI.

Though many peo-ple had the impression that this event would come across as an emp-ty gesture, staff writer Linne Hoofnagle partic-ipated in the event and was amazed at its effi-ciency. “I simply went, had my photo taken, and kept the paint on my face for the rest of the day. People passing in the halls or sitting in

my classrooms asked me of its meaning, and it was a thrill to discuss LGBT issues affecting our state and nation,” Hoofnaggle said. This event really did do its job of raising aware-ness and, considering the unrest merely in our state relating to gay rights and marriage, it seemed to be healthy to its cause.

Not only was it a wonderful way to dis-cuss LGBT issues in our state with fellow com-munity members and students, it is encour-aging for individuals in our community to see such support to the cause. To have people showing their support is, in itself, a wonderful result of this event.

Cedar Falls High School students and faculty and Cedar Falls community members should keep a watch out for more LGBT rights events at UNI, as it is certain that their work isn’t done. Seeing such an event, how-ever, shows change in our town and a great outlook for the future.

NOH8 celebrates differences, we cel-ebrate its message

Senior Linne Hoofna-gle attended the NOH8 Campaign at the Univer-sity of Northern Iowa. With “NOH8” written on her cheek all day, many stu-dents and teachers initi-ated conversation with her to find out the cause. Linne finds it important to talk about LGBT issues to raise awareness. When people are comfortable talking about these topics, they gain knowledge about them. Once ignorance is lowered, acceptance will rise. She participated be-cause she thought it was worth her time; certainly a good cause.

Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012 HI-LINETiger

The

SPORTS7Athlete

Weekofthe

Senior Jacob Schwab was one of two Tiger wres-tlers to go undefeated over the weekend. Combined, Nick Hagedorn and Schwab finished the day 10-0 at the Western Dubuque Duals.

What are your goals for this season?

Place as high as possible at State in the 170 pound weight class.

What did you do to pre-pare in the off-season?

I’ve pretty much wrestled every day since State. I did a lot of club training with Wil Kelly, also a lot at Brandon Sorensen’s shed, and what I did at UNI.

What’s it like having your dad be a coach (at Waverly Shell-Rock)?

My dad gets to help me when I want. We go through film together, and we do a lot of training together.

How long have you been wrestling?

I’ve been wrestling five years, but this is the first year that I’ve really dedicated my-self to it.

TigersActionin

Men’s Basketball (2-0)Next up: Iowa City West on

Dec. 11 at 7:30 p.m. at City West Women’s Basketball

(4-2)Next up: Iowa City West on

Dec. 11 at 7:30 p.m. at homeWrestling (4-0)

Next up: CR Xavier and CR Kennedy on Dec. 13 at 5:30 p.m.

at XavierBowling (2-4)

Next up: CR Jefferson on Dec. 14 at 3:45 p.m. at Jefferson

Men’s SwimmingNext up: Waterloo West on

Dec.11 at West

WrestlingJacob Schwab

HYLTONSports Editor Jared

Tiger wrestlers improve to 4-0, seniors lead the way

The Tiger wrestling team has had an ideal start to its season.

After finishing 10th at Keith Young, Cedar Falls has turned the bus around. Their most recent victories, coming over Cedar Rapids Washington and Jefferson, have helped the Ti-gers get off to a 4-0 start.

“Getting off to such a great start as a team has been really huge for us, especially since we have such a young team. We’ve had a lot of younger guys step-ping up. It’s good that we’ve started well and have every-body’s confidence up,“ senior Jacob Schwab said.

Over the weekend, Ce-dar Falls traveled to Western Dubuque for an eight team dual. The Tigers won the con-solation bracket there. Schwab was one of two Tigers to go undefeated over the weekend. Combined, senior Nick Hage-dorn and Schwab finished the day 10-0 at the Western Dubuque Duals.

“We didn’t have our nor-mal guys wrestling at weight classes 106-120, 132, 145. We were a little shorthanded but did what we could with who we had,” Schwab said.

The Tigers next meet is a tri-angular this Thursday at Cedar Rapids Xavier against Cedar Rapids Kennedy and Xavier. The Tigers are looking to im-prove to 6-0 and keep the bus rolling in the right direction.

Swhwab said that they’re confident they can sweep Xavier and Kennedy, assuming everybody makes weight on Thursday.

“They’re definitely two beatable teams. We gotta keep piecing our team together. If we show up and do what we need to do, we should get two more wins,” Schwab said.

There is no doubt about the several benefits of play-ing sports during high school. Besides, of course, the physi-cal and social benefits, such as encouraging a healthy way of life and an expanding social network, sports contribute to building character and keeping students away from drugs and drinking. Some other long term effects, though, have become worrying, like concussions. The question is: considering the se-rious risks, is playing sports still worth it?

According to P.E. depart-ment chair and teacher Jamie Smith, sports are important during high school years be-cause it teaches students about teamwork, responsibility, dedication and self motivation. But athletes must find a way to manage their time properly by balancing sports and academ-ics, so that they can keep up

with their priorities and avoid negative effects.

Playing sports can become psychologically and physically damaging when they are taken way too seriously and people start to ignore their limits. Some athletes feel so much pressure, sometimes from their parents or from their coaches or even from themselves, that they appeal to highly ques-tionable methods to improve themselves. Examples of this include having excessive pro-tein and even doing steroids that can cause hormonal and sexual disorders, temporary infertility, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and several other physical changes. It is estimated that about 3.5 mil-lion Americans do steroids and about 3% of American teenag-ers have tried it at some point in their lives.

Another big issue is that

when an athlete does not train properly, in an attempt to build the necessary muscles, one can tear an ACL (anterior cru-ciate ligament injury) or other injuries. When this happens, it needs a certain time to heal. If the athlete doesn’t take a break, it will never actually heal, and serious problems will result in the future. “It is some of those things where kids and people around them need to be very realistic about it. You need to stop and rest so later in life you will be able to walk and do the things you want to do,” Smith said.

A lot of attention has been given to concussions, especial-ly in football. As concussions are accumulative throughout life, if not diagnosed, they can end up causing severe cogni-tive deficits. A concussion is most often caused by a sud-den, direct blow or bump to

the head, something very com-mon in contact sports.

Senior Nick Clark, who has been involved with football since the age of 6, has recov-ered from a lot of ankle in-juries. This year he broke his ankle during practice but said that football is such a big part of his life that even with all of the risks, it is still worth playing. He added that playing sports is a great way to make the body healthy and make friends.

Smith agreed. “It is all about being smart, like with anything you do in life. I played sports all of my way through high school and collage. All of the things I learned from it I use now in my life. I think I wouldn’t be where I am at today if I didn’t have those experiences when I was younger.”

CUNHAStaff Writer Ana

Cedar Falls’ Nick Hagedorn works to get behind his opponent at Keith Young on Dec. 1 at CFHS.

Can playing high school sports have negative effects?

Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012 HI-LINETiger

The

CAPTURED8MERRY

MakingClockwise starting at right, Dillon Ruiz admires his gift, resource teacher Tammy Frahm and Elissa Radke, Hunter Aldridge and Megan Hermanson work on decorating their cookies and senior Chandal Geerdes is all smiles about her new shirt.

Clockwise starting at left, Kenneth Osborne walks his llama across his desk, Megan Hermanson unwraps her new mug and Tanner Stewart reacts to his prsent. Finally, Rosa Harris holds up her new wrestling T-shirt. All students had their party last week in Frahm’s room after school.

All Photos Madilin Neibert