OPINIONS B1NEWS A2 SOAPBOX A7 LA ESQUINA LATINA E1ENTERTAINMENT D1 SPORTS F1CHIPS CLIPS D5FEATURES C1

A public forum for student expression since 1937

VOL 75 NO 3

Montgomery Blair High SchoolSILVER SPRING, MARYLAND

silverchips DREAM Act C2December 20, 2012

Football coaches fi redThe varsity and JV football

coaches were fi red on in November by Athletic director Rita Boule, who is now in the process of selecting the new head coaches.

Boule said the fi ring was a result of the team failing to meet the ex-pectations the athletic department held. “We’ve decided to go in a different direction with the football program,” she said. “We hope that by bringing in a new coach, it will breathe a new life and energy [to the program].”

Boule said a meeting was held on Dec. 3 to reveal the decision to all incumbent football players. Varsity Coach Jeff Seals told the players before Thanksgiving that he was getting fi red, but Boule held the meeting to formally explain the situation. “I talked to them about what was happening and why,” she said, “that we had a lot of applicants already and that we were going to make sure that we picked the best coach available.”

Boule’s said she feels the play-ers did not take the message well. “They’re very loyal to the coaching see COACHES page A4

By Michelle Chavez

SAD brings gloom to the winter season

Where only fi rst names appear, names have been changed to protect the identities of sources.

It is that time of year again when campy renditions of “Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer” blare from car speakers and holiday orna-ments litter front lawns. Children fl ip their pajamas inside out and tuck spoons under their pillows, willing to do anything to conjure up a snow day. The last tint of col-orful life fades from the trees and frost coats the now shriveled grass. For most Blazers, the holiday sea-

By Langston Cotmanand Cindy Monge

see SAD page C1

son is a time for merriment and celebration. But for Blazers with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), depression sets in like a frost and dampens the holiday spirit. SAD is a form of depression that occurs during the winter months when days are shorter and it be-comes increasingly dark outside. According to the Cleveland Clinic Foundation 1 percent of Florida residents, 4 percent of Washing-ton, D.C. residents, and nearly 10 percent of Alaska residents suffer from seasonal depression. This also affects many students coming to Blair. Whose symptoms of depres-sion and anxiety interrupt every aspect of their daily lives. The fact

that students with winter depression are part of a low percentage of people that are affected by this disorder can make other people un-derestimate the symptoms winter depression causes. With that in mind Blazers fi nd themselves shut into their own world. A Licensed Clinical Professional Coun-selor (LCPC) John Dende, says that the vulnerability for teens to have any kind of depression is very high. “Before puberty, boys and girls are equally likely to

see LUNCH page A3

Local restaurants support closed lunch

Last week, restaurants and shops near Blair, Northwood and Eastern Middle School established that they will no longer serve stu-dents during school hours if they do not have an abbreviated sched-ule ID. Blair’s security team placed fl yers in the windows of restau-rants, which include Santucci’s Deli, Starbucks and McDonalds. Principal Renay Johnson and Head of Security Kathleen Greene created the proposal, which they believe has so far proven to be a success. Before the fl yers were in place, 52 freshmen were caught at

the Woodmoor Shopping Center during school hours in a week, and after they were placed, only two freshmen were caught the follow-ing week. Before the policy came into effect, Greene visited many of the establishments in Woodmoor to gain their support for the safety campaign. Johnson said that while the re-form has reduced the number of offenders, students have found a number of ways to get around the fl yers. The manager of Santucci’s Deli, Kevin Sharpe, said that many students call in to order their food and then go to the restaurant to pick it up. “I can’t sit there and

In the holiday spirit

By Dillon Sebastian

staff. I don’t think they understand why it happened,” she said.

Sophomore Ruben De’Leon said the coaches were not the problem. “Some of the stuff they did [at prac-tice] I didn’t understand. But at the games, I understood. It’s like they knew what we needed, and they performed well as coaches,” he said. “On some games, we made mistakes, but it wasn’t the coaches’ faults.”

Junior Alec Fields said varsity coaching lacked professionalism, however. “A lot of the time, we would be on ‘joke time’ and too many times we’d be laughing and joking around, not only between the players, but also with the coaches,” he said. Fields did not see the same situation with the JV team. “With junior varsity, there was a lot more discipline,” he said.

Still, the fi ring came abruptly, said Fields. He said that the football meeting did not reveal that there was effective communication be-tween Boule and the fi red coaches prior to the season, or even during the season, pertaining to their ex-

Video Americain closesBy Emma Rose Borzekowski

Video Americain, an indepen-dent movie store in Takoma Park, stopped rentals on Nov. 11 and will close its doors in late January. The store will be selling its stock of about 15,000 VHSs and 16,000 DVDs until its closing. Its co-owner, Barry Solan, credited online movie rentals and stores like Netfl ix and Amazon with the store’s demise. “We’ve been in business about 7 years and had a great run but fi nally the technol-ogy is in place to destroy the video store,” Solan said. At the height of their career, Solan, with his co-owner and wife Annie, owned six different stores along the Atlantic seaboard, lo-cated from Newark, Delaware, his

home town, to Norfolk, Virginia, but after the Takoma Park location closes, the couple will have only one store left in Baltimore. The Takoma Park store was known for its large inventory, stocking everything from cult clas-sics to obscure French fi lms. “Our differentiation was from brick and mortar stores. We had everything and took our role as a fi lm archive very seriously,” Solan said. One of the store’s unique qualities was its system of organization, which ar-ranged the movies by country and director, differing from the typical alphabetical system most stores employ. “The key is the directors. It helps to have a little bit of fi lm knowledge to work through our stacks,” Solan said.

deny them their food after I’ve pre-pared it,” he admitted. While this new policy seems to serve as a punishment to the local businesses, many of the Four Cor-ners eateries have expressed en-thusiasm for the reform. A group of adults at Starbucks who over-heard Greene propose the plan to the employees stood and clapped for the idea. Sharpe shares the en-thusiasm of the Starbucks crowd. As a Blair alumnus, Sharpe understands the joys of an open lunch but he sees both sides to the issue. Sharpe said, “I don’t feel as

LIGHTS Garden of Lights, the light display at Brookside Gardens, has everything from revamped disk lights to animal sculptures. The outdoor light show is open to the public through Jan 6.

CLOSED After seven years of successful business, the Takoma Park video rental store will officially close its doors late next month.

New lunch policy discourages leaving campus

Winner of the 2012 National Pacemaker Award

ELLIE MUSGRAVE

MELANIE SIM

see VIDEO page A4

Blair is not currently participat-ing in OrchLab. The three high schools that are part of the pilot are Wheaton, Einstein and Spring-brook. Blair’s music teachers Mi-chelle Roberts and Stevens had limited knowledge about the pro-gram, but were aware of the BSO’s reputation for community out-reach. “All I know about the BSO is that they do a lot of side-by-side things, partnering with student performers,” said Stevens.

Participants of OrchLab were decided on a need basis, and the BSO is working with mostly Title 1 schools with Free and Reduced Meal (FARM) programs. “We wanted to close the gap the school system can leave between stu-dents that are less able to afford

musical instructions and students who can,” said Spero.

The BSO has long been inter-ested in working with Montgom-ery County. “This is our second home,” Spero said. He expects the program to grow and expand in coming years. “Its gotten a won-derful response and we expect the thing to catch on. I would expect that next year we have a 50 per-cent more schools in the program. There is a lot of enthusiasm for it,” he said.

Starr gives county addressporting our people,” he said, and by investing in employees.

“We are the opportunity for our children,” Starr emphasized, introducing the speech’s ongo-ing theme, which focused on the importance of working together to build the students’ future. Af-ter thanking all MCPS employees and studentsfor their work, Starr proceeded to share a story about his visit with a Gaithersburg High School student, David Hayes, who started off high school at a below-grade level status, but with the help of MCPS’s helpful employees, is now a successful student. Starr emphasized his hope that the fac-ulty will work to create an environ-ment where students obtain twen-ty-fi rst century skills. “We need to teach them to be innovative think-ers, good communicators and cre-ative problem solvers,” said Starr. Starr noted that with the retraction

MCPS Superintendent Joshua Starr delivered his fi rst State of the Schools address to colleagues and students on Nov. 12 at the Strath-more Music Center. Starr shared his proposals for the future while stressing student achievements and MCPS successes.

Starr said one of the most press-ing problems in the education system is the achievement gap, as demonstrated by MCPS con-sistently lower test scores among black and Hispanic students com-pared to their white and Asian counterparts.

Starr attributes this gap to the annual defi cit in the economy. “The debt we owe our children and our families has grown be-cause of unfair immigration poli-cies and tracking practices,” said Starr. The best way to reduce that debt is “by developing and sup-

silverchips December 20, 2012 A2 News

NewsSPORTS Ski club

By Dillon Sebastian

The Baltimore Symphony Or-chestra (BSO) and MCPS launched OrchLab, a music-in-schools pro-gram, in 23 Down County consor-tium schools at the start of the 2012-2013 school year.

OrchLab has four major com-ponents, according to the BSO Community Liaison, Richard Spe-ro. The program will bring BSO musicians into elementary school classrooms to present to the stu-dents, as part of an outgrowth of an existing BSO program, BSO-on-the-Go. “Students have a chance to not only to listen to music but talk to the musicians,” said Spero.

On the middle and high school level, the musicians from the BSO will act more as mentors and visit students in musical education about three times a year. They will work with music teachers, ensembles, and po-tentially even one on one with students to develop their musi-cal talent and inter-est. “Its fairly fl exible because each school doesn’t have to do the same thing,” said Spero.

Middle and high school students will also receive free tickets to see the BSO perform at Strathmore. “They’ll actually be able to see musicians in action, see their mentors perform, and maybe even go back stage for a meet and greet,” Spero said.

The fourth element of OrchLab is focused on musical instructors and teacher training. The BSO will be hosting a professional de-velopment day. They will instruct a student ensemble to demon-strate educational methods to an assembly of teachers.

Blair launches orchlab

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FEATURES Dipp’d

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of No Child Left Behind, MCPS is now able to take advantage of a more open curriculum to encour-age hands-on learning. Among the fi xes, Starr mentioned MCPS high-ranking and well-known students and faculty. “Our outstanding staff was the fi rst thing I noticed when I came to Montgomery County Public Schools in July 2011,” said Starr.

Starr believes the staff is re-sponsible for creating the equally outstanding students who have achieved national recognition for high AP participation and gradu-ation rates, particularly among African American students. Starr noted that MCPS students also excel in national and regional competitions and last year earned more than $240 million in college scholarships.

Proud of MCPS success and de-termination to accomplish more,

Starr ex-pressed that he is thrilled to intro-duce new projects at a number of schools. The county will begin work-ing with W h e a t o n High School to create a project-based learn-ing environ-ment to teach m o d e r n skills.Thom-as Edison High School of Technol-ogy will also host a fi nan-cial literacy p r o g r a m for middle school stu-dents.

BSO and MBHS partner to start music programBy Emma Rose Borzekowski

COURTESY OF BSOMUSIC.ORG

ORCHESTRA BSO and select MCPS schools are participating in a music education pilot program.

COURTESY OF GAZETTE

STARR Superintendent Joshua Starr delivered his first state of the schools address on Nov. 12 at Strathmore, where he thanked the current staff for their work and outlined plans for MCPS’s future.

MCPS superintendent, Joshua Starr released his budget recom-mendation for Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 last Tuesday, Dec. 11. Starr recommended a 2.2 billion dollar budget, which is a 2.3 percent in-crease from last year.

The recommendation is 0.4 per-cent ($10 million) above the mini-mum funding increase required by the state of Maryland’s Mainte-nance of Effort (MOE) law. In total the proposal would increase the budget by $48.9 million.

According to a video posted on the MCPS website, Starr aims to create a responsible budget that meets the present needs of stu-dents while also considering the county’s future growth and rela-tionships with different commu-nity groups. “I create my budget recommendation in partnership with our employees and our par-ents. They have tremendous in-sight into what our students need for success,” Starr said.

Starr worked with a variety of groups to gather input on his budget recommendation includ-ing unions that represent MCPS employees—MCEA, MCAAP and SEIU-Local 500—and the Mont-gomery County Council of Parent Teacher Associations (MCCPTA). He also took into consideration the Board of Education’s bud-get interests and input from the community gathered through a new program called “Neighbor to Neighbor.”

His budget concentrated on three key areas: managing dis-trict’s continued growth, re-energizing of efforts to narrow achievement gaps and investing in the future. The recommenda-tion also includes provisions to restore some of the 1,300 positions

from LUNCH page A1

Policy combats open lunch

While this new policy seems to serve as a punishment to the local businesses, many of the Four Cor-ners eateries have expressed en-thusiasm for the reform. A group of adults at Starbucks who overheard Greene propose the plan to the em-ployees stood and clapped for the idea. Sharpe shares the enthusiasm of the Starbucks crowd. As a Blair alumnus, Sharpe understands the joys of an open lunch but he sees both sides to the issue. Sharpe said, “I don’t feel as if our business is be-ing punished. But the real problem is the location of the school.” How-ever, Sharpe does not completely understand why something is not done on the Blair end of the deal. “The problem should be solved on [the school’s] property,” he said. Sharpe suggests that the school should pay peo-ple to stand on the corners and turn back the eat-ers. Johnson has a different outlook. “I look forward to doing positive things with the businesses and ex-tending the part-nership with the stores,” she said.

On Oct 31, in G e r m a n t o w n , a student from Seneca Valley High School was killed by a car while crossing the street. To prevent an incident like this happening at Blair, Johnson has made the safety of the students at Blair the num-ber one concern.

“I never want to have to make a call saying that your child got hit by a car,” Johnson said. Rush-ing back and forth from school to Woodmoor is not encouraged. But Johnson believes if it weren’t for the heavy, congested traffi c on University Boulevard. and Coles-ville Road, Blair and neighboring schools would be able to have open lunch. Currently, one of the only solutions to decreasing the risk of an accident is to strictly enforce a closed lunch policy.

In the meantime, Johnson said she hopes that the new fl yers will encourage students to stay in the building during lunch. By explain-ing the dangers of crossing busy roads she wants to get her students to ask themselves: “Is a cheese-burger really worth your life?”

Same-sex weddings to begin January 1

Same-sex weddings will offi -cially be able to begin in Mary-land on Jan. 1 Lawyers for the state had previously said that Jan. 4 would be the fi rst day same-sex couples could have a marriage ceremony, due to the fact that Jan. 1 is a holiday, and there is a mandatory two-day wait before the marriage license takes effect. Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler ruled on November 29, however, that couples could get a marriage license as soon as Governor Martin O’Malley formally rati-fi es the law upheld by Maryland voters in last month’s election, which he did soon after, on Dec. 6. According to Wbaltv.com, the marriage licenses will not actu-ally go into effect until Jan. 1. Mary Washington, a Baltimore representative for the Maryland House of Delegates said that many couples wanted to get married on Jan. 1 because they felt it was symbolic.

Montgomery County was

awarded a $350,000 grant by Maryland’s Department of Housing & Community Devel-opment to help with the redevel-opment of Wheaton. The grant is an award from Maryland’s Community Legacy program, which gives money to counties around the state in order to fund revitalization projects. One of the main issues the program is focused on, according to Mary-land’s Secretary of Housing & Community Development, Raymond Skinner, is improv-ing the outside appearance of buildings that have fallen into disrepair. Under the Wheaton plan, businesses will come up with their own plans to improve the look of their buildings, and the county will choose which of these plans to fund. Some of the money will also be put to-wards adding solar-powered trash and recyclable compactors in Wheaton. Under the current plan, 25 percent of the compac-tors in the area will be replaced with solar-powered ones.

Montgomery County Super-intendent Joshua P. Starr re-leased his budget proposal for the 2014 fi scal year on December 11. This budget requests $2.22 billion, which would be a 2.3 percent increase from the previ-ous year. Under Maryland Law, each county is required to pay at least the same amount per stu-dent every year, but while Mont-gomery County Public Schools expects to add 2,260 students, Starr’s request is $10 million above the necessary benchmark that this law would require. County Council president Nan-cy Navarro of Silver Spring said that the council is worried that alotting this much money to the school system would put stress on other agencies. Some of the things Starr intends to do with the extra money are add 30 “focus” teachers for middle schools with the most need, add 10 elementary math teachers, and increase funding for Cur-riculum 2.0, the new curriculum Montgomery County is putting in place.

Newsbriefs

Superintendent Releases 2014 Budget

Montgomery County Re-ceives Grant for Wheaton

Construction

December 20, 2012 News A3silverchips

Athletic department seeks new football coaches

ZEKE WAPNER

PLAY BALL This years’ coaches will be replaced for the 2012 season.

Newsbriefs compiled by Issac Jiffar

that were cut as a result of the eco-nomic recession of recent years.

Most of the allotted increase—over 82 percent—will go toward the management and growth cate-gory. Because of the rapid increase in student growth including11,000 additional students in the past fi ve years, the 33.2% of students who receive free- and reduced-priced meal (FARMs) and the nearly 20,000 students that receive Eng-lish for speakers of other languages (ESOL) services, Starr has included $21.2 million to address enrollment changes. If the recommendation is approved, the county will create 250 new positions to serve these students.

The recommended budget also includes provisions for closing the achievement gap specifi cally through hiring 30 new teachers to help struggling middle school stu-dents, hiring 10 elementary school teachers to help students with ad-vanced mathematics education and creating a $94,000 summer program to inspire students to go to college.

To address the third main goal of the budget recommendation—investing in the future— Starr has proposed hiring additional substi-tute teachers which would create time for MCPS teachers to partici-pate in professional development activities, He also recommends adding four new consulting teach-ers to work with educators.

The total breakdown of the $48.9 million recommended budget in-crease allots $21.3 million for en-rollment growth, $11.8 million for benefi ts and other changes, $8.7 million for enhancements and res-torations, and $7.1 million for con-tinuing salaries. Still the FY2014 budget is only in its preliminary stages and there is currently un-certainty about the state funding level.

pected coaching perfor-mance prior to the season, or even during the season.

Boule did not directly state that she made an agreement with the coaches at the beginning of the season that would determine their job status, but she did say that they were aware of expectations. “I speak to all of the coaches about what I need from them,” she said.

Boule said the fi rings were not about the team’s record. “The fact that we went 2-8 was not the determining factor of whether [Seals] would return or not. It was a combination of things,” she said.

Fields said he still thinks it was important to let the players know but under-stands why even his coach may have refrained from informing the team through-out the season. “If there was some sort of deal and they’re not telling us, it would only be to save our feelings because they wouldn’t want us to think that we fi red them,” he said.

Boule said she does not intend to disclose any more informa-tion than she has during the foot-ball meeting. “I

don’t discuss coaching matters with players. I never have, I never will,” she said. She said that she does invite athletes to have conversations, however.

Boule said a panel of six or seven people including Principal Johnson, a football player, a foot-ball player’s parent and herself will evaluate the potential coach-es before making a fi nal decision. De’Leon said he last heard that approximately 15 coaches were applying. Boule said many of the coaches have experience coach-ing either within or outside of the county, and Principal Jonson will ultimately make the fi nal decision. Blair’s former assistant coaches are invited to reapply for their positions, Boule said.

from COACHES page A1

Boule reviews potential replacementsCounty suggests budget By Kaitlen Montgomery

ZEKE WAPNER

ZEKE WAPNER

After approximately two weeks of school wide problems with the computer network, the county staff was able to diagnose the problem and restore it back to working condition. The errors were initially diffi cult to diagnose and caused a host of issues for staff and students including fre-quent freezing, slow processing, and missing fi les.

According to IT Systems Spe-cialist, Peter Hammond, the prob-lem resided in the main data drive

of the servers, specifically the part that holds the h-drives or personal documents. Hammond d e s c r i b e d the issue as a confu-sion with the server r e g a r d -ing how to open fi les. It would pause when it tried to fi nd them, which in turn slowed down the system.

E v e n -tually, the server ex-perts were called in

Newsbriefs

Video Americain closesHis employee, Fei Hou, found

the collection of movies and the way that they were organized to be brilliant. He fi rst came to the store as a customer in 2010 and loved it so much that he got a job at Video Americain a year later. He credits the store’s success to the warm and friendly atmo-sphere created by the knowledge-able staff and loyal customers. “I didn’t believe there could be a place like that,” said Hou. “You can ask stuff and the staff will know it.”

Solan said the thing he will miss most when Video Ameri-cain closes is the commu-nity. He has enjoyed work-ing in Takoma Park, despite the long com-mute from Newark. “I love the Old Town con-cept and the sophisticated adults we get coming in. I’ve loved watch-ing kids grow up here,” he said.

He is thankful to his landlord for letting him stay in the space so long, and for re-cently reduc-

ing the rent to a third of its original rate. “We stayed about three years longer than we should have,” he said.

Solan said he is also thankful to his staff, which through the years included many Blazers. “I wanted Blair students because I realized they were much smarter than I was. I’ve depended on them, their enthusiasm, their knowledge and their energy,” he said.

Fei said he is also going to miss his time at Video Americain. “Its not just taking home movies, it’s taking home a part of the Takoma Park community,” he said.

December 20, 2012 A4 News silverchips

Superintendent Joshua Starr and the Montgomery County Board of Education have re-quested that the County Coun-cil add $14.2 million to its $1.35 billion capital projects plan. The majority of the money request-ed would go towards replacing heating, ventilation and air con-ditioning (HVAC) systems in schools, according to the school board. By increasing the fund for repairs and upgrades to $18 mil-lion, the additional funds would enable the county to engage in another six HVAC projects by 2018, making for a total of eleven such projects. Fixing the heating and cooling systems in schools is one of parents’, students’ and teachers’ top concerns, accord-ing to Board President Shirley Brandman. $2.5 million of the requested funds would be used to fi x and replace building parts such as fi re alarms, public ad-dress systems, water and sewer systems, fl oors, ceilings and windows.

The Maryland National Park and Planning Commission bought the old site of the Mary-land College of Art and Design from the Montgomery College Foundation with plans to turn it into a community park. The 2.47 acres of land, located between Wheaton and Forest Glen off Georgia Avenue, was sold for $1.1 million and will become the Carroll Knolls Local Park. The commission has requested that the underdeveloped road rights-of-way be offi cially abandoned to add another acre to the park. To prepare the site for the park, a building will have to be torn down, asphalt pulled up and grass planted. Afterward, a tem-porary park will be set up while the commission works with the local community to draft plans for the fi nal one. According to a commission release, the fi nal park could include play equip-ment, a sports fi eld and sitting and picnic areas.

The Montgomery County Board of Education (BOE) stat-ed that it opposes a new bill that would change both the BOE’s numbers and the way BOE members are elected. The bill, proposed on Nov. 11 to the General Assembly, would add two at-large members to the school board and change the election process so that instead of being elected by the entire county, board members would be elected by the specifi c dis-tricts they represent. Maryland State law requires that counties with over 100,000 students must have at least nine members on the board of education. Mont-gomery County is exempt from that rule, but the two additional members would raise the BOE’s numbers from eight (one stu-dent member) to ten. Opponents of the electoral changes stress that they could limit members’ focus from countywide issues to representing only their districts’ interests.

School Board opposes changes

New park created

School Board requests additional

funding

Newsbriefs compiled by Emma Rose Borzekowski

MIMI SIM

CLOSING The Video Americain store will leave its Takoma Park location this coming January.

from VIDEO page A1

Capital bikeshare system comes to county By Isaac Jiffar

Montgomery County now has plans to join Capital Bikeshare, the municipal bike-sharing pro-gram currently operating in D.C., Arlington, and Alexandria by 2013.

With over 175 Capital Bike-share stations currently set up in the DC area, the purpose is to rent bikes for local transportation, as a rider can rent a bike from one sta-tion and return it at a station near his destination.

Capital Bikeshare offers one day, three day, monthly and an-nual memberships, with rates ranging from $7 for a 24-hour membership to $75 for a one year membership. Then, each time a customer rents a bike, the fi rst half hour is free but they are charged for each half-hour interval after that. The charge depends on their membership plan.

According to greatergreater-washington.com, the Washing-ton Area Bicyclist Association and MoBike recommended that 20 miles of bike paths be built in the DC Area. The new pathes are intended to make roads safer for bikers before the Capital Bike-share expands to Montgomery Count.

Currently, there are not many bike lanes throughout the county. Many of the proposed bike lanes are in the Silver Spring and Ta-koma Park area.

The Capital Bikeshare program has grown substantially since its creation in 2010. “It’s basically doubled in size,” said Chris Eat-ough, a program manager for BikeArlington.

According to Eatough, there are about two million trips taken every year through Capital Bike-share. Jim Sebastian, Transporta-tion Planner for the District De-

partment of Transportation, notes that these rides are of-ten very short, usually only a few miles and comparable to Metro travel. “It’s not going on an all-day bike ride; it’s to get from point A to Point B. It’s transit,” Sebastian said.

Sebastian is quick to differ-entiate bike-sharing from bike renting. “There are private bike rental companies in D.C.,” he said, “but not bike-sharing with the stations.” The moti-vation for having stations is to prevent a person from having to return the bike to the same place they got it from. This means that people can use bikes for one-way commutes. This convenience allows for a lot more freedom than Bike rental companies which re-quire all bikes to be returned to one central location.

Eatough is very pleased with how Capital Bikeshare has been operating so far. “I think by all measurements it’s been very successful,” he said.

Sebastian believes that cus-tomers are very satisfi ed with the service. “Some people say it’s even changed their lives,” he said.

Sebastian explained that the idea of creating a bike-sharing program fi rst surfaced in the early 2000s and was based on existing programs in Europe. While there were other bike-sharing programs in the Unit-ed States, Sebastian notes that they were all very low-tech operations, and bikes would often get stolen “Then in Eu-rope, around 2003 or 2004, Eu-ropeans started experiment-ing with more high-tech ones where you have stations,” Se-bastian said.

Local program expected to open for membership in 2013

from the county and they were able to diagnose and solve the problem. Fortunately, Ham-mond said that there were no is-sues with the security of people’s documents. “There was no com-promised data as far as we know,” he said.

Throughout the diffi culties, students and teachers were ag-gravated. Social Studies teacher, Todd Stephens, explained that the problems interfered with teaching in the classroom. For teachers that planned a lesson that included a warm-up or activities on the Pro-methean board, the entire lesson plan was delayed.

Even for teachers who do not incorporate technology in their lesson plans, the slow network caused problems taking atten-dance. “It’s been taking a long time to do attendance and grades. I’m glad they got it solved,” said Stephens.

Although the computers were frustrating, Stephens noted that Hammond did a good job of working with teachers regarding the issues. “He was always ask-ing what was going on, giving feedback, and keeping people in-formed,” he said.

Students also felt the effects of the slowed computer systems when it came to turning in as-signments on time. Senior Elena Polozova realized that since she couldn’t rely on the computers at school, she had to be more aware of her time management and planning. “I had to actually print things at home instead of using the school printers,” she said.

Computer problems fi xed

By Katelin Montgomery

County experts repaired server

BIKES Capital Bikeshare has already opened hundreds of sta-tions around the D.C. Metro area. Stations within the county will be opened next year.

LEILA BARTHOLET

December 20, 2012 Photo Essay A5 silverchips

SLIGO CREEK A walk along the creek makes for a great winter afternoon.

What to do...before the end of the world

LIGHTS “Garden of lights” at Brook-side gardens is open through Jan. 6.

FESTIVAL DC’s winter festival includes a vari-ety of shopping, food and late night fun.

ZEKE WAPNER

ELLIE MUSGRAVE

LEAH HAMMOND

ELLIE MUSGRAVEEVA CHEN

TATYANA GUBIN

MAG

GIE

MC

CLA

IN

CELEBRATE Blair’s international night participants counted down to the holi-days with a cross-cultural performance.

ZEKE WAPNER

TATYANA GUBIN

December 15, 2012A5 ADs silverchips

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December 20, 2012 SOAPBOX A7 silverchips

What is your favorite local restaurant?

Should MCPS close school for certain Muslim holidays?

When is the right time in a relationship to make it RIÀ�FLDO�RQ�)DFHERRN?

Do you think the policy of placing fliers on the doors of local restaurants in order to stop stu-dents from leaving campus during lunch is a good idea?

Chips Pics:

“My favorite local restaurant is Sergio’s. I have been going there my whole life and it is delicious.” -freshman Matty Kessler

“My favorite local restaurant is The Corner Pub. My god sister and I always go there to celebrate birthdays, graduations, etc. We love eating the cheesy-curly fries!” -freshman Annie Lee

“Fractured Prune! Those doughnuts are so good! It blows my mind.” -junior Bryan Roa

“Yes, because they close schools during Jewish and Christian holidays. I think every religion should be treated equally.” -sophomore Jenny Chen

“It is an issue of fairness. If Muslims get a holiday, then all religions should get days off for their holidays. But there are too many religions to satisfy this, so no religion should have days off and should be all excused.”-senior Samir Durvasula

“There is a sizeable Muslim student community and [Islam] is a major religion. No reason why not to.” -junior Mattan Berner-Kadish @MatBerKad

Would you ever get a psychic reading?

“My mom actually gives Tarot card readings and she can read palms. It’s pretty ac-curate when she gives them. It’s kinda cool.” - senior Hanan Guzman

“No, they are absolute rubbish, and a way to make you spend money for nothing.” - freshman Mary Yilma

“After a few months, because you never know if the relationship will last if \RX�SXW�LW�RQ�)DFHERRN�RQ�WKH�¿�UVW�GD\�´�-junior Tatiana Sindass

“When you’ve been in a relationship for quite a long time.” -sophomore Jirah Querubin

“I can see why it’s a good idea in the eyes of Blair, but it’s not going to do much. Once you start a habit, it’s hard to stop.” -junior Evany Martinez

“No; money is money and small businesses should be more concerned with making money than whether or not teenagers are coming in.” -senior Allison Goodman

Chips Index:

There are six holidays in Islam

There is one day left until the “end of the world”

69 percent of Blazers would not change their relationship status on Face-book

About 8.5 million people lost power due to Superstorm Sandy

Four Blair wrestlers have lost weight for the sport this season

A Dipp’d shirt costs $20

Around 35 million people update their Facebook status every day

On average, it takes 90 minutes to decorate a Christmas tree

Chips Index complied by Sabrina Bradford with assistance from Dylan Ahunhod-jaev, Abel Chanyalew, Alexis Redford Maung-Maung, Blue Keleher, Harini Salgado, Megan Aranas, Elizabeth Pham, Alani Fuji, Aditi Subramaniam, and Sam Popper

see page B1

see page C4

see page A1

see page D2

see page B3

LEAH HAMMOND

#noopenlunchZEKE WAPNER

#localeats �IERI¿�FLDOZEKE WAPNER

come from breaks. Now that the student Muslim population is in-creasing, it is necessary to review whether or not all those days off from breaks are really necessary. Just shaving one day off both winter and summer break could satisfy all parties. MCPS adminis-trators don’t have to worry about adding extra days off to the school calendar, students still get the same 26 days off within the school year, and some are able to use those days off for more than putting off summer homework for one more day. If the county truly believes that taking a day off of summer break isn’t possible, sure-ly adding to an already long list of school days off will not cause the school system to crumble.

Montgomery County, like Blair, prides itself on having one of the most diverse student bodies in the entire country. This allows for cultural interactions and exchang-es of different viewpoints that are aren’t available in other parts of the country. If the county wants to continue to take pride in its diversity, it needs to treat its stu-dents fairly. To not give Muslim students the same freedoms that MCPS students of other religions have long enjoyed isn’t only un-fair, it’s discrimination. The single BOE member who voted for the change says he worries not only about the decision itself, but also about “the message it will send to Muslim students and parents.”

The ruling not only sends a bad message to Muslim families, but also forces students to decide on what is more important to them:

What does a polar bear have in common with a climate change denier?

In recent years they’ve both been treading on increasingly thin ice.

Evidence for climate change has only been getting stronger and stronger as more studies come out annually, and Hurricane Sandy is just the latest phenomena to prompt us to take another look at it. It took fl oods nearly fourteen feet high in the largest city in the United States and a death toll of over one hundred people accord-ing to CNN, but it seems climate change has reentered the conver-sation.

According to the New York Times, articles about climate change dropped 41 percent between 2009 and 2011. Unfortu-nately, it is just not the hot-button issue it once was. A quick glance at any of the major news outlets in the days after the storm suggest that the fl ood gates have been re-opened—pun intended— at least for now, as writers at the Washing-ton Post, the New York Times, and the LA Times drew connections between Hurricane Sandy and climate change.

There is no way to know whether or not this focus on global warming will last, but even if climate change fades out of people’s minds, the process is just going to keep chugging along until we are forced to pay atten-tion. We either deal with it now, or pay the price later.

Dr. Konstantin Vinnikov, a

fl ooding is only exacerbated by rising sea levels. According to Jim Carton, a professor of Oceanog-raphy at University of Maryland, sea levels have been steadily rising for a long time and will con-tinue to rise into the future. This can be seen in Battery Park, New York, one of the areas hardest hit by Sandy. “Since 1900, sea level at the battery gauge has risen by about 40cm,” says Carton.

If sea levels continue to rise like this, then America’s cities are in trouble. When Hurricane Sandy came, the New York subway sys-tem was completely fl ooded. The city got it running again in a few

days, not because it was easy; not because it

was cheap, but because it had to.

Because there were eight million

New Yorkers waiting.

Andrew Cuomo,

governor of New York, said himself that New York could not handle the bill

alone. He requested

Its time to diversify our commitment to holidaysBy Kyle DesiderioAn opinion

It’s the same every day. Sitting bored in a classroom waiting for the bell to ring to bring you one day closer to that coveted day off. But for many Blazers, days off can hold more than just a few extra hours to sleep in. A break from school for some students means waking up early to practice their religion without the worry of missing important class work or tests. Muslim students, who make up approximately fi ve percent of the MCPS school system, have no such privilege.

On November 13, the County council voted on a proposal to add two Muslim holidays, Eid-al-Fitr and Eid-al-Adha, to the 2013-2014 MCPS schedule, a decision which would add an extra two days off in the school year for students and staff. The Board of Education voted nearly unanimously against the proposed schedule change with one lone vote from Michael Durso in favor of the change. The BOE asserted that in order for a holiday to warrant a day off, there has to be a clear increase in student and staff absences.

Maryland state law mandates only four days each year where school releases for religious pur-poses. Additionally, MCPS has 20 non-religious school days off and added two days off to its calen-dar for Jewish holidays due to an increase in the Jewish student population. While some non-religious holidays are necessary, a substantial amount of the days off

their schoolwork or their heritage. Both holidays celebrate Abra-ham’s commitment to God and are extremely important events in the Islamic faith. The pressure to do well in school forces students to make a nearly impossible deci-sion. Samira Hussein, an MCPS administrator and a leader of the sched-ule change proposal believes that this lose-lose situation is unethical. “Students don’t want to miss their tests but then can’t practice their faith,” she says. The Student Rights and Responsibilities handbook that stu-dents usually discard within minutes of receiving it each year in August emphasiz-es that MCPS facili-ties are supposed to be free of any type of discrimination. It’s impossible for MCPS to hold itself to that standard when it won’t allow Islamic students the same rights as their Jewish and Christian counterparts.

While the board did not rule in favor of the proposed schedule change, it promised to closely monitor attendance rates through leave slips to get an account of how many students miss school for these holidays. But MCPS has no way of monitoring an absence due to a religious holiday. “When I record when I miss a day due to

Batten down the hatches because it will get worse

senior research scientist with Uni-versity of Maryland’s Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sci-ence, insists that one cannot look at any one storm and blame it on climate change. There is evidence, however, that storms in general can be made more intense by human-induced climate change. “Even if the events themselves are not directly attributable to climate change, warmer climate gives you these extremes with higher prob-ability. Like a good baseball player hitting better with steroids,” says Dr. Raghu Murtugudde, another professor at University of Mary-land’s Department of Atmospher-ic and Oceanic Science.

The biggest impact of Sandy was the storm surges that caused fl ood-ing across the East coast. This kind of

Montgomery Blair High School 51 University Boulevard East

Silver Spring, MD 20901 Phone: (301) 649-2864

$42 billion in federal aid, as reported by the Daily News. The sad part is, this is only a precursor of what’s to come. Unless action is taken expect more of the same. And a federal government already drowning in debt can’t foot the bill forever.

Rising ocean temperatures are another factor contributing to these natural disasters. “Hur-ricanes get their energy from the ocean and they die as they go on land because there is no energy anymore. So the hurricane poten-tial, or the heat available for the hurricane increases as the oceans warm up,” says Murtugudde.

Higher temperatures also cause water to expand, so in this way, they contribute to the rise in sea level. The problems compound each other, until one day, you fi nd your street has become a river.

Hurricane Sandy is a wake-up call. It is time to start taking climate change seriously. So we might wantmight want to stop for a second and listen closely before we end up having to trade our cars in for canoes.

2012 National Scholastic Press Association Pacemaker Finalist

Winner of the 2009 and 2010 Colum-bia Scholastic Press Association

Gold Crown

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Hurricane Sandy is just another indication of the severity of global warming

Opinions Silver Chips December 20, 2012 B1

By Issac Jiffar

a Muslim holiday, there is no way to record that it is a religious holi-day so it is impossible for them to know,” Hussein says. Changing leave slips to add an additional question is a simple fi x to this problem, yet after the ruling the slips remain unaltered.

MCPS students have six religious holidays off, with a total of 26 days off for students and 10 half-days. Eid-al-Fitir, one of the proposed Islamic holidays, occurs during summer break for the next 10 years, and will not have an impact on the August-June school schedule until 2022. The inclusion of at least one Islamic holiday off on the school calendar is simply an issue of inclusion, fairness and respect.

days, not because it was easy; not because it

was cheap, but because it had to.

Because there were eight million

New Yorkers waiting.

Andrew Cuomo,

governor of New York, said himself that New York could not handle the bill

alone. He requested

The biggest impact of Sandy was the storm surges that caused fl ood-ing across the East coast.

kind of

warm up,” says Murtugudde. Higher temperatures also cause

water to expand, so in this way, they contribute to the rise in sea level. The problems compound each other, until one day, you fi nd your street has become a river.

Hurricane Sandy is a wake-up call. It is time to start taking climate change seriously. So we might wantmight want to stop for a second and listen closely before we end up having to trade our cars in for canoes.

XIXI CHEN

RUTH AITKEN

voicebox

about the drug culture.

Most kids are pretty used to people doing it, and it’s not considered such a bad thing which is sad. It’s a trend and

there isn’t really anything MCPS can do.

Sofi a Tesfu Junior

December 20, 2012 Opinions B2silverchips

pro/con

A lot of people do [drugs] and it can affect their social groups.

Drug people and non-drug people can come together for a

beautiful friendship.

Katherine GranadosSenior

Everyone loves marijuana here. MCPS should not do anything

Jesse KentworthyFreshman

Kalanzi KajubiSophomore

Should MCPS closely regulate drug culture

in schools?

The conclusions that the media or MCPS form by ex-trapolating on very little data is as good as hearsay general lack of facts makes it impos-

sible to discern

Drug and alcohol screenings must take place to fi nd the percentage of drug and alcohol use throughout the county. MCPS must also implement education and treatment pro-grams to assist students.

Old programs such as D. A. R. E. , which taught kids about the risks of drugs, need to be implemented once again. But, this time, they must be pushed beyond health class. They also need to include information on the risks of prescription drug abuse because of the growing use of these pills amongst teenagers.

According to the MCPS guidelines for drug and alcohol abuse counseling, “stu-dents who distribute, possess or use illegal drugs and alcohol on school premises shall be suspended or expelled, subject to the same review procedures as those used in any other disciplinary action. ” Though the conse-quences students currently face are appropri-ate, schools must take steps beyond punish-ment. In addition to suspension, schools should require students to seek county- pro-vided treatment such as rehabilitation or counseling.

In order to move further with any of these steps, MCPS must set aside the funds needed to pursue drug and alcohol reform programs. The process could potentially lose support due to the fi scal commitment it would re-quire, but it is a small inconvenience that can help lower drug use among MCPS students.

If MCPS continues to allow its students to use drugs and alcohol freely without receiv-ing proper information, a drug and alcohol culture could become prominent within schools. Though last year’s numbers may seem normal for a county as large as MCPS, they will only continue to grow. Proper edu-cation, treatment and detection are truly the keys to lowering and removing drug culture from schools.

Between alcoholic celebrities gracing magazines, songs about major drug use and constant news coverage of teen drug and alcohol abuse, it is obvious teenagers have a reputation of substance use and abuse. The reputation is more fact than fi ction as, more than ever, high school students across America are using drugs and creating habits that could cripple them for life. Without any change or reform, drug culture in schools could become an enormous problem for par-ents and the entire MCPS community.

MCPS is no exception, as drug and alcohol use is common among students, according to data collected by the county each year. Though all necessary data hasn’t been col-lected, enough exists for the MCPS Board of Education (BOE) to make a strict commit-ment to enhancing its punishments for drug and alcohol use and helping students recover from drug problems.

According to the MCPS School Safety & Security at a Glance, there were 17 alco-hol- related incidents that resulted in police

involvements and 98 drug-related incidents in the 2011-2012 school year. This does not include the 13 drug and alcohol incidents in which the police were not called. Each MCPS high school had a different number of incidents, but there were still an absurdly high amount.

There is no question of whether or not MCPS has a drug culture. The most impor-tant question for the BOE is how to combat the growing problem before it gets worse.

In a recent Gazette article, former Mont-gomery County Councilmember Duchy Trachtenberg wrote, “In order to address the rapid increase of prescription drug abuse by teenagers, county government must get serious about treatment programming. ” Tra-chtenberg brings up valid points. If MCPS is serious about combating drug use as well

as alcohol use among its students, there will have to be serious reform, treatment and education.

Blair security guard Kathleen Greene believes a root of the problem is drug educa-tion, and explains that educating kids on the risks that drugs possess could be a major improvement to the system.

To start, the school administration, along with the BOE must make a commitment to changing the drug culture within schools by creating harsher punishments, conducting tests and creating a rehabilitation program.

YESKenyetta Whitfi eld

There is no question of whether or not MCPS has a

drug culture

When it comes to preventing a drug culture from permeating within MCPS, there is only red tape, budget issues and a lack of facts. While it is fun to joke (and most stu-dents do) about Blair students “blazin” and the smell of weed that lingers in the bath-rooms every day after lunch, conclusions that the media or MCPS form by extrapolating on very little data is as good as hearsay. Thanks to this general confusion and controversy surrounding the issue, it is diffi cult to decide whether or not MCPS is even threatened by a drug culture. While there is defi nitively drug use in MCPS, the accusation that we are being educated in a drug-permeated culture seems a little extreme.

Former Montgomery County Council-woman Duchy Trachtenberg recently wrote an opinion piece for The Gazette calling for increased attention on the “epidemic” of drug abuse in Montgomery County middle and high schools.

Currently, at Blair and around Mont-gomery County, there is a program called Screening Assessment Services Children Adolescents, which screens children up to age 17 in Montgomery County for drug

Trachtenberg asks that the county desig-nate vast amounts of the budget to address the drug abuse problem plaguing the school system. “ It’s the right time for county government to prioritize substance abuse programming in the HHS budget,” writes Trachtenberg. Although drugs are a problem in schools, it is foolhardy to take funds that are currently going to schools for education-al purposes and switch a huge percentage of these funds to new drug initiatives. I do not condone drug use, but I also do not con-done funneling taxpayer dollars desperately needed for education into expensive drug prevention programs that have yet to prove their own effectiveness. While I cannot from personal experience cite an example of drug use at school infringing on my education, I cannot speak for the entire Blair community, and really, no one can, as we just do not have the facts to make that type of judgment.

There is even a debate as to whether or not drug abuse is a school issue. Schools should most defi nitely have a hand in stop-ping drug abuse on school grounds and pro-viding drug education. Law enforcement, however, should be more concerned with stopping drug use in Montgomery County, not the school system.

Roughly four years ago, each high school in the county was assigned a police liaison that kept a law enforcement presence in the schools. It has been three years since this program was cut due to lack of funding. The least the Montgomery County Police Depart-ment could do is reinstate a police liaison at each high school in the district, without charging the school system, even if for only a portion of the day.

Another solution that has been proven to work in school systems across the country is an emphasis on drug education at an early age. Educating students at a younger age about the dangers of drug abuse catches them before they have a chance to get in-volved.

abuse. Students are referred to this program by their schools.

The biggest issue with claiming the existence of a strong drug culture at Blair and in Montgomery County schools is the lack of data. A recent Washington Examiner article lamented the measly amount of data on drug use among teens in Montgomery County. The general lack of facts makes it impossible to discern whether or not any of MCPS’s current initiatives to combat drug use have had any effect, and if so, which are most effective. Silver Spring Councilwoman Valerie Ervin was quoted recently at a com-mittee hearing on drug use in schools asking how the County Council would know which funds were being used wisely and appropri-ately. “How do we know what is working? How do we know our money is well spent?”

asks Ervgin. I do not support the position that nothing

should be done to address a Montgomery County-wide drug culture, but springing out with a reactionary response to something that we cannot pinpoint and can hardly identify is foolhardy and a waste of precious education funds.

NOPuck Bregstone

KATRINA GOLLADAY

I did not even know there was a drug culture.

Vincent Ly Senior

I would hope that it’s not too dangerous. I think MCPS

should maybe just make more regulations.

As the rockets rain down closer and

closer to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem,

the fear mounts as many wonder how many lives will be lost in the end. The ceasefi re has been nice and much needed, but I just fi nd it hard to believe that it will hold for an extended period of time. Blind faith can only hold me for so long. But for me and my family, that fear goes far beyond the fact that Israel is an ally or that Israel is

one of the only democracies in the Middle East. Instead the fear is that a

loved one will be lost.With my aunt and grandfather resid-

As the rockets rain down closer and

closer to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem,

the fear mounts as many wonder how many lives will be lost in the end. The ceasefi re has been nice and much needed, but I just fi nd it hard to believe that it will hold for an extended period of time. Blind faith can only hold me for so long. But for me and my family, that fear goes far beyond the fact that Israel is an ally or that Israel is

one of the only democracies in the Middle East. Instead the fear is that a

loved one will be lost.With my aunt and grandfather resid-

Two viewpoints on the Middle East conflict

Hopkins, believe that a relation-ship shouldn’t become Facebook offi cial until the couple has been together for at least a month. These contrasting beliefs can be the cause of a little misunderstanding, but backed by the power of love most couples are able to overcome it. They accept the requests and are offi cially “Facebook offi cial”.

Once it is offi cial, it spreads like wildfi re. Classmates, friends from camp, and even your grandmother who just fi gured out how to log on, see the big news and soon the comments start coming in.

Your inbox is fi lled with mes-sages like “ERMERGERD! SO ADORBS” and what was once a little secret between two people becomes the event of the night.

This can be overwhelming for some couples. The increased at-tention adds additional pressure to the new relationship because “everyone is so aware,” says junior Jamie Matthews.

Others like O’Connor fi nd the positives in the increased exposure. “Well you’ll stop being hit on,” he explains.

Then there is the break up. The break up is not fun. Especially when it is all over Facebook. “It’s weird because the people start to ask questions and talk more about it when you really just want it to be over with,” says junior Emanuel Ceron.

Over the next couple of days, members of the now disbanded couple have to relive the unpleasant moments of the breakup each time a friend messages them asking them for all the details.

It’s like “Groundhog Day” from hell.So, with all the issues that being in a Facebook offi cial relationship presents, why do people still choose to post their relationship status on Facebook? Hopkins shared his relationship status so guys at his girlfriend’s high school would stop hitting on her.

Humor

When my family and I heard the news that rockets and bombs were coming down on Gaza, the instant reaction in my house-hold was an overwhelming sense of worry, fear and deep concern. It was a feeling integrated with the anxiety awaiting any news concerning the safety of my family members in Gaza.

While most of my family resides in Bethlehem, much of my mom’s side of the family lives in Gaza. My mother, directly after hearing of the attack, picked up the phone and called her cousin to check on the health of uncles and aunts. My mom’s cousin did not know whether her family was safe, as power lines and communications were down due to the escalating situa-tion. Her cousin, Nuha, im-mediately posted a Facebook status saying, “Whoever sees this in Gaza, please update us. Tell us you’re safe.”

After the ceasefi re, my mother learned that her family was alive. She also learned that 163 Palestin-ians, including dozens of children and women, lost their lives, and that hundreds of Palestinians were wounded. Hundreds of houses and large numbers of buildings were directly hit by bombs and completely demolished. The pictures of buildings turned into giant black holes in the ground fi lled with ash and rubble invoke an over-whelming feeling that cannot be put into words.

Imagine if your home was attacked from the East and the West with the most so-phisticated weapons in the world. Imagine the long-term damage and psychological impact the sounds of the explosions across the street and the engraved mental im-ages of dead bodies laying on the sidewalk would have on the hundreds of children that endured several days of around-the-clock bombing. Children continuously lived in fear, afraid to leave their houses, afraid to be killed. Sadly, for many of these Palestin-

December 20, 2012 B3 Opinions silverchips

MAGGIE MCCLAIN

By Langston Cotman

Being in a relationship used to be so simple. Star-crossed lovers would lock eyes for a few brief seconds while passing each other in the hallways.

Guys would spend weeks pre-paring to approach the apples of their eye by practicing seductive smiles in the mirror and running through witty conversation starters in their heads.

Finally, the big day would come and he would make his way to her as his buds watched him work his fl irty-magic from afar.

They would begin to talk, sparks would fl y, and Voila, the beautiful seeds of teenage love were planted. The news would make its way through school and eventually it would become common knowledge that the two were together. As Joe Biden would say, “That’s a bunch

of malarkey.”It just doesn’t work like that.

Only in a Lifetime movie has starting a relationship been so per-fect and without complications.

The early stages of coupledom have always presented its chal-lenges, but the rise of Facebook has only added more.

First, there is the whole issue of deciding when to send the relationship request to your sig-nifi cant other.

Do it too soon, and you may come off as way too desperate and eager. Send it too late and it may seem as if you are uncomfortable with the relationship.

But what is too early and what is too late? It is all a matter of opinion.

There are some people who are like Junior Kevin O’Connor and believe that a relationship should become Facebook offi cial within a day of its commencement.

Others, like sophomore Wesley

But, mainly, it is because the rise of social media enables people to share more personal information and updating ones relationship status is another way of keeping friends informed on their relation-ship status.

This is the case for O’Connor, who is currently in a relationship. “I feel [the relationship status] is more for other people than for you and whomever you’re dating,” he explains.

Whether or not a person shares their relationship information, it is important to realize that a relation-ship is not defi ned by whether or not it happens to be on Facebook.

It is a personal decision to be in a relationship with someone on Fa-cebook, and even if a couple doesn’t exist in cyberspace they can still be found out in the real world.

As for freshman Nathaniel Mar-shall’s claim that, “It’s not love if it’s not on Facebook”.

Malarkey.

From a Palestinian perspective... An Israeli experience...ing in Jerusalem, my uncle and his family of fi ve all 30 minutes between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and many other cousins in Tel Aviv, I can only hope that the rockets never make it that far.

The feeling of such urgency regarding this war and the danger involved for so many I care about is crazy. The exchanging of missiles between Israel and Gaza has a different feel to it.

All my family and I can wish for is peace, some sort of agreement between the two sides that will end the fi ghting for long enough to come up with a long term solu-tion. Ownership of land should not be the top priority for either side. Saving innocent lives should be of the utmost priority.

Having family in Israel means that over time, I fi nd myself getting used to and jad-ed by the fi ghting that occurs in the region, yet this confl ict was different. The endless bombardment of rockets in the land I love has been scarier than all prior turmoil.

The possibility for an escalation of the situation and the initiation of a ground war has become increasingly believable and at points it seems, by some estimations, inevitable.

I knew the situation was different when my dad took my phone early in

the morning one day before school in order to read an article about

what had happened in Israel while we were asleep. He knew that his siblings and father were possibly in danger and he couldn’t wait to hear the news.

The urgency in which my dad had to see the news revealed e just how dangerous

this could become--and this was at the beginning of the fi ght-

ing. Since the fi ghting began, the rockets sent over the border have

progressively gone farther and farther inland. With the advancements of

technology, the constant heightening of ten-sions and the inability to forge a long term solution, this confl ict indicates a dangerous escalation of the confl ict far beyond what the Israeli people, my family and I have ever had to grow used to.

ian children, the mass destruction is not unfamiliar, as they witnessed and lived through a similar reality just four years ago, when 1,417 people in Gaza died, including 313 children.

All my family and I can wish for is peace, but situations like this make the reality of peace seem distant. Since my grandparents were children, Palestine’s fate has been in the hands of the Israeli government

and military. In order to see my family every two

years, I have to fl y through Jordan

and cross check-

points

in the scalding heat where hun-dreds are packed in small areas and constantly maneuvered into the next small space. It creates a four hour trip because the Israeli government does not allow me and my family to fl y into the airport in Tel Aviv due to our Palestinian identi-ties. While the newly established state-hood of Palestine is a huge step towards progress and freedom from oppression, this does not indicate a solution to the problem. This crisis in Gaza is one rooted in 65 years of occupation. The people of Gaza, the 1.6 million Palestinians, live in an open-air prison—and for 65 years, have been deprived of justice— and that is the underlying reality. True and sustainable peace will come the day the world sees a permanent end to the occupation.

Gaza139 square miles

163 Palestinian casualties1573 rockets launched

Israel8,019 square miles6 Israeli casualties

1500 rockets launched

By Maya Habash A refl ection

By Josh SchmidtA refl ection

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The stacks of freshly printed Silver Chips editions that line Blair’s class-rooms offer an accessibility that the Internet cannot; because of our print format, Silver Chips gives every student a direct connection to ongoing school activity without the computer as a middleman.

However, as global culture and information technology shifts, so must we adapt to the changing nature of commu-nications. Silver Chips’ online counterpart offers students a host of up-to-date sports coverage, supple-mental news and a variety of enter-tainment pieces. The duality of online and print forums that Silver Chips offers provides Blazers with both thor-ough coverage

and a wealth of student expres-sion.

This month, Silver Chips

Online and Silver Chips Print were jointly named finalists for the Colum-bia Scholastic Press Association’s Gold Crown Award in the hybrid category, which awards outstanding papers that publish both print and online material.

There will always be some mecha-nism by which people publicly com-municate and share news and human interest stories. Journalism must persist, and Silver Chips’ interest in providing the student body with current informa-tion prompts our dedication to deliv-ering quality content through several mediums.

Questions, comments, or suggestions? Email me at silver.chips.ombudsman@gmail.com

Junior Simeon Kakpovi’s name was misspelled in November’s Soapbox.

Junior Nigisti Retta was cited as a Senior on the front page of November’s paper.

Corrections

December 20, 2012 Editorials B4silverchips

Last Friday, a senseless violent act of un-paralleled cruelty left the nation reeling with questions. How could such a monstrous crime happen in the safe haven of an elementary school? Why were such young lives so malevo-lently cut short? In the midst of the holiday season, brutality claimed the lives of the most innocent among us, and a grieving public cried for an explanation to an evil which no rationale could have justified. An armed intruder entered Sandy Hook Elementary School Friday and carried out the massacre that left 27 dead, 20 of the victims children aged five to ten. At 9:30 a.m., the first shots rang across the building. By 9:50, police had surrounded the scene. Less than three hours later, shoddy coverage of the incident went viral online. In a blatant attempt to weave a narrative, news outlets began circulating reports that a deranged mid-twenties man by the name of Ryan Lanza was responsible for the attack. Ryan Lanza, according to early reports, drove to Sandy Hook with the intent to murder his mother, who was a teacher at the school, and her kindergarten class. These hastily compiled and poorly reported claims were in direct contrast to the facts that eventually emerged: Lanza’s mother had never been an employee at the school, and the shooter was not Ryan Lanza but his younger brother Adam. A barrage of incorrectly reported details enshrouded a grave tragedy in a frustrating jumble of miscommunication. Following the devastation of the attack, heedless reporting only served to aggravate an already tender situation. Those who died at Sandy Hook last week deserved a testament to their lives, a celebra-tion of who they were before the assassin cut their lives short. Unfortunately, commemo-ration of the victims was interrupted by a sideshow of press organizations clamoring to report details In a race to report the complete story of the Newtown, Connecticut shooting, the media readily made a spectacle out of something seri-ous and sad. The baseless backstory that the shooter arrived at Sandy Hook to exact revenge against his mother seems to have been a prod-uct of the media’s eagerness to dramatize even in the most painful situations. Such reckless journalism does not only compromise the in-tegrity of the presses, but muddles facts when many anxious and mourning people are seek-ing the truth. The news media’s willingness to report hearsay before the police investigation had even been completed reveals a compulsion to add entertainment value to human loss. The misinformed coverage was not limited to a single network, either. As one news outlet published flawed accounts of the shooting, another exaggerated the first’s report un-til purported details amalgamated into an entirely fabricated narrative. When Fox News first reported that the shooter had been Ryan Lanza, other stations then claimed that “cops” had confirmed the identity of the shooter as 24-year-old Ryan Lanza. CNN went so far as to interview federal law enforcement officials about Ryan Lanza’s background before the identity of the shooter had been confirmed. Impulsive reporting not only undermines the press’s credibility and distracts from the gravity of a situation, but also harms individu-als. Within hours of the shooting, television anchors and Internet news stations accused an innocent man of mass murder. The elder Lanza was brusquely labeled as a killer, and faced un-justified accusations from both acquaintances and news anchors nationwide. His reputation was briefly but unforgettably marred. In more subtle ways, however, careless reporting unintentionally furthered the suffer-ing of the events at Sandy Hook. Viewers who tuned their televisions to CNN mid-Friday saw live footage of parents carrying sobbing five- and six-year-olds out of the building, students hugging each other and crying after being evacuated, and reporters thrusting mi-crophones into small bleary-eyed faces. After children had witnessed or heard their school-mates killed, television anchors were pressing them for details, publicizing their pain and extorting the lasting emotional trauma which the students had already endured. “Were you scared? Were all of the children crying waiting for their parents?” one CNN reporter asked, as first-graders dabbed their eyes and wiped their noses on their sleeves.

LEAH HAMMOND

Print journalism is dying. The whisper has circulated for years,

as newspapers across the country scratch their paper services and go viral. As Internet news wires pick up speed, “For Rent” signs propped in vacant win-dows replace once-bustling newspaper press rooms.

On the high school level, where funding is primarily limited to what expenses the school community can offer, many of the nation’s journalism pro-grams have been slashed in the recent economic downturn. Still others were forced to limit their page count or move all of their content online.

But Silver Chips will maintain both its print and online editions, even in the wake of struggling high school journalism programs na-tionwide. Despite critics’ dismal forecast for the future of printed news, Silver Chips print strives to uphold its 75-year-old legacy of delivering outstanding news and entertain-ment to the school body— on paper.

In November, the print edition of Blair’s newspaper was awarded the National Scholastic Press Association’s Pacemaker Award for high school jour-nalism for the 2011/2012 academic year. Within its category, Silver Chips was selected as one of the four best newspa-pers in the country by a panel of expert judges.

Following this recognition, Silver Chips is determined to persist in deliv-ering coverage to the student reader-ship. Since the paper’s start in 1937, Silver Chips staffers have hand-deliv-ered the papers straight into the school’s English classrooms.

It is no slight expense to provide pa-pers; each edition of Silver Chips prints approximately 3,300 copies and costs between $1,750 and $2,000 to print.

By Ruth Aitken

The high cost of print

Integrity in the wake of a tragedy

Ombudsman Ruth Aitken

The news crews descended upon a school that had already been under attack, and whose students were already wary of intruders. The reporters that flocked to students for inter-views gleaned nothing from them that could not be more reliably ascribed to a police report or an interview with an adult present on the scene. There was nothing to gain from inter-views with the elementary school students but shock value. Interviewing shaken children following a tragedy is a perverse symptom of the media seeking to captivate audiences, to entertain regarding a subject that is far from entertainment. The events that transpired at Sandy Hook were something that no one, regardless of age, should have to witness. For the very young, however, such violence is especially incom-prehensible. When the children most needed a hug and some comforting words, they were instead offered the opportunity to broadcast their pain on television. In the aftermath of tragedy, we inevitably speculate as to how such disaster could have been avoided. After each time a shooting in-cident seemingly repeats itself several months later, we cry for a cease to the violence. But perhaps President Obama is right; it is neces-sary to mobilize some action to prevent recur-rences, and the solution may lie in the manner in which we respond to catastrophes. The day after Jared Lee Loughner shot 17 people in a parking lot in Tuscon, Arizona, his magnified and color-edited mug shot appeared on the front cover of the New York Post beside the headline “Mad Eyes of a Killer.” The Daily News published a similar image on a black background that bore the words “The Face of Evil.” After the shooting earlier this year in the Century 16 movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, newspapers were eager to uncover the back-ground of the shooter who had booby-trapped his home with explosives. The press turned James Holmes into an enigma, speculating about his failed run as a neuroscience student and publishing rhetoric that portrayed him as a satanic madman. On Monday of this week, two of the five top stories on WashingtonPost.com aimed to uncover details about Adam Lanza’s history, including one called “Portrait of Adam Lanza and his family begins to emerge” and “New-town school shooter’s mother collected guns, was loath to let people inside home.” The public’s obsession with the actor of the crime rather than the victims has the potential to catapult the most depraved among us into infamy. We immortalize mass murderers with unending news coverage of their histories and offenses. We sensationalize events that deserve mourning and make celebrities out of the most detestable of criminals. Incident after incident, the killer is por-trayed as an introspective loner figure who struggles to relate to anyone else. For someone harboring a death wish and yearning to be noticed, the virtual promise of media atten-tion is a sick encouragement to kill. If we are determined to stop killing sprees, we must stop granting criminals the attention they crave and emphasize the horrendous consequences of taking innocent lives. Though in the case of tragedies, we may seek closure or explanations by attempting to uncover the ill inner psyches of murderers, such attempts will never reveal an answer. The media should not abuse perverse coverage of killers in order to draw readership and news coverage of violent tragedies should not be treated in the same manner as human interest stories. Instead remember what is important: com-memorating the lives of the victims. As a na-tion, let us set aside gimmicky and poor report-ing and have a moment for those who died last week: Charlotte Bacon, age six. Daniel Barden, age seven. Rachel Davino, age 29. Olivia Engel, age six. Josephine Gay, age seven. Ana M. Marquez-Greene, age six. Dylan Hockley, age six. Dawn Hocksprung, age 47. Madeleine F. Hsu, age six. Catherine V. Hubbard, age six. Chase Kowalski, age seven. Jesse Lewis, age six. James Mattioli, age six. Grace McDonnell, age seven. Anne Marie Murphy, age 52. Emi-lie Parker, age six. Jack Pinto, age six. Noah Pozner, age six. Caroline Previdi, age six. Jes-sica Rekos, age six. Avielle Richman, age six. Lauren Russeau, age 30. Mary Sherlach, age 56. Victoria Soto, age 27. Benjamin Wheeler, age six. Allison N. Wyatt, age six.

FeaturesSilver Chips December 20, 2012 C

“Our name is Publik Theory, and we’re going to be famous!”C5-C6

develop depression,” he says. “By age 15, however, girls are twice as likely as boys to have had a major depressive episode.” Dende adds that during teen years crucial personality evolutions occur, and various forms of depressions like SAD are common. Still these students are part of a small minor-ity affected by the disorder. Because of the lack of familiarity with SAD, those affected often encounter people who underestimate the severity of its impact and symptoms and write off this lasting depression as being just winter blues. As a result, these Blazers fi nd themselves shut into their own world.

The experience

Though scientists are unsure of what exactly causes SAD, most believe that the depression is connected to the decreased amount of sunlight following daylight sav-ings. Doctors attribute an upset in a person’s sleeping cycle to the drastic changes in their exposure to sunlight. This decreased amount of sunlight causes imbalances with sero-tonin, a brain chemical that affects mood.

This winter, some members of the Blair community will struggle with episodes of seasonal depression. For junior Kenda Tucker, her depression begins as soon as it starts to get dark earlier in the day. Dur-ing the short period of time when the sun is out on those gloomy winter days, Tucker is stuck inside of a classroom. “You get up when it’s dark, and when you get home it’s dark,” says Tucker. Her

depression manifests itself in an unmo-tivated attitude that generally occurs in the evening. During these nights her de-pression consumes her and she can only wait for her melancholy feelings to pass. “You feel very sad and you end up sitting in a chair for a couple of hours,” says Tucker.

For senior Mary, it becomes diffi cult to interact socially when she is suffering from the symptoms of her seasonal depres-sion. “I don’t even feel like I need to see my friends,” she says. Mary suffers from a bipolar disorder as well and at times her depression is coupled with paranoia and anxiety attacks. Her manic tendencies only heap more pressure onto her busy lifestyle. “Last year, it was APs and the musical and everything got out of control,” she ex-plains. Her depression and anxiety culmi-nated with her hospitalization last spring.

Senior Meg Lebow has been dealing with SAD since the seventh grade and is very fa-miliar with the telltale signs of her oncoming depression. She summarizes the feeling as a chronic lower level of mood which in turn causes exhaustion and shorter periods of sleep. She feels tired more often and sleeps for longer periods of time. When with friends, she is less animated and has a diffi cult time dealing with stressful situations. Still, Lebow fi nds solace in knowing that there is a medical reason for her feelings. “When you have any sort of problem, it is comfort-able to know the reason why so you don’t end up blaming yourself,” explains Lebow.

Meds, therapy and support

When coping with SAD some students have found a simple formula to end their symptoms

while for others, battling the depression can feel like solving an endless,

multivariable calculus prob-lem. Sometimes it’s an easy fi x

and a student can feel better after a conversation with a close friend.

They may not stop the depression from occurring in the fi rst place, but

these conversations can make those with the disorder capable of handling rough patches.

Junior Barbara’s ex-boyfriend is affected with the disorder. When they began their re-lationship in October of last year, she noticed that he was often upset. “He would get very quiet,” says Barbara. “A lot of times he just looked sad, depressed.” She adds that most of the time he would simply shut down, bite his nails or twist his hair, all signs of the anx-iety he felt. In order to alleviate his sadness, he would get into his hobby of listening to music.

Besides music, Barbara explains, her boyfriend confessed that having her com-panionship and support made him feel better. “Having someone in his life he could share stuff [with] really helped him. He had someone to lean on.” Bar-bara feels her support for him was crucial in combating his day-to-day bad feelings.

Still, other Blazers turn more to modern medicines to correct their chemical im-balance. Many use medication to control symptoms of anxiety and bipolar disor-ders that are also caused by winter depres-sion. For Mary, medication did help her stabilize her mood and anxiety, but she feels that the medicaments are not as effec-tive. Besides using medicaments, she has

found comfort through Buddhism. Chant-ing and meditating once a week has helped her not only deal with SAD but accept her sometimes challenging life condition.

Other than mood and anxiety stabiliz-ers, the dark winter days can be brightened by a little light box therapy. Lebow uses a lamp-like white square box that emits bright fl uorescent lights. However, the glow of this particular box, however, mimics sunlight and when Lebow spends time basking in its shine it helps make up for her Vitamin D defi ciency. This helps to balance the lev-els of serotonin and combats the depres-sive feelings. Mary also takes medicine to supplement her burst of artifi cial sunrays.

For some students, medication and light therapy are ineffective, but for others the treatments have been a huge help in facing their depression. “SAD may be effectively treated with light therapy, but nearly half of those with winter depression do not get better with light therapy alone,” says Dende. “An-tidepressant medication and psychotherapy can reduce SAD symptoms, either alone or in combination with light therapy,” he says.

The two primary psychotherapies that help patients are both talk therapies. “Cog-nitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), helps people with depression restructure negative thought patterns,” Dende says. Additionally, Dende fi nds that talk therapy helps the pa-tients embrace a positive approach to their situation. Interpersonal therapy also has an impressive record in helping patients focus on bettering confl icted re-lationships that could worsen their depressive condi- tion.

Socially sad

As the sun be-gins to recede and wintertime approaches, many people with SAD have similar withdrawal from their friends. Blazers who have SAD often isolate themselves from their peers during their depression. Dende says that this is an effect of SAD symptoms. “People suffering from depression may simply lack the energy to as-sociate with friends, feel worthless or unlov-able, feel helpless and feel hopeless,” he says.

During the long winter, Mary feels tired with no energy to do activities she typi-cally enjoys during other seasons. “I [don’t] need friends. I don’t want them having to see me a certain way,” she says. For most students dealing with SAD, social life sim-ply freezes in the winter months as they try to get through their gray days in solitude.

Dealing with SAD while in school is a challenge within itself. Sudden feelings of sadness can strike at any time and often catch Tucker off guard. While she may feel fi ne one moment a sudden change in mood will have her

stuck for days in a rut that makes it diffi cult for her to interact socially.

Lebow has spent years coping with her depression, and is frustrated when she hears people diagnosing themselves with SAD just because they occasionally feel sad dur-ing the winter. “It is unfortunate that [the disorder] is called SAD because people just think it means ‘Oh, sad. I feel sad’,” says Lebow. She hopes people will realize that it is an actual medical issue that has to do with chemical imbalances from lack of sunlight and not just an emotional issue.

Talking about their seasonal depression can be diffi cult for those whose friends have no insight into the experience them-selves. Mary has two close friends that she talks to, but refrains from telling her Buddhist youth group about her disor-der. “People will judge you,” she explains.

Lebow feels that educating Blazers on SAD would get rid of the negative connota-tion and the judgment that often come along with it, as well as help undiagnosed students with SAD be more willing to talk about their disorder and seek help. “It is important for people to know that if they have [SAD] some-thing isn’t wrong with them,” says Lebow.

For many, like Tucker, what helps the most is having friends to talk to about their depression. “It doesn’t matter if they can relate,” says Tucker. “It just matters that they are willing to listen.”

from SAD page A1

C4

you get home it’s dark,” says Tucker. Her Meds, therapy and support

When coping with SAD some students have found a simple formula to end their symptoms

while for others, battling the depression can feel like solving an endless,

multivariable calculus prob-lem. Sometimes it’s an easy fi x

and a student can feel better after a conversation with a close friend.

They may not stop the depression from occurring in the fi rst place, but

these conversations can make those with the disorder capable of handling rough patches.

Junior Barbara’s ex-boyfriend is affected with the disorder. When they began their re-lationship in October of last year, she noticed that he was often upset. “He would get very quiet,” says Barbara. “A lot of times he just looked sad, depressed.” She adds that most of the time he would simply shut down, bite his nails or twist his hair, all signs of the anx-iety he felt. In order to alleviate his sadness, he would get into his hobby of listening to music.

Besides music, Barbara explains, her boyfriend confessed that having her com-panionship and support made him feel better. “Having someone in his life he could share stuff [with] really helped him. He had someone to lean on.” Bar-bara feels her support for him was crucial in combating his day-to-day bad feelings.

Still, other Blazers turn more to modern medicines to correct their chemical im-balance. Many use medication to control symptoms of anxiety and bipolar disor-ders that are also caused by winter depres-sion. For Mary, medication did help her stabilize her mood and anxiety, but she feels that the medicaments are not as effec-tive. Besides using medicaments, she has

can reduce SAD symptoms, either alone or in combination with light therapy,” he says.

The two primary psychotherapies that help patients are both talk therapies. “Cog-nitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), helps people with depression restructure negative thought patterns,” Dende says. Additionally, Dende fi nds that talk therapy helps the pa-tients embrace a positive approach to their situation. Interpersonal therapy also has an impressive record in helping patients focus on bettering confl icted re-lationships that could worsen their depressive condi- tion.

Socially sad

As the sun be-gins to recede and wintertime approaches, many people with SAD have similar withdrawal from their friends. Blazers who have SAD often isolate themselves from their peers during their depression. Dende says that this is an effect of SAD symptoms. “People suffering from depression may simply lack the energy to as-sociate with friends, feel worthless or unlov-able, feel helpless and feel hopeless,” he says.

During the long winter, Mary feels tired with no energy to do activities she typi-cally enjoys during other seasons. “I [don’t] need friends. I don’t want them having to see me a certain way,” she says. For most students dealing with SAD, social life sim-ply freezes in the winter months as they try to get through their gray days in solitude.

Dealing with SAD while in school is a challenge within itself. Sudden feelings of sadness can strike at any time and often catch Tucker off guard. While she may feel fi ne one moment a sudden change in mood will have her

with SAD be more willing to talk about their disorder and seek help. “It is important for people to know that if they have [SAD] some-thing isn’t wrong with them,” says Lebow.

For many, like Tucker, what helps the most is having friends to talk to about their depression. “It doesn’t matter if they can relate,” says Tucker. “It just matters that they are willing to listen.”

insidefeaturesC2

“Our name is Publik Theory, and we’re

ART BY JULIA BATES

“Our name is Publik Theory, and we’re

Where only fi rst names appear, names have been changed to protect the identities of sources.

or many students, the relative free-dom of senior year is interrupted by the incessant questions about their

college applications. Parents’ names? Sib-lings? Talents? Most Blazers answer these factoids with glazed-over eyes, but for some, one question causes more problems than just trying to remember minute personal details: Are you a citizen of the United States?

Undocumented immigrants’ futures once hinged on the answer to this one question. Marking “no” meant they would have to pay out-of-state tuition to Maryland schools, making any hope of a four-year college de-gree just a distant fantasy. On Nov. 6, how-ever, undocumented students fi nally found some relief to the overwhelming college tuition when Maryland passed the Develop-ment, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act.

The Maryland DREAM Act grants undoc-umented students living in Maryland the chance to pay in-state tuition at local schools after meeting a series of qualifi cations, says Kristin Ford, communications director for DREAM Act advocacy organization Educat-ing Maryland Kids. The act mimics similar federal legislation, also referred to as the DREAM Act, which Congress introduced and struck down on a national level in 2010 and 2011. Although undocumented students will not receive benefi ts on a federal level, a study by the University of Maryland Balti-more County estimates that the local act will help 435 Maryland students enroll in four-year universities or community colleges per year. “Education makes the world go round,” says DREAM Act advocate, senior Marvely Molina. “In order to be successful, you need to be educated.”

While many undocumented immigrants see the DREAM Act as a victory, the daily struggles of being undocumented and “in the shadows,” as many explain, still remain. “My mom thought it would be hard but she didn’t realize that opportunities weren’t go-ing to be available,” says junior Jessica of her family’s life as undocumented immigrants. “She soon realized life wouldn’t be as pic-ture-perfect as she thought.”

According to the Obama administra-tion, undocumented immigrants are often restricted from benefi ts that many citizens take for granted, like receiving a driver’s license, applying for college scholarships or obtaining a work permit. Many undocu-mented immigrants must also live with the constantly looming fear of deportation. “We have learned to start over,” says Jessica, “so we have come to accept that if one of us is deported, we all go. That has become our golden rule.”

Many bemoan these added challenges that undocumented immigrants face. “These are people who are honest people willing to contribute to the economy and benefi t the United States,” says Spanish teacher and DREAM Act advocate Dianette Coombs. “They want to make society good, so why are we making it so diffi cult for them?”

Fight for the right to learn

The news that the DREAM Act had passed lit up the local immigration assistance cen-ter, CASA de Maryland, like an explosion of fi reworks. Molina stood triumphantly on top of a chair and fi st pumped the air in celebra-tion. “Everyone was saying this was what they were fi ghting for,” remembers Molina.

When sisters Sarina and Luisa, undocu-mented immigrants, heard the news, they jumped around their bedroom as their mother rolled her eyes, saying the girls had lost their minds. The sisters’ joyful shouts and their mother’s true relief over the news were made possible by the months-long campaigning efforts of supporters and ad-vocates like Molina and senior Claudia Quinonez. “We weren’t just advocating for education rights, we were advocating for human rights,” says Quinonez.

Even advocates who will not be affected by the DREAM Act, like Molina, Quinonez and senior Niveet Singh, marched in rallies and organized educational sessions in order

to achieve what they believed was right and fair. “I am not going to benefi t,” says Singh, “but it is im-portant to help others go to college.” This importance has a monetary value as well, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, which estimates that college graduates make about $19,000 more than those without college degrees. Coombs, whose classes include un- documented immigrants , envisions her stu-dents going to college and becom-ing professionals. “I don’t want my students doing trade jobs,” says Coombs. “I want them to have a career and not just make minimum wage.”

Sarina felt the same motivation to go into a professional fi eld. “I want to study medicine,” she ex-plains. Before the DREAM Act passed, she had only one option to achieve this goal: going back to her home country.

“Undocumented, unafraid, unapologetic”

A crowd of students wearing royal blue shirts that read “I am the Maryland DREAM Act” stood behind an enor- mous sign declar-ing that they were “undocumented, unafraid and unapologetic.” These students, some donning gradua-tion caps, marched through Down-town Silver Spring and eventually streamed past Immigration and Customs Enforcement offi ces, the governmental branch responsible for deporting undocumented im-migrants. “At one point, being un-documented was taboo, but now it’s not. It’s becoming more common to hear the words ‘undocumented’ and ‘DREAMer,’ when four years ago it was not,” says Quinonez.

Before the DREAM Act, Jes-sica felt ostracized because of her undocumented status. Jessica im-migrated to the United States on a travel visa when she was fi ve years old. Two years later, she discovered that she was undocumented, but for a while she did not regard her lack of citizenship as anything unique. It wasn’t until she started to get older that she began to feel more isolated because of her status. “I began to feel like there might not be opportunities here in this country like my parents thought. I am dif-ferent because I struggle more than my peers,” she explains. After the DREAM Act passed, however, she felt more accepted by her Maryland community. “I thought it would be hard for people to accept [my sta-tus] before the DREAM Act but over time I’ve come to accept that this is who I am and I’m not going to fi ght it. I’ve learned to over-come judgment,” she explains.

The struggle to get necessary documen-tation is echoed by many undocumented immigrants in Maryland. With seemingly few options to gain citizenship, Sarina says she briefl y considered marriage as a way to gain naturalization. “I heard I have to mar-ry someone [to gain citizenship],” she says. “Isn’t that weird? I’m just 18!”

While the Maryland DREAM Act lowers tuition rates for undocumented students, it does not protect them from the threat of deportation, says Ford. “Neither federal policy nor state law provides a path to citi-zenship,” she says. Students, Ford explains, can apply for the federal program Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals which grants students work permits for two years and protects them from deportation for the same duration.

Fear of deportation often motivates stu-dents to keep their undocumented status a secret. It wasn’t until this year that Sarina told anyone of her lack of citizenship. “I felt like I had to say it to someone,” she ex-plains.

Quinonez was often shocked when she discovered peers who were undocumented. Many had lived in the United States for years, which, Quinonez says, made it diffi -

By Hannah Wientraub

cult to see them as anything but American. With undocumented students often fac-

ing fewer possibilities to fi nance their col-legiate education, the pressure to do well in high school in order to secure scholarships is strong. “I felt I had to work harder if I wanted to go to college,” says Sarina. “I had to get a scholarship.” But some, like Jessica work hard to dispel the negative stereo-types around undocumented immigrants. “I always feel like I have to prove people wrong. I can do well on tests, I can go to uni-versity, I can do this without documents,” she explains.

Other students, says Coombs, are dis-heartened by their status and forgo academ-ic success when they do not see future op-portunities for themselves. “This falls into a cliché but it’s the truth,” Coombs explains. “There are some students who would give up doing well in high school because they think, ‘Why would I work hard in high school when college is beyond my reach?’”

Applying for the DREAM

Filling out reams of paperwork for a pass-port photo or bringing in stacks of identifi -cation for a driver’s permit can be strong reminders of the arduous, bureaucratic ob-stacles that the government has buttressing its public, legal initiatives. The Maryland DREAM Act is no exception, with the act requiring students to pass rigorous criteria in order to qualify for the benefi ts.

On the check list of DREAM Act require-ments is a GED or high school diploma, fam-ily tax returns and high school attendance records, says Ford. In addition, the DREAM

Features C2December 20, 2012 silverchips

Act is not a straight pipeline into public uni-versities. Students must still earn 60 credits at their local community college or obtain an associate’s degree before transferring to a public, Maryland university, says Ford.

Now that the DREAM Act has passed, advocates have switched their attention from rallying to educating students on the DREAM Act’s many conditions. CASA de Maryland is holding registration drives in which students come and receive assistance with their DREAM Act applications. Some-times the job of an advocate is to simply inform students that, with the DREAM Act, they have more opportunities after caps fl y into the air at high school graduation. “We went into ESOL classes and told them they have a chance to go to college and they were shocked. They thought they didn’t have the money, and we told them that the DREAM Act will help them,” says Molina.

Still, even with the DREAM Act, undocu-mented immigrants cannot benefi t from the Federal and State Financial Aid program that gives monetary assistance to college- bound students, says Ford. Many students, Quninoez explains, must still rely on com-petitive private scholarships to help fi nance their educations.

Even as students apply for the state DREAM Act, many feel as if this recent reform does not do enough to support un-documented immigrants. “We need paths to citizenship,” says Quninonez, “so once students get a degree, they can work and give back to America, which is their home-land and country.”

Quninonez is the editor of Spanish Page.

F

The Maryland DREAM Act gives students access to higer education

Undocumented yet allowed to live the DREAM

COURTESY OF CASA DE MARYLAND

DREAM Protesters with CASA de Maryland join together to fight for the DREAM Act.

Students’ popular designs are ‘dipp’d in butter’

At fi rst the man was skeptical. Tarot cards don’t actually tell the future, he convinced himself. As amateur tarot card reader Nic D’ascoli dealt out the worn-out cards of his original Ryder deck, the man’s prospects began to look increasingly grim. “This isn’t my defi nitive future, right?” he asked D’ascoli hopefully. D’ascoli assured him that this was just one possible future. You can make other choices. Two weeks later the man was dead.

This sort of scene is something we’ve all heard about, or maybe seen in movies, but for some, these incidents aren’t just stories. While senior Dylan Greer isn’t too sure what he believes when it comes to the af-terlife, his mom, Konstanza Greer, certainly is. Greer is a spiritualist medium, certifi ed by the National Spiritualist Association of Churches. She makes contact with the spirit world for a living. Greer runs her own busi-ness, Silver Spring of Light, and offers a variety of classes, workshops and regular readings.

Psychics and spiritualists like Greer have been prevalent since at least the 19th centu-ry when spiritualism began to grow a signifi cant following. A

growing business, the psychic industry is currently valued at $2.5 billion dollars for services that encompass a large variety of metaphysical services including palm and tarot card readings, aura readings and me-diumship.

How it works

Greer starts her readings off with an opening prayer, asking for God’s help in establishing spiritual communication and inviting the spirit guides to join the read-ing. After the prayer, she goes into a medi-tative state, and in most readings, the spirit people arrive by the time she says, “Amen.” Greer then proceeds to describe to the client what she sees from the spirit side of life.

Greer feels strongly that whatever mes-sage the spirit people bring, her readings offer healing and closure for many clients. “Relatives who died get a chance to say goodbye, or if some- one was a bad parent, they try to make up for it,” she says. Greer-also claims that movies like The Sixth Sense fail to accurately dem- onstrate see-ing spirits. “Hollywood misportrays talk-ing to spirits as very creepy and spooky, but

it isn’t. The spirit usually chooses to look as

he or she did

By Mallory Rappaport when they were happiest in life, which is most often ages 25 to 40,” she says. “Talk-ing to spirits is like talking to a regular per-son.”

Since Greer is a Spiritualist, a religion that upholds that spirits of the dead are able and willing to speak with the living, she at-tempts to prove the continuity of life—the idea that life goes on after death— through her readings. Still Greer’s method isn’t the only way psychics look into the future.

The amateur

Psychic readings aren’t just for the ex-perts. D’ascoli is a regular offi ce worker on weekdays but an amateur tarot card reader on the side. Tarot cards leave more up to interpretation.

D’ascoli explains that his own personal deck has cards with both good and bad interpretations to them. D’ascoli has done roughly 100 readings, often for his friends and family members, producing results he claims to be “scarily accurate.” While he still thinks he has a lot to learn about tarot cards he feels that all people have the power to predict their futures. “Everyone has all the answers,” he says. “Sometimes by just clos-ing your eyes and looking inside yourself [you] can see [your] own future.”

The fortune teller

Smoke and incense permeates through a dingy and dimly lit store in D.C. The bul-letin posted outside the door promises psy-chic readings for $5 each, a tempting offer for kids with a few extra dollars and noth-ing to lose. Psychic shops dot the streets of D.C. and Maryland suburbs.

According to sophomores Ronny Mene-dez and Katherine Holmcrans, these are places most people notice and identify, but never actually enter. “We were hanging out in Georgetown and the shop was just there,” explains Menendez. “I always see psychics in movies and we wanted to try it out.”

While both agreed they enjoyed

Features C4December 20, 2012 silverchips

the experience, neither of the students got what they had anticipated. “I expected the psychic to be wearing spiritual-type clothing, but she was dressed normally and she was smoking,” says Holmcrans. “She didn’t even read my palm, really,” criticizes Menendez. “She just looked at it and then told me in a monotone voice that I was stubborn, closed-hearted and rude.” Holmcrans was more positive about her received fortunes about her love life, which have so far yet to come true.

Still, other students, like sophomore Kenny Orellana, are skeptical of the phe-nomenon. “It’s just a scam to take your money,” Orellana claims. “I think people are desperate for answers that no one could actually give them.”

Doubt

A number of people, like sophomore Isaiah Silvers, doubt that psychic powers even exist. “There’s no empirical evidence to prove that any of it is true,” he says. Others, like freshmen Sarah Joyce, feel that television shows like Long Island Medi-ums, a TLC reality show, make what she might have considered an interesting ca-reer look ridiculous.

Greer says she doesn’t get many skep-tical clients, mostly because if they’re skeptical, they’re not going to come in the fi rst place. Greer does, however, get a few uncertain clients who always leave con-vinced. “I tell them to come with an open mind and when they do, I’m able to bring information that makes their jaws drop,” she boasts. D’ascoli feels readings have better results when the user is willing. “I fi nd I can often read people better if they want to be engaged. I’ve done readings where the person is less willing and they didn’t get very many results,” he says.

Dylan isn’t sure of his own personal be-liefs about the afterlife yet, but he supports his mom in her accomplishments. “I be-lieve in my mom’s ability to communicate, and I believe in her,” he says.

from customers in other parts of the country. Bess’ dad, an entrepreneur, helped the two fi gure out how to navigate the business aspects of Dipp’d. “My dad had a clothing business in the ‘90s called Threads. His experience helped me out and made me a better business man,” Bess says. Barnes and Bess agree that the brand’s rise in popularity comes from a snowball effect cre-ated by getting more shirts out to more people who in turn inform others about Dipp’d.

The manufacturing side of Dipp’d is very closely tied in to its growth. When Dipp’d formed last year, Barnes and Bess created the shirts with the emulsion method, which required them to manually print designs onto the shirts. How-ever, this strategy was expensive and as Dipp’ds popularity grew, it became ineffi cient. “I spent hours from fi ve in the afternoon to three in the morning getting these shirts out for people,” says Bess. Now, Dipp’d prints shirts via manufac-turer. “We pay them, they order the shirts, order the patterns and print it on for us,” Bess says. “We’ve got

it pretty professional now.”

Behind the scenes

The friendship behind Dipp’d dates back to the digital art class where the two met as freshman. Because they had both been in-spired by underground street art and culture—particularly that of the San Francisco bay area—Barnes and Bess decided to use their graphics, sketches and designs to make shirts. The name came next and was inspired by the bay area slang term “Dipped in butter,” which is used to describe something of very high qual-ity. One artist who particu-larly inspired Barnes was the street art-ist Shepherd Fairey. Fairey had long been known among u n d e rg ro u n d art circles but grew in popu-larity after developing the Obey clothing brand and designing the Obama “Hope” poster that circu-lated in 2008. Obey clothing is the

model for Dipp’d. They use the de-signs and ideas from Fairey’s street art campaign to make their own clothes. Taking inspiration from other artists Barnes and Bess then synthesize their own graphics and ideas into a brand. While Dipp’d serves as a way to express their artistic vision, Barnes and Bess have found that with growing popularity comes the pressure to change. “As soon as Dipp’d started getting out there,

we had everybody coming to us like ‘Hey you need to get this, you need to get that, etcetera’” says Barnes. While they are open

to new ideas, they say they want the brand to remain their outlet for expression rather than a blind pro-ducer of customer requests. “We’re not close minded, though,” Barnes says. “If people want to get their art out or just give it to us, we’ll take it and dip it I guess,” adds Bess.

More than money

For Barnes and Bess, Dipp’d is more about seeing people wear-

ing their art than any fi nancial gain. “We’re not just doing this for the money,” says Barnes. “It looks really cool having something you cre-ated yourself worn by other people.” Dipp’d has ex-perienced popular-ity while not com-promising their artistic identity, and its creators say they are optimistic about the future. “I think we can go really far,” says Barnes and Bess. “Right now we’re just some kids from Montgomery

County trying to spread ourselves. We’re trying to go global…eventu-ally.”

Beyond a doubt

Duffl e bags in hand, Khiry Barnes and Dammar Bess stroll down Blair Boulevard. Instead of the typical school supplies or sports equip-ment, the two sophomores’ bags carry original name brand cloth-ing, the product of months of hard work. Purple fl oral patterns, pai-zley bandana, tiger prints, tie dye and camoufl age—the options are endless. But each shirt is united by the Dipp’d logo inside a rectangle in the center or a cursive “D” in the top right corner. Barnes and Bess are the found-ers and designers of Dipp’d, a clothing brand in the same vein as Obey and Supreme. As of now, the logo is only available on shirts that go for 20 dollars each, but Barnes is confi dent in the growth of his company. “We’re out to rule the world,” he says.

The business

Dipp’d attributes their renown to word of mouth, their Instagram account (@Dippdclothing) and free advertising that comes from people wearing the shirts. “We got people who want to rep our stuff for free,” says Barnes. The boys’ personal backgrounds also helped Dipp’d grow. Barnes and Bess moved to Maryland from Indianapolis and Miami respectively. The two ship clothes to friends in those cities and in turn receive advertising

By Danny Alger

EVA CHEN

Dipp’d: Purchasing Dipp’d clothing is a presonl affair; Barnes and Betts almost always deliver in person.

Psychics, mediums and card readers cause some to ponder their futures and question their beliefs

“We’re not just doing

this for the money.”-Khiry Barnes

ELLIE MUSGRAVE

December 20, 2012C5 ADS silverchips

HE SILVER QUILL-SPONSORED OPEN MIC IS Atime where students storm into the doors of Blair’s Media Center, eager to get a seat before the perfor-mances begin. After each mesmerizing band cover or chilling poem, it’s hard for many not to wonder:

what if it was me performing up there? For a brief second, the thought of performing in front of all of your peers is, well, at-tractive. Soon the infamous party pooper, Mr. Doubt, comes sneaking in and the daydream of performing in front of cheer-ing fans and fl ashing lights subsides. But for many up and coming Blair rappers, performing their craft comes easy and making it big is no stranger to their everyday agenda.

“Our name is Publik Theory and we’re going to be famous!” junior Josh Briggs announces into the microphone in the middle of the Media Center. Briggs and his best friend junior Ismael Oates are about to rap in front of a lively crowd of fellow Blazers at an Open Mic. Huddled behind their microphones, their faces peeking out from beneath their hoods and their aspirations for the future echoing through the room, the two rappers are in performance mode. Publik Theory, comprised of Briggs, Oates and a close-knit crew of their friends at Northwood High School, is just one of the rap acts on the local music scene.

Also eager to perform—and get famous—are seniors Brian Griffi n and Shqai Fears. Decked out in their signature clothes—a tropical-patterned shirt for Griffi n, who is alternatively known as “Hawaiian Brian,” and a camoufl age jacket for Fears—the duo known as Havoc is also making a name for themselves in the Blair music scene.

Within this scene, there are those who rap for fun and those who rap for fame. Some underground rappers like Publik The-ory and Havoc release mixtapes and EPs on fi le-sharing web-sites, hoping to generate enough attention and support to even-tually make a career and money out of their love for music. When Forbes Magazine released its list of 2012’s highest-paid musicians at the end of November, rapper and hip-hop produc-er Dr. Dre clinched fi rst place with earnings of $110 million.

While Blair’s rap scene is not dealing with major money like this, its members pride themselves on a certain level of dedi-cation and artistry. Even those with no rap career aspirations, such as sophomore Jakob Little, say that they enjoy writing, collaborating and performing. The coexistence of serious rap groups and fun-seeking freestylers proves that rap music at Blair is as diverse as its creators.

EFORE THERE WAS PUBLIK THEORY, THERE WERE two bored freshmen sitting in science class. Briggs and Oates fi rst bonded when they discovered their shared in-

terest in music. “He would beat, I would rap, and we’d switch positions,” Briggs says of their earliest freestyle sessions. “Mr. Haigh would say, ‘shut up Josh, shut up Ismael!’”

Briggs and Oates ignored the criticism and decided to of-fi cially unify as a duo, soon joining forces with their friends, juniors from Northwood, to create a new group. They called themselves Lagorrhea, which means the formation of rapid

words. Briggs, how-ever, wasn’t satis-fi ed. “It sounds like an anal disease,” he

The boulevard beatDecember 20, 2012 silverchips

Rhymes and rhythms flow from blair rapperssays. After a name change, the original lineup of Briggs, Oates, Wesley Dayley, Abel Webshet and Shemar Roy offi cially be-came Publik Theory.

The boys say their name is derived from their collective ex-periences as black males trying to be something other than so-ciety’s expectations. “The way I see it,” Oates explains, “Publik Theory is like a contradiction to the world.”

Havoc formed similarly, when Griffi n and Fears found them-selves bored on the bus to school. After freestyling together on the bus every day, the boys say they complemented each other so well that they decided to establish a partnership. “[Griffi n] was coming out with a mixtape, and he was like, that could be our mixtape,” recalls Fears.

Two years, a few inches and many Hawaiian shirts later, the boys say they have matured in their rap as they

aim to focus mainly on telling the audience a story through their lyrics. “It’s about pleasing the audi-

ence, giving them something to be proud of and relating to them. You want other people to feel that feeling you get when you make the music,” says Fears. Or, in freestyle form: “I blow crowds away, my nickname’s Hurricane Katrina.” Fears and Griffi n say they focus primarily on fi gurative

language like this because it deepens their music as a whole. “Puns are a big part of my rapping,”

explains Griffi n. He continues on with his wordplay, “For example, I might say, ‘My deliverance is lethal.

Don’t forget the weapon.’”

LAIR’S RAPPERS EMPHASIZE THAT, WHILE THEY think freestyling is important, inspired songwriting is also key to being successful. Members of Publik Theory

say that they picked up much of their lyrical skills after they became involved in Blair’s Slam Poetry club. “It taught me how to rap,” Briggs admits, to Oates’ agreement. In addition to their progress in the club, the boys say they found their biggest in-spiration in the Media Center. “I remember it like it was yes-terday,” Oates recalls as he adjusts himself upright in his chair, eager to tell the story of the group’s most prized possession. Oates says he was wandering the shelves when he felt himself drawn to one book in particular. “It just lit up,” he laughs. “It glowed.” The Wu Tang Manual gave the boys a new insight into the inner workings of what Oates sees as one of the most successful rap groups ever. “They were organized lyrically, it was like a monarchy,” says Briggs with admiration. The boys say that the book refi ned Publik Theory’s rap style as well as their thinking style. “It was our bible,” Oates praises.

The members of Havoc say they also took inspiration from books, especially the late rapper Tupac Shakur’s poetry anthol-ogies. While they look up to rappers from the past, they say they are inevitably infl uenced by the current music scene. Fears’ father J.R. is a professional music producer, and his family includes famous musicians such as Leroy Hutson and Bobby Womack.

The boys hope that these connections might be enough to push Havoc’s success to the next level. “I went on tour over the summer for a month and a half with my dad,”

Fears recalls. Since then, he says, he has been talking with pro-ducers in the studio. Griffi n says they have recorded a music video for a record label contest and hope to hear back soon.

Both groups say that their songwriting processes help them produce the best music possible. “We get a beat and everyone feeds off of it,” Briggs says of Publik Theory’s writing sessions. “We put ourselves in the position to tell the story. Then you have the pieces of the puzzle,” he explains. The boys say that many of these puzzle pieces are extensions of their own expe-riences. For one of their tracks “The Samurai Song,” Publik Theory drew inspiration from their rituals of eating Ramen noodles and watching samurai movies together. Briggs says he took this a step further and imagined himself living a day in the life of a Samurai in order to write the song.

Griffi n and Fears, on the other hand, say that they tend to focus solely on their real lives when writing songs. “We don’t write about what we don’t have,” says Fears, before freestyling a line to back up his point. “I’m the missing link to the game like fi , fi , fo. People say ‘you a rapper and a singer? Whoa!’” Griffi n jumps in to praise his friend. “All hail Shqai!” he says.

ESIDES BEING REGULARS ON THE OPEN MIC AND members of the Slam Poetry club, Publik Theory has per-formed at Silver Spring’s Pyramid Atlantic and the Civic

Center in Downtown Silver Spring. But the rappers say they are not rushing to invest themselves in the performance arena just yet. “We need to make more music fi rst,” Briggs and Oates agree. “Give us a little time to perfect our music craft. We really need perfection,” Briggs emphasizes.

One of Publik Theory’s drives to attain perfection, they say, is the atmosphere of competition. Publik Theory is rumored to have a rivalry with Northwood rap crew Backwards Society. “We’re cool with Spen-cer,” Briggs says of one Backwards Society rapper. “He makes really dope beats.” He also made a song called “[expletive] Josh,” a not-so-subtle shout out to Briggs. “I thought it was beautiful,” Briggs deadpans, exem-plifying Publik Theory’s resolve to focus on music over malice. “We don’t want to be known for a simple beef. Honestly, knowing that we do have a little competition makes us work harder,” Briggs adds.

When it comes to rivalries in the rap world, Griffi n isn’t getting involved. He and Fears use other rappers as motivation rather than competition. “I listen to other rappers so I know how not to rap,” he laughs. Fears has a different outlook; he avoids listening to the radio entirely in order to get away from outside infl uence. “I’ll start rapping like that person I just heard,” he says. Instead of using other rappers, Fears says, he relies on his and Griffi n’s combined talents. “We’re two different styles of people,” he says. “That’s what makes us go together,” Griffi n adds.

ITHIN BOTH GROUPS, MEMBERS FEED OFF OF each other’s talents and specialties. “We’re a brother-hood bond,” says Briggs. Even in casual conversation,

Oates’ love for rap shows as he jumps in with a poetic inter-pretation of the f r i e n d -

ship. “As a group, we are one body,” he says. “And as individuals we are the cells that keep it moving.”

Even individual rappers such as sophomore Jakob Little say that being able to use other people’s skills is crucial. “Hip hop is about get-ting to know other people’s styles and creating unison,” says Little, who adds that he does not usually record his raps unless they are featured on another artist’s track. Little says that rapping as an individual may give him an advantage over large groups, although he sees advantages in group writing as well. “I can go deeper into things than most of the rappers around here,” he says. “But in a group you have a lot more space for innovation.”

For Little and other Blair solo rappers, music is primarily for fun. “Rapping is not going to be my future, but it’s nice to know I’ll always have a way to express myself,” Little says. “If I’m hav-ing a bad day, I can just write about it.” Though Little’s rapping is more casual than career, he rec-ognizes and appreciates the efforts of the groups that are trying to make it big. “They’re defi nitely really respectable guys,” he says of Publik Theo-ry and Havoc. “They’re doing big things.”

ATES AND BRIGGS SAY THAT THEY try to prevent themselves from getting too confi dent in their talent. “Around this time

last year, I actually thought that we were going to be famous,” says Oates, while adjusting the black headphones hung around his neck. “Then I told myself: ‘Big Pun did it. He dropped out of high school and got famous.’ But unfortunately, I’m not Big Pun.” Both Publik Theory and Havoc value school work as well as rapping. “I like to fi nd balance in my work. So for one hour, I may freestyle and write a couple of verses down. Then the next, I may do a little homework,” Griffi n explains.

Both Publik Theory and Havoc have no plans to end their rap careers in the near future. The two groups hope to take

their time to improve their rapping skills, make demos and hopefully get recognized. “This is

business, this is our career,” says Fears. “We really want to take our time with the entire

process. We don’t want to be no one hit wonder like Soulja Boy.”

Other Blazers also enjoy the rap music scene that Blair offers. “Under-ground music is intricate, it has mul-tiple layers and styles,” explains Josh Dade, a senior who listens to some of

Publik Theory’s music online.John Rose, former Blair student and

rising mainstream rapper, says that he left Blair knowing that he was going to make it

big in the industry. Since graduating, he has been signed to the label Hot Track Records and has had

a single, “Can’t Back Down,” featured in the motion picture Bully Avengers.

Rose says he prides himself on sticking to his local roots while changing the face of the rap scene. “I’ve got to take over, kill all the fake rappers in this game. Hip hop needs a make-over,” he rhymes on his viral track “The Way Things Are.” Although Rose may be on the throes of fame, he says he still wants the best for his fellow Blair rappers. “Be humble, be true to yourself and don’t let anyone tell you you can’t make it,” Rose advises other rappers.

Josh Briggs rubs his hands together, licks his lips, and takes one dramatic breath as the a freestyle fl oods out. “Okay.... Okay... The last of a dying breed, but I am not a part of human anatomy. I disappear into the gal-

axy, my blood leaks a melody,” he rhymes.

T

ever, wasn’t satis-fi ed. “It sounds like an anal disease,” he

pretation of the f r i e n d -

his lips, and takes one dramatic breath as the a freestyle fl oods out. “Okay.... Okay... The last of a dying breed, but I am not a part of human anatomy. I disappear into the gal-

axy, my blood leaks a melody,” he rhymes.

for Blazers on the Boulevard. “Pleasing all my fans, that is the assign-ment,” raps Griffi n. “The game needs change and I’m the refi nement.”

“My eyes! My ears! Ahh! Just so good. So good!” Oates belts out in dis-belief while covering his eyes. The two rappers burst out in laughter, reveling in each other’s inventive-ness.

Fans also appreciate the artistry Blair’s rap-pers put into their craft. “I like how blunt it is,” says junior Mag-gie Sauber. “They’re not afraid to say what they want to say. I think freestyle is impres-sive.”

Despite the hope of one day impressing a major record label that will rocket them to fame, Publik Theory and Havoc plan

to continue performing

SHOW STOPPERS “Hawaiian” Brian Griffin performs at the SGR spectacular (Above). Publik Theory comes together to drop beats (Below).

ZEKE WAPNER

COURTESEY OF KHYRI BARNES

B

B

B

O

Story by Paris Parker-Loan

Desiree Aleibar

Photos byMelanie Sim

Zeke Wapner

Art by Julia Bates

Graphic by Hannah Weintraub

is rumored to have a rivalry with Northwood rap crew Backwards Society. “We’re cool with Spen-cer,” Briggs says of one Backwards Society rapper. “He makes really dope beats.” He also made a song called “[expletive] Josh,” a not-so-subtle shout out to Briggs. “I thought it was beautiful,” Briggs deadpans, exem-plifying Publik Theory’s resolve to focus on music over malice. “We don’t want to be known for a simple beef. Honestly, knowing that we do have a little competition makes us

When it comes to rivalries in the rap world, Griffi n isn’t getting involved. He and Fears use other rappers as motivation rather than competition. “I listen to other rappers so I know how not to rap,” he laughs. Fears has a different outlook; he avoids listening to the

demos and hopefully get recognized. “This is business, this is our career,” says Fears. “We

really want to take our time with the entire process. We don’t want to be no one hit wonder like Soulja Boy.”

Other Blazers also enjoy the rap music scene that Blair offers. “Under-ground music is intricate, it has mul-tiple layers and styles,” explains Josh Dade, a senior who listens to some of

Publik Theory’s music online.John Rose, former Blair student and

rising mainstream rapper, says that he left Blair knowing that he was going to make it

big in the industry. Since graduating, he has been signed to the label Hot Track Records and has had

a single, “Can’t Back Down,” featured in the motion picture

W

Features C5-C6

HE SILVER QUILL-SPONSORED OPEN MIC IS Atime where students storm into the doors of Blair’s Media Center, eager to get a seat before the perfor-mances begin. After each mesmerizing band cover or chilling poem, it’s hard for many not to wonder:

what if it was me performing up there? For a brief second, the thought of performing in front of all of your peers is, well, at-tractive. Soon the infamous party pooper, Mr. Doubt, comes sneaking in and the daydream of performing in front of cheer-ing fans and fl ashing lights subsides. But for many up and coming Blair rappers, performing their craft comes easy and making it big is no stranger to their everyday agenda.

“Our name is Publik Theory and we’re going to be famous!” junior Josh Briggs announces into the microphone in the middle of the Media Center. Briggs and his best friend junior Ismael Oates are about to rap in front of a lively crowd of fellow Blazers at an Open Mic. Huddled behind their microphones, their faces peeking out from beneath their hoods and their aspirations for the future echoing through the room, the two rappers are in performance mode. Publik Theory, comprised of Briggs, Oates and a close-knit crew of their friends at Northwood High School, is just one of the rap acts on the local music scene.

Also eager to perform—and get famous—are seniors Brian Griffi n and Shqai Fears. Decked out in their signature clothes—a tropical-patterned shirt for Griffi n, who is alternatively known as “Hawaiian Brian,” and a camoufl age jacket for Fears—the duo known as Havoc is also making a name for themselves in the Blair music scene.

Within this scene, there are those who rap for fun and those who rap for fame. Some underground rappers like Publik The-ory and Havoc release mixtapes and EPs on fi le-sharing web-sites, hoping to generate enough attention and support to even-tually make a career and money out of their love for music. When Forbes Magazine released its list of 2012’s highest-paid musicians at the end of November, rapper and hip-hop produc-er Dr. Dre clinched fi rst place with earnings of $110 million.

While Blair’s rap scene is not dealing with major money like this, its members pride themselves on a certain level of dedi-cation and artistry. Even those with no rap career aspirations, such as sophomore Jakob Little, say that they enjoy writing, collaborating and performing. The coexistence of serious rap groups and fun-seeking freestylers proves that rap music at Blair is as diverse as its creators.

EFORE THERE WAS PUBLIK THEORY, THERE WERE two bored freshmen sitting in science class. Briggs and Oates fi rst bonded when they discovered their shared in-

terest in music. “He would beat, I would rap, and we’d switch positions,” Briggs says of their earliest freestyle sessions. “Mr. Haigh would say, ‘shut up Josh, shut up Ismael!’”

Briggs and Oates ignored the criticism and decided to of-fi cially unify as a duo, soon joining forces with their friends, juniors from Northwood, to create a new group. They called themselves Lagorrhea, which means the formation of rapid

words. Briggs, how-ever, wasn’t satis-fi ed. “It sounds like an anal disease,” he

The boulevard beatDecember 20, 2012 silverchips

Rhymes and rhythms flow from blair rapperssays. After a name change, the original lineup of Briggs, Oates, Wesley Dayley, Abel Webshet and Shemar Roy offi cially be-came Publik Theory.

The boys say their name is derived from their collective ex-periences as black males trying to be something other than so-ciety’s expectations. “The way I see it,” Oates explains, “Publik Theory is like a contradiction to the world.”

Havoc formed similarly, when Griffi n and Fears found them-selves bored on the bus to school. After freestyling together on the bus every day, the boys say they complemented each other so well that they decided to establish a partnership. “[Griffi n] was coming out with a mixtape, and he was like, that could be our mixtape,” recalls Fears.

Two years, a few inches and many Hawaiian shirts later, the boys say they have matured in their rap as they

aim to focus mainly on telling the audience a story through their lyrics. “It’s about pleasing the audi-

ence, giving them something to be proud of and relating to them. You want other people to feel that feeling you get when you make the music,” says Fears. Or, in freestyle form: “I blow crowds away, my nickname’s Hurricane Katrina.” Fears and Griffi n say they focus primarily on fi gurative

language like this because it deepens their music as a whole. “Puns are a big part of my rapping,”

explains Griffi n. He continues on with his wordplay, “For example, I might say, ‘My deliverance is lethal.

Don’t forget the weapon.’”

LAIR’S RAPPERS EMPHASIZE THAT, WHILE THEY think freestyling is important, inspired songwriting is also key to being successful. Members of Publik Theory

say that they picked up much of their lyrical skills after they became involved in Blair’s Slam Poetry club. “It taught me how to rap,” Briggs admits, to Oates’ agreement. In addition to their progress in the club, the boys say they found their biggest in-spiration in the Media Center. “I remember it like it was yes-terday,” Oates recalls as he adjusts himself upright in his chair, eager to tell the story of the group’s most prized possession. Oates says he was wandering the shelves when he felt himself drawn to one book in particular. “It just lit up,” he laughs. “It glowed.” The Wu Tang Manual gave the boys a new insight into the inner workings of what Oates sees as one of the most successful rap groups ever. “They were organized lyrically, it was like a monarchy,” says Briggs with admiration. The boys say that the book refi ned Publik Theory’s rap style as well as their thinking style. “It was our bible,” Oates praises.

The members of Havoc say they also took inspiration from books, especially the late rapper Tupac Shakur’s poetry anthol-ogies. While they look up to rappers from the past, they say they are inevitably infl uenced by the current music scene. Fears’ father J.R. is a professional music producer, and his family includes famous musicians such as Leroy Hutson and Bobby Womack.

The boys hope that these connections might be enough to push Havoc’s success to the next level. “I went on tour over the summer for a month and a half with my dad,”

Fears recalls. Since then, he says, he has been talking with pro-ducers in the studio. Griffi n says they have recorded a music video for a record label contest and hope to hear back soon.

Both groups say that their songwriting processes help them produce the best music possible. “We get a beat and everyone feeds off of it,” Briggs says of Publik Theory’s writing sessions. “We put ourselves in the position to tell the story. Then you have the pieces of the puzzle,” he explains. The boys say that many of these puzzle pieces are extensions of their own expe-riences. For one of their tracks “The Samurai Song,” Publik Theory drew inspiration from their rituals of eating Ramen noodles and watching samurai movies together. Briggs says he took this a step further and imagined himself living a day in the life of a Samurai in order to write the song.

Griffi n and Fears, on the other hand, say that they tend to focus solely on their real lives when writing songs. “We don’t write about what we don’t have,” says Fears, before freestyling a line to back up his point. “I’m the missing link to the game like fi , fi , fo. People say ‘you a rapper and a singer? Whoa!’” Griffi n jumps in to praise his friend. “All hail Shqai!” he says.

ESIDES BEING REGULARS ON THE OPEN MIC AND members of the Slam Poetry club, Publik Theory has per-formed at Silver Spring’s Pyramid Atlantic and the Civic

Center in Downtown Silver Spring. But the rappers say they are not rushing to invest themselves in the performance arena just yet. “We need to make more music fi rst,” Briggs and Oates agree. “Give us a little time to perfect our music craft. We really need perfection,” Briggs emphasizes.

One of Publik Theory’s drives to attain perfection, they say, is the atmosphere of competition. Publik Theory is rumored to have a rivalry with Northwood rap crew Backwards Society. “We’re cool with Spen-cer,” Briggs says of one Backwards Society rapper. “He makes really dope beats.” He also made a song called “[expletive] Josh,” a not-so-subtle shout out to Briggs. “I thought it was beautiful,” Briggs deadpans, exem-plifying Publik Theory’s resolve to focus on music over malice. “We don’t want to be known for a simple beef. Honestly, knowing that we do have a little competition makes us work harder,” Briggs adds.

When it comes to rivalries in the rap world, Griffi n isn’t getting involved. He and Fears use other rappers as motivation rather than competition. “I listen to other rappers so I know how not to rap,” he laughs. Fears has a different outlook; he avoids listening to the radio entirely in order to get away from outside infl uence. “I’ll start rapping like that person I just heard,” he says. Instead of using other rappers, Fears says, he relies on his and Griffi n’s combined talents. “We’re two different styles of people,” he says. “That’s what makes us go together,” Griffi n adds.

ITHIN BOTH GROUPS, MEMBERS FEED OFF OF each other’s talents and specialties. “We’re a brother-hood bond,” says Briggs. Even in casual conversation,

Oates’ love for rap shows as he jumps in with a poetic inter-pretation of the f r i e n d -

ship. “As a group, we are one body,” he says. “And as individuals we are the cells that keep it moving.”

Even individual rappers such as sophomore Jakob Little say that being able to use other people’s skills is crucial. “Hip hop is about get-ting to know other people’s styles and creating unison,” says Little, who adds that he does not usually record his raps unless they are featured on another artist’s track. Little says that rapping as an individual may give him an advantage over large groups, although he sees advantages in group writing as well. “I can go deeper into things than most of the rappers around here,” he says. “But in a group you have a lot more space for innovation.”

For Little and other Blair solo rappers, music is primarily for fun. “Rapping is not going to be my future, but it’s nice to know I’ll always have a way to express myself,” Little says. “If I’m hav-ing a bad day, I can just write about it.” Though Little’s rapping is more casual than career, he rec-ognizes and appreciates the efforts of the groups that are trying to make it big. “They’re defi nitely really respectable guys,” he says of Publik Theo-ry and Havoc. “They’re doing big things.”

ATES AND BRIGGS SAY THAT THEY try to prevent themselves from getting too confi dent in their talent. “Around this time

last year, I actually thought that we were going to be famous,” says Oates, while adjusting the black headphones hung around his neck. “Then I told myself: ‘Big Pun did it. He dropped out of high school and got famous.’ But unfortunately, I’m not Big Pun.” Both Publik Theory and Havoc value school work as well as rapping. “I like to fi nd balance in my work. So for one hour, I may freestyle and write a couple of verses down. Then the next, I may do a little homework,” Griffi n explains.

Both Publik Theory and Havoc have no plans to end their rap careers in the near future. The two groups hope to take

their time to improve their rapping skills, make demos and hopefully get recognized. “This is

business, this is our career,” says Fears. “We really want to take our time with the entire

process. We don’t want to be no one hit wonder like Soulja Boy.”

Other Blazers also enjoy the rap music scene that Blair offers. “Under-ground music is intricate, it has mul-tiple layers and styles,” explains Josh Dade, a senior who listens to some of

Publik Theory’s music online.John Rose, former Blair student and

rising mainstream rapper, says that he left Blair knowing that he was going to make it

big in the industry. Since graduating, he has been signed to the label Hot Track Records and has had

a single, “Can’t Back Down,” featured in the motion picture Bully Avengers.

Rose says he prides himself on sticking to his local roots while changing the face of the rap scene. “I’ve got to take over, kill all the fake rappers in this game. Hip hop needs a make-over,” he rhymes on his viral track “The Way Things Are.” Although Rose may be on the throes of fame, he says he still wants the best for his fellow Blair rappers. “Be humble, be true to yourself and don’t let anyone tell you you can’t make it,” Rose advises other rappers.

Josh Briggs rubs his hands together, licks his lips, and takes one dramatic breath as the a freestyle fl oods out. “Okay.... Okay... The last of a dying breed, but I am not a part of human anatomy. I disappear into the gal-

axy, my blood leaks a melody,” he rhymes.

T

ever, wasn’t satis-fi ed. “It sounds like an anal disease,” he

pretation of the f r i e n d -

his lips, and takes one dramatic breath as the a freestyle fl oods out. “Okay.... Okay... The last of a dying breed, but I am not a part of human anatomy. I disappear into the gal-

axy, my blood leaks a melody,” he rhymes.

for Blazers on the Boulevard. “Pleasing all my fans, that is the assign-ment,” raps Griffi n. “The game needs change and I’m the refi nement.”

“My eyes! My ears! Ahh! Just so good. So good!” Oates belts out in dis-belief while covering his eyes. The two rappers burst out in laughter, reveling in each other’s inventive-ness.

Fans also appreciate the artistry Blair’s rap-pers put into their craft. “I like how blunt it is,” says junior Mag-gie Sauber. “They’re not afraid to say what they want to say. I think freestyle is impres-sive.”

Despite the hope of one day impressing a major record label that will rocket them to fame, Publik Theory and Havoc plan

to continue performing

SHOW STOPPERS “Hawaiian” Brian Griffin performs at the SGR spectacular (Above). Publik Theory comes together to drop beats (Below).

ZEKE WAPNER

COURTESEY OF KHYRI BARNES

B

B

B

O

Story by Paris Parker-Loan

Desiree Aleibar

Photos byMelanie Sim

Zeke Wapner

Art by Julia Bates

Graphic by Hannah Weintraub

is rumored to have a rivalry with Northwood rap crew Backwards Society. “We’re cool with Spen-cer,” Briggs says of one Backwards Society rapper. “He makes really dope beats.” He also made a song called “[expletive] Josh,” a not-so-subtle shout out to Briggs. “I thought it was beautiful,” Briggs deadpans, exem-plifying Publik Theory’s resolve to focus on music over malice. “We don’t want to be known for a simple beef. Honestly, knowing that we do have a little competition makes us

When it comes to rivalries in the rap world, Griffi n isn’t getting involved. He and Fears use other rappers as motivation rather than competition. “I listen to other rappers so I know how not to rap,” he laughs. Fears has a different outlook; he avoids listening to the

demos and hopefully get recognized. “This is business, this is our career,” says Fears. “We

really want to take our time with the entire process. We don’t want to be no one hit wonder like Soulja Boy.”

Other Blazers also enjoy the rap music scene that Blair offers. “Under-ground music is intricate, it has mul-tiple layers and styles,” explains Josh Dade, a senior who listens to some of

Publik Theory’s music online.John Rose, former Blair student and

rising mainstream rapper, says that he left Blair knowing that he was going to make it

big in the industry. Since graduating, he has been signed to the label Hot Track Records and has had

a single, “Can’t Back Down,” featured in the motion picture

W

Features C5-C6

Junior Michelle McGhee won the SchoolJam Teen Field Reporter contest sponsored by InTune Magazine on December 1.

Blair’s It’s Academic Team finished second in the In-ternational Knowledge Master Open on December 5. 550 domestic and international high school programs competed in the event.

Junior Neil Davey won third place in the National round of the Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology on December 4. Davey and his compe-tition partner received $40,000 of scholarship money.

Junior Adrienne Kehne, co-captian of the Blair Spring Crew team, set a national record for the fastest wom-ens age 12-18 6k erg race with a time of 22:49.7.

Senior girls’ varsity soccer captain, Cherrah Barclay, recieved an honorable mention for the All-Met girls soccer team as a defender.

Then and Now and Student Awards & Honors were com-piled by Josh Schmidt, Dillon Sebastian and Paris Parker-Loan.

Student and Staff Awards & HonorsBlair’s Latin scholars participated in the Linganore High School Saturnalium Certamen on December 8. The Advanced Team made up of seniors Peter Adler Asch, Johnny Alderson and Adam Kadir placed first. Blair’s Latin I, II and III teams also won in their respec-tive categories.

Mr. Scott was profiled in a story on the Washington Post’s website on November 23. The feature focused on Scott’s use of original raps as a teaching tool in his math classes.

In early December, the rain begins to fall and gives a sense of winter in a gener-ally summery place. Winds blow, rain pours and the craving for hot chocolate grows greater among the townspeople. This is my country, Guatemala, where I spent the first eleven years of my life.

As you venture through the small towns, plazas and marketplaces, you’ll wit-ness one of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever seen: common areas decked with colorful tinsel, Christmas lights, fresh Easter flowers, apples and grapes. Glistening strands of white, red, green and gold tinsel are plastered around the city and street posts. Twinkling multi-colored lights shine from sunrise to sundown. Christmas ornaments decorate the yards of local houses, welcoming the Christmas season.

Throughout the month, dozens of festivities and classic traditions take over the town. Every year on December seventh, there is a typical Guatemalan ceremony called “the devil burning,” one of our most celebrated traditions. It’s a spiritual purification in which people build a devil doll out of old, useless objects and burn the devil to rid the house of impurities. As a kid, I loved to see these elaborate devil dolls catch fire.

A few days later, the week of Posadas begins, another one of my favorite tradi-tions. The tradition of Posadas consists of creating an altar with a nativity scene which is first enacted by people carrying figures of Joseph and Mary to different houses to simulate their voyage to Jerusalem. We create a group of pilgrims that go to nine different houses every night for nine days. We sing Christmas carols and ask the homeowners if they would allow us inside. We go into the house in search of baby Jesus, who is supposed to be in one of the nine homes. In each house, the other pilgrims and I received hot chocolate and sweet bread. The Posa-das end on the ninth night, Christmas Eve, when the pilgrims say, “we have fi-nally found baby Jesus,” who is represented by a baby doll. The baby is then taken to the church where religious leaders give a ceremony in celebration of his birth.

Christmas Eve is the most special night of all, since all the fun occurs that eve-ning. My cousins and I stand in front of the door, quickly preparing and remind-ing each other to have the fireworks ready. We wait in anticipation to see the clock strike midnight and run outside with overflowing bags of fireworks. We start to burn them, contributing to the mosaic of colors that light up the sky with lumines-cent reds, greens, whites and golds. The colors splashing on the sky seem like an artist’s paint splattering out and covering an empty canvas.

We celebrate with fireworks outside on the patio. Exchanging laughs and smiles, we light sparklers, making smoky circles in the air while the other family members are inside. Some eat delightful tamales and drink fruit punch. Inside the house some of them dance to Latin beats, others socialize, tell anecdotes of past Christmas celebration and share jokes with friends and neighbors. It almost seems as if time stops when we’re all together having a good time.

Most times on Christmas Eve, you will hear the boisterous laughs of my family members in the house, telling family stories or even just talking about those be-loved memories we all cherish. Once we are done burning fireworks, we go inside the house and get together to hug and wish each other a merry Christmas. At the end of every Christmas Eve we appreciate our own special way of celebrating the holiday season and share our hopes to make next years’ Christmas even better.

THEN:1959

& NOW:2012CHRISTMAS DRAMA Blair’s thespians club performs a production of The Mad Woman of Shiloh during their annual Christmas show.

THESPIANS Natalie Behrends, Mia Massimino and Anabel Milton participate in one act plays. COURTESY OF REGIS LEFEBURE

SILVERLOGUE ARCHIVES

December 20, 2012 Personal C8silverchips

Up and Coming

DEC 22:Winter break

JAN 14:Exams begin

JAN 21:MLK day

My Blair: Personal column

By Cindy Monge

Christmas in GuatemalaTradition, religion and heritage

COURTESY OF CINDY MONGE

TRADITIONAL Cindy celebrates Guatemala’s independece at age five.

COURTESY OF NYTIMES.COM

December 20, 2012C9 ADs silverchips

A family packs their Grand Caravan and pulls out of their garage onto 270, ap-proaching exit 18 at high speed. In the back-seat, their children giggle and sing along to Rocking Around the Christmas Tree as their grandparents sit next to them. As the clut-tered highway turns into winding roads, the family’s destination comes closer. They pull into a gravel driveway, just a short walk from a small lot of Christmas trees. They rush toward the lot and spot their tree, eagerly starting to saw it down. They found the perfect tree… but they probably never paused to think about the ten years of growth, labor, and luck that it took the tree to turn from a sapling to their twinkling evergreen centerpiece.

Thud

Christmas tree saplings are planted in the fall or the winter, depending on the cycle of the farm. “The trees are planted six inches into the ground, around the same depth as the nursery bed,” says Sterling King, owner of King’s Christmas Tree Farm in Clarks-burg, Maryland.

The 18-inch, three year old tree will be transported from a nursery in Pennsylva-nia for just fi fty cents apiece. Before they are planted in the farm with the rest of the trees, the saplings are deposited in the farm’s nursery beds, where they are protected with sawdust and sand to keep them warm. There they wait until their roots and branch-es are robust enough to be put into the same ground as the matured trees.

After a year or so the trees are transported from their nursery bed into the fl at Maryland fi elds with the rest of the trees.

Profi ting from trees

A man with a green baseball cap, tamed white beard, and scuffed brown leather boots walks from his silver pickup truck, sur-rounded by a red barn, a few houses, and 300 Christmas trees. King was a dairy farmer before he decided to give up his livestock and trade them in for the calmer, greener Christmas tree farm. “I just needed a new project,” he says.

At King’s farm, the m o s t p o p u -lar trees inc lude B l u e Spruce

hours of labor involved during harvest and delivery, according to Willey’s Christmas Tree Farm website.

Chopped

Back, forth. Crash! The air is fi lled with the fresh smell of evergreens and smokey fi re. Families searching for a tree walk in gig-gling with rosy cheeks sipping hot cocoa.

The perfect tree is different for every fam-ily: some like full, tall trees, while others ap-peal more to a simpler tree that frames their decorations. Shelley and Brenden, a couple from Maryland has opposing taste when it comes to picking their tree. “I like it when the tree has holes in it, so you can put in pretty ornaments; Brenden likes it when the tree has a large girth,” she says. They tease each other and laugh, their newborn sitting in the arms of their parents. “It’s our fi rst year coming [to Butler’s]. We used to live in Oregon where you could get your tree for ten dollars. We aren’t really used to this whole fi fty dollar tree thing,” he says.

Ron Crawford of Virginia traveled with his family to buy a Christmas tree on the way home from Thanksgiving. For Craw-ford, the tree just has to feel right. “We only really care about the look,” he says. “The kids like to pick it out and don’t like fake trees; we just need it to fi t under our low ceilings.” The kids picked out their tree, eyes glittering, and raced back to the warmth of their truck, ready to get home from their long weekend.

Emanuel Ceron, junior, went out to buy a Christmas tree when he was three with his brothers and parents. He found one that he really liked, but his brother liked a different one. Ceron and his brother fought so much about it that the tree was never purchased. “We were fi ghting and yelling at each other, and my parents decided just to buy neither of the trees and just get an artifi cial one,” he says.

Wood or plastic?

During the holiday season, the day after Thanksgiving is much anticipated because the fi rst tree is cut down at Maryland farms and artifi cials are displayed at big box stores. Artifi cial trees were originally invented by the Addis Brush Company in the 1930’s –a company that fi rst manufactured toilet bowl brushes—and have become in-

and Douglas fi r. “People like the Spruce because it is a heavy tree, which is good for all of the ornaments people like to put on these days,” says King. The Fir, which is just as popular at King’s farm, is much fl imsier than the full-bodied Spruce.

“It’s a lot of work to keep up the farm,” he says. “I have one employee that comes dur-ing the summer and [helps me] shape the trees [into Christmas tree shape] each year.” Because saplings cost fi fty cents, and the trees sell for fi fty dollars or more, it seems that there is a huge profi t margin. Much of the profi t, though, gets lost in the cost labor. “The biggest problem is labor; there is a lot of time tied up in the trees… I would not call it a full time job, though.”

King owns a small farm in comparison to the factory-like setting of Butlers Orchard. At the busy Germantown farm, cars zoom in and out of the parking lot with bounc-ing trees hanging two or three feet off of the side of their car. With 300 trees grown on his farm, King has to do less manual labor while Butler’s Orchard has thousands of Christ-mas trees on its 300 acres of land. The family owned business started to grow Christmas trees in the late 1970’s, around 70 years after the fi rst Christmas tree farm was established in 1901.

The next fi ve years

In the coming fi ve years, the trees will blossom huge, spiny green branches until they are ready to be bought. When it is trans-

planted from the nursery to the fi eld, Christmas trees are thrust fi ve to six feet apart in the ground in order for

them to grow and mature. Six to eight years later, assuming good conditions, the tree should be six or seven feet tall,

the perfect size for being sold.April showers (and fertilizer),

bring May fl owers (and strong Christmas trees). It is essential

that fertilizer be applied, grass cut around the tree and insects are watched for to maintain a healthy

tree. In November, fi ve years after they were planted in the fi elds, the trees are ready to be cut down. And this is where

the working gets tough. The number of hours spent planting, fertilizing, and

shearing the tree during the lifetime of a cultured Christmas tree almost

e q u a l s t h e

creasingly more popular among consumers.According to the Maryland Christmas

Tree Association (MCTA), about 85% of fake trees are made in China. These trees are usu-ally made with metal, plastic, and PVC, a potential lead poisoning hazard. Every year, the Christmas tree industry in the United States provides about 100,000 short-term jobs.

Many worry about their trees becoming a fi re hazard in their home and end up throw-ing them away before leaving on winter va-cation. Plastic trees are less likely to catch on fi re than dried out pine needles, but the MCTA states that artifi cial trees overloaded with lights can be just as dangerous.

Although fi re hazard may be a worri-some issue, natural Christmas trees provide environmental enrichment. According to the website of Willey’s Christmas Tree Farm, an acre of Christmas trees produces enough air daily for 18 people. Artifi cial trees can be more convenient, but even though around 35 million trees are cut down every year, 46 million seedlings are planted, making real Christmas trees safer for our environment and economy.

Lights, camera, Christmas

Lights twinkle and glitter around the full green tree. As people walk in green and red knit sweaters singing Christmas carols, pres-ents lie under the Christmas tree, ready to be crinkled and torn into the next morning. For Anna Hukill, freshman, the Christmas tree brings joy. “I like how they always make me feel happy and in a holiday spirit,” she says. For Brenden, Shelley and Crawford, the Christmas tree brings their family together. King feels as if cultivation of the tree pays off when it is put in his living room. “The smell of the tree in my house is my favorite part, ” he says. King decorates his tree simply with bulbs and lights, and special ornaments.

No matter how people grow and change year to year, or even if they move away their holiday traditions seem to stick with them. As lights fade, needles fall off branches, and Christmas turns into memo-ries, a new cycle of C h r i s t m a s trees start to grow, ready for the next generation.

EntertainmentSilver Chips December 20, 2012

During the holiday season, the day after Thanksgiving is much anticipated because the fi rst tree is cut down at Maryland farms and artifi cials are displayed at big box stores. Artifi cial trees were originally invented by the Addis Brush Company in the 1930’s –a company that fi rst manufactured toilet bowl brushes—and have become in-

and insects are watched for to maintain a healthy

tree. In November, fi ve years after they were planted in the fi elds, the trees are ready to be cut down. And this is where

the working gets tough. The number of hours spent planting, fertilizing, and

shearing the tree during the lifetime of a cultured

and Christmas turns into memo-ries, a new cycle of C h r i s t m a s trees start to grow, ready for the next generation.

C h r i s t m a s ready for the

nia for just fi fty cents apiece. Before they are planted in the farm with the rest of the trees, the saplings are deposited in the farm’s nursery beds, where they are protected with sawdust and sand to keep them warm. There they wait until their roots and branch-es are robust enough to be put into the same ground as the matured trees.

After a year or so the trees are transported from their nursery bed into the fl at Maryland fi elds with the rest of the trees.

Profi ting from trees

A man with a green baseball cap, tamed white beard, and scuffed brown leather boots walks from his silver pickup truck, sur-rounded by a red barn, a few houses, and 300 Christmas trees. King was a dairy farmer before he decided to give up his livestock and trade them in for the calmer, greener Christmas tree farm. “I just needed a new project,” he says.

At King’s farm, the m o s t p o p u -lar trees inc lude B l u e Spruce

The next fi ve years

In the coming fi ve years, the trees will blossom huge, spiny green branches until they are ready to be bought. When it is trans-

planted from the nursery to the fi eld, Christmas trees are thrust fi ve to six feet apart in the ground in order for

them to grow and mature. Six to eight years later, assuming good conditions, the tree should be six or seven feet tall,

the perfect size for being sold.April showers (and fertilizer),

bring May fl owers (and strong Christmas trees). It is essential

that fertilizer be applied, grass cut around the tree and insects are watched and insects are watched for to maintain a healthy

tree. In November, fi ve years after they were planted in the fi elds, the trees are ready to be cut down. And this is where

the working gets tough. The number of hours spent planting, fertilizing, and

shearing the tree during the lifetime of a cultured Christmas tree almost

e q u a l s t h e

The life of a tree from sapling to centerpieceBehind every Christmas pine is a long and jolly journey

D4 D4

“I went in one day and I was three dollars short but they just grinned and waved it away and said ‘no don’t worry about it,

never worry about it.’” -Senior Meg Lebow D2

By Jenna Kanner

COURTESY OF 1000 ELVESLEA

H H

AM

MO

ND

For the holidays, home is where the menu is By Alanna Natanson f e a -

t u r e s t h e c l a s s i c b u r g e r s and fries.

T h e r e ’ s also the egg cream, a fi zzy, mysterious mix of seltzer and chocolate sauce—a trademark of the 1950s that makes Woodside unique.

Other items sug- gest the deli’s Jewish heritage. The noodle-fi lled matzo ball soup is thick and hot, and cheese blintzes are a clas-sic.

Shakes are fi ve dollars, but they’re entirely worth it. It’s a good thing that Woodside provides a spoon to go along with the glass ice cream cup overfl owing with whipped cream, be-cause the shake is so thick that it barely fi ts through t h e straw.

C u s -t o m e r s are greet-ed with a smile and a “Go ahead and sit wher-ever.” Accord-ing to owner Paul Zlotnicki, the customer is always right. “We try to accommo-date customers no matter what,” he says. “We are there to satisfy customers.”

Satisfying customers has been the goal for 65 years. Zlotnicki bought Woodside in 1988 from the late Gus Harris, a S i l v e r Spring native whose parents owned Woodside before him. “For the last ten years, it’s been my family’s op-eration,” Zlot-nicki adds. His children operate the Wood-sides in Rockville and Germantown.

For Zlotnicki, the environ-ment is essential to success. “Not only do I want you to be impressed from the food point of view,” he says, “but also from the atmosphere point of view.”

Milton is impressed. “It’s just a really cute little atmosphere with a really sweet staff and really great comfort food,” she smiles.

A trip to Woodside is one deli-cious, comfy journey back in time.

The Silver Spring area is home to many res-taurants, but not all achieve a homey feel. Thanks to thick matzo ball soup and ex-otic bibimbap, cool salsa and foamy Ethi-opian cof-fee, diners can make themselves at home during the holiday sea-son.

apart. After Takoma Park is fi n-ished at the voting booths or Oc-cupy D.C., the next stop is Mark’s.

Salsa for Samantha’s

At Samantha’s, good Latin cook-ing runs in the family. Customers see it in the Salvadorian recipes, which manager Patricia Ventura says her parents handed down to her.

But it also shows, notes Ventura, in the Mexican, Cuban, Peruvian and Spanish cuisine that the Uni-versity Boulevard restaurant of-fers. “We have a variety of dishes, so we don’t just target one type of person,” she says.

The good food starts even be-fore the appetizer, when a cool and tangy salsa arrives at the table. Rice and beans are a simple but decadent order coated with gooey cheese. The pupusas, a family rec-ipe, are thick and warm, and the Mexican specialty carne asada is laden with fl avor.

The variety of cuisines attracts a diverse crowd. “At the begin-ning, our clientele was mainly His-panics,” Ventura recalls. “But we went from having just Hispanics to having Americans, Asians, Afri-can-Americans. It opened the door to diversity.”

Samantha’s white linen table-cloths may seem ritzy, but the up-beat Latin music and smiling staff put customers at ease. “We’re very family-oriented,” notes Ventura.

Junior Kelsey Terhune-Cotter agrees that Samantha’s is a perfect place for her family. “We can get a little loud sometimes, but they’re fi ne with that,” she says.

Family is important at Saman-tha’s; after all, the restaurant shares its name with Ventura’s younger sister. “When we fi rst opened, she was fi ve years old,” Ventura says. “And now she’s a 16-year-old in high school.”

Ventura’s parents, Maria and Jorge Garcia, launched the restau-rant in 2001. After working in El Salvador and the U.S., the Garcias were ready for a business of their own. “They wanted something for themselves,” says Ventura.

After a few years, the parents passed the restaurant on to Ven-tura and her brother, Johnny.

At Samantha’s, the custom-ers have become close. “Many of our customers are local,” Ventura adds, “so it’s like having family away from home.”

Terhune-Cotter says she goes because of the staff. “They’re very friendly, they’re accommodating,” she comments.

Even if diners don’t know a word of Spanish, it’s easy to slide in for a Garcia family meal.

Woodside rituals

Woodside Deli has been a land-mark on Georgia Avenue since 1947, and it has the pictures to prove it. The dining room is cov-ered with photos circa 1950s and 60s featuring everyone from Stalin to Marilyn Monroe.

Stars, politicians and even pin-up girls cover the faded wallpaper, refl ecting light onto the smooth wood tables and yards of condi-ments.

Junior Anabel Milton says the pictures give the place a homey feel. “The whole ambiance of the place just really reminds you of the classics of older times,” she notes.

The old-fashioned atmosphere is evident in the menu also, which

Kefa serves a traditional Ethiopian coffee, rich and bitter. Arriving in a fl oral porcelain mug, the cafe latte’s swirls of milky foam hint at the warm coffee below.

The sandwiches also stand out. On a wintry day, diners can bask in sundried tomatoes atop the Spring Classics sandwich.

Even after the 100th visit to Kefa, something about the small sunlit rooms and smiling staff sim-ply never gets old.

Masses at Mark’s

The only time M a r k ’ s Kitchen wouldn’t be jam-packed is after a 50-foot snowstorm. Laugh-ter bounces off the bright walls of the Takoma Park hotspot, punc-tuating the clatter of banging pots and the hiss of simmering food.

Servers race by, sending the community notices fl ying as they greet clusters of customers at the door.

But Mark’s staff thrives on cha-os. Owner Mark Choe himself is always on hand, waving and chat-ting with regulars, leaning down to fi x tables, picking up kids he’s known forever.

The rest of the staff is equally nice, smiling and laughing invit-ingly even after the hundredth customer. According to sophomore Atalie Fischer, that happens all the time. “One lady always gives me extra pancakes,” she says.

Hal Shay, Mark’s Kitchen’s man-ager, traces the friendliness of the restaurant to the relaxed work en-vironment. “There are no rules the staff has to follow. They are much more laid-back,” laughs Shay.

The no-rules part harkens back to the restaurant’s begin-nings, when Takoma Park was the “Berkeley of the East,” according to Shay, and tofu was the most im-portant food group. “Takoma Park has changed a bit,” says Shay. “It’s a bit more stolid.”

As the years have passed Mark’s has remained colorful. “Every-thing about the place is offbeat,” says Shay, “from the menu to the staff. We still are the Takoma Park of 21 years ago.”

Twenty-one years ago, Choe was ready to open a business after working for other Korean immi-grants. “They can do, I can do,” Choe told the Takoma Park Gazette in October.

The fl avors of Choe’s Korean and American homes both emerge in the food. Bacon and eggs go well together, but so do crispy home fries and the quiche-like mung bean pancakes. Customers can or-der Choe’s signature spinach tofu cakes and chocolate-y milkshake in the same breath.

That’s Choe’s trademark. “From the beginning, he was into fusion—combining Korean style with American basics,” says Shay.

Regulars are so familiar with that fusion, adds Shay, that they don’t even need to look at a menu. “When we train new people,” Shay

says, “we always start off by telling them that their cus-

tomers will prob-ably know

t h e menu p a r t

b e t -ter than

they do.”T h e

community a t m o s p h e re

sets Mark’s

“I’ll be home for Christmas” really codes for, “I’ll be home to go out to eat.”

The holiday season is not all about presents. It’s about pigging out at a favorite restaurant – the kinds of restaurants where the staff asks how biology is going as they serve “the usual,” where teenagers can still fi nd the crayon mark they made as toddlers.

These are, in short, the best places to go for the holidays.

Kefa kindness

Lene Tsegaye proudly points to the collage of baby photos that cover the sunny yellow wall at Kefa Café. Tsegaye, the owner of the Silver Spring cafe, says the photos stream in from

beloved customers. “Most of those kids have gone on to college

by now,” she smiles.Senior Meg Lebow is in one of

those pictures. She explains that she has loved Kefa ever since she started going in elementary school. “It’s just really homey,” she says. “You get one of their chipped fl ow-ery mugs. It’s not like Starbucks where you get one of those paper cups with your drink marked on the side.”

Tsegaye believes in upholding the Ethiopian coffee tradition. “In Ethiopia,” says Tsegaye, “coffee is a social drink. It’s served three times a day. You sit down togeth-er, you talk. We want to bring the idea of that.”

Everything about Kefa evokes that warm comfy feeling. The cin-namon-scented air streams around the small tables along with toasty sunlight, buoyed by the humming coffee machine.

Kefa is an artist’s haven, from the mural on the outside to the paintings from local artists that hang on the walls.

Lene and her brother, Abiy, opened Kefa in 1996, after grow-ing up in their parent’s restaurant in Ethiopia. “My brother Abiy al-ways wanted to own a business.

So he did a ton of research, and he chose this area,” says Abeba Tse-gaye, who joined her siblings in the business a few months later.

Along with cooking skills, the Tsegayes inherited their parent’s motto: treat the customer as you would want to be treated. “If we’re treated well, we also treat you the right way,” says Abeba. “We want this to be like your home.”

Lebow says that the kindness is evident. “I went in one day and I was three dollars short,” Lebow recalls. “But they just grinned and waved it away, and said, ‘no don’t worry about it, never worry about it.’ And that’s something you don’t fi nd at a lot of places.”

It’s no surprise that Kefa’s cof-fee is incredible, since the

coffee bean originated in Ethiopia some

1400 years a g o .

good thing that Woodside provides a spoon to go along with the glass ice cream cup overfl owing with whipped cream, be-cause the shake is so thick that it barely fi ts through t h e

C u s -t o m e r s are greet-ed with a smile and a “Go ahead and sit wher-ever.” Accord-ing to owner Paul Zlotnicki, the customer is

The holiday season is not all about presents. It’s about pigging out at a favorite restaurant – the kinds of restaurants where the staff asks how biology is going as they serve “the usual,” where teenagers can still fi nd the crayon mark they made as toddlers.

These are, in short, the best places to go for the holidays.

Lene Tsegaye proudly points to the collage of baby photos that cover the sunny yellow wall at Kefa Café. Tsegaye, the owner of the Silver Spring cafe, says the photos stream in from

beloved customers. “Most of those kids have gone on to college

Senior Meg Lebow is in one of those pictures. She explains that she has loved Kefa ever since she started going in elementary school. “It’s just really homey,” she says. “You get one of their chipped fl ow-ery mugs. It’s not like Starbucks where you get one of those paper cups with your drink marked on the side.”

Tsegaye believes in upholding the Ethiopian coffee tradition. “In Ethiopia,” says Tsegaye, “coffee is a social drink. It’s served three times a day. You sit down togeth-er, you talk. We want to bring the idea of that.”

Everything about Kefa evokes that warm comfy feeling. The cin-namon-scented air streams around the small tables along with toasty sunlight, buoyed by the humming coffee machine.

Kefa is an artist’s haven, from the mural on the outside to the paintings from local artists that hang on the walls.

Lene and her brother, Abiy, opened Kefa in 1996, after grow-ing up in their parent’s restaurant in Ethiopia. “My brother Abiy al-ways wanted to own a business.

So he did a ton of research, and he chose this area,” says Abeba Tse-gaye, who joined her siblings in the business a few months later.

Along with cooking skills, the Tsegayes inherited their parent’s motto: treat the customer as you would want to be treated. “If we’re

“When we train new people,” Shay says, “we always start off by

telling them that their cus-tomers will prob-

ably know

a t m o s p h e re sets Mark’s

in Ethiopia some 1400 years

a g o .

really sweet staff and really great

A trip to Woodside is one deli-cious, comfy journey back in time.

The Silver Spring area is home to many res-taurants, but not all achieve a homey feel. Thanks to thick matzo ball soup and ex-otic bibimbap, cool salsa and foamy Ethi-opian cof-fee, diners can make themselves at home during the holiday sea-son.

The old-fashioned atmosphere is evident in the menu also, which

c l a s s i c b u r g e r s and fries.

T h e r e ’ s also the egg cream, a fi zzy, mysterious mix of seltzer and chocolate sauce—a trademark of the 1950s that makes Woodside unique.

Other items sug- gest the deli’s Jewish heritage. The noodle-fi lled matzo ball soup is thick and

“I’ll be home for Christmas” really codes for, “I’ll be home to go out to eat.”

December 20, 2012 D2 Entertainment silverchips

ZEKE WAPNER

Spring native whose parents owned

operate the Wood-sides in Rockville and

For Zlotnicki, the environ-

December 20, 2012D3 ADs silverchips

Santa Clause

silverchips

The big man in red is reported to be on schedule for what is to be his two-hun-dred and thirty-ninth Christmas. According to Santa’s Workshop aids close to Saint Nick, the sleigh has been modifi ed to better withstand the 650 miles per second that it must travel in order to deliver presents to an estimated 378 million children. In addition, Santa will also be sporting a brand new super-adjustable belt to make his consumption of 5,558 tons of cookies and 5,908,893 gallons of milk more comfort-able. It has also been reported that the 214,200 fl ying reindeer it will take to haul the sleigh’s massive cargo load, weighing in at 321,300, have been fed and are in fi ne health.

While the notorious Naughty or Nice list is the most classifi ed document in mod-ern history, a anonymous source has told Silver Chips that there is little variation in the numbers on either side of the list from year to year, an election year always mixes things up.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is ready and wait-ing to begin their fi fty-seventh year of satellite tracking Santa’s 31-hour journey. As is usual, Santa will begin his grand tour in Australia and move from time zone to time zone with the rotation of earth. To stay tuned on his movements, go to www.noradsanta.org.

thinking, “Something isn’t right here...”, writers are making big societal state-

Best of winter round upby Ruth Aiken, Puck Bregstone, Peter McNally and Sarah Wilson

Myspace—the ad infested, bloated mess of a social network fi lled with people you do not want to interact with and features you do not want to use—has been transformed into a slick, (dare I say it) well designed music discovery service. But, behind this classy facade lies the bile of the Myspace’s past.

Myspace used to be the king of all things social because no one knew bet-ter. Since the introduction of Faceboook and Twitter, Myspace has become an afterthought with a dwindling community and cluttered, unappealing design.

Myspace is not looking to cut into Facebook’s and Twitter’s market share, a feat a it would undeniably fall short of. Instead, Myspace is creating a differ-ent service focused on music discovery.

The latest redesign, still in beta form is best described as a beautiful com-bination of other already existing services. The new Myspace at its core has the same problem as the new Hobbit fi lm. A gorgeous looking product that instead of combining lots of different interesting aspects does a lousy job at reproducing several other existing sites or in the case of The Hobbit, movies.

Its fun to use but I had no reason to return. Sure it’s a photo and video sharing site with a wealth of music to curate and listen to but its ultimately inferior to our favorite, well established, social networks and tools.

upupby Ruth Aiken, Puck Bregstone, Peter McNally and Sarah Wilson

Sure the age difference between Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence is borderline weird. Sure you can guess the ending of the movie just by watching the trailer and knowing what happens when two beautiful, A-list actors are put in a movie with a couples’ dance competition as the central plot element. Sure you can guess the plot twist if you’ve been studying up on your Christo-pher Nolan movies. But somehow the mystical combination of Eagles’ football jokes, Robert DeNiro’s sweet grumblings and an honest look at mental illness and emotional disorders manages to make the two hour dramedy feel comfort-ing, warm and meaningful.

It’s refreshing to see a dysfunctional family that has both heart and tragedy behind all the eccentrics and yelling. For those questioning the likability of Lawrence or the merits of Cooper the fi lm makes a compelling case for their ability as artists as they gracefully play characters both likable and familiar to anyone who has watched a close one struggle with emotional challenges or ex-perienced them personally. The value of Silver Linings comes from its ability to take the old story of odd couples and unlikely romance, put it in the context of tragedy and emotional dysfunction and say something pretty new and very real about modern love.

Silver Linings Playbook National Zoo’s light display Zoolights seems like a marriage of two crowd-pleasing attractions: festive holiday

lights and the National Zoo. The animals roam in their pens alongside electrically lit replicas of themselves, and holiday-themed activities line the pathway through the zoo.

With the National Zoo just a Metro ride away, the annual Zoolights display is nothing if not accessible. The complimentary shuttle that awaits visitors at the Woodley Park Metro stop initially seems like a welcome respite from the cold, but walking those few blocks to the zoo will spare you the bus’s indescribably awful Christmas music. Even the most fanatic of Christmasphiles cannot tolerate what sounds like the loud collective voice of a thousand demented china dolls warbling “Jingle Bells”. Resounding demands to “Turn this off!” and a busload of people cringing and covering their ears puts a damper on the holiday spirit.

The torturous shuttle ride, however, does make arrival at the glowing gates of the zoo more welcoming. Whimsical light displays add another dimension to the every-day attraction of the zoo. The life-size light-up elephant is as much of a crowd-pleas-er as the real thing. Glittering “rain” that descends from the tree branches trans-ports crowds to a tropical rainforest, even as visitors tug on scarves and mittens.

The bustling atmosphere and friendly vibe make Zoolights a fun, cheap option for a night out with friends. Still, it’s geared toward younger audiences and there’s always that lingering smell of stale animal poop.

The new Myspace

PETER

MC

NA

LLY

D4 Entertainment December 20, 2012

COURTESY OF WWW.WEBSUDOKU.COM

Across1- Cook in its juice6- Parade fl oat for Pablo10- Pile of garbage14- King Henry VIII procedure15- Ancient Greek City 16- Lonely pond organism17- Liquid present for a Corpse?19- Classic Snack for App. Trail20- Held on to21- Large manor23- Nightly disturbance for a prin-

cess24- Tree of life?26- Shoe gift for a paver?28- Bargain homeless person?32- New York Mets pitcher Dillon33- Consumed34- Ecological Region37. Votes of no confi dence41- Circus structure43- Units of wonder?45- Voluminous spit46- Motivation for a horse47- Sum of parts49- JFK. schedule info50- International Monetary Org.53- Doesn’t miss a puddle55- Cheesy gift for an shakespear-

ean actor?

59- Preceded drum60- Historical section61- Faust author64- Crepe buyer?68- Lite, for example70- Kitchen gift for a therapist?72- Dog to bone activity73- Place at the table74-Bird of prey75- Lighten up on76- Strong desires77- Sin of Ebenezer Scrooge

Down1- Enjoy one’s glory2- Poker starter3- Cut4- Clumped together5- Will Ferrell, for example6- Rate parts7- Used to be burning, as a candle8- Nice government?9- Thick Paper10- Witch11- Runaway love goal12- See eye to eye with13- Belonging to the Pope18- Supports an argument22- Before, poetically25- St. with unicameral legislature

27- Egg developers28- Faces the pitcher29- Longhorn St. School30- Food list31- Treasure and spoils35- Revolutionary Chairman36- Newts on land38- Planet Inhabitors39- Siberian snow monster40- Ugly duckling ending42- Haircut44- Cotton fabric48- Open crop fi eld51- Family girl52- Flynt who likes to dance54- Before battle55- Maze outline56- Home of the Portland Trail-

blazers57- Papas companions58- Mocking sound, variation62- Either Mr. Pham, For ex-

ample63- Lands a punch65- Conscious whim66- Abnormal lung crackle67- ‘Chips piece69- Be indebted to71- Drink unit

PRESENTSby Devin Rutan and Michael Morganstein

Devolution

Feel the burn

Undead Understanding November Solutions

December 20, 2012 silverchips

Time well spent

Sudoku

Chips Clips D5

Spanglish: una mezcla de dos culturasPor Yessica Somoza

El programa “InDesign” utilizado para realizar

el periódico de la escuela, está diseñado para la

lengua Inglesa. Con tal propósito, Silver Chips of-

rece disculpas por cualquier error gramatical que

tengan las páginas de La Esquina Latina después

de haber sido intensamente editadas.

Gracias.

La Esquina LatinaSilver Chips 20 de diciembre de 2012

El voto Latino clave en las elecciones de noviembre

En las elecciones pasadas casi 24 millones de hispanos fueron elegibles para votar, un incre-mento de más de 4 millones de hispanos desde las elecciones del 2008. La comunidad hispana no sabía que iba a jugar un papel tan fundamental en las elecciones nacionales hasta la noche en que se dieron a conocer los resultados del triunfo del Presidente Obama.

El presidente Barack Obama ganó la reelección el martes 6 de noviembre gracias a los niveles casi sin precedentes de apoyo de los votantes latinos, quienes salieron a respaldarlo en grandes cantidades en vez que al candi-dato republicano Mitt Romney.

Una encuesta de ImpreMedia-Latino Decisiones mostró que Obama había ganado el 75 por ciento de los votos latinos en todo el país, mientras que las encuestas de salida encontraron que había gana-do alrededor del 70 por ciento del apoyo latino. Los republicanos van a tener que verdaderamente subsanar su relación con la comunidad latina.

El país está cada vez más diverso, con un número creciente de ciudada-nos latinos. Estos cambios demográ-fi cos signifi carán un problema para el Partido Republicano si se man-tienen en su trayectoria actual espe-cialmente entre los votantes latinos.

Sin embargo, a raíz de las elec-ciones presidenciales del 2012, ha habido un largo debate sobre el fracaso del partido republi-cano para atraer el voto latino.

Para los latinos el tema de la

Cuando un inmigrante llega a los Estados Unidos, el primer obstáculo que enfrenta es el lenguaje. Debería aprender inglés pero al mismo tiempo quiere hablar español.

Para los hijos de estos inmigrantes, esta decisión es algo a lo que se enfrentan cada día. ¿Deberían ellos ser empujados a hablar sólo en inglés? En vez de escoger solo una lengua, esta generación bilingüe está comprometiéndose a escoger las dos culturas de las cuales ellos forman parte.

Ahora es más común oír a jóvenes hablar español pero con unas cuantas peculiari-dades. Tal vez suena un poco extraño porque estos jóvenes están introduciendo el inglés en su español.Los jóvenes latinos que han crecido en el mismo ambiente hablan entre ellos mismos usando algo llamado “Spanglish,” una combinación de inglés

¿Y tú, qué PIENSAS?

“Sí. Todas las personas deben tener los mismos derechos apesar de su orientación sexual.”Elizabeth Rodriguez,

Doceavo grado

“Sí. No deberían de haber reglas que impidan el ma-

trimonio entre personas del mismo sexo.“

Nelson Medrano, Doceavo grado

“Sí. Yo estoy de acuerdo porque el género de una persona no debería importar en el verda-

dero amor “

Selena Sánchez, Doceavo grado

Una nueva imagen para empezar un nuevo año

Año nuevo, vida nueva. Es decir, que lo viejo tiene que salir, para en-trar al año nuevo con el pie derecho, de una manera próspera y positiva. Los editores de la página de español hemos decido hacerle un cambio radical a nuestra página de Silver Chips: La Esquina Latina, para que nuestros lectores tengan una conex-ión más legítima con los escritores.

En cada ciclo, nos enfocare-mos en temas de mucha impor-tancia para nuestros estudiantes latinos, bilingües y los que están aprendiendo la lengua española.

El motivo por el cual hemos cambiado y mejorado la página es para agradar a nuestros lectores. Somos conscientes que la página no ha tenido ningún cambio en

Por Claudia Quiñonez

Por Karen Tituana

particular por los últimos dos años. En este nuevo año y ciclo nos

comprometemos a mejorar la pá-gina cada vez más y más para com-placer a nuestros queridos lectores. Queremos darle una nueva cara a nuestra sección para que nuestros lectores puedan deleitarse mucho más con nuestros artículos.También deseamos que puedan disfrutar y entender nuestro nuevo diseño.

Esta vez no hemos enfocado en traerles a ustedes una página que utilice el espacio de la mejor manera posible. Además, esta-mos incluyendo nuestra nueva versión que “¿Sabías qué”, con el fin de entretener a nuestros lectores con datos interesantes de las culturas, tradiciones de los diversos lugares del mundo.

También hemos reediseña-

do la página para hacerla más atractiva. El cambio está in-spirado en la tranformación y metamorfosis de una mariposa.

Esta empieza siendo un gusano convirtiéndose en un bello insecto volador através de los cambios y trancisiones a la cuales está sometida. En el año que se nos acerca y con el impulso de mejo-rar, estamos ansiosos con lo que el 2013 nos tiene preparado para las páginas de La Esquina Latina.

Cada año nos proponemos una nueva meta. Nuestra meta en este nuevo año es de tener la capacidad de poder informarlos de una manera más efectiva, con los acontecimientos que pasan en Blair, y en nuestra comunidad. Además, tenemos como objetivo exponer los temas mas importantes

en nuestra comunidad Latina. Aparte de eso, queremos resaltar la importancia que tienen estos temas en nuestra escuela y cómo estos hechos nos afectan de una manera directa. Nuestro deber es infomarlos, pero aún más que eso, nuestro deber es educarlos acerca de los temas más sobresalientes

Aparte de traerles la últimas noticias queremos divertirlos con historias que marcan de al-guna manera nuestra vida diaria.

Para nosotros es importate que nuestros lectores conozcan y aprenda n de nuestras culturas. Por medio de un diseño más pro-fesional y con mas información relevante. Finalmente, queremos agradecerles por su apoyo e interé al leer y conocer nuestra página.

y español. Las palabras son tomadas del inglés pero dándole un sentido en español.

Por ejemplo, en vez de decir “hoy ire-mos al centro comercial”, mucha gente sustituye lo que debería ser llamado el “centro comercial” con la palabra “mol” derivada de la palabra en inglés “mall”.

Similarmente hay muchas otras palabras tomadas del inglés al español con el in-tento de formar una fusión entre las dos

inmigración es un tema de gran importancia, así también como el tema del empleo y la economía. Sin embargo, para muchos votantes latinos el tema de la inmigración es algo parecido a una prueba. Si un político parece tener la intención de insultar a los inmigrantes latinos

o faltarles el respeto en general, o si el partido parece estar desinte-resado en ganarse el voto latino, el apoyo hacia ese partido no ocurrirá.

Eso fue lo que sucedió este año con el partido republicano y con la campaña de Romney. En estas vota-ciones se puede ver claramente de que los latinos se identifi caron mejor con Obama en varios temas políticos y también de que se sintieron más integrados y parte de estas elec-ciones por la razón de que al partido demócrata le parecía importarle realmente conseguir el voto latino.

En todos los estados encuestados por Latino Decisions, la inmigración

fue un factor importante en las de-cisiones de los latinos. La mayoría de los electores latinos apoyan las políticas del presidente sobre el tema, aunque no haya logra-do cumplir con muchas de ellas.

El Acta de Ensueño, un proyecto de ley para ayudar a los jóvenes in-

documentados, cuenta con el apoyo de una gran mayoría de votantes latinos, y muchos de e-llos estaban más entusiasmados con el presi-dente después de su anuncio en junio sobre la acción diferida en la cual ya no deportará a jóvenes inmi-grantes indocumentados que cum-plan con los requisitos requeridos.

En la cámara de Representantes de los Estados Unidos, también han habido cambios con la presencia de los nuevos representantes lati-nos. La Cámara de Representantes tendrá más congresistas hispanos que nunca cuando empiece el próximo período legislativo con

la presencia de nueve nuevos representantes latinos.Los nuevos congresistas de la Cámara de Rep-resentantes federal se sumarán a los 19 que ya pertenecían al Con-greso y lograron la reelección. En total serán 23 latinos demócratas y cinco republicanos entre los 435 congresistas en la cámara alta.

Muchos de estos senadores y congresistas vienen de raíces muy humildes, lo cual los ayudará a comprender a su comunidad y posiblemente lograr cambios en el congreso para poder benefi cia-rlos con una reforma migratoria.

Entre los tantos latinos elegidos se encuentra el demócrata Joaquín Castro, un mexicano-americano de segunda generación oriundo de San Antonio, graduado de Harvard y hermano del alcalde de San Antonio.

Por otro lado, el republicano Ted Cruz hizo historia al con-vertirse en el primer latino en representar a Texas en el Senado.

Con la elección de los políticos latinos, sin duda los Estados Unidos se va adaptando poco a poco a una realidad, en la que la población de origen hispano que ya suma más de cincuenta millones de habitantes.

Estos tienen unas ganas enormes de cambiar las cosas en el congreso y fi nalmente han encontrado su voz.

Es difícil tratar de pronosticar las circunstancias políticas de la elección presidencial del 2016.

Cabe destacar que el voto hispano tuvo mucho efecto en el éxito electoral del presidente Obama este año ,y podría ten-er mucha mas influencia sig-nifi cativa en futuras elecciones.

como, “gugulear”, “textear” o “printear.” Para los jóvenes que hablan un idioma

en la escuela y otro en la casa, Spanglish es una forma de expresarse y de tam-bién sentirse que son parte de algo único.

A medida que esta generación de jóvenes latinos toma su lugar en el mundo, vamos a empezar a ver mucho más de esto y no sólo en conversaciones entre ellos mismos, pero con el mundo entero. Hay muchos ejemplos de la mezcla del español y el inglés pero uno de los más nuevos es el que se ve en los mensajes de texto. Las abreviaciones para palabras usadas en el mensaje en español son casi incomprensibles para alguien que no está familiarizado con este tipo de lenguaje. Para esta generación de jóvenes latinos son una parte esencial en sus textos diarios.

Senior Selena Sánchez dice, “yo hablo en Spanglish todo el tiempo, especialmente con mi mamá. Es muy fácil y divertido.”

¿Estas de acuerdo con los matrimonios del mismo

sexo?

Por Rolando Alvarenga

Maryland a la vanguardia por los soñadores

Costos

Según la Concejal Ana Sol Gutiérrez , esta dice que: “tiene tantos, peros, comas, y restricciones” ya que es la única ley de to-dos los estados que requiere que los estudi-antes vayan a una colegio comunitario por un mínimo de dos años y después se trans-fieran a una universidad, si así lo desean.

Cabe recalcar que es “Un paso enorme, esta ley va a dar acceso a los estudiantes que sencillamente no tenían el dinero para pagar las matrículas más altas.” Según la Universidad de Maryland, un estudi-ante indocumentado (aquel que no posee ningún tipo de documentación estatus le-gal) tiene que pagar alrededor de 28,000 dólares anuales. Con el Acta del Sueño, los estudiantes solo pagarían 8,000 dólares.

Estudiantes

Los soñadores de nuestra es-cuela están muy felices porque final-mente podrán cumplir sus sueños.

Caro, una estudiante del doceavo, que in-migró a los Estados Unidos cuando tenía 9 años dice estar “contenta, saltaba de alegría cuando me enteré que (Acta del Sueño de Maryland) había pasado, llamé a mi tía a Nueva York para contarle la noticia”. El Acta del Sueño de Maryland les dará a los estudiantes la oportunidad de cumplir sus sueños, Caro dice que: “quiero convertirme en pediatra y ser una mejor persona”.

Introducción

Los estudiantes soñadores de las escuelas y universidades del estado de Maryland es-taban ansiosos y preocupados desde hace muchos meses. Los votantes registrados del estado estaban decidiendo por una ley edu-cativa que daría acceso a las universidades del estado a todos los estudiantes que no cuentan con un estatus migratorio, pagando el mismo monto que paga cualquier otro estudiante residente o ciudadano de este país.

Pasada la media no-che del 6 de noviembre del 2012, vale decir ya en la madrugada del 7 de noviembre la no-ticia fue anunciada, el Acta del Ensueño de Maryland había ganado con el 59% de los votos.

Los soñadores, al oír esta noticia esta-ban eufóricos, gritaban, lloraban y saltaban de alegría…¿por qué?, por-que sus sueños de ir a la universidad esta-ban más cerca de hac-erse una realidad. Por segunda vez, después de mucho tiempo de dilema y discusión el Acta Del Ensueño de Maryland estaba siendo aprobada nuevamente.

Fondo Histórico y Político

El Acta del Sueño es una ley que ha sido presentada en el Congreso muchas veces desde el 2001. En ninguna de las oportuni-dades ha sido aprobada. El Acta del Sueño, es una ley que promete a los llamados “so-ñadores” estudiar y un camino probable hacia un estatus legal migratorio en el país.

Al Acta del Sueño no haber sido pasada a nivel federal, los distintos estados de la

nación han creado sus actas a nivel estatal. En este momento, doce estados en la nación ya tienen leyes que ayudan a los estudi-antes indocumentados a pagar matrículas estatales. Maryland es el único estado que ha llevado esta ley para un referéndum y también ha sido el primero en ganarla.

Ana Sol Gutiérrez, Concejal del Con-dado de Montgomery que representa al distrito 18 dice que “Fue una alegría enorme, sigo con un tremendo orgul-lo. Es un logro sumamente importante desde el punto de vista político.

Esto le envía un mensaje a los Estados Unidos de encontrar una solución al prob-lema político y no pon-er barreras a los jóvenes que no tienen ninguna culpa por encontrarse en esa situación.”

Así como Ana Sol Gutiérrez, hay muchos políticos que le han dado apoyo al Acta del En-sueño desde sus inicios.

Otrosimpatizante del acta es Hans Riemer, Concejal del Condado de Montgomery, dice que: “Estoy muy orgulloso de los destacados resi-dentes y votantes de Maryland. Se tomaron su tiempo para conocer so-bre el complicado prob-lema y se mantuvieron firmes con su decisión:

queremos que todos nuestros residentes tengan la oportunidad a una educación. No vamos a crear una subclase en nuestro es-tado, donde nuestros jóvenes más talento-sos no puedan desarrollar sus habilidades y contribuir a nuestra comunidad. Vamos a darle la oportunidad a todos de contribuir”.

Una estudiante de Blair dice “Me sien-to muy feliz de saber que muchos rep-resentantes del estado nos apoyan. Yo siempre supe que esta ley sería aproba-da, porque tenemos muchos apoyos.”

Educadores por la educación

Nuestra escuela, es un lugar diverso en el que personas de distintas culturas, religiones y costumbres se combinan. Muchas veces tenemos compañeros que son soñadores. La Sra. Coombs, una de las muchas maestras que

está aliada de los soñadores dice estar:” muy contenta cuando la ley pasó. El día que fui a votar, vote por mis estu-diantes. Es muy importante. No quiero ver a mis niños tra-bajando, quiero ver a mis estu-diantes en la universidad”.

La Sra. Ruopp dice tam-bién:” estar muy contenta por la victoria de los soñadores ya que he enseñado a muchos de estos estudiantes que tienen mucho talento y que solamente desean ser mejores personas…

me siento muy contenta por su victoria.”Las dos maestras concluyen que la victoria

de los soñadores es algo que va a beneficiar a muchos de sus estudiantes que pensaban que no tenían ningún tipo de esperanza al termi-nar la escuela secundaria. La Sra. Coombs concluyó diciendo “Están dispuestos a con-tribuir a la economía de América, pero se lo hacemos difícil.”, esto lo dice por la dificultad que existió al estar intentando pasar el acta.

Conclusión

El acta del Ensueño de Maryland de-muestra al resto de la nación que los ciu-dadanos del estado se preocupan por el bienestar y educación de sus estudiantes.

Saben que la educación es la mejor inver-sión que los ciudadanos de un país puedan obtener, de esa manera se tendrán más pro-fesionales con estudios superiores, como por ejemplo: profesores, científicos, médicos, abogados, ingenieros y muchas otras pro-fesiones que contribuirán al engrandec-imiento de los Estados Unidos de América.

20 de Diciembre, 2012 La Esquina Latina E2silverchips

¿Sabías qué?

El primer árbol de navidad fue creado en el norte de Europa por un evangelizador llamado San Bonifa-cio. Cuando los primeros cristianos llegaron al norte de Europa, ellos observaron que los nativos europeos usaban un árbol para venerar a Frey, dios de la lluvia y la fertilidad.

Cuando las tradiciones cristianas empezaron a ser parte de las tradi-ciones en europeas, este árbol que se usaba para venerar a Frey fue talado por San Bonifacio y en su lugar el

Por Claudia Quiñonez

plantó un pino para represen-tar las costum-bres cristianas.

El pino fue decorado con manzanas y ve-las alrededor del pino. Las manzanas sim-bolizaban el pecado origi-nal y las velas representaban la luz de Je-sucristo como luz del mundo.

Con el tiem-po las manza-

nas y las velas se transforma-ron en luces y esferas que en la actualidad usamos para decorar nues-tros árboles n a v i d e ñ o s .

Existe una p o s i b i l i d a d que el primer árbol de navi-dad como nosotros lo conocemos en la actualidad fue usado en Alemania en

la navidad del 1605 para ambientar el frío de la navidad y expandir las costumbres cristianas. Después del si-glo XVI, la tradición del árbol navide-ño se expandió por toda Europa.

Al continente de América llegó cuando los soldados germanos vinieron a ayudar a los solda-dos británicos durante la guer-ra de independencia contra los Estados Unidos.

Aunque los soldados alemanes no ganaron la guerra, las creencias germanas permanecieron vivas y la idea de celebrar navidad con un ár-bol de navidad se quedó en los Es-tados Unidos y desde allí la idea se expandió por toda Latinoamérica.

Felices fiestas y próspero 2013- les desea La Esquina Latina!

F Silver Chips December 20, 2012 Sports

F3 F5

“The sport is not about glamour; we’re not there to fi ll the stands. Everyone is there to build character and become a bet-

ter person.” -Coach Jacob Scott F3

Winter sports teams: the 2012-2013 season previewRecords are current as of Dec. 18.

BOYS’ VARSITY BASKETBALL (4-0) came into the new season with a fresh start after losing fi ve players to graduation last year. Despite varsity inexperience, coach Damon Pigrom said that the chemistry on the team provides the players a solid foundation go-ing into games and has expected the team to play consistently and mature quickly. “People need to do a really good job of fi guring stuff out on their own,” he said. Although last year’s team had issues keeping control of the ball in the second half, it shows little sign of this weakness this year, as Pigrom has kept the team focused on the game during halftime. “Halftime is a ten minute inter-mission, not a break,” he said. “Last year I think we were slow to start, and we expected the other team to be slow with us.” Senior captain Justin Kung said that al-though the team is small, players are well-conditioned, and believes that the team will continue to progress as they improve each practice. The team has come out strong this year in all its games due to great defensive skills shown by all of the players.

GIRLS’ VARSITY BASKETBALL (1-3) had hopes to uphold the high standards that iy established as a strong team last year even as the players have faced a tough schedule and started out slow. Junior captain Erica Adarkwa said that strong leadership from the coaches will help the team fi x problems and implement better strategies in order to compensate for the team’s small size. The team also looks to return to the playoffs after advancing to the county semifi nals last year. “I expect to be a competitor within the county, and by February, be a contender for the playoffs,” says coach Erin Conley. Although the team lost seven strong seniors last year and has been struggling with defense and team chemistry, Conley is confi dent that the cur-rent seniors have been adequately prepared for their roles as leaders this year. She said that they plan to develop leadership with the juniors on the team.

BLAIR SWIM AND DIVE (0-2) entered its second year as a Divi-sion 1 team with a new coach, record-holding team members, a strong boys’ team and skilled individual swimmers. Kelly Crowder, who replaced David Swaney this year as a coach, was a 4-year Division 1 swimmer at the University of Maryland. Coach Charlie Demma said Crowder is “an excellent coach for the team this year.” Junior captain Michael Thomas said he wants the team to be more dominant in Division 1 this year and recover from last season’s losing record, but so far

the team has faced stiff competi-tion; in Division 1, the team’s op-ponents are primarily wealthier upper-county schools, many of whose swimmers compete year-round. Despite the outcome of the fi rst few meets, however, Demma has high expectations. “The goals this year are to get as many swim-mers to qualify for Metros and States,” he said. “We want the boys to win Division 1, and we also want to stay in Division 1.”

WRESTLING COACH Jacob Scott said he aims to keep his

and uphold the high standards he sets.

BLAIR’S ICE HOCKEY (3-1) will focus on creating new

forechecking plays and break-outs this year to play as a more competitive team. Sophomore captain Max Kronstadt said that developing new strategies will in-crease the team’s chances of going deeper into the playoffs after ad-vancing to the state semifi nals last year. “We want to get everyone to improve and work as a team,” he said. Despite inexperience on the

team (0-2) focused on postseason tournaments, despite facing a tough season this year. “We’re go-ing to use our time wisely to keep our guys healthy, on an incline; keep them learning, motivated and excited,” said Scott. Scott said that inexperience on the team could prove to be a challenge, but said that he plans to send younger wrestlers to JV tournaments to gain experience before the post-season. Although wrestling gradu-ated six key starters last year and is weak in upper weights this season, Scott said that the captains set a great example for the team

team and gaining only one freshman this year, Kronstadt said that hockey wants to return to the playoffs this year and aims to win the state championship. The team benefi ts from good team dynamic, dominant defense and a strong fan base. The team will also experiment with changing lines during practice and the games to fi nd out who works well together. “We want to keep our games interesting,” says Kronstadt. Overall, ice hockey has experienced a greater team dynamic this season and the players have enjoyed a high skill level even though the games have been tougher for them.

By Sabrina Bradford

WINTER SPORTS Coach Damon Pigrom coaches defensive strategy to his undefeated team before their game against B-CC (Top Left). Swim and dive competes against Wootton (Top Right). Senior Alex Or-tiz skates last year against the DC Stars (Middle Left). Brendan Mayer-Marks is pinned to the mat by a teammate during practice (Middle Right). Senior Me-lissa Romero takes a shot from the free throw line against B-CC as she is one of the few seniors on the young team (Left).

COURTESY OF THESPORTSFANNETWORK.COM

COURTESY OF JACK FOSTER

December 20, 2012F2 ADs silverchips

December 20, 2012F3 Sports silverchips

There’s a meet in four days. The high

school wrestler steps up on the scale, anx-iously waiting for it to stop calculating and finally reveal his weight. He shivers at the electronic screen that reads 166 lbs, putting him in the middle of his weight class. For the next four days, his one and only priority is to lose those six pounds, in order to give him an advantage against his opponents. Day one. 7 a.m.: The wrestler skips break-

fast. 1 p.m.: The wrestler has a protein bar for lunch. 2 p.m.-6 p.m.: The wrestler works out with no breaks. He even gets in a trash bag and jumps rope to sweat off more weight. 7 p.m.: The wrestler skips dinner. Days two through four: repeat Day one. Sounds pretty drastic. Sounds pretty unhealthy. And it also sounds pretty false. Although it is not unheard of for wres-tlers to go through excessive training and dieting to maintain, lose or gain weight for their meets, the wrestlers at Blair keep

it healthy. Through county regulations and understanding of healthy eating habits, the wrestlers maintain a school-appropriate wrestling atmosphere during the season.

Health conscious county

Montgomery County regulates wrestlers’ weight in order to certify a safe weight at which to wrestle. Blair varsity wrestling coach, Jake Scott, says, “The county provides doctors at Blake High School before you

even try out; they test your body fat percent-age and level of hydration to certify the weight you can safely wrestle at.” Based on the w r e s t l e r ’ s h y d r a t i o n and weight, the indi-vidual is in-formed how much weight

is safe to lose. Each wrestler can wrestle at the assigned

weight class, or two above, but if the wrestler loses more weight than allotted, he or she is disqualified from competing as it would be unhealthy. These rules and regulations, Scott says, are meant to prevent wrestlers from losing weight unhealthily. The Blair team finds that cutting weight is not an essential part of being on the wres-tling team. “I’m inclined to say even the coaches don’t like when we cut weight,” says senior varsity wrestler, Chuck Omwuz-ruike. “It’s a personal choice.” When wres-tlers do cut weight, it’s part of a strategy to

put themselves at the top of a lower weight class which gives them a greater advantage than being at the bottom of the next one up. That couple of pounds could be pounds of muscle, height or just plain size, and can make a huge difference when wrestling with the opponent, he says. According to the Livestrong Foundation, the original goal of cutting weight was to “lose any extra unnec-essary weight that is holding you back from being the most athletic possible version of yourself.” Omwuzruike says it’s easy to cut weight, anyone can do it, and it’s just how you do it that matters.

How they keep it healthy

The Blair wrestlers make sure that if they do choose to lose weight to gain an advantage, the wrestler would first have to have a reasonable time frame to lose the weight, which, according to the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Associa-tion, should not be more than two to three pounds per week, as this “is the best way to lose fat and keep muscle, and losing weight rapidly results in a loss of both muscle tissue and water.” The only way the body can lose more than three pounds a week is through dehydration and excessively restricted food intake. As Omwuzruike puts it, the wrestler simply must “take in less calories, drink more water, and go pretty hard at practice,” which is a healthy way to lose the weight. Bidzimou says that losing weight is an ad-vantage, but “if you force it, then you make your body weak.” Both Omwuzruike and captain of the wrestling team, junior Minu Bidzimou, emphasize that losing weight isn’t necessary, only a means of gaining an advantage over the opponent.

Pro-wrestlers

Although Blair and Montgomery County seem to do a good job in ensuring safe eat-

ing habits, the professional realm does not. According to Vito A. Perriello Jr., pediatri-cian and pioneer in the field of sports medi-cine, “research has consistently reported an average of five to ten pounds of weight loss and gain every week” in some profes-sional wrestlers and other athletes requiring weight loss, which could represent a “five to ten percent level of dehydration in many of these athletes.” While the county’s mini-mum level of body fat is ten percent, some professional wrestlers go down to a mere five percent, says Bidzimou. But there is more to the sport than the diet. Wrestling teaches the athlete “discipline, respect for yourself, and respect for other people,” says Omwuzruike. “Communica-tion is a big thing on the Blair team; we’re a family.” While the health factor of eating habits of wrestlers remains a concern in the professional realm, at the high school level, Blair wrestlers go by the motto, “Don’t make your weight like a roller coaster.”

With love During practice, they focus on strategy and channeling the intensity to win. “I don’t want cubs, I want lions,” asserts Scott. But the bigger picture is one of support and love. “Sometimes things get heated. We butt heads, we push, but at the end of the day, we love each other,” says Omwuzruike. Scott emphasizes that the sport is about building character. “I want to see young men grow and develop into men of character and prin-ciple instead of emotion and feelings,” he says. “You’ve got to start training for father-hood, today. This is the foundation for how you live.” In a relatively dangerous, poten-tially unhealthy and fairly unpopular sport, the athletes, while still focused on the win, always cheer each other on during meets. “The sport is not about glamour; we’re not there to fill the stands. Everyone is there to build character and become a better person,” says Scott.

By Maya Habash

Wrestling with societal misconceptionsBlair wrestlers tackle rumors of eating disorders used to gain a competitive advantage

Back to the bunny slopesSeniors ski with Takoma Middle

As tour buses full of eager skiers pull up to the Liberty Mountain Resort in Fairfield, Pennsylvania, it’s official: winter has come and the season has begun. A herd of gleeful middle school students tumble out of the bus, followed by several taller, equally glee-ful high schoolers who found the club too fun to quit when they graduated the eighth grade.

While the Takoma Park Middle School Ski Club is relatively new, the idea has been around for a long time. Only recently have these clubs made their way into the school building. The Ski Club of Washington, D.C. takes 15 national and international ski trips per year. While Takoma Park’s club has a narrower range, the love of the slopes is uni-versal.

The first shred

Starting in January, the group takes week-end trips to one of three resorts: Liberty, Whitetail or Roundtop. The group spends Saturdays making the most of the cold and snowy weather on the slopes.

Seniors Julia Nolan, Tom Agger and Alex Fitzpatrick make Ski Club one of their tradi-tions. “We’ve had crazy adventures and hi-larious memories and the three of us make a great team,” Nolan laughs. From movies on the bus to games on the lift, some things never get old.

The three bonded when best friends No-lan and Fitzpatrick got to know Agger on the first long bus ride in seventh grade. Now, those roads are some of their favorite

parts of the winter weekends as they steal the back seats from the sixth graders and settle in to watch cheesy movies for the remainder of the trip.

While the club used to be relatively small, rookie mem-bers joined the group veterans and the organization continues to expand. Instead of the origi-nal one bus, the 90 people now pile into three for the drive.

As the club evolved, the students’ interests in it have also changed. “Early on, many of my friends joined and Ski Club. It was the thing to do. It was new,” Agger remembers.

The liberty of the slopes was also a draw. “My favorite thing was the freedom,” Nolan explains. Students are allowed to roam free as long as they check in with the chaperones every so often. As 12-year-olds, it was exhila-rating to be set loose with friends. “We were able to hang out and ski without parents or anyone else breathing down our necks,” No-lan adds.

Off the beaten slope

With experience, the seniors honed their skills. “As a middle schooler, improvements were always exciting, moving from the eas-ier slopes to the black diamond trails,” Ag-ger says. The club gives everyone involved a great way to take full advantage of the winter seasons. “Skiing is one of those things that, if you don’t do it one winter, you lose some

of what you know; you can get worse,” Ag-ger explains. “Ski Club is not only fun, but it helps you keep skills fresh.”

The club’s freedom also leaves plenty of room for mischief. “One time, Tom, Julia and I decided to ski off of the trail. Overall, it was a really awful idea. I’m an okay skier, but not when I am barreling downhill on unpacked snow and there are trees everywhere. I got stuck and had to walk down the mountain,” she remembers. Despite a few bad experi-ences, these adventures continued. “We definitely still go off of the trail,” Fitzpatrick says.

The otherwise boring ride on a ski lift is easily improved with a game. “Sometimes Tom and I would pretend that he was a French exchange student and we would trick the other people on the ski lift, including a few people from Takoma,” Nolan recalls. The three would also like to sing loudly for anyone on the hill below to hear and enjoy.

Bryan Geohring, a science teacher at the middle school, organizes the club and leads the trips. Geohring appreciates the high school students who continue to take part, and they feel the same. “I am good friends with Mr. Geohring. He said he was happy to keep having me, so I kept going,” Fitzpat-rick explains.

The cost depends on the ski package. Some include equipment rentals or lessons and others do not, but the full season rate eases the expense. While the cost is in the hundreds range, the season pass allows stu-dents to go through the season without pay-ing for every one-day trip.

Ski Club creates many memories every winter. “There are so many stories that I can’t think of them all off the top of my head,” says Nolan, smiling. “We are always the last ones running to the bus, though. Just pushing our luck to maximize our time on the slopes.”

By Evan Morris

SKI CLUB Senior Tom Agger and his brother sopho-more Joe Agger both attended Takoma Park Middle School. Tom has been involved in ski club since 2007.

WRESTLING Blair wrestlers focus on their health instead of straining their body by depriving it of food and water.

LEAH HAMMOND

COURTESY OF TOM AGGER

December 20, 2012F4 ADs silverchips

Boys’ basketball begins season 4-0 with new defensive mentality

CHIPS December 20, 2012silverchips.mbhs.edu/section/sports.php

B E T H E S D A -CHEVY CHASE, Dec. 14–

Once senior Julian Smith-Jones began the scoring for the Blair boys’ varsity basketball team (4-0), there was no looking back as the team went on to beat the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Barons (0-3) 47 to 41. Smith-Jones scored the Blazers fi rst seven points of the game and in the end led all players with 17 of the team’s 41 points.

Keying the success of the team was the team’s great defense which held the Barons to just 17 points at halftime and three air balls just in the fi rst quarter. The team works hard on their defense throughout it’s practices and has adopt-ed it as their forte, coach Damon Pigrom tells. “It’s become our identity. We’re willing and able. It’s an ex-pectation here,” Pigrom says.

But the defense slowed down in the third quarter along with the rest of the team. The Barons came out strong out of halftime with a 9-0 run that was only ended by senior Trey Wainwright’s three -pointer in the last minute of the quarter. The team strung together turnovers and bad shots while al-lowing B-CC to get themselves, and the crowd, back in the game.

Smith-Jones believes that the slop-py quarter was due to a lack of focus in which the Blazers relaxed due to their lead. “We relaxed be-cause of our lead and just had a mental lapse,” Smith-Jones says.

Smith-Jones, along with fel-low senior Justin Kung (11 points) were able to pick up the slack for a team lacking a star scorer. “We’re a balanced team. One thing that’s

talked about is that the offense doesn’t dictate the defense. The defense is our constant,” Pigrom says. Sophomore Danny Canary, who had led the team in scoring for the fi rst three games of the season, struggled throughout the game and only scored three points.

B-CC was able to give the Blaz-ers a scare in the fourth quarter they kept fi ghting and scratching

NELSON H. KOBREN ME-MORIAL GYM-NASIUM, Dec. 14–

It didn’t look good for the B l a z e r s ( 1 - 3 ) , when only three minutes into the game the Bethes-da-Chevy Chase Barons (2-1) were already up by 7 points. From then on forward the Blazers were just playing catch-up as they fell 60-43.

Junior Erica Adarkwa, one of three captains on the team, thought the team did not start the game well. “We came out really slow. We didn’t do what we set out to do, knew it, and did not pick it up offensively and defensively,” Adarkwa said. Consequently, the Blazers were down 21-7 at the end of the fi rst quarter.

The lone bright spot for the Blaz-ers was junior Maggie McClain. Coming off of a 13-point perfor-mance against Walter Johnson, Mc-

Clain led the team once again in scoring with 22 points.

It was not enough however, as B-CC’s hustle and teamwork proved too much to overcome. “They out-hustled us. They acted like a cohe-sive unit,” Adarkwa explained.

Going into the third quarter down 33-20 the Blazers were unable to change up the pace. Ac-cording to coach Erin Con-ley, their inability to make shots hurt them badly. “We had a diffi cult time making shots, and stopping num-

ber 44,” she said. Number 44 was senior center

NinaHaller for B-CC who fi nished the game with 22 points.

In the fourth quarter, once the game was all but over, the Blaz-ers brought in underclassmen Ca-

Barons overtake girls’ basketball in disappointing loss

insideSPORTS

at the lead, which they were able to reduce to four. But the balanced team was able to stop the Barons there while also getting those points back and never letting the opposition close. The fourth quar-ter turned into a chanting match between the two fan bases while the teams battled on the court.

The scoring on the Blair side of the ball was based on good passing

and taking advantage of the opportunities given to them by the Barons. Blair was continually able to pass the ball to a cutting teammate who were able to score close to basket.

Smith-Jones credits the points in the paint to the teams calm demeanor and ability to stay patient. “We settled down quick-ly. We didn’t take quick shots, instead we waited until the opening,” Smith-Jones says.

Blair was also able to capitalize on those close shots by getting fouled by the defense and then taking advantage of those shots. The Blazers were able to make 15 of their 19 foul shots including all but one in the fourth quarter.

Clutch scoring down the stretch was a key reason that the Blazers were able to keep their lead down the stretch as the Barons rallied in the fourth quarter.

Canary left mid-way through the fourth quarter after coming up gimpy after a three-point

shot. He returned after what was simply a bad cramp, according to Pigrom.

While there is reason to be ex-cited about the team, based on their undefeated start, the team doesn’t plan on settling down, according to Smith-Jones. “Going to work hard and practice hard,” Smith-Jones says.

mille Estrin and Leigh Cook. The changes were not enough to make a difference however, as the game ended 60-43.

The team is taking this as a learn-ing experience, and will try to im-prove for the next games. “We need to work on coming together as a team,” Conley said. Senior Melissa Romero agreed that the team needs to work on chemistry. “We need to show that we want it, and not just want it,” she added.

The Blazers’ next home game is after break against Springbrook on Jan. 2 at 7 p.m.

Lady Blazers fi nish with a score of 60-43 against B-CC

Wrestling team members address the stereotype sur-rounding their diet and exer-cise routines.

Blair wrestlers

See page F3

See page F3

Seniors head to the slopes with the Takoma Park Middle School ski club.

Blair ski club

HILARIO MORALES

BASKETBALL Left, sophomore Liza Curcio and senior Melissa Romero wrestle with the ball from a Baron offender. Above, Curcio pushes the ball up the court to score two of the eight points she earned for the Blazers which put her second on the team in points.

By Josh Schmidt

By Melissa Arias

sportsStellar defense leads Blazers to the big win

BASKETBALL Left, senior Trey Wainwright scans the offensive opportunities available after he hit a key three in the third quarter. Right, senior Julian Smith-Jones scores one of his team leading 17 points.

LEAH HAMMOND

Middle School ski club.