Do Video Games Really Cause Vio-

lence? Page 6

Mr. Pieracchini’s Interesting Vaca-

tionPage 3

Vol. 74, No. 1230 Mendham Road - Morristown, NJ - 07960October 19, 2013

he Delbarton CourierTBy: Charlie Niebanck ‘14

By: Will Nixon ‘15

By: Shan Rizwan ‘17

Make sure to preorder your yearbook today! Courtesy of the Archway Staff Continued on page 2

Continued on page 4

Continued on page 3

Lanschool: An Old Tragedy

2014 Yearbook Set to Break Records

iOS7 R

Several months ago, as the 2012-13 school year came to a close, the school hallways were awash with rumors of an imminent change in Delbarton life. Surprisingly, almost every student was single-minded in his opinion of the coming institu-tion: they all felt contempt. Com-ments about the change flooded the elections last spring, and the faculty warned the candidates to keep their remarks tasteful. LanSchool, of course, was this topic of such controversy last year. Practically every time a student took out his laptop, a complaint about LanSchool quickly followed. Students often cited LanSchool’s ability to, “have access to remotely use the mouse and keyboard on a selected student’s machine,” among other features. Admittedly, the scope of LanSchool’s capabilities was largely over exaggerated before any student actually downloaded it, and students typically accepted some of the more farfetched claims as further injus-tices. The advent of this school year marked the actual introduc-tion of LanSchool at Delbarton, as the administration required every student to both have a laptop and

download LanSchool. However, the anti-LanSchool sentiment has surprisingly decreased with the pro-gram’s integration. The scarcity of teachers implementing LanSchool contrib-utes greatly to the rise of its repu-tation among Delbarton students.

Although every student technically needed to download the program, few teachers actively use LanSchool. Obviously, LanSchool has limited applications in a number of math, science, and term courses, but even

On September 18, 2013, Apple released the seventh version of its mobile operating system, popularly known as iOS 7. The sys-tem is compatible with all iPhones made after 2011 – from the iPhone 4 up to the current iPhone, – as well as the iPad 2, 5th generation iPods, and the iPad mini. Apple boasts about iOS 7’s many new features like, “Con-trol Center, AirDrop for iOS, and smarter multitasking.” Indeed there are certain aspects of iOS 7 that are useful, but the only noticeable change for most is the creative inter-face. Control Center adds the

most value to iOS 7. In Control Center, the user is able to quickly have access to a flashlight, calcula-tor, camera, timer, and brightness settings, all with a single swipe. It has a simple design yet serves a great purpose. With the exception of Con-trol Center, Apple put too much emphasis on the appearance of the iPhone rather than adding useful features. There were by far way more aesthetic changes in iOS 7 than were necessary. All the pre-in-stalled apps were given cleaner and simpler icons. For the most part, these apps were also updated. The iPhone camera now has eight built-in photo filters. As

The glossy pages of the “Archway” yearbook are always a thrilling trip down memory lane, but how will this year’s Editors- in- Chief, Ryan Connors ‘14 and Mat-thew Gambetta ’14, make a differ-ence in the long line of beautiful books? It is simple: they are out to make history. When asked what makes this yearbook special, they responded enthusiastically, “That’s a very big question… It will be the largest pro-duction ever: the most pages ever, the most yearbooks sold.” Topping last year’s sales numbers will be quite a feat, consid-ering the 2013 Archway sold over 375 copies—selling out for those who neglected to pre-order in the fall. This year, the team is planning on ordering 450 copies to ensure

that the supply meets the demand come Finals Week.Their legacy as editors, however, will be more than just a series of

statistics. Gambetta wants readers to admire the book and say, “‘Wow,

“iOS 7 is not ex-actly what I expected. You would think they could put more actual

improvements in it. There are some nifty

features but otherwise it is just another case of Apple releasing a

new product that only looks prettier”

-Greg Kacergis ‘15

The Delbarton Courier

The Delbarton Courier

Editors-in-Chief

Delbarton LifePaul Shuler ‘15

ArtsTommy Cusano ‘14

NewsNicholas Serratelli ‘14

Visions and VoicesWill Nixon ‘15

OpinionsCharlie Niebanck ‘14

SportsSeamus Craugh ‘14

Faculty Advisors

All rights reserved. All contents © 2013 The Delbarton Courier. Please recycle after use.

A Letter from the Editors

Timothy Welman ‘14Will Agathis ‘14Greg Kacergis ‘15

Page

2

The Courier is now led by a triumvirate, and with change comes progress. Though learning from experience in past years, we are proud to begin this year with a clean slate, with which we will strive to put our best effort into supplying the news, Delbarton style. No other school has our spirit, so this is no small feat. One needs look no farther than the Wave Rave (WRAVE) mentality that sweeps us all this time of year, though unfortunately the Courier is unable to provide coverage on such an event. We look forward to an exciting year, and you can expect our editions to deliver monthly for you, our readers.

Timothy Welman ‘14 Will Agathis ‘14 Greg Kacergis ‘15

Mrs. Loveday Mr. Wyatt

Is it Worth Upgrading to iOS7?of now, these new photo effects are somewhat disappointing as the iPhone’s eight new filters fail to compare to Instagram’s almost twenty. However, Apple will defi-nitely add more in the future. Fur-thermore, you can now take square photos, which just so happens to be the most useless add-on in iOS 7 because you can crop a photo to make it square. After taking enhanced photographs, one will want to take a look at the end result. The “Pho-tos” application now keeps track of when and where photos were taken. This is helpful in locating specific photos faster. Besides the app updates, the Control Center, and the new design, The sleek new design of iOS 7 Courtesy of www.imore.com

Continued from page 1 there is nothing else worth high-lighting in iOS 7. Overall, it is not a huge change from iOS 6, but does have a few nice features. It is free, so

there are no drawbacks to installing it. If iOS 7 was not free, I would not recommend it, as for the most part it provides no essential features.

The OdysseyBy: Tommy Cusano ‘14

The Abbey Players’ produc-tion of The Odyssey promises to deliver the classic story that readers have celebrated for centuries while bringing novel theatrical techniques to Delbarton’s stage. Mary Zimmerman’s adaptation of Homer’s epic poem breaks boundar-ies, and actors, under the guidance of director Mr. Corica, have begun experimenting with new ways of telling stories on stage. The show features about two-dozen young performers from Delbarton, Villa Walsh, and other neighboring schools responsible for dozens of roles. Almost every actor must master at least four characters. In fact, the only two students cast in

Continued on page 4

Page

3Delbarton LifeThe Delbarton Courier

Are You Sleeping Well?

Is LanSchool Bad?

Mr. Pieraccini’s Journeys

The daily feeling of sleepi-ness usually creeps into the Delbar-ton student before 8:15 AM. You just thought you would shut your eyes for a second and, the next thing you know, a teacher calling your name awakens you. Well, you are not alone. Today’s American high school students face an epidemic of sleep deprivation, and Delbarton students are not immune from this serious problem. According to the National Sleep Foundation, teenagers require about 9 hours of sleep to perform at their best each day, but only 8% percent of them are getting it. At Delbarton, the numbers are even worse, with less than 2% of stu-dents logging nine or more hours of sleep during the week. Although some may find this number alarm-ing, it really should not come as a surprise. After all, there are only so many hours in a day. We pack our days with meetings before school, classes during the day, and practices and rehearsals well into the evening, leaving homework and studying to be done at night and sometimes into the wee hours of the morning. So how much do Delbar-ton students sleep? On the bright side, just about 20% of students are getting eight hours of sleep, while sadly, close to 4% of students sleep five hours or even less. The over-whelming majority of students at Delbarton need at least two more hours of sleep per night with 75% of students sleeping only 6 to 7 hours a night. How serious is not getting enough sleep? Lack of sleep in teens has been linked to lower levels of physical growth and brain devel-opment, as well as higher rates of

By: Ryan McLaughlin ‘15

Climbing the Buddhist temple Borobudur Courtesy of Mr.Pieracchini

Continued from page 1

By: Tim Sienko ‘16anxiety and depression. And while students often pat themselves on the back for having the dedication to stay up until 2:00 A.M. to finish their homework, research shows that high school students who do not get enough sleep, do not perform as well during the school day. So, while staying up to revise an essay may get an A+, it will most likely result in missing most of what is being taught that next morning. When asked how often they feel tired in school, close to 50% percent of Delbarton students said some of the time, and a staggering 40% said most of the time. Even a number of students (6%) reported that they feel tired all of the time. And, although most students are not getting nearly enough sleep, the good news is that more that 75% of students report that they either have no problem or it only takes them 5 or 10 minutes to wake up during the week. However, there are those students who need a bit more help waking up with 14% reporting that they need two alarm clocks and 10% admitting that they need to be dragged out of bed. So how do Delbarton stu-dents make up for lack of sleep? Al-though coffee, tea and energy drinks can give students a quick boost, close to 80% of students do not make up for sleep loss with caffeine. Instead, they make up those lost hours by sleeping in on the week-ends, when nearly 75% of students sleep 9 hours or more. However, the other 25% of students are still get-ting less than recommended 9 hours even on the weekends.So how can students get more rest? Other than performing the impos-sible and adding more hours to the day, try to make sleep a priority. This may be easier said than done, but you will feel a lot better if you try.

While many members of the Delbarton community embark on exotic vacations during summer break, no one may have had an ex-perience quite like English and Ital-ian teacher Mr. “Prof ” Pieraccini. Professor Pieraccini has been travelling ever since he was a young child. He was born in Italy and shortly thereafter moved to America. His constantly moving family allowed him to embark on various trips, effectively sparking his interest in travelling and adventure. With his love for adventure, Prof embarks on enthralling jour-neys each summer. He lives humbly on the road, evidenced by his stories about eating from local supermar-kets and sleeping in hostels. In addition, Prof has no qualms about spending the night in a train station or airport. This past summer, Prof P

traveled to Morocco, among many other countries, in what he called his most interesting experience of the summer. He explained how he believes that Arab culture is the most unique culture that he’s seen throughout the world. Morocco was just one stop of an entire life of travelling. He is well on his way to his goal of visit-ing as many countries as he possibly can. He has been to almost every European country along with a majority of Asian and African coun-

tries. However, Prof is not your everyday tourist. He often travels to all of the countries by himself and tags along with a new group of friends whenever he can. When trav-elling to Georgia (the country), he joined up with a local band and they eventually played for a US military base. When he went to France, in a planned event, Prof P played a large concert for special needs chil-dren. He has ridden camels through the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, swum in the Dead Sea in Israel and run with the bulls in Spain. However, Prof P’s experi-ences are not always as safe as they are exciting. Throughout his travels he reports being mugged multiple times, which resulted in the loss of multiple wallets and passports. He recalled one specifically thrill-ing incident that occurred while he was in Israel. Along with a group of

friends, they attempted to cross the border from Israel to Palestine at the Gaza Strip. Officials thought one of his travelling partners was Jewish, which almost caused a huge predica-ment. These thrilling events are what keep Prof on the road every summer, looking for new places, new people, and new adventures. His incredible journey will definitely continue next summer, when he plans to travel throughout South America.

some History and English courses avoid it altogether. According to Patrick Agnew ’16, “Only my English and Spanish teachers use LanSchool, and only to blank our laptops and show the class their computer screens.” In many classes, teachers do not utilize the feature of LanSchool that allow them to spy on students’ laptop screens, and some students don’t even take a class where LanSchool is used. Sid Balaji ’14 sums up most of the current attitudes toward Lan-School in saying, “All the uproar has

been for naught, as most teachers have not bothered with the technol-ogy.”

Ultimately, although the regime of LanSchool was made out to be a gross injustice, the reality of its introduction has proved to be, so far, largely benign.

“All the uproar has been for naught, as most

teachers have not bothered with the technology.”

-Sid Balaji ‘14

Page

4 ARTSThe Delbarton Courier

The Abbey Players Present: The Odyssey

Creative Writing with Mrs. Brown

What to expect from the 2014 Yearbook

By: Connor Moran ‘15

only one part are Oscar Lopez ’14, performing the lead role of Odys-seus, and Kate Roland, a junior at Villa Walsh and the production’s Athena.While most of Delbarton’s fall dramas have included somewhat traditional sets and a realistic style of presentation, The Odyssey prides itself on its minimalist set design. The show spotlights the actors’ abil-ity to evoke each setting—from the court of Ithaca to Cyclops’s cave—through movement and expression. In rehearsal, Mr. Corica has forced the young actors to view performance in completely differ-ent ways. One exercise has students in a circle on stage jump as high as possible and land simultaneously. The key to succeeding at the task involves employing “soft focus”—absorbing all visual stimuli at once without honing in on any particular person or object—and trying to

This year, Delbarton English teacher Mrs. Brown started her first year teaching Creative Writing, an elective offered to seniors, at Del-barton. The elective, which started out as relatively unpopular and taught only by Mr. Carr, has grown throughout the years. I interviewed Mrs. Brown about the class and her goals for the year. Mrs. Brown has always been interested in creative writing; she

studied it throughout college and says she is eager to teach the class. She enjoys it because she believes that seniors, at this point in their schooling, are very trained in Eng-lish, and the elective offers the opportunity to stray from the norm and play around with the language.She hopes to help students discover genres they normally thought they would not enjoy. She wants students to be emotionally engaged in their writing and to utilize their imagi-nation. In this way, she hopes her students will find and define their

own voices. What is her philosophy for the class? She believes that in the fast-paced world we live in, creative writing is more valuable than ever. Time to stop and to reflect and dig into yourself is essential. Creative writing is the perfect medium in which one can do just that. It forces the students to slow down, look inside themselves, and explore their minds. She believes creative writing can appeal to all different types of students. There are so many differ-

ent genres that offer the opportunity for personalization. “Any student who wants to open his mind can find pleasure in creative writing.” Lastly, I asked her if she had any advice for any aspiring creative writers, who are not taking her class, or who hope to take it in the future. “First, read as much as possible,” she responded, “and read a diverse array.” She believes it essential to keep an open mind about every book and genre. “Second, just write. Don’t make excuses. Find time to sit down and write.”

Last year’s fall production, The Tempest Courtesy of Ms. Fiddes

Here is a sneak preview of the 2014 Archway. Courtesy of the Archway Staff

that was a design masterpiece, these people really knew what they were doing.’” In fact, both Connors and Gambetta felt that the yearbook editors often went unrecognized. Gambetta went so far as to declare that the Archway was, “the most im-portant publication this school can offer, and yes, that’s slander about the Courier.” He neglected, how-ever, to slander the school’s other literary magazine: the Delta.Getting their staff to be produc-tive and getting the “stupid seniors to take their senior page pictures” aside, the room in which they work frees them to mock-up any design their right-side brain can lay out. Featuring a gleaming new iMac, obsessive-compulsively organized

Continued from page 1

Continued from page 2

to- do lists, and plenty of Photo-shopped memes, their office on the third floor of Trinity is a publisher’s heaven. All of these tools fit well into the arsenal of the two new,

senior Editors- in- Chief, Ryan Connors and Matthew Gambetta. Their challenges lay ahead of them, but they are certainly equipped to overcome old successes with greater ones. Before this reporter left the

air- conditioned cubbyhole off- limits to all those students not on Archway’s staff, Gambetta managed to sneak in one final dig: “The Cou-rier doesn’t have its own room.” No, Matt, it does not.

sense the initial jumper’s preparatory motions. “The first few tries did not go too well, to put it lightly!” joked John Sciales ’14 with a hearty snort. “But we kept at it and pretty soon it became impossible to tell who started the jump in the first place.

We were all moving as one unit.” Another more difficult task involved each student walking in their own grid-like pattern—only turning at right angles—along the stage, gradually becoming attentive to tempo, duration (of each straight path), and levels (height, or proxim-

ity to the ground).The result was a hodgepodge of actors each navigating their own invisible obstacle course. The activ-ity was not built for aesthetic appeal, however; rather, it intends to build a set of skills in internal and external consciousness applicable to each student’s later performances. Mr. Corica and the tech crew also plan to incorporate advanced work with lighting into the show. For example, the crew intends to use hologram-like projections to capture the ghostlike characters that popu-late the underworld. Alex Baumann ’15 looks forward to the introduction of such techniques into the show: “I hope that these ‘Lights,’ in the words of Ellie Goulding, turn out to be a major success!” Performances of The Od-yssey run from November 1st to November 3rd at the tentative times of 7:30 P.M. on Friday and Saturday and 2:00 P.M. on Sunday.

Page

5NEWSThe Delbarton Courier

Broken Peace in Nairobi, Kenya

Federal Reserve Decreases Bond-Buying

Snowden’s Revelation

By: Nicholas Serratelli ‘14

By: Liam Gannon ‘16

By: Rushi Patel ‘14

On September 23, 2013, the lives of hundreds of Kenyans changed forever. Somali based terrorist group Al-Shabaab, an Al Qaeda terrorist proxy, attacked the luxurious Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi over a 4-day period. There were approximately 10-15 attackers: 3 from the US, two from Somalia, one from the UK, Canada, Finland, and Kenya, and the rest were un-identified. Following the onset, the ter-rorist group took responsibility via Twitter and stated their motivation through the message, “When justice is denied, it must be enforced.” Par-ticularly, the terrorists are referring to the Kenyan attacks against Al-Shabaab in 2011. Al Shabaab initially retaliated via grenade attacks and explosions that claimed few lives.

Now, the proxy has moved to larger scale attacks. The terrorists were com-mitted to attacking only Kenyan or American Non-Islamic adults. Prior to the attack the terrorists escorted every Muslim from the mall. Fur-thermore, during the attack, the

terrorists allowed all of the children to leave. In addition, one terror-ist told a four-year old British boy named Elliot, “Please forgive me, we are not monsters,” after Elliot told the terrorist, “You’re a very bad man.” However, actions speak louder than words. Particularly, the

terrorist attack commenced this past Saturday around noon when gun-shots and explosions began in the mall. This attack was deadly: Sara Head, a witness, recounted that the supermarket’s floor was stained with blood. The action eventually ended on Tuesday but left 68 people, 61 of them civilians, dead. Currently, US intelligence and the Kenyan government have undertaken an operation to locate the escaped terrorists and find those responsible. These efforts have resulted in the Kenyan forces detaining a British national. How-ever, there is no clear link between the national and the terrorist attack. Thus, the search continues and the Kenyan leader proclaimed that they will not stop and that, “these cow-ards will meet justice, as will their accomplices and patrons wherever they are.”

Recently, there have been talks of the Federal Reserve slowing its $85 billion a month bond-buying program. For those of you who don’t know much about what’s going on with the economy, a global recession started about five or six years ago. This recession, labeled the Great Recession, began with the downfall of huge investment banks such as Lehman Brothers. The collapse of these banks marked the transition of the global economy into a state of recession. With the median household income lowering, unemployment reaching extremely high levels, and

real estate prices plummeting, the government felt it had to intervene, which is another topic for debate. The solution the government came up with was to bail out some of the bigger firms that it felt were too big to fail. However, the Federal Reserve came up with something of its own to restart to whole economy: it be-gan to buy billions of dollars worth of bonds, consequently lowering interest rates. A basic principle in fi-nance and economics is that when the price of a bond – essentially a purchased I.O.U that accumulates interest (and money) for the buyer – goes up, interest rates go down. Ultimately, the Federal Reserve low-ered interest rates to help jumpstart

the economy. Lower interest rates allow people to borrow money for a business, loan, mortgage, etc., at very low rates. Since the beginning of the program (named quantitative easing or QE), the economy has improved, but slowly. The job market is still in dangerous waters, but unemploy-ment is slowly decreasing. There have been talks of lowering the $85 billion monthly bond-buying program by $5 billion to $15 billion. These talks turned out to be mere speculation, proven on September 18 when Ben Ber-nanke, the Fed chairman, announced that the Federal Reserve reviewed all economic indicators and decided to keep buying $85 billion in bonds,

monthly. The stock market actually moved down over the summer when Bernanke talked about lowering amount of bonds the Fed buys each month. To many, it was acceptable for the Fed to lower the quantitative easing, even if only by $5 billion. Because the market adjusted in an-ticipation of Bernanke announcing a slowdown in bond buying, stocks likely wouldn’t have dropped that much more, if at all. In the next few months, there will be more news regarding what the Federal Reserve will do. It will be interesting to see how the Fed will act in the coming months as it continues its efforts to help the economy improve.

Kenya security personale take position Courtesy of www.salon.com

Though 9/11 happened over twelve years ago, its effect has indeed been present: in our hearts, our minds, our...smartphones? This past May, former NSA employee Edward Snowden exposed the National Security Agency’s tactics that impinge on privacy both within the United States and around the world. Snowden has been called a patriot and traitor, and has been a recipient of excessive praise as well as criticism, but the main lesson to be learned is that citizens have been investigated by their own govern-ment – for quite a while now – with the aid of the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act was put into

action on October 26, 2001. The Patriot Act was put into place for counterterrorism purposes. The actual tactics enacted by the Patriot Act were not known for eleven and a half years until Snowden released them. Snowden released the infor-mation regarding the court order for Verizon to turn over all of its call records to the US government. While the concept of wiretapping by the government has been evident for some time, this news is sure to make any American question his or her liberties. Moreover, Snowden released the existence and tactics of PRISM. This program collects worldwide Internet communication data, based on demands made to Internet com-panies. PRISM, however, cannot be

used on domestic targets without a warrant. Around the world, PRISM has been used mainly for anti-ter-rorism purposes, and the utilization of the program has been concen-trated in the Middle East. However, “Boundless Informant,” a technol-ogy that provides the summary of the amount of surveillance, shows a few problems. The Middle Eastern coun-tries are all labeled with red or orange; the actual validity of the surveillance on suspected terrorists is unknown, but the information received is most likely well worth it. Whereas most of the countries around the world are labeled with green, the U. S. is labeled with yel-low, along with Russia, Germany, and China. The debate between whether

or not this security is warranted will not be resolved quickly. There is a choice between personal safety and national safety, and the latter seems to be the winner in the eyes of the US government. There is no way to exactly know how much surveillance is ac-tive on our technology. In addition, the large rise in technology in the last half-century certainly gives the government an advantage over citi-zens. The average American life has been left unscathed by the NSA but its presence will undoubtedly make many American citizens feel violated by their own government. If any observation can be made from all of this, it is that the line between liberty and big brother politics in America is growing thin-ner and thinner.

Page

6The Delbarton Courier

OpinionS

Yes, They Do No, They Do Not Every year, innocent civil-ians are ruthlessly slaughtered in coldblood by video games such as Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty. And I’m not talking about cyber civilians, but real life people. Okay, maybe that statement is a tad mis-leading and exaggerated, but there actually is an undeniable correlation between video game playing and vi-olence. Let’s look at the facts. Each of the killers involved in the Sandy Hook elementary, Aurora, Colo-rado Movie Theater, Columbine and Navy Yard shootings immersed themselves into virtual worlds of depravity and extreme violence. If we focus on Grand Theft

By: Seamus Craugh ‘14 By: Greg Kacergis ‘15

Do Video Games Cause Violence?

Illustrated by Timothy Welman ‘14

I have killed countless creatures on my computer, mostly creations of fantasy, like caricatures of humans that portray them as mindless beings of evil or one-dimensional nobodies. I will admit to that. This is often accompanied by eating breakfast, chatting with a friend, or listening to whatever music I am in the mood for, which is usually something somewhat mellow. It may seem odd to have an air of nonchalance at this time, but

I feel no great guilt from watching pixels die. Is that a problem? Graphics have improved; our shooters aren’t Goldeneyes any more, and in more than one way–though that point can be saved for another day. Realistic violence pops out of the screen. Dead Space 2’s advertisement slogan was “Your Mom Hates This.” She probably did. Games like Saints Row have the moral depravity to make Miley Cyrus feel like her career leaves something to be desired. That is, to her, and not her admirers. And

yet throughout my and my friends’ consumption of this kind of media we have not the slightest inclina-tion to take such actions in real life. Neither blades nor bullets entice us to violence of any sort. You could make a point that we are imbued with some sense of morality that conflicts with what we see on the screen, and so prevents us from turning it into reality. But I would argue that there is no such conflict. We simply recognize what is on the screen as on the screen, where it has no applicable value to reality. Fantasy has always had that element, and video games are no different than the books and shows that have crafted rich environments that, indeed, contain violence.

They are a form of media; though interactivity brings a cer-tain closeness to the action that most gamers do not get from other forms, there is conceptually no dif-ference. If one seeks violence, they will find it, be it in their games, their books, or, for lack of a medium, the unhealthy mind that gives a more concrete form to such thoughts. Such violence cannot satisfy. The people on the screen are comprised of codes, not cells. No true killer’s relief can be attained by killing one; no matter how much they may seem like humans, they only take that shape. Humans do have a shadow of a dark side, and it is fine to en-tertain its fancies on the screen. In any rational being that is where they stay, where they have little effect on actions taken with real people in real situations. Daydreams never had to be pretty, so long as they stayed in the mind.

Auto, particularly the most recent GTA, it becomes easier to believe that these video games have desen-sitizing effects on our young people. In the trailer for GTA V (Grand Theft Auto V), viewers are intro-duced to the “heroes” of the game, all of whom are merciless, murder-ing crime-lords. A few seconds later these “heroes” can be seen stomp-ing the foot of a dead body into a toilet, mowing down innocent civil-ians with machine guns, and abus-ing women and children, all while screaming expletives. Now, I can say with confi-dence that the children of our so-ciety would be emotionally affected by these graphic images. Further-more, the effects are even more serious on teens still struggling through their formative years. Even worse, recent studies have shown that the male brain has not finished developing until the mid-twenties. This leaves young male figures,

such as the shooters involved at the aforementioned sites, extremely vulnerable to the savagery of today’s impressionable video games. What’s worse than an impressionable young man being taught how to murder through video games? A psychopath being taught how to murder through video games. Friends and roommates of the Navy Yard shooter, Aaron Alexis, claimed that he would play shooter games like GTA and Call of Duty for 16 hours a day. Alexis would return from an 8-hour shift at

work, disregard sleep, and play video games for the remaining 16 hours of his day. That is, until he was lucky enough to be fired, freeing up some time on his schedule for other hob-bies, like sleeping and eating. After putting in so many consecutive hours of cyber-murder, it wouldn’t be unlikely that Alexis lost his grasp on reality. Maybe he thought he was just going to get bonus points for the butchering of innocent pedes-trians, just as his video games had rewarded him for the same exact actions over and over again.

“Let’s look at the facts. Each of the kill-

ers involved in the Sandy Hook elemen-tary, Aurora, Colo-rado Movie Theater, Columbine and Navy Yard shootings im-mersed themselves

into virtual worlds of depravity and extreme

violence.”

“They are a form of media; though inter-activity brings a cer-tain closeness to the

action that most gam-ers do not get from other forms, there is conceptually no dif-ference. If one seeks

violence, they will find it. ”

Page

7VISIONS AND VOICESThe Delbarton Courier

By: Aidan McLaughlin ‘17 Cam was walking through the Prado, praising the masterpieces that hung before him. There was an ear-shattering screech, and then the loudspeaker came on. “The museum will be closing now. Please make way to the exit. Thank you!” a peppy young woman piped into the mic. Cam stayed behind to get one last look at a portrait before he left. His flight back to Vancouver was the next day. Cam started towards the exit, but just as he got to the door…it locked. The boy pounded on the door, but it was to no avail. Cam stepped back and examined his surroundings. He walked up to a picture of Jesus pinned to the Cross (Francisco de Zurbaran). Suddenly, the world spun and Cam landed

The Crucifixion in Madrid

Miscellaneous Poems by Nate Osemeha ‘15

on his knees. He fainted. When he woke, Cam was kneeling in front of Jesus on the Cross! He fell back in shock and rolled right into the feet of a group of Roman soldiers. They jeered at Jesus but didn’t seem to notice the teenage boy lying prone at their feet. Cam got up and imme-diately lightning struck. Jesus called out “Father forgive them, they know not what they do!” (Luke 23:34) Cam woke in a puddle of sweat in his hotel bedroom. The time was 10:17 A.M. He was going to be late for his flight. Cam zipped to the air-port and went home thinking he had had one crazy dream. Yet no one working at the Prado could explain the young man in Nike apparel, kneeling at the foot of the Crucifix in the portrait of Christ.

Illustrated by Timothy Welman ‘14

Courtesy of www.dailypainters.com

Departure: jersey, Destination: greatnessI don’t mean to sound heinous, I’m allergic to

fakenessI don’t mean to sound famous, but there’s no way

else to say this I’m sicker than pneumonia, and my words are just

contagiousI hope this don’t sound like a cliché or something

I can’t hear the criticism, are they saying something But in exchange for nothing,

I’ll paint you a good picture; I’ll tell you a good story, the pain and the glory

But honestlyThe truth hurts now and I’m sorry for my hon-

esty, I never needed Homer ‘cause I wrote my own odyssey

Redoubtably forget what you should or what they think you ought to be, no Achilles heel, now I’m

done with Greek mythology

Ok, come mi chiamo?Parlo Italiano con professore Del Guercio

Mamma mia, lei parla? It all just makes me wonda the things we’d do for a dolla.

In the age of pre-Madonna’s where education is key and not having it is a problem

…Maybe nursery rhymes can solve ‘em likeJack and Jill went up the hill to look for work

and pay their bills and when they went they came across, an old tyrant who was their boss, now

should they go and pay their dues? They’ll never know you snooze you lose, but then they met Peter

Piper promised to pay for their retirement, even though he makes millions Jack and Jill raise debts to ceilings, Piper wins, tax convicts ‘em, another

victim of the system to ease the stress they’re pop-ping pills, this life’s a mess kill or be killed, now

should we blame Jack or Jill because they came up the hill?

Page

8 SPORTSThe Delbarton Courier

Is Fantasy Football More Than a Fad?

Preview on the Varsity Football

Can the New Jersey Devils Make a Recovery this Season?

By: Brandon Gaceta ‘17

By: Will Agathis ‘14

By: Brandon Gaceta ‘17

Fantasy football has taken the NFL fan-base by storm ever since CBSSports introduced it in 1997. Other companies such as ESPN, Yahoo, and the NFL created their own fantasy football websites soon after. Nowadays, there are over 15 million fans playing fantasy foot-ball, and it is the NFL’s best market-ing tool. But what makes fantasy football so appealing? It is a sure bet that every fan has a different opin-ion of what a team should be doing, whether it is to start the rookie quarterback or trade the star line-backer. Fantasy football allows these fans to take a team into their own hands, giving them the power of a real NFL general manager. Fans are in organized leagues that they can either create or join on the website, and each league has its own draft from a pool of all current NFL

players. Fans can draft a combina-tion of quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, tight ends, and a defense and special teams, and a kicker. During the regular season, the stats of each player are tracked, which are converted into points for each fan’s team. Every week, two fans have their teams face off in a contest of who can rack up the

most points. In the last week of the season, there is a league champion-ship where the top two teams play each other for bragging rights and sometimes money. As a fantasy football user myself, I have to say that it was defi-nitely a time consuming and exciting hobby. Would Peyton Manning be able to put up big numbers against the vaunted Ravens defense? I bet-

Two weeks into the start of the regular season the Delbarton Green Wave varsity football team is looking as strong as ever. With nineteen returning seniors, this is an experienced group that has been tested numerous times in both the playoffs and the regular season. Having faced teams like Paramus Catholic and St. Joe’s of Montvale (in a scrimmage), this team is no stranger to the high level at which the top New Jersey high school football teams play. On the offensive side of the ball, they have tight end Matt

ter play it safe and start Alex Smith instead, who would have a good matchup against a bad Jacksonville Jaguars team. It is very exciting to feel like part of an actual team, managing actual players and starting or benching them on your fantasy team based on how they are do-ing in real life. In these new fantasy football websites, there are features where you can see the projected stats of each player as well as the overall projected points of your team based on who you have start-ing at the moment. There are even analysts just for fantasy football that give you inside looks at how players are doing and who may be someone you want to trade for or bench each week. Fantasy football has taken over the NFL fan base with its exciting inside look at the NFL, and should be a staple of the league for years to come.Who will you draft? Courtesy of www.michaelshuemaker.com

Oplinger, who was an integral part of the offense’s big play ability last year. The offense also features a stable of running backs, includ-ing senior Robert Arancio ‘14, who alternates between tailback and fullback, filling Jamie White’s shoes as the featured back. Guiseppe Bevacqua ’14 steps in at quarterback for the graduated Michael Bicknese, and has shown off his accuracy and mobility in the pocket in the past two games. The defense, led by senior linebackers Michael Parowski ‘14, Aaron Slodowitz ‘14, Conor Mackie ‘14, and Josef Johnson ’14, is stout against the run, and has shown its ability to get to the quarterback us-

ing the complex schemes of defen-sive coordinator Mike Beach. Matt Oplinger ’14 and Ian Lodge ‘15 are rangy, hard-hitting safeties that have helped this formi-dable defense cause several turn-overs already this season. Andrew Papantonis, the freshman cornerback, is starting op-posite senior Daniel Murphy, while senior JJ McBride and junior Matt Mandelbaum rotate in as well. Special teams, headed by coaches Dennis Mikula and Dan Desplaines, is a talented bunch, fea-turing Andrew Papantonis back as returner for both the kickoff return and punt return units. This excit-ing freshman has already returned

a kickoff for a touchdown against Paramus Catholic in the football team’s home opener. The coaching staff returns with some slight changes, as Dan Desplaines moves to defensive backs coach while new outside linebackers and special teams coach Dennis Mikula provides contagious energy and great enthusiasm for the game. Head coach Brian Bowers is back at it again after receiving the Coach of the Year award last year and leads the offense while defen-sive coordinator Mike Beach returns to coach his impenetrable defensive scheme, which limited opponents to average less than twenty points per game last year.

Making the playoffs used to be a small feat for the New Jersey Devils. As a result of making the playoffs in fourteen consecutive seasons, the players knew how much effort was needed, and provided just enough to find their way into the playoffs. However, everything changed in 2009 when the Devils spent their entire offseason trying to re-sign their Russian goal-scorer, Ilya Kovalchuk, simultaneously losing players that made up their foundation. At that point, the Devils had two superstars, a couple of solid players, and, primarily, a hodge-podge of utility players. Therefore,

it was no wonder when the team missed the playoffs both in 2010 (missing American superstar Zach Parise) and, after losing Parise, in 2012. What was the problem? How come one superstar could not carry the load? It appears that there are two ways to be successful in the NHL nowadays. The first option would require a great number of mid-level talents, effectively providing depth. The second option, which the Devils tried from 2008-2011, was to build a team off of a few stars, with less emphasis on depth and a greater focus on firepower. In this past offseason, high-lighted by the loss of Kovalchuk and Clarkson, the Devils decided

that they would try to abide by the first option, which used to be the root of their great successes in the 1990s. Signing talent like Michael Ryder, Jaromir Jagr, Damien Brun-ner, and Ryane Clowe will help to replenish a team that was barren of firepower in July. But as of now, the Devils play has been, to put it mildly, un-derwhelming. Mainstays like Dainius Zubrus, Adam Henrique, and Travis Zajac are having trouble finding the back of the net, while the defense—namely Peter Harrold, Adam Lars-son, and Bryce Salvador—have had trouble making their presences felt on defense. The Devils have held the lead in four of their games this season, yet lost all of them.

If the team wants to be suc-cessful, secondary depth at forward (Zubrus, Henrique, Zajac) must step up and find some sort of rhythm. Meanwhile, the defense needs to find its collective identity. The Devils defense used to be notorious for preventing shots on the goalies. Nowadays, the goalies face an aver-age of 27 shots a game, three more than last year’s rate. The Devils have to turn their season around: that much is obvious. The real question is when. And with the New Jersey’s offensive and defensive woes still affecting its play, hopefully that day soon comes when the team realizes that it is flirting with a dangerous territory, irrelevance.