Stressed For School
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Counselors are constantly reminding us that honors or advanced classes are good. They help us get ahead, they will look good on our resumes, but at what cost?
The Pew Research Center explains that in 2018, 70% of teens think that depression and anxiety are a problem among their peers and still, they are pushed to constantly do better, be better, and achieve more.
The pressure to be in all honors and still be in 300 clubs, sports and activities is overwhelming. On top of that, there is an obligation to have a job and a social life and then still find time for ourselves.
At the end of the day, the time just doesn’t check out and for some people, college is not even an option.
Counselors make it seem like it is the only real post-high school plan and do everything to gear our education towards it.
Schools need to show us that there are options outside of college; there is the military, there are two-year associate programs for people wanting to go into the workforce.
The stress and anxiety of high school shouldn’t be forced on everyone– no matter what counselors say.
The Taste Of Water
The Taste Of Water
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Imagine this, it’s between classes and you only have five minutes to get a drink and get to class. Knowing which fountain to go to can save you a few seconds of those valuable five minutes. Through a set of rigorous tests and an official chart, I’m going to tell you where to get the best water in our school.
Eighteen fountains make up what most students can easily access in between classes. Fountains next to each other were rated together and their scores then averaged. This means only twelve fountains are up for the true title of the best fountain.
Let’s start with the categories I went through to figure out the best water fountain.
I first started with the coldness of the water. After a long day getting a cold drink can make all the difference. On a scale from one to five, there were many fountains that achieved a perfect score.
Fountains near the first floor science wing and first floor history wing have some of the coldest water. Another honorable mention would be the fountain near the concessions stand.
The water there is crisp and cold, but did not reach the top of the ranks due to deficits in other categories.
The next of the categories I choose to rank the fountains was accessibility. Some fountains were immediately disqualified for being in places an average student cannot get to.
Depending on what class you’re in or traveling to could change the accessibility for you. For this, I went with fountains that weren’t meant for certain classes or too far from the rest of the school.
My next category was the presentation. This severely lowered the scores of different fountains. Small chunks of food in the drain or unfortunately placed trashcans can ruin a good hydration experience.
This caused fountains in the commons, near the gym, and on the second floor near room 244 to lose a majority of their points.
Next is taste. Some people might say that water is tasteless, but I would have to disagree. Water can taste metallic, dirty, and even stale. So, when picking the perfect water fountain, the taste was a big concern.
The second floor science wing and second floor English wing fountains had a crisp, clean taste that left me feeling refreshed.
Finally, the last of my categories was pressure. When you have to touch the spout the water comes out of to get a drink, it leaves you feeling grossed out. For this, I recommend the first floor science wing or the fountain near the concessions stand.
There was one fountain that had everything I was looking for in a quick drink. With five in temperature, accessibility, presentation, and taste the second floor math hallway had the best water. With a 4.8 rating, as the water pressure lost a single point, it’s the best fountain in school.
Next time you’re in need of a quick drink and have time to walk to any fountain, the math hall will be waiting.
Apex vs Fortnite
Apex vs Fortnite
Apex Legends (Electronic Arts)
Photo by: TNS
Photo by: TNS
Apex Legends (Electronic Arts)
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thank u, next
thank u, next
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“Emergency?”
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Protesters In Ohio boycotting President Trump’s Border Wall.
The US government was shut down December 22, 2018 to January 25, 2019. No government employees were paid during the shutdown all because of one man, Donald Trump. This shutdown was because Trump wanted his wall to be built on the southern border with Mexico, and Democrats did not want this wall, and still don’t.
There have been 58 national emergencies since 1979, most deal with foreign affairs and wars. None have dealt with immigration to this level. Also this is not Trump’s first national emergency, it is his fourth.
The National Emergency Act of 1975 it says that the president must outline the specific emergency powers he is using under existing statutes.
But what is the emergency?
Over 90% of the illegal drug Heroin that is seized comes through legal ports of entry, not gaping holes in the already existing wall according to the Washington Post. So all of this $5.7 billion dollar plan to build a “Bigger and better wall,” is unnecessary. This wall will not be effective.
This wall has been emphasized ever since President Trump’s 2016 campaign in which he promised a wall would be built. This is a mere political stunt in order to fulfill a promise that should not have been made in the first place. The President shut the government down for a month in order to prove a point, that he holds power.
The government approved $21.5 billion dollars in border security and that is not enough? Why couldn’t the President have spent the money then? Or when the government gave the President an additional $1.6 billion dollars for the wall? The money seemingly was spent but not on the wall. Then President Trump came in with the $5.7 Billion dollars for the wall, and when both houses refused the President shut the government down.
Government workers were not paid during the holiday season and people on welfare were in fear of not having money for food stamps because one man wanted his point to be proven.
Also an actual national emergency that is not even being talked about is in Flint, Michigan. Their water is still brown and contaminated from the rusted lead pipes. Five years later the pipes are not fixed and over 100,000 people are exposed to the undrinkable water.
Yet because Trump promised a wall that is $5.7 billion dollars, in order to tackle an unrealistic goal to stop drugs and illegal immigration and for what?
So to the people who believe that this is an actual National Emergency realize there are people suffering within our borders, and not just outside of our
Springfield Food Leader
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Cry Pretty
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Swimming
Swimming
Photo courtesy of Tribune News
Photo courtesy of Tribune News
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In his fifth and final studio album, the late Mac Miller drowns the listener in captivating songs of R&B, soul, jazz rap about heartbreak, self love, and healing. But do not be mistaken, this is not a breakup album.
“I’m just talking about things that I’m proud of myself for, things I’m afraid of, or things that are just thoughts and emotions,” he told Beats 1 host Zane Lowe.
The whole album itself, flows at the same pace and keeps you listening. The leading single, Self Care tells how Miller is overcoming struggles and making the decision to treat himself right.
The emotional and nostalgic feel of 2009 with a beautiful orchestra playing at the beginning will have you reminiscing on the past.
More upbeat songs like What’s the use? , which has a subtle cameo of Snoop Dogg, tells how Miller is dealing with personal devastation.
The title goes wonderfully with the album as a whole, the album flows you along song to song, each telling a story and has important meaning behind each one. Overall, the word that comes to mind when I listen to this album is patience, I’m not quite sure how to explain why but maybe because the album seems to keep you calm and focused, even the upbeat songs. I would highly recommend listening to Swimming on your lowest, chillest, or simply days you just need to be in your head.
Sierra Burgess Really Is A Loser
Sierra Burgess Really Is A Loser
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Kneeling For Nothing
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The Young Adult Novel Apocalypse: Authors Exploit the Genre
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J.K. Rowling spurred the explosion of today’s young adult genre back in the late 90s with the release of the first Harry Potter book.
She had to go to several different publishers —at least 12, according to The Guardian—because her story was repeatedly rejected.
And it wasn’t because the publishers didn’t like the story. They were worried that the books would never sell, says the fandom-journalist site Hypable.
Christopher Little, Rowling’s first agent, told The Guardian that publishers feared nobody would read Harry Potter because, they reasoned, it wasn’t relatable to an adult audience.
Before Rowling, there wasn’t much of a Young Adult genre, and this is likely due to the same reasons why Rowling had to face so much rejection. No company saw any profit in publishing a book that catered to such a small demographic of 12-18 year-olds.
Although I’m glad that Rowling had determination to put what would become one of the most beloved book series of all time on bookshelves, it’s understandable that these publishers didn’t want to take the risk.
Teens didn’t have their own genre before the last couple decades. Books were published for children, and books were published for adults. Before the late 90s, students read classics like Gatsby and Catcher in English classes, and any leisure reading was made for the grownup audience.
Books like Gary Paulson’s Hatchet or like Hinton’s The Outsiders (she was 17 when her book was published, funny that) are some of the earliest examples of YA fiction, but few others wanted to write fiction for specifically young people because there was no demand for it.
Rowling set the precedent for young adult literature by showing everyone how much money you can make by creating something that teenagers want to read.
Ever since Rowling’s immense success, there was an outbreak of young adult books. Authors like John Green, David Levithan, Rick Riordan and Veronica Roth—all names you can find on our library’s shelves—have emerged as some of this generation’s most successful writers.
YA literature has become the bottom of the barrel for books; publishers are using the genre as loophole for authors who aren’t good at writing to get something published.
Recycled plot lines, laughably bad dialogue and character arcs as flat as old Pepsi are only some of the many crimes against literature that run rampant throughout these god-awful books.
Joyce Carol Oates, American author with hundreds of published novels, short stories, poems and essays, said in an interview with the Michigan Quarterly Review that young adult writing takes a special kind of skill.
“[My editor] Tara encouraged me to write a young adult novel, which, for me, became an experiment in genre: how to present a narrative in the most succinct and dramatic way, relying mostly upon dialogue, a minimum of interior narration, virtually no description, exposition, or background. In adult fiction, the act of describing, for instance, a high school cafeteria could be a tour de force of sharp, sensory writing, but a young adult editor will simply cross out such a description with the gentle admonition: ‘Teenagers know what a high school cafeteria is, you don’t have to tell them.”’
Oates may be right that good Young Adult fiction is dramatic and succinct, but much of the young adult books published these days aren’t on par with the leading authors of our generation.
Rowling’s use of installments was artful, masterful and added to a gripping plot. C.S. Lewis and George R.R. Martin have also used installments tastefully. But the rise (and plague) of series has become just another way to copycat Rowling’s successes. It’s become less about writing impactful and thoughtful literature and more about making up new ways to keep making money. One of my biggest problems with this genre is that it is insulting to our intelligence. YA authors have this nasty habit of censoring themselves all the time.
Do these authors think we don’t know what sex is? Do they think that they are doing us some great service by only alluding to all the dirty things that teenagers do? Young adult books should be as honest and real as the lives of those reading them.
The Young Adult genre has become an outlet for middle-aged writers to reminisce about their high school experience. While this style may be suitable for memoir writing, it’s not entertaining when placed in a modern setting with fictional characters in a slice of life plot line.
Forty-year-olds do not know what the current high school scene is; they like to impress their ideas on what they think high school is like on their story and pass it off as real.
Oates was right when she said that high-schoolers know what a cafeteria looks like. There’s a special shared experience between students. It’s a mutual language that we all know, and authors are making it all too obvious that they don’t speak the tongue.
What are teenagers all about? Their phones! Let’s write all of our stories with a heavy reliance on texting and email in order to dig ourselves an even deeper grave. Books that use threads as a means of carrying a plot makes a story boring as hell. If i wntd 2 read txt lk ths (which is NOT how teenagers text, John!) id skrrt skrrt rite on ovr 2 twitter lol.
This plot device-y way to make characters seem more hip and trendy falls short nearly every time and leaves readers bored, confused and a little uncomfortable. This heavy reliance on technology in order to make a book seem more modern is a glaringly obvious crutch for someone lacking talent in writing dialogue.
Our great-grandchildren will still be reading Mark Twain and Mary Shelley when they’re in school. Cassandra Clare who? Stephen Chbosky what? Young adult books exist only in the present and have no literary merit to keep them relevant in the future.
Are Chromebooks useful?
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SPS has introduced Chromebooks to their curriculum for all students to use this year. This gives every student the opportunity to have Internet access on a computer and can use Google Docs to store and save all their work. This has been a debate all school year, in which some people enjoy them while others don’t. I asked a few people what they thought about the Chromebooks. “They are useful resources, but they are not needed very often.” Senior Ian Martus said. They have their uses for the classroom but can take away from the learning experience by distracting students with the gaming capabilities and being able to browse the internet. The Chromebooks are not a favorite among people, but they get the job done. They will be in the school’s curriculum for the foreseeable future.
Immigrants Know More
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Being an immigrant myself, coming to America was very difficult I had to learn a new language and about how the government runs. So my main point is why do I have to learn more about their country than they do.
Like how does that make sense, to add onto that the process of becoming a citizen is a long and gruelling process.
In order to be eligible to apply to become a citizen, first off you need to be eighteen, a lawful permanent resident of the United States, resident and physically present in the United States for at least five years at a time of application, and must be of good moral character.
I get the other requirements to apply to be a citizen, how can you classify a person as a good moral citizen; think about it how is the U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services(USCIS) suppose to tell a immigrant is a good person.
“One of the general requirements for naturalization is good moral character (GMC). GMC means character which measures up to the standards of average citizens of the community in which the applicant resides. [1]In general, an applicant must show that he or she has been and continues to be a person of GMC during the statutory period prior to filing and up to the time of the Oath of Allegiance,” according to the USCIS.
But I’m not the only one that understands this many other students know how hard the process of becoming a citizen.
“Yeah I remember when I first got my citizenship, it took me almost two years before I finally got it, when they told me I was finally a citizen of America all the hard work was well worth it,” said Junior at Evangel Patrick Puletusie
What We’re Thinking of Fergie’s Not-So National Anthem Rendition
What We’re Thinking of Fergie’s Not-So National Anthem Rendition
Photo by Allen Berezvosky
Photo by Allen Berezvosky
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She’s Fergalicious… well maybe not so much right now. If you, like many others saw Fergie’s National Anthem performance before the NBA All-Star game, then you’re probably just as confused. Maybe you’re wondering the same thing I am, who in the world told her they liked that and it was okay to do on national television?
On February 18, some of the best basketball players teamed up to play and win, proving who is better for the year. Millions watched from all around, and unfortunately for Fergie, the first 10 minutes were re-watched more than anything else that night.
Fergie’s rendition started off slow, and right off the bat no one knew where she was taking us. High, low, and shaky; all notes she was doing her best to hit but we’re definitely not agreeing with her. It was like a car crash that was so bad you couldn’t help but watch to see how it ended.
It was all anyone could do to not laugh at her, but that’s probably not too polite of a thing to do on TV. As players and celebrities panned on and off the camera, the world got to catch a glimpse of just how hard it is not to laugh when someone is making a fool of themselves. As the song came to an end, Fergie threw her hands in the air and said, “let’s play ball,” finishing the performance with proudness on her face.
Right away Fergie became all anyone could talk about; tweets, remixes, and reactions posted every minute. It was something the world could hide from Fergie either, obviously she was going find out what everyone thought of her performance.
“I’ve always been honored and proud to perform the national anthem and last night I wanted to try something special for the NBA,” Fergie went on to say, “I’m a risk taker artistically, but clearly this rendition didn’t strike the intended tone. I love this country and honestly tried my best,” Fergie said.
An apology and a week later, everyone has began to leave Fergie alone. Will we ever know who told her to do that on national television with a straight face? No, but I say we pass the blame and humiliation to that person.
High School Girls Perpetuate the Lesbian Trend
High School Girls Perpetuate the Lesbian Trend
High-Schoolers across the nation are trying the gay lifestyle on for size. It's not empowering or advocating for equality, though. It's just plain wrong.
High-Schoolers across the nation are trying the gay lifestyle on for size. It's not empowering or advocating for equality, though. It's just plain wrong.
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There are three reasons why a high school girl might gush about her new girlfriend.
The first reason is that she’s just like the rest of us: confused, blindly stumbling about, dating to pass the time or dating to find The One. She’s trying to figure herself out, so she’s showing off a new boyfriend or girlfriend on Instagram every few weeks to cover up the fact that she’s lost in the perplexity of growing up.
The second reason is that she feels free to express her sexuality. She feels safe in an environment that supports her, and she’s able to live as a homo/bi/poly/pan-sexual woman because she is brave enough to be herself in a world that sometimes encourages her not to.
The third reason that high school girls might feel compelled to date each other is because of the Lesbian Trend.
Many people may consider Lesbians to be trendy because there are a lot more of them than there used to be, especially in the high school setting.
Hello, it’s me, the token Lesbian, here again to complain about Lesbian things.
While I typically joke that girls wearing those plaid lumberjack shirts are “appropriating lesbian culture,” I can’t help but wonder what else straight people are are stealing from us. And then I realized that, by dating girls themselves, straight girls–heterosexual girls, that is–are taking away the core of what it means to be gay.
Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s wonderful that more people are coming out. We’re fortunate to live in an period where it is becoming more safe and more acceptable for gay people to be themselves.
But straight people don’t get to have this. Taking away the root of what homosexuality is by exploiting it the worst type of oppression. Pretending to be gay or being gay just for fun is just another form of ostracizing the LGBT+ community. Get your yucky little hetero fingers off of things that don’t belong to you.
My theory for the increasing lesbian crowd may be caused in part by celebrities like bisexual actress Bella Thorne and lesbian actress Ellen Page who serve as role models for young girls worldwide. And imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so teens who want to be more like their famous idols may take up homosexuality as a hobby.
What these girls fail to understand is that homosexuality belongs to homosexuals and nobody else. Same-sex dating is a characteristic reserved only for people in the LGBT+ community and those searching for their identity, not for heterosexuals. This isn’t to say that heterosexuality is bad; just stay in your lane, girls.
To be clear, the problem does not lie in those who are looking to find themselves. Nobody expects you to know your sexuality, and actively dating multiple genders does not cause anybody any harm. Bisexual people (those attracted to their own gender as well as another gender) aren’t the problem, either.
The center of this problem lies in decidedly heterosexual girls using other girls as an excuse to consider themselves a minority.
Being a minority is cool somehow for someone who has never been in a minority group. Because a privileged person will never have to suffer the true consequences of being a minority, they might think it’s fun to dabble in a world that is foreign to them.
The Lesbian trend is merely a reason for girl to go looking for a reason to be oppressed. But because they are not truly in the LGBT+ community, there is no way they will ever suffer any injustice.
High school girls may decide to “go gay” because they’re fed up with teenage boys, because the new endeavor seems fun and exciting or because the Internet glorifies this newly-blown-up “heteroflexible” term, which people use to describe themselves as mostly straight and sometimes gay.
Heteroflexibility, then, is essentially heterosexuality but only when it’s fun not to be. This is another example of dabbling in the culture of the oppressed and never needing to suffer any of the consequences. It’s a cop-out. It’s unfair. And it’s further oppressing the groups of people who actually identify as gay, bisexual, transgender, and others.
Dating for love versus dating for the attention has been a problem for young people for as long as dating has been popular. We need to tell the difference between the two and put a halt to the latter.
So, girls: If your girlfriend is just another accessory to your outfit, it’s time to stop. If your girlfriend is truly someone you love, and you can see yourself building a future with her, then I wish you the best of luck.
Black Panther Review
Black Panther Review
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The Black Panther starts after the death of T’Challa’s, the main characters, father now he has to become the new black panther and new ruler of Wakanda.
But when a foe challenges his right as the king and black panther, he is caught up in conflict that will put not just his title as black panther at risk but the fate of the people of Wakanda as well.
I think this has been one of the best superhero movies since the first Captain America movie.
The Black Panther has been labeled by Rotten Tomatoes as “the best movie of all time,” also it smashed the box office record with over 218 million dollars on opening night.
So I recommend this breathtaking movie to anyone, but better get to the theaters quickly, because tickets are selling fast.
Thank You, Fortnite
Thank You, Fortnite
These Fortnite characters will appear on your screen as the game loads. Photo Courtesy of Tribune News Service.
These Fortnite characters will appear on your screen as the game loads. Photo Courtesy of Tribune News Service.
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On July 25th, 2017, the gaming world changed forever. Epic Games released Fortnite, a free co-op survival video game for Xbox One, Playstation 4, Mac and Microsoft Windows. This game has been the most popular game this year, as 45 million users played at least once.
Fortnite is the most exciting game to play since Modern Warfare 2 came out in 2009. No game is close to how addicting and fun Fortnite is. The Battle Royal section of the game is you vs 99 other people. Last one standing wins. Battle Royale takes skill, determination and a lot of luck. You can play by yourself (solo), with one other person (duo) or with 3 others (squad).
Solo takes the most skill because its just you and yourself. No one can save you, and no one can help you. You’re either good at solo or you’re not, there is no inbetween. Duo is a different story, having another person by your side takes the stress of you and you can be a lot more risky and push more often while solo takes strategy on when to attack and when hold back. Squad is the most chaotic and takes tons of communication with your teammates. Taking down 4 people is challenging by itself, but with communication and a little bit of luck you can take down a squad and you might find yourself with a win.
When you are so close to winning you can smell it, every move counts. Trying to counter the oposing player and finally get your first win, is a stressful process. Once you see Victory Royale pop up on your TV, a rush of excitment and happiness enters your body.
As long as this game is around, the only thing I can say is: Thank You, Fortnite.
A To Z Conspiracy: Area 51
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Whats really going on behind the closed gates of Area 51?
By ZACH ARNOLD AND AARON SAWCHAK
Wikimedia commons
The U.S we’re conducting low flying planes for recon missions about one hundred and fifty six miles from Las Vegas in Nevada in the early 1950’s. The constant fear of being spotted and shot down led President Eisenhower to authorize the development of a top secret high altitude recon aircraft project called the U-2. This required a remote area not visible by spies or civilians. Area 51 was perfect for this.
The sheehan family owned a groom mine property overlooking the secret base Area 51. The family no longer owns the title to the property that the family owned for one hundred and thirty years. The Federal government took the deed through eminent domain after offering the Sheehan family $333,000 which they thought was extremely low. The family has still not been paid for the land but are very prepared to fight in a jury trial.. Sheehan told Fox News that Air Force officials started showing up unannounced on the property in the early 1940s and 1950s to intimidate his grandparents. His family made complaints to the Air Force but nothing ever happened. After the Air Force confiscated the property on September 16, 2015, the family had three experts appraise the property. Each appraiser noticed its unique value and came to a conclusion that the land was worth 44 million to 116 million dollars.
In contrast to commercial airliners, which can fly at altitudes of around 30,000 feet, U-2 planes could reach heights of 60,000 feet. This led to the misconception that U-2’s were extraterrestrial flying objects. With Air force officials knowing these sightings were actually U-2 tests they decided to cover this up by saying that these sightings were “natural phenomena” and “high altitude weather research planes”. The CIA officially acknowledged the existence and location of this base in 2013. In July 1947, the military sensationally announced in a press meeting that they had found the remains of a crashed flying saucer in the desert. The following day they retracted their statement saying that it was a U.S air force air balloon. Sheriff Jess Slaughter and Deputy Sheriff Charles Fogus were on duty the night of the incident.
In the interview with Sheriff Fogus he claimed that he saw a flying object smash into the side of a river bed. The object was “100 feet” across. “When we got there the land was covered with soldiers and they were hauling a big creature,I saw the legs and feet on some of them and they looked like our feet.
After the Soviets took people to the moon the USA felt pressured to do the same. Not having the technology that the USSR had, the Americans were desperate to get someone to the moon. Area 51 was the best place they could find to fake the moon landing. When Neil Armstrong planted the American Flag in the dirt, the flag started to wave like there was a breeze.
My Voice Matters, Too.
How Tinker v. Des Moines saved student journalism, how Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier wrongfully ruined it & and why New Voices legislation should be enacted to save it once again.
My Voice Matters, Too.
It is neither my administrators' nor my legislators' duty or right to determine which parts of the first amendment do or do not apply to me. Photo by Lilli Flanigan.
It is neither my administrators' nor my legislators' duty or right to determine which parts of the first amendment do or do not apply to me. Photo by Lilli Flanigan.
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TINKER V. DES MOINES (1969)
Our story starts in the height of the Vietnam War, with a middle school girl by the name of Mary Beth Tinker and her older brother John Tinker. The siblings are famous for protesting what they perceived as the war’s injustices by donning black armbands to wear to their Des Moines, Iowa public schools.
The Tinkers’ school administrators, to say the least, were not pleased with their display of activism. In fact, a new policy was quickly adopted by Des Moines district to stop students from participating in such protests. The policy stated that students who refused to comply with their new “no-armband” policy would be subject to suspension if they didn’t remove the bands.
As this was a blatant disregard for students’ first amendment rights throughout the district in a public school, John and Mary Beth persisted with their protest. They were suspended in December 1965 and returned the following January, but not before their parents filed a lawsuit against the school in U.S. District Court for infringing upon the Tinker siblings’ first amendment right to freedom of expression. This sparked the infamous Tinker v. Des Moines (1969) Supreme Court case. While the District Court ruled in favor of the Des Moines Public School District, the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Tinker family when they appealed.
“It can hardly be argued that either the students or the teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate,” Justice Abe Fortas said during the 1969 Supreme Court case, four years after the original suspension.
To make a long story short, hurrah! Public school students, including student journalists, retain their first amendment rights -including that of the press- inside the schoolhouse gates. This set the Tinker Standard into action in public schools, which was meant to protect any and all forms of student expression, so long as it was not a disruption of the educational process. While the Tinker Standard did not specifically address student press, this right is implied under “first amendment.”
Now if only it were really that simple.
HAZELWOOD V. KUHLMEIER (1988)
The 1969 Tinker ruling will bring us into another important case for students and student journalists in America: Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier (1988). In the 1980’s at a St. Louis area public high school, Cathy Kuhlmeier, was a student at Hazelwood East. She, along with other student journalists, on her Spectrum newspaper staff, planned to publish two in depth news pieces on teen pregnancy. In the eleventh hour, Hazelwood East’s principal pulled the stories from the publication just before being sent to print, deeming them inappropriate for a high school audience. He also argued that the identities of pregnant students in the stories were not hidden well enough, and that the father of a divorced teen interviewed in the story should’ve been able to comment.
And I happen to agree with this statement. The stories were prime examples of sloppy, and, frankly, poor journalism. Identities of the students in question were not properly disguised, and the writing lacked subjectivity when certain people in the story appeared to be displayed in a negative light. But that is not what is up for discussion. What we’re talking about is censorship of student press in a public school: a blatant disregard for the 1969 Tinker ruling.
Because of the wrongful censorship, Cathy Kuhlmeier’s suing of Hazelwood East High School for infringing upon rights protected by Tinker v. Des Moines. After a flip-flop of rulings between the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of the school. The ruling stated that unless a publication identifies as an open or public forum (like Kickapoo High Quarterly), school-sponsored content can be censored or edited by administrators to prevent inappropriate material from being disseminated to the student body. This means that not only student publications, but also choir concerts, speech and debate pieces, theatre performances, or any other example of school-sponsored, student-produced content are subject to administrative censorship.
WHAT NOW?
What about the Tinkers? What about Abe Fortas? I thought that I didn’t shed my first amendment rights at the schoolhouse gate, but it appears that I do shed one: my constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of the press. But it is neither my administrators’ nor my legislators’ duty or right to determine which parts of the first amendment do not apply to me.
Luckily, I’m not alone in these opinions. In an effort to protect students from administrative censorship under Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, the Student Press Law Center, a non-profit organization in Washington, D.C. that seeks to protect and strengthen the rights of student journalists, started a project now wildly popular among American student journalists: New Voices. The website for New Voices defines itself as “a student-powered grassroots movement to give young people the legally protected right to gather information and share ideas about issues of public concern.” New Voices works with advocates for journalism, law and civics in order to help student voices avoid stifling by school administration.
As of 2017, thirteen states have passed laws, codes or advisories into place to protect the rights of student journalists that the Hazelwood decision formerly denied them. Missouri is not one of these states.
The state of Kansas though, is one of the thirteen states to have one of these laws in place. The Kansas Student Publications Act allows administrators to review content prior to publication, but emphasizes that the students -not a district, board member or employee thereof- are responsible for determining their own content as well as any civil or criminal action that may come about as a result.
Julia Howell, Editor in Chief of Topeka High School World Newspaper and its website the Topeka High School Tower in Topeka, Kansas reflected on the benefits her publications have seen thanks to the Kansas Student Publications Act.
“We have been able to write stories that have caused a lot of backlash…but not all the backlash was bad,” Howell said. “All of these stories were things that needed to be talked about.”
She discussed some of the controversial topics that the law has allowed them to publish, and how how that has benefited her particularly diverse high school and its publications.
“Because of this act, we are able to create a discussion about things like drug abuse, controversial forms of protest, tense political events, etc. We have such a diverse school and community that limiting anything we say would be crazy and very uninformative,” Howell said.
NEW VOICES OF MISSOURI
The Student Press Law Center reports that about twenty states are currently running New Voices campaigns to help protect the rights of student journalists, and Missouri is one of them. The Show-Me state, home of the Hazelwood trial, has no legislation preventing administrative censorship for Missouri student journalists or their advisers.
In layman’s terms, the results of my extensive research, diligent interviews and comprehensive reporting can be completely scrapped simply because I was reporting a truth that a school suthority didn’t think should be publicized. In the real world, we’d call this fascism. But for whatever reason, it’s okay to suppress my rights to freedom of the press when I’m a high school student.
In January 2016, Representative Elijah Haahr (R) introduced the Walter Cronkite New Voices Act to the Missouri General Assembly. The bill would keep school administrators or other officials from censoring student media, so long as the media is not libelous or slanderous (false and defamatory statements), that do not invade privacy, violate any law or cause a disruption at school.
“Missouri is the home of one of the world’s most famous and iconic journalists in Walter Cronkite, but also the home of the Hazelwood decision that saw the rights of student journalists suppressed,” Haahr said. “My hope is that we can reestablish Missouri as a place that supports the freedom of the press, and protects the rights of high school and college student journalists.”
In 2016, the Walter Cronkite New Voices Act passed with flying colors in the Missouri House of Representatives, and received “favorable reception” in the Senate Education Committee. Unfortunately though, the bill never reached a Senate floor vote in 2016 and died on the calendar, as many bills do. This year, the bill came to this disappointing fate once again.
With Representative Haahr’s recent election as Missouri Speaker of the House, the bill has since been taken over by Representative Kevin Corlew.
WHY NEW VOICES SHOULD MATTER TO YOU
Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier incites the kind of censorship that is born of fear and a lack of trust in student journalists. Our administrators and our legislators alike must begin to see our journalism classrooms for what they are: newsrooms. Newsrooms full of journalists who simply want to report the truth and nothing but it, but often cannot because no law exists to protect them from wrongful censorship.
While I, a student journalist, promote such legislation for my own benefit, you, the readers, play a huge role in my argument as well. You deserve to see the cold, hard truth every time you open an issue of this magazine, or any other publication for that matter. You deserve to hear about controversial topics like sexual assault or the legalization of marijuana, because if one thing is for certain, it’s this: these things are happening. Some schools are crawling with mold. Some students are living on the streets. People are dying of heroin overdoses. Children are deliberately killing themselves, and people are walking into schools with firearms to kill children.
The idea that you, as a high school student, can’t handle controversy like this is not only absurd; it’s insulting. In preserving Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier and everything it means, you are being deprived of this truth and being viewed as a child that must be shielded from all bad things.
If you would like to learn more about the New Voices movement in Missouri and in the United States as a whole, be sure to visit NewVoicesUS.com or send an email to newvoicesmo@gmail.com. You can also contact Rep. Corlew at Kevin.Corlew@house.mo.gov to voice your concern; my voice matters, and so does yours.
In the words of American hero Walter Cronkite, “that’s the way it is.”
Christmas Cookies
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As thanksgiving comes to an end family and friends start to think about getting ready for christmas one of the most celebrated american holidays. 
Making christmas foods and goodies is one amazing way to have some fun in the kitchen around the holidays.
Making sugar cookies: ingredients- 2 ¾ cups all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon baking powder, 1 cup of butter-softened, 1 ½ cups white sugar, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Directions: 1) preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. 2) In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Roll rounded teaspoons of dough into balls, and place onto ungreased cookie sheets. 3) Bake eight to ten minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.
How to make royal icing; Ingredients- three tablespoons of meringue powder, six tablespoons of water, and four cups of sifted confectioners sugar. Next you are going to beat all ingredients together on low for seven to ten minutes or until icing forms peaks. Keep icing covered with a wet kitchen towel to keep icing from drying out.
After making these cookies and adding the royal icing i decided to try them and give them a rate from one to ten. I give these cookies a solid eight because they are very good and i couldn’t stop at just one cookie. The icing really added a perfect flavor to the sugar cookie.
Source for recipe: allrecipes.com
