A student publication of lassiter high school

By Rachel Reinke
A&E Editor ’06

We live in an age when everything from Linkin Park to Pink to Evanescence (for god’s sake) is considered “rock.” Where, I ask you, has it gone? The spirit that embodied “Almost Famous” and the Beatles and Led Zeppelin is tough to find in our market-driven world. Perhaps, then, it should not be quite a surprise that music has taken to retrospect. The latest trend (or at least what makes my ears perk up when I hear it on the radio) is backtracking. Some of the most entertaining and talented bands currently enjoying quality time on the charts take after sounds of the “the day.” You know what I’m talking about, the songs that everyone loves; they’re fun to dance to and sing to, and they really capture said lost spirit. Someone once told me that this was to be expected, that soon we would run out of musical creativity and fall back on old sounds. Why? They are classic, versatile, and, with a new spin, can produce a different, highly pleasurable sound.

Who didn’t jump for joy when they heard “Fell in Love with a Girl” by the White Stripes? Or maybe it didn’t quite sink just yet, and you waited for “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” before becoming wholly turned on to this new vogue. By then, you knew “Elephant” was going to be a masterpiece, and you weren’t let down. The White Stripes’s sound was a risk in a manufactured Britney-pop world. Somewhat surprising to some, it was embraced, and suddenly, vintage sounds were popping up everywhere.

The White Stripes’ beginning came about during the time that the Vines and the Hives were battling it out on the airwaves. Their “new” sound (you remember, “Get Free” and “Hate to Say I Told you So”) though not quite as lasting as the Stripes’s, helped open the door and paved the way to an adoring public following with the retro sound. Current MTV staple the Yeah Yeah Yeahs create brilliant music with a lead singer strikingly musically reminiscent of Chrissy Hynde, and you cannot go five minutes on that station without catching a riff of “Maps”. The time these songs spent on the air alone is proof enough: not only do people love the sound, they are desperate for it.

We are tired of drowning in the “new rock” bands heard constantly on 99X: once a week, a new band, a new hit. Played over and over again. Good music is something you don’t really get tired of, something lasting and enjoyable. I don’t know about you, but if I hear “Headstrong” by Trapt, a classified “rock” band, I might have to punch someone in the face.

Thank goodness our world is coming of age and music is becoming more innovative, even if that means drawing from the past. Examples of this are popping up everywhere, from college radio airwaves to MTV. Prime case in point: Jet. In my opinion, one of the greatest new bands today, and what do they sound like? Similar choice, garage harmonies that are deliciously catchy and perfectly irresistible.

The truth is that we are ready for a change. We were ready when the Strokes took to the streets with “Last Nite” and stayed on to become critically acclaimed with their latest record, “Room on Fire.” Now albums with the rekindled sound are eaten up by critics and listeners alike. Ryan Adams’ newest, coincidentally, “Rock N Roll,” along with his “Love is Hell” EPs have been accepted with open arms into the Indie world, even if he’s taken advantage of the trend and is slightly grungier and less Whiskeytown than his previous works.

The spirit skeptical music lovers were so quick to brand as absent has merely been hiding out. Bands like the Strokes, Jet, and the White Stripes have taken it upon themselves to remind America and the rest of the world what music is really all about—good rock and roll.

By K.C. Georges
A&E Editor ’06

Before you go out on Friday night and spend eight bucks on a movie you don’t even want to see, take a look at what other smaller films are playing around town. Recently, the entertainment industry has seen a huge rise in popularity of small and independent films. As one of the bigger cities in the country, Atlanta is lucky enough to receive a sizable number of these lower-budget pictures.

Local theaters like Barrett Commons and Town 16 normally have films with bigger buzz. The little seen “Monster,” which features Charlize Theron in her Oscar award-winning role, is one of these movies and was filmed in just 27 days. “Girl with a Pearl Earring,” another critically-acclaimed yet largely un-hyped film, tells the tale behind Vermeer’s mysterious painting of the same name. It also features the breakout actress of the year Scarlett Johansson.

Atlanta also boasts theaters that show small films almost exclusively. United Artists’ Tara Theatre is a great place to find movies that you won’t get to see anywhere else. Right now it houses not one but two movies that everyone should see. “In America” is the critically-acclaimed tale of an immigrant Irish family in the 1980s. “The Cooler” features William H. Macy as a man who’s unlucky at cards until he finds himself lucky in love, and the movie features Oscar-nominated Alec Baldwin as his violent and domineering boss.

If you don’t feel like driving all the way out to a movie theater, your local Blockbuster is also a great place to find the movies that you never saw or didn’t come to theaters here. Gems like “Lost in Translation,” a film that didn’t need a huge budget or months of filming to be absolutely wonderful, and “American Splendor,” a picture about which critics couldn’t find a bad thing to say, are easy to find at video stores thanks to great reception after their releases. You can also find unknown documentaries like “Capturing the Friedmans” and limited release features like the emotionally draining “21 Grams.”

So please, please, please seek out some indie films. They’re treasures buried among the mounds of plotless and pointless big-budget productions, and I promise you they’ll be ten times better than “Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights.”

By Darah Protas
Staff Writer ’06

Considering the many students who participate and the countless hours it consumes of their time each week, dance does not often receive the recognition it deserves. Dance has not weaseled its way into the “sports” category like cheerleading. But, it is not exactly an art either. Sophomore Danielle Berke (for more see p. 10) sums it up best, “Dance is a physically active art. I don’t think there are a lot of things that approach the same level as dance, furthermore ballet. There are a lot of things that go into being a convincing and captivating dancer. It has to be athletic and artistic at the same time.”

Ballet is the basis of dance. While some Lassiter dancers take an hour or two of ballet a week for technique, others may spend up to 10 times that amount per week in ballet.

Sophomore Kaylee Niemassik dances at Georgia ballet. She also averages about 20 hours a week and takes ballet, point, modern, pilates, and some partnering. This year, she performed in Swan Lake and Nutcracker with the Georgia Ballet professional company, and Continuum, a tribute to the director. In the summer, Kaylee takes a 5 week intensive, a 1-week overnight-camp, and 4 days a week of morning and afternoon classes with the professionals in between. She says that she would “love to join a professional company while I’m in college, balancing both schedules at the same time, and continue with ballet until it wasn’t practical anymore or if I had an injury.”
On the other side of the dance world, there are competitive studios. Tight, skimpy costumes, covered in glitter and rhinestones are perfectly acceptable, if not expected. Rhythm Dance Center and Centre Stage School of Dance are just two of the many competitive studios that train Lassiter students.

Freshman Nicole Blochinger is in Senior Danceline at Rhythm Dance Center. This year, Senior Danceline went to 3 competitions, 2 festivals, 1 convention, and took 2 guest classes by dancers who choreograph for J.Lo, Christina Aguliera, P. Diddy, and Justin Timberlake. Nicole takes 1 ballet, 1 jazz, and 1choreography class a week at Rhythm. In addition to that, she also dances at John Robert Powers, a talent, modeling, and acting school 3 times a week which adds up to about 12 hours of dance a week. This July, Nicole is going to New York for a competition. After high school, she says she wants to “Join a dance alliance and travel around. But I’ll definitely go to college.”
Sophomore Claire Richie dances at the Centre Stage School of Dance in Senior 2 jazz company and Senior 1 tap company. At Centre Stage, Claire takes ballet and pointe, jazz, tap, and super production which is a big production dance with everyone in all the companies in it. At Centre Stage, she performs 4 dances at each of the 7 to 8 competitions a year as well as company show and recital. Claire also dances for the dance ministry at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church where they dance a more lyrical and conservative style at the big church productions like “The Easter Story.” The dance ministry will also be dancing on choir tour this year when they travel to Poland.

Although this physically active art is often lost between the recognition of band and football, keep an eye on Broadway because Lassiter holds dozens of great dancers.

By K.C. Georges & Rachel Reinke
A&E Editors ’06

Books

My Losing Season by Pat Conroy. Pat Conroy is a senior at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. It’s his last season as a basketball player and he’s faced with a terrible coach and a team full of foulmouthed cadets. The story of his life and ability to learn from loss make this book hard to put down. If you haven’t yet: The Prince of Tides, The Great Santini, and The Lords of Discipline also by Pat Conroy.

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen. This is the real account of the author who ends up in a mental institution after attempting suicide at age 18. While she is there she encounters people of all kinds, many of which become her friends: from Polly, the cheerful burn victim, to the mysterious sociopath Lisa. Also check out: Asa, as I Knew Him and The Camera My Mother Gave Me, both by Susanna Kaysen.

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. This autobiography of the hilarious David Sedaris presents his mastery of learning the English language, living in France, and trying many different occupations, with amusing outcomes from each. David Sedaris’s life story is, in a word, unconventional, and keeps the entertainment coming throughout his explorations. Also by David Sedaris: Naked, Barrel Fever, and Holidays On Ice.

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. The English author of About A Boy tells the story of a middle-aged record shop owner and his crazy antics to win back the girl who changed his life. Just trying to interpret the funny British slang is amusing enough. It’s Chock full of cynically hilarious observations on life, music, and love that only Nick Hornby can provide. If you like it: About A Boy, How to Be Good, and Fever Pitch, also by Nick Hornby.

The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown. This international murder mystery has quickly taken readers everywhere by storm. It’s hard to go anywhere without hearing its eternal praises, and it will surely be gracing the reading lists of many pool-goers this summer. It is a fascinating and page-turning thriller, sure to keep you guessing until the very last page. Also recommended: the prequel, Angels and Demons, which helps for more thorough understanding of the next book.

Movies

Anything by Cameron Crowe. Particularly Say Anything… , Jerry Maguire, and Almost Famous for their wonderful stories and believable characters. All of these are tales about love whether it is for an unreachable girl, a job worth doing, or music at a time when it really meant something.
One Crazy Summer. This is the perfect movie to get you into a summer mood and really light fare after killing your brain studying for exams. It boasts a very young and oh so adorable John Cusack as the main character in Nantucket for the summer. Not to mention some rockin’ songs by Demi Moore. Okay, so whenever Demi Moore comes on I tend to mute the TV, but Cusack, Bobcat Goldthwait, and Curtis Armstrong (better known as Booger from Revenge of the Nerds) more than make up for it.

High Fidelity. And now, for the older better version of John Cusack. If you have yet to see this movie, rent it. Rent it now! Not only does it have a great story line, brought to life from Nick Hornby’s novel, it has a tremendous soundtrack. The movie centers around Rob and his unsuccessful love life. As his latest relationship ends, he gives us a countdown of his all time top 5 breakups. Imagine how great this is, and then, add in Jack Black and Mr. Bruce Springsteen. It’s definitely made my top 5 favorite films.

Kill Bill Volume 1. I know, I know I write about Quentin Tarantino a lot, but I just love it when I find a film that is able to be different and completely pull it off. The story’s crazy, the amount of blood completely absurd, the retro girl group a little annoying, but it’s all these things plus insanely great fight sequences and an eclectic soundtrack that make the movie great. There might not have been the trademark dialogue that we’re promised in a Tarantino picture, but my guess is that Volume 2 will make up for all that and more.

Donnie Darko. Ah, the thinking indie movie. Wondered when I’d get to this one, huh? I promise this is one you’ll like. It’s funny and dark and it’s got a huge demonic robot bunny. Who could want anything else? In all seriousness, it is a terrific film that really toys with your mind in a good way. It throws questions out there that other movies don’t go near.

 
By Charles Coxe
Guest Writer

Okay, what the heck is wrong with you people?

Yeah, I’m talking to you, Lassiter seniors: In a few short months, your entire illustrious high school career will be the stuff of memory. What will you remember? The time you completely forgot to study for your geometry final and tried to avoid it by hiding in the elevator? The time you had the stomach flu and “didn’t quite make it” to the bathroom in time? The time Megan called you a “complete and total loser who still sleeps with his blankie” and dumped you in front of an enraptured lunchroom? No, you’ll eventually forget all of that, with the help of thousands of dollars of therapy, of course. (Except you, Megan—I will NEVER forgive you. But I digress.) What you’ll REALLY remember are the amazing senior pranks you pulled before you strolled out the door for the last time…except you haven’t pulled a single one. You guys are pathetic. Pardon my French, but D’où part le bateau? (Translation: “Where does the boat leave from?” Sorry, I don’t speak much French.)

Who am I to throw around such school-newspaper-censored diatribes? Well, by your standards, I’m an old man. A former Lassiter High School senior myself, I graduated in 1993. Now I’ve gone on to better-paying but possibly even more juvenile things, working at Maxim magazine for the past 6 1/2 years, where I’m now Executive Editor. But back in my day (dear God, I AM an old man…), we followed the tradition of senior pranks as if it were a hallowed religion, taking it upon ourselves to outdo the classes that came before us. Sure, I’m bragging, but our greatest hits included:

•The obligatory purchase of vast numbers of crickets and setting them loose in the gymnasium.

•The specifically Southern tradition of procuring a swine, greasing it up real good, and setting it loose in the halls for administrators to repeatedly but unsuccessfully attempt to tackle, with comic results on a par with the Three Stooges.

•Weekly Friday food fights in the lunchroom.

•Supergluing whole banks of lockers shut.

•The bad idea: Dumping a large amount of vegetable oil on the floor of Skylight Hall. Not only was it just a physical hazard with no creativity behind it, but it was easy for the perpetrators to get caught, as they found it impossible to run away on their oil-slicked floor.

•My personal favorite: The night before second semester (when students would drive in early the next morning to locate their new numbered parking spots), we went around both the front and back lots and painted black over the numbers. The next morning, the lot was a hopeless traffic jam as no one had any clue where they were supposed to park, and classes had to be delayed to accommodate it. It was a work of brilliance, and I’m proud to take responsibility for it. (That’s right, Officer Pelfrey! Whatcha gonna do about it now, big guy? Huh?)

But I’m not really here to gloat. I’m here to help you, the class of 2004, rise up and take the cake as the best pranksters in the history of Lassiter High School. A tough task, to be sure, but the good news is that you guys still have over three good months to put every previous class to shame, both in quantity and quality. Here are a few ideas. I’m not saying you have to do them all, I’m just putting them out there. Some are easy, and some are quite a bit more involved. Just don’t tell anybody you got them from me.

•On February 23rd, all seniors run a lap around the school between 1st and 2nd period.

•On March 5th, everyone set their watch alarms and cell phones (and any battery-powered travel alarms) to go off at precisely 10:14 am.

•Whistle the first ten notes of “It’s a Small world After All” every ten minutes. I guarantee at least one teacher will go insane before the day is through.

•Along the same line, repeat the following conversation 10 times with the same teacher:
“Do you hear that?”
“What?”
“Never mind, it’s gone now.”

•Buy or create a set of small round stickers with numbers on them. Then go into the elevator and carefully re-label the buttons according to a plausible but incorrect schema. While you’re at it, switch the “Door Open” and “Door Close” buttons, and replace “Emergency Stop” with “Shear All Cables” or “To the Batcave!”

•When no one’s looking, remove the paper tray from a photocopier or laser printer and, with a red marker, scrawl the word “Satan” on several sheets at random. Reinsert tray.

•Procure a parrot or cockatoo and train it to say “Little Jimmy’s been bad and needs a spanking” or “There are no time outs in the world of professional wrestling” or “Pat Sajak is Lord.” Then release said bird in skylight hall, and let the endless squawking announcements begin.

•Print up 50 flyers: “Free Pizza! Just come to Principal Carter’s office today between 3rd and 4th period to fill out a five question survey.” Paste them all over the school.

•Secretly hook your teacher’s computer power cable up to a clapper. Just as he/she’s finishing typing up the next test, slap your hands together.

•Write the word “TAG” on a sheet of paper. Walk up to a random senior in the hall, hand him the paper, say “you’re it,” and run. This should continue all day.

•Underclassmen are so exhilarated by the prospect of free food, they’ll eat anything. So head to the lunchroom, set up a small table, and under the pretense of having a bake sale for a student organization or running for some ridiculously transparent resume-padding student council office, set up a platter of your own homemade goodies: birdseed bells, dead “candy” grasshoppers, pork fat, globs of peanut butter wrapped in fish skin…you get the idea. Don’t forget the frilly toothpicks. Feeling truly adventurous? Take this to 11 and commandeer an entire lunch line for this purpose.

That should at least be a good starting point for you. Use your imagination, keep the pranks funny and creative, and you’ll do just fine. And remember, despite what you get told when you inevitably get called down to the principal’s office to account for your prankster behavior, you actually WILL amount to something someday—you know a former Lassiter grad who does this kind of stuff for a living.

By Joey Kaufmann
Staff Writer ’06

The age-old debate of whether cheerleading is a sport was solved for me on January 10th. The answer involved basket-tosses and toe-touches right in front of me when I attended the Walton Invitational cheerleading competition. On that fateful day, I saw more than just curly hair and ear-to-ear smiles.

Walton High School’s gymnasium was packed with people. My poor view did not prevent me from being impressed by wonderful performances though. Twenty girls, only feet from each other, did triple back handsprings capped off with back flips. However, it was not until Lassiter performed that I saw a true spectacle.

I had already applauded ten schools when I heard Lassiter was to perform next. The squad’s reputation preceded them. I had never witnessed a performance by Lassiter’s squad before this day, but I anticipated good things.

The girls made no mistakes, at least to my untrained eye, and made the other schools look second rate. The poise they showed was beyond description. They left the mat foreseeing a first place trophy. I heard a girl from South Cobb High School returning to her seat next to me, mouthing to her friends, “Wow. That was awesome. Like, that was so good.”
The judging dragged on for much too long, and I sat uncomfortably waiting for the results. For entertainment during this long period of time, Danielle Douthit and Jaclyn Ouyang led a “jump-off,” with Danielle making the finals. A controversial tie was reached between Danielle and a somewhat less-deserving girl. Controversial, however, is the last word I would use to describe what I encountered next.

The 4AAAA schools were announced and there were only three 5AAAAA schools left to go. As soon as the second place team was announced, the rising tension culminated. When everyone realized that LHS would at least place in the top ranks, since the second place team was not Lassiter, the whispers and elbow nudging were enough for anyone to surmise who had taken the competition.

By Emily Hamilton
Guest Writer ’06

Consider the consequences of reading this article. It’s pretty safe. This is just a little something to make you think. And so the story begins. Friday, December, 26 my boyfriend, Dan, arrives from Wisconsin to visit for a few days. That night, my family and relatives go on an outing to Stone Mountain. On Saturday, we go ice skating at Centennial Olympic Park with friends, family, and relatives. We go to church with my family on Sunday morning then go out to lunch. Late afternoon: the plan begins to unfold. I start packing and prepare to leave. Sunday night at 1 AM I move my bags down to my boyfriend’s room on the basement level. Dan, my brother, and I are watching a movie on T.V. I say I’m really tired and pretend to go upstairs but instead go downstairs. Dan stays up a little longer so that everything seems normal. At 2 o’clock he tells my brother to tell my dad (when he wakes up) that we both went to bed because we were tired. We don’t go to bed right away though. I fall asleep around 3. He stays awake so someone is always watching the time. When I wake up at 5, he goes to sleep for about an hour. At 6 we get all our stuff together and leave the house at 6:30. We walk a few hundred feet to my neighbor’s yard (they happened to be on vacation.) We put our luggage behind a big green power box and sit down to wait. It’s now 7 o’clock and the ride we were expecting at 6:30 still hasn’t come. Coming to the conclusion that there would be no ride we called for a taxi at 7. The taxi service calls back at 7:30 to say they can’t find the address where we are. I explain it as well as I can and at 8, the taxi finally appears and we drive away to the Greyhound Bus Station in Marietta. We arrive at 8:30 and luckily the 8:25 bus to Milwaukee was late. At 8:45 we board the bus and leave Marietta. Late afternoon, we arrive in Nashville where we make our first transfer. We also telephone my Dan’s mom. She keeps asking where we are, but we refuse to tell her. We only tell her where we will transfer next and what time that will be. Finally at 12:00 AM we arrive in Chicago where his parents are waiting to pick us up. We decided we were too tired to transfer and then go to Milwaukee so we asked them to pick us up in Chicago. At 2 o’clock we arrive at Dan’s house. We all eat a little bit of food and go to sleep around 3. It’s Tuesday afternoon and Dan comes in and wakes me up around 2:30. We just wander around the house all day in our pajamas. After we eat lunch with his family we both shower and get dressed. Around 5 or 6 his niece and sister-in-law come over for dinner. We listen to David Bowie in the living room and sing along for fun. Then, we watch “Finding Nemo” after dinner with his niece and she and I create a zoo of stuffed animals on the couch. At 9 they leave and a little later Dan, his parents, and Iwatch “Bruce Almighty.” Then, we all go to bed. I wake up at 9 the next morning and dye my hair while Dan is still sleeping. He comes downstairs at 9:30 while I’m eating breakfast. We shower and then we both go upstairs to get something. The doorbell rings and when we come downstairs my parents are standing right in front of us. I refuse to go home and Dan and I are both crying and I threaten suicide if I have to leave him and go home. To which he says he will join me if I do that. My parents end up giving me three choices: go home QUIETLY on the plane, have the police take me to a juvenile detention center, or sign myself into a psychiatric hospital (in Wisconsin it’s voluntary). I pick the last choice because I don’t want to go home or see the police. Dan and his family come for support, but he ends up talking to an admittance person too. On Wednesday, December, 31 I sign myself into the hospital for severe depression, cutting, suicidal threats and attempts, and running away. I ask to say “goodbye” to Dan but he’s still talking as I’m going down to the unit. I see him through the window of the room he’s in as I walk down the hall. His parents are talking and he’s lying on the couch crying and all I want to do is tell him how much I love him. He gets admitted on the same day but somewhere else. He leaves on Saturday, January, 3 and starts school on Monday like he’s supposed to while I’m still stuck in the hospital. His parents come to a family session with me and my parents on Monday morning. They say a few things, I don’t remember what, and my dad reads off the rules when I go home that all 4 of them have decided on. One of them is no communication between me and my boyfriend or our families until he and I are both “doing better.” But who determines that. His parents tell me they love me and walk out of the room and away…maybe forever. The hardest part is knowing that, from the hospital, he’s only 8 miles away from me in the direction that my window faces, but I can’t reach him. During my remaining days at the hospital, I spend a lot of time looking at the snow. Luckily enough, because I was from Georgia and didn’t see lots of snow, the staff let me go out on the fenced in adolescent patio to play in it. I threw it up in the air, made a snow angel, and a pathetic snowman. But I had a great time. On Sunday, January 11 I exit through the front doors to freedom. My parents and I go back to the hotel so I can shave and pluck my eyebrows (definitely a must). At 11:30 AM, we get all of our luggage and by 12:45 we are in downtown Milwaukee. We stop at the art museum and drive around looking at the old houses and the magnificent lake view parks. At 2:30 we’re at the airport returning the rental car, checking our baggage, and going through security. We watch the Packers game for a while and at 4:45 we board the airplane (this is my very first flight.) I watch the lights of all the cities below me and listen to David Bowie and Eve 6. We land in Atlanta at 7:30 and start home around 9 o’clock. I did nothing all day today. I begin the outpatient program tomorrow morning. After I’m finished with that, I will return to school, attend family therapy, visit with my regular therapist, and continue taking my anti-depressants. I don’t know when I can talk to Dan again. I never got to tell him I love him or say “goodbye.” I miss him so much and I miss all my friends at school. I have no way to talk to them because my dad got rid of the internet for awhile and I now get no privacy on the phone. If you hated this article all the better, I just hope you learned to seriously look at the consequences that come along with choices that you make. Dan and I had so much going for us. We ran away to be together, but now the tables are turned and we’re farther apart than we’ve ever been. I only hope I can talk to him on the phone by Valentine’s Day. Remember this, before you make a decision about something consider the consequences and ask yourself if it’s worth it to risk so much. Everyone makes mistakes. No one can see into the future and then make all the right decisions. You just have to learn from the mistakes you make because if you don’t you’ll repeatedly make the same ones over and over again. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade or in other words make the best of any situation and you’re more likely to come out of it with your life intact.

By Darah Protas Staff Writer ’06“There was so much work to do every weekend, I basically had no life.” Does this sound familiar to anyone? No, it’s not someone from Ms. Bush’s class whining about his math homework; this is a quote from Ms. Bush herself. In order to receive National Board certification, both she and Ms. Finch virtually gave up any free time they had in order to devote themselves the difficult task of becoming National Board certified teachers. The whole process takes about a year and a half, and even after all the hard work, there is only a 39% chance of actually receiving certification. The reward, however, is a welcome 10% raise. Between breaking cameras, writing papers for the portfolios, and vigorous studying, these two teachers were working harder than their students. Keep in mind that they had to do all this while still teaching during the day and making lesson plans and grading papers by night. Each weekend, Ms. Bush devoted one day to certification and one day to school. Ms. Finch didn’t take vacation. During winter and spring break, she worked on her portfolios. Basically, National Board certification is a program that determines master teachers, examines what teaching techniques work and don’t work, and allows teachers to reflect on their methods of education. National board certification takes an amazing amount of work and dedication. More than anything, it sounds like college preparation. It requires just as much time and creates a similar amount of stress. First, applicants take a course online telling them what to expect. For anyone who decides that she’s up for the work, the cost is $2,300. The state will pay for most of the cost for those teachers who do become certified, but teachers who don’t succeed pay out of their own pockets. The Board requires a compilation of four portfolios. Teachers must be able to prove on paper with statistics that their teaching techniques work, how their students’ grades improve, and what extra activities they do outside of the classroom that have a positive impact inside the classroom. They must also submit two 15-minute unedited videos of students working in the classroom. Then, each teacher is given a test according to the subject she teaches. Ms. Finch had two hours to write eight essays. Ms. Bush took a three-hour test over all high school math. After all of their hard work, both Ms. Bush and Ms. Finch finally became certified. Ms Finch said of the ordeal, “I’m really glad it’s over and that I don’t have to be embarrassed that I didn’t pass.” Congratulations to both of these hardworking Lassiter teachers.

 

By Joseph Zollo <GEEK> Editor ’04As I discussed in one of my previous articles, technology quickly is becoming more prevalent in our lives, and what was once considered geeky is now considered cool. Websites are starting to fall into this category. When I first started my computer & technology website, zollonet.com, I was scared to show it to my friends, thinking they might ridicule me. Basically, there are two types of websites, free and not free. Your typical “free” website (providers – LiveJournal.com, Geocities.com, Tripod.com) is for beginners and often requires some type of advertisement be placed at the top of all your pages. Your “not free” website will often have a full fledged domain name (www.yourname.com) and a professional hosting service, not to mention great content and design. More and more people have their own websites these days, whether it’s to convey information, maintain a public journal, share pictures or pretty much anything; your imagination is the limit! Internet providers like Comcast, Bellsouth and Earthlink give you space on their servers to setup your own site. I interviewed 4 students here at Lassiter, Justin Bellmor, Adam Tart, Joe Moravitz and Bren Isbell who have all created their own websites. Let’s see what they have to say… The Spotlight on Adam Tart What is the URL to your Website? http://www.adamtart.com What is the goal of your website? My goal is to showcase my photography, drawing and writing, and to let others know more about me. I also use the site as a way to disperse information – if people want something, I can say “check my site”. What technologies does your website employ? XHTML 1.1, PHP, CSS, Perl Are there any cool features on your website that you’d like to tell people about? Check out the guestbook, that’s a good page. Also, see what happens when you try to access a page that doesn’t exist. The “matrix” page is pretty cool. I’m going to add lots of interesting things in the future so keep your eye out. The Spotlight on Justin Bellmor What is the URL to your website? http://www.bellmor.com/ What technologies does your website emplyoy? PHP, XHTML, CGI, Perl, and CSS What is the goal of your website? I originally set it up for an email address since I hated hotmail, yahoo, etc. What challenges did you face during the devolopment phase? Creating CSS that looked the same across web browsers. What is one word that descibes your site? Mine Are there any cool features on your website that you’d like to tell people about? People like my photo gallery, the alaska pictures especially. Girls like the pictures of my cats. The Spotlight on Bren Isbell What is the URL to your Website? http://www.monstarentertainment.tk What is the goal of your website? To show off my digital photography. What technologies does your website employ? Dynamic HTML and Java. What challenges did you face during the development phase of your website? Getting all the pictures to line up. What is one word that describes your site? Artnuevo (haha) Are there any cool features on your website that you’d like to tell people about? Everything is hidden, take time and explore everything that the page has to offer. The Spotlight on Joe Moravitz What is the URL to your Website? http://joeboxer.zollonet.com/ What is the goal of your website? People would commonly come to me, asking me to fix their calculators. I figured that there are probably many more students with calculator problems across the country, and if they think they cant fix it, they’ll toss it out and waste money on a new one. What is one word that descibes your site? Helpful Are there any cool features on your website that you’d like to tell people about? As you probably know if you know me, i’m very involved with music. Since Mr. Williams, our chorus teacher has been busy, I will create midi files for chorus people to pracitce their songs with. I will also be uploading my own music.

 

By Darah Protas
Staff Writer ’06

When Britney Spears posed on the cover of Rolling Stone in 1999 in a push-up bra, boyshort underwear, and a sweater while holding a telephone and a Teletubby, many onlookers were shocked and even outraged that a teenager would pose so provocatively on a mainstream magazine cover. Four years later, Britney shed her top for the October 2003 Rolling Stone. Not so surprisingly, this seemed to result in nothing more than a few raised eyebrows and ecstatic teenage boys. In 2000, Britney’s red vinyl bodysuit in her Oops…I Did It again video received a lot of media attention for being so tight, yet when Christina Aguliera’s Dirrty video premiered only three years later, it did not receive half the controversy it called for. Even a spokesperson from Christina’s camp admitted that the video didn’t live up to the shock factor they hoped it would in order to kick off her new CD.

The only logical answer to these dulled reactions is that people have simply become jaded by sexual content. As Americans continue to adapt in favor of sexual tolerance, advertisers, recording artists, and movie and television producers search for the right way to shock audiences into attention with ostentatious words and images. They often push the limit right up against the illegal line.

Not only have adults and teens become more sexually tolerant, but children have as well; clothing has become very symbolic of this increase in modern acceptance of previously shock-worthy behavior. In the mid- to late 90s, the girls’ section of a department store circled around the style of overalls, matching shorts and tee shirt outfits, and Keds. If you walk into a department store now, the girls’ section features miniature versions of teenage clothing including miniskirts, tight jeans, halter tops, thigh-high boots, and tight, low cut tops. This is not such a big surprise, considering many belly-baring celebrities, such as Jennifer Lopez, have their own children’s fashion lines.

An outbreak in the popularity of tanning beds and belly piercings calls for the design of skimpier clothing so people can show off their tans and tummies (or perhaps it was the design of skimpy clothing that led to the sudden need to tan and have a decorated navel?) Either way, risqué celebrity style has rubbed off onto nearly everybody; teenagers have predictably been affected in their quest for hipness, adults attempt to look young and equally stylish, and even young children are jumping on the bandwagon in hopes of looking older and more fashionable.

It would be easy to blame celebrities, the media, or the internet for this flagrant promotion of sex. After all, celebrities do set the trends and sing songs worthy of the film industry’s NC-17 ratings. The media promotes these celebrities, and the internet has allowed for the universal exposure of anything and everything sexual—for free. Even when seeking online research for a paper, you’re likely to fall victim to racy popup ads of girls in string bikinis advertising home spy cams. In truth, this phenomenon is the result of several contributors, including of you reading this article, who, in one way or another, have become more sexually tolerant since the early 1990’s.

It’s hard to believe that fifty years ago television would not broadcast Elvis below the waist because he shook his hips. Now, with celebrities shaking anything and everything in our faces, we can only sit back and wait to see what will shock us.