SPORTS PAGE 10 LEFT: Senior Kammie Berns has been horseback riding since she was 3 years old. Check out her story and other sudents’ equestrian experiences.
NORTH
POINTE
GROSSE POINTE NORTH HIGH SCHOOL
Tipping tradition starts slipping By Anu Subramaniam EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Despite evidence on Twitter that suggests getting a $1,000 tip so you can take your dream vacation is common, tipping is actually going out of style. The United States and a few eastern European countries are alone in their custom of giving tips. Other countries don’t use tips or simply include a service fee on their bills. But now, even some restaurants in the U.S. have begun paying waitstaff minimum wage to eliminate the need for tipping. Grand Rapids got its first tip-free establishment on Oct. 21 when restaurant owner Paul Lee announced that his restaurants, the Winchester, Donkey Taqueria and food truck, What the Truck, were going tip-free. Senior Michael Lemanske, who used to work as a waiter at his family’s business, Village Grille, thinks going tip-free limits a waiter’s and waitress’ freedom with their money. “Everybody is used to tipping, and I don’t think they would want to give up tipping just for a higher check every two weeks because people like a lot of take-home cash,” Lemanske said. “Take-home cash is what they need for the end of the night, and that’s all tips.” The ideology behind Lee’s initiative is to create a sense of equality across jobs in the restaurant. English teacher and former restaurant manager Jonathon Byrne thinks that removing tips from the equation does help equalize pay among cooks, dishwashers, waiters and other staff, but also feels that the effect that removing tips would have depends on the type of restaurant. For a diner-like restaurant, Byrne thinks minimum wage would be better for the servers since people only leave a few dollars when they eat there. At fancier restaurants, however, he feels it will have a bigger impact.
FRIDAY, NOV. 6, 2015
SINCE 1968
believes that tips are a sign of the quality of a server, and they encourage better service. “If you have a real good waitress, and you have a lousy waitress, I think the real good waitress deserves a little more than a lousy waitress, and you’ll never know if there’s no tip involved,” he said. “There’s no incentive to give you good service.” On average, waitresses make between $3-5 an hour before tips. Tipping often depends on the the venue, job description and gender of the employee. According to The Atlantic, women make about $1 per hour more in tips than males do. Restaurants in metropolitan areas have overall higher tips, and bartenders make the most on tips out of anybody in the restaurant industr y. They estimate that tips make up between 65-70 percent of a ser ver’s wage, in Detroit. Junior Hannah Engels, who works as a hostess at The Original Pancake House, feels restaurants should keep tips as a part of their system. She said that waitresses should be making more than hostesses, and that tips make that possible. “I would prefer to keep (the system) the same because if you’re a good waitress, then you’re going to get tipped good, and you’re going to make good money,” Engels said. “If you’re a bad waitress, you’re not going to get tipped good, and you sort of deserve it.” Junior Alyssa Velasco works at Barrister Gardens Banquet Hall as a waitress. Since it is a banquet hall, Velasco makes minimum wage and also gets tipped. However, even with a higher wage, Velasco said that tips make up a large part of her income, and getting rid of them would be a significant pay cut. WWW.SILICONANGLE.COM WWW.WOMENINBUSINESS.COM “We get our tips because we do a good job. “They keep quality servers at restaurants like that. Minimum wage, it just—it’s okay. But our tips, we do a Where being a server means being really well-trained really good job, and we earn those tips,” Velasco said. and knowing the food and all the finer points of service, so people who work in restaurants like that are CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 professionals,” Byrne said.” They’re not just high school students or college students, so they should get paid more.” Daniel Lemanske, owner of the Village Grille, also
Students turn to self-diagnosis By Emma Puglia WEB-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
A diagnosis nowadays is just one Google search away. After waking up one night with the sheets tumbling off her bed, senior Katrina Frank quickly researched her symptoms and suspected that she had a sleeping disorder known as sleep seizures. “(With) self-diagnosis, you always over-exaggerate, and you can almost give yourself the symptoms once you read them,” Frank said. She’s not the only one. According to a 2013 study from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, 35 percent of adults in the United States have surfed the web in search of an answer to their symptoms, commonly using search engines or medical websites such as WebMD. After watching a few episodes of the popular TV show Grey’s Anatomy freshman Giuliana Cavaliere assumed she had diabetes and a few tumors because of symptoms like exhaustion and clammy hands. “(WebMD) freaks you out,” Cavaliere sad. “It (makes) you panic. W hen I thought I had diabetes, I was nervous. I thought ‘what if something happened to me? ’” Determining the balance between doctors’ advice and the independence of self-diagnosis may tend to be more difficult because of the
absence of a school nurse. North has lacked a nurse for 15 years because of funding issues. “In the last 10 years in particular, there has just been an increasing cost in education,” Assistant Principal David Reed-Norwall said. “Schools have done everything they can to cut expenses and keep everything close to the students as much as possible, like classrooms.” However, doctors aren’t always accurate in their assumptions. Misdiagnosis is more common than drug errors or wrong-site surgery, according to The Washington Post. Ten to twenty percent of cases are believed to be affected by incomplete, incorrect or delayed diagnoses. Frank experienced frequent feelings of depersonalization, a disorder where thoughts and emotions seem unreal or belonging to someone else. After visiting her doctor, the two came to the conclusion that the feelings were side effects of migraines. “It was a reoccurring problem, and my doctor probably thinks it’s crazy because I go in for things like that all the time. She’d be like ‘Where’d you come up with that?’ and I’d be like ‘Looked it up,’ and she’d say ‘Stop doing that,’” Frank said. “I’ve kind of gotten away from looking up things, and I wait for things to actually be persistent, like actually a problem.”
IDEAS - PAGE 7
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ANU SUBRAMANIAM
REVIEWS PAGE 8
“While adults gnaw each other’s heads off, enthusiastic teens anticipate their turn to hop in the ring.”
Read our review on the new season of American Horror Story. It airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on FX. WWW.FLICKR.COM
@thenorthpointe www.northpointenow.org
Instead of going to their doctors, students are using the Internet and other resources to diagnose their symptoms
VOLUME 48 | ISSUE 4
Calendar | 2 News | 3
On Campus | 4 Life | 5-6
PTB - PAGE 12
Find out about Detroit’s vegan restaurants, Seva and Detroit Vegan Soul.
DARCY GRAHAM
On Pointe | 7 Reviews | 8
Editorial | 9 Sports | 10-11
Popping the Bubble | 12
2 – Friday, Nov. 6, 2015 – North Pointe
Tipping
END OF QUARTER
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Today
Lemanske, who has also worked as a waiter, feels that going tip-free has two sides. For the customer, it is less of a hassle, as they don’t have to worr y about leaving enough or dividing the tip evenly.
SAT TESTING Saturday, Nov. 7 at 8 a.m.
For the ser ver, however, going tip-free doesn’t prov ide much incentive to deal w ith rude customers. There is less motivation to prov ide excellent ser v ice, as wages are not dependant on customer opinion anymore, despite the pay cut one would be taking. “You have to be an act when being a waiter or waitress because ever y thing is about how they feel at the end of the night, how much they’re going to give you back. Be-
cause you’re not making any thing unless they’re paying it to you,” Lemanske said. “I think it would be easier for the customers in the long-run, like a lot of people get really frustrated w ith tip, like ‘oh how much do I pay if I don’t have enough money’ ... but other than that, it benefits people, but it doesn’t benefit the people tr ying to make the cash.”
COFFEE WITH KATE
For parents Tuesday, Nov. 10 at 9 a.m. in the Union
FALL SPORTS AWARDS NIGHTS Wednesday, Nov. 11 and Thursday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. in the PAC
FINANCIAL AID NIGHT
Wednesday, Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. at South
POPS AND PASTERIES CONCERT
Saturday, Nov. 14 at 7:30 p.m. in the gym
GPPSS OPEN HOUSE
Sunday, Nov. 15 from 1-3 p.m. districtwide.
PARENT CLUB MEETING
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 In sixth grade, alumnus Michael Marchiori noticed there was something unusual w ith the way his knee dislocated after a soccer game. Five years later, w ith help from AP Biolog y resources such as the Basic Local A lignment Search Tool (BL AST), Marchiori accurately diagnosed himself w ith Ehlers-Danlos syndrome ty pe 3. “I’ve had quite a few doctors appointments over the years. They were usually w ith orthopedic surgeons and specialists for knees and ank les and ever y thing. They always looked at it, they would feel my knee and be like, ‘Oh wow, you have a really loose knee, but you’re fine. Nothing’s w rong w ith it, that’s just the way you were
ENGINEERS, ARCHITECTS, SCIENTISTS, AND VISIONARIES.
Wednesday, Nov. 18 from 7-9 p.m. in the Union
Self-diagnosis
Possible is everything.
WWW.PAYSCALE.COM
built,’” Marchiori said. “It was always kind of unsettling that there was something so clearly w rong, but they weren’t able to identif y what it was.” Due to an increase in medicine-based classes such as Applied Medical Research, students are expanding their knowledge about diseases and disorders. “I think an educated consumer is something Applied Med is working on. Because those are incredibly high level readings that those kids are doing, and they have to prove their insights. The WebMD stuff is so easy to get information, it took me no effort at all,” Reed-Nordwall said. “On WebMD, I’m not always thinking. I’m just accepting it. And then I get really nervous. W hat I’ve heard doctors express is that it’s creating hysteria because the next thing I know, everyone is always like, ‘Ah, I got a spot. I got cancer.’” Psychology Today confirms online back-
ground research can be helpful, but recommends consulting a trusted doctor. It’s important to have an open, active conversation about the diagnosis, informing the doctor of your ow n opinions. “I started to realize if the doctors can’t do it, and they keep telling me I’m fine, I’ll take it into my own hands because I’m really the only one who knows my body. I’m really the only one who knows what’s actually going on with me,” Marchiori said. “It was quite a journey, and it was a difficult one. But I guess I am glad it happened the way that it did because had I given up, I still wouldn’t have known what was going on today.” Contributing: Olivia Asimakis
Lawrence Technological University isn’t for just anyone. We want the future designers, engineers, scientists, and entrepreneurs who will create the innovations of tomorrow. The earning potential of Lawrence Tech grads is among the highest in America. If you believe that everything is possible, and that possible is everything, we want you at LTU. Watch LTU students share their college experiences at ltu.edu/StudentStories. Ready to apply now? Visit ltu.edu/applyfree.
Southfield, Michigan 800.225.5588 admissions@ltu.edu www.ltu.edu Architecture and Design | Arts and Sciences Engineering | Management
NEWS
3 – Friday, Nov. 6, 2015 – North Pointe
ACT math scores defy downward national trend By Ritika Sanikummu & Josie Bennett EDITOR & STAFF REPORTER
The United States is seeing a decline in math ACT scores for the first time in 25 years. But North is bucking this trend. Student math composite scores have increased an unprecedented amount. Principal Kate Murray attributes the positive trend to an intentional move to help North students increase their scores. Teachers began integrating test preparation into the curriculum, both directly and indirectly, through methods such as test-prep Tuesday in math courses and vocabulary acquisition in English classes. Murray began implementing new strategies w ith staff in 2013 to refresh approaches to standardized tests so teachers could utilize different testtaking strategies. “At different staff meetings, we would do a different portion, so I would hand out a passage from the
reading section and gave the same allotted amount of time a student would have. We did it in silence in the meeting and everybody took it so that we became the learner again,” Murray said. “We remembered what skills were required in order to do well.” Teachers were able to remember what it felt like to take the exam as students and became accustomed to the perspective required to do well. Skills such as resilience, focus, confidence and controlling anx iety all contribute to testing performance. Math teacher Eric Vanston finds that staff practice is beneficial to not only the teachers, but to students as well. Teachers are able to relate their experiences to students in order to reduce stress and better understand how to effectively help students. In addition to the usual multiple choice questions in ACT prep practices, Vanston also makes sure to integrate story problems into his curriculum. “I believe that any time you’re work-
ing through complex problems and tr y to solve them, (although) it’s not (directly related) to the test, it can count towards students being more successful,” Vanston said. Sophomore Zach Page finds that at times the math portion of exams can be challenging. However, the methods that his math teachers use have been beneficial. “There (have) been more multiple choice quizzes, and they have throw n me off a couple of times, but I think it w ill help me w ith future tests like the SAT,” Page said. “My last two math teachers, Mr. Vanston and Ms. (Lauren) Nixon, really emphasized particular problems that they know w ill be on those ty pes of tests. I feel more prepared for the upcoming standardized tests.” Senior Nuha Mosa also believes that her math teachers have helped her to better understand the strategies of standardized testing and how to apply them during the test.
“Practicing for the math portion is different than practicing for an English section because it’s not really conceptual thinking. It’s just a math problem. It’s just know ing what to do. So it’s not really thinking about it. It’s just remembering what you need to know,” Mosa said. “The teachers just need to teach you things or make sure you understand a problem when you come across it. The teachers helped me w ith know ing what to expect.” Since the staff rolled out the new test-taking strategies in 2013, North has seen a gradual increase in math scores and has set an example for how to mix new methods into the curriculum. “We meet as principals often and share our strategies, and I would say that we are definitely on the frontier of creating programs that support struggling learners,” Murray said. “There are schools that come to v isit us to learn more about what we do to support struggling learners.”
NATHAN LONCZYNSKI
AP Biology students visit genetics conference AP Biolog y students were inv ited to attend the Genetic Update Conference held at Birmingham Seaholm High School on Monday, Nov. 2. By attending this extra-credit opportunity, students had a chance to learn more about genetic biolog y. “It was really interesting. I learned about cloning and that in the future, they’re going to be able to make human organs instead of waiting for a donor,” junior Mackenzie Simon said. Presenter Sam Rhines’ conducted his four-hour conference like a college lecture for biology teachers and students it was designed to teach the latest in genetic advances, research areas and possible career options.
Students honored at Board meeting North and South AP students were honored at the Board meeting on Oct. 26 for earning either a four or five on an AP exam along with several semifinalists and commended scholars in the 2016 National Merit Scholarship Competition. Juniors who excelled on the PSAT last year were named semifinalists and received an application, which gave them the chance to become a National Merit Scholar. According to nationalmerit.org, 50,000 students are picked to receive the award. In early September, 16,000 were selected to become semifinalists. Five months later, 15,000 students are going to be chosen to become finalists. Assistant Principal Tom Beach believes students that secure the award should be recognized to set an example for others. “A National Merit final is a high price. It sends a message to the colleges that you’re going (to apply to) that you are one of the best in the entire country,” Beach said. “If you’re picking four colleges, the odds are that all four are gonna want you because they know that you are one of the top of the top in the entire country, so it’s a pretty big deal.” Superintendent Dr. Gary Niehaus hopes this experience will allow him to honor students and give them a chance to strengthen their resumes. At the board meeting, the honored students will be given a certificate signed by the Superintendent and Board President. Semifinalist senior Mason Liagre has already been impacted by the overwhelming influence of the award. “My Gmail inbox is full of colleges (whose) opening lines of the email are about the National Merit Scholarship,” Liagre said. “My outlook on college has probably gone from pretty nervous about it to a little bit more confident. I think that’s the main change. I feel a little bit more better about myself as well because it’s a pretty big honor.” By Michal Ruprecht
“He talked about how there’s this thing called CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) that goes into your genes and takes some out,” Simon said. “Say you had a gene for a disease. It would go into your body and take out that gene and put in a gene that doesn’t give you a disease. It takes out the bad genes and puts in the good ones in place of them. He also talked about that in 10 years, they would have the cure to diabetes. It was really cool.” Attendees had the opportunity to learn about the powerful tools used in the field of genetics to combat diseases. “He was talking about all this stuff that when we’re going to be doctors in the future, this is the stuff we’re going to be working on, curing all these diseases,” senior Maria Ciarav ino said. AP Biolog y teacher Susan Speirs asked students who attended the conference to tweet about their experience using # GPNAPBIO for the people that didn’t
go could follow what was discussed during the lectures. “I learned quite a bit and noticed that students were engaged and interested,” biolog y teacher Andrew Pola said. “The end goal of the trip was to inform and inspire students.” The purpose of the conference was to translate intricate research into understandable concepts and show how advancements in genetics w ill have implications on the future. “It made an impact. It was really interesting because ... a lot of people there want to go into medicine,” Ciarav ino said. “That’s the stuff that, if I become a scientist, I would be working on. That was really interesting to see what we’re going to be doing in the later years.”
By Yena Berhane
Reach out to Family, Friends, Parents, Siblings and Teachers 24-Hour Crisis Line
(800) 241-4949
GPN Counselors
(313) 432-3224
Trevor Lifeline - LGBTQ
(866) 4-U-TREVOR
Eating Disorder Crisis Line
(800) 273-8255
Marijuana Anonymous
(800) 766-6779
Gambling Helpline
(800) 270-7117
Depression Hotline
(800) 231-1127
GPS Counselors
(313) 432-3519
Narcotics (Heroin) Anonymous
(877) 338-1188
American Pregnancy Helpline (866) 942-6466
Domestic Violence Helpline
(800) 799-7233
Alchoholics Anonymous
National Suicide/Bullying/Prevention 1 (800) 273-TALK Lifeline
(800) 337-0611
Information cards aim to prevent suicide awareness Suicide awareness cards have popped up around campus at both North and South over the past few weeks. These cards have tips about targeting the warning signs of depression and several hotline numbers including the North counseling office and the National Suicide and Bullying Prevention Lifeline. Grosse Pointe Public Schools has a relationship w ith the Beaumont Community Health Coalition and SERV E, the district’s ser v ice organization. Together, they prov ided the cards for both campuses. The district wants to make sure both students physical and mental health are a priority. “Our goal always is to take good care of our students. We recognize that students struggle w ith all different ty pes of issues, and we want to use the re-
sources we have in the community to support the health of our students,” Principal Kate Murray said. “The health of our students includes their academic well—being, their mental health, their social and emotional well—being as well.” The idea behind the cards is to offer students resources to find help for personal problems when they are outside of school. “We think sometimes kids feel ver y sad, ver y hopeless and disheartened and (are) not sure where to turn ... so if kids need help w ith something, and it is maybe after school, they’ve got a card that they can call, so the kids always have support available to them,” counselor Barbara Skelly said. Skelly said she doesn’t know if these cards w ill make any impact but is hoping students use them to their advantage. “We’re hoping kids pick them up,” Skelly said. “We won’t know if they use them, but we hope that if they feel the need to talk to someone, they know that they can reach someone 24/7.” By Sarah Wietecha
ON CAMPUS
4 – North Pointe – Friday, Nov. 6, 2015
Photo club captures Halloween through scavenger hunt
FACES IN THE CROWD
Amari Cook
By Josie Bennett & Alex Harring STAFF REPORTERS
SHANNON GABRIEL
ABOVE: Photo taken of pumpkins and a scarecrow, items on the scavenger hunt list.
Grace Skinner
BELOW: Junior Hannah Spindler’s photo of a carved pumpkin.“The scavenger hunt was pretty tricky this year because of the rain,” Spindler said. “But what we do is we scan the list and see how many things we can find even though there were not many trick-or-treaters out because of the rain and we just drove around Grosse Pointe Woods and St. Clair Shores to get as much as we can.”
SHANNON GABRIEL
ABOVE: Photo of a Halloween dectoration taken by the photo club. Member junior Anaijah White explored Grosse Pointe Woods and St. Clair Shores to find items to photograph. “Basically there was a sheet of things we had to find and each thing was ranged from one point to three points,” White said. “We racked up the points in the end and decided who won.”
HANNAH SPINDLER
Parkour is an activity where individuals rapidly move through different areas, typically urban ones, navigating obstacles by running, jumping or climbing. For most people, that may seem like a challenge but for senior Amari Cook, it’s a hobby. “I do parkour for fun, after school,” Cook said. “Me and my brother go on trips and we just do parkour. We have our own little group and we just have fun.” When Cook was about 10 years old, he was inspired by his father, an active motocross rider, to try doing the same tricks— minus the dirtbike. Cook’s strangest experience with parkour involved an unstable stop sign. “We were on a stop sign, trying to grab the pole and stand upward with our legs in the air … but then the pole was kind of unstable and it kind of fell and I fell with it.”
BELOW: Spindler takes photo of a spider decoration for the scavanger hunt.
After moving from Traverse City to Grosse Pointe, freshman Grace Skinner is still getting adjusted. “It was a lot different (in Traverse City). People were more closed-minded,” Skinner said. “But there are a lot of preppy people here I guess. They are more involved with money and sports. Everyone was just kind of chill there.” This is not Skinner’s first move. She has lived in many different places including Virginia, North Carolina and Michigan. “(Moving) used to be about my dad’s job,” Skinner said. “But my mom is kind of addicted to it. She likes to visit new areas.” So far, her favorite place that she has lived is central Virginia. “There is a lot to do, like there doesn’t sound like a lot to do,” Skinner said. “But people are nice there too.”
Shannon Gabriel With her multi-colored hair and her vibrant makeup done with precision, it’s clear junior Shannon Gabriel is into art. But for her, painting goes beyond the traditional canvas. In the summer of 2014, Gabriel started painting shoes, and it has turned into a favorite hobby. “Normally they are gifts for people, so they are kind of based around what those people like,” Gabriel said. “Like a TV show they might like, or a movie or a Van Gogh painting.” Gabriel is currently in AP Studio Art and feels that the class helps her with the drawing and painting on the shoes. However, Gabriel’s shoes aren’t always gifts. She has started selling the shoes as well. “It’s sort of like an under-the-table business,” Gabriel said. By Trevor Mieczkowski
GIUSEPPE PARISON
FIVE MINUTES WITH
English teacher Alyssa Sandoval By Ritika Sanikommu EDITOR
BELLA DESANDY
ABOVE: “I always wanted to be a highschool teacher. I dabbled with the idea of being a middle school or high school. But that was like my plan the whole time. When I was in high school however, I thought I was going to be an elementary school teacher,” Sandoval said. “So I didn’t change completely, but that was my general career path. But I want to go back and get my PhD for creative writing, so that’s kind of the other venue that I like. I’m very, very dedicated to writing. I think that’s how I got into teaching.”
New English teacher Alyssa Sandoval always had a clear idea of what she wanted to become later in life. Along the way of reaching her aspirations, Sandoval discovered her passion for creative writing. “Writing has always been my thing. Before I could write actual physical letters, I would have my mom transcribe it for me. That’s just the way I express myself the best. I get my inspiration from events I’ve had in my life,” Sandoval said. “Even a glimpse of something that I see on the street will inspire a poem or short story depending on how significantly it affected me, even if it seems like a passing moment. I just find it very inspiring, depending on where I am in my life.” Sandoval attended the University of Michigan and was able to delve deeper into her love for creative writing while she was there by participating in poetry forums and readings in front of large audiences. Writing not only provided Sandoval with a creative release, but an emotional one as well. San-
doval’s writing often embodies a darker quality laced with experiences from her life. “Typically, I think it’s because I come off as a very enthusiastic and positive person, which I definitely am. But when I’m writing, it’s always to kind of let out those feelings that I’m repressing or trying to get rid of because I don’t want that to come out in my daily persona,” Sandoval said. Sandoval generally writes non-fiction. One of her short stories, which was written about her grandfather’s struggle with Alzheimer’s, was published in the Alzheimer’s Association Magazine. Sandoval ultimately plans on publishing her works and creating a collection out of the hundreds of short stories and poems she has written. “That’s been my goal. In addition to teaching, to just go on and be an author and be a teacher,” Sandoval said. “Because those are really my two passions, having that expression for me, but also bringing that into the classroom to help other students and other people try and figure out how to express themselves the best.”
Where do you see yourself in 30 years? Definitely still teaching, hopefully here, I know a lot of teachers stay here and I think that shows a lot about the school. The kids are great, the teachers are great, so I would be very thankful if I stayed. If I didn’t, then I would see myself moving to the west coast in Oregon or Northern California. And I am currently dating my boyfriend, Jeff, and we’ve been dating since I was a senior in highschool, so us being married. I can see me having kids, and definitely being published.
Do you have any special talents? I’m really into archery, and I don’t think many people expect that because I don’t really talk about it that often. It’s more recreation, it’s not something I do on a team or league. I started in high school, we had some unit in gym, I thought it was really fun. And then I went with my friends for somebody’s birthday party, I think, my freshman year of college, and it was so fun. I was weirdly good at it, which is weird because I’ve never gone hunting or anything like that for archery to click with me. It’s a lot about precision, and I enjoy it. It’s something different, other than reading books all day. What are your favorite movies? They’re kind of eclectic, but I would say Shutter Island, I think the mind twist is interesting, 500 Days of Summer, which is a completely different genre but I fall into that every time.
LIFE
Stress to impress By Gowri Yerramalli BUSSINESS MANAGER
“Stressed” has become a commonly-used term among youth teenagers. With the numerous responsibilities and requirements that are expected of teens, childhood stress and its related health problems are steadily increasing. Junior Olivia Randazzo believes that the expectations high-schoolers have for themselves can lead to consistent stress. “The expectations we have for college and what we have to do to get into the college we want to get into and what we expect of ourselves contributes to (stress),” Randazzo said. Recently, a study conducted by Harvard University has concluded that early childhood stress can contribute to poor adult health, including an increased risk of developing heart disease and diabetes. The symptoms of significant stress can be noticeable at a young age. Counselor Jill Davenport sees that students are affected by stress in various ways. “How stress affects a person is varied from person to person. Some people sleep, some cry, scream, shut down entirely, stomachaches, headaches, rashes,” Davenport said via email. School psychologist Christine Kuhl also says the causes of stress can vary from student to student. She feels, however, that a lot of stress is centered on social pressures. “In my personal opinion, I think high school students today struggle with constant social pressure. When I was a teenager, students struggling socially only had to deal with that during school hours,” Kuhl said via email. “Now because of increased access to devices and social media there is literally no
North Pointe – Friday, Nov. 6, 2015 – 5
A recent study from Harvard University finds that childhood stress can lead to long-term health issues
escape from the social world. There is no safe space where students can totally disconnect from their social world. I believe this creates an unhealthy balance for many students.” Randazzo, however, thinks that most of her stress comes from extracurriculars and academics. “I get really stressed out after school, especially if I have a lot of things to do, a lot of extracurriculars and with the homework load because I do get a lot of homework in my classes because I’m in three AP classes,” Randazzo said. “In each of those classes, I get around usually two hours a night for each, so I’m doing homework basically all night, so that gets me a little stressed, especially if I don’t have time to finish up everything or I have to study for something.” The effects of stress can be reversed by a few simple activities. Kuhl says that healthy social connections and lifestyle choices can reduce stress in most teens. “Stress can be reduced by getting the recommended nine hours of sleep per night, healthy eating habits and regular exercise. It can also be reduced by maintaining good, healthy social connections with friends and family. Teens should have at least one to two trusted adults they can connect with when they are feeling overwhelmed,” Kuhl said. “If you do not have a trusted adult at home, remember that there are many here at school. Grosse Pointe North has counselors, a school social worker and a school psychologist ... we are all available to talk with you and help you through difficult times. If you need additional support, we are able to refer you to resources outside of school.”
Surgery interferes with dancer’s senior year By Olivia Asimakis MANAGING EDITOR
Google “hip dysplasia,” and you’ll find the top results are clearly intended for adults. Even though it’s a rarity for teenagers, senior Maddy Tompkins underwent hip surgery for her recently diagnosed condition. Tompkins had her first of two hip surgeries Aug. 11. Her right hip was properly reconstructed so her femoral head would be well supported. When the socket of the hip bone, called the acetabulum, isn’t fully developed, the ball and socket are misaligned. This causes wear and tear to the cartilage, resulting in bone-on-bone contact and pain. Tompkins first felt this discomfort during dance class. “My (dance) teacher could tell it was hurting really bad and stuff,” Tompkins said. “So she was feeling around on my hip, and I guess she kinda knew something was wrong.” After an x-ray and a doctor’s appointment, Tompkins found the answer to her pain. She was diagnosed with hip dysplasia in November of last year. Tompkins was born with hip dysplasia, but because she stopped growing, doctors had never properly identified it. Tompkins’s mother, Molly Tompkins, was worried about Maddy because of the severity of the surgery. “It was a lot of preparation both mentally and physically, like trying to get ready for the fact that her hip was going to be taken apart and being screwed back together,” Molly said. “I just felt I needed to be strong so that I could support her because I felt bad for her having to go through this her senior year.” Maddy’s sister, sophomore Emma Tompkins, was an instrumental part of her recovery. Because Maddy couldn’t move, Emma took on the role of caretaker. “At the beginning, right after surgery, she couldn’t move around or anything, so we would get her meals and just get all of her clothes or anything she needed from upstairs because she couldn’t go up the stairs,” Emma said. The assistance didn’t stop at home. Because she was immobile, Maddy’s means of transportation for the first two months of
school was a wheelchair. She only started to walk again in early October. Maddy’s friend, senior Alania Streberger, helped her daily by getting her from class to class. “She asked us to help her out, and of course I said yes,” Streberger said. “It was a little odd at first because it was really a reality check for me because I’m a runner. It was totally like, wow, I have to be so grateful for what I am, but also helping her was really humbling. I feel like it definitely made us closer.” Maddy will have her left hip surgery in February, and she will miss two to three weeks of school. Her right hip is now stronger, which will directly translate into the speed of the second round of rehabilitation. Emma believes the recovery will be quicker and easier because the family already knows what to anticipate. Maddy’s struggle has led the Tompkins family to support one another more. “It’s made us realize that we are there to lean on each other,” Molly said. “That we have a great support group of both family and friends.” Although the surgery and recovery has made life harder in some ways for the Tompkins family, Emma feels it has improved her relationship with Maddy. “It’s grown stronger because we have to spend more time together,” Emma said. “We have to get along, and I have to help her out.” For all of her life, Maddy had been self -sufficient. Then all of a sudden, she was no longer able to do the most basic tasks. She felt inhibited and distressed, but she also recognized how this experience would help her grow. “At first it was hard because I couldn’t even put my shoe on without it hurting. It got really frustrating because I used to be able to do all this stuff, and now I can’t,” Maddy said. “I feel like this is definitely going to change me. I feel like it makes me stronger as a person. ‘Cause no one my age has to go through this. It’s crazy.”
MADDY TOMPKINS
ABOVE: Grosse Pointe South students, Ellie Connors, Allison Graff and Haley Mart along with Tompkins backstage at a dance recital. Tompkins was an avid dancer prior to her diagnosis. BELOW: Senior Lora Dobbs helps Tompkins get from class to class. “It was weird. I was pretty much at people’s butt level, and I felt really tiny. I used to be able to do all this stuff, and now I have to sit and have people get me things,” Tompkins said.
MADDY TOMPKINS
LIFE
North Pointe – Friday, Nov. 6, 2015 – 6
FRIENDS OR FOLLOWERS? Students find pros and cons of extensive social media use THELUKEWARMERSWAY.WORDPRESS.COM
Friend circle @whodoyouknow?
Dunbar numbers (represented below, one square represents 30 people) were a good representation of how many people the average person “knows.” In this age of expanding social media, are these statistics still relevant? intimate friends go-to friends close friends
casual friends aquaintances names you know
Role strain By Lindsey Ramsdell & Alex Harring ASSISTANT EDITOR & STAFF REPORTER
A large group of friends has always been a sign of social status. In the digital age, donning that title now bears another expectation—a large group of followers. But, there could be a point where having too many friends becomes an issue in itself. Despite having over 1,300 followers on Instagram, senior Laurel Kreuter has noticed that her close circle of friends remains small. She says if anything, social media has brought them closer together. “I have two really really close friends, and all of our Instagrams and our Twitters very much influence each other,” Kreuter said. “(Instagram) really does bring us together. We fangirl over other Instagram accounts, and other Twitter accounts and stuff like that. So it’s definitely a common interest among us all.” However, research conducted in 2014 by the University of Oxford psychologist and anthropologist Robert Dunbar suggests otherwise. In 1992, Dunbar concluded that humans’ social relationships can be organized into multiple friend circles that decrease in number as they become more intimate. The largest consists of about 1,500 people a person knows by name, ending with a circle of five close friends or family members that he or she t u r n s to for suppor t du r i ng t he h a rde st times. According to Dunbar, as social media expands one’s circle of acquaintances, it may be taking away from those inner circles of close friends. School psychologist Christine Kuhl notices that as the outer circles grow, they can distract from our definition of friendship. “I do think (social media) broadens (students’) connections, but maybe there’s more quantity and less quality,” Kuhl said. “I think it maybe confuses who’s really your friend and who’s somebody you just met one day or spent a little time with, and then you become friends online. So yes, I think it definitely expands your group, but maybe not everyone is close in that group.” Senior Lakisha Pressley said she’s made connections through her 2,300 Instagram followers that she may not have made otherwise. “Some of my followers, we have connections just based off Instagram even though we don’t know each other,” Pressley said. “But I know for example, this one girl—I got accepted into Bowling Green—and she’s just like, ‘Hey I got accepted into Bowling Green.’” Like Pressley, Kreuter has made connections through common interests and experiences. Although Kreuter has made multiple distant friends over social media, she feels that it has not compromised her friendship with others. In fact, she sees that her online friends can be just as authentic as her real ones.
“Fandoms are all over social media accounts, so when you become friends with these people who have a same idol as you, you get to really know them,” Kreuter said. “You can even meet them in real life, and they help you with things. They give you advice and all that. There’s definitely a lot of girls that I’ve met personally through Instagram and Twitter, and they’re so nice, and I love them.” Through mutual connections, your number of acquaintances will increase. However, this does not mean an increase in our ability to maintain multiple relationships at one time. When Nicole Ellison, a researcher at Michigan State University, surveyed random undergraduate students in 2007, she found that the students’ median number of Facebook friends was 300. Of those friends, the students said they would only consider an average of 75 as actual friends. This means that the students surveyed would only consider approximately 25 percent of their Facebook friends companions in the non-virtual world. The amount time social media users spend on continuing those 225 other distant relationships can distract from their more profound relationships by spreading their interactions with them too thin. This is an effect that sociologists describe as “role strain” or the “frustration over multiple social obligations (and) an inability to meet the expectations of your social role,” according to Dr. Brian Gillespie, Ph.D., assistant professor of sociology at Sonoma State University. Role strain can develop into real world problems, as trying to balance many relationships can sacrifice one’s own self-care, create stress and influence behavior. Kreuter has found herself having to apologize to people she barely knows but is distantly connected to through social media. “I have actually got caught for my big mouth on Twitter,” Kreuter said. “I’ll say stuff, and then people who I don’t even know—I don’t even know how they find my tweets—they just tweet back at me, and I end up either having to apologize or erase the tweet.” Kuhl feels teenagers benefit from multiple friendships, but she also advises students to discern which friends are worthy of trust. “I think it can be stressful more in defining what those connections are and sometimes maybe even forgetting who those connections are,” Kuhl said. “Then you share information that maybe you’d share w ith your closer friends but not necessarily an entire group. I don’t know if it’s stressful for teens to just manage that amount of friends, but just nav igating the different levels of friendship among your group of followers.”
Instagraph
UI-CLOUD.COM
The stress or strain experienced by an individual when incompatible behavior, expectations or obligations are associated with a single social role. (Dictionary.com) Social media use may increase role strain felt by students because of wider social circles.
On friends and followers:
Senior Laurel Kreuter On likes “I used to be obsessed with all those hashtags and stuff. And I would like go to celebrities’ Instagrams and comment like ‘Like back’ or ‘follow back’ and stuff. I don’t do that anymore but I guess it just kind of followed up to it. It kind of just caught up and now I just keep getting all these likes, but I have no idea why people like my pictures.”
On being a perfectionist
“This is gonna sound so crazy, but I’m kind of OCD about my Instagram feed. Like I have to post the picture and then take a screenshot of what my Instagram looks like with that picture and then I delete the picture really quickly. So then I have to decide like what picture I want to post. It’s like a whole process, it’s so embarrassing.”
Senior Lakisha Pressley On Facebook Probs
“I had got this new smartphone, and I was on (Facebook)—I wasn’t being responsible with it—and so some drama had started, and I continued it on Facebook, and then that caused trouble in school. And then my parents found out, and they told me that I couldn’t have a Facebook account until I turned 16, and when I turned 16 I just didn’t care (enough) about it anymore to make another Facebook account. So, that’s definitely a lesson learned.”
On getting followers “I guess I kinda promoted myself. I would ask my friends to promote me on their Instagrams, and I had an old account that I had lost my passwords to. And so when I made my new one I just re-followed everyone from that account.”
The average number of Facebook friends versus the number that are considered “actual friends” (MSU survey) PAGE DESIGN BY REY KAM (EDITOR-AT-LARGE)
IDEAS
ON PO NTE
North Pointe – Friday, Nov. 6, 2015 – 7
10
The top 10 things this week that we can’t live without
Technology
By Allison Lackner and Katelynn Mulder
BLACKBERRY PRIV
9
ASSISTANT-EDITOR AND STAFF REPORTER
Show
THE FLASH
1
7
Movie
SPECTRE
James Bond’s latest adventure begins after a cr y ptic message sends him on a rogue mission in Mex ico City. The 24th official James Bond film, Spectre hits theaters today.
Book
THE INFINITE SEA
WWW.DENOFGEEK.US
Set in the same fictional universe as Arrow, the second season of Flash sees the show’s protagonist struggling to get over a death of a friend while protecting the city. It is slated to premiere today.
8
The newest BlackBerry PRIV is set to release soon. This smartphone contains the staple BlackBerry keyboard in addition to a full-size touch screen and is powered by Android.
B OOK THE BAZAAR OF BAD DREAMS
From the mind that brought us The Shining WWW.BLOGS.WSJ.COM comes the collection of short stories sure to cause nightmares. Unlike his previous works, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams: Stories allows Stephen King to share with fans his inspirations for each story.
Game
2
Album
DELIRIUM
WWW.VEVO.COM
3
Including the hit single “On My Mind,” Ellie Goulding will be introducing the world to her third album today. With a combination of pop and empowerment, this album is sure to be a crowd pleaser.
CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS 3 WWW.GEEKNEWSNETWORK.NET
Call of Duty: Black Ops III takes place in the future and follows the storyline of its predecessors. New additions like a realistic difficulty has changed the dynamics of the game. It’s currently available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox one, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows.
4
By Abby Cadieux ASSISTANT EDITOR
As the second term of Obama’s presidency winds down, the next crew of shiny-toothed presidential candidates gears up to prove they’re worthy of being chosen as the next leader of our great countr y. Finely-pressed red, white or blue ties and scarves are taken out of the closet and wrapped around the necks of some of the biggest names in politics. These big names will shake hands, kiss babies and point fingers— you know the drill. And then comes the discourse. The dreaded discourse. It is a fundamental right, as Americans, we are expected to participate in political discussion and exercise our right to vote at the tender age of 18. However, not ever yone comes out of the womb knowing all there is to know about foreign policy or Obamacare. I, too, am included in that bunch. Many may find that no matter whom they talk to, even the simplest explanations of America’s most debated issues are diluted with bias. For many of us, sitting around watching CNN’s live telecast of the Presidential debates is a given. We have grown up in an era of intense media coverage of the political process. We watch as presidents are sworn in, know the minute laws that are passed and see politicians have at each other on live television. Like a cloud of smoke, political discussion infiltrates our living rooms and leaves ever yone who cannot compre-
WWW.BALLERMINDFRAME.COM
5 Show
MASTER OF NONE
WWW.NERDSPAN.COM
The Yo-Kai are physical embodiments of everyday problems that you can’t see. In YoKai Watch, the goal is to befriend these spirits in order to get a medal that lets you summon them when you need help. This game is available now for the Nintendo 3DS.
WWW.BLOGS.WSJ.COM
Politics is a choice
THE PEANUTS MOVIE
Game
YO- KAI WATCH
The Infinite Sea is the sequel to the New York Times bestselling story The BOOK Fifth Wave by Justin Cronin. Cassie THE INFINITE Sullivan has managed to survive the first four deadly alien attacks, and she SEA has to face the Others in order to stop them from destroying the human race.
6
Movie
Everyone’s favorite beagle and flying ace will be in theaters wityh their best friend, Charlie Brown, in The Peanuts Movie. This movie will coincide with the 50th anniversary of A Charlie Brown Christmas and hits theaters today.
7 WWW.FORBES.COM/
WWW.DAILYSUNKNOXVILLE.COM
hend it in the dark. We watch as our parents react strongly to live debate coverage. Even the slightest mention of the economy launches the most level-headed relatives into an extensive 20-minute-lecture, sans Powerpoint. Political debate at the Thanksgiving dinner table can really be fun, too. (Can’t wait.) W hile adults gnaw each other’s heads off, enthusiastic teens anticipate their turn to hop in the ring. But let’s be real. Most of us have no clue what’s actually going on. This leads to regurgitating family members’ takes on current issues verbatim. Kids want to participate in the political discourse but end up only repeating what they’ve been told without any real thought. W hat good does second-hand information and opinion do for creating your own political views? Now more than ever, young Americans are being encouraged to get involved in politics. And we should. We will be the ones running this countr y some day, so why not start now? Instead of mimicking bombastic billionaire politicians on TV, we should familiarize ourselves with the issues. Think about how a certain stance would affect you personally—you, your family, your friends. Think, too, how it would affect people who don’t have a voice—the disadvantaged, the poor, the marginalized. Creating your own opinions and values helps you evolve into your own person. It allows you to become an adult who is capable of making informed decisions in elections, not just an impressionable voter. Go out. Get involved in polit ics. Lea r n t he subjects. Develop your ow n unique polit ica l conscience a nd ma ke a dif ference in t he world t hat is t r u ly yours. Sta r t now because we w i l l a l l be 18 before we k now it. There is absolutely not hing w rong w it h being conser vat ive, libera l, Republica n, Democrat, independent or tota l ly apat het ic about a ny t hing polit ica l. Just ma ke sure t hat your beliefs a re your ow n a nd not someone else’s.
WWW.TVSERIESFINALE.COM
Watch Dev, an aspiring actor, as he comically maneuvers his way through issues in both his personal and professional life. Created by Aziz Ansari, Master of None drops all 10 episodes on Netflix today.
Friends not foes By Darcy Graham INTERN
Slimy. Evil. Man-eating. These are the words that come to mind when most people think of reptiles. The media throws dramatized movies like Reptilian and Snakes on a Plane into theaters, creating misguided stereotypes that leads to fear and ignorance. We’ve almost been forced into hating reptiles since birth. Last week was reptile awareness week, but no one wants to celebrate a scary snake or scaly lizard. They are seen as dangerous, gross, and unworthy. Reptile bites are responsible for roughly five deaths per year in America. If that seems like a lot, the “harmless” dogs we’ve all come to love are responsible for about 35 deaths annually in the U.S. Man’s best friend may get more love, but they are no safer than a pet snake. I have owned snakes, geckos, turtles and lizards, and I can advocate that reptiles are smart. They grow fond of people, and enjoy the company of specific people more than others. Reptiles experience fear and happiness just as we do. They feel pain, they learn to trust, they communicate with each other and they have many cognitive abilities similar to that of humans. Some species of lizard can even show species recognition and wave like a human would when they see another lizard of their same species . Another presumption is that reptiles are ferocious. Let me clear up any assumptions there are about their role in the food chain. Geckos and lizards prey
on insects and eat vegetables. Snakes prey on rodents and birds. But few snakes are venomous, and only 10 percent of those have the potency to kill a human. These animals would not even take this action unless they fear for their life. Turtles eat insects along with small fish and snails, and tortoises simply feed on plants. No reptile has any interest in feasting on humans. I often hear how reptiles “feel gross.” Most reptiles don’t have the slippery or slimy texture that many people fret over. Every reptile that I’ve had experience with has had thick, dry skin, or simply smooth skin with scales. Scales are not slimy, and are used to protect a reptiles frail body. People shouldn’t avoid all reptiles. Yes, some are dangerous, but it is not true that all are, which many people believe. Reptiles help us in our everyday lives without us even knowing. Studies have shown that if snakes didn’t exist, the world would be overpopulated with rats and mice. Without lizards, the Earth would be overpopulated with insects. Another study shows that snakes played a major role in ending the Black Plague in the 1340s by eating many of the disease-carrying rats. Throughout the course of history, humans have been known for putting animals—and even ourselves—into risky situations just because they don’t understand something. Humans are scared of what we don’t understand. We have hunted many species into extinction because we did not educate ourselves on their lifestyles and limited risk factors. How long will it take for people to realize that reptiles are vulnerable? How long will it take for humans to understand these innocent creatures? Lots of people have had a rumor spread about them. But, imagine a rumor started about you that is strong enough to convince people to end your life, thus endangering your entire species for years and years to come. Fellow humans, stop treating our reptilian inhabitants of the world like they’re vicious, murderous and disposable.
REVIEWS
8 – Friday, Nov. 6 2015 – North Pointe
Other ladies absent from the season are Taissa Farmiga, Frances Conroy and Emma Roberts (currently starring yet another Murphy/Falchuk creation, Scream Queens on Fox). Like Lange, the show isn’t a flop without them, but their presence would enrich it. AHS veterans Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters returned for their fifth season, but in unfamiliar roles. Paulson trades heroine for heroin in her role as the ghost of a junkie named Sally. Her look is complete with a crimped blonde bob and some serious raccoon eyes. Peters also plays as a ghost and like his first season role, Tate Langdon, the ghost is a murderer. While Tate is different from Peters’ character in Hotel, Mr. March, he managed to be lovable despite his character’s major flaws. However, March is a malicious psychopath who was the most notorious serial killer in Los Angeles history. This role is a far cry from Paulson’s usual stint as the brave leading lady and Peters’ as the man with a heart of gold. Hotel has undeniable parallels to season one, American Horror Story: Murder House. Anyone killed in the Murder House remained there as a ghost. It is not likely that everyone killed in the Hotel Cortez becomes a ghost, but Sally, March and his creepy laundress accomplice Miss Evers continue to inhabit the hotel after their deaths. Both seasons take place in Los Angeles and share Marcy the real estate agent, a minor character. This makes sense as during the show’s hiatus, Murphy and Falchuk revealed that all of the seasons will connect somehow. For those who don’t watch AHS, each season has its own storyline and set of characters. But last season, storylines from Freakshow and Asylum (season 2) aligned. Murphy and Falchuk hinted that characters from previous seasons may stay at the hotel, and Marcy’s appearance confirms that. American Horror Story has long been a show that rejected the happy endings of humdrum sitcoms and overly-dramatic TV shows targeted to teens. Hotel continues this pattern. The Hotel Cortez is where happy endings come to get brutally murdered.
By Mora Downs EDITOR The dark hallways and dreary rooms of the Hotel Cortez host to a multitude of murders and the home for the fifth installment of the ever-twisted American Horror Story. Last season’s storyline (Freakshow) was not scary. The only fear-inducing element was a serial killer clown who was killed off halfway through the season. But now creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk have proven they haven’t lost their touch. American Horror Story: Hotel is a heart-pounding thrill-ride. Each moment has the viewer fearing what might happen next for the innocent residents of the Hotel Cortez. If you thought the twins from The Shining were the creepiest children to haunt a hotel, think again. Hotel stars Lady Gaga as Elizabeth, a vampire and the hotel’s owner. Gaga was born to play this role. She embodies the glamour and mystery of her character, depicting Elizabeth in the likeness of a film star in Hollywood’s golden age. With a magnificent chandelier hanging in the lobby and an intricate elevator design, the set is the epitome of retro glamour. But the hotel’s aesthetic appeal stops there. The rooms are dark and small, and the carpet design from The Shining lines the hotel to further amp up the spook factor. The Hotel Cortez was built in the 1920s and lacks modern conveniences that most hotels have like WiFi and cell service, which is the real American horror story. Hotel staff includes Iris (Kathy Bates) and a Liz Taylor crossdresser (Denis O’Hare). Several new faces join the cast of AHS regulars including Cheyenne Jackson, Max Greenfield and Naomi Campbell. The season also features Finn Wittrock, Matt Bomer and Wes Bentley, who made their AHS debuts last season. Missing from the show is the true queen of AHS, Jessica Lange. Lange has made the show into the phenomenon it is today. Without her iconic portrayals of Constance Langdon, Sister Jude Martin, Fiona Goode and Elsa Mars, the show would be severely lacking. Hotel has managed to be a hit without Lange, but it leaves fans wondering what she would have brought to the table.
Newest season of American Horror Story proves scarier than the last
AMERICAN HORROR STORY HOTEL 2011-2015 TV-MA FX
SCREENCRUSH.COM
TV
BOOK
MOVIE
THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE
THE HAUNTING OF SUNSHINE GIRL
THE VISIT
In an alternate reality of the year 1962, the Axis powers won World War II. The majority of the world is either under control of the Japanese Empire or the Nazi Third Reich. This is the twisted and disfigured world por-
Based on the popular YouTube channel of the same name, The Haunting of Sunshine Girl brings the creepy homemade paranormal series to the world of books. WWW.GOODREADS.COM After the channel got more than 130 million views, the owner of the channel, Paige McKenzie, also known as Sunshine, decided to publish a book which came out on March 24. The book follows the same storyline of the first few episodes of the channel. Sunshine and her mother move into a new house where she soon discovers there’s something unusual going on. She begins to record the strange activity trying to prove to her mother, who begins to react oddly due to the supernatural, that their house is indeed haunted. While this may sound like any old horror movie or book, it sets itself apart from the others with a new twist. Sunshine is a Luiseach, a person who is able to see and help ghosts crosover to the other side. Ghosts, demons and a cast of other creatures are attracted to any luiseach, which has made them rare. Sunshine’s story takes place after she turns 16, when a luiseach gets their abilities. However, the only problem is Sunshine has no idea who she is or how to use her powers. The plot of the story was interesting and well thought out. While it starts off very slowly, once the reader gets past the first few chapters the book becomes much more interesting. Another minor issue is that while the characters are almost exactly like the ones in the videos, they lack the same depth in the book. The initial installment is a fun, relatively short read and opens doors for other Youtubers to expand to new horizons. Unlike most books this one was written after the videos were made, not before. Full of suspense it will keep readers up late into the night, unable to stop turning the pages. With six official seasons on her YouTube channel along with multiple other shorter stories, there are bound to be multiple books in the series.
E x pectat ions were high for M. Night Shyamalan’s The Visit. E x pectat ions were not lived up to. After directing the award—winWWW.WATCHPLAYREAD.COM ning film The Sixth Sense, Shyamalan failed to meet the standards with The Visit that many had set. While the mother Paula (Kathryn Hahn) and her boyfriend go off on a cruise, Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) travel to meet their grandparents Nana (Deanna Dunagan) and Pop Pop (Peter McRobbie) for the first time in a small, snowy isolated farm. The movie begins with Becca, an inquisitive teenager, interviewing her mother about why she ran away from her parents before going to visit them. Her mother, Paula, is very hesitant to answer and explain why she has not contacted them after 15 years. The first day of the visit goes just fine. Their Nana and Pop Pop seem like typical grandparents. However, at night, the kids began hearing noises, and as the days progress, more odd things start to happen. Despite the seemingly interesting plot and enticing trailers, the movie left viewers bored. It was too slow. The pace made it hard to stay focused in the beginning, and when it finally started to pick up, it quickly ended. Although the special effects weren’t great, they did the job and on occasion managed to be frightening. For the most part, they were just too predictable. Basic horror movie effects, such as doors randomly opening and antagonists jumping in from out of nowhere. Characters would make bad decisions, decisions that an ordinary person wouldn’t, such as sending their children away without making sure they ended up where or with whom they were supposed to. Also, Becca was really hard to connect with, as she did not encompass the average teenager. The acting was one of the only positives to the movie. The actors emoted well, and they really connected with the audience. Overall The Visit was decent, not fantastic, but certainly not bad.
WWW.GEEKDAD.COM
trayed in the new television show The Man In The High Castle. Based on the book by Philip K. Dick, the show tells a similar story. The show follows a number of Americans living in the Nazi-controlled eastern United States and Japanesecontrolled western United States. The acting in the show is top-tier, which was unexpected for an online-only web series. The actors show a very wide range of emotion and not a single one seems out of place. In this world, enough time has passed that a new generation of Americans don’t even know what freedom feels like, so portrayal of broken spirits and acceptance of such oppression is a must for many of these characters. The main characters are cast especially well, notably Juliana Crain (Alexa Davalos), a normal woman trying to eke out an existence living in the west and Joe Blake (Luke Kleintake), a resistance member living in the east. The setting itself is by far the show’s strongest and most alluring aspect. The show really brings the dystopian future of an Axiscontrolled world to life. Walls are plastered with Axis propaganda, flags adorn national symbols, and soldiers patrol the streets looking for anyone defying the authority of the new regimes. Signs of a defeated and broken America are no more evident than in the city of New York. It is very striking to see Times Square display the Nazi swastika on billboards and military vehicles patrolling Wall Street in the name of the Führer. With such intriguing lore behind the show, it will be interesting to see how other aspects of the world are interpreted later in the series. Anyone who is fascinated by alternatehistory scenarios or who enjoys a good dystopian thriller will appreciate The Man In The High Castle. The series has two episodes out already and the third will be released Nov. 20. of this year. The Man in The High Castle; 2015; Amazon
The Haunting of the Sunshine Girl; Paige McKenzie; 296 pp; Weinstein Books; $11.52
The Visit; 2015; M. Night Shyamalan; PG-13; 94 minutes
By Giuseppe Parison
By Katelynn Mulder
By Trevor Mieczkowski
GAME
PSYCHIC CAT
WWW.ROCKPAPERSHOTGUN.COM
Psychic Cat is a surreal and creepy exploration game played in the perspective of a cat traversing a neon-drenched wasteland, avoiding obstacles and
enemies along the way. The first thing to note about the game is definitely unique aesthetic. The game features a cel-shaded art style but instead of being shaded with colors, the game is shaded in black. The only way to discern between different things in the world is a neon glow outlining everything. Other than that, some objects in the world have glowing accents garnishing their appearance. The art is very spartan, which gives the game charm. It is unfortunate that the majority of the remaining game is subpar. Exploration, while entertaining for a time, is all one can do within the game world. There are options to create cubes and to pick up objects but it doesn’t seem like there are any objects to pick up. This is a problem because, unless someone is truly captivated by the surreal atmosphere of Psychic Cat, there is simply no reason to play the game. Psychic Cat’s animation looks very unpolished and unprofessional. The cat slides around the world like it’s on ice skates and the character model of the cat does not account for elevation on hills, meaning even when the cat climbs over terrain, it simply stands upright while doing so. There are also multiple clipping issues. The cat will frequently faze through terrain and the camera itself can even be positioned to see inside the cat’s model. There is also a force field surrounding the larger structures in the game, this was presumably done because the developer found it too difficult to precisely add collision to things in the world. Overall the game looks unfinished, which alludes to the possibility that the developer is simply not skilled enough the create a game of such magnitude. Psychic Cat is an interesting experiment, the art is superbly creepy and the world is interesting. However, as a game, it falls short of standards that come expected in today’s market. Psychic Cat; George Royer; 2015
By Giuseppe Parison
IDEAS
North Pointe – Friday, Nov. 6, 2015 – 9
“Grosse Pointe Public School administrators and teachers are responsible for encouraging and ensuring freedom of expression and freedom of the press for all students, regardless of whether the ideas expressed may be considered unpopular, critical, controversial, tasteless or offensive.”
Cultural theft ? By Radiance Cooper ASSISTANT EDITOR
BOARD OF EDUCATION POLICY Anu Subramaniam EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Olivia Asimakis MANAGING EDITOR
Katelyn Carney SPORTS EDITOR
Billy Moin NEWS EDITOR
Mora Downs LIFE EDITOR
Gowri Yerramalli BUSINESS MANAGER
Emma Puglia WEB EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Ritika Sanikommu IDEAS EDITOR Katelynn Mulder STAFF REPORTER
Yena Berhane WEB MANAGING EDITOR
Radiance Cooper ASSISTANT EDITOR
Our editorial represents the opinion of the North Pointe Editorial Board consisting of the editors above. Members who have a conflict of interest with an editorial topic do not partake in that meeting or vote. EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Anu Subramaniam MANAGING EDITOR: Olivia Asimakis MANAGING EDITOR-AT-LARGE: Jennifer Kusch EDITORS-AT-LARGE: Yena Berhane, Audrey Kam SECTION EDITORS: Katelyn Carney, Mora Downs, Audrey Kam, Billy Moin, Ritika Sanikommu WEB EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Emma Puglia BUSINESS MANAGERS: Jillian Berndtson, Gowri Yerramalli PHOTO EDITORS: Sydney Benson, Delaney Bradley, Ava Deloach, Bella DeSandy, Erinne Lubienski ASSISTANT EDITORS: Emma Brock, Caitlin Bush, Abbey Cadieux ,Radiance Cooper, Allison Lackner, Lindsey Ramsdell, Anna Post ,Lauren Sexton, Sarah Wietechta STAFF REPORTERS: Josie Bennett, Alex Harring, Nathan Lonczynski, Katelynn Mulder, Addison Toutant INTERNS: Darcy Graham, Erin Kaled, Bella Lawson, Trevor Mieczkowski, Sonny Mulpuri, Joey Parison, Montana Paton, Olivia Robinson, Michal Ruprecht, Asia Simmons, Billy Steigelman, Tommy Teftsis The North Pointe is edited and produced by Advanced Journalism students at Grosse Pointe North High School and is published every two weeks. It is in practice a designated public forum without prior review. Comments should be directed to the student editors, who make all final content decisions. The views expressed are solely those of the authors or the student editorial board and do not reflect the opinions of the Grosse Pointe Public School System. We are a member of the Michigan Scholastic Press Association, Columbia Scholastic Press Association, National Scholastic Press Association and Student Press Law Center. We subscribe to McClatchy-Tribune Information Services and iStockphoto. com. One copy is available free to all community members. Additional copies may be purchased. Our editorial policy and advertising rates are available online at northpointenow.org. The North Pointe is printed on 100% recycled paper. CONTACT US 707 Vernier Road Grosse Pointe Woods MI, 48236 Phone: 313.432.3248 Email: northpointe@gpschools.org Twitter: @thenorthpointe Website: NorthPointeNow.org FACULTY ADVISER: Shari Adwers, MJE
AUDREY KAM
Absence at Board meeting tarnishes reputation School (skül) n 1 : an organization that provides instruction: as an institution for the teaching of children (Merriam-Webster). Following this definition, a school’s quality would be measured in how well it teaches its students. We had a chance to showcase this at the School Board meeting on Monday, Oct. 26. At the meeting, students from both North and South received recognition for Advanced Placement (AP) Scholar, Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) and National Merit Scholarship (NMS) awards. While Grosse Pointe South was well-represented at the meeting, we were not. Not because our students weren’t qualified. They just didn’t show up. In years past, this hadn’t been much of an issue, as everybody who received an award was announced. This year, however, only individuals who were present had their names read. This made North look bad. With so few North winners standing on stage next to their South counterparts, we looked like we stumbled and let our high academic standards slip. These awards are a big deal. Both NMS and AP are national-level awards. To qualify to be an NMS semifinalist, a student needs to score within the top 16,000 of about 1.5 million entrants. This year, we had two. To receive NMS with commendation, a student needs to be within the top 32,000. North had a handful of these students, a big achievement for a medium-sized school. North received several CSPA award-winners for journalistic writing. There were 11,110 entries nationwide, and 11 winners in Michigan. Five of them were from North. But we cannot take pride in these types of academic achievement when our students aren’t present to be recognized. Without all names being announced, and with so few students present, North did not look equal to South. If we want to stop this from happening, there are two things that we need to change. The first issue is that students need to take these awards seriously. By showing up, they will not only receive recognition for their hard work but will
“I think it’s a huge influence on high school students’ lives. Stress is something everyone is worried about all the time.” Megan Thuma FRESHMAN
portray our school in a more positive light. South had many of its busy seniors show up, yet we did not. If we want to show what we are achieving and doing in and out of the classroom, we have to show up, too. The second problem was the meeting’s scheduling. We can’t simply say it was the students’ fault and move on. Perhaps the School Board should consider a different way to give out these awards. Let’s look at when the recipients were recognized for their achievements. One, the meeting was held on a Monday, at the beginning of the week. The types of students who win these awards aren’t slackers. They have challenging classes, lots of homework and are involved in extracurriculars and sports that were entering post-season play. That’s not exactly a formula for free time during the week. Two, the meeting was in late October. The end of the quarter was only two weeks away, making late assignments and make-up tests the utmost priority. Also, most of these award winners are seniors who were finalizing their applications for the Nov. 1 early admission deadline to competitive universities. That Monday, more than ever, was a time when our winners wouldn’t be able to make time to receive an award. And as previously mentioned, these are no mere participation awards. These students have taken the extra step to achieve these awards and deserve more than to simply have their name read at a Board meeting. Instead of giving out the awards on a Monday night near the end of the quarter, during the week college applications are due, maybe the students could have their own ceremony. Perhaps that ceremony could be held a couple weeks later, possibly on a Friday or on a weekend afternoon. Students should have a chance to get recognized for the hard work they’ve put in. They’d be more apt to attend, and North can keep up its reputation. However, just as the students aren’t fully to blame, neither is the scheduling. Yes, it an inconvenience, but at the end of the day, it’s our responsibility to show up. We are the ones to maintain our reputation.
“Stress makes you worry about everything, and you usually don’t have time.”
Greta Deloach SOPHOMORE
“I think it can either lead them to either procrastinate (or) stress can actually help them and they’ll study more in that particular subject.” Ben Sosnowski JUNIOR
Instant Norseman YOUR TURN: Instant Norsemen How does stress af fec t students? Updates Updates By Sydney Benson PHOTO EDITOR
Cultural appropriation is a complex controversy. No matter what side of the argument you are on, this subject stirs up heated debate whenever it is mentioned. So the question looms: is cultural appropriation the robbing of another’s culture or a beneficial blending of social lines? Cultural appropriation is defined as the sociological concept which views the adoption or use of elements of one culture by members of a different culture as a largely negative phenomenon. The idea behind cultural appropriation is that while many celebrities use bits and pieces from different cultures to give themselves a unique image, members of that same culture are often ridiculed in real life for doing it themselves. This conversation has grown to the point where the University of Washington actually created a youtube video explaining halloween costumes that were off limits for fear that they might be appropriating a different culture. Items like sombraros, grass skirts, drag queen outfits and martial arts costumes were highly discouraged. While this growing phenomenon seems tainted (and actually is in some regards), I think that we’re missing an important aspect of this equation. We all borrow bits and pieces from each other. It’s bound to happen. Walking into North everyday, we’re join a melting pot filled with kids from all sorts of different backgrounds and cultures. We mingle with each other, we’re friends with each other, we date each other. As we adopt the things that we like about a culture, we are learning about that culture, too. There’s no shame in that. It’s not a sign that we are stealing from one another. Instead, we are embracing each other’s differences. We are all a product of the people and attitudes that we grew up around, and these relationships shape the people that we were and the adults we are going to be. With more mingling occurring between different types of people, the walls and lines between cultures are bending and blurring. It’s becoming more difficult to tell them apart. It is controversial, but it isn’t a bad thing. I don’t believe that culture is necessarily something that you can “steal” or “rob” someone of. I do believe that we all share this earth and what’s yours is mine and what’s mine is yours. We create a trap when we say “this person is black so they can’t do this” or “this person is white so they can’t do that.” That is a flawed concept. People can be whoever they want to be without being labeled as out of place or racist. We all have quirks about us that make us who we are, but they don’t always match are cliché roles in society. The reality is that when we spend time with those that are ‘different’ from us, we realize that they actually aren’t. We are all 99.9 percent similar in DNA, whether you listen to classical music and wear sweater vests or listen to hip hop and sport cornrows. We should be more than capable of finding ourselves in different cultures, even if they aren’t solely attached to the one we were assigned at birth. Don’t build up the walls that divide us, break them down.
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stant Norseman Updates
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“Stress affects high school students by motivating them to finish assignments in a timely manner, but at the same time, often leads to lack of sleep. “ Lauren Lesha SENIOR
“I think everyone is individually different on how they handle stress. Obviously, some students may feel sick and may want to avoid the stress, some people thrive on stress. I think it’s just individually how you handle the stress.” Bryan Levinson BUSINESS TEACHER
“I think stress affects them in a lot of different ways. One way is mentally, they don’t get enough to concentrate on. It builds up pressure, makes their day seem longer.” Gil McHenry SECURITY GUARD
SPORTS
10– North Pointe – Friday, Nov 6, 2015
OFF TO THE RACES Students Kammie Berns, Carrington Mahana and Meghan Irving participate in extracurricular equestrian riding throughout the year By Radiance Cooper & Anna Post ASSISTANT EDITOR & STAFF REPORTER
KAMMIE BERNS
Started riding: Age 3 Horse’s name: Poe Horse’s breed: German Warm Blood
Senior Kammie Berns lives and breathes the equestrian lifestyle and can often be found spending weekends travelling to horse shows across the countr y. Berns has been riding for 15 years and garnered an interest in the sport when her mother signed her up for a horse camp at the Grosse Pointe Hunt Club. She gradually transitioned from lessons to competing nationally. “W hen I started show ing and competing, I kind of just did little schooling shows, and then it began t o g e t m o r e f u n t o w o r k t o w a r d s s o m e t h i n g ,” Ber ns sa id. In horseback riding competitions, Berns performs in medals, which are events w ith 3’6” hurdles that horses must jump over. She is then judged on equitation, or the rider’s style, position and form. Riders compete for medals in order to have enough points to qualif y for finals. Berns has won many competit ions a nd has even qua l i f ied reg iona l ly a nd nat iona l ly. “I’ve won zones, which are like Michigan, Kentuck y, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana,” Berns said. “I am a top competitor in that zone, but once you start competing w ith kids in California and on the East Coast it gets really intense, so just to be able to ride w ith those kids is an honor.” Berns believes hav ing a strong relationship between a rider and horse is crucial to her success. Understanding how a horse rides is an important part of the sport since riding differs w ith each horse. “They become your best friend. It’s like a dog but 10 times more,” Berns said. “You have a bond, and
ever y horse has their ow n personality and their ow n kind of quirkiness to them, and that’s what makes the unique. Sometimes their quirkiness gives them a spunk and an edge that other horses don’t have.” Berns’ goal is to win a national title and ride in college. She is interested in Baylor University and Texas Christian University and hopes to receive a scholarship. “W hat I’m doing is that I’m tr ying to ride as many horses as possible so that I can be a versatile rider and be able to get on any horse and be able to ride and make it look effortless w ithout me even know ing (the horse),” Berns said. “So I’ve been practicing on any horse I can get on, and I w ill v ideotape my riding. I tr y to keep in contact w ith the coaches and send them v ideo updates of me riding and kind of keeping them posted and letting them know what’s going on. Hopefully they w ill want me on their team.” Being a versatile rider and managing time are what Berns considers to be the hardest part about the sport. “The sport is really time consuming, but I’ve learned that. I love doing it personally because I love being w ith horses,” Berns said. “But it’s a great thing to learn commitment and time management because you really need to have ever y thing organized.” Berns believes that the sport teaches her to become a better person and has opened doors for herself when it comes to competing. “It has made me ver y grateful for what I am given and the opportunities that I can have,” Berns said. “It builds character and it makes me more appreciative of what my parents and family have given to me to let me have the opportunity to ride horses.”
MEGHAN IRVING Liv ing in close prox imity to the Grosse Pointe Hunt Club has allowed sophomore Meghan Ir v ing to turn her interest in horses into a pastime through horseback riding. Her love of the sport and ever y thing that comes w ith it has only grow n since. “At the barn I am (at) right now, my earliest memor y was three years ago, and it was on a pony named Bebe,” Ir v ing said. “She was ver y cute, and I just remember listening to my instructor and what I had to do, (like) make sure my heels were dow n, make sure my hands were in the right position. It was lots of fun.” Ir v ing began competing in MHJA horse show competitions when she was in eighth grade after her trainer suggested she tr y it. She currently participates in horse shows two to three times a year. The events she partakes in can range any where from f lat classes to cross poles, which is the event that she currently participates in. “It involves your horse looking good. There’s hunter-under-saddle and then equitation. Equitation is judging the rider and how your position is. Are your heels dow n, are you looking for ward, are you looking dow n? Then, hunter-under-saddle is the judges is judging the horse,” Ir v ing said. “How it moves, does it know what it’s doing.” Despite horseback riding’s lack of recognition as a competitive sport, Ir v ing feels that the relationship built between the rider and the horse is what makes the sport unique. “I love the interaction w ith the horse. With other sports, it’s something that’s not alive,” Ir v ing said. “It’s actually something that has a life, knows what it’s doing and the connection you get w ith them is amazing.” For Ir v ing, the sport comes w ith many fun experiences, but it also involves hard work, despite the sport’s easy-going appearance. “Most people say it’s not a sport. They say all you do is just sit there and let the horse do ever y thing. You have to do so much. You have to make sure they know what they’re doing. Your heels are dow n, your legs are in the right position, your hands are in the right position,” Ir v ing said. “If they stop, you have to know what to do. It’s not just something (where) you just sit there. It’s a lot of work.”
Current barn: Windermere Equestrian Center Horse’s name: Audi Horse’s breed: Off-the-track thoroughbred Advice for new riders: Keep your mind open. You might think it’s a lot of work at the same time, like right at the beginning but as soon as you get used to it, it’ll come second-hand to you.
CARRINGTON MAHANA Current barn: Justamere Barn Horse’s name: Jinx Advice for new riders: “Riding is an expensive sport for anyone, even if you can’t afford to do what I did, hang around a barn (long) enough to offer to help learn about the animals and get offered to do things with the horses the more trust you gain, it’s really a really good way to learn how to take care of more than just yourself. Also, riding is a time and practice sport, if you can put in the effort and time, results will come.”
An unexpected health emergency was what introduced sophomore Carrington Mahana to horseback riding a nd created a passion for t he sport. “My sister had an appendicitis attack when she was on a horse. I was 4, and she was 7, so she fell off,” sophomore Carrington Mahana said. “But then instead of her finishing her lesson, my mom took her to the hospital and I stayed at the barn w ith the trainer who still trains me whenever she can. She then just put me on a horse and was like ‘let’s just go for a ride’ and I just starting lov ing horses after that.” Mahana has always had an appreciation for horses. She started out taking lessons at the Grosse Pointe Hunt Club and now participates in barrel racing, which consists of starting out at a full gallop, or ganner, then mak-
ing clover leaf turns around three barrels as fast as she can. A lthough Mahana doesn’t have her ow n horse, she normally trains and rides other horses at the club and plans on eventually ow ning her ow n. Despite how expensive horses are, she also believes that finding one is the most difficult part about the sport. “The horses pick you, you don’t always pick the horse,” Mahana said. Communicating w ith body language is what Mahana thinks is ver y important when it comes to working w ith a horse. She believes that the sport teaches her about more than just the horse. “It’s really hard to learn,” Mahana said. “You need to learn a lot about the animal and all about yourself too.”
North Pointe – Friday, Nov. 6, 2015 – 11
SPORTS
auditions for
PKSA KARATE YOUTUBE
Freshman Sam Boggia performs a move as a part of a group showcase.
SHAUN FOLK
Instructor Lisa Chomicz strikes a pose that is a foundation of PKSA Karate’s art.
By Micha l Ruprecht & Tommy Tef tsis INTERNS
Karate teaches discipline. It teaches self control. It may even make freshman Hope Miller a star. Karate has led t he Professiona l Ka rate Schools of A mer ica Demo Tea m a l l t he way to t he stage of A mer ica’s Got Ta lent (AGT ). For one mont h, t he tea m has been t ra i n i ng to i mpress A mer ica a nd t he fou r eager judges. Demo i s ba sed on Ta ng So Doo, a Sout h Korea n for m of k a rate or ig i nat i ng i n Seou l. AGT a sked t he tea m to aud it ion for t he show la st Apr i l a nd w i l l per for m on St au rday, Nov. 7. A s a member of t he Demo Tea m, M i l ler ha s fou nd k a rate to be ver y mea n i ng f u l t h roug hout t he seven yea r s she ha s been prac t ici ng t he spor t. “( W hat) ka rate mea ns to me is to develop courage for yourself a nd to do what’s right a nd to not a lways just defend yourself, but to defend people a round you,” Miller sa id. “It’s like building cha racter instead of competition, it’s not a lways about t hat a nd it’s just about yourself a nd tr y ing your ha rdest.” M i l ler d i scovered ma ny w ay s to help ot her s t h roug h per for m i ng a nd teach i ng k a rate. Her love for t he spor t created a new w ay of l i fe for her. “I rea l ly st a r ted to l i ke ( k a rate) bec au se at k arate it ’s not on ly for me,” M i l ler sa id. “I’m on t h i s tea m, it ’s c a l led Demo a nd we go for helpi ng W igs 4 K id s a nd we do per for ma nces for t hem a nd t hen
we g ive per for ma nces for school s t hat have ch i ld ren t hat a re abused at home.” Mi l ler’s mom, Tem i ka Mi l ler, i nspi red Hope to become a pa r t of ka rate. Tem i ka is proud to see t hat Hope’s ka rate a mbit ions broug ht her to a h ig h level i n ka rate. She is awa re of t he ha rd work her daug hter has put i nto t he AGT aud it ion. “I bel ieve it’s a ver y good oppor t u n it y for her, she’s ver y excited. Hope has done a lot of per forma nces t h roug h t he com mu n it y ... t h is w i l l g ive her more persona l ex posu re,” Tem i ka sa id. Hope bel ieves t hat t he show created more u n it y i n t he tea m. Even t houg h w i n n i ng a nd t he money a re not i mpor ta nt, Hope t h i n k s her tea m is ready to succeed. “I wou ld wa nt to say t hat (t he biggest ach ievement is) to w i n, but i n a l l honest y I wa nt us to just be able to get ex per ience a nd k now how to get out t here i n t he world a nd k now t hat ka rate ca n ta ke you ver y fa r,” Hope sa id. “I just hope ou r ka rate tea m goes away k now i ng t hat even t houg h i f we don’t w i n, t hat we d id g reat a nd t hat we t r ied ou r ha rdest a nd t hat’s a l l t hat mat ters.” Si nce sta r t i ng ka rate, Hope has seen a big cha nge i n her l i fe. Her fou r-hou r long ka rate pract ices have g reat ly a f fected her persona l relat ionsh ips. “I ba rely have t i me now to ha ng out w it h f r iends because I’m eit her at ka rate a nd helpi ng someone. For exa mple, (on Oct. 24 I was at) a Wigs 4 K ids at a loca l ma l l. I’m per for m i ng for t hem,” Hope sa id.
SHAUN FOLK
Instructor Owen Hall does a middle knife hand pose.
“It’s just k i nd of a f fected me i n a way where I just, I’m a lways t here. I’m just t here a lot, I t h i n k too much, it’s l i ke my second home.” A lso a member of Demo a nd a second-deg ree black belt, freshman Sam Boggia acquired many personal qualities from karate besides just self defense. “I’ve lea r ned d iscipl i ne a nd sel f-cont rol … (a nd) to be a bet ter person t h roug h ka rate,” Bogg ia sa id. “It has helped develop my cha racter a nd (showed me) how to help out you r com mu n it y, so it has helped my whole l i fe out.” Bogg ia t r ied ot her spor ts but t hey d id n’t cl ick. Si nce ka rate is prom i nent i n t he Bogg ia household, she joi ned i n second g rade. Bogg ia’s mom, Debbie Bogg ia, has not iced a posit ive ef fect f rom Sa m’s ka rate ex per ience. “It has been benef icia l, it has been a good exper ience for a l l of us,” Debbie sa id. “I feel t hat Sama nt ha has lea r ned sel f defense a nd it has rea l ly boosted her self-esteem and made her a better person.” Hope fou nd t hat ka rate i nt roduced her to ma ny t h i ngs, even model i ng. She bel ieves t hat ka rate helps people ex pa nd t hei r bou nda r ies, a nd t hat her AGT ex per ience w i l l f u r t her help ex press her love for t he spor t. “I feel l i ke w it h ka rate you ca n just help people, it’s not on ly for you rsel f,” Hope sa id. “It’s spreadi ng (to) people t hat you ca n be con f ident a nd you ca n be st rong too. You don’t have to a lways h ide i n t he shadows.”
ELLIE FRAME
ELLIE FRAME
Sophomore Ellie Frame and her sailing partner sophomore Lindsey Ramsdell lean off their boat.
HOUR DETROIT
SHAUN FOLK
Instructor Alyssa Folkwie spars Boggia and freshman Hope Miller and does a hook kick. at a Wigs 4 Kids gala on Sept. 12.
Frame and Ramsdell take a rest on their boat.
SAILING TEAM BEGINS FALL PRE-SEASON Although sailing is a spring sport, the sailing team is participating in a fall pre-season By Erin Kaled & Asia Simmons INTERNS
It’s not sa i l i ng coach Da n Ni kesch’s f i rst rodeo, or regat ta i n sa i l i ng ter ms. Ni kesch has been compet it ively sa i l i ng for 30 yea rs, i nclud i ng keelboat raci ng i n col lege. “I started racing in the junior program at Crescent Sail Yacht Club in high school for Grosse Pointe North and then for Western Michigan,” Nikesch said via email. He’s now the head coach of the varsity sailing team. The sport’s original season occurs in the spring, but Nikesch introduced a fall preseason. “It’s technically only in the spring, but our coach decided to have a mini fall season,” sophomore Ellie Frame said. “It’s not considered a sport at the school (during the fall), it’s only considered a club.” Frame enjoys the people she met on the team and the close relationships she’s made. “All the people that you meet throughout the years kind of stick with you,” Frame said. The conditioning season will come to a close after they compete in the Shepherd Championship regatta in Chicago Nov. 14-15. Last spring, they were on track to qualify for the Midwest Championships. Nikesch associates this to the team’s ability to overcome difficulties during a bad race and their abilities to handle the boat in extreme weather conditions. “The team is resilient,” he said. “A lot of sailing can be in your head. The ability to bounce back after a bad race in a series of several is important.” However, according to Nikesch, the team still has room for improvement. “Light-air boat handling in my opinion is the most difficult and perishable skill to learn,” Nikesch said. Sophomore Sydney Semack joined the sailing team last year and says it’s one of the best decisions she’s made at school so far. Her favorite part about sailing is getting along with everyone and beating South.
ELLIE FRAME
“One thing that makes sailing unique is that it’s a coed sport,” coach Dan Nikesch said.
“My dad and grandpa all sail and have boats, so I’ve been around the environment my entire life,” Semack said. “I sail a lot on my dad’s boat and family friend’s boat, usually in the spring and summer.” Semack sees herself continuing to sail in the future. But with only 10 members, sailing is not a popular sport at North. Once a week, members on the team work mainly on drills and run practice races against each other, but the routine varies depending on the day’s weather. The team competed in three regattas Oct. 24, two of which were state championships for different boat models. In one boat, race with a partner, the other is singlehanded. The team came in sixth place out of 11 schools in the double-handed championships. “We race against schools like Detroit Country Day, Grosse Pointe South and Liggett,” sophomore Adam Weinkauf said. Weinkauf placed eighth out of 20 schools in the single-handed state championships. Nikesch is an avid racer. He has participated in 18 Mackinac Regattas, an annual race beginning in either Port Huron or Chicago and ending at Mackinac Island. Weinkauf hopes to follow in his footsteps. “I want to do the Mackinac race in the future, when I’m older, so I’m definitely doing sailing for the rest of my life,” Weinkauf said. Weinkauf began sailing because he likes being on the water and working with boats. He, along with senior Ryan Rozycki, race in a single-handed boat called a Laser. For Nikesch, the opportunity to be a coach for his high school is a reward in itself. “Teaching (sailing) is the most direct and tangible way to give back to a sport I’ve enjoyed for so long,” Nikesh said.
12 – Friday, Nov. 6, 2015 – North Pointe
IDEAS
POPPING THE BUBBLE Each week we bring you some fresh activities and places to try outside of the Grosse Pointe community
INDULGY.COM
WWW.SEVARESTAURANT.COM
COREDETROIT.COM
By Jen Kusch & Yena Berhane
By Cate Troost
“Vegan” and “soul food” may sound like an unlikely pair, but Detroit’s newest vegan joint makes them a winning combination. Detroit Vegan Soul (DVS) is located in the Indian Village neigh. in Detroit, and this quirky spot feels at home in the revitalized district. Sporting a view of a larger-than-life flower mural across the street and own eclectic interior, DVS has a youthful atmosphere perfect for seasoned vegans and carnivores alike. Detroit Vegan Soul has created a lot of buzz in the metro area, and for good reason. It offers a tasty alternative to dishes with processed meat, which the World Health Organization recently linked to cancer. DVS’s produce is locally sourced, GMO-free and 100 percent plant-based. DVS’s menu offers a range of options for those with dietary restrictions, making vegan options available for people who are gluten-free and soy-free. It also offers a range of smoothies and teas, making their storefront the perfect stop for a light snack or study session. Its menu is well rounded and will leave even the staunchest of meat lovers asking for more. DVS takes classic recipes and gives them a vegan twist but does so without sacrificing flavor. The DVS burger contains a house-made veggie millet patty that is flavorful and moist and is a crowd pleaser with add-ons such as avocado, vegan cheese and coconut bacon. Their signature soul platter takes traditional soul food, mac n’ cheese, tenderly smoked collards, maple-glazed yams, black-eyed peas and cornbread muffins and makes it all completely vegan and healthy while keeping intact the flavor of these dishes. DVS offers a wide range of appetizers and entrees and has kid-friendly options for any little ones. DVS’s prices are steeper than some of its serving sizes may suggest. However, the food’s healthy benefits and clean origin have most of its patrons paying whatever it takes to eat well. When you are done with your entree, ask the wait staff about the restaurant’s offerings of desserts. They change daily and range from berry cobbler to chocolate cake. Their desserts are rich and will leave you asking what they are using to make their dairy-free dishes so tasty. While the surrounding area is becoming revitalized, the roads surrounding the Indian Village can be difficult to drive through. About a 15 minute drive from Grosse Pointe, the location can be tricky to reach without a car. After you arrive at DVS, parking can be hit or miss. Front parallel parking is available, but it is usually occupied because of the area’s local shops and restaurants. The restaurant provides parking in a back lot behind the storefront, however, and usually has plenty of openings for patrons. The wait staff is attentive and efficient. Whether you are dropping in for a quick carry-out dinner or have plenty of time on your hands, the DVS staff will not waste your time. It is a small restaurant, and it can accommodate groups of up to six only. For parties larger than six, you are required to call ahead. The last dine-in guest is seated at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday and 2:30 p.m. on Sundays. Overall, DVS makes vegan easy, and it’s home-cooking flavor is a sure winner for anyone interested in trying their offerings. Shirts are also sold on the website for $16 for a green shirt and $18 for a natural color. DVS is open Wednesday-Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Downtown Detroit provides an artful cultural excursion. When looking for nutritious vegan meal, Seva is the answer. Seva specializes in authentic vegan cuisine. It’s menu ranges from superb vegan hot dogs to mouth-watering sausage hash. It’s hard to even notice that the meals are meatless. Open from 11 a.m.-9 p.m. on weekdays and 12-9 p.m. on Sundays, Seva is perfect for a weekend getaway from the usual diet. The urban experience one gets from a trip into the city makes Seva unforgettable. This hidden gem is located at 66 East Forest Ave., directly across from the Detroit Medical Center and next to the Center for Creative Studies. It fits perfectly into a neighborhood full of art and liveliness. The restaurant mixes a variety of cultures into its food, crafting a world-wide experience for your taste buds. It also provides juice and espresso bars, which are perfect for any time of day. Picky eaters need not fear, Seva will accommodate a variety of preferences. Even people who aren’t vegan, vegetarian or gluten-free can find reliable favorites like nachos and mac n cheese. Seva takes classic foods and puts its own twist on it, and makes you feel a little less guilty about indulging. Their sodas are to die for. Made from raw sugarcane, these sweet treats come in a wide variety of flavors, including lemongrass and pomegranate. There’s no telling what concoction they will come up with next. It can be challenging to choose from so many options. Be sure to talk to the friendly staff, as they have tried everything on the menu and can suggest the best dishes for you. Seva provides conveniences such as hosting parties and free parking. Another positive that Seva offers is outdoor seating. This option is wonderful for those who wish to fully absorb the neighborhood, and this restaurant’s service and location collide to form an experience that keeps customers coming back.
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ABOVE: Mural outside of Detroit Vegan Soul LEFT: Owners of Detroit Vegan Soul Kristen Ussery and Erika Boyd pose in their kitchen.