The Southerner, Volume 68, Issue 1

HENRY W. GRADY HIGH SCHOOL, ATLANTA

Sept. 5, 2014

Katherine Merritt

Artist Drue Dun paid homage to the Atlanta classic Gone with the Wind. Dun uses a razor and spray paint to make his art pop. This piece was found in Virginia Highlands.

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EBOLA STRIKES IN WEST AFRICA; U.S. PREPARED F

The search for free art provides an unexpected rush for both the art creator and art hunter.

Some artists take part in Free Art Friday to enjoy art without the stress involved in exhibiting and selling art while others participate purely for the fun of it.

“I participate to get my creative juices flowing,” artist and hunter Ashley Bishop said.

A well known artist, Christian Danley, who goes

by Clunky Robot, has been heavily involved in Free Art Friday for more than three years now.

“It’s silly,” Danley said. “But I get an adrenaline rush every time I hide a piece of art, the mix of anxiety, hope, and excitement.”

For Bishop, Free Art Friday is a diversion from her job in the financial field. She has been hunting for art for about two years and has been creating art for about a month.

According to Free Art Friday originator, Kenn Twofour, Bishop’s transition from art hunter to art maker highlights one of the main purposes of the event: turning takers into makers.

By Margo Stockdale or many Atlantans, the greatest impact of Ebola has been Emory Hospital’s decision to treat two American patients with the disease. For Atlantan Leo Mulbah, however, the disease hits much closer to home.

“Almost every day I get news of either family members or friends who have fallen ill,” Mulbah said. “Today I found out that two of my friends have gotten ill.”

Mulbah is a Liberian-American and the president of the Liberian Community of Georgia, a nonprofit organization.

The organization is responding to the Ebola outbreak by organizing town-hall meetings to send medical equipment to Liberia. Mulbah said the meetings are necessary because many hospitals are closing in Liberia.

Ebola is one of several hemorrhagic fevers. The virus is spread through contact with blood or bodily fluids as well as through consumption of animals infected with the virus. Symptoms include high fever, sore throat, vomiting and diarrhea. Affected people may also bleed both externally and within the body. The overall fatality rate is 60-65 percent.

First detected in March 2014, this outbreak is the largest since 1976 in terms of the number of human cases and fatalities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The outbreak began in Guinea but has since spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.

Susan Van Duyne, CDC employee in the Salmonella reference lab,* said the disease has spread so widely and quickly because of the lack of border control in the affected countries.

“The borders are fluid,” Van Duyne said. “If someone lives in Liberia, but the closest market is in Sierra Leone, they will go to the market in Sierra Leone.”

To follow Katherine on her quest for free art, see page 18.

see EBOLA, page 9

Finders, keepers on Free Art Friday

By Katherine Merritt ree Art Friday, a hidden gem of Atlanta, unites artists and encourages people to escape their daily routines and scavenge for free art around the city. With the use of social media websites including Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, artists post hints to give viewers an opportunity to find and keep a unique piece of art.

Artists may “drop” their art anywhere in Atlanta.

Common spots include Virginia Highland, Fourth Ward, Little Five Points, Decatur and Midtown.

Determined hunters and participating artists make Free Art Friday an increasingly popular event. The most eager art enthusiasts search on various social media websites with the hashtag fafatl (#fafatl) to find hints that will hopefully lead them to the art they desire. If they get to the art first, it’s theirs; First come, first serve. After someone finds the art, it is common courtesy and an implied rule in Free Art Friday for them to tag the artist’s account in a post on social media to announce to the artists and art seekers that their art has been claimed.

VOLUME LXVIII, NUMBER 1

Hollywood heads for high school at APS film locations L

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nomic impact in fiscal year 2014 according to the Georgia Film, Music and Digital Entertainment Office. This is a sharp increase from production companies investing only $3.3 billion in Georgia in fiscal year 2013. For Atlanta Public Schools, this new source of revenue by renting out school properties is a welcome opportunity, and not only as a source of revenue. “[Filming] showcases our facilities as well as brings in extra money for the district,” said Crissi Calhoun, director of accounting for Atlanta Public Schools.

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Gubernatorial candidate Jason Carter was endorsed on Aug. 27 by the Georgia Association of Teachers at a conference held just outside the Grady campus.

courtesy of reddit.com

By Lucia Lombardo ong known for its high concentration of Fortune 500 companies, Georgia does not have a reputation as a place where film companies make movies and TV shows. That changed in 2008 when Gov. Sonny Perdue signed the Georgia Entertainment Industry Investment Act, which gave a 20 percent tax credit for all qualified productions and an additional 10 percent credit for including a Georgia logo in the final product.

Over the past six years, more than 90 film companies have filmed on location in Georgia.

These companies generated $5.1 billion in eco-

see FILM, page 10 SUMMER SCHOOL: The D.U.F.F., set at fictional Malloy High School, filmed at Grady over the summer.

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Three members of the Grady Robotics team traveled to Portland, Ore., to compete in Drone Prize 2014, in which they won more than $3,000 in prizes.

18 thesoutherneronline.com

A week of exhibitions from Living Walls culminated in an art event at The Goat Farm on Aug. 16. The exhibition raised community awareness for local artists.

Timothy Guiney sat down with The Southerner before starting his tenure as principal on July 1. Read his exclusive interview on The Southerner online.

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comment Editorial Board Margo Stockdale Mary Claire Morris Jenni Rogan Ben Simonds-Malamud Anna Braxton Carter Guensler Lucy Lombardo Griffin Kish

Skipping a problem The most evident change under Meria Carstarphen’s reign has been her apparent obsession with altering the attendance policy to ensure that no absence goes unnoticed. Students’ last days of summer were interrupted with shiny mailers reminding us that the first day of school was just around the corner. Administrators must notify parents and social workers if a student misses more than three days. These lighthearted reminders and hard-handed repercussions might be the solution to the attendance problem, but fixing the attendance rate doesn’t solve the whole problem.

Carstarphen’s new policies do little to combat the issue of why students skip school in the first place: lack of interest. If a student isn’t coming to class, chances are he or she is not really invested in the class.

At this school, we have our fair share of attendance issues, but a lot of these absences and tardies beg the question: why?

If students don’t like the classroom environment–whether that is their own fault or the fault of the teacher–then they won’t go. The school board and Carstarphen should allocate resources and change policies so students are encouraged to go to school because they legitimately enjoy it.

These policies could include investing in technology for the classroom or actually purchasing enough books for teachers. So often at Grady teachers don’t possess enough resources to adequately teach each student. In those situations, students may feel bored and, eventually, not feel any need to attend class at all.

As of now, the effectiveness of Carstarphen’s policy has yet to be seen. Phone calls and fancy fliers are definitely decent reminders, but the issue seems to be more complicated than improved communication. Real action needs to be taken. Forcing students to go to school isn’t going to make them love it, but finding out why they may not enjoy it and what can make them change their view may be the way to fix attendance problems with APS. p

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ir from a fang I sole m n l y swear that I have been up to no good. As the younger sister of former Sydney Wolfe Southerner columnist Alex Wolfe, I feel the need to follow in her “fangirl” footsteps. We are both proud fans of Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, and we consider ourselves “Nerdfighters”— fans of the sibling duo of The Fault in Our Stars author John Green and his brother, Hank Green. Despite my loyalty to these fandoms, I have a few confessions to make. Now that Dragon Con has passed, fewer die-hard nerds are around to punish me, I think it would be best to disclose the complete list of sins I committed this summer against various fandoms.

Dear Veronica Roth, First, I am extremely impressed with how you wrote a best-seller dystopian trilogy while still in college. Please go easy on me when I tell you that although I read and loved Divergent, I have yet to see the movie or finish reading the sequel, Insurgent. This may actually be your fault

Answering the call While many of the board editorials by The Southerner are focused on criticizing the Grady administration, we’d like to take this time to praise the administration for their recent stroke of genius. After years of actively taking away phones from students during the school day, Grady has finally decided to allow students to use their phones during lunch.

Ever since it became commonplace for students to bring their cell phones to school, Grady has deemed doing so a “problem.” Many a Grady student has experienced the frustration of having their phone taken away by an administrator, even during times when there was no instruction taking place. The administration repeatedly created new rules limiting the use of cell phones by students and punishments for using them at inappropriate times. And yet, Grady students continued to use their phones with impunity.

We think the administration is confused about is how important phones are to students. Our cell phones are our windows to who and what we cannot directly interact with during the school day. As we have grown up with such technology, we have grown accustomed, if not dependent on it.

Finally, in 2014, the Grady administration has taken the first step towards accepting cell phone us in a learning environment. By allowing students to use their phones at lunch, the administration gives students time to use their phones without fear of punishment and allows them to do so at a time that does not detract from their education.

Furthermore, granting students cellphone access during the day gives them the ability to check up on current events through the Internet and social media, topics which are often brought up in class.

The administration, possibly unknowingly, is furthering students’ education by allowing them to use their phones at a time when they are undoubtedly not expected to be learning.

There are even benefits that we can expect to see in the future. Hopefully, the newly allowed use of phones will cause a decrease in fights between students, as they will be too involved in using their phones to get into a physical altercation.

So on behalf of the entire student body we’d like to express our gratitude to the administration for instituting this new policy. p

however, because, unlike Ms. Willoughby, you did not require for me to read over the summer.

Dear John Green, I confess to giggling multiple times when I heard the racking sobs of other female moviegoers while watching the advanced screening of The Fault in Our Stars. In my defense, it was a little hard to be fully invested, as I knew that you and the stars of the movie would soon be mere feet away from me during the Q&A session afterwards.

Dear J.K. Rowling, I apologize for not logging onto Pottermore to read your story about Harry Potter as an adult. Yes, I know that three years ago I woke up at 5 a.m. to get early access to the website. Yes, I know that I took 200 pictures and shot videos when I visited the Harry Potter Studios in London.

But I also know that there is probably a fanfiction story somewhere on the Internet that is longer and won’t waste nearly as much battery on my laptop when I read it.

Dear Supernatural fans everywhere (including you, Alex), I’m sorry I ever agreed to watch the first episode. All I wanted was to shut you up so I would not be dragged into the inescapable pit that is Supernatural. Instead of distancing myself,

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though, my horror regarding the fans has only grown. I don’t understand how you can be fiercely devoted to this particular paranormal mystery show. There are nine seasons! Nine!

195 60-minute long episodes! How are you still watching this show?

When Supernatural ends, my only request is for you to use your scary, obsessive powers for good. If you have this much patience and loyalty to a television show, imagine what you could do to help our society.

And finally, Dear every human being who does not live underground, I am sorry that I still have not seen any Star Wars movies. I’ll get to it at some point.

Now that I have confessed to all of my sins, I hope to be forgiven by my fellow geeks and nerds.

I also realize that I have basically described my nerdiness to the readership of The Southerner. But for now, mischief managed. p

We want to know what you think!

Love an article? Hate one? Find an error? Tell us about it! The Southerner welcomes letters from all of our readers. Submit comments to room E106 or contact us on Facebook.

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What are your top five most used emojis?

“The Asian guy that does the peace sign, the ballerina that dances with her legs pointing out to the right, the smiley face with two thumbs up, the fart bubble and the chocolate sprinkle doughnut.”

Skylar Brillante, junior

“The punch, the soccer ball, the one with the hearts in its eyes, the thumbs up and the happy crying one.”

Sam Bowie, senior

Southerner Staff 2014-2015 Editor-in-Chief: Margo Stockdale Managing Editors: Mary Claire Morris, Jenni Rogan, Ben Simonds-Malamud Associate Managing Editors: Anna Braxton, Carter Guensler, Lucy Lombardo News Editor: Brandon Kleber Comment Editor: Griffin Kish Lifestyle/A&E Editors: Emily Dean, Maxwell Rabb Sports Editors: Chris Brown, Ike Hammond Photo and Social Media Editor: Jennifer Steckl

Sept. 5, 2014

Website Editor: Madeline Veira Staff: Josey Allen, Reilly Blum, William Chapman, Sophie Durham, Grace Dusenbury, Hannah Ferguson, Carson Fleming, Gracie Griffith, Nick Hamilton, Keegan Hasson, Grace Hawkins, Eli Hendler, Bailey Kish, Gabe Kovacs, John Lansing, Noah Li, Katherine Merritt, Conrad Newton, Isabel Olson, Matthew Peterson, Brett Pollock, Anna Poznyak, Chloe Prendergast, Max Rafferty, Anders Russell, Graham Russell, Kelly Scollard,

“The one that’s laughing and crying, the very sad crying emoji, the one that has the little smile and has red cheeks, the heart and the face with a line for the mouth.”

Olivia Hopper, freshman

“The laughing one, the heart face, the laughing emoji where it looks like you’re crying, the winking tongue emoji and the smirking one.”

Jade Jett junior

An upbeat paper for a downtown school Roderick Smith, John Slovensky, Will Taft, Jaleel Vaughn, Kate Weatherby, Harrison Wilco, James Winer, Sydney Wolfe, Matt Wood Advisers: Riki Bolster, Dave Winter The Southerner, a member of GSPA, SIPA, CSPA and NSPA, is a monthly student publication of: Henry W. Grady High School 929 Charles Allen Drive NE, Atlanta, GA 30309

To our readers, The Southerner welcomes submissions, which may be edited for grammar, inappropriate language and length. Please place submissions in Mr. Winter or Ms. Bolster's box in the main office. Subscriptions are also available. For more information, please contact Mr. Winter, Ms. Bolster or a member of the staff.

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LUdovica Longo

Sept. 5, 2014

WHAT IS CAESAR’S?: Students hold a demonstration outside Longo’s former school, Guilio Cesare High School, in Rome, Italy. The students took a stand against budget cuts to their school by protesting with home-made signs. Longo observes differences in both culture and lifestyle between Grady and Guilio Cesare.

I come to praise Grady, not bury it Hello, my name is Ludovica, and I am an exchange student from Rome, Italy. I have been here in Atlanta and at Grady for three weeks in the Ludovica Longo 12th grade. A family in Atlanta decided to host me for six months or, if I want, for the whole year, giving me the opportunity to experience a new American life for a while. I didn’t know anything about my destination until April, only that I was going to live in the U.S. I could have been chosen by a family in a farm or in a random small town in the country so I can definitely say I was lucky to end up in Atlanta.

My first month here has been very confusing. I wasn’t and I am still not used to Grady as it is completely different from my old school. My Italian school is called Liceo Classico Giulio Cesare (Julius Caesar High School). It was built during the fascist regime of Mussolini, so it has an old and complicated story. There, I have only one classroom where I remain for the entire school day with the same classmates, so we never move from one class to another. When we change subjects every hour, only the teachers change rooms. I prefer the Grady system because

it gives you the chance to meet many more people and to have a break between each class.

In Italy we have six classes a day. My school is focused on classical studies, so my classes could include Latin, Greek or philosophy. It’s really exhausting because there aren’t any electives. All the students in a classroom have the same schedule, so you can’t choose your subjects each year like you can at Grady. You can choose what to study only when you decide which school to attend as soon as you finish middle school, but if you change your mind during the five years (yes we have five years of high school) you can’t do anything about it.

The teachers are the most significant difference between my school and Grady. Here they are much more friendly, helpful and cooperative. They are even available for reassessment, make up work and tutorials. In Italy they judge us through tests, quizzes and random oral exams. They use grades from 0 to 10, but they rarely use the 9 and the 10.

If you fail, there’s really nothing you can do about it.

Another disappointing thing about my Italian school was that I had to go to school from Monday through Saturday, and nothing is worse than waking up at 7 a.m. on a Saturday. Fortunately our daily schedule finishes at around noon or 1 p.m., so we have lunch

at home every day. Of course this seems awesome, but it can also be a disadvantage because teachers give us a lot of homework (at least one Greek or Latin translation a day), since we have all afternoon to work on it.

Although Grady is a lot more fun on a daily basis than my Italian school, once a month in Italy we had an assembly for students, and there was always a famous guest, such as a singer, actor or journalists, so that was always exciting. Grady could benefit from doing the same.

Another good thing about my Italian school is the organization of school trips. Every year we travel to a different city around Europe. For example, last year we went to Vienna, Austria, and Budapest, Hungary.

I also noticed another difference between Grady and my Italian school regarding the diversity of the students.

In Rome, especially at my school, each student wears almost the same clothes and the same shoes, and no one really has their own unique style. At Grady you come into contact with several different cultures, traditions and lifestyles unlike my old school that is 100 percent Caucasian, 100 percent Italian.

Although I love and miss my old school, I think being a Grady student for some months will be one of the most challenging, but definitely unforgettable experiences of my life. p

Is this column worth all of this paper?

When I think of the beginning of the school year, I think of paper. So much paper. A typical first day of school starts with a paper schedule, followed by a paper syllabus in every class, another paper syllabus and a few more paper worksheets in second period, yet another piece of paper in third period and in fourth period, Anna Braxton you guessed it, more paper. By the time the first day is over, every student is left with a backpack full of paper, most of which will be thrown in the trash, or worse, left on the ground.

Some might think in a class like AP Environmental Science, where we learn about sustainability, everything would be paperless, but they would be wrong. In fact, I received more paper in Environmental Science than I did in any other class on the first day of school. While we watched The Lorax, a movie about the dangers of cutting down trees and wasting resources, we were given a paper handout with questions we had to answer on a separate sheet of paper.

Why are we so dependent on paper handouts in school when we live in a world with so much technology? The Grady website

has a page with teacher syllabi, why must every teacher print out hundreds of copies for every student? I understand not every student has ready access to the Internet and so some copies of syllabi should be available, but there has to be a way to reduce the total amount printed.

According to The National Wildlife Federation, paper accounts for nearly 60 percent of school waste. The problem of using so much paper in school wouldn’t be as bad if we had any sort of functional recycling program. Unfortunately, you will be hard pressed to find a recycling bin in any classrooms at Grady.

And the waste at our school doesn’t stop with the excessive amounts of paper we use. At times, the courtyard and parking lot look like huge trash cans. The bushes around the school are often littered with plastic bottles, soda cans and old worksheets (probably syllabi from the first day).

Grady students need to take responsibility for their trash.

And they should do it in an environmentally friendly way. We live in a city that has a truly progressive recycling program, so why are we so behind when it comes to sustainability? As a City of Atlanta public school, why can’t we lead the way in sustainability and be a model for recycling efforts in schools across the state? p

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First-day contrast creates confusion, clarifies corollary I was a bit frightened as I approached the entrance to Grady High School. While I anxiously made my way to my first class, a couple of people, dressed in torn-in-theknees jeans, crop tops Ann Poznyak and short skirts, screamed loud greetings to each other. When I arrived, my classroom teacher announced, “You know what the beginning of the year means, folks, don’t you? A lot of work!” Teenagers reacted with sour faces, looking at each other and then back to the teacher. My classmates sat gloomily, each engaged with their own thoughts and business. Lost and disappointed I silently asked myself, this is the first day of school?

It was Aug. 4; my first day at Grady and my first day at an American school. I had moved from Russia over the summer, and I was truly surprised and a little bit disheartened that school started so early. I hadexpected the school year to start much later. For the past decade I have been studying in a wholly opposite school system. In Russia, the first day of school is much different andoccurs much later in the year.

For the last 10 years of my life Sept. 1 has been a dreaded day both for me and for every Russian student because this day meant the beginning of the school year. This “holiday,” also known as Knowledge Day, was founded in the USSR in 1984. Since then, Knowledge Day has been celebrated each year by school teachers and college professors, students and their parents.

The Knowledge Day celebration has long-established traditions. To begin with, all students of different educational institutions join their classmates on the open space in front of school in a ceremony called lineyka. In English, this translates to “school parade.” All grades starting from first to 11th (or seniors) form lines by each grade. They listen to opening speeches about the beginning of academic year from the school principal and other guest officials.

Students bring their teachers flowers which exceed the capacity of all available vases. Rooms are filled with the fresh flower aroma as classes pose for yearbook shots, which become the subject of everybody’s jokes over time when rosy-cheeked kids become grown-up ladies and gentlemen.

Considering the descriptions above, you may tend to think that the Knowledge Day is a tedious, inevitable obligation. What makes the day special is its unique atmosphere of anticipation that mainly centers on the students’ outfits.

Most Russian schools typically require students to wear uniforms, but the Knowledge Day celebration assumes even more strict but festive clothing.

Knowledge Day makes the school square look like a white and black sheet. Girls wear light-colored blouses and dark skirts or pants. Some senior girls stand out by wearing an old-fashioned Soviet uniform. Boys look like young businessmen in suits with white shirts, shining shoes and colorful ties.

Many seniors carry bouquets of roses while firstgraders show off immense flower arrangements.

After the celebrations, homerooms are stuffed with various roses, carnations and dahlias.

I can sincerely admit that I miss Russian Knowledge Day; however, American simplicity of the first day of school also has its appeal and advantages. After all, I am trying to look on the things positively: one summer day spent at school in August means one less spring day studying in classroom in May. p

EXCLUSIVELY @ theSoutherneronline.com Early end to summer is a bummer

New sports stadiums create unnecessary costs, cause controversy

I’ve been a part of the Atlanta Public School system since I was 5 years old. I’ve climbed the educational ladder from elementary school at Mary Lin, to middle school at Inman, to my third year here at Grady. Instead of the parent handholding of elementary ...

November 11 last year, the Braves announced that they will be moving to a new stadium in Cobb County. The project will cost over $600 million: a large portion will be funded from public sources and taxpayer dollars. Cobb County will be ...

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Sept. 5 2014

Michael Brown not a villian or a saint

Undebatable facts condem killing

On Aug. 9, 2014, in Ferguson, Mo., police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown. What followed has quite possibly been the most important media event of my generation. The ensuing chaos is both defining and changing the way race and police control is viewed in America.

What’s being lost in the fray, however, is whether or not the media coverage is unbiased.

The timeline of the events following Brown’s death is muddled. All that can be known for sure are the facts. Protests and riots broke out shortly after the news of his death became public. Police entered the situation, and soon after, they were armed with military weapons. Another main factor of the course of events is the media coverage. As soon as things began to get progressively more serious, the news cameras and journalists were on the scene, reporting their version of events. That, however, is exactly where the problem lies because no one understands exactly what happened; everyone’s version is skewed.

This has caused the media representation of Michael Brown to vary, from intensely negative to a sort of martyred image of perfection, neither of which is completely accurate.

On one side of the spectrum, there is the image of Michael Brown that we are very used to seeing in the media portrayal of young black men. In this image, he is reckless, disrespectful, and prone to criminal behavior. In his account, Wilson said Brown cursed at him, ran at him at full speed as if he was under the influence of a serious drug, and body slammed him violently. This account appears to justify Brown’s killing, by saying that the teen was out of control.

No one can be sure what happened, but this is a side of the story we’re used to hearing. A hashtag on Twitter was trending recently: #IfTheyGunnedMeDown. Black men and women posted pictures of themselves side by side, asking the question, “If they gunned me down, what picture would they show?” To me, this says a lot about how young black people are portrayed in the media, and what could be happening to Michael Brown.

Another representation of Brown in the media is the portrayal of the teen as a symbol of revolution, a martyred angel. I don’t think this is as insidious as the previous image, but I do think it’s harmful. This representation of Brown dehumanizes him, and turns him into a lesson to be learned, rather than a person to be remembered.

If we turn slain youths into propaganda, we’re inciting violence and revenge.

We should be trying to promote respectful solidarity. I know that change is not easy, and often times screaming is the only way to be heard. Still, we must do our best to look at Michael Brown as he was, a young man with a life ahead of him rather than the stereotypes society is forcing on us through endless streams of newscasts and articles. Perhaps the only way we can create true change is to look past what we’re being told to see, and try to see the truth. p

Michael Brown was portrayed in the media as yet another black brute of a teen with criminal tendencies. The only question of the matter is whether or not he deserved what he got. Regardless of personal opinions three things remain constant. One, a black teen was killed.

Two, a white cop in Missouri killed him. And three, people are pissed as a result. In the weeks after Brown was killed, rioting was very common. Militarized forces kept moving into Ferguson day after day. Curfew was enacted. All for the death of a black teen and the rioting of the people.

We must, however, analyze why Michael Brown was killed in the way he was.

He was a big black man.

A lack of understanding breeds fear. In the climate of Missouri, this lack of understanding between the black community and the police has created massive tension. When Michael Brown was slain, I believe the officer did so in fear. The confrontations between officers and blacks in the city had always been common and this was a tipping point. Fear led to Brown’s death. Nothing more, nothing less. The six shots indicate fear or intense anger. Regardless, the officer took a life of an unarmed man.

So what stories have we heard so far? They lie on such opposite ends of the spectrum that it is in my opinion damn near impossible to discern what really happened. One shows a high and aggressive Brown charging at a police officer with malicious intent. The other has Brown being submissive and gunned down in cold blood. And with such confusion, people look towards the media for answers.

To be honest, the media is just as confused as the people are. As a result, the media will always choose one of these stories and focus on it at their leisure.

In order to dispel any sort of misconception, I am not saying that Brown was as innocent as a schoolboy. Nor am I saying that he was as pure as a saint. I am saying that Brown was a black teen. Undebatable. He was unarmed. Undebatable. He was shot and subsequently killed at a distance, making further serious and immediate physical harm to the officer impossible. Undebatable. The police refused to come out with any details for six days. The mother of Brown was not immediately notified of her son’s death. The police officer himself has done nothing to defend or explain his side of the story. The police report didn’t come out. Brown was shot six times. Kill shots, not intended to incapacitate. p

By Gilbert Young

by Chloe Citron

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STUDENT

Stance

Has the media’s portrayal of Michael Brown been accurate?

Kids left in cars cause controversy, create criminals Two-year-old Cooper Harris was left by his father Ross Harris in the back seat of a hot car for at least seven hours on July 18. When Ross Harris got in the car he began driving, but said when he realized that Cooper was still in the car, he pulled over and called for help. Cooper Harris was pronounced dead upon Griffin Kish the arrival of the paramedics. It was later determined the cause of death was hyperthermia, which occurs when a person’s body temperature rises too high to regulate. Ross Harris was charged with felony murder and second-degree child cruelty.

Ten days later, Charnae Mosley went inside the grocery store and left her four children, ages 1, 2, 4, and 6 in her car. The windows were rolled down, and the temperature outside was 90 degrees. Mosley left her children in the car for 16 minutes. None of her children were injured.

Mosley has been charged with four counts of reckless endangerment of her children.

In the words of my mother, “Children are the most important thing in every aspect of a parent’s life.” If true,

I find it hard to believe that it is easy to leave behind the most important aspect of your life. While it’s true that I have no children and the most important thing in my life is probably my phone, I still never leave it in the car.

I don’t know what could be so important that it could distract you from your own children.

My first question is: how serious is it to leave your children in your car? In the Harris case, the answer is fairly obvious. Leaving your 22-month-old infant in the car for seven hours unattended is almost unthinkably criminal.

Doing so can result in dangerous medical problems, and, in the case of Cooper Harris, death.

But in the case of Charnae Mosley, her children were in the car unattended for 16 minutes. Sixteen minutes.

The amount of time it takes to eat breakfast. Moreover, the windows were rolled down, so there was no danger of the children being trapped. I’m not a doctor (obviously), but I doubt that her children were in any serious medical danger (though I concede that there may have been some danger of them being abducted, but that’s a separate issue).

And yet, with four charges of reckless endangerment, Mosley faces up to five years in prison (if terms are served

concurrently) if convicted.

Does it not sound absurd that Mosley could be imprisoned for longer than some of her children have been alive, just because she left them in a warm car for 16 minutes? Is that not even a little unfair?

Forgetting your children anywhere is bad, and is potentially dangerous if they are left in a car during the summer months. What should determine the severity of doing so is the period of time they are in the car. Sixteen minutes with the windows rolled down in 90 degree heat is not a dangerous length of time to be left in a car. Most kids play outside for hours in 90 degree heat, but you don’t see parents getting arrested for allowing them to do so. Some sports like football and lacrosse are played in 90 degree heat, and require players to wear heavy, heattrapping pads. But still, no one is arrested for letting their child play football or lacrosse.

Of course, leaving a person of any age in a hot car for seven hours is extremely serious, and leaving a small child in a hot car for seven hours is even worse. But, to cite comedian Louie C.K., of course, leaving your children in a hot car is terrible, but maybe we should only freak out if it is for an obscene amount of time. p

Sept. 5, 2014

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Decker D’Alesio

Surfing the wave: feminism suits all

I am a feminist. There, I said it. It’s on paper for everyone to see. I feel like I’m confessing a major sin because feminism is so often perceived as this extremist anti-male movement that preaches castration and other forms of male subordination.

But that version of feminism is not an accurate representation of what feminism is.

Margo Stockdale Obviously, a radical sect of any movement is going to be, well, radical, but the majority of feminists, some of them men, are simply striving for equality. In fact, according to MerriamWebster, feminism is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities.

The opponents of feminism misrepresent it in order to scare people who would otherwise support the cause, and it’s kind of working.

According to a 2013 HuffPost/YouGov poll, only one-fifth of Americans identify as feminists, which is weird because from the same poll reported that 82 percent believe men and women should have equality. How can it be that only 20 percent of people say they are feminist when a vast majority support the basic premise of feminism?

This strange phenomenon is also evident in Hollywood. Several young starlets, when asked about their affiliation with feminism, seem to be similarly confused about what feminism actually is. Shailene Woodley explained she doesn’t consider herself a feminist because “the idea of ‘raise women to power, take men away from the power,’ is never going to work because we need balance.” Though attempting to denounce feminism, Woodley actually indicated that she is, by definition, a feminist.

I can see why people may be hesitant to identify with the feminist

label. It is heavily stigmatized. But, in the words of J.K. Rowling, “fear of the name only increases fear of the thing itself,” and feminism really is nothing to fear.

Currently, we are experiencing what is called the “third wave of feminism.” The first wave of feminism in the United States began in the early 20th century and focused primarily on women’s suffrage.

In the 1960s, a new wave emerged, seeking the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment as a delayed response to the widespread domesticity of women after World War II. This third wave concentrates on emancipating women from cultural and sexual constraints. Third-wave feminism spreads through the Internet, pop culture and social media. In her surprise fifth album, Beyonce samples Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED talk entitled “We Should All Be Feminists,” spreading Adichie’s message to the more than 3 million people who bought the album.

And why should we all be feminists? Because one in six American women will be the victim of an attempted or actual rape. Because women only make 77 cents to every dollar a man makes. Because young girls are constantly being told to cover up at school so they don’t “distract boys.” And because feminism benefits men, too.

Society’s imposed gender roles affect men just as much as they do women. Boys are taught at a very early age that in order to be masculine, they have to bottle up their emotions and be physically strong.

It’s important men become involved in the feminist movement not only to be educated about women’s issues but also to help eliminate stereotypes associated with their own sex.

So yeah, I’m a feminist. I’m proud of that. To me, feminism isn’t about excluding or hating men. Feminism is about equality, and that’s something everyone, male and female, needs to embrace. p

Girl Scouts give us more than cookies Ever since seventh grade, I’ve hesitated to mention that, in addition to playing the cello in the school orchestra and being a witness on my Jenni Rogan school’s mock trial team, I’m a Girl Scout. Is that because I find Girl Scouts embarrassing? Not particularly. Is it because I don’t like Girl Scouts? Considering I’ve been a part of the organization since I was 4 years old (a year earlier than most girls), I think not. Is it because Girl Scouts are not as well known as Boy Scouts? It may be a contributing factor. Or is it because, as girls get older, they are expected to be more interested in doing their hair and makeup and gossiping than in things like leadership, female empowerment and community service?

Now that’s probable.

When most people think about what being a Girl Scout means, they have difficulty looking past our famous cookies, overeager tiger-mom leaders, “rugged” camping trips and the very large population of lower-elementary school participants. Although I’ve experienced or been a part of all of those aspects of Girl Scouts, they are not my favorite parts of being one.

Girl Scouts take amazing trips to places

like Hawaii, Scotland, Japan and the Patagonia in Argentina. I’ve had the opportunity to lead younger troops through badges and unit-wide service events, and mentoring has taught me not only how to work well with others but also how to lead a group of small children in a way that is engaging and fun.

Through Girl Scouts, I was able to spend a month working in a Girl Scout camp kitchen, which taught me both how to work in an industrial kitchen as well as how to cope with sometimes irritating colleagues and disrespectful kids.

My troop of eight girls from three Atlanta high schools is committed to community service. In the last four years alone, I’ve cooked breakfast at the Ronald McDonald House and Cafe 458, run a clothing drive for the Atlanta Women and Children’s Shelter and packaged children’s Christmas gifts at various shelters.

One of the major components of being a Girl Scout is the completion of three major community service projects: the Bronze Award for juniors (fourth-graders through sixth-graders); the Silver Award, for cadettes (or seventh-graders and eighth-graders); and the Gold Award,for ambassadors (11th-graders and-12th graders). I personally have completed both my Bronze and Silver Awards, and I am working on my Gold Award. My project involves creating an audio library

for the Atlanta Children’s Shelter to help enhance early childhood literacy in lowincome and homeless children.

By completing the Gold Award, I also have the opportunity to possibly receive scholarships for college. Also, by sticking with an c organization like Girl Scouts that puts so much importance on community service, I also show colleges my committment to civic responsibility and leadership.

My favorite part being of a Girl Scout, however, is that I experienced all of these things with some of my closest friends. The girls who I have befriended in Girl Scouts are compassionate, volunteer-oriented, self-motivated and fun. We naturally bond because of our shared values and experiences. The girls in my troop are, first and foremost, my friends: we have troop sleepovers (that are not just at Girl Scout camps), we gossip about school during meetings, and we support each other in our endeavors outside of Girl Scouts.

Girl Scouts may seem like kids’ stuff to those people who don’t know any better.

But for me and the Girl Scouts who I count among my closest friends, being a Scout is a profoundly rewarding, humbling and enjoyable experience. So much of what I value and who I am comes from Girl Scouts, and it hurts me to think people don’t appreciate that. Yes, we’ll still sell you cookies, but we do so much more than that. p

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By doing nothing, we let Congress do exactly the same I’m not sure if anyone has been paying the slightest bit of attention to Washington over the last few years, but for those who have, it is clear very little legislation has been passed. The houses Chloe Prendergast hold a massive amount of power to get things done, or stop things from being done. The people elected in midterms change the course of our country and our lives.

Our current Congress has been infamously poor at passing important legislation. Instead, during its term, Congress has wasted its time passing laws to specify the size of the preciousmetal blanks that will be used in the production of the National Baseball Hall of Fame commemorative coins. Yet comprehensive immigration reform, gun control legislation and an adjusted minimum wage have not hit the floor.

These are, of course, my qualms with our legislative body’s action. What bothers me more, though, is that no one seems to be taking action in order to make their representatives pay for their collective failure, despite the fact they have the ability to do so.

In the 2010 midterm elections, only 40.7 percent of eligible U.S. citizens turned out to vote.

As an indicator of the health of a democracy, this turnout is pretty dismal. The importance of voting doesn’t seem to be reaching the masses.

A whopping 76 percent of eligible voters under the age of 30 did not vote in the 2010 midterm elections. Less than a fourth of U.S. citizens between the ages of 18 and 30 cast a ballot to determine who will represent them in House or the Senate as well as, in the case of the upcoming election, who will represent them in the governor’s mansion.

It’s also mind-boggling that more than a quarter of eligible voters in this country aren’t registered, and, in election after election thos who are registered voters often don’t turn out to vote.

It amazes me that every day, citizens of other countries all over the world are dying for the right to vote, yet we don’t exercise the right we already have. Furthermore, in certain nations that claim to have representative governments, elections are consistently rigged by those hoping to extend their power without the consent of the people they govern. Bloody military coups and civil wars aimed at ending the injustice too often result in a new government relatively similar to the one just ousted. People fight for better, more democratic lives in oppressive, autocratic worlds everywhere, yet they are trapped in a cycle of violence and abuse of power.

Even in this country, people have been disenfranchised for decades. African-Americans more than any other group in the U.S. have been affected by legislation aimed at silencing their voices. As a result, more than 600,000 African-Americans in Georgia alone remain unregistered today. The lack of infrastructure aimed at registering those disenfranchised in this state allows the old laws banning the African-American vote to succeed. In the end, if we don’t do something to change this, our country’s past oppression will live on forever.

Benjamin Jealous, former president of the NAACP and civil rights activist, calculates that it would cost about $8 million to register all unregistered African-Americans in Georgia.

All people deserve the right to vote, and we cannot let mistakes from the past determine the future. The path to changing this country is voting. Every individual, young or old, minority or majority, has and should take the opportunity to make a difference. Turn out to vote in 2014, and we can. p

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Sept. 5, 2014

What is the weirdest thing a substitute teacher has done?

“In seventh grade, I was in French class, and the substitute left during class to walk to Starbucks. He never came back.”

Jadah Greenidge, junior

“I had a sub read the bible to me once. She was crazy.”

“I’ve had a substitute sing to me before. It was really funny.”

Gaby Paez, freshman

Denis Goldsman, sophomore

GrRAPHIC BY KATE WEATHERBY

Sub-par substitutes fall short in classes Students sometimes forget, but teachers have their own lives; promotions, illnesses, pregnancies, and tragedies happen to them, too. When teachers have to leave in the middle of a semester, students are often left shocked and annoyed with what they believe to be an inane substitute.

Kate Weatherby These substitutes aren’t always as bad as students believe them to be, but substitutes can definitely have flaws. I have had the frustration of dealing with a teacher leaving in the middle of the semester many times throughout my school years, and I know that many of my classmates have suffered the same fate.

There are many predicaments that students confront when a teacher must leave before the school year is over, but I think one of the worst is the amount of busy work we get. Teachers usually try their best to leave us prepared for the rest of the semester, but it is hard to learn from only worksheets and textbook readings. A substitute’s job is usually more like babysitting than teaching. Students perceive the assigned work as a joke that consumes time

better spent studying or actually learning.

Busy work also ends up causing the students to disrespect the substitute who replaced the teacher. This creates a power struggle which becomes a major issue with more permanent subs because the students see no real authority in the class.

The conflict leads to even less work getting done. Students are rude and disrespectful to the sub, which accomplishes nothing. Kids frequently see classes with subs as opportunities to skip class or to do nothing for an hour and a half, so it is difficult for many kids to accept a sub as a new teacher.

It’s a tough situation for both the student and the substitute.

Teachers often try their best to find a good replacement to take their classes, but the pool of substitute teachers is small.

Atlanta Public School’s substitutes are required only to have a paraprofessional teaching certificate or take an online substitute trsining course, yet only make $100 per day according to the APS website. Substitutes often leave the students in a position of helplessness where they are given confusing assignments, tests or projects on topics they don’t know well. Also, substitutes rarely communicate well with the class, which leads to frustration on both ends.

The only real positive outcome I’ve had from a semi-per-

manent substitute is having a free period during that class, giving me a way to complete homework for other classes, or catch up on some of my favorite shows on Netflix. This may be entertaining in the moment, but it’s simply unacceptable for a class.

Subs, like students, also have little incentive to put effort into the class. The maximum daily salary for APS substitute teachers is a meager $100. If a substitute worked every day of the school year, their pay wouldn’t even be half of a starting teacher salary.

There is no simple solution to this problem, but it certainly would be ameliorated if students gave substitutes a higher level of respect, and APS gave them a higher salary and raised the prerequisites to become a substitute. A solution that might be even better is switching all of the affected kids into a different teacher’s class, so you will have someone that has mastered the subject and knows what they are doing. Even that isn’t perfect though, because students have the difficulty of making the switch to a new teacher with new rules and ways of running the class.

As much as you may claim to hate your regular teacher and the course work they bring, trust me, you don’t want them leaving anytime soon. p

Worth the time? Teachers clock up unpaid hours Students from all grades, backgrounds and ethnicities can be heard complaining day in and day out in the hallways of Grady about anything from the merit of a fiveBrandon Kleber page English assignment to how best to prepare for the dreaded physics final. However, have you ever heard a teacher complain about having to work extra, unpaid hours to sponsor an extracurricular activity, giving up much needed planning time for a less-than-inspiring activity such as paperwork or planning for a meeting?

The answer is no. In fact, most Grady teachers wake up each morning with one thing on their mind: putting students first and teaching them well. Our teachers do not need to be constantly watched by administrators, nor should they be expected to do hours of extra work each night for no additional stipend.

Some teachers may think of sponsoring an activity as a burden. Others see them as personally rewarding. But whatever the individual teacher’s attitude may be, students should recognize the generally excellent

work our teachers do and support them, making their jobs and their lives easier.

As the ultimate Frisbee team searches for a new team sponsor after Susie Mercer’s departure, I have found why it is very difficult to find a teacher who is willing or able to take on another activity after work. Not only do they already come to school early and leave school late to prepare for their classes and grade assignments, but in between they teach a full load of classes. Asking them to add another thing to their plate is asking a lot.

Ultimate is just one example. Each year, the majority of clubs and sports at Grady struggle to find a teacher sponsor. Why is this? Because teachers perform these thankless jobs for free.

You wouldn’t work extra hours for no pay, so why should teachers? Most teachers would tell you they don’t teach for a living or sponsor an extracurricular club in order to be wealthy. This is no doubt true, but the intangible satisfaction teachers receive from teaching should not be seen as a substitute for other kinds of compensation.

Some people see teachers as glorified babysitters, photocopiers or DVD players, and this assessment would lead some to believe that teachers are overpaid. But

teaching entails so much more than standing in front of a class from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Teachers spend countless hours studying curriculum, planning lessons and assessments, writing evaluations, grading those evaluations, calling home, doing paperwork, attending meetings, collaborating, organizing resources, and so forth. Seven hours at work is far more than seven hours of work. Beyond these immutable tasks, teaching has changed a great deal; different times bring different challenges.

That’s a lot of responsibility for teachers, and it’s really just the beginning of the requirements, let alone the after-school work. The misguided idea that teachers somehow owe it to students and parents to volunteer their time shows a poor understanding of the effort teachers put in each day, when the most basic parts of the profession are difficult enough to handle.

In all the debates I’ve heard in favor or against paying teachers for the extra work they put forth, never have I heard any acknowledgements of what running clubs, supervising events, and coaching sports actually entails. Too many people are putting an overemphasis on what families and students are losing by not having teacher sponsors.

Teachers also have families, and without a stipend to increase a family’s income, teachers have even lesser incentives to escort a basketball team on the bus or spend an entire Saturday judging a debate tournament, and to do all the associated paperwork.

People only work for free when they’re being respected. I hope this can change in the future for APS schools and schools across the nation, but I find it completely understandable why teachers would find it difficult to take time out of their busy schedules to volunteer for extracurricular activities.

Teachers’ work days don’t end when the clock hits 3:30 p.m. In order to keep up with the job responsibilities of being a teacher, the “school day” often spills over into the evening and weekend, when many teachers have other responsibilities at home, as well. Teachers are already working far more than 35 hours per week just to keep up with work, with all extra hours unpaid. They should not be expected to work even more unpaid hours.

Regardless of which side students, parents and teachers take on this relevant issue, all teachers are continuing to do what they’re paid to do, teaching students first.

And I know one thing: Grady’s teachers are the best at what they do. p

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news briefs

August 30, 2014 the Southerner Sept.

5, 2014

APS continues talks on Beltline finance with Atlanta

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Atlanta Public Schools claims to be owed as much as $19 million by the City of Atlanta due to a prior agreement involving Beltline funding. Strained negotiations between the City and APS have continued for several months, as some of the payments for APS were due last January and were not paid.

Writing center to hold poetry contest

WINDING DOWN: Plans released over the summer show a divided two-lane bus route that begins from a paved area in front of the cafeteria on Eighth Street, then snakes around to the back of the stadium where a parking lot is currently located.

Construction should ensue when the school receives adequate funds for the project.

The Grady Writing Center is sponsoring a poetry contest for all Grady students. This is the first poetry contest of the year, and winners will receive cash prizes of up to $80. Entries are due Sept.

22 and must be between 10 and 35 lines. All submissions should be given to Ms. Bolster in the Writing Center or emailed to gradywritingcenter@gmail.com.

Reduction of school bus emissions earns district accolades

The Georgia Diesel Emissions Reduction Program presented the Blue Sky Award to The Atlanta Public Schools Transportation Department on Monday, Aug. 24. While the award is given to all school systems that reduce emissions in 75 percent of their bus fleet, APS reduced emissions in 100 percent of its buses.

Meria Carstarphen delivers systemwide address at Douglass In her, State of the Schools address on Sept. 9 the APS superintendent emphasized moving past the cheating scandal and focusing on the positive aspects of APS. Carstarphen explained the importance of children’s interests.

EXCLUSIVELY @ theSoutherneronline.com Creationism in the classroom An assignment given to Grady’s 9th grade biology students brought the debate of teaching creationism in public schools into the national limelight as the 2013-14 school year ended.

The PointPoint and accompaning guided notes packet included informatiion on creationism and a controversial cartoon depicting evolution and creationism. It was taken down from the distrct SharePoint website. Accoridng to APS personel, there will be a new vetting process this year to avoid problems in the future.

The material was used in all of Anquinette Jones’ and the majority of Shawna Brooks’ freshman biology classes.

Construction progresses slow on bus lane

By Bailey Kish If you’ve ever tried to drive down Eighth Street in the morning, you are part of the traffic problem.

Don’t worry, you haven’t done anything wrong. More accurately, you are one of the reasons Atlanta Public Schools is planning to construct a new, permanent bus lane on Eighth Street.

All students who currently ride the bus are dropped off on Eighth Street. The buses block an entire lane of the street. After the construction of the bike lane on 10th Street last year, many people began using Eighth Street as a way to bypass the frequent traffic jams in front of Grady. This created more traffic on Eighth Street and issues with morning dropoff procedures. In addition, any students who are dropped off by parents on Eighth Street must cross between frequently heavy traffic.

The plan for a bus lane on Eighth Street was originally introduced in a safety meeting last November, when parents petitioned for its construction, with a good deal of support from the administration. At that time, vice principal David Propst said he was unsure where construction would take place, or how long the project would take. Very little was heard about the project until the Local School Council meeting in April, when Jere

Smith, the director of capital improvement at Atlanta Public Schools, reported that plans were in motion, but the bus lane would not be finished by August. Smith oversees projects like this from start to finish, working with the city, the community and contractors.

“Last year was a monitoring phase,” Sharon Bray, local school council president said. ”But we’d like to see some action soon.”

At the Local School Council meeting on Aug. 19, members of the council expressed nearly unanimous frustration at the lack of updates from the APS facilities department on the status of the project.

“Somebody’s doing something, somebody’s talking about it, but they’re not talking to us,” council member Renee Steckl said. “Nobody will tell us what is going on.”

During the meeting, Propst said that trees on Eighth Street had already been marked for removal, and the project was in its final steps before construction begins, adding that they were “waiting on the money.”

Local School Council member and literature teacher Mario Herrera stated many teachers were unaware of any proposal to put a bus lane on Eighth Street.

“There was some shock,”Herrera said. ”I had no idea some of this was going on.”

Current plans for the bus lane include the

enlargement of the paved area next to the Eighth Street entrance, leading to a two-lane road that will snake around the back of the stadium, behind where the stadium scoreboard currently stands, ending in a small parking lot, which is currently a gravel lot.

Jere Smith stated that the focus of the project so far has been getting the correct permits for construction, as well as working closely with the city and engineering firms to ensure a safe build. This is all necessary due to the unique sewer system beneath Grady. A large majority of the sewers of the surrounding neighborhood run directly underneath Grady, making any construction project on the grounds much more complex. The contractors must work closely with Atlanta Watershed Management to insure no flooding or contamination occurs, Smith said.

The surrounding neighborhood has experience with flooding due to the sewer situation. Over the last year they have successfully worked with APS and the city to build the storm drains on Eighth Street. Smith believes a bus lane will actually help with the flooding, as the current plans include the construction of storm drains.

Regardless, any bus lane built in the future will not be opened until at least the end of the current school year, Smith said. p

Jury selection begins for cheating trial

By Madeline Veira In March of last year, 35 APS administrators were indicted by a grand jury for a conspiracy to falsify standardized tests scores, in order to meet federal and APS standards so that they could keep their jobs or possibly receive bonuses for improvement.

With the beginning of the 2014-2015 school year, the long awaited APS cheating scandal trial began.

In the Fulton County Courthouse on Aug. 11 Judge Jerry Baxter and several attorneys began the jury selection process for the trial.

Over the course of three weeks, they sifted through a pool of 400 potential jurors.

Meeting with 50 prospective jurors at a time, Judge Baxter instructed each of them to fill out detailed questionnaires. Afterwards, a team of attorneys read through each questionnaire to eliminate those that they felt were not qualified to serve for the trial.

Once attorneys finish narrowing down the remaining list of people

throughout the month, the potential jurors will go through individual questioning by the attorneys.

From the beginning of the jury selection process there have already been issues delaying the trial. Defense attorney Bob Rubin filed a motion saying a hearing is needed to discuss why African Americans are underrepresented in the pool of jurors summoned. Judge Baxter quickly denied the motion, and the selection resumed continued on Sept. 3.

Once jury selection is complete, the attorneys will select 12 eligible jurors and 11 alternates who will be able to sit in for what is expected to be a lengthy trial.

Because 35 were indicted, and it took a year for the trial to begin even after 21 of the defendants pleaded guilty, the trial is expected to last for months.

Judge Baxter ruled in July that due to Beverly Hall’s stage four cancer, the trial would begin without her, and she will be tried separately. p

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Photo by Jenn steckl

CARTERS ON CAMPUS: State Sen. Jason Carter (center) accepts an endorsement from Sid Chapman (right), president of the Georgia Association of Educators. The press conference occurred in front of Grady, where Carter’s wife Kate (not pictured) used to teach.

Teacher group endorses Carter

By Ben Simonds-Malamud State Sen. Jason Carter, also the Democratic candidate for governor, held a press conference on Charles Allen Drive to accept an endorsement from the Georgia Association of Educators, a professional association representing 43,000 teachers at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 27, .

Carter’s wife, Kate Carter, a former adviser for The Southerner, spoke first. She said she was excited to be part of the announcement “because I know how important teachers are to this state and to this election.

“I assure you [Jason] has gotten more than an earful from me on a daily basis about exactly what it’s like to be a teacher in this state,” She said. “The teachers I worked with at Grady High School ... are passionate about instilling a joy of learning in their students.”

She introduced GAE president Sid Chapman, who

endorsed Sen. Carter officially. In the 2010 race, GAE endorsed Democrat Roy Barnes.

Chapman claimed that Gov. Deal “has overseen a demoralizing dismantling of our public education system in Georgia.” He urged listeners to vote for Carter on Nov. 4, then called him to the podium.

Carter gave a rough outline of his proposed education policy, which hinges on making education spending a higher priority budget, separate from other spending.

“Every year for the last several years, you have watched the politicians in Atlanta take money from the education fund to pay for other things,” Carter said. .

“We have the ability in this state to be a powerhouse,” Carter said. “And we need to see that public education is the fundamental building block not just about economy but about unity.” Gov. Deal has yet to comment on GAE’s endorsement. p

Sept. 5, 2014

Murray assigned to Bolton Elementary

By Jenn Steckl It took about a month for Vincent Murray to clear out an office containing 23 years of accumulated papers and memories. On June 30 when the former principal took his briefcase and left his giant set of keys on the desk for his successor, he was ready for the next step in his APS career.

The Atlanta Public Schools system has been full of changes this past year: the addition of a new superintendent Meria Carstarphen, the removal and in some cases reassignment of 22 principals within the system and the shuffle of staff from school to school has made the 2014-2015 a school year of great change.

In late February, APS administration individually met with the principals who were being removed from their positions. On Feb. 25, Murray put an end to the rumors and addressed the staff of Grady, giving his thoughts on the principal removal.

“I am not going to be one of those people who is drama driven,” Murray said. “And I don’t expect you to be either.”

Murray’s reassignment, however, has created drama nonetheless. Several Grady parents have privately expressed concern that Murray’s reassignment might not give him the opportunity to share the wisdom of his 23 years of experience as a principal.

Erroll Davis, former superintendent, told The Southerner via email that he advocated for Murray to be installed as a principal mentor to help ease the transitions of all the new principals to their new schools. Davis wrote that he believes Murray is “being asked to help principals who need help on a temporary onsite basis.”

After taking a two week vacation at the beginning of July, Murray returned to work, unsure what his role would be. Since the start of the school year, Murray has served APS as an “interim assistant principal” at Bolton Academy Elementary School.

In his new position, Murray said he receives a new schedule every day with the same tasks. These include monitoring the fourth- and fifth-grade hallways in the morning, cafeteria duty at noon and carpool duty at the end of the day. When he isn’t performing these tasks he conducts classroom observations. This role has not thus far given him the chance to mentor principals he said.

“I’m not only disappointed for the Grady community who wanted Dr. Murray to be treated well after being re-assigned,” Grady parent Janet Kishbaugh said. “[I’m also] disappointed for the district, who has lost a great resource and everything else Dr. Murray has to offer.”

Murray said his new job is different from his old one because his daily routine is so spelled out and doesn’t allow him to exercise much discretion.

Murray noted one other difference, “I no longer have an office,” he said.“My office is in the hall. Not complaining. I don’t want things to get worse.” p

The young and the deskless: Scheduling madness ensues

By Will Taft When Uzuki Kakinuma arrived at AP Language/Composition class the first week of school, she was forced into a chair with no desk in the back of the room. The class, meant to have at most 26 students, contained 33.

“In Lang, I just don’t have a desk to sit in and take notes,” Kakinuma said at the time. “It’s really difficult.”

It would seem that Kakinuma’s deskless first period was the rule, not the exception.

She had two more classes with the exact same issue: AP Physics 1 and Spanish 3.

“Spanish has 45 students, Physics has 30 to 40 students,” Kakinuma said. “It makes learning harder in AP Physics 1. I can’t see the board. Our teacher is loud, but I am sure teaching is still hard for him.”

By the third week of school, all of Kakinuma’s overcrowded classes had been “leveled” to a reasonable class size.

The overcrowded classes were not the result of overpopulation at Grady, but rather the unfortunate consequence of a complicated scheduling process in which administrators attempt to reconcile graduation requirements and student course preference, while maintaining reasonable class sizes.

In order to balance these numbers, administrators must change students’ schedules individually or change the master schedule, which outlines which period each class is taught.

“Leveling is a necessity for the operation of the school as a whole,” said Carrie MacBrien, Journalism and Communications Pathway leader.

Andrew Nichols, a teacher and gifted coordinator, said Grady’s commitment to diverse course offerings leads to scheduling constraints. Many classes catering to specific student interests, called singletons, are only offered during one period, forcing groups of students participating in those specific classes into other periods for their core classes. This creates some class periods that are overcrowded and others with too few students.

Although administrators attempt to give students their preferred classes, they cannot exceed class-size maximums. On-level core classes are limited to 35 students. AP classes must have no more than 26 students to receive funding from the state, said Willie Vincent, Business and Entrepreneurship Academy leader.

The multitude of scheduling constraints can lead to confusion and students who are displeased with their schedules.

When junior Alexander Cameli received his schedule, he lacked a literature class and was instead enrolled in Essentials of Legal Services, a pathway elective unrelated to his academy.

He was unable to fix these issues until the second week of school because the rest of the counselor’s time was consumed filling holes in other students’ schedules.

“It’s ridiculous that people had holes at the beginning of school,” Cameli said.

Even when Cameli was switched into his

“

desired classes, leveling had not occurred to those periods and more instructional time was lost.

“We had to spend more time on [calling] role and such,” Cameli said. “This took class time away.”

AP U.S. History teacher, Roderick Pope said that these caps are essential for a productive class.

“The problem becomes trying to get those kids under control,” Pope said.

We trust the administrators will level out the classes to make them easier.”

Andrew Nichols AP calculus teacher and gifted coordinator MacBrien said in the beginning of the school year, the leveling process consumes large amounts of a school administrator’s time. Students with easily swapped periods are identified in a case-by-case analysis of overcrowded classes. The student with the schedule least disrupted by the change is selected to be switched from the class. If there are no students with easily resolvable schedules, an elective change may become necessary.

“Ultimately, an elective is just an elective,” MacBrien said.

Although leveling is most often used to address overcrowded classes, it can also result from staffing changes. When a teacher leaves, or a new teacher comes to Grady towards the beginning of the school year, the

master schedule must change to account for new or eliminated courses. Adding or removing a single course can require many changes to the schedules of students originally enrolled in the class, MacBrien said.

“As professionals, we make it work,” Nichols said. “We trust the administrators will level out the classes to make them easier.”

Administrative changes impaired the routine process, Pope said. Susie Mercer, who handled multiple scheduling tasks, left Grady for a position at Wesley International Academy. This created additional strains on administrators and the scheduling process.

“Ms. Mercer left, there’s a void left that wasn’t there last year,” Pope said. “There are new hands on the schedule this year.”

Nichols said Mercer had worked very hard behind the scenes to minimize the impact of scheduling issues on students. But there are changes besides Mercer’s absence.

“There were challenges this summer in regards to who was available to schedule,” Nichols said. “Cassandra Bolding changed jobs this summer. Shaketha Blankenship has been out [on maternity leave], and we’ve been feeling her absence. Little things add up.”

Changes in personnel can slow the process, leading to more errors because the undermanned staff is trying to complete scheduling and labeling on deadline, Nichols said.

MacBrien, however, is confident that each administrator can compensate for Mercer’s absence to keep the process running smoothly.

“It’s just part of working with the school,” MacBrien said. p

news

Sept. 5, 2014

9

APS pay raise boosts salaries after five frozen years After the Recession: 2014-2015

Before the Recession:

2005-2006 Salaries

Raises

%=1 1/2

$=10,K

Year 1 Year 5 For teachers hired with a BA with a MA for the 2009 school $47,267* $47, 553* year: 5% raise

$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

Graphic By Jenni Rogan

Year 4 with a BA $46,224*

Year 3 with a BA $45,204*

Year 2 with a BA $44,206* Year 1 with a BA $43, 320*

*do not include cost of living adjustments

$ $ $ $

APS revenue for this fiscal year, the entirely new Board of Education was clearly committed to the pay increase.

“When we got elected last fall and began in January,” Westmoreland said, “we committed as a board to do three things with this budget: one was to give people a raise; two was to not have furlough days; and the third was to pass the budget in April—that is a month earlier than normal and two months earlier than the year before—and this year we met those three goals.”

Furlough days—four days of the school year where all APS employees would not be required to come to work, but would also not get paid—were recently imposed in the 2012-2013 school year.

Before the recession, APS had a reputation for giving teachers and other staff members some of the highest salaries in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Economics and statistics teacher John Rives said this trend continued through the 2008 recession.

“The City of Atlanta public schools’ salary scale has always been the highest in the state of Georgia for a number of years,” Rives said, “although there are some more rural counties that are raising their salaries quite rapidly because of the influx of people.”

Rives gave the example of Cherokee County, located north of Atlanta. Since the student population in that county is growing so quickly, Rives said, Cherokee County School District and other nearby districts, like APS, will face competitive pressure to offer better salaries.

% % % %

Hired in 2010: 4% raise

% % % % % % Hired in 2011: 3% raise

Hired in 2012: 2% raise

Data taken from the Atlanta Public Schools website

By Jenni Rogan When Matt Westmoreland, Atlanta Board of Education’s District 3 representative, first began teaching at Carver Early College in 2010, he began on the lowest salary step for APS. As a first-year teacher with a bachelor’s degree, Westmoreland was supposed to move up to the second salary step in the 2011-2012 school year, but, like every other employee in APS, Westmoreland received no pay raise.

Since the 2008-2009 school year, the APS salary scale has been frozen for all employees, meaning that not only every step was frozen at its 2007-2008 salary, but faculty were also not able to move up to the next pay step on the scale. On April 22, however, the Atlanta Board of Education voted to allocate $15 million of the $658 million general fund to APS employee raises, making this year the first in five that teachers, bus drivers, security guards and other APS employees received a raise. This budget cycle will run from July 1, until June 30, 2015.

Other notable budget allocations for this year include $25 million in reserve funds, something that also hasn’t been added to the budget for five years; $12 or $13 million in state-regulated health-care benefits; and $74 million to charter schools.

During the process of divvying up the $15 million for raises, the Board of Education budget commission committee considered three potential plans.

The first plan, which was first discussed in early January, would have given every APS employee a 3 percent raise. The plan was rejected because APS wanted to give larger raises to teachers and other APS employees who spent longer times without pay increases.

The second plan, which took into account the desire to give more senior teachers and other staff larger raises, involved a 3.8 percent raise for any APS employee who had been employed for two to four years and a 5.6 percent raise for employees who had been employed for four years or longer. The board rejected this plan, however, because staff members who left their job, either to earn an advanced degree or for some other reason, were not allowed to return to their former salary bracket, a common practice before 2008.

The third plan, which was implemented when the budget was approved on April 22, proposed giving faculty and staff pay raises based on when they began their job with APS. Under this plan, faculty and staff hired in the fiscal year of 2013 received a 1 percent raise, and faculty and staff hired in 2012 received a 2 percent pay raise. Any faculty or staff member hired in 2009 or earlier received a 5 percent pay raise. Most staff members received their raise in the form of a single bonus on Aug. 29. Year-round employees, however, received their single bonus on July 31.

Although the main reason for the raises was the increase in

Hired in 2013: 1% raise

Rives has faith that APS will continue to bring in high qualified, engaging teachers into the system.

In the years leading up to the 2008-2009 salary freeze, APS determined teacher salaries on a system called a step increase system. Each year a teacher, a bus driver, or any staff member would work for APS, they would receive an increased salary compared to the previous school year. If any employee received an advanced degree, they would also receive a pay increase. The last five years, APS continued to give employees this salary increase. Finally, APS employees would also receive what would what was known as a cost-of-living adjustment. A cost-of-living adjustment would work as a single bonus to help APS staff to offset the cost of inflation.

If APS were to move each employee back to his or her proper step, Westmoreland said, cost the district more than $60 million.

Westmoreland also anticipates that APS will return to giving teachers and other staff step increases and other salary enhancements in the coming years.

Although this salary increase is the first of many steps of restoring the APS budget, Westmoreland believes this first bonus will be very welcomed.

“I was a teacher, and I got taught by a lot of teachers,” Westmoreland said. “I don’t know of any [person] who becomes an educator for the money, so I think it is appreciated when we thank teachers for the incredible work that they do.” p

EBOLA outbreak affects Atlantans, Liberians alike 2014 Ebola Outbreak stats

continued from front page

First detected in December 2013 65% death rate 5 countries ravenged by the 2014 outbreak more than

2,000 deaths in 2014 data from the centers for disease control and prevention

tobacco plant. Doctors treated the two Ebola patients in the United States and the patients showed signs of improvement and were released on Aug. 21, but Van Duyne said the drug is still experimental and not ready for widespread use.

Mulbah applauds the efforts of the CDC. He, along with other members of the LCG, went to Emory to express their gratitude, but he said foreign assistance will not solve every problem.

“Leaders of different African countries

graphic by Margo Stockdale

“A whole family can be wiped out, not just the immediate family,” Van Duyne said.

“It can spread to uncles, cousins, grandparents.”

Van Duyne explained that Ebola is also spread through the funeral rituals commonly practiced in West Africa. Traditionally, women are expected to wash dead bodies prior to burial, but on deceased patients who suffered from the Ebola virus infected stool or blood may remain, causing the disease to spread.

Despite the severity of the outbreak, Van Duyne said the risk of the disease spreading within the United States is very minimal.

Most hospitals in the United States possesses the isolation chambers necessary to contain Ebola, unlike the hospitals in rural West Africa. She also said the United States has the means to diagnose the disease quickly.

“If someone comes to the U.S. who we don’t know is sick, we have the resources to identify what the person is sick with,” Van Duyne said.

Van Duyne said the CDC currently contains the disease by sending health workers and personal protective equipment to the region along with establishing mobile army surgical hospitals—fully functional hospitals equipped with intravenous units to handle surgery.

Atlanta-based Emory Hospital is currently experimenting with a drug called ZMapp, which is manufactured using the

must set up systems to help ourselves,” Mulbah said. “All we’ve done is rely on foreign aid and foreign this and foreign that, but we have to emancipate ourselves somehow.”

Mulbah said this may be possible if America will stop looking at African nations as debtors in need of financial assistance, but as strategic, well-meaning, long-term partners.

Mulbah also said issues of poor governance plague much of West Africa and that by improving governance, leaders would improve technologies and health care.

“We Africans owe it to ourselves to look after one another,” he said.

The World Health Organization formally declared the 2014 West Africa Ebola virus outbreak a public health emergency of international concern on Aug. 8. The designation, which establishes legal measures for disease prevention, surveillance, control and response, has been used only two times previously: for the 2009 H1N1 pandemic and for the 2014 resurgence of polio.

The CDC and Doctors Without Borders have also made stopping the Ebola outbreak a high priority.

The LCG has raised enough money to purchase 5,000 protective gloves and 5,000 nose masks, but Mulbah said that is not enough. The organization plans to raise more money through future townhall meetings and through donations from the public through a trust fund. He urges people to bring more attention to the issue and to help in any way possible.

“Please help us. This is a long and agonizing problem for us in Liberia,” Mulbah said. “I hope every readership is touched to help us in some way.” p

For more information about the Liberian Community of Georgia and to donate visit lama-atl.org * The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the CDC.

news

10

Sept. 5, 2014

FILM companies turn schools into settings continued from front page

Sutton Middle Courtesy of MoveSSpawn

Mean Girls (2010)

House of Payne (2007), Meet The Browns (2007), Teen Wolf (2010, 2011), Necessary Roughness (2011), Ride Along (2012), The DUFF (2014)

Grady High

Sutton Middle School appears in the movie“Premature,” an independent film about a teenage boy having to repeat the most important day of his life over and over.

Inman Middle

Fast and Furious (2013)

Miracle Ear commercial (2008)

Centennial Place

One Missed Call (2006)

English Avenue

Courtesy of Grand Cinemas

Howard High

Washington High

Drumline (2001), We Are Marshall (2006), The Change Up (2010)

Meet The Browns (2007)

The film “Ride Along,” about a cop who needs permission from his future brotherin-law to marry his long-time girlfriend, used the Grady High School cafeteria.

Hart came up to me,” Perez said. “He said I looked like a zombie, and we started to exchange jokes with each other. I told him he was short, because looking at him–only 5-foot-2–I felt pretty tall. He laughed and told me thanks for helping out.”

Meeting a celebrity in Georgia isn’t an anomaly anymore. Of the movies filmed in Georgia in 2013, many were blockbuster hits, including The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Anchorman, and Prisoners. Among the TV shows were AMC’s The Walking Dead, CW’s Vampire Diaries, and Family Feud. APS locations provide the setting for movies like We Are Marshall, Ride Along, and shows such as Teen Wolf and Necessary Roughness. The frequent use of APS sites as a film location is a main reason why Georgia is being heralded as the “Hollywood of the South.”

In order to film on an APS location, pro-

Graphic by Lucia Lombardo

From 2001 to 2008, a total of eight productions were filmed on APS property, generating $38,320 in revenue. Since 2008, 11 productions have been filmed on APS property, raising a total of $34,200. According to the Georgia Film, Music, and Digital Entertainment Office, 158 feature films and television shows were shot in Georgia in fiscal 2014 alone.

The amount of money film companies pay to use APS facilities varies based on the types of rooms used and the time spent filming on campus. For example, the movie Ride Along filmed at Grady from Nov. 20 through 25 in 2012 and paid APS $3,575. While on campus the company utilized the football field, at a cost of $150 a day, and the cafeteria $250–for the first three hours–along with other locations.

Although the district certainly accepts the rental fees it receives from production companies, the money doesn’t have much of an impact on the annual budget.

“Our operating budget is $595 million for each year for general funds,” Calhoun said.

“We’ll take every bit of [the revenue]. We’re delighted that people want to use our facilities … but it’s not something that we look at separately from a reporting standpoint.”

Not only does movie filming in Georgia and at APS schools bring recognition to the state and district, but it also allows students to get involved in the process of making a movie.

When Ride Along was filming, casting personnel from the company asked students to sign up to be extras in the film.

“The experience taught me what I wanted to do in the future,” former student Ronnie Perez said. “[There were] long hours every day and a lot of people, but at the end of the day I felt awesome that I wasn’t scared of being an extra, and I don’t regret it.”

Perez even got a chance to meet and interact with Kevin Hart, who starred in the movie. She said being able to talk to Hart was a once-in-alifetime experience that she will never forget.

“When I was doing a cafeteria scene, Kevin

Zombieland (2008)

Lakewood Stadium

duction companies must navigate a long but necessary process.

“When the film companies first contact me they’re doing scouts, so a part of [the filming process] is if they can find what they’re looking for,” said Carla Pennyman, facilities coordinator for Atlanta Public Schools. “Sometimes they may not like what they see, and if so they don’t extend that scout.”

If a company is interested in filming at a particular school, Pennyman said the next hurdle is getting the script cleared. If a script contains elements deemed inappropriate to be filmed on APS property or that don’t fit with the system’s core values, the process ends there.

The next issue for many companies is the availability of the sites.

“We don’t allow [film companies] to film while school is in session,” Pennyman said. “It would have to be done at night or on week-

ends and sometimes that’s prohibited for them because they work a five-day week.”

Finally, if the timing can be worked out the arrangement has to be approved by the principal of each school to make sure there are no academic or athletic events that would interfere with the production company filming during that time.

Pennyman says the facilities office often loses potential deals with movie companies during the process but they retain enough to make it profitable for the district. She also said her office has noticed a marked increase in the number of inquiries from companies since the tax exemption bill was passed in 2008.

Filming in Georgia has become mainstream and opened the door for raising money and notoriety.

“I feel as if Atlanta is growing so much bigger [in the film business] and it’s great to see,” Perez

By Noah Li and Kelly Scollard During the first week of school, Grady students and faculty grew accustomed to the frequent pings of the intercom system. Assistant Principal David Propst came on the intercom, often several times in the first 15 minutes of each class period, to insist that each teacher complete and submit his or her attendance count to the office.

This repetitive emphasis on record keeping is part of Grady’s completely new approach to student attendance this school year. The shift, implemented by Atlanta Public Schools, alters the progression of consequences for truants systemwide. The Grady Attendance Committee embraced these changes and adopted a stricter position towards its existing policy regarding absences and tardies, especially those obtained by skipping.

Due to the changes mandated by the system, advisement teachers are now responsible for monitoring their students’ daily and weekly attendance. After three full-day unexcused absences, the advisement teacher is to contact the student’s parents, fill out a social worker referral form and then transfer responsibility to the student’s counselor. After the fifth or sixth unexcused absence, the counselor reports the student to Uraina Scott, Grady’s social worker. The Attendance Committee determines the ensuing course of action. These actions range from a parent conference to a suspension, or even a home visit from Scott. In the past, attendance monitoring fell solely to the Attendance Committee, but the delegation of the first step to advisement teachers allows the committee to focus more on repeat offenders.

That focus has recently been aimed at reducing the number of students cutting class. From the 2011-12 school year to the 2013-14 school year, the percentage of students caught skipping increased by 50 percent. Debate coach and literature teacher Mario Herrera agrees that skipping is a serious issue.

Kelly Scollard

Changes in attendance policy target tardy teenage truants

“YOU ARE WRONG:” Assistant principal David Propst, president of the Grady Attendance Committee, is one of the administrators charged with implementing changes intended to make the attendance policy more strict. Students who miss school now face serious consequences.

“I think Grady students love to not be in class,” Herrera said, noting that students abused Grady’s inconsistent attendance enforcement. “I’m not sure if [the new attendance crackdown]’s the best policy, but we need a strong policy.”

Grady administrators didn’t stop with revamping the attendance policy. They also identified the primary places Grady students frequent when playing hooky. Propst communicated with the managers of nearby establishments including Starbucks, McDonald’s, Popeye’s and Zaxby’s, requesting their assistance in catching skipping students. The managers are supposed to contact police authorities, a truancy officer, or Grady administrators directly if they suspect a customer to be a Grady student during school hours. The contacted authority is supposed to drive to the restaurant to confront the suspect. If the suspected skipper

is found to be a Grady student, the officer would detain the student for disciplinary action.

The first time a student is caught skipping, he or she receives an automatic detention and a parent notification.

The second time, the student faces in-school or even out-ofschool suspension. Repeat offenders are referred to the social worker to be investigated.

Parents and neighbors have also been enlisted to assist the attendance enforcers by calling the school if they observe a student off campus.

“It’s like a family. ... We’ve got eyes everywhere,” Propst said.

“This is very important: be attentive, be on time, be respectful.

You will succeed and you are not wrong. In the event that you are late, you are wrong. Am I right?” p

news

Sept. 5, 2014

11

By Ben Simonds-Malamud and Harrison Wilco Say goodbye to End of Course Tests and Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests. Beginning this December, public schools will begin implementing the Georgia Milestones Assessment System, part of a Department of Education effort to improve statewide standardized testing.

“Since the 2013-14 school year and continuing in this school year ... the district has been implementing the Common Core,” said Joe Blessing, APS director of testing and assessments. “The [Milestones] assessment is meant to reflect the rigor and complexity of the Common Core.”

One major change in the format of the test will be the addition of constructed- and extended-response questions–which require longer and more demanding responses–to mathematics and English/language arts assessments.

“The idea is that it is a more rigorous test,” said Meghan Frick, a communications specialist at the Georgia DOE. “It’s going to require more of students. We do expect [the number of students meeting or exceeding expectations] to drop, but our new student growth percentiles … are going to measure growth rather than simple, absolute test scores.”

A driving force of the Milestones system appears to be consistency. Instead of including CRCT and EOCT, which are difficult to compare, in the same system, Milestones will use End of Grade and End of Course assessments from third through 12 grades, allowing easier comparisons to be made throughout the course of primary and secondary education.

The DOE stipulated that in Milestones’ first year, 30 percent of testing must occur online. That number jumps to 80 percent by year three, with all students testing online by 2018. Precisely what this means, however, remains unclear to many, including Springdale Park Elementary School’s principal, Yolanda Brown.

“We haven’t gotten direction from the district about what that 30 percent includes,” Brown said. “We haven’t gotten the nuts and bolts yet.”

Schools across the state have begun to upgrade their computer systems to accommodate Milestones’ online requirements. The Georgia DOE has provided some funding to boost bandwidth

Ben Simonds-Malamud

New GA Milestone test to provide rigor, consistency

ONE SERVER TO RULE THEM ALL: APS installed new Zero Clients in the Interactive Lab (pictured) and media center. Raymond Dawson, a testing coordinator, expressed his confidence in the computers due to the ability to control all workstations from a central server. at schools; however, the majority of the cost of updating has and already possesses the necessary infrastructure for a lab. The fallen to individual school districts. APS has rolled out a new CCC will continue to operate in the same location. wave of computer lab “refreshes” which replace old computers Principal Timothy Guiney met with CCC leadership on with newer models or add additional workstations.

Aug. 4 to discuss the plans to upgrade the Center’s technology “[Milestones’ greatest challenge] will be the technology,” test- this year. CCC volunteer and Grady parent Duggan Lansing ing coordinator Raymond Dawson said. “Grady just does not came out of the meeting with measured optimism. have the space.”

“There is potential for this to be a win-win situation,” LanNevertheless, APS has already overseen installation of new sing said. “More computers would mean that more students can Zero Client computers for the Interactive Lab and media cen- research colleges, apply for scholarships, work on their essays ter. Furthermore, Dawson and Russell Plascyzk, another coordi- and resumes, but it needs to be very intentional, so that we use nator, plan to reconfigure the College and Career Connections our time most effectively.”

Center sometime in September, adding additional computers to At statewide and local levels, optimism surrounds the Georenable the room to be used for testing. gia Milestones Assessment System, but optimism alone cannot The room served as a computer lab before housing the CCC, bring the new system success. p

APS hopes to close address fraud loopholes

By Keegan Hasson and Eli Hendler tendent Dr. Meria Carstarphen] and I are comWith a few mouse clicks, a family can purchase mitted to solving.” on Craigslist all of the documents that it needs While the district has still not passed and to attend an out-of-zone APS school. That was implemented policy changes, steps have alone of the findings of the March investigative ready been taken locally to cut down on docureport into address fraud. Since the APS Office ment falsification. The Grady football program of Student Relations received an anonymous attracted considerable attention after investigacomplaint detailing multiple cases of fraud in tors found that 11 players were out of district the Grady footand qualifying to ball program last We don’t want an environment play with fraudulent November, APS addresses. As a rewhere teachers, parents and has been reviewsult, first-year head students are writing down the ing its registration coach Earthwind policy. The invesMoreland aims names of people and turning tigation not only to independently them into the administration.” verify each athlete’s unveiled multiple systematic loopresidential status. holes but also “One thing that Matt Westmoreland I did [this year] brought to light a District 3 board member was make everycultural phenomenon that Prinbody fill out a little cipal Timothy Guiney believes to be rampant information sheet,” Moreland said. “That not just at Grady and across APS but also on a way I will be able to cover a few bases on difregional and even national level. ferent levels. This is a big system, so it’ll be “When [parents are] attempting to falsify, it hard to catch every single person.” is not done out of malicious intent,” Guiney Even though he expressed concern that he said. “It is done out of an attempt to create the could not eliminate address fraud entirely, Mobest possible outcome for their children, whom reland has pledged to work closely with the they love. The school right where it lives may school registrar and the new athletic director in not provide all of the opportunities that [a order to fill in the cracks. high-achieving school] does.”

The athletic department has always held In the past, the district has relied heavily on this obligation; however, the investigation uncommunity involvement in order to root out covered that assistant coaches went so far as to transgressors. APS District 3 board member drive out-of-zone athletes to their homes after Matt Westmoreland believes that APS needs to practice on multiple occasions. Thus, Guiney lift this enforcement burden off the commu- believes that any solution to document falsinity’s shoulders. fication must be a joint effort, with boosted “We’ve known that it’s been an issue for a discipline from both the school registrar and long time,” Westmoreland said. “We just the athletic department. In a press conference haven’t really addressed it as much as we have following the release of the investigation, forneeded to. … We don’t want an environment mer Superintendent Erroll Davis promised where teachers, parents and students are writ- that registrars would be given more assistance ing down the names of people and then turn- in document verification and Carstarphen has ing them into the administration. It’s on the followed through on Davis’s promise. school system to make sure that we’ve got a “I asked [the district leadership] for a couple solid process in place, a problem that [Superin- of people, at a minimum, that could assist in

“

our school registrar’s office,” Guiney said. “So we did have two district personnel for that rush in the first few days [of school] and they helped a great deal.”

President of the Georgia Association of Educators Sid Chapman believes that these newly implemented procedures may serve as a temporary deterrent, but as long as systemic academic disparities exist, the motive to commit address fraud will never be eradicated. He contends that increasing funding towards specific causes of poor academic achievement, like teacher turnover rates, can help alleviate those statewide imbalances. “[We need to increase] incentives, whether it’s salary or even bonus incentives, that bring [teacher] longevity into those [underachieving] schools,” Chapman said. “Those teachers need all of the help that they can get, [so we also need to] give them support personnel.”

These more entrenched problems will be much more difficult to solve. In the meantime, dean of student discipline and student relations administrator Chantel Mullen, with whom the complaint was originally filed, affirms that APS has taken swift, appropriate personnel action to diminish the likelihood of occurrences similar to those of last year. Westmoreland hopes that the hiring of Carstarphen will bring about a more comprehensive solution in the near future. As the system finalizes its review of districtwide registration policy, however, Mullen and Westmoreland both agree that it is up to the APS employees themselves to create a principled and respectable institution.

“APS strives to maintain a highly ethical culture,” Mullen said. “Thus, employees who falsified documents or knowingly allowed students to attend out-of-zone schools have suffered consequences [such as] letters of direction, suspension, reassignment and termination. There will be more findings and personnel action, and more penalties may be applied.” p

Exclusively @ theSoutherneronline.com Mercer, Bolding and three other teachers leave Grady Aug. 4 marked the beginning of the school year for the returning students and staff at Grady, but for some, it marked their departure.

No teacher goes to a particular school each morning expecting it to be their last one there.

A total of five teachers announced suddently they planned to part ways with Grady for the 2014-2015 school year , Though some teachers are simply....sswitching to different schools, others are retiring or continuing their education...

12

The coach appro Mentors guide students, on the field and in the

Earthwind Moreland

Jeff Cramer You’re motivating athletes to want to do it for themselves.”

Football

Paul N

Jeff Cramer Cross country coach

Cross Country

Skills

By Grace Hawkins and Isabel Olson Grady students see a coach as much more than a figure frantically blowing a whistle, taking breaths only to yell as athletes run endless sprints. A coach is a source of strength, a motivator, an adviser and someone who will push students to reach their full capabilities.

“When you say ‘coach,’ that’s a short word, but it’s a broad word in the sense of the many things that you have to do,” said Earthwind Moreland, Grady’s head football coach. “You’re not necessarily just a coach. You have to sometimes be a father figure. You become a counselor, a parent; you become a lot of things to your student athletes.”

The role of a coach encompasses a broad spectrum, but the many coaches, mentors and advisers at Grady cover the bases. Grady coaches serve their students: on the field, in the classroom with academic clubs and even in the College and Career Connections Center with aspiring college applicants. Coaches and students work together to accomplish a common goal, whether it be winning the championship, the Quiz Bowl or a scholarship to their dream college. When leading a sport, a club, or an individual student, a coach’s purpose is always to support and guide.

“I think the role of a coach is as a mentor, to have someone who has more knowledge, more experience in a particular subject and whose goal is to help the younger individual grow into a greater role, a greater responsibility,” said Andrew Nichols, G3 Robotics coach.

Through the many activities offered at Grady, coaches and mentors guide students from adolescence into young adulthood during one of the most pivotal times of their lives. Focusing on each student individually is an essential part of effective coaching.

“You develop the team by developing the individual, and helping students reach their potential,” said Kevin Hill, chorus and music teacher.

When coaching a team of individuals, a good coach recognizes that all parts make up the whole. In order for a team to succeed, all of its players must develop and improve. Finding the right way to bring each student to his or her utmost capabilities,

however, can be a challenging task.

“I think that a coach should encourage people’s strengths,” said Tanisha Peterson, college adviser. Peterson works individually with Grady students who are the first in their families to receive a postsecondary education. “[All students have] their strengths,” Peterson said, “but [coaches should] allow them to see how that strength can be used towards their goals and opportunities.”

Once students learn to promote their own strengths, the coach has succeeded in his or her essential task, says cross-county coach Jeff Cramer.

“You’re motivating athletes to want to do it for themselves,” Cramer said.

When students come to love an extracurricular, they will work on their own time to grow and excel in their field. In order to instill this self-motivation in their students, coaches must first inspire, motivate and command respect.

“Lead by example,” Moreland said. “It’s hard to follow or listen to someone if they’re not doing the things they’re asking you to do.”

His players confirm that Moreland practices what he preaches.

“He’s always out on the field with us,” junior wide receiver Ahmad Herron said.

Through leadership, encouragement and hard work, a coach works to foster independence in their students and team. Once that independence is created, a coach should step back and let the students shine by their own means.

“A coach guides us, gives us advice [and] lets us figure out what we have to do ourselves,” said Jefferson Martin, G3 Robotics senior.

Nichols, Martin’s robotics coach, uses this approach with his team. Having the students work by themselves to accomplish their goals is a key element to his coaching technique.

“It’s about a release of control,” Nichols said. “Then the students have increasing control and leadership opportunities.”

While this transition to independence and leadership can be drastic and challenging for teenagers, the practice of leadership and responsibility puts forth numerous possibilities for their futures.

“Someone w passionate abou Outside of t students the op “If they [the lenberg, CCC coach tries to i From the clas give students gr her full potenti mance.

“When a sh teacher Jake D While watch wants their stu “I want them boys’ coach. “ for others.”

All coaches goals and reap “I want them I tell them tha mean. I mean [them] success The coach-s groups, but at stage, the comp coach may diff prideful joy of

oach

You develop the team by developing the individual.”

classroom

s USA

Kevin Hill chorus and musical theater teacher

Kevin Hill

Tanisha Peterson

Chorus/Musical Theater

College Advisor

who has developed leadership skills can go out and lead anything they’re ut,” Nichols said. the robotics shop, athletic and academic coaches also advocate giving pportunity to lead, grow and perform on their own. students] are taking the action, then it’s their journey,” said Dawn Kilvolunteer. “A coach does not go on the field and play for the player. A inspire, motivate and educate from the sidelines.” ssroom to the field, and even to the center of the spotlight, extracurriculars reat opportunities to shine. Though a coach may bring a student to his or ial, the coach cannot take full credit for the student’s talents and perfor-

share Weeden’s dream: that their students will grow to achieve their the rewards of their efforts. m to be successful,” said Paul Nicolson, Skills USA coach. “When at, I have to clarify, because some of them don’t understand what I n that they’re happy, they can do things that they want to do and do sfully.” student relationship is a unique bond. Initially, coaches will lead their the end of the day they are on the sidelines as the students take to the petition, and the big game. Though the techniques and goals of each fer, Grady’s coaches have the same motivation for what they do: the seeing their students succeed. p

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lifestyle

14

Sept. 5, 2014

European students learn lessons beyond brochures

Ricardo Zecchi For Italian student Ricardo Zecchi, coming to America for a year has opened up a whole new world of opportunities. Although he has been to America before, he and his family have not traveled much. He hopes that living here will broaden his world views, create lifelong memories and inspire true independence as he experiences the culture and life of an American student.

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GrAPHIC by Emily Dean

By Brandon Kleber Surely the brochure for the Italian exchange student program said nothing about APS cheating scandals, ice bucket challenges or extreme sports fans, but for a group of high school students coming to Grady this year, these are some images of America that will be among the memories they take back home.

Each year, Grady students have the opportunity to study and socialize alongside several students from foreign countries who have come to the United States to learn more about its culture and to speak the language. For Ricardo Zecchi, Ludovica Longo, Miguel Flores, Julia Friedl and Anna Poznyak, five adventurous students who have made that journey from their native countries this year, leaving behind the lives they were used to at home means not only learning about life in the U.S., but learning more about themselves as well.

Italy

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in his hometown of Milan was difficult, but living with senior Stone Persons and his family, who have hosted several foreign-exchange students previously, has made the transition much smoother.

“I like them so much and really enjoy spending time with my homestay family,” Zecchi said. “They are so funny and kind to me.”

A major difference Zecchi notes between Italian and American culture is the food. According to Zecchi, American fast food doesn’t compare to Italian food, but he understands he will be living and eating for the next year, so he will need to make the adjustment. He

finds Grady easier and prefers it to his school in Italy.

With passions for skating, soccer and longboarding, Zecchi has no shortage of opportunities to get involved. He hopes that after a year in America he will return to Italy with insight on a different lifestyle, school and culture that he experienced during his year abroad.

Julia Friedl German exchange student Julia Friedl would have started school in mid-September, but starting school in August is only one of sev-

eral changes for her since coming to Atlanta this year. While she said the education at Grady is more relaxed than her studies in Germany, Julia Friedl is excited for the opportunity to make new friends and get involved in extracurricular activities that she would not have had time for at home.

Friedl was randomly placed in Atlanta after choosing the United States as the country she hoped to visit.

She notes that the culture of America is a bit different than what she is used to, but realizes that it will take some time to truly appreciate all that Atlanta and

Grady have to offer. From day one, it has been exciting for her to see all the diversity and occasional craziness that can be observed in the hallways.

“I like the school system because you can choose the classes,” Friedl said in an e-mail interview.

“In Germany you are the whole time with the same classmates.”

Friedl attended a much smaller, private school in Munich, where she started learning English in seventh grade. She is the first in her family to study abroad, and in only a short time she has viewed a great change between American and German culture. As an exchange student, Friedl will stay in America, taking classes and learning the differences in the societies of the two nations.

“I think it’s a great experience,” Friedl said of her upcoming year in America. She has traveled to Canada and various European countries, and says she has studied English in school for the past five years.

Though Grady can feel a bit overwhelming for her at times, Friedl has settled into busy school life with a drive to do typical high school things and is extremely hopeful for her future experiences in the school and in America. p

EXCLUSIVELY @ theSoutherneronline.com To read the profile stories about Poznyak, Flores and Longo, visit our webiste.

By Max Rafferty Juniors Isabelle Carson, Gabriel Kupersmith and Sajjad Ali traveled to Portland, Ore. last weekend and returned with a prize worth more than $3000. The students were competing in Drone Prize 2014, a contest held Aug. 22-24, that featured prizes worth a total of $10,000. Entrants used unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, to help their communities.

The contest was sponsored by SOAR Oregon, an organization that has given more than $325,000 to drone specialists The Grady robotics team, G3, fielded an impressive UAV team that outlined several ways for officials to use drones to help MARTA. Grady won first and second place respectively in the two parts of the competition, beating out college and professional teams.

The manufacturing and implementation of UAVs is a rapidly expanding field, influencing many aspects of modern life. UAVs are essentially advanced remote control planes and helicopters that can be used for anything from Amazon delivery services to cheap aerial photography. Because UAV’s are banned in some parts of the country, the contest was held in Bend, Ore., one of five Federal Aviation Administration free flight zones. Naturally, this flight status makes Bend a hub for drone enthusiasts and organizations, so SOAR Oregon, an organization that champions the use of UAVs to help improve local communities, organized the competition.

The G3 team started working on the project in early May; work picked up dramatically, however, when the team advanced to the last round.

“We’ve been working about five hours a day since we got into the finals,” Ali said.

The students were mentored by Gardner Chambliss, a longtime volunteer for the G3 robotics team. Chambliss introduced Carson to the contest, who took on the role of project manager and recruited Ali and Kupersmith to work with her.

Before the contest, the G3 UAV team had just two small quadrocopters donated to them by a former team member now involved in the UAV industry.

The G3 UAV team competed against two other teams for the grand prize, a $10,000 drone. Furman University decided to use drones to monitor streetlights, and a team of local Oregon scientists have been using UAVs to study wetlands.

The contest consisted of three parts. Day one was Innovation Day, in which the teams presented their ideas to panels of judges representing business leaders, educators and drone enthusiasts. On day two, the teams competed in a five-part flying competition. The final day was reserved for awards and networking.

“Our UAV uses are the most unique and widespread,” Carson said before the team left for Oregon. “I think that we can very easily win the People’s Choice Award because we are the youngest team, yet we do as much or more than the older teams.”

Some of the applications that the G3 team proposed for use by MARTA include community outreach, tactical response and tunnel sweeping. The team has already attached a foam MARTA bus to one of their drones, which MARTA uses as an visual aid to reach out to students during presentations about

Photo Courtsy of Drone Prize 2014

G3 travels to Oregon, SOARs to success with drone

FLYING HIGH: The finalists in Drone Prize 2014, Grady G3 UAV, 3 Chicks and a Drone and Furman University, midway through the flying contest on the second day of SOAR Oregon’s competition. safety and transportation. to the aeronautical community since [he] was The three team members all had different old enough to walk.” His piloting was good responsibilities within the project. Ali worked enough to capture second place in the piloting on marketing, Kupersmith led fabrication and section of the test.

Carson headed any and all programming.

By winning the People’s Choice Award “[The project] was really a group effort,” and getting second in the flying contest, Carson said. “And we all worked on every- the students earned a $3,000 octocopter thing together.” and valuable recognition. Many of the The cooperation and hard work certainly companies that voted for the contest on paid off. On Innovation Day, the G3 team Innovation Day, , including Intel and ATI, won over educators, enthusiasts and business congratulated the team for its work. leaders enough to take the People’s Choice Future plans for the team include exAward, a great early victory for the team. panding the use of UAVs to get students In the flying contest on day two, the Drone excited about science, technology, engiPrize required that each team employ an auto- neering and mathematics. Through the matic landing procedure as well as at least one robotics team’s community outreach prospotter and one pilot in order to keep everyone grams, they plan to talk to other businesses safe. For the G3 team, that piloting task fell to and service departments about how UAVs Kupersmith, who says he has “paid attention could improve their services. p

lifestyle

Sept. 5, 2014

15

SparkNotating through the fall of summer reading How often issummer summer How often is reading incorporated reading into fall incorporated assignments?

Did you read the summer reading assignments?

Graphic by Lucy Lombardo

By Isabel Olson In grades K-5, the library and books play a crucial role in everyday schooling. From book fairs and book swaps to trips to the library during classes, books are everywhere and everyone has their face in a book. Elementary school children are instilled with the importance of reading while in High school students, meanwhile, are reading less and less in comparison to their youth.

During elementary school most students are asked to read at least seven chapter books over the course of the two months of summer vacation. Middle school language arts teachers required students to read one required summer reading book that was no longer a free choice, and most high school classes require up to four books, selected by the teachers. While the level and difficulty of the reading has increased since the early days, so has the number of books students are required to read. With this decrease comes a whole new challenge of getting students to actually read their summer assignments.

“I doubt many people have actually read their books,” sophomore Mei Nathan said. “In my dream world, people would have actually read it so you could have a discussion about it.”

Eleventh grade honors and AP Language and Composition teacher, Lisa Willoughby, assumes less than 20 percent of students actually read the full four works assigned in her class, leaving a generous 40 percent to have read some part of the books and another 40 percent to have put aside the work all together.

For some students, reading for school can become an arduous task, especially when the root and purpose of the book or assignment is not understood.

Partially 33.7%

into fall assignments?

Always Never 2.0% Frequently 23.5% 27.6% Infrequently 46.9%

Yes 24.5% No 41.8%

From a Southerner survey of 98 students

“All the books they choose are pretty valuable books,” librarian Brian Montero said. “[They are] books with timeless qualities and popular content. They fulfill an interest to all readers.”

While this may be true for books such as To Kill a Mockingbird or The Curious Life of the Dog in the Nighttime, there are many instances where students are given no options in what they read. Books offered in Advanced Placement (AP) classes are even further confined to one time period or topic, dating back to the times of Shakespeare or American Indians. Students can sometimes be asked to read four or five books concerning that same era.

“I try to mix the books that are fun and meaningful,” Senior AP literature teacher Lawrence McCurdy said. “All teachers have their ways to get kids to read and enjoy reading.”

Only so many pleasure-reading books can be cast into the pool of assigned works. While students may

not enjoy much of the reading they are asked to do, teachers often have little choice than to assign it.

“Within the current literary environment it is impossible to cover such huge amounts of time [through works of literature],” ninth and tenth grade English teacher Nalin Needham said. “There is so much territory to cover.”

The Georgia standards require teachers to cover material at a fairly rapid pace, balancing both the study of grammar and works of literature. The AP history curriculum demands students cover time periods dating far back in history.

Summer work is a way for teachers to keep their students reading but also to reinforce the students’ understanding of a topic area so that less needs to be covered in class.

When school starts every August, new students arrive, schedules change, and excuses are made for why the summer work was never done.

“A lot [of students] don’t know about the assignments,” Needham said. “If they did know, they pretend not to.”

The attitude students have toward literature is a slippery slope. No longer do students do as they are told, and new excuses are made daily as to why they should be exempt from the assignments. While some of these excuses will never be eradicated, some progress has been made to ensure every student has the opportunity to obtain the books.

“Mainly [the library’s] goal in terms of the reading list is to inform students of what it is,” Montero said. “We help students get library cards so they can get the books. We make sure everyone has access, but it is up to the student’s motivation and responsibility.”

While teachers may disagree, often times students do not have to read because there are no consequences for ignoring the given assignments.

For those who did read, they can

only hope to have become a more advanced, mature reader.

“There are no consequences in not reading,” senior Samantha Bowie said. “I like the feeling that I’m more well-read.”

While teachers often argue that assignments or tests will be given to force an understanding of the novel, students have learned by the time they reach their senior year that it is often pointless to read the works.

Teachers may not say a word about the reading, or they will ask students to complete assignments on the books several months into the year, long after the few students who had actually made the effort to read forget the reading.

“McCurdy covered the summer reading in our class in the first few weeks, but last year I was giving a book report on a summer book in May,” Bowie said.

From SparkNotes to book reviews, students have endless options to circumvent the readng assignment. “[Ignoring the summer reading] starts in middle school, when you constantly do not do something with it,” senior Lindsay Van Beck said.

McCurdy adapts to the lack of effort by bringing in more class discussions as well as oral quizzes, hoping to implement a stricter but more enthusiastic classroom environment.

Summer reading has practically become a joke because of the serious and restricting books students are required to read, the numerous ways around picking up a novel and the lack of assignments given when students return. It is noticeable to both students and teachers that there really is no solution to the fall of summer reading, but clearly, eliminating would make for some better vacations. p

By Margo Stockdale The Southerner sat down with Kaya Scodelario and Will Poulter to discuss their roles in the upcoming science fiction film The Maze Runner. For the complete interview and a review of the movie visit thesoutherneronline.com.

Southerner: There are a lot of young adult dystopian novels and films out right now.

What do you think sets the Maze Runner apart?

Kaya Scodelario: We’ve thought about that a lot, and it’s strange that teen and young adult dystopian novels get compared to one another because we don’t really do that with any other genre. I think it’s partially because it’s a relatively new genre and we keep having to compare it and having to stand out. With Batman and Superman that doesn’t really happen, but I’m proud to be part of something like this. Our movie, if you want to know what sets it apart, is it’s about togetherness, it’s about brotherhood.

It’s not about killing each other or pulling people apart. There’s no love story, which is one of the main reasons I wanted to do it. It’s purely an action film.

This is for Will. There’s this one scene at the end of the movie, where you’re very serious. You’ve got the gun, you’re about to cry.

What’s it like coming from such comedic roles, like We’re the Millers and School of Comedy, to such a serious role?

Will Poulter: I was really lucky that [director] Wes [Ball] trusted me with such a serious role. Gally is such a complex character and I’ve said this be-

fore, but this is such a dramatically gifted task. I think the film shows that, but these guys are so funny as well. They crack me up, and there is so much love. That was why, for me, it was kind of the ultimate experience. It was so fun.

This is a question for Kaya. How did your previous training, since you played Effy in Skins, prepare you for this role?

KS: Well, that was my first ever job, and I never thought I’d get the chance to do what I love. I thought I would have to come from a connected family or be blonde and beautiful and perfect...

WP: She’s just brunette and beautiful.

KS: *laughs* Stop, I never felt like that. I was always shy, very self conscious. Skins was beautiful because they wanted real kids. They didn’t want trained actors who were 25 playing 14 year olds; it changed my life forever. Even if it had just been that I would have been happy, but after that I got more jobs. I want to keep doing it because I love it with every part of me.

I don’t think I know what I would do otherwise. I have no idea.

WP: Me either.

KS: We’d be such a mess.

Since you were the only girl in a cast full of boys, did you ever feel a special connection to the role?

KS: You know, I never felt like the only girl.

What I love so much about these boys and why we became so close is because they saw me as a human being. We connected on a human level straight away. I felt like I had a duty

Margo stockdale

Maze Runner costars love movie with no love story

Absolutely aMAZEing: The stars of The Maze Runner have starred in several other movies and television shows. Poulter starred as an adolescent surrogate son in We’re the Millers and Scodelario stars as Effy in Skins.

to do to prove that you can make a movie with boys and not have a love story. I wanted to do that for myself and to show the industry that we’re not just, you know, we’re not just there to be a romantic couple, that we can be interesting in other ways.

How much did you get to work with the director? Was he open to your suggestions?

WP: He was massively welcoming. When we first had the chance to meet him and properly sit down and converse about our roles, we may have had some concerns about, but he said to us that we shouldn’t doubt any value

we had to the role and dynamics we had. He was very much about talking out everything with us and very welcome to when we had ideas of our own. Like this sounds lame, but the Glader handshake in the film, it’s kind of this forearm grab that we just started doing, and he brought it into the film. There are like four or five improvised moments in the film, and that’s kind of the thing you only see in independents, where you’re not dealing with these other bearings like special effects and a big budgets, but our film wasn’t like that at all it was far more grounded. p

16

lifestyle

Sept. 5, 2014

Twenty Questions for Luke Esposito

On the joys of physics, werewolves, dad duty and brutal murder of giant grasshoppers

Carter Guensler

By Carter Guensler All right, this is the first of the series so just be cool.

“OK. Uh, I’ll try.”

You have a fun name. Do people ever make fun of you for it?

“More the Luke than the Esposito. I’m happy if people can call me whatever they—wait … I shouldn’t say that or people are going to start—ah, Mr. E is fine.”

What are you teaching this year? How long have you been teaching?

And why do you teach?

“Honors and gifted physics, and then AP 1 and AP 2.This will be my 16th year. And because, let’s see. I gotta get the wording right … Because teaching and education is the silver bullet that will slay the werewolf of ignorance. That’s it.”

You put a lot of thought into that…

“Yes! But I think that sums it up nicely. I guess what I mean is that, by educating people, you solve so many of society’s problems. Too many people act on preconceived notions and traditional mindsets. They do what their parents did that their parents did that their parents did.”

Did you always want to be a physics teacher?

“When I was little, I didn’t quite figure how things work ... and I wanted to be an alligator.”

Well, what do you hope to accomplish while you’re teaching here at Grady?

“There’s already a fantastic physics program in place, but I’m still trying to get a mental sense of all the different materials that are available. Then offering something new but keeping in the prior tradition of high performance.

A lot of students are going on to higher education and past that, so it’s very important that we prepare them as best we can ... because one of them might be operating on me one day!”

As a teacher, what are you most proud of?

“I can’t count how many people say, ‘Oh, I hated my physics class,’ or, ‘I hated physics,’ or ‘It was too hard.’ And I understand that because I had difficulties too! A lot of concepts are more difficult to get your head around. Some people are happy with their comfort zones, and they don’t push themselves. We go through our daily lives with very simple answers to our simple questions, right? Where do I eat? How do I go from here to there? But when you choose to take a step outside ... it can be complicated, especially if it’s something that’s new. But the neat thing is that, once you wade through that complication, you start to see simplicity again. How was that?”

That was cool, man! So, where did you teach before?

“Eastern North Carolina. It was a smaller high school, Greene Central. But I started the AP program there, and that was fun. It wasn’t all physics; some of the time I taught physical science, earth science, I had to teach one semester of biology. I’d teach forensics.

I wore a lot of hats.”

And how was your transition to Grady?

“It was AWESOME. Be sure to put all capital letters throughout the word. There’s a lot of chance for experimenting and trying new things and stuff that was only in my head or I had heard about. Plus, I need to get a handle on all the apparatus back there. Mr. Cramer has a lot of stuff!”

Yeah, that closet is a labyrinth. How do you get along with the other teachers here?

“Good! Everyone has been very, very welcoming and supportive. I feel like I ask too many questions, but they are at least hiding their exasperation really well!”

What’s the craziest thing that’s ever happened in one of your classes?

“Aw, man…. that can be published in your school newspaper?”

Let’s keep it PG-13.

“Yeah yeah, all right. My first few years of teaching, I taught eighth grade science. There were praying mantis eggs all over the place, so a kid brought in a praying mantis. We had an aquarium all set up; it was great.

So during my planning period, I would go out to the grassy parking lot, and I had a net to catch grasshoppers. And we would feed them to the praying mantis. Everything was fine, we had fed it, everything was good, but I found a really big grasshopper this one time and … I didn’t know what was going to happen. So the last class dropped this big honkin’ grasshopper in the cage, and the praying mantis tackled this one a little differently. So, the mantis grabbed it and like immediately chewed off its head. All my kids were watching, and they were like AUUGH and some were like WOW!! So I was like ... How do I change this graphic scene in front of them into a teachable moment?”

Oh, brutal! All right, we’ve done crazy. How about a fond memory?

“Let’s see, there’s a couple: when kids come back after years and say they still remember some of the things they learned, that happens from time to time. Then, there was a kid who I taught as a freshman and then as a junior, and he had challenges but wasn’t officially signed up for help and assistance. We worked through it, and we got him through physical science, and he said ‘I wouldn’t have been able to do this if I had anybody else as my teacher.’ I felt I was in the right place at the right time for the right person.”

Can you tell me some of your goals for the upcoming years?

“Just to do my best, make sure kids are prepared for physics, keep doing well on their tests, stuff like that. I guess those aren’t very exciting goals. I dunno. Make a big laser out the front of the school! No, we can’t do that. Shoot the moon, carve our initials in the moon! Nah, we can’t do that. So yeah, just do a good job teaching what I teach. How’s that? Can we put that?”

‘Do a good job teaching what I teach...?’

“That’s right. When my wife’s grandfather came to town before we were married, [that was] the first time he had met me, and everybody was like, ‘What’s going to happen?’ Ya know, cause he’s old. So we went to dinner, and he patted me on the back and said ‘you did a good job’ at the end of the night, and everybody still to this day does not know what he meant by that. So, to do a good job … even though I don’t know what that means.”

Some of your students describe you as very enthusiastic...

“YEAH!” How would you respond to that?

“With a big capital ‘YEAH!’ with an exclamation point!”

Yeah?

“Yeah, that’s part of the big pet peeve I have where people hate their physics class. You know, I get it, but I don’t wanna be a part of that. I’m teaching kids so that when people mention physics now, they’ll say, ‘Oh, I loved my physics class,’ instead of, ‘Oh, I hated physics.’”

Any advice for those students?

“Treat failure as a learning opportunity. A lot of people like others to think they don’t fail, but everybody does. It’s how you deal with that failure that helps define your character.”

Who are the most important people in your life? Wait, maybe that’s kind of a mean question.

“Yeah … When you guys grow up and get a family of your own, that’s really incredibly freeing. So my wife and kids, my dog, that’s great stuff. Your parents or guardians? You can’t really do much about that. But your family, you have a chance to do something special. When you raise kids that other people like, that’s very cool.”

What do you do with your free time?

“I have dad duty mostly. My wife works too. She’s at Emory, so she and I sorta tag team. We have two daughters, and they’re both in school and active after school. As hard a time as I have trying to keep up with things here, it’s just that much crazier. My eldest daughter, she likes to sing and dance and act, loves drama.

She’s been in a couple kids’ plays. She’s nine, and then I have a 7-year-old. She likes video games, superheroes, comic books.

Both of them love to read. We just got done with The Hobbit.

She loves that he takes comfort in food whenever he’s stressed out. She just thought that was the funniest thing.”

Favorite food?

“Fettuccini alfredo.”

Alright, so what do you ...

“No, I can keep going! … with broccoli and bacon and peas.

Cheese. Bread. Bread good. Mmmmm.”

What words do you live by?

“Mark Twain once said the best advice to give people is none.

And that’s what comes to mind right now. ... I probably misquoted that terribly.”

Anything else you want to add?

“Did I talk enough?” p

will return next issue QUESTIONS with a conversation with junior Larry Mason. with Carter Guensler

lifestyle

Sept. 5, 2014

Yoga offers recreation by meditation

Meet the new faculty

By Keegan Hasson

Khristal Pace mathematics Q: If you could teach any person in the world, who would it be?

A: I would have to say Mickey Mouse. I’ve always just been a Mickey fan.

Andrew Copeland

Matt wood

By John Lansing A calm atmosphere. Large mirrors. Deep breathing. Limited distractions. Unified movement. This was the formula used to kick start a new elective offered at Grady: yoga. Formally known as Advanced Personal Fitness, yoga is led by health and physical education instructor Tamara Aldridge.

Initially created by former teacher Susie Mercer, the idea of this class was tossed around last year because more elective classes were needed in the master schedule. Aldridge teaches three sections of this course.

Her class sizes range from 21 to 33 students.

Aldridge was assigned to the class because of her knowledge and experience with this exercise form; she has been practicing yoga on and off for nearly 10 years. Though she has a limited teaching background in yoga, Aldridge has on occasion covered for the instructor who teaches the yoga class she attends. Aldridge has also taught a week-long yoga unit in her personal fitness classes.

“I was a bit nervous about teaching [yoga] to high school students as it takes a certain level of maturity for the class to be successful,” Aldridge said, “and I didn’t know if students who signed up would actually get to be in the class or [if ] going to be filled with students who just needed a hole in their schedule to be filled.”

Aldridge said her students have enjoyed the first weeks of instruction. The students

17

psychology

INHALE. EXHALE: Aldridge utilizes the old dance studio to educate interested students in her new yoga classes. journaled about their first class, and Aldridge was glad to read positive reinforcements such as “after class I feel like a new person,” and “I wish this were a year-long class.”

For Aldridge, written the documentation illustrated the pressures that students face throughout the school day and pointed out that this type of elective was past overdue.

Gabby Poux, a junior who takes the class, uses her yoga class as a buffer between her AP Biology and AP United States History classes.

“After my first period [of AP Biology], I feel very stressed out,” Poux said, “but then I have yoga and I am relaxed for the rest of the school day.”

Aldridge and her classes have already developed a daily routine. Each day, the class meets in the dance studio ad-

jacent to the old gym dressed out in gym clothes to allow for adequate mobility. Soon after, Aldridge starts off class with a particular focus, which ranges from proper yoga etiquette to the importance of breathing.

Breathing is essential because yoga focuses on letting go of all distractions. The class then goes through a sequence– a set of yoga positions and exercises–with each individual on their yoga mat. At the end of the set, the class ends and Aldridge begins to plan a new sequence for the following class, making a routine that is at an appropriate level for beginning yoga students.

With yoga in her schedule every other day, Poux has noticed improvements in her flexibility which has her volleyball performance. She feels more relaxed on the court.

“I have a long-term goal to stick with [yoga] because it is helping with my sports,” Poux said.

The stated intent of this course is to help students improve flexibility and muscular strength while satisfying a half-credit of personal fitness needed to graduate. Aldridge feels, however, that there is something more to yoga than just these short-term benefits. She hopes to provide students with another means of stress relief and the confidence to pursue yoga.

“I truly believe that there is some form of physical activity that every person will enjoy; they just may haven’t found what it is yet,” Aldridge said. “So I like exposing students to something new because this might be their activity that will allow them to be active for many years down the road.” p

Q: If you could bring back one person from the dead, who would it be?

A: Abraham Lincoln, because he slayed those vampires.

Talyssa Tulsie mathematics Q: If you could go back and change any decision that you have made, which one would it be?

A: I wouldn’t change anything that I’ve done because what I have done has helped me to grow. You learn from your mistakes.

EXCLUSIVELY @ theSoutherneronline.com New faculty bring personality to Grady There were so many new teachers we did not have enough room for them in the print edition.

For the rest of the story, please visit our website.

By Sophie Durham Year after year, high school freshmen are treated as the lowest on the school food chain. They are the most beaten up, tormented and tortured grade level, but with older siblings as guidance, it’s not all that bad.

Annie Zintak is a freshman who has four older sisters, three of whom are Grady graduates.

Because they all make the transition to high school before her\, she feels like the move from middle school was a lot easier compared to some of her peers.

“A lot of teachers knew me already,” Zintak said, “so that kind of gave me a one up. I also knew the school better than most people.”

Elizabeth Lansing, a freshman with two older siblings who attended Grady (a 2013 graduate and an 11th grader), agrees.

“I knew most of the teachers coming in, as well as a couple of upperclassmen too,” Lansing said.

With previous knowledge of the teachers, school layout and class work, having an older sibling does have some major advantages. Still, many freshmen without older siblings to guide them said that they were enjoying figuring freshmen year out for themselves.

SOPHIE DURHAM

Freshman class excited for novel school experiences

BOTTOM OF THE HILL: Freshmen enjoy eating lunch and socializing in the shade during first lunch. The hill serves as a popular site for freshman to congregate during all three lunches.

“You learn quickly, and I just ask around when I can’t figure it out,” Jack Hudson said.

Whether or not they had older siblings, all freshmen interviewed said Grady was a vast improvement from middle school.

“High school has a lot more free-

dom,” Zintak said. “I love having my phone out at lunch.”

Hudson also enjoys the autonomy of high school.

“I like being able to go to class without getting questioned by every teacher,” Hudson said.

More freedom is not the only

thing that is new to the freshmen.

The daily structure is also different, but Lansing prefers the alternating A/B schedule compared to Inman’s schedule.

“I like it a lot better,” she said. “It gives you a day in between classes to do homework.”

As for the infamous hazing, where seniors “initiate” the freshmen by pulling pranks on them, most of the freshmen seemed to take the tradition in stride.

“I didn’t know about it, but I wasn’t worried,” Hudson said. “I mean, they’re not going to kill me.” p

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Sept. 5, 2014

Photos by Margo Stockdale

Urban art brightens, brings life to Atlanta cityscape

IF WALLS COULD TALK: Living Walls Atlanta presented the main event of their 2014 Conference on Aug. 16 at The Goat Farm in Atlanta’s west side. This year’s conference was a celebration of several Atlanta area artistic movements, including Living Walls’ fifth active year. Art on the BeltLine, gloATL, Dashboard co-op,The Goat Farm Arts Center and Atlanta Streets Alive were invited to discuss their past five years of work. Living Walls aims to promote, educate and change perspectives about Atlanta communities through street art.The organization has sponsored the production of over 70 murals in the metro-Atlanta area.

FREE ART hunters look to Instagram for art prizes Location of “Gone With the Wind”

graphic by margo stockdale

restaurant. Feeling fortunate to be the first one there, I grabbed the bitcycle and took off from the parking lot.

A little later at about 11:30 p.m., another artist, Drue Dun, posted a picture of his one and a half foot by four foot painting constructed with razors and spray paint sitting on a bench in the dim, yellow light next to Highland Woodworking, a business in Virginia Highlands.

The caption read, “Virginia Highlands…. Go get it… 2 of 3 … One more left… Lenox I think is next….”

The time of the night was in my favor. I arrived at the site of the art about six everlasting minutes after the hint was posted to retrieve my prize. The painting of two characters Scarlett O’ Hara and Mammy from Gone With the Wind smelled of pungent, fresh spray paint and still felt slightly sticky to the touch. I picked up the cumbersome painting and proudly and carefully maneuvered it into the car. The piece was “gone with the wind.”

Later that night, I logged back onto Instagram to post a thanks to Drue Dun to come across a picture of myself on his Instagram page carrying his work away with the caption “Highlands number is gone… One left…. Where to?..." p

Location of #bitcycle

map by google

I decided to venture into the hidden art scene of Atlanta and spent time throughout the week searching for free art. On Free Art Friday, my eyes remained glued to my Instagram feed constantly Katherine Merritt refreshing the #fafatl page.

Even though art is dropped throughout the week, I figured Friday would be my best chance at finding a fresh piece of art. On Fridays, the feed is typically flooded with hints to push hunters in the direction of free art. Every so often, an artist would post a picture with a hint, some much more obvious than others.

Bishop posted on Instagram, “Happy Friday folks! Enjoy the weather and hop on a #bike to catch this #bitcycle.”

The photo was a closeup shot of the mini bicycle constructed of wire and bottle caps, attached to a bike rack by two magnets on the back of the bottle cap wheels.

I zipped over to find the site of the bitcycle which I was so anxious to find. After circling Manuel’s Tavern twice, I spotted a bike rack in the corner of a valet parking lot next to the

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Since the days of the civil rights movement, Atlanta has been a major center for civil and human rights. Why, then, was it only this summer that Atlanta James Winer opened the Center for Civil and Human Rights, a museum dedicated to preserving the history of the fight for civil and human rights? Shouldn’t that have been a task that was completed long ago? Although the reasons for the delay were many, Atlantans should know it was well worth the wait.

The center was proposed in 2001 by civil rights activist Evelyn Lowrey and former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young. When she took office in 2001, then mayor Shirley Franklin was excited about the prospect of a museum honoring Atlanta’s civil rights legacy, but was unable to devote much time to it. Mayor Franklin was able to become involved in the project in 2007, helping to get the project off the ground. The economic recession slowed fundraising efforts, which in turn delayed groundbreaking, and ultimately, the opening of the museum.

The museum is located in the heart of downtown Atlanta. The entrance to the museum is poorly designed. Aftar having to stand in a long line with no shade whatsoever on blinding white pavement, I approached a collage with words and cartoons (such as “justice,” “I am a man,” or “stop apartheid now”) jutting out from an outstretched hand. The collage is a beautiful reminder of why the museum was created: to remember and honor those who fought for our civil rights.

The major exhibit of the museum is “Rolls Down Like Water: The American Civil Rights Movement.” The exhibit fully immerses the viewer in the civil rights fight of the 1950s and 1960s with invigorating sights and sounds. Television screens show various racist politicians in news segments, while another display shows the various Jim Crow Laws that were in place in each state. These exhibits made me aware of the systematic government-sanctioned discrimination the civil rights movement sought to overturn.

Perhaps the most stimulating aspect of the exhibit is the recreation of the lunch counter sit-ins. The patron puts on headphones while sitting on a bar stool and lis-

James Winer

Civil rights museum connects past to current issues

LASTING LEGACY: Atlanta’s Center for Civil and Human Rights opened in August 2014. The museum represents the oppression faced by minority groups both in the United States and abroad. Atlanta is an excellent location for the museum because of the city’s long history with the Civil Rights movement. tens to the verbal abuse participants of sitins had to endure. Being the target of such verbal abuse really put me in the moment and showed me how terrifying that kind of experience must have been. Of course, the exhibit featured videos of the March on Washinton and Martin Luther King Jr.’s speeches. Pretty much any major event of the civil rights era and the South that you can think of and more were covered.

In the basement of the museum is the ex-

hibit “Voice to the Voiceless: The Morehouse College Martin Luther King Jr. Collection.”

Here, visitors can view actual notes, letters, documents and artifacts of King’s. Included are his notecards, his “Letter From Birmingham Jail” and even his briefcase and the items that were in it on the day of his assassination.

True to its title, the Center for Civil and Human Rights includes an exhibit featuring on-going civil rights issues in “Spark of Conviction: The Global Human Rights Move-

ment.” At this exhibit, one will learn about issues such as disability rights, LGBTQ rights, women’s rights, immigrant rights and more. It ties together the history of the civil rights movement and connects it to human rights issues of today’s time.

Even today, human rights are still being violated, and going to this museum reinforces the respect we should have for everyone who has fought along the way to protect our civil and human rights. p

Let’s get one thing Straight: cable series no deterrent

By Carson Fleming The deputies scream in their right ear, as the inmates shriek in their left. Breaking down into tears, the troubled teenagers begin to realize they aren’t as tough as they thought.

In the late 1970s, network television aired the documentary Scared Straight. Twenty years later the sequel Beyond Scared Straight was released on the cable channel A&E. The premise of the original documentary and the A&E sequel was to scare teenagers out of their troublesome ways by letting them experience first hand the horrors of real incarceration. Actual inmates attempt to break them by getting in their face, spitting and cursing. After the harsh reality, the inmates soften up and have a touching conversation with the teens to try to reach them by sharing their own traumatic tales.

Although the show looks cruel and unforgiving, the teenagers seem to regret their previous actions and claim to be thankful to their parents for the experience.

“I would put my son on that show without a doubt,” gym coach Harlan Graham said. “I don’t believe in all the cursing, but it is reality, whatever it takes to steer these kids in the right direction.”

The National Juvenile Justice Network reports that there has been a drop of kids in lock-up of more than 40 percent from a record high in 2000. The program,

“

Juvenile justice policy is often set by the states. In Georgia, however, may not deserve any credit even if the nation lawmakers set out to see how the state is seeing a decline in youth inI would put my son on that dealt with juvenile offenders by anacarceration. lyzing past alternative programs that When interviewed, Joe Vishow without a doubt.” have kept most kids out of long-term gnati, the Assistant Deputy lock-up completely, As a result, the Commissioner for the Georgia Harlan Graham state legislature passed a new Juvenile Department of Juvenile Justice says,“There is no evidence gym coach Justice Code.

The new code focuses on keeping to show that Scared Straight low-level offenders out of state deprogramming is effective and tention facilities, and instead puts there is some evidence to suggest that it may, in fact, be harmful. In fact, Scared Straight into place an array of community-based alternative properpetuates the myth that by being tough we are prevent- grams to keep juveniles out of jail. It is a policy that was ing crime when this very interaction may actually increase set in motion when Gov. Nathan Deal signed the Juvenile the potential for future criminal behavior.” Despite the Justice Reform Bill on May 2, 2013. appearance of a happy ending, decades worth of research Gov. Deal is hopeful the bill will save the state $85 million have shown that the Scared Straight programs have not over the next five years. According to the Georgia Departbeen a positive influence on most of the teens involved. ment of Juvenile Justice, the state spends upwards of $90,000 A Cochrane Collaboration Review reveals that the kids on a year to house a single youth in a detention center. Supportthe TV series are 68 to 71 percent more likely to commit the ers of the bill say this is one of the reasons for the Legislature’s same crime or an even worse crime than kids who have not cooperation throughout the process. received any intervention.

Despite the decades of research showing its negative Studies prove and critics insist that Beyond Scared Straight impacts and the steps taken by Georgia to keep juveniles is hardly helpful in reducing juvenile delinquency. It may be out of prison, A&E still aired a seventh season of Beyond entertaining and somewhat humorous, but it is not policy.

Scared Stright. This season aired on July 31. p

dining

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Sept. 5, 2014

Ta c o s have been a staple of American cuisine since the early 1900s when the Chris Brown and d e l i c i o u s Ike Hammond snacks were popularized in San Antonio by the infamous Chili Queens, a group of Mexican-American women who sold tacos as street vendors.

Since then, entire restaurant chains have been built around the dish as Americans have grown increasingly fond of the fare. For this year’s first installment of Quest for the Best, we traversed the metro Atlanta area in a search of the best tacos.

The first restaurant we visited was La Fonda Latina (923 Ponce De Leon Ave.), locally owned and operated by Mike Nelson and Clay Harper. La Fonda offers a variety of tacos, but we opted for the fish and the chicken. At the first bite, the one thing that jumped out at us was the sauce on the two tacos. The chicken taco came with a mild chipotle sauce that reminded us of the special sauce on a McDonald’s Big Mac, while the fish had a sour cream jalapeño sauce.

The tacos were the perfect temperature, and the meat was tender. All meals were served with a huge helping of rice and beans, which was the perfect complement to these excellent tacos. The sauce was ultimately the key to success with these tacos, along with a reasonable price of $8.91 for two tacos.

The next stop on our taco trek was El Taco (1186 North Highland Ave.), a modern Tex-Mex restaurant that takes conventional Mexican recipes and adds Ameri-

Photos By Chris Brown

Quest for the Best: Tacos turn staffers into Sol men

TANTALIZING TACOS: Atlanta has some of the best taco restaurants; among the best tacos were the fried chicken tacos from Taqueria del Sol (top left), the fried chicken tacos from El Taco (bottom left), the steak tacos from Willy’s Mexicana Grill (top right), and the beef tacos from La Fonda Latina (bottom right). can twists to spice up the menu.

Although we were excited for the meal to come when we entered the restaurant, our anticipation quickly soured into disappointment as El Taco did not have free chips and salsa like La Fonda. We ordered the smoked chicken taco, a boring and cold ensemble of dry chicken and lackluster toppings.

We also tried the steak taco, which was a decent mix of steak and fried onions. Before we could write El Taco off as a complete bust, however, we had one more taco to try:

the fried chicken taco.

As we bit into our tacos, we instantly forgot the lack of free chips and salsa, and the mediocrity of the other tacos. The fried chicken in this taco was cooked to perfection, and when combined with the tangy mayo and sweet corn, it had an incredible sweet and spicy mix of flavors. The fried chicken taco was one of the best tacos we tried, and was the single positive part of our El Taco experience.

Despite the deliciousness of the fried chicken taco, El Taco’s high

prices ($15.49) and poor variety left a bad taste in our mouths and our wallets lighter.

Next, we made a trip to Willy’s Mexicana Grill (650 Ponce de Leon Ave.), the most “fastfoody” restaurant of the group.

We ordered the steak taco and the chicken taco. Willy’s differs from other restaurants we visited in that the customer has full control over what goes in the taco, and they offer a wide variety of ingredients. We could tell that the adobe chicken (the less spicy of the

two chicken options) had been sitting out for a while. It wasn’t very warm and lacked flavor. The steak, on the other hand, was tender and full of flavor. The tacos at Willy’s didn’t seem to be as much of a unit as the first two restaurants we visited and came off as a discombobulated collection of ingredients that didn’t mesh unless you knew what you were doing. Although the Willy’s tacos were tasty, they were not worth the $9.89 we were charged.

For the next stop in our quest, we decided to visit one of the most popular Mexican restaurants in Atlanta: Taqueria del Sol (2165 Cheshire Bridge Road). We heard a lot about this restaurant and were excited to check out the fare there.

We were greeted with a line that stretched outside of the door, which only cemented the restaurant’s reputation. After we ordered, we realized that Taqueria also, unfortunately, did not provide free chips and salsa to its customers. When we received our tacos, however, all of our complaints dissipated. The tacos were simple, yet elegant, providing a delicious mix of flavors.

The fried chicken taco had lightly battered and perfectly cooked chicken, and the lime mayonnaise was to die for. The barbeque sauce on the Memphis taco was beyond delicious, providing a zesty and sweet alternative to the spicy jalapeño coleslaw that garnished the taco. Taqueria del Sol, surprisingly, were the least expensive at $6.91.

In conclusion, Taqueria provided the best value, giving us delicious yet inexpensive tacos.

For the less frugal taco lovers, we would definitely recommend La Fonda as a close second. p

By Reilly Blum It’s almost impossible to walk through the Westside Provisions District after 6 p.m. The mile-long line pouring out of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams fills most of the narrow walkway adjacent to the shop. Every night, people queue for up to an hour just for a scoop of ice cream.

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, an Ohiobased ice cream shop, opened its first Atlanta location in the Westside Provisions District last October. A second Atlanta location in Inman Park’s Krog Street Market will open this fall.

Jeni Britton Bauer, founder of the shop, knew even as a child that she wanted to own a business.

“I feel like I’m doing what I’ve always done,” she said. “I go to work every day, and I feel like my job is the same today as it was when I was 8 years old.”

In 1996, Bauer opened Scream Ice Cream in Columbus, Ohio’s North Market.

“I didn’t know what I was doing,” she said. “I made a ton of mistakes. I even failed with my first business, but I got back in and kept going.” The second time was the charm: Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams opened in 2002 in Columbus.

The company currently has locations in Chicago, Charleston, Columbus, Nashville and Atlanta, and has nearly 500 employees.

The Westside Provisions District, an area

already known for its artisan eateries, seems even busier after Jeni’s opening. Kristen Morris, vice president of the company that owns the Westside, said that the district maintains high standards of service and quality.

“We do a lot of food with people who are award-winning chefs or are in the industry,” she said. “Jeni won a James Beard Award for her cookbook a few years back.”

The James Beard Foundation Awards, deemed by Time magazine to be “the Oscars of the food world,” are presented annually for culinary excellence. Bauer won a 2012 award for her cookbook Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home.

Surprisingly, Bauer didn’t always know she’d end up making ice cream. Yet somehow, a few years in art school, a stint as a pastry chef and a passion for collecting essential oils and making perfumes led Bauer to her current profession.

“I thought one of those [hobbies] would become a business,” she said. “But all of those things sort of came together in ice cream.”

Bauer’s eclectic background has contributed to the company’s unique flavors. For instance, Zelda Fitzgerald, wife of Great Gatsby author F. Scott Fitzgerald, inspired the flavor Sweet Cream Biscuits and Peach Jam. Bauer read about her love for biscuits served with peach jam, and the flavor was born.

Another interesting flavor, absinthe and meringue, was inspired by an Igor Stravin-

sky ballet shown in Paris in 1914.

“This amazing symphony and ballet changed the world,” Bauer said. “So I found all the flavors that were common back then...things that were different than what we have now. And so we made an absinthe and meringue ice cream.”

The flavors are symbolic: the meringues represent the upper class, and absinthe represents the lower bohemian class.

“We make tiny little [meringue] kisses, thousands of them, and they take forever,” Bauer said. “We put them in the absinthe ice cream, and they slowly disappear. The sugar from the ice cream sort of eats them up. and you end up with these empty pockets. That’s exactly what happened in the world as modernism took over.”

But the symbolic nature of flavors isn’t the reason for the store’s excessive popularity: it’s the taste. Bauer’s company formulated its own unique ice cream recipe that is often tweaked.

Bauer sets a high bar for her ingredients.

Everything that goes into the ice cream is either locally sourced or fair-trade certified.

Though Bauer acknowledged that it’s more expensive to purchase ingredients directly from farmers, she values the company’s commitment to the community more than its profit margin.

“For us it all goes back to quality, and when we create a company that is a community, we

Reilly Blum

Jeni’s ice cream: Where modernism meets meringue

HERE’S THE SCOOP: Two Jeni’s customers enjoy a few scoops of Jeni Bauer’s handcrafted ice cream. get better quality in the end,” she said.

Elizabeth Brown, a customer who braved the lengthy line for a scoop of “The Milkiest Chocolate in the World,” said that she likes Jeni’s because of the unique, original flavors.

“When we were eating at Star Provisions, there was a line out the door,” she said. This piqued Brown’s curiosity, and she decided to try Jeni’s. After tasting the ice cream just once, she returned for another scoop.

It seems that long, twisting line isn’t just a sign of success. It’s helping to cause it. p

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Sept. 5, 2014

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Old Fourth Ward welcomes new Krog Street Market

STREET SMARTS: Krog Street Market is located in the old Atlanta Stove Works building at 99 Krog Street. The renovated brick buildings will house over 20 vendors.

Photos By Anna Braxton

By Anna Braxton Krog Street tunnel is elaborately covered from floor to ceiling in graffiti, but drive just a bit further on Krog Street and a large metal sign with yellow letters that reads “Stove Works” becomes visible on the horizon. Once home to The Atlanta Stove Works in 1889, 99 Krog Street is the site of Krog Street Market (KSM), a new food hall market in Inman Park.

The property, managed by Atlanta real estate firm Paces Properties, is host to nearly 20 different restaurants and shops including Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, Fred’s Meat and Bread and The Spotted Trotter.

“The idea was to assemble the best chefs and restaurateurs in Atlanta in one location,” George Banks of Paces Properties wrote in an email interview. “The concept has been done before, and we had the benefit of learning from several great food halls already in existence, from the Melrose Market in Seattle to the Ferry Building in San Francisco.”

The Luminary, an American Brasserie from Top Chef alumnus Eli Kirshtein, opened its doors on August 5 as the first restaurant in the market. Kirshtein said he chose the market as the location for his restaurant because of the history.

“I wanted to find a building that had a lot of identity and a lot of personality and had some history,” he said. “And the building, you know, being about 125 years old, I was really happy that I was able to get in some old bones, some old walls, you know, a place that had really seen some things in the city.”

Kirshtein, an Atlanta native, is passionate about the history of his hometown and this can be seen throughout his work.

He named the restaurant after Atlanta’s first newspaper, The Luminary, published in 1846. He hopes Krog Street Market will further help with the development of the city.

“I’m really looking forward to how all of the tenants are going to progress and be kind of an anchor to the community,” Kirshtein said. “I think that it will be interesting just because obviously the whole area has been through a big renaissance over the past few years and I think it’s just going be a good catalyst to make the neighborhood even more appealing.”

Another tenant, Sarah O’Brien, owner and baker at The Little Tart Bakeshop, said she is also looking forward to the collaboration that comes with being a member of Krog Street Market.

“I think that, just like with farmers markets, which is another thing [The Little Tart Bakeshop] loves to do, you de-

velop a really great relationship with the people you work around and you know there’s a lot of feedback and ideas shared,” O’Brien said.

And this is no random group of vendors. The masterminds behind the project at Paces Properties specially picked the tenants of Krog Street Market.

“We looked at other food halls around the country and with the help of a local food writer came up with our merchandising plan,” Banks wrote. “This was a list of the top 20 or so types of uses we wanted in the market—like coffee, bakery, charcuterie, etc.—and then we went and identified who we thought were the best operators in each.”

One of those operators is Yvonne Gu Khan. Khan’s Krog Street Market restaurant, Gu’s Dumplings is a mini version of her larger, full-service authentic Szechuan cuisine restaurant, Gu’s Bistro, located on Buford Highway. Khan said a lot of

her customers came from downtown and felt the area was lacking a good Chinese restaurant, so when the chance to open a small shop in Krog Street Market came about, Khan jumped at the opportunity.

Zahed Khan, Yvonne Gu Khan’s husband, said he thinks Krog Street Market will become a destination in Atlanta.

“Instead of traveling to three to four different restaurants you basically have, you know, the best of Atlanta and you are in one central location,” Zahed said.

Currently only two restaurants, The Luminary and Craft Izakaya, are open in the market, but Banks said he expects all restaurants and shops to be open by Thanksgiving.

“Hopefully KSM will be a place where generations of Atlantans can come to enjoy all sorts of great retail and great food,” Banks wrote. “The kind of place that if you leave town you can’t wait to visit when you return.” p

As I walked into Dragon Bowl, a huge graffiti mural of a dragon leapt out from the left wall. The restaurant was very clean, and its decor was similar Emily Dean to other Doc Chey’s restaurants. Lanterns like those at the Noodle Houses hung from the ceiling, but Dragon Bowl had its own unique touches, like the dragon mural and a chalkboard menu.

Doc Chey’s newest restaurant, which recently transformed from the Noodle House to Dragon Bowl, opened July 22 in Emory Village.

The restaurant, dedicated to sustainability, has the motto: “Keep it simple. Keep it fresh.

Keep it real,” according to the website. The menu changes throughout the year so all ingredients are fresh and local.

As a frequent customer at the Noodle House, I was excited to see what owner Rich Chey had in store with Dragon Bowl.

I ordered my meal at a walk-up counter after deciding from a menu written in colorful chalk on the wall. The style of the menu differs from the Noodle House because customers choose a style, a base, a meat and two vegetables, which are all piled into a bowl. I chose Japanese style (teriyaki glaze, creamy miso sauce and pickled veggies) with “Dragon rice” (quinoa mixed with purple and brown rice), marinated tofu, roasted cauliflower and carrots.

We then got our own drinks from a table next to the counter. I chose water, but the

Anna Braxton

Doc Chey’s Dragon Bowl fires up in Emory Village

DRAGON BOWL Z: A graffiti mural of a dragon, by local artist Brandon Sadler, covers one of the restaurunt’s wall. The unique decor is one of the many things that attracts a variety of customers, from students at nearby Emory University to residents of the surrounding neighborhoods. restaurant also offers iced and hot teas and craft soda.

The food came within five minutes, which, considering the number of people in the restaurant, surprised me. Unfortunately, I was given broccoli instead of the carrots, but I didn’t really mind. The presentation was well-done, with the food neatly arranged in little piles and covered in sauce.

In fact, the first thing I tasted was the sauce, a teriyaki glaze and creamy miso sauce drizzled generously over the food. It was definitely well made, however, it tasted much saltier and a little bit more bitter than I expected. It still complemented

the rest of the food, which was delicious. I would definitely try Thai or Chinese style instead of Japanese if I go again.

The cauliflower was fluffy, and the broccoli was bursting with flavor. My favorite part of the meal was the “Dragon rice” at the bottom of the bowl. Since it didn’t have very much of the sauce on it, I found the flavor very subtle. It ended up being the best part of the dish. The tofu was also wellprepared and not too dry. It absorbed a lot of the flavor from the surrounding food, and the outside was crispy with a soft inside. Marinated lightly in soy sauce, vinegar and sugar, the sweetness contrasted nicely

with the slightly bitter sauce.

The price for the meal was just under $10, which I thought was steep until I realized the sheer amount of food I was getting; I left very full, along with a takeout container stuffed to the brim.

The waiters checked on us frequently throughout the meal, and seemed to be genuinely happy to be working there.

Overall, I had an enjoyable experience eating at Dragon Bowl. The staff was friendly, the food was fresh and well-made and the servings were huge.

Dragon Bowl is located in the heart of Emory Village at 1556 N. Decatur Rd. p

sports

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Sept. 5, 2014

Top Golf gives clientele over-the-top golf experience GLOWING GOLF: Throughout the night, Top Golf is illuminated by bright, colorful lights.The outside shines with a large,neon sign and trees that frame the walkway (top left).Each target hole in the driving range glows a different color (bottom left).

The balls,which are equipped with GPS tracking,confirm the distance and location where the ball lands. The driving range has three levels of bays (bottom right).

Each group is given one bay, which offers a different perspective of the range.

Photos by Matt Wood

Across the country, there are nine Top Golf locations, and Georgia is home to one of them.

Top Golf is a high-tech, interactive, three-stoMatt Wood ry driving range with features such as microchipped golf balls (to track accuracy and distnace), comfortable “bays” equipped with televisions and couches, complimentary clubs, unlimited balls and a number of challenging accuracy and distance games. It is a driving range experience like no other.

Upon entering Top Golf Alpharetta, I was greeted by a long line at the front desk and waited about 15 minutes to pay. That seemed to be the only inconvenience however, other than its location (Soon though, the distance from the city will not be an issue.

Top Golf is coming to Midtown with plans of building a new venue near Georgia Tech.

The new site is expected to open its doors in the Spring of 2015). After I paid for the hourly rate, I was escorted by an amicable employee to the dock I had been assigned.

The docks are about 64 square feet and can accommodate up to six people. Each one has at least two couches, a television and a hitting mat that faces the field of targets.

Right behind the mat is a mounted screen that displays how many points each shot is worth and the distance of each shot. Each golf ball has a GPS tracker which allows each shot to be measured.

There are a variety of games available on the computers that make for great friendly competition and that can improve your golf game drastically. These games challenge your short game, driving and midrange ability, and can help improve accuracy with different clubs. Each game gives you 20 balls and scores them differently depending on what mode on which you are playing. There are five game modes including Top Drive, Top Chip, Top Pressure, Top Shot and Top Golf.

Top Drive is a distance-based game in which participants get more points for hitting targets further from the tee box. Top Chip rewards patrons for hitting targets at shorter distances to improve their short game. Top Pressure tests one’s ability to consistently vary distance

on shots, without hitting the same target twice. In Top Shot, the user is required to hit a longer distance each shot, or else points are deducted. In the final, and most basic game, Top Golf, the golfer is not tested in an individual skill, but in all-around ability.

From a golf standpoint, Top Golf is one of the best ways to improve your skill. Despite its glitz and glam, Top Golf still functions as a traditional driving range, even though it charges an hourly rate for a bay, as opposed to charging per bucket of balls. Another sig-

nificant aspect that makes Top Golf stand out from the crowd is that they provide clubs, although you can also bring your own.

The most significant difference between Top Golf and a traditional driving range is the atmosphere. I would suggest going to Top Golf for a party or as a group, because the hourly rate is the same, as long your party size does not exceed six.

Top Golf stands out for its exciting atmosphere, which is even more festive after dark.

At night, the glowing lights come on, and

the driving range almost turns into a club.

With the building lit up and occasional appearances of DJs, Top Golf Alpharetta stays open until 2 a.m. on the weekends, making it the place to be for late night links.

Whether you own a green jacket, or have never held a club before, Top Golf offers you a great time. Thanks to its modern technology and friendly staff, I highly recommend it. If you are interested in going out and hitting alone, however, it pays to go to a regular driving range. q

Athletic director starts job one month after day one

By Grace Dusenbury On Sept. 2, Principal Timothy Guiney announced Myss Johnson-Jelks was hired to be the new athletic director.

She started on Sept. 5.

The hiring process for the athletic director took longer than expected because of personnel challenges that Guiney could not elaborate on. Getting the final approval for the athletic director, was difficult due to the hiring of many new personnel within the school system.

Due to last year’s football player address fraud, Coach Kathleen Washington was dismissed from the Grady High School staff, leaving Grady without an athletic director for the first month of school. As fall sports began, issues usually handled by Washington fell to coaches and players.

Athletic directors do a lot of behind the scenes work in a school’s athletic department. They handle paperwork, check athletes’ academic eligibility, manage budgets and transportation, schedule home and away games and deal with conflicts between coaches, parents and students.

Although schools are not legally required to have them, athletic directors make a school’s athletic department run much more smoothly.

“I have taught at schools that didn’t have an AD and thought that there were issues that were not properly addressed in some situations,” said Jeff Cramer, Grady’s cross-country coach. “Keeping all sports running smoothly during each season is a delicate balance at times. A final authority [one step below the principal] is good.”

Grady’s new principal, Timothy Guiney, was hard Cramer, like other Grady coaches, worked hard to ensure that all his athletes are eligible to participate in com- pressed to replace Washington in her absence.

By Aug. 25, however, Guiney had made significant propetitions. He reached out to the Lakewood High School athletic director to certify his roster, but had some trouble gression in finding a new athletic director.

“We have gone through the interview process, and the in other areas.

“The problem is with transfers and with exchange students,” person has not officially been hired considering hiring is Cramer said. “These cases require separate forms to be filed contingent on district approval,” Guiney said.

“I don’t think [not having an athletic director] has afand verified by the registrar and the school principal.”

Cross country wasn’t the only sport that suffered from fected the school adversely,” Guiney said.

For the month of August, Guiney worked with Jasper a month of lacking an athletic director. Junior volleyball player Anna Poznyak, a new student from Russia, was Jewell, the interim district athletic director for APS, to make sure all athletes were eligiinelligable to compete until ble to play in fall sports. Although Sept. 2. This eligibility delay Keeping all sports running Guiney said Jewell was very helpcaused her to miss eight volsmoothly during each season is a ful and responsive, he was excited leyball matches. delicate balance at times.” to welcome a new athletic direc“The only thing I feel is tor and start building a strong rethat everything is too long,” lationship between the new hire Poznyak said while she was Jeff Cramer and the Grady community. still inelligable. “I am eager to play, but I just cannot beCross-country coach “We are just working as quickly as possible, and are eager to cause of my documents. It just get an athletic director aboard,” stresses me out and I am a bit Guiney said before the hire. “Once we have final approval, angry and so on.”

Up until a replacement athletic director was hired, it and the person is able to come on board we will set up a was hard to say when Poznyak would have been able to meet greet that will provide the opportunity for that pertake the court, especially considering the fact that no one, son to meet and interact with our community.” including Poznyak, received much information on the staPlease see our next issue for a feature profile on Grady's tus of her her paperwork. new athletic director. q

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sports

Sept. 5, 2014

23

By Brett Pollock After last year’s address fraud scandal involving the football team, many parents, spectators, students, and even players had doubts about the football program in the season to come. The fallout included the loss of Ronnie Millen, head football coach for nine years, as well as athletic director Kathleen Washington, and 14 student athletes.

“We lost a bunch of key players, but I saw it kind of like every other season when key players graduate,” junior kicker Christian Peterson said. “I didn’t look at it as us becoming worse from the loss. I thought it would bring us closer and make Grady football more about the team. All the changes in the coaching staff made it seem like a completely new team that needed as much help as we could get, especially since the team got a lot smaller.”

Earthwind Moreland, who played at Georgia Southern University and in the NFL as a cornerback from 2000 to 2008, took the reins as head football coach. He also previously served as a coach under Millen. Moreland says he works hard with the team during practice to build on the success of past seasons.

“I’m trying to build on what they have,” Moreland said. “They were known to have at least eight or more wins every season, but I want to take it to another level by enhancing what we already had.”

The majority of players returning from last year’s 8-3 team enjoy Moreland’s coaching style.

They prefer the way he coaches and runs practices to how they were run in past years. Moreland stated that he mostly does the

KEEGAN HASSON

Football team tackles season with new coach, plan

HUDDLE UP: Moreland brings the team in for an intense third quarter huddle during their game against Washington. Soon after, the team scored the go-ahead touchdown. same drills as before, but he adds seen so far. Both the players and ing along,” Moreland said. “They “We have a pretty tough schedhis own touch.

Moreland pointed out the team’s are young, not necessarily in age ule from top to bottom, so we “I like his style of coaching new players have a lot of raw tal- or classification but in playing just have to come in and be ready better,” Amyr Smith, a senior ent, but are young to the game of experience, so it remains to be to go to work every week,” Mowide receiver, cornerback, free football and are in need of more seen how they will adapt to live reland said. “I believe the team saftey and quarterback said of game experience. contact. That’s what I’m really is excited to get back to playing Moreland’s approach. “He’s more Marlon Character, a junior free looking forward to, them devel- football and just seeing the fans about exposure, he talks to col- safety, wide receiver and corner- oping.” out there, running up and down leges to help us get into schools. back is also optimistic about the This year, the team will also the field and going hard.”

He’s also more interactive, he team’s youth and potential. He play in a new region (Region The preseason football game doesn’t sit in his office because believes the team’s strengths are 6-AAAA) against much tougher on Aug. 16 was a home game he’s out there with us.” the skill set positions, although teams compared to previous sea- against Mays High School. Since Many of the players say they they don’t have as much strength sons. The opponents in the up- it was just a preseason game, the believe in the team and have a in their inexperienced defensive coming season include St. Pius varsity teams played three 12good feeling about the upcoming and offensive lines.

X, Marist, Arabia Mountain, Li- minute quarters. Grady won in a season based on what they have “Our linemen are really com- thonia and Columbia. comeback 21-20. p

Despite growth, YCC team ultimately disappoints NOT A STONE’S THROW AWAY: The YCC ATLiens traveled all the way to Blaine, Minn. for their tournament. Chris Carson, a Grady alum, grabs the disc mid-flight for the ATLiens (top left). Paideia School senior Daniel Sperling pours milk down the throat of Vincent James, a Grady senior, in order to prepare for the team’s next match (bottom left).

Grady graduates Riley Erickson and Sebbi DiFrancesco hug after a crucial point (bottom right). Both were team captains of Grady’s team.

Photos by Rob Barwnell

By Graham Russell The Youth Club Championships, known as YCC, is one of the biggest youth ultimate Frisbee tournaments in the country. The tournament attracts some of the best young talent in the nation. For YCC 2014, the ATLiens, a team with eight players who have played at some point for Grady, traveled to Blaine, Minn., where the tournament is held every year, hoping to defend their national title.

In 2013, the ATLiens competed in the tournament for the second time and shocked the competition by winning the U-19 national championship. The YCC 2014 team included students from high schools all around Atlanta, as well as eight Grady students and alumni: Riley Erickson, Vincent James, Michael Dillard, Chris Brown, Josh Weinstock, Noah Li, Sebbi Di Francesco and Chris Carson.

The team entered the tournament as the No. 1 overall seed, and won its way to the semifinal, where it faced the North Carolina TriForce. Victory seemed assured as Atlanta went up 3-0, and led at the half 7-4. They lost the lead, however, and TriForce was able to score four points in a row to end the game. The ATLiens lost 9-8 in the semifinal match.

TriForce would go on to win the national championship over the ninth seeded team, Cincinnati Flying Pig, 13-9.

“The experience was surreal,” Grady graduate Sebastian DiFrancesco said. “We were the best team there in my opinion.

We were a point away from another national championship.”

While the ATLiens had many returning players, the squad was definitely different from last year. Although the team completely reconstructed its offensive line, its eager new players showed little drop in skill from last year’s lineup. Despite the roster turnover, the team felt prepared to compete at an elite level and return to Atlanta with another national title.

Although they missed out on its chance for a back-to-back

national championship, the Atlanta team members have plenty of reasons to hold their heads high. The players had many standout performances and fought hard to make it to the semifinals. The future for Atlanta ultimate is bright.

Atlanta’s U-16 team, ATLas, won bronze in the U-16 YCC

division and also impressed spectators. The players on this squad will feed into the U-19 team later, keeping the program strong. Atlanta ultimate Frisbee is growing incredibly fast, and hopes to return to the tournament stronger than ever in 2015. p

the Sports section

thesoutherneronline.com

HENRY W. GRADY HIGH SCHOOL, ATLANTA

Sept. 5, 2014

VOLUME LXIX, NUMBER 1

FALL SEASON Update Softball

Cross Country

By Anna Braxton The varsity volleyball team started the season off strong with a 2-1 win over Banneker High School on Aug. 11. The second match took a different turn when Langston Hughes High School defeated Grady 3-0 on Aug. 14. The team rebounded and has gone on to win eight more matches. The team has 12 more matches before the season ends in mid-October.

The team lost the only two freshmen players, Rachel Hasson and Callie Thweatt due to injuries. Junior Jewel Smith no longer holds the position of setter due to a hand injury; she has, however, taken on different roles, becoming a more dynamic and reliable player for the team according to senior Sam Bowie.

Aliya Maloof, Sam Bowie and Sydni Dunovant are three seniors to watch on the varsity volleyball team. p

By Jenni Rogan With 10 games under its belt—and only one win against Langston Hughes High School (20-14)—the softball team is in for a difficult season. Last year’s team ended up 3-10 but lost its first two in a row in previous seasons. The team also has four new freshmen on the team, Madison Blanton, Simone Anicette, Eva Arnold and Alissia Carliel.

The season will end in early October, unless the team advances. In the next couple of weeks, the team will play Chamblee (Sept. 9), Charles Drew (Sept. 10 and Sept.

29), Marist (Sept. 15), St. Pius (Sept. 18), Arabia Mountain (Sept. 23), Greater Atlanta Christian (Sept. 24) and Columbia (Sept. 25). p

By Jenni Rogan Despite the fact that the team’s first meet, originally scheduled for Sept. 3, was canceled due to inclement weather, the cross-country team has begun its 2014 season strong. The team, which officially began its season on Aug. 1 after having informal practices throughout the summer, plans to have cross-country meets every Wednesday until the end of the season in November. The team also participates in invitationals. The team’s next invitational is on Sept. 27 at Conyers Horse Park.

Two freshmen to watch on the varsity team are Colleen Griffin and Aidan Goldston. There are four eighth-graders from Inman’s cross country team who have been offered a position on the junior varsity team. p

Grace Powers

AnDERS RUSSELL

Madeline Veira

Volleyball

UP IN THE AIR: Aliya Maloof sets up a spike for a fellow teammate.

HARDBALL: A Grady batter steps into the box in a game against Pace.

UPHILL BATTLE: The boys and girls cross country teams practice hill drills.

Fantasy sports’ dedicated competitors defy its name For more than 50 years friends and family have flocked to their televisions to watch the National Football League. Today fans can add a competitive, bondConrad Newton ing experience to watching football each and every week by playing fantasy football.

Fantasy sports are huge, but like most great things, they came from humble beginnings.

The founding of fantasy sports started with America’s pastime. Years ago in a small restaurant, La Rotisserie Francaise, in New York City, a group of baseball fanatics founded the Rotisserie League. These men, led by Daniel Okrent, are the Founding Fathers of the modern-day world of fantasy sports.

Fantasy sports is now a multibillion dollar

industry with more than 35 million players, according to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association. The most popular, however, with over an estimated 28 million players, is fantasy football. The NFL is the most watched sport association in America, and Super Bowl XLVIII was the most watched TV event in United States history with 111.5 million viewers. Thirteen percent of all Americans play fantasy sports.

In fantasy football, you draft players from different NFL teams onto your personal fantasy team. From there you set your lineup each week and go head to head with members of your league. In most leagues, you start one quarterback, two running backs, a flex (wide receiver or running back), a tight end, a defense and a kicker. The “owner” whose team scores the most fantasy points wins the game for that week. You earn points when your players do well in that week’s real games. For

example, in a standard league, if your running back rushes for 10 yards, that equates to one fantasy point. Then, if he scores a touchdown, he earns you six fantasy points. Knowing which players to pick up and start each week is what makes a good player.

I have always enjoyed college football. I never really thought too much of pro football because my favorite team, the New England Patriots, were never on local TV. This all changed last year when I joined a local Grady fantasy league.

A friend mentioned he was playing and there were open spots, so I told the commissioner to sign me up. It was a 12-man league, mainly comprised of Grady students. I didn’t know how it worked so I did a bunch of research the night before the draft to learn how to play and who to pick. Soon, I was watching practically every game basic cable offered, constantly checking my phone for updates,

and spending an obscene amount of time setting my weekly lineup. My season started off slowly with a 0-2 start, but I ended up making the playoffs and getting second place after losing in the championship game.

When playing fantasy football, nothing is better than watching all the games on Sunday night with friends, family and, in some cases, opponents. You can watch any game and be interested because virtually every game has an impact on your fantasy team.

You become friends with your league members and find yourself talking with random strangers about who to start this week. You will find yourself more knowledgeable about the sport than most, and best of all, you will have a jolly time. Anyone and everyone should play, especially if you consider yourself a sports fan. Simply put, fantasy football makes football more fun, and there is nothing better than that. p

Grady Sports Score Central: August/September FOOTBALL Grady 20, Washington 14 (Aug. 23) Grady 20, Carver 16 (Sept. 5) VOLLEYBALL Grady 2, Banneker 1 (Aug. 11) Langston Hughes 3, Grady 0 (Aug. 14) Grady 2, Jackson 1 (Aug. 21) Grady 2, North Atlanta 1 (Aug. 21) Grady 2, Carver 0 (Aug. 28) Grady 2, North Atlanta 0 (Aug. 28)

Grady 2, Arabia Mountain 0 (Sept. 2) Grady 2, Jonesboro 0 (Sept. 2) Grady 2, Mays 0 (Sept. 4) Grady 2, Therrell 0 (Sept. 4) Grady 2, Redan 0 (Sept. 9) Grady 2, Lithonia 1 (Sept. 9) Grady 2, North Atlanta 0 (Sept. 11) SOFTBALL Mays 19, Grady 18 (Aug. 12) North Atlanta 16, Grady 0 (Aug. 13)

South Atlanta 14, Grady 2 (Aug. 18) Pace Academy 17, Grady 0 (Aug. 20) Grady 20, Langston Hughes 14 (Aug. 25) Carver 19, Grady 2 (Aug. 27) Mays 12, Grady 4 (Sept. 5) Chamblee 14, Grady 1 (Sept. 9) WATERPOLO APS 15, Lakeside 14 (Aug. 9) APS A 6, Blue Devil B 4 (Aug. 9) Lakeside A 14, APS A 7 (Aug.10)

APS A 8, Wildcats 6 (Aug. 10) Wesleyan 14, APS B 3 (Aug. 14) APS A 8, St. Pius B 7 (Aug. 17) Pace 12, APS A 6 (Aug. 27) Lakeside 15, APS 5 (Sep. 7) Collins Hill 8, APS 4 (Sep. 7) Dalton 12, APS A 11 (Sept. 7) Pope 14, APS B 8 (Sept. 7) APS B 15, Cambridge 8 (Sept. 7) Wesleyan 12, APS B 2 (Sept. 9)

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