March 28th, 2008 - MVHS Viewer

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Friday, March 28, 2008

INBRIEF

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Volume 54

photo courtesy of Tana Haider

MV’s Cheerleading Competition Squad received second out of eight teams in the Small Varsity section of the Champion Spirit Group (CSG) Nationals in Wisconsin Dells on March 8-9. The girls competed at the Wisconsin Convention Center against 43 teams overall. Above, the team performs one of their various cheers for the judges.

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<mvviewer@yahoo.com>

Optional vaccines At your fingertips still beneficial staff writer

photo by Debbie Li

I E W

Issue 9

By Marysa Meyer

MV’s annual Physics Fair (above) was held in the gym on Monday, March 10.

Seniors in Matt Washenberger and Mike Cartwright’s physics classes formed groups of four to create a chain reaction that demonstrated concepts they’d learned. During the day, local TV network KARE 11 filmed a brief segment of the fair for broadcast.

V

By the time students reach high school, many have already received the immunizations our state and district require.

Currently, there are six vaccines that students entering high school are required to have: Hepatitis B, Diphtheria Tetanus and Pertussis, Polio, Measles Mumps Rubella, Haemophilis influenzae, and Varicella.

Besides these, many recently approved vaccines, while not required, are extremely beneficial and highly recommended by doctors.

One of them is Gardasil, the vaccine for Human Papillomavirus, commonly known as HPV. Approved in June of 2006 for widespread use in the medical field, Gardasil is administered to prevent cervical cancer and genital warts in women.

According to Health Assistant Jane Watson, new vaccines like Gardasil and Meningococcal are not required by the state.

Watson said she “highly doubts that they’ll require [the HPV and meningococcal] vaccines anytime in the near future.”

Despite this, these vaccines are highly recommended for kids and teens that attend public school, and are administered routinely. In a recent study, healthcare company GlaxoSmithKline reported that Gardasil had prevented 90 percent of new infections and all persistent infections. Because of its results, the product has been heavily advertised this past year,

and has attracted the attention of many women and girls nationwide.

“I’m going to get the vaccine because it seems like a good precaution against HPV. My doctor recommended it to me,” said Marit Sundberg, 10.

As early as 2009, the same benefits of Gardasil could be extended to boys as well.

Hundreds of thousands of new cases of HPV occur in the United States each year. Since HPV is a sexually transmitted disease, vaccinating boys with Gardasil could help prevent the disease from spreading as quickly as it does now.

Another immunization not required by the state, but highly recommended, is the Meningococcal vaccine. This vaccine prevents meningitis, the infection of the fluid that surrounds a person’s spinal cord and brain. Considering that the disease is extremely contagious where large groups of people congregate, most doctors in the United States recommend it to their patients. “[The meningococcal vaccine] is very important in a dormitory situation where people are in close contact with one another,” said Watson.

Though there is a small chance these new vaccines could become mandatory, some students at Mounds View believe that doing so would be beneficial.

“If they’re going to help you prevent diseases that could potentially kill you, then why wouldn’t you get them?” said Marie Kukielka, 10.

photo by Sabrina Zappa

Fingerprint scanners, used in place of student ID or PIN numbers, are becoming more prevalent across state schools

By Divya Gupta staff writer

About 500 school districts across the nation have begun replacing student ID numbers and cards with new fingerprint scanners. The devices serve a multitude of purposes, replacing library checkout cards, lunch pin numbers, and ID cards at school dances and games.

The scanners, which consist of small blue or black rectangles with a scanning strip in the center, verify a person’s identity by scanning the index finger.

Currently, fewer than 20 schools employ this technology in Minnesota. However, the number is expected to rise.

Schools in South Washington County, St. Paul Park and East Ridge are voting on using scanners as early as next year.

Academy of Holy Angels, a high school in Richfield, has been using fingerprint scanners for the past three years.

According to AHA student Samantha Able, 11, the scanners are used in place of PIN (personal identification numbers) to pay for lunches in the cafeteria.

“Once we've gotten our food, we place our index finger on the scanner pad. It's hooked up to a computer monitor, and the lunch supervisor person can see how much money we have in our lunch accounts, whether or not we've bought food that day, and what we bought. Then they use a keypad to enter in the food on

photo courtesy of Lazybit.com

our trays, and money is automatically taken from our account to pay for it,” explained Able.

According to Bob Engen, owner of Educational Biometric Technology, the company which supplies the scanners, records are not kept of the fingerprints— meaning fraud is virtually impossible. However, many still see the scanners as the first in a line of measures designed to take away students' rights.

“It seems a little bit extreme,” said Jamie Stiernagle, 11. “Is punching in a six-digit [PIN] number really that difficult?”

Principal Julie Wikelius agrees that the issue is a controversial one.

“If Mounds View were ever to consider the technology, there would be a lot of discussion about what it would be like regarding the fingerprints and security,” she said.

Besides privacy, another concern surrounding the scanners is price. The software itself costs $450, in addition to $450 more for each individual scanner.

Yet AHA students think the scanners are an appropriate use of their school’s budget.

“Lunch is short enough as it is without having to waste time in line waiting for the person in front of you to remember their PIN,” Able said.

Unfortunately for supporters of scanners in the Mounds View district, there seems to be no near future for them at MV.

New laws could drive teens off road

By Brooke Roberts staff writer

Although Claire Herber is a junior and already 16, she doesn’t feel pressure to get her driver’s license.

“My parents can drive me if I need to go anywhere, and I just don’t really feel like I need it yet,” she said.

More and more teens like Herber are waiting to get their licenses. The Federal Highway Administration says that the number of 16-year-olds with drivers’ licenses has dropped from about one half to about one third in the last ten years.

According to a poll of MV students, 34 percent received their licenses at age 16, 56 percent received them at age 17, and 20 percent at age 18 or over.

This decrease in teen driving could be furthered by new driving restrictions state lawmakers are attempting to pass.

In April of 2007, the state senate voted to pass a bill that would increase restrictions for new drivers.

According to State

Representative Paul Gardner, the bill, “Has technically been in the House since it was passed by the Senate, but we haven’t voted on it yet.”

If the bill passes the House vote, it will implement restrictions on drivers in their first year of having a license.

Specifically, within the first six months of receiving their licenses, drivers cannot have passengers under the age of 20 who are not immediate family members between midnight and 5 a.m. unless they are driving between home, work, or school, or are with a licensed driver who is at least 25.

In the second six months, the driver cannot have more than three passengers under the age of 20 who are not immediate family in the vehicle.

Besides these proposed changes, the state has already passed laws banning the use of cell phones for drivers under 18, and requiring seatbelts for those being driven by people with provisional licenses (under 18).

Laws like these have already been implemented in Wisconsin.

Courtney Werner, 12, says this would not be a good idea for Minnesota because “teenagers carpool to school and to sports.”

“If Minnesota started enforcing rules like that it would be difficult for students to get to, or home from, sports after school,” she said.

Even without these new laws, though, students are taking longer to take their driver’s exams. According to BusinessWeek magazine, parents are more willing to drive their kids, even though they have to work.

Sarah Vetsch, 11, is 17 and said she doesn’t seem to mind getting rides from her parents.

“I don’t really care if my parents drive me places,” she said. “Sometimes [the car rides] can be the longest time we’ll talk in that day.”

Insurance costs for teen drivers have also been increasing.

According to Car Insurance Reports, people between the ages of 15 and 20 are more likely to get into accidents than drivers of any other age.

Teens are also more likely to

photo illustration by David Derong

David Larrabee, 12, is one of many students who drive to and from school.

However, a new bill is being pushed through the Capitol that would limit the time of day teens can drive and how many passengers are allowed in the vehicle. Currently, the bill has been passed by the Senate and is awaiting approval by the House.

speed than other drivers, and one speeding ticket can increase the cost of their entire insurance.

With rapidly climbing insur-

ance costs and possibly new restrictions on teen drivers, fewer teens than ever could be navigating the roads.

2editorials

op T 10 Signs spring is here

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Heating vents finally kicked in

The average senior’s GPA just dropped by a point

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Jae Chang saw his shadow

Work ethic going... going...

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...gone.

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Visions of senior pranks danced in their heads...

You aren’t sprinting from the parking lot Somewhere to go besides class now

March 28, 2008

Gender divide needs reinforcement

By Dan Heaney staff writer

The average graduation rate of a public school in Harlem is terrible. However, at Frederick Douglass Academy, a public school in Harlem, every student in the ’07 class was in line to graduate and continue to college life. Every single one.

A large reason for their success, it seems, was dedicated attention paid to male students, the troubled children of New York City.

Gregory Hodge, the principal of this school, explains the changes that he made upon becoming principal about 13 years ago.

“I once had about 15 boys very close to dropping out,” the principal said according to a recent Time Magazine article, “The Myth About Boys.”

He continued,“They weren’t into sports. I had to find something for them to get into.

Finally I made a recording stu-

dio for the little meatheads, and they ran with that. All of them made it through to graduation.

I’ll try anything—dance, chess, hydroponics, robotics—anything to let these kids know that this is a world they can fit into, where they can be successful.”

Unfortunately, this is not a good indicator of the current state of education for boys.

Many schools, though, hope to have similar success next year, when 360 same-gender classrooms will be offered in public schools.

It seems that ever since the women’s rights movement, it has been considered taboo to even consider the idea that there could be something fundamentally different about the way that boys and girls educate themselves. But since the 1990s, numerous different studies have offered some startling data.

The studies have consistently suggested that, as a whole, boys are less likely than girls to apply to college, more likely to

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Administration has to relearn dress code... fast

Skip days.

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2007-2008 Viewer Editors Editor-in-Chief Anna Brockway Managing Editor Alice Liu News Belle Lin Editorials Andrew Larkin Commentary Sam Louwagie Features Abby House Kathleen Gormley Spread Lauren Peake Vicky Kelberer Variety Alicia Hilgers Reviews TT Phan Sports Chelsy Mateer Andy Madsen Gallery Ashley Aram Business Manager Elizabeth Steele Photographers/Artists Nate Grann David Derong Debbie Li Advisor Martha Rush Assistant Advisor David Weinberg Staff - Cassie Ahiers, Colin Anderson, Karly Bergmann, Anna Blaske, Sean Delahunt, Divya Gupta, Dan Heaney, Alex Hoffman, John Liu, Marysa Meyer, Sean Moore, Collin Nisler, Brandon Osero, Shaked Peleg, Ross Peterson, Brooke Roberts, Maddy Stephens, Emily Storms, Sam Toninato, Kristen Vanderburg, Sarah Wang, Christina Xia, Kirstin Yanisch, Sabrina Zappa

The Viewer is published by the student editors at: Mounds View High School 1900 Lake Valentine Road Arden Hills, Minnesota The Viewer is printed by: ECM Publishers, Inc.

photo by David Derong

Kevin Anderson, 12, struggles with focusing in a conventional environment and distracts his classmate, Megan Sparke, 12.

FOUND:

By Karly Bergmann staff writer

“MISSING! Doug, a Robo Mongolian hamster. If found, call ************, Reward: 50¢” Unfortunately, I’ll never know for sure if Doug was found. However, in the same way I learned about Doug’s disappearance (by finding a poster on the ground), I have learned many other fascinating things about life around Mounds View.

Over the last two years, I’ve been able to fill an entire manila envelope with my “founds,” a term inspired by the series of books by Davy Rothbart entitled Found: The Best Lost, Tossed, and Forgotten Items from Around the World.

The books are filled with photocopied notes, love letters, sketches, papers, and postcards sent in by people around the world. I instantly fell in love with the books and was happy to discover that there was a Found magazine that also published “founds.”

Some of my favorite “founds” also happens to be the ones that have taught me the most. A notebook outlining the rules for a

abuse drugs, less eager to learn, and worse at reading. Other studies showed that the percentage of the boy population in prison is much greater than the percentage of girl population.

This new research seemed to open the door to more discussion about the two different genders and how they worked.

Ultimately, it made our parents’ generation wonder where they had gone wrong in raising their boys. Once again, research was done, and it was found that many schools catered to the learning style of women. As a group, they had become academically superior and were much more likely to advance in their education.

What this seems to prove is that while it may not provide drastic change, different teaching styles can greatly benefit some groups, while hurting others.

The way a boy retains information is different from the way a girl learns. Generally, boys need to experiment much more to understand concepts, and getting in the way with too much direction can be very harmful.

In “The Myth About Boys,” it was suggested that experimentation is widely disregarded as just a disruption to the learning curve. And whenever a boy becomes jittery or impatient, he is scolded. Studies show that boys diagnosed with ADD and ADHD far outnumber girls diagnosed with the same diseases.

In the Time article, elementary school teacher Mike Miller from North Carolina said, “A boy will get a reputation as hell on wheels that follows him from one teacher to the next, and soon they’re coming down on him even before he screws up. So he learns to hate school.”

This seems to be just one of many disadvantages boys face.

In an even more recent article in The New York Times, Leonard

Sax, a family physician and author, was interviewed on educational biases. He now teaches a tutorial on the proper educational techniques for boys.

He explains how, in art classes, for instance, the comments that boys are getting are rather discouraging.

“To say [to a boy]: ‘Why don’t you use more colors?

Why don’t you put someone in the vehicle?’ is as discouraging as if you say to Emily, ‘Well, this is nice, but why don’t you have one of them kick the other one — give us some action,’” Sax said.

Given the information, I think it would be ignorant to suggest that in the same environment, the educational success of a boy and a girl will be the same. It is obvious to me that, as a boy, I need a more hands-on approach and a little more space, to be taught as effectively as girls are.

In the Time article, Margaret Anderson, the mother of a boy that attends an all-boy camp, said, “When no one’s looming over them [boys], they begin making choices of their own.”

She continued, “They discover consequences and learn to take responsibility for themselves and their emotions. They start learning self-discipline, selfconfidence, team building. If we don’t let kids work through their own problems, we get a generation of whiners.”

So what’s the problem with same-sex classrooms? If there is a way to optimize learning for both sexes, I think that there is no reason not to. I, for one, could easily envision elementary schools offering same-sex classrooms. But to automatically dismiss something that is scientifically likely to optimize all our students’ learning doesn’t make sense to me.

Hobbies, Insight, Excitement!

secret club called “12 Gauge” gave me insight to the secret underground societies at Mounds View, and into students’ love of the movie Fight Club.

Rule #1 reads almost identically to the first rule of Fight Club: “Do not speak of any operation/personnel related to 12-G.” A heart-wrenching note from one girl to her “BFF,” who was moving away, has taught me about the depth of emotions that can be found in the seemingly shallow halls of a high school.

She writes (eliminating punctuation for special flair), “I will never forget your name or you don’t forget to call me if you don’t know my number ask *****.”

The purpose of this hobby isn’t to expose any secrets or embarrass anyone, so I usually black out the names on personal “founds.” People shouldn’t be worried about being publicly humiliated in any way; if anything, I’d like to inspire others to start collecting “founds” and enjoying the unique insights into another’s life.

I love the idea of discovering the true character of an anonymous person. The notes and doodles I find in the halls of Mounds

View were never meant to be read by me, if by anyone at all, and therefore provide the most honest look into someone’s life, be it humorous or heartbreaking.

The unabashed truthfulness in a single “found” can teach me more about a person than an hour-long conversation, and the way the notes and doodles were carelessly scrawled seems more human to me than any answer to a personal question ever could be.

By collecting these tossedaway pieces of paper, I’m also collecting little bits of Mounds View’s true culture.

People have already been catching the finding bug and have been bringing me their quality “founds.” One example of this is the BFF letter mentioned above. Who knows? Maybe one day Mounds View will have a Found magazine of its own. Until then, I’d like to leave you with the immortal words of the founder of 12-Gauge, found in the notebook between the rules section, original poetry, and a recipe for Boz-Ko-Kee, the tradiphotos by Sabrina Zappa tional dish of Korea, “Pepsi pretends to care about graphic by Nate Grann kids.”

These are things Karly Bergmann, 11, “found.”

March 28, 2008

YouTube scare: Shutdown exposes web threat

By John Liu staff writer

The complexity of the Internet is usually a good thing: It enables almost any two connected places on Earth to send and receive information almost instantaneously. Once in a while this might become a problem— when a large institution experiences connection problems due to an outage of some sort, hardware deterioration, or human error—but the damage and inconvenience will still be relatively limited.

The true vulnerability of the Internet is only experienced in a global failure, and the recent YouTube shutdown is only a mere glimpse of what could happen.

On Feb. 24, the Pakistani government, retaliating against several videos perceived to be offensive to the Islamic religion, ordered to block the website within the country. The original plan to carry out the block was to reroute all requests to YouTube coming from Pakistan to an Internet dead-end.

According to CNET News, sometime around 12:48 a.m.

CST on the same day one Pakistani Internet service provider began erroneously sending out information to the rest of the world that the best way to reach YouTube was through its server. When other Internet providers worldwide received the information, they automatically directed their own clients to the Pakistani provider, and as planned, they all ended up nowhere.

The global outage continued for another two hours, during which YouTube engineers worked to resolve the problem, and the website regained avail-

ability at 2:51 a.m.

Even though this episode pertains only to one specific website, it shows that the Internet can be quite easily manipulated. While the error of the Pakistani Telecom company in question was inadvertent, what could a person with malicious intent do?

Conservatively, there might be tens of thousands of people who attempted to reach YouTube in those two hours. An unscrupulous photo by Debbie Li administrator, if given the chance, YouTube briefly shut down on Feb. 24, sending a could easily switch scare through the Internet community. the blank page into side of the world, as the unsusa page full of advertisements, a pecting Visa users type in their virus-ridden website, or worse, web address, unbeknownst to a fake YouTube website designed to trap user passwords. them, they go straight to the “poisoned” server, and are rediConsider Internet users lucky rected to a fake Visa banking that the only damage this time website. Never suspecting that was two hours without the website might be fake—they YouTube. typed the address correctly, Secondly, there should be after all—hardly anyone will absolutely zero possibility that suspect that this might be a forlines of code by a Telecom gery. company located in remote Hopefully the YouTube Pakistan be able to control the shutdown will alarm Internet flow of information by other service providers enough that completely unrelated Internet they’ll actually verify informavisitors. tion in order to steer clear from It speaks volumes about the the misdirection of users. security issues and real and The problem was found via potential threats facing everythe global shutdown of an enterone nationwide. tainment website, which was Consider a quite possible relatively harmless. Let’s hope scenario. A hijacked server that next time it happens, it sends information out, claiming won’t compromise more secure that the best way to reach the Visa account website is through information on such a great scale. that server only. On the other

commentary3 FBI scans eyes, keeps watch

By Brandon Osero staff writer

Imagine a world where everyone’s physical features are compiled into databases. Every drive someone takes is recorded. To enter a building, one has to use a retina scan to make sure they aren’t criminals.

Of course, if this person tries to get into a place where they are not welcome, they are arrested in a matter of seconds.

People are virtually tagged like cattle, constantly tracked.

While this may seem a typical plot from a B-grade sci-fi movie, it isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds. According to CNN.com, the FBI is planning to offer $1 billion over ten years to create a database that will contain physical information of citizens.

The FBI hasn’t announced what company will receive the contract, but IBM, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman are competing for it.

There are 55 million sets of fingerprints already on file, but the FBI also wants to compile palm prints, scars, tattoos, iris patterns, and facial shapes.

While the FBI states that only criminals would be part of the database, they also run criminal background checks on individuals that apply for government jobs.

This raises serious questions about personal privacy. In the last several years, the government has been teetering between what is constitutional and what isn’t. In 2000, the FBI began using the program Carnivore. It was used to monitor e-mails and Internet sites.

The government also has been increasing the use of wiretaps. In 2005 it was discovered that the NSA was secretly using

wiretaps without warrants to spy on people in the U.S. and overseas. This secret program was not backed by any legislation. The United States system of checks and balances is put into place to stop this from happening.

Americans have no reason to believe that the proposed database, which will be located underground in the Clarksburg facility, will be well protected.

The FBI has a history of misplaced equipment. In 2001, the Justice Department reported that 449 weapons were missing.

265 of them were reported stolen.

In the same year, 184 laptops went missing. Similar reports surfaced in 2002 and again in 2005. In the last report, 160 laptops were reported missing, ten of which were said to contain classified information.

Let’s say one of those computers had part of the database of biometric information on it.

It had pictures of a man’s face, eye retina, fingerprints, palm prints, and other physical information. If that were to fall into the hands of, say, someone who specializes in identity theft, it could have disastrous consequences.

If the FBI can’t keep track of its computers that hold private information, why should it be trusted to handle a huge database full of personal data?

While the U.S may need heavier security, this database is the wrong route. It could lead to a nation where citizens’ every step is recorded. The disorganization of the FBI could lead to misuse of the database.

A world that turns every unique characteristic of a person into data is a chilling world to live in.

Curtain closes on two dollar theater

By Sam Toninato staff writer

Since 1986, the Roseville 4 Theatre has offered moviegoers the chance to see top-rated movies for less than half the price of a normal ticket.

While other movie theatres have hiked their ticket prices to obscene levels, the folks down at the Roseville 4 have kept theirs at a steady $2, making this local movie house a true American tradition, right up there with bald eagles and apple pie.

But soon the curtain will close on this beloved discount theater. The neighboring Rainbow Foods plans on building an expansion. In the process, they will destroy our beloved Roseville 4.

They might as well destroy the heart and soul of American cinema.

This famous $2 movie theater has been around for years. I remember my dad taking me there to see movies when I was a

kid. My grandpa also took my dad, back when he was a kid.

The theatre didn’t exist when my grandpa was a kid, but if it had, I’m sure his dad would have taken him as well.

Sure, the floors were disgustingly sticky and the seats had cigarette burns in them, but that is part of the charm of the theater. The discount theatre has good old-fashioned, American soul. What does the new Cineplex at Rosedale have?

Outdoor ticket windows and some bad arcade games.

The Twin Cities used to be filled with charming discount theaters, each one offering consumers a chance to stick it to the greedy film industry.

But these theaters have slowly been dying out, run out of business by DVDs and pirated films. In our modern day, hightech world, discount theaters are getting left behind.

Rainbow is taking over the theater to add many unique features to their Roseville location.

They will be expanding the size of their store, adding a drive-thru pharmacy and a liquor store. Our beloved $2 theater is being demolished to make way for a larger seafood section at Rainbow.

But movie fans, all hope is not lost. There are still two remaining discount theaters in the Twin Cities area. The most convenient one is the Plaza Maplewood. It offers moviegoers a chance to see second-run films for only $1.50. That’s right: a ticket at the Plaza Maplewood costs less than a soft drink at a regular theater.

Another discount theater is the Brookdale 8 on Shingle Creek Parkway, south of 694.

But these discount theaters just can’t compete with the Roseville 4, which closes its doors for the final time on March 31.

An American legend will pass on that day. This weekend, make sure to visit this famous theater at least once before it

So long, 2 dollar theater. closes and pay your respects to a dying American tradition.

Just make sure to wear closetoed shoes, because you don’t

photo by Nate Grann want to touch the floor with your feet.

March 28, 2008

5 features

The personality behind the voice:

Anna Hadley, 12, urges students, “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

By Kirstin Yanisch staff writer

Heading down the stairs from her first hour Sociology class, Anna Hadley, 12, “…puts her game face on” in preparation for the coming challenge. She opens the door to Secretary Lori Diekoff’s office, then picks up the phone that will project her voice throughout the school, “Good morning Mounds View.”

The day begins.

If there is one voice that can get Mounds View students to shake themselves out of their sleepy haze at 8:30 each morning, it’s Hadley’s.

Kristen Senyk, 11 said, “Her voice is very peppy which wakes me up in the morning.”

Hadley’s selection to read the morning announcements began on Jan. 10 when her physics teacher Mike Cartwright, in hopes of nominating a senior for the announcement-reader position, began asking his class for volunteers.

Hadley explained, “[Cartwright] said that if someone volunteered for it, we wouldn’t have a test for the next three days.”

Hadley and one other stu-

nose game” to decide who would take the job. The one who touched their fingertip to their nose the fastest would be the next morning announcement reader. Hadley came out the victor.

Though she volunteered only to avoid a test, Hadley now sees some of the benefits of reading the announcements.

She said that the best part about reading them is that, “I can actually hear them now.

People come up to me all day and ask about them because [in some classes] they don’t hear them.”

She also states frankly that, “Let’s be honest, announcement time is really an extended passing time where people talk to their friends. Nobody really listens to [the announcements].”

However, many students say that Hadley adds optimism to their day, on and off the morning announcements.

As Mike Truso, 12, said, photo by Sabrina Zappa “Anna Hadley brightens up my day because she is always Anna Hadley, 12, smiles as she reads her trademark phrase to students every laughing and smiling.”

One of the ways that Friday, “Have a great weekend, and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Hadley tries to liven up the announcements is with her dent, Erin Marvin, 12, were the Principal Wikelius’ office, trademark Friday phrase, “And two volunteers. After visiting Hadley and Marvin played “the

Stemming Research Renewed hope for a diabetes cure comes from new research

By Sean Delahunt staff writer

For the first six years of his life Aric Aamodt, 11, was never allowed to go to summer camp or have sleepovers with his friends. His life was ruled by a strict schedule: a result of his diagnosis of Type I diabetes in May 1993, at the age of two.

“Every single day, breakfast was at 8:30 a.m., lunch was at 12:30 p.m., dinner was at 5:30 p.m., and I had a bedtime snack at 8:30 p.m. I had to do this because the insulin injections that I took at breakfast, lunch, and dinner would only be effective for those periods of time, so I had to give another injection at the next meal,” said Aamodt.

On Feb. 20, 2008 there was a breakthrough at biotechnology company Novocell. It was reported that the company’s scientists were able to control diabetes in mice using embryonic stem cells. The discovery has led to talk of the possibility of using stem cells to treat diabetes in humans.

“I am still wary about the latest insulin device, an insulin inhaler, because I still don’t trust the device to give entire dosages and the possible lung damage it would cause,” said Aamodt. “I will feel the same way towards stem cell therapy at first. I would wait until it shows great success in diabetes control without complications. If it gets to the point

where I can trust it, I would look into getting the procedure.”

The Novocell experiment consisted of 105 mice with implanted stem cells. Of those 105, only seven developed a type of tumor called teratomas.

It was speculated that if the cells had been purified prior to implanting them, the tumors would have been reduced if not eliminated.

In an interview with the New York Times, the Director of the Diabetes Research Institute at the University of Miami, Dr. Camillo Ricordi, said, “For those who say there is not much evidence that embryonic stem cells can cure diabetes, there you go.”

Even those who see the possible benefits still question the treatment.

“I think it needs a lot more research. It’s a good start.

Considering my sister’s a diabetic, I’d need a lot more facts before putting something in her body that might put her in ketoacidosis, or a diabetic coma,” said Ellen Gutzwiller, 12.

If this treatment is approved, it will have the potential to change thousands of people’s lives; allowing them to live a less scheduled life, eat things they want to eat when they want to eat, and live day-to-day no different from anyone else.

remember: don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

According to Hadley, this began spontaneously during one morning of announcements.

“It’s something I say to my friends a lot if they’re going on a date or something. I didn’t think about it. It just kind of came to be my little thing,” she said.

To clear up any confusion, Hadley wants students to know that she spends her weekends “…going to movies and out to eat with my friends.” Some of her favorite restaurants are Chipotle, Thai Phan, and Buffalo Wild Wings.

Hadley is also active in many of the groups she makes announcements for, including Alpine skiing, Lacrosse, and the Symphony Orchestra, in which she plays cello.

Hadley believes her job connects her with Mounds View.

“I love the fact that there are so many things to plug into. If you’re into math, you can join math team; if you like soccer, you can try out; but you don’t have to be very good at something. I like that there are so many options for everyone,” she said.

Poetry slams into libraries

By Dan Heaney staff writer

The Ramsey County Library’s “Poetry Slam” will be held on May 3, concluding the library’s annual poetry contest.

All Ramsey County participants will convene at Maplewood Library to witness men and women of all ages performing various forms of poetry. To avoid any disadvantages, poets will be assigned to age groups, and all professional poets are prohibited from competing.

As in years past, all poetry should be related to the same subject, but there are some exceptions. This year’s theme, decided by the Libraries themselves, will be “Civic Engagement.” Any poetry concerning politics, volunteering,

and public policies is acceptable, though all contestants are asked to remain polite with their vocab.

“Looking back at previous years, the poetry [of the contestants] wasn’t always about the same thing,” said Eilenne Boder, library manager of Shoreview Library. She added, “Our library director [Susan Nemitz] always has an initiative in mind, though.”

Though in years past the prize gift certificates have traditionally been to the Barnes & Noble, it is open to discussion as to where the money will be granted. The total amount has also not been decided upon.

“I can say that the gift cards will be for at least $25,” said Boder.

Tia Brodsky, 10, competed in “Poetry Out Loud,” a nation-

wide poetry competition, on March 10, and won fourth place at the state level. Although she is not sure if she is going to participate in “Poetry Slam,” she is interested in the idea.

“I think it’s great that our local libraries set this up for us,” she said.

The deadline for all poetry is April 20, and any later entries will not be allowed to participate. The entrant should include their name, age, and ten digitphone number along with their piece.

For those who wish to mail in their work, you may address your envelope to 4570 North Victoria St., Shoreview, MN 55126. All Ramsey County Libraries will provide information if needed, and the Shoreview Library can be contacted at 651-486-2301.

r D e r u a o m Y n I s

photo by Sean Moore

Dream superstitions from around the world

The U.S. - If you put a piece of wedding cake underneath your pillow when you sleep, the person you dreamed about will be your future spouse.

India - If you dream about gold or iron, you will have bad luck.

France - If you dream about a black and white cat, it signifies the birth of a child.

Jamaica - If you dream about ankles, it means your enemies are trying to destroy you.

Sweden - If you collect seven flowers on Midsummer’s eve and put them under your pillow, you will dream of your future spouse. However, you cannot speak after you pick the flowers until you go to sleep.

Information compiled by Divya Gupta

Dreams: Filled with m or just mental meand

By Divya Gupta & Sam Toninato staff writers

In 2003, while visiting France, Frank Warren had a strange dream in which he found three postcards that had been altered and bore written messages. The dream later inspired him to start PostSecret, a website which encourages people to send in anonymous postcards with secrets written on them.

While not all dreams are this straightforward, Warren is only one of many to interpret and live by messages supposedly arising from the subconscious. Because of their elusive nature, though, there are many varying theories regarding the purpose of dreams.

Noted psychologist Sigmund Freud popularized one such theory, known as the “psychoanalytic theory.” This theory suggests that dreams portray “wish fulfillment,” when the subconscious brain attempts to resolve a conflict in the dreamer’s life, specifically through metaphors.

The psychoanalytic theory looks for hidden meanings within the dreams.

For others, like Warren and Lauren Warchol, 11, dreams can provide meaning and insight, and fall more into a second category, which suggests that dreams are extensions of a person’s life.

Dreams display issues in a person’s life, directly showing possible solutions and outcomes. For example, if there is a large problem in a person’s life, they will most likely have a dream in which they face their problem.

“Dreams are like windows,” Warchol said.

“They help you see things you might not have been able to, like what you feel or think.”

She started keeping a dream journal in January of 2005. She began simply because she wanted to gain a better understanding of herself.

Since then, though, she has continued to record and analyze the dreams to the best of her ability.

“I don’t use a book or any published guide, but I definitely try to notice what I was feeling during the dream, when I woke up, what details were present that could be important, things like that,” she said. “In this one dream, for example, there was fire everywhere, but what I distinctly remember is that the grass was purple.”

To Warchol, dreams are just another kind of reflection.

“I’ve never really let a dream influence a decision about anything,” she said. “I do think that journaling has helped me a lot, though. It hasn’t done so much in the short term, but definitely in the long term. I used to have really terrifying nightmares, but once I started to do this, I began to see the patters of reoccurring and non-reoccurring dreams. Once I was able to see the patterns, I could look back and understand things about myself that I hadn’t known before.”

The third theory about what dreams mean is hardly a theory at all. Known as the “activation synthesis theory,” it states that dreams have no meaning. According to the theory, dreams are created by random firings of neurons in a person’s brain. The neurons create a narrative, or dream, drawing on past experiences, hopes, fears, and memories to create an entirely ran-

Sweet dreams are made of these

By Emily Storms staff writer

He was on a roller coaster with his friend, enjoying the ride, his stomach swooping as the car traveled up and over the hills. All of a sudden, his friend turned and pushed him out of the roller coaster. Careening, he fell to the ground, hitting his head on the solid earth. Anger overwhelmed him. Where was his friend? The amusement park was lit up, cheerful music playing loudly over the speakers, but no one was there.

He ran around the park until he ended up back on the roller coaster. There, his friend appeared, just in time to push him off the roller coaster once again. This time, as he felt his body hit the ground, Jimmy Vogel, 11, woke up.

“Dreams are simply a rehash of what you’re thinking about during the day,” Vogel said. “And that day, I remember being mad at my friend, which is where I think the dream came from.”

In thinking about his dreams, Vogel has consistently been able to find ways to relate them to his daily life. He, like many Mounds View students, has applied the various methods of dream analysis in an effort to understand his own life, and his sub-

conscious, better.

“I found out that death in dreams symbolizes change, which made sense because my life was in a stage of transition then. I’ve stopped having those dreams, because my life is more stable now,” Vogel explained.

Other students have found different ways to analyze their dream patterns. Some have discovered that things during the day will influence their dreams at night. A simple way to see this influence is through music, because many said that music was involved in their dreams.

“One night, before I went to bed, I was listening to the Chicago soundtrack,” said Sarah Swanson, 12. “When I went to sleep, I had a dream that I was ice skating in the upper commons, with Cell Block Tango from Chicago playing, and people watching me skate from the lower commons.”

Movies and television have also been found to affect dreaming patterns. Roman Becicka, 12, has found that the TV shows he watches during the day change what kind of dreams he has at night.

“Every time I watch “Oprah” I have really crazy dreams,” said Becicka.

Even certain foods can have an impact on dreams. Some herbs are thought to make dreams

more vividly recalled, and others are believed to make people have strange dreams.

“Once my family ate this weird chili powder from Greece, and we all had really crazy dreams that night,” said Eric Swanson, 9.

Illness and medicines can be a factor in dreams as well. Some students have found that when they take certain headache medicines they have bizarre dreams. Tricia Brossart, 12, found that cough syrup affected her dreams.

“I was really sick one night, and I took cough syrup right before I went to bed. I remembered every single dream I had that night,” said Brossart.

Because students spend so much time at school, many dream about school as well. Sports, tests, teachers, funny conversations and other events of the day often come up in dreams.

Meg McMurray, 12, said, “I often dream about people that I’ve talked to during the day.”

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What do MV students dream about?

The Viewer polled 100 MV students, asking which of these four dreams they had most often.

meaning, dering?

dom dream. This theory was created in the 1970s, and is still being tested today.

For many at Mounds View, this theory is ppealing.

“I remember my dreams for a few days and only if they’re interesting,” said Monica Yue, 10. “I’ve never dreamed anything meaningful or ife-changing.”

Yuhe Yan, 11, doesn’t find analyzing dreams worthwhile either.

“I would never let something I dreamed nfluence my real life,” she said. “I believe in eality.”

Generally it is up to the individual to place value on the messages they could hold.

Mounds View AP Psychology teacher Kay Schaffer said, “I don’t know which one I believe n. I don’t know if they are wish fulfillment, but don’t necessarily believe in that more scientifc view of them. There are times when perspecives can change due to a dream, or a solution to problem will become clear, which makes me doubt that.”

The purpose of dreams is one that will lways remain shrouded in a little mystery. It may be that some of their appeal, for those who eek it, lies in their unrestricted meaning.

Regardless of skepticism, dreams will continue o have significance for many.

As Warchol said, “Dreams just have a completely unbiased opinion about everything.

What’s not to like?”

Falling dreams: 42% These could include tripping, or even hang-gliding disasters. They often cause a stomach dropping feeling.

Flying dreams: 18% Not including airplanes, these dreams place the dreamer in the air, seeing something happening below.

Death dreams: 25% The dreamer or someone else is killed by murder, suicide, or accident.

Naked dreams: 15% Whether it’s on the first day of school, a job interview, or any important event, the dreamer is left embarassed or humiliated.

Information compiled by Sam Toninato, Divya Gupta, & Emily Storms

What these dreams mean...

Falling dreams: By far the most common dream, a falling dream, symbolizes anxiety and stress in your life. Usually involves falling into an endless abyss, and includes feelings of helplessness and terror. Can indicate fear of losing control.

Flying dreams: The opposite of the falling dream. It symbolizes a feeling of confidence: you are in control of your life and happy with the way things are going.

Death dreams: These dreams can mean that you are trying to avoid something in your life. You want to escape or break free of a situation. They can warn of future change in your life.

Naked dreams: They can take place anywhere and can symbolize a big change.

They can also be showing insecurity or self-doubt. You may be nervous about how others see you.

Information compiled by Sam Toninato

Do-It-Youself: a guide to dream analysis Analyzing dreams may seem a bit complicated, but you do not need a doctorate in psychology or a degree in philosophy to analyze your own dreams. Follow these steps, and you can begin to understand your dreams and the workings of your subconscious mind.

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1) Keep a dream journal Yes, it sounds stupid. But it actually works. Everybody dreams; some people just don’t remember their dreams. By keeping a dream journal, you can record your dreams and begin to look for patterns and symbols in your dreams. Keep a pen and paper near your bed when you sleep and write down what you can remember of your dreams. Even small fragments will help you understand your dreams.

2) Look for reoccurring symbols and motifs in your dreams Are there colors that are repeated throughout many of your dreams? Do you have a reoccurring dream that comes to you almost every night? Start to look for these patterns in your dreams. Begin looking for connections between these symbols and your real life.

3) Lie still after you wake up If you have trouble remembering your dreams, lie still after you wake up. Close your eyes, and focus on remembering the dream.

Some studies show that by lying still and closing your eyes, you can stimulate your brain to recall some fragments of dreams. This can help you to fully remember your dreams.

4) Look at your dreams with a clear and personal mind Take a look at your dream journal and see how you can apply these dreams to your real life. Attempt to interpret your dreams. Don’t be afraid if your dreams are strange and bizarre.

Try to see if they represent any symbols or metaphors in your life. Use personal experiences from your life to try and figure out what your dream means. How does the dream correspond to a situation in your waking life? By thinking about this with a personalized mindset, you can unlock the mystery of your dreams.

Information compiled by Sam Toninato

8variety

March 28, 2008

Custodians smile through the clutter

By Emily Storms staff writer

Each afternoon the final bell rings and students and teachers spill out of Mounds View’s doors, leaving garbage in their wake. Propel bottles, candy wrappers, and even the occasional crinkled homework assignment litter the halls. And yet, each morning, when everyone returns, these piles have vanished, the floors are sparkling, and more paper towels have appeared in the bathrooms.

Many Mounds View students and staff take this nightly makeover for granted—perhaps assuming magic elves clean the school at night. And they wouldn’t be too far from the truth: our own magic elves appear in the form of Mounds View’s custodians.

Unless they have accidentally thrown their retainer away in the lunchroom or left homework in a locked classroom, few students have reason to get to know those cool custodians. They are missing out. Not only are the custodians masters of the keys, able to clean the whole school in a single night, and even manage the chaos that is the cafeteria,

they do it all with a willing smile.

Many don’t fully understand or appreciate the work the custodians do to keep the school clean. When Student Council puts on its annual Custodian Day, they attempt to fill the large shoes of the custodians for one day. They have found the job to be difficult.

“It’s hard enough to clean the school when we have all of council working together, I can’t imagine trying to clean with only a couple people,” said Jack Messerly, 10, student council member.

Teachers are very appreciative of the work done by custodians as well.

“I’d never want to clean my room,” said English teacher Gretchen Nesset. “And Bob is always so happy, he makes it look easy.”

Even though some recognize these little-known heroes, their fame could be more widespread.

So the next morning when you groggily wander into Mounds View and notice the emptied trashcans and swept floors, thank your custodians for them.

They are truly one of Mounds View’s best-kept secrets.

Todd Reed Favorite food: buffalo wings Favorite color: black Favorite music: heavy metal Favorite TV program: "Lost" MV memory: Digging through the garbage looking for someone's lost car keys Hobbies: camping in our big tent with my son Has worked at MV for 2 years

photo by Nate Grann

photo by Nate Grann

Bob Brady Favorite food: steak Favorite color: blue Favorite music: R&B, country Favorite TV program: college hockey, football MV memory: When the kids hoot, holler, and chant as we clean up vomit at basketball games or other events.

Hobbies: Pheasant hunting, being outdoors Has worked at MV for 3 years

Tom Kleinendorsi

photo by Sabrina Zappa

Custodian Jim Kelash works hard to keep the lunch room clean.

Favorite food: meatloaf and mashed potatoes Favorite color: blue Mounds View Memory: When I accidentally locked Nathan Scheiner in the bathroom.. I felt so bad!

Sports He played in High School: I played soccer, basketball, cross country, and track over at Irondale Hobbies: all kinds of hunting, fishing “I love working with kids, giving them a hard time.”

broom photo by Debbi Li

photo by David Derong

Icebox thaws the local art scene

By Kristen Vanderburg staff writer

MV students sit at the local Caribou Coffee shop debating what to do on a Friday afternoon. 30 minutes go by and no decision has been made on where to go next. Another 30 minutes go by and the Caribou staff informs them they must leave if they aren’t intending on buying a drink.

Departing the coffee-scented room, they do the predictable Friday afternoon gig, which involves going to someone’s house and watching yet another lame movie.

But students don’t have to settle for the latter when there’s something even better only 19 minutes away. Something called Icebox.

Icebox is a framing company

and art gallery located in Minneapolis. While it isn’t on the beaten path, it isn’t hard to find. Small advertising signs tapped to buildings act as a guide to the gallery, which fits in with its shady surroundings as a warehouse by some railroad tracks.

A neon ‘main entrance’ sign hardly entices one to actually enter the building, but it does spark curiosity about what the gallery looks like on the inside.

After entering the building one can only go up: up four flights of stairs covered in dirt, past cracked windows with rusted metal frames, and through a bright red exit door. Once on the other side another neon sign reads ‘Icebox quality framing and gallery.’

The gallery welcomes its guests with warm yellow and blue walls. This isn’t anything

like the Walker Art Center or Minneapolis Institute of Arts; Icebox looks like an office building staged as a gallery.

Pictures are framed and hung on the walls, showcased with lights that are attached to the low ceilings. Music playing and the sound of frames being built extinguishes the awkward silence that can be experienced in art museums; then again, Icebox isn’t the cookie cutter image of a gallery.

“Icebox is known for stepping outside of the box,” said owner Howard Christopherson.

“The art here is new, it’s like it’s coming out just fresh from being made, like we are a bakery.

People come and they can see more current things.”

Icebox wasn’t intentionally created to be a gallery; it started out as a framing company.

Christopherson explains that

since the framing company did so well he was able to pay for the gallery aspect, which in turn allowed him to choose what art to exhibit.

The framing characteristic is evidenced by a work table littered with pieces of wood, nails, and some completed frames.

After the framing company went on the rise, Christopherson received 130 pieces of artwork and of those 30 were hand-chosen to adorn the walls.

The pictures encompass a wide variety of images; some of cars, guys with guitars, edgier contemporary pieces. One piece is a 3-D image of buildings rising into the sky, and it comes to life once you put on the red and blue 3-D glasses hanging by the picture.

Another piece titled “Past Lives” is mixed media made by artist Alan Montegomery. Next

to the artwork is a blurb explaining it, “The Ouija board is a fair analogy for this kind of art work.

You ask questions and the answers come through in strings or nonsense, or with complete clarity.”

After pondering “Past Lives,” a question arises. What makes Icebox such a diamond in the rough? Leaving the pictures hung on the blue and yellow walls, walking down the flights of grimy stairs and exiting the run down building, the question is answered.

Not only is Icebox a beautiful gallery in an unattractive location, making it visually a diamond in the rough; it is also unique in itself. It’s an unconventional place for people to see new artwork, and is sure to leave you thinking about it after you’ve left.

March 28, 2008

9 reviews

New Beach House album merits complete Devotion

By Sam Toninato staff writer

courtesy of rottentomatoes.com

Semi-Pro: Semi-funny

By Brandon Osero staff writer

The ’70s: a time for bell-bottoms, Afros, and…Will Ferrell, apparently. The three come together in the high-concept, poorly executed film Semi-Pro. It delivers some laughs but little substance.

The movie stars Will Ferrell as Jackie Moon. He is the owner, coach, and player of the Flint Tropics basketball team. The team is the worst in the league, and when the American Basketball Association decides to merge with the NBA, Moon has to get the team into fourth place.

To do this he hires Ed Monix (Woody Harrelson), a former NBA player.

However, Monix has his own reason for coming to Flint, his former love Lyn (Maura Tierney). The lackluster love story and basketball cinematography lead up to an unexciting climax where, of course, the team wins the big game.

Farrell’s role is the arrogant slapstick guy he usually plays. He sings, dances, falls over, throws up, and, unfortunately, etc. Normally he can pull it off (such as in Blades of Glory, Talladega Night, and Anchorman) but the bumbling jerk shtick has gotten old. It can work in new settings, but its triteness shows in Semi-Pro’s retreat in the ’70s. The jokes about the era are flat. They may leave a smile, but Afros and “crazy” clothing are only funny for so long.

The cheap laughter that Will Farrell receives from his antics typecasts him. It is time for him to try other roles. The surprising turn he took in Stranger than Fiction was humorous and smart; he finally got to show his range as an actor not as a fool.

The biggest problem with the film is it takes itself too seriously in certain scenes.

The love story between Monix and Lyn should be serious and funny, but it is neither. The sub-plot is weak, boring, and poorly acted. There is no chemistry between Harrelson and Tierney.

The obvious “phoning-in” for the pay-

check brings the movie down from being at least mildly enjoyable to be a painful exercise. In one scene, Harrelson replies to the accusation of cheating twice with the one-liner, “I only cheated on you once. There just had to be two women.”

The punch line was poorly delivered and turned the serious scene into a jokey mess.

What is worse about this love sub-plot is when the movie tries to bring humor to it with Lyn’s husband, Kyle (Rob Corddry). He has a man-crush on Monix, which was not one bit funny. In one scene, Monix and Lyn make love while Kyle stares at them with glee, since his crush is with his wife.

Under the right direction and acting, the scene could have been comedy gold, but it failed to deliver any laughs.

Corddry should have stayed on The Daily Show instead of acting like a sick pervert.

This bizarre love triangle between the three characters destroys the movie.

Fortunately, the movie wasn’t completely laughless. In a poker scene, the men start pulling the trigger of a gun at each other. The gun is not supposed to be loaded, but predictably it is. However, it is so out-of-line that it is hard not to laugh as the scene drags on.

With similar jokes, the most humorous part of the film comes from a running gag with a grizzly bear. Moon decides to wrestle a bear before a home game to draw in fans. To see Will Ferrell tackle and run away from the bear is brilliantly absurd. The reuse of the bear two more times in the movie is so perfectly random that it almost redeems the film.

Semi-Pro is a mix of humor and awkwardness. It is too similar to Will Ferrell’s other movies to be a great success. Ferrell should start looking for different roles so he isn’t stuck playing the same character for the rest of his life. The obnoxious loud character is funny, but it is losing the edge it once had.

With the music industry awash in loud, cookie-cutter pop, Beach House’s sophomore album, Devotion, sounds absolutely bizarre. In a good way.

Beach House is made up of Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand, a strange duo from Baltimore. Together, they make gorgeous surrealist songs.

Beach House calls for a certain mood. If the atmosphere calls for mellow, psychedelic music, then it’s time for Beach House. Legrand’s breathy vocals flow over waves of synth and simplistic percussion. The songs are filled with swirls of slide guitar and dreamy organs. All the components mix to make a psychedelic album that deserves to be heard.

The songs on Devotion blend into each other seamlessly. The album has an easy, mellow sound to it, as if it had just washed up from the Caribbean Sea. The percussion is filled with marimba and soft bongos, adding to the island feel.

Legrand’s voice is a great asset to the album as well. She sounds like a sultry siren, inviting the listener to get lost in depths of the music.

Devotion starts with the near-perfect “Wedding Bell.” The song opens with a tinkling maraca that sounds like the soft sands of a beach. The song sets the tone for the rest of the album, with cascading slide guitar rifts and muted keyboard parts.

This song is followed by the eerie “You Came to Me.” This song has the same mellow, island groove as the first song, but the lyrics and music combine to create an unsettling song. Legrand channels her inner Jim Morrison when she moans, “Invite

your sister/ Into the garden…” The song is unnerving, and yet still a joy to listen to. The percussion is full of reverb and the whole song sounds like a strange day dream.

“You Came to Me” morphs into the sultry “Gila,” an amazing pop song that shows off the band’s true mastery of melody. Legrand’s voice soars to new heights over guitars and organs that echo serenely to create a truly enchanting song.

The band sticks to this formula of echoing island music with Legrand’s mysterious voice for the entire album. It never gets old. Right when you’re feeling bored with a song, the band hooks you back into the music with an inviting flourish of slide guitar. For example, the song “Turtle Island” starts as a slow, somewhat repetitive song, but right when the repetition begins to wear thin, the organs kick in, and Legrand unleashes a truly arresting chorus that draws you back into the song.

Beach House has created an amazing album with Devotion. The album is perfect for driving, doing homework, or just sitting and listening. The mellow grove and mysterious, sultry vocals will draw you in and never let you go.

While some songs may get a bit repetitive, Beach House manages to create charming songs that sound completely unlike anything else.

Sounds like: Wind-up waltz with an autumnal charm. Lovelorn pop with vocals reminiscent of St. Vincent backed with dreamy instrumentals.

9/ 10

courtesy of rottentomatoes.com

4.5 / 10

Be Kind, Rewind... Be kind, wait for the DVD

By Casie Ahiers

In order to keep their one loyal customer happy, Mike (Mos Def) and Jerry decide to recreate Ghostbusters in less than 20 minutes. After the video leaks In a time when heavy-weight blockout through the neighborhood, they find busters are common ground and theaters themselves at the request of the whole are filled with dramas, it’s refreshing to community for more of their personal see a film that suggests movies be made “sweded” movies, which have supposedwith heart, not money. Be Kind, Rewind ly been specially imported from Sweden. is a quirky film that has a deeper mesThus begins a long line of films, from sage than some might expect.

Rush Hour 2 to Driving Miss Daisy... all Be Kind, Rewind is the story of Jerry starring the two friends and the help of (Jack Black), a junkyard worker, who their drycleaner, Alma. discovers his brain has been magnetized.

As their fame builds, word begins to He accidentally erases all the videos in his friend’s rental store because the video leak out of their city. Soon they have a run in with two court bailiffs who destroy frequencies become scrambled in the their entire collection of sweded films VHS. due to a copyright violation.

To add insult to injury, they quickly learn that their building is to be demolished to make way for a brand new building complex.

When all seems to be lost Jerry realizes that “sometimes the best movies are the ones we make up.” He then encourages the entire town to courtesy of last.fm work together on producing

staff writer

their own film in order to raise money for the video store.

When their masterpiece is finished, they find that there wasn’t enough money to save the store. As they gather together for one last tribute to the rental shop, they realize that though the building will be demolished, they have rebuilt their community.

Be Kind, Rewind ends abruptly and somewhat unexpectedly, without any closing action. Although it sends the message that the people grew together, nothing is resolved. It leaves you wondering about unfinished or rather undeveloped relationships between characters.

One example of this is when Mike has a moment alone with Alma. After playfully talking about how Mike never has a kissing scene with her, he suggests that they try it out for size. As he leans in to kiss her, he stops himself, and so their “moment” ends… along with any other development of the two characters together. The scene itself is very charming, but it leaves the audience questioning where the two characters end up.

Although the film isn’t as funny as the trailers lead one to believe, its scenes

are extremely clever and feel personal due to the film style that director Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine) utilizes.

Often, the scenes feel as if Be Kind, Rewind is being filmed by Mike or Jerry and that the movie itself is one of their sweded films.

The characters are also relatable and their actions don’t seem too far of a stretch from your own experiences. Due to the innocence and simplicity of the way the movies are made, certain moments feel like they have been taken out of your own childhood. Although Mike and Jerry take their movies very seriously, you can relate to their friendship and childlike innocence.

Be Kind, Rewind isn’t a movie that everyone will enjoy. If you are looking for a slapstick comedy, your odds are probably better with another film. If you crave a unique movie with a great concept, than this one is for you. One thing’s for sure, it will leave you motivated to swede some of your own films, or at least cause you to question what truly makes a good one.

6.5 / 10

11 Athletics for greater education March 28, 2008

By Alex Hoffman staff writer

As I look at Mounds View 2005 alumnus Travis Busch swoosh one of his trademark jump shots in Williams Arena, 2006 alumnus Adam Weber deliver a touchdown pass in the Metrodome, and 2007 alumnus Seth Rosin blaze a fastball past a helpless batter at Siebert Field, I can’t help but want to be a Minnesota Gopher myself someday.

A university’s academic and athletic prestige has much to do with whether a recruit will agree to play for the team.

Schools with historically good sports teams earn respect from fans, and that respect encourages talented high school athletes to be a part of their team.

There is also the lure of a degree from a good school, which always helps in the search for a job later in life.

Rosin was drafted by the Twins in the 28th round, but decided to play for the Gophers instead to get experience in this new level as well as earn a degree in business and marketing.

“The U of M had everything I was looking for in a university. If I had to choose again, I’d pick the U of M in a heartbeat. Injuries can take your arm away, but nothing can take your degree away,” said Rosin.

The class of 2008 has three athletes that have been recruited to swim and participate in gymnastics around the country.

Roman Becicka, 12, was recruited to swim for Division I Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The assistant coach of the Duquesne Dukes swim-

Quick

Sticks:

Lesser-known facts about Minnesota’s newest sport Canada’s national sport is lacrosse, not hockey.

Lacrosse began as a sport played by Native American Indians in preparation for war.

Lacrosse was one of the first sports ever played in America.

There are 10 players on each team; 1 goalie, 3 defensemen, 3 midfielders, and 3 attack men.

Slashing is when a player’s stick contacts an opponent in any area other than the stick or hands.

Screening is when an offensive player moves into and makes contact with a defensive player.

Lacrosse is one of the fastest growing team sports in the United States. No sport has grown faster at the high school level over the last 10 years.

There are now an estimated 169,000 high school players.

The first women’s lacrosse game was played in 1890 at the St. Leonard’s School in Scotland.

ming team, Coach Dave Bocci, first going to the University of Arizona to reached Becicka through a questionnaire swim for the Arizona Wildcats. The in the mail.

Wildcats are currently ranked second in “After I replied to the questionnaire, the nation behind the University of Texas.

Coach Bocci called me in July and told Unlike Becicka, Stacy was the one to me he was interested initiate contact with in having me swim the schools he was for them. Right now interested in. After it looks like I’ll be visiting the campus swimming the 1000 on his own and findyard and the mile, ing it fit his style, he because I am a disfurther pursued the tance swimmer,” option to swim at said Becicka.

Arizona.

Becicka took a “I liked the tour of the campus campus, the climate, and felt like he and the swim team. would fit in well at I absolutely hate Duquesne. After Minnesota winters, being offered acaso Arizona seemed demic and athletic like a good choice. scholarships, he The school then signed to go to paid for me to fly Duquesne. out for a formal visit “Between the where I got to stay academic and swimovernight in the ming scholarships, dorms and watch an it’s almost all of Arizona swim pracwhat I would have to tice,” said Stacy. photo courtesy of Betsy Lim pay for tuition,” said Stacy is another Becicka.

Betsy Lim, 12, has worked hard at gymnastics, upstanding studentBeing a strong athlete. He knew hard enough that she landed a scholarship to when he started student, swimming University of California at Davis. isn’t the only thing looking at colleges Becicka will be that he would like to focusing on at Duquesne. He is interested swim, but his main concern was that the in the fields of psychology and chemistry, school fit his academic needs. and is considering a double major.

“I didn’t care about what team was Pete Stacy, 12, was also recruited by a better, I just wanted the team that fit me Division I school. Next year he will be best, with the academic program that fit

sports

what I was looking for,” said Stacy.

Stacy is planning to be a part of Arizona’s excellent aerospace engineering program. He mentioned the University’s relationship with NASA. “Arizona receives more money from NASA than any other school. I have heard the controls for the next Mars drone are going to be on campus, so that should be pretty cool,” said Stacy.

Betsy Lim, 12, has received a full ride scholarship to be a part of the UC-Davis gymnastics program. She was recruited after exchanging e-mails with John Lavallee, the school’s gymnastics coach.

She also sent in a video of her doing her routine to show Lavallee her talent as a gymnast.

“They paid for me to visit in the fall.

After looking around, I really liked the campus and my coaches. The full ride played a big role too, because the other schools I was looking at didn’t offer gymnastics scholarships,” said Lim. Lim plans to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering or aerospace while at UC-Davis, and is looking forward to college life in California.

As Mounds View students receive scholarships and get recruited by college athletic teams, the school’s interest in them is rewarded by the student’s interest in the school.

And based on alums’ stories, these athletes have some great years ahead of them as college students and athletes. “[College athletics] have been better than I expected. I enjoy every day at the field with my teammates,” said Rosin.

Mounds View lacrosse takes the next step

By Anna Blaske staff writer

This spring, boys’ lacrosse players will finally be able to show off their accomplishments in the sport with a lacrosse stick on their letter jackets. For the first time, Mounds View will recognize boys’ lacrosse as a high school sport.

“I can’t wait to sport my letter jacket now that lacrosse is a high school sport,” said Will Tjernlund, 11.

Lacrosse first started as a club sport that was combined with Irondale in 1998.

The team was known as the North Suburban Spartans and competed within the Minnesota Boys Scholastic Lacrosse Association.

“The team was spearheaded by the Krant family. Parents played a big role in organizing the players, hiring coaches and getting the necessary equipment and fields,” said Don Trudeau, general manager of the Mounds View Boys Lacrosse team.

The first team had about 45-50 players from around the area. In 2002, Mounds View and Irondale split, and Mounds View’s lacrosse club eventually took fourth in state.

When 2007 rolled around, the team joined the MSHSL East Conference as a Non-Conference opponent since they were not officially a high school sport. They placed fourth in conference and were the proud holders of three All-Conference players.

Finally, in July 2007, the lacrosse team applied for full varsity status and it was granted.

“We took a poll at the end of last year’s school year on which sports students liked to play that [the school] didn’t identify as a high school sport,” said Bob Madison, activities director. “Lacrosse scored the highest, so we decided to look into making it a high school sport.”

There are other factors that have to be taken into consideration when deciding to sponsor a sport. The school has to figure out funding as well as field time for practices and games.

“The track teams are going to have the field until 4:30 p.m.,” said Madison. “And the girls’ and boys’ lacrosse teams will

have it until 8:30 p.m. The girls’ and boys’ teams will have to decide on practice times amongst themselves.”

For the most part, students are supportive and excited for the team to be a Mounds View sport.

Jake Elms, 11, said, “I’d go to games now because I know they’ll want more support since they’ll be able to go to play-offs this year.”

Other students don’t think it’ll make a difference if they have support or not.

Cecil Howard, 11, said, “I don’t think many more peophoto by Nate Grann ple are going to be interested, even though there are playThe boys lacrosse team has been sanctioned by Mounds View offs, cause it’s basically the as an official sport, and the players are ready to take the next same as last year.” step in program history and work towards another lacrosse Regardless, players are elated for the season to start. state title, which hasn’t been done since 2002.

Starting varsity goalie Kyle Davitt, 11, said, “It’s ers have played on the Minnesota Select going to be fun to have play-offs and a Elite Team as well. chance at state this year.”

“The elite team helps us improve Captain Zach Jacobson, 12, said, because the competition is a lot harder “[The team] is going to have a good seaand more intense, and we were still able son and probably make it to state.” to win games against kids that had been The lacrosse team has a new head playing lacrosse almost twice as long as coach this year and is looking to improve us,” said Davitt. teamwork and communication on the “The competition out east has helped field. The new head coach, Marc us improve our game enough that I think Jacobson, is a Mounds View alumnus and it gives us the upper hand back home in was one of the first players out of Minnesota, where [here] lacrosse doesn’t Minnesota to get recruited to play NCAA has as much finesse as it does out east,” lacrosse, receiving a scholarship to play said Jacobson. for Division II Notre Dame De Namur These are really impressive accomUniversity in Belmont, California. Marc plishments, especially coming from a state was also the defensive coach for the that isn’t a “lacrosse power house” like Minnesota Select Elite Team this past some of the east coast states. With this summer. dedication to improving their skills for the With his older brother as the new benefit of the team, the upcoming players coach, player Zach Jacobson’s expectahave big shoes to fill. tions for the team seem humble. Four of “The underclassmen really have presthe team’s players — captain Andy sure to live up to what the senior and junMadsen, 12, Parker Samuel, 12, Kyle ior classes will be leaving behind,” said Davitt, 11, and Jacobson — have already Jacobson. been recruited to NCAA teams such as With these accomplishments, Mounds Charles Williams (CW) Post College, the View’s senior lacrosse players have shown University of Massachusetts at themselves capable of leading the boys’ Dartmouth, Adelphi College, and Mount lacrosse team in its first year as a schoolIda College respectively. These four playsanctioned sport.

12gallery

March 28, 2008

when a corridor

becomes a

By Emily Storms & Kirstin Yanisch staff writers

Stepping into the Mounds View staff women's bathroom in the language hall is like entering another world. The harsh lighting softens and the bland décor is forgotten. Pale yellow paint replaces the standard white, and luxurious red curtains are painted to swoop across the wall. The elaborate mural continues, showing a peaceful country scene and setting a relaxing mood.

This bathroom was painted in 2003 by members of the Advanced 2D Art class, right after Mounds View's last construction project was finished. These murals are a required part of the class's curriculum, and 10 new murals are currently being prepared on removable boards for the walls of Mounds View.

2D Art teacher Lori Moore said, “[The murals are] one of the students'

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major assignments for third quarter.

They are supposed to come as close to finishing as they can.”

With so many talented Mounds View artists taking part in the class, it's amazing that any corner of Mounds View remains unpainted.

The major art project began around 2002, when the entire 2D art class painted a mural around the library. Library Media Specialist Becky Stouten was a big supporter of the project.

“It adds a little of the students’ touch to the library,” Stouten said.

Parts of the imaginative scene are still on the walls in the library’s northern corner. Since then, however, construction and regular painting schedules have rid the library of most of its original artwork. To prevent this from happening in the future, 2D art students have begun painting their murals on removable boards.

A careful process has been designed for students who wish to have their murals displayed somewhere in Mounds View. First, the students must find where they would like their mural to go, and approve the place and the idea with either the teacher of the classroom or an administrator. Principal Julie Wikelius approves murals for the Commons, while Associate Principal Mark Tateosian approves those for the cafeteria.

The mural is then created, and the final product is approved again by the designated staff member. Finally, the custodians place them in the desired location.

This may seem like a long procedure, but the resulting artwork is always worth the wait.

Abby Taylor, 11, said, “It’s always exciting when a new mural shows up!”

“Before the murals, our school was

just so plain. It looked like an office building,” said Community Liaison Wonkemi Gongar.

After seeing the murals in the entrance to Irondale High School, he explained, “We said, ‘We have to do that.’”

Moore said Wonkemi has been instrumental in supporting the mural project and helping student artists through the process.

Moore said, “I have so much appreciation for Wonkemi Gongar being so positive about the project.”

For the artists, the administration, and the student body, the most rewarding part of the murals is, as Moore said, “It’s leaving some color and life behind for Mounds View. It becomes a part of the school’s personality. Most would much prefer [the murals] to the boring white walls.”

Mounds View Murals in the M a k i n g Anna Mallory, 11, Sarah Heil, 12 Where: Cafeteria How did you come up with the idea for your mural?

“We were trying to work with both of our talents, and we were just brainstorming stuff and came up with a beach scene.”(Mallory)

Heather Christianson, 11 Where: Lori Moore’s room How did you get the idea?

"Mrs. Moore gave me an example of an artist she liked – Matisse. He cuts out pieces of paper and puts them everywhere and I'm basically trying to paint like that."

Jack Humphrey, 12, and Megan Cheney, 12 Where: Nesset’s room What inspired this mural?

“I wrote a poem, and we painted a background for it. When that’s completed, we’re going to lay the poem line by line over the entire thing.” (Humphrey) Christina Cain, 12, and Megan Trench, 12 Where: Upper Commons How did you get the idea?

"Christina came up with the idea really, it's supposed to be the Gardens of Babylon." (Trench)

photo by Ashley Aram

Kiley Wolff, 12, and Ellie Perendy, 12 Where: Upper Commons What is the mural showing?

“It shows two people connecting, so we drew two faces on the sides with abstract shapes in the middle that represent creativity, thought, human brainpower, imagination, and vision.”

(Perendy)

Joe Carlson, 12, and Vanessa Dunne, 12 Where: Lori Moore’s room What is the mural showing?

“We didn’t really have that much choice, because the space is pretty limited. It’s supposed to brighten the room up, so we did a Matisse theme.”

(Carlson)

Paige Lindley, 12, Anna Nordby, 12, Kristen Vanderburg, 12 Where: Lower Commons What’s on the mural?

“It shows graffiti, and has the word conformity written underneath it. We’re trying to show the graffiti devouring conformity.”

(Nordby)

Matt Dargis, 12, and Evan Nouis, 12 Where: Elevator outside of library What inspired the mural?

“I thought the area was really good. We’re painting basically trees because the ceiling forms a natural canopy.”

(Dargis)

Anders Lundberg, 12, and Alan Jin, 10 Where: Cafeteria What is the mural showing?

“We wanted it to be something fun and bright and colorful.

We wanted to throw robots everywhere, and the background is the Minneapolis landscape.” (Lundberg) Brian Peterson, 11 Where: Lori Moore’s room Where did you get the idea?

"Mrs. Moore wanted Matisse's across the room, so I decided to do that. They’re basically brightly colored and block-ish."

Louisa Nyman, 12, and Nick Barkve, 12 Where: Lori Moore’s room What are you doing?

"We've not finalized plans, but we're going to have a very black and white foreground with a human heart, as graphic as possible over it." (Barkve)

Eric McKay, 11, and Olivia Skaar, 12 Where: Stairwell by social studies rooms What’s on the mural?

“It has Transformers in it, and we did that because the majority of people here are teenagers, and liked the movie, so we thought they would like it.” (McKay)

Information compiled by Divya Gupta