Ed. 90 - Tall Tales & Fish Stories by The Talon

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Published monthly, The Talon strives to be an innovative student magazine that is entertaining, intellectually provocative, and visually engaging. We are conscious of the responsibility of writing and publishing, and we seek to create a dynamic magazine that is worthy of its readers. We show respect for our readers by exposing them to a variety of perspectives. Ultimately, The Talon seeks to bring Graded to the world and the world to Graded.

The Talon wants to hear from you! We encourage submissions and ideas for articles and themes from all members of the Graded community. We publish in English, Portuguese, French, and Spanish. We reserve the right to edit submissions for length and clarity. The opinions expressed in the articles are those of the writers and not necessarily of The Talon. For this reason, we do not accept anonymous submissions. Send submissions, ideas, and themes to talon@graded.br.

TALON STAFF 2012-2013

About the Cover

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF: Julia Wu & Kyle Bissell LAYOUT EDITOR: Nicole Vladimirschi COLUMNISTS: Ines Gil, Lucas Zuccolo, Kat Aliano, Luiza Gundin, Giovanna Regis, Fernão Mesquita NEWS: Daniel Almeida (Editor), Andrea Ferreira (Assistant Editor), Annie Groth FEATURES: Adam Fertig (Editor), Mariana Lepecki (Assistant

With this cover I wanted to show some traditional Tall Tales such as Johnny Appleseed and Saci Pererê, but also some more modern stories like Godzilla and even...The Chickensaurus Rex. The person holding the glass is a well-known character from the TV show How I Met Your Mother, Barney Stinson (played by Neil Patrick Harris); he coined the catchphrase, and now internet meme “True Story,” a phrase that is widely used for absurd stories that might have happened or not. As for style, I tried to mimic the style of old newspapers, in which images are grainy and colors are a bit lurid. —Dani Reis

Visit Talonline Go to our blog to see Felipe Marques’s full cartoon highlighting this month’s theme.

Editor), Julia Abreu, Clara Bezerra, Rê Sayão ENTERTAINMENT: Yasmim Della Nina (Editor), Kevin Bengsston (Assistant Editor), Mendel Schwarz, Felipe Marques, Larissa Chern SPORTS: Kevin Wolfson (Editor), Rafa Rocha (Assistant Editor) BLOGGERS: Paty Kim, Mariana Bender, Victor Lee PHOTOGRAPHER: Karen Kandelman ▪ ▪ ▪ TEACHER ADVISORS: Josh Berg & Mary Pfeiffer PORTUGUESE LANGUAGE CONSULTANT: Maggie Moraes ▪ ▪ ▪ E-mail: talon@graded.br

Gender War? Calling all guys and gals: The Talon takes on gender in the next edition. However, if issues of gender (or gender conflict) aren’t your thing, you are welcome to write on any topic. All articles for the Girls Versus Boys edition are due Monday, September 10, 16:00. Article length should be around 800 words with an image (JPEG attachment) or 900 words without an image. Submit to talon@graded.br.

A green magazine, five years and counting! Since August 2007, The Talon has been printed on recycled paper.

editors-in-chief

The Graded Village

Looking at our 1:1 initiative through a McLuhanian lens Kyle Bissell

bout a month into this new school year, Graded high school students and teachers are starting to adapt to the new 1:1 initiative. This system essentially integrates the use of laptops in the classroom, a move many teachers may have been dreading. I must admit that initially, it was hard to fight the urge to pull up Facebook and bite back a smile at my mischievousness, but this was to be expected. In my opinion, this was a great step towards modernizing our education. The media theorist Marshall McLuhan, best known for his works The Gutenburg Galaxy (1962), Understanding Media (1964), and The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects (1967) (yes, that is the right spelling for the title), would applaud this initiative. Famous for coining the expression “the medium is the message” and the term “global village,” McLuhan has been quite influential in the world of media theory. He explains that “societies have always been shaped more by the nature of the media by which men communicate than by the content of the communication.” In other words, it is the way that the content is presented, not the content itself that creates the true impact. It is a concept that is somewhat difficult to grasp until you understand what he defines as a medium. “All media are extensions of some human faculty—psychic or physical.” One example he gives to explain this is how the wheel is an extension of the foot. His idea of the global village is one that has arguably kept him widely read because of his scarily accurate prediction of the Internet decades before its inception. The global village is a world where we are all connected through our mediums, and thus information travels so fast that things as trivial as gossip spread as quickly as they would in a small village. Sounds familiar, right? McLuhan believed that during times of great technological transitions, we entered an “Age of Anxiety” as we

2 • the talon

were “trying to do today’s job with yesterday’s tools—with yesterday’s concepts.” This is especially true in the education system when we, as students, find ourselves confined by the technology that is available to us to answer some prompt when we have a much more effective device sitting right in our pockets. Graded has made a great step towards bridging the gap of the “Age of Anxiety.” No longer will we lug around various notebooks and heavy binders for each class, we are now using a much more sophisticated medium that may affect how many of us xmdr.org go about school work, proving once again that the medium is the message. I for one am relieved that when a teacher asks me to locate a document in my computer, it will not be that same arduous process of shuffling through hundreds of papers strewn about in my seemingly bottomless backpack. (I’ve never really been a paragon of organization). By supporting the use of technology, Graded is in many ways preparing us for the future, not only by being tech-savvy but also by understanding the need for a change of technology that is indispensible for surviving in most fields. Remember the video renting business? With new media delivery systems such as Netflix and Apple TV, those old ways were doomed. Graded’s education will become more communal. Students will be learning in a closer environment and we will learn even more from each other through the use of blogs or other methods that teachers may eventually dream up. I believe that this 1:1 initiative will create a Graded Village. With the full integration of laptops in our schoolwork, planning for events together in a once peculiar way will no longer be as intimidating. We will be able to access exemplar essays of past students easily, and student-teacher relationships will be at an all time high with communication at a whole new level. Our Graded experience will become more tightly-knit than ever before.

editors-in-chief

The Memory Particle How our tales work like matter Julia Wu

f you didn’t sink deep enough into the ocean of leisure this vacation to disregard the news headlines, you might have heard about a groundbreaking episode in science. On July 3, physicists at the CERN laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland discovered a particle bearing the characteristics of a Higgs Boson, the explanation to how the building blocks of our universe gain their mass (the missing piece to the Standard Model of physics) after 48 years of research. While Stephen Hawking lost a $100 bet for claiming that the Higgs particle wouldn’t be found, and Americans prepared for their country’s annual fête, I was in my family’s hometown in China, a small city near the east coast. Though I visit almost every year, for some reason (probably premature senioritis), this year I was particularly reflective. I gave myself the opportunity to stop and reminisce about my childhood there, meet up with a friend from first grade, and remember things that happened in the recent and distant past. The golden swing next to my house, on which I sat as a toddler, a second-grader, and occasionally as a visitor was still there — though much rustier. The staircase that was once part of a house under construction now has a crack sealed with plaster. Between the two extremes of its lifetime are my cousin and I sliding down the handrail. As I looked at the staircase from a distance, I could see my cousin, my best childhood friend, my first dog and myself sitting on the fifth stair for a picture ten years ago. I recalled my dog sleeping, curled up against the guestroom’s door in the unrelenting summer heat. I remember placing my dog in the fridge. Then, all of a sudden, the fact that my dog, who was still a young puppy at the time, is now chasing his tail somewhere in heaven dawned on my restive mind. I found myself incapable of coming to terms with the wings of time. Yet, as I delved into the files created in the hardware of my mind, I found a resemblance between my memories and the ‘God particle’: Like the Higgs Boson, responsible for the mass of the smallest increments of nature, our memories make up who we are. Here comes my attempt, like Peter Higgs’ in 1964, to prove my peculiar theory. Scientists are actually studying the memory process like they are unveiling the implications of the Higgs Boson. Our memory doesn’t abide in a specific place in the brain — one recollection may involve many parts of it, because visions, sounds, emotions and feelings come from different regions. The visual and motor cortexes of our brains are both active when we recall a memory, as they were when the actual event took place. We use our memory for multiple

purposes — to remember phone numbers, what we learned in class, faces, occasions, equations, and more. Memories of past mistakes prevent us from making future ones (hopefully), and memories of vacation become stories we share with our classmates. At times, we even say or do outrageous things, or things that require courage just to paint vivid colors into our lives, so we can remember them when we rewind. Perhaps this relates to the concept of YOLO (You Only Live Once) — usually a justification for trying out abnormal (or even stupid) things. We want to be aware of the important things we’ve done, because they build our character and identity. Of course, there are also occurrences that we don’t expect to experience but become part of our minds and arouse a trail of senses when remembered. Like matter, memories fill us up. This content seems to be alive in me — I can’t control my flow of memories, but try to control their effect on me. This is why I suddenly caught myself smiling as I recalled getting lost in New York City by myself (thus understanding my friend’s repetitive comment “mano Julia voce é muito desligada”), and why my throat shrinks when I remember some “good old times.” I bet you also know a song with bittersweet thoughts tangled up between its lyrics and tune, or a dish that reminds you of an event, person, or story. You must know someone who influenced you as a child, or a place that smells like the past. Like me, you should have an experience that shaped your view and influenced your opinions. Even what happened just yesterday — or what’s happening right now — can become part of who you are tomorrow. You might question my purpose for reminding you of something so obvious. Well, memories are common, but I’m not sure about obvious. Having and keeping them is a subtle and unique privilege. Tim O’Brien wrote in The Things They Carried, “The thing about remembering is that you don’t forget.” It’s simple — I had the chance to realize the significance of this natural ability we have, and want to honor its value. It’s amazing how subtly we are writing and keeping our stories. Soon, our time at Graded will be a memory, and memories are who we are. This abstract phenomenon can be unique, and its implications might not be known to all people... yet. To me, though, memories are this big: even if nothing remembers me in a light year, my history will be stored somewhere in eternal particles that once created a lively girl. Source: science.howstuffworks.com

the talon • 3

editors-in-chief

Recently @ Graded A good start to the new year Kyle Bissell and Julia Wu

ew Teachers

12 privileges at Graded. Way to go, junior diplomats!

A vacation after bidding adieu to the teachers who left

Graded at the end of the 2011-12 school year, it is now time

Change in Grade Weighting

to welcome the new professionals who joined the faculty. They

Eleventh and twelfth graders across the school are outraged

bring experiences from all over the world, and are just starting

over the change of Graded’s weighting system. Now, instead of

to breathe the air at Graded. New teachers, here’s something

an extra 6%, students will receive a 5% addition to their raw IB

for you: Brace yourselves for an array of incredible students who

HL class grade. ToK and Math SL 2 will no longer be weighted

will make your experience at Graded unforgettable. Watch out

while History SL will.

for Veracross addiction, snack bar requests, and an unhealthy amount of texting.

1-to-1 Initiative The new school year has started with the push for better in-

College Applications

tegration of laptops in our curriculum. There have been many

It has begun—the wave of essay appointments, meetings with

mixed feelings surrounding this initiative. Let’s see how it

counselors, and CommonApp accounts. In the senior classrooms,

works out.

hallway, and lawn, not a day will go by without hearing “I decided to apply Early Decision to X University,” “Oh my gosh, we

Sports

totally have the same campus preferences,” “What are your

Finally, the new season of basketball and soccer has started.

top choices?” and “I have one last shot at the SAT.” Seniors now

With a successful start (every team has won their first game)

find themselves caught up among academics, carpe diem, and

we seem to be on track for an excellent season. Go Eagles!

college applications. Though it may all seem hectic now, the sprout of senioritis is making its way through the soil.

Congratulations to Ms. Mears and Mr. Ben! On Tuesday, August 7, Ms. Mears and Mr. Stein welcomed baby

First College Acceptance

Augustus into the world. I think we speak for the entire Grad-

It is record-breaking that someone who has been a senior for

ed community when we say we look forward to seeing the

less than a month has already been accepted to college. Hen-

baby Gus pictures!

rique Carneiro, renowned for his musical genius, was accepted to the Berklee College of Music with a flattering scholarship. A few weeks ago, the Senior Barbers Incorporated performed their first shaving. A horde of college freshmen-to-be gathered around the scene to witness this groundbreaking moment, as illustrated on the right. Graded MUN On August 18, Graded held an internal Model United Nations conference involving delegates from every grade. Students demonstrated excellent leadership skills and confidence—many novice delegates compelled themselves to speak in public and respond to challenging questions that might even leave them speechless. New delegates were unafraid of challenging themselves by adapting to parliamentary procedure and cooperating with peers they did not know before. During the conference, students tackled topics as pressing and diverse as global overpopulation, the North/South Korean conflict, and Grade 11 and

4 • the talon

Kevin Wolfson

point of view

The Tyranny of Political Correctness Is personal offense a valid justification for inhibiting creative liberty? Lucas Zuccolo

e live in a big world. The Earth has a population of over 7 billion. Seven billion individuals, each with their own thoughts and opinions, their own tastes and beliefs. Everything offends someone. This is an inconvenient consequence of our overwhelming diversity. Anything potentially controversial will inevitably offend someone somewhere. The question is, should the offense take be a reason to suppress ideas? Industries like books, movies, and video games are based on the creation of new, innovative content. The generation of new ideas is the basis of many art forms, and in the case of these industries, it is also a requirement for financial success, which in turn allows for the production of more content and entertainment. And so it is quite a problem when these ideas are forcibly suppressed. The financial success of movies and books proves that some people like them.The same goes for video games. The industry is self-regulating – if something is universally considered offensive, then it will have no consumers, and will therefore fail. The dissatisfaction of a minority shouldn’t result in these ideas being coercively thrashed. You have the right to be offended, of course. You may react to things however you see fit; you can be affected by it as much as you want, and in the way you want. But should someone’s dislike of something – or the offense taken at it – be reason for it to be recanted? Censorship was historically used to suppress unpopular ideas. It is also universally considered outrageous in modern times. Why, then, do people continue to enforce political correctness? Some may argue that political correctness is quite distinct from censorship, and yammer on about the “greater good” and morals or something like that. Political correctness is about preventing unnecessary hostilities and protecting others’ selfesteem and moral integrity, you might say. Fine, then. Let’s look at concrete examples. Over the course of the first two decades of the seventeenth century, Galileo Galilei developed important astronomical ideas, including the lunar effect on tides and the behavior of comets, which inevitably culminated in the logically correct theory of heliocentrism. This theory conflicted with the Aristotelian scientific view, which was supported by the Catholic Church. They felt offended by Galileo’s ideas, as they could potentially undermine religious beliefs. In 1633, Galileo’s trial at the hands of the Inquisition ended with him being forced to recant his ideas, the banning of his books, and life-long house arrest. Fast forward four hundred years to modern times. Earlier this year, American game developer Hi-Rez Studios came under criticism for its upcoming MMO fighter game, Smite. The reason? Smite’s basic premise involves duels between different deities,

and alongside the Greek and Norse gods, which have long been the (accepted) subject of fiction due to their transition from religion to mythology, Smite was set to feature Hindu deities as playable characters. Hinduism, unlike the two aforementioned ancient religions, is one of the most liberal of modern religions, in the sense that there is no universal religious truth or creed; each individual is encouraged to find his own spiritual truth. In spite of that, some Hindus felt offended, and were publicly outspoken about the inclusion of the Hindu deities. It is uncertain as of yet how the situation will turn out. Both these cases feature ideas that are somewhat contrary to religion, and thus were controversial. The first case we consider to be lamentable censorship, especially seeing as Galileo was right. The second we call politically incorrect, as Hi-Rez was being insensitive to Hinduism. Let’s take a look at another example. The Catcher in the Rye, published in 1951, was controversial due to liberal use of profanity and openly touching on themes such as sexuality and promiscuity. In the United States, it was the most censored book in schools and libraries between 1961 and 1982. Nowadays, it is considered one of the best written works of the last century, and is frequently studied in high schools, Graded included. I’ll again juxtapose this with an example from the gaming industry. Tomb Raider, an upcoming reboot to the series that is set to launch in 2013, tells the origin story of protagonist Lara Croft. It has been established practically since the game was announced that this game would be much darker than its predecessors. In an interview with the developer Crystal Dynamics, however, sexual assault and rape were mentioned to be themes involved in the darker events of the game. The backlash was fierce, as some people thought that Crystal has crossed the supposed fine line that determines whether things are over-the-top offensive. One of the producers regrettably released a statement later backtracking on what had been said. Both of these examples faced opposition because they explored touchy subjects, which people felt offended by. The creative initiative to explore new frontiers and create new stories was curbed by the opinion of a few very vocal dissidents, claiming these politically incorrect or offensive works should be restrained. We live in a big world, where opinions fly back and forth, as widespread as they are varied. Any idea or work with a minimum of tension will in some way offend someone. That someone has all the right to be offended. And he is perfectly within his rights to voice that displeasure. But so too does the original creator have the right to spread his ideas, no matter how offensive or politically incorrect. As English author George Orwell once put it, “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” Source: ign.com

the talon • 5

point of view

The Art of Embellishing Who’s to blame?

Kat Aliano

hen I ask seniors how many colleges they’ve visited, I’ve found that the average answer is four, maybe six. Now double that last number and you’ve got my College Tour of 2012. I visited so many colleges that I had to give the experience a special name with appropriate capitalization. I went to twelve colleges across five different states, sometimes doing two a day. Let me tell you something: after hearing about meal plans for the fifth time, everything tends to blur together. But what stood out to me is that, for obvious reasons, no one ever tells you what isn’t so great about their college. So, on my tours I started asking the guides to pick their favorite thing about their alma mater and something they disliked. The first part was easy and had them talking for a while. But when the time came to answer the second question, things changed a bit. In every college, my tour guide looked a bit shocked and would stutter “It’s so hard to think of something bad about college #7!” but then they’d sit for a while and really think about it. My tour guide from a college-that-shall-notbe-named sat there for a good five minutes before looking up and going off script. He gave me a pretty good list of the things they don’t tell you when you’re applying that you should probably know-things about the type of people who attend the university, the reality of getting internships or housing, and how some professors really aren’t that interested in you. I realized that going on college tours is like house hunting. You spend an hour with a real estate agent who shows you everything your future home has to offer but tastefully neglects to mention that the previous owner died in one of the rooms. It’s all about selling and editing the parts no one needs to know about. So if colleges lie every now and then to get us to apply, how many of us lie in return to get in? As high school students, we’re bombarded with information, activities, and standardized tests labeled with shiny signs advertising “this will get you into college!” What many students are going through by the time senior year comes around is a juggling act. They’ve been working on “standing out” since they were freshmen-they do sports four times a week until 6 p.m., join at least three community services, apply to PGC, and do both HACIA and MUN all while trying to maintain a 4.0 GPA and hopefully an active social life. Waiting for many at home are a pair of worried parents who “only want what’s

6 • the talon

best for their child” and thrust college prep books at them, reminding them that college applications are looming. Not to mention that at some point in our lives we’re meant to have an inspired Moment, good enough to impress every institution we apply to. Any person is bound to crack with that much pressure. But what adds to that is the fact that in recent years, colleges have simply become more selective. A New York Times article written by Tanya Caldwell reveals that out of its 34,302 applicants, Harvard accepted 2,032, a measly 5.9 percent. Out of the total applicant pool, 3,800 were students ranked first in their class. It’s no longer enough to be the best; we now have to be better. This generator of fear and insecurity only leads to people applying to more colleges, thus increasing the competition and applications each college receives each year. Karl M. Furstenberg, dean of admissions and financial aid at Dartmouth from 1992 to 2007, says, “It’s a classic arms race nytimes.com — escalation for not a whole lot of gain. I don’t think these larger applicant pools are materially improving the quality of their classes. Now what’s driving it is the institutional self-interest factor, where bigger pools mean you’re more popular, you’re better.” So when colleges ask us to pick them or choose them, are we merely embarking on an ego trip that they failed to mention? And how can we keep up with all this competition? I’ll admit that I was one of the seniors this summer sitting at my computer, staring down the blinking cursor on my word document willing an idea to come. I’ve never had a Moment as far as I can tell and I’ve never really enjoyed writing those “I am amazing, here’s five reasons why” type of papers. So, I’ll admit that at times I wanted to give in to the desire to lie—no, embellish. Just add a little extra thing that would help me stand out from all the other people standing out already. Speaking from experience, I know people who have done exactly that—made up a dead grandfather or invented a tragic accident just to gain an edge. But once you fall into that trap, you show a lack of respect for yourself and your history. The college search is about finding a place that fits you, and if a college doesn’t love you for who you are, then maybe you’re better off at one that does. Source: nytimes.com

point of view

Senior-Year Expectations

Where the exaggerations and realities of senior year meet Ines Gil

have been dreading senior year for the past three years of my life-practically my whole high school career. The thought of leaving my home, my family, and my friends is one that I don’t like to have. I can’t even consider doing my own laundry. I can’t imagine my life without Graded. Yes, I have feared senior year. But that was up until a month ago, when I had my last first day of school as a Graded student. Senior year is supposed to be challenging not only academically but also emotionally and physically. I expect to stay up working countless nights on college applications, suffering the emotional toll of going to my last Big 4, and I won’t even mention the stress I am about to undergo due to IB exams. But those are all emotions and experiences I haven’t even gone through yet, so why do I feel like I know them so well? I have been preparing for this year my whole life, and as dramatic as I am going to sound right now, senior year will welcome many defining moments of my life. This is a year for change. A couple of days before school started, I got some friends together and organized an event called “Senior Sunrise,” and tried to get as many seniors as we could to go to school early on the first day and ring in our senior year with music and food, watch the sunrise, and unite. The night before, I slept over at a friend’s house, and at the dinner table it began to cross our minds that it was actually happening… senior year started the next day. And to make us feel even better, her dad mentioned to us in these exact words: “Your childhood ends in senior year.” Yes, he may have been exaggerating and joking around, but in reality, this is what is expected of seniors as we head into our final year. We are the leaders, the role models, and the examples of high school. We are expected to be responsible, respectful-all the traits that make us the leaders of the school. Besides that, we are expected to make important life decisions about where we want to live for the next four years, where we want to study, and what we intend to do for the rest of our lives. But does this really mean we are saying goodbye to our childhood along the way? Senior year will be challenging, but I expect much more than that. I expect senior year to be memorable, incredible, fun, and epic. It may be my last for a lot of things, but this will make it all the more enjoyable. Senior year may involve many goodbyes, but it is also the time to celebrate the past 18 years of our lives. It’s not the time to let go of childhood, but the time to embrace it. And these are the moments I’m looking

Karen Kandelman

forward to. Though much responsibility comes along with this year, the experiences I am expecting to relish will become the fuel that propels me through everything else. That next morning, I woke up at 5 a.m. to get ready and arrive at school on time for the sunrise. My friend Carol and I spent the next hour in a daze, not exactly awake, but with the thought of senior year looming in our heads. The year we had been dreading had arrived. As we reached school and saw the 30 seniors dressed in their hoodies, a rush came over me. Whether it was anxiousness, first day jitters, the idea of finally becoming the bosses of high school, or maybe a mix of all three, I felt like it was my time-no, our time. Whether the reality of senior year has been exaggerated by alumni, parents, and even teachers I don’t know, and I won’t know for another eight months. All I know now is that the year I’ve feared has begun, but I can’t wait to experience and live it to the fullest I can. These exaggerations have shaped my expectations of senior year. I promised myself over and over that this is the year to be my best, to represent Graded as well as previous seniors have, and to cherish every moment. Seven other friends and I made pledge and told ourselves “We are only Graded seniors once.” Could I be overstating the importance of this year and have dramatized my feelings? Maybe, maybe not. But I guess this is the fun of it; maybe this way the story of my senior year will become more special. Through the promises I made to myself, I will be able to look back and think, not only did I survive senior year, I survived it in the best way possible: like a 13OSS.

the talon • 7

ponto de vista

Mitomaníaco Uma crônica sobre a desonestidade Fernão Mesquita “Se o desonesto soubesse a vantagem de ser honesto, ele seria honesto ao menos por desonestidade.” —Sócrates

caindo no terrível e asfixiante ciclo da rotina. O fato de que eu tomava café-da-manhã todos os dias no mesmo lugar somente comprovava isso. A cada passo, o pensamento me

u minto. Minto excessivamente. Todo santo dia. Acordo,

assombrava. Eu precisava ser honesto comigo mesmo: viver

tomo meu café da manhã na padaria da esquina e penduro

de pequenos golpes já não era mais a saída para uma vida

a conta. Aí está a primeira mentira do dia, pois aquela é

melhor. A começar pelo velho português da padaria, que há

uma conta que nunca pagarei. Uma mentirinha básica, para

anos já não se importava com os calotes que eu lhe aplicava

começar o dia com o pé direito.

diariamente.

Minto tanto para agradar, quanto para tirar proveito. E não sou o único. De acordo com o que li numa revista anteontem, mais de 100 mentiras são proferidas todo dia por cada indivíduo no planeta. Tá aí mais um dado falso - nunca

Ao chegar ao estabelecimento, o dono logo me avistou. –Vai ser a mesma coisa hoje? – perguntou o português no seu característico sotaque carregado.

ouvi coisa parecida. Pode apostar que é mentira. Estou falando

–Não seu Manuel, hoje não – respondi. Hoje eu vou

sério, minto mesmo. Pra caramba. Você terá de se acostumar.

pagar aquela continha que o senhor pendurou há tanto tempo!

Sou o que você costuma chamar de um narrador não confiável.

–Ó pá! Que que é isto? Estás a caçoar de mim?

Por isso já aviso: não confie em mim.

–De maneira alguma, aqui está uma parte do que lhe

Aliás, essa revelação é talvez uma das primeiras

devo. Pretendo pagar tudo depois.

vezes em que estou sendo sincero em toda minha vida.

Deixei a padaria e um boquiaberto seu Manuel para

Contraditório? Pode até ser, mas para um exímio mentiroso

trás, e parti imediatamente à delegacia, onde confessei todos

como eu, as contradições são algo com que você, caro leitor,

os pequenos crimes que havia cometido.

terá de se acostumar. Meu nome é Paulo, mas pode me chamar de Rodrigo. Quer saber? Me chame do que quiser, pois o meu nome

Escrevo este pequeno monólogo de uma cela escura e fria, onde pago por todos os crimes que cometi com um profundo arrependimento...

verdadeiro eu não vou dizer, se não perde a graça. Sabe aquela famosa fábula de Esopo, “O pastorzinho

* * *

e o lobo”? Aquela em que o menino inventa que está sendo atacado por um lobo, para o desespero dos aldeões, e ri da

Mas... o que mais me impressiona, é o fato de as

cara deles toda vez que eles vêm socorrê-lo? E no dia em que

pessoas acreditarem em tudo o que leem simplesmente

o lobo aparece de verdade, ninguém ajuda o menino e ele é

por estar impresso. O fato de um narrador estar contando

engolido pelo lobo? Pois é... Eu sempre achei esse menino o

uma história não torna verdadeiro o que está escrito, nem

maior bobão da história.

mesmo no contexto da própria história relatada. Um livro não

A mentira nunca pode ser gratuita, esse é o xis da

representa a verdade, especialmente porque o ser-humano,

questão! Ela é uma ferramenta que deve ser usada com

o ser mais mentiroso de todos, foi quem o escreveu. Eu o

cautela e nas ocasiões certas. Todo bom mentiroso entende

adverti, leitor, desde o princípio: “não confie em mim”.

isso. A honestidade pode ser usada da mesma forma, mas tem

Tudo o que você acaba de ler aí em cima é uma

um sentido maior. E a história que vou contar tem tudo a ver

grande mentira. Na verdade, sou um jornalista, e meu

com essa pequena digressão que fiz aí em cima. É a história de

trabalho é fazer com que você leia esta pequena crônica até

como a honestidade salvou minha vida.

o fim. Ela não precisa ter algum sentido maior, ou uma grande

Como eu já disse, todos os dias eu tomo café-da-

lição de moral. Ela precisa ser lida. E só. Se você chegou até

manhã na mesma padaria. E em uma de minhas caminhadas

aqui, minha calúnia serviu seu propósito. Não foi gratuita, foi

matinais até o local, uma coisa inusitada me ocorreu enquanto

calculada. Isto é, se é que eu estou mentindo mesmo. Mas

dava água a meu fiel cachorro. Percebi que minha vida estava

isso, você nunca saberá.

8 • the talon

ponto de vista

Mentiras e exageros nas redes socias Não dá para acreditar em tudo o que vemos Luiza Gundim

ão há dúvida de que as redes sociais inovaram e continuam inovando, especialmente no que diz respeito às interações pessoais. Elas facilitam a comunicação com aqueles que moram longe e reúnem diversos aspectos de sua vida em um só lugar. Porém, elas também servem como uma saída mais fácil quando se trata de ter uma conversa importante, pois eliminam obstáculos na comunicação , como ter que lidar com as reações do interlocutor e controlar a linguagem corporal. E já é comprovado que as pessoas estão mais propensas a mentir ou exagerar seus atributos em sites como Facebook e Twitter do que pessoalmente. Conforme reportagem da BBC, em 2011, 50% das crianças inglesas entre 9 e 12 anos são usuários do Facebook. Porém, considerando que o limite mínimo de idade para abrir uma conta no site é de 13 anos, é evidente que grande parte dessas crianças mente sobre sua data de nascimento para acessar a rede. Outro estudo mostra que, além de omitirem suas verdadeiras idades, quatro em cada dez jovens afirmam estar em um relacionamento que na realidade não existe. Essas mentiras podem parecer inofensivas, mas mostram que é preciso tomar cuidado com as informações presentes na internet. No entanto, as crianças não são as únicas a compartilhar informações falsas na rede. Adultos constantemente curtem fotos e postagens que não curtiriam na vida real e mentem sobre seus próprios status para aumentar o número de fãs e chamar a atenção. Nem as fotos escapam das mentiras da Internet. É comum a edição dessas imagens (vulgo photoshop) além da remoção das fotos mais feias, procurando assim transmitir uma imagem “melhorada” e falsa do usuário. Além disso, muitos usam uma foto de perfil antiga ou utilizam a de outra pessoa para parecer mais jovem e atraente. Outros tiram foto ao lado de um carro ou moto que não é seu para parecer “cool”, ou criam um álbum de fotos falso. Os usuários que querem chamar atenção possuem vários recursos para deixar seu perfil mais interessante. A estratégia mais comum é inventar um status update que não é verdadeiro, como “a festa ontem foi demais” ou “indo pra praia amanhã,” o que nos dá a impressão de que o usuário tem uma vida social mais agitada do que ela realmente é. Muitos têm o hábito de mentir, afirmando ter lido artigos nos aplicativos de jornais e

revistas e assim parecerem mais inteligentes e bem informados. Enfim, as redes sociais proporcionam uma fuga da realidade e há quem as use para se projetar de forma mais interessante em todos os aspectos. Uma mentira mais grave do que as apresentadas acima é a criação de um relacionamento falso. Essa prática acontece tanto com crianças quanto com adultos, pois ter um namorado ou namorada fictícios, supostamente aumenta seu prestígio na rede social, independentemente da idade que tenha. Além de fingir estar em um relacionamento, alguns usuários ainda criam um perfil falso para o parceiro, com o intuito de deixar a mentira mais convincente. E as mentiras não param por aí. Há quem engane ou exagere quanto a formação escolar ou na descrição da profissão e quanto aos livros, filmes e músicas que aprecia, para parecer mais cool e intelectual. Há até quem faça check-in em um lugar que não esteve, deixando uma pegada virtual muito diferente de sua realidade. Para aumentar seu prestígio na rede, muitos usuários escolhem adicionar alguém como amigo simplesmente porque a pessoa é bonita. Assim, seu número de amigos aumenta e a pessoa passa a ser mais popular. Com o mesmo intuito de melhorar sua reputação, um usuário manda mensagens para aqueles que não são seus amigos reais. Enfim, muitos fazem de tudo para passar uma imagem perfeita, mas que não necessariamente corresponde à realidade. É impossível controlar tudo o que se vê na internet, e as redes sociais não são exceção. Entretanto, controlamos, sim, aquilo que nós mesmos publicamos. Já que as redes sociais são (ou deveriam ser) uma extensão da vida concreta, logo coerente com a realidade, nada é mais certo do que nos restringirmos à verdade ao utilizá-las. É preciso pensar nas conseqüências antes de publicar um status falso ou exagerar suas qualidades de qualquer maneira. Temos de aceitar as coisas como elas são, pois fugir da realidade nas redes sociais não nos levará a lugar algum. Fontes: curiosity.discovery.com; olhardigital.uol.com.br/ jovem/redes_socias; updateordie.com

the talon • 9

ponto de vista

Jogado aos teus pés O exagero de uma paixão que existe há 30 anos Gi Regis

arece que sempre conheci Agenor de Miranda Araújo Neto. E você também o conhece, nem que seja por seu nome artístico: Cazuza. Aprendi com meus pais, grandes admiradores de Cazuza, a ouvir as músicas e a apreciar as letras desde que me conheço por gente. É claro que nunca dei muita bola (essas coisas de que nossos pais gostam costumam ser pouco interessantes e minha geração é, obviamente, muito melhor - representada por Justin Bieber e Cine), e com o passar do tempo fui me desapegando dos gostos dos meus pais e criando o meu próprio repertório. Mas Cazuza continua a me encantar. E não apenas pela influência de meus pais, mas porque Cazuza é simplesmente incrível. Tudo bem, ele foi um cantor de rock drogado, exageradamente apaixonado e que muitas vezes agia como um jovem inconsequente e ingênuo, mas sua imortalidade é indisputável. Meu gosto por Cazuza vai além da música em si, e esbarra em sua personalidade e história de vida. Um menino sempre muito envolvido com a música, nascido em uma família que respirava o repertório brasileiro, filho único do presidente de uma das maiores gravadoras brasileiras, Cazuza queria ser arquiteto mas, muito secretamente, não largava de seus poemas. Nunca fez aulas de canto, mas a musicalidade de suas letras acabou levando-o a formar, junto com Roberto Frejat, seu irmão de coração, o Barão Vermelho. Talentoso e carismático, Cazuza revolucionou o cenário da música brasileira nos anos 80. Sua paixão acabou por afastá-lo do Barão, mas sua originalidade e independência renderam-lhe sucesso e reconhecimento nacional. Em carreira solo, conseguiu deixar registrada sua marca exagerada e irreverente. Fumava de tudo, amava tudo e todos, arriscouse na vida e na música, inovando com o samba-rock, com sua própria bossa-nova, e um estilo meio cafona, cheio de dores-de-cotovelo amorosas. O repertório influenciado por grandes nomes, como Noel Rosa, Cartola, Nelson Cavaquinho,

10 • the talon

Dolores Duran, Janis Joplin, entre outros, constitui-se numa verdadeira palheta cultural e tornou-se influência marcante para a MPB. Mesmo depois de tantos anos, Cazuza continua a ser aclamado por grandes nomes da cena cultural brasileira, como Caetano Veloso e Gilberto Gil. Agenor viveu uma vida de exageros e morreu cedo, em decorrência da Aids. Mas não é essa sua mensagem. Pra mim, Cazuza representa a liberdade de expressão. Ele é o real exemplo de que vale a pena ser quem você é, viver à sua maneira e deixar de lado a visão tradicional e “certinha” de como cantar, amar, rir e chorar. A inspiração para experimentar de tudo um pouco significa nunca se satisfazer, sempre buscar mais; mais felicidade, mais amor, mais conhecimento, mais cultura. Me identifico com esse lado selvagem e nada menos que humano de Cazuza. Também tenho essa fome de viver. Minha música favorita, “Exagerado”, mostra a todos quem Cazuza era: um homem de muitas paixões: carnal, homossexual, ideologiacazuzacover.com ideológica. Cazuza sentia, e para a insatisfação de muitos, não escondia o quê. Declarava-se a um amor imortal, bem ao estilo de Vinicius de Moraes, e trazia o exagero de suas composições para a vida real, e vice-versa, fazendo do que viveu sua arte e da arte sua vida. Cazuza pode ser considerado muitas coisas: um louco egocêntrico, um jovem orgulhoso, um ignorante cabeça-dura, mais um maluco-beleza perdido… mas ele não deixa de ser o maior exemplo que conheço de intensidade. Intensidade na vida, na história, na música, no dia a dia. Essa é a marca de sua genialidade irreverente. Não há dúvida de que versos como “jogado aos teus pés, com mil rosas roubadas / exagerado / adoro um amor inventado” farão parte do repertório musical brasileiro para sempre. Fonte: ideologiacazuzacover.com

news

Romney’s Returns From minor issue to big problem

Daniel Almeida

ne of Bill Clinton’s more famous utterances is the famous: “It depends upon what the meaning of the world is is.” Now replace the first “is” with “retired” and you’ve got a simplified version of the scandal that has recently battered Mitt Romney’s campaign. A while back, the Boston Globe reported that since Romney began running for public office, he had been claiming that he left Bain Capital, the private equity firm responsible for his personal fortune, in 1999. Yet, the Globe found documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that stated that Romney was the CEO and sole owner of Bain Capital as late as 2002. Moreover, a 2003 Massachusetts filing states that he still owned 100% of Bain Capital in 2002, and the Globe’s review of Romney’s state financial disclosure forms indicate he earned at least $100,000 as a Bain “executive” in 2001 and 2002, separate from investment earnings. Romney’s 2010 tax return, when combined with his FEC disclosure, reveals red flags that raise serious tax compliance questions with respect to his possible tax minimization strategies in earlier years. So, what are these issues? The first is Romney’s Swiss bank account. Most presidential candidates don’t think it appropriate to bet that the U.S. dollar will lose value by speculating in Swiss Francs, which is basically the rationale offered by the trustee of Romney’s “blind” trust for opening this account. What’s more, if one really wants just to speculate on foreign currencies, he doesn’t need a Swiss bank account to do so. Second, Romney’s $100 million Individual Retirement Account is remarkable for its size. Even under the most generous assumptions, Romney would have been restricted to annual contributions of $30,000 while he worked at Bain. How does this grow to $100 million? One theory is that Romney stuffed far more into his retirement plans each year than the maximum allowed by law by claiming that the stock of the Bain company deals that the retirement plan acquired had only a nominal value. Third, the complexity of Romney’s one publicly released tax return, with all its foreign accounts, trusts, corporations and partnerships, leaves even experts (myself included) scratching their heads. Disclosure of multiple years’ tax returns is part of the answer here, but in this case it isn’t sufficient. Romney’s financial affairs are so arcane, so opaque and so tied up in his continuing income from Bain Capital that more transpaecney is needed, including an explanation of the $100 million IRA.

Finally, there’s the puzzle of the Romneys’ extraordinarily low effective tax rate. For 2010, the Romneys enjoyed a federal tax rate of only 13.9% on their adjusted gross income of roughly $22 million, which gave them a lower federal tax burden (including payroll, income and excise taxes) than the average American wage-earning family in the $40,000 - $50,000 range. This is due to a tax loophole that Romney gets since his income, to this date, comes from “carried interest,” meaning that it is compensation received for managing other people’s money. Yet, Romney has not explained how, as president, he can bring objectivity to bear on this tax loophole that is estimated as costing the country billions of dollars every year. To add insult to injury, by announcing that he will release no further tax returns beyond his 2010 and 2011 returns, Mitt Romney refused to be part of the proud bipartisan tradition of presidential nominees displaying genuine financial candor with the electorate. Since George Romney, Mitt Romney’s father (sweet, sweet irony), inaugurated the practice more than 40 years ago by releasing 12 years of tax returns in his bid for the Republican Party nomination, presidential nominees have been transparent with voters about their personal finances. That’s the reason why the U.S. has not suffered a significant tax scandal involving a nominee or sitting president since President Richard Nixon’s abuse of the tax code. Which is to say that either Romney has unresolved daddy issues, or he has some special reason not to follow a tradition established by his father. Obama’s senior campaign adviser, Robert Gibbs commented by saying, “We could put this to rest tomorrow. Mitt Romney can go to Kinko’s, photocopy his tax returns. He could hand them out to people like CNN and to reporters all over the country, and we wouldn’t talk about this tomorrow. We wouldn’t say, ‘Is he paying taxes?’ The whole world would know what loopholes he’s taking advantage of.” Now, enter Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. In a Huffington Post interview, Reid made claims that an unnamed investor with Bain Capital told him that Romney had not paid taxes for a decade. But Reid didn’t stop there, oh no. Reid pulled a “Oh no he didn’t” move by suggesting Romney’s dead father would be ashamed of him. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a textbook example of how a seemingly little issue turns out to be a big problem. Sources: forbes.com; cnn.com; washingtonpost.com

the talon • 11

news

The Aurora Shooting Could it have been prevented? Andrea Ferreira

magine being in a theater, at the highly anticipated premiere of your favorite movie series, when suddenly your eyes are clouded by smoke and gunshots ring in your ears. This terror was a devastating reality for over two hundred audience members at a midnight showing of the highly anticipated Batman movie, at a theater in Aurora, Colorado on July 20. The shooting resulted in the death of twelve and wounded nearly sixty others in this horrific event. Police charged 24 year old James E. Holmes who was arrested by officials outside the theater, with 24 accounts of first degree murder. Prior to the attack, Holmes was a graduate of the University of California Riverside with a degree in neuroscience and had no disciplinary incidents. However at the beginning of this year, Holmes’ academic performance began to decline, as he started performing poorly in graduate school at The University of Colorado. Particularly troubling was Holmes’s insistence that he was “The Joker,” a villain from the Batman series, dying his hair bright red and wearing a similar outfit— a gas mask, bulletproof vest, and carrying a gun at the crime scene. Furthermore, within a period of two months, the shooter was found to have purchased two pistols, a shotgun, and a semi-automatic rifle. He also was found to have purchased 3000 rounds of ammunition for the pistols and rifle, and 350 shells for the shotgun online. As tragic as this event is, it unfortunately is not the first of its kind to rock the Colorado area. In 1999, the Columbine Massacre occurred at Columbine High School in Jefferson County, Colorado, the deadliest high school shooting in America to date. Two senior students attending the school shot and killed thirteen people and wounded twenty-four of their classmates before taking their own lives. Besides the towns being located only thirty-two kilometers apart, the shooters of this event as well as the Aurora shooting also draw stunning parallels despite their difference in age, which has left a nation with questions. Whenever tragedies like these happen, people are always quick to wonder what may have been the motives of the gunman; people wonder how any person could have the could have it in them to hurt others. People always wonder if these attacks could have been foreseen, or if they could have been prevented in any way. Though two different situations, both massacres have similarities that researchers believe could offer some insight. The two seniors involved in the Columbine attack, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, shared many similarities with James Homes. All three were described by peers and teach-

12 • the talon

ers as being social outcasts despite being academically gifted; it has even been speculated that they could’ve suffered from mental illness such as schizophrenia (in the case of Holmes), bipolar disorder (Eric Harris), or severe depression (Klebold). The most striking similarity between the two incidents is both were obviously calculated, and involved a mass amount of weapons collected beforehand. The last point has been especially controversial, as many people see gun laws in the United States as being too lenient, with buyers not subject to a rigorous background check before purchase (both of the boys were underage, but managed to gain possession through friends). Furthermore, it remains under dispute how anyone should be able to purchase such powerful weapons— some of which are typically found only in the military and law enforcement— and in such large quantities. Another controversy that arose is how both tragedies seemed to be influenced by gaming and movies. This has served to fuel the debate of whether games and movies that promote violence have any place in society. Holmes drew an obvious parallel to the movie’s villain, even calling himself the “Joker,” and behaving crazily as the character might. The boys were both avid gamers, even creating levels for a game called Doom, a highly violent shooting game. Additionally, in one of the boy’s journals, he made references to Natural Born Killers, another violent movie. The most tragic similarity though, according to the principal of Columbine, Frank DeAngelis, was how both of these events occurred in areas which people feel the most security—such as schools or movie theaters. After tragedies like this, it becomes a concern that people will become scared to do everyday things such as go to school. More than anything, last month’s shooting has made many people skeptical about midnight premieres of movies, where hundreds of people go, some dressed in costumes including masks. The inability to secure these premises has caused some people to wonder whether these special events should continue. In light of this devastation, the victims must be honored, those injured will need the proper care, and the families of those lost will need closure. This will start with Holmes’s trial, and making sure that he will never be able to hurt others, says the brother of one of the victims. Sources: latimes.com; cnn.com; nbcnews.com; abcnews.com; huffingtonpost.com; denverpost.com

news

The Media Exposing Itself How some fake stories have reached the news

Annie Groth

ll news is an exaggeration of life.” This is how Daniel Schorr, three-time Emmy winner for television journalism, described the media. The media exaggerate, inflate, and sometimes even create their own tall tales and fish stories for the public. There are some times, though, when fake news, marketing, or even fake stories the public creates get into the media. Here is a collection of stories that have all turned into news. Some are interesting, some are humorous, and all are true in the sense they’re false. Egypt Olympic Team Sponsored by Nike Olympic synchronized-swimmer Yomna Khallaf alleged she and other athletes were given fake Nike gear. Khallaf first became suspicious when she noticed her Nike workout bags had Adidas branded zippers on them. A Nike spokesman said that the EOC (Egyptian Olympic Committee) had chosen to sign with a Chinese sports gear vendor that supplied counterfeit equipment carrying the Nike logo. Gen Mahmoud Ahmed Ali, the Chairman for the EOC, has defended his decision to go for counterfeit equipment because of his country’s tight finances due to its precarious economy. Even so, Egyptian athletes were outraged by the deception. It also seems that the EOC could have signed for the counterfeit equipment to portray a better image of its country to the rest of the world through the media. Of course, that cannot be confirmed. Thankfully two days after Ali’s statement, on July 27, Nike decided to donate all the equipment athletes needed for free. Shell Oil Company Creates Self-Accusatory Website In July, a confusing website appeared using Shell’s logo and web graphic design. The site contained information about Shell’s oil-drilling activities in the Arctic. The confusing part was not the information, but some of the site’s special features. There were many ironic pictures (such as ones of polar bears approaching oil puddles getting ready for a ‘dip’) where anyone could add a caption. Soon afterwards, a video on Youtube appeared of an event supposedly made by the company where a fountain starts spraying guests with oil, followed by a poorly designed media response. Not surprisingly, none of it—the website, the video, and even the media response—was created by Shell. Greenpeace, in association with Yes Men, have claimed responsibility. It may all seem absurd, but this is actually a tactic of protest known as culture jamming, where the protestor attempts to subvert an organization through media

ridicule. The actual Shell Oil Company has remained low profile on the subject. North Korea Posseses ICBM Missiles Earlier in April, North Korea stunned the world with its weaponry when displaying six road-mobile ICBMs (Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles) in a parade in Pyongyang. The missiles seemed very impressive, representing the country’s advances in its missile-development programme. However, after close analysis of pictures, two German missile experts have claimed the missiles are fake. Markus Schiller and Robert Schmucker have observed “(M)inor differences in detail that add up to major differences in configuration in design.” These details include things such as different markings for each missile, an undulating surface tip, and even an unsecure bolt. North Korea could be trying to deceive the world by showing its machinery, but sometimes mock-missiles are used in parades so that the real missiles are not damaged. The true motive remains unclear. I Survived 9/11 Tania Head was a 9/11 survivor. She had seen her assistant being decapitated, but had managed to get out alive while thinking of her approaching wedding day. Tragically, she would discover her fiancé Dave, who worked in the other tower, did not survive the attack. Her story was one of tragedy, but also of hope and moving on. She became a survivor. She also went on to become a public speaker, president of the World Trade Center Survivors’ Network, and even meet the mayor of New York. Turns out Tania was not a survivor. In fact, she wasn’t even Tania. Her real name was Alicia and she had managed to deceive the media for almost 10 years. So what happened? A reporter began questioning her story when details of different versions she had told appeared incompatible. He later discovered that Tania—or rather Alicia—was in Barcelona during the attack. Now, Tania’s story—her real story—has turned into a book and a documentary titled The Woman Who Wasn’t There. People are exposed to so much fake news every day that they grow accustomed to not questioning what is real. Sometimes only minor details get changed, but sometimes an entire story can be the fruit of a lie. The only thing safe to assume is that anything, even the news, can be exposed as fake. Sources: nytimes.com; bbc.com; cnn.com

the talon • 13

news

August Quick News This month in quick news Daniel Almeida

he Feds sent their strongest signal yet that it is preparing to take new steps to bolster the United States’ economic recovery, saying that measures would be needed fairly soon unless economic growth picks up substantially. Large retailers like Target and Wal-Mart Stores may largely escape a new rule requiring U.S.-listed companies to disclose whether their goods contain certain minerals blamed for fueling violence in central Africa. The U.S. economy would likely slide into a significant recession next year if Congress doesn’t avert tax increases and spending cuts set to begin in January, the Congressional Budget Office said.

Spotify is set to launch its popular music-streaming service in Canada, and has further plans to possibly expand into Asia and South America, according to the company’s annual accounts. Japan’s once-mighty electronics giants have missed the smartphone wave and now struggle as Apple and Samsung’s devices overtake digital cameras and game machines. A Congressional Budget Office report released August 22 on the potentially dismal impact of the impending “fiscal cliff” prompted finger pointing from both political parties, who not surprisingly, blamed each other.

Monthly Update The ups and downs of Graded Adam Hunt Fertig

This edition you hold in your hand right this instant, is the first Talon of the year. Treasure it.

14 • the talon

The 1:1 laptop program is instituted at Graded, demonstrating two things: the power of educational technology, and how many freakin’ students have Macs.

The high school plays this year are going to be so good, there’s a 25% chances you’ll implode after watching them.

entertainment

A Bucket Full Of...

Jack Sparrow and other shenanigans

Yasmin Della Nina

ave you ever told a huge lie, one of those that seem to Instead, I’d stick with the nurse’s note saying I had a headache. last for hours, and the worst (and funniest) part is that It’s easy to tell whether the story someone’s telling you know people can tell it’s not true? I mean, I’ve done it is true or not. First, notice the person’s eyes. Liars don’t look before. Usually I do it when I need to explain to my parents you in the face. If the person is saying way too many “ums” why I didn’t, for example, tell them I had to study for Physics and “uhs” it means he or she is inventing the story on the spot on Sunday night instead of watching Pirates of the Caribbean, (that doesn’t necessarily count with Americans because a lot a movie which in fact contains one of my favorite fish stories of them say “ums” and “uhs” fifty-seven times every minute). of all times: When you ask the person where she was when the story was Mr. Gibbs: Then, on the fourth day, he roped himself taking place and she stares at you blankly then says, “oh man… to a couple of sea turtles, lashed ‘em together and I don’t remember exactly the name, it was something like… made a raft. um…” Yeah, they’re lying. Will Turner: He roped a couple of sea The point is, since it’s that easy to turtles? figure out when you’re telling a tall tale or a Mr. Gibbs: Aye. Sea turtles. fish story, my advice is DON’T DO IT. Except in Will Turner: What did he use for a extremely necessary situations. I’m sure you rope? guys are mature enough to differentiate. But Jack Sparrow: [beside them] Human just in case, here’s an example when it’s okay to hair. [pause] From my back. do that. For instance, say you and your friends Oh Jack and his perfectness. When I try are hanging out at the pool, and you see that telling a tall tale or a fish story (and mine one of them decides to sit on the little plastic, aren’t nearly as awesome as Captain Sparextremely breakable table, but you decide not row’s) I usually start with something like: saladadecinema.com.br to say anything to them out of politeness. But “It’s kind of a funny story…” From then on then, the worst happens. It breaks. And then you you can be certain that nothing that comes have to deal with your parents. Are you really going to embarout of my mouth is true…or at least completely true. Somerass your friend and be like, “Hey, my friend sat on the thing times I just say half the truth. Half truths make me feel a and his weight was too much for it to handle so it broke.” First little less guilty. off, you’re kind of calling your friend fat. Second off, I mean, But, hey, tall tales and fish stories are necessary in the poor person. It’s not like he or she did it on purpose. So what life of every human being. For example, I think that everyone can you say? Here’s what I did when exactly that happened: has had one day when they simply did not want to do Gym “It’s kind of a funny story… You see, there was an ant (Juniors and Seniors, try to remember those arduous classes). on the floor. The ant was big. My friend was casually walking I don’t know about you readers, but I am lazy in every sense alongside the pool, and suddenly, he steps on the ant. It hurt of the word. Spreading butter on bread to me is already a so much, he was jumping around on one foot, and then he lost pain, so imagine Gym. It was like being dragged into my worst his balance and fell on the table. The funniest part is that even nightmare, into the worst punishment in existence. Not to though the bite hurt so much, it left no marks! Isn’t nature count some people’s...perspiration technicalities, which left something?” the gym with such a delectable smell. Well, that’s when I’d So what if no one believes you? At least you saved your think of pulling an Amanda Bynes on the coaches: friend from a tremendous embarrassment. “Why can’t you play baseball, Yasmin?” So the message of this article, other than mostly noth“I’m allergic to the sun.” ing, is this: Do not tell tall tales or fish stories if you can, and “…You’re allergic to the sun?” when you do, remember to perfect your lying skills and do it “Very, very, very deathly, deathly allergic, sir.” for a worthy cause. Like loyalty to a friend. If only Ney would believe that story. At least Viola (Byne’s By the way, I have no idea how to tell when someone’s character) was able to pull it off in the movie She’s The Man. lying. I made that all up. The rest is true though. Or is it? Bye!

the talon • 15

entertainment

Your Average Rock Star Tales Fact or fiction, they always entertain

begin with a tale about one of Brazil’s most notorious musicians, Tim Maia. This happened sometime in the late 80s, when Maia’s manager trudged into his house and begged him to tidy up (Maia was often described as being the closest a person can get to a hobo without being one). On that particular day they would have a meeting with some hotshots to sign a contract for his upcoming record. Maia tidied up as ordered and eventually agreed to his manager’s many pleas for him to remain sober for the next few hours. With that in mind, they made their way to the building where the meeting was about to be held. One or two hours into the conference, Maia asked to be excused in order to go to the bathroom, but he obviously didn’t do as he said he would. Instead, he carried his humongous boozedfueled belly into a dark and lonesome room and closed the door behind him. He lit up a small marijuana cigarette. That’s when the amusing part goes down. Legend has it that the room he was in was responsible for distributing air conditioning into all rooms on the floor. As a result, the drug’s strong odor made its way into the conference room where the meeting was being held within minutes. Perhaps the most famouse rock tale involves our Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne. Ozzy was taken to a meeting involving some of the music industry’s main men and was told to bring along some white doves that he was supposed to set free at the end of the meeting in order to please these executives. The meeting started and Osbourne grew increasingly bored as it went on and so, at a certain point towards the end of the encounter, he decided to open one of the cages containing the animals. He then grabbed one of them and simply bit its head off and chewed on it while everyone watched blood spill all over the table. Apparently Professor Osbourne was teaching America’s youth how to make an awesome first impression. But Osbourne’s capers continued. A couple of years after this incident during his Bark At the Moon Tour, the stage was strewn with animals such as snakes and dead insects, then a dead bat was thrown on stage. Ozzy believed that the dead meat in front of him was in fact a toy, a plastic bat and also bit its head off. Once again, blood was spilled. He must have really regretted this bite because the rabiesshots he had to get must have really hurt. Next, we’ll get acquainted with some wise words of the guitarist of one of rock n’ roll’s most celebrated bands, Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. Richards was hired for a

Mendel Schwarz

blogspot.com

Pepsi commercial in the US and, during a conversation with a few of Pepsi’s employees, he was questioned about what the experience had been like for him. His answer? “I was really surprised when they made the invite because during all my life I have been a frequent user of coke, y’know?” Finally, how would you feel if suddenly your uncle became your dad and your mom and dad became your grandma and granddad? Yeah, I know. You’re wondering what I am talking about. Well, that sort of sums it up for guitar virtuoso, Eric Clapton. Clapton was born in England’s countryside and days after he was brought into the world his biological mother abandoned him. He was then raised by his grandparents who would pretend to be his parents while his biological father, their son, was supposedly his uncle. He only found out this cover-up much later in life when he finally met his real mother towards the middle of his teenage life. The rock n’ roll world is a place full of excesses and plain craziness. These are only a couple of stories from an extensive list of curious tales about these famous people. And as the good, old Ozzy would say, “Don’t regret a thing because if you’d done something different you would probably be someone different and you and I love who I am and you should love who your are.” Sources: Slash by Slash; I Am Ozzy by Ozzy Osbourne.

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entertainment

Common Misconceptions Debunked Maybe everything you’ve been told isn’t true Kevin Shimba Bengtsson

eing the flawed human beings we are, it is no wonder the world is a place where lies are common practice. We lie to our parents when we don’t want to go to school and tell them we’re sick. We lie to our friends when we say they don’t look fat in their dress. But sometimes, and perhaps worst of all, we go around telling and believing in lies, without even once considering that they might be untrue. Unlike our usual day-today lies—the ones we tell and we know we’re being deceitful— these are ones we tell and we are sure we are telling the truth. These are our common misconceptions: to be honest, they are innumerable and I feel that it is my duty to debunk some of them so no one goes around telling a lie without knowing it. Einstein did not fail math. In fact, when Albert Einstein was shown the column where this was pronounced, he responded by saying, “I never failed in mathematics... Before I was fifteen I had mastered differential and integral calculus.” So before you go around saying, “It’s okay if I fail, even Einstein failed!” like it’s fact, just remember you’re lying to yourself. Besides, as a teenager, he was probably already smarter than any of us will ever be. Velociraptors are not that big. Remember the movie Jurassic Park? Remember how scary those velociraptors—which were taller than the humans—were? Well, fear no more: measuring at just under 2 feet tall, these feathered dinosaurs could be described as the prehistoric chickens, nothing like what was depicted in Stephen Spielberg’s blockbuster. If that’s the case, then what were the dinosaurs in the movie? They were what is called a deinonychus, a different genus of dinosaur altogether. Why they didn’t just call it a deinonychus and not a velociraptor is something that will bug me for the rest of my life. Maybe velociraptor just sounds cooler. Shaving will not make your hair grow back stronger, faster or thicker. Contrary to popular belief, shaving has no other effect on the hair other than to remove it. What shaving actually does is give the impression that hair is in fact thicker and harder. This is because short hair is less flexible and thus feels thicker and more stiff than when it grows out. The reason most people believe shaved hair grows faster is because they start shaving at a young age, when hair grows slowly, and as they become adults it grows faster, giving the impression that it was a result of the shaving. So to all the boys who want to have a manly beard to impress their girlfriends, shaving a lot won’t be of much help. Sorry. No, you don’t have to wait 30 minutes after eating to swim. Surely, everyone has heard their paranoid mothers

tell them , “Don’t go into the pool yet, you just ate!” Just as surely, everyone has complained, “Mom, I’m not gonna die, ugh.” The funny thing here is that we were right and our moms were wrong. Our mothers in this case had no justification for their worries, for the only thing that could arise from going swimming after eating is a minor cramp, if even that. I always knew I was smarter than my mom. The human tongue does not have different sections each responsible for a different taste. Although you were most likely taught in school that there are different parts of the tongue for tasting bitter, sweet, salty and sour things, your teachers information was erroneous. In fact, the whole idea of a tongue map came from a mistranslation by the Harvard psychologist Edwin G. Boring of a German paper entitled Zur Psychophysik des Geschmackssinnes, where the increased sensitivity of different tastes for different parts of the tongue was interpreted as meaning that each part only tasted a single taste. This mistake makes me wonder how Boring even got hired by Harvard in the first place. Maybe they liked his last name. You cannot see the Great Wall of China from the moon. I don’t know if you’ve realized this, but the Great Wall of China is long, not wide. In fact, at any given point, the widest it gets is about nine meters. Observing the wall from the moon is comparable to looking at a strand of hair from two miles away. Do you really think your eyesight is that good? The red juice in meet is not blood. You know when you ask for your meat not to be “too bloody” or something along those lines? Well, whatever meat you get will be just as bloody as your friend’s because, well, there is no blood. Almost, if not all the blood is removed during the slaughter. So what is the red liquid, you ask? Well, it’s a mixture of water and a protein called myoglobin. I dare you to guess what color the protein is. That’s right, red. I guess if a vampire shows up at your house, you won’t be able to fling meat from the fridge at him for self-defense. If you’re really curious about this subject, I have a recommendation for you: use the Internet. I’ve heard it’s pretty cool. So now go show off your superfluous knowledge to friends and learn to experience that awesome feeling when you get to interrupt them and say, in the most pretentious tone, “Well, actually…” Sources: wikipedia.org; todayifoundout.com; dukehealth.org

the talon • 17

entertainment

Moustache Fever What’s the deal?

Larissa Chern

n case you were too busy either hibernating in São Paulo or soaking under the European sun during these last two months, you should be aware that the world seems to have surrendered to a moustache fever. You do not have to pay close attention to spot the icon printed on T-shirts, shoes, hoodies and pencil cases. The icon also comes in all sorts of accessories so you can happily wear a fake hair strip around your neck, your finger, your earlobes or your wrist. In case you want to display the figure on your index finger, you can purchase moustache temporary finger tattoos — also known as “fingerstaches.” Also, with this other fever called iPhone, is it not obvious that you should be able to buy a moustache case? And of course, you do not want to be an outsider for not joining the group and having a moustache doorknob humorously greeting you as you arrive to your room. This moustache obsession dates back a long time ago. The early characters that first come to mind when mentioning the word “moustache” are European kings and emperors such as Henry Tudor or Tsar Nicholas. Maybe you might even consider looking through your historical dictators’ file and fishing out Lenin’s picture, or even Hitler’s memorable moustache. According to The New York Times, the trend, along with the beard, had its second wave of popularity surge among stylish men between 1850 and 1900. Still, during those times, the trend was limited to the common, real hair strip above a man’s lips. The moustache, however, had its popularity soar once again in 2008 when Brad Pitt grew one before shooting the movie “Inglorious Bastards” and James Franco joined the vogue for the eight-time-Academy-winning film Milk. With a new movie coming up, Sacha Baron Cohen recently added more of a weight to the moustache team for the characterization of Borat. And these three are not the only ones to join forces. Zac Efron, John Travolta, David Beckham, Ryan Goslin, Jack Black, among

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many others have also made it to the list within the last four years. It is so unusual to think that something as common as a moustache, often nowadays related to old men, has turned into this ubiquitous obsession. Clearly, the moustache fashion relied on the media, advertising and celebrities we have today and had its trend expand, becoming an unbelievable craze among teenagers — and even some adults. Going from a simple ordinary charm among men to a fad, the moustache has gone through some major changes these past centuries and now enjoys its popularity peak, taking over fastfashion stores such as Urban Outiftters, Zara and Topshop, as well as souvenir shops and street vendors merchandises. Having been vastly commerblog.gabroit-d.com cialized, the moustache fad is all over the Internet. If you search Instagram for a moustache hashtag, you will find a humble array of over 95,000 photos. This number, of course, excludes derivations such as “moustacheparty,” “moustacheswag,” “moustachebakesgoods” and “moustacheyouaquestion.” Brazilians have even created a website entitled Moustache Fashion Week which includes a moustache sonnet and instructions on how to grow a moustache fit for your face. It is hard to determine how long this moustache fever will last, but I can tell you this much: it does not seem like any other ordinary fad; it’s more persistent and widespread. No matter how much you try to prove that you are different and that this fever will not catch you, you have to admit it is pretty funny and even cute. It makes me want to fetch those pink moustache loafers I bought last week in New York and take them outside, waiting for people to swoon over them, just like they do with any moustache nowadays. Sources: nytimes.com; urbanoutfitters.com; moustachefashionweek.com.br

entertainment

Graded-Kid Problems We all know how it is Yasmin Della Nina

aving to choose one day of the weekend to go out because you will have to study all day long on the other.

Homework on Facebook.

Teachers on Facebook.

Having to decide what is more worthwhile: having free time and no sleep, or sleep and no free time.

Being more excited to see the most recent updates on Veracross than anything else.

Having something great to say during a seminar but not being called, so someone else says it instead, and then you don’t have any other ideas.

Having to explain to your friends from other schools what annotations on books are for.

Shouting out the answer but the teacher doesn’t hear it. Someone hears it, shouts it again. Teacher hears it.

Having to explain to your friends from other schools why you have vacation homework.

(For short people) Trying not to get run over in the cafeteria.

Breaking a plate in the cafeteria and trying to disappear as every single person seems to stare at you whilst clapping.

Noticing you forgot to double-space your essay after you already printed it.

Forgetting your laptop charger and having to beg for one.

Forgetting your laptop.

Forgetting your earphones when you brought your iPod.

Forgetting your iPod when you brought your earphones.

Forgetting both your iPod and your earphones on the day your teacher gave an in-class assignment that you had the option of completing while listening to music.

Always messing up your locker code (especially when you’re already late).

Dying of old age in long seminars/discussions/classes.

Having to prepare a presentation about a book you did not read.

Thinking you did well on a test and then seeing the actual result.

Not knowing for sure what after-school activity you have on what day since you signed up for so many.

Being yelled at by Mr. Bair for being late.

Forgetting whether the paper you were supposed to turn in was to be submitted by print or on Turnitin.com.

Assemblies.

Pop. Quiz.

Turnitin.com

Handwritten essay tests.

Faking sickness to get out of class.

Handwritten essay tests for IB History.

Not even bothering to fake a sickness to get out of class.

Not finding the book you didn’t read on SparkNotes.

Trying to explain to the teachers that the reason you’re late is because none of the clocks at school tell the same time, and being yelled at for “lying.”

The guy who decided Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V is not acceptable and called it plagiarism.

Having Physics and Math on the same day and confusing the equations.

Being told not to care so much about grades by your teachers even though the school’s name alone is enough of a reminder.

Having Physics and Math on different days and forgetting your calculator on one of those days.

Not being allowed to take a picture of the notes on the board.

Having bad memory and taking Biology.

Not being allowed to film the lecture instead of taking notes.

Being told you could handle Math honors/HL, and then…

Not being allowed to sleep in class.

Setting up appointments with teachers.

Not being allowed to eat in class.

Turning things in on time.

Not procrastinating.

Not being allowed to read The Talon in class (even though it’s so awesome).

Facebook.

Missing Alan Lesley Pagenkopf (a.k.a. Pags).

the talon • 19

entertainment

Overheard @ Graded Amazingly, these aren’t tall tales or fish stories Nicole Vladimirschi

student in math class, while talking about TOK maps and distortions: I’m not exactly sure where to place Israel... Another student: Isn’t Israel in Africa? Bio SL student: “They’re ducks...They live in trees...Tree Ducks...TRUCKS!” GMUN Delegate 1: So, in one word, will this actually help with the issue of overpopulation? Delegate 2: No, but... Delegate 1 (interrupting): Thank you.

During class: “When someone pokes you on Facebook, does your screen shake?” During IB Art: “Hey I dunno how to draw a cube.” “Oh, okay, so first, draw a triangle.” Student in IB Lit walks into the classroom and sees that he’s the only boy: “Vou sair daqui rebolando!” Senior boy in English: “I don’t understand this? What is sexuality?”

In Portuguese class, talking about annoying Facebook games requests: “Dude, Farmville is the reason I joined Facebook.”

Teacher: What does surface tension allow to be on the water? Student: Boats.

Teacher to student in class: “Since you arrived late today you will be my ‘boi de piranha’; I will sacrifice you.”

Overheard anything funny recently? Send it to talon@graded. br!

Two Truths and a Lie How well do you know the Talonistas?

Features Team ince this Talon edition involves tall tales, the Features team decided to put together a guessing game in order for you to test your own “lie detector.” Below are three statements about five members of the Talon staff, and one of each three is a lie. The answers are indicated at the bottom. Don’t peek! 1. Julia Abreu: a) I love clowns and think they are hilarious. b) I have broken my nose twice; coincidentally, both at pool parties. c) I despise chicken—I can’t even have chicken broth or anything that tastes or looks like it could be close to a chicken. 2. Renata Sayão: a) I’m weirdly very good putting names to faces. In many instances I will remember this random person and their name, but I hide the fact that I do know them just because they’ll be a little scared. b) I’m addicted to tabloids and I haven’t missed a J-14 issue since April of 2011. c) I spent around a year without eating chocolate after

watching the movie Matilda (the scene where the headmistress makes the little boy binge eat the chocolate cake traumatized me). 3. Nicole Vladmirschi: a) I was in a serious car accident when I was younger. b) I hide money from myself so that I can be excited when I find it later. c) When I eat apples I eat the entire thing. 4. Adam Fertig: a) I know how to weld. b) I play the accordion. c) I have a sailing license. 5. Mendel Schwarz a) I memorized my favorite soccer club’s birthday date before I had memorized my parents’. b) I know how to whistle. c) I have a nephew. 1. a; 2. b; 3. a; 4. c; 10. b.

the talon • 20

features

How We Killed Reasoning Could we all just please calm down? Adam Hunt Fertig

n a recent speech in Virginia, President Obama spoke about culturally inferior to Israel. Seriously, America. That was one how the success of the United States was made possible by out-of-control week. It’s no surprise, though, that this is occurring. Since the cooperation between businesses and people. He talked about how the national system of roads and bridges, as well eleven years ago, when George W. Bush was elected, the world as a general spirit of cooperation, has helped business owners has become a troubling place: the economic crisis, drastic become so successful. And somehow, this speech became climate change and corrupt governments have sent society Mitt Romney’s main argument against Obama. Why? Because into a state of disorder. Historian Edmund Wilson once said, at one point in his speech, Obama said that “if you’ve got a “In times of disorder and stress, the fanatics play a prominent business, you didn’t build that.” What he meant by this, as role; in times of peace, the critics,” and this has been proven he stated twenty seconds later, was that “when we succeed, across history. The criticism of authority in the Enlightenment replaced the religious fervor of the Tudor we succeed because of our individual reign. The political unease and witch trials initiative, but also because we do things What happened to of the Cold War were punctuated by the together.” The Republican candidate constructive, impartial vibrant culture of the Beat Generation. ignored the rest of that and just went for criticism? Now the fanatics have come out to play the “you didn’t build that” part. Romney’s once more. In Greece, the neo-Nazi party new ad campaign is focused around that line. He’s made t-shirts that read “I built my business, Mr. and the neo-communist party coexist in the same Parliament. President.” No one seemed to mind that Obama’s words were The Egyptian government is full to bursting with radicals on taken completely out of context. In modern politics, a good both sides. And that’s to say nothing of the United States. Why must it be either Bible freaks or atheists who argument is more important than actual fact. More recently, the fast food chain Chick-Fil-A want to kill everyone? How did we end up in a society of recently announced that it was against gay or non-traditional crazy liberals and crazier conservatives? What happened to marriage. Both parties in the gay marriage debate pounced constructive, impartial criticism? What happened to a form on the news. Hundreds of thousands flocked to Chick-Fil-A of faith that didn’t involve forcing your opinion on everyone for “Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day,” created to show support else? There’s no better example of this than something that for the chain despite — or perhaps, because of — its anti- has dominated the lives of many readers for longer than they gay stance. Meanwhile, the mayors of Boston, Chicago and can remember: The Simpsons. It’s been twenty-three years San Francisco sent letters to the CEO of Chick-Fil-A, informing since the first episode of The Simpsons aired. And in those him that their cities no longer wanted anything to do with 23 years, the show has attempted to perpetuate a spirit of the franchise. While I personally support the mayors’ actions, healthy criticism. The show has playfully mocked practically they apparently forgot that because of the First Amendment every celebrity and every stereotype in society, and people they are not allowed to bar a company from their cities based have loved it for that. That’s because a world without criticism is worse than a world with hateful, uninformed criticism. on political views. Society needs criticism in order to progress and So let’s go through that one more time: A large fast food chain finds it necessary to suddenly take an anti- evolve. It needs change, and change can only come from gay stance. As a result, Americans support the company in someone believing that something needs to be changed. But their new favorite form of protest: eating. Then, the mayors we should be able to assert the need for change without of three of America’s largest cities forget about the First asserting constant hatred of those who don’t believe in it. Amendment and block the company from their cities. This That’s my tall tale: “Do you remember the time when there all happened in the span of less than a week. In the same was criticism without fanaticism? No? It was this big, I swear!” week, NBC replaced footage of an Olympic tribute to English terrorist victims, with an interview with Michael Phelps. In the same week, Mitt Romney’s chief of staff swore at a Polish holy site, and Romney himself claimed that Palestine was

Sources: finance.yahoo.com, thedailyshow.com, thesimpsons. com

the talon • 21

features

Dream Big The machinations of your mind Julia Abreu

friend called, wanting to describe his dream to me. I was excited to hear it because he had done this many times before, and his dreams were always intriguing. “But this one,” he said, “Made me think about my life.” This conversation led me to question the existence of dreams, and why they can have such an impact. We dream at night from a young age: sometimes they’re wonderful, sometimes they’re not. But why do we have them so frequently? Before looking into this question, let me describe to you my friend’s spine-tingling dream. It starts out with a boy and a girl who love one another dearly. However, the girl becomes ill, and ends up passing away. Grieving, the boy prohibits anyone from touching the corpse, and he sits there, staring at a lifeless body for days. The intriguing part is that as he guards the body, he decides to take out bits of his heart and replace his love’s failed heart. After many days of performing this unimaginable act, she comes back to life, but he’s already too weak. The girl looks at her loved one and smiles, as she tells him, “Thank you for reviving me!” Barely able to maintain himself alive, his eyes manage to fix on hers and he lets out a sigh of relief. “Now that you’re alive and well, I can die peacefully.” Those were his last words before falling into an endless slumber. I am not sure what it was about this dream that made me question the existence of dreams and their purpose in our lives. It’s been a while since he told me this dream, and every time I think about it, I get goosebumps. For one thing, it is nearly impossible for this dream to ever be real, but it could have social implications that go beyond the fantasy of the dream. According to Dr. Patrick McNamara of Boston University, “REM (rapid eye movement sleep) involves regular, periodic, and intense activation of the limbic system and the amygdala—the two major emotional centers of the brain. As the night progresses, activation patterns become more intense and likely color the person’s mood for the day upon awakening.” So, it is not only believed, but scientifically proven that some dreams do have the power to affect people’s moods for the day, and when they share their dreams with others, it can

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also affect those around them. It is not yet clear why shocking dreams can cause this, but they most certainly can influence a person’s waking life. In ancient times, dreams were said to be sent from the gods as prophecies or codes for future understanding of life. They were considered sacred, and people would travel many miles to hear them being described by prophets. As society advanced, dreams became merely a natural happening of the human race, and were not given the attention they deserved. However, many psychologists are working to give a more in-depth significance to dreams. American psychic Edgar Cayce said, “Dreams work to solve the problems of the img.ehowedn.com dreamer’s conscious, waking life, and they work to quicken in the dreamer new potentials which are his to claim.” We often dismiss our dreams and what they might mean to us, but research shows that they help us reclaim our self-awareness, and they subconsciously describe our roles in society. Going back to the dream I described above, if he stopped to ponder upon it, my friend could discover that he had a rather reasonable illustration of powerful emotions such as unconditional love. It might have been an absurd dream, but if we derive its main meaning, we realize that it is simply a message of loving another being more than yourself, or being able to detach yourself from selfish acts. I’m not saying this is necessarily true, but if it is consciously analyzed as if it were a literary piece, we could understand its metaphorical meaning. Dreaming not only helps you understand more about yourself, but it also improves your creative side. Many famous writers, composers, and inventors, have come up with their brilliant ideas during their sleep. Relating to the creative effect of dreams, I told my friend that he should save this dream in his mind and one day he could possibly use it to create a short story, or even a film. However you choose to interpret your dreams, they will always provide intriguing thoughts and emotions. No wonder we say that successful people with revolutionary ideas are able to “dream big.” Sources: psychologytoday.com, shirleymaclaine.com

features

Tall Tales as Political Stratagem A look at darker versions of stories told Clara Bezerra

or as long as I can remember, every time I visit my grandfather he tells me a tall tale he heard a fisherman tell when he was young. The enthralling part of it is that he always tells it to me in the exact same way, with uncanny attention to word choice and rhythm. I’ve heard it enough times to know the story, and the way my grandfather tells it, by heart. This is how it goes: “When I was your age,” he’ll start, “my friends and I would go to the beach almost every night. There, we’d gather around a fisherman, Dionízio, to listen to his ludicrous, but always fascinating, stories.” Here my grandfather will pause for two or three seconds, gaze outside the window as if embarking on a trip to his past, then continue: “He’d tell us about a time he went fishing once, ‘two years ago,’ he’d always say, when he was lucky enough to catch a crab that weighed twenty pounds. We’d all start laughing, but Dionízio remained dead serious. ‘That’s not the end of it,’ he’d say, with a sad frown. We understood he had a quaint emotional attachment to his stories, so we’d all be quiet and pretend to believe him.” My grandfather will pause again, as if for emphasis, then go on: “Anyways, Dionízio would proceed. He’d tell us that a couple of hours after he caught the crab, he felt something with unfathomable strength lift up the canoe he was in. ‘A shrimp,’ he’d say, ‘five meters long. I swear to God. A shrimp.’ Then he’d tell us he had no other choice but to jump off and swim to shore. He was far away, but he knew he would die if he didn’t. ‘And I was right,’ Dionízio would boast, ‘When I looked back the shrimp was eating the canoe. All of it. The entire canoe.’ Then he’d stand up and leave, smiling and giggling as if he knew something we didn’t.” When the story ends, my grandfather will slowly moves his eyes away from the window until they reach my own. “Dionízio,” he’ll say, “biggest liar in the history of mankind.” Highly improbable, of course, but the same incredulity is reflected in two notable political stories from the last decade, one from Russia and another from the United States. In Russia, the murder of Anna Politkovskaya remains highly suspicious. Politkovskaya, a Russian journalist and human rights activist, opposed her country’s position on the independence of Chechnya, a Russian territory located on the southeastern part of Europe: while the government believed Chechnya was part of their territory, Politkovskaya believed it should be given the right to become an independent nation. She provided evidence of torture, executions, and kidnappings

ordered by the Russian government against citizens of Chechnya. In October of 2006, Politkovskaya was found dead inside her apartment, and investigators have been unable to identify who was responsible for her murder. Government authorities declared the murder was ordered by enemies of the nation in order to create turmoil, but Dmitri Muratov, Politkovskaya’s editor, considering the death threats the journalist had been receiving, expressed his certainty that governmental officials had ordered her murder in order to hide the truth behind the situation in Chechnya and avoid humiliation. The true reasons behind Bush’s invasion of Iraq in 2003 still remain something of a national secret. Although United Nations inspectors conducted more than 750 inspections and did not find any significant evidence of weapons of mass destruction, the American president insisted that “with the help of Iraq, the terrorists could fulfill their stated ambitions and kill thousands or hundreds of thousands of innocent people in our country, or any other.” This tall tale served as a pretense for the invasion of Iraq, the overthrowing of Saddam Hussein’s government, and the death of over 250 thousand innocent civilians. A BBC article released in 2005 contains a statement made by Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath that describes what President Bush told him during a summit meeting: “‘I’m driven with a mission from God […] God would tell me, ‘George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq.’ And I did.’” Not surprisingly, a White House official claimed this was “absurd,” but admitted he was not at the summit and therefore could not prove the accusations were false. Bush’s allegations that Iraq was harboring weapons of mass destruction and possible statement that the invasion was some sort of a divine mission both sound as unlikely as a five-meter long shrimp capable of eating an entire canoe. The same way my grandfather can’t prove every aspect of the fisherman’s story is pure exaggeration, and I can’t prove I haven’t enhanced the original story; lack of information does not allow us to prove, with absolute certainty, that many of the statements made by government are quintessential lies. In a world where embellishment reigns, tall tales are socially accepted, and the line between truth and falsehood is blurred, I can’t help but remember: Dionízio, biggest liar in the history of mankind. Sources: bartleby.com, history.com, informationclearinghouse. info, commondreams.org, guardian.com.uk, bbc.co.uk, fas.org, nytimes.com, cfr.org, ccn.com

the talon • 23

features

Science Has It... The gum myth unraveled Mariana Lepecki

um. The chewy treat which is known as a salvation from complete boredom, hunger and bad breath. It has become so valued by students throughout school that it has become routine to wander down the hall asking classmates for gum during the day. How many times have you or your friends had to smuggle gum to each other in order to not attract attention from your greedy peers? There’s nothing like a continuous burst of flavor to help you survive the block before lunch. But just as you think your life has been momentarily completed, you accidentally swallow the magical treat as you were talking to your friends. What’s going to happen now? And that’s when you remember the old childhood myth: “Don’t swallow gum, or it will remain in your stomach for seven years!” Suddenly, making it through third block isn’t your only worry… But could this really be true? Does the rubbery mass really stick to your stomach in the same way it sticks to your hair, tables and chairs? Scientists say that this universal myth might need some re-writing. According to pediatric gastroenterologist David Moliv of the Nemours Children’s Clinic in Orlando, if this legend were really true, then all patients who had swallowed gum in the last seven years would have had traces of the treat in their digestive tracts, but no evidence has been found during colonoscopies. “On occasion we’ll see a piece of swallowed gum,” says Milov, “but usually it’s not something that’s any more than a couple days old.” Moreover, as Rodger Liddle of the Duke University School of Medicine explains, “nothing would reside that long, unless it was so large it couldn’t get out of the stomach or it was trapped in the intestine,” meaning that any object that is about the same size of a quarter or smaller will usually pass. So does that mean that gum can be digested by our stomachs like any other regular food? Well, not quite. As defined by The Food and Drug Association, gum is a “nonnutritive masticatory substance” that is composed of rubber-like material, plasticizing softeners, resins, preservative antioxidants and natural or synthetic elastomers. The latter usually contains tree-derived chicle (consumed by the indigenous Central Americans) or butyl rubber (which is also used in inner tube manufacturing). So as you can probably

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note, most of the ingredients found in gum weren’t meant to be digested in the first place, providing a possible explanation for the popularity of the seven years myth. As it turns out, the only digestible part of gum are the sugars and sweeteners applied to increase flavor, which are usually broken down by stomach acids as the candy passes through a human’s digestive tract. This means that the basis of gum remains pretty much intact during this “intestinal ride,” leaving the body just a couple days after its ingestion. “Chewing gum is pretty immune to the digestive process. It probably passes through slower than most foodstuffs, but eventually the normal housekeeping waves in the digestive tract will sort of push it through, and it will come out pretty unmolested,” says Milov. H o w e v e r, e v e n t h o u g h swallowing gum once in a while won’t harm or alter your digestive system, it is still not wise to do it. According t o 1 99 8’s publica t ion of Pediatrics (written by Mivol gizmodo.com and his colleges), chronic gum swallowing can cause some serious health hazards. The journal cited three examples of extreme cases of gum-based gastrointestinal blockages, one of which described the case of a four and a half year old boy who had been chewing gum consistently since he was two. When taken to the hospital, the parents were informed that by looking over the contents of his digestive tract, it seemed he had been swallowing several pieces of the rubbery treat per day. This excessive gum ingestion caused a blockage which seemed to increase in a snowball-like fashion, making it almost impossible for the “taffy-like” substance to pass through the system. This meant that the only possible way of removing the clog was by extracting it from the body (since it couldn’t be done naturally). So the bottom line is, if you find yourself starving right after second block, try to chew something digestible for a change. Although the legend of the seven-year digestion portrayed a gum’s journey through the digestive system in a much more interesting, albeit horrific manner, at least you can sleep soundly knowing that the treat that you accidentally swallowed in the morning will only sojourn in your stomach, rather than sticking around to see your college graduation. Source: scientificamerican.com

features

A Perspective on Stereotypes You’re from Brazil?! Cool, do you speak Brazilian? Renata Sayão his summer I went to a relatively small STEM summer pro-

soccer with us if you swear to play by the rules. In other

gram in Worcester, Massachusetts. Out of the two hundred

words, no cheating.” I could be biased because I’m Brazilian

people there I was one of the fifteen international students and

and cheer for the Brazil team fervently (which basically means

the only Brazilian, so you can imagine the weirdest, yet incred-

that I’m against the Argentinian team). But I’m putting the link

ibly funny remarks I had to hear about the language I supposedly

to a site called BuenosAirestours at the bottom of the article

speak, what my clothes are made of and how I get to school.

for anyone who wants proof that I’m not being a Brazilian fan

In one of my Humanities classes, we were asked to play with

in writing this. The article I read lists the “Bad Stereotypes”

the idea of stereotypes and form a skit. Of course, practically

of Argentinians and one of them is “cheating at football and

every stereotypical skit featured an obnoxious American telling

then boasting about it.” But the stereotype is countered by

tall tales about Asians,

this: Messi is the best

Brazilians, hillbillies,

football player in the

and pretty much anyone

world currently, right?

else who isn’t American.

And he’s a nice guy,

Here are some of the

and well respected.

outrageous stereotypes

“This one time, I

that were presented:

went fishin’ with ma

“Wow, you’re

cousins in this lake,

from Brazil? Oh, that’s

and I caught a fish six

where you ride mon-

feet long! Six feet! But

keys to school… right?”

then it flopped off the

Many peoples tend to

boat and swam away.”

associate our possession of the Amazon territory

worldvisionportal.org

to the entire country. To

Now, read this phrase in a hillbilly accent and imagine the person say-

them we’re also very tan and live at the beach, there’s al-

ing it motioning their hands to show just how big the fish was. A

ways either a Carnival and samba show or a soccer game on

classic stereotype, the country bumpkin extolling the suppos-

TV, and the women walk down the street with fruit hats on,

edly huge fish they caught is well known. And although the fish

Carmen-Miranda style. Yes, Brazil is a tropical country, and

was not that big, or maybe the person never even caught a fish,

we do own a large part of the Amazon forest. What many

they like to exaggerate the size of the fish. This type seems to

people might not understand is that a most Brazilians do

suggest all rural people are morons, which certainly isn’t true.

not live in the jungle like Tarzan. Monkeys aren’t a reliable

These are just some well-known stereotypes. What I no-

form of transportation either, but that’s beside the point.

ticed at camp, to my surprise, was that there are people who

“He’s Asian, of course he got an A+++ in math.” Oh, and

still take these oversimplifications as truth. Graded students

let’s not forget the ridiculous stereotypes that they are Kung

are always joking about these stereotypes, but this is because

Fu masters, like Jackie Chan. Or how they chop sushi like the

we are constantly exposed to different cultures, religions,

woman on the “Cooking Mama” videogame. People saying

and people, therefore granting us a more ample vision of the

these things are dead serious. While it might be great that

world. I guess the point I’m trying to make is that many of

the world sees Asians as natural mathematicians, there’s

the opportunities we are granted here at Graded are not as

often pressure for them to be geniuses, causing many to

obvious to us until we step outside our routine and meet some

rule out their musical, artistic and linguistic abilities. Some

people who haven’t had the same exposure that we have.

are more skilled in culinary arts, others in martial arts. “Oh man, you’re from Argentina? Okay, you can only play

Source: buenostours.com

the talon • 25

sports

Citius, Altius, Fortius

And now for another meaning of the Olympic Games’ motto... Kevin Wolfson

igher, faster, stronger. No wonder that’s the Olympic Games’ motto. This year at the London’s Olympic Games, 150,000 condoms were distributed around the Village for the athletes to enjoy during the event’s seventeen days. That’s roughly around 15 condoms per athlete. This record-breaking figure for the Olympics doesn’t go unjustified — the Beijing Games distributed only 100,000 condoms for its 10,000 athletes, and for some, that was not enough. To get a sense of this growing athletic drive, it took nearly one week to run out of the 70,000 condoms given to the athletes at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000. The U.S. soccer star Hope Solo revealed to ESPN the kinds of heats that occur when the cameras are not filming (ha, get it?). “There’s a lot of sex going on. With a once-in-alifetime experience, you want to build memories, whether it’s sexual, partying or on the field. I’ve seen people having sex right out in the open. On the grass, between buildings, people are getting down and dirty.” US water polo team captain, Tony Azevedo, described it well: “It’s like the first day of college. You’re nervous, super excited. Everyone’s meeting people and trying to hook up with someone.” As Jim’s Dad from American Pie would say about this kind of event, “It’s perfectly normal.” I mean, you have 10,000 of the world’s fittest, sexiest athletes all crammed together into only 11 residential buildings living side by side with people they’ve never met — what can you expect? A hedonistic culture is pretty much all that can result from the estrogen-and testosterone-rich athletes. Some say they do it to blow off steam. Some say they do it for fun. Some even say they do it because of the secret competitions they have with their teammates. Ryan Lochte, U.S. swimmer, stated that “you gotta do what you gotta do.” No matter the reason, statistics say that nearly 75% of all athletes engage in some kind of sexual activity — I’m not going to list what kinds; that’s open for your interpretation. I haven’t even begun to tell you about what happens after the closing ceremonies. yardbarker.com You have no idea what

26 • the talon

kinds of parties teams throw afterwinning gold medals for their home country. In Sydney, for example, Australia’s women’s soccer and baseball team threw a combined wildly inappropriate — and illegal— party on the Village grounds. They decided to create a bonfire, and they did so by burning the furniture in their rooms supplied by the Olympic committee. However, not all of the athletes indulge in their wildest sexual dreams while at the Olympics. Many athletes actually focus on what they are there for: representing their country with honor and trying to win a gold medal. Yet athletes face crossroads when their luck runs out, and they get eliminated from the competition: Should they grieve and mourn their loss throughout the rest of the competition, or should they just enjoy what’s left of the competition to the fullest? That, my friends, is a no-brainer. In my opinion, it’s like Woodstock, but without the music. Young people are there to meet others, discover new tastes, interests, and most importantly, discover themselves. Debauchery in the Olympics is not a recently created event: Greg Louganis, three-time Olympic diver and four-time gold medalist, tells the story of the Montreal Games in 1976, the first he attended, when he was only age 16. He told ESPN that he cultivated a friendship with the Soviet Union diving team, and not long after, began partying in their room: “Once events were over, our entire diet was caviar, vodka and Russian champagne. It was crazy.” Yet what particularly got to Louganis, which led him to discover his sexuality, was the Soviet Union boys’ sexual freedom. “Culturally, they’re more openly affectionate toward each other, which I just drank up, since I was still discovering who I was. But I had my eyes on one Soviet. I’d curl up in his lap; we’d hug and cuddle. I felt so protected.” Wild things happen at the Olympics. I don’t think I can name a few, mainly because athletes are so secretive about who hooks up with whom, where it happened, and so on. I’ll give you this: Olympians do know how to party like there’s no tomorrow, but there’s also a great deal going on aside from all the raucous behavior. Like Greg Louganis, for example, he experienced something that marked him for the rest of his life. Thousands more Olympians experience intense feelings like he did, be it by winning their events or by sharing bunks with that athlete from the country you can’t even name. Sources: london2012.com, espn.com

sports

Murder in Downtown Boston Remembering the night when Lebron turned his career around Rafael Rocha

eing up 3-2 against the Miami Heat in the NBA Conference Finals, one win away from surprising the world, one win away from forcing the Heat to rethink their blueprint. The main character, or the team most people expected to be in the Finals was one loss away from absolute chaos, from rebuilding and retooling their roster, from being ridiculed by the masses for promising numerous championships before playing a single game. That day, the TD Garden became a sea of green, ready to do anything, including distracting the Heat team at the free throw line with a semi-nude middleaged hairy man waving his jersey around as though he were one of those stereotypical cowboys lassoing up a criminal. This was supposed to be an epic night for Boston Celtics fans. The key word there is “was,” because what I witnessed on that day was a major car accident. he victims were as follows: The entire Boston Celtics team, their owner Danny Ainge, the approximately 19,000 fans at the TD Garden, and just about everyone else rooting against the Miami Heat, which is basically everyone outside of Miami. And the criminal? Well, that title goes to Lebron. Actually, “criminal” sounds too generous for what was witnessed that night. That was murder. Lebron ran over the Celtics, their owner, their fans, and America. It didn’t even last long. If this were an actual car accident, the victims wouldn’t have even seen the car in the distance. It simply ran over them before they could even notice it. The thing is, there was still one game left, but everyone knew who was going to come out the winner. It was a more predictable storyline than Hangover 2: everyone knew Alan would drug Phil and Stu, and they would end up screwing everything up while on drugs. Even Lebron’s facial expression before the game made it clear what his intentions were, as he had the hey-I-don’t-care-if-we-lose-tonight-I’mgoing-all-out-and-nobody-can-blame-me-if-we-lose face. What intrigued me most about that game was that it probably changed a generation of basketball. Lose, and the Heat most likely break up their big three and switch up their

formula which everyone thought was infallible back in July of 2010. Win, and well... In hindsight we know they would go on to win the championship. This wasn’t the Heat against the world. It was Lebron against the world: He knew the pressure was on him and not on his buddies Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade. And with the burden of an entire team, city, and franchise, Lebron rose to the occasion like he had always been criticized for not doing so. He did the expected for a superstar of his caliber, but it was still unexpected considering his previous history in “clutch” games and situations. Truthfully, Lebron is really the embodiment of the complex and unfathomable modern superstar athlete. That day, however, he was a simple movie-like hero. Nothing would stop him. Not the fans, not the players, and heck, not even an MMA wrestler would have stopped Lebron from working his mojo that day. Someone call the mayor of Miami and make June 7, 2012 an official holiday in the city. It should be known as “Lebronica,” when people parade in the streets like it’s Thanksgiving and instead of having inflatable turkeys, just have inflatable “Lebrons.” The most curious aspect of all of this niagrafallsreporter.com is that I don’t need to talk about the Finals or even Game 7 of the Conference Finals if I want to look back on the Heat’s run. Those events were anticlimactic compared to what happened in Game 6 of the Conference Finals. There were numerous playoff games from late April to late June, but there was only one Game 6 in Boston. There was only one 45-point killer performance from Lebron James. And now, after Lebron has won his first ring and the pressure is off of his shoulders, there will never be a Game 6 in Boston again. The pressure will never be the same. The stakes will never be the same. All that remains is tape. Tape for us to remember a legend, to remember what he accomplished, and tell our grandchildren about the car accident that we witnessed involving one man silencing thousands of people. A myth, a fictional story you say? No. This is sport. And this is exactly why I love it so much.

the talon • 27

sports

An Impressive Showing The Olympic diary of a proud Korean Victor Lee

ifth place. The medal count showed it clearly. After maintaining their legacy in archery, South Koreans won six other gold medals in fencing, judo, and shooting. This is the result of a successful government that invested heavily in sports, developing great athletes. Although I was born in Brazil, the blood that runs through my veins is definitely Korean, and I have never been more proud of that little country on the east side of Asia. About 60 years ago, South Korea was a country that had little. The Korean War in 1950 had brought lots of destruction to the country. However, that was not a reason for Korea to stay behind. South Koreans did their best to change the country, achieving fast economic development and growth. Now one wonders how come a country that had everything destroyed 60 years ago has one of the top athletes in the world and a great reputation in technology, education and architecture? Korea did not only become a model for other countries, but also for me, an ordinary student living his life in Brazil, showing me that I can achieve anything I want; I just need to fight for it and “strive to be the best.” It was heart breaking to see the South Korean fencer Shin A Lam in tears after losing a controversial match with the German Britta Heidemann. There was only one second left for the Korean be classified to the finals, but unfortunately, the 60 seconds did not go away and the German ended up wining by scoring a “do-or-die” hit. After the match, one of the most dramatic episodes in the Olympics took place. Shin did not leave the floor, because according to the fencing rules, if the fencer leaves the field of battle (or the piste, as it is known), he or she admits defeat. Although the International Fencing Federation offered Shin a special medal for “aspiration to win and respect for the rules,” the fencer refused with an honest statement: “It does not make me feel better because it’s not an Olympic medal. I don’t accept the result because I believe it was a mistake.” Unfortunately, Shin left London carrying only a broken heart and torn-up dreams of owning a place on the podium. One has to recognize that human error is present in every game in the Olympics and learn with the past so that similar mistakes don’t happen again.

28 • the talon

Although my heart was passionately cheering for South Korea during the men’s football semi-finals, Brazil took the match, and advanced to the finals, where they lost to Mexico. Koreans did win the bronze medal match, however, wrestling, taekwondo, and artistic gymnastics athletes also impressed our nation once again. With 13 gold medals, 8 silver, and 7 bronze, South Korea ended up in fifth place in the medal count, after the U.S., China, Great Britain, and Russia. The results were surprising, since Korean specialists predicted just a total of 15 medals in London 2012. Besides the summer Olympic Games, South Korea has been showing its potential in winter sports. In the 2010 Winter Olympics, held in Vancouver, Korea ended up in fifth place, after Canada, Germany, United States, and Norway. But everyone who watched remembers the Olympic champion in ladies’ singles and current leader in figure skating, Yuna Kim. The improvement in sport theguardian.co.uk results not only in the Olympics but also in other international competitions is attributed to an effective investment in sports by the South Korean government. In a lot of countries, including Brazil, this is one of the main problems for the athletes. The Brazilian government only supports soccer, and partially volleyball. But when it comes to table tennis, fencing, equestrian, and other lesser-known sports, the Brazilian government does not give its full support. For example, a lot of Brazilian athletes from not-so-popular sports had to pay for their own expenses in order to represent their country in this year’s Olympics. I just don’t have words to express how happy and proud I am to be Korean. Just thinking of the images of Korean athletes playing with all their hearts in every match to reach the podium makes my day, because what really matters is that Olympic spirit, of never giving up, as Shin showed us. It was really exciting to watch the games and cheer for South Korea with my family and friends. The Olympics is a time that brings people from the whole world together, while you cheer passionately for athletes that represent your country. Athletes will now begin their intensive training for Rio 2016—may the best country win.