The Rexonian-December 2014

T he R exonian

“A l l t h e Ne w s T h e y L e t u s P r i nt ”

thursday, December 18, 2014

vol. VIII … № 27

Freshmen, Murzim Take Spirit Week Trophies Sophomores, Alnilam and Meissa Round Out the Winners

courtesy office of communications

but first, who’s the fairest one of all? Award for Best Twin Group went to Snow White and her five dwarves

Who Are ISIL? Lions Help Fellow Felines on Campus

By Seunghee Yang

By Seungjung Sohn

The rise of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has prompted worldwide outrage, specifically in relation to the use of the word ‘Islam’ in the terrorist organization’s name. “ISIL” is known around the world for its brutality-beheading westerners, killing religious minorities, and enslaving women.

Their aim is to ultimately create an Islamic State throughout the region that would operate under strict Sharia law. The Islamist militant group now controls large amounts of land stretching from northern Syria to central Iraq.

In terms of ISIL’s goals, the possibility of expanding its power to Jordan is not surprising. According to senior “ISIL” affiliated officials, Jordan might be the next target for the group. Sources state that the group has started to fund a $3 million ‘recruitment scheme’ in the nation, which might indicate the next step for the militant group. The success of this scheme would be detrimental to the region and the world in general. Jordan has been known Continued on page A6

It is not a rare occasion to spot cats around campus at King’s Academy, as if to represent the King’s Lions’ spirit. In response, a new project has started on campus: the King’s Academy Fe-Lions. The Rexonian interviewed two of the founding members of the Fe-Lions, Ms. Meghan Metzger and Ms. Monica Matouk, to learn more about it.

The R exonian: How did the idea to start the Fe-Lions project originate?

Fe-Lions: There have always been cats on campus, as is the inevitable case anywhere in Jordan, and a lot of individuals such as the security, the dining hall, and ourselves, have been independently caring for them.

However, the cat population has now reached a point where we needed a systemized care, for the cats themselves and for the rest of the community.

TR: What’s the aim of the Fe-Lions? fl: To keep the cats healthy and safe, to stabilize their population through Trap-Neuter-Return process, and to sensibly and safely share our environment with the wildlife.

TR: Could you tell us more about the Trap-Neuter-Return process? fl: There is limited space and resources on campus, so to keep a healthy and stable population of cats, we need to control their numbers. In some places, people decide to poison the cats or abandon them far away to starve. The most humane and effective way, however, is neutering, a method of sterilizing animals by removing all or a large part of their reproductive organs. We first trap the cats in the long, humane cages, carry them to the humane center, conduct the surgery, and treat any infections or injuries. Finally, we clip their ears –in a painless way –to identify them and prevent any repeated trapping, which is a stressful process for the cats. Other than its benefits in controlling the population, neutering also makes the cats less aggressive and prevents repetitive pregnancy in female cats, which is detrimental to their health.

TR: What does the project include other than TNR? fl: We started a feeding program about a couple weeks ago that uses the leftover from school lunch Continued on page A5

opinion a2

campus a3

science a5

A lex L awson and R ami Rustom on Affirmative Action and Opportunity

Dina K uttab extolls the life of a day student

Amin Janjua on Interstellar and Sheila Baber’s dispatch from the Azraq Wetlands Nightcrawler Daniel Leal on the ‘Music Unites’ Suhail Nahhas explores concert the mystery of the Van Ahmed Khalayleh reviews Have You Meter Visitor Heard of King’s Academy?

I msong Jeon on Korean stereotypes

X u Zhaoying uncovers the myths of the Ecce Homo Society

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After the boys of Sulafat defied the odds to prevail in the Fifth Annual Madaba Games earlier this year, the girls of Murzim went on to take home the (figurative) trophies for Least Tardy Dorm and Best Overall Lip-Sync in the 2014 Spirit Week competition. The class of 2018 as a whole again proved that they are a force to be reckoned with, as the Least Tardy Class and the owners of the best collective Class Mind.

All four days of Spirit Week were a resounding success, thanks in no small part to the efforts of Spirit Week Czars Ms. Meg O’Hare, Mr. Alex Funnel, Ms. Joanna Tutinji, and Mr. Adam Kydd. From the top-notch twin costumes on Sunday (highlighted by a Hollywood-worthy stunt routine along the catwalk by Best Overall Twins Pengfei Hu and Mr. Ben Watsky as The Matrix’s Mr. Anderson and Neo) to the Awards Dinner on Wednesday evening hosted by MC Ms. Meghan Metzger, the participation was remarkable and the spirit in the air was palpable.

Monday featured the sophomores’ prizewinning Class Dance, with the freshmen finishing in a close second.

But the best was yet to come, for after triumphed in the Egg Race on Tuesday, students and faculty alike headed to the auditorium for the long-awaited House Lip-Sync Competition The overall quality of the lip-sync performances was excellent, from Atair’s near-flawless choreography in the opening number to Nihal’s epic take on the hero’s journey to close out the show. Unfortunately for the Atarians, dance was not weighted heavily on the judges’ rubric; unfortunately for the Nihalists, a puppy on-stage did not guarantee first place. Rather, it was Murzim who the judges deemed to have best combined the art of lip-sync with a cohesive story, featuring a breakout performance from Yuxuan Cao, whose Leading Role as the Protective Father was key to the emotional resonance of the narrative.

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the rexonian opinion December 18, 2014

The Rexonian amelia kenna, Executive Editor

daniel leal, Managing Editor xu zhaoying, Campus Editor seung hee yang, Sports Editor suhail nahhas, Science Editor sophia sarmadi, Arts & Culture Editor

Assistant Managing Editors

sheila baber tareg hamzah sophia jaber hyun taek lim

omar sindi rand al-harahsheh dima al maaytah

Staff Writers

Publishers

ahmed khalayleh mr. james magagna dina kuttab ms. diane foster amin janjua rami rustom seungjung sohn mohammad abu hawash

Corrections, Op-Ed submissions, and letters to the Editor may be addressed to: rexonian@kingacademy.edu.jo The Opinion page publishes individual authors and their own views, which do not necessarily reflect the views or editorial policy of The Rexonian.

On Affirmative Action and Opportunity By alex lawson and rami rustom

Odds are if you’re Jordanian or Arab, you’ve stared at the first page of your SAT wondering which little bubble to fill. White? Black? Asian?

Other? Pacific Islander would be just as indicative as any of these. But the truth is that little bubble matters. Getting into college is easier for Hispanics and Blacks, even Whites, while it has gotten progressively harder for Asian applicants. But why? Racism? Pseudo-Segregation? Diversity?

Forced Integration? Choice E: none of the above.

The answer is opportunity.

The real formula for getting into college is ability divided by opportunity. The most difficult thing a university can do is line up all of its applicants on a level field, and it does that by contextualizing each applicant, and looking at them with a common denominator. When applicants from the best schools in the world are competing with those who had to maintain a night-shift job as they worked on their physics homework, the field is leveled by considering opportunity.

What colleges are actually looking for is how much you do with what you have. A lot of ability divided by a smaller opportunity yields a greater number. As opportunity increases, however, you’re expected to do better; increase your ability. In the end, the ratio doesn’t matter—colleges will look at the final number. That’s why colleges seem to restrict Asian applicants to a quota—it’s not about the race, but about the opportunity. The Korean and Chinese students who attend SAT

boot camps will be held at a higher standard because of the opportunity they had. In the same pool of applicants, we cannot compare them with a Hispanic or Black applicant, who may have attended lesser schools, had worse teachers, and didn’t do as much over the summer.

The problem, however, is that students don’t seem to get this. Rami attended middle school in Syria and Jordan, and can testify to the sub-par education, even at really good schools, that kids receive compared with kids in other regions of the world. When students like us end up in places like King’s Academy, we meet students who, on paper, are much more qualified, but neglect to take the denominator into account. In other words, we meet people who have much more ability, but still belittle themselves, and feel discouraged—forgetting to factor in opportunity. We forget that it’s relative, and are sometimes unmotivated because we can’t imagine catching up with kids with greater opportunity. What you learn in high school is not what matters. Colleges, and employers, want to know what you can do with what you’re given.

This of course is not an excuse to slack off— on the contrary, just because some students from certain demographics had less opportunity only means they have to work harder to maximize ability. Affirmative action makes this possible, and reminds us to not blame the tools; because it’s not about the tools. It’s about the opportunity, and what we do with it.

Are Koreans Really That Smart?

By imsong jeon

I am working on my precalculus homework with my friends. They have questions about problems that they’re having trouble with, so I answer each one with clear explanations. We successfully finish our homework and one of my friends praises me for my math skills. To this, my other friend replies instead of me, as if he is stating an obvious fact, “Because he is Korean.”

I hear a lot of “because you are Korean”, and “because you are Asian” from people around campus. It is like an absolute answer to anything I do. Likewise, many people seem to stereotypically consider the intelligence of Asians, especially Koreans, as something we obtain by nature genetically, or as characteristic of the ethnicity. However, these consideration are wrong. In fact, it is the stressful academic environment for schoolchildren in Korea that develops Koreans’ academic skills.

Korea is a country where education is heavily emphasized and academic competition take place every single moment between students. Any person from any ethnicity would naturally become academically successful relative to others, if he or she were to receive a Korean education for even five years. Consider the life of an ordinary Korean student. They go to school at 8:30 and attend normal classes until 3:00 in the afternoon. After about an hour of rest, they go to an after school academy and take various academic lessons. At the academy, they either review the materials they covered

at school or learn materials that are ahead of their classes. It is common for a 7th grade middle school student to be learning material, especially in mathematics, at the 11th level. They stay at after-school academies, or hakwon, until 10:00 at night and return back home. (They would stay even later if the government hadn’t recently esatblished a law that forbids any extra academic lessons after 10:00pm) During the final exam period, they usually stay at the academy solving test-prep questions past midnight, flouting this law. This schedule represents a schedule of an ordinary student from elementary school up to high school. Imagine a life consisting of endless afterschool academies and tutoring for 12 years. It would be weird to not succeed at school with this much extra education.

The sacrifice of leisure time and fun to after-school academies for outstanding grades might seem reasonable and acceptable. On the other hand, there are numerous drawbacks to the Korean style of education.

First, Korea has the highest suicide rate out of all OECD countries. Students make up a significant part of this sad statistic. For past five years, an elementary, middle school or high school student committed suicide every three days, on average. This fact clearly represents the enormous amounts of stress and pressure Korean students are bearing from their education. Second, academic success does not necessarily entail intelligence. Schools and hakwons in Korea tend to fa-

vor the cramming method of teaching and focus mainly on test prep. The cramming and emphasis on tests do help the students to cover materials quicker and achieve higher grades, but when it comes to discussion or applying the concept to another problem, the lack of understanding about the topic is evident. For this reason, Koreans are especially weak when it comes to discussions and creativity in applying what they have learned in different ways. This shows in a recent interview between President Barack Obama and Korean journalists when he visited Korea for G20 conference. During the interview, Barack Obama told the Korean journalists to ask him any question about anything. No one asked him anything—it was a Chinese reporter who asked him a question at the end. This situation took place because it is difficult for people who were educated only by cramming for tests to think freely without any given prompt or problem.

Overall, Koreans are not smart by nature— actually, they are not even smart. They are just academically well trained and specialized in receiving high grades at school from twelve years of Korean style of education. I guess you can say, “Because you were educated from Korea” instead of “Because you are Korean” as an answer to the academic success of Korean students. However, do not cite this as a reason for the intelligence of some Koreans, because their intelligence did not come from Korean education for sure.

the rexonian campus december 18, 2014

Advantage: Day Students By dina kuttab

To board or not to board? It is a question that almost every day student has considered during their time at King’s. Day students are constantly surrounded by reasons to board, whether it be increased free time, good preparation for college, or the lack of a tiring bus drive to and from school. Despite this, 30% of King’s students choose to go home every day, some even after trying boarding life. So what is it that makes day student life a better option for some ?

Family time: With many students going abroad to college, our high school years may be the last time we will live with our families. Family quality time is extremely valuable, and the ability to see your family every day often makes up for the drain of a long bus ride. Sometimes a hug from your mom or some fun with siblings is necessary after a stressful day at school.

Comfort and food: Regardless of how much a student enjoys boarding life, a high school dorm room can never replace your home. The comfort of your own bed and home cooked food are luxuries that day students enjoy every day. We do not have to rely on dining hall food and communal bathrooms, which many boarders complain of. After all, there’s no place like home.

Freedom and flexibility: This point varies based on each person’s personality and study habits, but I personally enjoy the flexibility that comes with not having study hall.

Studying without the structure of study hall can help students learn to manage their time independently, as is the case in college. Additionally, the restriction on the internet for boarders means that students who don’t finish their homework by a certain time must wake up early to continue, which is not always the optimal time for learning (depending on the student). Having the freedom to manage your own time based on your needs can be very useful for day students.

Relaxation: School life is stressful, and being in a school environment all day can add to that constant state of stress. For day students, going home can be relaxing, as we detach ourselves from school. There is still a lot of work to be done , but

it is within the comfort of your own home. The relaxation that comes at the end of the day, when a day student knows they are done with school, is a major reason why many day students prefer not to board.

Extra time: This point may sound somewhat counter-intuitive, considering that day students spend an hour commuting to and from school every day. However, a closer look shows that often time day students end up with more free time. The time spent in the bus is not wasted , as day students socialize, get started on their homework, and oftentimes sleep. In addition, the pressure of having limited time to do work often causes day students to be more productive, especially earlier on in the evening, so they sometimes sleep earlier than boarders with the same workload. Meanwhile, boarders often find it hard to focus with the distraction of friends all around them, and often postpone their work until study hall, which leads to a lack of sleep if they cannot finish in two or three hours. The illusion of extra time that boarders have causes some to procrastinate and sign up for more activities than they can handle.

Day students can be just as involved in after-school activities: According to Mr. Ryuji Yamaguchi, Dean of residential life, “ Our day students have also become more active and engaged in school activities.

More and more day students have taken the late buses on the weekdays to study, be part of various events such as Sympo or open mic, and to participate in performing arts rehearsals such as orchestra, dabkeh or glee club. They have also participated in weekend activities, especially house weekends such as the Janah weekend or sports competitions and KAMUN.” With late buses to RJ station almost every day, it is relatively easy for day students to be involved in such activities without sacrificing the enjoyment of going home.

Of course, just like boarding is not for everyone, neither is being a day student . For many students, boarding is the best (and sometimes only) choice, as day student life can often be tiring. The important thing is that each student weighs the advantages and disadvantages of each option, and keeps in mind their personal needs before deciding whether or not to board. ♦

Interested in writing/editing/drawing/designing/photographing for The Rexonian? Sign up for the winter (minor) co-curricular!

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Myths of the Ecce Homo Society By xu zhaoying

What is the Ecce Homo Society?

The Ecce Homo Society is an anonymous student group in King’s Academy that celebrates learning and equality. Its members meet regularly to share and discuss intellectual topics. The purpose is essentially to learn and discuss ideas outside of a classroom setting.

What does the name Ecce Homo represent?

“Ecce Homo” means “behold the man” in Latin, a phrase used by the Roman Emperor Pontius Pilate to address Jesus Christ before crucifixion. It’s a degrading term yet celebrated by Ecce Homo. We believe that human beings, despite all imperfections, should be celebrated for their intellect, and that reasoning can produce enormous possibilities and achievements.

What are the principles of the Ecce Homo Society?

Ecce Homos value absolute equality, and for this belief the group does not have a particular structure or leadership role, nor are the meetings mediated. Pure knowledge and reason is celebrated.

How does Ecce Homo Society present itself to the school?

Ecce Homo conveys itself to the King’s Academy community through a periodic magazine, which many of us might have seen, The Vitruvian.

Three issues have been released so far, each containing a collection of written work by Ecce Homo members. Our work is published anonymously in order to emphasize the content and prevent it from being judged on basis other than its words or structure. The contents can be both objective and subjective, yet they always have one thing in common— inspiration and creativity.

What’s the purpose of the anonymity of the society and its members?

Anonymity provides an assuring sense of freedom to create, knowing that the members will not be scrutinized for any ideas they discuss or write about. Despite the fact that Ecce Homo Society exists in an anonymous manner, it is opens itself to the entire King’s Academy community. Anyone is welcome to join the group as long as commitment and devotion to pure knowledge is assured. eccehomo@kingsacademy.edu.jo

Should depictions of violence and aggression in the media be regulated? a survey of ap psychology students Compiled by Ms. Alli Poirot YES

NO

Overexposure to violent television shows can influence a child’s behavior by making it significantly more aggressive. According to research and Bushman’s experiment in 1998, when children (8-year-old boys) watched violent shows they became more aggressive in adulthood and desensitized to violence and aggression. When we watch violent shows, we store in our memory a perceptual and cognitive representation of the scene.

There should be a restriction on violence in media depending on the age. For kids under 13, there should be a careful examination on what should be restricted because little children tend to be influenced more by violence than adolescents and adults. Parents should be encouraged to follow the age guideline for what their children watch.

A meta-study of over 200 studies have shown a positive correlation between media violence and subsequent violent behaviors.

Although seeing violence portrayed in the media may trigger a person’s inherently aggressive nature, seeing such violence does not cause a person to become violent. Although empirical data does support the idea of a correlation between people watching violent media and then being aggressive, such data has failed to account for the fact that the people surveyed may be inherently aggressive and that the violent media scenes simply trigger the aggression, but do not cause it.

Violence in media should not be changed regulated, because saying that a child only learns violence from watching TV is not correct. TV is a very small factor in a child’s life because there are many things that are more important in shaping a child’s violent behavior (for example, their environment). Not that TV does not shape the behavior of the child at all, but it is the parents’ responsibility to make sure that all the factors, including TV should be controlled. TV is

the rexonian arts & culture december 18, 2014

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A Night of Music to Remember By daniel leal

Music, like water, is an innate necessity. Its notes ripple in our ears, exiting every single one of our hairs.

We await the moment of utter fulfillment that brings tears to our eyes.

The rapid succession of strings, the clear harmony of the chords, and the overlapping repetition of the Spanish music transformed the auditorium, if only for one minute, into the temple of the Matador. Silence—until the great beast with its horns surrenders to the beat of the music. A roar of cheers follows. Though the moment of excitement has passed, it will not be forgotten. music review ‘Music Unites’ Concert It is said that you never truly know someone until you have seen them sing. It is such an innate aspect of our expression that no one can say they have never sung. Our voice has the power to transcend our circumstances and elevate our spirits. A collection of voices brings the choirs of heaven down among humanity, striking us with serenity and resoluteness. The Glee Club’s performance induced a trance-like state of contemplation and liberation, broken only by the seizing of the voices.

The orchestra was the big show of the night. Solemnly, the dormant beast sleeps while a lone player tunes the rest. The undulant tunes of the land of honey and milk sweeten the tea. First, they only accustom the audience to their foreign vocabulary.

Soon, the rhythms pick up speed, evoking the desire of one’s hips to move. Suddenly, the music peaks with the thunder of violins, cellos, violas, piano, conductor, and soul.

With an abrupt ending, the cultural pride is so thick and deserving that the scent of frankincense appears out of thin air, leaving the echoes of Fairuz’ voice.

An anthem of hope then followed—Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. The French and Russian anthems merged in a delicate balance between chaos and hope. Though all seems lost, hope, a force of nature, prevails. The trumpet blasts the joy of the people while those who know the song await the cannon, the 19th Century equivalent of dropping the bass. After, only applause and gratitude for such an experience is left.

The night ended with an interContinued on page A6

Interstellar and Nightcrawler By amin janjua

at the cinema New Releases One statement that I can make about Nightcrawler is this: I salute Jake Gyllenhaal. He stars in screenwriter Dan Gilroy’s directorial debut alongside Bill Paxton and Riz Ahmad. Gyllenhaal plays Lou Bloom, an ambitious young man who begins shooting footage of crimes and accidents for a newspaper in the Los Angeles area. When I read what genre of film this was, the word thriller came up, but I can say that this is more than a thriller—it is a pulse-pounding masterwork.

In this film, we are immediately drawn to Gyllenhaal’s character and how he goes about his day and how he manages to film such crime scenes. Gyllenhaal’s performance offers thought-provoking and excessive thrills as a dark and somewhat disturbed character, and one can trace his portrayal to similar to Robert DeNiro’s Travis Bickle in Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver. This was of course during the glory days of De Niro, but it is safe to say that Gyllenhaal is experiencing even more success and acclaim.

Director Dan Gilroy’s depiction of our ugly society delivers more than expected; some scenes in the film are so impeccably directed that it is impossible to tell that this is his first time behind the camera. The film is without plot holes and flawed characters because the screenplay is mastered, and each scene is rich and complete with a plethora of mysterious and detailed shots and sequences.

Nightcrawler has audiences at the edge of their seats every time Gyllenhaal is on screen, and he is genuinely petrifying. The film does not feel fake at all, but very true-to-life, which is helped by a precise depiction of Los Angeles and what really occurs within it. Gilroy masters the depiction of the truth behind the media industry we actually see. This film is shadowy and disturbing, and Gyllenhaal’s general appearance and loss of almost 20 pounds assist to establish the drive and personality of his character. When people see this movie, and I highly encourage them to, they will be gob-smacked by some of the events, and will go on pondering them for a long time.

Visually astounding and genuinely heartfelt, Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar is one of his finest works and is not to be missed. The story concerns Earth as a planet where food and resources are limited, and human beings must find another planet to inhabit. This is where Cooper (Mathew McConaughey) comes in.

He is a father to a 10-year-old named Murph (Mackenzie Foy), and he plays a role as one of the astronauts who must travel in search of a habitable planet for humanity to survive.

This is really a beautiful adventure story, particularly with a performance from McConaughey that so elegantly portrays a father caught in a dilemma, who must overcome all odds. Jessica Chastain and Foy, who play older and younger Murph respectively, make a boundless connection with McConaughey.

This connection between father and daughter really motivates this film to essentially be what it is, a story of human survival and sacrifice.

However, at some points, the film does lack the same resonance and emotion as some of the other scenes.

An example of this are some scenes of dialogue with Anne Hathaway’s character, and the drama in such scenes falls flat. Nonetheless, the immersive depiction of space and the constant trembling of the audience, due to Nolan’s mastery with the mechanics of the IMAX camera and the intelligent screenplay

by Jonathan Nolan, really pushes this film to stand out as an epic scientific film, which draws inspiration from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Some of the themes developed and expressed in the film allow it to be taken more seriously, and not just another Gravity-like movie, but one that is so heartfelt and thought-provoking throughout its entirety, with Kubrick-like shots that indicate its wonderful inspiration.

While the near three-hour runtime is a bit of a push for such a film, this space voyage makes me and some audience members acquire a thirst for more. The stimulating characters, the impeccable special effects crafted in this film, and really, the overall tone and objective of the film, make it a worthwhile experience. The film mixes space, wormholes, human emotion, bizarre scientific theories, and intense musical score by Hans Zimmer, to create one ambitious and exhilarating masterpiece.

Interstellar Directed by Christopher Nolan, written by Christopher and Jonathan Nolan. Starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain.

Nightcrawler  Written and directed by Dan Gilroy. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Riz Ahmed, Bill Paxton.

Theater Troupe Debuts Original Play By ahmed khalayleh

On the 10th and 11th of December, the auditorium opened its doors for the fall play, Have You Heard of King’s Academy?, written and performed by our very own King’s students, under the direction of Mr. Jimmy Morgan. The audience members must have left that night with sore abs and teary eyes, as it was a play that had you laughing at every other line. theater review Have You Heard of King’s Academy?

The play revolves around Maya, played by Maya Abdul-qader ’17, and her struggles in finding and achieving her dream: to study music and theatre. However, her father, played by Talib Kateeb ’15, expects to call her ‘Doctor Maya Abdul-qader’ one day, and thus demands that she keep strict attention to her studies, so that she may grow to be “just like her 18 brothers”—don’t worry, Maya, I know the feeling! As she settles into King’s, Maya begins to deviate from her father’s plans, primarily through her participation in open mic night. Despite her father’s displeasure, she gives an incredible performance, talented enough to bring him to his senses and allow her to follow her dream.

Written in a comedic style reminiscent of Monty Python, the play consists of hilariously exaggerated characters and ridiculous situations, from the debate in the first scene over whose life was hardest—with some living in shoeboxes, waking up half an hour before going to sleep, and even being killed every day—to the overly-peppy faculty member (Noor Alasker) welcoming Maya to King’s Academy. Yet behind all the ridiculousness of it, there lies an element of truth. As Mr. Jimmy said before the performance, it was a “more of a reflection piece,” based on the writers’ perception of their lives here at King’s. In the classroom scenes, we have the whole spectrum of the kinds of students you might have in a typical classroom: the loud and rowdy (played by Amin Janjua and Ahmad Freihat, respectively), the all-aboutlove-of-learning (one of several roles

by Hashim Khalayleh), the know-itall (Abigail Smith), and so on. What may be seen as simple, one-dimensional characters in some plays are, in this play, purposefully created as Continued on page A6

the rexonian ‘science’ December 18, 2014

What’s That You’re

Drinking? Azraq’s

Shrinking Wetlands

Van Meter’s Unwanted Visitor

side–lens Exploring the Paranormal

One in every four cups of water used in Amman comes from the Azraq wetland. Commercial pumping began in the 1940s, and the amount of water pumped from this delicate oasis in the middle of the oasis increased steadily, drying up the underground streams and reducing the wetland into a minuscule fraction of its size. Some estimate Azraq today is only 10% of its original blueness.

It is barely maintained by the manmade pipes that deliver constant little streams of water. I cannot help but be skeptical about the statistics.

The sun-baked mud and few stagnant pools of water do not conjure up images of a vast oasis that stretched across for miles and miles and provided shelter to hundreds of wildlife species. Apparently, buffalo, oryx, lions and aurochs once roamed this area. None are in sight today.

Azraq continues to serve as a major source of water for the people living around it. (There is also a Syrian refugee camp there, housing almost 11,000 people.) Migratory birds atavistically visit this area every year. While my family and I visited Azraq during the dry season, there were various types of herons, coots, and wading birds in the water, a sight I never expected to see in Jordan. There are also fish in the water; some are endemic only to this wetland.

Even today, with the impact of over-pumping publicized internationally, the people of Jordan continue to pump more than 50 million cubic meters of water from Azraq annually. In addition to public pumps that transport the water to Amman, there are at least one hundred illegal wells, all adding to the water deficit. Some call Azraq an “ecological collapse,” one that will undeniably impact not only the local flora and fauna, but also the local community of Azraq, and the food and water security of Amman. The death of Azraq will signal the death of many.

As we left the Azraq Wetland Reserve, founded in 1978 by the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature, we came across a disturbing sight: A dead heron lying next to a building, its eyes half open, ants tearing away its flesh, its soft plumage ruffled by the soft wind.

Drip, drip, drip. ♦

Many of us would like to welcome in guests to have memorable fun times with each other, but the terror brought upon by a strange monster was anything but fun. This beast is known little today, but research from Chad Lewis and almost never before seen files from the historical records of Van Meter has made this beast known in his book as the ‘Van Meter Visitor’. Van Meter is a small prairie town in Iowa that has changed little since the 1900s. Everything was simple and quiet for the town, until the visitor showed up and brought up a frenzy of panic and fear.

According to the records, the trouble began in an old coal mining operation on the edge of town. In the mines, there were many reports of the old mine being haunted by strange unknown sounds and is claimed to be the original home of the creature. For five full days, this beast made itself known even by the most respected men in the town, always reported at exactly 1 AM in the middle of the night and making itself known with a bright blinding light. The first sighting was on September 29th 1903 by local businessman Eugene Griffith.

He was coming back to Van Meter from a day of travel when he saw the monster. He noticed a strange light hovering over a building and thought at first that it was a robber, but the light disappeared and reappeared across the street.

On the next night, it was witnessed

by Peter Dunn, the town’s bank manager. People have said back then that he was close to running the town and was one of the most believed and high ranking of men in the town.

From what Griffith saw, Dunn, for the bank in case that robbers would try to rob from it, he came with his rifle to protect the Bank’s funds.

There wasn’t anyone in the bank, but he then heard something that sounded like someone being strangled.

At that very moment, a bright light shone through the room and Dunn grabbed his gun that was bolted with buckshot and shot the creature, blasting through the bank window. Large 3-toed footprints were found and Dunn had them cast in plaster.

On the next night, Dr. Alcott was sleeping above his office in the same building until he was awakened by a bright blinding light. He also thought it was robbers outside, so he

King’s Fe-Lions From Front Page

By suhail nahhas

By Sheila Baber

A5

grabbed his gun and came out. That was when he came face to face with the creature, which was perched on a telephone pole. It was described as looking like a half man-half bat type creature that stood 8ft tall, with smooth featherless bat-like wings and having a blunt horn on its forehead that emanated the bright light.

He shot 5 rounds at the monster, but the bullets had no effect and he simply ran back inside in fear. Another

illustration by suhail nahhas

town member described it as hopping like a kangaroo and even a high school teacher likened it to a devil.

By a screeching and grinding sound. He walked over to the window and saw the creature. He took his rifle and shot at the creature. He was known for being a good shot, but the creature was unaffected and instead was angered and shone its light directly at White and released an odor that he claimed knocked him unconscious.

On the last night, workers in the tile and brick factory were hit by strange screeching sounds. The town was terrified. Everyone was locking their doors and shutting their windows and trying to be more careful with their children. I practically became the center of attention in town.

Finally, the people had enough and banded together with arms to get rid of the monster after two creatures were witnessed on the previous morning, with one being smaller than the other. They gathered dynamite and blew the mouth of the mine, end-

and will ensure that the cats do not starve during breaks. Also, we are building several shelters around campus which will keep the cats fed, warm, and dry; we are just finishing one behind the new dining hall. We also are selling calendars of animals on campus in the admin dukkaneh to raise money for the project; T-shirts are to come soon.

TR: What are the Fe-Lions’ future plans? fl: We will continue and further develop the TNR, feeding, and sheltering programs we have already started. Also, we are starting a minor co-curricular in the winter term that will teach about animal care and how to run an animal-caring project, raise fund and awareness on campus, and continue and develop the project.

TR: Any words for the readers? fl: We know that this is a rather new idea in Jordan, but it is important to realize that it is our duty to responsibly and sustainably share our environment. Some may think that it is improper to be helping animals while there are people suffering all around us. However, caring for animals is not in lieu of helping humans, is done at minimal cost, and is a necessary need in our immediate community that must be addressed.

If anyone has questions, we are more than happy to discuss them.

You can find pictures and more information about the project at the Facebook page King’s Fe-lions. ing its reign of terror. The mine never opened again.

To this day, this mystery is still unsolved and even Chad Lewis couldn’t find any evidence to prove that it was all a hoax, esp. when street head lights were too uncommon to explain the sightings. Strangely, drawn sketches of the monster show it also had a bird-like beak and having a strange resemblance to pterosaurs, a group of prehistoric flying reptiles that once lived during the age of the dinosaurs. But the glowing horn and odor are unlike anything we know of today. And with the old mine still present and abandoned, what would happen if someone were to open up the mines? Will this creature or creatures make a comeback? It’s a good thing that the small town of Van Meter wouldn’t have to worry about that, since no one would dare test that notion and welcome back the visitor to bring terror once more. ♦

& C.

Performing Arts Reviews

Rise of ISIL Fuels Prejudice

From Page A4

From Front Page

pretation of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s “Christmas Eve/ Sarajevo 12/24.” The delicate melody of “Carol of the Bells” was made gritty by the steel strings of the electric guitar, enhancing the evening experience.

The song’s repetition prompted a constant elevation: more strings, more sounds, more passion, more music!—until it was over. Applause took place, a picture was taken, phones were returned, but most importantly a memory was created.

a form of satire. The play also recognizes many of the struggles students may go through, whether it’s pressure from friends and family, our struggle to realize our passions, or simply the everyday ups and downs of school life.

Through all the jokes and funny characters, the theater group is sending a very powerful message, one that is learned by many here at King’s: they are asking us to hold onto our dreams and passions.

From Page A3 YES NO Although correlation does not signify not the most crucial factor, so it is causation, the extent to which people not worth it to regulate media.

Regulating the violence in media act and learn through imitation and National Institute of Mental Health’s will not reduce aggression in people conclusion that violence in media in general. It is widely believed that causes desensitization to pain and the the media is the reason people are suffering of others seem to warrant a aggressive, because whatever we see basis for greater caution in media for on TV or in video games influences depictions of violence in the presence people to perform specific actions.

However, this correlation has yet to of minors.

Violence in the media should be be proven scientifically. Yes, some regulated because it impacts chil- kids and teenagers might be affected dren negatively and increases their by violence and would imitate it— tendency for antisocial behavior as however, America has the highest they enter adulthood. According to homicide rate in the world and they a research by American National In- are considered moderate or average stitute of Mental Health, TV violence in time spent playing video games, in can lead to aggressive behavior and comparison to the Japanese, who are desensitize children, giving them widely known for their extreme gamfalse impressions such as violence ing habits, but who have a homicide is normal and can go unpunished. rate of close to zero. Although AmerExposure to media violence may not ica has the highest statistical rate of be the only or strongest risk for ag- violence, they are not considered to gressiveness in real life, but it is more be extreme gamers and for that reaeasily modified than others factors son we cannot connect gaming or such as being male or having low so- media in general to violence or viocioeconomic status. lent behavior.

last word By sophia sarmadi

Hey peeps, it’s the last month of 2014 and something I think we all have in common is that we hope 2015 will be a good year, right?

And regardless of what 2015 may hold in store for any of us, there is something awesome every one of us can do to make 2015 a great year— volunteer! We all know, or should know, that volunteering is a great way to give back to communities, make good memories, and feel like better human beings. Plus, it looks great on college applications and resumes. So if you’re gonna do it—which I highly encourage you to do—then why not kick it up a notch, and volunteer abroad?

You can teach, build homes, care for kids, work on environmental conservation, medicine and healthcare, law and human rights, journalism, and much more in exotic locations around the world.

Ever felt like going on a jaguar expedition in Costa Rica? How about volunteering with the care of elephants in Thailand? Or teaching English to school children in Laos?

Just search “volunteer abroad” and a ton of sites will pop up that can inspire you and give you the information you need to take the next step towards an exciting adventure that is sure to change you for the better.

for its relative stability in the region and its intimate ties with the West, in particularly the US. However, the group has demonstrated its capability to overtake even the stable regimes in the Middle East. With ease, “ISIL” militants overtook parts of Syria and Iraq, overrunning both the Iraqi security forces and army effectively. The fighters also seized the main border crossing between Iraq and Jordan.

So the question is why aren’t the group stopped? There are currently attempts made by the international community to reduce the group’s threats to the region. More than 60 countries have joined the international air-strikes coalition, including the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan, to fight ISIL. The one aspect that they focus on is deteriorating the group’s economic abilities by cutting down their sources of funding. The airstrikes have destroyed ISIL-controlled oil refineries. The US Treasury Department estimated that the group makes millions of dollars each month by smuggling millions of barrels of oil into the Southern part of Turkey.

Smuggled oil is cheap, and is a valued commodity in Turkey, where oil prices have risen extraordinarily in recent years. But the solution is not as simple as bombing the oil refineries, as oil smuggling is just one of many financial resources ISIL has at its disposal.

Other sources include donations from wealthy sympathizers in Qatar and Kuwait. Besides money from the outside, ISIL has been recognized as the most well financed terrorist group for its regulations in taxes. Even though the international community has cut down its outside resources, the group is still able to support itself by collecting taxes from the swaths of land that it has seized. The group started out as a crime enterprise in the shattered Iraqi state. With US troops gone, ISIL was created in a power vacuum. The group gained momentum in lawlessness and the lack of competent forces to repel them. They robbed banks and began taxing populations in the areas they controlled.

If you wanted to drive through an ISIL-controlled area, you paid a tax.

If you wanted to take money out of your bank account in an ISIL-controlled area, you paid a tax. These collected taxes provided huge revenues for the group, which were used

to fund their wars and arms stockpiles almost independently.

ISIL has a one distinct feature from other traditional terrorist groups. Other terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda and the Taliban reside in the mountains, which forces these organizations to rely on outside sources for support. However, ISIL controls cities, which provides them with opportunities that other terrorist groups cannot access.

This is why airstrikes are not a sufficient solution to destroy the self-financing ISIL. The recent rise of ISIL has reignited the question, “Is Islam encouraging violence?” With reports of brutal atrocities by the terrorists flooding the news, an increasing portion of the non-Muslim public believes the lie that Islam encourages violence. According to the Pew Research poll, 50 percent of the American public believes that Islam encourages violence more than other religions, which has risen from 43 percent in July and 38 percent in February. Islamophobia has become more common since 2002, right after the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Fortunately, other media outlets are attempting to disprove this erroneous belief. Another poll indicates that majority of the Muslim find the extremists’ acts abhorrent. The truth is that many Muslim leaders and believers condemn the atrocious acts taken by the terrorists.

And there are numerous examples of peaceful protestors such the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Malala Yousafzai or the townspeople of Budrus. As the Western media fails to portray the full picture of the religion (and of the region), it has created negative framings for the 1.5 billion Muslims who do not commit acts of terror. If the media only chooses to cover the terror and the violence in relation to the religion, this will further trigger anti-Islamic, anti-American and anti-Western sentiments. Mischaracterization and over-generalization of Islam in the media has provided the foundation for the creation of terrorist groups, causing ordinary people to turn to violent alternatives. To quote American scientist Peter Seng, “Culture is created through the telling of stories. We tell each other stories, and then later forget that they were stories, they then become our realities.” ♦