Basketball coach Cris Hoopes instrumental in team’s 6-2 record
--Story on page 8 20 dec 17
Renovation of old mill restores Community Memories
--see story page 5 www.nstimes.org
volume 11 issue 4
WELL SAID “Are we just shooting ourselves in the foot, potentially changing something that we can never get back?”
Online classes give quick way for students to earn credits
-Technology instructor Dax Higgins on net
UPCOMING EVENTS
by Mayzie Talbot
Spirit Week Dec 18-Dec 22
not the only family in Sanpete that is having financial struggles. Sanpete County is in the top ten highest poverty rates for counties in Utah, but more specifically intergenerational poverty. Low socioeconomic status is a major part of the identity of students at NS, for households and students. Whether or not it is always noticeable, poverty defines and influences the student body of NS. “We discovered that there were two types of poverty; the first is situ-
When the big failing F shows up on the report card in the mail, parents get angry, teachers are disappointed, and it seems all hope is lost. Fortunately, F’s aren’t permanent thanks to Odysseyware. This year, major changes have been made to the program, including a new program to complete math and a stricter completion window. Students can take credits online at NS through a course called Odysseyware. Odysseyware provides students with a quick and easy way to complete credits and credit recovery. There’s a variety of reasons a student can be taking the online classes. They may have failed a class and have to retake it, need to make up credits they’ve missed, are to graduating early or have been previously homeschooled and need to take a class or two. Some students are retaking classes to get a better grade to improve their GPA.
See Poverty, page 2
See Classes, page 2
Wednesday, Dec 20 Boy BBall Duchesne @ NS 6:30pm-8:00pm Thursday, Dec 21 Wrestling Manti @ NS 5:30pm-8:30pm Friday, Dec 22 Second Quarter ends Winter Break Dec 23-Jan 2
BY THE NUMBERS
4000 Amount of money raised through Sub for Santa
61 Percent of stuwho think Christmas is too expensive
6-2 Record for boys basketball first eight games
5 Number of liveable floors at the old mill in Fairview
30 Number of students who passed Odessyware classes first quarter
CONTENTS Features................5 Sports...................8 Arts......................11 Crossword...........12
by Hannah Ostraff A mom and six children sneak into the truck; they only have a laptop, a box of genealogy and one change of clothes for each person. They are running from an abusive husband and father. Escaping to the U.S. is the only way for them to be safe from the husband. The Ramirez-Hernandez family lived in a family member’s basement when they first arrived in Sanpete. Once they were able to afford a house of their own, they moved in, even though they didn’t have any fur-
niture besides two mattresses. It has now been four years, and they have been able to furnish their house. “I’m still struggling, but four years later I have a house for my kids, and I think I’m doing pretty good considering four years ago I had absolutely nothing,” the mother, Kathy Ramirez-Hernandez said. Ramirez-Hernandez has eight kids and six of them live at home. Even though the Ramirez-Hernandez family has their own house, they are still struggling and are barely making it month to month. They are
Outcomes of net neutrality decision remain unclear BY
MOSIAH BUNTING
Internet, the lifeblood of the 21st century. Shopping online, chatting with friends over emails, using dating apps, or even launching businesses from a garage; these diverse online tasks are possible through something known as net neutrality. Recently, Ajit Pai of the FCC, Federal Communications Commision, has been pushing to reform net neutrality regulations
in order to promote a more innovative Internet. Simply put, net neutrality insures a level playing field for internet users, allowing them to access diverse data without restrictions. This puts a leash on internet providers and companies producing content, insuring that all data on the Internet is treated the same, and that discrimination based on the user, website, content, application or
See Neutrality, page 3
NS school website sees revisions, creates better impression
BY
A DAM C OX
Many students have noticed a recent change in the NS website. The website has undergone some major changes this year, and the results are all positive. “Certainly I want a great website for the school; I’m always concerned about how
that looks and what we’re doing there,” Principal Nan Ault said. The old website clearly wasn’t keeping up with the times and there was a dire need for change. “The parents would call and say we’re not going to come to your school because we looked at your website,” Ault said. First impressions are a big
deal when convincing people to do most anything. A lot of people get their first impressions of NS through the website. “The first impression they have, sometimes, if they move into the area is our website,” Ault said. Many people have had a big hand in putting together this new and improved website but
one of the people in charge of it is a teacher Justin Morley. Morley constantly works with computers and the kids in Cyber Corps, so he was clearly a good fit for the job. He has access to all the tools needed to make sure the website is always running smoothly. “I think our website needed
See Website, page 3
2 news Poverty, continued from page 1 ational poverty and that is when someone has something happen in their life: divorce, serious illness, somebody loses a job. Some sort of tragedy happens in there family, and they find themselves on welfare,” said Lt. Governor Spencer Cox. “They get on welfare, then they get off, but we discovered the second group of people and we call it intergenerational poverty.” Intergenerational poverty is when adults are on welfare programs, and were also on them as children. In Sanpete County there is an intergenerational poverty rate of eleven percent; Sanpete is tied for seventh highest intergenerational poverty rate in the state. The State has been trying to establish a series of programs around Utah that will help the children in the intergenerational poverty families. These programs will focus on education, family economic stability, health and early childhood development. “We decided if we focus on kids we have a better chance of breaking the cycle more than anything else you can do. If you get with the kids early and help them get a good education, graduate from high school, and go on to postsecondary education, the odds of them breaking the cycle of poverty increase significantly,” Cox said. The kids in poverty are being helped by the school district, by free and reduced lunch fee waivers from preschool to highschool. “There is absolutely no way I could do it without the fee waivers,” RamirezHernandez said.
Ramirez-Hernandez works as a bus driver for the Mt. Pleasant Head Start, but during the summer she was working three jobs to make ends meet. “I work 40 hours a week, and it is a blessing and a curse to have only one job. On one hand, it’s nice to be with my kids more, but one job isn’t enough,” Ramirez-Hernandez said. In the month of November Ramirez-Hernandez got her paycheck for the month, and after paying the bills she only had $50 left to pay for gas and supplement their food. December is even harder for her. Not only is it Christmas, which adds an extra cost, but she drives a school bus and the district has a week where there will be no school buses. Ramirez-Hernandez will basically be a week short of monthly wage because of Christmas break. About half the school is at risk of being in poverty, and although only around 5 percent are classified as intergenerational poverty, most are at risk, which means that they are barely above the poverty line. “At-risk students may not have had their parents on welfare when they were kids, so they aren’t classified as intergenerational poverty students, but they have the certain risk factors: second language spoken in the home, living just barely above the poverty line, and first-generation college student.” Superintendent Samuel Ray said. “These are some factors that say these kids could use some extra help as well.”
The state is focusing more on intergenerational poverty than at-risk students and families. Utah is the only state that distinguishes between intergenerational poverty and situational poverty, and by doing this they have been able to create many programs to help intergenerational poverty families. The state has started to provide a program for single moms. They go through an intense class preparing them to head into a medical manufacturing job. In less than a year these mothers have a full-time job with benefits. “I got to meet some of those women going through the program, and their stories were just heartbreaking. Many of them had been abused by
their husbands or boyfriends, and some of them had been kicked out of their home. One of them had been homeless, and some of them have been through drug addictions,” Cox said. “Many of them grew up in intergenerational poverty homes, and they found themselves now with hope. To watch them transition through this program and get some help for their kids, and be able to have a great job coming out the end it was really incredible to see the hope and change in their lives.” We might not be able to give single mothers jobs, but we as a student body can change lives right in the halls, classrooms, and lunchrooms of NS. Poverty is a big part of the identity at NS, but it does
not define us as people. “Upward Mobility. Utah does this better than anywhere else in the United States, it’s where you can be born in poverty, and at the end of your life, you are successful. You can move up and down, specifically up,” Cox said. Goals and dreams are something that can help you achieve upward mobility. “It’s still hard, but you have to have your dreams and your goals. If you don’t have something that you’re striving for people it makes it hard for them to get out of the situation that they’re in, but if you have your goals and you do the stuff to work towards your goals you can accomplish it,” Ramirez-Hernandez said.
Classes, continued from page 1 A big change has been made to the completion date requirements this year. Students are now required to complete the work assigned to them within the quarter. If they are unable to finish it, they lose all of their work and have to start over, along with paying for the course again. In the past students were given an indefinite amount of time to finish the work which lead to a lot of procrastination. Students would get in the mindset of thinking they had a long time to complete the course, so by the end they were down to a days to complete the entire course. “I would have students that would be assigned classes as sophomores and they wouldn’t touch them for two years and then two weeks before graduation they were suddenly going crazy trying to complete the work,” said NS counselor Ben Cox. Drastic changes to the online math coursework were also put into effect this year. Instead of using Odysseyware, students take math classes on ALEKS to recover credit. ALEKS is a math program that’s implemented in all math classes that helps students to learn more. If a student fails math or takes it as an extra credit, they are given additional ALEKS work on a separate account. The math department
switched over after deciding that the work on Odysseyware didn’t match the curriculum well enough, so they created their own on ALEKS. “Now the curriculum matches a lot better and it’s not multiple choice so the students actually have to learn the material, so now it’s not a matter of get on there and guess, they actually have to learn,” Cox said. Out of about 75 students taking online courses this semester, a majority of them are taking extra classes to graduate early. This makes a much larger workload for the students, but many have found it to be manageable. “They can go through it much quicker so they can get out of here sooner, but I still think that you only get to be a senior once and what’s the big rush?” said Jane Tucker, the overseer of the Odysseyware program. “If you hurry up and push your way through, you don’t get to experience all of the fun things as a senior.” This year is Tucker’s first year as the head of Odysseyware, and she’s made a giant impact. Along with grading all of the work, Tucker checks up on the students on a regular basis to make sure they’re getting all of their work done. Tucker said she’s had students be quite surprised that there’s someone that
cares enough about them and their grades to check up on them. Someone in her position can have a lot of impact on students, especially if they aren’t cared about at home. “Jane has been instrumental in making sure students are on top of getting everything done, and it’s made a huge difference,” Cox said. “Usually after the first quarter we have seven or eight kids finish a quarter, but this year we had nearly 30.” A lot of students prefer to take the class online instead of in the actual classroom. They feel as though they get more out of it, being able to complete it at their own pace. Senior Hannah Ostraff missed a semester of school because she was in Ireland, but through Odysseyware she was able to complete the work. She has mixed feelings about her experience with the program. “I took four classes online: English, math, science and financial lit,” Ostraff said. “Financial lit was definitely easier than I’ve heard the class here is. I took math before it switched to Odysseyware and when I took it it was horrible. The English I enjoyed because it was mostly just reading and then talking about what you read, and the science was fine but the only hard
part was there were some labs and because I wasn’t here I couldn’t do them.” Ostraff was unable to receive valuable instruction in the classroom, which is a problem for a lot of students. Online education is not the optimal for students to learn. Learning in an actual classroom from an actual teacher is much more beneficial. “I definitely think it’s better to do it in the class because you get that instruction. There’s a lot of kids that didn’t pay attention in class on how to do an argumentative essay for example so now they have to do it online and there’s no physical instruction, there’s written instruction, but I just think hands on is so much better and we have such great teachers to help,” Tucker said. Senior Emily Barker has taken P.E. and Government through Odysseyware instead of in the class. She found that taking online courses is worthless for her because she’s not actually getting anything worthwhile out of the class. “I think you could get by without gaining any knowledge,” Barker said. “Odysseyware doesn’t really teach kids.”
3
news Neutrality, continued from page 1 platform is illegal. The internet under these current regulations can be compared to a water pipe, all content goes through at the same pace, and all data is treated the same. A strong argument against net neutrality reformation is that it would divide the internet into tiers, making faster and slower lanes, like interstate lanes, based on who can afford to pay for faster, premium service. Pai claims this separation of users would not take place. The FCC, administrators of online protection and data, introduced net neutrality regulations in 2015 during the Obama administration, making Internet a public utility. Many large companies and providers feel that the regulations are too restrictive, stifling their public outreach
and innovations. These heavyhanded regulations do however help smaller companies and providers, letting their content be just as accessible as a large company’s content. Pai supports the idea that modified net neutrality would make the internet more innovative and competitive. This ideal competition would allow the consumer to get the newest, cheapest technology and internet connection speeds; current net neutrality discourages many companies from branching out due to the fact that they are going to be treated the same as every other company on the internet, so why try to be different. “Are we just shooting ourselves in the foot, potentially changing something that we can never get back?” Dax Higgins said. As the technology
Website, continued from page 1 to be updated to be more modern and user friendly for our students, as well as parents and community members that are trying to access information,” Morley said. Morley’s work still isn’t done, and he’s still working to make it as good as he possibly can. With new events and activities happening on a weekly basis, he has to make sure that the website can keep students, parents and teachers updated and informed. “There’s little tweaks, it’s a continual update. Different events are going
instructor at NS, he believes that net neutrality must be carefully evaluated before a decision is made. He admits it may be possible that this new competition would drive innovation, but he is also skeptical about providers and companies living up to the promise of a free internet without net neutrality. Current net neutrality regulations guarantee that the level of service you pay for is constant, so binge watching YouTube videos has the same level of service as writing reports and papers online. Without current net neutrality regulations, providers like Verizon and AT&T could slow down, or throttle, data and Internet usage, or vice versa, speed up specific services. This throttling of data could make it hard for smaller
on, constantly updating photos. We have to keep it more up to date so it’s more in line with what’s going on in school.” The website isn’t perfect, things still need to be done. Morley is still open to suggestions on how he can better the website. “We’re not perfect, we don’t expect to be perfect and we can always make improvements. We strive to be better just like everything we do here at North Sanpete,” Morley said. Senior Madisyn Allred, computer
companies or individual producers on the internet to gain momentum. If a large company or provider does not agree with content, or if a smaller user is a threat, they could slow down or even completely block data from these producers. Providers claim that they would not block data, and continue to keep an equal internet, but without current net neutrality regulations it would be hard to monitor the extent of their promises. “Is competition really possible,” Higgins said, “or are [internet providers] too big to stop at this point?” Corporate agreements are not unheard of, and Higgins believes providers could reach agreements and keep progress to a standstill. Money is also a large factor in many business decisions and Higgins won-
tech sterling scholar, was a big help as well. She provided a student view of the situation and has made the website her own. “[The website] is much easier to navigate, it’s a big improvement over our last website,” Allred said. Allred clearly knows why the school needs to improve and update it, to keep up with the modern times. “Nowadays people google things that they don’t know. If people are looking up our school this is a good front to have,”
ders if providers and companies will truly have the consumers’ interests at heart once the money becomes more and more accessible. “I need to research more and become more educated about issues like this,” Higgins said. Higgins feels strongly that large decisions are made most effectively when people are educated about the issues, and net neutrality is no different. Without the viewpoint of different perspectives many decisions become skewed and do not resolve the issue as completely as they could have.We have the opportunity and the resources to become educated and learn about issues that can affect us and those around us.
Allred said. This is clearly a step in the right direction for NS, the new and improved website will surely help students and parents to know what the school is all about. “I want people to look at that website and know how on top of things we are and that we are a great school, a strong school. And this website represents us, and I want us to be represented well,” Ault said.
photo by Hannah Ostraff
Junior Abigail Clawson, seniors Shelby Ison and Thomas De Groff placed in the regional VFW Voice of Democracy essay competition with Clawson winning $300 for first place, Ison $225 for second place and De Groff winning $150 for third. Clawson went on to win at the district level that included all of Utah County, and she will now go on to state.
Ice cream
Drinks
Snacks
MAIN STREET, MORONI
MKJ has been serving Sanpete County and surrounding areas for over 20 years A family owned and run business, specializing in building excavation and demolition. Services include buildings, basements, ponds, roadwork, water lines, and septic systems. No job is too big or too small.
4 opinion
Turning outward this Christmas to battle consumerism
by Abigail Clawson Traveling through the year, we journey from a season of gratitude to a day dominated by greed: Black Friday. With the increased commercialism of Christmas, the focus of this day is not on what we have and what we were thankful for the day before, but rather what we lack. It is peculiar to see our focus make such a drastic change in less than 24 hours. This turn saddens many, in a religious way as well as economically; those who struggle financially find this image of a consumerized Christmas
frustrating and disappointing when they are not  able to provide the picturesque Christmas their children want. While it may seem that this is simply the way things go and that we may have to give in, we can make a difference. We do want to participate in the holiday cheer, but perhaps there are changes we can make, both simple and extravagant, in our traditional giving to start changing Christmas for everyone by turning outward this season. Turning outward through service is what comes to mind for many who already give of their time during this season, even making it a part of their yearly traditions. We can focus on this throughout the season, doing secret acts of service; teaching children to find excitement in giving by secretly dropping items on doorsteps, shoveling walks, building snowmen outside the windows of assisted living centersmany little things people wouldn’t think of as gifts- but for those on the receiving end those acts of kindness are what makes the season bright. Another change we may consider starts with looking where our gifts and money spent during the season go. The
majority stays within our own home, going to those closest to us. Spending on Christmas for our family is certainly not bad by any means, but the effect of giving stays in the walls of our home. At times it can seem like a whirlpool of giving: gifts flows from one member to the next and occasionally a new person will be sucked into the current, but overall our circle of giving remains constant. What if instead of keeping with the current we spread the giving, pulling everyone into a spirit of giving or receiving and feeling the happiness from both sides. Looking at what your family spends on Christmas and deciding to spend a portion or equal amount on others changes the holiday for everyone involved. The happiness that the little bit of something can bring to someone just in knowing that they were thought of, and happiness in knowing we went outside our regular circles of association and made someone’s Christmas. Yet another way to turn outward is to look at what we give, as well as why we give. What is the purpose of gift giving? In giving to someone we want
to make them feel special; one seemingly small personal touch can be the difference between giving a thing and giving a feeling of love. Instead of paying for gifts that are temporary, that will eventually wear out, break or be outgrown, give those that will last longer. Homemade items that hold value long after they are gone simply in the memories they created. Sharing an inside joke or adding something unique about them to the gift. Think about yourself, what will be, or was, remembered during the first Christmas away from home? What traditions will be passed on? In looking for ways to celebrate the Christmas spirit, the spirit of giving, we are creating what could become generations of holidays built around the true meaning of Christmas instead of adding to the continually building consumerism of the holiday.
5
20 dec 17
Couple renovates historic mill, preserves memories BY
E MILY K ERSIEK
Scoop, shovel, dump, scoop, shovel, dump. Ten inches of dirt, dead raccoons, screaming mice, mummified cats, feathers, and even more feathers. All of this and more began to pile up, rot, and decay in 1921. With every year came a new layer. “The pit of despair,” Erick Utley said. “It’s just 24 inches of death down there.” The tunnel under the old Fairview mill, also known as the pit of despair, kept Erick and Jette Utley scooping, shoveling, and dumping for a week. There are two tunnels that run under the five silos. They were built in 1921 all by hand. Farmers would drop their grain into the auger box in the tunnel. The auger would move the grain and it would be sucked up to the roof. After the they cleaned out the tunnel Erick spent a week afterwards suffering from illness. The illness came from a variety of things such as numerous spider bites from a black widow, a brown recluse and hobo spiders. “Whenever he would start feeling dizzy or sick, we would check,” Jette Utley said. “One time there was this huge bite that
was black, and you would squeeze it. It was horrible.” Although a vast majority of work is still to be done, Erick and Jette are turning the old Fairview mill into their forever home. The couple met on Tinder “swipe right.” They fell in love almost two and a half years ago. Not long after, they fell in love with the old mill. One day the couple was out searching for houses to buy, and they weren’t having much luck. They turned the corner to look at a few homes, and they found themselves looking at the old mill. “Our first thoughts were, ‘How cool would that be?’ It was just amazing,” Erick Utley said. To their surprise, the building was for sale. Erick called the previous owner, Katie Shell, and told her they wanted a tour. Erick’s vision was to turn the mill into their home. He knew it would take a lot of work. He went back six times to fully wrap his head around it all. “That’s where I excelled in my business. I would walk into a structure and say we can turn it into this, and this, and this,” Erick Utley said. “That’s where my creativity really excels. We walked through [the mill], and it was a no-brainer—
photo by Emily Kersiek
The old mill in Fairview has been restored under care of new owners, Erick and Jette Utley. The couple spent months restoring the mill and trying to preserve its original state and community memories with it.
we had to buy the place.” Many years before the mill was bought by the Utleys it was used as a co-op for farmers. At the time there were 16 dairy farms within the Fairview City limits. In 1983 the mill stopped production due to the Thistle flood. The flood took out the railroad tracks, which caused the train to stop running. The railroad tracks were built before the old mill. When the mill was built, it was built on a 22 degree angle. This lined it up with the railroad tracks. There was a switch on the side of the mill, so the train could load up. Workers would only have to walk about six inches to load up the train. “It was IFA before IFA,”
Erick Utley said. The mill began to go out of business in 1969. At this time dairies were also going out of business due to the strictness of the government rules. The state passed an act stating that farmers would be paid more to dump their grain in the ditch, rather than to sale it. “The grain was worthless at the time,” Erick Utley said. “The mill had no way to sustain itself.” As Erick began to design their dream home, Jette realized she did not have the same vision when she first saw the mill. She thought it was cool, but described it as “run down.” “I didn’t really have a vision—I looked, and it was cool. As the framing went
up I thought, wow, I obviously have no imagination,” Jette Utley said. “Looking from the first time, Erick said this could be our home, to where we are now it’s what I’d never dreamed. Never.” The work continues and will for at least two more years. The mill has five floors of livable space. It also has a basement and silos. Altogether it is about 60,000 square feet. Jette and Erick are using a store in Spanish Fork called Restore. Restore helps you to buy brand new parts of torn down buildings for a relatively low price. They found the perfect eight foot doors at Restore for only $20 each. They also found many of
their commercial kitchen supplies at a very reasonable price. The Utley’s bought the mill with the promise to keep it as historically correct as possible. Trying to keep the promise the Utleys spent eight months taking nails out of original boards by hand. They are leaving the original flooring and just sanding it. They are trying to preserve as much as possible. They also kept and restored a 50,000 pound scale. It is certified and open for free public use. Farmers used the scale to weigh their hay. The more the hay weighed, the better profit they made. This lead farmers to wet the hay to raise the weight. This caused the scale to be irrelevant when they decided to charge by the bale. Erick and Jette want to preserve the memories people have at the mill. Many people remember buying a soda. During deconstruction they found the two old Coke machines. They will be fixed up and put out front so people can come buy a soda. “We know the mill means so much to the community,” Jette Utley said. “When people talk about it they’re excited. We want people to come and feel like they can come visit.”
Creative home environment shaped expressive, artistic senior
photo by Kaleb Cox
Senior Thomas De Groff uses his talent at drawing to express himself. Thomas credits his talent to practice, as well as his natural talent from his artist parents. BY
K ALEB C OX
Expressing yourself can be a burdensome task for most, but for Thomas De Groff, creating and sharing what’s inside his head—whether that be through his art, writing, or verbally—is what he does best. De Groff, a senior at NS, explained that art is something he’s always had a genetic knack for. Both of his parents are artists and have since become art teachers. Most who only know of him in passing tend to think of De Groff as the art guy. While this la-
bel might bother most, he doesn’t mind it as much. “I’m kind of conflicted,” De Groff said. “If I see someone who comes up to me and says, ‘Oh, I wish I could draw like you,’ I want to say, ‘Well you could, with practice.’ And I think that’s true, to a certain extent, but at the same time I think there is some motivation and talent involved.” Along with being a visual artist, De Groff has always been interested in writing, as he sees that as another way to express and create. “I’m really just interested in any way you can tell a story,” De
Groff said. “I think a lot of people discredit or disqualify certain media… There are a lot of writers in fields that you don’t really expect.” De Groff joined the NS Times journalism staff this year, where he writes articles and comics for the paper. “Journalism interests me, except for the fact that it’s really a dying field,” De Groff said. “But then I’ll see these documentaries of some journalist going to Cambodia or Liberia or something… I think part of my idea of wanting to tell stories for a living is going to corners of the world and telling stories that wouldn’t have otherwise been told.” Self expression has been something that has defined De Groff from a very young age. He was writing before he could read. “I didn’t know how to spell the words, but I wanted to put them down on paper,” De Groff said. “So I cut up some paper, made a little booklet, stapled them together, and then I’d write a little story. I’d ask my mom, ‘How do you spell cat?’ I wasn’t reading books, I just wanted to tell my own stories.” De Groff had a childhood
different from most here at NS. He was born in Logan, UT, and moved to Price, UT when he was five. His family lived there until they moved to Spring City in 2010 when De Groff was ten years old. He was also homeschooled from second to eighth grade. “Price is kind of a ghetto town,” De Groff said. “But the street I lived on was really great. There were just a lot of families with kids our age, you could play in anyone’s backyard, no borders or rules really… I remember working inside on math problems with my mom, then I’d see [the kids] come home from school, and my mom say, ‘Alright, I guess you can go out and play now.’ It was just a really great environment for me to grow up in.” Though being homeschooled for that long and then being put into high school was challenging, De Groff thinks it’s what was right for him and his siblings. “I don’t think homeschool is for everyone,” De Groff said. “It definitely shaped who I am today, but I don’t think I would homeschool my future kids… It was quite the commitment for my parents to homeschool five kids. It seems to have worked out; we’re
all pretty smart.” Though he credits his homeschool experience as a large factor to why he has his creative personality, De Groff doesn’t think creativity and expression is dependent on home versus public schooling. “I think [homeschooling] definitely allowed me to flourish, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say the school system is killing creativity,” De Groff said. “You can’t just boil it down to one or the other. I think there are a lot of creative kids going to this school, and there are a lot of homeschooled kids that are wasting their time.” Rather, he thinks it depends on not your education situation, but your home and personal situation. “You can have a boring schedule at school with nothing expressive or [artistic],” De Groff said, “but if you go home and your parents encourage creativity, with an environment that really nurtures ideas—that’s what made the biggest impact on me.”
6
Foreign exchange students shed light on nontraditional holidays B Y LUCY A NDERSON
Every year around Christmas time, people from all around the world celebrate their culture through different traditions. Foreign exchange student Sophie Duijn from the Netherlands celebrates Sinterklaas. “Sinterklaas comes from Spain with Black Pete on a boat to the Netherlands in the middle of November and there’s a parade,” Duijn said. “The kids can put their shoe by the door or by the fireplace and they sing a song and there will be a present in the shoes in the morning.” Similar to the United States traditions of children getting coal instead of presents when they have been naughty, the Netherlands have their own punishment to kids who have misbehaved. “If you’re a bad kid, Sinterklaas will put you in a sack and carry you back to Spain,” Duijn said. In comparison, naughty children getting coal is a lot nicer
than being smuggled in a sack to Spain. “That’s not really a punishment,” Duijn said. “It’s just weird.” December 5 is the last day that Sinterklaas is celebrated in the Netherlands, so typically that’s when children get the biggest presents. “This one time I got this huge world map,” Duijn said. With all traditions comes controversy in one form or another. In the Netherlands their traditional story says that Sinterklaas has a black-faced companion with big red lips and gold earrings. There have been many protests to try and rid the country of the tradition. “A lot of people think that Black Pete is a racist tradition,” Duijn said. “Some people think that he’s black because of the chimney soot and others think he’s black because of slavery.” Duijn isn’t the only one who has come to America with their own traditions. Emma Siegenthaler from Switzerland has many
YAY OR NAY BY
E MI PALMER
Some families bundle up with hats and gloves to set off on a trek through the deep snow to find the perfect tree. Others simply go to their basement or bring a box out of storage. There are pros and cons to both real and fake Christmas trees. Which do students of NS like better?
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traditions of her own. “In my neighborhood we have this donkey that we go get and we walk two hours up this mountain,” Siegenthaler said. “then we walk back down two hours back to our neighborhood and we spend Saint Nicolas with this donkey.” Just like in the U.S., Christmas songs seem omnipresent. “We sing traditional Christmas music around the Christmas tree,” Siegenthaler said. “Then the younger kids go in front of the tree and sing a song they learned in school. Both Siegenthaler and Duijn have memories that they can look back on fondly. Siegenthaler remembers lighting candles on their Christmas tree each year. Duijn remembers many things from her Sinterklaas. “Most of the time we will have dinner and all of the sudden we here a knock on the door and there will be a note to go to the shed for presents,” Duijn said. “Then we get a letter saying to go to the attic and then there’d be
photo by Lucy Anderson
Shoes lined up with gifts inside are a traditional part of the Dutch holiday Sinterklaas. The Dutch Santa comes and places gifts in the shoes of good children.
another letter saying to go back to the shed and there would be presents!” Eventually, Duijn had to face the hard truth about Sinterklaas. “My stupid sister told me that Sinterklaas wasn’t real,” Duijn said. “I ran to my dad and he got really mad at her. She also told my neighbor.”
Schticky Situations by Salem Kimball
Duijn is surprised but happy about how big our celebrations are here in the US. “I like all of the lights outside,” Duijn said. “It seems like once you get older it’s more about the people and your family and friends.”
7
Majority of students agree Christmas is overly comercialized BY
CARLI JOHANSEN
Christmas brings out the child in all of us. Yet, as the years go by, we notice that Christmas wonder slowly melts into greed and material needs. Christmas seems to be absorbing other holidays. Holiday deals and sales now start as early as September, Christmas is by far the most profitable time of year for corporate America; when people are giving, that always means they are spending. “I remember a time when people were shocked at Christmas celebrations before Thanksgiving—now it’s happening long before Halloween,” teacher Jori Turpin said. America ranks second in terms of Christmas spending, with the UK claiming the highest. It was a close race, the US was a mere 50 dollars under the UK, with a national median of $392 spent per person. According to a NS
Times survey, 70 percent of NS spends over $500 on Christmas, with over 27 percent well into the thousands. Despite these large percentages we see present in NS homes, a significant number believe that people spend too much on the holiday—with 61 percent agreeing that Christmas is too expensive. “Christmas is definitely more commercialized than other holidays. Compared to them, Christmas is an explosion of celebration,” freshman Kaje Nielsen said. That may be fine for the families who have the money for the annual splurge, but many families in America don’t have that luxury. Yes, Christmas truly is a wonderful time of year that softens even the coldest of hearts. The wonder and excitement Santa brings to children is truly a gift in itself. But with the average American living comfortably with food on the table,
Christmas is held to a higher standard than it used to be. Why? Why has Christmas evolved into a time for corporate America to pull out all the big guns on us? Is it truly as evil as it seems? “[Corporate America] has capitalized on the capitalization. They are always pushing the next big toy and the best things. They create a want, which they will make a need,” said Walmart retail worker Cindy Christensen. Christmas is marketing gold; a holiday all about giving makes the perfect opportunity for making money. How could companies not use it to their advantage? Deals like Black Friday contrast Christmas ideals with greed. “[During the Black Friday event] a couple years ago, two ladies got into a fight. The one lady had a two year old in her cart, and as they started fighting the cart got knocked over and the kid hit his head,” Chris-
tensen said. Despite the greed and stress the holiday season brings, it is a special time of year. Not all believe the ‘new and improved Christmas’ is bad. “Along with other things in our generation, Christmas is evolving, becoming more commercialized, and I don’t really think that’s a problem,” junior River Dillman said. “It’s evolution, you can’t avoid it and it’s not going to change.” Over half of the students at NS agree with Dillman, stating that the new commercialization of Christmas is just due to its maturity. We wouldn’t see this change if the Christmas spirit of giving wasn’t present. As the standard of living rises, so do the prices. There is joy in giving. If there wasn’t, the holiday season wouldn’t be such a booming market.
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8
sports 20 dec 17
Hawks off to exceptional start to season
photo by Emily Barker
Senior Spencer Steadman drives in for a heavily contested layup during a recent home win against Millard. BY
E MILY BARKER
The NS boys basketball team stepped out onto the courts at the Bear River Winter Classics tournament. They were up against the Hunter High Wolverines. Four weeks into the season and the team
already has an impressive region record of 6-2, compared to last years 1-6. Even with this backing them up, they felt intimidated playing against a 6A school. Throughout every game, the team has a constant, coach Chris Hoopes. “[Throughout the games] Hoopes is always encouraging us, yelling only when he needs to,
to fire us up, telling us the right plays and what to do on defense, and then right behind him we have Bill and Gage backing him up,” said senior guard Josh Jackson. As fourth-quarter rolled around it was still anyone’s game, with NS up by two. Both teams were filled with adrenaline as the clock began to count down.
“It was right down to the wire, and we all had to pull together, our team was making big plays everywhere to make sure that we got the win,” said Jackson. As the buzzer sounded the scoreboard revealed NS ahead by 3 overall at 57-54. It’s the tough games like these when the team knows that the work
they put in pays off. Coach Hoopes is one of the many men enforcing the stamina and diligence in this team. One challenge Hoopes sees is the team is not as tall as other teams, but Hoopes is aware of this, and to counteract he pushed the team; they do drills and run while keeping in shape.
“[In my junior year] we battled through a hard pre-season only winning two games, and [Hoopes] helped us figure out what we were going to do and got us to our big region wins,” senior Spencer Steadman said. Hoopes displays his experience with basketball in the way he coaches. Along with coaching Hoopes followed in his father’s footsteps and become a teacher. “I grew up around education so it became really important to me,” said Hoopes. He was able to combine his two dreams, teaching and basketball, into one job. Although Hoopes loves that basketball is involved, he would still love teaching without it. “He cares for us not just on the court but also off the court. If we ever needed to go to him for anything we could. He is a guy that I really look up to and he has really helped me as a basketball player and a person,” Steadman said.
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sports
9
Confusion between city, school board causes frustration with pool BY
M AK ADE TALBOT
On Jan. 1 the Mount Pleasant Aquatic Center will officially open its doors to the public, from 12 PM to 10 PM, with no admission cost for the day. Although the actual construction of the pool began only several months ago, the city has spent years ironing everything out to get the pool to where it is today, and even at the end of the project, there were still a few snags Mayor Blackham of Mount Pleasant first approached the school district about building a pool in 2014, asking the newly appointed superintendent Sam Ray for the district’s help on the project. Wasatch Academy had committed to be a part of the project already, so Ray’s agreement sealed NSSD as the third benefactor. The biggest problem the group faced was where to pull the money from to build the pool. Several options were discussed, such as forming a recreation district or using the redevelopment program, but there were too many problems to effectively use any of them. In 2016, the city decided to turn to the people for help, proposing a 2.25 percent tax increase on gas and electric bills to generate the money needed to operate the pool all year long. Prop 7, as it was called, was met with shocking community support; passing with over 72 percent of the popular vote. “We had wide community backing, and so we felt good about that,” said Mount Pleasant city council member Justin Atkinson. “We had a good feeling going forward having the support of the community behind this thing.” Atkinson has served as a
city council member for eight years now, but he also works for an engineering firm. His company has been tasked to oversee some of the construction management of the pool, so the mayor put Atkinson over the pool since he was involved already. “I kinda wear two hats in this thing,” Atkinson said. “I try to avoid a conflict of interest, so I try to let other people from my office work on the construction part and I do my best to take care of the city council role.” In the midst of all planning and money-hunting to get the pool up and running, conflict and confusion arose between the city and the school district. “We from the very beginning said we wanted to help. We would love to have a pool,” Ray. “But from the very beginning we said we didn’t have large cash donations we could make.” Ray worked with Mayor Blackham and the school board to find a way to pitch in, and their months of discussion resulted in the district donating the land for the pool to be built on in a 50-year lease. “Mayor Blackham talked with the school board and they talked this all through, we met, they signed documents, and we gave them what they needed so they could go to the CIB to ask for the grant,” Ray said. “What I didn’t realize was that the city council wasn’t a party to all this conversation.” Mayor Blackham resigned from office in June of 2017 due to health concerns, and shortly after his resignation the trouble surfaced. City Recorder Jane Banks reportedly told Ray that the city had no evidence of an understanding from the district
photo by Makade Talbot
The new swimming pool in Mt. Pleasant is now open to use for the NS and Wasatch Academy swim teams. The pool will open for the public on Jan. 1.
concerning O&M costs. Ray says he thoroughly expressed the school’s position from the beginning; that the school’s money needed to be focused primarily on taking care of their faculty, but they would donate the land for the pool and parking lot in exchange for the swim team’s use of it. In light of the apparent confusion from the city council and their new mayor, the district wrote a letter to the city, explaining the school’s stance, hoping to clear everything up. Instead, the letter was met with frustration from the city council, and the city said there was still no solid agreement as to what the school would pay. The council met to further discuss the letter, and representatives from both sides have met to discuss a solution. “We’ve had board members meet with city council members to work everything out, and they seem to be working on a resolution that makes everybody happy so everyone can continue working together,” said Ray.
With less than a month remaining until the pool opens, everything seems to have been worked out, and the city has recognized the school district’s position. “You know, North Sanpete isn’t in the same situation as Wasatch Academy; they can’t just commit those kinds of funds,” Atkinson said. “We all run on shoestring budgets around here. They’re limited on what they can do.” Atkinson continues, “There was a little bit of misunderstanding. I think when we first started looking at this thing, it was a concept. We needed certain things to turn in the application to make it considered by the funding agency, like the land and the costs and such, so we were kind of pulling things together not knowing what was going to happen.” With less than a month before the pool opens, everyone put the past in the past to prepare the pool for the public. The city hired Britanny Adams, the swim coach at NS, as the pool manager.
Besides trying to balance the two jobs, Adams is also enrolled as a full time student at SUU, taking online classes so she can stay close to work. Despite her crazy schedule, Adams loves her jobs, and she’s thrilled for the pool to open. The swim teams from Wasatch and NS were offered early access of the facility, and they’ve been using it for a few weeks now. Both teams have been commuting to Snow College every day to hold practices, so a pool in Mount Pleasant is literally game changing for the teams. “We would leave for Snow at about three o’clock, be home by 5:30 or 6:00, and only get an hour and a half of practice in,” Adams said. “We’re here by 3:00, we’re done by 5:00, and we get a full 2 hours of practice.” “I can get from the school to the pool in three minutes instead of 20, and I’m going to be saving so much money on gas,” said swim captain Trevor Ence.
Lady Hawks look to improve through hard work BY
C HRISTIAN SANCHEZ
The NS girls basketball team has a rough start to their season. They have had three losses with many more games left in the season. With many inexperienced girls the team’s hope is only to constantly get better, and always improve. “This season is a season where it’s only go up. We have a lot of inexperienced girls, that have not played a lot of varsity basketball. We are just throwing them in the fire,” coach Randi Griffith said. “Baptism by fire, here you go.” With having three losses, one against Juab, Wasatch Academy, and then Parowan, Griffith still has much hope
for the team as the season continues. “The first game wasn’t really how I wanted it to go, but it really wasn’t a shock either. Cause when you go from playing freshman/sophomore basketball and little JV, and then here you go play varsity. It’s a big difference,” Griffith said. “So they just needed to get it out of their system.” To go from JV to varsity you have to really push yourself every moment. There is an old saying that says, “You practice how you play.” Griffith feels that the girls are doing this every time. “The girls are working extremely hard at practice and they have a desire to get better, which is the best thing
you can have as a coach is girls that want to get better and are willing to work hard,” Griffith said. With the great loss of seniors, and a fresh varsity team the coach expects one thing, and one thing only: improvement. “I just want constant improvement--that every game, we get a little bit better,” Griffith said. Although with a fresh start for the team, and work to be done, Griffith says that her biggest method of coaching is trying to help each girl individually to try to get better. She says that she may not always get it right, but she tries to find every girl’s potential.
photo by Christian Sanchez
Freshman Graciee Christiansen takes the ball down against a Wasatch Academy defender.
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sports
10
Wrestlers making strides with more mat time BY
C HARLEE
TENSEN
C HRIS-
The NS Wrestling team has high hopes for success this season, although after their first few duels, the team has learned that there is definitely room for improvement. “We started the season out pretty bad,” captain Luis Rodriguez said. “It’s like the coaches were telling us, we started pretty lazy. I think it was because we were scared, but overall it was a pretty rough start.” On Nov. 30, the team had their first dual against South Sevier, which they lost. The team has still practiced hard to get better, despite the final team score in the last couple duels. “As a team, we really haven’t done the best,” senior Keegan Eliason said. “Overall we just need to practice hard and gain more determination.”
Head coach Bryan Strain is happy with the improvement of his team so far this season although they haven’t quite found the way to defeat other schools just yet. “We’re improving, and that’s the biggest key. It’s one thing to start off the season and be the powerhouse, but it’s another one to start out not being the powerhouse and ending up being a team that others want to be,” Strain said. The team agrees that with plenty of practice, hard work, and determination, they will be able to do great things. “We need to come to practice every day and work hard. We need to give 110% out there on the mat,” Rodriguez said. The coaches all agree that biggest weakness of the team is experience. There are a lot of first-year wrestlers. “I think if we were to do a team average of experience we
would probably be at about two years’ worth on average. Most of the team are first year wrestlers, so having mat time is huge. The more comfortable you are on the mat, the better you are going to do,” Strain said. The coaches believe that when the team spends time on the mat, they will be able to get comfortable with some of the different positions they will face. “We’ve had a tough tournament down in Millard. The boys need to have more mat time to get more familiar with the sport,” assistant coach Nash Brown said. “They need to know how to deal with the moves that are given to them in their matches.” Although the team has had a rough start, the coaches still have high hopes for success in the future duels and tournaments, and hopefully a chance at state.
“I think this team is really going to grow and get better over the season and qualify for state. I don’t think that what has happened so far is really going to affect where our state placement is going to be,” Strain said. The team is dedicated and willing to work when asked to do anything. “They are a really close team that encourage each oth-
ter.
“Wrestling is in my blood. It’s something I always have a desire to do. It’s a part of me. I love wrestling. I love what it does for me, I love what it does for others, it’s just one of those sports that once it gets in your blood, it’s something you have to do. It’s almost like an addiction sometimes,” Strain said. Most of the team can all agree that they are lookphoto by Charlee Christensen
Senior Keegan Eliason pins an opponent during a recent home match
er and work hard day in and day out,” Brown said All of the wrestlers can agree that even through wrestling can be hard, it is worth it, and they really have come to love it. “Wrestling is the best sport ever made,” Eliason said. Many wrestlers agree with Eliason about wrestling being the best because it forces them to work hard to become bet-
ing forward to what’s coming up in the future and learning what they need to do to become better. “We need to become mentally tough and prepare ourselves for life lessons and when times get hard, you don’t back down, you keep pushing forward,” Brown said. “Watch out for North Sanpete, we’re coming.”
Drill team looks to improve in region competition BY JULIETTE JORDAN
The NS Spiriteers are working hard and hoping to do well in region after placing fifth last year. In recent competition they placed second in dance and character, and third in military. They competed against Richfield, Carbon and Murray. “After the year is over I hope that we know that we gave it our all, that we left all on the floor and have no re-
grets,” said team captain Kailee Burges. Burgess is the team captain this year and hopes to bring her team to a victory. She works hard leading the team, making sure everyone is doing their best and putting in the time that the team needs them to. “I like being captain because I like seeing the progress of the team throughout the year and being a representative for the team,” Burgess said.
Taking region may be difficult because they have new teams in the region. With the region changes they don’t know what to expect from other teams because they have not competed against them before. Junior Victoria Church enjoys doing drill and is excited for this season. She is ready to work hard against their competition and hopes to take region this year. “Our toughest competition is definitely Manti and North Sevier and Richfield.
They are all doing really good this year,” Church said. Though they have to work hard to beat their competition it is also important they have fun. Being serious all of the time isn’t part of practice, enjoying yourself and having fun is also a part of it. “The funnest part about drill is all the memories that I make with all of my sisters,” Burgess said. Many members feel that they are more than a team, they are a family. As a team,
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you make memories and some even feel that you become a family. “I love being around the girls and just goofing off with them at practice. I knew I would get close to the girls, but I didn’t know that it would be this close” Church said. Our drill team has been putting in a lot of work to pull out a win this year. Knowing their competition and working hard has been the mindset of the team.
11
arts 20 dec 17
BY
TR AYSON THOMPSON
Imagine the perfect TV show, what do you think it is? Is it a fantasy show about a woman who controls dragons? Or is it a show that takes place in the 80’s with an interdimensional monster? For me, that perfect TV show is “Nathan for You.” “Nathan for You” is a pseudoreality show on the comedy channel, Comedy Central, and centers around Nathan Fielder, a comedian who graduated from one of Canada’s top business schools with ‘really good grades,’ and he’s looking to help struggling small businesses by giving them outrageous marketing ideas that actually work, sometimes. The
show’s comedy stems from Nathan’s natural social awkwardness around other people, which in turn brings out the awkwardness in other people, which makes for some pretty hilarious moments that will make you want to die of awkwardness. One example of Nathan’s unorthodox marketing ideas is in the very first episode, “Frozen Yogurt,” where a struggling frozen yogurt business asks for Nathan’s help, and he suggests the answer of creating a poo flavored frozen yogurt. Nathan then pulls
through with the idea, and people from all over the neighborhood come to try the poo flavored yogurt. The episode then ends with Nathan saying that having a poo flavored yogurt is probably gross, and he then has the workers completely get rid of all the poo flavored yogurt undoing all the work that he had done for the business. On the other end of the series, there’s the season four finale (the latest episode at the moment), titled “Finding Frances,” which sees Nathan helping a pro-
fessional Bill Gates impersonator named Will Heath find the woman he loved over fifty years ago. The episode is about two hours in length, seeing Nathan and Will traveling to Arkansas to try and find Frances. When Nathan starts to dig a little bit deeper to find out more about Will and Frances’ relationship, all is not as it seems. The summary stops right there, because going any further will spoil a whole lot of what makes the season finale one of the best things I’ve ever seen on television, so if you want to find
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out what happens in the finale, it’s up for free on Comedy Central’s website, though you may have to watch a few ads here and there in order to see the full episode. So I’ve listed all the things I like about the show, however, one thing that bothers me about the show is that it hasn’t gotten a lot of recognition from North Sanpete. It boggles my mind that such a well put together and funny show with so much heart put into it has just completely slipped under the radar, but I hope for that to change soon, so please, do me and yourself a favor, and go watch “Nathan for You” wherever you can.
Drama prepares for challenging “Little Shop of Horrors” BY
VANCE STR AIT
This year the drama department has decided to put on a demanding show called “Little Shop of Horrors.” The musical was written by the same people who wrote masterpieces like “The Little Mermaid.” The musical is based off of an old scifi horror movie. “It is definitely different than a lot of musicals you would see,” said Alex Barlow, the drama teacher at NS, “but sometimes I think different is good.” The musical poses a challenge for the cast for several due to differences from past plays. “The music is far more challenging than anything we have ever done. It requires some really strong voices,” Barlow said, “but we have a professional vocal coach from BYU who is giving the students vocal lessons.” Some students are especially struggling with the singing aspect of the musical. “The music practices are harder,” said junior Nicholas Honey. “Acting is the easy part.” Some students even have to set time aside to practice after their three hours of rehearsal.
“For my part, there involves lots of individual practice so my part can stand out,” junior Loosy Kwin said. Fortunately the drama department has a qualified teacher to help them on the difficult journey of making a musical. Barlow has participated in the theater since he was about 8 years old. “It’s hard and challenging,” said Barlow, “but it is really rewarding.” He has also taught theater for a long time throughout various theaters in Utah county. For a typical practice the drama department usually practices from about 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.. They practice blocking or figuring out where they are going to stand and what they are going to do. They also practice choreography which involves their singing and dance moves. There is a lot more work that goes into a musical than people realize. The drama department has to build the sets from scratch, get all the costumes together, get all of the light ques and get all the props. “It is a huge undertaking,” said Barlow, “but luckily we have lots of people are involved and can make a difference.” The drama department also spends a good amount of money on their musicals each show. For a normal musical the dra-
photo by Vance Strait
Drama took on a new challenge this year with “Little Shop of Horrors.”
ma department can spent anywhere from $4,000 to $5,000 dollars on props, cos- This year the musical will be performed on tumes, etc. Jan 11-13. The musical will cost $8 if you Even with all the work that has to go pay at the door and $6 for presales. into making a musical drama feels ready. Quinn and Honey both said, “ Yes, we’ll be ready.”
‘The Last Jedi’ exceeds all expectations, thrills fans
BY
THOMAS DE GROFF
“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” is the latest addition to the Star Wars saga, picking up where
2015’s “The Force Awakens” left off. Written and directed by Rian Johnson, the movie stars Mark Hamill, Daisy Ridley, and Adam Driver. From the opening crawl to the end credits, “The Last Jedi” is an action, joy, and humor-filled romp. Continuing the storyline of First Order vs. Resistance, the movie also explores more complicated ideas of dark side and light side—and the characters caught between the two factions. Although “The Last Jedi” is no stranger to magnificent action sequences, the movie really shines in the moments of depth delivered by the lead actors. Ridley and Driver, both rela-
tive unknowns before being cast in “The Force Awakens,” shine in their respective roles. Driver’s character of Kylo Ren—a far more multifaceted villain than the Star Wars universe is used to—pushes they story in especially interesting directions. This character-driven approach is carried out in a way that is bound to bring an emotional response from many fans, including myself. Rian Johnson unpacks a story full of twists and turns that will leave something for even the most speculative viewer to be startled by. These surprises, combined with a fantastic score from the great John Williams, kept me engaged the entire time. While “The Force Awakens”
faced criticism from many for following a formulaic plot that felt too similar to previous Star Wars films—“The Last Jedi” seems to fall on the opposite side of the spectrum. Rian Johnson and company, rather than stick to the tried and true, give their audience a movie they may not have asked for, but one that is bound to please most of them regardless. Not everything about “The Last Jedi” is perfect. The second act contains a side-plot that drags a little at times, and some details may fall apart under closer inspection. As critical as I try to be, however, I cannot help but feel that this newest Star Wars movie is more than the the sum of its parts.
“The Last Jedi” is—appropriately for this time of year—like an advent calendar full of sweet surprises. By providing the viewer with treats throughout, it creates a feeling of anticipation and joy. Even if you find a raisin or two in a couple of the metaphorical chocolates—once you reach the finale you’ve been waiting for, you forget all about them. Overall, “The Last Jedi” is enjoyable through and through. An interesting but welcome addition to the Star Wars canon, it demands second and third viewings.
arts
12
Phobias B Y LUCY A NDERSON
Heard in the
Halls “I used to be depressed, then I graduated high school.” “Feminists: they pop up like tumors.” “And popcorn, my dear friends, is why I will never have children” “Netflix is the key to losing pounds.” “If you want proof, feel my leg.” “Santa Claus is just a big fat hero.“ “I love a lot of things, but the only thing that loves me back is my bed.” “I name all of my Pokemon after rappers. Go Fiddy Cent! “Boom clap I need a nap. My sleep needs to go on and on and on on. ” “I’ve got a piece of bacon lodged up my nose.”
Across
Down
1. Ranidaphobia is the fear of these amphibians 6. Thanatophobia is the fear of leaving this life 8. Pyrophobia is the fear of this form of heat 9. Equinophobia is the fear of cowboys’ trusted com panions 12. Catoptrophobia is the fear of these reflecting sur faces 13. Scoleciphobia is the fear of this fishing bait 15. Ophidiophobia is the fear of this reptile 16. Coulrophobia is the fear of these circus perform ers 17. Ichthyophobia is the fear of these water bound creatures 18. Koumpounophobia is the fear of this item found on suits 20. Anatidaephobia is the fear of this waddling bird 22. Alektorophobia is the fear of this common poultry 23. Thalassophobia is the fear of this body of water 26. Pediophobia is the fear of these collectors items 27. Pseudodysphagia is the fear of having your air way blocked 31. Podophobia is the fear of this body part 32. Samhainophobia is the fear of this October holi day 33. Latrophobia is the fear of people in this profession 35. Didaskaleinophobia is the fear of this educational place 36. Kinemortophobia is the fear of these undead mon sters 39. Omphalophobia is the fear of these scars that ev eryone has 41. Achondroplasiaphobia is the fear of these espe cially short people 42. Lepidopterophobia is the fear of these colorful flying insects
1. Chronophobia is the fear of what’s to come 2. Mysophobia is the fear of bacteria 3. Phasmophobia is the fear of these haunted beings 4. Spheksophobia is the fear of getting stung by these insects 5. Ornithophobia is the fear of these flying creatures 7. Entomophobia is the fear of these creepy crawlies 10. Galeophobia is the fear of this large fish with big teeth 11. Cynophobia is the fear of this domesticated ani mal 14. Philophobia is the fear of this emotion 19. Triskaidekaphobia is the fear of the unlucky num ber 21. Globophobia is the fear of this common birthday decoration 24. Carcinophobia is the fear of this disease some times caused by smoking 25. Coasterphobia is the fear of these rides found at amusement parks 28. The fear of this necessary nightly routine 29. Technophobia is a fear of this new way of life 30. Musophobia is the fear of these cheese loving ani mals 32. Nosocomephobia is the fear of these caregiving places 34. Pogonophobia is the fear of this facial hair 37. Bananaphobia... you can figure this one out 38. Ailurophobia is the fear of this household animal 40. Aerophobia is the fear of this form of travel
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