The Canine Chronicle MBMS Jan. 2013

[the the] the]

Canine Chr Chr[[ Mount Baker Middle School, Auburn, Washington

“We must be concerned not merely about who murdered them, but about the system, the way of life, the philosophy which produced the murderers."

—MLK

Photo illustration by A. Serratos

]nicle January 2013

Volume III, Issue 3

Table of Contents]

[2 * Volume III, Issue 3]

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Letter from the Editors

Do You Feel Safe?

4

Dear Bulldogs,

Gun Control Editorial

5

Valentines’ Day Approaches

6

Cell Phones Distract Students

8

MLK Assembly

10

Event Bulletin Board

14

Best Viral Videos of 2012

16

Hobbit Review

17

Warring Resigns as Coach

19

Second Quarter Sports

20

Mount Baker Barks

24

As the second semester begins, a new batch of journalists become part of The Canine Chronicle family.

TCC staff is looking forward to seeing these new staff members grow and are sad to say goodbye to our first semester friends.

This month we'd like to focus your attention to the word “diversity”. di·ver·si·ty (noun) \də-vər-sə-tē, dī-\-the condition of having or being composed of differing elements : variety; especially : the inclusion of different types of people (as people of different races or cultures) in a group or organization.

At Mt. Baker Middle School, we are a diverse community made up of nearly 900 students.

Our school helps educate the children of Algona, Pacific, Lakeland Hills, and Auburn. Within our Mt. Baker family, we have over 200 different cultures spanning from students with Native descent to students with Asian or Hispanic roots, and many more.

U.S. citizens are lucky to live in a nation that accepts every race and allows its citizens to have the same rights as everyone else.

It is crazy to think that just fifty years ago, there was so much segregation in the United States that it legitimately separated our country in two. We’ve come so far from that point; now we have many ethnic races within our community, and absolutely no segregation within.

“Mt. Baker is a safe, global family of—diverse—responsible everyday students.”

Imagine a World

24

Locker Lottery

25

What Grinds My Gears

26

Life

27

Make it a great day,

Taylor Berkley

Catherine Manivanh

COVER PHOTO: It sounds pretty simple: A safe school.

That's what many people wish for. But due to some of the recent incidents of violence in schools, that dream has become far from reality. Now the question has sprung up.

Is Mt. Baker middle school a safe place?

MT. BAKER MIDDLE SCHOOL 620 37TH STREET SE AUBURN, WASHINGTON 98002

Staff Editors

Maddie Nassirian Ashton Serratos Taylor Berkley

Maddie Nassirian

Lauren Smith

Ashton Serratos

O. Denton

Reporters

Reporters

Technical Support

Andrew Bell

Elizabeth Hok

Chaz Bracken

Alex Jabusch

Jay Kemp Aaron Cowan

Charles Dalrymple

Tianna McLeod

Advisor

Olivia Denton

McKenzie Ruppert

Peter Warring

Chike Egwuatu

Sahanie Shell

Catherine Manivanh

Camaeron Engen

Ivic Vasquez

Lauren Smith

Tanner George

Caleb Walter-Goodspeed

Spencer Hochwalt

Mission: The MBMS Journalism 8 class produced this limited-voice newspaper with intent to ethically report events accurately, without bias. As a public forum for students, all decisions made on content are made under the guidance of the advisor, with intent to uphold students’ First Amendment rights.

The opinions presented in articles are provided to represent the views and perspectives of students and individuals in our diverse student population, not necessarily the whole of the advisor, faculty, and administrators. Any material that would cause a disruption to the educational process like libel, invasion of privacy, or copyright infringement will not be published.

The Canine Chronicle is produced using Microsoft Publisher. Photographs not taken by students have been utilized through a Creative Commons and Microsoft license.

[News & Features]

[January 2013 * 3]

A Year in Review: Top News of 2012 Chike Egwuatu & McKenzie Ruppert

Shootings: On December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza barged into Sandy Hook Elementary and shot 26 people, including young students and older teachers.

The youngest person to be shot was Noah Pozner, a six year old student, while the oldest person to be shot was Mary Sherlach, a 56 year old woman.

On July 20, 2012 in Aurora, Colorado, on the opening night of The Dark Night Rises, James Holmes ran inside the Century 16 Multiplex Theater and shot 12 people and injuring 58 others, while setting off gas grenades.

He was later arrested outside of the theater.

In Sanford, Florida, on February 26, George Zimmerman shot Treyvon Martin while Treyvon was walking home.

Zimmerman thought Martin was checking out the houses in the neighborhood for criminal uses and started following him which led up to the shooting.

show that focuses on Alana ‘Honey Boo Boo’ Thompson and This year, the Summer Olympics was a huge success for her redneck family in McIntyre, Georgia.

Team U.S.A. and a great tourist attraction afterwards for As Mr. Warring put it, “You either love it or hate. It is a London. train wreck most Americans can’t avoid, stopping and NASA Space: gawking.” It is the networks highest rated show ever.

Felix Baumgartner an Austrian skydiver jumped and set The Olympics: the world record for skydiving 39 kilometers! That is 24 Held mainly in East London, the Summer Olympics were miles high! on, bringing in flocks of tourists.

Also NASA sent out their biggest project yet, Curiosity!

The medal count for the U.S.A was 104 total, including 46 Curiosity is a Mars Rover that exploring the unknown land gold medals, 29 silver medals, and 29 bronze medals. of Mars. Curiosity main goal is to find evidence of life on China was close behind with 88 medals.

Mars, as well as water.

Top American athletes included Michael Phelps, with 6 Presidential Election: medals in the 2012 Olympic Games and 22 in his entire After Obama had 4 years in office, it was time for reOlympic career, Ryan Lochte, who has won a total of 70 election. The contenders were Democrat Barack Obama international medals and 5 Olympic medals won in 2012 , and Republican Mitt Romney. But at the end of it, Barack Gabby Douglas (and “The Fierce Five”), who won the sec- Obama came to be re-elected into office. ond gold medal in the Gymnastics trials for Team U.S.A.

Deaths: On February 11, Whitney Houston passed away. Houston’s body was found submerged in a hotel bathtub where she was staying. The main cause was a high amount of drug usage in her blood. Whitney Houston has one two Emmy awards, six Grammy awards, 30 billboard awards, and 22 American music awards that is among a total of 415 career awards as of 2010.

Also on August 25 in Cincinnati, Ohio, Neil Armstrong passed away at age 82. Neil Armstrong was one of Americans bravest explorers and was the first man to ever step on the moon.

Natural Disasters: As you all may have known, Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast. Many people were left without homes after Sandy struck. This storm was one of the biggest hurricanes to hit the East Coast ever in recorded history.

Global warming was also a huge issue in 2012. Scientists believe that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere shot past regular zones. If this keeps up, people predict that there will be more droughts, heat waves and wildfires.

Pop Culture:

Twilight stars Robert Patterson and Kristen Stewart reportedly broke up during the summer when Stewart was seen with Rupert Sanders, her Snow White and Huntsman director.

When Kristen publically apologized for the “… embarrassment I’ve caused to those close to me and everyone this has affected.” It is rumored that Patterson and Stewart got back together in September.

The viral video “Gangnam Style” was the most ‘liked’ video on YouTube ever. It has been viewed over 1.19 billion times and surpassed Justin Bieber’s music video “Baby”.

CreativeCommons.org “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepson was another pop hit and it ranked #2 on the top 100 songs list by Billboard As 2012 closed, several events have shaped and defined America, with celebrities and historical figures passing to generation-defining Magazine and ‘Song of The Year’ by MTV. On TLC, “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” is a hit television events in the news captivating us. Pop culture figures have been the topic of discussions, while natural disasters and tragedies have been symbols of our culture in 2012.

[News & Features] History of School Violence McKenzie Ruppert

Sandy Hook. Virginia Tech. Columbine. All of these names remind us of the pain and sorrow so many students suffered from watching their colleagues die right in front of them. But those names are only the recent mass school shootings. As far back as the 1700’s, school shootings have been etched in history and forever marked in our lives.

The most recent school shooting and certainly the most dangerous was the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting. [See page 5.]

On April 16, 2007, Seung-Hui Cho, a Virginia Tech senior, walked onto campus and shot and killed 32 people, while injuring 17 others. He did this in two separate halls, one a residence hall and the other a science and engineering hall. Cho was said to have an anxiety disorder in Jr. and Sr. High. He applied to Virginia Tech. Since his records of his disorder weren’t applicable because of federal privacy laws, he was granted to go to the college.

In the small community of Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, on October 2, 2006, Charles Carl Roberts lV walked into a one room Amish schoolhouse. He told all the boys and older women to leave the room, while leaving the younger girls, ages 6-13, to die. The man shot the ten girls, injuring 5 of them and killing the others. He committed suicide right before state troopers came.

In Colorado, one of the worst school massacres happened at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris barged into the high school and murdered 12 students and one teacher while additionally injuring another 21 people. It was said that Dylan and Eric were both bullied and planned this rampage together specifically on this day because it was Adolf Hitler’s birthday. They committed suicide before the authorities came.

These school massacres are only the recent and certainly the worst. But if you look a little harder, you will see that there is so much more than you could possibly even imagine.

These stories are only skimming the top of what really happens in small or big towns, little or big schools, whether the media gets the exact story or not.

We can’t get inside the head of the shooter and figure out why they are doing this.

Through the grief and pain, we ask whether mental illness, video games, or being raised by violent parents are the causes. We will never know every single back story of the shooters.

Our only hope is that we can prevent it from happening again.

[4 * Volume III, Issue 3]

Do You Feel Safe?

Sandy Hook Shootings Cause Students to Reflect on School Safety Ashton Serratos

It sounds pretty simple: A safe school. That's what many people wish for. But due to some of the recent incidents of violence in schools, that dream has become far from reality. Now the question has sprung up. Is Mt. Baker middle school a safe place?

In an interview with eighth grader Sydney Campbell, she brought up a point about our schools lack of security.

"Look at the security that Sandy Hook Elementary School had, and the gunman still got in. What does that say about our school? A lot of our doors stay open all day. If someone really wanted in, how hard could it be?"

A crucial part in our schools safety is our lockdowns and drills. Some programs such as A.L.I.C.E. (Alert-LockdownInform-Counter-Escape) encourage the students and staff within a building to not only sit and be quiet during a lockdown, but to actually prepare to defend themselves if an intruder was to enter their classroom.

Programs such as A.L.I.C.E. could easily be active in our schools if we took the time to train our students.

"Realistic drills go unannounced." Steve Wilder, a security consultant told TIME. More often than not, drills are announced to the teachers. Then as students find out, it becomes more of a laughing matter rather than a serious event..

When asked if he thought his peers took drills seriously, Garret Miller said, "It kind of depends on who, some people act like it’s a joke."

On Facebook, people chimed in talking about the lockdown we had on Dec. 19, just five short days after the Sandy Hook shooting. "[The lockdown] was scary; I was right next to the window," Kerry Dolan stated. "[I was] shocked, [we] didn't know what was going on," said eighth grader Cathy Dao. When questioned on how Mt. Baker could improve its security, Rebecca Wilson said the following, "Maybe [our school could get] security cameras."

The thing about security systems these days is cost to keep them working. It'd cost our school district thousands of dollars to just get the systems installed in Auburn schools, let alone the price for monitoring the school grounds each month.

This brings us back to a few months ago when 14 windows at our school and 232 more around the Auburn School District were shot at with BB guns in the middle of the night.

Is previous article, eighth grader Landon Evans was quoted saying he felt like the school was falling apart, “’Make it a great day, Baker’ is really hard to apply because [vandalism] is happening at our school.”

The damage caused by this event cost our school district around $25,000 to repair. If cameras were in place at our schools, we could have stopped the vandals before the damage was too widespread.

C Dao

[January 2013 * 5]

[News & Features]

Two Opinions on Gun Control in U.S. Ashton Serratos & Charlie Dalrymple

I believe that there should be more control on guns. If you look at all of the shootings that have happened in the U.S., how many of these shootings used a gun with 15 rounds in the clip or more?

Think about every life we could’ve saved if these people were only using a six shooter or they never got a gun in the first place.

President Obama’s and Vice-president Biden’s plan had some main ideas, everyone trying to purchase a gun has to have a background check. The second was to ban military grade weaponry and reduce the amount of rounds a clip can carry to ten rounds. There was an argument proposed by the National Rifle Assosciation (NRA) brought up. They said, what if teachers had guns to defend themselves and prevent further tragedy? Well, there are several problems with that, the first one is that the teacher has a gun. Think about a teacher teaching five, six, and seven year olds seeing a gun every day at school.

What if one of them gets curious and grabs the gun? What happens then?

Second of all, most teachers don’t know how to use a gun in the first place. It’s also a reminder to everyone in the school that there is a safety issue and that can be emotionally and mentally degrading, both can negatively effect student learning.

Sen. Charles Grassley, a Republican from Iowa stated, “The president seems to think the Second Amendment can be tossed aside.” In reality he’s not tossing aside the Second Amendment, you still have the right to own a gun, just not a military grade assault rifle capable of slaughter.

Another argument has come up, let’s say that we ban military grade weaponry, but street gangs would sell them to other people. There's one major problem with that, where are their suppliers? Where do they get these guns if they can’t be bought anywhere?

So why should we even consider keeping the gun laws the way they are? With all of lives lost, why? That is question I have for you. That is the question I have for every single American. Why? -Charlie Dalrymple

CreativeCommons.org

The debate of whether or not American citizens should be allowed to bear firearms has become especially relevant because of the hefty amount of public shootings we’ve had in the U. S. within the last year. The serious issue between this is how the guns are used. Just because someone owns a gun, doesn’t mean that they’re going to fire it at innocent school children.

Due to these incidents of gun violence, many Americans have been petitioning to further enforce our country’s gun laws to the point where guns would become almost unobtainable to the average American.

“We will not allow law-abiding gun owners to be blamed for the acts of criminals and madmen.”

In this statement released by the National Rifle Association (NRA) shortly after the Connecticut shootings, they were stating that American citizens who follow the strict laws accompanying owning a firearm should not be penalized for the wrong-doings of those who do not respect our second amendment right.

In a press conference on January 16, President Barack Obama addressed that he has been working with the government to tighten United States gun laws in the wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy. He is even looking into funding a $10 million research study to see if there is a link between gun crime and violent video games.

If he gets this research study passed by congress, can it potentially mean the end of video games such as Call of Duty and Halo?

Furthermore, the President also aimed his speech at the Aurora, Colorado shooting, stating, “Weapons designed for war have no place in a movie theater."

The NRA has already began a television campaign against the President’s allegations saying the reason why the United States has so many problems with this from crime is due to the amount of violent video games and movies such as Grand Theft Auto and American Psycho. -Ashton Serratos

Sandy Hook Shooting Ashton Serratos

Twenty first grade students and six adult staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Connecticut were killed on Friday, December 14 after a gunman broke into their school around 9:35 in the morning.

Students were ushered into bathrooms and closets by the staff of the school as teachers tried their hardest to keep their students calm and quiet.

A 27-year-old teacher, Victoria Soto, hid her students in the closet of her classroom so they were out of harms way. As the shooter entered her classroom, Soto told him they were in the school's auditorium. Victoria was killed by the gunman, but due to her bravery, her students lives were saved.

In a first-grade classroom that day, Lauren Rousseau, a substitute teacher, was shot in the face and killed. Out of the sixteen kids in the class that day only one made

it out alive, a six-year-old girl who acted as if she was dead until it was safe to leave.

The fallen students and staff of Sandy Hook Elementary include Charlotte Bacon, Daniel Barden, Rachel Davino, Olivia Engel, Josephine Gay, Ana M. Marquez-Greene, Dylan Hockley, Dawn Hochsprung, Madeleine F. Hsu, Catherine V. Hubbard, Chase Kowalski, Jesse Lewis, James Mattioli , Grace McDonnell, Anne Marie Murphy, Emilie Parker, Jack Pinto, Noah Pozner, Caroline Previdi, Jessica Rekos, Avielle Richman, Lauren Rousseau, Mary Sherlach, Victoria Soto, Benjamin Wheeler, and Allison N. Wyatt.

Shorty after the shooting, President Barack Obama released a statement saying, "Our hearts are broken today... The majority of those who died today were children.

Beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old."

[News & Features]

[6 * Volume III, Issue 3] Valentine’s Dance Approaches Taylor Berkley

Heat up with Valentine’s Day Approaching Catherine Manivanh

You may know someone who is in a middle school relationship. We all know that kids in middle school are in relationships, and claim to be “in love”. Is it really love?

Middle school students nowadays are just dating because it’s fun to date someone. Even kids in Elementary schools are dating, and some eighth graders are dating high school students.

Kids in middle school start to have high, crazy hormones that run wild. It can just start off as a crush, and kids think that they are automatically in love. As these students go around falling in love with each other, it can just lead to more and more “heart breaks” and so much drama.

Sixth grader, Dylan Molina explains, “They don’t really have an effect on me,” he tells. “I don’t think kids are really in love, they see T.V. shows and people in them kissing and stuff so students think its okay for them to do it too.”

Eighth grader, Alisa York recalls a different opinion. “Middle school relationships are harder than high school relationships,” she explains. “People try to get into your business and will do many things just to get in the way of your relationship.”

Most students think that a middle school relationship will last around two or three months the longest. Sometimes they’ll only last a couple days or weeks. Some recall that there is a small chance that would last till high school and maybe further into marriage, but that’s a very unlikely chance.

Some think that these relationships are pointless and some think that relationships this early can last longer than two weeks.

Some relationships throughout middle school are actually quite healthy according to eighth grade counselor, Mrs. Utu. “I think that kids are able to get an idea of what a real relationship is like, and get to see how it feels at this age.” She explains, “Everyday, kids [mostly girls] come in and talk about relationship problems. The most I hear about is jealousy.”

Middle School Relationships, can either work well, or not work well, depending on how it is treated. We are all human beingsand have feelings that can be hurt easily when not thinking, which is a likely chance to happen at this age. Although with a certain level of maturity and actual friendship, it can definitely work out.

February is right around the corner, which means it’s almost Valentine’s Day. Each year at Mount Baker, the seventh and eighth graders are invited to come to the Valentine’s Dance.

The Valentine’s Dance at Mount Baker is every year on Valentine’s Day. The theme for the Valentines Dance this year is ‘A Night in Paris’. There will be music, games and prizes, and there will be food served at “Le Café”.

For music, Master DJ JC Smooth (Mr. Carter) will be spinning, and maybe you will see MC Warring (Mr. Warring) as the host. There will also be guest performances from students at Mount Baker.

To be able to go to the dance, you will need to purchase a ticket. Tickets will be on sale only the week of the dance; they will cost five dollars for presale, and six dollars at the door.

If students don’t want to be in the main dance room, they can go play video games in the “Geek Lounge”.

Mr. Char, the main organizer of the dance, thinks even more people will come compared to last year’s attendance at the dance because of last year’s success.

Colin Wingate said, “I think the dance would be fun for someone who has a little sweetheart, and they get to go have fun doing their dancing, and even though I don’t have a crush on someone, it’ll be good for everybody who wants to get to know their special someone.”

Haley Parsons said, “I think the Valentine’s Dance is a lovely idea, even though I’ve never been.”

The Valentines Dance is coming up soon, so dress up and have fun with that special someone.

L. Smith

Mr. Char (left) prepares ideas for the annual Valentine’s Dance, sponsored by choir, while students demonstrate their affection, defying school rules, in their relationships.

C. Manivanh

[News & Features]

[January 2013 * 7]

M. Ruppert

Dance Fashion: Tips for Trendy Dance Attire McKenzie Ruppert

As the Valentine’s dance approaches quickly, many people are frantically trying to figure out what to wear, as this only comes once a year. But don’t worry, because The Canine Chronicle staff has assembled several options accustomed to your personal style.

Girly: If lace, sparkles, and pink are your respective ideal, then listen up! A pastel colored dress in a lightweight fabric would be a good choice paired with neutral heels or flats. Or if you’re not the dress-type person, then another alternative would be skinny jeans and a loose, sheer top in a pastel color with either nude or black pumps. If you do wear a dress, be sure to not pile on the jewelry, but do make the dress the main focal point of the outfit.

Tip: Flats are much easier to dance in than heels and if you do wear heels, wedges would be a better alternative and they come in many cute trends that are a perfect fit to your girly style.

Edgy: As any edgy girl would say, leather is a girl’s best friend. But as head-to-toe leather or black is somewhat gloomy and depressing, mix it up with some fun neon colors and different patterns that make the outfit visually interesting and unique. For example, take a bright neon or lightly colored dress and put a leather jacket over it, pair it with some lace tights and moto boots and you got a nice, visually striking outfit. You could also wear a black (Or colorful. Your preference.) miniskirt that hits about 2-3 inches above the knee with a shimmery top and a black or navy blazer to keep the ensemble grounded.

black dress) as this amazingly versatile piece can go from school to a party and it always looks amazing. Match it with a sweet cardigan and red or floral heels to make the whole thing come together.

because although we all know that any glam girl likes to have dramatic clothing, it will just overwhelm your features and no one will know what to focus on when they look at you.

Tip: Make sure the dress flatters your body shape. If you happen to get an unflattering dress, just use accessories to draw the focus away from the dress. Interesting shoes always are a good alternative and if the shoes are very flashy, keep the rest of the ensemble to a minimum. If you want your jewelry to be the focal point, put on one statement piece and keep the rest to a minimal, maybe carefully layering some bangle bracelets on one hand if necessary.

Sporty: Most sporty girls probably wouldn’t even have time to think about what to wear to the dance, but still, no basketball shorts and sweatshirts. Try taking a loose tank, piecing it under a leather jacket and pairing it with animal print leggings and either Converse or moto boots. You could also try a crème colored, loose, but still semi fitting pullover, black skinny jeans, black heeled booties, and a chunky gold necklace. It is comfortable and good for dancing, but is still upbeat enough that it doesn’t look too casual.

Bohemian: The bohemian girl is free spirited and carefree, mixing in with earthy tones. This style is all about layering and it’s where high fashion people meet low key style. Take a neutral colored blousy dress and belt it, while pairing it with either short ankle boots or wooden wedges, as both are giving off an earthy vibe. Or try an eyelet dress paired with a black or neutral blazer, heeled ankle boots and a colorful beaded necklace to give it a structured feel.

Tip: Although sneakers are good for moving (and dancing) in, this is a formal dance and it might make you feel a little too casual if you wore sneakers, so I would advise you not to wear them. You can, of course, change into them afterwards if they are more comfortable than the shoes you are wearing.

For the Boys (Men...Whatever?)

Basketball shorts and sweatshirts do NOT count as Tip: The boho vibe doesn’t have to feel polished and crisp. dressing up and it takes little effort to make yourself seem In fact, this style is all about being quirky and having an at least presentable. (And yes, the ladies DO take notice of almost grungy feel to it. So don’t try to nail this spot on what you wear at the dance.) Just pick out some nice black the first time. Just let go and have fun with neutral tones or navy slacks, a white or black dress shirt, and a colorful and comfortable, interesting pieces of clothing. tie. If you want to go even fancier, put on a dress coat (Although you might get a little hot while dancing, so I Glam: Faux-fur, sequins, animal prints; the glam girl is in wouldn’t really advise it.). If you REALLY can’t do that, the least you can do is put on a tuxedo t-shirt.

Tip: If you do happen to wear all black, be sure the black is the spotlight with her amazingly dramatic pieces that * * * in different shades and textures and maybe even throw in always seem to look good. A sparkly dress is a must, but These outfits are just ideas and of course you can dress a gray or white clothing piece. Minimal jewelry is okay for matched with high-heeled booties and a gold necklace, any edgy outfit, but for good measure, put in a nice neck- you’ll be the center of attention all night. Not into dresses? up in almost anything you want for the dance. Be creative lace and some bangles to spice up it up a little.

That’s okay too. Take dark skinny jeans, pair them with an and use your imagination. Last year many people took the dance a little TOO seriously and dressed up like they were animal print top and red heels and you too will be in the going to prom. This is not prom, people. Just remember to Classic: The classic girl is crisp and clean, always looking limelight as well. keep it school appropriate and you are set! Have fun! for ways to pep up any outfit, whether vintage or new. My personal recommendation for this style is a LBD (or little Tip: Be sure not to make your outfit too overly dramatic,

[News & Features]

[8 * Volume III, Issue 3]

Gum, Cell Phone Day Distracts Students Lauren Smith

You walk into school, look around, everyone is plugged into their IPod or phones, jaws smacking at the gum that fills the mouths of your fellow classmates.

On Dec. 19, the school was roaring with silence. Well, not totally.

“Lunch was the quietest it has ever been,” Mr. Brown, the principal stated.

On the other hand, Allan Saelor, eighth grader said, “I could have been quieter. [The students] were quiet, well, mostly. I didn’t think the teachers minded that we used our IPods.”

Thanks to Mrs. Hubbell, we had the privilege to enjoy our IPods while working. Will this incentive continue? It all comes down to maturity. “I think [the students] liked it. I think it improved their attitude that day,” Brown stated.

Mr. Brown is taking the privilege into consideration but has yet to see the maturity growth in the student body.

Though there are many upsides on the subject, but there is an equal amount of consequences and responsibility that goes along with having gum and iPods out. For example, some misfits will put their gum under the table. Let’s face it; none of us like to reach under the table, and find gum that has been there for a week.

What about the positives? It has been said to “stimulate a better working environment” for students when listening to music. “I do think some kids work better with music. I don’t know if having them in classrooms would be the best thing,” Brown said. “[In order for this to continue] I think kids need to not take advantage of using IPods. Like not playing games on them,” Saelor added.

In Mr. Brown’s opinion, he thought it went very well, even though he could not be present in every class room.

M. Nassirian Students work on math while listening to their music during class.

“I couldn’t think of anything [the students could improve on.] I was impressed, I thought it would be a lot of trouble, but it went very well,” Mr. Brown also implied.

Many students want to know where this privilege is headed. The answer lies within the hands of the administrators and the maturity of students. But, this could be unfair to fellow students. The ones who don’t have an IPod may find it to be unpleasant that others around them have their IPods out, while they cannot.

“I don’t know what [the students] are looking at on their

phones or internet. I don’t know if [they are using it] for the appropriate use.” Mr. Brown stated. “[I was] mostly listening to rap songs and other stuff,” Saelor informed The Canine Chronicle.

“I know [the teachers] did not [agree to this.]” Mr. Brown added.

There is a lot of responsibility that goes along with having privileges like these. Are the students of Mt. Baker Middle School ready to take on the challenge of responsibility?

Incentive Day Returns Ivic Vasquez

Did you know? Incentive day is coming up on Feb. 1!

Well, as everybody knows you can have no more than two afterschool detentions, no Thursday schools, and no in or out school suspensions.

Every student should go and have fun being themselves, by celebrating their hardworking in keeping their grades above the expectations and continually improving .

Many students want to see their friends so at Incentive Day, so keep up the good work and demonstrate that you can do it. You should listen in class and participate everyday.

Who knows how much fun the Incentive Day is?

Well if you don’t know, you will have a great experience and have a lot of fun. Cheer up and feel better about yourself, having the privilege to be one of the hundreds of students in the school that have pushed themselves to have a better grade.

After all, every MBMS student should be in the Incentive Day having fun, because they do well in classes and have good grades. Staying positive with themselves and others shows they have earned the privilege of Incentive Day.

Incentive Day Eligibility Requirements 

You are passing at least 5 of your 6 classes



No more than one After-School Detention



No Thursday Schools



No In-School Suspensions



No Out-of-School Suspensions

[News & Features]

[January 2013 * 9]

The Canine Chronicle Staff Debates Trends in Pop Culture iPods in School

Do You Feel Safe?

Many kids loved using their iPods on Dec. 19.

There is a lot of responsibility with this freedom. Are you for or against using iPods daily?

From someone breaking our windows, to the Sandy Hook tragedy, some kids have doubted school safety. Do you feel safe here at Mt. Baker?

Gun Control

There has been a lot of news about the Sandy Loud Commercials Hook Shooting. Now, people are arguing about Salesmen may scream at you on commercials, the gun control. Do you think there is enough saying to buy their car, or they are too quiet to gun control in Washington? hear. Do you think commercials are too loud?

Middle School Relationships

Valentine’s Day Dance

A lot of students have that “special someone” for now. But on the flip side, other students hate when people get into the drama of middle school relationships. Do middle school relationships annoy you?

Valentine’s Day is creeping up on you, whether you like it or not. Or, as some people call it, “Forever Alone Day.” Do you plan on attending the Valentine’s Day Dance?

Students Set Goals for New Year Tianna McLeod & Ivic Vasquez

Do you have a New Year’s Resolution people count down to the New Year and for this year? If you do what is it? How as the ball slowly drops. do you plan to do to meet your goals?

New Year, New styles, even new Celso Landin commented, “This year sports, all new seasons come in for the I want to do better in school and be New Year and for some people they better at being a soccer player.” Every want to join more sports and be better year, kids and parents set a goal and at being athletic. try to keep it for the whole year.

Phillip Odarchuk said, “I want to join If it’s doing better in school or just more sports and later on I want to be a try cleaning your room every day, basketball player.” resolutions are common in America.

Alex Vargas also said, “I want to be The most common New Year’s Resomore athletic.“ lution is to lose weight, but does anyFor all these people that want to do one ever accomplish this? something new for the year, they Mainly millions of people every year should either join a new club, sport, or try to keep their goals but most of become more active in school activithem are unsuccessful, some say they ties. want to get straight A’s for the semesThis year went by pretty fast. Have I. Vasquez & T. McLeod you accomplished anything this year? ter and then that one class they get a C. Have you met your goal for 2012? Are Mrs. Winter’s first period class working on their New Year’s Resolution.

Jose Mayo also stated, “I want to you going to meet your new goal for improve on my trombone in band and this year, 2013? also be better at math.” when they’re 10 years old.

Brianna Martinez said, “Looking back at 2012 it went by Like Jose, other people around the world do the same On December 31, many people around the world go to pretty slow, but I’m going to try to meet my goal this year thing and set a goal, if they’re in school, at work, or even New York for the famous ball dropping. With a minute left, by meeting One Direction.”

[News & Features]

[10 * Volume III, Issue 3]

MLK Assembly Showcases Diversity, Talent CreativeCommons.org

Friday, eighteenth, of this January, Mt. Baker Middle School had an assembly to pay tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. for his inspirational accomplishments that changed this country forever.

The assembly had music that represented the change of our country, such as “Amazing Grace”, “We Shall Over Come”, and “South African Suite”.

Mrs. Wharton and Mr. Paustian are working hard every day to reach perfection.

This assembly has been an annual tradition throughout the years of Mt. Baker, and every year one of Dr. King’s speeches is said. The assembly acts as a reminder to the Mt. Baker students, of the heroic acts of one man that changed the country, to make it a better place to live for everybody.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a clergyman, activist, and a leader of the African American Civil Right Movement. He helped lead the rights of African Americans, through several speeches and the 1955 Montgomery, Bus Boycott. That’s why every year on his Birthday; we take the time to celebrate.

At school, we spend time the Friday before, to celebrate through an assembly to give a celebration of what he did. Through music the inspirational events will make its way through the minds of children.

Mrs. Wharton said, “The groups were wonderful.

I really enjoyed listening to the Choir solo.”

Tanner George & Chaz Bracken

According to Band teacher, Mr. Paustian, said, ”The groups did very good and wanted band to play very good to honor Martin Luther King Jr.” Kyle Bates, seventh grade student said, “The assembly was impacting, and it was a great time to reflect on what Martin Luther King Jr. did to change this country.”

Mr. Paustian’s eighth grade band played for the MLK assembly, “South African Suite”, a three part song that was a protest against Apartheid. Mrs. Wharton’s eighth grade orchestra played both Amazing Grace and We Shall Over Come that both related to the freedom of our country.

A. Serratos & T. George MBMS Choir, Band, and Orchestra all performed at the assembly to celebrate Dr. king’s message and the diversity present at school.

Seventh grader Jalen Forward danced along with his dance group, Bx5 Crew .

[News & Features]

[January 2013 * 11]

Career Fair Gives Students Glimpse of Future Maddie Nassirian

On Jan. 16, the eighth grade class attended the Career Conference. They were accompanied by some eighth grade students from Valley Christian Middle School.

There were twelve topics available and each student was assigned five sessions to go to. Their schedules were based off of the Career Survey that was taken a few weeks prior to this event.

When asked what her favorite topic was, Jerena Layacan stated, “My favorite was the college stations in the library because it gave me an idea of what I want to do in the future. I want to go to Digipen Institute of Technology.”

Some rooms had multiple stations that students went to.

“My favorite station was the one where the guy had made his own long board,” Sahanie Shell stated.

Several students shared their enjoyment of the gym, which had several stations. Each station lasted one minute and thirty seconds and in that time they were informed of different electives and clubs at the local high schools.

Some students expressed that they wanted more time at each station in the gym to see further opportunities awaiting them in high school.

Some of the stations gave out free items.

Many students expressed their displeasure in the presenters, because their careers were not jobs of interest to our students; however, many others kept an open mind to possibilities before them.

“I thought it was cool that the people from the

sign language class gave out candy,” Erica Jimenez commented.

MBMS students had opportunities to see what their future could potentially hold on Jan. 16 at the Career Fair.

M. Nassirian & T. Berkley

Best of 2012 Facts Alex Jabusch



The Red Bull Stratus jump was from 128,000 feet up in the air.



“Gangnam Style” has been viewed 805 million times on YouTube.



The Mars rover travelled 34.8 billion miles from earth to Mars.



In the 2012 Olympics, the U.S. won more medals than any other country, with 104 total.

[News & Features]

[12 * Volume III, Issue 3]

Tacoma Youth Symphony: Young Professionalism Chaz Bracken

Over 50 percent of Mt. Baker Middle Eighth grader Kate Hon, who is a A. Serratos School students are in either band, clarinet player in Tacoma Youth Symorchestra, or choir. The students in phony states, “It is a lot of fun, you get the school music program receive a to play with both band, and orchestra, great musical education, and get to while playing classical music.” have fun making music with their There are many students at Mt. friends at school.

Baker that are musically involved at Some students, who have decided to school. Whether they are doing it for really take their music career serifun, or for a possible future career, ously, decide to step up in the musical many students are enjoying, and being world, by being a part of the Tacoma educated in the art of making music.

Youth Symphony.

Although, Tacoma Youth Symphony For the people who do not know what only accepts very determined musiTacoma Youth Symphony is, Eighth cians, with a requirement of an audigrader Juliet Yu, who is a violin player tion, and higher performance expectaT. George in Tacoma Youth Symphony explains, tions.

“Tacoma Youth Symphony is a young According to Mt. Baker orchestra orchestra program offered to people Mrs. Wharton conducting our Eighth Grade Orchestra at the MLK assembly. teacher Mrs. Wharton, “It is a full who want to play more advanced musymphony orchestra, with almost sic, and to get more experience in symphony.” phony have much skill musically, know how to work well every student taking private lessons, so the level is Being in the Tacoma Youth Symphony is a very honor- together, and change people’s lives while using their much higher than most school groups.” able opportunity. The members of Tacoma Youth Sym- talents to inspire people, by doing the thing they love.

Electives: Are They Really Electable?

Alex Jabusch & Spencer Hochwalt

Have you ever elected to take a class? How electives, and if they have additional academic many choices do you really have? Electives needs, like Special ED.” are designed to enrich students’ education, Mr. Vatne shared the true reason behind and offer more learning opportunities; but the why students can’t choose their own elecability to be allowed to choose your own electives. tives is not available at this school. “[It’s because of] the way our schedule is Eighth grader Jacob Baldridge shared his designed. It’s not flexible enough. [Students feeling on the matter. could choose their own electives] when we “[Not being able to choose electives] makes still did teaming because all of the elective me feel like teachers don’t trust me, and I classes were at the same time.” can’t be around people I am comfortable Another reason for lack of electives is bewith.” cause students don’t show much interest in In an interview with Kiara Milcoff, eighth many school activities or classes so these grade student, she stated, “[I don’t like having students are forced to take health. Students electives chosen for me] because you don’t are not sure what they want to do for the rest have a lot of freedom and it forces you to do of their lives, so the schools try to help them S. Hochwalt things you aren’t interested in.” find things they like and are interested in.

In an interview with Computer Apps teacher Nobody wants to be stuck doing something Mrs. Wells’ first period seventh grade art class busily creates art.

Mr. Kemp, he stated, they hate for forty years.

“I think it is a possibility for eighth graders Students might not take a class they don’t [to choose their own electives], and it has been discussed.” think will be fun or exciting, which may cause them to miss out. They might discover When asked how electives are chosen for the students, he responded, that they are very good at something they never even thought about.

“They are placed based on their content courses. Also, [they are placed by] yearlong

[News & Features]

[January 2013 * 13]

Auburn Kiwanis Honors MBMS

Students Chaz Bracken

You may have a friend in school, or somebody you know, that has been nominated for an award by a teacher. This award is nominated to a student for showing a level of superiority during their school life, as well as their extra-curricular activity.

This award is hosted by the organization of Kiwanis.

Kiwanis is an international organization that was founded in 1915, serving the communities of the world, to make the world a better place to live.

The Kiwanis organization holds a monthly celebration, and tribute towards students in our community, for showing great potential to serving the future community successfully.

The Student of the Month Award, is awarded every month to a student from the middle schools of the Auburn School District, to pay tribute to the future leaders of our country, that are putting out a good example to represent the Auburn community.

One student, who was nominated for the Student of the Month award, is eight Grader Josh Morisawa.

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

According to Josh, he explained, “I felt honored to be picked for the award, and tried to do my best in all of my classes.”

To be picked for the award by such a prestigious organization, is quite an honor. The students picked are hardworking individuals, that have a great and unique character that prove our community to be strong, and to have strong leaders for the future community.

Kiwanis is the main connection to our school’s Builders Club, and our school district’s Key Clubs at the high schools. Also, being at Kiwanis has school-based community service clubs internationally, in many different countries as well.

Kiwanis is a great organization which has made a great impact to many communities in many countries around the world.

Kiwanis has, and still continues to recruit, and develop our future leaders of the world.

DECEMBER

JANUARY

Courtesy of Life Touch

Kiwanis Students of the Month: (Clockwise) Miranda Day, Tayzi Taylor, Abby Amis,Taylor Price, Josh Morisawa, Alexis Gonzalez, Chaz Bracken, Colin Wingate.

[Event Bulletin Board]

[14 * Volume III, Issue 3]

MBMS Student Billboard Have you ever been interested in something that has happened this year?

Well, if you have not, The Canine Chronicle has put together some clubs/interests for you, that happens during school or afterschool and that you would want to participate in the future. Look through these subjects that you may like.

Builders Club Collects Toiletries

Red Cross Drive Makes Change Sahanie Shell

The Red Cross Coin Drive was a great hit here at Mount Baker Middle school! We had a great success in all grades, with each grade receiving positive totals for change and negative for bills.

The sixth graders came up short in second place overall. Seventh grade was off by a mile because of all the dollars in there coin bin.

Eighth grade came over the top in first place over all!

Congratulations to the entire eighth grade bringing in a total of one hundred and 113.89! But only $7 in coins!

Seventh grade brought in a total of $0.44, while sixth grade brought in a total of $11.

MS Clipart

Ivic Vasquez

Builders Club toiletry drive is a helpful event that helps the community. Our school has done a great job!

Seven boxes full of shampoo, soap, toothpaste, and deodorant were raised to help people in need, right here in Auburn.

According to Mrs. Hubbell, “MBMS students did a fantastic job winning the drive against Auburn Riverside High school.”

Students in Mt. Baker got to have iPods, and chew gum.

Everyone did an incredible job participating, this year and if anybody would wants to help in the next event of the food drive, go to Mrs. Hubbell’s class for extra information, Wednesdays after school.

Everyone’s welcome to join!

Art Club Displays Work at District HQ Tianna McLeod

E. Carnahan

Mrs. Wells and her Art Club just had a successful Art Show at the ASD District Headquarters. All twenty students of the club participated and nine spoke in front of the people at the show.

Mrs. Wells commented, “The Art Club Show went really well; it was a great opportunity to show and talk about their artwork.”

All these students had a great time presenting their master pieces. Everyone did a fantastic MS Clipart job, and it was just amazing.

[Event Bulletin Board]

[January 2013 * 15]

Decorate Doors Impress for Holidays Sahanie Shell

The Door Decorating Results have been revealed already but we want to give a shout out to all the winners and participants!

Congratulations to all the sixth grade, seventh grade, and eighth grade winners!

The real champion though was Mrs. Carnahan’s class with her outstanding tall elf on the front of her door!

This tall elf is one of our own Bulldogs! I believe this is why they won. With their creative design, they thought it would be smart to put a tall man on a tall elf!

This concludes the door decorating results, hope you liked the way it turned out!

A Bell & A. Serratos

PTA Expand for Students Aaron Baker, Guest Reporter

On December 6, 2012, the PTA voted unanimously to change the PTA into the PTSA. As you may know, PTA stands for Parent Teacher Association. With the new PTSA, students are able to join; changing the acronym to PTSA (Parent Teacher Student Association).

What does this mean for students? Basically, students will now be able to vote on decisions made in the school, similar to the ASB. Membership for this committee is not attained by voting, as with the ASB, but rather anyone is able to join with a payment of 10$.

More information on this subject is available on the official school website, linked on the MBMS homepage. Membership is also attainable via the school website after filling out the appropriate forms and paying the aforementioned $10.

Courtesy of PTSA

[Arts & Entertainment]

[16 * Volume III, Issue 3]

Warring P.CreativeCommons.org

Top Videos of 2012

Olivia Denton & Elizabeth Hok

The year of 2012 was a year of many viral videos.

Whether they were funny videos, music videos, recordbreaking videos, or even videos on Earth. YouTube provided multiple attention grabbing videos in 2012.

On Dec. 21, “Gangnam Style” received 1,000,382,639 views after releasing in September. The video spread quickly. Pictures of PSY became memes. A lot of people do the Gangnam Style dance while some may have negative opinions of it.

A video series that is popular around Baker is Miranda Sings.

Miranda Sings is a video series of videos requested by Miranda’s fans. Miranda makes the videos every Thursday.

She reads fan and hate mail during the videos.

Some of her videos are; Thanksgiving, Make up tutorial, “Call Me Maybe” parody, what’s in my bag, and a Christmas Eve video.

“She’s super funny, she always makes me laugh,” said Sam Cardenas.

“She sings beautifully and gracefully, but she needs help with her make up,” stated Jhordin Prescott Lauryn Hales offered her opinion, “she is very amusing, I never get bored when I’m watching her.”

Kony 2012 was another top video. The video spread quickly around social media. It also spread quickly around our school as well. Many students thought Kony was horrible. Kony 2012 received one million hits in six days.

Bad Lip Reading videos, including, “NFL Lip Reading”, “Twilight Lip Reading”, “Hunger Games Lip Reading”, received a lot of views after making multiple videos of funny lip reading from celebrities or professional sports players.

A lot of people become YouTube famous off of making these videos and receive a numerous amount of hits.

These videos catch the attention of adults, kids, and teenagers.

Not only were there funny videos, but there were popular music videos as well.

Taylor Swift’s “I knew you were trouble”, 2 Chainz’ “I’m

Different”, Rihanna’s “Diamonds”, One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful”, Frank Ocean’s “Thinking About You”, and Chris Brown’s “Don’t Judge me”, were all in the MTV’s top 100 songs of the year.

These videos were interesting to mostly teenagers because of their interest for music.

Although, funny videos are more attention grabbing to teenagers because of the stunts people pull or even the funny moments that are caught on tape without people knowing the camera was rolling.

Television shows like Ridiculousness or America’s Funniest Home Videos also have numerous hits for catching funny moments on tape.

The television shows and YouTube videos might leave people laughing to the point where they’re crying, or they might leave viewers with a new favorite song.

2012 left with numerous viral videos that will keep going on in 2013.

[Arts & Entertainment]

[January 2013 * 17]

Hobbit

Takes Audience on ‘Unexpected Journey’ Tanner George

The movie The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is a prequel, of the movie series, Lord of the Rings and is in the running of breaking box office. The Hobbit has made about $84.7 million on opening weekend, when spending $180 million to make the film.

Starring Ian McKellen, Martin Freemen, Richard Armitage and Ken Stott, this movie takes place in a fictional world in Middle-Earth. Director Peter Jackson follows the plot of a Hobbit, thirteen dwarves, and a wizard who fights unexpected battles to get to what was once a

Lord of the Rings Facts Spencer Hochwalt 

The goblin forges of Orthanc were built in a real foundry and filled with real molten metal, and the goblins were dressed up foundry workers.



Some of Legolas' arrows were Computer Generated because his actor, Orlando Bloom, couldn't fire them fast enough.



Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) broke his toe when kicking a helmet at the scene of the Uruk-hai massacre, which was part of the reason why he fell to his knees, crying out.



20,000 cricket fans provided the voices of the Uruk-hai in Helm's Deep.



The Black Gate was shown as two gates because of a typo in the script given to the art department.



Elijah Wood (Frodo) had Alka Seltzer tablets in his mouth so that it would foam when Shelob stung him.



27 copies of the book were used up in the process of creating the screenplay.

dwarf castle. To only find out the castle has been taken over by a dragon named Smaug.

The movie starts off with a hobbit, named Bilbo Baggins, telling a story of a journey he took when he was younger. The “unexpected journey” starts out with Gandalf (a wizard) trying to convince Bilbo Baggins to join the group. Bilbo is convinced and the journey has begun.

The journey will take them through treacherous lands swarming with Orcs, Goblins, Giant Spiders, Trolls, Sorcerers, Shapeshifters, and Deadly Wargs. Through Goblin tunnels that’s life changing to Bilbo Baggins, with the help of Gollum. There alone with Gollum on the shores of an underground lake, Bilbo steals the “precious” ring of Gollum, that is unexpected and has useful qualities. In the end the movie was an overall great movie.

Rated PG-13, this movie is a great action packed film, with a little drama, and an excellent movie for all the Lord of the Rings fans. According to Justin Craig from New York, the movie was very long and did not show as much as it could. He said ,“The movie was about 169 minute’s long and carried parts of the film to long.”

Ian McKellen (Gandalf ) told Fox News, “I am back once again only for my fans.””There is a lot of Lord of the Ring fans that will be disappointed if I didn’t show.”

Scott Mendelson, a famous film critic said, ”I’d be lying if I didn’t say that the last 45 minutes, somewhat kicks back into gear, with an extended cameo from Gollum and a rather superb escape sequence set in an underground environment full of rickety bridges and bottomless gorges.”

Overall, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was an amazing film with some well-done action parts through the entire movie.

This movie was a great for Lord of the Ring fans that can’t wait for the series to carry on.

CreativeCommons.org

[Arts & Entertainment]

[18 * Volume III, Issue 3]

How Do You Use Instagram?

Maddie Nassirian

Click. Pose. Snap. Filter. Caption. Post. Randomusername liked your post.

Many teenagers are doing the actions said above. How? By using Instagram.

Instagram is an application where you can post pictures online and add a filter to them. As of September 2012, about 100 million people had an account on the app—a photography-based form of social media There are several ways that users use their accounts.

“I use my account for photography,” eighth grader, Emma Tyrie (emmagoesrawr , commented.

Many users have chosen to use their accounts for photography. Most photography accounts take pictures of things like nature and interesting designs.

Some of the photography account owners also edit pictures and give them a whole new meaning.

“I do everything on my account. One thing I do is give ‘shoutouts’,” sixth grader, Spencer Tyson (spencer_tyson), stated.

Instagram users give others “shoutouts” in order to promote their account or ask people to follow them.

The most common way to use Instagram is by making a personal account. This is where you post pictures of yourself and things you like.

M. Nassrian Sixth grader, Rachel Lee (rachel_lee2324) stated, “I have a personal account on Instagram. I post ‘selfies’ and pictures of food.”

These, of course, are not the only ways you can use There are also fan accounts where people post pictures Instagram. There are lots of ways that you can use it. of celebrities and achievements they’ve made.

As you can see, Instagram has a wide variety of users

E. Hok

and types of accounts.

How do YOU use it?

CALM Act Quiets Obnoxious Advertisements Alex Jabusch & Charlie Dalrymple

One morning you’re watching cartoons. Then all of sudden, BY MY CAR! You quickly This problem was solved by Congress, they created the CALM (Commercial Advertisereach for the remote but you’re too lazy to get up so you try to use The Force to calm ment Loudness Mitigation) Act. this advertisement. (Does that ever work anyways?)

In December 2010 it was passed by the House, where it was unanimous, Senate, where Complaints of extremely loud ads have been reaching the FCC (Federal Communications it was unanimous as well, and President Obama.

Commisions) ever since the 1960’s, so guess what? You are not the only one who dealt The CALM Act went into effect on December thirteenth 2012. with this problem, chances are your parents have too.

However, there still is a difference of opinion in this matter.

Seventh grader Maleya Alvarez stated “ I think advertisers should be allowed to increase the volume of their commercials because they’re just trying to get peoples attention.”

Whereas, seventh grader Laura Kellow stated, “No, I don’t think they should be allowed to increase volume because a person could have the TV on twenty and when a commercial comes on it’s louder and they might even go deaf.”

During a poll in Mr. Warring’s second period media students we discovered that 50% of his students said they shouldn’t be allowed to, because it’s harmfull to your ears and the other 50% said yes, because it’s a way of getting attention.

Obviously there is a large amount of controversy on the subject at our school.

Where do you stand on this subject?

Do you think that companies should be able to make their ads loud? Or do you think that it’s not ok and that there should be a limit on the volume?

C. Dalrymple

[Sports]

[January 2013 * 19]

Leverenz Replaces Warring for Varsity

Olivia Denton Mt. Baker has lost a successful coach, but also has gained one.

Teacher and coach, Mr. Warring, has stepped down from the varsity volleyball coaching job here at Baker. AuburnRiverside high school coach, Christine Leverenz has taken the job into her hands.

Warring stated, “Choosing not the coach this year was one of the toughest decisions.”

Many eighth grade girls are upset because of the news while some are excited to see what it’s like to have a high school coach.

“I really wanted him as a coach,” said eighth grader Karsyn Kilstrom.

“I was so excited last year, because Mr. Warring was coaching,” said Alisa York.

Taylor Carstens stated, “I wish he was coaching, I’ve been looking forward to it since sixth grade.”

Mr. Warring stated that he was a point in his coaching career where he needed to challenge himself, by coaching at a higher level. He plans on coaching here at Baker again, and when he does return he believes that he can help the program.

Mr. Warring has recently started coaching for the REACH Volleyball Club. “I am very proud of the progress my club team has made. We’ve moved up 13 positions in our region.

They work extremely hard. They came together as a team quickly,” said Warring.

For over 15 seasons, Coach Leverenz has challenged other players in our community earning multiple state bids in the state volleyball tournament at ARHS. She is now brining her talents to Mt. Baker as the varsity coach.

Auburn-Riverside has had a tradition of winning volleyball matches. Last season, Riverside was undefeated in league, they qualified for the state tournament and lost one match at that tournament, placing seventh overall for all 4A schools in Washington.

“I am excited to work with middle school athletes. Usually as a head coach of Auburn-Riverside, I don’t meet the girls until they come through the gym doors in August! This will give me a chance to meet future athletes before they start school,” said Coach Leverenz.

Most players think that having a high school coach will benefit the team in many ways. Having a high school coach may get them ready for high school to show them what it will be like when they walk through those gym doors to try out.

“I think having a high school coach will benefit the team in plenty of ways. This will prepare us for high school next year,” stated Taylor Carstens.

Leverenz offered her opinion, “I’m not sure if having a high school coach can dictate how good they are going to be! That is more about what the girls are willing to do to be good, and how hard they are willing to work to learn basic concepts of volleyball. I know the athletes from Mt. Baker are usually very talented, so I think we should have a great season! I can guarantee they will learn a lot and get better this season.”

“I definitely think having a high school coach will benefit the team. Lev. is an amazing motivator, she has more experience than anyone in the program. They will have a good idea of what high school athletics are like.” Warring continued, “I think Leverenz will challenge the athletes.

More kids will try out, knowing that there will be a coach with a reputation of success. She prepares kids to succeed.”

Mr. Warring has had great success over the past seven years of coaching here at Baker, three years of varsity and four years of seventh grade coaching. His record as a varsity coach is 13-12. They won league in the 2010-2011 year.

“Coaching club volleyball was an itch I needed to scratch,” stated coach Warring.

Courtesy of LTVBC

Introducing Coach Leverenz

O. Denton

Coach Warring has had great success with an overall record of 13-12.

Coach Leverenz has coached ARHS Varsity Volleyball for over 15 years. She also coaches Fast Pitch at ARHS. Last year, year she took her team to 2012 USAV Junior Nationals.

On that team, seventh grader Hailey FerrellLiepman played for Leverenz.

Ferrell-Liepman stated, “I think Lev will be very successful . She knows what she’s doing and has coached a lot.”

Outside of school for over 12 years, Coach Leverenz coached club volleyball, most recently at Lake Tapps Volleyball Club.

Ferrell-Liepman said, “We will definitely know more than other teams. She always prepares us perfectly.”

[Sports]

[20 * Volume III, Issue 3]

Gymnastics Leads League, Baker Girls Compete at N. Tapps

Catherine Manivanh

A sport at Mt. Baker that is gymnastics outside of school, so MBMS Yearbook not as talked about as football, some of them know what to expect or as popular as basketball, is at the meets. played very competitively at The team has one meet left, and our school. that’s the championships, also Surprisingly, with gymnasknown as the quad meet. This year’s tics not receiving as much recchampionships meet takes place at ognition, there is a quite a Olympic Middle School, and all four large amount of girls from Mt. schools [Rainier, Olympic, Cascade, Baker that have been particiand Mt. Baker] are competing. pating in this sport.

There are two quad meets, and the Along with girls from North gymnasts at Baker won the first Tapps Middle School as well, one. Many girls on the team are joining together to be a motipositive that they will win the last vated team, showing much quad meet potential in the skill of gymnasEighth grader, Jesse Pleake tics. stated, “I think we will win. We have With gymnastics being a won all of our meets by at least 20 more unknown of a sport, sevpoints so I don't think anyone will eral of the girls had to learn a catch up.” completely new sport just when “We’ll win for sure,” Lillian Wood they joined, or rely on the exrecalled. “We won the first quad The gymnastics team hopes to finish the season in first for a seventh consecutive season. perience from the previous meet; we’re definitely going to win year of their school gymnasour last.” tics. nastics team is undefeatable so far at all meets.

This year’s 2012-2013 gymnastics team has Although, even though there are several girls The seventh grade gymnastics team did a fan- made this season unforgettable, great job Lady new to the sport, there are many dedicated gym- tastic job this year, as well as with impressing Bulldogs! nasts to represent our school, this year’s gym- the judges at competitions. Most gymnasts have

Baker Athletes Kick it at N. Tapps Caleb Walter-Goodspeed Goaaaaaaaaaaaaal!!!! Soccer has started and the two rival schools, North Tapps and Mt. Baker, have joined together to form a soccer team.

The girls from our school that play are eight graders Victoria Kendall and Nicole Matiatos. The seventh graders are Haley Bragg, Anna Maracich and Jazmin McLaughlin.

The girls work very hard and “work together really well”.

Kendall liked that they are rivals, “The girls are nice, and we joke about our schools. It’s fun.”

MS Clipart

Their games took place on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the North Tapps soccer field.

The coach was Mr. Thomas and the practices were always fun.

Practices are 2:30 to 4:00 and they play the championship game for their season on the 22nd.

According to the North Tapps website they currently are 2-0 with wins over Hawkins and Annie Wright, 2-0 and 2-1.

Hopefully this season they could win the championship for their league.

[Sports]

[January 2013 * 21]

Varsity Boys Hoist Another Banner Olivia Denton

Varsity boys finish the season with an 8-0 record. The boys played great all season. Some games became difficult for the boys but they always pulled through and came out with the win.

On Dec. 3, the boys defeated Rainier, winning 53-42.

With scoring only nine points in the first quarter, the boys had to work hard to get the lead. Everyone on the team contributed to get the win. O’Darious Shaw finished with 15 points, while Caleb Goodspeed finished with 13 and Zaid Stevens finished with 10.

“We got down early and worked hard to come back. I was very proud. The referees weren’t calling many fouls,” stated coach Lubash.

On Dec. 10, the boys beat Cascade 65-47. Scoring 19 points in the first quarter, Baker started off great. Julian Gulchuk finished with nine points, while Zaid Stevens finished with eight and O’Darious Shaw finished with 10.

“We were able to press Cascade, they didn’t seem to like that very much,” stated Lubash.

Scoring 31 points in the first quarter, the boys swept Olympic, winning 66-20. Aariq White had 12 points while Julian Gulchuk had 20 and Keegan Dolan had seven.

Keeping a big lead all game, Baker defeated Tapps 5025 on Jan. 9. Chike Egwuatu and Aariq White both scored eight points while Sean Washington scored five.

As you can see, the players work well to reach success.

“We have a lot of players that have played basketball

for a long time, it doesn’t always mean that they know the game but they have really come together and learned what it takes to be a team. I enjoy coaching them, it’s been a good experience for us,” stated Lubash.

Although the boys have team arguments a lot in practice, they still manage to work through it.

“We argue a lot over plays and things like that but we bring it back together and communicate and work well as a team,” said Andy Starkel.

“They are very competitive with each other so that causes a lot of bickering,” stated Lubash.

The team completed their season with many strengths and few weaknesses, “We don’t like to run, our running ability is definitely a weakness,” said Jonathan Blackwell.

“We have good awareness of where everyone is on the court,” said Andy Starkel.

Coach Lubash stated “the team works as a team, they are very experienced. We are competitive.”

When asked what their favorite thing about their team was, Jonathan Blackwell answered “our teamwork.”

While Andy Starkel answered “We strive for success, our passion for the game, and how much we want to win.”

The team finished the season beating Olympic on Jan. 16. Josh Tiegs finished the game with a big 13 points.

Baker’s varsity boys ended the season great beating every team, using teamwork, communication, and keeping up the good competitiveness every game.

MBMS Yearbook

Varsity boys complete the season winning their last game 62-27.

Seventh Grade

Hoops Goes Undefeated Elizabeth Hok & Maddie Nassirian This year, the seventh grade boys basketball team had a very outstanding season, with both teams going undefeated.

“We keep attacking the ball and we don’t give up,” seventh grader Jason Brown said.

Both teams have eight wins and zero losses.

They have terrific teamwork and capability. The teams are outstanding and filled with amazing talent!

“Before almost every game, we warm-up and dance,” seventh graders, Austin Rydberg and Trent Miller said about their pre-game rituals.

Both teams look great and about everyone can tell the 2013-2014 varsity team will blow the competition away. Our Bulldogs will be the most outrageous team in the league of varsity next year.

“My favorite thing about the team would probably the coach,” seventh grader Adam Russaw said.

The team’s has defeated every school at least once, and they could probably do it again but they faced each other. Which team could win?

“I think my team leaders are Isaiah Prescott, Pa’Treon Lee and Kamil Quadri,” said seventh grader Jaelin Hatch.

“So many kids with experience has joined basketball and they’ve been very successful in every game.” Coach Vatne said.

When asked what the team’s weaknesses were, Coach Jordan stated, “They’re pretty good, so that’s a hard question. Sometimes they get a bit over-confident.”

He was also asked what their strengths are and he replied, “They are confident and learn fast. They’re also very quick learners, and they have a lot of basketball experience.”

This season went great for our seventh graders. We are so proud of you. Go Bulldogs!

[News & Features]

[22 * Volume III, Issue 3]

College Bowls Games Provide Some Excitement Camaeron Engen As the year comes to a close, so does college football. 28-26, with the broncos on top.

Landon Evans said, “I think the Tide deserve the National The two common feelings after your college team’s bowl That game was just one of the many exciting games, like Championship, the Irish would barely get by in their game are the celebration when your team wins and own the BCS National Championship game between the number games.” that bowl for one whole year. one seed Notre Dame and two seed Alabama. Notre Dame, Mr. Perman said “Alabama and Notre Dame was the most The other feeling is disappointment, when in those last the favorite to win game came up short due to bad defense disappointing game this year for college”. few seconds of the game and you have that chance, then and a mediocre offense. Two seed Alabama Smashed Many games have been high scoring but nothing this everything falls short and the game is lost by two points through the Fighting Irish line with giant gains and great year compares to the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl with Arizona because your quarterback threw a great pass…into the defense only allowing 14 points. As the game came to a St. and Navy which was played in San Francisco, Ca. In this hands of the other team. close Alabama came out with a crushing score of 42-14. high scoring game the Sun devils came out on top with a Many University of Washington fans felt 38 point lead with a final score as 62-28. that way this season in the Maaco Bowl Las Another topical game was the Oregon and Vegas. As many mistakes were made by both Kansas St. game in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. teams in this game, The Boise State Broncos As Oregon holds Kansas St. to a 17 point. let the Huskies block a field goal in the first While both teams came out explosive. quarter. But things turned around for Boise Oregon received the ball to start the game State as they improve their score to 18, but and on opening kick-off Oregon returned the the Washington Huskies responded right ball virtually un-touched, as he returned the before half and put up two touchdowns to ball for a 96-yard touchdown. make a response before half to make the But in the third quarter a very controverscore 18-17 going into the locker rooms. sial play occurred, a one point safety. As After the half the huskies offense had some Oregon’s extra-point attempt was blocked turn over trouble. In the last few plays when

by Kansas St., the Wildcats picked up the ball the Huskies had a chance to win it, QB Keith and ran, but to avoid being tackled the WildPrice threw an interception. cats ran back into the end-zone and was Landon Evans expressed his disappointtackled there, resulting in a one point safety. ment by saying “I wanted a replacement for As Oregon comes out triumphant 35-17.

Keith Price.”

College bowl games were really exciting C. Engen Immediately after that play, Boise St. this year hopefully next year will be as kneeled down the next play to run the clock The two common feelings after your college teams bowl game are the celebration when your team entertaining as this year. down and end the game with a final score of wins and own that bowl for one whole year. Some UW fans still celebrated despite a bowl loss.

Teen Hockey Player Youngest to Receive Endorsement Andrew Bell Have you heard of Connor McDavid, 15 year old ment deals. Some athletes are able to make more hockey phenomenon currently playing in the Onmoney off of their endorsements than the amount tario Hockey League? This teenager could make his they make from the sport that they play. mark permanently in sports if he decides to finalize Boxer Muhammad Ali had an endorsement deal an endorsement deal with Reebok. for D-Con roach traps. NBA superstar LeBron McDavid would be the youngest person ever to be James is endorsed by multiple brands, two of which endorsed by Reebok. McDavid has been compared are Nike and McDonalds. to NHL superstar Sidney Crosby on numerous occaIt seems that athletes are more focused on maksions, even by Crosby himself. ing money than on getting an education.

At the age of 15, this hockey player has been The required GPA for College, High School, and granted exceptional player status by the OHL which Middle School student athletes is consistently enabled him to be drafted to the major league of dropping. Students at our own school are only CreativeCommons.org junior hockey one year early. He currently plays required to have a D or higher in order to play their for the Erie Otters and is doing extremely well and At the age of 15, Connor McDavid has been granted exceptional player status by the sport. is second on his team for scoring.

Students moving on to college will be able to get OHL which enabled him to be drafted to the major league of junior hockey one year There are many opinions on whether or not these early. endorsements to make money. types of teenage phenoms should be given endorseThey no longer believe there is a reason to do ments by major companies at such a young age. According to eighth grader Kerry Dolan. good in school.

“It shouldn’t matter, if they’re good enough.”

So is it a good thing? Teens with athletic talent such as Connor McDavid are all hoping Teenage sports superstars around the world in multiple sports have received endorse- to get scholarships, but how many of them will forget about school in the process?

[Sports]

[January 2013 * 23]

Season Come to Surprising End

Caleb WalterWalter-Goodspeed & Sahanie Shell With the 2012-2013 NFL season coming to an end, lots of teams disappointed us this season the NFC East was so hard to keep track of that only one team the Redskins came out on top.

The biggest surprise MVP candidate was running back Adrian Peterson, whose torn ACL slowed him down last season, but that did not stop him from almost breaking Eric Dickerson’s all-time rushing record.

Madden Curse?! Tell that to wide receiver Calvin Johnson, who broke Jerry Rice’s receiving record of 1,848 yards by 116 yards. He had 225 yards in the game against Atlanta to break the record set in ’95.

The Eagles “Dream Team” failed once again this season winning 4 games and fired longtime coach Andy Reid after 14 seasons.

The Kansas City Chiefs took advantage of Andy and signed him to a coaching contract. Seven coaches were fired following the 2012-2013 season.

The Broncos got elite quarterback Peyton Manning who led them to a three loss season and a thirteen win he is also an MVP candidate.

Star middle-linebacker for the Ravens Ray Lewis has announced his retirement at the end of this season after he tore his triceps. In his final home game with the Ravens he had ten solo tackles. Ray Lewis has been playing for about 16 years!

Now, our own Seattle Seahawks! Our home town hero’s had a great season to go to the playoffs! Ending in eleven wins and five losses! They also had a six game winning streak with two games in a row having more than fifty points! The Hawks won the Wild Card game against the Redskins coming back from a 0-14 deficit, then heading to Atlanta to visit the Falcons. Ending up losing 28-30, but coming back in the second half from a 0-20 deficit.

The Seahawks are just going to move on as Russell Wilson said, “This is a great feeling, to be home and know were just loved and we just need to keep our heads up and look forward!”

When the Hawks came home they were welcomed with a big greeting and had crowds around their arrival. They were also congratulated when they came out of the bus and were welcomed back home from their big fight against the Falcons.

The Baltimore Ravens will play the San Francisco 49ers on Feb. 3 in Super Bowl XLVII.

CreativeCommons.org

CreativeCommons.org

With the 2012-2013 NFL season coming to an end, many teams disappointed fans this season, with the NFC East being the hardest to keep track of. Only one team the Redskins came out on top.

[Mount Baker Barks]

Teacher Feature

Have you ever wondered if Mr. Lubash is a professional yodeler, if Ms. Root is an opera singer or if Mr. Brown is an impulsive break dancer? Your journalists asked the hard questions and found out some of your teachers deepest, darkest secrets.

Catie Sergis, Haley Parsons, Kerry Dolan

Do you use Instagram, or any other social media?

(Brown) No, and I never have. I believe in talking in person, I like face to face conversations.

(Lubash) Huh, no?

(Root) No? What is your relationship status?

(Root) I have a boyfriend, Steve, we’ve been together 20 years.

(Lubash) I’ve been married for 17 years.

(Brown) I have been married for 15 years.

Do you believe in middle school relationships?

(Root) I think they’re alright, but most of the time they don’t last.

(Lubash) Friendships!

(Brown) I don’t think kids are ready for it. There would be too much confusion on how to act. They should just

C. Sergis

be friends.

Have you seen any good movies lately? What did you think?

(Root) I saw Moonrise Kingdom, loved it!

(Lubash) No, I mostly watch sports.

(Brown) I saw the Hobbit with my son, very entertaining. It was good father and son time.

What is your favorite grade to teach?

(Root) I love eighth grade. I enjoy teaching science and Language Arts.

(Lubash) Sixth grade.

(Brown) Seventh grade is perfect for me; the students are excited to learn and mature. I enjoy social studies because there is a lot of variety.

What is your opinion on middle school students?

(Root) I think they’re just like everyone else.

(Lubash) I usually love them.

(Brown) Just like me. They’re able to relate and have a quiet confidence and are a pleasure to be around.

What did you think about the Seahawks game? Did you watch?

(Root) I watched the last quarter, I thought it was a great game.

(Lubash) Very disappointing.

(Brown) It was sad, but the Seahawks represented us Do you like One Direction? well. I think the game brought families and communities (Root) Isn’t that a band?

(Lubash) I don’t really know them. together.

(Brown) What’s that?

Imagine a World...

MS Clipart

January

[24 * Volume III, Issue 3]

Lauren Smith & Andrew Bell

...Where Angry Birds Are Happy

...With No Internet or Cell Phones

The imagination is supposedly one of the greatest gifts that has been bestowed upon mankind. But is it truly such a gift? As I sat upon my chair in class a most disturbing thought occurred in the base of my skull and rattled around in my head until it had similar magnitude to the 1999 earthquake in the state of California. I did surprise myself quite when I thought this horrid thought. Although, it is quite a shock that nobody has thought this before. Its so earth shatteringly simple that it’s ridiculous, it all comes down to this. What if Angry Birds, were happy?

Although it seems relatively unrelated to the rest of the world, bipolar birds in a virtual game could mess up the balance of the world as we know it. One day we could be walking along staring at a rainbow and imagining a unicorn on top of it.

When suddenly a boy beats the game of Angry Birds and they become happy. The rainbow turns dark grey, and you accidently mistake it for the trail of a nuclear bomb. You alert Federal Authorities who proceed to nuke Russia who now nukes us for real.

So please, keep your birds angry.

Imagine a world where internet did not exist. No Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest. All of your ‘hard work’ would just disappear instantly. No online gaming, e-mail, or even stalking your favorite celebrity. Internet is something we rely on daily. Whether it’s checking the online news, messaging your best friend, or for just plain entertainment. How would we go on? How would we live? Well, believe it or not, actual human beings ACTUALLY used to not have to go out and ride a bike to your friends to talk to them.

Imagine a world without cell phones, also. That’s when the big guns come out.

Well, I should say, that’s when the playing cards come out. Literally. I guess you could count the computer back in though. You could play solitaire maybe, just to pass the time.

For another idea, go out and catch some sunlight instead of locking yourself up like a caged tiger. Sure, you could be the most athletic person in Mt. Baker, but you’re addicted to your Smartphone. In this situation, you don’t have your phone, anymore. Well, the obvious solution is to go back to your sports. For those ‘nonathletic’ students, go out and walk to your friends’ house instead of playing your videogames.

[Mount Baker Barks]

[January 2013 * 25]

January

Locker Lottery

Congratulations to the Locker Lottery winners this month. From sixth grade we have Peyton Coleman and Max “Maxilicious” Parsons. Our seventh graders are Erick Rosales and Tyler Van Alstine. The eighth graders that were selected are An Do and Eunice Gil.

Maddie Nassirian & Taylor Berkley

1). Many teenagers today take pictures with

their phones. Do you post your pictures on Instagram?

E.R.- Nope.

M.P.- No, because I don’t have a phone.

E.G.- Yes. 2). What is one of your New Year’s Resolutions?

T.V.A.- To live a healthier life by eating right.

E.G.- To be a positive role model.

3). Do you feel safe at school with the lockdowns and the recent stories in the news?

P.C.- Not really. I’m afraid someone will break the windows.

M.P.- Yes, because school is safe.

A.D.- Not really because this is a scary area.

4). Do you think there should be gum and cell phones allowed at school?

E.R.- Yes, in case we forget our calculators.

A.D. - No, because it’s a distraction.

7). Do the volumes of commercials bother you? If so, do you know what the CALM Act 5). Did the Sandy Hook story affect you? In is? what way?

T.V.A. - Yes, it’s a problem. No. E.G. – Yes, it was sad.

M.P. – No, the what?

P.C. – It affected my mommy, and it makes me E.G. – Not really, no. think about how to be safe at school.

M.P. – Not really.

8). Do you think there is a lack of electives? Why? 6). Did you see the Hobbit movie? Did you P.C. – Yes, because some people overflow the like it? class.

M.P. – Yes, it was a good movie.

T.V.A. – No, because at my old school there P.C. – No, I’m not allowed. was no choice of electives.

A.D. – No, there is enough already.

9). Do you think middle school relationships are fake or real? Why? M.P. – It depends, it is real if they carve pumpkins together.

E.R. – Real, because most of them actually hang out.

E.G. – Depends.

10). Do you believe there has been a lot of violence in schools in the past 20 years?

What makes you think that?

E.G. – Yes; fighting isn’t the answer.

E.R. – Yes, like Sandy Hook.

T.V.A. – Yes, there has been a big increase in violence.

[Mount Baker Barks]

[26 * Volume III, Issue 3]

What

GRINDS My

GEARS Camaeron Engen, Spencer Hochwalt, Andrew Bell, Charlie Dalrymple

Disagree? The segment ‘What Grinds My Gears’ is presented as opinion and does not express the views of all MBMS students or The Canine Chronicle. If you would like to express your opinion, write us a letter and you may be published in our next edition.

You know what really grinds my gears? Overuse of perfumes and colognes. People use them to try to smell better. But in my opinion, if you have to put on so much that you leave a trail of fragrance, you should start taking longer showers.

Perfumes and colognes are supposed to smell nice, such as meadows, wildflowers, and rose petals.

But to me, they smell like someone poured peppermint on top of rotten flowers and pickles.

Also, people have no respect for, or even a thought about others who are allergic to pungent clouds of disgust. I am allergic to fragrances, so when I walk by someone who has no moderation with them, my nose starts to burn, my eyes water, and I get a headache of similar magnitude to an aneurysm.

My least favorite of all of these scourges to the safety of my smeller is AXE™, especially the spray on kind. People think they’re only spraying on themselves, but in reality, it is spraying all over the room and invading my sinuses.

Another demon to the safety of the atmosphere is that foul hand sanitizer that ‘smells like pineapples.’

More like pineapples that have been marinating in the juices of rotten fruit and candle wax.

Overall, I think that scents are a pure waste of time, money, and the brain cells they destroy.

And that’s what grinds my gears, burns my bread, and crushes my cabbage.

—SH

You know what really grinds my gears?

Those extremely agitating moments when you attempt to balance your spoon in the pudding cup for just three measly seconds to wipe your chin and the pudding tips over.

This is so upsetting due to the fact that the pudding always finds a way to tip off of the table and onto the floor or your favorite shirt.

This phenomenon is one day going to be recognized as the 9th wonder of the world. The 8th of which will in fact be hot Cheetos.

Why can’t pudding companies spend fifty cents per box and throw in a -double sided suction cup to keep our pudding standing. Alas, it is not a perfect world.

Am I the only person in the world who thinks that a one ounce spoon should not be given the pleasure of spilling your favorite dessert or yogurt?

While our ancestors may have found spoons useful, they have become a menace to society. If I was to vote for the top conspiracy theory in the world, I would vote spoon companies as the most antagonistic franchises known to mankind.

Why spoon makers hate humans so much is one of the great mysteries of life on this miserable planet.

-AB

You know what grinds my gears, obvious questions. When you walk up to your friends and they say, “Hey did you get glasses.”

You reply, “No, I’m just wearing really extended contacts”. Who asks these kinds of questions?

Or when they’re watching you eat something they say, “Are you eating yogurt?” It gets annoying after a while, especially if you have that one friend who does it every single day!

SERIOUSLY! What is the purpose of these questions? How much longer are we going to have to endure these insanely annoying questions!?

If you were to count how many times someone asked you an annoying question I think you would be surprised by the amount of dumb questions asked a day. Now we all do it but some of us just need to not ask stupid questions every other sentence. And how long until we killed by our own stupidity?

If stupid people asked smart questions would they still be considered stupid or just smart with a little quirk, which may be some food for thought?

Or would it be a stupid question to ask if it was food for thought. Anyway my point is to STOP ASKING OBVIOUS QUESTIONS! Please.

-CE

You know what really grinds my gears? Reality TV. I mean, it paints America as the home for spoiled children with serious attitude problems and anger-driven men and women, who when they don’t get what they want, they throw a temper tantrum.

Almost every single person I know watches these reality TV shows and only 20 percent of them know that reality TV isn’t reality. That’s right, reality TV isn’t real!

You want to know my least favorite of all of these reality TV shows? Honey Boo Boo. OH MY GOSH I HATE THAT! Over half of my class agrees that Honey Boo Boo and her family are idiots and just plain weird.

I watched one episode and couldn’t take the stupidity! However, I find the fact that you need subtitles to understand her or her family amusing though.

How far has America fallen?! First it was Shirley Temple who was the role model for little girls; now it’s Honey Boo Boo. America is in a crisis, if we continue on like this America will be full of spoiled people that you need subtitles to understand.

So that’s what grinds my gears, messes up the subtitles, and shoves asparagus down my throat.

—CD

[Mount Baker Barks]

[January 2013 * 27]

Best of 2012 Puzzles Alex Jabusch

January Horoscopes Ashton Serratos

Aries: March 21 -April 19 By going out of your way for someone this month, you will gain the title “bestest bestie of all my best friends”.

2012

Taurus: April 20- May 20 Your accomplishments this month will have your friends saying, “ME GUSTA”.

Gemini: May 21- June 20 Life is a lot like Mario Kart, sometimes if you veer too far of the track, you get slowed down.

Cancer: June 21- July 22 Mornings will be especially hard for you this month; you’ll often find yourself putting clothes on only because you have to.

Leo: July 23- August 22 This month you should really look into buying a rooster, maybe it will help you ACTUALLY wake up in the morning.

2013 R I S E N A C I R R U H R S Y

E E R B C L R Y A X R E O Y V

R E V U V N P R D N Y T F Q G

C I D O H O M A O N A Y Y U A

P P F W R S L V T R A P Y I A

R M G D T S Y Y T E B S C V T

A D J R K E R S M S X E D K F

Q Q O C R E L A I P S X N V I

O N M T F L A O M Y I R I T X

G K I Q U E M D A L S C Q M B

J B V B E C A P I A I V S U T

G J D T G T B W H C R S P P D

E E Z M S I O S Y O D D M W E

R H U J X O S E V P T Q W A K

H G A N G N A M E A S C E U P

APOCALYPSE

HURRICANE

RED BULL STRATOS

ARMSTRONG

MARS ROVER

SANDY

ELECTION GANGNAM

OBAMA OLYMPICS

TREYVON

Virgo: August 23- September 23 Sometimes the best way to fall in love is to say clearly and honestly exactly how you feel.

Libra: September 24- October 22 This is your time to shine. Keep working hard at what you love to do. You will go far.

Scorpio: October 23- November 21 It may seem like the world is out to get you, but in reality they just want the cookie in your pocket.

Sagittarius: November 22- December 21 This month you are the captain of the ship—the ones keeping you from what you want are all just deckhands.

Capricorn: December 22- January 19 Sometimes it’s fun to have good laugh, so the next time someone yells at you… just laugh. Unless it’s your mom…then I recommend not doing so.

Aquarius: January 20- February This month schoolwork will be pretty laid-back; you will end up saying “that was easy”.

Pisces: February 19- March 20 This month, keep your goals far from the trolls.

T. Berkley & C. Manivanh M. Ruppert