The Little Hawk March Feature Magazine

The Little Hawk Feature Magazine March 15, 2013

by Alex Perez *see pages 10-11

The Little Hawk Feature Magazine

March 15, 2013

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DANCIN’ FOOL

LYING TO PARENTS

iPHONE ENCRYPT

By Daniela Perret & Oliva Parrott

By Emma Baxter

By Will Barker

Calvin Windschitl ‘14 is pursuing his dream of becoming a professional dancer while balancing school and his social life.

Everyone lies. Teenagers fall victim to it most of all. Sometimes this lying behavior cuts deep into families and damages relationships.

Former Navy Seals are currently in the process of designing an app that would limit government surveillance of messages and calls.

FASHION

4 EVOLUTION OF COMMUNICATION

By Jason Arnold

With technology developing everyday to improve communicaiton, The Little Hawk looks back into ancient times to see just exactly how far the evolution of long distance interactions between humans has come.

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By Oli Peters & Lily Howard

The Little Hawk takes a look into the inner workings of fashion and style at City High. .-- . ... - / .... .. --. .... / ... ..- -.-. -.- ... / .. ..-. / -.-- --- ..- / .-..

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Smoke Signals

Messenger Pigeons

Prehistoric

400 B.C.E

Morse Code

1831

WWW.THELITTLEHAWK.COM

Cell Phones Telephone

1876

Video Messaging

1981

2003

RANDY BROWN

“

There was a lot of talk when I was in Junior High about integration and what schools would be like after they were integrated. There was just so much unnecessary apprehension.

“

A Teacher Profile:

art by Kara Hartley

By Renata Stewart Randy Brown teaches world history and, fittingly, his childhood was shaped by living around the world. His father worked for the military, so as a kid he traveled around to different bases all the time.

“The first part of my life was spent living far, far away from home,” Brown said, recalling time spent traveling with his two brothers, sister, and parents. He attended school with students from a multitude of ethnic and racial backgrounds, something that was very much not the case back in Alabama.

“I went to school with kids from everywhere, so I was very comfortable with the idea of racial integration,” Brown said. At the age of 11, his father retired from the military, and in the middle of 5th grade, he started school back in Florence at a segregated school.

“But, it was very clear that the days of segregation were coming to an end,” Brown remembered. “There was a lot of talk when I was in Junior High about integration and what schools would be like after they were integrated.” The time came when Brown was in the ninth grade, and he witnessed first-hand the coming together of black and white students at his school.

Perhaps owing to their previous exposure, both he and his family were very open to this idea.

“My father took great pride in saying that he never voted for George Wallace or anyone like that,” Brown said. And Randy himself, even as a very young adult, could see past the racial divides.

“I felt that there was a lot of energy that went into worrying about integration,” he said.

“There was just so much unnecessary apprehension.” And while he saw all of the racial violence broadcast on the news, this wasn’t how it was for him closer to home.

“For us, it was more about not ever having really interacted with the African-Americans rather than having any real animosity towards

them,” he explained. “Most people accepted integration -- at least from the point of view of a white student in a segregated school -- it was like, this is going to happen, there are going to be changes. There were certainly people who very clearly had extremely racist views and made those very clear, and sure there was some tension. But in my immediate community there was never any real violence, never any showdown mentality.”

Brown finished high school in Alabama and then started his college career at University of North Alabama in his hometown. But, after hearing about Iowa City from college friends, he finished his senior year in Iowa City and graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in American Studies.

“I just had some friends who came up here, and they really liked it, so I guess I just thought moving up to Iowa City was the new trend,” he joked. “But it was important for me to get out of my hometown and do something new.” Right out of college, Brown still wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to do in life, so he painted houses for a year until he decided that being a teacher was the right thing for him. He went back to school at Iowa, where he was certified to teach both history and literature. He had a rather unconventional first job, working in the South Tama School District in an adult learning center.

“A lot of the kids were in trouble with the law, and part of their probation agreement was to do something about going back to school,” he explained. “We hardly had any funds or anything, so me and one other teacher essentially ran a two-teacher Tate High School.” But he and his wife then decided to move back to the South. They started raising two young children in a suburb of Atlanta, where Brown taught for seven years. But the two were eventually drawn back to their old college town.

“My wife and I had lived in Iowa City, and had really fond memories of it,” he said. “So we decided to come back and raise our kids here.”

He taught across town for a few years after re-

turning.

“But then I got promoted to City High,” Brown joked. And the rest is history, as they say. Since the early 1990s, “Downtown Randy Brown” -- as he is affectionately called by students year after year -- has been a staple in both City’s English and Social Studies departments.

He now teaches all sections of AP World History, a class which he started teaching about ten years ago. During this time, he has gained deeper insight into the debate between AP and regular courses.

“There are tradeoffs no matter what you do. When you pick one way of teaching, you close the door on another,” he said. “AP courses certainly have a place in a high school. But that being said, I’m sure glad that not every high school course is an AP one, because I think that would be a little narrow-minded.”

Though he doesn’t know how much longer he’ll be teaching, he says that “it’s not gonna be that many years.” While not the biological father, he plays the role to his current girlfriend’s seven-year-old adopted daughter.

“She’s not biologically my daughter, but she calls me “Dad” and I respond,” he said. And he admits that being a dad again has its perks.

“I think I get a lot less flustered doing the whole parenting thing a second time around.”

This role is sure to take much of his time once retirement comes along, but much of the future is still a mystery for Brown.

“It will seem so strange not working,” he said. “But I hear retirement is great. I’m a person who likes a certain schedule and organization, so it’ll be a challenge for me to re-organize my life when I don’t have to get up out of bed in the next 15 minutes every day.”

Looking back -- and, still, forward -- on his long career as a teacher, Brown says that his work certainly isn’t over yet. With a newly redesigned AP World History curriculum and a new project in the making, Brown laughs: “It looks like I’ll be the guy that’s tinkering with my teaching ‘til the very end.”

March 15, 2013 LH FEATURE MAGAZINE

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DANCIN‘ FOOL

Calvin Windschitl ‘14 has dedicated the past nine years of his life to dance and plans to pursue his passion throughout college and into the rest of his life.

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s he rests his head on his hand, Calvin Windschitl ‘14 begins tapping his pencil on his desk to the beat of the song playing in his head. He stares at the clock on the wall and as his eyes follow the minute hand that infinitely makes its way around the dial, he begins daydreaming about his newest dance. He’s watching his body move in the mirrors of the dance studio. He propels himself into the air, stretching his arms as if to touch the brightly lit ceiling. His feet return to the ground just as the school bell rings, snapping him back into reality.

He eagerly rushes out of his seat and makes his way to the studio to begin perfecting his routine.

“I love moving and I love expressing myself through dance,” Windschitl said.

“When I dance I just feel completely focused.”

Windschitl’s focus and dedication to dance has greatly increased his love for the art form over the past nine years.

“I’ve loved it from day one,” Windschitl said. “It was a great outlet for all my energy and performing qualities.”

Windschitl began taking dance lessons at Dance of Iowa--which later became the National Dance Academy-when he was in the second grade after his parents decided that dancing would be the perfect activity for his personality.

“I used to dance around in the kitchen all the time and we had this wall in our kitchen,” Windschitl said. “I used to peek out of it with sunglasses on. I was three, but I was already putting on little shows for my parents.”

Windschitl dedicates 15 hours to dancing every week on average, usually practicing everyday of the school week and sometimes on Sundays depending on if he has a dance competition in the near future. His classes range from an hour and a half to six hours each day.

“I love the feeling that you get after you put

By Daniela Perret and Olivia Parrott a piece together,” Windschitl said. “Like after rehearsal. It’s a really satisfying feeling knowing that you’ve worked so hard.”

While dancing, Windschitl has to focus on not only the physical aspect of the dance, but also the mental side of it.

“You have to be concentrated, but at the same time you can’t look concentrated,” Windschitl said. “You have to have a part of your mind that’s like ‘Okay, I’m thinking about dance’. But

you also have to have another part of your mind that’s like, ‘You’ve got to breathe, you’ve got to calm down’. And kind of let it come and flow through you. It’s like you’re a tool for the dance.”

Windschitl participates in multiple types of dances including jazz, modern/contemporary, and ballet, his favorite being contemporary. He is currently working on a solo and is part of a competition group called Clique, the highest

level competition group at the National Dance Academy. But with a majority of his time spent on practicing dance, Windschitl finds it hard at times to find an equilibrium between school and dance lessons.

“I think the hardest thing that I have to do is balancing school and dance,” Windschitl said.

“I’m pretty good at balancing friends and family.”

Although Windschitl strongly enjoys school and learning, he would much rather prefer spending his time in the dance studio perfecting his routines. He is poised on getting into a college with an exceptional dance program.

“It would be awesome if I could take senior year off and go to the studio everyday to practice,” Windschitl said. “I wish I could do more, but I do need a time to do my homework. I understand the need for school, but when I further my education it’s going to be in dance so what I need to be working on right now isn’t AP Bio or Chemistry, I need to be at the studio. I would much rather my school day be spent at the studio learning about what I’m going to do in life.”

One of Windschitl’s aspirations for the future is to attend the University of Arizona when he furthers his dancing career at a collegiate level.

“It’d be hard to get into [the University of Arizona],” Windschitl said. “I mean, do I think I could do it? Maybe.

It’d be a dream come true. But maybe I could, who knows.”

Although dancing is his main priority right now, Windschitl does have other activities he could pursue, but dancing will always be his passion.

“I do have other interests, for example I love music. But I’ll always be able to write music and such,” Windschitl said. “But dancing is such a physical activity, I want to savor it while I can.

Because I love it. It’s what I do, it’s who I am.” photos by Kierra Zapf March 15, 2013 LH FEATURE MAGAZINE

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STYLIZED

The halls are full of students displaying their personal style with their less-than-typical clothing, but to them it characterizes them completely.

By Oli Peters

C

lad in an oversized green army jacket, a dark blue dress that falls past her knees, torn fishnets and black Doc Martens, Natasha Finnegan-Kennel walks down the hallway and turns to Jordan Adams, who’s walking beside her. As they make their way up to the newslab, they chat about bands, and Jordan lets out an occasional laugh that ripples through the hallway.

They walk into the classroom and sit down in the stiff red chairs set up next to each other as Jordan crosses her fishnet covered legs. She turns 6 LH FEATURE MAGAZINE

March 15, 2013

to look out the window, exposing the right side of her cropped hair that’s been dyed a bubblegum pink, contrasting the jet black color that the rest of her head adorns. Natasha brushes the only part of her hair that isn’t closely shaved to her head, pushing the bleached strands behind her ear.

“I would describe my personal style as eclectic,” Natasha said. “I go to thrift stores or take random pieces of clothing from people then saftey pin them and sew them up. Wearing certain clothes allows you to

express yourself in a creative way.”

For Natasha and Jordan, fashion is more than just a form of self-expression. Both sophomores are in a punk-rock band called Trauma which has a big impact on the way they dress.

“It shows a certain level of appreciation for the music we make and listen to,” Natasha added. “It’s a way for us to identify with people who are in the same music genre that we’re apart of.”

Jordan nods her head in agreement.

“People from different bands always give us hand-me-downs,” she said. “Sometimes we get giant bags of old clothes so we don’t ever shop or buy anything new...unless it’s one dollar or something. I have these jeans that I’ve had for at least three years and they keep falling apart so I just keep sewing patches and stuff onto them. If I need a ‘new’ piece of clothing, I just look in the back of my dad’s closet.”

Although Jordan and Natasha’s personal style is more “punky” than junior Ellie Benson’s, she also finds herself shopping at second hand clothing stores.

“All of the clothes I own are either from Revival or Second Act,” she said. “I love thrift shopping because you can find the most unique clothes for really cheap. I’ve always loved fashion.”

With a short, chic haircut and a floral dress with black tights underneath, Ellie looks down at her dark brown lace-up boots. She pauses and adds to her previous statement.

“Well, actually, I just like to feel good by wearing clothes I like,” she said. “For me, dressing fashionably is like wearing a giant sign that says ‘I’m awesome!’. I try not to be a fashion wallflower. It’s no fun to dress like everyone else does, especially when you’re just wearing something to fit in. That’s not what fashion is about. It’s about expressing yourself through your clothes.”

Ellie describes her style as “classic,” as does sophomore Ben Oetken.

“I dress in a lot of neutral colors,” he said. “But I think that’s the main difference between how girls and guys dress. We wear more toned-down colors mostly.”

Ben folds his hands over his tan khakis and his dark blue jacket. Then he crosses his blue vans and timidly talks about his favorite clothes he owns.

“I like shoes a lot,” he said. “It’s easy to just throw on a pair of shoes that can make an otherwise boring outfit more exciting.”

No matter how one describes their personal style, Ellie has fashion advice that anyone can follow.

“What’s ‘fashionable’ or ‘in style’ is all relative to what you like and want to wear,” Ellie said. “Never let someone else tell you what to wear.

Fashion is all about feeling good about yourself. If you own what you’re wearing, you’ll just exude confidence.”

March 15, 2013 LH FEATURE MAGAZINE

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INVESTING IN FASHION With a limited income and a thirst for fashion, high schoolers must make choices on what to spend money on if they want to both preserve their bank accounts and stay on the best dressed list.

By Lily Howard

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here are a couple of things in your closet that you are better off spending a few extra bucks on to ensure good quality for styles that will last long enough to make the money count.

Mainly these things will be simple and classic. “‘Will I wear it after this year,’ I always ask myself that,” Tegan Harty ‘14 said. “And if I will then I’ll want to buy the more expensive version.

But if I’ll only wear it this season I’ll just buy it cheap.”

Pieces that are bright attention getters or more unusual are more likely to wear out their welcome before you get a ton of use out of them, making it more practical to go for the cheaper version rather than holding out for high-end.

The same is true for clothes that are very trendy.

“With trends I would usually say buy what you want cheap because it’ll go out of style fairly quickly, unless the trend is something you think is truly your style and that you’ll wear even when the fad fades,” Harty said. “I like tribal prints, and they’re sort of in but since I know I’ll still be wearing them next year, I’ll spend more on tribal print than I normally would on something trendy. But I don’t wear a lot of neon, so if I want a neon shirt I won’t spend a lot of money.”

As we all know, trends can last anywhere from a couple of weeks to more than a year, either way, it isn’t wise to spend a lot of money on the product of a fad because you could end up with an item dumped into a box with Crocs, bell-bottoms, and gauchos and no money to spend on a new wardrobe.

“I think when things are super trendy, like patterned pants right now, somewhere like Forever 21 is a perfect place to get them. You know they’re going to be out in a year or so, and then you’re out money. Places like Target and Forever 21 usually sell those more because they know that their clothes won’t even be holding up in a couple of years. So when you’re looking for something really trendy, go for cheap,” Francesca Lubecki-Wilde ‘13 said.

There are pros and cons to both being frugal 8 LH FEATURE MAGAZINE

March 15, 2013

and spending lavishly here and there, but when there is a choice between quality and cost here are a few tips to help make your decision.

Think about whether or not you will be able to incorporate what you’re buying consistently into your wardrobe for at least the next couple of years. If not, opt for the less expensive version or spend your money on something that will last you for a longer period of time. For example, when you’re buying heels or sandals lean towards the cheaper shoe. Heels are something that you won’t be wearing often so durability will not be an issue and styles are usually easy to find in multiple price ranges. As for cute light sandals, as a go to shoe in the summer they are more likely to get trashed by water or dirt or overuse and will be left looking ragged after a few weeks unless you plan to buy a sturdier pair.

“For me, I was really happy to invest in Birkenstock sandals, or Chacos. I think it’s really important to have one really good pair of shoes every season that you know is good for your arch support and stuff like that. And that you can just throw on, like Birkenstocks in the Summer or a pair of leather boots in the Winter,” Lubecki-Wilde said. “For everything else you can go for the money savers.

I don’t think it’s important to spend a lot on flats because you can get them really cute for cheap.”

Cute, cheap sandals can be found in abundance and it’s more fun to change up styles throughout the summer so skip the expensive footwear other than your one favorite pair and save your money for the next pair that you are sure to need in not too long.

“Flats, fun colored heels, and wedges you can buy cheap because chances are you won’t

be wearing them a whole lot and they’re just as good cheap as they are expensive,” Harty said.

“But boots I spend good money on because I wear my boots like everyday and I want them to hold up and be nice.”

Sundresses and most shirts are usually not things to spend a lot of money on.

“I don’t spend a lot of money on summer dresses or tops because you need a lot of them and you don’t need them to last for ever because styles change so often,” Harty said.

Sometimes the choice of how much to spend on clothing falls to how it looks on each body type.

“Jeans, definitely are something I would spend money on, especially for me because I’m shorter and cheaper jeans just don’t fit me well. It makes such a difference to buy the more expensive jeans,” Lubecki-Wilde said. “You don’t need to buy a bunch of them, you could just - Harty ‘14 have like three nice pairs and it’s totally worth it.

And then you can pair it with a super cheap top that you bought that’s just like fashionable. But because you have nice jeans, everything just fits right. For me, my one rule has to do with body type. So if I try on a cheaper version and it isn’t as flattering, I will buy the more expensive option. I would prefer to buy one shirt that’s expensive but flattering, than four that are ‘in’ maybe but that don’t have the type of material or tailoring that looks good on my body.”

When it all comes down to it, there is one rule that you can always rely on for your fashion investments.

“Really,” Lubecki-Wilde said. “Just spend money on the classics.”

“‘Will I wear it after this year?’ I always ask myself that.”

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ndependent Films and I e v i nat lter

Student Admission: $3 Non-Students: $7 bijou.uiowa.edu March 15, 2013 LH FEATURE MAGAZINE

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LH FEATURE MAGAZINE March 15, 2013

s graduation day quickly approaches, most seniors are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the letters that conceal the fate of their collegiate future. But senior, Laura Schwager has decided to defer college and take a gap year.

“I want to consider all my options before I decide what to do with my life,” Schwager said. “After we graduate, I’m going to stay in Iowa City for awhile and work so I can save up money. After that it’s up in the air. I might just move around a try to find a place I like and then try to get in state tuition there.”

Schwager believes that getting a wider perspective will help her develop her future plans.

“I’m hoping to get my thoughts together and truly figure out what I want to do,” she said. “I’m looking forward to traveling around and talking to different people and seeing different places, hopefully doing those things will help me make a smarter decision.”

Schwager has kept a 4.0 grade point average all through high school.

“I think it’s pretty safe to say that I’m the only valedictorian who isn’t going to college,” Schwager said. “I value the importance of education, I’m very school oriented. There are just a lot of flukes in the college system. Sometimes, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.”

According to thedailycampus.com, Gap years have become widely popular throughout Europe it’s estimated that 10-15 percent of incoming freshmen in England, take a gap year. However, in the United States, only 1.2 percent of freshmen take a year off. Schwager made the choice to take a gap year a few months ago.

“One day I just started to truly consider doing it,” she said. “I thought to myself, wow, I could actually do this.”

Taking a gap year wasn’t always part of Schwager’s plan, she applied to three

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schools and was accepted into all of them.

“I went through the whole application process,” she said. “ But then I just asked myself, is the money and time I’m going to put into it going to be worth it?”

A lot of factors played into Schwager’s decisions.

“It basically boiled down to money but there are other factors involved too,” she said. “I’m such an indecisive person that I know I’ll change my mind a million times. I can’t afford to waste my time.”

Schwager’s indecisive nature has driven her decision.

“I have no idea what I want to do with my life,” Schwager said. “If I go now, I’ll be wasting money and I’d probably end up changing my mind a bunch of times and maybe eventually dropping out.”

According to CollegeData. com In its most recent survey of college pricing, the College Board reports that a “moderate” college budget for an in-state public college for the 2012–2013 academic year averaged $22,261 and about $43,289 for a private college.

“A lot of people think that your freshmen year of college is the prime time to figure out what to do with the rest of your life,” she said. “But not everyone’s parents are willing to spend thousands of dollars for them to waste time and figure it out. I’d rather figure it out while I’m saving money instead of when I’m spending money.”

Schwager has received some criticism about her choice to take a gap year.

“My mom’s side of the family is more opposed to it,” she said. “They’re

very school oriented and I don’t think it’s fully hit them yet. I get some from teachers but a lot of people don’t know I’m doing this, so I’m definitely expecting more.”

Schwager has also gotten praise.

“So many people around me are very encouraging,” she said. “I know a lot of older people through my brother and through work and they’re very encouraging and think it’s a great idea.”

Schwager’s co-workers and friends experiences have also influenced her. “ At my job we have people with college degrees and people without,” She said. “We have a business major, a Biochemistry major and a English major and look where they all ended up, in the same place working for ten bucks an hour. I don’t want to end up like that.”

Besides being financially unprepared, Schwager believes she doesn’t feel passionate enough towards on specific subject to commit to it.

“Some kid’s just have pure passion for things,” she said.

“They know where they’re headed and they know how to get there. That’s amazing but I just don’t have that yet.”

Schwager wants to be sure of her future plans before she picks a school to further her education.

“There are so many things that interest me,” she said. “But I haven’t found that one thing that interests me the most. When I find it, I’ll be ready to pursue it, but until then, I’m going to keep looking.”

Schwager seems ready to pursue her future.

“Taking a year off is taking a risk,” she said. “ But going to college is a risk too.”

“If I go now, I’ll be wasting money and I’d probably end up changing my mind a bunch of times and maybe eventually dropping out."

-Laura

March 15, 2013 LH FEATURE MAGAZINE 11

The essence of high school is a mix of many things: independence, responsibility, homework, and a stepping stone in becoming an adult. Like anything, all of these benefits that coincide with entering high school also come with costs. For some, the biggest price to pay is lost relationships with their families. Two students share stories of their sneaky and deceptive behavior when it comes to their parents and how this affects their family relationships.

“I lie because I’m scared that my parents will have a bad reaction to what I tell them,” Danny Burian ‘14 said. “Mostly I lie to them about who I’m with, what I’m doing, and where I’m staying.

I don’t think they would understand.”

In the 2012 Report Card on the Ethics of American Youth, a survey of more than 23,000 teens, 48 percent of youth have lied two or more times about something significant to a parent. Ninety-eight percent of teens also agree that having trusting and honest personal relationships are important.

In Danny’s opinion, most kids follow the same lying pattern.

“Probably the most frequent topic kids lie about is where they are on the weekends,” he said. “It’s probably a smaller lie towards the beginning of high school and then as you get older you start to lie about bigger things like drugs and alcohol.”

But it’s not like our parents were never high school students. They must know the tricks kids use because they probably participated in the same lies at some point in their lives.

“Most parents are worried about their kids,” Danny said.

“They obviously don’t want their kids getting involved in those kind of activities. But they can tell their kids all they want, that it’s bad, but it’s ultimately up to the kid, regardless of what the parents think.”

Danny’s behavior started to change after he entered his freshman year of high school.

“I was hanging out with a new group of people and I guess my mom realized a difference in my attitude,” he said. “She went through my phone and found out that I had been lying to her about where I was and what I was doing.”

This invasion of privacy infuriated him.

“After my mom looked through my texts my parents also began to search my computer and car more often,” Danny said.

“They did it because they had lost all the trust they had in me.”

This loss of trust has only gotten worse over the past three years.

“It’s always the same thing over and over again,” Danny said. “My parents will catch me in a lie, we will get in a huge fight, and that will lead them to looking through my stuff and taking everything away from me.”

Some of the negative repercussions that came from lying are the loss of his car, phone, and computer.

“It’s just really annoying that it always is the same thing,” Danny said.

“At first it would upset me to see my mom cry and my dad disappointed, but I think I’ve just become numb to it because I lie so much.”

In fact, lying has become so habitual to Danny that he can actually trick his parents who are aware of his behavior already.

“It’s gotten pretty easy to lie,” he said. “Keeping a straight face and creating a backstory if they have questions is easy. I guess that’s not a great thing, but I do it.”

To try to combat his lying, Danny’s parents tried the “be honest” approach.

“My parents are divorced,” he said. “My dad for example

“They searched through my things because they had lost all the trust they had in me.”

-Danny

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LH FEATURE MAGAZINE March 15, 2013

wants me to tell the truth and I’m honest with him and that makes him proud of me. My mom, on the other hand, says she wants the truth, but only when it’s what she wants to hear.”

Being honest with his mom didn’t go in Danny’s favor, however.

“Towards the end of February my mom asked me if i was lying about something I did,” Danny said. “I was trying to be honest so I told her the truth, but I guess she didn’t really want to hear the truth and I got kicked out of the house.”

After packing up all of his belongings and moving into his father’s house, Danny had the chance to reflect on what had happened.

“Now I’m trying to be 100% honest with my parents because I want to work on my relationship with them,” Danny said. “I know they don’t trust me and it’s really hard to gain trust back after you’ve lied, that’s why I’m taking the time to try to gain it back.”

This process won’t happen quickly, and Danny knows that.

“Hopefully my parents learn that I am trying to be truthful about everything and that’s what matters,” he said. “I really just want their support and understanding that I’m trying to be more truthful.”

Even though he is trying to repair the damage in their relationship, Danny thinks it’s futile to try to form a close relationship.

“I think it’s too late to ever have the really close ‘best friend’ sort of relationship with my parents,” he said. “I only have a year and a half left at home and by this point that isn’t enough time in my opinion to become BFF’s with them.”

Danny does feel that kids who do have that relationship with their parents are lucky.

“It’s awesome when people have such a strong relationship with them that you can tell them anything and not worry about the repercussions,” he said.

Throughout his behavior he has always known that lying is bad.

“I never thought lying is good if you want to have a healthy relationship,” Danny said. “Hopefully in the future I will be able to open up and get closer with my parents like my sister did after she finished high school. But for now I’m just going to keep trying to be more honest with my parents and see how it goes.”

Similar to Danny, Amel Ali ‘13 is distant with her parents. This gap in their relationship is because of a cultural divided between them.

“My parents emigrated from Sudan,” Amel said. “So when they were in high school everything was completely different, like girls didn’t talk to boys.”

Because of the different lifestyles they grew up in, Amel frequently gets frustrated.

“I feel like I can’t have a close relationship with my parents,” Amel said. “Mostly I feel like they won’t understand what I tell them

because they aren’t accustomed to American culture like Twitter and texting.”

Amel agrees that there are common topics kids lie about.

“Usually I lie about who I’m with or what I’m doing,” she said.

“I’ve started to hang out with a new group of friends. My parents don’t know them so I feel like telling them all of my friend drama is pointless.”

When she can not tell her parents certain things, she does have friends’ families to rely on.

“I’m really close to my friends’ parents,” Amel said. “I’ve gone on family vacations and spend most of my time at other people’s houses. I know that if there is ever anything I really need to tell my parents they will be there for me, but the little things I know I have a second family I can go to.”

Amel considers herself a private person.

“When my parents ask me about my life I give them vague answers or lie,” she said. “They don’t know a lot about my life. I keep most of my thoughts to myself or lie and say something else.”

Lying and keeping things from her parents became so overwhelming that Amel entered therapy last may after a bullying incident put her over the edge.

“I really love my therapist. She makes me feel so comfortable,” she said.

“My parents know that I don’t usually share my feelings with them. They were really worried about me. When they ask me what I talk about in therapy I usually just say it’s my business and don’t tell them.”

Amel is also on anti-depressants.

Something she kept from her parents.

One day she got in an argument with them and told them. Since Amel has been on the medicine she hasn’t noticed a drastic change in her behavior but she has realized tools she can use to open up.

“From therapy and talking to my doctors I’ve realized that I pretend to put on a bubbly-happy personality,” she said. “I know that I don’t always have to be that happy person. Before I always thought it was easier to lie and say nothing was wrong than to show that I was upset.”

After letting her feelings out, Amel feels like she is headed in the right direction.

“I know my parents will never be as involved in my life as they could be,” Amel said. “But I also know that they will always be there to support me. I’ve learned that keeping things from people who care about you isn’t always the best way to go and putting on an act just makes things more complicated.”

“Now I’m trying to be 100% honest with my parents because I want to work on my relationship with them,” -Danny

March 15, 2013 LH FEATURE MAGAZINE

7

By Will Barker

A CONTROVERSIAL NEW APP IS SET TO BE RELEASED, MAKING IT POSSIBLE FOR USERS TO HIDE FROM PRYING GOVERNMENT EYES.

14 LH FEATURE MAGAZINE

March 15, 2013

hat if there was an app that was just as easy and simple to download as Angry Birds, but instead of killing cartoon pigs, it would prevent the government or anyone else from tapping into your calls, emails and texts. Would you click the download button?

This app may not be very far away. Right now, two former Navy seals are working on an app called Silent Circle which essentially does everything your phone always has, except with government proof encryption. The definition of encryption is converting your phone’s information into unreadable characters.

“I feel like it’s everyone’s natural right to have free speech

TheLittleHawk

student poll 83%

76%

57%

43%

24% 17%

Yes

NO

Do you think the government should be able to listen to and read your calls and texts without your permission?

Yes

NO

Would you get an app that prevented the government from seeing your calls and texts?

Yes

NO

Do you think an app that prevented the government from seeing your calls and texts should be legal?

and privacy,” Ben Sindt ‘15 said. The full app is scheduled to come out on IOS and Android later this year. Silent Circle is currently offering free apps for silent phone calls and texts.

When the full version is released it will have video calling and email as well. Once the full version is released all these features will be in one package and will cost twenty dollars in the app stores.

“I don’t think I would pay for this,” Ben Sint ‘15 said.“I have nothing to hide.”

But why is everyone so afraid? How can we be sure that the government is monitoring us? The reason for the suspicion is partly because countries like England admit that the government monitors all electronic communication in their country.

The United States government has not confirmed or denied claims that they monitor calls on such a massive scale, but it is because of this that the Silent Circle app exists.

But how exactly does this app work? Once you have paid the twenty dollars the app takes all the data from your phone and runs it wirelessly through an encrypted network called the silent circle. Once the app is installed you can chose which of your phone calls go silent. Once the call connects, the person with silent circle presses a button and both parties receive a text with a code word. If the two code words are the same, that confirms that the call is encrypted.

Before the email version of this app is released, some people have found their own way to encrypt their emails, these are much harder for the government to crack in the case of real criminals. Advocates for Silent Circle say this app will stop people’s need to make their own encryptions.

There has been some question about the legality of this app. The government has asked the designers to give them a back door that would allow them to defeat the encryption.

The designers have agreed to override the program but only if the government has a warrant. Advocates for the app say that someone’s phone is just as private as someone’s home and the government should have to have just as much proof to search a cell phone as is required to search a house.

“Yeah, this app should be legal,” Michael Henkhaus, ‘13 said. “legal and free.”

But advocates against this app say that this will only be used by people doing illegal things, and the government should be able to monitor anyone’s information without a warrant.

Although the prototype of this app has not yet caught on, 60% of City High students said this app should be legal, and 46% said they would buy it. Many City High students support the idea of this app.

“The government can’t see your personal business,” Jack Crooks ‘16 said. “And I really think they have no business seeing it.”

However some students believe this app could be used for more harm than good.

“I feel like this is going to be used by a lot of criminals,” Ben Sindt ‘15 said. “I think if there is a warrant out for you the government should be able to contact the company and have you taken off the registry.”

March 15, 2013 LH FEATURE MAGAZINE

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