opinion
Sasha fierce
BOOMBAS [things we like]
20
Marauder pride
Change is good
Give them a visit
We love that people are going over-the-top for spirit days. The full body lion suits on animal print day and frighteningly accurate teacher impersonations make coming to school on Fridays worth it.
The homecoming carnival was a nice change from the traditional parade. The booths had something for everyone, and we all loved watching assistant principals getting pied in the face.
The colleges in the commons are taken for granted. Not many students have time to take off school to go on college visits. It’s really convenient to learn about universities at lunch or during passing periods.
Sarah Sauer
Pets, watch out for me Growing up, my family never had much luck with pets. Turtles died from overexposure to the sun, our rabbit died of heat stroke and multiple fish died from not enough “Beta-safe” dechlorinator in the water. By age 7, I was already on pet goldfish Esmeralda the VI. I guess you could say my parents didn’t exactly have the green thumb of pet ownership. This past year I learned that I also inherited this unsought gene. Unaware at the time of my unsuitable skills of pet watching, my unsuspecting neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Weever, asked me to babysit their beloved terrier, Zoey. I happily obliged, oblivious that this next week was going to be a true test of dog survival. Let me just say beforehand that no dogs were lethally injured in the making of this column. Everything was going fine the first two days. Zoey was a happy and energetic puppy. But on the third day, I came home to find my room a terrorized mess. Shoes and pillows sprawled everywhere. My backpack was unzipped with its contents spilled all over the room. In the corner I found a package of two Oreo Cakesters hastily chewed open. In my defense, what dog knows how to unzip a backpack and tear open a synthetic package? Probably not most, but this was evidently a demon dog. Aware that dogs are deathly allergic to chocolate, I raced to my computer to find some emergency service to call. The last thing I wanted was the blood of an extremely cute terrier on my hands. The emergency clinic operator said Zoey should be fine and not to worry. Dogs have to eat a very large amount of chocolate to experience the deathly effects. She said to keep a close eye on Zoey and to monitor her to make sure she was okay. Considering she was still bouncing off the walls, I assumed she was. The next two days went as planned, and I even found some time away from dog-sitting to visit a cupcake shop in Dallas with friends. Shutting my door before I left for school, I didn’t have the slightest thing to worry about, or so I thought. But when I returned home that afternoon, Zoey had somehow opened my door and managed to get on top of my dresser to take down the cardboard box of cupcakes that was taped shut. She had ripped it open and eaten two chocolate cupcakes. Of course she left the one vanilla cupcake that would ensure her survival and instead took the risk of, not one, but both the chocolate cupcakes. I speed dialed the pet care emergency line again and got the same woman. She ultimately thought that Zoey would be okay. She also noted that dog sitting just might not be my forte. Trust me lady, by this point I had definitely figured that out. Luckily, Zoey did make it out okay after all. The next few days my family and I were on high alert for food that Zoey might find and thankfully they passed by with no problem. Zoey was still the happy pup she was at the beginning of the week and when her owners came to pick her up I was sad but also relieved. I should’ve been more aware of what I was getting myself into because not taking good care of her could have really made her sick, and that’s irresponsible on my part. Perhaps one day I’ll be able to handle my own pet, but that’ll probably be a long, long time in the future. And who knows, maybe by that time I’ll have moved on to watching kids.
design | joe rau
Call me the honey badger
McKenna Autem
A heartfelt apology Anxiously awaiting the arrival of my sister, I didn’t know what to expect. After not seeing her for two years, I could be certain of one thing, she was going to be different. Just how different, I wasn’t exactly sure. Growing up, I wanted to be just like Lindsey. She had it all, she was pretty, popular, in the top ten percent of her class, a cheerleader. There wasn’t a thing she could do to make me think any less than highly of her. In sixth grade, I finally received the privilege of knowing my sister; it was like things changed over night. She was the first person I went to when I needed advice or I had a secret to spill. The relationship I had always longed for with Lindsey was finally coming true, or at least I thought. Even though I saw my sister as perfect, I knew she was actually quite rebellious; my preteen self just easily overlooked that fact. Drugs and alcohol were irrelevant at that age, they were things I had only heard about and was told to stay away from. Our relationship became strained as Lindsey began her downward spiral. It seemed she was in and out of rehab at every moment, and my patience wore thin as she continually changed. I no longer looked forward to talking to her about my adolescent drama and struggles. I didn’t want to be a part of who she had become. I tried to avoid being in the same room as her as much as possible because when I was around her, my back tensed, my
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think THE MEDIA IS AFFECTING
How
do you
compiled | meghan eurich
mouth formed a hard, thin line and it took everything in me to keep my opinions to myself. Our strained relationship became almost nothing at all as I started high school. I hardly ever saw her because she didn’t live at home anymore. Of course I missed Lindsey—I’d find myself in her room often looking to borrow clothes, then would realize her closet was empty—but ultimately I felt more calm, more at ease when she wasn’t around. This year, mid-September, I sat in terminal A of DFW, waiting for my sister’s layover flight on her way to New Mexico for yet another treatment facility. I hadn’t wanted to go, but for my mother’s sake and in the light of recent events I obliged. She came out of the gate with our older sister in tow, hugged my mom then looked at me, “What? No hug?” she asked. I was frozen. It was almost as if the sister I had once known as a friend had faded completely. Lindsey looked worse than I remembered, her skin sallow and her once blonde hair now more of a mousy gray. She had always been tiny, never weighing more than 95 pounds, but she had gained weight in the two years since I had last seen her, now looking around 120. I gave her a slight smile, though I’m sure it looked more like a grimace, and held out my arms to her. A million thoughts raced through my head, but I held my tongue. We sat by the luggage carousel, waiting for her flight to arrive. Lindsey and I threw sisterly-sarcastic remarks at each other and laughed hysterically about one of our favorite movies. Things began to seem so normal, like the Lindsey I knew and admired hadn’t completely vanished, like I could still get her back. The hour and a half came and went, and too soon it was time for her to leave. I embraced Lindsey in a hug, put my mouth close to her ear and dropped my voice low enough so my mother couldn’t hear, “I love you, please be strong for me. I need you to be the big sister finally.” I had never realized until that night just how much I needed to grow up. All this time I had thought so highly of myself because of the things I had learned not to do from my sister. For six years, I ignored the fact that my sister more or less needed me, and needed to be loved by me. The bitterness and anger I felt—still feel—is vanishing as I’ve finally accepted the fact that yes, loving Lindsey is going to be extremely difficult, but by forgiving her and looking forward to the future, I can establish the basis to build our relationship back on.
“The media is kind of desensitizing it. They’re putting more into the TV shows and act like it’s not a big deal.”
Henry Reiner, 9
“The media is affecting teen pregnancy by showing that there is more of a consequence than a reward to having a baby.” Kelly McGuire, 10
photos | vallery phillips
november 4, 2011 | the marquee