The Voice

The Voice

February 2012

Volume 44, No.3

Arbina Camaj

the

Jackie Hernandez The stage. The lights. The audience. This is it. Opening night. The Dance Company 2013 show is about to begin.

The thoughts that race through every dancer’s head pre-show: Do I remember my dance? Is my costume on right? Am I looking at the black box/exit signs?!? Smile, breathe, smile again. Although every person has their own frenzy of stomach butterflies right before the curtains open

company in the dances which they are best suited for. And just like that, the rigorous rehearsal schedule begins. Dancers are measured for costumes, teachings of the dances begin, and new friends are made. From the end of October to January, members of Dance Company rehearse in the cafeteria after school up to 4 days a week from 2:15 to 4:15, each dance having a time slot of approximately 45 minutes. As the months go on, the rehearsal schedule intensifies. In January, Saturday rehearsals begin lasting from 8 to 3 and even longer on some days. What do these relentless

wear D.Co. attire from previous years to raise awareness for the show. Thursday, members dress up in the classiest of outfits to celebrate the senior citizen matinee and finally on Friday members dress in the 2013 dance company attire while performing in the assemblies during the school day.

Hell week is over, now comes the best part.

As a part of the dance company, I can guarantee that one of the most rewarding experiences you will ever feel would be the excitement that bursts through your body the second the lights come up on stage. The energy that

and the lights go up, there is absolutely nothing for them to worry about. We’ve been practicing these routines for months, perfecting each hand movement, each head tilt, and each pointed foot.

Flash back 4 months: official start of D.Co. 2012-2013 year. New hopefuls ranging from freshman to seniors learn the audition pieces which the choreographers, a group of select few who’s talent and dedication transcend other members, have been working on since the end of the show the previous year. The auditions take place, accepting a few new members and placing each member of the

hours of rehearsal result in? One big crazy family.

Next comes hell week, the very appropriately named week prior to the show, where dancers go into overdrive.

Dances are rehearsed over and over and over again until perfection is achieved. This is crunch time, and there’s no room for any mistakes. Monday and Tuesday of this week we stay at the school from 7 in the morning until 9 at night running through the order of the show. Wednesday is our last rehearsal before the first show, the senior citizen matinee. Although we call this hell week, it’s also a sort of spirit week for D.Co. Monday through Wednesday members

jumps from the tip of your toes to your fingertips is just astounding. The show this year was phenomenal. Dances ranged from ballet to bollywood, hip hop to hustle, and who can forget the interesting but perfect combination of hip hop, partner dancing and contemporary, the hip hop partnering dance. Although it took what seems like forever to memorize and perfect the dances, it was all worth it in the end. Now starts the preparation for next year.

Congratulations to all of the seniors on their last shows! As said by Ms. Dwyer herself, “Never put away your dancing shoes!” Live. Love. D.Co.

Arbina Camaj

Staff Writer

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news

Contents 4

Student Spotlight Check out Pschweds in action!

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In The Crossfire Read about the debate in this issue’s opinion feature on guns.

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Happy Valentine’s Day! And can you feel the love tonight?

21 27 Arbina Camaj

Les Misérables The stage production has been translated into film. What are the results? Read the review to find out.

Girl’s Basketball In first year under Coach Clark, Yorktown is sectional bound.

Read more about!

The Voice

February 2013

Volume 44 No. 3

Editors-in-chief Lily Cao Maria Mavrommatis NEWS EDITOR Akhil Aniff Opinion Editor Fatima Chaudhry Emily Lin Arts & ideas Editor Arbina Camaj Tanvi Tiwari Sports Editor Paul Schwedelson photo Editor Arbina Camaj art editor Lizzie Crumley business manager Billy Goldstein Advisor Leo Sposato The Voice Yorktown High School 2727 Crompond Road Yorktown Heights, NY 10598 Tel: (914) 243-8050 Email: yhsvoice@gmail.com

Member of the Columbia Scholastic Press Association and the Journalism Education Association. ’98 CSPA All-Columbian, ’99-’06 Gold Medalist ’02 CSPA/Daily News Quest for Excellence ’97, ’98, ’99 ESSPA Gold Medalist Arbina Camaj

The Voice is an open forum for student expression and opinion that is conceived, designed, and executed solely by the student body. The Voice welcomes commentaries and letters to the editors, in addition to any other comments or suggestions, which may be e-mailed to the yhsvoice@gmail.com. Submissions must be signed, and The Voice reserves the right to edit for length and content.

All signed commentaries, cartoons, and letters reflect the opinion of the writer/creator, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Voice. Unsigned editorials represent the views and opinions of the majority of the Editorial Board.

Acceptance of an advertisement does not necessarily imply approval of policies of the advertiser.

Letters Do you have questions or comments about anything in this issue?

We want to hear your feedback. Either drop a note in Mr. Sposato’s mailbox or mail the letter to yhsvoice@gmail.com.

The Voice

news

FEBRUARY 2013

Apple’s Goodies: Odds and Ends Paul Stern Staff Writer

The company that’s been on everyone’s mind for the last two years is undoubtedly Apple. Apple, the technology giant, to say the least, is a revolutionary company. It created the wildly popular iPhone (now in its fifth generation), the popular Macbook laptop series, and the first ever consumer tablet, the iPad. In October, Apple held its semi-annual Keynote Presentation, where it announces its new and upcoming products. In the last Keynote Presentation, Apple released the highly anticipated iPhone 5, which in this last quarter has accounted for over 50% of all smartphone sales. Apple, however, also did something unexpected; it released a new generation iPad just a mere six months after the third iPad had been released in March.

They also released the iPad Mini, a less industrial and more aesthetically pleasing iPad with a little less memory and a weaker processor.

Reviews: iPhone 5 The iPhone 5 is a huge upgrade from the iPhone 4.

Apple says that the iPhone5 “is the biggest thing to happen to iPhone since iPhone.” With a larger screen, a more powerful processor, 4G LTE capabilities, it is definitely a technical improvement. Combined with a lighter, sleeker, aluminum backed design, it truly is the best iPhone ever to hit the market. I would say that the biggest advantage of the body of this phone has been the aluminum back. When I had an iPhone 4, if it were dropped on the floor the glass would crack. With anodized aluminum, you don’t feel the same need to protect your phone with a case.

iPad- 4th Generation I didn’t personally buy one of these for good reason: about a year ago, I bought an iPad 2. I loved it for the first few weeks of use. Then I found, due to its size, it was not the easiest thing to carry around. I went to the Apple Store to examine the new iPad 4th Gen. Although its technological specifications rival that of many entry level laptops (startup is under 10 seconds and web browsing is

“Will Apple move away from their 1-year product cycles towards 6-month product cycles in order to stay competitive?” equivalent to that of any high powered laptop), as a consumer who doesn’t use an iPad daily, the 1.5 pound weight might not sound like a lot, but in one hand it’s an absolute monster.

iPad Mini A lot of consumers were sorely disappointed when Apple announced the iPad mini, because the iPad Mini is an iPad 2 on the inside, with a smaller and more attractive body. I bought one for Christmas, and I’m not trying to sound shallow, but the look and feel of this iPad

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far outweighs what it’s lacking on the inside. Holding the 0.7-pound tablet in one hand is seamless and the shaved down bezels of the display make it look futuristic and less industrial. One fact, however, is overlooked when examining the major downfall of the iPad Mini; the display. Without the Retina Display, many consumers were angered that they couldn’t have the best of both worlds. However, because the display is only 7.9” as opposed to 9.7”, and the pixel amount is the same in the iPad Mini as in the iPad 2, the pixel density is actually higher, which yields a better display.

What’s Next?

There is much speculation by consumers and experts alike that Apple will move away from their 1-year product cycles towards 6-month product cycles in order to stay competitive with other consumer technology companies.

It is rumored that the next iPhone will feature an even bigger display and possibly a smaller model. It will obviously feature a faster processor as well. There are even rumors that Retina Display will become obsolete as Apple moves toward an IGZO display, which has higher pixel count and better clarity. New versions of both the iPad and iPad Mini are rumored to release in March. The new iPad’s screen will look similar to that of the iPad Mini, with shaved down bezels and an aluminum back. The iPad Mini will get a faster chip, a Retina Display and a better camera.

The bottom line? Unless you’re dying for another one of Apple’s products, hold out until the introduction of a new product to buy one.

Salsa Fresca Brings a New Flavor to Yorktown Adarsh Subramani Staff Writer

The recent opening of the Mexican fast food restaurant Salsa Fresca in Triangle Plaza should be a cause for celebration for Mexican food lovers throughout Yorktown. Having opened on January 8th, the restaurant is a nice addition to Yorktown’s cuisine, offering Mexican fast food that’s different enough from Taco Bell to keep people interested. Salsa Fresca emphasizes the fact that all of its food, at this location as well as at its previous locations in Bedford Hills and Millerton, are made at the respective site; this means that there are no processed ingredients and that all of its food looks and tastes as fresh as it gets. This is one of the restaurant’s major selling points, and one that customers of all ages, especially their palettes, should definitely appreciate and enjoy.

“

Salsa Fresca doesn’t necessarily qualify as having a unique concept, but it definitely represents a nice variation in Yorktown Heights.”

The restaurant compares in some ways to popular Mexican chain Chipotle, another restaurant that prides itself on the use of fresh ingredients and environmentallyfriendly policies (which Salsa Fresca, too, has installed in the form of compostable takeout containers, fuel-efficient and eco-friendly delivery vehicles, and more). Having been to both restaurants, I would definitely give the advantage to Chipotle in terms of food quality, but the lack of a local franchise for Yorktown residents means that Salsa Fresca is a pretty good and comparable alternative, for those who don’t want to travel distances to satisfy their taco cravings.

If you haven’t been to Chipotle, another somewhat similar restaurant (in terms of concept, not cuisine) to which Salsa Fresca can be compared is Subway. Like Subway, Salsa

Fresca has an open kitchen, which allows diners to customize the dishes they order to accommodate their palette.

With a fairly wide selection of ingredients ranging from cheese, chicken, and beans to salsa and guacamole, everyone should be able to find something to enjoy.

Salsa Fresca is located near the middle of town, which makes it a convenient place to go on the way to another engagement or activity. The restaurant can get crowded if you go at peak lunch or dinner time, at which time seating might be hard to find; for the most part though, the restaurant is pretty well laid out and contains booths, regular tables, and barstool seating; one warning though - don’t lean back while eating, because none of the seats have backs! The tables are also fairly close to one another, so when the restaurant is crowded, it can feel a little cramped.

In terms of pricing, Salsa Fresca isn’t too expensive, and the prices are reasonable for what the restaurant offers. The cost will also depend on what each person chooses to eat, since there are a lot of different options in terms of customizing your orders, although there are certain “signature dishes” on the menu that have fixed prices.

The service is pretty good and the staff is friendly enough, although this might not be of as much importance in a fast food restaurant as a sit-down restaurant. Salsa Fresca has

also recently made delivery available to Yorktown Heights residents; this was previously available only to those living in Bedford Hills.

Overall, Salsa Fresca doesn’t necessarily qualify as having a unique concept; some of the restaurant’s main selling points have been seen before in chains such as Chipotle and Subway. However, it definitely represents a nice variation in Yorktown Heights since there aren’t any really similar restaurants available locally. It manages to be a little classier than a typical fast food restaurant without being particularly fancy - and of course, it offers some good food. Check it out if you want to try something new!

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news

The Voice

FEBRUARY 2013

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: Akhil Aniff

Paul Schwedelson

News Editor

Paul Schwedelson’s father, Marc, claims that Paul knew every team in the N.F.L. before he knew his ABC’s.

If the story is correct, it is only fitting that Paul is on track to become a world renowned sports journalist.

Ever since he was a child, Paul “Pschweds” Schwedelson has been destined to become a member of the sports media. In seventh grade, Paul began his writing career by creating a sports blog. As a freshman, he began writing sports for “The Voice”. In tenth grade, Paul wrote freelance for the “North County News”. In his broadcasting career, as a sophomore

YHS Band: The band performs an impressive array of songs beneath a wintry scene.

AA: How are you today Paul?

I’m feeling a lot of “eustress.” That’s good stress not bad stress. But I’m feeling great, now that I’m being interviewed by The Voice. Usually I’m the interviewer, and its great being the interviewee.

AA: What got you so interested into journalism in the first place?

“well… my entire life I’ve always had this dream that I was going to become a sports broadcaster or sports writer. That’s what I love to do. To do it for a living would be incredible. That’s what I’m pursuing. I think it’s great we have outlets here at YHS to do this. I think a lot of people take for granted the resources and don’t take advantage of them. I’m blessed to have these opportunities.

AA: To what do you attribute your success?

“Uhm, I think that I’ve surrounded myself with brilliant people that have helped me succeed and I wouldn’t be here without their help. For example, when we do a broadcast for MSG varsity, it’s not just me but also my co-commentator and camera man. A major contributor to my success has been Andres Perez. On camera we have a chemistry like any other. My on-air relationship with

‘Dres is something I will cherish for the rest of my life.

AA: Are there any people that were/are a big influence in your journalism career?

Many. Many. And without these people, I would not be where I am today. From Bruce Apar from the North County News to Rob DiAntonio at the Yorktown News to Mr. Sposato at YHS, those 3 definitely, I have looked up to as role models over the years. We’ve worked together over the past 3 years and that was the start to my broadcasting career.

AA: What’s your ‘journalistic’ moment or memory, that made everything worthwhile?

“To pick one is extremely difficult. I have a litany of great memories. Definitely winning the “V Award” my junior year; that brings chills to think of what we accomplished. One of my other favorites is during my freshman year when I wrote an article about the lacrosse team when I took some heat from my peers when I wrote about how they wouldn’t be so good that year.

AA: When did you know that you were going to be a journalist when you grew up?

I’ve never imagined myself not being a journalist, whether working in print, broadcast or radio. I’ve always known I would pursue becoming a journalist for sports. It’s something I aspire to do.

AA: We know that many students would love to get in front of the camera, and shine on TV. Is it easy to become a journalist?

I think it’s just like anything else where if you’re really passionate about something you can pursue it; and just like anything, with hard work and making smart choices, you can do it. I don’t know if you can classify it as easy or hard, but it definitely takes practice.

AA: Was there anything that was particularly difficult for you to overcome, on your journalism journey?

I don’t know if there’s one single challenge I can think of, but a lot of it has just been going through the daily grind and working things out on a day to day basis. Things always come up and you need to always solve problems, so it’s really just always a daily grind.

AA: Which job do you enjoy more: TV Reporter or Newspaper Writer?

Both have their nuances and they’re very different from each other. Perhaps you could say a broadcast is more lively, but writing an article is an experience that is grueling. But when the finished product comes out, it’s like Christmas morning.

AA: I hear you write for the ‘Yorktown News’. What’s the feeling like, when you wake up in the morning, open up the newspaper and see your name next to an article?

Ah well the paper comes in the mail, so typically it’s when I come home from school and open up my mailbox. It’s a thrill to know that this paper is being distributed to the entire town. It’s awesome to think that I’m doing this sort of work at the age of 17, it is, I mean, it’s good I guess. I have aspirations to go further and continue to pursue my journalism career. Right now it’s rollin’, its really rollin’. It’s a humbling experience. Even this interview is humbling. To be recognized for my work is good, everyone loves some acknowledgement.

AA: I also heard that you became the sports editor for ‘The Voice’ by quite a happy chance. What was your reaction when you were asked to become the editor? ???????????????????????

AA: What’s the best part about being a journalist?

The best part about being a journalist is doing what I love AA: What’s the worst part?

There is no worst part…….. the worst part is, well, it’s the worst part and the best part at the same time.

I was gonna say deadlines but without deadlines, there would be no grind. So the intensity of the grind is what makes it so great.

AA: What’s your dream journalism job?

One of the things that I’ve prided myself on over the years is that I’ve never really thought of a “dream” job.

I think that in order to be a strong journalist in today’s society you need to be well-versed in a multitude of different platforms. I credit Mr. Spo with helping me become well-versed on different platforms. I think it would be very short sighted to say I have one dream job, and until I achieve that and land that gig, I haven’t succeeded and get that job. I think there are many different jobs out there that could be considered a dream job for me.

AA: What would you like to do in the future?

Live a long life. Hopefully do something during my time here on earth.

AA: Do you think you’ll go into journalism writing or TV production?

Uhm I think as I alluded to earlier, I’ve never limited myself to one or the other. That would be shortminded. In today’s world of journalism, you need to be able to do everything.

AA: What school would you love to go to, and how would it contribute to your journalistic dreams?

It doesn’t matter what school you go to. I like to look at college like it’s a trampoline. How springy the trampoline is will help you but the major factor in how high you jump is the amount of effort you put in.

AA: Can you give us some advice, for those aspiring to enter into the journalism field?

Uhm, step 1; join The Voice. Step 2; go see your guidance counselor even if you’re about to take a test as you’re reading this and make sure you sign up for Spo’s tv prod. and journalism class for next year. Additionally, work hard in everything you do.

AA: Who is your journalist model, and why? Who do you aspire to be like?

Uhm, I try to be Paul Schwedelson. I try to take the best qualities of a lot of different people and learn from them. There are an immense amount of talented journalists out there in the world. I wouldn’t say I have any role models. I could name some but I could go on for days. I just try to be myself and do the best I can do.

Looking Professional: Paul Schwedelson interviewing Coach Rescigno after Yorktown’s win over Mt. Vernon in

AA: I’ve heard some rumors that say that you want to move to Idaho, and become a journalist there? Is there some real logic behind this plan, or do you just like open spaces, Mormons, and potatoes?

The logic is that in a person’s 20s it’s a block of time in their life that is like no other. I think the chance to live alone before I get too old and explore life alone would be a really beneficial experience for me.

AA: How do you feel about losing ‘Most Likely to Be Famous’ to Jeff Naft?

Jeff won fair and square and there’s not much else I can say about it so I decline commenting any further.

Also congrats AA: Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?

5 years from now, uh, hopefully I’ll have graduated college. 5 years is not that far down the road so I don’t really have any big plans for that.

The Voice

FEBRUARY 2013

news

5

Yorktown Compliments: A Positive Influence Ryan Cohen and Akhil Aniff Staff Writer and News Editor

Y

ou log on to Facebook and quickly discover your news feed has been flooded with various anonymous compliments that have been posted on a

page titled “Yorktown Compliments.” You then proceed to view the page and find text under the page’s emblem that states, “Send a message to the page and have your compliment published anonymously! Keep them PG and be specific!”

Created on January 12th, 2013, this page provides a positive outlet for complimenting students of Yorktown High School in an anonymous manner. With around 570 likes, the popularity of this page is rapidly escalating as more and more individuals endeavor to inbox the creator of the page in order to recognize positive qualities of peers and encourage others to follow their dreams and aspirations. But this is not the first time that a page with this same purpose has been created; just by searching the word “compliment” on Facebook leads to a list of a myriad of other pages that were created for many different schools and communities and serve the same purpose.

Currently, the most popular compliment comments about YHS junior, Ben Geoghean. The compliment states, “Ben Geoghean is bound to be famous. Whoever doesn’t think he’s funny doesn’t know how to live it up.” As of [insert time/date], it has received 47 likes from YHS Facebook users. When asked to communicate his thoughts about the page, Geoghean replied, “I think it’s awesome because it’s a chance to anonymously compliment people without the stress of people looking at you and thinking that a compliment is deeper than it actually is. People will think that a compliment usually tends to lead to ‘OMG DOES HE LIKE HER?’ or something along these lines, but it’s nice to have something like this. It’s refreshing and really nice to hear positive things from random people.” Clearly, this page has limitless positive impacts on the students of the YHS community.

The creation and popularity of this Facebook page has also inspired the creation of additional pages that are based on the same foundation of anonymous posting, such as “Yorktown Crushes” and “Awesome Yorktown Compliments.” However, these pages have not nearly received as much attention. In addition, a Twitter account, which can be found by searching @YtownCompliment, has been created. No posts have been made by this account and the account has zero followers. Whether or not the Facebook page and Twitter account were created by the same individual is currently unknown, but it is clear that other pages most likely will not be able to surpass the bar set by the original “Yorktown Compliments” page.

And now, we have an exclusive interview with the people behind the “Yorktown Compliments” Facebook page. Although we cannot reveal the identity of who it is, we can give you some insight into the thinking behind the page: AA: Are you even a student at YHS? There’s been some speculation that you’re not.

YC: Of course, there are two of us and we’re both currents students at YHS. AA: Okay. So it’s a team thing?

YC: Haha yeah, you could call it that.

AA: What inspired you guys to start this page?

YC: We got the idea from a friend in a different state.

Her school has a similar page but the students aren’t kept anonymous and we noticed it wasn’t very active so we decided to bring it to YHS and make it anonymous. That way the page is kept nice and appropriate and we’ve got a lot of positive comments people seem to enjoy!

AA: If you could, in a few sentences, describe your goal and purpose behind the page?

YC: To show people what great things others are thinking about them and maybe brighten their day.

AA: Is the job sometimes overwhelming?

YC: Sometimes when there’s a lot of traffic, but since there are two of us we can split it up and it’s not that bad.

AA: What are your reactions to the response generated by the page so far?

YC: We’re in total shock. We had no idea the page would turn into such a success. In the beginning we actually thought about deleting it because we were nervous nobody would message us!

AA: What’s been the best part about this experience so far?

YC: Just seeing all the positive feedback and how it actually has made people happy. It’s the best when you get a message from someone talking so nicely about a stranger to them...we love it!

AA: What’s been the worst part of all of this?

YC: There really is no bad part, it’s all great!

AA: Have you received any negative feedback about the idea? You know, from people who are annoyed with you guys clogging up their walls?

YC: Sometimes in school we’ve heard it’s corny, but for the most part it’s been positive. That’s the first time I’ve heard that complaint! I think it interests people to see what others are thinking.

AA: Where do you see this heading in the future? Do you see it expanding past Facebook, maybe taking it to next level?

YC: I’m not really sure what the next level might mean, maybe one day we’ll come up with something bigger, but for now we will stick to Facebook.

AA: Why the anonymity? Don’t you think people should know who the geniuses behind this operation are?

YC: We feel that if people know who we are they might hold back from sending how they really feel. Also, we think the mystery interests people more.

AA: How do you feel about the other attempts to copy your idea, for example Yorktown Crushes or Snow Predictions?

YC: It’s little annoying at first, but they haven’t had the same success as us and imitation is the sincerest form of flattery so I guess all we can say is thanks.

AA: How does it make you feel, knowing that you know who is saying what about who? How does it feel, when you’re walking down the hallway, see a person, and you know what that person has been saying about others?

YC: It’s fun to be in the know, but just so it’s clear we would never reveal who’s saying what, even when we’re not acting as Yorktown Compliments.

AA: Has anyone ever sent in a compliment about either of you guys? To your real selves?

YC: Haha yeah! It’s really sweet and fun to know how people feel about us.

AA: Has anyone ever sent in a compliment about themselves?

YC: Yes multiple people, it’s funny, but there’s no judgment from us. We don’t care, it’s all good.

AA: Does ANYONE know at all, who you guys are?

YC: Yep, a few of our closest friends know but they’ll never tell!

AA: Are the two of you boys or girls, or one boy and one girl?

YC: Two girls. You could probably tell by the sparkly cover photo.

AA: If you could compliment anyone in the world, real or non-real (a favorite movie or book character), and know they’d be reading it, who would you say it to, what would you say, and why?

YC: Whoa, that’s a hard one...we would give a compliment to everyone at YHS; you’re all beautiful people. Be confident and love yourselves!!!!!

AA: Do you have any of your own personal compliments. Is there anyone you want to shout out to?

YC: We don’t want to single anyone out because it might give us away. Just keep checking Facebook, sending in your compliments, and keep our page going!

Although this page received well-deserved attention for a period of time, it seems that the activity of the page seems to be gradually declining; the amount of compliments being posted has significantly declined over the past few days. In the short time since its conception, “Yorktown Compliments” has had a truly positive impact on the Yorktown Community.

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games

The Voice

FEBRUARY 2013

Test Your Sudoku

Guess Who?

The Voice

news

FEBRUARY 2013

Selected as a Smart Choice

by Peterson’s Guide to Honors Programs and Colleges

Named one of the most exciting colleges in the U.S. by Cool Colleges.

Selected as a College of Distinction

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opinion

The Voice

FEBRUARY 2013

Opinion / Editorial editorial Flowers, chocolates, romance, and doves….yes, it’s that time of the year again! Happy Valentine’s Day everybody! Whether you’re happily settled with your significant other, adorably loving life with your high school sweetheart, or proudly enjoying the single life, make this Valentine’s Day count! In light of the many saucy, sexy, suave moves rocked by Dance Company this year, we are reminded that love and the month of February go hand in hand. Don’t let this fourteenth go to waste! Never underestimate the power of a love letter, a dozen roses, and spontaneous gestures of affection (ex. Confessions of harboring inner feelings, outlandish serenading, or even random passionate hugs out of the blue).

Have no fear of the bitter cold days and even more frigid nights, for the warmth of newfound or ongoing love will keep us all warm this winter (hehe). On a completely separate note, we’d just like to say something brief about this strange new infection plaguing the senior class. Senioritis, they call it? Such an odd illness that somehow prevents them from doing their homework to their utmost ability and studying the way they used to...more info on this topic later. Until then, enjoy Valentine’s Day and try to avoid senioritis!

Love always, Your Editors

I’ll think of a title later Billy Goldstein Staff Writer

I

should begin this with a disclaimer: I am writing this at the very last possible moment, obviously (articles are normally due the day before this writing). This

should come as no surprise, as this an article about procrastination and I am, in fact, a teenage boy. Procrastination is a disease that almost all students suffer from, but it is not an epidemic that is spread from one student to another. Rather, it is mental issue that develops over time, according to a study from the University of South Florida, in over eighty percent of students.

I think it is pretty safe to say that procrastination is the root of almost all of our problems as students in general. The putting off of work for a later time has been shown to increase stress and anxiety in students, which only precede future mental and emotional issues. The biggest problem is that many of us understand what we are doing is wrong, yet continue to do so regardless. But why do we procrastinate if we know how its will affect us in the future? That’s the million dollar question. Why did I wait until the day after the deadline to write this article when I could have so easily written it weeks ago? Well, for that question I could claim that I was doing research (which I was not) or that I had too much other work that had to be done more immediately (which is misleadingly true because I was most likely procrastinating that work as well).

But moving back to the original question, obviously the growth of the influence that technology, and specifically the internet, has over us certainly does not help. Even as I write this, I am constantly checking Facebook and Twitter for no discernible reason. Is it because I just do not want to write this article? That answer would be far too simple.

The truth is that I have no idea why. Maybe it is because we are scared of not doing our work well and therefore put it off until the last possible moment. Maybe it is because we really do have other work that appears to be more immediate but that too is eventually put off until later, thus creating a permanent cycle. Or, maybe it is because we are all involved in so many extracurricular activities that by the time we get home we just want to have a break for a little bit which eventually transforms itself into a few hours.

The onset of the very real affliction, Acute Elder Educational Paralysis, known commonly as senioritis, certainly does not help either. By the time students have reached the second-semester of their senior year, it appears that they, for whatever reason, decide to give up. Many have just finished applying to a flurry colleges and their second-semester grades weigh no influence upon a university’s decision.

This all but gives the students the go ahead to mentally check out, and it feels pretty deserved. We have all been working hard for the past three and a half years.

Senioritis, however, does not only afflict seniors, but juniors, sophomores, and even freshmen, to even more disastrous results, especially since keeping grades up is more important during those years.

Unfortunately, there seems to be no known cures for procrastination. There are drugs that some take, such as Adderall or Ritalin, but taking those pills without a diagnosis of ADHD is generally frowned upon. I could tell all of you to just do your homework as soon as you get home and create goals for yourselves, but not being able to practice what you preach makes you a hypocrite, and I hate hypocrites. We really just need to be able to focus. All in all, this article only took me about a half hour to write. At the moment, I’m just asking myself, “Why did this take so long to get to?”

Insert Wellthought Out Title Here

Lily Cao Editor-in-Chief

Start time- 10:44 PM Dear readers, please prepare yourself for what hopefully will be a relatively decent article. I am, at the moment, writing from energy lent by caffeine (thank you Pepsi), pizza, and a copious amount of junk food from Trader Joe’s that seem suspiciously “healthy”. Ah, how I ramble.

But this is the nature of our last-minute layout (in which we put together the newspaper) session crams. Confused?

Let me explain.

The newspaper process is something I, in my perfect little world, like to deem as well-organized, with exact deadlines and distribution dates. Unfortunately, real life aims to disappoint. We are one opinion article downsomething we have realized just now. Our goal is to finish our work by tonight, before we go home. And so, with the last fleeting strength of the Pepsi caffeine, I am writing this article. It shall ramble and it will barely make sense and it will be misconstrued and roughly written. But perhaps, in our last-minute panic, we can reveal a bit of our school paper.

This issue, we aimed to plan ahead. For our first issue, Hurricane Sandy took away work time, leaving us to panic and attempt to finish an issue in a one week time span (something that we usually use two weeks for). By issue two, we were still behind from the lovely storm and we endured another torturous, tiring one-week layout session.

And so this issue, we vowed to do things differently. We gave ourselves a good two weeks, planned ahead, set carefully placed deadlines… and then everything went downhill. Articles were missing. Snow-days and snow half-days meant missing layout dates. Today, it is Thursday night.

Tomorrow, we will miss school. Friday is our usual “late night”, the time in which we haplessly scramble to get our articles together. And so, today, we find ourselves in a similar situation that we have found ourselves in our past two issues – tired, and still working at nearly midnight in the school.

What is the point of this whole rambling mess of an article? Well, for one, we need an article to fill up space. If anything, I am honest. This is a last ditch effort to finish the article before the clock strikes midnight. And perhaps when you catch the numerous grammatical errors and the laughable slip ups in design, you might understand why.

I, of course, write this paper with the assumption that the majority of the student body reads the paper. Is this true?

Probably not. I see more papers littering the hallway floors than in student’s hands. But hey, a girl can dream. Good night. I’ve written an article – albeit a bad one. Hopefully, this one will serve its purpose.

End time- 10:59 PM

Insert Picture Because We Need To Fill Up Space

The Voice

opinion

FEBRUARY 2013

Backpack Lunch Money Gun Jesse Horowitz Staff Writer

O

n December 14th, 2012, Adam Lanza shot his way through a locked glass door at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

He proceeded to kill 27 people, including himself. It was the second worst school shooting in United States’ history.

As with any tragic event, society immediately started looking for a scapegoat.

One of the first excuses to arise whenever we see mass violence is the influence of video games on society. There has never actually been any proven correlation between video games and violence. Every day on my way to school, I used to play Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown on my iPod touch. I would be the last person anyone would ever expect to see with a gun of any kind, let alone shooting up a school with one. A lot of people play violent video games, but very few go out and shoot up schools. Not only that, but they do have violent video games in other countries, but no other nation in world has as many school shootings per year as the U.S. While I don’t have the time to play violent video games anymore, I can without a doubt tell you that it has not caused me any mental damage whatsoever.

When people blame video games, I simply can’t help but laugh at the sheer stupidity of the argument. Video games don’t cause violence in any realm of reality whatsoever.

In recent years, a new excuse has become popular

“

America has bred a society of fear; a society where we are afraid of each other.”

with Christian right, homosexuality. I almost feel tempted not to grace this excuse with my time; however, its popularity in recent years makes me feel compelled to write about it. Following the Newtown shootings, the ultraright hate group known as the Westboro Baptist Church announced they were going to picket the funeral with signs saying “God Sent to Shooter” because they somehow believed that there was a correlation between gay marriage and gun violence. You see, events like this spark a lot of hatred, but it’s not as if the shooter was gay. I just don’t understand how they can correlate homosexuality to Sandy Hook when homosexuality had no bearing on the shooting at all.

It’s homophobia at its worst, and frankly, it doesn’t even deserve my time.

Another more popular excuse for such violence that we use is bullying. Now, let it be known that I fully believe that bullying is a major factor in school violence, however, there are millions of children in America who are bullied every day, and very few of them are going to take a gun to school. The reason I call it an excuse is that people tend to blame the bullies for bullying, rather than blame themselves for deliberately refusing to acknowledge bullying in their community. If communities truly acknowledged bullying in their school dis-

   ?

tricts and actually took action against it, we wouldn’t be seeing as many school shootings per year as we do now.

This brings me to one of the major reasons that we feel the need to blame people for school shootings; we don’t want to take responsibility for the shootings ourselves.

As Americans, we are afraid to take responsibility for our actions, which is why whenever events such as what happened in Newtown and Columbine occur, we prefer to cast blame on others rather than say that we as a people should do more to prevent it. We don’t want to believe that we may be the problem. It’s easier to blame a figure that we don’t know, such as the government or television, than to say that we may have been the cause through our inaction.

America has bred a society of fear; a society where we are afraid of each other. Since the Cold War, America has been in a war with everything we have difficulty understanding. At first, it was communism, but it eventually expanded to terrorism, drugs, poverty, school violence, Islam, and all that label because cannot understand it. We become so obsessed with personal safety that we beef up school security without realizing that all it does is feed the culture of fear. Then we act surprised when we hear the latest new report of someone shooting up an elementary school, we buy some guns, we beef up security, and the entire process starts over again.

So, what’s the solution? Many would have you believe that the solution is improved school security.

I disagree. At the time of the Sandy Hook shootings, the school had just upgraded their security.

Adam Lanza shot through a locked glass door and got into the building, proceeding to murder 26 individuals before taking his own life. School security makes people feel better, but until either all guns are illegal or society changes, there is absolutely nothing that can be done to help us. We are just sitting ducks, waiting for the next mass shooting, which could be in our school. Every child is a ticking time bomb, waiting for the moment to snap.

Every security measure just calms us, while in fact, it deepens us further into the quicksand of the inevitable.

Going forward, America has to make a choice. Either our culture has to change, or we have to give up our right have weapons. It is clear that we as a people, at the current time, cannot handle the responsibility of a gun. Every day, when you turn on the news, you hear another story about another person getting shot, or murdered, or raped. We are incapable of being optimistic, and it is our pessimism that will doom us.

America used to be the greatest nation on this earth, but we have fallen prey to our culture’s fear. Our culture of fear has blinded us from the reality that there is something we can do to prevent violence in our schools. We can do everything in our power to prevent bullying, stop watching news programs that only report sensationalized reports of graphic violence, ban automatic weapons, become more optimistic, eliminate aspects of our society that promote pessimism and extreme stress, and elect politicians that don’t use fear-mongering in order to frighten us into obedience. Franklin Roosevelt once said, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” That is especially true now.

All violence can be traced from fear. While we will not see an end to all violence if we stop being afraid, we may see the end of a more violent era in American history. Unfortunately, I am not enough of an optimist to believe that we will ever give up fear, or at least, no in the course of my lifetime, or the lifetime of my children, or my children’s children.

9

A Defilement of Privacy

Jeff Naft Staff Writer

On December 23, 2012, the Journal News created a national controversy when it published online maps detailing the names and addresses of all gun permit holders in the Westchester and Rockland County areas of New York.

The Journal News said: “The map indicates the addresses of all pistol permit holders in Westchester and Rockland counties. Each dot represents an individual permit holder licensed to own a handgun — a pistol or revolver. The data does not include owners of long guns — rifles or shotguns — which can be purchased without a permit. Being included in this map does not mean the individual at a specific location owns a weapon, just that they are licensed to do so.”

The Journal News’ careless political activism put many lives in danger. An abusive ex-husband was able to find his ex-wife, who went into hiding, because the Journal News posted her name and her home address because she owns a registered gun for her protection. There have been reports of inmates at jails taunting the guards whose addresses had been made public. Many police organizations are up in arms because the addresses of many officers had been included.

The newspaper didn’t even feel it necessary to publish a rationale for such violation of privacy – publishing the names and addresses of gun owners actually makes them more vulnerable to robbery when they aren’t at home, since criminals will know where the guns are.

Think about it: The release of a list of the homes of legal gun owners is simultaneously a hint at which homeowners are not gun owners. They did, however, run a piece targeting gun owners as the root of all evil: “In the wake of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., and amid renewed nationwide calls for stronger gun control, some Lower Hudson Valley residents would like lawmakers to expand the amount of information the public can find out about gun owners. About 44,000 people in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam — one out of every 23 adults — is licensed to own a handgun.”

When the Journal News requested the names and addresses of all gun permit holders in Putnam County, Putnam County Clerk Dennis Sant refused to hand over the information. “I wasn’t going to allow the people in Putnam County to have to endure that type of scrutiny,” he said. He argued that the Journal News’ maps present a roadmap, “to those who have weapons and those who do not.” According to Sant, residents of Putnam County have been nothing but thankful for his taking such a stand.

It is absolutely astounding that the Journal News would make such an attempt without thinking about the liability involved. Yet it’s also illustrative of how the real liberals operate -- in their minds, the safety of people is not that important. Rather, it’s the further imposition of their ideology that counts.

Therefore, in this particular situation, the Journal News apparently doesn’t care that it has just let criminals know which homes may be easier targets for crime because of their lack of arms. All that’s important is that they followed their ideology and tried to embarrass gun owners.

On January 13, the Westchester County Police Department announced that a burglary had been reported which appeared to be a direct result of the Journal News’ gun-owner-name-dump.

The burglar allegedly, “used the Journal News’ interactive gun map to target a home that was not registered as a gun permit home.” The burglar thought it would be an easier target to rob a home that didn’t have a gun.

On January 18, 2013, the Journal News finally removed their interactive gun map from their website. They did so because of the public’s outcry and they were fearful of getting sued due to the outbreak of burglaries and threats against law enforcement and victims of domestic violence.

I look forward to the Journal News actually reporting news and creating an interactive map of level three sexual predators, rapists and felons with illegal gun purchases, but I won’t hold my breath.

10

opinion

Siddhartha Duri Staff Writer

“

FEBRUARY 2013

Guns, Guns, Guns...

A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep

and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

This is the statement that the founding fathers enshrined in our Constitution over 200 years ago in the Second Amendment. In recent years, this Amendment has caused much political conflict over the extent to which it should be interpreted.

Why isn’t the Second Amendment absolute? Over the years, the Courts have ruled that no right is absolute, even those which are “guaranteed” in the Bill of Rights.

Let’s take the First Amendment as an example. A person cannot publish an article in which they are claiming that someone is a drug-addict, if that person knows this to be untrue. In this situation, that would be libel – in this case, a person’s right to free speech can be limited. Another example regarding the First Amendment involves the notion of “imminent danger.” Imminent danger precludes a person from being able to shout “Fire!” in a crowded movie theater, because the ensuing panic may cause injury or death. These examples both go to show that there are valid circumstances where a person’s rights can in fact be infringed upon.

The examples above both deal with the First Amendment, but the same argument can be used with the Second Amendment. The second example involves a circumstance where the public’s right to safety trumps an individual’s right to free speech. Similarly, if a person’s right to own a gun interferes with public safety, that right can be “infringed” upon to protect public safety.

Now let’s take a look at some court rulings involving the Second Amendment. In 1971, the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld a conviction of a felon for possessing a firearm in violation of a particular law.

In this case, the Court’s ruling stated that the clause regarding the “well-regulated militia” does not mean that the average citizen is part of that militia, only that the State can maintain a militia. Another ruling in 1982 for the Seventh Circuit was decided in a similar manner. The Court ruling stated that the Second Amendment dealt more with a state’s creation and maintenance of a militia, rather than an individual’s right to bear arms. Yet another ruling in 1992 by the Supreme Court indicated that the Supreme Court has a right to limit Second Amendment rights. These three rulings all show that the Second Amendment is not absolute, and as such cannot be as the main reason for the legalization of any gun.

There are a number of gun rights activists who believe that the Second Amendment is the Constitution’s (and the founders’) way of ensuring that the American government never becomes tyrannical, and that if it does the populace will be able to overthrow it. However, there are three fundamental flaws with this argument. Firstly, the Constitution was created to form a government that could be changed by the people through peaceful means.

It has succeeded for well over 200 years in that regard. Our government has numerous checks and balances to ensure that a dictatorial regime cannot rise. Secondly, the United States of America has for its entire history been intertwined with the democratic traditions. We have checks and balances to ensure that no one individual, nor one branch, can ever amass too much power. Lastly, if the military ever wanted to “oppress” the people, any citizen would be hard-pressed to stop laser-guided missiles and fighter aircraft with a pistol, or even a heavy machine gun. The military’s power is far superior to any private power (as

“

The Voice

it should be), the main concern in such dire circumstances should not be with the military, but with a government that employs the military in this manner.

How can we stop gun violence in our nation? First off, there are a few misconceptions that should be cleared up. The vast majority of all gun owners in this nation are not the problem. These individuals are not the ones carrying out the killings, nor are they the people who put society at danger. However, there are still over 32,000 gun related deaths annually in the United States (as of 2011). This number has remained relatively constant over the last decade. The number of homicides from any cause in the United States annually has decreased from roughly 21,000 in 1995 to just over 15,000 in 2011. During this same time period, the number of gun related homicides has remained constant at around 11,000. There is clearly a gun violence problem facing our nation, but it is not from legitimate gun owners.

Instead, the threat comes from those individuals who are not of a sound mind, or from people who wish to commit crimes or murder on a large scale.

To face these issues, I believe in a method that removes dangerously overpowered weapons from our streets, as well as ensuring that those individuals who should not handle weapons (due to their mental state, or their criminal intent) do not gain access to them. Recently, Governor Andrew Cuomo worked to pass gun control legislation in New York. This legislation contains provisions which include an expansion on the existing ban on assault weapons, as well as limiting the size of magazine clips. These provisions are simple common sense. I believe that guns should be legal in this country, and that citizens have a legitimate right to own guns for self-defense, hunting and sport. However, there is simply no need to carry an assault weapon for hunting, nor is there a need for an abnormally large magazine. If a person is hunting a deer, for example, there is simply no need to spray an area with bullets.

Limitations on the size of magazine clips are one major step forward. During the 2011 attempted assassination of Representative Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, Jared Lee Loughner was stopped by bystanders because he paused to reload. If he had had a larger magazine, he could have continued his killing spree even further.

The gun control legislation in New York also has provisions which require gun licenses to be renewed every five years, as well as requiring background checks at all gun sales, with an exception for immediate family members. The law creates an electronic database for gun permits and creates a registry for ammunition sales to allow authorities to track individuals who are purchasing ammunition in abnormally high quantities. It also attempts to keep guns out of the hands of those who are not of sound minds.

One particular provision of the law requires that health care professionals report when they have reason to believe that patients could harm themselves or others. If the need arises, a dangerous individual’s guns could be confiscated by police.

In the end, although I disagree with certain portions of New York’s new gun control legislation, I believe that this kind of common-sense legislation is the right way forward for the United States. Legitimate gun owners have a right to bear arms for self-defense, but there should be some restrictions on gun ownership in the United States.

There is nothing precluding such measures in the Constitution, and there is an obvious need for it due to the amount of gun violence in our country. We have the highest rate of gun violence in the developed world, and we can bring this to an end.

Gu

To face these issues, I believe in a method that removes dangerously overpowered weapons from our streets...”

in cross

- In 2010, 5,459,240 new firearm about 95 percent for the U.S. ma

- As of August 1, 2012, there are censed firearms dealers in the Un

- According to FBI Uniform Crime were murdered by people with fir

The Voice

opinion

FEBRUARY 2013

...... and More Guns Brendan Lawlor Staff Writer

uns

the s-fire

ms were manufactured in the US, arket.

e more than 129,817 federally linited States

e Report, 47,856 people in the US rearms Sources: Federal Bureau of Investigation; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives numbers

Since the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School, gun control has leaped to the center of national debate.

On one side, you have the Democrats arguing for gun control, but on the other side, you have the Republicans arguing against gun control. The intense national debate has caused many people to take sides and ask the question, gun control or no gun control?

Well, gun control doesn’t work. We had an assault weapons ban from 1994 to 2004 and it did nothing!

According to the FBI, after the so called “assault weapons” ban ended, murder rates declined instead of increasing, as many gun control advocates warned. Even more interesting, the seven states that have their own assault weapons bans saw a smaller drop in murders than the 43 states without such laws, suggesting that doing away with the ban actually reduces crime. Violent crime rates also dropped, so what good did this ban do at all?

The new ban that President Obama is proposing won’t do anything. It is a meaningless ban designed to be a phony, feel-good plan. People fall for it because members of the left and the liberal bias of the mainstream news media drill it into them that it will work. They say it will work because if they ban guns, how would a criminal get a gun? That is a blatant lie, because the criminals can easily get firearms and ammunition illegally through the Mexican or Canadian borders, or could just report their current weapons as stolen when guns are banned.

Another myth about the assault weapons ban is that these assault weapons are military grade, because they are not. There is one weapon that has two versions. One has a grip, and the other doesn’t. Only the one with the grip is banned. This just represents the ineffectiveness of gun control. There are also other examples of guns that aren’t banned that create a bullet hole 5 - 6 times larger than the bullet hole from a banned gun. These guns also fire at the same rates.

The reason so many people agree with an “assault weapons” ban is because the left uses scare tactics. They create the absurd notions that a ban would work, or that there will be a bloodbath if we don’t ban “assault weapons”. Then they say that we can prevent a school shooting like Newtown from ever happening again.

Well, the fact is that Columbine happened during an assault weapons ban. All that the ban is is a feel-good tactic employed by the left to advance their liberal agenda and deny us our Second Amendment rights. That is bad enough, but what bothers me even more is the proposal to limit bullet magazines to 10 rounds (in New York it is 7).

You’d better be a really good shot if you only have 10 bullets. For example, there was a woman in Georgia that had an intruder invade her home. He chased her and her two children through the house, upstairs, into the bedroom, and into the attic. He tore down three doors and according to the sheriff, “We could have been dealing with a triple homicide. This woman prevented this by shooting her gun six times at the home invader.” This intruder is still alive and managed to escape, so why should we have a limit on the number of rounds in a magazine? If there were two intruders, this woman and her children would be dead with a limit of 10 rounds. It would also do nothing to prevent crime, because criminals don’t follow the law. What’s to stop a criminal from using an old magazine that has 30 rounds in it? This would also include law enforcement, so the criminal could have 30 rounds, yet the police officer would have 10, giving the criminal a huge advantage that makes absolutely no sense at all to implement.

Even more irrational is Obama’s violation of the doctor-patient privilege. He says that Obamacare doesn’t restrict doctors from asking their patients about guns in their homes. If so, they are required to report if the guns are in the home of anyone with a mental illness. Not every mental illness will make you go crazy and shoot people, so this is a direct violation of our privacy.

11

Some on the left would even ban all guns. Even though he hasn’t expressly said it, I believe that President Obama secretly wants a constitutional amendment to repeal the Second Amendment and ban all firearms. The problem with this is the United States has almost 300 million guns. How is it possible that that many guns could be confiscated? All law-abiding citizens would turn in their guns, but no criminal would, so only criminals would have guns. Is that a good idea? No. No one would be able to defend themselves or protect their families from intruders and murderers.

So, how are we going to protect ourselves, especially our children, from another shooting? The answer is more guns. If we place retired police officers or soldiers in our schools as armed guards, it will protect children from another Newtown. The armed guards could easily subdue a gunman, even if the gunman has an “assault weapon”.

Some people on the left will even say that you can’t stop someone, no matter how many guards, with an assault weapon. That’s simply not true. A so-called “assault weapon” isn’t that much more powerful than a standard rifle, because the “assault weapons” that the left wants to ban are not military grade, but are just standard hunting rifles that are upgraded so they look better and don’t have to be reloaded as often, but are a little more powerful. An assault weapon is a weapon that looks like a military grade weapon, not a weapon that is as powerful as a military grade weapon. Some “assault weapons”, widely characterized as “evil”, aren’t even that powerful. The AR-15, which is the weapon that the left attacks frequently, isn’t even powerful enough to hunt and kill large game. Some states even outlawed the use of the AR-15 and other guns like it in the use of hunting large game, just because it would injure the game and not kill it. Some do have extra power, but it is nothing like a military-grade weapon.

We should also arm our law-abiding citizens with guns. Then, if someone tries to attack them, they can save their own lives. This still isn’t enough for the liberal leftists. They come out with the ridiculous notion that if it saves one life, then we should do it. So, how about we ban driving, knives, alcohol, rock climbing, sky diving, and many other things, just because it might save one life?

If we want to save many lives, the answer is not to ban guns, but to introduce security guards to schools. The question I have for President Obama is: if you think security in schools doesn’t work, then why do you have armed security for your children, but gun-free zones for the rest of us? Not only would the security guards protect us at school, but they would also bring peace of mind to the parents. Who better to trust than retired police officers and military officers as armed guards?

Another solution to prevent guns from getting into the wrong hands is a universal background check. A universal background check would make sure that all law-abiding citizens could legally have a gun. It would also ensure that the guns don’t fall into the wrong hands. We don’t want a convicted felon or someone with a mental condition to have a gun. Those people are very likely to use their guns in an unlawful way, so it makes a lot of sense to have a background check. With a universal background check, the murder and gun violence rates in our country would go down, unlike a ban on any kinds of guns, because if you take the guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens, they can’t protect themselves, and if law-abiding citizens can’t protect themselves from criminals, murder rates will go up, and violence in our country will increase.

It is agreed by everyone, Democrat and Republican, that we need gun reform, but we don’t need to ban guns.

We need to make smart decisions to protect our lives. All gun control does is give a false sense of security. It is promoted by the left to deceive the American people and attack the Second Amendment rights that were given to us as citizens of the United States of America. This is purely done to advance their liberal, political agendas as an appeal to gain liberal donors and voters. Instead of making the hard decisions that will actually work, they make the decisions that are easy to sell to the people, so they can become popular and win elections.

12

opinion

Erin Skelly

The Voice

FEBRUARY 2013

Never Ever Ever Gonna Listen to Taylor (at will)

Staff Writer

He’s the reas on for the tea rdrops on my guitar...

THEBERRY.COM

There are three things I generally never trust: Notre Dame line-backers with girlfriends they’ve never met, the calorie counts at chain restaurants, and Taylor Swift.

I don’t want to bash Tay Swift, especially presented in a school with a strong fandom of the country songstress, but I do want to present a different side to her stardom. Swift has gained millions of fans throughout the world for her catchy country tunes depicting the utter train wreck she calls a love life, but what message is this sending to her loyal followers?

In the past five years, the tabloids have documented Taylor Swift’s relationships with Joe Jonas, Taylor Lautner, John Mayer, Jake Gyllenhal, Conor Kennedy, and Harry Styles. Although she never mentions any of their names in her chart-toppers, it is easy to infer that this girl is usually never the first choice, has been cheated on multiple times, and breaks up with guys whenever the month is December.

By her own doing, Swift has exposed her rocky personal life to the entire world but still has not dropped her doe-eyed Bambi look. The girl still parades around town in her cutesy little outfits that look like something Suri Cruise would wear, pretending she hasn’t broken the hearts of half the men on the face of the planet. And if the only thing she writes about for her songs is her failed relationships, the girl should really pick up a hobby because serial dating is repetitive and difficult to listen to.

I do respect Taylor for her entrepreneurship. She has certainly been a financial success with a large percentage of her earnings going to charities, and she handled herself pretty well at the MTV awards when Kanye West stole her spotlight. But the fact that Taylor is the same age as Adele, another female singer who profited off exploiting past relationships, is still hard to digest. Adele is married with a child, while Tay Swift is flirting with a different boy every 72 hours. It’s just something to chew over, but next time you find yourself jamming out with the hairbrush in front of the mirror, listen to the lyrics and ask yourself what kind of message this girl is selling.

r... e h t e g o t k ting bac t e g r e v e r ever e v e n e r a We

I knew yo u were tro uble when you walke d in...

Justin Bieber’s reputation - up in smoke?

Dominique Ferrante Staff Writer

Justin Bieber’s image and reputation has gone up in smoke. On January 2nd, 2013, at Newport Beach hotel, Justin was caught on camera holding something that claims to contain marijuana. Other pictures were found that show opened beer bottles on the tables, as well as, him drinking champagne.

On January 8th, the Newport Beach Police Department came to the realization that the pictures show Bieber possibly breaking the law considering he is only 18. Even though Justin was shown with beer and marijuana, people are blaming it on his friend, Lil Twist. Also, on New Year’s Eve, Justin posted a picture on Instagram of a Vodka bottle, with the caption “Happy new year shh,” but later the picture was deleted.

This may have come as a shock for all of you “Beliebers” out there considering Justin spent years building up his “clean-cut” image. A lot of fans may be in denial, saying that maybe Justin had a reason for drinking and smoking marijuana. This might be hard for some fans to accept, but growing up is a part of life and celebrities are human, just like everyone else. Justin might have felt pressure to get rid of his good boy image and used drugs and alcohol to do it for him. In the end, the reality is that Justin is growing up and has to learn to make his own decisions, whether they are right or wrong.

As for the people who don’t want to see Justin doing drugs and are cutting themselves for it, they need to calm down. He knows he did something wrong, but that is his problem to worry about. Not theirs. The fans should not harm themselves for Justin’s sake. It is realized that they are trying to help him, but he’s old enough to handle things on his own. By posting those pictures, they are just telling him he wasn’t right and should stop. But what if it was a one-time thing and he was only trying because he was curious?

Even if he wasn’t, he was just being a normal teenager by experimenting with new things.

“Everyday growing and learning,” Justin wrote in a series of tweets “trying to be better. U get knocked down, u get up. I see all of u. I hear all of u. I never want to let any of you down. I love u.

And… thank u. Like I said… 2013… new challenges…. new doubters. I’m ready. We are ready. See u all tomorrow and everyday after that. Back on tour tomorrow. Ready to see u all smile. Time to do what I’m supposed to be doing.

Performing.”

This tweet really does send out a message to all of his fans. His attempt was to let them know that he knows

that the actions he had done were wrong, but he only did it to gain a better reputation. He also wanted to express his idea of all this commotion as just being a part of life and learning new things while he progresses in adulthood. Justin took his fan’s reactions into great consideration as he is putting himself back into place, but does expect to face new challenges. Trying to ignore the negative, he will focus on the more positive, such as, performing for his fans.

In the end, Justin was going to try this sooner or later. Everyone should acknowledge that he is growing up and becoming more curious. He didn’t just want to be known as a cute little boy anymore. He wanted to be known as a man. This was an important learning experience for him.

Justin is aware that this was a rather important learning experience. His fans and followers must come to the realization that their role model is no longer a cute, little boy. Since they’ve accepted his youth, they must begin to accept that he is growing into an adult.

The Voice

opinion

FEBRUARY 2013

13

No Midterm Week...good or bad?

The Good Amba Viswanathan

ficed, then the students would instead have lost their Spring Break. In Mrs. Roberts’s eyes, being in class during midterm week was more useful than being at home. “I would rather the students in school in front of a teacher, than at home watching TV.” Her sentiments were shared

by Dr. Gladding, one of our other assistant principals, who echoed similar statements. Dr. Gladding thought that having no break to study for midterms was more productive.

The principal of YHS, Mr. DeGennaro also agreed with the sentiments of two of his assistant principals. Un-

like these administrators, I argued that there was no point cancelling midterm week because most teachers spent that week reviewing anyway. However, Mr. DeGennaro said that it was expedient because teachers had the option of teaching during the midterm week or reviewing. All three emphasized that a decision for next year’s midterm week has not yet been made. Mr. DeGennaro said that he plans to look at the scores of all of the students’ midterms from this year and the last few years to see if there has been any significant drop in grades. Last week, he sent out a survey to all the teachers to get their opinions on midterm week and to see if any teachers saw any substantial difference in grades. The administration is also planning to survey the Student Senate, and the advisors of each grade to find out how having no midterm week to study affected the students.

homework. Midterms are not just your average exam; they count more than a regular test, and therefore can have quite a large impact on your final quarter grade, your GPA, and eventually the college you get into.

This high stake test is definitely something that students strive to do well on. How are we supposed to do our best on our midterms if we don’t have adequate time to study for them?

Students had to study for midterms and at the same time deal with the continuous torrent of homework as teachers tried to make up for the lost week.

The break was cancelled so teachers would have extra days in which to teach, but these days didn’t really help. Most teachers ended up reviewing for their respective midterms. Mr. Agosta said that even though he had two days of instruction, it didn’t really help much with the midterm. He then went on to add that he saw a “significant drop in students’ grades from this year to prior years.”

Even if midterm week was taken away to provide extra days of instruction for the teachers, it resulted in students doing worse on their exams because they had less time to study. When asked what she thought about the absence

of midterm week, Ms. Servedio said, “It was terrible.” Mr. Downing agreed with her.

There was a similar story with students. Rachel Bernz (’15) and Shannon Reilly (’15), each of them had two midterms, biology and social studies. Bernz said she hated how she couldn’t go home after taking the midterm and instead had to sit through her other classes. Reilly added that on top of studying for her midterms, she had to do all of her other homework which took up time in which she could have been studying.

Even though Hurricane Sandy effected destruction and also caused schools to close for a number of days, the elimination of midterm week was not a very good decision. The extra days of instruction that the teachers received were not very beneficial. It led to students becoming even more stressed with studying for midterms and doing homework, and the deterioration of grades. It is my sincere hope that midterm week is not cancelled next year because it would not be looked upon favorably by students and teachers alike.

S

EDSOURCE.ORG

Staff Writer

andy was a devastating hurricane that had far reaching impact across many states. New York state, and particularly Westchester county, was

without power for more than a week. YHS was no exception, so school officials had to devise new ways of making up for these days of lost instruction. One of the solutions that administrators came up with was to eliminate midterm week and treat it as a regular week of instruction, but teachers had the option of having in-class midterms. This decision was intended to make up for the week of instruction that was lost but this has caused a lot of inflated emotions among the student body.

Many administrators at YHS believe that canceling the midterm week was beneficial to the students. Mrs. Roberts, one of the high-school assistant principals, opined that the lack of midterm week helps the teachers catch up on the week of instruction they missed due to Sandy. According to Mrs. Roberts, if midterm week was not sacri-

“

Many administrators at YHS believe that canceling the midterm week was beneficial to the students.”

Gowri Viswanathan

H

Staff Writer

urricane Sandy caused devastation in Yorktown, but what affected us YHS students the most was: the notable and unwarranted absence

of Midterm Week. Those of us who weren’t lucky enough to own a generator or leave Yorktown, had to spend an entire week or more shivering without power in cold houses.

When the power finally returned and school reopened, we were all in for a not-so-pleasant surprise. There would be no week long break to study for midterms. The administrators had decided that teachers should continue instruction during midterm week and give midterms in class.

This caused quite a stir among the students; how were we supposed to study for midterms, on top of all the other homework the teachers piled on us? Hurricane Sandy was a natural disaster, with emphasis on the word natural.

It was not our fault that the hurricane decided to wreak havoc, so it hardly seems fair to punish the students for something that was out of our hands.

The point of midterm week is so that students have time to study for midterms without the hindrance of other

“

The point of midterm week is so that students have time to study for midterms without the hindrance of other homework.”

DESTINATIONSDREAMSANDOGS.COM

The Bad

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spread

The Voice

FEBRUARY 2013

Will you be my Valentine?

The Voice

spread

FEBRUARY 2013

Ways to say “I I love you. Je t’adore.

Te amo. Sarang heyo.

Aishiteru. Te amo. Ik hou van je. Ich liebe dich. Ti amo.

Jeg elsker deg. Kocham Cię. Milujem ťa. Te quiero. Ninakupenda.

Jag älskar dig. Seni seviyorum. Fi cariad eich. Obicham te. Ya tabe kahayu. Aamee tuma ke bhalo aashi.

Ngo oiy ney a. T`estimo. Ne mohotatse. Ndimakukonda. Volim te. Mi amas vin. Ma armastan sind. Afgreki. Doset daram. Mahal kita. Mina rakastan sinua.

S`agapau. Hoo thunay prem karoo choo. . Aloha wau ia oi Ani ohev otah.

Hum tumhe pyar karte hae. Kuv hlub koj. Nu` umi unangwa`ta.

Szeretlek. Eg elska tig. Saya cinta padamu. Taim i`ngra leat. Naanu ninna preetisuttene. Es tevi miilu.

Saya cintakan mu.

Ayor anosh`ni. Doo-set daaram. Lay ovlay ouyay.

Kocham Ciebie. Te ubesk.

Ya tebya liubliu. Ljubim te.

you”

Photo Credits: topstockphotos.beautifulworld.in favim.com weheartit.com www.redbubble.com grofty.com handmaidliset.blogspot.com favim.com www.lininguptv.com lovemeow.com imgfave.com spccard.ca

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opinion

The Voice

geeekygremlin.wordpress.com

february 2013

8:Review

Aditya Duri

However, despite its many advantages, Windows While the live tiles and camera lenses are two aspects Phone 8 is plagued by two disadvantages that prevent In today’s competitive mobile phone market, the two of Windows Phone that have been met with much praise, me from unconditionally recommending it in its current major operating systems are, without a doubt, Apple’s iOS the two greatest software aspects of the Microsoft’s mobile state. The first disadvantage Windows Phone 8 has is that and Google’s Android Operating System. Together, these operating system are Microsoft Office and Nokia Maps. it lacks a “Notification Center” that stores the latest nohighly-acclaimed operating systems account for roughly While we are all used to seeing Microsoft’s ubiquitous protifications for later viewing. While the home screen’s live 87% of the US mobile phone market share. Trailing far beductivity suite on our computers, this piece of software has tiles do act in a similar fashion to an actual Notification hind is Research in Motion’s ailing Blackberry 9 Operatuntil now been elusive in the mobile world. While there Center, they simply do not offer the ease of usage that a ing System which has been rapidly shedding users in the are many Microsoft Office-replacements available for both dedicated Notifications Center provides. Android and iOS past months. These three operating systems – about 95% Android and iOS, none of them have all of the features that have had this option for more than two years now and it of the American market – are not the only choices availMicrosoft includes in its mobile version. When I open the is very disappointing that Microsoft did not manage to able for consumers. Released on October 29th, Microsoft’s Office App, I am using a full version of the program – I include this in their latest release. Luckily for Windows Windows Phone 8 hopes to make major headway in the US can completely and seamlessly edit Word documents, ExPhone users, Microsoft has admitted that they “ran out of market as the New Year unfolds. cel spreadsheets, and PowerPoints on both my phone and time” for including a Notifications Center in the Windows Windows Phone 8, and its predecessor, Windows computer without having to worry about compatibility isPhone 8.0 release. This feature is expected Phone 7, currently control roughly 14% of to arrive in the Windows Phone 8.5 update the Italian cellphone market, 20% of the which is predicted to hit phones around the Finnish market, as well as strong gains end of this March. At that point, this major elsewhere worldwide. The United States inconvenience will hopefully be resolved. has yet to warm to Microsoft’s operating Secondly, Windows Phone 8, like its system – Windows Phone market share in predecessors, continues to suffer a longthis country remained roughly constant standing problem that continues to plague last year at a paltry 4%.

Microsoft’s mobile operating system – a Over the last month, I have had the “lack of apps” in comparison to Android pleasure of using the Nokia Lumia 822 as and iOS. While the latter two enjoy more my primary electronic device. The Lumia than 700,000 apps in their respective App 822, while not a “flagship” phone like the Stores, the Windows Phone Marketplace has Lumia 920, is a very competent mobile a “mere” 120,000 apps. phone that includes the same processor What does this mean? When I switched as the flagship Samsung Galaxy S3 along from Android to Windows Phone 8, I discovwith many high-quality services from ered that many of my more used apps and Nokia such as its mapping software and games such as Temple Run, Pandora, and music streaming software. After using YouTube currently do not have apps in the this phone and its new operating system Marketplace. While Microsoft has boasted for a month, I can say that there are many that they now feature 46 of the top 50 iOS advantages and disadvantages to owning blog.windows.com apps in the Windows Phone Marketplace, a Windows Phone.

The main “Windows Phone experi- WIINDOWS PHONE 8: The new Windows Phone 8 has many unique features such as live tiles, a the lack of this 8% means that Windows Phone users will have to be open to using ence” can be conveyed through its rather native version of Microsoft Office, and camera lenses that make it a worthwhile purchase. third party clients to access quite a few of unconventional home screen. Unlike iOS their favorite services. and Android, no wallpaper or set of icons Despite there being many high-quality clients such fills the Windows Phone home screen. Instead, the home sues. Nokia Maps – like Google Maps and Apple Maps – as MetroTube for YouTube and Pandora’s announcement screen is dominated by a series of “tiles”. However, these utilizes scalable vector graphics (SVG) for its images. SVG that they will release an official client for Windows Phone tiles are not just glorified square icons- they have the abilmaps are better than non-SVG maps because the map does later this month, this need to look for third party clients ity to display app data beyond mere numbers as in iOS. not have to be reloaded with a new “map layer” if you does not affect Android and iOS users and is a problem For example, the Calendar App’s “live tile” displays the zoom in – the map can be scaled to any size and zoom that does not appear to be completely going away soon next calendar event, the BBC live tile displays the latest inlevel. This ensures that Nokia’s maps are relatively small for Windows Phone users. However, as Windows Phone ternational headlines, and the Mail App displays the latest in size; the entire United States can fit in only a 2.4 gigabyte gains market share as it has been doing, this problem will unread email. These live tiles allow for a Windows Phone file. In addition, Nokia preloads these map files onto its go away. user to learn about Facebook status updates and national Windows Phone devices which means you do not need a To sum it up, I recommend Windows Phone 8 for any headlines by quickly scanning the home screen without data connection to access the maps. On the hardware side, person looking to gain an intuitive user interface that is much hassle.

Windows Phone 8 is an excellent system – it uses a low backed by many high-quality productivity applications.

Another useful feature in Windows Phone 8 is “camamount of system memory which allows for speedy transiHowever, these users must be open to searching for thirdera lenses”. These lenses allow users to easily add photo tions between apps as well as for a very high battery life; party clients for certain services and waiting for official effects, read QR codes, as well as translate non-English text my Lumia 822 lasts for roughly two days of constant usage apps longer than their Android and iOS counterparts. without having to resort to a third-party application. without needing a charge.

Staff Writer

engadget.com

The Voice

opinion

FEBRUARY 2013

17

London Bridge is Falling Down H Art Editor

ave you ever driven over a bridge and looked over the edge, but saw something unnerving?

There might be a chip in the paint or a small crack but you feel like suddenly the whole thing will fall down. I promise you that it won’t, but America’s roads, bridges and other infrastructure are in dire need of help.

“Oh, it’s just a road,” you might say or, “I don’t really take public transportation anyway!”

Don’t get me started on how many times I’ve heard this as an aspiring Civil Engineer. Do you really want hazardous waste sites to be given a grade of D? If I came home with a D on my report card it would mean death. However, America isn’t taking care of its little crumbling roadways and waste management plants, or schools for that matter; so we’re all on the losing side of a D average here.

If you take into account how old everything is, you may receive somewhat of a better understanding. Highways were originally built when there was a boost in the economy, such as after a war. Some are still around from the 20s, but the majority roads were built in the 40s and 50s. “Oh come on, it’s just a road.” Yeah, it’s just a road… that transports millions of dollars of goods, and a road that people rely on because the US’ public transportation systems aren’t great (they have a D rating). But you’re right, it is just a road. The average for all of the United States is a D-. Think about that. How many potholes does your road have? Or if it was just repaved, was it well done, or does it look like the road workers were drunk when they were paving the road? Around here, the cold weather and reservoir don’t help either. A lack of road salts leads to

a freeze-thaw cycle on the road, leading to cracking and potholes which leads to irreparable damage. You get the point.

Well what about other types of structures? The average for bridges is a C. Not bad, but kind of unsettling. The Taconic’s arch bridge was recently repaired; new suspenders were added and the whole deck was replaced. Every time you turn around a bridge seems to be under construction.

You can’t go too far without seeing construction workers milling about. But, this leads to congestion and people start complaining because they didn’t get to work on time. You would think that people would be used to this by now, but apparently not. The other issue is that an overpass or roadway could be deemed “safe” but has underlying problems. The I-70 overpass in Pennsylvania was fine according to PennDOT officials, but a few months later it collapsed. In all honesty, the only reason I remember this incident is because the lab I worked in has a beat up sign from the incident hung on the wall that was begging to be asked about. But I digress.

The scariest information about America’s structures is drinking water. We’re a very developed nation who doesn’t need to filter water with a drinking straw or worry about diseases. Well, the D- rating says otherwise. Ok, ok, it isn’t that bad. The systems that are in place at the moment are out dated and old. They’re leaking and rusting and the pumps are failing. The other issue is that people EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

Lizzie Crumley

flush medications and other nasty stuff down their sinks and toilets which then gets recycled back into the system after it’s cleaned numerous times. But vitamins and other chemicals can still get through. Sometimes other chemicals, like fluoride for your teeth, are pumped in. But it’s ok, waste management is rated C+ so your toilets won’t erupt in a poo volcano anytime soon.

So what does all this mean? It means that America will have to spend 2.2 trillion dollars to fix everything. New York alone has to focus specifically on bridges, roads, and mass transit. Oh, and dams (there are 391 that if damaged, could wipe out a whole town). What else does this mean? That because there’s work being done and New York is a fast moving state, it should be done soon. In the big scheme of things, the Taconic Bridge didn’t take that long, which is a good sign for future projects. The increase in overhauls and construction also means more jobs for people. Architects, construction workers, and Civil Engineers (like me) will have a ton of job opportunities! New technologies are also being developed and tested. Green buildings are popping up everywhere and bridges have lighter decks so they can handle a greater amount of traffic. So, maybe instead of focusing on the negative D rating, more work can be done and everyone can be safe & happy.

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DJANGO unchained The Voice

Jesse Sloane

FEBRUARY 2013

Many woke up Christmas Day and were filled with excitement to see what was under the tree. I woke up with excitement to see the latest film by Quentin Tarantino.

My expectations were extremely high after watching Tarantino’s previous movie, the brilliant and attentiongrabbing, “Inglorious Basterds”.

But Tarantino came through once again, never ceasing to impress. “Django Unchained” certainly did not disappoint.

“Django Unchained” is about a freed slave named Django (Jamie Foxx) who is taken under the wing of a dentistturned-bounty hunter named Dr. King Shultz (Christoph Waltz). Shultz needs Django’s help in identifying the three Brittle brothers, wanted and ruthless killers who used to be Django’s brutal slave-owners. The two make a deal: if Django helps him hunt down the Brittle brothers, Shultz will free Django from slavery and provide him with $75 and a horse. Together, they go plantation to plantation, searching for the Brittle brothers until they finally find and kill them. Shultz enjoys having a partner instead of working alone and offers to take Django under his wing to show him the ropes in bounty hunting in exchange for a cut of every bounty. Django agrees and they go on a winter long, blood-filled stint, hunting down and killing wanted criminals.

Django hones his bounty hunting skills and becomes a master gunman. The two form a close bond, and Django reveals that at the end of the

winter, he plans on finding his wife, a slave named Broomhilda, and setting her free.

Shultz admires Django’s goals and offers his help in finding her.

Eventually, Shultz and Django discover that Broomhilda is currently a slave for one of the largest plantation owners in the south: Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). They also find out that he’s a fan of Mandingo fighting, a sport in which masters have their slaves fight each other for entertainment. The two devise a plan in which they’ll make an offer for one of Candie’s Mandingo fighters and while there, they’ll also offer to buy Broomhilda, but really only leave with Broomhilda. However, as with all Tarantino films, events do not follow such a straightforward plan. Candie is a cruel and malicious man, and his head slave, Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson), is suspicious of Django and Shultz from the get-go. From that point forward, things only become more convoluted and unpredictable, reflecting Tarantino’s rather unique style.

I have so many good things to say about the movie. First off, the writing is excellent.

Tarantino manages to mix elements of comedy with the serious and controversial topic of slavery. I found myself laughing at numerous points in the movie. One of the funniest parts is during a Jonah Hill cameo, in which he and other members of a precursor to the Ku Klux Klan argue over wearing bags over their heads. Tarantino’s writing earned him the Golden Globe for Best Screenwriting, and he definitely deserved it.

The acting was also fantastic. Foxx does a great job in portraying Django. Django’s transition from a shy slave into an arrogant bounty hunter displays Foxx’s talent. Christoph Waltz won the 2009 Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in Tarantino’s “Inglorious Basterds”, in which he plays an evil, Jew-hunting Nazi. In this movie, however, he proves how dynamic an actor he is by portraying a character you can actually root for. DiCaprio’s acting as Calvin Candie is so good that he’s actually frightening. His ruthlessness sent a chill down my spine on more than one occasion.

However, my favorite part of the whole movie had to be Samuel L. Jackson’s role of the “Uncle Tom” like Stephen, the evil head slave who is more loyal to whites than he is to his own people and fellow slaves. His delivery was perfect and many of his lines were written to elicit both humor and horror.

Django Unchained is not for the faint of heart. There is excessive, gory violence (as in all of Tarantino’s movies) that is at some points hard to watch. There were a few scenes where I actually had to look away because the violence was so dark. But, seeing the movie is definitely worth it. It truly has something for everybody: this is a serious, unique story that has a lot to say about the injustices and awfulness of slavery mixed in with elements of comedy and action. This movie is filled with great acting, and it is one of my favorite movies of the year. I highly recommend seeing it because I guarantee you’ll like it.

It’s been ten years since the last Lord of the Rings came out, but there’s finally a Hobbit movie. “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” came out December 14th and is the first of three new movies from Peter Jackson.

The story follows Bilbo Baggins, played by Martin Freeman, as he departs on an adventure. He’s a simple little Hobbit. Bilbo’s a Baggins; they don’t Lizzie Crumley do much. But when the old wizard, Art Editor Gandalf the Gray, comes to Hobbiton, things change for the poor Hobbit.

Suddenly there are 13 dwarves and a wizard chilling in his house. Next thing he knows, he’s riding alongside them heading towards The Lonely Mountain to help the dwarves win the mountain back. Along the way, they encounter orcs and goblins, but also stop by Rivendell to meet with Elrond and the other elves. The company also encounters three mountain trolls, which Peter Jackson puts his own spin on, too.

There are new characters and also plenty of familiar faces. We get to meet a new wizard, Radagast the Brown. He’s a kind wizard who lives in the wild and takes care of the forest. He can get a little weird and frazzled, but he does his best to help out Gandalf and the company. Azog the pale orc is also introduced in this movie and is set up to be the main antagonist. His story also differs from the Tolkien’s original work, but “The Hobbit” somehow makes it work. I’m not going to attempt to explain and differentiate all 13 of the dwarves; it’s far too confusing and I know I’ll end up rambling for paragraphs. We see familiar faces, like Saruman, Galadriel and Elrond again, along with Gollum. The creepy little monster is back, only physically younger. He has less age spots and is less ragged (if that’s possible). Each character, whether new or familiar, has a distinct characterization which is easy to see on screen.

“The Hobbit” is set in Middle Earth, which is transferred wonderfully into real life through New Zealand’s varied landscapes. Some plains may look familiar if you remember the “They’re taking the Hobbits to Isengard!” scene. What’s even more amazing is when you can’t tell what’s a set and what’s actually New Zealand, which happens quite a lot. I had to watch behind the scenes videos to even understand how they created

such life-like foliage. The set designs for places like Rivendell and Bag End are wonderfully designed and it’s hard to tell when Gandalf had to be added in. Each culture has a specific design, too. Hobbits are very natural and earthy, elves have flowing lines and rich colors, while the dwarves are very geometric and rigid.

The film also has a color script to it. The colors shift and change throughout the film, and though it might not be noticeable, it does make a difference. It starts off with warm shades in Bag End; muted oranges and creamy yellows are all over the screen. Across the landscape, it’s much brighter. Green, blue, gray and orange pop up with the changing scenery until the trolls are encountered. The movie then becomes dark and dreary. Radagast is mostly seen in earthy tones to show how he’s nature’s guardian. Rivendell has cool, muted tones that blend with the warmer colors of Elven clothing. Mountains and Goblin Town have dark and dangerous, almost threatening, colors. Battle scenes share those colors, along with Gollum’s scenes. The ending scene is then warm and bright as if to show that there’s still hope for the company.

My personal favorite aspect of the film is all the costuming. Each character has a specific shape and outline, so even in the dark, viewers can tell who’s who. But when there’s ample lighting, the details really show. Anything from the pattern on Thorin’s cloak to Bilbo’s buttoned up vest. The costuming department also had to make about four of every outfit: 1 clean version, 1 ratty and torn, 1 clean for the size doubles, and 1 dirty for the size doubles. Then you have hair and prosthetics on top of that, and background characters that also need to be clothed. And again, each character has a different style. On top of all of this, the CGI doubles and characters also have their own designs and specific styles.

Overall, “The Hobbit” is a wonderful movie. The characters are well developed, the scenery is gorgeous and even the smallest details are well thought out. If anything, the movie’s just too long. In total, it’s about 3 hours; that doesn’t include the previews either.

If it was cut down by a half hour it would have been more bearable to sit through. Then again, it’s fast-paced in many scenes and immerses the audience in what’s happening, so it’s worth it.

Staff Writer

IMDB.COM

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The Voice

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FEBRUARY 2013

21

Les Miserables Dylan Garofalo Staff Writer

UPCOMING-MOVIES.COM

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I was unwilling to see this movie when it first hit theaters, but on a family vacation you’re pretty much obligated to do as the family does. My grandparents, fans of Les Miserables nearly as much as Mr. Rome is, had me dragged to the theater one rainy day in Georgia to watch it. I was really unexcited, and even as I left the theater, I was still not loving it. But days later, I caught myself singing some of its iconic songs, and realized that, in my heart, Les Miserables was one of my favorite movies of the year.

The story follows Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman), once known as prisoner 24601, as he is relentlessly dogged across 19th century France by his former parole officer, Javert (Russell Crowe). As they play a never-ending game of cat-and-mouse, a revolution brews throughout the country around them, which comes to a head at the end of the film.

A romance begins between a revolutionary and a girl who Valjean took under his wing. I can’t go too deep into a plot this intricate without giving away too many details, though with a story more than 100 years old, it wouldn’t be too out of the ordinary for you to already know how the plot goes.

One un-spoiler-riddled part of the movie I can discuss is its visual style, which is truly impressive. It’s a beautiful film; it’s just as stunning as the songs the movie lays its foundation on. One of the best shots in the film is Javert swaggering onto the scene during the song “Look Down” (you can see this in the trailer for the film, the rain is pouring and his coat is getting windswept- it’s simply amazing). The camerawork is a fascinating aspect of the film as well, and it’s produced varied reactions, as many of the shots are long close-ups on the actors’ faces as they sing. I found it an effective bridge between film, a primarily visual medium, and opera, a primarily aural medium. It certainly doesn’t mean that most of the film isn’t choreographed, because it is, and that, as you may expect, is also marvelous.

The aspect of the film most people are aware of is how it handled the singing. In most films, the actors record their songs off-set in a studio, and lip sync to them on set. In a somewhat-revolutionary fashion, this film has its actors sing live, which, much like the close-up shots, keep us linked to the fact that this is an opera. It also adds a realistic touch to the film; you can see lips quiver as long notes are held, and it means less time spent making sure everything is perfect, and more time focusing on the emotion that each song is charged with. It’s beautiful, and I wouldn’t be surprised if more films sprung up that utilized this style in its musical performances. I won’t go too in depth as to the performances given, as you can probably guess what I think of them (you can select between the adjectives marvelous, amazing, outstanding, or paradigm-shifting, and be correct no matter your choice), but most have already heard of the Oscar-worthy performances. Many talk of Anne Hathaway, Samantha Barks, and Hugh Jackman, and indeed they deserve any award that could be granted to them. I, however, think it important to mention that not only do people like Amanda Seyfried and Eddie Redmayne deliver surprisingly poignant scenes, but Russell Crowe, universally panned by many critics, is just as good as the rest of the cast, if not better. His voice is unique, and it brings a new light to a character that was previously just an ogre.

So, in summation, Les Miserables is sincerely one of the best films of last year. If I had to give it a grade I’d give it...

4 thumbs-up out of 3? Eleventy star points? I’m not good at giving grades (which is, incidentally, why I’m no longer a teacher. Most of my students received a “Q”), so I’ll just say this: this film is well worth anyone’s time, even if you don’t like musicals. It’s heartbreakingly beautiful, it’s wondrously sonorous and euphonic and so many other combinations of big words that mean, simply, amazing.

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The Voice

FEBRUARY 2013

Hitchcock: story of a genius

Jesse Horowitz Staff Writer

In 1960, Alfred Hitchcock unveiled one of the most controversial films in the history of cinema, “Psycho”. 52 years later, producers Ivan Reitman (“Evolution”, “Ghostbusters”) and Joe Medjuck released “Hitchcock”, which followed Hitchcock and his attempts to turn the low-brow thriller novel “Psycho” into a motion picture. Hitchcock is played by the academy award winning actor Anthony Hopkins (“The Silence of the Lambs”, “Nixon”), while Hitchcock’s devoted wife Alma Reville is played by the academy award winning actress Helen Mirren (“The Queen”, “The Madness of King George”).

When one first hears that a film based on Alfred Hitchcock is to be made, certain words come to mind. These words include “thought-provoking”, “powerful”. Unfortunately, “Hitchcock” is none of these things. Instead, “Hitchcock” settles for being a fun film. While there is nothing wrong with a film being fun, that isn’t exactly the same thing as a film being brilliant, or thought-provoking. The film’s failure to be insightful or powerful stems from the writer’s decision to gloss over Hitchcock’s infamous obsession with “Psycho” leading lady Janet Leigh played in this film by Scarlet Johansson (“Lost in Translation”, “The Island”). “Hitchcock” is too sympathetic towards its title character for its own good, resulting in a potentially powerful film being brought down to the realm of entertaining films.

The place where the film shined, however, was the acting. Half the fun of “Hitchcock” is watching Anthony Hopkins play Alfred Hitchcock, and to see the

chemistry between Hopkins and Helen Mirren. Both actors give Oscar-worthy performances that elevate the film more than writing elevates it. They are tremendous fun to watch and I personally cannot think of a better anyone who could have given a finer performance in those roles.

The supporting cast including Scarlet Johansson, give good performances in their respective roles, but none truly go to a point where I could quite call them Oscar-worthy, with the exception of James D’Arcy (“Rise”, “Cloud Atlas”) as Anthony Perkins. The supporting cast is largely overshadowed, both

literally and figuratively, by the title character.

One of the major warnings I have to give about “Hitchcock” is that its focus may not be on where it needs to be. The film largely pushes the making of “Psycho” to the background, instead making the main focus Hitchcock’s relationship with his wife and his leading ladies.

While the relationship between Hitchcock and his wife is very interesting, although very much speculation, I personally wish that more of a focus had been placed on Psycho. While the acting performances in particular turned me on to the idea of taking this relationship seriously, I still hold on to the belief that if one wishes to make a film based on Alfred Hitchcock and the making of “Psycho”, that it should actually be about the making of “Psycho”. Instead, the main focus in “Hitchcock” and his wife, which, while it’s a lot of fun to watch, is neither particularly suspenseful nor terribly thought-provoking in either writing or execution.

Overall, I enjoyed “Hitchcock”. While I wish the film had more of a focus on “Psycho”, I would be lying if I said that I didn’t find the film wildly entertaining, particularly Hopkins in the title role. I do believe that even if someone hasn’t seen the original “Psycho”, that Hitchcock is still a worthwhile experience. While some may prefer the theatre wishing for more substance, most will leave with a smile on their face, having been thoroughly entertained for an hour and 38 minutes of their life. I give Hitchcock a B+. While the film doesn’t quite get the A, it comes very close with very entertaining premise, along with some wildly entertaining performances by Hopkins and Mirren.

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Hyde Park on Hudson Jesse Horowitz Staff Writer

Hyde Park on Hudson stars Bill Murray (Ed Wood, Ghostbusters) as President Franklin D. Roosevelt as he invites the King and Queen of the United Kingdom over to his home in Hyde Park on Hudson on the eve of World War ll. The film is narrated by the President’s fifth cousin and mistress (ew) Margaret Suckley, played by Laura Linney (Primal Fear, The Truman Show). The film mainly focuses on two main subplots: Laura Linney and her relationship with the president, and will the Queen of the United Kingdom eating hot dog at picnic. The film is about an hour and 35 minutes long and I hated every minute of it.

Hyde Park on Hudson takes one of the most interesting men in U.S. history, takes the most uninteresting part of his life, and tells it in the least interesting way possible. To say the film is bad would be an understatement; Hyde Park on Hudson is complete trash.

I don’t know who in their right mind would think that audiences would have any interest in seeing a film which is, quite literally, about eating a hot dog; but whoever did needs a serious slap in the face. There are few interesting plotlines in this film;

in fact, there is very little plot whatsoever in this film.

Hyde Park on Hudson switches between two very uninteresting subplots without focusing enough on either of them to truly give any actual meaning or true depth. I have always believed that there are characters, and there are props. The people in Hyde Park on Hudson are props, used simply at random to advance a plotline without actually developing it. The worst example of this is our narrator, Margaret Suckley, who, through no fault of Laura Linney, is easily the least interesting prop in this movie.

On the other hand, we see President Roosevelt, played by Bill Murray. This is the one place where the film shines… no, not really. Bill Murray gives an adequate performance as the Roosevelt considering the material he is forced to work with, but the problem with Roosevelt in this film is less about the acting, and more about the film’s attitude towards the character. This film simply doesn’t know what their opinion towards FDR is. Usually, they believe he’s womanizing sonof-a-female-dog who

can’t keep it in his pants (that particular thought led to a scene that made me want gouge my eyes out with a plastic fork), while other times the film seems to believe that he’s a wise old man. Either way, the film focuses mainly on his weaknesses, refusing to acknowledge his many accomplishments, or even the fact that he was the President for 16 years. President Roosevelt never legislates, or acts, or even does anything as the President besides talk to a king and screw around with his cousin.

What about the supporting cast? Well, they’re… eh. Samuel West (Stiff Upper Lips, Iris) isn’t terrible as King George, but he doesn’t come anywhere near to Colin Firth, who played the same person two years prior in “The King’s Speech”. The Queen, on the other hand, is terrible in her own right. While in “The King’s Speech,” George’s wife was portrayed as a caring woman who truly loved her husband, Hyde Park on Hudson’s Queen Elizabeth is mean-spirited, hateful, and does everything in her power to make her husband feel as awful as possible. Her constant references to his brother get old fast, and by the end of movie I start getting wishing one of the secret service agents would just shoot her and put the audience at peace.

Hyde Park on Hudson is easily one of the worst films of 2012. It’s boring, mean-spirited, filled with speculative dialogue. It’s undercooked, inaccurate, disgusting, unfunny, sexist, and horrifyingly unfocused. To say that this film merely misses the mark is an understatement.

The only good thing about this film is that I somehow suffered through it without blowing my brains out from boredom. To quote film critic Roger Ebert (He actually said this about a different movie, “North”. For some reason, he actually liked Hyde Park on Hudson), “I hated this movie. Hated hated hated hated hated this movie. Hated it. Hated every simpering stupid vacant audience-insulting moment of it. Hated the sensibility that thought anyone would like it. Hated the implied insult to the audience by its belief that anyone would be entertained by it.” Hyde Park on Hudson is by far the WORST film I saw last year. I give Hyde Park on Hudson an F!

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FEBRUARY 2013

Brendan Lawlor Staff Writer

Most people know that we killed Osama Bin Laden with a navy seal helicopter strike, but they don’t know much more than that. “Zero Dark Thirty” tells the story of the mission that led to his death. The director, Kathryn Bigelow, did a terrific job chronicling everything from September 11th 2001

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we may have never have killed him. This is based on a true story, and because of the intelligence that Maya gathered, the C.I.A. could call in the military to attack the terrorist compound. In a very exciting scene, Bin Laden’s courier is discovered, followed through the streets of Pakistan, and thus he unwittingly leads the C.I.A. back to the compound. They then took satellite images of his compound and a plan to attack was devised.

The famous Seal Team Six is called into action, and train for months, awaiting orders from the President to attack. When NOMOREPOPCORN.FILES.WORDPRESS.COM President Obama gives the order, the seals take off in their stealth helicopters and to May 2nd 2011. It was astounding to find out how the travel from Afghanistan to Pakistan, where Osama Bin C.I.A. interrogated people and what “enhanced interrogaLaden is hiding. During landing procedures, one of the hetion” actually means. I was shocked at how few people the licopters crashes, yet the raid continues nonetheless. The C.I.A. used to track down Osama Bin Laden; these operaNavy Seals enter the compound and make their way to tives made miracles occur in order to find him. “Zero Dark the third floor, where Bin Laden is hiding, and when they Thirty” also vividly depicts waterboarding, which I, until finally reach him, they order his surrender, and upon his I saw the movie, didn’t know exact details of. It basically refusal, they shoot him twice to make sure he has died. At involves putting a cloth over someone’s mouth, and then this moment, I felt extremely patriotic and proud to be an pouring water onto it to simulate drowning. Even though American. Afterwards, all the seals rushed to take the files the operative would only do that for about 10 to 15 secheld in the compound, and leave just before the Pakistani onds, the terrorists eventually break down and tell them Air Force arrived. They returned to base in Afghanistan what they want to know. with only one helicopter, but miraculously, everyone got Jessica Chastain, who played the C.I.A. operative out alive.

Maya, really made “Zero Dark Thirty” great. She adminOverall Zero Dark Thirty was absolutely amazing. istered most of the interrogations, and what’s really fasciKathryn Bigelow did an amazing job of depicting the raid, nating is watching her decade-long transformation from and the events thats led to Bin Laden’s death. Everything a new recruit to a stubborn, persistent operative. She was about Zero Dark Thirty was spectacular and thrilling I adamant in insisting that Bin Laden’s compound be raidwould give this movie an A+ for all of it’s fantastic qualied, and without her diligence in finding out who some of ties and would recommend that everyone see it. the terrorists were and gaining intelligence against them,

Movie Snippets: Swarnav Pujari Staff Writer

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1940’s Los Angeles. What could be a better setting for this movie? Gangster Squad is a perfect title for this movie, as a team of cops turn into a squad of gangsters to take back their town from a notorious gangster named Mickey Cohen. I personally liked the movie but I was not too thrilled by the level of violence. I would have liked to see more scenes on the storyline with less gore. However, the movie wasn’t all bloodshed. Thanks to Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, the movie had its fair share of drama and crude humor. I also tip my hat to the acting done

by Sean Penn. He did an excellent job portraying a ruthless criminal. But the movie did not have that sparkle that you would have hoped to see. The reason is because Ruben Fleischer focused a little too much on the fight scenes rather than giving more depth to the characters. For this reason,0 you couldn’t connect and feel for the characters.

Overall this is a great movie for people that want to see a great depiction of a time when gangsters ruled the streets.

To find out if a squad of cops can out-maneuver a gangster at his own game, you’ll need to see the movie.

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It was a Sunday night around 7:30 that I decided to end the weekend with a movie that has been giving off a certain allure to me. During the 15 minutes of previews, unlike any other time, I was actually already asking myself a lot of questions about this movie. The suspense was just building inside me even before the movie started. All the way throughout the movie I was just amazed. Tom Cruise has definitely got an award winning movie on his hands. Everything from the stunts to the fight scenes was fantastic. As soon as Reacher finds out about a sniper taking down six victims he starts, working on exculpating the defendant. Every scene in the movie was giving out new information about the case Reacher was trying to solve. As good as the movie was, it’s a “one time watch” movie because of the way the movie was organized. Like most mystery movies, once you know how the movie ends there is no thrill in watching the movie again, and this Tom Cruise movie falls into that category. The suspense builds on until the climax. Overall, this is an excellent suspense thriller which is a must-watch.

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FEBRUARY 2013

Temple Run 2: Game Review Jan Kluk Staff Writer

After already being tired of Subway Surfers, many mobile gamers were expecting the next great game to hit the app store. But this time, it wasn’t a completely new idea that captivated the gaming world; it was a sequel of an old classic. The original Temple Run, created by Imangi Studios, was released for iPhone on August 4th, 2011 and for android on March 27th, 2012. Ever since then, it has been downloaded over 170 million times, becoming one of the most popular and beloved apps of all time.

However, the appearance of Temple Run 2 on the app store surprised everyone. Keith Shepherd, co-founder of Imangi Studios commented on his new creation: “With Temple Run 2 we wanted to build a bigger, better, and more awesome version of the original. We developed the original Temple Run in around 5 months and we had no idea it would be such a huge success. We immediately started working on updates and more content to keep the game fresh and to keep the fans happy. However, eventually we realized that it wasn’t going to be possible to expand on the original game in all the ways we wanted to unless we had a fresh start.” And with that, Temple Run 2 was born. If I should say so myself, Keith Shepherd and the rest of Imangi Studios really outdid themselves on this one.

Like the original, Temple Run 2 is a free download anyone can get off of the app store, and it has already reached the top of apple’s fee app download list. In my opinion, the success of Temple Run 2 was achieved by adding new and exciting elements to the game, while at the same time retaining some aspects that Temple Run fans have come to love. For example, when the viewer first taps on the icon, they are first greeted with the familiar sight of the screen closing in on the temple. But, it’s a completely new temple that’s composed of stone and neon green gems with its head resembling what looks to be a lion. This contradicts the old, vegetation covered, dark gold color of the first temple as well as giving a new feel to the game. The same idol is presented before the player on the main menu, and after accepting the challenge of taking the idol, the one and only guy dangerous comes rushing out of the temple. But, he’s not being chased by a group of evil monkeys; instead, he’s being chased by one monkey that’s about ten times the size of the old one’s. After going through my first run in the new game, I was astounded by the changes in the sequel, most of which greatly enhance the gaming experience of Temple Run. A new feature of the game is that players can zip-line to other pathways by jumping onto a rope connecting two

paths. Another added feature to the game is a mine cart chase, where the player enters a dark cave, and navigates their way out by controlling a mine cart.

These new features make the game more fun because it strays from the usual jumping, sliding, and turning on a never-ending series of paths, which can get boring after a while. Another element of the game that I liked was the new obstacles to avoid. In the sequel, the player has to avoid statues spewing out streams of fire, temple ruins, whitewater rapids, gaps between wooden bridges, and giant spinning wheels with spikes on them.

All of these new obstacles add variety and more excitement to the game. This variety is absent in the obstacles of the first game because they are mostly just giant overgrown trees. Furthermore, Imangi studio’s made the environment of the game more lifelike by making the land curve and slope, instead of having endless flat and impractical paths that the player is forced to run on. Perhaps the most astounding part of the new game is the graphics, which bring the new environment into

sharp and clear detail. Despite these astonishing additions, there are also some flaws in the new game.

A major flaw of the new game occurs when the coin meter is filled. In the original temple run, the player receives a reward in coins after filling up the meter. But in the sequel, the player must select a power up prior to their run, which they can activate by double tapping on the screen. This is a major problem when playing a game like temple run, where the speed and accuracy of moving your fingers across the screen is essential to surviving the obstacles thrown at you throughout the run. While double tapping to activate your power up, there is a good chance that you won’t have time to turn, slide, or jump when necessary, ending your run. I was also disappointed to see that the invisibility power up was removed and replaced with a new shield power up. The main detriment to the shield power up is that it only protects the player from obstructions they can dodge. In addition to golden coins, the game also includes an additional currency in the form of green gems. The new gem currency, in my opinion, is completely unnecessary because they are only used to purchase “Save Me’s,” which allow a player to resurrect after they die. These new gems could easily be replaced with coins. In spite of these undesirable changes to the sequel of the game, Imangi Studios did a fabulous job in creating Temple Run 2. With this in mind, I would give this game 8.5 out of 10. It would have received a higher score if it addressed some of the issues. Hopefully, these changes will come in future updates. Overall, the sequel of Temple Run does nothing but increase its status as one of the greatest games to ever hit the app store.

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February 2013

Wii U: Nintendo’s Latest Breakthrough Anthony White Staff Writer

In 2006 video game Company Nintendo released the Wii and it looked like it would be the next big thing in gaming. Now seven years later the Wii is insignificant and its successor, the Wii U, has hit video game shelves and is ready to go. The Wii U comes in two versions: the regular white Wii U, and the black deluxe Wii U. The system comes with a gaming pad which allows you to play whatever game you’re playing, without the television. The big question remains, how will the Wii U stand and will how will fans of the Wii adapt to the new console?

The first thing you have to do with the new system is create a mii. The Mii-Creator system is no different from the old one and is easy to work for newcomers. If you connect to the internet, the Game Pad works as a standalone tablet. You can play your games, watch something on Netflix, and surf the internet. The Deluxe version of the system comes with a game called Nintendo Land. This game is a mini game series based on Nintendo’s most successful video games like Pikmin, Zelda, and Mario. This is a great starter to the Wii U. The mini games are fun to play and can last you several hours. The multiplayer games are the best because of the gamepad. In the multiplayer games one person has the gamepad while the other uses the television and they play against each other. The game is definitely a great way to kick off the new console.

However, with every new console there’re problems. One problem with the Wii U is the lack of Nintendo support for the console. While there are plenty of titles that launched with the system, only one was developed by Nintendo, New Super Mario Bros. Another problem is the Gamepad’s battery life. After a couple of hours, the Gamepad needs to get charged after a few hours of use. The Wii U seems like it could become the next great thing in entertainment. It’s easy to use and newcomers will get used to it very quickly. It’s a fun system and has potential to be Nintendo’s next masterpiece.

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2012 in Cinema

2012 was a great year for film. Many excellent films made their way to the big screen this year. Ranging from superhero blockbusters to amazing dramas, 2012 had it all. Below is a list of my ten favorite movies of the year. Keep in mind that these are my individual picks, and you might not agree with me on some of my choices. Also keep in mind that I might not have seen your favorites this year.

10)

9)

8)

5)

4)

3)

7)

2)

6)

1)

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sports

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FEBRUARY 2013

Sports Run Deep at YHS Will Fischer

I

A contributing factor to the significance of Yorktown High School athletics is the amount of effort year-round. In season, most teams have either practice or a game at least

ARBINA CAMAJ

stay in shape and sharpen their skills for a specific sport.

Coaches also organize open practices and create specific t is game day at Yorktown High School. For every workout regiments for their players during the offseason. sport, this is a big deal. Student-athletes Nardone noted that offseason training is necessary for Yorktown to compete in athwork year-round to improve at their letics. However, he also felt that it could sports and be the best they can be. Peers, be “too much” for the kids to handle. Narteachers, and administrators wish the players done knows that Yorktown High School athletes may participate in more than one luck throughout the day and everyone shows sport, have extracurricular activities, and their support. From the players to the teachers have to take care of all their schoolwork. to the fans, the rich culture of sports at YorkHe realizes that kids feel obligated to go to offseason workouts, and that they may feel town High School is evident. conflicted. But to stay competitive, athletes Indeed, athletics play a huge role in the must train during the off-season. Regardeveryday life of Yorktown High School stuless of this conflict, the dedication yeardents. Athletic Director Fio Nardone believes round demonstrates how much athletics as much, calling it an “integral part of the exare a part of the culture of Yorktown High perience for High School students.” Nardone School. estimated that around 65% of the student Nardone is “always looking to imbody participates in athletics. But he knows prove” athletics at Yorktown High School that it is not just the athletes that add to the and stresses that we are very “fortunate” to culture. “The community takes it seriously,” have support from administration and the according to Nardone. school budget. Recent upgrades to faciliThat is an understatement, as can be seen ties and equipment show the high level of with the creation of “The Crop”, the rowdy commitment to athletics. fan section that attends various games. Sports THROUGH THE THICK AND THIN: No matter what, “The Crop” is always there Wins and losses may slightly affect are important to not only the players, but fans to support Yorktown’s teams in the good times and the bad, reflecting Yorktown’s attendance throughout the season, but as well. Students want to show support for rich sports culture. school support is unwavering. Games are their peers, and “The Crop” brings a sense six days a week. However, what is more astonishing is the social events in Yorktown, and the school spirit is through of pride and unity within the school. “The Crop” has had amount of work put in when the teams are not in season. the roof. Athletes take pride in their sports and feed off their ups and downs throughout the years, but their mere Individually, athletes may work with personal trainers, atthe energy of the fans. Sports play an immense role in the existence is a testament to the importance of sports at Yortend camps or clinics, and create workout regiments all to daily life of the YHS athletes, teachers, and fans. ktown High School.

Staff Writer

“We’re Going to Disney World” Kulsoom Chaudhry and Cayla Hamann

sport in the state of New York, but many people would ing competition at Hofstra University in Long Island, the All of their work, determination, commitment, has dispute this. A sport is defined as “an activity involving cheerleaders will now be attending the National High come down to this moment. Anticipation was at its peak. physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team School Cheerleading Championships. This is the first time Our girls, dressed in the typical green and white cheercompetes against another or others for entertainment.” that YHS cheerleading has achieved this feat since 2009. leading costumes with ribbons in their hair, stood there Many people don’t believe that this definition applies to Pizzuto is proud of the team and hopes “the girls anxiously waiting in silence for the top three teams to cheerleading because their entire purpose is to cheer. can perform to the best of their ability.” She also says, “it be announced. Not hearing their team name called, they These people are not aware of the extent of hard work would be awesome to move on to finals, but I am proud of headed back to the auditorium in slight disappointment that they have to put into actually being a cheerleader. The them whether we move on to finals or not, because it is a as their coach fetched the scores. Team great achievement to have received a bid members who had stayed back beamed to this competition.” in excitement as they discovered that they Not many people know that the YHS received 5th place in the state. Not being varsity cheerleading team has achieved able to hold back the joy, they sprinted to this success, and even fewer know about the rest of their team members to share the how they got there. To be a cheerleader, it great news. takes skill, energy, and strength. The rouRight now, as this article is being writtines are full of complex stunts and tumten, the YHS varsity cheerleaders are on the bling, which happen to be most difficult plane en route to the 2013 National High skills to master.

School Cheerleading Championship hosted In addition to those, the “360° up” is in Orlando, Florida. After being ranked an also an ambitious stunt. In this move, the amazing position in the regional competibase cheerleaders must lift up the flyers tions at Hofstra University, the team was while turning them in a 360 degree modetermined to go to Florida to compete tion. While planning the cheer routines against the best in the country. With all the and which team member will take part in hard work the team puts into this activity, which way, the team takes into considerthe question has to be raised: Is cheerleadation the size and flexibility of the cheering a sport? And do they get the recognition ers. The small, petite members of the team they deserve? usually become the flyers, while the taller “I definitely think of competitive and stronger members become bases. cheerleading as a sport,” says Coach DaniMastering such skills isn’t the only ARBINA CAMAJ elle Pizzuto of the YHS varsity cheerleading challenge cheer teams face. Other obstateam, “It requires athleticism, endurance, cles, such as injuries, would result in the and strength. I don’t think cheerleading “GOING TO DISNEY”: After placing fifth in New York, the cheerleading team will be team having to switch around their whole gets the recognition that it deserves. Most heading to Orlando for nationals. routine. These challenges have contribpeople think of cheerleading as something uted to their ability to perform better and that happens on sidelines, but they don’t consider the team’s main focus is not only to cheer on the sidelines for better each time. competitive aspect of it as well.” other sports teams but to also compete in competitions.

Although cheerleading may not be considered a In addition, the team practices five days a week and Without a doubt, the team has been dedicating sport, these girls deserve credit for their hard work and for two seasons a year for which they deserve plaudits. In themselves to working hard and getting to the top. After dedication. Their determination has brought them to Natechnical terms, cheerleading is not considered an official receiving 5th place in the regional high school cheerleadtionals and will hopefully bring them to the finals.

Staff Writers

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FEBRUARY 2013

Staying Afloat Paul Schwedelson Sports Editor

Heading into this year, the Yorktown swim team had to answer a lot of questions. Questions about their new coach, their youth and their size were all prevalent in the preseason.

Despite all of these challenges, the swim team was able to overcome them, finish with a 6-5 record in the regular season. The Huskers only had two seniors on the roster this season yet leadership was not an issue, even with first year head coach Tara Chillemi. Although they were just over .500, Yorktown was consistent, and continued to improve over the course of the season.

Senior captain Taylor Palumbo said, “The season has been great so far. I think all of us are happy with how we have performed. We remained consistent with our dual meet performance compared to last year, but all of us are happy with how we have been swimming and all members of the team have stepped up and performed at one point or another.”

Both Palumbo and junior Marcel Legros agreed that there wasn’t a single turning point this season, but instead there was a steady progression.

Another challenge for Yorktown was simply the number of bodies that they had. This season, they had an

uncharacteristically small team, with just 12 student-athletes. This was simply another hurdle that the swim team jumped.

“

...all members of the team have stepped up and performed at one point or another.”

-Taylor Palumbo ‘13

“Our biggest challenge this year has probably been our size,” Palumbo said. “If any person is missing at a meet, can’t fill every spot. At the end of the day we don’t worry too much about our size, we just go out and perform.”

In the six meets that the team won, size was evidently not an issue. The Lakeland/Panas/Putnam Valley team is about four times the size of Yorktown’s team, yet Yorktown defeated them in the regular season and at divisionals.

“We don’t have the biggest team in the league,” Legros said. “But I think we’ve all been able to overcome

sports 27 that with hard work. We had a small team, and that meant we all had to step up and do what had to be done to win.”

The three main reasons that Yorktown has been able to stay afloat this year are Palumbo, Legros, and senior Andrew DeCoursey. Although the Huskers only have two seniors, they have risen to the occasion as veterans on the team. Legros has also been a top competitor this season.

Palumbo is one of Legros’s biggest supporters. “Marcel has really been our most consistent performer in the water this year. Pretty much anytime he enters the water he comes out victorious,” Palumbo said.

Another key for success this year has been the leadership of Chillemi. Many times first year head coaches flop under the pressure of the varsity level, however Chillemi has done the opposite. She has received praise from many members on the team, including Palumbo.

“Coach Chillemi has been wonderful this year. She has been instrumental to our success this year. The swimmers have benefitted a lot under her guidance and the team is certainly in good hands with her in charge.”

The Yorktown swim team has faced numerous challenges this season, yet they overcame them and finished the year with a respectable record. Nothing fazed this team, and they have proved their resiliency.

One Year and One Sectional Berth Taylor Drysdale

also picked up their game. The Huskers have won more games this year than in the previous two years combined.

Determined not to repeat the past, the Yorktown Girls The key to success? “We’ve grown really close and Basketball team is laying down the foundation for a suchave worked hard to get wins and are very excited that we cessful future. Coming off a disappointing 2-16 season last qualified for sectionals,” said Katie Torres. On January 24, year, the Lady Huskers really had nothing to lose. A new the team won their fifth game and has earned a chance to coach and some fresh faces though seem to be just what play for the title for the first time in almost five years. the team needed to get out of a slump and on their way to The talent on the team is obvious. Starting center a winning season.

Lauren Sackett, sets high standards, literally. Standing at Enter Kevin Clark, the first year head coach of the 6’1 with her shoes on, she dominates the paint with swift Girls Varsity Basketball team. Clark is no stranger to girls’ moves to the basket and the ability to simply reach up and basketball having previously coached at James Madison toss the ball into the hoop.

High School in Brooklyn. He incorporates team bonding On the other end of the spectrum starting point guard, opportunities such as the way the players point to the perSarah Bonner, might only be 5’4, but those 64” pack some son who passed them the ball after making a shot. Small punch. Her quick maneuvers and strong finish are keys to things like this have really brought the team together both the fluidity of the team. on and off the court.

Kelly Donnellan starts as the team’s shooting guard After graduating the starting five, the five returning and might just be the most aggressive one out there. Don’t players, senior Jen Burke, sophomores Kelly Donnellan, let the kick back of her foot fool you, she can take you to Taylor Drysdale, Taryn Horgan and Katie Torres really the basket each and every time in the blink of an eye. had to step it up. The new players, juniors Talia Bonner, Taryn Horgan plays the power forward spot and takes Megan Carney and Lauren Sackett as well as the freshthe power part quite seriously. She is full of speed and has men, Sarah Bonner, Steph Ragusa and Ashley Stilo have the ability to swat the ball out of your hands so far it rolls right out of the gym.

ARBINA CAMAJ Finally, as the only senior and one of the two captains, Jen Burke rounds out the starting five as the small forward.

Her shot is deadly from anywhere and her hustle is worth mentioning.

A successful team such as this doesn’t always waltz into a gym and just play. Hard work and dedication are the fuel behind the fire.

The team practices almost every day and works on shooting, game strategy and plays. WatchSECTIONAL BOUND: The Clark-era has gotten off to a bang, with five wins in year one. ing film of previous Staff Writer

games is also a useful technique that helps players see their mistakes so they can improve on them. Film is also an opportunity for laughter as there are many humorous moments in the ARBINA CAMAJ sport.

Pe r s e ve r ance is also the name of the game for this team of underdogs. In the very first game of the season the Huskers came from behind to defeat Roy C. Ketcham 47-44. This got the ball rolling and the team has gone on to beat Pawling, Yonkers, Putnam Valley and Walter Pa- AIMING HIGH: Junior captain Lauren nas.

Sackett has been an integral part of the It is Huskers success this year. still obvious that the number of losses does exceed the number of wins.

That is what you can tell by the record, but if you look at the scores you would see something quite different. This team has not given up once this season. They have done enough good things in each game to win, but unfortunately don’t always come out on top. That tells a lot about the character of this group though.

Losing to a team such as Lakeland by fourteen points, one game and then only by two the next, proves that quitting is not a thought on anyone’s mind. Even after losing two players to injury, nobody ever gave up. This might have to do with the desperation to prove themselves after being overlooked for quite some time.

All in all, the team is filled with energy, talent and has the expectation of winning many more basketball games. There is no doubt they will continue to improve and never quit in the process. Like coach Clark always says, “The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.”

28

sports

The Voice

FEBRUARY 2013

Barely Skating By Kaitlyn Colgan Staff Writer

MSGVARSITY.COM

MSGVARSITY.COM

While the NHL experienced a lockout, all eyes turned to the Yorktown Varsity Hockey Team. After a great season last year, making it all the way to the quarterfinals, there was a lot of hope and anticipation that this season would bring even more success for Yorktown Ice Hockey.

Although the team got off to a rough start this season, struggling after losing some of their finest players to graduation last year, Yorktown has been able to take down some of their toughest rivals. They are an especially young team, including eighth grader Sepp Boeschl, with only one senior Gunnar Boeschl. Captains’ Gunnar Boeschl, and juniors Adam Greene and Tyler Proscia have led the way for the Huskers.

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der the helmets. However, Perry and Drezek have more than proved that they deserve their spots on the team and have been two very strong players on the team. The girls themselves have no problem playing in a male dominated sport, and see no difference between them and their teammates, they just love the sport.

The Huskers are still looking to make this season the best that they can, and although they might not have the

SLOW AND STEADY: Despite a slow start, the Huskers have won some big games towards the end of the season, thanks to sophomore Frank Gavigan (left) and freshman Patrick Sullivan (above). record they would like to, they go into every game with the attitude they can and will win. The upside of having a young team is having plenty of promising underclassmen looking to return this year, continuing to work on their skills to play the best game that they can. So while this season might end without a championship, Yorktown Ice Hockey will continue to look ahead, towards the future and perhaps have success in the coming years.

Lazy practice, lazy play” - Coach Fritsche

Coach Bob Fritsche, who has coached the team for the last three seasons, is constantly pushing his team to get better. His motto “Lazy practice, lazy play” is costantly recited by the team and offers them motivation to be the best they can be at every practice and at every game. He hopes to instill in his players that they have to work hard to see positive results. He believes winning does not come easy, but with hard work and dedication it can be achieved. Although the team has a lot of talent, one area of improvement, could be their defensive play.

Which school would they like to take down the most?

Lakeland / Panas and Mahopac, are the top rivals, but they have both been tough competitors this year. And while ice hockey may not be one of the most popular sports at YHS, after weeks of being out represented by other schools, the Crop has begun packing the bleachers, sharing their support for the team, which has been a new motivator for the team. It has been noted that some of their best played games have been with the support of their school.

Additionally, a lot of attention this year has been brought to the fact that Yorktown has two female players on the team, sophomore Isabel Perry and freshman Madison Drezek. And while most people think that it is awesome for girls to be playing on a boy’s ice hockey team at a high school level, there are always a few parents from the other team who are shocked to see the ponytails un-

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GROWING PAINS: Yorktown has rotated goalies this season between freshman Madison Drezek and sophomore Steven Pupczyk (pictured above).