thelaureateinside

December 2010

volume XXVIII: issue three

news 2-4editorials 6-8

a&e 10-13

sports 18-19jff 16-17

centerspread 14-15

features 20-23in the wry 24-26

a student publication of Lassiter High School.

news

editorials

sports

features

Body-scans too intrusive?

What’s Happening?Hats Off!

Facebook:

How far is too far?

Tobacco use out of control

spectators in New York City would ad-mit some of the same as they realized, that our band, the Lassiter Marching Band, was in the one and only Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Ever since May 8 of last year, when four drum majors dragged out a flaming red banner at the Mable House Spring Concert that announced Lassiter’s participation in the 2010 pa-rade, the buzz of excitement has been nonstop. Through a bitter cold Novem-ber practice, Brittany Pietsch, 9, com-

mented, “I’ve been counting down since day 300. I am so ready for this.” Rehearsals for the parade be-gan in early November, focusing on te-dious periods of marching two and a half miles (the parade length) and rep-etitions of the nationally-broadcasted performance on the parking-lot field. “This will be the third time Lassiter has participated in the Macy’s parade,” said Mr. Watkins, director of the band

It’s still a little hard to digest, but it’s the truth: NBC broadcasted a full minute-and-a-half of our school on national television at one of the most spectacular parades in the country. Watchers in Marietta, by several ac-counts, hollered at the TV screen while jumping up and down as the Black Eyed Peas and the white coats of the Marching Trojans filled Herald Square;

renee puvvadastaff writer

continued on page 2

Is the flu shot really worth it?

LHS student goes to DC rally!

courtesy of robert jones

NYC The band had the chance of a lifetime to march in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York.

12/14-17 Finals week12/18- 1/2 Winter break12/26- 1/1 Kwanza1/3- Teacher workday 1/5- Wrestling @ Marietta

Adam Dowell leads basketball team to

victory over Kell with the help of a

stunning slam dunk.

A March at Macy’s

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52%

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6%

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7%

don’t know

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lhslhsnews 2page

renee puvvadastaff writer Long queues of people ea-gerly waiting to cast their ballots on November 2nd at Lassiter weren’t the only ones who brought forth sudden political changes in Georgia this month. While the race for gov-ernor was won by Nathan Deal, and Senator Johnny Isakson, among oth-ers, was voted into office, there has been great talk about the recent Re-publican sweep across Georgia that came from the hands of the voters. After Republican Nathan Deal won the governorship ahead of Democrat Roy Barnes and Libertarian John Monds, bloggers and pollsters began tracking the party’s progress. They noticed that different officials, including members of Georgia’s Gen-eral Assembly, joined the Republican caucus even after the November 2nd elections. This spells anxiety for the Liberals and the Democrats, who hoped November 2nd would be the last day of a predominantly Republi-can Georgia. Zac Littke-Smith, 9, whose family is very liberal, comments, “There was a power outage in my house the day after the elections. My mom said, ‘I bet the Republicans were behind that power loss.’” Despite all of this, Georgia’s Democratic leader Robert Brown said on a WABE newscast that, “...there are indicators that the Demo-cratic Party in Georgia is far from dead.” While there are plenty of is-sues that both parties disagree on, mutual viewpoints rest upon things like religious liberty and immigration, some key issues of Nathan Deal’s campaign. Deal, a member of the Re-publican Party, changed parties from the Democrats in 1995. After re-signing from his Congressional seat to focus on his election campaign in early 2010, he stood for improv-ing our state’s economy by creating jobs and cutting furloughs, creating an Arizona-style law on immigra-tion, and improving transportation throughout Georgia. Students at Las-siter will await Deal’s reforms on our state’s education, in which he plans to give more power to the locals and therefore provide more flexibility for schools and teachers.

A European Thanksgiving

continued from front page...at Lassiter. “The drill work is the same as in 2004 and in 1999, the other two times we were in the parade.” Eight coach buses, packed full of 280 band kids and a nervous Dr. Richie, headed for New York the Sunday before Thanksgiving to spend three days in the city before the pa-rade, making four days in all. For many of the students like Addie Caldwell, 11, and Joey Hettinger, 11, it was the first time in the NYC. “I learned a lot about the city I never would have guessed about New York. Just the architecture and buildings were outstanding alone,” Joey said.

The Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Thanksgiving were jam-packed with sightseeing, guided tours, and musical shows. The eve-ning before Thanksgiving, Mr. Watkins called for a meeting before what he considers “even better than winning a National Championship” to remind the band of the depth of being in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, 2010. “It was one of those days you know you are going to remember for the rest of your life,” comments drum major Megan Edwards, 12. The crowds, the balloons, and the pure excitement in the air propelled the band through

the streets of New York City as they played the Black Eyed Peas, “Thriller,” and “Land of a Thousand Dances” for what felt like, “the overall happiness of everyone,” says Addie Caldwell. “It simply left you with a good spirit.” While the memories of the event are hidden behind a turkey leg and a slice of pumpkin pie during a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner that evening, Mr. Watkins said, “I hope the participants leave New York with warm hearts and a story to tell their chil-dren. If anything, being in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is something to be very thankful for.”

natalie kietaeditorials editor The prestigious Lassiter cho-rus was invited to Prague and Vienna of the Czech Republic and Austria. This trip, lasting the full week of Thanksgiv-ing break, was the opportunity of a lifetime. Of those who got the chance to participate, none were disappoint-ed with the experience. The week’s agenda was jam packed with differ-ent activities, some of which included touring the city and performing 5 dif-ferent shows for schools in Vienna. The chorus sang at a festival called the Vienna Advent. They were also invited to lunch by the Mayor at the City Hall where a chorus sang Jeff Buckley’s “Hallelujah.” There were some things that these Lassiter stu-dents were not accustomed to, par-ticularly the weather. It was twenty

degrees, windy, and it snowed three times dur-ing their stay, although the roads never got icy. An-other thing that took the Americans by surprise was the lack of free refills. It was certainly strange to spend Thanks-giving far from home, but according to Alex Lilly, “It didn’t even feel like Thanksgiving.” At their ho-tel, they ate an attempted Thanksgiving feast of po-tatoes, turkey (or rather some sort of mystery meat), and cranberry sauce. While they did miss out on some things that are part of our tra-ditions, they made memories that will never be forgotten. Evan Macie

received much attention from the teenage girls in Prague and Vienna because of his Justin Bieber-like appearance. Lexi Croft, Stephen Gorbachov, Zoe Kakou, Beka Miller, Anna Young, and Logan Brafford also experienced an trip that left them all speechless. While the Lassiter students were innocently sitting at Starbucks one morning, a group of women came into the store holding up Christmas tree branches and be-gan to hand them to the students. It seemed like a nice gesture until they started aggressively demand-ing one euro for each branch. The women began reaching into the stu-dents’ purses and pockets searching for more and more money. Afterthe women got what they wanted, they left. Everyone looked at each other and then asked “...did we just

get robbed?” The remainder of the trip went more according to plan as the group visited Czesky Krumlov, a scenic little city in the mountains between Prague and Vienna; visited numerous huge churches, went to Melk Abbey, a beautiful and famous monastery, and even took Viennese Waltz classes, dur-ing which they learned that some stu-dents were clearly more coordinated than others. When asked what their least favorite part of the trip was, Anna Young, Beka Miller, and Alex Lilly re-plied that it was either the extremely long mass at St. Peter’s church or the Staatsoper Opera. The seating arrange-ments were not ideal; everyone was standing for hours and it was crowded. Even though these two events were not the best, it was a huge success over-all. Memories were made, thousands of photos were taken, and friendships were strengthened. Thanksgiving al-ways seems to bring people together, and that’s what the Chorus trip did for the students who were lucky enough to participate.

P liticalchanges

Courtesy of myka murphy

Beauty The chorus visited a mountain city called Czesky Krumlov.

AweThe Czesky Krumlov tower was

the most beautiful thing the students saw.

courtesy of myka murphy

continued on page 2

Did

You Know?

3page 2

This exceptional new venue is to be located where the current tennis courts are. These will be moved onto the practice field next to the band building and across from the baseball fields. The front will be covered with glass and will be facing the main entrance of the school. Con-struction is set to begin in the Spring of 2011 and should be completed sometime during 2012.

Along with the new theatre, the school will be undergoing other major renovations funded by SPLOST III. The cafeteria and kitchens will be remodeled to include a fresh painting, new ceiling tiles, and a sparkling new floor. The media center will be modified, the parking lots will be repaved, and vari-ous sports lighting equipment will be replaced or modified. This new auditorium will be an excellent house to various organizations. Keep in mind that this will be in addition to the theatre already located inside the school, which means that Lassiter will have two venues for the performing arts. The new auditorium will be a beautiful addition to Lassiter that should prove beneficial to all students.

MakeoverLassiter Edition

Extreme

Aerial Shot

compiled by julia regeski

Because of the increasing success of Lassiter’s fine arts programs, a new auditorium is cur-rently in the works to serve all the performing Trojans. This new addition to Lassiter will provide a venue for numerous events to be hosted here at the school. “The performing arts building is going to be a great performancearea for our campus,” says Dr. Richie. “Finally, it’s going to allow us to be able to host chorus, orchestra, and band concerts at Lassiter. All three organizations outgrew our 500 seat theater a long time ago. We are also going to be able to host county-wide musical events that in the past schools on the east side of the county would have had to have traveled to McEachern to perform in.”

The Czech Republic is one of the least religious countries in the world. According to a 2005 Eurobarometer Poll, only 19% of the population indicated that they believe in God.

litical

photos courtesy of chapman griffin lanier sussenbach architects, inc.

lhs4page news

teacher or employee.” Administrative Rule IJNDB, concerning the use of tech-nology resources in instruction, states that employee-created web pages and blogs must be focused on educational purposes. For this reason, Facebook is blocked on CCSD servers. Teachers should use Facebook at their own discretion, as there is no feasible way for Lassiter or the CCSD to control teacher-student communi-cation outside the school setting. Dr. Richie commented, “We live in a large metro area; people are going to see me around, I can’t hide. I’ve lived here for 10 years.” Our anonymous contributor stands by her online page. “You’re not going to see pictures of me doing any-thing illegal or immoral. My photos are pure family, friends, and scenery from vacations.” In light of these controversies, Lassiter senior Cate Brooks believes that ‘Friending’ teachers truly depends on personal preference. “Being friends with teachers we relate well to gives them the chance to be really involved in our lives.” Mr. Mury, Conceptual Physics teacher and prom coordinator, has a separate Facebook account for Las-siter students. His teacher page allows students the opportunity to post ques-tions concerning recommendation let-ters or events such as prom. He is wary of the relationships between teachers and students on Facebook, “I do think that it is inappropriate, especially for male teachers, to be friends with cur-rent students on a personal Facebook account. I am an adult and my person-

Facebook, the most popular social networking site in the world with 500,000,000 people and counting, has one mission: “To give people the pow-er to share and make the world more open and connected.” With constantly streaming status updates, wall posts, photo additions, friend requests, and group pages, even the strictest use of privacy controls leaves an individual publicly open. What happens when the personal online lives of students and teachers clash? One teacher, preferring to speak anonymously, is an avid Fa-cebook user with Lassiter students, but has an interesting perspective on where to draw the line. She com-ments, “I am never friends with cur-rent students. I am, however, friends with former students. I only friend stu-dents with whom I have a really good rapport. Knock on wood; I have never made a bad choice.” Unfortunately, the same can-not be said for numerous teachers now out of a job. Ashley Payne, an English teacher in Barrow County, was recent-ly fired because of pictures she posted while on a summer trip in Europe that showed her drinking an alcoholic bev-erage. The alarming fact is she was not even friends with any students, former or current. Doug Goodwin of the Cobb County School District’s (CCSD) Com-munications Office explains that there is no direct policy forbidding personal contacts with current students, “Any employee’s private use of the service, or any other similar service, is pe-ripheral to his or her duties as a CCSD

al life really isn’t any of my students’ business. I believe that most students would think that we are on equal foot-ing if I ‘friended’ them through my real Facebook page.” “Being appropriate with stu-dents is a constant concern in con-temporary education,” explains Mr. Thompson of the English Department. He, too, keeps a separate teacher Fa-cebook account because elements of his private account, including friend posts he cannot control, would be in-appropriate in the school setting. Also on his plate at Lassiter are clubs such as Yearbook and BETA, and “In addi-tion to class and meetings, Facebook is the most effective communication tool.” Mr. Goodwin comments on alternative forms of communication. He says “The District provides sev-eral means for teachers and students to interact outside of the classroom, including email and server space for classroom blogs.” However controversial it may be, Facebook undoubtedly opens the doors of the past. According to one proactive Lassiter teacher, ‘friending’ former students is well worth any risk, “My favorite is when students from long ago find me and give me an up-date on their lives. I love tracking their careers, seeing pictures of their fami-lies, and hearing about their adven-tures in life.” For Mr. Thompson, policy and choice are related, “As in most situa-tions, it is up to the teacher to use pro-fessional discretion and make the right choice for their students.”

cory shaw

editor-in-chief

Where should the line between students and teachers be drawn?

Teachers and facebook

4

Happy Holidays!

lhseditorials 6page

This semester, I was enrolled at Kennesaw State University though the Dual-Enrollment Honors Program (DEHP). Every Tuesday and Thursday, I carpooled with part-time KSU student Olivia Sewak and full-time student Carrie Fincannon. Per Georgia Board of Educa-tion Rule 160-4-2-34 and equivalent measures by the Cobb County School District, students must take at least five courses per semester. These courses can be divided up at a DEHP University and Lassiter in any which way. Juniors or seniors can choose whether to take part-time of full-time classes as KSU. Full-time means 12 to 17 semester hours of academic credit (four to five classes). Part-time students take less than 12. The first class I took at KSU was Political Science (in high school they call it Government) and it’s taught by a judge. It was the first day of class and the first thing he said was “I am a judge. I put people in jail for a living. Don’t try anything on me.” It was a bit sarcastic, obviously, but that’s when I knew this was an experience worth trying. Then it was off to English Com-position 1102. It was a diverse group of people, ranging from high school students to senior citizens. (I am using past-tense because

all classes were done at the beginning of the month.) Junior Brittany Gottfried took two classes at KSU and five at Lassiter. She says “I am appreciative of the col-lege credit I will already have when I apply to schools. Plus, it has helped my

transition. I know what’s expected of me.” What’s unmatched with the DEHP program is the experience. You learn the intricacies of college life. Responsibility is the key. Time-man-agement is important, too. To use

my schedule as an example, I went to KSU every Tuesday and Thursday from 8-10:45 am. Monday thru Friday I had three classes at Lassiter starting fourth period. So, three days per week I was not required to be anywhere until that time. My mom said “Just because

there aren’t five classes a week, doesn’t mean there isn’t work to be done five days a week.” Or so she commented. Carrie Fincannon is a full-time DEHP student. She takes four college

KSU’s Dual-Enrollment Honors Programclasses, one of which is hybrid, mean-ing half online and half class-oriented. “Besides the hectic parking troubles, classes are easy and lack traditional busy work,” she comments. Equivalent Advanced Place-ment classes do more than prepare

Lassiter students for comparable introductory or Freshman-level col-lege classes. They are more chal-lenging than KSU. I got college credit once I passed the class. You “AP’ers” have to pass a single test. And in the case of Government and Economy, you may have to wait a semester before taking it. What students in full-year AP classes do for an entire year, I got credit for less than 30 to-tal classes. For you math wizards, that’s six times the number of class-es for the same number of credits. Students at Lassiter taking multiple AP tests will pay more too, because the program uses $150 worth of HOPE credit. Also, per Cobb County Policy Administrative Rule LBD, stu-dents taking a higher level college class than what is offered at the ac-companying high school receive an extra quality point in their GPA. The bottom line is KSU gives you the chance to experience col-lege without the daily rigors of an AP course. Go for the experience and nothing more.Part-time KSU

student Olivia Sewak has loved Ken-nesaw. “I never thought about ever really applying there once I graduated, but now I have applied as an alternate choice to the other expensive colleges that are far away,” she remarks.

cory

shaw

“I usually end up hearing Christmas music before I’ve even finished eat-ing all my Halloween candy,” claims Samantha Bayer, junior. This is a result of people kicking into Holiday sea-son before it starts. People are totally jumping the gun on the whole Christ-mas and holiday thing. And in doing so, they kind of miss the point of the holidays. People start to celebrate the holidays way too early nowadays and it has some pretty significant conse-

quences. Stores are a big factor in the start-ing date of the holiday season. They start selling Halloween items on Oc-tober 1, which I can understand, and then bring in the Christmas retail on November 1st, which I think is crazy. There are 55 days between Novem-ber 1st and Christmas, not to mention Thanksgiving. As my sister pointed out, we could go buy a pumpkin to carve for Hallow-een and then drive across the street to buy our ornaments on the same day. That is ridiculous. Stores place a few to-ken Christmas items in strategic points throughout their Halloween merchan-dise to get people thinking and then bring in the whole supply when the

Halloween retail goes on clearance. Those things shouldn’t even be in the store together at the same time. What people don’t realize is what happens as a result of holiday celebra-tions starting too early. The hype build-ing up to Christmas is so huge, that there is a big letdown after the big day. People are so consumed with getting everything ready and absolutely per-fect for that one day or those couple of days that when everything is over, they sometimes go into a depression of sorts. People lose sight of what the holi-days are really about. They are about being kind, giving thanks, and being with family. They make people happy. They make people get along. Most

people become giddy just thinking about the holidays, but as they get closer and closer they start to dread the days after. That one day or that one week doesn’t mark the end of the happiness. It should be looked at as a beginning. The days after are a contin-uation, not a descent. It seems that each year the holi-day season starts earlier and earlier. It makes me think that pretty soon stores will start putting out Christmas items in July. It’s important to take each holiday one at a time and to keep in mind the purpose of the holidays. So don’t get caught up in the hype too early and re-member to spread the joy beyond the holiday season.

Christmas festivities in July samantha

weissert

Studious The dual enrollment gives students the best of both worlds, and they are able to get a sneak preview of college life.

cory shaw

The Laureate Staff2010-2011

Editors-in-ChiefSkye RubelCory Shaw

News EditorAnnabel Edwards

Editorials EditorNatalie Kieta

A&E EditorKatie Hayes

JFF EditorJulia Regeski

Centerspread Editor Mary Ann Staak

Features EditorLindsay Hopkins

Comedy EditorTyler Molinaro

Sports EditorJack Herman

Staff Writers

AdvisorMr. Todd Henry

The Laureate is a student publication of Lassiter High School; a member of the Georgia Scholastic Press As-sociation. Editorials reflect the opin-ions of individual writers and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Lassiter High School, Cobb County Schools, or their administrators. Fi-nancial support for The Laureate is obtained through advertising and subscription sales, and generous pa-tron contributions.

Lassiter High School2601 Shallowford Road

Marietta, Georgia 30066(678) 494-7863

lhspress@gmail.comissuu.com/lhspress

Laura BrinkJeff Ciesielski

Vince GonzalezAustin HayesWill Morris

Colleen PurdyRenee Puvvada

Samantha Weissert

Over a period of 30 years, between 1976 and 2006, estimates of flu-associated deaths range from a low of about 3,000 a year to a high of about 49,000 people a year.

Did

You Know?

7page

If you are one of the many people terrified of needles you may feel the strong urge to opt out of vac-cinating. Lucky for you, the influenza shot is not the only way to keep the flu out. Now doctors are offering the easy and painless attenuated vaccina-tion that is sprayed into your nose. I received the attenuated vaccination only yesterday and, Girl Scout’s honor.It is one hundred and ten percent pain-less and takes a matter of a mere three seconds. Will has accurately pointed out that some of our immune systems are completely capable of fighting off the flu without any assistance. How-ever, there are elderly people and children who are either too young or too fragile to fight the flu or even get a vaccination. When you cough, sneeze, or come in contact with these people, you are immediately putting them at risk for a disease they cannot handle. You are also stuck with it yourself. Congratulations, your body can cor-rect its own illness but you’re still sick for a minimum of a week or more and the whole time you are putting people around you in danger of catching the flu. The flu bug usually strikes be-tween November and May. (Hey! It’s between November and May right now!) If your excuse is you hate shots, get an attenuated nose spray. If you’re excuse is health risk…Why would your doctor recommend so heartily some-thing that is bad for your health? That doesn’t make much sense to me. The possible side-effects mentioned by my comrade are all extremely, extremely rare and it’s more likely you will catch the flu without the shot than it is likely you would experience the side-effects with it. Getting vaccinated prevents you from catching the flu and rescues friends and family from infection. It is much better to stop the train before it arrives than to wait and see if you sur-vive the hit.

Before I go into this contro-versial topic, I must legally say that I am not and do not claim to be a medi-cal doctor, despite being a sexy nurse for Halloween last year. With that in mind, the decision to get a flu shot is one that you should make on an in-formed basis. To do this, you patients need the facts. Flu shots are meant to prevent influenza. And by prevent, I mean re-duce your chances of catching influ-enza by about 25%. The shot contains a small amount of dead flu virus that is not meant to infect the patient, but instead strengthen their immune sys-tem. The problem with this process is that the virus mutates, meaning there is a chance you can get the flu right af-ter your shot. Why give yourself a shot at catching the very illness you’re try-ing to avoid? The after-effects of the shot are another concern. The flu shot con-tains a small amount of mercury, an element that has been proven harm-ful to the brain. Research shows that with 5 consecutive flu shots, a person’s chances of getting Alzheimer’s disease is 10 times more likely. On top of that, the flu shot contains small traces of cancer viruses. An incredibly small trace, yes, but still a risk. However, there is a circum-stance in which a flu shot is advised. If your immune system is incapable of recovering from an influenza infection normally, this shot could be what you need. Aside from all the drawbacks, the whole idea seems ridiculous. A shot for a disease that your body is capable of defending itself against is pointless. Don’t fix what isn’t broken. It’s like lowering the rim for LeBron James to dunk. You’d be crazy to think he needs the extra help. I say if you are healthy to begin with, the $20 charge and health risks that can follow are burdens you can afford to miss.

Issue:It’s flu season again and Las-

siter students are confronted with the dilemma of whether or not

to get a flu shot. Laura and Will can help you

make a more educated

decision.

orFlu shot

notlaura

brinkwill

morris

lhs8page editorials

Lights, camera, redo! These days it seems that Hollywood has hit a dry spot in its creativity. It appears a big chunk of the movies coming into the-atres lately are remakes or sequels. Clash of the Titans, The Karate Kid, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Piranha, and Dinner for Schmucks are just a few of the remakes that have come out this year. Some were good, some were ok, and some were terribly disappointing. However, there must be enough of a success rate because there are even more in the works such as True Grit and Footloose. Is anybody else ready for some new material? On a scale from one to ten, I’d probably have to give the Hollywood

writers about a six. They earn some points for the few good original mov-ies that have come out and do receive some credit for twisting some of these remakes to make them a little differ-ent than the original, but some serious points are docked for the abundance of old ideas. Thing is, it’s not just the writ-ers who are to blame for the remakes, but also the big producers. It’s a mon-ey game for a lot of them and they try to recreate something that’s worked in the past. Another issue is the way people re-act to remakes. “I don’t like it when they mess with my favorites,” claims Sarah Williford, 11. Some people be-lieve that classics should never be re-made. They have such an ideal view of the way some of their favorites were made that it’s hard to please them with a remake. The key ingredients are the actors. Sometimes you need to go

Hollywood’s creativity running drysamantha

weissert

with unknowns in a remake because big names are more likely to receive criticism if the film isnot done well. For example, Jeff Bridges has some big shoes to fill in True Grit. Either he does the same outstanding job of the John Wayne version or he takes a whole new spin on things. Any way you look at it, a re-make is not a new idea. As for me, I’m still waiting for that breath of new life to create a new classic.

When did you find outSANTA

wasn’t real?He IS Real

After 6th

5th-6th grade

3rd-4th grade

1st-2nd grade

Pre-K & Kindergarten

0 5 10 15 20

10%

17%

28%

22%

8%

15%

There arecurrently75movieremakesIN THE WORKS

compiled by natalie kieta

8

There arecurrently75movieremakesIN THE WORKS

lhsa&e 10page

Hagri

d Many Lassiter students were tired after watching Harry Potter 7, Part 1 at midnight!

Hogwarts At LassiterDumbledore

Dr. Richie

ProfessorMcGonagall

ProfessorSprout

Mrs.Helms

Mr. Henry

Madame Pomfrey

Mrs. N

elsenTrelawney

Seno

ra H

otle

mary ann staakcenterspread

editor

Mrs. Nichols

10 11page

As of December 5th, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 has made $244,519,116.Did

You Know?

Ties, graduation robes, taped glasses, and sticks made up many of the Potter fanatics’ outfits on the long-awaited night of the movie’s release. Fans began arriving at the movie up to three hours before the midnight pre-mier in anticipation of the final chapter of J.K. Rowling’s novels. My friends and I arrived at the movie about an hour and a half before the start, armed with government study guides and home-work in preparation for the long wait.

Truth be told, none of us are extreme Harry Potter fans, so we were very shocked by the intensity of some of the self-proclaimed witches and wizards. Merely a couple of steps in the door, we were greeted by duel-ing fans, decked out in their HP at-tire. At about thirty minutes until midnight, one crazed fanatic began counting down every five minutes. Taylor Bradley took part in this experi-ence and claims, “I will never be the same, HP4L.” The excitement of the crowd and the energy they created really made the movie even better.

The movie itself was way better than I had expected. It was action-packed and had me sitting on edge the entire time. Harry Pot-ter and the Deathly Hallows Part One will have you screaming, crying, and laughing…all at the same time. Having not read the Potter books, I had no idea what to expect from this movie, but for senior, Michael Ander-son, it was a different experience. He says, “I was a little disappointed at some points, thinking they would be more shocking and scary than they were in the movie, but overall it was

amazing.” Seeing the movie with such intense fans really got me into the movie. Never thinking I would sink so low, I found myself at one point cheer-ing for Harry Potter. The midnight pre-mier was an amazing experience and I cannot wait to do it again for Part Two.

COMING SOONLocated in the Home

Depot shopping centre next to Paradise South

of the Border

Magic Katie Hayes, Michael Anderson, Marissa Taylor, Natalie Bishop, and Taylor Bradley dressed up on the night of the premier.

katie hayesa&e editor

Many Lassiter students were tired after watching Harry Potter 7, Part 1 at midnight!

Trelawney

Harry Potter premier: well worth the wait

courtesy of marissa taylor

79%of Lassiter students who

attended the premier were satisfied with the movie.

lhsa&e 12page

Davey Stone, a 33-year old party animal, finds himself in trouble with the law after his wild ways go too far. Because it is the holi-day season, though, the judge gives Davey one last chance-spend the holiday doing com-munity service as an assistant

referee for the youth basketball league. Davey thinks he’s gotten off easy until he meets Whitey Duvall, the eccentric, elf-like

head referee. Senior, Brian Leiti says, “It’s probably the funniest Chanukah movie I’ve ever seen.”

Every year, we fall in love with Charlie Brown’s sad little Christmas tree all over again. As in most of Charles Schulz’s Peanuts

stories, Charlie Brown takes center stage. He is troubled by the over-commercializa-tion of Christmas while the rest of the gang happily col-lects toys and shiny things.

Originally a prime time TV special, this endearing

animated feature is only 25 minutes long, but its time-less storyline and charming style keep you glued to the

TV year after year.

est holiday movies

Charlie Brown Christmas

After finding Santa Claus on his roof and inadvertent-ly injuring him and causing him to disappear into thin air, Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) must put on the left-behind Santa suit and take over Santa’s duties. Accompanied by his 6-year-old son Charlie (Eric Lloyd), Scott goes around the town delivering gifts and even visits the North Pole. He dismisses it as a dream when he wakes up in his bed on Christmas Day even though he is wearing pajamas monogrammed with “SC.” But Scott can’t deny his new job when he really begins transforming into Santa—with the white hair, white beard, significant weight gain, and cravings for Christmas treats like cookies and hot cocoa. Trouble ensues when his ex-wife (Wendy Crewson), be-lieving that he is insane, has his visitation rights taken away, and Scott has to find a way to prove he isn’t crazy

and that he really is Santa.

katie hayes/ a&e editor

movies.com

tf.org

Mrs. Nelsen

Buddy Hobbs (Will Ferrell) is a human raised by elves at the North Pole and starts to realize something is up when

he grows to be over twice the size of the other elves. Upon figuring out that he is not an elf, he leaves to find his real father, Walter Hobbs (James Caan), in New York City. On a grand adventure, he finds that his father is “on the naughty list” and living in a city completely lacking in Christmas spirit. Buddy sets out to save Christ-mas and win over his family. Senior

Ansley Astuto says of Elf, “That is my favorite movie of all time and I watch

it year round.”

B

12 13page

The new Taylor Swift album “Speak Now” sold over a million copies on its first week of release.Did

You Know?

Our girl Taylor Swift continues to stay true to her boy-crazed, self-rever-ential lyrics without which the world would have no designated break up songs and/or gaggles of girls scream-ing the same song over and over again. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. “Speak Now” is classic Taylor: she sings about heartbreak and the simple pleasures of perfect dates. The first single to be released off of this album is aptly titled, “Mine”, which explores the overall creepiness of a girl on a first date who then proceeds to dream about the rest of the couple’s lives- together. While this

song may seem to be a story about true love prevailing over the individual psychotics of some dreamy teenage girl, some believe that this reveals Tay-lor’s true motives and overreaching plans that develop 5 seconds after any romance begins to bloom. The majority of the songs exhibit a sweetness that suc-ceeds in driving hopeless-ro-mantics mad. With lyrics like, “I’m wonderstruck, blushing all the way home, I’ll spend forever wondering if you knew, I was enchanted to meet you,” it’s fairly easy for Ms. Swift to cause mo re than a tiny

twinge of

giddiness in her listeners. These songs fulfill the expected quality of the al-bum. However, songs like “Better

than Revenge” and “Haunt-

ed” give l i sten-

ers a

twist to their pop-princess. These tunes are not the typical sappy, clever-ly-lyriced stuff of magic that has made Taylor the mogul she is today. “Better than Revenge” is a hate song, one di-rected towards some poor, probably embarrassed, ex-boyfriend who clearly choose some other celebrity over Tay-lor. “Haunted” has a melody exactly as the title suggests, as it details the lin-gering essence of some lost love. The album concludes with a reflec-tion of Taylor’s fondest memories of her tour and the people that helped her along the way. “Long Live” is dedi-cated to those who boosted this fear-less star to her spot in the hearts of teenage girls everywhere. “Long Live” is catchy enough to get you humming along quite quickly, and endearing enough to inspire you to act upon those momentous impulses. Overall, Taylor delivers. Her songs are catchy, uplifting, and, in a word, cute, perfect for driving along with the windows down or singing along with your best friends.

julia regeskiJFF editor

Taylor Swift takes Lassiter by storm“Speak Now” brings uplifting and positive vibes into the lives of Lassiter students

Tansey Schoonover, 12Natalie Bishop, 11Mrs. Nelsen

“I love Taylor Swift because she is a

storyteller.”

“The album has a pop flare, unlike

her others.”

“Her songs have been stuck in my

head all day.”

What do you think of Taylor Swift’s new album?

Give the best gifts f the seas nHOW To

for your winter r mance... Give one of the holiday’s most popular gifts to your snow bear: mistletoe.

What’s better than an indoor picnic? Fill a picnic basket with your sweet-heart’s favorite winter treats. Some

suggestions are hot cocoa, chocolate, tree-shaped sugar cookies, candy

canes, and fruitcake.

for your parentsWhen buying gifts for the people who

are most important to you, go for the more expensive gifts. Now is the time to

splurge. Pass over the usual gifts of ties and soap and go for the more meaningful gifts.Surprise your mom by buying her somethingthat would be useful for her kitchen. Listen thenext time your parents mention somethingthey would really like. Some creative ideasare returning to kindergarten and making

a homemade gift. A favorite is making a picture frame and putting in a recent

photo of you and your family.When it comes to buying gifts for your brother(s) and/or sister(s), it’s nice to get something that they may actually use. And you know what they would like or what they would actually use. Don’t buy your brother Eclipse from the Twilight Saga.Don’t buy your sister a copy of Call of Duty: Black Ops. If necessary, tell each other ex-actly what they would prefer under that paper. That way you can be sure to not dis-appoint. If surprise becomes necessary, try to put yourself in his or her shoes and think what you may want as him or her. If this doesn’t help you at all, you may restort to last-minute gifts for the brother or sister.

for your siblings...

SnuggieSockS

When all else fails, go for the standard.Great Last-minute gifts

Give the best gifts f the seas nfor your parents

When buying gifts for the people who are most important to you, go for

the more expensive gifts. Now is the time to splurge. Pass over the usual gifts of ties and

soap and go for the more meaningful gifts.Surprise your mom by buying her somethingthat would be useful for her kitchen. Listen thenext time your parents mention somethingthey would really like. Some creative ideasare returning to kindergarten and making

a homemade gift. A favorite is making a picture frame and putting in a recent

photo of you and your family.

An easy homemade holiday how-to:

SockS

When all else fails, go for the standard.

iTuneS card

gingerbread house

1.

2.

3.

4.

Great Last-minute gifts

co

llee

n purd

y/staff

elf on dVd

2.1.

lhs16page jff

annabel edwardsnews editor

‘Tis the season to be extra jolly! New ways to New Year

3.4.5.

As the holidays draw near, it is easy to become wrapped up in creat-ing the ultimate wish list and finding the perfect things to ask for. Yes, in some ways, the holidays are about get-ting; however it is crucial to remember another important aspect of this time of year: giving. As well as giving the deserving people in your life gifts, con-sider practicing daily random acts of kindness; they will serve as a general gift to society. Leave your change in the vending machine for the next person. Smile at a stranger (and fight off colds while you’re at it; smiling actually boosts your immune system). The next time you go through a drive-through, anonymously pay for the person behind you. When getting off of a long airplane flight, leave the magazine you bought at the airport for the next passenger to find. Let someone cut in front of you the

next time you’re standing in line. Put $10 on a random gas pump. Write something small on a dollar bill that will make people smile. These actions may seem insig-nificant on paper, but in practice, they truly have the power to turn someone’s day around. You never know what a difference an extra $10 of gas money will make for someone, or how much a simple message on a dollar bill could touch a life. The movie Pay It Forward pro-vides a perfect example of what an impact simple gestures can have: “You don’t need much to change the entire world for the better. You can start with the most ordi-nary ingredients.” The only way we can start to change the world for the better is by working with what we’ve got. If we’re capable of small acts of kindness, we can go bigger.

cory shaw

Kindness Leslie Sandors, 10, gets shocked when she finds change.

KLTWKroger, Lowes, Target, and Walmart all have

the most searches for the letters: K, L, T, and W. These results aren’t surprising, as online shop-

ping has become an incredibly powerful tool for company growth.

Gaustin hayesstaff writer

stands for

With one touch of the keyboard, the most famous word in the world will pop up starting with the letter chosen. Some might say these companies are just searched the most, but they are probably the most successful com-panies or people with their corresponding letter. The names range from department stores to teen pop singers.

ECAlso, if you are trying to find to

find some information on eagles or cows, the first thing you will see is the two top online selling websites of eBay and Craigslist.

A JSome upsets in the Google race for the top were Amazon over Ap-ple and Justin Bieber over JCPen-ny. Justin Bieber has really only been known for about a year and yet it is still being searched more often than the high end depart-ment store. Though Apple is not the first to show up in the “A” cat-egory, iTunes still comes up first.

Go for the banana splitEating healthier is probably the most commonly picked choice of resolutions. However, it usually lasts about a day and a half. The problem is people don’t seem to make the right healthy choices. You must be selective and mind-ful of your selections to keep you on track. That is why in 2011, you should skip the brownie sundae and go for the banana split.

Take the carRiding your bike or walking places is so last year. People seem to underestimate the physical value of taking the car. For example, who doesn’t love Chinese fire drills? Red lights no longer mean stop when you’re mid-sprint. Also, next time you gas up, run laps around your car. You might feel weird at first, but it will catch on. If pet rocks became

popular, anything can.2.1.

Did

You Know?

16 17page

New ways to New Year

Lose WaitTime is money. The average person spends five years wait-

ing in lines. Learn to cut.

Rearrange your roomThings seem to just magically “disappear” all the time. Come on guys, we all know they don’t just disappear, the get up and walk away. Track your lost things down. You might be surprised that your lost earring was actually hid-ing under your bed or your remote pitched camp under

your nightstand.

7. 1280 X 1040You know, like a screen resolution.

8. Finish your resolutions from last year.

…or at least try to remember them. A New Year’s reso-lution is something that goes in one year and out the

other.

9. Become more worldlyBonjour. Hola. Ni hao. Guten tag. Namaste. Well there you go. You can now walk down the street in France, Mexico, China, Germany, and India. Check this off your list and go

buy a plane ticket.

“I never really make new year’s resolutions because either they don’t last or I just can’t think of any,” laments Sarah Williford, junior. She’s not the only one who feels this way. If you are having a hard time coming up with a good way to start your new year, well, we can help. Here’s a list of a couple ideas to get you on the right track for 2011:

10. SmileThe easiest one, but sometimes the hardest to remem-

ber.

3.4.5.

6.7.8.9.10. Get a personalized license

plateTHS YR, Y NT MKE DRVNG NTERESTNG? B 1ST R8 WITH A

NU PL8! PPL W1LL B NVS.

Do less laundryThere has been a lot of hype about going green lately. Well, this is the next solution. Cut down on your laundry. A family of five can save thousands of gallons each year. However, doing less laundry is only half the resolution. This year, you must do less laundry and use more deodor-

ant.

Lewis Electrical Contractors...is a proud sponsor of The Laureate

read find=

money

Contest RulesHidden somewhere within this paper is the logo of Lewis Electrical Contractors (shown below). If you are the first one to email laureate@leciga.com with the page number in which it is located, you win $50! Participants must also include

their name and address to receive the check. One entry per person.

compiled by samantha weissert

Holiday Word

Search!Find as many wintery words as

you possibly can!

typepad.com

The most popular New Year’s Resolution is to lose weight, number two is to spend more time with family and friends.

Leslie Sandors, 10, gets shocked when she finds change.

lhssports 18page

jack hermansports editor

With all of today’s precautions being taken in sports, isn’t it time for base-ball to control tobacco use? The NFL has taken action on helmet-to-helmet hits, the MLB tests for anabolic ste-roids along with other illegal substance abuse, now it is time to control the use of smokeless tobacco in baseball. Addictions like this happen all across the country as many players use products such as Skoal or Copenha-gen. Granted, most big name players haven’t been in the news for diseases such as gum cancer, but there have been many occurrences where players like Brett Butler and Bill Tuttle suffer to this day with Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the tonsils, more commonly known as throat cancer. With all of these events oc-curring, the statistics must be alarm-ing, right? Actually, there is some good news. In a recent study done on the Pittsburgh Pirates 2,226 oral examina-tions took place during spring train-ing from 1991-2000. Year one was the worst as about 41% of the players in camp used “dip” (nickname for chew-ing tobacco). But as the awareness grew throughout the camp and spread amongst the players, the Pirates orga-nization decreased from 41% to just

Football season in review

The beginning of the 2010-2011 school year meant several things for Lassiter students: new classes, new teachers, seeing old friends, meeting new friends, and another season of Trojan Football. After an historic 2009 campaign which ended in the state quarterfinals with a 12-1 record, the 2010 Lassiter Trojan football team had high expectations. With a new head coach, a new region, and many new starters, the kind of success the Tro-jans had in ’09 was unlikely. Lassiter’s season began down in Moultrie, Georgia, with a preseason scrimmage against the Colquitt County team that knocked the Trojans out of the state playoffs last year. Colquitt came out on top again, winning 34-24. A week later Lassiter made the trip down I-75 to Atlanta to play the North Gwinnett Bulldogs in the Corky Kell Classic staged at the Georgia Dome. It was an experience many football players will not soon forget, but they wound up losing 34-14. Using their bye week to sort out some kinks, Lassiter had a game much closer to home at Sprayberry.

The Trojans handled the Jackets 27-20 for their first win of the short season. After a heartbreaking home-opener loss to North Cobb 18-14, Lassiter bounced back with a win against old division rival Milton 35-28. In their first taste of their new region, Lassiter faced long-time rival Walton but ended up on the losing end. After a slow 2-3 start, the Trojans scraped together three straight wins against a tough Cherokee team, a not-so-tough Wheeler team, and Marietta. Luckily, Lassiter’s new region only in-cludes seven teams allowing the Tro-jans a playoff spot with five wins. This became neccessary when their next games against Woodstock and Etowah in losses. The season started with North Gwinnett and finished there, too. The Trojans set out to upset the Bulldogs but came up short, losing 56-7. While it was disappointing to send the seniors off with such a disheartening loss, Las-siter showed signs of improvement over the season and next year’s team looks to come back as strong as ever. Sophmore line backer Ryan Gildea said this about the season, “It was a tough season but we really developed. Next year will be big for us in terms of de-velopment.”

jeff ciesielski staff writer

. lassiterfootball.net

Head Coach Jep Irwin is checking his headset pregame.

25% in year 10. Like alcoholics and their alco-hol, tobacco addicts technically aren’t breaking any rules or laws, except for the fact that as they throw one dip in after the next they slowly increase the chances that one day their jaws could be removed. Such was the case with former Major League Baseball player Rick Bender, who is commonly given the nickname “Man without a face”, a title he embraces in hopes that people will see the harmful effects of tobacco use. Like anything, it takes time. Slowly tobacco use has decreased but there is still room to improve. As of to-day, about 15% of high school athletes use tobacco according to another MLB study. As studies continue to show the harmful affects of dip the usage will hopefully decrease. Is that a guar-antee? No. But, like anything, being aware is the key. Hopefully society can work towards cleaning up the sport and keeping tobacco products away from high school athletes. As long as people stay alert and know the harm-ful effects of tobacco, smokeless or not, statistics for this substance hope-fully will decrease. One out of every five deaths in the United States occur due to the use of tobacco, the most easily preventable way to die.

.

Harm Tobacco use leaves players susceptible to mouth cancer.

virtacore.com

Tobacco in baseballStar athletes are setting a bad example

Intensity

Did

You Know?

19page

The ratio for players on the varsity basketball team in comparison to the varsity football team is about 1 to 6.

22the number of

points averaged by the Trojan footballl team

7

total amount of regular season

wins by the Lady Trojans softball

team

3

Lassiter’s total number of seniors in the basketball

program

19

place in which the varsity volleyball

team finised

By the numbersGirls: season of dominationvince gonzalezstaff writer

Girls Cross Country: “It was a great season,” said Marcie Merriman when describing this year’s team, “We really improved and next year I think we’ll do even better.” The 2010 Las-siter Girl’s Cross Country team started the year off with a bang by winning the Covered Bridge Run, defeating schools such as Kell, Roswell, and Sprayberry. After placing third in the Region Tour-nament, the ladies qualified for the state tournament for the first time since 2008. Unfortunately, the team was unable to keep the magic going and placed eleventh in the state meet. One major bright spot this year was Marcie Merriman, who won seven rac-es! Luckily Marcie is only a sophomore and will continue to produce great re-sults and keep Lassiter in state conten-tion for the next two years. Volleyball: “Final Four, Next year more,” exclaimed Sarah Young when asked about this year’s volley-ball season. “It didn’t end the way we wanted it to, but it was still a great sea-son,” said Sarah. This year’s volleyball team was yet again a great success. Af-ter finishing last year in the elite eight rounds of the state tournament the Lassiter team hoped to build off last year’s success. “We lost some strong players. I we also gained talent,” ex-

plained Becca Arndt when comparing last year’s team to this year’s. Becca was this year’s M.V.P. and will return next year to hopefully lead the Trojans to a state championship. Softball: Yet another final four finish was in store for the Trojans this year when the softball team lost a heartbreaker to Brookwood high school. Led by seniors Morgan Fite, Kelsea Ogletree, Sarah Watson, and Rachel Orlandella, the Trojans domi-nated region play and finished the season with a record of 13-7. “A team

5 number of wins the varsity football

team compiled

3place Marice Mer-riman finished in

state for girls cross country

A football season to commemorate

WinSSepT. 3rd Spray-berry27-20SepT. 17Th MilTonW, 35-28ocT. 8Th cherokeeW, 27-24ocT. 15Th WheelerW, 31-0ocT. 22nd MarieTTaW, 21-27

.

Experience Student athletes Morgan Ainslie, Veronica Ulicny, Kendal Smith

will morris

bonding session was what brought the girls together,” said junior Kelsey Jones. “The mood in the locker room before every game was intense, but we all loved it,” said Kelsey. When de-scribing her favorite moment of the season Kelsey remembered, “After we won the region championship it was one of the best feelings in the world. We turned off all the lights in the lock-er room and danced for what seemed like eternity.”

lassiterfootball.net

The 2010-2011 varsity team went 5 and 6

loSSeSaug. 21ST n gWinneTTl, 34-14SepT. 10Th n cobbl, 18-14ocT. 1ST WalTonl, 31-27ocT. 29Th WoodSTockl, 30-14noV. 5Th eToWahl, 48-21noV. 12Th norTh gWin-neTT (playoffS)

l, 56-7

Tobacco use leaves players susceptible to mouth cancer.

virtacore.com

lhsfeatures 20page

The Lassiter DECA club surpassed its $3,000 goal and raised $3,278.53 for breast cancer awareness! In an effort to raise money for Georgia DECA’s fall community service project, students planned a calendar of activities for the month of October to raise awareness and money for breast cancer aware-ness. Fund-raising activities began when DECA members designed and sold $10 pink “Knockout Breast Cancer” t-shirts. Students also sold $1 raffle tickets for jewelry donated by D Geller and Son Jewelers. In order to educate Lassiter students and faculty, DECA members read cancer statistics on the video an-nouncements throughout the entire month. On October 1st, DECA held a “pink-out” during which LHS DECA sold pink t-shirts, painted faces for donations, had a “Spin to Win” breast cancer awareness prize-wheel and sold raffle tickets. To raise awareness and encour-age community participation, mem-bers wrapped goal posts in pink and decorated the stadium, recruited the help of Lassiter cheerleaders to col-lect donations and wear pink ribbons and pink socks, provided football play-ers with pink ribbon stickers to wear on their helmets, and provided band members with pink ribbon stickers to wear on their uniforms. The Lassiter students, staff, and community showed support for the cause by wearing pink to the game. On October 6th, DECA hosted a school-wide hat day for students and DECA denim day for teachers. Those students who donated $1 wore a hat

and teachers who donated $5 wore denim on two designated days. Mem-bers incorporated the celebration of National DECA Week (October 10-16) with the breast cancer awareness ac-tivities by showing appreciation to the Lassiter faculty and staff by giving them breast cancer mints, pink ribbon pens, and handing out flyers stating why DECA loves Lassiter teachers. As an additional club promotion, DECA officers hid DECA diamonds around the school for students to re-deem for prizes. Prizes included breast cancer awareness notepads and pen-cils with a grand prize being a Pandora bracelet donated by David Douglas Di-amonds & Jewelry (an LHS DECA pro-fessional member)! On October 19th, Menchie’s Fro-zen Yogurt (an LHS DECA professional member) hosted a DECA Night, dur-ing which 15% of the proceeds were donated to LHS DECA’s breast cancer awareness campaign. Later that week, DECA’s “60 Second Scramble” was held during all lunch periods at which time DECA members passed around pink buckets to collect donations. Lassiter DECA began raising money for breast cancer awareness in 2008. The club raised $1,100 in 2008, $2,100 in 2009, and $3,278.53 in 2010! All of the proceeds made during the month of October through these events were made because of the fall community service project and will be donated to support breast cancer awareness.

LHS rallies for sanity

allison gilmoreguest writer

Shop With A Trojan (SWAT) is Las-siter Student Council’s annual charity outreach program that benefits fami-lies in need during the holiday sea-son. Although it often goes unnoticed, there are many families in our area that are in a financial bind. In fact, many of them cannot even provide Christmas gifts for their children.

SWAT’s mission is to brighten

the holidays for these families and pro-vide their children with gifts on Christ-mas morning. The LSC members create fundrais-ers to raise as much money as possible to be divided up among the children. This year’s LSC members have created three separate fundraisers in hopes to raise even more than past years. The first fundraiser is a bagel sale. LSC members will be selling Einstein’s bagels every day before school, with

Shop with a trojan

lindsay hopkinsfeatures editor

toasters and cream cheeses for every-one’s favorite breakfast! The second is Candy Cane Candy Grams. The Candy Grams are original or fruity candy canes with a message card attached. Every day before school and during lunch periods, students will have the opportunity to buy Candy Cane Candy Grams to send to friends on Fridays! The third fundraiser asks $1 for one piece of tape to stick Lassiter’s favorite teachers to the wall. During all lunch periods, students will have the oppor-tunity to tape a teacher!

Once the money is raised, the LSC members throw a celebration for

the families in need. On Satur-day December 11, the families

joined LSC at Lassiter for

breakfast and a

v i s i t

from Santa .

At the breakfast, each

child is given a goody bag filled with holiday miscellany and treats – including a gift card with the raised money. The best part is that each

child is allowed to spend their money on whatever they want!

The LSC members are split up and designated a child to spend

the day with. They get to walk through the store and help pick out the best toys and games until all of their money has been spent. Shop With A Trojan is one of Lassiter’s biggest charity outreach programs dur-ing the holiday season. The LSC spon-sors Ms. Allen and Mrs. Webb and the rest of the LSC members are making a difference in the Lassiter community by helping make the holidays a little bit brighter for everyone.

LSC gives underprivileged children a Christmas to remember.

DECA raises money... AGAIN

For more information about becoming involved in Lassiter DECA, contact Mrs. Palmer at kari.palmer@cobbk12.org or

Mrs. Wexler at wanda.wexler@cobbk12.org.

Did

You Know?

21page

In a world with so much insan-ity and courage, it’s good to know that two talk show hosts on Comedy Cen-tral recognize this dilemma and have worked to fix it. On October 30th, The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear was an event put together by Jon Stewart (The Daily Show) and Stephen Colbert (The Colbert Report) in response to Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” Rally put on for his tea party supporters and other conservative parties. Originally both hosts had separate rallies, Jon’s “Rally to Restore Sanity” and Stephen’s “March to Keep Fear Alive”, but over time both decided that they should be joined together. Held in Washington D.C., the rally was far from Lassiter; however, some students such as Julia Lebow, 10, traveled the distance with her father to attend. She took an eleven hour bus ride that drove through the night with other rally fanatics all the way to D.C. Although it sounds like a burden, Julia will be the first one to tell you it was well worth it to see all the celebrities

It all began with one woman’s dwin-dling self esteem, a post-it note, and a mirror. Caitlin Boyle launched Opera-tion Beautiful with the mission to pro-mote a healthy body image for women worldwide. What started out as a spontaneous blog post rapidly evolved into a worldwide phenomenon. Boyle unknowingly start-ed a revolution when she stuck a post- it note on

the m i r r o r

of a pub-lic bathroom and took

a picture of it for her blog. The note simply read, “You are beautiful.” She became inspired to do so after consid-ering startling statistics such as the fact that most American girls start dieting at the age of eight, and more women suffer from anorexia or bulimia today than breast cancer. Boyle decided that it was time for women to start making changes regarding their body image, and so she took the matter into her own hands. After posting a picture of her note on her personal blog, Boyle asked readers to send in pictures of their own notes espousing a positive body image. Expecting little response, she was thrilled to find photos flooding in over the next few days. After realizing that the idea struck a chord in women

across the world, Boyle decided to of-ficially launch Operation Beautiful, starting with the website operation-beautiful.com. The mission is simple: write a note with an encouraging message, and place it in a random spot where other women will find it (maga- zines and public bath-

rooms are two popular sugges-

tions). Not only does leav-ing the note make you feel good, but it could also have a very positive ef-fect on the lucky women who stumble across it. Coming across a positive note may just be an extra perk in the day for some, but for others, it is life changing. Boyle stated, “Women have told me, ‘You changed my life,’ or ‘You saved my life.’ They’ve really been touched.” The operation truly has progressed into a nationwide movement; in fact, an Operation Beautiful note was even found in the third floor bathroom of the science building here at Lassiter High School. Operation beautiful is an innovative project that takes the power to define beauty out of the hands of the media and places it with the common wom-an. We can now choose to be a part of the movement to redefine beauty, one post-it note at a time.

LHS rallies for sanitywill morrisstaff writer

that made guest appearances. Stars like John Legend, Adam Savage, and Ja-mie Hyneman from Mythbusters, Ozzy Osbourne, Kareem Abdul Jabbers, and even R2-D2 stopped by to support Jon and Stephen’s cause. On top of the celebrities, free trin-kets littered the area as rally-goers were given buttons, towels, signs, flags, and much more. The most fun part of the rally without a doubt came from the audience themselves. With attendance reaching over 200,000 people, thousands brought their own homemade signs to show their sup-port. Julia explains, “The best part was all the signs people made. Every politi-cal party was represented. Even Wiz-ards.” You can find hundreds of photos from the rally on rallytorestoresani-tyandorfear.com along with videos and much more. This celebration was one for the ages and if you couldn’t at-tend, do your part in keeping the fear and sanity alive by visiting or even pur-chasing rally merchandise. Every pen-ny you give helps Sanity and/or Fear stay strong in our country.

Operation: Beautifulannabel edwards jff editor

42%of 1st - 3rd graders wish they were thinner.

Comedy Julia joined Stewart and Colbert to rally through DC.courtesy of julia lebow

20%of girls suffering from an-orexia will die prematurely from complications.

Though Fox News predicted the Rally to Restore Sanity would draw in about 7 million people, numbers exceeded 10 million.

lhsfeatures 22page

“I had applied to nearly ten busi-nesses and no one had even respond-ed to me.” These words spoken by Nick Cantu are what many teenagers are facing nowadays. In the suffer-ing economy even mediocre jobs are hard to come by.In response, some Lassiter students however have de-cided to bypass these troubles and become young entrepreneurs. Starting one’s own business is by no means easy. The task is risky as well as challenging. “We really did not know where to start.” But with some help from family members, Nick Can-tu and Vince Gonzalez successfully started their own lawn care business. “We basically do anything a big-name company would, just cheaper.” The two young men still struggle at times, but are very pleased with the results. “We work when we want, wherever we want. How many people can say that?” “I am just so good with technology I figured I could make some money out of it.” Alex Fortanbary, junior, is co owner of Right Round DJ Produc-tions. “It was my brother’s idea and we worked together to make it hap-pen.” After DJing many school dances and student parties, Alex is ecstatic with the progress his company has made. “I make so much more money than if I were working for myself.” Animal lover Alex Villanueva decid-ed to take his love of animals and use it to his advantage. “I watch people’s pets when they go out of town or are unable to care for them. I love spend-ing hours with the animals and walk-ing them around the neighborhood.” Alex says his busiest times are during the holidays. “Fourth of July is usually when everybody comes knocking at my door,” said Alex. There are certainly some future stars walking among us here at Las-siter. Alex Fortanbary wanted to leave Lassiter with these words of wisdom about starting one’s own business, “It may not seem easy, but it was defi-nitely worth it in the end.”

Bright stars among us

vince gonzalezstaff writer

A few weeks ago, about fifty Lassiter students trooped off into the wilderness without the slightest idea of what they were getting into. Alright, it wasn’t exactly total wilderness, and they did have a little bit of an idea of what was going on. It was Lassiter’s FCA winter retreat, Cohutta. The an-nual retreat spent in the middle of the Cohutta wilderness was described by senior Brittany Ainslie as “one of the best retreats I’ve been on out of all of the FCA retreats I’ve gone on. I can’t believe it was my last one!” The retreat is an FCA tradition and legend. “I’ve always heard such good things about Cohutta, but have never been able to go. I am so glad that I finally got to experience it this

year! I have some of the best memo-ries from high school from those three days,” said junior Julia Regeski. The re-treat takes place on top of a mountain in the middle of the Chattahoochee National Forest, just north of Elijay, Georgia. Basically the retreat center is in the middle of nowhere on top of a big, cold mountain. “I think my favor-ite thing about Cohutta itself is its loca-tion. It’s so nice to be able to get away from East Cobb and Lassiter and just be by ourselves in beautiful north Geor-gia. It gives us a taste of what Lassiter can’t give us!” sophomore Autumn Gwaltney explained. The fifty students left school early on Friday November 12 and arrived in Cohutta around one thirty. They spent the weekend play-ing games, hiking, worshipping, and getting to know one another better. “That’s what I love about Cohutta—

you meet a bunch of new people do-ing crazy and sometimes really weird things!” exclaimed junior Aaron Fend-er. Students work very hard ev-ery year to pull the trip together, and this year students said it unquestion-ably paid off. “This year’s Cohutta is one that will definitely stick out in my mind. It was for sure one of the best retreats I’ve been on at Lassiter,” said junior Alex Fortanbary. All the students who attended concurred that FCA’s an-nual winter retreat of 2010 was a huge success. “I think the memory that will stick out most in my mind from this Cohutta was when Tim and Mary Ann’s “smoothie” made me puke in front of my team and then a picture of it ended up on the Cohutta slideshow! It was totally worth it, though,” exclaimed freshman Shannon DeSantis.

mary ann staakcenterspread editor

Holy Cow-hutta! FCA retreat 2010

mary ann staak

Did

You Know?

23page

The Renaissance Festival is back! After taking a break last year, the Re-naissance Student Leadership Team produced one of Lassiter’s most suc-cessful festivals yet. Thanks to Mrs. Morgan, Ms. Adams, Ms. Mercure, and the student leaders, the festival was “so much fun!” said Taylor Brad-ley, 12. “There was a lot of great food, good music, and fun games.” This year’s festival was DJ’ed by Right ‘Round made up of Alex Fortan-bary, 11, Kim Carducci, 12, and Con-nor Vogleweed,12. Having also DJ’ed the Homecoming after party on the field, Kim said, “It was really fun! I love working school events.” As for food, the Renaissance Team was able to provide a wide va-riety ranging from Chick-fil-a chicken nuggets to pizza and subs. Not to men-tion Rita’s, cotton candy, and Hallow-een leftovers! The goal this year was to provide enough variety so that every-one could find something they enjoyed – and that’s exactly what they did! Though everyone enjoyed the music and food, the games were the main attraction! The Renaissance Team set up multiple stations with sack races, 3-legged races, tug-of-war,

From the original icicle lights around the gutters to the one family in the neighborhood that goes over-board in lights, decorations are one of the greatest things about the holiday season. Santa on the roof, reindeer in the yard, and a menorah in the win-dow are just some of the decorations people put up during this fantastic month. Say you are caroling around the neighborhood, and are not sure what holiday the next house down cele-brates. You do not want to sing “O Holy Night” if the family celebrates Hanu-kah. But, there are some easy ways to figure out which holiday families and homes celebrate. For instance, if the house is covered in red and green, the family probably believes in the good

and others. Not to mention the pro-fessional stilt-walking jugglers and the caricature professional! “My favorite part was getting caricatures!” said Tal-on Jolley, 10. Overall, this year’s Renaissance Festival was a huge success among the students. On behalf of all honor stu-dents, we would like to say thank you to the Renaissance student leaders and their team sponsors for providing such a great festival.

lindsay hopkinsfeatures editor

Feel free to light the tree!

LHS renaissance festival returns

austin hayes staff writer

old Santa Claus. On the other hand, the colors blue, and white around a house usually mean that the family in-side is spinning a dreidel or two. Kevin Nichols, a sophomores here at Lassiter High School, lives in a neighborhood where one of the fami-lies has way too many lights. “There is not one inch on the house that isn’t covered in lights. The front and back yards are also filled with many differ-ent decorations.” I am sure that the neighbors enjoy having black-outs dur-ing the holiday season Overall, holiday decorations are one of the greatest parts of this season. The fluorescent lights just brighten the houses up (no pun in-tended). All the different types of lights vary widely from penguins hav-ing a snow ball fight to Santa’s sleigh with Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen all tied up on the roof.

Amanda, Kaele, Kasey, and Stefani

FOUR MONTHS!!! :)

<3 Katlyn

Student ads!If interested in a student ad for only $5, complete

the form outside room 911

Dear Jordan,

LOVE YOU! - Skye and Kaleigh

Come join FBLA! It’s not too late to join and participate in our awesome meetings and events. Membership forms are outside of room 500. Contact Mrs. Pizza for more information.

Dear Sabine, Will you marry me?

Love, Your Secret admirer

Christmas ornaments were not introduced in the United States until 1890.

Race 3-legged races were a favorite this year, among others.

Students had a dance off.Dancecolleen purdy

colleen purdy

DecorateMaggie decorates her

house with a festive snowman.

mary ann staak

lhsin the wry 24page

The two heroes and their faithful puppy tag-along Ann Mary schlepped back to base, the mustard-colored walls adding to their palpable gloom. The heroes were dejected. Ann Mary, by nature, was not, which only added to the annoyance and depres-sion that hung like a pall over J and T. The arguing began over Ann Mary’s i n c e s s a n t meowing. It progressed to J say-ing some-thing about someone’s mother. It ended when T tried to inject a clev-erly-planned remark into the conver-sation and received the whiplash of blank stares and complaints about uncommon word choice. “Oh T, you are so nonsen-sical with your intellectual lexis.” Ann Mary teased. “Indubitably,” agreed J. T rolled his eyes and called a team meeting. Squabbling broke out over who would get the spinney chair.“Order!!!” yelled T as he pounded his gavel. The two froze, teetering pre-cariously on the chair’s edge. J moved slightly, causing Ann Mary to crash to the floor. J smiled triumphantly. Sobs began issuing from the shuddering heap on the floor. “I have called this meeting for the purpose of reviewing our past few weeks in the hope that maybe we will find some hope among our ever-lengthening string of mis-cues.”J and Ann Mary stared blankly back. T tired of their gawking expressions.“The Chinatown Halloween party di-saster,” elaborated T, trying to wake them up. J winced. “I don’t see how revisiting that catas-

trophe could help,” she complained. “Finding Alex Cho was impossi…” J trailed off as Skye, leader of the Ru-bellion to which Alex Cho was so cru-cial, stormed in. She wore all black. The room seemed to darken. Some-where lightning flashed and thunder crashed.“And why, pray tell, was it ‘impossi?’” demanded Skye.“We…we…” stuttered J. Ann Mary burst into tears. “You see, everyone was dressed as

either John Landers or Alex Cho…,” defended T.“And why was your Thanks-giving Sting Operation un-s u c c e s s f u l ? You finally traced him to a location, and he slipped through your fingers again,” accused Skye.“There was a turkey that

needed saving,” piped up Ann Mary brightly, bobbing her head. “And Alex’s family was so noce, we just couldn’t take him away. They even invited us to dinner!” The Rubellion Ruler gave her a wither-ing glance. She threw down a file onto the desk before T. “Intelligence has discovered, at great risk, that Cho and his body guards will be in that location on December 25. Do not fail me again.” Skye stormed out. Lightning flashed again.Ann Mary and J watched as T took a deep breath and opened the file. He gasped as he saw a single word on an otherwise blank page. The location of the quarry, the last chance at redemp-tion, the final hope of at last capturing and proving the existence of the elu-sive Alex Cho. T slumped back in his chair. They had better start planning. To be continued. contributing writer laura brinkstaff writer

Deck the halls (Literally, the hallways), because teachers aren’t going anywhere this holiday season. It is a long and well-known fact that teachers do only three things: Teach, breathe, and teach. Outside of these walls teachers do not even exist. We all know they live under their desk during the school year, but where do they go for Thanksgiving Break? It is a question that has deeply puzzled me and now I plan to discover the truth behind teachers on vacation. Through investigative journalism that would surpass Woodward and Bernstein, I have found the truth behind the desk. I have sacrificed my own Thanksgiving Break to uncover the real story behind the living situations of teachers. While very stealthily sleep-ing in the library and stealing cafete-ria food for the nine days we are given for Thanksgiving vacation, I have wit-nessed the real arrangement of the teachers. And. It. Will. Shock. You. Contrary to popular belief, the teachers do not sleep under their desk. They actually have converted

the gymnasium into a sort of dormi-tory where the beds come out of the wall (If you flip the bleachers it’s en-tirely mattresses.) There you will find the entire teaching staff in their jam-mies gossiping and giggling about stu-dents and faculty while braiding each others’ hair. It’s an….interesting…sight to see, to say the least. For food I have discovered the disturbing fact that, unlike regular hu-mans, who are omnivores, the Lassiter teaching staff is comprised entirely of fearivores. They feed on the fears of their students which they keep in a nice jar labeled “The 69, 79, 89 aver-age students.” It was unbelievable to watch the feeding. Absolutely unbe-lievable. During the day, the teachers turn the cafeteria into an arcade of sorts, where they play fun games such as pin the F on the student. They es-pecially enjoy the game of darts with their personalized dart board covered in pictures of students. It is sure nice to know they think of us over break. So there you have it, my curi-ous peers: teachers over break. Aren’t they fascinating?

laura brinkstaff writer

Behind the desk

The sililiquist saga: Skye’s ultimatum

tyler molinaro in the wry editor

J trailed off as Skye, leader of the Rubellion to which Alex Cho was so crucial, stormed in.

She wore all black. The room seemed to darken.

Somewhere lightning flashed and thunder

crashed.

25page

Did

You Know?

It was a cold and snowy night in the EC (East Cobb) (and by cold and snowy I mean barely chilly and rainy, we are in Georgia people.) Anyway… It was a cold and snowy night in the EC and the brothers Barry were on a mis-sion: To find the perfect Christmas tree. Ben, Bart, and Benbart Barry were des-perate for a flawless tree to stand tall with glory in their ho-hum living room. Eldest brother Ben drove his brothers too Clam Carl Christ-mas Tree Farm and the boys happily hopped out of the car and beheld the glorious acres of ferns before them. With an exchange of looks, the broth-ers dispersed into the wilderness of the Christmas tree farm searching with wide eyes and limitless hopes. They walked down rows and rows and rows. They tirelessly checked ev-ery branch, needle, and stump. They walked down rows and rows and rows. They suspiciously eyed every point, space, and angle. This tree must be perfect. It must. It was the pecu-

liar middle brother Bart who spoke the doubts that had been running through all their minds. “Guys…How deep into this tree farm are we?” The

b o y s l i f t-e d

t h e i r heads, assessed the area, and real-ized that in every direction there was nothing to be seen but Christmas Trees. Terror overcame them and lit-tle Benbart’s eyes began to swell with tears. Strategies for escape were discussed for extensive amounts of time as the boys wandered aimlessly towards a direction the hoped would lead to an exit. As they paced forward Bart suddenly fell to the ground. He had tripped over a candy cane lamp and fallen face first into a massive pile of reindeer poo. As he wiped his eyes clear and lifted himself off the ground

for the first time he beheld the sight before him. Glowing lights, elves march-ing from gingerbread house to gingerbread

house, and even Mrs. Claus

s c u t t l i n g about the g ro u n d s ; the broth-ers Barry were

in the frig-gin’ North Pole.

And it was friggin’ sweet. “Guys! This is the frig-

gin’ North Pole! This is friggin’ sweet!!!!” Ben yelled dramatically as Benbart began eating the Swed-ish fish in the gingerbread house’s pond and Bart joined a gaggle of penguins in a fierce snowball battle. Jolliness came down upon every-one like Christmas Eve’s perfect first snow fall. In the middle of a giddy glacier gallop, the boys stopped dead in their tracks at the sound of a booming voice shouting, “Whhh-hhaaaaaaattttt areeeee theyyyyyyy doingggggggg HHHHHHEEEEEEEER-RRRRRRREEEEEEE?!?!?!?!” It was the voice of head of North Pole security, Miles Finch, bellowed with incredible

New kid in history

class: like a shiny new

toy.Tis the season...

It can’t be 45 degrees outside. THIS IS GEORGIA!

THIS IS WINTER.

Too. Much. Redbull.

Yes man...?

Have you

ever noticed

how the

place you

staple onto

on a stapler

looks just

like a face?

Not afte

r you

staple it a

few

times.

SFLN:

fury. As Finch sent his army of toy soldiers charging at the brothers, Ben sighted an early 80’s model of Santa’s sleigh and his mind flickered with brilliance. “Quick! In the sleigh!” the e l d e s t brother shouted.

All three b o y s s a d -

dled in while the

toy soldiers f o r m e d

a r o u n d them. It seemed t h e r e

w a s l i t t l e

hope for escape. Just then, the tenth reindeer, Tripper, who had been long neglected, wriggled his way into the reins and shot off like a rocket. The Brothers Barry were carried briskly and safely away in the sleigh which eventually landed in their driveway. As the boys rushed to tell their beloved mother of the adventure they quickly real-ized they had forgotten a tree. “You’d better run!” Mother Barry shouted at Ben, Bart, and Benbart as they hur-ried back to the Christmas tree farm in search of the perfect tree.

The tremendous tree farm treklaura brinkstaff writer

What happens when the Brothers Barry, Santa’s security, and a magical tree farm meet?

Christmas tree farms are believed to have mystical powers in Finland.

lhsin the wry 26page

What was supposed to be an exciting and memorable day for one Lassiter High School Band, based in Marietta, Georgia, turned into a tragic and embarrassing series of blunders that some across the country have labeled “The Macy’s Day Cha-rade,” doubting that such an unfortunate occurrence could ever have happened. Problems for the Trojan marching band be-gan early on Thanksgiving morning as the musicians and their celebrated direc-tors prepared to march in the Macy’s Thanksgiv-ing Day Parade. “We began the day just as we had planned be-forehand, complete with all the usual scales, marching ex-ercises, and comb-ing of the fluff atop our ridiculously tall hats,” claimed Ima O. Seedy, a senior trumpeter and veteran member of the band program at Lassiter. “But afterwards, things got a little abnor-mal…” “The band directors started arguing amongst themselves about something or another, eventually pull-

ing out their batons and fencing with them while shouting ‘I am not left handed’ at each other,” interjected Lynn Turruptu, a soph-omore oboe player. “Then they an-nounced a change in plans, telling us to follow them and bring every-thing.” “What they were arguing about was actually how to fix a

pretty big problem,” contin-ued Seedy.

“You see the flutes had just fig-ured out that there was a serious color mix up: our hats were trimmed in egg-shell white while our uniforms were pure white.”

On a quest for eggshell-col-ored gloves in a last-ditch effort to tie the outfits together, directors of the

band led the entire group, instru-ments and all, through the

streets of New York,

ending up at their last hope: the gigantic Ma-

cy’s. As per t h e i r

t r a i n -i n g ,

the musicians lined up in precise formations and marched into the large edifice, following their beloved director, Mr. Watkins, into the fray for holiday deals and eggshell gloves.

“It’s hard to say exactly what started it,” mused Claire Inette, a Junior who plays the saxophone. Some of the tubas thought that this was the ac-tual parade and started playing. Pretty soon the whole band was performing the scheduled pieces and marching as we went through the store.” “It took us about two hours before we figured out something was wrong and stopped playing,” admit-

ted Barry Tone, one of the tu-bas who allegedly started the whole thing. “It’s a big store. But the thing that fi-

nally alerted me is that there were no huge balloons, you

know? When I figured that out I was like ‘Wait, some-thing’s up.’” Embarrassed and by then a little cranky, the musicians eventually did find their eggshell-white gloves, Mr. Watkins pur-chasing them while the band students stood waiting for him. “Sometimes, it’s not about marching in the big parade or trying to pop those gigantic balloons when nobody’s looking,” summed up Mr. Watkins. “This was a lesson learned

and the gloves we gained will help us be better in the future.”

Tales of a Macy’s Day charadetyler molinaroin the wry editor

Thanksgiving morning at the Smooter house began just like any other morning. Mrs. Smooter slaved away all morning and afternoon to make a delicious Thanksgiving dinner for her family. She’d been praying that the evening would go smoothly. Unfortunately, her hopes were dashed. Her son, Robby, had spent the afternoon convincing his senile grandmamma that these people were not her family, but instead terrorists who were out to steal her dentures and thus deprive her of her favorite yams. Grammy had been worked up into such a state of paranoia that she made an escape attempt and ran out

of the house as fast as her orthope-dic shoes could carry her. Grandfa-ther Smooter zoomed after her on his mobility scooter and was just able to snatch her up before she teetered into the oncoming traffic. After he took her back home, she was only subdued after being heavily tranquilized with medical marijuana that Robby just happened to have on hand. Mrs. Smooter corralled everyone into the dining room, finally ready to have her peaceful evening. To her sur-prise, it was very peaceful. Too peace-ful. This year, she thought Robby was mature enough to say Grace - the real version. She’d had enough of his, “Rub a dub dub, thanks for the grub. Yeah, yeah, yeah Jesus!” that he had in-flicted on the family in years past. But

when she looked in his direction with the intention of asking him to bless their lovely meal, she suddenly real-ized why the dinner had been so quiet. It was not Robby sitting in his chair, but rather his Asian friend Li. Li’s father had fed him watery rice soup every Thanksgiving but this year he decided enough was enough and snuck over to the Smooter’s. Robby was quite con-tent with this arrangement; while Li chewed on rangy turkey, Robby got to hide under the table and tie his annoy-ing relatives’ shoe laces together. Afterwards, he stealthily creeped out from under the table, decided that he’d had enough of this bland holi-day, and took it upon himself to com-mence with the Christmas decorating. Mrs.Smooter realized with horror that

instead of hanging stockings by the chimney, Robby decided to hang up his old, nasty tube socks. Just as she was surveying the damage, she heard a massive thud. After frantically search-ing for its origin, she saw Robby sitting in the fireplace, covered in soot. He had decided to climb onto the roof and take a flying leap down the chimney as a “test run” for Santa. Christmas was quickly approaching, and as Mrs. Smooter recalled the years past filled with Robby-induced catastrophes, she realized that it would be a long year indeed.

contributing writer annabel edwardsnews editor

Smooters and scooters: Thanksgivingnatalie kietaeditorials editor

Tales of a Macy’s Day charade

a guide to the holidaysd e c o r a t i o n s

music tunes

Ch

arities

egg nog380 calories

pecan pie450 calories

sweet potato souffle250 calories

mashed potatoes140 calories

pumpkin pie230 calories

hot chocolate120 calories

For just $10, you could...

- help a child fight cancer through St. Judes Children’s Hospital

- provide heartworm tests and vaccines to dogs through the Humane Society

- donate over 50 pounds of food to the Atlanta Community Food Bank

- provide a full day of childcare to an un-derpriveleged child through the Sheltering Arms Early Education and Family Centers

Shake up the festivities by playing holiday music with a twist!

-Hip Hop Hanukkah by Kid Kosher

-Don’t Shoot Me Santa by The Killers

-Dominick the Donkey by Lou Monte

-The Twelve Pains of Christmas by Bob Rivers

-The Hanukkah Song by Adam Sandler

-Here’s Your Sign Christmas by Bill Engvall

-I Farted on Santa’s Lap by The Little Stinkers

-Leroy the Redneck Reindeer by Joe Diffie

-Rusty Chevrolet by The Deer Hunters

The holidays make it easy to overindulge, but follow these tips to get the best of both worlds.

It’s easy and affordable to get in the holiday spirit.

3’ Pine Artificial Tree Pre-Lit

www.walmart.com

$18

Glade Winter CollectionScented Sugarplum Candle

www.glade.com

$4.50

$13.50Brass Menorah

www.judaicaonsale.com