the Scottsbluff High School | Feb. 10, 2011 | Volume 94 | Issue 6

[ ]

Boys’ and girls’ swimming teams look to continue decade-long GNAC winning streak | pg. 15

CANCERThe

NE State Sen. Mark Christensen introduces Legislative Bill 516 that allows school employees to carry handguns on campuses | pg. 3

In a world of pink ribbons and “Keep a Breast” bracelets, SHS teacher Justin Gipe and senior

Alec Rojas have struggled with an oft-forgotten disease that preys

on males: testicular cancer | pg. 4

Who doesn’t love CAKE? Entertainment writer Victoria Bravo isn’t

eating up the group latest release - check out her review of Cake’s latest album | pg. 13

that no one wants to discuss

ECHOES

2 | NEWS

“All of the girls wore red dresses with a number pinned to their dress for identification.

They sat, blankly watching car-toons on TV. They were vacant, shells of what a child should be.

There was no light in their eyes, no life left. Their light had been taken from them. These children… raped each night… seven, ten, fifteen times every night.

They were so young. Thirteen, eleven… it was hard to tell. Sorrow covered their faces with nothingness,” – Rob Morris, President and Co-founder of Love146 illustrating the experience that led to the fight against child sex slavery.

The compelling story of how the organization was founded is why senior Russel Morgan has taken up the cause and is organizing a concert to raise money as well as awareness for the issue.

Last year’s Haiti Relief concert brought light to the catastrophe to our community and provided support-ers the opportunity to help and send money to the people of Haiti.

The success of last year’s fund-raiser concert and the

introduction of the Love146 organiza-tion to Morgan by a close friend, has prompted another fundraiser concert.

“It’s a problem that not a lot of people know about and people tend to think small high schools aren’t seen as making a global impact, but they can,” Morgan said.

Child sex trafficking is nothing new, it is a widely overlooked issue that needs addressing.

Human trafficking is estimated to be the second largest illegal money-making syndicate in the world. Statis-tics estimate that two children are sold every minute. (Source: Love146.org)

Love146 was started in 2002 when the co-founders travelled to South East Asia on an exploratory trip to de-termine how they could serve in the fight against child sex trafficking.

In one experience, a couple of the co-founders were taken undercover with investigators to a brothel, where they witnessed children being sold for sex. This was the experience that gave Love146 its name.

Of the children who were watching cartoons, one wasn’t staring at the TV but looking directly at one of the co-founders. The number tagged to her red dress was 146, she still had fight in her, she still had life in her eyes.

The brothel they visited was in an ongoing undercover investigation and evidence had to be collected for a raid, and the co-founders were unable to immediately respond to situation.

Sometime later, there was a raid and the children were rescued, all except the girl with the number 146. There was no way in knowing what happened to her, but she will be remembered.

The number 146 represents why the organization started, so her story

could be told, and her number repre-sents the millions enslaved.

The Love146 concert will have music like the concert last year as well as anyone volunteering to do an entertainment. Morgan is also going to try to get a speaker from Love146 to talk about the issue.

To raise money there will be t-shirts on sale, donation jars, and the admission fee. The money raised will be put into a school fund, which will be the donation fund and then trans-ferred electronically to the Love146 organization.

The money helps efforts to stop child sex slavery and sex trafficking recovery and rehabilitation back into society.

The concert will be on April 19 and hopefully it will be as successful as the Haiti Relief concert.

On Love146.org it says, “Love is in our name, because it is our moti-vating drive to end child sex slavery and exploitation. We believe love to be the foundation of real, sustainable change.

Martin Luther King Jr. said, ‘Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.’ We hold that to be true. Love Protects. Love De-fends. Love Restores. Love Empow-ers. – We are Love146.”

story byRYAN MEISTER | news writer

story bySCOUT WILSON | news editor

Another year, a new cause, a new concertFor fighting against child sex slavery

Photo from Love146.org

Saturday night three varsity ath-letes without anything better to do all got together and did what many teens do across the nation, went to a party at a friend’s house.

Once there, they made the mistake of drinking alcohol and at that mo-ment, their lives were flipped upside down.

The three teammates left the party in a car with an intoxicated driver and were pulled over for the minor offense of having fog lights on within city limits.

“All I could think about when we were getting pulled over was, I just

really don’t want to get in trouble,” Carl* said.

That night those three athletes and the person driving all received a cita-tion for minor in possession (MIP).

They are not alone in their ex-perimentation with alcohol, as nearly 42% of high school students in 2009 reported using some form of alcohol. While, 28% of those reported riding with a drunk driver.

“I honestly had no idea that I was getting in the car with an intoxicated driver,” Carl said.

But for Carl, the next day would be worse, “I didn’t receive any punish-ment from my parents but I was filled with regret and was very disappoint-

ed in myself.” Though the athletes were in some

major trouble, they were lucky to receive the punishment they did.

The three athletes all had the same court punishment of a $100 fine and had to go through diversion class, which includes 30 hours of commu-nity service.

The maximum punishment for an MIP in the state of Nebraska is a fine of $500 and three months of imprison-ment with no chance of probation.

In terms of the school, the pun-ishment and embarrassment was different.

They all had to tell their coach what had happened and chose to face the coache as a group.

“I felt horribly disappointed in myself when I told my coach about what had happened and he was very disappointed also,” Carl said.

Then they were subject to the au-thority of the school handbook, they all received one week out of practice and couldn’t compete in the next two events.

While out of practice, the three athletes went to the YMCA to work out so they would not fall behind the rest of the team.

When they got back to practicing with the team many people, includ-ing their own teammates, called them selfish for what they did, and claimed that they weren’t thinking of everyone when they went to that party.

“I believe I was being selfish and I should have thought of all the other people instead of just doing something to have fun,” Carl said.

All three of the athletes regret the decisions they made that night.

“The next day was just full of regret and I was very disappointed in myself, also I was afraid of the kind of punishments I would be facing from everyone. I know I’m not going to do that again for a long time,” Carl said.

* name changedSource: http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/underage-drinking.htm

One night, one bad decision,one BIG headache

NEWS | 3

April 20, 1999. April 26, 2007. Jan. 5, 2011.

All these dates have something in common: they are all dates of school shootings across the nation.

Columbine, the Virginia Tech Shooting and the shooting that happened right here in Nebraska at Omaha’s Millard South High School all were and are remembered as horrible days across the nation.

The tragedy that took place at Millard South in Omaha has had many thinking about the safety of students at school, including Sena-tor Mark Christensen of Imperial.

Recently, Sen. Christensen intro-duced Legislative Bill 516 (LB516) which would allow for designated ad-ministrators, security personnel, and teachers to carry concealed handguns on school campuses.

The bill is only in the proposal stage of legislature and has yet to be voted on.

According to LB516 administra-tors, security personnel, and teach-ers would have to comply with any requirements of the Concealed Handgun Permit Act. This would be

completing a Nebraska State Patrol handgun training and safety course as well as complying to any local laws pertaining to the purchase, owner-ship, transportation, and possession

of handguns.The bill states that any public

educational institution may, upon two-thirds vote of its governing body, which would be the district school board, authorize its staff to carry con-cealed handguns.

In addition, the approval of such a policy would require written notice be given to all students and parents or guardians of each student to inform them of the concealed handgun policy.

But, would this policy really make

schools any safer?“I am opposed to the bill and I

don’t think arming ourselves is a solution to a problem,” Principal Rick Porter said.

Superintendent Rick Miles doesn’t support the bill and believes it wouldn’t make schools safer in most instances.

“There are things we can do to make schools safer, but I believe car-rying weapons, except in the most unique circumstances, would not make a difference,” Miles said.

This bill causes some concerns for Superintendent Miles, who points out that school administrators and educators are not trained the same way law enforcement and security

officers might be and that situations could be exacerbated by the presence of weapons.

On Feb. 1, Superintendent Miles and twenty-four others were trained

in emergency response team pro-cedures and how schools that have practices in place can be as proac-tive and appropriately reactive when situations occur.

Situations such as a gunman in the school to a hazardous train heading for town will be played out and proper ways to deal with the situations will instructed.

On April 20, 1999 the Colum-bine shooting took place and is still an incident vivid in our minds. For

Superintendent Miles this incident had more impact, then for others, as he was a Principal at a neighboring Middle School when it took place.

This incident has impacted how Superintendent Miles approaches his job as an administrator.

“It’s made safety a main priority for me, and even had there been a gun in the school at the time in some-body’s possession, it wouldn’t have changed the outcome,” Miles said.

story bySCOUT WILSON | news editor

”“There are things we can do to make schools

safer, but I believe carrying weapons, except in the most unique circumstances, would not

make a difference.-Superintendent Rick Miles

Armed: A License to ProtectThe bill that could bring concealed handguns to schools

4 | FEATURE

story byRussell MoRgan | entertainment editor

Cancer is an equal opportunity disease.

There are almost 200 types of the disease a person can contract; over 500,000 people die from cancer every year in the United States alone.

As a society we have come to terms with almost every one of the 200 types.

The examples are endless. Pink is the national sym-

bol of breast cancer aware-ness.

Each year, millions of dol-lars are raised for St. Jude’s Research center to combat childhood leukemia.

And in every personal conversation, mention of the disease is met with voices hushed with sympathy, con-cerned words, and promises of prayer.

However, not all cancers are created equal.

There is one type for which we all remain silent: testicular cancer.

In the early spring of 2009, 32-year old vocational business teacher Justin Gipe noticed some physical symp-toms he had never experi-enced before.

The primary symptom was a sensitivity in his nipples that made something as simple as putting on his shirt painful.

After two unsuccessful trips to the doctor, a third trip provided the answer.

Gipe was diagnosed with testicular cancer.

“I was diagnosed with stage 2 testicular cancer on Feb. 24, 2009,” Gipe said. “I’d been having strange symptoms and pains for a while. I went and got it checked out, and at first the doctors didn’t think much of it. Then it came to the point where I could barely walk and I had a second doctor take a look. That doctor sent me to the urologist at the hospital and that’s where we found my cancer.”

With no history of cancer in his family,

the diagnosis was a shock.Testicular cancer has also affected

senior Alec Rojas.“My family was scared because

my grandma suffered from cancer,” Rojas said. “But I was pretty relaxed about it. I just wanted to get it taken care of.”

Rojas discovered he had a cancer-ous growth when he experienced extreme pain in his groin area.

The most common symptom of testicular cancer is a painless lump on a testicle.

In some cases the lump is un-comfortable, but severe pain is rare. Sometimes the testicle may be en-larged or swollen without a lump.

Men with testicular cancer may also have a heavy or aching feeling in the lower belly or scrotum.

If the cancer is not found in its early stages, more symptoms will appear. Advanced testicular cancer can reach lymph nodes in the stomach and cause stomach and back pain.

From there, the cancer may reach the lungs and even the brain.

Fortunately, Gipe’s cancer was not as advanced.

“I went in and got checked on Feb. 24 and I had surgery to remove my cancerous testicle two days later,”

Gipe said. Although Gipe only had two days

from diagnosis to surgery, he took the disease head on.

“After the doctor told me I had cancer, I just said, ‘OK, let’s get it taken care of’,” Gipe said. I had great support from family, friends, and stu-dents. I was ready to take care of it.”

Following his surgery on Thurs-day, Feb. 26, he was back at school the

following Monday.With the source of the cancer re-

moved, the next step was the removal of the infected lymph nodes in his stomach.

“My next surgery was on March 26,” Gipe said. “That was an inten-sive surgery. I left school the 25th of March and I was in the hospital seven days after the surgery.”

The road to recovery was not complete.

“I didn’t return back to school for another seven days after getting out of the hospital,” Gipe said. I still had varying symptoms, but they weren’t much and my hair grew back from the chemotherapy by the next school year.”

Not all cases of a particular cancer are the same. Gipe was fortunate his cancer was discovered early and he is

cured today.Rojas was also fortunate because

cancerous growth was found to be benign.

“I had the cancerous testicle re-moved,” Rojas said. “And I was back in school two weeks later.”

Their battles with testicular cancer have left Gipe and Rojas with more than just surgical scars.

Gipe still experiences some symp-toms from the disease and from the chemo-therapy. He chooses, however, not to focus on the negatives.

“I want to do more to promote the fight against this disease,” Gipe said. “I tell athletes and stu-dents that I see every day that this is a serious issue that needs to be detected early. It’s the leading type of cancer in young to middle aged males and not enough people know that.”

Not enough people know that if this cancer, which is found mainly in males in their 20’s and 30’s, is detected early; it has one of the high-est curable rates of all cancers.

This type of cancer can’t be something people should be hesitant to talk about because in a school of 800 plus students, at least one male from each grade will de-velop testicular cancer in his lifetime.

“I was lucky to find the cancer in such an early stage,” Rojas said. “Guys need to get checked out at least once a year. It’s a fast growing cancer, and not everyone catches it in time.”

It is a disease that must be detected early because it can be defeated. Just ask Gipe, who went through a fight for his life, and came out a stronger person.

The large surgical scar down his lower torso carries an emotional story, but it is not his daily reminder of the adversity he conquered.

That would be the yellow Livestrong bracelet on his right wrist –

the bracelet he never takes off.

unmentionable cancerTheNo one is comfortable talking about testicular

cancer, but one teacher & one student had no choice

The best time to self-exam is after a warm bath or shower when the scrotal skin is relaxed.

Examine each testicle gently with both hands by rolling the testicle between the thumb and forefingers.

Find the epididymis, the soft, tube-like structure behind the testicle that collects and car-ries sperm.

Look for a lump about the size of a pea on the front or the side testicle. It may or may not be painful.

Look for any changes in size, shape or texture. Re-member it's normal for one testicle to be slightly larger.

Upon reaching puberty, all men should conduct a monthly testicular self-exam and ask

your doctor during a yearly physical to perform one as well.

3

3

33

3

3YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT...

CHeCK

YOUrSeLf

””

FEATURE | 5

story byMEGHAN PRITCHARD | feature editor

BACK?Guess who’s After a half year in China, Vice Principal Matt Huck

has returned with an appreciation for his family and American education

Matthew Huck, the disciplinary principal, lived in Xi’an, China with his family to set-up a teacher ex-change program. The five months he was there he put together a two week student exchange program for less than $1,000. It set up a sister school that would collaborate with SHS.

An English teacher from SHS would go to China to teach English while they would send a Chinese teacher to teach our school Mandarin Chinese. Mr. Huck already has a few teachers chosen but has to wait for the government to allow the exchange program.

During this time in China, Mr. Huck worked at Xi’an Jiaotong Uni-versity’s (XJTU) Affiliated Middle School of 2,000 student enrollment, which is equivalent to a high school in America. He taught a staff develop-ment course with the teachers of the school that focused on creativity and multiple teaching techniques.

“In China they focus on academics and only have the basic classes like Math, Science, Language, and History. Newspaper, choir, and arts classes don’t exist there,” Mr. Huck said.

Kindergarten is the foundation of the country’s entire educational process. The students take an exam at the end of the year to get into primary school which has six levels (U.S.’s grades first-sixth). They then go to middle school which has three levels (grades tenth-twelfth) and high school or University which has multiple lev-els depending on the degree (college).

The schooling system is very competitive because the students are required to take exams in order to move forward in school. Therefore, it’s a constant fight for the students, teachers, and parents to stay in the educational race for the sake of their family name.

“My job doesn’t even exist there because any disciplinary problems would result in not being allowed to attend school; thus, disgracing the family and their place in society,” Mr. Huck said.

Everyone pays student tuition, book fees, and uniform fees. These

fees are about one-third of the par-ent’s salary, which puts a lot of weight on the value of education in the fam-ily.

Teachers are held in such high regard that when a teacher enters the classroom, all students must rise. When a teacher calls on a student they must stand and answer the teacher with their title “laoshi” (teacher).

Mr. Huck’s two sons, Jake, 5, and Kade, 4, attended the best Chinese schools and were fully immersed in the culture. “My boys did very well in their schooling and probably know more Chinese than I do,” Mr. Huck said.

Mr. Huck and his family lived in an International Medical Student Complex of Jaiotong University. Having a family of five and living in a student dorm was not easy for the family, but it met their needs.

They lived in a apartment with one bathroom, a kitchen, a small liv-

ing room, and two bedrooms. The heat would be turned off for certain months even though it was bitterly cold in the apartment. They would push together the beds for one big warm bed.

The shower was a pipe in the wall that had a timed on/off switch on the wall that held ten gallons of hot water.

“We had to stagger and plan our shower times for the family, but Jake and Kade sometimes throw a ‘curve ball’ to that plan as they came in from school or an activity desperately needing a shower,” Mr. Huck said.

Water had to be boiled for precau-tionary reasons because the water is unsafe to drink there. Almost ev-erything that had to be done in the apartment with water, which created a barrier when the water was shut-off each day from 9 am-12 pm and then again shut off between 2-5 pm.

But Mr. Huck will praise his wife

openly every day for the hard work she did.

“Heidi was always supermom and super-wife,” Mr. Huck said. “She always had a great attitude and kept our fam-ily strong.”

The biggest job Heidi had was walking the boys to school every day. They went to school from 8-11:40 am and then from 2-3:50 pm. It took 15-30 minutes to get to their school because they had to cross two, eight lane streets and one major round-about. Not to mention she was carrying Nyah, their 18 month old daughter, the whole time.

“Nyah and Heidi literally spent two hours each day walking Jake and Kade to and from school,” Mr. Huck said. “There is also the variable of 1,500 parents picking up their own child out of a ten foot school gate.”

Along with their Chinese as-signments, Mr. Huck and his wife decided to keep the boys’ in their home school curricula.

“Heidi is the one who prepares the boys’ lessons and keeps them engaged in their English studies while still making sure the boys’ Chinese school studies are completed,” Mr. Huck said.

Heidi also has the responsibility of preparing and planning all of the daily meals. She had to make at least one daily trip to the market to pur-chase food. With only choices from a Chinese market and no stove, Heidi had to be creative. All she had was a microwave, a magnetic hot plate, and an electric tea kettle.

One other laborious task was the laundry. They were not given a washer and dryer, so a trip to a laun-dry facility was made often.

Heidi would also plan daily physi-cal fitness for the family. They did things like jump rope, playing catch with a football, along with many

other activities. The culture of America and China

are completely different.China is a communist country led

by President Hu Jintao. The govern-ment is still in full control of almost everything, even the internet.

“My computer would do weird things, like log out of certain cites randomly,” Mr. Huck said.

Every family has a one-kid policy. The ratio of boys to girl is 120:100. There are 35 million more boys than girls because the boys carry on the family name, which means the abor-tion rate is very high.

“In each class there were only about 10-15 girls in a room of 60 stu-dents,” Mr. Huck said.

Since school is such a priority, the universities are very full. Just last year more than 700,000 graduates were jobless. Even though they have an education, it’s still very competitive in the career world.

“China will have a crash very soon with the way they’re going now. Everyone there even knows it’s going to happen, but they don’t know what to do about it,” Mr. Huck said.

The cleanliness is nowhere close to America’s spick-and-span attitude. A public toilet is either holes or trees in the ground. Every day, the Hucks would see at least one or two people throwing up in the streets because of the unclean food. The food even con-taminated the Hucks once in a while.

“The trip brought my family closer together in such a different society, but I’m very glad to be home,” Mr. Huck said.

In China they focus on aca-demics and only have the basic classes. Newspaper, choir, and

arts classes don’t exist-Matt Huck,

Vice Principal

2550 Club House Drive Gering, NE 69341

308-635-6868

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February 11th- GSW/BSW @ Hastings- 11am

GBB JV&VAR vs McCook 5:45/7:30pm

BBB JV&VAR @ McCook 5:45/7:30pm

SP @ N.Platte Blue & Gold TBA

WR DISTRICTS- TBA

9-12 NO SCHOOL

12th- GSW/BSW GNAC - 11am

BBB JV&VAR @ N.Platte-12:30/2 pm

GBB JV&VAR vs N.Platte-12:30/2pm

SP @ N.Platte Blue & Gold- TBA

WR Distriscts

Lincoln’s Birthday

Winter Royalty-8pm

ACT Testing

14th- BBB 9th @ Alliance Inv- TBA

GBB 9th @ Gering Inv- TBA

Valentines Day

17th- WWR State@ Omaha-TBA

18th- GBB/BBB VAR vs Gering- 6/7:30pm

WR State@ Omaha

19th- SP @ Ogallala-TBA

WR State @ Omaha

Cat Calendar

The CAT CALENDAR is brought to you by the SCOTTSBLUFF BOOSTER CLUB

21st- NO SCHOOL Teacher Work Day

Presidents day

22nd- BB JV&VAR @ Torrington-5:30/7pm

GBB Districts-TBA

24th-GSW/BSW State @ Lincoln-TBA

GBB Districts-TBA

26th- SP- Western Conference @ Alliance-

TBA

BBB Districts- TBA

March3rd-GBB State @ Lincoln- TBA

From Feb. 28-March 4

you can get something

good for yourself. You can purchase your 2011 yearbook full of great

memories and things! You

can happen to purchase these wonderful memory books from Mr. Pitkin in room 130, or from a Bluff or

Echoes staff, here at school.

1993 Bluff

2010 Bluff

2009 Bluff

1983 Bluff

1991 Bluff

1988 Bluff

OPINION | 7

editor-in-chief | KARIN SHEDD

theECHOES

news editor | SCOUT WILSON

news writer | RYAN MEISTER

feature editor | MEGHAN PRITCHARD

feature writer | RACHEL CLEMENS

feature writer | ASHLEIGH SMITH

center section editor | GABRIELLE CARLIN

center section writer | ETHAN HUGHES

entertainment editor | RUSSELL MORGAN

entertainment writer | VICTORIA BRAVO

sports editor | KELSEY EMPFIELD

sports writer | MADDIE HOLSCHER

sports writer | MICHAEL MILLER

adviser | TERRY PITKIN

The Echoes is a tri-weekly pub-lication printed by the Business Farmer. The Echoes is a member of the Nebraska High School Press Association and the International Order of the Quill and Scroll.

The Echoes encourages read-ers to write letters to the editor in response to a story, but does reserve the right to publish said letter.

The Echoes also encourages all readers to submit their ideas for story coverage, feedback on stories, and any other input.

The EchoesScottsbluff High School313 East 27th St.Scottsbluff, NE 69361Letters with obscene, slander-

ous, libelous, or false information will not be fun. The letter must also be signed to be run. Content may be edited due to grammati-cal or content needs. A signed copy must be presented to the Scottsbluff High School journal-ism department, room 130. Also, please check out The Echoes’ Fa-cebook.com group and MySpace page online!

staff

ad manager | CASEY SIGRIST

The recent shooting at Mil-lard South High School in Omaha that left an assistant

principal dead and the principal wounded has rightly renewed the de-bate on school safety across the state.

Not surprisingly, some of the ensu-ing discussion has brought some ideas to the table that appear a bit radical.

One contribution to the school safety discussion came in the form a LB516 introduced by State Sen. Mark Christiansen from District 44 which is located in the Imperial, NE, area.

The bill is an amendment to the state’s Concealed Weapon’s Act and would allow school security person-nel, administrators, and teachers to carry concealed weapons on campus.

The right would only exist in districts where a two-thirds vote by its governing body allows such action.

All gun carriers would obviously be subjected to the protocol currently in place for anyone carrying a con-cealed weapon in the first place.

The idea that this bill will promote

or foster school safety is absolutely absurd.

The whole scenario conjures up images of a disgruntled teenager in-volved in a shootout in the commons of the local high school with the principal.

One can easi-ly picture a scene from the infa-mous shootout at the OK Corral. Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday will be replaced by gun-toting principals and angst-filled teens in a face-off for the ages.

We do not mean to sound glib, but empowering school resource officers, administrators, and teachers with weapons is not the answer.

Instead, the school safety discus-sion should go another direction.

How about parents, teachers, teens, and administrators working in partnership to curb the problem

before it takes place?What about making school a place

where every kid feels safe and valued personally?

Kids who feel good about their ex-periences at school do not bring guns to school to kill their teachers and peers.

How about continuing the dialogue between all of these parties to find meaningful

ways to secure school buildings?School safety is a paramount issue

in society today that will continue to challenge educators to find ways to ensure student safety.

Sen. Christensen’s bill should not be part of that discussion.

We can only hope that cooler heads will prevail on this issue and LB516 will ride off into the sunset at the end of the legislative session, never to be heard from again.

LB516 needs to be shot downGun violence in schools will not be solved by bringing more guns into schools

The views expressed in this editorial were supported 14-1 by

The Echoes staff

CANCER: IT’S NOT A JOKECommercializing cancer is disrespectful

personal commentary by RACHEL CLEMENS

December 18, 2008: supposedly just another day of 8th grade.

But, as I was getting ready for school, something just didn’t feel right.

I walked into the kitchen, told my parents I felt sick, and asked if I could take the day off.

What began as a minor upset stomach ended up being the worst heartache I have ever experienced.

While dozing off on the couch, I woke up to the shrill sound of the telephone ringing.

It was my uncle calling to tell us to meet at my grandma’s house right away.

“Rita is going to pass away today, and she wants to say goodbye,” my uncle said.

We got in the car, picked up my

two sisters from school, and headed straight to my grandma’s house. The phone rang shortly after. It was my aunt Rita.

Everyone took turns talking to her, but to be honest I don’t even remember what we said to each other, just “I love you” over and over.

How can you prepare what to say to someone when it is

the last time you will talk to them? At the time, my aunt was in the

hospital. I overheard my grandma asking Rita if she was going home to pass away.

Rita said, “Yes mom, I am going home.” We all knew she really meant Heaven.

Hearing what Rita said comforted me - knowing that she would be with God and no longer suffering.

December 18, 2008 was the final day of many years of suffering from cancer.

At the age of 26, Rita was diag-nosed with a form of cancer called Hodgkin’s disease.

The doctors told her that she would have to fight for her life, and may not make it.

Rita had her spleen and a lump in her neck removed, and endured

radiation and chemotherapy, which were meant to cure her cancer, but in the end they contributed to her death, because the radiation damaged her lungs and her heart.

In Rita’s early 50’s she was diag-nosed with breast cancer, and had to have a double mastectomy.

Seeing someone you love suffer with cancer makes you realize how devastating it can be.

It affected my life greatly because my aunt Rita and I were very close. We shared the same birthday, she chose my name when I was born, we both had a love of arts and music, and I always looked up to her as a role model.

Cancer is a very serious matter. People shouldn’t make light of it. Ever.

I find it offensive when I see peo-ple wearing “I love boobies” bracelets. I think that most people wear them as a fashion statement, or because they think it’s cool to wear a bracelet that has the word boobies on it. I don’t think they are actually wearing them to spread awareness of breast cancer, and believe that is highly disrespect-ful to anyone that has had cancer.

What’s worse are jokes like “I would rather have cancer than *insert trivial problem here*.”

My aunt lost her life to cancer. No one deserves to die at the age of 61, and she certainly doesn’t deserve the flippant way my generation treats cancer.

8 | CENTER SECTION CENTER SECTION | 9

Q:

Q:

Q:

Q:

Q:

Questionsfor sophomore

A:When and why did you get involved in speech?

I started doing speech my freshman year after One Acts. I saw some posters and decided to check it out, and after I went to the first meeting I was hooked. The people that are involved in speech are just the best, and I instantly clicked with them.

A:How long does it take you to write/prepare for your speech?

It takes me about two weeks to write a speech. When I’m writing a speech I imagine myself as a judge and envision someone giving it. I write down what I think the presenter would say.

A:Do you have any rituals you do before you perform?

I’ve started to take a swig of lemon juice right before I speak, it helps moisten your throat and mouth so that you don’t get “cotton mouth” - where your mouth dries out and makes it hard to perform.

A:How nervous do you get before a speech meet or performance?

I don’t get very nervous until right before I speak. Then it swells until about a minute into my speech, but I calm down.

A:What events do you participate in, and which is your favorite?

I do informative and entertainment, and I like enter-tainment the best. The rounds are a ton of fun to watch and the kids that do them are hilarious. A good enter-tainment is always changing, which keeps you from falling into a rut when you speak.

Derrick Goss

“C-326, would you like to set up?”His number’s been called. Senior Nick

Roussel casually strolls up to center stage.He’s been in this situation before and he

has performed magnificently. But despite previous triumphs, Roussel still can’t help but feel a little nervous as he prepares for what he works hard at; what he excels at; what he loves: speech.

“I have been involved in speech my entire high school career, although I discovered my passion for the spoken word when in my mother’s womb. I re-enacted a scene from a dramatic black culture play entitled “Child Support Daddy.” It was good… very good,” Roussel said.

Another affluent and lifelong speaker is senior Tyler Webber.

“I’ve been speaking since age one. That’s when I knew I’d be a speech god,” Webber said.

Although a speech god since age one, Web-ber has only displayed his divinity since his sophomore year.

“My biggest regret is not doing speech my freshman year,” Webber said.

Senior Sara Frederick has also competed in speech since her freshman year.

“I’ve done speech all four years of high school,” Frederick said.

This is only senior Victoria Bravo’s second year in speech, but she is by no means a rookie.

“This is my second year in speech… and it’s sweet,” Bravo said.

Right before a free throw in a basketball game, the shooter has a routine that he/she has done thousands of times. It’s a motion that has become a habit, a second nature. Like basketball players, these four have each developed their own routines or rituals they perform to prepare for the speech ahead.

“I’ll sacrifice a lamb the night before a speech meet and read a chapter from the Necronomicon along with some Indian chant-ing,” Roussel said.

“I carry my Bose headphones around while I punch a wall 70 times… just kidding; our team does some weird stuff beforehand,” Webber said.

“A lot of times I give my speeches to thin air as I walk around the halls of whatever school we’re competing at. If I have time, I’ll put down my things and give my entire speech to a wall,” Frederick said.

“We do warm-ups as a team such as tongue twisters, beat boxing, tribal chants and dancing and those are always fun. When I know it’s my turn I’ll sit on the edge of my seat until they call my code, always check that my posters are in order and clear my throat.” Bravo said.

Although they have different rituals and participate in different events, all four have

had the same feelings leading up to the big moment of their very first speech.

“Right before my first speech I was a ner-vous nelly,” Roussel said.

“I was so scared before my first speech. I wanted to cry… I probably did cry,” Webber said.

“I had all these ideas about what the meet would be like. I thought I would have to get up on a stage with everyone staring at me and give my speech. I was super relieved when I saw what it was really like,” Frederick said.

“I was so nervous. I felt like I was going to vomit,” Bravo said.

There’s a first time for everything, and Roussel is glad that he never has to do his first speech again.

“I did God awful on my very first speech; ask [Speech Coach Kara] Rada and she will tell you how tragic it was,” Roussel said.

Webber feels the same about his first speech.

“I think I got fifth. I was awful,” Webber said.

Frederick doesn’t recall how she did, al-though she remembers the situation.

“All I remember about my first speech was that I spoke too quietly, didn’t use any gestures and Torry Kisser was my judge,” Frederick said.

Although Roussel and Webber weren’t satisfied with their personal results the first time, Bravo seemed to have a stroke of begin-ner’s luck.

“I was so nervous for my first speech I forgot a whole two paragraphs. I thought it was all over, until I found out that there were two rounds and ended up getting 1st place,” Bravo said.

Even though the struggles of the first time are over and all four have become accustomed to delivering their speeches, the “butterflies in your stomach” feeling is still prevalent.

“Before every speech I try to exude confi-dence so it comes out when I speak, although I’m secretly a little nervous. I still get that jittery feeling, but the more I speak, the more confidence I gain,” Roussel said.

“I’m super confident. The more I do it the more confident I get. I’ll get butterflies waiting to give my speech because I get really excited, but I always grin before I start my speech to get inside my competitor’s head. I like to scare the competition since I don’t meet the requirements to physically scare some-one,” Webber said.

“I still get really nervous for every speech meet. This is a good thing, because when I’m not nervous I don’t perform as well. Before the judge calls my code I’m analyzing all the speeches that have already gone; but when I walk to the front of the room, I’m just focus-ing on clearing my head and becoming my character,” Frederick said.

“The more you do it the smaller the but-terflies get. They get smaller and smaller, but they’re definitely still there… always haunt-ing your every move. When I’m sitting there watching other people I’m twiddling my fingers and my hands are sweaty. When my code is called I get a burst of confidence and think, ‘I’m gonna bust it!’” Bravo said.

Even though speech is a blast, there is a lot of behind the scenes work that goes into the elegantly delivered finished product.

“In order to write a good speech, I get my inspiration from life experiences and put in hours of work outside of school and every weekend in the winter and spring,” Roussel said.

“Honestly, speech is my life. I’m constantly researching and practicing and thinking of more ideas. My persuasive is on the words “I Love You” and how these words in society are just thrown around without meaning. So I get my inspiration from my observations of society, current events, etc,” Webber said.

“Speech is definitely the activity I put most of my time and effort in to. I spend hours and hours at the beginning of the season read-ing, writing, choosing and cutting pieces and practicing every day. The topics for my speeches come from things that are important to me or relate to my life in a special way. For characters, I draw ideas from the behavior of friends, family, actors; pretty much anyone I can impersonate,” Frederick said.

“I say my speech to myself at least once a day. We have weekly practices and practice every weekend as well. When writing my entertainment, my brother helps me and I basically just come up with a bunch of stuff and hope it’s funny,” Bravo said.

Even through all the struggles, butterflies, and countless hours of work, these four have decided to stick it out and pursue something they love.

“I’ve always done pretty well, and like I said, I’ve known speech was my thing since my mother’s womb,” Roussel said.

“I realized speech was my thing when I went to State as a first year member and then ultimately made it to Nationals in duet with Nick [Roussel] on only a week of practice,” Webber said.

“Halfway through my freshman year something just clicked. I started trying harder and adding different voices and memorizing my poetry. Once I began placing consistently, I knew I wanted to be on the Speech Team all through high school,” Frederick said.

“When I gave my entertainment for my Speech 2 class Rada said, ‘This is your event. You ARE an entertainment speaker.’ Then I won my first time competing. It’s a feeling you want to experience again and again,” Bravo said.

story byEthAn hughEs | center section writer

Perfecting their craft

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Pause.Take a deep breath.Nod at the judgeCalm down.1…2…3…action.Public speaking is a strange concept.

People standing in front of other people, entertaining them with words.

However, the approximately 45 kids on the SHS speech team are aware of the many ben-efits that come from being a “speech geek.”

Better social skills, travelling opportunities, research skills, and creative advancements are just a few among many life-long skills that can be achieved from participating on the speech team.

So what’s the speech team all about?It’s safe to say that speech coach Kara

Rada is the glue that keeps the speech team together.

“I’ve been coaching speech for 15 years and this is my 10th year at SHS. I was in-volved in speech growing up and since I was a vocal performance major at UNL, I know how important the arts are,” Rada said.

There are ten categories in speech: extem-poraneous, informative, persuasive, serious prose, humorous prose, poetry, duet acting, entertainment, oral interpretation of drama (OID), and serious prose.

Speech team members are allowed to par-ticipate in as many as four events, although most stick to two, and the members put in some serious time practicing for their events.

“We practice morning, noon, and night. My seniors are passing on the tra-dition of winning and high expectations. With such a big team, the seniors not

only prepare their speeches, but help coach others as well,” Rada said.

With all of the hours of time and practice spent preparing for speech meets and qualify-ing for state, it almost seems unfair how the judging process works.

“Qualifying for state is the worst part of the year. One judge can make or break you. It is one preliminary round with one judge and then finals with two judges. We hope that NSAA gets judges who understand trends and talent. All the kids can do is prepare and present and hope for fair judging,” Rada said.

This year’s team is easily one of the stron-gest and most talented speech teams to walk the halls of SHS.

“This year’s team has won some major out of state tournaments competing against schools way bigger than us: Denver, Fort Col-lins, and Cheyenne,” Rada said.

One of the best things about the speech program is that anyone can participate.

“Anyone can be on the speech team. My favorite thing to say is that not everyone is good at speech, but speech is good for every-one. It’s all about practice and drive and belief in the art,” Rada said.

story bygAbriEllE CArlin | center section editor

LEADER OF THE PACKStrong senior class has Rada hopeful

for a top finish at districts, state

bringin hOME thE

hArDWArE

Senior members of the speech team pose with the trophies they brought home from the Heart of the Rockies Tournament in Chey-enne in January. The team took first place overall in one of the big-gest meets they compete in during the year. Front row: Jay Grote, Tyler Webber, Nick Roussel, and

Kirby Thornton. back row: Sara Frederick, Coach Kara Rada,

Maddy Parsley and Victoria Bravo. Photo by Rhonda

Webber

ALL THE SINGLE LADIESA perpetual bachelorette’s love/hate (but mostly hate)

relationship with Valentine’s Day

10 | OPINION

THE UNLIKELY ATHLETEMy 13-year journey of sweat, tears, and chlorinepersonal commentary by KARIN SHEDD

personal commentary by GABRIELLE CARLIN

They absolutely disgust me.You’ve seen them… the proverbial

‘couple in love.’He’s staring into her eyes like she’s

Megan Fox and she’s clinging to him like he’s Taylor Lautner.

Out of his backpack, he pulls a heart shaped box of chocolates and a teddy bear that sings “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion. She giggles with excitement and thanks him with a loving kiss.

Ugh…gag me. I’m just so thrilled that there’s a whole day dedicated to reminding me that I’m a loser without a boyfriend.

And I know exactly what you’re thinking. “Oh Gabrielle you’re just bitter (maybe a little) because you’re single (thanks for the reminder) on the holiday celebrating love (how stupid).”

I mean, I’m con-tent being single, so it’s not just the fact that I’m boyfriend-less that I despise this “holiday.”

It’s the overpriced flowers and choco-lates, the annoying cards that sing cheesy love songs when you open them, and let’s not forget those disgusting little heart candies that purport hokey love messages and taste like chalk.

“Well if you enjoy being single Gabrielle, why do you hate Valentine’s Day so much?”

To answer this question I had to dig deep into my past…all the way back to the 1st grade.

You see, when you’re young and in love, things tend to get a bit compli-cated. And at the ripe age of eight, I had found my soul mate in Eric Rice.

He was ruggedly handsome and well beyond his years, and our rela-tionship quickly advanced from him affectionately throwing papers at me in class to him chasing me around the playground during recess, trying to kiss me.

Yes, he was very forward, and I must admit I didn’t want to be tied down – so I acted like he didn’t exist and played hard to get.

Unfortunately, Eric moved away and I never saw him again. He’s the

one that got away, and I’ve never met a man like Eric Rice since.

Moral of the story: Eric ruined my love life by setting the bar for my po-tential suitors incredibly high, which has forced me to spend Valentine’s Day alone for the last 18 years.

So, here are my top four reasons for hating Valentine’s Day:

4. Everything is so expensive. Let’s do a little math shall we?

First things first: roses. Even though they’re super cliché and they’ll die after a couple of weeks, they’re a V-day must-have item. That’ll be around $60.

Next: a box of chocolates. $10. You’re on a roll, so you might as

well buy a cute stuffed animal. $15. Of course, you need a card to tie

everything together, which will be about $5.

That comes to a grand total of $90 and you haven’t even looked at perfume or jewelry, and you’ll have to fork out money for dinner and maybe a movie. By the end of the day, you will have spent around $200.

I’m sure it’s nice to receive a gift on the big V-Day, but really – just give me the cash because I don’t want a tacky greeting card.

3. It shouldn’t really be a holiday. There are a few stories as to how Val-entine’s Day became a holiday with one of the more popular ones being that a Saint by the name of Valentine illegally married people after some king banned marriage in Rome.

Really cute story – regrettably, St.

Valentine was caught, stoned, and beheaded on Feb. 24, 270 AD and then people felt obligated to name a holiday after him.

Personally, I think couples made up the holiday to rub it in my face that they’re in love and I’m not.

2. It doesn’t feel sincere. It’s Valen-tine’s Day, so if you’re in a relation-ship you feel obligated to give your significant other something special. If I had a boyfriend, I would feel like he was just going through the motions because it’s what’s expected. There’s a lot of pressure to perform a hugely romantic gesture on this day, and it seems insincere and forced.

1. Singles are out of the loop. Oh yes, we’ve come to the big one.

Let me break it down for all you couples out there: have you ever been with a group of people and they’re all laughing at some inside joke that you’re not a part of? It doesn’t feel good, does it? Well, that’s how I feel on Feb. 14. Everyone is so disgust-ingly happy and in love and I’m not laughing because I don’t get the joke.

Instead, I sit at home and stuff my face with ice cream while watching The Notebook because I know Ryan Gosling will never look at me and tell me that he wants all of me, forever, he and I, every day…hmmm.

However, I’m not completely cyni-cal. I highly doubt it, but maybe if I had a boyfriend I would celebrate this ridiculous and overrated “holiday.”

But I don’t, so I won’t. Happy Valentine’s Day!

I am of average height and weight. I have some muscle, but nothing definitive - not enough to manage more than ten push-ups or a single one-legged squat.

With a little torso acceleration, I can manage to touch my toes for the briefest of moments. I have tiny feet and hands, the hand-eye coordination of my three-year old neighbor, and my successful basketball free-throw rate is about one in 367. My crown-ing achievement in my PE class is

the time I caught the ball on about a 15-ft. pass in an intense game of Four Score (though I think that, if the ‘a girl must possess the ball at least once before points can be scored’ rule didn’t exist, said pass wouldn’t have occurred in the first place).

None of these attributes of mine are conducive to a

long-term and/or even moderately successful athletic career.

But, that didn’t stop my parents (whose genetics they passed to me, I might add, lack any potential for athletic prowess) from signing me up for my first swimming team, the Torpedoes, when I was five.

Little did they know that now, thir-teen years and over a million yards swum later, I would be two weeks away from finishing the longest, most time-consuming effort of my life thus far.

Frankly, the fact that I lasted more

than a year in any given athletic pursuit defies my very nature. As far as I know, none of my blood relatives have ever done the same, unless their genes were augmented by a par-ticularly brawny set of chromosomes marrying into the family.

Anyway, by “time-consuming,” I actually mean “euphoric, painful, exhilarating, laborious, amusing, agonizing” and any other contrasting adjectives for ‘fun’ and ‘awful’ in the English language.

Swimming is possibly the most straining sport one can do. Even an hour of lackadaisical frolicking in chlorinated water necessitates a three-hour recovery nap. So the weekly rounds of morning practices, afternoon practices, and Saturday practices I have endured for the last four years have been, to put it simply, backbreaking.

Once in a while (roughly around 53 times), I broke down from exhaus-tion and stress and spent a few days wondering (yelling and crying) things like “why-am-I-doing-this-I’m-not-any-good-no-one-else-in-my-family-does-this-what-if-I-spent-all-this-time-reading-classic-novels-or-painting-

wouldn’t-colleges-like-that-better-anyway?!”

Luckily, through swimming I met the best friends and coaches I could’ve wanted. They consoled me through these turbulent emotions of mine, and occasionally slapped (liter-ally) some sense into me when my freak-outs became psychopathic.

Above all, though, my relationship with swimming has taught me es-sential life skills, all those lessons one apparently needs to learn to become an effectively functioning member of today’s society.

So, let me bottom-line this column: while swimming is not the natural course for someone with my build and genes, I wouldn’t change a single minute of the last thirteen years for anything. I enjoy the company of my swimming team, the feeling of leaping into a cold pool at 6:20 AM, the heat radiating off my beet-red face after an exceptionally difficult workout, and the sometimes comical antics of my coaches in their attempts to control/encourage 50 teenagers.

The season may come to an end in two weeks, but it will continue to affect me for the rest of my life.

Every 10th student gets a

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Available

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The place to be ... empowered!

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Pre-Medicine

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12 | ENTERTAINMENT

In 1968, two friends from Ventura, CA. took a 5000 mile trip in nothing but a beat up old van. They drove from their hometown through Central and South America into the deep heart of Chile and Argentina; to a land called Patagonia.

There was Alexander and Na-poleon, Columbus and Cortez, but no conquerors like these two men from 60s California. They climbed untouched mountains and surfed beaches where no human had gone before. Yet unlike Alexander and Na-poleon, once these unchartered areas were conquered, these two men left the land just the way they found it. They were conquerors of the useless.

These men are Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins. These names may not be very popular, but I’m sure everyone has been a part of their story in one way or another. Chouinard is the founder and owner of Patagonia, a major organic clothing and outdoor gear company that started as a climb-ing gear shop in a tin shed. Tompkins is the founder of The North Face, one of the finest active clothing companies out there today.

These men built their businesses from what they love in their life. Their love of adventure and taking the fear of the unknown head on helped them

become successful and uncorrupt businessmen. They base their business on simplicity- for them it’s not just about profit; it’s about the responsibil-ity of influence.

The ventures of these two men caught the attention of a young ad-venturer by the name of Jeff Johnson. He’s from the same town in Califor-nia, and he shares many of the same pas-sions: climbing, surfing, fishing, travelling, etc.

Inspired by their trip,

Johnson decided to drop everything and make the trip again-this time, filming every step of the way.

180° South follows Johnson as he makes the journey (by boat, rather than van) down the coast of Central and South America. He sees incred-ible places and meets people who,

like him, are adventurers and enjoy the simplicity

of life. The heart

of the film is found in

more than

just

the sights that are seen. Along the way, Johnson begins to learn about the changes in society and the envi-ronment that occurred from the 1968 trip to his.

The natural wonders that once dominated South America have begun to be erased by industry and careless progress.

Johnson discovers that what started as a trip to get away turned into a lesson that changed his life. He discovers that the adventurous and simplistic approach to life has faded.

This film isn’t just for surfers, climbers, or adventurers-it’s for everyone. Everyone is connected in their social responsibility and this film highlights the beauty of untouched parts of the world that people need to see.

The film shows how various industries have destroyed rich parts of culture and are threatening to do so still.

With the direction society is going, and resources in the state they are in, this is a very important film for this generation. It shows the importance of being socially responsible and how progress is sometimes not the answer.

If the environmental responsibility message does not reach viewers, the amazing scenery and thrill of adven-ture Johnson encounters along the way will probably encourage viewers to quit their jobs and take off on a trip of their own.

It’s a film everyone needs to see...

MTV’s newest television show for teens, Skins, premiered Jan 27, leaving America with mixed feelings.

Skins began as a controversial Brit-ish pilot, and, when it was adapted to the U.S., it became a bit watered down and is said to be tamer than the original.

Thank goodness for that. I cannot imagine a more racy ver-

sion of the show. Granted the show doesn’t allow

us to view anything we haven’t seen before, it simply makes it all bigger and better.

The show begins by depicting the life of Tony, a manipulative leader of

the pack.Tony has good intentions though:

he plans on finding his friend Stanley a girl to whom he can lose his virgin-ity to.

This girl would be Cadie, stuck in an imaginary relationship, she is one nut short of a fruit cake to say the least.

We later get introduced to Tony’s girlfriend Michelle, a clever and pretty addition to the crew, but not clever enough to realize that tony isn’t the one for her.

The there’s Chris, we can’t forget Chris. He serves us up more than enough drugs and sex for all of us. There is not drug too obscure for him

to try, and no girl he – well you get the picture.

Tea, another female character, probably has the most entertaining family ever to be on television. From her mouthy brother, clueless parents, and her rambling grandmother, its good stuff.

Oh and how could I forget? She likes girls and that is a fact that cannot be avoided, especially in the second episode which depicts multiple scenes with her and a lady friend.

In the same episode, Tea meets up with Abbud, a not so devoted Muslim. His parents want him in the mosque praying, but he’s living a double-life enjoying dope, girls, and

rock and roll. The cast and the overall plot of

the show, telling the real life of and struggles through adolescence, has everyone wondering if we really act like this.

Well, I know I don’t, and I doubt that very many teens actually do go out to lesbian dance clubs at night without our parents questioning a thing.

The show does give way to what teenagers face on a daily basis, but it simply glamorizes it.

As a teenager, I hear about my fair share of sex and drugs but my life is not engulfed in it, like in the lives of the characters in Skins.

Skins: the lives of teenagers...Ridiculously ExaggERatEdstory byVictoria BraVo | entertainment writer

story byrussell Morgan | entertainment editor

MTV’s latest show attempts to expose the secret lives of American teens, lives many don’t actually live

180° South: Conquerors of the Useless shows the havoc wreaked on cultures for commercial profit

ENTERTAINMENT | 13

“I want to fly away…” The words to Cake’s seventh

track, “Sick of You” on their newest album, Showroom of Compassion. A head nod develops, but slowly fades away due to lack of interest. Welcome to their new album.

Being new to Cake, and trying to keep an open mind I am again reminded why so many people lose faith in today’s music industry.

Hearing from person to person that the album is nothing short of spec-tacular is definitely reassuring, but a huge letdown.

While tuning into “Sick of You” honestly I wanted to well… “fly away”.

Let’s say one enjoys music where the lead singer has significant singing talent and a song consists of more than a few lines being repeated over and over. Well, for that person, I don’t

recommend Cake.Lovers of Cake claim that lead

singer, John McCrea’s half singing, half talking is enjoyable and makes good background music, but I found it’s mostly annoying.

The album is filled with lame beats and predictable overrated rhyming verses.

Another song featured on the album is “Federal Funding” which avidly lists what you can do while on federal funding.

Rather than keeping a listener interested as expected, Showroom leaves one nodding off while sitting up straight.

Now I enjoy a pointless catchy tune as much as the next teenager but Cake fails to deliver even that.

The songs on the album don’t pro-duce a nice snap-along tune that one might be looking for in today’s music.

“What’s Now Is Now” is the ultimate duh-factor because what’s now is now, and we’re reminded of it

repeatedly in the song. Cake does, however, serve up a

good song that satisfies me: “Bound Away”.

The song excites listeners with a change of pace, since every song on the album can be mistaken for another. Rather than having a beat similar to the rest of the songs on the album, “Bound Away” gives us a slower paces tune to sway to.

It’s a hopeful song about finding a way out of a situation, a lovely addi-tion to the album.

Another song that does the album justice is “Long Time” which also adds something different to Show-room. It’s an upbeat catchy tune about seeing someone that you hadn’t for a long time that is easily enjoyed.

While Showroom does a good job with individual pieces overall, the album... doesn’t take the cake.

Okay, I’ll admit it: I’m addicted. After a long day at school I love to plop down on my couch and stare at the television as gallons of alcohol, half-naked tanned and toned bodies, outrageous parties, and unhealthy relationships flood the screen.

I’m taking about quality television here: Jersey Shore, Bad Girls Club, and Jerry Springer. The list goes on and on.

Jersey Shore premiered on Dec 3, 2009, and has since accumulated more than eight million viewers, making it MTV’s most viewed series telecast ever.

Each of the six seasons of Bad Girls Club averaged more than three mil-lion viewers.

The Jerry Springer Show has garnered almost seven million faithful viewers since 1991.

Needless to say, reality television has definitely made its mark. But why in the world does our society (includ-ing me) choose to watch this junk?

The answer is simple: they’ve got what people want.

The two driving forces behind the history of entertainment are romance and conflict. Almost any successful form of entertainment, from Shake-speare to reality TV, has those two ele-ments. Jersey Shore, Bad Girls Club, and Jerry Springer are jam-packed with sex and fighting, and then distilled until all that’s left to air is pure drama.

Those things make a show popular, but is it right?

People argue that the mild censoring of the shows make it more appropriate. But honestly, will a bleeped out word or pixelated body part really stop us from imagining what was originally there? Is it right to let this kind of behavior show on TV, where millions of people can watch and follow suit?

Even with the so called “censor-ing” it is still apparent what’s going on in reality TV; It’s questionable whether it’s even fair to allow this stuff to be on television. Recently, Mark Twain’s celebrated Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn were censored by removing the word

‘nigger’ from the book, which ap-peared quite frequently, and replacing it with “slave.”

Twain was undoubtedly anti-racist. His use of the word truthfully reflected the time when African Amer-icans had to deal with those types of

slurs; His story was written in within a particular historical and societal context of that time. I personally think it’s wrong to alter an author’s work – it no longer becomes the way Twain had intended.

My point is it’s completely ludi-crous and hypocritical of society to go so far as to alter a legendary novel due to “inappropriate context”, yet be completely and happily indulged with the sleazy performances stream-ing through our televisions.

What we see on television has

recently seemed to have more ef-fect on us than one word in a piece of literature. Since the air of Jersey Shore, business in tanning salons has risen 22%. More and more teenag-ers are solving conflicts by conduct-ing a scream-off. Kids are becoming

involved in romantic, and sometimes unhealthy, relationships at a younger age than ever.

Could it be a coin-cidence that damaging behavior is casually, and somewhat positively, shown on popular teen

television shows and occurring in teen’s lives today? I highly doubt it.

What we choose to watch on tele-vision is highly concerning. If our ac-tions follow what we want to see, our society could be in serious trouble.

The gatekeepers of American tele-vision need to stop providing Ameri-can viewers with what they want, but what they need.

story byVictoria braVo | entertainment writer

entertainment column byashleigh smith | feature writer

Who knew there could be...

American entertainment needs an overhaulA great American novel is censored to forget an era, but do we really want to remember Pauly D, Snookie?

TV needs to stop providing Americans with what they want and give them what they need

bad Cake?Popular alternative rock band CAKE fails to impress on its sixth album

Arms tired, sweat dripping from his brow, exhaustion coursing throughout his entire body, junior Tyler Nation assumes the wrestling position. He overcomes this exhaus-tion and beats his opponent, persever-ing as he has all year.

A 33-1 record requires such deter-mination and he and the rest of the team will have to continue their cur-rent streak to come out on top at the upcoming district tournament.

Still having two undefeated wrestlers, senior Willie Schwarzkopf and freshman Colton Adams, (weight classes 171 and 112, respectively) districts looks to be just another step-

14 | SPORTS

ping stone on their way to the state tournament.

“I think we have a really good chance at winning [districts] as a team. I think we’ll pull together and have enough heart to get it done,” Nation said.

Coach Robinson shares Nation’s optimism.

“The only competition we will have will probably come against Chadron. It’ll come down to which team wants it more,” Robinson said.

Having beaten Chadron at Chad-ron’s invite only makes the Bearcats chances look ever better.

“The last tournament, the Chadron Invite, we actually beat them [Chad-ron] in points, so we’re looking good for districts right now,” Nation said.

Put aside those facts, and you can

look at where districts is going to be held; right here at SHS, giving the team the homefield advantage.

“I think homefield advantage will definitely help us. Obviously when you’re wrestling in your hometown, it helps the team perform better,” Na-tion said.

Although the season started out a little bit shaky, the team has showed phenomenal growth.

“We had some trouble with duals and kids getting down to weight early in the season, but everyone has stepped up and showed great growth,” junior Jedediah Weis said.

The team’s “growth-spurt” has yet to stop, as it seems they’re performing ever better as the season progresses.

Because of this growth, the team has much bigger goals than Districts

Face Down

Junior Tyler Nation prepares to defend his 33-1 record in the 135 lb. division at a Gering dual against Jose Anaya. The team looks to capture the district title Feb. 11 & 12 at SHS. Photo by Alexis Cook

story byMICHAEL MILLER | sports writer

WrestlingAvery Montanez, 12

Profile:

to achieve in the near future.“My goal is to get 1st at districts

and get on the stand at the state tour-nament,” senior Avery Montanez said.

With such leaders as Schwarzkopf, Adams, Nation, and Montanez, this goal seems ever more achievable.

The team, along with their coach, Mr. Robinson, has a very optimistic viewpoint concerning the upcoming district tournament

“We’re going to win it regardless. I’d just rather win it here so we don’t have to win in someone else’s house. I’d rather win it here in front of the homecrowd so we can celebrate and can be done here instead of out on the road,” Robinson said.

Look for the Bearcats to trounce their opponents for rights to being district champions on Feb. 11 and 12.

Looking to take down the competition

Wrestling team looks strong going into Friday, Saturday’s B-4 Districts competition

Sports UpdateThe girls and boys Scottsbluff/

Gering bowling club captured the class A district title Jan. 29 at North Platte.

This year was the first time the teams competed in a class A tournament.

After the girl’s team won the class B state championship last year, the teams were bumped up to class A.

The teams will advance to the state tournament in Lincoln Feb. 12 & 13.

Also in sports, the annual swim-ming GNAC conference will be held at the SHS Splash Arena Feb. 11 & 12.

2) How has this season been going?

4) Season goals?

1) Current record

3) Who moti-vates you?

5) How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a wood-chuck could chuck wood?

I feel it’s going great, it’s been the best season ever. And I’m still un-defeated in Nebraska.

Get 1st at districts and get on the stand at state.

26 - 5

The assistant coach Dominic Blanco is younger so he can get into the kids’ brains motivate us. Ms. Moore is always there for me. Right before my match I always pray, “Work for the lord, but not for man.”

A wood chuck can chuck many chucks if it believes it can chuck far in what it chucks if he has some wood that he can chuck.

This is the first time ever Scotts-bluff has held the conference.

Also, the wrestling team will look to take the district title Feb. 11 & 12 at SHS.

In basketball, the location of the boys and girls districts have still not yet been announced.

NSAA said they are waiting on wild card points for class A in order to announce the class B district location.

WinWatch

16With only three wins away, the

lady bearcat basketball team aims to beat the school record of 19 wins in a season. They are currently 16-3.

SPORTS | 15

Six lanes. 25 yards. 196,000 gallons of water.

These are the numbers behind se-nior swimmers Jarod Kerr and Taylor Counter as they embark on a race against time.

These two standouts, along with the rest of the Seacat swim team are preparing to dive into the end of the season beginning with the GNAC meet this Friday and Saturday at the Splash Arena with the state meet ap-proaching on Feb. 24-26.

“My goals for conference are to swim personal best times and get myself in a good position for the state meet,” Kerr said.

Kerr’s season has been highlighted by state qualifying times in the 50m, 100m, and 200m freestyle races.

“Competition racing is very enjoy-able because we all support each other and I love the thrill of the races,” Kerr said.

Kerr has been swimming for ten years and credits much of his success to the time put in during the off-season, as well as his coach-es.

“All my coaches have contributed greatly to my success in swimming. From making practices, to analyzing my stroke on film, they have influ-enced me a lot,” Kerr said.

His counterpart…Taylor Counter, is also a veteran in the pool, swim-ming for almost nine years.

“Both Jarod and Taylor are fan-tastic swimmers and team leaders,” coach Mike Hayhurst said. “They give 100% during practice and organize

activi-ties and team meet-ings re-garding goals and be-havior.”

“My favorite part of swim-ming season is seeing myself and my team-mates improve because we all work so hard and that is the best feeling,” Counter said.

Counter has qualified for state in the 100m Breast stroke, 100m Back-stroke, 100m Freestyle, and 200m

Individual Medley (IM), but still has a lot of tough competition ahead with teams from Columbus, Hastings, Kearney, McCook, North Platte, and Norfolk coming to town this week-end.

While she races, she focuses on keeping her cool in the pool.

“I try not to think about anything during the race and let my body do what it is trained to do. The second I think about it is the second I lose it,”

story bymaddie holscher | sports writer

making Waves

Senior Jarod Kerr competes in the butterfly event during the Intersquad meet. Kerr has qualified for the state swimming meet in three events. Photo by Mark Rein.

GNac sWimmiNGComing soon to a swimming pool near you

Starring: seniors Taylor Counter and Jarod KerrDirected by: Mike Hayhurst

“

“I try not to think about anything during the race...the second I think about it is the sec-

ond I lose it. -Taylor Counter, 12

Counter said.“I would like to take first in all my

races at conference and I would like to hopefully become a state champion in the 100m Breast,” Counter said.

“My goals for state are to finish top six in both of my individual events and compete well in the relays,” Kerr said.

Both will be on a mission this weekend to lead their teams to another title of conference champs. They, along with the younger swim-mers, bring depth to the pool during competition.

“The new and younger swimmers are vital for our team to perform well at the end of the year. It’s great watch-ing them grow and improve over the season and they will help us win conference,” Hayhurst said.

Both the boys and girls have won 10 out of the last 11 conference titles and hope to continue their domina-tion.

TaKe iT BacK NoW

Seinor Taylor Counter races in the 100m Backstroke at the Twin City Invite. Counter is ranked 3rd in the state for the 100m breaststroke Photo by Christi Koeppen

16 | SPORTS

The brilliant sun had just hit its peak at high-noon when junior Hunter Bollman ar-

rived at the creek south of Minatare owned by his family.

Bollman jumped out of his tur-quoise-green Mazda pickup, opened the tail-gate and grabbed chains, a shovel, a hammer, and a stake.

After slamming the tailgate shut, he slowly trudged toward the creek and took in the scenery.

Forest green pine trees, layered with a fresh blanket of snow, glistened and sparked in the sunlight.

The snow crunched underneath his boots while he anticipated the sound of running water.

He scoped the ground looking for any sign of animal life. As he neared the creek, he saw the faint trails left from small creatures. This trail, in particular, was left by a muskrat.

He peered further into the north-ern distance and saw what appeared to be a muskrat den. The ultimate trapping spot had been identified.

He dropped the chains heavily on top of the white earth floor and gripped the wooden handle of the shovel. His arm muscles flexed as he

swung the shovel head into the air and forced

it down, digging into the partially-frozen earth.

A small hole soon became evi-dent as he finished scooping out the chunks of dirt. Bollman crouched down and picked up the metal foot hold. He fiddled with it and placed it into the freshly dug hole.

He positioned the trap precisely so it would remain unseen and jabbed a stake into the ground.

Clank…clank…clank. The rusty hammer drilled the stake into place.

He slowly rose to his feet and grabbed the dirt-covered shovel and gently slung it over his shoulder as he made his way through the bitter cold and back to his truck.

Bollman was introduced to trap-ping by a friend two years prior and since has become an avid trapper.

“I like trapping because it’s nice being out where no one else is and enjoying nature. It’s fun to set the traps and see if I can get anything,” Bollman said.

Trapping is time-consuming be-cause the traps must be checked once every two calendar days.

“I set about fifteen traps. During Christmas break I checked my traps every day. Now that I’m in school, I check them every other day. On a normal day I’ll usually get about three muskrats and a raccoon,” Bollman

said.In the winter,

the animals’ coats get long in order to compensate for the cold weather. The season winds down as the weather becomes warmer because the animals’

coats aren’t as good in quality as they start shedding.

The trapping season for most ani-mals runs from Nov. 1 to Feb. 28, but animals such as muskrat and beaver have extended seasons. During sea-son, furs are sold at fluctuating prices.

“After I trap the animals, I take them into the furbearer and sell them. I usually get $13 for a raccoon and

about $5 for a muskrat. It just varies on the ani-mal and the condition,” Bollman said.

“I pay anywhere from $1 for a possum to $300 for a bobcat. It just de-pends on what the fur looks like, but the prices change from year to year,” Daile Schnider, owner of Schnider Wild Furs, said.

Once the animals are trapped and the furbearer receives it, the furs are removed, stretched, formed, dried properly, and sold.

“I buy hides from trappers and hunters and then sell them all over the world. I have buyers in South Dakota, Canada, and even China. Most of the buying companies are clothing and coat manufacturers,” Scnider said.

Although the money can be an asset, in order to trap, numerous rules have to be followed.

Each year, the Nebraska Game and Parks set the laws on hunting, trap-ping and fishing.

SETTING THE TRAP

Junior Hunter Bollman sets a foot hold trap in the snow. Bollman started trapping two years ago and since then has become an avid trapper. Photo by Russell Morgan

story byKELSEY EMPFIELD | sports editor

A trapper must complete a Hunt-er’s Education course after the age of twelve. A fur harvest permit costs $16, and a habitat stamp, $20. Both must be purchased annually.

Even though a trapper may kill several animals during the season, they pay to help keep the habitat of the animals they trap.

The money for the fur harvest permit contributes to the budgets for state fish and wildlife agencies. Money used to purchase the habitat stamp aids wildlife conservation and rehabilitation programs.

Although there is no bag limit on trapping animals, all endangered and scarce animals are prohibited from being trapped.

Mountain lion, bear, river otter, spotted skunk, Canada lynx, black-footed ferret, moose, swift fox and southern flying squirrel are all pro-tected by the state.

Trapping benefits wildlife by con-trolling animal populations at healthy levels in balance with habitat, provid-ing funding for wildlife management activities, and increasing knowledge and appreciation of wildlife resources.

“If you’re not wearing fur, cot-ton, or silk, you’re wearing synthetic material made from oil derivatives. Man-made materials have a shorter life-span. They go into the landfill and take years upon years to rot and aren’t renewable. Fur has a longer life-span and when it goes to the landfill, it rots quickly. Meanwhile, the resource has renewed itself,” Schnider said.

Schnider said that without trap-ping, animals can easily over-popu-late. Crops could then be destroyed in order to sustain the animals eating habit. When crops start to die, farmers are forced to take drastic measures and kill off the animals in order to save their harvests.

With trapping in place, the re-source can be renewed while trappers enjoy the activity.

Trapping The 411 on

Trapping becomes a hobby for junior Hunter

Bollman

“

“I like trapping because it’s nice being out where no one else is

and enjoying nature.-Hunter Bollman, 11