Recently, LMSD implemented signifi-cant changes in its central administration positions. As a part of this reorganization, former 11th Grade Assistant Principal Wag-ner Marseille became Director of Secondary Education. Principal Sean Hughes is taking over as 11th grade administrator in the in-terim with the assistance of former physical education and health teacher Jon Fadely.

“I’m deeply saddened that I will no longer have a daily presence at LM,” said Marseille. “I’ve had the pleasure of working closely with an awesome faculty and staff and I will miss them. I will also miss the 11th grade class and the rest of the student body.”

The District is taking measures to make sure the mid-year transition goes as smoothly as possible.

“[Dr. Marseille] is going to be available throughout the remainder of this year for transition purposes, and all of us along with Mr. Hughes have been looking at

the resources we have within the building and the central office to make sure that the

services to the kids and the teachers do not lapse through this February to July,” said

Assistant Superintendent Mike Kelly.Fadely, who will act as Teacher on Spe-

cial Assignment, will help Hughes with the 11th grade administrative responsibilities. Fadely has been completing an administra-tive internship, during which time he has worked with Marseille and 9th Grade As-sistant Principal Marcy Hockfield, assisting with many administrative duties.

The administration has not yet decided how the assistant principals will be orga-nized permanently. Previously, one assistant principal was assigned to each grade, but Marseille’s switch leaves only three assis-tant principals for four grades.

“That will be worked out along with Mr. Hughes and the assistant principals and under the leadership of Dr. Marsielle as Secondary Director, and we will see how we are going to best meet the needs of our students with one fewer,” Kelly said.

Marseille’s switch in position is part of a larger reorganization of administration within the District.

LM physics teacher fired over “dating relationship”

Mr. Robert Schanne, an acclaimed physics teacher at Lower Merion High School was terminated from his teaching position on Monday, January 24 by a unanimous decision from the Lower Merion School District Board of Directors.

In late December it was brought to the administration’s attention that eight years ago Schanne had allegedly taken part in an inappropriate “dating” relationship with an 18 year-old woman while she was still his student. In a written statement released on January 4, LMSD Superintendent Dr. Christopher McGinley, stated that the District “expects the highest standards of conduct from its employees,” and that Schanne would be out of school on paid leave while the District completed its own investigation into the validity of the allegations. Dr. McGinley said that, “school district personnel, our regular administrative team, school based and central office personnel in consultation with our Dis-trict solicitor” were involved in the investigation. Though McGinley declined to comment on specifics of the investiga-tion, he did say that the evidence incriminating Schanne was substantial enough for him to suggest Schanne’s termination to the Board.

Moreover, Lower Merion School District code 446C regarding sexual relationships between staff and students declares that, “to prevent sexual harassment from occurring and because it is the policy of this school district to foster healthy student-teacher relationships, sexual rela-tionships between a school district employee or agent and a student are prohibited.”

In his own words, Dr. McGinley “[takes] very seriously any dismissal of an employee. We invest a great deal of time finding the best teachers and the best employees and we invest a great deal of time in supporting those em-ployees. So making a decision to dismiss anybody is a very

serious decision.” When asked how he felt about Schanne’s dismissal, Dr. McGinley lamented, that it was a sad person-nel loss for the District; “I think that it’s tremendously sad and I think that Mr. Schanne was a tremendous asset to the school district and an inspirational teacher who knew his subject well and was very capable of inspiring the interests of the students.”

Despite de-clining to comment on whether or not the District had the inten-tion of submitting a referral to the state for the suspension of Schanne’s teaching license, he did state that “there are guide-lines that the state mandates Districts to follow.” Though he wouldn’t comment on if such guidelines mandated districts to report these types of allegations, McGinley did state that the District would act in accordance with any of the states regulations.

Despite recent articles in the local media decrying Schanne’s behavior as both unethical and inappropriate, his lawyer, Timothy Kolman who specializes in representing individuals who have been victims of employment dis-crimination, believes that his client has done nothing wrong and has consequently been unjustly fired. “The allegations made against Mr. Schanne are false. They are vicious, and malicious and they are defamatory,” said Mr. Kolman. Mr. Kolman continued by asserting that Schanne “never engaged in an improper relationship with this student. He had an academic relationship with her but it was never improper.” When asked what his definition of improper was, Kolman

contended that improper would include, “kissing, touching, holding hands, and things of that nature.”

Kolman went on to say that, “the District’s actions to destroy a man’s career are a complete derogation. It’s outrageous to think that someone can lose their livelihood and both their reputation and their career on unfounded accusations.”

Kolman then introduced the possibility of a less honorable mo-tive that could further explain the districts decision to dismiss Schanne. Mentioning the Robbins vs. LMSD court case, Kolman claimed that the District’s treatment of Schanne could have been intended to show the District’s support of their students after having allegedly failed to do so before; “this could potentially be a reaction to the other offense that was created in Lower Merion. After being

sued for allegedly spying on students, this could be their way of saying that they care about their students. Looking at these two events together, I can’t help but connect them.”

As this issue unfolds, Dr. McGinley said that it’s difficult for him to comment on what has happened and what could potentially happen in the future. “We’ve publicly dismissed Mr. Schanne and he has rights to challenge that decision so this whole process is not resolved.”

Kolman echoed Dr. McGinley’s sentiments and vehemently alluded to the fact that he plans to take action on behalf of Schanne in the near future. Kolman is dismayed by the actions of the school district, “from an academic point of view, what are you really teaching these students? You can dedicate your life to teaching and guess what? It

Conor Ferguson Class of 2011

See SCHANNE, page 2

The official student newspaper of Lower Merion High School since 1929Volume 82, Issue 4February 14, 2011

The Merionite

District restaffing hits home, Marseille promotedI. Cohn/M. Afilalo

Class of 2012

See RESTAFFING, page 3

Pictured above is Marseille in his first months at LM in 2007.File photo by Dot Goldberger, ‘08

“The allegations made against Mr. Schanne are false. They are

vicious, and malicious and they are defamatory,”

-Attorney Timothy Kolman

Changes to come for AP Biology and AP US History

February 14, 2011

The Merionite NEWS2

District enacts new “green” policies

Two women attacked on Owen Road

“Dating relationship” ends LM career

Lately, stories of the “LM Stalk-er” have been all over the news. However, many students still re-main unaware of the details of the situa-tion.

According to the Lower Merion Po-lice Department, “a female jogger…run-ning east on Mont-gomery Avenue…was indecently assaulted by a male riding a bicycle.”

The police are cur-rently investigating, according to 6abc.com, “two separate incidents that may be related.” They just want to “[warn] women of [this] young man riding a bike assaulting jog-gers.”

One junior, Sophia Winston, is not taking these warnings lightly.

“I’ve jogged in this area in the past, and now I am definitely going to stay away.”

One of the two incidents was an actual assault, as described by the

LM police. “On Sunday, January 2, 2011 at approximately 9:30 PM, a female jogger in her twenties was running east on Montgomery Avenue near Owen Road when she

was indecently assaulted by a male riding a bicycle. [He] fled west on Montgomery Avenue.”

The police described the assail-ant as “a black male, 16 to 18 years

old, with a thin build…wearing a sweatshirt and dark pants…[on] a black mountain bike.”

“A young man fitting that description also riding a bike was suspiciously fol-lowing another woman who was jogging on Wynnewood Avenue near Sabine Avenue in nearby Narberth,” wrote 6abc.com.

A clearer connection between the two incidents has yet to be found, and the

police are still looking for leads to nabbing the so-called “LM Stalker”.

Regardless, Lieutenant Chris Polo of the LMPD just wants locals to stay on guard. “We want the residents to be aware…that this is occurring and keep an eye out.”

can be kicked from un-der you in a moment’s notice. That’s the lesson that Lower Merion has effec-tively taught its stu-dents.”

As for Schanne’s emotional state, Kol-man says that, “[this] has been terrible to him. His whole career has been snatched from him out of the blue. He feels betrayed by the school and the Dis-trict that he did so much work for. He was highly regarded; he was dedicated. He was very good at what he did. There

are many students who are going to suffer from not

having him there to teach them.”

As expected, those stu-dents that had Mr. Schanne

were both shocked and saddened when they were informed of their teacher’s dismissal. “I think that

more voices need to speak up in favor of Mr. Schanne and show that people can say whatever they want but that doesn’t mean that everything is true,” said Raina Haas. “You can’t let ev-erything be judged by rumors. This shows that anyone can come in and say what they want and that’s not right.”

The Merionite will continue to fol-low this story as more information is made available.

In an effort to reduce its en-vironmental impact, LMSD is implementing new District-wide measures, under the Comprehen-sive Environmental Impact Re-duction Plan. Though these mea-sures have not yet been approved by the School Board, Director of Operations Pat Guinnane said that he has no doubt that they will be enacted.

“This formalizes things that we are already doing, like recycling, and forces all of us to think about things we do every day,” Guin-nane stated.

The plan contains a six-pronged strategy, targeting the areas of energy management, recycling, soil and water, air quality, envi-ronmentally conscious purchas-ing, and creation of a committee structure at the District and school

levels.As these policies are designed

to have minimum impact on the student body, many of them will not be felt on a daily basis. Many of these policies are already in practice at LM, and are just being extended to the entire District. For example, people will be asked to turn off lights when they leave the room, already accomplished by sensors at LM, and all personal appliances, like microwaves, will be consolidated into common ar-eas. Another energy-saving mea-sure is that the school will have “temperature set points,” which will lower the temperature to 60 or 55 degrees when nobody is in school and raise it up to 68 degrees when school is in session.

Some students do not agree with these new measures.

“In a lot of my classes the learning environment suffers be-cause of the unreliability of the

sensors. I think these environ-mental policies are whack,” said junior Will Tobias.

Other students disagree.“I think it’s really good that our

District is taking steps to help the environment. While one school might not make a difference, if other schools join in too, we can make a huge change,” said junior Jake Ochroch.

To help the District spread an environmental message, the Green Council of Lower Merion, a District-wide group of volunteer employees, parents, and students, is establishing an awareness pro-gram. Following the implemen-tation of the new environmental policies, the Green Council will also be recognized as an advisory council to the School Board.

Hopefully, with the cooperation of students, parents, and faculty, LM will become a trailblazer in green-friendly schools.

In the beginning of January, CollegeBoard announced that it would revamp the current curriculums of Advanced Placement (AP) classes, as well as introduce new AP tests.

On January 7, Christopher Drew of the New York Times published an article about CollegeBoard’s an-nouncement, which has elicited many responses from local newspapers and educational conferences.

CollegeBoard is making concept-based rather than material-based alterations. The board has decided modify the current curriculum in order, according to Drew, “to clear students’ minds to focus on bigger concepts and stimulate more analytic thinking.” Such changes are scheduled to be implemented by the 2012-2013 school year to the AP classes AP Biology and AP United States History, the most popular AP subjects in the US. The board also plans to start this year with a new curriculum taking effect in two smaller programs, German and French language. They will also make major revisions to AP Physics, Chemistry, European History, World History and Art History, with the hope of being ready for AP exams of 2014 or 2015.

Many students have expressed discontent with the present curriculum and workload.

“In most of the AP classes I have taken I found that we covered things in broad detail,” said senior Daniel Sansweet.

Students, however, are not the only ones displeased with the current system. Many AP teachers feel so rushed to cover the information required by the course that they can only do so on a topical level. In other words, they have no time to pursue certain elements and topics they find interesting, hindering students’ problem solving and scholarly investigation skills needed for college. The driving force behind these problems is the time con-straint; AP teachers only have from September until May to teach high school students courses with college-level workloads materials.

“The current AP Biology curriculum has the content equivalent to four semesters of Biology in college,” said AP Biology teacher Kevin Ries. “There is no way we can cover everything in eight months.”

Although it has said that changes are coming, Col-legeBoard has yet to actually set them in stone. It has not announced the specifics of what in the curriculum it plans to change, or how it will affect AP exams.

On its website, the board announced the changes to the AP Biology program in the beginning of February. Some of the notable changes include reducing the scope of content to promote conceptual understanding, giving time to engage students “inquiry-based learning experi-ences.” Other revisions such as articulating clear learning objectives and emphasizing student-labs are intended give opportunities to apply scientific reasoning skills.

“I hope it will allow us more depth in each unit,” said Ries. “Hopefully, it will also allow us to deviate and discuss interesting side topics.”

On the other hand, the board has said that it announced the details of the changes to be made to AP United States history next fall. Still, according to Christopher Drew, there are some rumors that more material will be added to the earliest and latest periods of American history.

“I heard about the changes in December of 2009 at an AP conference at the National Constitution Center,” said AP United States History teacher Charles Henneberry. “I haven’t seen how they are actually going to change the formula of their exams. I think it is a great idea; I am just interested to see it in practice.”

Overall, these changes will hopefully make students willing to take the challenging courses that schools of-fer.

“I hope that the changes will be able to keep up the challenge of the course,” said Henneberry, “but at the same time make it more user friendly and more student friendly, make it more thematic instead of chronological as it is now.”

These modifications are a step towards relieving the stresses of the AP curriculum and guaranteeing academic success.

Gilad Doron Class of 2012

Patrick Scott Class of 2012

Zack Schlosberg Class of 2012

From SCHANNE, page 1

The “stalker” assaulted a jogger near Montgomery and Owen Roads while riding a bicycle.

Schanne’s knick-knacks were a hallmark of his classrom and have remained there since his departure. Pictured above is a

doll replica of the famous physicist Albert Einstein.

Photo by Madeline Berger/Staff

Photo by Anthony Li/Staff

February 14, 2011

The Merionite NEWS 3

“These changes are designed to provide us with greater mo-mentum as we work toward achieving the ambitious goals of our Strategic Plan,” read a letter from Superintendent Christopher McGinley to LMSD staff. The Strategic Plan is a comprehensive set of goals whose main aim is to improve LMSD schools overall.

“Over the past year and a half, we have made significant but inadequate progress in moving toward achieving our strategic plan goals. I am certain that this new design will enable us to more effectively support [the LMSD staff] in [their] work and will enable us to make dramatic progress in achieving our ambitious agenda,” read another part of the letter.

As a part of the reorganization, the Office of Curriculum Services was eliminated, and two new offices, the Office of Elementary Education and the Office of Secondary Education, were created. Marseille will lead the Office of Secondary Education, which will support the middle and high schools. Steve Barbato, the former head of the Office of Curriculum Services, will head the Office of Elementary Education.

“With the assistance of others and myself from central

office, we came up with a new plan that focused on the el-ementary schools and focused on the secondary schools,” explained Kelly. “[This way], teams of individuals would be able to focus on a fewer number of schools and students of a more particular age rather than [having] so many individuals focused on programs and school services K through 12 as it

had been in the past.”For his new position, Marseille

will be directly responsible for secondary education programs. Within the Office of Secondary Education, there are many depart-ments, such as Math and Science, Special Education, and Instruc-tional Technology; that manage the programs in the middle and

high schools. All these departments will report to Marseille, who will report to McGinley. The same goes for Barbato, but he will direct the elementary school programs.

While Marseille will no longer serve as an assistant princi-pal at LM, he will be working close by in the administration building, and hopes to stay in close contact with the school.

“I’m not gone forever. I’m right next-door and I will continue to visit LM frequently during assemblies, lunches, [and] athletic and co-curricular activities. I might not be in the building every day, but I definitely will be visiting fre-quently,” he said.

Marseille leaves LMHS for new job in central administration

In June of last year, Judge Mi-chael Baylson ruled in favor of LMSD in the Student Doe v. LMSD redistricting case. On January 12, the District learned that several civil rights organizations filed in support of the court’s decision.

“Lower Merion School District was pleased to learn that yesterday the NAACP Legal Defense and Ed-ucation Fund, the Lawyers’ Com-mittee for Civil Rights Under Law, and the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation joined in filing a friend-of-the-court brief urging the Third Circuit Court of Appeals to affirm the trial court’s favorable decision in the Student Doe redis-tricting case,” the District wrote in a statement on January 13.

In December, the families of nine s tudents involved in the redistricting case filed an appeal to the federal judge’s decision, wanting the case to be referred to another court for further judg-ment. They claimed in their appeal to the court that the redistricting plan “violate[d] the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States

Constitution.” The plan involves redistricting students living in South Ardmore, Penn Valley, and Narberth from LM to Harriton. The plaintiffs felt that the District unlawfully used race as a deter-mining factor in the redistricting process.

The Dis t r i c t responded by claiming that a ruling in favor of the parents would “severely im-pede school districts everywhere in their ability to provide quality education to all students.”

On January 12, The NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund (LDF), the Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation (ACLU) showed their support for the District by filing a friend-of-the-court brief, press-ing the appeals court to affirm the lower court’s decision.

The brief stated that the plan is “facially race-neutral because it does not allocate benefits or bur-dens based on explicit racial clas-sifications of individual students. Rather, students are assigned to the School District’s two high schools […] based on the geographic atten-

dance zone in which they live.”All of the organizations that

filed the friend-of-the-court brief-ing are nonprofit, created with the purpose of promoting liberty and equality for minorities. NAACP LDF has litigated numerous cas-es involving racial segregation among students. The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and ACLU have also played integral parts in cases regarding educational diversity and the equal treatment of children.

On February 3, the U.S. Depart-ment of Justice and the U.S. De-partment of Education announced that they each support LMSD’s decision regarding the redistrict-ing case.

Both stated “that Lower Me-rion considered which plan best allowed it to reap the educational benefits of increased diversity and reduced racial isolation while achieving multiple non-race-based objectives does nothing to change the fact the [redistricting] Plan does not define individual students by race and does not use race in disregard of traditional assignment principles.”

LMSD supported in Doe caseJosh Zollman

Class of 2012

Penn State dual enrollment stays at HarritonDespite attempts to equalize programs at both high

schools, the Penn State Dual Enrollment Program will remain solely at Harriton.

“IB and Penn State Dual Enrollment Program were designated to be offered at only one of the high schools,” said Principal Sean Hughes.

The program takes place during school, and entails a professor from Penn State coming to Harriton to teach the course. This year two professors are participating in the program. Students do not go to the Penn State campus for the program. The professor gives tests and assignments to assess students’ progress in the course, and the course is lecture-based and is designed to simulate the college experience.

“[The course] offers a transition from high school

to college. [It shows students] what a college course would be like, but it gives [students] the academic support of a teacher,” said Harriton Business Educa-tion teacher and Penn State Dual Enrollment program liaison Lindsey Canuso. Students can sign up for the Harriton equivalent of Academic Recovery, “RAM,” for help with the course.

“The program is just like any other [class] a student would take as an elective,” said Canuso.

The program offers students the options of taking Social, Legal, and Ethical Environment of Business; Introduction to Business; Introductory Microeconomic Analysis and Policy; and Introductory Macroeconomic Analysis and Policy.

“Ideally, students take the course for two years, dur-ing their junior and senior year. This way, they take all four courses, two in each year,” explained Canuso.

Students who begin the program in junior year would take one course in the fall semester, one in the spring, and so on throughout senior year. Although it is preferable that students begin the course in their junior year, some seniors participate in the program for one year.

The program began last year with 17 students sign-ing up. Of that 17, nine graduated and the rest contin-ued with the program this year. A total of 13 students are involved in the program this year.

Students can earn up to 13 credits for Penn State, which can be transferred to some other post-secondary education institutions.

“[The program] has been successful; kids keep signing up, they’re transferring credits, doing well, [and] passing the class. We’ve been doing well so far,” said Canuso.

Maya Afilalo Class of 2012

“I’m not gone forever. I’m right next-door and I will continue to

visit LM frequently...”

-Dr. Wagner Marseille

From RESTAFFING, page 1

NEWS IN BRIEF

—Eric Cohn, ‘12

On January 4, a trial date was set for Blunt et al v. Lower Merion School District. The trial will begin on November 1, 2011 unless a settlement is developed in the interim.

In 2007, eight African American families filed a class action lawsuit in federal court against the District, claiming that it denied their children a proper educa-tion. According to the The Philadelphia Inquirer, the plaintiffs claimed that black students “are denied access to the general education curriculum; are placed in below-grade-level classes; receive a modified curriculum; and/or are sent to separate, segregated schools which provides them with an education inferior to that provided their Caucasian peers.”

In 2009, Chief Justice Harvey Bartle of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylva-nia ruled that each student’s case was too individualized to be filed as a class action suit. He also ruled that Concerned Black Parents Inc. and the NAACP Main Line Branch, who joined the case in support of the plaintiffs, lacked the legal standing to do so.

Since 2009, a Due Process Hearing officer has ruled in favor of one of the plaintiffs, finding that her education was inadequate.

Several of the original plaintiffs have since graduated from LMSD high schools. However, the case will con-tinue to be pursued in Appeals Court.

Trial date set for ‘07 case

February 14, 2011

NEWS4

The Merionite

Junior class organizes a new and improved A Taste of Lower Merion

LM’s junior class will be holding the twelf th annual A Taste of Lower Merion on February 27 from 5:00 to 8:00 PM.

The event will take place in the gymnasium and cafeteria. With the addi t ional space , planners hope to host an even greater number of restaurant and catering displays than last year. For larger vendors such as DiBruno Bros. and Whole Foods Market, the extra space provides elbowroom to expand

and offer a greater array of food.

Other vendors that will have a spot at this event include BalaCater ing .com, Poppi’s Pizza, Qdoba Mexican Grill, Yangming, Tiffin, Firinji, and many more.

Additionally, the event plan-ners hope that they will be able to fit in the LM Jazz Band and other forms of entertainment without overcrowding the two rooms, while taking advantage of the improved acoustics and better power sources.

“Everyone at A Taste of Low-er Merion can sample unlimited

food from various local restau-rants,” said Junior Class Presi-dent Sarah Schwartz, “while enjoying complimentary musi-cal performances.”

With the new additions, the junior class officers have many hopes for the upcoming event and the involvement of the rest of the class.

“The overall spirit of A Taste of Lower Merion needs to be heightened,” said Schwartz. “There needs to be more excite-ment this year about bringing together students, parents, and restaurants of Lower Merion at the new building.”

Junior Class Treasurer Nico Lake also emphasized the im-portance of this event as a way to strengthen the unity of the LM community.

“We want to showcase the new school as positively and spectacular ly as possible ,” Lake said, “and to begin to build it as a cornerstone of our community.”

The class also has high hopes of raising $7,000. This would require a profit of $21,000, since the class only keeps one third of the profit, while the other two thirds are donated to the ABC House, a non-profit

child abuse response center, and the Lower Merion Scholarship Fund.

In the end, the officers of the class of 2012 hope to hold a unique A Taste of Lower Merion that everyone will enjoy and remember.

According to Lake, “[the event] is a great way to discover restaurants in our area that you haven’t encountered that could become your favorite places to eat.”

Tickets for the event can be purchased on the website, www.tasteoflm.org, or at the entrance to the event.

Superintendent of the LM police sits down for an interview

Itai DoronClass of 2011

If you’ve failed in recent months to faith-fully read your Merionite, cover to cover, perhaps you’ve missed the first two install-ments of the three-part series “Behind the Badge”—an exploration of the Lower Merion Police Department. To recap: The series began with an interview that I conducted with an officer; our topics of discussion ranged from the discontinuation of the DARE program to marijuana legalization. The following month I wrote about my “ride-around” experience—a night that I had spent on the beat with a Lower Merion police officer. For the third and last installment of this series, I interviewed the Superintendent of Lower Merion Police, hoping that he could speak to me not only about his job, but also about the department as a whole and its relationship with the community.

My discussion with Superintendent Mi-chael McGrath affirmed what I had already come to believe about the police: no single stereotype does justice to the complexity of the job. It’s not uncommon for citizens, especially teenagers, to feel irritated or inconvenienced by the pervasive police presence in our township. Those who pride themselves on their excellent citizenship might feel inclined to believe that the police, rather than maintaining law and order—which would exist with or without the police—is really there just to pull them over when they’re rushing to pick their kid up at school, or to ticket them when they ac-cidentally run a red light. I’ll admit that, prior to this experience, I was far more ignorant that I currently am to the critical importance

of a police presence. I asked Supt. McGrath if he feels that Lower Merion residents, be-ing fortunate enough to live in a relatively low crime region, frequently fail to recognize the daily risk incurred by those who serve as police officers.

“I think it’s recognized anywhere in this country that police officers are risking their

lives with their profession. It may not be in the forefront for Lower Merion police officers, but all those who serve know that risk is an aspect of their job, every single day. Unfortunately, we know—and I’ve experienced it here—we’ve had officers come to work and not go home to their families at the end of the day. This build-ing is named after that officer. He lost his life back in the ’80s, responding to a call where he engaged a guy and ended up being shot and killed. Over time, we’ve had four officers lose their lives on duty here in Lower Merion.

“Given that number,” I asked Supt. McGrath, “do you think that police officers are under-appreciated?”

“Hm. I don’t know that officers are under-appreciated,” answered Supt. McGrath. “Things go in cycles. When things happen, you know, it brings the importance of the police into focus. You go back to 9/11, and what hap-pened in New York City—and following that, people really came to recognize all emergency

services—fire, EMS, and police. When you saw the loss of life to those emergency workers, people really appreciated their service, and un-derstood what they’re doing all the time, every single day. I think sometimes people just put it in the back of their minds, until something tragic happens locally. So I’m not sure it’s a matter of under appreciation. We certainly get

a lot of emails—letters from our citizens, or people who are just coming through the area, showing their appreciation for a particular encounter or something the officers did for them.”

Wanting to know more about the day-to-day struggles that the superintendent of a large police department encounters, I asked him about the challenges that he faced when he first was chose for the position—those that surprised him as well as those that he anticipated.

“Well, I certainly anticipated the challenge of the transition of leadership,” he said. “Some people [were] wondering if there would be changes in the way that the department was run because a new person was in charge. So I met with all the staff—we discussed what my goals were and what my vision was for the department, which I think did a lot to get people on the same page as me. Surprises in the last year or two? Well certainly the economy has affected everybody…the economy has affected our budget, our funding from other sources. Another surprising challenge—well, we’ve had an increase in burglaries, a drastic increase actually, probably over about the last 60 months. That’s been a big challenge, but it’s really just taken us back to our numbers from about 2003—it’s really just a relative spike in burglar activity. It’s not like we haven’t seen it before and dealt with it before.”

I asked, “Do you mind talking a little bit about what specifically your vision and goals

were that you discussed with the department when you assumed the position?”

“Well, first goal was to keep the department at the same level we’ve maintained over the years,” Supt. McGrath replied, “the level it’s perceived at by the rest of the region. We’re considered one of the best law enforcement agencies in the area and we certainly want to maintain that status. Another goal was to improve our technology. Right now we’re working to fine tune a system call J-Net, or Justice Network, which links all the law en-forcement agencies in the area, and allows of-ficers to simply plug in names, or license plate numbers or addresses and to get an individuals’ information.”

At this point in the interview I remembered Officer Cavanaugh, with whom I’d spent a night on the beat, allowing me to put my name in his database and see what information the police had about me. Nothing came up on my name so he told me to try my address too. Thankfully I was squeaky clean.

It also occurred to me at this point in the in-terview that a law enforcement agency must, by necessity, be constantly evolving—constantly adapting to the changing conditions of the township. The police function in an incredible number of ever-shifting ways. In all encounters with them, it’s important to bear in mind that their intentions are all focused on keeping the people they serve safe. Officer Cavanaugh told me a story about stopping an evidently intoxicated college kid coming out of a bar to ask if he wanted a ride back to his apartment. Thinking that he was about to be detained, the kid took off running – making himself look guilty, and compelling Cavanaugh to chase him down, which given his state, wasn’t ter-ribly difficult. Assumptions about the police are dangerous; they don’t benefit the police, and they certainly don’t benefit you.

“Unfortunately, we know—and I’ve experienced it here—we’ve had offi-

cers come to work and not go home to their families at the end of the day.”

-Superintendent McGrath

Emily ShepardClass of 2011

An Environment Conducive To Learning?Dear Merionite Editors,The new library is spacious, bright and comfortable in

comparison to the old one. In September it was a warm and welcoming place for students to work and study. Of late, how-ever, I haven’t found it to be such a nice place to go. As any student who frequents the library knows, it is by no means a quiet place. Constantly we are plagued with the same inter-ruption, bursting disruptively over the semi-pleasant buzz of student activity: “Excuse me, this is a quiet work and study space, conducive to learning and if your needs are social in nature, you should find space elsewhere.”

Recognize this speech? Anyone who has ever spent more than twenty minutes in the library probably does. I used to find it funny, and commiserated somewhat, since I work in one of the Lower Merion libraries. But I feel that it’s gone too far. Every period seems a bit too often. And now I find such tirades more disturbing than any noise my classmates

can make.Worst of all, however, is the power that the librar-

ians seem to feel accompanies such diatribes. Recently, I was threatened with expulsion for not listening to the same rant that I have just recited for you from memory. I was too busy translating Vergil for my AP Latin class. Later I was banished from the library, along with my entire table, for the misheard words of another student (who was not even sitting at our table). All I was doing was reading a poem for my AP Lit class. Protests were met with refusal to listen, and I had to finish reading John Donne’s Forbidding Mourning on the cold, hard hallway floor outside of the sacred library.

In conclusion, I’d like to let the librarians know that I think they’re a little too loud, please.

Sincerely,Lenna Blistein, ‘11

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The Merionite EDITORIAL/LETTERSFebruary 14, 2011

Letters to the EditorE D I T O R I A L

Unsigned editorial on this page reflects the general opinion of student editors, not the views of individuals.

Additional Photos by Alissa Neubauer, Anthony Li, Chris Conwell, Ilana Nathans, Kei Nakagawa, Michael Lefkoe, Talia Lieberman, Sara Cheloha, Sarah Schelling, Naava Feingold, Robert Zhou

Re: Byte Out of the AppleWhile not contesting studies which show mul-

titasking reduces cognitive skill, linking this to general computer use is not appropriate or sup-ported. Many, if not most, uses of personal com-puters do not involve multitasking. Use a word processor to write a term paper, use a spreadsheet to manage your finances, surf the Internet for im-portant news of the day. If social networking or chatting impacts learning, say so; don’t blame computers.

-Al Richardson Swarthmore, Pa

Via The Philadelphia Inquirer

The Merionite

The editors believe all facts presented in the newspaper to be accurate. The paper acknowledges that mistakes are possible and welcomes questions as to accuracy. Inquiries regarding accuracy should be directed to the editors of the paper. Editors can be contacted via e-mail at merionite@gmail.com or in Room 200A. To represent all viewpoints in the school community, The Merionite welcomes all letters to the editor. Letters can be sent via e-mail or dropped off outside the Merionite office. The Merionite reserves the right to edit letters to the editor for length or clarity.

Conor Ferguson, ’11Leah Rosenbloom, ’11

Matt Rublin, ’11

Maya Afilalo, ’12Eric Cohn, ’12Ian Cohn, ’12

Avi Chatterjee, ’11Jess Lebow, ’11Jake Wellens, ’11

Elizabeth Dunoff, ‘11Lisa Li, ’11Danielle Moskow, ’11

Emily Shepard, ’11Han Tran, ’11

Editors-in-Chief

Managing Editor

News Editors

Op-Ed Editors

Features Editors

Arts & Entertainment

Editors

Sports Editors

Layout Editor

Web Editor

Photo Editor

Copy Editor

Business Managers

Staff Artists

Advisor

Business Advisor

Danny Kane, ’12Wenwen Yang, ’11

Anna Simon, ’11

Jake Delman, ’11

Madeline Berger, ’11

Dann Weitz, ’11

Andrew Sy, ’11Nick Normile, ’11Richie Weker, ’11

Zach Ostrum, ’11Liora Ostroff, ’11

Mr. Chad Henneberry

Mr. Sean Flynn

We’ve Got Spirit, How ‘Bout You?!Think of the most “school spirited” people you know.Now think about why you chose those people Is it because they are pres-

ent at every basketball game, screaming and chanting from the center of the Dawg Pound, with face covered in paint and body decorated in exclusively Aces attire? Do they somehow find the time to dress up in the morning be-fore every game day, holiday and spirit day, attend more clubs and collect more officer positions and acronyms than they can count, and still manage to make it to the post-game victory celebration at the Plat?

Why is it that these qualities constitute such a large portion of the gener-ally agreed upon definition of school spirit? If school spirit is about a love of the school, where does academic passion come in? What about appreciation for the staff? What about the people who spend hours in the school building that they don’t have to, really investing themselves in activities with their peers, instead of fluttering around between low-responsibility transcript ti-tles?

While sports can be enriching and immensely time consuming, our cur-rent athletic-centered definition of school spirit is incomplete. There are people who spend afternoons and nights in the black box theatre, or in the art wing crafting masterpieces, or in the band room making jazz music, or putting together this very newspaper. These students get involved with their school on a much deeper and more personal level than one can by simply cheering at a basketball game or pep rally.

Pep-rally-style “pep” is quick and easy—you put a few black stripes un-der your eyes, you climb aboard a fan bus, and shout when the home team scores. But this does not speak for how much you care about what school is really about – building relationships with your classmates and your teach-ers, learning and engaging with the material and activities you are exposed to, and developing a passion for certain aspects of all that.

We must be careful not to confuse these two types of involvement. A per-son with school spirit is certainly one who is involved with their school, but not on a superficial level.

School spirit is linked to enthusiasm—enthusiasm about all things related to school; a student who is truly spirited is enthusiastic about academic en-deavors and extra-curricular endeavors alike. A student who is spirited is invested in his own classes and activities but also shows support and inter-est in the classes and activities of his classmates. This well-rounded spirit is what we should aim for: a spirit that envelops all of our experiences through LM, a passion for all that we do.

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OPINIONSFebruary 14, 2011

The MerioniteQuestion of the Month

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What role should the U.S. government play in international crises?

I think we do need to aid in foreign crises, but only to some extent. The United States tends to dump loads of money (billions of dollars) unto countries in crises, but instead I think we should donate more in smaller increments. Also, it wouldn’t hurt if we had more projects like “Habitat for Humanity” that actually went out to places in crises and DID things rather than just donate money. We could even PAY Americans to go help in these countries rather than just dump the money into the countries themselves.

Andy Scolnic ’11

A very large one for the following brief reasons.

1. A major power will always get in-volved. If it isn’t America, who would anyone prefer it to be? China? Iran?

2. Though the US is not perfect by any means, generally westernization and American influence increases the chanc-es of democratization and the increase of rights.

3. The last time America decided to get out of world affairs was 1918 – 1939. How did that work out?

Mr. Levy Social Studies Teacher

I am not insensitive or selfish because I want to be very wary when intervening with other countries’ problems. I am in fact more prudent to the future of American lives. In many instances intervening exac-erbates situations for either or both sides and to the point of conflict - whether at that moment or in the future. George Washington said it best: “It is our true policy to steer clear of entangling alliances with any portion of the foreign world.” America must “act for ourselves and not for others.” The government should not potentially compromise the future of America just because they want to reshape the world in the way they want. And with all of this debt and inflation, do we really have the money to be supplying others financially?

Eric Lieberman, ‘12

Voice an opinion, but stay out of another countries’ affairs unless our national security is threatened. Then we must be consistent with our policy, no matter which country it is.

Mr. Rosazza Science Teacher

I believe that the American gov-ernment should play less of a role that it has in the recent past. Obvi-ously if there is a humanitarian issue America should not hold back. But at the same time, there is a reason why George Washington said ‘it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves, by artificial ties, in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or en-mities.’

Gilad Doron, ’11

The start of Tom Corbett’s four-year term as Governor of Pennsylvania signals many changes in the way our state government will

function. His plans to drastically cut govern-ment size and spending have sent shockwaves throughout the Commonwealth, but another equally dramatic change he wishes to imple-ment is his set of educational reforms. His list of educational reforms includes funding attached to the student, school vouchers and greater school choice, and perhaps most controversial, merit pay for teachers. All of these reforms have the potential to drastically change the relation-ship between the student, teacher, school and school district; it could have a far-reaching impact upon the environment and culture of education in our state. As Corbett promises, all of these reforms do, at least initially, center around the education of the student, logically the focus of educational reform. Unfortunately for school districts and teachers, the onus of reform comes down upon them.

Corbett’s plan of flexible funding would link funding directly to the student and the schools they choose to attend, whether they be the lo-cal public school, another out-of-area public school, or a charter school. Corbett believes

that, “Students have a right to attend a good school and not be forced to attend a failing one by virtue of their zip code.” While this may be initially good for a student stuck attending a subpar local school, it really does not address the problems of failing schools in the state. Schools reflective of all socioeconomic strata would scramble to cope with the either influx of students for the well-performing suburban schools or the desertion of students from the failing urban or rural schools. Corbett’s proposal does nothing to fix the fail-ing schools and just further exacerbates the problem by essentially giving up on them. Corbett’s desire to place the student at the cen-ter of education is noble, but government regulation of education is put in place in order to ensure that the societal standards of educa-tion are met, and this means providing a good school in every zip code across the state. If funding were attached to the student as Corbett proposes, when students begin to flee the failing schools, all funding for those schools would dry up. If we do not want to face a major crisis of education in the future we need to focus on improving every school, not relegating failed ones as lost causes.

Another equally or possible more dramatic change to education is Corbett’s proposal for

merit pay for teachers. Merit pay has received support from politicians, parents, and educators alike, but has also received fierce opposition from teachers’ unions and other organizations who believe the increased competition caused by merit pay will destroy the atmosphere of teaching in which teachers work together to help students; they fear this new dynamic would instead lead to teachers competing for pay. Corbett “supports merit pay programs,

which operate in ad-dition to base pay, not only to incentivize current teachers, but also to help recruit and retain the nation’s brightest minds by at-tracting new teachers and non-traditional educators into the classroom.” Second only to family life and a perceived apathetic teen culture towards education in our coun-try, bad teachers are the largest problem in educating the students to their highest poten-tial. Unfortunately, bad teachers are pres-ent in just about every

school across the state, and we must create fair ways to weed out the bad teachers that tarnish schools’ reputations. Merit pay, fittingly, merits an open, comprehensive debate regard-ing its benefits and consequences. Does its anticipated gains in teacher efficacy outweigh

its potential to acidify the school environment? What exactly Corbett imagines as an “efficient and fair evaluation system” seriously impacts the effectiveness of the reform. If we do not tread carefully in developing a fair evaluation system, the relationships between teachers and especially the relationship between teachers and administrators could become hostile and aggressive as teachers try to compete for a favorable review in comparison to their col-leagues. Teachers would jockey for favorable positioning with the administration in order to ensure their merit pay bonuses.

This competition for favorable reviews of excellence could lead to corruption, but it could also lead to its goal: excellence. Merit pay is an incentive for excellence, and perhaps some competition may be good for teachers. In few other professions can employees stop maintain-ing or improving upon their productivity level for it is easy to measure their productivity by how much profit is turned in or how much of something is manufactured. Excellence in edu-cation is a much harder value to determine, but if we are to live up to our goals of an exceptional education for every student then it is something we must learn to determine. Faculty reviews are a legitimate way in which to gauge the ef-fectiveness of teachers- as within any school, teachers usually know whom within their de-partment is underperforming. Education should be a progressive institution, not one that is stuck stagnantly in an ineffective mediocrity. Poor teachers harm education, and it is to everyone’s benefit—students, teachers, and politicians—to establish ways to find, inspire and incentivize teachers to provide an excellent education to all students, no matter the zip code.

AndrewPasquier

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Corbett’s educational cuts cause concern

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Art by Jess LeBow/ Staff

America is influential on multiple levels, and many political forces will follow our lead: often, a combination of political pressures can be equally as effective as military action. Then again, to a rogue leader, or nation, it can mean little or nothing. So it’s really case sensitive, like diagnosing a disease.

Anna Murphy, ’12

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Corbett’s plan of flexible funding would link funding directly to the student.

Art by Jess LeBow/ Staff

I read the reports like an old man reads the New York Times. I predict the possibilities like a fortune teller peering into his crystal ball, the

Nostradamus of Nor’Easters. I lie in wait like a fire hydrant waits for its favorite dog. Finally, I sleep like a log. When I wake up in the morning, I find that all my hard work has been for naught. I check the district’s website and lay my eyes on the saddest phrase that any teenager can see—no phrase at all. There will, alas, be school.

There is no moment quite like waking up on what would normally be a school day and checking LMSD.org to find out that the snow day you thought was a sure thing, isn’t coming. I’ve decided to share my opinions with the peo-ple that haven’t had the pleasure of being on the wrong side of one of my “where was that snow day?” rants. I was interested in finding out why our district utilizes 2-hour delays. Why are they always so reluctant to call snow days? Lastly, why am I always so disappointed when school goes on as usual? I set out emailing every im-portant person I could.

To the LMSD staff, a 2-hour delay is the best of both worlds. You get some time in the morn-ing to compose your giddy self and eat a good breakfast, but you also get in enough school time to declare it to be 1/180th of students’ necessary time in the ol’ schoolhouse. However, when one delves deeper into the mess that is a two-hour delay, he or she might question if the inescap-able confusion is really worth the credit. Judg-ing strictly by time, it doesn’t get much more efficient than going to school for less time than you have to and still getting the credit for go-ing the full time. Nevertheless, take a moment to look at this from the mind of a hard working student. We arrive at school by 9:30; the two hours lost are compensated

by a short-ened, 37-min-ute per pe-riod schedule. Though this may seem like a large amount of time, the truth is that a two-hour delay engen-ders a sense of apathy (greater than usual) among students; we just feel like getting abso-lutely nothing done. Once we stroll in at 9:30, we automatically accept that we aren’t taking serious trig notes, we don’t have enough time for that chemistry lab, and we’re probably just going to watch another Af-rican Asian studies video on Afghanistan. This horrendous pattern of two-hour delays we have fallen into may have been unavoidable, but it makes me wonder—would it be more beneficial to our education to just take the snow day and add another day to the end of the year?

In order to find out more about snow days in our school district, I wrote a few emails to peo-ple who actually decide when to cancel school. I talked to both Superintendant Christopher McGinley and Director of Operations Pat Guin-

nane, who were both very helpful in enlighten-ing me on how everything works. My biggest question was whether or not two-hour delays are really worth it. When asked about the pos-sibility of taking more days in June as a makeup for having more snow days, McGinley had a level-headed response. “[We get] just two snow days per year,” he explained. “No one likes the extra time in June and we both know that those last few days of school in June are not the best days for learning.” While I do understand where he is coming from, I still believe even a hot day in June is better than a wasted two hour delay school day in January.

Another person who doesn’t decide the snow days, but does know a great deal about them, is aspiring meteorologist, LM senior Casey “Snow Storm” Dorn. Dorn is known to the LM community to be the best source of forecasts for our local winter season. His Facebook profile picture shows him surrounded by three com-puter monitors all focused on weather maps. I asked him what he considers to be the deciding factor in calling two-hour delays vs. full days off. He suggested that, “the most important fac-tor is timing--the closer to the morning rush it is, the more likely school will be affected,” he said. When asked about how many meteorologists are routinely chastised for being so frequently incorrect he replied, “The fun thing about the weather is you don’t always know what’s going to happen,” Dorn said. “Honestly, I love what I do.” I always look forward to seeing “Snow Storm Dorn’s” Facebook updates the night of a big snow. It breathes excitement and even more anticipation into a process that has already ex-cited us for years.

While doing research for this article, I came across an interesting two hour delay scandal, courtesy of my cousin Grant Fox. Grant goes to school at Wooton High School in Montgom-ery County, Maryland. Last year, his county used NINE snow days. Since they only had an allotted number of two, they were faced with having to add on seven extra days to the end of their year. However, once they realized that was going to be an issue for students with sum-mer camp or vacation plans, the Montgomery County School Council went to the Governor

of Maryland, Martin

O’Malley, and asked for a favor. They asked O’Malley to give them a reprieve and ignore the 180-day school poli-cy. The Gov-ernor was very under-standing and he agreed. Students in Montgomery County, MD only attend-ed school for

171 days last year. I’m not saying we should make a point of doing that just because they did it, but maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if we go over a few days this year.

So next time you go to LMSD.org at 6:00 AM on a weekday, just think about the pros of whatever the little message says. If it’s a two hour delay, be happy that you won’t have to add days the schedule in June. If it’s a snow day, sa-vor your time of relaxation and use it to prepare yourself for the days ahead. Lastly, if all you see are messages about the elementary school play and the next school board meeting, just chalk up another tally on your way to the big “180” and go get dressed.

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The Merionite OPINIONSFebruary 14, 2011

I will survive!Survivalism. If you’ve never

heard of it, you probably don’t spend enough time on the crazier

parts of the Internet. If you have, you probably associate it with a bunch of religious nutcases prepar-ing for the end of days. While a very distinct portion of the survivalist community is ac-tively preparing for Armageddon, the majority of the sur-vivalist community has more mainstream disasters in mind: thunderstorms, snow-storms, floods, fires, pandemics, or war.

Let me backtrack for a second for those readers less experienced with the interworkings of the world wide web who are wondering, “what exactly is sur-vivalism, anyway?” No, it doesn’t have anything to do with a CBS show that strands attractive wanna-be celebri-ties on islands and documents their drama. Survivalism, in its most basic form, is the belief that there could be a wide-spread disaster at any point in the near future, and that we should always be prepared. Mainstream survivalism can best be summed up as “emergency pre-paredness.” Survivalist tactics can range from the most basic– stock-ing up on eggs and bread when a snowstorm is forecasted– to the more extreme– stockpiling seeds, rifles, and ammunition to prepare for years of living off the grid.

Survivalism took root during the Cold War, as families and commu-nities constructed nuclear fallout shelters in case of war with Russia. The movement gained many follow-ers right before the Y2K “disaster,” as people prepared for the collapse of every computer system. When January 1, 2000 passed without any major incidents, most people dis-carded survivalism strategies. How-ever, with global warming causing an increase in the frequency of nat-ural disasters, and heightened glob-al tensions leading to more terror-istic activity, survivalist strategies are once more useful and necessary.

Now, I’m not here to tell you that you should immediately go out and buy a generator big enough to power your house. Instead, I’m ad-vocating for a simple 72-hour kit. Why 72 hours? Because the federal government believes that it’ll take 72 hours for relief agencies to be-come viable again following a mas-sive storm. In fact, the government site ready.gov uses the 72-hour kit

as the basis for all of their other emergency-preparedness advice.

Ideally, a home 72-hour kit has three days worth of food and water, flashlights and batteries, sanitation supplies, notebooks and pencils, im-portant documents, sleeping bags, first aid kits, and money. Your fam-ily should also put together a small-er, portable disaster kit in case you have to travel during an emergency. These basic supplies should get you through most natural disasters until relief workers can help out.

Once you’ve finished your short-term survival kit, it’s time to think about the long-term disaster pre-paredness every family should have. While it seems a little extreme to

think about in this global age, there are still precedents for a general collapse of society. Are you able to sustain yourself “off the grid” for a month? For a year? For for-ever? If the end of the world as we know it (TEOTWAWKI, popular-ized by the R.E.M. song) happened tomorrow, would you survive?

The basics to long-term survival are more energy-intensive than 72-hour preparedness. Instead of bot-tled water, you should have purifi-cation kits. Instead of canned food, you need seeds and hunting tools. Instead of a basic first-aid kit, you need medical training and antibiot-ics. And instead of money, you need things worth bartering for, such as ammunition. If TEOTWAWKI hits, self-sustainability is going to be the name of the game. We’d no longer be able to depend on food shipped in from distant shores; we’d need to grow it ourselves. Our global com-munity would disappear as local communities gather together to sup-port each other through the disaster.

Unlikely as TEOTWAWKI seems, there are disasters that are somewhat likely to hit us soon. If any of our recent snowstorms had been a bit stronger, we could have been looking at burst water pipes and massive power outages: exactly the kind of emergency 72-hour kits are made for. So, as we’re near-ing the end of snowstorm season and working our way into thun-derstorm season, make sure your family has what it takes to make it through three days of disaster– it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

Snow Days and Confused

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AndyScolnic

Art by Liora Ostroff/Staff

Art by Liora Ostroff/Staff

February 14, 2011

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

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The Merionite

Aces of The Arts

What arts do you do on a regular basis?I play the violin, participate in the art of chivalry, and sneaking

on my computer everyday in Stat class.

How did you get involved in the arts?My dad told me it was either the violin or the belt. I chose the

belt but he still made me play the violin.

What’s your favorite quote? “When I was a kid, when I was a little boy, I always wanted to be a dinosaur, I wanted to be a Tyrannosaurus Rex more than anything in the world, I made my arms short and I roamed the back yard, I chased the neighborhood cats, I growled and I roared, everybody knew me and was afraid of me, and one day my dad said ‘Bobby you are 17, it’s time to throw childish things aside’ and I said ‘OK Pop,’ but he didn’t really say that he said that ‘Stop being a f*****g dinosaur and get a job.’”- Dr. Robert Doback,

Step Brothers

What’s your ideal Valentine’s Day gift?A romantic seaside dinner.

Who are your heroes? Who inspires you? Mark Krantz on the basketball court

Photo by Madeline Berger/Staff

Alison Epstein - Class of 2014

What arts do you do on a regular basis?I play the trumpet in the orchestra and the jazz band.

How did you get involved in the arts?Well, I can’t sing... so I started playing the trumpet.

What’s your favorite quote? “Can’t unplug my funny bone,” -Phil Dunphy, Modern Family.

What’s your ideal Valentine’s Day gift?Chocolate (or maybe just cash)

Who are your heroes? Who inspires you? The softball players who carried the injured girl around the bases

so she could get credit for her first home run.

Aaron Freedman - Class of 2011

Photo by Naava Feingold/Staff

Say something to the person next to you, now. Congratulations. You just improvised. Now continue that conversation based off of what you just said. Perfect. You’re awesome! You just did an improv scene. Whether you realize it or not, you’ve been doing improv all of your life, and that is what makes improvisational comedy so universal.

MACH ONE, OH YEAH: The League of Extraor-dinary Gentlemen (some are ladies) is LM’s very own improv troupe. The troupe practices and performs improvisational comedy (think Whose Line is it Any-way?) weekly. It consists of seventeen LM students, ranging from underclassmen to seniors, each with his or her unique quirks and styles. For most, LM’s troupe is their first improv experience and for some, it is even their first acting endeavor. But ask senior member David Silberthau who will tell you despite its novelty, improv “is always one of the highlights of [his] week.”

The troupe rehearses improvisational games and acts out scenes. In improv though, “scene” is just a title. The troupe members are given a word or phrase by the audience and must forge an original scenario from scratch. Various “rules” guide the troupe members and help them maintain a fluid scene. The results are al-

ways unique and unexpected, as well as humorous.The troupe also invites and encourages non-troupe

members to try out improv in “Open Sessions” it holds periodically. During these sessions, everyone, troupe and non-troupe members alike, is encouraged to par-ticipate/try their hand at games and scenes respectively. It’s a blast all around. Everybody is encouraged to come to these open sessions as everyone, from any background, always has a great time.

With so much momentum, it’s hard to believe MACH ONE, OH YEAH was only founded this year. Returning from his performing arts camp where he partook in an improv troupe, senior Ben Edelman envisioned an LM Improv Troupe. After cultivating the idea for several months with friend Neil Zhang, Edelman held auditions in November. Relentless ad-vertising through all media (Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, iChat, etc.) drew almost 70 LMers, many without prior acting or improv experience, to auditions. From there, Edelman selected his troupe and began his improv campaign.

The LM improv troupe can be visited on the web at www.LMimprov.wordpress.com. There you can find out more about open sessions, the troupe itself, and more! You can also stay updated by joining the Facebook group or by following MACHONEohyeah on Twitter. Be sure to watch out for the first show which is slated to be in March.

N. Zhang/D. SilberthauClass of 2011

Introducing MACH ONE, OH YEAH

On January 13, 2011, the world was shocked to learn that the Earth’s position had been slightly altered by the moon’s gravitational pull over thousands of years, and that the alignment of the stars had changed as a result. It was reported that the Minnesota Planetarium Society made a finding that since zodiac signs are determined by the sun’s position in relation to the Earth on the day you were born, most people’s understandings of horoscopes are wrong.

Since many people believe in their horoscope and their zodiac sign, this news story (which even made the national news), created quite a stir.

After this news swept across the world, there was much discussion. Apparently, astronomers had known about this “new” chart for years. It actually is the sidereal zodiac that is followed in the east (based on ancient astrology). These signs are determined by the movement of the constella-tions in relation to the Earth. In the west, however, we generally follow the tropical zodiac, which is based on the four seasons. This news is therefore no new discovery and does not interfere with our current astrology chart.

In case anyone is wondering, the sidereal zodiac’s extra sign is Ophiuchus (pronounced Aff-ee-uh-kus). The constel-lation is of a man wrestling a snake. People who are Ophiuchi seek wisdom and knowledge, attract good luck and jealousy, have big goals, and also like to wear bright colors.

News of this not-so-new zodiac caught many off guard. While only about 1/3 of Americans take the zodiac seriously, many people didn’t realize how attached they were to their signs until they were “switched.” Others were not fazed. Health and gym teacher Robert Pavia sums it up rather well, “I don’t really care [about my sign]. I don’t read my horoscope, but I’ve been comfortable be-ing an Aquarian for so long that it’s a little, I don’t know if it’s upsetting, but it’s just like, ‘What? I’m something else? Don’t tell me that.’”

Sophomore Eliana Gottesman said, “I went from a Gemini to a Taurus, which I guess is a big deal to some people, but to me it doesn’t make much of a difference considering being a Gemini didn’t have a big impact on my life. One thing that does bother

me a little though, is that because of the sudden change, people who do follow the zodiac and horoscope will find themselves

suddenly being described entirely differently. For ex-ample now that I am a Taurus, I’m described as calm and cool, while Geminis are described as all over the place. How is this logical?”

Personally, I’ve always been attached to my sign.

I was angry that all of the sudden I became a Capri-

corn (as opposed to my beloved Aquarius), and then relieved that my

zodiac didn’t actually change. I like the idea of the zodiac and how it often comes to be that some of

our personality traits fit into our zodiac sign description. This makes it rather easy to believe in the concept of the zodiac and astrology overall.

Rebecca McCarthyClass of 2013

The age of Aquarius...err...Capricorn

Graphic by Anna Simon/Staff

Current Zodiac Sign Dates Tropical Zodiac

Proposed Zodiac Sign DatesSidereal Zodiac

Capricorn: Dec. 22 – Jan. 19Aquarius: Jan. 20 – Feb. 18Pisces: Feb. 19 – March 20Aries: March 21 – April 19 Taurus: April 20 – May 20Gemini: May 21 – June 21Cancer: June 22 – July 22Leo: July 23 – Aug. 22Virgo: Aug. 23 – Sept. 22Libra: Sept. 23 – Oct. 23Scorpio: Oct. 24 – Nov. 21Sagittarius: Nov. 22 – Dec. 21

Capricorn: Jan. 20 – Feb. 16Aquarius: Feb. 16 – March 11Pisces: March 11 – April 18Aries: April 18 – May 13Taurus: May 13 – June 21Gemini: June 21 – July 20Cancer: July 20 – Aug. 10Leo: Aug. 10 – Sept. 16Virgo: Sept. 16 – Oct. 30Libra: Oct. 30 – Nov. 23Scorpio: Nov. 23 – 29Ophiuchus: Nov. 29 – Dec. 17 Sagittarius: Dec. 17 – Jan. 20

February 14, 2011

The Merionite ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT 9

Fun fact LM: November has more birthdays than any other month of the year. Wonder why? Count back nine months, and you find yourself in the oh-so-romantic month of February. That’s right. More babies are conceived in February than any other month of the year. But why and how these babies are conceived is for another article. I’m here to discuss with you the subtle, tricky, age-old art of flirting. In honor of Valentine’s Day, possibly the most romantic day of the year, The Merionite decided to feature an article about the art of flirting; owing to my reputation as one of the biggest flirts of the Senior Class, I was approached and asked if I would be willing to write this article. I’m always willing to share my gifts with the world, so naturally, I agreed.

You will learn several things from this article. We’ll start with the basics, as in the ‘how to’s’ and ‘don’t do’s’ of flirting, then we’ll head into the types of flirts, and lastly, we’ll finish off with how to make your Valentine’s date magical.

The How To’s of FlirtingFirst off, you need to make it known

that you’re interested in a girl while still acting casual - it’s not the end of the world if you’re denied. Don’t be afraid to talk and open up; if you don’t know what to talk about, then talk about what you know or allow them to talk about what they know. An easy way to do this is to find something you have in common with them - relate to them. This can be something as simple as a favorite teacher or why we had two-hour delays on two separate occasions rather than no school. Most importantly, rep your game. Don’t be afraid to brag about all the interesting things going on in your life. If there aren’t any, and you consider yourself a loner, don’t let them know that! Embellish on a few half-truths; don’t be afraid to exaggerate reality. Keep in mind two things though: 1) your awesome though somewhat invented life should be believable and 2) that the person you’re pursuing has no way of ever finding out that you told a few white lies. These are the basics in the art of flirting.

Side Note: Women love the ‘sensitivity’ angle (this is also known as the Lifetime approach: watch Lifetime to learn about what women care about.). Care about things, even if you have to fake it.

The Don’t Do’s of Flirting1) The number one thing to do is avoid being too cocky.

Women love a confident man, but avoid showing off a superior-ity complex. 2) Don’t put up an overly-chilled out demeanor; it might read as apathetic. Women like a guy who can handle change, but if your responses to everything can be averaged

out to the words “cool,” or “whatever,” then you need to step up the emotional side. 3.) Lastly, don’t overstep your boundar-ies. Some flirts work by being very touchy - a massage here or there, but make sure to know and respect your boundaries.

Side Note: Don’t be too sensitive. Women also love that ‘bad-boy’ angle.

The Types of FlirtsThe flirt: You know the type; this person can be spotted

from the other end of the hall. Great smile, personable, good eye contact…attractiveness need not apply in describing a flirt, however, it doesn’t hurt to have a few good looks on your side. Here are a few different types of flirts that I’ve come up with:

The Low Profiler: This is the kind of guy who keeps his game really subtle, and enjoys noticing things from the outside looking in. He’ll woo you by noticing how your socks match

your bracelets even though he was sitting on the other side of the room. Sure he’ll throw you a compliment every now and then, but don’t expect any PDA from a low profiler. Being this kind of flirt has zero risk, yet it’s not always successful.

The Smooth Talker: This type is fairly self-explanatory. This person is a great talker and can handle meeting new people very well. He has all the smooth lines in his back pocket, and uses them when he needs to. The risk with Mr. Smooth is that once he does decide to settle down with a girl, he’s liable to continue flirting with others. Mr. Smooth is usually a suc-cessful flirt.

The One Liner-er: This type of flirt is the kind who cuts to the chase as soon as possible with one line that even he (or

she) is unsure that will work. This flirt is a major risk taker because you don’t really get to see the real side of this person, however the success rate is unbelievable. One-liners tend to work 95% of the time, especially when you know that whatever is happening is not long term.

The Gentleman: Again, this type is fairly self-explanatory. This gent will hold the door for you, pull out your chair at dinner, and open your car door. I advise any guy reading this to keep the actions of a gent in mind at all times - it’s just common sense.

The Big Talker: I would argue that a lot of women are familiar with the big talker. This guy is able to text huge game, but when the time comes, they always have an excuse. Guys: Don’t be the big talker unless you can follow through.

Making Your V-Day Magical1. Go big or go home.

I for one prefer to buy the giant teddy bear in her favorite color. It lets them know that you appreciate them and that you want them to think of you, be-cause you can’t really hide a giant teddy bear. Other big gifts are the three pound Hershey heart, and of course, jewelry.

2. Don’t overdo it. Don’t overwhelm them with an over-priced gift that would make them feel bad for not getting you something equally extravagant, because let’s face it, how many le-gitimate Valentine’s Day presents can you think of for a guy? Not a lot. If you’re already getting them a giant teddy, or three pound chocolates, then a smaller supple-

ment of maybe a necklace or bracelet (that’s not too

pricey) is perfectly acceptable.3. Romantic Dinner. Pick a place that you know she’ll love:

maybe somewhere that the two of you ate before and loved, or some place that you know has something special for Val-entine’s Day, or a place that serves her favorite type of food. It doesn’t have to be the fanciest place, but you don’t want to go somewhere too dumpy. Any place that has some significance to your relationship should do just fine.

4. End on a positive note. It’s Valentine’s Day, just enjoy the holiday and let things flow.

I hope that my tips and tricks help you out for today and for any situation that you need. So now go out and really enjoy your Valentine’s Day!

Seth FeldmanClass of 2011

The art of flirting, as told by LM’s very own Seth Feldman

Photo by Madeline Berger/Staff

Just like baking a Valentine’s Day cake -or any food for that matter- a Valentine’s Day mixtape involves many ingredients and steps to achieve perfection. The method I used to make my mixtape started with knowing the person I was making it for. In this instance, Kate Callahan –a senior at LM, light brown hair, blue eyes, around 5’6’, Vice President of the Green Council, and you guessed it, my girlfriend- will be the person I make my mixtape for. Now, Kate’s musical interests include mostly folk, pop, rock, and a little bit of rap/hip-hop. If you do not know what appeals to your person musically, there’s al-ways the Facebook stalk. After said stalking is done and musical interests are known, sort through and find all the songs you know that are about love or the act of making love. Yes, the songs must be about some sort of love related topic even though Valentine’s Day was created so candy, card, and flower companies could make money. We must now filter all “Love” songs into three categories (which can and should be mixed together): Heartfelt

and/or adorable, funny and/or outrageous, and finally, a different type of genre from your person’s usual platter of music to spice things up a little and/or an original song or cover which you recorded with Garageband and a crappy guitar. After this is completed, now’s the time where we pick the songs. Try to keep one half of them heartfelt or adorable, three eights funny or outrageous and one eighth different genre and/or original. Those are only rough estimates though. Try to keep it from 12-18 tracks; we don’t want it to be top short cause we want variety, yet if it’s too long then your better half will get plain bored and stop listening after a bad acoustic version of “Forget You” by Cee Lo Green as performed by you on track 14. The ordering of the tracks is really up to you and what you think is best. If you want to make out for thirty minutes, put lots of heartfelt or adorable songs in consecutive order with each other. If you want to laugh and break the ice a little then put hilarious or outrageous consecutively with each other; you get the idea. Well, that’s all for now and I hope you enjoyed this article. My Valentine’s Day mixtape is presented below with the category it falls under next

to it. Peace.1. “Excuses” by The Morning Benders –

Heartfelt/adorable (look this band up!!).2. “My Girl” by The Temptations – Ador-

able and sort of funny.3. “In The Morning” by J. Cole – Funny

and I guess heartfelt?4. “Something” by The Beatles – A classic,

it’s heartfelt AND adorable5. “B****** Ain’t S***” by Dr. Dre and/

or Ben Folds – Hilarious, funny, outrageous, and you get two for the price of one.

6. “Such Great Heights” by The Postal Service, performed acoustically by Iron & Wine. Heartfelt and adorable. Also The Postal Service’s album “Give Up” deserves a big honorable mention for great love/heartfelt songs especially the ones “District Sleeps Alone Tonight” and “Recycled Air” and Iron & Wine just came out with a new album called “Kiss Each Other Clean.” Check them out.

7. “Misty” by Ella Fitzgerald (or anyone who sings it) – Heartfelt/adorable, also it’s an expanding genre one because it’s jazz.

8. “Iris” by The Goo Goo Dolls – Funny.9. “Amie” by Damien Rice – Heartfelt/

adorable. His whole album “O” could make you cry if you like singer/songwriter folk stuff.

10. “Ice Cream” by Bogore – OUTRA-GEOUS and HILARIOUS. This also is clas-sified as an expanding genre one too because it’s Dubstep.

11. “Whatever Makes You Happy” by Danyo Cummings – Adorable and heartfelt. If you like Jack Johnson you’ll probably like this guy (he’s from Hawaii).

12. “I’ll Make Love To You” by Boyz ll Men – Hilarious. Try lip syncing to this…you’ll find it strangely fun.

13. “Digital Love” by Daft Punk – Ador-able and an expanding genre ‘cause it’s techno. Also watch Tron and then download the soundtrack cause these guys did an amaz-ing job on scoring this movie.

14. “I Hope There’s Love” by Dr. Dog – Beautiful (It doesn’t need a category).

15. “Kate” by Ben Folds Five - I’m cheat-ing with this one. It’s adorable but it also has the first name of the person I’m giving this to. It was too good to pass up.

16. “Let’s Get It On” by Marvin Gaye – The title says it all

Griffin SchwartzClass of 2011

The perfect mixtape and how to make it for that special someone

Hope you enjoyed this humongous teddy bear! Happy Valentine’s Day Colby Berman (from Seth)!

Dear Jamie Lam,Have you seen my jaw? I think I dropped it on the floor when I first saw your moves. ;) - Your Dance Partner

Mom,I love you. Thanks.

-Jesse McCarthy

Elena,You said you wanted one, so here it is.

- Jesse

Jacob Smolover,Happy Valentine’s Day! I love you soo

much! Xoxoxo <3 - Meghan Hirsch

Alexa Batt,Hey Cutie. I miss you. Hang out with me

this weekend, because I love you. BTW, we are hanging out tonight. <3

- Peaches

Mark Krantz, You the only one for me boo. Don’t you

forget it. Because I love you. - Michael Buchwald

Ferg,Hi <3

- Rizz

Rayna Epstein,Happy Valentine’s day! You’re the best val-entine ever. I LOVE YOU have a good day

P.S. this cost a whole dollar - Rebecca Zimmerman

Joey Gringold,You’re always in my heart <3

Prom 2011? - Lindsey Jones

Farrin,Happy Valentines Day <3

- Justin

Lindsey Grabell,Hey boo, let’s hang this Valentine’s Day

and have a great time <3 Love you! - Craig Markman (MEL)(sugar-

plum)

Maya Holland,I love u!!:)

- John Morrison

Jamie Lam:Stay Classy.

- Your Partner In Crime

Aviva Mann,Roses are red, violets are blue. Lets get

FREAKY. Love you. - Your Secret Admirer

Dear AR, This isn’t working out, don’t take it so hard. - Seniors ‘11

Dear Mike Buchwald,Will you go to prom marry me?

Love, Lauren Berman

Mattie Techner,I came all the way to LM to write this to

you. I miss you here at Penn. 3rd times the charm.

<3, LUCA

Hey Olivia,I am to excited that we’re friends. I hope

you enjoy wearing your flip flops - Rachel Fishbein

Dani Mancuso,I love the smell of your hair… I also see you through your window! You

rock! - Anonymous

Bryan,I love our lunch dates and you. I hope your new diet goes well. - Simone

Austen Citrenbaum,Hey babe, I love your dreamy poems, they make me smile <3. I love you and I’m looking for a

prom date! - Carli Swartz

Dear Bobcats.You all be my biddies.

- Dave Levin

Dr. Hobbs,Did the animals go crazy before

snowpocalypse? - Your students

Andrew Pasquier,- Your secret admirer.

Tim Gilboy,You are so pretty. We love you. You are tall. - Kris Gjika and Dan Whites

Jamie Cohen,You’re fabulous ma wifey for lifey <3 cute

weave. - Ellis Cunningham

Ellis Cunningham,B Mi V@l3nt!n3 I lyke yo weave gurl.

- Da Jamester

BJ,Keep doin’ what you’re doin’.

- Your #1 Fans

Adam Beardsley,Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togeder

tooday. Mawage, that dweam wifin a dweam... and wuv, twuuu wuv, will fow-

wow you foweva... So tweasure your wuv!-Ashley Revsora

Melana,I mean, this is going in the newspaper so, I don’t really know what to say, but eat a chocolate Peppermint Luna Bar for me

today. - MaxIlana Nathans,

Your articles are short, sweet, and to the point…just like our love.

- F.F.E.

Dear Sasha,

No one likes you.

-The Student Body

Bobby Mirow,There are no other 3 words that describe how I feel about

you, than I love you. - Steve Rudolph

Robbie Warshaw,You are the Brittnay to my Abby.

- FFE

Leah Rosenbloom,You are the best friend a girl could ever

want, and an incredible pillar of strength.

- Ella Schwamm

Wifey,Been married for 1 year, 55 days, 6 hours, 32 minutes, and 4 seconds. It’s amazing. I

LOVE YOU!- Wifey

Marisa Finkelstein,Hi!!! You’re awesome! <3

- Bohdan Harik

LeeAnn,Because I love you.

- Kev Kev

Miguel,You can discover my civilization any day.

You fill my void. Love our bromance. - Tulio Cat,

So like, happy Valentine’s day… - Jeremy

Ally Levy,I love you so much

baby! Go PFC! BF & GF for-

ever! - Jared Seiler (your boyfriend)

Karron Thomas, I LOVE YOU <3 And Tran loves you too and Zindzi, not

Nakato. But I love you

more.- Bubby <3

(Nadia)

Mr. Kaczmar,Our love for you is as

transcendent as:

- Senior Seminar

Dear Mr. Kilpatrick,Thanks for shoveling the male

genitalia away from the courtyard. We didn’t wanna deal with that shizz.

- the custodial staff

John Brice,Um…I guess this is me paying you back.

- Simone

Bonnie Beckford,I wonder if you know how special you are to me, I wonder if you know how precious you are to me. I wonder if you know how lucky I am to have you in my life. I love

you so much!!! - Anonymous

Dear Blank,Blank, blank, blank!

- Please blank

Bella Anton,Happy Valentine’s Day, darlin’!! Will you

marry me? - Robin Weiner

Tierra Ferguson,I love you with all my heart and I’m lucky to have you as a best friend!! (shoutouts to

#32 on Boys Squad) - Anonymous

Robbie WarshawLets go for it.

-David Levin

Sam Heyman,Stop writing me fake Valentines and sign-

ing them ‘David Levin’. - Robbie Warshaw

Liz Martin,Liz, you are off the chain. Please be mine.

Love your lovebug, Nick J.

Ben Edelman,I am so glad that we’re talking.

- Rachel Fishbein

Liza,I’m still waiting on my Juliet…JK (but for

real). - Romeo

Tyler Kopen,I regret every day of my life not going to

winter formal with you. - Sydbuhs2

Becca Zimmerman,Roses are red, violets are blue, my heart

was cold, but now, not, for you. - <3 Griffy Poo

Daniel Thames, <333333333333333333333 I have watched

you…. - Your secret admirer

Jessica Altman,Happy Valentine’s Day! <3

- JD

Ben,Hey, Ben. I’m mad at you…Just kidding. Happy Anniversary! Teammates4ever<3

- Trice

Talia B.,I love you. And you have a cool name.

- the other Talia B.

Dear Katie’s fat,There’s just so much to love. Be my valen-

tine? - Your Clairebear

P.S. I trust you

Segev Yarden:Face of Gold, Heart of Steel, Cuteness of a

puppy. Be my valentine? -Anonymous

David Levin,I enjoyed sleeping with you.

-The Boiler Room

Mrs. Pratt,Literature + Liminality + Leslie = Love

-Set 6, <3

Dear Saavi,They can take away your hut but they can

never take away your charm. Love, LM

Mrs. Ackerman.You’re our knight in shining metal.

-Conor and Emily

JJGsus,Thanks for being the Dumbledore to our

Harry. -Players

Avi,Save me now.

-Future aborted babies

Dear Party, I want you back.

Love, Dave Levin

My colleagues in the World Language De-partment,

I love you!? - Je suis anonyme

Jamie Lam,I love you more than Okonkwo loves yams.

-Anonymous

Elena Behar,Liz Dunoff told me to write one for you. I asked why, and she said, “because you

love her.” I would not use that expression. I would say: “my x^2+(y-(x^2)^v3)^2 is for

you. Just for fun.” - The Magician

Dear Kris Gjika,I love you. Prom?

- Anonymous

Faculty, Staff and Students,Happy Valentine’s Day!

Remember, character counts.- Hughes

10

Will You Be My Valentine?11

February 14, 2011

The Merionite COUPLES12

LM CouplesLove is in the air this Valentine’s Day. Here’s an adorable

array of some LM students and their sweethearts.

13

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

February 14, 2011

The Merionite

Our Must Have List: 1. Cute sneakers2. Leggings of different materials3. Alternative sweatpants or yoga pants4. Soft, slouchy t-shirts5. Thick tights6. Vintage crew-neck sweatshirts7. Thin, big sweaters and long-sleeves8. Accessories, Accessories, Acces-

sories! (bright headbands, earrings, neck-laces)

For those of us who don’t have the luxury of being able to wear jeans on gym days, it is a weekly struggle to find an outfit that doesn’t look like you are about to go back to bed.

During the winter, dressing for gym is difficult. You can’t get away with wearing your favorite shorts anymore, but with these quick tips, you can look and feel good

about going to gym class--and skip out on gloomy sweat pants.

A trick to avoid chang-ing outf i ts is layering with remov-able items on top. While wearing leg-gings, a lon-ger cardigan or sweater that covers the top of the pants is per-fect through-out the whole day, and al-

l o w s a cute t-shirt t o p e e k

through underneath. The sweater can be easily removed for gym class, leaving just the loose and comfy t-shirt. You can move around in class, but quickly adapt for your next set by throwing on a few more layers.

A cool, vin-tage looking sweatshirt can go well with warm sweater l egg ings , o r p l a i n y o g a pants.

E v e r y o n e should own a pair of casual sneakers that are comfortable but stylish. Don’t resort to lugg ing around sneakers to change into all day- there are better alternatives. Bright colored canvas sneakers or high-tops can add a touch of personal flare to any gym-ready outfit. Creativity is needed! Don’t be timid when trying out and mixing bold patterns or textures.

Accessories are easy to take on and

off, so try adding some bold necklaces or big earrings as you’re getting ready in

the morning. You can always add a bit of color last minute by popping on a bright headband.

Search around through stores like H&M, American Apparel, and Madewell for some comfy classics. Keep an open mind, don’t be afraid to mix up easy athletic wear with trendy pieces, and arrive at your gym set

A. Mann/M. MeehanClass of 2013

How to look cute on gym days: as told by Aviva and Margaret

Photo by Talia Lieberman/StaffPair zipper leggings with a loose sweater, or throw on a vintage sweatshirt with yoga paints and patterned Keds.

Photo by Margaret Meehan/Staff

Throughout the day, wear comfy leggings with long layers. For gym class, keep the same t-shirt and leggings and you’ll be set.

Backstage pass: an exposé of Players’ theatrical magic

As a student attending LM, you’ve probably heard of the term “Players” at one point in your lifetime. You probably also have a rough idea of what this club does. But in case you weren’t sure- LM Players is the organization that basically puts on the wonderful shows that we are able to see every year. This school year’s productions included Urinetown and 12 Angry Jurors, and last year’s were West Side Story, The Mousetrap, and Twelfth Night. Some other very successful past productions were Guys and Dolls, Cabaret, Little Shop of Horrors, and many more.

When you go see any sort of show, you have to keep in mind that only the final product is shown. The flawlessness and organization of any show requires hours of practice and putting together- all things that the audience will never be able to see. The case is no different for a Players’ show either. Putting on a show is a humongous team effort that includes months of prior preparation. And then in the last few weeks before opening night, dress and tech rehearsals are held until eight or nine every school night and on weekends as well! What’s even more difficult to fathom is that fact that Players is almost completely student run! Just think about all the things that are simultaneously going on during production- the props, scenery, make-up, costumes, lighting, sound, acting, cueing, publicity, and everything in between- all these jobs are done by the stu-dents with a few adult coaches to ensure safety. Also, to add, Players’ productions aren’t exactly average. They are almost always very exceptional, to the point where you question how it can possibly be all student run.

Every crew is different and also very well organized. Some crews like publicity or light/sounds are the ones that really go unnoticed for just someone in the audience. Before I was able to talk to lights/sounds designers Tim Gilboy and Liz Einstein, I never really considered the large importance these factors hold in a play and also the importance of timing and cueing. Things like lighting and sounds really set the mood in a play, often times without even the audience realizing it. Publicity is in charge of putting the news out and also selling the tickets. This is a great deal of work if you think about the various outlets of publicity the crew has to cover. When I briefly visited them last week, the crew was in the works of contacting the Main Line Times and working on a bunch of other contacts as well.

Aside from the PDS of different the five different crews, there is also a production manager and stage manager. The production managers Jess Ulan and Jen Rosen are in charge of various tasks. They are responsible for much of the scheduling of rehearsals, arranging also when outside coaches are to come

in, and scheduling for security and custodial staff. The stage manager runs the live show. Rebecca Hazany works in that tiny box where the project lights come out during the show, giving cues to lights and sounds and making sure everything is in order. Because of her approximate location and multitudes of tasks, she is often considered the “god” of the show.

There are also various other jobs I was unable to cover unfortunately, many that I was unable to meet with during my one visit to rehearsal. Every job in Players holds much impor-tance and deserves recognition for the never ending hours of dedication put in.

LM Players’ most recent show 12 Angry Jurors premiered Thursday night and was a huge hit. I personally enjoyed the show a lot and I’m not just saying so because I know a few people who are involved in it. Contrary to many other plays, there’s only one scene in the whole show. For those of you who

have not seen the show or watched the movies, 12 Angry Jurors (originally “Men”) is a story about twelve jurors who have to determine the verdict of a boy from the slums who have been tried for the murder of his father.

The original play actually took place in the fifties and all the jurors were male. Contrary to the classic version, LM’s version takes place in modern day Philadelphia with both male and females (hence 12 Angry “Jurors”). “Setting 12 Angry Men in modern day just creates a message that everyone in the audience can relate to,” director Elsa Schieffelin explains. The characters themselves still had the same personalities as the original movie. In fact I couldn’t really catch any lines in particular that distinguished them from the 50’s, but the fact that women were present just made the whole play feel much more realistic.

The costumes were proven to be very classic, formal, and well thought out. I think it was very smart for Aliza Vidgerman, the designer, to not overdo anything. The men wore dress shirts and pants, and the women wore dress shirts, plus either skirts or pants. I specifically really enjoyed juror #8’s costume. Emily Shepard portrayed an old woman and wore a very believable light top and beige colored pant. If you’ve seen the movie, seeing her costume right off the bat and you know she’s not exactly “young.”

The scenery also looked very realistic and the table the jury sat was so detailed, I had to ask Rachel Gordon, the set designer, whether if they bought or made the table. And of course the students made it (with the help of a coach). During my visit that day, I learned of a really cool technique known as “force perspective.” If you actually stand on stage, you will realize the entire set is actually not made up of right angles. In

order to make the set “come out,” the scenery crew literally made everything slanted. It’s hard to describe, but take the door for example. Instead of a normal rectangular door, this play’s door was shaped much like a trapezoid. But from the audience’s perspectives, it looks like a regular door!

Like I mentioned earlier, the person-alities of the jurors stayed the same. #8 is still a male architect and the protago-nists, while #3 is still the opposing force and last to vote “not guilty.” Juror #3 from the 1957 movie was depicted as a very angry and macho man; however, in LM’s version, Juror #3 was cast to a girl! At first I was unable to wrap my mind around this fact, as I couldn’t picture

such a masculine part was being transformed into the opposite. As I watched the show however, it just worked out naturally. Juror #3 was a great ignorant-feminine-soft-screaming-angry-tough mother. I really have to say props to Shosh Gordon who played the role and made it so believable. Leo Koorhan, who played Juror #8, did a magnificent job as well- the architect’s beliefs became very real and passionate. Overall, I think the directors did just a phenomenon job casting. I’m really not trying to be nice; all the characters just worked out perfectly. The show in all was very timeless, the director was able to bring in women into the play by setting it in 2011- but besides that factor, the show really does a great job focusing more on the contents of the story and the benefit of the doubt. I think Players definitely nailed it. Great job to the entire cast and crew!

Nicole WangClass of 2013

Photo by Kei Nakagawa/Staff

February 14, 2011

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

14

The MerioniteThe decline of the record store, and the rise of its successor

The feeling of searching through a record shop is not replicable. It’s not like starting up iTunes and searching for a certain band you saw on your friend’s iPod- it’s spon-taneous. Music has become less personal and individual-ized: certainly this is less than it’s worth. On iTunes, it is not hard to notice all music is categorized. iTunes can’t recognize an individual’s broad taste, so it places us into a mold. If you think about it, it’s limiting.

When flicking through CDs or vinyl, I’m not told to go to this band because I liked that singer- I am my own voice. Classification is loose; decades and genres are jumbled together. The feeling is unique and foreign. These stores also have the ability to make me rethink an artist or genre I’d long forgotten. It is the randomness that makes the record stores feel so special. If I hear a song in the store that catches my attention and I ask the worker the name, I may find myself buying a CD that I failed to notice earlier.

It is a wonderful serendipitous feeling when I discover a different artist I would never of heard. Every time I walk inside, I leave with something different than what I bought the previous time. I thus have an expansive musi-cal preference that I wouldn’t be able to collect online. It’s easy to create a refined but large musical taste here, especially with the help from other people interested in similar music. The social aspect of record stores helps completes its superior image to its cyber ersatz.

So why is it this niche market is struggling? Are we letting ourselves be molded by what the Internet says we should like? Is it that people don’t care enough about their music anymore, or are they not willing to spend when they know they can get it online for free? Whatever the reason is, people aren’t recognizing the social and physical aspects of buying music in a store. Perhaps it’s possible people aren’t comfortable with exploring the music world because it is so endless. People are letting

themselves be grouped and pigeonholed. These record stores aren’t getting what they deserve because of our generation’s hesitations.

Nevertheless, there are still really good record stores that have been able to survive in the digital age. These stores have to be unique, and possess a curated selection because they have to connect with a wide range of people. In Philadelphia, we are lucky to have places that meet these requirements. The stores listed below have a special mix of music (vinyl and CDs), helpful employees, and a certain feel to each of them. Employees will play a record on their speakers if you want to hear it before buying, and

are happy to give their opinions on music. Whether you want to look through an extensive CD collection at AKA Music or find rare vinyl at Tequila Sunrise, your music tastes will always be accommodated to. Enter with an open mind, and you won’t go home empty handed.

1. AKA Music (27 North 2nd Street)2. Repo Records (538 South Street)3. Tequila Sunrise (525 West Girard Avenue)4. Philadelphia Record Exchange (618 S. 5th Street)5. Main Street Music (4444 Main Street)

Margaret MeehanClass of 2013

Photo by Margaret Meehan/Staff

A modest proposal to hearI have known for a few years about the existence of

a Haverford High School Radio station, occasionally flipping by it on the dial; recently, I decided to find out more about this cool-sounding organization. Priding itself in being the oldest high school radio station in the country, WHHS broadcasts a variety of music and student-hosted radio shows. Though the station broad-casts on a weak signal, it can still be heard throughout most of Lower Merion all day on 99.9, playing one of the most eclectic mixes of music available on the radio. WHHS is a completely student run organization with nine radio directors and dozens of other student show-hosts all with very different tastes in music, yet united in their involvement with the station.

“In addition to putting a wide variety of music on the air, we often broadcast Haverford’s football games, swim meets, and other sporting events. WHHS has interviewed politicians and covered elec-tions, too. Our DJ’s frequently cover news stories on their shows and this year we even have talk shows and programs that focus on foreign cultures and lan-guages,” says Cassidy McGinley, one of the current directors of the station.

There are five radio shows every weekday before and after-school and a constant mix of music at other times when a show is not on the air. The unique op-portunities presented for students in a radio station are clear in the varied types of people and interests in-volved in WHHS, from the varied programs broadcast to the many ways in which to help the station. WHHS hosts many events, like monthly “coffee shops” after school which feature local high school bands as well as some bigger events several times throughout the year. Cassidy lovingly summed up her experience at the station: “Being involved with WHHS has been my favorite part of going to school at Haverford. I definitely think all of our DJ’s and Directors would agree that being able to host your own radio show and is a unique opportunity for high school students. Helping organize shows and being able to see tons of different bands play also makes being a part of WHHS really fun.”

If only LM could have something great like this. When I looked into the possibility of a radio station

at LM, the results were not promising. Issues such as funding and licensing inhibit the chances of LM getting a station any time in the near future.

In my inquiry about the possibility of LM radio I talked to Emily Shepard, who along with fellow senior Griffin Schwartz “tried to mobilize a group of students to campaign for and eventually to man-age a school radio station.” She explained: “I think the beauty of a radio station is its comprehensive/diverse nature; it holds the potential of involving students ranging from techies to sports enthusiasts to hard rock fanatics. Like the radio station, the beauty of our student body is that it’s so rich with varied talents and interests. It would be pretty incredible to see all of these varied identities streamlined into one project, and I’m certain that it would be a worthwhile investment. Unfortunately, after meeting with a few administrators and contacting some experts well-versed in matters of FCC policy, we realized that it was next to impossible to establish a radio station, let alone to get it up and running before we graduate. It’s a hugely complicated matter involving petition-ing for a license and negotiating competing radio frequencies etc.”

These modern-day regulations and fees associated with radio do not prevent Haverford, which pioneered their station over seventy years ago at the very begin-ning of radio when regulation was not so tight.This, however, should not discourage us.

One place where we can get involved and open up an entirely new, diverse, fun, and interesting organization within our school is with the School District Local Access Channel. As of now the channel only rarely broadcasts anything other than slides of the district schools and updates about class reunions or meetings with schmaltzy background music. The opportunity present for students to create a dynamic station with various student programs is both exciting and limitless. Such an organization would do greatly to bring the LM community and student body closer together, and we students should push for the fantas-tic opportunity available in this station. Also for any bands or music fanatics out there, Cassidy encour-ages you to look up, listen, and become involved in WHHS, and invites you to play or attend any of the many station events.

Andrew PasquierClass of 2013

Radio has always been an in-tegral part of American lifestyle, from FDR’s ‘Fireside Chats’ to Ryan Seacrest’s top 40, radio has been entertaining, and informing people for generations. In 1967, Lyndon B. Johnson changed the future of radio by passing the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, creating the first Na-tional Public Radio; better known as NPR since then, the station has been providing cultural insight and distributing the news for thirty years and counting. NPR has evolved over the years into a modern cultural vehicle for young, upcoming artists and musicians to get airtime without being in the limelight. NPR features shows about everything from Car Talk to All Songs Considered, not many audiences are overlooked, and the depth of their programming as well as their variety of topics is what makes NPR so unique.

However NPR is not a solo sta-tion as it is partnered with many smaller stations located including the local University of Pennsyl-vania sponsored radio station, 88.5 WXPN. WXPN started in 1945, originally just a college radio station; it has grown since then, partnering with NPR and bringing Philadelphia and the country (when it is featured on NPR) new and sig-nificant music as well as the artists who create it. XPN stands for eX-perimental Pennsylvania Network and hosts a slew of programs and concerts in the Philadelphia area including ‘World Café Live’ which is the venue located at the station.

The performances and events hosted there vary from movie nights to the Free At Noon Concert Series, which is aired on NPR and WXPN every Friday at noon. The station also sponsors local events at venues like The Electric Factory, Theater of the Living Arts, and The Trocadero Theater. XPN is completely grant, and donation funded, and just like most public commercial free media sources, every year it holds fund drives that are the main source of per year income.

The diversity of public broad-casting is something that makes the programming so great. XPN features interviews with upcoming local musicians from every genre as does NPR -on a more global scale of course- however the GOP is looking to cut down and defund this great resource. Republican Doug Lamborn along with other new members of the Senate has penned a bill to defund NPR and its affiliates. Lamborn said, “According to Wash-ington Examiner we have so many sources of media that we don’t need a government-subsidized source of media, [as we have] 500 cable TV channels, internet on people’s cell phones and satellite radio.” Republicans have been trying since the 90’s to cut funding to NPR but to no avail. Now in this economic recession, the passage of the bill looks promising. Public radio has been rooted in the media and Phila-delphia for years and now in this recession it might be lost, so for now appreciate it bringing you the most interesting new music, artists, and entertainment.

The goodness of XPNRobert Gaudio

Class of 2012

February 14, 2011

The Merionite FEATURES 15

If Suburban Square is a microcosm of our economy, it is demonstrating that things are finally start to turn around. There has been quite a bit of activity at Suburban Square over the past few months, a whopping .6 miles away f r o m L M . There are sev-eral new stores and restaurants that might not be on the radar yet.

Sweet Green

A new eco-friendly and earthy crunchy r e s t a u r a n t has landed – whether you want a light snack or a healthy lunch, you’re set. (This spot offers salads, wraps, and frozen yogurt.) The frozen yogurt is fat free and organic and there are many seasonal toppings available. The disposable con-tainers and utensils are all biodegradable, the ingredients are fresh and in season, and the chicken is free range and hormone free. Website: sweetstuff.com

Paper SourceSince mid-August, Paper Source has

been operating as an invitation, stationary, card, and gift store located next to Lilly Pu-litzer. They specialize in, but are not limited

to, invitations. In fact, the staff at Paper Source says that most visitors to the store primarily buy their greeting cards or desk gadgets. Paper Source is definitely a place where you can buy gifts that are funky and uncommon. Website: paper-source.com

El QuetzalThe newest edi-

tion to the Suburban Square family, El Quetzal opened for business on Decem-ber 10. While this store is primarily for women, they don’t just carry clothes. You can a l so purchase

jewelry, ceram-ics, and other knick knacks. This store is cool because it isn’t found at every mall.

They add to the boutique-y feeling that is special about Suburban Square. While they do not have a web site, they are on Facebook. Link: facebook.com/pages/El-Quetzal/107964492577198.

Sweet Stuff Though Sweet Stuff isn’t new to Subur-

ban Square, it’s spent its past in the Farmer’s Market. But since Labor Day, it has had its own store, next to Plate. Lauren, an em-ployee, explained that since its relocation, “there was quite an uptake in business this year from when we were in the Farmer’s Market. This holiday season was a lot bet-

ter.” As for the customer favorite? That award would go to the chocolate covered pretzels. They don’t mess around. Website: sweetstuff.biz.

Cupcakes GourmetSweet Stuff moves out and Cupcakes

Gourmet moves in. And they are truly gourmet. These cupcakes are amazing. While pricey, they are certainly worth it. Cupcakes Gourmet is unique. They have over 20 different flavors, but sell different ones on each day of the week, with some flavors being available everyday. They also sell special “Ganache Cupcakes” which are cupcakes with a dollop of icing dipped in a chocolatey sauce. From personal ex-perience I can vouch for the fact that they are a m a z i n g . W e b s i t e : c u p c a k e s -g o u r m e t .com

Pucci Manuli

A c r o s s from Cup-cakes Gourmet is Pucci Manuli. This is another unique store, with its Suburban Square location being its only location (be-sides its website where you can purchase online). But what exactly does a store with such a unique name sell? The answer to

that question would be: toys. Lots of toys. And not just for five-year-olds. There are realistically made stuffed animals, hand made spinning tops, board games, and more. The tops are a best seller (they are actually really cool). As Carrie, owner and manager told me, “I sell to three-year-olds and I sell to 103-year-olds.” Website: puc-cimanuli.com.

Di Bruno BrothersWhile not there yet, the signs for Di

Bruno Brothers in the Farmer’s Market are big and bold. With an anticipated opening in March, Farmer’s Market vendors have seen workers measuring cases and the layout in preparation for this store’s arrival. Di Bruno

Brothers is an Italian g o u r m e t g r o c e r y which had its start in P h i l a d e l -phia’s Ital-ian market a n d n o w h a s t w o additional downtown locations. We b s i t e : d i b r u n o .com.

Between the Farmer’s Market and Subur-ban Square itself, there’s a lot of new activ-ity. I’ve tasted the cupcakes, had the candy, bought a scarf, and eaten a salad, and can affirmatively attest to the fact that Suburban Square is on the rise once again.

AnyBody Can Diet: Every Food’s GoodThe Atkins diet, the cabbage diet, the baby food diet, the grapefruit diet… All these diets claim to help you to a better lifestyle, even though some of them sound absolutely ridiculous. I

mean seriously, how could you ever survive on just jars of baby food? I think I’d go insane mushing on pureed vegetables all day long. You hear the word diet used all the time to describe crazy ways people try to lose weight that it has acquired a negative connotation associated with trying to cut a few pounds. In fact, a diet is simply the kinds of food that one eats, whether it be hamburgers, or fresh fruit and vegetables. Take a look at the following lifestyle choices that have become prevalent in our society: the vegetarian diet, the vegan diet, the raw food diet,

and the exclusion/inclusion diet. -Lisa Li, Class of 2011

You are probably familiar with this diet, and have a least one family member or friend who is vegetarian. In fact, approximately three percent of American adults follow a vegetarian-based diet. This number is on the rise with more and more people thinking that veggie is the way to go. There are actually many kinds of vegetarians, including, ovo-vegetarians, lacto-vegetarians, pescetar-ians, and pollo-vegetarians. Ovo-vegetarians can eat eggs, but no other animal products, while lacto-vegetarians will consume milk and milk products, but not eggs. Pescetarians eat fish, but no other meats; on the other hand, pollo-vegetarians eat chicken, but no other meats. While there are many variations on vegetarianism, the common theme across all vegetarian diets is the omission of red meats such as beef, lamb, and pork. People choose to be vegetarians for all different reasons; some people do it for the animals, others for the environment or for their own health.

Foods to try: quinoa, black beans, carrot soup, soybeans, roasted peaches, low-fat cot-tage cheese, almonds, lentils, beans.

Imagine no more milk, butter, yogurt, or cheese for the rest of your life. That means no more ice cream, marshmallows, and don’t even think about tasting Tastykakes ever again. Let’s also cut out all meats, eggs, and refined sugar. That, my friends, is the vegan diet. Doesn’t that sound awfully restricting and painfully boring? Not according to vegan senior Brie Goldstein, who says that being vegan is “really awe-some.” She continues, “I’m vegan because the idea of eating an animal just seems wrong to me. There are tons of other nutritious and delicious foods that don’t involve cruelty. I’m not sure how much of an impact boycotting the meat industry has, but knowing what I

do about how the animals are treated, I just can’t bring myself to eat them or any of their byproducts.” Many vegans, but not all, even avoid animal products such as fur, wool, leather, and down. Being a vegan nowadays is much easier with vegan restaurants popping up everywhere and vegan variations on traditional favorites available at your local supermarket. There are also many vegan recipes on the web that can provide hours of experimentation in the kitchen.

Foods to try: pecans, pumpkin seeds, rice milk, seitan casserole, vegetarian Pad Thai, barley, TLT (tofu, lettuce, and tomato), and ratatouille.

This may just be the most outrageous diet you will read about today. The raw diet is pretty self-explanatory—it is chiefly a diet of raw foods. The idea behind the raw diet is that plants in their most natural state are the most nutritious. Heating food above 116 degrees Farenheight is believed to destroy enzymes in food that can benefit the digestion and absorption of food. Staples of the raw diet include fruits and vegetables, seaweed, sprouts, sprouted seeds, whole grains, beans, dried fruits, and nuts. Most raw foodists are also vegans as it is risky to eat raw meat, but some do eat animal

products such as raw eggs and cheese. Rawism is proposed to reap health benefits such as increased energy, improved skin appearance, better digestion, and reduced risk of heart disease. However, these claims are inconclusive, and some rawism may lead to serious undernourishment.

Foods to try: legumes, cashews, tempeh, cabbage, figs, nutritional yeast, vitamin B12 fortified soymilk, and flaxseed.

If you’re looking for a little fun or feeling a bit daring, this is the diet for you. The principle behind this diet is to either eliminate a particular food from your diet, or to incorporate one into your diet. For example, if you’re a heavy soda drinker, you might want to try to go one week without drinking any soda. If this works out well, why not try a whole year, or even the rest of your life? The idea is to challenge yourself, and see how far you can go. Last year, I went a whole year without what I thought would be the most difficult luxury food to give up—chocolate. Conversely, you may want to add something healthy to your diet that you never thought you could handle everyday. Junior Diana Yang, who has “made a pledge to drink at least one glass of milk everyday”, says, “It’s become like habit. Eventually, it just becomes a normal part of the day, just like brushing your teeth or eating dinner. The action itself doesn’t really make me feel happy—the knowledge that I’m sticking with it does.” The reward of this diet is the accomplishment that you feel at the end.

Foods to try or take out: milk, apples, kidney beans, baby carrots, chocolate, potato chips, Pop-Tarts, coffee, and soda.

The Vegetarian Diet The Raw Food Diet

The Inclusion/Exclusion Diet

The Vegan Diet

New food, new fashion, new funRebecca Mccarthy

Class of 2013

Photo by Chris Conwell/Staff

Photo by Chris Conwell/Staff

Photos by Lisa Li/Staff

February 14, 2011

FEATURES16

The Merionite

V-day Advice ColumnTeacher or student?For all of those out there who are feeling a little queasy

about this upcoming Valentine’s Day, we asked sophomore Charlotte Smith for some words of advice.

Dear Charlotte,So there’s this guy that I have just the biggest crush on.

How do I get him to notice me?-Desperate

Dear Desperate,Start with a smile. Every girl looks prettier when she

smiles, and I’m sure he’ll notice your happy persona. Also, though you may not know it, this crush of yours might like you too! Some boys are really shy, and won’t make the first move if you don’t. So maybe you should try asking him to be your Valentine! The worst that could happen is that he’ll say no, and if he does, it was worth a shot. Be confident and be yourself, and that will get your far in life. Just give it a go, and don’t forget to smile.

-Charlotte Dear Charlotte,I’ve been dating my boyfriend for five months now.

I’ve never had a boyfriend before, and this is our first Valentine’s Day. What should I get him? I need advice!!

-Nervous Wreck

Dear Nervous Wreck,It is understandable that you might be a little anxious

about what to get your boyfriend, but in the end, who knows your man best? You. While material gifts like watches and ties might be the easy and generic gift that dudes have tons of, what they really love is just spending time with you. You could plan a surprise evening at your secret spot to watch the sunset, or have a cute night in and watch old movies after making each other dinner. Whatever you do, let him know that you care. And an old-fashioned Valentine always manages to say “I love you” with an extra touch of class.

-Charlotte Dear Charlotte,I hate Valentine’s Day. I never have anyone to spend

it with. I feel like no one likes me and I have a hard time falling for a guy. I don’t know if I’ll ever find love!

-Confused Dear Confused,Valentine’s Day might seem like the biggest slap in the

face of the year to all the single ladies, but there are ways to cope, and possibly even have a fun time. If it’s love that’s getting you down, have a get together with the people most important to you. Even a small group of friends can make the day less miserable! Or, if you’d prefer to be alone, you can spend your evening with a jar full of Nutella while watching The Notebook. However, if you’re the ambitious type, try getting out there and searching for love! You never know exactly when you will find Mr. Right! It could be when you are standing in the middle of the street tearing down all heart related paraphernalia that “HE” comes to give you a hand…love works in strange ways!

-Charlotte

Dear Charlotte,My best friend asked me to be his Valentine, and my

crush asked me to be his Valentine too. Who do I pick? I don’t want to hurt either of them!

-Torn

Dear Torn,Two Valentines at once! You must be a very special girl.

Enough so that your best friend and your crush would be glad to have you as a Valentine’s Day date. Try talking to your best friend. If he really is as good of a friend as you say, he should be able to understand if you want to spend the big day with your crush. If you are feeling a little cupidish, try finding your best friend another date for Valentine’s Day, then a double date could be a fun way to spend time with the people you love, without your best friend feeling like a third wheel. Or, if your crush is okay with it, have two Valentines! And double the time with special people.

-Charlotte

There is a new student in Leslie Pratt’s set 6 AP Lit class. His name is Larry McAfoos. Yes, Larry McA-foos, who teaches chemistry across the hall.

As it so happens, there is yet another new student on the block. Her name is Leslie Pratt, and she is in McAfoos’s set 8.

So, what’s up with this? I’m pretty sure both new students graduated from high school a few years back. Well, it seems Pratt and McAfoos are transcending the boundaries of standard education at LM. Driven by the earnest desire to learn new concepts far outside of their respec-tive comfort zones, Pratt has spent the last few weeks learn-ing gas laws and McA-foos learn-ing poetry.

I t a l l started in the hallway. “We w ere just talking about what it is like to b e a s t u -dent,” Pratt said. Appar-ently, the conversa-tion devel-oped into an idea, and that idea into action. Pratt said it would not only be an opportunity to learn something new, but also to “fail gracefully.” Perhaps it was so suc-cessful because both were looking forward to the challenge, apprecia-tive of newfound intimidation, and prepared for failure. Pratt got ready to do problems she “hasn’t done since high school,” and McAfoos prepared to take a class he “never actually had in high school.” At first both were nervous, but came out with a personal victory. “I felt completely unprepared and in-timidated,” said McAfoos. “I offered some interesting ideas but it was very strange... it’s been a long time since I was intimidated by a subject. I forgot what that felt like.” In the end, though, McAfoos definitely thought it was a success. “I feel like in those five weeks of studying with you guys I actually learned more than in several years of high school English,” he said.

I have had the pleasure of learn-ing from both teachers. Though literature and chemistry are very different, I have actually found Pratt and McAfoos to be similar—both are passionate about teaching yet equally eager to learn from a student. Both are unfailingly in-teractive, teach from bell-to-bell everyday, enjoy classroom humor,

and always welcome dialogue and dispute. As Pratt puts it, “It’s not about getting the answers, but [rather] about figuring out the really interesting questions—I know that guides my philosophy, and I think it guides his as well.” Though I believe both classes are among the most challenging offered at LM, they are also among the most rewarding, and the most enjoyable.

One thing I have noticed above all is the two teachers’ ability to reach out to students, so it’s no wonder they chose to reach out to each other. “I feel like I learned so much from Mr. McAfoos as a teacher,” Pratt said. “I also feel like I learned so much from the students in the room.” As it turns out, the students returned the sentiment

and reached out to the teachers, as well. Pratt “had a great, wonderfully supportive lab table” who filled her in when she was absent and helped her when she was having trouble setting up equations. McAfoos, who sat alongside a group of outspoken seniors in our Lit class, described his classmates as “very friendly” and always willing to work with him on partner projects.

Both McAfoos and Pratt posi-tively described the student-teach-er interactions in both classes. “I think one of the neatest things was watching the kids who ended up befriending Ms. Pratt,” McAfoos told me. “I think they sort of took her under their wing and got to play teacher a little bit, and that it was very good for them.” Simi-larly, Pratt thought that support was abundant in both classrooms. “Mr. McAfoos had great support in the AP Lit class and I know I had great support in Chemistry,” she said. “I really loved it.”

So, how hard was it to adapt? In short, it wasn’t easy for either teach-er. “You have to shift your thinking,” Pratt explained. “You forget what it’s like…there are a lot of rules to being a high school student.” Pratt felt that it was hard to give up note taking on the computer. “I needed to go back to doing things with pen-

cil and paper. I needed to change some of the ways I was thinking and change some of the things I was doing…it was refreshing.” McAfoos also had a hard time adjusting at first, but fell right in step with the class in no time. One of his favor-ite experiences was working with other students: “when I was in high school, collaboration wasn’t a thing that people did. I [rarely] worked with a partner on anything, especially in English. It was a very neat experience to do that.”

Moreover, we—students in the class—benefitted from this experi-ence more than anyone. As Pratt said, “I think the students got even more out of it than we did. As teachers, a lot of us try to balance power in our own classrooms but

there’s always an imbalance. It’s hard to cre-ate that sense of asking questions to really learn, r a t h e r t h a n asking to test other people’s learning. When you’re a guest in somebody else’s class, you have the opportunity to do this [as an equal].” When teachers get the opportunity to sit among us as equals, Pratt argues, the stu-

dents get the idea that “Oh, wait a second—I’m allowed to not know this.”

I think this sends an important message about education: that we should be open to both teaching and learning from everyone. Even though McAfoos has been teach-ing at LM for years, he was able to stand up in front of our class, read the poem he had written, and graciously receive feedback. Even though Pratt is currently work-ing on her Ph.D., she was able to immerse herself in a class full of sophomores, learning alongside them and oftentimes from them. Pratt and McAfoos took the op-portunity to broaden horizons and transcend comfort zones, reaffirm-ing their passion for education and representing what it is to be a life-long learner. “Whenever you have things that positively and powerfully challenge you,” Pratt said, “you just become a better person and student and teacher. I really enjoyed [having Mr. McAfoos in my class]. He added something really interesting. I think it was a really great experience all around.” McAfoos feels similarly: “I thought it was fascinating and eye-opening, and…fun. I had a good time doing it. I would do it again in a heart-beat.”

Leah Rosenbloom Class of 2011

Photo by Chris Conwell/Staff

Charlotte Smith Class of 2013

Mr. McAfoos and Mrs. Pratt share a momment of enlightenment.

February 14, 2011

The Merionite FEATURES 17

The scoop on SnowStorm Dorn

Club Spotlight:Israeli Culture Club

It’s midnight, and you glance out the window just in time for your eye to catch a

snowflake falling. You know that there is more snow to come, and you’ve already put a spoon under your pillow and turned your pajamas inside out in hopes of a snow day. Your best friend just IMs you, and you have so many new Facebook posts to respond to. What do you do, go to bed or stay up late in hopes that you will be able to sleep in tomorrow? In order to solve this dilemma, you should turn to Lower Merion’s own meteorologist, Casey Dorn.

When Casey is not predicting the weather, he is probably dancing. Casey has a passion for tap dance and has been a dancer for more than ten years. He finds dancing a great way to relieve stress from school and other parts of life.

Although this may come as a surprise, Casey did not always dream of being a meteorologist. In fact, when Casey was younger he wanted to be a train engineer or an airplane pilot.

Casey told The Merionite, “after the FAA basi-cally denounced the use of any medications for active pilots (I have asthma and allergies which I take meds for) I needed to find a new field. I wanted to do some-thing “sciency,” so I tried engineering, and for fun, avionical engineering. But, I didn’t like it that much so I moved on to my current meteorological passion, which I’d had since I was in the 6th grade.”

Although Casey may not have known for all of his life that he wanted to be involved in meteorology as a career, he admits, “to be honest, I’ve always found the weather fascinating. I can’t really give a definable reason ‘why’ but I just found it cool. Whenever there’s a thunderstorm, I hover by the window staring out hoping for a severe cell.”

Just how does he do it? A lot of us are probably wondering how Casey makes his pre-dictions. Does he spend hours on weather.com piecing together his own ideas, or does he actually have his own system at home? Well, the answer lies somewhere between the former and the latter. Casey makes weather forecasts by looking at weather models, graphs, and data and compiling the information into a forecast discussion and analysis.

“I look at several different models through several layers of the atmosphere, combined with things like skew-t’s and meteograms, to make my predictions. What I generally do is create a page with several different models on it and compare all of them over the same

time interval to get my deviation from the mean and the winds.”Casey’s school predictions are based on the timing and amount of winter precipitation

that we get. Over the past several years, Casey’s predictions have been pretty accurate. However, our strange wet weather this winter has proven to be a bit more of a challenge than previous years. “This year has been very hard to forecast, with models changing every run and total precipitation being off by as much as .5 inches (which equals an average of five inches of snow). This winter has been especially hard to predict. We’re in a ‘la nina’ year but we’re getting atypical snowfall and temperature for such circumstances. It’s throwing the models and meteorologists in a loop.”

Following in the wake of the unpredictable winter come some disappointed fans. Casey’s followers need to be aware of the less predictable climate this year, and note that this winter has been an especially difficult one to forecast. Casey acknowledges that sometimes he may be wrong, and it’s “part of the trade.”

“Meteorology is mostly educated prediction, and thus the field is wrong some of the time. It’s true, I get a lot of flack for a wrong forecast, it is to be expected.” The winter is a time where Casey undergoes a tremendous amount of pressure from his peers. Of course, everyone wants a snow day. DISCLAIMER: Casey Dorn does not control the snow, though some people choose to disregard this. When there is possibility or even a slight possibility of a snow day, Casey receives many emails, texts, Facebook messages, and other forms of commu-

nication inquiring about the chances of a two-hour delay or no school. “I have and still do get the forecast wrong sometimes... and there is indeed pressure on me to get that forecast right.” According to a recent Facebook page view statistic, over 5000 people read Casey’s forecasts before a major snowstorm. That is a lot of people pressuring him to live up to their expectations.

So what’s the forecast for the future? Will there be more snowstorms to come? Or is spring right around the corner, just like Punxsutawney Phil predicted? Well, Casey predicts that the bad snow is over. This doesn’t mean that spring is soon to come, but we may be done with the heavy snow. “We’ll have a few more cold patches and maybe some minor snow events, but the big stuff we’ve been seeing should be over for the year. We had 51 inches of snow last February, this year we may get four or five for this entire month.” Is the worst of winter really over? Only time (and LM’s meteorologist, Casey Dorn) will tell.

Danielle MoskowClass of 2011

Kobe Bryant is not your average alum. $411,000 is not a typical donation to one’s high school either. Since Kobe bypassed college and went straight to the pros, he has always stated that LM was his own university, One would think a five time NBA Champion, one time NBA Most Valuable Player, twelve time NBA All-Star, and two time NBA scoring champion would think of himself as too good for his old high school. But his experiences with Aces Nation and being part of something bigger than himself is what keeps bringing Kobe back home.

Kobe has always donated gener-ously and sporadically to LM. There has been no set yearly amount, as he donates differently depending on the year. He is not pressured to make donations; LM is not a finan-cially strapped school. But Kobe’s philanthropy towards causes such as the Education Foundation of Lower Merion shows his commit-ment to making our school and community the best that it can be.

Around six years ago, talk start-ed about building a new high school. Kobe met with a couple administrators and made it known that he wanted to help with the project. Due to legal restric-tions on the amount of private funds that can finance a public building project, Kobe was asked to wait until the building was constructed before giving money. Kobe’s money was not guaranteed, and a space was not left for it in the school budget. Any money that Kobe gave would be extra money used to improve the atmosphere of the school. Luckily, Kobe didn’t lose his patience, and was

once again in talks about donating during construction. Kobe made it known that he would like the money to go to improving the arts and athletics environment. His sisters were involved in the arts and of course he wanted to donate towards athletics. Multiple design firms went to work making possible gym and atrium designs. Kobe picked his favorite design, which was made by the design company MC2. The total cost of the design was a little

under $411,000, the amount that Kobe donated.

Kobe would have preferred not to have had the huge dedication event for his donation. Principle Sean Hughes acknowledged this fact when in his speech at the dedication he said, “I hope you’ll excuse us for going a little above and beyond tonight.” However, an anonymous donation was not an op-tion, as all donations that large must go through the school board. The board has to make sure that they are accepting funds from reliable sources. Kobe’s generosity extends not only to his donations in money but also to his personal time devoted to the school. Director of School & Community Relations Doug Young stated in an interview, “If there is a message that hopefully resonates, it’s that alumni have an opportunity

to come back, and give back, and be part of their alma mater. It doesn’t necessarily mean writing a check for hundreds of thousands of dollars, often it means simply staying connected with a teacher who made a difference in your life, or if you have a skill or talent to share, maybe coming in and talking about it.” For the money donated and the time put in, the inspirational message sent to alums, and the much needed de-sterilization of the new building, we thank you Kobe.

Photo by Chris Conwell/Staff

Nicole WangClass of 2013

Photo by Chris Conwell/Staff

The smell of chickpeas permeates the hallway. Riffs of an upbeat tune fills the air, and you can’t help but tap your foot. Peering into the room, you’ve discovered the wonders of Lower Merion’s Israeli Culture Club.

Israeli Culture Club, or ICC, holds its meetings about once a month after school in history teacher Mr. Levy’s room. Students partake in a range of different activities centering around Israeli culture. Activities include indulging in Israeli treats, watching Middle Eastern movies, discussing current events, and listening to a variety of speakers. Mr. Levy is the club sponsor and supervises the club; he also participates in discussions, assists with the bake sales, and watches the movies with the students.

Food is definitely one of the most interesting and distinguishing factors in any culture. I was able to talk to a few members of the club and the most popular topic of discussion was the variety of foods you get to try in the club. From what I’ve heard from some members, the different foods include hummus, dips, pita, falafel, cookies, chocolate, and much more. Hamentashens are soon to come! Many of these food options have been or will be sold through bake sales for anyone to purchase. However, food is brought to every meeting, and this alone definitely sways many to join the club.

Of course, ICC is not all about the food. Current events and dis-cussions carry a big role as well during meetings. Luckily I was able to talk to the club President, senior Koty Marine, and when I asked her what she wanted students to get out of Israeli Culture Club, she responded, “I want people to gain an understanding of Israel from a teenage perspective. News stations have a more biased view of Israel, so it is important to discuss and reflect on issues and people.” And it’s true, the great thing about discussions is the fact that more opinions can be heard versus hearing a one sided story from a media source.

Israeli Culture Club is open to and welcomes all LM students. It’s a great combination of having fun with friends and exploring a dif-ferent culture. “ICC is a place where teenagers who share a common interest in Israel can come, eat Israeli food, talk about Israel, and just have fun.” Marine said. It educates students, as well as allowing them to get in touch with Israeli culture.

To find out more about the club or to be put on the email list, email Lmhsicc@gmail.com.

LM’s new facilities: Kobe’s donation $um Robbie Warshaw

Class of 2014

February 14, 2011

FEATURES18

The Merionite

Wednesday, March 9 at 7pm,ten noble contestants will

duel in gruelling combat of ballroom and hip-hopdance,

talent and fashion competition,solely for the honor of being

named Mr. Lower Merion 2011.

Don’t miss this epic event! Tickets : $5 students/ $10 adults.

For years, the return from winter break has meant two things: the upcoming mid-term exams, and the start of intramural basketball. Headed by social studies teacher Pete Dawson, in-tramural basketball has be-come a valued tradition at LM. Mr. Dawson was a first year teacher at LM when he started the intramural program thirteen years ago. His goal was to give all students an opportunity to play basketball in a fun, competitive, and organized manner.

As a kid himself, Daw-son was never quite good enough to play varsity and participated in intramural basketball during a large part of his education, and wanted to offer the same experience to LM students. He convinced the athletic director to turn the previ-ous open gym time into a structured league that he would run. Now, after several years of growth and some minor changes, in-tramural basketball at LM is the strongest and most successful it has ever been. With over 130 students and twenty teams competing in three leagues, (girls, rec, and pro) intramural basketball is anything but intramural. Featuring many former players from the

basketball program, along

with varsity athletes from a wide variety of sports, the games have become very competitive. “It’s been a great experience overall, says junior Charles Wein-berg, adding that he’s “been apart of a few nail-biters, which are always exciting. To me it’s more about having fun than winning.”

The intramural basket-ball season includes four games followed by a single elimination playoff, which yields a champion for each division. Despite the suc-cess of the program, it faced possible elimination with the changes to the school created by the construction. With the loss of the Annex, LM was down to only one gym, the Downs Gym, which made scheduling difficult. Now with only the Kobe Bryant Gymnasium, the in-tramural program faces the same scheduling issues.

Many students have par-ticipated in the intramural basketball program over the years. Junior Desmond Ellis has been playing ever since his freshman year. “It’s a lot of fun to play around with my friends. I like it because you don’t have to be too good to be apart of it. It’s just some friendly com-petition with others in the school.” Hopefully the in-tramural basketball program will continue as a tradition at LM, so that students who love the game will have the opportunity to play.

While the rest of us were otherwise preoccupied with the new renovations taking place with the new Kobe Bryant gymnasium, the girls’ varsity basketball team has been putting the place to good use. Starting off strong in its regular season, the team is already well on its way to achieving its goals. Currently holding an impressive 10-2 overall record—undefeated in the Central League—its ultimate aim of winning the Central League title is appear-ing to be more and more tangible. Coach Lauren Pellicane also eyes the state tournament as another goal, after falling just short of it last year at a second round District One tournament game.

Led by captains Sheba Hall, Lila Jones, and Carli Swartz, this year’s team is incredibly diverse and talented. Jones leads the team scoring-wise, averaging 14.5 points per game in addition to 4 rebounds and 2 assists per game. Swartz also has contributed 8 points and 7 rebounds a game and is one of the team’s most versatile performers. Hall, at the point guard position, contributes an average 7.5 points, 4 assists and 2.5 steals per game. Together, the three make a powerful trio, encouraging and mentoring their teammates.

“This team is different than the previous years because each player has a significant role,” explains Hall. What makes the team special is that they are not just dependent on one star player to lead them to victory. As Swartz puts it, they have no “Michael Jordan” type character on the squad in that no one person is responsible for carrying the whole team. Everyone works together, playing off each other’s strengths and weaknesses. “We are all capable of having an outstanding game on any given night and that makes us hard to defend,” she adds.

Nevertheless, the team has also had its share of ob-stacles. Swartz says, “This year, our team is very new to each other; collectively we have never played all together.” They have also had to deal with challenges such as com-munication barriers – especially with new Puerto Rican player Carmen Torres—practicing in a new but unfamiliar setting, and the loss of players from last year. Despite these difficulties, however, the team has grown to become united as a family on the court, overcoming all the problems being thrown at them.

The girls on the team know exactly how to work hard and they know what it takes to improve. They are willing to go above and beyond that distance in order to achieve their

goals. “We work hard in practice each day to improve individually and collectively,” says Hall. The whole team is brimming full of enthusiasm and vigor, dedicated to keeping healthy and contributing their services to the team. Jones believes, “We have a very talented team and if we all can stay healthy then we can end with a successful record!”

Of course, this season is also the first time the girls are using the newly-dubbed Kobe Bryant Gymnasium. Overall, Coach Pellicane says, “The opportunity to have a first class facility to call our own has been special.” The players all agree that having their own home court once again has been full of benefits. “It’s fun to watch the other team immediately get intimidated by our gym,” observes Swartz. Hall adds, “Now that more fans have come out to support us for home games, the whole atmosphere is just that more intense playing in the Kobe Bryant Gym!”

With this overwhelming positive attitude, a great strategy is sure to come with it. Coach Pellicane describes the season by saying, “The team is taking one game at a time preparing for the next opponent and focusing on the game plan ahead. Every game is a challenge for us and we understand that we have to show up and play to be successful.” That is just what the team has been, and hopefully will continue, doing, straight onto the Central League title.

February 14, 2011 19

JuniorJohn Brice

Hi, If you haven’t had the chance to see me in school, maybe you were lucky enough to see me run-ning around the neighborhood with my cross country/track bros. If not, I’m sorry. My hobbies include bro-ing out, meeting, and going on long runs. If you can’t find me doing any of these, you’ll probably find me at the Llanerch Diner, enjoying the “Township Line Special.”

I am the only male diver on the LM swim team; I love to dive, it is pretty much all I do. I am a new student here at LM and I really appreciate the swim team for all its support. I have been diving since I was six years old. I dive from all different heights, including solid platform diving and springboard diving. I practice with my club team, which is a USA National Team pro-gram that travels cross-country to take part in competitions.

Hi, I play basketball and throw for the track and field team here at LM. My favorite movies are Harry Potter one, three, and two, in that order! On the weekends I love to go home and watch Barney, Elmo’s World, and Ghost Adventures. I also like to sleep, hang out with friends, and make snow angels. I love listen-ing to music in my spare time. Some of my favorite groups are spice girls, Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, and G-Unit.

FreshmanArielle Anderer

I have been swimming competitively since age 7 and swim year round with Friends’ Central Aquatics. My favorite event is the 500 meter freestyle and the highlight of my season was a first place finish in the 500 at the Harriton meet. When I’m not in the pool, you can find me preparing for competition with TSA or hanging out with my friends. When I have free time, my favorite things to watch are old episodes of the West Wing and Modern Family.

The Merionite SPORTSGirls’ basketball hitting its stride at the right time Basketball, not just for Kobe’s

SeniorMark Leitch

SophomoreRosie Stahler

Photo by Michael Lefkoe/Staff Forward Jess Porter fakes out defenders in a

win over Ridley.

Diana YangClass of 2012

James M. BurkeClass of 2012

Sports are strange. There is a certain edge that draws you in and grips you every time you play. There is something mystical about the way we push ourselves harder and harder to be better and better. Out of that nev-er-ending effort, we ath-letes expect certain results. The most tangible result is obviously winning. No one can dispute a win - it stands forever. But there are oth-er, more subtle aspects of sports that cannot be de-fined. In basketball, it has been given many names: hot streak, catching fire, confidence, luck, whatever. I am talking about that all-powerful ebb and flow of the game when one player controls the game. That invincible feeling that can change an outcome and put an everlasting win in the record books. Every-one has felt it—maybe not on a court or a field, but tak-ing a test in a classroom, singing on a stage, or painting in a studio. It is undeniable, right? Wrong.

According to a comprehensive study per-formed by Thomas Gilovich Robert Vallone, and Amos Tversky, Stanford University under-graduates, “the hot hand” in basketball at least, is a completely random sequence of events. The study breaks down the careers of some of the greatest players of all time such Michael Jor-dan, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson. Even after reading the entire study, I still just do not believe it, for the same reason every other athlete in the world does not believe it, because we have felt

it. I say to hell with the study, because of one unaccountable factor: the human factor. In the words of Journey, everybody wants to “hold on to that feeling.” People yearn for success, and when they want it so bad, they will a way to find it again. That, in my opinion, explains

how Michael Jordan can score 38 points in game seven of the NBA playoffs while ill ridden with the flu, or how Curt Schilling can throw a gem of a game against the Yankees with a sock full of blood. Logic and numbers may work for most things, but not this.

I am whole-heartedly convinced hot streaks are not only real, but also a product of how hard an athlete works. The hot hand is sports karma in a sense. Even if it is not, it sure is a good way to keep an athlete working hard. I have experienced it. In games, practice, or even just playing

pick-up, I occasionally get that invincible feel-ing. I know my next shot is going in, no matter from where I heave it up. I have seen my team-mates do it on countless occasions. Just a few games ago, when the Aces were in a tight spot, one of us got hot. Eric Green erupted, scoring eight straight points and giving LM the edge we needed against a tough Springfield. I could feel it, he could feel it, the team could feel it; when someone locks in, something beyond stats oc-curs. Numbers and figures lose their meaning, and confidence is all that matters. That next shot is going down, thanks to the hot hand.

February 14, 2011

The Merionite SPORTS20

Badminton makes a comeback at LM

Although basketball is the winter sport that attracts the most attention from the student body, the LM wrestling team and two standout seniors deserve recogni-tion for the remarkable results they have achieved thanks to their diligent and stren-uous work. All six seniors have improved remarkably in their years at LM, and now are motivating themselves and the underclassmen to reach high aspirations.

Indeed, team camaraderie has been an intangible and important aspect of the preceding four years during which the current seniors have wrestled for LM. Senior Zeke Zimmer seems to greatly appreciate that, “throughout the lineup, we have kids who have been very dedi-cated.” Head Coach Jim Perri explained, “Everyone that competes in a match on the varsity line-up has a direct impact on the outcome of the teams overall score.” Senior Cody Kaplan recognizes this, and states that he “likes to discuss individual game plans and things that I have found useful as a wrestler with my teammates.” This is his way of utilizing what he has learned over the past four years, which have seen the LM Wrestling program gradual-ly ascend. Sophomore Steffen Vestal stated that, “From the seniors I’ve learned that it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to become good at wrestling.” Training through unortho-dox methods, such as resolutely straining, “around school flipping tires, hauling sand bags and pushing wheel barrows” provide the team with not only great physical strength, but also mental fortitude, a critical ingredient in any athlete. The team also gains a nice sense of unity through these tough exercises and practices. They will strive to be “acting and breathing as one complete functioning unit” as Perri envisions, while still battling for their individual goals.

With their final year steadily near-ing its eventual end, these seniors are reflective. As they look back on the time that has whizzed by, they pon-der the countless hours they have toiled on the mat since their days as freshmen. Coach Perri explains that he tries to pass on many enduring lessons in this journey from fresh-man to senior season: “long time coach of LM wrestling, David Burke mentored every wrestler that came through the doorway into the wres-tling room; he always said it’s not just a three-month sport but a life long journey. Four years of wrestling in our room will give a young man the courage, strength and resolve that will help him though the many hurdles that life can throw at you. I like to think that I’m carrying on his same lifelong ‘lessons’ tradition.” These particular young men certainly have been instilled with a fighting spirit, and they have been rewarded for their fabulous persistence, with the old adage “hard work, dedication, results.” Although there may be significant differences in size and style between these seniors, every single one of them has persevered to bring themselves and their team to a higher level.

Photo by Michael Lefkoe/StaffCody Kaplan (right) charges for a victory.

With a new school and a gorgeous gymnasium, one sport has emerged as the dominant activity for gym class. Badminton? That’s right. Check in the gym any set of the day, and there is a good chance that a badmin-ton game is going on. But why has badminton come above all other gym sports?

For one, there is now much more space. In the old gym there was not sufficient room to set up enough nets to

allow an entire gym class to play. The new space creates a world of opportunity. The new gym has the necessary space to allow badminton to be played on a large scale for the first time since the annex was demolished. “The new space is great!” commented gym teacher Jeremy O’Boyle,

“it lets us do so much more, I just wish they would let us mark up the floor.”

Another explanation for badminton’s rise to populari-ty is that the Down’s Gym did not have the necessary equip-ment to support badminton courts. The new gym, how-ever, allows badminton to be played on a large scale for the first time since the annex was demolished. The new equip-ment, most of which is new net posts that are rolled out instead of clamped into the floor, allows for easy setup in

a short pe-

riod of time. The en-

dorse-ment

for gym class bad-min-

ton is practi-

cally universal. Junior Matt Cooper commented, “It’s really nice that kids can get their state required activ-ity while doing something that they enjoy.” Accord-ing to junior Austin Levitt, “Badminton is by far and away the best game I have ever played in gym. It is a

great workout, but more im-portantly, it is an extremely fun and competitive game.”

While badminton is a choice game for students, it has become a favorite for teachers as well. Accord-ing to gym teacher Sandra Hoopes, “The staff loves it because kids really get into it and work at it.” It is a fun, easy game that does not re-quire incredible athletic abil-ity. No matter how students go about playing it, they have fun and a good work out.

Badminton is also a great developmental sport. It develops hand eye coor-dination, wrist strength, core strength, and, if done com-petitively, can also build car-dio endurance. Hoopes com-mented, “It’s fun, and it can be competitive, but it doesn’t have to be. But even if kids aren’t competitive, they still try.” If players want to be competitive, they can, or if they want to just relax and see how many times they can hit the birdie without let-ting the it hit the ground, they can. Either way, everyone gets the best of both worlds.

There are many good rea-sons why badminton has re-emerged as a very common game in gym class. But the bottom line is, as Hoopes said, “It’s a fun activity that gives kids good physical activity.”

LM wrestling team continues turnaround

Jake OchrochClass of 2012

Noah LevickClass of 2012

The truth about hot handsMike Buchwald

Class of 2011

Photo Courtesy of Jeffrie Ray

Since the inception of the LM Hockey Club in the 1970’s, LM students have played side-by-side with their Harriton counterparts. That team has evolved through the years into a joint LM-Harriton hockey team. That hockey team has not gotten much credit because of four decades of substandard records so it may surprise you to hear that the team has more than one win this year. In fact, the LM boys’ varsity hockey team has an outstanding 10-4 record thus far in the season and were in a close race for their divisional championship. This turn in fortune has come after two major changes that took place during the off-season. The first modification was the separation of the LM-Harriton hockey team. Because the separation reduced the size of each new team, both teams were able to move from the very prestigious Central League into the more appropriately skilled Tri-County League.

On top of league change, the players have also experienced a change in coaches since the team’s previous head coach now coaches the Harriton team. English teacher, Will Williams,

and his assistant coaches Dan Pike and Craig Levin have taken over the role of LM hockey coaches. A professional inline skat-er in his younger days, Coach Williams guides the team with plenty of playing experience. Wil-liams is an ex-coach for the Upper Darby hockey team and has been coach-ing the LM-H JV team

for the past two years. The effects of the

loss of half the team to Harriton were mitigated in

part by the team’s captain Jon Zeidman who, according to left winger R.J. Nester, “gives motivational speeches when [the team] is doing both good and bad which really gives [the

team] the extra push in striving to win.” With the help of as-sistant captains Ben Wachs and Joe Dubrow, Zeidman has inspired the team to a season that, when Williams was asked on his feelings towards the team’s play, his response was simply, “To say I am proud of them is an understatement.”

There will be plenty of chances for them, and Coach Wil-liams, to be proud of in the near future. Of the team’s 15 skaters, four are seniors, one is a junior, two are sophomores, and the rest, including point leader Will Levin, are freshmen.

Although the team did not clinch a playoff berth this season, they did come very close to winning their division. We should look beyond the playoffs and their divisional standings and even their record. Instead we should look at, and appreciate, how the LM boys’ varsity hockey team has risen to the occasion. How the captains have stepped up to their leadership roles and how, according to Coach Williams, the team is playing, “in all the ways a team should.” What more is there to ask for? It is time we treat this team as an equal to the other successful school teams and support them as they finish off this historic season.

Lower Merion ice hockey team finishes a historic seasonMax Novick

Class of 2012

The crowd cheers on their fellow Aces in the LM- Harriton game.

Photo by Talia Lieberman/StaffLM hockey player Aaron Bowen shows off his slapshot.

Photo by Madeline Berger/StaffLM gym students play a game of badminton.