New Year New Me!

The Bearprint J A N U A R Y I S S U E V O L U M E 1 4 , I S S U E 4

BEARPRINT

STAFF

2014-15

Editor

Esther Moon

Co-editor Nolan Wenik

Staff Ryan Purchase

Connor Buehler

Taryn Painter Katie Dormer

Kerwing St. Louis

Andrew Harbaugh

Phoebe Park

When I was younger I always marveled at the dom-ino scene in the movie Robots. With one flick, a domino went down to start a series of reac-tions, ending in an enormous picture composed of fallen black tiles. I guess the reason behind my fascination lies in my need to matter, to be worth something in this vast interminable stretch of the universe. I guess everyone feels that way at least once in their lifetime. A month ago, I started talking to one of my now best friends, and in this short time he’s taught me that a change in our world starts with a change in ourselves. For the purpose of confidentiality, I’ll call this friend John. John used to be a drug addict. He won’t tell me the details of what he used to do, but this New Year he made a decision to stop. John went through weeks of withdrawal, throwing up every-day and feeling constantly sick, but during one of the harder days, he told me one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard. John stopped be-

cause he found happiness, complete joy, could be found without drugs. Five of his friends made similar decisions to quit following his example. For all the physics lovers out there, I’m happy to say my friend really showed me the everyday application of Newton’s third law. The law states that for every action,

there is an equal and opposite reaction. This means that force applied to any object comes back to the applier of the force in an equal magnitude. As John saw the effect he had work in his friends’ lives, he himself became more encour-aged to keep with his resolu-tion. This is the beauty of change; it not only affects the person who makes the change, but also affects the people around him who in turn affects him again.

John inspired me to hold onto my seemingly ridicu-lously trivial resolutions in the midst of a culture that looks down on new years resolutions that will probably be broken. Although I’ve already cheated a million times and fallen astray from my promise to myself I wouldn’t snack late at night this year, I will press on in my quest to lose a couple of

pounds as I will for many other goals for 2015.

In the name of the month of change, honoring Martin Luther King Jr.’s day as well as thinking about Mr. Carracappa’s proposal for change in our grad-ing system, I urge our

school to embrace change, seek change, and make change in the seemingly small and insignificant personal ways. John has reminded me once again the power that personal change can have, and it’s the greatest power we have in this universe.

Phoebe Park

P A G E 2 The Secret to Keeping New Year’s Resolutions One of the hardest things peo-

ple of every generation have during the new year is to keep their resolutions. Every year the average person will most likely keep their resolution for about a week until they fall off track. But I believe that the secret to keeping your resolution is to take it a little at a time.

The biggest mistake people make when starting resolutions is that

they go all out right away, which is one of the worst things to do. Starting out with your goal in mind instead of a weekly plan, you could get bored very easily because you would be doing the same thing every day. You will howev-er, see improvements if you start out with a small goal and increase that eve-ry day.

Ryan Purchase

Happy New Year!

P A G E 3 Into the Woods-A Review

New Year’s | A Time to Reflect

Into the Woods (directed by Rob Marshall) was nominated two Academy Awards and several Golden Globes– and I agree full heartedly with the nominations. The story takes place in the Black Forest (which are woods over in Germany where all of the fairy ta-les from the Grimm Brothers took place) with Cinderella, Little Red Rid-ing Hood, Jack & the Beanstalk and Rapunzel. Along with these old sto-ries, there is a also a new story where there is a baker in the town outside of the woods who lives with his wife, who wants nothing more than a child. But his wife and him can not have a child because a witch who

lived next door placed a curse upon the house. So now, the baker ven-tures off into the woods to get four special ingredients: a cow as white as milk, a cape as red as blood, hair as yellow as corn and a slipper as pure as gold in order to lift the curse. The whole idea of the movie (originally a play) was that you should be careful what you wish for. That the fairy tales we all know and love where everyone gets a happy ending, does not exist. The movie also shows us that that things always change in the end; whether you wanted a baby, a golden harp or a prince, fate has a funny way of twisting things around. Expect the unexpected are three

good words to sum this movie up. Lastly, the music is so phe-nomenally well sung that there are no words to express it. Meryl Streep’s voice is enticing-you want to hear more from her, but everyone got their fair share of singing. New talents were shown, old ones dug up, and

everyone’s voice was beautiful.

Katie Dormer

5… 4… 3… 2… 1…. HAPPY NEW YEAR! For all the cynical people out there, New Year’s is just another day, but for the more optimistic people out there like me, New Years means a fresh start, a new chapter, and a new era in our lives. It is a time to reflect, reflect on the mistakes that we made, but also highlight the triumphs we have accom-plished. In case you do not know, a New Year's resolu-tion is a tradition, most com-mon in the Western Hemi-sphere but also found in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is when a person makes a promise to do an act of self-improvement or something slightly nice. What is your New Year’s Resolution? Is it to stop playing Trivia Crack or to save more money? I know which one I choose.

Below are some ideas that people around Upper Moreland have said is there idea of a New Year’s Resolution: 1. Stop posting negative stuff on Twitter 2. Stop procrastinating 3. Stop eating so much pro-cessed stuff 4. Watch Netflix less and go out more 5. Try to pay attention more in class Now you not only know what a New Year’s resolution is, you have some to choose from. So start fresh, start a new chapter, turn over a new leaf and have fun, how many 2015’s do you have?

Andrew Harbaugh

P A G E 4

Hoan Do.

Book Challenge 2015 It’s a new year, which means new memories to make, new difficul-ties to overcome, new resolutions to keep, and new challenges to tackle. If you’re looking for something to chal-lenge yourself with, then look no fur-ther! I challenge you, fellow Bearprint reader, to complete the 2015 Reading Challenge before the end of the year- plenty of time to read all of the differ-ent types of books listed below:

-A book that became a movie

-A book with a number in the title

-A banned book

-A book you started, yet never finished

-A book that scares you

-A book at the bottom of your to-read list

-A book you can finish in a day

-A graphic novel

-A book a friend recommended

-A book set in high school

-A book written by an author with your same initials

-A book with bad reviews

-A book set during Christmas

-A book that came out the year you were born

-A book based entirely on it’s cover

-A book you were supposed to read for school but didn’t

-A book more than 100 years old

-A trilogy

-A book published this year

-A book that made you cry

Taking part in this challenge gives you a chance to diversify your reading and to take a look at what other genres are out there- you never know what you might find to be inter-esting! Even just completing a fraction of this challenge, or checking off some of the items above would be an ac-complishment. Spread the word around to your friends and complete this challenge together! If you feel like taking on the whole 52 book chal-lenge, you can see the entire list here: http://i.imgur.com/gQ7KNHb.jpg En-joy, and happy reading!

Taryn Painter

If you didn’t know already, Upper Moreland has been participat-ing in Athletes Helping Athletes. This is where FLS students are chosen to be honorary captains at games, and according to whatever sport they choose to participate in, they spend time with the athletes pre-game ac-tivities and in locker room routines. During the actually game, they have peer buddies to assist them! (Just recently, this has been happening at football games and now will be taking place during basketball games. So please come out and support your fellow students!)

In general, Athletes Helping Athletes, Inc. was started to better the life of special needs athletes. They provide funding to special needs organizations throughout Bucks County, Pennsylvania that specifically offer a place for special needs athletes to fulfill their desire to participate in sports. They also pro-vide awareness and community sup-port for special needs athletes-while letting everyone have fun! Athletes Helping Athletes, Inc. have also raised hundreds of dollars for thou-sands of charities and organizations,

and even more awareness since their founding in 2001. With their goal to bring a smile to everyone’s face, they have no one else more to thank than the student athletes who work hard to incorporate these students and make them feel part of the team. To find more about this great pro-gram, please visit this link! http://www.athleteshelpingathletesinc.com/

index.php

Esther Moon

Athletes Helping Athletes

Super Bowl 49—Part 1 P A G E 5

As you may know, football is not normally what I talk about but I thought I'd mix it up for this month’s edition of the Bearprint newspaper. So lets begin. The Seattle Seahawks will be playing the New England Patri-ots in Superbowl XLIV (49) in Arizona. This is the Seahawks’s second trip to the championship in a row so it should be interesting. Personally, I think it would be amazing to see them win again - I can’t remember the last time a team won back to back!

But amid my thoughts, I can’t shake the rumor that has been circling the media lately. It has recently been sug-gested that the New England Patriots cheated their way into Super Bowl XLIX. While I read it in an article about it on Facebook, you may have heard about it from a hundred differ-ent places. No matter where you heard it, the story is still the same: the New England Patriots were suppos-

edly deflating the football whenever they were on offense. If this is the truth, the NFL will most certainly pun-ish them for their infractions by taking away draft picks next season.

That wraps up this month's article. Hopefully you guys enjoy the Super Bowl and, of course, the funny com-mercials. Be safe kids! I'm Connor Buehler, and I'll catch you next time.

Connor Buehler

Mrs.Fisher is a health and a PE teacher at Upper Moreland high school. She grew up in Hatboro and graduated from Upper Moreland in 1997. After high school, Mrs. Fisher earned a master’s degree in class-room tech and a bache-lor’s degree in health and physical education from the University of Dela-ware; where she also played field hockey and lacrosse. In her free time, Mrs.Fisher runs, bakes, and spends time with her

family. Not only being a phys-ed teacher, she is also a mother of two beautiful children. Her oldest daughter Kate is 2 years old and her young-est daughter, Brooke, is now 6 months old. Mrs.Fisher loves Upper Moreland high school because it’s a small school where everyone knows each other and there is lots of school spirit! “I want students to real-

ize that you can have fun being healthy and fit.” -Fisher

Kerwing St.Louis

Who is Mrs. Fisher?

P A G E 6

Talent Show!

GO BEARS

P A G E 7 The Music of the Past May Not be So Different After All In today’s music world, clas-sical music is often brushed to the side. It is boring. It is stupid. It is pointless. What people who have these opinions don’t seem to know is that classical music lovers, like my-self, listen to music from different time periods just like people who listen to modern music listen to music from different genres. In that sense, they are two very similar groups of people. The most popular genres of music today are pop, alternative, and rap, which can directly relate to the Classical Era, the Modern Era, and the Romantic Era, respectively. The Classical Era produced some of the most well known compos-ers of classical music, such as Mozart, Haydn, and early Bee-thoven. This is the pop music of the classical genre. If you like classical music, chances are you enjoy listening to music from this era. It is catchy and recognizable, much like pop music of today. While the underlying harmonic structure of the two are vastly differ-ent, their levels of popularity are still the same among their respective lis-teners. The Modern Era, birthing com-posers like Stravinsky, Shostakovich, and Rachmaninoff, are on par with

alternative music. This is exemplified from Stravinsky well. His Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring), or even Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, are written in styles that dif-fer greatly from Mozart. In essence, this is alternative music. Alternative artists experiment with different sounds and textures that are not found in pop music and, like Shosta-kovich’s music, can sometimes con-tain a lot of anger and sorrow, but can

also, like Rachmaninoff’s music, cap-ture feelings of love and longing. In any case, the two are one in the same. Now we arrive to the Ro-mantic Era, which is the equivalent to rap music today. Home to composers like Franz Liszt, Richard Wagner, and, my favorite from this time, Anton-ín Dvořák, the romantic era features music that fits the title - primarily

based on love, it is reliant on human emotions, and conveys feelings ex-pertly. Rap may seem like a stretch, but they are very close. Rap is all about using words and meter to tell of hardships and emotions spawned from those times. Music from the Romantic Era also attempts to convey emotion spurned by experiences of the com-posers, however it is done using thick orchestration and meaningful melo-

dies, however not words in the same way rap uses them.

While

you, the reader,

may be some-

one who hates

classical music

because it is

“boring” or “isn’t

good”, just re-

member that

without it, you

wouldn’t be lis-

tening to Taylor

Swift, Gotye, or

Nicki Minaj. The

genres you browse on iTunes are just

condensed versions of entire time

periods of classical music. While I

only named three examples, you

could go on and on. Classic Rock

could be Baroque, Singer/Songwriter

could be Impressionism. The list is

endless.

Nolan Wenik

Note from the Editor

Thank you for reading the Bearprint! Keep up with our fabulous articles and be the first to know about all

of the upcoming Upper Moreland events, book and movie reviews, and anything you could possibly think

of!

Esther Moon