blueprintstaff staff edmedia.virbcdn.com/files/29/08897aa420159e33-worksamples.pdf ·...

OPINIONS Nov. 16, 20124 Blueprint

BlueprintStaff

Student submission: Replies to ar-ticles and letters to the editor may be e-mailed to the reporter or submitted in room A310. Letters must be signed, but names can be withheld upon request. E-mails with contact information should be sent to [email protected]

Editorials: Editorials reflect the opinion of the Blueprint staff. Subjects and posi-tions for editorials have been agreed upon by the staff. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the adviser, student body or CSD99-South.

Editor-in-ChiefAiste Markevicius

News EditorAli Krecek

Associate News Editor

Eleni Eisenhart

Opinions EditorBianca Smith

Features EditorJessica Rouzan

Entertainment EditorStephanie Major

Sports EditorKatie Jordan

Photo EditorSammie Anselmo

Graphic Designer TJ Stice

Copy Chief EditorKayla Dickman

Copy EditorKelly Slagter

Copy EditorEmma Venetis

Managing EditorMarygrace Schumann

Business ManagerGabhriel Bell

Staff Reporters:Courtney ByczynskiJenna HinsdaleMira MarchiorettoDhara Puvar

Cartoon Artist: Crystal Ponce

Faculty Adviser: Agnes FilipowskiCo-Adviser: Kari Alore

1436 Norfolk Street Downers Grove, IL, 60561

@DGSblueprint

Go Green

Club

Junior, Jack Marcoski

Who: All DGS students are welcome

What: Picking up recycling bins

When: Every Tuesday after school

Where: Room D172

Why: “There should be a Go Green Club at every school ... [to] help with big community recycling projects. If every school in the U.S. has a club like this, our environ-ment can only improve.”

How: “All you have to do is put something that can be recycled [paper products] in the blue recycling bin.”

Graphic

by TJ S

tice

Eco-FadsLasting Impact

versus

Baby steps won’t make the strides toward counter-acting climate change

Staff Ed:

The ideology that “even the small steps matter” has

helped encourage the young and old alike to get involved in whatever activity is at hand. Although

this principal seems redeeming and worthy, it turns out that the small steps may not be enough.

According to the Environmental Defense Fund, who promotes “work[ing] to-gether to protect wildlife, safeguard human health and combat climate change,” the cli-

mate’s temperature has increased unnaturally fast in the last 100 years due to human activities that produce carbon dioxide, in turn trapping heat and other greenhouse gases.

Not only does climate change affect our lives on a global scale, the Midwest has a crucial con-nection to the deteriorating environmental status that needs to be addressed in a concrete manner. The Great Lakes are an imperative and integrated part of the Midwestern society as the tempera-

ture continues to increase, so does evaporation. It is estimated that water levels could drop one to two feet by the end of the century.

Heat waves, floods and droughts will cause the Midwestern environment to be extremely hard to handle. This directly impacts the state of agriculture.

To throw an already recycled water bottle back in the recycling bin and cross your fingers that it’ll arrive safely back at the recycling plant instead of a landfill will only get us so far.

Being eco-friendly in a simplistic fashion won’t produce the positive prevention that is needed. “Real” involvement calls for complex action that will be lasting and effective.

As far as DGS is concerned, junior Go Green club member Haley Holz feels there are definitive ways students can help out.

“We could use reusable trays in the lunchrooms and encourage a [stricter] recycling rule,” Holz said. “It is frustrat-ing to see students who merely toss any waste they have into the recycling bins.”

These baby steps show a conscious effort to combat what many students believe are our environmental woes, but the weight of those attempts is what we believe should be reconsidered.

Eco-minded decisions can make a difference if consistent. More times than not, if one step is taken and carried out, it will snowball into other eco-friendly choices. Trends and fads that celebrities endorse on the red carpet

fade- and we need long-term progress.While it may be argued that trivial environmental fads are better than nothing, investing time in go-green activities for a week and then, simply forgetting that the environment is deteriorating will not get the job

done. Earth Science teacher Bradley Krumpolz acknowledges that although the larger environment’s di-

gression “is a global problem that needs to be fixed by 7 billion individuals,” there are most definitely ways to avoid “dodging our responsibility.”

“Many of the initiatives that we are currently investigating in the U.S.A. and other parts of the world will certainly have lasting effects and need to be pursued aggressively,” Krumpolz said. “Examples include alternative energy sources and carbon sequestra-

tion.”Climate change is not a child star. Its show cannot get cancelled. It can-not be “bought out-” it is here to stay. We need to find a way to combat

the negative effects that are already playing out, and prevent them from digging deeper holes in our environment.

Us Vs. Waste

Protec

t Our

Winter

s

http://acespace.org/waste

http://www.arborday.org/takeactionhttp://p

rotectourwinters.org/get-involved

Arbor Day

Foundation

Chi

cago

Edu

cato

r

Alliance for Climate Education

“We are tackling waste together”

“Choose the project that’s right for

you...Everyone who does some-

thing has a chance to win prizes.

The more projects we all do, the

more prizes there are, and the

better the prizes get.”

“Plant a tree today for all the

world to share”“P

OWseven: T

ake th

e Pled

ge!”

“We’ve consolidated the ... most

effective actio

ns into one short l

ist.

Pledge to do the POWseven [list] o

nce

a month and you’ll make a diffe

rence.”“Volunteers play an important

part in tree planting and tree care

projects in communities across the

United States.”

Page

May

OPINIONS Dec. 21, 20124 Blueprint

BlueprintStaff






Eleni Eisenhart













Cartoon Artist: Peter Dignan



@DGSblueprint

Staff Editorial: Ready to jump?Fiscal cliff encourages economic awareness

The im-pending doom that our economy is staring dead in the face has proved to not only confuse the average American, but also put Democrats and Republicans at a stalemate when it comes down to solving the “fiscal cliff.”

According to the Congressional Budget Of-fice (CBO), “the ‘fiscal cliff’ is a term used to describe a bundle of...U.S. federal tax increases and spending cuts that...[will] take effect at the end of 2012 and early 2013.”

The CBO also estimates that the end of the Bush-era tax breaks will cut the federal budget def-icit by approximately $500 million while simultane-ously causing a tax hike for all Americans.

The consequences of these cuts ending have many economists predicting another recession and a rise in the unemployment rate.

Both sides have to decide whether to lower the deficit by relying on citizen spending while raising their taxes or to put tax cuts in place despite running the national debt into the ground.

Overwhelming, extremely, and knowing the issue is one step, but finding a solution is the next.

The Blueprint staff believes U.S. lawmakers should consider the alternative-fiscal scenario, which makes many changes to the current law and would end up modifying some of the law that might be dif-ficult to sustain for a long period of time. This resolu-tion does not allow the government to continue to spend immense amounts of money we do not have.

Although the results of this scenario might have a bleak impact on the immediate future, the exposure of our nation’s exponentially growing debt will prompt the need to change the current mind-set of our economic leaders.

Senior Adam Soto expresses his concerns about the pos-sibility that his family might fall into the proposed financial ditch.

“My parents’ income tax rates will go up and that will cut in to what we can spend which is what scares economists since spending drives our economy,” Soto said.

“My father may lose his job which would put us to the brink of foreclosure. But that is only if the country does in fact go over the cliff, and then stays over the cliff…[if]we are over the cliff for even two months, it won’t really hurt.”

Raising taxes for all and expecting them to faithfully invest in a recovering economy should not be the solution to prevail.

Social Studies teacher Jordan Delay remains optimistic that the political tension will stop in order to compromise what is best for the nation at large.

“Both sides need to be open to change, including the possibility of increasing taxes on the wealthiest Americans,” Delay said. “Con-gress needs to recognize the impact this decision has on the Ameri-can public…the economy and not allow political ties and campaigns to affect their decisions.”

Our nation’s fiscal woes have yet again caught up with us, and this time, they need to be exposed and dealt with head on.

taking the PlungE

By Dhara Puvar,Staff Reporter

What if the Un

ited

States

were to jump

off of

the f

iscal

cliff,

eyes wide open?

Baseli

ne

Scenar

io

“Taxes would jump about $2,000 for a middle income fam-ily, according to a study by the

non-partisan Tax Policy Center. Because consumers would get less of their paychecks to spend, busi-

nesses and jobs would suffer.”“If these tax increases and spending cuts all take place, the government would save almost

$600 billion next year, but it would put a huge strain on the economy,

hindering growth and possibly lead-ing to another recession. “

(If Bush tax cuts expire and Obama

spending cuts are implemented)

-Connie Cass,Reporter

-Halli Goldman,Reporter

“Without new legislation, there will

be a $1.2 trillion cut to government programs, including defense and

Medicare.”-Halli Goldman,

Reporter

“Whatever they agree on will be better than what is in place

now, but even with the current plan the economy is

not doomed,”

-Jacob Amiri, junior

“Lawmakers should just come together, put aside

partisan politics, and work together to come to a

solution that benefits every family in this country,”

-Andrea Fogarty, senior

“The government doesn’t really have much to choose from. They can either...not increase taxes and not cut

spending [even though] that would add to the

deficit, or go somewhere in between these,”

-Aamna Khalid, junior

Graphics by TJ Stice

Online publication: Huffington Post

Online publication: Heavy Video Company

OPINIONS Feb. 15, 20135 Blueprint

Staff Editorial:Driving privledges

Staff

IL


9

4

3

In approximately 10 months, illegal immigrants who have been residing

in Illinois will be granted the ability to receive a state-issued driver’s license

after fulfilling the proper requirements. Courtesy of Gov. Pat Quinn, Senate

President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) and Rep. Edward Acevedo, the bill

disregards the possible identity theft issues those illegal immigrants could

create and instead encourages safer driving for all.

The Blueprint staff believes that although state legislators were in the right by pass-

ing this immigration reform, the 10 months that follow should be used to discuss con-

ducting background checks of more depth and the possibility of a fingerprinting system to

eliminate the potential fraudulent and criminal applicants.

With the Obama Administration driving the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforce-

ment (ICE) nationwide, more illegal persons committing crimes are detained and pun-

ished accordingly depending on the specific incident.

The threat of federal involvement and a fingerprinting system go hand and hand, and

the majority of the Blueprint agrees with sponsors of the bill that if fingerprints were to be

taken, that the applicant turn-out would be slim in fear of ICE engagement.

According to the Illinois Department of Transportation 2012 crash data, 893 fatal

crashes occurred with 206 of those drivers, either surviving the crash or deceased, being

unlicenseWhether the fatal crashes had an unlicensed illegal immigrant behind the wheel or in

the backseat, the opportunity of achieving a more educated era of drivers must be seized.

In order to qualify for a state-issued license, the individual must follow similar stan-

dards that legal citizens must abide by. The Illinois Government News Network (IGNN)

outlined that in order to gain access to drivers’ rights, the applicant must “have resided in

Illinois for more than a year…not be eligible for a Social Security number… pass a driving

safety test and carry auto insurance.”

Despite arguments of these immigrants infringing on legal citizen privileges’, the process

in they must endure before legally being able to drive is almost identical to that of a legal

and hopeful driver.

Junior Ieva Simulyte, who immigrated to the United States from Lithuania when she

was five and has yet to receive her license, agrees that illegal immigrants acquiring state

issued driver’s licenses are in no way violating legal citizens’ privileges.

“All legal citizens have an equal opportunity to get a license, whereas illegal immigrants

have to go through a process to gain rights as an American citizen,” Simulyte said. “That

does not harm the privileges of [legal American] citizens because it does not [directly] affect

their rights.”With this bill showing a progressive approach towards both immigration reform and

driving laws in Illinois, a positive change on the roads and in our communities is not out of

reach.Social Studies Department Chair Christopher Esposito agrees that with sufficient test-

ing, those deserving to be licensed drivers will be, and in turn, all drivers will be safer.

“It makes sense to me that if you are going to have people here, who are not legally

registered to be here, but still working, still contributing to the economy, still paying

taxes via payroll taxes and sales taxes, that we want to make sure that however they

are getting from their home to their job- point A to point B- is safe,” Esposito said.

“When we’re looking at this issue, particularly at having a drivers’ license, it

makes a lot of sense to have testing and issue drivers’ licenses to anybody who

would be on the road.”

VoteIn Favor

In Favor

not

In FavorwIth changes

for all Illinoians

DrivingData

Statistics recieved from the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT)

In 2011, there were 18,331 motor vehicle crashes in

DuPage county.

281,788 crashes and 918 deaths occured in 2011.

The average cost for a critically injured survivor of a motor vehicle crash is estimated at $1.1 million over a lifetime.

Blueprintstaff






Eleni Eisenhart
















@DGSblueprint

OPINIONS March 22, 20135 Blueprint

The Blueprint staff danced their way into the hype of The Harlem Shake. Opinions on witnessing the videos were expressed, as well as after we made a video of our own:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4uK6dtVFpkw

Yet again, we have been graced with another viral sensation. Un-fortunately, this is one too many.

The Harlem Shake, or at least the 2013 YouTube ver-sions of The

Harlem Shake, shouldn’t be re-ceiving mass amounts of atten-tion for reasons of non-existent dancing skills, poor costuming and ridiculous settings. But most importantly?

Because we don’t care.The Blueprint staff believes

that The Harlem Shake phe-nomenon is a phase- Not neces-sarily a mockery but still not extremely humorous. Annoy-ing, for a lack of better terms.

From the University of Geor-gia’s underwater rendition of the newest craze to the Harlem Shakers of New York firing back with claims that rappers G. Dep and P. Diddy’s original dance is being made fun of, everyone seems entranced.

In 2001, dubstep and sleep-ing bags were not involved- just shoulder raises accompanied by a few shakes in between.

Now, it all starts with a single “shaker.” This individual had free reign to move as he or she pleases and can be identi-fied by a helmet or a mask in the midst of normally clothed and unmoving people.

The antics play out for approximately four to eight

counts. At this point, the antici-pation builds through the bass of the song, and once it drops-

Anarchy.As a staff, we had to weigh

the outrageous options: Would we rather search for humor in 30 seconds worth of randomly costumed gyrating, or immerse ourselves in world debates that actually affect our well-being?

The second option prevailed.With this article seemingly

contradicting our wishes to discuss more worthwhile topics, the absurdity of the popular-ity surrounding the “modern” Harlem Shake needed to be dismissed.

Senior and dance enthusiast Jonathan Woods doesn’t appre-ciate the newest version of the Harlem Shake. Woods had the “Soulja Boy” dance down step by step in the eighth grade, and doesn’t hesitate to show off a “Stanky legg” or “Dougie,” ev-ery time the opportunity arises.

“I saw Bow Wow and P.Diddy do it in [2001]...[this is] just a...video version flash mobbing which is also popular in New York but it is taking a dance that was originated in Harlem and making a joke of it,” Woods said.

No matter which dance came first, or if you can even call the newest Harlem Shake a dance, the controversy and attention surrounding it should be spent on more urgent issues- Not who can claim the moves their own or how hilarious it is to watch masses of people flail in costume.

What’s an argument without acknowledging or in our case, experiencing its counterpoint?

The excitement almost couldn’t be contained as will-ing participants of the Blue-print staff awaited the filming of their Harlem Shake video.

Filming the “new-age” Harlem Shake allowed a fresh perspective on why the video’s successes were so immediate and enjoyable:

It is, without any embellish-ments, fun.

Watching members of a normally serious and sophis-ticated staff- especially with the stress of deadlines- dress up in Santa costumes and ski masks while awkwardly danc-ing around was a much needed release.

Despite the majority of our staff feeling indifferent toward the Harlem Shake’s fame and humor, almost immediately after we were costumed, the indifference morphed into wanting to look the most ridiculous, or gain the most laughs.

Varsity dance coach Dawn Jovic recognized the similar name, but foreign dance, is much less complicated as ev-eryone is making it out to be.

“The new fad is not much like my version of the Har-lem Shake at all,” Jovic said. “But...most viral videos like flash mobs and the ‘Call Me Maybe’ videos I think it’s just people being silly and having fun.”

The thrill of being a fool, or at least creating a ridiculous

Before Aftervideo and being able to laugh at yourself as well as be laughed at by an audience that shares the same attraction to the craze that you do may just be why these videos become so addicting.

Editor-in-Chief of the Blue-print and senior Aiste Markev-icius reflected on the power of the communal craze and the impact it has on the culture of DGS.

“The Harlem Shake vid-eos have connected a lot of DGS students and a lot of individuals on a global scale,” Markevicius said. “Many of us have created these videos and experienced the process of creating these videos, so we all share similar experiences and memories.”

Even if the subconscious drive to make these videos are to be a part of something greater than our immediate and contained community, re-alizing the origins of the craze as well as focusing on worth-while news topics is essential.

The laughs were full and genuine, and the post-Harlem Shake buzz hung in the air for the rest of the period. Even though our filming was a success, when reflecting on the aftermath of creating a Harlem Shake video, it still didn’t resonate past our previ-ous understanding of this viral craze.

How To:Senior Jonathan Woods says the original Harlem Shake is as simple as “just [shaking] your shoulders side to side.”

ForIndIFFerentAgAInst

25%50%25%

ForIndIFFerent

AgAInst

36%46%18%

Photo Illustration by Sam

mie A

nselmo


“Crank That Soulja Boy”

136,288,695 views

“Teach Me How To Dougie”

45,608,069 views

“Gangnam Style”

1,447,979,958 views

2009 2012

Information compiled from YouTube at the time of publication

VIRAL VideoDance

Timeline

2007

BlueprintStaff






Eleni Eisenhart
















@DGSblueprint

blueprintstaff staff edmedia.virbcdn.com/files/29/08897aa420159e33-worksamples.pdf ·...

Documents