february 2011

Black History Month

thelaureateinside

February 2011

volume XXVIII: issue four

news 2-3editorials 4-5

features 6-8

a&e 14-15jff 12-13

centerspread 10-11

sports 16-17in the wry 18-19

a student publication of Lassiter High School.

Extreme amounts of snow in the Southeast paralyzed Georgia. Schools were shut down, businesses did not bother opening, and roads were too dangerous to be driven on. Georgia received approximately three to five inches of snow, but with temperatures consistently below freezing, ice made a “shut down” necessary. For northerners now liv-ing in Marietta, the snow and ice seemed nominal to what they are used to. Jordan Surrell, 12, just moved here from Baltimore, Mary-land. She commented, “It’s crazy that it barely snowed and we had all of those snow days!” Georgia strug-gled to find enough equipment to tackle the snow; Atlanta only owns

10 snowplows. Atlanta Mayor, Kasim Reed, claims that the state could have never been prepared for the storm’s magnitude. The Georgia De-partment of Transportation (GDOT) rented seventy more snowplows and authorized the use of contractors to help clear the roads. Reed apologizes for not responding to the ice soon enough. Because of the icy weather, Cobb County students were out of school for five days. While many ex-perienced “cabin fever,” others took advantage of the wintery mix. Kim Carducci, 12, commented, “We went sledding in my front yard when it was really icy. Though students enjoyed the break, the Cobb County School District only allotted room for four snow days in the schedule. Because of the week long break (ten days in-cluding Martin Luther King Day) the March 18th teacher workday is now

a regular day of school. Though all of the news sta-tions advised against it, a few adven-turous students attempted to drive in the icy conditions. “I had to go re-ally slowly,” stated Nicole Dunham, 12, “and the fastest I ever went was 32 miles per hour.” Jill Goldberg, a GDOT representative, warned driv-ers about dangerous patches of black ice. Major roads like Sandy Plains and Shallowford were almost completely covered in ice. Many businesses were closed, but some like Publix and WalMart remained open. Bayla Rush, 12, and her family took a long walk to the supermarket to pick up food. She said, “Before the storm, we didn’t realize how long we’d be in the house. I never thought Geor-gia could experience this type of weather.”

skye rubeleditor-in-chief

An unparalleled streak of nearly 100 straight hours below freezing meant all play and no school for Lassiter students

courtesty of madeline hudson

2/12 ACT testing

2/17 Girls soccer @ Pope

2/21-25 February Break

2/24-26 All-State chorus

3/02 LOL Mardi Gras party

Right to bear arms?

35%

11%Unsure22%

32%No, takes

away rights

Yes, guns too dangerous

Guns at home but not in public

Congrats to LHS Swim and Dive for placing first in the county champion-ship again. news

features

centerspread

a&e

BIGevents in

Lassiter’s finest singles

Cutestcouples

iPhoneTop Apps

Hats Off!

They compete in state this weekend.

lhsnews 2page

lhsnews 2page

There is something new com-ing to Cobb County that is right in the Lassiter community’s backyard. The county bought land and is now in the planning process for a new park that will be located between Wesley Chapel and Sandy Plains, making it a perfect spot for Lassiter students. An inter-view with Lee Berg, a volunteer from the non-profit organization Friends of Mabry Park, provided insight into the development of the park. Before this new park can be

enjoyed, a few things must happen. First, a Master Plan must be created. This includes a design for a playground, walking paths, a parking lot, etc., and calls for input from the community through ways such as public meetings, email, and online forms. Hopefully, the Master Plan process will begin in the next few months. The next hurdle is funding. The land is owned by the county, but there is no funding available for the development of the park. This is where Friends of Mabry Park comes in. Their two main goals are to raise awareness and to raise money from individuals,

businesses, civic groups, and grants to fund the creation of Mabry Park. Until a plan is made and a road is construct-ed, the park will not be accessible to the public. So how can Lassiter students help? You can volunteer at one of the upcoming events such as the Spring Park Preview later this year or host a fundraiser. It would also help to spread the word by posting a note about your support on Facebook, writing letters and e-mails to County Commission-ers to tell them why you want to see Mabry Park created, and telling people who work for local businesses or large

corporations about the park and po-tential sponsorship opportunities. Or, you could simply make a donation. “Whether it is a large or small dona-tion, one-time or recurring, it all gets us closer to having a park in our com-munity that we can enjoy,” explains Lee Berg. Although the Master Plan has not yet been created, it is anticipated that Mabry Park will include open fields and paths. This will be great for walking, Frisbee, jogging, football, or whatever else you can come up with. The property also boasts a pond and several trees, making it an ideal spot for picnics, hanging out, and just tak-ing it all in. Lee Berg adds, “If we can come together as a community, raise our voices and open our wallets when it comes to the park, we can speed up the process for having this beautiful place to enjoy.”

A breath of fresh air

New year, new congress. When January 5th, 2011, rolled around, the people of America prepared for a sworn-in fresh start for Congress and the federal government. America hopes that the future of America’s jobs, healthcare, and other important issues, are in the correct hands. Since the Tucson, Arizona, shootings in December, President Obama and newly-elected House Speaker John Boehner pleaded for a renewed civility among the members of Congress in efforts to raise biparti-san cooperation between the tense Democrats and Republicans. During the State of the Union Address on Jan-uary 25th, President Obama related this to a “Sputnik moment,” which is a challenge he hopes will be a wake-up call for the federal government. “I hope both parties will come to an agreement,” said Danielle Pitrone, 12. “It’s probably the only way the country will be able to move forward.” Since the new Congress con-vened, the House of Representatives, which now has a Republican major-ity, has been using this opportunity as a stimulus for investigating Obama’s policies. Congressman Darrell Issa,

new Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has already launched a series of inves-tigations, while Republican Paul Ryan, Budget Committee chairman, spoke out during the State of the Union ad-dress to acknowledge federal spend-ing. He proposed that the only way to make more jobs is to first improve the United States’ fiscal health. “We need to focus on the defi-cit,” agrees Ally Stone, 12. Both the House and the Senate are working to meet the deadline of March 5th, the date when a federal spending plan needs to be agreed upon by both leg-islations. The obstacle: opposing par-ties have opposing viewpoints. “I saw the State of the Union Address on TV,” said Michaela Derosiers, 12, “and the country seems to be in a good place; even so, both parties need to work to-gether.” The emerging civility between the Democrats and Republicans took its first baby steps during the State of the Union Address when the two par-ties were seen sitting together. The trust and hope that America places in the hands of the 112th National Con-gress will be instrumental in stimulat-ing change and reform for the better of the country.

New congress

Sneek-Peek The park will be located off of Wesley Chapel.

mabrypark.org

renee puvvadastaff writer

Changes in rhetoric for the 112th congress

samantha weissertstaff writer

Did

You Know?

3page 2

Did

You Know?

3page 2

renee puvvadastaff writer Since mid-December of last year, Cobb County has been searching for the next superintendent of educa-tion for our county. The Cobb County Board of Education is still searching for the right person to replace current superintendent Fred Sanderson, who has been head of the Cobb County School District since 2006 and now faces retirement after his contract ex-pires at the end of June this year. Sanderson worked at several teaching and administrative jobs, in-cluding the principal position at Lassit-er from 1994 to 1999, among others, before serving as Cobb superinten-dent. In spite of some controversy surrounding Sanderson’s tenure, the county will miss Fred Sanderson and his leadership. “From the looks of it, Cobb doesn’t seem to be going down-hill,” says Harry Lane, 10. “If the new superintendent can improve things, then great.” To enlist a new superinten-dent, Cobb County will be using help from the Georgia School Boards Asso-ciation (GSBA), who will be supervis-ing the selection of superintendents for many of the school districts in the state. Putnam County, Troup County, and Appling County Schools have each been provided with a new superin-tendent, and Cobb County is currently pending. “Hiring a superintendent is the most important responsibility a school board can undertake,” said Lynnda Eagle, Board Chairwoman.

This Valentine’s Day, instead of buying the stereotypical choco-lates and drugstore card for your sig-nificant other, Lassiter Swim and Dive team offered an innovative replace-ment to the traditional Valentine’s Day card. “It’s been going on for 3 years, but this is the first we’ve of-

All was not riddled in travesty, though, as 2010 also marked a year of incredible feats of survival. Over-shadowed by cleanup efforts, the 115 survivors of the Deepwater Horizon crew took to the lifeboats. An Au-gust 5th cave-in at the San Jose gold

DisasterVictory

Among the many natural disasters of 2010, a man-made one dominated the news. The Gulf of Mex-ico oil spill, which was the result of an April 20th explosion at the “Deepwa-ter Horizon” BP oil rig, took 86 days to cap and released 206 million gallons of crude oil. An Icelandic volcano halted flights in two-dozen European nations for six days and spewed 330,000,000 cubic yards of ash. Three earthquakes

FarewellCobb County says goodbye to Fred

Sanderson.

cobbk12.org

Search for a super

in Haiti, China, and Chile, measuring from 7.0 to 8.8-magnitude, killed and devastated thousands of people. Just ten miles away from Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, the most devas-tating earthquake left 250,000 Hai-tians dead.

Survival

Last year meant one thing for sports fans: a chance to showcase tal-ents on an international platform. The buzz surrounding the FIFA World Cup, in South Africa, was the now infamous Vuvezela. Octopus Paul predicted the winner correctly in eight games. The Vancouver Winter Olympics had a gloomy start, with the death of luge competitor Nodar Kumaritashvili in a training round. U.S. Olympic heroes in-cluded Apolo Anton Ohno, short-track medalist, and Shaun White, half pipe

Internet sensations

and copper mine left 33 Chilean min-ers trapped 2,300 feet below ground. They emerged one-by-one on October 13th, 54 days later. 16-year-old Abby Sunderland, in trying to become the youngest to circumnavigate the globe independently, was left stranded in the Indian Ocean after her 40-foot vessel was toppled. The closest ship, 400 miles away, rescued her two days later.

The top YouTube hit of the year was a rendition entitled Bed In-truder Song. Included is an auto-tune

of the now famous Antoine Dodson rant “He’s climbing in your windows, he’s snatching your people up.” Also making the list was “Hungrybear 9562” and his double rainbow sight-ing. The channel “nigahiga” became the first to hit 3,000,000 subscribers. The “It Gets Better” project became a viral YouTube outlet following promi-nent gay suicides, with people from Lady Gaga to President Obama par-ticipating. During the midterm elec-tions in November, Jimmy McMillan became famous for his political rants representing New York’s “The Rent is Too Damn High Party.” Finally, Greyson

Chance’s sixth-grade performance of “Paparazzi” led ultimately to his sign-ing Ellen DeGeneres’ new music label.

specialist. In Bobby Cox’s last season, the Braves lost in the first round to the eventual World Series Champion Gi-ants. Phil Mickleson stole the limelight away from Tiger Woods, whose hiatus from the game after several affairs had gone public finally ended, with a tour-nament win at the Masters in Augusta, Georgia. The first month of this year has been one of mystery and coping. If the mass bird deaths and tragedy in Tucson are any measure, 2011 could be yet another year to remember.

cory shaw/editor-in-chief

fered a ‘gorilla gram,’“ states Kylie Dick-man, who helped organize this event. A gorilla gram is a cute stuffed gorilla whose big tummy reads, “bananas for you”. His arms can be velcroed to form a comforting hug for the lucky receiver of this precious primate. The project raises money for the team to pay for food, buses, and the typical items necessary to care for an award winning group of swimmers.

The flowers cost $1, the Chocolate Covered Pretzels cost $3, and the go-rilla gram costs $4. But can you really put a price on love? The Swim and Dive team is giv-ing students a chance to express their feelings through a different medium on Valentine’s Day. If you’re looking for a carnation recipient, send some to Quinn Dolan, who gushes, “Getting flowers is so clutch.”

Carnation sensati ns

2010

According to the 2010 census, the U.S. population hit 308.7 million people.

julia regeskijff editor

The year 2010, the first of the new decade, saw an increase in disaster stories, acts of heroism, triumphant moments of sport, and internet fame. Here’s a look back at the big events of the year:

A year in review

lhseditorials 4page

BPE is arguably the most repetitive course at Lassiter. About three times a week, you will go out onto the track no matter the sweltering heat or freezing chill that awaits you outside and you will run laps. Around and around our football turf you’ll jog, seeing the same bleachers, the same coach with a stop-watch and the same woman in lane 6 here jogging on her own free time. Yes it may be boring, but BPE is a nec-essary class for all students to take. For the people that see BPE as an unwelcome hassle in your schedule, I challenge you to try and see the glass half full so to speak. There are plenty of perks you can’t get anywhere else. For example, taking BPE first semes-ter offers the very rare opportunity of seeing the face of true fear. Plenty of freshmen take Team Sports as one of their first electives in high school and if your BPE class happens to fall on the same period, you get to watch a fresh-man on their first day of high school. In their first high school locker room. Pet-rified. If you don’t know what the word “timid” means, schedule BPE first se-mester and it will become very clear. Next, taking time out of the ever-changing Lassiter climate for an hour a day is a nice change. I know I’ve asked plenty of teachers if we can have class outside, and the responses never seem to be as accepting as I would like. Coach Welsh on the other hand takes my idea and acts on it every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. If nothing else, it’s a good self-esteem boost to sug-gest an idea and have your coach agree

with it three times a week. Some will argue that if a stu-

dent participates in school athletics they should be exempt from taking BPE. Though it seems reason-able, the bottom line is

that there are simply too many condi-tions that must be taken into account. How many years must a student be on a team? What if the student tried out and did not make the team? What if the student was kicked off the team? In the end, it is just easier to make BPE mandatory for all students. Let’s be honest, through all the complaining and whining that comes with running laps, it’s not that bad. Some fresh air and exercise never hurt anybody and there are students that benefit from being taken out of their element and forced to run. When it comes down to it, you just have to grab your sneakers, suck it up, and try to enjoy the mental break.

B.P.E.

PR

O

laura

brink

willmorris

CO

N

We have all seen the mediocre pre-teen movies where the nerdy protago-nist struggles his or her way through the humiliations of gym class. It is rather awkward yet amusing to watch the heavy panting of the scrawny gin-ger and see the sweat lines forming on the chubby misfit. Amusing to watch, not so amusing to experience. Forc-ing physical activity on anyone is aw-fully cruel and unnecessary to those students who are already highly ac-tive throughout the week. This is why

I believe BPE should be exempted for students already participating in athletic organizations. Sure, people could lie but if someone put a small amount of effort into or-ganization, it would be as easy as a quick no. School is time consuming and when BPE is tossed in, all it does is take up a period we could use for an academic class and make us stinky for the rest of the day. Do you enjoy be-ing stinky and/or smelling stinky peo-ple throughout the day? I doubt it. If you do enjoy it well…. You are kind of a weirdo. As for health, as uncomfortable as it makes all of us to watch a birth the class is actually effective and has in-formation we really should learn. Yes, it is disgusting and seems completely unimportant while learning it, but looking back are you not relieved they sat us down in fifth grade for human growth? Students are expected to be studious eight hours a day, go home and do roughly two hours of homework, and the majority of students participate in athletic after-school activities. We have so much on our collective plates and adding an extra hour of exercise is unnecessary for physically active stu-dents. Those who do not participate in sporting/physical activities should, by all means, have at least one semes-ter of exercise. However forcing the already-exercising student population is just too much. This is Lassiter, not LA fitness. Maybe we should focus on learning before we focus on getting lean.

“I run cross country and track... I don’t think its necessary that I take BPE to prove that I am

physically active.

Alix Hanna, 11

Worthwhile, or not?

Fatigue Alex Lee, 11, and Quinn Dolan, 11, run the track but it seems that Alex can’t keep up.

Students at Lassiter are reguired to take BPE. Should this class be a graduation requirement?

annabel edwards

4 5page

The Laureate Staff2010-2011

Editors-in-ChiefSkye RubelCory Shaw

News EditorAnnabel Edwards

Editorials EditorNatalie Kieta

A&E EditorKatie Hayes

JFF EditorJulia Regeski

Centerspread Editor Mary Ann Staak

Features EditorLindsay Hopkins

Comedy EditorTyler Molinaro

Sports EditorJack Herman

Staff Writers

AdvisorMr. Todd Henry

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

Lassiter High School2601 Shallowford Road

Marietta, Georgia 30066(678) 494-7863

[email protected]/lhspress

Laura BrinkJeff Ciesielski

Vince GonzalezAustin HayesWill Morris

Colleen PurdyRenee Puvvada

Samantha Weissert

Did

You Know?

Out of everything I learned in AP Psychology, the lesson that stuck with me most was about motivation. People who are intrinsically motivat-ed, or encouraged by their own will, are more likely to reach their goals than others who are given external re-wards. I have to wonder if the concept of school is going against this idea. Mark Twain once said, “I never let my schooling get in the way of my educa-tion.” He realized that the only way he could learn was if he was interested in the topic for himself. Like Twain, I am beginning to see that grades are inhib-iting me from gaining knowledge for my own good. I cram mind-numbing information for tests and “binge” it as quickly as I learn it. Can school truly be considered educational when students aren’t truly becoming educated? Senior year has really opened my eyes to the negative effect that school can have on one’s passions.

Some of my favorite subjects over the past few years have now become a burden in my schedule. I used to look forward to certain classes that I now dread walking into. I can’t stand how many of my courses focus on memoriz-ing information for tests that weren’t even made by the teacher. I can’t stand the mechanical nature of the assign-ments. I can’t stand the lifeless proj-ects and essays. My passion for many of my classes has disintegrated and disgust has taken its place. Instead of focusing on the subject matter, I have become obsessed with keeping an A regardless of whether or not I actually learn the information. In the place of a class in which I lost interest, I am now taking Com-parative Religion. This course is based primarily on educated opinion and de-bate. To ensure that students do not feel hindered by their views, Coach Wright has assured us that if we do the work, we are guaranteed an A in the class. This is the first time I have ever taken an educational class where I am more interested in the content than my grade. In the short time that I’ve been in Comparative Religion, I have learned (and remembered!) more information

School inhibits intrinsic motivationthan in any other class where I was graded. I value the information on a totally different level than a class like biology or French where I learned the information simply to maintain my grade. When I go home from school, I actually think about our discussions. I even bring up the debates to my friends who are not taking the class. Comparative Religion validates Mark Twain’s point about school. Schooling and grades restrict my intrinsic moti-vation to educate myself. Obviously, school is a vital as-pect of the development of society’s youth. If students were not so obsessed with grades and cared more about fully understanding the information, it would become even more worthwhile in our lives. As a second semester se-nior, I look forward to college courses with vibrant professors and thought-provoking information pertaining to my interests. Even though my love of certain subjects has fizzled, I now understand the difference between learning for a grade and learning for myself. For this, I am grateful.

Chocolate, roses, bears (stuffed, I’m presuming): these are the respons-es I got when I asked the students of Lassiter for the first thing they thought of after hearing “Valentine’s Day.” The responses are a bit alarming, consider-ing none of them are remotely related to what the holiday is supposed to be about: love. Yes, it seems as though V-day has fallen victim to a common holiday killer: commercialization. Of course, it is not alone in its pit of corporate ma-nipulation; we live in a country where anything that can be commercialized will be, and most holidays end up cen-tered on merchandize. And yet, Valen-tine’s Day is the one that strikes me as the most upsetting. Call me a hopeless romantic, but you’d think that a holi-day that was created for the sole pur-

pose of celebrating an emotion would be able to avoid the corporate revenue stream that is taking over America The most jarring indication of how tightly commercial America’s talons are wrapped around Valentine’s Day is the cards. Everyone buys them. Standard procedure is as follows: head to the jewelry section, select the chocolates on your way to the checkout (avoid al-

mo n d s) ,

a n d t h e n s t e e r yourself on over to the card aisle to pick up some prepack-aged emotion and sentiment! I accept the fact that not all of us were born to write the great American novel, but when did we become so lazy and uninspired that we literally started paying people to write down our feel-

ings for us? Love is supposed to be a unique phenomenon. No love is the same, yet 50 different guys feel that “I love you more than life itself” is an adequate representation of the special bond they share with their significant other. In the humble beginnings of this country, we spent many years and lives fighting for the right to freedom of expression. Over 200 years later, we are throwing that right away in favor of convenience and efficiency. Each

and every person out there has unique thoughts and feelings.

Yet we ignore them, and instead willfully have

words shoved down our throats. Valentine’s Day

began when a man loved a woman with such

p a s - sion that he had to write her one last romantic note before his death. It will end with a world of people who are afraid to say what they feel, and so they buy Hallmark’s empty words.

Is V day over-commercialized?

annabel

edwards

rubelskye

Teachers receive the most Valentine’s Day cards, followed by children, mothers, wives, and then, sweethearts.

lhslhsfeatures 6page

February fourteenth may be nothing but a money trap for ro-mantics or a paradise for chocolate lovers, but this yearly love-fest had a pretty exciting start. Secret love? Demanding kings? A tragedy equal to that of Shake-speare? Surprisingly enough this isn’t the next disappointing roman-tic comedy, this is history. Once upon a time, in a far away land called ancient Rome, a king named Claudius outlawed any mar-riages, for fear of his warriors want-ing to stay home with their wives instead of battling for their coun-try. But the men of Rome still fell in love, and asked Catholic Bishop Val-

entine to marry the couples in secret. When King Claudius discovered this, he sent Valentine to jail, where he fell in love with the jail-keeper’s daugh-ter. The two exchanged love letters constantly, but Claudius still believed Valentine needed to be punished. On the day of his beheading, he wrote

one last letter to his love and signed it, “From your Valentine.” Eventually, the Christian church took over the city and made Valentine’s Day an official holiday. The Lupercian festival was previously celebrated in February, when males would have an opportunity to choose a woman for a night. This was thought inappropriate by the church, who replaced it with the holiday to celebrate their martyr,

Valentine. From then on Valentine’s Day was a celebration of the euphoric feeling of two people, regardless of all obstacles. It was (and is) celebrated with all sorts of strange traditions. Men of the mid-dle ages would draw a woman’s name out of a bowl, and in order to show

their affections, would wear the name of the lucky lady on their sleeve for a whole week. Hence the expression, “wearing your heart on your sleeve.” Women in Denmark would write names of men on little slips of paper, and then proceed to throw them into the canals. The first ball of clay to pop up was the ball containing their true love’s name. Some ancient women would even walk around a graveyard

chanting, and expect a surreal im-age of their love to appear. Now modern teenagers may not have any fascinatingly awesome tradi-tions like these, but our rituals tend to work just fine. We give a flimsy piece of paper with some sappy words to show someone how much

we care about them, usually accompa-nied by candy and/or some kind of flo-ral object. Simple,

yet effective. The cynics and the rest of the population laughs as this generation fulfills our own Valen-tine’s rituals. However this sacred day began, it is our responsibility as love-ob-sessed teens, to make up our own Valentine’s stories.

The origin of Valentine’s Day

julia regeskijff editor

Lassiter’s royalty filled the court Saturday January 8 during the Sprayberry basketball homecoming game. The princes and princesses from all four classes dressed in their best for the crowning of the king and queen, seniors Kayvan Sofastaee and Allison Gilmore. Said Allison about her crown-ing, “I was really surprised and excited when they called my name. It felt sur-real!” The senior class was euphor-ic as soon as the two seniors’ names were called. “I was so excited when I heard her name! She looked so gor-geous; we were all so happy for her!” exclaimed senior Maggie O’Hara. “Once they called my name for king I was really happy! I was shocked for a

mary ann staakcenterspread editor

1. Cut six hearts (of identical shape and size) from craft paper by folding the paper in half and tracing half a heart along the seam. After cutting around the tracing, you’ll end up with a sym-metrical heart.

2. With two hearts still folded, glue one half of one heart to another half of another heart.

3. Repeat this step until all six hearts are arranged in a 3-D shape. Open up the hearts, space them out, and deco-rate!

How to make a

Valentine!

What you need:

renee puvvadastaff writer

little bit but it felt great seeing every-one cheering for me!” The other se-niors on court all agreed that Allison and Kayvan definitely deserved their crowns. “Kayvan and Allison are some of the coolest people I know. I was so pumped when I heard their names, especially Kayvan’s!” said senior Eli Long. Allison said the best part of her night was seeing her friend who was surprise-visiting her from St. Louis. “He said that if I hadn’t been crowned he was going to sneak out the back! I was so glad to see him!” Both Kayvan and Allison were both very excited for each other about being awarded the crown. “I was so happy for Allison. She is a very kind and sweet girl and I knew she would get it. It was an honor being next to her as she won queen!” exclaimed Kayvan. Allison agreed. “I was so excited for Kayvan! He’s such

Winter homecoming

Queen Allison poses for a picture after being crowned Homecoming Queen.

courtesy of allison gilmore

a funny kid and I think he makes a great king!” Other seniors on court included Taylor Bradley, Zach Gray, Eli Long, Lind-say Hopkins, Meredith Le-van, and Anna Thomas. The juniors on court were Natalie Kieta, Marin Abousaud, Emily Happ, Sarah Mayer, Adam Dowell, Ryan Adams, Mitch Reaves, and Jack Herman. Sophomores included Jacob Brabant, Ashley Brown, Will Young, Diamond Tucker, Trenton Gant, and Marci Merri-man. Freshman court was Hannah Kim, Katherine Chesbro, Nicky Esposito, and Jeffery Green.

1 2 3Craft paper Scissors Glue stick

Allison Gilmore and Kayvan Sofastaee take the crowns

6 7page

Did

You Know?

Sophomore

Junior

How long have you been dating? A little over a year!

How did you get together?She said: I knew it was love at first sight when he bought me Cheetos out of the vending machine.

What is your favorite thing about your boyfriend/girlfriend?He said: How tall she is.She said: His flowing golden locks.

Describe your relationship in one word.Indescribable.

How long have you been dating? About 5 months.

How did you get together?She said: We met at band camp this past summer.

What is your favorite thing about your boyfriend/girlfriend?He said: She always makes me happy when I am having a bad day.She said: He is sensitive, even though he won’t admit it!

Describe your relationship in one word.Phenomenal.

How long have you been dating?14 months, 3 days, 7 hours, 18 min-utes, 7 seconds.

What is your favorite thing about your boyfriend/girlfriend?He said: Her fingers. And her minia-ture rib cage. And her nostrils, they are awesome.She said: He wears shorts no matter what the climate.

What is the cutest date you have gone on?We went to Chuck E. Cheese and prac-ticed sneezing with our eyes open.

Describe your relationship in one word.Dynamite.

How long have you been dating? About 2 months.

What is your favorite thing about your boyfriend/girlfriend?He said: She is always there for me and we have so much fun together.She said: He makes me laugh! And he has the biggest heart.

What is the cutest date you have gone on?We are going to eventually go golfing, but as of now our cutest date has been dinner and a movie!

Describe your relationship in one word.Dreamy.

Senior

Freshman

Lassiter’s cutest couples

Chandler Hunt & Katie Cox

Trevor Beverly & Sarah Mayer

Garret Jones & Jenna Reinhart

Adam Wright & Colleen Purdy

15% of US women send themselves flowers on Valentine’s Day.

renee puvvadalin

dsay

hop

kins

/fea

ture

s ed

itorAllison poses for a picture after being

crowned Homecoming Queen.

lhsfeatures 8page

It’s snow joking matter

courtesy of nate clark

courtesy of ms. mercure

courtesy of eric milam

courtesy of marissa swanson

courtesy of jordan brundagecourtesy of allie snyder

fun and games

snow creations

man’s best friend

Cabin fever was no match for those willing

to bear the elements and take to the slopes. While

Nelson Ward, 12, and Jarod Aarons, 11 (left) try their hand at an extreme ramp, others pose before a more leisurely downhill

adventure (above).

skye rubel

Creativity was in full view. Tess Hun-tington, 12 (right) sculpted a person with near precision. Eric Milam, 12 (left) and others created a life-sized igloo they called home for a night.

Even teachers got into the action, as Ms. Mercure (below) made a snow-

man and animal friends.

The snow wasn’t just new to us. Nate Clark, 12 (below) takes his dog Ginger

for a “walk”, while Allie Snyder, 11 (left) plays fetch. Above, Skye Rubel’s (12)

dog Ralph looks just as confused by the snow as many of us were.

courtesy of kim carducci

courtesy of tess huntington

erynn laflamme

tess huntington

sabine schartman

jordan bell

mike breaugh

parker shank

BACHEL RS BACHEL RETTES&l a s s i t e r ’ s m o s t e l i g i b l e

photos courtesy of the laureate staff

What is your idea of the perfect date? Grab something to eat at the Leaky Couldron and then walk around Diagon Alley What do you look for in the opposite sex? Anyone willing to hold my bags while shopping is a keeper!What is your most attractive quality? My guns. Get your tickets to the gun show!Rate yourself on a scale of 1-10: 3.141592653589793238...Who is your celebrity look-alike? Megan Fox.

What’s your idea of the perfect date? Any day with the perfect girlIf you were stranded on an island and could only bring one thing, what would you bring? WilsonRate yourself on a scale of 1-10: I feel as though the results for this scale would be biased.Where do you see yourself in 10 years? I’ll be working hard, doing something I love, but still having a good laugh.Are you ready to date? Sure, why not!

Hobbies? Knitting and playing with my 69 catsIf you were stranded on an island and could onlybring one thing, what would you bring? You ;)Least attractive qualtiy? Is this real life?High or low maintenance? I’d say I’m low...as long as I get what I want.are you ready to date? No...I’m single by choice. Of course I’m ready to date!

What is your idea of the perfect date? Skydive down to Mount Everest, have hot chocolate at the summit, then sled down to the bottom where we have an epic pillow fight. Oh, and we get a puppy somewhere in between!Hobbies? Fly fishing, lumberjacking, curling my eyelashesWhat is your most attractive quality? I can fit 23 grapes in my mouth.Describe yourself in one word: TessWho is your celebrity look-alike? Nala from the Lion King. We have the same nose.

Idea of the perfect date? Cheap.Most attractive quality? Bubbly personalityIf you were stranded on an island and could bring one thing, what would you bring? BoatDescribe yourself in one word: belligerent.Celebrity look-alike? I’m commonly confused with Megan Fox.

perfect date? A nice high quality Cici’s dinner and then an Aspen’s dessert that Rebecca Smith gets me for freeIf you were stranded on an island and could only bring one thing, what would you bring? A gunWhere do you see yourself in 10 years? Makin’ bank!Celebrity look-alike? No one looks like me.Are you ready to date? I’m single and ready to mingle! ;)

Perfect date? I don’t know. I’ve never been on one before.What do you look for in the opposite sex? I’m pretty shallow, so I mostly just look for superficial qualities.Most attractive quality? Probably my butt...Where do you see yourself in 10 years? Probably dead.Are you ready to date? 770-833-5290 ;)

daniel eremchuk

What do you look for in the opposite sex? Dark hair, 6-footish, 185 pounds, lax player......Luke Trevino!If you were stranded on an island and could only bring one thing, what would you bring? Luke Trevino...given.Rate yourself on a scale of 1-10: 11!Where do you see yourself in 10 years? I’ll be in Montana, rich, and happily married to Luke Trevino.are you ready to date? ...yes! 404-754-8833 ;) kelsey baker

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

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money

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

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

Make anyone say “wuv you!” with these simple yet sweet Valentine’s Day gifts

Roses are red, violets are blueWhile everyone knows a clover means good luck, how many of you non-florists knew that an Iris, the nationally recognized flower of France, is a call to hope

and valor. Below is a list of flowers, and their meanings, to help those wanting to send a unique message this Valentine’s Day:

Who knew three little words could express so many emotions. “I. Love. You.” Let’s break this down, shall we? Dictionary.com states that the definition of “I” is “the nominative singular pronoun, used by a speaker in referring to himself or herself.” The definition of “Love” is clearly stated as “a profoundly tender, passionate af-fection.” And “You” is defined as “one; anyone; people in general.” So literally “I love you” in the Eng-lish language translates to, a person who has a profoundly tender, passion-ate affection for another person. Clear as day, right? So why do producers like Drew Barrymore and writers like Nich-olas Sparks invest so much time and money into trying to put “I love you” into different words? Because, even if guys do not admit it, we all like to fan-

tasize about love, watch other people fall in love, and most of all we like to hope that one day that will be us, fall-ing in love, saying those three simple words; I, love, and you. How do people of other lan-guages profess their love for one an-other? In Japanese, “I love you: trans-lates to, “Kimi o ai shiteru.” In Persian it’s the simple, “Tora dost daram.” In the lovely Russian, “Ya lyublyu tebya” In Swahili “I love you” becomes, “Naku panda.” Last, but not least in Turkish they profess their love as, “Seni sevi-yorum!” On a more realistic note, the Span-ish language has three different ways to say “I love you.” “Te Amo” “Te qui-ero” “Me encanta tu,” there are just so many different ways to express this word, “Love.”

So make a point this Valen-tines Day to tell someone you love them. Your mom, your dad, your best friend, even your little brother or sis-ter would do. Let them know they are loved. Give a little “Naku panda” to

brighten their day. And if you are one of the lucky ones who has the privilege to say “Kimi o ai shiteru” to someone special, make it count.

Kimi o ai Shiteru?

colleen purdy/staff

Spread the love, expand your cultural horizons, and sound really silly.

Valentine’s day word

searchboyfriendcupidgirlfriendkisssweetheartcandyfamily

heartslovecardsgiftshugssweet

Worldly Autumn Gwaltney and Zoe Kakou attempt to bridge the gap of love between cultures.

julia regeski

cory shaw/editor-in-chiefIndigenous to harshly dry environments, a cactus suggests endurance.

Whereas a White Rosebud signifies girlhood, a mature Dark-Crimson Rose shows a state of mourning.

Give a Striped Carnation or bouquet of with-ered flowers if you refuse to acknowledge love’s existence.

Poppy flowers, although famous for their rela-tion to the opiate drug, also mean eternal sleep.

Contrary to its name, the Monkshood flower signifies that a deadly foe is near.

The Forget-Me-Not flower is perfect for a re-membrance of events, a memory capsule.

Be a secret admirer and give an Acacia flower, meaning secret love.

Mint gum may leave the mouth feeling chilled, but the mint flower shows a feeling of warmth and comfort.

Daffodil flowers represent a practice many think has long been forgotten: chivalry.

Although the Nasturtium flower is usually orange, it represents the red, white, and blue of patriotism.

10 11page

Did

You Know?

12 13page

Did

You Know?

Make anyone say “wuv you!” with these simple yet sweet Valentine’s Day gifts

Roses are red, violets are blue

Kimi o ai Shiteru?

Create your own love letterDear _______,I have spent the last three _________ hopelessly devoted to you. I think about you all the time. You are the _______ of my _______, the root of all my_______, the one thing that makes my heart______. Why do I feel this way about you? You have never said a _______ to me. I’m not sure you know who I am. I’m in _______ of your classes. I know your whole schedule front and back: Lit with _______, _______with Mrs. Helms, World History with______, Lunch (you had _______yes-terday), Math with________, and Sport’s Marketing with Mrs. Palmer. This______________, will you be________? Will you _________ my existence?

With all my ________,Your Secret Admirer!

Make your own love letter

(amount of time)

(fruit) (emotion)

(verb)

(part of the body)

(subject)(name)

(number)

(noun)

(holiday)(best friend)

(food, plural)(favorite teacher)

(verb)(adjective)

(affection)

(name)colleen purdy/staff

Something you boys may not have real-ized…girls love flowers! Pass over the cheesy store-bought cards and nasty choc-olates and splurge on a gorgeous Valen-tine’s Day bouquet. You won’t regret it.

NOTE: If you are seeking to particularly impress, sweep them off their feet, or oth-erwise trying to free your-self from your boyfriend’s or girlfriend’s wrath, it would be acceptable to combine all five gift suggestions into one massive gift for Valentine’s Day... or even a prom date!

To continue the homemade trend, and because everyone loves homemade stuff, fill a baggie or basket with your homemade treats. Things like chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate covered strawberries, heart-shaped cookies, puppy chow, Hershey’s kisses, or graham crackers with chocolate love notes on them are all nice. They’re sure to melt in you arms at the sight of that!

All you need is love... and presents

homemade cards

photosCDs

Hallmark is so ten years ago. Any boy or gal would feel exceptionally special with a card made with love. No matter how awful you think it looks or how goofy you feel doing it, it will be worth it when your significant other sees how much time you put into it.

If your taste in music is appropriate enough for your significant other, or if you want to express how you really feel about him or her (ha, ha a little cheesy), make them a CD. Compile your favorite playlist of ro-mantic love songs and fill up that little compact disc to your heart’s content. To make an evening very special, pick her up in your car, pop your romantic CD in, and take them out for a romantic dinner. Can you feel the love tonight?

Photo collage: This gift can be really adorable if you keep it within reason. Don’t go freaking your girlfriend or boyfriend out with a huge collage of thousands of pictures of them. Keep it light and simple. A collage photo frame is always a good start. Or even one simple picture of the two of you would be fine. Whatever you’re most comfortable with.

homem

ade go

ods

flowers

heartslovecardsgiftshugssweet

In Japan, Valentine’s Day is celebrated twice, on both February 14 and March 14.

mary ann staak/ centerspread editor

lhsa&e 14page

The energy in the room was elec-tric and everyone was breathing with heavy anticipation much like the danc-ers on the stage. Every dance evoked a different emotion. The Letter, a solo performed by company member Mary Frances Doss, was a voiceover of a let-ter written to her deceased mother and there was not a dry eye in the house. On the extreme opposite end of the spec-trum, Smile was a powerful, sharp, and unbelievably fierce routine performed to a loud, speaker-pumping techno song

that had every audience mem-ber shouting in enthusiastic adoration. My personal fa-vorite was the dance Collapse in which the

dancers were incredibly sharp, techni-cally flawless, and exerted themselves to the highest levels of energy, skill, and raw talent. “That was tiring just to watch!” A woman behind me said as Collapse concluded. These dancers illuminated themselves in the brightest light I have ever seen. The audience was awestruck and as soon as the opportunity comes again I recommend you run, not walk, to get your ticket to see Project 7 Contem-porary Dance Company.

laura brinkstaff writer

@TrendsLassiter

Polo Ralph Lauren is a signature look for most guys, along with lots of Nike apparel. Lassiter guys can be found wearing Polo shoes, Vans, TOMS, and of course Nike.

Here at Lassiter we have many dif-ferent types of people, which means there are many different styles and trends throughout our school! A few that we have discovered lately are as follows. Ugg boots continue to be a favorite, comfy style for most, but TOMS, leather boots, and wallabees can also be found all over.

Big shirts, sweatshirts, and cardigans are becoming more prominent throughout the school. You can often find many girls wearing yoga pants and big tshirts. Colorful scarves and flannel shirts can also be seen throughout the halls at Lassiter. Floral and animal prints are also very big this season.

Project 7: Wall-to-Wall

“This show reminded me why I dance.”- Nicole Casey, 12

renee puvadda staff writer

laura brink and renee puvadda

Illuminate yourself. Bright blue lights wrapped around a full tutu exploded on a black stage filled with some of Atlanta’s most talented danc-ers. Illuminate yourself, the introduc-tion said, and I was immediately in awe. The magic of Project 7 Contemporary Dance Company’s “Wall-to-Wall” win-ter show was the meaning behind ev-ery movement. Choreographer Cher-risse Wakeham has created a miraculous storybook. Not by writing or illustrating on starch white paper but by placing danc-ers on a midnight black stage and pre-senting true freedom in the form of motion. Lassiter’s own Taylor Bradley talked about performing in the show. “From the dancers to choreography, everything about it was so real.” And he did an absolutely incredible job! Walking into Seven Stages The-ater, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of Lassiter students filing into their seats. I am very happy to know fellow Trojans appreciate the new wave of dance showing up all around us. Senior Nicole Casey said this show “reminded me why I dance.”

14 15page

Did

You Know?

The final major category is social net-working. The top app right now is, of course, Facebook. It is no surprise that the number one social network hap-pens to be the number one app. It lets people check their Facebook on the go. You can do pretty much everything on the mobile app as if you were just on the computer. Other major net-working apps include Omegle, Skype, Twitter, and HeyTell.

The best apps for your phoneHave an interest? There’s an app for that!

One of the main pur-poses to the touch screen apple prod-ucts are the games of course. The top game right now is Angry Birds. We know everyone has it. The whole con-cept of it is to shoot angry birds off a sling shot towards the evil pigs that stole their eggs. The game has way too many levels and it will take you a while. Warning! It does get addictive. Other top games include Fruit Ninja, Cut the Rope, and Doodle Jump.

For the Gamer:

For the jokester:

Another top category for the apps is enter-tainment. The number

one app that is all the hype right now is FatBooth. This hilarious app lets you take you or a friend’s picture and ar-range their face to make them look fat. It gives them a little glimpse of the fu-ture if they keep sitting on the couch, watching television, and not exercis-ing. Some other apps like FatBooth in-clude AgingBooth and BaldBooth.

For theShopper:The next category

of apps includes utilities. A very useful app that happens to be number one is Barcode Scanner. This useful app lets you take a picture of the barcode and in seconds it gives you links and pric-ing to thousands of online shops. This helps you get the most bang for your buck. Other useful utilities include Alarm Clock Pro and Find My iPhone.

For the Social Butterfly:

Over 100,000 apps are available on Apple’s iTunes store for the iTouch and iPhone.

“My favorite app is Angry Birds!”

- Jack Bentley, 10

“The ping pong app is fun!” -

Josh Brumfield, 12

“Words with friends keeps me awake

in math.” - Austin Abdo, 11

austin hayes staff writer

laura brink and renee puvadda

lhssports 16page

jeff ciesielski staff writer

1the place lassiter’s

strong wrestling team finished in

region

7

the number of years the girls’ swim team has

won state in a row

2

the total number of region champion-ships the baseball

team has won

3

the number of home wins the boys

varsity basketball team has

By the numbers

8amount of fresh-man on the girls’ varsity basketball

team

5total number of captains for the boys’ and girls’

swim team

Auburn won its first BCS National Championship in fifty three years by beating Oregon in a relatively low scoring game, 22-19, on a field goal that went through the up-rights as time expired. Instead of the shootout that was ex-pected in this matchup of prolific offenses, both defenses clamped down to keep the scoring total to a pedestrian 41, much lower than the guess of 85 that cost someone -me- a hundred dol-lars in their bowl pool.Two of the most explosive football players in college football this season

Heisman wins BCS titlewere held to numbers well below their ridiculous season averages. With his eligibility intact, Heisman winner Cam Newton threw for 265 yards yet only rushed for 64. Heisman runner up La-Michael James was held to a mediocre 49 yards rushing. The play that won the game for the Tigers was James’ fourth quarter run which appeared to be a six

yard gainuntil it was determined that Dyer was never down. Defense won this game for Auburn. Led by NFL-prospect Nick Fairley, the Tigers held the nor-

mally high scoring Oregon offense to 19 points. Oregon’s defense held its own, containing Cam Newton’s rush-ing game very well. Lassiter was well-represented in the game; former Tro-jan star Phillip Lutzenkirchen recorded two catches for 48 yards for the Au-burn Tigers. Although Auburn was crowned BCS Champions, Texas Christian Uni-

versity (TCU) finished the season un-defeated as well, toppling the Wisconsin Badgers in the Rose Bowl pre-sented by VIZ-IO (they paid me to include VIZIO).By beat-ing arguably the hottest team in the

.

Victory A few Tigers celebrate the championship.

fresnobee.com

Lassiter wrestling team takes region

country, TCU proved they could hang with the top teams in the country. In a perfect world, TCU and Auburn would play each other in a de facto national championship game, but unfortunate-ly we live in the BCS world so that will never happen. The non-bandwagon-jumping Auburn fans were well rewarded for their pa-

tience, as their Tigers went undefeated for the eleventh time in school history and won their first BCS National Cham-pionship. Says sophomore Patrick Hol-mes “It was great to see Cam Newton and the Tigers go through so much on and off the field and still come out on top. War Eagle!”

The Lassiter Wrestling team has expanded on its prior dominance, re-cently taking the regional tournament by storm. Their victories here placed them as the top seed in the region. “It’s an honor to be ranked number one,” says Taylor Alfaro, 10. After talking with some of the

natalie kietaeditorials editor

Top-Notch These wrestlers were fundamental to success.

the other wrestlers agree with. Ac-cording to all of the Lassiter team, he always knows what to say in times of pressure. He is in the National Wres-tling Hall of Fame, after all. He knows how to effectively yell directions from the sidelines in a way that the wrestlers understand and are able to execute. When asked why the team has been so successful this season, Coach Day says that they practice hard every

day. Coach Day is very proud of his wrestlers and says they have been put-ting in a lot of hard work. Their practic-

es are now in the morning and the af-ternoon; two-a-day workouts are very strenuous but are making the team better as a whole. In addition to the hard work of the wrestlers, the entire wrestling team would like to thank Mr. O’Neill, the athletic director, and Dr. Richie, our principal, for their support. Never has a principal shown as much support for the wrestling team as Dr. Richie, and Coach Day and his wres-

wrestlers on the team, it is evident that this was not an easy victory. The tournament was very in-tense and the matches were well suited for each other. Many of themw-ere “swing” matches, or ones that are extremely close. The teams were all at a very similar level and that made winning even more satisfying. Coach Day says that it was a “total team effort” and explains that there were 7 duals in the region and they had to win 6, which they did, pinning in all but one match. “Coach Day is the reason we won. He is a boss of a coach,” commented Scott Marmoll, 11, a statement that

tlers are all very thank-ful. A combination of hard work and support has really propelled the wrestling team to the top this season. There are only two seniors on the team, Patrick Shields and Ce-drick Stanton, and the team will definitely be different without them next year. Even with that being the case, hopefully the rest of the team will be able to maintain this year’s top-notch level next year. But for the time being, we all just hope

that the support and enthusiasm con-tinues for our outstanding wrestling team.

Young talent shines through with Hall of Fame coach

natalie kieta

16 17page

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You Know?

Swim and dive team poised for success

This seasons varsity girls’ basketball team has only one senior, Rita Beshara, on the entire roster.

austin hayes-staff writer

A few Tigers celebrate the championship.

“We’ve worked as hard as we can. We have a lot of potential on the girls and boys teams” -Henry

Loong

Lassiter wrestling team takes region

There is a nasty rumor going around about the Lassiter Swim and Dive Team and how they supposedly have gills. Though I am not aware of this mutation, it sure would make sense seeing as how the girls have one state the past three years. Over the past years, the Swim and Dive Team has grown to be one of the best. The girls are pushing for the fourth title in a row, while the boys just took back the county title after having a dormant year. The boys had won county two years ago, but last year they got second. They were hungry for it pushed as hard as they could to achieve it.

The captains for the swim team are Stephen Robin and Michael Mc-Carthy for the boys and Kim Carducci and Sammie Bosma for the girls. These skillful seniors want to make their last year the best yet, so they will be giving their all to achieve greatness. Though the swim team has grown, the dive team remains pretty small. The team has four members in it: Amanda Abbott (the team captain),

Jack Bentley, Alex Fortan-bary, and Max Levine. With two first-timers on their hands, the team still manages to hold its own during the sea-

son. Jack Bentley, sophomore, says, “The diving team does not get that much recognition here at Lassiter. It doesn’t make sense due to the fact that we are amazing!”

.

Dominance The Cobb County Swim Meet occurred on the last weekend of Janu-ary, and both the boys and the girls won. Jimmy Yoder broke the county

record by one second in his event of 500 free style. Also, the girls 400 free relay beat the Cobb County record.

The swim and dive team celebrates another victory.

Super Bowl XLV between two storied franchisesjack hermansports editor

When the announcement was made that the 2011 super bowl was to be played in the new Dallas Cowboys stadium, no one ever expected that two of the NFL’s most storied franchises, the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers, would be playing in front of the second highest super bowl crowd ever consisting of 103,219 people. Along with that, many great story lines followed the game. Would Aaron Rodgers shake the title as Brett Favre’s predecessor and establish himself as an elite quarterback? Could Steelers quarter back Ben Roethlisberger over come all the offseason turmoil, leading his team to a title? Would the commercials and Black Eyed Peas performances live up to all of the hype? On the field, Green Bay did exactly what they needed to do in the first quarter. The Pack were up 14-0 at the end of the first quarter, and Pittsburgh seemed in for a rough night. Senior Michael Fowke said, “I thought the game was over right there. It seemed as if there was too much for the Steelers to overcome.” After a quick four play, 53 yard

drive, Greg Jennings put the cheese heads up a comfortable 21 to 3 with only 2:24 remaining on the clock. Then Big Ben orchestrated a precise, super bowl savvy drive of seven plays, 77 yards, sending the game near half’s end with the score being Green Bay 21, Pittsburgh 10. While Grace Keheley, 9, thought the Black Eyed Peas half-time performance was an “all-around failure,” Mrs. Lohlein thought that the performance was a “good diversion from the rock performances of the past.” With the start of a new half, so swung the momentum. “You could really see the momentum begin to swing in favor the Steelers. They came out very aggressive in the second half,” said junior Sarah Boring. The third quarter was dominated by the Steelers as the Packers were outgained yardage wise, 195 to 7. As the contest wore on, it became more and more apparent that Aaron Rodger’s familiarity and rapport were in full stride. This led to a quick fourth quarter touchdown as Rodgers further completed his playoff dismantling of opposing defenses, throwing for his 12th touchdown in the last four games. The game remained relatively wide spread until the Steelers

put together another scoring drive that lasted just over four minutes and was capped off by 25 yard reception for a touchdown by Mike Wallace. And after the two point conversation in which Big Ben efficiently executed the old college option, the Steelers were suddenly just down three at 28-25. But just like he had all season, Mr. Rodgers proved that this in fact was his neighborhood as after a Mason Crosby field goal gave the Packers a 31-25 lead, the Packers never relinquished it and brought back the Lombardi Trophy to its birthplace city, Green Bay, Wisconsin. For Steelers fans, all was not lost though. The commercial

entertainment was aplenty. Mrs. Lohlein adds “The Chrysler commercial with the tagline ‘Imported from Detroit’ was chock-fill of American imagery and patriotism.” Grace goes on to say “I really liked the Dorito’s commercial where Grandpa miraculously came back to life after being fed the chips, as well as the Volkswagen Darth Vader commercial entitled ‘The Force’.” She then places a bet: “The Cowboy’s will be in next year’s big game.”

lhsin the wry 18page

Substantiated reports of mass bird deaths in Arkansas and other un-natural phenomena throughout the world recently flooded blogs, news sites, and other forms of media for an extended period of time. First came bewildered descriptions of hundreds of blackbirds falling from the sky and dying, their corpses littering the ground and leading to the unpleas-ant inversion of the early worm get-ting the bird. Then were the inevi-table conclusions drawn by scientists on what could have happened. First the assumption was that humans had poisoned the birds’ food supply. Once this myth was debunked, blame was focused on fireworks. Thereaf-ter emerged the conspiracy theories, which revolved largely around last year’s canceled show FlashForward. The result of this widespread speculation boils down to the mere fact that a tragedy of this magnitude cannot and must not be repeated. Today I appeal to you as a fellow hu-man. If our species has, indeed, been or provided the impetus for this disas-ter, there seems to be one course of action: stop these deaths at all costs. All else must be put on hold. All other news is irrelevant. All commercials in-volving the dead birds falling from the sky and crashing through the roofs of houses and the line “protected from mayhem like me” must cease. The world is in need of a plan. I have such a plan. If the current hypothesis of the birds’ lives ending in, quite liter-ally, a blaze of glory, is correct, I de-mand that taxes be raised and each state charged with using the resultant money to provide each bird within its boundaries with sunglasses. Hon-

estly, no price can be put on birds aviary species living long, fulfilling, and happy lives. Secondly, fire-works must be outlawed across the world. I believe we can all agree that a sacrifice of obnoxiously loud booms and blinding lights can be made for the sake of the natural beauty of birds that are not dead. But alas this will not be enough. We, as caring human be-ings, must take every step to stop such a crisis from ever developing again. As such, the possibility that the deaths were caused by humans poisoning the food supply of the birds must be considered and ad-dressed. There really seems to be only one viable option that could accomplish this end. This unfortu-nate yet effective stop is to poison the human food supply. This action will attack the stem of the problem, which is, regrettably, humans. Fur-thermore, the punishment fits the crime. A killer is killed and so the poisoners will be poisoned. This action will remove the root of the problem and will further ensure that all birds everywhere are al-lowed to live in peace without fear of fireworks, paparazzi, and human interference. Accusations that this is overkill are unfounded. I’ll tell you what overkill is. The death of even one bird due to negligence on the part of the human race is the over killing here. The plan, while possibly controversial, is guaran-teed to work and is of noble intent. I will concur that the plan requires refinement, but I have neither the time nor the patience to finish it at this time. For one thing, it is too upsetting. For another, my chicken dinner is calling.

Dear blank, please blank

Bird-en

of

PROOFtyler molinarocomedy editor

will morrisstaff writer

Dear reader,Please read.

Sincerely, author.

Dear lunchroom, As encouraging as it is to know that Steve Nash and Serena Williams drink milk, I’d rather not have to duck every time I want some fries. Sincerely, Students Over Six Feet Tall

Dear AP Lang, Thanks for making me read Angela’s Ashes. As if Junior Year wasn’t depress-ing enough. Sincerely, AP Lang Students Dear whoever makes the decision of whether or not to cancel school due to inclement weather, Thanks.Sincerely, Georgia Students

Dear Freshman, If your book bag is larger than your body, that’s a sign you need to use your locker a little more often. Sincerely, I Can’t Get by You on the Stairs

Dear Ms. Hotle, Please smile for once. You’re much too severe all the time. Sincerely, Math Hall Commuters

Dear Bathroom Vandal, I agree; The Crazies was an okay movie. Sincerely, A Nice Change From Body Parts

Dear Red Dashes, You are not welcome on my Scantron. Please leave.Sincerely, Christmas Treein’ It Fails Me Again

Dear Teachers, Much like in baseball, if there is a close call to be made, tie goes to the run-ner. There’s no way I got beat by the bell again. Sincerely, I Want an Instant Replay

Dear 1st Period Teacher, I am not now, nor have I ever been a morning person. Get used to it. Sincerely, I’m Amazed I Even Made it Here

Dear Desk in front of me, You don’t have a basket. I have no idea what to do with my feet now. How can I learn if I am not completely comfortable? Sincerely, At Least It’s Not a Closed Basket

___, ___

will morris/ staff writer

19page

Did

You Know?

The recent snow break pro-vided many interesting opportunities. Being snowed and iced into a house for a full four days means that you end up playing games that you thought were and surely should have been out of your life for years. It also means...gasp... getting things done. And so the scholarship search began. It had to start sometime and let’s face it, Candy-land can only be played a certain amount of times before side ef-fects start setting in. The search itself turned into some-thing very like a train wreck. I just c o u l d n ’ t pull myself away. I mean who knew that there were s c h o l a r -ships

out there for African American teen mothers who have surfed on the east coast? I kid you not. I have seen schol-arships no man had seen before. There is a scholarship from the National As-sociation of Christmas Tree Advance-ment for an essay describing how best to find Santa the World’s best Christ-mas tree. 6-16 year olds act now. But oh how it got better. I ran across schol-arships for foreigners attending college in the USA, scholarships for every eth-nicity imaginable, genders I didn’t even know existed, and one for the children

of employees of a rubber duck fac-tory. On a hunch I searched for scholarships for white men.

Two came up. Un-fortunately for

m e

they were for gay, bisexual, transgen-der, or lesbian men. I decided not to email the foundation asking what their definition of a lesbian man was. Oh how I searched and searched for schol-arships I qualified for. The girl scouts were well-represented. Those within the vicinity of a certain type of mall were set. But though I looked high and low, no scholarships for white, skinny men with spiky hair and 1/16 Italian heritage presented themselves. De-termined to remedy this, I naturally ap-plied for scholarships I very

nearly (code for not at all) met the re-quirements for. Must have overcome a major life obstacle. Hmmm, ah, not being related to anyone who works for a rubber duck factory. Must have been convicted of a crime. That’s only for seniors, so I still have time. Must have played Candyland over 50 times in a week. . . I sang. I danced. I will admit I cried a little. Victory at long last, ful-fillment, satisfaction. This I could do. I pulled out the box from the locat ion I had hidden it for later dis- posal and called to the other inhabitants of the house. 37 more

games to play. Back to work.

Dear blank, please blankS LN:

tyler molinarocomedy editor

Sailing on the scholar ship

Scientists claim that bird deaths like those reported early in 2011 are actually relatively common.

___, ___

“Wishes she would get something other than

a boquet for once.”I already killed helpless flowers for you. What

else do you want?

“Nothing says ‘I love you’ more than some-

body else’s words mass-produced on recycled

paper”Single.

“I’m just wondering why some stupid chubby toddler

with a weapon was chosen to represent

falling in love.”Single.

“Saint valentine was even-tually imprisoned, beaten,

stoned, and beheaded. They don’t tell you that on the

cards.”Bitterly single.

“You are the Boston to my Cream pie.”

Not even Kit to my Kat? Hopefully not single.

february 2011

Documents

snow days

snow atlanta

cobb county students

cobb county school district

inches of snow

regular day of school

extreme amounts of snow

dangerous patches of