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Middle School Newspaper

Middle School Takes Field Trip to Historic Harlem Church

Rebecca Thau, Grade 7

The Falcon Times

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Editor-in-Chief

Rebecca Thau

Staff Writers

John Cicco Olivia Corn Jack Tien-Dana Zoe Palmer Dylan Frank Ben Langer Matthew Slater

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Brazil‟s Female President 2 C. diff. Kills in Hospitals 3 Camp Beckett 2011 4 The Andrus Center 5 Tragedy in Tucson 6 Poem: “Blizzard‟s Wrath” 8 Tron Review 9 Sudoku 10

ON FEBRUARY 25, the entire RCS Middle School took a field trip to Riverside Church on 120th street. It is the tallest church in the entire United States and the 26th tallest in the world. Immediately, we saw the beautiful gothic structure of the church. With its distinct curves, points, and peaks, we were straightaway taken with the church. On the day that we went, there was an art exhibit. There were dozens of artists and hundreds of works. There was one artist, Sandy Hall, who was actually painting right in front of us. She told us about her story, which touched me as well as many others. She is a folk artist who told us all about how she got into art. She was in the hospital with cancer a few years ago and asked the nurse for some paints. She began to paint and now makes her living by making art about her family history. Her grandmother was a slave and told her many stories about her life, which Sandy puts into her art. As we were walking by, she was working on a painting of a story that her grandmother told her. It was about a slave who was a babysitter for a slave owner‟s baby and had to breast feed the baby. She also showed us a piece where she had painted slaves picking cotton and she made the cotton out of a hard material to show what the slaves had to go through to pick the rough cotton. There were tons of others artists and many other wonderful stories about their artworks. Many of them dealt with the Civil Rights Movement, which is why we came to the church. We then watched clips from a movie all about the Civil Rights Movement and had the chance to ask a few questions of the producer.

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Brazil‟s first female president was sworn in on Saturday, January 1. Dilma Rousseff was welcomed to her new office by supporters, many of whom watched her rise from a freedom fighter in the 1960s to the head of her country. Rousseff replaces Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil‟s most popular president in recent years. She had served as his Chief of Staff. Rousseff, who was sworn in just before 3 p.m. with her Vice President Michel Temer, was elected in October by a runoff vote. The inauguration of Rousseff comes 41 years after she was arrested, escorted into a military van, and taken to the Tiradentes Prison where she was “barbarically tortured” for almost two years. She was tortured under Brazil‟s dictatorship for her actions as a left-wing guerrilla fighter in the late 1960s. 23 heads of state, 9 vice presidents, 76 ambassadors, and 24 secretaries of state, including Hillary Clinton, were present at her inauguration. Rousseff honored 11 women who were in prison with her in Tiradentes, according to state-run Agencia Brasil. Carlos Fico, a historian on Brazil‟s cruel military rule that started in 1964, said that Brazilians, especially those who were victims of torture, are moved that she decided to include her cellmates in this historic inauguration. At her inauguration, Rousseff said, according to CNN, “I hope the fathers and mothers of little girls will look at them and say yes, women can.”

Brazil Inaugurates First Female President

Rebecca Thau, Grade 7

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff meets President Obama at the White House with former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. (Photo: Ricardo Stuckert/PR, Agência Brasil)

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Clostridium Difficile Bacteria Affects Sick Children in Hospitals Rebecca Thau, Grade 7

Katie Roche was expecting two titanium rods, a bone graft, 17 screws in her vertebrae, eight hours on the operating table, and a week in the hospital for recovery after her spinal surgery. What she didn‟t expect was to share a hospital room with a feverish six-year-old and contracting an infection that nearly killed her. Her mom said that she was so weak after returning from the hospital that she couldn‟t get out of her bed. “For about 48 hours, I didn't think we'd have Katie with us much longer,” she said, according to CNN. Because of this infection, she dropped from 120 pounds to 90. What made her so sick was a bacterium called Clostridium difficile. This bacterium is now infecting more hospitalized children in the United States, many of whom need surgery or can die. Dr. Peter Pronovost, Director of the Quality and Safety Research Group at Johns Hopkins University, said that most of these infections really just don‟t have to happen. Katie was a 19-year-old athlete who played soccer and volleyball. She checked into a New York hospital for surgery to fix her scoliosis. The surgery was successful, and she was sent home after six days of recovery in the hospital. But once she returned home, the incisions in Katie‟s back opened up and she began to feel frail. Her mother called the doctor, who told them to take her back to the hospital. The doctors found that Katie had an infection (not C. diff., but another one), and she had surgery to clear it up. When Katie came to from her first surgery, she thought that she was finished, but she soon learned that she had another surgery in two days, and then another, and then another. Unknown to Katie and her parents, this was the perfect opportunity for C. diff. to produce. Katie was taking a lot of medicine that was killing the good bacteria in her stomach. C. diff. thrives on the nonexistence of good bacteria in the stomach. The antibiotic Flagyl cleared up the C. diff, but “It took six months for me to eat normally again,” Katie recalls. Parents are asking for private rooms, making sure that everything is clean, and asking the hospital staff to wear gowns and gloves just like parents and visitors. Pronovost said, according to CNN, “As a parent I know we worry we're going to piss off the doctor if we ask too many questions. But the reality is it's your child's life on the line, so it's worth taking a risk.”

This micrograph depicts Gram-positive C. difficile bacteria. (Photo: Janice Carr, Public Health Image Library)

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Camp Beckett 2011

Zoe Palmer, Grade 6

In January, the sixth graders went on the annual trip to Camp Becket in the Berkshires. I was there, and the biggest disappointment wasn‟t even in the actual trip. We all came to school at 7:40 AM and waited on the bus until around 9:30 AM. We were then told that due to the weather, the trip had been postponed until the next day. Naturally, we were very angry. We put all of our bags in the AV room and watched half of Toy Story 3 in the theater. The next day, we left as promised, and the ride was fun. We watched The Incredibles, played cards, and read magazines. When we got there, we got into our comfortable (and cold) bunks after a little confusion with the girls and then went to the cafeteria for a lunch of sandwiches. After that, we were put into our groups, and my group‟s first activity was tubing. Tubing was extremely fun, although the walks up the hill were tiring. Two of my friends and I went locked together in three tubes, and it was truly amazing. The large bump in the middle of the hill was entertaining, even though it hurt when you touched down. Overall, tubing was the best activity in my book. Our next activity, rock climbing, was less entertaining. Most of our time was spent waiting or watching. When I finally got to go, it was fun, but short. The handholds were widely spaced, and some were loose or tiny. Rock climbing left my hands sore and red, and my legs tired. I think that it was the second worst activity. After rock climbing, we had dinner, which was steak strips and rolls. I can‟t speak for the steak, but the rolls were delicious. We had some time to burn after dinner, which was mostly spent unpacking. The last activity of the night was the talent show, which was interesting. There were comedians, singers, and dancers. Personally, I think that the best act was the large group that started everyone doing the Macarena, although Mr. Crosby refused to join in. After a good night‟s sleep, which was truly good, we had a breakfast of French toast and sausages. The French toast was good, but the sausages left something to be desired. Our first activity of the day was cross-country skiing. Despite bad feedback from my friends who had already experienced it, I thought it was fun. It was kind of hard starting, but once we got on to the track, it was a lot easier. There isn‟t much to talk about, but I rate it the third best activity. The next activity was team-building. It sounded lame, but it was actually really fun. The first game in it was near impossible. We had to lower a hula hoop to the ground with two fingers always on the hoop. We completely failed at that. The second game was called „blind fetch,‟ and it was much better. One person was blindfolded, another was turned the other way but could see and talk, and the rest of the people on the team could see the „blind‟ person, but couldn‟t talk. They had to use hand motions to tell the speaker what to say. My team won first place one time, second place another time, and third place the last time. I rate the team-building second best. Our last activity was snowshoeing, and it was the worst in my opinion. It was basically really awkward walking, and really not fun. The last lunch was pretty good, and we left after it. The ride back was around the same, reading magazines, playing cards, watching Spiderman. I loved the Becket trip, even though we didn‟t get to play any broomball!

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The Andrus Center

Rebecca Thau, Grade 7

The Andrus Center is a school for children ages 5-14 with emotional problems about a half hour away from RCS. On Wednesday, December 8, six seventh graders accompanied Ms. Sholtes to the Center. Julia Forester, Leah Moore, Jason Kahn, Elena Golub, Lion Lee, and I got to the center around 10:00 a.m. We set up the toys that the entire seventh grade generously donated. The gym was set up into tables (eight long tables set up in a square) with room in the middle for bags and for us to stand. Tables were divided into departments: clothing, jewelry, ties, china, toys, etc. When the first group of kids came in, we were all feeling the same: nervous, excited, and anxious. Elena Golub said that once she saw all of the kids that we were going to help she felt that the kids “would all make their parents and siblings very happy with the gifts they were able to purchase at the Andrus Center.” The feeling was mutual. Riverdale Country School definitely affected these kids‟ holidays. I know that the students that live in the Andrus Center were more excited about spending $10 than anyone at RCS ever is. When they found something that was perfect for a parent or a sibling, even the older kids‟ faces lit up with joy. Seeing that was almost as good for me as I‟m sure it was for them. We all felt that we had made these students‟ day and season even better. Elena said she thought that “we brightened their day.” Ms. Sholtes said, “This project is as much about our group of seventh graders as it is for the Andrus kids. It‟s hard not to be affected by spending a few minutes with these kids and seeing the joy and fun they have when they are selecting gifts for their family members.” After going to Andrus Center, I have a better idea about why RCS encourages community service, visiting the Andrus Center in particular. When we got to see how much more we have than others our own age, it really made us think about how much we have. We have so much more than many people, and community service like this makes us really think about that.

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Tragedy in Tucson: A Memorial Service Rebecca Thau, Grade 7

Many politicians (including President Obama) spoke on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 at the memorial service at the University of Arizona to commemorate the victims and the families of victims from the shooting in Tucson, Arizona on January 8. The very first to speak was Carlos Gonzales, a Native American from the Pasoa Yaqui tribe, from the fifth generation of his family to live in Tucson. He said a Native American blessing “at this time of disunity.” He said, “Let us honor the families who have passed on.” He added, “Let us also look into ourselves [so that we may become] better human beings.” As to the families of the injured, he said, “Let us bless them so they too can heal.” Nearing the end of his blessing, he said, “O Creator, if I may, my son‟s in Afghanistan. A little blessing for him too.” Dennis Tambly, a University of Arizona student, sang the National Anthem. Following the blessing and National Anthem, the President of the University of Arizona welcomed all. He said a few touching words, including, “No one who lives here was untouched [by the events of Saturday].” When describing Tucson, he said that it is “a community, where people know each other and care.” He then introduced the next speakers, Daniel Hernandez Jr., “one of our own students”, and the Student Body President, Emily Fritze. Fritze “like many students…[has] been able to work with Gabby and her staff as an intern.” She said that activity like that done by Jared Lee Loughner should tell people that we have to continue to keep working on a perfect democracy. At that point, she introduced Daniel Hernandez Jr. She described him as someone who stood up for what they believed in. She also said that more than once, he had gotten her coffee when they worked late nights together at Giffords‟ office. Then Hernandez (who treated Giffords‟ wounds and is credited with saving her life) spoke. One of the first things that he said was, “We all became Tucsonans, we all became Arizonians, we all became Americans [on Saturday]…We have come together to realize…that we are all Americans.” But he “rejected” his title of hero. He said that the real heroes are the public servants, first responders, and people who have dedicated their lives to public service. At the end of Hernandez‟s speech, there was an uproar of applause, followed by Governor Jan Brewer. She thanked the President for joining them in Arizona. “Your words have been a source of comfort,” she directed to Obama. Then on to the reason that so many people were there for: the victims of Saturday‟s shootings. She said that hope shall not be “shredded by one madman‟s act of darkness.” And, she added, “We will go forward together.” To continue, she said, “May God bless all who serve us in the cause of justice.” Next to speak was the Secretary of Homeland Security, who read from the Book of Isaiah from the Bible. “Speak comfort to Jerusalem…She has received double for her sins,” she quoted. “The glory of the Lord shall be revealed,” she continued. “This is the word of the Lord.” Eric Holder, Attorney General, also quoted Biblical text, from the New Testament. “Our inner nature is being renewed every day,” he quoted.

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Next to speak was President Obama. “To the families of those we‟ve lost, to all who called them friends…I have come here tonight as an American who, like all Americans…will stand with you tomorrow,” he started by saying. He also said that Saturday, Giffords and all who went to hear her speak “exercised [their] right to peaceful assembly and free speech.” He said that “the people that lost their lives…[show] what is best in us.” He went through a list of the killed. Judge Roll was coming from mass, which he attended every day. Dorothy Morris‟ husband tried to shield his wife, but failed. Dorwin Stoddard helped people in need and spent his spare time fixing his church. He sacrificed his life for his wife‟s. Gabriel Zimmerman “died doing what he loved,” making the cares of constituents “his own.” Christian Taylor Green “wanted to be the first girl to play in the major leagues” for baseball. President Obama informed all of the viewers of some extraordinary news. For the first time since the shooting, Gabrielle Giffords opened her eyes on Wednesday, January 12. Obama also thanked numerous people: “We are grateful for the man who tackled the gunman as he stopped to reload…We are grateful for Patritia Maisch [who grabbed the ammunition when Loughner] stopped to reload…We are grateful for doctors and nurses.” He went on to say, “They remind us that…heroism is here.” He added, “Their actions, their selflessness, poses a challenge to each of us.” “It is important for us…to talk to each other in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds,” Obama said. The President then used this violence as a reason to “sharpen out instincts for empathy” instead of “pointing fingers or assigning blame.” This tragedy, according to Obama, was just another step in the “never ending process to form a more perfect union.” “I believe that we can be better,” he said. In Obama‟s opinion, the things that separate us are nowhere near as strong as the things that make us closer. He then talked about Christina Taylor Green again. He said that she saw the USA through a child‟s eyes. She saw only the good and had nearly impossible dreams of peace for the future. “I want to live up to [Christina‟s] expectations…[We have to make sure] this country lives up to our children‟s expectations.” Since Christina was born on 9/11, she was featured in a book called Faces of Hope with 49 other babies all born on the same day. On the sides of the book were wishes for each of the babies. One of them was, “I wish you jump in rain puddles.” Obama concluded his speech by saying: “If there are rain puddles in heaven, she is…jumping now.”

Continued…

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Poem: “Blizzard‟s Wrath” Dylan Frank, Grade 7

The snow danced flawlessly in the air, like small, silver seals sailing serenely through water. But, then the snow got faster, furious, firing fat flakes flying at our faces. Like a military march in the air, the snow obscured the world, and turned it all a mean, menacing white. It charged, white without light, roaring a song of death at our freezing bodies. A fall, or collision, could cost your life in the pitiless blizzard, shrieking, “Get off the mountain or perish in my icy tendrils, while I squeeze the life out of you.” The fall had come, inevitable in the blank nothingness, snow danced around me while I landed in a pile of powder, Slowly struggling to stand up, then skidding, sliding swiftly down to safety. Escaping the song of death that the blizzard sang, running from the blizzard‟s wrath.

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Movie Review: Tron

Let me start by saying that if you were excited for this movie, you will not be disappointed. When I say excited, I don't mean a casual: “That looks good.” I mean an eager: “That looks awesome!” There is no room for newcomers. Either you‟re on board or you‟re not. I had a foot on both sides in the beginning, but thanks to the magical powers of IMAX 3D, I fell face-first on the former by the end (also speaking of 3D, the first 15 minutes were not filmed in 3D, so you can keep the stupid glasses off for that). I, by no means, think this is a great movie, but I do think that it is great entertainment. It does not require much thought and is wrecked by too much. The story is simple and easy to follow and the script is well...bad. But expectedly bad. Jeff Bridges (Flynn + Clu) gives the best performance by far even with the mediocre material playing Flynn, a multi-million dollar company owner trapped in his own creation for over 20 years. Garrett Hedlund plays Flynn's son Sam, a reckless daredevil who turned his back on the family business after his father abandoned him. Now, he is stuck trying to rescue his missing father from the digital utopia known as the Grid. Somehow he manages to do the script less justice than it deserves in parts. He is at his best when he is in an intense action scene or in a conversation with Flynn. Olivia Wilde plays Quorra, a digital warrior with a secret who was taken in by Flynn to protect her from Clu, to the best of her ability. Clu is an evil program that was created by Flynn in his image to perfect the Grid. In his quest he deems users (Tron speech for humans) imperfect. Go figure. Clu is played by a digitally de-aged Jeff Bridges. The technology used for the de-aging is definitively not perfected yet seeing that I am now having reoccurring nightmares of that lifeless simulated face. It just stuck out so much compared to the other humans in the film. The action and the score by Daft Punk are definitively the highlights of the film. I was blown away for a good chunk of the film and thoroughly entertained throughout. I'm just sorry to say that this movie will not entertain everybody. It has an incredibly exclusive audience of gamers and fans of the original. I'm both, so I enjoyed it but if you aren't either of those things, I can't promise the same experience.

Final Rating: 2.5 stars out of 4

John Cicco, Grade 7

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Sudoku #069

Sudoku #070

Sudoku

Fill in the blanks so that each row, each column, and each of the nine 3x3 grids contain one instance of each of the numbers 1 through 9. Solutions can be found in

First Class under “Student Bulletins.”

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Staff

The Falcon Times

Middle School Newspaper

Editor-in-Chief Rebecca Thau Staff Writers: John Cicco Olivia Corn Jack Tien-Dana Zoe Palmer Dylan Frank Ben Langer Matthew Slater Layout Consultant Jessie Greenstein Faculty Advisor Ms. Huggins

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