Vol. 1, Issue 6 Traverse City, MichiganMay

Schools and budget cuts seem to go hand in hand these days. The past several years have brought about financial hardship to many school districts across the county. Traverse City Area Public Schools (TCAPS) is no excep-tion. School funding began declining about nine years ago. It didn’t really make a big difference and hardly anybody noticed, until three or four years ago. Seven years worth of declining funding and enrollment caught up with us. There was no choice but

to cut the budget. The past several years have been full of budget cuts. First it started with small things, like paper, and students rarely noticed a difference. Then came teacher layoffs, support staff layoffs, and more cutting to programs and supply budgets. With each year, supplies and programs have been cut, and it is no longer an unnoticeable inconvenience, but a major crisis. Last year, TCAPS liai-son officers were fired to save money. All said and done, TCAPS has lost 22 million

dollars in funding in the past nine years. That was only the beginning. This year, TCAPS must cut an estimated 5.4 million dol-lars from next year’s budget, That may seem like a lot, be-cause it is. But it is still better from the original estimated 9 million dollar shortfall. Either way you put it, it is a major problem. This year’s cuts are by far the most money that TCAPS has ever had to cut in one year, and it is going to make a big difference in the operation of our schools. Since

TCAPS budget cutsChase Schelling

Staff WritersTaylor Reese

all the “fat” has been trimmed off the budget, no easy cuts are left. All cuts will be deep, and will not be easy. What exactly is going to be cut is be-ing discussed by the TCAPS Board Of Education, princi-pals, teachers, and parents. Everybody is working together to try to find a solution. At the meeting on May 16th the board figured that the cuts would add up to about 5.4 million dollars. Nobody is sure what is going to be cut, and nothing is protected against cuts. Some ideas include: high schools returning to semesters, cutting nurses, cutting half of the athletic budget, cutting busing, and more. All of these cuts will be hard, but there is one item on this year’s chopping block that is hitting really close to home for many students: sports cuts. There are many sports teams and clubs here at West, some including the football team, tennis team, and track team. There are also many sports clubs here at West. Many sports players are upset that the school board would cut the sports budget. Sports offer many important opportunities that teach students important life long lessons such as effort, dedication, teamwork, and leadership skills. If half of the sports budget, about $500,000,

Photo: C. Schelling.Continued on page 2...

is cut, players and their parents will have to cover all costs through fund raising and pay-to-play. Many sports play-ers say this is unfair because they already pay to participate, with average fees around $100. Administration says that fees will not increase even if the budget is cut. Outside of sports, students worry about cuts to other pro-grams as well. “They will cut art because art is the first thing they cut in every school,” said Nicole Civic ‘11. “I don’t think that the art programs should be cut because many students enjoy art, but they can’t speak their mind about what should be cut.” During times of tough budgets, students, staff, and the community gather together and find new sources of fund-ing. Fund raising is always important for schools, but now

it is more important than ever. Recent fund raising efforts for WSH have been successful. One way to raise money for the school was held on May 3rd. WSH partnered with Fox Grand Traverse in a program called “Drive One For Your School.” Fox Grand Traverse brought in a fleet of new Ford and Lincoln trucks, SUV’s and Sedans to the school for a unique fundraiser. Students, teachers, and parents had the opportunity to drive a new car around the school. For each test drive, Fox Grand Traverse donated $20 to WSH. They had the chance to raise up to $6,000 dollars. That goal was met the first day. When questioned about what is going to happen with the cuts Stephanie Long, Olympia principal, said “We are not going to replace the six teachers that are retiring

this year, there will be a more limited choice of classes.” Long also said class sizes will probably go up. We will be down a few classes due to the teachers not being replaced. Long did say that cuts are being made as far away from the classroom as possible. As far as the sports cuts go, Long says they shouldn’t make much of a difference since the majority of the sports budget is student raised. The only thing TCAPS pays for is the coaches salaries and transportation. As if this is not serious enough, TCAPS is spending money faster than it can be replenished. TCAPS Chief Fi-nancial Officer Paul Soma says that there is enough money to sustain operations until June of 2012. If our financial situation does not improve by the fall of 2012, TCAPS could be out of money. If that happens, a

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report will have to be filed with the state, and a state official could be appointed to run TCAPS. As serious as the situation is now, it could still get worse. The cuts we have made since 2007 have been major, but they could get even bigger. Cutting the busing is a step that many districts have already taken. This round of budget cuts will not be easy for students, staff, or administration. Everybody will have to make changes and accept them. Hopefully school funding will increase in the next couple of years, and provide much needed relief to many school districts before they run completely out of money, and the cuts become crippling, or worse yet, school districts are forced to shut down.

Budget cuts (cont.)

What goes up must come down?Cars worst enemy…gas prices. In the 1950’s gas prices were around 19 to 26 cents. Today it rounds out to about five dollars. What has happened with the world? America gets their oil, which makes the gas, from many places around the world but mostly from the Middle East. However, conflict in the Middle East has caused America to lose their most profitable area for oil. “People are buying smaller cars with better gas mile-age,” said the corporate sales director of Fox Motors Rick Summers. “The newer models (trucks) are getting better gas mileage, no matter the size, it’s getting better every year.” Teenagers at West are also feeling the effects of the gas prices. Though it seems like it hasn’t stopped the teenagers from hitting the town. “I don’t like gas prices because it cost me $45 to fill my tank, but I still have places to go and public transporta-tion is bad and crowded,” said Amanda Downey ‘12. Gas prices are a big factor in how much teenagers drive. Many have to take the bus because they can’t drive to school daily. “I don’t get to drive to school every day,” Kristen Gresock ‘12, said. Some students at West see both the good and the bad of the rising gas prices.

“The gas prices are depress-ing and now I have to work harder, but it’s probably good because I drive less,” Megan Stanchfield ‘12, said. “But now I really don’t have the option to go where I want to, it takes away my freedom.” Should America be worried about gas prices or should it look for a different source of fuel to run its machines? In 2010 between 17 and 39 million gallons of oil were released into the Gulf of Mex-ico. A normal average of oil leaking into the ocean is 0.25%, about 6 million gallons per year. The Gulf Oil Spill killed hundreds of sea animals and birds. Oil is still affecting the Gulf of Mexico. If Americans spent their time looking for different options for fuel they could probably find them. Some scientist have already made headway but they need more help and funds. Other options include electricity pow-ered cars or corn fuel. Corn and sugar can be turned into ethanol which can be used to fuel any car. Both are good options and neither have a one up over the other. Ethanol helps everywhere. It even helps lower gas prices. Ethanol keeps gas prices 15% lower than gas would normally be. Ethanol is also better for the environment. While gas produces pollutants that go up into the atmosphere, ethanol

cuts that pollutant intake.* Everyone needs to look in the future instead of the past. Alternative fuel sources are one of the only chances of lower gas prices and a greener earth. Hopefully one day soon

scientists will be able to find an alternative gas source that is better for the environment and cheaper for the people, so what went can finally come back down.

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Samantha WellsStaff Writer

*http://auto.howstuffworks.com

rainySave it for aHow to make a paper crane

1. Start with a square piece of paper. 2. Fold the paper in half diagonally.

3. Fold it in half again.

4. And fold it in half again crease it.

5. Unfold.

6. Open one half of the triangle and fold it down.

7. Flip over and repeat step 6.

8. Fold the edges into the middle...

9. Flip over and repeat step 8.

10. Fold the top “triangle” over and crease.

11. Unfold. 12. Open it up and fold down...

13. Fold the out-side flaps in, to the middle.

14. Flip over and repeat step 13.

15. Fold the “legs” up, crease and fold back down.

16. Fold the “legs” up into them-selves to make a tail.

17. Repeat step 15-16 on the other side.

18. Fold the top part of one “leg” down for the head.

19. Fold the wings down and it’s com-plete!

day...Chloe FosterEditor

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Let’s face it, high schools are breeding grounds for rumors- and rumor spreading. Ev-eryday you hear them in the halls, in the bathrooms, and in the lunch lines, just to name a few. Rumors are also spread like crazy. Between word of mouth and texting, the minute something happens or sup-posedly happens, everybody knows about it. Everyday, new rumors arise. But there is one particular rumor that keeps going on, day after day, year after year: Many students believe that West Senior High was designed by a prison ar-chitect. Students claim that the small windows and three wing design “have prison written all over it.” This subject has been talked about so many times, that it is just something that many people have come to be-lieve as common knowledge. In reality, West Senior High School was not designed by a prison architect. The design of West Senior High School was modeled after Dakota High School in the Mount Clem-ons area. Big Rapids High School’s design is also similar to West’s. “West was designed by an architecture firm that special-izes in schools,” said Gary Powell, an English teacher at West. Powell was on a com-mittee that was involved with designing West Senior High when it was being built in the mid nineties. Powell said that the design of West came about based on specifications that was given to the architecture firm designing the school. These specifications included a centrally located LMC, a big commons for the center of

campus that could be used as a meeting and hangout area, athletics separated from aca-demic wings, and offices for all teachers instead of teachers having their own classrooms. As for the compact three wing design, that was put into place for a purpose that would come into place more than a decade later. “We wanted to make a large school of 1800 students into three smaller schools. The neighborhood plan was in the works right of the get-go,” said Powell. As most students know, West was built because Tra-verse City’s only high school at the time, Traverse City Se-nior High School (As Central High School was known at the time) could not accommodate all the students. The plan-ning took about a year, then construction began and West Senior High School opened in January of 1998. West Senior High Business Teacher Lori Dakoske was one of many teachers who taught at Traverse City Senior High and then moved to West when it was built. Dakoske says that a lot of thought went into the building of West. “It was very well planned. They wanted community input, student input, parent input, and busi-ness input,” said Dakoske. The Business Technology Lab that Dakoske teaches in was actu-ally designed with the input of local businesses, this made it feel like an office rather than a classroom, and achieved a realistic setting for students. West was the envy of the town when compared to the design of Traverse City Senior High School. “We had to walk

outside to go the cafeteria, gym, and in between aca-demic buildings. It [Central]was really spread out,” said Dakoske. One of the things students commonly talk about is that the windows at West are small, and there is only one per classroom. The reason that West was designed with small windows was to increase energy efficiency and make the school more economical to operate. The school is also air cooled, so having windows would decrease efficiency and defeat the whole purpose of the cooling system. The design of West Senior High School was a commu-nity project. “A great deal of student, parent, teacher, and student involvement went into the planning of the school,” said Joe Tibaldi, Principal of West Senior High School. There were thirteen commit-tees during planning. Each committee had a student, a teacher or community mem-ber, and an administrator as chairpersons. Then there were 10-12 students as well. There was a committee for each major area of the school such as the gym area, commons, music wings, classrooms, main office, counseling office, and so on. These committees were essential in the construction of this school. They chose the carpet, the chairs, the tables, the color of the walls, and many other items as well. It was designed in such a way that balanced everybody’s needs, making this an effective school. One important design aspect was flexibility. Nobody knows what space will be needed, or

Chase SchellingStaff Writer

WSH built after a prison?

what the educational trends will be in twenty-five years. Since major renovations are expensive, it was important that the school be easily adaptable in the future. The walls separating rooms are non-supporting, so they can be knocked down if we need to make larger classrooms, and it much cheaper than if they were brick and mortar sup-porting walls. The doors at the end of each wing by the labs are there so classrooms can be added on without changing the structure of the build-ing, this means that twelve classrooms can be added on if needed without major renovations. The four labs in each wing are plumbed out for water and gas if needed for science labs, but can also be used for other purposes. In fourteen years, the flexibility of this school has been shown. For example, C204 and C206, currently chemistry labs, were originally used for home edu-cation classes. “A major component was flexibility,” said Tibaldi. Making the design cost- ef-ficient was also important. We used bigger bricks because they are easier to install than big ones. That saved a lot of money in construction labor. So despite all the rumors, and the fact that this school may look like a prison to some, it was not designed that way. It was designed to be used for small learning communities, and to have everything layed out in a con-venient and accessible way. It was also designed to be economical both to build, and to operate in the long run.

6Weather affects sportsAngelika DiehlStaff Writer

When it comes to crazy weath-er, Michigan has certainly had its share. First snow, then rain, then sunny warm weather, then all of a sudden it’s snow-ing again. The cycle doesn’t end there, it just repeats itself. Weather doesn’t only affect hu-man behavior though, it also affects athletes and their sports. Each person has a different view towards weather and its effects on people and sports. Spring sports at West such as baseball, softball, track, golf, tennis and girls soccer have been affected by the weather. The fact of having almost half of the season canceled due to terrible weather has put a damper on the athletes’ moods. Practice always makes per-fect, but in this case, practice and more practice but no games hurts athletes mentally. Practicing five days a week for two and a half hours a day is tiring but well worth it if games are played. “We practice all the time, and we can’t really say our practice pays off in games, as we haven’t really played many games this season,” said Am-ber Brautigam ‘13, a member of the JV softball team. It’s proven that athletes can play in colder weather, but the outcome isn’t always the great-est. More muscles are pulled and torn, more arms are thrown out easily, and colds are caught. When the coach tells athletes to stretch and warm up good before a game on a cold day, they should

take that advice because it’s the truth; warming up on cold days saves torn and pulled muscles, thrown out arms, and broken bones. “When we play in colder weather, if we don’t stretch enough our muscles tense right up, and you can feel the pain for the rest of prac-tice or game, and possibly a couple days after,” said Aleah

Hunt ‘13, a member of the JV softball team. “Right now the JV girls softball team has had problems with pain in the shoulder from not warming their arms up enough before practice and even our games.” Athletes practice on a daily basis for several hours, and for most of this season they have been confined to the big gym at West. That’s hard to do, es-pecially when all spring teams are competing for gym time. “The conditions of the weather made it very hard to practice outside, and we then had to practice inside,” said Anna Montgomery ‘14, a member of the JV soccer team. Weather can have an affect on how a season is played. It

can also determine how many games are played a season. Having games canceled doesn’t always mean that those games will be rescheduled. “We’re lucky the weather has only affected two of our games this season,” said Olivia Wodek ‘13, a member of the JV soccer team “But we play in any weather, rain or shine, and there’s even been snow on

the ground.” For soccer, weather isn’t too big of a deal. No matter what, they are able to play. The downfall of playing in the rain is the fact that the ball and grass are wet. When the ball is wet, it tends to skip and be slippery. There is also the problem of the field being too wet. Thankfully, there is more than one soccer field in Traverse City. “The rain made it hard to play because the ball would skip and that made it hard to control,” said Montgomery. Tennis is a lot more than people make it out to be, but the good thing is, no matter the weather they are able to play. If it’s raining they some-times have inside courts at the

Grand Traverse Resort, and if its sunny they have their home court. “We practice a lot at the resort, during the off season mainly, its like an open gym. Then when it comes to the sea-son, we play our games on our home court unless the weather is bad,” said Kaelyn Hughes ‘13, a varsity tennis player. Golf is affected by weather as well, because if it rains they can’t play, but if it’s sunny then it’s a great day for some golf! “Golfing in the rain is ter-rible, because everything is wet and its hard to concentrate,” said Laura Krieber ‘13 “Golf-ing in cold weather is really uncomfortable because you have so many layers on and its hard to swing, but sunny and warm out is perfect weather for golfing.” Runners can run in any weather, it just depends on the dedication. “Running in the rain isn’t always a bad thing, actually. Sometimes its rather calming. I much rather prefer weather where it’s not too cold and it’s not too hot to run in,” said Amanda Fouchey ‘14 Varsity track runner Weather does play a factor in softball and baseball too. When it downpours, softball and baseball fields become drenched just like soccer fields do. The only difference is that soccer fields are grass, and softball and baseball infields are dirt. When the infields be-come wet, it’s like quicksand.

Part of me doesn’t care. Reason being that practicing all the time makes you a better athlete.

”

” -Keegan Gordon ‘14

West athlete to play for OregonBrianna SandersonStaff Writer

Jake Fisher: he’s big, he’s strong, and pretty much has a full ride to any school he wants. Graduating this year, colleges were pulling at him to play football for them in the fall of 2011. He was a huge asset to West’s football team and it is a great loss that he’s leaving. Although this school is losing a lot of great players, there will be several more to take their places. It’s hard to say goodbye to someone who has been on the team so long, but Jake is moving on to big-ger and better things. Jake will be attending the University of Oregon in the fall of 2011. Several freshmen athletes get red shirted their first year on the team, which means they do not get to play in any games, but get to suit up with the team, practice and condition for the following year. It is a possibility that Jake could find himself here. “I will not find out until after I get through camp and figure everything out,” said Fisher.

Standing a staggering 6’7,” it’s not hard to be smaller than Jake. “I’m a really, really big teddy bear,” said Fisher. Jake chose the University of Oregon, even though he was offered a full ride to almost any school he wanted. “The University of Oregon offered me a full ride, but I made the choice,” said Fisher. He plays offensive tackle, and was a super star for West. He considered going to Michigan State University, but settled on Oregon. Jake played on West’s varsity team for three years, and a lot of talent is required to be on varsity as a sophomore. West only had one sophomore on varsity this year, Donny Cizek. He is undecided on what he will be majoring in next year. Football will be one of his top priorities, but education is very impor-tant as well. “I chose Oregon because they have great coaches, academics, are bowl game

competitors and the education is top of the line,” said Fisher. Being offered a full ride for a sport is a huge deal, and playing football in college for a big school is a great way to get into the NFL. “I made the choice, but they wanted me to play there for sure,” said Fisher. Jake is leaving for school June 16th and begins condi-tioning on June 20th. Being so good at something would give

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Constant Practice all the time will make athletes be-come better, but constant prac-tice can be stressful and put a lot of pressure on the athletes too. The practice needs to be put towards a game. That’s why games are scheduled. If athletes only wanted to have practice, then what’s the point of having games? “Part of me doesn’t care.

Reason being, that practicing all the time makes you a better athlete,” said Keegan Gordon ‘14, a member of the Fresh-men baseball team. Even though weather has not been the greatest for spring sports, all athletes have showed their dedication by be-ing patient, working hard, and sticking with it.

Weather (cont.)

a person reason to gloat, but Fisher stays modest, “I don’t think I’m cocky in any way,” he said. Not being cocky makes col-leges and scouts want athletes that much more. Jake is an all around great person and will do well in college and in life. “I have really enjoyed all my time at West,” said Fisher “Thanks to all the coaches, administration, family, friends, and fans.”

Jake Fisher ‘11, confidently strides into the gym during the Homecoming pep assembly on September 24, 2010. Photo: K. Beaudrie.

All across the United States, the spring of 2011 has been full of weather surprises. This Monson, Massachuetts, home sits in a heap on Thursday, June 2, 2011, after it was picked up and put back upside down by a tornado that ripped through the area the day before. (Bettina Hansen/Hartford Courant/MCT)

8Students are curious:Why doesn’t West have bathroom locks? Paige Breithaupt

Staff Writer

Locks in the bathroom? Yes please, I don’t want anyone walking in on me while I’m going, and I’m pretty sure no one else does either; it’s awkward and annoying. Which is why I don’t understand why we don’t have locks. It’s not even the fact that we don’t have locks, its the fact that we want and deserve our privacy. Anyone could walk in on you at any given time, and I don’t know about anyone else, but that’s em-barrassing. After countless trips to the bath-room, you get used to it. Whether it’s setting your backpack in front of the door, or looking under the stalls to make sure that you don’t walk in on someone else, every-one has their own ways. It can get annoying at first, but you learn quickly: if the door is shut, don’t open it. “It’s just something you get used to after awhile,” said Emilee Thomas ‘13. It doesn’t really make sense why we don’t have locks. Teachers and principals are so concerned about girls not wearing long enough shorts or skirts, but they wouldn’t care if someone walked in on you while you were going to the bath-room? Don’t you think that’s a little hypocritical? “It would be difficult to get to a student in the bathroom stall in

an emergency,” said Mrs. Long, principal of the Olympia office. Safety hazards are another reason why we don’t have locks. A student could be in danger and an adult couldn’t get in because the stall was locked. “Boys don’t need locks ‘cause they don’t really use stalls,” said Mallory Kaysserian ‘12. “But girls do so we need locks.” Basically we are just sick of other girls walking in on us going to the bathroom. “It doesn’t really matter to us men, so I don’t care,” said Rudy Fumich ‘13. Teacher’s have their own bath-rooms, with locks I must add, so they don’t have to worry about anyone walking in on them, mean-ing they don’t really understand how the students feel about not having them. It almost feels like a privilege being taken and we can’t do anything about it. Even the middle school bath-rooms have locks, and I would like to think that we, as high school students, are more mature than middle school students considering we’re older and deal with different problems. They say school is a second home, or at least its supposed to be, but at home we have locks on our bathrooms.

We think the real reason is...

*DISCLAIMER: This theory is entirely false and not endorsed by West, the administration or TCAPS in anyway. It is fictional and should not be used as actual fact.

Trolls in the dungeon

Trolls are a pretty big danger at West Senior High. At any given moment, one could sneak in through a side door and, dun dun dun, corner you in the bath-room! The staff feels that since we have yet to find ourselves a couple of true heroes, such as Ronald Weasley and Harry Potter, they must take every pre-caution to make sure a lone student isn’t trapped in a stall with a bumbling troll lurking outside the door. Don’t want anyone to lose house points or misplace their wand in a troll’s nose...

Artwork: D. Lee

Chloe FosterMeg SheehanEditors

9The scoop on diabetesSarah GillandStaff Writer

Diabetes is one of the many autoimmune diseases that af-fects hundreds of people each day. With diabetes, the body’s immune system starts at-tacking its tissues or organs, thinking that they’re foreign. It’s a disease that causes the pancreas to stop producing a hormone called insulin, and insulin is what turns the sugars in the body into usable energy*. Most autoimmune diseases are curable by stem cell treatments. However, diabetes cannot be cured by transplants-yet.. Stem cell transplants are when doctors take stem cells and inject them into the needed part of your body. They are able to special-ize in any category. The only solution for diabetes is to take insulin shots at each meal or use an insulin pump to deliver the medicine to the body. Diabetes affects 23.8 million Americans, which is 8.3% of the population. It costs the United States $174 billion dollars each year*. It costs so much because of all the

supplies that are needed such as the insulin, shots, insulin pumps, and blood sugar test-ing meters. Kate Hansen, a Spanish and Journalism teacher, has diabe-tes as well as her kids.. “I’ve seen a lot of changes

since I was diagnosed, and technology has definitely helped,” said Hansen. The symptoms of diabetes are a sweet or fruity smelling breath, urinating a lot, frequent dizziness and drinking a lot of water. The body acts like that because it has too much sugar which causes the blood sugar levels to rise. If it gets too high, one could go into a diabetic-induced coma. If it gets too

low, one feels dizzy, cold, looks pale and feels shaky. In that case, they would eat some food or have a drink that’s high in sugar. There are many things dif-ficult things that come with having diabetes. One has a

risk of kidney function failure, eye, nerve, and skin complica-tions and amputation of a limb if the diabetes gets too out of control. One never knows what will come with tomorrow. “It’s the fear of not knowing my future. Every bite of food changes your blood sugar. It’s the unknown,” said Hansen. Type 1 Diabetes is caused by genetics, not by eating too much sugar, and it can’t

be ‘caught’ like a cold. Type 2 diabetes is when the body doesn’t react normally to the insulin. Type 3, or gestational diabetes, is when your blood sugar goes out of control while you’re pregnant. If one does have diabetes, they have to change most of their lifestyle. They have to eat foods that won’t make their blood sugar levels rise too high and they have to exercise in order to keep their blood sugar in a healthy range. Before each meal they have to check their blood sugar and plan out how many carbohydrates they will eat, so they can calculate how much insulin they need to give themselves. They have to be especially cautious to make sure that they don’t get any of the other autoimmune diseases that can come with diabetes, like celiac disease. Celiac dis-ease is when the body has an intolerance to gluten. Diabetics can have sweets, just not too many of them. They also have a team of doctors that help guide you to what you can and can’t do with diabetes, so you don’t end up in the hospital due to extremely high or ex-tremely low blood sugar levels. If you know someone who has diabetes, there’s a walk to cure diabetes that you can go one each year in September. It’s a 5K walk downtown from sunset park to the bay. There are meetings each month start-ing in June preparing for the walk.

It’s the fear of not knowing my future. Ev-ery bite of food changes your blood sugar. It’s the unknown.

”

” -Kate Hansen

*According to www.diabetes.org

HOW TO:

Take better care of your hairMeg SheehanStaff Writer

Healthy hair is a hard thing to achieve, especially as a teenage girl. I interviewed Diedre Wysong, professional hair stylist at Details Salon, about ways to prevent damaged hair and other simple tips to keep it healthy.

A few simple tips

{ {Use *professional shampoo and condi-tioner only.Use hot tools sparingly (flat iron, curling iron, blow dryer).Get a trim every 4-12 weeks, depending on your style and length.*Professional shampoos and conditioners can be bought ONLY from a salon. Those that are found in drugstores are diverted products and are not guaranteed by their manufacturer. Furthermore, they may not be real, and are not only not cheaper, but sometimes cost more than when bought from a licensed salon.

Do trims help hair grow?No. Your hair grows out of your scalp at a steady rate of about a half inch per month. However, if you do not keep the ends trimmed and neat, they may be splitting and breaking as fast as your hair is grow-ing (or sometimes faster depending on the severity of the damage), which results in the illusion of no growth. A trim every 4-12 weeks keeps the length from breaking at the ends as your hair is growing out of your scalp. {{

Hair damage

{One of the most damaging things that you could do to your hair is color it with permanent color at home. The boxed permanent color that is sold for home use is extremely and unnecessar-ily strong and damaging. The integrity of your hair is one of the top priorities with experienced salon professionals. Most desired results can be achieved in a salon with minimal to no damage. {

{{Repairing damage

There are four ways you can help your hair that has been damaged. Use professional restructuring, hydrating and conditioning shampoo and conditioner every time that you wash your hair, get regular trims, avoid home color, and use hot tools sparingly. Unfortunately, while you may be able to strengthen and keep your damaged hair from breaking off, it is damaged until it is totally trimmed off.

Does washing hair less keep it healthy?

{{It depends on your skin type. If you have dry skin, then it is good for your hair and scalp to get a chance to hydrate naturally, by giving it a break from water and washing. Additionally, if you are not getting really dirty or using hair spray, it is OK to skip a day or two. If you have oily or very oily skin, it is OK to wash and condition (with profes-sional products only) every day.

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12Thespians in the spotlightCheyanne MarshallStaff Writer

Theater brings smiles to the audience and joy to the per-former. It also allows people to learn to get along with others, develop their opinions about how they view others, look beyond the exterior of them-selves and others. Thespians allows you to get theater out of school and provides more options to the plays in which you can try out. Since theater is a class, it only allows you one trimester of theater, while thespians allows you to be in theater all year. “You just learn to respect each other,” Chad Sharnowski ‘12 said. To learn to respect others whether or not you like them is a hard thing to do. Hard work is involved in not only the making of the set and costumes, but with the acting on the actor’s part. Working on time is hard as well consid-ering all the work that must be done in so short a time frame. “Working on schedule can

be a bit hectic sometimes, but I like it a lot,” Kayla Szatkie-wicz ‘12 said. With all the lines that must be memorized and all the emotions that must be projected is hard, but thespi-

ans have to do most of the work themselves. There is no teacher that forces them to be at practice or to get them cos-tumes and props, they have to make it themselves. Sometimes they get lucky when there is an uneven amount of theater

and stagecraft classes and one of the stagecraft classes does some of the work for them. Currently Coraline is one of the plays that had stagecraft to help them.

School and thespians are hard to manage, but they still manage all the school work and the things they need to know and practice for thespi-ans. “We meet two times a week until five thirty and ‘Hell

Cody D. ‘12, and Amanda C. ‘11, close the show for Thespian’s Alice in Wonderland as the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat.

Week’ is until eight,” Kathrine Orwig ‘12 said. Hell Week, another term for tech week, is when all the students practice longer and harder since it is the week before the play is open to the public. Students are running around trying to make sure everything is perfect and all the scenes are done correctly. This is their last week of work and it all must be done or things will be more difficult. “It’s a good way to get the-ater outside of school,” Mor-gan Lemcool ‘11 said. Thespi-ans is one of the best ways to get theater outside of school because it is located at school and it allows the students the same privileges as the students in school for theater. It also allows those who don’t have time in their schedule to attend theater and be able to experi-ence the magic of a script come to life.

Tree of Life comes the theatersColin CovertStar Tribune (Minneapolis)MCT

A masterpiece creates an original world. Therefore it’s unlikely to fit the world of the spectator. “The Tree of Life,” the demanding new film from writer/direc-tor Terrence Malick, will stretch every viewer’s boundaries. It’s a flawed but impressive experiment, the sort of shoot-the-moon gamble that cinema can’t do without. This is the famously reclusive, perfec-

tionist Malick’s fifth film in four decades, yet with that slender output he’s carved a unique niche. He explores solidly Ameri-can material with introspective lyricism and lush, tactile images of nature rather than straightforward plot and dialogue.“The Tree of Life” is a tapestry of human and natural strands whose main thread follows three brothers growing up in midcentury Waco, Texas. It is also a

meditation on creation and death and how one family fits into the cosmos. Ma-lick marshals gorgeous special effects and stunning nature photography to show the origin of the universe _ stars exploding, oceans forming, cells dividing, dinosaurs roaming. He follows with intimate scenes of family life that have an almost docu-mentary quality. By turns down-to-earth and transcendental, his film settles into no

genre, unless you call it the coming-of-age story of the universe. Repeatedly, worlds collide. The film contemplates the line between dream and reality, counterpoints suburban lawns and prehistoric rain forests and contrasts the personalities of a warring parent and child. Brad Pitt plays the father, Mr. O’Brien, a disciplinarian who demands to be called “sir.” Jessica Chastain is the tender mother, a radiant creature without a name. We follow the O’Brien boys through the rituals of childhood: meals and baths, church and school and lan-guorous evenings at play. The characters’ speech is as oblique as half-overheard conversation. Much of the film is narrated by muted interior monologue. The soar-ing classical soundtrack speaks for them.

Mother is the boys’ playmate, confidante and spiritual tutor. She instructs them to follow the path of grace through life and “love every blade of grass, every ray of light,” rather than pursue the way of nature, which “finds reasons to be unhappy.” At one point a butterfly settles onto Chastain’s hand as if she were St. Francis welcoming a bird. She flies through the air herself in one surreal snippet. Mr. O’Brien is a creature of the earth, fixated on the dead spots in his lawn and walking with a heavy tread. He wants his boys to be tough and manly, well pre-

pared to face the challenges of adult-hood. As he tries to instill the “fierce will it takes it takes to get ahead in this world” his first-born, Jack (Hunter McCracken in an extraordinary debut), comes to loathe him. For all their antagonism, neither man has come to terms with the sudden death of Jack’s brother R.L. (Laramie Eppler), his father’s favorite. We see recurring images of votive candles being lighted by Pitt and Sean Penn, who plays Jack as a troubled adult. Pitt paints a portrait in full, a man of art and sci-ence, hot-tempered yet loving in his way and full of veiled disappointment. McCracken is immensely touching, adoring his mother, resenting his father and gradually growing apart from his roots. Penn plinks a single morose note in his

limited screen time, and his final scene of reconciliation, a banal beach reunion, is unworthy of what came before. His character could have been called Angst Man; if he’d been edited out of the film altogether nothing much would be lost. Time and again Malick shifts his focus from his characters to cathedral-like trees, ancient sandstone canyons, or a beach with a lounging dinosaur, landscape views that put human concerns in a cosmic perspective. Malick generally prefers enig-mas to answers. The film is bookended by views of an indistinct, shifting aura of light. Is it the instant before the Big Bang? An angel? The spirit of cinema? Each viewer must decide what it all means.This much is certain: Malick loves every ray of light.

13Tree of Life (cont.)

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie arrive at the 81st annual Acad-emy Awards in Hollywood, California, Sunday, February 22, 2009. (Leonard Ortiz/Orange County Register/MCT)

Director Terrence Malick filming his new movie “The Burial,” starring Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Rachel Weisz, in Paris, France, May 15, 2011. Malick was nominated for an Academy Award for both Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director for “The Thin Red Line.” (Abaca Press/MCT)

Interviews

by The Occidentalist staff writers

Senior

- She plays the Cello in the Traverse City West Senior High Orchestra- She began playing when she was in 6th grade. - She has taken cello lessons on and off.- In the future, Jillan says she might do cor-tets at weddings, but does not plan to play professionally.

- Jill tried out for Phantom of the Opera as a cello player and made it, Jill played in the pit.- Her favorite experience was eating food in the pit during musical and being loud about it. “ I always brought in the loud food.”

“If you want to do well in music, take lessons.”

meet... Fact#1Jillian regrets not taking orchestra lessons. “I feel like I could have made more money off it, played weddings.”

Fact#2Jillian wishes she had not quit honors chemistry.

Fact#3She would like to go to school

in Chicago and become a

cinemetographer.

[ [[ [[ [

Jillian McCafferty

Tip to future students:

Photo: C. Schelling

Phantom Of The Opera: Orchestra:

Extracurriculars:

Introducing...

Jessica HardingPaige BreithauptStaff Writer

Jessica Harding has been on the varsity bas-ketball team for three years. She admits that it was a major time commitment in her life, which limited what she did outside of the sport itself. But the lessons she learned from basketball will be carried on with her forever, not to mention the family and friends she grew to love and care about over the many years of playing together. “Whether its leadership, adversity, or team-work, they are all things I will face on a daily basis and I had basketball to prepare me for that,” said Harding. People are basically forced to learn to adapt to their environment and the people around you, which is not only preparing you for the real world but also your choice of employment. “You learn to deal with a wide spectrum of individuals,” said Harding. With high school, its been said teens either love it or hate it. It opens many people’s eyes to new experiences and many memories no one will forget. High school makes teenagers who they are and helps them become the people they will always be.

Jess will be attending Grand Valley University in the fall of 2011. She currently plans on going into special education and Grand Valley has an excellent program for her course of study. She does not plan on playing basketball in college, but she will be playing club bas-ketball just to stick with something that she loves. “It will be less time consuming,” said Harding. Jess is a natural born leader whether its on the court or off, she is someone anyone can look up to. There is no question about it, she will do great things in life wherever it takes her.

Whether it’s leadership, adversity, or teamwork, they are all things I will face on a daily basis and I had basketball to pre-pare me for that.

”

”

Gabby M. ‘10, Mallory L. ‘11, and Jessica H. ‘11, pose for a photo after a basketball game. Photo: J. Harding.

Photo: J. Harding

Ratone: five boys coming together over their love of music and performing. The band was formed in the fall of 2010. Start-ing as only Sean Brown ‘11, Billy Barton ‘11, and Peter Melichar ‘11, they were soon joined by Aaron Mahoney ‘13, and Maikel Ragel-Wilson ‘12, who were as talented as the rest. “In my native language, Ratone means rat,” Wilson, who was born in Spain. They didn’t name their band off of the word “rat”, however. They named it after the train station in Philmont, New Mexico where they started on one of their boy scout adventures. Over the past few months they’ve started putting themselves out there, recording songs, and setting up perfor-mances so people can go and see what they’re all about. At some performances

Five Guys, Paige BreithauptStaff Writer

One Bandthey sell cds and t-shirts as well. It’s obvi-ous they’re trying extremely hard to get out and show everyone what they can do and how hard they work to get what they want. They’re either practicing, recording, or performing. It’s safe to say that Ratone is a major, if not the most important thing

they have going on right now. The band also has new help to con-tinue towards their future. “We have a new manager, Matt Rosen-berg, who is pretty much a tank at getting

us shows,” said Barton. They all believe that they have the po-tential to become famous, but realistically, they don’t think they will. Traverse City is a small town, and not many people become famous here. It’s quite clear though, that if they keep up what they’re doing, one day someone will notice their talent and take control of what they have. Ratone has fun doing what they’re doing, famous or not. “When you’re up on stage it’s an inde-scribable feeling,” said Brown. They might not be able to describe it,

but when you’re at one of their perfor-mances you can tell that’s exactly where they want to be. Not many artists have the ability to keep their audiences locked and listening so intently, but Ratone does just that. “It takes a ton of work,” said Barton.

When you’re up on stage, it’s an inde-scribable feeling.

””-Sean Brown ‘11

RA

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EPhoto

s: R. Barnes.

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