On March 1st, 2000, the Black History Committee held an assembly to celebrate Black History Month. It was quite entertaining, with rarely a dull moment.
The assembly began with a tribute to Bob Marley, which allowed for a great deal of enthusiasm and energy to be displayed by both the crowd and the members of the committee.
The Bob Marley tribute was followed by a display of a wide variety of dances, which filled the room with even more life and excitement. Fitzroy Brae and MacNews' own John Papamarko then performed their wonderful version of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song", which sounded amazing and the crowd responded to their talent with loud cheering and excitement.
Martin Luther King Jr. was then spoken of, and clips from his famous "I have a dream" speech were played.
This was followed by another segment of the lively music of Bob Marley.
However, the crowd was very impressed by the amazing display of dancing which occured next.
In the second assembly, Nigel Birch preformed several impressive dances, which were truly examples of dancing artistry. These dances caused the energy of the crowd to reach a previously unparallelled level.
Continuing to amaze the crowd, a group of breakdancers then performed, showing their amazing skills at dancing in an almost humanly impossible fashion.
The assembly concluded with a video of the song "One Love" being played, as the committee invited members of the audience to join them on the stage in an emotional show of unity of all races.
In all, the assembly was very entertaining and energetic. However, many felt that some vital aspects of black history were left out. I personally feel that in order to truly celebrate black history, the committee should have included other important black leaders in a larger capacity.
However, in the short amount of time that the committee had to display their assembly, they managed to make it very entertaining and interesting. It was an assembly that will not soon be forgotten.
(Upset that my name was written in italics last week) Stoopid Head
A six year old consciously takes the gun and shoots another six year old. If he was a twenty year old, there would be no question as to how he should be punished. But a six year old? Do we build a small, child-sized electric time-out chair? Do we throw him in prison for twenty-five years? Do we punish his parents? That was the subject of the debate on Wednesday, March the 1st.
There is no doubt that the parents are responsible for the upbringing of the child, but are we too hasty to put the blame on someone? The person who took the gun, made a conscious decision to pull the trigger is the six-year old kid. Personally, I can't think of a better word to describe that kid other than a monster. Did only his parents create this monster?
I'm inclined to believe that the blame is on the entire society. The media (which portrays violence), and the uncaring government officials who had permitted for a child to live and be raised in the house where drugs and guns were rampant, are to blame. Before we are too hasty to say that the parents are responsible for having guns in the house, let us not forget the relaxed gun control laws.
Let's take his mother away (the father is already in prison after all), let's put this kid in foster home or orphanage, let's put him in a rehabilitation facility.
However this only sweeps the dust under the carpet. The underlying problems of our society are still present. Remember, guns don't kill people, people kill people.
AK-47
OR
How I Learned to Stop Worrying And Love Maxim
As a media-savvy feminist, I should really hate Maxim magazine. The publication, targeted at men ages 18-35,features scantily clad young women (mostly well-known models and actors) posing provocatively on its glossy pages. I really should hate it. But I don't.
I first came across the magazine in the home of a male friend. I casually flipped through it, finding the photographs laughably sexist. And yet, as I began to read the articles and jokes, I became intrigued. Hooked, even. My female friends and I would openly mock new issues as they would appear in the homes of our estrogen-deprived compadres, and yet we would always pore over them.
Me: Just look at the uber-skeletal physique of Lara Flynn Boyle. Somebody feed that woman!
Female friend: Disgusting. We're under such pressure to be thin as it is. Clearly this magazine shamelessly perpetuates the beauty myth.
Me: Clearly. And that woman there? I'm sorry, but those couldn't possibly be real.
Female friend: Well, obviously not. Preposterous.
Me: Cough.
Female friend: Can we read the jokes now?
Me: Yay.
Despite the fact that we hid behind a facade of contempt, the truth soon became obvious. We were closet Maxim fans.
Why? The simple truth is, it's different from all other publications I've ever seen. Where else have you seen a comparison between Obi-Wan Kenobi and OB Tampons, entitled Obi VS OB? The articles are intelligent (unlike those in most women's magazines) and give you glimpses into the male psyche. And, oh, the jokes. The wonderful, wonderful jokes. Yes. Maxim grows on you, indeed.
And you know what? Why shouldn't it? I was weaned on 'Teen and YM and Vogue, magazines which sexualize women just as much as Maxim does, but they sell themselves as monthly bibles as to what women should aspire to be. Maxim , on the other hand, is basically just male fantasies in print. Maxim wants its readers to think that, if they were to, say, meet a Maxim girl on the street, she would actually consider having sex with him. (Interesting sidenote: In the online version of Maxim, it features a "Girlfriend of the Day". A recent "girlfriend" was Lara Croft of Tomb Raider fame. The woman is a character in a computer game. She's pixelated, for crying out loud! ) Sex sells, and it is blatantly honest about what it is selling, rendering it relatively harmless, really.
What is truly harmful to young women are magazines like Jane, which have the nerve to call themselves feminist when they feature beauty tips, ridiculously expensive clothing, emaciated models, and tips on how to snag a man.
The moral of the story, kids? Read all magazines critically. Don't let them dictate what you should wear, what you should look like, and how you should act. But, if you're suffering from burnout and just need to shut off your brain, Maxim.....is.........good.
Sofi, who has done more sleeping than reading during her reading week
Week 2
I have some bad news, folks. My pet Chinchilla Raoul has run away. We had a heated debate about 19th century German politics and he said that Fredrich Engels was the real brains behind the Communist Manifesto. I screamed and screamed and then he started crying. I felt horrible and said I was sorry but he just gathered up his things and left. I think he went to stay with his aunt. I miss him and really want him back.
This is an open plea to my Chinchilla...
Raoul, come back home baby. You've made your point, I need you back. You complete me.
Clarence
The Leafs lost Wednesday night in a game against Pavel Bure and the Florida Panthers. Darcy Tucker got some good beatings, Steve Thomas was missing in the line up because of an injured toe, and Curtis Joseph absolutely lost it, when one of the Panthers decided to crash his net space. Poor Pat, if he was there, he'd be having a heart attack. Conversely, Alyn McCauley must have played his best game this season, both defensively and offensively, by scoring the Leafs' lone goal. However, the worst scenario was that the refs must have been either blind or fixing the game. Panthers' Worrell sucker punched Darcy Tucker in the first period, about a foot away from the ref, and no call was made.
The Leafs need to shape up their skills, especially in the powerplay department, if they're going to succeed in the play-offs. On Saturday, they face the Habs who have just acquired Devils' Sheldon Souray, in a trade that went in last night. This is evidence that the Canadians are willing to make the moves to win, and if the Leafs would like to do the same, they'd better start putting in a great deal of effort. We wouldn't want a disappointment like last year against the Sabres.
Starchild
Bloodflowers
The Cure
Elektra Records
****
This is the first full studio album released by The Cure since "Wild Mood Swings" in 1996. Wild Mood Swings was a radio album, its poppiness gave DJ's half a dozen songs to choose from for airplay. It spawned such hits as "Mint Car" and "The 13th."
Bloodflowers is the polar-opposite of that. The Cure have done away with the horn section and focussed mainly on vocals and melody. Without a single being played heavily on radio or a video being exhausted on Muchmusic, Robert Smith et al. have opted to release an album much like their 1989 masterpiece "Disintegration". A record that has to be experienced from beginning to the end, and not in three minute intervals between commercial breaks of S Club 7.
The name itself, "Bloodflowers" illustrates the duality of the record. Raw yet sensitive. Beautiful yet harsh. This is truly an album for Cure fans, dark but melodic, just the way we like it.
I said to my sister in jest, "Hey, The Cure released an album and nobody noticed!"
It was funny at the time, but now I realize, maybe that's what they wanted.
John
It's over! No more research, no more seven-day school weeks, no more STRESS! The word that can always be associated with the Law trials is "stress," and nothing but the worst kind of stress.
Once it was over, you could see the relief on everyones face. Even if sometimes it was released in some pretty odd ways.
"NO MORE CAFFIENE, NO MORE COKE, NO MORE COFFEE FOR ANYONE!" could be heard, in a most serious tone, echoeing throughout the hallway the weekend before the trial.
"It's crazy what the Law trials do to some people," as stated by another head lawyer.
In the Truscott case, we saw a great battle between the two sides with the prosecution coming out on top. If you saw the closing statements, you could really feel Dennis' speech hit the jury. There was this great feeling of satisfaction when the charge of guilty was laid down by the jury. On the other hand, it must have been really horrible being on the defence at the time. You could really see how upset they were. It's hard to imagine how it must have felt to lose such a battle after so much work.
Even though there were a few outbursts, and some chairs being kicked across the courtroom, for the most part, the students involved handled the stress and workload exceptionally well.
I would just like to say congratulations to those who put in a most valiant effort into researching prior to the cases.
As Mr Scott said in his opening remarks prior to both cases, "We've proven again that high school students are capable of handling such an enormous responsibility."
A Spectator
Every Thursday after school a group of 8 teams and approximately 40 people assemble for ball hockey games. For the players, it's about as close to a professional league as they will get. The bleachers are filled every week with supporters. Every single team and player wants to win as bad, if not worse, then professional athletes.
Last night the regular season finished with a bang. Tempers were running wild.
The first major incident occurred when a player from Team Kouratz, who wishes to remain unidentified, went wild. He slashed a player on the opposing team, and then slammed his stick on the ground, shattering it into a bunch of pieces.
The second major incident occurred when a player from Team Pure Energy, who also wishes to remain unidentified, challenged about 5 people on the bench to a fight while he was participating in a game.
Although this league doesn't encourage anger and violence, the players are just letting all their emotions out and doing whatever they can to win. Professional athletes play for money. We play for pride.
Kidz