The Bigelow BeatVolume 17, Issue 1

What’s Inside:

The Environmental Crisis (Page 11)

A Great Camera: $20! (Page 13)

New Clubs at Bigelow (Page 6)

Guitar Hero vs. Rock Band?

(Page 14)

November 2008

As many United States citizens know, the 2008 election is one of the most important ones in an extremely long time. If one is following the New York Times or other current news sources, then they would know that the economy is in a huge crisis. Not only is there a financial crisis and that the stock market is going down the tubes, but also there is the matter of U.S. citizens’ health insurance.

Both Barack Obama (Dem. Senator IL) and John McCain (Rep. Senator AZ) claim to have ways to fix the economy, yet their views are very different. However, in the outside world, the odds of Obama winning over McCain are 9 to 5.

The election is so significant that many Newton teachers feel they need to teach their classes about it.

According to Ms. Summa (8F Social Studies teacher), her “classes are working on a long term assignment (8 weeks)” that is an “Election Scrap-book”. Outside of school, these “students are collecting and analyzing articles about the candidates running in the election.” As if that isn’t enough, Ms Summa’s classes also have online Moodle discussions “about political issues that the candidates are dealing with this election.” When she was asked by Bigelow Beat staff for how long she’d been doing the election scrapbook she replied, “I’ve worked in eighth grade at Bigelow for eleven years and eight of those years I’ve done the scrapbooks.” Her reason for doing the scrapbooks was, “I don’t have a lot of class time to do the election, I have to follow the curriculum for Social Studies, so I thought this was a good way for students to learn independently and get involved. I feel like kids learn something when they’ve done it.” continued page 2

In the past two months, students at Bigelow Middle School have experi-enced a lot of changes. Some of them are academic — more homework, new classes. Sixth graders got used to an entirely new school. However, all people in the Bigelow community underwent the change of the new schedule.

In previous years, Bigelow was run on a six day schedule, with seven peri-ods. Fourth period was divided into three twenty-five minute blocks, during two of which an elective would be chosen, and the remaining would be lunch with a mix from students in all grades.

Changes that have occurred include switching from four terms to three trimesters, switching to grade lunches, and removing homebase period, among others.

The new schedule was implemented for a variety of reasons. One of the reasons was so that students at all four middle schools could have equal learning opportunities. For example, some schools offered drama as an FAA rotation, and others, including Bigelow, did not (Bigelow sixth graders now have drama in their rotation, along with music, technology, art, and health and wellness).

In addition, the uncommon schedules between the schools prevented “effi-cient and economical use of our staff,” according to Principal Todd Harrison. For example, although the two schools Brown and Oak Hill are literally side-by-side, the two could not share a part-time teacher because of schedule differences.

Finally, middle school education has been being rethought in the past two years because teachers wanted to be able to implement learning experiences for students that would prepare them for the twenty-first century. “Having a com-mon schedule for all four middle schools was the first step necessary to begin to make this happen,” mentioned Principal Harrison. continued on page 7

In the past 8 years, the price of everything from oil to movie tickets has skyrocketed. “It has made me think more carefully on what I am spending my money on,” said Karen Buonagurio, mother of Nora Buonagurio (8F).

Simple items such as bananas are suffering from higher prices. One reason why the prices of bananas are going up is because the gas prices are going up and fuel is important for the truckers that bring bananas and other fruit to the supermarket. In September of this year, they were 63 cents per pound. Back in September of 2000, they were 50 cents pound. Other basic foods have been af-fected, too.

White bread has had an unstable price. Ten years ago, white bread was only 85 cents per loaf. Since then, the prices throughout the years have varied. In 2000, bread was 91 cents. It then raised to $1.04 in 2003. In 2008, it has gotten to $1.28. Although it was mainly going up it had a slight decrease in December of 2003.

One good example of price fluctuation is beef. Over the last 10 years, the price of ground beef has risen over a dollar. In September of 1998, beef cost $1.80 per pound. By September of 2008, the price was up to $2.98.

The fluctuation of food prices has certainly been noticed my local restau-rants. “It has influenced our business because we had to raise prices of products that had milk and sugar. It influenced me because I had to be more aware of the milk I waste,” said the owner/manager of JP Licks ice cream in Newton Centre.

Unlike JP Licks, Cold Stone Creamery hardly raised their prices. According to the manager, “We try to keep the price the same...we don’t change the prices on the product unless it changes drastically.”

The manager of Flippin’ Burgers said, “We don’t have as much profit right now. We have already changed the price once.” “They change accord-ing to the market price,. We didn’t change the prices. If the prices keep go-ing up, we will have to charge more, but the prices are starting to go down,” said the manager of Jumbo Seafood. The manager of sabra restaraunt said “It [price fluctuation] has certainly affected the business. So we had to raise the prices on the menu. So some people can’t afford it.” continued on page 7

The Price is Rightby Hilary Brumberg and Jay Feinstein

New Schedule:Pass or Fail?

by Audrey Derobert

The Amazing Race: The Road to the White House is Almost Finished

by Hilary Brumberg and Helen Maunsell

$ $

Presidential Election 2008Page 2 November, 2008

Continued from front page

In Mr. Labrache’s seventh grade social studies class, students are also learning about the election. Cluster 7D students will be participating in projects includ-ing “election web quest covers” and collages.

When asked if she thought teaching about politics and the election at school was good, Ms. Summa replied emphatically “YES- It is important for students to be exposed to current political events, especially in regards to the election, because in four to six years most middle school students will be able to register to vote, and in a democracy it will be important for everybody to participate!” Mr. Labrache agrees with Ms. Summa. “Students are future decision makers; [they] need to learn now while it is [a] safe environment,” he said.

Most of the Bigelow students in eighth grade replied “yes” when asked if they thought that the elec-tion projects were worthwhile. However, a couple of students replied no to this, with the explana-tion of the project being a little too long. Brian Goldfinger (8F) replied, “No, the project is boring,” when he was asked.

Even teachers who are unrelated to Social Studies are mention-ing the election. Derek Yerardi (8F English teacher) often brings up the presidential elec-tion debates in his classes.

But what really was the ques-tion was what the students of Big-elow actually liked about the project. “I just like the idea of a scrapbook. It makes it a lot more interesting than just doing a bunch of worksheets for homework,” said Christine Connor (8F). Melanie Trainer (8F) agrees with Christine on this, “I like the ar-tistic parts of it.” Anna Nemetz (8F) liked the project for another reason. “It’s making kids more aware of the election, and giving them the choices to voice their opinions.” Brian Gold-finger said, “It’s a good learning ex-perience. I’m learning a lot about the presidential election.” Eli Sadovik (8F) thought it was a good learning experience as well. “I learned many things, both directly and indirectly. She [Ms. Summa] told us about how

the voting system works, and how the president is not picked by the popular vote. Indirectly, through the

moodle and election scrapbook, she taught me about both the candidates’ views on a number of hotly debated topics. I have learned that I do enjoy politics very much. It is very important for one to be informed, and these projects have done just that. It is not imperative to be informed now, but it still is a very good idea to be informed. I’ll quote Pericles, “One who is not involved in state affairs is not an evil person, but a useless one.”

The majority of the Bigelow students said that they would vote for Barack Obama, and many of them had reasons behind their choice. Most agreed that he would do a better job with following through with what he claims he would do

if elected president. “His idea of sharing the wealth would help many poor, unstable families settle down,” Eyob Gizachew (7D) comments on Barack Obama. Some students dislike McCain because they feel he changes his mind. When asked who she thought she would vote for, based on what she has learned, Ame-lia Lomer (8E) said, “I would vote for [Barack] Obama because he has really good ideas on health care, and though people call [John] McCain a maverick, he has the same ideas as [George W.] Bush. If McCain really wants to win, he should stop being Bush and just be himself.” Caroline Ball (8E) also states that she would vote for Barack Obama if she could. “Obama’s ideas are well thought

out; he has more information to back them up than McCain.” However, Caroline can also speak from the per-

spective of some-one who will vote for McCain. “My brother is voting for McCain. I don’t re-ally know, but since he’s in the military, he probably feels like the person who’s controlling the military should have a military perspective.”

When Chris-tine Connor was asked if her deci-sion to vote for Obama had been

affected by the assignments she replied, “No, not at all!” Melanie Trainer however, replied, “Before, I was kind of in the middle about who I would vote for, but now I’m definitely for Obama.” Anna Nem-etz merely said, “I can’t vote, but I would vote for Obama, obviously.” It is obvious for Anna because if one cared to go on the Presidential Election 2008 Moodle, they would notice that most “postings” were anti-McCain and pro-Obama.

Julia Schiantarelli (8E) agrees that Barack Obama is the best contender. She would vote for him “because McCain’s an old geezer and Palin is [a] plain old retarded.”

Conversely, a few of students who were asked said they would vote for John McCain. Melody McGlame (8E) said she would vote for him because, “I feel like

he has better reasons for things. He wants to stay in Iraq and help build the economy and Obama just wants to get out Iraq.” Melody’s parents, however, are voting for Obama.

Eli Sadovik supports John McCain too. “I would vote for John McCain, because I am a conserva-tive, and on a lot of topics John McCain is, too. However, there are a few topics I agree with Obama on,” he said.

With only a few hours to go until the future president and vice president of the United States are elected, the country’s fate is hanging on the line. Will the U.S. stay in Iraq for another five years... Or will the country’s troops leave Iraq and arrive back home in a few months?

The Amazing Raceby Hilary Brumberg and Helen Maunsell

2008 Election Moodle

Learn About the Candidatesby Amanda Hills

This election has been one of the most competitive presidential races. The two candidates do not agree on many issues such as the war in Iraq, health insurance, the rescue plan for the economic cri-sis, and many more crucial topics. Both candidates are competing to win the American people’s trust; something they have been work-ing towards for a while.

McCain posted a quote on his official website, “I am fully pre-pared to be commander in chief ... I don’t need on-the-job training.” Clearly he feels very confident in the job he would do as president. The McCain-Palin campaign is packing in rallies up until the very last day. They are both scheduled to appear in multiple states in one day, trying to scrape up as many votes as possible in the remaining day left in their campaign. Mc-Cain and Palin are doing their best to win this election, but it does not look like they will.

The latest poll results (by usaelectionpolls.com) have shown that Barack Obama currently has 334 electoral votes while John McCain has only 186. However, the Bradley effect has to be taken into consideration. In a 1982 election, the polls showed that an African American candidate, Tom Bradley, should win the Los Ange-les mayoral election by a land-slide. However, when reporters announced that he had not won, everyone was shocked. Experts say that his surprising loss was because even though people may say [when polled] that they are not opposed to an African-American candidate, does not mean that when they get into the voting booth they will still vote for who they said they would. This is now called the “Bradley Effect” and is taken into consideration when an African-American is running for a major position. On Obama’s official website he has the quote, “I’m asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington......I’m asking you to believe in yours.”

Many celebrities have chosen to vote for Barack Obama. Some singers are so opposed to John McCain that they refuse to let their songs be played at his rallies. Bon Jovi and Heart are among the singers and bands that were upset by their songs being played at the Republican nominee’s rallies. Jackson Browne even sued John McCain for not asking his permis-sion. Kanye West, Stevie Wonder,

NewsPage 3 November, 2008

“With a clamor of bells that set the swallows soaring, the Festival of Summer came to the city of Om-elas!” recites a man kneeling onstage with one arm outstretched. And so commences an one-man act in which Steven Kidd, professional actor and camp director, employs singing, dancing, and story-telling to deliver a stirring performance relating to AIDS.

On Friday, October 17th, Big-elow’s eighth graders filed into the auditorium at the end of the day for this almost two-hour long presenta-tion

In the first monologue, Steven Kidd recites the opening of the story “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” by Ursula K. LeGuin, alternating between dancing and gesturing to describe a scene in the Utopian city of Omelas.

Suddenly, he stops, dons a baseball cap and transforms into a lisping seven-year old boy, Cyrus who recounts his camp experience amid the laughter of the students in the audience. Cyrus describes his friendship with camp-mate Phillip and how they mutually gained from the support and presence of the other.

Carina Wallack (8F) said, “It was amazing how one person can portray so many different charac-ters.”

Here, Steven Kidd, returns to his recitation of the short story, con-tinuing in his narrative of the lives in Omelas.

But he soon assumes the role of an aged Cyrus, now thirteen years old and blind from HIV, who relates the events of his life as his stepfather mows the lawn.

Then the voice of Cyrus’s voice fades and the mood both onstage and off becomes sober. Steven Kidd describes the one inkling in the city

of Omelas, the suffering of one child responsible for the content of many others. “Some of them understand why, and some do not, but they all understand that their happiness, the beauty of their city . . . depend wholly on this child’s abominable misery.”

Letting this sentence resonate in the auditorium, Steven Kidd reaches the final chapter in the tale of Cyrus. This time, it is his stepfather, Harry, who speaks over Cyrus’s grave, sometimes grinning and sometimes sniffing. Many students cried during the scene. Ella Cohen (8F) said, “It was really moving and he just did a really amazing job with the acting and drawing the audience.”

He then narrates the ending of “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”, in which people affected by the sight of the miserable child si-lently walk away to an unimaginable place and literally steps off the stage to conclude the performance.

Steven Kidd said, “These are stories that mean a lot to me and come from people I care about.

Eleven years ago, he became a counselor at Camp AmeriKids, a camp for children infected with the HIV virus. Within the first week, he formed a relationship with a boy named Victor, who shared with him stories from his life. Soon after leaving the camp, Victor died and Steven Kidd typed up many of these “as a way to keep them alive”. Two weeks later, his sister read him the story “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”, which immediately sparked ideas on “what parallels can be drawn” between the fictional tale and the real-life tale. Thus, the project was born.

Since 2001, he has performed this in schools, professional the-aters, and universities. Steven Kidd

said, “It’s amazing how something so small can have such a profound impact on the direction of my life. I think it [the counseling experience] has made me, hopefully, more open. I like to think of myself as somebody who now questions all assumptions. It has taught me a lot about working with children. I feel like I am grate-ful for everyday of my life because it’s short and not everybody gets that far.”

Eli Sadovnik (8F) said, “I was really unhappy during it and now I am more aware of what people with HIV and AIDS go through.”

Mr. Yerardi (8F English) said, “I’ve seen it [the performance] quite a few times and I like it a lot. He [Steven Kidd] is a great actor, but the story itself has very strong themes. The lessons he gives about AIDS and how people should care for each other is very strong. I liked when he switches back to the boy, mainly be-cause it’s funny. I think it’s important that he becomes the boy so the audi-ence can connect to him and feel sad about what happens. At times I felt sad, but I also felt comforted because it’s nice to know that people care for each other and have not lost that sense of compassion. I sometimes worry about that.”

In his concluding speech to the 8th graders, Steven Kidd summarizes the message of his presentation, “This performance is about looking to the periphery of our visions and look to see people with differences. If each of us contribute fifteen min-utes to the community, then we are offering over a day of service to pay back our community.”

Sheryl Crow, and many other artists have put out a CD to raise money for Barack Obama’s campaign.

Messages have been sent out to many people urging them to vote, however, many people don’t know who to vote for. An easy to use website was created in order to give people an idea of who they should vote for based on what ideas they agree with and think are the most important. The website is votehelp.com and has already assisted many Americans. November 4th is quickly ap-proaching, and soon we will find out who our new president is.

Steven Kidd Visits Eighth Graders at Bigelowby Christina Chen

Rates below are listed per issue.COLOR ADVERTISEMENTS1/2 page (10” wide, 8” tall): $2001/4 page (5” wide, 8” tall): $1501/8 page (5” wide, 4” tall): $100Business Card (3” wide, 2” tall): $60

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Advertise in 4 issues and get the 5th one free!Upcoming publication dates:Dec. 22 Feb. 5 March 26 May 7 June 13

Contact us at bigelow_beat@newton.k12.ma.usChecks payable to Bigelow Middle School, 42 Vernon St., Newton MA 02458

$upport the Bigelow Beat!

Top:A Morph Of John Mc-Cain and Sarah Palin

Bottom:Uncle Sam

Both from flickr.com

School BriefsPage 4 November, 2008

Every year, Bigelow Middle School’s Drama Club presents a fall play to which all students and adults are welcome. Past produc-tions include “Murder on the Nile” and “A Series of Short Plays”. This year, the club director, Ezra Flam, has selected “Twelfth Night,” a play by William Shakespeare.

The performance is scheduled for Thursday, November 20th through Saturday, November 22nd, beginning at 7:30 p.m. in the audi-torium. Tickets are five dollars.

In the play, a young woman named Viola is shipwrecked with her twin brother Sebastian, who disappears and is assumed to be dead. Viola then disguises herself as a man named Cesario and enters the service of Duke Orsino as a messenger between him and his lover, Lady Olivia. Lady Olivia, however, falls for Viola in her masculine form, who secretly fan-cies Lord Orsino. Then Sebastian, who after all is alive, arrives and the plot further complicates with mistaken identities, a key theme in many of Shakespeare’s comedies. When Viola and Sebastian appear in front of everybody at the same time, they create great confusion. Eliza Burr (8th) describes the plot as, “basically a love triangle multiplied.”

The main cast includes Anna Nemetz (8F) as Viola, Jesse Got-tensteiner (8F) as Duke Orsino,

Eliza Burr (8E) as Lady Olivia, and Audrey Derobert (8E) as Feste, a jester in Lady Olivia’s court.

During rehearsals, the stu-dents often play drama games and learn to memorize lines for the performance.

Anna Nemetz said, “It’s really fun. We get to play lots of games and we get off topic. It’s Shakespeare and it’s hard at first. We had to decipher it and once we did, it was easier. You have to really concentrate and get it word for word because you can’t really improvise since it’s in like a differ-ent language.”

Eliza Burr explains, “Twelfth Night is written in a type of writ-ing called ‘Iambic Pentameter’. This type of writing is written with each line having ten syllables and every other syllable is accented. It’s used for more formal conver-sations, so sometimes characters use it and sometimes they don’t. In our production, look forward to a great opening and a couple of music numbers you will definitely enjoy!”

Ms. Alberts, who also directs drama, said, “I’m very excited about the opening number. The rainstorm [opening number] is amazing. I’m pretty excited about the band. I think it’s been going very well.”

Get Excited For Twelfth Nightby Christina Chen

The morning of September 29th started out as a normal, chilly day at Bigelow Middle School. It was a professional day for teachers, so stu-dents would be leaving at 11:30. It was also a good day to run through bus drills for all grades.

Around 9:30, one of the school secretaries, Susan Migliaccio, answered the phone. On the other end, there was an adult male voice, telling everyone to get everyone out of the building. Right away, Mr. Todd Harrison (Principal) was informed about the threat. Over the loudspeakers, Mr. Harrison prepared everyone for a fire drill. It was the quickest and calmest way to get everyone out of the building.

Shortly after, the firefighters pulled the alarm. At least two fire trucks, three police cars, and the school superintendent arrived at the scene. Ms Hall (7C Math) said that students spent at least 25 minutes outside. “That’s when I knew there was a situation going on,” she said. When the students saw the sirens and lights, they all wanted to know

what was happening. Mr. Spiegel (6AB Social Studies), kept everyone under control by asking them to stay attentive and calm. Ms Mortimer (6AB Math) said that she set an ex-ample for the students of what to do by remaining quiet and patient. Both strategies worked, but the students still wanted to know what was going on. While staff and students waited outside, firefighters and police officers checked the building for any bombs, guns, or other weapons. They told Mr. Harrison to move the students further away from the school, just in case.

After a lot of examining throughout the school, students were finally allowed back in. The school was safe, and they had not, fortu-nately, found anything dangerous. Students went back to their home-rooms, and then continued through their schedule. It seemed like nothing had happened. After a while, the students had forgotten about the threat call. Although some students still wonder...

A Day For Drillsby Melissa Mark

This year, Mix It Up Day will take place on November 13th, during lunch. The teachers that are involved in Mix it Up Lunch are George Swift (8F Science), Mike Smalley (6A Science and Math), Carolyn Mack (8th Guidance Counselor) and Sharon Milinsky (7th Guidance Counselor). They also oversee Project Teamwork and organize various activities which promote respect for human differ-ences.

The organizing teachers and Project Teamwork will number tables 1-12 and give students a number which corresponds with the table. They will sit at the table where their number is located. Because of the schedule change this year, Mix It Up Lunch will be slightly different from previous years. This year, most people will know everyone sitting at their table. This is because lunches this year go by grade. So, chances are, everyone will be familiar with each other already.

Carolyn Mack said “Mix It Up Day gives students a chance to meet new people, become more aware of social boundaries and divisions within the school, and create a more tolerant environment. It can be successful if students do participate and meet new

people outside their group of friends. Mix it Up lunch is supposed to be a time for students to make friends with other students that they didn’t know before. “

Mihaela Manea (8E) had a throrough prediction. “No one actu-ally listens to it, and like, everyone ignored it and this year people are going to do the same and just make up names for themselves so they can sit with their group of friends.”

“Mix It Up Lunch is idiotic and all the more so because no one takes it seriously. Everyone just sits with their friends and lies about their name or birthday and the only effect it has is to seriously mess up orchestra and other 4-block classes. . . (well, maybe not anymore now that the schedule’s changed . . .) Kids will pick who they want to hang out with and no one can change that. I seriously doubt that anyone in the history of time has ever made a new friend at Mix it Up Lunch,” is what Caroline Ellison, a freshman at NNHS said.

Alex Beshansky (8E) had similar opinions. “I don’t like it because I want to sit with my friends.”

Mix It Up At Lunch Day . . . Again?by Catherine Chen

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NewsPage 5 November, 2008

The city of Newton did a lot of different things to celebrate the spooky holiday of Halloween.

One thing that Newton Public Schools did was the Halloween Window Painting Contest. Students got assigned a 20” x 36” space on the outside of a merchant window in Newton’s participating villages. Kids had to bring their own tempera paints, brushes, newspaper, rags, and masking tape. A $10.00 registra-tion fee was required, and students either registered online at www.newtonpride.org or sent in a registra-tion form . Windows were painted on Saturday, October 25th any time between 9 am and 4 pm. Work must

be done by 4 pm. And, there was a special award ceremony with Mayor David B. Cohen at the Mayor’s Press Conference on Tuesday, Octo-ber 28th, 1:30 pm.

Although a lot of kids are going out trick-or-treating, quite a few

aren’t. This candy loving holiday is celebrated differently by many people in Newton and not at all by some. Many people that are religious tend to get offended by Halloween. According to Underwood Elemen-tary School, Halloween is no longer a holiday. Students from Under-

wood, have a lot of feelings towards this change in Holiday. Simon Wolf (7th) said “The reason they did it was because there were parents who kept their kids home from school on Halloween. And, the school replaced Halloween with the Fall Festival,

which was stupid and dumb.” Sam Clark(7D) also said “When I was in 4th grade, the school were getting complaints that there shouldn’t be costumes at school that offended their religion.” So according to these two students, they hated the change. But Josh Gluck (7D) had something

else to say. “Instead of Halloween we did this Fall Festival, which was a really weird way of replacing it. And they substituted the costumes with story day, where the teachers dressed up, but I thought the Fall Festival was better than Halloween.” So, some kids had no problem with this change. But, all we know is, that Halloween is different to everybody at Underwood.

Photos Courtesy of Hilary Brumberg and Jay Feinstein

Students Celebrate Halloween!by Shirley Lin

Sixth Graders Visit Thompson IslandPhotos Courtesy of Mr. Harrison

ClubsPage 6 November, 2008

Throughout the years, Bigelow has always offered a variety of clubs and sports. Old and new, all of these clubs are enjoyed by students. The range of clubs is vast: from Guitar Club, to Computer Aided Design Club, from Environ-ment Club, to Woodworking. From clubs that are actually structured, to clubs that are lax, Bigelow sees much enjoy-ment by students within the EEE program. Here are some examples of such clubs:.

As the bell rings on Thursday at 2:45 and students scurry out of the building, some stay behind. Mr. Spiegel, sixth grade Social Studies teacher transforms his room for a new purpose. Around 6 or 7 kids carry a guitar into his room along with their own amps. Some have never played before, while some have been playing for several years. Some bring in acoustic guitars from the music room, while some bring in electric guitars made by many different companies. “Rock and roll!” Mr. Spiegel announces to the class. The guitar club has come alive.

Emulating the ways of the Grateful Dead” jam session, Mr. Spiegel brings rock and roll into the school. The club revolves around several kids playing guitar in a small group and sharing ideas about new songs that they have written and guitar techniques. The club is a real community, and everyone shows respect for each other’s ideas. This is Mr. Spiegel’s goal for the club.

Mr. Spiegel has run the club since he came to the school in 2004. “A couple of kids wanted to learn guitar, but didn’t want formal lessons.” It is truly not formal: most kids prefer to talk rather than play guitar.

The club isn’t just for expe-rienced players. Newbies to the guitar can show up to the club and learn from their peers. “I’ll teach them their first two or three chords,” says Mr. Spiegel.

There are some plans to expand the club into an “open mic” format. “Kids can come up for 7-10 minutes and play two songs or so.” The club won’t just be for musicians. He plans for it to be a “poetry slam” as well. Don’t expect it to hit Bigelow clubs too soon though: it may not happen.

Guitar club meets in Room 108 on Thursdays after school. “Anyone who likes music...come on down!” Just...don’t play Smoke On the Water. “It’s overplayed.”

Every Monday afternoon in room G07, 7th grade science teacher, Mr. Souza advises a unique group of students who collectively call themselves “The Bigelow Green Team.” Many students like to participate in clubs after school. Many clubs such as the Drama Club and the wood-working club have been happening for a while. The Environmental Club is new.

Students think of new ideas to help Bigelow along with other Newton Schools to go green. Ac-cording to Mr. Souza, “Currently, we are getting organized and we are building the foundation of the new club.” When the club gets started on projects, they will first start managing recycling. Then they will start working some of the ideas that were thought of on the first day of the club such as “find-ing an alternative to the Styrofoam lunch trays used in the cafeteria”.

The club’s latest ambition is to make the Newton Schools have “Meatless Mondays”. If Bigelow’s club gets enough signatures, then every Monday, there will be no meat served as school lunch. Everybody in the school has an opportunity to sign the petition to make this happen. According to the petition, “This means less slaughtered animals which means less breeding ruminant animals. Those farm animals give off methane which are bad for the environment.”

Smile never leaves Mr Souza’s face when he is running the club. He didn’t start this club to earn money. He started it for his own passion for the environment. “It is a current issue and their [the student’s] generation has to solve it.”

Why join the club?Mr. Souza said, “Going green

is very trendy.”

Bigelow Thinks Greenby Jay Feinstein

Guitar Club Rocks (and rolls)!by Alex Feit

At three o’clock on every Monday, a small group of Bigelow students walk to the Newton Com-monwealth Golf Course. They are accompanied by Mr. Roberts, an eighth grade teacher’s assistant, who is the adviser for the club. At the golf course the club meets with a golf pro to work on golf tech-nique.

Golf clubs/teams take place at both Newton North and South High schools. “There was a need to start recreating and building students’ skills for those teams,” Mr. Roberts stated. Currently the Golf Club has “learned and continued to practice proper stance and swing techniques.” Students work on golf skills and build their interest in the sport. During the club students work with a “golf pro” for an hour to work on their basic golf skills.The students especially like “the one on one attention with the golf pro.”

Although the Golf Club is small, only three regular attendees, the sport of golf has gotten a lot of new interest in the U.S. Some might

say that Tiger Woods has triggered an interest in many young players. Tiger Woods is a world-class golfer and a great role model to many.

The sport of golf is known to be a business sport. Between holes players like to talk/network. The golf club is a great way to meet new people, socialize, and hang-out with friends.

The Bigelow golf club is held for an hour, from 3:30-4:30 p.m. on Mondays, at the Newton Com-monwealth Golf Course. A golf pro, and sometimes Mr. Roberts, work on the basic skills of golf. Where to stand in relation to the ball, and different swing techniques are just some of the things taught and practiced.

To join the club students had to sign up with Ms. Myers. Next year, the club is hoping to have more members. Currently, there are ten students who participate, but only three regulars. Ms. Roberts or Ms. Myers can be contacted for more information about the Golf Club.

Golf Club Swings into Actionby Samantha Libraty

As many probably know there aren’t many clubs that are before school. But the Student Council is one of them. Every Wednesday morning from 7:30 to 8:00, the Student Council meets in room 215 on the second floor of the building. Jason Leone (7D math teacher) supervises this fund-raising club.

In the Student Council, students talk about problems that happen around the school and how they can fix them. Some projects from past years were the Holiday Food Drive, Spirit Day, Valentine Day/ Flower Drive, School Cloth-ing, Penny Wars, Toys For Tots Drive, and the Walk for Hunger. Mr. Leone said, “The proceeds from these activities that raise

funds have given gifts to Bigelow (school mascot costume) as well as many worthy causes. Although you do a lot of fun activities in the Student Council, you also learn a lot of things, including being an active member of a community. The Student Council is open to all students. Just have an open mind and have a heart to make Bigelow a better place for everyone. “ Kate Berger (8th grader) said, “I think it’s fun and I also like sharing my ideas about ways to help the school and students. We go over different topics that we think would improve Bigelow in some way. Sometimes we vote on actually acting off an idea.”

Student Councilby Shirley Lin

Students having fun at the Guitar Club Photo by Alex Feit

continued from page 1 However, many students do not like

the new schedule. Ella Cohen (8F) said, “I hate the new schedule!…It’s confus-ing that we go from off team to on team to off team again or weird things like that. It’s just so unorganized.” Caroline Noble (8E) remarked, “[I miss] that you could have three electives instead of two.” Many students had to drop one elective this year.

One aspect that eighth graders seem unanimous on is lunch. “I hate that we have lunch at 12:36 almost every day!” said Waleed Kahn (8F). When asked what she would change about the new schedule, Ella said, “Lunch would be earlier!” “I really hate that we have lunch so late all the time!” Tessa Jones, 8E, agrees. “I think they should change it so that all the grades rotate getting the late

and early lunches.” Last lunch used to end at 12:14 PM. Now, the eighth grad-ers are eating later than that three or four days per week.

Teachers also have strong opinions about the new schedule. “Changing to this schedule to have the four middle schools conform to the same schedule seems unnecessary and overly disrup-tive,” comments Mr. Swift, 8F science teacher. “I very much miss homebase and don’t think that community time is a good substitute at all. My eighth grade students are waiting hungrily for lunch until after 12:30 most days,” he adds.

Mr. Whitman (the school’s technol-ogy teacher), particularly dislikes the new schedule because of the decrease in his class time. On the old schedule, sixth graders met forty-five times per term, and seventh and eighth graders met 30

times per term. Sixth graders’ meeting time has been cut more than in half — a maximum of 21 classes, and usually only 19 (the seventh and eighth grade classes have been cut as well, but not as drasti-cally; they now have a maximum of 27 classes).

Clearly, the new schedule has many problems. “The new schedule will be reviewed and adjusted after this year. The schedule did not produce the model proposed because of the new SMS Chan-cery computer program used for the four middle schools. Staff will have to revisit and evaluate what exactly worked and what didn’t work at the end of the year,” says Mrs. Cyndi Dailey-Smith, Assistant Principal. The SMS Chancery computer program is a computer program which teachers use this year: progress reports, attendance lists, grades, and class lists

are all on it. The difference is that last year, there was no single program for everything.

There are a few redeeming qualities about the new schedule. Mr. Swift says, “I do like having trimesters instead of quarters.” Also, many students are happy with the grade lunches, since they are now able to eat with their friends a the same lunch everyday (unlike last year, where there were students from every grade in the lunches).

“To the average observer the new schedule looks great in theory, but after trying it for one term, we have found that there are still many improvements that need to be made.” Mr. Whitman says. “Hopefully we can all work together to develop a schedule for next year that will address the needs of students and faculty.”

FeaturesPage 7 November, 2008

On November 2nd, 2008, at 2.00 A.M. clocks in the U.S.A are set back an hour. This gives people an extra hour of time in the early morning. Why do we do this? When did it start? Who decided on this? How does this help us?

Daylight savings time happens every year. Clocks in all states in the US, excluding much of Indiana, Arizona and Hawaii, get changed. The dates vary every year, but generally clocks get set forward in April or March and backwards in November or October. In 2008, clocks were set ahead on March 9th and are going to be set back on November 2nd.

The point to Daylight Savings Time is that it

will get the evening started earlier so that it won’t be as dark out in the evenings as it would be with-out DST. As many people already know, the days get shorter in the winter, and nights get longer. DST was created to add more light to the day.

The idea of Daylight Savings Time was originally proposed by Benjamin Franklin a very long time ago. The point of it was to save energy and give people more light later in the evening. Some people think that Daylight savings time saves energy because it causes there to be more sun in the evening. “I think that it getting darker in the evening is negative because there’s no time to go for a run” comments Ms.Cortese (7D English).

“Daylight Savings Time is my favorite time of year” exclaims Christine Connors(8F). “I love it in the spring, but it makes me depressed in the fall” explains Ms.Summa.

In the past Ms.Summa (8F Social Studies) has forgotten to change her clocks. She says “Nothing bad ever happens because it’s usually on a Saturday morning and the news will have the correct time.” Ms.Cohen (6AB English) says that her television automatically switched itself, but other than that she has no problem.

Hopefully no one will have a problem and forget to change their clocks back this year!

Daylights Savings Time: Good or Bad?by Amelia Goldstein

New Schedule: Pass or Fail?by Audrey Derobert

A dollar is now worth less. According to http://data.bls.gov, one dollar in 1998 has the same power as $1.38 in 2008 and one dollar in 1980 has the same power as $2.66 in 2008.

In addition to food, the price of electricity has gone up substantially over the years. 500 kilowatts cost only $23.64 in 1979. By December of the same year, it had gone up to $26.38. In 1986, electricity cost a little over $40 per 500 kilowatts and by 1994, it was over $48. The price went down to $46.40 in 1998. Now electricity costs over $66 per 500 kilowatts.

On the thought of higher electricity prices Danielle Handler (8F) said “People will be more conservative, but it is bad for people that don’t have a lot of money.”

Stamp prices are also affected by inflation. Due to high gas prices, it costs more for vehicles to drive, so it costs more to deliver letters and packages. The stamp prices mirrors what is spent at the pump.

At the beginning of this year, stamp prices were changed to 42 cents. Ten years ago, stamps were ten cents cheaper. That is just for one simple stamp. Business’ send hundreds of packages every day that require many more stamps and cost much more to ship than a standard letter.

The prices of colleges have also been rising. According to the College Board website, the prices of annual admission can be as much as $1,404 more than last year. Now some colleges cost $30,000 or sometimes even more per year. According to Alex Beshansky (8E) colleges are important and “it will be very hard to pay for one.”

Lastly, gas prices have been going up. Ac-cording to GasBuddy.com, “The USA consumes 400 million gallons of gasoline every day. This red hot demand for gas has pushed gas prices to record highs. Massachusetts gas prices often vary signifi-cantly. In many areas, fuel prices can vary by 20-30 cents per gallon or more within a very small area.

This makes it even more important for motorists in Massachusetts to shop around to find the best deal on fuel.” More recently, gas prices have gone down since there is a less demand for it because of the economic crisis.

All of this led to the economic crisis. When real estate prices began to drop, the crisis started. Then, all of the financial instruments that were created using mortgages on home loans lost substantial value and it all when down hill from there.

“We are the most successful country in the world so its very bad that the economy is doing bad because then, every other country’s economy does bad and it already started affecting them,” Alex Beshansky.

“It doesn’t effect me now but it will soon,” an eighth grader who wanted to remain anonymous said.

Eat a healthy breakfast! A lot of people think they eat one , but that might not be true. In the summer you probably had a good seized breakfast that filled you up till lunch. In the school year it’s very important that you eat in the morning because many people have late lunches. If you don’t eat breakfast you will start loosing weight. Even though some kids want to stay skinny skipping breakfast is not the way. Also if you want to get good grades breakfast will help you. When you skip breakfast it gets hard for you to think about school work because you are constantly thinking about

lunch and your hunger. You become grumpy and you aren’t enjoying your day. Breakfast is important!

A healthy breakfast has to contain different foods from 3 food groups. You can choose from the 5, which are: Fruit, Vegetables, Grains, Dary, and Protein.

Make sure not to eat sweets for breakfast because they give you a short amount of energy that runs out really fast and you are left tyred till lunch time. Well, an example of a good breakfast would be: a fruit, bagel, milk and hard boiled eggs. An-other example would be juice, cereal

and cheese. Also bread, peanut butter and yogurt. Those are all examples of an excellent, fast and easy to make breakfasts.

Now you might wonder this question, does the Bigelow community have a healthy breakfast? Well after interviewing 3 students Nina Puetzer, Gina Ferolito and Zoey their answers were really similar. They all try to have a healthy breakfast, but it’s not always possible because the school bus come early. Before it comes you have to do a lot of things. When asked what makes up a good healthy break-fast Nina said, “ Well you might have

grain, dairy and fruit”. Gina and Zoey both said that “Well, we think that two food groups is enough.”In the morning unfortunately they have time for only 2 food groups. Cindy Yang always tries to have a healthy breakfast, and she succeeds most of the time. “ You should have 3 food groups!’ She says.Bigelow students try to have a healthy breakfast, but it’s not always possible, but that’s OK as long as you eat the daily amount of every food group through out the whole day.

The Price is Rightby Hilary Brumberg and Jay Feinstein

Eat a Healthy Breakfast!by Liza Layer

Page 8 Page 9

New Teachers at Bigelow

Another new staff member in our Bigelow community is Makeeda Brooks, the METCO counselor. The METCO program is a group of students who live in Boston and get bused in to Bigelow. There are around thirty students in the METCO program here at Bigelow.

Coming from a Boston Public School she feels that Bigelow “is like a big family”. She also thinks that the population here at Bigelow is a lot more diverse and she feels very comfortable with that. At the school in Boston she was a social work coordinator and counseled students individually and in groups. She even worked in the crisis men-toring program.

Growing up, she wanted to be in a helping profession like a physical therapist or social worker and she always wanted to be with children. Now her childhood dream is accomplished, she is in a helping profession with children, counseling students with their middle school problems. When asked, she said that being a METCO counselor is counseling students but also having

a positive and encouraging attitude. She believes that being a METCO counselor requires,”being open and a good listener, understanding the METCO program and understand-ing students and their experiences”. She became a METCO counselor after being a METCO student and earning both a Bachelor’s degree at Virginia Union University and Master’s degree here at Wheelock college, both in social work.

Bigelow, in her opinion, is a lot more supportive than her previous school, “In my old school I was the only person working with these things, now the guidance counselors also help.” During her short time at Bigelow she already met some of the staff but mostly the guidance counselors and not many teachers. “I really like the diversity in the staff, men and women, different ages and races.” Mrs. Brooks is exited about the upcoming year at Bigelow. “I’m in a new, more sup-portive environment, so I am very much looking forward to this year.” Overall she likes Bigelow at lot. “Everyone is nice and including. I feel very welcomed.”

Ms. Brooks Eases Into The Lives of Metco Students

By Yarden Gavish

Jason Souza has been teaching at Bigelow Middle School for two years. He teaches Biology and Life Science for cluster 7C. He also runs the Tennis Club and Environmental Club.

Jason Souza said that he went to seven colleges, but he only seemed to remember five; California State Long Beach, San Francisco State University, Merced College, El Camino College, and Long Beach City. Jason Souza has more than one job. He works at a restaurant near Fenway Park that he was resistant to name.

Mr.Souza says that his favorite part of teaching is the kids, even though, according to him, it’s “cheesy.” His best experience as a teacher has been “when

it clicks for a kid.” He doesn’t like see-ing bad behavior in a student, but loves education and learning.

When asked why he came to Bigelow Middle School he said “Kelly Jeffers made me do it.” He decided to become a teacher in general for “the benefits-I needed a job.”

Mr.Souza runs the Environmental Club because “ I wanted to hug trees.” He claims to be super good at tennis, which is why he started the Tennis Club.

Mr.Souza would also like to add to “Vote NO on proposition 1.”

“Kelly Jeffers Made Me Do It”

By Amelia Goldstein

Since she’s new this year one may not know her, but she is hard working and strives to make math fun for kids. Her name is Mrs.Mercado and she’s the new 8E math teacher.

Although Mrs. Mercado is new to the school she isn’t new to the area, since she acquired her mas-ters in education from Cambridge College. Before that however, she majored in Marine Biology. She decided to pursue a career in educa-tion when she realized, “It turns out I actually like math better than Marine Biology, and was better at it.”

When asked what she enjoyed about her job she responded, “I like kids and watching them learn. I think they are the future.” Kids aren’t the only things she enjoys though, because she told me that, “The faculty here is helpful, easy to work with...”

Mrs. Mercado, who has been working with children since she was 16 and was a swim instructor, also talked about how warmly she was welcomed into Bigelow. She was introduced to Bigelow when she saw that a job opening was here and automatically went to a job interview here. After the interview everyone thought she would be a good fit for Bigelow.

Before coming to work at Bigelow Mrs. Mercado worked at an all girls Catholic high school named Mt. Saint Joseph. Mrs. Mer-cado feels that compared to her old school Bigelow has more diversity and likes Bigelow better because of this.

Sometimes it takes an outsider to show you how good something is.

Former Swim Instructor is Now Teaching Math At BigelowBy Gina Ferolito

Even though she is new, Courtney Rau, Assistant Principal of Student Services and Inclusion Facili-tator here at Bigelow, is hard at work giving extra help to students. She works with the student services staff at the school, including special educa-tion, guidance, Title 1, and METCO as well as Mr. Harrison and student’s parents. As Inclusion Facilitator, she works with teaching assistants for certain students. “The simplest way to describe it is like being a store man-ager; I make sure that the people who work in those departments have what they need to do the best job they can, and I help them find other resources when and if they need more help,” says Ms. Rau.

Ms. Rau has high expectations for her future. She hopes to, eventually, become a special education director for a whole district. In fact, this is why she came to Bigelow. “This was a good step for me to take. Bigelow seemed like a great school at the time, and I was looking forward to having more responsibility and working in this community,” she says.

Courtney Rau first heard about Bigelow through an ad in a news-paper. She soon sent in her resume. Her first interview was somewhat intimidating, with thirteen people in

the room. But Ms. Rau got the job anyway.

Coming from the town of Mans-field in a school three times as big as Bigelow, Ms. Rau certainly sees some differences. But in all, they’re good ones. All the people are friendly, especially students. The teachers all love their jobs and are very enthusi-astic about working here. Because of this, Ms. Rau was soon comfortable at Bigelow.

When Ms. Rau was a kid, she couldn’t make up her mind about what she wanted to be when she grew up. However, being a writer or a law-yer always interested her. She majored in sociology as an undergraduate in Boston College, and got her Masters in Special Education, also at Boston College.

Outside of work, Ms. Rau is interested in music. “I love to go to concerts and listen to music,” she says. Aside from that, she likes to read. Once a month she has a Game Night with her friends, which she enjoys a lot.

Ms. Rau loves to work, and enjoys her job at Bigelow. Hopefully Big-elow will welcome her as she has welcomed Bigelow.

Ms. Rau Takes Her First Step to Becoming Special Education

Director at BigelowBy Marianne Engelke

Ms. Levy Says “ I Don’t Give a Lot of Homework”

Ms. Levy is one the many new teachers here at Bigelow. She used to teach at Deham Middle School. She says that, “Bigelow is quite smaller than Dedham. I used to teach eighth grade in Dedham, so I see sixth grade as a more calm setting compared to eight grade.”

She believes that the key to a good a teacher is that the teacher is dedicated to the student. The student and the teacher need to trust one another. The student is trusting the teacher to give them an education, and the teacher needs to trust the student to participate in the lesson, and give their best ability.

Ms. Levy actually does not give that much homework. “I believe in that the student needs to give their best ability to understanding the lesson, but I also don’t give a lot

of homework because these kids won’t be kids for very long.”

When Ms. Levy was little, she wanted to be an actress. This was actually her first career pursuit! But then she decided that she wanted to do service for the com-munity, and especially for kids. So she decided, “I’m gonna be a teacher!”

Ms. Levy enjoys being a teacher very much and has never regretted a day in her life of choos-ing to be a teacher. “You may have your up-and-down days, but with teaching, you never go home feeling like this was a terrible day. When you are a teacher, you need patience. Especially patience!”

By Nora Buonagurio

Kris Jeffers has just became a part of the Bigelow community. He is one of the many new substitute teachers, and he subs for absent teachers.

His passion for teaching started when he was in college. Mr. Jeffers wanted to be a U.S. Navy pilot, but that was too much for him so he decided to do something easier for him. He became interested in teach-ing just shortly after his freshman year in college. The whole reason of how he became interested in his major of teaching was when him and his professor had a discussion and he was told something very interesting that made him want to change his major to history and teach kids as he could give them all the information and interesting things he learned in college.

The original discussion was about the JFK assassination and all the different theories about it. Mr. Jeffers started to do his research about this topic he became so interested, he wanted to change his major. “You see, unlike science and math, history is not always concrete; there is no solid formula or equation to punch in the right answer.” he says. He believes that it is up to the reader and to interpret the information and deci-pher fact from fiction, and ultimately finish with their own conclusion.

He was always taught that history is concrete and unchangeable. But he thinks it’s not like that. Overall, Mr. Jeffers likes Massachusetts and thinks Newton is a great place, especially Bigelow.

Kris Jeffers Follows In His Brother’s Footsteps

By Jacob Ezzell

A new face joined cluster 7D. Her name is Ms.Cortese, and she is the new 7D English teacher. During her childhood she wanted to be a marine bi-ologist or train dolphins. She did not think about becoming a teacher. When she went to college she took different classes to see what kind of career she might want to pursue.

She was really interested in Art History, therefore she took a job giving museum tours to seniors. One day she toured kids around she really enjoyed the energy and interest the children displayed. That’s when she realized she wanted to do something with kids. She went to her boss and proposed dif-ferent ideas to get children involved in art but there was simply no money. She then decided to become a teacher and has been for 5 years.

Ms.Cortese used to work in Franklin, Massachusetts. When there was a budget cut and ten kids where added to every class room, she started look-ing for a new teaching job. She had her interview at Bigelow this summer during those two days where there was the heat wave.

Mr.LaBrache said, “What made her stand out at the interview was her organizational skills and her high expectations. She is fun to work with, she is happy about her job and brings great energy. She also gets to school very early so its like a contest to see who gets here first. Also we can talk about teaching tip, about what worked and what didn’t. She is a very organized person. She brings new ideas to the table.”

A New Face In 7DBy Theresa Kaertner

As many Bigelow students know, a new Spanish teacher has been added to the staff, taking the role of Ms. Zachary, who left last year. Taking her place is Mrs. Carolina Ver-daguer.

While she is new to Big-elow, she is in no way new to Newton Public Schools. She had been teaching at Oak Hill Middle School. She has 9 years of teaching experi-ence after getting her masters from Fitchburg State College, and really enjoys working at Bigelow, even if she has to get used to the new schedule and teaching in 3 different class-rooms!

When asked what she finds different about Bigelow, she

said that “Bigelow appears to have a deep sense of com-munity and pride, particularly among students.”

She didn’t decide on be-coming a teacher until college, when she began substituting at Oak Hill. She realized that she liked working with middle school students, and she said, “The rest is history!”

Before college, she thought about being an architect, a visual artist, a veterinarian, a ballet dancer, a choreographer and finally a teacher. Accord-ing to her, “When we were younger, I would force my 6 siblings to be my students...I even gave them report cards!

She Forced Her Siblings To Be Her Students, And She’s Now

HereBy Ross Stanley

FeaturesPage 10 November, 2008

Homework: Helpful or Horrible?by Amelia Goldstein

At Bigelow Middle School in Newton, MA, nearly every teacher gives homework. Whether it’s a lot of homework or just one sheet all year, students get homework assigned most days of the year.

Many students may wonder why their teacher is assigning homework. “It takes too much time, espe-cially if you don’t get it. I’d rather hang out with my friends. I mean I’m in school for 8 hours already.” says Melanie Trainer(8th). Students have school nearly every day of the week, why do they need to be doing schoolwork when they’re not in school?

“I give it mostly to reinforce what we learned in class” says Mr.Swift(8F Science). “[I give homework] so students can practice the skills we learn in class and they learn responsibility” says Ms.Cortese (7D English). Ms.Cohen(6AB English) finds homework to be “the same as a coach would have a player do drills on a field,” as a warm up, practice, or to metaphorically stretch the mind. Ms.Summa (8F Social Studies) gives homework that will “either challenge the mind cre-atively or reinforce and explore your own interests.”

In many classes, homework is a large percentage of a grade. In some classes it is a low percentage. Some teachers, like Mr.Swift, don’t always assign an exact percentage of a grade that depends upon homework. In Ms.Cortese’s class homework is 20% of a grade. In Ms.Summa’s class “When an assignment is graded, not checked to see if it is done, it is worth a lot.”

Many teachers do not assign homework over vacations or holidays. Ms.Cortese and Mr.Swan don’t even give homework on weekends. “Sometimes a project will overlap” explains Mr.Swift. Nearly every student does their homework responsibly no matter when it is assigned. “The majority of students seem to be responsible and do their homework every day” in Ms.Cohen’s class.

“Sometimes I think in reality they find it doable, as I don’t give anything new without covering it.” Ms.Cohen compliments. Very much of the homework assigned at Bigelow Middle school is “doable,” and all definitely possible, but many students don’t have the time. Many students get confused or need help. In Mr.Swifts classes “Students complete their homework in many different ways-some by themselves, some with

tutors, and some with me.”Ms.Summa seems to feel like when a student

doesn’t have their homework in, it is best not to be mad at them because raising a teachers voice “is not affec-tive”. “Sometimes it’s hard not to get mad” she says, having an understanding for the yelling-screaming teacher. “I try not to have an exchange with the student. I try to just get a yes or no.” she explains how she stays calm about the student who “just doesn’t have it today.”

Different students have different points of view on homework. Some think that homework is a good, important thing to have, but many students have stated that they “hate homework.” Cordelia Sanborn-Marsh(8th) says that “There is a point for it.” She has about an hour and a half to two hours of homework every night. “Homework is fine” Cordelia states. On the other hand, many students do not feel the same way about homework. “I hate homework.” complains Chris-tine Connors(8th). She feels like she has too much. “It takes up all my day” she explains her point of view.

Ms.Summa says “overall this year kids have been very good with getting their homework in on time.”

Getting to Know Local Olympiansby Catherine Chen

The Beijing Games that happened over the two week course in August was an amazing one. Michael Phelps broke the record for the most gold medals from a single Games, and Usain Bolt wowed the viewers with his record breaking sprints. Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson made us all proud with their one-two win for the women’s gymnastics All Around. Michael Phelps is from Baltimore, Nastia Liukin originated from Texas, and Shawn Johnson came from Des Moines. These famous Olympians came from different parts of the U.S, but not Massachusetts. But there were a lot of Massachusetts Olympians, not counting the handful of judo-ers from a training center in Wakefield, MA.

Yes. A lot of Olympians are directly related to Massechusetts, one was even born in Newton. When asked if they knew anything about local Olympians, most students mentioned Alicia Sacramone, the 20 year-old gymnast who was the leader of the U.S

women’s gymnastics team. Alicia Sacremone is from Winchester MA, and dad, Fred Sacramone is a prac-ticing orthodontist that works right here, in Newton. Michelle Guerette is a two-time Olympics rower from Conneticut, and currently lives in Cambridge MA. Elliot Hovey is also a rower from MA. He was born in Boston and raised in Manchester. Richard Johnson participated in archery, and was born and raised in Worecster MA. Beijing 2008 was his fifth consecutive Olympics game.

Alicia Sacramone goes to Brown University in Providence RI and is a major in sociology. Her dad is a practicing orthodontist, and works in Newtonville. He is the orthodontist of many Bigelow students. Accord-ing to Dr. Sacramone, “ Alicia began gymnastics at a 8 years old. This is late when compared to other Olympic gymnasts, who usually begin at 2 or 3 years old. Alicia states that her inspirations of making an Olympic team formed after watching the U.S. gymnastic team win the gold metal at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.”At sixteen, she tried out for the 2004 Athens Games, but

didn’t make the team. She took off from Brown for the 2008 spring semester to train for the 2008 Olympics. Her best event is the vault, but missed the 2008 Bronze medal by hundreths of a second.” But looking on the bright side, Alicia received a silver medal along with her teamates in Beijing. And what did her dad think of all that had happened in those exciting two weeks? He thought that overall Alicia had a great experience. “She learned a lot about her self and her team mates. She did not realize how mentally strong she was. To be able to answer all the media’s questions while still in the heat of a very difficult moment. Obviously, the way things unfolded is not the way she visualized her Olympic experience would be. She was hoping for a repeat of the results of the 2007 World Championships in Germany where she anchored the U.S. team that won the gold medal in the team competition.” And to all that dream big dreams like Alicia, Dr. Sacramone says” We are lucky enough to live in a place where you can do anything and achieve any goal if you are willing to put the time in and work hard. Hard work brings results!”

617-771-0691grandelm@yahoo.com

Past Summer Memoriesby Samantha Libraty

“The ‘wake-up song’ blares from the stereo next to the camper. She rolls over to see her counselor get-ting dressed for the day. The camper rolls out of bed and gets ready to go to the dining hall for breakfast.” This is a typical morning for a camper of a sleep-away camp.

During the day, campers do various activities to work on skills and have fun. Most camps have archery, soccer, swimming, and many other sports. If a sleep-away camp uses a lake or pond, there is a good chance the camp offers boating or water sports. Most camps have arts and crafts, whether it’s painting, drawing, or clay work. Each activity at a sleep-away camp is especially created for campers with that interest. At

sleep-away camps there is never a shortage of fun activities.

The main focus at any sleep-away camp is making new friends. A few campers say they liked the camp, but all campers loved hanging out with new or old friends. The friends you make at sleep-away camp will be near and dear to you forever.

Depending on what camp you go to, you can meet people from all over the world and/or the USA. Max Brandl, a 7th grader, said he liked meeting the Canadi-ans at his camp. This type of experience is amazing and could lead you to many new things.

Sleep-away camp is not for everyone. Being away from your family is sometimes hard. However, the counselors and other campers will help you settle in. Sleep-away camp is also a great way to be with other

people your age and connect with them.Some sleep-away camps specialize in sports, or

even languages. These types of camps are great if you want to improve or learn a new sport/language. Most people prefer camps where they have many choices for activities.

Many people who are thinking about going to sleep-away camp go visit camps and see what goes on. Others have friends who go to a camp and automatical-ly want to go. Whichever way you choose a sleep-away camp, it is important to feel comfortable in the environ-ment, and make sure it will be enjoyable for you.

Going to a sleep-away camp can be incredible. If you are interested in going to a sleep-away camp, ask a friend or go online. The summer or summers you spend at sleep-away camp will always be close to your heart.

Trumpet and Other Brass

Instrument Lessons

Contact Misha Grandel

Bigelow Makes Musicby Jay Feinstein

Many students play instruments. Some stu-dents learned at school, some learned from private teachers, and some even learned on their own.

Anybody who wished to learn an instrument had a chance to start in fourth grade. Interested students had many choices including trombone, trumpet, flute, clarinet, oboe and saxophone.

There are many private instrument teachers. “I go to Misha Grandel,” said trumpet player Eli Sadovnik (8F)

“I learned from a friend of my dad,” said harmonica player Harry Watson (8E)

Students usually have a reasons for choosing the instruments they play. Eli said,”A lot of kids were playing clarinet so I didn’t want to do this and there were a lot of girls doing flute so I didn’t want to do that, so I chose trumpet.” Harry said, “Well I play it (harmonica) because its not a com-mon instrument and it’s fun.”

Some students think that playing instruments is hard but they all agree that it is worth it. “I would encourage everyone to play an instrument, or at least try to,” Ella Cohen (8F) said.

Everybody that plays instruments knows that “practice makes perfect”. Students practice for different amounts from 15 minutes a week, to two hours a day.

According to Ella, instruments are a way to “express myself”.

Students have additional opportunities to play instruments in music class at Bigelow. Recorder is taught to sixth graders, piano is taught to seventh graders, and guitar is taught to eight graders. “I think its fun because playing an instrument and knowing that you can play a certain song makes you feel good and also its very entertaining,” Olympia Diamantopolous (8F) said.

Bigelow also has an orchestra, a band and a jazz band. Many people enjoy participating in them. Eli likes the band but says, “We can play harder music.”

People start playing instruments at different ages. Harry started when he was seven years old.

It’s not too late to start learning. “If no one played an instrument there would basically be no music in the world and I don’t know where I would be without music,” Olympia said.

OpinionsPage 11 November , 2008

Thirteen years after the terrorists destroyed a building in Oklahoma City. Ten years after the United States embassy in Nairobi, Kenya was captured and reduced to rubble. Seven years after the World Trade Center was ruth-lessly crushed and the Pentagon was severely damaged by hijacked com-mercial airlines (the ones that hit the World Trade Center made their last stop in Boston). The White House or The Capital building were almost next if it wasn’t for heroic passengers, who crashed it into a farm closest to Shack-lesville, Pennslvania. The farmer who was milking his cow when he saw a flaming jet in his crops must have been the most stunned person in the world. More than three thousand five hundred people died in the grizzly flames. Eight years after the destroyer, United States Ship (USS) Cole was attacked by terrorists from Yemen ( Just south of Saudi Arabia). Even though the USS Cole survived the attack by the Yemenese, it increased the morale for the ter-rorists, and worries for United States citizens. Twelve years after the terrorists flushed some potential barracks in Saudi Arabia for the United States Army down the toilet.

Finally, the United States took action. The Americans were able to defeat the Taliban, one of the large terrorist groups. The other big group of terror-ists are the Al Qaeda. Soon after the United States began involvement in Iraq because Bush said that the leader of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, was hiding powerful weapons. Hussein had an evil past and is responsible for the death of tens of thousands of Islamic Shiites. He is also responsible for invasions of Iran in 1980, and then with Kuwait in 1991. The American defense of Kuwait is the main reason of terrorism. About a year ago Hussein was executed after he was sentenced to death by an Iraqi court.

The leader of the Al Qaeda is Osama bin Laden. Everyone in America shudders when they hear that name. Osama bin Laden is the man who is responsible for all terrorist attacks on the United States. His name has grown into a “Voldemort” under the stars and stripes. Bin Laden is on the run right now as the United States Army and Air Force are right on his trail. President Bush, and the United States government know where he is: smack in the Pakistan Tribal Zone.

The tribal zone is the most dangerous part of one of the most dangerous countries. Bin Laden is allied with the tribes in Northwest Pakistan. Let me read your mind. “The Americans and their ‘allies’, Pakistan went in there, grabbed bin Laden and got away”. Actually, Pakistan, even though they are contributing to the war effort, are not allowing the Americans to go into the tribal zone. Finally, the Americans, and Afghans loyal to America( Afghani-stan is loyal to bin Laden) used unmanned bombers to raid the Pakistan zone. The raid was unsuccessful, but raised morale.

If I was the main man in the Oval Office, the first thing that I would do is invade the tribal zone, grab bin Laden, and get out of the Middle East. The war in Iraq has calmed down very recently. The Iraqis even played a profes-sional soccer game. Let’s all hope that it calms down until it can’t calm down any more. Let’s also hope that The United States of America will soon be safe again from foreign attacks.

There were conflicts between Russia and Georgia continuing for years. That conflict led to a battle which occurred on August 7, 2008, when the 2008 Beijing Olympics took place. How serious was that conflict that led to an awful war? It started when South Ossetia, a region of Georgia claims to be independent entirely from Georgia itself since 1993, and also, the same thing with Abkhazia. The Georgian troops made the decision to invade South Ossetia. On the other hand, Russia had been supporting the claims of inde-pendence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Right after Georgian troops were sent, Russian troops were also sent to support the claims of independence. Battle had started between Georgia and Russia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia in the center.

There could be different point of views of many people to this incident, depending which side you are in, and also where you are. Again, there are a lot of opinions from many different people and countries. Some people could say that it was wrong to get involved in a conflict because it could make things worse, but other people could say Russia was just trying to help out, and Russia did a wise and smart thing. People really don’t know the right thing because everybody could have different views in one incident. Personally, my opinion is that it could had been better if the battle didn’t start during the Olympics even if war itself is awful because the Olympics is the time when we hope for peace around the world, and have games with other countries to keep contact and hope that friendships last forever as much as possible. On the other hand, war is when people/countries fight for victory, but the thing that is different from games is that soldiers could lose their lives, which is quite risky, and more violent.

Some nations, including the United States, are concerned about is that Russia is trying to gain control of the regions Abkhazia and South Ossetia. While the battle was taking place, the United States supported Georgia by shipping food and supplies to them.

Though there could be a lot of opinions, to this incident it is true that we learned something from it. These lessons could be helpful throughout the future. One of the things we learned is that trying to get involved or helping out in a fight, war, or a conflict could cause more trouble instead. Together, people and nations are striving to have a successful future with the teamwork of the whole globe.

Every day, many people drive a vehicle, some kind of vehicle. A lot of these vehicles are powered by gasoline. Gasoline is produced from crude oil, which is drilled under-ground.

Gasoline isn’t the best fuel to use. There is a very limited supply of gasoline in the world. According to PBS, around 800 million cars are on the road today. If you put them bumper to bumper, they will circle the earth 100 times! If we need to meet this supply, the gasoline supply will end very soon.

Gasoline also has a strong impact on the environment. When gasoline is used by vehicles, Carbon Dioxide is produced. Carbon Dioxide is called a greenhouse gas. When it is released from your car’s tailpipe, it joins the ozone layer, which traps heat from the sun inside the earth. If the ozone layer becomes thicker, more heat is trapped inside the atmosphere. This causes the surface temperature on Earth to rise.

When the temperature rises, it may melt the polar ice caps and increase sea levels around the earth. According to the IPCC (Intergovern-mental Panel on Climate Change), world sea level may rise 7-24 inches by the year 2100.

Gasoline is not the only type

of fuel currently available. They are many ways to generate energy other than using crude oil. Gasoline is a non-renewable fuel. Non-renewable fuels are types of energy sources which cannot be replenished in a short period of time.

There are many types of energy sources which are renewable. Out of some, there are solar and wind. Both can be used to generate electricity. These both are renewable because the sun is a constant energy source, and it does not go out. Wind is also renewable because it keeps on blowing, and doesn’t stop for a long period of time.

One way to solve this problem is to reduce our dependence on crude oil and other non-renewable energy sources. We should focus on devel-oping renewable energy and making it an affordable option for many people. Renewable energies such as solar, wind, and geothermal should be used instead of gasoline.

You can also help by reducing the amount of time you spend in a car, and walk, or take public transit. Also, when looking to purchase a vehicle, buy one which has a high mileage. Remember, reducing your impact on the environment can make a big difference to the world.

United States.vs.Middle Eastern Terrorism by Zachary Bennett

The Attacks of Georgia and Russia!By Akari Miki

The Environmental CrisisBy Vikram Krishnamachari

Staff CreditsEditor-in-Chief Audrey Derobert

Page EditorsNews: Hilary BrumbergFeatures: Jay FeinsteinTechnology: Ross StanleyEntertainment: Alex FeitAdditional page design:Zach Bennett, Catherine Chen

Special Thanks Ms. Costello and Ms. Davison for keeping the computer lab working so smoothly The many faculty members who aided student journalists in their efforts

About the newspaper program The Journalism elective meets twice a week during the extension period. These students learn interviewing, newswriting, and page layout techniques, and apply them to create each issue. The EEE Bigelow Beat club meets after-school every Wednesday from 3:00-4:00. Students meet to learn the Adobe Creative Suite, compile photo collages, research, and write some opinion pieces.

Contributing WritersZach BennettHilary BrumbergNora BuonagurioCatherine ChenChristina ChenAudrey DerobertMarianne EngelkeJay FeinsteinAlex FeitGina FerolitoYarden GavishAmelia GoldsteinAmanda HillsTheresa KaertnerVikram KrishnamachariLiza LayerSamantha LibratyShirley LinMelissa MarkHelen MaunsellBrett MayvilleAkari MikiGeorgina MilesPiper SharkeyRoss StanleyJohnny Sullivan

Club Advisor /Journalism teacherAndrew Swan

School Sport Team ProfilesPage 12 November, 2008

The Bigelow cross country team ended their season yesterday with the All City Meet. Though they didn’t win most of the two-school meets, there was hope for the All City Meet yesterday, on November 3rd. Cross country is coached by Patty Summa (8F social studies). Unlike most sports, cross country is very inclu-sive, and everyone that shows up at the meets gets to compete. Since cross country is a non-contact sport, it’s a relatively safe sport, and serious injuries like concussions usually don’t happen. Plus, cross country is not only physically beneficial, students also get practice in working on a goal, and failure and success, which is crucial for life. “We gain endurance and a life long skill,” Julia Feinstein (6AB) said.

Carina Wallack (8F) just fin-ished her first season of cross coun-try. When asked about practice, she said, “We usually do about 1.7-2.25 miles. We stretch for 5-10 minutes, Ms. Summa gives us some ‘updates’ such as upcoming meets and other team information then she tells us what we are doing and then we run.” The meets were all against the New-ton Schools, and the All City Meet was at Brown Middle School.

When asked about the meets, Carina said, “We have lost all of them, but it has been fun.”

Ms. Summa has been the cross country coach for 9 years. She knows what she’s doing, and having ran the Boston Marathon, she knows what cross country is all about. She’s had plenty of experience coaching students, and knows exactly what students gain from cross country.

According to her, “Students learn so many wonderful skills from being on the cross country team and develop a lot of insight about themselves. Many never believed that they could achieve such suc-cess athletically until joining the cross country team. They learn how to increase their lung strength, how to use their bodies efficiently, and finally they learn how to keep going when their body is screaming, ‘stop!’ This builds inner personal strength - something that may serve them well in future situations, both athletically and in their personal lives. Others learn that if they work hard they can reach a goal that they have set for themselves. Everyone sees the positive changes in their body from working out. Finally, there is certain camaraderie that happens on the cross country team that is special. No matter what the skill level is of each runner, everyone is valued and everyone cheers everyone else on to do their best.”

Cross Country by Catherine Chen

If one wanted to check out the Bigelow Boys’ Soccer Team, all they would need to do would be to come any day of the week except Tuesday and just hang out there from 3:00 to 4:30, when they practice.

According to Mr. Prendergast, their coach, (Physical Education teacher), or Mr. P. as he is called by Bigelow students, their average practice/ training consists of, “five to twenty minutes of individual drib-bling, and the rest of the minutes are devoted to team activities.” Of course, the days to sign up were over as of about two weeks after school started, and exceptions were only made due to the roster not being completely full. In the past Mr. P. has also been involved with the boys’ basketball team and he has helped Mr. Leone with baseball.

It has been a tough season for the soccer team, they’ve had 11 games so far, and it doesn’t seem like they’ve totally gotten it together yet.

In response to this inquiry by the Bigelow Beat staff, Mr. P replied, “It’s been a tough season - injuries, and kids who can’t make it to every game. But we’re getting better and the kids are improving.”

Ben Holland (8F) has the same point of view, “The team’s OK - it was better last year. We actually won and there were more eighth grad-ers...

“I played on the baseball and basketball teams. I liked the teams better, but I like soccer better than the actual sports.”

However, though it is hard to commit totally to the Bigelow boys’ soccer team, they still work well together.

Mr. P. said,”This year in par-ticular isn’t going well - I’ve never had a kid get a red or yellow card.”

When asked what he thought the benefits for signing up for soccer was, Mr. Prendergast replied, “It’s an overall good experience for sev-enth and eighth graders. They learn teamwork and dedication, and for the eighth graders, it’s also getting them ready for the next level.”

For Holland, it seems that the reason he signed up for soccer was just the reason that he enjoys playing it and, “it’s fun.”

But it isn’t all fun and games either. “Kids should keep in mind that it is alway going to be fam-ily and academics first, and soccer second. They should also know that it is a commitment to their team, themselves, and their coaches.”

Mr. Prendergast wants his play-ers to remember that what he values most is respect for opponents and referees.

Therefore, though the soccer team was off to a rough start, they are slowly but surely improving, and Bigelow must hope for the best!

Boy’s Soccer by Helen Maunsell

Bigelow Bulldogs -- Cross Country Team Photo Credit: Paul Hathaway

Bigelow Bulldogs -- Cross Country TeamPhoto Credit: Paul Hathaway

TechnologyPage 13 November, 2008

TheNikonN8008sisasomewhatvintage35mmfilmcamera.Madefrom1988-1991,theN8008sisafullfeaturedcamerawithallthefeaturesneededforeverybodyfromthebeginningphotographertothepro.

Thereareseveralimportantfeaturesthatmanyfilmcamerasofsimilarvintagedonothave.Thefirstisawiderangeofshutterspeeds.TheNikonN8008shasawidevarietyofshutterspeedsfrombulbexposure,toascreamingfast1/8000ofasecond!Italsohasexposurecompensation,whichishelpfulfortimeswhenyoucan’tdialintheperfectexposuresettings.ItalsotakesstandardAAbatteries,whichisextremelyhelpfulifyouareinthemiddleofnowhereandyouneedtobuybatteries.

ItcanuseanyNikonlens(withtheexceptionofGlenses,whicharereallyonlycompatiblewithsomeofthenewerfilmcameras.)Thatallowsyoutousenotonlyauto-focuslenses,butAIandAI-smanualfocuslenses.Thisisespeciallyeffectiveforphotographersonabudget.AgoodN8008scanbehadfor$20!(althoughthisisfairlyrare,andonemustbelucky.)Buttechnicalspecificationsandlowpricedonotgivejusticetotheeaseofuseandaboveall,thephotographicquality.

Asforeaseofuse,theN8008sisunparalleled.Thereisonewheelforadjustingshutter,orwiththesimplepressofthebutton,ISO(filmspeed),shotmodes(continousburstof3picturespersecondandsingleshots)

Althoughtherearemanypros,therearesomedefinatecons.Firstly,thecameraisratherheavy(althoughsomepeoplemaylikethat,youreditor

included).Secondly,itislarge,sofairlyhardtoconcealinstealthsitua-tions.Thirdly,somenicefeaturesaremissing,suchasbracketingandmirrorlockup.Howevertheprosoutweighthecons.

TheNikonN8008sisabargain,andadefinatechoiceforamateurphotographerslookingforagreatcamera,andforprofessionalslookingforalmostdisposable,yetawesomebackups.

ThefollowingimagesareexamplesoftheN8008’spower.Allpictureswereshotaroundtheeditor’shome,withtheN8008s,aNikon135mmf/2.8lensandKodakUltraColor100film,processedatCVS,andscannedintheBeat’sownCanonLide600fscanner.

The Nikon N8008S: A Great Camera for a Great Priceby Ross Stanley

Manyprofessionalandamateurphotographersarestillusingfilmtocaptureemotionsofallkinds.Choosingfilmisadauntingtask,sowhatthisar-ticleaimstodoisgiveyouaverysmallselectionofexcellentfilmsthatyoucanstartwith.

Best“AllAround”film:KodakUltraColor100

Thisfilmisnothingshortofimpressive.Itscolorsarebrightandvivid,withverylowgrain,sowallsizedenlargementsarenoproblem.Itisalsoquitecheap,atabout$5to$6aroll.Fujimakessimilarfilm,(Pro160S)andKodakmakesamoreexpensive“Por-tra”film,butsticktotheUltraColorandbeamazed.Ifyoudomoreindoorphotography,gofortheUltraColor400.

BestLandscapeFilm:FujiVelviaItmaybeapaintousebecauseit

wantsalotoflight,butthebeautifulsaturationyouwillgetfromtheland-scapesyoushootwillmakeitworthit.Thepricescanrangefrom$6.50ontheinternet,to$12atbrickandmortarstores.Reallygreatstuff!

BestBlackandWhiteFilm(higherspeed):IlfordHP5:

Thisistheblackandwhitefilmthatisnearlyimpossibletoscrewup.

ItisISO400,soithasslightlymoregrain,butitisquiteeasytoshoot,andisareallynicebeginner’sfilm.Costs$4aroll.

BestBlackandWhiteFilm(slowspeed):IlfordPANFPlus

Notmuchtosayaboutthis,asithasnearlyzerograin,andissupersharp.Highlyreccomended.

Nowthatyouarearmedwithknowledgeaboutfilm.gooutandshoot!

Trevor the guinea pig posed long enough to get his snapshot taken, while also acting as a poster child for the excellent Nikon 135mm lens.

This picture of goldenrod really shows the Ultra Color’s excellent saturation.

Using a higher aperture, (f/8), the N8008 and Ultra Color blows out yellows, providing a wonderful effect.

Film: A Rather Difficult Choiceby Ross Stanley

EntertainmentPage 14 November, 2008

A cultural phenomenon is in the process as you read this article.

Although many rhythm games have been in stores and in arcades for quite some time, no other game has affected our world’s youth addic-tion to video games as Guitar Hero. First released in 2005 on the PlayStation 2 by Harmonix., the Guitar Hero franchise has sold more than 21 million copies of the game. The game isn’t just a game: it’s a way to release music for the public to not only listen to, but to play. “Guitar Hero: Aerosmith” which was released over the sum-mer sold more copies than any single Aerosmith album. Talk about addiction.

However, in 2006, RedOctane, which released the game to the public, was bought by Activision and Harmonix, the developer of Guitar Hero, was purchased by MTV Games. Harmonix then went and developed a new type of game: a game that no one had thought of before. Not only did their game use a guitar periphiral as the main controller and subject of the game, but they also added a drum set and a mic to the mix. It wasn’t just about hitting notes in a song by yourself; it was hitting them as a group: a “Rock Band”. Rock Band was released in 2007 and to much applause by the media. It also sold 3.5 million

copies of its first game. To quote “Gamespot”, “As party games go, this one tops the charts”. It certainly does.

Now Guitar Hero is fighting back by releas-ing a new game called “Guitar Hero: World Tour” which now includes a drum set and a microphone as well. The war has started, and it’s going to be brutal. Lets start with the facts for each game.

The Hardware: Guitar Hero World Tour is now a four person experience with a new drum set and microphone. The Hardware: The new drum set has three pads and two cymbal pads. The drum set has been tested by Stewart Copeland of The Police and Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The new design of the drums is really nice, and it almost emulates the experience of playing a real drum set. The feel of the drum set is also compared to a real drum set with the amount of bounce on all the pads. There is also a new model of the plastic guitar that is bigger, has a quieter strum bar, and a new touchpad that can be used in certain “blue green” sections of songs where one doesn’t have to strum. The new guitar looks really nice: it could even be compared to a real guitar. (Kind of...not really) The new touch-pad can be used in the “Music Studio” feature of

the game, but we will get to that later. All of these instruments are wireless.

The Rock Band 2 instruments have also received several updates on their instruments as well. Rock Band also uses the same peripherals as before: drums, guitar, bass, and microphone peripherals. The guitar hasn’t changed all too much. It’s received a new cover “sunburst” design. The strum bar is less flimsy, and the but-tons are more quiet, yet still, this Fender Strato-caster model plastic guitar is absolutely terrible. The drums, however, have received a fairly big makeover with new, softer pads of its four pad set and a new, metallic kick pedal. The drum set seems very nice and is definitely more quiet than the previous model of the Rock Band drums. The microphone is...well...just a microphone. It’s looking as though World Tour’s instruments are more solid than it’s competitions.

The track list: Both games have an ex-tremely solid track list with over 80 master tracks already on disc for each game. Guitar Hero World Tour’s has a lot of big name bands such as The Eagles (with “Hotel California”), Van Halen...

Continued on Page 16

Guitar Hero: World Tour Vs. Rock Band 2: Who wins?By Alex Feit

The Dark Knight: A-By Brett Mayville

This movie was incredible! Unlike many movies based on comic books, which are cheesy and don’t have a plot, The Dark Knight had amazing special effects, a solid plot, and a great cast. Christian Bale did his job as the lead role, billionaire owner of Wayne Enterprises, Batman and Bruce Wayne, but it was Heath Ledger (The Joker) who was really outstanding.

The movie took place in a crime filled Gotham City, and DA attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) and Lieutenant Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) are out to stop it with the help of superhero Batman. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy with a big crime ring stand-ing in their way led by the scary mastermind called “The Joker”. The Joker terrorizes peo-ple with his “freakiness” and steals money. He also murders lots of people. The police are confused, and don’t know what to do.

Finally. the goverment and Batman find that there is a pattern in the killings. If the pattern continues the mayor and Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal) are next. Ra-chel happens to be Harvey Dent’s girlfriend and Bruce Wayne’s childhood friend. Rachel is also one of the few people who knows Batman’s identity

When Batman finds out that two impor-tant people are next to die, he and his trusty butler Alfred (Michael Caine) decide to up their game. They go to their gadget man of Wayne Enterprises, Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) to get the latest weapons. This part

is a little unrealistic. No company would have that many gadgets, weapons or special materials stored in their basement, but this is a movie! Once Batman gets an upgrade in his artillery the real battle begins.

The Joker in the comic book was always creepy, but much like the rest of the movie, the directors made the Joker ten times scarier. Ledger was great in every way, but the way he talked, with a slight shiver in his voice and occasionally smacking his lips, sent chills down many spines. Unfortu-nately this was Ledger’s last role. He died of accidental overdose of prescribed drugs on January 22, 2008 in Manhattan. If he didn’t die I’m sure many people would continue to watch his movies, no matter what role.

The actors did a great job in showing emotions. Whether it was sad or fearful, happy or angry all the cast, especially Eck-hart and Caine, were outstanding.

The only big problem in the movie was the ending. It was just setting up for a sequel. However, that is also a good thing, and I know that many people will be very excited if they see previews.

Overall The Dark Knight was really great, and really fun to watch. The special effects, acting, and plot combined to make one of the best movies this year. I’m starting to wonder: has a comic book movie ever won an Oscar?

Wayne’s World (1992)This movie is truly the essence of teenage culture. An comedy from the ‘90s, it’s still my favorite movie. To sum this

up, the movie is about two seemingly teenage boys who develop a cable access television show. Played by Mike Myers and Dana Carvey, this movie is absolutely hilarious.

Blast From the Past: Old but AwesomeBy Alex Feit & Jacob Shore

Image from www.screenrant.com

EntertainmentPage 15 November, 2008

The Oscar nominations season has officially begun, and like last year and the year before, some movies are filled with schmaltzy overact-ing and cheesecake screenplays (Elizabeth: The Golden Age, anyone?), while others will be pure genius (No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood), and others will be criminally ignored (4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days). I believe that this year the movies have the most potential I’ve seen in years, with A-list directors such as David Fincher, Clint Eastwood, Gus Van Sant, Jonathan Demme, Mike Leigh, Darren Aranofsky, Oliver Stone, Ron Howard, and Steven Soderbergh making films and A-list actors such as Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Angelina Jolie, Sean Penn, Anne Hathaway, Josh Brolin, Frank Langella, Benicio Del Toro, Meryl Streep, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman starring in them. This is my guide to the Fall/Winter movie season.

Overall Best Movie of the Year: The Curi-ous Case of Benjamin Button: This is the film that I’m most excited to see this year. Many people do not know of the work of director David Fincher, which is a shame, because he was one of the most prolific filmmakers of the 1990’s. David Fincher made films like Fight Club and Seven, two of the best movies from the nineties in my opinion, and last year made the completely underrated Zodiac. Now Fincher has decided to go mainstream with his favorite actor, Brad Pitt, and actress Cate Blanchett, who amazed critics last year in I’m Not There. The movie, based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, takes place at the dawn of the 20th century. It’s protagonist, Benjamin Button (Pitt), was born an old man and gets younger as time goes by. The movie centers around the relationship Button has with a normal woman (Blanchett). Drop in awesome special effects and a screenplay written by Eric Roth, the writer of Munich, The Insider, and Forrest Gump, and you probably have the best film of the year.

Best Sci-Fi Movie of the Year: The Road: This is my bet for the what’s going to be the best sci-fi movie of the year. Director John Hillcoat’s last film, the Proposition, wasn’t nominated for any Oscars, yet it critically shamed Dreamgirls, the film with the most nominations that year. If you’ve seen the Proposition, a perfectly made

film about regeneration through violence set in Australia’s bleak outback in the late nineteenth century, you’d say that it would be appropriate for Hillcoat to direct a film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s apocalyptic novel, the Road. The film, about a man and his son wandering through an post-apocalyptic southern United States, is something like Mad Max and No Country for Old Men combined. The protagonist of the film will be played by Viggo Mortenson. Mortenson, who had career highs in his last two films, Eastern Promises and A History of Violence, may win an Oscar this year for his performance. You should also expect excellent performances in the film from Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, and Robert

Duvall.Best Thriller of the Year: Changeling:

Last year the best thriller of the year was No Country for Old Men, and the year before that the best thriller of the year was the Departed, so any of the candidates this year for the year’s best thriller have a lot of expectations to live up to. No one can live up to expectations more than Clint Eastwood. The man may be a bigot, a Republican, and too stubborn for his own good, but he’s a great filmmaker. The film is based on a true story, and set in 1920’s Los Angeles, where a woman’s son is missing, the LAPD claims to find her son, only for her to realize that the boy is not really her son. The movie was intended to be an independent film, however the studio needed to

find some way to market the film, so the protago-nist is being played by Angelina Jolie. Say what you will about Jolie, but she has proved herself as a great actor in A Mighty Heart and Girl, Inter-rupted. Along with Jolie, John Malkovich, one of the greatest character actors of the past thirty years, plays a reverend who tries to reveal the truth about the LAPD.

Best Biopic of the Year: Milk: There is nothing I hate more than a biopic. If they’re not obnoxious and self-indulgent, then they’re obnox-ious and overacted. However, I have hope for this film, mainly because of the actors and the direc-tor involved in the production. The film is about gay-rights activist Harvey Milk. I was impressed that the studio chose Gus van Sant as the director of the movie. Van Sant, a phenomenal director and longtime member of the LGBT community, will probably direct the film in a more personal tone than the majority of his films, which is going to be interesting being that his films have a very personal tone. Sean Penn will play Harvey Milk, which I’m very excited for, being that Penn will probably be awesome in the role, and if not, at least entertaining. The film will also include per-formances from great actors such as Josh Brolin, James Franco, Emile Hersch, and Diego Luna.

Schmaltziest Hollywood Mess of the Year: The Soloist: It’s amazing that Jamie Foxx is still being allowed to act after his performance in Ray. I don’t care that he won an Oscar for that film, that was the most crappy, overacted performance I’ve ever seen. So who was the prankster who decided to cast Foxx as a schizophrenic musi-cian? With the country in an economic recession, the terrors of global warming, and what seems to be a never-ending war in Iraq, the least the nation needs on its hands right now is a theatrical reprise from Jamie Foxx as a disabled musician. What was Joe Wright, the director of Atonement (Atonement! I mean, Atonement!), and Robert Downey Jr. even thinking when they decided to be involved in the making of this movie? If you can stand the two-minute trailer of the film with-out closing your eyes in horror, than try watching the entire film.

A Look at the Fall/Winter Movie SeasonBy Seth Hanselman

I have to say, the Pretty Little Liars series by Sara Shepard are quite amazing. There are four amazing books in the series. They are chill-ing, spine tingling, on the edge thrillers. Every sentence either brings suspense or surprise. This book definitely kept me on my seat, and I know many others who agree with me.

If you get scared easily by murder stories, stalker stories, or stories that send chills up and down your spine, these books are not for you. I know some who can’t even sleep with this book in their room; they have to keep it in their bath-room. However, if your looking for a real thriller, then these books are definitely for you. Here’s just a a little summary of the books: There are five girls, Aria, Spencer Hastings, Alison DiLau-rentis, Hanna Marin, and Emily.

They met at a charity event in fifth grade, and were best friends ever since. But one day, while the girls are having a sleep over on the last day of seventh grade, Spencer and Alison get in an eruptive fight that no one really undertsands, and Alison storms off. Spencer runs off to find

her, but turns out she can’t find her.The police search for an enormous amount

of time, but Alison DiLaurentis just cannot be found. News reporters swarm her house, police interview all her friends, but nothing comes up, noteven a single hint. Eventually, they give up. Alison’s family moves away.

Now, in their senior year at Rosewood Day, Emily, Aria, Spencer, and Hanna are no longer friends. Hanna has made friends with a girl named Mona Vanderwaal, Emily is focusing on her swimming, Spencer is focusing on her studies, and Aria just moved back from living in Reykjavik, Iceland for a year, which she is quite unhappy about. But one day, the girls start getting mysterious notes signed with the initial, “A.” The notes include deep dark secrets from their past that only Alison knew, and deep dark secrets from their present. Someone is watching them.

Who could it be? What happened to Alison? What will the girls do about “A”? Well, my friends, you’ll just have to read this wonderful series and find out. I highly recommend these

books, and I can tell you most definitely I know about fifty other people who do too.

Pretty Little Liars ReviewBy Georgina Miles

Photo from www.subtlesource.org

EntertainmentPage 16 November, 2008

continued from page 14) (“Hot For Teacher”), Ozzy Osbourne

(“Crazy Train” and “Mr. Crowley”), and the Jimi Hendrix Experience (“Purple Haze” and “The Wind Cries Mary”) making the setlist. Ted Nu-gent and Zakk Wylde also make an appearance in the game as boss battles and playable characters. Activision even managed to get “Tool”, a band which rarely sells out and has somewhat of a cult following. However, Rock Band 2 has several big bands spotlighting including Guns ‘N’ Roses (Shackler’s Revenge) and AC/DC. (AC/DC is even getting their own Rock Band spinoff.) Rock Band is offering over 500 songs on Downloadable Content for more of its systems (Rock Band now has “DLC” on the Wii) by the end of the year, whereas Guitar Hero is planning to expand its “DLC”. It’s all really a matter of preference, but I think that one would be fine with either setlist.

Core Gameplay: Both games try to offer the same experience of a full band “cohesion” rather than one perusing through a setlist trying to earn more points for songs. Guitar Hero still offers the same single player “Career” mode that is still amazing, though it’s less linear with one choosing their “gig” or “setlist” to earn points. Guitar Hero also offers a “Band World Tour” where one can get up to four players at once to play through a setlist on Guitar, Bass, Drums, and

Vocals. The gameplay is pretty much the same as before. However, Rock Band has basically the same gameplay elements as before with a Single Player “World Tour” and a “Band World Tour”. Personally, I believe that Rock Band has a more solid “band” gameplay, while Guitar Hero has better “charting” of songs and better Single Player modes.

Online Multiplayer Modes: Guitar Hero and Rock Band have new and revamped online modes which can be played on the Xbox 360’s “Xbox Live”, the PS3’s “Playstation Network” and the Wii’s “Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection”. Gui-tar Hero offers a “Pro Face-Off” mode where one can face off against another player on any instru-ment. It also offers a new “Battle of the Bands” where one band can face off against another band. Guitar Hero also offers a version of the Band World Tour online where one can join a band online and play with three other people. Rock Band’s features a “face off” mode where one can square off against another person, as a band, or a version of Band World Tour online. However, Rock Band offers contests online offering mul-tiple challenges, such as who can get the highest score on the Steely Dan song “Bodhisattva”. Both games’ online mode are still great, and one will be happy with either.

Extra Features: Guitar Hero has added

a plethora of new features that Rock Band just doesn’t have. Although both games have a character creator, Guitar Hero’s is a little more in depth. One can even change the angle of one’s character’s chin. Guitar Hero also offers a few playable characters such as Ozzy Osbourne, Zach Wylde, Ted Nugent, Sting, and Jimi Hendrix. Guitar Hero also offers a new “music studio” where one create their own music and upload it to a service called “GHTunes” where others can download it. However, if one just wants to have a “jam session”, there is a “Mii Freestyle” mode exclusive to the Wii where one can play whatever they want on the guitar and drums...and will actu-ally sound good. There are many other features in both games that I have not mentioned.

Closing Remarks: Guitar Hero World Tour and Rock Band sound great on paper, though both games have a lot of flaws in their actual game-play: especially Guitar Hero. In all, however, I think that one would be pleased with either game on the Xbox and the PS3...in fact, get both games and only one set of hardware. However, I would 100% recommend World Tour for the Wii because I fear that the Wii version of Rock Band 2 will lack in features. These are both great games, and I think they will do very well. However, I will go more in depth in Guitar Hero in the next issue.

Photos from Gamespot, Collage by Alex Feit