Volume 2, Issue 5 Wilbraham, MA 01095March 1, 2010

I N S I D E

AKissed: Musical Enthralls WMA

FEATURES

Heart-Beats: Dear Atlas Dispenses Advice for

V-Day

PAGE 3

THE GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

MultiCultural Week: Diversity at its Best!

PAGE 5

ARTS

The Lovely BonesReviewed

PAGE 6

SPORTS

Girls Varsity B-Ball: Tale of Two Seasons

PAGE 8

HMUN: A Model Experience

TLASRE-ESTABLISHED 2008

WILBRAHAm & monSon AcADEmyTHE GLoBAL ScHooL ®

NEWS

Jalbert Captures WMA’s First Poetry Out Loud

Competition PAGE 1

By EVAN FILKINSStaff Writer “Kiss Me, Kate” is Cole Porter’s modern retelling of Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew” in the form of an off-off Broadway production. The show, complicated by a waspish starlet and a womanizing producer, de-picts a play-gone-to-hell, full of on stage meltdowns and actors per-forming under duress. The WMA Academy Players performed three sold out shows February 18-21. The audience was en-thralled from the moment the lights went up, the orchestra played the overture, and Priyanka George sang the first five words of the production: “Another opening to another show.” For a solid twenty minutes, I forgot this was a high school production. The choreogra-phy of the show, was a bit simple but the quality of vocal and instru-mental talent more than made up. Jeremy Gilfor said his favorite line is spoken by his character, Fred/

Petruchio: “Women are made to bear and so are you”, which sums up Porter’s/Shakespeare’s satire on the role of women. The play begins with the full cast singing about the mayhem that comes with staging a show. One scene flows into the next until the audience is introduced to a pair of gangsters played stiffly and per-fectly by Tim Manghan and Jason Duke. After strong-arming Katie Sloan’s character, Lilli Vanessi, into performing the play, the duo walked on stage in poorly-fitting

Shakespearian costumes (Tim Manghan sporting a beautiful lilac dress) to gales of laughter. Seniors Katie Sloan and Amanda Pierce were simply won-derful. Amanda’s vocals, highlight-ed in her song ‘A Dick?’ and Ka-tie’s stage presence and tone, most evident during her solo ‘I Hate Men’, raise the bar for the perform-ing arts here for years to come. Both actresses will perform in their final WMA play this spring. Sticking with the trend of minimalistic sets, “Kiss Me Kate” took place in two locations: on the stage, and in the dressing rooms of the show’s two stars. Despite the lack of scenery, the props and back-drops were the best of any recent WMA production. “Kiss Me Kate”, effortlessly topped last year’s production of “Oklahoma.” Ms. Dziura and The Academy Players put on a phenomenal show, ably backed by Ms. Shrenker’s stu-dent orchestra (with Brooke Mele as assistant director).

By WILLIE BOURGEOIS ‘10Staff Writer Apart from Mr. Cook and the nineteen Model United Na-tions students, not many people at Wilbraham and Monson Academy know much about the Harvard Model UN (affectionately referred to as HMUN) class. Mr. Cook often reminds his students of this during Sunday night classes. “Everyone thinks you guys are skipping two days of school to have fun in Boston for the weekend.” This is a common misconception. Although the Har-vard conference in January is fun, it is also academically rigorous and exhausting. This year, WMA repre-sented two countries: Monaco and Turkmenistan. The HMUN stu-dents were assigned a country as well as a committee in early Octo-ber. From that time up until hours before the first committee sessions in Boston, the delegates studied and researched various issues of

international significance and their countries’ views pertaining to these issues. Our delegates participated in all of the General Assembly committees, including the Legal Committee, the Economic and Financial Committee, and others, as well as two additional special-ized committees. Among the issues debated in these committees were the global financial crisis, the right to self-determination, and gender equity. Upon arriving at the Sheraton Hotel in Boston, first year students had no idea what lay ahead for the next four days. They didn’t know that they would be sitting in committee for up to five hours at a time twice a day. They didn’t know that they would be debating until midnight and waking up at 7:30 AM to be ready to debate some more - just eight hours after finishing the previous night. Although the delegates found time for leisure by eating out in the evenings, visiting the Pru-

dential Center Mall during lunch break, and attending the infamous delegate dance, the majority of the weekend was spent in chairs or standing at the microphone con-veying either Monaco or Turk-menistan’s views to the other two hundred to three hundred delegates in committee. Debate can be frustrating, but as Mr. Cook tells his students, “That’s intentional. You’re going to be tired. You’re going to be angry. It’s part of the experience.” The first committee session, lasting about four and a half hours, is typically devoted to deciding which of the two committee topics will be discussed for the duration of the weekend. As time progresses, howev-er, and debate continues, delegates grow accustomed to the tedious procedures of debate and begin to delve deeper into the complex global issues. The first day or two of com-mittee sessions usually consist of

conTInuED on pAGE 5

Commentary2

Our History Month

A StaffCaitlin Charette ‘10 Minsang Kim ‘10

Co-Editors in Chief

Eric Diogun ‘11Production Editor

STAFF WRITERS

Timothy HarringtonFaculty Advisor

Christopher AyersFaculty Writer

TLAS

Jessica Wyszynski ‘10Rachael Roy ‘10

Victoria Mordasky ‘10Willie Bourgeois ‘10Priyanka George ‘11

Timothy Manghan ‘11Matthew Pajak ‘11

Carey Shetterley ‘11Jacqueline Smith ‘11

Naruhiko Sugiura ‘11Jeannette Viens ‘11Jessica Duncan ‘11

Evan Filkins ‘11Timothy O’Reilly ‘11

Nicholas Sarno ‘11Jeremy Gilfor ‘11

Beong Jo Kang ‘11Austin Little ‘12

Make Your Voice

Heard!

Write a letter to the editor and you could be published in our

next issue!

Caitlin Charetteccharette@wma.us

By MINSANG KIM ‘10Co-Editor

Can you find the Lost & Found? If you know, congratula-tions. If you’re like most students at WMA, however, you probably have no clue and that’s okay; I didn’t know it even existed. The location of the Lost & Found is not highly advertised; indeed, its very existence remains an enigma to many. Seldom are we urged to “check the Lost & Found.” More often it’s: “check your locker,” “check your room,” even “check your car.” Maybe it’s because you have a better chance of finding stuff if it’s left lying around. So what are we students to do when there’s a post on WMA News telling us to “please remove your belongings from the front of the dining hall/ All belongings left there by Friday February 26th will be placed in the Lost & Found” (as happened on February 23)? Naturally, Atlas was ec-static when a student, who shall remain anonymous for privacy and safety, talked to us about his/her experiences with Lost & Found. Said source went to look for his/her articles of clothing, the specifics of which shall remain vague for privacy and safety, in Lost & Found. However, it so hap-pened that said source had no idea where Lost & Found is located. So the student had to turn to WMA bureaucrats to find out. In any given institution, bureau-cracy always bogs down whatever endeavors one might have, and so it was for our poor student. He/she had to approach the powers that be no less than five times to be al-lowed into Lost & Found. Secret.Secret!!! The Lost and Found can be accessed only by opening the door right next to the girl’s bathroom near the student campus center, which leads into a stairwell and, from what the stu-dent tells me, into a labyrinth. Getting there is hard but finding anything once you make it there is a task of Herculean, nay Titanic, proportions. Everything is in a huge bin full of lost artifacts dating back to the 1970s. There is no “found” -- only “lost” in the WMA Lost & Found. Atlas makes the humble suggestion that the school actu-ally let students access the Lost & Found in an efficient and organized manner. Until then, I bid all stu-dents good luck in finding the Lost & Found and better luck in finding their possessions.

By JEREMY GILFOR ‘10 Staff-Writer

Question: What do you call a black pilot?

Answer: A pilot.

February is Black History Month. It was originally Negro History Week, falling on the second week in February to com-memorate the birthdays of two in-fluential Americans in the improve-ment of African American lives – Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. Over time, it evolved into a month long remembrance of ‘African Americans’. Now, I understand the initial purpose of Black History Month. We live in a country that at one time enslaved people based on the color of their skin. Once black people received their freedom, they were discriminated against and treated as less than human for nearly a century. But a whole month? For one race? Where’s Jewish History Month, or Irish, or Gay, or Native American, perhaps the most perse-cuted of them all? Our society has trans-formed. In our parents’ lifetimes, black people and white people couldn’t sit together at a restaurant, or marry, or play ball together. Now, we have a black President. In most places, noticing someone is black is the same as noticing that a person is tall or has really cool sunglasses on – people in this generation tend to just see people. If you’re cool, you’re

cool – not because you’re black or white. And the reverse is true as well – I don’t care if you’re black, white, Asian, Hispanic – if you’re annoying, I’m not going to like you. Nowadays, we get black history shoved down our throats – to the point of indifference. If you bring up slavery, you get an immediate response of “Yeah, I know, I know. It was bad. We enslaved black people. Triangle Trade. Middle Passage. Whipping. Underground Railroad. Lincoln.” After slavery? “MLK. Civil Rights Movement. Racial Profiling”. Students don’t fathom that this happened relatively recently – within our parents’ lifetimes. It’s good that we’re edu-cated and know about the atrocities that took place, because what hap-pened to many blacks was horrific. I’m not denying that. But it seems that in these times, Black History Month just does not serve much of

a purpose. Think about what our school has done for Black History Month – we had one speaker at chapel talk about Martin Luther King Jr. That’s it. Yet there are cer-tainly countless black Americans who have made countless contribu-tions to society. And, it seems we as a so-ciety have moved past celebrating Black History Month. Some black people, such Morgan Freeman people think it is irrelevant. He contends it actually fuels racism by differentiating black history and American history. Black history is part of American history. When Shani Da-vis wins medals at the Olympics, I’m happy because he’s American - I could care less if he’s black. That’s the way it should be. The older generation, the ones who remember what it was like to not be allowed to have black friends -- they care about Black History Month as a celebration. As for me, I celebrate accomplish-ments, see things, without race. American is American. If you’re a good person, if you invented something great, thank you, black or not. Black people are part of society. They should be celebrated along with everyone else. Together. If we think of ourselves as one group, instead of focusing on things like race or religion, we can accomplish what Black History Month set out to do – celebrate the accomplishments of people who have overcome adver-sity: great Americans.

Lost...

Features 3

Love is a Battlefield: V-Day Dos and Don’tsBy CAREY SHETTERLEY ‘11Staff Writer

Dear Atlas, I spent this past Valentine’s Day with my boyfriend of two months. It was such a great day; he took me out to the movies to see the film “Valentine’s Day” which has my favorite actor, Taylor Lautner. When he picked me up he was wearing my favorite sweater, and he brought me a teddy bear and a box of chocolates. I was thrilled. But what really got me was the rose he was also holding. It was a glass rose to symbolize that our love will last forever. Right after he gave it to me, I dropped the rose. Uh, is this a bad sign telling me that we won’t last forever? Signed, Sleeping with a Cracked Rose

Dear Cracked Rose, I am really glad that you shared your terrific Valentine’s Day with me. Those are all really sweet gifts. But that’s a hard question to answer, I don’t know your relation-ship with the guy nor can I predict the future. You might just have been so nervous and excited, you

had sweaty palms and that was the reason you dropped the glass rose. I don’t think it necessarily means seven years bad luck in your romantic life. You might get lucky and only have five years bad luck.Signed, Atlas

Dear Atlas, My boyfriend and I have been in a long-distance relationship since the beginning of the year because he went off to college. We have been dating for almost a year now and I was looking forward to spending our first Valentine’s Day together. Just a couple of weeks ago I told him I loved him and of course, he said it back to me. But I got the feeling he said it just because he didn’t want to hurt my feel-ings. Now I totally regret saying it because on Valentine’s Day, my boyfriend did not try to contact me, visit me, or send me a gift. I am so furious at him and I think I want to break up with him, but that’s kind of difficult when I haven’t heard from him in over a week. Signed, Spilled the Beans

Dear Spilled Beans,Relationships can be so good one day and go completely wrong the next. Although you’re hurt and up-set, did it ever occur to you that he might be waiting for you to call? I know the boyfriend is expected to do everything for the girl on Valen-tine’s Day but you did say “I love you” first, so maybe he thought you would call first. Maybe his feelings were hurt, too? Did selfish little you ever for a moment think of that? Phones work both ways. Hit the speed dial and say what you will. Signed, Atlas

Dear Atlas, I’m a junior in high school and I haven’t had a girlfriend while here at WMA, and I plan to keep it that way. Except I have one major problem, I have been “talking” to a girl for a while now. We hang out a lot, talk everyday and are really good friends - she’s really great. She asked me if I wanted to hangout on Valentine’s Day and although I really didn’t want to, I ended up seeing her. I didn’t bother to get her anything and I think her

feelings were really hurt by that. She took the time to buy me candy and make me a cool card. I’m getting the feeling that she really wants to date but I just don’t want to, and I’m not sure how to tell her. Signed, Ain’t Gonna Tie Me Down

Dear Tie Me Down,It would be pretty immature of you not to see her on the one romantic day of the year, when you guys already hang out a lot, kudos to you. But how should you break the news to her? Hmm, well eventually I think she will get the hint that you just aren’t really interested in her enough to date. You like her but why be in a committed rela-tionship when you can just have fun, right? If the topic ever comes up about what you both want out of this, I think you should just tell her flat out what you want or, in this case, don’t want. Sure, she might be a little disappointed but there are a bunch of other great guys to pick from at WMA. She’ll bounce back from the heartbreak in no time! She told me so.Signed, Atlas

By BEONG JO KANG ‘11Staff Writer

On Thursday night of February 12, the Student Center was crowded with students, faculty members, and guests who were excited to hear poetry. Yes, that’s right P-O-E-T-R-Y., as in poems, limericks, sonnets, quatrains, and even free verse. The event was Wilbraham & Monson Academy’s first ever poetry recital competition as part of the National Endowment for the Arts’ Poetry Out Loud competition; students were given art enrichment credits if they attended. Organized by Ms. Dziura and the WMA Eng-lish Department, the recital was the culmination of weeks of class assignments, performances, and, ultimately, competitions aimed at determining who would represent WMA at the Massachusetts state competition. For the competition at WMA, each class winner had to recite two poems from the Poetry Out Loud list of approximately 600+ poems before a panel of judg-es that included Dr. Gorski, Mr. Whitcomb, Ms. Viens, Mrs. Cook, Ms. Torres and Mrs. Hutcheson. Gathered around the micro-

phone on that chilly February eve-ning were a dozen or so of WMA’s best English students and poetry mavens who had been declared winners in their respective English classes. The final candidates includ-ed Jeongseung James Kwak ‘11, Bethany Lyon ‘11, Maoi Marcelino ‘11, Caitlin Charette ‘10, Jacque-line Smith ‘11, Amanda Pierce ‘10, Scott Watson ‘11, Brianna Goncalves ‘12, Nicholas Jalbert ‘12, Sean Meunier ‘12, and Rachel Ostrom ‘12. Maoi Marcelino initi-ated the event by reciting Robert

Poetry Out Loud: And The Winner is......Us!Frost’s “Fire and Ice”. Next was Scott Watson’s “Trees” by Joyce Kilmer, Amanda Pierce’s “First Poem for You” by Kim Addonizio, Jacqueline Smith’s “Do Not!” by Stevie Smith, Caitlin Charette’s “O Captain! My Captain!” by Walt Whitman, Bethany Lyon’s “In the Desert” by Stephen Crane, and Jeongseung James Kwak’s “I, Too” by Langston Hughes were lauded for the emotions they aroused in the audience. After the short break, can-didates recited their second poems. Caitlin started by reading “Fire and Ice” by Robert Frost. Brianna re-cited “To the Desert” by Benjamin Alire Sáenz and Nicholas followed by reading “London” by William Blake. James’s “Winter” by Marie Ponsot, Bethany’s “To an Athlete Dying Young” by A. E. Housman, Maoi’s “Romance” by Claude Mc-Kay, Sean’s “Chord” by Stuart Dy-bek, Rachel’s “Eagle Poem” by Joy Harjo, Amanda’s “Scary Movies” by Kim Addonizio, and Jacque-line’s “In the Desert” by Stephen Crane concluded the second round. From the competitive candidates, Nicholas Jalbert was nominated as WMA’s 2009-2010 finalist for Poetry Out Loud for his

recitation of “Harlem” by Langston Hughes and “London” by William Blake. Second and third places were won by Jeongseung James Kwak and Maoi Marcelino. Afterwards, while the judges were deciding on the win-ner, the audience was invited to recite their own poems. Yu Claire Bi recited Li Bai’s classic poem “Drinking Alone with the Moon” in both English and Mandarin.Jalbert will represent WMA in Springfield on March 6 and should he be successful, in Boston on the weekend of March 14 at the Old South Meeting House in Boston.

Community4

Finals Week: Panic And Freak OutBy JEANNETTE VIENS ‘11Staff Writer

The door is locked, books and papers are scattered every-where. It’s four in the morning and you are still awake thanks to the Red Bull coursing through your veins. Your eyes are bloodshot and your hands are trembling. You are studying for the winter final exams that are only hours away and you feel like everything you’ve learned in class has oozed out of your brain. You are about to have an epic melt-down that just might involve tears, ripped-up paper, and pencils stuck in the ceiling. While this type of dedica-tion to your academic performance is admirable, waiting until the night before an exam for a cram session never ends well. Both a science teacher, Dr. Gorski, and a history teacher, Mr. Cook, who also used to teach a study class, agree on this point. Studying the night before is fine, but you cannot, try as you might, relearn two trimesters of knowledge in one night and go without sleep. Sleep is one of the most important factors in preparing to ace your exams.

The key to exams is to start reviewing early on your own time at your own pace and schedule.. Not sure how much time to put in? Mr. Cook says, “The amount of time put in depends on the student, how well they have previously done in the class and their own individual grade. Every-body is different and has their own strengths and weaknesses.” Not all of your teach-ers will have review ses-sions in class so you need to start on your own by going to see your teachers during X-Block and free periods. Your notes are key to studying (I hope you’ve taken some good ones) because they bullet-point important facts without all the fluff in the textbook. While re-reading parts of the textbook will help in areas you aren’t sure about, re-reading the entire book is border-line pointless: it wastes time and

will drive you insane. Not sure what to do when? “Starting 2 weeks before the exam, students should begin reading through their notes once for four to five days. On Day 6, students should read through their notes again, but this time forming ques-tions that will prepare you for the reviews in class. For the last 2 to 3 days before the exam, students

should review old exams and quizzes. And the last thing is to get a good nights sleep and eat a good breakfast,” Dr. Gorski advises. Other tips for studying: try making flashcards or rewriting your notes;

it will help you remember all the important facts (and improve your penmanship, and who doesn’t want that?). Some students can focus with music in the background, so go for it if that works for you But if the music is distract-ing, stay away from the head-

Spirited Away: Titans Get Their Mojo WorkingBy JACQUELINE SMITH ‘11Staff Writer

The Titan Varsity Boys Basketball team crushed the Suffield Tigers 91-62 after a week-long Spirit Week in preparation for the game. The WMA Student Government devoted weeks to coming up with a plan to rally Titan spirit in the hearts of everyone on the Wilbra-ham and Monson Academy cam-pus. The week began with “Ugly Sweater Day”. Students dug deep into their closets, or their parents’, to show off their best looking ugly sweater. There was a combination of Christmas sweaters, sweaters

with holes, sweaters made of yarn, and all that were unfortunately the fashion back in the day. However, the best sweaters were not just the ones that physi-cally looked bad, but the ones that smelt bad. People reeked of must and mold from sweaters that were hidden in different corners of base-ment or attic. These sweaters were hidden for a reason. Jersey Day followed with students showing of their favorite sports teams. There was an array of smiles around campus as every-one flaunted their favorite teams.

On Friday, spirit radiated through the halls with students wearing colors to support their grades and high fives to the bas-ketball team for luck against their rival. Friday night, students congregated in the gym for the first Pep Rally this school has seen in awhile. Fans waved pompoms and cheered on the basketball team as they were announced. Students and faculty alike shared laughs at a skit performed Titan skyscrapers G Vukojevic, Ming Folahan, and Pete Rakocevic who battled “Suffield Nerds” Jack Humsey, Jack Viens,

and Justin Stewart. The Pep Rally concluded with a “Game Time” video made by Wing Chan. The students left with high spirits for the game the next day. The Student Government is thankful for all the people that showed up and supported the school but hopes for a much better turnout next year. Because this was the first event like this in a long time, there will be changes. However, there is one element that will be left unchanged; the Titans will always outplay and conquer their opponent -- or die trying.

phones because you won’t get anything done. Short group study sessions are also helpful, but only if you’ve taken the time to review individually. The group must be focused and determined, not chatty and chaotic. “When students are study-ing, they should set a goal. Study for that amount of time, take a break, and then come back to it,” advises Mr. Cook, who also sug-gests that students attempt to find out as much information as they can from the teacher about the exam and what will be covered. “Relax,” says Dr. Gorski, “Our goal is not to trick you.” When exam day comes, if you have followed this advice, enjoyed a good nights sleep, and eaten a healthy breakfast, you are sure to have “confidence based upon preparation,” as Mr. Cook calls it. “You will succeed – 110 percent guaranteed,” as the poet laureate of Springfield, Dr. Seuss, once said. So get your notes out of the recycling bin, rescue your books from the Lost & Found (please refer to page 2), and loosen your grip on your stress ball—just remember to use the pointy end of the pencil.

The Global Perspective 5

Kimchi, Spaetzle or Pad Thai? It’s All Good

various countries expressing their views and forming blocs with each other. As committee continues and moves into the end of the second day and the beginning of the third, delegates begin to develop ideas and formulate possible solutions that address various aspects of the problem at hand. Eventually, working papers are written and delegates become signatories of working papers that they support. As debate becomes more and more complex and heated, blocs tend to combine and draft resolutions are written and distributed during committee meet-ings. After delegates meticu-lously read and analyze these draft resolutions, amendments are made and voted upon. Ultimately, the committee votes to adopt one reso-lution that addresses every aspect of the greater issue and placates the problem as well as the controversy surrounding it. Adopting a resolu-tion is a truly rewarding experi-ence. A weekend consisting of over twenty hours of debate culminates in success at last. Once resolutions were

adopted and closing ceremonies attended, the delegates returned home to Wilbraham. Although the first thought in everyone’s mind was sleep, everyone wished that the conference could have lasted

just one more day. After a little time passed, the delegates began to see the value of HMUN. When asked what her first HMUN experience was like, sophomore Nicole Robitaille replied, “HMUN was by far the best weekend experience I have had with the school thus far. Even

though it was a lot of fun, it came with weeks of hard work, research, and scrambling to write papers.” Three-year veteran and senior Micky Rollings had similar thoughts. “HMUN was one of my

best experiences at WMA, and it taught me so many things that a simple in-class lecture could never explain.” As Micky explained, HMUN is truly an unconventional academic experience. Senior and two year veteran Brian Carr elabo-rated on the educational value of

Model UN. “As a two year Model UN student, my education at WMA is more complete. It combines de-bate, research, and foreign policy to understand how to effectively take part in committee.” Not only is HMUN a great experience and a class unlike any other at WMA, it is a class that provides students with first hand experience in diplomatic negotia-tion and international cooperation as well as exposure to global is-sues. The group this year agreed that they had learned invaluable lessons and skills as a result of the HMUN experience. And, compared to other classes at WMA, the expe-rience of being in Cambridge with a group of friends and colleagues working on a shared project is very enjoyable, though exhausting. One repeat HMUN-attendee said the experience had significantly broadened his global perspective. “At HMUN, the com-plex topics of great international significance that we research and debate not only open our eyes to global issues, but open our eyes to the reality that these controversial issues really can be resolved.”

By JESSICA DUNCAN ‘11Staff Writer

Multikulturellen Woche. These are the words that hung on the main door of Mattern for the entire week of February 21. The words, like the rest of the random facts around campus, symbolized the diverse culture represented at WMA. The group RISE/SOAR de-cided it would be fitting to educate the entire student body about the 22 different nations represented at our school. Sunday, February 21, began with a night of international games. Eric Diogun and a few other schol-ars learned how to play mahjong from Chinese friends. The next day, students celebrated the week with an out-of-dress code day. Stu-dents who signed up to represent their country or any other country other than the United States could be out of dress code. A total of 75 students and teachers signed up to either wear their culture’s flag or dress up in that country’s tradition-al dress. Many excited to show off their country’s colors. Luke Hong could be seen from afar sporting a large Korean flag and Bethany

Lyon could be spotted in a crowd wearing a traditional Scottish kilt and shoes. During the trek down the hill, one could see different flags worn by students everywhere. WMA embraced the idea of show-ing off one’s culture. Yet among those who participated in this event, there was disagreement about what the rules should be for the dress-up day. Some of the Americans who signed up for the event argued that they should be able to represent the great old US of A. Jacqueline Smith commented “I feel like our school focuses so much on being the global school that they forget that students come here to get the American experience… this our home. The Koreans and the Chi-nese represented theirs and I felt I couldn’t be proud of where I live. And I am. I am very proud to be an American.” Students such as James Bernardo and Carrie Manghan came to school sporting US hockey jerseys and the American flag. The pair also supported their immigrant heritage: James wore a large flag of Portugal while Carrie pinned an Irish flag to her t-shirt. When students approached Zainab Sulaiman (President of

RISE/SOAR) about the issue, she replied: “Every [American] repre-sents the U.S. every day. There are no Native Americans that go to our school so no one can say that they are only American… It would be nice if [students] showed off their heritage for a day.” On Tuesday, during a Rus-sian meal served by the WMA dining staff, a scavenger hunt took place in the cafeteria. Students had from 5:30 to 6:30 to pick up a questionnaire and answer as many questions as possible. Winners walked away with spa or iTunes gift cards and with new knowledge about countries around the globe. The sheet was filled with questions that could only be answered by peers, requiring students to search the dining hall to find a Korean, Chinese or any other student who could answer their questions. The questions included “Who is the one girl that all Kore-ans think about on March 1st?” and “What is the name of Moscow’s largest department store?” One member of RISE/SOAR com-mented: “[the scavenger hunt] was good, people were pretty into it.” While students did their best to fill in the answers, Evan Filkins, a RISE/SOAR member, observed

that “there was a lot of cell-phone looking-up going on” so there’s one way to improve the activities for next year. Multicultural Week contin-ued as Ethnic Man spoke at chapel on Thursday and the international food theme was carried through the week. Victoria PascualBailo, one of the Spanish students on cam-pus, was pleased with the overall result. “Until now,” she said, “I’ve only seen Asian events going on (like Chinese New Year and so on) which is interesting but I don’t see anything of either my country or Europe. For example, last week was Carnival and the school didn’t prepare anything.” When asked whether Multicultural Week has helped other students learn about her nation’s culture, she replied: “Yes, definitely. I have to say that there has been European stuff go-ing on in this multicultural week like, for example, the [internation-al] food.” Other students mentioned that they enjoyed Multicultural Week (especially the food) and were looking forward to the inter-national, multi-school dance on Friday night.

Model UN: Turkmenistan Demands To Be HeardconTInuED fRom pAGE 1

Arts6

Music and Movie ReviewsThem Crooked

Vultures

Them Crooked Vultures

Interscope Records

Double Talk

Theo Travis

33 Records

By MAGISTER AYERSMusic As rock groups age, their members often collaborate with other musicians to explore music that doesn’t fit within the strictures of their current bands. Following supergroups Tinted Windows (with members of Smashing Pumpkins, Cheap Trick, Fountains of Wayne, Hanson) and Chickenfoot (Van Halen, Red Hot Chili Peppers), Them Crooked Vultures take the stage with singer/guitarist Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age/Kyuss), bassist John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), and drummer Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters/Nirvana). Homme and Grohl certainly sound stoked about having Jones—who’s nearly twice their age at 64—in the group. Jones under-scored the thunder of Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Bonham for thirty-odd years and established Zeppelin as one of rock’s greatest bands. The debut album, however, comes off as a Queens of the Stone Age-sounding record, which is not entirely negative; it just leaves

the listener with a sense of what could have been.“Mind Eraser, No Chaser” and “New Fang” recall the rhythms of QOTSA’s Songs for the Deaf album with Grohl on drums, while “No One Loves Me & Nei-ther Do I” and “Dead End Friends” evoke the eponymous 1998 debut. The fifth cut, “Elephants,” is when TCV’s creativity finally begins to reach its potential. And Homme’s falsetto in “Scumbag Blues” resembles Cream’s Jack Bruce while its vintage keyboards invoke the funk of Zep’s “Tram-pled Under Foot.” The Led Zeppelin-isms are plentiful, and Homme gives each riff the utmost attention. “Reptiles” features jangly, Physical Graffiti-era riffs, slide guitar, and Jones’ buoyant bass lines. “Gunman” fea-tures a repeating wah-wah chord that, along with Grohl’s splash-cymbal accents, will have fans clapping to its infectious grooves. The results are equal to the sum of its parts; the group needs to extri-cate themselves from Homme’s overbearing influence.

Those Lovely Bones Picture ThisBy PRIYANKA GEORGE ‘11Music and Movies Have you ever wondered what heaven would be like? Alice Sebold leads her readers into her version of heaven with her 2002 novel The Lovely Bones. In Janu-ary 2010, director Peter Jackson brought the movie adaptation to movie theaters. The story revolves around Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan), a girl just beginning to experience her teenage years when tragedy befalls her. The seemingly innocent Mr. Harvey (Stanley Tucci), Su-sie’s neighbor, takes an interest in her. After being lured in by Mr. Har-vey’s trap, Susie is caught and murdered by him. She finds her-self in a place in between heaven and Earth where she follows her family’s life after her death. The Salmons try desperately to locate Susie, or what’s left of her, but

gradually lose hope. The family members go through their own trials and try to fill the void that was created by Susie’s death. Susie tries her best from her spot above Earth to help her father (Mark Wahlberg) and sister (Rose McIver) catch her killer so she can move on to heaven. The movie is fairly true to the book -- other than several sequential changes in the film. Saoirse Ronan is captivating as the ingenuous Susie, and Wahlberg is convincing as the father devas-tated by the mysterious loss of his daughter. Even people who have read the book will feel the suspense. Sur-prisingly, given the subject mat-ter, it’s a good movie for anyone looking for a not-too-scary movie with a bit of sweetness. The special effects aren’t too showy, but just enough to give the movie an eerie quality that adds to the story.

I spy with my Titan eyes this object somewhere on campus...

Can you guess what it is?

Be the first to e-mail an editor and correctly identify the object and your observation skills will be rewarded

with a $10 spa card

By PRIYANKA GEORGE ‘11Music and Movies In a world of daring rock & roll and hardcore punk rock, rhythm & blues and rap, there is rarely talk of other genres. Jazz seems to have fallen by the way-side going into the 21st Century yet there are thriving and creative jazz artists around today. One such artist is Theo Travis, a saxophonist and flautist born in Birmingham, England. He has had extensive experience in the field of music production and has worked with many influential musicians, such as Gong, Porcupine Tree, No-Man and Richard Sinclair. His latest album, Double Talk, contains three tracks in which Travis collaborates with Robert Fripp of King Crim-son, a highly-renowned figure in the music world. Double Talk is an enjoy-able medley of jazz songs. In the tradition of modern jazz, none of the tracks have lyrics, which may put off some listeners. The instru-mentals, however, are fantastic.

The band consists of Travis, Mike Outram on the electric guitar, Pete Whittaker on the Hammond organ and Roy Dodds on drums and gongs. This may seem like a conflicting group of instruments to stick into a recording booth together, but each one produces a sound that adds richness and serves a purpose for each song. Each track is quite distinc-tive. My personal favorites are “The Relegation of Pluto” and “The Endless Search.” The upbeat tunes and instrumental accompa-niment associated with jazz can be found in “The Relegation of Pluto.” It’s the kind of song one can dance to. “The Endless Search” is eerie and solemn, qualities that aren’t usually associated with jazz. The track also features Fripp’s guitar stylings. I would recommend this type of album to someone looking for a change in genre. Although it sits outside the MTV world, Tra-vis’s Double Talk could be the next big thing if given half a chance.

News 7

Titan Rugby: Crouch. Touch. Hold. EngageBy MATT PAJAK ‘11 Staff Writer

With the arrival of the New Year at Wilbraham and Monson Academy came the groundbreak-ing news, WMA will add a Boys Rugby team to the slate this com-ing spring. Rugby fever has swept the campus like a plague; curiosity has led to rugby meetings during X Block where prospective players can watch teams from all over the world play the sport. With experienced former rugby players Mr. Harrington and Mr. Swanson as the head and assistant coaches, respectively, the team will be prepared for the grueling matches to come. Coach Swanson makes this clear, “[The players] will be in shape. They will know how to tackle correctly. They will learn to make smart decisions. They will get tougher and most importantly, they will learn to love short shorts.” Coach Swanson played four years of rugby at Middlebury College and in men’s leagues in the Boston area after college. Nowa-days, he plays less often, “I prob-ably try to play 1-2 games each year, as I’m older and slower, but still certainly much younger and faster than my colleague Mr. Har-rington.” As for Coach Harrington, he has played rugby since 1976. He played his first match during a ju-nior year abroad program in Bath, U.K. That fall, he helped found the

rugby program at Middlebury Col-lege. Coach Harrington has over twenty- four years of experience playing the game between college, competitive, and social rugby. The rugby teams sched-ule will be similar to that of the football team, one game a week throughout the spring trimester, culminating in a state champion-ship tournament in mid-May. The teams on the schedule will vary in skill and experience; however Coach Swanson feels “strongly that this is a sport that WMA can do very well in.” He believes that “we have great athletes, experienced players, the support of the school, and students who are not afraid to try something new.” With “experienced players” from Australia, Thailand, England, and the United States along with others, the team will have a strong foundation of rugby players to go with the natural athletes who will

join them; Coach Harrington thinks “they [the experienced players] will be the best teachers.” So what does the WMA rugby team mean for prep rugby moving down the road? Kimball Union Academy in New Hamp-shire is the only other prep team in New England. The coaches are trying to put together the first ever New England prep school champi-onship game this spring. “I see the WMA program pushing other prep schools in New England to add rugby,” Coach Swanson predicted. As of now the competition on the schedule is mostly Catholic schools in Bos-ton and local club teams. Coach Harrington realizes the difficulty of starting a team; however he believes WMA has an advantage: “High school rugby is a relatively new thing -- so this is a prob-lem for nearly every high school program in the state. A big advan-

Bigger, Better Relay For Life

tage is that we will practice 5 and 6 days a week, and we have two coaches. We will get better fast.” Coach Harrington also be-lieves that the athletes attracted by rugby can positively impact other sports at the school, “We’ll attract kids who like physical sports and that should help sports like football and wrestling, and if we attract students from Europe and South America, that might pay dividends for soccer as well.” Coach Swanson is a sup-porter of a good time and enjoy-ment of the sport. However, he expects “to hear the anguished cries of our opponents as they lay scattered on the field of battle, vic-tims of our merciless onslaught.” The buzz on rugby is so great that girls are pushing for a team of their own, With over twenty girls ready to sign up, it was decided to put a girl’s rugby team on hold for this year. “I think the administration wants to see how rugby will work at the high school level and at WMA before commit-ting to another team,” Coach Har-rington said. Coach Swanson also sees a girl’s team in the future: “I think there is a large segment of girls at all schools looking for a contact sport. As we don’t offer ice hockey, rugby can help fill that demand. I think if the WMA girls remain in-terested and excited about rugby, it would be a wonderful sport to add to our offerings.”

By NARU SUGIURA ‘11Staff Writer

Among diseases, cancer claims the most lives among Amer-icans after heart diseases. Even for the inhabitants of the most power-ful nation in the world, cancer is on most occasions a death sentence. The American Cancer Society created Relay for Life for fundraising purposes so that cancer might no longer be an equivalent to a death sentence. Relay for Life was founded by Dr. Gordy Klatt, who ran for 24 hours in the hopes of showing support for his patients and to raise money for them. The Relay for Life in Wilbraham will come up in three months. Since November, the WMA co-chairs Steff Robins ‘10 and Jackie Smith 11 have devised plans for Relay for Life based on the principles of “Celebrate, Re-member and Fight back” mantra of the organization and added many

ideas on how to make a better com-mu-nal ex-peri-ence. The new co-chair this year, Jack-ie’s “goal is to watch Steff and help her do her job. I will be the captain of Relay for Life next year, so I really hope to learn a lot from her.” Relay for Life is a 24-hour event. There are two reasons. First, to have a sense of what patients feel. Most people sleep at least six hours in a day. However, cancer patients feel pain all the time and, therefore, have little sleep. The second is to remember and to cel-

ebrate the people who have passed away while fighting cancer. The overall fundrais-ing goal of this year’s Relay for Life Com-mittee

is to raise $95,000. In addition, the organizers hope to make this year’s Relay more organized than it was in the past few years, with more entertaining things to do. The Relay will start around six p.m. on May 15th, a Saturday, and finish on Sunday morning. There will be no conflicts either with the AP exams or with gradua-tion requirements. Though student attendance is not mandatory, there

reportedly will be some good incentives to attend. The team building process will begin at the Kick-off event on February 27. Each team must have one person walking at all times. To join a team, individuals must contribute $10 each.

Sports8

Girls Varsity B-Ball: The Best is Yet to ComeBy TIMOTHY O’REILLY ‘11 Staff Writer

The young rebuilding girls’ varsity basketball team got off to a terrific start but their relative lack of height and inexperience caught up with them in the second half of the season. The first half of the season was mostly up (7-2) and the second half mostly down (0-6). Nevertheless, the team had a chance to finish the year with a winning season right up until the last week. The Titans are a small team that is good at running the floor. They have quick ball handlers and are backed up by a deep bench. This enables them to outrun teams late in games, and is a big reason for the strong start. The team is very young, having only returned one starting player and is without a single senior on the roster. Re-turning starter Chloe Snyder ‘11 as well as fellow juniors Elise Dhamodharan and Sarah Tanguay captain the Titans. The Titans have certainly been a second half team. They have come from behind to win three contests in which they were trailing at the half, out scoring op-

ponents 121-74 in the final 16 min-utes. This has been the highlight of their season. The girls have brought an incredible amount of energy into the second half, where offensive and defensive inten-sity have brought them back into games. But the Ti-tans have struggled with slow starts all season. The Titans slow starts have been caused by poor execution on the defensive end and the simple inability to score, according to first-year coach Sean Bridge. Their biggest problem, Coach Bridge ex-plained, has simply been “putting the ball into the basket. They need to learn how to score.” Tough defense has often been the key to the Titans’ wins. In their seven victories the Titans have held opponents to an average of 15 points –with only one oppo-nent scoring more than 20 points—

in the second half. Their stingy second half defense has won games because, during that same stretch, the Titans averaged 21 points on offence and generated turnovers, making opponents pay with easy baskets. For example, in their win

over Stoneleigh Burnham, the Titans had a total of 19 steals en route to a 33-18 final score. Despite their success the Ti-tans have shown that they aren’t always up to the challenge. In their first five losses the Titans were outscored 263-137, or by an average of 25 points per-game. This margin hasn’t changed

much since they began their eight-game losing streak. Coach Bridge said he and the team were aware that “all the hardest teams [were] coming up,” and that there would be, “no easy game the rest of the way.” But the

Thibault, Stud Swimmers Take January Honors

Titans lost on the road to Willi-ston 60-46 followed by a crushing 51-22 loss at Cushing Academy. Things haven’t improved since with losses to The Hyde School, Ethel Walker, Hamden Hall, Deer-field Academy, and a heartbreaking 35-32 loss to Cheshire, who the Titans had previously beaten. De-spite their struggles the team hopes to finish their season on a positive note, with a win against Cushing on February 27. The best news is that, without one senior on the roster, the entire team returns next sea-son. “Next year is what its about,” Coach Bridge said with a smile. Coach Bridge added that he is very pleased with how the underclass-men have performed: “they’re really coming along.” The Titans young talent is highlighted by freshman Carly Cronin ’13; who was WMA’s female athlete of the month in December. The speedy point guard is averaging 10 points per-game despite being bothered by ankle troubles. He also praised Brielle Robinson ’13 and Veronika Hickson ’12 for their hard work. With this kind of talent return-ing, Coach Bridge has a reason to smile.

By NICHOLAS SARNO ‘11Staff Writer

As another month passed for winter season sports, athletes of the month were once again recognized for their performances in January. Representing the wres-tling team was Joseph Thibault. Joe, a freshman at WMA, has been wrestling for five years. Before Joe came to WMA, he wrestled for the Northeast Elite Wrestling Club. Although Joe is not intimidating to look at (at least for a junior), he is

one of the best in New England in the 112 pound weight class. Dur-ing the month of January, Joe was undefeated winning all nine of his matches. Joe continued his streak into February and, despite sprain-ing his ankle, Joe finished eighth in the New England Championship (going 2-2 against the best wres-tlers in New England) and qualified for the Nationals at Lehigh Univer-sity.

One of the few freshmen to ever be named athlete of the month, Mia Konstantakos re-ceived the honors for her dual meet

performance this season and for breaking the WMA girls’ 100 yard backstroke record. Mia has the rest of this season and three more years to shatter the WMA girls swim-ming record board. “Next,” Mia said, “I’m going for the 50-free, and the girls 400 free relay (with some help from her teammates).” Outside of WMA, Mia is currently swimming on two other teams; the Wilbraham-Hampden Falcons and a USA Swimming team Meis Ty-phoons, based in Springfield. Last year, instead of the Typhoons, Mia swam for the Mass. AquaBears, coached by current WMA coach Dan Moran.

Nate Lee has won athlete of the month honors before as well as MVP of the swim team. This year, Nate has broken four (so far) WMA records: the 100-Freestyle, 200-Freestyle, 500-Freestyle, and the 200-IM (individual medley). And arguably Nate’s best event is the 50-Free sprint where he has un-officially been clocked at under 21 seconds, which is very, very fast. Nate’s official best time in the 50-Free is 22.29. With times like these, your probably wonder-

ing if Nate is ranked. Based on last summer’s performance in USA Swimming, Nate said, “For my age group, I was ranked 2nd in Con-necticut and 132nd in the country.” Nate has been swimming competi-tively since the 7th grade and is now looking forward to swimming in college. But before he gets there, he still has some unfinished work ahead of him, notably a couple last attempts at the Academy record board in the WNEPSSA cham-pionships at the Hopkins School on Feb. 27 and the New England Championships at Hotchkiss on March 7. Good luck to Nate in his quest to bring home some metal.