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Terror Does Not Discriminate3/3/2018 Riddhi Andurkar, Staff Writer
Terror knows no race, religion or nationality. Consider three events that shocked our country in recent weeks. On Oct. 1, a white male gunman opened fire on a crowd of 22,000 from his room in the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas, Nev., killing 58 and injuring 546. This attack was simply labeled another mass shooting. On Nov. 5, a gunman opened fire at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, killing 26 and injuring 20. The gunman was a white male who had been abusing his family members. This attack was more deadly than the terror attack in New York, yet it was only classified as a “mass shooting.” On Feb. 14, a gunman opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. Fourteen people were injured, and 17 were killed: 15 students and two faculty, making this the second deadliest shooting at a U.S. public school, according to the Washington Post. When the media covered this tragedy, reporters repeatedly referred to this as another “mass shooting.” Following these events, when prominent leaders were asked whether this is terrorism, they reminded that this was a time mourn the loss of lives and not to “politicize” the tragedy or call it names. Many labeled these events as resulting from mental illness. On Oct. 31, a 29-year-old man drove a rented pickup truck into cyclists and walkers in New York City. He killed eight people and injured even more. Law enforcement identified him as an Uzbek nationalist. Authorities also discovered that this man had been providing material support to ISIS. According to CNN, a note was found near the truck claiming that this attack was made in the name of ISIS. This act was immediately named an act of terror. It is interesting that a crash carried out by a man of Middle Eastern descent is immediately called terrorism, yet the two other shootings, which were much deadlier than the New York attack, are called mass shootings, conceivably because the shooters were not of Muslim or Middle Eastern descent. We must understand that not all Muslims are terrorists, just like we accept that not all Caucasians are terrorists. Muslims follow Islam. Unlike many of the misconceptions in this country, none of their religious texts say anything about violence against civilians. It must be frustrating for American Muslims to be discriminated against every time the suspect of an attack is Muslim or of Middle Eastern background, leading to another set of rumors that all Muslims follow the same religion as the suspects and could potentially be terrorists planning an attack. According to the Huffington Post, the University of North Carolina conducted a study that proved that less than 0.0002 percent of Americans were killed by Muslims. This number is minimal, but it has led to over 1.6 billion followers of Islam to be looked down upon and discriminated against. In fact, this study reports that Americans are more likely to be killed by their television or couch. When suspects of attacks are non-Muslims, society refers to them as its outcasts or mentally ill persons, and such incidents are considered “isolated.” They are also a part of society, but “do not truly belong.” In other words, the individual is blamed, not the entire group of people. However, if the suspect is Muslim, the entire Muslim American population is blamed. The act of one single outcast of their religion causes them all to be blamed. When the suspect in an attack is Muslim or of Middle Eastern descent, that individual should be blamed and not every single Muslim in the world. Attacks conducted by Muslim terrorists are receiving a lot of media attention, adding on to the misconceptions made about Muslims. The travel ban didn’t help the situation. In fact, it just added fuel to the fire. When President Trump created the travel ban from the seven Middle Eastern countries, the hatred towards Muslims grew stronger. Sure, there may be terrorist organizations from Middle Eastern countries, but just like the non-Muslim terrorists, they are the select few who do not follow the religion. They attack civilians and claim that the attacks are being carried out in the name of Islam. The term Islamophobia was created to give this hatred a name. The dictionary definition of this term is the dislike of or prejudice against Islam or Muslims, especially as a political force. However, what this term really means is discrimination against Muslims because of a select few religious outcasts. There are numerous acts of terrorism committed by Muslims and persons of Middle Eastern origins, but we must also acknowledge that there are equal number of non-Muslim Americans who have committed such acts. Timothy McVeigh, a Caucasian, detonated a truck loaded with explosives and destroyed a federal building in 1995, killing hundreds of men, women, and children in Oklahoma City. Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, terrorized the nation for 20 years through his mail bomb campaign. Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook Elementary shooter, opened fire in a school, killing innocent children and teachers. These are just a few prominent examples. Does this automatically make all Caucasians terrorists? Of course not. We need to exercise better judgment before stereotyping an entire population as terrorists.
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Inside the Second Amendment2/27/2018 Riddhi Andurkar, Staff Writer
Dec. 14, 2012: A 20-year-old man entered Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. and killed 26 students and faculty. Dec. 2, 2015: A couple entered a holiday party at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, Calif. and opened fire. Fourteen were killed, and 22 were injured. June 12, 2016: A 29-year-old American-born man who had pledged allegiance to ISIS shot 102 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., killing 49 and injuring 53. Oct. 1, 2017: From the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas, Nev., a gunman broke open the window of his room and opened fire on a crowd of more than 22,000 people attending a concert, killing 58 and injuring over 500. As a nation, we have repeatedly been shocked by incidents of mass shootings in the last few years. Each time, no matter who the shooter is or what motivated the shooter to kill, the victims were mostly innocent men, women, and even children going about their lives. Shooters have used Bushmaster XM15-E2Ss, Glock 20SFs, semi-automatic rifles, semi-automatic pistols, pipe bombs, SIG Sauer MCX semi-automatic rifles, Glock 17 semi-automatic pistols, and, in the hotel room of the Las Vegas shooting alone, investigators found 23 firearms. In 2015, 13,286 people in the U.S. were killed by firearms. In those same shootings, 26,819 people were injured, according to BBC. Also according to BBC, in 2012, the number of gun murders in the U.S. was 30 times the number of gun murders in the U.K. Gun sales are very restricted in the U.K., and this is reflected in the significantly lower gun-related homicides. So far, in 2017, there have been over 50,000 gun-related incidents nationwide in the U.S., according to the Gun Violence Archive. In 2016, 762 people were killed in Chicago. Sixty-one percent of these homicides were gun homicides. Recently in my school, Naperville Central High, a student was discovered with a gun (unloaded, however). The Second Amendment states that “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” This amendment is practically held as a divine entity by those who support the National Rifle Association (NRA). The passage of the Second Amendment resulted in the permanent prevention of gun control laws. The Founding Fathers used vague language in the development of the Second Amendment. Therefore, it is subject to interpretation and has resulted in such senseless acts of violence that victimized not only the people killed, but their families as well. Those in favor of guns consider the Second Amendment a guarantee of their right to carry any firearm, while those opposed to guns in our society are of the opinion that the Second Amendment should be limited in scope relative to the kinds of guns that should be permitted in a civilized society. Supporters of the Second Amendment say that if “guns are outlawed, only outlaws will purchase guns.” These supporters see these mass shootings as motivation to purchase guns because they believe that if they had had a gun, they would have shot the gunman. As a result, after each mass shooting, the demand and supply for guns skyrockets as do the stocks of the gun manufacturing companies. Those who oppose the Second Amendment say that it is okay to have a handgun, but they question the need for the layman to have an automatic weapon that can fire hundreds of rounds per minute. They argue that such weapons should be only for law enforcement and military. The Second Amendment implies that anyone is eligible to purchase a firearm. As a result, even people incapable of safely handling a gun, such as the mentally unstable, have been able to buy firearms. Such people then carry out mass shootings. The supporters of guns argue that people kill people, not guns. If we believe in this notion, then we need to start early. A perfect solution could be elusive, but we have to start somewhere. In schools, for example, there should be programs regarding individual responsibilities that come with ownership of a weapon. Programs such as meditation, yoga, Tai-Chi or the like, could be initiated. When practiced regularly, these programs enable individuals to exercise mind-body control. Yet, none of these are in place or even talked about by anti-gun control advocates. After considering this information, it is up to us to decide the fate of gun control. Ultimately, we have to decide between two things: whether to live without gun control, waiting for the next news broadcast announcing yet another act of gun violence or to place some restrictions on obtaining a firearm and live assured that the freedom to bear arms and the safety of Americans is guaranteed. In the least, the incidences of mass shootings of innocent people can be minimized or even eliminated from our society.
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Death By Gun; America's Recurring Theme2/21/2018 Academic Essay by Conor Spahr
When I was a freshman in high school, four years ago, I wrote a short argumentative essay about gun control that went over the reasons gun laws needed to change: gun violence and homicides in places like South Chicago, mass shootings, the higher suicide rates among gun owners, and the thousands of incidents simply labeled an accident. And of course, the mass shootings. When I wrote that essay in 2014, the following had not taken place: Charleston, SC (9 dead, 1 injured), Roseburg, OR (9 dead 9 injured), Colorado Springs, CO (3 dead, 9 injured), Kalamazoo, MI (6 dead, 2 injured), San Bernardino, CA (14 dead, 22 injured), Orlando, FA (50 dead, 53 injured). After Orlando in 2016, I updated it with those jarring statistics and sent that essay to my representatives to ask for some initiative on gun control regulations. Today, that letter would be missing the following events: Wilkinsburg, PA (6 dead, 3 injured), Fort Lauderdale, FA (5 dead, 42 injured), Las Vegas, NV (59 dead, 546 injured), Plano, TX (9 dead, 1 injured), Sutherland Springs, TX (26 dead, 20 injured). As stated in Smart Gun Laws Organization by U.S. General Accounting Office, from 2005-2010, nearly 3,800 people in the United States died from unintentional shootings. Over 1,300 victims were under twenty-five years of age. Today, over 7,000 children and adolescents are hospitalized or killed by guns each year in America, according to NY Daily. Mass shootings in the U.S. have always existed, but increasingly numerous amounts victims have not. Mass shootings from the 1700s have normally had around five to six deaths. It makes sense: back then, the American population was only 0.36 percent of what it is today. More recently, specifically starting in the 1990s, there have been an average nine to twelve deaths in mass shootings, with outliers at twenty-three, as stated on Wikipedia's “List of Rampage Killers (Americas)”. And then there are the major shootings from Sandy Hook (twenty-seven) and Virginia Tech (thirty-two). There is a trend of mass shootings increasing victims. The numerous mass shootings in the United States are occurring increasingly often, with more and more casualties. The U.S. should prevent mass shootings by having stricter requirements for owning and possessing a gun, as well as banning nonsensical killing machine parts like full autonomy, high capacity magazines, and bump stocks because it will hinder firearm accident and mass shootings, and keep malicious people from getting a gun. First off, making the gun owner eligibility requirements more thorough can help hinder firearm accidents. These accidental deaths are often considered inevitable, like a natural disaster that nobody can stop. In 2014, an Arizona gun range instructor was accidentally shot dead by a nine-year-old girl he was showing how to fire an automatic Uzi, reported by NY Daily News. This purchase was stopped, tragically, before the girl’s parents could buy the gun for her. By having tougher guidelines for gun buyers, it could prevent parents with young children from having a gun in the house. At the very least, it could stop irresponsible and untrained parents from having guns. Don’t take my word for it, read the data: “A statistically significant association exists between gun availability and the rates of unintentional firearm deaths, homicides, and suicides. In the United States, over 1.69 million kids age 18 and under are living in households with loaded and unlocked firearms, setting the scene for possible tragedy if firearms are not locked and stored properly. A study from 1991-2000 showed that twice as many people died from unintentional firearm injuries in states in the U.S. where firearm owners were more likely to store their firearms loaded” (Aftermath, 1). In this matter, there can be no argument that gun control does not matter because criminals will always find a way to get guns. These accidental firearm deaths are not the result of criminals. They are the result of carelessness and ignorance, and those are not good reasons to die. There are other types of non-malicious firearm deaths besides these accidents, however. In an article by Jessica Rosenberg, she states, “these laws [limiting access to firearms among persons with mental illness] may reasonably be expected to reduce suicide rates.” And it makes sense. Whether a suicide was purposeful or not, it likely would not have happened without a gun. In a survey of thirty-six wealthy nations by the American Journal of Public Health, the United States was the only to have both the highest overall firearm mortality rate and the highest proportion of suicides by firearms. This is no coincidence, as Americans make up half of the world’s civilian gun owners despite making up only four percent of the world’s population. There is almost definite confirmation that access to firearms, whether from household availability or a new purchase, is linked to a significant increased risk of suicide, as stated in “Suicide, Guns, and Public Policy” by E. Michael Lewiecki, MD, and Sara A. Miller, Ph.D. The two also said that “the potential benefit of restricting access to firearms has been evaluated in models that estimate the effect on mortality rates. In the United States, such a model predicted that 8,551 lives might have been saved from suicides avoided each year during the study period 1999 through 2004.” This is just one aspect where gun control can help to save American lives, with no downsides. Alongside preventing firearm accidents and tragedies, harsher gun qualifications can deter petty crimes and gun homicides. How threatening can robbery be if there is no lethal bullet-firing weapon? The United States cannot make guns go away in all violent cases; however, they can make violence with guns less common. Today, a simple burglar of a home or gas station, even a mugger, is likely to be armed, and those are some of the smallest crimes that exist. Some say that criminals will always find ways to get guns and that tightening regulations will just prevent civilians from having weapons to fight back. Yet, studies show that more than eighty percent of guns used in mass shootings were obtained legally. Cracking down on these malicious gun-buyers will save lives. Look at the statistics from a Mar. 10, 2016 Lancet study: “Implementing federal universal background checks could reduce firearm deaths by a projected 56.9 percent; background checks for ammunition purchases could reduce deaths by a projected 80.7 percent; and gun identification requirements could reduce deaths by a projected 82.5 percent. When high-capacity magazines were used in mass shootings, the death rate rose 63 percent and the injury rate rose 156 percent.” By enforcing rules that make owning a gun harder, it keeps small criminals from getting their hands on a gun. And that would slow the need of guns for home protection. Pretty soon the United States would be developing into a place like the United Kingdom, where police do not even need firearms. Furthermore, the United States could prevent mass shootings by having stricter qualifications for owning a gun because it will keep nefarious people from obtaining a gun. Outlawing ridiculous military-grade weapons upgrades (like high-capacity magazines and bump stocks) will prevent anyone who does manage to purchase a weapon from turning it into an absolute death device like the firearm used by the Las Vegas, NV shooter, who shot over four hundred concertgoers. Some people argue that these stricter gun control laws will keep normal people who want to have a gun for hunting, sport, or self-defense from getting one. However, if someone really is fine to own a gun, these extra processes would not stop them. And I’d like to see someone argue that they need 1,600 rounds of ammunition, the amount that the Las Vegas shooter had stockpiled. The stricter qualifications could include background checks, calls to family members, and simply having merchants asking things like “What are you using this gun for?” or “Why do you need this gun?” and immediately reporting any suspicious people to authorities. The gun store owner who followed up the Holmes [Colorado movie theater shooter] application described his voice mail message as “bizarre, guttural, freakish at best.” David Safir says, “Perhaps we need to take things up a notch and express concern to authorities about such encounters.” And he’s right, if this had been reported, the Colorado movie theater shooting could have been stopped. This isn’t an isolated case, either. Thousands of gun homicides take place with legally owned guns. In summary, the United States needs to prevent mass shootings by having stricter qualifications for owning/possessing a gun because it will hinder firearm accidents. It will also keep malicious people from getting a gun. With the frequency and death number in mass shootings raising, as well as the accidental firearm incidents, actions have to be taken. Polls show that nine out of ten Americans support universal background checks on gun purchases and a majority support bans on high-capacity magazines, according to an academic article by Philip Elliott and Sam Frizell. Americans want change, but in a government controlled by super PACs with huge corporate donors like the NRA, who specifically profits from lax gun laws that make purchasing firearms easier, it is not a surprise that our legislature has let so many die. Contacting your representatives in Congress is one of the best ways you can help. Americans are dying from gun-related injuries. “Yes, people pull the trigger - but guns are the instrument of death. Gun control is necessary, and delay means more death and horror.” —Eliot Spitzer. Works Cited Chuck, Elizabeth. "More than 80% of Guns Used in Mass Shootings Obtained Legally."MSNBC. NBCUniversal News Group, 05 Dec. 2015. Web. 22 Dec. 2017. Elliott, Philip and Sam Frizell. "The New Politics of Gun Control." Time, vol. 188, no. 10/11, 12 Sept. 2016, pp. 48-51. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=117821608&site=ehost-live. "Examining Accidental Shooting Death Statistics." Aftermath. Aftermath Services, n.d. Web. 22 Dec. 2017. Goldstein, Sasha. "Girl, 9, Shoots Gun Instructor Dead with Uzi: Police." NY Daily News. N.p., 27 Aug. 2014. Web. 20 Dec. 2017. Lewiecki, E. Michael and Sara A. Miller. "Suicide, Guns, and Public Policy." American Journal of Public Health, vol. 103, no. 1, Jan. 2013, pp. 27-31. EBSCOhost, doi:10.2105/AJPH.2012.300964. Lopez, German. "America's Unique Gun Violence Problem, Explained in 17 Maps and Charts." Vox. Vox, 02 Oct. 2017. Web. 22 Dec. 2017. McGinty, Emma E., et al. "Common Sense or Gun Control? Political Communication and News Media Framing of Firearm Sale Background Checks After Newtown." Journal of Health Politics, Policy & Law, vol. 41, no. 1, Feb. 2016, pp. 3-40. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1215/03616878-3445592. Miller, Matthew, David Hemenway, Deborah Azrael, WISQARS, U.S. Department of Defense, Satistical Information Analysis Division, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and U.S. General Accounting Offic. "Statistics on Gun Deaths & Injuries." Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence RSS. Smart Gun Laws, 16 Nov. 2012. Web. 26 Dec. 2017. Miller, Tracy. "Guns Injure More than 7,000 U.S. Kids Yearly: Study." Daily News. New York Daily News, 28 Jan. 2014. Web. 20 Dec. 2017. Rosenberg, Jessica. "Mass Shootings and Mental Health Policy." Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare (2014): n. pag. Western Michigan University. 1 Mar. 2014. Web. 12 Dec. 2017. Safir, David, Michael Ascher, Dr., Aaron Spital, and Janice Smith. "Everyone Can Be More Vigilant to Help Stop Mass Shootings." USA Today June-July 2012: n. pag. USA Today, 24 July 2012. Web. Traylor, Andrea, et al. "Clinical Psychologists’ Firearm Risk Management Perceptions and Practices." Journal of Community Health, vol. 35, no. 1, Feb. 2010, pp. 60-67. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s10900-009-9200-6. Wikipedia Contributors. "Demographic History of the United States." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Dec. 2017. Web. 22 Dec. 2017.
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Please Don't Be My Valentine.2/20/2018 Telli Mills, Staff Writer
I am very much in love with my significant other, unfortunately I would rather not squeeze myself into an uncomfortable dress and wear heels to an overcrowded expensive restaurant on February 14th this year; or any other year for that matter. I would much rather sit on the couch and watch movies and eat chinese take-out in sweatpants with my hair in a messy bun. I am not aromantic, or depressed, or “lacking a committed relationship” or any other variation I was supposed to be ‘insulted’ with when exposing my feelings about Valentine’s Day. I appreciate the holiday very much, there are beautiful flowers everywhere, everything is pink and red and the giant teddy bears are adorable. The other thing I appreciate is the day after Valentine’s Day when all of these gifts are 50-75% off at Walmart or Target. I have asked many of my colleagues whether that makes me apathetic or ‘cheap’ or what have you. In my defense, I used to always be single around Valentine’s Day, and I have gotten used to not receiving chocolates or flowers or teddy bears or anything of that caliber. I do not loathe Valentine’s Day, however the hype and credit that it gets is completely unnecessary. February 14th, is the day in which people all over the world observe Valentine’s Day, in many different ways- most of which I completely disagree with. Way back in the day, St Valentine had died as a martyr on February 14th. He was popular within the Roman Catholic Church for marrying couples who practiced Christianity. Without delving deep into religion, it is easy to see how Valentine was associated with romance and love. Love is a virtue, a gift, and precious. Love is omnipresent, and if you love someone, do you only tell them once a year? That’s exactly the type of excitement that Valentine’s Day receives. Married Couples do it. Teenagers do it. LGBTQ+ couples do it. Best friends do it. Everyone does. I am not pessimistic, or anything of the sort. I have a deep appreciation for all of the people in my life whether I have romantic relationships with them or not. I refuse to rain on anyone else’s parade on February 14th, I just do not see the massive appeal. I can go out and see my significant other any day. I can give my friends chocolates and teddy bears and flowers any other day. I see no point in spending money and too much time to go to a fancy restaurant and have set reservations and all of the comradery. Valentine’s Day is just another date on the calendar, and it does not deserve all of the hype that it circulates. In fact, my significant other and I aren’t doing anything on February 14th, and we are going to eat ramen noodles, and watch horror movies and cartoons probably on February 16th simply because we can. I didn’t ask for presents or flowers or chocolates or anything. I only asked for his time, and attention, which I can ask for any other day. Valentine’s Day isn’t really all that special in my eyes. It’s a holiday to celebrate love, only why not do that everyday of the year?
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by Parker Service, Staff Writer
Just like every year, the ads of Super Bowl LII were as much of a star as Nick Foles, the MVP of the game, and quarterback for the Eagles. What I’m always most excited about are the movie trailers. Sure the Tide, Doritos, Mountain Dew, and Bud Light ads were amazing, but they cannot pass the movie trailers’ pure excitement. So with that, here are the best Super Bowl movie trailers for 2018, ranked from worst to best. Honorable Mention: While it turned out not to be a movie trailer, the Crocodile Dundee trailer, which turned out to be an advert for Australia’s Board of Tourism, might just be one of the best ads of any of them. Obviously, I can only give it an honorable mention because it is, unfortunately, not a real movie. Though if you want it to happen, there is still a chance. There are already numerous petitions to sign to get a Crocodile Dundee reboot off the ground. 8. Red Sparrow This one has to be put at the bottom because of just how terribly it shows the movie off, and that something has to be last. Red Sparrow starring Jennifer Lawrence just doesn’t seem very interesting, at least based on the trailer. From the TV Spot, all I can tell about the movie is that Lawrence will star and that it has something to do with Russian spies, we’ll probably see it as Scarlett Johansson in my next pick. 7. Avengers: Infinity War This movie was easy to place here, but not because I’m not excited about the movie. Avengers: Infinity War is probably the movie this year with the most hype behind it, and I for one, am completely aboard the proverbial hype train. This movie the culmination of a decade of some of the most important movies every year. Unfortunately, the ad they put in the Super Bowl didn’t meet the speed of the train. The first trailer was an amazing reveal, but this trailer barely shows anything new. On a list of movies that I’m most excited for this year, this would be near the top, but not this trailer. 6. Skyscaper I don’t know about you, but I think that The Rock’s movies should exclusively be comedies. Movies like Moana and Baywatch are good comedies, but the infamous Scorpion King or San Andreas are just bad movies. However, many seem to like the Fast and the Furious movies. Unfortunately, Skyscraper seems to fit in with San Andreas rather than Furious 8. I don’t like the trailer because of what it promises. However, I place it above Avengers because it does show us something new. 5. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom I don’t think this movie will be very good, but the trailer is. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom promises more Chris Pratt and more dinosaurs, so it probably won’t be a bad movie, but it probably won't be a good one either. This one has a similar problem as Avengers, showing a lot of what we have already seen, but the horror-ish aspects at the beginning and end were really good. The trailer shows dinosaurs being in someone’s bedroom, which likely means this movie will follow in the footsteps of the horrible Jurassic Park sequel, the Lost World. 4. Solo: A Star Wars Story This is where the decisions get hard to make. I place Solo: A Star Wars Story in this spot not to any fault of its own. The trailer used the forty-five seconds spectacularly and is genuinely a great ad. The glimpse of the Modern-Day-Renaissance-Man, Donald Glover’s, portrayal of Lando Calrissian is chilling and cool. This movie has had hiccups along the way in production, but it didn’t seem to affect the Super Bowl trailer. Unfortunately, the rest of these were just better. 3. Mission Impossible: Fallout Mission Impossible: Fallout is one of my most hyped movies of the year. Mission Impossible is one of the best franchises just to watch. This trailer has everything you could want from Mission Impossible, motorcycle chases, fist-to-fist combat, and of course Tom Cruise running. In this trailer they even show the part of the movie where Tom Cruise broke his ankle while doing a stunt, jumping across a building. It's an exciting Mission Impossible movie, and that's enough for me. 2. A Quiet Place This movie came out of nowhere. I hadn’t heard of this movie before this trailer, so clearly A Quiet Place did its job quite nicely. Starring Emily Blunt and the Office’s John Krasinski, this movie looks exciting, the trailer is only thirty seconds long, and yet it still made me feel scared and on edge. That is the mark of a good trailer, taking a movie that I didn’t even realize existed and making me instantly excited. 1. The Cloverfield Paradox As a huge fan of the Cloverfield franchise, The Cloverfield Paradox takes number one, no questions asked. Just like the previous, it builds a lot of suspense. But, what is the best part of the trailer was the reveal that is being put out on Netflix, and that it's coming out right after the game. While I haven't had a chance to watch it yet, if you liked the trailer as much as me, then I recommend giving it a watch right now.
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Does the ACT measure college readiness?1/21/2018 Ethan Ancell, Staff Writer
The ACT is labeled as a test for colleges that measures “college readiness”. The ACT is a 4 section test that tests your skills in Language Arts, Reading, Math, and Science. There is some debate as to whether this is actually the case. It would be impossible to make any test that does a perfect job, but does the ACT even do a good job? This test will show how well you can answer questions in a rapid fire, common core type of questions— the sorts of stuff that basically all adults will completely forget by the time they graduate from college. So how on earth does this kind of test determine what college you may get into, which in turn determines the outcome of your entire life? It probably shouldn’t. College classes are much different than just taking tests all day. One argument is that colleges don’t entirely look at your ACT. More often, your grades are a much more important component of your application to a college. It is commonly said that your grades are like a video of your high school career, and your ACT is a snapshot of your high school career. Proponents of the ACT argue that the test gives insight into different types of information as to what kind of student you are. Perhaps the ACT is universally agreed upon that it is not a good indicator of an entire high school career, but it is an excellent indicator of how well you can take tests, something that you will have to deal a lot with in college. If you consider all things, we can see that the ACT probably is actually a good indicator of college readiness, because it measures how well you can take a test. It’s not how smart you are, it’s how good you are at taking tests. Since a large portion of your college grades will be based off of taking final exams, the ACT is a good measure of how well you can take an arbitrary test. The only discussion left now is whether testing well in college is a measure of your success in the real world. The short answer— probably not!
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“It was the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen."Matthew Gilchrist, Staff Writer
Does Herriman High School have a drug problem? I'd have to say we do—and if not drugs: vaping, another extremely popular pastime of students. About a year ago, vape companies around the U.S. started releasing a new variety of juice called cannabidiol, or CBD for short. CBD is an inactive chemical compound found in marijuana. A common misunderstanding is that CBD produces a high, but it does not. The vape companies that sell CBD often add K2 spice, a type of synthetic marijuana, in order to sell more product. K2 is a synthetic cannabinoid, meaning it has properties similar to marijuana, but has way more dangerous side effects such as psychotic symptoms, hallucinations, kidney damage, heart attacks, and seizures. Also, unlike normal marijuana, synthetic cannabinoids are often very addictive. Recently at Herriman High, there was an incident of a student being intoxicated at school, who we have opted not to name at this time in order to protect their identity. Josh, a sophomore who was at the incident, said “It was the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen.” Another student working as an attendance aide at the time said, “I went to give a teacher a note and I saw some kid running up and down the hall. Mr. Denton was trying to stop him but it wasn’t working so the hall monitors had to go get him.” The student in question was eventually apprehended and brought to the attendance office. The attendance office had to call his legal guardian and also the police. Shortly after, the administration called down the suspected supplier. He claimed that while he sold the person CBD, he didn’t know it was laced with so much spice. Later that week the administration sent out an email to all the teachers in the school warning them to keep an eye out for their students vaping. This reaction is too little, too late, because over three years the the high school, I have seen people vaping constantly. Conor, an editor of Telegraph, said “I see people vaping all the time, even inside the building.” One student said, “It’s ridiculous that it took them this long to really notice and the only thing they do is send an email! If they really cared about [the vaping issue] that much they’d actually do something about it.” This incident has raised the question, what other drugs have the administration missed around Herriman? Other schools around Utah, specifically within the Jordan School District, have a nickname for Herriman: Heroin High School. It’s about time we see some changes.
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Trashing Trends1/18/2018 Ethan Ancell, Staff Writer
All you Herriman High students have probably been walking around and noticing some incredibly cringy trends on people trying to keep up with the latest fashion. Secretly, I'm sure all of you hate these, so let's finally uncover some of the worst things in Herriman's fashion world. Fake eyelashes Now I'm not exactly sure who started this trend, but I'm sure that whoever did intended them to not be obviously fake. Nowadays it almost makes me die inside at the sight of someone sporting some five pound blue sparkly piece-of-plastic vaguely representing an eyelash. Chokers This is probably going to be the most controversial trend listed in this article. Love them or hate them, you look like a household pet. Almost every single eight year old girl is starting to want to get one, and it's just slightly ridiculous. If you are like a normal person, just save yourself from cutting off your airway and wear your neck around the natural and beautiful way. Backless Shirts Okay… now why is this a thing? The other day, I kid you not, I spotted a kid sporting a backless shirt. After some research, I discovered this is a new trend. No one wants to see your unsightly bacne, so just wear a normal shirt. We as a population of humans will thank you forever if you revert back to the regular shirt. And for the love of all that is holy, do not let frontless shirts become a thing. Insanely detailed thin eyebrows There's a fine line between having eyebrow and having no eyebrows, and that aforementioned fine line is the trendy thin detailed eyebrows attained after hours upon hours of plucking and waxing. Truth is, if you have to pull out a university grade microscope to be able to see your thin strip of hair going across, you probably are taking things too far. Hardly any guys will actually find this trend attractive, save your plucking for the next season of Jersey Shore. Sagged pants This is one of those “trends” that never really seems to go away. It’s been around forever, yet for some reason a few people still think it is a good idea. To anyone who is still doing this, please, on behalf of all people who have any common sense, we beg you to use a belt. They cost something like ten bucks at Walmart. If you find your trousers uncontrollably shifting, call me up and I’ll drive you to the belt store and I’ll get you a quality waistband that will last you well into your sixties. Vaping If you ever have moved outside of your cave, you’ve seen someone strutting around (probably with sagged pants) and puffing out a Hiroshima sized cloud out of their face, paired with the latest technologically advanced pipe released. It’s not cool, you’re just making it incredibly difficult for everyone else to have a normal conversation with you because you have four kilotons of toxic nuclear waste chemicals inhabiting the air between you guys. Editor's Note: This article is satire.
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Adulting1/18/2018 Ben Moore, Staff Writer
Adulting is something that we all must face. One day, we all walk down a stage, get handed a piece of paper that tells us, "You don’t suck”, and we are thrust into the real world of taxes, jobs, and unplanned pregnancies. Suddenly, you don’t have your parents to cover for you anymore. You have to get a job to pay for basic survival, as well as the greatest ponzi scheme known to man: college. However, all is not lost. If you can learn to master the art of adulting, you can save yourself from much pain and suffering. First, be polite to people. Nobody likes a mook. If you show common respect and decency to your fellow human beings, they will treat you the same. As my momma always told me, “If you don’t pop nobody’s bubble, they won’t pop your's." Some feel that there is no way that they can get through adulthood, so they try to escape the symptoms as quickly as possible, shutting off the outside world. Maddie Hansen, sophomore, likes to make deals with people to do things for her, saying “I get my brother to do my homework and I mow the lawn.” While adulthood denial can be very intense in sophomores, some have it so bad that by the time they are seniors, they're just burnt out. Shayla Wimmer, a senior at Herriman, is at a loss for words. “I just don’t know”, she stammered when asked about adulting. While some prefer to deny the looming struggles of adulthood, others confront it head on. Makenzie Manning, a junior, is one of the few. “I just confront [responsibilities]. Get them out of the way." While Makenzie is valiant for confronting the ugliness of adulthood, people like her are few and far between. These souls are often years ahead of their peers, and tend to be much more successful according to the world’s view. But they are starving in terms of soul. They lack the very essence of what makes us human. The laughter of a newlywed couple. The tears of a mother holding her newborn. The tears of a young man dealing with rejection. These are the things that fill and enrich the soul. True adulthood robs these things from the lives of many young people globally. The inescapable disease of adulthood is not something to be celebrated, it is something to be avoided, to stay away from, to curse. Adulthood cannot be completely escaped, for we all, someday, will reach a point in our lives where it is no longer idealistic to run. That is a great and terrible day, to be especially sorrowed over. However, that day can be delayed years, and decades even. Some may never reach that day, for they pass on before responsibility catches up to them, even while living to an old age. These are the mighty among us, the glorious champions of the human race. |