So Where Exactly DOES Santa Come From? All of us have either heard or celebrated the plump, large, bearded man our whole lives-- as have our parents and their parents and their parents for generations. But, how o!en do we take a moment to re"ect and wonder why we do this, or where this #gure originates? Santa Claus is ac-tually a pleasant mixture of various precedent #gures. $e #rst being Saint Nicolas: a 4th century Greek Chris-tian bishop known for gi!ing those with lower economic standards. But this jolly man also resembles the Germanic folklore of the god Odin who possesses a "ying horse, a long white beard (sound familiar?), and the munchkins of the na-tion would place their boots #lled with food for his horse by the chimney. Aged images of Sinterklaas, the Dutch and Belgian folklore, are also pre-sent in that he carried a book stating what children had been good or bad that year. But last-ly, Father Christmas, the ‘ghost of Christmas past’ -- depicted by Charles Dickens as guid-ing the unbelieving Scrooge to happiness. American press #rst used his name in 1773 but

long before that, colonialism had already brought together the di%erent ingredients from which this #gure was formed. His originally green and white out#t along with his pipe and thick belly all mimic a Dutch sailor according to American-ized versions of Santa. $e three aforementioned features have all been preserved into his modern image—with the exception of the green apparel. Many speculate that he began to wear a red and white winter

coat following successful ad-vertisement for Coca Cola in the 1930’s. However, earlier in the century, Santa had already appeared on the cover of Puck Magazine, White Rock Bever-ages, and Ginger ale advertise-ments wearing the famous red suit. $e use of the reigned sleigh in order to "y the pre-sents to children over the world was #rst expressed in 1821 in an anonymous poem called Old Santeclause sub-

mitted to a New York publi-cation. $e years following that, more and more publica-tions included such an image of a little old man, landing his sleigh on roo!ops, plopping down chimneys, and distrib-uting gi!s to the obedient and kind. Only as popular culture progressed did Mr. Claus be-come a large, weighty man. In 1863 $omas Nast was one of the #rst men to draw him as such and also one of the #rst to conclude that Santa resided in the North Pole. By the 1870’s, it had become common belief that this was his home. His wife, Mrs. Claus, joined his ex-istence towards the end of the 19th century also as a result of various publications. A!er centuries of a mix and mingle of culturally diverse ideas, we #nalized our image of Santa Claus as a friendly, jolly, old man. Interesting how most ideas adding onto his physique and his relationships originated from witty publi-cations that were simply toy-ing with ideas. However, their light and entertaining charm enabled them to develop into a popular portrayal of one of the most iconic #gures of the holiday season.

Contents:

PAMUN XI p.2-3 People p.8 School p.4-5 Literature p.9 Social Networks p.6-7 Culture p.10

Ana Simen

“A phenomenon of the 21st century, Facebook seems an unstoppable force. ” p.6

“even under the most crushing state machinery courage rises up again and again”p.8

2 PAMUN

The Generation of Empowered Youthwritten by Sara Venkatraman

photos by Nikhil Pai

Since February of this year, ASP has been preparing for one of the highlights of the Up-per School year: three memorable days for over 950 students scat-tered worldwide from New York to just outside Paris. $e product of such dedication and persever-ance has come and, unfortunately, gone, but the memories extracted from it shall remain unwaveringly strong within the hearts of all who participated. $e 11th annual ses-sion of the Paris Model United Na-tions conference was thus not only successful but also served as one of the most unique conglomerations of equally dedicated and erudite students from across the globe. Having grown from a small summit of students from the Paris region in the very classrooms of ASP eleven years ago to the amal-gamation of nearly a thousand delegates in the grandeur of the UNESCO world headquarters, PAMUN has continuously grown to be one of the primary forums for a simulation of the United Na-tions that unites young adults for the engaging discussion of global

a%airs. Yet what truly uni#es this generation of empowered and in-telligent youth is not the sheer ex-citement of visiting the city of light to debate current events. Rather, it is the strong passion for the reso-lution of con"ict and striking a balance between pragmatism and ethical values. While it seems that foreign students venturing to Paris for a three-day conference delight in simply being present in the same building that renowned dip-lomats and even the real UN Sec-retary General Ban Ki-moon have conducted themselves in, what we as MUNers truly take away from any conference is the generation of peacekeeping ideas and the ex-perience of accurately balancing the views of a country with those of the delegates themselves rather than the city we have traveled to. What makes PAMUN so unique compared to the plethora of other MUN conferences is its consist-ently high quality standard of de-bate as well as the amazing degree of competence that all of its par-ticipants holds, be they delegates, chairs, or members of the excep-

tionally quali#ed and dedicated executive team. And, as one of this year’s Deputy Secretary Generals Alexi Bennink stated in an edition of PAMUN’s newspaper, “It’s the best conference - the best location, the best size, and the best timing”. As a student attending the founding school of PAMUN, I #nd that what delegates bring home the most from this conference in par-ticular is the inspiration and mo-

PAMUN 3

tivation to collaboratively resolve even the most pressing global is-sues. However, they also leave with new questions. At this conference, delegates have come up together with ways to protect the human rights of immigrants, to achieve Millennium Development Goals, to reevaluate the role of UN peace-keeping troops - but they have also found, as a generation amongst tumultuous times, that simula-tions like these are what will bring them to accept the responsibility of applying their empowerment and faith in humanity to the bet-terment of modern societies. $e real United Nations and its under-lying organizations are where these delegates will be in twenty years’ time as they in turn solve crises for future generations. As Anthony Ghosn, the Secretary General of PAMUN XI, eloquently stated in the opening ceremony of the con-ference, “$e goal of this confer-ence is to verse us in politics. By eliminating war as an option, and operating only through consen-sus, we understand the complexi-ties of strife and con"ict, and come to understand how to engage in

peaceful coexistence ... Delegates, the task is daunting, the obstacles abundant, but the burden is soon going to fall on our young shoul-ders. ... I hope that you feel in your hearts, the same motivation to im-prove the lot of others. I know I do, for I truly believe that by har-nessing and drawing upon this common passion, any crisis made by humans, can be corrected by humans.” $e question everyone in the conference equally imposed upon themselves dealt with the ca-pabilities of their power to solve the con"ict that fellow human be-ings had themselves created. What had been discussed in this opening speech found its way back into Mr.

Reshef ’s #nal words of wisdom in the closing ceremony, in which the statement “politics is the art of the possible” by Otto van Bismarck was discussed, further highlighting the potential of human power but also allowing delegates to re"ect upon their work in the past three days. Already has this statement found its way into the discussion of ASP students themselves, as it has al-ready appeared on the Junior TOK forum and sparked an interesting debate among us all. Ultimately, PAMUN and the general activity of MUN has not only enhanced its participants with the knowledge of pertinent global a%airs, but con-tinues to further enrich a genera-tion of analytical, proactive young adults who will soon be at the fore-front of international a%airs. Like in the past, the confer-ence that took place from Decem-ber 2nd-4th will not be casually forgotten as the year goes on, for it will serve as a strong memory--not simply of pure enjoyment, but also teamwork, productivity, and proactivity. It is unfortunate that the “motion to extend PAMUN” cannot be entertained, but as the MUN world awaits PAMUN 2012 the questions and answers raised from these three days will continue to resonate as symbols of the true capabilities of this generation of empowered youth.

4 School

really all that bad? $ere are sever-al ways in which to procrastinate: O!en, we procrastinate because by working on assignment A, we are putting o% assignments B, C and D. $ough there are strategies for addressing procrastination, such as disabling internet connections and switching o% mobile phones, the best solution is to learn how to procrastinate well. $e three most common procrastination methods are:

Procrastinating by doing noth-ingProcrastinating by doing some-thing less importantProcrastinating by doing some-thing more important

$e problem is how we de#ne importance. Small, less im-portant things are achievements or tasks performed that few will remember; the more important things are the ones that end up in one’s obituary. Duties such as er-rands, cleaning, laundry and may-be even homework are things that the world’s heroes may have put o% so they could #nish their real work. Imagine John Lennon had to pay his bills, but procrastinated and wrote a moving and in"uential song instead. In order to compose that song, he had to go through the wearisome process of learning how to compose and how to write – and though he may have procras-tinated, the work was eventually done. Although homework may occasionally seem futile, it is per-haps necessary preparation for the “important things” that we want to eventually accomplish.As a concluding remark, I’ll leave you all knowing that this article is a product of exemplary procrasti-nation.

All but the lucky few ca-pable of Herculean concentration have been there: you sit at your computer, open a blank Word doc-ument, and spontaneously decide to check your Facebook, just in case. Several hours later, you’ve had a long conversation on the moral-ity of beauty contests with a friend who lives halfway across the world, triple checked your email and pow-erschool, watched the new episode of Modern Family and salivated in front of Steve Madden’s new shoe collection. Your eyes meander to the clock and you snap out of it - is that bio essay due tomorrow? Procrastination is the act of habitually putting o% tasks. It originates from the Latin verb pro-crastinare: pro meaning “forward” and crastinus meaning “of tomor-row”. Note that this word has been around for centuries; though our generation may #t the description best (because of the many distrac-tions which did not exist in the past), we are not the #rst to strug-gle through it. It was #rst applied to free-spirited people who lived their lives with the mentality that “they were going to die anyways, so why bother”. We o!en associate pro-crastination with disorganization. However, as logical as this may seem, setting aside time to com-plete a task does not necessarily mean that this time will be devot-ed entirely to working: the lure of StumbleUpon is o!en too tempt-ing. In fact, studies from the U. of Calgary have demonstrated that when veteran procrastinators #nal-ly get around to beginning a task, they work about eleven times faster than average. $ough this statistic may be fortifying to those among us who recognize themselves as dilly-dalliers, it should not be tak-

en as encouragement: procrasti-nation negatively impacts health, as it disrupts or shortens sleeping patterns. Recent studies at the U. of Sidney have shown that the prob-lems of most clinically depressed adults stem back to their erratic sleeping cycles. $e “scare-tactic” is o!en not su&cient motivation: telling someone who complains about their inclinations to procras-tinate to invest in an agenda is al-most equivalent, though to a lesser degree, to advising a drug addict to stop using drugs. Studies have shown that we are not born procrastinators. Es-sentially, there is an array of pro-crastinator types:

Adrenaline Junkies: Although the excuse of “I work better un-der pressure” is most o!en a lie we tell ourselves, some people get a euphoric thrill out of the panic of potentially not being able to meet a deadline. Scaredy-Cats: $ough the fear of failure is present in all of us, whether or not we are able to overcome it is a di%erent story. Terror is so omnipresent for some that they would rather not attempt a task, fearing that it may be di&cult. Of course, what they don’t realise is that in most cases the easiest way to fail something is by not doing it.“If and But-ers”: People who do not have the ability to make decisions or are afraid they will make the wrong decision. Should I make a poster or a PowerPoint? Deal with this or that? $ey put o% decisions un-til the last minute, which most o!en implies that tasks do not get done.

$ough procrastination is o!en regarded as anathema, is it

Putting It Off: Tomorrow Is Often the Busiest Day of the WeekMaddy Pauchet

School 5

How to Study for ExamsAlison Mai

With the last two weeks to go before we hit our #rst semester exams, everyone’s feeling the pressure. Teachers are cramming in last minute quizzes and tests, along with the ever-growing pile of homework, and we’re feeling a bit buried under it all. So what’s better than a few pointers on how to ace your exams?

1. Don’t procrastinate – studying for 5 exams is not really something you should leave until the last minute. Spread out the mass of studying that you should be doing over a period of time. It’s better for your brain, and your remember things better if they’re repeated over time, not crammed in the night before.

2. If you start to feel stressed, take a few deep breaths to calm yourself down. Not only will it calm your nerves, it’ll also oxygenate your blood, which helps your brain to think.

3. Take breaks – studying all day long non-stop is not the greatest plan. With breaks, your brain has time to process the information you’ve just studied and therefore keep it in your memory. A 10-15 minute break a!er every hour of studying will do you good.

4. Drink more water and less co%ee – ca%eine is a stimulant that can make you feel more stressed, and can lead to loss of sleep. Drink water instead and you’ll feel healthier and more relaxed for your exam. Eating healthy food (for example, fruit and carbs) will keep you energized and less stressed as well.

5. Exercising is a good way to relieve stress and take a break from studying. Maybe right a!er school, go to the PTC and work out a little, treating the work out as a small break from the long school day. It’ll be better for your brain to process the work you’ve done during the day and prepare itself for the night of studying ahead of you.

6. Sleep. A lot. People say the brain never sleeps, and it’s true – once you spend a long day studying, going to sleep is the ideal time for your brain to memorize and process the information. So instead of cramming in for your exam at 1 a.m., go to sleep!

7. Mnemonic devices (special symbols, rhymes, or similar to help memorize things) are a great way to remember facts and dates for exams. Example: HOMES= the great lakes: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior.

8. Limit distractions available to you. Studies show that you are distracted by things detected by your senses; such as hearing your phone ring, or a Facebook chat box, etc. Try to eliminate these distractions to stay focused and concentrated.

9. Getting together with friends to study is a good idea, as long as you don’t get dis-tracted too o!en. Study groups are e%ective because repeating the information back to one another, or in certain cases, teaching it to someone, helps you memo-rize the information.

Hopefully these tips can help you guys during this last week before exams. Study hard, don’t stress too much, and take breaks! Good luck to everyone on their exams!

6 Social Networks

Facebook: Friend or Foe?Sabrine Keane

Launched in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, a young Harvard col-lege student, Facebook has become the largest social network of our time, with 800 million users as of September 2011 and with this number continually increasing. $e McKinsey Global Institute has approximated users post up to 30 billion pieces of content, including photos, status updates, and wall posts, every month. A phenom-enon of the 21st century, Facebook seems an unstoppable force. $e idea of “six degrees of separation” describes the possibili-ty that all people are only six intro-ductions away from knowing one another. Recent research by the

University of Milan, based on 721 million Facebook users, calculate the average number of acquaint-ances separating any two people is 4.74, and no longer 6. Facebook has essentially condensed time and space, making the world and even smaller place. Facebook was created to bring friends together and in do-ing so becomes our “friend”, posi-tively a%ecting our lives in numer-ous ways. $is social network is an incredibly e&cient way to reach out to others. Instead of having to develop pictures and send them by mail to di%erent addresses in the world, or attaching them in an e-mail to your loved ones, Facebook has provided us with the possibil-ity of uploading albums made pub-lic to whoever we choose. Friends and families can be updated in-stantaneously on important events or changes in our lives and they, by clicking “like” or commenting, produce a personal exchange. Oth-er useful features of Facebook in-clude the groups, events, and pages anyone can create. $ey serve as an organizational tool and a way to develop common interests be-tween people. Facebook creates community. Furthermore, Ameri-

can Psychological Association, published #ndings by Dr Larry Rosen, PhD, professor of psychol-ogy at California State University found a number of positive aspects to Facebook: it helps introverted adolescents to express themselves using the distance and safety of a computer screen, increases “virtual empathy” among users, and used as a means for teaching, can help engage students. Perhaps most importantly, Facebook has been an instrument for positive social change in places such as Tunisia and Egypt. John Pollock in Tech-nology Review studied the role of the use of social media, in partic-ular Facebook, during the upris-ings against the dictators Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak. In Tunisia, Facebook was widely used in the absence of the availability of other media, which was controlled by the state, to organize citizens. Be-cause it o%ered a level of anonym-ity, it allowed rebellion. Pollock’s article follows the journey of two Tunisians, “Foetus” and “Water-man”, whose group Takriz helped incite the protests and who called Facebook “the GPS for this revolu-tion”. In Egypt, one of the key mo-ments of the revolution came when

Social Networks 7

a photo of Khaled Said, a computer programmer who had been beaten to death by the police, had gone vi-ral on Facebook. Facebook served the double purpose of spreading information and inspiration to those who felt otherwise helpless. Yet Facebook can be a double-edged sword. $at same anonymity that served the Arab Spring so well and gives insecure teenagers courage, can also abet online bullying as well as harass-ment. A June 2011 Consumer Re-ports article indicates that of the 20 million minors using Facebook in the past year, more than one third were younger than thirteen and therefore vulnerable to making immature decisions. One million children were victims of cyber bul-lying. $e American Psychological Association although publishing the bene#ts of Facebook also indi-cated the risks. Overuse of media and technology can lead to anxiety, depression, and other psychologi-cal disorders. Studies have shown that students who checked Face-book at least once in a #!een-min-ute study period had lower grades than those who were less depend-ent. Teenagers who use Facebook have more of a tendency towards narcissistic behavior. In fact, Nick Bilton, in a New York Times arti-cle November 11, 2011, describes the new Facebook Timeline feature

that is soon to come out, as high-lighting “me in a way that gives me borderline Digital Narcissistic Per-sonality Disorder”. Soon, are entire lives will be displayed for all to see, which brings up the frightening thought, does anything ever go away on the Internet? We all make mistakes, but a mistake on Face-book is potentially permanent. German regulators, a!er a recent investigation, suspects that Face-book has been unlawfully track-ing subscribers through the use of “cookies”, installed on users’ com-puters, even a!er they canceled their accounts. $ey join the Irish Data Protection Agency and the Norwegian Privacy Watchdog in their concerns over privacy issues regarding Facebook. Furthermore, Facebook and the Federal Trade Commission are on the verge of signing a settlement with regard to Facebook’s deceptive practices, including privacy settings, which would force the site to privacy au-dits for the next 20 years. Facebook has become an indispensible tool to our genera-tion. It is nearly impossible not to partake in such a popular social network. But be careful. In an ad-aptation of a $omas Je%erson quote: when biting at the bait of pleasure, beware of the hook be-neath it.

This is a principle at the heart of the life and mission of Aung San Suu Kyi. Born in June 1945, she is currently the leader of the demo-cratic movement in Burma/Myan-mar, which is currently ruled by a military junta that has been in place VLQFH� ������ 5HÀHFWLQJ� XSRQ� WKH�ideas of Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and Martin Luther King Jr., she has worked to establish democracy in Burma through peaceful protests and has been imprisoned several times. Her story is inspirational and UHÀHFWV�KH�VWUHQJWK�RI�SHDFHIXO�SR-litical movements in today’s world.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s po-litical career really began during a visit to her native land, Burma, to care for her mother who had been ill for quite some time. Coin-cidentally in this year, General Ne Win, the longtime military ruler of Burma, stepped down sparking many protests and demonstrations advocating for democracy. With her articulacy and family history, her belated father being a libera-tor of Burma, she quickly rose to the forefront of the democratic ef-fort by speaking in front of half a million people on August 8th, 1988 at a protest which later be-came known as the “888 Upris-ing.” Despite these efforts, a new military junta came into power in September 1988 putting Aung San 6XX�.\L�XQGHU�WKH�¿UVW�RI�KHU�PDQ\�house arrests in July 1989. In this case, she was presented with the choice of house arrest or leaving Burma and selected house arrest. Her perceived desire for democ-racy amongst the people of Burma was not misinformed. In 1990, the junta held an election in which the National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, won 59% of the votes and 89% of the seats in parliament. However, the

junta refused to hand over power, sparking worldwide outcry and increased awareness of the op-pressive nature of the Burmese government. This triggered her winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990. Since this time, her politi-cal career has been one of stead-fast courage. She has spent 15 of the last 21 years under house arrest during which time her husband died of prostate cancer. She was formally released from house ar-rest in 2010 and recently met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton GXULQJ�RQH�RI�$PHULFD¶V�¿UVW�GLS-lomatic visits to Burma in years.

The struggle she has en-dured has been met with placid-ity and poise. Her strength is not one of obvious intimidation, but of unwavering persistence. For her inspiration, she cites leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Ma-hatma Gandhi-- both of whom are renowned for their efforts to use peaceful protest as a method to bring about political change. She also references Buddhist ideas re-garding non-violence. Aung San Suu Kyi has drawn parallels be-tween the Arab Spring and the pro-democracy movement in Burma but acknowledges that the societal make-up between the two places is massively different and notes with regret the situation in Egypt.

However, she remains unwav-

eringly optimistic about the future for not only Burma, but also the world as a whole. She says, “The struggle for democracy and human rights in Burma is a struggle for life and dignity. It is a struggle that en-compasses our political, social and economic aspirations.” She groups democracy and human rights, rec-ognizing the parallel between the two, but also highlighting the im-portance of dignity. The military presence in the government has had an incredible demoralizing effect on the people, creating an atmosphere of unabating fear and incessant dehumanization. But according to Aung San Suu Kyi, fear is an enemy easily defeated and one that is more detrimental to the government than the people.

“It is not easy for a people con-ditioned by fear under the iron rule of the principle that might is right to free themselves from the enervat-ing miasma of fear. Yet, even under the most crushing state machinery courage rises up again and again, for fear is not the natural state of civilized man,” stated Aung San Suu Kyi Indeed, despite its myri-ad tribulations, the movement for democracy in Burma is still alive and well. Clearly, through Aung San Suu Kyi’s undaunted leader-ship, people are learning not fear oppression and in doing so, mak-ing leaps towards a better future. .

“Fear is a habit; I am not afraid.”-Aung San Suu Kyi: An Inspirational Story

Chandler Sterling

8 People

Literature 9

$e narrator of $e Lovely Bones, Susie Salmon, is a normal fourteen year-old girl looking for-ward to going to high school next year. On her way back home from school, her neighbor wants to show her something in the corn#eld. But this man, George Harvey, is a se-rial killer who rapes and murders Susie. Susie is taken to heav-en, where she meets Franny, her guide in the a!erlife. In $e Love-ly Bones, one creates one’s own Heaven and Susie decides to rep-licate her hometown high school. However, the only thing Susie truly wants is to be back on Earth, grow-

ing up with the people she loves. From heaven, Susie can look down and watch her family as they strug-gle with their own feelings about her murder. Susie follows her sister Lindsey’s life from heaven. She watches vigorously as her sister has life changing experiences. Since Su-sie cannot grow up, she tries to un-derstand the process through her sister’s growth into adolescence. She watches as Lindsey grows into a strong young woman who also shares her father’s determination to #nd Susie’s killer. Lindsey learns from Grandma Lynn the name of the man her father believes killed

Susie. Lindsey begins watching Harvey’s house, determined to #nd evidence of the murder. Susie’s #rst kiss is overshad-owed by Susie’s death. Ray Singh is also the #rst suspect in the police’s investigation, but they quickly rule him out. Ruth Connors, a girl in Susie’s class, was the last person Su-sie touches as her spirit le! Earth. Ruth becomes obsessed with death and begins seeing the dead on Earth. Ray and Ruth grown a friendship in their shared grief and understanding. Susie also watches George Harvey, her killer. She learns that she was not his only victim and searches for the stories of all of his girls. She watches as he hides her body and lie to her father and the police wishing she could help them convict him. Sadly Susie can only sit, watch, and hope they uncover the truth of her death. Alice Sebold has written a heart touching book. As a reader, you feel heartache for Susie as she’s watching her try to contact her family from Heaven. You’re terri-#ed for the narrator and the entire way though you’re standing next to Susie shouting at her family to catch George Harvey. Not only does Sebold present di%erence forms of grief over a death, she presents something we don’t usu-ally see, the view of the dead. Se-bold opens up our minds to whole other view on a!erlife. $e idea that you create your own Heaven and “live” in it as you imagine is interesting and though provoking. $roughout the entire book you’re interested, eagerly "ipping to the next page in order to #nd out what comes next. I highly recommend this book to all readers, as it is a unique and well-written book.

The Lovely Bones Book ReviewTamara Ezzat

10 Culture

What comes to mind when one thinks about the city of Paris? When asked this question, a major-ity of people think of the eclectic and high-end fashion the city is famous for, being one of the fash-ion capitals of the world. With our school being just outside of Paris, RXU� VWXGHQWV� DUH� PRVW� GH¿QLWHO\�LQÀXHQFHG�E\� WKH� IDVKLRQ� IRFXVHG�city. Just walking down the halls, one can notice several different trends accumulating: designer bags for carrying books, and the faint scent of a high-end perfume wafting through the air. But what makes ASP fashion so different than normal US high schools? Our school’s fashion is an immense change for some who come from the US, where many attend classes in sweats. In Paris, while just sitting on the metro one can see women and men wear-ing some of the most outrageous

RXW¿WV� HYHU� VHHQ�RU� HYHQ� VRPH�RI�the cutest. “Once I moved here, I discovered different styles and it completely changed my whole fashion sense” says Alison Gieske. Just living in the city and walk-LQJ� DURXQG� LQÀXHQFHV� DQ� H[SDW¶V�GUHVV� VHQVH� ZLWK� D� 3DULVLDQ� ÀDUH��But one may still be wondering what an average ASPer wears? “I usually wear jeans, a nice sweater, and some cool shoes to match. Maybe I might crack out the sper-U\V� DJDLQ´� VD\V�$OH[�9LHKEDFKHU��“My go to is a tanktop, cardigan sweater, and jeans” says Pauline Kress. These juniors sport casual and comfortable attire, but not everyone chooses this style. “Ca-sual is not in my dictionary,” says Tijn de Nooj, who is usually seen around the halls in dress shoes and a sports coat. Every student has a ÀDLU�WKH\�DGG�WR�WKHLU�RXW¿W�PDNLQJ�our school’s fashion one of a kind.

Even students who have previously attended other interna-tional schools notice the difference LQ�VW\OHV�³$63�LV�D�PL[�RI�WKH�PRVW�diverse styles; but moreover, ASP has students dressing in high fash-LRQ��ZKLFK�ZDV�QRQH[LVWHQW�DW�P\�old school in Germany” says Ana Simen a junior at ASP. She contin-XHV��³$63�LV�FOHDUO\�LQÀXHQFHG�E\�its placement in one of the worlds most vivid fashion centers”. This point coincides with Alison’s feelings in her style evolving over her time in Paris. Just walk-ing around our school, jumpers, ZHGJH�KHHOV��ÀRZ\�VKLUWV��GHVLJQ-er jeans, mini skirts, plaid shirts, and many other trends are visible. It is almost as if the ASP halls DUH� QRW� MXVW� ¿OOHG� ZLWK� VWXGHQWV�heading to class but models on a runway showing off their latest look. So keep your eyes peeled! .

ASP and Parisian FashionLily Rivkin

Teen Drug Abuse Facts: A Growing ProblemLidia Lagioia

Because of the belief that we, as humans, superior and im-mune to anything that surrounds XV�� ZH� EHOLHYH� ZH� FDQ� H[SHUL-ment with drugs without con-sequence. But, while some may only try others will develop a de-pendency. Whatever the decision, one must be aware of the effects drugs have in present and later life. With around 49,000 ado-lescents using inhalants, 27,000 using hallucinogens such as ecsta-sy and other club drugs, 13,000 us-ing cocaine, and 3,800 using hero-in daily, the consequences of drug H[SHULPHQWDWLRQ� PXVW� EH� NQRZQ��Naturally, using any of these ille-gal drugs at a young age will only

increase your chances of using other drugs later but, it will also FDXVH�� DQ[LHW\�� SDQLF�� VHL]XUHV��headaches, paranoia, nausea, de-pression, withdrawal, rapid heart rate, and, if WDNHQ� LQ� H[FHVV�� GHDWK��� ,I� RQH� ¿JKWV� WKH�SHHU� SUHVVXUH� RI� H[SHUL-mentation, they should still look out for those dependent or using. The most common signs are: bloodshot eyes, pupils visibly chang-ing in size, changes in appetite and sleep, un-usual smell on breath, body or clothing, trem-

ors or sudden weight loss or gain. So, before you just WKLQN� \RXU� µH[SHULPHQWLQJ¶� MXVW�think: is it really worth it?

Games 11

PuzzlesAlexandra Go%ard

WORD LADDERRULES: Using only four letters, change the #rst word into the last word by changing only one letter at each rung. (CAT -> COT -> DOT -> DOG)

PAMUN XI PhotosNikhil Pai

Club Announcements:Model United Nations: $is weekend the eleventh annual Paris Model United Nations conference took place at the UNE-SCO building in Paris. $is conference, led by Ouriel Reshef and a team of twelve students, draws over nine hundred students from around the world for three days of debate regarding some of the UN’s most press-ing issues. Senior Anthony Ghosn served as the Secre-tary-General; Alexi Bennink, Clara Steiner and Adam Willems were Deputy Secretaries-General. Four ASP students acted as committee Chairs: Brian Carden chaired the Security Council, Michael Carden the Eu-ropean Council, Tess Miller the Group of 77, and Sara Venkatraman the Human Rights Panel. ASP brought a delegation of about twenty students, all of whom had done extensive research on their assigned countries and topics, and who showed a level of innovation, ar-ticulate speech, and respectful debate that rivaled that of professional diplomats. Mallika Bhandari and Lidia Lagioia were recognized with Best Delegate awards, and Flavia Garcia received an Honorable Mention. ASP students were also involved in the admin-istrative organization of the conference: an admin sta% of sixty, led by Martina Belloni, worked to make badges, placard, and folders for the delegates, set up and clean the conference rooms, and pass notes among delegates during debates. Anna Bradley Web masterfully lead her press team as the editor in chief of the PAMUN 2011 MUNi#cence. Anna and her co-editors, Cassidy Howard and Lily Rivkin, managed to publish 4 issues of MUNi#cence as well as being one of the #rst ever PAMUN newspaper sta%s to publish a 12-page paper. $e ASP jazz band performed many pieces as the del-egates exited on Sunday. Overall, it was a very success-ful and rewarding experience for those involved.

12 Students

Student Life SectionStudent Council

!e Student Life section is a new feature written by the Student Council. It is designed to keep the student body up-to-date on upcoming events, club news, and to increase transparency between the Student Council and the rest of the student body. Clubs can submit information for this section to any of the Student Council o"cers. For all information concerning clubs, you can also contact Ms. Lowe, Service Learning Coordinator, at mjlowe@asparis.fr .

Student Council Updates: Student Council Held Part 1 of the Tri-Ball compe-tition on November 25th. It de#nitely was a success! Many people came and enjoyed watching their peers play volley-ball. $e #nal round was extremely exciting—the seniors won by only a fraction! Grade-on-Grade Competition points are currently as fol-lows: Seniors: 4Juniors: 3Sophomores: 3 Freshmen: 1

Editors: Lily Rivkin and Rebecca Slade Layout Editor: Nikhil Pai Assistant Editor: Cassidy Howard

Photo sources:http://sta%.imsa.edu/socsci/jvictory/nast_07/santa_claus_camp100.jpghttp://enpositivo.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Aung-San-Suu-Kyi.jpghttp://fc09.deviantart.net/fs22/f/2007/350/2/e/Book_Cover__$e_Lovely_Bones_by_neurotripsy.pnghttp://www.wbur.org/#les/2010/12/1215_mark-zuckerberg-time1.jpghttp://www.drugfreehomes.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/teen-issues-300x300.jpghttp://www.helenjaques.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Exam.jpg

Article sources:How to Study for Examshttp://psychcentral.com/lib/2006/top-10-most-e%ective-study-habits/all/1/http://www.ehow.com/how_2146288_improve-study-skills.htmlhttp://www.time-management-success.com/good-study-habits.htmlTeen Drug Abuse Facts: A Growing Problemhttp://www.focusas.com/SubstanceAbuse.htmlhttp://listverse.com/2007/09/27/top-10-drugs-and-their-e%ects/

For questions and comments concerning ASPIRE, please contact our faculty advisor, Mr. Brazeau, at bbrazeau@asparis.fr .

Start of Delta Lunches First: room 391 Second: room 456Make a difference.