Merida: A New Kind of Disney Princessby Sarah Thompson, Age 13Boynton Beach, FL

In 1937, Walt Disney Com-pany released the movie Snow White. The movie told the story of a fourteen-year-old Bavar-ian Princess named Snow White, whose incredible beauty and oth-erworldly singing voice leads her stepmother, the Queen, to become jealous and send a huntsman after her to kill her.

According to Wikipedia, Snow White became “the first cel-ani-mated feature in motion picture history, the first animated feature film produced in America, the first produced in full color” and “the first to be produced by Walt

Disney Productions.” All those amazing feats aside, many little girls can also tell you that Snow White was the very first Disney Princess.

Since then, the Disney Princess franchise has grown immensely. It sells all kinds of products, from clothing to dolls to books and more. The franchise is dearly beloved by many, but has also re-ceived a large amount of criticism over the years. Many critics have accused Disney of portraying the Princesses as weak “damsels in distress,” overly dependent on their Prince to save them. Others have said that the Princesses are bad examples for young girls; that they have unrealistic bodies and unrealistic lives, and are not good

role models for the girls who idol-ize them. The criticism is under-standable, and it is true that many of the Disney Princess movies follow a cookie-cutter formula…but as time has passed and the company has grown, Disney has really made a push to introduce diversity and originality among their Disney Princess character line-up.

For example, the release of The Little Mermaid in 1989 intro-duced the fourth Disney Princess, Ariel, who audiences liked for the fact that she was rebellious, adventuresome, and much more self-reliant than Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora, before her. Belle, star of 1991’s Beauty and the Beast, is called one of Disney’s “best-known and well received heroines.” She is depict-ed as intelligent, stubborn, and a bookworm.

The following year Jasmine, of Aladdin, joined the line-up. She is currently the only Disney Princess to be Arabic. Pocahon-tas, in 1995, was based loosely on the historical figure Matoaka (better known by her nickname,

Pocahontas.) Pocahontas was the daughter of a Native American chief and the first Disney Princess to be American. She is depicted as wise and spiritual.

Mulan, released in 1998, told the story of Fa Mulan, a brave, courageous, and loving girl whose elderly father is wanted to fight in battle against the Huns. To save him, Mulan disguises herself as a

THE CIRCLE GAZETTE Volume 3, Issue 11 AUGUST 2012

A Newspaper by Children, of all Ages, from all Over the World

“How To Submit” See Ad Page 2

Please turn to page 8

2012 Droughtby Ismail Ercan, Age 15Coral Springs, FL

Recently it seems like noth-ing has been going right for the US agriculture industry. The nation is currently suffering its fourth worst drought in its history, the worst in nearly 60 years. Some areas of the coun-try have received less than 75% of their average rainfall within the past month! Farmers and cattle farmers can only watch with despair as their crops and

livestock struggle to endure the blistering heat and lack of rain that has plagued the landscape the past few months.

A drought is an extended period of dry weather with hotter than average tem-peratures that lasts months or even years. Droughts are often caused by what meteo-

rologists call a “blocking pat-tern,” or when weather sys-tems “keep moisture-bearing storms away from a particular region,” according to Paul Stein, a Senior Meteorolo-gist for the Weather Channel. Although blocking pattern caused droughts have become affiliated with certain times of the year in specific parts of the world, the reasons why these droughts occur in similar ar-eas but not in others have of-ten baffled meteorologists.

What is certain is that the effects of any drought can be devastating, as seen this year in the US. The Palmer Drought Index, used to measure the magnitude and severity of a drought, has shown that nearly 60 percent of the contiguous United States has been affected

Attention All Future Actors and Actresses:

If You Would Like Advice for Your Future

Career, Read On…by Ani Spey, Age 11Fort Lauderdale, FL

You are walking down the red carpet, smiling for all the cameras, on your way to accept your Grammy Award for best actor. Your acceptance speech wins over the crowd and your name is in every newspaper!

That is a good feeling, isn’t it? But it’s not the reason to be-come an actor. Challen Cates, better known as Mrs. Knight on the popular Nickelodeon com-edy “Big Time Rush,” wisely said during a recent interview for the Circle Gazette that “you have to make your acting goal to become a good actor, not to become famous.”

Not surprisingly, ever since she was a kid she wanted to be an actress. Surprisingly, she was super shy! Not only that, but she was bullied. It seems a turning point for her was when she performed in a play and memorized every single part. She said that it felt right to her to speak other peoples’ words. While she was attending col-lege at the University of Geor-gia in Atlanta, she remembered that feeling and auditioned for a show called “In The Heat of The Night.” She got a huge part, and that was the beginning of her exciting career.

Now she is playing the en-couraging and fun mom of Ken-dall and Katie Knight on “Big

Time Rush,” a show about four hockey-playing boys from Min-nesota who move to L.A. and become famous singers. She helps the four boys make their decisions and choose right from wrong. Cates does a spectacular job at portraying Mrs. Knight, partly from her own experi-ences as a mom. She, like Mrs. Knight, has two children, and, like Mrs. Knight, she would do anything for them to be happy. Being Mrs. Knight helps her be a better mom and being a great mom helps her be Mrs. Knight! Cates will do anything to help her kids and so will her character.

Cates uses her childhood ex-periences and influential role as an awesome actress to help

Please turn to page 9 Please turn to page 11

“Corn and soybean crops have continued deteriorating for a seventh straight week and nearly half of all US corn crops are rated under the ‘poor or very poor’ condition category.”

Photo Courtesy of the New Your Times.

Dream Team 2012by Patrick and Robby Griswold

Page 7

OLYMPIC SUMMER More than Just a Number

by Daniela Gómez

Page 6

Methane by A.J. Cross

Page 3

Green Tip 2.

by Sara Cross

Page 3

Living Healthy

Pacific Tuna

Did You Know...… that as of August 3, 2012, Brave, the new Pixar film, had earned $221,245,000 in North America, and $92,000,000 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $313,245,000? The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 77% of critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 6.9/10 based on 183 reviews. Brave is a 3D computer-animated fantasy adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures.

To kick-off our Mentor Program

(more on page 2), young author Any Spey developed this piece with the support and mentorship of Circle

Gazette Editor Robyn Rader.

Ms. Rader made herself available to Spey during the research and questions prep

process, during the inter-view and during the writing and refining of the article.

If you’d like to join our Mentor Program we have

plenty of opportunities available. Join and learn

new techniques, sources of inspiration and publishing tools. Inquiries at info@

enrichmentcicle.com.

PAGE 2 THE CIRCLE GAZETTE AUGUST 2012

Dear Readers,It’s time for a change --What

Do You Think? We hope your summer is going

swimmingly. As you start to wind down from your summer activi-ties and gear up for the new school year, we at the Circle Gazette are gearing up for some changes as well. With change comes growth, and the Circle Gazette is grow-ing! In addition to our monthly features written by talented writ-ers across the country, we are now partnering some of our writers with mentors! This pairing will enable beginning writers, as well as more experienced writers, to hone their writing skills, includ-ing researching, interviewing and editing their editorial pieces alongside an experienced writer. We are excited to offer this “free” service to our current and new

writers. If you are interested in writing a piece, but feel as though you could benefit from the assis-tance of a published writer, we will match you up. All writers can use some extra help! Learn new techniques, sources of inspiration and publishing tools. It’s fun--and you get published!

We will also be adding a new feature called “The Story Behind the Story.” In addition to publish-ing the stories our writers submit, we will be adding an editorial note telling you the behind-the-scene story about how their work came to be. You might read about how a story idea was born, how many rewrites were written be-fore publication, how a story had to be cut to make room in the pa-per, or even some feedback we have received from our readers about a piece. We all like to know what happens behind the cur-

tain, and now we can. We always welcome your feedback as well! Sometimes the story behind the story can be more interesting than the story itself. Keep reading the Circle Gazette and you will see what I mean. We will also be add-ing photos of each contributor so you can get to know them a little better, too.

That is what has been hap-pening at our “Editorial Home.” What is happening in yours? Please help keep “our” newspa-per colorful by submitting your ideas, poems or art pieces. And you can always contact us--and we will suggest an assignment. It’s fun to see your name in print!

Keep Reading and Keep Writ-ing,

THE CIRCLE GAZETTE A Newspaper by Children for Children

Monthly Independent Publication available to children of all ages.

This publication is an initiative of THE ENRICHMENT CIRCLE, INC. A Non-Profit 501(c)(3) Organization for the Advancement of Education

7551 Normande Ct. Margate FL 33063 Phone: 954-918-2541

info@enrichmentcircle.com

Editor in Chief Patty Gómez

Editorial Board

Serena Serrano Sandra Wolkov Pedro Gómez Robyn Rader Christie Voss Lee Bruno

Production

Patty Gómez Sandra Wolkov Serena Bruno Christie Voss

Graphic Designers & Prepress Dora Font Christie Voss

Cartoonists and Illustrators

Kate Maier Sofia Serrano Daniela Gómez Emma Gómez Arion Rashad

Regular Columnists Aaron J. Cross Daniela Gómez Bilal Amodu Sara I. Cross Sarah Thompson

Regular Contributors

Maria & Natalie Schlecht, Elizabeth Abrams, Daniela & Emma Gómez, Aaron J. & Sara I. Cross, Sofia Serrano, Danny & Andy Hernández, Alizdair Ray, Ismail Ercan, Shadya & Bilal

Amodu, Nathalie Thelemaque, Kate Maier, Reagan Olenick, Sarah Thompson

Proof Readers Patty Gómez Sandra Wolkov Serena Bruno Christie Voss

Web Page Master

Victoria Martinez

Subscriptions available 1 year subscription: $40/year/12 issues

6 months subscription: $24/year/6 issues Individual copies: $4/each

With the purchase of each copy you are supporting the printing of future issues and through that, the creative work of young writers and artists!

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The Circle Gazette is available online and is distributed in paper via individual, classroom and library subscriptions. The Circle Gazette is distributed all over South Florida and has

subscribers and contributors from Ohio, Tennessee, New Mexico, Texas, New York, Virginia, California, Kentucky, San Jose-Costa Rica and Caracas-Venezuela)

Free Copies Available at Community Partner Institutions

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TO SUBMIT WORK

The Circle Gazette is a publication available to public school, private school and homeschool students. Email a copy of your work, as a Word or text file, attach images as JPEG files, to

info@enrichmentcircle.com or submit your work online at www.enrichmentcircle.com. All entries should be accompanied by the parent/guardian consent to print form found online.

Information to contributors

The Circle Gazette reserves the right to edit, accept and refuse articles in the interest of brevity, clarity and the appropriateness of subject matter.

The Circle Gazette is packed from cover to cover with the latest stories and creations of

children as of all ages; about local affairs, the environment, art, sports, entertainment, stories, poems and puzzles that engage and inspire young minds!

YOUNG CHILDREN CAN PROVIDE A WEALTH OF WISDOM, FRESHNESS

AND NEW PERSPECTIVES! The Circle Gazette is a one-of-a-kind publication because:

It transcends one school/homeschool community. It goes beyond a state or a country. It’s about widening writer’s and reader’s horizons!

It is addressed to children and the content is created by children It involves a multiage/multilevel group of contributors The editorial team keeps a holistic and nourishing quality on the selection of

content and design It’s a high quality mix of a variety of styles and topics It offers valuable feedback to authors

The Enrichment Circle 501(c)(3)A Non-Profit Organization for the Advancement of Education

Robyn S. RaderAssistant Editor

Your Work

can be Published

too! “How

To Submit”

Time For A ChangeA Word From The Editor

Did You Know...… that at the Circle Gazette young writers find an opportunity to tell their stories and opinions, and to play an active role in their communities as reporters? This unique publication is packed with the latest stories, poetry and art by children of all ages, about current affairs, the environment, sports, health, and entertainment. The Circle Gazette is an init iative of the Enrichment Circle, Inc. a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization for the advancement of education. To find out how to submit your work visit www.enrichmentcircle.com.

THE CIRCLE GAZETTE MOVING FORWARD

NEW PRINTING SCHEDULE, NEW FORMATS

by Patty GómezEditor-in-Chief

This August 2012 issue is our 34th consecutive issue. We printed our first 8-page issue on October 2009 featuring the work of 16 writers. The Circle Gazette has come a long way. Last month we published our first 20-page issue with riveting coverage of the Summer Olympic Games. In almost three years of monthly publication we have featured the work of more than 300 young writers and artists from more than 40 locations in the United States, Europe and Latin America. On the way here, we have assembled a terrific team of professional editors and graphic designers that every month honor the children’s work with theirs. Our next issue (September 2012) will be the last issue of our third year.

To kick-off our fourth year of print, we are very happy to an-nounce a new stage for the Circle Gazette. Starting October 2012, our full edition will print every

two months. We will have an October-November issue, a De-cember-January one, and so on. However, local/world happen-ings and information move faster and faster everyday and young people are on top of things. Therefore, while our FULL EDI-TION (print and online) will be bi-monthly, we’ll have a WEEK-LY digital edition called ‘The Circle Gazette WEEKLY.’ This weekly will come out via digital subscriptions, email, facebook, and twitter. Make sure to sub-scribe and invite your friends and family! It’s free. The first

WEEKLY came out the last week of July; check it out on our facebook page: www.facebook.com/circlegazette. This format will evolve as we move along.

This new format will benefit our contributors since it will air the stories faster and in multiple plat-forms. Contributors will be able to submit at anytime. If you have a story ready, or you just covered an event for us, you can just shoot that to us the moment you have it done. It will go through the edito-rial cycle and will either come out in the WEEKLY or in the full edi-tion, or in both.

Attention Writers and ArtistsYou need to plan your contributions accordingly. If –for example - you have something that will be

relevant for November and you want it to be considered for the FULL EDITION, make sure to research and write in advance so you can submit by Oct 1st. Of course there are always those last minute contri-butions we are flexible about, such as that article we know is coming from a columnist or by a reporter that just covered an event for us. If you have any questions, or if you want to discuss your current piece or what you are working on for the fall, email us at info@enrichmentcircle.com.

On paper the Circle Ga-zette is available via sub-scriptions and at relevant locations such as museums,

schools and libraries. In digi-tal form, the Circle Gazette is available through different media outlets and partners.

We are growing and we are moving forward.

Keep on writing, keep on dreaming…

New Deadlines for the full edition (bi-monthly)

To have your workconsidered for the

Submityour work by

Newspaper available by

September 2012 Aug. 15 Sep. 1-5Oct-Nov issue Oct. 1 Oct. 15Dec-Jan issue Dec. 1 Dec. 15Feb-Mar issue Feb. 1 Feb. 15Apr-May issue Apr. 1 Apr. 15June-July issue Jun. 1 June. 15Aug-Sept issue Aug. 1 Aug. 15

AUGUST 2012 THE CIRCLE GAZETTE PAGE 3

Green Tip 2.

ECO FEATUREThe Levels of Methane are Truly Insane!

by A.J. Cross, Age 15Boca Raton, FL

With the start of summer here in South Florida it is getting rather hot. In fact, starting this past winter we have been getting record high temperatures all over America. The prime suspect of this: global warming! You prob-ably have all heard about global warming, but have no idea what causes it and why it is a problem. Global warming is really just what it sounds like – the planet getting warmer. Certain gases in the air, such as carbon diox-ide and methane, cause sunlight to be diffused as it is entering Earth’s atmosphere. These scat-tered particles of light called photons bounce off the planet as usual, but cannot leave the at-mosphere due to the thick gasses that fill it. The photons bounce back to the Earth, thus heating it even more. This process is called the greenhouse effect. It is what causes the air in our cars to be much hotter than the out-side temperature. It is the same thing farmers use to get an early

start with the next year’s crop. They build a structure with clear plastic or glass walls and ceiling. The sunlight during the winter months is not enough to support most plants, but that same sun-light entering a greenhouse will stay inside and supply a warm environment. The roof is usually curved upward to provide better support and help focus as much light inside as possible. Think of Earth’s atmosphere as a domed roof on all sides. It curves along with the planet’s surface, encas-ing us in a huge clear ball. It is like the entire planet is inside one giant greenhouse!

Although the planet has always had an atmosphere (at least as long as scientists have been able to prove), it has not always acted as a greenhouse to the extent it does today. The greenhouse ef-fect keeps the planet warm, and is one of the reasons Earth has developed life. But now the greenhouse effect is so strong the planet is no longer getting warmed – it is getting burned. The cause of this traces back to the unnatural amounts of heat-trapping gasses and pollutants in the air released by our factories, vehicles, and burger meat.

“Huh?” you might ask. “What do burgers have to do with green-house gas emissions and global warming?”

The cows that are farmed and slaughtered on a daily basis tend to release a lot of methane gas into the atmosphere. Methane is the number one greenhouse gas found in the air because, al-

though it only makes up 15% of all greenhouse gasses, it holds in a lot more heat than carbon diox-ide – the next leading greenhouse gas. In fact, methane keeps in twenty times more energy from the sun than carbon dioxide. So even though 75% of all green-house gas is carbon dioxide, methane is much worse.

Due to the cattle’s highly ef-fective digestive tract needed to break down the grasses they eat (they do, after all, have four stomachs), they release meth-ane out their rear end. This is because of microorganisms liv-ing in their intestines helping to break down the fibrous plant material. All living creatures have microorganisms like these in their digestive tracts helping break down food. Even humans have them. That is why people (mostly fathers) pass gas in a loud and smelly way. Cows also pass gas like that, only they do it a lot more than people do.

According to the USDA (Unit-ed States Department of Agricul-ture) there are a total of 90.8 mil-lion cows and calves in the US alone, as of January 2012. And research at the Department of Animal Science at Washington State University says that each ruminant livestock produces 250-500 liters of methane every day. That means there are 22,700 million to 45,400 million liters of methane just from cattle. That is enough to fill 8,000 Goodyear Blimps every day! And as the globe gets warmer the polar ice caps are melting, thus releas-ing methane gas that has been trapped within the ice since the last ice age. As more methane is

released the planet warms more quickly, thus melting more ice to release more methane to melt the ice faster, and... Okay, you get the point.

So now that you understand the problem with cattle and global warming, here is what you can do to help. Obviously the first step is to eat less cow products. Assign one day of the week to be a cow-free day. In-stead of eating cow meat and dairy products, you can eat fruit and vegetables. It is healthier for you anyway and plants help to clean the air of carbon dioxide, the second largest contributor to global warming. If you absolute-ly cannot go without your meat for one day, switch to poultry or other methane-free animals. For dairy there are plenty of milk and cheese alternatives. Look around your local health food market and you are bound to find soy, rice, almond, and other types of

food product designed to take the place of dairy. If you want to go the extra mile you can make two or even three days cow-free. Also reducing your leather us-age in shoes, wallets, purses, and belts can help reduce methane production – since they are made from cow hide.

Although this is a big prob-lem, do not blame the cows for melting the Earth. The amount of gas emissions coming from the animals would not normally be a problem. But because people want the products cows offer, and lots of it, we farm cows in far greater numbers than they otherwise would occur naturally. I am not saying everyone should go vegetarian – meat is a nec-essary part of our diets; but I am saying that cutting down on our consumption will help. The planet will thank you, and the cows will, too!

Living HealthyPacific Tuna Going Nuclear!by Sara Cross, Age 11Boca Raton, Fl

Hi kids! And welcome to Liv-ing Healthy, a column that talks about how to keep your body healthy and energized. This month we will talk about Ce-sium. Cesium (Cs) is a chemical element with an atomic number of 55. It is extremely reactive, mildly toxic, and commonly formed in nuclear power plants. It is also highly explosive when in contact with water. All iso-topes of Cesium are radioactive, but some mildly. The isotope of Cesium that we are talking about today is the kind made in nuclear power plants, which is extremely radioactive. You may not know it, but there is a very common food that could contain low amounts of Cesium.

According to research done by Stanford University and Stony Brook University, Californian fish, primarily tuna, are showing an increase in the levels of Ce-sium since the last test, occurring in August of 2011. The Cesium

had leaked out of a nuclear pow-er plant 9,600 miles across the Pacific Ocean in Japan, during the tsunami that hit Fukushima. The Cesium contaminated the water off the east coast of Japan. The plants there are absorbing the Cesium and becoming con-taminated. The small Japanese fish have been eating the con-taminated plants. Cesium is indi-gestible, so it is stored in the liver of the fish, and they also become contaminated. The small fish are eaten by big fish, and the big fish are eaten by larger fish. The more fish the larger fish eat, the more Cesium builds up in their livers. But there is always a bigger fish.

Scientists have realized that tuna are migrating back and forth through the Pacific to find food. They eat the contaminated fish and they become contaminated. Tuna are apex predators, which means that, for them, the concen-tration of Cesium in their liver is higher than that of other fish be-cause they eats lots of them.

Humans can’t digest Cesium any more than fish can. So when

you eat tuna, the Cesium gets stored in your liver. The more Pacific tuna you eat, the more contaminated you become, just like the tuna eating the smaller fish. The levels in tuna are sub-stantially lower than what the US government says are okay for human consumption, but quanti-ties add up. Exposure to large amounts of Cesium can cause health problems.

I am not telling you that eat-ing fish is a bad idea, but I have two suggestions for eating fish. The most obvious suggestion is to eat other fish besides tuna. Fish lower on the food chain have less Cesium than tuna. If you are eating tuna from a can, other canned suggestions would be salmon and mackerel. There are also lots of fresh fish alterna-tives. To find out which ones are

safe, go to http://www.monterey-bayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafood-watch/download.aspx to down-load a seafood guide, produced by the Monterey Bay Aquarium. My other suggestion is to go At-lantic and not eat Pacific tuna. Keep that in mind when eating fishy food, and we will see you in September!

Infographic courtesy of Gulf-news.com

“Each ruminant livestock produces 250-500 liters of methane every day.”

It is like the entire planet is inside one giant greenhouse!

PAGE 4 THE CIRCLE GAZETTE AUGUST 2012

• Birthday Parties• After-School Programs• Kidz Night Out• School Field Trips• Summer Camps• Mommy & Me Classes

6280 W. Sample Rd, Ste. 202, Coral Springs(just a few stores down from Publix)

• 954-255-5233 • www.bricks4kidz.com •

Grand Ballet Academy

by Amani Hassan, Age 8Weston, FL

In May 2012 the Grand Bal-let Academy opened its doors at its new location in Davie.

“I want to create a bal-let academy dedicated to the creation of A+ ballet students who wish to pursue serious ballet studies,” says artistic director Carla Mena. “Our technique is based on the Va-ganova method (from Russia) and our instructors are quali-fied in its instruction.”

According to Ms. Mena, Grand Ballet Academy is spe-cial because it has customized programs. The classes are or-ganized in small groups of stu-dents. The school seeks com-mitted students who have the passion, discipline and wish to become the best dancer they can be. Students will have the opportunity to receive classes from recognized guest instruc-tors from around the world who are invited to teach at the school throughout the year.

The studio is located at 11850 West State Road 84, suite A12, Davie, FL 33325. To get more information, go to www.GrandBalletAcademy.net

Back to School and to Synchro!by Samile Daiha, Age 12Miramar, FL

A new season is coming and synchro-nized swimming is back. I can’t wait for the excitement of starting all over again and learning new routines! I am looking forward to having fun, and trying hard to make it to nationals. However I am pretty nervous. I will be in a new age group, 13-15, and I am not used to it. In practice I always see them so high and sharp! I have a feeling this upcoming year is go-ing to be tough not only for me but also for my team mates.

Next season we will have many swim-mers in my age group, which makes it very exciting because you can always hang out and have fun. When I go to 13-15, I will be

compared with girls that were in 13-15 last year and who have one more year in that age group. They are very good, but that doesn’t make me sad because some girls say that 13-15 age group was their most ex-citing and fun year! They say that they had the best routines and music. I can’t wait until next year - it will be a blast!

Since we are close to going back to school, I will relate synchronized swim-ming to what you do at school. Synchro-nized swimming can help you in many different things and it helps me in school. Some ways that it helps me is that in school you need to remember some of the strategies your teacher tells you and in synchronized swimming you have to memorize the routines and also strategies that your coach gives you.

Photo Courtesy of Hassan Family: Left to right: Amani, Ms. Carla,

a fellow ballet student“I can’t wait until next year - it will be a blast!”

AUGUST 2012 THE CIRCLE GAZETTE PAGE 5

SARAH’S CINEMA

A Monthly Movie Reviewby Sarah Thompson, Age 13Boynton Beach, FL

BraveRated: PG

The plot:In mysterious and dangerous

10th century Scotland, Merida, daughter of King Fergus and Queen Elinor, is determined to change her fate. She is expected to marry the first born son of one of the other three clans. Merida has no interest in doing so, and in an effort to keep her freedom, buys a spell from a witch. The spell is supposed to change her mother’s feelings about the an-cient custom; but instead chang-es her mother into a bear. Merida must find a way to reverse the curse and restore order to the clans, all the while attempting to reverse her own destiny as well.

The verdict:There are so many things that

make Brave a great movie, it’s hard to know where to begin. There’s the obvious: it is visu-ally stunning. Beautiful is not a strong enough word to use when describing the gorgeous anima-tion, from the rolling green high-lands to Merida’s head of wild hair. The music is also great. The classic reels and jigs, as well as some lovely psalms sung in Gaelic, subtly incorporate a bit of Scottish culture into the film.

The characters are all quite lovable, especially Merida. Even her mother, who is portrayed as correcting and strict, is a sym-pathetic character, as it is ob-vious she loves Merida dearly and only wants what is best for her. Pixar, known for providing tear-jerking undertones, does a skilled job of portraying the mother-daughter relationship between Merida and Queen Eli-nor. The bickering and the con-stant ups-and-downs are done in a way that rings true and might remind girls of the relationship they have with their own mother.

Tongue-in-cheek comedy abounds, taking funny pokes at different parts of Scottish cul-ture, from kilts to a character whose misunderstood language is deemed gibberish, but is actu-ally speaking a form of Scottish dialect called the Doric.

Throughout the entire movie, I found myself completely en-grossed and completely over-whelmed with happiness! I was anxious to see how Disney Pixar would interpret Scotland - a country near and dear to me - and I couldn’t be more pleased! Disney has done a fantastic job bringing the rich Scottish heri-tage to life, using myth, mys-tery, and the very real beauty of the highlands.

Interviewing Linda Reihs, Author ofThe Adventures of Maddy Morphisby Aidan Gunning, Age 7 Boca Raton, FL

The Adventures of Maddy Mor-phis is an enchanting story about a caterpillar that is blown about in a storm. She is struck by light-ning and changed into a unique creature that can undo harmful situations involving children. Her magical powers restore them to their good nature and help them make good choices. The message in this story is to stay drug free.

I recently had the chance to talk with the author of the book, Ms. Linda Reihs.Aidan for the Circle Gazette: Why did you write this book?

Ms. Reihs: I wrote this book because I have worked with many young students that have addictions, and I want-ed to bring awareness of the dangers of drugs to them. I read that children as young as second graders were do-ing drugs due to the fact that their older siblings were intro-ducing them to inhalants and sprays. I thought this was aw-ful and I noticed there weren’t many books that targeted young children with an anti-drug message. There is so much out there for teens, but I thought it was equally im-portant for elementary-aged children to be aware of the dangers of drugs.

Aidan for the Circle Gazette: Why did you pick a caterpillar as the main character?

Ms. Reihs: I love the idea of metamorphosis. How a cat-erpillar changes into a beau-tiful butterfly that is free and makes the world a beautiful place has always amazed me.

Aidan for the Circle Gazette: How many books have you written?

Answer: This is my third book. I wrote two teacher’s editions for a poet, Dr. Linda Michelle Barron.

Aidan for the Circle Gazette: How long did it take you to write this book?

Ms. Reihs: It took me ten years to write this book. It was an idea in my head ten years ago and now it’s finally published!

Aidan for the Circle Gazette: What do you like most about writing?

Ms. Reihs: I love that writing gives me a chance to express myself. It unlocks my thoughts and it helps me so much to get them down on paper.

Aidan for the Circle Gazette: Are you going to publish an-other book?

Ms. Reihs: Yes, I have writ-ten a second Maddy Morphis book that deals with bullying, and I would like to write a third one that deals with over-eating.

Aidan for the Circle Gazette: What’s the hardest part of writing a book?

Ms. Reihs: For me, the hard-est part is making it flow. It’s very important that you con-vey your message clearly. You want your reader to get it.

Aidan for the Circle Gazette: What do you want kids to learn after reading your book?

Ms. Reihs: I want them to be very aware of the things going on around them. Kids today are very tuned into technology and that’s a great thing. However, it’s also im-portant for them to be aware of the dangers of drugs and what’s going on in the world around them.

Aidan for the Circle Gazette: What’s your favorite book?

Ms. Reihs: That’s a hard question! There are so many books that I love. I just finished The Dove Keep-

ers by Alice Hoffman and I real-ly enjoyed it. My favorite chil-dren’s book is Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting.

The Dark Knight Rises A Movie Reviewby Aaron Organ, Age 14Coral Springs, FL

DetailsRelease Date: July 20, 2012;

Rated: PG-13; Length: 164 Minutes; Genres: Ac-tion/Adventure, Crime, Drama; With: Christian Bale and Anne Hathaway; Distributor: Warner Bros.

With his new film, The Dark Knight Rises, Christopher No-lan completes the trilogy that he started with Batman Begins (2005) and continued with The Dark Knight (2008). So now we have the full history of our hero, from childhood trauma to grand hero. We see how Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale), the compulsive loner and eccen-tric billionaire, has transformed himself into Batman. All evil fears him and he is the cham-pion of Gotham City.

The third film picks up where its predecessors left off. The spiffiness of the gadgets remains

intact. We still have the Bat-Pod, which looks like a motorbike, and the Tumbler, Batman’s four-wheeled vehicle of choice. The Bat-Pod’s near-spherical wheels spin, allowing it to make the sharpest turns when necessary. The signature image of the tril-ogy is of our guy crouched over the Tumbler, his cloak streaming behind him, as he roars through the night. This time, he has an addition to his garage of gad-gets: a flying craft, with two en-closed rotors underneath which allow it to squeeze through crev-ices and fly around tall build-ings. Good thing, too, because Batman needs all the gizmos he can muster if he is to defeat his latest and most potent foe, Bane (Tom Hardy), a musclem-an who was trained by Ra’s al Ghul (Liam Neeson), who died in a prior movie. Interestingly, Ra’s al Ghul was the same per-son who trained Bruce Wayne. Near the start, Bane is sprung from an airplane, in flight; later, with the push of a button, he sets off a chain of explosions in the Gotham sewers, leading to ex-travagant explosions on a foot-

ball field. But when not blowing up bridges and sports stadiums, this warped baddie specializes in dull, brutish, sustained hand-to-hand violence, much of it di-rected at Batman. He was, as we were told, “Born and raised in Hell on earth.”

The Dark Knight Rises is still essentially about a billionaire named Bruce Wayne who lives with his butler Alfred (Michael Caine) and who, when fighting crime, zips around town in a cape and a black rubbery cowl. Over all I give the movie 5 bats for action, adventure, and being better than the previous Dark Night movies.

Summer Heat Wave by Alizdair Sebastien Ray, Age 8Hope Mills, NC

My family and I moved this summer to the Carolinas and were surprised with the big heat wave. We are used to the Florida heat, but this heat was humid. It was over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) the last week in June. The weather channel was saying to stay inside and drink

plenty of water. I realize that too much heat can kill you but to hear it happen is so sad. The news re-port stated that the heat killed at least 30 people across half the country.

I was surprised to learn that most deaths were found among the elderly people because of the high temperatures in the homes that lost power from electri-cal outages. You can do simple things to make sure nobody is getting over heated: 1. Make a note to check in on

your elderly neighbors and people who are shut-in.

2. You can remind everyone to drink plenty of water and Gatorade.

3. If your power is out, or you don’t have an air condition-er at home, don’t be afraid to ask for help. You should call your family, neighbor or church. The malls are air-conditioned and you can stay there until they close at night.

The only thing that’s important is that you come out of this heat wave alive.

Alizdair (center) and friends get some shade trying

to stay cool while enjoying the outdoors.

“You can remind everyone to drink plenty of water…”

Did You Know...… that, according to the Associated Press, “the scorching heat continued on June 29 when Washington, D.C. and Atlanta, Georgia recorded their highest June temperature ever at 104°F (40°C). Charlotte, North Carolina, and Raleigh, North Carolina, were warm enough to tie the all-time record at 104°F (40°C) and 105°F (40.6°C) respectively. On June 29-30, 2012, the heat and humidity from the heat wave caused a small thunderstorm in Iowa. In June, the Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States had 80 MPH or higher winds, millions of dollars in damage, and downed trees and power lines. There were over four million people in the eastern U. S. without power.”

PAGE 6 THE CIRCLE GAZETTE AUGUST 2012

OLYMPIC SUMMER More than Just a Number on the BoardIs it about the victory, or what it took to get the victory?by Daniela Gómez, Age 12Margate, FL

I heard the five short whistles and looked around at the other finalists who were also getting ready to have a good race, to get a cut, or to earn a medal. I was swimming finals in the Girls 11-12 50-meter Butterfly. I had to swim only one lap in the hard-est (and my favorite) of the four strokes: Butterfly. “I’m gonna beat them all!” I thought, look-ing especially at the girl in Lane 4. “Her- I need to beat her.” My coach had told me to try a new mental approach, being “cocky” to myself. He had told me to look at all those other, faster swim-mers, to look at my friend who al-ready had her Florida Gold Coast Junior Olympic cut (FGJO or just JO), and think, I’m going to beat them, all of them.

The long whistle blew, this was it. I stepped up to the white block and took a deep breath, bend-ing down and letting my fingers hover above the block. Thoughts of JOs quickly ran from my mind. I just looked down at the shim-mering water. “Take your mark,” the voice said clearly and I tight-ened like a spring, elbows slightly bent, fingers gripping the block, head tucked down, looking back at my knees. Remember, the trick to a good dive is to get in the wa-ter fast enough, I told myself. And I waited. I waited for the buzzer to sound…

“BEEP!!”Instinct drove me through a

fast “pike” dive and into the wa-ter. “Fast streamline, kick from the hips through the legs. Keep your upper body still.” A voice in my head told me the trick a coach had once told me. I waited for the surface to meet me, and I was caught in a deadly duel. I could sense how close this race was, how it was going to be close for the whole 50 meters. I let myself relax a little too much, and by the 25-meter line, I was about to burst with energy, and I did. Leaving some people behind, I surged for-ward, breathing only every now and then, with only one thing on my mind: Stop the clock. I reached the flags and thought,

“Finish this!” I slammed both hands hard onto the touchpad and worked up the courage to look up at the scoreboard. My eyes found the line number marked “7” and I saw I had come in fourth by a few tenths of a second. I took a deep breath and let my eyes move to

the place where my time should be displayed. I looked at the num-ber. It was 36.84 seconds.

“So what?” you might think, but that number meant I had got-ten my JO cut and had about half a second to my “A” time, the next national time standard. I had been

working extremely hard for a whole year to get my JO cuts. By the time I made finals for the 50 Butterfly, I had four Junior Olym-pic times and the 50 Butterfly was a race that I had been battling with for the whole season, ever since I got a time of 38.79 seconds and fell exactly 1.00 seconds from the

JO (37.79) at a meet in the begin-ning of the season. Since then, I had been getting slightly faster times and a few slower times in that event. Finally, on the morn-ing before the finals I have just described, I got a time of 37.82, falling .03 (yes, three hundredths of a second) from the cut. My goal after finals was to get the fastest national standard: AAAA. After A and before AAAA, there are AA and AAA. Slower than the A time are B and BB time stan-dards. These national standards are different for every event and for every age group (10 & Under, 11-12, 13-14, and 15-18).

Still in the water right after my race, I slammed my fist into the water in happiness and took off my cap as I shook my friend’s hand and congratulated her on a great swim. I got out of the wa-ter and talked to my coaches and friends happily, and on my way to the warm-down pool, I found my parents, and catching their high-fives, I hugged them both, my heart soaring.

I felt great then, but I knew that this would never have hap-pened without that year of hard work and difficult training. All my hard work was paying off … would pay off at the Junior Olympic meet in a few weeks. I stepped into the cool warm-down pool and lost myself in the water, cruising through with ease. When I stepped out of the water, I had something else to work for: the next meet, the next cut.

Did You Know...… that during the 2012 London Olympic Games, American swimmer Michael Phelps won 6 Olympic medals (4 gold and 2 silver) to place himself in history as the most decorated Olympian of all times with a total of 22 medals, 18 of which are gold. Phelps also holds the all-time records for gold medals (18), gold medals in individual events (11), and Olympic medals in individual events for a male (13). Taking the gold medals for 200 meter individual medley and for 100 meter butterfly this summer, Phelps is now the only male swimmer to win the same Olympic competition three times.

Did You Know...... that every year at the Coral Springs Swim Club (National Gold Medal Club) each coach awards “Most Dedicated Swimmer of the Year” to outstanding performance swimmers of their group? Early this summer, Lydia Szakacs (10), Olivia Mason (8) and Gian Luca Savino (11) were the recipients of this award for the White groups. The announcement was made during the 2012 Annual Banquet. Photo: Coach Matt Jordan and swimmer Lydia Szakacs.

Are you ready for some football?

by Alizdair Sebastien Ray, Age 8

Hope Mills, NC Pre season football starts in Au-

gust. I have been going to foot-ball games ever since I was born. The best feeling is being at a live football game because you see the players get tackled, and you see them make the touchdown. My favorite team is the Carolina Panthers. I did a football camp with Vonta Leach this summer. I learned a lot of drills for football.

Some of the drills that I did, NFL players also do. I met Michael Oher at the football camp. He had a movie about his life. The movie was called The Blind Side. The Tuohy family took Mr. Michael in and it turned his life around for the better. He went to college at Old Miss. He was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in 2009. I told him that I really enjoyed the movie about his life. Lastly, if you are not a football person, you should give football a chance this season. You will love it!

“I waited for the surface to meet me, and I was caught in a deadly duel. I could sense how close this race was, how it was going to be close for the whole 50 meters.”

“I met Michael Oher at the football camp. He had a movie about his life. The movie was called ‘The Blind Side.’”

AUGUST 2012 THE CIRCLE GAZETTE PAGE 7

Did You Know...… that the first nationally televised 2012 NFL preseason game will be between the Arizona Cardinals and New Orleans Saints in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game on Sunday, Aug. 5 in Canton, Ohio? Each summer most NFL teams play four exhibition games (referred to by the NFL as “preseason games”) from early August through early September. The Hall of Fame game is played first in front of a national television audience, the only game on the first weekend. It does not count toward the normal allotment of four games, therefore the two teams playing in that contest (usually one each from the AFC and NFC) each play a total of five exhibition games.

Did You Know...

… that the 1992 United States men’s Olympic basketball team, nicknamed the “Dream Team,” was the first American Olympic team to feature active NBA players? Described by American journalists as the greatest sports team ever assembled, it defeated its opponents by an average of almost 44 points en route to the gold medal against Croatia at the 1992 Summer Olympics held in Barcelona. Chuck Daly served as coach.

Dream Team 2012by Patrick and Robby Griswold, Ages 11 and 13Paoli, PA

One of the most popular sports in the world is basketball. The summer Olympics and basketball have a long history together. For years the best basketball players from around the world have been participating in the Olympics for

their countries. Basketball first came to the Olympics in the 1936 Berlin Olympic games. At that

time only amateurs were allowed to play in the Olympics. The U.S.A. got off to a good start by wining the first 7 Olympic basket-ball tournaments without losing once. Eventually two countries developed great basketball talent as well. These two countries were the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. The U.S.A., Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia battled back and forth during the 70’s and 80’s for bas-ketball world domination. Even-tually the Soviet Union and Yugo-salavia fell apart and the U.S.A. became the basketball world powerhouse once again. In 1989 professional basketball players were finally allowed to partici-pate in the Summer Olympics. Thanks to this ruling the dream team was born.

The first dream team to be formed was for the summer of the 1992 games. There were a num-ber of Hall of Fame players on the team. The American people were very excited to see so many of their favorite players play on one

team, with Michael [Air] Jordan, Ervin [Magic] Johnson and Larry [Captain Clutch] Bird among oth-ers. In the season preceding the 1992 Olympic Games, All-Star shooting guard Michael Jordan led the league with 30.1 PPG [points per game] and 6.1 APG [assists per game]. He was defi-nitely the most talented of all the players on the team. Point guard Magic Johnson didn’t have as many points in the games but he had way more assists; he had 12.5 assists per game. Last but not least, small forward Larry Bird averaged 20.2 points per game and 9.6 rebounds per game. Team USA was a monolithic force to be reckoned with; they ended up winning every Olympic game by at least 40 points and never hav-ing to call one time out.

That 1992 Dream Team was one of the best put together pro-fessional teams in Olympic his-tory. Twenty years later can our 2012 team compete with their predecessors? Kobe Bryant seems to think so; he mentioned in a team practice session that

he thinks this year’s team could be even better than the original 1992 team. The three best play-ers for the 2012 team are LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Kevin Love. Small forward (SF) LeBron James is the star of the team with 27.1 PPG, 7.9 RPG, and 6.2 APG. To pair with LeBron James are All-Stars like small forward (SF) Kevin Durant who averages 28.0 PPG, 8.0 RPG, and 3.5 APG, and power forward (PF) Kevin Love who averages 26.0 PPG, 13.3 RPG, and 2.0 APG. Hopefully the 2012 USA team can not only

capture the gold medal, but also live up to the title of dream team number two.

These two teams are similar in many ways, but are also different in many ways. Both teams are very athletic but there is a big size difference. The 2012 team has only three people who are over six foot nine while the dream team had more than three players over six foot nine. It will be fun to see this summer Olympics if the 2012 team can overcome this size difference and live up to the hype of dream team number two.

The first dream team to be formed in 1992.

“Twenty years later can our 2012 team compete with their predecessors?”

Roster

Players

Pos. # Name FromPF 4 Laettner, Christian Duke Blue Devils

C 5 Robinson, David San Antonio Spurs

C 6 Ewing, Patrick New York Knicks

SF 7 Bird, Larry Boston Celtics

SF 8 Pippen, Scottie Chicago Bulls

SG 9 Jordan, Michael Chicago Bulls

SG 10 Drexler, Clyde Portland Trail Blazers

PF 11 Malone, Karl Utah Jazz

PG 12 Stockton, John Utah Jazz

SF 13 Mullin, ChrisGolden StateWarriors

PF 14 Barkley, Charles Phoenix Suns

PG 15 Johnson, Magic Los Angeles Lakers

This Is It: Synchronized Swimming National Championshipby Yasmin Daiha, Age 14Miramar, FL

My name is Yasmin. I’m 14 years old and I’m from the Coral Springs Aquacades Synchro-nized swimming team. Nationals just came around the corner and I want to explain to you what it was like in our swimmers’ eyes. From the moment the plane took off to the moment it landed, all we could think about was how this journey would turn out. We were all nervous because we worked so hard to be there, and we wanted to make it all the way. As the first day of the competition came, the 11-12 put on their thinking caps and got ready for their routines. With over 100 girls competing in the category, it was a tough one. Un-fortunately, none of the routines

that day made it, but we still didn’t give up because it wasn’t the end. The second day was time to perform for the 11-12 trio made of Samile Daiha, As-trid Rojas, and Sarah Falkin and the 13-15 duet made of Katrina Figueroa and myself. Everyone was excited when the trio made it to finals and just couldn’t wait for the duet to compete. As our turn came we had butterflies in our stomachs, but we were also confident. We would do great. As Katrina and I swam we heard the cheers from the crowd, and as we got up to get our scores we felt confident that we had given it our all. It turned out we hadn’t made it to finals. How-ever, we still kept our heads high because the next day was trio competition where Katrina Figueroa, Adriana Regalado and me would participate. The

coaches, swimmers, and parents were cheering us on while we swam and congratulated us after, but then we got the news that we hadn’t made it to finals. Even though our routines didn’t qual-ify, everyone was still proud of us. The 11-12 finals came next and everyone was biting down on their nails hoping that the trio did stupendously. When the trio finished, the crowd was scream-ing at the top of their lungs and everyone was so excited. It now came down to the awards and to see what they had won. As they climbed up on the podium, the whole team was ecstatic to see them because the Coral Springs Aquacades 11-12 trio had re-ceived 5th place in the nation. So even though there were a couple of downs to this trip, we proved that if you work hard you can go anywhere.

“As they climbed up on the podium, the whole team was ecstatic to see them because the Coral Springs Aquacades 11-12 trio had received 5th place in the nation.”

PAGE 8 THE CIRCLE GAZETTE AUGUST 2012

My Catby Gabriela Vannesa Montes Serrano, Age 9Coral Springs, FL

On one sunny November day, I said to my mom: “Mom, I want a cat.” She answered, “OK, but I think you should wait until you are older.” Since I was a little girl I had always wanted a cat or a kitten like Garfield, but in case you do not know him he is fully orange and likes Hip-Hop.

When my mom decided that I was old enough, we started look-ing for ways we could get a cat. Our neighbor told us we could adopt one, and a friend told us a web site we could go on.

We went on the internet and looked up www.craiglist.com. It is a website where you can find almost anything you want or need. On that website we found the search box and typed in “cats or kittens for sale,” and we pushed enter. “WOW!” I said - there were Millions of Thousands of Hundreds of cats on one page!

I finally found the one I want-ed: he was black and white and he looked as if he had 3 white socks on and 1 paw with a black sock and a white shoe! His own-

ers did not live too far away; they lived in Boca Raton. They had to give him and his brother away for free because they were moving to a place where pets were not accepted.

The next day I was excited to get there, but it seemed like they lived far away. We finally got there and I chose Kane, the black and white kitten. He was five months old. I felt bad for him because he was very sad to leave his brother. He meowed all the way home. Here are his favorite things:

He loves the Christmas tree decorations - he climbs up the tree and makes them fall down.

He plays with his marbles at night. Once a neighbor asked, “What sounds does your cat make at night?” They thought our house was haunted!

He used to bring us his toy mouse to my mom’s bed and we would throw it outside. He would get it and bring it back;

but he does not do it anymore.Right now he is 3 years old

and is as happy as a cat can be (I think).

young man and runs away to fight in his place. Mulan was the first Asian Disney Princess.

Continuing to work towards ra-cial diversity among the heroines, Disney released The Princess and the Frog in 2009, which starred Tiana, the first African American Disney Princess.

Disney has clearly made an effort to break away from the stereotypes connected with their Princess franchise. And they have done a fairly good job at this, by creating Princesses of different races, personalities, and with different storylines.

As a little girl, I can remem-ber absolutely adoring Cinder-ella, dressing up as her for Hal-loween, and playing with my Cinderella dolls. But now that I’m older, (and still just as big a Disney fan…maybe bigger!),

I can appreciate characters like Mulan a lot more. I like her strong personality and the fact that she is more relatable than, say, Snow White, aka, “the fair-est of them all.”

However, in my opinion, none of the current Princesses can possibly compare to Merida, the free-spirited heroine of Disney Pixar’s Brave. The movie itself is wonderful, but the charac-ter of Merida embodies a burst of spunk and confidence rarely found in Disney Princesses, and will most likely charm any au-dience. From her head of curly,

fiery red hair, to her Scottish ac-cent, Merida brings something new and fun to the world of Princesses. The lively tomboy wishes she could spend all her days riding horses and practic-ing archery, but her mother, the Queen, is determined to turn her into a proper lady and a proper Princess. This proves difficult as Merida struggles to live up to her mother’s expectations. Her mother, Queen Elinor, spends a great deal of time reproving her. (“A lady does not place her weapon on the table!” or “A lady does not stuff her gob!”)

Merida’s sense of self-esteem and belief in her own abilities makes her a positive lead char-acter. Her attractive personality makes her likable. But the fact that she is probably the most re-alistic and relatable of any Dis-ney Princess is what truly sets Merida apart from the rest. She - like probably any girl with a mother in her life - has a diffi-cult relationship with her mum. Girls can easily relate to the mother-daughter spats and iden-tify with their struggles. Every girl has been there: knowing mother only wants what’s best for you, but still finding it im-possible to agree on things.

The fact that Merida finds it hard to fit into her own world is something many girls can un-derstand as well. The feeling of not being good enough, not fitting in, being a disappoint-ment, gnaws away at Merida, as it does for many young people trying to find their way and fig-ure out who they are.

And then there’s this: Merida

does not fall in love. She does not get betrothed or married. She does not dance with her prince in a dramatic ballroom scene while draped in a dress so gorgeous it makes little girls turn green with envy. Merida stays true to herself. She stays independent, strong, and free-willed. She is the only Disney Princess ever who does not have a Prince in her life, and thus paves the way for many female heroines to come.

Yes, she’s a Princess. Yes, she’s living in a rugged, mythi-cal time in Scotland. Yes, she’s dealing with a witch’s spell and the will-o’-the-wisps. Yes, these are all challenges we will most likely never have to face in our lives…but that’s what makes Disney movies so spe-cial, isn’t it? The fact that the movies illustrate deep, mean-ingful real-life challenges, pro-vide tear-jerking moments…and also allow viewers to laugh out loud and lose themselves in a fantasy world.

Summer in London by Sofia Serrano, Age 6 Frankfurt, Germany

This summer, we went to Lon-don. We toured the city to see the Tower Bridge, the London Eye, Big Ben, and Buckingham Palace. I think I even saw the queen! An older lady in a beau-tiful green dress with a matching hat was walking behind the gates. She was walking with a man, I’m pretty sure it was her butler, who was carrying a big bouquet of flowers. Sometimes, when he got tired and stopped to rest, the “queen” would help him hold the flowers! She was very nice. I also liked finding the Olympic mas-cot statues that were all around the city. Pretty soon, London got very crowded because of the Olympics, so we decided to go

to different places. We wanted to see Stonehenge, so we drove 2 hours through villages, fields and farmland to get there. We walked all the way around the circle of stones and took lots of pictures. I wondered how people long ago moved those humon-gous rocks. A painting nearby showed men dragging them on logs with long ropes, so I guess that is how they did it. We also went to a beach and found lots of beautiful shells to add to my col-lection of shells from beaches all around the world. The water was

warm when you first got in, but as I went deeper it got colder and colder. There were a lot of people at the beach that day because it was so hot and sunny and Eng-land is usually cold and rainy. We left the beach just in time be-cause as we were walking back we saw that most of the beach and even the stairs that we used to get to the beach were covered with water from the high tide. We visited a [replica of a] Norman castle and village [called Mount-fitchet Castle] that was 1,000 years old to see how people lived back then. There were tall look-out towers I could climb up, and a castle where we could see how the baron lived. There was a pond with a seat over it connected to a wooden crane, called the dunk-ing stool, that they used to dunk the maidens who got really hot or mad. Inside the village there were some tame deer and goats that I fed popcorn and grains we bought in the gift shop. I also saw a cute little bunny in the village garden. Also, there were lots of chickens and chicks that ate the grain I threw to them. I enjoyed my trip to London, England and I hope we go back soon!

“He looked as if he had 3 white socks on and 1 paw with a black sock and a white shoe!”

Merida: A New Kind of Disney Princessby Sarah ThompsonContinued from page 1

“I also liked finding the Olympic mascot statues that

were all around the city.”

“We visited a [replica of a] Norman castle and village [called Mountfitchet Castle]

“I wondered how people long ago moved those humongous rocks.”

The current line-up of official Disney Princesses.

AUGUST 2012 THE CIRCLE GAZETTE PAGE 9

Imagine Floridaby Jan Kolenda, SculptorArtist in Residence at the Coral Springs Museum of Art

As the world’s population reaches 7 billion, raw wilderness is quickly disappearing and be-ing replaced by human develop-ment. It has become increasingly difficult to experience the natural world without being reminded of mankind’s impact upon the en-vironment. Water and land once plentiful and pristine are becom-ing more and more precious.

My concept for this project came to me while struggling to find a vista in South Florida unaf-fected by human impact. I yearned to find an expanse of pristine wilderness amid the congestion of Broward County. We have a complex and diverse landscape

encompassing ocean, beach, hard-wood hammock and Everglade environments. Within these habi-tats live countless numbers of fish, insects, plants and animals. All these creatures are competing with humans for their share of water and space. Through this project I wanted to depict a Florida yet untouched by people. To imagine a place stretched out from ocean to everglade abundant with land and water, plants and animals. I imagined the viewer drawn to the sculpture and by closer observa-tion finding hidden birds, insects, animals and indigenous creatures buried within the landscape.

We enjoy in Florida a unique and precious location. I strive to create work that reveals the magnificent complexity of Flori-da’s nature. I would also like the viewer to imagine a Florida wild, abundant and pristine and come to love it as I do.

The Coral Springs Museum of Art

A Great Resource for Familiesby Patty GómezEditor-in-Chief

It happens every time, in-variably. I can depend on it. When I enter the Gallery at the Coral Springs Museum of Art (CSMART) I feel happy and relaxed. I slow down a bit from my usual rush and, I stare. I usu-ally take a moment to register the abundant light that comes through the glass walls and settles on everything. I enjoy the view through that glass wall toward the little piece of wilder-ness outside. Cypresses, grass-es, butterflies. The perfect set-ting for a museum of art close to the Everglades. I walk through the exhibits and get reminded of how much more often I should come. I secretly make a mental note of the exquisite feeling of comfort I feel there and make a point to check the programs to see if I can register for some-thing the next season. Standing in front of the work of Anne Deon this summer I thought of the time she took to develop her piece. I thought of how much I would need to slow down in my day-to-day life to be able to work on something similar. It was a pleasant scenario to imag-ine. I always end up registering my girls for something, and with the hope that at some point a space in my schedule will open up and I too will retreat from the rush outside and come into the museum to restore good things inside me, I leave. It is so simple and easy to feel good.

Last Saturday, I took the girls for Lemonade and Cookies at CSMART to enjoy the Summer Student Exhibit. We really liked

the colorful display and had the chance to ask questions about different techniques to teach-ers and staff. The kids at camp developed pretty high quality work this year. After the tour of the Lobby Gallery, the girls went to play art detective. They couldn’t pass the opportunity to take part in one of the museum’s signature activities. They get handed a sheet of visual clues that are supposed to be hidden in the work throughout the gal-lery, and though some are easy to find, most are quite tricky, forcing the eye to play a nice game of discerning attention. When they were done, and tired of walking, they sat to browse art books in a nice sitting area they have in the middle of the exhibit space. I had stopped by the entrance to peek into the fall schedule when I spied them sit-ting down surrounded by books, commenting on what they saw and laughing.

Wherever you are, visit your local museum of art, sign up for classes, have fun while slowing down a little. If you are in South Florida, stop by CSMART this fall. The museum will offer a great selection of programs in visual arts for children, teens and adults. On their website, www.csmart.org, you’ll find schedules already for after-school, home-school and weekend classes. Visit the museum, check out the programs and let the art experi-ence get to you and your family this year. Make it a priority; you won’t be disappointed. I person-ally have my eye on a watercolor class (for adults) that runs Tues-day and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

kids. She remembers getting bullied as a child and she can’t stand the idea of that happening to other kids, so she participates in charities that fight against bullying. A friend invited her to become involved in the “Say It 2 My Face” anti-bullying campaign, which fights against cyber bullying. Cates also par-ticipates in “Darkness to Light,” a charity that works to prevent child abuse. This actress/mom/charity worker is a super wom-an, but even super women are still human beings and need to rest. Some may wonder how she juggles all her responsibilities. Her answer is planning ahead!

Cates and her husband look at their plans every night and figure out who will do what and when. Since Cates works on a show for kids, she can take her kids to work sometimes, which they love! They can talk to all the actors and watch the taping of the show. All the cast mem-bers are sweet to not only her kids, but her too! Cates also greatly credits those who chose the cast; they couldn’t have

found better actors! Cates be-lieves that is one of the reasons the show is so popular. Another might be because the creator, David Simon, had the idea of combining comedy with music. “Like the Beatles, everyone has a favorite. Guys want to be them and girls want to date them,” she said, but when asked who her favorite Big Time Rush member was, her mind went blank. She loves them all, but, Cates being the invested mother that she is, finally said that she has a special soft spot for Kendall Schmidt who plays her son, Kendall, and Ciara Bravo who plays her daughter, Katie.

While Cates falls in love with all the roles she is fortunate enough to play, the “bad girl” roles are particularly exciting to her because they are so dif-ferent from her true personality. Like all worthwhile endeavors, however, Cates admits that there are some challenges to being an actor. The biggest one is the re-jection. “It’s hard not to take it personally. Sometimes I crum-ble and cry and then I get back out there,” she said. No one can get every part they try out for, just like no one can score every goal he or she kicks or get a good picture with every photo he or she snaps. But, just like everything else, in acting there are great moments, such as when someone gets the part he or she tried out for,

Cates says that if you want to be an actor, go for it! Just make sure that acting is what you re-ally want to do. Explore all your options and then, if you decide that acting is what you love, dedicate your life to it. You have to love the work of an actor; the goal should be the art of act-ing, not the fame. Being famous might be really nice, but it’s who you are when nobody is watch-ing that really counts.

Attention All Future Actors and Actresses: If You Would Like Advice for Your Future Career, Read On…

by Ani SpeyContinued from page 1

Did You Know...

… that the Coral Springs Museum of Art (CSMART) serves Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade Counties in Florida? CSMART focuses on highlighting present day, nationally recognized and Florida artists who create traditional, modern and postmodern art. The Museum is all about creating an art immersion experience. CSMART patrons are given the chance to express what they have experienced from the Museum and to remove the “do not touch” mentality in experiencing art. For more information visit www.csmart.org.

A New Sculpture Added to the

Permanent Collection of the Coral Springs

Museum of Art

Local sculptor Jan Kolenda designed and carved the ce-ramic sculpture titled Imagine Florida that will be displayed on the Lakeside Terrace of the Coral Springs Museum of Art. The Imagine Florida sculpture is a ceramic structure, 5’ tall x 11’ long and approximately 9” wide (6” at the top widening to 12” at the bottom). The sculp-ture resembles a scroll placed on its long edge with a fold on one end and rolled edges on the other. The scroll depicts a pan-oramic view of Broward County from ocean reef to beach on one side and hardwood hammock to Everglades on the other side. The surface of the sculpture is in relief and it also contains countless hidden creatures bur-ied in the design.

The ceramic material is high fired stoneware, the surface heav-ily textured and carved. Kolenda used ceramic stains to create a stone like appearance using an earth tone palette of colors. The sculpture is cut into sections, fired and later reassembled. The steel infrastructure and the tex-tured concrete base make pos-sible the outdoor installation.

During the project, Kolenda worked with and mentored AP Art high school students from the schools in the Coral Springs community. The stu-dents worked many hours each week learning to conceptualize, verbalize, plan, measure, imple-ment, market and produce pieces of the sculpture. Ry Nielsen and Bob Bagley were the Special AIR Ceramics Assistants and the intern students were Taylor Daum, Sasha Gregg, Rebecca Lowy, and Brianna Sopourn.

The Dedication Ceremony will take place on September 15 at 10 a.m. at the Coral Springs Museum of Art.

PAGE 10 THE CIRCLE GAZETTE AUGUST 2012

The printing of this issue has been made possible by the generous

contribution of

-The Circle of Friends-Thank you for your continued support!

PLEASE HELP US KEEP PRINTING

Bird in Flightby Daniela Gómez, Age 12

Margate, FL

Running on the wind,Beating wings and trilling beak,

I’m a bird in flight!Books

by Sara Itka Cross, Age 11Boca Raton, FL

You’ll find if you look,A high tech machine,Everything you need,Greatness of a book.

All information,That’s known to the world,

The answers unfurled,Of all the nations.

Butterflyerby Daniela Gómez, Age 12Margate, FL

Obvious strength, gliding beautySpeed unknown to others!

Arms that reach, wings expandingMasters of the water.

Flying arms, dolphin kickingThe symbol of our sport.

Two-hand touch, race is overI’m a butterflyer.

ClimbLife of a Vineby Emma Gómez, Age 8

Margate, FL

Clinging to the bark,

Leaping higher every time.

I crawl almost to the top,

Marking every inching step.

Building a ladder that grows so high, climbing.

ScratchAn Acrostic Poem

by Bryce Gunning, Age 7Boca Raton, FL

Scooter hit my ankle and ICried my head off.Ran to my momActing crazy withTears falling down.Cleaned the cut so that itHealed.

Underwater Oceanby Elle Bogitsh, Age 6Frankfurt,Germany

One day I’ll be

Under the ocean sea.

The water will swallow me...

But that’s better than being swallowed by a whale!

“Scratch” Oil pastels on paper by Bryce Gunning, Age 7, Boca Raton, FL

“Underwater Ocean” Crayons on paper by Elle Bogitsh, Age 6, Frankfurt, Germany

LegosA Cinquain Poem

by Aidan Gunning, Age 7Boca Raton, FL

LegosColorful, Mini

Building, Playing, LearningI put them together and build

Creations“Lego”

Crayons on paper, by Aidan Gunning, Age 7, Boca Raton, FL

“Lego”Crayons on paper, by Aidan Gunning, Age 7,

Boca Raton, FL

AUGUST 2012 THE CIRCLE GAZETTE PAGE 11

The Adventure of Super Cat and the Mystery of Spooky IslandPART 3by Alizdair Sebastien Ray, Age 8Hope Mills, NC

Super cat Barley got up and

punched the dinosaur out cold. Fluffy put on a costume and asked Super cat if he would save a friend on Spooky Island. Su-per cat said yes. When Super cat flew away, Fluffy laughed an evil laugh. Super cat did not see any-body when he arrived at Spooky Island, but then he knew it had to be Fluffy’s trick. A cat named Tine gave Super cat water. Super

cat said, Thank You. Then Tine was gone. Super cat wondered why. Super cat had barely enough energy to get back to Super City. Tine was there. She laughed and said to Super cat “Water can de-stroy you.” She laughed evilly. “Also,” she said, “I work for Fluffy. I was the cat who acted like I was bullying Fluffy.” Tine said “Have a nice day!” and then laughed the most evil laugh.

To be continued…

Walking AloneEpisode IIby Jadzia Escoto, Age 11Coral Springs, FL

I stood in front of a row of lockers. I gathered my books in my arms and closed my locker door. Someone shoved me from behind. My head smacked against the locker. I turned around. There stood a boy, grin-ning ear to ear. He looked at me; I glared at him. Instead of punching him in the face, I con-tinued walking down the hall-way, my text books in my hand. I could feel the boy’s glare burn into the small of my back. I just ignored the feeling.

I stepped out of the school doors and into a crowd of teen-agers. I pushed my way through, as noticeable as a shadow. I fi-nally made my way through the parking lot and onto the side-walk. School students crowded the streets. Car horns blared, kids yelled over their music, the sky cracked. A huge white flash filled my eyesight, and the sky turned a dark shade of gray. Kids screamed, but then it start-ed raining. Laughter filled the air. Kids rushed to their destina-tion or some sort of shelter from the sudden change of weather.

Instead of caring that I was getting soaked, I just kept walking. I received dirty looks from people but I didn’t care. Just then I thought I saw him. I walked a bit faster. I could’ve sworn I saw his emerald eyes peering into me. My fast walk quickly turned into a jog, then to a run. I bolted for my front door. This time, I didn’t even bother to take off my gloves. I grabbed my keys and jammed them into the lock. I closed the door behind me and jogged to the bathroom where I stripped the wet clothes from my already shaking cold body. My wet

clothes felt heavy as I dumped them on the floor. I stepped into the shower and put the water on hot, letting the steam relax my tensed muscles. I finished and wrapped a warm fluffy towel around myself as I made my way to my room. I threw on some clothes and strolled downstairs.

I made myself some toast but I lost my appetite. I sat down at the kitchen table and moved the coffee in front of me around with my fingers. Concentrat-ing on the task in front of me, I pointed my index finger at the liquid in the coffee mug. The coffee slowly started to float in the air above the mug. Using my whole hand now, I moved my fingers and made the coffee dance in the air. The mug was soon cleaned of coffee. I stared at the blob of coffee floating in the air. Using both hands, I started creating something. I formed a head, a bold chest, a tail, and legs and made a black wolf. I studied my coffee wolf floating in the air in front of my face. Sighing, I let the coffee back in its mug. It filled the mug with a splash.

I got up and studied my face in the mirror by the sink. I stared at my turquoise eyes. I looked at the shape of my lips, the form of my slender nose, the arc of my eyebrows. Looking away, I saw something move through the window. It was dark, black, and stealthy. I unlatched the door and stepped outside. Again I saw something move. I took a step closer. Just then, it leaped out. It was my coffee wolf, but alive. Instead of being made of coffee, it was actual flesh and fur. It walked up to me and rubbed at my legs. My white jeans got covered in black fur. I stared at my creation in puzzle-ment. What did I just do?

Did You Know...Big Time Rush (abbreviated BTR) is an American television series created by Scott Fellows about the Hollywood misadventures of four hockey players from Minnesota—Kendall, James, Carlos, and Logan--after they are selected to form a boy band. The series premiered with an hour-long pilot episode, Big Time Audition, on Nickelodeon, on November 28, 2009. Its official debut episode premiered on January 18, 2010, earning 6.8 million viewers, making it Nickelodeon’s highest-rated live-action series debut ever. On May 24, 2011, Big Time Rush was renewed for a third season with production scheduled to begin January 2012. Season three premiered May 12, 2012. The show had aired episodes on Saturday nights, but starting June 25, 2012, for Summer 2012, it will air episodes Mondays at 7:30 p.m.

thus far. This number is unfor-tunately expected to grow as little rainfall is expected in the central US in upcoming weeks while temperatures will stay baking-hot. Over 1300 coun-ties (one-third of the US’s total counties) spread over 29 states have already been declared federal disaster areas. Accord-ing to a recent report made by the US Department of Agricul-ture (USDA), corn and soybean crops have continued dete-riorating for a seventh straight week and nearly half of all US corn crops are rated under the “poor or very poor” condition category.

But the worst may still be ahead, not just for farmers, but for consumers and other indus-tries as well. With the current poor economic situation, many people are struggling to even put bread on the table. In 2009, US households that lacked ad-equate food were at a fourteen year high with 49 million people being malnourished at the height of the economic recession. The USDA is estimating that US grocery prices could increase 3 or 4 percent in 2013 due to the drought’s impact upon crops, livestock, and soil. The prod-ucts most affected will include corn, soybeans, dairy products, and meat.

You may be scratching your head after the last two prod-ucts: dairy and meat…How could cows become affected by

the drought? Well the answer is quite simple: Not enough feed for the cattle. The withering corn has caused skyrocketing feed prices and depleted pre-cious feeding land, resulting in less food for the cattle, thus hav-ing smaller cattle that produce less milk and meat. Many cattle ranchers have been forced to sell their smaller cattle earlier due to the limited amount of feed they have left. Others have started feeding their cattle hay.

Another major issue is the drying up of rivers and lakes throughout the nation. Fishing is a major source of income for many Americans throughout the US and thousands of fish have suffocated due to the lack of ox-ygen in the heated water. Losses in Iowa alone were estimated at 10.1 million dollars after 37,000 carp were found dead along the

Des Moines River. In addition to the fishing prob-

lems caused by the drying rivers, cargo ships are also having diffi-culties getting their products up the Mississippi River. Normally several ships can travel up and down the river without difficulty but now restrictions are being placed allowing only one ship to travel through in the shallowest parts of the river.

The only good news in the upcoming few weeks can be the $383 million aid bill that will be voted on by Congress in early August before their 5-week re-cess. The bill, expected to pass without any amendments, is de-signed to give money to farmers and livestock producers who have suffered greatly economi-cally from the drought, as well as to start recovery programs once the drought ends.

2012 Droughtby Ismail ErcanContinued from page 1

“The nation is currently suffering its fourth worst drought in its history, the worst in nearly 60 years.”

Photo: Scott Olson, Getty Images.

U.S. Drought Monitor as of July 31, 2012, from the National Drought Mitigation Center.

PAGE 12 THE CIRCLE GAZETTE JUNE 2012

“A Butterfly’s Life” Crayon on paper

by Abigail Griswold, Age 9

Paoli, PA

“My Starry Night” Finger paints on

paper, by Alizdair Sebastien Ray, Age

8, Hope Mills, NC

“Butterfly”Watercolors and wax crayons on paper

by Elizabeth Abrams, Age 8Fort Lauderdale, FL

“The Big Flower Land”Markers on paper

by Tanner Gunning, Age 4Boca Raton, FL

“Snow White”Color pencils and wax crayons on paper

by Abigail Abrams, Age 6Fort Lauderdale, FL

“Hand Flowers”Markers on paper

This piece was developed under the tutelage of artist Rolande Moorhead at Coral Springs Museum of Art Summer Camp ArtShops. “Hand Flowers” is

part of the Student Summer Exhibit at the museum.

Author: Victoria Miller

“Abstract”Markers and color pencils on paper

This piece was devel-oped under the tute-

lage of artist Rolande Moorhead at Coral Springs Museum of Art Summer Camp

ArtShops. “Abstract” is part of the Student Summer Exhibit at

the museum.Author: Ellie Gómez,

Age 6

“Statue of Liberty”Drawing pencils on paper

This piece was developed under the tutelage of artist Ro-lande Moorhead at Coral Springs Museum of Art Summer Camp ArtShops. “Statue of Liberty” is part of the Student

Summer Exhibit at the museum.Author: Andrew Flor

“Stonehenge”Markers on paper

by Sofia Serrano, Age 6Frankfurt, Germany