TRITON HIGH SCHOOL Triton’s Student-Produced Newspaper June 12, 2013

Top events of

2013 school year Tragedies, triumphs make marks

By Neil Hanlon

Staff Writer Locally and Nationally, the events of this school year can

be remembered in two broad categories: triumphs and trage-

dies. From small changes, such as the lift on coffee at school,

to national heartbreak, such as the Sandy Hook School shoot-

ings, the school year made its lasting marks.

Here the Triton Voice has compiled a list of this year’s top

10 events

10. Why Triton?

Why come to Triton High? Because of our journalism pro-

gram, obviously—but more because of all the great things that

our school has to offer. The Why Triton? Program, which

explained the reasons students should attend this school, was

successful, and was really able to help show parents of eighth

grade students the many opportunities here.

9. Haunted Triton

Back in November, Triton was haunted for a day. Students

and parents got together to put on this great event to raise

money for the Stadium Project. It was a major success, and a

good time was had by all. But is Triton really haunted? There

are stories around that Joseph Liguori, a Triton student who

died in a car crash many years ago, haunts the auditorium, and

that he can be heard playing his drums when one is all alone in

that room

8. Coffee Allowed

Junior Liz Wilmonton put together a petition for a lift of

the coffee ban, and starting after April vacation, students were

allowed to have coffee, tea, or hot chocolate during their first

period classes, as a “test” of sorts. So far, things seem to be

going well.

7. Snowy Spring and Broken-up Beaches

The end of winter gave way to a whole slew of storms that

rocked the northeast. Seniors rejoiced because they did not

have to make them up; meanwhile the rest of the school will

look on in envy from the windows of Triton until the 21st of

June.

6. Merger, no; Changes, yes

In April, Superintendent Christopher Farmer withdrew his

proposal to merge the middle and high schools. He instead

pushed for several changes for the middle and high schools to

make together in an effort to establish more continuity be-

tween the two. Notable changes include: common schedules,

ninth grade teams, shared resources, and more.

5. Barack Obama’s Second Term

After all the debates, advertisements, and way too many

arguments, Barack Obama won the 2012 Presidential Election,

and has been given another four years in office.

4. Flu Outbreak

At one point in the year, it seemed as if half of Triton High

was sick…. The flu epidemic this year across the country

widely impacted students in all grades, and you could tell how

it affected Triton’s students. It was spreading like wildfire

because students didn’t want to stay home and miss school

work.

3. EEE turns “Friday Night Lights” at Triton into a

“Field of Dreams”

After much discussion, the outbreak of EEE (Eastern Eq-

uine Encephalitis) during the football season this past fall was

a major news event, affecting student athletes especially.

Many students missed the Friday night games under the lights,

and are hoping for a normal schedule next year.

2. Tragedy in Newtown

The Sandy Hook School shooting in Newton, Connecticut,

in December affected many students emotionally. Security

measures that Triton and schools across the nation put into

place made their impacts felt. The tragedy sparked debates

about gun control, how we treat those with mental illness and

school security internationally.

1. Marathon Bombing

The Boston Marathon was the biggest news event that

most of the students at Triton have ever lived through. We’ve

covered the events in other issues, but we still feel the event is

significant enough to place at the top of the list.

Blockbuster Summer June, July, August packed with super-big, super-

star flicks, but which will be remembered as best?

By Anastasia Small

Staff Writer

Junior Sydney Rybicki can’t wait for sum-

mer 2013. More specifically she can’t wait to

enter one of the local movie theaters, feel the

cool rush of the

AC against her

skin, sit down

in the plush

oversized

chairs and en-

joy the exciting

new films.

This sum-

mer there are

some major

movie block-

busters coming

to theaters, and

all seem to

promise lots of

action.

Rybicki is

particularly

excited for Monsters University, which is a fol-

low-up movie to the famous and well-liked

Monsters Inc. by Pixar. Monsters University will

portray the Monsters cast now living in college

and attending classes. However watching the

trailer it seems like there are more Monster par-

ties than study sessions.

“I can’t wait to see this interesting prequel to

the movie that I have grown up with. It takes me

down memory lane to my childhood summer

days,” Rybicki said.

Junior Kerstin Darsney is also anticipating

an animated film this summer. However she

believes that most of the blockbusters will not

live up to their full potential. She can’t wait to

see the film Despicable Me 2. The second in

the installation follows a similar plot line to

the first movie, with Gru and his three orphan

adoptees embarking on another topsy-turvy

adventure.

“I’m highly anticipating this movie be-

cause it’s one of the few that I believe will

actually turn out to be partially decent. I en-

joyed the first segment of this franchise, par-

ticularly the little yellow minions,” she said

See BLOCKBUSTER on page 2

Behind the scenes at the Boston Globe The Triton Voice staff tours the regions largest paper

By Monica Hurley

Staff Writer

On Wednesday, May 8,

students from Triton’s jour-

nalism class and staff writers

for the Triton Voice took a

field trip to tour the Boston

Globe headquarters. Stu-

dents got a first-hand

glimpse at the processes of

real world journalism in

contrast to how they produce

the Triton Voice.

Students were led

through the newspaper by

tour guide Kara Thibault, an

undergraduate journalism

student from Northeastern

University participating in a

co-op program to work at the Globe. Thibault first

took students to the warehouse where the rolls of

paper are stored and transported by automated ro-

botic vehicles.

“I thought it was interesting to learn about the

process of shipping the paper,” sophomore David

Kwiatkowski said. “It was amazing how heavy the

rolls of paper were and how many rolls they had

stored.”

Next, students were brought to the second floor

of the press, where aluminum plates are laser-

pressed to create the template for each paper to be

printed from. With the paper being printed and sent

to millions of subscribers on a daily basis, hundreds

of aluminum plates were lined up ready to be

pressed.

“Each aluminum plate can only be used

once,” Thibault explained, “but we do

what we can to reduce our usage.”

The final stage of newspaper produc-

tion was on the third floor of the press

warehouse. This is where the three printing

presses print three separate editions of the

Globe. The first edition that is printed is

the edition that gets sent out beyond metro

Boston – throughout New England and the

entire nation. The second edition goes out

to the metro-west region, such as Worces-

ter and the North and South Shore areas.

See TOUR on page 2

The entrance to the Boston Globe (Dave Kwiatkowski photo).

A collage of blockbuster movies coming out

this summer (image courtesy nerdson-

therocks.com).

Triton High School page 2 June 12, 2013

By Shannon Lyons

Staff Writer Looking at Mr. Andre Dubus’

ironed, gray suit and fancy leather

boots, one may already be im-

pressed merely by his authoritative

appearance. For this reason, it

should be no surprise that Mr.

Dubus is also the author of several

award-winning novels including

The House of Sand and Fog, which

has been made into a critically-

acclaimed movie.

Mr. Dubus has written an auto-

biographical memoir, Townie, as

well, where he shares his life story

growing up in towns such as New-

buryport and Haverhill. The Triton

Voice recently had the privilege of

interviewing Dubus, receiving some

insight into how he conquered his

life’s challenges and reached suc-

cess.

Triton Voice: You wrote the

novels House of Sand and Fog in

1999 and The Garden of Last Days

in 2008. How did you decide to

write your memoir, Townie, years

later in 2011?

Andre Dubus: It came the way

so much of my writing does. It’s

sort of like the phoenix that’s risen

from the ashes of what’s failed,

which is really normal. I was actual-

ly writing a collection of personal

essays for my publisher and the

essay was kind of fueled by the

question, ‘how come I wasn’t play-

ing baseball?’ I love baseball now.

My kids play baseball. Why wasn’t

I playing? I began to work my way

into the question of what I was do-

ing if I wasn’t playing baseball, and

five hundred pages later, I had

Townie.

TV: In Townie, the examples of

your personal drive are impressive-

whether it is in running alongside

your Dad for 10 miles in ill-fitting

shoes or in your passion to learn to

defend yourself, your brother and

your family. As I read Townie, it

seemed to me that some of your

personal demons growing up fueled

your powerful drive and were a

prelude to your writing career.

Whatever the source of one’s drive,

can it be nurtured in a writer?

AD: I found a lot of drive within

me around age 14 or 15 and it came

from pain and it came from desire to

live a more constructive life. That

led to some really helpful ages that I

still in this age have from that drive.

The drive for a writer can be nur-

tured and I believe it can be taught.

There is a wonderful line I heard

and that is that “writing creates

more writing.” The truth is, I just

started a new book and I know that

what is going to drive me to contin-

ue to work on it is what I don’t

know about what’s there -- the char-

acter, the situation, the place in

which they’re living. I am curious

about exploring it and that curiosity

is really all the drive I need.

TV: In high-school English clas-

ses, we are trained in analytical

reading and writing. While I under-

stand the importance of learning

these fundamentals, is there a way

in which the classroom can also

foster greater opportunity for writ-

ten self-expression?

TOUR from

page 1 Finally, the

third edition, the

most recently-

updated edition

of the Globe, is

distributed to

Boston and the

immediate sub-

urbs. Most

changes between

the editions are

minor, such as an

additional quote

or updated fact,

Thibault said.

The Boston

Globe also runs

an internet radio

station, Radi-

oBDC; has a so-

cial media team

to stay on top of the latest news on

their website, boston.com, on Twit-

ter, and on Facebook; and prints

frequently for the Worcester Tele-

gram & Gazette, the Quincy-based

Patriot Ledger, and even for their

competition – the Boston Herald.

By contrast, the Triton Voice

produces a weekly paper for the

Triton community through Mr. Al-

len’s journalism class.

Students in the class are staff

members for the Triton Voice. They

brainstorm article ideas and produce

and pitch them to Mr. Allen. If ap-

proved, they write a first draft.

Drafts are reviewed by Mr. Allen

and returned to staff writers for a

final draft to be produced..

Students who have been on the

paper for a few semesters will lay

out the format of the paper and se-

lect articles to go in each edition.

The final edition of each paper is

then sent to principal Ms. Kathryn

Dawe for review before it gets

printed and delivered by students.

Additionally, each student is

assigned an editorial duty. Tasks

such as updating Twitter and Face-

book, tracking down weekly events,

formatting the newspaper, and pro-

moting the publication are among a

few of the duties assigned to staff

members.

“The Boston Globe is a lot more

complex,” senior Amanda Tarlow

said, “it’s done a lot faster than how

we do it here at the Triton Voice.”

The teacher-author Local writer and professor Andre Dubus speaks candidly about his life’s challenges

BLOCKBUSTER from

page 1 Darsney also highly recom-

mended The Great Gatsby which is

out in theaters now.”

She spoke of The Great Gatsby

“being a great film that everyone

should go and see.” The Great Gats-

by by F. Scott Fitzgerald has been

read by many of the upperclassmen

here at Triton. This film will only

be out for a little while longer, so

make sure to check it out!

For those who prefer a more

action-packed theme, there are

many blockbusters that will leave

the audience hanging. The second

installment of Star Trek is coming

out (Star Trek Into the Darkness)

along with Iron Man 3 and the latest

Superman movie, Man of Steel.

Junior Alexa Bryant is particularly

excited to see Iron Man 3 in thea-

ters.

“I enjoyed the first two films

and like the action. This movie will

also set up for more avengers mov-

ies in the future. And besides who

can’t resist a good Robert Downey

Junior?”

Iron Man 3 takes the audience

on a journey through the life of mul-

ti-millionaire and Iron Man himself,

Tony Stark. Trailers show Iron Man

battling a new villain in order to

save everything and everyone he

loves.

From action-packed blockbuster

franchises, to drama romances and

animated family fun movies, there

is something for everyone this year.

AD: I hope so. You know, I take

my hat off to all high school English

classes across the country because

their task is monumental. They have

to teach young people the rules of

grammar, mechanics and punctua-

tion, which are important; you real-

ly need to know these. I tell my

college students this, if you’re a

really good writer and you’ve writ-

ten a lovely story but the punctua-

tion is off or the grammar’s off —

it’s like a really good songwriter

playing a song with an out-of-tune

guitar. But you also don’t want to

hit young people over the head con-

stantly with rules, so they feel con-

stricted or actually discouraged

from expressing themselves. I really

hope that in most curriculums

across the country there is some

time for just free writing and crea-

tivity, without paying attention to

the rules too much.

TV: Out of the classroom, do

you have some advice or sugges-

tions for young writers who aspire

to learn your craft?

AD: I think you have to learn to

trust your imagination. This is ulti-

mately a really humble act. It’s an

act of humility in which the writing

is larger than the writer. Stephen

King often said he feels these nov-

els that he writes are found objects

and it’s like an active excavation.

When he’s brushing the sand off,

he’s finding this world and it’s as if

this world already exists in another

medium and our job as writers is to

get it out, to this one.

TV: I understand that the role of

journalism is to report the facts dis-

passionately. But, we’ve been

taught that even just reporting the

facts involves a process of selection

and presentation. As a novelist, do

you see a role for personal expres-

sion in journalism?

AD: Yes, I do. I think journal-

ism is a wonderful craft. I’ve writ-

ten a lot of non-fiction pieces and I

occasionally get hired by magazines

to do a featured journalism piece,

usually on a person and their story

and to bring the tools of a fictional

writer to that job. There’s a wonder-

ful line from William Faulkner and

that is that the writer’s job is to

freeze time so that in one hundred

years when the reader reads it, it

will move again. That’s true for a

journalist

and a novel-

ist: to slow

down and

capture a

moment and

deliver it to

the reader.

It’s a beauti-

ful thing to

do.

TV: I saw on

your website

that you have

a new book

coming out

this October

titled Dirty

Love. Can

you tell us a

little about

the book and

what your

inspirations

were in writ-

ing it?

AD: It’s a collection of linked

novellas. They’re all between 75

and 150 pages, four of them. The

characters seem to walk through the

front door of one and out the back

door of another. It’s the first book I

have written where nothing dra-

matic really happens. It’s all about

relationships. It’s particularly based

on marriage and divorce. A lot of

my friends have been getting di-

vorced and my wife and I are just

shocked at some of the friends who

have broken up. There’s a lot of

exploration of love between men

and women and how to do it right

and how we screw up and how to

do it right again.

Author Andre Dubus spoke to students in May about being a

writer (courtesy image).

The basement of the Boston Globe houses a train station

where every day, hundreds of tons of paper are delivered

from northern Maine and Canada (Hurley photo).