An up beat pa perfor a down town school

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An up beat pa per

S O C C E RS O C C E R

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VOLUME LX, NUM BER 7, APRIL 20, 2007

K E L L Y A W A R DK E L L Y A W A R D

HENRY W. GRADY HIGH SCHOOL, ATLANTA

MUSICAL CELEBRATES POWER OF LOVE OVER RACIAL TENSIONSCast members (from left) sophomore Matt Ward, junior Scott Chambliss, seniors Stone Irvin, Joy Carter and Natalie Streiter, and junior Cameron Valk dance to Cool in their roles as the Jets, a gang of second-generation immigrants struggling in 1950s New York City. “Acting in West Side Story was one of the most thrilling achievements of my life,” said Irvin, who played Jet leader Riff.

Graduation test scoresto determine Grady’sfederal, local standing

CONTENTSnews 6A revamped math curriculum will come to Grady in the 2008-2009 school year.

feature 12Grady alum Tracy Wilkinson’s book about Catholic exorcisms gains national attention.

sports 14The girls soccer team ties Paideia on its way to fi nishing third in region 5B-AAA.

Mock trial fi nishes second at stateBY LILY FEINBERG

Did you hear? Paris and Nicole were just in a horrible car accident and Paris is dead!

Paris LaQuinta, that is.Members of the Grady mock trial team

became very familiar with the story of Paris and Nicole’s fi ctional accident. The students, who portrayed lawyers and witnesses involved in the case, argued the girls’ responsibility for the tragic crash at the regional and state Georgia High School Mock Trial competitions.

The team started the season with fi ve seniors, a long history of success and great expectations. After every student who tried out in December made the team, many worried about its chances of success.

“I was worried because…a lot of our star members were not back,” said senior Madeleine Webb, who has been a witness on

the team for two years. “The team seemed less almighty than it did last year, [making my senior year seem] kind of anti-climactic.”

Nevertheless, Head Coach Carl Gebo, an attorney for Powell-Goldstein LLP, the law fi rm that sponsors the Grady team, remained optimistic.

“After we selected the team, the coaches felt that the Grady team had great potential,” he said. “The team was made up of some veteran attorneys and witnesses who had done well in past competitions, but also a number of newer students who were untested in competition.”

Once the team received the case, it went straight to work preparing for the regional competition on Feb. 17. Though Grady has a long history of winning regionals, some on the

see MOCK page 10

MAY IT PLEASE THE COURT: Jessie Andrews holds a diagram as sophomore Ryan LaMotte, who plays a police offi cer, tells the jury about his investigation of a car collision.

BY HAMP WATSON

Students and faculty are anxiously awaiting the scores from this year’s

Georgia High School Graduation Test, the results of which will determine whether Grady will be classifi ed as a Needs Improvement school under the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Principal Dr. Vincent Murray said he expects the GGT results to arrive during the second week of May.

Under NCLB, schools are divided into subgroups based on race, economic status and student disabilities. If a subgroup in a school fails to meet testing benchmarks in the same subject for two consecutive years, the school is put on the national Needs Improvement list. Students from a Needs Improvement school are given the chance to transfer to another public school in their district, while the school itself must present the state with a plan for correcting its progress.

English department chair Ms. Marian Kelley believes it would be “horrendous” if Grady was added to the Needs Improvement list.

“[But] I would still know Grady is a good school,” she said. “Nobody would pull their children out of Grady, but it would be very embarrassing.”

Junior Shelley Andrews would weigh her options if Grady were to be placed on the Needs Improvement list.

“I could just transfer, but I love Grady,” she said. “I guess the students who need help could leave.”

see SCORES page 7

WEST SIDE STORYWEST SIDE STORY

VOTERS EXTEND APS DEVOTED TAXBY SARAH BETH MCKAY

Voters around metro Atlanta passed a referendum March 20 to extend the Special Purpose Local Option Sales

Tax for another fi ve years. The tax, known as SPLOST III, is a one percent addition to the sales taxes within Fulton and DeKalb counties and could raise as much as $572 million for Atlanta Public Schools, according to the APS.

The fi rst and second SPLOST initiatives raised $917 million for the system.

“We needed SPLOST III,” said Alton Myers, the director of fi nancial planning for APS. “After the fi rst two SPLOST installments, there were 27 additional schools that didn’t receive any improvements. Also, there were a lot of board initiatives that weren’t on the table fi ve years ago, like the High School Transformation

and Single Gender programs. SPLOST III will allow us to accommodate the additional facilities that these [programs] need.”

Additionally, APS will use the SPLOST money to respond to drastic demographic changes. Even though general enrollment has dropped from 60,000 to 49,000 over the last

see SPLOST III page 10

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Lady Knights fi ght to state playoffs

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S O C C E RS O C C E RLady Knights fi ght to state playoffs

p. 5

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K E L L Y A W A R DK E L L Y A W A R D

p. 14p. 14

Seniors to vote for their

favorite teacher

EDITORIAL BOARD

CURRY ANDREWS

EMMA DIN

LILY FEINBERG

REBECCA GITTELSON

SEAN HARRINGTON

SARAH BETH MCKAY

SALLY ZINTAK

StaffManaging editors: Rebecca Gittelson, Sarah Beth McKay Design editors: Lily Feinberg, Carson Hale Copy editors: Curry Andrews, Emma Din, Lily Feinberg News editors: Curry Andrews, Emma DinComment editors: Sean Harrington, Sally Zintak Feature editors: Lena Brodsky, Hanna Griffiths Sports editors: Asa Beal, Travis Jones Photo editors: Erik Belgum, Sally ZintakStaff: Leah Bishop, Scottie Bookman, Andrew Bracken,

An upbeat paper for a downtown schoolPhoto adviser: Dawn WadsworthAdviser: Debra HartsfieldPrint staff: Alvin Hambrick, Harlon Heard, Michael Jackson, Adlai McClure, Charlotte Napper, Benjamin Shaw The Southerner, a member of GSPA, SIPA, CSPA and NSPA, is a monthly student publication of: Henry W. Grady High School929 Charles Allen Drive NEAtlanta, GA 30309

The Southerner welcomes submissions, which may be edited for grammar, inappropriate language and length. Please place submissions in Ms. Hartsfield's box in the main office. Subscriptions are also available. For more in-formation, please contact Ms. Hartsfield or a member of the staff. We can be reached at dhartsfield@atlanta.ga.k12.us

Scott Chambliss, Charlotte Christopher, Christopher Collier, Sophie Cox, Grant Coyle, Stephen Crouse, Arielle D’Avanzo, George DeMeglio, Caroline Denton, Jourdan DeVies, Barbara Dougherty, Kelly Douglas, Ramika Gourdine, Michael Harper, Stone Irvin, Kenny Jones, Janna Kaplan, Jamison Kinnane, Ella Miller, Julia Oliver, Carson Phillips-Spotts, Alexander Ritz, Hannah Rosenbaum, Kayci Schoon, Hamp Watson, Madeleine Webb, Michelle Wilco

S I N C E 1 9 4 7

Grady’s report card may soon include an F. In 2006, Grady failed to meet federal No Child Left Behind

requirements because too many students in both the ‘black’ and ‘enconomically disadvantaged’ subgroups did not pass certain parts of the Georgia High School Graduation Test. If the pass rate of these two subgroups does not increase this year, Grady, one of the most lauded schools in the city, will be placed on the national Needs Improvement List. When a school is on the Needs Improvement List, students can transfer out of their zone school to a school outside their district.

Under the overwhelmingly confusing and contradictory NCLB guidelines, successful schools such as Grady can be unfairly penalized. When a school is added to the Needs Improvement List a red flag is raised to schools and parents nationwide.

Schools on the Needs Improvement List must also present a plan for progress; these plans usually ignore student individuality and emphasize test taking. Grady’s plan would, more likely than not, put a focus on GHSGT test preparation. Do we want students to be taught to take a test or to be taught in innovative, mind-enhancing ways?

Every year, Grady earns numerous accolades for programs ranging from advanced classes to smaller learning communities and forensics, among other academic accomplishments. The Needs Improvement list does not accurately reflect the quality of education and extracurricular activities at Grady High School. ❐

Progress list inaccurate

In the Mar. 9 issue’s article, Nine football players sign, we stated that Colby College is a Division III school, when it is in fact Division II. In the same article, we also acknowledged Appalachian State as a Division II school although it is Division I. Also, we failed to report the school to which senior Simeon Kelley signed. He will attend Ball State Universtity in the fall.

c o m m e n t THE SOUTHERNER April 20, 2007

UESTION of the month:Q

“I haven’t experienced enough discrimination to think that we need an amendment to that extreme. “It is necessary. Women are

still discriminated against in the work force and men still have superiority.

Nina Griffin, senior

Elesha Williams, social worker

Gus Rick, sophomore

“Women do have to work a little harder to get [equal] pay, but it eventually works out.

Rance Rance Nix, freshman

““I don’t feel it’s 100 percent necessary, but it’s good to have something to fall back on in the future, just in case.

Do you feel the pending Women’s Equality Act is necessary in our society?

Alex Hooper, junior

2

As writers and adamant believers in the power of communication, it is disconcerting for The Southerner staff to realize that few Grady students know about the atrocities in Darfur, Sudan and neighboring countries. Grady’s Amnesty International Club hosted the National Week of Student Action March 26-30 in an attempt to increase student awareness about the Darfur situation. The week brought some attention to the issue, but more needs to be done.

Since the 2003 formation of the Janjaweed, a government-backed militia, hundreds of thousands of Sudanese have been murdered, 2 million have been displaced and 2.3 million are in need of emergency aid. The conflicts in Darfur are primarily motivated by political unrest between the ethnic African Sudanese Liberation Army and the ethnic Arab government and Janjaweed.

Recently, however, the desertification of Sudan has escalated the problem to a fierce battle for foreign aid, arable land, oil reserves and gold deposits. It has been well documemted that when the government suspects a village is harboring rebels, they bomb it; within hours, theJanjaweed attacks the village, rapes civilians and pillages homes for food and weapons.

The violence has led to a significant amount of Sudanese refugees in neighboring countries—hundreds of thousands of Sudanese have fled to Chad. Volunteer groups, such as Doctors Without Borders, have set up refugee camps in over 30 locations in Sudan. Refugee camps are meant to be temporary solutions, yet violence and disease have made these camps extremely dangerous.

We applaud the efforts of Grady’s Amnesty International Club and encourage more students to both research and fight these atrocities. Like the Holocaust and atrocities in Rwanda, violence in Darfur is robbing millions of their lives, freedom and culture. Learning about the conflicts, protesting the atrocities and donating time and money should not stop at the end of Student Action Week. ❐

“It would be appropriate to have something in writing to support women’s rights and encourage women.

Articles emphasizevalue of tolerance

Language program funding inadequateDear Editors,

In response to The Southerner’s articles regarding the foreign language program budget cuts, I agree with both columnists’ sentiments. Although equally spreading foreign language funding to elementary schools across the state seems to be a good idea, the amount of funding that each school would receive does not even begin to cover the cost of running a successful foreign language program. The benefits of studying a foreign language are numerous. However, less than adequate funding for every elementary foreign language program in the state will not help young students reap the benefits of learning a second language. Instead of spreading around funds, Governor Perdue should restore the ESFL grant program, and focus on expanding it to every elementary school in the state.

Jessica Lambert,Senior

Dear Editors,The March edition of The

Southerner explored some important issues: the value of foreign languages, the need for religious tolerance and the difficulties faced by Grady students who fled persecution in their native countries and are trying to adapt to life in the United States. Those stories have taken on even more significance after the recent tragedy at Virginia Tech, where a lone gunman killed 32 of his classmates.

Nothing excuses, explains or justifies the senseless slaughter committed by Cho Seung-Hui, who came to this country from South Korea. But Cho’s classmates in high school and middle school recall that they often teased, bullied and shunned him because he was different, and because he couldn’t speak English very well.

So if you know people in that situation, reach out to them, not because they might otherwise turn out to be mass killers, but because it’s the kind and decent thing to do.

Jay Bookman,AJC editorial staff & Parent

Dear Editors,As a committed parent of two

Scoreboard purchase highlights problems

Grady students, I would like to take a moment to thank Atlanta Public Schools for the purchase and installment of the new scoreboard in our stadium. This may not seem like a very big deal to some, but I cannot tell you how embarrassing it is when visiting parents ask why we don’t have a working scoreboard and then laugh at our lousy attempts to make excuses.

“Of course,” one visitor stated with a smirk, “Grady is an inner city school.” If you have ever traveled with any Grady team to away games, you know it is often quite unnerving when you enter the other team’s stadiums where they have a working scoreboard, P.A. systems with announcers, working concession stands and bathrooms. The hard working parents of Grady teams often have to run their own little concession stands with their own equipment in order to raise money for their children’s teams.

I am wondering why it is that APS plans to use new SPLOST money to fund school improvements and yet still seems unable to give our teams the support they truly deserve. The new scoreboard is great, but I believe a lot more should be done.

Timothy Harrington,Parent

C O R R E C T I O N S

Club shows support

c o m m e n t 3April 20, 2007

Seniors stirred by choices, change

Uncouth mannerisms intolerable

I have spent the majority of my time in school trying to convince people that I was on top of it, and by “it” I mean

everything—every aspect of my life. I have always known and understood the consequences of each of my actions. And no, I have never made a mistake.

Or at least that’s what I want people to think. It’s only now, as graduation creeps closer and colleges are hounding seniors for decisions that I am able to admit the truth—I don’t know.

I don’t know where I want to go to college. I don’t know if the decisions, I’m making are the right ones. I don’t know if I’m going to come back to visit Grady frequently. I don’t know what my major will be. I don’t know what I want to do for a living, and I don’t know where I’ll be in 10 years. What I do know is that that’s okay.

As college admission decisions come pouring in, many members of the senior class have begun to feel pressure from almost every direction. It seems the newly accepted greeting among the class of 2007 is

the infamous question: ‘Where are you going to college?’ I’ve stopped answering because so many people have a problem with the fact that I don’t know.

My question for them is, “How could I know?” I am just getting ready to graduate from high school, and I have never lived outside of my parents’ home. I have never really been responsible for my own livelihood, and I can still get grounded for coming home too late. How should I know what I want to do for the rest of my life?

People think high school is where we learn to be the people we’ll be for the rest of our lives. To some degree that’s true, but it’s important to remember that as we each receive our diplomas, our futures aren’t cast in stone. People are always changing, and we should take the time to realize that.

Yes, Grady offers each student numerous opportunities. Since I’ve been here I’ve had chances to do things I never would have otherwise. I spent six weeks in Valdosta for the Governor’s Honors Program, visited America’s oldest mission on a school trip to New Mexico, and I faced my acrophobia in West Side Story. Despite all that, there is so much left for me to see and do. There is no way that

in each of our short 17- or 18- year lives we could have gained enough knowledge of the world to get us through life.

I know it sounds cliched, but we are always learning. Every new experience teaches us more about our environment and ourselves. College, especially, is packed full of opportunities for us to discover who we will become. We will fi nd out how to survive without our parents and get a taste of life without rules. We have to manage our own money and do our homework without coaxing.

It is when we become closed-minded, however, that we limit our potential growth. If you believe you are as you always will be, you are both restricting yourself and setting yourself up for disappointment. When things change, which they inevitably will, those who haven’t prepared themselves don’t know how to adjust.

I’m ready to adjust. I’ve opened myself up to whatever may come my way. I know what I like now, but that could change tomorrow. I know the goals I’ve set for myself, but when those are met, or not, I’ll have to make new ones. So go ahead, ask me as many questions as you like. I’ll give you an honest answer—I don’t know. ❐

RAMIKA GOURDINE

Don’t chew with your mouth full. Don’t put your elbows on the table. Don’t play with your food. These are the dinner table manners we are taught as children. Unfortunately, as we age, these manners sometimes get left behind with the kids’ menus and booster seats.

My mother always told me, “People aren’t paying to hear your

loud and silly conversations,” but not everyone has been fortunate enough to receive this same bit of advice.

The afternoon my sisters and I treated my mother to a birthday meal at her favorite restaurant, we saw fi rsthand how vital table manners can be. After the 20-minute wait for a table, we were seated right next to a very rude group of adults who engaged in rowdy banter about American Idol and the latest celebrity gossip. After 15 minutes of their ill manners, an older gentleman from another table asked them to be quiet and called them all pigs for their behavior.

Ironically, the toddler sitting at the same table was calm, quiet and respectful. How could a young child be held to certain expectations if the adults could not exhibit manners themselves?

I’m not sure what annoyed me more—the issues the rude adults discussed or the volume at which they did so. It’s one thing to be passionately caught up in a conversation but it’s a completely different thing all together to drunkenly rant about mindless topics. I could

not have cared less what they were talking about, but I was subjected to their obnoxious debates nonetheless.

Coming from a loud family, I know exactly what is it like to get caught up in a moment and not realize how loud you may be. Yet, at the same time, if our disruptive behavior was brought to my family’s attention, we would be the fi rst to apologize and try to tone it down. Instead of taking this path, the group at the restaurant began oinking to mock the gentleman who asked them to be quiet and called them pigs. They told each other to oink, laughed about it and then got their ironically innocent toddler to oink along with them.

As the oinking and ranting became louder, the gentleman asked the group to be quiet again. It appeared as if he might have fi nally gotten through to them, but as the room grew quiet and he turned away, the oldest woman of the group hurled her lemon slice across the dining room at his head. We were all mortifi ed. Not only had the oldest member of the party exemplifi ed horrible manners, but the youngest member of the party was the best behaved. What’s wrong with this picture?

Following the disturbing scene, a waitress came to sort the whole thing out, offering the check to the rowdy group and her apologies to the rest of us. As consumers, we often experience poor service or bad food, but when the disturbance is a result of the patrons themselves, something must change. As Southerners, Atlantans have always taken pride in their good manners and hospitality. Sadly, this Southern charm is disappearing and being replaced with self-absorbed, uncouth behavior. ❐

“Racism isn’t born, folks, it’s taught. I have a two-year-old son. You know what he hates? Naps! End of list.” - Dennis Leary

Harmful words end crude career

HarringtonSean

America thrives on free speech. Our ability to speak out, to a certain extent without fear, is what has allowed our nation to keep its reputation as a country that fosters freedom and hope. This freedom, however, only goes so far. While I don’t necessarily agree that the pen is more powerful than the sword, the spoken word can be incredibly destructive in its own right.

Radio personality Don Imus recently exercised his freedom of speech by calling the largely African-American Rutgers female basketball team “nappy-headed hos.” The national outcry from various activist groups and the general public has caused MSNBC and CBS to drop the aging radio host completely.

Not surprisingly, few besides the man himself have come to Imus’ defense. Who would, after the national landslide of anger that has tumbled down on Imus’ head? The talk show host has claimed that his show is a “comedy” and that such edgy humor is a commonplace aspect; however, the truth of the matter is evident: Imus is an obsolete, callous old crony who has gone one step too far.

Imus isn’t new to controversy. In the many years he’s been broadcasting over the radio and television, many of his ill-mannered and crude comments have attracted media attention. Living up to his reputation as a shock jock, Imus has insulted a gamut of people with everything from crude suggestions to racist name-calling. His uncaring, sarcastic attitude has garnered him enough popularity to weather any past media retaliation; he was even named “one of one America’s 25 most infl uential people” by The New York Times in 1997. Who cares what he says as long he keeps us laughing in the morning, right?

Although he has always been known to be carelessly rude in his commentary, one of the key reasons Imus’ coarse tongue has come under so much attack this time is the particular group that he attacked: a mostly black, highly successful college womens basketball team that has only recently risen to the national spotlight. When a famous or well-known fi gure is attacked, the public usually takes less offense since the victimized fi gure will automatically be exposed to such things because he or she is famous. Unknown people, such as a young white woman who broke both of her legs, are virtually ignored when attacked because of their near-invisibility. Imus got the worst of both worlds with the Rutgers womens team: a bunch of unknowns just famous enough to gain the national spotlight, albeit momentarily. Add in a taboo racial slur and national outrage is sure to follow.

The real issue, however, isn’t the depth of evil that lurks inside Imus’ husk of a body. What the general public should be concerned with is the angry monsoon of hate that landed squarely on Imus’s head. It’s not that the anger wasn’t justifi ed, for Imus did do a despicable thing. It’s the fi ckle nature of the anger that scares me.

As the national media machine has pointed out, others, namely rappers, purport similar denigrating messages daily across the national radio waves. Despite the fact that this has been going on for 30ish years, the occasional strong remarks and constant low-level protestation haven’t produced this kind of outpouring of hatred directed like a laser beam at Imus. Why did it take an old, vulgar white man to trigger this onslaught of self defense from the black community? All the talk about a forthcoming war on hip hop culture is well and good, but Imus shouldn’t have had to put his career to the torch just to provide a catalyst. The people of this country have the power to do anything, and it’s a shame that we only band together to exercise this power to change once in a long while. Inappropriate and controversial events occur daily, but despite criticism, not much is ever really done.

Imus is an old fool, there’s no denying it. His radio show was crude and rude and his harmful words have been broadcast for far too long. Let’s just hope that the torrent of anger that ended his career will continue on to do more good than merely removing one old man’s offensive remarks from the radio waves.

HANNAH ROSENBAUM

while. Inappropriate and controversial events occur daily, but despite criticism, not much is ever really done.

Imus is an old fool, there’s no denying it. His radio show was

words have been broadcast for far too long. Let’s just hope that the torrent of anger that ended his career will continue on to do more good than merely removing one old man’s offensive remarks from

❐

Moments before drifting out of consciousness and into sleep, a haphazard assortment of thoughts usually run through my head, not unlike the way the numbers run by on a stock ticker. Thoughts pass quickly by

only to be replaced by new tidbits of information. On one such occasion, my mind happened to call forth a subject that I had not considered in quite some time: the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia. I was ashamed to realize that I had not given it thought in months.

As Americans we live in a world that prioritizes instant gratifi cation. We are concerned with the present. As a result, we give thought to the most recent tragedy and then quickly cast it aside. We move on as soon as the media brings fresh

material to the forefront of our consciousnesses. Flitting around from story to story, we briefl y lend our sympathy and then move on without a second thought. We don’t make long-term commitments, and we fail to concentrate

our efforts in order to really make a difference in any one area.

The reality is that the problems are still there. Countless families in areas affected by the tsunami and other natural disasters will never fully recover from the damages they suffered. The water supply of Sri Lanka is still contaminated as a result of the tsunami. Victims of

Hurricane Katrina are still living out of temporary trailers. Just because we can’t see the tragedy right before our eyes doesn’t mean that its effects have faded along with our attention; just because the media has decided to focus on a new topic does not mean that Americans should follow suit. The effects of a tragedy are deep and lasting long after general interest has waned.

As active members of the global community, we need to make concrete commitments to help those around us. We must decide what is important and what merits our aid. When something inspires us to go out and make a difference, we can truly create a change. A lot more could be accomplished if people dedicated their efforts to a few selective causes. Instead of everyone lending a small amount of effort to every cause, we should each deepen our dedication to causes that interest us—thus not allowing the media to decide what is important and not letting problems fade from our consciousness after the media coverage ends.

This doesn’t mean, however, that we should single out certain problems that we think need fi xing and put everything else on the back burner. Since every individual is unique and has his or her own interests, different people fi nd different sources of inspiration. Once you fi nd something, stick to it long after others move on. Even though new tragedies might make older ones seem distant, the effects of tragedies are never temporary. ❐

4 April 20, 2007

Gonzales’ stepdown imminent

Amendment to aid women’s justice outdated, gratuitous

Americans’ concern with tragedies easily disregarded

“Let Alberto Gonzales treat you to ice cream.”

A few people may have seen this slogan in an e-mail or online, but few realize that it is an offi cial contest, not just another internet scam. Ben Cohen, who is best known as the co-founder of Ben and

Jerry’s ice cream, has also founded an organization called TrueMajority, which is a group that addresses political issues that Cohen feels should be of concern to all American citizens. TrueMajority is currently holding a contest regarding the Attorney General’s imminent departure from offi ce. The prize? A year’s worth of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream for the person who comes closest to predicting the exact date and time Gonzales leaves offi ce.

The most recent Gonzales scandal has been getting even more attention than Britney Spears has lately, yet, some people are still unaware of the controversy. Late last year, several U.S. district attorneys were fi red, allegedly for poor performance, which is technically a legitimate basis for termination. Recently, however, memos have surfaced which imply that the attorneys were fi red not for performance but for failing to comply with the Republican agenda. Gonzales denies any involvement with the fi rings; he claims his deputies made all of the fi ring decisions in this case. However, the leaked memos show that Gonzales, along with White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove, attended meetings at the end of last year that were convened specifi cally to discuss whom to fi re. Some of the e-mails that have come to Congress’ attention include comments from the Attorney General which

indicate he hadn’t reviewed the performance of the attorneys in question, but he would support fi ring them. Apparently, the plan was for the U.S. attorneys to prosecute Democratic candidates for voter fraud in order to make the candidates less favorable in elections. When some attorneys refused to do the dirty work, however, they were quickly removed.

So why did Gonzales get involved? Well, it seems Gonzales has a history of protecting the interests of, and blindly following, President Bush. In 1996, Gonzales helped get Bush, then the governor of Texas, excused from jury duty so he wouldn’t have to disclose an earlier arrest for DUI. Even more well-known, in 2002, the public learned that Gonzales had advised Bush that foreign detainees are not protected by the rights established in the Geneva Conventions, advice that could have contributed to the abusive treatment at Abu Ghraib prison. Since then, Gonzales has defended Bush’s wiretapping plan and supported a provision in the Patriot Act that allows the White House administration to appoint U.S. attorneys without Senate confi rmation.

With the recent emergence of the incriminating e-mails, it seems Gonzales has fi nally done himself in. If you log onto the website for TrueMajority’s contest, you’ll see that almost every entry predicts the Attorney General’s resignation, whether forced or not, to come within the next two to three weeks at the latest. While the members of TrueMajority could be dismissed as mainly liberal Democrats, the truth is that not many people are on Gonzales’s side at this point. The vast majority of the articles about Gonzales’s latest scandal depict him in an extremely negative light. While only one person will win the free ice cream, it seems Gonzales will inevitably be getting his just desserts. ❐

The U.S. C o n g r e s s , which is made up of a record n u m b e r of women legislators, h a s

reintroduced 1923’s Equal Rights Amendment under the title of the Women’s Equality Amendment (WEA). I’m afraid, however, that the opportune moment has passed—we’ve waited too long and women have already gone and gotten their rights—without the assistance of an amendment.

The Equal Rights Amendment was originally introduced in 1923 during an era of frenzied feminism motivated by the women’s 1920 achievement of women’s suffrage rights. But A m e r i c a n s weren’t ready for it then. The ERA was r e i n t r o d u c e d every year following and then fi nally adopted by the House in 1971 and the Senate in 1972. America gave up on constitutional gender equality in 1982 when the measure fell three states short of qualifying for ratifi cation.

This time around, the Women’s Equality Amendment intends to ensure absolute equality between men and women, reinforcing procedures surrounding gender-sensitive situations ranging from pay equity to a woman’s right to justice after facing sexual discrimination. These issues, however, along with most others addressed by the WEA, are ones that should already be ensured legally and constitutionally. If the issues haven’t yet been acted upon by the legislature, it’s unrealistic to expect an amendment to cement these equalizing principles.

Though I know it’s important that men and women should be seen as equals, I can’t say I support the WEA. The fact is that the WEA can’t make an

actual difference since gender disputes ultimately lie within individual mindsets and cannot be legislated.

Truth be told, I think feminism is a bit lame. Collectively, women can’t expect to be free of discrimination until we all start paying for our own dinners, killing bugs for ourselves and getting in fewer car accidents, among other things.

Women’s suffrage has been achieved and as far as the law is concerned, women are protected. Under the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, everyone is already equal. That’s not every man; that’s every person. Seemingly, the only thing left for the Women’s Equality Amendment to do is to designate that there should be absolutely

no recognized d i f f e r e n c e s between the sexes.

Now that would only confuse us. It doesn’t make sense to disregard the fact that men and women are

indeed different biologically and psychologically. To say that those differences can’t be recognized would literally make the gender separation of public restrooms unconstitutional. Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts would be in big trouble. But constitutionally, we’d all be equal.

Maybe we could have used this amendment in 1923, but in 2007? No. In the 1920s, a woman was still restricted from working at certain jobs. A young woman’s goal in life was to get married, have children and keep up the household. Society has changed for the better without the aid of this amendment. The window of opportunity for gender equality to be achieved through constitutional means closed at some point during this amendment’s 84-year life span. The feminist’s battle for equality has become constitutionally irrelevant. ❐

SCOTTIE BOOKMAN

MICHELLE WILCO

CHARLOTTE CHRISTOPHER

Just because we can’t see the tragedy right before our eyes doesn’t mean that its effects have faded along with our attention.

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We’ve waited too long and now women have already gone and gotten our rights—without the assistance of an amendment.

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BY CHRIS COLLIER

Grady’s Amnesty International club recognized the National Week of Student Action March 26-30 with events designed to increase awareness and support for an end to the ongoing confl ict in Darfur.

The situation, which has been escalating since 2003, is actually worsening for the citizens of the Sudan region of Africa.

“Right now the violence is actually spreading because the devastation is so widespread in Darfur that a lot of people are displaced if they haven’t already been murdered,” said senior Vernika Leach, the Amnesty club president. “What’s happening is the violence from Darfur is spreading to Chad, and that’s because a lot of the soldiers like the Janjaweed and other militia groups are going outside of Darfur to get child soldiers and to abuse the women from Darfur. So as far as policy goes, the United Nations, with the new Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, [is] working to get some boots on the ground so to speak in Darfur.”

“Our goals really were just to raise awareness—to inform people that there is stuff going on outside the school and the country,” junior Jesse Budlong said. “We set up an information table with a petition that people could come and sign; we handed out stickers and fl yers. We did a panel discussion and showed a short movie chronicling the genocide that’s going on in Darfur.”

Grady’s Amnesty club strove to educate the student body about the genocide. Art from the Grady art program, money from the 21st Century Leaders and support from the social action club all contributed to the success of student action week.

“We had a small affi rmation session with a speaker from the Anti-Defamation League,”

Leach said. “We collaborated directly with the Amnesty Southern Regional Offi ce, which helped us a lot.”

Club members believe their efforts were well received by many Grady students.

“I was just excited when people asked questions and wanted to know,” Leach said. “I enjoyed talking to other students that were genuinely appalled by what’s going on— appalled by the fact that they didn’t know about it. We had our usual loyal following, then we had some people that had not known anything about Darfur, didn’t even know what it was, come up to us and ask us about it.”

Budlong also liked the student concern he saw.

“Overall...people were very supportive—we collected about 300 signatures from the student body,” Budlong said. “People really wanted to be informed; they expressed a lot of interest, so the overall turnout was very successful. ”

The two are also optimistic about the role of students’ power over the situation.

“The only reason Bush addressed [Darfur] in his State of the Union address is because he knew that a lot of people cared,” Leach said. “If he that knew a lot more people cared, and if our legislators—our local legislators as well as our state senators and everybody—if they know that we care, if they know their constituents aren’t happy with what they’re doing, they’re going to push for something to happen, and that’s what we need to do collectively.”

Budlong echoed this sentiment.“I think if student groups focus on their

goals, they can do pretty much anything,” he said.

Most of all, the club wants to keep raising awareness.

“It’s not something that can wait anymore,” Leach said. “It’s a crisis and it’s been a crisis for quite some time now and it’s never to late to pick up the slack and fi x what happened.” ❐

NEWS BRIEFS THE SOUTHERNER April 20, 2007 5

Obama rally draws 20,000 to Ga. Tech

Pledging to end U.S. involve-ment in Iraq and to bring affordable healthcare to every American by the end of his fi rst term, Senator Barack Obama of Ilinois held a rally at Geor-gia Tech on April 14 in what was the largest-attended event of his 2008 presidential campaign. Several Grady students attended. The Rev. Joseph Lowery gave a prayer beforehand, and former Atlanta mayor Maynard Jackson’s daughter Alexandria sang.

Sophomore winner of national contest

Sophomore Sarah Bufkin won the Second Annual High School Student Scholarship Essay Contest for her essay discussing the parallels between A Tale of Two Cities and 21st century concerns. Bufkin, as well as English teacher Scott Stephens, will attend the 2007 Dickens Universe at the University of California at Santa Cruz from July 29 to Aug. 4 with all expenses paid.

Developer Mason to sell Beltline holding

As a follow up to a September Southerner story, Wayne Mason, a Gwinnett real estate developer, is selling the 70 acres of land he owns in Midtown that was originally ear-marked for the public-private Belt-line development. Barry Real Estate Cos., the fi rm buying the property, has not decided if it is going to offer the land as a part of the Beltline.

Therrell, S. Atlanta to get $10.5 million

Thanks to a $10.5 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced April 18, Therrell and South Atlanta will become the latest APS school to switch to the smaller learning communities model already installed at the New Schools of Carver. The Gates foundation granted the money in an effort to reform some of APS’ low performing high schools. Grady is scheduled to be divided into smaller learning communities starting with the 2009-2010 school year.

SPLOST money goes to school air systems

As a result of the recently passed Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, Atlanta Public Schools plans to install energy effi cient heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems in its schools. APS expects to save $1 million per year once the more effi cient systems are installed.

Gates scholarship goes to Grady senior

Senior Kelly Minor won the Gates Millennium Scholarship, which meets students’ need for both undergraduate and graduate degrees. The Gates Millennium Scholarship was founded in 1999 by Bill and Melinda Gates.

Amnesty club develops Darfur awareness

In the sixth issue of The Southerner, we announced the second annual Marian P. Kelly Award. It’s an opportunity for members of the senior class to nominate their favorite teacher. The four semifi nalists for the award and their nominations are listed below. Seniors will vote on their choice for the recipient in homeroom and the award will be given on May 19 at Visions of the Future.

Marva Greene

Vincent Martinez

Kurt Phillips

Jeff CramerFrom freshman year, Advanced

Placement physics and cross country, I have gained immeasurable wisdom by listening to Mr. Cramer. He teaches more than his academic subjects; he imparts to students a keen thirst for learning, discipline and self-reliance, and a love of community—he teaches Sunday School and volunteers with Habitat for Humanity. His dry wit and offbeat approach to teaching have helped make physics come alive for countless Grady students. Additionally, he is patient and helpful with academic and personal diffi culties alike.

Mr. Phil has this amazing ability to keep the entire class focused by engaging everyone all the time. His class is fun and energetic. I look forward to seeing him everyday, and I am never let down. It seems, even on my worst days, Mr. Phil can lighten my mood with his crazy antics. He is a great, energetic teacher and always makes class interesting. He’s traveled around the world, tells captivating stories and knows his psychology and economics. His catchphrase, “Everybody say, yeah Phil!” is famous at Grady.

Ms. Greene is most commonly known as the loving, caring literature teacher who refers to all of her students as “precious.” Her warmth and generosity are astounding. But above all, Ms. Greene’s character inspires me the most. From the fi rst day of class, Ms. Greene conveyed to me her undying passion for literature and life in general, urging me to become passionate about aspects of my own life. Her presence at Grady is, and always will be, precious.

Aside from being the most fashion-able teacher at Grady, Mr. Martinez is also one of the most creative and extravagant thinkers. His many proj-ects have expanded far beyond the classroom to local and national pro-portions. The success of the fashion program serves as a testament to his dedication to preparing students for the fashion and professional worlds. He motivates students by letting his own genuine excitement and passion spread, while still holding them to high expectations. Though he pushes his students, he can keep the mood light-hearted with his humor.

EYES ON DARFUR

The Sudanese government and its Janjaweed allies have killed thousands of people, raped women and destroyed villages, food stocks and other essential supplies. They have driven more than one million civilians into camps in Darfur where they are susceptible to Janjaweed abuses.

According to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, as of April 11 over 1,600 villages have been destroyed and more than 133,000 structures have been burned. Right, the art class’ contribution to the National Week of Student Action.

SOURCE: HUMAN RIGHTS WATCHLILY

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BY EMMA DIN

Running five meters. Kicking a soccer ball. Slapping a high-five at the end of an event. For the physically and mentally disabled youth of Georgia who compete in the Special Olympics, these basic skills are challenging events they attempt to master.

With assistance from members of Grady’s Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, Special Olympics Georgia hosted a state-level competition at Piedmont Park’s Active Oval on March 19 for disabled youth.

“JROTC usually does this every year,” said Lieutenant Colonel. Mitchell Sivas, Grady’s senior army instructor. “[Special Olympic competitions] go on in multiple locations all over the city. It helps [the cadets] appreciate what they should be thankful for.”

According to Sivas, however, JROTC didn’t volunteer for the Special Olympics last year due to transportation problems. Consequently, they will be helping out twice this year—they plan to attend another competition next month.

At the Piedmont Park Special Olympics, ‘moderately intellectually disabled’ youth competed in team soccer games, while severely disabled athletes spent the morning and early afternoon competing in three skills-oriented events, including dribbling, shooting and run-and-kick. The first game consisted of dribbling a soccer ball within cones for approximately 10 meters and trapping the ball at the end. Junior cadet Jacquayle Butler’s responsibility at the Special Olympics was to roll the soccer ball back to the station manager after each athlete completed the course.

“It was good for the special kids to go out there and have fun,” Butler said. “Even though it was very, very hot, I knew my job was important, so I enjoyed it.”

The second event required the athletes to make as many soccer goals as they could with five balls. Two Grady cadets

retrieved the soccer balls and brought them back for the next athlete. Junior Daniel Bassett, a rookie competitor for Clayton County Mills High School, preferred the second event.

“I like soccer…I’m looking forward to shooting [soccer goals] the most,” Bassett said while waiting in line for the event. “Yes, [I’m excited to be here]—this is my first [Special Olympic competition].”

Run-and-kick, the third event, consisted of four rubber bases arranged in a diamond, with a ball placed on each base. Players ran from a fifth, center base to kick the balls off the outer bases.

“Run-and-kick was by far the most challenging event for the participants,” senior cadet Lieutenant Colonel. Ryan Betty said. “It involved movements we don’t even think about, but that [the athletes] had to focus all their attention on.”

While some Grady cadets helped facilitate stations for events, others were group leaders. Each group included six athletes from different schools. Members of the same group directly competed against each other.

“My job was to take [my group of competitors] around and make sure they did the different events,” sophomore cadet First Sergeant Jessica Fortney said. “It’s something I would do again. One of my little boys, Johnny, gave me a big hug at the end before he left; it made me feel like a better person.”

Most of the cadets who volunteered enjoyed the experience and wanted to participate again.

“I was unsure what exactly we would be doing or what sports the special people would be participating in…[but] the cadets did a great job,” Betty said. “I liked seeing all the cadets participate with enthusiasm—there weren’t any complaints. When I get older, I definitely see myself helping out with the Special Olympics again.”

Even though the cadets enjoyed the experience, they often faced difficulties communicating with the athletes. According to

Ms. Betty Foster, the chair of Grady’s Program for Exceptional Children, the athletes who attend the Special Olympics are profoundly, severely or moderately disabled. With IQs below 40, they have problems speaking and expressing themselves though “the feeling is still there.”

“I really got to know the people in my group,” Betty said. “At first they were shy, but after awhile they opened up and started expressing themselves. They actually understood me perfectly, but I had to really pay attention to understand their speech.”

According to Ms. Foster, the Special Olympics allow disabled children to feel respected, accepted and important.

“It helps build self-esteem,” Ms. Foster said. “It instills in them a sense of community, a sense of accomplishment, and a sense of something they can call their own. It’s something they belong to and won’t get mocked for.” ❐

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JROTC cadets help staff, athletes at Special Olympics

New curriculum adds depth, variety to math classes BY JANNA KAPLAN

After completing an audit of Georgia’s Quality Core Curriculum, Georgia’s State Board of Education decided it was time for a change in the mathematics curriculum. A revamped math curriculum will make its way to Grady High School in the 2008-2009 school year, when this year’s seventh-grade class become freshmen.

According to Diann Ash, the coordinator of mathematics for Atlanta Public Schools, the change in curriculum was necessary.

“The QCC lacked depth and could not be covered in a reasonable amount of time,” she said. “It did not even meet national standards.”

According to Ash, it is impossible for teachers to teach all of the “shallow standards” required in the current curriculum.

“It would take 23 years to cover the topics included at anywhere near the level of depth necessary for real learning to take place,” Ash said. “Inevitably, teachers use the curriculum not as a guide for quality instruction, but as a reference to mention in lesson plans and then [to] place back on the shelf.”

The new curriculum will replace single-discipline classes like algebra and geometry with a progression of courses that will cover the same aspects of mathematics at varying levels of difficulty. These classes, simply

titled Math 1, Math 2 and so on, will consist of five content strands: numbers and operations, data analysis and probability, measurement, geometry and algebra.

“There are some aspects of the curriculum that can be combined,” said Ms. Erin Davis, the head of the Grady mathematics department. “It would be really nice to get the teachers together and come up with what we can combine. The textbooks will probably be the forefront of determining when things get taught and where, depending on their placement in the book.”

One of the main goals of the new curriculum is for teachers to make math classes more focused on students. This will involve extensive restructuring of lesson plans, as well as more creativity on the teachers’ part.

“It is critical that we provide the appropriate professional development and content support for teachers as they move to performance-based instruction, using tasks and rubrics rather than exclusively fact-based and traditional grading,” Ash said.

Ms. Davis expects the new curriculum to require an adjustment period.

“I think there will be a transition period of figuring out how to get the best out of the [new] curriculum,” Ms. Davis said. “There’s a three-year learning curve. It may not take

that long, but to give everyone a fair shot at [the new curriculum] it [will] take three years to get your course the way you like it.”

There will be three levels, or paths, that students will be able to follow in their math classes. These include the core path, which will be a slower-paced path, the regular path and the accelerated path.

Freshman Lauren Edwards, who is currently in Ms. Davis’s geometry class, hopes that this new program will allow students to enroll in higher-level math classes starting in middle school. She wishes she could have taken a higher-level math class as a freshman.

“I would have benefited from [a higher-level math class],” she said. “I really like math, and I want to be able to take calculus and even classes higher than that…I think if I had gotten further in math [in middle school] it would have been better for me.”

According to Ms. Davis, a downside to the new curriculum is the amount of standardized testing inherent in the course structure.

“There’s going to be more testing,” Ms. Davis said. “There will be exit exams for Math 1, Math 2 and Math 3. I imagine it’s not going to get easier [to pass].”

Despite the amount of testing built into the course structure, Ms. Davis believes the variety of content in the curriculum will boost students’ scores on other standardized tests.

“I think for some testing, like the PSAT, you’ll have all the content and skills in one class to help you be more successful at that

level,” Ms. Davis said. “You’ll have a bit of everything instead of just your geometry class or just your algebra class, so that’s probably a bonus as far as standardized testing goes.”

Ash agrees that this new curriculum will

be helpful for both the students and the schools.

“[There will be] an increase in rigor and conceptual understanding of mathematics at every level in the kindergarten through 12th grade program,” she said. “Helping students understand the interconnected nature of mathematics is a strong plus for the Georgia Performance Standards.” ❐

You’ll have a bit of everything instead of just your geometry class or just your algebra class.

math teacher Ms. Erin Davis

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LET THE GAMES BEGIN: Senior Ryan Betty (above) gathers his group members in Piedmont Park’s Active Oval to start the games; (left) Sophomore Jessica Fortney awards Douglass High student Raefeal Alexander a ribbon for his achievement in area soccer; (far left) Fortney demonstrates trapping a soccer ball for the members of her group before they compete in dribbling for the first event.

BY ARIELLE D’AVANZO

The Piedmont Park Tennis Center’s re-opening celebration drew over 300 people March 11 to mark the completion of its six-month renovation process.

“The Piedmont Tennis Association exists to promote and develop tennis in town,” said Rodney Chatham, the project director for the Piedmont Tennis Association. “We went to Dianne Harnell Cohen, the commissioner of parks, recreation and cultural affairs and asked to have a big tennis party for Piedmont Park the day of the re-dedication and re-opening of the tennis center.”

Many prominent figures attended the celebration and spoke about the importance of the PPTC to the city of Atlanta. Cohen opened the re-dedication ceremony and Mayor Shirley Franklin spoke about the positive influence the Center has on Atlanta’s youth. Charlene Braud, the director of the department of recreation, brought the ceremony to a close with hopes for the future of the center after Rep. Anne Fauver spoke. Free tennis lessons and demonstrations followed the re-dedication speeches.

“We had a variety of fun events that took place on re-opening day,” said Sharon Lester, manager of the tennis center. “Some of these events included free racquet demonstrations, cardio tennis lessons and many more fun events.”

One of the main activities during the re-opening was the exhibition of the new United States Tennis Association 36/60 Project, a new approach to children’s tennis lessons, led by Rick Davison, USTA Georgia director of competition.

“The whole idea of this program is to allow children to compete in the same ways that adults are able to,” Davison said. “This new program divides the court and allows for more people to play on the court at once, while still in the competitive atmosphere.”

With the new renovation came many improvements and upgrades throughout the PPTC. According to Lester, the old wooden staircase was removed and replaced with a metallic spiral one, the color scheme changed and all-new furniture was installed.

At the grand re-opening, the glass tile mosaic, which 30 Grady students created along with art teacher John Brandhorst and local artist Jason Johnson, was unveiled.

“It is a gorgeous piece of art that goes along very

well with the new renovations in the building,” Mr. Brandhorst said. “It feels good to know that the students produced something that will be with the city for many years to come.”

The city of Atlanta gave the tennis center grants to help cover the cost of the $225,000 renovation. While the renovation was taking place, tennis players were still able to use the court facilities.

“I spend a lot my spare time at the tennis center playing on the courts and watching matches,” said junior Jerami Goodwin, a member of the Grady tennis team. “I was

extremely happy with the all of the new renovations and I feel that these additions to the center create an overall better atmosphere.”

Even with the re-opening of the PPTC, some changes are still to be added, including the lighting, an upgraded intercom system and the addition of satellite televisions.

“The new tennis center is very impressive and it is a great place to hold lots of future events,” Davison said. “With the new renovation, the tennis center can definitely compete with other top tennis centers throughout the country.” ❐

7April 20, 2007 n e w s

from page 1Each year, state governments publish an

Adequate Yearly Progress list of schools that have improved their test scores. In Georgia, the AYP calculation is based on performance on the GGT. Schools must perform progressively better each year until eventually 100 percent of their students meet test performance standards. A school may fail to make AYP for two years in a row and not be listed as Needs Improvement as long the reason the school did not make AYP changes from year to year.

The state of Georgia measures progress in English and mathematics by how well students answer certain harder, ‘embedded questions’ dispersed throughout the test.

“It’s very difficult for the teachers to prepare the students for the embedded questions because the students don’t really have an incentive to get them right,” Ms. Kelly said. “Embedded questions count the same for the student as any other question, and you might pass the test even if you get every embedded question wrong. So the school gets punished if the student gets the question wrong, but not the student.”

Last year’s junior class did not have a high enough percentage of students from the ‘black’ and ‘economically disadvantaged’ subgroups answer the math embedded questions correctly for the school to make AYP. While Grady’s pass rate on the math section of the GGT was 93 percent, neither of those two subgroups met

the goal of 68.6 percent of students ‘meeting or exceeding’ state-mandated standards for answering the embedded questions in the math section.

“It would be horrible to identify groups of people and point fingers of blame, but it’s on the internet; it’s public information,” Ms. Kelly said.

The division of schools into subgroups was a major element of the No Child Left Behind Act, which President George W. Bush championed as a part of his first-term education agenda.

“There’s something to be said for the argument that we should be preparing all subgroups for tests,” said Mr. Louis Sartor, Grady’s social studies department chair. “It’s

one of the rare things I agree with Bush on.”

Math teacher Ms. Ebony Anderson-Johnson insisted that last year’s GGT results should not definitively categorize the math department.

“I do not believe one test determines if a student is innumerate,” she said. “I also do not believe that

a small number of the whole should reflect negatively on the math program. Grady is a diverse population with several different types of backgrounds and challenges. All students do not even have access to resources such as calculators and practice problems at home.”

Staff members remain hopeful that Grady’s current junior class has performed well on the GGT.

“I’m always optimistic,” Dr. Murray said. “We’ve had challenges and obstacles that we’ve

had to overcome, but I’m confident that we will make AYP.”

This year, the Grady math department staged ‘pullouts,’ in which teachers identified students who needed extra help in math and ‘pulled them out’ of their non-math classes to study for the GGT math section.

“The ‘pullouts’ were a great effort,” Ms. Anderson-Johnson said. “The math department identified students who would benefit from additional resources. Ms. Davis and Ms. Porter arranged the schedules. The foreign language department took turns assisting in the computer lab or relieving math teachers for a prep session.”

Grady teachers held several tutorials for each section of the GGT—math, social studies, language arts and science—in the weeks leading up to the test.

“It’s difficult to get students into tutorial, so I try to work on GGT reviewing a little in class,” Mr. Sartor said. “But I guess that kind of reinforces not coming after school by providing the excuse that, ‘We’ve already done that in class.’ A good size for one of our tutorials would have been about 10 to 12 people.”

Grady’s administration changed the test site from the performance gym, where the GGT was administered last year, to classrooms on the second floor of the Charles Allen wing.

“The classrooms were a much better testing environment,” Dr. Murray said. “The gym is so vast that coughing and other disruptions are magnified. It can be very distracting.”

Many students felt confident about their performance on the GGT.

“The GGT wasn’t that hard,” junior Jordan Monteiro said. “I was prepared, and I think I did well, although the test took a long time.”

Junior Brittany Briscoe agreed and felt that

the test was “very elementary.”Students and staff members offered varying

opinions on the merits of NCLB. “I don’t object to the intent of No Child

Left Behind, but to some aspects of the way it is implemented,” Ms. Kelly said. “Somebody does need to hold schools accountable, but I wish the law would provide some sort of support to schools before taking punitive measures like publishing Needs Improvement lists.”

Dr. Murray said NCLB puts strain on administrations because the law makes it more difficult to meet AYP each year.

“The intent of the law is good,” he said. “But all kids are different. People accomplish things at different points. Some grade-level classes may differ.”

Monteiro wishes the GGT were not used to calculate AYP.

“Progress of schools should be measured based on students’ grades,” he said. “It’s not fair if you get all As and still fail the GGT.”

Briscoe echoed Monteiro’s sentiments.“If we were put on the Needs Improvement

list, it would feel like people were trying to tell us we’re dumb,” she said. “But isn’t Grady supposed to be the best school in the Atlanta Public Schools System?”

Ms. Kelly agreed that AYP results should not be the only measure of schools’ success.

“The media gives things like school rankings and Needs Improvement lists a lot of attention, but people don’t understand how all of that is calculated and they mislabel schools as ‘good’ or ‘bad,’” she said. “You have to look at the whole picture. I would love to see the media talk about contributing issues to what makes a good or bad school, as well as successes that schools have.” ❐

Tennis Center renovations completed, open to public

SCORES will decide if Grady improvement is needed

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RAISIN’ A RACKET: Left: Members of the Georgia Tech tennis team shake hands with a young player to kick off the new youth tennis program. Right: Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin observes the unveiling of the new glass-tile mosaic, which Grady students helped design and assemble.

“ We’ve had challenges and obstacles that we’ve had to overcome, but I’m confident that we will make [Adequate Yearly Progress].

Principal Dr. Vincent Murray

BY ASA BEAL

“Drug-Free School Zone.”A sign declares this phrase near Grady on the corner of Charles

Allen Drive and 10th Street and at high schools nationwide. Statistics gathered through local and national studies, however, suggest that signs like this are more symbols of hope than statements of fact.

While the use of illegal drugs and alcohol affects the academic performance of millions of students, these substances also have a profound infl uence in a different realm: the courts and fi elds of high school athletics.

“Being an athlete comes with a lot of pressure,” said a senior football player who wished to remain anonymous. “I think for some people, drugs and alcohol are a way to escape that, if even for a little while.”

Although some athletes also feel compelled to use performance-enhancing drugs, few Grady players consume these substances.

“None of the kids I know use [performance enhancing drugs] like that,” football coach Ronnie Millen said.

Though Coach Millen does not know of any players who use these substances, he said that Grady has no program in place to prevent such use.

“By this age you’re going to do what you want to do anyway,” senior basketball player Randy Flemister said. “Programs aren’t going to change what people do.”

Though some high school students are tempted to use performance-enhancing or recreational drugs to improve athletic ability and escape the pressures of everyday life, certain athletes resist temptation.

“I never wanted to try [illegal substances],” Flemister said. “I know what they do to your body and I don’t want to go through that. I know that’s not something I need.”

According to Monitoring the Future, a 30-year study performed by the University of Michigan, teens use drugs such as amphetamines, anabolic steroids and androstenedione as performance enhancers. The study found that among American seniors, the prevalence rate for amphetamines was 13 percent, for anabolic steroids the rate was three percent and for androstenedione the rate was two percent.

Grady student-athletes fall below the national averages of usage for performance-enhancing drugs. In a recent survey by The Southerner, approximately three percent of Grady student-athletes had tried any of these three performance-enhancing drugs.

The number of Grady students who use performance-enhancing drugs, however, is less than the number who consume alcohol and illegal recreational drugs.

Boys soccer coach Mr. Nikolai Curtis has attempted to take athletes’ drug and alcohol use into his own hands. At the

beginning of the soccer season, Coach Curtis required his players to sign a pledge that he hoped would dissuade the boys from consuming any illegal drugs or alcohol, for health and legal reasons.

All the players and their parents signed the Grady Soccer Commitment Contract, which contains 15 terms the players agreed to abide for the entire season. Many of the terms deal

with timeliness and sportsmanship, but one is meant to curtail the players’ use of illegal substances. Term seven

reads, “I agree to refrain from drinking alcohol or smoking anything.”

Although every member of the boys soccer team signed the agreement, a Southerner survey of male

soccer players showed that many do not adhere to its terms. Approximately 88 percent of the soccer players surveyed consume alcohol regularly (at least once a month) and approximately 75 percent of male soccer

players have smoked marijuana this school year. Flemister believes he knows why many athletes use illegal

drugs and alcohol.“I think doing drugs is more infl uenced by peers,”

Flemister said. “It’s pretty common, just because there’s a lot of people who know how to get access to drugs and alcohol—it’s in their neighborhoods, [so] they know a lot

of people who do it.” ❐

An anonymous Grady student plans on knocking a few back this weekend. But as far as I know, students usually don’t reach 21, the legal drinking age, in high school.

So how is it that most of Grady won’t have any problem getting alcohol this weekend?

You wouldn’t know it, but the United States does have a drinking age. My concern is that the law does not adequately prevent underage drinking.

However ineffective the law may be, anyone aware of how easy it is to break should realize the dangerous availability a lower age limit poses. Why should we make alcohol even more accesible to students?

Eighteen year olds argue that since they can fi ght for their country, vote, go to jail and watch porn, they should be allowed watch porn, they should be allowed to be drunk in Iraq, during 2008, to be drunk in Iraq, during 2008, at the police precinct and in their at the police precinct and in their bedrooms.

Unfortunately for 18 year olds, Unfortunately for 18 year olds, one lingering statistic will forever one lingering statistic will forever inhibit any politician or parent inhibit any politician or parent from speaking out against the from speaking out against the law. Since passing the minimum law. Since passing the minimum drinking age of 21 in 1984, the drinking age of 21 in 1984, the nation has seen a 25 percent nation has seen a 25 percent decrease in driving accidents decrease in driving accidents involving underage involving underage drinking. As long as this continues, the law will not change.

Granted, not every teen is irresponsible Granted, not every teen is irresponsible enough to risk a DUI, but students still enough to risk a DUI, but students still aren’t supposed to be drinking. I know aren’t supposed to be drinking. I know that most teenagers consider their that most teenagers consider their parents’ rules more excruciating than parents’ rules more excruciating than the nation’s laws, but has anyone the nation’s laws, but has anyone ever stopped to think about why ever stopped to think about why we have a drinking age in the fi rst we have a drinking age in the fi rst place? Drinking is a very dangerous place? Drinking is a very dangerous

activity if not done responsibly. I’ve realized that the law doesn’t exist to limit our enjoyment in life, but to protect our young minds from permanent damage.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, the human brain is still developing at a signifi cant rate until a person reaches his or her early 20s. When students consumealcohol, especially when they binge drink (consuming enough alcohol to obtain a .08 Blood Alcohol Level in two hours), they risk disrupting this development. Twelve to 20 year olds are responsible for 20 percent of the total alcohol consumption in the United States, and over 90 percent of that alcohol consumption qulaifi es as binge drinking. The CDC warns that youth who drink alcohol risk experiencing everything from failing grades in school to delayed sexual development. Consuming any amount of alcohol risks complications, but the way the youth in America drink is especially dangerous.

The United States views underage drinking so negatively that it’s no wonder that

students are curious. European countries have more lenient drinking age laws, leaving

parents responsible for educating their kids about alcohol use. The trick is, Europeans learn early on

that binge drinking is not the only way to enjoy alcohol. If the United States took a more European approach to alcohol, we wouldn’t have such a problem with underage drinking.

Ideally, America should have adapted the European approach to alcohol consumption control years ago. People argue that if we lowered the drinking age to 18 now, we’d

reap many of the same benefi ts that European countries do. It may seem like a great solution to our underage drinking problems, but unless teenagers start

drinking more responsibly, we won’t be ready for any kind of change for a long time. ❑

In America, I must be at least 18 to vote. When I have lived approximately 6,570 days, I have the power to elect a president. At age 18, I am old enough

to take a bullet for my country, but I am not old enough to take a shot. I can be a captain in the Navy, yet I am not allowed to have a little ‘Captain’ in me. At 18, I am not permitted to drink alcohol.

If I were 16 and lived in France, I could carry around a bottle of the fi nest champagne and shout at the world. At least that’s the way most Americans view the French. Because other nations allow drinking at a lower age, fewer people binge drink or drink to get drunk.

Alcohol is not inherently bad—drinking one beer in a sitting has a miniscule effect on the body. Bingeing is what creates problems.

Many teens go to parties and the fi rst thing they see when they walk in is one of their best friends with a bottle in their hand telling them how wasted they’re going to get. If the legal drinking age was lowered, there would be less of a thrill from doing something illegal, so teens would feel less of a need to rebel. Far fewer teens would feel the need to drink in order to have a good time if they knew that they could drink legally; if drinking was the norm, it wouldn’t be necessary to fi nd an underground bunker where you could secretly partake.

Most kids don’t want to push their limits; they just don’t know them. If a

person has never been exposed to alcohol in a controlled home environment, they don’t know the symptoms to look for when inebriation occurs. Most kids expect effects to kick in immediately, and by the time they realize that it takes a while for alcohol to make its way through the body, it’s too late and they have already fallen victim to the drink. Talk to most students about their horror stories, and most will tell you that their fi rst time was their worst.

Americans can join the Army, gamble in Las Vegas and purchase a handgun at the age of 18. You can sign your own marriage certifi cate, but you can’t have champagne at the reception. Society makes 18 a ‘magic’ age for the end of state-mandated curfew.

Yet, the same people who make that rule say that 18 year olds can’t drink alcohol.

It seems everyone knows at least one person who has

been involved in a drunk driving accident. Almost all teens are aware of the effects of drunk driving. There are teens who drive drunk and adults who drive drunk, but people seem to think that teenagers cause more accidents. Alcohol doesn’t discriminate—drunken teenagers drive on city streets all the time as do drunken adults. Allowing people to drink at the age of 18 will help them understand the effects alcohol have on driving.

President Reagan changed the law in 1984 when teenage drunk driving was the hot topic. Since then, more informative policies targeted towards teens have been put in place, like the posters around Grady from the Governor’s Offi ce of Highway Safety.

18 year olds are as responsible as those three years older than them and should be allowed to drink accordingly. ❑

Many athletes violate substance contract yet refrain from steroid use

BY REBECCA GITTELSON

A female senior fi rst tried marijuana in middle school, when she “ate a hash brownie…in my friend’s parents’ ice cream store.”

Her marijuana use gradually increased, but she did not experiment with alcohol until ninth grade. The summer before her senior year, her parents decided her substance use had become a serious problem and sent her to a rehabilitation facility for one week of in-patient treatment. “That week didn’t really phase” her because she felt her substance use was not as serious as that of the center’s other patients, who were addicted to “much harder substances.” Despite this treatment, the senior said her substance use “has defi nitely increased,” expanding to mushrooms, ecstasy, LSD, acid and daily marijuana use.

The extent of this student’s use only partially refl ects that of other Grady students. All of the students interviewed for this article agreed that marijuana and alcohol, rather than prescription and harder drugs, are the most commonly used substances among Grady students.

“At Grady, you’re pretty normal if

you drink,” senior Carrie Handell said. “I wouldn’t say drugs are normal, but they’re pretty common.”

In a Southerner survey of 200 Grady students, 34.8 percent reported that they have used non-prescription drugs, predominantly marijuana. Approximately 77 percent have used alcohol; 50 percent of those who consume alcohol do so rarely and 22.1 percent report frequent use.

According to Dr. Robert Margolis, the executive director of Solutions Counseling Services and a

well-known expert on adolescent substance use and addiction, these results mirror national trends.

“If you look at the statistics, what you see is that roughly between 30 and 35 percent say that they have tried some kind of drug, mostly marijuana; somewhere upwards of 50 percent say they have had some experiences with alcohol,” Margolis said. “If you talk to kids who are in high school, you fi nd that they will tell you the numbers are actually much higher. Kids are probably under reporting the amount of use on surveys they take.”

Margolis said teens’ alcohol use tends to be a combination of binge and social drinking; but most teens consume “alcohol at levels society would consider to be excessive.” In the Southerner survey, most students chose not to answer a question about the number of drinks they regularly consume.

A male sophomore believes that most Grady students are not binge drinkers.

“Some people just get drunk to get drunk by themselves,” he said. “But a lot more

people are social drinkers and drink with friends—that applies to weed [use] too.”

The senior said, however, that certain students use substances much more often, even during school hours.

“There’s some serious [marijuana] smoking during school—on campus and off campus,” she said. “I know people who go to secretive areas [on campus], some people will walk across the street to the park, some people will just drive away. I’ve seen people make mixed drinks at school, carrying around a

Nalgene [bottle] full of alcohol.”Guidance counselor Mr. Joseph

Arnold believes, however, that most substance use occurs outside of school.

Although both marijuana and alcohol are popular at Grady, they have varying degrees of accessibility. The sophomore

said that alcohol is easier to obtain than marijuana; according to Margolis, this statement expresses a national trend. According to the sophomore,

Grady students get alcohol from “somebody [who] has a fake ID, from parents who are loose with alcohol, from someone of a legal age or from some places [that] don’t card.”

Although marijuana is less obtainable than alcohol, it is still accessible.

“You can easily get drugs at Grady; it depends what you’re looking for, but you can easily get weed,” the sophomore said.

Margolis thinks that teenagers’ environments, especially their peer groups, can impact their decisions about substance use.

“There’s a fair amount of peer pressure,” he said. “I don’t mean that friends say, ‘Come on, you need to use this.’ It’s just socially, if everybody’s using and you’re the only one who isn’t, there’s pressure to use or at least try it.”

The sophomore’s opinion about overt peer pressure mirrors Margolis’ opinion.

“The people who peer pressure people into doing things—that’s ridiculous,” he said. “[But] if I’m drinking or smoking, I’ll offer it to my friend; if they say ‘no’ then that’s okay.”

Although she does not use illegal substances, Handell also tries to maintain a non-judgmental view of other’s opinions and actions.

“I’m not going to not be friends with someone just because they drink or do drugs,” she said. “I’m not really accepting of [substance use] and [I’m not] okay with it, but I’ll still be friends with someone who does it.”

Margolis said that peer pressure can also have a positive effect on teens.

“Just as it is the case when peers get together and decide to do [substances], if a peer group gets together and decides ‘that’s not something we’re going to do,’ it makes it easier for them not to do [substances],” he said.

Teens are also infl uenced by factors ranging from alcohol’s effects to parenting.

“Alcohol and weed make me more outgoing—it gives me an excuse to be more social,” a female junior said.

Handell believes, however, that “bad things happen when you drink and do illegal drugs” and that students shouldn’t need substances “to let loose.”

Margolis thinks that parents have a responsibility to shape their children’s opinions about substances.

“There’s a tremendous diffi culty that I see with parents in terms of knowing how to set appropriate limits [for their children]...and be involved in their kids’ lives in a caring way which would help,” Margolis said.

Handell’s parents set strict limits about substance use that have impacted her choices.

“My parents are teetotalers—no alcohol in the house or anything,” she said. “They expect us not to drink, even when we’re 21.”

The junior’s parents, however, set looser rules about substance use.

“It’s kind of a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ thing—but they’re not really okay with drinking,” she said. “They’re less okay with pot because it’s completely illegal.”

Margolis believes that schools should

also play a signifi cant role in impacting teenage substance use.

“Schools are for educating, aren’t they?” Margolis said. “[Schools] ought to do a better job; they can and should.”

Margolis also said that current high school substance awareness programs often lack adequate information.

“I have seen [health] textbooks that say, ‘What are the effects of smoking marijuana?’” Margolis said. “Many of these books were written 10 and 20 years ago, before most of the research on the effects of marijuana was even available.”

The most recent marijuana use statistics in Grady’s health textbook are from 1998; the book also includes numerous units on other substances. In Grady’s mandatory health classes, students present short projects on alcohol and various drugs to their classmates. Under a state mandate, students are also required to take the Alcohol and Drug Awareness Program, offered in the health classes, to become eligible for a driver’s license. The sophomore said, however, that Grady health classes do not provide enough information about the effects of substance use and addiction.

The school does not offer an alcohol and drug counseling program for students with addictions.

“There’s a difference between abuse and addiction—the way we look at abuse is when it begins to somehow interfere with your daily functioning,” Margolis said. “It becomes an addiction or dependence when the use becomes more compulsive.”

According to Mr. Arnold, substance addictions often become apparent only when students drop out of school or are referred to teacher conferences for other reasons. When a student’s excessive use is brought to the school’s attention, the

student is referred to the school social worker and recommended to “community resources.” These resources include the United Way Help Book,

available online, and Super One, a prevention and education resource sponsored by both Atlanta Public Schools and the Metropolitan Atlanta Council on Alcohol and Drugs. Margolis believes, however, that these resources can never completely eliminate

teen substance use.“We have to recognize

that everyone can do all the right things, but there are certain kids who will still

do it,” he said. “We’re never going to stamp this thing out completely; we’re never going to have zero drug use.” ❐

At age 18, I am old enough to take a bullet for my country, but I am not old enough to take a shot.

SOPHIE COX

Higher drinking age puts 18 year olds in legal limboCould teens handle responsibility of lowering drinking age to 18?

ERIK BELGUM

the high life:

Teens lack maturity, parents’ guidance to drink responsibly

Grady substance use refl ects trendEXAMINING GRADY’S DRUG USE

prescription and harder drugs, are the most commonly used substances among Grady

“At Grady, you’re

non-prescription drugs, predominantly marijuana. Approximately 77 percent have used alcohol; 50 percent of those who consume alcohol do so rarely and 22.1 percent report frequent use.

According to Dr. Robert Margolis, the executive director of Solutions Counseling Services and a

by themselves,” he said. “But a lot more

smoking during school—on campus and off campus,” she said. “I know people who go to secretive areas [on campus], some people will walk across the street to the park, some people will just drive away. I’ve seen people make mixed drinks at school, carrying around a

Nalgene [bottle] full of alcohol.”Guidance counselor Mr. Joseph

Arnold believes, however, that most substance use occurs outside of school.

are popular at Grady, they have varying degrees of accessibility. The sophomore

said that alcohol is easier to obtain than

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12th graders10th graders 12th graders10th gradersHave used alcoholHave used marijuana

From a survey of 200 Grady students, the data below shows 10th and 12th graders’ alcohol and drug use compared to a national study in 2006. The Centers for Disease Control reports that youth who use alcohol before age 15 are four times more likely to become alcohol dependent than adults who begin drinking at age 21.

73%

82%

42%

62%

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represents Grady students

represents in-school surveys across the nation

GRADY VS. THE NATIONHow does Grady measure up to national drug and alcohol consumption?

SOURCE: UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN’S STUDY, “MONITORING THE FUTURE”

watch porn, they should be allowed to be drunk in Iraq, during 2008, at the police precinct and in their

Unfortunately for 18 year olds, one lingering statistic will forever inhibit any politician or parent from speaking out against the law. Since passing the minimum drinking age of 21 in 1984, the nation has seen a 25 percent decrease in driving accidents involving underage

Granted, not every teen is irresponsible enough to risk a DUI, but students still aren’t supposed to be drinking. I know that most teenagers consider their parents’ rules more excruciating than the nation’s laws, but has anyone ever stopped to think about why we have a drinking age in the fi rst place? Drinking is a very dangerous

The United States views underage drinking so negatively that it’s no wonder that

trick is, Europeans learn early on that binge drinking is not the only

way to enjoy alcohol. If the United States took a more European approach to alcohol, we wouldn’t have such a problem with underage drinking.

Ideally, America should have adapted the European approach to alcohol consumption control years ago. People argue that if we lowered the drinking age to 18 now, we’d

reap many of the same benefi ts that European countries do. It may seem like a great solution to our underage drinking problems, but unless teenagers start

drinking more responsibly, we won’t be ready for any kind of change for a long time.

All sources quoted anonymously agreed to go on the record with their statements. The Student Press Law Center told The Southerner, however, that the administration could investigate, and subsequently penalize, these sources if their names were used. At the request of Principal Dr. Vincent Murray and to protect the sources from possible punishment, The Southerner decided not to publish their names.

10 April 20, 2007

from page 1team were unsure the team could even move on to the state competition this season.

“Because we were scrimmaging teams that were not as good as us [before region], we played on their level,” Webb said. “It made me nervous that by regionals we had not seen our good game at all.”

Sophomore Sarah Bufkin also had concerns about the team’s readiness.

“I think the problem was that none of us really had our final drafts of our [speeches and examinations] done,” said Bufkin, who has been an attorney for two years. “Things were still kind of in the process of being reworked.”

Despite some unease going into the competition, Grady managed to finish in first place at regionals.

“The team’s performance at regionals was inspiring,” Gebo said. “Yes, there were errors and flaws, but the students never gave up.”

Grady faced a challenge from Therrell in the final round.

“[Therrell was] like a Mighty Ducks story,” Webb said. “I was happy for them. I made friends with people on their team, and it would have been cool if they had won, but, you know, we are good. At that point, we were banking.”

Though the team secured a spot at the state competition, everyone on the team knew they had plenty of work to do before they would be fully ready to compete.

“The state championship is an insane endeavor,” Gebo said. “The field of competitors is a roll call of frighteningly strong schools with long histories of excellent mock trial teams…To prepare for all of the

talent, skill, experience, confidence and passion that all of the 15 other regional champions bring to the table is a little like King Leonidas trying to prepare his 300 to face Xerxes’ armies at Thermopylae.”

Despite the challenge of an intense state competition, Grady’s success at region gave the team motivation and confidence to put in the practice time necessary to prevail at state.

“I think there was a mental shift,” Bufkin said. “Coming out of regionals, it was a lot of people’s first time in a courtroom competing. I think everyone just came out revived and willing to work.”

Since Grady’s region competition was held a week earlier than most other regions, the squad had three weeks before the state competitions to tighten its performance. Team members spent extra hours after school practicing at Powell-Goldstein.

Teacher-coach Mr. Larry McCurdy was impressed with the team’s preparation for state.

“They started working really hard and really helping each other out a lot,” he said.

The team members’ hard work and long hours of practice served them well at the state competition on March 10 and 11.

“A flawless round of mock trial is an oxymoron—the real test is how a team deals with the obstacles they encounter during a round,” Gebo said. “This year’s Grady team did an amazing job adjusting to what was happening [during] and between each round.”

After two rounds of arguing their cases, the teams adjourned for an awards ceremony. To the team’s great excitement, Grady was among the schools that would advance to the final two rounds the next day.

On Sunday, Grady won its first round, securing a spot in the

final round against longtime rival Jonesboro High School, last year’s state champion.

The teams’ mutual animosity made for a passionate final round this year.

“The competition [with Jonesboro] has gotten friendlier over the years,” Mr. McCurdy said. “For a while there, it was very hostile, but there seemed to be more respect on both sides this year.”

Mr. McCurdy takes the rivalry as a compliment and even sees it as an opportunity for Grady to defend its lauded reputation.

“Everybody wants to beat us,” he said. “Everybody enjoys facing us. In some ways, they dread facing us, but everybody wants a shot at Grady.”

The tension between the two teams made for a close competition.

“When the Grady squads left the courtrooms at the end of that championship round, they proved

to themselves and to everyone that they had earned their way there,” Gebo said.

Although Jonesboro left with the championship, many believe Grady’s performance had never been better.

“In all my mock trial experience, Sunday was the best we had ever been,” Webb said. “I have never played harder, never seen my teammates play harder and everything was perfect. That’s why [the loss] was so heartbreaking.”

The team does not, however, view its season as unsuccessful since it was still able to meet many goals.

“Of course the team and the coaches are disappointed that they won’t have the chance to represent Georgia at nationals,” Gebo said. “But no gavel trophy, no matter what size, can capture or approximate the tremendous accomplishment of this year’s Grady mock trial team.” ❐

BY SCOTT CHAMBLISS

Local bookstore chain Chapter 11 recently announced it will be closing two of its locations by May 12. The chain’s last remaining store is located at Emory Commons.

Founded in 1990 by Dale Glenn and Barbara Babbit Kaufman, the chain was purchased by Perry Tanner in 2002. At its peak, it operated in 16 locations throughout north Georgia, but lack of business at most of those locations forced the chain to declare bankruptcy in 2005 and close all but six of its locations.

The approaching closings of its Ansley Mall and Sandy Springs locations came

as a surprise to many shoppers who appreciated the bookstore’s friendly atmosphere.

Literature teacher Ms. Jocelyn Nettles has worked with the Chapter 11 in Ansley Mall to acquire books at reduced prices for her classes over the past two years. This year, however, the store had already stopped placing new orders, so she was unable to collaborate with them.

“This go-around I had to go to Borders, but they wouldn’t give us a discount,” Ms. Nettles said. “Barnes and Noble did, but it took much longer because the cashiers did not know about the discount. [The personal attention] is what’s good about

small bookstores with fewer employees.”The downsizing of Chapter 11 reflects

a national decline in independent bookstores. While Atlanta has largely retained its independent bookstore genre with local suppliers such as Outwrite Bookstore, Charis Books & More and Tall Tales Book Shop, independent bookstores in many major cities have fallen to internet sales and major carriers such as Borders and Barnes & Noble.

“It’s unfortunate that the big guys are crushing out the smaller, quaint bookstores,” Ms. Nettles said. “They can get more books for cheaper and that means more business.”❐

from page 1decade, a 2006 demographic study showed immense projected growth in Midtown and the northern and southwestern districts of the city. The system plans to use SPLOST III funds to build two new elementary schools and to buy land for two new middle schools, which will counteract the growth. APS also plans to renovate the Grady and Lakewood athletic stadiums.

Myers claims that extending SPLOST is the most taxpayer-friendly way for APS to raise revenue.

“SPLOST actually costs less for local tax payers because people who visit Atlanta or come into the city to shop will be bearing some of the brunt,” Myers said. “Otherwise, the city would have to raise property taxes, and

then only people who own property in Atlanta would be taxed more.”

The Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation, however, believes that more than enough money is already allocated to APS.

“Fifty-two percent of every property owner’s property tax goes directly to public schools,” Sherman said. “APS doesn’t need the money. It has enough funds from tax payers now to make any renovations [the schools] should need.”

Seventy percent of APS’ approximately $600 million regular budget is derived from local property taxes. The additional 30 percent is made up primarily of state and federal grants. Myers said there is no money for facility improvement without SPLOST.

“Salaries and employee benefits make up 85 percent of our normal operating budget,”

Myers said. “The remaining 15 percent is for everything else—all of the supplies that we have to provide to schools. There just isn’t room for renovations.”

Sherman, however, argues that APS could be run more efficiently. According to studies conducted by the Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation, the system has the seventh highest operating cost per student in the nation at $11,215. When compared to the demographically similar DeKalb County school system, APS spent 179 percent higher per student on pupil services, 311 percent higher per student for general administration purposes and 44 percent higher per student for staff services.

The results of the vote for SPLOST III, however, showed that the general public is

content with the idea of devoting additional tax money to public schools. The referendum passed by a landslide.

“The community has a duty to provide education; it’s the way it’s always been,” said Trav Carter, a real estate attorney whose children transferred from an APS school to Woodward Academy at a young age. “Plus, public education helps everyone in the long run. A well educated community attracts business, business attracts money and money helps everybody.”

Myers also believes that public education translates into benefits for the entire community.

“It’s a quality of life issue,” he said. “Everyone benefits if children are receiving a good education.” ❐

MOCK trial team loses state; individuals earn awards

Bookstore downsizes, leaves one location

SPLOST III passed, provides money for new schools, expansions

n e w s

THE END: Chapter 11’s Ansley Mall store, a popular destination for frugal Grady bookworms, will close by May 12 due to bankruptcy.

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UNDER OATH: Rachel Feinberg (above) tells the jury about her daughter’s fatal car accident. (Right) Asa Beal and Kenny Jones explain the collision..

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BY HANNA GRIFFITHS

Fast food and healthy fare are not often found at the same restaurant. When two chefs noticed this void, Fresh to Order was born.

Through sandwiches, salads and even steak, this restaurant provides healthy gourmet food in a relaxed atmosphere. From the time diners arrive until the time they leave, the staff is gracious and friendly.

The menu is diverse enough to simply get a snack after school or purchase a whole dinner. The selection of huge, colorful salads ranges from typical Caesar to Mediterranean. Dinner plates, called long plates, include roasted pork loin and

chicken skewers. The salmon panini sandwich is delicious.

Made with avocado, lettuce, tomato, tarragon aioli, and corn, the sandwich is a light summery dish and the fresh ingredients form a delicious blend.

The décor, like the food, is light and appealing. It is located on the corner of Peachtree and Seventh Street; unlike most Peachtree restaurants, Fresh to Order offers outdoor dining. The large windows and stylish seating provide a relaxing atmosphere.

The store also sells a tasty array of gourmet foreign foods, teas and chocolates.

Unless there is an event downtown, parking is relatively easy. The Spiral building’s parking lot, located next door, offers free parking. Patrons should be wary of Midtown events, however, because Fresh to Go can quickly get crowded. ❐

11April 20, 2007 r e v i e w s

BY KAYCI SCHOON

Contemporary pop music plays, egg-like light fi xtures hang from the ceiling and bottles of Kikkoman soy sauce sit at each booth. Nickiemoto’s is an elegant and modern pan-Asian restaurant located on the corner of 10th Street and Piedmont Avenue, near Caribou Coffee, Subway, and The Flying Biscuit.

The restaurant’s atmosphere is relaxed but artistic, the kind of place to go for a nice yet casual date.

The service at Nickiemoto’s is impressive. My waiter and hostess were very personable—polite and easy to talk to. Besides providing a light atmosphere, they offered excellent and timely service. Their friendliness seemed genuine and uplifting, giving the experience an enjoyable mood.

“The best occasion to come here for is probably a birthday party,” service manager Lynn James said. “On Monday nights we have a drag show and it’s crazy fun…[with] mostly people from around the neighborhood.”

The only real downfall to Nickiemoto’s is the cost. A sushi sampler, a plate of tuna tataki and

a scoop of lemon sorbet was about $22. Not such a bad price, except that there were eight small pieces of sushi on the sampler and eight tiny slices of tuna on the plate. Twenty dollars could be better spent on two full meals rather than 16 small pieces of fi sh.

On a cheaper note, dishes such as soups and salads come at more affordable prices. Although intimidating to some, the high prices suit the upscale appearance and style of the restaurant. For a simple, cheap meal, however, Nickiemoto’s isn’t the best option. ❐BY ALEXANDER RITZ

Since 1989, Highland Tap has been one of Atlanta’s premier steak restaurants. The restaurant is located underneath certain shops in busy Virginia-Highland, yet it maintains a secluded atmosphere ideal for lunch or dinner.

The full-service bar in the front of the establishment does not interfere with the restaurant in the back. Sophomore Olivia Scofi eld works in the restaurant as a hostess.

“The bar can get rowdy at night, but when you’re sitting in the back, you can forget it’s even there,” Scofi eld said. “It doesn’t usually get crowded until dinner time, [but] you should make reservations, especially during winter.”

The service is timely, and according to Scofi eld the usual Friday night crowd is around 250 people, most of whom come in couples or groups of four.

With a patio, large booths and small tables, Highland Tap is a good location for a small birthday party or gathering, although the amount of seating limits most parties to about four people.

The menu consists of steaks, burgers, salads and sandwiches.

“I work brunch so that’s all I eat, [but] they have really good steaks,” Scofi eld said.

A meal of a steak sandwich, french fries, a drink and crème brulee cost about $33, including tax and tip. The steak was perfectly cooked to order, and the french fries deserve high praise.

With meals ranging from $30 to $40, Scofi eld describes the restaurant as more upscale in price but not in atmosphere, which she describes as relaxed and friendly.

“[It’s] not for burgers—you should only go for a special occasion,” she said. ❐

BY KAYCI SCHOON

Mediterranean Grill takes pride in its family-owned business. Easily assumed from the name, the small-scale grill located at 985 Monroe Drive serves Middle Eastern and Greek cuisine, cooked to order.

“I came from Chicago [to Atlanta]... so Atlanta can have a place like [Mediterranean Grill],” said Sam Mousa, the restaurant’s manager and a member of American Culinary Federation.

The restaurant is small and lined with booths and tile. Although it’s not appropriate for even a semi-formal occasion, it is ideal for a casual meal.

“Most people come here for a

casual lunch or dinner,” Mousa said. “We cook everything in front of you. We have no freezer or canned goods; everything is homemade. We grind our own meats, the portions are generous and nothing ever sits around.”

The menu is fairly diverse, including gyros, hummus and even calamari, as well as less common items such as baba ganoush, tabouli, and dolmas. The menu will seem straightforward only to those diners in touch with Greek cuisine. Fortunately, the complicated names such as foolmudames are followed by a much-appreciated description of the meal.

“The price range is about

$2.95 to under nine dollars for the most expensive meals,” Mousa said.

As far as pricing goes, the Mediterranean Grill fi ts a high-school student’s budget. A falafel wrap and water came to about fi ve dollars. Plates (wraps or sandwiches with salad and/or pita bread) are usually around eight dollars, and side items or pastries are generally less than two dollars.

The restaurant is conveniently open

from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and from noon until 8:30 p.m. on Sundays.

The restaurant’s location and speedy service make it an easy choice for those that live in Midtown. Mediterranean Grill is sure to please diners looking for a quick, diverse and inexpensive meal. ❐

EATING IS BELIEVING: Although Fresh to Order is a franchise, its Midtown staff works to create a relaxed, unique atmosphere.

TAP THAT: The fi replace in the back room of Highland Tap creates a quiet and comfortable atmosphere perfect for a special steak dinner. The restaurant and bar also serves brunch.

Where: 990 Piedmont Rd.

Hours:

Phone Number:(404) 253-2010

Average Price:Between $13 and $20.

The Low Down:Nickiemotos is a casual and

classy pan-Asian restaurant superb for sushi and a pre-movie date.

Nickiemoto’s

Mon.-Thurs.Fri.

Sat.Sun.

11:30a.m.-11p.m.11:30a.m.-12a.m.12p.m.-10p.m.12p.m.-12a.m.

Where: 1701 Piedmont Rd.

Hours:

Phone Number:(404) 875-3673

Average Price: $30The Low Down:

The Tap serves upscale meals in the accessible and relaxed Virginia Highland.

Highland Tap

Sun.Mon.-Wed.Thurs.Fri.Sat.

9a.m.-9p.m.11a.m.-10p.m.11a.m.-11p.m.11a.m.-12p.m.9a.m.-12p.m.

Where: 985 Monroe St. Hours:

Phone Number: (404) 917-1100

Mediterranean Grill

Mon.-Sat.Sun.

11a.m.-9:30p.m.12p.m.-8:30p.m.

Average Price: $6The Low Down:

Medgrill is an inexpensive, family-owned grill where meals are homemade.

Where: 860 Peachtree St.

Hours: 11a.m.-10p.m.

Phone Number:(404) 593-2333

Average Price:Between $13 and $20.

The Low Down: Fresh to Order offers a

variety of choices and provides a quick lunch or a long dinner.

Fresh to Order

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f e a t u r e THE SOUTHERNER April 20, 200712

BY LENA BRODSKY

While many Grady students were flocking to the free day at Six Flags or lying out on the beach over spring break, some chose to take alternative spring break trips.

Senior Ryan Betty had an unusual spring break in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Jaffa in Israel.

“I wanted to see the Middle East before I graduated and went into the Navy,” Betty said.

Betty was able to have a good time and experience an entirely different culture during the week off from school.

“[What I thought was most interesting] was the difference between American and Israeli cultures,” Betty said. “Over there everyone has to join the army at age 18 or 19, and there are a lot of 18-year-old [soldiers] walking around with guns.”

When traveling overseas, many worry

that they will be treated with prejudice because they are American. Betty’s experience was a little different from what he expected.

“I felt like [the general sentiment toward Americans] was neither positive nor negative,” Betty said. “It was more

like we were ignored and they couldn’t see us.”

A n o t h e r Grady student who witnessed n a t i v e s ’ apprehension t o w a r d s a c c e p t i n g A m e r i c a n

tourists was senior Martha Lucas, who went to Italy.

“In the major cities, they are used to tourists, so you can speak English and get by,” Lucas said. “In the smaller cities if you tried to speak English they weren’t as friendly, but we met people who spoke English.”

Lucas visited Venice, Rome, Florence

and Cinque Terra while she was in Italy.“Italy was on my mom’s [list of ] top

places to go and for my graduation present she decided to take me,” Lucas said.

While many students spend their spring breaks lounging, Lucas and Betty both did the opposite, seeing as many cultural and educational places as they could.

“We mainly went to museums in the mornings,” Lucas said. “One museum we went to was Uffizi in Florence. We also drove a car to see the leaning Tower of Pisa and took trains between major cities.”

Betty also visited historical sites.“I explored The Old City in Jerusalem,

went to the Wailing Wall where there were thousands of people [because it was Passover], saw the Holocaust Museum, drove by the West Bank and went to the markets.”

A typical souvenir from spring break may be a seashell or a t-shirt, but Lucas and Betty picked up exotic souvenirs on their atypical trips.

“I brought back a dagger, dead sea salt, a turban and some unleavened Israeli bread,” Betty said.

Lucas said one of the experiences she

enjoyed most was Italian food and drink, so she brought back cartons of wine as her souvenirs, along with gifts for her family.

While many drivers in Atlanta complain about congested traffic, Lucas said that rush hour in the [United States] does not even compare to traffic in Italy on a regular basis.

“The traffic is unbelievable in major cities,” Lucas said. “No one really has lanes, and if you are a pedestrian, you can’t really look to the side. There a lot of bikes and motorcycles and everyone drives crazy.”

Betty, who has also visited Japan, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, Ghana, Mexico and the United Kingdom, noticed a striking distinction between Israelis and Americans in culture and language.

“Israelis are very adamant about their feelings,” Betty said. “They are very loyal to their people and country and they are very pushy.”

Both Lucas and Betty enjoyed their unconventional spring break vacations, but Betty especially learned a valuable lesson.

“I’ve gained a new respect for the Middle East in general,” Betty said. “I never knew anything besides what I’d seen on TV.” ❐

Grady graduate examinesCatholic exorcism in book

International tour enriching for seniors Betty, Lucas

BY KELLY DOUGLAS

When Tracy Wilkinson attended Grady in the 1970s, the school was struggling to integrate. Many white students left for private schools during this turmoil, but Wilkinson remained at Grady and thrived. She now works as a reporter for the Los Angeles Times and is the recent author of The Vatican’s Exorcist.

“I loved that [Grady] was a public school in the city, fighting against the tide of white flight to private schools,” Wilkinson said. “I think that gave me a spirit of fighting for the underdog, because we were kind of underdogs—that has stayed with me in all of my assignments as a journalist.”

After graduating from Grady, Wilkinson attended Vanderbilt University, where she worked for the student newspaper The Hustler; she went on to work as a reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Throughout her career she has lived in Peru, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Austria, Bosnia, Israel and Italy and has worked in as many as 50 countries. Living in numerous war-torn countries has often put Wilkinson in danger—she experienced extreme violence while living in Bosnia and Jerusalem. Yet “there is no comparison” to the peril Wilkinson encountered in Iraq when she was injured in a bombing in Baghdad.

Though Wilkinson has often witnessed violence during her career, she has fond memories of the places where she has lived.

“I’m fluent in [Spanish]...so living anywhere in Latin America, for me, is wonderful,” Wilkinson said. “Rome…is a city of incomparable beauty and history. But Jerusalem, too, had its beauty, profound history and, if you could ignore the violence, tension and political intensity, life was not bad.”

Wilkinson currently works as the Los Angeles Times’ Rome bureau chief, directing news coverage for the Vatican, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Greece and other countries in the Mediterranean. In 2004, she wrote an article featuring Father Gabriele Amorth, an influential exorcist for the Vatican who is known for his attempts to gain respect for

Catholic exorcism rituals.“The article attracted a lot of attention, got

a lot of reaction and piqued my own curiosity about this phenomenon,” Wilkinson said. “It seems so unbelievable to many of us looking from the outside, and so I wanted to explore it further.”

The article was so successful that a publisher contacted Wilkinson with an offer to expand the article into a book. She initially resisted the offer, but eventually agreed to write the book. She faced months of extensive research as she explored exorcism “from the scene of an actual exorcism in a medieval church, to the homes of patients, the studios of priests and doctors and the marble halls of the Vatican.” She found that the more she investigated, the more the sheer amount of material became overwhelming.

“That ability to expand presents challenges, especially for journalists most accustomed to the pace of a daily newspaper,” Wilkinson said. “It requires a lot of stepping back and deciding how to organize the material, and then never losing sight of that general outline.”

Wilkinson’s main obstacle was to present exorcism from the perspective of both the church and the skeptics. Before she could worry about voicing everybody’s opinions, however, she had to persuade reluctant sources to talk to her.

“It took a long time [and] much coaxing and reassuring; I had to grant anonymity to several sources and protect the identity of the patients whose stories are included,” Wilkinson said. “Even among priests and Vatican officials, there is reluctance to discuss openly a ritual that the Church knows can be easily sensationalized and ridiculed.”

Wilkinson finally published The Vatican’s Exorcist in February 2007. Though the process was taxing, the end result was fulfilling.

“This process can be very rewarding,” she said. “What reporter hasn’t written a story that he or she feels ought to be longer and delve into more areas, but is ultimately constrained by an editor yelling, ‘Cut?’”❐

I explored the Old City in Jerusalem, went to the Wailing Wall where there were thousands of people, saw the Holocaust Museum, drove by the West Bank and went to markets.

Senior Ryan Betty

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AP STUDIO ART CLASS UNVEILS YEAR-LONG EFFORTS AT EYEDRUM(1) Senior Rachel Deel’s pieces, which were painted on two layers of separated plexiglass, depict various people underwater. (2) A potential customer examines senior Martha Lucas’ color photographs of hair. (3) Senior Matt Powell built a support structure to hang his vinyl-and-plywood pieces from. (4) Senior Alexandra Becker speaks about her celestial paintings, which are inspired by galaxies and supernovas. (5) Senior Leah Leonard shows off her design-oriented paintings of the elements of life.

BY BARBARA DOUGHERTY

After months of rehearsing songs, lines and choreography, March 29–31

brought about the fi nal payoff for Grady’s drama department when it

performed a slightly

modern take on Arthur

Laurents, Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story. Fans gathered opening night for a promising show featuring some of Grady’s most talented performers, and they weren’t disappointed.

“I cried because I was so proud that Grady could put together something so professionally,” junior Callan Wells said. “It seemed to fl ow perfectly.”

Despite the apparent seemless perfection of the production, actors behind the stage noticed a few imperfections.

“There were a few hiccups, even some pretty major ones,” said senior Stone Irvin, who played Jet gang leader Riff. “But despite the fl aws opening night, we were able to capture the audience with the singing and dancing.”

Director and producer Ms. Lisa Willoughby echoed his thoughts.

“Thursday wasn’t perfect, but it came together really well Friday and Saturday,” she said.

The cast’s hard work was noticeable to many audience members.

“They seemed to have put a lot of effort into it,” freshman Laura King said. “The dancing

was great, and I was surprised to fi nd out that some of the cast members weren’t experienced dancers.”

History teacher Mr. Lee Pope choreographed the play.

“I think it was one of the best performances of West Side Story I’ve ever seen,” Mr. Pope said. “There was a lot of heart and a lot of hard work in it.”

Junior Alix Joslyn, who played lead character Maria, credits the play’s success to the cast’s talent.

“It was such an ensemble show that if we hadn’t had such a strong cast we wouldn’t have been able to pull off such a challenging play.”

After three months of bonding with cast mates and devoting much time and energy into the production, the cast fi nished the performances feeling both relieved and sad.

“I miss the cast so much,” Joslyn said. “When you’re doing shows like this, you get so attached to people you wouldn’t normally even know. And of course I miss the performances.”

The cast was comforted, however, by the strength of the fi nal night’s performance.

“The energy of the whole cast and entire audience on closing night was amazing and it made for a really powerful show,” Joslyn said. “Everyone knew that what we put into the show was fi nally ending, and we had to put our all into it.”❐

13April 20, 2007 f e a t u r e

BY SOPHIE COX

After 10 years at Grady, teacher Mr. Scott Stephens has come to be one of the most legendary teachers on staff.

Aside from teaching English, coaching tennis and sponsoring the literary magazine, Stephens sings with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus. Recently, the chorus traveled with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra to Miami where it performed Ralph Vaughan Williams’ composition, A Sea Symphony, for which they won a Grammy Award.

“We live in a society that is award crazy,” Mr. Stephens said. “But you know, I’m very pleased with my one-two hundredth of a Grammy.”

Born in New York City, Mr. Stephens has musical roots. His father, Farrold Stephens, studied voice at The Julliard School while performing in New York. When Farrold Stephens was offered a teaching job in Kentucky, however, the family made the move.

After graduating from Stanford with a bachelor of the arts degree in both English and the Humanities, Mr. Stephens joined the Peace Corps.

“I was looking for travel and adventure and someone else to pay for it,” Mr. Stephens said.

The Peace Corps, a volunteer program established by former President John F. Kennedy to promote world peace, placed Stephens in the Central African Republic. Mr. Stephens was assigned a job teaching in local schools, gaining his fi rst experience as an educator.

Mr. Stephens spent fi ve years in both Africa and the United States working for various health programs.

“Teaching in Africa made me think I wanted to go into public health because I realized so many of my students were sick,” Mr. Stephens said. “They needed other things, like clean water, more than

they needed me teaching them.” In central Mississippi, Mr. Stephens joined the Choctaw Indian

Health Department, where he spent his time as a health educator and helped plan an immunization program. While in Mississippi, Mr. Stephens worked with the prenatal, alcohol and substance abuse programs and wrote several grants for the Choctaw program. In 1981, Mr. Stephens brought his experience to Atlanta.

“I came to Atlanta because I was considering working for the CDC [Centers for Disease Control],” Mr. Stephens said.

Instead, Mr. Stephens was hired as a teacher at Banneker High School in South Fulton County. While teaching English at Banneker, Mr. Stephens was offered a Fulbright scholarship to teach in Egypt as part of an international education program. In 1996, Stephens and his family moved to Egypt, where they spent a year living life in a way “totally different from anything [they’d] known in the United States.” Stephens believes that the Egyptian school system was in need of revision.

“The biggest problem with the school system was that they did not pay the teachers enough, so [in turn] the teachers taught private lessons,” Mr. Stephens said. “People were sleeping during the day and most of the learning was going on at night.”

In accordance with Fulbright policy, Mr. Stephens only taught during the day.

When his year in Egypt ended, Mr. Stephens looked for a job closer to his home in Atlanta and soon joined the teaching staff at Grady. Mr. Stephens was immediately impressed with the school.

“I interviewed with [English department chair] Ms. [Marian] Kelly and a committee that had students on it,” Mr. Stephens said. “It was the fi rst time I’d been interviewed for a job by a 17 year old.” ❐

BY JOURDAN DEVIES AND JAMISON KINNANE

Synchronicity Performance Group brought part of the worldwide premiere of Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Park’s 365 Days/365 Plays to Grady during the week of Feb. 26. The short plays were performed for Mr. Mario Herrera’s debate and Ms. Lisa Willoughby’s literature classes.

Parks began writing her plays in November 2002 and wrote one play each day of the next year. When she fi nished her collection, director Bonnie Metzger approached Parks and proposed the current production idea of simultaneously producing the plays across the nation. The 365 International Festival includes over 700 theaters in cities such as Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Austin, Texas and New York City, New York.

Each participating theater is assigned one week between Nov. 13, 2006 and Nov. 12, 2007 to interpret the seven scripts they receive in whatever manner they choose. Everything, including the set, props and tone, is left up to the theater, except for the scripts and ticket price. The performances are required to be free for all audiences so everyone has a chance to experience the productions.

Synchronicity had to choose a venue for the Atlanta performance, and Grady was at the top of its list, along with Oakland Cemetery, a MARTA station and an art gallery.

“Working with a school was one of my top three partnerships, and it was the most exciting choice for me,” said Hope Mirilis, one of Synchronicity’s founders. “There is a huge lack of arts education in Georgia, so I want to do whatever I can to bring culture and creativity into the schools. A public school with an emphasis on communication seemed to be the best place for us.”

Synchronicity contacted Mr. Herrera to line up Grady as a venue for the group’s week.

“It was Synchronicity’s week for the 365 Plays,” Mr. Herrera said. “When they e-mailed and said they wanted to do it, I wanted to be part of something that was going on across the nation, so I thought it was a great opportunity.”

The week of Feb. 26, three of Mr. Herrera and Ms. Willoughby’s classes saw two short plays in the Grady theater. Students even got to be involved in some of the performances; junior Octavius Hines participated in one of the plays as a main character.

“When they asked for a volunteer, I decided to try it,” Hines said. “I was a little nervous, but I had fun doing it. I think I did a good job.”

Following each play, students discussed its meaning and symbolism. The students learned how the actors had interpreted the plays and the performance topics they covered, from the Twin Towers to black history and human relationships.

“The response was fantastic,” said Theroun Patterson, one of the Synchronicity actors, “It’s always interesting to hear different perspectives of what was just seen.”

Students who had the opportunity to see these plays contributed positive feedback about the experience during discussions.

“I thought it was a diffi cult feat for [Synchronicity] to accomplish, but they did it well, ” senior Cecily MacMillan said. “It’s really excellent because each person took something different from it. Once we started discussing, every single one of us got something different from the plays, and I thought that was very interesting.” ❐

Grady hosts premiere ofParks’ plays

West Side ensemble enthralls audiencebrought about the fi nal

payoff for Grady’s drama department when it

performed a slightly

modern take on Arthur

Stephens brings world of experience to school

THERE’S A PLACE FOR US: Senior Rafael Velez and junior Alix Joslyn sing Somewhere, the play’s theme song, in their starring roles as Tony and Maria, the star-crossed lovers of the musical.

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BLAME GANG: (from left to right) Junior Alix Joslyn, sophomores Miguel Velez and Jordan Wofford, junior Kieran Maynard, Mr. Karl Surber, and senior Stone Irvin face off at high school dance. Irvin plays Riff, leader of the Jets gang. Velez plays Bernardo, leader of the Sharks gang and Riff’s arch enemy. A violent fi ght soon ensues.

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s p o r t s SPORTS BRIEFS THE SOUTHERNER April 20, 200714

Girls enter playoffs with high hopes Din, Irvin’s successes garner APS awards

Seniors Stone Irvin and Emma Din were honored April 20 by Atlanta Public Schools and The At-lanta Coca-Cola Bottling Company in the for their accomplishments as scholar-athletes.

Irvin is a four-year veteran of the cross country and track teams, while Din played tennis all four years of her Grady career, and volleyball for the past three.

Girls earn third seed in state tournament

After a 14-0 triumph over Clarkston that ensured the girls soccer team a place in the state playoffs, the Knights played against Westminster and Druid Hills to determine their seed. Both games were decided by a score of 2-0, Grady losing the former and winning the latter. The Knights will face Stephens Co. in the first round of state games.

BY CARSON PHILLIPS-SPOTTS

Playoff time is here, and the girls soccer team is peaking. Despite dis-appointing results against Paideia and Blessed Trinity, the Knights opened up their playoff campaign in the region tournament with a 14-0 win against Clarkston April 12. The team’s repeat 14-0 vic-tory versus Clarkston earlier in the season brought an air of ease to the players.

“The atmosphere going into the game felt more like a practice than a game,” senior defender Leah Bishop said.

The Knights played confidently, beating their opponent 14-0. The win ensured the Knights a spot in the prestigious state tournament, the second consecutive season the team has gotten that far.

After a loss at Blessed Trinity, the Knights were matched against local rival Paideia in a non-region game.

The contest against Paideia was especially heated for junior mid-fielder Hannah Rosenbaum, whose father, Carl Rosenbaum is the Pai-deia girls soccer coach.

“He said, ‘Let’s just get this over with,’” Rosenbaum said of her father’s pre-game words.

The Knights struck first, with a goal by sophomore forward Jillian Woodliff. The early goal carried the team into halftime with a 1-0 advantage, but the Knights’ lead did not last. Early in the second half, the Paideia Pythons were noticeably more aggressive, putting increased pressure on the Grady defense.

Paideia’s strategy worked, as they scored early in the second half. The score remained tied until the final whistle. The Knights did not attribute the disappointing tie to lack of skill.

“You could definitely tell that we just came back from spring break,” Bishop said. “We played very slop-pily.”

The Knights went into the Blessed Trinity game armed with a top-ten state ranking and a desire to dethrone the top-ranked team.

“We felt that if we could come out and play strong, we could come back with a good result,” Rosenbaum said.

A closely contested first half left the Knights heading into the locker

room knotted up at 1-1. After a string of heavily debated calls in the second half, the Knights found themselves in a 3-1 hole.

“Bad referees are frustrating because they can really change the outcome of the game,” Bishop said of the officiating situation. “The score really did not reflect our play.” ❐

ELECTRIC SLIDE: Junior defender Caitlin Lemmond slides into an opponent in a playoff seeding game against Druid Hills April 16. The girls won the game 2-0, and are seeded third in the state playoffs. “We are determined,” junior midfielder Hannah Rosenbaum said.

Boys end season on low note after key regional winBY JAMISON KINNANE

The boys soccer team bounced back after a rough start to the season with a five-game winning streak and a win against Westminster, the number one team in the state.

After defeating region rival North Atlanta, Grady was poised to be one of the top four teams in the region and possibly make the state playoffs.

To finish fourth, Grady needed to beat Westminster, and Druid Hills would have to beat Dunwoody. After that Grady would play Blessed Trinity and the winner of that game would move on to the region tournament.

On March 27, the team played Westminster in the first of its two must-win games. Going into the game, the Knights knew they would have to elevate their play and felt confident in their ability to do so.

“I think we have a good shot,” Coach Nikolai Curtis said before the game. “Westminster’s a very tough team with a fantastic midfield, but if we match them in the midfield and then use our skill to our advantage and maintain our shape we can definitely beat them. They are a beatable team.”

Grady stepped onto the field knowing its season depended on the result of the game.

“We were getting psyched up for it that day and the day before,” sophomore midfielder Drew Hecht said. “It was mostly mentally getting ready that made the difference.”

The first half was evenly matched and

ended with neither team scoring. In the second half, Grady created some scoring opportunities, but wasn’t able to convert any of them into goals.

“We played really well,” senior defender Matt Marshall said. “Westminster plays a lot like us, which was good because it was a lot easier to determine what they were going to do.”

Despite the many shots on goal by both teams, including a header by Marshall off a free kick, the game ended 0-0. Since it was a region game, the two teams had to play two five-minute overtimes, but neither team was able to score.

“[The game] was very intense,” Hecht said. “It was a well-played game on both sides.”

Since the score was still tied at the end of overtime, the teams entered a shootout in which each team had five players take a penalty kick on the other team’s goalie. A coin flip determined that Westminster would kick first and they scored. Junior Hamp Watson made the first shot for Grady. Westminster scored again on their second kick, followed by Hecht who closed the gap. Westminster

made their next shot and was followed by Marshall, whose shot was saved by the Westminster goalie.

Then, it was keeper on keeper as the Westminster goalie stepped up to take a shot and kicked it over the goal. Sophomore Edge Sullivan took the next

shot and barely missed the goal, hitting the crossbar. Junior Grant

Coyle blocked Westminster’s next kick and Grady’s fifth kicker, senior Whitton Ukah made his shot—the score was 3-3 and

both teams had gone through all five kickers.

At this point in a shootout, if the score

is still tied, the teams each choose five more kickers. As soon as one team makes a shot

and the other doesn’t, the team who made

the shot wins.

Westminster’s sixth kicker made his shot and junior defender Stephen Crouse made his. Finally, Westminster’s seventh kicker shot over the goal, putting Grady in a position to win. Junior Michael Harper scored on Grady’s seventh shot, securing the win.

“That win was huge,” Hecht said. “It was probably the high point of the season.”

The same night the unranked Knights upset the number one team in the state, Druid Hills beat Dunwoody, bringing the team one step closer to playoffs.

To compete in the playoffs, however, Grady still needed to beat region rival Blessed Trinity.

The Knights played Blessed Trinity on March 29 without senior defender Tai Cohen, who pulled his hamstring in the Westminster game; other players also suffered injuries from the Westminster game.

The boys came out flat with none of the intensity they had displayed in the Westminster game. Blessed Trinity scored

off of a corner kick in the 22nd minute of the game. Blessed Trinity scored a second goal off a ball played through Grady’s defense in the 39th minute. Grady’s playing

improved in the second half, but it wasn’t enough. Grady not only lost the game 2-0, but also all hopes of making it to the playoffs.

“I feel like we had a really good team,” Watson said. “But we let a great chance to burst into AAA slip away.”❐

Senior sweeper Matt Marshall attempts to evade a defender during a game against Paideia April 3 at Grady Stadium.

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After trying for years to bring an ultimate team to Grady, the Grady Gauntlet recently concluded its inaugural season. The Gauntlet finished the season with a 1-4 record, winning once against Woodward and losing twice to Paideia, once to Heritage and once to Woodward. The team also competed in five tournaments, in which it played both high school and college teams.

Tournament ends first ultimate season

BY KENNY JONES

Early this spring, the Grady baseball team knew that its upcoming season was going to be an uphill battle. Grady started out the season with a win after North Atlanta forfeited its game against the Knights on March 1. Grady then fell into a slump, losing the next four games. The team is now 3-7 after beating both South Atlanta and Therrell. The schedule, which includes regional powerhouse Westminster and nationally ranked Dunwoody, is tough.

“The season started out rough,” junior second baseman Malik Leaphart said. “But we united as a team, and I feel we’ll come back strong enough to end with a winning season.”

The team suffered more than the loss of graduating seniors like Nick Lemmond and Ben Brandon; it also lost almost all of last year’s juniors who would have returned as team leaders this year.

“They were good ball players and could have helped out the team this year,” Coach

Patrick Thomas said. “But we have had guys step up and fill the missing roles.”

Many players from the Class of 2007 decided not to return to the team this year due to perceived difficulties with Coach Thomas.

“The reason that I left the team has a lot to do with the coaching staff,” senior and former pitcher Penn Collins said. “Besides a general lack of important baseball knowledge and poor managing decisions, I feel like [the staff ] showed favoritism on

multiple occasions and it became more and more frustrating after every loss last year.”

Grady’s move from AA to AAA, has meant larger schools and harder competition. The verdict is still not in on the Grady baseball team, but the loyal members are optimistic about the rest of their upcoming season.

“I think we have a chance to win the majority of the rest of our region games,” freshman Zack Klein said. “I think we have a chance to play in some of [Grady’s] first postseason games in awhile.” ❐

15s p o r t sApril 20, 2007

Grady’s own run in inaugural marathonBY CARSON HALE

When Latin teacher Ms. Amy Leonard wore her medal to school after running the inaugural ING Georgia Half Marathon, she didn’t mean to wear it all day. She kept the medal on throughout school, however, and it became a way to share her experience.

“As a positive message, I decided to tell [my students] what I was doing,” Ms. Leonard said.

On March 25, Ms. Leonard,

math teacher Ms. Erin Davis, and Magnet coordinator Ms. Carrie MacBrien ran the half marathon; PEC teacher Mr. Jacob Hack-ett ran the marathon. In a race of 15,000 people, none of the Grady teachers went into the event with high ex-pectations of placing.

Real rea-sons for run-ning had nothing to do with a medal.

“Maybe competition is stressed too much; you just [run] for your-self,” Ms. Leonard said. “What you get in return is much more intangible.”

The Georgia marathon was sponsored by ING, a Dutch fi-nancial company that sponsors well-known races like the New York and Miami marathons. The Georgia Marathon is different from the Atlanta Track Club’s Thanksgiving Day Marathon, which runs straight up Peachtree Street. The Georgia Marathon’s course meanders through neigh-borhoods from Little Five Points to Virginia-Highland and De-catur. The course was planned to pass many MARTA stations and to showcase the city.

“Anyone who lives in Atlanta knows that these are the neighbor-hoods to run through,” said Jenny Schmidt, the public relations di-rector for the Georgia marathon.

Race director Victoria Seahorn came up with the idea for the mar-athon four years ago as a memorial

for a running friend who died of breast cancer.

“Victoria Seahorn wanted to create a springtime marathon to celebrate the diversity of Atlanta,” Schmidt said.

Ms. Davis, who has run five half-marathons, felt that the race ran smoothly.

“You really notice if [a mara-thon} is organized well,” Davis said. “The sponsors, ING, have done a lot of [races].”

Ms. MacBrien, who has run two marathons, enjoyed running a lo-cal course.

“It will be fun to do a race [that’s] in my stomping grounds,”

she said before the race.

Ms. MacBrien feels that her participation in the race can be an inspiration to students.

“It would be really great if stu-

dents went out and saw [the race] and thought, ‘I’d like to make this a way of life,’” she said.

Ms. Davis describes Atlanta as a “running city” because there is such strong interest in running — about 70 percent of the mara-thon and half-marathon runners were from Georgia.

Ms. Leonard felt that all of the people cheering in residential areas made the race very human-ized and enjoyable. The city of Decatur won the competition for the neighborhood with the loudest cheering, although Mr. Hackett would have awarded it to a differ-ent group.

“The coolest section was by Eb-eneezer Baptist Church,” he said. “All the Gospel singers were out at 7:30 in the morning singing their praise. It was quite inspirational.”

As ING plans for the next Geor-gia Marathon and Half Marathon on March 30, 2008, Grady’s run-ners also prepare for theirs. Ms. Leonard plans to take advantage of the participants’ visibility in next year’s race by wearing a ‘Take Latin’ T-shirt. ❐

Highly decorated track teams eye state, region competitionsBY STEPHEN CROUSE

As the Grady boys track team nears regional and state competitions, the Knights find themselves ranked above their region competition in most events. They are ranked second in AAA and 19th in the state for all divisions.

“It’s a long season and rankings change—they don’t really mean anything until the last two weeks,” Head Coach Delbert Ellerton said.

With excellent performances at the city meet preliminaries, the team earned state rankings in many events, including ninth in the 4 x 400 relay. Senior Kevin Eccles and juniors Demarcus Watts, Kari Kemp and Jarvis Caffey ran a total time of 3:22.45 in the 4 x 400. Grady is also ranked 11th in the 4 x 200. Grady is second in AAA only to Sandy Creek, which is ranked fifth in the state.

Grady has not yet competed against the other teams in its region but is preparing for tough competition.

“One of the most important things is getting them mentally prepared,” Coach Ellerton said. “They have to be mentally prepared for every race, especially for region.”

The boys team also has three runners who are ranked statewide in their events. Watts is ranked 10th in the state in the 100-meter race with a time of 10.88, a school record that beat his previous school record of 10.98. He is also ranked 11th for the 200-meter race with a time of 21.88, which is second in AAA only to Chamblee’s Malcolm Beyah, who ran a 21.54. Caffey is ranked 11th in the 400-meter race with a time of 49.48, the second fastest time in Grady history; Kemp is ranked 35th in the 400 with a time of 50.52.

“We need to be consistent,” Caffey said. “Sometimes we run a few seconds off—we can beat 3:19; We just have to push [ourselves].”

Although not as decorated as the short-distance

runners, long-distance runners have also done well this season. Junior Max Leonard finished second in the 1,600 and third in the 3,200 at the Atlanta Track Classic.

The girls track team also has tough region and state competition. The girls have placed well in many events this season, including the Stephenson Invitational on

March 1 and the Pepperell Relay on April 7. Although the Lady Knights have had many top finishes, they finished sixth at the Starr’s Mill Relay and seventh in a meet at Lakewood, falling behind Washington and Southside High Schools.

The girls do, however, have one especially decorated athlete—Tiannah Holland. Holland throws both discus and shot put and has out thrown her opponents in every competition. Her record throws are 40 feet for the shot put and 130 feet

for the discus. “[Holland] will most likely win the throwing events,”

girls Coach Randy Reed said. “And the field events will be strong as well.”

Quanisha Bridges, who competes in the high jump and 800-meter race, also expects to place well in her events. She jumps five feet, four inches and runs the 800 in 2:32. Iesha Simpson also runs the 800, usually one second behind Bridges. Simpson also competes in the long jump, with a distance of 16 feet, four inches, and triple jump, with a distance of 34 feet, two inches.

The girls 4 x 100 team placed third in the state last year and has returned without losing any of its members; they are expected to place well again this year.

“We will have some girls that qualify for state, but we have to make it out of the region first,” Coach Reed said.

Fifteen teams will compete in the girls region meet on April 21, but only the top two teams will make it to the state competition.

“Therrell will be the team to beat,” Coach Reed said. “They won state last year, and they are expected to do well again this year.”❐

HAND IN HAND: Junior Marquez Newton passes the baton to senior Rico Robinson in a track practice at Grady Stadium. The 19th ranked Knights are practicing vigorously in preparation for the region, where they are expected to dominate the short distance events.

Baseball team off to slow start as coaches struggle to replace lost seniors

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It would be really great if students went out... and thought ‘I’d like to make this a way of life.’

Carrie MacBrien

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Sometimes we run a few seconds off— we can beat 3:19; we just need to push [ourselves].

Jarvis Caffey

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16 April 20, 2007

B O Y S S O C C E R G I R L S S O C C E RRegion 5-BAAA Standings

WestminsterChambleeDruid HillsBlessed TrinityGradyDunwoodyRiverwoodNorth Atlanta

School Region OverallW L W L8 1 14 27 2 12 56 3 12 35 4 8 54 4 9 54 5 9 53 7 6 110 9 6 12

Region 5-BAAA Standings

Blessed TrinityWestminsterGradyRiverwoodDruid HillsChambleeDunwoodyNorth Atlanta

School Region OverallW L W L9 0 12 17 2 12 46 3 10 56 4 8 84 5 9 72 6 3 92 7 5 90 9 4 12

Player Profi le:Height: 5-foot-8Weight: 120 poundsClean sheets: 8

Lena Jamesgoalkeeper

Grady 4, RIVERWOOD 1GRADY 2, Clarkston 1GRADY 4, Central Gwinnett 0GRADY 3, North Atlanta 0GRADY 1, Westminster 0 BLESSED TRINITY 2, Grady 0Paideia 3, GRADY 0GRADY 3, Riverwood 1

Westminster 4, GRADY 2GRADY 14, Clarkston 0GRADY 9, North Atlanta 0BLESSED TRINITY 4, Grady 1 GRADY 1, Paideia 1Grady 14, CLARKSTON 0WESTMINSTER 2, Grady 0GRADY 2, Druid Hills 0

*All caps denotes HOME TEAMFuture gamesGrady@ Location TBDSecond Round State Play-offs

BY MAX BEECHING AND GRANT COYLE

After moving into an extremely competitive region this year, the girls and boys tennis teams began the season with an optimistic attitude.

The girls team’s optimism paid off throughout the season. With a core of four starting seniors, the girls went 9-3 during the regular season and 6-2 in region play, earning them the fi fth seed in the region tournament at Westminster on April 17.

The girls had a fi rst round bye against Carver and matched up with region rival Riverwood in the second round.

In order to make the state playoffs, the girls had to fi nish in the top four at the region tournament. They were confi dent going into the match despite their 4-1 loss to Riverwood during the regular season. The girls were defeated 3-0 in their region tournament match against Riverwood, but both of the doubles matches were called before they could be completed because the Grady team had effectively been eliminated.

The boys fi nished the regular season 5-7, and went 5-4 in the region. They had a fi rst round bye against Southside at the 5-AAA region tournament and were matched against top-ranked Westminster in the second round. Wetminster has two boys ranked nationally and are favored to win the state championship; Westminster won 5-0 against Grady.

“The year didn’t turn out how we hoped it would,” senior Devongelo Crawford said. “I still had fun during my four years with the team and hopefully they will continue to get better.”

The main problem the boys faced was a lack of experience. Five of the boys’ seven losses were 5-0.

Looking ahead to next year, both the girls and boys are hopeful that they will be able to improve their records and place among the top four teams in the region.

Although the girls are graduating several seniors, including Britain Baker, Emma Din, Hanna Griffi ths and Sarah Beth McKay, they expect junior Millaun Clay and freshmen Kate Belgum, Claire Buyens, Bethany Jones and Myia Vickers to fi ll the holes that the seniors leave.

“Our goal for this season was to fi nish with a .500 record [for the boys],” coach Scott Stephens said. “Our goal next year is to have both the boys and girls tennis team competing at a higher level.” ❐

Ultimate team takes one win at tournament

Golf team makes strides after rough yearBY TRAVIS JONES

Last year’s weaknesses may turn into this year’s strengths as new golf coach Scott Brown brings punctuality and depth to a golf team deprived of both last season. Brown, a United States history teacher at Southside, is a former Southside soccer coach. He has also been a student of the game of golf for the past 10 years.

He brings not only his own experience but also a sense of organization that the team seemed to lack in 2006. Last year, the team faced uncertainty regarding tee times; the two seniors—David Edgar and captain Erik Belgum—were forced to make executive decisions.

“Coach Brown is very organized,” Belgum said. “He sets up tee times, practices and

matches so we don’t have to wait anymore.”

This year won’t be entirely different, since the team will still be very dependent upon its two seniors. Most golf matches require each school to fi eld a four-player team, but Grady often did not have enough players to fulfi ll that requirement last year. This year, with about 10 players trying out for the team, the competition for the third and fourth spots is up for grabs, according to Coach Brown.

The girls squad, which was unable to play any matches last year for various reasons, has also had a strong turnout this year. Freshman Tyler Lawrence has received rave reviews from the players and the coach.

“We’re going to use a ladder system, like the tennis team, to

determine spots for competition,” Belgum said. “Competition is wide open, and Coach [Brown] also isn’t afraid to put Tyler in the fourth spot [on the boy’s team].”

The fi rst and second spots look to be consistent, however, mostly thanks to all of the extra work put in by the seniors. Belgum spent much of last summer working on his golf game, participating in about 15 tournaments—Atlanta Junior Golf Association tournaments and events on the Georgia Junior PGA tour.

“[The tournaments] helped me become better [and] helped me realize my weaknesses in my game,” Belgum said. “They’ve helped me improve my short game and my driving accuracy.”

Edgar, meanwhile, has been practicing consistently at Druid Hills Golf Course and also hopes

to play in upcoming AJGA events.

The golf team, like all Grady sports, had to face a windfall of new and improved talent as they moved up in class to region 5-AAA. The level of talent among Grady’s opponents remains relatively unknown for now, and Grady’s focus is on improvements within the team. So far, however, the team has done well for itself, winning both of its matches. Because every team in the region makes it to the region tournament, the matches leading up to the state tournament are viewed primarily as practice.

“Our main focus is getting four players to play well,” Belgum said. “We need to be in the top two in region in order to make state.” ❐

ACE IN THE HOLE: Junior Jerami Goodwin competes in the fi nal match of the regular season against Clarkston High School. The boys and girls won their last matches of the season, but both teams lost in the quarterfi nals of Regions.

BY MICHAEL HARPER The Grady Gauntlet ultimate

team participated in the Terminus tournament March 24 and 25 at Woodward Academy, where it competed against high school teams from all over the country.

Grady, the fourth seed, started the weekend with a 13-11 upset against Pittsburgh’s Mt. Lebanon Devils, the second-seeded team. The Gauntlet scored on its fi rst possession and kept offensive momentum throughout the game.

“That was the best our offense has ever played,” freshman Elliott Erickson said. “We had really good fl ow on almost every possession.”

Head Coach Susie Mercer instituted a zone defense in hopes of confusing the Blue Devils.

“The two-man cup [zone] worked really well,” junior captain Max Leonard said. “It shut down the throwing lanes and kept them contained in a small area.”

In its second game the Gauntlet faced off against the second-ranked team in the nation, the varsity Paideia Gruel, and lost 13-0. Grady’s defense struggled to stop the powerful offense of a team that has considered moving to the college division.

“I knew going into the game that it was going to be the most diffi cult team we’d ever played,” Leonard said. “Our goal was to score at least one point, and we had two extremely close chances we should have capitalized on.”

Grady fi nished the fi rst day of the tournament losing 13-7 to Jordan from Durham and 13-6 to Andover from Boston.

Grady lost its fi nal two games 13-6 to Munsen, a team from Wisconsin, and 13-2 to McCallie from Chattanooga. Leonard, an established leader of the Grady team, was unable to play in the last two matches due to illness.

Even though it only won one game, the team was encouraged by the progress it has made since the beginning of the season.

“A lot of coaches came up to me and said that the amount of improvement we’ve had over the last two months is shocking,” Mercer said. “We have great potential to develop into a very competitive team.” ❐

s p o r t sTennis teams fall in region quarterfi nals

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