Rated-T Summer 2012

Summer 2012 Rated-t 1

Rated-T The Magazine ofStudent Opinion

SUMMER

2012

Summer

2 Summer 2012 Rated-t

This Could Be You!Have you ever wondered what it would be like to create your own magazine, website, radio or tele-vision program? Well, here's your chance. Join Friendship News Network, better known as FNN, a media enterprise run by students with guidance from media professionals. Friendship News Network students have traveled the world from Fiji to China to New York City and have had their stories and photos posted by The Washington Post, MTV, The Washington Informer and WAMU—to name a few. It's free and open to any student in any Friendship Public Charter School. To join or for more information go to www.ourfnn.com or call 240-426-7685.

As a member of Friendship News Network, you can:• join our online news and TV broadcast teams at OurFNN.com.• join our award-winning magazine team.• enter contests to win prizes and money.• post your own art, photos, music, poetry and stories.• learn about scholarships, trips, summer and college opportunities.

Photo by Rayvon Gaines, senior, Friendship Collegiate Academy. Graphic design by Thomas Nelson IV, sophmore, Virginia Commonwealth University.

Friendship News Network“New Media Written from a New Point of View”


This Could Be You!

Welcome to the 2012 edition of Rated-T. I’m Nekaiya Wilson, Editor-In-Chief. This year our staff has produced another magnificent magazine. The theme of this edition is “summer” with many articles and stories from our students at Friend-ship Public Charter Schools and Anacostia High School. The group ranged from middle school to college students. The summer was quite exciting. We went on numerous trips and had lots of fun together.

This edition is really interesting, including stories about our trips to New York, Thompson Reuters Media and Kingman Park, movie reviews, and stories reflecting student opinion. Plus, there’s Monsters From The Clouds, an article by Marquez Wood about tornados. It’s a wonderful story by an upcoming fourth grader who will be attending Friendship Southeast Academy this fall.

This is the first year that Anacostia High School students have participated in the program—including me. And this is also

the first year that Rated-T will have a sports spread produced by Darius Thompson and Erin Smith. Richard Okpala and Yonica Hutchinson wrote report cards on Obama and Romney.

I would really like to thank FNN alumni Kameisha Hodge and Nina Graham who came back this year to work on the staff and also to professional graphic designer, Brian Young, who helped out with this edition. Last but not least, thanks to our wonderful advisors Marilyn Kaufman and William Bell.

We worked very hard this summer. In spite of the heat and the attitudes, we did it. Enjoy the magazine!

Live. Laugh. Love,Nekaiya Wilson, Editor-In-Chief

P.S. Check out more stories on our website, www.ourfnn.com!

Message From The Editor


Table Of Contents

Photo on this page by FNN Alumnus, Travis Houze.Cover design and photo by Skye Webster.


Rated-T is the magazine of Friendship News Network (FNN), a program of Friendship Public Charter School, 120 Q Street NE, Washington, DC 20002. For more information or to inquire about becoming an advertiser for our next issue, visit our website at www.ourfnn.com or email: [email protected]. For more information about Friendship Public Charter Schools, visit our website at www.friendshipschools.org or call 202.281.1700. Rated-T, The Magazine of Sudent Opinion, expresses the views of individual students and does not necessarily represent the views of Friendship Public Charter School. Copyright Friendship News Network, August, 2012. For permission to reprint articles, please contact Friendship Public Charter School at 202-281-1700.

3 Letter from the Editor by Nekaiya Wilson 6 Contributors

8 Report Card on Barack Obama by Yonica Hutchinson and Richard Okpala9 Report Card on Mitt Romney by Yonica Hitchinson

10 Smithsonian’s 2012 Folklife Festival by Rated-T Staff12 Why the WNBA Doesn’t Get as Much Respect as the NBA by Erin Smith

13 Nationals First in National League East by Darius Thompson14 What We Know Comes from Observation by Nekaiya Wilson

15 A Night at the Australian Embassy by Nekaiya Wilson16. FNN’s Adventures in The Big Apple by Rated-T Staff

20 Rated-T Goes to Thomson Reuters by Jermaine Gibbs and Nekaiya Wilson22 Madame Q by Keosha Quigley

24 Monsters from the Clouds by Marquez Wood26 The Love of 60’s Music by Marcel Gallion

27 The Lion King: Collegiate Versus Broadway by Rondal Greene28 Back to School by Brionna Wiggins

29 Bessie Coleman: First Black Woman Pilot by Teanna Freeman30 Funimation: Is It More Than Just Dubbing by Kevin Hebron

31 My Passion, My Characters, My Ideas by Kevin Hebron32 FNN Goes to the National Gallery Of Art by Jiahnna Phillips

34 Fun Times at Kingman Park by John Wood35 Do You Think of Yourself as a Rat? by Jiahnna Phillips

36 Cullinary Wonderland by Thomas Nelson, IV38 Thinking Out Loud Times by Skye Webster

40 Finding Tynia by Tynia Miser41 What’s In My Future? by Yonica Hutchinson

42 Madea’s Witness Protection Program: Movie Review by Teanna Freeman43 The Amazing Spiderman: Movie Review by Devonte Wood

44 Do You Believe in Magic ? by Brionna Wiggins45 Video Game Addiction by Dajoun White and David Lucas


ContributorsThe Summer 2012 Editorial Staff


Editor-In-ChiefNekaiya Wilson

Art Director Skye Webster

Story Editiors Kameisha Hodge, Yonica Hutchinson

PhotographersDarian Cole, Travis Houze, Rayvon Gaines, Tynia Miser, Unique Tyler

Staff Reporters and Feature WritersTeanna Freeman, Marcel Gallion, Jermaine Gibbs, Rondel Green, Kevin Hebron, Yonica Hutchinson, David Lucas,

Tynia Miser, Thomas Nelson IV, Richard Okpala, Jihnna Phillips, Keosha Quigley, Erin Smith, Darius Thompson, Skye Webster, Dajoun White, Brionna Wiggins, Devonte Wood, John Wood, Marquez Wood

Graphic DesignersKevin Hebron, Thomas Nelson IV, Skye Webster

AdvisorsMarilyn Kaufman, Director, Friendship News Network

William Bell, Kameisha Hodge, Brian Young, Travis Houze, Nina Graham

Publisher: Friendship Public Charter SchoolChairman: Donald L. Hense

2011-12 FNN Bureau FacilitatorsShanelle Baynard, Friendship Southeast Academy; William Bell, Friendship Blow Pierce Academy;

Tonita Ross Dozier, Friendship Woodridge Academy; Sandy Gibson, Friendship Collegiate Academy; Desiree Girelle, Friendship Chamberlain Elementary;

Marilyn Kaufman, Friendship Tech Prep Academy and Anacostia High SchoolMichael Spikes, Anacostia High School

Principals at Participating Schools Mya Baker, Friendship Blow Pierce Academy Rictor Craig, Friendship Woodridge Academy Peggy Jones, Friendship Collegiate Academy

Ian Roberts, Anacostia High SchoolJoseph Spieght, Friendship Southeast Academy

Keith Stephenson, Friendship Chamberlain AcademyDoranna Tindle, Friendship Tech Prep Academy

A very special thanks to Desiree Girelle; Sandy Gibson; Ashref Elshazli; Carlos Richardson; Adnaan Wasey; David Barnes; Barry Lofton; Joe Bedney; Cherice Greene; Meredith Armwood, Smitty and the security staff at Collegiate; Busy Bees; Claudia Feagin; Dana Feldman; Joel Guttman; Dorothy Gilliam, Lois Page, Carol Knopes

and Saudia Harris of Prime Movers Media; Eddie Walsh; Dr. Shankar P. Sharma, Ambassador of Nepal; The Honorable Kim Beazley, AC, Australian Ambassador to the United States; National Press Club; Target; Rob Doherty and the staff at Thomson-Reuters Media; MSNBC; and the DC Summer Youth Employment Program.

Thanks to Mrs. Peggy Jones for pizza during our last week. Finally, a very special thank you to Carol Seifert, Patricia Brantley and Donald Hense whose continued vision and support makes all of this possible.


Report Card on

Barack Obama

By Richard Okpala and Yonica Hutchinson

Barack Obama first came into office in 2008, and it’s been four years already! Right now, he’s getting ready for the next election, He may not receive nearly as many votes if he hasn’t done anything worthy of being re-elected. We’ve all been giving our thoughts to the first Black President in American history. But, is Obama everything you thought he would be? Has he done everything he promised? What grade would you give him based on his performance so far?

What about healthcare? “ObamaCare”, as critics like to call it, makes healthcare more affordable for those with financial issues. It also expands coverage to citizens over the age of 65. This health care law has benefitted African Americans by making healthcare more affordable for families. It also benefits college students and other young adults by allowing them stay on their parents’ healthcare policies until they’re 26 years old. Additionally, people who have pre-existing medical issues—such as cancer or AIDS will no longer be denied coverage by insurance companies.

Let’s not forget about the children! Over the years, Obama has been traveling the country speaking to youth in schools, giving them the inspiration to know that that they can aspire to do anything and become whatever they want to be in life. He encourages us to reach new heights and strive to be better than previous generations. He tells youth that even though it’s hard, we can always get better with practice and hard work.

Does the great recession still exist? Remember when George W. Bush was in office and the recession began? Large scale companies such as Lehman Brothers, Wachovia and Borders were either purchased or completely shut down. The amount of housing foreclosures skyrocketed as the unemployment rate reached a new high. While there was an influx of prob-lems at home, what was Bush busy doing?... looking for weap-ons of mass destruction in Iraq and spending trillions of U.S. dollars to fund a war. Over the past 4 years, Barack Obama passed several stimulus packages, including a big money deal to help boost the automotive industry since it was needed.

(continued on page 46)

Photo: Politicker.comGraphic design by Thomas Nelson IV


Report Card

on

Mitt Romney

The 2012 election is right around the corner, and Mitt Rom-ney has just wrapped up his foreign campaign tour and doing all that he can to appeal to the American people. Or is he? Mitt Romney was the first runner up for the Republican presi-dential candidacy in the 2008 election. He is also the former Governor of Massachusetts having served from January 2003 to January 2007. In June 2011, Romney announced his run for the presidency in 2012.

When he announced his run for president on a farm in New Hampshire, he spoke on our current economy, stating that “in the campaign to come, the American ideals of economic freedom and opportunity need a clear and unapologetic defense, and I intend to make it – because I have lived it.” This was a subtle way of criticizing President Obama for mishandling the economy.

Romney’s proposed economic plan is to lower the income tax to help people of all incomes. According to his website, he wants to “reduce taxes, spending, regulation, welfare and

government programs”. And he seeks to increase trade and energy production. He will try to create jobs to help busi-nesses to expand and become more stable. This could be the stepping stone to lowering the unemployment rate and im-proving businesses. However, he would do this at the expense of those who need government assistance. Romney plans to cut many programs including $600M from the National En-dowment for the Arts and Humanities (an organization that provides grants and fellowships for artists), eliminate funding for Title X Family Planning Organizations (reducing women’s reproductive rights), and completely repeal Obamacare.

Healthcare has been a big issue for America, especially in the political arena. Everyone wants to know what this year’s candidates will do to improve this situation. Mitt Romney has repeatedly said that if he were to go into office, he would immediately cut President Obama’s Patient Protection and Af-fordable Care Act (Obamacare). Looking further at the issue, Romney lacks an alternative health plan for the nation. I believe a stable nationwide health policy needs to be created

(continued on page 46)

By Yonica Hutchinson Edited by Kameisha Jerae Hodge

Photo: Politicker.comGraphic design by Thomas Nelson IV


On July 7, the FNN news team attended the 2012 Smithsonian Folk Life Festival on the National Mall. At this event, many tradition-bearers of the United States shared their culture. There were plenty of family activities, such as AfricanHeritage Dancers and Drummers, quilting workshops, doll making andtheater workshops just to name a few. Several colleges from all acrossthe world were also there, and they had a few activities going on aswell. The students from FNN were asked to report on theirexperiences. Here are a few of their reactions:

When our group first entered the “citified” section, I had theexpectation of looking around and learning more about art. This wasdue to the fact that I am a Game Simulation and Design major atShawnee State University. Our group ended up making stained glass and sculpture. The most interesting thing I found about this experience was that I have been trained in both 3D and 2D Foundations, and I didn’t have a talent for making imitation stained glass with tissue paper. - Kevin Hebron

Smithsonian’s 2012 Folk Life Festival: Citified Campus and Communitywith a Hint of Creativity and Crisis


The glass staining was something that I had never done before, as wassculpture building. The sculpture building was probably myfavorite part of the festival because the possibilities for creativitywere endless; so many ideas came to mind—including a miniature planethat I made —or things like a flower or a boat. Sitting anddeveloping sculptures made me feel as though I was a kid in art class.The atmosphere was amazing. It was filled with happy faces of peopleof all ages, enjoying their lives and taking part in some pretty coolcrafts. - Thomas Nelson, IV.

One thing that was great about the festival was the Campus andCommunity part. There were so many different colleges in attendance,including: Virginia State University, Delaware State University,California State University-Fresno, Texas A&M University and even theUniversity of Hawaii. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to stop by any of the booths, but the fact that there were so many colleges and universities from different parts of the United States surprised me. The colleges and universities incorporated exhibits like agricultural history and the migration of the steel drum traditions of Trinidad to West Virginia. The schools also gave out information to prospectivestudents. - Erin Smith

It was very hot outside – approximately 105 degrees! There were avariety of communities represented celebrating their cultures. We watched theMaster-Griot Storyteller Baba-C perform as some of our students madesculptures. The African Heritage Dancers and Drummers were amazing! They gave background information before performing the dances, and they were breathtaking. There was also a section of the festival dedicated to SouthEast, and this section included wonderful paintings and murals covered in graffiti. - Nekaiya Wilson

Collective story by Thomas Nelson IV, Kevin Hebron, Erin Smith, and Nekaiya Wilson. Photos taken from www.festival.si.edu and rcnormanphoto.com. Page design by Thomas Nelson IV


The Women’s National Basketball Association is being discriminated against. Compared to the NBA (men’s league), the WNBA players have fewer games, fewer teams, signifi-cantly less television exposure, and get paid, on average, $4 million less than NBA players. One reason that the WNBA is being treated differently is because most people think that basketball is a man’s sport. Here is a play-by-play of the dis-crepancies between the WNBA and NBA:

• The average NBA player makes almost $5 million a year after one season, whereas a WNBA player makes an average of $95,000 a year after approximately three seasons in the league.

• The WNBA has a thirty-two game season and it goes from May until August with the all-star game in July. The NBA has an eighty-two game season and it lasts from October until April with their all-star game in February.

• The NBA has TV partnerships with ABC, TNT, ESPN, ESPN2, AZN, NBATV and ESPN deportes. The WNBA only has partner-ships with NBATV, ABC, and ESPN (they only show certain games).

• The NBA has 32 teams. The WNBA has only 12 teams in the league. The NBA sometimes plays overseas during the year but the WNBA doesn’t go overseas during the year except during the Olympics.

• The WNBA wants to expand their broadcast coverage, but because they don’t have a huge fan base, they can’t.

In my opinion, in order for the WNBA to become as successful as the NBA, they need to have more games and get in partnerships with TV networks to get more exposure. Maybe that will get more fans in the seats, get more en-dorsements from major companies and ultimately, a higher pay scale. If the pay scale goes as high as what the NBA play-ers make, that would be great; however, we can only go one step at a time.

Erin Smith is a 2010 Graduate of Friendship Collegiate Academy.Photos: olympics.ocregister.com and tracking.si.com.

Why The WNBA Doesn’t Get As Much Respect As The NBA

By Erin Smith


Nationals First in National League East: Will That Trend Continue After the All-Star Break?

Records as of July 23, 2012:

*Nationals’ Record: 56-39

*Braves’ Record: 52-44

*Mets’ Record: 47-49

*Marlins’ Record: 45-51

*Phillies’ Record: 43- 54

By Darius Thompson and Erin Smith Photos by Rayvon Gaines

July 23, 2012. With a 49-34 record, the Washington Nationals are first in the National League East. The reason may be because of their superb pitching with the likes of Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez, Jordan Zimmermann and closer Tyler Clippard. Or, maybe it's the hitting power of Ryan Zimmerman, Michael Morse, Adam LaRoche and the rookie Bryce Harper. This is the first time that the Nationals are in the lead.

But, there’s a problem. Nationals have always struggled during the second half of the season. For example, on July 9 last year, the Nationals were 45-46—meaning that they weren’t over .500 pct% or above. (.500pct% is the ideal percentage a team would want to have). Also, in years past, there was a problem with hustle. For example, on July 6, the Nationals faced the Colorado Rockies. During this game players weren’t hustling to the ball like they usually would. For some reason they weren’t hitting. The Nationals lost that game 5-1.

We asked a fan if he thought the Nationals are going to stay at the top of the NL East. He responded, “I do think the only team in the National League East that might threaten this, is the New York Mets… but even if the Mets somehow figure out how to get past the Nationals, we’re still probably going to at least get the wild card spot.”

In the future, the Nationals need to worry about their spot at the top of the National League East because there is still time for teams like the Braves, Marlins, and Mets to take over. The Na-tionals must remember that they have a bullseye on their back.

Darius Thompson and Rayvon Gaines are seniors at Friendship Collegiate Academy. Erin Smith is a 2010 graduate of Friendship Collegiate Academy.


A fellow student, Lamar Penny and I were guests at a dinner at the home of Shankar P. Sharma, Ambassador from Nepal. We were invited by foreign correspondent Eddie Walsh and the National Press Club who hosted the dinner. The purpose of this gathering was to inform the press on the current status of Nepal’s government, spe-cifically Nepal’s economic issues.Nepal is situated with China to its north and is bordered by India on the south and west. It was once a monarchy, but is currently a federal democratic republic. Today, Nepal has a president who acts as head of state and a prime minister who heads the Nepalese government. Nepal is a secular state with a predominance of Hindu and Buddhist populations.

During the dinner, Ambassador Sharma stated, “2012 is the year of investment in Nepal”. As he spoke, these words gave me a glimmer of hope for my country. In these rough eco-nomic times, it was good to hear his boldness in stating that tourism will increase in Nepal.

The experience was so exciting. I was scared as I walked up to the door, but once I entered, I felt like I belonged there. The ambassador’s house was beautiful—filled with the paintings and antiques directly from Nepal. The Nepalese food was authentic and awesome! The house was filled with an aroma that I have never experienced before.

This experience allowed me to network with journalists and great Nepalese people in an environment that was completely foreign to me. When I told classmates about the experience, they were then interested in attending. I enjoyed myself and it definitely won’t be the last time.

Nekaiya Wilson is a 2012 graduate of Anacostia High School. She will be attending Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina starting Fall 2012.

What We Know Comes From ObservationBy Nekaiya Wilson

Pictured here: Lamar Penny, Eddie Walsh and Nekaiya Wilson enjoying a dinner at the home of the Ambassador of Nepal.


A Night at the Australian Embassy On February 23, 2012, a classmate Lamar Penny and I had the opportunity to attend a press briefing and cocktail party at the Embassy of Australia. It was awesome. I saw members of the National Press Club who I had recently met at an earlier event at the home of the ambassador from Nepal. The Embassy of Australia was much bigger than the Embassy of Nepal. It was beautiful. There were big paintings on the walls and the artwork was spec-tacular.

This event was hosted by foreign correspondent Eddie Walsh who is the chair of the international division of the National Press Club. Eddie is a cool guy. He introduced me to a couple of colleagues and was the star of the event.

The purpose of the event was to inform the press about Australia’s foreign policy. I learned that in November of 2011, the Australian prime minister, Julia Gillard announced her support for the sale of uranium to India which violated the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty restricting the sale of uranium to countries like India. Selling uranium to India

would be illegal and dangerous. More on this can be found in Lamar Penny’s commentary on ourfnn.com.

During the event, I networked with the press and people from the Embassy. It was a great experience and the food was scrumptious. In conclusion going to the Embassy of Australia was exciting, and I felt like I was out in the real world. To be surrounded by people who were interested in my field of choice was cool.

Nekaiya Wilson is a 2012 graduate of Anacostia High School. She will be attending Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina starting Fall 2012.

By Nekaiya Wilson


FNN’s Adventure in the Big Apple

“FNN went to New York City… again! This year we went to the Fashion Institute of Technology, the Twin Towers Memorial and a Benihana Japanese Grill restaurant.”

Photoessay by Skye Webster, Thomas Nelson IV, Teanna Freeman, DeVonte Wood and Brionna Wiggins.Graphic design by Thomas Nelson IV. Photos by Darian Cole, Rayvon Gaines and Unique Tyler


FNN’s Adventure in the Big Apple

New York, the city that never sleeps, is home to a school that never sleeps, The Fashion In-stitute of Technology (FIT). FIT is home to over 10,000 students—most of whom are female. The experience of visiting FIT was really interesting. We got to witness firsthand how hard the students work on their projects and designs and even got to visit their fashion museum. The museum was filled with clothing from designers ranging from Ralph Lauren to Pierre Balmain. The most impressive part of FIT was the fact that most of the displays (pictured above) were put together by the students. They did a really amazing job with the exhibits and hopefully they keep up the good work!

No more than a block away, we came to a pizza parlor. You would expect service right away but there wasn’t. We had to wait in a line outside, because it was packed. There was ice cream — well, more like ice cream and yogurt put together—that looked good, but I did not get any. I ordered a grandma sized cheese pizza. When I took one bite into it, a smile spread across my face. I loved the taste of the delicious pizza. I also had a slice of Romana pizza. It wasn’t what I expected but it was better than nothing.


While we were at the Ground Zero (9/11 Memorial), we saw the Freedom Tower, also known as 1 World Trade Center. I never saw the Twin Towers in person and I can’t argue with the towers being a magnificent sight even though they weren’t fully rebuilt. They were about 1,973 feet tall at that point. The 9/11 Memorial was an interesting place to hang around especially near the waterfall (pictured above).


For dinner, we went to a restaurant called Benihana. It was one of those restaurants where they cook the food on a grill in front of you. They gave us some soup with mushroom, scallion, and tofu. I didn’t like the soup at all, but the food got better. When the chef came he started cooking. First he gave us corn. Then he grilled shrimp. The food was okay. The chef put out chicken, but since it had to cook for a while he gave us more shrimp. We also had zucchini and mushrooms (but most of us didn’t want any mush-rooms). We also got rice and onions. The chef made and onion volcano and he made smoke come out of it! And we finally got the chicken. The food was deli-cious at Benihana. So next time you go to NYC, eat at Benihana. The food was really great and amazing.

Contributors to this article: Skye Webster is a 2012 graduate of Blow Pierce Junior Academy. Thomas Nelson IV is a sophmore at Virginia Commonwealth University. Darian Cole is a 2012 graduate of Friendship Collegiate Academy, Rayvon Gaines and Unique Tyler are seniors at Friendship Collegiate Academy. Brionna Wiggins will be in the 6th grade at Friendship Woodridge. Teanna Freeman will be a freshman at Friendship Collegiate Academey and Devonte Wood will be a freshman at Friendship Tech Prep Academy.


On July 10, 2012, students from Friendship News Network went to Thomson Reuters News Service in Washington, DC to meet general manager Rob Doherty and the staff at Thomson Reuters. The experience was wonderful. We met several staff members and asked many questions. General manager, Rob Doherty gave us a full tour of the building and shared lots of background information about the news agency. We saw the production studios, went into the offices of the employees and met photog-raphers and editors. The first employee that we spoke to was the video editor. He talked about what goes on in each station and the different people who worked there who were from other countries. After a tour of the building we had lunch in a big conference room. Lunch was great. During lunch we conversed with staff members and the bureau chief about the presidential election. They told us about their experiences meeting important people and how it affects them. It was awesome.

Rated-T Goes to Thomson Reutersby Jermaine GibbsPhotos by Darian Cole and Rondel Greene Graphic Design by Thomas Nelson IV


Jermaine Gibbs will be in the 6th grade at Friendship Woodridge, Darian Cole is a 2012 graduate of Friendship Collegiate Academy, Thomas Nelson, IV is a sophomore at Virginia Commonwealth University.


“Whenever I get a chance/ I take it like a break in/ And the only thing I leave is the

feeling of amazement/ Staring at the crowd/ Pale faces but with gazes/ I guess they can tell that I really wanna make

it/ I open up my heart and let the world do my surgery/

Standing on the stage/ But the silence never hurting me/

I know it means they hear me/ I finally got their eyes/ My destiny is near me/ And so is my demise/ So I gotta watch my move/ It

ain’t like I can’t lose/ Sometimes a dream

of gold is a dream for the fools/ So I look at

all directions/ Then I make my selection/ Keeping in mind that I will never have perfection...”

Madame Q


Madame QHow it Started

Beyonce, Rihanna, Jay Z, Nicki Minaj, Drake,

J Cole, Big Sean, Lil Wayne, Chris Brown,

Eminem, Kanye West, Nas, T.I., UsherInfluences

I’ve always been a shy girl, but when I started rapping after claiming first prize in 2011 FCA Poetry Slam, I knew that I had found my field of expression and creativity. There was a person inside of me that my bashfulness had been hiding my entire life--that per-son chose to finally come out through music and poetry. Every time I walk onto a stage to perform, there’s a transformation that occurs; it’s one of those instant things that I can’t really put into words. That powerful person who comes out of me and delivers what I would never be able to convey in a normal conversation is called Madame Q. When Madame Q is rap-ping, I feel powerful because she can get the attention of people who would normally ignore me.

People ignore me because I’m very quiet and because I avoid putting myself in situations where I have to speak. I feel very fortunate to have Madame Q when I’m performing because I’d probably just freeze. I also feel fortunate because I was the Vale-dictorian of the Class of 2012 at FCA. Intelligence + Talent = No limits.

Keosha Quigley is a 2012 graduate of Friendship Collegiate Academy and will be attending George Mason University in the fall.

By Keosha QuigleyPhotography by Travis Houze

Backup Plan:I know that my dreams of being a per-former may not come true. That’s why I’m going to college and planning on majoring in journalism or creative writing. Whatever I end up doing in this world, I want to make sure it’s some-thing that will leave a positive impact on others and give them confidence.Follow me on Twitter @Curious_M1nd


By Marquez Wood

Monsters FromThey can destroy a whole neighborhood and leave some houses untouched. They can leave many people homeless or injured. What are they? They are tornedos. But they are no joke. They are responsible for an average of 80 deaths a year and cause millions of dollars of property damage. How do tornadoes form? What should you do if a tornado is coming? Find out all the answers and more in this article.

How Does a Tornado Form?A tornado is a severe thunderstorm formed by a super cell. A super cell can last longer than a regular storm. The same property that keeps the storm going also produces tornadoes. The wind coming into the storm starts to swirl and forms a funnel. The air inside the funnel spins faster and faster and creates a very low pressure area which sucks more air and debris into it.

Measuring TornadoesHave you ever wondered how the damage levels of a tornado are measured. Well a man named Theodore Fujita made that happen with the f-scale. The f-scale is something that tells the power of a tornado. There are five levels: F-0, F-1,

F-2, F3, F-4, and F-5. An F-0 is very weak with 30 mph to 70 mph wind speed. All it does is shatter windows and rip branches off trees. An F-1 causes a kind of light damage with 74 to 112 mph wind speeds. This one can tear the tiles of your roof, damage chimneys and pick up street signs. F-2’s are slightly stronger with winds 113 mph to157 mph. F-2 tornadoes can uproot trees. An F-3 is a violent tornado with 158 mph to 206 mph winds. It can destroy mobile homes. An F-4 is stronger with wind speeds of 207 to 260 mph. It can pick up a train. An F-5 is the most dangerous with wind speeds of 261mph to 318 mph. It destroys anything in its path.

What To Do in a Tornado SituationIn a tornado situation you have to be ready. You need candles, water bottles, toilet paper and you need to fill the tub with water in case the local water gets polluted. You also need to be in the basement because the tornado has most of its power from above ground. If you are in a car don’t try to out run the tornado. They are too fast. You have to get out of the car and go to the closest house or go get in a ditch. If you are in the basement don’t touch any metal or cut wires because there


The Clouds!

might be lightning. Also use a radio to hear about when the tornado is over—but it may not always be right. Make sure to listen for tornado watches and tornado warnings. A tornado watch means there might be a tornado coming and a tornado warning means someone saw a tornado coming in your area.

Multi-Vortex Tornadoes, Waterspouts, and Hailstorms There are other kinds of tornadoes, Here are few. A waterspout is a tornado that forms over water. Instead of sucking up dust and debris it sucks up water and takes fish to the cloud surface. But it can be violent. It can kill people on boats and scuba divers in the water. The water spout tornado dies when it touches land. A multi vortex tornado happens when small tornadoes spin around 1 big tornado. This type of tornado is stronger because the small tornadoes surround the big one. A hail storm starts when little pieces of ice fall from the sky and the wind blows them up in the air. Then they all bundle up and get so heavy that they fall down and smash anything that they fall on.

What is Tornado Alleßy? Tornado alley is a part of the USA that has about 250 tornadoes a year that form in the great plains of Texas, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, South Dakota and Colorado. Those states have many strong and weak tornadoes but mostly strong ones. These tornadoes greatly affect the weather in those areas.

From this article you now know how tornadoes form, how scientists measure tornadoes and how much damage tornadoes can cause. You now also know about the various types of tornadoes and where the most tornadoes form in the US. I truly hope you learned something from this story and gained knowledge about how to react in a tornado emergency. Thank you for reading my article. I hope to give you more facts about weather disasters soon.

Marquez Wood will be a fourth grade student at Friendship South East Academy.

Photo and special thanks: prweb.com


I am entirely in love with the music of the ‘60s. I am especially in love with the groups of the ‘60s, such as The Shangri-Las, The Shirelles and The Crystals. There are many more groups I am interested in but haven’t researched. What I really like about ‘60s music is how the performers have really original voices—their voices are raw and they are actually talented unlike our generation— a handful of actual singers and the rest are flunks.

Because I hadn’t experienced 60s music like the people who grew up with it, I had to interview someone who knew the genre first hand. To get the facts, I spoke with Sandy Gibson who was a publicist at several record companies back in the day. She told me how most 60’s music was inspired by certain cities like Detroit, Chicago, New York and L.A. I asked her how she started her career. Gibson worked at Ceptic Records in the 60’s and went to Atlantic Records in 1973 where she saw The Shire-

lles record many of their singles. At Atlantic she represented Aretha Franklin, Bette Middler and others. I asked her what she thinks of music now as opposed to music in the ‘60s era. Gibson said, “The music now isn’t better than the music then. The music then had meaning. We thought we were creating messages.” In her teens she said there was a song that inspired her by The Everly Brothers called, I Wonder if I Care As Much. As she got older, she liked a song by Lovin’ Spoonful called You Didn’t Have To Be So Nice.

I learned a lot from this interview—how music originated from certain cities and how the vocalists’ songs had a lot to do with their surround-ings. I can tell that from Sandy’s point of view, music back then was inspiring and meaningful. I believe it is one of the best genres of music to date, with its vocals and smooth harmonies.Marcel Gallion is an 8th grade graduate of Friendship Blow Pierce Academy.

The love of ’60s Musicby Marcel Gallion

Photos: music-bazaar.com, traxonwaxrecords.com


From May 9 through May 12 of 2012, Friendship Collegiate Academy did its own production of the hit Broadway musical, The Lion King. The director of this play was a small, but fierce actress, Ms. Kamil Hazel. Former American Idol contestant, Ms. Terriana Harris was the music director. And the effortlessly talented Ms. Nadine Jeanty choreographed. I think that it was a great production and the dancing was awesome. My favorite dance scene was when Simba confronts Scar (Simba was played by Keevon Baylor while Scar was played by Mr. Sligh). I played the part of Timon. Timon is a meerkat who’s best friend is Puumba, who was played by Philisha Lewis. It was a wonderful experience to have a role in a play that is known everywhere. During the making of this play, I got to meet new people and make friends. My favorite part of the whole play was (of course) my part—the Hakuna Matata scene—because I got to sing, act, and dance! I think I did a pretty good job when it comes down to my vocals. On July 11, 2012, we took a trip to the Big Apple (New York) to see the Lion King on Broadway. I thought that it was an okay play… just playing… they did a great job! It was a wonderful play! My favorite scene was the “Be Prepared” scene, mostly because of the dancing and choreography. But, I was kind of surprised when they started strip dancing to be honest. There were a few minor things I thought that they could have worked on (like acting and music) but they did good!

Which play do you think was the best? Broadway or Collegiate? Email me [email protected] and give me your opinion.

Rondel Greene is a sophomore at Friendship Collegiate Academy. Marcel Gallion is a 2012 graduate of Blow Pierce Academy.

Photo of the Collegiate production courtesy of Bernadette Dare.

THE LION KING: Collegiate Versus BroadwayBy Rondel Greene Graphic Design by Marcel Gallion

Brionna Wiggins interviews new Woodridge principal, Rictor Craig.

Back To SchoolStory by Brionna WigginsGraphic Design by Skye Webster Photo by Unique Tyler

I interviewed the new principal at Woodridge, Mr. Rictor Craig. I was concerned about science this year and other issues too—like school programs, academics, uniforms and lunch. In the 5th grade,we didn’t have science. I personally would rather learn to make a light bulb work than do long division. So that’s why I wanted an interview with him.

It was important to ensure that we have science this year. So Mr. Craig hired a science teacher for the 5th and 6th grades. He believed it was important to have science and other subjects too. Now we can have subjects other than reading and math. We have science too!

Apparently, uniforms are worn by students district-wide. Mr. Craig said, “...not just us, but all Friendship Schools. And it really takes the pressure off of you [students] deciding or trying to figure out what to wear to school. It gives you the ability to focus on academics and not on what you should wear to school. It allows the time to re-ally zone in and ensure you are becoming as smart as you possibly can be by working hard.”

As for lunch, according to Mr. Craig, it will get better. I usu-ally throw away most of my lunch and sometimes don’t know what it is. It was a growing concern so Donald Hense, the head of Friendship Public Charter Schools has hired an executive chef to change the lunch menu for all of the schools. So this year, we will see brand-new, better lunches that are going to be delicious for students and teachers!

A Better School YearAnd as for school and academic programs, the school tries to get as many grants as they can to pay for the programs. They also ask the community for help. They reach out to everyone. So this year will be a whole lot better—from better food to science and subjects other than math and reading. When the problems in our Friendship Community are solved, we will be great and well-rounded. I have a good feeling about this brand-new school year and you should too!

Brionna Wiggins will be in the 6th grade at Woodridge. Unique Tyler will be a senior at Friendship Collegiate Academy. Skye Webster, is a 2012 graduate of Blow Pierce Junior Academy.



Bessie Coleman was the first African American woman to pilot a plane and the first African American to get her international pilot ‘s license. She was born on January 26, 1892 in Atlanta, Texas. There is some confusion about her birth date, because when Coleman became well known, she claimed to be about four years younger. Coleman’s parents George and Susan Coleman were sharecroppers. She was the tenth of thirteen kids. She began school at age six. In 1901 her father George Coleman left his family. While the rest of her siblings worked in the cotton fields, her mother recognized that Coleman was gifted in math. Bessie Coleman would do well in school and move on to chase her dream.

In 1915 at about the age 23, Coleman moved to Chicago with her family and worked as a manicurist in the White Sox Barber Shop. Five years later Coleman left the United States for France to learn to fly a plane, which was her dream. She attended the Caudron Brothers’ School of Aviation in Le Crotoy, France and received her pilot’s license from Federa-tion Aeronautique Internationale in Paris.

After some additional training in Paris, she returned to the United States in September 1921. Coleman’s main goals when she returned to America were to make a living flying and to establish the first African-American flight school. Coleman’s color and gender limited her in the still segre-gated US. So in February 1922, she returned to Europe.

Coleman flew in her first air show on September 3, 1922, at Glenn Curtiss Field in Garden City, New York.

In February 1923, Coleman suffered her first major accident while preparing for an exhibition in Los Angeles. She received a broken leg, some cracked ribs and multiple cuts on her face. On her road to recovery she gave a series of lectures inspiring others to pursue their dreams and revealed her determination to open a black aviation school. In years to come Coleman would go on to more air shows and lectures until her death.

On April 30, 1926 at the age of 34, in Jacksonville, Florida, while flying in preparation for an air show Coleman’s aviation career ended tragically when her plane crashed. Coleman dealt with segregation by using her fame to challenge racial barriers and inspire others. She became famous for what she did even if she wasn’t able to see it in her lifetime. She did good never to drop her head and keep moving. She was great.

Teanna Freeman is a 2012 graduate of Blow-Pierce Junior Academy and will be attending Friendship Collegiate Academy in the Fall.

Taking The Sky With HistoryStory and Graphic Design by Teanna Freeman

Bessie Coleman

Photos: www.biography.com/people/bessie-coleman,rootsweb.ancestry.com

Funimation: Is It More Than Just Dubbing?

Story and Graphic Design By Kevin Hebron

Do you watch cartoons such as Dragonball Z, One Piece, Fairy Tale, or Casshern Sins? If you have, are you aware that you have watched a Funimation dubbed version?

Funimation was founded in 1994, but didn’t really get its start until 1998. What they are known for is voice acting and dubbing anime. But there are many other parts of the company that some may not even realize exist. I have been fortunate enough to talk to an intern at Funimation – Joel Guttman. He gave me a little insight into the company.

K: How does it feel to be part of the Funimation Team?

J: It feels great… a little strange, but the people are nice.

K: Was there a process you had to go through once you were told you were considered for the internship?

J: It sort of happened in a very strange way. I went to a convention in February, spoke with the individuals. Afterwards, I interviewed with them over Skype because a “face to face” interview was not possible. A little later, I was told I got the internship.

K: Do you have any advice for people who want to get a job with a company like Funimation?

J: Talk to people, go to events, stay and make connections. I went to the conventions, stayed after, and talked and gave information until it was over. The person I ended up talking to was the brand manager. He told me they had a copy of my resume. So they knew of me as

soon as I introduced myself.

K: What specifically do you do with Funimation?

J: Alot. It’s a marketing internship so I do forum specifications and send out promotional items. For example, I had to watch six hours of anime to find good promotional clips to put on facebook.

K: What other parts are there to Funimation?

J: Funimation is a licensor of animation, (anime), meaning we actually take some of the more popular anime, obtain the license and sell it for a profit. Though we take the series we still have to pay royalties. We have a marketing department, web department, licensing and legal department.

K: I was told you are in San Diego. Are you at Comic Con?

J: Yes.

K: Are you doing something related to a company?

J: Actually yeah, though Funimation does not pay its interns for Comic Con… They still gave me a free badge and paid for me to go to Comic Con to work the booth.. Hopefully I will have some free time afterwards.

K: Can you see yourself doing this for a living?

J: Yes – if not for Funimation, then another anime related company or one in the video game field.

Kevin Hebron, is a graduate of Friendship Collegiate Academy now studying Game Simulation and Design at Shawnee State University.



Graphic Design, Story and Illustrations by Kevin Hebron

When you’re passionate about something, you cannot waste a second, otherwise you may miss out on many opportunities life has to offer. Personally, my passion lies in art—specifically game design and cartoons. It is this passion that allows me to look at things and see them slightly different from how other people see it. For example, when you look at an apple what do you see? I see about 100 different ways to render that ap-ple. When I created these characters I decided to base them on a game idea that I’ve had for a while, “Make-shift Bear.” Basically this game is about a bear made of toilet paper on a quest to save his family and friends from an army of other makeshift creatures. The dog on the left was loosely based off my own dog. I call him Rex. Like my dog he is loyal, playful, and innocent to the world around him. His role in the game is to teach the players things about the game that they do not know. The ant, located in the middle, is the best friend of the bear I call him Nurval. Like the ant, he is obedient to his mother, elusive, strong, enough to carry things the player would not be able to carry. The bat on the right was originally supposed to be a tiger, but I wanted to show off a common enemy simply known as the bat. You will run across these guys and have to fight them quite often in the game. I decided I also wanted to show off an enemy character that was not so common so I created Ozzy the robot. I loosely based him on a lamp I saw many years ago. Take it from me, even when you leave school or your future career when you find your passion about something you find a way to incorpo-rate it into your everyday life.

My Passion, My Characters, My Ideas

Kevin Hebron, is a graduate of Friendship Collegiate Academy studying Game Simulation and Design at Shawnee State University.


FNN Goes to the National Gallery of ArtBy Jiahnna PhillipsPhotos by the Blow Pierce News Team

A couple of weeks before the end of the 2012 school year, Friendship News Network’s Blow Pierce Bureau went to the National Gallery of Art to experience the video game exhibit. As we walked through the gallery, the FNN crew took turns posing with artifacts in the museum. From what I remember, we went to the video game exhibit last. Save the best for last, right?

When we walked into the museum we had to go to the secu-rity desk and from there we explored. The first thing we saw was a type of granite doughnut with a fake bite engraved on the side. Skye Webster posed in the center of the doughnut and Devonte Wood posed at the side where the bite was. Some but not all of the others started doing the same. After a few pictures, we left and arrived at a type of animal and ab-stract design carvings room. There was one particular piece of art that I liked because it was colorful and had a lot of curves. There was a monkey with a banana in its mouth that looked like it was African and a gorilla on its left. Last, but definitely not least, there was a tiger. I personally think the tiger was the best.

Next, off we go, to something that is tall and looks like it had been carefully built and a little slanted. It could be a roller coaster. Then we went to see a painting of author Tom Wolfe with his legs folded. He was wearing a white suit, a cane and was sitting on a red chair. After that we went to a room close to the video game room, (almost there!). It was a room that looked like it had alot of games but we couldn't play them. It seemed like there was every game system that ever came out in America in that room. We heard information on games and game consoles by listening through a phone. You had the choice of what you wanted to listen to, so I listened to infor-mation about a game called Utopia.

Then finally...the moment we had been waiting for...the game room. As soon as we walked in, we saw giant screens plas-tered all over the room. There was a bigger room with an addition of a smaller room. It was cool.The first game I played was Flower—controlled by a PS3 controller. All I had to do was tilt the controller and a flower would move! Well, it’s not really worth an exclamation point but it was pretty cool. It took a minute to figure out how to tilt the controller and then I was just flying up in the air and around a hill trying to find some hint of what I was supposed to do next. I finally talked to an exihibit worker and he told me to light the flowers up on the path. The next game I ventured to was a type of mystery game where you had to click on clues to get somewhere.

I next played a game that reminded me of “Pokemon,” because you had to click on stuff and walk around. Of course it didn't have animals in it that I had to fight. It actually did have a dog in a bar that I went into. I quickly left that game because once more I was uncertain of what to do. The next game would've been “Mario,” but everybody kept hogging the controller. Oh, there was also “Pacman” a classic, but I could only play a little bit, because my game playing skills went away for a moment.

This was one of those exhibits that I would go to again and again. It was fun and bright with the exception of the game room which has to be dark in order to have the games displayed fully. Even though it was dark, I would definitely recommend that students, families and everyone go see the video game exhibit at the National Gallery of Art before it leaves at the end of September 2012.

Jiahnna Phillips is a 7th grade student attending Blow-Pierce Junior Academy.



By John Wood

Kingman and Heritage Islands Park is located in the northeast area of Washington, D.C. Kingman Park is an environmental habitat where the government is making homes for animals like turtles, fish, and other species. You can hike, fish, and have fun with your friends. There are lots of things you can do in Kingman and Heritage Islands Park.

Once you come to Kingman Park, you will see a sign and a bridge. If you look closely you might see fish and turtles out in the open. You might even see some small reptiles either on the bridge or in between tree branch-es. You can even hike in the walkway within the trees.

My experiences were great there with my friends. We did many things in the park. First we went to the front gates and entered. While we were walking across the bridge we saw something jump up to catch a fly. When we looked at it closely it had whiskers and instantly I knew it was a catfish. While we were crossing another bridge, we met some nice people who let us look at the catfish they caught. Next we went to a pile of boulders and took pictures. A while later we went on a slightly longer hike.

We saw people walking their dogs and exercising, and when we went to take a break we saw a small cut in the road that showed a view of the Anacostia River and bridge. There we started skipping rocks into the lake. It’s a little confusing how to throw a rock, and make it bounce off the water but we got used to it.

If you want to walk there you can find different roads to go by. Each road will lead to a different part of the park. One path led to a cut in Kingman Park where you could see another view of the Anacostia River.

After you are done, if you get tired, you can just sit at any rest point near a road and relax. And, if you like this place, you can come here without paying. If you like to watch nature, and catch fish, then this is the place to be. So, if you want to go to Kingman Park, then come on down.

Photos by John Wood and Jermaine Gibbs.

John Wood will be in the 7th grade at Friendship Tech Prep Academy. Jermaine Gibbs will be in the 6th grade at Friendship Woodridge.

Fun Times At Kingman Park


DO YOU THINK OF YOURSELF AS A RAT?

By Jiahnna Phillips

Did you know that the chemical arsenic, a chemical used to kill rats, is found in cigarettes? And if arsenic is known as rat poison, and rat poison is used to kill rats, then why would you smoke that? Do you think of yourself as a rat? Smoking isn’t a cool thing to do so why do it? Is it worth trying because every-one else does it? I don’t think so. It can kill you so I would have to especially disagree with it. I will now try to persuade you to stop if you do participate in this activity. Below is a list of chemicals found in cigarettes:

Benzene (petrol additive) is a colorless cyclic hydrocarbon obtained from coal and petroleum, used as a solvent in fuel and in chemical manufac-ture and contained in cigarette smoke. It’s a known carcinogen associated with leukemia. You might just be asking for leukemia.

Formaldehyde (embalming fluid) is a colorless liquid, highly poisonous, used to preserve dead bodies. It’s known to cause cancer, respiratory, skin, and gastrointestinal problems. Is smoking really worth getting cancer, respiratory, skin, and gastro-intestinal problems?

Ammonia (toilet cleaner) is used as a flavoring, and frees nicotine from tobacco turning into a gas. It’s often found in dry cleaning fluids. You might as well drink toilet cleaner. Why not?

Acetone (nail polish remover) is a fragrant vola-tile liquid ketone, used as a solvent, for example nail polish remover. Once inhaled its smoke con-

denses and about 70% of the tar in the smoke is deposited in the smoker’s lungs. Obviously this isn’t meant for your body. Why do that to yourself?

Nicotine (insecticide/addictive drug) is one of the most addictive substances known to man. It’s a powerful and fast-acting medical and non-medical poison. This is the chemical which causes addiction. Just think about the fact that this is a poison.

Carbon Monoxide (car exhaust fumes) is an odorless, tasteless and poisonous gas, rapidly fatal in large amounts. The main gas in cigarette smoke, is formed when the cigarette is lit. We can do with-out car exhaust fumes in our systems.

Hydrogen Cyanide (gas chamber poison) Do I even have to say something about this?

Maybe you should get the electronically powered cigarettes that taste the same but don’t give off harmful chemicals. I am not even sure if I want to believe that they don’t give off chemicals. Think about the little babies that have to breathe in those chemicals. They don’t know how to hold their noses yet so they might just get lung cancer at the age of like 2 months, or worse die. Surely we don’t want that to happen, now do we? If you smoke, then you will have black lungs when lungs are meant to be pink.

Jiahnna Phillips is in the 7th grade at Blow-Pierce Junior Academy.


Quality dining is something that you would expect to find in the nation’s capital and Washington D.C.—home to a large variety of amazing restaurants that range from Italian to Asian. Popular restaurants, such as The Cheesecake Factory, are known for their delicious cheesecakes and other culinary master-pieces, but if you’re not in the mood for cheesecake then there is also Maggiano’s Little Italy (which serves amazing Italian food!). The list of restaurants goes on, but there are only a few that really stand out—like the Hard Rock Cafe located in downtown D.C. It is probably one of the most decorated res-taurants that I have ever been to—with pictures of classic icons such as Elvis Presley and even signed guitars from rock stars such as Bon Jovi.

The Cheesecake Factory is home to many famous varieties of delicious cheesecakes ranging from red velvet to vanilla bean. Aside from their cheesecake, what else makes it really stand out is their amaz-ing appetizers. This includes fried calamari and my personal favorite: quesadillas. I would definitely recommend this restaurant to everyone.

Maggiano’s Little Italy, on the other hand, serves amazing Italian food in a family-style restaurant with equally amazing waiters. The restaurant itself looks classic—just like the restaurants of the early 1920s. The environment was dark but lit just enough for a romantic atmosphere. They serve great meals as well. The best choices for a healthy

CULINARY WONDERLANDStory and graphic design by Thomas Nelson IV Photos by Unique Tyler


palate are either the veal parmesian or the crab and shrimp cannelloni (which includes roasted red peppers and exquisite asiago cheese). If you are in-terested in authentic Italian food then I suggest that you take a visit to Maggiano’s Little Italy.

The Hard Rock Café has a different feel to it com-pared to restaurants like Maggiano’s or The Cheese-cake Factory. While the bar is obviously for those that are 21 and older, there are other interesting parts to the restaurant. It not only functions as a place to go out and eat, but also has a shop that sells Hard Rock Café merchandise from t-shirts to novelty glasses. The Hard Rock Café has earned their repu-tation through their legendary burgers and memo-

rable desserts such as the strawberry cheesecake bite. This is definitely a place to put on the list of restaurants to visit in Washington D.C.

These restaurants are enjoyable aesthetically, envi-ronmentally and especially in regard to food. If you have never been to one of these fine eateries then I suggest you take some time out of your schedule and take a trip to see just how good they really are. The Cheesecake Factory and Maggiano’s are both located on Wisconsin Avenue and The Hard Rock Cafe is located on 999 E Street North West.

Thomas Nelson IV, a graduate of Friendship Collegiate Acad-emy is a sophomore at Virginia Commonwealth University.


Thinking Out Loud TimesBy Skye Webster

TOL

Thinking Out Loud JacketOne day in the 7th grade, I was having a bad day. My clothes were messed up and my hair seemed to dislike me for some reason. I was wearing a white jacket that I found in the base-ment of my house. Who knew that by the end of the day that jacket would be the start of a new idea. I spent most of my morning in the nurse’s office trying to fix my outfit. I put on skirts, shorts, pants, long sleeves, short sleeves and more. When I was done it was 2nd block. One of my friends realized that I had a giant orange stain on the front of my jacket. It only added to making me look horrible that day. I de-cided I had to cover it up. I grabbed some markers from the box on the teacher’s desk. I began to color and draw random things that came to mind. The day flew past and by the time I got home I was done. The jacket was perfect; it showed everything that was my personality. The next day everyone loved it. I call it my Thinking Out Loud Jacket.

Awkward.We all have those moments and sometimes they’re awkward, annoying and stressful. I want to share some of mine that I think almost everyone can relate to. You can write to ourfnn.com and comment your moments that you have….

- That annoying moment when you think you’ve aced a test but then realize how many you got wrong.- That one-in-a-lifetime moment when your mom lets you get what you want without arguing.- That awkward moment when you shout out the wrong answer in class with confidence.- That moment when you walk into a spider web and you automatically know karate.- That annoying moment when you realize your spelling mistake after you sent the message.- I hate when they ask “why” at the end of a question on a test.- That awkward moment when I’m yelling at someone and mess up a word.- I hate when I’m singing a song on YouTube and then the song stops loading.- That annoying moment when Microsoft tells me I’m spelling my name wrong.


The Cause and Effect of Your WordsYou stand there with your head upJust standing so tallAll the words you saidThey make me feel so small.The reason why I take two looks at my reflectionSome bullying can even lead to depression.Fat, Ugly, and StupidThose words hurt me on the insideThey take down my happiness and my sunshine.It’s a sad moment when your head hangs as low As your self-esteem, and it’s not as crazy as it seems.And all the things they call me I start to believe themThinking there’s no other I can possibly deceive ‘em.Then I start to believe a lie is trueAnd I regret believing the saying “Just be you”.They say sticks and stones may break your bonesBut words will never hurt youThinking back on that saying, it’s completely not trueWho would have ever thought that just by being meIt’s the worst thing I could ever be.I don’t like to fake a smile Just because someone doesn’t like my style. Then their whispers just become so loudIt makes it hard for me to stand proud.I can’t even let my personality showBecause I know they will judge me where ever I go.Some people even take their own livesBecause their words hurt like knives.Then they get surprised when they commit suicide. But of course they weren’t thinking About that when they made them crySo don’t make bullying seem like a small thing,Because it’s not when you’re the one suffering.

TOL

Thinking Out Loud Times is something that comes from how I feel and think. Everything I write about things that go on around me and how I feel and think about. Skye Webster is a 2012 graduate of Friendship Blow Pierce Academy.

Do you love Thinking Out Loud?

Go to Ourfnn.com to read more of Thinking Out Loud.


You believe your child can doTyniaFinding

Friendship Collegiate Academy is a great school that provides a variety of different extra-curricular activities. During my first year at FCA I was a cheerleader. In my sophomore year I was on the debate team and this summer I am participating in FNN.

Cheerleading was a challenge for me because throughout elementary and middle school, I was always the quiet type and always stayed to myself. In cheerleading there’s a lot of smiling and joy involved, but I’m not the type of person who can portray that much excitement all the time. Getting on the cheerleading team was a struggle. I had to put many of my fears aside—which wasn’t something easy to do. But forcing my way into it paid off big time! I enjoyed being on the cheerleading team but it just didn’t seem like it was the activity for me.

My second year of high school, I decided that I was going to join the debate team since I like arguing and getting my point across. There were times when research sometimes clashed with my homework. This made it pretty difficult to manage time, but I figured out a way to make it work. It was also chal-lenging because I had to learn to debate without getting angry, and to be able to get all my points across (which I learned to do very quickly). In the beginning I didn’t enjoy it at all. After our first competition when I watched the more experienced debaters, it moved me to want to improve. The more my team started practicing, the better we got. We began winning med-

als and in March when we won 2nd place in the D.C. Urban Debate League, I was ecstatic. Being on the debate team was something different and unexpected. Although I enjoyed it, it just wasn’t something I saw myself doing again.

This summer I’m working with FNN because in the past, I would write stories and random articles depending on my mood. But with most of the stories I wrote, I would get almost halfway through and stop. Every time I finished a chapter I would get feedback from my family, go back, and then edit. Working with FNN this summer will help me decide if I want to continue writing, to find out if its something that truly interests me. Working with FNN so far has introduced me to another activity—photography.

This year I plan to run for the track team. It’s something that I never tried before and will also be an easy balance since I set a higher goal for my grades. With track there isn’t too much research and things of that sort that will stand in my way.

I’ve liked most of the things I’ve done so far—some a little more than others. They all benefited me. And there are more things that I want to try because I still don’t exactly know what I want to do yet... but if I keep looking I’m sure I’ll find it.

by Tynia Miser, a senior at Friendship Collegiate Academy.

Graphic Design


Future What’s in MY

TechnologyPsychology

Graphic DesignFashion Design

Yonica Hutchinson is a senior at Friendship Collegiate Academy.

By Yonica Hutchinson

Ever since I was young, I loved when people came to me with their issues. It didn’t matter whether they needed advice, or just someone to listen. I enjoy knowing peo-ples’ stories—what they’re about, where they come from and their aspirations in life. I’m a humanitarian, thus, I love to help people and I’ll try to do whatever I can to make someone feel better about themselves or to bright-en their day. As the years went by, I realized that being a psychologist would be the perfect job for me. The study of psychology is very fascinating. With so many different fields and aspects of psychology, it seems to be never ending. One of many fields is research psy-chology, which varies based on the researcher’s particu-lar interests. For example, studies show that a person would feel less pain after a surgical experience if they have a loved one there to hold their hand. That’s just one of many kinds of research in psychology. One area of psychology that I have looked into for myself is school counseling. School counselors work with a number of things. One thing that they do specifi

cally is psychological testing, which tests the students’ level of ability, or discovers a learning disability that students may have. If a child is having trouble in school, counselors test to discover why that child may be having trouble. There is also counseling that would help a stu-dent understand his or her own emotional or behavioral problems. In some cases, if he or she can’t relate to other children or a teacher (socially), a counselor would see how they would react to being in a group. I’m also strongly interested in clinical and experimen-tal psychology. The difference between the two is that clinical psychology is mainly just trying to help people with their problems, whereas experimental psychology is based on trying to understand why people act the way that they do. Personally, I see myself working in both fields because they are what I see myself studying in college, and by going into these careers. The background study is what truly intrigues me, and is the main reason why I want to study psychology and become a psycholo-gist in the future.


Whoever is questioning if they should go see the movie “Madea’s Witness Protection,” you don’t have to ask anymore. This movie left me on the edge of my seat waiting for the next part, as I laughed my head off. I know it will do the same for you. The one and only Tyler Perry has done it again playing the roles of several charcters: Madea/ Joe/ Brian.

The movie was mainly about how George Needleman the CFO of an investment bank has been set-up to be the fall guy for stealing money from charities. George (Eugene Levy) and his family soon are moved to Georgia to stay with Madea, because Brian thinks that will be the safest thing to do. Brian forgets to mention that the family is another race to Madea, and not only that, but George’s daughter is a sassy pants. When Madea notices what she is capable of she makes it her job to make the little girl change. That is exactly what Madea does; she made Cindy (Danielle Campbell) speak the truth about loving her family and really liking her new step-mom Kate Needle-man (Denise Richards).

The funny thing is I went to the movies to see the movie TED but ended up seeing Madea’s Witness Protection. It was a change for the better; I enjoyed how the entire theater laughed. That one wow moment in the movie is when Madea threw water on Cindy, after she tried to shoo away Madea. After watching this hilarious movie I am still and will always be a fan of Tyler Perry’s movies.

Madea’s Witness ProtectionMovie Review by Teanna Freeman

Teanna Freeman is a 2012 graduate of Blow-Pierce Junior Academy and will be attending Friendship Collegiate Academy in the Fall.

f


Movie Review by DeVonte Wood

This new Spiderman movie was great. The best part of the movie was when Spiderman fights the Lizardman in the last battle. The main characters were Spiderman (Andrew Gar-field ), Gwen (Emma Stone) and Lizardman, the scientist that Peter Parker’s dad used to work for. Spiderman was Peter Parker.

The movie was about 2 hours and a half. Luckily it wasn’t a waste of my time. The movie theater was dark. The movie was great for the time though. So my rating for the movie would be an 8 out of 10.

The point of the movie was to stop the Lizardman from turn-ing the world into lizards. Spiderman couldn’t defeat the villan by himself so he had help. The person who helped him was the woman he was going out with, but there was a prob-lem with that. The woman’ s father was the head of the police force and they were out to get Spiderman. Spiderman loved her, so he couldn’ t keep the secret from her that he was Spiderman.

He was able to tell her and make sure she keeps it a secret. Since he knew her father would catch him eventually, he had to be even more careful. Later in the movie, he got caught by the police. When they found out who he was, they let him go because he had to save the world and they believed him.

Spiderman saves the world, but a price is paid. The head policeman is killed by Lizardman. Before he dies, he makes Spiderman promise to stop seeing his daughter so she can stay safe. That’s the movie summary.

The reason why I would give this movie an 8 out of 10 is be-cause even though I didn’t see it in 3D, I still liked the movie. The graphics and directing were great and so were the actors. The movie was great and I would love to see it again.

You should go to see this movie because it has great direct-ing. The movie scenes were acted like they (the actors) were doing their best and it was awesome to watch. The movie was dramatic and had alot of action fights.

DeVonte Wood is an 8th grade graduate of Friendship Blow Pierce Academy.

The Amazing Spiderman

Photo: www.filmofilia.com/first-the-amazing-spider-man-clip-91166/


Some people don’t think magic is real. Others do. Different people be-lieve in different things. I am Brionna Wiggins a reporter for the Friendship News Network and I am going to see how “real” magic really is.

There are different types of magic including black and white magic. Different spells can be color coded too. For example, red is a love spell. Green is money/wealth. Black is death and white is healing. Some spells can be used for good, some for evil. Some people actu-ally do magic.

Healing spells could help sick people with diseases that cannot be cured. Some spells can give people bad luck or nightmares. It all de-pends on how the magic is used.

To find out if magic is real, I will test a money spell that I found on the internet at www.spellsofmagic.com and see its effects. The spell I used goes like this: Money in my pocket, Money in my hand, Money in my home, Money in my bank. Money stream towards me and make its home with me. Its easy and it’s wonderful as counting 1-2-3!

To know if it works I’ll see if I get money.

So far, it hasn’t worked, but I think it still needs more time. Maybe it’s because it’s Friday the 13th and not a very lucky day. So I have to wait. Maybe even try other “spells”.

After a while, the spells still haven’t worked. Magic may not be real.

But, the magic may be real. Before a trip, my grandma gave me a dol

lar and some change. On the trip, I found some coins. The spell prob-ably worked. Or was it just luck? Magic may be real or maybe not.

But maybe it is..........

Brionna Wiggins will be in the 6th grade at Friendship Woodridge.

Do You Believe In Magic?Article and Graphic Design by Brionna Wiggins Photography by Rayvon Gaines


Story by Dajoun White and David LucasIllustration by David Lucas and Kevin Hebron

Playing video games can be fun, but if you play them too much they can be addictive and even DEADLY. Being a video game addict is not healthy at all. Over the past year, there have been three deaths due to video game addiction and over playing. On July 12, 2012 in Taiwan, an 18-year-old man died in an internet cafe playing a video game. He was playing Diablo 3 when he died. According to FOX NEWS, he was doing a marathon for 40 hours. Earlier in the year in Taiwan an-other man died of a heart attack from playing a game for 23 hours. Last year, according to ABC NEWS, Chris Standiforth, a 20-year-old computer programmer died playing Halo on his Xbox. Staniforth stayed in one spot playing daily for 12 hours. After such a long time, his blood clotted and he died. These are all cases of video gaming tak-en to the extreme. There’s nothing wrong with playing the game, but don’t play for a long time. If you do play for long periods move around, eat, go to the bathroom so your blood circu-lates and doesn’t clot. There could be real consequences that can happen to you if you are a game addict.

THiNgS THAT CAN HAppeN To You iF You Are A gAMe ADDiCT:

• You can get sick/die because you don’t eat, drink or sleep.

• You can forget important responsi-bilities.

If you know some-one close to you who plays video-

games too much, here are some ways you can tell if they’re a video game addict.

SiX WAYS To Tell A ViDeo gAMe ADDiCT • The person feels happy when they are online playing games and angry when they are not playing.• They think about video games non-stop.• They spend more time on the game than with friends • They lie to their parents about what they have been doing.• They will wake up in middle of night to play videogames. • They don’t eat so that they can get more game time.

If you notice your family member is a game addict, seek help. Here are some tips so you can help.

TipS oN HoW To STop ViDeo gAMe ADDiCTioNAs we said before, it is not bad to play video games a little bit,

but you need to really know and learn when to pull the plug/quit. The amount you really should play is about 120 minutes. To stop your bad habits you could go outside and walk around for fresh air, try to get a job, find something to do to keep you from playing the video game, or set some type of goal or objective to keep your hands full. If you really don’t know, go to a program that helps people like you.

We hope the article has given you insight about this disorder. If you know someone with an addiction you can use some of these tips to help them out.

Dajoun White and David Lucas will be sophomores at Friendship Collegiate Academy. Kevin Hebron is a graduate of Friendship Collegiate Academy studying video game simulation at Sewanee University.

Video Game addiction


CLIENT: Ad Council JOB #: 301-4163ACA7NON DESC: Adult Print Ad-Lost PUBLICATION: - PUBDATE: -TRAFFIC: A. DiGravio PROD: R. DelVecchio OPERATOR: L. Hofsaes CappsNY BLEED: - TRIM: 7" x 10"SAFETY: - GUTTER: - FOLDS: (even) Mechanical Created @: 100% COLORS: B/WAD: M. Infante CW: - AE: D. Gellert CREATED BY: L. Hofsaes CappsNY PREV OP: L. Hofsaes CappsNYDATE: 1/16/07 - 5:19 PM CREATED: 1/12/07 - 3:52 PM SAVED: 1/16/07 - 2:21 PM PRINTED: 1/16/07 - 5:19 PM Proof Printed @: 100%FONTS: Franklin Gothic Condensed 27.107/auto, Franklin Gothic No.2 173/auto, GillSans 10.871/13.587, Helvetica 12.683/auto, Helvetica 14.495/auto, Helvetica 15/autoIMAGES: Lumina white.tif @ 11.2%, aclogo_KO.eps @ 16.1%, ACElogowtagwhitwR.eps @ 16.4%*, web_signoff.eps @ 100%FILE NAME: 301-4163ACA7NON_7x10LostDOC PATH: NYC-CFS_Depts:Clients:Ad Council:2007:301-4163ACA7NON:301-4163ACA7NON_7x10Lost

Capps Job#: 121071_3 Desc.: - RELEASED INFO: -

Lost.

KnowHow2G0.org

(How most kids feel about preparing for college.)

Without the help of an adult, it may be confusing for students to find their way to college. If you know a student with dreams of a higher education, do your part and help lead the way. Learn how at...

800-433-3243

Adult Print Ad – Lost – 7”x10”

APPROVALSArt Dir.CopywriterCreat. Dir.Acct. Exec.Proof ReaderProductionTrafficStudioClientAE Approval to Release

WC OK DATE WEBSITE

Trim: 7"

Trim

:10"

It was very important to our economy, and if it were to have collapsed, the thousands of people who worked for this industry would have been unemployed. Imagine what the American economy would look like if that had happened! This Stimulus Package – as well as all the other ones he created can be seen as very beneficial to Americans. Millions of people were able to keep their jobs and as a result, many more jobs could be created.

Overall, what grade should Barack Obama receive? The economy has strongly recovered from what it was when George W. Bush was in office. Obama has lifted America from its knees to help us stand tall and strong. Obama deserves an A- because he is not perfect, but he’s sure close to it!

Richard Okpala is a sophomore at Friendship Collegiate Academy. Yonica Hutchinson is a senior at Friendship Collegiate Academy. Thomas Nelson IV is a sophomore at Virginia Commonwealth University.

(Obama continued from page 7) (Romney continued from page 8)

Takeout can eat up your savings.

Pack your own lunch

instead of going out.

$6 saved a day x 5 days

a week x 10 years x

6% interest = $19,592.

That could be money

in your pocket. Small

changes today. Big

bucks tomorrow. Go

to feedthepig.org

for free savings tips.

so that we won’t have to worry about our loved ones dying if denied health care, or couldn’t afford it.

Mitt Romney has recently stated that he is not concerned with the poor because they have a safety net, and if there was to be an issue, he will repair it. He states that he is not concerned with the very rich either, because “they are doing just fine”. Romney states that he is more concerned with the middle-class Ameri-cans who are struggling.

I commend Romney for taking the initiative to get as many supporters as possible. On what he has done so far, the grade I would give Mitt Romney is a B-.


CLIENT: Ad Council JOB #: 301-4163ACA7NON DESC: Adult Print Ad-Lost PUBLICATION: - PUBDATE: -TRAFFIC: A. DiGravio PROD: R. DelVecchio OPERATOR: L. Hofsaes CappsNY BLEED: - TRIM: 7" x 10"SAFETY: - GUTTER: - FOLDS: (even) Mechanical Created @: 100% COLORS: B/WAD: M. Infante CW: - AE: D. Gellert CREATED BY: L. Hofsaes CappsNY PREV OP: L. Hofsaes CappsNYDATE: 1/16/07 - 5:19 PM CREATED: 1/12/07 - 3:52 PM SAVED: 1/16/07 - 2:21 PM PRINTED: 1/16/07 - 5:19 PM Proof Printed @: 100%FONTS: Franklin Gothic Condensed 27.107/auto, Franklin Gothic No.2 173/auto, GillSans 10.871/13.587, Helvetica 12.683/auto, Helvetica 14.495/auto, Helvetica 15/autoIMAGES: Lumina white.tif @ 11.2%, aclogo_KO.eps @ 16.1%, ACElogowtagwhitwR.eps @ 16.4%*, web_signoff.eps @ 100%FILE NAME: 301-4163ACA7NON_7x10LostDOC PATH: NYC-CFS_Depts:Clients:Ad Council:2007:301-4163ACA7NON:301-4163ACA7NON_7x10Lost

Capps Job#: 121071_3 Desc.: - RELEASED INFO: -

Lost.

KnowHow2G0.org

(How most kids feel about preparing for college.)

Without the help of an adult, it may be confusing for students to find their way to college. If you know a student with dreams of a higher education, do your part and help lead the way. Learn how at...

800-433-3243

Adult Print Ad – Lost – 7”x10”

APPROVALSArt Dir.CopywriterCreat. Dir.Acct. Exec.Proof ReaderProductionTrafficStudioClientAE Approval to Release

WC OK DATE WEBSITE

Trim: 7"

Trim

:10"


Friendship Public Charter SchoolEleven campus locations in the District of Columbia and Baltimore serving students in grades PreK-12.

So do we.Anything!

You believe your child can do

For more information, call (202) 281-1700 or visit our website at www.friendshipschools.org.

Photo by Darion C

ole. Page layout by Thomas N

elson IV.

CHARTER SCHOOLS Friendship Chamberlain Elementary and Middle School1345 Potomac Avenue, S.E. Washington, DC 20003 (202) 547-5800

Friendship Southeast Elementary Academy645 Milwaukee Place, S.E. Washington, DC 20032(202) 562-1980

Friendship Woodridge Elementary and Middle School2959 Carlton Avenue, N.E. Washington, DC 20018 (202) 635-6500

Friendship Blow Pierce Elementary and Middle School725 19th Street, N.E. Washington, DC 20002 (202) 572-1070

Friendship Tech Prep Academy620 Milwaukee Place SE Washington DC, 20032 (202) 562-1681

Friendship Collegiate Academy4095 Minnesota Ave NEWashington, DC 20019(202) 396-5500

PARTNER SCHOOLS

Academies at Anacostia 1601 16th Street, SE Washington, DC 20020 (202) 698-2155

Friendship Academy of Science and Technology801 South Highland AvenueBaltimore, MD 21224(443) 642-3183

Friendship Academy of Engineering and Technology2500 East Northern ParkwayBaltimore, MD 21214 (443) 642-5616

Friendship Preparatory Academy at Calverton1100 Whitmore Ave, Baltimore, MD 21216(410) 396-0518

Friendship Academy at Cherry Hill (Cherry Hill Elementary/Middle)801 Bridgeview Rd.Baltimore, MD 21225(410) 396-1392

Documents

Rated-T Summer 2012