Shift in powerOpinions Writer

By Dominic Contreras

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On November 7th, 2006 a shift in power was seen in the United States not seen since 4 years past, on this day the scales of power in

the United States congress shift-ed from the republican party to the democratic party. This event comes at a pivotal time in Amer-ican politics, coinciding with a time that America is divided in more ways that one. With a war spinning ludicrously out of control, and an approval rating

of a president well below what was expected, to many people, this shift in power represents the beginning of a change in policy. Since the year 2003, the republi-can party has held the majority of seats in congress both in the house and the senate, and subsequently it was during that year that

the United States

of America embarked on what is considered a black eye in Ameri-can History; The Iraq War. With Iraqi fatalities reaching catastrophic numbers it is the responsibility of this new demo-cratic congress to bring our troops home in a safe and responsible manner. Mind you, we still have work to do in Iraq. We, as a na-tion, simply cannot turn our backs on something we started, but the nation of America must do all we can to salvage what we still can of our initial mission in Iraq, and bring our troops home as soon as possible. While I am not suggest-ing pulling all of our troops out this second, the new democratic congress needs to enact new mea-sures and form a new game-plan. One of the leaders of this new democratic congress, though not in title, is Senator Barrack Obama of Illinois. Obama, a very outspo-ken democrat has openly opposed the Iraq war from the beginning, and rather than attacking the re-

publican party, has attempted to make amends with them and in turn work with both parties to bring our troops home in a re-sponsible manner. Senator Obama, only the fi fth African-American senator in U.S. history, represents a new breed of senator, one who has the ability to see both sides as equals and not put personal differences in the way of common goals. Though with only 2 years under his belt in congress, Senator Obama shows great promise as a national leader and may make a push for presi-dency in 2008. Nancy Pelosi, the democratic leader of the house is also expect-ed to play a vital role in America’s foreign policy, especially regard-ing American’s War on Terror, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Pelosi has opposed the Iraq war from the beginning, and in 2002 voted against the Iraq Resolution which authorized President Bush to use military force against Iraq.

Pelosi has shown strong convic-tions in dealing with problems at home, rather than abroad and, in my mind, is where we as a coun-try should be facing our resources and energy. With this shift in power at such a critical time one can only specu-late what the future has in store for us as a country. Senior citizens want better health care available to them, the working class wants the minimum wage to be raised and working conditions to be al-tered. Gay and Lesbian groups continue to fi ght the good fi ght for their rights to as couples. Im-migrants are fi ghting for the free-doms America’s constitution so expressly promises. These topics barely scratch the surface of what problems our country are facing at home, and which we as a coun-try need to deal with now, rather than later. As the new democratic congress takes offi ce in January one can only speculate what will happen.

A student’s view

Since its inauguration in 2002, Art Basel Miami Beach has become one of the most recog-nized international art shows in the United States; and has been ever since, drawing thousands of tourists and Art lovers every year globally from the four corners of the world. Art Basel, an International Art Show, was held this Dec 6 – 9 2006, at the Miami Beach Con-vention Center; a worldwide recognized annual art show that has been proclaimed the most prominent and recognized Mod-ern and Contemporary Art Ex-hibition for the past 37 years; sister event of the famous one based in Europe, Switzerland. “I am always amazed by the in-truiging new talent that reach the art canal. Art Basel is a huge and well recognized step for them,” said Michel Correia, a prominent painter from Paris who attends this exhibittion yearly. Not only is art from the most prominent galleries around the world such as North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa and Asia available for art lovers, collectors, dealers, curators and critics, but as well new galleries

representing young local artists trying to bring a new touch to the revolutionary world of art; all to-gether representing over 1500 art-ists, working every medium; from paintings, sculptures to installa-tions, photographs and video art. As a parallel to the event, galler-ies in the Miami Design District as well were open for show, party and cocktails such as the Wyn-wood Gallery which was abun-dantly full with a young and hip crowd on Friday December 8th. “I never get to see all of the amazing talents and prodigies Ba-sel presents. This year I couldn’t

What will happen? - Your guess is as good as Dominic’s.

Art travels to MiamiGuest Writer

By Rafaella Biscayn-Debest fi nish the whole convention cen-ter but some of the outside gal-leries working in connection with Art Basel were really interesting,” said Correia. This exhibition has brought a common social and cultural in-put in Miami, bringing more than more than 36,000 visitors last year, according to records. Rep-resenting not only the world’s leading artists and beginners, who knows if one day, in one of the halls of the Miami Beach Art Basel Convention Center we will see one of the works of a former Cuda?!

Finally the soccer, track, and football players are getting some-thing they deserve: newly remod-eled fi elds. Coaches, parents, and athletes have waited for this spe-cial renovation to come. After nine years of anticipation, it’s time for this dream to become a reality. The track, along with the football fi eld is being remodeled, and there will be two soccer fi elds available for soccer players to practice. “Words cannot describe how happy I am feeling, but if I could choose one word, it would be ec-static” said the Director of Sports Activities Ms. Siegfriedt. The dugouts are being painted

and installed with safety lights. The dugouts are even going to have electricity. There will also be two soccer fi elds, and a new track, but when will all these new changes be fi nished? The track and football fi eld will be fi nished by January 2007, but the new soccer fi elds won’t be done until sometime next year, congratulations to the graduat-ing class of 2008. The new fi elds will aid in team practice they can win more games and know the plays bet-ter. Practicing will be more con-venient; hopefully with the new resources will come renewed motivation to win. “The new fi elds should have

Staff WriterBy Amy King

Continued on Pg. 8

Construction - New track brings new opportunities. Art Basel - Bringing new waves of art to the Miami scene.

Track Improves

Staff Writer

By : Shelia Stanley

Foward march cudas!branch I recommend to get into, if you’re not into the Coast Guard, would have to be the Air Force.” Regardless of this advice, many students have already enlisted to join the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps. Elvis Marin, a senior in the Engineering Academy, has en-listed in the Navy and already

has his Military I.D. card. “I enlisted in the Navy because I was applying for the ROTC scholarship and the Chief found out and told me it was harder to apply for the scholarship the way I was doing it; I was competing with thousands of people in the country. I was competing with

DEP (Delayed Entry Program) members as opposed to those who enlisted. He told me if I enlisted, it was easier to get,” Elvis said. Another Engineering senior, Ian Christman, has enlisted into the Delayed Entry Pro-gram of the U.S. Marine Corps. “I don’t know why I joined, but it’s all I’ve been thinking about since freshman year. I made sure that none of my friends knew before I enlisted so their input wouldn’t have changed my mind. My dad, when I told him about my decision, was proud of me. My mom cried for 3 days and then, af-ter a while, was proud of me, too. She realized it was what I want-ed to do,” he says with a smile. Other students aren’t so sure if they want to commit to the mili-tary or skip college altogether. Senior Santiago Bosi wants to go to the University of Florida or Georgia Tech before going into the Marines. He says it’s the lifestyle he wants but wants to get through college fi rst. “I get shipped June 4, 2007 so I can be back before college starts. As for my parents, they expected it, so they weren’t sur-prised at all,” Santiago said. Adam Marin, a senior in Medi-cal, isn’t too sure about which branch he would like to go into. “I narrowed it down to the Marine Corps and the U.S. Navy, but I’m not sure which just yet,” he said. His reasons for want-ing to join the military? “I get free food, free housing, I get shipped around the world with

By : Steven Li

Staff Writer

a gun, and go on a diet plan that - within eight weeks – will make me into a lean, mean, killing ma-chine. On a serious side though, the military pays for my college tuition and gives me work ex-perience,” he said, with a laugh. The U.S. military, however, isn’t only for guys, although the ma-jority of new recruits are male. One girl dares to take a stand on this misogynistic stereotype by enlisting into the U.S. Navy. Crystal Cunningham, a se-nior in the agriscience acad-emy, enlisted in the Navy as well, but might switch to the Air Force, “because I heard its bet-ter. I heard [in the Navy] you could get stationed anywhere, so that’s why I’m like, egh!” “I enlisted because the mili-tary offers good benefi ts, it’s a good opportunity, and it pays for everything college related. My mom was supportive, pre-fers I go to college, but is sup-portive nonetheless,” she says. Legal freshman Andrew Llaca says, “My cousin married a guy in the Marines and he’s talked to me about it. I think it’s pretty cool. So now I’m considering going into the Marines. I want to do some-thing important with my life.” “I’ve only told my dad about this and his reaction wasn’t good. I know my mom will be freaked out, so I’m not go-ing to tell her,” he added. No matter where these seniors go, they’ll each be a ‘Cuda’ at heart, doing their best to protect our beloved country.

Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) clubs from several Miami-Dade public schools gathered at MAST Academy, on Friday, November 17th, to discuss upcoming plans and goals for the organization. Schools in attendance included: MAST, Hialeah, Dash, Southridge, Killian, and Coral Reef. “It was basically a day to meet other GSA’s and exchange ideas,” said IB senior, Robert Roman, vice president of Coral Reef’s GSA. The GSA conference was spon-sored by the GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network). The GLSEN’s mission is to ensure that every student is respected, re-gardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. The GLSEN South Florida, founded in 1991, was fi rst called the South Florida Educators Group and later became part of the nationwide GLSEN organization in 1996, which has more than 90 branches throughout the United States. The GLSEN is unique from other GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender) youth ser-vice providers in that it focuses its work entirely on schools, with many members who are profes-sional teachers, counselors, and administrators. IB sophomore, Mar Echevarria,

formed the Coral Reef GSA last year. This new year saw more members than before, with more than fi fty students attend-ing the fi rst meeting. Many stu-dents were forced to sit on the fl oor for lack of seats, during the meeting. The large number of members really surprised IB sophomore Ashley Lewis. “I didn’t expect so many people to show up at the meet-ing. It’s good to see students are supportive of GSA,” said Ashley. The new sponsor, World His-tory teacher, Mr. Santelices, and the club offi cers hope to re-ally get the club off the ground

this year. One of the major goals of Coral Reef’s GSA members is to spread tolerance and acceptance around the school. This past October, GSA coordinated activities for National Coming Out Day, which was held on October 11th. Mem-bers encouraged students to wear solid colors to show solidarity, or unity among students despite their differences. “I was surprised so many stu-dents participated to support Na-tional Coming Out Day,” said IB sophomore Christiaan Myburgh, a GSA member. The GSA conference began with a brief session of introductions

among representatives, an “ice breaker” for the members. Fol-lowing the introductions were suggestions of topics the clubs wished to discuss. Among the topics was the major issue of dis-crimination in schools. Several organizations dedicated to such issues were present. One of the organizations that attended was Equality Florida, a statewide Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Supportive organization ded-icated to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation, gen-der, race, and class. Equality Flor-ida includes over 50,000 GLBTS households in Florida, working to change Florida law so that no Floridian suffers from harassment or discrimination based on sexual orientation or expression, particu-larly students. Members of the ACLU (Ameri-can Civil Liberties Union) also attended the conference. The ACLU, founded in 1920, is a nonprofi t organization dedicated to securing the civil liberties and rights of all citizens. Among the rights they fi ght to protect is the right to equal protection under law, regardless of gender, race, religion, or sexual orientation. According to the ACLU, a major problem faced by GSA in some school districts is the banning of the club by school administrators, even though the federal Equal Ac-cess Act requires that all schools must allow any extracurricular activities to meet on campus, to allow all student groups of those

New year for GSA club at reef

Leading the way for GSA- Pictured left to right: Mr. Manuel Santelices, Mar Echevarria, and Robert Roman

activities to do so, and to treat all clubs equally. Just two days before the con-ference, on November 15th, the ACLU fi led a lawsuit against the School Board of Okeechobee County after school administra-tors prevented students of the GSA from meeting on school grounds. The ACLU was made part of Florida’s GLBT Advoca-cy Project in 2005 and has then worked to protect the rights of the GLBT community in Florida, par-ticularly for gay students facing harassment and discrimination. In addition to discussing the is-sues of discrimination, each GSA club designed and presented a poster listing their past projects and future goals, as an exchang-ing of ideas for goals to meet in each of their schools. Ideas pre-sented included: in-school fund-raising to pay for activities and fi eld trips, designing club T-shirts, fi lm festivals, “Bring a Buddy to GSA Day,” where club members bring a friend to the meeting dur-ing the lunch, and an end-of-the-year banquet, to refl ect on and commemorate the past year. “I like the banquet idea. It’s a good time to remember the past year and our accomplishments,” said Agriscience sophomore Stephanie Landy.At the end of the day, the GSA conference proved to be an in-formative experience for the club members.

There are quite a few students that are considering - or are al-ready enlisted into – the U.S. Military. Although the fi rst branch that comes into mind might be the U. S. Army, there are oth-ers, such as the U. S. Navy, U. S. Marine Corps, U. S. Coast Guard, and the U. S. Air Force. In the Department of Defense in the United States, there are fi ve different branches of military, all which have been listed above. For those of you who may not be able to differentiate between them all, here’s a quick synopsis, offered by Navy Contractor Juan Ruiz: U.S. Navy: “It’s one of the three components of the Department of Defense. In simpler terms, it’s the boat and ocean people…” U.S. Marine Corps: “The sec-ond component of the De-partment of Defense, they are the soldiers of the Navy and come along on all the boats.”U.S. Army: “A military land-force.” U.S. Coast Guard: “The people who patrol the shorelines of the United States and the fi nal compo-nent of the Department of Defense.” U.S. Air Force: “The people in the planes.”“I go to all the Navy’s instal-lations world-wide, assess-ing the Navy’s capabilities to handle terrorist attacks on na-

val bases,” said Juan Ruiz. “I was once in the Navy and served in the Persian Gulf War. War is not a pretty thing. I rec-ommend high school graduates – those who like adventure, of course – to join the military, specifi cally the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard is less of a risk of going to war than the

other branches. The quality of life is also much better. In the other branches, mainly the Navy or the Marines, you could get shipped out and stationed on any installation outside of the country for six months, maybe more. In the Coast Guard, you’re always near home. But the next

ATTENTION!- Former Reefers leave the safety of the Reef community.

Back to kindergarden: learning to share

Editor-in-ChiefAlma Haase Business ManagerBrianna Rosa

Opinions EditorAlma HaaseNews Editor Jessica HerzonSubmerge Yourself EditorLara HickoxA&E EditorGabriella KerteszSports Editor Jessica HerzonSpotlight Editor

Brianna RosaTech EditorKarl CastanedaPhoto Editor Alma Haase

Staff Writers Sheela AnassariAlan BonillaXuxa BrenesDominic ContrerasKimberly KerrickGabriella KerteszAmy KingSteven LiElyse MercadoChiedozie Ocafor

Karina PecinaCamila RodriguezCarla RodriguezJennifer RoweGabriel SchichiSheila StanleyRashielle Teape

AdvisorCheri Mitchell-SantiagoPrincipal Adrianne Leal

BaitLine 2006-2007 Staff BaitLine is an open forum and the offi cial publication of Coral Reed Senior High School. The BaitLine’s goal is to practice journalistic integrity, reliability and responsibility. Information about submitting ads can be obtained by calling (305)232-2044 ext. 2219 and asking for Brianna Rosa, or by emailing baitline@coralreef.dadeschools.net. The articles included within this newspaper are views of the students of Coral Reef and the BaiLine staff. The views do not necessarily refl ect those of Coral Reef’s faculty and staff. Letters to the editor are appreciated and can be delivered to room 228 or placed in the mailbox of Cheri Mitchell-Santiago or by emailing baitline@coralreef.dadeschools.net

All letters submitted may be condensed or edited for grammar and spelling. Libelous material will not be printed.

There are innocent people over-seas dying from common colds and starvation. There are innocent people overseas giving their lives for us. There are innocent people overseas being murdered. What are you willing to do about it? Revisit our bubbles, pretty cozy, no? With holidays around the corner even more luxuries are to come. How exciting for us! Revisit those innocent people, living in devastating conditions, no shelter and no food. How many of us would be willing to give up our Holiday gifts to those who can’t afford anything? I guarantee you it’ll be far more fulfi lling than playing your $600 PlayStation 3. Sadly enough, I am not sure everyone would agree with me. With the increasing poverty in

today’s world, how can we all be so selfi sh? Even worse, many of us sit with our “emo” atti-tudes and hate our lives, blam-ing our parents for our not being the most popular kid in school. What about the kids that can’t afford to go to school? Give them your books. Now, I’m not pointing fi ngers or accusing anyone, as far as I’m concerned we’re all good people at heart. I’m simply asking you to look around and appreciate everything you have; we’re all guilty of taking advantage of the great American life of comfort. And no offense but no matter how bad you think your life in America is, if you have a roof over your head you should be thanking your lucky stars. All of this getting what we

want has somehow led us to an overwhelming amount of self-deprecation and destruction. Why are our bubbles so polluted, and more importantly, why don’t we do something about it? While watching a freshman class perform monologues with the theme “Our Generation,” it was shocking how many of them portrayed self destructive people; slitting their wrists, victims of bulimia, or even just speaking badly of themselves and usually blaming their parents for their self-loathing. I understand that these were simply skits, but is that really how the youth of today is perceived? Talk about believ-ing the world revolves around us. Yeah, right. I do not want to be thought of as a spoiled American girl, so un-

happy with the fat on my body that others would kill for, that I go to the bathroom to throw up in-between meals. I’m sure most of you wouldn’t appreciate that title either. Share your food. This brings me to the matter of family. Teenagers complain about their parents a majority of the time. I’d know, I’m one of them. Not popular? Mom’s fault. Can’t afford new clothes? Go blame Daddy. After you do that think about the soldiers overseas who have no one. Share your family. Holiday time comes and they are stuck there, with no par-ents to embarrass them, just a constant life or death situation. We’d all rather that, right? Take some time to send them a mes-sage of thanks and Happy Holi-

days, you can even do it for free at http://americasupportsyou.com. Do not forget that you’re not the worst off in the world. Share your love with them. Finally, we have the victims. Because of the war, innocent people are struggling to keep their lives. People who have been suppressed for ages and now have to worry about how safe it is to leave their home. Share your freedom with them. There are millions of ways to help, and during the Holidays, millions of things to share. Look through the whole slew of causes out there; go Dance for Darfur, send money to poor families, serve soup at the homeless shel-ters. Do your part, then we can reexamine the bubble.

Reduce. Reuse. Reycle.By Elyse Mercado

Staff Writer Teen love is a very touchy sub-ject; this is mostly because we are all teens, thinking we are actually in love. Here in our high school years, we use what is known as the re-cycling system; we all date each other, and when we’re done, pass them on to our best friends. When in a relationship, for sometimes only a few months or less, we fi nd the need to say the 3 words “I love you.” To tell you the truth, at this tender stage in our lives, none of us can even fathom what the word love can possibly mean. Why do some feel the need to say this? “There’s no such thing as teenage love,” said Medical senior Corne-lius Walters. “This is because love cannot be achieved until later in life. And for the people that say they’re in love, more than likely, they are just in lust.” “I have personally never been in a relationship but all of my friends have and claim to love their ‘sig-nifi cant other’ after what I con-sider to be a very short time,” said Legal junior Tatiana McInnis. “I guess it all depends on your ma-turity level though.” This is true because sometimes you can fall in love in a relation-ship sooner than in another. But are most of us or even some of us

mature enough for a relationship? We all want to be and think we are, there’s no doubt about that. Maybe it’s just me but I fi nd that a 3 week relationship and having sex after 4 months, is not having a mature relationship. This is what the majority of the population as-sumes it to be. “I think that teenage love is im-mature love. Real love might be achieved by some couples but in most cases, it’s just deep like,” said IB junior Emilia Navarro. Perhaps I should rephrase what I am trying to say. Although I claim most of us do not know what love is, there are always a few excep-tions. But most cannot distinguish the difference between love and deep, deep, endless like. “I think love can be found even if you’re a teenager, it’s just hard. There are too many people claim-ing to be in love. My problem is I’m in love with love. I want to be in love so badly, I always fi nd myself thinking I found love, but it’s realistically not there,” said Legal junior Andrew Luker. I would have to agree with Luk-er’s statement wholeheartedly. I think the teenage problem is we want it so bad; we fool ourselves into thinking we’ve found it. In reality, we can’t fi nd it at all be-cause we’re looking too hard with no idea what we’re looking for. Since most of us are so young and aren’t experienced in the love life, we either tend to be heart-

breakers or get heartbroken. Most relationships tend to fail not be-cause the absence of love. Love is always present. It’s just that one was being loved too much and the other was being loved too little. Most often we fall in ‘love’ with the person we think we love only discover that for them, we are just for passing time, while the one who truly loves us remains either a friend or a total stranger. We just get so involved in the mo-ment to realize that, even though we thought we loved this person, they were using us. Sometimes, you won’t even fi nd this out un-til it’s too late; like after they’ve already cheated on you, or in the worst case, after you’ve given them something ‘important.’ It is almost impossible for me or anyone else to tell you if you are really in love. It is left up to you to decipher for yourself if what your feeling is truly real and if your lover feels the same. The truth is we’re just a bunch of kids, wanting to know what love is…

What a cute couple- but is he looking at her or looking over her shoulder?

Since the beginning of time man, has used violence as a means to attain his desires; be it food, safe-ty, or pleasure, violence fi ts into all aspects of life. Why then, are we as people, fascinated by the concept of two or more grown men going at it until one lays un-conscious, or worse? Why do we feel the need to replicate these be-haviors in an unsafe environment and in turn, end up hurting those dearest to us? The roots of violence as sport can be traced back to the Ro-mans, and their famed coliseum; a breeding ground for gladiators and death. Many times through-out the year, up to fi fty thousand Romans would pack the colise-um and watch two warriors (of-ten prisoners trying to gain their freedom) fi ght to the death, be it against each other, or against an assortment of animals. These battles would almost always end in death much to the delight of those in attendance. It is this type of pure unfi ltered violence that at-tracts young people, more specifi -cally young men. And although the coliseum was destroyed, the sport practiced there was not. Hand to hand combat, like ev-erything else, comes in a variety of styles. There is professional boxing, in which two men stand toe to toe and duke it out for 12 rounds or until one of the two is knocked out. Though boxing is in

effect two men savagely fi ghting, it has always been an accepted form of sport, possibly due to the rules of the ring. In boxing, the participants must wear heavily padded gloves and must keep the fi ght standing up. Once the other man is down there is no going af-ter him and many times the fi ght will be stopped. This sport while violent is, tame compared to its counterpart, the Ultimate Fight-ing Championship, or UFC. UFC, once considered far too violent and barbaric to be shown on national TV, has experienced a revival of sorts and now is one of the most watched sporting events every month. This no holds barred fi ghting experience is what many would consider fi ghting in its pur-est form. With the exception of a few minor rules (such as no groin kicks, or stomping an opponent while he’s down), participants in UFC fi ghts are able to do as they please. One may choose to fi ght standing up, or take his opponent down to the ground and beat him until he is no longer conscious. Another option is for the contes-tants to submit one another; this is accomplished by isolating a spe-cifi c body part and applying some form of pressure until the given part breaks, or comes very close to it. UFC’s popularity is growing so fast that according to statistics, a $40 pay-per-view event was watched by more young males (ages 18-34) than a nationally televised Major League Baseball

playoff game at the same time two months ago. It is this new breed of violent competition that has many parents on edge about what their young impressionable children watch on TV, as well as who they grow up idolizing. In years past children have grown up idolizing their favorite base-ball or basketball players. Many times throughout their child hood they would imitate what their then favorite athlete would do in an attempt to be more like them. I know this from personal expe-rience, as a former NBA fanatic I used to try and play basketball time and time again, only to fail constantly, but that’s part of grow-ing up. It’s when a child’s heroes start becoming fi ghters that may have parents worried. The effect of this can be seen in perfect clarity with the case of a young Florida teen named Lionel Tate. Tate, as many of you will remember, was convicted of fi rst degree murder after he killed his 6 year old playmate, Tiffany Eu-nick, by imitating moves he had seen on the World Wrestling Fed-eration. Eunick was killed as a re-sult of Tate repeatedly stomping on her, to the point that her liver lacerated, as well as a number of other injuries, ranging from a fractured skull, swollen brain, and broken ribs. Tate was tried and convicted and received life without parole as his sentence. Renowned psychologist Albert Bandura’s defi ned this type of replication behavior as Observa-tional learning. He state that this type of learning may take place at

any point in one’s life, though the times that they are most suscep-tible are in childhood and teenage years. This type of violent behavior is not limited to hand to hand com-bat sports. On November 19th, 2004 one of the worst sports brawls in history took place dur-ing a basketball game between the Indiana Pacers and the Detroit Pistons. The brawl began when Indiana Pacers forward Ron Art-est stormed into the stands after a fan threw a cup of ice at him. After locating who he thought was the culprit, and beating him senseless, two other pacers, Ste-phen Jackson, and David Harrison followed him and began to abuse spectators. The action spilled out onto the court and in the resulting melee many players, as well as fans, were caught in the middle of

the fi ghting. This served as a cata-lyst for a makeover of the NBA’s already tarnished image, resulting in new rules and stiffer penalties. With violence everywhere, rang-ing from television, to sports, and even the Mexican senate, it is no wonder that people are concerned about the future of this countries young population. Don’t get me wrong, I love to see a good fi ght, that is if it’s in a safe environ-ment. The key in keeping young people peaceful and not violent is differentiating between what is safe and controlled, and what is unsafe and sporadic. If people, be it young or old, can watch a fi ght, and know that these are trained professionals, and that the inju-ries are real then maybe teenage violence would not be as big of a problem as it currently is.

The irony of teenage love

Inherent Violence

Smackdown - What is the appeal?

By Dominic Contreras

Staff Writer

Staff WriterBy Steven Li

December is time a of celebra-tion and joy for many students, whether they celebrate Christ-mas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or other holidays. For Wiccans like VPA Senior, Ashley Lambert, this is no different. In fact, the Wiccan holiday,Yule, has many traditions in common with Christmas: dec-orated trees, carolling, presents, and mistletoe. “Yule celebrates the Winter Sol-stice, the day of the year with the shortest daytime and the longest night,” said Ashley. The actual Winter Solstice var-ies by a few days every year, but it usually occurs around or on the 21st of December. Yule, which dates back to old Celtic paganism, focuses on rebirth and hope. On this darkest of nights, the God-dess becomes the Great Mother and the Sun God is reborn. Today, Wiccans celebrate Yule

by decorating a special ever-green tree. This tradition comes from the old times when pagans went into the forest and gave offerings to evergreens during the Winter Solstice. Pines and fi rs are symbols of vitality and renewed hope because they re-main green in winter when other trees lose their leaves and appear lifeless. “Instead of putting ornaments on my tree, I place candles,” said Ashley. “It’s really beautiful.” The hanging of wreaths of ev-ergreen, ivy, and holly are also Yule traditions. The wreath’s cir-cle represents the “wheel” of the year and completion of another cycle. Yule actually comes from the Anglo-saxon word “Yula,” meaning “wheel.” Like ever-greens, holly is a symbol of hope because they alone bore berries in the midst of winter. The oldest Yule tradition is the burning of the Yule log. It is one of the most celebrated customs by Wiccans today. Traditionally,

an oak or holly log was burned on the eve of Yule for twelve days to hurry the return of the sun. The remaining pieces of the log were kept as symbols of protection for the year ahead. Today, Wiccans often decorate a small log with candles, instead of traditionally burning an oak log. Also, some Wiccans represent the Yule log by baking a cake in the shape of a log and placing candles in it. “We celebrate Yule almost like Christmas,” said Ashley. “We put presents under our tree, have a family dinner, and throw cel-ebrations. It’s simply about peo-ple being together. Despite the differences in tra-ditions for the different holidays students and their families cel-ebrate, they all mean something special to each and every per-son. “Yule is a period of calm and relaxation for me,” said Ashley. “I sit down and observe nature and how everything exists in harmony.”

Winter vacation: a recipe for fun

Not quite the Yule ball

The best part about spending the holidays with your families is eat-ing. Not the presents, not the fam-ily time, but the grub. That’s the part that everyone looks forward to. By now, you all probably have your own set recipe to a holiday feast but, in case you want switch it up this year, here are some sug-gestions: For all you Hanukah celebra-tors out there latkas, or potato pancakes, is a traditional dish that you will most likely see on your table this year. Make them with:

Features EditorBy Lara Hickox

-4 potatoes-an onion-1 tsp. salt-1/2 tsp. white pepper -1/2 tsp. baking powder -1 Tbsp. all-purpose fl our - And a tad of vegetable oilGrate the potatoes and onion and stick them in a large bowl along with the egg, salt, pepper, fl our and baking powder. Next pour out all the goodies from the bowl into a big pan with the vegetable oil in it. Fry your latkas and fl atten them with a spoon for about 4 to 5 minutes each, until they turn to a nice golden brown. Unless you life your latkas greasy, dry them with a paper towel before serving them with apple sauce, sour cream, sugar, or any other dip of your choice.

Yule Log - The Yule log is a part of the Yule tradition, much like the Christmas tree.

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The other recipe I’d like to share with you is an Irish tradi-tion. Irish soda bread calls for:-3 cups all-purpose fl our -1 tbsp. baking powder -1/3 cup white sugar -1 tsp. of salt -1 tsp. baking soda -1 egg -2 cups buttermilk -1/4 cup of melted butter -First preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. -Then grease a pan to put the combined fl our, baking pow-der, sugar, salt and baking soda. -Blend the egg and buttermilk together, and add the fl our mixture. -Mix just until it’s nice and moist and stir in the butter. -Pour it all into the pan. - And all that’s left to do is bake it for about an hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the bread comes out clean.

Take the time over the holi-days to bond with your friends or family and make these delicious treats, you won’t regret it. If none of these recipes appeal to you, then stick with what you know best: if you are Cuban have arroz

con pollo and lechon, if you are American bake some apple and pumpkin pies this year, or, if you share the same taste as Jonathon Acosta, an IB Senior, you’ll enjoy Coca-Cola, meatballs and ensala-da de pina over the holidays.

And fi nally, we have dessert, -1 unbaked 9-inch deep-dish pie shell-3 large eggs-1 cup light corn syrup-1/2 cup granulated sugar-1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine, melted-1 teaspoon vanilla extract-1 Cup pecan halves, coarsely chopped-3/4 Cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks Combine eggs, corn syrup, sugar, butter and vanilla extract in medium bowl with a wire whisk. Stir in pecans. Sprinkle chunks over bottom of crust. Pour pecan mixture into pie shell. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until knife inserted 2 inches from center comes out with little bits of fi lling attached. If browning too quickly, cover with foil. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours; refrigerate until serving time.

Cultural fl avors are deep fried within the Cuda population as the holidays grow closer; students are talking about what they’re do-ing for the holidays. The Reef’s population consists of students with many different cultural backgrounds that introduce to the rest of the ‘Cudas, the other, less familiar, holidays out there. Some of the more common holi-days are Christmas, Yuletide, Ha-nukkah, Kwanzaa, Three Kings Day, Japanese New Year, and Bodhi Day. A lot of people here at the reef have traditions for the different holidays. “The week before Christmas ev-eryone opens a gift, and then on Christmas day we all open about 6 more gifts. We then go to church and have a big dinner,” said IB freshman, Altamese Hamilton. “Since most of my friends aren’t Jewish, I get my friends to come over either the fi rst or last day of Hanukkah and exchange presents. We usually play Dreidel for Gelt.I like the fact that I am Jewish be-cause it is not common, since a lot of my friends are Christian, it’s nice to be different,” said Agri-science senior, Kimberly Prince. In most of these holidays, there are some terms or words that some people might use, that oth-ers won’t understand if they don’t celebrate that holiday. Here are some words/terms to fi ll you in on some of the things that one might hear around the holidays.

• Dreidel- a four-sided top that has the Hebrew letters nun, gimel, he, and shin, one on each side, a game usually played during the Hanuk-kah festival. • Menorah- A nine branched candle holder. Jews light one candle everyday for eight days, and it symbolizes that when the Maccabees needed oil, but they only had very little left, it ended up lasting them for eight days. • Shabbat- Also known as Sabbath, it was the 7th day of creation, and it is the day of rest. • Chag Sameach- Means happy holidays in He-brew.

• Mishumaa- The seven candles of Kwanzaa. They represent seven prin-ciples. • Kinara- The candle holder. It rep-resents the stalk from which all life springs.• Karamu- the name for the feast of Kwanzaa.• Mkeka- A straw mat. All of the other symbols of Kwanzaa are put on top of it.

• Shogatsu- New Years • Oomisoka- New Years Eve. • Hatsumoude- Shrine or a temple.• koma-mawashi- Spinning tops

For many families, some of their relatives or friends come home for the holidays, which is always something to look forward too. “I get to be with my family. Since a lot of them are in college, I don’t get to see them that much,” said IB freshman, Andy Mills. “Three Kings Day is a big re-union, everyone comes over and we have a big feast. People who are Jehovah’s Witness get a pres-ent. It is probably one of the only holidays we celebrate,” said legal junior, Alex Quinoa. A lot of students in the school celebrate more then one holiday at a time such as Christmas and Ha-nukkah, Kwanzaa and Christmas, or any other fun combination.

Hanukkah

Kwanzaa

Japanese New Year• Bethlehem - A small town in Judea near Jerusalem, where King David was born and the birthplace of Jesus.• Boxing Day - The day after Christ-mas day when presents are given to extended family and friends.• Tinsel - Long strands of glittery pa-per used as Christmas Decorations.• Xmas - Abbreviation for Christmas, which comes from the Greek word for Christ, ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ, as the New Testa-ment was written in Greek. Many mis-takenly believe Xmas to be an informal abbreviation.• Yule - Ancient pagan festival on December 21st, celebrating the Winter Solstice and the coming of spring. Lat-er it merged with, and became synony-mous with, the Christmas celebration.

Christmas

A variety of holiday cheerKept alive throughout the year

By Gabriella Kertesz & Kimberly Kerrick

Staff members

And I want a pony... Let us observe what the ‘Cuda Family is hoping to recieve over their holiday.

Senior Class1.

To get acceptance letters from their college of choice.

2.A laptop, one that will come in handy at that college

3. Money, its not just our imagination that things are getting more and more ex-pensive.

4.

5.

6.

7.For those of us who have cars, accessories are on the list.

For those of us who don’t, we’d prefer a car.. nothing fancy.

Finally, a digital camera to pre-serve our last year at the Reef forever.

Clothes, a new year calls for a new style.

Under Classmen1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Money is a more pressing is-sue for underclassmen, no job?

The iPod Nano is well liked as well, no watch-ing movies in class!

A car please!

New clothes, got to keep up with the se-niors!

D i g i t a l C a m e r a , got to start the scrap-books.

A laptop, PCs are so pasé.

By Karina PecinaStaff Writer

Staff WriterBy Karina Pecina

New team strategy: go big or go home This year’s varsity basketball team holds true to great leader-ship, hard work and team work. Many had doubts about this year’s basketball team but the team members have been certain to dispel that doubt by starting off the season 2-0. Starters for this year’s season are: Steven Lopez as point guard, Jerron Grandberry as the small forward, George Saunders as the small guard, Nick Agress as the power forward and last but not least, Andrew Bekkevold as cen-ter. After last year’s blow with a 5-19 season, things are looking up for the Barracuda basketball team. “We have a great team this year. If we continue to work together, we will go far,” said Engineering senior Eduardo Feliz, forward. A lot of confi dence is expressed by the team thanks to great team work and chemistry. “This year we are really close as a team. There are no clicks. It’s all about the success of the team,” said VPA senior Nick Agress. “As a team we have great com-munication and bond like broth-

ers,” said Business sophomore Jerron Grandberry. Practice seems to be paying off for the team. Saturday practices along with late night drills may be tedious and stressful, but the team seems to think it is worth it to see the season start off with great success. The Varsity Basketball team started off with a preseason loss, but came back with three straight wins. This year’s team is well rounded, players do not only play one position, they rotate, some-times up to three positions! Playing the fi rst preseason game against South Miami put every-thing into perspective for the guys. “It was a tough loss but it showed that Coral Reef is going to be a team to beat this year,” said Engineering sophomore Ste-ven Lopez. There isn’t one super star on the team, there are many. Each player contributes tremendously in their own way. Against Coral Park, Nick Agress scored 19 points while against Braddock, Steven Lopez scored 18. Jerron Grand-berry was able to put 26 on the

board for the Barracudas. There is an extraordinary amount of talent found throughout the entire team. It is not completely based on one person. The team’s confi dence, goals and perseverance all stem from their Head Coach, Harry Gordon. The head coach for the ‘Cuda Basketball team since 2004. “He has really turned this pro-gram around. Now we have a winning team,” said Nick. “Coach is a funny guy. He is a good coach and cares for the team. He would do anything and everything for the team,” said Engineering senior Charles Stad-mire. Since their 2-0 start, the Varisty Basketball team is now 4-4 with a huge win over Southridge. The team’s fi rst win against the Spar-tons in ‘Cuda history. “It was a great feeling because it shows that we are a really good team. Maybe people will stop doubting us now,” said IB Junior Andrew Bekkevold. Come out in your black, teal, and silver and support our basket-ball team, they promise to make some noise and not disappoint.

‘CudaTude - Player Steven Lopez showing off that ‘Cuda pride

be fi nished because a lot of girls on the team took time out dur-ing the summer to help paint and the rest of the fi eld never got fi n-ished. Now a lot of games have to be played far away and friends and family can’t come to support the team. Before we would go to Richmond Heights and practice and 2 years before I remembered the boys would go practice and play at Three Lakes,” said Legal senior Leyla Castillo. The peeling paint was a problem, the weeds that grew in the fi elds and were never cut, the dry grass in the fi eld that could catch or cut the players was a problem. “This will now be a major up-grade for our school after ten years, the texture, the integrity, the better playing conditions, and the lovely facilities will come to-gether to make our outdoor sports fi elds the best for our players,” said Baseball Coach Bisceglia. To the coaches this major sig-nifi cant investment was the best for parents and students. “Safety seems to be another is-sue of the old fi elds. I am glad that the players got newly remodeled fi elds because their safety was a major issue against them with the old fi elds,” said Football Coach C.J Singleton. Our sports teams need to be re-warded for their hard work and dedication, and these new fi elds are their pay off for the hard work they have contributed to making our school sports shine. Keep up the hard work because there are more rewards to come.

New FieldCont. from Pg.1

Next generation: Hardware

Gaming Galore

By Karl Castaneda

By Alan Bonilla

Tech Editor

Staff Writer

Every fi ve or so years heralds the start of a new generation of video game consoles; 2006 is no differ-ent. With the release of Sony’s Playstation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii joining Microsoft’s Xbox 360 (de-buted in 2005), a brand new cycle has commenced. Unfortunately, choosing between them isn’t easy. Each machine is radically differ-ent from each other from a tech-nical standpoint – far more than before – and can be confusing to potential consumers. Recently, Nintendo Co. Ltd. be-gan distributing the Wii, which eschews state-of-the-art comput-ing and graphics power for a more mainstream price ($249.99). Un-like Sony and Microsoft, whose controllers are basically updated replicas of their last-gen counter-parts, the Wii features a completely new and innovative way to play video games. Included with every retail unit is a remote control, not unlike the one you’ve got in your living room, with a D-Pad, a few buttons, and an un-derside trigger. What really sets this odd-ity apart is that it can pinpoint its location in 3-D space as well as measure velocity. These features are known as “motion

controls.” Want to jump over a large canyon? Tilt the remote forward to run, and when you’re ready, fl ick upward to clear the gap. Playing the latest NHL title? Re-enact a slapshot just like in real life. Of course, while this is well-suited to most genres, some gam-ers may prefer a more traditional layout, which is why there’s a port at the bottom of the remote. Add-ons, attached by a cord of about two and a half feet, can be plugged right in to allow for different play experiences. Included with every console is a nuchaku (named as such for its resemblance to the weapon) attachment, which can best be described as the left side of any conventional pad (an ana-log stick and two triggers). Fur-ther emphasizing the importance of motion sensors, this attach-ment can also sense velocity, but

cannot pinpoint its location. At the end of the day, Nintendo’s new console is being marketed for its potential. From a specifi ca-tions standpoint, there’s nothing re-markable about it. Instead, this new controller is being billed as the next leap in gameplay philosophy at a price most fami-lies can afford. Only time will

tell if Nintendo can succeed, but you can bet it’ll be an interesting show. On the opposite side of the spec-trum is Sony Corp.’s Playstation 3. Whereas the former prides itself in its accessibility, the PS3 can be seen as the ultimate in high-end gadgetry. At a whopping $600, it’s not exactly something you pick up on a whim, but Sony’s banking on its specs to lure in consumers and maintain their grip on market leadership. Below its shiny exterior lies the Cell chip, a sev-en-core proces-sor from IBM optimized for m u l t i - t a s k i n g with ease, al-lowing for more advanced phys-ics and larger worlds to be ren-dered at once. On the visual side, NVidia volunteered the exclusive RSX graphics card designed to perfectly complement the Cell. According to Sony, only a super-powered console like the PS3 can deliver games in 1080p (the stan-dard for high-defi nition). What really drives the price up, however, lies in the optical drive. If you read the last issue of Bait-line, then you know all about Blu-Ray, Sony’s next-generation me-dia format, being able to hold up to 50 GB on a dual-layered disk.

This was supposedly added so that bigger games would be able to fi t on a single disk (competing plat-forms can only fi t 9 GB), but it’s easy to see that the PS3 is a Trojan Horse to get Blu-Ray into living rooms to compete with HD-DVD (the other contender for high-def optical media), not Microsoft or Nintendo. Still, the advantages of being able to store so much are apparent, and will likely be found as a convenience for software

developers wary of compressing their titles onto relatively minis-cule formats. In an attempt to capitalize on the positive recep-tion of the re-mote in the Wii, Sony announced that their next machine would also have motion sensors. It should be noted that the controller itself is identical to the

PS2’s Dual Shock, and can only boast tilt sensor, hardly as ad-vanced as Nintendo’s offer. If you can afford it, the Playsta-tion 3 is an alluring machine. One can only hope gamers will be able to take advantage of its power. The last player at bat is Micro-soft’s Xbox 360. Since its debute in 2005, it’s been aiming straight for fi rst place, not only by launch-ing fi rst, but by securing games that were once exclusive to the Playstation brand. Even though its hardware is a year behind, it’s

becoming increasingly obvious that it can stand up to the PS3 in most regards. Powered by the Xenon CPU chip, another multi-core proces-sor from IBM, the Xbox 360 can best be described as a Power Mac G5 on steroids. If you’ve seen screenshots of Epic’s Gears of War, then you’ve seen only the tip of the iceberg as far as what Microsoft’s wonder-machine can accomplish. For the Xbox, the story ends there – there’s no shift in control or media format to push – just a powerful machine with a tradi-tional gamepad. As strange as it sounds, this may end up working in their favor. It can push games much further than the Wii can from a specifi cations point of view, and retails for $400 putting it in between Nintendo and Sony, price-wise. Gamers looking for the horsepower of the next gen-eration without the PS3’s daunt-ing price tag don’t have anywhere else to look but Microsoft, espe-cially since their year-long lead has allowed for more advanced titles to come down the pipe at a time when competitors are still trying to fi nd their feet. And there you have it: three very different competitors with three very different machines. Until 2011, when we’re all counting down the days for the release of the PS4 and Xbox 720 and what-ever the heck Nintendo’s calling their next console, these are the machines that are going to shape the industry, and each should have some absolutely fantastic games.

Wiimote - The Wii brings with it this mo-tion sensitive controller

Playstation 3 - Sony’s latest, and very shiny, release.

The video game war has been going on since we were young, the competition now spiking to new heights. With the arrival of the new systems by Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony, the next gen-eration of games should attract tons of new gamers. Microsoft is known for many memorable games; this year they are planning on maintaining that fame. With the debut of the XBOX 360, Microsoft has pro-duced new games whos reviews turned out to be outstanding, not only for game play but also for plot and graphics; and Microsoft won’t stop there. If everything goes as plans Halo 3 will be released for the XBOX 360 in May 2007. In this new edi-tion, you play as a soldier fi ght-ing for the survival of humanity against an alien group known as The Covenant. The game fea-tures all new visuals and incred-ible detail, not only for the main character, but also to the environ-ment. This edition of the Halo series also includes an all-new arsenal of weapons, vehicles and enemies. Not only will the gamer have to worry about the life of the character he/she is playing as but

also the entire fate of the Earth. More into racing than saving the earth? Forza Motorsport 2 is for you. Forza Motorsport 2 is a rac-ing game where you can custom-ize over 300 cars and race them on dozens of tracks. In this game players will have to watch their driving because every action af-fects their car’s performance. Are you heavy on the brakes? Then you will need to get them changed or else your stopping dis-tance will be i n c r e d i b l y long. Or how about your tires? Taking sharp turns at over 100 miles per hour can cause prob-lems; players will have to constantly be aware of every as-pect of their vehicle. Microsoft is a strong competitor in the console wars, but there is stiff competition. Nintendo was one of the fi rst names to bring a personal console into the household. Now with

the Wii, Nintendo is bringing out some heavy hitting video games to beat out the competition and make sure that everyone remem-bers who the original gamers are. Nintendo is also known for pro-ducing great games with their new consoles, such as Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii. Super Smash Bros. allows gamers to re-lease their fury in a series of hand to hand combat with one another.

In this ver-sion of the Super S m a s h Bros. se-ries, play-ers will be given the option of select-ing the character they wish to fi ght with and with each character comes an

all new set of fi ghting

styles and abilities. The creators of the game have also introduced an all new aspect to the game that allows the gamer to unleash power moves to devastate com-petition. Nintendo is also releasing anoth-er heavy hitter on the Nintendo

Wii called Metroid Prime 3: Cor-ruption. Gamers play as a female bounty hunter named Samus Aran fi ghting to maintain control of a world called Base Sector Zero, a military stronghold for the Ga-lactic Federation, from a group of alien space pirates and a sinis-ter and powerful clone of Samus called Dark Samus. The Wii will utilize the systems new wireless motion sensor controls to control every aspect from Samus’s move-ments, to the pointing and shoot-ing of her weapons. This feature of the Wii will put players into the action, making it seem as if the gamer is there without having to get shot at. Although the Wii offers interac-tive gameplay wherein the gamer can experience the action fi rst-hand, there’s another game con-sole system that Nintendo will have to watch out for. Sony is also in the race to create the next generation of games. So it has brought in Capcom, a third party partner Sony has found to be very successful. Devil May Cry 4 coming to the PS3, will al-low gamers to continue to play as Dante and continue to fi ght against the Holy Knights to fulfi ll his birthright. But along with the original character, gamers will be introduced to new faces such as Nero, a cynical warrior moving up the ranks in his order, who be-gins to question his loyalty to the

Elite Sec., which drives him to the darker side. In this epic game players continue their fi ght as Dante yielding swords, and guns but are also given all new abilities to continue the fi ght against the Holy Knights. In the continuation to another epic series by Konami, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patri-ots, takes players into the futuris-tic fi ght as Solid Snake. Do not let the aging war veteran appearance fool you, Snake is still the com-bat driven soldier he always was in the previous installments, only this time with the technological improvements to his armor, giv-ing it active camoufl age, Snake can now sneak up on his enemies better than ever. But even with this upgrade to Snake’s gear, we can be sure that he will face even more fearsome enemies than be-fore and will be met by previ-ous characters such as Revolver Ocelot, Meryl Silverburg, Naomi Hunter and Raiden. This new in-stallment to the Metal Gear series is bound to create realistic and unique environments along with action packed game play. Shooters, Racing, RPGs, Sports - the list is endless, and the amount of games that Microsoft, Ninten-do, and Sony will come out for their new systems is just as long; Competition will be fi erce for the next couple of years and gamers will soak up the new technology.

Something for all - The XBOX 360 offers an option for gamers.

Improvement in the class of ‘09By Jennifer Rowe

News Editor

Priide of ‘09 - Luisa Santos displays her loyalty to Class of ‘09.

Talent put to good useStaff Writer

By Rashielle Teape

An exotic trip to Africa is merely a dream for many people. But for-tunately for Coral Reef Student and Agriscience senior Paul Dol-lar, he will have the opportunity to realize that dream. Paul will be jetting off to South Africa in only a few months time. But it won’t be the expected magnifi cent and luxurious trip to Africa. Now what could Paul have done to be so lucky as to win a trip the South Africa? He entered the Vir-gin Mobile Re*Generation Cell Phone Charm Contest, which was sponsored by Virgin Mobile USA and Virgin Unite, YouthNoise and StandUp for Kids, mainly in hopes of winning points and free items from Virgin Mobile. But sometimes, talent and time can also spark a genius creation. Paul Dollar, your average high school student, never fully believed he would actually win the grand prize, until he did. “I really didn’t think it was even possible for me to win,” said Paul. “I just entered and pretty much forgot about it. When I found out that I had won, I couldn’t believe

it.” His awesome design features a pair of hands (in fact, they were his own hands), grasping an illu-minated blue globe. “This design represents the pos-session of individual energy and power to change the world,” said Paul. The Miami Herald has also fea-tured Paul and commended him on his cool and intriguing charm design. This is no small scale achievement. “Being interviewed by The Her-ald was really weird,” said Paul. “The reporter was a very typical newspaper reporter, just like you see in the movies. It was awk-ward but I was really enthusiastic about it.” As for the grand prize, saying that Paul is eager and excited would be an understatement. The $6,000 “Wake Up” trip to South Africa will give him a chance to see how the other half lives. Paul will have the opportunity to infl u-ence the lives of those who are less fortunate. During the week he will be in Africa, Paul plans on visiting South African orphanages, the Alps, and of course, helping out the children in need. Needless to

say, he will be sure to capture his amazing experience on fi lm. His father, Robert Dollar will accom-pany him on the trip. “I’d take my mother, but she’s too emotional,” said Paul. “She would want to take home all of the poor orphan children and adopt them forever, or donate all her money toward them.” Speaking of donations, Paul has decided that he will bring along money that he has saved and his own personal items that the chil-dren would need or want. Also, the cell phone charms fea-turing Paul Dollar’s design, that Virgin Mobile plans on producing and selling, will also be helping out a special cause. The profi ts made from the charms will go to-wards homeless teenagers in the United States. Paul has also been lucky enough to receive 300 cop-ies of the charms featuring his de-sign to distribute as he pleases to close friends and family. “Although it’s not an average cause for something like AIDS or Cancer, it’s special,” said Paul. “I’m really glad to be helping out any cause that’s worthwhile.”ial,” said Dollar. “I’m really glad to be helping out any cause that’s worthwhile.”

UNIQUE DESIGN - Paul Dollar’s creative talent will help him to make a difference.

Dedication, admiration and loy-alty only begin to describe Luisa Santos. Not only is she humble and modest, but as president of the ’09 class she has dedicated almost all of her time and taken every opportunity to help to make this the class of ’09 have a better year than the last. “As mostly everyone knows, last year wasn’t a very active year for our class. That is exactly why there’s not much to put under our

history. Now, this year will be a completely different story,” said Luisa Santos, the current presi-dent of ’09 in the Business Acad-emy. As most of the sophomores know, Luisa has helped put to-gether most of everything that has been happening for their class this year. From organizing school trips, such as the recent one taken to Halloween Horror Night (as well as another upcoming trip in the Spring), organizing class ac-tivities, and managing to keeping up with her own academics; Lu-isa has proven to be one strong,

admirable student. From the beginning of winning her election, she has made it quite clear that she is more than indom-itable in her actions to unify and lead the class of ’09 in a the best way possible. But Luisa’s goal is not to plan more class trips, or manufacture new class shirts each year; her focus is to being the class of ‘09 together as a whole instead of having apparent factions. “We’re all scattered in this class. When it comes time for gradua-tion, I want us to all graduate as one class rather than as separate cliques,” said Luisa.

Raising school spirit is also a primary objective for her to suc-ceed in. By unifying the class in an innovative and fun way, she will be sure to give ‘09-ers the years at Reef they’ve been dream-ing of and running their class the way they like. “She is an amazing president who puts a lot of effort into what she does for our class. She works really hard in order to make us all happy,” said legal sophomore Ka-trina Restani. Yet, Luisa states that all of her accomplishments can’t be done without the help of her commit-tee. Brittany Roberts, Vice Presi-dent, Blake Bauer, Secretary, and Alex Masi, Treasure. “Work and making everything happen would be impossible with-out Luisa,” said Medical sopho-more Brittany Roberts. “That’s why we need more people to get involved and recognize all the great things she’s done for us.” However not everyone in the sophomore class seems to realize all the hard work she has put in to making everything possible. “Everyone needs to get involved more because there is always

room for improvement,” said VPA sophomore and treasure Alex Masi. Nonetheless, Luisa has proven to be a great president for her class. By organizing all the meetings, speaking to Mrs. Martinez as well as their class sponsor Mr. Carter on her own time, raising funds for future activities, planning dif-ferent projects and ideas, as well sending messages to all of the ’09 class she has established her pres-ence in trying to make these all possible. In spite of that, Luisa cannot make any of this possible without the help of the rest of the class. “For more information on what’s going on, they can always visit www.crclassof09.tripod.com the offi cial website, or www.myspace.com/crclassof09, or even e-mail her via school e-mail or crclass09@yahoo.com. Email me with any suggestions or comments you guys have. Re-member I’m here for you!” said Luisa, enthusiastically inviting all of ‘09 to be involved. Class of ’09, this is your opportunity to in-put your ideas.

Elysium, Coral Reef’s very own literary and art magazine, is due to start its campaign for the school year of 2006-2007 any minute now. The magazine started off as a website created by a Coral Reef Student, Raphael Rivero, two years ago as a project for his ITGS class. The following year, a student on the staff had the bright idea of publishing a magazine to go along with the website. Al-though the magazine was distrib-uted among the student body for a small price last year, this year it will be coming to Coral Reef en-tirely free of charge with the sole intention of exposing interested students to artistic and creative expression. The team of editors works all year long to compile worthy works of art in poetry, prose, photography, painting, sculpting, cinematography, drawing, pottery and any other art form you can think of. To make the narrowing

down of all these choices a bit easier, a literary staff, wet and dry staff, media staff, photogra-phy staff, layout staff, technology staff, and promotions staff have been elected. But when determin-ing who makes the fi nal cut, the Elysian team as a whole sits down and votes on which submissions were most extraordinary. After this step, the rest is history. They set about creating and print-ing the magazine so they can dis-tribute it to happy faces, waiting to see what surprises the maga-zine has in store for them, by the end of the year. There is a problem this year, however, with the number of students submitting work. It is almost mid-year and there has not been nearly as many students eager to get their work published compared to previous years. IB Senior and Editor-in-Chief of Elysium, Cecile McLorin-Salvant believes “we have a lot of talent in our school” but that for some reason or another people are re-luctant to submit their work.” To encourage more students to

Elysium: honing the artsFeatures Editor

By Lara Hickox share their work with the rest of us, the Elysium staff plans on ad-vertising the magazine extensively at Coral Reef this year. They will also be hosting a writing competi-tion, where the winner gets a cash prize and automatically published in Elysium, in hopes of providing a little more motivation for the talented students at our school not to be shy. Why should you show off your work to others, you ask? “Artistic expression is a neces-sity,” said Cecile. Like many others out there, she shares a love for creation, and is in constant search for a means of getting “the abstract notions that are fl oating around in her head into a song, poem, drawing or what have you. Cecile encourages everyone who feels the need to express them-selves to submit work because, in her opinion, “When you have a talent, when you have something beautiful, you shouldn’t keep it to yourself but rather give it to the world and let other people get something from it.”

Fliers - The Elysium staff has posted fl iers around the school to gain student’s interest.

Greig Coetzee (pronounced “Greg ‘could-see-a’”) has for ten years traveled the world doing original one-man shows, semi-nars, and experiencing life on the way. Not that he lacks experi-ence: Greig grew up in the vio-lent post-apartheid atmosphere in South Africa’s capital city, where he had to learn independence and, more importantly, where he acquired that funny accent, an eclectic mélange of Dutch, Cock-ney, and guttural Afrikaans that includes the standard differences in vocabulary, such as calling fl ip-fl ops “slops.” In his youth, Greig was alone for the most part in his passion for theater, South African society being preoccupied with racism, corruption, and general turmoil. Therefore, he learned what theat-rical technique he knows by him-self, making his acting and writ-ing styles very unique and very, very good. Greig was drafted into the South African military for several years, which, even if you never saw a fi ght, was an adventure in itself: the medics were often junkies due to the access they had to many prescription drugs, so whenever a soldier needed a shot of some sort, he would be risking his own health. Greig has since written a controversial play about that part of his life, “White Men with Weapons.” Standing in front of fresh 9th and 10th graders in the black box the-ater on behalf of the new Carnival Center in downtown, jet-lagged from having traveled 8 time zones from Johannesburg at the south-ern tip of Africa, and insisting on not wearing any shoes, Greig

Coetzee prepares to perform ex-cerpts from his various one-man shows. Not having been formally trained, his manifold characters easily charm the audience with their hilarious honesty and novel perspectives on everyday life. The fi rst character, for example, is a slightly bitter man standing at his mother’s grave, snidely catching her up on his love life. All his pieces are riddled with ec-centricities like distinct linguistic patterns and characteristic ticks. He uses people’s preconceived stereotypes to make the audience feel like they know the character, then fools everyone and shows a very different side of humanity. After an exuberant performance, Greig proceeds to put the students in groups and shows an impres-

sively systematic knowledge of writing a play, including the ex-act methodology of setting the locations, time periods and types of storytelling. Two hours later, the underclass Drama students leave the black box having been enriched by the unusual acting styles they have been exposed to and ready to write a well-rounded one-man show Greig Coetzee was brought to Coral Reef by Deanna Costa, the theatrical Producer at the Carnival Center. She and her colleagues bring fl amenco, West African music, local art, and many other artistic distinctions to schools around the county. The workshop was at no cost to the school, mak-ing the artist and his work more accessible to students.

A talented appearanceStaff Writer

By Gabriel Schichi

Talented role-model - Mr. Coetzee portrays 13 charac-ters in his piece Men Back Home.

Held annually, the Amnesty In-ternational fi lm festival seeks to inspire awareness of international suffering through fi lms and hope-fully spark the desire to take an active and adamant part in bring-ing an end to such unnecessary torment. This year’s fi lm festival included “Born into Brothels,” a movie which centers around the children of those women of the brothels, and “Tsotsi,” whose title means “thug” in South Africa. But what is Amnesty Interna-tional? It is an international polit-ical movement birthed to defend and protect basic human rights. The chapter of Amnesty Interna-tional present in our school is, in fact, a registered chapter of the offi cial organization, rather than an offshoot of the movement. Relentlessly and righteously, Amnesty International has been striving for human rights and seeking help from Coral Reef kids since before the graduating class of 2007 had even reared their innocent little heads into the Reef. The organization itself was founded during the latter part of this century by a man who later won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on Amnesty International. Still upcoming is an event with which Amnesty International is not directly involved with, but in which Amnesty International’s members will be helping to orga-nize and participating. “Dance for Darfur” is a community service project run by Martine Powers, IB senior and President of the Amnesty International chapter at

Coral Reef. At the dance, couples will raise sixty dollars by dancing for six hours, the proceeds will go to the Save Darfur Coalition. Amnesty’s accomplishments don’t stop at the arts. Around Hal-loween the club brought “Trick or Treat for UNICEF” to the reef, a fund raiser which raised over two hundred dollars for UNICEF. Club members also regularly write letters to foreign govern-ments pleading for the lives of political prisoners. Their next project involves sending holiday cards to fi ve po-litical prisoners around the world in hopes of bringing cheer into their, doubtlessly, cheerless lives. Also organized was an in-school protest in response to President Bush’s torture bill. Members as-sembled in the front courtyard facing the main courtyard. They had black scarves tied around their heads to look like the bags placed over torture victims’ heads, their wrists tied behind their backs with duct tape to look like hand-cuffs, and one letter on each per-son’s black shirt so that standing in line, they read “Stop Torture”. “I think that Amnesty Interna-tional is a really important orga-nization simply because it seeks to confront problems with a more direct solution. Organizations that strive to-wards things like a cure for HIV or cancer are equally important, no doubt at all... but we are born with human rights and when they’re taken away, there’s no waiting for a cure... the cure is al-ready there- fi ght for those rights to return,” said Martine

Amnesty International appeals through the arts

Staff WriterBy Carla Rodriguez

The Show Fliers went up, auditions went down, the talented were picked, and the show was on its way. The fi nal Reef’s Best spon-sored by the class of 2007 shocked all in attendance last Wednesday. This year’s show drew in crowds like never before, the doors were closed before the production started, leaving many outside and ticket-less. Luckily, the performers did not disappoint the massive crowd who showed up to watch them. Never before has the Reef’s Best incorporated such different talents; Andhy Mendez’s stand up comedy performance as well as the Super Mario Skit performed by David Roberts and company, proved to be refreshing changes from the monot-ony of music competitors. Winning fi rst place was an original performance by Paul Dollar and Lisa Upthegrove who tied glow sticks to shoe laces and put on quite a show; second place went to David Robert’s Mario Skit which had the audience laughing up a storm; fi nally, third place went to the dancing group “Stello” who shocked the audience with their white ski masks. Never before has the crowd been so pleased with the winners. “I was happiest with the winners this year than any other year, I felt like the audience really approved,” said Class of ’07 Class President and Reef’s Best founder Brett Warner.Behind the scenes Behind the scenes is where all the good stuff takes place. Take note of the following if you consider continuing Reef’s Best underclassmen. Planning for the show begins the fi rst day of school when Brett reserves the auditorium, well in advance so as to secure a spot. Then, in August he shovels out a mountain of paperwork necessary for the show to take place. Finally, a month before auditions things pick up. People are recruited to help with the advertising and choosing of performers, security is high-ered, fl iers are put up, announcements are made, the actual show is planned, and every last motion is checked and double checked to make sure the show can go on. After performers are chosen it is important to keep up with them to make sure they don’t drop out, and yet still last minute drop outs occur. “Every year we have drop outs only hours before the show even though we make performers sign a contract, this year was no different. It’s important to be behind the performers every step of the way to make sure they are dedicated, but you never know what obstacles will crop up at the last minute. When a performer backs down it means a change in all of the stage direction information, this year I found myself retyping the list of performers merely an hour before the show because of so many changes, “ said Brett. The day of the show, rehearsals are held immediately after school and don’t end until about half an hour before the doors are opened. ’07 committee members and Tri-T volunteers stay to help make sure everything runs smoothly and no during-show surprises occur. “Working the sound booth is extremely hectic, you can’t stop for a second or someone’s performance gets ruined because of you. There were a slew of technical diffi culties to be dealt with during rehearsal and even during the show, hopefully no one noticed,” said IB senior and Tri-T member Rebecca Gallo. The end of the Best So, this could be it for the Reef’s best. Originally Brett began this show to have something big and exciting for the class of ’07 and the school alike to look forward to. While he does not believe he fulfi lled his original intentions, I think the 900 people that showed up to watch the show would beg to differ.

By Alma HaaseBy Alma Haase