The Pioneer December 2010

December 2010 • Maine East High School • Park Ridge, IllinoisThe Pioneer

Sing, Choirs of Angels! Maine East’s choir performs at the Winter Concert.

IN THIS ISSUE:

Louder Than a Lawnmower

p.3

How to have fun over break

p.9

Anatomy of an Illegal Download

p.11

Boys Basketballp.16

Page 2The Pioneer DECEMBER 2010

When the snow starts falling, the days get shorter, and Jack Frost nips at our noses, we know winter has arrived.

Our winter break is coming up in a week and what better way to cel-ebrate the excitement this past weekend than going to the Maine East Winter Concert. This concert fea-tured every level of band, orchestra, and choir stu-dents.

The teachers involved in making the performanc-es possible were Mr. Ed Eubank, Mrs. Sarah Djord-jevic, Mrs. Pamela Holt, and Mr. Benan Avci. They have worked hard since the beginning of the year to prepare their students for this exciting concert. The great effort they put in was

clearly apparent when ob-serving the reactions of the audience. Each of them had unique goals to reach and different ways of attaining them.

Mrs. Djordjevic, the orchestra teacher, has been working with all three or-chestras to make sure each group mastered its music.

“I think that the or-chestra students are really working hard to play a very challenging concert pro-gram for the Winter Con-cert,” Djordjevic said. “The music that they are working on requires many advanced string techniques, a power-ful sound, and the ability to play delicately and beauti-fully as well.”

Mrs. Djordjevic has a lot of faith in her students and truly believes that they can accomplish almost anything. Her hard work

proved itself with the won-derful applause after her conducted pieces.

Mrs. Holt, the band teacher, was also hard at work keeping her loud and strong bunch truly phe-nomenal.

“Each piece selected for the two ensembles is intended to highlight the group’s strengths, help them advance existing skills, as well as build new skills,” said Holt. “These skills can range from a specific instrument tech-nique (like a clarinet lip gliss), larger musical orga-nizational concept (simple versus compound meter), or the musical style of a certain time period or com-poser (folk versus original-ly composed pieces and the music of Gustav Holst).”

Mrs. Holt was ex-tremely proud of her stu-

By Emily Lapinski dents and couldn’t wait for their friends and families to hear what they had accom-plished.

The crowd was taken by the flawless voices lead by choir director Mr. Avci, who has been working with his choir to create a bal-anced and substantial sound with a variety of songs. The choirs performances included solos as well as group pieces that brought together the audience with common melodies.

“We’ve not only learned a variety of pieces in various languages, but we’ve worked on technique as singers, and the overall sound of the choir,” said Avci. “The process of pre-paring for a concert is more than learning a few notes. We constantly strive to im-prove as singers and as a choir whether that’s work-

ing on our support and tone in our voice or the balance of voices within the choir.” This great amount of work created a wonderful feeling for everyone and truly en-hanced the holiday spirit.

All three groups did an amazing job with their pieces. They were orga-nized, well presented, and emotionally involved in their art.

“I was amazed that this performance consisted of all high school students,” said student Anna Zajac.

Band, orchestra, and choir will all go on tour to Atlanta, Georgia in Janu-ary. Maine East is proud to send our fine arts students on their upcoming trip.

This tour , as well as our concert, shows the great ability and talent that our high school holds.

Winter Concert displays students’ talent and hard work

The Pioneer Page 3DECEMBER 2010

Last week, the sec-ond annual suburban po-etry slam “Louder Than a Lawnmower” was held at Maine East High School, an event started by one of our very own teachers, Mr. Coval.

The poetry slam con-sisted of suburban high schools whose students “competed” in reading original poetry. Judges awarded points for perfor-mance, delivery, and qual-ity, which is most impor-tant. Points were deducted if poems were longer than three minutes and if vul-gar language was used.

The slam consisted of three rounds, in which each school had a chance to send up a representa-tive, or representatives. This was no typical poetry reading. The poets did not just stand there and read something “boring,” they recited their poems with emotions, energy, and feeling.

Some preformed in groups, others a song, there were also a few com-edies, and even a group that had a beat boxer. There was such a variety of “voices”, from lovers to fighters, confused kids to adoring siblings, and even one from a stalker.

Some spoke about life experiences, others about family troubles, teenage life, high school issues, drugs, relation-ships, thoughts about so-ciety, and what inspired them. The energy of the room kept flowing and increased throughout the night and it was a very accepting and positive en-vironment. Edgar Cruz, a

senior from Maine East, said that “Louder Than a Lawnmower was my first slam, but I was really in-spired by certain people and there were some re-ally awesome poems read. I’m really glad I went.”

Eric Coval got the idea behind Louder than Lawnmower from “Loud-er Than a Bomb,” which was started by his brother Kevin Coval and a woman named Anna West.

Louder Than a Bomb was created shortly after 9/11 when the city wanted people off the streets to reduce loitering. Chicago youth was criminalized for hanging out in groups, so the slam was created to give kids an opportunity to get off the streets, meet new people, and express their feelings in a posi-tive way. What started off

with 18 teams in 2001, has turned into 60 teams in 2010.

Louder Than a Bomb was created for the inner city kids, and although suburban schools were al-lowed to join, Mr. Coval felt suburban kids should have our own slam, there-fore he created “Louder Than a Lawnmower.” He is also one of Maine East’s (and West’s) slam coaches, along with Mr. Hessert, and has been the coach for the past 9 years. Although not a “profes-sional” poet, he does run workshops.

Both of the coaches invite everyone to come out and join. The team meets every Thursday af-ter school in room 243. Congratulations to all who competed in this year’s slam – keep on inspiring!

By Aneta Karkut

Mr. Coval, founder and emcee of Louder Than a Lawnmower.

Nate Marshall, (above) a Vanderbuilt student, warmed up the crowd with his poetry.

Kevin Coval shows his brother how it’s done.

Dominika Kozoil performs her prayer to Heidi Klum.

This year’s Lawnmower a cut above


World News By Syed Matin

IranRecently, ambassa-

dorial and diplomatic ca-bles from U.S. embassies around the world were leaked by whistle-blowing site Wikileaks.org. These cables contained highly classified and controver-sial information concern-

ing countries, world lead-ers and future plans.

According to numer-ous leaked cables, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia encouraged the US to “cut off the head of the snake” and launch a military of-fensive against Iran’s supposedly underground secret nuclear facilities. While it was already ap-

parent to many political analysts that Iran’s nu-clear ambitions had been causing tensions within the Arab world, proof of such a thing was not pres-ent until now.

The leak caused dip-lomatic tensions within Arab countries and the Middle East to rise and increased the probability

of regional provocations such as the one that oc-curred on the Korean Peninsula on November 23rd, 2010. On the other hand, such a leak of clas-sified information can be useful, as it could compel countries involved to ad-dress the issue of Iranian nuclear proliferation.

PakistanAccording to recently

released classified docu-ments by whistle blow-ing site Wikileaks.org, the United States is extremely concerned about Pakistan’s nuclear program and nu-clear weapons. The secu-rity of Pakistan’s nuclear

weapons has been brought into question several times by the American media, but the issue has never been acknowledged publicly by the United States Govern-ment.

The leaks of classi-fied documents revealed that the CIA has apparently been secretly attempting to remove highly enriched

uranium from a Pakistani research reactor that the U.S. officials believe could be diverted and used in an “illicit nuclear device.” Foreign analysts believe that either the uranium was not able to be accessed due to high security, which brings into question U.S. concerns over Pakistan’s nuclear program or that

the attempt that had been undergoing since 2007 had been thwarted by the ISI, Pakistan’s intelligence agency.

Pakistan is the United State’s biggest ally in the war against terrorism and despite what may have

One of the most com-plex conflicts in the world is between the two Koreas. Recently, North Korea fired scores of artillery shells on a South Korean island, Yeonpyeong, on Novem-

ber 23, 2010, leaving four dead, including two South Korean soldiers, and de-stroying several houses on the island.

Soon after the attack, South Korean troops retali-ated with an exchange of fire. Although the damage

done to the North in the re-taliation is not fully assess-able, it is estimated that the damage was greater than that in the South.

The conflict was dif-fused very quickly as in-ternational criticism of Pyongyang soon increased.

In response to the allega-tions, Pyongyang claimed that South Korean troops started firing first, a claim that was immediately dis-missed by the international

North Korea

On December 2, 2010 Brazil took initiative as it officially announced that it recognized Palestine as a free and independent state within its 1967 borders (Pre-Six Day War). The Six-Day war was the war

in which Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza Strip territories and which are currently disputed be-tween the Israelis and the Palestinians.

The announcement not only recognized Pales-tine as a free and indepen-dent state, but also recog-

nized the West Bank and Gaza Strip as Palestinian Territory. Four days later, on December 6th, Argen-tina followed Brazil in recognizing Palestine as a free and independent state within its 1967 borders and Uruguay announced it will follow Argentina in the rec-

ognition, but will officially recognize Palestine as a free state in 2011; more coun-tries are expected to follow Argentina and Brazil.

The announcements of recognition by the two

Palestine

The current election dispute is just one of the many crises that the impov-erished Caribbean island nation of Haiti has faced in

the past year. In addition to the cholera epidemic crisis, the internally displaced ref-ugees crisis, the destruction of infrastructure crisis, and the lack of resources crisis, Haiti is facing violent riots as people claim that the re-

cent election was a fraud. According to the re-

sults, opposition front-runner and former first lady Mirlande Manigat secured 31.37 per cent of the votes polled out of 19 candi-dates and came in first in

the initial round. Popular musician Michel Martelly came in third with 21.89%, narrowly missing the sec-ond round run-off which requires first or second place in the initial round. Following the announce-

ment of the election results, thousands of Martelly's supporters took to the street in Port-au-Prince and sub-urbs, unleashing violence

Haiti

Pakistani soldiers stand in front of a nuclear-

capable ballistic missle.

President Ahmadinejad tours his country’s nuclear

facilities.

Smoke is seen on Yeon-pyeong in the moments

after the shelling.

see PALESTINE,next page

see PAKISTAN,next page

see N.KOREA,next page

see HAITI,page 13


caused the attempts to fail; the release of this infor-mation has weakened the United States’ valuable re-lations with Pakistan. This chilling of relations could prove be a blow to counter insurgency efforts in the region.

countries have drawn praise from Palestinians, but have incited anger among Israeli leaders. "This regrettable decision will not help at all to change the situation between Israel and the Pal-estinians," scolded Israeli foreign ministry spokes-man Yigal Palmor. Israel has reacted with "sadness and disappointment" to Brazil's declaration on the issue, saying it breached a 1995 agreement it had with the Palestinian Authority that any Palestinian state should only come about through mutual negotia-tions. U.S. lawmakers have also condemned Brazil's decision as "severely mis-guided" and "regrettable."

PALESTINE, fromprevious page

PAKISTAN, from previous page

1) Always travel with a friend or group of people.2) If you think someone is following you, switch directions or cross the street. If the person continues to follow, move toward an open store, restaurant or a lighted house, but never drive home.

3) Never accept rides from strangers and don’t approach unfamiliar cars.

4) Never open your door for a stranger. Report suspicious behavior to the police.5) Don’t talk about your personal information in public and try not to wear any clothing with your name on it or where your name is easily noticeable. This lets strangers identify you too easily.

6) Instead of walking home alone, it’s safer to take the bus or get a ride with a friend.

7) Always be aware of your surrounding environment and the people around you.

8) Always let family or friends know where you are going to be at all times.

9) Stay on main streets/roads where you are visible – avoid side streets where you can’t easily be seen.

10) Don’t walk or jog when streets are deserted early in the morning or late at night.

11) Always have your keys ready before approaching your door.

12) After you enter your vehicle, lock your doors immediately.

Everyone has probably already heard about the re-cent attempted abductions of three Maine East stu-dents from neighborhoods surrounding the school.

Thankfully no stu-dents were hurt in these incidents, but when things like this happen, it reminds us that the real world out there is not always as safe

as we would like or hope for it to be.

Because of the out-standing security personnel and procedures at Maine East, students and staff en-joy an extremely safe atmo-sphere within the building.

However, it is always a good idea to follow certain safety suggestions when you are outside the build-ing, to ensure that you are being as safe as possible.

“Always keep your guard up,” says Officer Kennedy. “Walk in groups, especially at night”

Also, it is interesting to note that statistically speaking, boys are just as likely to be abducted as girls, so personal safety is something that everyone should be concerned about.

“The easiest people to victimize are the ones who think they have nothing to

Recent abduction attempts are good reminders to take steps

to ensure personal safetyBy Jessica Cholewa

IMPORTANT SAFETY TIPS

worry about,” says Maine East Dean Mr. Scott Lloyd. “If you feel 100% safe, that’s dangerous, because no one is.”

“Be aware of your sur-roundings and don’t be dis-tracted,” adds Maine East Assistant Principal Mr. Dino DiLegge.

Law enforcement of-ficials also suggest the fol-lowing tips to keep yourself safe and secure:

N.KOREA, from previous page

community. The attack es-calated tensions in the re-gion and caused immediate backlash in South Korea.

The two Koreas are still officially at war from the 1953 Korean War. They signed a cease-fire treaty which has now been bro-ken by the shelling of Yeo-npyeong.


The Pioneer StaffEDITOR IN CHIEF

Yogi Patel

EDITORS Emily LapinskiAneta Karkut

THE PIONEER • Maine East High School • Park Ridge, IllinoisThe Pioneer is dedicated to reporting on news, entertainment, and sports events for Maine East High School and the surrounding community. The Pioneer is distributed to students, staff, and a limited mailing list. Submit story suggestions, photos, letters to the editor, or comments regarding the content of the newspaper to sponsor Matt Miller or assistant sponsor Dave Hes-sert via email: [email protected]/[email protected]

The Pioneer does not accept outside advertising. FOLLOW THE PIONEER ON TWITTER: @mehspioneerTHE PIONEER WEBSITE: http://bit.ly/ThePioneer

REPORTERS & PHOTOGRAPHERSRandy Anderson

Deja BeairdJessica Cholewa

Daria ChrosnaZolboo ErdenekhuyagGathoon Garmoos

Julie JosephNajlah Iqbal

Teodora IvanovaPaul JaroslawksiMarcin Jaskolski

Aneta KarkutIryna KlishchErik Kuffell

Xavier ManapallilSyed Matin

Deep PatelParth Patel

Ashley RomanFarhad Sattariaghdam

Lensa SedetaSam SieghartJake SwobodaBill Youkhana

Part 1: Comfortably Numb

I’ve noticed a little ritual of sorts at my family dinner table. Every day at nine o’clock, my mother turns on the TV to watch the five-day weather forecast, even though it doesn’t come on until about nine-twenty.

Meanwhile, the TV blares out so-called “news” which I can barely distinguish from the adver-tisements, because the anchors are always smiling and having cheery little conversations with each other while happy jingle music twinkles in the background. My father asks my mother to please turn off the TV because it’s an-noying and loud. My mother says, “I’m waiting for the weather.” Again, my father asks my mother to please turn off the TV because it’s annoying and loud, and again, my mother replies that she’s wait-

ing for the weather. And so on for about twenty minutes.

It’s not really about the weath-er. The forecast can’t possibly be THAT important. The wait for the weather forecast is just another little part of our comfortable daily routine. We like to keep things predictable and in order. We like our daily routines because they keep life manageable. We like our neat little forecasts because they always stay the same. They pro-vide a measure of stability in our hectic lives.

We generally like to live our lives in a safe little bubble, within our neat and tidy comfort zones. It’s a big reason why so many people “watch” TV that they don’t even pay attention to. The real world, the place where all the big news and sports and politics and wars happen, is too big and scary of a place for a lot of people. Many of us prefer to be comfortably numb and safe behind our identi-cal plasma screens than to be out

there, in the big, scary world.People don’t like to think

about how little they really are. How a single nuclear strike could vaporize them in an instant. How North Korea’s military provoca-tions are threatening the entire world. How the American govern-ment is sinking in a flood of red ink. How another suicide bomber attempted to kill Americans.

The world is quite a scary place if you think about it.

Part 2: The Grand Illusion (Stuff on TV We Needn’t Worry About)

Today, during the usual twen-ty-minute wait for the weather forecast on TV, it was a pretty slow day on the news. The main focus was on a fatal shooting on the South Side of Chicago. Fourteen-year-old Jamal was accidentally shot dead by his younger brother. The firearm he used belonged to the boys’ father. So it goes.

The sad part was that no one

seemed to care. “What? Another South Side shooting?” the typical white suburban TV viewer will say. “Well, that’s nothing unusual. I see those on TV all the time.” So it goes.

In case you haven’t noticed, we live in a highly desensitized society. Humans have always been inhumane to one another, but now-adays, with the rise of mass media and all, the savagery has risen to an all-time high. Jamal’s mother was filmed sobbing at the loss of her son. Then a reporter came over and asked her how she felt. How can someone feel in such a situa-tion? Hmm. I wonder. DID YOU REALLY NEED TO ASK?! DID YOU?!!! Oh, that’s right. I forgot it was your job to turn people’s suffering into high entertainment.

Then the screen cut back to the anchors, who had apparently forgotten about the whole shoot-ing business already and were back to giggling amongst them-selves and reveling in their fame and fortune. Finally, the long-awaited weather forecast arrived. My mother grumbled something about it being too cold on Friday, then turned off the TV.

It would be a great world if we could all turn off our TVs and get rid of the world’s problems that way. Trouble is, there’s al-ways someone on the unfortunate end of TV cameras.

Epilogue: Driven to Tears

There is a song I know which carries the exact same message as my tirade above. It’s called “Driv-en to Tears”, by The Police. Sting once recalled his inspiration for the song:

“I was watching the news, starving children, legs too thin and weak to support themselves. An horrific irony that we have the technology to witness human trag-edy but seem unable to prevent it.”

So it goes.

By Marcin Jaskolski

Waiting for the Weather: A Tale in Two Parts


So the EXPLORE, and PLAN scores came back recently and you could hear many reactions in the hallways:

“What did you get?” “I messed up!”“Bummer!” “I’m so happy!”“What do I do now?”“I still have time...”The different facial

expressions during home-room told the story: stu-dents didn’t know what to do if they did “absolutely horribly” or even if they did “really great” on their tests.

It has already been a couple of months since freshmen took the EX-PLORE test and sopho-mores took the PLAN. These are both practice tests for the huge ACT test that all Illinois high school

students take during their junior year.

According to Maine East Guidance Counselor Ms. Angie Edsey, these tests help students practice so that by the time they take the ACT they are fa-miliar with being tested and having limited time to do the test. These practice tests give you a pretty ac-curate estimate of how you are predicted to perform when you actually take the ACT.

These practice tests also give you results for your possible career inter-ests, based on your answers to certain questions. But what do you do if you’re worried about your results?

Ms. Edsey and the other counselors reminded students that they have the test booklet, all of their an-swers and the correct ones, so they should look over it.

Ask yourself, why did I get some answers wrong? If you’re stuck, ask your math teacher about some of the math questions. Go to the math lab in the library. If you are worried about a specific subject talk to your teachers. Practicing the test

By Ashley Roman

will prepare you for later. So if you feel uncomfort-able about your scores, stay home an hour over the weekend and dedicate it to looking at your practice test.

What happens if you did great on the PLAN?

Guidance counselors look at these scores and so do your teachers. If you scored really high or really low in a particular subject area, those scores might

Even if you struggled on your test this Fall, it’s not too late to start a plan, practice taking tests, and keep the college of your dreams in sight.

The scores are in – whether you did well or had an ‘epic fail’, practice taking those tests!

Maine East now of-fers a new credit recovery program called E2020. E2020 is offered to stu-dents who took a class in the high school setting but did not receive a passing grade. This is the first year that this program has been available to students at Maine East High School. I have found e2020 conve-nient but somewhat confus-ing to use.

Having another chance to receive credits that are required for graduation from the comfort of your own home is excellent.

I really enjoy taking the course at my own pace. Deadlines are given to en-sure that the course will be completed on time, which helps break down the class-work. Most of the material I have experienced so far is review, but slowly the class is becoming not only more difficult, but more like a regular high school class, minus the other students and the presence of a live teacher.

E2020 uses websites that are already familiar to high school students, such as turnitin.com. This eliminates any confusion regarding where to turn in

your work. This program also provides a box for “e-notes”. This is extremely useful when listening to lectures, because you can type out exactly what the teacher talks about. The “e-notes” box is available to use for the test.

However, there are some negative aspects to the E2020 program, too.

The program’s direc-tions are either unclear or non-existent, often leaving you wondering what to do. Another aspect that I do not agree with is how your work is measured. Instead of completing a specific amount of work in order to

pass the class, the student is required to participate in the class for a certain num-ber of hours. For example, instead of completing 10 chapters of, say, a math book, the student may be required to work on the class for 40 hours.

Another part of the program that may frustrate students is the teacher. She speaks clearly and knows the material but she tends to go off on tangents. Because the progress of the course is measured by the amount of time spent learning, the student really has no choice but to listen to what the teacher has to say, whether

or not it is relevant to the topic discussed.

If your other option is to take a fifth year of high school in order to complete your credits, I would rec-ommend taking this course. The E2020 program offers a wide variety of classes so that the students gets ex-actly the credit they need. If another type of credit re-covery is available, I might recommend trying that op-tion as well. If you need to make up a credit in order to graduate on time, see your counselor for more infor-mation on the E2020 credit recovery program.

By Sam Sieghart

New E2020 program has flaws, but could be an effective way for students to recover lost credit

see TESTS, page 10


Elsewhere is a book that is anything but for-gettable. Liz Hall, a fif-teen year old girl, is killed while riding her bicycle and ends up on a one-way cruise to Elsewhere, more commonly known as heaven.

Gabrielle Zevin's Elsewhere, however, comes with a twist. The dead of Elsewhere don’t just come and live the rest of their lives in pure bliss, but instead find them-selves in an organized town. Like the people on

earth, they work. They play. They eat. They learn and work. But most im-portantly they age.

As people stay in Elsewhere, they grace-fully age backwards until they are infants and are eventually sent down the river to be reborn once again on earth.

While at first Liz feels cheated out of life, she slowly breaks away from her grief and long-ing for life back on earth. Everyone she encounters helps her realize that life on Elsewhere can be just as worthwhile as it was on

earth. Slowly she finds her place in this new world as well as an occupation as a grief counselor for dis-eased animals.

In the end, Elsewhere turns into the place where Liz is able to find a place to belong as well as love in unexpected places. Things don’t always work out as expected, but then again life never really does.

Elsewhere is a great book, full of twists and turns in a surprisingly simple package. It’s about life and death, a definite must-read for the holiday season.

Elsewhere like nowhere else

This holiday season, Instead of buying iPods and all the newest electronics, consider spending money on charities. Sometimes kids just want to have new things because their friends have them, but think of giv-ing someone a gift this year that would change his or her life. Some people don’t have anything.

This Christmas, give someone a nice gift. Nowa-days electronics are very expensive, with the money that you spend on unneeded electronics, you could feed and clothe unfortunate chil-dren. About half of Ameri-can adults say they will give money to charities this holi-day.

It’s easy to donate to someone who doesn’t have anything. Amnesty Interna-tional Club is currently ac-

By Teodora Ivanova

cepting all toy and clothing donations through the end of January. Wrapped boxes are located near the entrances and exits around the school.

Please take the time to go through your kitchen cabinets and donate non-perishable canned or boxed food items to the annual food drive sponsored by National Honor Society; the food drive runs through De-cember 20th.

If you are unable to give something, then donate your time to help serve the homeless in soup kitchens. It’s an especially cold winter this year for the homeless who have no place to go, food to eat or enough clothes to wear to keep warm. So, when you’re opening your gifts this year, think about the unfortunate people who don’t have any presents to open. Put a smile on some-one else’s face and donate toys, jackets, and food.

By Deja Beaird and Jessica Cholewa

Make holiday season special by giving

instead of spendingThe Student Based

Health Center is a branch of Lutheran General Hos-pital that operates right here at Maine East High School.

The center is located in the basement, through the Family Center doors. It specializes in medical and mental health screen-ing and treatment. See chart below for a list of some of the Health Cen-ter’s services.

Any student in Dis-trict 207, including Maine South and West, can use the SBHC if they have a signed parental consent form. The Health Center is funded by state grants, private donations, and events that raise money such as the “Rock and Run”.

The SBHC also has an advisory board of stu-dents that meets every collaboration morning with Ms. Malyszko to dis-cuss ways to inform others

Students must be well to do wellBy Aneta Karkut about the center’s benefits

and ways to receive grants to improve.

The funding and grants take care of costs for procedures and exams, and ensure that every stu-dent gets the proper pri-mary care that they other-wise might not be able to afford.

Students must be well to do well, which is the center’s motto. Having this center in the school has benefited many stu-dents and will continue to do so as it expands and more people become aware of what it has to of-fer.

Make use of it! It is here to benefit you! And with cold season here, remember to wash your hands often, not share drinks, and eat healthy to keep your health well!

The center would also like to announce they have a limited number of flu vaccines, so come get yours soon!

Physicals (school and sports)•

TB testing•

Diagnosis and management of chronic illness•

Nutrition counseling/ weight management•

Individual and family counseling•

STD and pregnancy testing•

Several awareness and prevention classes (drugs, smoking, safety)

HEALTH CENTER SERVICES


Holiday Hopes and Happenings

It is that time of year again – the joy, the laugh-ter, gift-giving and cel-ebrations, accompanied with the joy of not coming to school for two weeks.

The excitement of winter break is finally here. But what is there to do dur-ing break? Many people come back from break dis-appointed because they did not have the great time they imaged they would. Hope-fully this article will help you find ways to enjoy this wonderful opportunity to see Chicago the way most suburbans don’t.

SleddingSledding is a free and

thrilling activity that is suitable for all ages. And it’s close. A couple places

you can go for some sled-ding are Flick Park at 2400 Chestnut Avenue in Glen-view and Centennial Park at 100 S. Western in Park Ridge.

Snowboarding/SkiingSnowboarding and

skiing are both exhilarat-ing activities. It costs a little money to go, but a good day on the slopes can create memories for a life-time. Some popular places within an hour’s driving time are Alpine Valley and Grand Geneva Ski Resort in Wisconsin. Even closer is Villa Olivia Country Club in Bartlett – and they make their own snow!

Ice SkatingAnother cheap and

convenient winter activity is ice skating. Some local ice skating rinks include IceLand Skate Complex at 8435 Ballard in Niles and Oakton Ice Arena at 2800 W. Oakton in Park Ridge. Another well-known ice rink is McCormick Tri-bune Ice Rink in Millen-nium Park, near the giant bean. Admission is free, and skate rental is only $10. The rink is open from 12pm to 8pm Monday to Thursday, 12 to 9 on Fri-day, and opens at 10am on Saturdays and Sundays.

Winter Wonderfest This is another great

place to spend some fun time with your friend and family. It’s a yearly festival at Navy Pier, with different

games, rides, live enter-tainment and even indoor ice skating! Winter Won-derfest is open from 10am to 5pm Sunday through Thursday (extending to 8pm after December 19) and 10am to 10pm Fridays and Saturdays.

Skydeck / The LedgeIf you are looking for

a quieter but still amazing experience, visit the Sky Deck Ledge located at the Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower). View the whole city right below your feet, literally! The Ledge is a glass bal-cony that extends four feet outside of the 103rd floor of the Willis Tower. Now that is a sight to see! There are also many exhibits and

activities at the Sky Deck but the Ledge and the view is the definitely the main attraction!

MuseumsA great thing about be-

ing close to Chicago is that we’re close to some world-famous museums, includ-ing the Art Institute, the Museum of Science of In-dustry, the Field Museum, and the Shedd Aquarium, Plan a date to go. They are great places to go with the family or friends around the holidays.

Things to do in Chicago when you’re cold!

Reporting by Giselle Gayapa, Daria

Chrosna, Jake Swoboda, and Ino Cabrales

Sandra

Kietlinska (Freshman)

Simital Soni

(Sophomore)

Xavier Manappallil (Junior)

Zenya Yap

(Senior)

Ms. Julie Basile

(Teacher)

What has been your favorite holiday gift you’ve received?

“I can’t think of anything right

now!” “A brand new T.V.” “Pair of Jordans!” “A tiger”

“My daughter was born on Christmas

Eve– best gift ever!”

What is the best thing about the holidays? “Christmas music.”

“Hanging out with family and friends.”

“Snow!” “Spending time with family and

friends”

“Spending time with family and friends. Every-‐thing is better during the holi-‐

days!”

Are you that kind of person who LOVES or

HATES snow?

“I love snow!” “Love!” “I’m in the middle.”

“I love it but not when driving!”

“Dislike”

What is your favorite holiday dish?

“Gingerbread cookies.”

“Smores!” “Chocolate.” “Eggrolls.” “Almond cookies.”

by Iryna Klishch and

Julie Joseph


The new 18-year-old hip-hop sensation Mac Mill-er was here in Chicago at Reggie’s Rock Club for his sold out show on December 10th.

He is currently touring around the United States, with shows in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and in New Jersey with Wiz Khalifa.

After his success from releasing mixtapes (free pro-motional albums released regularly by many hip-hop artists), he was signed to Rostrum Records.

The Pittsburgh native came out on stage a little af-ter midnight and performed songs such as: “Nikes On My Feet”, “Senior Skip Day”, “The Spins”, “An-other Night”, “Kool Aid & Frozen Pizza,” and many more.

By Paul Jaroslawski

Mac Miller performs in Chicago

Last Wednesday, De-cember 1st, Maine East showed the documentary of Louder than a Bomb in the auditorium. The documen-tary, filmed from 2007-2008, shows the Chicago teen po-etry slam, the biggest teen poetry slam in the country. It specifically focuses on four poets, their own school poetry slam teams, and how they made it to LTAB to perform. The film tells their stories and what got them to start writing. This film shows how four teens go on a long journey from nothing to ev-erything---- through writing.

Louder than A Bomb, the poetry slam, would not

have been possible without Kevin Coval; he started the first LTAB in 2001. Last year was the eleventh year. Eric Coval, Kevin’s brother and Maine East’s poetry slam coach, says the LTAB Documentary is a creative and powerful piece. “It’s in-credible and amazing how well the movie paints the pic-ture for people. LTAB itself builds communities, builds relationships. Chicago is a city that is so divided, it helps bring it together. Coval says he is proud of his brother’s accomplishments, “to be an artist is not an easy thing; he has made some amazing ac-complishments”, says Coval.

One LTAB poet, Nate Marshall, had a hard-core

life and lacked parents for a while because both were drug-addicts. “I did always feel distinct from my peers like I always felt different”, says Marshall. He was raised by his grandmother until his mother was sober enough to raise her kids on her own. Marshall was in his 6th year competing in LTAB in 2008. He won the top individual poetry honor and went on to the 2008 Chicago All-Star team.

Nova Venerable also led a tough life. Her parents got divorced when she was young, she had a special needs brother, and her mom was working three jobs to try to get her and her broth-er Cody out of their dad’s

place. It was Nova’s job to take care of everything and everyone, including Cody, since no one was taking care of him it seemed clear to her that she should. “My life just kind of seemed to fit when I started writing”, says Nova. She wrote a lot about her dad then, she started writing about her brother. When she goes to college her biggest worry is that her brother will forget her.

Adam Gottlieb was also apart of LTAB. “Adam always liked to rhyme, just play with language a lot”, says Mrs. Gottlieb. “Adam Gottlieb is one of the best writers we’ve had at in LTAB, and also one of the most sincere, genuine, gen-

tle people I’ve ever come across”, says Kevin Coval.. Gottlieb is 20 years old and was a member of Northside College Prep High School, a finalist in the 2008 Louder than a Bomb Competition.

Steinmetz Academic Centre was a first year team to Louder Than A Bomb in 2007. Steinmetz came with 50 people to LTAB for the first time and won says Kevin Coval. “It was really their energy their love be-ing on stage, being with one another, their love of one an-other, their love of the form, and they brought that team mentality into it; It wasn’t just about I doing well it was about the whole crew, that was amazing.”

By Najlah Iqbal

Maine East students enjoy Louder Than a Bomb documentary premier

This summer was a turning point for his career after his huge success in underground hip-hop and there’s no doubt that soon he is going to be a mainstream artist. Before this years end he has said to be releasing a new mixtape “The Best Day Ever”.

You can download all of his music for free (and legally) at:

http://www.datpiff.com/mixtapes-search.

be used to help place you in the appropriate course in that subject. This is not a punishment or a reward for your test performance. Test scores are just one tool that teachers use to place

TESTS, from page 7

students in the appropriate level for highest achieve-ment.

The bottom line to re-member about standardized testing: practice really does make perfect, or at least it makes for improvement! So stop stressing over it and hit those practice tests!

Baby it’s Cold OutsidePeople do whatever they can to keep

themselves warm in this frigid season. Trying to keep warm, a 50-year-old Cy-priot huddled over his paraffin heater. Accidentally overturning it, he set him-self on fire. Screaming in pain he dialed the fire department. They came to his rescue; sadly he lost his hand due to the brutal fire burn.

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Across4. New Years _______ [RESOLUTION] 6. Sport played on ice [HOCKEY] 8. African-American holiday [KWANZAA] 10. Snowman's nose [CARROT] 13. It's red, white and striped all over [CANDYCANE] 14. Winter driving hazard [ICE] 15. Snowman's arms [STICKS] 20. Santa's transportation [SLED] 21. They power Santa's sled [REINDEER] 23. Winter footwear [BOOTS] 24. footwear hanging from the mantel [STOCKINGS] 25. One of Santa's helpers [ELF] 26. A Christmas Tree's baubles [ORNAMENTS] 27. Big shopping day after Thanksgiving: _____ Friday [BLACK] 28. Remove snow from a sidewalk or driveway [SHOVEL] 29. Wrapped items under the tree [GIFTS] 30. Ornament at the top of the tree [STAR]

Down1. Chicago hockey team [BLACKHAWKS] 2. Santa's entry portal [CHIMNEY] 3. _____ the Halls [DECK] 5. Extreme winter sport [SNOWBOARDING] 7. Santa's favorite food [COOKIES] 9. Falling white crystals [SNOWFLAKES] 11. Cookie shaped like a person [GINGERBREAD] 12. The color of Rudolph's nose [RED] 16. Icy snow [SLEET] 17. Wrapped items under the tree [PRESENTS] 18. First month of winter [DECEMBER] 19. Holiday celebrating oil burning for eight days [HANUKKAH] 22. Santa speak [HOHOHO] 23. Chicago basketball team [BULLS]

WINTER WORDLAND SOLUTION

NEWS OR NOT FAKE STORY:


defensive game plan for the next opponent.”

Defensively, the Bulls are currently ranked 2nd in the NBA this season. In their last five games, the Bulls are only giving up a remarkable average of 82.4 points per game on 38.5 percent field goal shooting.

The team chemistry in the locker room is great and the Bulls record speaks for itself. Chicago is off to a tre-mendous start with a record of 15-8 and as of December 13, the Bulls are on a 6-game winning streak. The Bulls will face off the former Bulls’ coach Vinny Del Negro’s Clippers on Saturday.

Boozer, who was forced

to watch his new team’s first 15 games from the bench with a broken right hand, fits in re-ally well with the team. “My body feels great,” he said. “I’m getting massages, I’m fresh. I’m coming into a little groove here.” He has scored more than 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds or more three times since his return.

Without Boozer the Bulls went 9-6 and with him they are 6-2, getting huge wins over Western Confer-ence powerhouses like the L.A. Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder. “His strengths are different, what he is, what he’s proven, this guy has aver-aged double-figure rebounds for a long time. And his career playoff rebounding number is 13, which is very significant. So he’s a great rebounder.

He’s an excellent team de-fender. He’s got great feet and he’s got strength,” said Coach Thibodeau.

Along with Boozer, the Bulls return the enthusiastic “energy guy”, Joakim Noah, who’s currently 2nd in the NBA in rebounding average. Boozer and Noah together in the front court make it dif-ficult for teams to guard the paint because Boozer can step out and hit the 15-footer while Noah can post up and dunk the ball viciously.

Rounding out the start-ing lineup are shooting for-ward Luol Deng and shooting guard Keith Bogans, who both complement superstar point guard Derrick Rose.

D-Rose is off to one of the best starts ever for a Bull not named Michael Jordan.

At age 22, Rose has elevated his game to superstar status in only his 3rd year in the league. He won the prestigious Rookie of the Year award in 2008 and the Skills Challenge Compe-tition during the ALL STAR Break that same season; he’s never looked back since.

Chicago native Derrick is averaging M.V.P numbers: 25.3 points, 8.3 assists, and 4.3 rebounds per game, all be-ing career highs for him. Rose has also developed a 3-point shooting stroke, hitting 38% from downtown, silencing all the critics who questioned his mid- to long-range shoot-ing. If Rose stays healthy and continues playing at an elite level, there is no reason why he won’t be considered for M.V.P. “The guy’s a star,” said former Bulls coach Scott

Skiles. “He’s beyond quick and fast and he’s so powerful. He’s going to be very hard to handle.”

Overall, the Chicago Bulls have been playing like a team on a mission this sea-son. They have been clicking on all cylinders and they look like a team that could make a deep run into the playoffs. The Bulls are ready for any chal-lenge that awaits them and are starting to be considered a team to be reckoned with.

Four of the Bulls players (Noah, Deng, Boozer, Rose) are candidates for the NBA All Star game 2011; which will take place in L.A. Be sure to vote on Nba.com and show your support to your home team!

BULLS, from page 15

the anatomy

of aniLLEGAL DOWNLOAD

Illegal downloading has become a phenomenon amongst teens and adults looking to save a quick buck. On the flipside, to the recording industry and moviemakers in Hol-lywood, illegal download-ing has become a concern. According to Institute for Policy Innovation, $12.5 billion of economic losses occur each year due to mu-sic piracy, which includes $422 million in tax reve-nues for the government.

The Recording Indus-try Association of America (RIAA), which, according to their website, is an orga-nization of recording com-panies that make up 85% of all “legitimate” music produced and sold in the United States, has been

cracking down in illegal downloading and sharing of music. Their goal is to protect the rights to intel-lectual property and the first amendment rights of the artist and recording companies who are apart of their organization.

Recently, the popular peer-to-peer (p2p) soft-ware LimeWire was given a court ordered injunction to stop distributing their software.

So what exactly is illegal and what sort of punishments are there for downloading or sharing music with out permis-sion from the recording companies? Here’s a list of the steps that go into downloading and sharing music, and the legality and the repercussions for each.

Legal:It is OK to use p2p software such as

BitTorrent and uTorrent to download files as long as they aren’t copyrighted or you have permission to

download them.

Legal:It is considered ILLEGAL to download any files that are copyrighted using a

p2p software.Punishment: Civil Penalty minimun

$750 per song

FREE alternatives to listen to music:•Pandora.com -internet radio

•Grooveshark.com - search for songs

and create your own playlist

•Vevo.com - watch music videos

Legal:It is LEGAL to burn a CD for yourself of or add to your iPod music

you bought digitally (iTunes, Amazon, ect.) or physically (CDs/Albums).

Legal:It is ILLEGAL to burn CD’s of music you own

for other people regardless if there’s money involved.

Punishment: 5 years prison and $250,000

fine

Legal:It is ILLEGAL to email

music that is copyrighted to people, even if you are

just “forwarding” a message from another sender.

Punishment: 5 years prison and $250,000

fine

By Yogi Patel

Additional reporting by Bill Youkhana


There is a new Facebook app on the site called 21 ques-tions. This app is great for when you’re bored and may-be want to know what your friends really say about you.

How this app works is you have a question that says something like “Is someone you know a good friend?” You have three options you can choose: a ‘yes’ button, a ‘no’ button and a ‘skip’ but-ton.

You can choose any of these options for the question. There are at least 21 questions you have to answer. These questions are about your Fa-cebook friends.

As soon as you’re done with the questions, you can

do another 21 questions if you want. Note: you can only do this question segment two times per day.

At the end of the ques-tions they say you have some coins. These coins can be used to unlock the answers of what other people said about you.

Sometimes this can cause some drama if you unlock a question about something bad and you notice that your best friend said that.

If that happens, remem-ber it was just their opinion or perhaps they were just fool-ing around. This app is fun to use, especially if you don’t let some of the questions bring you down. I would recom-mend this to anyone who uses Facebook.

By Randy Anderson

New Facebook App lets you know what your

friends really think of you

Ever wondered why schools block facebook? Is facebook that big of a threat to our education, or is there something we don’t know about “facebooking”?

Often, new technolo-gies are feared by those who don’t understand them, often leading to unnecessary ac-tion. Many schools ban ac-cess to social networks rather than training students to use those sites properly. This only makes students more attracted to the forbidden social net-works than ever before.

“We are required by law to block certain cites from our school,” said Maine East Technology manager Mr. Mi-chael Cannizzo states. “How-

ever, we block facebook because of improper contact with outsiders and it’s simply not as educational.”

What about Twitter? Twitter is one of the social networks that thousands of teenagers use in school. If Fa-cebook is contradictory to our education, then what about Twitter?

“Twitter does not con-sume a lot of resources and it’s just not as social,” said Mr. Cannizzo. “And there are not a lot of games like facebook has.”

Many students feel schools should encourage the proper use of facebook.

“Cyber bulling is a con-cern,“ said sophomore Sally Tahir. “But if our school en-courages the use of facebook

and practices the proper ways, maybe there won’t be as much cyber bulling as there is today.”

In the growing world of technology there are high-powered phones that bypass the filtered sites.

“If students bypass [the filter], that is violating the computer use policy as well as the school’s,” said Mr.Cannizzo.

According to a survey, many students at Maine East say they do violate the school computer policy by going around the filters. So rather than ban or block facebook, why not embrace it and look for ways to incorporate it into the learning process? It would be awesome to have facebook integrated into our education.

By Lensa Sedeta

Is filtering Facebook the right thing to do?

NEWS or NOT? By Lensa

Sedeta

Burn Baby BurnSometimes decisions

are made without think-ing and so did a man in Pittsburgh’s Greenfield neighborhood. Leonard Spagnolo is under arrest after police say he started a fire in a house while try-

Roach MotelCockroaches? Disgusting right? Not to Sean Murphy . He

stuffs them in his mouth one by one as they hiss. The small barbs on the cockroaches’ kicking legs cut his lip and the inside of his mouth, but he is doing this for a cause. Murphy, a pet store em-ployee, will attempt to set a Guinness World Record for holding the most Madagascar hissing cockroaches in his mouth.

Baby it’s Cold OutsidePeople do whatever they can to keep

themselves warm in this frigid season. Trying to keep warm, a 50-year-old Cy-priot huddled over his paraffin heater. Accidentally overturning it, he set him-self on fire. Screaming in pain he dialed the fire department. They came to his rescue; sadly he lost his hand due to the brutal fire burn.

Oh, Christmas Tree...dude!We all have our traditions and ways of celebrating Christmas . A six

foot tall plant decorated as a Christmas tree was confiscated from the home of “an old hippie”, who is now facing a drug possession charge, in Germany. The two-meter-tall marijuana plant had been put in a Christmas tree stand and decorated with a string of lights,” the police said.

ing to burn pictures of his ex-girlfriend. Pittsburgh police Lt. Jason Lando says Spagnolo had gotten into an argument with his cur-rent girlfriend and started a fire on the floor to burn items associated with a past girlfriend.

Guess which story is the FAKE news storyANSWER ON PAGE 10


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Across4. New Years _______6. Sport played on ice8. African-American holiday10. Snowman's nose13. It's red, white and striped all over14. Winter driving hazard15. Snowman's arms20. Santa's transportation21. They power Santa's sled23. Winter footwear24. footwear hanging from the mantel25. One of Santa's helpers26. A Christmas Tree's baubles27. Big shopping day after Thanksgiving: _____ Friday28. Remove snow from a sidewalk or driveway29. Wrapped items under the tree30. Ornament at the top of the tree

Down1. Chicago hockey team2. Santa's entry portal3. _____ the Halls5. Extreme winter sport7. Santa's favorite food9. Falling white crystals11. Cookie shaped like a person12. The color of Rudolph's nose16. Icy snow17. Wrapped items under the tree18. First month of winter19. Holiday celebrating oil burning for eight days22. Santa speak23. Chicago basketball team


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WINTER WORDLAND

Last year was a dis-appointing season ending with a 5-22 record, yet the Demons seem to have more weapons this year. Last year’s team team mostly relied on senior guard, Nus Khan. They were hesitant and mostly gave the ball to

BASKETBALL, from page 16

and demanding his inclu-sion in the second round as they alleged the polls were rigged to ensure victory for the ruling party. The protests continued through Wednesday and early Thursday (December 8 – 9) with the Haitian police re-portedly making no effort

HAITI, from page 4

to stop them. Violence has lessened as a demanded re-count is underway.

The current presiden-tial election is quite critical to Haiti’s future because the next president of Haiti will have access to the billions of dollars in aid that Haiti has received subsequent to the devastating earthquake. Such violence undermines recovery efforts in Haiti as

refugees continue to suffer in tent communities.

It is undetermined what will happen if the re-sults of the recount are not in favor of Martelly’s party, but many are confident that such a scenario would resurrect violence further destabilizing the small na-tion and putting volunteer recovery workers at risk.

Khan. Now with other play-ers getting the chance to step up this year, the season can still be unpredictable.

Senior captain Nikhil Desai realizes what the team has to do in order to win games. After their loss in the second home game of the season against Highland Park, Desai told CSL insid-er, “We just have to come

out strong from the begin-ning and get our heads in the game and come out with a lot of intensity. Coach has a great game plan for us – we just have to execute right from the top.”

The Demons next game will be at Deerfield. Lets keep hopes high for our basketball squad and keep cheering them on.

SOLUTION ON PAGE 10


As the NCAA Foot-ball season comes to an end, the Auburn Tigers and the Oregon Ducks take the field one last time to battle it out for the BCS National Championship.

Cam Newton, the 2010 Heisman Award-winning quarterback of the Tigers, looks to end his successful season with a victory over the second runner up for the Heisman, running back LaMichael James, and the Oregon Ducks.

BCS Championship GameBoth of these unde-

feated teams will try to bring the championship back to their campus on Jan, 10th. This looks to be a great game, as two of the most explosive offenses in the country take the field, but Auburn will be the Na-tional Champions.

Cam Newton, the sec-ond person in NCAA his-

tory with 20 passing and 20 rushing touchdowns, looks to follow in the steps of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, the first NCAA player to accomplish 20 passing and rushing touch-downs, who won the cham-pionship in 2007 and 2009.

Besides the National Championship Game, there will be four more entertain-ing BCS Bowl games over winter break: The Rose Bowl, The Sugar Bowl,The Orange Bowl and The Fi-esta Bowl.

Rose BowlThe Rose Bowl be-

tween Wisconsin and TCU will end up with TCU Con-quering the most feared front five in football with Andy Dalton, an explosive quarterback with 26 pass-ing touchdowns.

Sugar BowlIn the Sugar Bowl

Ohio State looks to create mayhem for the Arkansas Quarterback, as Cam Hey-ward and the defensive

line for the Buckeyes have excelled this year at rush-ing the passer. If they are able to disrupt the Arkan-sas passing attack they will come out as the winners.

Orange BowlIn the Orange Bowl,

the Runner up for the Heis-man trophy, quarterback Andrew Luck, looks to end his tremendous junior season with a bowl win, as Stanford goes head to head against Virginia Tech. This will be another great game, as two great quarterbacks and coaches face off, but Stanford will come out the victor.

Fiesta BowlThe last great bowl

game this season will be between the Connecticut Huskies and the Oklahoma Sooners. Coach Randy Ed-sall is ready to take on the Sooners with his team’s 8-4 record. This is sure to be a very heart stopping event for both teams.

By Farhad Sattariaghdam,

Deep Patel, andXavier Manappallil

Oregon’s LaMichael James (left) and Auburn’s Cam Newton (above) have both had amazing seasons, but only one will earn the title of National Champion.

Outstanding matchups in all four BCS bowl games

41-year old Brett Favre was looking for his 298th consecutive start against the New York Giants last Sunday December 12, but his NFL record streak was cut short due to a devastat-ing hard tackle from Buf-falo Bills linebacker Arthur Moats.

Favre received a sprained shoulder and hand pain that forced him to leave the game just a few minutes after the start, and he was ruled inactive to finish that game. The next question was whether or not Favre would be able to play next week against the New York Giants in Min-nesota at Mall of America Field.

Since the snow in Min-nesota was so bad, the New York Giants were unable to reach the field, and to make matters worse, the Mall of America Field’s dome col-lapsed due to the weight of the snow. This would now mean that the game would

Time for Brett Favre to call it a career?

be played at a later date, and Brett Favre would have a little more time to rest his injured shoulder. The plans were made on Sunday for the game to be moved to Monday at Ford Field in Michigan, home of the De-troit Lions. The question as to whether Favre would be able to start, now with an extra day to rest, was floating through everyone’s mind. Come game day, Favre would be out and Tavaris Jackson would take on the starting role. Favre’s NFL record streak would now stop at 297 career starts. The bruised up quar-terback could potentially be out for the rest of the season and possibly even forever. “I’ve played through a lot of stuff,” Favre said. “This is something different that I’ve got to be more cautious of.” With all of the injuries Favre has received over his 19 year career, maybe it’s about time to finally retire,

By Erik Kuffell

see FAVRE, next page


for real this time. It’s very understandable that he has a great amount of love for the game, and he’s defi-nitely accomplished a lot in his entire career, but at his age, and now with his toughest injury, maybe it’s

finally time. “It’s been a great run.

I would not hang my head one bit,” he said. “When I think about, as a kid, goals, dreams, I’ve far exceeded all of those.”

Favre has definitely proven all that he had to, but will he continue to try to do more? Or should he?

FAVRE, fromprevious page

Like Super Bowl win-ning Coach Bill Parcells once said, “You are what your record says you are.”

For years, NFL teams and their fans have been quoting Parcells. As the 2010 regular season comes to an end with the bitter cold weather, contending teams are fired up to reach the playoffs. Like every season, some might make the playoffs while others will be let down.

The multiple Super Bowl Champion New Eng-land Patriots have once again proved to the NFL that they are one the best teams, just as their 11-2 re-cord indicates.

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has been phe-nomenal this season. The same goes for the Pitts-burgh Steelers. With the second-ranked defense in the league, they have domi-nated mostly with their de-fense, but their offense has reliable weapons like wide reciver Mike Wallace, who has been having a great sea-son.

In the NFC, the At-lanta Falcons are the tough-est contenders, especially at home, with a 6-0 record. They have also been strong on the road with weapons like wide receiver Roddy White, who is the number one ranked receiver in the league after week 14.

The Chicago Bears started off their season very

well but in the middle they got shaken up a little bit. Hopefully that did not stop their will to continue the fight for playoffs – they sit on top of their Division and will be likely make the play-offs. As always, defense is the story in Chicago, but quarterback Jay Cutler has had a strong season, and with a weapon like Devin Hester, who is one touch-down shy of tying the team record for the most kickoff TD returns, this team is en-ergetic.

The question about who will win the Super Bowl is going to be left unanswered because this year’s playoff picture is very competitive, which is a treat for every NFL fan out there.

By Parth Patel

Great teams will make NFL playoffs interesting

and unpredictable

After 297 consecutive starts, Brett Favre sat out last weekend. Is this the end of his spectacular career?

Derrick Rose has soared above the competition.

Coming into the 2010-2011 NBA season, there were high expectations for Derrick Rose and his Chicago Bulls teammates, mainly because they had a great off-season, acquiring some of the top players around the NBA dur-ing free agency.

They added a great low post presence in Carlos Boozer, who has a vast array of offensive moves along with a nose for the ball on defense. They added a three-point spe-cialist in Kyle Korver who can play shooting guard or shoot-ing forward and who shot an NBA record 54% from be-

yond the arc last season. They solidified their defense by adding guard Ronnie Brewer, who is well known for his te-nacious perimeter defense.

The Bulls also signed center Omer Asik, point guard C.J.Watson, forward Brian Scalabrene, guard Keith Bo-gans, and power forward Kurt Thomas. Asik caught the at-tention of many NBA team-swhile playing in the FIBA league in Istanbul, Turkey and Thomas, the second old-est player in the league behind Shaquille O’Neal, is still go-ing strong. Watson played back up point guard with the Golden State Warriors last season and Bogans contrib-uted his talents to the Orlando Magic.

The Bulls are regarded as one of the finest defensive minded teams in the NBA, thanks to new head coach Tom Thibodeau, a defensive guru. Thibodeau was an as-sistant for three years for the Boston Celtics before coming to the Windy City. In 18 NBA seasons with the Timber-wolves, SuperSonics, Spurs, 76ers, Knicks, Rockets and Celtics, Thibodeau’s teams have finished in the top 10 defensively 15 times. “Tom puts in tireless hours,” Celt-ics All-Star Paul Pierce said. “When I come in the gym late night, he’s always in his office watching film, figuring out a

Bulls’ free-agency moves among bestBy

Zolboo Erdenekhuyag and Gathoon Garmoos

see BULLS, page 11

SPORTS

Going into winter break, the Maine East boys’ varsity basketball has been having their struggles. Eight games into their season, the team started off 2-6 and 0-2 in their conference. Having lost their previous game to conference rivals, Maine West, the Demons still are looking to improve with more than half the season left to come.

Head coach, Dave Genis, thinks the team started to look better against Maine West, his former team. “I thought we were better defensively for three quarters than we have been in some time and then we lost track of that. We did some nice things defen-sively and created a lot of foul situations offensively by spreading things out and trying to penetrate. We’re just not at a point where we make really good decisions with the basketball for an entire game.”

Coach Genis came into the program looking to turn Maine East into one of the better defensive teams in the conference. The De-mons have been working hard for the new head coach and don’t intend to give up. Another reason why the Demons seem to struggle is their lack of intensity. In

order for a team to be defen-sive minded, they must play with all they got through all four quarters. During a re-cent practice, coach Genis talked about how the team needs to step up defensively saying, “Because you are not scoring well, every de-fensive possession has to be life or death. If a team is not scoring, they have to get stops defensively in order to stay alive during a game.”

Leading the Demons are captains Willie Gandy, Nikhil Desai, Aaron Shan-non, and August Arce. Leadership is important from these players. They must lead by example and by doing that, everyone else on the team can follow along and be on the same page.

With a packed crowd at the Demons’ home open-er against Niles West, the team hoped for a confidence boosting win and a turning point for their season. The Demons’ effort was not enough to overcome the Wolves, however. After the game, Junior captain Aaron Shannon told Niles Patch, “It is very difficult. We came out flat, we had no intensity and we didn't play any kind of defense. It was very hard.”

The Maine East Var-sity Girls’ Gymnastics team started its new season off with a bang.

The team, which con-sists of sophomores Amina Naser, Anne Kaczkowski and Kathy Kolodziejski, juniors Shyla Avila and Tori Walley (captain), and seniors Amalia Kanelos (captain), Miko Castillo, and Natasha French, broke a score of 100 (102.60) in its very first meet against Niles West, a huge accom-plishment in comparison to previous seasons.

Then, at the Wheeling invite on December 3rd, Maine East came in third place out of six schools with a score of over 107.

“I am very pleased with the overall success of the team,” said head coach Amanda Harrison, echoed by assistant coach Abbey Bernardo. “Coming in 3rd at the Wheeling invite was a huge milestone for the girls. We can only go up from here.” And up they’ve gone.

Scores of 106.80 in a meet against Niles North and 106.90 against Maine West show that the girls are on a roll early in the new season. Not only do their coaches take pride in their improvements, the girls have also received many compli-ments from other schools and coaches as well. After the team’s hard work at

the Wheeling invite, East’s head coach was approached by the head coach of High-land Park High School, who said how impressed she was with the Maine East gym-nasts’ improvements over the past few years.

One of the captains and top contributors to overall scores, junior Tori Walley, is also very proud.

“We’ve come a very long way and we’ve all learned lots of new skills,” said Walley. “As a captain I’m happy to help lead the team to more victories and even greater achieve-

ments.”With the rest of the

season ahead, the team is looking forward to more improvements and victo-ries. One meet the girls are especially looking forward to is Maine East’s very own Beach Meet Invitational. The Beach Meet is a four-school invite with a fun and wild follow up competition where teams are awarded for creativity and teamwork for routines made especially for the Beach Meet. To see the girls in action check out their schedule on the school website!

By Amalia Kanelos

Sophomore Anne Kaczkowski performs a routine on the parallel bars.

Girls gymnastics team hav-ing a flipping good season

By Tony Enwiya

see BASKETBALL, page 13

Boys basketball team works hard

for new coach

Documents

The Pioneer December 2010