How to tie a scarf

Video Transcript:

by Michaela Zelandi and Laura Zakrewski

Are you sick of all your outfits being drab?  Then get ready for fab!  Accessorizing with scarves can make you the focal point of every room.  Our first type of scarf is the infinity scarf, a circle.  First, you twist it so it’s shaped like an infinity sign.  Then, you fold it in half and put it around your neck, making sure the fold is in the back.  Our second type of scarf is the classic style.  First, you fold it in half.  Then, you put it around your neck and put two loose ends through the loop.  Another simple scarf style is the wraparound – no explanation needed.  This is the pretzel style.  First, fold it in half and put it around your neck.  Then, take one loose end through the loop, twist to create a smaller loop.  Put the other end through.  Looking good Sarah! All you have to do is put the scarf around your enck and through it over your shoulder for dramatic effect.   But how else could scarves be used?  Here comes Pam, modeling the newest European dog fashion, a scarf-leash.  With the current rate of obesity in the world, let’s not forget about exercise.  This scarf is perfect for jumping rope.  Is your phone ever ringing, but you’re just too lazy to get up and get it?  Then scarves can also be used as a lasso.  Scarves are like dogs, you can never have too many.

Smooth Sailing Through Midyears

by Emily Crampton

With January comes snow, cold and the new year, as well as the dreaded Midyear Exams. Midyear exams count for 20% of your semester grade, which can be good or bad for students. In a positive light, these exams give students a chance to bring up their grades. Unfortunately, these tests can also harm your good grades, causing students to drop letter grades for the semester. However, with some helpful tips, next week will be smooth sailing.

Talk to your teachers and do your study guides.

                When your teachers give you study guides, do them. Teachers know that will be on the tests best considering they created it. If you’re having an issue with a topic or need extra help, don’t be afraid to ask your teachers. They will most likely be willing to give you a few tips to succeed.

Don’t cram.

                Cramming is never a good idea, especially for Midyears. With so much information to understand and comprehend, there is no way you can learn everything you need to know in one night. Start studying a few days before, and you’ll be fine.

Get a good night’s sleep the night before.

                If you don’t sleep the night before your exam, you will be exhausted during the test. It’ll be harder for you to remember everything you learned, you won’t be able to focus, and you won’t be able to perform to the best of your ability. Throw back Thursday to the MCAS when teachers and administration told us constantly to get a good night’s sleep, make sure you listen.

Eat a good breakfast the morning of your exam.

                Again, as our previous teachers told us before the MCAS, make sure you eat a big, healthy, protein-filled breakfast the morning before your exam. You aren’t going to be able to focus on your test while your stomach is grumbling. Plus, with your stomach shouting of hunger, you’ll be distracting your classmates. Help yourself and your friends by having some eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, or whatever your heart desires.

Be on time.

                When you’re late, you’re stressing. In the craziness trying to rush to school, you can forget everything you know. Plus, when you walk in late you’ll miss test time, and also bother your fellow classmates. Do yourself a favor and be on time, at least just for this week.

Don’t stress.

                If you stress about these exams, there will be a good chance that you won’t be able to focus on your test. Relax and let your knowledge flow through your fingertips and onto your exam paper. These exams are just seven tests in your life, and there is a very good chance they won’t matter when you’re older. It is not the end of the world if you don’t get A’s on all of them, even though it seems like it might be right now.

                Next week may seem like a week from hell, but think on the bright side; we get out early, don’t have classes and don’t have homework. Don’t lose your mind over Midyears, and make sure to do the best you can. Good luck!

Is the "Music" in MTV Still Alive?

by Margarita Forbes

On Saturday, August 1, 1981, at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time, MTV launched with the words, "Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll” and played over footage of the first Space Shuttle launch countdown of Columbia; which took place earlier that year, and of the launch of Apollo 11. Those words were immediately followed by the original MTV theme song, which played over photos of the Apollo 11 moon landing, with the flag featuring MTV's logo of changing colors, textures, and designs. Next,  the first music video launched, The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star".  This was the official birth of Music Television.

The original purpose of MTV was to be "music television", playing music videos twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, guided by personalities known as video jockeys. The original taglines of the channel were "You'll never look at music the same way again," and "On cable. In stereo." Although the original MTV channel no longer plays music videos 24/7, several of its spin-off channels do, including MTV Hits and MTV Jams. Additionally, viewers could play music videos on-demand at MTV.com. MTV continues to support a broad selection of music videos on international channels. The network redefined the job description of a musician and created stars, giving acts like Madonna, Duran Duran, and Midnight Oil what may have been their first national exposure.  There is no doubt that the MTV Music Awards increased fame for now, well-known singers.  The MTV Music Awards is an award show to honor the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards, the annual MTV Video Music Awards ceremony has often been called the "The Super Bowl for youth" and draws millions of teens each year.    

However, MTV has evolved so completely that it's almost unrecognizable to how it was in the beginning, but although it's no longer predominantly in the business of airing videos, MTV remains a game-changing network.  For example, MTV is now most known it’s reality TV phenomenon such as The Hills, Catfish, 16 and Pregnant, Teen Mom, and of course, Jersey Shore. Reality TV became as much about storytelling as it was about documentary television. The very famous Jersey Shore series redefined the level of fame and salary reality stars could have. With new and controversial reality T.V. shows, the network proves its decades-long ability to "pervade American culture with its programming".

MTV may no longer play music videos, but that's because its audience now demands something different, which includes ridiculous, over-the-top reality T.V. When MTV launched, critics called it a "celebration of style over substance". Thirty years later, the network is rewarded for shows with "vapid behavior" of its reality stars despite their lack of talent.  MTV has, for 30 years, been growing up with the same audience, giving them what they want over the years.

           

Unbroken Can’t Be Broken

by Meaghan Angers
Louis Zamperini: an Olympic distance runner, an American World War II prisoner of war survivor, Christian inspirational speaker, and a hero. Zamperini was born in 1917 in Olean, New York to Italian immigrants Anthony and Louise. Zamperini, his older brother Pete, and two younger sisters Virginia and Sylvia moved to Torrance, California in 1919.

 

The family spoke no English and Zamperini would get into fights with the bullies. Pete, the star of the track team at Torrance High School, encouraged his brother to join him in order to keep him out of trouble. Zamperini’s career as a runner began. Throughout the last three years of high school, Zamperini was undefeated. In 1934, Zamperini ran a 4:42.2 minute mile, setting a world interscholastic record for the mile, and the following week won the CIF California State Meet championships. In 1936, Zamperini tried out for the Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany and qualified to run the 5,000 meters as the youngest American qualifier. Zamperini finished eight in the race due to running his lap in 56 seconds. His final lap caught Adolf Hitler’s attention and shook Zamperini’s hand and stated, “Ah, you’re the boy with the fast finish.” After the Olympics, Zamperini attended the University of Southern California where in 1938 he set the national collegiate mile in 4:08 minutes. Zamperini running career earned him the nickname “Torrance Tornado”. Zamperini’s personal bests are 3:52.6 minutes in the 1500 meters, 4:08.3 minutes in the mile, and 14:46.8 minutes in the 5000 meters.

When World War II began, Zamperini gave up his dream of running the 1940 Olympics and enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces in September 1941. Zamperini was deployed to the Pacific Island of Funafuti as a bombarded on the Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber Super Man. In April 1943, the bomber was no longer flight-worthy and the crew was transferred to Hawaii. On May 27^th, 1943, the crew was sent on The Green Hornet on a search for a lost aircraft and crew, but the plane experience mechanical difficulties and crashed into the ocean. Russell Allen “Phil” Phillips, Francis “Mac” McNamara and Zamperini were the only three survivors on two rafts supplied with little food and no water. The men ate two albatrosses, small fish, and drank rainwater. Sharks swam and attack the raft numerous times and the men actually killed and ate one. On day 33, McNamara died. Finally on day 47, Zamperini and Phillips reached the Marshall Islands where the Japanese Navy captured them.

After being held at Kwajalein Atoll for 42 days, Zamperini was transferred to Tokyo’s Omori POW camp and later moved to Naoetsu POW camp in northern Japan. In Tokyo’s Omori POW, Zamperini met Mutsuhiro Watanabe or as the prisoners nicknamed him the “Bird”. Watanabe took a special interest in the American track star. Watanabe tortured Zamperini for the BLANK years due to the fact that he was an American Olympian. His acts of torture included every prisoner punch Zamperini in the face for not making false radio report about the Japanese POW camps to America and made him stand for 37 minutes holding a heavy wooden log over his head threatening to kill him if he dropped it. Zamperini was finally free of Wantanabe’s torture in August 1945 when the war ended. Watanabe was listed as number 23 of General Douglas MacArthur’s 40 most wanted war criminals in Japan.

On November 16^th, 2010 Laura Hillenbrand wrote Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. Hillenbrand who was inspired by Zamperini’s story, wrote the biography of Zamperini. The biography received many awards and honors, including a New York Times bestseller. The novel was filled with vivid imagery that put the reader into the story. I personally enjoyed the book as it was inspiring and heart felt and the rest of the AP Language and Composition class would agree.

On September 30^th, 2013 Angelina Jolie’s idea to develop Hillenbrand’s book into a movie was approved by Universal Pictures and Jolie was named director. Although, the movie does not entail everything about Zamperini’s life, including focusing little of his running career and not describing his post-war life. I was disappointed to see little of Zamperini’s running career, as well as his post-war life was not described, except for showing him at the age of 80 at the Olympics. However, a major part of the book included Zamperini’s post-war life, including going back to Japan to meet Wantanabe, even though he refused to meet Zamperini. All in all, Jolie’s adaptation provides Zamperini’s life was great justice and the story remained to be inspirational and heart felt. His story will continue to inspire others. The movie is currently placed at number three and has grossed a domestic total of $87.8 million.