People of DSA See pg. 5

Our Corrupt

Legal System

See pg. 4 Recipe of the

Month

See pg. 6

Horoscopes

See pg. 8

DeKalb School of the Arts

OVER THE EDGE

January 2015

Catching what you missed!

IT’S YOUR TIME

2

Table of Contents

News

DSA Secret Societies: NAHS by Darya Mack………………………………………………………..…………….…5

Glowrama! By Holyn Thigpen……………………………………………………………………….………..………3

Meet Ms. Posley by Darya Mack………………………………...…………………………………………………….3

Another Year Gone By… by Janae Beasley…………………………………………………………………………...5

Community Service by Holyn Thigpen and Maddy Laing................. ………...............................................................6

Opinion

Our Corrupt Legal System by Maddy Laing……………………..………………………………………….…….…..4

Entertainment

People of DSA by Maddy Laing………………………………………………………………………………...……..5

Recipe of the Month: Quick and Easy Stir-Fry by Darya Mack…………...…………………………………….…….6

Horoscopes by Madame Esmeralda………………………………………………………...………………..……….10

Visit us online at www.dsa.dekalb.k12.ga.us//overtheedgenewsp

aper.aspx

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Glowrama!

By Holyn Thigpen

On Saturday, January 24th, students and teachers alike

arrived at DSA for it’s newest school-wide event:

Glowrama. As I’m sure you all know, the basic idea of

Glowrama was for all of the attendees to wear bright,

neon clothing that would glow under the black lights set

up in the cafeteria. Many, however, were unsure how

well Mr. Landes and his team of students would be able

to pull this off. Would anyone come? How well would

this idea of glowing while dancing be executed? It

seemed like a number of things could go wrong, as is so

common with newly introduced events.

But fortunately for everyone who attended, Glowrama

was a complete success. What it may have lacked in size

(only a little over 100 tickets were sold) it made up for

in awesome, glowing outfits, cool music, pizza, and

some wild group dances that you couldn’t help but join

in. From the nae nae to the cha cha slide, students

were partying hard for the entire 4 hours. Glow sticks

were waved around wildly, further adding to the

overall ambiance of the night, which was so magical.

If anyone was pleased with Glowrama’s outcome,

though, it would have to have been Mr. Landes, who

was basically in charge of arranging the whole dance.

“There’s pizza, there’s dancing, and people are having

fun,” he said, when asked about it’s success. “That’s

all we were really wanting, so I’d say we did a good

job.” Other people, too, when asked about the dance,

went on to describe it as an amazing night, stating that

they were so glad they had attended.

With such a positive response from the DSA

community, it seems almost guaranteed that

Glowrama will be back next year, bigger and even

better than before. After all, who wouldn’t want to

“glow up” again?

Meet Ms. Posley

By Darya Mack

Ms. Posley is DSA’s Business

Education teacher and Special

Education Support Person. She

joined the DSA family at the

beginning of this school year

and is responsible for teaching

the basics of computer programs

such as PowerPoint and

Photoshop to the eighth grade students. She also services

students who have learning disabilities to monitor their

progress and motivate them.

“I moved to Atlanta in April of last year,” Ms. Posey

recalls. “I’ve been teaching for eight years, so this is my

ninth year teaching. Special Education is the field that I

am certified in, first. The second certification is business

education.”

Before coming to DSA, Ms. Posley taught in Pensacola

and Orlando. “I miss the sunny weather in Florida, but it

is a good exchange for a school like this,” she comments.

When asked what her favorite thing about DSA students

was, she replied, “I just like to come to school in the

morning and just see kids dancing in the halls or standing

in little huddles, singing. That is my favorite part.” After

a moment of thought, she added, “And the motivation of

the students. They don’t feel like little kids here; they

feel like they’re college students. They have the

ambition of adults.”

As an active member of the DSA community, Ms.

Posley notices things about the students that we may not

notice in ourselves. “Here again, I see kids with the adult

mentality or maturity level, and I see students that forget

that they are kids. I wish the kids would find time to just

take it easy sometimes. A lot of the kids here are very

competitive and they lose themselves. So I would say,

just live a little bit, and be a kid, because you have the

rest of your life to be an adult.”

Ms. Posley is very open and friendly both with the

teachers and the students. She has a distinct personal

style that rivals that of a New York Fashion Week

model, and her closet includes a stunning pair of pointed

toe animal print boots.

“This is the first year that I have taught at a performing

arts school, so it is very enlightening,” she states,

beaming. “It doesn’t feel like work to me.”

4

Our Corrupt Legal System

By Maddy Laing

The opinions expressed in this section are that of the writers only, and do not reflect on the opinions of the Over the Edge newspaper and staff.

When asking civil rights activist and performer

Melanie Hammet her thoughts on mandatory

minimum sentencing she told me, “the entire

American legal system is corrupt. Corporately

owned prisons benefit from having prisoners

with longer sentences. And who has the influence

in our government? Not the one in every 28

children who has a parent in prison, and certainly

not the one in every hundred Americans who are

incarcerated. The big corporations with the

money have the real power.” And she is exactly

right. They are not keeping our public safe, they

are not rehabilitating offenders, they are making

a profit off of destroying others lives.

Since Congress created mandatory minimum

sentences for drug crimes in the 1980s, the

federal prison population has grown from 24,000

prisoners to over 214,000 prisoners – the largest

prison system in the world. Many people say that

the reason for our large incarceration numbers is

the population of our country. Though this may

be a factor, the main reason is the way we treat

our prisoners. We have set up our legal system in

such a way that once imprisoned there is an

almost 70% chance of reoffending. The large

reason for this is the fact that once released you

are seen as unemployable by most businesses.

Many are forced to return to a life of crime just

in order to get by.

So why are we still using these ineffective and

corrupt methods? Because the main people

influencing our politicians’ decisions in these

matters are the corporations who benefit from it.

The corrupt state of our legal system needs to be

addressed not only by the media but by

individual citizens. One of the easiest ways is by

going to famm.org (families against mandatory

minimums webpage.) Under “donate”, and

“change laws”, you can send a letter to your

Representative and voice your opinion against

these laws. It is our country, and our duty to fix

it. If we do not stand up for those who do not have

a voice, who will?

The legal system of the United States of

America is notoriously unjust, ineffective, and

costly. One of the main reasons for this is

mandatory sentencing laws. Mandatory

minimum sentencing laws require prison terms

of a particular length for people convicted of

certain federal and state crimes. These

inflexible sentencing laws may seem like a

straightforward solution for crime, but they

obstruct justice by preventing judges from

fitting the punishment to the individual and the

circumstances of their offenses.

There are many reasons mandatory sentencing

is wrong, the main one being the fact it often

puts first time offenders behind bars (without

any chance of parole) for unnecessary amounts

of time.

The idea of imprisoning lawbreakers has two

main principles; to keep the public safe, and to

rehabilitate the offender. In most cases, neither

of these is accomplished. A Pennsylvania study

found that long, mandatory minimum sentences

do not reduce crime. In fact, 17 states that cut

their prison populations in half all experienced

a decline in crime. Most offenders are not

dangerous: half of Georgia’s federal offenders

are charged with nonviolent drug crimes.

But if morals are not enough, there are also

political reasons that mandatory minimum

sentencing is unreasonable. First being, it costs

American taxpayers billions of dollars every

year. Taxpayers spent almost $60 billion on

prisons and jails in 2012 alone. And state

spending on corrections has risen more than 300

percent over the past two decades.

5

together.

Use sticky notes/signs: Put sticky notes in places you will see

them daily. Placing the notes in places you will see (i.e. a

planner, a bathroom mirror, your bedroom door) will remind

you of your goals constantly and give you motivation. If you

don’t have sticky notes, make a banner. Take several sheets of

paper and string them together, then hang them over your bed.

Set alarms: If you want to do something at the same time

daily, set alarms on your phone to help remind you of the task.

It makes life so much easier.

Get an agenda/daily planner: With a planner, you can write

down the things you need to do. Putting the same things from

your planner into your phone ensures you have your schedule

with you at all times.

Stay Motivated: If you forget a task on one day, don’t beat

yourself up over it, you can start again the next day.

Always remember to have fun: If you set goals for yourself

that aren’t exactly fun, find ways to make them fun. Nothing

will be done if you don’t want to.

DSA Secret Societies: NAHS

By Darya Mack

National Art Honor Society is a club for

visual artists at DSA. One may hear

students talking about an NAHS meeting

and think that they are talking about NHS

(National Honor Society) but it is a completely separate

club.

“To get into NAHS, you must have been at DSA for a year,

taken a visual arts class the year that you want to get in, and

have a 3.5 GPA,” Lia Davis, the president of the club,

explains.

Meetings are held every other Thursday after school.

NAHS members have painted the Dr. Seuss mural in the

downstairs hallway, the benches outside the gymnasium,

and are currently painting the columns outside.

NAHS members have a passion for their club, as it is one

of the Visual Art’s department’s main outlets. “The guest

speakers are great and you get to learn more about art than

in a traditional art class,“ gushes Lia.

People of DSA

By Maddy Laing

Mr. Yawn “In 1979 I was teaching at Stone

Mtn. High school. For the senior

class I would put B-52’s lyrics on

their grammar tests and they’d

Cici Williams “Something that happens a lot

when I’m walking down the

street that’s hilarious is the

amount of people that can tell

have to put the correct punctuation. There was one student in

particular, a senior, who I really enjoyed. But before the year

was over she was sent to an alternative school for having

weed in her pocket book. In 2006, I had just created a

Facebook, and she added me as a friend. I found out she had

gone to the University of Georgia because of me. She

I’m gay. One day I was at Wal-Mart with my friend and

one of the workers was looking at me weird. When I got to

the register it was the same lady. She looked me straight in

the eyes and said ‘you know that’s a sin right?’”

also had a daughter who attended the school. She had named

her daughter after one of the B-52s songs. I cried. It was

special to have been remembered since 1979.”

Jabari Mcleod “What do you like about DSA?”

“I like the people. They inspire

me to do things I wouldn’t

normally do.”

Thea

"I don't know what to say."

Another Year Gone By…

By Janae Beasley

Remember those New Year’s Resolutions you make year

after year but never follow through on? Of course you do! So,

here’s some quick and easy ways to get yourself in the habit

of keeping your goals in check:

Be realistic: Make sure you will be able to keep your

goals. You’d be disappointed if you set a goal you can’t

follow through on.

Make a list: Write down what you think would be a good

set of goals to have for the year.

Ask friends: Once you have your list, ask friends what

their resolutions are, and if you have similar resolutions,

do them together. If you both are trying to get in shape,

exercise

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Recipe of the Month: Quick and Easy Stir-fry By Darya Mack

There are days when you look in your fridge for something to eat and instead find a bunch of random foods. This is the recipe for

one of those days!

Ingredients: 1 cup of any vegetables (i.e.: Broccoli, edamame, zucchini, squash, corn, snow peas, bell pepper, onion, etc.)

½ cup of any protein (i.e. Beans, chicken, tofu,

1cup of any grain (dry) (i.e. White rice, brown rice, noodles, quinoa, couscous, etc.)

1 Tablespoon of any oil (i.e. Olive oil, peanut oil, sesame oil, canola oil, etc.)

Stir-fry sauce (Can be bought in a bottle or homemade)

Stir fry sauce recipe (Makes 1 cup)

Mix ½ cup of soy sauce with ¼ cup of chicken (or other) broth. Add in the juice of a lime, 1 teaspoon ginger (minced or

powdered), 1 teaspoon garlic (minced or powdered), 1 tablespoon of sugar, and if you like things spicy, some red pepper flakes

and/or Sriracha hot sauce.

Directions: 1. Cook the grains according to the directions on the package.

2. Chop up all the vegetables and protein into bite size pieces.

3. Heat oil on a large skillet on medium heat. Add the vegetables and let them sit on the pan for about a minute, until they brown.

Then stir the mixture regularly to ensure even cooking.

4. When the vegetables are tender, add the protein and cook until heated through, about 5 minutes.

5. Pour in the sauce and let it sit in the pan until it thickens slightly. Keep stirring.

Serve with the grain.

Community Service

Opportunities at DSA

By Holyn Thigpen and Maddy Laing

DSA has many active and

productive clubs. One of the

most well-known clubs that

helps with community service

is Beta Club. Beta Club

participates in an annual

AIDS walk, hunger walk,

Toys for Tots, a Canned Food

Drive, and much more. But

they are not the only club

positively affecting our

community.

Eco Team is another one of the DSA groups set out to

make a difference. Their activities range from collecting

paper products and dropping them at a local recycling

station to planting flowers and bushes in the DSA

courtyards to make our school a more beautiful,

environmentally stimulated place. Not only that, but they

are also constructing a compost bin just outside of the

school to make better use of

our food scraps that would

otherwise just be thrown away.

Another club working to better

the DSA community is the

National Honor’s Society,

perhaps better known as the

NHS. The NHS holds tutoring

sessions every Tuesday in Mr.

Pillow's or Mr. Gregory's rooms. Club members assist

younger students with their various academic subjects

and inspire them to maintain good grades. Along with

this, they are strongly encouraged to do community

service work, which they report to Mr. Pillow at the end

of each semester.

The members of GSA (or Gay Straight Alliance) are

also helping to make a difference in people’s lives.

Every year they walk through the streets of downtown

Atlanta in the pride parade to raise awareness for the

LGBT community. They also help to organize Queer

Prom, which is a dance for Atlanta teenagers in same-

sex relationships. Their meetings help to better inform

people about topics surrounding sexual orientation and

gender in a very open and accepting environment.

Overall, DSA is slowly becoming more and more of a

community service hub, helping and supporting people

from all different walks of life. We are making a

difference, one step at a time.

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8

HOROSCOPES by Madame Esmeralda

Scorpio

(October 24 - November 21)

People will soon be pitching you new ideas and projects,

Scorpio, but do not give in too easily. Trust your own

beliefs and values when making decisions and make sure

you are not persuaded too easily.

Sagittarius

(November 22 - December 21)

You’ve been feeling a little bit lazy lately, Sagittarius, and

you have a load of responsibilities that you’re putting off.

Luckily for you, Mars has been moving more slowly than

usual, a sure sign that over the next month your energy will

increase and you’ll be back on the right track to getting

things done.

Capricorn

(December 22 - January 19)

You are a supportive person by nature,Capricorn, and great

at teaching people. Put these skills to use over the next few

weeks for some good luck and maybe even a small amount

of money.

Aquarius

(January 20 - February 18)

There is some undiscussed tension between you and your

significant other that has been present for several weeks

now. Don’t give up on the relationship or resort to arguing,

but instead just give each other space and try to talk things

out.

Pisces

(February 19 - March 20)

Mars has struck a passion in you, Pisces, for a certain idea

or belief. As strongly as you may feel about this idea or

belief now, in the next week or so you may find that it is

best to calm your desire to fight for it. This will lighten the

mood between you and your peers and make you feel more

at peace with yourself.

Aries

(March 21 - April 19)

Get ready for a busy month, Aries! Saturn has recently been

circling closer to Jupiter, signaling new opportunities in

your career and social life that will have you going from

event to event every weekend. Just be careful to not get

yourself overbooked!

Taurus

(April 20 - May 20)

Venus has been moving in towards Mars in recent

weeks, so it’s no surprise that there will be plenty of

stress in your life over the course of the

month. Things will be thrown at you all at once and

out of nowhere, but stay strong Taurus! Pluto says

that this will all pay off soon.

Gemini

(May 21 - June 20)

Lately it has felt like nothing is going your way,

Gemini, but this will soon pass. Around the 29th,

good luck will come your way and boost your

career, giving you a great start to the new year.

Cancer

(June 21 - July 22)

Uranus has been moving quickly this month, Cancer,

putting out energy to give your love life the

jumpstart it has been needing for a while now. Keep

your eyes open and your heart unlocked, and

someone great is bound to come your way.

Leo

(July 23 - August 22)

New friends are coming your way, Leo. Uranus and

Neptune have been squared for the past week,

ensuring that you will soon be given an opportunity

to build new relationships that will last for a long

time.

Virgo

(August 23 - September 21)

For a while, your life has not been as organized and

balanced as it could be, Virgo. Use the upcoming

break to weigh the importance of various aspects of

your life and how much they mean to you. You’ll

feel a huge weight gone afterwards.

Libra

(September 22 - October 23)

Rest, Libra. You have been working diligently for

so long and really deserve time to just relax and do

as you please. Set aside time to load up on sleep and

make sure your body is healthy.