Phoenix News Spring Final

1 The Phoenix News Tompkins Square Middle School Student Newsmagazine

The Phoenix News Tompkins Square Middle School Student Newsmagazine

Spring Edition 2010

Money is important. We all know that. But what exactly is it about money that makes us need more and more of it? Why do we need money to buy things that we could easily make for ourselves or borrow from a friend? With so much talk about the economy, people have begun put-ting a little more thought into how much they spend and on what. It may even affect how much money you receive from your parents for allowance, or chores, or even how much you earn in your job. We decided to take a closer look at what money means to the kids in our school, where they get it, and what they use it for. The first thing we wanted to know was whether or not students got allowance. In the 6th grade, 59% of students do receive allow-ance, while 41% do not. In the 7th

grade, 57% of students receive allowance and 43% don’t. And in the 8th grade, 63% of kids get al-lowance while 37% don’t. Some-thing we noticed right away was the obvious difference between the grades. The percentage difference between the 6th and 7th grade was small, but surprisingly, 6th graders were more likely to get allowance than 7th graders. And when you got to 8th grade there was a clear bump in the data. For whatever reason, 8th graders are 4% more likely to get allowance than 6th graders, and 6% more likely to receive allowance than 7th graders. Then we asked people just how much money did they consider their allowance. In the 6th grade, for the 59% of students who this even ap-plies to, the average was $7.60 per week. In the 7th grade it was $10.86 per week. And in the 8th grade, it

Pocket Money: Analyzing Student AllowanceBy Lucy

8th Grader Jarret Jung competes at the Track Meet in the East River Park, April 29th.

School News/CultureWhat’s in the Salad Dress-ing? Local Herbs!(2)Students Want Change (2)Making Movies (4)Brendan’s Scarf (5)Day in the life of a NEST student (5)

New Teacher Profile: Rebecca (6)Animal Adoption (7)

Sports, Page 8Skateboarding: the Physical Art (8)

Book Review, Page 9Spiderwick Chronicles

VideoGameReview, P.9WOW: #1 Game for Game for Gamers, Worldwide

Movie Review,P.10

Travel, P.10Switzerland and France

After-School, Food, Music Review, P.11Crossword onthe Back!

Continued On Page 3 Continued On Page 8

W h a t ’ s I n s i d e W h a t ’ s I n s i d e

Track Team Exudes Healthy Attitude By Nilsamarie Rodriguez On Thursday April 13, students fromTSMS participated in their second district one track meet. They ran against NEST, TASS, and I.S. 188. After lots of hard practice each week, the team performed excellently. They won

lots of first, second and third places. “All the hard practice was really worth it. Our relay really came through, ” said Nya Richards, the second runner for the 7th grade girls relay. Many new 6th graders have

The Phoenix News Tompkins Square Middle School Student Newsmagazine 2

The Phoenix News is a student publication for the Tompkins Square Middle School community, organized as a part of the afterschool program. We thank all the supportive teachers for mak-ing our school the creative happening place that it is, dur-ing, and afterschool. Moreover we thank you as readers and welcome your comments and criticisms at: [email protected] All TSMS students are invited to propose articles and photographs. Get involved! Phoenix News Staff:Editor: LucyLooseEnds: Jasper Tomah-YihStaff Writers:Elise Ruiz, Nilsamarie Rodriguez, Jordan Blacks-hear, Tasmin Ersahin, , Keno Burckhardt, Leila Eliot, Marquise Mack, Emma Louise Fountain, Desi Tomaselli, Alex Greenblatt, Aiden Engel-Bradley, Darby Houghton

Adviser, Layout: Ethan Goldwater*All Photos by Ethan Goldwater except Keno’s shot of Hercules.

Above: Max Stalker-Wilde eating cook-ies that he bought from our bake sale to

We Want Change By Tasmin Ersahin.

School Grown Herbs in the Salad DressingBy Desi Tomaselli On January 16, 2010 in the cafeteria, TSMS, Earth School, and PS64 students were all munching on salad dressed with dressing made out of herbs grown just outside the building’s walls. Abbe Futterman, the science teacher at the Earth School, planted the herbs outside of the school at the beginning of last summer. “I love cooking.,” said Abbe. “The herbs add good smell and good color to the salad dressing. A little can go a long way. You can plant a little and there will be enough for the whole school.” Abbe thought she should tell the whole school because “what ever food comes in from the garden is for the whole building.”

“I planted rose marry, thyme, lavander, sage, mints, stevia and parsly,” she said. “The kids loved it because it was so good, and they ran out of salad.” Abbe explained how things we can plant in our school garden can be really healthy for us. “Herbs help humans. Herbs have vitimans and micro-nutrients and they taste and smell good.”

We asked the question “What do you want to change about T.S.M.S.?” to the kids of our school. Approximately 300 kids responded. Here are their ideas in order of most voted. These votes were anonymous and the informa-tion used to make this article is strictly from what the kids wrote. #1 School Lunch What kids said they would like to change the most in the school is the school lunch. People say that the school lunch should be healthier, tastier, include more food choices, more vegetarian options, more international foods (to meet the diversity of the kids in the school), organic food and fresh local food. “I feel like I eat greasy crap for lunch in school”. “Sometimes I don’t even eat lunch, I just go hungry.” “It seriously sucks having to eat P.B.& J sandwiches ev-eryday for lunch. We need more vegetarian options.” “Could we have organic, fresh and local food for lunch? Or is that an impossible dream?”

#2 Less Homework “I think we should get less homework. We need more time to be kids!” People in our school have made it clear that they want less homework. Some suggestions are: no homework on weekends, no homework on breaks and vacations, and homework should not take more than 2 hours to complete. One kid suggested that we have one extra hour in school everyday and have no homework. Hey teachers, wondering why kids are always tired in school? Well, this kid has the answer, “I would change homework in the school. The amount of homework is overwhelming. Homework is the reason why kids go to sleep late and don’t get enough sleep.” #3 Cleaner Bathrooms “We definitely need to have cleaner bathrooms. I mean, literally, you can smell the boy’s bathroom from a mile away.” “ The girl ’s bath-room is gross. You need to dodge the dirty pads littered on the floor. But also, what do you expect us to do with

them if there are no garbage cans in the stalls?” “ There are about 375 kids in the school, there is one bathroom with 4 working stalls for all the girls (there are 2 stalls al-ways out of order.)” are some of the complaints that were voiced about the state of our school ’s bathrooms. Other suggestions from the voters were: -Learn about green living in school-Choice between dance and gym-Different clubs (baseball, football, etc.)-More school trips-Spirit Week-More Enrichment Choices (mu-sic, theatre, other languages, etc)

Leila Elliot contributed to the research for this article.

Max Stalker-Wilde eats the cookie he bought for the benefit for Haiti bakesale.


Pocket Money: Analyzing Student Allowance (continued)

was $22.28. The 8th graders get almost double the amount that the 7th graders get per week, and three times that of the 6th graders. But why do they need this much money? And what do they use it for? The things that most people said they spent their money on were food, clothes, electronics, and video games. “Bronxville tickets in Grand Central Station, nail polish, clothes, and food,” an 8th grader said. And, “I usually go to Exit 9 or Alphabets or Urban Outfitters to buy cool things like earmuff headphones etc…” respond-ed one 6th grader.” One 8th grader said, “Food, pizza, delis, Chinese food.” And a lot of people said they had to spend money on lunch. “Out to lunch money every Mon, Wed, and Fri,” another 8th grader responded. And, “I spend my money on lunch at the pizza place.” “FOOD!! Anywhere,” said one student. As far as clothes go, they were very popular among all the grades. A lot of people said they spend their money on sneakers, or clothes that would “make them look good,” as a 6th grader said. Some popular neighborhood stores were Exit 9, Alphabets, Urban Outfitters, and Forever 21. So, I guess people just care enough about these things to want to spend whatever money they get on them, whether they earn it or not. And how many people do earn it? Well, 38% of 6th graders do chores, 44% of 7th graders, and only 11% of 8th graders. Now that’s not including anyone who has a job or who just maybe doesn’t consider some of the stuff they do to help out around the house as ‘chores’. “No I don’t really have chores just dishes and take down the garbage,” one 7th grader answered. “It depends (whether or not I get allowance), I do chores just to do it, not for money,” an 8th grader said. And one 7th grader responded that, “Every once in a while I get al-lowance from my dad but I mostly have to clean the dishes or the whole kitchen.” Next, we wanted to find out how seriously people thought about what they spent their money on, and how important they thought it was. One 6th grader said, “No, (what I spend my money on is not important) well to me it is but maybe not for everyone else.” Were they right? Some people said they did care about what they spent money on but some people said they didn’t. “Well, yes I spend on food so I can survive and live. I buy clothes so I can protect my body when it’s hot or cold,” one 6th grader said. When one 8th grader was asked if what

6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade

What percentage of TSMS students get allowance?

they spent their money on was important they responded, “Yes, cause I need the food to move around.” Some people said they wanted more money, but most said that they didn’t. “No, (I don’t want more money) because my mom has to pay bills and I don’t need money because I don’t pay bills,” a 6th grader said. But an 8th grader answered, “Yes, because I run out really fast.” There were a lot of answers about not wanting or needing more money because their parents needed it more than they did, to pay bills, or to support the household. “No! Why would I?,” a 6th grader said. “Parents have to pay bills and they should have the money. They are adults.” But some people said they needed more just because they can’t “get every-

thing they want” sometimes, as a 6th grader responded. Or, as one 7th grade student answered, “Yes, (I need more money), for a better future.” As we all know, and whether we like it or not, money is important and will always be, in and out of the school. What we spend our money on does matter, at least to some extent, and if not to ourselves, than to somebody else, it does make a difference. It affects us everyday and forces us to make decisions about what to save and what to spend, what to spend it on, what to not spend it on. So money really does matter in our lives, in some way or another, and whether we get a lot or a little, or any at all, we should always try to spend wisely and earn at least some of the money we receive.


The Art of Moviemaking: An Exploration in 6th Grade Humanities ClassBy Emma Louise Fountain

What is Rebecca’s favorite type of music? Rock & Roll. Who is Rebecca’s favorite band? The Who. They played the half time slot at this year’s Super Bowl. Meet Rebecca! She’s the 8th Grade Humanities Teacher from TSMS and works in Room 340. Rebecca is a new teacher at TSMS and she used to work at PS 126 in Lower Manhattan. She was convinced to transfer to TSMS by word of mouth from two teachers who said that the school was a really open-minded community and fun place to work, Ms. Mashamesh, a 7th Grade Humanities teacher who got a job here told her that it was a really great school and that there were spots still available. Also she knew Mr. Vazquez, a 6th Grade

Humanities teacher who told her that she would like it here. The reason why she became an 8th Grade Humanities teacher was because she likes the challenge of working with middle-schoolers and she knows a lot about English and Social Studies. She likes to work with 8th graders because she likes to get them ready for high school. Also to prepare them for the work they will have so they know some of the stuff they are to expect. What she likes most about the 8th grade curriculum is the Social Studies part of Humanities, espe-cially World War II, Civil Rights, and the Holocaust. Humanities has a lot to do with life because everyday people make history. Re-becca also enjoys the writing part

of it too. She likes being able to say what she thinks and she also likes to tell stories. What Rebecca likes about NYC is that there is always something to do here... When she’s not at TSMS, Rebecca spends time hiking, being with friends, and enjoys free writing as well. The best vacation she has ever taken was to Barce-lona, Spain in college. She was in NYU at the time, where she was studying religion and English. “It’s fantastic to work with her, she’s really smart and she comes up with fun things to do with the class and she also has a great sense of humor”, says Mary the 8th Grade Humani-ties teacher that works with her.

Meet Rebecca: 8th Grade Humanities Teacherby Jordan Blackshear

On Friday, April 9, 2010, 6th grade teams Balance and Diversity celebrated the completion of their movies. Sure, they weren’t 2 hour-long high tech special effect films, but considering that most of us hadn’t had any film training (other then Josh, our movie-making student teacher), I thought they were pretty good. First of all, we wrote small moment short stories, lots of dialogue, not a lot of detail. This took us 2 days. Next, we started to storyboard. We drew pictures to illustrate juxtaposition (cutting back and forth), camera angle, camera movement, and point of view. We described what the shot would show, the settings, and inner dialogue. That took 2-3 days.

Then, after making multiple storyboards, we wrote the scripts. We described every mo-ment in our ‘skits’, deciding where the camera would be and when. We drew more pictures, and we wrote out exact lines for our actors to say in the actual movie. We wrote out inner dialogue. We wrote pretty much everything that goes into a homemade movie. The next step was to write a general overview of our movies. We wrote the title and the plot. Then, we wrote out who was who. You could be directing (responsible for overseeing all creative aspects of the set), camera operating (operates the camera, type of shot, angle of shot. Works closely with director), production assisting (Responsible for props, objects, and overall look of shot),

sound design (Responsible for title slate visual/clap at start of shot and controlling outside noises), or acting (the characters in a movie). Finally, the last step was to film the movie. Ms. Cibener, the 6th grade humani-ties teacher, said this was her favorite part- “Watching the kids use all the different film techniques”. Most groups took 10 takes of each shot, some less. The whole class trooped out to Tompkins Square Park and shot the movies there. We would clear whole areas, making them just right for our movies. The next day, we watched all our movies, laughing over the cheesy jokes, cringing at the fake fights, and pretty much everyone agreed- we could do that again…

Student Teacher Josh working with Edwin Merlin. Rintaro framing the shot. Emma Fountain slapping Joshua Footman across the screen.


At 6:30 a.m., Shay Ghallager wakes up in her Queens home. She gets dressed, making sure to put on one of her few different-colored Nest shirts, (regular polo shirts with the Nest logo on it), and drives to school. Nest is an elemen-tary through highschool situated on Houston street and Avenue D, right next to Hamilton Fish library. It’s big blue tiled building is where many neighborhood kids attend school, and where many local teachers go to teach. It is known for its strict attitude and disciplinary ideas, but also for its high test scores and high achieving students. Shay arrives at school by 8:10 each morning, just making the 8:15 cutoff between the early and the late. Her first period class is the same each day. Social stud-

ies taught by her favorite teacher, Dominic. Dom for short. “I like Dom because he is really funny, witty, and bold,” she says. After that she has her second period class, also the same each day. For the

most part her schedule stays rela-tively the same, besides 3rd and 7th period, in which she has an alternat-ing elective. Their day contains 8 periods, which causes some hectic and perhaps even stressful times. They have 4 minutes between periods to get to each class, and according to Shay, “There are a lot of stairs, which are very steep.” Their extra classes, or electives, are gym, web design, a language (French, Mandarin, or Spanish,

Shay takes French), Team Leader-ship, and music. When asked what Team Leadership consists of, Shay replied after thinking for a while, “A class where we learn how to coop-erate and just play sports or sit out

because we don’t have the proper shoes. And we also have assign-ments like essays on sports movies.” Once a week her class goes to the science lab where they get to con-duct an experiment. As for who she has classes with, the people stay the same until gym where two classes combine. In our school, for the most part we have a strict no phone rule. If a phone goes off, we usually have to get our parents to come and retrieve

it. “We have to act like it isn’t our phone,” Shay said “But normally, they take it.” For lunch, the NEST kids get the choice of sitting in a booth, at a table, or if there’s no room they have

to sit on the radiators. The school lunch isn’t good, but still, less people take lunch from home than eat the school

lunch. Shay’s school day ends at 3:10pm. “I normally do stuff after school, and I get home at certain times depending on what I did after school that day.” Such as going to her friends houses, going to the library next door, or going to have pizza with friends. Our schools appear to be very different, but once you get past the uniforms and strict no sneakers/jeans policy, they’re actually quite similar. Just ask Shay.

A Day in the Life of A Student at the N.E.S.T. School By Lucy and Jordan

Permanent Accessory: Brendan’s Scarf

“Energetic, stupid, and agile.” Those are three words Brendan Ko uses to describe himself. But others disagreed. 7th grade student Jasper Toman-Yih said that the three words he thought best described Brendan were “Scarf, hair, and Brendan.” The reason he chose the word scarf was because Brendan always wears a blue scarf to school. According to Brendan, his mom made it for him. “She knit it with my sister and I find that really special in a way,” he says. He likes it because, “It gives me more character and it feels really comfortable on me. It makes my neck re-ally warm, which I like and it feels really natural on me now.” He wears it a lot, so apparently, “It feels like skin. It feels really weird when I take it off.” He’s had his scarf for a long time and he wears it a lot, so he’s shared a lot of interesting mo-ments with his scarf. His happiest moments with it were, “Whenever I run with it I guess. I feel like a special man. I feel almost as cool as Jasper does.” But his worst moment with the scarf was when, “I almost lost it. I went outside and it was like zero degrees out and I lost my scarf

and my hat and my gloves and my jacket and it really cold out so I had to run back inside the school.” His funniest moment wearing the scarf was when, “Zalmai tied my shoe to the window string and I was kicking so the shade kept going up and down and we were going to be late for class because I couldn’t leave and then he took scissors and cut the string.” I asked him if he ever got hot wearing the scarf and this was his response: “Yeah, if I took it off right now, I would feel a difference in tem-perature around my neck, so you know yeah.” Brendan says the most important lesson he has learned from his experience wearing the scarf was that, “You shouldn’t be self conscious about what you want to do, like if it feels comfortable it feels comfortable, but some of the things that feel comfortable you shouldn’t do.” Wow, that’s so deep. So, then I wanted to find out what other people thought about his scarf...(This article was written in February. Brendan has since stopped wearing the scarf. Of course, Brendan’s personality is still the same. And Jasper still accepts the scarf ’s coolness.)

“It’s cool? Mmmmm... sure.” -Jasper

By Lucy


Rebecca (left) and Ms. Curry counting school store money.

It’s Back... School Store Re-Opens! By Marquise Mack and Jordan Blackshear

Guess what’s back? No it’s not your boo-merang. It’s the school store. You can still get the all the same things and also most of the prices haven’t changed. There aren’t any new items what so ever. You can still buy stuff like water or granola bars, but the sweater prices have gone up. It used to be $22.50 but now its $26 because of the manufacturer raised the prices. The people who run the school store are Ms. Curry and Rebecca. But sometimes it’s hard to get the staff (kids) to work. The school store is a little store by the tech room and Bryce’s room if you want to visi. We recomend you do. We asked the person who

runs the school store and asked they think about working at the school store. “I think it’s cool to run the school store,” said Ms. Curry, the 6th Grade Team Strength teacher. If you are wondering what the school store’s money goes you should pay attention. Part the money goes to buying new things, and the other part goes to the school. “It’s awesome to work at the school store”, quoted Lucas, a 6th Grader in Team Insight.

“You can buy lots of things Joshua,” a 6th Grader in Team Strength.

One day me and my friend Caleb were at Block Busters getting two liter bottles of Coca Cola because they were only $1.50. Then my friend Max called me and told us that there was a swivel chair (A chair with wheels) at Saint Marks and 1st avenue. Caleb and I ran there and took the chair and I rode on it because my leg hurt. Then we walked around and found parts to add to it. The next day we went to Atticus Jones’ dad’s workshop and his dad was like “I’m a cool guy! I’ll build this for you!” When we were done with the chair me and Caleb were like “Oh no! We’re going to be late for the talent show!” and we rushed with me riding the chair to the school. After we got there and heard Max play guitar we rode around in the hallways. Next week, on March 25, the book fair at Barnes & Nobles with Ned Vizzini

event was happening. We rode the chair there, but when we arrived we realized that we had no way to keep it from being stolen. Luckily Mr. Goldwater was there with his bike and agreed to lock it up for us, so we were able to go in and see Ned Vizzini speak. That was cool.

Wheeling A Mobile Contraption Around DowntownBy Ethan Cyr

Ned Vizzini getting the crowd pumped at Barnes and Noble.

A Trip Through History: 8th Grade’s Visit to Museum of Jewish Heritage By Bryn Huxley-Reicher On Friday January 29th, the eigth grade went on a trip to the Museum of Jewish Heritage: a living memorial to the Holocaust, located in Battery Park City. We visited the museum to deepen our understanding of the Holocaust, Judaism in general, and oppres-sion and genocide in the world. Once there, we toured the three floors, the first for Jewish heritage, the second about the Holocaust and the third about oppresion and genocide in the world. After touring the exhibits, we heard a man speak about his experiences as a survivor

of the Holocaust. The Museum’s exhibits include photo-graphs and artifacts from the history of Judaism and the Holocaust, as well as the permanent sculpture installation of Andy Goldsworthy; a space in which trees are planted into holes in rocks. One who views this piece is reminded of the hope, and perseverance of humanity. In my opinion, the 8th grade was not able to stay in the exhibits long enough or see enough exhibits to get a very thorough understanding of the museum’s treature trove of historical in-

formation. Amos Resheff, an 8th grader, stated: “I thought the trip was really cool. I thought that it was great for the class to get an in-depth view of the Holocaust and of Judaism. The one thing that I did not like about the museum was that there was a gift shop. The museum should not be trying to profit from teaching people about the Holocaust.” All in all, I think that this trip was very educational. I think it would be worth a return visit that lasts the entire day, to really absorb all that this amazing museum has to offer.


Animal Adoption: Pet stores, Shelters or Breeders? By Elise Ruiz

“I saw her picture and eyes and that was every thing.” These were the words Ms. Mashamesh, the 7th grade Humanities teacher, told me when she was telling me about her experience in getting a dog. She had recently lost her dog and she thought that it was time to get a new one. What she did was go to petfinder.com. That was where she found a dog named, Gigi, a year old female dog. Ms. M fell in love with Gigi when she saw the picture. So Ms. M decided to go and see her. “She is sweet and crazy, like a teenager.” So that was when Gigi got her new name, Ruby. Now she has a new and loving home with Ms. M, a loving, caring pet owner. There are more animals out in the world that are looking for chances at life again or to begin a new one like Ruby. That seems like an easy job, to just get an animal and keep it. But that is not how it works. For example, is where you live effective for the animal, are you going to have time to provide the animal with enough love and attention that it needs and much more? But, lets think ahead to when you think you are ready and prepared to get an animal. You will have a few questions in your head as to where to get a pet from. I mean there are a lot of choices to where to get your pet from. You have pet stores, shelters and breeders all around the world. But, which is the best place to get a pet? Lets find out. Lets start off with a pet store. Of course we see many cute pets in the pet store and we always have the urge to buy a pet. But, is it the best option? Well if you go to the pet store and ask for the pets’ information then

the infor-

mation that they give you might be inaccu-rate or completely wrong. Also the medical treatment that the pet stores give to the pets could be the minimal amount that the state requires. That wouldn’t be such a healthy dog now, would it? Finding the right pet from a pet store would be such a pain since there are many pet stores in the world! But,

even though they could be some complicated things about buying a pet from the pet store, there are good pet stores that are reliable and trustworthy. Just be careful where you go! Next is the shelter. Yes, of course we all feel sorry for the animals that are in the shelter since they are put to sleep after a certain

amount of time. Yes again, you could be a hero and save a life. That is a proud and big thing to do. But, if the animals are there because the past owners thought

that the animals had behavior problems, then consider them! So I suggest you choose wisely! An animal breeder is not a choice that many people consider to get an animal from. But, there are some things that are good about getting them from a breeder. Be prepared- a lot of good breeders ask a bunch of questions

(which can get vey tiring, believe me!) and will try to see if you are a good match for the pet. (Even though it can be very annoying.) You do not want a breeder who would just give up the animal to just anyone. That would probably mean that they would not take such good care of the pets. The worst part about getting an animal from a breeder would be that the breeders might tend to lie a lot more about the information about the animal that you are planning to get. Ask the breeder how long have they been work-ing with the breed. Have they just started or had they had experience before? How much information does the breeder know about the breed? What does the breeder do for a living? But, the most important question is, do you like the breeder? Is it someone you can trust and rely on? I think that that is the most important question that anybody should ask himself or herself ANYWHERE they choose to get their animals from. But, sometimes even the greatest thing to do may be the worst mistake that you ever made. A lot of them are probably the best choice you

ever make to get an animal from. But you may always find the best friend that you have been hoping for.Ned Vizzini getting the crowd pumped at Barnes and Noble.


Skateboarding: The Physical Art By Jarret Jung

Skateboarding is most often re-ferred to as a hobby. It is one of my favorite pastimes as it is for many of my friends. Many professional skateboarders are also professional artists. Many kids who skateboard also enjoy visual art. Skateboarding is independent just like art. Skate-boarding is a form of art. A lot of professional skate-boarders are artists. For example, Mark Gonzales is a well-known professional skateboarder who designs the graphics for his pro-

model decks. He also has been involved in art shows. The fact that Mark Gonzales does art is not rare, another professional skateboarder, Ed Templeton also is a professional skateboarder and artist. Numerous skateboarders create visual art on their boards, shoes, and traditional paper. People who are interested in art and create art often do more than one form of art. Skateboard-ing is the other form of art Mark Gonzales does. Skateboarding is appealing to many artists because it

is another form of art. I have many friends who both skateboard and are talented artists. Many of my friends who I skate with are applying to LaGuardia for visual art. My friends Noah Lee, and Josue Caccers are both talented skateboarders and artists. Noah states, “One day I would want to create deck art.” They both applied to LaGuardia and enjoy art and skateboarding immensely. Skateboarding is a form of art because it expresses feelings. Visual art clearly tells a story and shows emotion. Skateboarding is independent and unique because of the select styles and tricks skaters do. Some skaters skate more

fluidly than others, some artist paint more smoothly. My friend Noah says, “In skateboarding and art there are no boundaries, also everyone has their own style”. Some skaters attempt huge obstacles, some artists create huge installations. These are some of the similarities be-tween skateboard-ing and visual art. A huge part of skating is the video aspects. Skaters go out and attempt tricks and catch it on video. Then they put the video clips together and create art. Watch-ing Mind Field, by Alien Workshop was viewing a piece of art. Skate videos showcase amazing skaters doing their art, just as art shows showcase artist’s work. Skate videos are a strong aspect of skate-boarding art. Skateboarding is about expres-sion. It can often be a way to blow off steam, and let loose. Whether

you consider skateboarding a form of art, sport, or a hobby it is some-thing to be appreciated. I hope that next time you see someone skating you will think differently of what the skater is doing. Skateboarding is a form of art.

Above: Noah Lee on a tailslide.Left, A student from East Side Commu-nity H.S. busts a 5-0.

Sports

expanded the track team. They are excited to learn from the 7th and 8th graders and practice with someone besides the coaches. 6th grader Julio Biel says, “Track is fun. I have met many friends.” “I love track, it’s become part of my everyday schedule,” said 7th grader Cristal Oliveres. “Running the relay has helped me have trust in people and not

only depend on myself for success.” “Doing long jump is like an addiction for me.,” said El-Java Washing-ton. “Once I started I couldn’t stop.” I agree, as last year’s long jump champion. Both boys and girls 7th grade relays did a re-ally good job. They took everyone by surprise and won first place with pride. The 6th boys

relay team also won first place as where the 6th grade girls took second place. After a hot 3 hours of sitting under the sun, watching our team mates run, cheering real loud and running everyone sits on the grass for a great lunch. Then on their way back to school. Far Left: Tyrell Elmore run-ning the 400. Left: Nilsa, defending city-wide long jump champion.

Track Team Exudes Healthy Attitude Continued from the front page


Book Review

Tony Diterlizzi is an author of a book called the Spiderwick Chron-icles. I liked the book because it is full of imagination. Things like trolls and goblins are brought to life in this book, which was actually turned into a movie. Tony started to write when he was 5 years old. What made him think about writing the book was his imagination, he was bored, then the idea came to him and he wrote

it down. When was in the hopsital Tony Diterlizzi came in to talk with us kids. He was a very nice guy. He showed everybody his book, and gave everybody there a free copy of his book. In the book, Jared Simon and Mallory grace get in real trouble. The griffen, a dragon, a goblin, and other things threaten them. There is something drawn by Tony called ‘the protected circle,’ which is to

keep the goblins and malgarath out of the house, and from getting the power to take over the world and destroy the protectded circle. If Jared Simon and Mallrory gave the book to Mulgarath, he would kill them and take over the world. This book is recomended for the exciting action in the struggle between good and evil.

The Spider Wick Chronicles by Christopher Williams

World Of Warcraft: WOW, Number One Game for Gamers, Worldwide Video Game Review

World of Warcraft is the most popular game in the world. 11.5 million people are playing World of Warcraft as you read at this moment! No Joke! I know it’s Amazing! You should know that you should call World of War-craft, WOW because it stands for WOW, plus it makes sense. The company that makes WOW is called Blizzard. Blizzard has another game called Star Craft. Gamer Addictions: Here are some sad stories. There was once a Chinese kid who was 8 years old and he once played WOW for 32 hours. Then he killed himself and he left a note saying that he killed himself because he wanted to join the heroes in WOW. Another one is that most people who play WOW has no life. All they do is play WOW everyday. I once heard on the news that a kid was playing WOW and he plays 16 hours everyday. It makes him more violent everyday. People play WOW all over the world! About the game: The game is for adults. Lets start out the ba-sics, first the main idea of the game is that you have to complete quests. You don’t have to if you don’t want to though. That’s just the main idea. You can do pretty much any-thing like you can eat, sleep, drink, beg, talk and more… I think

for some people it might be really confusing because you can do so much stuff. You can make friends

and it’s online. You choose what side you want to be on likgood or bad. Most people play as bad. You also have to choose your race and

your class. Race means like what you want to be like a dwarf, gnome, human, draenei and night elfs. The others are taurens, undead, trolls, orcs and blood elfs. Class means what you are like a warrior, war-lock, mage, hunter, paladin, priest, shaman, rogue and Druids. The highest level you can get to is level 80. One level 80 means the person’s been playing WOW for at least a year. The world’s record for how long it takes to get to level 80 is less than 7 days. You start at level 1. People that work for WOW are probably rich and their called GMs. GM stands for Game Master. About a 100 people work for Blizzard. To keep the GMs entertained, they have a Gym and a cafeteria. They call the food what the food is called in WOW. Blizzard made up WOW manu-als for the game. They also made up fiction WOW books. WOW has a visitor center in California. They won’t let people go up into the office to see what their GMs are doing because they don’t want people to steal their idea.WOW is so popular that people have taken there idea which is called private servers. People copy WOW for money. WOW is trying to sue the people who are making private servers. Stay tuned.

By Desi Tomaselli

Above: Young people at an Internet Cafe in Chinatown play WOW.Below: A screen shot of a monster from a live-action WOW game.


The hebby jebbies short films at the N.Y.I.C.F.F were the best short films in the N.Y.I.C.F.F. My favorite films in this group of films were Alma (direc-tor: Rodrigo blaas; animated) and Mortified (director: Robert Nevitt; live action). Alma is about a little kid that goes into a doll shop and realizes that it is haunted. What tempts him to go into the doll shop is he sees a doll of himself and he gets very excited. Mortified is about a little girl play-ing hide and seek with her friends and her friends all get stalked and killed by an assassin. And apparently the assas-sin is her father and she gets all mad at him and complains that he always kills her friends and its super embarrassing. There are many more films. One called Atormenta (The Storm)(direc-tor: Cesar Melendez/Isabel Carrion; animated) about a man super lonely in the rain with no umbrella or raincoat

then he sees a little girl and the little girl gives him her umbrella and then the man gets struck by lighting and the girl laughs at him and he gets struck by lighting again. The anima-tion was kind of like made of brown goo on paper to show how wet it was. Another film is called The Terrible Thing from Alpha 9(director: Jake Armstrong animated). It is about a bounty hunter who goes on a journey to hunt down a monster in a faraway planet. The monster is apparently nice and the man is really cruel. He tries to kill the monster. The monster always escapes his traps at the end of the movie (spoiler alert) the man’s space helmet cracks and his head explodes and blood goes everywhere (eeeeeeeeeew) but at this point we discover that many astronauts died this way and there was a huge pile of them.

Hebby Jebbies Short Film: Spooky, Freaky, and BizarreBy Alex Greenblatt

Movie Review

Above: A still from the Man in the AlleyWayBelow: A still from the film “Alma.”

During spring break I went to Paris and Switzerland. Our trip was to take us from JFK airport to Paris and then from Paris to Switzerland where I have tons of family. When we finally got off the plane from Paris from which we transferred to Swit-zerland. We got off, dazed from the flight, and made our way to a town called Rinngenberg. When we got there, we settled in to our house. (A family member let us stay there.) The next day we decide d to go hiking. We went to the top of Europe…The Junfraujoch. Yeah I said that same thing, that’s a long name! It is pronounced Yung

frow yok. We took a train that took us up the mountain. I could see skiers gliding beside the train as we passed. It was really pretty. The alps stood high and I felt tiny. When we got all the way to the top we were amazed! That was just a preview of my adventures. On the left is a picture of a greek man slaying a serpent. This was in the Louvre. The Louvre was a castle built for a King of France. That was when the French Revolution was going on so the royalty was feeling unsafe living in the middle of Paris so they moved out farther away to what is now Versilles. Thats pronounced Ver-sy. Then after they moved out it turned in to

a museum. When I was there i saw the Mona Lisa, the Venis De Milo and other incredible things! My favorite thing I saw was a painting by Leonardo Da Vinci. The expression on the woman’s face was incredible! It scared me how real it looked. That’s how good it was. Next , we went to Switzerland. One thing I saw that was amazing was the water. The water is an incredible! It looked like something out of a movie. It was too cold to go swim-ming but I wanted to. After the days in our trip ended we went to Air France. Over all I am glad I went to Paris and Switzerland!

Paris and Switzerland...By Keno Burkhardt

Travel

Above: Hercules slaying a serpent, in the Louvre in Paris, France.


Art Not War - A Manifesto Performed At the Cabaret Night By Tasmin Ersahin

Our School, After School

We live in a capitalist world with so much con-sumed and wasted. In our world, corporations dominate our food, our clothing, the media and the way we think. Corporations want us to believe that mass-produced food from cruel animal factories and chemicals in our food are okay to eat. They want us to believe that wearing clothing made in poor countries with many unfairly paid workers is cool. They want us to believe that war is necessary. Is killing innocent people really necessary and in doing so making us “protected”? We must rethink this world of ours. Clearly this generation dominating the world right now is not doing a very good job. I think its time that they listen to us, the young generation with better, more eco-friendly and humane ideas that will save our world from turning into an oligarchy dominated by the wealthy corporation owners. Sometimes I wonder if there will ever be a day where no gun is shot, no bomb is dropped, and no killing takes place in our world (human or animal). If only there was more art and no war. Right: Via Reinerston, Zyselke Tarnai, Tasmin Ersahin

Americans consume around 1,200,000 hamburgers a year. That may seem like a lot, but based on the quality of the ones at the Black Iron Burger, it just might be all worth it. A perfectly cooked burger, fresh lettuce and tomatoes, sour pickles, cheese (optional), and more, all fit between two fluffy toasted buns, and all for no more than $5 at the Black Iron Burger, just around the corner from the school, tucked away on 5th street between avenues A and B. Walk in through the swinging glass door paned in black. Step into the dim, musky atmosphere, the walls covered with cloudy, faded mirrors. There are high round tables with

wooden chairs scattered around the room. The counter is long and dark, with the bar setup just beyond it. In the back are the best seats, a slightly bigger table parked between two stools and a hard wooden booth. There are containers filled with napkins and knives lined up along the walls, as well as ketchup and mustard. Fries are $4 and milkshakes are 6, but if you ask they’ll throw in a free drink with your fries. The Black Iron Burger is a great out-to-lunch place, both cheap and tasty, and convenient too.

Phoenix News Stafff enjoying the perks of the job.

If you’re looking for a delicious hide-away to spend your out to lunch time, then you’ve definitely found it here.

Neighborhood Eats: Black Iron Burger By Lucy

Food

Nirvana’s “Incesticide” Incesticide is a Nirvana album released in Decem-ber 15, 1992. It was one of the last things Nirvana did before the frontman Kurt Cobain shot himself in the face. It features songs such as Dive, Sliver and (new wave version) Polly. The band is not known for par-ticularly fancy playing on this record. The solos were not fast and the singing was always simple. The band was better known for the album Nevermind which featured Smells Like Teen Spirit. Incesticide uses

features where he could appear to be singing two things at once, using looping machines. This album was an important part of the grunge genre. So if you’re a fan of Nirvana, buy it. Or illegally download it, since this is New York. The word incesticide means the murder of sex with your family. I think the idea is it combines the most taboo subjects in one album title.

Music ReviewReviewed By Max Stalker-Wilde


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