The Nationalist: December 12th Issue

RHS Student Newsmagazine December 12, 2012

Inside this issue:♦ End of the world... or not?♦Tech Page- Holiday Gift Guide♦Holiday Traditions♦Sports: Unusual Sports♦Questions with Santa

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Nationalist Staff

“The Nationalist” is published monthly by the newspaper staff of Roosevelt High School, 6600 W. 41 Street, Sioux Falls, SD 57106. Circulation is free to students and faculty. Letters to the editor, columns, quotes, polls and editorials are the opinion of the bylined author(s). The opinions expressed in “The Nationalist” do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the faculty, administration or entire student body of Roosevelt High School. Signed letters to the editor of 200 words or less are welcome. Letters may be edited due to subject, length and decency.

Co-Editors:Napoleon Martinez

Courtney Miller

Staff Writers:Luke Herbert

Kristina IvanovMyriam Medina

Brittany NewmanChelsey Tate

Cheyenne Zephier

Adviser: Mary Gail Monahan

Cover: Senior Jessalyn Holsing and freshman Helean Barwari perform as elves during a rehearsal of “Pippi Longstocking’s Yohoho A Pirate’s Christmas.” The play ran from December 6-8. Photo by Elizabeth Doty.

TheNationalistRoosevelt High School Student Newsmagazine

January 26, 2011

Special Issue:Student Literary Magazine

Gota STORY to TELL,a PHOTO to FLASH, a PAINTING to PLASTER? Submit yourSHorT SToriES,PoETrY,ESSAYSDrAWingS,PAinTingS,SCuLPTurE,PHoTogrAPHY for the 3rd Annual RHS Nationalist Student Literary Magazine. Turn in entries and direct questions to Room A133 by December 14.

4 Opinion ...to the election being over. The 2012 election being over is a major relief to some and a huge headache to others. President Barack Obama won both the Electoral College and the popular vote over former Governor Mitt Romney. Good luck in office for another four years, Obama.

...to Jared Cohen speaking in Sioux Falls. The Argus Leader said that Jared Cohen is the new face of technology. Cohen spoke at the Boe Forum convention center at Augustana College on Nov. 8.

...to the two football players making All-State. Two senior RHS football players have been picked to play for the all-state team, John Wessel and Zachary Tuschen.

...to the volleyball team winning State. Great jobs ladies, for having an undefeated season and playing hard all the way to the top. RHS can’t wait to see what you ladies bring next year.

...to California having to deal with contaminated water. Along with a dozen other towns in California, Seville teach-es their children not to drink the water, contaminated because of fer-tilizers, animal waste and pesticides.

Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down? Nationalist staff members

weigh in on school, local, national and world events from the first quarter.

...to Israel assassinating Gaza Leader. On Nov. 14, the assassination of Ahmed al-Jabari in a missile strike in Gaza City was the “start of a broader operation”, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Stereotypes, the oversimplified image of certain people and cer-tain things, are one major factor that continues to shape how we view each other and thus how society functions as a people. For marketers and demogra-phers, generalization is neces-sary to probe the bevy of market consumers but sometimes there is too much generalization. In this new age of tech-nology comes a new category, us; the iGeneration, Net Gener-ation, or as we’re most formally known, Generation Z. Though there are age range discrepan-cies, we are clearly being distin-

guished from the baby boomers of the 50s and the two genera-tions that followed, Generation X and Generation Y. A study by social researcher Mark McCrin-dle of 500 under-18 Australians showed that each was spending an average of seven hours and six minutes of entertainment media every day, plugged into the internet, their iPods and mo-bile phones. We are the digital natives, the people who grew up with television and computers already available. The age range of people this includes is from 0-17.Well, let’s step back a little. It’s well known that the baby boom-ers are the 50s and 60s children after WWII, but you might not understand who followed them. Generation X, the younger gen-eration during the time of the baby boomers, are the late 30 to early 40 year olds that many of us Zs call our parents. Xs are the skeptics, freethinkers and children of the divorced, but also the arguably best educated generation to date. They have a more realistic view of the world. They aren’t afraid to say money’s tight and their Z children have a greater sense of the long term because of it. But that doesn’t mean we’re like them. In fact, many social researchers liken us to the Ys, especially because

we’re so close to them in age. But Ys are the ideal-ists and dreamers. The now 18-30 year olds are known for be-ing incredibly sophisticated and technologically adaptive because they had to learn to use technol-ogy as it developed. They are much more diverse, less brand loyal and more immune to tradi-tional marketing because they’ve been exposed to so much in their lives. Being young while technol-ogy was being increasingly intro-duced made them adaptive and socially aware.The difference between the Ys and Zs is that we are even more so. Born with the technology, we are even more diverse, more adaptive and more socially aware. We are the most tech-savvy and liable to become the smartest generation yet while also being realistic rather than idealistic. We have Smart Boards and PCs and internet from the get go, mak-ing us the most information-intensive generation of all time. We have a strong emphasis on social justice, innovation and work ethic while moving away from the Ys rampant material-ism. We use technology not only for productivity but to connect and collaborate with others. We are even more skeptical, trust-ing peer group opinions rather than only the plethora of infor-

mation given to us. We are less analytic and push it aside, trust-ing our friends instead. Not to say we aren’t affected positively by media. The deluge of media coverage and school projects on climate change has made us far more environmentally aware. Pe-ter Williams, chief executive for Deloitte Digital, has stated that our capacity to absorb informa-tion is breathtaking in that we have become so knowledgeable about our passions. As time passes and as more in-formation is available to us, we learn not only about our pas-sions but how to follow them. We learn of different paths to reach our goals; how we reach them is astounding. Think of a simple computer game. Today, many require collaboration and quick thinking to reach success, just like in life. The idea of coop-erating with others and our quick adaptation and problem solving skills have become second na-ture to us.Most social researchers agree that it’s too early to judge us com-pletely but that won’t stop them from trying. And who knows, maybe we’ll end up completely different from all their trends. But what do you think, do you agree? Are you a Y or a Z?

...to people voting for SD to secede from the Union. … In order for a state to secede you need a major rule of 25,000 votes. More than 5000 votes have been cast for South Dakota to leave the United States and form its own country.

RHS: The Next Generation

By Napoleon Martinez

5

One day in eighth grade, my class read a story about how you could change someone’s life, for the bet-ter. Once class was over, as I was walking in the hall, I suddenly found myself at the counselor’s office, not knowing exactly why I was there and went in. I found a seat and waited to see him. All sorts of ideas were running through my head. What was I go-ing to do? How was I going to it? What was I even doing here? When my name was called, I walked in the room and he smiled at me. It was one of those smiles that encouraged you, and he asked me what I was there for. Without even thinking, I said “I want the school to write letters to soldiers. How do I set it up?” At that moment I knew it would happen. The hardest part was getting the English teachers to put the letters into their curric-ulum. I had to present it to them in a way they would have no choice but to say yes. When I walked into the room

5 Opinion

I’m not worried about the end of the world, but in case you are, here are some things the Nationalist staff wants to see happen in the next eight days...

December 13 NO SCHOOL- Why spend the last nine days sitting in a class-

room? Why even get stressed out about semester tests if the world is going to end before they’re done? December 14Elect RHS teachers as United States leaders - Lukens as Presi-dent, Schmitz as Queen, Griebel as Secretary of War and Madison as Secretary of Treasury.

December 15 Have a city-wide pizza buffet down 41st street.

December 16 Bring Warped Tour, WE Fest, Lifelight and Wood-stock to Sioux Falls to have four days of different genres of music. December 17 See California split from the United States- All we need is one last earthquake for California to finally, literally, break away from the U.S. December 18

Prepare for the end of the world- buy everything you need to sur-vive the upcoming doomsday. December 19 Celebrate Holi world wide- There’s only three days left, so let’s spend this day celebrating Holi, the festival of colors. Grab some colored powder and spread the colors. December 20 Conduct a real-life Hunger Games. Any volunteers to be a tribute? December 21 Time’s up. It’s predicted that world will end at 5 a.m. So you can either stay up all night waiting or you can sleep through it. The choice is yours.

Are you ready for the end of the world? I’m definitely not, but only because I don’t think it’s going to happen. It’s all media hype. There is NO actual proof that the world is going to end on Decem-ber 21, 2012. Some people think that because the Mayan calendar ends on that date, so too will the world. Others because they think that the fictitious planet Nibiru will hit the earth. Howev-er, according to NASA, scientists are not worried about either of these events. December 21 is not the end of the Mayan calendar, just the end of that period of time; just like the calendar we follow, the Gregorian calendar, ends on Dec. 31. Ac-cording to NASA, Nibiriu was originally supposed to “hit” the earth in 2003, but when that didn’t hap-pen, they just moved into 2012. This seems to have happened a lot with the previous end of the world dates. I don’t understand why people are all hyped up about the end of the world, it’s not the first time it’s been predicted and it won’t be the last. There is no proof of what’s supposed to come in December, just a bunch of paranoid people planning on something that might not even happen. It also seems that the closer we get to the date, the fewer people at RHS are talking about it. Six months ago, people were freaking out about it. But in the last few weeks, there seems to be very little mention of the whole ordeal. I think that by the time the end of the world comes around, people will realize that it’s bunch of baloney. Who would want to believe the end is coming? If it does, we’d lose everything. Our family, our job, our home, our wealth (or lack thereof). I would rather focus on the things to accomplish in the next nine days, than the end of the world itself. There are many things that still need be done before we can call it quits. Keep your friends close, but just in case, your radiation suit even closer.


filled with English teachers, I got nervous; mainly because one teacher was the lady everyone was scared of, including me. She was a stern lady, and one you did not want to cross.

At the beginning of my presentation, I handed

out a piece of candy to every teacher but one. I asked the teacher who did not receive a piece of candy how she felt and she

just kind of strug-gled and said she felt left out and other teachers commented on how they want-ed to share with her, but they couldn’t. Then, I had them close their eyes and imagine that candy was $100 or a car. Finally, I told them to imag-ine it was a letter. They opened their eyes and looked at me with confused looks. I walked up to the lady without candy and said, “everyone around you received a letter from a loved one to-day, except for you. You are in the army,

overseas fighting for our country. You did not get a letter, how do you feel?” I then proceeded to read the teach-ers an article about a soldier who received a letter and kept it on him until he died. I expressed the importance of this project to them and they said yes. When I walked out of that room, I had nev-er felt so accomplished, but the best part was that feeling wasn’t for me. It was for the soldiers who put their life on the line for us, a small token of gratitude that we could show them. My sophomore year, I again started the letters to the soldiers, along with care packages. I have also volunteered at an assisted living home, helped at a fund-raiser for the Banquet, set up Dash for Cash at both WHS and RHS and given my time to anyone who wants it. The soldier’s project was the trigger for the rest of my life. I have with no doubt in my mind that God wants me to continue giving my time to help others. God is guiding me and using me to service other people in need. As long as I have God and the feeling of accomplishment from helping others, I will live a very happy life.

Nine days until the end of the world-- just kidding

How a letter project changed my life

By Cheyenne Zephier

By Courtney Miller

6

Technological Informant

By Kristina Ivanov

Your source for anything and everything techie

Geeky Gamer

Music Maniac

Film Fanatic

Home Made

Assassins Creed III $60Set during the American Revolution, you are Connor, an assassin who is half Native Ameri-can, half English. Traverse through Boston and New York as you fight on both sides of the Revolutionary War. This game is set in our coun-try’s past, so you don’t only play an amazing ad-venture, you learn about America’s history while you’re at it.

Wii U $350If you’re planning to splurge, consider getting Nintendo’s latest system. The Wii U provides a new, different way to play games. Pick up a copy of Zombie U or Super Mario Bros. with it and you’re all set to experience an amazingly innova-

Studio Ghibli & Hayao Miyazaki 32 Box Set $130A selection of animated Japanese movies. Each movie is sure to tug at your heartstrings. These movies will captivate you, drawing you into their unique stories and their beautiful amaz-ing visuals.

It’s a Wonderful Life $15Christmas is a’coming. Why not celebrate the day by watching this old fan favorite? An angel shows a simple, hardworking , kind man what life would have been like if he had never existed. One person does make a difference. This movie is a must-see on Christmas. Celebrate the holidays with good cheer and happy feelings.

Bluetooth Keyboard $70Connect this keyboard to your phone or tablet and type up notes or even whole documents. This product allows you to work on the go, get more work done, and be more productive. A great gift for the on-the-go Student.

Pillow Pet $15It’s a little bit of a childish present, but that’s what makes it so perfect. Too many a time we forget to just relax and take a breather. A pillow pet will bring out your inner child. Who can

resist the cuddly affection of a super soft, fierce, little dragon? Or if dragons aren’t your thing there are many more animals you can choose from. Pandas, Puppies, and Unicorns, Oh my!

Music Box $60Old Fashioned? Bah, Humbug! A most peculiar gift sure to captivate the young at heart. Who doesn’t love something strange? This is the perfect gift idea for anyone. Select a music box from many different varieties. An unusual gift that is sure to warm even the chilliest of hearts.

Soul by Ludacris-Ultra Dynamic On ear headphones $150Noise isolating headphones that come with a hard protective

case to keep your headphones safe. Includes an in-line mini remote to control some basic functions. This fea-ture is compatible with many basic Apple devices. The cord is detachable allowing for improved ease of use. You won’t have to deal with it tangled up anymore. A great buy for anyone looking for a sturdy high quality pair of headphones.

All My Friends are Dead & All My Friends are Still DeadBy: Jory John and Avery Monsen $20These books bring a tad of dark humor into your life. A mel-ancholy read that uses the idea of death to emphasize loneli-ness. Everyone of us has felt lonely at some point in our lives. These books forge a comedic twist on death, happiness and loneliness. Not recommended for children under the age of 12.

Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730 PagesBy: Amon Shea $13Ever wanted to read the Oxford English Dictionary? Me, either. This book is a word lover’s journey through read-ing all 21,730 pages of the dictionary. This guided journey throughout the OED provides great insight on the world around you. Learn words you won’t even begin to suspect be-long in the English language. This book is for the Vocabularian within each of us.

Busy Student

Brainy Bookworm

Gift ideas for the...

Scrapbook“Remember the good times not the bad. Cherish forever. Don’t cry over the sad.” -Unknown. Capture your memories and keep them forever. Immortalize the good moments of life, save those moments in a scrapbook. Cover it with photos, ticket stubs, receipts, stories, and poems. This is the ideal gift for the sentimental human. The perfect gift for a friend or family.

Burned CDWant to give that someone special something that is special and not just bought in a store? Why not a burned CD of all of their favorite music? It shows you care, it shows you know them, and it makes them feel special. “The best gifts come from the heart, not the store.” - Sarah Dessen

This Issue: Holiday Gift Guide

Feature 7

“You make time for things that are impor-tant to you,” said Rhonda Kemmis, SALSA coordinator and Speech teacher at RHS.

Kemmis is fully-devoted volunteer who spends her spare time helping others. Kem-mis said time was her only challenge when it came to volunteering; she raised a family, kept up a full-time job teaching, and still de-voted her time to others.

Besides volunteering at her church, she also spent eight years volunteering at Betha-ny Nursing Home to be closer to her mother, who lived there.

In 2004, she went to Africa with her husband over Christmas, leaving her kids behind in Amer-ica. When she was in Africa, she helped build a church roof for the people of Cameroon.

Going to Africa was one of her best expe-riences. “I would go back in a heartbeat,” said Kemmis. If she could go back it would be to fo-cus on helping out in the hospitals and schools.

After her trip to Africa, she became South Dakota’s Train Up a Child director. Train Up a Child is an organization located on Au-gustana Campus. They raise money to send to Africa, so they can build schools, and each year Kemmis raises $1400.

There is not doubt that volunteering is a huge part of Kemmis’s life. “It builds your character and keeps you well balanced as a person,” Kemmis said.

Rhonda Kemmis

Junior Whitney Fryer has been giving her time at the Great Plains Zoo since her fresh-man year. “I thought it would be a fun way to spend my summer rather than sit around watching t.v.,” Fryer said.

Fryer began to volunteer after her mom read a brief on the Great Plains Zoo web-site about the opportunity to volunteer. She started out on level one of the program which consisted of helping out at a camp of nearly 200 children. At this camp, Fryer help the chil-dren create crafts and introduce the animals to the children.

In order to proceed to level two of the pro-gram, Fryer was required to complete training in order to handle the animals. When all was said and done, Fryer was allowed to present animals to anyone at the zoo who wanted to see.

“We would go around and ask people who were

Whitney Fryer

Senior year is a busy year for most, filled with college applications, jobs, schoolwork and sports. Senior Katelyn Johnson, sched-ule is chock-full of volunteering efforts on top of the normal senior year activities. Not only does she volunteer for all the activities she is involved in at school, she also volun-teers at her church. She is a Sunday school teacher, and she claims it’s one of her best experiences.

“Getting to know all the kids was a great and rewarding experience.” Johnson said. She loves that the kids in her class bring her drawings they had made for her through-out the week.

Volunteering started back when she be-came a freshman. Her sisters introduced her to SALSA. Her favorite activity in SALSA is when they help out at the Washington Pa-vilion.

Johnson really enjoys the Spooky Science nights during October. She spent four to five hours every day she could be there.-

“Not only has volunteering given me a sense of understanding others, it also helped me meet lots of people,” said Johnson.

RHS has many people who sacrifice their time for the sake of others. For senior Jor-dan Larsen, two years was all it took for her to get to the top.

Larsen said she is motived to volun-teer by her desire to work toward goals with positive effects.

Jordan Larsen

Katelyn Johnson


around, if they wanted to see the Creature Animal show,” Fryer said. She would then take patrons to the backstage of the show. “Some animals I got to handle while pre-senting were cockroaches, hedgehogs, tur-tles, blue tong snake, and breaded dragons,” Fryer said.

The experiences changed Fryer in a way that made her feel as if she was making a difference, “A feeling,” she said, “That is hard to put into words.”

Another project Fryer did was assembling Easter bags for Avera Behavioral Center. All of the funding for the project came out of her own pocket. “You had to be careful,” she explained. “I couldn’t put anything they could use to injure themselves in the bags.” Instead, Fryer purchased items such as little notebooks, candy, small toys, plastic eggs, and Easter grass for the bags.

For this she received a thank-you note that made her day. One that impacted her life.

The most rewarding experience for Larsen was helping out a 90-year-old fix up her home. Larsen met her through Habitat for Human-ity. Larsen spent her days scraping the old paint off the woman’s house in the hot summer in order to repaint it.

“It felt good to take the worry and stress off her,” said Larsen. “I was so thankful.”

Although finding extra time is often a struggle for Larsen, she said it’s important for her to always find time to make an impact on someone. “The satisfaction of knowing you did your best and made a difference, made it all worth it in the end,” said Larsen.

Giving Back to Others

Stories of how some at RHS are

By Chelsey Tate

By Chelsey Tate

By Cheyenne Zephier

By Chelsey Tate

8 Feature

Written by Luke Herbert For freshman Malia Lukomski, the

holidays are a time of good food and happy celebrations as she and her family celebrate much like most Americans. That is, they cel-ebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas, along with a Swedish holiday called Santa-Lucia. Here at RHS, when someone says

Thanksgiving, it brings up images of mouth-watering food, great friends and family, and a giant, juicy turkey. For Lukomski and her family, instead of a turkey for the giving of thanks, they cook Cornish Hens, which are small enough that everyone gets their own hen to eat. “I get to get up at 4 o’clock in the

morning to make my parents coffee.” Lu-komski said. While they still celebrate Christ-mas, they prefer to do it the Swedish way and open presents on Christmas Eve, not Christ-mas day. “The next day [Christmas Day] is usually saved for messing around with our presents.” Lukomski said. For the most part, they stay in town but sometimes they’ll have people over. The holidays are a quiet affair in the Lukomski household. In the European Nordic countries

like Sweden, Estonia, Denmark, Norway and Finland, St. Lucia’s Day takes place on the Dec. 13, and almost all countries celebrate the same way. Santa-Lucia is a traditional European holiday focused on the martyr St.

Lucia. The celebration, in European coun-tries, starts out with a young woman dressed in white with a wreath of candles in her hair leading a procession of young women, each holding a single candle to symbolize the fire within St. Lucia that refused to die when she was sentenced to burn to death for refusing to denounce her Christian beliefs.

RHS is a melting pot of ethnicity, composed of people from all corners of the world. As a result, students witness a

plethora of different cultures and religions coming together in celebration. With the holiday season upon us, these many

cultures celebrate in different ways.

A Harmonious Tapestry

Written by Cheyenne Zephier Christmas is time for holi-day traditions for most people. Here at RHS, the band started their own tradition. Junior Marc Larsen de-cided last year to get a Christmas tree for the band room so the stu-dents could celebrate together. Larsen paid for the tree him-self in gold coins and hand-fuls of change. “We used an old stash of gold coins I got from a vending machine in the mall,” he said. Senior Dakotah DeGraw commented on the cashier’s face when she went with Larsen to buy the tree. “He kind of just looked at all of us and laughed,” said DeGraw “He definitely was not ex-pecting to be paid in all dollar coins for a $75 bill.” Accord ing to Larsen, the whole band enjoys the tree tradition and the way they string lights across the cage room. “This year ... the entire band helped put it [the tree] together,” said Larsen.

Written by Cheyenne Zephier For freshman Ekaterina Cherednik, this holiday season is time to spend with her family, just not the average American way. Cherednik has a Russian back-ground and her family celebrates the New Year for both Russia and America. This is the time of the year for Cherednik’s fam-ily and friends to come together and have valued family time. “It’s like your New Years here [In the United States] we also get pres-ents,” Cherednik said. She gave examples such as jeans and boots as gifts they receive “typical gifts” The family goes off to a reserved spot to gather and play competitive games like the Balloon game where you have to pop the balloon that is under the another person’s chair. Cherednik’s family enjoys a pot-luck style meal, everyone contributes one way or

Christmas

St. Lucia’s Day

Russian New Year

another. Olivea is a salad they usually have from Russia, otherwise, they have American foods. “My parents will call my grand-parents to say happy new years” Cherednik said. Well it is still atypical to see kids in Rus-sia writing letters to Santa (Ded Moroz), in Russia you do not celebrate Christmas, like you do the New Year.

Feature 9

The Nationalist - december 12, 2012

Written by Cheyenne Zephier Senior Long Ha shared how he spent his holidays both here in Amer-ica and back in Vietnam.

"In Vietnam we have a five day celebration." Ha said. On the first day they make a meal called Banhtet, contain-ing sticky rice, yellow beans,

fatty pork, and banana leaves. Ha compared the prices in Vietnam to America saying in America it cost $8 to make one, where in Vietnam you can make them yourself for

nearly half the cost and have more to share. "We go to our grandparents’ house on the first day." Ha said. They go and spend quality time with

their grandparents and then their grandparents give the children in the family enve-lopes that contain money. On the second day, the children get driven around by their parents to friends of their parents house where they are introduced and given more money containing envelopes. It continues all day. If a friend is out of the house then they come back later or just move on to another family friend for a meet and greet. On the third day of the celebration of Tet they go all out. With as Ha described a typical American car-nival. As a group they gather together at the location

of the carnival and play games and ride horses. Ha described it as an event that brought people together to spend time with one another and to eat. Some of the games they play are Ball Cua Tom Ca(Lucky Chest) where they play with three dice and you have to match the numbers together. "You can win a lot of money, you can lose a lot of money." Ha said. Another game they play is the classical balloon popping game, but instead of receiving prizes they receive gum or even money. A typical dessert for them is Banh Thu-an, flour and eggs beat together. In America they celebrate Tet on Feb. 13, and because they do not get out of school, it is a one day celebration. Ha described a typi-cal day. At midnight, they eat sweets and call their home country to say happy new year to the grandparents then they rest after a mini cel-

ebration. Waking up to a light breakfast they begin their day where they enjoy each others company until 7 when they meet with other Vietnamese people in Sioux falls. They gather and exchange enve-lopes to the children that contain money. "You’re a child if you’re not married." Ha said. When dinner comes around, they put fruits such as orang-es, grapes, mangos, and grape fruit on a plate that they sit in an area where candles, food, and rice are sitting and the grandmother of the family will pray for the family and wish good luck upon the children for the upcoming year. Then, they plays games such as Lucky Chest (ball cua tom ca) and enjoy each other’s company until the end of the night.

RHS is a melting pot of ethnicity, composed of people from all corners of the world. As a result, students witness a

plethora of different cultures and religions coming together in celebration. With the holiday season upon us, these many

cultures celebrate in different ways.

A Harmonious Tapestry

Written by Luke Herbert For Senior Rihan Yaqoub-Mohammad, the holiday season includes celebrating the end of Ramadan with another celebration called Eid al-Fitr. For those that don’t know what Ramadan is, Ramadan is a Muslim holiday where Muslims around the world give up physical needs like food and drink during the daylight hours in order to purify their souls, focus more on their relationship with God and practice self-sacrifice. The Arabic word for fasting, sawm, literally means “to refrain”. At the end of Ramadan is the Mus-lim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, a three day feast to mark the end of the month-long fast. Similar to our Thanksgiving, the Yaqoub-Mohammads eat sheep instead of a turkey. Along with the sheep, Yaqoub-Mohammad and her family also eat potatoes, vegetables, kisra (a flat bread made from sorghum), and okra (a vegetable similar in appearance to a plantain).

Muslims who celebrate Eid al-Fitr start the day off with early morning prayer where they recite the Eid prayer and that is followed by a quick congregational prayer. After that, most families will do-nate some food to the poor to ensure that they have a holiday feast as well. The process of donation is called sadaqah al-fitr. Over the holiday season, Yaqoub-Mohammad and her family often do what most families in Sioux Falls do. Seeing as it’s Sioux Falls, and there isn’t much to do here normally, Yaqoub-Mohammad and her fam-ily leave to visit their relatives. Sometimes, they’ll stay and invite their relatives over.

Ramadan

Tet or Têt Nguyên Ðán

10 Sports

Written by Guest Writers Ekaterina Chered-nik and Meagin Vizecky

Running, jumping, back flips…they’re all his skill. Senior Tordum Bakpo is a 17-year-old boy with a passion for free -running. After seeing people do back flips on the internet, Bakpo quickly became interested. “I wanna be able to do that,” Bakpo said. At the age of just 15, Bakpo wanted to try something a bit more chal-lenging than just back flips. “I tried free running. It was more interesting than that.”

Free-running originated in Paris, France, by young adults who sprinted across roof tops and obstacles, competing against one another. This artistic sport can be dan-gerous when practiced incorrectly. When practiced carefully, free-running can enhance the safety of the free-runner by teaching how to land and manage obstacles correctly. The chances of a free running injury are just as likely as an injury from any other sport. Bakpo enjoys free-running with friends and tries to practice approximate-ly six hours a day. “That’s mostly during the summer, though,” Bakpo said. Also taking gymnastics class here at RHS, he does some helpful practices. “We just got done with floor exercises. Now we’re do-ing balance beams,” Lori Warne, physical education teacher, said. “He’s doing great!” So far, Bakpo claims he hasn’t broken any bones yet. “Don’t hope to!” Bakpo said, eyes wide. Despite how brave he his, Bakpo still has a little anxiety to go along with his challenges. “It’s always fear that gets in the way. First back flip…thought I was gonna land on my head,” Bakposaid.“Youhavetofightwithyourself.Like when you try to do something new.” To calm his nerves, he gives him-self a brief pep talk, with a mix of deter-mination. “It’s just a flip. You have noth-ing to worry about,” he frequently tells himself. “If I get hurt, at least I tried.” Even with his love for free run-ning, Bakpo wishes to make a career be-ing a movie director. “If that doesn’t work, I’d be a stuntman,” Bakpo said.

Written by Guest Writer Whitney Fryer The 17th annual Alcatraz In-vitational Swim in California took place on Sept. 8. The swimmers started near Alcatraz Island and swam across shark infested waters to a pier on the shore of the San Francisco Bay. The race is a 1.25 mile open water swim and this year 1029 participants competed, among them RHS junior Rebekah Ross. Ross started swimming when she was seven years old and has been a part of three different swimming teams. “It came easy for me; I have always en-joyed the water,” she said with a smile. Ross and her family moved to Sioux Falls from Fresno, Calif., to be closer to her grandparents. “Ev-eryone misses their old home but it starts to get better,” Ross explained. She said that RHS has been a new experience for her considering she came from a school of about 700 students. Since moving here she has made new friends and joined the Snow Fox swim team. She is enjoying the intensity of the team and all the meets she gets to compete in. She

WrittenbyBrittanyNewman For freshman Abbigale Shumaker, her favorite (and one of her earliest) mem-ory of horses occurred when she was just a toddler. Too young to ride on her own, she recalls sitting on her pony’s saddle and pre-tending to ride, impatiently questioning her mother, over and over, “When’s Dad going to be home? When is Dad going to be home, Mom?” she said. Fast forward over a decade later and that enthusiasm and thrill for riding is still a big part of who she is. Shumaker currently participates in Hunter Jumper style competitions, which ba-sically means she and her horse jump over fences. “Sometimes it can be dangerous working with such a big animal,” said Shumak-er, “so you have to be a leader.” She explained that training a horse for this style of riding can take six months to a year at a time, in addition to building up a trust between horse and rider.

“The rider and the horse must have a lot of trust within each other,” she said. “So if you get in a tight spot, everything goes smoothly.” Shumaker recently purchased her horse, Sunshine, from an SDSU equestrian team coach for $4,000. She spent as much money on the animal as many do on a car. “I used my savings, and my dad helped me with the rest,” she said. Sunshine is a thoroughbred race horse from Virginia. At 10 years old, she is considered to be quite young. “[She] is a prime age for a horse,” Shumaker said. “[Horses] can compete up un-til 20 years old. Most horses live to be about 40-years-old. Shumaker has received several awards for her competitions, but she said the most exciting honor came when an inter-national judge said that she would sponsor herataridingcampinNewYork.Shumakerhopes that honor might become a reality within the next two years.

Junior swims in shark-infested

water at Alcatraz

Invitational

Free-runner spends hours, takes risks for the thrill of the perfect back flip

A love of horses leads to equestrian skills

Senior Tordum Bakpo. Photo by Makayla Frye

Freshman Abbigale Shumaker. Photo by Maklia Whitten

Sports 11

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Upcoming Visit DaysDecember 14 • January 21 • March 1


received an ankle chip with a timer that would tell them what time they finished.Thereweretwodivisions of swimmers, suits and skins. Ross was in the skins division, which meant she swam without a wetsuit. This was her father’s only concern – she would be swimming in 60 degree water without a wetsuit. Once the swim-mers were ready, two ferry boats took all of them out to Alcatraz Island. From there they plunged into the icy cold water and begin swimming toward the pier near the south End Rowing Club, on the other side of the bay. She enjoyed the race and is already

planning on compet-ing again next year. Ross noted that the water was freezing and if she did compete again, she would do so wearing a wetsuit. “Not only do I see her swim-ming it again, but I plan to swim it with her next year, father and daughter crossing the finish line together,” saidRoss’s father.

Congratulations to the following fall sports for

placing at State:

Girls Soccer - 1st Volleyball - 1st

Boys Cross Country - 2ndGirls Tennis - 3rd

Competitive Cheer - 3rdCompetitive Dance - 6th

Boys Golf - 6thGirls Cross Country - 13

spends mornings, week-ends and some eve-nings practicing with the Snow Fox team. Even when she is not swimming, her job as a lifeguard al-lows her to be near the water. After high school she hopes to receive a swimming scholarship to a college. “It is some-thing that I really want to pursue,” said Ross. So when a group of her friends mentioned swimming in the Alcatraz Invi-tational, Ross was in. She swam every day and began doing ex-tra workouts to help her prepare. One of her friends had partici-pated the year before and had enjoyed it, so Ross thought the race would be a fun experience. Her father, Daron Ross, agreed because he knew how important this was to his daughter. The Invitational is presented by the South End Rowing Club. This year the race started at 5 a.m. with registration. Before the event began each competitor

Junior Rebekah Ross. Submitted photo.

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12 Entertainment

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Written by Napoleon Martinez Walking Dead, the AMC sensation that rocked the world with its deep rich char-acters and a tense, riveting story, has come back with Season 3. With Walking Dead now taking a hiatus mid-season, let’s take a look back at the twists and turns of the last eight episodes in anticipation of the next. Things start off clean and cool in the first episode, “Seed.” It shifts into the story as if you’d never left, but don’t mistake that as evidence of nothing changing. The survivors are quick and efficient now, know-ing where the zombies are and how to outrun them. Rick’s son, Carl, is almost stone cold as he follows in his father’s footsteps, killing one zombie after another. He isn’t quite a kid anymore, and you can tell. Changes like this are what make Walking Dead. It isn’t just the setting and the impending force catching up with them. It’s the chemistry between the characters. As you

hear the touching song of Hershel’s daugh-ters, it doesn’t feel fake, it’s real. You could jump right to season 3 and automatically see the relationship between these people and how they’ve struggled. (Though I wouldn’t recommend that!) Sure, it’s intense when a herd of zombies growl from around the corner, but nothing could be more intense than the inter-actions between the main characters. When Carl is forced to do the unspeakable, there is a real connection with the viewer as we experi-ence first-hand the terrors he must face. With the focus on the characters, I wonder if the zombie part is lacking. Sure, they give their scares but as the show has progressed it seems their deaths are less meaningful. I remember back in season one where the death of one zombie was a dra-matic and meaningful act. Now the undead drop like flies, left and right, with blood

spewing everywhere. It could be that we are becoming desensitized by it all, just like Carl and Carol. Or maybe not, as I remember the face peeling off the zombie when its riot ar-mor helmet was pulled off. But the threats aren’t all coming from the outside anymore. The continu-ous fight for survival brings back the all-too human element of Darwinism. With the discovery of the prisoners and the trouble caused by Tomas, even human must kill human in this kind of world. Rick knows this, and it becomes almost secondhand, a change from the once kill-as-a-last-resort man he once seemed. With characters like Michonne and the Governor entering the mix from the comic book series, there is a lot building up after this mid-season. What happens next is anyone’s guess, let’s just hope Daryl lives. (Please!?)

Walking Dead continues to thrill and kill

RUN!

Entertainment 13


Black Sheep Coffee1007 West 11th Street, Sioux Falls

Black Sheep Coffee has a very peaceful down-to-earth style. You can walk in and feel comfortable right off the bat. There’s no feeling of wandering eyes judging you or your actions. We were greeted politely and suggested the Dirty Chai. At a decent $3.95, this drink would be suggested for the stron-ger coffee drinkers. We all agreed that the coffee was bitter sweet.

Starbucks3601 West 41st Street, Sioux Falls

One of the closest places on our list, Starbucks is and isn’t what you think it might be. Yeah, they are the big retail gi-ant but they are for a reason. Their service was great; the lady we talked to was working only her third day and was impeccably nice. She recommended a white mocha for $3.80, which for two of us was good but for at least one of us didn’t have much taste. It was nice, small and tidy though and the mere accessi-bility of a Starbucks gives it our newbie rec-ommendation.

Atmosphere: 3.5 Best Hot Coffee: 2.5Price: 2.5 Service: 4.5 Overall: 3.5

Josiah’s101 North Reid Street, Sioux Falls

During our visit, the place was quiet and there was a wide variety of seating availabil-ity. We were served a vanilla latte known as the “Carla Rae” which cost $3.85. The ser-vice was great; all the baristas were kind and friendly. The fireplace was comforting and the location of the café is a great place for people hanging out downtown to take a pit stop and relax a while.Atmosphere: 4.5 Best Hot Coffee: 3.5Price: 4 Service: 5 Overall: 4.5

Caribou Coffee1924 South Minnesota Avenue, Sioux Falls

Some of the bigger Sioux Falls col-leges like Augustana and the University of Sioux Falls are located near Caribou Cof-fee, making it a hang-out for most of the students attending the colleges. Caribou of-fered us a turtle mocha at $4.16 per cup. The atmosphere was nice, a bit busy for a small location though, not the best place to study.

Kaladi’s Coffee Legend and Bistro1716 South Minnesota Avenue, Sioux Falls

If you like the family restaurant feeling and you don’t like the café feel, Kaladi’s is your best choice. We had a vanilla latte, with the cheapest price of $2.90; the latte was worth every penny. They had a variety of other choices as well such as sandwiches, soups, or salads, perfect if you want to bring your non-drinking coffee friends for a quick bite.

Atmosphere: 4.5 Best Hot Coffee: 5Price: 5 Service: 5 Overall: 4.5

Atmosphere: 4.5 Best Hot Coffee: 3Price: 3.5 Service: 4.5 Overall: 4

Atmosphere: 4.5 Best Hot Coffee: 5Price: 5 Service: 5 Overall: 4.5

Atmosphere: 4 Best Hot Coffee: 4Price: 4 Service: 5 Overall: 4

Dunn Brothers5320 E Arrowhead Pkwy, Sioux Falls

Located on the east side of town, we wondered if we would be willing to come back for seconds. The customer service was exquisite. We were attended immediately and our coffee was brought to our table. Our “Chocolate Steamed Nirvana” was not as strong as the others and a little sweeter than the rest and extremely delicious at a fantastic $3.69, perfect for beginner coffee drinkers. If you are ever on the other side of town and looking for a great café shop, don’t hesitate to try Dunn Brothers coffee shop.

Rating Scale:5- So delicious I can’t even “Espres-so” myself4-Javalicious3- Could’ve “bean” better2- It could have been a “latte” better1-Sure tastes like “ground” if you know what I mean

Where Can You Hava Java?From sub shops to pizzerias to bistros galore, Sioux Falls has all the food places you can handle to munch a great lunch. When you need a coffee though, the decision can be much harder. Many would go to any length to get that best brew or steamy mocha. So where do you look? Ask your friends or read on as The Nationalist tells you what’s hot and what’s not. Three RHS journalists scoured the city for the best coffee café. They asked for the most popular hot drink item on the menu and examined them from cream to cup. If you’re new to coffee and want a taste, check the newbie recommendation. By Myriam Medina, Napoleon Martinez and Luke Herbert.

Coffea Roasterie & Espresso Bar2318 Louise Avenue, Sioux Falls

When you walk in, the ambience is calming. Like walking into a nice, comforting home and a fine art gallery with all kinds of people. It’s a place that looks small on the outside but is big and open on the inside. But the art comes when you get your drink, like the caramel latte we ordered. The cream on the top of the drink is elegantly formed in the shape of Coffea’s signature leaf. At $3.47, we felt like we didn’t get as much cof-fee as we might have liked and it wasn’t quite our favorite but because of the way the en-tire store was presented, the experience itself was that much more enjoyable.

Atmosphere: 5 Best Hot Coffee: 4.5Price: 4 Service: 4 Overall: 4

14 Entertainment

Santa Clause. Photo courtesy of Bob Pickett.

10 Questions with Santa ClausHe may very well be the most popular character in history. Some call him Kris Kringle, Pere Noel, Sinterklaas, Papa Noel or Saint Nicho-las. Many, however, call him just plain Santa, that little old man with twinkling eyes, rosy cheeks, and “a little round belly/That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!” according to Clement Clarke Moore in his famous poem Twas the Nigh Before Christmas. Staff writer Myriam Medina sat down with Santa to uncover how he can pull together his one man show for Christmas.

What are the prerequisites for this position? How does one be-come Santa?

When you are Santa, you really have to believe in what you do. You have to believe in a message that you want to get across.

What are the challenges of be-ing Santa?

Being around obnoxious people and not letting people run over me.

How do you juggle being at so many places at once?

It’s not hard for me to juggle.

What is one of the craziest presents a child has asked for?

Some of them are questions, and they have nothing to do with Christ-mas. For example, “What is eter-nity?” and “Why don’t I have a mommy or a daddy?” I really have to think on my toes.

How do you know when some-one is naughty or nice?

I get really close to them and look them in the eyes and tell them to tell me the truth. I know they’ve been naughty, but how naughty? I know they’ve been nice, but how nice? It’s okay to be a little naughty. You can’t say “If your naughty, you’re going to get coal for Christmas.” No, I’m go-ing to get you something anyhow, I don’t care if your naughty or nice. I don’t really care for the coal thing.

What will you be getting Mrs. Claus this year? Mrs. Claus and I go shopping and get it right then.

You are widely known for eat-ing the cookies left for you on Christmas Eve, how do you manage to eat all of them?

I usually try to share with my reindeer and share with everybody because I don’t want to be leaving anybody out. Some people that are less fortunate can’t have any of this stuff so I try to save it for them. I tell kids, I even go to houses and leave cookies and milk.

What’s your favorite holiday song?

“I believe in Santa” by Alabama

What kind of treats do you like to find when delivering presents?

I love Snickers and I would fly you to the moon for a Baby Ruth. A Salted Nut Roll… I would take you to China 15 times and not even charge you once. Those are my three favorites. I don’t like regular chocolate.

What has been one of the big-gest presents you have deliv-ered? A computer and a car.

What has been one of your biggest surprises while bringing presents to homes worldwide?

I delivered a baby on Christmas in a taxi cab. At that time I was a nurse, but this was not too long ago, about 15 years ago. I wasn’t in my suit but I was still Santa.

What type of good deeds do you like to see kids doing? Kids asking for things for others. When you do that, you receive more for helping others.

How do you get inside of the house if the house doesn’t have a chimney? You don’t need a chimney for Santa to get in. Santa can go through a key hole or just be there because it is his spirit. Any-one can be Santa.

/ 13

Because of different time zones and earth’s rotation, Santa has 31 hours to deliver gifts. With over 2 billion children in the world, Santa will need to make almost 92 million stops at homes. He will cover 75.5 million miles, averaging almost 825 visits per second or spend 1/1000th of a second at each stop. Santa’s sleigh will have to move 650 miles per second or 3,000 times the speed of sound. It will carry around 322,000 tons of toys. Santa will need almost 215,000 reindeer to carry that load.

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The Nationalist: December 12th Issue