Volume 29 Number 3

8/6/2019 Volume 29 Number 3

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PSAT results in;meeting scheduledfor Dec. 14

An informational meetingto distribute and explain PSATresults is scheduled for tomor-row night at 7 p.m. in the Sil-ver Campus cafeteria. Coun-selors will meet with parentsand students to discuss PSATscores and answer questions.

Those who cannot attendthe meeting will receive theirtest scores at school later inthe week.Yearbook purchasedeadline near

The 2000 SAGA can bepurchased for $30 until De-cember 31. Order forms weremailed to all students with theOpen House notification letterin early November. Additionalforms are available in Rm.6160 on the Blue Campus.

Mail orders will be ac-cepted until the December 31deadline. After that date, thepurchase price increases to$40.

The final.date to buy theyearbook will be March 1,2000. No orders will be ac-cepted after that date. As al-ways, no extras will be or-dered, so advance purchaseis the only way to guaranteegetting a book.ACADEC membersnamed; BHS to hostregional competition

Competing this year forBHS in the Academic Decath-lon (ACADEC) will be BradleyCarlton, Liz Carr, BrockDewald, Justin Hancock,Lance Haynie, AustonMatcek, John Shirley, DavidTucker, and Jarod Velasquez.

Bryan High will host theRegional ACADEC meet inFebruary. Winners from thatmeet will advance to stateoompetition.Last year's team won theregional competition andplaced 22nd of 40 teams atstate.Seniors advised tocheck photo list.

Graduating seniors whohave not yet checked the l istof those photographed bySpecialties should go by Rm.6160 before December 17 toensure their name is on thelist.

Trimester system in jeopardySchool board sets decision deadlineLiz CarrCo-editor

The school board wil l deter-mine no later than Januarywhether Bryan Higb wil l remainon the trimester schedule.

Though this review ofthe tri-mester may seem sudden tosome, according to board mem-ber Susan McKneely, it comes indue time. The system is currentlyhalfway through its fourth year.

"Many of the expected ben-efits of the trimester haven'tcome into being. It's just time tocheck up," McKneely said.

Among the main complaintsabout the trimester are schedul-ing difficulties, credit problemsfor tran fer students and unequalstate funding for career tech pro-grams, which are allotted moneyfor each day that they meet.

"State funding formulas arenot fair to us. We are getting thesame amount of money for 75-minute periods as we would getfor 50-minute classes," saidSchool Board President DavidStasny.

Scheduling problems arealso a concern with the trimes-ter, counselors say, although theynote that no system is problem-free.

"Although trimesters maymake course sequencing moredifficult, problems will exist un-der any system," said Blue Cam-pus coun elor Curti Laudermilk.

It will be up to the schoolboard to decide which schedul-ing system affords the most ben-efits with the fewest challenges.Some of the available options in-clude the trimester and an arrayof two-semester setups, such as

seven-period day and severaltypes of block schedules.

BHS was on a semester pro-gram with seven 45-minuteclasses per day prior to 1996-97.

Economics teacher JackFoley served on a commit tee thatinvestigated scheduling optionsbefore the trimester was initiallyimplemented. He cites strain ofstudents and teachers as the mainprob lem with the trad itionalseven-period day.

"The pace of the semesterwas hectic. Teachers were teach-ing up to six classes a day withlittle time toprepare," Foley said.

Foley feels that one of thegrea test benefits of the trimesteris added class time.

McKneely agrees on thispoint and believes that the longperiods are especially good formath and science courses.

The board will be looking atthe pros and cons of utilizing notonly trimester and seven-periodday, but also a type of alternat-ing block, where students meetclasses every other day.

They will also be taking intoaccount the reccommendation ofa task force made up of teachersand administrators who wereasked to come to a consensus onthe fate of the trimester.

Though all of this researchis taking place, no formal studyof student opinion bas been donerecently. A 1998 survey per-formed by Sara Szymanski 's sta-tistics class revealed, though. thatmost students, including upper-classmen who had experiencedthe seven-period day semestersystem, were overwhelmingly infavor of trimesters.

teach [in a trimester)."As for converting back to

semesters, Goyens believes thatwould be a mistake.

"The change will only burtour success inhigher TAASscores and bet-ter participation[in activities] "Goyens said. "Iwish the schoolboard would re-alize that we aredoing betterthan ever beforewith the trimes-ter system.'

Still , somestudents feelthat convert ing back to a semes-ter system would be the bestthing for them.

Bryan High SchoolVolume 29 No.3 IsideDecember 13 ,1999News -2-3Opinions - 4-5Features - 6Sports -7Entertainment- 8

'TIS THE SEASON

Colorful costumes and seasonal carols highlighted "Feastof Carols" Dec. 2-4. The annual event is presented by thechoral department. (top) Chorale members sing prior to the"feast." (above, clockwise from left) Heather Holmes adjustsMelinda Pilger's headress. Tanya Bruno and Jennifer Perrygreet guests while a quartet entertains feastgoers. For thefirst time this year, a program of ensemble music anda shortplay kept guests entertained until the event began. photosby Sandy Farris

Senior Shannon Mynar be-lievesthat the trimester systemcauses problems for students tak-ing AP classes.

"The AP classes aren'tgiven enoughtime [in a 12week trimester]to teach all thenecessary infor-mation," Mynarsaid.According to arecent surveygiven to theteachers by theschool board,the majority ofthe faculty sup-port a trimester

system.Associate band di rector

Mike Hardy, who has taught in

Faculty , students e xp re ss conce rn a s trime ste r d isc us sion con tinue s

As decision timefor the schoolboard approaches,concerned stu-dents, faculty, andparents are anx-iously awaiting theverdict.

numerous ysterns with sched-ules such as semester, trimester,and A B block, stated in a recentletter to the school board thateven though the trimester systemdoes have some problems, it isthe best possible schedu.le.

''1 strongly believe that thetrimester is one of the best sys-tems Ihave seen in allowing aUstudents to learn and benefit froma multifaceted educational expe-rience," Hardy said.

Hardy added that being in atrimester schedule benefits thestudents by al lowing them to en-roll in more courses, as well asparticipate in moreextracurricu-lar activities.

The board is expected to dis-cuss the issue at i ts regular meet-ing tonight at 6 p.m. at the BISDAdministration Building.

JoJo ArevaloStaff writer

The question of whether thetrimester system will stay in ef-fect has been a hot topic of cam-pus discussion during the pastmonth.

As decision time for theschool board approacbes, con-cerned students, faculty, and par-ents are anxiously awaiting theverdict.

Many students are happywith the current trimester system.

Senior Nicole Goyens hasattended schools with both tri-mester and semester schedules.She believes a trimester systemhas benefited her education incomparison to a semester system.

"1 have never been able tolearn anything in 45 minutes,"Goyens said. 'J l ike the fact thatteachers actually bave time to


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Norseman. December 13,1999

Trimester, cont. from page 1...Below are the results of a 1998

classroom survey conducted by probabilityand statistics students of math teacher SaraSzymanski.

The survey previously published in the

Feb. 5, 1999 issue of The Norseman, wastaken by all Bryan High students at the endof the 1997-98 school year. Thejuniors andseniors who took the survey attended BHSunder both the seven-period day semester

structure and the trimester system.The results show a preference by the

students who took the survey for thetrimester over the seven-period daysemester system .

I would prefer having 7 classesminutes

disagree

I like the trimester system."i! "i!~ ~~ "i!0 0C") C")(I. "i!0 0N NIi t;. . . . . .

agree opinion disagree agree opinion disagree agree

Key10th Graders

With the trimester I get all thee"i! r - - - - - - - ~ - - - - - - ~ - - - - - - - - ~g"i!~"i!~

11th Graders

12th Graders

With the trimester my gradeshaveagree opinion disagreeI am able to focus better with 5

disagree

Absence admit process undergoes revisionJames lrtckS taf f w r it e r

A li tt le over a month ago, theadministration implemented anew policy concerning atten-dance. First period teachers nowwrite admits for those studentswho have been absent on previ-ous days.

Students must present a notein order to get an excusedabsence.

The policy is notcompletely new, just adifferent version of anolder policy.

"The only change inthe policy that has beenmade iswho is writing theadmits ," said assistantprincipal Ruth Waller.

This has been done in orderto reduce the number of studentswho require an admit from theattendance office at anyonetime.

Waller says the policy doesmore than just relieve some ofthe pressure on the attendanceoffice.

"It's like a job. You can'tstay home one day and not havean excuse for your boss the nextand there not be any conse-quences," Waller said.

Although many are in favorof the policy, others have coo-cerns about it .

Some teachers feel that hav-ing the responsibil ity of writ ingadmits wastes class time.

"It wastes a lot of my timein the morning when there arepeople hired to [write admits], 'said math teacher Tonya Gerdes.

"If students see a gap in theprocedures, they're going tojump on it quick."

Don ParsonsSpecial Education Teacher

Some teachers also findthemselves facing problems as-sociated with judgement callsconcerning whether an absenceis excused or unexcused.

"1 feel that there are goingto be some problems with distin-guishing between excused andunexcused absences," said En-glish teacher Lisa Prejean.

Others don't see the benefitof such a system.

"What is the point? All thatwe have done is j ust point out an

absence that we already knewwas there," said special educationteacher Don Parsons.

Other issues that teachersfear will come up concern stu-dents involved in extracurricularactivities who did not get put onan excused list and lost documen-tation.

"High standards are impor-tant but different stan-dards should not be im-posed on different groupsof people," Gerdes said.Other concerns are cen-

tered around the abil ity ofthis policy to remove ha-bitual absences and tru-ancy.Parsons feels that thepolicy will affect people who

only cut class occasionally. Hesays that the added paperworkwill weed them aut.

However, he feels that this isnot the real problem.

"The policy should focus onhabitual skippers, but I do not feelthat it does." Parsons also thinksthat the policy may Dot work asplanned.

"If students see a gap in theprocedures, they're going tojumpon it quick." Parsons said.

FFA STARS

(l-r] Joshua Muller, Greg Widener, and Terry Hausenfluck ,receive a National Chapter Award at the national FFAconvention held in Louisville, Kentucky on October 27-30.TheNational Chapter Rating is an evaluation of an FFA Chapter'soverall performance for one year inthe development of premierleadership, personal growth and career success at theindividual member level , chapter level and communi ty level .The Bryan FFA is rated number one in the state of Texas.


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Norseman. D cembe. 13,19993tting it un der controlState uses programs, new lawsto minimize underage drinking

There may have once been a time when a parent's biggest worry waswhether their child was passing in school, but times have changed. Now,teena e drinking ranks high among parents' biggest concerns. Through-out the last five years, organizations such as MADD and TABC have beentaking measures to eliminate problems such as binge drinking and teenagedrunk driving.

Janice ColsonisCo-editor t ime at high schools reiterating

the dangers of underage drink-ing.Other groups such as SADD

and MADD (Students/Motheragainst Drunk Driving) targetdrunk driving as well as under-age drinking. These groups havestarted Safe Rides. If teens aredrinking and cannot drive theycan call the Safe Rides hot l inewhere parents and other teens arewai ting to give them a ride homewith no questions asked untillater

Because these preventionprograms do not always work,most states have taken some ex-tra measures to keep the highnumbers of underage drinkers incheck.

Texas has lowered the legalblood alcohol limit to .08 from

.10, and allstates havemade 21 the le-gal drinking

For the people out therewho like scary stories, bere'ssomething chilling. The chancesof one person in a family of fivebeing involved in an alcohol-re-lated motor vehicle accident is200 percent.

Here. have another. Ofthose chi ldren under 14 yearsold, 522 were arrested for driv-ing while intoxicated in a singleyear as reported by the Depart-ment of Public Safety website .

One more. Sixty percent ofall t een deaths in car accidentsare alcohol-related.

The e are serious statist ics.and the state of Texas is takingserious steps to make sure thatthese numbers do not climb anyhigher.

The firststep in tacklingthe problem ofunderage drink-ing is preven-tion. Several

Peer pressure CItedmost often as leadingcause of underage alcohol consumptionTocarro WilliamsAssistant editor hour. This occurs most often atparties or other social gatherings.

There are plenty of studies Mauy researchers and soci-that have been released to the ologists such as Carol Albrecht,public about teenage drinking a senior sociology professor atand its consequences, but adoles- Texas A&M believe that thcents are apparently not taking main reason for teenage drinkingheed judging from recent statis- is peer pressure.tics. "I think that kids do not re -

Studies have shown that alize what is important to themwhile cigarette and drug use has and allow tbeir judgements to bedeclined, the use of alcohol is in- hindered by people whom theycreasing among teenagers and perceive to be their friends" Al-young adults. Binge drinking is brecht said.also on the rise. Students believe that con-

Binge drinking occurs when suming alcohol is the safest outa student continuously consumes of the options of drinking, sex,three or more drinks per or drugs. They choose==~::: : ' : :"------ lo be intoxicated be-

cause there are no in-stant repercussions.

"I go out withmy friends anddrink because it issafer than going

out and having sex and gettinghigh. This way Inow that Imnot going to take consequencehome with me, so Idon't haveto deal with my parents," saidSarah".

Many students drink forother reasons.

"I have a 97 average andwhen Iinally get a break frommy studies drinking is the safestway for me to relax. Ion't thinkthat Iwill ever be caugbt ," saidJoe*.

The thought of being hurt orkilled never crosses the stu-dents' mind.

"The main thing that stu-dents must realize i that drink-ing is not the way out. Thereneeds to be a different outlet,"Albrecht said.

"The question I askis why alcohol hasto be such a majorpart of so manyteenager's activi-ties. It seems likethey think alcoholmust be present fora good time."C la y W in de rTASC a ge nt

age.In over 20states first t imeoffenders ortho e refusingto take abreathalyzertest will bemade to comeface to face with

a panel of bereaved families ofdrunken driving victims. amongother penalt ies they may face.

To top off these programsand government measures. thereare some harsh legal conse-quences related to underagedrinking.The first time a minor iscaught drinking and driving hewill face a Clas C misdemeanorand the attached fine, be requiredto attend an alcohol awarenessclass, given 20 to 40 hours ofcommuni ty service and have hisdrivers l icense suspended for 60days.

A second offense will causethe community service bours andthe license suspen ion to in-

program tar-geting teenshave beenstarted byTexas Alco-

"Students interviewed for thisst01Y requested anonymity.

holic BeverageCommission(TABC) and bythe Texas Department of PublicSafety.

"The best approach isa pro-active one, which iswhat we aretrying to do through our educa-tion programs," said TABCAgent Clay Winder.

TABC sets up inspectionsand stings at local businessesthat sell alcohol. During a stingagents will send a 17 or 18 yearold to a business to attempt tobuy alcohol. The minor mustlook their age and may not useany coaxing to get the alcohol.

"Stings in the area havebeen very successful ," Windersaid. "We have about one a

The Texas UnderageDrinking Hotline, 1-888-843~822, is a program of

the Texas AlcoholicBeverage Commission.

Local programs available to help alcohol dependent teensTakeltha GoodenAssistant editor

Many teen who recognizethat they may have a problemwith alcohol addiction some-times don't know where to tumfor help. In the Bryan-CollegeStation area help isjust a phonecall away.

There are many local pro-grams offered which target teens.Some require parent partic ipa-tion while others do not.

The Recovery AdolescentProgram (RAP), is one of themany programs that isoffered forteens and their families. This pro-gram focuses on adolescentswho are dependent upon alcohol.It provides age-appropriate ser-vices to teens, and only admits

those who are between the agesof 13 and 17.

RAP also offers counselingse sions and free recreational ac-t ivities. The program aims forthe e activitie to create a posi-tive network of sober peers andhealthy role-models.

RAP is only one of the manyservices provided in the BrazosValley. Tbere are also Alateenand BVCASA.

Alateen is an organizationthat deals with young peoplewhose lives have been affectedby someone else's drinking.Families and friends of alcohol-ics attend this program's weeklymeetings.

The Brazos Valley Councilon Alcohol and Substance

Abuse (BVCASA) is anotherprogram tbat is available forteens who are between th e agesof 10-12 and 18-20. RA P is alsoassociated with BVCASA.

This organization is commit-ted to addressing substance abuseas a family affliction. There aremany branches to reac~ differentgroups in the BVCASA associa-tion.

POWER, one of thebranches, is an outpatient pro-gram for women. To ensure treat-ment, transportation for th i pro-gram is provided.

The Prevention ResourceCenter provides video andprinted material on alcoholedu-cation and prevention, in whichthe material is age-appropriatefor the teens exposed to it.

week."In addition, TABC works

directly with middle and highschools through various' educa-tion programs.

Project SAVE (Stop Alco-hol Violations Early) consists ofa series oflectures and activitiesoffered to students in the fourththrough ninth grade. Agentsteach kids how to avoid pressuresituations and how to say no,then they have their studentssign a pact swearing off alcoholuntil they are of legal age todrink.

During prom and gradua-tion season officers will..:!s~n~d:...... ---,

crease.All the consequences areharsher for a third offense and

there is a possible 180 day con-finement in jail.

A minor caught trying topurchase alcohol will be pun-ished similarly to a minor caughtdriving while intoxicated.

Adults caught giving alec- -hoI to a minor or purchasing itfor them will be charged with aClass A misdemeanor, punish-able with a fine up to $4,000,up to a year in jail. or both.


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4 Norseman. December 13,1999 o iruonsStudent input should be consideredbefore changing scheduling system

Since the beginning of our school careers, teachers have al-ways taught us that if we are going to make an important decisionthen we should consult who will be affected by what we decide.

That is exactly what our chool board has not done with thetrimester debate. There has been virtually no direct discussionwith studergs or teachers--the ones who any change will ultimatelyaffect. Instead, board members seem to be relying on a series ofcommittee reports and data that may not be an accurate reflectionof the trimester's effectiveness.

Aside from the board's own member task force looking at theissue. a committee of teacher and other staff members is the onlygroup to have met. The school committee-which met only twice--was given a packet of data to assi st them in thei r evaluation. Thedata compared selected statistics from the year prior to the begin-ning of the trimester to now. everal items of comparison at firstglance appeared to show that the trimester had negative effectson student performance. However, other factors which could haveinfluenced the result of the comparisons were not li sted.

Though board members are looking at several options, theseven-period day continues to surface in discussions.

The thought of replacing the trimester with a seven-periodday in any form creates instant anxiety among students. Juniorsare concerned about having enough credits to graduate next yearif the schedule is changed. The prospect of facing seven periodsof shortened instruction combined with added homework and ex-ams worries everyone. A even-period day would cancel out theacademic progress we've seen in the last two years.

Some board members have mentioned problems with the tri-mester that haven't been fixed in the four years of its existence.The most common ones mentioned are course sequencing andteacher continuity.

A thorough study of those particular problems would beworthwhile. The course sequencing problem could most likely besolved with a combinat ion of several things, among them hiringenough teachers to teach the required number of sections to keepcour es in trimester equence. As far as having the same teacherfor both sections of a course, this shouldn' t be a concern. Most ofus can adapt to a different teacher easi ly since the material is co-ordinated among teachers in each department.

Another reason for abandoning the trimester apparently con-cerns money. If cost is an issue, why not look for aIemate sourcesof funding to make up any shortfall, or look for ways to trim thecurrent budget? Teachers could probably help find a solution tothis matter.

We challenge the board to give the trimester a complete lookfrom all side before abandoning it. Come to Bryan High Schooland talk to us. or more importantly, listen to us. Listen to all of us,instead of forming yet another committee. Sit down with us atlunch and hear from everyone. A cross-section of the student bodyshould give board members the best idea yet of what we need tobe successful . Listen to the AP student. but also lis ten to the regu-lar student who maintains an A or B average while juggling ajoband extracurricular act ivity. Listen to the student who may not becollege-bound, but wants a successful high-school career as aspringboard to a vocational/technical school.

If,after l istening to us and studying the issue further, replac-ing the trimester with something else is the best option, then atleast let us be a part of that decision.

-Norseman Editorial Board

. 'N O R S E M A NCo-edltors - Liz Carr, Janice CotsonisChief assistant editor - Chaunte WhiteAssistant edi tors - Takeitha Gooden, Tocarro Wi l li amsStaff wri ters - J oJ o A re va lo , J ame s I ri ck ,

Misty McCann. Matt StellbaurerAdviser - Sandy FarrisThe Norseman is a publ ication of the Bryan High School Jour-nal ism Department. 3401 E. 29th, Bryan, TX 77802. (409) 731-7400. Member UIL-ILPC. Opin ions prin ted in the Norsemanare those of the indiv idual writer and do not necessar ily ref lectthe views of the students, faculty. staff or administration of BryanHigh School. Letters to the edi tor are welcome. Letters mustbe signed and delivered to Rm. 6160 or placed in the adviser'smailbox in the Blue Campus office. The Norseman reservesthe right to edi t or condense letters as space permits. Materia lwhich could be considered obscene or l ibelous will not be con-sidered for publication. The Norseman does not guaranteepublication upon submission.

Fan support needed throughout seasonFirst of all, I would like to

congratulate the entire footballprogram--( coaches, players,trainers, parents, cheerleaders,etc.) on an exceptional footballseason. Hopefully, this is the be-ginning to no end.

I am a ] 985 graduate ofBHS and itreally felt good. Iadthe pleasure of sitting withformer Viking greats JamesFlowers, Odie Harris and ChadRogers, as well as visit with thelikes of Archie Green, CleoLewis and Harold Nutall, Hav-ing the chance to see these indi-viduals again opened up thetopic of discussion.

Having the sup-port of the fans reallycan make or breakany athletic program.There were thou-sands that attendedthe game at TexasStadium; however,just weeks before, the supportwas not there at several home

teams.This year, no one believed

until we reached the playoffs .Now, here comes the band-

wagon!Inthe sports world,jumping

on the bandwagon means thatwhen the team starts winning,everyone wants to ride. This oc-curred during this season. Theplayers worked hard all yearlong.

The coaches worked hardscouting teams, watching films,and preparing the team to go outand play their hearts out.

Tills season i an indication

team spirit, and the proper atti-tude.

Most of all, the more supportthat you have allows the playersto want to perform to the best of

their abilities. Let 'snot wait until the teamstarts winning or theplayoffs begin beforewe start showing ourfu II support of 0 u rathletic programs.

As a matter offact, the last game of

the ea on shows that regardlessof where you (Vikings) play, trueVikings will a lways be there.

Some of the former greatsmentioned above reside in theDallas area and came out to showtheir support.

Finally, your support meansthat you truly care about yourteams, friends, and a winning tra-dition/

Let's not wait until the team startswinning or the playoffs begin beforewe start showing our full support ofour athletic programs.

games.It seemed to me that fan loy-alty had diminished after theteam lost some games. This isnot a good reflect ion of fan sup-port, thus affecting team spiritand a winning atti tude.

In previous years, even withadequate seasons the fan s stillsupported and believed in their

that hard work eventual ly paysoff. My hat goes off to thosewho believed!Ionstantly conversate withBryan athletes and always try toinstill in them what was placedin me.

That is to keep th e faith, andalways believe in yourself andyour teammates. In doing so, itcontinues the winning tradition,

Holiday season a time of caring for allEvery year around Christ- Jesus' birthday.

mas our whole society begins to Many people in thepreach gratitude and harmony, workplace decide to havebut what happens to this value Christmas parties and ifall year long? someone does not want to at-

There is constant talk about tend nor celebrate we begin tohow the world needs to become degrade them because they are If, as Christians, we teacha more united society and have different. equality as one of our main prin-less hatred between p- ciples, then weevery social class. If we are going to say that we should should treat other re -But ifmembers ligions with the sameof our society would have peace on earth and goodwill to- respect as we treatthink about it we are ward men then should we not exem- others people with.more separate when plify that by not snickering at someone's We have an op-Ch r is tm a s t im e portunity to showchoice of religions? non-Christians that ,

as the major religionin OUI society, we will pave theway and instill great morals inthis country .

Although Christmas is thetime of giving and caring, weshould sbare the gi ft of giving byteaching our children that greatdeeds should be done all yearlong instead of the months sur-rounding Thanksgiving andChristmas.

Ifwe teach children that youcannot get to heaven on goodworks alone, then we definite lycannot get to heaven on goodworks for two months alone.

Most importantly, the ul ti-mate message that they must re-ceive is the one that people havedifferent beliefs. Harmony andbeing grateful for tbe diversi tyis the very essence of whatshould be taught.

comes around.

Toc:mo WilliamsAssI st an t e d it or

Jesus' birth.

For example, we --------------------attend a high school with a vari-ety of religions. Ihave sat in aclassroom where someone toldthe class that they did not cel-ebrate Christmas because theywere Jewish or Hindu and stu-dents of the Christian faith havesnickered.

Why is it important to every-one to have a harmonious soci-ety and love one another duringthis t ime of year?

I am proud to say that I am aChristian and celebrate Christ-mas because that is when myheavenly father was born. But asChristians we forget about theother religions who may nothave the same beliefs.

In America, the "meltingpot," there are many religionsin our society and they do notcelebrate Christmas becausethey do not believe that it is

Believers in Christ think thatChristianity is the only true reli-gion, but others believe that theirreligion is the onJy true one onthe face of the earth.

These people believe just aswe do that their religion is whatis best for them and in this soci-ety we must allow people to dowhat is in the best interest forthemselves.

Hwe are going to say thatwe should have peace on earthand goodwill toward men thenshould we not exemplify that bynot snickering at someone'schoice of religions?

Non-Christians have just asmany rights and believe in manyof the values that we teach, butthey feel segregated when theworld tells them around this t imeof year that they do not matterbecause they do not celebrate


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S oc ie ty must remember th e tru e mean in g o f Christm as"I want that toy give it to me now!

No that is better. Iwant that one.""Look kids, you have to have this

toy. Tell your mom to get it for you forhristmas. '

As the words were being uttered fromthe cartoon "Veggie Tales" that myyounger cO'lin was viewing, Istartedwatching and wondering why a Christiancartoon was portraying uch a sel fish mes-sage.

As Itarted paying more attention tothe message T realized that the cartoon wasportraying how self-centered our societycan be, especially during the holiday sea-son. It also bad the meaning that we needto remember the fact that we are celebrat-ing Christ. The show portrayed an evilman brainwashing children to think theyneeded these toys for Christmas and thatthe meaning of Christmas is just gettinggifts.

r really did not pay much attention tothis until after my cousin turned off thecartoon and started watching Nickel-odeon. Almost every toy commercial thatwas on he had a comment for.

"Misty, can you and Granny ge t methat for Christmas?" he would say.

After the sixth time be said this, Iasked him what he thought Christmas wasand he said that is when be receives gifts.Taking in consideration that he was young,Iexplained that it wa more than gettinggifts. It is also spending time with lovedones and celebrating the birth of Christ.

As the season draws near, Iave cometo believe that it is not only children thatdo not seem to have the grasp of the truemeaning of the holidays, but adults toohave lost the true meaning.

Misty McCannStaff writer

Iee adults already getting tense try-ing toplease everyone with the right gif tsor to get the "right" food in order. To me.it feels like the meaning has been lost.

People are giving presents not reallyfrom their heart, but out of obligation.Some do try to please people in their giv-ing, but only a few do it in love whileothers just feel it is something they haveto do. Sometimes it is a li ttle of both rea-sons.

To me, the holiday season is a timewhen the whole family gets together inthankfulness ofwbat they have and rein-state the love they have for the family.

When people are trying to plea epeople in gift-giving they are not sway-ing from the meaning in a way, becausethe center of the time the family is to-gether is around opening their gifts andsaying they are thankful because of obli-gation again . Then most people Leaveaf-ter opening their gifts to do the wholething over at another person 's house sti llin the spir it of the shallow reasons of theholiday eason.

This year when you think about giv-ing this season think why you are givingand wby you get together with your fam-ily . Maybe try to get gifts that are on amore personal level instead of a soapbasket or fruitcake. Orjust give your timefrom your busy schedule to show yourlove to your family.

Regardless of teens opinions,parents deserve utmost respectBy the end of this article a person

may be inclined to think: that Iam somekind of "mama 's boy" or perhaps a "nerd"of sorts. However, after much debate Idecided toput my reputation at r isk (writ-ten with the most extreme sarcasm) andshare my opinion 00 something Ieelshould be said.

Maybe it is the recently celebratedThanksgiving holiday, or maybe Im justextremely mature for my age (probablythe first reason), but Iuddenly becameaware of bow lucky and thankful Iam tohave had two great people raise me.

The e people, whom 1have becomeaccustomed to call ing "mom" and "dad"(and of course the occasional' pops") areresponsible for raising me and making mewho Iam today.Im sure you all remember the firsttime you fell down and got a "boo-boo"and how your mother was there to wipeaway your tears . (If Dot trust me it hap-pened). What about all the times she spiton a napkin so she could wipe away yourtears? Okay, maybe that was not the bestexample. but you see where I am going.

As for a person' s father. regardlessof how much he t ried to hide his feel ings,there had to have been one time when alook of happiness and pride appeared onhis face as he watched his little boyarlit tle girl complete even the simplest task.If not, just knowing be was there alwaysmade me feel safe, something importantto an easily-fr ightened child.

Unfortunately. not everyone was

JoJoArevllIoStaff writer

lucky enough to be raised by both parents.or even parents at all. However, there hasto be at least at least one person ineveryone's life who has been there forthem in their time of need and who hasplayed just as much a part in getting youwhere you are today. Otherwise, you prob-ably would not be reading this.

All T am saying is that I, for one, amthankful for my parents and al l they havedone for me. Though I may not tell them,Ippreciate how they put up with me forthe now almost 17 years of my life,

Now Iam not saying you should gohorne and give your parents a hug and saythank you (maybe you should), but at leasttry to understand the role they have playedand will continue toplay inyour life. Aftera11, is that too much to ask for the peoplewho are responsible for your very exist-ence in this world?

So call me names if you want, so Ican go home and cry to my mom abouthow everybody picks on me at school.(Okay. we all know I would not do that,but hey. if I did I bet she wouJd be therefor me just l ike she has always been).

As for those who do wish to ridiculeme, maybe you should sit down, look backon your life and see if you could havemade it where you are today by yoursel f

Norsem

' .. /,~--';".,,, , .. ~,;:.~~:" --~ -- -----_

, i< _

, /~ _ ~ - ~ I, ' - ~ _

The year 2000 is almost upon us, bringing with it mass hysteria aboutwhat isgoing to occur when the clock strikes midnight on New Year'sEve. There are fears that planes are going to crash, computers aregoing to shut down and money will disappear from the banks. TheNorseman asks:

What is the craziest rumoryou've heard about Y2K?

'The sun is goingto stop shining."John Ramos, 9

"I heard the worldis going to blowup."Toya Chambers,

11

"People are always sayingthat all the computers aregoing to shut down, but Isay whatever happens it's

all in the hands of theLord:Prentice Debose, 12

'That it stands foryour's to keep."

Nicole Goodrich,11

Mlfyou make a call atmidnight on New

Year's Eve you will becharged a milliondollars."Crystal Makemey, 12

"I heard the worldwas going to endcompletely. Allison Broach, 12

We've lost that loving feelingSociety needs to break away from blood and gore

In the last few months a boy has seenthe ghosts of several brutally murderedpeople stressed men have started a fightclub, and a rampant ser ial killer has beentracked down by two detectives. Al l thismorbid. violent craziness can be foundon the silver screen. And people are lov-ing it!

In real l ife, teenag-ers are shooting eachother at scbool andpeople in youth groupsare being randomlymassacred. The public isnot loving that.Iwonder, though,how long it will be be-fore such real life vio-lence will fail to shockus.

Janice CotsonlaCo-edltor

going to tell you that it's the season forgoodwill and values, and that you shouldspend your break malting the world a

kinder, gentler, morepeaceful place. That'stoo improbable evenfor my sunshine androses world. I'm justsuggesting that every-body attempt to breakaway from their ownblood-lust and actioncravings.

Don't spendyour holiday going to yet another violentmovie or just wandering around lookingfor "trouble." I know teenagers are ca-pable of engaging in intelligent conver-sation without the aid of surround soundor enhanced DVD. Take a little time toescape from the craziness that Hollywoodand the "real world" are only too happyto dish out

1 know that people can at least try alit tle harder. Then just maybe, things will .start to get just a li ttle bit better.

Iwonder, though,how long it will bebefore such real lifeviolence will fail toshock us.

Right now we accept cursing andfighting as part of everyday life. We cravemore action, blood, and general thrills atthe movies. People wave off these events,saying kids will be kids and movies aremade for entertainment only.

However, ifsociety lets itself becomedesensitized to cursing and thrill movies,it will only be a matter of time before theviolent rapings and murders 00 longeraffect us either.

Winter break is approaching. 1'm not


6/8

6 Norseman. Dec mber 13, 1999Is Y2K bugging you?Students, teachers share opinionson millenium's major malfunctionsMatt Stell bauerStaff writer

What is Y2K? Is it someweird vim!' or a name for a newphone rate? No, Y2K is the tech-nical term for the year 2000problem which could affect com-puters worldwide ifnot properlyhandled, Some bel ieve the com-puter bug will affect the worldelectricity upply, leaving citiesin the dark. Others, however,have a bi t more skept icism.

"It' s overhyped. Idon'tthink anything's going to hap-pen. Ielieve everybody is afraidof nothing," said senior Rober tWhite, a member of the BTSDtechnology support staff.

''Very few programs are datesen itive," added White.

Still, many people believethat the coming of the new mil-lennium will bring disaster anddespair.

"On January Ihe lights willgo out and there will be masshysteria. People will start loot-ing the stores and there will beno law enforcement to topthem, said senior Nicole Jensen.

Whether fact or fiction,math teacher Tanya Gerdes hasa theory as to why the Y2K ru-mors have become so outland-ish.

"The majority of the people

who start these kinds of rumorsknow very little about computers,so they think it's the end of theworld and they star t to panic, andnothing is solved by panicking,"Gerdes said.

Another recurring rumorcenters around air transportation.Since much of all airplane's flightact ivity is control led by onboardcomputers, some believe thatwhen January 1 roll around,planes will fall from the sky astheir engines fail. The aviation in-dustry has already assured thepublic that this simply isn' t true.

Sowhat should we be doing?Should we begin preparing forthe worst like so many peopleare already doing, or should wejust sit back, relax, and watchwhat happens?

"Whatever happens willbappen and there's not much wecan do about it ," said sophomoreJessica Borski perhapsechoingthe att itude of many.

A few lingering concernsremain among some people,however.

"Computers that handle themoney are going to mess up andeverybody wil l lose money," saidjunior Robert McGeehee, ex-plaining the reason behind whymany people have withdrawnmoney from their bank accounts

in anticipationof the event."1 don'thave any con-cerns because Idon't have anymoney tied up. Per-sonally, Ihink thisY2K business is acrock," said sopho-more Lindsey Ander-son.

Freshman AmberKerly agrees, pointing out that". ..water will still run and elec-tricity will still work. January Iwill be just another day."

The concern over the com-ing millennium and i ts impact onnat ional security ha the govern-ment working overtime to makesure that American citizens feellittle effect come the new year.

According to Timemagazine's Y2K central website,everybody is going to be affectedby the Y2K bug in some form orfashion. Experts quoted on thewebsite believe it would be im-possible to totally wipe out thecomputer bug. To fix the prob-lem worldwide would cost up-wards of $2-4 trillion, they say.Y2K, these experts believe, willaffect America, though not in thecatast rophic ways many are pre-dieting,

liLtlk" 1 l 1 1 1 ; 1 z ~ "wilyExchange students anticipate arrival of the holidaysMIsty McCannStaff writer

As Jill was sitting around the Christmas treelaughing and talking, she started getting homesick.The people that were around her were friendly, butnot the familiar faces that she wa used to . .. she hadonly known them for about a month. Even thoughshe wa enjoying the company of her host family,she was star ting to miss her family in Europe.

This scenario reflects how a few of BryanHigh's foreign exchange students may feel thisChristmas. Even though they all like their hostfamilies it wiJJ be different not being around theirrelatives they have always been around.

Ur ina Waelchi from Switzerland andAlexandra Muenster from Germany both say theyare going to miss their families, but they feel that itis going to be an overall positive exper ience.

Rodrigo Rodrigues from Brazi l. feels that thisChris tmas is going to be a real happy time also, butin the same way like any other hristmas that hehas celebrated.

"J feel Christmas is going to be real good, be-cause I am putting in my mind that my host familyis like my real family," Rodrigues said.

Other exchange students feel that it is going tobe different because of the setting and some of thecultural differences between their home country andthe United States.

"It is ter rible there is no snow. It feels like Junenot November," Waelchi said.

InSwitzerland, Wailchi says, Santa Clause vis-

its on December 6. Another thing that tbe studentsmight enjoy is the decorations in the United States.Waelchi says that in Switerzland they do not haveChristmas Lights.

One thing that they all are in agreement on isno matter where they spend Christmas it i a happytime to reflect and relax.

"Christmas to me is a time when everyonestops, spends time with their family and givesthanks to God for all that he has done for us andfor him to belp those that need help," Rodriguessaid.

While Christmas is a familiar holiday to thestudents, Halloween was a new experience forsome of them. Even though it was a foreign holi-day to them they seemed to enjoy it.

"It was funny seeing my little host brothersdressed up, because they were so cute," Muenstersaid.

Rodrigues liked Halloween also and said hehad fun scaring the kids.

Other tban getting ready for the holiday sea-son the exchange students say that they are enjoy-ing their stay in America. Rodr igues is busy withactivities such as Fellowship of Christian Athletes,Young Life and church. Phillip Schaefa of Ger-many has made himself at home by playing tennis.

Waelchi says that her stay in America is busierthan it is in Switzerland.

"Everything is s tarting to grow bectic. J willhappy when Christmas comes and when every-thing is back to normal," Waelchi said.

Y2K could slow down the mailservice as well as the electricitysupply in some rural areas.

Those who depend on com-puters and telephones as theirmajor source of communicationsay that Y2K will have a majoreffect on their lives.

'" think yes, it would affectour l ives because some people'ssole source of communication istheir computer," said juniorAudrey Cantu.

With the impending millen-nium only a few weeks away noone can tell exactly what willhappen when the millennium ar-rives.

Whether it is worldwide di-saster or one bi g party, the onlything most will be able to do ishope for the best and plan for theworst.

TriVia,~

ABC News will spend $5 millionon a 24-hr. broadcast from NewYork's Times Square beginningat 5 a.m. Dec. 31, 1999.~

For only $75,000, you can beone of 96 passengers on aConcorde jet for an 18~dayaround-the-world flight. NewYear's Eve will be spent overHong Kong. ffiNot much cash? For only$14.95 you can get a "Count-down Cap" with a digital clockmounted on the crown fromwww.countdown2000.com.

.4Have 80me pizza. Some corpo-rate customers have bought upto 10,000 coupons fromDomino's Pizza for employeeswho must be on Y2Kduty. Thecoupons allow employees to buya large, two-topping pizza and atwo-liter soda.1If New York Is where you'drather be, the Marriott MarquisHotel may still have few roomsleft. The package Includes fivedays/4 nights deluxe room,round-trip airfare from yourhometown, a welcome recep-tion, attendance at two Broad-way shows, New Year's Eveparty and sightseeing. Cost?Only $3,850 per person.

NOTHIN' BUT NET

Executive Principal Dr. Joe Kopec and A&MConsolidated principalChrissy Hester participated in a free-throw shoot ing contest at thehalftime of the varsity boys basketball game held at Reed Arena onNov. 22. Kopec won the contest. photo by Bi ll Meeks
http://www.countdown2000.com./http://www.countdown2000.com./


7/8

On the road againThe Bryag.Viking boys bas-ketball team traveled to WestPlains, Missouri over Thanks-giving break to play in theZizzer Classic basketball tour-nament. The team placedthird and received the GoodSportsmanship Award. DarylMason and Brian Bisor madethe All-Tournament Team,with Bisor scoring over 30points in one game.

Wrestlers to hosttournamentThe Viking wrestling squadwill host a tournament on De-cember 17-18. A number ofteams from across the statewill participate in the tourna-ment. Currently, the team isone of the top-ranked teamsin the state.Congratulations tothe Area ChampionViking football team!

orts Norseman. December 13 19997The game of lifeC oach influences players on and off courtChaunte WhiteChief asst . editor

a man or get out ofthe locker room. "

Mo t var itybasketball playerswill readily agreewith the abovestatement made bythird year teammember BrianBisor.

"It feels goodto know that a teammember respectsme enough to feelthat way. A lot ofthe time athletes

eas: as a per on, astudent and fi-nally as an ath-lete," Martin said.

Building char-acter is an impor-tant focus of theteam. Martin and

take coaches forgranted but we try to be asstraightforward with them aspossible," said boys head bas-ketball coach Tim Martin.

Many believe that this no-nonsen e approach is part ofwhat bas made the basketballprogram so successful Io r thelast five years that Martin has

bis assistantcoaches are in-volved in manyother aspects oftheir lives. The

average player on var ity hasbeen involved in the program forthree to four years giving thecoaches the opportunity to seeand help them grow from littleboys to mature and well-roundedyoung men.

"1 've been involved in theprogram for the last four years.

Lady Vikes enjoy their victory over cross-town rivals, the A&M Consolidated Lady11-gers. The girls played at ReedArena onthe samenight asthe varsity boys.photo by Bi llMeeks

It's helped me focu onbeing a good tudent andtaught me how to makewise choices in basket-ball a well as my every-day life," said seniorKenny Taylor.

Bisor feels that sincehe's been involved in theprogram he has maturedand grown a lot as a bas-ketball player and as aperson.

"It teaches us thingslike discipline and re-sponsibility that can beapplied in different as-pects of our l ives, not just bas-ketball," Bisor said.

Discipline and responsibil-i ty will be especially importantthis season. Nine seniors gradu-ated from the team last year leav-ing plenty of space for youngerteam members to take responsi-bil ity and be leaders .

"At the varsity level we areall expected to take a leadershiprole, especially the seniors 'Tay-lor said.

Daryl Mason consults with Coach TimMartin on the sidelines during the Bryanvs. A&M Consolidated game at ReedArena November22. photo by BiI !Meeks

Coaches say that regardlessof the outcome of the seasonplayers will definitely benefitfrom just being involved in theprogram.

"We feel that we offer theopportunity to help them developgreat habits for the rest of theirlives, consisting of being punc-tual taking a small role on a bigteam and learning to give back,"Martin said.

Unity + strong defense =Lady Viking successLiz CarrCo-editor

The Lady Vikings are no di f ferentfrom other basketball teams, They sharemany oftbe same goals: to do well at dis-trict, win more games than they did la tyear, and reach th e playoffs.

But there is one minor difference.Whereas players from other schools hoverabove 6 ft., tbi year' s varsity lineup topsout at 5'10.

Neither the players nor coach KariTeague view this as a di advantage.

"We just have tobe stronger and fasterto make up for the height problem," saidsenior Nildci Sloan.

The players have set some specificteam goals, such as winning 26 or moregames, the number they won last year.They have already met another goal,winning the Lovelady Tournament, andare hoping to go farther in playoffs thanin the past.

Teague believes that a good defensewill be the key to their success in a diffi-cult district.

"Our district is one of the toughest inthe state as far as women's basketball isconcerned. We have to play bard and main-tain a st rong defense," Teague said.

The team consists of just four return-ing varsity players. The remainder of thesquad is filled out with seven from lastyear's JV squad and one from last year'sfreshman team.

Senior Meosha Walker does not think.that the limited number of returning mem-bers will affect the team adversely becauseof the higb skil l level of the newcomers.

According to senior Teresa Ford, themost important thing for the team to de-velop bas nothing to do with atbletic abi l-ity.

"The team bas to get along and havethe same goals.If we are not getting along,we can't play well," Ford said.

JV, freshman tennis teams have success in tournament playMisty McCannStaff writer

As the words Love-30 werebeing uttered David Dominguez,knew that this last game was theonly chance he had.

With a strong grip on hisracket , his lucky TAMU bat thathe has never washed, and a de-termined att itude, Dominguezpulled out of the rally betweenhis equally determined opponentto w in the last tournament for theJunior Varsity tennis team.

The last tournament atTemple was a successful meet for

been here. Upon Martin's arr ivalhe brought many valuable com-"Coach Martin will tell you ponents to the program.

how it is. You either take it like "Kids live up to your expec-tations. When Icame Ibrought"We feel that high expectationsin three main ar-we offer the op-portunityto helpthem developgreat habits forthe rest of theirlives."

T im Ma rt inHead basketballcoach

the team. Dominguez won BoysDivisions Singles, Ashley Philipsand David Gilmore finished inth semifinals , and Elise Brutonand Paula Josepb won consola-tion.

Dominguez credits beingpersistent at wbat he perceivedas a weakness.

"My backhand bas been abig challenge but by pract icingthroughly to improve it, Iwasable to use it to my advantage forthe last tournament," Dominguezsaid.

Not only is he doing well and

improving his own game,Domiguez believes in being ateam player as well."My attitude is to play as ateam player and Ielieve the onlyway to succeed is to encouragemy teammates as well,"Dominguez said.

The freshmen have had suc-cess in faU doubles play, as well.

I t was especially excit ing forsome of the members, becausethe double team of Trey Carmonand John Beifuss was able toreach the finals.

In their last match, Carmon

and Beifuss were lagging behindby just a few points, but afterthree tie-breakers that took overtwo hours to play, the team pulledahead for the victory.

"It was an unexplainablefeeling to explain how we fel t af-ter winning the match, other thanIwas glad that we pulJed togetherat the end," Carmon said.

Freshman James Golsan wasnamed Singles champion at theTemple tournament.

Golsan had some uneasinessas approached the Temple meet,as be had lost the last two tour-

naments. But , wi th a cleared andfocused mind he was able to pul lthrough for the team.

"Iwas pretty focused the lastgame. Inew Iould win, it wasjust a matter of doing some-thing," Golsan said.

Despite his success insingles play, Golsan also believesin being a team player.

"Ido not respect people thatwalk around with the att itude thatthey are the top dog so Iry topractice and encourage everyonedespite thei r position," Golsansaid.


8/8

8 Pntertainmentorseman. December 13,1999NBC's 'Freaks and Geeks' looks athigh school through coke-bottle glassesiz CarrCo-editor Neither are part of the popularcrowd.

Lindsey is intelligent and artsy,with her own group of friends.but Sam is not so fortunate. Henavigates the halls, his twotrusted friends by his side, andsuffers humiliation after humili-ation, both because of his lowsocial s tatus and his unrequitedcrush on a cheerleader.

Sam's awkwardness is epito-mized in a si tuat ion in the boys'locker room. After a week ofavoiding post-PE showers, heconfidently announces to theother boys that he is proud of hisbody and is subsequently

NBC's new series, Freaks andGeeks, was made for ... well, thefreaks and geeks of the world. Itis a show for anyone who hasever felt awkward at a schooldance or who spent their fresh-man year in love with a seniorwho wouldn't give them the timeof day. Inshort , i t is high schoolthrough the eyes of Daria orScreech.The story centers around se-nior Lindsey Weir, played by

Linda Cardel lini, and her fresh-man brother Sam [John Daley].

s tr ipped of his towel and pushedinto the hallway. Then as hefrantically dashes for his locker,the bell rings and the entireschool comes out to see his na-ked body on display.Freaks and Geeks is f il ledwith scenes like this, but theshow also has a more seriousside, often exploring the dynamicrelationships between its teen-aged characters and their parents.Its themes exhibit a cer tain uni-versality, despite the early 1980'ssetting, and each episode provesto be easy to identify with andentertaining.Letter Grade: A

Big and BadVoodoo Daddy aims to repeat swing successJames IrickStaff writerIf you missed it the f irst time around,

and you know you did, swing is back! TheBig Bad Voodoo Daddy has come out withyet another album, This Beautiful Life.Ifyou Liked the first album, the secondone will Dot disappoint. When you bringsix excellent and skilled instrumentaliststogether with all outstanding swing vocal-ist, the result can only be good. ScottyMorris, who writes the music and lyricsas well as sings them, has reached downto the creative part of his soul and hascome up with 11 more great songs.The thing that amazes me the most and

really draws me into the music is theamount of talent that these musicians pos-ses. "The Kid," Glen Marhevka, whoplays the trumpet for the group, adds someexcel lent solos that really get you into themusic. There are also some great saxo-phone solos that will get you moving.There was only one thing that bugged

me and that was Morris' inabi lity to writegood lyrics to the slower songs on the al-bum. Ibelieve that the song "When itComes to Love" shouJd Dot have beenwri tten or recorded. The song was reallyrepetit ive, l ike there just isn' t a lot to sayon the subject, which Iisagree with. Thisis why Ieel that the band should stick tothe upbeat selections.One song that is especially cool is their

swing version of "Old MacDonald."With all the wonderful songs on this al-

bum and the slower ones that can bepassed over, I think that the Big Bad Voo-doo Daddy is going to take swing into themillennium and last a very long time.Iecommend both of their albums BigB ad V oo do o D ad dy and This Beautiful Lifeto everyone who loves great music.For more information on the Big Bad

Voodoo Daddy, see their website atbbvd.com.Letter Grade: A

The cast of NBC's new show "Freaks and Geeks" portrays adifferent version of adolescent life than most other teenagesitcoms. The show is set in the early 1980's and details the livesof some not-sa-popular teens,

Haun ted house tu rns b irthday bash in to death trapChaunt. WhiteChief asst . edi torThere have been "scary" movies-mov-

ies that attempt to frighten but areunsucessful-but never ba s there been any-thing quite l ike The House 00 HauntedHiD. This flick ison the edge of sci -fi anddownright horror and hysteria If i t doesn' tscare you then itwill most l ikely drive youcrazy.It began several decades back at the

Vannacutt Psychiatric Institute for thecriminally insane. The head man, Dr.Vannacutt brought human torture to newdepths; inevitably, a ll the inhumane prac-tices he performed came back to haunthim. The patients took over and when theyfmished, only six staff members remained.Decades after the incident, the insti tute

bas been renovated into a house and fivestrangers ar e invited to spend the nightthere. Their reward is one million dollarseach, if they live through the night .Billionaire Steven Price (Geoffrey

Rush) ha s rented the house and arranged

a party for his wife's birthday. When thefive st rangers ar rive Price discovers thatthey ar e not his wife's original invites norhis own. This is where the horror begins.After everyone issafely inside. the house'sautomatic locking mechanism secureseveryone in for the night. No doors, nowindows, no way out.Keep in mind that this is not a normal

house. The visual effects are one of themajor highlights of the movie. The housestanding alone could scare you, wi thouteven seeing the rest of the film. Imagine asteel trap the size of the Empire StateBuilding sit ting on a hil l the size of MountEverest surrounded by water .

As the guests try to search for a waout they encounter many of the strangtorture tools Vannacutt used on his pa-tients. That, combined with evil spirits thathaunt the house, lead them through a mazeof death.This movie lives up to its name and

doesn't let you forget it.Letter Grade: A

New video game systems show just how far technology has comeJoJo ArevaloStaff writerWho would have thought that the origi-

nal Atari game systems would haveevolved into the present day Dreamcast?Where once it was cool to move two-

dimensional figures through a few basiclevels, there are now games with l ifelikecharacters challenged by so many levelsone cannot discover them al l.

And DOW,technology is takinghome video gamingto a new level be -ginning wi th the re-lease of the SegaDreamcast.

The Dreamcast is just the f irst of threebrand Dew game systems due out within ayear of each other that are guaranteed torevolut ionize video gaming. The othersare Sony's Playstation 2 and the NintendoDolphin.These systems are similar to the current

Playstation and Nintendo 64 video game

systems in terms of game play; however,they are in no way similar in terms whatthey are capable of doing.

The Dreamcast, released on September9, bad been talked about since it was firstmentioned at the beginning of the year.Said to be the savior of Sega, it did notdi appoint , becoming the fastest-sellingvideo game console of all time generat-ing $97 mil lion wi thin the fi rst 24 hours.The Dreamcast

has drawn praisefrom critics for itsIfelike graphicsand wide variety ofgames. Still, somewonder if its year-ahead release of the other new wave sys-tems wi11cause it to lack the high tech fea-tures of the later systems.As for the Playstation 2, it was sched-

uled to be released in the fall of 2000, asis the Dolphin . However, what separatesthis system from the others isits unequaleduse of technology.

The PS2 willcome with a hookupfor a cable modem,which Sony hopeswill allow a PS2= owner to check e-

mail, shop-an-Line, download music andcompete against other PS2 owners acrossthe world. It will also come with a portthat could possibly act as a digital camerahookup so that long range opponents maysee each other in real time as they battle itout. There are also plans to create a harddrive for the PS2, turning it into a mini-computer.The game play will also become more

advanced, as many of the PS2 'sgames willbe DVD-based, allowing for faster andclearer game play. Some of the PS2 'sgames wi ll stil l be writ ten on the originaldiscs, and the game for the regularPlaystation wil be able to be played onthe PS2. The PS2 will also be able to playDVD's st raight from the box.The Playstation 2 will still come with a

basic controller, a demo-disc, and an 8-megabyte memory card, and has opted tohave only two controller port s. This cameas a tremendous surprise to many experts ,who figure that Sony made its decision inan ef fort to save money.Sony is scheduled to release numerous

quality games along with the PS2, suchas Gran Turismo2000, Tekken TagTournament, StreetFighter Ex 3, andRidge Racer, addingto the already greatanticipation.Lit tle is known about Nintendo's latest

system, the Dolphin, except it will comeequipped wi th a phone modem. There arealso plans to develop a network simi lar tothe PS2 's. This system will also allow Dol-phin owners wi th some kind of member-ship to access the internet and visit cer-tain members-only web pages. Nintendoalso opted to stay cartr idge-based insteadof going to a CD format.

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Volume 29 Number 3