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the student newspaper of mount saint joseph high school volume lxxix issue iv february 2010 the quill prayer service is a wild success msj for mlk zev burrows quill staff writer on january 18 mount saint joseph held a prayer service to celebrate the life and achievements of dr martin luther king organized by mr aliff ms esserwein mr fitzpatrick father mike and the black cultural awareness club there were several guest speakers and performances by the msj choir and members of the mount de sales choir we had girls speakers included gerald gorham donuelle durham jonathan sims michael ukoha steward beckham eli modlin and reverend john west from st john s baptist church and torrance winder gave everyone the pleasure of a fabulous a capella solo rev west spoke on many things including his first football game at the mount and the famous fork story if you don t get that ask someone who attended though entertaining and humorous his message was ultimately a serious one he challenged those at the service to rev west ask themselves who am i he stressed the importance of realizing and understanding this definition ourselves rather than allowing others to define us seniors torrance winder and jerry gorham pose with keynote speaker rev john west it was a beautiful service the msj choir did a flawless job with help from members of the desales choir everyone was choked up by reverend west s speech it was a day to be remembered for a long time compassion yields money for haiti xaverian virtue put in action by st joe community and was able to collect over $14,000 i was dumbfounded proclaimed brother james i never expected that we would raise that much money within 24 hours i was obviously very pleased very happy the collection by msj s sadd lifesavers club netted three dozen pairs of crutches one dozen walkers and one dozen canes these were then donated to the harriet lane clinic at the johns hopkins children s center all the medical implements were shipped to haiti to be used in the relief efforts though hati has received tremondous support there is still much to be done eight days after the earthquake an aftershock with a 6.1 magnitude hit the country 35 miles west of the capital the greatest issue that has slowed down haiti s healing process is the damaged infrastructure not only is the main port damaged beyond immediate use but the now u.s controlled airport has struggled with the limited capacity to grant planes permission to land with the combined impact of these factors hati s reconstruction process will inevitably be a long and difficult one on tuesday january 12 2010 just before 5 p.m a devastating earthquake with a 7.0 magnitude struck the country of haiti the epicenter was just 16 miles west of the capital city of port-au-prince people across the world immediately rushed to aid the tiny nation mount st joe students parents faculty and staff came together to raise more than $14,000 in addition the sadd/lifesavers club collected crutches walkers and canes that were sent to haitians in need countless homes and buildings collapsed in the island country including the presidential palace un mission headquarters and the national cathedral one of the [xaverian brothers who s in haiti brother michael mccarthy is a very good friend of mine commented st joe president brother james kelly brother michael served on the mount saint joseph board for nine years brother james continued i went to college with him my first reaction was `is michael alright but within ten hours after the disaster he received the news that brother michael and brother harold who also serves in haiti were safe dagm endalkachew quill staff writer eli modlin `11 david mooney 13 and charlie jones iii 13 l to r pose with supplies collected the earthquake has only made matters worse for what was already one of the poorest countries in the world the international red cross has projected that 3 million people have been affected by the quake the haitian government confirmed that more than 150,000 lives have been taken by this tragedy with many more thousands still buried beneath the rubble more than 250,000 wounded and well over a million haitians left without a home across the globe sent assistance u.s president barack obama announced the day after the calamity this morning i want to extend to the people of haiti the deep condolences and unwavering support of the american people following yesterday s terrible earthquake the u.s did much to help sending over 16,000 troops by air on aircraft carriers and by sea we as a school have also done our part to help on our most recent dress down day the school took donations for the relief effort in hati,

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page 2 baltimore s blizzards of 2010 bring four feet of flakes quill staff article lot for maryland to handle snowfall records were shattered making the blizzard of 2010 bigger than those in 2003 1996 and even larger than any other storm since records began being kept in the late 1800s since maryland isn t used to so much snow it took days to clear roads many side streets were shoveled out by residents and even larger roads were limited to one one and a half or two lanes sidewalks were buried and school and business parking lots took ages to uncover although the days from february 11-february 16 were relatively sunny icy conditions and the mounds of snow caused schools to remain closed luckily february 15 was presidents day ­ already a school holiday ­ and february 12 had been scheduled as a professional day for st joe teachers so students wouldn t have had school then either way st joe re-opened on february 17 with a two-hour delay the rest of that week began with two-hour delays as well no one in the st joe community will ever forget the blizzards of 2010 heaps of snow cover st joe more than four feet of snow heavily blanketed the baltimore area from february 5-10 2010 two historic snowstorms setting records throughout the baltimore-washington area painted a pretty picture but also caused shutdowns major delays and inconvenience mount st joseph which follows baltimore county public schools when it comes to school closings shut down at 12:30 p.m on friday february 5 and did not resume classes until wednesday february 17 at 10 a.m that s a total of 11 days and five school days that were missed by students flakes were already falling when students left campus on february 5 by the following evening an average of two feet had fallen in the local area with upwards of 38 inches reported by some towns the weekend snow was heavy and wet causing downed power lines and sore backs on locals after hours of shoveling just as that snow was being cleared another storm hit from tuesday february 9 into wednesday february 10 leaving about two more feet this second snow was lighter and drier but four feet was a msj s statue of st joseph peeks out from the snow msj marches in d.c for life students and staff support babies in the womb the quill staff 2009-2010 editors moses hubbard harrison bachman staff writers tommy o donnell alex steiner sung-min kim jonathan sims dominic salacki ryan mannion steward beckham chase lawson dagm endalkachew sean gilmour zev burrows production staff harrison bachman steward beckham dagm endalkachew moses hubbard moderators ms richmond mr bieniek mrs cheryl hall and robbie clemons lead students and faculty in the protest against abortion.

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page 3 two-hour late scheduling a change for the better students and faculty both like this faculty meeting schedule positive for students because with all classes being on the same schedule students don t fall behind on other class periods and so they don t have to make up the work the following day many people around the school find the change in scheduling helpful sean slattery said i like the new two hour late scheduling it is more convenient for everyone when i was a freshman and it was half days if you had a sport after school then you d have to wait for a few hours until practice now that s no longer a problem joey rider mentioned the two-hour late scheduling is good because i get to sleep in and i don t have to make up work the next day with classes that were shorter than others the teachers too have some input on the subject mrs meyer said this is a big improvement from last year there is finally more time for teacher meetings and no one is behind anymore however i still do prefer half days but this is close it is evident that many people seem content with the new change this year but is there a downside to the change perhaps some students have to wait even longer in the library because they cannot get a ride in to school two hours late or perhaps parents who do have to drive the student in late may find it very irritating to be late to their jobs every time this occurs gunnar wilson for example is not so content with the change he states early dismissal is better because carpools have to sit in the cafeteria and wait for class [on twohour late days but on half days you have the rest of the day free we went to the change for a number of the reasons stated agrees our principal mr barry fitzpatrick it is much better to have the full two hours thus allowing more time for departments to meet have everyone have the same time period for class and not have students sitting in the cafeteria waiting for practice to start parents have shared with me this is a better arrangement for car pools regardless of these issues the community as a whole seems to be happy with the change although half days may never be coming back the two-hour late scheduling is a big step up from the one-hour late scheduling last year if the administration changed the meeting time this year who s to say they will not do it again eventually perhaps one day we could have half days again if there is enough input for the time being however the two-hour late scheduling is a great improvement and appears to be benefiting everyone very well take advantage of the extra hour that wasn t there before alex steiner quill staff writer as we all started to get back into the routine after christmas break right after the first week we got another little break with a two-hour late schedule for a faculty meeting ­ lucky right as some of you may recall from last year in 2009 i wrote an article about the one-hour late scheduling and how the general opinion was that instead we should have half days where students are released two hours early at 12:30 p.m i pointed out in that article the many issues caused by hour late scheduling such as unequal class times and the teachers complaining about barely enough time to meet in their departments and as a whole faculty there are many benefits to having the much more efficient two hour late schedule as well as giving students an hour later to sleep in it provides many benefits for faculty for instance teachers now all have even class times ­ 25 minutes each ­ and have more time to meet together which makes their lives easier it is even academically jumping in the bay for charity rugby players brave cold for special olympics were nick mastracci junior who raised $515 and nick vogt sophomore who raised $465 the team was chaperoned by adults rich sargo history teacher and coach mike finely coach marc hoffman admissions director and coach and steve proctor father students who participated are thomas proctor adam thousands of other area plungers in this annual fundraising effort the team raised a total of $5,215 for the special olympics which provided athletic opportunities for physical and mentally-challenged individuals adam ekwall senior was the mount s only three-year veteran of the plunge the top two student fundraisers ekwall zach cimino kevin ross dan cassidy nick vogt thomas wheeler connor corkrin kris roussey josh fedner david smith jack hisky anthony grago joseph tynes colin woodyard charlie sapienza jeff donselar tyler storm nick mastracci brett morrison sean slattery matt cobleigh mike mason andrew schatz and andrew siske quill staff article the mount st joseph rugby team braved freezing waters for charity on january 29 2010 when members again participated in the special olympics polar bear plunge into the chesapeake bay the young men drove down to sandy point state park outside annapolis and joined

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page 4 mr fitz loses fundraiser wins ping pong touranment brings students together at mt desales a success if success is measured by the difficulty in forcing a path through the crowd from one side of the hall to the other the two girls are maybe searching through the crowd for contestants who probably haven t signed in yet or teachers who sometimes can help or fellow students it took a team effort from inside mount de sales to bring this night to speedy fruition in only four days time lost from the blizzard our main girl is carolyn schorr a senior at mount de sales carrying around a stack of papers she s never in one place at once she s searching through the crowd then she s walking out the door she s checking with the sign-in table and then encouraging donations the bracket is single elimination she explains to one student he doesn t know what that means the brackets for the tournament basically functioned like a planned sequence of pick-up games with friends i ll play winner if you lose once you re finished the champion is the player who always wins play to 11 but you have to win by 2 if the score s 7-0 the game is over shouts carolyn before the first round starts but the player who wins the most games doesn t necessarily win the gold even if he s beaten seven other competitors a player can be eliminated in his eighth game by a rested fresh opponent who is playing his first game and has a few lucky hits numerous competitors at the end of the night blamed a faulty system for their failure obviously they ve never heard the phrase may the best man or woman win despite the bracket once official games begin complete with volunteer referees the room becomes both more serious and more relaxed with single elimination brackets single players and doubles teams start dropping like flies one table is soon the spot for pickup games `i ll play winner is the phrase of choice and no one complains that it s unfair one of the night s most exciting games puts the doubles team of kyle berlin and mulay sarbanes against the eventual champions danny shay and jordan porter realizing early in the match that shay and porter have the upper hand sarbanes and berlin begin making elaborate plans whispering dramatically looking around suspiciously in between serves before each serve they even try standing single file shouting go and attempting to jump into place at the table as one serves usually the ball hits the net fault their ref a quiet de sales sophomore asks mr fitzpatrick trying not to laugh at kyle and mulay is forced to act as a more forceful referee five he shouts slapping the table and holding his open palm to mulay s facial region mulay and kyle aren t properly counting the number of serves they are allowed before porter gets his turn to start despite a surprise appearance by st joe chemistry teacher mr ader the night s definite climax is the extensively published and eagerly anticipated headline game that places st joe s principal mr fitzpatrick against sister anne catherine o.p principal of mount de sales the playing table sits next to the stage in the concert hall and the adjacent stairs provide colosseum-like viewing for the girls on the other side of the table on the floor mount men watch intently for a while robbie and mulay at this point both eliminated attempt to lead their classmates in cheers for their principal the de sales girls have it easy a rhythmically constant cry of sister sister rolls right off the tongue let s go mr fitz let s go is decidedly complicated barry barry sounds awkward after a few repetitions calling mr fitz by his first name is an art eventually a slowly accelerating rhythmic pulse of fitz fitz fitz fitz fitz fitz fitz fitz fitz fitz almost succeeds in drowning out a soprano sister sister with all the debate about chanting no one s positive about the score neither administrator seems to have the upper hand although the referee s hand points to sister every once and a while as the ball flies past mr fitz s paddle when the game ends the home team is victorious carolyn schorr gives mr fitz a ball of white tissue paper when he opens it he finds a teddy bear dressed in a sailor suit as the event wraps up carolyn announces that they ve raised more than $500 for invisible children inc an organization dedicated to building schools and helping children who have been affected by war in uganda no one really wants to leave yet so they mingle bouncing ping-pong balls around the room and continuing pick-up games at the four tables mount students of both sexes help fold chairs and remove brackets from the walls dave comberiate continues to practice aggressively but for what he wasn t very lucky tonight despite the hype and of course he blames a faulty bracket system but the next tuesday i m sitting in student council homeroom when dave walks to the chalkboard and prints the words ping-pong 4 poverty dave may already be planning a comeback and with the success of one tournament already this year winners and losers alike will return hopefully for a round 2 at msj perhaps mr fitz can bring his teddy bear tommy o donnell quill staff writer among the murmur of teenage voices and the sound of ping-pong balls clattering from the table to the floor two girls frantically search for faces among the crowd every sound echoes in this room colliding with the other noises to form a wonderful acoustic din mr fitz almost out of place in a hall with girls in it stands by the door where he will remain until this tournament begins to heat up for now the four tables in the room are used only for practice saint joe guys have invaded the back right corner table robbie clemons decked out in purple wears his shorts pulled high patrick sweeney dons his classic cream-colored suit coupled with a purple undershirt and shades numerous students wear sweatbands in contrast to the aggressive looking girls at the table next door most of the guys are relaxed here to have fun on a friday night except for dave comberiate he practices fiercely taking the event quite seriously as i walk around the room i hear his name numerous times a plausible winner this is the mount de sales ping-pong tournament and can already be considered lyrics can bring up questions about what the singer really means the audience in terms of expressing it in universal way or possibly add ambiguity that would express writer s feeling in more quill staff writer intimate level and leave the listeners to in pop culture has seen the ongoing many cases interpret them in own their change of style of the popular music choice ways trying to figure out what the sung words over the years the audience not only really mean some may be willing to take embraced the kind of mainstream music the lyrics and interpret them in the context of from the beatles to taylor swift but also how they feel some may think deeper and many have been open to independent explore the context of the situation theme indie music where there are numerous of the song album etc and maybe the life amount of talented artists that do not get of the writer to discover the `true intention as much as light as the figures getting behind the words is there any crowd that spotlights in hollywood with the advent opts to just take the lyric as is and just enjoy of ongoing inspirations and releases we what is out there definitely but human have been exposed to different type of curiosity also definitely runs in this subject music emerging with new ideas over the case in point there is a song called years this trend seems to continue and may morning bell by radiohead the song attempt to create newer beat or rhythm or itself when brought up to discussions gets at least come close to seem `original than to several opinions on finding what its lyrics are the ones that already exist trying to say here is an excerpt one part of struggle for originality comes from the art of writing lyrics where d you park the car it is true that there are many popular where d you park the car songs nowadays that possess simple and clothes are all over the furniture straightforward lyrics however as the now i might as well number of songs sang increased so did the i might as well attempts to express one s feeling emotion sleepy jack the fire drill and event in an original or catchy way run around around around around around some may consider putting details that may apply only to his or her personal level cut the kids in half metaphors similes and other literary tools cut the kids in half that can either lose a bit of connection to cut the kids in half art of interpreting `difficult lyrics sung-min kim one popular opinion about this song is that its central theme is divorce this perspective comes from the assumption that the song s album kid a is about a life of a person and the track comes right before the last track which many assume to be the death of a certain character there are clues within the song that might assume the divorce theme cut the kids in half and there are other clues that indicate the catastrophic mindset while going through the divorce process now i might as well/i might as well/sleepy jack the fire drill/run around around around around around another school of thought states that the song is about the so-called haunted house that thom yorke lead singer of radiohead lived in this idea is based on that many of the songs were written when he dwelled in the house and there definitely are several household references in the lyrics clothes are all over the furniture there are many other theories that may come up as reasonable or not but the point is that even in one song like this there are possibilities of containing multiple themes meanings and interpretations that will be debated and believed as one s subjective opinion on that song itself.

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page 5 james cameron presents his talent once more dominic salacki from titanic to avatar quill staff writer there is quite a selection of incredible movies that were released during the christmas holiday if there are many movies out during holiday seasons there is bound to be a lot of `buzz going on around all those cinematic miracles every one of the holiday movies had a certain message and theme to them some were about love some were about a destiny and some were about changing lives for the better we tried to find out just how well this year s major holiday films conveyed those messages avatar every once in a while a new cinematic superstar rises into the ring of moviemaking as of december 18 2009 the brilliant and greatly accomplished james cameron has become such an individual he is widely known for his mind-blowing special effects his eyepopping graphics and his overwhelming originality with the stories he has created and he has a hit again as of january 26 2010 avatar was the top grossing film of all time worldwide with 1.9 billion dollars made avatar is not the only box-office buster that made his career there are others such as aliens the terminator series with arnold schwarzenegger his visual effects in apollo 13 and the greatly loved titanic for cameron to create the astounding film avatar it took him and the cast and crew five years and over $300 million but from what is shown from the box office charts it was all worth it along with the record profits and praise of cameron s film have come awards like the ones from the recent golden globes award show on january 17 2010 avatar was nominated for four awards and was awarded two of them the awards it did not win were for best song and best score but the awards the film was awarded two of the most important best director and best picture for a drama also from the phoenix film critics society awards the film has also won for best cinematography best film editing best production design and best visual effects in james cameron s avatar marine jake sully a paraplegic war veteran is offered to take up as his brother s replacement in a mission after he is killed at war the war is between earth and the planet jake is taken to pandora pandora is inhabited with the na vi a humanoid race with their own language and culture while on pandora jake learns corporate figurehead parker selfridge s intentions of warding off the na vi from their home on part of the planet to mine for a very valuable substance that is scattered throughout their rich woodland in exchange for spinal surgery that will fix his legs jake gathers information for the military unit spearheaded by colonel quaritch while simultaneously attempting to infiltrate the na vi people with the use of an avatar identity and body while jake begins to bond with the native tribe and quickly falls in love with the beautiful alien neytiri the restless colonel moves forward with his ruthless extermination tactics forcing the jake to take a stand and fight back in an epic battle for the fate of pandora where do i begin with james cameron s avatar avatar simply must be seen in my opinion after titanic it is cameron s finest and most outstanding movie yet it is the leading movie of today with over $1.3 billion in less than three weeks in the box office that s right i said billion it has been smooth-sailing its way to the top of the charts since december 18th 2009 with over $505 million as of january 18 2010 in the u.s.a it is currently in third place for all time top u.s.a grossing movies just behind the dark knight 2008 with over $533 million and titanic 1997 another of cameron s movies with over $600 million in the lead avatar with over $1.6 billion worldwide is also in second place in the category of all time top worldwide grossing movies behind titanic 1997 with over $1.84 billion in the lead except for just two days avatar has been the number one movie ever since its opening date on december 18th 2009 the blind side with sandra bullock s amazing performance as leigh anne tuohy in the blind side she has won her way to becoming the highest paid actress of 2009 in the past year she has also starred in such movies like the heavily award nominated the proposal and the not so popular all about steve but according to the `charts the blind side has been the most well received of the three this movie has settled its way into the top five movies chart in the box office ever since its release in november directed by john lee hancock the blind side is based on a novel by michael lewis about the true and extraordinary story of michael oher oher is currently the offensive right tackler for the baltimore ravens football team and was drafted on the team in the 2009 football season draft oher one of twelve was born to denise oher who was down on her luck at the time due to denise s addiction to crack cocaine oher received little constructive attention during his early formative years oher also spent time in various foster homes and periods of homelessness before he was sixteen years old when the tuohy family brought michael into their home accepted him as he was and adopted him michael was enrolled into the briarcrest christian school in memphis tennessee there is where oher started getting back on his feet and started to accomplish his goals in academics and athletics he did well in his classes and was put on the high school football team with the acceptance love and care the tuohy family gave to michael he was inspired to work hard and succeed to reach his fullest potential michael oher is currently a player for the baltimore ravens and so movie sales were especially high in the centralmaryland area by november 20th 2009 the blind side had scored over $34 million in its opening weekend and was ranked second for weekend sales right behind new moon with no foreign countries showing the blind side and a budget of $29 million this movie has managed to take with them a total of $228 million for domestic and worldwide total box office sales making just under $200 million in profit the blind side has also snatched several awards sandra bullock who played oher s adopted mother was awarded the golden globe for best actress in a drama the young s.j tuohy who played michael oher won an award from phoenix film critics society for best performance by a male youth actors and audience come together for local hit moses hubbard cyrano takes the stage makes us so excited to go and see avatar and yet so often completely unwilling to attend a broadway musical why is it that we scramble in the library over who gets to read sports illustrated while very few people bother to pick up their school newspaper cough cough there are two fairly simple reasons that i can see the first is convenience ­ why pay thirty dollars to watch macbeth on stage when we could see sherlock holmes for a third of the price the second and more important reason is personal taste some people just don t like watching plays especially in the high-speed sensory-addicted culture we live in not everyone is captivated by watching people run around on a stage however much classicists may bemoan this it s the indelible reality of our time the production of cyrano that i went to worked precisely because it acknowledged this and worked within the context of the world today it was the theatrical equivalent of condensed soup an hour and a half long with three actors and no set changes all of the sound and visual effects were produced by the actors themselves on stage and for all the audience to see when they needed to march the actors opened up panels in the floor and walked in place over a square quill editor this weekend i went to centerstage to see a modern rendition of the 1897 play cyrano i had a wonderful time at the theatre and here s why you would too we hear and read it all the time far too much that fine art is dying it has been an opinion held by generation after nostalgic generation and has grown stale and unoriginal with overuse there is however a certain undeniable truth to the opinion the world of art and media is constantly evolving and more traditional pieces of classic art from plays to architecture to sculpture are often eclipsed by whatever the current media trend seems to be even shakespeare and samuel beckett have a hard time competing with james cameron and the wonders of modern special effects this isn t to say that fine art is dead just that it s becoming harder and harder for people especially the youth to understand appreciate and most importantly enjoy classic forms of expression why is this what is it that foot of gravel when they needed a storm one actor banged against a metal sheet for thunder while another cranked a wind machine this irony the concession to the audience that the play was in fact that a play allowed an unusual bond to form between actors and audience cyrano the lead actor handed one man a beer on the house and another audience member was given one of his tortured love-letters suddenly we were no longer observers and performers we were all together enjoying and living the performance as one the production didn t pander to an uneducated or attention-deficit audience rather with eloquent verbal exchanges between the characters it managed to stay true to its poetic roots and maintain a balance between traditional and modern tastes it was able to relate a century-old story in entertaining understandable modern terms whether or not you think of yourself as a play person i d encourage you to go and try the experience out cyrano is currently playing at centerstage theater in baltimore for more information about tickets and dates go to http www.centerstage.org/

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page 6 the mount endures economic crash some see the providence of god at work over 50 of the endowment was turned into hard cash physical money can t simply dissipate and so when the crash hit even though stocks and bonds lost a great deal of value the money that the mount had in cash was unchanged it also helped that mount saint joe is a private school many public school districts which rely heavily on local property tax money were delt a harsh blow when houses were foreclosed and people were forced out of neighborhoods for example the sequoia union high and san maeto county school districts which had invested savings in lehman brothers lost millions of dollars comparatively the mount only lost about half a million dollars well said brother james our investments advisors would say that it was dumb luck but because i m a religious and a follower of brother ryken i d say it s the providence of god the mount was still hit of course brother james continued and measures needed to be taken to minimize the damage our investment committee which is made up of some very astute people went back to the drawing board to see how we could best recover and move our investments and we have actually the mount hasn t recovered enough to be able to take any money from its investments but it has recovered a fair amount of what it lost in stocks and bonds things seem to be getting better and our investment strategy seems to be working out so i m hoping that the next school year we ll be able to do that brother james said whether it was through pure luck or divine intervention mount saint joseph has been able to endure the worst of the economic crisis and though recovery is slow headway is being made though we may not realize it we are incredibly fortunate that the mount weathered the economic storm and has been able to continue to provide us with the best resources and finest education moses hubbard quill editor the economic crash of 2007 devastated companies and individuals across america bankrupting businesses and leaving millions jobless or deeply in debt now in 2010 our current economic situation though improving still isn t pretty unemployment rates are high homes are being foreclosed and businesses are shutting down the mount however seems to have endured it fairly well with no major cuts in spending or drastic rises in tuition throughout the crisis it has not only continued to make the same assets available to its students as before but has in fact been able to expand and build more even facilities like the bridge and the new depaul center brother james kelly president of the mount explains how and why the mount was able to cope with the crash we have an endowment of about five million dollars brother explained that money is restricted mainly for financial aid by people who give money so that there ll be a perpetual endowment for need based and academic financial aid the school s investment policy has been very conservative with 60 percent of its funds in stocks and 40 percent in cash currently we are even more conservative with a 50/50 distribution of funds at the time of the crash mount saint joe was in the process of moving its investments so that it could be securely transferred a large portion of the money that had been stored in stocks and bonds christmas terrorist raises timeless questions lack of law enforcement or national security concern steward beckham quill staff writer the issue of terrorism has been central in the media and news ever since we were in elementary school i remember vividly what it was like during september 11 2001 i was in second grade i remember my dad picking me up and rushing home to see the news it was a weird time for me because i was a young boy who was just interested in why everyone was so worried as i grew older and began to follow the news on the war against terror i have been able to comprehend the issues at hand and understand more fully what went on that day this christmas a man named umar farouk abdulmutallab attempted another terrorist bombing on u.s soil as many of you heard through national and local news outlets abdulmutallab with an explosive sewn into his underwear boarded a plane headed for detroit the bomb was supposed to explode as the airplane carrying a large number of passengers flew into the detroit airport president obama acknowledged the fault in airline security and recognized the work that needs to be done to fix the issue advanced placement government teacher mr harris had these comments on the matter people were somewhat disappointed in the way the obama administration characterized the attack they approached it as a law enforcement problem not national security indeed many have also wondered how abdulmutallab was able to bypass security with a bomb sewn to his underwear umar farouk abdulmutallab was a privileged kid who grew up in a luxurious home in nairobi he lived in such comfort that when he went to college he lived in an apartment in a high-class london neighborhood since he was the 16th child of his dad s two wives it can be assumed that he did not get enough parental attention it is said that umar was very lonely and depressed until he visited sana the capital of yemen he was interested in the culture and before long he was participating in groups focused around ending american oppression in the middle east although it is not certain when al-qaeda recruited umar his ability to go to the united states easily made him a valuable asset to their cause and he entered the group this of course ultimately led to the attempted attack on christmas day we have not seen such an attack since 9/11 when asked how this attack might affect the american people mr harris predicted this will cause an increase in the awareness of being vigilant in airline security this refocused people s attention on airline security for a short period of time america s attention again shifted from overseas affairs to what could possibly happen to one of us back home the severity of economic concerns has once again overwhelmed national security concerns you as in this reporter were the first person to talk about this with me in a long time because the issue went to the back pages mr harris commented recent news has revealed that osama bin laden acknowledged this attack as a heroic attempt at recalling the events of 9/11 showing that osama is pleased about the events of that christmas morning we should expect more news connecting to this event in 2010 a little over a month ago americans were only scared for the moment now they have gone back to talking about the senatorial elections and the health care bill only the future will show if our lack of consistency with this issue will become a problem.

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page 7 mr bianco serves and leads tejada returns to baltimore from student to teacher and coach a seasoned orioles veteren rejoins the team his hands his religion classes are nothing but interesting his stories as an alumnus help his students relate to the different topics covered and his up-beat personality and jokes keep students awake and amused both my parents were accountants and i realized when i was young i didn t want to sit behind a desk i have a big problem being still as many of my students know so teaching provides a great avenue for me to release my energy in a positive way while hopefully making a difference at the same time when asked how do you like being the teacher rather than the student mr bianco responded as a teacher you feel good when your students succeed as a religion teacher i find it a daily challenge to teach a subject that can be so abstract and intangible and for some uninteresting i think our search for god is one of the most interesting parts of life and it s my responsibility to help my students with that journey every b day i would head to arguably my favorite class of the day religion with mr sam bianco this is mr bianco s fifth year teaching at the mount he is an msj alumnus who graduated from the mount in 2001 and then graduated from catholic university of america in the spring of 2005 knowing the type of students here as well as the faculty made it a fairly easy transition for me as a first-year teacher as a student at msj i always felt very grateful to belong to a school community that had such great tradition and values and in some way i just wanted to give back i guess that s a big part of what drew me to come back to msj other than teaching religion mr bianco has coached varsity volleyball the past five years he s the head of intramurals runs the big brother program and he s helped on the ski trip though he seems to have a lot on dagm endalkachew quill staff writer sungwon kim quill staff writer miguel tejada the thirteenseason veteran and four-season orioles shortstop is coming back to baltimore tejada spent two seasons with the houston astros after being traded during the 2007 off-season for pitchers matt albers troy patton dennis sarfate and outfielder luke scott however this time he will be playing third base instead of shortstop a position he has manned for the majority of his career the orioles already have a decent shortstop in cesar izturis and third base will require less range for the 35-year old tejada before he was traded away tejada had a sub-par season in 2007 and showed strong signs that his performance was declining however not counting that season he had career seasons with the orioles in 2004 when he belted 34 homeruns 26 in 2005 24 in 2006 but during the era of the orioles dismal performance miguel tejada has been the orioles bright spot and has carried the team and its publicity his contract conditions are that he will play one year for six million dollars he will be handed the third base spot that was occupied by melvin mora in the 2009 season mora signed a three year contract in 2006 with a team option that let the orioles decide if they would like to bring him back for the 2010 season the orioles did not opt to bring him back and he remains a free agent till this day currently looking for a job mora had been a good player for the orioles since the 2003 season up until this past year when he started to butt heads with manager dave trembley that combined with his dismal performance on the field significantly slimmed the likelihood of his coming back other notable players that have joined the orioles this season are closer mike gonzalez and third baseman garrett atkins although garrett atkins is a third baseman miguel tejada should have no problem starting at third base because of atkins s struggles last year in the batter-friendly coors stadium the orioles have built up a solid roster consisting of veterans like kevin millwood and miguel tejada who can help rookies get adjusted to the majors and mentor them some say that orioles are second coming of 2008 tampa bay rays we will soon see have you kept your new year s resolutions brad gonce quill cartoonist

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p. 8

page 8 is tiger woods image destroyed star golfer s recent problems raise many questions she was been worried that he was in a sexual relationship with someone else after this report came out several other girls are said to have had sexual encounters with woods elin and tiger as of january are said to have split up tiger woods is the richest athlete in the world and has many endorsements his two best known endorsements are nike and gatorade nike has told numerous reporters that they will support tiger throughout his leave gatorade however stopped all sales of his own drink called tiger other sponsors who dropped woods are gillette at&t and accenture in my own opinion i believe the loss of tiger s sponsorship will not affect these companies too much but will affect the professional golf association pga tour and the united states golf association usga their tv ratings could go down because of the absence of tiger woods from the big tournaments a fair number of people that watch golf since my early childhood i believe when he comes back to professional golf he will be looked at the same way that kobe bryant did after his sex scandal in 2003 it will take tiger a few years to regain the role model status he held before the incident other questions are bound to arise like will tiger woods play the same way he always has will it take him a half of a year to train and get back in shape will his fan base immediately support him when he comes back or will he have to regain trust with his fans again some information for this article was taken from http en.wikipedia.org wiki/tiger_woods and http www.people.com/people article/0 20327367,00.html harrison bachman quill staff editor for the next several months the professional sport of golf will be without tiger woods tiger woods took a leave of absence to take care of his marriage and other issues which have made headlines over the last couple months many people for years have looked at tiger woods as an inspiring and a positive role model until 2009 the golf champion had remained under the scandal radar and was seen as a respectable media figure maybe even a role model the truth to the tiger woods we did not know is now coming out reports now say that he has had extramarital affairs one nightclub manager came out to say she had a relationship with him and that they had been texting each other for months the report of this scandal came out when tiger crashed his cadillac escalade into a fire hydrant and tree in the morning hours of november 25 tiger and his wife elin have been married since 2004 and now have two children people are now saying that tiger and elin had been fighting for a couple of months and or attend tournaments do so only to see tiger play and his absence means fewer people will watch or attend the events when i watch golf it is normal for me to root for tiger because he has been an epic player the ravens season ends with a horrible permanence ravens fail to reach the afc championship with a loss to the colts forward to an easy victory those dreams were quickly dashed as ray rice ran for an eight three yard touch down during the first play of the game this score was soon followed by a one yard rush by le ron mcclain the ravens would go on to score twenty four points in the fist quarter and win the game with a final score of thirty three to fourteen the ravens had made a statement that they were not a team to be taken lightly ray rice continued his stellar year by rushing for one hundred fifty nine yards and getting two touchdowns the ravens opponent in the divisional round would be the indianapolis colts who the ravens had also lost to in a very close game earlier in the season many baltimoreans including myself believed that after the past week the colts would be rusty and that the the colts recovered and then once again as cory ivy was called for holding as reed caught yet another interception manning threw two touchdowns in the second quarter and the colts would eventually add another field goal making the final score twenty to three the colt s defiance was simple too much for the raven s offense to handle and without those big plays on defense the raven s simply couldn t overcome the colts the upcoming season is more of a mystery to the ravens with the uncertainty of whether the players and league will reach a bargaining agreement the ravens are unsure of what they can find in the free agent market also because of being one of the final eight teams if the ravens sign a free agent they must give up one of their own this makes the situation even direr because of the defense s age as ed reed and trevor pryce contemplate retiring and the lack of free agents available the ravens defense will be worse for wear as the next season comes around also the ravens still need help in the wide receiver department to give flacco that big play option he needs all in all the people of baltimore have a team that has made the playoffs two years in a row the ravens won a playoff game and had a decent season and they gave the fans of baltimore a lot to enjoy and be proud of ryan mannion quill contributor after starting the season with three straight wins the raves hit a wall losing seven of their last 13 games the ravens looked like a completely different team losing three close games in a row to the patriots bengals and the vikings the ravens appeared demoralized the high power offensive attack demonstrated in their first three games had fallen apart and the offense was resting on the small shoulders of ray rice who would go on to have a career year the normally powerful ravens defense was being beaten on many easily stoppable plays that they would ve in past years as the season continued the ravens continued to win and lose evenly going 5-4 in their last nine games during this time the defense let up its first hundred rushing game in forty games to cedric benson the ravens had a rough road but with some help they were able to make it into the playoffs as one of the two afc wildcard teams the ravens first opponent in the playoffs was the new england patriots who earlier in the year had edged out the ravens in a close game heavily favored the patriots went into the game looking ravens and ray rice would be willing to win with their mighty running attack boy were we wrong after a close first quarter where field goals were exchanged the ravens were defeated two potential big plays were lost once after reed fumbled his interception and

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