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the student newspaper of mount saint joseph high school volume lxxx issue iii december 2010 the quill brother james fights cancer with a strong spirit prayer and technology michael bodley quill staff writer for a self-professed old fashioned school master with an aversion to technology in the classroom brother james kelly has been remarkably prompt to join the ranks of the ever-growing skype community during my first day of honors british literature this year our class was met not by the teacher but rather by a screen speakers microphone and camera with the always valuable assistance of mrs mary ellen dolan brother james assistant mr paul kellermann chair of the computer science department and mr james poisal director of alumni relations brother was able to run the class from the comfort of his room at home early on in our first session brother james offered an explanation for the unique scenario informing us that on the days following his every-three-weeks chemo treatment we would not be given the desired free period instead we would be confined to our desks like any other day a collective inward groan rippled a select few tried to take advantage of our halfpresent teacher they were met with no success as brother james gazed intently into his monitor a brisk series of commands sprang out royster wake up pellegrino stop talking monaghan we never stretch in brother s class the control he held over the classroom was impressive to say the least as the weeks passed our monday skype® sessions became more and more productive it became so that we were able to accomplish just as much on days when our teacher was virtually present as on the days when he was physically in the classroom in this hybrid teaching environment mrs dolan serves as brother s invaluable assistant by copying down notes on the board and passing out our materials for the day mr kellermann handles the technical side on our end setting up skype® and projecting it on the smart® board a microphone is then placed in the middle of the room so that an interactive learning environment is preserved as brother is free to call on unsuspecting students at will a mere decade ago such a technological marvel would not have been possible the founding of skype® in 2003 ushered in a new age of publicly available communication even those slow to adapt to our rapidly evolving technological world have embraced skype and other services as a means to advance themselves and the people around them marching on with skype ® throughout the classroom though we dared not outwardly express such a thing to do so would invite a harsh rebuke from the man so skilled at his profession that he demanded every bit of our attention despite the distance that separated student and teacher chainmaille club serves community contributions go to my brother s keeper and st agnes cancer center thus the project began the bracelets are available in many different colors but the majority will be made in pink and purple the bracelets are available at the mothers club meetings and will later be available at the december mothers club service shopping fair the bracelets are available for a $20 donation look for a form on the msj website all of the proceeds go to my brother s keeper or st agnes care center depending on the color purchased the purple will go to my brother s keeper and the pink to saint agnes cancer center so why should you make a contribution and receive one of the bracelets it s simple where else can you get a beautiful customized bracelet made with the pride and care of a msj mount man where all the proceeds are donated to helping others according to mr kellermann the response to the bracelets has been overwhelming making chainmaille is a great thing to do after school and even at home the club meets on wednesdays from 2:45 to 4:00 pm in room 415 please stop by or talk to mr kellermann if you have an interest in learning more about the club the chainmaille club started in 2002 and is open to anyone interested in learning about making armor or jewelry attendance is up this year with the club averaging 12 participants each week i myself am a member and i love it chainmaille is a type of armor consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh the use of chainmaille was prominent throughout the dark ages high middle ages and renaissance the club makes armor such as coifs hoods shirts and much more this year the club is doing something it has never done before members are making bracelets of all different colors to help raise money for my brother s keeper and st agnes hospital s care center when talking to mrs kim bathurst chainmaille mom and member of the mothers club as well as mr paul kellermann the club moderator i found out how this fundraiser came about awhile back mrs bathurst received a bracelet from her son sophomore tim bathurst she talked to mr kellermann about how it would be a great idea to promote the club and its talents and adam kellermann quill staff writer

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page 2 freshmen retreat an unforgetable experience visiting our daily bread provides life lessons lady who worked at my clean-up station who volunteers every wednesday with her church during preparation she told me a little about herself this is her 17th year volunteering and she has missed very few days just that itself is enough to inspire a person and it inspired me i thought my job was fairly easy and i enjoyed it more than i thought i would i would wipe the space down with a rag and then place a napkin fork and knife for the next person people would ask me for paper bags and plastic bags to put the leftover food in for a later meal the people i helped were appreciative for the most part and were very polite one man stood out for me as i gave him a plastic and paper bag he said god bless you you know what you are doing is a great thing and i bless you for it i was in amazement that this man in his time of need could be so thankful and so nice the rest of my day went smoothly and it gave me great joy to be helping the community and those people after the soup kitchen closed and the people had left it was time to eat lunch we ate the food they were serving that day which included pulled pork and mac and cheese i thought the food had little flavor i found out that this was because they made it so everyone could eat it this just shows how much people need this food and they realize that it may be the only meal they get for the rest of the day after eating this food i am more appreciative for the food i eat at my house my freshman retreat at our daily bread was great and it was a rewarding experience you should treasure every moment you are there and not waste the experience freshman retreat is something you never forget adam kellermann this year is the first year that freshman are going on a retreat to our daily bread in baltimore maryland up until this point the sophomores went on this retreat i myself went on my retreat the first week september 22 2010 i went along with approximately twelve boys from my religion class going into my retreat i was very doubtful and was not very excited what i didn t know is that i was in for an experience i will keep with me for the rest of my life when we arrived to the soup kitchen i was shocked to see all of the people waiting for the 10:30 a.m opening i was told that the day was going to be a very busy one because it was nearing the end of the month towards the end of the month people start running out of money as a result more and more people come in to stock up on food for the close of the month we were broken up into four groups there were three groups assigned a color and then there was the family section reserved for three or more family members inside of each color there was a bread water and clean-up person i volunteered to be the clean-up person for the green team since no one else did i met another quill staff writer fun freshmen field day teamwork unites class of 2014 club founder offers advice extends invitation jordan taylor brother james always says don t be an 8 to 2:30 student if you still haven t found the club for you have no fear while there are many unique clubs here at the mount maybe the most unique of them all is hacky sack club if you like reggae music hacky sack and meeting new people this is the club for you sack club meets every friday at 2:45 outside of the cafeteria and meetings usually run an hour long club founder sophomore andrew doyle says the club is open to everyone that wants to play hacky sack and listen to some fresh reggae beats when asked about how much experience was necessary to join the club andrew said if you have little to no experience playing hacky sack that doesn t matter just come down anyway and try not to embarrass yourself i know what you re thinking how did andrew get the idea to start of all things a hacky sack club i got the idea to start a hacky sack club after playing hacky sack and realizing how amazing it was andrew and friends used to play hacky sack in the circle as a freshman and hacky sack club begins quill staff writer finally decided to make a club out of it andrew also offers advice on starting your own club at the mount first you gotta talk to ms coyne about the club if she likes it she ll give you a form you gotta fill out the form and find a teacher that s willing to moderate it then you just make announcements flyers and all that good stuff luckily andrew found that mr michael o donnell one of the mount s religion teachers was willing to moderate the club andrew also offers valuable advice to anyone looking to start their own club they must be persistent at first some teachers might say no but you can t stop if you have an idea that you think is great everyone isn t going to agree with it but if you can find that one supporter who can help you that makes everything worthwhile so if you have an idea for a club at mount st joseph go for it and hey if you re still at school on a friday afternoon and you re looking for a good time swing by the side of the cafeteria and check out the sack club who knows you might make some new friends and discover a new hobby in the process right freshmen stay active at their field day on nov 5 pictures courtesy of mr jim doherty.

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page 3 automatic toilets are they worth it mr dave adams msj plant manager to try and get a better hold on the situation i asked mr peddicord him why he chose the fixtures that he did we chose them for environmental and economic reasons cost savings in water cost savings in waste and with the automatic dryers and faucets cost savings in what we have to clean up at the end of the day so two reasons cost and energy savings and cleanliness sanitation in bathrooms is undeniably important for very real hygienic reasons as well as for comfort at a school where well over a thousand teenage boys use the bathroom every day this is especially true both mr peddicord and mr adams seemed to agree that the instillation of automatic toilets was a step in the right direction on the cleanliness front mr peddicord recalled most of the comments that we got after the completion of the new bathrooms were positive everyone was very pleased that they didn t have to touch anything to turn it on that the commodes would flush themselves that the urinals would flush themselves they could wash their hands without touching anything as well as dry their hands i really don t recall any negative feedback mr adams commented i believe with commode flushing after an individual leaves it is a lot better than high school boys using the facilities and very rarely flushing getting that flush is important and that s true ­ an automatic sensor is a lot better at remembering to flush than a sophomore rushing to get to geometry but there were problems too with the sensors on the toilets mr peddicord mentioned these fixtures are fairly new ­ in the first six months to a year we had to constantly adjust to keep them from flushing just when someone opened the door much less walked up to them or got near opening a door to a stall ­ sometimes opening the door would make them flush very annoying the school had to send two of the sensors back to be replaced and while it has adjusted many of the sensors to where they need to be the process is ongoing it s a learning curve for us too says mr peddicord so despite the accidental flushing the automatic fixtures are keeping bathrooms cleaner and are bringing in plenty of cost-savings right maybe not one of the first things that i learned is the distinction between the automatic sensor and the commode or urinal itself the sensors in saint joseph hall are produced by a company named sloan while the toilets themselves the bowls and pipes are a product of american standard all the sensor does is detect motion within a certain given range of the toilet and then flush it once it no longer detects a presence within the given range the problem with many of the sensors is that they re overly sensitive and have too wide a range this is why many toilets will flush at the opening of a door or as you re sitting down the terms water efficiency and sustainability are thrown around a lot on sloan s website ­ they are self proclaimed leaders in efficiency this sounds great but what does it really mean it took me nearly 40 minutes to sift through all the rhetoric about sloan s green efforts to find anything substantial sloan recently developed a system called aqus which recycles water from a bathroom s sinks and sends it directly to its toilets rather than replenishing both with fresh water this is the only concrete evidence i was able to find of sloan s water efficiency saint joseph hasn t installed the aqus system to date the only real water saving then is done not with sloan s automatic fixtures but in the toilets themselves all the toilets recently installed at the mount ­ those in founders and saint joseph s halls ­ run with low water volume the new commodes use only 1.6 gallons per flush compared to the old those commodes in xavier and the fine arts building 4 gallons per flush and the urinals use only 1 gallon per flush as compared to 1.5 gallons these lowvolume toilets don t require automatic sensors to function ­ the new commodes in founders hall for example are all still manual the only real difference hygienics aside between automatic and manual is that automatic commodes flush more often because of the unnecessary volume of flushing they cause the automatic fixtures are wasting much more water than they re saving automatic toilets are cleaner yes but they often malfunction and waste water the choice to use them comes down to priorities what s more important comfort or conserving water you decide moses hubbard quill editor-in-chief if you ve used the restrooms in saint joseph hall in the past couple of years you know the scene you go to open the door of a stall and the toilet flushes you sit down on the commode and it flushes after a few moments you lean forward it flushes then when you re finished and ready to go you stand up but the thing won t flush maybe at this point you give up and walk out maybe you spend the next minute waving your hand in front the sensor before you get it to work maybe this has happened enough that you ve learned to push the silver oval on the sensor in the trade it s called a courtesy button to flush the toilet manually however you ve had to handle it it s been a nuisance and perhaps like this reporter you ve wondered what s so great about automatic toilets i ve had a problem with automatic toilets for a long time their inconsistency and seeming inefficiency bothers me ­ enough so that i decided to find out why we ve been installing them at our school i sat down with mr dan peddicord msj director of facilities and shuffling of lockers causes confusion steward beckham where s my locker quill staff writer things have drastically changed this year at mount saint joseph yes fellow juniors in my homeroom we have small lockers again the new organization of homerooms and lockers is a hot topic amongst students instead of homeroom being organized by grade level with the upper classes each on one floor of st joseph hall and all the freshmen in xavier hall the new system mixes up the grades and even puts three homerooms in the fine arts building some seniors again in homerooms in xavier hall are reminded of life as freshmen the mount s principal mr barry fitzpatrick sent a letter to all students over the summer which made me curious it stated that mr fitzpatrick wanted our complete cooperation on the change i was angered at first but at the big brother seminar just before school started i learned that it was for the best mr fitzpatrick explained that the big brother program is a powerful influence in this change and that the goal is to enhance faculty and student relationships therefore faculty homeroom teachers will now keep their students until they despite the successes of this new system there have been some complaints some seniors feel uneasy about the change because the lockers on the middle floor of st joseph hall were for a while a senior thing some even come to the extreme conclusion that this is the beginning of st joe taking away senior privileges however most of the seniors i ve encountered who felt contempt in the beginning have gotten over it since then some freshmen enjoy the lockers and know what it was like before if they have had any older brothers who attended or are attending the school except for a small population the students at the mount have adjusted to the change and it seems that everything is heading towards another successful school year at mount saint joseph when asked whether this change could become a permanent system at mount saint joseph in the future mr fitzpatrick responded that the freshmen are crucial and that we will see concrete outcomes in four years we will see if his prediction is coming true by the end of this year graduate freshmen seem to be adjusting to the change well for there is more interaction between upperclassmen and freshmen earlier in the year yet complete results still remain to be seen on the success of this locker/homeroom organization.

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page 4 speeding on a provisional license is not the best idea harrison bachman the dangers of speeding quill senior editor it was a nice summer night in july and i had just got off work my friend and i decided we were going to go out to eat at buffalo wild wings i got in my car turned up the music and put down the windows i was just having a great time my friend followed behind me to the restaurant roughly about ten minutes later i was on the side of the road with blue and red lights flashing in my rear view mirror i was shaking as i had never been this scared before i calmly took out my license and registration and gave it to the officer while his flashlight was shining in my eyes after what seemed like an hour of waiting around the officer gave me a piece of paper that read that i was driving 53 mph in a 30 mph zone it was a $160.00 fine and two points on my license there is a first time for everything but i had hoped this would be my last i thought i had learned my lesson about speeding but another incident was waiting to happen a month after the first ticket i was taking home a friend in columbia since there was no one in front of me in the left lane on route 29 i decided to go a little faster i was in a hurry to get my friend home so i could be at work on time i saw a police car up ahead and slowed down but it was too late his radar showed me going 76 mph in a 55 mph zone he gave me another ticket with a fine of $160.00 and two points on my license i felt like throwing my license out the window and not driving anymore i couldn t believe that i went ten months without any type of violation then i ended up with two in one month i thought i had learned my lesson after the first time but i had not after these two tickets i do not speed at all especially since i have not even been to court for my violations yet these foolish acts i have committed have put my license in jeopardy of being suspended i am not the type of person who would commit these violations and i have learned my lesson i let myself down and i need to grow up to the next level my advice to all teen drivers is to not speed at all it seems like more and more police are focusing on speeding right now at this time of year weekends are the worst because police know teens are out if i were to do it all over again i would never have been speeding after my first ticket there is a first time for everything and i should have been more cautious after that with substantial assistance from the fabulous karl ramos corey koch the religious disease quill staff writer many things come to mind when analyzing islamophobia but the majority of people across the globe don t even know what it is that exact problem ignorance is what fuels islamophobia in case you did not know islamophobia is defined as prejudice against and/or fear of muslims or members of islam reminiscent of the crusades and more recently the holocaust islamophobia is the primary religious offense present today especially in the united states the one lucid difference between islamophobia and the crusades and the holocaust is that islamophobia is deemed morally wrong for the most part but as all lowly hateful beliefs it somehow lives on in the minds of insensitive people islamophobia has existed since at least 1980 but ignited in america after the september 11 2001 attacks the suffix ­phobia is completely appropriate for this cultural stain because the main motive of islamophobia or any phobia is the fear of personal harm some people are scared of spiders because they fear they will bite or harm them in some way these people have a phobia of spiders or arachnophobia today many people have stereotyped muslims to be terrorists and therefore fear that they will commit horrid acts of terror thus coining the term islamophobia during the holocaust in the 1930s and 1940s a government sponsored genocide occurred during the crusades in roughly the 11-14th centuries muslim-controlled areas were attacked by christian armies solely to regain the holy land with people today suffering from islamophobia a series of brutal premeditated acts against muslims are currently occurring in an attempt to render the supposedly terrorist muslim community unable to attack first these three events are all connected by insensitivity and arguably pure ignorance after the 9/11 terrorist attacks were executed by muslims most people around the world and not just america were both astounded and infuriated this anger was arbitrarily directed towards the entire muslim community of the world one compelling example reported in the national media is that of zohreh assemi an innocent new york muslim businessman who was robbed beaten and called a terrorist after receiving multiple phone calls telling him to get out of town so who cares about islamophobia it doesn t affect you right utter fallacy the implications of islamophobia do actually alter your life the existence of hatred on any level has a negative impact on society and if allowed to thrive it can lead to a collective downfall as a nation as seen in nazi germany in conclusion animosity is always an atrocity and we need an alteration to end this altercation no mount man could possibly stoop so low as to suffer from islamophobia since we are gifted to have the education that allows us to evade the ignorance that spawns islamophobia however if you think you may be coming down with a case i d imagine guidance would have the appropriate prescription plan the quill staff 2010-2011 editor-in-chief moses hubbard senior editor harrison bachman staff writers tommy o donnell alex steiner dominic salacki sean gilmour michael bodley chris harrison adam kellermann corey koch randy price jordan taylor steward beckham contributors in this issue chris sekira production staff harrison bachman moses hubbard moderators ms richmond mr bieniek

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page 5 zach galifianakis acts in it s kind of a funny story the star from the hit film the hangover brings his lovable hilarity on a major issue fearfully yet boldly does next after registering himself as a patient in the hospital and having an opening conversation with his doctor craig is given a tour by one of the stable patients played by zach galifianakis where craig witnesses shocking actions some of the unstable patients pursue and undergo this terrifies craig subsequent to the tour craig consults with his doctor to let him return to his family home because he believes that he is not as depressed as he thinks he is craig s doctor understands how terrified craig must be after his tour he advises craig to get settled first and to become used to the environment and then they will work with craig s condition while craig resides in the hospital he meets new people who all become great friends including galifianakis stable patient and he also meets a girl named noelle played by emma roberts who ends up meaning something particularly special to craig in craig s days in the hospital he also comes to fruition with himself that everyone goes through stress at different points in their lives as well but the way to combat stress is to tell yourself that you can make it through your troubles as long as you have your friends and family for support you are doing what you love and you truly believe that you can achieve your goals one way craig used to combat his stress was with his experimentation of his hidden talent in the world of art it s kind of a funny story is the perfect dramedy drama/comedy for anyone to enjoy it conjoins the perfect mesh of total seriousness tear-jerking sadness and complete hilarity dominic salacki based on the publicly acclaimed novel released in 2006 by ned vizzini it s kind of a funny story is the ideal movie that unintentionally yet flawlessly speaks out towards the recent nationwide tragedy of teen suicides from the minds of vizzini and directors anna boden and ryan fleck the film brings their audience a well-balanced novel and screenplay that is perfect for the youth culture of today s society vizzini s protagonist craig is an average high school teenager who lives in brooklyn has friends but is also going through some un-wanted stress the stress concerns his current schoolrelated objectives specifically finishing an application to attend an academically mature summer program his future ambitions and aspirations and girls but craig has been feeling more than ever hassled on one particular night when he plans on jumping off the brooklyn bridge he calls the suicide hotline which then advises craig to turn himself into a psychiatric hospital that is what he quill staff writer limewire shuts down free music and movies no more harrison bachman quill senior editor limewire has served as one of the most used peer to peer p2p file sharing programs since it was released on the internet for people in 2000 most people have used limewire to download music and movies which on this free software is illegal on october 26 a federal court judge ordered limewire to shutdown their service called limewire store which sells music at 99 cents per song the founder of limewire mark gorton has been charged with many crimes including copyright infringement and allowing others to commit copyright infringement the sales of albums in stores have decreased since the rise of downloading music online started according to jeremy helligar of true slant in 2009 roughly 100,000 albums were released in the u.s only 2,050 albums sold more than 5,000 copies only 12 albums sold more 1,000,000 copies with this said the music industry is suffering due to the uproar in popularity of limewire and other illegal artists consent to let people download their music for free the blame is on them if they end up losing money through these free downloads on the other hand people who put up an artist s music without their consent do so illegally that is what lead to the shutdown of limewire the music industry has lost millions of dollars throughout the last 10 years since limewire has been in existence we are near the end of the p2p sharing era limewire has served us well for the last 10 years and many websites will continue to do so but not for long with the cancellation of limewire new laws will be coming out limiting the use of p2p sharing network limewire will most likely be forced to do what napster had to do years ago and charge people to download music however companies like itunes will strive through this because of the high use of ipods in the words of the facebook group r.i.p limewire you will be missed 5/29/200010/26/2010 sources http trueslant.com jeremyhelligar/2010/06/14/why-arealbum-sales-tanking and http en.wikipedia.org/wiki/limewire downloading sites the shutting down of limewire gives the music industry a revival it is looking for right in time for the holiday season with the shutdown of limewire i would expect the sales of itunes to go up since most people who used limewire most likely will be switching over to a legal method of downloading the p2p sharing has been popular since the days when napster was created since then napster has went to a must pay network although many p2p sharing sites still exist in the world today i would expect them to be shut down pretty soon as the federal government cracks down downloading from these p2p sites can also be dangerous it is very easy for a computer to catch a virus since p2p sharing is the sharing of music from unknown users it s likely that many people in our school have at some point downloaded through websites like limewire or the pirate bay some people believe programs like limewire are not always a bad thing in some cases bands and artists who are just starting out put their music on a p2p sharing network to enhance their popularity in my mind there is nothing wrong with this these

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page 6 what we re doing right and where we can improve alex steiner charity at the mount quill staff writer the idea of charity is a simple but relevant topic as the holiday season approaches many people choose to give to organizations such as purple heart or salvation army all year round but during the holiday season even more people choose to donate have you ever been asked to give by a salvation army representative while you were going into the grocery store have you ever worked in a soup kitchen or participated in organizations such as scouting for food or thanksgiving food drives these are all very common forms of charity and many of them are successful however many of us often forget about the poor and forget to donate many of us get so caught up in worrying of ourselves that we often don t take a moment to realize just how fortunate we really are to be able to afford the necessities and luxuries of life there s a difference between the two this isn t to say that this selfishness cannot be changed this holiday season or any time of year there are many ways to become involved with charity work and even through our community here at msj for instance it is a mandatory requirement that all freshmen or in prior years sophomores go to our daily bread in baltimore to feed the poor and work at the soup kitchen for a few hours many find the work very rewarding and some even choose to go back again to help out my brother s keeper located just down the street from our school is another favorite at the mount father michael murphy our school chaplain commented that we do volunteer at my brother s keeper and donate food from the cafeteria as well as having the mothers club providing casseroles once a month for the disadvantaged he states x-act gives charity works such as kicks for cans and their organizing of halloween parties the students get involved by making sandwiches one thursday out of the month for my brother s keeper and i feel the school does a great job in involving charity work and we do a tremendous amount kicks for cans a co-ed charity soccer tournament had a successful bringing unwanted attention to nearby gamestops steward beckham call of duty:black ops second year doubling its attendance mr timothy breen religion teacher feels the school is doing a good job with charity work however he feels there is room for improvement as well mr clay bonham director of campus ministry feels similar to father mike regarding our excellence in charity but sides with mr breen on room for improvement he says we do a good job with the charity work however i feel as though there is room for improvement the students could do more service hours than required and there could be more students volunteering for charity work as opposed to being forced or bribed into it we have some good charity opportunities here and we are also deepening our relationship with my brother s keeper with all the work we do i feel as though dress down days are the most successful forms of charity here at the mount in terms of money raised but kicks for cans is successful in the number of students who participate these are just some of the ways our school is involved for we do many other forms of charity that benefit not only the poor but also the sick our dress down days really make a difference and are a huge success there is even more charity work that we give to other groups the thanksgiving food drive we do here on campus is one of my personal favorites and i believe is one of the most important charity acts our school can perform when each student donates just a few cans it is obvious how much food piles up that goes to the less fortunate we tend to be oblivious to it but just a few cans of food that we donate can sometimes be a family s whole meal when to us it is no big deal i hope you can see now if you did not before the amount of involvement our school has with charity this could perhaps even spark the idea to be more generous outside of school maybe next time you see that salvation army guy at the store you can donate a dollar this time instead of a couple cents perhaps you can volunteer at a soup kitchen around christmas to see the thankfulness from your presence there and truly see the fruits of your labor regardless of your choices i only ask you to keep in mind how fortunate we are with our own lives quill staff writer call of duty black ops has brought unwanted attention to nearby gamestops the highly anticipated videogame call of duty black ops has even sparked acts of violence according to a november 7 article in the baltimore sun a harford county gamestop was recently robbed by at least two men they not only took cash but also more than 100 copies of call of duty black ops at the time of the robbery the game was intended to be released that tuesday but not for the harford gamestop a similar event happened in the aberdeen location on october 21 and the same white minivan was seen fleeing the scene call of duty black ops is the latest installment in the widely recognized call of duty franchise it has been marketed heavily and expects to be a determining factor in the upcoming holiday season the videogame is usually centered on the player being able to play in the eyes of characters such as a cia agent or an army private over the years the call of duty series has transformed its story line and developed its gameplay and graphics a popular feature of the recent games is the online mode players can connect to the internet and play matches with their friends or a complete stranger this has helped keep the franchise fresh but has the game convinced the minds of so many that some find violence necessary to get what they want many questions spark about the appropriateness of videogames today especially ones that have a mature rating for example games like the grand theft auto series have sparked much controversy in the past about its inappropriate subject and crude humor the robbers were equipped with semiautomatic weapons which is also a weapon virtually used by players while playing call of duty still we do not know the motives of the robbers but we can make a connection to the videogame and the robbers i m not saying that we should not go out and buy the game in fact it has broken a record on videogame sales for the first day of release we just need to be more careful in separating the virtual side of things and real side of things hopefully this was a rare occurrence due to a huge anticipation for a videogame but remember when you go to buy black ops be careful of dedicated fans who might get a little over excited.

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page 7 meet the mount s christian sapienza more than just a student athlete program in this program he educates close to thirty-five students at a time along with help from a teacher and a few peers he leads the class he covers everywhere from the old testament stories about the creation stories and the israelites to the new testament with the gospels he helps to give the younger students more of a religious base while older students are prepared to receive the sacrament of confirmation it gives me a good feeling inside to know that i am helping others says christian when asked about how he feels when teaching i feel like i am making a difference to both the kids and my old school kids listen to other kids more easily than they listen to adults at times christian feels that he is becoming more and more a wellrounded student he studies hard and gets great grades making the honor role is a big accomplishment at the mount he has made it many times too this stellar performance a hearty gpa his athletic abilities and of course his volunteer work make him a very valuable person he hopes that this will set him apart from the rest of the students applying to college next year i have got more than the average `joe said christian confidently he does not know where he wants to attend college but he hopes to stay somewhere close to home or in another area where he can continue his volunteer work he said that he would try to regularly assist in teaching net year and while he is college if his schedule and his studies permit it when asked about what his plans for his athletic career are he says he does not know where his life will take him he plans to continue pursuing his track career throughout his senior year he hopes to move to the varsity level next year too he said that cross country is a fun sport too but track is his favorite he said i like to think of cross country as more of a warmup and way to stay in shape for track most of his teammates share the same idea as track is a more demanding and competitive sport however rugby still remains as his favorite pastime when i asked him about how it ties in with track and cross country he said there is no comparison rugby is as good as it gets once again he hopes to play varsity level in his senior year he does not know if he will be able to play as many sports in college but he hopes to at least pick do one even though rugby is his favorite choice he says that there is no clear winner as to what he will play in college chris sekira quill guest writer christian sapienza a track cross-country and rugby player at mount saint joseph high school in irvington is more than meets the eye his impressive track and cross country times put him above the rest he recently recorded his personal best 5k race at oregon ridge putting a time of only twenty two minutes and thirty two seconds another amazing accomplishment is playing as scrum-half a player similar to a quarterback in football for the school s rugby team however this is not what sets him above the rest christian takes the time out of his busy schedule to educate at his local parish i feel that you need to exercise your body and mind but some people just stop there keeping a healthy spiritual life and relationship with god is an important part of growing up christian started teaching others about faith his freshman year he goes to our lady of perpetual help parish on sunday nights to lead a group of middle school students through a sunday school like new season new headlines randy price nba preview quill staff writer the last nba season ended with kobe bryant putting up five fingers signifying the rings on his hand with a new season comes new headlines who could ever forget the controversial telecast called the decision lebron james went from fan favorite to possibly most disliked athlete with that being said he showed that his main goal was to be a champion i mean he is six behind michael jordan and five behind bryant the west is led by the lakers and a bunch of potential fifty-wins teams the east teams are far from that they have four teams who are considered eastern conference final contenders the most notable are the celtics heat magic and bulls then you have a drop off of average teams the heat has maybe the best one-two-three punch in the league that can be disputed with the celtics dynamic lineup it used to be the big trio but now you have to add rajon rondo who is placing himself in elite company the magic doesn t have glaring stars other than the best center in the league it has jameer nelson vince carter and rashad lewis the heat has a great chance to win it all this season well then again their bench isn t a bench and their big man isn t big that is joel anthony the point guards are dwayne wade and lebron james with all that about the heat being said the lakers have the best shot maker in the league the best coach and the best big man in pau gasol people may differ in their opinion but i know he is when it s playoff time there will be some great series but who can argue that the lake show will come out of the west the east will come down to rajon rondo believe it or not he can be the guy who dominates the playoffs with his passing and defensive ability we know what we re to get out of paul pierce ray allen and kevin garnett they will be the heats only competitive opponent in a seven-game series i strongly believe that the heat has talent but its bench is subpar mike miller is their only legitimate player coming off the bench who will control the ball and who will take the step back to win a championship after all there is only one basketball on a single court the magic is capable of winning in the regular season it is capable of winning their first series in the playoffs but nothing more the bulls are a more capable team derrick rose carlos boozer luol deng and joakim noah are huge contributors this is a team who played very well last year against the celtics in the playoffs so add boozer and an improved rose who played very well this summer for team usa and you have a championship contender when it all comes down to it the lakers has the most talent especially since they have added steve blake and matt barnes this is another year for the lakers.

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page 8 msj jv water polo finishes strong a hard-fought season football basketball and hockey it was the first ever team sport in the olympics mr mcdivitt said water polo is sometimes referred to as football-in-water another way water polo is defined is water means that it is played in the water and polo is a game played with horses and hockeylike sticks it is like soccer because one point is rewarded to a team for each goal water polo is a high-scoring game with an average of six to fifteen points per game it is like basketball because there are fast breaks and each team has at least one big man to play in the center one of the most famous water polo games mr mcdivitt explained is blood in the water played between hungary and the soviet union in 1956 in the last minutes of the game the hungarian captain s eye lid was cut open and he had to be taken out of the pool the hungarians won this game 4-0 followed by the gold medal game when they beat yugoslavia 2-1 as you can see water polo is a more interesting sport than you might think sources for the history of water polo http www.encyclopedia.com/topic/water polo.aspx http en.wikipedia.org/wiki blood_in_the_water_match and http www.vrstc.org/waterpolo/faq.html chris harrison quill staff writer the junior varsity water polo team has had a successful season led by david braken drew cox and jonathan hulbert the junior varsity team finished in second place in the maryland interscholastic athletic association miaa the varsity didn t have as strong of a season this year they were guided by nate peters and finished with a record of 6-20 there are only four other teams in the miaa for water polo loyola blakefield calvert hall gilman and mcdonogh because of this the varsity water polo team coached by patrick underwood who is assisted by the mount s renowned biology teacher mr greg mcdivitt plays in out-of-state tournaments over the weekends in virginia pennsylvania and other local states and will finish its season soon each team had a number of exciting games this season in the first round of the miaa end-of-the-season tournament msj varsity surprised the loyola dons early with a very active offense out-shooting the dons but unfortunately it wasn t out scoring them despite a tough effort by the gaels loyola won this game 11-6 and ultimately took the miaa championship the jv team s most exciting game was against mcdonogh on october 7 2010 when it seemed as if each team both won and lost the game multiple times before it came to a dramatic end the gaels took the early lead in the game and at one point were ahead by three goals but mcdonogh kept surging back to tie the game three different times in regulation then mcdonogh scored with 30 seconds left in the game two fouls one for each team later the score was tied and the game went into overtime finally in the second overtime with another penalty shot given after a mcdonogh player draws an ejection foul and then neglects to remove himself from the field of play msj defeats mcdonogh 9 to 8 there are many things about water polo that most people do not know it was invented in england in the 1870s and was adopted by the united states in the 20th century water polo is a swimming sport that includes some features of soccer photos by mrs laura taylor

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