Losing Our Sanity by Dominic H

As the days get closer, more and more stress is being added; two words: College funding. Just when you thought it was over, Financial Aide comes right at you. Worrying, "will I get accepted? How much will I get? Can I afford college?" Although the application process is over, it gets too the nitty gritty. This is the part that truly affects the rest of our lives. I personally am becoming more and more stressed about this process. I'm not worrying about getting accepted, just whether I can afford it. It begs the question, why is college such an expensive commodity? It creates such a huge amount of financial burden and stress on everyone involved. We students have gone through our lives as "kids", and then we are forced to grow up instantly. When money wasn't supposed to be an important thing for us, it suddenly is pushed to the forefront of everything. Even the applications themselves cost money to be turned in! Its madness.

The Cloak of Invisibility comes off Furzan A.

As many have you have seen and heard from the news that protests are erupting throughout the Middle East some are more violent than others. The inspiration for these protests came from Tunisia and then Egypt, both countries which were able to remove the insipid dictators in power. This has caused a chain reaction that has put a tiny light of hope in the minds of the new generation that WE have a voice. It has caused them to take of the blanket of oppression coerced on them and has let them become visible to the world. They want their plight to be heard. I applaud those brave people rising up to the heinous people in charge of their everyday lives.
The one thing I am ashamed of as an American is the news of an AMERICAN TERRORIST TRYING TO BOMB A MOSQUE IN THE NORTHEAST WAS NEVER HEARD. At the end of January an army veteran tried to bring explosives to a mosque but was fortunately caught before he was able to carry out his idiotic idea. Since then I have never heard any news on that topic on major news networks, I only heard it from small time news networks. If it was a Muslim who had an explosive it would have swept through the media like the plague but it was an American terrorist this time it was kept quiet. I find that extremely hypocritical and offensive. I question myself, "what is this country coming too?"

Thought Fox Blues by Keana Rose

I've been so tired baby
Oh I've been so tired baby
But I see my dreams are bigger than this feeling

I been living with this daily burden
Said I been living with this daily burden
But I see my dreams are bigger than this feeling

I got this weight pulling me under
Oh I got this weight pulling me under
But I can see my dreams are bigger than this feeling

I can't let this feeling overpower me
No, I can't let this feeling overpwer me
Cause I see my dreams are bigger than this feeling


Our team decided that tiredness was a great theme to describe the way we have been feeling lately. We all balance so much in our lives that it wears us out. Between high school, college, jobs, and a social life it feels like we are being pulled thinner and thinner each day.
The only thing keeping us going is our future.

The Red Shirt by Katie M

For centuries our society has treated women as inferior beings. Men have said women are not as strong, as intelligent, or as capable as them. Women have been the objects of desire and lust, adored simply due to their looks which of course, must be perfect. If a woman does not look at certain way; tall, thin, round hips, a nice bust, a beautiful face and voluminous hair, society tells us that men won't give us a second glance and we will go nowhere in life.
The stages of sexism have changed many times throughout history. For example, women possessed bascially no rights during the Victorian Era. At that time they were expected to be submissive to men, obedient and well mannered. They were not allowed to express any amount of sexuality and at all times had to be covered up in order to "protect them". In Tess of the D'urbervilles by Thomas Hardy, the exceptionally terrible treatment of women at the time is apparent when Tess is raped and impregnated and rather than supporting and comforting the poor girl, society ostracizes her and treats her as though the assult and pregnancy were her fault.
Often today there are still several notions that women "asked for it" when they are raped. Recently I read a horrifying article about how it is often believed that girls who "dress scantily" or "act promisicuously" that means they had the rape coming. Completely untrue and disgusting, it greatly angered me to realize how close minded our society still is about respecting women.
Just earlier today our school witnessed what could have been a highly offensive event or a prank just taken way too seriously out of context.
During the rally several red t-shirts with two hands forming a diamond shape and "11" in the center were sold for $13. I was a bit annoyed, knowing what the shirts really mean, which is a reference to the female anatomy, but I just blew it to the side. Not much later on, security guards were wildly racing around campus, telling those wearing the shirts to turn them inside out because female teachers were offended by what the shirts meant. Ironically, most of those wearing the shirts were girls, many girls that I know don't even know what the sign means. The more I think about it now, the more it bothers me that someone would make this shirt, which not only looks stupid but blatantly disrespects women.
So what do you think? Is the t-shirt issue really that bad or do you think people are overreacting?
-Katie M