The Devil's Advocate

Chronic insomnia pushing some students to limits

2011-06-21T05:44:00.001-07:00

By Kyla Candelino

We’ve all had those restless nights where we toss and turn, but the hours still roll right on by. Imagine every single night being like this, no sleep and no rest.

Unfortunately for some students, this is a reality they face nightly.

“Insomnia pretty much ruins your life,” says senior Samantha Bourdeau.

Sam’s insomnia affects more than just her sleep. It’s the reason she says she lost her job.

“Sometimes I just don’t sleep but I still go to school,” Sam says. Sam has missed so many days this school year because of her insomnia, it almost caused her to fail 12th grade.

“It makes you lose all your motivation,” she says.

Insomnia even pokes a hole in her social life. “It’s to the point where when I get home I don’t even want to hang out,” she says. “I just want to take a nap.”

Nurse Sullivan reports she has a daily influx of 5 to 10 students coming in asking to take naps. Most of them report having headaches, presumably from the lack of sleep. After a quick rest, the students are back up and on their way.

Exactly how many of those students have real, clinical insomnia is unknown.

Insomnia is defined as the inability to get an adequate amount or quality of sleep. It can be caused by various conditions, diseases, side effects of many medicines, and emotional distress. It can make it hard for someone to fall asleep, remain asleep, and sometimes both.

Many people experience minor forms of insomnia from things like caffeine or sugar rushes. Forming an irregular or poor sleeping habit can create a weird sleep cycle, leading to insomnia.

Sam’s insomnia started in the early fall of last year, and has persisted. She calls it stress-induced, with the pressures of senior year weighing down on her. Getting two hours of sleep per night, she feels nauseous and dizzy much of the time.

“It makes you want to legit give up on life,” she says.

Sam takes sleeping pills to help her fall asleep as well as medicine to help keep her awake. Using both is a problem: one is keeping her awake while the other is trying to put her to sleep.

Another student at the school has insomnia specifically as a side effect of a prescription drug. This sophomore, who asked not to be named, takes a stimulant medicine for her A.D.D. that incidentally keeps her awake at night, only letting her have about two to four hours of sleep. Without the A.D.D. medicine she is unable to focus in school, but with it she can’t sleep.

“It’s a bad trade-off,” she says, “It’s gotten to the point where I’ve just gotten used to it.”

To help her fall asleep, she convinces herself that as long as she’s laying down in the dark being still, it’s just as good as real sleep—or the next best thing.

Incoming freshman Tyler Bugley has been an insomniac since he was 6, getting only three to four hours of sleep per night. “It’s a pain in the butt. You always feel tired,” says Tyler.

“The worst part is trying to get to sleep and having your thoughts just race and race,” he says.

Last year, Tyler’s insomnia affected his MCAS. He ended up falling asleep during the test. “I only got one open response question done,” he recalls.

Recently Tyler has been taking over-the-counter CVS brand sleep aids to help control his insomnia, and more times then not, they work for him.

All of these insomniacs share another thing in common. They are all frequent visitors to the school nurse. Some students, like them, who see the nurse try to be sent home. Nurse Sullivan, however, sends them back to class after a short nap or rest because there is no medical need for them to be sent home.

The most common times during school for a student to feel tired or worn out are 1st period, lunch, and 7th period. Coincidentally, those happen to be the busiest times for the nurse.

Ms. Sullivan’s biggest piece of advice for a better night’s sleep: “Keep the same bed-time every night.” Another one of the most important things is to “shut the cell phone off.”

A good, acceptable bed-time for a high school student, according to Sullivan, would ideally be around 10:30 or 11 p.m.

Many students are blaming their lack of sleep on having too much homework being assigned nightly. It is true; some teachers do assign work that can feel over-the-top. However, Nurse Sullivan says, “I think it all comes down to time management,” putting that theory to bed.

BHS track team breaking records

2011-06-21T05:43:00.000-07:00

By Paul Hogan
Taranto broke two records, the mile and the 1,000 meters. The mile record-holder from 1982, Kevin Sullivan, now in his forties, was there at the MIAA Division 3 Championships in February outside of the track to shake Taranto’s hand.

“It was cool because it was like passing a torch,” Taranto said.

While racing, Taranto always checks his time per lap and does the math in his head to see if he needs to speed up. That was definitely the case for the mile in February, when he led most of the race, having to set the pace.

“I knew each record was in my reach and I just worked everyday and I think it really paid off in the end,” Taranto said. He broke the 1000-meter record set in 2006 by Matt Tirrell, beating Tirrell’s time of 2:36.76 by .54 seconds.

Coach Carr predicts Taranto will beat every distance record by the end of his high school career.

Relay teams also shined this year. The 4 x 800 team of Gideon Kasirye, Trevor Dutton, Christos Saledas and David Taranto set a new record of 8:14.89. The Distance Medley, run once a year at the Division 3 championships, saw another record with runners Kasirye, Taranto, Dutton and David Perloff clocking in at 11:04.21.

Kasirye ran a blazing 1:26 in February, to beat the original 600-meter record of 1:27.

“I felt like it was the greatest accomplishment I have ever gotten in my entire sports career,” Kasirye said.

In a middle distance like the 600-meters, running is mainly mental due to the pain of running a fast sprint for a long period of time. Gideon was able to endure the pain while racing against the best 600-meter runners in the Middlesex League, including the towns of Belmont, Lexington, Woburn, Reading, Stoneham, Melrose, Watertown, and Winchester.

“When I was running I wasn’t really thinking of the school record but I was trying to beat as many kids as I could,” Gideon said.

Gabe Arcaro walks away from Providence, Rhode Island as the first and only school record holder in the weight throw. It was the first year Burlington competed in weight throw, a rare event in Massachusetts.

Gabe, a freshman, has trained for years in the weight and hammer throws with his father, a coach at Tufts. He made it to nationals, and with three years ahead of him, he has his sights on more records, in shot put and discus. “I’m out for the rest of them,” he said.

This is not going to be the last of it. The Track team is full of juniors, so most of these stars are coming back. “Next year is going to be better. Trust me it is,” senior sprinter Jeff Sanjay said.

Nan on "Grinding" at dances impinges on our freedom while doing nothing to prepare us for real world

2011-06-21T05:41:00.001-07:00

By Steve Mosley
As students at BHS, we have little freedom for six hours of the day. We are told what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. Teachers tell us to take out our books, flip to page 1, read and answer the questions. You write all the answers down and then the teacher comes over and corrects you, telling you to do it all over again. Last but not least, if it’s not done on time you get yelled at and your grade goes down.

Dances are a rare time – only four or five times a year – when students should be able to do what they want. Honestly, what is more personal then how you move your own body?

The administration is trying to ban the close, front-to-back contact known as “grinding” from the school dances. Since last fall, the rule has been girls are not allowed to put their hands on their knees or on the floor. The policy came into effect after our Halloween dance, where more than one girl complained about being touched inappropriately.

This kind of behavior does need to be dealt with, but the no-grinding policy is not the way to do it. First of all, the administration needs to toughen up and be more alert about drinking at dances. Alcohol certainly seems like it was a factor in what happened at the Halloween dance.

The other problem with the no-grinding policy is how it’s affecting attendance at the dances – and, hence, the money that classes are able to raise. During the Halloween dance, the junior class made more than $1,000. At the very next dance a month later, billed as the “Classy not Trashy” dance, barely $400 was raised.

Junior Class Officer Nick Zenkin said he was shocked by the dramatic drop in the number of students when he looked over the crowd in December. There were a lot fewer kids and most were freshman and sopho-mores. These losses in money are going to affect what future classes have to pay for prom and senior breakfast.

Assistant Principal Mr. Sullivan acknowledged the effect the policy has had on dance attendance, but he said it wasn’t the administration’s job to figure out how the classes can raise money. He said that was up to student councils.

The way we dance might be shocking to some older people, but I would say to those people: think about what you did as a teen-ager, and how some of the older people at that time reacted. Young people are always pushing the limits of new trends, and grinding is just the way we were brought up to dance.

Believe it or not, when Elvis was on TV in the 1950s at one of his concerts, they actually censored out his body movements from the waist down because they thought it was too inappropriate.

Dances should be a time of freedom for students. The administration might argue that we can dance how we want on our own time, but the school dances should be our time.

Also, isn’t part of this school’s mission to prepare us for the real world once we graduate? And don’t people grind in the real world? Yes, they do. And do they sometimes get too aggressive and make others uncomfortable? Yes, they do.

If we do not learn how to deal with this situation now, how are we going to know what to do when it comes up later? Girls need to be able to say no and stick up for themselves because the administration isn’t going to be there when some older guy is touching them inappropriately. And boys need to be able to control themselves and learn how to accept “no.”

If we cannot dance the way we want to, why should there even be a dance in the first place? Dances should be a time to do what you want as long as it’s nothing illegal.

Why should we be plastic dolls for guys?

2011-06-21T05:40:00.000-07:00

by KAra Amuzzini
High school: the best time of our lives for some, the worst for others.

Me? I’m with the second group.

Girls wearing tight clothes, showing a little too much skin, hang all over guys who just want to get in their pants.

Lately, a big issue at BHS is the new rules against “grinding” at school dances. Students, both boys and girls, are very upset that they can’t grind freely.

Because, I mean, what other fun things are there to do besides rub our bums against each other in public?

Ladies, we are not dogs! We might as well go around peeing on hydrants and sniffing each other if we’re going to grind on guys who don’t give a flying fig about us.

Luckily, I’m not alone in my thinking.

“I’d like to be able to keep my food [down] while I’m at a school dance,” stated senior Kelly Spinali.

“Like, seriously, get a room,” freshman Kayla Hernandez said.

“Yeah, it’s disgusting,” agreed freshman Sarah Jamal-Eddine.

Grinding isn’t the only way that girls conform to the expectations of guys. The hair, makeup, clothes, diets... Always self-conscious and never pleased with our God-given beauty.

I’m not saying that makeup is bad, or that if you straighten your hair you must be trying to impress a guy. No, but the point is that girls’ lives revolve around pleasing guys. It’s not fair and not right.

The orbiting around males starts at a young age. Programs like “Toddlers in Tiaras” show little girls that they aren’t beautiful until they look like plastic Barbies. The toddlers not only compete in bikini contests, but also in “glitz” portions, where they are smothered in makeup that a grown woman shouldn’t wear.

Don’t get me started on Barbie! I used to play with them and think, “I want to be like Barbie when I grow up!” Skinny, flawless, any clothes I wanted, and Ken as a perfect boyfriend. That’s great, if you can grow out of it.

We all want attention. That’s normal. The difference is how you go about getting it. The world tells us our fulfillment should come from being “loved” by guys. And to get that “love,” we have to be whatever the world (guys) want us to be.

Example: Twilight. The popular book saga features a young girl falling in love with a vampire. She dates him, almost dies, gets engaged to him, almost dies, then she marries him, has a creepy half-human, half-vampire baby, almost dies, and then becomes a vampire herself. The girl gives herself up – even her soul – to please this 100-year-old, blood-sucking vampire.

When it comes to guys people tell me, “Kara you don’t understand,” because I don’t date, and I don’t want to, not in high school.

I don’t date because I don’t want to deal with the stress. I see the aftermath of the relationships gone wrong. I see the broken hearts. These girls truly believe they’ve lost their true love. Two weeks later, they’ve got another true love. It’s a vicious cycle.

I’m not judging people who date. I’m not saying all guys are creeps. I’m just trying to warn girls about a danger that things like grinding and dressing provocatively can bring about. I see girls who feel good about getting approval but don’t feel good inside. I can see it in their eyes. It breaks my heart. They fall so far into what society wants them to be and what guys want them to be that they forget who they are. They lose themselves.

If you’re dating, you just have to do it for the right reasons. You need to take a step back and make sure that you are being respected, and aren’t just doing it for the official stamp of society’s approval.

Girls, if you enjoy grinding, you are confident that you know your boundaries, then I’m not trying to attack you with rambling insults. I just want you to look in the mirror and make sure you know what you’re doing when you hand yourself over to a guy.

Also, don’t be naïve. When you grind against a guy, although you’re just having fun, you are teasing them. Guys don’t like games. Some of them might think you’re inviting them to make the next move, and that might not be the case.

By being your own person you can leave high school more mature than most, and unbroken by men. Self-esteem intact, you can enter college and the rest of life with happiness and pride that you survived the horror that is high school.

The way we dance or dress doesnt make us playthings

2011-06-21T05:39:00.000-07:00

by Julie Pomphrett
Burlington High School is poised to make history. When students come by the school in August to pick up their iPad 2s (yes, the newest version), it will mark the beginning of an attempt to integrate technology into education that no other school in the state has tried.

If all goes as planned, within a few years, textbooks, pens, and paper will be a thing of the past. With online lesson plans and educational “apps,” school leaders say our entire idea of a traditional classroom will be transformed.

At this point, however, on the eve of this great change, teachers and students are having trouble imagining what exactly the new version of school life will look like.

“I don’t know,” astronomy teacher Ms. Belcher said when asked how she would use the iPads in her classes. “We’ll find out next year.”

A small number of teachers have more thought-out plans for how they will use the devices. English and media teacher Mr. Calvin already uses technology regularly, even without the iPads. He had his students create a Twitter page, and a blog for collecting homework. He uses videos and online personality tests as ways of leading students into the themes of books.

All of this will be easier, Mr. Calvin tells his classes, when they have iPads in front of them.

On the other extreme, another small number of teachers is skeptical to the point of pessimism. Although declining to be named for this story, they predicted the iPads would slow down learning rather than accelerate it. They complained there was not enough transition time for teachers to learn the skills needed to run their classes the way the school expects next year.

The majority of teachers, however, are open to the idea of the iPad revolution, but their excitement is tempered by the limited time they have had to prepare for such a large-scale change.

“The big issue for me is time,” Latin teacher Ms. DeBellis said. She has high hopes that the iPads will improve note-taking, and that foreign language apps will come in handy. But she wonders if the few days that have been set aside for iPad training, over the summer and before school starts, will be enough to really transform her classroom routines.

Students are excited about getting iPads – what kid would not be? – but, like the teachers, most seem unable to comprehend how the iPads will be integrated into school work.

[quote student here]

History teacher Mrs. Carrie recognizes the dangers of distraction that the iPads pose. “In general, students see the iPad as an entertainment device rather than an educational device,” she said.

A common rumor is that teachers will have a screen on their machines that allows them to monitor what any of their students is viewing during class time. Such technology exists, but the administration decided against using it [why?]…

Instead, it will be up to teachers to keep students on-task the old-fashioned way, with encouragement and threats, and by walking around the room. Just like with cell phones, the consequences for misuse will be up to the teacher.

Mrs. Carrie plans to give students who are off-task a zero for the day, and when those zeros add up they could affect students’ grades. Other teachers say they will give out detentions.

Mr. Larkin sees the iPads as a move towards the day when students carry around nothing but a device of some sort, whether it be an iPad, laptop, or some other crazy gadget. He sees the change as a necessity in preparing students for a technology-based future.

“One day, I think technology will be like electricity,” Larkin said.

Some teachers and students, however, question the necessity of the iPads.

“They’re great,” said Mr. Luther, a teacher who specializes in Biology MCAS, “but could you teach without them?”

A number of students question the cost, saying the money could be spent on other, more important things around the school. Senior [who is this?] mentioned the student parking lot, the school’s erratic heating system, and the bathrooms.

[Where are our $$ numbers from Conti?]

[Conti’s explanation of how it will all be paid for…]

With 1,000-plus iPads floating around the school, a big question among students is how each device will be kept safe and sound.

Insurance will be offered when parents come in to pick up their children’s iPads. For a fee, the plan will cover damage and theft of the iPads.

If an iPad is stolen, meanwhile, the school has a way to keep students’ identities and information protected. A program called Caspar will allow the administration to wipe iPads clean of all data and software, no matter where the devices are.

The administration also plans to use Caspar to keep students from visiting inappropriate Web sites on the iPads. Each day when students enter the school’s Wi-Fi “hot spot,” their iPads’ histories will be scanned for unapproved content. If anything fishy is found, [what will the administration do?] “It’s going to be ridiculous,” junior Kyle Burke said. “I don’t even know how they are going to teach.”

Many students said they couldn’t wait to pick up their iPads – for the game-playing apps.

“I’m playing ‘Angry Birds’ all day,” sophomore Trevor Cimino said.

History teacher Mrs. Carrie recognizes the dangers of distraction that the iPads pose. “In general, students see the iPad as an entertainment device rather than an educational device,” she said.

A common rumor is that teachers will have a screen on their own iPad that lets them monitor what their students are viewing in class. Although the school will not be using such a program, Mr. Larkin said any student’s iPad history can be checked at any time “if there is an issue” concerning that student’s use of the device.

So, it will be up to teachers to keep students on-task the old-fashioned way, with encouragement and threats, and by walking around the room. Just like with cell phones, the consequences for misuse will be up to the teacher.

Mrs. Carrie plans to give students who are off-task a zero for the day, and when those zeros add up they could affect students’ grades. Other teachers say they will give out detentions.

Mr. Larkin sees the iPads as a move towards the day when students carry around nothing but a device of some sort, whether it be an iPad, laptop, or some other crazy gadget. He sees the change as a necessity in preparing students for a technology-based future.

“One day, I think technology will be like electricity,” Larkin said.

Some teachers and students, however, question the necessity of the iPads.

“They’re great,” said Mr. Luther, a teacher who specializes in Biology MCAS, “but could you teach without them?”

A number of students question the cost, saying the money could be spent on other, more important things around the school. The student parking lot, the school’s erratic heating system, and the bathrooms have been mentioned.

“They could definitely fix up the bathrooms,” Junior Evan Feely said.

Between students and teachers, the school will be paying for around 1,200 iPads, at $500 each for a 4-year lease. The total, superintendent Dr. Conti said, with accessories, comes to to $200,000 per year.

School officials say the money will come from several sources: parents purchasing insurance on the iPads, savings from money no longer spent on computer labs, and savings on textbooks, which can cost more than $100 each.

“We will not be purchasing any more textbooks,” Larkin stated.

The iPads are also expected to save money on substitute teachers. Next year, rather than have a sub in every class with an absent teacher, the teacher-less classes (say there are 3 every period) can go into the cafeteria and pull out their iPads, where their teachers’ lesson plans will be awaiting them.

With 1,000-plus iPads floating around the school, a big question among students is how each device will be kept safe and sound.

Insurance will be offered when parents come in to pick up their children’s iPads. For a fee, the plan will cover damage and theft of the iPads.

If an iPad is stolen, meanwhile, the school has a way to keep students’ identities and information protected. A program called Caspar will allow the administration to wipe iPads clean of all data and software, no matter where the devices are.

The administration also plans to use Caspar to keep students from visiting inappropriate Web sites on the iPads. Each day when students enter the school’s Wi-Fi “hot spot,” their iPads’ histories will be scanned for unapproved content. If anything fishy is found, Mr. Larkin said, it could result in devices being taken away or getting banned from the server.

New law stops some but most students still text and drive

2011-03-02T15:44:00.000-08:00

By Paul Hogan

Almost 90% of students who text and drive

had close calls and still text.

Senior Brian Steadman remembers the time, a month ago, when he was driving down Carey Avenue to his friend’s house. He was texting the friend about when he would get there when suddenly he caught a view of two mailboxes directly in his path. He thought for that split second how much money it would cost him if he crashed. He slammed the breaks and the cries of a loud screeching noise followed.

“I swerved to the side, almost crashing,” he said. Luckily he missed the mailboxes. Steadman rode off leaving a trail off smoke behind two untouched mailboxes.

Steadman is not the only student texting and driving, despite a new state law designed to stop this habit. According a recent poll by the Devil’s Advocate, more than half of BHS student drivers are still texting and driving since the new law took effect in September.

Slightly less than half of these students reported having accidents or close calls due to texting and driving, just like Brian.

Some students are wondering what it will take to unglue their peers’ fingers from the keypad and get them to start obeying the law.

“Why can’t you just wait two minutes until you are out of the car before you respond to a text message?” senior Maria Perfetti asked.

The law, however, does seem to be having some effect. Before the law, 82 percent of BHS students reported texting and driving. Now it has dropped to 54 percent.

The Massachusetts law forbids drivers under 18 from texting, scanning the Internet, or talking on the phone while driving. According to Boston.com, last year 6,000 people were killed in accidents on U.S roadways that were reported to have involved distracted driving.

As of December, 30 states have enacted bans on texting and driving. But on the whole, according to Boston.com, these bans have not reduced car crashes.

Junior Chris Cao said, “Penalties need to be more demanding or people won’t stop.” The Massachusetts law calls for a $60 fine for the first offense of texting and driving and a 60-day suspension of the driver’s license. For the second offense the penalty climbs to $250 and a suspension of 180 days. For the third offense, it’s a $500 fine and a 1-year suspension.

“There should be a 1-year suspension for the first offense, a 5-year suspension for the second, and a permanent suspension forever for the third,” Cao said.

But not every student driver is waiting for harsher penalties to kick the texting and driving habit. Senior Kiersten Merlino used to reply to texts while stopped a red light. She would never send messages, only reply. After seeing statistics and when the law came out, however, she stopped texting completely.

“We have designated texters now, when I have friends in the car, when we can’t text,” Merlino explained. Merlino thinks the law has influenced a lot of students, but she guessed that half of her friends still text and drive.

Students like Kiersten who do not text and drive rated the danger higher than students who still text and drive (8.1 vs. 6 on a scale of 1 to 10), according to the recent poll. Among students who don’t text and drive, 45 percent rated it as dangerous as drinking and driving, and 13 percent said it was even more dangerous.

“When you’re drinking and driving you have your eyes on the road, but when you’re texting they’re not,” Junior David Taranto noted.

Students who still text and drive are much less alarmed about the dangers. None of these students said what they did was more dangerous than drinking and driving, and only 37 percent rated the two as equal.

Junior J.J. Connell said he didn’t think any law would stop students such as these from texting and driving.

“They do not want to get caught,” he said. “They are going to try to hide it more but won’t stop.”

Athletes hide concussions, foil purpose of new law

2011-03-02T15:23:00.000-08:00

By Gabriel Arcaro
A new law passed this summer aims to protect football players and other athletes from concussions; however, this law may not be doing everything it’s intended to do. In interviews with at least a dozen football players this fall, every one admitted to feeling fuzzy or disoriented from hits taken on the field but none had reported it to the coach or trainer, as the new policy requires.

A dozen football players said they kept quiet about head injuries this year. The hockey coach is certain many of his players do the same. Adam Crowley (above) skates against Reading.

“It’s football,” Junior wide receiver Stephen Mattos said earlier this month. “The whole persona of being a football player gives off being a tough kid.” Mattos said he has had his “bell rung” before and has not reported it to a coach or trainer. And he knows teammates who have done the same. “I’d say only about 10 percent of kids go to the trainer,” Mattos estimates.

The law passed in August follows a growing awareness that concussions in high school cause severe brain damage later in life. If athletes experience dizziness or other impairment, under the law they are not supposed to be allowed to resume playing that day, and they cannot return to play in the days that follow until they get cleared by a doctor.

The problem with the policy, however, is that it is almost totally reliant on the confession of the injured athlete. Dizziness and headache can be easy to hide, and athletes know as soon as they say something, the coach is required to sit them out – a big blow to a serious athlete.

“No one’s going to start speaking up,” Mattos said. “That’s how it’s always been.”

Coach Maguire, of the football team, says that there have been no more concussions reported this year than in recent years, showing little change even with a new law.

Hockey coach Mr. Conceison doubts it will be any different with hockey this winter. He suspects concussions go unreported on his team every year, with athletes continuing to play and risking further injury. After all, he points out, there have only been three or four official concussions diagnosed during his 20 years of coaching.

“Many, many more have been undiagnosed,” Mr. Conceison said.

Freshman Randall Larson was one of very few football

players affected by the new concussion policy.

But the kids may not be completely to blame. The mentality of the tough football player who ignores pain for the love of the game has been pushed on them since the first time they saw a game on TV.

Coach Conceison confesses that the game at hand can become distracting to coaches, making them more focused on winning than the well-being of their players.

“When you’re in the moment, you don’t see the big picture,” Mr. Conceison said.

It’s for this reason that the state requires education for trainers and coaches in the new concussion law. This instruction has been meticulous, with each coach having to take an online course that stresses, “When in doubt, take them out.”

Most of the players interviewed, however, say the problem lies with themselves, not with the coaches. Senior Sam Arsenault said coaches told him if he felt disoriented at all “not to mess around with it” and to tell a trainer.

This was not always the case. The coaches of the past had a different mindset, according to Mr. Leonard, the freshman football coach.

“When you got your bell rung, you dealt with it,” Mr. Leonard said about his high school football years.

The increased concern for youth concussions is based on autopsies of deceased football players, such as Owen Thomas, the UPenn student who hanged himself in April. These autopsies have showed signs of brain damage and the disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which probably arose from numerous undiagnosed concussions in high school. The condition shows symptoms similar to Alzheimer’s, such as dementia, dizziness, and confusion.

Concussions have similar symptoms, just less severe, including difficulties with memories, sleep, and appetite.

Randall Larson, a freshman formerly on the football team, suffered one of the most dramatic concussions after being shouldered in the head during a practice.

“You don’t really feel it,” Larson recalled. “You just black out.”

But most concussions don’t involve losing consciousness. Officially, there are 25 symptoms and most can be very subtle, making it entirely up to the athlete to report…or cover up.

Do anti-bullying measures make a difference? Students disagree

2011-03-02T15:16:00.000-08:00

By Kyla Candelino and Kara Amuzzini

With school leaders waging a multi-pronged anti-bullying campaign this year, students are questioning whether BHS actually has a bullying problem, and if so, whether the new measures are the solution.

In interviews with dozens of students from all grades, the majority said that bullying has not been a major issue since middle school. Some said bullying takes place but it tends to be concentrated on social networking websites such as Facebook, where even the newly beefed-up school policy can’t protect students.

“It’s mainly online,” senior Jessica Giannelli said.

“That’s what bullying comes down to these days,” senior Shanica Gregory-Cox agreed.

The new anti-bullying policy “has a lot more teeth,” administrator Mr. Sullivan said, with obligations for deeper reporting and investigating of abuse, and punishments even for bystanders. But even with its new teeth, the policy can’t bite down on activity that takes place outside the school walls, including online.

Some students found posters like these

heartening while others questioned

their worth.

“We can only control what happens here,” Sullivan said.

What happens here, at BHS, is not like the days of middle school, when name-calling was a constant and lunch trays were knocked from the hands of innocent, perhaps frail-looking students. But this doesn’t mean that at the high school everyone is feeling welcome.

A November survey of more than 500 students by Ms. Scanlon’s Leadership and Social Change class showed 15 percent – or 3 students in a class of 20 – don’t feel like they belong at BHS.

A survey of nearly 50 faculty members found no teachers who strongly agreed with the statement “Every student at BHS feels like he or she belongs here.” A full 65 percent said they did not think every student felt a sense of belonging. More than 90 percent of teachers said they had heard a student tease or ridicule another student.

Shanica remembers standing at the buses one day, overcome by the loud teasing and rude comments she heard being made to a special-needs student. Every time the student went to say something, the other kids would say, “Shut up. We don’t care.” Shanica was disturbed by the cruelty. “It’s just who he is,” she said of the boy, “he can’t help it.”

In the fall, Giannelli said she watched yet another special-needs student being ridiculed and mocked around school. The teasing went on for about two weeks before she saw the administration step in.

These kinds of incidents are exactly what the new policy aims to prevent. The assemblies, surveys and posters that students have noticed this year follow a state bullying prevention law passed last spring in the wake of the suicides of South Hadley 15-year-old Phoebe Prince and 11-year-old Carl Walker-Hoover of Springfield. At BHS, every time an incident is reported, admin-istrators are required to fill out a new “Bullying Prevention and Intervention Incident Reporting” form, in case there is a pattern of bullying that needs to be acted upon.

The staff is hoping that if students see bullying, they will feel comfortable enough to report it, even if the person being bullied is too afraid to.

A survey suggests that may be wishful thinking.

During a school assembly in October, school psychologist Ms. Hayes asked 250 juniors and seniors if they would step in to defend a victim of social bullying. The results were almost evenly split: Only 37 percent said they would stand up for the target; 31 percent said they weren’t sure if they would, and 32 percent said it would be too hard to say something.

“They will not speak-out,” Shanica reported on her fellow-classmates. However, she assures if these incidents are not noticed now, “you’ll see it when it gets worse and worse.One tactic being used to encourage students to stand up against bullying has been a flood of posters highlighting the message “Bullying is NOT okay,” and asking students to question their own possible bullying behavior.

Some students discredit the posters while others are adamant that they help.

The posters made freshman Clarisol Baez feel good. As she said, “people are doing things to help other people.”

Junior Melanie Canales said she didn’t think the statistics on the posters applied to everyone, but at least they raised awareness.

Freshman Jessica Morgan said students paid no attention to the posters, and Giannelli said she’d heard about people pulling them down.

Perhaps the bleakest assessment came from Kayla Hernandez, who saw the posters as a sign of bullying’s permanence. “They’re just a reminder that it’s never going to stop,” the freshman said.

Most bullying these days has migrated online, students said. Eighty-eight percent of students in Leadership and Social Change said they had seen mean com-ments posted online. Peggy Perna recalled being harassed in the summer between her freshman and sophomore year, through rude comments and Facebook messages. “I couldn’t post anything without her making a comment on it,” Perna said about her cyber-bully. Last summer Perna wrote a comment on her ex-boy-friend’s Facebook wall, and three days later, she signed on to find a slew of new notifi-cations, her cyber-bully’s name attached. “She wasn’t even involved in the conver-sation in any way,” Perna frowned.

It’s easy for Perna to flash back to the vulner-ability she felt at the time, not knowing when the harassment would end or what she could do about it. Thankfully for Perna, it simply stopped one day as suddenly as it had started, as if the bully lost her taste for outright curtness. However, not everyone is as fortunate.

The “honesty box” on Facebook, and the website Form-spring, are useful cyber-tools for bullies who prefer the anony-mous threat. On either site, Giannelli said, “it’s basically a place where you can trash on anyone, and they’ll have no idea who you are.”

One of the problems with cyber-bullying is that fewer adults know how to deal with it because they grew up with regular bullying, and there are no physical signs such as bruises or black-eyes.

Adults try to warn students that colleges and places of work some-times check on students’ and emp-loyees’ Facebook postings. As Mr. Sullivan says, “Anything you put online will be there forever.”

The effects of bullying can last long after high school. A story in the Boston Globe, a couple months ago, reported on adults in their thirties and forties who still carried emotional scars. As the reporter, Jenna Russell wrote, “the ham-mering insults of bullies act like fingers jabbed in the still-hardening clay of identity.”

Several students interviewed for this story described run-ins with bullying in middle school that still affect them years later. They remem-bered being choked on the bus, or having their books kicked around. Kelly Spinali was teased for having a crush on a boy-celebrity and said it shaped the way she sees the world and the people around her.

“It can make you stronger or completely break you down,” Spinali said.

"Trajedi" strikes more than just the ground of Port-Au-Prince

2011-03-02T15:04:00.000-08:00

By Shauntel Farland
Blood, anguish, and destruction fill the air as the world crumbles underneath her feet. It rattles each house with no mercy, no feelings and no regret. Children crying, people praying…What’s next?

Senior Arianne Jean-Jacques (click "read more" below), remembers the day the tragic earthquake struck Port Au Prince, her city crumbling at her feet. It was a year ago, Jan. 12, that she ran for her life from the walls of her school crashing down. The violent quake left 3 million people in need of emergency aid and millions without homes and family. The aftershocks left thousands running past flattened buildings for cover (above).

Arianne Jean Jacques is a 17-year-old senior and survivor of the earthquake last winter that the Haitian government says killed 300,000 people and left as many as 2 million homeless around the crowded city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Arianne is getting used to new music, a new language, and weather that is unheard of in the heat of her native Haiti. She misses her parents back in Haiti, where a deadly disease called cholera has spread (a result of all the dust and bacteria that was “hiding” in the buildings). Arianne fears that her parents will become sick and she wants to be with them to make sure they are all right.

“It’s difficult to understand,” Arianne says of the stress she feels when everything around her in Burlington looks just fine. But with daydreams of the devastation boggling in her mind, she constantly re-lives the ground-breaking day that would ultimately force Arianne to choose between safety and the comfort of her mother.

A year ago, Arianne sat in French class, staring at the leaf-green walls. As she waited for the bell, she heard a banging upstairs but quickly realized it was not the track team running the halls, or the step team, or the marching band outside. The whole school was shaking.

“Soti al deyo!” the teacher screamed, as students piled outside as though from a crowded subway. The ground shook and students wept as they watched parts of the school they’d grown up in fall.

When the rumble, which lasted no more than a minute, had taken a rest, students and teachers tried to get in touch with their families. But phone service was down. Arianne desperately looked for a shoulder to cry on, thinking, “Where is my mom?” For five hours she waited at the school. Finally her mother arrived and relief swept through Arianne.

With their home a crumbling deathtrap, Arianne and her mother spent the night in a shelter under the school. The humid air and the prayers of fellow Haitians kept Arianne and her mother warm. “I thought everyone was going to die,” Arianne remembers.

The next day, they decided that the love from their family was what they needed, and anyway they couldn’t stay at the school so a 45-minute walk to their house didn’t seem so bad. Along the blood-stained road, they passed debris and ashes from the buildings along with homeless and injured people.

When Arianne and her mother arrived, her two aunts showed them the damage to the house. It was too unstable to sleep in, with aftershocks rating 4.5 on the Richter scale. They slept in the family car.

During the night, criminals lurked the streets, stealing from stores. Police were overwhelmed, and Haitians’ sense of safety was lost.

When Arianne woke up, she was astonished to find her sister, Tara, who was visiting from Malden, Mass., waiting for her. The fresh face of her sister brought Arianne hope.

After two days struggling to find food and safety, Arianne, her mother, and her sister took everything they could from the damaged house and made the seven-hour drive to the Santo Domingo airport. They caught a series of planes to Boston, where they stayed with her sister for a week before moving in with her cousin Samantha, in Burlington.

With no loss of family members, friends, or personal belongings, Arianne had it easier than many Haitians. On a month-long visit to Haiti over the summer, she noticed things were more stable. Relief work had begun. Still, Arianne and her mother decided her prospects were better in Burlington, and she entered the high school in September.

“I love Haiti, but it is better here,” she says.

As soon as she arrived, Arianne noticed the wealth: the houses were much bigger in Burlington than in Haiti. The middle and high schools were separate, bigger, newer, and less crowded. And school here was more liberal, or free. In Haiti, everyone took honors-level classes; there was no choice. Here, Arianne could choose her classes. Teachers were less strict, not waiting to admonish her every move.

She misses the beach in “Ayiti,” or Haiti, and the freedom of going whenever she pleased. She misses the warm weather, and Haitian rap, which is enormously popular among teens there. Most of all, she misses her parents.

“I wish it never happened,” Arianne says of the earthquake that has taken lives, and broken hearts, and is now spreading disease. But since it can’t be taken back, Arianne is not going back, but instead forging ahead in a new and very different world.

Students want in on Mac lab; librarian defends restrictions

2011-03-02T14:55:00.000-08:00

By Mike Grinnell
As students walk the halls, many seem to complain about the library’s new Mac lab. The new, more-than-$2000 computers aren’t the problem, though. The problem is getting to use them.

Some students complain the Mac lab is reserved for classes when no one seems to be using it. When it looks that way, the librarian said it is only because no one has had time to move the sign, or a class is on its way.

“I just need to use the Macs, but she won’t let me,” sophomore Joe Berardi said.

“She” – the librarian, Ms. Kelley DiSanto – has restricted access to the 11 new iMacs mostly to students taking online courses and teachers bringing their classes in. With a vast library to monitor, Ms. Kelley DiSanto says she is just trying to preserve a studious atmosphere for students who need to use the new machines.

But being kept off such exciting new technology has been hard for some students to take.

“We have recently acquired a state-of-the-art Mac lab and this lady thinks she has the right to kick eager students out,” junior Brendan Slowe said.

Part of the problem may have been that for a brief time students had access, and then had it taken away. The school installed the 11 Macs at the beginning of the year, in one of the rooms off the main library. The first two weeks of school, anyone could use them.

“I feel like it’s a tease,” senior Christina Gaudet said. “We got to use it for the first two weeks and out of nowhere it’s unavailable. It’s not fair.”

The library has banks of regular PC computers and a fleet of mini-laptops. But for many students these do not compare to the newer, faster Macs, with their large, high-definition screens.

“I feel like it’s a waste of money if we can’t use them,” senior Priyanka Deb said.

For the librarian, it would be a waste of money if the students who most needed the Macs, such as those taking online courses through Virtual High School, were unable to work because of distractions.

“I want them to have a classroom environment,” she said. With all the students in the library, she said it was hard for her to police the Mac lab. “There are too many places in this library for me to monitor.”

The librarian has also made the lab available to art students, who use special programs on the Macs for design and other projects.

But students said there were plenty of periods of the day when the Mac lab stands empty, yet students still aren’t allowed in. One student who uses the lab for a VHS class said she would not mind other students in there when she was doing her classwork, “as long as they are not super distracting.”

After hearing some of the criticism, the librarian said she was open to changing her policy, if she heard an idea that fit her needs and the students’ needs. One possibility was to allow students in on a case-by-case basis, based on how they’ve behaved in the library previously. “If the student has shown me respect, then they will get to use it,” she said.

GM, give us a car we can afford, not an ad blitz

2011-03-02T14:48:00.000-08:00

Shipka Says...

By Mike Shipka

We all know ‘em, and everyone has one. They’re made fun of on sitcoms, and they share a name with the dirtiest utensil in the kitchen. That friend who’s always “borrowing” your money, then it mysteriously disappears, a.k.a, the sponge.

If one lazy bum is a sponge, then that must make GM (Government Motors) a wet-dry vacuum, capable of sucking up 40 times its weight in sewage while using enough power to electrify a small village, and making enough noise to deafen small animals.

I have a riddle for you: Government Motors is bailed out for around $50 billion. After two years of conducting business, (and still carrying the heavy burden that is the notorious stereotype of expensive and unreliable American vehicles), they produce 11 different ads for Chevrolet in an attempt to aid their public image.

Five of those ads ran during the Superbowl, where 30 seconds of airtime reportedly averages $3 million. GM ran a total of 60 seconds for Camaro, 30 seconds for Cruze Eco, 30 seconds for Silverado, and 30 seconds for (their next flop) Volt, for a grand total of 150 seconds. Assuming no volume discount, that means they dropped at least $15 million.

Not factoring in the costs of writers, actors, production studio services and celebrity endorsements to produce all five commercials, how many jobs could they have created with that $15 million-plus they blew in one night?

Not enough, that’s how many. In this day and age, where bailouts come with at least nine zeros, $15 million is chump change in comparison. But it’s not about what they spent, it’s where they spent it. If the sponge wants to change his (or her) reputation, actions speak louder than words. So far, it seems their mouths say, “We changed,” but their products say, “Not by much.”

Moreover, why do they need a commercial in the first place? The $50 billion in taxpayer dollars was more than enough to remind us that they are here and they make cars. They are one of the flagships of American auto manufacturing. They should be providing the best quality product, at the best price, to the American people who bailed them out.

Henry Ford, the man responsible for practically pioneering the American auto industry, must be turning over in his grave. In 1920, the Ford Motor Company was able to crank out a Model T car in under 93 minutes, selling them for only $300 – the same as $3,400 in 2010. Imagine getting a new Ford Focus or Buick Sabre even for under $10,000. It’s unfathomable. A 2011 Chevy Malibu is around $21,000.

Now, yes, I understand that cars today are a lot more sophisticated and therefore more expensive, but my question is why? The 2001 Buick Century is awesome. For only $8,000 used (with 30,000 miles), it will get you where you need to go. Why do we (new drivers, teens) need enough safety equipment and horsepower to bomb down I-95 at 120 mph? In this failing economy, affordability and reliability is king.

There is no reason GM can’t put down the bells and whistles of OnStar, Microsoft Sync and integrated GPS to focus on the more important issues: making cars that outlive Japan’s; making cars more efficient by not weighing them down with unneeded equipment; saving lives with simple solutions like automatic seat belts (which is old technology); and paying back the citizens who saved them.

BHS Fashion Types

2011-03-02T14:35:00.000-08:00

By Julie Pomphrett

Ask students about their fashion choices and many will say the same thing: “I like to look good.” Funny how each student has a different idea of what “good” looks like. What looks good to you may not look good to me. But nobody seems to let that change their mind. Students’ fashion senses are strong and individual.

Now, what exactly a person’s fashion should be called can be a matter of controversy. Some students insist they would not consider themselves any single style “type.” But those same students, when asked about other people’s styles, showed no hesitation in applying labels. Apparently it’s easier to categorize others than it is to categorize yourself.

Or perhaps, as some students said, they cross fashion categories; on some days they feel lazy and come in comfortable apparel but the next day they feel lively and dress in a glam style. This happens a lot, but the fact that people cross categories doesn’t mean the categories don’t exist. Here are a few of the most recognizable ones.

Sporty

The Look

Sports teams shirts, sweatshirts or hats.

Professional or high school
clothing.

Other Students
in this Category
Ryan Smith and Chris Irwin

Total cost
Around $60

Sam Arsenault

“I wear a lot of Burlington Football shirts,” Sam said, “you know the ones we get, and baseball.” If not high school team clothes, he wears clothes from Bob’s, Kohl’s, or Marshalls. He says that he likes sports and wearing these athletic type clothes reflects the kind of person he is. “I wouldn’t change the way I dressed even if you paid me,” Sam stated.

Comfortable

The Look

Sweats from Kohls and Bob’s

Other Students in this category

Joey Moran and Samantha Bressi

Total Cost

About $50

Kathleen Donahue

Comfort isnt Kathleen’s only calling. She says, “When I see people who are dressed good, I want to the next day.” But her rule for school apparel is convenient and easy. She dresses in her comfortable wear instead of going through the hassles of spending time organizing an outfit.

Gangster

The Look

Baggy Jeans, Tee shirts, Flat rim hats, Timbaland boots. Kohls, Champs, and Bobs

Other Students in this Category
Corey Woods, Brandon Asamoah

Cost
$220

Mike Morganelli

Mike explains his style as his "swagga." He wears his clothes because he feels that they express the way he is. Today, he is dressed in a Russell blue tee shirt with baggy jeans, Timberland boots, a white flat-rim hat and earrings. He explains that most of his freinds dress similarly. Mike judges people only sometimes by what they wear – for instance, "if someone’s wearing something out of ordinary, like a top hat and trench coat."

Punk

The look

Band t-shirt, Hot Topic jeans, Forever 21 tank

Other Students in this Category
Kyle Tavaras, Emily Maritn

Cost
$65

Brianna Squeri

"A lot of people look at what I wear as punky, and some people think that just because of the style, I could be a punk," Brianna says. But really, Brianna is just wearing what she thinks is cool and stylish, "even if it is different." She explains her style as a combination of everything, although she can be particular. "I only buy pants from Pac Sun and Hot Topic." Tops, on the other hand, she purchases at stores she describes as ones "everyone shops at," including Wet Seal, Forever 21, Pac Sun, and Hollister.

Preppy

The Look

Lacoste hat, polo sweatshirt, Lucky

Brand Jeans, Express V Neck Shirt,

and Nikes

Other Students in this category
Joey Centrella, Joey Yeadon

Total Cost
$355

Peter McAnespie

Peter explained his classy way of looking good. "Everyone likes my clothes," he said, asking the freshmen in the library if they agreed. "I don’t know if I’m preppy, though." Senior Mikey Grinnell assured him, "You’re definitely preppy. You’re wearing a V-neck, bro." Peter says that he finds the clothes that pop out to him and that’s why he purchases them, despite the amount of money (see above). Peter says his mom has always cared about him looking good and supports his style.

Glam

The Look

Heels, Dresses, sparkles, lace,

glitter, jewelry.

Other Students in this Category

Veronika Abkarian, Sam Caruso

Total cost
Around $110

Sam Simon

"I like to look good," Sam explained. "Since I was a little girl my mom has taught me to dress nice." Sam cares about how she looks and doesn’t like to give off bad impressions. She supports her words with an outfit of a pair of Bakers boots and a styling red shirt from Wet Seal. "People who don’t like to dress in style and dress like blah are either lazy or don’t want to be seen," Sam stated. But on second thought she added, "Or maybe everyone has their own style."

Students with epilepsy share struggles, experience, advice

2011-02-28T16:29:00.000-08:00

By Taylor-Marie Funchion

Junior Jake Kinsman stands in the spot on the

English hallway where he had a seizure sophomore year.

Students who attended elementary school with Gabe remember the harsh treatment he faced due to his epilepsy. “I remember kids talking about his seizures during class. It was definitely weird, and a little scary,” a BHS freshman remembered. Well, Gabe, who is now a freshman here at BHS remembers it, too.

“People didn’t want to be my friend at school, I lost some friends, and at home, I was monitored every second of my day,” Gabe, who would rather keep his last name private, said. “It was tough.”

Even though his condition has improved dramatically since then, the isolation he had to deal with left emotional scars.

“Even the teacher was afraid of me,” Gabe said. “In the eyes of others, I was a monster.”

Epilepsy is a disorder of the central nervous system characterized by a loss of consciousness and convulsions. A person with epilepsy has seizures that can be triggered by things like flashing lights or even stress. Sometimes, these seizures have no trigger at all.

During seizures, people with epilepsy tend to lose consciousness while their bodies make involuntary jerking and thrashing movements. Afterward, they may feel tired, weak, or confused.

This condition affects 1 in 120 people in the U.S, meaning there could be at least nine cases in our school alone.

One of these students is junior Jake Kinsman. Jake’s fight with epilepsy was less of a struggle socially than Gabe’s. Although some of Jake’s seizures were very public (many upperclassmen can remember the commotion, including one that shut down the English hallway), acceptance was less of a problem for him.

“I got lucky,” he said, smiling, thinking of his loyal friends. Jake’s friends were all “understanding and very supportive.” This made Jake’s journey with epilepsy somewhat easier.

Even when things seemed like they were going nowhere, Gabe, too, kept his head up.

“Never give up. There is always a way to live your life and be happy,” Gabe said. “You just have to find it.”

Around the time he was in fifth grade, Gabe was able to find a medication that gradually stopped his seizures. Before long, he was having almost none at all.

“My life took a turn for the better,” Gabe remembered. He began to make more and more friends and find happiness.

Both BHS students living with epilepsy have learned the importance of never losing hope, even in the roughest of times.

Seizures: how you can help

Stay with the person having the seizure.
Do not put anything in the person’s mouth. This could cause choking.
Lay the person on his or her side. This prevents fluids from clogging the airway.
Keep track of the time. If a seizure lasts longer than five minutes, it could be considered a seizure emergency.
Protect the person’s head.
Clear the area of harmful objects.
Don’t move the person unless he or she is in a dangerous area.
Call 911.

New turf field looks to be a hit for all seasons

2011-02-28T16:21:00.000-08:00

By Steve Mattos

Fresh off the new field, Junior wide receiver Bill Murphy kicked off his cleats as conversation erupted about the new turf field that the town of Burlington put in over the summer.

“It was the best turf I’ve ever played on,” he said.

Now buried under layers of snow and ice, the school’s new field and stands were an exciting addition to the football season, and are now an object of anticipation for the spring lacrosse and track & field teams.

Friday night, Nov. 6, Varsity Field was a sight to see, the grand opening of the school’s $2 million stadium. The packed crowd of 2,500, according to school officials, was the biggest since 2006 when the Devils played Woburn for a league championship. Some said it was so nice that they couldn’t even remember how the old one looked.

The night was bittersweet as the Devils lost to Wakefield in a 29-26 thriller, but the buzz of the new field was the real talk.

Opening night followed months of anticipation, as students passed bulldozers and work crews on their way into school. School officials decided on the new field mostly because the old, natural-grass field was too temperamental.

The combination of heavy rain and a football game could put the grass out of commission for the week for other teams scheduled to use it. Officials said new restrooms were also needed, and safer bleachers, because in wet weather spectators were slipping and hurting themselves on the old ones.

What is original about the particular turf used in BHS’s new field, according to Mr. Larkin, is that only two fields in the country have it: BHS and Gillette Stadium. The turf, known as Field Turf, is less expensive than other kinds of artificial grass but not lesser quality, Mr. Larkin said.

BHS joins the majority of schools in the Middlesex league that have gone to turf. The only schools still playing on natural grass are Lexington, Melrose and Wakefield.

The biggest benefit of the new field is that all teams will be able to play on it, no matter the weather. This includes all Pop Warner teams and town recreational programs.

“The hardest thing to do will be scheduling all the teams to play on it,” Mr. Gillis said.

Another possible benefit of the new turf is fewer injuries. Senior lacrosse player Kyle McCrobie was playing the season opener on a rainy day last year, and about three minutes into the game he slipped and turned his knee the wrong way. He tore his ACL, and the surgery put him out for the rest of the season.

“I lost my whole junior year cause of bad field conditions,” McCrobie said.

Kyle is looking forward to getting onto the new and improved field this month, when the lacrosse season begins.

The new turf is said to be less slippery than grass when wet.

The first artificial turf fields, in the 1970’s, were known to cause more injuries than grass. Called “astro turf,” it’s been described as a rug with lines on it and concrete under it. Only one field in Massachusetts still has astro turf, in East Boston.

Match the teacher to the experience -- win a pizza!

2011-02-28T16:10:00.000-08:00

This is it -- the place to submit your answers to the contest on Page 6 of the print edition of the March 1 Devil's Advocate.

Submit your answers using the "comment" button below. Name each of the six teachers and the letter corresponding to that teacher's experience. For instance:

Mr. Johnson = A
Dr. Conti = F
...and so on.

The first to match all six wins a free large pizza from Burlington House of Pizza! Good luck!

Darks and light, cheekbones and eyesockets

2011-02-28T15:56:00.000-08:00

The art of self-portrait

Mr. Ratkevich’s Portfolio class doesn’t usually spend the entire first semester on self-portrait. “This year I just felt like I wanted to get them thinking more deeply,” the art department head explained.

The challenge is to convey the three-dimensionality of a face, the protrusions and recesses of skull underneath, such as around the cheekbones, brow, and eyesockets.

How much the work ends up resembling the person pictured is not generally the measure of success, but many of the students, including those in this post, turned out a good likeness.

Junior Caroline Brill’s drawing (above) was her first longer project after several one- and two-day drawings. The journal-like writing behind her head was a final touch. Her acrylic on canvas self-painting (below) went through multiple revisions as she experimented with colors and brushstrokes.

Junior Kelly Howe’s "Shh" self-portrait (below) is actually a photograph manipulated for the Digital Art class using Photoshop.

The idea was to use lights and darks – the renaissance technique known as chiaroscuro – to create the illusion of three dimensions. Portfolio students Nikki Flemming and Kiana DiMatteo, both seniors, had the challenge of doing the same completely by eye. Flemming achieved success with a graphite drawing (below, left) and DiMatteo with charcoal (below, right).

More time for lunch, less of the (between classes) crunch

2010-06-21T09:43:00.000-07:00

By Helly Soni

The school’s seven-day rotation schedule may be irregular, but the complaints about it fall into a nice, neat pattern. Students as well as teachers seem to hate three things: long periods that are too long, a lunch period that’s too short, and barely enough time to sprint between classes.

Now, a radical scheduling proposal from a group of students aims to cure the ills of the current schedule. The proposal, by students in Ms. Janovitz’s Leadership and Social Change class, is getting serious attention from Principal Larkin, who passed it out at a faculty meeting. It includes

a longer, 35-minute lunch, more time between classes (4 to 5 minutes), and a special, long period for making up tests and quizzes or getting extra help.

Even more radical is how the new plan does away with rotating long periods. Instead of the seven-day pattern, the proposal makes every week the same. Monday, Tuesday and Friday, every period would be 45 minutes. Wednesday and Thursday, every period would be 81 minutes: 1, 3, 5 and 7 on Wednesday; 2, 4 and 6 on Thursday, plus the special period for make-ups and tutoring.

“It goes to show that change is coming, and change is good,” math teacher Ms. Guerra said, reacting to the proposal. “Very good.”

The once-a-week long blocks are meant to make it easier for teachers to plan labs, debates and other time-intensive projects, said junior Chris LaRocque, a member of the class that came up with the proposal. The weekly “time and opportunity” block is meant to give students a chance to catch up on challenging subjects and possibly give teachers time to collaborate.

Teachers and students love the plan’s longer lunches and longer time between classes. Less popular are the days of all long periods.

“I can’t stand one long period; how am I going to be able to stand three or four of them,” freshman Gabriella Gonzalez said.

The students who designed the schedule looked at other schools with similar plans. The fact that each class only meets four days a week under the proposal is intended to increase focus and provide extra time to complete assignments.

Mr. Larkin said the plan fell short of the 990 classroom hours per year that the government requires, but he said it was full of good ideas that could be used with some adaptation.

English teacher Ms. Scanlon said she would welcome the additional minute or two between classes because it would help remove the excuses students have for being late to class, and allow class to start on time. “Students need to respect class time,” she said.

Students said the longer lunch period would be a big help, allowing them to stop by their locker or a teacher before lunch and still have time to go through the line and eat.

“I think it will help students wind down and get refreshed for the rest of the classes,” history teacher Ms. Carey said.

The current schedule has been in place for about 10 years, according to Ms. DeBellis. Before that, there were no long periods and every class was 50 minutes, every day.

In the discussion of changes to today’s schedule, a number of teachers expressed a desire to return to the old schedule and to do away with long periods altogether. They said long periods don’t work with students because their attention span isn’t long enough.

“My attention span is, like, barely 30 minutes. I can’t pay attention that long,” freshman Holly Brioulette said.

Ms. Carey said the same was true for teachers. “Even teachers don’t have a lot to do during long period,” she said.

Ms. Carey said the long period was originally intended for science labs. It can be used in other subjects for projects, presentations, and tests, she said, but those aren’t that common in all classes. When she was a student, Ms. Carey said science labs were held during a separate lab period.

Science teacher Mr. Wood has his own idea for a school schedule, one with a single, long time slot at the beginning of every day, and only six periods per day. A different class period would take the long slot each day, and a different class period would get skipped each day.

Mr. Wood was with a committee of teachers that talked about schedules, and they liked the students’ idea of a “time and opportunity” segment because it would allow for activities such as mentoring and student council without taking away from class time.

The proposed schedule by Ms. Janovitz’s students was part of a response to a request from the principal for ideas on how to give students more voice in school affairs. Mr. Larkin said he hoped it would get more students talking about the kind of schedule they would like to see.

Ms. Carey said she planned to have some of her students spend time as a group coming up with their own proposals for a school schedule.

Step up, people; it is your school

2010-06-21T09:40:00.000-07:00

Editorial by Allison Jacobs

Over the past two years as Editor-in-Chief, I’ve seen a lot of news going through the Devil’s Advocate. But no one has been a bigger newsmaker than Mr. Larkin.

I have never met an administrator with such an abundance of school-changing ideas. We’ve covered it all, from reforming schedules to laptops for every student. Mr. Larkin has changed the way I view schools; things don’t have to stay the same just because they’ve always been that way.

So what could go wrong with a high-tech principal on a mission to bring BHS into the 21st century?

The problem is that Mr. Larkin doesn’t want to create changes by himself. He believes in student participation. However, students at our school are so apathetic and passive. They refuse to take a role in shaping changes, and as a result, many exciting ideas have fallen flat on their faces.

My staff and I can tell you about interviews with Mr. Larkin. There comes a point every time that we know there is no use asking how a new policy will work. He doesn’t know; it’s something a student committee will have to work out.

Ah, student committees. Mr. Larkin says schools should be learner-centered, not teacher-centered. “Kids are going to have the best ideas,” he says. So far, they seem to be keeping those ideas to themselves.

Last fall, Mr. Larkin floated the idea of an internet café in the lower library. A student committee was supposed to take the ball and run with it. So far, no committee, and only adults have offered ideas.

Last year, progress reports changed to self-evaluations, then back to the one-liner “Your daughter is passing at this time.” Mr. Larkin said he wanted student input before re-revising the reports. He got nothing and has had to go ahead with changes using only teacher and parent ideas.

Mr. Larkin has asked for student ideas on new school schedules, including one that would make every fifth day independent study. He has received three or four e-mails, all complaining about the current schedule, none offering solutions.

The list of big ideas goes on, from combining levels 2 and 3, to getting students using laptops in all classes. The principal asks for student input and gets none. Last month, he announced he wanted to give up his office. Among the 15 comments on his blog on what to do with the space, none appear to be from students.

Now, I’m not saying students aren’t making change; they are. Senior Natalie Casey started an art gallery. The Leadership and Social Change class proposed a schedule change. There is student involvement, but it isn’t enough.

Some of you may remember Katie Spinos, who died in 2007, less than a year after taking over as superintendent. As she started her job, she called on students to give her ideas about what they would like to change in their school system. She received how many e-mails? Zero. None. Given an opportunity to have a voice, we all backed away from the microphone.

Part of the problem is that students aren’t encouraged to have a say. We’re assigned books to read, labs to complete, and math problems to answer. We’re so used to there being a right answer, we don’t know how to come up with our own.

Now we have a principal who, like Spinos, wants to throw the ball into the hands of people who have never played ball.

Last year, the Devil’s Advocate asked students what it would take for them to recycle more bottles. Students wanted reminders on the announcements, flashy advertisements, rewards. One student said he’d recycle, “If I got paid.”

It’s a bottle. Recycle it. Our student body doesn’t take the extra minute to do what we know is right.

This year, approximately 30 athletes were suspended from their sports as a result of Facebook pictures of the students allegedly drinking alcohol. I’ve never seen students in our school so livid. “They can’t do this! It’s private!” people screamed.

But did anyone do anything about it? I couldn’t even convince my own staff to write an article. Sorry, guys. I love you, but seriously? Someone needed to stand up to represent the school’s charged voice. No one even wrote a letter to the editor.

“Yeah, but who has time for that?” you may be wondering. From academics, to jobs, to sports, family, and everything else, why should we make time for changing a school we leave after four years?

I won’t deny that it’s a lot of work, but seeing a change at the end is so rewarding. If I’ve learned nothing else from journalism, it’s that everyone has a voice. Everyone has something to say, something to contribute, something they care about. The trick is getting people to step up and open up. If I knew how to do that, I’d tell Mr. Larkin. If you know, maybe you could start a student committee.

Things That Annoy Me

2010-06-21T09:33:00.000-07:00

By Jim Rubino

As my four years at BHS come to a close, there are certainly things I will miss. I’ll miss walking the halls with my friends, or sitting with them at lunch. I’ll miss Ms Boyle’s loud sneezes, Mr. Costa’s wacky sayings, ordering pizza during long period, and writing fake names on the bathroom sign in sheet. However, there are a bunch of things I definitely won’t miss -- 17, to be exact.

1. When people rip off the little thingies that prop up the keyboard. Or when they rip just one off, so I have a wobbly keyboard all class.

2. When the desk in front of me doesn’t have the rack below it, so I have nowhere to put my feet.

3. The long and involved process one must go through before entering the library. I’m just looking to do my homework, why do I need a passport?

4. The kid in the hall who doesn’t understand which side of the hallway or staircase to walk on. You walk on the right, just like the way you drive. This jokester is like a salmon swimming against the current.

5. During a test, when it’s all nice and quiet, somebody has the sniffles. Hey! Blow your nose!

6. When nobody wants to be the first one to pass in a test. So once the first person walks up to the teacher, an avalanche of test takers suddenly follow suit.

7. The back computer lab in the library which smells like an airplane cabin that many people have been sneezing in. There’s terrible air circulation, and it’s always a good 26° warmer than the rest of the library.

8. The chairs in the library, although comfortable, are incredibly dusty. Give one of them a nice slap and look at the debris.

9. The extreme differences in temperature between parts of the school. Am I in Cancun? Or Canada?

10. Reading and analyzing ridiculous pieces of literature in English class. Isn’t it possible the author simply wanted to make the walls red? There doesn’t always need to be a deeper meaning.

11. The girls in gym class who stand around talking about makeup, when our doctor is getting pelted with dodgeballs.

12. The mile and a half hike from the parking lot to the school. Good thing I brought a Ziploc full of bread crumbs so I can find my way back.

13. The fact that BHS is two minutes behind the rest of the world. I don’t know why BHS deserves its own time zone.

14. When kids offer to read in class, but it takes them a half hour to get through one paragraph of text.

15. The puddles of polluted rain water making their way down the corridors. Good idea making the roof flatter than day-old Pepsi.

16. As soon as the homeroom bell rings, all the teachers force everyone out of the halls as if a cannonball is rolling at them.

17. When people crinkle their bags of Sun Chips during class, and are completely oblivious of how annoying they’re being.

Did you read it once, twice, or 147 times?

2010-06-21T09:24:00.000-07:00

By Rupini Alla

How much do you love your favorite book? Did you re-read the whole thing from start to finish? Did you re-read it twice? How about 147 times?

Senior Cristine Marsala has proclaimed her love for one book and one book only. Over the course of three years, she has read the book “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” by Stephen Chbosky, precisely that many times – and she intends to keep the number going.

Cristine came to BHS in January, but she has been reading the book since she started high school in Missouri, where she and a friend had a contest going to see who could read it more times in a month.

“It started off as a race but then I just couldn’t stop reading it,” Marsala said.

The story is about a boy named Charlie who writes letters to an anonymous person about his life. He starts off his story when he is a little boy and writes the letters as things happen in his life.

“I like the fact that it’s really close to being a trashy romance, but then again it’s set in an adolescent point of view,” Marsala said. “Basically I could connect with this book more than any other book I have ever read in my whole life.”

The book is 213 pages, but Cristine experiences the same thrill reading it today as she did the first time she set eyes on it freshman year.

“I notice new meanings in the same things that I have read,” she said. Things that she thought she had understood the first time have changed as the years go by. She interprets some of the meanings of the book differently.

“To me the book is inspirational. Almost everything that goes on in the book has happened to me – not detail-for-detail, but when I read the book I feel like I can take myself in a different direction than Charlie actually did,” Marsala said.

Inspiration is just one reason for re-reading a favorite book again and again. It is a phenomenon that many people have tried to explain. New York Times editor Verlyn Klinkenborg notes that repetition has been ingrained into humans from a very young age.

“The love of repetition seems to be ingrained in children. And it is certainly ingrained in the way children learn to read —

witness the joyous and maddening love of hearing that same bedtime book read aloud all over again, word for word, inflection for inflection,” Klinkenborg wrote in a column last year.

It’s this kind of joy in repetition that seems to drive sophomore Sabrina Pederson, who has read some books in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series numerous times.

“For Harry Potter, it is like memorizing it over and over again,” Pederson said. “I do it because the more I read them over, the more I know about the characters and the story.”

Again, as school librarian Ms. Riley points out, it all seems to go back to childhood.

“Little kids love reading books like ‘Good Night Moon’ and ‘Brown Bear’ because they can remember them better. They love repetitive books,” Ms. Riley said.

One reason children may love repetition is for the comfort and stability of something familiar. This may be true of big kids, as well, as sophomore Michelle Lee explained.

“I read a book several times because no matter what is going on in my life, I will always know what is going to happen in the story, and that is just a little bit comforting,” Lee said.

Blogger Julia Buckley makes this same point, suggesting that re-reading can be like visiting an old friend from your past.

“I go to meet the story the way I would an old friend, perhaps for lunch or something,” she writes on Blogspot. “I remember everything I love about this friend...it’s the same joy.”

Many people who re-read favorite books say they notice something new each time, as Lee does with Harry Potter. Klinkenborg says that he forgets parts of the book, so they seem knew. His second theory, however, takes a deeper look, suggesting that each time you come back to the story, you are a different person.

“The real secret of re-reading is simply this: It is impossible. The characters remain the same, and the words never change, but the reader always does. Pip is always there to be revisited, but you, the reader, are a little like the convict who surprises him in the graveyard — always a stranger,” Klinkenborg writes.

For Cristine, who has been returning to the “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” for four years, her life and her perspectives certainly change between readings. She is different, and the conversations she has with the book are different.

But the main character, Charlie, always seems to give her a sense of direction.

“He gets into trouble the same way that I’ve been in trouble,” Marsala said. “The way he deals with it is different than the way I dealt with it, but when I know how he went through it, it helps me figure out how to do it differently.”

Former BHS student hits big screen in summer indie film

2010-06-21T09:21:00.000-07:00

By Theresa Colella

Burlington High School has produced some famous actors, from Amy Poehler, star of Saturday Night Live and the films “Mean Girls” and “Baby Mama,” to Steven Wright, stand-up comic and actor in “The Muse” and “Coffee and Cigarettes.”

Could 2008 BHS grad Alyssa Freedman, who is starring in the new indie-film, “Sunblocked,” be the next to join their hall of fame?

Sunblocked, directed by Jessica Saccardo, a friend of Freedman, started filming last summer and is set to come out this summer (exact date undecided).

“Sunblocked” is the story of a young girl, Aloe (played by Shannon Carter), who has given up on the world. She has a bad job, a crazy family, and is still nursing the wounds of an ex-love. The only person that Aloe can depend on anymore is her best friend Derek. However, Aloe’s world is about to be turned upside down when new guy Frank comes to town. Will Aloe take a chance at a new start or let her heart remained “Sunblocked” forever?

“It’s a really funny and endearing movie,” Freedman says, “bound to put a smile on your face.”

Freedman, who has been acting since the age of 12, was active in the drama department since her freshman year, when she was in the dance ensemble of “Jekyll and Hyde.” She continued participating in the high school musicals, “Anything Goes” her sophomore year, and “Thoroughly Modern Millie” her senior year. She also acted at the Burlington Park Playhouse, and took acting classes at Huntington Theatre in Boston.

There was, however, one time on stage that meant the most to her.

“I think the experience that most shaped my acting performances was my final performance for Mrs. Ford’s drama class. I performed a monologue about child abuse in front of almost a full auditorium. Afterward, I had people I didn’t even know come up and tell me that I made them cry,” Freedman recalls.

Getting such a response was thrilling, but especially because it was a monologue.

“The thing about that performance that was different from any other I’ve done is that it was me, only me.”

“Sunblocked” is Freedman’s first acting experience since leaving Burlington High. She heard about the film from the director, Jessica Saccardo who she used to work with. When Jessica found out Freedman used to do some acting, she urged her to audition.

“It was a very relaxed process,” Freedman said. “It [the audition] had two parts, and it was honestly the most enjoyable audition I’ve had.”

In the end, Alyssa was cast as Kerri, the bubbly, flirty coworker of the main character, Aloe.

Filming the movie, however, was not as simple as one might think.

“It’s not all glamorous,” Freedman said. “I’ve had curling irons dropped on me. I’ve spilled beer all over the set,” she laughs. “Like with any other sort of production, things go wrong.”
One day during filming at Salem Willows Park, a large group of people started setting up sound equipment on a nearby stage. The movie needed footage of exactly that kind of scene so the director at first was feeling lucky. The feeling changed, however, as the group started shouting, “Praise the Lord, Jesus Christ,” over and over again. The chanting become so loud that Alyssa’s crew couldn’t do any of their own scenes because the microphones picked up every word the activists were saying. And because they were filming on public property, the crew couldn’t do anything about it.

“It was the kind of silly encounter you’d never think would happen, but it did,” she says. “Looking back now, the whole thing is just hilarious.”

Freedman grew up as one of those little girls with big movie-star dreams, and making her first film has not disappointed. She describes it as one of the greatest experiences of her life.

“Even when we need to hurry and get scenes done, [filmmaking] is fun. Even the stress is fun,” she says. “It’s like a big party every time we have to film, but not only do we get to hang out—we’re making a movie at the same time.”

Let’s hear it for the Maroon and Annoying

2010-06-21T09:15:00.000-07:00

By Jaime Gweshe

Watching the captains of the BC Hockey National Championship team throw out the first pitch in Fenway Park, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. It seems everywhere I look all I see are BC shirts, hats, t-shirts, whatever, and now they had invaded my Red Sox games. It makes me wonder if the people wearing all this BC gear actually are fans of the school or if they are just victims of successful marketing schemes.

Here are some numbers for you. Recently I talked with 20 kids who were wearing BC gear. Thirteen of them couldn’t name a player of either the BC football team or the hockey team. Nor could they name a coach from either team.

Really? You’ve got to be kidding me. I understand if you just liked the colors of the shirt, you bought it, but to wear a Super Fan shirt and not be able to identify even one player is a little pathetic. Now, if I could find more than three BU fans, I’m sure the outcome would have been quite similar for BU fans.

Even though I am a huge BU fan, I enjoyed watching the National Championship game. Hockey is hockey no matter who’s playing and it’s enjoyable to watch. However, I’m a little sick of the bragging that goes along with BC winning another national title.

Statistically speaking Boston University has won more Beanpot tournaments and national titles than BC, with 5 national titles and 29 Beanpot titles. BC has 4 national titles and 15 Beanpot titles.

But when I bring up this inconvenient truth I get one response almost every time: BU is a safety school. The only reason students even attend Boston University is because they didn’t get into the “Ivy League” that is Boston College .

First of all, what does being a “safety school” have to do with sports?

But if we are going to talk about safety schools I have a few things to say. If BU is such a safety school, why don’t more students from BHS get in? I mean, if it’s so easy to get in why are only 4 people going there as opposed to the 17 going to UMass Lowell or the 18 attending UMass Amherst?

By the way, Boston College isn’t an Ivy League school. If you’re looking for an Ivy League school, head off about six and a half miles down the road to Harvard. And Boston University isn’t like Clown College. I’d like for some of you who say it’s easy to actually try to get accepted. I promise you the outcome won’t be what you expect.

Yes, Boston College does have more select admissions, with 26 percent of applicants accepted, as opposed to BU’s 58 percent. But it doesn’t mean you’ll get in easily or at all.

“Boston University is a very competitive school,” Mr. Attubato, the head of the guidance department, told me. “We did have a good amount of students that got into there this year, but I don’t think that BU is a safety school.”

Calling BU a safety school confirms stereotypes that a few of the Terriers fans have of a large majority of Eagles fans. Pretentious, pretentious, pretentious.

This stereotype doesn’t involve all of BC’s fans, especially if you’ve grown up with family members going there or your best friend goes there. Then it’s a different story and it’s okay to do some bad-mouthing on BU and wear obnoxious amounts of Eagles gear. That’s legitimate. However, if you just like BC because they have won a few national championships, it’s the moral equivalent of being a Yankees or Lakers fan in Massachusetts.

BU also has an advantage of having a rich history. You know the 1980 “Miracle on Ice,” one of the greatest moments in the American sports history? Half of the team’s hockey players came from BU. Boston University also has had more players drafted to the NHL over the years, with 56 as opposed to Boston College’s 41.

BU can also claim Jay Pandolfo among its alumni. Pandolfo is a former Terrier, BHS alum and New Jersey Devil left winger.

I guess in the end I’m still going to be bombarded with BC shirts when I go shopping and BC hats when I walk down the hall. And it’s not that I dislike every BC fan. There are some nice ones here and there who know what they are talking about, and you can hold a conversation about how good goalie John Muse is, or Mark Herzlich’s comeback from cancer. But for the most part talking to them about their hockey or football team is like listening to an episode of Toucher and Rich’s “Ask a Pink Hat.”

No one can argue numbers; BU has won more than BC. True, the Eagles do have a nice run going on with their three titles in the past five years. But again, don’t forget the history of the sport and BU’s past outstanding and dominating achievements. Wow, I’m sounding like a Yankees fan.

Yikes.

Name That Tune!

2010-06-21T08:45:00.000-07:00

Submit your answers here for the "Name That Tune" contest on Page 8 of the print edition. The first response with all tunes correct (A through H) wins a $25 gift card to The Melting Pot restaurant...

Fill in your answers like so:

A) Hush Little Baby
B) Rock a Bye Baby
...and so on

And don't forget to tell us your name!

Four Burlington bands give us an inside look at their music

2010-06-21T08:31:00.000-07:00

By Kyla Candelino

The local music scene flies mostly under the radar, but it’s actually a thriving community of at least 20 bands. Here are four of the most promising...

CAMBRIDGE STREET

Members:
• Junior Peter DeBarros plays bass. Been playing one and a half years.
• Junior Stephen Kolifrath plays guitar and sings. Been playing five years.
• Junior Kyle Stanley plays drums. Been playing a year.

Playing as a band:
Since October 2009

Band Starter(s):
Kyle Stanley

Who named it and why:
Stephen made the name. He wanted a name Burlington kids would appreciate and recognize.

Practices at:
Kyle Stanley’s basement

First gig:
Real School of Music with Nihility and Undertow

Best gig:
Playing at Real School with Nihility and Undertow with 100+ audience

Worst gig:
Playing the Tewksbury Methodist United Church at 2:00 in the afternoon

Writing music:
Collective writing

Inspiration:
High school life

Genre:
Punk Rock

Message:
Don’t waste your high school years.

Most Challenging part:
Getting everybody to agree on something. Songs don’t work unless everybody’s into it.

Recording:
They do their own recording in Kyle Stanley’s basement with Rock Band microphones

Logo:
No logo yet, but looking for an artist to create one

Advice for new bands:
Don’t be afraid to do what you want to do with your music for fear of being judged. You have to put yourself out there and live on the line.

Extras:
Kyle Sullivan is their #1 fan.
Visit their myspace at www.myspace.com/cambridgestreet00

HAVE YOU HEARD THESE GUYS?

Members:
• Stewart plays guitar. Been playing three and a half years.
• Senior Chris LaRocque plays guitar. Been playing four years.
• Freshman Sam Cote plays drums. Been playing two years.
• Senior David Murray does vocals. Been singing since early childhood.
• Eighth-grader Devin LaRocque plays bass. Been playing a year.

Playing as a band:
Since November 2009

Band Starter(s):
Nicholas and Sam

Who named it and why:
David came up with the name just hours before their first gig. “It just came to me,” he said, and they all agreed upon it.

Practices at:
Sam’s living room

First gig:
Kyla Candelino’s 16th birthday party

Best gig:
Second 7th period band recital here at BHS

Genre:
Rock

Writing music:
Band writes music collectively and David writes the song lyrics.

Inspiration:
Playing or writing what they feel, using heavy emotions and listening to music with clever word plays

Most Challenging part:
Getting the whole band together, and communication issues

Recording:
They recorded with Chris Laskey once in his Stoneham basement studio.

Logo:
Flaming cat created by Devon Doherty

Advice for new bands:
Practice a lot, but try to have fun with it. Loosen-up when you’re on stage because playing is something you should enjoy.

NIHILITY

Members:
• Freshman in college Mike Siraco plays drums. Been playing six years.
• Freshman in college Alex Pennachio plays guitar. Been playing seven years.
• Freshman in college JT Marchant does vocals. Been singing six years.
• High school Senior John Hesson plays bass and sings.

Playing as a band:
Two and a half years

Band Starter(s):
Alex Pennachio, JT Marchant, and Mike Siraco

Who named it and why:
Mike and Alex were chilling out flipping through a dictionary one day and found “Nihility.” They saw it and knew that was perfect. “Nihility” literally means “nothingness.”

Practices at:
Alex’s basement

First gig:
BHS Battle of the Bands

Best gig:
Real School and UMass Amherst

Worst gig:
BHS Battle of the Bands for their first song

Writing music:
John and Mike write the lyrics; the rest is collective.

Inspiration:
Video games, ice pops on breaks, or long absences from playing help to motivate

Genre:
Alternative/rock/punk

Most Challenging part:
Trying to focus and getting everybody together

Recording:
They record themselves. The band has its own mixing board.

Logo:
Two different logos, one with a snake under Nihility, one with Nihility in bricks. Both have reflections that allow you to read Nihility looking down or up.

Advice for new bands:
Don’t take yourself too seriously; have fun with it. The most important thing is to have fun, or else it feels like work. When you play for fun, things flow with ease.

UNDERTOW

Members:
• Sophomore Patrick Hanifan plays drums. Been playing since 6th grade.
• Sophomore Naseem Silver plays guitar. Been playing for six years.
• Junior Gabe Follettie plays bass. Been playing four years.
• Junior Amir Rivera-Lieberman plays guitar and sings. Been playing 14 years.

Playing as a band:
Since summer of 2008

Band Starter(s):
Patrick and Amir

Who named it and why:
They were having a cookout and trying to come up with a good band name when Naseem grabbed a glass of Hawaiian punch and they started running with nautical themes. When Naseem came up with the name Undertow they all knew that would be the name.

Practices at:
Patrick’s house

First gig:
Patrick’s brother’s graduation party

Best gig:
Playing the Palladium

Worst gig:
Truck day at the town common. Amir stepped on his overdrive pedal during a slow ballad and all the trucks were honking their horns while they were playing.

Writing music:
Amir and Naseem write most of the music, then it is a collective work piecing it all together.

Inspiration:
Listening to bands such as the Strokes, Muse, Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Kings of Leon, and Incubus

Genre:
Rock Alternative

Most Challenging part:
Working around everybody’s schedule, booking gigs and setting dates, as well as keeping everybody on the same page

Recording:
They have recorded two songs with Tim Bongiovanni.

Advice for new bands:
Practice your songs “over and over and over and over and over again,” and always leave time to just hang out as friends.

Summer stuff

2010-06-21T08:02:00.000-07:00

Let Brittany Conte be your guide for student-recommended movies, concerts and day trips that are worth checking out this summer. Read on...

HOT MOVIES

Vampires + werewolves = enemies unite
Find out how the older vampires and the werewolves join forces to defeat the newborn vampires in the latest film chapter of the Twilight saga. “Eclipse” shows the unraveling drama of Bella, Edward, and everyone’s favorite, the Wolf Pack. This action-packed movie glides into theaters June 30.

Everybody was kung fu fighting
Jaden smith and his mom move to China where Jaden gets bullied and beat up. Jackie Chan offers to teach him kung fu. The master-student relationship builds as Jaden goes through training and faces the bad guys. Hitting theaters June 11.

Beware! Cute kids with violent tendencies
Andy is all grown up and going off to college, so mom has shipped the toys off to a preschool, where they have to save themselves from destructive little tots. “Toy Story 3,” the latest movie from Disney Pixar, crawls into theaters June 18.

HOT CONCERTS

From TV to a stage near you
Can’t get enough of American Idol? How about going to the Top 12 Tour? This year see all of your favorite singers up close and personal. Comcast Center July 18.

“I got a feeling” this will be crazy a concert
The Blacked Eyed Peas’ costumes and choreography will make you question, but it will only make you love them more. The group brings its category-crossing blend of pop, rock, and hip hop to the TD Bank North Garden Aug. 3.

80-plus bands in one place
A lonely guy is peeved as he is forced to watch a happy couple’s sugary-sweet romance. A boy and girl must keep their love on the down-low because they lead “such fragile lives.” Every song is a story with the All-American Rejects, one of roughly 80 bands playing the Vans Warped Tour July 13 at the Comcast Center in Mansfield. Among the other bands playing this multi-staged, all-day event are Hey Monday, Ivy League, Mayday Parade, Motion City Soundtrack, Never Shout Never, Sum 41, The Cab, The Summer Set, and We the Kings.

Don’t be scared. “Just Dance” and sing along.
When you see Lady Gaga in her bubble-dress costume, what thought comes to mind? A.) Cute dress! B.) How does she keep them from popping? C.) What a freak! In any case, with songs such as “Alejandro,” “Bad Romance,” and “Poker Face,” you have to admit Stefania Germanotta (Lady GaGa) has a pretty talented singing voice. Hear it July 1 at the TD Bank North Garden.

HOT DAY TRIPS

Good, clean, stomach-churning fun
With rides such as the Boston Tea Party, Star Blaster, and the Turkish Twist, Canobie Lake Park in Salem, NH has what it takes to get your stomach spinning round and round while you try to walk in a straight line.

Want a better beach? Try “winging” it.
Forget about Springs Brook in Bedford. That place smells weird, has too many bugs, and gets overcrowded. Head instead for Wingaersheek Beach in Gloucester. With its forever-shallow surf, white sands, and huge rocks you can climb on at low tide, this unique and somewhat sheltered spot has way more appeal – and still enough waves to bring a boogie board.

Rides for all ages
Bizarro, Flash Back, and Tomahawk will make you scream and shout! But if thrill rides aren’t your thing, Six Flags New England, in Springfield, has rides in four different categories, including “family rides” such as the New England Skyway cable car and the Shipwreck Falls water flume.

Mini golf, koi fish and ice cream
Soak up the sun at Paradise Mini Golf in Danvers. You can play mini golf, try your best at the driving range, and when you are done swinging your club you can visit Koi Pond and feed these amazing fish. Paradise also serves locally made Russ Treadwell ice cream – delicious!