More politics

Hmm agree or disagree? Very interesting.

(From an e-mail forwarded to me):


Everyone concentrates on the problems we're having in this country lately: illegal immigration, hurricane recovery, alligators attacking people in Florida...


Not me. I concentrate on solutions for the problems. It's a win-win situation.

• Dig a moat the length of the Mexican border


• Send the dirt to New Orleans to raise the level of the levies


• Put the Florida alligators in the moat along the Mexican border

Any other problems you would like me to solve for today? Think about these:

• Cows


• The Constitution


• The Ten Commandments

Cows:

Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that during the mad cow epidemic our government could track a single cow, born in Canada almost three years ago, right to the stall where she slept in the state of Washington? And, they tracked her calves to their stalls. But they are unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens wandering around our country. Maybe we should give each of them a cow.

The Constitution:

They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq... Why don't we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it has worked for over 200 years, and we're not using anymore.

The Ten Commandments:

The real reason that we can't have the Ten Commandments posted in a courthouse is this: You cannot put "Thou shalt not steal", "Thou shalt not commit adultery" and "Thou shalt not lie" in a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians. It creates a hostile work environment.

What are your thoughts on all of this?

Emily Prevost

WHS

Wickenburg, Ariz.

Interesting political cartoon

I hope this little blurb will get you thinking about our politics... and make you laugh.

Emily Prevost

WHS

Wickenburg, Ariz.

budget cuts cut rolemodels, and defies wrangler excellence

Budget cuts are seriously killing our school. It makes me super angry that our school can just cut teachers. When I spoke with Mr. Burd last week about not renewing his contract, the mannerism in which they went about telling him completely repulsed me. What happened to Wrangler excellence? When someone does a favor for you, you wouldn't normally chastise them for it, correct? Well apparently with our school that's incorrect. It is seriously wrong that the school has to cut teachers and I understand that it's not their (the school board's) fault, but seriously. Well I guess the whole point of this angry post was to say: Cutting teachers is like cutting student potential.

Amanda Aliser
WHS
Wickenburg, Ariz.

Guess where

OK, students. There are two free cookies for the investigative reporter who can tell me exactly where this silhouette is located. 


R.Burd
WHS
Wickenburg, Ariz.

Mercury spill

Adviser's note: Lucy Randazzo's post has been removed as per a Wickenburg High School administrator's order.

R.Burd
WHS
Wickenburg, Ariz.

Photo help

Tips on taking better pictures? Check this out. Click here. 
Quiz Thursday.

R.Burd
WHS
Wickenburg, Ariz.

Checking in

Greetings, marvelous staff. I'll be off again on Thursday. Cathy broke her wrist and I have to take her to  the doctor's. She'll need a cast; we're hoping she won't need surgery.

If someone could slip out of class between 1:00 and 2:30, it would be great to get some pictures of Annie. There's a matinee in the Webb center for the kids at VP or Hassayampa.

If nobody can make it, perhaps someone is going to the show Thursday night. Take a camera.

Did anyone see the article in the Sun about a WHS girl who had her iPod stolen at school? The story was in the Police Report. The school's response was that "the school has a rule that students are not to bring iPods to school." Wow. That's a compassionate posture. I guess we can be thankful the girl didn't get a referral for breaking the rules.

Thank you all,

R.Burd
WHS
Wickenburg, Ariz

A place to fall apart...

All this talk about suicide is really hard. I have had two of my great friends kill themselves within the same month. It something that sticks with you and it's something you will never forget. I went back through every conversation I had ever had with them and thought about everything. Their favorite songs, colors, what they wore, their tattoos. I remembered the good times but mainly, after they did what they did, all I can remember is the bad. I close my eyes and instead of seeing good ol' goofy Bobby smiling and laughing, I just see him lying there. Instead of Charlie all tatted up and crazy eyed like he always was, giving me a hard time for being the only girl chilling with the boys, I picture him under a white sheet.

The hardest part of everything is knowing I could have helped one of them. Charlie was at my house the weekend before he did it. He asked if he could stay and I told him he could for as long as he wanted. He came up to me and my mom and said "I need to get out of my house. I'm going insane." I could tell he was sad but just figured he was having problems with his girlfriend... God I was wrong. The worst part, the gun he used to kill himself with, he tried selling to my step dad. And he was going to buy it but said, "Nah I don't know what I'd do with it." And when Charlie told him just to take it anyway, he said no. I don't mean to but I'll always hate him for not taking that gun away from him...

Everything around you shatters when someone takes their own life. It seems wrong and unnatural. None of us make it out of this world alive. We all have expiration dates, but we usually don't control them. In a way I understand it. At least from Charlie. He was always the type to play by his rules. He ran everything in his life and nothing could stop him. I see how he would choose to do the same thing with his death. People see suicide as a cowards way out, but never in a million years will I ever call them cowards. They looked at their life and didn't like what they saw. They didn't see how it could get better. I'm not condoning suicide in any way, all I'm saying is I love these men and I will never look down on them because of the way they died. People judge people who have committed suicide. They call them weak and selfish, but it take courage to look down the barrel of your own gun and it takes courage to hold a handful of pills in your hand and KNOW without a shadow of a doubt that this is the end. It's not what's right and it's not what's accepted but I will never judge them.

I may cry and I may fall apart into a million little pieces, I may look through pictures and listen to old songs that remind me of you, I may lay in bed some days and not want to get up, I may look at your house every time I pass it and, just for a moment, see you sitting on the couch with your daughter on your lap. I may forget you. I may forgive you, but I can tell you both right now, I'll always see you as what you each are. Intense, crazy, funny, sometimes dumb, sweet, loving, beautiful, tough men.

Rest in peace Bobby Sanders & Charlie White.

Janaye Campbell
WHS
Wickenburg, Ariz.

...

Yesterday Mr. Burd showed us the story on the girl from Queen Creek who committed suicide.

I couldn't help but think about how bad the girl's problems could have been that lead her to this.

Even though we all know this is a very touchy subject.. I can't help but have some thoughts on it.

My question is: how do the people who are closest to you NOT notice that something is wrong?

I don't mean any disrespect to anyone, but why do the victims have to actually "state" what their plans are before anyone sees something is going on?

I think we all need to pay attention to our friends and loved ones because we never know the effect that one small conversation or action could have.

I had a cousin who also decided to end his own life and his death always seemed sort of unnecessary.

I felt like someone should have paid more attention and helped him out before he chose to go this way.

In the article, the girl's dad said that once someone decided to commit suicide, they will find their way to do it...

I don't know if I have the same opinion on this.

Maybe if the person considering it has someone to talk to and guide them towards an alternative, their minds COULD be changed..

I kept asking myself how closed up my cousin must have been from everyone that he thought suicide was his only option.

I have bad days, as does everyone else, and sometimes even bad weeks..

But I don't think anything is bad enough to make you end your own life..

There are many ways to fix your problems and if you can't fix them, at least try and make them better.

Fair warning

I've been having nightmares about this week ever since Dracula ended. This week's going to test everyone mentally and prove if you can handle the stress.

It's Tech Week and, oh Lord, am I dreading it! But not only is this Tech Week, this is also the week of a Government test that Mr. Stehr himself said was terribly hard. Freshman orientation is this week at EMCC, and the last week to get registered. So tomorrow at around 5 am, I'm waking up, going to EMCC to take two placement tests, get registered, come back here, go to school all day, then stay in the theater until 9 p.m.. Then on Friday, after the first show and strike, I have to go work a shift at the bar. Egads Batman! This is going to be exciting.

But, on the plus side, all my friends also help with the play, so I get a week with them. I'm writing this mainly to let all of you non-theater folks know that the people who are involved might be a bit testy. Oh, and if you have Modz, for the love of all things holy, be a good kid this week. You don't want him to unleash his theatrical anger upon you; let me tell you it's not pleasant. Well, best of luck. Cheers.

Janaye Campbell
WHS
Wickenburg, Ariz.

Racism is a touchy issue

People always seem to tip-toe around the subject of race, and with good reason. Racism has been the root of many historical problems. Generally, the term has come to describe white peoples' discrimination against people of color. White people are always the racists, the haters, the ones to blame. Although this may have some historical validity, this definition of racism has become obsolete in today's world. Racism is not only for Caucasians. Why is it that African-Americans and Hispanics can say almost anything discriminatory against white people and everybody looks the other way, but white people are immediately attacked if they are even suspected of hinting at racism? Of course, I definitely do not mean to say that people of color talk down about whites, but it happens, just as there are white racists.

Today, I read this article in Yahoo! News. It brings up a valid point on this subject: white players in basketball are often regarded as highly inferior to black players. People say that basketball is a black sport, and African-Americans are far more athletic than whites. So that's the argument they're using to defend their stereotypes? That's just as ridiculous as saying that the majority of our government is composed of white men because they're smarter and more respected than black politicians.

I believe that people of different ethnicities have grown an overly-defensive attitude toward suspected racism because of the abuse their race has sustained over the years. That time, however, has past. Colored people are fully accepted in our society, and all (or most) people are sensitive to racism. So why do some people still feel the need to attack whites? We cannot be responsible for the actions of our ancestors. To me, it seems that people of different races feel they have a free card to be discriminatory towards white people because most of us are too wary of the "racism" issue to confront them about it.

Yes, it annoys me when other schools laugh at our basketball team because all the players are white, or when a white kid wants to join the soccer team and is looked upon as an inferior player, or when I hear people refer to me or my friends as "crackers" and we have no room to retaliate. I think the whole race issue is blown way out of proportions, and we all need to forget about it and move on with our lives. Everybody loses with racism.

Emily Prevost
WHS
Wickenburg, Ariz.

Join wrestling club

Hey everybody! I just wanted to make a small announcement: Club wrestling has started up for anybody who wants to learn how to wrestle, or even if you just want to get a good workout, lift weights, etc. Guys and girls of all ages are encouraged to join on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 5:00-7:00 pm at the Hassayampa Round Gym! The cost of the club is $35, which covers full use of all the equipment, personal training, and even a personalized weight-lifting program from now until August 1st! Snacks and water are offered to all participants. Besides being a fun, intensive program in itself, it's great cross-training for other sports. Come and join anytime! No full-time participation is necessary!

Emily Prevost
WHS
Wickenburg, Ariz.