chem project

chemproject!

by jesse and amanda

School’s out for summer early this year, but for all the wrong reasons.  Students may be celebrating now, but the controversy will eventually come to affect all students adversely.  As if lost class time isn’t enough, teachers will be less inclined to put effort into their work if they know that they may not be sufficiently compensated for it. 

Motivation to succeed in school is rarely a product of solely one student. It is a teacher’s job not only to teach, but to drive and support their students in every way. However, it is unfortunately too often that we hear teachers complaining about their pay.  Although most teachers willingly and happily go into roughly $38,000-a-year jobs, the district is undeniably pushing the envelope by asking them to accept even less pay than they already do.

This puts everyone in an uncomfortable situation — and while teachers bitterly continue to show up for work, students suffer under their resentful and unwilling lessons. Everyone has a limit, and teachers have mouths to feed.

A school system cannot run on false contracts and promises. It affects teachers and administration, of course, but it affects students equally and deeply. Because the children of today are the leaders of tomorrow, as long as the teachers feel apathetic and underappreciated, tomorrow’s leaders will go undereducated.

a vote like in north korea, or cuba

teachers perspective
 
by spiegs <3

chem. project

Amanda

Swine Flu

            Of the few companies blooming amidst an economic depression, Purell must be among them. The outbreak of influenza A, also known as the swine flu, is the latest epidemic troubling skeptics and health freaks across the world.

            With 1626 cases in Mexico, 2532 in the United States, 284 in Canada, and 95 in Costa Rica, only 53 deaths were claimed so far throughout the now 30 affected countries, according to WHO, the World Health Organization.

            So why are people so paranoid about the swine flu? You have a headache; it has to be the swine flu. You have a stomach ache, it’s the swine flu! Is anyone even aware of the symptoms? Of the treatments? Of the vaccine that is well on its way to being distributed among the masses? Or does the general fright created by the media overpower anyone to use their ever-so-useful computer to look up some facts? It’s really not that hard…

            To make it a little easier for everyone, the symptoms do include the most common symptoms of the regular flu, like: fever (usually high), cough, runny or stuffy nose, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills, extreme fatigue, diarrhea and vomiting and in most extreme cases, fast or troubled breathing, and bluish/gray skin color.

            In any case, the skepticism created by the day-long television reports, magazines and newspaper articles do not say that out of the 4694 confirmed laboratory cases scattered throughout all the corners of the world, only 4 countries have confirmed deaths. Unlike common perceptions of this gravity of a problem, there is a cure, and the epidemic is not immediately deathly. The mistreatment or lack thereof can result in a death, along with problems like malnutrition, a weak immune system, and other such conditions.

            So while some cautions are necessary, and going to Mexico, where the flu is most concentrated wouldn’t be advisable, wearing face masks in our sunny South FLORIDA where only 55 cases have been confirmed (none of which have resulted in deaths), isn’t necessarily indispensable.

            To put it in perspective, being that there are 18,328,340 Floridians in the United States, only .0003% of our population has been affected. That’s .000018 % of the population of the United States.

Do you feel you’ve over reacted yet?

            Well, okay. As much as the .000018% of the people that have been affected in Florida do represent a small, but still important part of our population, none of these have actually died. And although we must be somewhat worried, the incessant and unnecessary massive outbreak of paranoia is just that, unnecessary.

            So… While the numbers remain low and vaccines are well on their way, lets worry about things that we actually need to be worried about.

Of the few companies blooming amidst an economic depression, Purell must be among them. The outbreak of influenza A, also known as the swine flu, is the latest epidemic troubling skeptics and health freaks across the world. With 1626 cases in Mexico, 2532 in the United States, 284 in Canada, and 95 in Costa Rica, only 53 deaths were claimed so far throughout the now 30 affected countries, according to WHO, the World Health Organization. So why are people so paranoid about the swine flu? You have a headache; it has to be the swine flu. You have a stomach ache, it’s the swine flu! Is anyone even aware of the symptoms? Of the treatments? Of the vaccine that is well on its way to being distributed among the masses? Or does the general fright created by the media overpower anyone to use their ever-so-useful computer to look up some facts? It’s really not that hard… To make it a little easier for everyone, the symptoms do include the most common symptoms of the regular flu, like: fever (usually high), cough, runny or stuffy nose, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills, extreme fatigue, diarrhea and vomiting and in most extreme cases, fast or troubled breathing, and bluish/gray skin color. In any case, the skepticism created by the day-long television reports, magazines and newspaper articles do not say that out of the 4694 confirmed laboratory cases scattered throughout all the corners of the world, only 4 countries have confirmed deaths. Unlike common perceptions of this gravity of a problem, there is a cure, and the epidemic is not immediately deathly. The mistreatment or lack thereof can result in a death, along with problems like malnutrition, a weak immune system, and other such conditions. So while some cautions are necessary, and going to Mexico, where the flu is most concentrated wouldn’t be advisable, wearing face masks in our sunny South FLORIDA where only 55 cases have been confirmed (none of which have resulted in deaths), isn’t necessarily indispensable. To put it in perspective, being that there are 18,328,340 Floridians in the United States, only .0003% of our population has been affected. That’s .000018 % of the population of the United States. Well don’t you feel ridiculously over reactive?

ap euro

http://www.historyteacher.net/APEuroCourse/EHAPQuizMainPage.htm

spring break hw article

spring-break-hw-article

sebastian’s ultra edit. cut down from 720 words to 420.

As we approached Bicentennial Park in Downtown Miami, the furious roar of electronic music reached decibel volumes, unbearable to the common man. The sweltering mass of people danced to the vibrations underneath the causeway with their hands extended toward the DJ as if welcoming a long-awaited Messiah.

There was an inconceivable turnout at Ultra Music Festival this, its eleventh, year. And it is true what parents and preachers fear- this festival is nothing but a celebration of the terminally decadent and obscene. Within this park, there are enough drugs to send Tim Leary running for the hills and enough sonic boom to silence a Challenger take-off.

Covered by the mothership-like Main Stage, the sky could no longer be seen. Among the crowds, one could see that this was the day that all the freaks emerged from obscurity; that even the seemingly decent and All-American, morphed into wild eyed creatures, covered themselves in fluorescent paint, and ran amok in a bare-chested orgasmic frenzy.

“Hello, Miami” a robotized voice hollered from far away in the imposing stage, over the half-naked mass of freaks, creeps… All of them were fighting, mating, dancing, and medicating. The weird and the dangerous had found their perfect utopia in this reserved piece of land.

If the Star Trek series rudely copulated with Louie XVI’s court, spawned a bastard child, and named it Ultra, would that be far-fetched? Maybe. Nonetheless, a good approximation to what the festival really is like.

“It’s all about like the love, that intense feeling of like bliss… You know?” asserted an anonymous source by the kebab stand. 

It was  about 10.30 pm, one and a half hours before closing, just when this whole festival and sub-culture seemed a non-sensical excuse for brainless brutes to shove unholy quantities of multicolored pills with funny names down their raspy throats, that the common sentiment that validated all this depraved craziness was revealed.

Under the primitive roar of Carl Cox’s music and the incessant, vital drumbeats, every individual seemed to merge, to melt, into one giant collective entity pulsating in unison with the ever-increasing energy. A communion of joy.

In the end, it seemed a good time was had by all, except maybe the trampled, overdosed, dehydrated, knocked-up, knocked-down and terminally exhausted. However, they’d all assent to the notion it was all worth it; a strange feeling of universal love and understanding had prevailed if only for those two days. 

From March 28 to March 29 a striking utopia was created and peaked.

jesse library edit

It has been called “unpleasant”, “inaccessible”, and “inflexible”.  It is avoided by some but feared by many.  This is, of course, the Miami Beach Senior High School Media Center.

The library opens at 7:00, and closes with the 2:30 afternoon bell.  Therefore, assuming that calculations are correct, students have a total of zero minutes after school to work on homework or projects, meet with study groups, or change the backgrounds of the school computers to something a little more fun.

“We can’t go in to study at any time or the librarian will kick us out,” explained a frustrated Mark Zavala, sophmore.

It is true.  Upon entry, it is not uncommon to be shooed away by Frances Sciurba, [Job Title], because of meetings, seminars, or just plain spitefulness.  If you don’t proceed with caution… Well, good luck.

“She could use some hospitality training,” expressed sophomore Alex Rennert.

The policies are strict, and the enforcement is even stricter.  But the library has been so heavily rumored about, so blown out of proportion, that students have become incapable of looking beyond the surface.

Beach High, like other public schools of its kind, is not exactly a conglomeration of morality or discipline.  Though Sciurba goes about keeping order in an undesirable manner, the school ultimately benefits.

“She has tons of kids,” expressed senior Carina Grazutis, “and kids in this school can’t always be respectful towards all the equipment they have in there.”

It isn’t easy running a library of the Media Center’s size, and it’s even harder to do so singlehandedly.  Sciurba used to work alongside another full-time librarian and two clerks in charge of administrative work.  Due to budget cuts, however, Sciurba has been left alone to fill all of those positions herself.  Nobody can deny that she gets the job done (or at least a big part of it) and, according to Sciurba, she only enforces school rules.

“I do think she’s misunderstood a lot of times,” sympathized Grazutis.  “She has a big job taking care of the library by herself.”

There is no denying that her methods are incredibly unorthodox and frightening or is there rationalization for the magnitude of severity that is brought through those sullen gray doors each day at 7 am. “I’m just scared of her,” said Shantell Meneses, senior.

Fear may be the one way to ensure peace and order in a school, class or in a media center full of expensive computers and valuable books. But as long as the library doors remain somewhat inaccessible, students will continue their ill-disposed rumors and undesirable attitude towards Sciurba. Those computers do need more colorful backgrounds, after all.