All posts by Faith Collins

Feature

High ranking students give quality school advice

Faith Collins

Online Editor 😉

Recently, students received report cards that included their rank amongst their classmates. Rank, along with Grade Point Average (GPA), will determine how colleges consider applying students. Due to this raised pressure, students are panicking to improve their grades before the end of the second semester.To help with this stress, top ranking students of each class give insight on how they get through the semester.

“I like to write summaries down for every class on my phone so that way I can make sure to get everything done. I cross it out so I can feel better and actually feel like I’m doing something,” sophomore Adriana De La Garza said.

This time of year, lots of pressure is applied to students to raise their grades in order to compete against their classmates.The buildup of pressure leads to unwanted stress, but De La Garza provides a solution.

“I have a club called ‘Meditative Study’, and you have periods of meditation with periods of study in between, so that way you’re calm while you’re studying which will help you remember,” De La Garza said.

The Meditative Study club meets Thursdays after school at 4:10 in room H209.

Trying to strengthen your GPA? De La Garza advises struggling students to talk to their teachers about questions you got wrong on tests or assignments to help them understand the material for later.

“I’m a big ‘book’ person, so I read the book, and I always take a nap when I get home from school so I can be alert while I’m studying. I do most of my studying late at night, otherwise I’m not really focused during the day,” De La Garza said.

Anyone who’s attended high school is aware of how stress can affect young minds.

“I think that [the grading system] adds a lot of stress and really degrades education because you’re focused on the grading instead of learning the actual [material], so you’re never actually gaining anything,” De La Garza said.

Freshman Shelby Crowley says she tries her best to get her school work done as soon as she gets home from school.

“Make time to get everything done and prioritize for each one of your classes. Know which classes you have to do stuff in and which classes you can wait on,” Crowley said.

Crowley is ranked 1st in the Freshman class and has developed a few study strategies she suggests for struggling students.

“Flash cards work well for any class,” Crowley said.

Although grades and rank may seem like a vital part of life at the moment, it’s important to take a step back and relax.

“Take time to destress and not worry so much,” Crowley said.

Opinion

Fast Fashion: The price we pay for trendy

Belen Cocke

Guest Writer

It’s April 24, 2013. A normal day in Dhaka, Bangladesh.Women, men, and children make their way to work, most commonly in the textile factories. Textile production moved to Asia in the 1970’s, where labor costs were next to nothing and clothing could be made exponentially faster than in the United States. As countries like China, India, and Vietnam began to urbanize, an influx of jobs drew people from their subsistence farming lifestyles to large cities such as Shaoxing or Jaipur, and the cycle began to take place: cheap labor, fast production, clothing shipped to overseas shopping malls. Production then moved to Bangladesh (where labor was astonishingly cheaper) in the 1990’s, where large multinational corporations could take advantage of an abundance of labor at low costs.

After failing to act on the employees’ complaints of structural flaws and instabilities, the Rana Plaza conglomerate building in Dhaka, where thou- sands worked to support their families, collapsed, killing 1,134 people. The Rana Plaza building was not supposed to house textile factories, only apartments and shops. But money talks, and corporations such as Benetton andWalmart were among the many brands taking advantage of cheap labor in the developing world and producing goods in Rana Plaza.

The unfortunate and unnecessary deaths at the Rana Plaza factory served as eye-opener for the world.Who is making our clothes? And for what cost?

Fast fashion is defined by goodonyou.eco as “cheap, trendy clothing, that samples ideas from the catwalk or celebrity culture and turns them into garments in high street stores at breakneck speed.” Brands like Forever 21, H&M, Zara, Urban Outfitters, Charlotte Russe, and so many more, can be categorized as fast fashion brands. Every week, sometimes even multiple times a week, a completely new collection is found in the stores.This appeals to the consumer: gone are the days of entering a store, only to find the same boring old styles and cuts that are “oh- so-last-season.” In the world of fast fashion, there is no Spring/ Summer and Fall/ Winter; there are 52 seasons, one for each week, and the consumer ought to catch up.

So, what is the issue with fast fashion? Primarily, the ethics. Here’s an example: You enter H&M, and you’re looking for a new pair of jeans. Alas! They’re on sale. And for $15! You grab the pair and purchase, and they look great for the party the next week- end. However, after a couple of washes, the jeans begin to sag, fade, and tear. You throw them out—a shame, because you just bought them 2 months ago. Sound familiar? It shouldn’t be, but this is just one example of the vicious cycle fast fashion has on us as consumers. Cheap, low-quality, expendable clothes that spend a fraction of time in a closet, only to be thrown out when they deteriorate.

To be able to manufacture a $15 pair of jeans, and still manage a prof- it, is a terrible humanitarian crisis. Not only does this equate to a lower quality item, but it means that the company selling the jeans are paying the workers to manufacture them for about 1-2% of the final selling price an hour ($0.15-$0.30) according to Washington Post, and assuming this is occuring in Bangladesh, where most fast fashion production exists, this is still vastly underpaying the workers (minimum wage was set to $65 a week in Bangladesh in 2014 as reported by Bd News 24; whereas, someone working for $0.30 an hour, 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, is only making $21.60). The only possible way to be able to pay workers a living wage would be to increase the price of the garments, which most consumers would have to adjust to, and would decrease business. So, companies like Zara, H&M, and Forever 21 keep prices low, whilst keeping quality low and ethics at the bare minimum.

Not only is fast fashion an ethical dilemma, it’s an environmental one too. According to EcoWatch in 2015, Fast Fashion is the second “dirtiest” industry on Earth, right after Big Oil.The reason for this is that the materials used in the fast fashion industry have to be cheap and disposable, so synthetic fibers such as acrylic (substitute for wool) and polyester (substitute for cotton) are manufactured and shipped to the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia and sold for dirt cheap, where they are worn a few times, then most likely thrown away or put in a charity bin.The problem is that, because the synthetic fibers are not naturally occuring, they don’t decompose well, and can take tens of thousands of years to leave the Earth, much longer than the week they spent in a mall. In addition, many of the dyes used in the clothing are cheap, and thus heavily toxic, and make their way into streams and oceans, furthering our pollution epidemic.

Fast fashion is a horrendous problem, and can only be stopped once consumers halt the demand for cheap, easy cloth- ing.The simplest way to avoid this toxic industry is to simply boycott: refuse to shop at stores that are not producing their garments ethically and sustainably, and instead shop at second hand stores or with companies that are transparent about their production process, such as Patagonia, Reformation, and Everlane. To quit fast fashion is a massive endeavor, one that will take practice and strong will—but it can be done, as long as one remembers the horrors behind the $10 sweater at the shopping mall.

News

Government shutdown impacts students

 

Seva Hester, Sally Abdul Khalek, and Sytha Beth Ortiz

President Donald Trump shut down the government on December 22, 2018, in an attempt to push for funding for the border wall between the United States and Mexico.The government temporarily reopened on January 25, 2019, for three weeks.The shutdown lasted 35 days making it the longest lasting government shutdown in United States history. During the shutdown, 800 thousand federal workers did not receive a paycheck and many were placed under financial stress as they were unable to make necessary payments.

“The economy was affected negatively by the government shutdown,” Government and Economics teacher Daniel Harmon said. “With those 800 thousand government workers out of a job, they weren’t spending and the private contractors the same thing. It adversely affected the economy.”

Senior Lyllian Garcia’s mom is one of those federal workers who was affected by the shutdown.

“My mom works for the IRS so she hadn’t been getting paid and we had to limit ourselves on going out to eat or spending on things we wanted, or couldn’t do some things we wanted to do,” Garcia said.

Since no one knew how long the shutdown would last, there was a feeling of nervousness in their family.

“Usually both of my parents work so it made me kind of nervous. I wasn’t sure how long it was going to last and was worried for how long my dad would have to provide by himself,” Garcia said.

Similarly, junior Lindsey Ault’s family was also affected by the shutdown. Ault shared that her dad works for the Department of Homeland Security.

“The shutdown, like other families, meant that we were living without a paycheck,” Ault said. “Luckily my family is smart and has a separate savings account so we were able to take from that to pay off our monthly bills like electrical and house payments. The shutdown occurred… around the holidays and we didn’t have as big of a Christmas due to it, …but we were fortunate enough to cover the expenses we had. I know other families that struggled to recover from it as easily due to the holidays.”

In Trump’s speech, the reason why he reopened the government was because of the TSA and air traffic controllers, who were calling in sick and causing the airports to become backlogged with people and delayed or canceled flights.

“They [TSA and air traffic controllers] have a very sensitive job, they have to make sure the flights don’t crash into each other in the air. And they weren’t getting paid. It was very stressful for them. Same thing for the TSA, the people who protect us at the airport.They’re both very stressful jobs not to get paid for,” Harmon said.

Trump said that after the three weeks is over, he would shut down the government again or call for a National emergency in order to push more for a wall.

“I feel frustrated that the government can’t come to an agreement when both sides have offered a compromise but neither of their compromises are good for the other side. The President has offered suggestions and Congress has as well but neither will agree to the others,” Ault said.

Harmon shared that he hopes the two sides can reach an agreement.

“I think there should be a way they can negotiate without shutting down the government.There has to be a way for it not to shut down at these times when they’re trying to come to terms with a negotiation,” Harmon said.

News

Annual Gerlach tops $1 million in scholarships second year in a row

Jennifer Gardner

Staff Writer

The 46th annual Walter Gerlach Livestock Show and Sale showcased the talents of dedicated Agriculture and FFA students including over 800 entries.The event ran from January 21-26 and raised scholarship money for the participants.

“It was very successful.We had over a million dollar sale. Currently, it looks like we may be on track to top last year’s sale. Extremely successful. [Gerlach] helped a lot of kids out for scholarship money and that kind of stuff so they can continue on with the program,” FFA coordinator Bryan Hawkins said.

Every year students raise pigs, goats, chickens, lambs, and steers all in hopes to place and hopefully make enough profit to account for the costs going into taking care of their animals.

“It’s threatening to feel [like] you’re not gonna place. It’s disappointing but otherwise it’s fine,” freshmen Elizabeth Curtis said.

Junior Kylie White, with multiple years of animal raising under her belt, had
her Pig named Gazzy placed eleventh in the light heavyweight class and won over $1950 in scholarship funds from auction.

“The one thing I can advise is [that] the show shouldn’t be the only goal you have in your head. If you’re taking part in the meat industry it is your responsibility to love that animal and give them the best life possible. It breaks my heart to see these kids that won’t even open their pen, throwing the feed over the edge of the railing and hitting their animal in the face with it rather than [having it go] into a bowl for them. So just keep in mind these animals, though their end purpose may be to feed a community, love ‘em. Because trust me, they will love you back,” White said.

Students shared that one of the most nerve-racking parts of Gerlach is having judges come to assess and critique their animals and the work they’ve put into them to show the animal in the best form possible.

“Having the judge come to you and look at your animal is scary because you don’t know if your animal is good enough or [if] the judge will say something like critical of your animal,” junior Cassidy Wheeler said.

These students devote their time, effort, money, blood, sweat, and tears in order to prepare the best they can for the Gerlach auction held on the last Saturday of January almost every year.

“Well, you don’t really start preparing for Gerlach right when it’s around the corner. Even from the first moment you get your animal you’re preparing for Gerlach.You’re meticulously training them tracking their food giving them lots of kisses and belly rubs. Everything you do to give that animal a happy life is also in preparation for this show,” White said.

They spend a little less than 8 months working on training their animals to follow their directions and make sure that they reach a good healthy weight and muscle mass. At the end of the auction, those animals go off on trailers to different states for whatever market they sell best in.

“[The] animals can go to a a number of different places. For instance lambs and goats they normally don’t stay around here in Texas they usually go off to the East Coast.Very very popular for lamb and goat meat in the East Coast. The guy who bought all the pigs takes them to California. It just depends upon what’s breeded in what species it is,” Hawkins said.

A difficult part of Gerlach is when the students have to give their final farewells to the animals they had spent months nurturing and caring for so long. Hawkins shared that while there are tears shed the day the animals are loaded up onto the trailer it does get easier for the students as they get more experienced with the Gerlach process. The time that these kids put into their animals and the evident care they show them is a testimony of the love they develop for them and the memories they carry on for the rest of their lives.

“If they’re giving back to you by giving their lives give them all of yourself. Because I could go in there not loving my animal and have a miserable experience waiting until it’s finally over or I can go in there take a million pictures of my little baby and love him until the day I say goodbye,” White said.

The Gerlach auction does not work in the same manner as one would think a normal auction would operate.The buyers don’t win the animal but instead, win the satisfaction of helping students continue on with the FFA program.

“[The buyers] get the privilege of knowing they donated their money to an organization that’s building well-rounded students who are going off and being successful and being community oriented,” Hawkins said.

Senior Jack Phipps, the Grand Champion, stands beaming with pride holding up his well deserved ribbon. Photo courtesy of Jack
Phipps.
Feature

HOSA

Austin Hurt
Staff Writer
  This past school year HOSA competed at a number of competitions including one at the
international level. They had a member get first at regionals and first at state as well as a number of
students competing internationally. HOSA has a number of competitions on a number of health related
topics, the organization is one which focuses on the medical field. Senior Ana Aviles Vargas is one of
multiple officers within HOSA who has benefited from the experience. She has been in HOSA for all four
years of her high school career.
“The mission of HOSA, the medical field is what it mainly focuses on, is to educate the people
that are in high school, also on the collegiate level, before kids get to medical school. So kids get an idea
of what the medical field will look like to see where they may be interested in going in to. We have a lot
of competitions, like veterinary science, medical terminology, as well as forensic ones. So it’s good for
science and medical fields in general,” Vargas said. HOSA has a mission to prepare high school age
students for a future in medicine.
While every competitions is a new learning experience, competing on an international level is
very different. It is a stage for new learning environments which you can’t get anywhere else.
“For me at least now I can tell our members, look I went and I did this and I had a lot of fun. It’s a
great way to network. Within the international level they always have exhibits, and they have different
doctors, highly recognized doctors, and you can talk to them and get advice, get their numbers. It is a
great way to network for high school students, and college students, who are trying to go to the medical
field. It opens opportunities for a lot people, so I’m able to tell our members from personal experience,
look this is what it did for me, I’ve been able to communicate with theses doctors, and these people, ”
Aviles Vargas said.
  Beyond the competitions there are many ways you can improve things within yourself. Like
getting out of your comfort zone and doing things you normally wouldn’t do.
“HOSA definitely taught me a lot. I know our sponsor Ms. A has a lot to do with it. It pushed me
to do things I’m normally not used to. Before I was never able to publicly speak in front of people. In
fall we spoke in front of six hundred people, so definitely moving from zero to six hundred is a huge
jump. It has guided me to where I want to go specifically, so after college what I want to study, also
things that interest me, what I want to do in the medical field. It also helps with people who think the
medical field is not for them, showing that you do need to study. Such events at competitions like medical
terminology, if you don’t study, you don’t move to the next round. So it just teaches you those really good
study habits as well, so it helped kinda guide me along the way through high school to kinda know what I
actually wanted to do,” Aviles Vargas said.
Joining HOSA isn’t a difficult task by any means. It is a simple process and if it is not for you
then there are no downsides to joining.
“HOSA is our extra curricular activity so it’s just for anybody who is interested in the medical
field. We always say come anyways if you don’t even know just so you can get to know, you can always
ask any one of the officers and they can tell you about their experience and more about HOSA. It’s just a
twenty-five dollar membership fee, you give it to our sponsors. Then we register you and then you are
officially a member. You can become a member without registering the only thing we say is if you don’t
want to compete you don’t have to register,” Aviles Vargas said.
Whether you are planning, interested, or don’t know if you want to be going into the medical field
going to a HOSA meeting can never hurt. Maybe you have no interest in the field, you can still gain so
much from joining. Anyone can join it with absolutely no cost and if you want to be a part of these
competitions it is only twenty-five dollars to register. All you need to do is bring the money to one of the
sponsors for HOSA, just head to J109 to learn more details. As do many organizations, you can get many
things from joining which can help you in high school and beyond especially for juniors and seniors who
may not exactly know what they want to do in college.
Opinion

Mental health: Anxiety

Jennifer Gardner

Staff Writer

   A student walks into class blurry eyed from lack of sleep, exhaustion heavy in every thought. Maybe they were late for school and skipped breakfast because they were cramming for exams and quizzes while juggling various homework assignments on the side. Or maybe they had to cover for someone at their part-time job where they work to save up enough money to get their first car or to stash away for college. Either way, they’re late and the teacher makes them go to the tardy station.

When they pick up their slip they go back to their class, which may or may not be having a quiz that they didn’t have time to study for during the hectic week. They stop at the door take a deep breath and walk in despite the rising fear inside of them. That’s what most people would do in this situation, but not individuals with an unhealthy anxiety level.  

“We have all of this anxious kind of thoughts but typically we just go do it. You’ll just open the door and you’ll just live with it and go through it. Somebody with [an] anxiety disorder would not be able to open the door. They would be so overwhelmed with that prospect of having those things happen that they couldn’t function. They couldn’t open the door and just take their seat,” councilor Shanna Hewgley said.

An unhealthy anxiety level can be caused by many many things, some of which might not even be evident to the individual at the time. Hewgley shared times when students having panic attacks would answer no when asked if they thought anything had caused their attack.

“You could probably tease it apart and start digging and find things that are unresolved conflicts or issues of concern that are starting to manifest and the pieces just aren’t being aligned or put in place to where those connections can be made,” Hewgley said.

Whether it be midterms, Holidays, or school work in general, stress can cause a severe negative impact on a student’s mind, body, and spirit, resulting in things such as nervousness, exhaustion and even states of depression.

One of the major impacts of stress can take on the form of anxiety; anxiety that can hinder an individual’s ability to function. There are however many ways to combat and handle anxiety attacks and help to decompress from all the ongoings of school and life. Anxiety can take many forms in everyday life, it’s your body’s natural response to stress.

Let’s suppose that with our tardy student they start getting dizzy as their thoughts run wild in their head. They think back to all the things they’ve been doing and start second guessing everything they’ve done. Have I been paying attention this past week? Have I been doing a good enough job on my school work?  

Regards to stress, what most students may not understand is that there are typically three types. According to Learnpsychology.com, these three types are Acute, Episodic, and Chronic stress with Chronic being the most hindering to a person’s potential at living their life while Acute is the most common and will usually pass with time. Students are the at the most risk for Chronic stress because of the high-pressure environment that is high school. From back-ups to failed tests to find ways to navigate new social dynamics.

Counselors are visiting classrooms and presenting information on reducing anxiety to students.

“Anxiety is just part of the human condition so its always been around just like all the other emotions that we experience as humans and anxiety has a pro-social component to where it usually encourages us to study and do things that we probably don’t wanna do but that is good for us but the level of anxiety where we’re seeing students it’s just really can be crippling to them,” counselor Shanna Hewgley said.  

Anxiety can be mild or severe including Obsessive Compulsive Disorder(OCD), Phobias, Panic attacks, Post-traumatic stress(PTSD), and more. These types of anxieties and disorders can have a detrimental impact on the individuals struggling and they should seek help.

“We offer a wide variety of services here at [school] one of them being we call responsive services. So that would be any time a student comes in with any mental health or emotional need that prevents them from being able to pay attention or concentrate in their classes,” Hewgley said.

Counselors will visit with the student and see if it’s something they can help to manage in a session in the counseling office if it’s minor the goal is to get the student back to their class and keep them from falling behind in schoolwork. Hewgley shared if the student is needing deep treatment or critical, parents and family support will be involved and the counselors will connect the family with the appropriate resources.

“Mental illness in terms of depression, anxiety disorder, [and] any of those more severe mental health issues we would first ascertain that they are getting treatment and that they’re receiving it,” Hewgley said.

Some students may just need time to decompress or talk.

“Whatever it is that they would need we offer for them within the school involvement to the best that we can without compromising their education,” Hewgley said.

The counselors encourage students to find outlets for their stress including exercise, meditation, and talking over their stress with friends and loved ones. Hewgley said the counselors are aware some students carry a heavy load of challenging courses and are involved in several activities on and off campus.

“The pressure of their classes and [managing] their life their work-life balance. It may become difficult to prioritize and to spend time as much time as you needed to each course for each project for each club for each performance and I think people just spread themselves so thin that they get overwhelmed,” Hewgley said.

Its encouraged for students to reach out and make an appointment if they are feeling overwhelmed and take the upcoming holiday break to decompress and relax. School work, grades, work, family, and friends are important but don’t hurt yourself by stretching yourself to a breaking point.

Feature

Teachers run marathons

Nicolas Weissenberg

Staff Writer

When teachers are not educating, they are usually grading papers or enjoying their free time. One way that some teachers enjoy their free time is by working on cardio and running half marathons. A single marathon is around 26 miles while half marathons are of course 13 miles.

“I run twice a year usually, I do the rock and roll marathons or half marathons, we do them in different places across the country,” English 3 AP teacher Justin Stephens said.

Stephens began running in marathons three years ago and last school year he took a leave of absence to participate in a half marathon that was set in Las Vegas. Although running sounds painful to some people, Stephens enjoys certain aspects of marathons.

“Knowing I can do it ‘cause I feel like I’m getting old and that it’s becoming less possible so I feel like the best part is taking some pride and accomplishing it,” Stephens said.

Stephens’s finds being proud and completing the half marathons as his favorite part. Though before you can complete anything, running in marathons takes some kind of preparation.

“I run about 15-20 miles a week leading up to the event. I eat pasta the night before. Other than that I just hope that I survive,” Stephens said.

High carb foods such as rice, potatoes and obviously pasta are very good sources of energy. A lot of energy is needed to complete half-marathons. Not only does running in marathons burn through your energy, but it also takes a toll on your feet.

“Shoes suffer damage and have to be replaced about every six months or so. My feet usually develop blisters and my knees hurt for about a week. So far, that has been the extent of personal damage,” Stephens said.

Even through the pain he remains proud. Dealing with the effects of running 13 miles is true commitment. Besides Stephens there is also another teacher on campus who participates in half marathons.

“I run at least three to four times a week. Last year was my first one. It’s a healthy way to relieve stress,” Biology and Anatomy teacher Kristin Pahl said.

Running 3-5 miles several times a week may sound insane to some people, but to Pahl it’s her weekly routine. Pahl has ran a total of four half marathons. Though participating in marathons is primarily to work out cardio, running them is apparently also a good stress reliever. Now onto the ground level of running. Most people usually run with shoes or at least some kind of footwear, but to most efficiently run marathons you can not buy just any shoes.

“You can’t buy cheap shoes. You have to have the right shoes. The most important thing is shoes,” Pahl said.

While running for long periods of time your shoes will endure some type of damage. Having the right shoes is the one way to ensure that you run at your full potential.

Entertainment

Celebrity deaths of 2018

Bijou Davant

Staff Writer

“Oh my gosh, I cried when Stan Lee died, because I love Marvel so much. I grew up on Marvel.” -Destiny Grullon, 12

“When I heard Stephen Hillenburg died, Spongebob was such a influential show, we grew up with it.There is never going to be another show like Spongebob.” -Cameron Green, 11

“Aaaah Stan Lee. Why! It was such a disappointment that you had to die. My favorite Marvel comics, my favorite of all was Spiderman.” -Christopher Reid, 10

“I used to watch Anthonty Bourdain as a child, he inspired me to travel the world and to try new things.” -Gabby De Los Santos, 12

Entertainment

Game of the year round up

Jordan Barton

Staff Writer

Red Dead Redemption 2 was produced by Rockstar’s Games. It’s an open world western adventure.With its universally beloved story.While a few people may complain that the story takes a while to pick up most everyone agrees the ending is an emotion-filled ride that was worth the wait. “Red Dead ( that one )was really good,” Senior James Norris said.

The attention to detail fits the impeccable standards of a rockstar with most of the game being historically accurate. Many have complained about Red Dead lacking impactful gunplay and clumsy movement. But overall this is one of the best written triple A experiences around.

God Of War is a beautifully crafted game made at Sony’s Santa Monica Studio which was based on Norse mythology. From the booming appearance of the world serpent with his bassy voice, the cast of well-acted voices and memorable characters, it was loved by many.While some complained about the confusing story and jarring ending, most playing the game weren’t coming in for the story.The God Of War franchise is an action based game with a rhythm to its combat unrivaled by most action games. The new God Of War is improved in this department. The leviathan ax is the refined epitome of the evolution of combat feel. “I thought God Of War was amazing. It was really good, the game mechanics where insanely awesome, the physics engine too,” junior Connor Mcdonald said.

With a magnetic weighty kinetic feel, throwing and catching the ax was a major selling point for the game.Take a look
at Metacritic and you’ll see the story is confusing and the ending was frowned on most everyone loved the relationship between Kratos (YOU) and Atreus (BOY!) with strong themes of parenting and raising children during hard times. God Of War is an excellent experience I would recommend to anyone with a PS4.

Spider-Man developed by Insomniac Games is a near perfect successor to Spider-Man 2 from 2004. They brought back the mechanic of webs attaching to buildings and refined the game feel that fans already loved. Although “When you jump off the empire state building you go really fast, but it feels like your normal swing speed. Physics wise it doesn’t make sense, it just makes you feel like nothing really happened,” freshman Johnny Gardener said. The modern installment was able to appeal to even the most devoted Spider-Man fans, including almost every suit he’s ever worn. It has a story that was very good and as many will say the mechanics, design, and story make you ‘feel like Spiderman’. This is going to be excellent experience for all fans of the Marvel universe, find it on ps4.

Entertainment

More than a fly on the wall: Literary review: “The Girl on the Train”

Belen Cocke

Guest Writer

Everyone loves a good adrenaline rush. To some, that means 90 degree drops on roller coasters, or all-night horror movie binging.To others, it’s a captivating, exciting book full of twist and turns; one that keeps you on your toes. I may be slightly exaggerating the shock of the latter, but for audiences more interested in literature than machinery, Paula Hawkins’ 2015 thriller “The Girl on the Train” will be a ride that leaves you with whiplash.

The novel opens to Rachel Watson, an unstable, alcoholic 20-something. She is everything that an anti-hero should be: wildly unpredictable, disorganized and obsessive. She takes the same train every- day to work and back, and has become enthralled with what she witnesses. A young couple, whom Rachel has nick- named Jason and Jess, are seemingly perfect.They live in a gorgeous Victorian home and sip coffee every morning on their bedroom balcony. She is an artist, and he is a doctor. Rachel imagines their conversations, their hobbies, their passions. This fantasy couple is the perfect escape for Rachel’s jumbled life. Unexpectedly, Jess, whose real name is actually Megan, goes missing; and her flawless facade goes with her. Rachel finds herself in a dilemma; because of her extreme attention to this couple, she might have important information that could help shed light on Megan’s disappearance. If she does this, her barely-conscious stalking of her ex-husband might emerge, as well as other damning details that could make Rachel unreliable, or worse, could get her arrested.

Hawkins switches from multiple point-of-views throughout the novel; from Rachel, to Megan, to Anna, her ex-husband’s new wife. This collection of commentary serves to ultimately solve the mystery, but more so gives us insight on these women’s lives and how complicated they are. Nothing is ever as perfect as it seems. The novel sheds light on domestic abuse, addiction, and loss, all from unique perspectives. These women who are telling the story are broken, but do not want to be defined by their flaws. Simply, they want to start to anew, but just can’t seem to shake the past, as others try to label them with it.

Some scenes that detail the ins-and-outs of abuse are extremely graphic, and it’s worthy to note that because of this, the book will not be suitable for all audiences. The novel is in no way appallingly scandalous, but it contains subjects that not everyone is comfortable reading, and that’s perfectly fine; however, if you’re not particularly squeamish, read them. Experience them. Even as fictitious circumstances, they serve as a mirror for the real world. The subject of sexual abuse and assault is a hot topic in today’s world, and for good reason. While the women in “The Girl on the Train” aren’t real, their lives look a lot like the lives of women among us, and it’s important to be privy to their struggles and experiences.

“The Girl on the Train” is thrilling, to say the least. Hawkins leads the reader on a wild goose-chase with differing leads; you suspect one person, but you are always wrong. This authentically interest- ing novel is refreshing; rarely do I read a book so captivating that I physically can- not put it down. The novel is a tad long for an afternoon read (almost 400 pages!), but still manages to give it’s readers such a good experience that it’s length doesn’t matter. The diction is understandable and conversational, which is important when dealing with such heavy topics that the novel discusses. Hawkins makes it easy for her readers to comprehend and sympathize with her characters. In short, read “The Girl on the Train”. You will not be disappointed.