Apparently, winning one hundred obscureessay scholarships is not the underground wayof affording college. If you are even luckyenough to be the one-in-a-million student whosnags the 10,000-dollar scholastic reward, thatsum does not actually reduce college tuition.Most colleges will look at the amount of thescholarship, take that quantity and deduct itfrom the amount of need-based aid they wereoriginally going to provide. A scholarship isonly beneficial to the student if it comes fromthe federal government, the state governmentor the college itself; any other kind could affectthe amount of need-based aid administered.But how is need-based aid even determined?

Part of applying to college involves fillingout the FAFSA (Free Application for FederalStudent Aid) forms.

“What a family is expected to pay is deter-mined by the federal Department of Education.There’s a formula called the NeedsAnalysis Formula. You get that byputting in financial information aboutthe family, plus how many people arein the family and how many kids arein col-lege. Itd e t e r -m i n e sw h a tthey say a family can afford topay no matter where the stu-dent goes to school,” said RayMurphy, the president ofSolutions for CollegeFunding, the largest collegeadvisory firm in New Jersey.

For instance, suppose theexpected annual family con-tribution is 40,000 dollarsand the cost of the college is60,000 dollars per year. Thecollege should make up thed i f f e r -ence of20,000dollarsi nneed-based aid. However, accord-ing to U.S. News rankings, only 62colleges in the U.S. meet 100 percentof need-based aid.

Although only nine East students(according to Naviance), since 2005,have applied to Gettysburg College,w h i c hm e e t s1 0 0percentof need-based aid and is rankednumber 46 on the U.S. News list ofbest National Liberal Arts Colleges,755 East students applied to DrexelUniversity, which meets 61 percent ofneed-based aid. And while the 61 per-cent is already a disadvantage, that61 percent may not even be com-prised of entirely no-strings-

attached money, meaning part of itcould encompass taking out student

loans or work-study (getting a job on cam-pus).

As important as the percentage of need-based aid is, the percentage of studentswhose need was fully met is equally, if notmore, significant because it is telling as tohow the percent of need-based aid is divided.Take Pennsylvania State—University Park,for example. While the school meets 56 per-cent of need-based aid, only 6 percent of stu-dents’ need is fully met, meaning a largemajority of that 56 percent most likely con-sists of loans as opposed to free money.

Returning to the expected family contribu-tion, that sum is not necessarily the trueprice a family can afford to put forth eachyear. Financial assets such as the amount ofequity paid on your home, money in yourname and student income (if you have a jobthat pays 6,000 dollars a year or more) allcome into play. The twisted philosophy isthat in order to avoid putting a student indebt, parents can indebt their families bytaking money out of what they have alreadyput down on their mortgage and putting it

toward collegetuition. So, ifembarking on awitch hunt forscholarships on

sites like Freewebs is not going tomake any difference, how can a stu-dent attend an ideal college for themost efficient cost?

East guidance counselor Mr.Roberto Figueroa said, “If yourGPA, your transcript and yourstandardized test scores are real-ly good comparatively to a schooland the numbers it has, it is agood idea to apply there, [espe-cially if] it’s a tier one or tier twoschool, meaning the school gets

a lot of money from the alumni soit has a lot of extra money to give.

Since there’s such a small percentageof accept-ance [ats u c hschools] ,t h e

schools are often able to give stu-dents a lot of money in order toattend the school.”

Another option is to simply ensuret h a tt h eschoolt o

which you are applying meets a sig-nificant amount of need-based aid,as not all schools provide merit aid,such as Northwestern University,Vassar College and the Ivy LeagueColleges due to the implicit aca-demic excellence that resulted inacceptance. These may be themost practical approaches for col-lege-bound seniors, but for a col-lege advisory firm, like Murphy’s,the ideal student is actually a

sophomore or junior.

Vol. 47 No. 4 Cherry Hill High School East: 1750 Kresson Road, Cherry Hill, NJ 08003 December 2012

www.eastside-online.org

Inside This Issue

Making cents out of financial aid■ By Danielle Fox (‘13)

Eastside Editor-in-Chiefmeets 93.5% of need

61%

100%

90%

99%

82%

88%

100%

100%

90%

100%

58%

69%

89%

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

99.7%

92%

Eastside used the FAFSA calculator to determine how the Expected FamilyContribution is determined. To learn more information about colleges and financial

Aid, visit eastside-online.org for collected statistics.

# of

People inHousehold

4

# ofParents

and Age of Parents

(48 and 45)Parents’ Total

Income

186K

46Kvs.

30K

EFC

Reality

AdjustedGross

Income191

Untaxed

Income12K

Savings

Equity

1.5K

Invest-mentEquity

15K

Home 180

If parents have a child in col-lege, the EFC for a college-bound

sibling should be cut in half.Parent age suggests if a parent

is close to retiring, they mayhave a retirement fund.

The Expected FamilyContribution is often much

higher than a family can afford.

Total taxable income - deduc-tions = Adjusted Gross Income.

Untaxed income is the incomeexcluded from federal income taxation under the IRS code.

Includes both savings for thecollege-bound student and any

savings of the student’s siblings.

Flags and dollar sign byJoel Greenspan (‘13)/Eastside Art Director

College student by ZoeGreenhall (‘13)/ EastsideArt Director

See COLLEGE, pg. 2

School-based movieaids cancer research

News/Features Pg. 3

Kind citizens fundhurricane reliefSpecial Pgs. 12-13

Pizza brain dishes out dough

Underground Pg. 17

NEWS/FEATURES Page 2 EASTSIDE December 2012

While walking throughthe hallways, it is easy tospot girls who have theirwrists adorned with allkinds of jewelry paradingup their arms. Makingfriendship bracelets andother jewelry is a hobby formany of them. However,Melissa McHattie (’14) notonly makes jewelry, butsells it, too.

McHattie began sellingbracelets in May on thecraft website etsy.com. Shestumbled across this web-site looking for bracelets tobuy for herself.

McHattie said, “I alwayswear a ton of bracelets,[and] I was just searchingfor bracelets online

through Google, and then Ifound some through etsy.”

McHattie has made jew-elry ever since she was lit-tle, and, at one point,friends started to tell herthat she should look intoselling her bracelets.Remembering etsy, shetook their advice and setup an account to begin hersales.

McHattie currently sellsone type of handmadebracelet—a colored hempbracelet with tiny beadsintertwined. Each custombracelet costs four dollarsand takes her between 20to 25 minutes to make.

“My bracelets are madeto order, so Idon’t have anyp r e - m a d e , ”McHattie said.

O r d e r splaced throughetsy allow thecustomer tochoose his orher own color ofstring andbeads. Mostc u s t o m e r sorder three orfour braceletsat a time, butMcHattie haseven sold quan-tities of sevenor eight. Her

biggest order was fourteenbracelets.

McHattie has receivedorders from all over the

world, including Canada,France, England, NewZealand, Portugal andeven Hong Kong. Ofcourse, she sells manybracelets to United Statesresidents, too.

“I feel like I’ve sentthem to most states [in theUS],” McHattie said.

McHattie wants to gointo the fashion industry,and selling her custom-designed bracelets is thefirst step in that direction.

When asked about herfavorite part of the jewelry-making process, she said,

“To me, I just think it isreally cool that peoplewant to buy and wearthings that I’ve made.”

McHattie enjoys takingthe common hobby of mak-ing jewelry one step fur-ther.

She said, “For people toalready start buying stuffthat I’m making, that’spretty cool.”

To purchase jewelryfrom Melissa McHattie,check out her etsy page atwww.etsy.com/shop/liss-abellax

■ By Kaylin Magosin (‘14)Eastside News/Features Editor

It hasbeen aq u i e tm o n t hfor theBoard ofE d u c a -tion. Ast h es c h o o lyear isa lready

well underway, the currentboard members and all thedistrict administrators arevery happy to hear thatthe 2012-2013 school yearis off to a great and pro-ductive start in the entiredistrict.

The Cherry Hill SchoolDistrict adopted a newmission statement, adher-ing to the New JerseyCommon Core StateContent Standards. Thenewly instituted goalsinclude provisions to con-tinue improving studentachievement at all gradelevels for all students andclose achievement gapswhere they already exist.They also created a cost-effective budget thatprovides for educationalresources, as well as pre-ventive maintenance andongoing facilities improve-ment in all schools, andenhances communicationwith outreach to internaland external stakeholders.These newly implementedchanges have resulted inconsolidated goals withbroader specificationpoints to articulate CherryHill’s mission to preparestudents to be knowledge-able, responsible, caringand confident members ofsociety.

On November 6, alongwith selecting a candidatefor President of the UnitedStates, Cherry Hill votershad the opportunity toelect three new schoolboard members for athree-year term. Thisyear’s candidates wereKathy Judge, ColleenHoriates, Barry Dickinsonand Wayne Tarken. Judge,Horiates and Dickinsonreceived the most votes.

The board hopes thatevery Cherry Hill parentcame out to vote, not onlyfor the presidential elec-tion, but also voted fortheir preferred boardmember. As your parentsknow, every vote counts. Inconjunction with thenewly instated electionchange from April toNovember, the Board ofEducation committees andchairpeople have beenupdated with the newterm as of October.

Please stay tuned formore Board of Educationinformation. As the schoolyear progresses, many pol-icy and logistical changesthat affect students moreclosely will be imple-mented. Please feel free tocontact Andrew Adler orme with any question orconcerns.

BeccaFisher (‘13)

Board ofEducation

Representative

Angie Pacitti (‘13)/ Eastside Photo EditorMcHattie poses with her frienship bracelets.

Angie Pacitti (‘13)/ Eastside Photo EditorBeaded braclets made with hemp.

Melissa McHattie: making, selling and profittingfrom bracelets sold to destinations around the globe

It’s a new school year. Every studenthas a new schedule with classes on dif-ferent days and different times.Although the new schedule may seemintimidating, the new Block Schedul-ing app can help.

The app was created by AlekKosinski (‘13) for KosiDoss Apps and isused to help students and teachers“navigate through the complicatedworld of block scheduling,” according tothe app description in the App store.

Unlike regularly scheduled periods,block scheduling cycles through a six-day schedule. The app helps bothCherry Hill East and West studentsand faculty manage their schedules.

Kosinski said, “I thought the newschedule app would benefit studentsand teachers since all you need to do iscarry your phone around with you andyou basically know where you aregoing.”

When students purchase the app,

they first choose the school they attendand then enter their class informationinto the app. The app automaticallycalculates their entire schedule for theyear. One additional feature is the cal-endar category, where a person can seethe entire year from September toJune. Also, in the set-up category, astudent can see which day of the sched-ule it is.

Within every app there are someflaws. One flaw is that there is no wayto change the schedule if a studentdrops or adds a class. Also, the calendaris duplicated in both the “set-up” por-tion of the app, as well as the desig-nated “calendar” section of the app.Still, these small bugs are nothing toharp on.

The Block Scheduling app is a handyapp when a student forgets or loses hisor her schedule. There are some usefulfeatures on the app that can help a stu-dent or staff member manage the newschedule throughout the year. Theprice is 99 cents for iPads and iPhonesonly in the Apple store.

Block Scheduling app facilitates new agenda■ By Neil Davis (‘13)

Eastside Staff

Continued from pg. 1

“January 1 of the junioryear is the date to whichalmost all of the collegeslook back to see about yourfinances, so if there’s any-thing we’re going to helpyou adjust, you want to doit before that date. Afterthat date, things could beused against you,” saidMurphy. “There are laws offinancial aid just as thereare laws of taxation. It’sjust taking advantage ofwhatever you can to fityour particular family toget that family contribu-

tion as low as possible.”But seniors past Mur-

phy’s deadline can negoti-ate with schools if theirexpected family contribu-tion is higher than theamount their family canafford. Dara Weinraub (’09)and her family wrote anappeal to The University ofSouthern California andreceived more money as aresult.

She said, “If you write aletter of appeal, then itcould work in your favor,but in my situation, theamount of money they’vegiven me each year has

decreased, so my familyand myself still have tocontinue to come up withways to make up for theamount that I do have topay.”

Figueroa noted thatmany colleges are willingto work with students ontheir aid.

“It’s definitely some-thing that people don’ttend to think about doing,contacting the college andsaying, ‘Look, I’d really liketo go to your school, but it’sstill extremely expensive.How do we make thiswork?’ A lot of colleges do

have extra funds theysave for things like that.Some of them will workwith you to get moremoney; the only issue a lotof the time when you getthat extra money is some-times it’s loans,” saidFigueroa.

The financial aid systemseems complicated, butthere are two very simplesolutions to it: find a schoolthat meets close to 100 per-cent of need and/or a schoolwhere you are better thanthe average student toincrease merit aid opportu-nities.

Screen shot by Kaylin Magosin (‘14)/ Eastside News/Features Editor

App description in the appstore.

How to manage college tuition without inducing stress

Logo by Joel Greenspan (‘13)/ Eastside Staff

“Mockumentaries lookat a serious situation andthey profile it. Education isserious, but, at the sametime, there are some ludi-crous and ridiculous lawsthat force educators [to dothings] that we, as educa-tors, can’t and shouldn’tdo.”

For six years, Mr. Char-lie Musumeci has devel-oped, written, produced,acted in and awaited therelease of his own work ofart: a mockumentary. AsMusumeci explained, thistype of production ac-knowledges any type ofblunder, and through com-edy and sprinkles of exag-geration, the movie sud-denly becomes a burlesqueof the situation.

The mockumentary, fit-fully titled Ain’t NobodyLeft Behind, chidesPresident Bush’s No ChildLeft Behind Act of 2001.

“The No Child LeftBehind Act that I signedinto law is raising stan-dards for student achieve-ment, giving parents moreinformation and morechoices, requiring moreaccountability from schoolsand funding education atrecord levels,” said GeorgeW. Bush regarding the act.

“This movie is a satire.It pokes fun at somethingreal. This specifically pokesfun at education,” Musu-meci said.

Musumeci worked withanother director, RichReiner, who is familiarwith the Hollywood scene.One particularly com-mendable aspect of thisfilm is the utilization ofEast faculty members asactors. Although there areabout forty to fifty speak-ing roles, faculty such asMr. Greg Gagliardi, Mr.Bob Hulme, Mrs. Jane Abo,Mr. Matt Carr, Mr. KenSmith, Mr. Keith Kovale-vich, Ms. Julie Bathke andmany others contributed toMusumeci’s endeavors.Musumeci tried to refrainfrom using too many pro-fessional actors since hewanted to mostly use “realpeople.”

The movie was featuredin a one-time showing atthe Rave Motion Picturesmovie theater in Voorheeson November 7. All of theproceeds were donated tothe Sloane Kettering Can-cer Center out of Musu-meci’s great appreciationfor their help in treatinghis cancer.

Shot mostly in the hallsof East, and partially inLos Angeles, the movie rec-ognizes the many faults ofthe act, including cheatingscandals and the futility ofalways including “every-one.”

“In East’s fall and springproductions, we usuallydouble cast the roles togive more people chances;however, in the movie, wemocked this by castingthirty-five Juliets in the

making of Romeo andJuliet,” Musumeci said.

Mr. Pete Gambino alsocontributed greatly to theediting of this production.Though Musumeci directed

and wrote the movie,Gambino mixed all theingredients together toform the end product.

“My favorite thing aboutthis whole experience wasbeing able to sit down with

[Mr. Musumeci] and spendSaturdays with him forlike three months. He istruly a great guy, very nice,very genuine, and whatyou see with him is reallywhat you get,” Gambinosaid.

Although the mocku-

mentary was filmed atEast, Musumeci stressedthroughout the processthat the preposterous inci-dents feigned in the pro-duction are in no way tar-

geted at East. The movieregards a fictitious highschool, Tiuta High, thatserves as a prime exampleof a typical school exercis-ing all of the flawed stan-dards represented in the

No Child Left Behind Act.“At Tiuta High, we are

supposed to be soengrained in academicsthat we had to change theschool mascot from theLions to the Testeesbecause we’re always tak-ing tests.”

Musumeci explainedthat the film should exem-plify all of the major imper-fections of the act. Manyof the issues that resultedafter the initiation of theact revolved around cheat-ing epidemics. The NoChild Left Behind Act basi-cally threatened teachers,implying that if their stu-dents did not achieve cer-tain exam scores, thenthose teachers would befired. Musumeci gave anexample, saying how afterthe law was enacted,instead of just having mostof a class pass a test, nowalmost everyone had topass. There were variousincidences in which teach-ers fed the students thetest concepts and answersout of fear of being dis-missed.

“We were trying to show,in the movie, how the gov-ernment is dysfunctionalwith overseeing education.What we found was wewere just as dysfunctionalfilming a movie about edu-cation. We found humor inwhat we were doing. Therewere so many funny out-takes that we decided tomake fun of ourselves aswell, and at the same time,make a movie,” saidMusumeci.

The first twenty min-utes of the picture showthe actors messing aroundand enjoying their timetogether on set. It wasimperative to Musumecithat, although the movieshowed condemnation forthe consequences of theNo Child Left Behind Act,the audiences would ap-preciate the work forthe incorporation of humor.

“It is not politically cor-rect. It’s a movie,” Musu-meci said.

Since the No Child LeftBehind Act consequential-ly inspired the discharge ofsome teachers, manyteachers needed to be hiredas replacements. In Ain’tNobody Left Behind, thenewly hired teachers lackthe necessary credentials,some of whom were noteven certified in teaching.Musumeci’s mother playsan elderly woman who ishired to teach a HomeEconomics course, yet sheis not a certified teacher,nor is she in a state to beteaching since she residesin a nursing home. TiutaHigh also hires a mechan-ics teacher who is a crimi-nal.

“Seeing the passion forhis film, and then his will-ingness to bring me on to something that he reallycared about so much justso easily and openly,that’s probably my favoritething about him,” saidGambino.

Musumeci’s long-termcontributions to Ain’tNobody Left Behind havetruly shocked, amazedand inspired all particip-ants and viewers through-out the production proc-ess. Nobody was leftbehind.

NEWS/FEATURES December 2012 EASTSIDE Page 3

■ By Kayla Schorr (‘14)Eastside News/Features Editor

The mostunique qual-ity of the sen-ior class rep-resentativesis that theywant to “goout with abang.” Thisyear has

brought about a sense ofunity that makes us feellike a family needing todefend our title. The SGAreps this year have beenplanning fundraisingevents, like Movie Night,and brainstorming ideasfor Senior Prom, while try-ing to publicize them. I’malready so proud of us, andthe year has just begun!

The SGArepresenta-tives of 2014make up thebackbone ofthe juniorclass SGA.W i t h o u tthem, little ton o t h i n g

would get done. The mostunique thing about ourreps, in my opinion, is thatall of them, including theofficers, are great friends.Outside of school, for themost part, we all hang outand are able to talk to eachother easily. Being thepresident, I could not askfor better reps.

The SGAclass repre-sentativesall con-t r i b u t egreatly toour success.They helpthink of

many ideas as well as dis-tribute important infor-mation to the rest of theclass. The most amazingthing about them is thatthey never ask for thethank you that they trulydeserve and are alwayswilling to put in the extraeffort.

The mostu n i q u easpects of mySGA repshave to bethe charis-ma, intelli-gence andcooperationthat they

demonstrate on a dailybasis. They try their bestand always want to putforth their ideas. At times,it’s even too much, but weare still adjusting. TheSGA reps fulfill the day-to-day tasks, such as brain-storming and getting theword out.

“We were trying to show, in themovie, how the government is dysfunctional with overseeing

education. What we found was,we were just as dysfunctional

filming a movie about education.”

Ain’t Nobody Left Behind: mocking govern-mental decisions in a humorous manner

Courtesy of movie trailerMr. Carr portrays a vice-principal at Tiuta High.

Courtesy of movie trailerMr. Musumeci and Mrs. Abo supervise and critique ateacher, played by Musumeci’s mother.

Courtesy of movie trailerMr. Musumeci’s mother plays an elderly woman teach-ing a Home Economics class.

Class presidents answer:What are the most

unique aspects of yourSGA representatives and

what are their duties?

PaulomiBanerjee

(‘13)

AbeGranoff

(‘14)

Sam Amon(‘15)

KennedyOmari(‘16)

Logo by Joel Greenspan(‘13)/ Eastside Art Director

NEWS/FEATURES Page 4 EASTSIDE December 2012

WeAsked...

If you couldbe any cerealbox charac-ter, whichone wouldyou be?

If you had ahidden

treasure,where wouldyou hide it?

If you couldmix threeanimals,

which threewould they

be?

What is astrange, but

delicious,food

combina-tion?

Robin Brown(’16) The Cocoa

PuffsBird

By mybed

A robin,a dogand a

monkey

Potato chips and

pizza

TarekAbdelkader

(’13) Tony theTiger

(FrostedFlakes)

In the backyard

A horse,a gorilla and

a donkeyGreen peas

and rice

David Nahum(’14)

Tony theTiger (Frosted

Flakes)

In the

libraryA lion,

a monkeyand a

narwhal

Fishsticksand

custard

Mrs. Peifer

The LuckyCharms

guy

Inmy

backyard

A dog,a pigand agiraffe

Peanutbutterand

bananas

Pierlott revives economics program at East

It is not too often that a teacherhas the opportunity to create aprogram from scratch. But in hisfirst year teaching at East, Mr.Marc Pierlott has essentiallydone just that. Pierlott is reviv-ing the economics program, aprogram that was absent fromEast for the past three years.With a background in business,advertising, sales and market-ing, as well as a previous teach-ing position at Carusi MiddleSchool, Pierlott is more thanqualified for the job.

“It doesn’t present itself thatoften to build a program [fromscratch] and make it my own,”Pierlott said.

He is currently creating anentirely new program, supple-menting the old economics text-book with a more current oneand using online resources andhands-on learning opportunitiesto make the classroom experi-ence more interesting and inter-active for students. Pierlott triesto explain economic theories innew and interesting ways, suchas playing games in class, likeeconomics baseball, to learnabout supply and demand, aswell as creating widgets to learnabout diminishing supply.

“I was told by a professor thateconomics was really a vocationalstudy, that it’s not theory; it’s real-ly applying it. What I try to do isspend the right amount of timeexplaining and demonstrating theprinciples, but then even moretime having the students practic-ing those principles and puttingthem to different situations,”Pierlott said.

At East, Pierlott is teaching twoAP Economics classes. “For me, Ithink what [economics] boils downto is the decision-making processand how to make the best deci-

sions possible based on the infor-mation you have. What we focuson in economics is the scarcity ofresources; you try to do the bestyou can with limited resources.These choices are important

choices because they affect every-one. The choices the governmentmakes or a person makes affectsthe country and/or themselves. Itry to teach them how to use theirlimited resources, whether it bemoney or time as a student,”Pierlott said.

Students at East will be ableto gain more than one perspec-tive when taking the course, asPierlott focuses on both micro-economics and macroeconom-ics. Microeconomics primarilyfocuses on one person or com-pany’s decision-making, whilemacroeconomics focuses on awhole industry, government or

society and its decision-making.“Primarily the first semester is

micro and the second semester ismacro, but we will be focusingmore on micro,” said Pierlott.

Those students who successful-

ly take the class will be eligible totake both the microeconomics andmacroeconomics AP exam, withsuccessful students earning sixcollege credits after passing bothof the tests.

Pierlott recommends thateveryone take the course, not nec-essarily just those interested inentering the business sector in thefuture.

“I believe that [economics class]would certainly help any-one…it will prepare you [to bea business major] but thecourse itself will benefit youas an individual because itwill explain your role in socie-ty and the government’s rolein society, among otherthings,” Pierlott said.

Pierlott has high hopes forthe course.

“My long term goal is todevelop this and to make itmy own, to make it a popularcourse. I want to make itsomething that the studentsenjoy, [a class] that they get alot out of. Hopefully it canbecome a highlight that theylook back on, something thatthey got personal value out of,something that they wereable to take out into thefuture no matter what thepursuit might be,” saidPierlott.

He added, “In the end, Ihope that the skills the stu-dents walk away with are not

only an understanding of eco-nomics, the market and busi-

ness and how decisions are madeon a governmental level, but alsoon a level where they can makesharper and better decisions abouttheir own purchases and their ownresources and time.”

■ By Jenna Wilson (‘15)Eastside News/Features Editor

Andi Leff (‘14)/ For EastsidePierlott brings a new perspective to the economics program at East.

Logo by Joel Greenspan (‘13) and art by Zoe Greenhall(‘13)/ Eastside Art DirectorsPhotos by Jenna Wilson (‘15) and Kaylin Magosin (‘14)/Eastside News/Features

Editors

For over 25 years,Indian Maidens, amother-daughtercommunity servicegroup, has beenhelping people in ourarea. Local mothersand daughters gettogether once amonth to work ondifferent communityservice projects, suchas raising money foranimal shelters andCHOP.

Every year theDecember commu-

nity service projectis Christmas carol-ing at Saint Mary’sNursing Home inCherry Hill. Everymother and daughterbring one gift for theseniors to ensurethat they will havesomething to open onChristmas day. Theysing and then visitwith the residents atthe home. The resi-dents thoroughly en-joy singing along andthe maidens lovebeing able to bringa little holiday spir-it to the nursinghome.

To Brian Zoubek, starting centerof the Duke Men's Basketball 2010National Championship Team, bas-ketball has always been natural.Starting his own cream puff busi-ness, however, has not.

As a child, Zoubek neverdreamed of becoming a pastry chef;but, as he is 7' 1” and a basketballplayer, eating was always on hismind.

Zoubek graduated from Duke in2010, and pursued a career in bas-ketball until injuries preventedhim from going any further. Hethen decided to attempt a businessventure with other Duke alumni.Zoubek, a college U.S. Historymajor, had never counted businessamong his pasttimes, but he de-cided to try with a small tech com-pany in New York City. However,Zoubek soon realized that his pas-sion did not lie with this company.

“In March, I made the decisionthat I wasn’t liking what I wasdoing. You wake up too many morn-ings in a row, look yourself in themirror and ask, ‘do I want to bedoing what I’m doing today?’ And itgot to the point where there weretoo many days in a row when I didnot like what I was doing. I did nothave an idea of what I was going todo yet, I just did not want to dothat,” said Zoubek.

After this revelation, Zoubekpondered his next move. Fortu-nately for him, he was in New York,and he became inspired by theniche pastry shops that sur-rounded him. The pastries re-minded him of his second greatlove: cream puffs. This eventuallyled him to open up a small creampuff store in his hometown,Haddonfield, NJ.

“I knew that I wanted to start

my own thing, my own business.I just sat down at a desk oneday. This cream puff idea hadalways been a reoccurringtheme, and I knew that if Ididn’t go after it now, I prob-ably would never do it. I’dprobably regret it if somebodyelse did it, or if I had not done itten years later,” Zoubek said.

Zoubek never anticipatedthe amount of work thatwent into creating asmall business. Afterrenting the store inApril of 2012,Zoubek startedconstruction thefollowing monthin an attempt toopen the storeas soon as possi-ble. On July 30,Zoubek’s store,Dream Puffz,became a stapleof Haddonfield.

“Fortunatelyfor me, I thinkit was a goodthing that I hadno idea what Iwas doing whenI started be-cause if Iknew theamount ofwork that Iwould have todo, or the amountof stuff that Iwould have to getthrough, it’s apretty dauntingtask. Everythingthat I thought Ihad to do wasquadrupled interms of things Ididn’t think of, orsurprises that cameup, or problems that

arose, whether it be with deal-ing with hiring people. That’sone of the toughest thingsyou’ll ever have to do: dealwith people. The othertoughest thing is the govern-ment. Getting past regula-tions, getting past all that

kind of stuff. But, you have totake it one day at a time

and realize that stuffis going to gowrong,” Zoubeksaid.

Z o u b e kp l a n n e de v e r y t h i n gfor his shopmeticulous-ly, down to

the finaldetail: thename. He didnot want hisname at-tached to thestore, want-ing the in-tegrity of thecream puffsto carry thebrand. But, hedid want thename to standout among thebakeries thatoccupy Had-

donfield.Zoubeck bakes

the cream puffsfresh himself everyday.

He wants tobring the bakingbusiness back to thebasics by preparingeverything fromscratch, avoidingany premade pre-servatives thatenhance the shelflife of products.

But Zoubek does not wantDream Puffz to be the only store forhis cream puff creations. He hopesto create another store in NewYork, eventually branching out thebusiness throughout the UnitedStates.

“Basically I picked Haddonfieldbecause I didn’t have much experi-ence in the industry, I did not havemuch experience baking, I neverworked in the food industry, andcoming from basketball, I did nothave too much time to hone mybusiness skills. I think it can dowell in suburbs, but really it’smade for the city in terms of cater-ing large offices, large events. Ithas that youthful, urban feel to it. Ithink it can work in the suburbs,but it’s ideal for the city. The ideais to have one regional baking cen-ter and then a lot of little retaillocations, where you don’t need tohave that overhead of having thatentire pastry chef division orkitchen in your back area,” Zoubeksaid.

Less than a year since its grandopening, Dream Puffz has certainlybecome a hot commodity within theHaddonfield neighborhood, draw-ing customers near and far to thestore for the delectable assortmentof cream puff designs. Needless tosay, fans do stop by to get pictureswith the famous basketball player,but the store has truly grown intoits own, attracting a fan base sepa-rate from Brian Zoubek’s.

“If you’re going to start some-thing, start something new, some-thing unique, and make sure to goafter it. And don’t let what anybodyelse says influence you. Becauseyou’re the only one who has theright vision. Don’t listen to yourfriends, or your family, don’t listento anybody who hasn’t done exactlywhat you are doing before,” Zoubeksaid.

COMMUNITYDecember 2012 EASTSIDE Page 5

■ By Darby Festa (‘13) and Sherin

Nassar (‘13)Eastside Sports Editor and Eastside Managing Editor

Photo of Zoubeck by Bogdan Vitoc (‘16)/ Eastside StaffPhoto of cream puffs by Angie Pacitti (‘13)/ Eastside Photo Editor

7’ 1” Brian Zoubek holds a tray of his cream puffs from Dream Puffz bakery located at 605 N Haddon Ave., Haddonfield.

Big man meets little pastries

Compassionate FriendsTherapeutic Riding Centerlocated in Medford, NJ, is aplace where disabled chil-dren and adults can learnto ride horses while work-ing on different methods oftherapy. The program wasinitiated in 2009 by ownerand instructor SherriBriggs. She decided to be-gin the program after suf-fering many injuries in herlifetime and using thera-peutic riding to overcomethem. Lessons includeworking on speech, follow-ing and listening to in-

structions and physicaltherapy with Briggs andnumerous volunteers. Vol-unteers can work with thestudents by guiding thehorses and helping the stu-dents with their balanceand posture. Volunteers donot have to have an inter-est in horses or be a spec-ific age to participate.People who volunteer atCompassionate Friendsfind the work they do inter-esting and rewarding andenjoy being a part of some-thing so unique and spe-cial. If you are interestedin volunteering, pleaseemail Briggs at sherribrig-gs@comcast.net.

■ By Nina Goodman (‘16)For Eastside

■ By Danielle

McCormack (‘13)For Eastside

Logo by Zoe Greenhall (‘13)/Eastside Art DirectorTwo students discuss volunteer opportunities in the community. If you volunteer, please tell us about it in our next issue! community@eastside-online.org

In 2008, the idea for aschool garden sprouted atBeck Middle School afterthe whole school read thebook “Seedfolks” by PaulFleischman. The book con-tains short stories about agirl who starts a garden inher community. In the sto-ries, people from differentethnic groups in the com-munity come to plant cropsthat represent their home-lands. This community gar-den grows as more peoplecome to plant. The gardenhelps the contributorsgrow as people.

Beck librarian Mrs.Ramona Bregatta said,“[After reading the book]we started thinking,wouldn’t it be cool if wecreated our own garden?”

Beck students, parentsand Cherry Hill commu-nity members work oncreating a garden for theBeck community, which islocated next to the tenniscourts at Beck.

The garden is usuallyplanted in the spring, andthis past year Beck fami-lies helped maintain it overthe summer. This fall, thestudents worked in thegarden as well. SpringdaleFarms has also helped toplow the garden.

The school usually usescold-weather crops. Lastyear, one team (learningcommunity) had a salad-making party by using thecrops grown in the garden.Any leftover crops aredonated to a food bank.

The garden was not animmediate success—thefirst year all of the crops

were eaten by deer. Thesecond year, a Beck familydonated a fence and water,but the crops were plantedtoo late. Within the pastyear the garden has grownto be really successful,thanks to the help of theschool and community.

Two boy scouts, LiamMahoney (’14) and AlanJarvis (’14), worked a lot onthe garden in order to com-plete their Eagle Scoutproject. Mahoney workedon the collection of rain-water and Jarvis workedon the raised garden beds.There are 18 raised beds in the garden for the ninedifferent teams at Beck.The PTA gave Beck themoney to put a new fencein.

“The garden was openedto the community thissummer and people could

rent the [raised beds] toraise money,” said Jarvis.

The boys learned valu-able life lessons and skillswhile working on the gar-den.

“[Working on the gar-den] taught me the impor-tant skills it takes to be aleader rather than a work-er, and to plan, plan, planbefore you work because itcan really help in the longrun,” said Mahoney.

The garden has become

a huge success in helpingthe students and staffbecome more environmen-tally friendly and in teach-ing the students the impor-tance of connecting withnature.

“[The garden] helps usbe a little more connectedto our food source and theenvironment,” said Breg-atta.

Hopefully, this connec-tion will last for manymore seasons to come.

COMMUNITYPage 6 EASTSIDE December 2012

The Make-A-Wish Foun-dation is devoted to grant-ing sick children’s wishes.It has been grantingwishes to children with ill-nesses since 1980. Chil-dren between the ages oftwo-and-a-half and eigh-teen, who have been diag-nosed with life-threateningconditions, may be eligiblefor a wish as long as theyare medically able to par-ticipate in whatever theirwish calls for.

The mission of TheMake-A-Wish Foundationis to enhance the lives ofchildren with life-threaten-ing illnesses. The founda-tion does this by granting‘wishes,’ or fulfilling de-sires that these childrenmay express.

The foundation was cre-ated in 1980. ChrisGrecius, a typical seven-year-old boy, wanted to be apolice officer. Unlike mostseven-year-old boys, Chrishad leukemia.

When Chris’s motherbecame friends with U.S.Customs Officer TommyAustin, Chris had thechance to be a police officerfor a day. On April 29,1980, Chris's wish came

true. Unfortunately, Chrisdied on May 3, 1980, butnot without completing hislife-time dream.

After attending Chris’sfuneral, Officers FrankShankwitz and Scott Stahlreflected on the happinessof Chris and his motherLinda, while Chris’s wishwas being granted. Theyrealized that this happi-ness could be given toother sick children. Alongwith Chris’s mother andother contributors, theydecided to start a founda-tion called the ChrisGreicius Make-A-WishMemorial to help makeother children’s wishescome true. This foundationlater became known as theMake-A-Wish Foundation.

Children all around theworld have the opportu-

nity to have their wishesgranted. In fact, every 38minutes, a wish is grantedto a sick child.

New Jersey is no excep-tion. Here, wishes aregranted all of the time. TheNew Jersey chapter of TheMake-A-Wish Foundationhas granted wishes to go tothe 2012 London Olympics,to Australia to experienceancient culture and to theBMW Factory in Germany.

Melanie, a 15-year-oldgirl who was diagnosedwith leukemia, was grantedher wish by the Make-A-Wish Foundation to have amodeling portfolio.

In a video on makeaw-ish.org, she said, “It feltamazing with everyonetaking pictures and feelingpretty.”

Darren, a cancer pa-

tient, chose to give back ashis wish. He is a footballplayer and Darren wantedto give new uniforms to histeam and school.

“Make-A-Wish haschanged my life by bring-ing people closer togetherand making my familystronger,” said Darren.

The costs of the wishes

are covered fully by thehelp of donors and volun-teers.

“As of [the foundation's]current Fiscal Year, theaverage cost of a wish is$8,500,” said L i n d s e yPritzlaff, the Director ofCommunications at theNew Jersey chapter of TheMake-A-Wish Foundation.

The Make-A-Wish Foun-dation has brought joy andbliss to ill children for over30 years.

The foundation succeedsat its goal of making sickchildren's worries meltaway for a day by grantingtheir wishes.

Scientists are comingcloser and closer to findingcures for life-threateningdiseases, but until they do,wishes will always begranted.

■ By Julia Rothkoff (‘16)For Eastside

Wishes granted to sick New Jersey children

Jenn Cha (‘13)/ Eastside StaffChildren sleep in a pedriatric ward as a fairy grants their wishes.

Garden blossoms at Beck Middle School ■ By Rachel Cohen (‘15)

Eastside Community Editor

Photos by Roni Clothier (‘14)/ For EastsideThe garden is located next to the tennis courts at Beck Middle School on Cropwell Road.

OPINIONSDecember 2012 EASTSIDE Page 7

We all know what itlooks like: the red cylindri-cal shape seen from acrossthe room at a social eventor a family get-together. Itis the red Solo cup. Afterpouring the Diet Coke oriced tea and raising it up tosip, you catch a glimpse ofthe bottom and notice therecycling symbol, clearlydenoted with a number 6.

The red Solo cup isamong many other prod-ucts that contain the sym-bol in order to encourageconsumers to recycle; how-ever, the products are notactually recyclable.

Companies that putrecycling symbols on non-recyclable items are simply

confusing the consumers. Ifwe cannot trust the compa-nies that we buy our prod-ucts from, who can wetrust? The truth is thatplastic corporations areusing recycling symbols tolure the consumers in andmake them feel like theyare doing a good deed bybuying products that arerecyclable.

A lazy and somewhatcareless culture sees achance to eat off of a plateand then simply throw itout, therefore not requiringa messy clean-up in thefuture. In a further affrontto our shared world, thesame population would noteven recycle these prod-ucts, tossing them into thetrash and within a matterof hours, forgetting the

product ever existed andcontinuing on with theirday.

Many also believe thatcurbside recycling is help-ing, and it is—but for thosewho actually have it. Ac-cording to Tapped, a moviebased on the plastic indus-try and plastic water bot-tles, about half of the U.S.has curbside recyclingwhile the rest does not.Everyone should haveaccess to curbside recy-cling whether it is outsideof your home or on thestreet.

According to the PlasticPollution Coalition, 93 per-cent of plastics are not putin recycling bins. Why isthis, you might ask? Onlyabout half of Americans donot have access to recycling

in their homes. Thereshould be a recycling binon every corner in everymajor city and outside ofevery homeowner’s houseon trash day. People do notrecycle because they areuneducated about the sys-tem, some do not knowwhere to put their recy-clables and some have no-where to put them.

It would be a miracle ifall of America had curbsiderecycling and actuallyrecycled. It would be a mir-acle if plastic corporationswere mandated to removethe recycling symbol onproducts that are not recy-clable. Unfortunately, thisideal is currently unrealis-tic in a society reliant onan economy dominated bylarge oil and plastic corpo-

rations.Although it is impracti-

cal, there are other wayswe can make a differ-ence without the help ofthe government. If peoplewho buy Styrofoam plates,plastic utensils and cupsrealize that those materi-als are not recyclable, theycould make a huge differ-ence.

If reusable water bottlesinstead of plastic bottlesare used, it could minimizethe amount of plastic lefton the Earth long aftermankind. If we encouragerecycling, we could changethe way we reuse all typesof products in the state,country and world.

Remember: before youfill up that plastic cup,reach for a glass instead.

■ By Molly Schultz (‘14)For Eastside

Recycling symbols affect the environment

We have a new question totest one’s supermarket experi-ence, and it is a lot less conven-tional than the old “paper orplastic?”

This time around, itis just plastic.

However, thequestion still

stands: tax orban?

T h efact is thatp l a s t i cservesas oneof thew o r l d ’ smost wast-e dp r o d -u c t st o d a y.A b o u t50 billionplasticbott lesend up inU n i t e dS t a t e slandfillsevery year,and that isjust bottles.When itcomes to plas-tic bags, the worldconsumes from 500billion to onetrillion everyyear, and it isestimated that theU.S. alone contributes 100to 380 billion of those bags.It seems like it is time to cutout the plastic bag alto-gether... or at leastcharge for it.

The cost of makingthese bags goesfurther than justwaste in landfills. Ina world where oil isscarce, the productionand transportation ofplastics steals eight per-cent of yearly global oilproduction. The plastics in alandfill in the U.S. have theequivalent of 139 barrels of oil,or 783 billion cubic feet of natu-ral gas. However, plastic compa-nies do not want this informa-tion to reach the masses.

“If you ask people what a

plastic bag is made of, they won’tknow,” said Roni Clothier (’14), amember of East’sEnvironmental Club.

Plastic materials in landfillscan take up to one thousandyears to decompose, meaningthat we have millions of tons ofplastic that will continue to pol-lute water sources that will not

biodegrade anytime soon.Instead, they are endingup in the oceans wherethey break down into

t h o u -sands of

small particles that fish con-sume. Plastics in the ocean arenow held responsible for thedeaths of 100,000 animals everyyear.

Sam Kell (’14) said, “I thinkplastic bags are fine if we recyclethem, but too many peopledon’t, so there should be some-thing to deter people from using[them].”

Exactly.A Cherry Hill plastic bag tax

may be just what people need.Many other

c o u n t r i e sh a v e

a l r e a d yf o u n ds u c -

c e s swith this,

m o s tn o t a b l y

Ireland. In2002, Irelandput a 33-cent tax

on plasticbags, and in

just a coupleweeks, baguse wentdown by 94percent.

M a xG r o s s m a n

(’13) disagreedwith the tax.

“I use thelittle bags I

g e t

f r o mthe store as trashbags [at home], and itwould be more costlywithout them,”Grossman said.

Still, there are largercosts to our continuingdependence on these bags.According to the EnvironmentalProjection Agency, in 2010 onlyeight percent of plastics wereactually recycled. Although thisnumber has increased in recentyears, there is still a lot of plas-tic throughout our seas that isending up in the stomachs ofanimals.

Plastic bags cost more thanthey are worth, and those stillwilling to use them should helppick up the tab.

■ By Sarah Robbins (‘13)Eastside Staff

Paper or plastic, tax or ban Do YOU want tobecome eco-friendly?Follow these simple

steps!1. Recycle: It is estimated that atleast 80% of what theaverage family tossesinto the trash bin canbe recycled. On aver-age, that could mean afamily would save

5,000 hours ofenergy if they choose to recy-cle.

2. Check for the symbol:Many materials used forpackaging have the recy-cling symbol on them toindicate that they are, in

fact, recyclable. Shop with yourown reusable bags when groceryshopping.

3. Turn off the lights:Turning off the lightswhen they are not need-ed saves energy andcuts down electric billcosts. Incandescentlight bulbs give off 90% of theirenergy as heat and only 10% aslight. Leave window blinds open touse natural light rather than lightbulbs.

4. Turn down the thermo-stat: By turning your ther-mostat back 10 to 15degrees for 8 hours, youcan save 5 to 15 percent ayear on your family’s heat-ing bill.

Information courtesy of1. http://www.greenearth4energy.com2. http://energy.gov

Art by Zoe Greenhall (‘13)/ Eastside Art DirectorArt by Rachel Pacitti (‘15)/ Eastside Staff

OPINIONSPage 8 EASTSIDE December 2012

Every student has mul-tiple interests. Yet many ofthese unique interests arenot addressed in East’slimited curriculum. How-ever, independent researchprojects allows students tofurther their own inter-ests. Among countless ben-efits, research projectshave proven to be anengaging way to challengestudents.

“[Independent researchprojects] force students tothink for themselves,” saidAlyssa Poletti (’15), a cur-rent Research in Science(RIS) student.

East’s RIS programallows students to conductindependent research proj-ects in the science field. Yetresearch can be conductedin any subject area. All stu-dents should have theopportunity to experiencethe benefits of independentresearch. Students shouldbe required to conduct atleast one year-long inde-pendent research projectduring their four years ofhigh school.

In middle school, theInformation Literacy Pro-ject (ILP) gives students ataste of independentresearch. In high school,students can build uponthis experience.

For example, althoughthe ILP focuses onresearching through theInternet and books, at thehigh school level, studentswould also consult higherlevel sources, such as pro-

fessional experts, doingoriginal research or citingprimary sources.

Cullin Poresky (‘15), anRIS student, noted thatthe program allows stu-dents to do things thatthey would never be able todo in an ordinary class.

“It lets you work off ofyour own creativity,” saidLuke Bonanni (’15), an RISstudent.

Independent researchprojects teach students amultitude of skills theywill need for their future.

“In higher education, fora job, you need to be able todo research,” said SrihariShankar (’15), another RISstudent.

Also, conducting inde-pendent research places alarge responsibility on thestudent. Students mustorganize their projects andmanage their time effec-tively, skills necessary forfuture success.

With the help of an advi-sor, students would largelybe responsible for moni-toring and reflecting upontheir own progress, impor-tant skills to learn.

The project would cul-minate in a presentation,in the form of a paper, oralreport, or documentary,through which studentswould hone their commu-nication skills.

Every student has atleast one interest that isnot addressed in typicalschool curricula. Indepen-dent research projectsallow students to learnabout a topic that intereststhem while learning valu-able life skills.

Independent Research■ By Gilana Levavi (‘14)

Eastside Opinions Editor

Julian Assange’s rights still being violatedJulian Assange: high

tech terrorist? That seemsto be any mainstream cor-porate media’s answer toWikiLeaks’ notoriousreleases of classified infor-mation of internationalgovernment abuse. It isnot surprising that govern-ment and corporate mediaare not fans of the site.Unlike Daniel Ellsberg’srelease of the Pentagonpapers in 1971, WikiLeaksis accessible to the average

individual. Any personwith Internet access canwatch, comment on orshare the exposed abusesof governments and corpo-rations.

As of December 4, As-sange has been detained inthe Ecuadorian Embassyin London, England for725 days. He has not beencharged of any crime, yethe cannot travel to Ecua-dor, where he has beengranted political asylum.It is a known fact that theUnited States had beenworking to extradite As-

sange to the U.S. and al-ready has a sealed indict-ment against Assange. TheBritish police had beenplanning an official raid onthe embassy until UnitedKingdom ambassadorsdeclared that it is unprece-dented and illegal, accord-ing to international law, toraid the embassy of a sov-ereign nation.

While the U.S., GreatBritain and Sweden areviolating Assange’s rightsunder international law topolitical asylum, the moveto keep him detained andto have mainstream mediaattack him as “a mon-strous narcissist” or a “sexpest” can be seen as themost extreme present-dayattack on freedom of ex-pression.

Assange’s name is oftenattached to that of BradleyManning, the man whoallegedly passed informa-tion to WikiLeaks thatexposed the torture ofIraqi citizens and gaveWikiLeaks 251,000 diplo-matic cables, which sup-posedly helped trigger theArab Spring. Also, as ofDecember 4, Manning hasbeen detained in Virginiafor 922 days without atrial (the legal maximumin the U.S. military is 120days). The U.S. govern-ment has tortured him to

try to force him to testifyagainst WikiLeaks andAssange. For so serious aviolation of national law,one would think thatmainstream media wouldtake a greater interest inthe dangerous precedentabout to be set.

“At [Manning’s] pre-trial hearing there was asmattering of mainstreammedia... They’re not therenow. All of the Americannetworks were there forthe first couple of days, butto be quite honest withyou, they were looking atpictures of George Clooneyand shopping for weddingshoes in the press poolwhile this trial was beingconducted. That is a fact. Iwas there, and I saw themdoing it,” said AlexaO’Brian, an independentjournalist currently re-searching the BradleyManning trial and the U.S.investigations into Wiki-Leaks and Assange, in aninterview with JamesGreen, another independ-ent journalist.

We as readers have thepower to choose our news.Assange has made it clearthat the agenda of an inde-pendent media site, likeWikiLeaks, is to facilitateaccess to information toproduce the most well-informed electorate. By

turning a blind eye to thestrife men like Assangeand Manning are facing,we not only discredit theirhuman rights, but we alsoset a dangerous precedentfor the way governmentscan control freedom ofspeech.

In a speech to the UNGeneral Assembly, Pres-ident Barack Obama said,“Those in power have toresist the temptation tocrack down on dissent.”

Acknowledging thesewords in his own addressto the UN, Assange said,“There are times for wordsand there are times foraction. The time for wordshas run out. It is time forthe U.S. to cease its perse-cution of WikiLeaks, tocease its persecution of ourpeople and to cease its per-secution of our allegedsources.”

It is time for the U.S. toend the crusade againstthe messenger and to focusinstead on the message.But what happens whenthe audacity of hope shriv-els up into vacuous rheto-ric?

Governments and politi-cians may hide behind it,but its people must notremain so misguided, for ifthey do, the worst thingthat they can lose is theirvoice.

■ By Danielle Fox (‘13)Eastside Editor-in-Chief

Courtesy of viberated.comU.S. smothers Assange’s freedom of speech.

OPINIONSDecember 2012 EASTSIDE Page 9

■B

y Rach

el Tin

kelman

(‘13)

Eastside Humor Editor

There hasbeen a lot of hype over

the past few years con-cerning the safety of certain

food products on the Americanmarket, including various juice

products brought to the attention of thepublic by a book entitled Squeezed by Alissa

Hamilton. The misleading advertisements used by juicecompanies to make their products more appealing to the public

have really gotten consumers riled up.About 20 lawsuits have sprung from the heated debate over

Tropicana’s and other leading juice companies’ use of the words “all natu-ral” concerning their orange juice. The problem is that according to the Foodand Drug Administration, “all natural” has no specific definition, but as long asthe product in question has no added color, artificial flavor or added substances,the claim to “natural” checks out. Because of this, more and more companies arehiding under this vague, loosely defined term.

The pasteurization of orange juice eventually takes away the flavor of the oranges, whichis why many consumers prefer to drink freshly squeezed orange juice, or juice they consider tobe “natural.” To give their consumers the taste of freshly squeezed orange juice promised by adver-tising, many leading manufacturers use flavor packs to enrich the flavor and scent of the juice, as wellas to keep it uniform all throughout the year.

Angelena Lewis, the California resident who inspired other consumers to take legal action by suingTropicana in the lawsuit that started all the commotion, points out in her complaint that the shelf-life of freshlysqueezed orange juice could be no longer than two months, whereas the shelf-life of Tropicana orange juice is really much longer. Orangejuice is concentrated, pasteurized or freshly squeezed, and all products must indicate which they are. Although the label on Tropicanajuice cartons states that the juice is pasteurized, tiny words printed on a carton hardly draw as much notice as the big attention-grab-bing “all natural” on the front of every box.

The complaint states that “Tropicana is well aware that consumers want and demand natural products, and it seeks to take advantageof that consumer preference by deceptively promoting and marketing its NFC juice as ‘100 percent pure and natural’ even though it hasbeen pasteurized, deareated, stripped of its flavor and aroma, stored for long periods of time before it ever reaches consumers and then fla-vored before it is packaged directly into the carton.”

Another misleading advertisement commonly used by juice companies is the claim of American-grown oranges. Other countries do nothave the same laws concerning food safety as the United States does, so homegrown foods are often more appealing to consumers, as wellas safer. For example, many American apple juice companies import apple concentrate from China (which does not ban the use of arsenic inpesticides), making the risk greater for the arsenic level in apple juice to go above the maximum 10 parts per billion. Similarly, a fungicidethat has been banned in the United States protects many oranges grown in Brazil, the world’s leader in orange production, and thereforenaturally a leader in the sale of flavoring packs. These flavoring packages are in part made from various oils extracted from the skin of theoranges, the part that comes in contact with fungicides. This particular fungicide which is illegal in the United States, Carbendazim, hasbeen proven to cause infertility in high doses. According to Hamilton, the author brought many of these issues to light, many companiesdo not share information on the origin of these flavoring packages and are not, as of yet, required to do so.

Deceptive advertising is a highly volcanic and important issue in the world of consumers and food production companies. Before thelawsuits against Tropicana and other orange juice makers, companies such as Ben & Jerry’s, Tostitos and Snapple have been exposed forother similar misleading statements. Companies need to learn that in order to mitigate the rising public criticism that has been troublingthem over the past several years, it will be necessary to make a return to honest advertising, if such a thing has ever existed.

Service Learning builds character

Ideally, schools aresupposed to teach skillsthat will help studentssucceed throughout therest of their lives. Unfor-tunately, any skills thatare not strictly academicare overlooked from ascholastic standpoint andare disregarded in thecurriculum.

It seems that publicschool education rarelyencompasses one impor-tant facet of learning:community service. In-cluding community serv-ice in the school curricu-lum would be beneficialboth to students and tothose receiving the serv-ice, as it would build char-acter and enrich the com-munity. With the excep-tion of some ambitiousstudents, many teens donot regularly do commu-nity service because itseems intimidating, bor-ing or too time-consum-ing. The implementationof compulsory serviceassociated with schoolwould introduce teens toother ways of living andwould inspire them topursue projects of theirown later in life.

Multiple organizations

are set up for this pur-pose, such as the NationalS e r v i c e - L e a r n i n gClearinghouse and Learnand Serve America.Theseorganizations work toimplement service-learn-ing initiatives in schoolsacross the country. Buthow does service-learningdiffer from regular com-munity service?

As the National Serv-ice-Learning Clearing-house site says, “If schoolstudents collect trash outof an urban streambed,they are providing a val-ued service to the commu-nity as volunteers. Ifschool students collecttrash from an urbanstreambed, analyze theirfindings to determine thepossible sources of pollu-tion and share the resultswith residents of theneighborhood, they areengaging in service-learn-ing.”

This special learningapproach gives self-worthto students while teach-ing problem solving,teamwork and the basicsof social action. A studythrough Learn and ServeAmerica shows that“effective service-learningprograms improve grades,increase attendance inschool, and develop stu-

dents’ personal and socialresponsibility.”

All of the skills learnedthrough service wouldcontinue to appear in theclassroom.

Cherry Hill East caneasily incorporate servicelearning into electiveclasses that do not re-quire large amounts ofacademic output. Afterstudying murals in aclassroom environment,art classes could paintmurals to beautify urbanareas. An environmen-tal studies class couldhelp clean up a pollutedarea and discuss theeffects of the specific pol-lution. These suggestedprojects would let stu-dents and teachers inter-act in a non-traditionalway and would createbetter communication inthe classroom amongpeers.

Service projects arealso a great way for stu-dents to become involvedin their communities andto form relationships withlocal businesses andorganizations.

With all of these oppor-tunities and positiveexperiences that service-learning could introduce,the possibilities are trulyendless.

■ By Amanda Friedman (‘14)Eastside Staff

Juice companies falselyclaim “all natural”

Juice carton art by Madison Stern (‘13)/Eastside Staff

Orange art by Zoe Greenhall (‘13)/ EastsideArt Director

SPECIALPage 10 EASTSIDE December 2012 December 2012 EASTSIDE Page 11

Image courtesy of HuffingtonPostLocal New York City physician Dr. Dave Ores wasopen for business the Tuesday after the storm hit.He accepted and treated any patients that neededhis help.

Coming together to help as one: Americans dogood after the devastation of Hurricane Sandy

Image courtesy of Roxbury TownshipRoxbury Township in New Jersey is holding a cere-mony to honor all of its citizens who helped after thehurricane, including first responders and the police.

Image courtesy of Hypervocal.comChicago resident John Turner stands with a check after winningthe lottery. Turner was among the early responders in New Jersey,and has decided to donate a portion of his winnings to the Hurri-cane Sandy relief efforts.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the tri-state area

banded together to help those affected by the storm. TheSalvation Army has over 26 divisions within the state ofNew Jersey that reach people in almost every county inthe state. As of November 16, they have collected over4,800 pounds of clothing valuing over 12,700 dollars. Anew website, yougivegoods.com/contest, allows people togive a monetary donation to The Salvation Army andchoose where they want the goods purchased with theirdonation to go.

Spark Relief has created an online interactive mapthat displays areas in need of donated goods. You canalso donate through its website, sparkrelief.org/disaster/hurricane-sandy. The website offers locations of sheltersand places to find power and food for those still affectedby the storm.

Additionally, another online map was created by thestudents at Franklin High School in North Jersey afterthe hurricane. These students created gas maps showingwhere available gas stations were and other locations forpeople to find gas.

HOW THE GOVERNMENT HELPED: The government declared Hurricane Sandy a Major

Disaster on October 30. Atlantic County, Cape MayCounty, Essex County, Hudson County, Middlesex Coun-ty, Monmouth County, Ocean County and Union Countywere all given direct federal assistance. In New Yorkstate, over 69,000 people registered for FEMA and morethan $75 million in assistance was approved for thosepeople. In New Jersey, over 49,000 people registered andmore than $31 million in assistance was approved. InConnecticut, over 2,400 people registered and more than$368,000 in assistance was approved. These people willreceive food and shelter through government agencies.Additionally, due to the fuel crisis, the Defense LogisticsAgency purchased up to 22 million gallons of multiplekinds of fuel to distribute to citizens in need through 10fuel sites set up by FEMA in the New York and New Jer-sey area. Residents came to get gas not only for cars, butalso for generators and other necessities.

HOW CHERRY HILL HELPED:Each elementary and middle school in Cherry Hill col-

lected different goods to donate to the hurricane victims.The student council at Johnson had a pretzel sale tobenefit the American Red Cross, separate from thedistrict-wide goods drive. Cherry Hill West had a jeansday, which raised over five hundred dollars for the Amer-ican Red Cross. They also had a volleyball fundraiser,which benefited the American Red Cross as well. Manychurches are accepting donations of food and clothingthrough the Knights of Columbus organization to donateto those who need relief in the Cherry Hill area. East stu-dent Sophia Santo (‘13) also sold cupcakes to raise moneyfor Sandy victims.

RELIEF CONCERTS AND OTHERFUNDRAISERS:

There have been numerous relief concerts to raisemoney for victims, the biggest of which was ABC’s star-studded “Hurricane Sandy: Coming Together” telethon,which included performances by Christina Aguilera andBon Jovi. The relief concert raised over $23 million. Fol-lowing their lead, there were numerous other benefit con-certs in the area, such as the “Benefit at the BrooklynBowl,” a relief concert in Long Island, and a relief concertin Wainscott. Additionally, ABC held a telethon thatstarted with “Good Morning America” at 5 a.m. and last-ed until “Jimmy Kimmel Live” at 11 p.m. They raisedover $17 million for those affected. Additionally, MTVhosted a “Restore the Shore” fundraiser that featuredmultiple high-profile celebrities, like Taylor Swift andNikki Minaj. The casts of MTV’s shows “Jersey Shore”and “Teen Mom” were in New York answering thetelethon’s calls. The telethon aimed to attract theyounger crowd: those who donated got an “MTV songbundle” and were able to purchase “Restore the Shore” T-shirts, the proceeds of which went to Architecture forHumanity’s Seaside Rebuilding Fund.

Image courtesy of The HuffingtonPost Newark Mayor Cory Booker invited residents without power to hishouse for food and electricity through his Twitter account.

Image courtesy of guardian.co.ukThe Cuban government is offering subsidies and loanson building materials for the thousands of Cubansaffected by Hurricane Sandy. All building materials are50 percent off, which will help the families rebuild themore than 200,000 Cubans’ homes that were damaged bythe storm.

Cuba andHaiti werealso in the

path of Hurri-cane Sandy.

Both countrieswere deva-

stated; theywere hit by aneven strongerSandy thanthose of us

along the EastCoast of the

United States.

■ By Jenna Wilson (‘15)Eastside News/Features Editor

Looking on the bright side:How Americans are helpingeach other during HurricaneSandy, and how you can help

Brittany Nghiem (‘13)/ Eastside Photo EditorA New Jersey home that was destroyed by the hurricane.

Brittany Nghiem (‘13)/ Eastside Photo EditorA trash pile after the hurricane.

East coast by Zoe Greenhall (‘13)/ Eastside Art DirectorCuba and Haiti by Joel Greenspan (‘13)/ Eastside Art Director

EDITORIALPage 12 EASTSIDE December 2012

Editorials represent the views and opinions of the Eastside Editorial Board.

Managing Editor: Sherin Nassar Editors-in-Chief: Jack Braunstein, Juliet Brooks, Danielle Fox

News/Features EditorsKaylin Magosin Kayla SchorrJenna Wilson

Sports EditorsDarby FestaGreg FrankMike Reisman

Community EditorsRachel CohenEmmy Silverman

Underground EditorsNick Mitchell Bryan Sheehan

Opinions EditorsAbby HoffmanGilana LevaviAmy Meyers

Entertainment EditorsRebecca Cohen Joe Incollingo

Humor EditorsZack BeckerRachel Tinkelman

Photo EditorsBrittany NghiemAngie Nguyen Angie Pacitti

Video EditorThomas Hudson

Radio ManagerDylan Fingerman

Art DirectorsZoe Greenhall Joel Greenspan

Contact theBoard:

To contact a member ofthe Eastside EditorialBoard via e-mail, typethe person’s first namefollowed by a period,then his or her lastname followed by

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(Note: There is a dashbetween

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In the last week ofOctober, HurricaneSandy struck the EastCoast of North America,devastating states unac-customed to hurricane-force winds and rain, andpounding against theBarrier Islands on thecoast.

Obviously, the mediacovered this—big time.

But what the Amer-ican media has devotedless attention to is thedevastation to areas out-side of the United States,such as Haiti—whichfared far worse in the dis-aster than the East Coastdid.

While the wreckageleft by the hurricaneshould not be underesti-

mated in any area, it isunfortunate that theUnited States’ mediafocused so heavily on theNorth American side ofthe disaster that somepeople were not evenaware that Sandy had hitHaiti and Cuba. Forinstance, in Cuba, powerwas not restored in someareas until over threeweeks after the hurricanehad passed. That meansthat halfway throughNovember, Cuban resi-dents were still livingwithout electricity; norefrigerators; no lights;no central heating or airconditioning. In somecases, no hot water.

To put Sandy’s impacton countries outside of

the United States intoperspective, it is believedthat the storm and othersthat came after it killedat least sixty-six peoplein Haiti, eleven people inCuba, two in the Baham-as, one in the DominicanRepublic, one in Jamaica,and one in Puerto Rico. Inthe United States, over120 people died.

Yes, there were morestorms in Haiti afterSandy—the United Na-tions estimates that 90percent of Haitian cropwas destroyed in thefloods that came with therain. Roughly 1.5 millionpeople are now at risk ofmalnutrition becausethere will be no crops inHaiti until the next har-

vest season in March.But a lot of Americans

are unaware of the devas-tation occurring in othercountries because themedia did not focus onthese non-American trag-edies.

American indifferenceexpands beyond this hur-ricane, and it is impera-tive that we take note ofthe issues in other coun-tries.

Whether or not wedecide to act upon thedevastation that comesfrom international trag-edies, we should be awareof their occurrence. Thisway, the American peoplecan develop informedopinions about issues inthe world today.

Americans should be globally aware

In November, the Cherry Hill Board of Education,with the help of school administrators, decided to add anextra 30 minutes of instruction to the beginning of eachschool day, starting at the beginning of the 2012-2013school year.

While we acknowledge the advantages of an extra 30minutes during each school day, Eastside opposes thischange due to the negative implications the schedule hasfor students and faculty alike.

If the school day starts at 7:30 a.m. instead of 8 a.m.,students are deprived of an extra 30 minutes of sleep.Though a half hour may seem insignificant, the extrasleep is vital for students who already have problemsgetting their recommended eight hours of sleep eachnight due to schoolwork and extra-curricular activities.Students should be responsible for getting their appro-priate amount of sleep, but in a school that encouragesstudents to push themselves academically and to getinvolved after school, this is not always possible.

Furthermore, students will not be the only demo-graphic negatively affected by this change. Facultymembers will also need to start the day 30 minutes ear-lier, causing problems for teachers with small childrenneeding care in the morning. Most of these teachersmust take their children to day-care centers, many ofwhich do not open early enough for teachers to get theirchildren there and still be in school on time. A rushedmorning for teachers could lead to worse morninginstruction, defeating the purpose of the extra 30 min-utes and potentially ruining an entire class.

Though the possibility of adding the time to the end ofthe day seems reasonable, this would cause problems forstudent-athletes who would need to leave earlier forgames and miss more instructional time.

In theory, Eastside understands the reasoning behindthe additional half hour, but in practice, the negativeimplications outweigh the benefits of an extra five min-utes per class period.

Extra 30 minutes will negativelyimpact students and faculty alike

COMICSDecember 2012 EASTSIDE Page 13

Recalculating Route by Joel Greenspan (‘13)/Eastside Art Director

Kiss Face by Shari Bodofsky (‘14)/ Eastside Staff Princess Wars by Shari Bodofsky (‘14)/ Eastside Staff

This could beyour ad

(and everyone will love you for it)

Contact:advertising@eastside-online.org

ENTERTAINMENT Page 14 EASTSIDE December 2012

Reality television shows of allshapes and sizes have been sweep-ing the nation, appearing onnumerous TV networks. The sub-ject matter of these shows spanthe worst aspects of everydayAmerican life.

“Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, “for example, is one of the latest hitsin reality television. Throughouteach half-hour episode, theThompson family bobs for pigs’feet, mud bogs at the “RedneckGames” and otherwise degradesthemselves for big network pay-checks.The family of six—seeming-ly led by six-year-old Alana “HoneyBoo Boo”—understands that theyare displaying their rural lifestylein an offensive yet humorous way,but some people do not view theprogram as an ethical addition toTLC’s programming. The family’sreaction? “No one can be properand etiquette-ly all the time.”

Ironically, the channel thatseems to be at the helm of this low-brow phenomenon is TLC—“TheLearning Channel.” TLC has trulyveered away from its days of cook-ing, home improvement and“Captain’s Log with Captain MarkGray” and has instead opted for amore ratings-friendly mix of real-ity shows. For a channel that, priorto the Reagan administration, wasfunded by NASA and primarilyaired documentaries, TLC hasreally fallen quite a ways from itseducational heyday in the 1970’s.As mentioned, while many still

believe “Here Comes Honey BooBoo” is an ethically terrible pro-gram, most cannot resist theshow’s stupidity and catchy one-liners. Along with “Honey BooBoo,” TLC has recently added“Secret Princes” to its docket. Theshow is about four princes fromfour countries searching for love inthe United States, as well as “Abbyand Brittany,” a show about a set ofconjoined twins who travel andperform everyday activities thatmany would believe to be impossi-ble feats for the siblings.

Additionally, reality televisionnetworks have opted, in somecases, to hunt for people and fami-lies in the midst of, say, searchingfor a home in a specific area.Whether it is local or not, some feelthat following these families is too“up close and personal.”

This phenomenon of “reality” isnot singular to TLC: on other chan-nels, other sleazily-premised pro-grams seem to be continuously onthe rise. “Jersey Shore” and “RealHousewives” are both examples ofseries that have aired for a handfulof seasons and seem to find a newaudience every time a new seasonpremieres.

Call it exhibitionism at theexpense of our morals; as long asAmerican couches seat viewerswilling to corrupt themselves forentertainment, reality televisionwill reign. Whether watching bob-bing for pigs’ feet or clandestineroyalty searching for true love,people cannot seem to turn theirheads away from the ridiculous-ness on their screen.

■ By Abby Hoffman (‘14)Eastside Opinions Editor

Spider-Man is stuck in a revolv-ing door. He spins around to thecorporate side, where they hurlmoney at him. He swings back tothe consumer side, where they hurlmoney at him. Then he rollsaround to the corporates again;they shovel the money out usingheavy-duty snow shovels, and thenthey toss in some more. He rollsback to the consumers and thecycle repeats.

But aside from Spider-Man’sfour movies in the past decade(three starring Tobey Maguire anda remake with Andrew Garfield),other superhero movies are mak-ing a big splash. In fact, super-heroes are among the most popularfaces in the industry right now:Thor, the Dark Knight trilogy, TheIncredible Hulk, Captain America,Iron Man and The Avengers, just toname a few.

To put this superhero craze inperspective, The Avengers grossed$623,357,910 worldwide, making itthe ninth highest grossing film ofall time.

So the big question is “why?”Why has Hollywood turned tosuperhero remakes?

According to boxofficemojo.com,the four Spider-Man films allplaced within the top 10 highestgrossing superhero movies of alltime. That’s four places out of tendevoted to an angsty teenagerswinging around New York City inspandex.

The number-one slot, of course,goes to The Avengers, a heart-warming film that includes broth-ers with ‘Cain and Abel’ complexes,

superheroes tossing out snarkyone-liners to avoid saying anythingmeaningful, and a small group ofpolar opposites working to halt alarge-scale alien invasion.

Now, with the better CGI effectsand more serious plotlines oftoday’s superhero movies, directorsare finding a market for themovies. In the ‘60s and ‘70s, direc-tors treated the movies almost ascaricatures, mocking the charac-ters who they portrayed. Making asuperhero movie was not a causefor critical acclaim. But with themore cathartic appeal of today’ssuperhero films, the market isexpanding. Take the DarkKnight trilogy. The mod-ern incarnation of grav-elly-voiced philanthro-pist Bruce Wayne is afar cry from the BruceWayne of the 20th cen-tury. The lower-budgetBatman stories of themid to late 1900s pan-dered to the “geek” crowd,while still professing not totake themselves seriously.In a way, the directorsdeprecated themselvesand the market theycatered to.

But today it is differ-ent. The Batman of The DarkKnight fame fights real, dangerouscriminals and takes on moremature themes like love, death andbetrayal. The more serious subjectmatter that most credit to directorChristopher Nolan has permeatedother new superhero movies,attracting a larger audience thanthat of previous superhero films.Superheroes have become moremainstream as they have started

to incorporate uni-versal themes, asopposed to the hack-neyed theme of villainsin ostentatious outfitswith outrageous, implau-sible plans.

So we expectsequels for Thor,Iron Man, CaptainAmerica,X-Men and

T h e

Avengers.These movies are doing so well

because they portray an alternatereality that the human psyche

clings to. The people insuperhero mov-ies have

extraordi-nary abili-ties thrust uponthem, forcing themto make the

choice to fight onthe side ofgood, to helpthe weak andthe needy.These super-

h e r o e sa c t u a l l y

embody per-s o n a l i t y

ideals for thecommon man:

everyone wouldlike to think that,

given such power,they would usetheir abilities forgood.

It all comes downto what Uncle Bensays to Peter Parkerin every remake ofSpider-Man: “Withgreat power comesgreat responsibil-ity.”

S u p e r h e r omovies are sopopular becausethe public loves to watch otherpeople who havee x t r a o r d i n a r ypower, and rightlychoose to use itresponsibly.

■ By Juliet Brooks (‘13)Eastside Editor-In-Chief

Comic book movies have taken over the big screen

Joel Greenspan(‘13)/ Eastside

Art Director

Reality TV turns the worst ofsociety to the best of television

ENTERTAINMENT December 2012 EASTSIDE Page 15

Green Day returns to recording after break

The band that de-fined the 1990’s pop-punk era is making ahuge comeback. Yes,Green Day has hit thestudio and is in themidst of doing theunthinkable. The band,made up ofthree punk leg-ends, is releas-ing three newalbums over thecourse of onlyfive months.¡Uno!, ¡Dos!,and ¡Tré! are apart of analbum trilogy,just like thoses p o r a d i c a l l yr e l e a s e dt h r o u g h o u tmusic historyby other hugenames in rockand roll such asAC/DC, BruceS p r i n g s t e e n ,The RollingStones and U2.

This is anadvanced stepfor a band totake. Since1988, GreenDay has sold 65million albumsand touredaround theworld a time ortwo, so a ma-turerelease project isnot unexpectedfrom them. In the be-ginning, their musicwas not greatly appreci-ated outside of theSeattle pop-punk scene,but over time, it spreadacross the world andtook over the main-stream.

Since then, GreenDay has gained a surveyof listeners from everygeneration. Their con-sistency over the last 28years has reserved theman extreme amount ofpositive recognition as

possible “rock legends.”Although this may betrue, some of the bandmembers are letting itget to their heads.

On September 21, theband preformed at theiHeart Radio Festival inLas Vegas. While theirconcert was coming toan end, a screen flashed

letting lead singer BillieJoe Armstrong know hehad one minute to finishup his set. Enraged bythe fact that he wasabout to be cut off,Armstrong immediatelystopped singing andinstructed the band tostop playing the currentsong. He went off on anexpletive-littered rantabout how “[he] hasbeen around since 1988,and [they’re] only goingto give [him] oneminute” to finish his set.

Because of the fame andfortune Green Day hasbeen blessed with, itseems as if Armstrongexpects all of the rulesto be altered for him.Many fans supportwhat he had to say, butmost think it is ridicu-lous that the bandwould be granted any

special privileges overanyone else there.Following this melt-down, Armstrong wasadmitted to rehabbecause of the effects ofhis drug abuse, whichhas clearly gone toofar. On the new albums,fans will hear the simi-lar “Green Day sound”they are used to, withthe obvious maturitythat results from athree-year break fromrecording. The albumsare said to be “energetic

refusals to grow old inany sort of traditionalway,” according to theAlternative Press. Lis-teners can hear thatalready with the releaseof ¡Uno!, which containsmany upbeat tunes andlyrics about havingfun. Fans expect theremaining two parts of

the trilogyto followthis pat-tern.

In ad-dition tothe tril-ogy, GreenDay willcont inuetheir pat-tern ofnon-stopt o u r i n gwith a fullN o r t hA m e r i c atour inhonor oft h e i ra l b u m s .¡Dos! wasre leasedon No-v e m b e r13, 2012,f o l l o w e dby ¡Tré!on Janu-ary 15,2013.

T h i shuge leapfor Green

Day willmost likely

earn them an evenwider fan base andstronger acclaim. May-be someday Green Daywill be looked back uponas one of the greatestbands music has everseen.

Their rise to thethrone of pop-punkand now their legacy-sealing trilogy of al-bums surely prove thatthey will not quickly beforgotten by their fansor by the music indus-try.

Recent rumors that The Hobbitwill be released in a series of threeparts have now been confirmed.Devout fans of JRR Tolkien’s novelmight rejoice at this news, butmany others wonder why—whennone of the longer, much moreeventful Lord of the Rings bookshave been broken up into parts—producers of The Hobbit now feelthat this comparatively shorterstory needs a more in-depthtelling.

Director Peter Jackson ex-plained via Facebook that, afterreviewing what had so far beenaccomplished, the obvious ques-tion presented itself to the film-makers: “Do we take this chance totell more of the tale? And theanswer from our perspective as thefilmmakers, and as fans, was anunreserved ‘yes.’”

Jackson claims that he and thewriters are reluctant to let anypart of The Hobbit go unmentionedin the movies, and that may be

true. Butconsider-ing theh u g egross inp r o f i t sfrom theLord ofthe Ringstrilogy, as t r i c tdepictionof the plotis unlikelyto be theonly moti-vation fora n o t h e rthree-parte x t r a v a -ganza.

O n ecan hard-ly blameJ a c k s o nand otherkey play-ers on The Hobbit’s productionteam for following what seems tobe a highly profitable trend in themovie industry, quickly copied by

those in television. They are alsohopping on board with this newprogression. The fifth and finalseason of Breaking Bad has been

split up into two parts, the first ofwhich premiered in July, and thesecond of which will be starting inthe summer of 2013, which is agood, if not a bit manipulative, wayto build up hype for the show’sfinale.

It appears that the trend wasset with Parts One and Two ofHarry Potter and the DeathlyHollows, followed shortly byBreaking Dawn being split intotwo. Breaking Dawn Part One hadthe third highest attendance onopening day ever recorded, rightafter Harry Potter and the DeathlyHollows Part Two. While it is truethat these movies could have con-ceivably been compressed into one,and although admittedly therewere some lags in the action, therewas still enough content in thebooks to justify the release of twoseparate movies for both BreakingDawn and The Deathly Hollows.

Whether the partition of TheHobbit into three parts is a dedi-cated desire to stick to the plot ofthe book or a practical money mak-ing scheme remains to be seenwhen the movies are released.

The Hobbit joins stories to be split into multiple parts

Les Misérablesrevolutionizes

movie musicals

Despite spending 20+ years frozen indevelopment, the film incarnation ofBroadway’s Les Misérables promises toprove the power of patience. The firsteffort from director Tom Hooper sincehis Oscar-sweeping The King’s Speech,Les Mis brings a formidable ensemblecast, featuring both film talent likeHugh Jackman, Russell Crowe andAnne Hathaway and stage stars likeAaron Tveit and Samantha Barks, in fora rarely-attempted live vocal recordingof the musical’s sung-through setlist (asopposed to studio recording).

Set in 19th century France and fol-lowing the life of a paroled convict (Jack-man) pursued by an obsessed policeman(Crowe), Les Miserables tells a romantictale of love and revolution.When Valjeanagrees to care for factory workerFantine's (Hathaway) young daughter,Cosette, their lives take a twist. Themovie is already drawing hype fromevery direction.

Aside from obvious Academy Awardhype for Best Director-winner Hooperand his stellar cast, the film offers good-ies for fans of the book and the musicalon broadway, including cameo roles fromoriginal stars Colm Wilkinson andFrances Ruffelle along with newmusic—including a previously unre-leased song—from composer Claude-Michel Schönberg.

Both the film’s cast and producerCameron Mackintosh promise nothingshort of spectacle when the film hitstheaters on Christmas Day this year.

Photo courtesy of digitalspy.comMartin Freeman stars as Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit,based on JRR Tolkien’s novel.

Photo courtesy of LA TimesBillie Joe Armstrong in the midst of his meltdown.

Courtesy of metro.co.ukSamantha Barks stars in Les Mis.

■ By Rebecca Cohen (‘15)Eastside Entertainment Editor

■ By Joe Incollingo (‘13)Eastside Entertainment Editor

■ By Rachel Tinkelman (‘13)Eastside Humor Editor

UNDERGROUNDPage 16 EASTSIDE December 2012

Although Stanley Ku-brick’s Dr. Strangelove, adark satire on the ColdWar, was created at theheight of tension betweenthe United States and theSoviet Union, it seemsfrighteningly relevant to-day. An insane general,incidentally named JackD. Ripper (Sterling Hay-den), develops a strangetheory that the commu-nists plan to contaminateAmerica’s “precious bodilyfluids,” and that the onlyway to preserve these flu-ids is to nuke Russia.

So, he launches a sur-prise nuclear air attackagainst the Russians,seals off his base, ordershis men to attack anyonewho comes near anddestroys all radios, elimi-nating the possibility ofanyone on base realizingthat Washington has notbeen attacked by theRussians. Unfortunately,this creates a rather stickysituation for the President(one of three roles playedby Peter Sellers) and thepoliticians gathered in thewar room. They must fig-ure out the recall code(known only to GeneralRipper) or at least findsome way of preventingthe attack while dealingwith Russia’s drunk pre-mier, Dmitri, who is moreupset that the presidentnever calls “just to sayhello” than the fact thathis country is about to suf-fer the blow of severalhydrogen bombs. In theboardroom, the Russianambassador and ex-Naziscientist Dr. Strangelove(also Peter Sellers) revealsinformation that makesthe situation even worse:a weapon which, whenRussia is attacked, willcause the entire world tobecome uninhabitable for93 years.

Though the existence ofthis type of weapon isimpossible, the threat ofnuclear war is still some-thing applicable to to-day’s society. If someonebombed us, it is likely thatwe would not have achoice but to retaliate.

It’s a dark, thought-provoking subject for acomedy, but Kubrick’sfilms are always good forthat. Even the look of thefilm coincides with theblack humor, with mostscenes heavily contrastingblack and white, which,aside from looking cool,sets an appropriate moodfor the film, makingeverything seem to lookdarker than it should be.

Despite the subject ofthe film, it manages tomake the audience laugh,all the while fearing theinitiation of the doomsdaydevice.

Logo by Joel Greenspan (‘13) /Eastside Art Director

■ By Rachel Tinkelman (‘13)Eastside Humor Editor

Daniel Johnston, a lyri-cal genius, broke into therealm of people’s con-sciousness in the eighties,with his widely distributedcassette Hi, How are You?,a collection of songs thatwere recorded inJohnston’s garage with asmall piano. His uniqueway of creating musicattracted listeners all over,not only because of themusic itself, but also be-cause of his peculiarities.Johnston suffers frommanic depression andschizophrenia, both ofwhich have profoundlyinfluenced his music andhis state of being.

These illnesses haveseriously debilitated John-ston, but have made hissongs wonderfully unex-ampled. With a squeaky,high-pitched voice, medi-ocre piano skills and bril-liant lyrics, Johnston hasfound a niche in the hearts

of many listeners. Some ofhis lyrics cover themes oflost love, solitude, mad-ness, morality and existen-tial torment. Due to his ill-ness, Johnston has experi-enced terrifying hallucina-tions, endangering his lifeas well as the lives of oth-ers. Multiple times hebelieved that certain peo-ple were possessed by thedevil and trying to harmhim, causing him to writetracks such as “DevilTown” and “Don’t PlayCards with Satan.”

“There’s certainly adevil and he knows myname,” Johnston once said.

Even though his mad-ness may seem terrifyingand weird, there is still asweet center andadmirable simplicity at-tached to his songs, mak-ing me always return formore. One can’t help butpity him when listening tohis pinched innocentlyrics. It’s hard to explain,but there seems to be afine type of purity in his

minimalist music thatescapes other artists. Hismusic is true and incredi-ble. He’s an artful warriorwho valiantly struggleswith the world and hisown mind—a battle that,for this tortured mind, isno cakewalk.

Not only is Johnston amusician, but also avery talented visualartist. His cartoonishworks depict aliencreatures, skeletons, peo-ple with their brains miss-ing, and eyeballs, for whichhe holds a special affinity.His works are quite whim-sical and original,making appear-ances in art gal-leries aroundthe world. For asampling ofJohnston’s music,listen to the tracks“Story of an Artist,”“Some ThingsLast a LongTime” and“Walking the Cow.”

As a huge Odd Futurefan ever since Goblin cameout in 2011, I’ve highlyanticipated this releasefrom MellowHype, a sub-section of rap collectiveOdd Future featuringproducer Left Brain andrapper HodgyBeats. SinceMellowHype re-released theirvery successful2010 albumBlackenedWhite,I have beenwaiting patient-ly for anotherloud, obnoxiousrelease. With therelease of Num-bers, I finallyhad my opportu-nity to see whatthe hype wasabout.

MellowHypehas been a partof Odd Futuresince the groupformed in 2007when Hodgy andLeft Brain metat a party andi m m e d i a t e l ystarted collabo-rating. Sincethen, they haver e l e a s e dY e l l o W h i t eonline for free,BlackenedWhiteonline for free in 2010, and,under the financialresources of Fat PossumRecords, a physical releaseof the latter. They are con-sidered by many to be thebest arm of Odd Future,many of thier songs mak-ing it onto the setlist atevery full Odd Futureshow.

Numbers features a verydifferent style of musicfrom their previous mix-tapes -- not at all what Iexpected. Whereas Yello-White and BlackenedWhite

featured loud, creativebeats that seemed to per-fectly match Hodgy’s styleof rapping. Numbers isalmost completely made upof soft, slow beats that donot match what I believedto be MellowHype’s style atall. After “Grill,” the open-ing song that immediatelygave the impression that

this album would stillbring the same hype as thelast two albums, Numbershas really nothing elseagressive to offer. Althoughthis isn’t necessarily a badthing, it really sounded outof place on a MellowHyperelease. Hodgy’s voice canbe smooth and slow andstill sound good, as anyonecan see in his release“Higashi Loves You” off ofhis untitled EP, but therewas something that stylejust doesn’t fit in with mostof these tracks.

In the song“65/Breakfast,” my person-al favorite from this album,Hodgy rides the beat andconveys some very sophis-ticated, deeper lyrics thatMellowHype tends not touse; it all flows togetherperfectly. I would say, atsome points, especiallyduring the bridge, his voice

is so smooth that it borderson singing.

This technique, though,does not work so well on afew tracks, like “Beat,”where the combination ofthe slow beat and Hodgy’sdynamic rap style soundsvery out of place.

As for the lyrics, many ofthe songs have differentmeanings, but in generalthis album deals with thestruggles Hodgy experi-enced in school and as akid growing up until final-ly making it big. I really

see no reason for his stray-ing away from the usualOdd Future themes, otherthan maybe just trying adifferent style of album foronce.

Overall, I was extremelysurprised at the turn thisalbum takes when it comesto the sound of the beatsand the changes in the lyri-

cal content.Many trackscome off aseither too weak,too awkward orjust plainuncomfortable.

After theduo’s two hard-hitting previousa l b u m s ,Numbers soundssoft. I sincerelyhope, onMel lowHype ’snext release,that they goback to the oldstyle that got mehooked on OddFuture andMellowHype inthe first place.

H o n e s t l y ,Numbers wasn’tterrible, but itwas not what Iexpected. I en-joyed the stylespresented intheir past twoalbums muchmore. Though Idon’t see

MellowHype using thesebeats in the future -- asthey do not fit the wholeOdd Future style of beingnoisy, incredibly provoca-tive, and getting listenerspumped up -- the rise inpopularity that residentOdd Future R&B softyFrank Ocean has seen inthe past few months maysuggest otherwise.

■ By Jake Borowsky (‘16)For Eastside

■ By Nick Mitchell (‘13)Eastside Underground Editor

New MellowHype: too mellow, not enough hype

Joel Greenspan (‘13)/ Eastside Art DirectorLeft Brain (left) and Hodgy Beats (right) of MellowHype.

Out of the Vault: Daniel Johnston

Art courtesy of Daniel Johnston

Rating:6/10 Stars

Johnston’s art reflects hisderanged genius.

UNDERGROUNDDecember 2012 EASTSIDE Page 17

“Pizza connects people. It’slike the most universally cel-ebrated food in the world… Ican’t think of a food thatunites people more, especial-ly in a world where there areso many niches and so manythings that divide people,pizza is something everyonecan agree on.”

This is the mindset ofBrian Dwyer, a 28-year-oldfilm-school dropout who hasturned his love of pizza, as

well as his world-record-holding collection of

pizza memorabilia,into one of the

coolest and mostunique restau-rants in all ofPhiladelphia.Pizza Brain,w h i c hopened inSeptember,is a shrineto all thingspizza: fromthe decora-

tions adorn-ing almost

every squareinch of wall

s p a c e — a b o u ttwenty percent of

Dwyer’s full collec-tion—to the beautifully

unique pies being served upat the Kensington joint.

But, according to Dwyer,Pizza Brain is more than justa pizzeria.

“[Kensington] needs moresit-down restaurants, and itneeds places for the commu-nity to be together. Therehasn’t been a new restaurant[on this street] in a coupledecades, so for us to open uphere was a big deal for theneighborhood and a coolpoint of pride for Philly,” hesaid, especially sincePhiladelphia lacks the statusas a “pizza destination” thatcities like Chicago and NewYork have.

While the pizza on themenu may be exotic anduniquely flavorful, PizzaBrain is more about theexperience attached to itthan the food itself.

“[The experience is] some-thing that everyone canshare, just like the food itself.This pizza shop is every-body’s. I didn’t invent pizza,I’m just a spokesperson forit, so people can celebrateit with me,” said Dwyer, aself-proclaimed “student of

pizza.”As for the collection itself,

Dwyer remains the undis-puted world record holder. Infact, when he approachedGuinness to see if he hadenough to make it into therecord books, he was toldthat there was no record setat all for largest collection ofpizza memorabilia.

“It blew my mind becauseit’s pretty ubiquitous, so hid-den in plain sight, but Iguess no one has thought todo it,” said Dwyer, who stillhas not been approachedby anyone else with theirown collection. “I guessI’m the first person,which is weird... I’m justa regular dude who’s justvery enthusiastic aboutart and pizza.”

In addition to gainingrecognition from Guinness,Pizza Brain has also beenfeatured in stories all aroundthe globe. From NPR to theHuffington Post and theAssociated Press, many newsoutlets have picked up on theallure and originality ofPizza Brain, creating anenormous and unexpectedmedia hype storm.

“I always thought thisidea would be big, and Ialways thought someday theworld would take notice ofit,” said Dwyer with a laugh,pointing out that all his mar-keting is done from a crackedphone and broken laptop inthe living room of his above-shop apartment. “I had noidea that it would happenbefore we even opened, or theweek we opened… it’s justme in my living room send-ing emails and Twitter andFacebook. So it’s fascinating.I’ll definitely be telling mykids this story someday, I’msure.”

So what’s the plan forPizza Brain in the future?While the business is just afew months old, Dwyeralready has his sights set onexpanding the restaurant toadd more seating, an arcadeand a dedicated “pizza muse-um” on the second floor.

As for expanding outsideof Philadelphia, Dwyer does-n’t like the idea of it: “I wantPhilly and Kensington tohave this feather in their cap[as] a point of pride for every-one.”

And in a city notorious forits glorious stubborn pride,Philadelphia is sure to em-brace Pizza Brain for a longtime to come.

Welcome to Pizzadelphia: Philadelphia’s ownPizza Brain is unique restaurant, museum

■ By Bryan Sheehan (‘13)Eastside Underground Editor

Pizza with basil leaves photo byAngie Nguyen (‘13)/ Eastside Photo Editor

All other photos by Angie Pacitti (‘13)/ Eastside Photo Editor

On November 5,Cherry Hill High SchoolEast experienced a sig-nificant decline in atten-dance rate. However,freshmen, sophomoresand juniors were notaffected by this craze—the Class of 2013 wasthe sole cause of this rec-ognizable attendanceatrophy.

“I have absolutely noidea what the problemmay have been,” said Mrs.Scale, the school nurse atEast. “I had a few seniorscome inover the last few days, butthey did not seem to besuffering with anyviruses or anything ofthat sort. One boy seemeda little dizzy, but I just

gave him icef o r

that.”

A f t e rv i e w -ing theattendance sheets fromeach class, it was deter-mined that a shocking92.31 percent of theClass of 2013 was absenton the 5th. The atten-dance from the daysprior to this incident wasalso tabulated, but theresults did not yield anyevidence that war-ranted such a spike. Ona typical day, about 3.5percent of seniors are

out of school, yet thispattern drastically lostconsistency.

After interviewing afew seniors who wererecorded absent thatday, many different re-sponses were derived.

“I just like...had afever...I guess, and mytoes wouldn’t crack”said Emily Mitchell (’13).

Other cases seemed abit more extreme. Ac-cording to Bryan Stein(’13), his “sinuses andtemples felt like volca-noes erupting not onlylava, but sedimen-tary rocks that pum-meled the insides of [his]skull.”

One peculiar aspect ofthis situation is thatwhile on a lunch break, afew faculty membersspotted a group of aboutsix seniors at PaneraBread. Although thissituation may seem likeseniors are intention-ally blowing off school,the teachers concluded

that these partic- u l -

a rs t u -

dentsw e r e

t o t a l l yi n n o c e n t

and were just picking upsoup to recuperate fromtheir ailments.

“All this time has pastand we still have noclue as to what mayhave caused such anepidemic among so manyseniors that day,” saidPrincipal Dr. RonO’Shmeeza. “We all hopeto see the attendancerate rise again in thecoming days.”

One question has beenon everyone’s mind sinceday one of school: why didthe stairwells change toonly allow one way of traf-fic?

Those awaiting ananswer, look no further:The teachers and admin-istration of East areHUGE closet One Direc-tion fans.

It all began with a seem-ingly innocuous tweet fromprincipal Dr. Ron O’Schmeeza the day beforethe first day of school,which read, “Beginningtomorrow, the stairs willhead in one direction ;)”

Within minutes, thetweet had garnered 37favorites and 15 retweets

from various East staffmembers.

“Hmm… Interesting…”thought this investigativejournalist as she slipped ahidden microphone intothe teachers’ lounge (legal-ly, of course…I think).

The results of the com-pletely permitted searchwere as follows:

“Niall is my fave. He’sso cute and dreamy,”gushed O’ Schmeeza,before Dr. Von Baarns cuthim off—“Baaaaa humbug,Zayn is a cutie patootie!Besides, I hear Niall usedto be a member of theWool-Tang Clan...”

Juvenile insults and bla-tant fangirling were soonheard as more voicesjoined the fray.

“I bet you don’t evenknow Liam’s favorite col-

or!”“It’s lilac and you’re a

meanie!!”“I’VE SEEN THEM

FIVE TIMES IN CON-CERT! I WIN, I WINHAHAHA!!!”

Muffled blows from pil-lows of mysterious originwere heard thrownthroughout the room as thescene disintegrated intochaos.

Rumor has it that thelunchtime announcementsare just excerpts of “That’sWhat Makes You Beau-tiful” played backwards.No one has paid enoughattention to confirm, how-ever.

“We’re thinking aboutswitching to ‘Live WhileWe’re Young’ next week,”reported senior class presi-dent Ball Panerjee (‘13).

HUMOR Page 18 EASTSIDE December 2012

Interpretive roller skating team places 107th in nation

• Air in gym locker roomsnow contains near-lethalamounts of Axe.

• Students complainabout lack of 4G coveragein hallways and class-rooms.

• Freshman applies earlydecision for parking spot.

• Barracuda blocksProgressbook on theschool’s server.

• Due to extreme temper-atures, East studentsdeemed cold-bloodedmammals.

• Impending apocalypsecauses Class of 2013 torename to Class of2012.5.

■ By Kayla Schorr (‘14)Eastside News/Features Editor

■ By Jenn Cha (‘13)Eastside Staff

Stairs go in One Direction Epidemic infectssenior class

Photo by Austin Billig (‘13)/ Eastside StaffIllustration by Angie Nguyen (‘13)/ Eastside Photo Editor

O’Shmeeza struggles to concentrate with Zayn watching him lovingly.

Zoe Greenhall (‘13)/ Eastside Art Director

The Cherry Hill Eastinterpretive roller skatingteam placed 107th in thenation last week at theI n t e r s c h o l a s t i cInterpretive Roller SkatingNational Championships,the school’s best finishsince its controversial 34thplace finish in 1997.

“It feels great to have allof our hard work pay offlike this, 107th place ismore than I ever couldhave asked for,” said teamcaptain and four-starrecruit Alex Strantin (’13).“Everyone skated theirhearts out and we couldn’thave done this well with-out everyone.”

Strantin, who recentlycommitted to one of the topfive collegiate interpretiveroller skating programs inthe country at BowlingGreen University, led theteam to a 107th place fin-ish, twenty eight spots bet-ter than their 135th placeprojection.

The group performancewas almost called off afterJames Green (’15)tripped andbroke hisp u s h - o f fa n k l e ,renderinghim unableto compete.However, fresh-man sensationEmily Janow(’16) filled in, learningthe routine in just 20minutes.

“I knew that I didn’thave as much interpretiveexperience as James, but Iwas feeling great and themeaning of the routinejust came to me, and Ithink I interpretedit as well as any-one,” she said.

Other key con-tributors were KyleMaxor (’14) andGrace Ketol (’13),who set a schoolrecord with a rat-ing of 86 in their doublesperformance, earningthem 83rd place.

Strantin also placed 77thin her individual skate,

despite nearlyfalling onher double-jump-twist,a key part

of the rou-tine.“ E v e r y o n e

did their best andI’m really proud,”head coach James

Grinndell said. “Wenever expected this kind

of success, especially giventhe high level of competi-tion. Their interpreta-

tions were phenomenal.”Normally, the team,

which practices at theschool’s skating rink,

located under thedance gym, getsvery little atten-tion. However, thesensational finish

has sent somefans into frenzy.

“I didn’t knowwe had an interpretive

r o l l e rskatingt e a m , ”

Gene Talop (’13) said.“Where do they practice?Oh, we have a roller skat-ing rink? I never knewthat. But I guess that’scool. I mean, 107th in thecountry isn’t too bad. Itcould be worse, like 108thor 300th.”

The team’s place at theIIRS Nationals has evensparked some interest inthe sport among youngerstudents.

“When my friend toldme he was on an interpre-tive roller skating team, Ithought he was kidding,”Allison Thamin (’15) said.“But now that I know hewas serious, I might as welljoin. It’s just roller-skat-ing. How hard could it be?Quite frankly, I’m mostsurprised that there are atleast 106 other ‘interpre-tive roller skating’ teamsin the country.”

No matter what thelong-term effect of this fin-ish is, one thing is forsure—this year’s team isone of the all-time greats atCherry Hill East.

■ By Mike Reisman (‘13)Eastside Sports Editor

Zoe Greenhall (‘13)/Eastside Art Director

Logo by JoelGreenspan(‘13)/Eastside Art Director

Disturbing news hastraveled through the Easthallways faster than…actually, it came right ontime. Yesterday morning,teachers noticed some-thing strange about theirclocks: they were all set tothe same time. Someonehas rewired the schoolclocks.

Outrage burned throughthe school like wildfire.Students are enraged atthe concept of having toleave their classrooms atthe same time, and the rateof possible trampling hasdoubled. But students arenot the only ones with hurtfeelings.

Teachers Mrs. Rain andMrs. Reckus complained

that the new scheduleruined their bet to seewhose clock is the leastaccurate.

“It was different every

day. That was the thrill ofit. Sometimes it would read5:00, sometimes 3:30,sometimes 10:00. We never

knew who was going towin,” Rain said.

Rain had won over 6,000dollars in the past few daysand was planning a trip to

Maui with her husband.“I just needed this last

bet. Now, because of theclock setter, I won’t have

enough to go there.”Pre-Calc teacher Mr.

Kokanacus described whenhe first noticed the change.“I could tell it was different

because I usually have myclock set to SET,” he said.

When asked what thiswas, he responded, “It’s

Standard Ewok Time.”Another person hurt

was Janitor Perkins, whoonce had the only work-ing clock in the school.

“It made me feel special,you know. Students used topop in all the time just tocheck what time it was. Ihad a title. I had a position.I was the clock man,” hesaid.

Several teachers havebegun walking aroundwith pocket watches dis-playing different times toprotest the new clocks.

The mysterious timeturner remains unfound,but he or she has createdlasting effects on theschool. As Kokanacus said,“Usually my clock remindsme of Ewoks. Now, I justthink of the time. It justmakes me sad.”

HUMOR December 2012 EASTSIDE Page 19

■ By Sarah Robbins (‘13)Eastside Staff

Mischievous prankster corrects clocks

Jenn Cha (‘13)/ Eastside StaffThe school clocks displayed here have enraged staff members across thebuilding. Everyone is horrified that clocks show the correct times.

After replacing Aramark at the start of November, TheCheesecake Factory began serving lunches to over 2,000students and faculty members per week.

“I am really looking forward to providing higher qualitymeals to the student body,” said head chef Mike Seller.

East has renovated the kitchen area by expanding it toallow The Cheesecake Factory workers enough space toprepare the food.

Although many of the menu items are the same, TheCheesecake Factory has added over 75 new options.Because each meal is prepared individually and is not pre-made, the time a student needs to wait in line has grownexponentially. Some students have complained about wait-ing in line for three hours.

“I used to wait, like, ten minutes for my lunch, but nowI wait an average of two hours a day,” said Julia Meldon(’14).

In order to cut back on the amount of class time studentsmiss waiting for their lunch, the school has employed TheCheesecake Factory buzzers.

Although one could be pulled out of math class at anymoment, many argue that The Cheesecake Factory mealsare worth it.

“I don’t care if I have to wait three hours for my lunch.These lunches are way better than what East used tohave,” said Todd Bartley (’13).

Not only are the lines and the wait even longer, but theprices have skyrocketed, too. Salads from Aramark costabout four dollars, but the salads from The CheesecakeFactory cost at least twelve dollars, depending on whatvariety a student chooses.

“My parents normally would give me 25 dollars a weekto spend on lunch, but now I spend at least 15 dollars a day,so I need more like 70 dollars a week,” said SamanthaTillman (’16).

Perhaps the biggest change since The CheesecakeFactory replaced Aramark is that the food carts have beenreplaced with cheesecake stands. A student can buy a slicefrom a multitude of cheesecakes for six dollars each.Furthermore, these stands also sell full cakes, so if stu-dents want to take a cake home to their families or buy oneto share with their friends at lunch, they can.

Seller said, “I am just so excited that students can expe-rience a luxury meal every day at school. I am proud tosupport luxury school lunch eating habits.”

■ By Kaylin Magosin (‘14)Eastside News/Features Editor

The Music Departmentrejoices as it finally gets whathas been much called for bystudents and parents alike.Funds this year have been putaside to create a new turf fieldin front of the school solely forthe benefit of the marchingband. Although they will notbe marching on the turf fieldduring game day, they willreap its benefits during prac-tice after school.

Trombone player SarahMann (’14) said, “It is so greatto finally get some practice onan actual turf field. We’vebeen stumbling over roughground far too long.”

The school is consideringbuilding bleachers so that peo-ple who want to go to the prac-tices have somewhere to sit.

Surprisingly, the footballteam is miffed by this newturn of events. Some have evensuggested it should really be

used for game day, so that themarching band could play on itfor the actual games.

Coach Will Jackson went sofar as to mention that the turffield should be used for foot-ball practices, saying, “Ourboys could really use it, thepractice I mean.”

Misty Parks, bandleader, isactually foremost among thedisgruntled complainers.“What we need is discipline,”she said, “and this new turffield is going to spoil ourmarching band and our play-ers will get soft. When itcomes time for game night,and they have to play overthat unfamiliar patchy field,there are going to be some bigproblems, and we are going tolose coordination.”

Aside from these few, infre-quent negative remarks, thereaction to the new turf fieldsis, overall, a positive one, andmany hope to see other groupswithin the Music Departmentutilizing their new asset.

Marching band revels in its new turf field■ By Rachel Tinkelman (‘13)

Eastside Humor Editor

Zoe Greenhall (‘13)/ Eastside Art DirectorNew menu for Cheesecake Factory at East.

Zoe Greenhall (‘13)/ Eastside Art Editor and Rachel Tinkelman (‘13)/ Eastside Humor EditorThe football players have been forced to practice near the trashcans whilethe marching band practices on their new field.

An insidelook at the

girls’ basketball

team: DarbyFesta tells all

It’s hard to believe thatthis is my last year on theEast girls’ basketballteam. It feels like yester-day I was trying out forthe freshman team, barelyeating a thing Thanksgiv-ing night because I was sonervous for the nextmorning. And now I’ll beplaying my final minutesin the DiBart Gym, run-ning my last ladder atpractice, playing my verylast games with girls I’vebeen playing with myentire life.

It’s unreal. It’s heart-breaking. But it’s alsoexciting.

This year is going to bea big year for LadyCougars’ basketball. Aftermy sophomore year, witha 22-1 regular seasonrecord, it seemed as if thegirls’ basketball programcould never quite recoverfrom the loss of eight tal-ented seniors.

But I have high hopesfor us this season. We’vehad time to rebuild, with apotential point guard inYamie Villegas (’16), inaddition to the return ofmany players from lastyear’s varsity team. Threereturning seniors, consist-ing of myself, BrookeRose (‘13) and StephanieOhnona (‘13), will be play-ing, in comparison to lastseason when we had onereturning senior who hadtaken a two-year break,and only one returningvaristy player. We’re moreexperienced this year; weknow what to expect andhow to play together.Last season, there wereglimpses of a winningteam. This year, I reallythink that we can pullthrough.

I’m hoping for a lot thisyear, both individuallyand for the team. I’m hop-ing to break 1,000 points,with an estimated of 350points to go. I’m hoping tohave a winning seasonand a run in the play-offs.

Already, just from play-ing in a fall league andsummer league, I’ve no-ticed an obvious step up inthe competitiveness of ourteam. In fact, we defeatedseveral teams that blewus out last season, and Iexpect that this trend willonly continue.

My sophomore year, wewere the number one seedin our conference. We hada target on our backs anda record to defend. Thisyear, it’s different. We’rethe underdogs. But I don’tthink I would want it anyother way.

SPORTSPage 20 EASTSIDE December 2012

To play or not to play:

Darby Festa (‘13)/Eastside Sports Editor

The old saying “age isbut a number” can beapplied to several aspectsof life, varsity sportsincluded.

When I look at thestarting line-up of ateam, I believe that Ishould be looking at thebest players on thatteam. Not the oldest, perse, but the best.

Varsity sports arecalled that for a reason:in terms of high schoolathletics, it’s the highestlevel of play out there.Varsity athletes play tohave fun, but most impor-tantly, they play to winand will do whatever ittakes to do so. If thismeans that a youngerplayer will increase ateam’s chances of win-ning, then by all means,that younger playershould start over hisolder teammates.

Of course, there is theargument that the highschool team is the end ofthe road for many ath-letes. After graduation,many seniors will nevercompetitively play the

sport again. So shouldn’tthey get the most out oftheir last year on theteam and play as muchas possible?

Absolutely not. If anunderclassman will con-tribute more to the team,then he or she deservesthe starting spot.

Not only does thismake a team more com-petitive, but it raises thebar for underclassmenand upperclassmen alike.If senior athletes knewthat their starting spotwas a shoe-in, there is alikelihood that they’d reston their laurels. Why putin the effort if not justplaying time, but a start-ing spot, is guaranteed?

That goes for under-classmen as well. Theprospect of a starting spotgives them something tostrive for and motivatesthem to work even harder.By allowing underclass-men to start over seniors,the bar is raised for everysingle player on the team.

In the long run, a teamcan only benefit by start-ing its very best players.As for the seniors who sitthe bench, chin up –there’s always club.

‘Well-Wishers’ bring humor, passionto sidelines of boys’ soccer games

During school, theywere hardly a noisymovement: you’d be hardpressed to recognizetheir carefully coordinat-ed dress-up days—pleat-ed khaki shorts and pas-tel colored button-upsrolled up at the elbow,maybe—unless you spot-ted a few of them walk-ing together in the halls.But after school, huddledtogether beyond the linethat seperates the play-ing field from the specta-tors, this group of “well-dressed” sports fanaticsand amateur humoristsalike couldn’t be missed.The Well-Wishers, agroup of mostly seniorsthat supported the Eastboys’ soccer team atevery game this season,blurred the line betweenfanaticism, burlesqueand good old fashioned

sports-shouting.Though at first glance

they may have looked

and sounded like justanother proud Cougarsideline support group,the Well-Wishers set outto satire crazed sportsfanaticism by putting iton display in a silly,

exaggerated way. Withgleeful shouts of “webleed red!”, signs that

read “Lenape? More likeLena-poop!”, and calls of“lucky save, lucky save”every single time anopposing goalie touchedthe ball, they dressed upthe sidelines in a cloak of

subtle, biting irony.Make no mistake: the

Well-Wishers’ dedicationto the team was absol-utely, honestly real. Theystood up for playersagainst callous insultsfrom hotheaded oppos-ing players, organizedtailgating events andecstatically rushed thefield after the CoachesCup Final. And howcould they not be pas-sionate, what with theCougars winning theCoaches Cup outright forthe first time ever andmaking a deep run in theNJSIAA playoffs, all inCoach Karl Moehl-mann’s final season?Equal parts die-hardsupporters and Swiftiansatirists, the Well-Wishers put on one of themost entertaining andexciting sideline cam-paigns in recent Easthistory.

Seniors should playover underclassmen

Jordan Baum(‘13)/ Eastside Staff The self-named “Well-Wishers” cheer after an East goal

■ By Jack Braunstein (‘13)EastsideEditro-in-Chief

Should seniors get top priority?

Shari Bodosky (‘14)/ Eastside Staff

For high school athletes, the end of aseason signifies the end of long prac-tices and tough games for the rest ofthe year. Most athletes are happy toget a break from the physical chal-lenges of competing at a high level andspending so much time preparing andplaying their sport. But for seniors,the end of a season comes with therealization that, for many, they willnever play a competitive, organizedsport again. This means the end of acommitment to a sport that may havestarteda se a r l yas firstor sec-o n dgrade,s o m e -t h i n gthat alot oft h e s es t u -d e n t sdo notw a n tto giveup. So why should seniors that maynever get the chance to play againhave to ride the bench and watch whileunderclassmen play in the final gamesof their senior careers? Merit shouldalways be the first determinant ofplaying time in sports, but given thedecision to play a senior or an under-classman with similar skill levels, thesenior should always get the call.

In an increasingly competitivesports world, beginning as early as ele-mentary school age, the human factoris overlooked too often in sports.Coaches think too much about micro-managing games, making substitu-tions that only marginally change theoutcome of the game, sacrificing thehappiness of students in the process.Most of these seniors have put in yearsof work and all they get for their com-

mitment to the team is a front row seatto the games that they should be play-ing in.

In most situations, seniors have abuilt-in advantage over underclass-men in their experience. These stu-dents have been part of the team for

four years, learning plays and playingstyles, and their extra playing experi-ence usually leads to calmer mindsgoing into games. So even if winning isa coach’s only goal, seniors may be thebest option when intangibles are con-sidered.

Best players, not oldest■ By Darby Festa (‘13)

Eastside Sports Editor

■ By Mike Reisman (‘13)Eastside Sports Editor