I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

Holiday Info

What You Said

2-3

World News

Missing Boy Found

4

Eaten Alive

Christmas Wish

5

Entertainment

Reviews

6-7

Dealing with De-

pression

8

Sports 9

Sci/Tech

10

Racial Profiling

Writing Contest

11

Vacation Spots

The Lighter Side

12-

13

B E L Z E R M I D D L E S C H O O L

S T U D E N T N E W S P A P E R

V O L U M E 2 , I S S U E 4

JANUARY

SNEAK PEAK:

Boys Basketball

games Jan. 6, 8, etc

Wrestling and Girls

Basketball games

begin—plan on

attending 1 of these

athletic events

2nd semester be-

gins Tues., Jan. 6

Report cards go

home Fri., Jan. 9

Honor roll celebra-

tions TBA

Happy Holidays

P A G E 2

By Shelby Wheeler. The 25th of De-cember is coming up again, and ob-servers of Christmas are already shopping for friends and loved ones.

But there’s more to the holiday than just gifts. Many Christians and other observ-ers of Christmas have forgotten the

true meaning of the cultural holiday, likely because of Christmas’s commercialization. Industries take advantage of the Advent with marketing strategies like Black Friday, leading some to believe that Christmas is about the gifts Santa leaves beneath the tree.

Christmas, derived from “Christ’s Mass,” is the annual celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. It is charac-terized by the exchange of gifts, car-oling, and Christmas decorations, such as, of course, a Christmas tree, garlands, and Christmas lights, to name a few. While some could argue that the economy depends on Christmas gift shopping, one could also say that it created the false meaning of Christ-mas that is embraced today.

By Chris Glover. The Elf on a shelf tradition has been around for decades. It’s simple; the little scout elf has been sent from the north pole to watch over

the kids of the house to which Santa has sent him. The kids are able to name him and watch what he leaves for them the next morning. However the kids can’t touch him because if they do, his magic will leave and he will be unable to fly back to the North Pole to report back to Santa. The family who started it decided to share the Christmas magic tra-dition with others. Now some families nationwide partake in this Elf On a Shelf tradition. Of course this is for little kids, but it helps those little brothers and sisters stay good for Santa because parents now have a genuine bribe!

By Shelby Wheeler. Despite all the attention it receives from the media, Christmas is far from being the only winter holiday. Winter, referred to as the “holiday season” to avoid denomi-nation, is the time of other important religious commemorations as well as the Advent. Hanukkah, also spelled Chanukkah, is the Jewish celebration commemo-

rating the reestab-lishment of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem in the second century B.C. The holiday lasts for eight days, and is ob-served by reciting Hallel prayer, play-ing the dreidel game, and lighting

the candles of the menorah, a nine-branched candelabrum, on each night, as well as other festivities. This year, Hanukkah begins Tuesday, Dec. 16, and ends Wednesday, Dec. 24.

Kwanzaa is a week-long holiday pay-ing hom-age to African herit-age in African-Ameri-can culture. It may be celebrated by decorating one’s home with kente, a colorful African cloth, musical or artis-tic performances, a reading of the Afri-can Pledge, and a feast. Like Hanuk-kah, Kwanzaa is also characterized by a traditional candle holder. The kinara holds seven candles, all of them red, black or green, the colors of Kwanzaa. It begins Dec. 26 and ends Jan. 1. Last but certainly not least is the Chi-nese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival. A very festive holiday, observers celebrate by visiting family and friends, watching fireworks, and giving money in red paper envelopes. These monetary gifts are given on not only the new year but on other special

occasions as well such as holidays and weddings in Chinese society. A lion dance or dragon dance may also occur. The dragon dance is a tradi-tional form of performance in Asian culture in which a long figure of a dragon is maneuvered by a team of dancers using several poles attached along the body. The similar lion

dance is performed by only two peo-ple in a large, colorful lion costume, with one dancer in front of the cos-tume controlling the front legs, mouth and eyes of the lion, and one dancer in the back controlling the hind legs.

P A G E 3

By Dalycia Satterfield and Donya Simmons. What do students at Belzer Middle School enjoy about the holidays? Several stu-dents were asked their opinion on this topic. Here is what they had to say.

“On Christmas I enjoy being with my family, the happy moments and excitement.” - Tyler Wilson

“I enjoy being with my family and getting to-gether enjoying the time.” - Cordell Black-well

“Everyone gets togeth-er, and I get to spend time with family mem-bers that I don’t get to see.” -Monte Rudy-Davis

“I enjoy Christmas be-cause I get to see all my family members.” - Faith Silvey

“I enjoy the presents and getting to spend time with my family.” -Heaven Love

“I enjoy buying gifts and decorating.” - Amy Stewart, nurse

“ I enjoy when the family comes together and has a good time.” - Chris Coleman

By Chris Glover. The most anticipated toy of the year has been recalled. The creator says, “We will try our best to dissect and remake our toy, so it will reappear in stores soon.” However right now that is being easier said than done. The shipment for all these remade toys was de-layed on Friday December 5, 2014. The reason for the shipment delay is because there was a shipping mix up with the Razor company. Some stores were hesitant to take back these wonderful joyrides. The creator of the 24V sealed lead acid rechargeable battery has threat-ened to stop partnership with Razor on this toy.

By SaeRon Graves. There are some winter events planned for this month that are going on over Belzer’s break. Consider visiting these fun events. The Indianapolis Zoo has a winter-time extravaganza with an annual light spectacular. The Chil-dren’s Museum every year has a Winter WonderLand for kids all ages. It also has an indoor ice skating rink for the children to skate and an ice fishing area. This museum has an Atrium Snowball Fight daily from 4-4:10 or on weekends from 11-11:10.The Children’s Museum has a Seussified Christmas Car-ol performance from November 28, 2014 -January 4, 2015 and a family New Year’s eve celebration December 31, 2014 from 10a.m.- 1p.m.

P A G E 4

By Marshay Owens. Indianapolis has hit 133 homicides a number well on its way to beating last year’s record breaking 147 homicides. On Novem-ber 19, a group of students strove to put an end to circle city’s cycle of violence. At the Reach For Youth Headquarters near the Northeast side, teens found signs that gun vio-lence can have permanent, damaging effects. A handful of teens listened to a graphic presentation of these effects gun violence can have. A teen named Patterson said, “It just makes me want to get away and make sure I’m in the right crowd.”

By Jasmyn Songer and Charlie Nelson. A 13-year old boy who was reported miss-ing four years ago was brought together with his mother Saturday, after being

behind a false wall. The boy’s father, Gregory Jean, 37, and stepmother, Sa-mantha Joy Davis, 42, were both arrest-ed with false imprisonment. Three other people also were charged

in connection with the incident, WXIA said, "They were really nice people, very open; they said come over anytime you want." Julie Pizarro, who lives across the street, told WXIA. "The young man didn't seem under any distress. I guess you never know what's behind closed doors." The police said that they went into the home in Jonesboro to look for the boy, starting Friday night after someone, the police did not say whom, asked them to check out the house. Several people there told the police they did not have any information about the boy, and the cops did not find the boy in the first visit. While police were searching the house a second time, the boy contacted his mother by phone, and she told police to look behind a false wall, WXIA reported, citing police.

By Natalie Taylor. The FBI is warn-ing the U.S military troops about the threat ISIS gave about calling on attacks against the U.S. ISIS mem-bers are spotting and assessing the individuals from the U.S, according to the FBI bulletin. The members of the U.S military are encouraged by the FBI to exercise the operational securities in the response of threats. The U.S law enforcement posted the warning on Sunday November 30th, yet they posted another warn-

ing for the upcoming holiday season in advance. They are tracking the U.S soldiers on their address includ-ing their relative’s address. All of this is based on the U.S military so-cial media posts. Another concern is that ISIS operators are gathering it overseas then the terrorist group is trying to identify homegrown ex-tremists in the U.S who could carry out the attack. The FBI on October has issued the security bulletin had warned about the similar attacks on

the U.S soil that were against the law enforcement and the news media members. ISIS could inspire individuals in the West to carry out the terrorist attacks according to the experts of terrorism and secu-rity. The FBI are keeping a close eye out on those who could be the target.

By Yhaniya Bynum. In Anderson, Indiana, a 15 year old girl was locked in a room with no food, no heat, and covered with filth. There were fences around every-thing in the room and blood on the floor. When the police found her, she weighed less than 40 pounds, and her bones were showing through her skin. Her grandfa-ther said that she’s very strong, and he had to lock her away to protect himself. Although he was awarded custody of her in 2009, he was arrested after this inci-dent. The grandmother was also ar-rested. One police officer called her condition “holocaust-like.”

P A G E 5

By Storme Torrence. Branson Carlisle, 5, had a great Christ-mas wish. His only wish was to give all his toys to the kids in Africa who didn't have toys, but Branson recently passed away. He was bitten by a brown recluse spider just before his family went off to church. “He asked me to scratch his back; he said something had bit him,” says Branson’s moth-er. She also says the spider was by his shirt when she went to pick it up. Carlisle’s parents first took him to a local care center, but the bite got worse. His mother and some other family members went to the hospital with Branson, and they said throughout it all Branson was his normal self. After a while, Branson shut his eyes, and his heart stopped. “The only time they got his heartbeat back was the seven-teenth time they shocked him, and they had his heart

beating for four seconds, and I had enough time to tell him I loved him,” says Branson’s mom. Even though Branson has passed, his family is still going to carry out his wish and donate his Christmas presents to kids who won’t get any. “I feel very blessed to have had him, and I’m not go-ing to question it because it was meant to be,” Branson’s mom says. If you want to help with Branson’s wish, his family’s church is accepting toys. His fami-ly says you can drop them off at Freelife Worship Center in Sardis.

By Charlie Nelson. The Duke and Duchess got royal treatment Monday, December 8. Prince William and Kate chatted with President Obama, Hilary Clinton, Jay-Z and Beyonce, and Leb-ron James. They even got to look at

American-style protest: a demonstra-tion of people marched outside in Barclays Center in Brooklyn. William and Kate arrived Sunday for a 3-day trip, starting in NYC. Reporting from New York, CNN royal correspondent Max Foster said that Kate was the star of the show. Screams and shouts were heard when The Duchess of Cambridge arrived at the Children’s Craft group in Harlem. "They were very excited even to see the motorcade, and there is a real buzz around the city today," Foster said. "I think that association with Di-ana (Prince William's late mother), who used to come to New York a lot--

the biggest star in the world--and Kate seems to be the closest replace-ment they have to Diana in this day and age." William headed down to Washington to have a quick chat with President Obama at the White House. A swarm of reporters and photogra-phers surrounded the two men while they tried to speak during a photo op. Prince William spoke next at a session of the world bank talking about the of inter-national effort to stop illegal wildlife trading.

By Kelsie Hardy. In the Western Ama-zon, Paul Rosolie claims he was eaten alive by a vicious anaconda and sur-vived. Paul purposely tried to be eaten alive, so he put on a suit to protect himself covering the suit in pig blood to entice the snake to come after him. These snakes are the biggest and strongest in the world. They can grow to be longer than a school bus. Paul said, “She got me right in the face.” He claims that after he saw her mouth open it all went black. The anaconda

first spotted him then wrapped around him. The snakes mouth open-ed, and he passed out because of the tight-ness. This was bad because he is claustrophobic. Paul said, “ I would not have done this if there was a real chance of hurting or stressing the snake.” Paul says that after he woke up he was still inside the snake's stomach, and it was hot. He was inside the snake for more than an

hour. His suit cracked along with his helmet. Although this could have been deadly, he and the snake are fine.

P A G E 6

By Jalyn Chaffin and Allison King. 5 Seconds of Summer will be starting their Rock Out With Your Socks Out tour on May 4th in Lisbon, Portugal, and end-ing on September 13, 2015 in West Palm Beach, Florida. This is their first worldwide headlining tour since they started their career in 2011 making song covers on youtube. On December 3rd 2011, 5SOS played their first gig at The Annandale Hotel in their hometown, Sydney, Australia. Things started blowing up when One Direction’s Lou-is Tomlinson watched their Teenage Dirtbag cover, and offered to take them on tour with them for their Take Me Home tour. 5SOS will be coming to Indianapolis August 22, 2015. They will be performing at the Klipsch Music Center. For the remaining tour dates visit: http://www.5sos.com/live/

By Simone Reid and Tori Baker. After a year, J Cole is finally coming out with a new album. His last album was released in 2013, called “Born Sinner”. His new album is called “Forest Hills Drive”, and was released on De-cember 9th. This is his 5th album. The follow-ing songs on the album are “Wet Dreamz”, “Fire Squad”, “ Hello”, “Love Yourz”, “ No Role Modelz”, “Note To Self, “ “A Tale of 2 Citiez”, “Apparently”, and more. This album will be available at Walmart, Best Buy, and Target and will be available on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, and many more music apps.

By Dejuan Anderson. Halo is a series that was established in 2001, starting with Halo: Combat Evolved, and has been made all the way to the newest game in the series, Halo: The Master Chief Collection. The Master Chief Col-lection has 4 games built in one, which includes Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2 Anniversary, Halo 3, and Halo 4. The game was made to bring back 4 classic Halo games and remake them for the next generation. Halo is about a super soldier named John, but everyone knows him as the Master Chief. He has a partner named Cortana, who helps him on his missions and adventures. The Halo series is exclusively made on Xbox 360, but The Mas-ter Chief Collection is an exclusive to the Xbox One. The game was released on November 11 and sells at a retail price of $60.

By Eric Carr. If you like zombie games and parkour, then you'll love the new game coming out on January 30, 2015. The game is called Dying Light. It is set in the city of Harran after a vicious outbreak be-gins to spread. The player is forced to run through the town avoiding zombies and humans alike. Zombies are everywhere, but the humans travel in small groups. People are hunting you down for supplies as you pick up through the town to sur-vive the epidemic.

P A G E 7

By Jalyn Chaffin. AC/DC’s newest album Rock or Bust launched December 2nd, marking the band's 15th album. AC/DC’s carrier has spanned over 40 years now, which is an accomplishment very few bands can even begin to think about. AC/DC’s career started in late 1973 in Australia. The creative genius behind the band was rhythm guitar player Malcolm Young. He cemented the band’s lineup by asking his younger brother Angus to play lead guitar. Popularity grew very quickly for the band in Australia the no-nonsense style of rock n’ roll that AC/DC provided seemed to resonate with more and more fans around the world. Once their music hit the US their fame exploded quickly into superstar status. The band was re-leasing albums and touring the world nonstop. However on a break between recording albums, catastrophe struck on February 19, 1980 when lead singer Bon Scott was found dead of alcohol poison-ing. Even though the band was ready to rec-ord the next album, serious thought was

put into breaking up and stopping the band completely. Luckily Malcolm and Angus decided to push forward and found a dynamic new singer that they

liked named Brian Johnson. They hit the studio very quickly in a remote area near Nassau, Bahamas rather than their regu-lar studio. This was so they could concen-trate on their music and deal with Bon’s death. What resulted from AC/DC’s work in the studio was nothing short of a rock mas-

terpiece. The album was named Back in Black and became the band's best known recording. Back in Black has since gone on to become the best selling rock album of all time. To this day selling over twen-ty-two million copies in the US alone. Other releases and tours continued for the next four decades setting AC/DC firm-ly among the few elite acts in the world today. In the lead up to Rock or Bust, tragedy struck the band once more in 2013. Mal-colm suffered a possible stroke which resulted in severe dementia leaving him unable to play music any longer. Once again the band pushed forward one more time in honor of Malcolm and the work he had put into the new album. Malcolm and Angus’ nephew (Stevie) stepped in to play rhythm guitar. Rock or Bust is quintessential AC/DC. Heavy power chords, strong vocals, and hard rocking rhythm. Age seems not to have slowed down the band or their mu-sic. Who knows what the future has in store for the band.

By Jaden Hasse. James Bond will be in action yet again on the big screen fighting against the evil organization “Spectre”. Some of the more devoted fans of James Bond will recognize the “Spectre” from the James Bond Ian Fleming's Novels. The actor playing James Bond will be Daniel Craig who played him in four previous movies. Most of the cast from 2012’s “James Bond: Skyfall” will be returning to their roles. This is sure to be a spy movie you won’t want to miss.

By Jalyn Chaffin and Alli-son King. 5 Seconds of Summer released their first Live album LiveSOS on December 15. This is their second album. There are 3 versions of the album: the physical copy, the digital copy, and the itunes copy. Each copy will have differ-ent songs, but all versions will have their cover of “What I Like About You” by The Romantics. You can buy LiveSOS on itunes for $9.99. Here is the link for the track list for all 3 cop-ies: http://www.5sos.com/livesos/

P A G E 8

By Mikye Boyd. Depression is a very serious issue. It’s mostly found in teens in middle school and high school. This is mostly caused by stress, bullying, or being over-whelmed by all of your work. When a teenager is de-pressed they usually feel like no one understands how they feel and like they’re alone. Here are some symp-toms teens usually have when they’re depressed: 1.) You consistently feel irritable, sad, and angry. 2.) Nothing seems fun to you anymore, so you just give up trying. 3.) You don’t get the right amount of sleep. 4.) You constantly have headaches and other body is-sues. 5.) Almost anything makes you emotional. 6.) Your weight is uncontrollable. 7.) You can’t concentrate on your work. 8.)You feel hopeless. 9.) You start thinking about suicide/death. When depression gets to the point that you start think-ing of suicide then you need to take action. If you feel like you have no one to talk to, you can call 1-800-273-TALK. You might know the people, but they understand your problems. Please use this number responsibly. Just remember there is always another solution, even if you can’t see it now!

By Emma Cole. In Indianapolis suicide is the third leading cause of death for adolescents ages ten to fourteen, and it is the tenth leading death for all ages in the United States. In 2012 alone, there were 40,600 reported suicides in the United States all to-gether. Everyday approximately 112 people kill themselves. Each year sui-cide takes more lives than war, mur-der, and natural disasters combined. Every twelve minutes there is a sui-cide attempt in the United States. Talk show host Phil Donahue once said, “Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.” I’ve had friends kill themselves, and it tore me apart from the inside out. I, personal-ly, have had some thoughts of sui-cide. I used to self harm, but I have never attempted suicide. I have

thought about it, but never acted on it other than self harm. I felt like I was alone in the world. However, then I moved on. If you think someone you know may be suicidal, look for these signs: talk-ing about suicide, asking if some-thing will fatally harm them, acting as if they have no hope for the future, hating themselves, giving away prized possessions, and saying goodbye as if they won’t be seen again. If one of your friends or even just some-one who you know shows multi-ple signs, ask them about it. You never know if you don’t ask. Too many teens from our gener-ation have killed themselves, but we can help stop anyone else from following in their footsteps.

The best ways to help a suicidal per-son is to offer support and happiness. Don’t be afraid to call the Indianapo-lis suicide hotline at 882-5122 or the National Suicide Prevention line at 800-273-8255.

Art

by

Mis

oo

Fila

n

P A G E 9

By Stephon Hughley & Gabriel Linder. During the Lakers win in overtime against the Toronto Raptors, Kobe Bry-ant had 12 assists which put him to 6,000 assists total. He is the first player to have 30,000 points and 6,000 assists for his whole career . He finished the game with a triple double and became the oldest person in NBA history to record 30pts-10ast-10reb game. Despite the great numbers, Kobe also broke the record for the most missed shots in NBA history. Kobe Bryant will always be one of the greatest players.

By Stephon Hughley. Lauren Hill is a freshman basketball player for Mount St. Joseph who earlier this year made the news when her college basketball team got the NCAA to agree to starting the season 2 weeks early in order for Lauren to play in a college-level ball game. Previously, she had been diagnosed with brain cancer and wanted simply to get to play before her cancer overcame her physically. Recently, her headaches have been flar-ing up, and she has been having a lot less energy. She is now getting hospice care because she is terminally ill and has gotten worse over the past month. Lauren has already raised over $320,000 for ”The Cure Starts Now,” which is a foundation for the cure for cancer. Her goal for the end of the year is to hit $1,000,000.

By Marshay Owens. St. Louis police officers say it’s “profoundly disap-pointing” with the football players who sent a silent, but strong message be-

fore they went out on the field in a re-cent NFL game. A grand jury decided on Nov. 24 not to indict Wilson (charge him with a serious crime)

which lead to protests nation-wide. The five players’ action al-so sparked a widespread reaction across social media. Some com-pared what the Rams’ players did to the black power salute by two black Olympians from the United States at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. The

football players told CNN KSDK-TV that they came up with the idea just before the game and wanted their action to represent a solidarity (unity of feeling or action) with the people of St. Louis and surrounding areas. A football play-er named Cook said, “I’m sorry that police responded more quickly to NFL players peaceful protest than they did to a dead body in the street. The police association called for the Rams to apol-ogize and the players involved to be disciplined.

By Kaiden Moore. Dial It Up Sweepstakes is open to all 50 states and the District of Columbia. To participate in the sweepstakes, players have to be 18 or older. There are prizes for the winners: Grand Prize is a grand package with a three night trip for two to the 2015 NBA All-Star game and two selected tickets to any selected All-Star game event. Each week-ly prize winner will get a product from JBL, or they will get a NBA/JBL co-product. Each weekly prize winner will also have the option of four other prizes which can only be an NBA Licensed product. If interested, have a parent or older sibling check out the sweepstakes!

P A G E 1 0 V O L U M E 2 , I S S U E 4

By Kaiden Hardcastle. The Cicret Bracelet is the new tab-let, on your skin. The bracelet pro-jects your phone screen onto your skin, looking like a digital tattoo. The bracelet projects 8 different ranges of light, and wherever you tap, it stops the light from going any further, causing it to act as a screen. The creator of the prototype has an app for the bracelet, also called Cicret. It's a messaging app made for secure transfer of data. They have not tested it and can-not suggest if it should be used at this time. It can be bought at Target for $79.99.

By Rodnesha Stephens and Mrs. Trotter. Eagle Creek Park has been over populated with deer threatening native plants and causing a decrease in the food supply for other species. The parks department wanted to have a hunt on the east side of the park to help control the deer. However, there was a debate about whether or not this was a good idea. One group was for the hunt; one was not. FOR: Many people believed the deer should be hunted. Hunters, including disabled veterans, wanted to hunt the deer and donate part of the meat. With-out the hunt, the community will have to ultimately pay because this overpopulation will make it

difficult for the forest to regenerate. The hunters believe that it’s just better for them to be hunted than for them to be a nuisance to the park and possibly surrounding neighborhoods. Some community members near Eagle Creek were scared to go take their kids to the bus stop. Therefore, addressing the population problem in this way would be more immediate.

AGAINST: Others believe instead of killing the deer, they should be sent off to other locations. Not killing deer is obviously better for the deer, and the park would be safe with no weapons present. The park would also not be shut down for a few days in order for the hunt to occur. Instead, the deer should be taken to other parks in other states. RESULT: This issue went to court where a judge ruled in favor of the hunt which occurred the last weekend on November. 142 deer were killed by local hunters and Wounded Warriors (veterans.) 4,800 pounds of meat was donated to Gleaners Food Bank. A hunt for the west side of the park is scheduled for a later date.

By Aniyaa Smith. Dec 9, 2014 a woman named Casserly who is a student at the Uni-versity of Guelph in Canada, was sleeping until she heard a loud pop. She said that the battery of her phone had exploded and sent the case and the battery in two different directions which caused two separate fires: 1. The battery that was lit on fire flew over her, hit the curtain and fell on her bed. 2. The case flew the other way and landed on her dresser and started another one. “I will never get another Samsung Galaxy again,” she stated. Scientists are doing more research on Samsung Galaxys to see what went wrong.

By Bryce Alpers. NASA has done research on most things in space, but there's still more we can discover about Pluto. We have done research on Pluto, our most well-known dwarf planet, before, but now NASA has a probe that will be send-ing them information. The probe, named Horizon, was sent on Jan. 6, 2006. It was set to awake nine years after launch and recently NASA got a signal from Horizon saying it was awake, is approaching Pluto, and is ready to begin its re-search.

P A G E 1 1

By Christina Strader. Cyberbullying is not a good thing. Bullies call people names on their cell phones, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Cyber Bullying is bad for the community, but people just blow it off like it’s nothing. According to Nobullying.com 25% of teenagers reported they are experiencing repeated bullying. Tell a teacher/your parent(s), or someone that you trust and know very well if you are being cyberbullied. Stand up to the bully. Be a friend. Do something to stop this issue. It will not stop itself. There are people wanting to report the issue, but they are to scared to say anything. Here is a link about bullying. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmQ8nM7b6XQ

By NaShele Albertson and Jaela Melton. The Scholastic Arts and Writing awards invites Central and Southern Indiana stu-dents to participate in their annual con-test. The Hoosier Creativity Award has been added this year; the theme for this category is “Competition” and one award is going to be in art and one for writing. Hoosier Writing Project and Clowes Hall Women’s Committee are giving each award a $200 prize. Other categories are listed on the same website below. To register, go to http://

www.artandwriting.org/Affiliate/IN002W . While registration doesn’t cost, there is a submission fee to enter the competition. The final deadline to submit any work is January 7th 2015, and costs $10.00 per work submitted and $30.00 for a portfolio. If you enter anything before December 15, 2014 the cost will be low-ered to $5.00 per person and $20.00 for a whole case of work. To get more infor-mation on entering the program refer to the website above. Many of the art pieces are put into museum exhibits, and writing

is often published in magazines across the country. In addition, students often are moved into higher categories like na-tionals and regionals. There are many schol-arships to be awarded along with medals.

By Jaden Hasse. NASA and students from Stanford-Brown-Spelman University have been working on a special pro-ject. The special project they have been creating is a drone that breaks down when it lands. It will be useful because when it breaks down it will cause less pollution than if it didn’t. The drone is made out of a special sub-stance created by combining mushroom fibers and paper wasp spit. The drone will be used to explore areas that humans can not, such as wildfires and nuclear accidents.

By Isaiah Henderson. Racial profiling has been a problem here in the United States. It occurs everyday. Racial profiling is when anyone targets people of color, or people of a different race in a negative way. This has especially been happening with our law enforcement lately. The current law allows them to search anyone regardless of their race which results often in people being searched without a just cause. Racial profiling goes against the constitution. That’s why the government has come up with new ways to pre-vent or lower the cases of racial profiling. The police officers will have to record a suspect’s race, ethnicity, religion, gender, na-tional origin, sexual orientation, and gender identity after search-ing the suspect. This will hopeful-ly cause them to think carefully about the real cause for the search making it harder for law enforcement to profile racially. Officers are still allowed to use race if it fits a crime suspect’s description. Currently, these rules are only mandatory for the department of justice. The goal is for local police to also be re-quired to follow these rules.

P A G E

By Eric Carr and Bryce Alpers. Last year’s winter was bad enough. But take that and times it by two, and you get this year’s winter prediction. The forecast is looking to be hard on the east coast and gulf coast by making temperatures drop and giving them unusual amounts of snow. The main cause of this winter catastrophe is the winter vortex up in the North Pole but is due to global warming. It is causing a dis-ruption in the vortex’s normal pattern, which usually dips down only to skim the USA. Now it dips down and covers more of the USA changing our typical weather.

By Emma Cole And Mikye Boyd. Some people just can’t stand the cold. Especially elders and babies. Their fragile bodies just can’t handle the winter weather so usually families move somewhere warmer. So we made a list of some places to during the winter to get away from the cold. According to Tripadvisor the top four places to visit in the winter are New Orleans, Honolulu, Orlando, and Los Angeles. These sunny locations are interesting to visit or to read about. So when you are feeling the winter blahs, check out these fun vacation hot spots. NEW ORLEANS New Orleans is a place of mystery, soul, celebration, elegancy, and happiness. New Orle-ans is notorious for their big Mardi Gras celebrations. The parties are almost over the

top. While in New Orleans visitors can take a look at the historical French Quarter, take a tour in the beautiful Garden District, and see/ speak to all of the colorful characters of Frenchman Street, or they can jump straight to the mystery and visit the Voodoo Museum. There are tours guided by either a ghost or

vampires through haunted taverns, alleyways, and cemeteries. HONOLULU Hawaii is the perfect place to go for winter for those who want to get away from the cold, or for other reasons such as, art muse-ums, beautiful scenery, and bike trails. In Honolulu, tourists can visit Waikiki Beach. With the soft sands and great surfing opportu-nities, it’s hard to not want to leave. While in Hawaii you can also visit Diamond Head, a 350- acre volcanic crater. When they finally get tired of the beach, visitors can go to historical struc-

tures such as the Iolani Palace, or Aliiolani Hale. ORLANDO In Orlando there are more choices than people know what to do with. Vacationers can go to one of the many Disney theme parks or attend Seaworld. If, however, tourists are into roller coasters, they can head to Universal Studios. Not into heart pumping, adrenaline rushes? Go some-place calm like the Harry P. Leu Gardens or enjoy a massage at a luxury day spa. When people are done with their chosen activity they can head down to one of Orlando’s James Beard nominated restaurants.

LOS ANGELES As visitors take in the iconic artwork at The Getty Center, they realize how lucky they are to be

in this amazing town. Have a different type of star-gaze, peek through the telescopes at the Griffith Observatory, or spot a favorite star while shopping at The Grove. You can tour movie studios, slip your hands into the famous prints at the TCL Chinese Thea-tre. Indulge a celeb sighting at one of LA’s white-hot nightspots. By the time visitors leave LA they’ll be starstruck for sure.

P A G E 1 3

Desserts and New Year’s Eve go hand in hand. Number one on our list is Countdown Cheesecake. Surprise your family with this great dessert you can make. You will need the following:

4 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened 1 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

2 tablespoons butter, melted 4 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract pre-made graham cracker crust Directions: 1. Combine cream cheese and sugar in large bowl until creamy. 2. Beat in butter, eggs, vanilla and pour into pre-made crust in a spring-

form pan. 3. Place in large roasting dish

and fill with water, halfway up springform pan.

4. Bake uncovered for about 1 hour at 350 degrees.

5. Place cheesecake (in pan) in refrigerator and chill overnight.

Reminder: many electives

are semester-long classes

and will change after break.

Swim Team Tryouts

TOMORROW @LC

Editors-in-Chief: Sydney Stauffer, Katie Allen, Gabbie Anderson Newspaper Staff and contributing writers: Katie Allen, Bryce

Alpers, Nashele Albertson, Dejuan Anderson, Matthew Anderson, Mikye Boyd, Tori Baker, Savion Bingham, Yhaniya Bynum,

Eric Carr, Christopher Glover, Jalyn Chaffin, Jacqueline Chavez, Emma Cole, Raegin Crockett, Vasean Daniels, Saeron Graves,

Kelsie Hardy, Jaden Hasse, Isaiah Henderson, Stephon Hughley, Dalen Johnson, Allison King, Gabe Linder, Lanea Lopez, Isaiah

Malone, Nikolaus McCraig, Jaela Melton, Kaiden Moore, Charlie Nelson, Marshay Owens, Jalen Pannell, Simone Reid, Breanna

Rickmon, Aniyaa Smith, Dyamond Smith, Dalycia Satterfield, Donya Simmons, Isiah Spivey, Taylor Soares, Jasmyn Songer, Syd-

ney Stauffer, Rodnesha Stephens, Christina Strader, Sarah Swank, Riley Stine, Natalie Taylor, Storme Torrence, Ryan Vaden, Ci-

erra Wheeler, Shelby Wheeler, Kenasia Williams