Ice storm stops town in its tracks

by Madison Gates

On February 1, 2011, our little town of Paris, Illinois, and the greater part of the Midwest, experienced an ice storm. Monday, February 1st, in the afternoon, it started raining just about the time school released for the day, and the temperatures were in the high 30’s. Later that night the temperatures dropped big time! The roads started to get slick. Everyone knew that this was coming though. Meteorologists predicted an ice storm of epic proportions, which then would be followed by a little snow storm. Canned foods and candles were flying off of Wal-Mart’s shelves. People were getting out all of their blankets, and were ready for the storm!

The next day when everyone woke up, there was a wonderful layer of ice on absolutely everything. It was extremely slick, and schools everywhere were being cancelled. Later that night around 11:00 p.m. electricity all around Paris was going out. At some homes it would go out for only a just a few minutes. Other houses it was off for days. “My power was off for almost three days, it sucked,” said PCHS freshman Briana Pearcy.

The road conditions were terrible, and it was dangerous to even get out of the house. The sidewalks, steps, driveways everything was absolutely covered in ice. Trees were even breaking because of the wait due to the ice that covered them.

“I couldn’t do anything because of the ice. I didn’t like it,” said PCHS student Randi Hays.

Schools in Paris were cancelled for the rest of the week, and Vigo County schools were even closed the following Monday.

English teacher expecting baby girl

by Serena Wells

For those of you who may not know, Mrs. Rodriguez is having another baby. As of February 7th, she is 23 weeks along. I asked her some questions about her expecting, her current family life, and how she thinks things will change after the new baby is born. Following is our interview:

Serena Wells: How do you think Noah is going to act about a new baby in the family?

Kristy Rodriguez: Noah will probably be a little freaked out at first but will quickly adapt. He is used to being around a lot of different people so once he gets used to the baby crying and making strange noises, I see him handling it well. He might actually be helpful because he does like to help me around the house with picking toys up and feeding the dog.

SW: Do you have any ideas for names?

KR: We have discussed a few names but nothing that is sticking now. We didn't decide on Noah's name until a month before he was born so we have time. Her middle name will be Basilisa for sure because that was my husband's grandmother's name but no first name yet.

SW: How do you think life in your household will change when the baby comes?

KR: Life at first will be chaotic. Noah is used to being the only one and he expects things when he asks for them. He will need to learn to be patient and we will have to adapt to a new baby's schedule along with trying to get Noah on the same sort of schedule. Because I have all summer off, it will help with the exhaustion of learning to have 2 children to care for but hopefully this will be a pretty easy transition for all of us.

SW: Are you excited for the new baby and is there anything you can think of that you're not yet prepared for?

KR: I am super excited for the new baby. I can't wait to hold her and all the little baby things that come along with it. I am prepared for actually having her here but we still don't have girl clothes. I figure my mother and sisters will be buying enough clothes that initially we will be pretty set and there are some things Noah wore that a girl could wear too. I am also not prepared for the constant exhaustion that will accompany the first 2 months (at least) of her life but we'll deal with it. I see lots of naps in our future!

SW: How does your husband and the rest of your family feel about an addition to the family?

KR: My husband is probably more excited than anyone about a baby girl, even though he tries to act all rough and tough about it. Noah has him wrapped around his little finger and I foresee a daughter being even worse. The rest of my family can't wait to start buying clothes. My mother has already attempted to buy a few dresses when we are together and I keep telling her to wait. We just don't have anywhere to put any new clothes right now! My grandmother can't wait to have another great-granddaughter and my husband's family is excited to have their first granddaughter to spoil rotten.

SW: Are you happy it's a girl?

KR: I would have been happy either way but a girl is just perfect. It rounds out the family nicely and I am glad I will finally have someone on my side besides our dog!

Congratulations on you’re new baby Mrs. Rodriguez and to your family! (:

Sexting: A problem for teens

by Madison Gates

You hear your phone vibrate, you’ve got a text, Who’s it from? Your mind is racing. I hope it’s from him, or hope it’s from her, you think to yourself. Quickly, you look is it a funny picture, a FWD, or just your mom checking up on you? It’s none of these things, it’s a picture though. Yeah, one of those pictures. Should you save it to your phone? Or delete it right now? Thousands of thoughts rush to your head. Should I tell someone? Or not? I promise I wouldn’t show anyone, and they believed me.

Those are just some of the thoughts that very many high school teenagers throuoghout the country have every day. The cause of this? “Sexting.” What is sexting? It’s sending sexually explicit messages or photos electronically, mostly between mobile phones, but also the internet.

Teens that do this and send them digitally to another cell phone may be engaging in an illegal activity. Child pornography laws exist to protect children from sexual predators and sexual exploitation. It’s illegal to take those sorts of pictures if you’re under the age. However anyone, regardless of age can be charged with this offense. The only thing that matters is the age of the person in the photo.

“People shouldn’t do it,” said Logan McDaniel, a freshman here at PCHS. “People get pressured, that’s why they do it,” stated Briana Pearcy, also a freshman.

Based on the statistics, 20% of teenagers overall have sent or posted a nude semi nude picture of themselves, that’s one in every five people! From those results, 22% of girls have, 18% of boys, and 11% of teenagers 13-16 years old. The percentages of teens still sending them is even worse. Overall, 39% of all teens are still sending them, 37% of girls, 40% of boys.

Some teens don’t even know the person there sending it too, 15% of teens who sexted only knew the person online. 48% of teens have received sexts. 71% of girls and 67% of boys have sent or posted sexually suggestive content to their boyfriend, or girlfriend. 51% of girls and only 18% of boys sexted because they were pressured to do so. This is a problem for not just PCHS students but for all teenagers around the country. For help and more information on the topic visit www.pcsndreams.com , or www.associatedcontent.com.

Taking a Stand: PCHS Fights Bullying

by Meredith Penczek

Bullying is an everyday thing. Unfortunately, people who are bullied have few places to turn. Everyone knows how caring Mrs. McFatridge is. Now, she, her mentoring class, and the S.A.D.D. officers are starting an anti-bullying group for PCHS.

They’re kicking it off by an anti-bullying week. Each day has a designated color and meaning. This is occurring the week of January 24th. Flyers have been posted around the school announcing so, and details about it have been put in the weekly announcements.

“We will be holding a few meetings, but that’s mainly to establish our presence,” Mrs. McFatridge said when asked about the group's future plans. She also added, “it’s good for people to know that there’s a presence out there.”

The current members from Mrs. McFatridge’s mentoring are Dan Dan Chen, Shane Foos, Noel Rigdon, Tyler Roberts, Leslie Rush, Ashleigh Sanders, Rebecca Sexton, Erica Sheeran, Kurtis Shotts, Dakota Simpson, Anika Sons, and Sierra Campbell, and the officers from S.A.D.D. are Jed Powers, Morgan Englum, Erica Sheeran, Rachel Givens, and Drew Harper. These are just some of the participating in the anti-bullying group.

This is just one step towards helping the people who’ve been bullied. There’s now somewhere where they can turn. As Mrs. McFatridge preaches to her classes, “Progress, not perfection.”

PCHS Drama brings "Beauty" to stage this spring

by Kayla Foushee

The tale may be as old as time, but the musical "Beauty and the Beast" is timeless. "Beauty and the Beast" is a musical about loving someone for what’s on the inside, and teaches us that looks aren’t everything.

High school is a hard time for people. It seems like the only thing people care about are looks. "Beauty and the Beast" is a great play for a high school to do. It has a great story line about inner beauty.

“I was temporarily crazy when I chose it, but also it’s familiar. People know the songs, and it lends itself for a large cast,” said Mr. Lynch. "Beauty and the Beast" is familiar to people, and it’s easy to see why Mr.Lynch chose it for this year’s spring production.

Accoding to SurLaLune Fairy Tales, "Beauty" ran on Broadway for 5,464 perfomances between 1994 and 2007, becoming Broadway’s seventh-longest running production in history. The musical has grossed more that $1.4 billion (Mr. Lynch isn’t expecting to get quite that much) worldwide and played in thirteen countries and 115 cities. It has also become a very popular choice for high school productions.

Paris Cooperative High School puts on huge productions every spring. Everyone in the town of Paris always comes to see the plays. Mr. Lynch chooses the plays he thinks students could relate to the most. All of the plays are always bigger and better than the last.

“This production is going to be huge! Massive costumes, this play will be signifacntly different," said Mr. Lynch.

Controversy surrounds "I Love Boobies" bracelets

by Madison Gates

You see your friends and classmates wearing them on their wrists at school every day and also to games. They’re everywhere! Everyone seems to want one and they come in all different colors, but all say one thing: “I Love Boobies.”

These are bracelets to help support breast cancer awareness. But is that the real reason that people wear them?

“I support the message but the language used on them isn’t appropriate for school,” stated Mr. Lynch, a teacher here at PCHS.

Do you think that they’re okay to wear at school? Briana Pearcy, a freshman here at PCHS, had this to say about it: “I don’t think that there’s anything wrong with them. It’s to support breast cancer. I have one.”

The Keep A Breast Foundation’s mission is to help eliminate breast cancer by exposing young people, mostly teens to methods of prevention, early detection, and support. This is a campaign to speak to young people about a subject that is often scary. For more information about the campaign, you can visit www.keep-a-breast.org.

XBOX Kinect

by Serena Wells

Jump. Duck. Run in place. These are just some of the things you have to do while playing the new X-Box 360 game with Kinect. In this game, the player is the controller rather than having an remote type of controller. There is a camera and everything you do while playing, the camera sees and your character does the same thing in the game. The cost for Kinect alone is around $150 but you could also get the new X-Box with Kinect for $300. Kinect is an interactive game which keeps players on their toes while playing. Much more is planned to be added to Kinect in the future. Kinect is similar to the Wii console but instead of having a controller, your entire body is the controller. I talked to a couple of our students who have played with Kinect and for their opinions on the game.

“I think it’s really fun, and it’s really entertaining”, says Jordan Butler. “Kinect has much better graphics than the Wii and also a better workout because you use your arms more than you do with the Wii”, Jordan added. “It is the most super duper fantastic game in the universe”, says Allie Caldwell, “And I’m real excited for it to reach its full potential”.

Kinect is still new on the market and is already very popular. If you are wanting to try out Kinect, WalMart has it set up for people to try. With Christmas right around the corner, it’s definitely something to add to your Christmas list.