All Hollows Eve

  “As spirits roam the neighborhoods at night, Let loose upon the Earth till it be light…
”~Nicholas Gordon.

What is the holiday that is responsible for the biggest total sales of candy in October? One of the most celebrated holidays around the world? The most awaited and scariest day of the year? This famous holiday is today known as Halloween, formally known as “All Hallow’s Eve” and it is finally around the corner.

Pope Boniface IV created this day in the 7^th century to celebrate all the saints that could not be celebrated individually, and it has been celebrated ever since.

Halloween is a worldwide holiday that almost all countries part take in, though many have different customs and ways that they chose to celebrate this day. One of the main customs in America today is wearing costumes; this idea began hundreds of years ago with the Celts, people that lived in the European region during the Iron Age. During the Samhain Fire Festival, a festival that marked the beginning of a new season, it was custom for the Celts to take an ember from the ceremonial bonfire and light it in their family hearth, in order to protect themselves on their way home.  They dressed up in costumes to ward off evil spirits that were believed to hide in the darkness. This is where our perception of costumes was originated.

But In the recent centuries costumes have been worn not only to keep away “evil spirits” but also to scare friends, and impress others with the skill and creativity. In the release of the Home Sewing Association’s “top ten” list of costumes in the year 2001, some costumes included: super heroes, witches, professional sports figures, and the wizards from the movie Harry Potter. Over the years these ideas have changed due to the influence of newly released movies, (Avatar, The Crazies, and Alice in wonderland), new reality shows, (Jersey shore), and celebrities, (Lady Gaga, and Michael Jackson).

When asked, the majority of the students at BHS said they were going as either a character from their favorite movie or simply just wearing a mask. One student even said he was going as a pumpkin.

People all around the world wear costumes to celebrate this frightful night; it’s what makes this holiday fun and scary. So put on your mask, bring your pillowcase and roam the streets for some candy and most of all “eat, drink, and be scary”, ~Author unknown.

Text Mania

by Editor-in-Chief Marisa Kaplita

Texting is a national phenomenon that has affected people of all ages over just the past few years.  Even the inventors of texting had no idea of the effect they were created onto the nation.  And I must admit that texting is a wonderful thing, but there comes a point where it’s just too much.

It has come increasingly apparent to me that texting at BHS is starting to become a real bothersome issue.  Just sitting in any class you will be able to look around and spot a few people not paying attention and checking their phone under their desk.  Or my favorite is when people have given up entirely on hiding their phone and simply text over their desk while the teacher is staring right at them.

Texting is a major distraction in the classroom; it is nearly impossible for someone to answer a text while still retaining the information that the teacher is giving them.  Even if someone “claims” to be able to text and listen at the same time, they are lying.  You might be able to hear the teacher, but in all honesty you won’t know what they’re saying.  This is a real problem because most of the time the teacher is trying to teach you something during the 45 minutes of class time.

I also believe that contently texting all the time takes all the emotion out of a conversation.  Isn’t the biggest part of a conversation the amount of emotion or enthusiasm you put into it?  You can’t put hand motions and facial expressions into a text message  (well, unless you put a smiley face motacon, but is that really the same?)

So, here’s a proposition for all you text-a-holics out there: for one week, just ONE week, try not to text at all.  Keep the phone in your backpack while you’re in class and call your friends if you really need to talk.  Not texting for one week shouldn’t be hard, and if it truly is, then it is very pathetic for our generation that we have become so consumed with texting that we don’t even know how to live without it for a week. So, stop and think about it, do we really want to be known as the generation of kids that are so attached with our phones that we can’t even take them out from under our noses and have a normal face-face conversation?

Illuminaqua

by Alyssa Mason

On October 9^th, the AP art students and sculpture students showed off their incredible skills on the town green by making a giant wave out of recycled water bottles and other recyclable materials. Something unique about the sculpture, other than being completely recyclable, is that they built the sculpture on site.   The art students had to make the different sections of the sculpture at school and then put them all together at the green. This is because it was too big to transport the sculpture as a whole.

In the end, all of the students were very proud of their work, Grace Hager said, “The Illuminaqua was six weeks of intensive sculptured work that paid off in the end with a beautiful piece.”  And their hard work definitely did pay off; it was an amazing piece of art.

In addition to the sculpture, lights and sounds were set up to make an interesting and beautiful effect.  Mrs. Paskiwiez , the AP art teacher who was the advisor on this project, said, “It was a collaboration of AP art and sculpture students working together, using recyclable bottles to create a beautiful sculptural wave.  They all worked so well together and did an incredibly good job.”  All of the artists should be very proud of the sculpture, it was truly remarkable.

School Clubs

by Alyssa Mason

Anime Club

In Anime Club, there are many different things to do, from drawing their own characters and people.   In addition to drawing, they watch Anime, play video games, and dress up as different characters and party.  As of now they are working on filling their bulletin board.  The new president, Sidney Mao, is working on reorganizing the club.  There are about 15-20 members so far, and they are currently recruiting any new members that want to join; anyone is welcome, from freshman to upperclassmen.

Women’s Club

The purpose of women’s club is to support young women.  Last year they sent clothes and other materials to an Indian reservation in North Dakota.  They do many collection drives throughout the year to send to women in need.  Another goal the club supervisor, Mrs. Roy mentioned was to create a safe place for girls to talk freely with the older girls about their problems.  They’re newest project is creating goodie bags to give out at the “Run for the Ribbons” event that is raising money to donate it  to help find a cure for breast cancer.

Orchestra

Orchestra is an all year class that consists of violin, viola, cello, and bass players.  Last year orchestra only had 5 people, which is more a quintet than an orchestra.  This year however, this number has doubled to 10 people.  There is also a new teacher, Mrs. Cohen, who has brought much change to the program.  This class is welcome to everyone, so anyone who wants to play an instrument is welcome to join.  We meet every day during 6^th period.  There are many concerts planned this year so if you aren’t able to join, then you can still come and support them.

Art Club

Art Club is a very interesting club that meets Tuesdays after school.  Next week they are going to be doing print making and are soon planning to be doing crafts with pumpkins in celebration of fall and Halloween.  The club is run by Mr. McColl, there aren’t many members in art club yet, and new members are encouraged to join.

Be sure to check out their art work it is sure to be breathtaking!

Asian Awareness

Asian Awareness is another relatively small club with 15-20 members; and members are always welcome throughout the year.  They do many fun things such as eat Asian cuisine and make Asian crafts.  They also listen to Asian music, and occasionally hold Asian fashion shows.  They are also planning a trip to Chinatown, New York around Chinese New Year.  You don’t have to be Asian to join the club; everyone is welcome to celebrate the culture with them.  This is a club definitely worth checking out!