Epistle October 2012

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The EpistleOctober 31st, 2012

StaffEditor-in-chiefDanielle Williamson

Staff ReportersHope LemleyEllis NoblesKourtney WadkinsJohn WilliamsonKelsi AllmanLexi LongChelsea Hubbard Contributing WritersJulia LoganKatelanne WhiteheadJonathan Landry

AdvisorLeigh Terrell

“Some say if you leave out an unwrapped candy bar, the ghost of the baby will come and take it.”

Cry Baby Bridge, p.10

“Auburn fans, because they are scary, scary people.”

All Around Campus, p. 7

“In case you haven’t heard, there’s an election coming up next Tues-day.”

Political platforms, p. 13

“They are attached to unusual objects, perform repeated body movements for comfort, and tend to take comfort in routines.”

What is autism? p. 15

Fall show 2012See page 14 for more

2 | The Epistle | September 2012

Letter from the EditorBoo.That’s the sound ghosts make. Grr. That’s the sound werewolves make. Unngh.That’s the sound zombies make.Unngh. That’s the sound students make. Yay. That’s the sound students make when they’re reading The Epistle. This is the part where some starts rolling their eyes and chastis-ing me for promoting The Epistle nonstop. To those naysayers, I respond with this: “Umm whateva major looser. Journalism is da best. Also ur face iz stoopid, so thur.” Luckily, the articles in this edition are not filled with my hypo-thetical retorts. Rather, Kelsi, Ellis, Hope, John, Lexi, and our newest member, Chelsea Hubbard, have slaved over a plethora of articles. We hope you find them spooky, informative, and engaging. If you find them stoopid, then—well—

you’ll have to excuse us as we take a group excursion to Cry Baby Bridge. And cry. Like babies. So before you don your cos-tumes to go candy mugging, give us wee tykes at The Epistle a chance. Take a moment to peruse through this month’s issue. Proceed with caution: Slenderman, jack-o-lan-terns, and the Korean pop star, Psy, lurk in the shadows of these pages. Perhaps more frightening than all of our Halloween articles are the politics features we’ve chosen to include, complete with a chart detailing the candidates stances on a selection of issues. In short, this edition of The Epistle is a paper version of a zombie president. It’ll put fear into your heart. It’ll make you squeal in terror. It’ll give informative speech-es. It’ll mention completely unre-lated topics, such as autism, Nikola Tessla, and procrastination, just to distract you from the matter at hand. It might even eat your brain. Granted, I may have exag-

gerated that sentence a wee bit. I will warn you, however. Attempting to do the reverse (eating the news-paper’s brain) will result in frus-tration, tummy aches, wary looks from onlookers, and a chastisement from Mr. Marshall for not recy-cling. Sincerely,

Danielle Williamson

The highly sophisticated staff of The Epistle. Not pictured: Chelsea Hubbard, Lexi Long, and Kourtney Wadkins

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Table of Contents

|6|Editorials

|4|Editorials

|8|Spread

|10|Spread

|12 |Features

|14|Features

|16|Sports

|5|Editorials

|9|Spread

|13|Features

|7|All Around Campus

|11|Spread

|15|Features

By the numbers: Student statisticsThis month, The Epistle asked students what age people should stop trick-or-treating.

|17|Sports

Sports|18|


by Danielle WilliamsonDisclaimer: this article has nothing to do with giraffes. This article is about politics. I understand why 50% of readers just fled to All Around Campus or the spread. Discussing politics in public is a social faux pas, the equivalent of strut-ting around in your birthday suit or cursing loudly around small children. Politics make people uncomfortable. It’s a polarizing topic that oft erupts in heated arguments, flung foodstuffs, and awkward silences. Thus, it’s no wonder that people avoid it like the plague. In short, politics has become confrontational. It has been falsely equated with rhetoric and corruption. The negative connotations the Ameri-can public associates with the word “politics” obscures the true meaning: the business of governing a nation. Government, at any level, af-fects our lives, whether we’re aware of it or not. Let’s take a trip down meta-phor lane. If we’re all athletes playing the sport of life, government is the rules commissioner. It doesn’t yank the base-

balls and bats our of our hands to sud-denly change the sport we play. It isn’t designed to do that. Instead, it makes gradual changes to the field around us, changing how we play the game. Despite what many would have you believe, an appointment to public office does not come with a pitchfork, horns, and a forked tail. A career in politics is a legitimate job path; one that many are drawn to because of the po-tential it presents to change the playing field for the better. Corruption sneaks into this equation when citizens ne-glect to monitor politicians’ activities. Ignorance is a blank canvas politicians paint to suit their world view and life goals. Enlightenment is a tougher me-dium that requires policy makers to put substance to their marks, to fill out the empty lines they’ve sketched. Furthermore, a firmer grasp of the issues leads to a better understand-ing of what the other “side” might have to say, as opposed to blindly claiming allegiance with a particular party. Self-conducted research and independent

thought processes provide people with the tools to defend their position and respect others. Simply repeating buzz words heard on MSNBC or FOX leads to a discourse of echoes: a breeding ground for suspicion, name-calling, and partisanship. How is it possible to make an informed decision on who to vote for this upcoming election without a vague awareness of the progress or decline of the economy or the legislation that has been passed in the past four years? How is it possible to evaluate a particu-late candidates worth without knowing what they’ve done? Our forefathers made this country a democracy because they had faith in the American people. Citizens can shoulder this responsibility with pride by remaining vigilant. Alterna-tively, they can let it waste upon the ground, curling inward with a shiver of disappointment. The choice is yours, but re-member—the repercussions belong to the nation.

Giraffes

The procrastinator’s manifestoby Hope Lemley

Procrastination: perhaps the greatest temptation to ever plague hu-manity. Even now, I am reaping the fruits of procrastination. It is exactly 5:31a.m., and this article is due in ap-proximately four hours. I’ve had five days to write this manifesto—five com-fortable days—and now, armed with life-giving coffee and hindered by lim-ited time, I frantically type these words, mentally kicking myself for not having done this sooner. You know the drill: you have a mountain of homework right in front of you. You know that you should probably just get it over with, but… you still have time, right? Besides, YouTube is practically a procrastinator’s best

friend. It reels us into the maze of ador-able kitten videos—adorable kitten vid-eos that steal our attention with their infinite cuteness, only to find ourselves at the foot of a mountain of homework and despair in the wee hours of the morning (not that this has ever hap-pened to me, of course). We procrastinators recite our mantra over and over again, “I still have time. I still have time.” And then sud-denly, you don’t have time. Suddenly, it’s 5:31a.m., and your article is due that day. But I digress. We claim we can stop at any time. Technically, this is kinda-sorta true. Technically, we could if we really tried. But that would take effort. The black hole of procrastination seems to

have infinite gravity. Also, those cat videos are really cute. However, we can be strong! We can fight back against the oppres-sive hand of procrastination! We can work through our denial and begin our inner-healing. We can log off Facebook and exit out of YouTube.We can escape the crushing vortex of time consump-tion. It will be difficult, but we can and will scale that mountain of homework.Maybe, just maybe, we can—gasp!—ac-tually get some sleep for once. Or maybe that’s taking it a bit too far. Together, we can be strong! Together, my friends, we can throw off the shackles of procrastination! Well… maybe tomorrow.

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Thomas Edison is a fraudby John Williamson

Who was the father of the electric age? If you answered, “Thomas Edison,” you have some reading to do. When most people think of Thomas Edison, they think of the man who invented the light bulb. Well, I have some enlightening words for you; Edison did not invent the light bulb. He simply improved upon the previous 22 ideas of other men that pioneered the light bulb before him. The father of the elec-tric age was Nikola Tesla. Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor that lived during the late 1800s, and his main goal was to invent things that would improve life for all of human-ity. All Edison did was figure out how to make the light bulb sell to the public. Edison is the equivalent to the popular meme, “Scumbag Steve.” While Tesla is the equivalent to the popular meme, “Good Guy Greg.” Tesla actually worked for Edison early in his career. Edison offered to pay him the modern equivalent of a million dollars to fix the problems he was having with his DC genera-tors and motors. Tesla fixed Edison’s machines and when he asked for the money that he was promised, Edi-son laughed him off and had to say this, “Tesla, you don’t understand American humor.” After the sub-sequent falling out Tesla had with Edison, he went to work with his AC electrical system. This ignited a feud with Edison, who at the time was trying to sell his direct current system. Thus, Edison embarked on a campaign to publicly smear Tesla’s AC and convince the public that it was too dangerous for home use. He did this by paying schoolboys twen-ty-five cents a head for live dogs and

cats of the pets from the neighbor-hood near Edison’s laboratory. He then put these dogs and cats on dis-play and publicly electrocuted them

using Tesla’s alternating current. Edison believed the value of his inventions could be gauged by how much money could be made. He was neither a mathematician nor a scientist; he believed he could just hire people to do that for him. Edison was known for rushing to the patent office as soon as one of his employees had something. On the other hand, Tesla was known for discovering things and then forget-ting to write them down. Have you ever heard Guglielmo Marconi? You know, the guy who won a Nobel Prize in physics for inventing the radio? Did you know that basically everything he did was based on work previously done by Tesla? After Marconi became world-famous for sending the first transat-lantic message, Tesla responded to this with, “Marconi is a good fellow. Let him continue. He is using seven-teen of my patents”? Nikola Tesla = Nicest Inventor... Ever! Ever heard of the radar? You

know, that amazing technology that lets us detect objects like submarines and cruise missiles. An English sci-entist by the name of Robert A. Wat-son-Watt was credited with this in-vention in 1935. Can you guess who came up with the idea in 1917, (18 years before Watson-Watt)? Nikola Tesla; he pitched it to the U.S. Navy at the beginning of World War I when the world was getting its butt kicked by German U-boats. Well unfortunately, Thomas Edison was the head of Research & Develop-ment Council for the U.S. Navy at the time and somehow managed to convince them that it had no practi-cal application in war. Wilhelm Rontgen is typi-cally credited as the discoverer of X-rays. Can you guess the moustache-donning inventor who beat him to it and got basically zero credit? NIKO-LA TESLA. Also, when X-rays were initially discovered it was believed that X-rays could cure blindness and other ailments. Tesla warned that X-rays could be dangerous, and he refused to conduct medical experiments with them. While Edi-son, not skipping a beat when the opportunity to be an awful person presented itself, got to work right away on human trials in X-ray ex-perimentation. One of his employ-ees, Clarence Dally, was exposed to so much radiation that his arms had to be amputated to save his life. It didn’t work though, and he eventu-ally died from mediastinal cancer. Dally is considered to be the first American to die from experimenta-tion from radiation (Edison finally invents something original!) In ad-dition to killing his assistant,

cont. on page 14

Nikola Tesla


Gangnam Styleby Kourtney Wadkins

Attention all uncoordinated people of the world! There is no longer a need to fear any situation that involves dancing. Gangnam style is here to save you. This KPop (Korean Pop) sensation has taken hold in America and all around the world. A catchy, electro beat and unrecognizable lyrics have rocketed South Korean native, PSY, into international fame. Even more popular than the song, though, is its accompanying dance, or the Gangnam Style. Gangnam Style is a very simple dance that can be done by just about anyone. It is character-ized by its “horse galloping” motion and “lasso arm”. Horse galloping is exactly how it sounds, you gallop… like a horse. The lasso arm is slight-ly trickier, especially when paired with the “horse galloping”. You

wave one arm around your head in a circle, like a lasso, and place your other hand out in front of you, like you’re holding a saddle. As you can tell, this dance will be a much sim-pler alternative to the Dougie and Wobble challenged members of our community. Still feel like the Gangnam Style is a little too out there for you? Well, the video actually has a Guinness World Record for most

“liked” video in YouTube history. The video has also been shared and covered by T-Pain, Katy Perry, Tom Cruise, Maroon 5, Britney Spears, and thousands of other people. One of the most infamous parodies was done the North Korean govern-ment mocking the original video and one of the current leaders of South Korea. PSY, the 34-year-old South Korean rapper and father of twin girls, has profited from the success of the video. With the song’s trans-lated message being that smart, modest, yet fun ladies are sexy; who wouldn’t love PSY’s quirky dance hit? Whatever your take is on the smashing song and dance combo masterpiece, remember PSY’s life motto “dress classy, dance cheesy.”

image courtesy of news.com.au

The ACT: the hidden controversyby Kelsi Allman

By now all of you know about the dreadful standardized test. You know exactly what I’m talking about: the ACT. This test determines where you’re going to college. In other words, it basically runs your life senior year. By now, all seniors have taken the three and a half hour test that is a defi-nite waste of your Saturday. Not only is the ACT a waste of time, but it’s unfair. While most people just ac-cept the ACT’s flaws, there is so much going on behind the scenes. Why do you have to put your gender, race, and other demographic information on the ACT? They are using it for something you may not know about. ACT per-formed a study incorporating this data to understand the major gap between the scores of opposite genders. They found that females are more thinking-oriented, while males are more likely

just to guess. By not penalizing for wrong answers (like the SAT does, by taking off .25 points for every missed question), the fast-paced multiple choice format suits the quick-guessing males more than the deep-thinking fe-males. Another example of bias on the ACT is its language. It uses slang words that may not be familiar to citizens who do not speak English as a first language. This is very unfair, but many people just ignore it or do not notice. The ACT is used to predict college performance. I totally dis-agree that the ACT should be used to determine college admittance, and how one is going “succeed” in col-lege. I believe that your work ethic in the classroom, your attitude toward school, your study habits, and your organizational skills are better predic-tors of how a student will do in college,

rather than a standardized test. When in your college career will you use standardized scores to determine your job? You won’t. Someone’s career and potential should definitely be deter-mined by the characteristics of the person, their study habits, and their work ethic. Instead, college admit-tance is literally based on the ACT. College educations for many students who are intelligent are denied due to this extreme, ultimate score. Fees and tuition are waived, and millions of dollars of scholarships are awarded to people that do well on the ACT. I do agree with awarding the students who excel on the ACT; however, I do not agree with penalizing the hardworking students who are willing and striving to go to a prestigious college but are handicapped due to a test.

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All around campusEllis Nobles

Alexander Krentel: “Thermonuclear war because it would eliminate all life. Just… gone.”

Jordan Williams: “That they would stop making nutel-la.”

Jonathan Landry: “Crichton, Alabama, because there’s a leprechaun there.”

Kendall Ann Bailey: “Gum because it’s sticky.”

Kate Sullins Can-field: “Clowns. When we had that pep rally with the clowns, I was hid-ing.”

Dr. Brousseau: “Sharks, because of the movie Jaws. I was six, maybe seven. It created a kind of phobia. Whenever I get in the water, that anxi-ety kicks in.”

Harper Chaffe: “Au-burn fans, because they are scary, scary people.”

Hannah Riggin: “Spiders because they can chase me!”

Mrs. Brown: “Ter-rified of heights and snakes, but really heights.

Noah Strickler: “Gi-ant water monsters because you can’t really do anything if you’re in the water and a giant fish is trying to eat you.”

Daniela Salas: “Sharks, because they can kill you, and you never know where they are.”

Trent Larson: “Spiders. Who needs eight eyes and eight legs? No-body: unless you’re up to some pretty awful things.

Joseph Graham: “Snakes because, why does [sic] there always have to be snakes?”

Raven Mestas: “The Wicked Witch of the West because when I was a kid, my sisters taunted me with her voice.

What is your

biggest fear?Why?


Halloween While scavaging through the woods, the staff of The

Epistle discovered a crumpled note. Who do you suspect to be involved?

picture courtesy theslenderman.wikia.com

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2012halloween: Then and

Now Halloween, in my opinion, is the greatest holiday out there. It’s a day where you can be whoever or whatever you want to be. Plus, you get ridiculous amounts of sugar (and who doesn’t like sugar?) Halloween is just magical. But it wasn’t always how we think of it today. Halloween used to be a very religious holiday, not just pagan but also Christian. Halloween got its origins from pagan rituals of worshiping the dead and harvest feasts and festivals. Chris-tians changed this traditional festival slightly to fit their own beliefs. They began calling it All Saints Day. It was a time of feast and prayer for the saints and all of those who had recently departed. While the holiday in itself has survived, many of the customs and traditions that originated with it are no longer widely practiced. We have made Halloween into a more commer-cial holiday, but some traditions have

survived today. Not many know that trick-or-treating or guising was actually practiced in the old days of Halloween. Originally, the poor would go door to door on All Hallows Eve to receive food from the people at each house. Today, kids just dress up and beg for candy. Also, wearing costumes, while not initially done in America, became popular in the States. Haunted houses and haunted attractions such as corn mazes and hayrides also became popular in the United States. Hal-loween had turned from a religious day of thanks and remembrance into an Americanized excuse to party and fulfill childhood dreams. While we may not celebrate the spiritual dealings behind the origi-nal All Hallows Eve, Halloween has become a fun and interesting modern tradition.

by Kourtney Wadkins

Jack. He’s on your doorstep.

by Ellis Nobles The jack-o’-lantern is a very well-known Halloween motif. Jack-o’-lanterns are seen on numerous porches and yards throughout October, and it’s not uncommon to see elementary school children carving pumpkins at Halloween festivals. Jack-o’-lanterns are so ingrained into Halloween that no one questions their origins. Surprisingly, these doorstep decorations were not originally made

from pumpkins, but from root crops common to Ireland and Scotland, such as beets, turnips, and potatoes. Pumpkins are indigenous to North America; they were only used for jack-o’-lanterns by settlers in America as a substitute for the aforementioned root crops. Luckily, these subjects were perfect for the job. The tradition of making jack- cont. on page 15

top halloween costumes

(according to Saints surveyed)

Cat

images courtesy bestcatanddog-nutrition.com, wikia.nocookie.

net, and imdb.com

Avenger

Hunger games character

SLenderman


Top Halloween Movies by Kelsi Allman

When we think Halloween we definitely think scary, spooky, and horror. Most people want to find the best ways to get a scare. So, what is one of the top ways to raise your “scare scale” during Halloween? The answer is to watch horror movies. DUH! Searching through different internet sites, I derived a list of the best top ten scary movies. Then I decided to ask St. Paul’s students to vote on the movie they thought was scariest. This list shows the results of the scariest movies starting with number 1. The list is as follows:1. Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) Freddy Krueger, a serial-killer who wears a glove with four blades embed-ded in his fingers, returns in this thriller and haunts a group of teenagers. Freddy Krueger haunts them in their dreams, and when they wake up it results in their death. They have to try their best to stay awake to protect each other, but when they go to sleep there is no turning back. 2. The Haunting in Connecticut (2009) The Campbell family has to re-locate to upstate Connecticut due to their son, Jonah’s, health. When relocated to Connecticut, supernatural behavior begins to happen in the new home. After research they find out the house has a disturbing history. It was a former mortuary, and the owner’s son served as a demonic messen-

ger. The Campbell family is haunted in this house with unspeakable terror awaiting innocent Jonah. 3.The Unborn (2009) A young women tries to fight the spirit that approaches her in her dream. She finds out that the boy that haunts her in her dreams is her lost twin brother that died in the womb with her. She begins to suspect that the boy haunts her because he wants to be born. She reports it to a rabbi and priest, who perform an exorcism. 4. Drag Me to Hell (2009) A loan officer, Christine Brown, evicts an old, gypsy woman, Mrs. Ganush, from her home. She soon finds out that this was a big mistake because she be-comes targeted as a recipient of a super-natural curse. The curse will cause her to plunge into the depths of hell to burn for eternity. 5. Halloween (2007) Michael Myers has been com-mitted to an insane asylum and escapes after 17 years. His mission is to find his old babysitter, Laurie. However, whoever gets in his way is in mortal danger. 6. The Exorcist (1973) A devil takes possession of a young girl’s soul. 7. Priest (2011) A human versus vampire war has

been occurring for many centuries. The Church does not accept this idea of vam-pires. When the Priest’s niece is kidnapped by vampires, the Priest is forced to disobey the Church law to save his niece. 8. Dead Silence (2007) A married couple, Jamie and Lisa, receive a ventriloquist doll in the mail that results in Lisa’s death. Jamie goes to the town of Ravens Fair, where the doll came from, to find answers to his wife’s murder. 9. Silent Hill (2006) Rose and Christopher have adopted their daughter that begins sleep-walking and saying the name “Silent Hill”. Rose takes Sharon, the adopted daughter, to Silent Hill and, while she is there the daughter goes missing. Rose goes in search for her daughter in this peculiar town Silent Hill. 10. Saw (2004) Two men are kidnapped by a se-rial killer nicknamed “Jigsaw.” The men are made to follow objectives to survive the deadly game.

Even if you don’t agree with this list of the scariest movies, I’m positive that you can find a couple movies on this movie list that will indeed give you a scare this spooky October month.

Cry Baby Bridge Everyone knows Halloween is a fun time of year. Everybody’s out trick-or-treating, attending costume parties, or watching one of the endless horror movie marathons that play on almost every channel. These events are great for the not-so-adventurous person, but if you really want to get into the spirit of Hallow-een you need a frightful experience that could possibly last a lifetime. One of the best places you can go is Cry Baby Bridge. We’ve all heard of Cry Baby Bridge. There are many stories around it. The most famous is as follows: Many years ago, a woman was driving across the bridge with her baby in the back. A drunk driver was going the wrong way on

the bridge and hit the woman’s car head on. She lost control, and her car fell into the water below. The woman was able to escape, but her baby wasn’t so lucky.

It is said that if you drive across the bridge at night strange things will happen. Some say if you leave out an unwrapped candy bar, the ghost of the baby will come and take it. Also, people claim that as they drive across they can see the headlights of the drunk driver’s car. If you sprinkle baby powder on your back window, baby foot prints can be seen. If a haunted house is just not your speed, and you need a little more excite-ment this Halloween then drive out to Kali Oka Road in Saraland and test the legend of Cry Baby Bridge. And you can decide for yourself it really is haunted.

picture courtesy of dani63.deviantart.com

by Kourtney Wadkins

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Whispering winds ‘round the old oak tree windSlith’ring they rise, rustling boughs as they climb.The leaves—crackling embers this crisp autumn night, The moon bathes the graveyard in cold, silver light.

Silence rules over the shadows so longNo sound in the air, save the wind’s whisp’ring song.The world seems to pause, but there is no peace—Something is lurking this All Hallows’ Eve.

The stillness is broken, and out of the tombsCome pale, spectral figures to fill up the gloom.They start to take form, but substance they lackEerily shimm’ring against the full black.

They’re part of the wind and they join in its song—The wispy, thin figures are murm’ring along.Intangible ghosts—they are not of this earthCaught between life and death, searching for worth.

Pale, ghostly children laugh in delight,Chasing ‘round tombstones this Halloween night.Not a care in the world, sprites dance glibly aroundTwinkling like stars as they fly ‘cross the ground.

An old man takes form and looks down in surpriseAs he holds up a hand to his trans-lucent eyes.He stretches and yawns and sighs in reliefAnd chuckles, ambivalent to what should be grief.

He reclines on his tombstone and watches the shadesAll just coming out of their silent, still daze.

Some cry out in shock, some soundlessly weep,Some wander the graveyard, long-ing for sleep.

Some sob and some moan and refuse to believeThat their lives are now ended—they do nothing but grieve.A girl less than twenty in awful despairCries, “My life can’t be over! It’s simply not fair!”

The wandering spirits, directionless shadesCircle the graveyard—their shrieks pierce like blades

As they endlessly hover, each lost and alone—Then silence consumes them—too desperate to moan.

The children run higher and higher aloftSurrounded by faeries, like stars shining soft.They bound towards the heavens with hope in their eyesLeaving the earth while they enter the skies.

The old man stands up and remarks in great haste, “I guess I’ll be off! There’s no time to waste—I’ve the rest of the afterlife waiting for me!”And he, too, flew onward, his soul fin’ly free.

The wandering spirits and poor, wailing soulsRefuse to admit that it’s come to a close.

They’ll wander the night from this moment on, Lamenting and sobbing as they all float along.

Even though you can’t hear them—you’re blind to their plightTo their weeping and wailing and shrieking tonight,Just know that they’re wandering—just past the trees—Silently, gravely, on All Hallows’ Eve.

Congratulations to Hope for placing 1st in Teen Read Week!

picture courtesy of fineartamerica.com

All Hallow’s Eveby Hope Lemley


Well. This is awkward. by Danielle Williamson

Cupid and Psyche, two lovers from Greek mythology, sit together on a couch, gazing into each other’s eyes. They lean forward to kiss-- --and miss. The narrators of the scene, Allie Frederick and Gracie Lester, double over with laughter while the two “lovers” erupt in a fit of giggles. “Stay in character!” the director reprimands from the audience. The two reassume their positions, then are interrupted by a bout of laughter from the director. Then the entire cast dissolves in chuckles, and the scene is lost en-tirely. “Mr. Goffffff,” one of the “lovers” groans, “this is SO awkward.” And it is awkward. Rehearsing plays such The Metamorphoses, which contains no fewer than four pairs of roman-tically engaged characters, gets uncomfortable at times. However, these uneasy moments, no matter how raw, are always bandaged over by the reassuring presence of cast mates, felt in a variety of ways: from laughter, to hugs, to clapping, to solidly-placed high-fives. Moreover, these experiences become the rope that knots the cast together, trans-forming them from a disjointed group of theatre kids to a cohesive troupe. It begins in auditions. The prospective cast members scatter themselves among the theater seats, gathering into social clumps here

and there. The steady happy chat-ter emitting from the thespians is silenced when Mr. Goff calls for the auditions to commence. Four or five raised hands are chosen to read through the first in a series of preselected scenes. They make their way to the stage, some bounding eagerly, others shuffling

nervously. Around 10 seconds is all the time they have to scan over the scene, to analyze their characters, to determine how they will transform into other people. Then “Scene!” is called, and they have to leap into their half-formed personas and go with it. The script is like a god, dictating your words and actions. If it calls for you to put a reassuring hand on the shoulder of someone you’ve never talked to, you do it. If it asks you to scream in terror, you do it. And when the scene is finished, you sit down and silently hope that you didn’t alienate the twenty strangers in the audience by doing so. Then five of the twenty walk on

stage for the next-run through; then the next five; then the next, repeating the same blocking and lines over and over again. Every actor holds the same script, yet every performance is different, with chunks of each person’s personal-ity completing those half-formed personas. By the end of auditions,

everyone has been dunked in the icy waters of a read-through, leaving them shiv-ering, uncomfortable, and exposed.But the thrill of the dunk, the adrenaline rush that comes from immersion in a role keeps them coming back for the second day of audi-tions, then the first day of rehearsal, then the night of the performance. Last night, in the first pub-lic showing of The Meta-

morphoses, we, the cast of Fall Show 2012, no longer

shivered on our own. We huddled together, warming ourselves with support, advice, and solidly-placed high-fives. And when you-- a student, faculty member, or parent-- comes out and fills a seat in that theater, you become part of a pool for us to jump into. Without you, we strike concrete, and our whole endeavor cracks. We owe you a multitude of thanks.We wish to repay this debt of grati-tude with the two months of hard work we’ve put into this play, in the vain hope that we’ve shed our float-ies and evolved from dunking to diving. If not, well. . .This is awkward.

Hallie King, Varshini Venkastesan, and Gracie Lester during rehearsal for The Metamorphoses.

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Political Platforms: what’s whatby Hope Lemley

In case you haven’t heard, there’s an election coming up next Tuesday. Here’s what each of the major two parties have to say about some of the most pressing and controversial issues.

Democrat RepublicanEconomy • Strengthen the economy

• Cut taxes for the middle class• Bring “new transparency to financial markets, and ending taxpayer-funded band bailouts and the era of ‘too big to fail.’”

• Cut spending• Downsize the government• Reduce the deficit• “Ignite economic growth.”

Defense • Engage in war when it’s absolutely neces-sary.

• “Peace through strength.”

The Middle East • Support separate Israeli and Palestinian states and vow to fight against terrorism.

• Support separate Israeli and Palestinian states and vow to fight against terrorism.

Firearms • Citizens should be allowed to own fire-arms, but that that right “is subject to rea-sonable regulation.”

• Citizens ought to have the right to carry a firearm wherever they are legally al-lowed to go.

Role of Government • Role of the government is to benefit and protect the people. • They focus greatly on strengthening the middle class and leveling the playing field.

• Downsize the government. • “We look to government—local, State, and federal—for the things government must do, but we believe those duties can be carried out more efficiently and at less cost. For all other activities, we look to the private sector.”

Same sex marriage • Civil rights issue • Same-sex couples should have equal treat-ment under the law.• Also support, “…the freedom of churches and religious entities to decide how to ad-minister marriage as a religious sacrament without government interference.”

• Would pass a Constitutional amend-ment defining marriage “as the union of one man and one woman.”• Religious issue, not civil rights issue

Environment/Natural Resources

• Wish to protect the environment and invest in clean energy

• Want to let the market decide and sup-port the drilling of oil in America

If you want to learn more, you can visit: http://www.democrats.org/democratic-national-platform http://www.gop.com/2012-republican-platform_home/

picture courtesy of bluebook.state.or.us


The “WC” by Chelsea Hubbard

Ever wrote a paper and thought it was terrible? Can’t figure out a topic or how to write a the-sis? Or maybe you can’t figure out if your grammar is wrong or right. If any of you’ve ever been in these situations, then you should try out the St. Paul’s writing center. Spon-sored by NHS, the writing center is here to provide support and to help upper school students when work-ing on essays, research papers, and

speeches. Using the writing center can help improve your grades on papers. Virtual tutoring is available through email or Skype. Face-to-face options can be scheduled almost anywhere on campus. The peer tutors available are: Macy Vickers, Max Trent, Caroline Nicholas, Shivani Ananthasekar, Carson Blaylock, Taylor Roe, Taylor Wood, Varshini Venkatesean, John

Shreve, Charlie Sutherland, Seth Polansky, Hiro Kamei, Sara Bryars, Rebecca Dill, and Nina Crawford. For teachers, request for peer tutors for a class can be made by emailing Mrs. Holbrook or one of the stu-dent directors, Seth Polansky and Rebecca Dill. If a student or teacher has any other questions about the writing center, they can contact Mrs. Holbrook.

Wondering when the writing center peer tutors are available?Day for tutoring Time Type of tutoring

Sunday 7-8 p.m. Virtual tutoringMonday 7-8 p.m. Virtual tutoringTuesday 3-4 p.m. Face-to-face tutoring

Wednesday 7-8 p.m. Virtual tutoringThursday 3-4 p.m. Face-to-face tutoring

Thomas Edison, cont. from page 5 the first hydroelectric plant at Ni-agara falls and proved to the world that this type of power was a prac-tical energy source? Nikola Tesla. Who was experimenting with cryo-genic engineering nearly half a cen-tury before its invention? Tesla. Who held patents over a hundred years ago that were later used in develop-ment of the transistor? Tesla. (The transistor is the device which makes the information age possible so you can refresh your Facebook page and whatnot.) Who was the first to re-cord radio waves from outer space, (inadvertently making himself the father of radio astronomy)? Tesla. Who discovered the resonant fre-quency of the earth? Tesla. This was something scientists couldn’t con-

firm until 50 years later when tech-nology had caught up to what Tesla’s amazeballs brain figured out in the 1890’s. So, with this incredible mind and all these inventions behind him, Tesla should have been rich and fa-mous, right? Unfortunately, this was not the case. Tesla lived in a time when the world demanded results that were practical and profitable. People (back then) wanted light bulbs and toaster ovens, rather than radio astronomy. Tesla’s contribu-tions were not incremental; they were revolutionary. One of Tesla’s final gifts to the world was a tower near New York City that would have provided free wireless energy to the entire planet. The man who financed

the construction of the tower shut it down when he learned that there would be no way to regulate the en-ergy and therefore it wouldn’t make money. This acquisitiveness and greed plagued most of Tesla’s career, and he spent the majority of it being broke. In addition, Tesla also suf-fered from a disorder we now com-monly refer to as “being completely insane.” Tesla hallucinated and of-ten had a hard time differentiating between what was reality and what was imagination, which is why he spent years alone in his laboratory. Tesla often said that the only time he was happy was when he was cooped up in his lab.

image courtesy of wilsonsketchblog.blogspot.com

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What is autism?by Kelsi Allman

Autism is in fact becoming more and more common these days according to psycologytoday.com. What “autism” exactly is, however, is unclear and confusing to many. The scientific term for Autism is Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). On this spectrum there are many different diagnoses and symptoms. In general, autism is a brain problem that causes kids to have trouble communicating. Not only does autism make it hard for them to communicate, but it also affects their behavior. Little ones with autism tend to misbehave mostly for at-tention. Autistic children also are very sensitive to outside stimuli, such as bright lights and loud sounds. They are attached to unusual objects, perform repeated body movements for comfort, and tend to take comfort in routines. These are common symptoms that have been observed in studies of children with autism. Because not

one person has the same combina-tion of symptoms, it is so difficult to pinpoint exactly what autism is. Autism can be looked at on a spectrum to understand it better.

Autism is a brain disorder and the different symptoms can cause it to be milder or more severe. Now that we know how kids with autism act, how do we provide treatment for them? Well, this is an interesting question. If every kid is different, then you have to have an

engaged personal trainer that can give the child their undivided atten-tion. Therapy seems to be the best way to help the little ones with their discomforts. Examples of different types of therapy are speech- lan-guage, physical, applied behavior, and occupational therapy. How can you connect to this? Many people believe that they may not know anyone with this disorder, but more likely than not you might. You may even notice it in small children because this is usually where it is first seen. Start-ing at a young age, Pre-Schools,

such as Little Tree, help autistic kids to become more communi-cative while cutting out behavior issues. However, no matter how

much therapy one may receive, the disorder still stays in their brain. This aspect will stay with them forever. Thus, becomes a matter of others helping and involving them, because they are still humans just like you.

Kelsey Dagget and Kelsi Allman stand with an autistic boy while on a visit to Little Tree pre-school with the Service Leadership class.

Jack, cont. from page 9o’-lanterns originates from an Irish

myth about a man named Stingy Jack, who twice tricked the Devil to get what he wanted. The first time, the two were

out drinking together, and Stingy Jack (who was, well, stingy) convinced the Devil to transform into a coin to pay for the drinks. The Devil agreed, but

Jack changed his mind and decided to pay with his own money. He put the coin in his pocket along with a silver

cross that prevented the Devil from changing back to normal. Jack told

the Devil he would release him only if the Devil promised to leave Stingy Jack

alone for a year and to not claim his

soul when Jack died. The Devil, infuri-ated, reluctantly agreed. The second

time, Jack tricked the Devil into climb-ing a tree and then carved a cross into the trunk, keeping him there until the Devil promised to leave Jack alone for ten more years. Again, the Devil had

no choice but to consent. Stingy Jack eventually died (bargaining for immortality was appar-ently beyond his means). God under-standably didn’t let him into Heaven. The Devil was fed up with him, so he was denied entrance into Hell, as well. He was condemned to roam the Earth as a ghost with only a burning coal to

light his way, which he put into a hol-low turnip. His new name was “Jack of the Lantern,” eventually shortened to “Jack-o’-Lantern.” The Irish and Scottish began to make their own lanterns by carving out their own turnips and beets and put-ting them in windows or near doors in order to ward off Stingy Jack and other evil spirits. For those afraid of wandering spirits (or maybe just some wandering kids), make sure to put some jack-o’-lanterns on your doorstep on Hallow-een!


Friday, October 5— The Saints, currently ranked 5th in the state in 5A, went to Spanish Fort to play the number 3 ranked Toros under-standing it was important. The Toros was one of the biggest games of the season for the Saints. As Coach Mask said, “I think it’s two good football teams playing each other. They’re playing ex-tremely well right now, probably as good as anyone in the state.” Both sides prepared for a big game. Leading up to the game, the biggest challenge came in the Toros’ senior quarterback, Joel Poe. “We knew they were going to throw the ball a lot, so we had to prepare for that before we could think about their running game.” said junior linebacker Zavier Car-michael. St. Paul’s fans supported their football team by joining the cheerleaders in a “white-out” to contrast the black and red uni-forms worn by the Toros. Tensions ran high before the game as the Spanish Fort play-ers warmed up. Their team was double the size of ours, and they were constantly yelling different things and making loud barking noises. For the cheerleaders it sure was intimidating! As the game kicked off, it appeared that both teams had come to play, but as the first half went on, the Saints took the lead. “We had prepared very well, and came out and played hard. We will continue to get better as we go on,” said junior offensive line-

man Josh Casher. The Saints scored first fol-lowing a 3 yard run for a touch-down by senior running back Jordan Huff. Huff then scored an-other touchdown after a 23 yard run. Senior quarterback Bradley Padgett kept this lead going with a 40 yard pass to Tre Williams for a third touchdown. Freshman running back Ostin McPherson finished the half with a 38-yard run and touchdown, making the score 28—7. To many, it appeared that this game was over at the half. However Coach Mask knew that the Toros weren’t finished. “We knew it wasn’t over,” said Mask. “They are too talented.” At the beginning of the second half, the Toros drove 76 yards, ending with a 1-yard touchdown run. This touchdown brought the Saints’ lead down, making the score 28—14. After a failed drive by the Saints end-ing in a fumble, the Toros had the ball with a few minutes left in the third quarter. Jalen Thompson quickly ended this possession by intercepting Joel Poe’s pass. After an injury to Spanish Fort’s Justin Murray and a series of penalties, the Toros were fired up and quickly got the ball back. On this drive the Toros, drove the length of the field to score on a 2-yard run, bringing the score to 28—21. On the Saints’ next pos-session, the Saints fought through a tough and time-consuming drive. Saints’ quarterback Padgett

converted two 11-yard 3rd downs with passes to Trayon Tate and Stephen Fleming. At the end of the drive, the Saints faced a 4th and 8 with 1:33 left on the clock. Junior kicker Yannick Wildraut finished the drive with a 46-yard field goal that gave the Saints a two score lead of 31—21. The Saints’ fans chanted “Na Na Na Na, Na Na Na Na, Hey! Hey! Hey! GOODBYE!” as the Toros’ fans made their exits.With about a minute left in the game, the Toros got the ball back. Toros’ quarterback Poe was quickly intercepted by line-backer Zavier Carmichael and any chance that the Toros had of a comeback ended abruptly. This game was a major victory for the Saints, who move on further into their season. “It was a great victory,” said junior wide receiver Trayon Tate. This loss ended Spanish Fort’s perfect season as well as Joel Poe’s streak of not cutting his hair until the Toros lost a game. Senior defensive lineman Bryan Slater said, “We wooped them…” Junior lineman Keaton Andrus declared, “I played ex-tremely well… and so did the rest of the team.” The Saints have big plans for this season, and it is obvious that they can make things happen with support from their families, friends, coaches and fans. The cheerleaders hope that you will join them in supporting the Saints every step of the way. Go Saints!

Saints tackle the Torosby Jonathan Landry and Katelanne Whitehead

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The Secret Swimmersby Lexi Long

During the fall semester the big sport that everyone seems to get caught up in is football. Everyone is always talking about “the boys of fall”, Friday night lights, the SEC nation, whose team is going to win, the national championship, the Iron Bowl- you name it. If it is anything remotely related to that flying pig skin, it is most likely be-ing talked about by someone at some point in the day. Here in the South, football is more than a sport, it is a religion. Ev-ery high school student has his or her Friday nights planned around his or her team, and in each household, every Saturday is dedicated to a col-lege football game, from August through November, if not longer. However, as great as our boys are out on the field, football is not the only sport going on dur-ing the fall; for instance, here at St. Paul’s we have an amazing swim and dive team that often goes un-recognized for their accomplish-ments. Coach Tyler Kerns tells me that the team is doing very well this year. “We are pleased with our early season success, however, we realize there is a lot of prepara-tion to be done before County

and State Championships,” states Coach Kerns. As of now, the girls have an 8-3 record and the boys have a record of 9-2. At the CMSA High School Invitational, the team competed against 9 other high school teams. The girls took 3rd place and the boys were the champions of the entire meet. The

team works very hard, practicing almost every day for about two hours. Not only do these talented athletes spend most of their days in the water training to make our school proud, they also dedicate most of their Saturdays compet-ing in meets against other schools. The next big meet for the team is on October 27th, where the team will compete against every Mobile County team and a few others from the Baldwin County area. Coach Kerns encourages

everyone to come out and cheer on the team as they, “Just Keep Swimming,” as Dory from Finding Nemo says. As a student body, it is our job to support each and every team and athlete equally; without each team our school wouldn’t be as great as it is. Coach Kerns

says that he is extremely proud of each of his swimmers and he gives all of the credit to the entire team for their early and continu-ing success. Coach Kerns brags about the perseverance of each of his athletes from the beginners to the more expe-rienced: “We

have some ‘rookies’ who have stepped up to

swim some unfamiliar events and performed well. Their versatility is as important to the team’s suc-cess as are those who are winning events.” Each member of the team is dedicated and hardworking; who knows, we may have the next Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, or Missy Franklin on our hands. The next time you pass by one of our swimmers, be sure to commend and congratulate them for all of their hard work, devotion, and success.

Cooper Brown, a senior member, swims to victory. photo courtesy of Linda Wettermark


Nearing the finish line The Epistle’s salute to fall sports

FootballThe Saints have had a dominant season with a 6-2 record overall and a 4-1 record in their area (as of 10/25/12). They will take on their rival UMS this Friday at home, then continue onto the play-offs November 9th. They will play the loser of the Benjamin-Russell-Eufala game.

Volleyball

Zavier Carmichael tackles Spanish Fort’s Sammy Tolbert. Photo courtesy Bill Starling.

Varsity volleyball team members. Top row (from left to right): Coach Kelli Hillier, Mackensie Williams, Morgan Eiland, Shelley Spires, Bradley Carrington, Lindsey Kendall. Bottom row: Kittie Harless, MacKensie Moseley, Kaleigh Wilks, and Ali Sutherland. Not pictured: Kourtney Wadkins

With a 43-17 record, the Lady Saints have continued their tradition of wreaking havoc on the courts. They hope to three-peat at state this year. They leave for the state tournament today, October 31st.

image courtesy Halo staff

photo courtesy M&A Studios

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Nearing the finish line The Epistle’s salute to fall sports

Swimming & Diving

Boys & Girls Cross-Country

Girl’s cross-country varsity team members. From left to right: Siobhan Johnson, Holly Friedlander, Anna Braswell, Alice Phillips, Alana Babing-ton, Boo Krause, and Gracie Whiston.

Cross country girls and boys will run section qualifiers Thursday, Novem-ber 1st at Mobile Municipal Park. They will run at the state meet on No-vember 10th. Both teams are coached by the St. Paul’s legend, Coach Jim Tate.

Rand Whitesman runs during a meet earlier in the year. Image courtesy Leigh Terrell

The swim team is coached by Tyler Kerns and Anne Marie Sims this year. They are led by se-nior team members Cooper Brown and Grace Molyneux. They will swim in the area championships on November 16th. The state meet is from November 10th to December 1st at Auburn University.

Image courtesy Bess Nichols


Coming upNovember 2nd.................Saints vs. UMS @ homeNovember 6th..................Election Day November 10th to 12th...Youth JudicialNovember 12th................Veteran’s Day AssemblyNovember 19th to 23rd...Thanksgiving BreakNovember 28th................Mama Goldberg’s Catered LunchDecember 7th..................Epistle distributed

name that carby Julia Logan

Students like to identify themselves with stickers on their car. For example, fishermen are proud of their Salt Life stickers, while hunters prefer their Browning deer. And soccer moms proudly display their entire family in stick

people (while soccer mom hunters portray their entire family in stick figure deer).Can you identify the drivers of these cars by their stickers?

#1 #2

#3

#1--Case Hillier, #2-Alexander McCall, #3--Hootie Hollister

Epistle October 2012

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Transcript of Epistle October 2012