October is a month to think pink

page 2

Are romantic comedies taking a new turn?

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Life’s a beach for girls’ vball

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Bathroom breakdown For the second straight year, student mis behavior has closed bathrooms - this time for the boys because of vandalism. Last year a string of fi res set in the girls’ bathrooms left girls locked out for weeks. This year, only two boys’ bath-rooms were available for several weeks because of inappropriate graffi tt i that was found on the walls of the fi rst fl oor bathroom. Starting in late September, a sign reading, “This bathroom has been closed due to graffi ti and van-dalism. Take care of your school,” was posted on a locked bathroom door in the fi rst fl oor History wing.

Immediately aft er this, Principal David Seinfeld expressed that the bathroom would be locked while it was re-painted. Three weeks later in October the door was still locked and the sign still posted. As a precautionary measure, boys were forced to sign in with monitors writing precise times of their bathroom arrival. This same method of regulation was used in the 2009-2010 school year when repeated fi res were lit in the girls’ bathrooms. Two bathroom att endants both responded with “No comment” statements when asked about their views on the situation. Although this procedure last year brought an end to the fi res, implementing a sign-in has upset

many students this year. Senior Taylor Weinberg ex-pressed his frustration. “It’s an-noying when people who have nothing to do with the vandalism have to wait in line to use the bath-room.” In agreement, junior Dan-ny Axelrod said, “It really isn’t fair that we all have to deal with this because of a few students.” Soon aft er the discovery of inap-propriate graffi tt i in the bathroom, Mr. Seinfeld said, “We haven’t had the problem [of vandalism] else-where.” However, a week later, the ad-ministration believed the vandal-ism escalted. Though he would not specify the particulars, Assistant Principal Mr. Carlo Conte stated, “The issue has spilled into other

parts of the building.” “We need to get a hand on things before we re-open the bathrooms,” Mr. Conte said. “When we do open it, we are considering keeping the sign in.”

by Kara IskenderianNews Editor

(photos by Holly Lavelli)

A sample taken from the top soil on the ff ootball fi eld shows giant rocks, shards of glass, and broken light bulbs.(photo by Tatianna Flores)

Shards of glass, broken light blubs, and PVC piping were found within top soil laid on the practice football fi eld. Though the problem was ad-dressed within a week, one senior was injured and many others said they were concerned with the safe-ty of the fi eld. In order to “to fi ll in holes, level the surface, and grow grass,” ex-plained football Coach Joe Bianca, the school needed top soil; how-ever, the soil also contained the hazardous materials. According to Coach Bianca, “The kids were stretching and started pulling out glass and piping [from the ground]. This was the type of soil used.” Senior kicker Nick Marcello said the team was “able to fi ll up a Ga-torade bott le with all of the glass we found and that was aft er look-ing in only one concentrated area, not even the whole fi eld.”

by Philippa BoyesEditor-in-ChiefShatt ered GrassShatt ered Grass

(see GRASS on page 5)

2 Hoofbeats October 2010 NEWS

October is the month to recog-nize breast cancer and those fi ght-ing the disease. It’s also a time to recognize indi-viduals or organizations that try to improve the lives of those stricken.

Alisha Ellis, the Breast Cancer Social Worker at Winthrop Univer-sity Hospital in Garden City holds support group meetings for pa-tients who have been diagnosed. “On average, we [Winthrop University Hospital] see over 300 newly diagnosed breast cancer cases per year. In Nassau County

between 2003-2007, there was an average of 1,200 newly diagnosed cases each year,” Ellis said. From these cases, most were least likely to be teenagers or peo-ple in their early 20’s. “The youngest cases we have seen at Winthrop University Hos-pital were in their late 20’s,” Ellis said. “These cases are rare.” It is benefi cial to know several signs that may suggest a visit to your normal doctor. Ellis provided several examples such as, “a lump or thickening in the breast, swell-ing, redness, darkening or a warm to touch feeling, change in the size or shape of the breast, dimpling or puckering of the skin, or a new pain in one spot of the breast that does not go away.” However there is some good news: there are ways to prevent the formation of this cancer. “Know your risk for breast can-cer (family history), have a mam-mogram every year starting at age 40, have a clinical breast exam (performed by your doctor) every three years starting at age 20 and every year starting at age 40, do a self-breast exam every month starting at age 20, maintain a healthy weight, exercise, and limit the amount of alcohol you drink,”

Ellis said. Having a parent, relative, or a person close to you with breast cancer can be very stressful, and some might feel that there is no one to turn to. Luckily, Ellis knows organizations that are easily acces-sible. “Two organizations that off er support to teens who have a par-ent diagnosed are CancerCare and KidsKonnected. CancerCare is a non-profi t organization that of-fers counseling support and hosts events for children and teens who have a parent diagnosed with can-cer. Their website (www.cancer-care.org) includes tips for parents regarding talking with their chil-dren. “KidKonnected is another re-source. They have chat rooms where teens can talk with each other regarding their parents’ di-agnosis (www.kidskonnected.org),” she said. Also, Caringbridge is a free, personalized patient information website for anyone dealing with cancer, a premature birth or seri-ous health event (www.caring-bridge.org). It is people like Ellis who have the determination and passion to seek aid for their patients.

October is time to think pink

Ever wanted to drop a class and were told to wait 12 days? Mr. Terrence Hinson, assistant principal, defended the school’s add/drop policy and for good cause. He personally designs the class schedules for each teacher months before the start of the school year. When students re-quest to change schedules, his plans must be rearranged. Mr. Hinson says that the policy is in action so that students take the 12 days to fi nd “appreciation for the challenge and rigor that the course presents.” Should a student still wish to switch out aft er the waiting pe-riod, Mr. Hinson said he makes the change. In his words, it’s a system of “checks and balances.” Most students think the 12 days will leave them behind in other courses; however, in the case of dropping an AP class, students will be “ahead of the game” Mr.

Hinson said. “It is a policy that is friendly to both [teachers and students]. It pressures students to challenge themselves, as well as gives teach-ers a chance to work with students who struggle with the course and encourage them to stay in a class that benefi ts them.” In the grand scheme of things, Mr. Hinson believes the 12 days missing of classes will be insignifi -cant when one looks back at the end of the year. However the 12 day policy has proven itself to be burdensome to students. Senior Diandra Hanna knows exactly the kind of stress this pol-icy has placed upon students. Af-ter deciding to drop AP English, Hanna approached her guidance counselor and was told to wait the 12 days. Unfortunately, the change left her with an entirely new sched-ule and entirely new teachers. She entered new classes two weeks later and was behind in all of them. “It would have made more sense for me to be behind in only

one class,” Hanna said about the 12 day waiting period. Although the policy is unlikely

to change anytime soon, the sys-tem has meaningful purpose, Mr. Hinson said.

Waiting game

(photo by Holly Lavelli)

Senior Michelle Cerniglia waits in the guidance offi ce to speak to a counselor.

by Gabby SimonsonContributing Writer

by Stephanie FalciContributing Writer

Guidance defends drop policy

Fun at the Fair

Juniors Eliner Kim and Kacie Speilman did their part at as members of Key Club at the Merrick street fair.

(photo by Leah Sobel)

News October 2010 Hoofbeats 3

Science Club beware. There’s a new club taking a spot aft er school hours. This year, Fashion Club is adding style to the list of extracur-ricular activities at Calhoun. The stereotype would portray the Fashion Club as a midday slumber party, with girls gabbing about shoes and purses while braiding each other’s hair. Howev-er, the Fashion Club is much more than that. For members, who meet in room 313 on Thursdays, discovering the way trends spread and how to cre-ate clothes could be the foundation for entering the fashion industry. One of the greatest American style icons of his time, Michael Kors, was born and raised in Mer-rick. Kors expressed his love for style and design at a young age; and with determination to make his dream a reality, he found his way to global recognition. With a new club and the heart of aspiring young fashion lovers, history just may be repeating itself. Students have taken initiative to create the club where they can express their interests in clothing and design. Tiff any Minors and Maria Reyes created the club out of their own love for fashion. The girls, along with their supervisor, Ms. Cynthia Zagorski, have a few goals they aim to accomplish in the

club. Minors said, “We are hoping to go through fashion over the decades and fi gure out the nature of certain trends. We also hope to get the members to become more comfortable with their own style, and allow them to cre-ate clothes that ex-p r e s s that.” F o r

many, learning to create your own identity through fashion can be in-

triguing, yet intimidating. Fashion Club will allow students who want to establish their own individual

style t h e

backing to commit

themselves to a certain

look. As for those who have

already developed a defi nite style, the

club provides as an environment to analyze

designs and allow stu-dents to create their own

looks and work with textiles. Sketching designs and bringing

them to life is one of the many ex-citing options for members. If you aren’t the artistic type, do not worry. Although the club does not have the ample amount of re-sources a fashion student would normally be accustomed to, like sewing machines, fashion club go-

ers should be prepared to learn how to hand sew textiles to create their original looks. Sewing isn’t your forte? Not a problem; involvement in the dis-cussions of the club can still be just as gratifying as actually assem-bling the clothes. No matt er what your strengths or weaknesses, if you are curious about fashion then this is the club for you. Last year, a new fashion design course was added to Calhoun’s ac-ademic curriculum. Unfortunately, due to a lack of enrollment for the class, it was unable to run. Minors and Reyes hope the Fashion Club will be the next best thing for those who could not fi t the class in their schedule or had not heard of the class before. With the club becom-ing more recognized, a spike in the awareness of students could, po-tentially, allow the class to be up and running by next year. Whether their dream is to be-come the next Michael Kors, Anne Wintour, or Rachel Zoë, the mem-bers of this club could be taking the fi rst steps towards success in the fashion industry. To other fashion enthusiasts, clothing is more than something you put on your body. Minors and Reyes declared “To us, fash-ion is a way of expressing yourself through clothing and designs, and it’s just another creative form of art that should be more appreciated in our school.”

by Elise GabrieleStaff Writer

Infatuated with fashion

If you know Sarah Greco and Gabbie Toback, you’d know they are either coming back or going to their next practice. Both are sophomores on the Bellmore-Merrick varsity swim

team and have been swimming competitively for several years. Greco started when she was 11 years old and Toback started when she was 7. Swimming at this level demands a vigorous practice schedule. They have morning practices before school, one aft er school, plus an

hour and an half of training out of the water. They both tend to have a lack of sleep but never want to miss a practice. This type of dedica-tion helps them to not only bett er themselves but also their team, the Sharks. Though they are nearing the midway portion of their high school careers, the passion they have for swimming will not stop at high school. The girls plan to swim competitively throughout college, and hope to att ain scholarships. With this experience they have discovered which events are not only their favorite but which they perform best at. Greco enjoys the 50 freestyle, as well as the 100 and 200 freestyle, while Toback also fancies the 50 freestyle. She swims the 100 backstroke and 100 butt er-fl y. Both girls swim various other events including relays.

The girls have a meet two to three times week, so there’s enor-mous pressure to perform well. How do they stay calm and not let nerves get the bett er of them before a race? They each said that they treat the race like practice. At practice they have a routine go-ing, so they know what times they can get and strive to achieve those times - if not bett er. These meets are important to their aspirations for this year. Greco hopes to make states, while Toback wants to get one of the Bellmore-Merrick relays to states and make the fi nals of the Junior Nationals. Both girls have achieved various goals throughout their swimming career, like qualifying for fi nals last year. With the rest of high school and college left to come, they have promising futures ahead of them.

by Jocelyn YuStaff Writer

(photo by Holly Lavelli)

(photo by Jocelyn Yu)

Greco and Toback give their best in the pool and in the classroom.

Playing with passionTwo Sharks discuss dedication

4 Hoofbeats October 2010 NEWS

In response to concerns that stu-dents excused from gym class for medical reasons may not be shoul-dering a fair work load, the Physi-cal Education department has im-plemented a new policy: students on medical absence for a week or longer will have to complete as-signments. While the policy, which became eff ective at the beginning of this school year, undoubtedly won’t please everyone, the phys. ed. de-partment has apparently been con-sidering it for some time. “We’ve wanted to include as-signments for a few years, but kept having to push it to the side because of other activities,” said phys-ed teacher Heather Riddi-ough. It’s important to note that stu-dents who are sidelined from physical activity for one or two classes won’t be required to com-plete assignments; only students who are excused for a week or more will be covered. In addition, the assignments are

not intended to take longer than a class period to complete. While in the past, students sit-ting on the sidelines with an in-jury were passively watching their peers participate, now they’ll be up in the library, working on their projects. Athletic Director and phys. ed. teacher June Spruyt said, “The as-

signments aren’t too long, so they should only take up class time; no out of class work is needed.” The teachers feel assigning proj-ects to work on during class will be a proactive approach to continuing a student’s education of the body and health, despite various physi-cal limitations. “There are diff erent assign-

ments; we have one for each week that someone has to sit out,” Ms. Spruyt mentioned. The class work policy is aimed toward educating those who are legitimately injured, but there may be another unintended side eff ect. Occasionally, students have been known to over exaggerate or even fabricate injuries in order to avoid having to participate in gym class. By making work mandatory, the few students who take advan-tage of their right to a doctor’s note might think twice. This policy may result in students being more will-ing to participate in phys. ed., and less likely to take the easy way out. “We’re hoping that adding as-signments will handle the prob-lem, but it’s not the only reason. We want the kids to do something when they’re sitt ing out,” Ms. Spruyt added. Although phys. ed. teachers are supportive of the policy, some stu-dents are not very receptive of it. “I don’t think people should be punished if they’re sitt ing out,” said senior Candice Rodriguez, “If they’re sick or hurt, they shouldn’t have to do work.”

Students on the write track

(photo by Tatianna Flores)

by Emily WrynnEditor-in-Chief

Chances are the last thing you’d as-sociate Long Island with is home-lessness, but as of last year, 40,000 Long Islanders were left without a place to call home.

What is the true story behind people that are homeless? The truth is that everyone has their own story, and in the end, what matt ers most is how they will make it out of their situation and who will be there to help them. Luckily for Long Islanders in need,

there is an organization that will take them in and use a policy of “No questions asked” and this or-ganization is The Inn, a local soup kitchen in Hempstead. “Wouldn’t you want to be treated with respect?” asked Emily Wilen-sky, communications director at The Inn. “We don’t ask our guests their names or questions about their situations because sometimes they’re embarrassed. We feed them because they’re hungry.” Wilensky said the homeless are not much diff erent from any oth-er human being with a dilemma. They don’t want to be ridiculed or humiliated; they are humans with emotions too. The homeless are stereotyped as people begging for your every penny when in actuality, a large majority of them would be just as overjoyed if given a meal. This is another feature of The Inn and their hospitality, because every time a guest arrives at their soup kitchen, a fi ve-course meal is pre-pared for them from scratch and served just as dinner in a house would be. Sometimes, The Inn gets famil-iar guests that are frequent to the

soup kitchen, but even then, no-body gets turned down. One would assume that being in such high demand and tend-ing to so many people, an orga-nization would have to set a limit somewhere, but still, nobody gets turned down. Just last month, The Inn reached the maximum number of guests it has fed in 27 years for a one week period: 500 guests. Supplies and funding, though, are needed to keep the soup kitch-en open. As a non-profi t organiza-tion, they are able to continue their good duties with the help of dona-tions. These donations are from busi-ness owners, philanthropists, churches, and even elementary school students. Some schools put on fundraisers and bake sales in order to put shoes on someone else’s feet or food on someone else’s plate. With the cold weather season on its way, people should also con-sider donating gently worn clothes or shoes. Think about clothing you don’t want, or anything that doesn’t fi t and give them to those in need.

by Bria ForbesStaff Writer

Lending a hand to the homeless

The art wing has had a problem with leaking throughout the school year.

Bring it on

The Varsity Cheerleaders perform in front of the home crowd at the Calhoun-Mepham football game.

(photos by Kate Valerio)

Gym policy gives assignments for medical absences

Several players said that practic-ing on a fi eld fi lled with glass put the team at risk, and one player’s leg was even cut by a piece of glass. “I ran a route and slid for a pass. I looked down and my whole leg was bleeding,” said senior Dan Piccirillo. “I knew it was from glass because there was glass ev-erywhere.”

Added Piccirillo, “There was much more glass than what was in that jar. During practice we would take glass by the handful and throw it to the side.” The Calhoun administration was immediately informed of the incident. Aft er contacting Assis-tant Principals Ms. Nicole Hol-lings and Mr. Carlo Conte, fi xing the soil “got done real quickly,”

said Coach Bianca, emphasizing the major role both administrators played in solving the issue. Ms. Hollings said the fi eld was returned to normal “as soon as [the problem] was found by Coach Bianca. That same aft ernoon new soil was put on the fi eld.” However, issues with fi eld did not just end there. Because the fi eld was not aerated properly during the summer, the ground itself was incredibly hard. With no bounce, the ground was taking a toll on the players’ joints. Several of the

Colts experienced injuries due to the infl exibility of the fi eld, including “some hamstring injuries, two ankle sprains, and groin injuries” Coach Bi-anca said. Marcello said, “This fi eld poses a threat to the en-tire team every time we step on it,” also citing an exposed manhole cover as a threat, and claiming “the rubber fl ap [that was placed over it] failed miserably.” Ms. Hollings clarifi ed, “Aeration

came up as soon as

we knew [about the need for it].” To prevent the problem from re-curring next fall, the administra-tion will be creating a timeline for the fi eld in early spring and keep-ing “throwing seeds down” to manage quality fi eld conditions, as soon as the current football season is over. Coach Bianca supports the plan for the fi eld, and stated the groundskeepers are “watering it and have fi xed the sprinklers.”

(continued from page 1)

Girls with big talent, big dreams

Varsity girls soccer players Mi-chelle Iacono and Kayla Capuzzo dedicate their time, passion, and spirit to the game. They have big talent and big dreams for their future careers. Iacono and Capuzzo are names frequently heard around school and the greater community. Sophomore Michelle Iacono has played forward for Calhoun’s var-sity team for the past two years, as well as outside teams Massapequa Elite and the State ODP Team. Iacono still maintains focus on her schoolwork while staying dedicated to all three of her teams - especially since each has its own practice and game schedule. Aft er high school graduation, Iacono dreams to att end Boston College and hopes to play division one soccer there, which would hopefully put on her on the track to a professional career. “It would be great to make money just for playing a sport you love,” stated Iacono. The soccer star’s favorite aspect

of the sport is her teammates. “You make great friends that you will probably know for a long time and people you will make memories with and never forget,” she said. Iacono explained att ending the regional soccer camp, and then making the regional team, was her greatest accomplishment. Her advice for young players aspiring to succeed on the soc-cer fi eld is “to never give up - you might not make every team or even every shot in a game, but al-ways keep trying and focus.” Another upcoming talent, fresh-man Kayla Capuzzo, is a midfi eld-er and forward for Calhoun varsi-ty. She also plays in travel leagues for Albertson 95 Fury and Eastern New York. With soccer Capuzzo’s clear interest, her plans for aft er high school include playing for either University of North Carolina-Cha-pel Hill or Boston College. Similar to Iacono, Capuzzo would love to make a career out of soccer, includ-ing the possibility of coaching. “My favorite thing about soc-cer is playing the game. If you

don’t love it, then don’t play it,” expressed Capuzzo. Her passion for soccer, as well as working hard, has helped her accomplish her aspiration of mak-ing varsity as a freshman, similar to Iacono. She practices until she achieves her goal. Capuzzo off ered

several recommendations for the next generation of players. “To succeed in soccer, you can’t [just] dream about being a great player, or you’ll never be one. You have to work hard each week to get your goals accomplished,” she said.

by Shannon MatzenStaff Writer

News October 2010 Hoofbeats 5

Grass troubles

The view from the top

The student section was standing room only at the foot-ball game against rival Mepham.

(photo by Kate Valerio)

(photo by Tatianna Flores)

The football team said they collected many containers containing the hazardous materials from the fi eld.

To submit a lett er to the

editor or inquire

about ads, e-mail the

staff at hoofb eatseditor@

yahoo.com.

6 Hoofbeats October 2010 Colture

Unromancing the rom com

RomComs (Romantic Come-dies) are as prevalent as ever, but recently, I’ve come to the conclu-sion that these newer ones are a diff erent breed. You know, the main characters are in their 30s, have high-profi le jobs that pay enough to furnish an apartment straight out of the An-thropologie catalogue, but they just have that litt le something missing from their lives they can’t quite put their fi nger on, but can pick up at some hipster bar, if at least for the night (and then fashionably fi gure out a way to tuck in the guy’s over-sized butt on down into the sexy pencil skirt that was tossed on the fl oor a few hours ago, a la coolly shameful work outfi t). Screw those movie women for screwing up my perception. I’m too impressionable. The classic RomCom is light, airy, and easy to go down, not un-like a big piece of cott on candy. It has litt le substance, and leaves you feeling temporarily revitalized (oh, I can talk to my boss and tell him how much I love him because he will inevitably love me back and then I have the freedom to dump him if I so choose because the in-formation that he indeed loves my obsessive self back is enough for me, and I can now go about my life in a normal, un-obsessive manner and shop around for other men). However, aft er you’ve walked out of the movie theater in an opti-mistic daze, aft er you’ve discussed the movie with girlfriends over coff ee, you’re going to fully digest that piece of cott on-candy-cinema and then, it’ll be gone. This new breed of RomComs is not like cott on candy, but more-so, a peanut butt er smoothie (sounds and looks fortifying, but still full of junk). When Julia Roberts’ character in Eat, Pray, Love, Liz, suddenly leaves everything (including her

husband) and embarks upon a year-long journey around the world, it’s kind of alarming. People don’t just get a quickie divorce in the fi rst 15 minutes of a movie. Drew Barrymore’s Erin in Go-ing the Distance meets a soul-mate-

worthy guy during her last two weeks in New York, and fl ies back to California within the fi rst 15 minutes of the movie as well. This is usually something reserved for the tearful end-ing — but a key element of the exposition? Blas-phemy! These alternative plot formations give way to new, kind-of revolutionary characters. I will always remember Gar-rett , Barrymore’s love interest played by Justin Long. That’s because he’s an atypi-cal male love interest—he meets Erin at the Miss Pac-Man machine, tries to use her as a quickie-re-bound to get over the self-pity of being dumped that day, and ends

up sleeping with her aft er they go back to his disgusting, worse-than-a-frat apartment and put his giant bong to good use. This is real life. The morning aft er, however, the movie turns backwards in the direction of traditional—they go

out for breakfast, no shame, no pain. This turns into a Knocked Up kind of deal, where over pan-cakes, the guy and girl realize that their one-nighter has more value

than they origi-nally thought (if they’ve even thought at all up until this point). I mean, I do understand why clichés are neces-sary. If the diner realizations don’t happen, the mov-ie doesn’t hap-pen. The cool thing about (500) Days

of Summer was that there was no singular “diner realization,” but rather, a series of unordered events that add up to a bunch of unemo-tional conclusions. The movie was clearly trying to

be calm, painfully cool, collected. It succeeded if viewers were im-pressionable and vulnerable. Most movie goers like this the fi rst time in the actual theater, which is why their minds are blown when the usual boy-meets-girl-meets-confl ict-meets-resolution-ending-in-relationships/marriage doesn’t happen. However, upon a second viewing of these alt-RomComs on DVD (or illegally purchased from sketchy Canal Street vendors), the cracks started to show. This is when I fi rst realized that Eat Pray Love was not only uplift ing, but also highly con-descending of women who actual-ly were happy in love, had kids, or were content with their personal state of spirituality. I realized that (500) Days of Sum-mer wasn’t just uniquely formatt ed and beautifully lit, but the movie also costumed disgustingly retro, to the point where it became a joke that average people in mod-ern times would have the fashion sense to frequent vintage shops. The RomCom: a powerful piece of cinema indeed. It can take a viewer’s (not going to say “wom-an’s” because I know handfuls of guys who enjoy them equally) ro-mantic psyche and mess with it in its current state (whether the view-er is married, single, in a relation-ship, just-dumped) to the point of temporary to semi-permanent damage. Movies! Changing peo-ple’s hearts and heads! But honestly, do me a favor. When you’re crying over the fact that Summer is engaged to another man that isn’t Tom, go watch the scene again. And again, and again, and again, until it seems so fake and contrived that it isn’t even real to you anymore. Guess what? It wasn’t real the fi rst time. Let art imitate real-life love, en-joy the array of fi lms that are born from this, and recognize that you as a RomCom viewer are the in-spiration for the fi lm, and not visa versa.

by Amanda GlickmanStaff Writer

Classic cinema love stories are on their way out the door.(photo by Emily Wrynn)

Colture October 2010 Hoofbeats 7

If Romeo and Juliet were alive today, Romeo would not be climb-ing up balconies but instead he would be sitt ing in his bedroom sending a text message to Juliet. The passion in his eyes, the fer-vent tone in his voice would be replaced with a mere <3. Modern

technology has killed romance. Have you ever wanted to ask someone on a date but took the easy way out? Sent a text mes-sage? If so, you may have given ro-mance a lethal injection. Watch

any old sitcom and you will see an adolescent boy nervously ap-proaching a telephone, and hang-ing up multiple times before mustering up the courage to ask someone out. That simply doesn’t happen anymore. Gone are the days of walks in the park, picnics on the beach, and hours on the phone. Facebook, Twitt er, and texting have replaced face to face interaction. Butt erfl ies in your stomach, pounding hearts, sweaty palms and nervous laughter. All symp-toms of infatuation are lost in this sea of technology. The classic Hey(; is not charm-ing. People have forgott en the val-ue of putt ing emotions down on paper. According to the National Trust, 70 percent of women would rather receive a love lett er or poem than a text message or e-mail, while 53 percent of men agreed. “People are becoming less ro-mantic and are hiding behind

technology in order to keep away from being embarrassed or just as a lazy way to avoid going out of their way to do something,” said Tiff any Minors, a junior. Technology for some is the only way to keep their love thriving. “Technology is very important as a form of communication, espe-cially when you’re like me and the girl you love is 1,500 miles away but it is by no means a replace-ment for good, old-fashioned, romance,” added senior Joe Mu-tarelli. Our emotions have boiled down to an alphabet soup. “ILY” “IDK” and “NMU” are all shortcuts that stunt the human experience. Not only can a phone use text messag-ing but it can also be used to talk! Who knew? So what do you say? Put the phone down. Step away from the computer, pick up a pen. Wait by someone’s locker, make a date and be apart of resuscitating romance.

by Julia MartinezColture Editor

The new love lett er: messages like this one that lack the personal touch.

wut hapnd 2 luv? lolz

Politics for DUMMIES Junior Samantha Baldauf re-ceived a simple assignment for homework in her American Histo-ry class. It was just one question, a gift aft er nights of spending hours reading a textbook. The question was straightfor-ward; Is Obama a good president? Sam is a smart student, who earns high grades in Social Studies, so she wondered why she was hav-ing so many diffi culties with the homework. I come from a family of Demo-crats, and I pronounce myself to be a Democrat. Honestly, though, I don’t think I truly know what that means. This is probably be-cause instead of reading the New York Times, I read Cosmo, and in-stead of watching “60 Minutes”, I am easily entertained with MTV’s “Real World”. Yet, I consider my-self somewhat educated in cur-rent events and politics, because I do well in my Social Studies class. However, those do not necessarily correlate with each other. And when I think about it, I can almost be considered ignorant for how litt le I know. I am unsure of what Obama’s healthcare plan is, I just know that it is a problem in America. And I don’t exactly un-derstand why our country in a recession, I just know my family

started using coupons in 2007. Nobody wants to seem unintel-ligent, but throwing around words that sound intuitive can make any-one look fl at out stupid. So why can’t the American youth be more educated in politics? So back to Sam’s homework. As a teenager in the 21st century, I naturally google-d reasons why. Wait a second. Ding! There is our prime example. Kids nowadays rely too much on the internet to give them information. Wikipe-dia, probably the least respected website according to the education establishment, is the seventh most popular website, behind Facebook and YouTube. Students go right to whatever sounds most “smart” and copy and paste it into their Word documents. The true problem is the fact that we as America’s future lead-ers are unaware of our surround-ings. We wake up, go to class, stay at school for extra help and clubs, go home, read a ton of textbook pages, and try to go to bed at a reasonable time to get up and do it all over again. And personally, if I had a light workload one night, I wouldn’t spend my free time reading a newspaper; I’d watch the latest episode of Glee. I mean, I’m only human, right? Still, that does not make up for the fact that I could probably squeeze in time to watch the news, and gain at least a

litt le knowledge of the day’s events. However, why would I do that when every ninth period, I discover the wonders of how the Consti-tution came to be and other magical, sometimes useless facts. How is my understanding of the Missouri Com-promise going to help me when I’m asked about my opinion on the war in Iraq? Let’s be honest; it won’t. In high school, we fi nally learn about America’s pres-ent day late into junior year. Until then, students are left out in the cold, yearning to fi nd the ins and outs of our society. Let’s take a test. What countries fought on the Axis-powers during WWII? I’m sure most people could not even name one. Next ques-tion. Who is Christine O’Donnell? Nothing? Let’s try again. What does fi libuster mean? Still noth-ing? Face it: Social Studies scores mean squat when you compare it

to real political knowledge. The next day, I asked Samantha what she said for her homework. She told me that she got an answer, but an online website assisted her. I’m sure if a “Politics for Dum-mies” book was published, few teenagers would purchase it. They would simply download it or copy it from Sparknotes.

by Leah SobelEditorial Editor

(photo by Elise Gabriele)

(photo by Julia Martinez)

8 Hoofbeats October 2010 Colture

Painful shrieks leave the audi-ence cringing and wanting to turn off the TV or get a refund for their ticket. This is now the result of live performances, and there’s only one

thing to blame: technology. Over the past seven years, the sale of CDs has slowly declined due to the popularity of buying singles off websites like iTunes and Amazon. Now artists have to turn to another source of revenue to gain profi t, which are concerts.

Expansive overseas tours now take precedence over record sales. This is where technology comes in, particularly the use of the no-torious auto-tune. The use of this audio processing soft ware com-monly used by recording engi-neers drastically alters the sound of the recording artist. It can make an incompetent singer without the slightest musical talent sound as if she or he can hit every single note with perfect delivery. The auto-tune works by clarifying notes and moving whatever the artist sang to the correct note, or the cor-rect pitch. It can also be used to purposely create a robotic sound, which is synonymous with artists like T- Pain and Kanye West. It of-ten saves money and time since an additional vocal recording session will not be needed to make sure everything is perfect. This is the reason why the songs we listen to on the radio sound fl awless, since it makes even some of the best singers sound even bett er. Artists have built a reputation with their audiences who expect them to sound relatively similar to track that they blast in their cars, but they can’t deliver on the prom-ise that they inherently make by creating a single. The most recent example of this was Rihanna at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, who joined rapper Eminem for their single “Love the Way You Lie.” Rihanna sang the opening to the song and the chorus, and at the VMAs, she

struggled to sing the higher notes that sound so perfect in the re-corded track. In an obviously im-promptu att empt to hide her fl aws, the vocal track was played in the background aft er the lack of power was noted. At her concerts in Eu-rope, it has also been noted that her renditions of her song “Russian Roulett e” were barely able to mir-ror the strength and clarity of the vocals on the recording. Instead of having the audience members amazed by her talent, she is slowly turning fans away by not meeting expectations. The same is true for artists like Taylor Swift , who is adored by a countless number of fans, but for two years in a row has failed to duplicate her recording’s vocal fi -nesse at the VMAs. One may eas-ily argue that the incident with Kanye West 15 minutes prior af-fected her performance last year, but her inability to sing all of the song correctly started in the prere-corded section in the subway that was seamlessly edited to have the audience believe it all took place continuously. Should artists even receive prestigious awards such as Gram-mys and inductions into the vari-ous halls of fame out there, if they don’t necessarily have the talent of their predecessors? Is the excessive use of the Auto-Tune cheating, like how the use of anabolic steroids is considered to be? Maybe all this musical technology is doing more harm than good aft er all.

by Asia BrownStaff Writer

And away they go

Calhoun’s successful track teams are back at it this year. Senior Kaitlyn Mancini (left , second from bott om) takes off in a 100 m dash at Mitchell Field. Last year at state qualifi ers, seniors Kenny Woo, James Panett a, Timmy Campbell, and Casey Bader celebrate their relay team eff ort.

(photos by Ashley McGetrick)

Tuning out the auto-tune

A look at the top music downloads shows artists list Rihanna and Flo Rida on top.

Colture October 2010 Hoofbeats 9

When it comes to television, summer is normally the cue to set the DVRs for eight weeks of idiotic sisters running a clothing store in Miami, lonely 30 year olds looking for love, and ambitious morons trying to run across giant balls sus-pended over a pool of water. Though reality television still reigned supreme in the overall rat-ings, one network broke records like never before. HBO’s hits, spe-cifi cally shows True Blood and Entourage drew in more viewers than in any seasons past, accord-ing to Multichannel.com. These racy programs are the talk of blogs across the country, but for shows specifi cally aimed at 21 to 35 year olds, they are certainly drawing in teens very quickly. HBO television signifi cantly scores higher with older teens than the ones who just entering their ad-olescence. In a survey of Calhoun seniors, 70 percent of students polled watched an HBO program religiously. Meanwhile, only 5 per-cent of freshmen polled watched

HBO television at all. But at the core of it, why watch HBO? Why spend extra money - when we’re in a recession, no less - when there’s a multitude of dramas, comedies, and documentaries on classically highly-rated networks like ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox? HBO television is enticing. It’s raw. The writers at HBO to sub-scribe to the typical woes of Mid-dle America’s oft en conservative

critiques. Violence, profanity, nu-dity, and graphic drug abuse are a prevalent theme in most, if not all HBO shows. Are teens really that curious about a world so foreign to them with sin that they watch True Blood weekly? Or does having the ability to use curse words allow for raun-chier humor and a more realistic look at how humans act? Some argue that HBO shows

are just bett er writt en, end of story. Senior Katie Flood said, “Curb Your Enthusiasm is a good show. “HBO has more freedom to be vulgar, it’s funny.” Michelle Strauss, senior, added “It’s hysterical. It’s almost reality.” In fact, HBO television’s relate-ability is what nearly every per-son polled commented on. Others cited HBO’s larger budget, which allows for more interesting and mind-blowing eff ects. Conversely, freshman Samantha Sanky said she doesn’t watch HBO because “it doesn’t have the shows I’m into, like Degrassi.” Makes sense. Katherine Mur-chison, freshman, explained “I’m more into ABC Family, Fox, and Disney…totally freshman of me.” HBO hit its stride in 1998 and 1999, when megahits like Sex and the City and The Sopranos debuted. Since then, HBO has only gott en bigger, and its once mature view-ership spread to the high school levels - much to the dismay of the Parents Television Council. But honestly, when have teens ever really listened to their parents anyway? Adrian Grenier stars on HBO’s Entourage.

(photo courtesy of MCT)

by Philippa BoyesEditor-in-Chief

The beginning of a new school year, usually, means starting new classes and whipping your slate clean, but it can also be the perfect opportunity for a fresh, updated look to help you start off the year feeling confi dent. What bett er way to spruce up your look (and add a litt le bounce to your step) than with an edgy new do? This season is all about taking risks and experimenting with hair-styles and cuts that you usually wouldn’t go for. What is the fall fan favorite for fun new hair? Short hair is huge right now, especially in Hollywood. Celebrities like Anne Hathaway and Emma Watson strut their stuff with new pixie cuts while Rihanna rocks her signature asymmetrical locks. Honestly, there are endless styles to choose from but what it really comes down to is fi nding a cut that makes you feel your best. No matt er what your style, you can fi nd a look that suites your everyday life. For a lot of girls in-volved in sports, short hair seems like a nuisance. Girls worry that if their hair is too short they won’t be

able to tie it back for practice or a game/meet. Simply ask your hairdresser to cut your hair just long enough to fi t into a hair tie or even just a headband. Don’t be discouraged from making a change to your hair; most of the time there is an easy solution to the problem. There are endless possibili-ties for every hair type and every lifestyle. You may like the idea of

short hair or have wanted to cut your lengthy locks for the longest time but the problem is you’re worried it won’t look the way you imagined it. If cutt ing it all off sounds like a drastic measure for you, then the faux bob is for you. A faux bob gives you all the advantages of short hair with the ability to let your hair down the next day. Rock-ing the faux bob is much simpler

than it seems. The fi ve minute pro-cess involves rolling the bott om half of your hair under and secur-ing at the nape of your neck with bobby pins. If you have layers al-low the shorter layers to lay over the tucked under hair for a more natural look. That’s all there is to it. A fan of this simple new trend, Amanda Bynes is quoted in Seven-teen saying, “[The faux bob is] fun shorter hair without actually hav-ing to cut it.” Who knows, you may like the new look so much that you actu-ally will go for the cut. People who have ten inches or more and plan on gett ing a short hairstyle should know they can donate their hair to foundations like Locks for Love. As an experi-enced donor I can honestly say it is very rewarding to know you’ve helped a cancer patient in need just by providing them with the hair for a new wig. Still not into the short look? If a look doesn’t come out the way you anticipated, it’s not the end of the world, experimenting with hair is the perfect way to step out of your comfort zone because as we all know hair grows back. So why not make the cut, you have nothing to lose but a few split ends.

Mane attractionby Elise Gabriele

Staff Writer

What bett er way to make a fresh start than with a new, edgy do?

(photo by Julia Martinez)

HBO: It’s not TV, it’s bett er

“HBO television signifi -cantly scores higher with older teens than the ones who just entering their ad-olescence.”

10 Hoofbeats October 2010 Editorial

Campaigning isn’t superFor this year’s seniors, the

pressure has already set in. College applications are

fl ooding in, senior portraits need to look good, and Senioritis has already infected some students. But the one tradition that is bog-ging down everyone’s mind is the yearbook superlatives. Most schools go through this process, awarding seniors with certain titles that depict how their fellow peers view them. These awards get put into the senior yearbook with their picture, such as “Most athletic,” “Class clown,” and “Most likely to change the world.” Superlatives are a way for stu-dents to be honored for simply being themselves. The object is for the students to honestly se-lect who they think would suit each category. However, when the nomination process began this year, people started actually

campaigning to earn a spot in the yearbook. It’s not unusual to fi nd frantic seniors screaming through the hallways, “Vote for me!” while fl ailing their pink superlative sheets in the air. The concept of superlatives isn’t a bad idea in itself—acknowledg-ing the people that made high school a unique experience is a long appreciated high school tradition. But doesn’t campaigning completely disre-gard the integrity of superlatives? The handful of seniors who are participating in the race for nomi-nations are looking to broaden their social horizons, but cer-tainly not because they want to get to know new people. They are speaking to new groups in a desperate eff ort to guarantee their spot on the ballot and to rake in more votes. Facebook inboxes have also

sprung up in an att empt to reach out to peers. By doing this, hope-fuls aim to create a pact with an “I’ll vote for you, if you vote for me” philosophy. In fact, students put down their friends’ names in numerous categories instead of just one. Sorry, you’re not going to be winning seven diff erent su-

perlatives. To be frank, it’s simply obnoxious.

All this and the actual voting hasn’t even started yet. Many stu-dents are already fed up with the campaigning fi asco, but when the nominations are offi cially tallied and counted, this will most likely spin even more out of control. Not to mention, some kids are even bribing other students for a vote. Seriously, people? Sure, it could just be a playful remark, but the mere possibility that that could be occurring at our school is horrifi c. Not a single year

has passed when superlatives have ever been this competitive. It has come to the point where kids feel the need to escalate harmless campaigning to bribing. So how do we control this mad-ness? Should we just ignore these campaigners? Every year, we seem to face the same dilemma. While some students may vote for those who they like, or admire, or vote just because they have to, we can only hope that the major-ity of seniors will cast their votes for who they wholeheartedly be-lieve earns each spot. Though voting for superlatives may not be the biggest deal in the world, it says a lot about Calhoun if we’re not even able to maintain integrity in a silly litt le ballot. Not only should we be sett ing a good example for the younger students, we’re about to be in college. Is this still going to be a popu-larity contest?

Staff Editorial

Staff Members: Asia Brown, Bria Forbes, Elise Gabriele, Amanda Glickman, Lauren Herschbein, Arooj Iqbal, Shannon Matzen, Ashley McGetrick, Aidan Meade, Rachel Saff ord, Justin Schmierer, Nicole Simmons, Kushhali Singh, Sarika Singh, Nina Thomas, Alex Topper, Kate Valerio, Jocelyn Yu

Hoofb eats is the offi cial student newspaper of Calhoun High School. Hoofb eats serves to inform its readers of news and events, and as a forum for the students of Calhoun to express their ideas and opinions. Hoofb eats accepts lett ers to the editor, but reserves the right to edit or refuse the publication of submissions. Lett ers should be sent to the school or placed in the Hoofb eats mailbox. All lett ers must be signed and include a contact number for the writer. Some visual material courtesy of the Ameri-can Society of News Editors High School Newspaper Service. The paper also accepts advertisements for a fee, but reserves the right to refuse advertisements for any or no reason. The views expressed in Hoofb eats do not necessarily refl ect the opinion of the administrators, teachers, editors, or faculty adviser.

Editors-in-Chief Philippa Boyes Emily Wrynn News Editor Kara Iskenderian Sports Editors Rachel Tyson Tessa Patt i Editorial Editor Leah Sobel Colture Editor Julia Martinez Photography Editor Tatianna Flores Faculty Adviser Jason Boland

Hoofb eatsSanford H. Calhoun High School

1786 State StreetMerrick, NY 11566

(516) 992-1300e-mail: hoofb eatseditor@yahoo.com

Volume 53 No. 1 October 2010

Recognized by Columbia University, ASPA, NYPA, LIPA, and Newsday for journalistic excellence

We are a nation that is easily misled. We are also a nation that is easily fascinated. And miraculous-ly, we’ve synthesized these admi-rable traits and created an empire known as Hollywood. More celebrities are using their star power not only for endorse-ment deals, but also to anoint themselves as political repre-sentatives. Because clearly your Grammy is equivalent to a degree in political science. By transform-ing their fan base into podiums, they are manipulating easily mis-lead followers into more than just downloading their music. Presidents no longer gain their female supporters by making changes to abortion policies, but by having a chat with Barbara Wal-ters and her posse on “The View.” Suddenly when you have Heidi Montag campaigning for you, it seems a litt le less formal. A celebrity is a persona that someone has created, marketed, and taken on. I doubt anyone’s birth certifi cate reads “Lady Gaga.” These personas have been perfected and infl ated to create empires of entertainment, becom-ing more unrealistic with each Oscar nomination. But this role is still an act. You’re being paid un-fathomable amounts of money to entertain me - not to preach to me. During Lady Gaga’s recent ap-pearance at the “Don’t Ask, Don’t

Tell” rally in Portland, Oregon, she gave a speech supporting the repeal of the policy requiring gay and lesbian soldiers to conceal their sexuality. I agree with Ms. Gaga on this topic; however, I don’t understand why she feels entitled to take the stage as opposed to any other American citizen supporting gay rights. There are a few things that Lady Gaga has over me: income, cars, Facebook friends, and though I’m proud to say the highlight of my musical career was a solo in my sixth grade chorus concert, she can sing bett er than I can. But be-ing a multi-millionaire pop icon does not make her more politically astute than me or anyone else. Not only can we question her credibility, but her motives. Who’s to say she isn’t utilizing this con-troversy for her own publicity? Whether it was her intention or not, she has once again graced the headlines of multiple publications. One might say this is a necessary evil. With a nation that is preoccu-pied with tacky people with spray tans, this can be a way to educate those who choose to tune in for “Keeping up with the Kardashi-ans” rather than CNN. But is this really the way to in-form people about politics? By us-ing a woman in a gown made of pork loin as your spokesperson for gay rights? So to the entertainers of Ameri-ca, we gave you a microphone for singing not for preaching.

by Ashley McGetrickStaff Writer

Stop preaching

Editorial October 2010 Hoofbeats 11

Another September 11 has come and passed, as methodically as it does every year. But this time the day left me with even more ques-tions than before. Whether I’m gett ing older or opening my eyes more to the low-ering respect for the date, I had a tough time gett ing through the week. It’s never easy, but it was nearly impossible to, say, turn on a TV, answer my front door, or have a quiet kind of day. First, to the media: stop treat-ing 9/11 like a Blockbuster best seller. I don’t need to see the re-occurring picture of the towers collapsing in slow motion repeat. Nor do I need to see the pictures of the dead and dying, the wid-ows and mourners. Living it once was hard enough. It’s like my fa-ther’s death is a source of enter-tainment. It’s sick and twisted, and it’s horribly unpleasant to live through every year. So here’s my message: let the families be. Let us rest and happi-ly remind ourselves of our loved ones in the seclusion of the people who really do care. Secondly, to whomever de-cided that soliciting money for an athletics program was appro-priate: it was not. The 11th was not a day that I wanted to deal with shelling out money to Cal-houn football. I am not, in any-way, denouncing the importance of Sports Boosters. Being a three season track athlete myself, I am more than happy to support all of our sports teams. But it’s rude to know that no single individ-

ual cared enough to think about my family or any other family in Merrick aff ected by that tragic day. Was every other Saturday morning booked? For a com-munity that so avidly supports building memorials all over the place, could you not have spent some time to really think? The ACT board also had some trouble thinking. Gett ing into college involves tackling some unpleasant tests like the ACT, which was also somehow scheduled for that day. Sitt ing for a grueling three hours is, by itself, a great enough task. Filling in bubbles as my schizo-phrenic mind jumped from y= mx+b to the twin towers was nearly impossible. And yet I had to do it anyway. As someone told me, life goes on. And yet, I’m not okay with that explanation. As long as Sep-tember 11 is used to strike fear in the population and march our troops off to war, I will not sett le with “life goes on.” It doesn’t just go on. It can’t. The whole day brought some larger questions into perspective. How is it that our country will go to kill people in response to the att acks, only to forget to re-spect those directly aff ected? Are Tuesday’s Children just pawns in the game of politics? Does anyone care anymore? These are questions that will always plague me, and it’s diffi -cult to accept that the public has moved on while I still have to cope every day. I don’t want to be left behind, but as proven by the national and local lack of respect it seems that I already have been.

Respect the dayby Kara Iskenderian

News Editor

New year, old parking woes It’s senior year and you’re fi nally able to drive to school by yourself. No crowded bus, 10 more minutes of sleep, and a chance to show off your “brand new to you” ride (or your parents’ sweet van that you think you look like a star in). You get to school and it’s a mad-house. Parents recklessly trying to drop their off litt le angel, kids darting across the parking lot, and all you want to do is get to the back and fi nd a spot. A parking spot that you’ve waited three years for, sat through a safety meeting for, a parking spot that you deserve (Keep in mind the whole earning your license routine, which all you drivers out there know is just the most fun process ever). You pull around to student parking and it’s packed. Every spot from one to 75 either occupied or being blinkered into. To some peo-ple, 75 would be an ample amount of spots, but for us, with a senior class of 399? Not so ample any-more. In the morning we’re already cranky and not so pleasant, and not gett ing a parking spot just adds to the bad mood. One could argue that gett ing here earlier would help solve this problem, but if everybody’s get-ting here early, no one is. The solution could be making more parking available, because even just 10 teacher spots would make a diff erence. If you haven’t noticed, there are at least fi ve teacher desig-nated spots open every day. Never mind the blatant made up park-ing spots the teachers make for themselves, but don’t receive those bright and ob-noxious orange warning stickers for. If teachers are creating their own spots, using two spots to park their cars, and leaving open spaces when they’re absent, isn’t this un-fair to students? According to Ms. Nicole Hol-lings, assistant principal, students aren’t the only ones with concerns over the current situation. Ms. Hollings, who has taken over the parking lot responsibili-ties in her fi rst year here, said that the parking lot is closely moni-tored. However, in a parking lot with only 75 spaces for students, she said that over 100 parking stickers were given out.

Another issue is the danger of the parking lot and how poten-tial accidents loom every single day. Coming from Meadowbrook Parkway, the turn down Webster Ave. at 7:16 a.m. is a nightmare. Not only are the buses huge and street-consuming, but the sun is so strong that not even sunglasses help against it. Fast forward to 11:19 a.m. It’s sixth period lunch and the kids are dying to get out of the school. There’s the rush out and then the rush back in to the parking lot to grab a closer spot than you had be-fore. And what happens if someone is in your spot or if you cannot fi nd a spot and need to get to class quickly? You have to park off cam-pus and hope you can run to class. Parking off campus? Is that what it

has come to? There are a couple of ways to solve this dilem-ma. Should the faculty parking be re-designated to the area west

of the art wing? That re-designa-tion would give students an entire new row of spots. What about hav-ing assigned spots for teachers? This way more spots could open up once the faculty is accounted for. But could the cranky Merrick adolescent spirit handle not receiv-ing a spot? If the parking situation now is fi rst come, fi rst serve, the same principles should have been ap-plied with the entire parking pro-cess. If your record was clear, you had your paperwork turned in as soon as it was available, and you sat through the fi rst meeting, shouldn’t your promptness be re-warded somehow? Even half of the assigned spots would calm some

of the chaos in the early morning, the chaos, of course, of the literal concrete jungle out there now. With a new parking adminis-trator, new plans of action need to be devised. The unfortunate part is that it’s too late for them to do anything about it this year. Sorry, seniors. My opinion is that the junior class of this year is going to be just as bad, if not worse than us in the parking lot next year. This situation needs to be taken care of before it gets worse. In the words of Ms. Hollings (who was a pleasure speaking to), “We need to work toward a solution that works for everyone.”

(photo by Holly Lavelli)Cars att empt to get into the school lot from Gianelli Ave. during the morning rush.

by Ashley LowerreContributing Writer

“To some people, 75 would be an ample amount of spots, but for us, with a senior class of 399? Not so ample anymore. ”

12 Hoofbeats October 2010 Editorial

Does anyone aspire to live in Merrick?Who would want

to live here?Poor reporting paints

wrong picture Jessica Pilot, a columnist for Van-ity Fair, took a stab at our small, suburban town in her latest article, claiming, “No one aspires to live in Merrick.” In a piece that weakly tried to fi nd the origins of Lindsay Lohan’s downfall, Pilot believes, “it’s easy to see why Lindsay Lohan would want to escape Merrick.” She does not fail to mention how she feels about the “family-owned variety of uninviting local boutiques and beauty parlors, plus a diner, pubs, and popular pizze-rias.” Commercialized or not, Merrick is up there alongside the bett er towns in Nassau County. Houses in this town reach as high as $2 million in value, and residents earn some of the highest income per capita on the Island. Let’s not forget that Merrick gives its resi-dents access to a public educa-tion system wtih test scores and graduation rates through the roof. I would say more people aspire to live here than not. Pilot thought otherwise. And to back up her personal outlook, she sought out the opinion of the work-ers at Jugs-n-Strokers, a biker bar on Sunrise Highway (She claimed the bar was down the road, which is completely false; it’s on the other side of town). Not to of-fend the bar as Pilot did, where she referred to one of the female bartenders as “brutish,” but this establishment is far from the epitome of Mer-rick. Going here to ask Merokians questions about the Lohans isn’t the best way to obtain good com-mentary. Pilot’s method was either purposely done to portray Merrick negatively, or just terrible research on her part. It would be in Lindsay’s best interest to return to her original home. It’s unfortunate to read about her police run-ins, family is-sues, and countless arrests on drug and alcohol abuse. Maybe she could use the stability that a town like Merrick off ers. Adding Lohan to the mix with the infamous Amy Fisher, Merrick residents are becoming fed up with

the bad reputation those in the lime light are giving their town. So when Pilot’s article was published, Merokians had a lot to say. Right aft er this article was pub-lished, the Merrick Patch was fi rst to write about the harsh jabs at their town. Immediately, citizens fl ocked the website, criticizing both Lohan and Pilot. One com-menter, whose user name was “Jessica,” fi red back, “Had the idi-ot who wrote the article done some research, they would have learned that people are dying to live in Merrick! To say that no aspires to live in Merrick is an uninformed statement.” The comments att acking Pilot didn’t stop there. Merrick residents fl ooded to her Twitt er account. Senior Jessica Arnone, tweeted “How about you be a profession-al, do your research, & know that Merrick is one of the best places to live for a family.” Aft er countless verbal att acks on Pilot, she fi nally came up with a re-sponse. Pilot tweeted “Merokians: Give me a portrait of the Merrick you know & love. I’ll get on the LIRR, gladly. Until then, breathe and be cool.” She followed up with another tweet reading “Strong Is-land: You’re only making yourself look bad. Show me the good in-stead of just shouting.”

The next day, Pilot tweeted Merrick Patch stating, “I’m com-ing back. I want a tour guide…non-Lohan related.” And another one reading, “I want

to see more of Merrick, I have faith…” Since then, the backlash has seemed to calm down, though I don’t think anyone would like to be the “tour guide” she requested. I tweeted her myself asking if she had anything to say about me writ-ing an article in response to her, but she never answered. Aft er all the retaliation, it seems that Pilot knows that she was wrong. Merrick is a well-off neighbor-hood, both in the economic and so-cial sense. Making an assumption about it solely based off of one ce-lebrity’s downfall is simply unfair, and in this case, untrue. Fair warn-ing to fellow journalists: Watch what you say about Merrick, be-cause we sure don’t hold back.

by Rachel TysonSports Editor

When people ask me what I do on a Saturday night, I’d prob-ably respond, ‘See a movie, drive around aimlessly, or simply hang in a basement with friends.” What else is there do here in Merrick? Nothing. The town itself is boring and duller than ninth grade math. Jessica Pilot, a writer for Vanity Fair, visited while writing an ar-ticle and managed to bash Merrick as a town. While most would be quick to bash such a comment in defense of their wonderful town, I contend that Merrick isn’t a wonderland of rainbows and sunshine. I generally enjoy Merrick. Mer-rick isn’t a trashy place. It’s not the worst place to live, but it surely isn’t the best. There’s nothing to do in this town. We have a movie the-atre, a few pizzerias, some church-es and a temple but no arcade or social hub such as The Cup. Granted, we should prob-

ably consider ourselves lucky that most of us live with a substantial amount of money compared to other towns; however, one must realize that we also carry many of the negative traits other towns have to off er: bullies, drugs, alco-hol, and the works - not to mention dozens of nail salons and fast food establishments that off er no sort of diversity or entertainment value to the town. It’s a bore.

Upon observing South Merrick, one will notice the compilation of fast food establishments: a Wen-dy’s, McDonald’s, Burger King, and Taco Bell all sit within 50 feet of each other. The over-abundance of similar food establishments not only provoke repetition, but pro-vide a lack of variety; each one is exactly the same. Why have four similar restaurants near each other when you can replace one with a coff ee house or teen lounge? Things aren’t much bett er in North Merrick, either. There are at least six individual pizzerias, all of which are similar in structure and variety. The main food problem with Merrick is that it capitalizes on repetition and not diversity. Friendly, unique individuals at-tend the middle and high schools in Merrick, as do jerks. But the problem with Merrick isn’t in the schools or any sort of illegal ac-tivity; the problem with Merrick is in the att itude. We are a town of higher wealth, and we don’t acknowledge it. I fi nd it hard to withstand the loud shrieks of high

school girls that run through the hallways to their respective classes and their obnoxious complaints. I do, however, keep in mind that this is a trait amongst teenagers found not only in Merrick, but Bellmore, Massapequa, and other local towns as well. Therefore, my opposition to the general att itude in Merrick stands true not only to our town, but most towns on Long Island as well.

by Ben RossContributing Writer

“Merrick is a well-off neigh-borhood, both in the econom-ic and social sense. Making an assumption about it sole-ly based off of one celebrity’s downfall is simply unfair.”

Pt./Counterpoint:

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(photo by Holly Lavelli)

Many of Merrick’s eateries are chains, while others are a repetition of other food types.

Editorial October 2010 Hoofbeats 13

Back in the glory days of sports, most players were considered he-roes based on their actions off the fi eld, as well as on the fi eld. People respected that athletes sat down and gave children auto-graphs until there was no one left on line. Players from Lou Gehrig to Roger Maris will always be re-

membered as more than a player, more like a role model. As the years went on, athletes seemed to stray farther and farther away from this amiable att itude. This season alone, NFL

players have returned from sus-pension with a hero’s welcome. When Michael Vick began scor-ing touchdowns on the Eagles, fans seem to have forgott en that he murdered dogs was recently re-leased from a federal prison. Steel-ers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has been accused multiple times of sexual assault, most recently over the summer at a Georgia night club. Commissioner Roger Goodell

suspended him for four games. But during his fi rst game back, the Steelers faithful greet-ed him with a standing ova-tion. I could al-most hear their fans saying, “ Yea, Ben! Do what you want off the fi eld. We just want more Super Bowls.” Players as famous as O.J. Simpson have been accused of murder and there have been too many DWIs and DUIs to count. Even with these de-spicable ac-tions, the fans don’t seem to

care about the bad, as long as athletes perform on the fi eld. But quite frankly, a lot of people are stupid. They don’t care about the morals of athletes or celebri-ties, just how they look or perform.

For example, just recently New York Jets wide receiver Braylon Edwards was arrested for alleg-edly drinking while intoxicated at 4:45 a.m. But aft er being put into the game that Sunday, Edwards had a monster game with a 67 yard touchdown catch, ultimately giv-ing the Jets the win. Aft er his spec-tacular game, it seemed that all was forgiven in Jets land. I heard a friend say “It doesn’t matt er what he does off the fi eld, as long as he makes catches like that.” And just this month, Brett Fa-vre’s alleged inappropriate behav-ior leave many wondering if his off -fi eld troubles are carrying over onto the fi eld. That is exactly what is wrong with people today. They take the game more seriously than life it-self. It didn’t matt er to them that a player was driving twice the le-gal limit; what matt ered was that the team is No. 1 in its division. It was a real possibility that Ed-wards could have killed himself, his teammates in the car, or an in-nocent bystander. Would the Jets faithful would have been as forgiving then? Does it have to take the death of a person for people to realize that a human’s life is more important than a game that you are not even playing? As an avid sports fan, social studies teacher Mr. Brian Daniels said that a player’s actions off the fi eld made an impact on him. “When I was younger, I really looked up to [New York Giants linebacker] Lawrence Taylor. But when the news about his cocaine habit came out, I lost a lot of re-

spect for him,” Mr. Daniels said. If you are going to have celebrities as role models, then pick the good athlete. The person who does good deeds off the fi eld as opposed to just performing on the fi eld. A per-fect example is former New York Rangers forward Mark Messier. In Messier’s 25 years in the NHL, her won fi ve Stanley Cups and ranks second all-time in points with 1887, only trailing Wayne Gretzky. His number has been retired in New York and Edmonton. His big-gest accomplishment in his hockey career occurred in 2007. That year

“Moose” was inducted in to the NHL Hall of Fame in a heart warming ceremony in To-ronto.

But another great thing about Messier is that he has been arrested a total of zero times. He is a proud member of the Make-a-Wish Foun-dation, where he visits sick and disabled children, trying to make them feel normal for at least one day. In addition, he has created the Mark Messier Skyway for Tomor-row’s Children - a section for chil-dren inside a Hackensack hospital. When I asked Mr. Daniels about Messier, he said. “He is a great guy. A great leader. A person who has accomplished a lot on and off the ice.” In the modern sports world, charitable actions are heavily out weighed by disgracing actions from an athlete. As long as fans continue to root for athletes who are pathetic human beings, the players will never learn how to become a good person or make a change in their lives.

“But another great thing about Messier is that he has been arrested a total of zero times.”

What happened to heroes?

Girls’ vball gets fresh startgirls’ fi rst few games the competi-tion proved to be to much and they suff ered loses to Garden City and Baldwin. The girls, however, came back and defeated Hicksville, a very tough conference competitor. Out of last season’s six court starters, the Colts lost fi ve to grad-uation and are taking the time to adapt new players to the game. Ju-niors Jessica Ruggiero, Kelly Gallo, and Sam Baldauf are on varsity this season for their second year and are key components to the Colts’ off ense with what they bring to the table in knowledge and ex-perience. Also helping the Colts are fresh-

men Lauren Streznec and sopho-more Alexa Weinblatt . The two young players are proving their ability to the team by being a strong component to the team. Helping the underclass-men are seniors Erica Roman, Kristen Guaneri, Tara Bugden and Meghan O’Sullivan. For the Colts teamwork is not something that is hard to come by. “Volleyball has always been a sport where we know one another because there are not a lot of peo-ple on the team,” said junior Kelly Gallo. “So we all know each other on a fairly personal level and we work hard a lot but at the same time make each other laugh when-

ever we can.” As a team, they know that they are continually growing and this will only be positive for girls vol-leyball. The ,Lady Colts are taking each game step by step. “Before each game we set some sort of goal that we want to ac-complish,” said junior Jaime Berg-horn. “That game we work hard to achieve the goal that we set and we see what we can improve on. I have high hopes for the rest of the season.” Calhoun Girls volleyball started their season off in a rough patch. With a 1-7 record, the girls are looking up to the second half of the season.

by Bobby LemaireContributing Writer

(continued from page 16)

(photo by Cara Lucarelli)

Senior Genevieve Goodheart

(photo courtesy of MCT)

Brett Favre’s status of being a hero to his fans has taken a hit.

14 Hoofbeats October 2010 Sports

Vball falls back to new season The boys’ volleyball team faced challenges even before the season started aft er a league-wide deci-sion was made to move the sport from the spring to the fall.

Coach Heather Glick and Coach Ricky Posner, along with the other schools in the district, were forced to make diffi cult decisions. Would players want to play? What if they wanted to play another fall sport? “Coaches all through the district were not in favor of this move,”

said Coach Glick.” Ultimately it was the athletic director’s de-cision.” As to the reason for this decision, schools with boys’ volleyball in the spring have not been able to compete for the same titles. Diffi cult decisions had to be made by coaches, as well. In the past, Coach Glick had been the varsity coach for both the boys and girls teams. Now that both sports are in the fall, she had to make a decision. “This was not an easy choice for me, and I know the other coaches who coached their girls’ teams had a hard time deciding, too,” explained Glick. “This choice between both teams was a long thought out decision that ultimately ended up with her choosing to be the coach of the boys’ team. The most signifi cant

problem that arose for the coaches was the lack of students who tried out for boys’ volleyball this year. The varsity team only had 12 stu-dents try out, whereas the junior varsity team only had seven. In previous years these num-bers had been much greater. Coach Glick lost two key players who were starters for the past years who chose soccer and football over volleyball. To avoid ending up with a short-age of players and spread the word that the move occurred, Coach Glick tried several ways to notify not only the high school students who were unaware, but the middle

school players coming up to high school as well. Coach Glick e-mailed students she knew who were on the eighth grade volleyball team in the hopes that she would be able to recruit them. She also sent an e-mail to athletes already in the Colts Com-munity. Unfortunately, the num-bers can tell that these eff orts were not enough. As for the season itself, the boys are holding their own with a 6-6 record in Conference II. Senior Ja-

cob Greenberg and Joe Hernandez have led the way in several key wins, including a 3-2 win at Gar-den City. In a 3-0 win against district rival Mepham, Greenberg had 13 kills and senior Jon Baldyga had 21 as-sists.

For next year Coach Glick is cur-rently trying to brainstorm ideas that will most update students of this change and hopefully recruit them in the process. Although the timing may seem like the biggest problem right now, all of the issues that are arising are being worked through throughout the season.

Coach Heather Glick, above, had to adapt in many ways aft er the boys’ volleyball team had its season moved from the spring to the fall. Below, the team batt les Long Beach.

(photos by Cara Lucarelli)

by Kristen GuaneriContributing Writer

Senior Jacon Greenberg(photos by Cara Lucarelli)

“This was not an easy choice for me, and I know the other coaches who coached their girls’ teams had a hard time deciding, too.”

- Coach Heather Glick

Sports October 2010 Hoofbeats 15

A disappointing loss in the play-off s to Hicksville ended the varsity soccer team’s season last year. That heartbreaker fuels the team to have a high-quality year. Aft er a great start, the team (coached by Mr. Jim Cantley) is looking to move forward and continue their success. Led by captains Dan Elliot, An-drew Leif, and Alex Ras, the team has started the year with a 5-1-2 re-cord. Their only loss came to Great Neck South, and they have played well against other teams. Returning this year will be 10 seniors who look to make the play-off s and build on last season’s suc-cess.

The off ense and defense seems to be in good harmony and the colts look bett er than ever. The team looks to be very quick on the off ensive side and strong on de-fense, which is a perfect combo for a great team. Coach Cantley said that he is “focused on making the playoff s, and going from there.” He also expects a big season from the team, which they have been doing so far. The big off ensive threat is Brian Grambo, who has many goals in-cluding an impressive bicycle goal early in the season. Being in the AA-III division now provides a new challenge and teams to play this year including Great Neck South, Mepham, Long Beach.

Soccer team fueled to fi ght

(photo by Ashley McGetrick)

Though it’s an uphill batt le, the football team is giving its best to prove themselves this season against tough competition. While playing against defend-ing Long Island Champions Gar-den City for their fi rst game, the Colts suff ered a loss, but with de-feat they gained desire to win. Coach Joe Bianca said that the 2-4 team’s fi rst game not being against Jericho was a huge disad-vantage because it didn’t give the team that game experience that they needed. “We made a lot of mistakes against the No. 1 team in the con-ference,” he said, “and you can’t

do that.” One major issue facing the team early in the season is injuries. Cole-man Meier, a senior that has played all four years, is out for the entire season aft er hurting his knee. Ju-nior Rob Rinck, the team captain, was out for the Elmont game due to a slipped disk in his back. Also out were juniors Brandon Furia for an ankle injury, and Brian Behnke with a concussion. Though this is a tough prob-lem to overcome, Coach Bianca de-cided to view the predicament the team is in with a positive outlook. “The goals for the season are to endure all the obstacles that are coming our way due to injuries and have our younger players step up and carry the team and push

for a play off spot and go to the fi -nal four like we did the last three years.” The team is now depending on the few underclassmen that are on varsity, such as Jack Bennet, a sophomore that got pulled up this year and gets playing time at of-fensive guard and defensive tack-le. Bennet said that working out a lot during the off season and doing training on his own time was the main reason that he is prepared enough to compete with players older than him. Along with the underclassmen, the entire team as a whole is work-ing harder than in previous years. One obstacle that the team had to deal with this season is the diffi cult conference that they are compet-

ing in. “We are in Conference II and the competition is very challenging. Garden City is the Long Island champions and Elmont, Carey, and Wantagh were also champs,” Coach Bianca said. But how could they improve and hold their own when competi-tion was so fi erce? “We need to work bett er to-gether in general. We need to build our chemistry and boost our inten-sity,” said junior Julian Lee, who is excited to play and prove they are a strong team since Carey is skilled as well. Using the supportive team of coaches, hard work and dedication they may be able to take it to the next level.

Junior Chad Fuschillo att acks the ball against Valley Stream Central.

(photo by Kate Valerio)Calhoun football has a 2-4 record, but is holding their own in a conference with Long Island Champions, Garden City.

by Julie FliegelContributing Writer

Giving their best vs. the bestGiving their best vs. the best

by Aidan MeadeStaff Writer

The girls’ volleyball team began the season with a new coach, a new conference, and many new players. With the move of the boys’ vol-leyball to the fall season, head coach of both teams Mrs. Heather Gluck chose to stay with the boys team. The girls now have a new coach, Ms. Nicole Sabbatino, who is bringing a lot of new excitement to the team. Sam Baldauf, a junior and two- year varsity player, and the rest of the team see their new coach as a defi nite advantage. “Our coach is a lot of fun and has a lot of knowledge in the game of

volleyball considering she played all through college,” said Baldauf. Along with a new coach, the girls moved into a new confer-ence. Aft er a successful 2009 sea-son it was no doubt the Lady Colts

would move higher up. The Colts new competition includes volley-ball powerhouses like Massapequa and Farmingdale which are prov-ing to be tough competition. In the

Fresh look for Vball

“We’re done rebuilding,” said Coach Lori Biscardi, “We’re ready to move forward.” The Lady Colts soccer team is ready to put last year behind them and move forward in their confer-ence and advance to the playoff s. Aft er conferences were shift ed based on enrollment size, the Cal-houn squad fi nds themselves in Conference III, with their toughest competition being cross-town ri-vals Kennedy and Mepham. In or-der for the Lady Colts to meet their goal of clinching a playoff berth, the team needs to fi nish in the top four in the conference. “I think we can do it,” said Coach Biscardi of her 9-2-1 team. “On paper we’re defi nitely one of the four best teams.” As a team with experience, the Lady Colts have a leg up on their competition. While many teams have had the struggle of trying to replace graduated players, this team is composed mainly of ju-niors and seniors. This year, only

three freshmen were added to the roster, all of whom have had strong impact in the Lady Colts’ fi rst few games of the year. Freshmen Nora

Charidah, Kayla Cappuzzo, and Taylor Sipos have been a potent ingredient in team’s chemistry and success on the fi eld.

“The underclassmen are a huge att ribute to the team,” said captain Talia Charidah. “Nora has been re-ally helpful on defense, and Kayla and Taylor have been eff ective on off ense putt ing in the goals.” The Lady Colts last year were awarded the Sportsmanship Award for displaying respect on and off the fi eld. This year, the team hopes to defend that title. “The girls are respectful in both wins and losses,” said Coach Bis-cardi. “They understand that they represent their school and commu-nity, and we try to enforce that by promoting good character.” With a relatively trying schedule ahead of them, the Lady Colts will have to muscle through and att ack the competition head-on. “In order for us to be success-ful with the rest of the season and make the playoff s we need to keep up our spirits and not take any team for granted,” said captain Mary Hij azi. The girls are using a success-ful fl at four back defensive scheme and are scoring more girls than last season.

by Justin SchmiererStaff Writer

Alive and kickingAlive and kicking

by Tessa Patt iSports Editor

Sophomore Michelle Iacono batt les for the ball against Mepham.(photo by Rachel Tyson)

Lady Colts eye playoff s

Meghan O’Sullivan, Kelly Gallo, and Alexa Weinblatt at a practice at Long Beach.(photo provided by Kelly Gallo)

Junior Sam Baldauf serves the ball.(photo by Cara Lucarelli)

(see START on page 13)