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Kethcart

November 2012

Genuine, polite, and

Are you prepared?Black Friday

Kayla

oh so talented!

reed’s spring high school

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November 2012

In This Issue

page 22

Here ComesHoney Boo

Boo

Features

10 Dating Advice

16 Food Blueprints

14 Kayla Kethcart

6 College of the Ozarks

Side Stories

21 Animation

18 Black Friday

8 Deer Hunting

20 Do It Yourself

12 Football Romeo

23 DC vs MARVEL

24 Wolf Hunting

25 Final Thought

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AppearanceThere are many things that make College of the Ozarks a great school, including their beautiful campus, fun student activi-ties, highly ranked academic courses, and their work education program. They also have a very unique freshman ori-entation program called character camp that incoming students love. The campus is extremely close to Branson and only about an hour from Springfield. When you arrive on campus, the first building you see is The Keeter Center. This beautiful building sets the atmosphere of the campus with its log structure based off of Dobyn’s Hall, the first building built on the campus. The

Keeter Center is home to a dining room, lodge, and a gift shop with student made items. The restaurant, known as Dobyn’s Dining Room, includes dishes prepared by students, as well as a student-comprised waiting staff. This provides students who are hoping for a culinary degree a way to get some experience.

CostAny college graduate will tell you that going to college was one of the best decisions they ever made. However, the average price of college is going up and it is getter harder and harder to pay for schooling. Many graduates are further in debt than they thought they would be

and are forced to transfer schools to avoid going too far under. If you don’t want this to happen to you, there is a very simple option: go to College of the Ozarks! C of O is known as Hard Work U because they have a great work program that gives students a chance to have a job on campus and work off their education fees. Students still have to pay for room and board, but C of O offers many opportunities for scholar-ships and grants to help pay for that. This program also provides students the opportunity to get experience in a workplace that relates to their major. Through this experience, students are getting an upper hand on others who

want the same job because they have already have training. You can essen-tially get your education for free and have virtually no debt.

AcceptanceThe hard work doesn’t just start when you arrive on campus. The admissions process is a difficult one. College of the Ozarks is a highly selective school that admits about 30% of their applicants. They have over 3,000 students apply and accept only 300- 350 students. The preferred ACT score is a 20 and for the SAT it is a 950. The requirements for application include the needed test

scores, two reference letters or forms, an interview, and the Free Application for Financial Student Aid (FAFSA). Your FAFSA cannot be completed until you file the year of application’s taxes. This is a crucial part of the process because it shows the income of your family, which is one of the major factors in deciding your admittance. Since 90% of the students must show a financial need to attend C of O, they rely heavily on your FAFSA information to validate your need. Once you have officially applied, a student rep-resentative will contact you to schedule an interview. For the interview you must dress in business-like attire, such as something you might wear to church or to

a professional experience.

EnvironmentThere are many places that students can work on the campus. The college places students in an area that best suits their interests and major. Students who are interested in agriculture will have an easy time finding a job on campus that they enjoy because there are so many places on campus that involve that field. Students interested in the area of agri-culture can work with the beef cattle, in the feed mill, process-ing plant, hog farm, horticulture lab, and the agriculture office. Students interested in sports also have many options as to where they can work. They can work in the intramurals, at the pool as lifeguards, in the sports information office, and as student athletic trainers. There

are many jobs in the Keeter Center for students in the hotel and restaurant man-agement and culinary programs. They can be part of the serving staff, chef’s staff, and guest services. These are just a few examples of the work stations provided at C of O. There are also jobs available in the construction department, nursing program, and almost any other area you can think of. Another thing that makes Col-lege of the Ozarks unique is that the dean requires all students to attend the church services on campus. Since the college is based on God and country and is a Christian based campus, all students must attend the chapel session five times

College of the OzarksEmily Highfill

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from one o’clock on Monday morning to noon on Friday afternoon. If there is an emergency, students can call the dean’s office and ask to use their car, but permission is required. All students need to get their car or motorcycle registered before they can use it. There is only one car allowed per student. However, there are other ways to get around campus and many students are okay with not having a car. There are many bike racks on campus that students can use. Whether they need to go to class or a meal, students can bike almost anywhere they need to. Walking is another option for students. Since it is not an extremely large campus, walking doesn’t pose an issue for many students. There are some terms that any-one on campus needs to know, especial-ly future students. You can find them on the College of the Ozarks website (cofo.edu), but there are a few common ones that are important to know for college life. The first is the Alumni Laundry. Alumni Laundry is the area where students can use the laundry facilities for a cash fee, or they can work extra to cover it. It is also a work station for students who provide professional cleaning jobs for the faculty, their peers, and other campus industries. One of the easiest terms, and most common, is Bobcat. The bobcat is C of O’s mascot, along with the school colors: maroon and white. The next is the five-fold mission. This describes the five things that College of the Ozarks is built around: Christian, vocation, academics,

a semester. They are also required to attend five character classes, one from each category: Christian, Academic, Cultural, Vocation, and Patriotic. Choice classes, including chapel and convoca-tions, also have a 5-time attendance requirement. All classes are extra-curricular and add to the college experi-ence, getting students excited about their beliefs.

Freshmen C of O’s freshman orientation program is a unique experience for all incoming students. Called Character Camp, this week long program is de-signed to get students used to college life and the expectations set here at C of O. At the end of the week students will become independent and ready to leave home. Any student with less than thirty one transferrable credit hours is required to attend. Since it is a must here at C of O, any incoming student who does not attend will be considered to have missed the first few days of their classes. Also, since there is a separate orientation for parents, they are not allowed to attend. This week is for students and students alone to become their own people and learn more about what their life will be like in college. Freshman students who have thirty or less college hours are required to keep their cars locked up throughout the week and will not be permitted to drive them. The freshman lot is closed

culture, and patriotism. Another is the McDonald Health Clinic, also known as “the clinic”. At the clinic, there is a nurse available Monday through Friday. There is also a physician’s assistant available three times a week to see students. Students can also loan medicals supplies they need, including crutches, braces for ankles or wrists, and wheelchairs. They can also do quick medical tests in the case of an emergency. The last one is the Pear Rogers Dining Hall, commonly called “the Pearl.” In the dining hall, there are three meals provided, seven days a week. These meals are included in your room and board charge. They have recently remodeled the eating area and it now serves made-to-order sandwiches, an international special, hamburgers, grilled cheese, fries, pizza, salad bar, fruits and veggies, desserts, soft drinks, milk, and juice. As you can see, College of the Ozarks is a little different from other col-leges. However, that is not necessarily a bad thing. The work program is an excel-lent opportunity for many students and has been successful since the college opened. The campus is beautiful and it’s not too large, so getting around isn’t a problem. There are many things to do on campus and with all of the sports C of O student athletes are involved in, you can catch a game almost anytime. For any-one interested in C of O, but is still on the edge, or is unsure where they are going to go, College of the Ozarks is definitely

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Like any avid deer hunter, I get excited when I see a deer on my daily travels. Driving down a road in the mid-dle of nowhere every day, you see a lot of deer. When I spot a deer while driv-ing back home, I make a mental note of where and when I saw it. Soon, the leaves change color, fishing slows down, and the weather starts to dictate if I should break out my sweatshirt at night. When all this happens, I start preparing for the upcoming deer season and opening day. Some days feel perfect for sitting up in a tree, waiting for an unsuspecting creature to walk within your range. This time of year, deer are plentiful and can be seen more often. The deer’s’ beauti-ful reddish summer coats have turned into a grayish brown and they have put on 20 extra pounds for warmth. After many deer sightings and cooler weather, I start to prepare for this great activity. I break out my weapon of choice, a savage 30-06 bolt action rifle, to check its condition. I clean my rifle to make sure it’s in tip top shape. After I’m done, I step into my back-yard and fire it at a target to check that the high powered scope that allows me to shoot accurately up to 200 yards is still accurate. Shooting the nice, clean gun, the bang of the rifle, the smell of the shot and the holes in a tight grouping on the paper target all get me pumped for No-

vember 10, opening day morning. It is around this time that I trav-el down to my stand to check its condition, safety and to reassure myself that there is a clear path to the stand. Then I sit in my stand to make sure the area doesn’t cover up my view too much to where I could not spot a deer if it walked into my range. I bring a set of good loppers to cut down branches, re-flective thumb tacks for getting into my stand when it is dark out, and two mineral blocks with me. I walk slowly to the stand, cutting limbs and removing debris from the path. I check that I have the reflective tacks in the trees to help me re-member the path. When I get back to my stand, I climb back in just to sit, listening and deciding where to set out my mineral blocks. I climb down and place the mineral blocks, then head out slowly as to not to startle any creatures. It can be a good thing to jump deer on the way to or from your stand, or it

can be bad to startle the deer. It is good if you see if a deer because you get to see what type of deer are wandering around your area and seeing the deer in your area will get you very excited and confident in your location. It can be bad be-cause you do not want to disrupt the deer this close to the begin-ning of the season and startle them away. It is very important that you do not leave any scents in the woods because deer have a very good sense of smell and if they smell something they will get spooked and not come back. Now that I have sight-ed my gun, checked my deer stand, placed the mineral blocks in a good location, and left a trail to remember a path to my stand, it is time to gather, wash and or-ganize the rest of my gear that I will need for opening day. I have 2 large totes of camouflage and hunting items that have the scent of the earth from last season. When I sort through the totes I make sure to have cer-tain items that are vital to have an effective deer hunting sea-son. First, I set aside my heavy camouflage from my light cam-

ouflage. I also make sure that I have my gloves, 2 camouflage masks , my grunt call, a sharpened pocket knife, a pocket watch, a small but powerful flashlight, and at least 6 shells of ammunition for my 30-06 rifle. Finally, I grab a pair of cam-ouflage pants, a camouflage shirt, a nice and warm hooded sweatshirt depending

on the weather, and my leafy wear pants and jacket to help me blend in with the wooded environment. I wash them twice in cold water with no detergent and then return them to a tote with a new earth scent wafer. I also remember to bring my fluorescent orange hat and jacket, to as-sure my safety from other hunters. At this point, I am all ready for the season to be-gin. I will begin to monitor the weather more carefully, take note of what time the sun shines in the morning and when it be-comes dark at night, and then wait until I can get back out into the woods, locked and loaded. Until then I will go about my days, spotting the deer while driving.

Preparing for the SeasonJoey Longstreet

“ Some days feel perfect for sitting

up in a tree ”

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Your teachers have gone through high school and dealt with the crazy world of dating. There’s no one better, unless we had the chance to ask Taylor Swift. Sadly, we don’t have that opportunity, so the next best thing is to ask our teachers.

Mr. Lynch The first teacher I asked was Mr. Lynch! Mr. Lynch is pretty open about his feelings for dating. He even has an application for dating his daughter. I feel bad for any boy who has to fill that out. When I asked what his advice was, he said “Don’t do it. I’m just kidding! Just keep in mind that though you feel all mature, and feel like you know exactly what you’re doing, you don’t. Don’t expect high school relationships to last forever, because chances are they won’t. Just have clean, moral fun, and don’t take each other for granted. And when the day comes that the relationship does end, which it most likely will, just remember, it’s not the end of the world.” That’s some good advice! I’ll keep that in mind.

Mr. Barr Now, the next teacher I asked was Mr. Barr. He usually says that you shouldn’t date in high school, but after some convincing, he gave me real ad-vice. “Well, first of all, senior boys should not date freshmen girls. It is alright for senior girls to date freshmen boys, but not the other way around. Second, never say I love you in high school. Now, you may say I’m falling in like with you, but not love. Third, for the love of God, date more than 1 person in high school. Stop trying to get married, you’re in high school. Fourth, group dating is always less awkward. So if you’re nervous about going on a date, just have a group of friends go with you, it takes off some of the pressure, and you’ll feel more com-fortable. Fifth, this one is more towards guys; never take a date to the movies. If you want to see a movie, take a bro, not a girl. You can’t talk during movies, so you can’t get to know each other. Now, if you’re a couple who has been together for a while, then that’s fine, but not good for the few first dates. Last but not least, the sixth tip is just for guys. So guys don’t forget the old laws of chivalry, always keep the girl guessing, and wanting

Speaking From ExperienceHear what RSHS teachers have to say about relationships!

In high school, dating is a hot

topic.

Kerrigan Arnold

It’s inevitable; almost everyone ends up falling for someone. That’s the easy part though. When it comes to the dating part, that’s when it gets tricky. If you’re like me, you go to your friends for advice. Sometimes their advice works, but other times, it’s a lost cause. If you

feel like that, then this article is exactly what you need. I have the advice you need from people you never thought to ask – teachers! I know what you’re thinking; dating advice from teachers, how helpful could that be? Well, just think about it.

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more.” I agree with everything he said. If you ever need more dating advice, I recommend Mr. Barr.

Mr. Walker Mr. Walker is the next teacher I asked. At first Mr. Walker was hesitant to give advice, but once he agreed to share his secrets, we got an ear full! “If you think you’ll find Mr. or Mrs. Right roam-ing the halls in a school of about 600 students, then you’re fishing in a small pond. And gentlemen, always remember and never forget that that young lady is someone’s daughter, and how would you want your daughter to be treated?” I love what he said! Most of us try to find someone in our school, or surrounding schools, but we have to realize there is an entire world out there and billions of people we’ve never met! Mr. Walker was spot on.

Mr. KessingerThe teacher I asked next gave some advice that is more of what not to do, at least, I think. You never know when it comes to Mr. Kessinger. Read this at your own risk! “Well, always break up through text, it’s better for the person to punch their phone than your face. Guys, always call a girl at least 7 times within 24 hours of the first date, just really an-noy her, she’ll love it. Ladies, don’t use deodorant. End of story. Also girls, to see if a guy really likes you, when he takes you to a restaurant, order two of the most expensive items on the menu. And remember, if you love it, set it free. If it continues to run, shoot it down, mortally wound it, and bring it back to health, so then it is forced to love you. And last but not least, take time to figure out what interests the other person, and do what caters to their interests, not always your own.” There is so much I could say about that. Obviously most of his advice was all in fun, but the last thing he said was very important. You can’t always do everything that you want; you have to keep in mind what the other person likes.

Ms.Todd All this advice so far has been

from the guy teachers. Now it’s time to take a look at the ladies advice on dating! First I asked a new teacher, Ms. Todd. “Well, I think when you go out you need to split the cost. Girls shouldn’t expect the guy to pay for everything. They aren’t made of money. Also, don’t be too seri-ous too soon. You need to enjoy high school with your friends, and whoever you’re dating at the time. But you need to remember that you are in high school, you don’t need to make any major com-mitments to anyone just yet.” I agree with what she said! We are in high school and we need to enjoy it.

Ms. Oliver The next teacher I got advice from was Ms. Oliver. She said “Don’t date until college. You’re not willing to die for anyone right now.” Short and sweet! After asking Ms. Oliver, I went and asked Mrs. Harrell, and she said “You need to spend time figuring out who you are in high school, not trying to make someone else happy.” Just like Ms. Oliver’s ad-vice, Mrs. Harrell’s was right to the point. Though, I think that dating in high school isn’t all bad. It’s part of the experience. You learn a lot from high school relation-ships, although I can see where they’re coming from.

Mr. Locke After getting advice from the ladies, I went back and asked more of the guys! First up was Mr. Locke! It took him awhile to come up with much, but with help from students, and a lot of thought, he said “Dating should be fun and carefree, without pressure. And you need to take time and get to know the person; don’t just jump into a relation-ship.” I definitely agree with that. If your relationship isn’t fun and carefree, then it’s probably not a relationship you should be in.

AdministrationNow, the last two people I asked for advice aren’t teachers here; they’re our Principal and Vice Principal. Mr. Lev-ingston and Mr. Sooter’s advice is very similar. Great minds think alike! First

I asked Mr.Levingston, and just like a few other teacher, his advice was to the point! He said “You should only date someone who you could see yourself marrying. You don’t need to date a mil-lion people; you need to wait for the right person to come along, and then stick with them.” With that being said, Mr. Levingston informed me that he has only had two girlfriends his whole life, and his second girlfriend is now his wife. That is definitely something to be proud of! Last but not least, we have advice from Mr. Sooter. When I asked Mr. Sooter for ad-vice, it took him a while to come up with the right words; he wanted to make sure he got this right! But after some time, he finally knew what he wanted to say. “Dat-ing multiple people just prepares you for divorce. If you date a lot of people, that shows that when times get rough, you’re probably not going to stick around and work for things to get better. So when you’re married, and there’s an issue, you’ll already have a foot out of the door, because that’s what you’re used to. You should really only date people you could see yourself marrying.” As you can see, Mr. Levingston and Mr. Sooter have similar views on this subject. I can see where they’re coming from, and it makes a lot of sense. There are a lot of one and two week relationships in this school, and I see no point in them. I’m not saying to marry the first person you date, because you need to date a few people to find what you want in a relationship. If you’re going to date in high school, at least take the relationship seriously. If you know it’s not going anywhere, don’t waste your time. But if you think there is a chance the relationship could go somewhere, pursue it! I hope that you got the advice you were looking for, or even stumbled upon some you didn’t know you needed. By writing this, I learned a lot, and I’ll be keeping it in mind. Next time you need advice, maybe go to a teacher you’re close to because sometimes you get the best advice from people you’d never expect!

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Drama class; the class that every so called high school actor/actresses wants to be in and the class that puts on the school play every year. This year’s play is called “Football Romeo.” It’s about students from Verona Beach High School who are putting on the famous Shake-speare play “Romeo and Juliet,” but for Nicola, played be Addie Fortner, the cast-ing done by the new drama teacher isn’t done the way she wants. In her eyes, her stud linebacker boyfriend Rick, played by Dustin Higgins, would be the perfect Romeo to her Juliet. Sparks fly when Danny, played by Ethan Greiner, the self-professed drama geek, is picked over Rick. Nicola cries foul and demands the play to be recast. Not only must Danny fight his insecurities as a performer and his brother Murray, played by Alex Jones, treating him as a science experiment, he must also fight to keep his role of a life-time. Members of the “Football Romeo” cast, other than those listed prior, are: Laurel, played by Hanna Sanders; April, played by Emily Todd; Mrs. Kavendish, played by Sam Rutherford; Agnes, played by Lacey Curtis; Brittany, played by Courtney Bullis; and Felicity, played by Kati Bowen. After talking with Mrs. Harrell, the director of the school play and the drama teacher for the second year in a row, she seemed very confident in her selection and cast. Pulse: What made you pick this play?Harrell: “It’s really funny and should be easy for the students to relate to. I also love Shakespeare and it’s a parody of Romeo and Juliet. It’s really quite clever.”

Pulse: Was it difficult to cast the play this year?”Harrell: “Yes, because I had so many tal-ented students try out for the show. I had to narrow down a list of sixty students down to ten who were casted into main roles.” Pulse: How much effort and time does it take to put on a performance?Harrell: “Well we rehearse for six weeks for about two hours every evening. In ad-dition to rehearsing, students must spend their own time memorizing their lines and becoming one with their character. Finally, I spend additional time on all of the tech elements of the show.” Not only is Mrs. Harrell excited for the play, but all of the students involved are as well. I got to talk with Hannah Sand-ers and Sam Rutherford about their thoughts on the play and they all seemed to agree on things. Pulse: How do you feel about how this year’s play is coming along?Hannah: “The play is going great! The cast is a blast to work with on stage and I feel like this year’s play is going to be awesome.”Sam: “The play is coming along great! We are ahead of schedule and the cast is really getting into their parts. Some-times we have tight schedules, but we all give our best efforts. You can tell how excited everyone is.”Pulse: Do you have any parts of the play you are really looking forward to?Hannah: “There are so many parts of this play that make me laugh, but there are two parts I’m looking forward to. The first

is the dream scenes, each dream is very unique, and especially one of the dreams that Danny has that takes us to “The Lord of the flies” musical piece.”Sam: “I am looking forward to finishing it. That might sound bad but once we finish we will get to see all our hard work come together. Right now we are still putting little things in place but we are almost there.”Pulse: Have you ever thought what you would do if you were up on stage and just suddenly forgot your lines?Hannah: “What would I do? Last year’s production I did some improv with my scene as Kyle and the baby. Don’t ask me how I came up with the stuff I said but it just kind of came to me so I rolled with it. This year I’m just going to go out on stage and do my best, praying that since I have a lead that I’m going to nail it. I got this!”Sam: “I have. If I ever do forget, I will just ramble on like a crazy teacher consider-ing that’s the role I play. I have a pretty good memory so I don’t think I’ll have a problem.”As you can tell, all the students in the play and everyone else who is involved in the production is very excited and thrilled that they get to put a show on for their viewers. The show will be put on three days in a row: November fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth beginning at seven o’clock. These students have worked hard so go support them and maybe you can get a laugh or two.

FootballRomeoTyler Miller

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Students at Reeds Spring High School are “giving back” to the community by volunteering their time assisting with the operation of the newly created “Earth-wise Recycling Center” which is located on the school’s campus.

“Earthwise Recycling Center” officially opened on October 6. The center accepts all standard recycling items including cardboard, plastics, steel or tin cans, mixed paper and magazines. Hours of operation are Saturdays from 8:00 AM until noon.

The EarthWise Recycling Cen-ter was developed by the Stone County Legacy Catalyst Team, a group of local citizens who are passionate about finding ways to pass on the area’s core values or what could be described as the “Ozark Mountain Spirit.” One of those values is the desire to ensure the future for the

next generation, which includes a com-mitment to preserve the beauty of the area. The student volunteers are usually members of various clubs at Reeds Spring High School. Each club, organization or co-curricular activity is encouraged to require its members to participate in community service. The re-cycling center is one avenue for that type of commitment. An added advantage is that students learn more about and be-come involved in the recycling process. Korina Branson, who is a member of the Stone County Recycling Catalyst Team stated, “Earthwise is capitalizing on stu-dent enthusiasm being contagious. A key component to the success of Earthwise is students learning about recycling and spreading the word. Simply involving the kids means we carry a legacy of protect-ing our local resources into the future. It is also important they learn what it

EARTHWISE RECYCLING CENTER

means to contribute to their community.”

In addition to the students’ volunteer efforts, the Art classes at the High School assisted in the design of the logo for “Earthwise” and have helped in creating promotional flyers about the center. The public is invited to bring their recyclables to “Earthwise” each Saturday morning. The center is located at the northwest corner of the campus.

PHOTO CAPTION

Reeds Spring Student Council Members Tyler Miller (left) and Phillip Todd (right) empty recyclable items into the bin at “Earthwise Recycling Center” located on the Reeds Spring High School campus. The center is open on Saturday mornings from 8 AM until noon.

RSHS STUDENTSASSIST INOPERATION OF

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hough she was born in Joliet, Illinois, she grew up in Mexico. This proved to be a life-changing experience for “in-the-closet-cool-

kid” Kayla Kethcart. From the time she was one year old to the time she was six, Kayla lived in Mexico with her parents and older sister Ashley. Despite be-ing young, memories of her childhood home stuck with her. “I had a different childhood than most people my age. I learned how people lived in third world countries. It was life changing,” says Kethcart. She described the poverty she witnessed in surrounding neighbor-hoods. There were situations such as the stereotypical “houses getting shot up on the block” and gang violence. “I lived straight up in the gang ghettos. It’s not all rays of sunshine.” After living in Mexico first hand and growing up with their language, Kayla describes some of the little discrepancies you don’t always learn about in Spanish class. “All cultural articles we read are positive, [and] not really about what’s happening now. I still won’t drink tap water. Nasty stuff...” she says. According to Kayla, when you learn Spanish in a class room, you can only learn so much. “In order to fully grasp a language you’re got to fully immerse yourself in it 110 percent.” Perhaps this is why languages come so easy to the multilingual guru. It is no wonder that Kayla is flu-ent in the Spanish language today. Apart from Spanish and English, however, Kayla is moderately fluent in Russian, and she also speaks minimal amounts of Brazilian Portuguese, German, and Ro-manian. When asked about her multilin-gual inspiration, Kayla merely said, “Well, everyone has their talents, and I haven’t found mine yet, but I’m pretty good at languages. They come pretty easily.”

Pulse: Other than speaking languages, what are some of your hobbies?

Kayla: “I really don’t have one specific thing I’m excellent at. I don’t do athletics because I’m a klutz. Except with my fam-ily; we play full on tackle football. I also play guitar, a miniscule amount of piano and work on cars, as well as participating in book club, quiz bowl and NHS. I also

love to cook and psychoanalyze people in my spare time.”

Pulse: What goals do you want to achieve in your life?

Kayla: “Well, everyone has their life goals, and for some people, it is money, for others, it is fame. People care about superficial things in life, but happiness, to me, is what is most important. That’s really all I care about. I can be broke, living in a dumpy apartment, but as long as I’m happy, that’s all that matters. I just want to experience the world. I love food. I just want to travel and I want to eat. Happiness is what’s really important in the world, and as long as I’m happy, it doesn’t matter.”

Pulse: With your dreams in mind, what do you want to during college to help you fulfill those dreams?

Kayla: “This is a tricky subject. I’m one of those people that has trouble mak-ing up their minds, but once I make a decision, I stick to it wholeheartedly, 110 percent follow-through. I have always been interested in psychology and be-ing a doctor; I’m really not queasy and touching chicken liver doesn’t bother me at all. Sometimes I change, though. I’m just one of those dreamer people, kind of stuck in the clouds. I’ve always wanted to do everything. I considered being a chef, but I always go back to psychology. I’ve been told that when you go back to something, that should be the thing that you follow because your mind is telling you that’s what you want to do. It’s just the drawbacks... I’d be thirty by the time I’m done with everything and that’d be spending all of my life just to do school all over again. I don’t like being stuck in a class room.”Pulse: What aspects might people not know about you?

Kayla: “I’m psycho. They won’t even know because I’m a closet cool kid.” Pulse: Do you miss Mexico at all?

Kayla: “Almost every day. There are many reasons why I miss it. One of the

reasons would be that it was one of the places I really felt at home. My family was together. There was hardship, and the hardship kind of kept us together for as long as it did. There were rough times, ya know? As a child, being surrounded by all the violence and drugs and ev-erything, that kind of has a big impact on your life, but I feel like everything I witnessed kind of made me a better per-son. It’s made me a more mature, grown up, responsible person. I talk about it bringing my family together, but it was beautiful. I did see a lot of the run-down broken parts, but even in that, there is beauty; even in the run-down things, like a diamond in the rough. You really get to the base, the primal instinct of man when you’re down there. It’s crazy. You really understand people. You’re surrounded by that. I think that’s why I’m so interested in psychology because I’ve kind of grown up with that. The beauty of Mexico is... multi-faceted.”

Pulse: Has your father been a big influ-ence in your life?

Kayla: “Yep. He influences my life daily, even when he’s not home. He’ll be off working and I won’t see him, but he’s just that important in my life. Everyone has that one role model, and he’s my father... he means everything to me. He’s prob-ably the only person in the world that is everything to me.”

Pulse: How have your grandparents influ-enced your life?

Kayla: “Well, it’s a little bit of both positive and negative. Sometimes, people have difficulties at home and you don’t get along with people. It happens every day. I appreciate all they have done for me by taking care of me; they didn’t have to and they did. They were supposed to be retired, so I appreciate that. They taught me old world things that made me more old-fashioned, so I don’t really rely on things like people do now. My grand-mother raised us to be ladies.”

Pulse: How do you and your sisters get along?

Kayla Kethcart: “The closet Cool Kid”

Glenna Dement

T

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Kayla: “Sometimes Ashley and I get along well. Although she doesn’t like to admit it, someone had to step up to the plate, and it had to be me. Even when she was 17 and 18, I took care of her. I look out for her and in turn, I hope she does okay. We do fight, as all siblings do, because we do have our differences.”

Pulse: Did you inherit your love of music from your sister Ashley?

Kayla: “I really don’t think so. I think that goes back to my dad and influencing me because he and I are really close. He and I are the closest... I have my clos-est familial relationship with him. He’s always been big about music. He kind of raised me to think for myself and follow my passions and not care what anyone else tries to force me to do. If you like something, just do it. Go for it. He kind of introduced me to the heavier type of music first. Bands like Evanescence, old school Linkin Park, Crossfade and that type of thing. From there I kind of branched out in my music. My mother did slightly influence me in regards to classical music and she listened to this weird, tribal stuff sometimes. I just love music because it’s the way people ex-press themselves. It is a universal lan-guage. Everyone has their emotions, and if you can’t say something, you can sing about it. Music has always been there for me through everything. My favorite classical musician would be Tchaikovsky, but at the same time, I listen to heavy screamo stuff. People wouldn’t know this about me. My music depends on how I’m feeling. I’m kind of psycho with my moods. Emotions are a big thing. I claim to not really feel emo-tions, but they impact me strongly. I base everything off of emotions. When I draw, I listen to classical music because it kind of puts me into serenity. If I’m angry, I’ll listen to some crazy, angry music and it helps. Music is expression.”

Pulse: Do you believe that your rela-tionship with Ashley today is so strong because of the bond that was formed in Mexico?

Kayla: “Like I said, we lived in Mexico,

and my mom wasn’t really home, and my dad was working two jobs, so we had baby sitters. We didn’t always have baby sitters, so I stepped up to the plate... I was like this five year old little girl trying to take care of everyone and keep ev-eryone together, little ‘Mother-Hen Kayla’ here. Though she doesn’t like to admit it, I helped teach her how to cook, and I cooked for her, and I did laundry; the usual motherly things.”

Though it is obvious that Kayla had no ordinary childhood, it is apparent that it has shaped her into a unique in-dividual. Between being multilingual and

raised in Mexico as well as being faced with hardship early on in her life, Kayla has been sculpted by the influential people in her life. They have molded her into the person she is today; a Spanish-speaking, motherly intellectual.

Glenna Dement

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*Yields about 8 servingsMix things up!Let’s say you don’t like these particular ingredients or maybe you just can’t your hands on them right now. Don’t fret! You can mimic this exact recipe with differ-ent ingredients. Try pineapples, lemons, limes, or even apples! By using the same setting process you will get the same results for you flavorful water! This also means you can always try a new flavor or even a mixture of flavors. (Other fruits that will work include the following, but may be more seasonal: peaches, strawberries, cantaloupe, watermelon, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, and cranberries.)

Juicy Jell-OEverybody remembers having the little Jell-O cups packed in their lunches when they were little, or coming home to some Jell-O that was just made. In high school, Jell-O isn’t exactly a hot item, but why

A few mint leaves *A normal sized pitcher for the waterDirections:Wash your cucumber to rid it of any unwanted dirt or other impurities com-monly found on fresh produce. Cut the cucumber into slices, not too thin and not too thick. Cut the honeydew melon into a few wedges. You will not need the whole melon for this, so save the rest for a nice, nutritious snack! Place a good handful of cumber slices, a couple of the honeydew melon wedges, and some of the mint leaves into the bottom of the pitcher. Fill the pitcher the rest of the way with water. Cover and chill. Allow to sit for several hours, or up to 3 days. After setting, strain the mixture and remove the solids (you can eat these as well!). To serve, pour in glasses over ice. If you really want to go all out, garnish your glasses with a mint leaf or two.Nutritional Facts:<5 Calories*A great method for hydration!

Are you ready for some good, healthy, fall eating? We’re ready to get Reeds Spring cooking this fall. Instead of pre-paring turkeys and stuffing and potatoes, here are some fantastic recipes that you can make year round.

Mint and Cucumber WaterDrop the sodas, energy drinks, and Kool-Aid! Don’t add those sugar-filled packets to your bottled water either; instead, add healthy, all natural flavors to your water. It adds a nice kick to your plain water without loading you up with sugars, calo-ries, and other ingredients most people can’t even pronounce. I don’t know about you, but I’m not entirely keen on putting something in my body that only scientists know what it really is and what it really does. So, without further ado, let’s add some true flavor to your glass!Ingredients:1 small cucumber1 honeydew melon

mintand cucumber

water

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not? It’s not just for kids and it’s really good, PLUS low on calories. Although, it never hurt to spice up your Jell-O experi-ence, and here’s how!Ingredients:1 cup boiling water1 package (0.3 oz) Jell-O *Strawberry, sugar free is suggested1 cup cold orange juiceDirections:*Boil water* Add the boiling water to the gelatin mix in a medium sized bowl. Stir together for 2 minutes until completely dissolved. Stir in the cup of cold orange juice. Pour into the desired dishes for serving. (If you use traditional dessert dishes, this recipe yields about 4 serv-ings.) Refrigerate for 2 hours OR until firm. Serve from the fridge.Nutritional Facts:35 calories0g total fat0g saturated fat0mg cholesterol60mg sodium6g carbohydrates0g dietary fiber6g sugar2g protein35% DV vitamin CSide Note!You can use any flavor of sugar-free Jell-O! Try a different kind any time you make your juicy Jell-O and you’ll never get tired of just the same old flavor.

Banana BreadNothing tastes better than a warm slice of homemade banana bread. Everyone knows exactly what I’m talking about. Moist, fresh out of the oven banana bread. Now, you don’t have to wait around for your mom or grandma to make it because you can make it your-self! You don’t have to be a baker or a bread maker, just gather your ingredients together, preheat your oven, and get to baking.

Ingredients:1 egg½ cup miracle whip dressing1 1/3 cups mashed, fully ripe bananas (about 3 bananas)1 ½ cups flour1 cup sugar

*Frozen, fresh, tenders, breasts. Any of these will work.About a sleeve and a half of regular Ritz crackersAbout a cup of regular white flour3-4 eggsCanola oil

Directions:Preheat your oven to 350˚F. Get a bak-ing pan ready (an 11x7 or 9x13 pan will work). Spray the pan with cooking spray. Get a Ziploc baggie and put the Ritz crackers in and a smash them up into little crumbs. In a separate Ziploc bag-gie, add the flour. In a small bowl, whisk together a few of the eggs (start with just a couple of them; you can always add more if need be). Rinse your bone-less, skinless chicken. *If you are using frozen chicken, make sure that it is fully thawed.* Take a skillet and heat up the canola oil, just enough to cover the bot-tom is plenty. Use medium-high heat. To test the heat, put a pinch of flour in the pan. If it sizzles, it is hot and ready to go. Take the chicken, one or two pieces at a time, and dip it into the whisked eggs, coating them completely. Put the egg-covered chicken into the flour bag, close it tightly, and shake until completely cov-ered. Put the flour coated chicken back into the beaten eggs and, once again, coat it completely. Then, put the chicken in the Ritz cracker baggie, close tightly, and shake until the chicken is coated. Place the chicken into the pan; you are not trying to cook the chicken, just crisp the breading. Leave in the pan for 1-2 minutes on each side and then put the tenders into the baking pan. Do this with all the desired chicken or until the pan is full. Next, place the pan, uncovered, into the over for 20-30 minutes. Make sure your chicken is fully cooked but not SO cooked that it becomes dried out. Serving:This chicken is good on its own. There’s no real need for coating it in layers and layer of ketchup or barbeque sauce. If you are someone who always uses a dressing, try using light honey mus-tard. For sides, try sweet potato fries or cooked veggies. These will add a nice kick of flavor that’s also healthy for you!

½ cup chopped walnuts *Optional1 tsp baking soda1 tsp salt

Directions:Preheat your oven to 350˚F. Beat egg and bananas in a large bow with whisk until well blended. Mix the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl. Add the new mixture to the banana mixture. Stir just until the new combined mixture is moistened. Pour into a 9x5-inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and let it sit on a wire cooling rack. Cool completely to avoid crumbling. Nutritional Facts:160 calories4.5g total fat0.5g saturated fat15mg cholesterol290mg sodium27g carbohydrates1g dietary fiber16g sugar2g protein2% DV vitamin C

Try This!Warm up your slice of banana bread and eat it with a cup of coffee or hot tea. This will bring out the rich caramel flavors baked within the banana bread. Your bread will make for a delicious breakfast that’s light but also filling, or a nice midday snack that will hold you over between meals.

Ritz Breaded Chicken TendersThe entire student body gets so excited when our school has chicken strip Thurs-day, and now you can have your own healthy chicken strips any day! By mak-ing your own breading and baking the chicken instead of frying the pre-breaded chicken you purchase at the stores or in restaurants, you will have a delightfully healthy twist to a classic favorite among all ages without taking away any of the tastes you expect in chicken tenders.Ingredients:Boneless chicken

FoodBlueprintsEmily Gilderson

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outside Best Buy, pray that you don’t get ran over by insane soccer moms while you’re in line. Like in 2010 for example, a women in line at Toys-R-Us was ar-rested because she not only cut in line, she threatened to shoot anyone who objected. It’s like kindergarten snack time on steroids. In one Wal-Mart in 2008, an employee was trampled to death, and his fellow employees were trampled as well trying keep customers from coming through the doors early. Four other people at that location were hospitalized that day. As the sales get bigger, the people get wilder. Why would people ever want to get up and go shopping the day after a major holiday? To get amazing deals! This is the day where you can buy a $900 TV for $700. The sales on clothes are definitely great, but they are in-comparable to the ones you can get on electronics. Most teens in our age group are focused on technology and gaming. Soon to be college-bound students are going to be looking at laptops and iPads, hoping they might be lucky enough to score a sale of more than just $50 dol-lars. Waking up at three in the morning

or camping out the night before is a small price to pay for this. The stores that have the best deals are the ones you go to on a regular basis. Wal-Mart, Target, and Best Buy are just a few. Target will have the best sales on things such as electronics, furniture, and toys. If you go to Wal-Mart though, you’re going to have the advantage of price matching other stores ads. Best Buy is

the store for all things electronic. Best Buy and Target, much like Wal-Mart already does, will begin price matching online ads in early November. Two years ago

was the first time I braved the crowds at midnight. My cousins and I left my house around ten o’clock and I didn’t get back home until eleven the next night. We went to the mall in Springfield, and honestly, I should’ve waited until the next day. The stores had the exact same deals that night that they had the next day around noon. Most of the stores didn’t even have their lights on so it was like shopping without power. Who’s going to spend $25 on a shirt they can barely see? A lot of people, including me, would. Most stores are going to offer about fifty-percent off of clothing. Black Friday shouldn’t be a day you shop for yourself, though. It’s a day to shop for your friends and family. Don’t worry, I won’t tell if you end up splurging. A little retail therapy never hurt anyone, but just make sure you wear protective armor in case of a trampling. Do your research, check out ads, compare, download apps to your iPhone, and be patient. Everyone is there for the same exact reason you are and yelling at the sales associates will only make things worse. Nearly 135 million people go out to shop on Black Friday every year. Fact or myth: Black Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year. It’s a myth! The biggest shop-ping day is the Saturday before Christ-mas. Say hello to procrastinators! That’s the day to go if you aren’t looking to get all of your shopping done in one day. So which will it be; get the holiday shopping done and over with or procrastinate like you do your research papers? Good luck to everyone and happy Thanksgiving!

What comes to mind when you think about Thanksgiving? Eating turkey? Watching the Macy’s Day Parade while you’re cleaning the house before family comes over? Well, for some it’s sitting at the dining room table going through ads for the shopping adventure the next day. The day after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday. Black Friday is generally the beginning of Christmas shopping; some might even finish their lists if they’re lucky. The name began in Philadelphia to describe the traffic the day after Thanksgiving. Not long after, it started meaning that retailers are going to make a lot of profit. ‘Black’ represents the stores moving from “red” to “black,” going back to the times when account-ing records were kept by hand; red ink showed a loss while black ink meant a profit. Retail stores across the country would open around six in the morning from the time Black Friday began until around the later 2000s. That’s when stores started opening around four in the morning. Sounds a little early to go into work, right? It gets worse. In 2011, stores began opening at midnight. Say hello to your best friends for the night, coffee, Red Bull, and Monsters! You may even want to throw a Five Hour Energy shot somewhere in the mix. The more caffeine and energy, the better!While you are out shopping or camping

BlackFRIDAYMarrissa Peebles

Retail stores across the country open

up early, with their best deals ever, just

for you!

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a loop by braiding to the end and then knotting the cord to itself. Put the button through the loop to fasten.

Ombre NailsYou will need: two color polishes, top coat, sponge, plastic sheet (or foil or bak-ing paper), and a toothpick Step One: Paint your nails with the lighter of the two colors.Step Two: When that completely dries, paint a generous amount of the colors right next to each other on the plastic. Make sure they’re just about to touch on the edges.Step Three: Using the toothpick, swirl the two colors together right where they meet. The area where they meet deter-mines the length of the graduation. If you want a long graduation, mix a bigger sec-tion. If you want it to be a small gradua-tion, mix a smaller portion.Step Four: Take the sponge and dab it directly down on the polish a few times.Step Five: Dab the sponge directly down on your nail. Dab it lightly and move it up and down your nail, still dabbing. You can keep repeating this if you think it needs more.Step Six: Add the top coat, or a few top coats! The dabbing makes it a rough surface, so to even it out you may need to add a few.Step Seven: Clean up. You can use a q-tip to wipe the polish off from around your nail. Pure Acetone really helps!

Step Three: To attach the strap, cut small holes on both sides of the pillow-case where the open end meets the back layer. Grab your fabric and knot it on both sides. I weaved three pieces of fabric together to create a braided look.Step Four: Turn the bag over and bring the two bottom corners together. Attach them by cutting a small hole in each corner and knotting them together with a small piece of fabric.Step Five: To create a tassel like I have on my bag, grab some of your scrap fabric and wrap it around the center of the flap.

Button BraceletsYou will need: 1 yard of wax rope, and 2 buttons (one large and one small).Step One: Cut 4 pieces of wax cord each 1.5 feet longStep Two: Take 1 piece of cord and thread through a hole of the larger button and pull to the center. Take a second piece of cord and do the same with a hole next to the first. Tie a knot. Repeat on the opposite side.Step Three: After knotting, braid the four ends (double up one strand).Step Four: Repeat on the opposite side.Step Five: On one side, knot at the end of the braid, and then thread each of the strings through each hole of the smaller button. Then knot above the button. Step Six: On the opposite side create

T-Shirt Sleeve HeadbandYou will need: a t-shirt with short sleeves, scissors, grommet punch (op-tional), and ribbon.Step One: You will want to turn your t-shirt inside out and cut the sleeves just outside the seam. Step Two: Poke holes in the headband around the middle of the sleeve for the ribbon. It can be done with either your scissors or the grommet punch.Step Three: When all your holes are punched or cut out, thread the ribbon. Start at the bottom of the headband, and weave the ribbons in and out until the holes meet.Step Four: Slip the headband on your head and adjust it to where you want your bow to be and tie it.You can also add beads on the ribbon just to try something different.

Printed Pillowcase BagYou will need: pillowcase (any size, de-pending on how big you want your bag), acrylic paint, dish sponge, long fabric strip, and scissors.Step One: Lay the pillowcase flat with the open end facing towards you. Then grab the open end side of the pillowcase and fold it about half way up.Step Two: To add a pattern to the bag, cut out your desired shape from an ordi-nary dish sponge and use it as a stamp. Dab it in some paint and create your desired design.

If you are a crafty person, use Pinterest, or read some of our last issues, you know about DIY crafts. They’re fun, easy, and cheap to make! There are all sorts of things

that you can choose from. Read on and you might want to try some of these easy and cheap ways of transform things into what you never expected!

Do It Yourself!

Eden Branstetter

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miss their Saturday morn-ing cartoons!In the 1950’s high production costs and new interests led to the decline in car-toon and animation demands. Compa-nies struggled to get anything produced. The animation quality went down and a few companies, like the Warner Bros., were forced to shut down their anima-tion studio for good during these “Dark Ages.” As expected, Disney continued to produce films that were considerably better during the competition. Anime also made its appearance in the United States during this time. Shows like Astro Boy, Speed Racer, and Star Blazers didn’t get much popularity with its distinctive look and unusual content.Animation started making its comeback in the 1980’s. Not only did films become a big hit once again, but TV show came back better than ever! Classic mov-ies like The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, The Lion King,and Beauty in the Beast, which was the first animated film to receive an Oscar nomina-tion for Best Picture, were blockbusters at the time.Animation will always be a true form of entertainment for our genera-tions and those still to come!

same action to the music to create loops. This technique was helpful considering that for each second, around twenty four pictures had to be drawn and photo-graphed. Imagine creating a five minute short film! This started the Golden Age of cartoons, where the animation world hit its peak in the early to mid 1900’s. During this time many memorable characters arose. This included Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Popeye, Betty Boop, Donald Duck, Tom and Jerry, and the animated series of Superman.By the 1930’s cartoons started becoming a popular form of entertainment. These early cartoons were produced in large amounts and played before a movie to keep audiences entertained. It was in the early 1930’s that Disney made history again by producing the first cartoon in Technicolor. The colored cartoon Flow-ers and Trees intrigued audiences and inspired other animation artists to try it. The colored animation was done by pho-tographing each animation sequentially through blue, read, and green filters. In the 1940’s the larger animation studios started looking to TV to expand their audience. This was fairly difficult since they had to compete with other pre-ex-isting TV shows. Of course, Walt Disney was the first to establish a connection with TV networks. Soon The Wonderful World of Disney and The Mickey Mouse Club were popular shows. Over the next couple of decades many other shows attempted to become the next big hit. These shows included The Jetsons, Top Cat, The Alvin Show, The Flintstones and a number of others. Only The Flintstones lasted more than a year. Looney Toons became a favorite show, as well. The other failed primetime cartoons were moved to playing on Saturday mornings, appealing to an audience that was large-ly children. It was here that TV cartoons became set in stone. No one wants to

It’s obvious that there’s a difference between the black and white cartoons from way back when and the early morn-ing cartoons that we grew up with. Not only has there been an enhancement in the color, but the sound, technology and processes have made leaps and bounds to get us what we have now.To get to today’s animation we have to go back to the beginning. The first ani-mated film was a short adventure entitled Fantasmagorie, which lasted just over a minute and was produced in 1908. The French director Emile Cohl would place a drawing on a light box and take a picture of it, then change the drawing a little and take another picture. This process was repeated, then put together to make a continuous picture. Fantasmagorie did not have a story line; the character does a variety of things, including going to the movies, getting stuck in a canon, meeting an elephant and riding off on a horse. One of the first successful cartoons was called Gertie the Dinosaur produced by Winsor McCay. He used a technique similar to Cohl’s, but he’s considered one of the first true animators. In 1914, Earl Hurd made this process easier by inventing the animation cel. A cel was a transparent sheet of celluloid that was laid over the background. This way the animation artists only had to draw the parts that move in the scene while the background stayed the same, saving a ton of time and money!Then Walt Disney came along and changed the animation world forever. He was the first to add sound to the picture! All previous cartoons had been black and white with no sound. Disney’s Steamboat Wille featuring Mickey Mouse made the breakthrough in 1928. Musical themes were now used regularly and were in synch with the characters’ actions. The same drawings would be used multiple times so the character would perform the

Out with the old,

in with the new!

Eden Branstetter

Makenzie Mattix

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Have you ever heard of Honey Boo Boo? Chances are you have but you won’t admit it. Honey Boo Boo is a reality show that features beauty pageant participant Alana Thompson (Honey Boo Boo) and her family. It captures the interesting ac-tivities of their everyday lives. Honey Boo Boo is one the most popular TV shows out right now and has gotten extremely strong ratings in just one season. Critics have called the show “horrifying” “offen-sive” and “outrageous” while others call it a “must see TV.” So what’s so popular about Honey Boo Boo and how did it start? Alana Thompson was born on August 28, 2005 and after a few years her family put her in some beauty pageants. It wasn’t long until they found themselves on TLC’s hit show Toddlers & Tiaras. She soon became a fan favorite on the show for her over the top person-ality. The arguably most famous scene of her was when her mother gave her a mixture of red bull and Mountain dew and had her drink a whole bottle of it before going on stage. This scene became extremely popular and spread across the web, getting millions of views on YouTube. The people who ran TLC soon realized what a hit she was and thought what it would it be like if she had her own show, so they set a deal for a pilot of a show called Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. When Honey Boo Boo finally aired, it received over 2 million views and got mixed reviews. People were shocked at how the family acted. June Shannon,

the mother of the family, will say any-thing that’s on her mind and do whatever she wants. She is known for doing outrageous things with her children; for example, having farting contests with her children. During the shows run, though, she has become more protective of her family. She said that she fears that since the show has been running, the media would swallow them up and break up the family. She has been praised for her work on feeding her family on eighty dollars a week by continually clipping coupons and finding the best deals at grocery store. She says that her choices may not be the best, like the “go -go juice” she gave Honey Boo Boo in the in-famous Toddlers & Tiaras scene, but she says that there are far worse things that could happen than that. “I could be giving my children alcohol,” she said. The next person in the family that has received some flak for the show was the husband, Mike Thompson. During recent interviews, the children have said that he had been absent during their life, but when their family got a TV show, all of a sudden he becomes father of the year and he tries to do all these nice things for them and make himself look good in front of the camera. Other things that have grabbed the attention of audiences are the family’s weight issues and the teen pregnancy of one of the daughters. Some families will not let their kids watch the show because they don’t want their kids to think that it’s ok to have a child at a very early age. The oldest child in the family is seventeen and was preg-

nant, until she had her baby on one of the episodes. Other families have been questioning the nutritional decision that June Shannon makes for her family. She said “I am aware of the things I feed my children and we are trying to watch what our kids eat from here on out.” Not all of the reception of the show has been negative, though. One of the shows biggest fans is former View show host and movie star, Rosie O’ Donnell. She says she loves the show very much and it’s the most realistic reality TV that is out right now. She even went as far as proposing to buy a new house for the reality TV family, who lives in a small house in Georgia. Another positive thing for the show is that it is getting insanely high reviews for the TLC television sta-tion. It was stated that it was even getting higher ratings than the popular reality TV show Keeping up with the Kardashians. Currently, Here come Honey Boo Boo was rated number one after their big finale for season one. A second and third season of the show has been rumored to be in the filming process already. More and more people are trying to use the Honey Boo Boo formula to make their own shows successful. One example of this is an episode of South Park where Honey Boo Boo wrestles Eric Cartman for television supremacy. So that is how Honey Boo Boo all got started. With high ratings, and an extremely strong fan base, it doesn’t look like Honey Boo Boo will be stopping any time soon in the near future.

James McFerron

Here Comes

Honey Boo

Boo

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DC Comics, originally known as National Comics, was founded by Malcolm Wheel-er-Nicholson in 1938. The name DC Comics was adopted at a later time from the initials of the Detective Comic Series. This company was the first to feature super heroes and launch the Golden Age of comic books. The first comic published by the company was Fun: The Big Comic Magazine #1, later known as New Fun and More Fun. This was a book of comic strips, similar to what we would see in the newspapers. Then there were the first original characters, created by the artists who would later introduce Super-man. Swordsman Henri Duval and crime fighting superhero Dr. Occulet were the stars of one of the first comic books. A few comic book series later, the third and fourth titles were released and they both would become some of the most famous superheroes. Editor Vin Sul-livan chose to introduce a superhero that would become the icon of DC Comics and a role model to audiences every-where. Superman was originally thrown in the “slush pile,” but was rescued by Sheldon Mayer. Superman stared in the comic series Action Comics#1 in 1939. This series launched the Golden Age of comics, when the comic book world became popular. As this age progressed, the company released another famous hero. Batman was introduced in #27 of the Dectective Comics Series in 1940. Other famous names, like Wonder Wom-an and the Justice League of America, made their place during the time. The rise of comic books didn’t last forever, and they started to lose popular-ity around the 1940’s. This was when DC Comics came out with most of their popular heroes, but most were rethought

and improved in the 1960’s. In response to the fall of comic books, DC Comics decided to stay away from the common topics in comic books, such as terror and crime, and instead wrote about romance, humor, and science fiction. For example, the Green Lantern, released in July of 1940, was originally magic based. As sci-ence fiction became the new normal, the Green Lantern was recreated as a space cop. A few of the famous heroes, such as Batman and Superman, continued to be published as they always had been. Marvel got started around that same time as DC Comics did. Their first comic released was Marvel Comics, later known as Marvel Mystery Comics. This series featured the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner. In 1941 Joe Simon, editor of the company, teamed up with Jack Kirby to create Captain America. A few teams were created and some heroes got sidekicks. Then Nick Fury made his place as the intelligent leader we all know him to be. In the 1960’s, much like DC Comics, Marvel published their more well know heroes. The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl, The Human Torch II, and The Ever-Lovin’ Blue Eyed Thing), The Hulk, Thor, Spiderman and Iron Man all made their premiere. The Avengers made history as Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, The Black Widow, The Hulk, and Captain America teamed up. The X-Men also formed, consisting of Cyclops, Angel, Beast, Iceman and Mar-vel Girl. Comic book characters continue to rise and fall with the demand of the readers. Some heroes that were famous back then would vanish. Ones that were once villains become heroes, or vice

versa, as they become more popular. Other than the obvious fact that each comic book company has different heroes, there are a few differences be-tween the two that fuel the arguments of avid readers. DC Comics tends to depict their heroes as mythological characters living in made up places, like Superman living in Smallville. They focus on themes that are on the mythological side and take audiences to a whole new place. Marvel creates their superheroes from an average person who lives in places we can relate to undergoing fairly normal situations, with the occasional exception. Spiderman came to be when average nerdy high school student, Peter Parker, was bitten by a radioactive spider in New York City. Speaking in terms of many, each company dominates the other in different ways. When it comes to mov-ies it isn’t hard to figure out that Marvel takes the lead. Spiderman, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and the Aveng-ers are the most recent movies that have fans flocking to theaters. Although DC Comics have had very successful profits with their movies, the amount they put out just doesn’t compare. As for TV shows, DC Comics has Smallville and Arrow, whereas Marvel has only had The Incredible Hulk, which was popular in the 70’s. In the comic book world, Marvel originally ruled, but was overthrown by DC Comics when they relaunched their comics in September 2011. Bottom line is it’s up to you to decide who the winner is. Whether you have fallen in love with Thor or love go-ing on adventures with Superman, it’s up to you to declare the champion!

Perhaps one of the biggest arguments of all time is Marvel vs. DC Comics. Even if you’re not a die-hard comic fan, you’ve

probably seen the movies.

VS

Makenzie Mattix

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Recently I did something that not many people have done; I had the chance to hunt down and capture a pack of wolves. It was a group of my close friends and me against one of nature’s most deadly animals. We endured injuries, hunger and we walked out alive. Here is what happened that night. It was late, around eleven thirty, and Josh Gronvold and I pulled up into Dallas Dodson’s drive way, dressed in black and ready for the hunt. We met up with the rest of the group in the back yard, where we established our game plan. There were four other people there to help us track down the wolves; Matt Curnes, Zach Smetana, Tanner Mcmil-lan, and Dylan Thomas. Dallas pulled out a map of the woods and split us into groups so we could cover more ground. After we chose our groups, we chose our weapons. We all had some type of sword, except Josh, who had a pocket knife. Wielding my samurai sword, my group (which included Zach and Tanner) headed into the darkness. We made are way down a steep hill where a creek was located. This was where we evalu-ated our options. We decided to walk at least half a mile down the creek and

then, for a fifteen minute period, we would sit there with lights off and listen for wolves. After about five minutes of walking, we heard a branch snap behind us. We froze, not knowing what to do. We turned around and pulled out our weapons, prepared for battle. We shined our flashlights around but saw nothing. So we continued walking forward; then, all of a sudden, we heard growls. We pulled out our weapons once again and shined our flashlights; we couldn’t see anything but still heard the growls. It was getting closer. We stood back to back, looking in all directions. The sound grew closer, and then the creature came out of the darkness. We jumped and shined the flashlight at the unknown creature, only to find out that it was the others playing a prank on us. We all grouped together and decided to head down the creek where the pond was located. When we finally made it down there we set up a fire and sat down to eat. We were about fifteen minutes into eating - I had just finished my can of beans and had moved on to my beef jerky – when we heard a terrifying noise. We stopped and listened; not even ten seconds later we heard it again. We knew what this sound was; it was a

wolf’s howl. We got up immediately and set up a base plan of what to do if we encountered this wolf. We sat in a circle facing the woods with our swords out while Josh climbed up into a tree so he could scope out the woods from above. Twenty minutes passed and the howls hadn’t stopped. Soon, the solo howl was joined by two or three more. They got louder and louder. We estimated that the wolves were located down at the very bottom of the creek, near the old golf course in Kimberling City. We talked about it and made the decision to head towards the golf course. When we got to the golf course, it was approximately one in the morning. The moon was full so we could easily see in front of us as we ventured towards the first hole of the golf course. We got close to the pond and looked for any signs of wolves. About fifteen minutes into our search, we finally had a break through. Tanner discovered a small paw print indented in the mud right next to the water. We soon saw that there was a trail leading into the other part of the woods, so went in. As we headed into the woods the wind started to pick up and clouds moved over the moon so it made it much harder to see. Then, our group was halted by another discovery; there in front of us was a pile of bones. We inspected the bones and could not tell if they had been recently left there or had been there for a long time. Suddenly, the wolf howled and this time we knew we were close. The howl got closer and closer and soon it was joined again. We stopped, and wondered if going on was a good idea because the more the lead wolf howled, the more wolves joined him. We soon made the decision that we were easily outnumbered and so we decided to retreat. As we were retreating, the howls grew louder and we could tell that we had treaded too far into their territory and, they were now following us. Luckily, we made it back to the house safely. It was roughly two in the morning and we de-cided that it was time to head in and get some sleep. However, we will remember the day that we went wolf hunting.

Wolves Hunting WolvesJames McFerron

An epic tale of wolf hunting

25

When it hits October until about the second week of January, things move at whirlwind speed. October is full of scary movies, bonfires, corn mazes, haunted houses, and Halloween parties. It’s easy to get distracted with all the fun things going on. When November comes along, plans of Thanksgiving are made and family visits. It’s a big ordeal, or at least it is in my family. I can’t forget to throw Black Friday into the mix. Black Friday can be fun, if you make it. If you don’t like shopping, traffic, or waiting in long lines, I wouldn’t recommend venturing out that night. If you like to be part of the chaos and want to find good deals, go out and have a blast! It’s surprising how fast peo-ple get Thanksgiving out of their systems and start prepping for Christmas. From Thanksgiving to Christmas, time flies for some. At home it seems to fly by pretty quickly. Decorating, making wish lists, hoping it will snow, and jamming out to the classic Jingle Bell Rock. While at school it seems to drag on forever. Week by week until studying for finals kicks into high gear. Freshman and sophomore year I wasn’t too worried about finals. My freshman year we still had the rule that allowed students to completely skip finals. Wouldn’t it be nice to have that back? Junior year I started taking harder and weighted classes, like most of you. That’s when you start to stress because you want perfect grades but don’t really understand what’s going on in class. You

have to take a final for every weighted and college class so it’s not just “I’ll choose to take the finals of my easi-est classes. This should be a piece of cake!” I’m worried about finals this year because it’s my last year to perfect my grades before graduation. If I get a B on my report card for semester grades, I’ll probably cringe. Keep in mind to try your hardest, and not procrastinate. That’s a big problem of mine, or in the case of the seniors, a little something called Senioritis, something that the seniors get without fail every year. Finally, when Christmas break hits, it’s like a rush of relief. We’re off school, fi-nals are over, Christmas is in a few days, and life is good. The breaks never seem long enough, though. Before you know it, it’s New Years’ Eve, then New Years’, and back to school on the 3rd. At least after the New Year it’s like a fresh start. Grades go back to the way they were when school started; you find out that all of your hard work studying for finals paid off, or in some cases, didn’t… but it’s alright because it’s a new year! You get to show off what you got for Christ-mas, or where you went on vacation, and we’re halfway through the year. It really flies by faster than you think. After Christmas break, basketball games start up, and then court warming. Suddenly it’s Valentine’s Day, and then the upperclass-men (and some lucky underclassmen) are searching for that perfect prom dress.

After that, school is kicked back into high gear with the last finals of the school year. You’re almost done and ready for a break; the warm weather, summer clothes, sleeping in, and freedom. I miss it just talking about it. How about we skip to summer now? For seniors, spring will be a crazy time. Heck, this year has already been crazy enough. When people tell you that your senior year flies by, you may doubt it, but it really does. Even though we’re just a little over a quarter of the way through, for us, it’s almost too soon. You’re eager for change, you want to graduate and leave Reeds Spring, but at the same time, you’re going to miss it, because it means that you’re one step closer to being out in the real world. That’s a really scary thought. Once I graduate, the thing I will look forward to most will be class reunions. Everyone is eager to see what their classmates will look like in a few years, and what they’ve accomplished. We’ve known these people for most of our lives so it’s interesting to see how their life turns out compared to how they say their life will turn out. What I’m saying is high school goes by faster than you think. Don’t wish it away, but don’t worry about the future either. Life doesn’t end after high school, but high school is like our security blanket. You’re going to be here for 4 years so make the most of it and enjoy it while you can.

FinalThoughtJames McFerron

Everything isspeeding past us

Callie Thomas

26

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1882

...locker 1882

seriously???!!!!

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Which President established Thanksgiving as a national holiday?

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Where is the idea of Thanksgiving from?

What is a baby turkey called?

Why turkey?

Rachelle CroweA day in the life

ThanksgivingQuizRonald Fuller Answers in December Issue

27

10CHANGES

KEEP SCORE

Double takeSee if you can find the differences between the two pictures

Teacher’s Advice

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wa. Wa wa wa wa, wawa wa wa wa wa wa

wa wa. Wa wa wa wa wa

Rachelle Crowe

Answers in December Issue

28