HI LINETigerThe

http://www.cedar-falls.k12.ia.us1015 Division St. Cedar Falls, IA 50613 Volume 47 Edition 3

Graphic GrowthNot only are graphic novels winding up in more hands and Hollywood movie adap-tations, their colorful stories are saturating the halls and classes of the high school.

See OPINION page

-New academic program meets needs of students

Alice Peck Painting

Katie LeeStaff Writer

Sixteen students. Five teachers. One class-room.

There’s a new class at the high school this year known as the Reading and Math Program (RAMP). During fourth hour, these juniors head to class to learn about reading, math, relationship and leadership skills.

RAMP aims to provide the students with in-struction in both reading and math so that their level of achievement within tests such as the IT-EDs can increase; however, it also addresses more than just those subjects.

“More importantly, our long term goal is to provide the kids with the support they need for lifelong skills, both academic and relationship wise, that will help them down the road,” Dr. Tra-cy Johns, an instructor and leader of RAMP, said.

The fi ve instructors of the program, Johns, Diane Flaherty, Susan Considine, Troy Slater and Rich Strike, have volunteered their prep time to lead the program.

“That says a lot about the willingness of our staff,” Principal Dr. Rich Powers, a supporter of

RAMP, said. “All fi ve teachers are really commit-ted to giving this our best effort because it’s all about the kids,” Johns added. “Not many teachers have had the opportunity to collaborate with four others.”

A similar class is planned for next semester consisting of sophomores. According to Johns, plans for the future are subject to change, how-ever, depending on the results of the semester-long program.

“I see us expanding our support to all of the students in the future,” Powers said.

The biggest challenge in the program was just in introducing the new class to the students and conveying that the class would be worth their time to enjoy and benefi t from.

“While initially hesitant to get involved, it’s changed in the last four weeks; the students are in class consistently and engaged,” Johns said. “These students have a great deal of potential, but we just needed a way to tap into it.”

Despite being a new program, RAMP has al-ready had some positive feedback.

“It’s a model program showing how we need to be creative and fl exible to meet all of our students’ needs,” Powers said.

Nirmeen Fahmy. The three went to a drum major clinic at the beginning of the summer to train for their upcoming season.

Laura Engelhardt, color guard di-rector, has also been preparing with

her members for the performance. She said she realizes the time committment the girls set aside for the season shows their dedication while being busy with other fall activites.

Steve RamseyStaff Writer

The CFHS marching band started practicing in August and has been working hard ever since. The band practices during fourth hour every day along with the color guard who also has evening practices.

This Saturday, Oct.7, the band will perform at the Iowa High School Music Association State Marching Band Contest. The per-formance will be held at Central Middle School in the Waterloo Me-morial Stadium. People are encour-aged to attend the show.

Gerald Ramsey, one of the band directors, said this is the only perfor-mance the band gives that is not in an “echo chamber” like their usual performances at the UNI Dome.

The kids have really been work-ing hard this year with drum majors Megan Christie, Brandi Hatfi eld and

Ellen WredeStaff Writer

What junior Arusha Afzal says could become law.

At the recent Youth Civic Participa-tion Project (YCPP) selection meeting, Afzal was elected to be the Cedar Falls representative. The YCPP is a 100-member student congress from all over Iowa, with its representatives elected by the minority members in their schools. This is the project’s fi rst year, so it is still in the experimental phase.

“We discuss problems that minori-ties face, maybe in the school, maybe in the community,” Afzal said

Afzal was elected after a landslide of votes: she got 28, and the next high-est person got 12.

“I’m glad I was elected as the rep-resentative because I fi nd this to be an excellent opportunity. I get to meet people from all over Iowa, and we get to help each other with our ideas,” Afzal said.

During the regular sessions, the members sometimes get to meet with

members of the Iowa House of Repre-sentatives.

“I like the opportunity to meet the representatives and give them all the help I can,” Afzal said.

YCPP Manager Melissa Esquivel started this program from scratch.

“There’s not much minority repre-sentation in the state,” Esquivel said. “There are high drop out and high incarceration rates and low home own-ership.”

Right now, there are no other states that have this type of program, though people from Kansas have called to fi nd out more.

Since the project is brand new, the goals are still a little foggy, yet they have a defi nite destination in mind: the legislators.

“The students will introduce three measures to the legislators while they are in session,” Esquivel said.

Afzal will join the other YCPP members in the House Chambers and at Drake University in Des Moines for two days in December to begin her du-ties as the Cedar Falls representative.

Katy Schult PhotoPole PositionJoining students from all around the country on the national See You at the Pole day, these 15 students met at the CFHS fl ag pole before school on Wednesday, Sept. 27 to offer their prayers. The group is currently debating whether to continue its intercessing efforts every third Wednesday of upcoming months.

Last year at contest, the marching band got a Division I rating, which is the highest rating given. “We did very well,” said Kyle Engelhardt, the other band director, who also designed this and last year’s march-ing drill.

Engelhardt also said the band is trying to focus on preparation for contest and to remain focused for the last two games after contest.

“A big part of the work is clean-ing our marching drill,” Ramsey said. Ramsey said that by the end of the week, students should have all three pieces memorized.

This year’s show includes “Distorted” from Cirque du Soleil and “Beautiful” and “King Kong Finale” from the latest King Kong movie.

Logan Vander Wiel is featured on trumpet along with Nicole Her-shey and Nana Simpson from the color guard on “Beautiful.”

Band marches to state contest Junior chosen to represent CFHS in Des Moines

RAMP:

Layin’ Down the Law

Other Music Datesto RememberMonday, Oct. 9: Orchestra Concert 7:30 p.m. in the CFHS auditorium

Monday, Oct. 16: Vocal Music Concert 7:30 p.m. in the CFHS auditorium

Our View

The Tiger Hi-Line is a weekly publication of the journalism classes of Cedar Falls High School, 1015 Division St., Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613. Each edition is published on Wednesdays during the school year in The Insider and Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier, 501 Commercial St., Waterloo, Iowa 50701.

Columns and letters do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Hi-Line or Cedar Falls Schools. The Hi-Line editorial staff view is presented weekly in the editorial labeled as Our View.

Reader opinions on any topic are welcome and should be sent to the Tiger Hi-Line staff or delivered to room 208. All letters must be signed. Let-ters must be submitted by 3 p.m. on Thursday for publication the following Wednesday. Letters may not exceed 300 words and may be edited to meet space limitations. Include address and phone number for verification.

Editorial StaffEditors-in-Chief-Sheila Moussavi & Kirstin Riggs

News Editors-Kelsey Ihde & Audrey KittrellOpinion Editors-Andrea Huber & Robb Klassen

Sports Editors-Josh Betts & Katy SchultFeature Editors-Briana McGeough & Willa SimmetOn-Line Editors-David Jacobson & Olivia Schares

OPINIONHI LINETiger

-The

Less than two weeks ago, the Inside Scoop, a locally owned ice-cream shop and café, was closed after a failed attempt to con-tend in Cedar Falls’ increasingly corporate competition. Even with growing awareness for the “Buy Fresh, Buy Local” initia-tive in the Cedar Valley, the inevitable loss of this local business proves that small restaurants cannot stand unsupported by con-sumers. We believe the loss of yet another local restaurant to lack of business should be a wake-up call for anyone who hates to see these shops fall by the corporate wayside. And though supporting local business has always been (economically and so-cially) important, it has never been more beneficial than it is right now. With the alarm surrounding the spread of E.coli in spinach and other earth-grown vegetables, having access to those who grow your food (as is the case in all “Buy Fresh, Buy Local” res-taurants), is essential to reducing access to this harmful bacteria.

In the past few weeks, over 100 Americans have been infect-ed with a harmful strain in the E. coli bacteria, which is caused by contaminated or carelessly handled food — in this case, spinach. Naturally, vegetables can be poorly handled regardless of where they are grown. By buying from “Buy Fresh, Buy Local” busi-nesses, however, you have almost as much access to those who make your food as you would at the weekly Farmer’s Market. Not only do you know that the product is being grown in Iowa (no one in the state was infected in the current outbreak), but you can also contact the farmers with any questions about the prepa-ration of their products.

By eating local, you are now not only protecting small businesses like the Inside Scoop, but potentially protecting your own health as well. In case you needed another incentive to eat at locally owned business, protection of your own well-being can serve that purpose.

E.coli scare creates additional reason to support ‘Buy Fresh, Buy Local’

Write the Tiger Hi-Line

The torture debate has not ceased its upward spiral in American politics since it was incited a couple years ago by Sen. John McCain. The Republican senator began his campaign soon after the initial surfacing of the infamous Abu Ghraib photographs, which por-trayed American soldiers torturing prisoners at the Iraqi prison. Two years later, he’s still angry — and for good reason.

Though he managed to bring much-needed attention to the issue, the toler-ance toward torture in American war-fare has moved in the opposite direction from what he intended.

Since its introduction, the torture legislation has been altered repeatedly. Certain terms like “terrorist” and “tor-ture” have been broadened to encom-pass a wider range of people and allow a wider range of interrogation, and vice president Dick Cheney has proposed a controversial bill to exclude the CIA from certain torture laws. And now, the newest “compromise bill” (created in part by Sen. McCain) has been passed

by the Sen-ate. It fea-tures sev-eral other alterations, i n c l u d i n g a generally overlooked p r o v i s i o n by Presi-dent Bush to protect any govern-

ment official from being charged for human rights violations over the past 10 years. In other words, now that the bill has passed, the current administra-tion is not only permitted to engage in torture from this point on without facing charges, but it cannot be held responsible for any breaches of the Ge-neva Conventions that may have taken place since the Iraq War began.

Though the point remains that torture is virtually inexcusable in a de-mocracy like ours, this new provision adds an entirely different element to

the debate. After all, as a recent edito-rial in the Des Moines Register pointed out, this has little to do with the future of American affairs, and everything to do with clearing up the past.

While we were busy untangling the intricate points of the issue, the current administration found a way to casually excuse all previous violations of the Geneva Conventions before the upcoming election. By doing so, they have created irrefutable protection in case a new party takes control of the House and Senate and intends to ask questions.

Unfortunately, in addition to broad-ening the definition of torture for the future, this legislation bought the cur-rent administration forgiveness for pre-vious violations of standing codes.

In the meantime, we’ve learned (the hard way) the true meaning of “compromise:” what we thought was a relatively simple debate on the morality of torture was actually an opportunity for the administration’s self-protective agenda to be passed unnoticed.

When I mention I was born in Ne-pal, very few know what or where I’m talking about. Nepal is a small country, home to the Himalayas, sandwiched be-tween India and China. The breathtak-ing mountainous terrain and enormous waterfalls are all part of this South-Asian Third World country. Mike and Diane Heindl, my parents, worked as missionaries there for 11 years of their lives, about nine of my own. Mom worked as a doctor opening clinics and leprosy hospitals, while my dad worked as an engineer in hydropower plants. Growing up half way around the world, I came to realize how extremely fortunate we are in the United States; something that I honestly think most of us take for granted.

If you’re like me, you’re not constantly up to date with the news about other countries, because, hey, it’s not us, why should we care? Of course that opinion is absurd, but many of us do tend to skim over material unless it’s about the war in Iraq or some huge trauma in our own nation.

Imagine living off $1 a day. That’s it. I know I couldn’t do it; my daily Starbucks trips cost over triple that, but that is what most Nepalese spend in 24

hours. Home of the poor-est Asian c o u n t r y , N e p a l e s e people most c o m m o n l y work in agriculture b e c a u s e of the rain during the monsoons.

They work hard to produce two or three crops per year on ribbons of land terraced upon the side of a mountain. Literally none of the people have clear, safe water to consume. Water must be boiled or filtered to remove bacteria and giardia. Water isn’t even available in most mud homes. It must be carried in pots from rivers or community taps, up to a mile away. The children in most rural areas are poorly educated and malnourished. Over 50 percent of the children are underweight.

Maoists, for the past 10 years, have been raging their own civil war against the country’s Hindu gov-ernment. Many teenagers and kids have been kidnapped for sessions in

“Maoist education” and dragged off into the civil war effort, forced into killing or being killed. Rural villages have been turned into homes of old women and very young children, as others are kidnapped or flee to avoid terror. However, just this year, there is finally some hope for a sustained ceasefire and new, more representative government. The King has lost most of his power, so kids are going back to do-ing field work and house-hold chores all day, and the lucky ones are back in reopened schools. The challenges that still face the country are monumental, something similar to trying to summit Mt. Everest.

I think, sometimes, we forget to worry about the other half of the world; the half that doesn’t live in nice homes and own over two vehicles per fam-ily. We get so caught up in our own problems (grades, winning the football game, money for new jeans) that we completely forget there are millions that have it so much worse than us. Let’s take up the challenge to think outside our comfort zone. And just maybe, realizing the pain that so many suffer, will impact our hearts to work for change.

Could You Live Off a Dollar a Day?Junior recalls childhood memories in Nepal

Honor HeindlStaff Writer

Sheila MoussaviEditor-in-Chief

Newest torture provision pardons past violations of Geneva Conventions

of theWeek

Barry FirmanJunior Golfer

Tigersin Action

SPORTS

Football (4-1) beat Linn-Mar 38-0Next Up: Waterloo West 10/6(Away at 7:30 p.m.)

Men’s Cross Country placed 1st out of five at Metro MeetNext Up: MVC Super Meet 10/5(Home at 3:30 p.m.)

Women’s Cross Countryplaced 4th at Metro MeetNext Up: MVC Super Meet 10/5(Home at 3:30 p.m.)

Women’s SwimmingPlaced 2nd at Marcussen InviteNext Up: Iowa City High 10/10(Home at 6:00 p.m.)

Volleyball competed at CR Prairie tournamentplayed vs. Dubuque Hempstead last nightNext Up: Linn-Mar 10/10(Away at 5:30 p.m.)

Men’s Golfplaced 1st in Metro MeetNext Up: State Meet 10/6-10/7(Away at TBA)

HI-LINETigerThe

Caitlin Glade Photo

To whom do you attribute most of your golf skills?

“I just practiced a lot during the summer. Most of my mental game has come from my coach.”

How do you cope with the in-creased pressure of each hole when you are having a great round?

“I just think about every shot individually and try not to get ahead of myself.”

What’s the strongest part of your game?

“Driving.”

Will Tiger Woods catch Jack Nicklaus’s record?

“Yeah, because he can play for many years to come.”

Katy SchultSports Editor

After taking second place in the Marcussen Invite at home last Satur-day, the CFHS women’s swim team is building strengths for the last meets of the season.

The team is currently ranked sev-enth out of nearly 56 teams in the state, with most of the team consisting of first-year swimmers. Compared to last year’s state champions whose team consisted of a lot of veterans, this is a big change for the team.

Although there are five or six swim-mers and divers, the team is doing little by little to improve, with the state meet in mind.

The 18 swimmers and seven divers show dedication in their swimming as they have two practices a day. The team practices in the morning before school and in the evening, six days a week for the season.

Some of Cedar Fall top performers are seniors Jackie Itzen and Josie Itzen, junior Joanie Panec and sophomores Jessa Kukral and Beth Olson.

Jackie Itzen is an all around good swimmer; she has a time of 1:59.55 in the 200-yard freestyle. Josie Itzen is a good IM swimmer and holds a 2:14.90 in the 200 IM, which leaves her in the top three. Panec is in the top 10 women

in the 100-yard butterfly, with a time of 1:01.66. A CFHS diver that is leading the way for the team is Olson. Olson is in the top three for the 1-meter diving, with a score of 372.65.

“We are progressing each and every

meet. We always aim at the state meet. The other meets are building blocks to progress,” Coach Dick Marcussen said.

The team has improved since the beginning of the season and still

looks to improve more as the season progresses. With only three meets left before the regional and state meets, the team still has some time to improve times and scores, and move up in the team rankings.

Elle Frodsham Photo

After placing second at Marcussen Invite last Saturday,

Women’s swim team readies for last meets, postseason

Senior member of the Cedar Falls Women Swim team, Jackie Itzen talks to coach Dick Marcussen at the annual Marcussen Invite at home last Saturday. The Cedar Falls team finished second overall in the meet.

Athlete

Blanchard, women’s cross country win Metro Josh BettsSports Editor

The Tiger women’s cross country team looked for a good finish in the Metro Meet to propel them into the MVC Super Meet this week, and the home stretch of the season.

The good finish they needed, they got.

The Tigers placed three runners in the top five, and six in the top 10 en route to the metro championship last Thursday at Irv Warren Park in Wa-terloo.

“We all performed very well,” junior Katrina Bauer said. “We all en-joyed that meet.”

The field was paced by Tiger junior Leah Blanchard, who set a new metro meet record with a time of 14:36, fin-ishing 12 seconds ahead of Shannon

McKenna of NU.Other Tiger runners placing in the

top 25 were Kelsey Davis, placing third with a time of 15:04, Paige Her-som placing fourth with a time of 15:10, Summer Anderson placing sixth with a time of 15:49, Kristin Hammer placing seventh in a time of 16:13, Liz Bauer placing eighth with a time of 16:18 and Alissa Llewellyn placing fif-teenth in a time of 17:23. Cedar Falls won the meet with 21 points, Waterloo West was second with 60 points, NU High was third with 67 points and Co-lumbus-Don Bosco was fourth with 88 points.

The Tigers now prepare for the up-coming MVC Super Meet to be held at Birdsall Park tommorow at 3:30 p.m.

“It would mean a lot to us (to win Super Meet),” Bauer said. “I think we will all try very hard to do our best.”

Pictured from earlier in the season is junior Leah Blanchard leading sopho-more Paige Hersom. Blanchard set a new record in the Metro Meet at Irv Warren Park in Waterloo.

Alissa Llewellyn Photo

FEATURE HI LINETiger

-The

Adam ZindaStaff Writer

An eight-year-old boy fl opped on his bed, feet in the air, on page seven of

his Spiderman comic book is the pic-ture painted in our minds of the comic book readers of our fathers’ generation. Comic books have made a triumphant return. But this time, instead of eight-year-old boys going to the corner gas station to spend a quarter on a weekly comic, teenagers and adults are going to bookstores and paying around $25 for hardcover or paperback glorifi ed comic books, which are known as graphic novels.

Graphic novels are lengthy books with complex story lines, done in a comic book style. They combine the visual aspect of comic books with the thoroughness in plot of novels.

Several graphic novels, such as V for Vendetta and Sin City, have been turned into highly successful motion pictures.

There are currently 122 graphic novels in the CFHS library. The se-lection process for graphic novels is

usually based on student recommenda-tions and published reviews.

“We usually receive a magazine that has reviews in it, and we usually lean closer to what receives the higher reviews,” CFHS librarian Kelly Stern said.

One of the graphic novels in the CFHS library achieved a status of exceptional literary merit. Maus, a graphic novel about a Polish Jew’s struggle to survive the holocaust, received a prestigious Pulitzer Prize Special Award.

Graphic novels have also found their way into CFHS English class-rooms. One class, Modern Literature includes a graphic novel unit in its curriculum.

“Students who are already vi-sual learners enjoy the visual aspect of graphic novels, and students who are not visual learners get the chal-lenge of navigating through the pic-tures,” CFHS English teacher Jennifer Paulsen said.

Feature Editor Briana Mc-Geough contributed to this article

Adam ZindaAdam Zinda usually based on student recommenda-

Graphic Novels:

Kellie PetersenStaff Writer

For some people, art isn’t just a personal hobby; it is something they want to share with the community.

One of these people would be Robb Klassen, a CFHS senior. Al-though he has displayed his photog-raphy in many places throughout the community, such as Cup of Joe, the Lamppost and Metahome in Iowa City, the fi rst annual ARTapalooza festival was his fi rst time displaying his photography at an art festival.

“I like the format of art festivals and would even like to see more in Cedar Falls,” Klassen said.” It is very important to recognize local artists and I think that ARTapalooza had done a good job of achieving this.”

Besides its art festivals, Cedar Falls has a variety of other opportuni-ties for young and emerging artists to get their art out in the community.

Mary Huber, Director of the Hearst

Center for the Arts and the Cultural Division Manager for Cedar Falls, sug-gested that one of the fi rst steps aspir-ing artists take is to create a portfolio. A portfolio can be on a DVD or CD and should contain the artist’s name, year of birth, titles of the works included as well as the year they were completed, the dimensions of each piece and the media that each piece is in. There should be about eight-12 images, and the portfolio should also include a brief artist biography and an artist statement. An artist statement describes why an artist creates his or her work. Contact information like an e-mail address and phone number is essential.

When looking for places to display their work, Huber suggested that art-ists be creative. Places that have not displayed art before would probably be willing to do so. The artist should call the possible place and set up an inter-view. Huber said to be persistent—but not pushy, if a gallery is unwilling to display an artist’s work, they can prob-

ably not be persuaded to change their minds.

Huber recommends that a young or emerging artist try to fi nd a mentor in an established artist if possible.

“More input is always better. It’s kind of hard sometimes for artist’s to step back from their work,” Huber said.

Once a young artist is prepared to display his or her art, there are quite a few opportunities to do so in Cedar Falls. The Magic on Main exhibit, which takes place early each summer, is one of these opportunities. This ex-hibit features work by junior high- and high school-aged artists. The pieces for the show are chosen by art teachers and are displayed in the windows of down-town businesses. They are judged by area professionals, and cash prizes are provided by the sponsor, First National Bank. Community Mainstreet execu-tive director, Carry Darrah said that this is a good opportunity for students to share their talent and for people to get

to see their work. Darrah also said that Cedar Falls

is an accepting environment for art. This was something that senior Rachel Moser agreed with when she had her fashion show last year.

The “Developing Expressions” ex-hibit at the Hearst Center is yet another opportunity for students and young art-ists to have their art displayed. In this exhibit, teachers are also the ones who select which pieces will be displayed. Art from the elementary to senior high level is displayed.

There are usually about 300 pieces from public and parochial schools as well as home school entries.

Huber said that she would even want to have two “Developing Expres-sions” exhibits if it was not for their limited resources.

She said that it is very important to provide opportunities for young artists It is an adult’s responsibility to provide these opportunities.

There are not only opportunities

for student artists, however. The Iowa Arts Council provides grants to aspiring artists who want to dis-play their works but need fi nancial assistance for supplies or help in preparing the works for display. There may also be some non-profi t organizations or institutions who may be willing to fund artists.

Another opportunity would be the Hearst Centers “First 50” ex-hibit. This exhibit has been held for two years and is for artists 18 years or older. In the “First 50” exhibit, the fi rst 50 artists that show up with their art to be displayed will automatically have the opportunity to do so.

Whether or not you are still a student artist, Huber summed up the impact that art can have on a person. “I think that in Cedar Falls our students, especially at the se-nior high level, can take what they learned and move ahead with it into the future.”

Art festivals provide opportunities for young artists

Old-fashioned comics get a brand-new facelift

Recommended Graphic Novels:

1. Blankets by Craig Johnson

2. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

3. Ghost World by Daniel Clowes

4. Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware

5. Palestine by Joe Sacco

In one of her many successful attempts at replicating Roy Lichtenstein art-work, CFHS junior Alice Peck creates a comic book-styled painting.