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Tyler Hawks
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Written by Tyler Hawks, a senior at SHS. Hawks is not on the Ripples staff.
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Tuesday, 19 February 2008 23:38 |
Obama wins his ninth in a row! The movement is un-stop-a-ble. Everyone should be prepared for high fives in the halls tomorrow. Everyone! Even you, Republicans! I bet your guy won too!
That reminds me, I have this new theory. It occurred to me today when, in my own excitement for Obama's success, I Gchatted everyone who could be, and one of my friends responded with, "Yeah. Sure. Real Cool Tyler. Thing is, I'm really tired of politics." It struck me as odd--people don't get tired of politics. Not in Shorewood. It's our life blood. Then it hit me.
What I realized is that a lot of people who say they "don't care" are actually Republican, and just don't want admit it and risk a fight. The Democrats in Shorewood do have a tendency to be militant, to a degree. I know that I've done it. These self-proclaimed apathetics haven't been worn out by all of politics, just our politics. It makes sense.
But then I realized, it doesn't. Minorities shouldn't have to hide their thoughts and feelings just because they are minorities. Even if it is the kind of minority you get to choose to be. It's pretty ridiculous. It is really hypocritical, too, the way Democrats at our school ostracize the Republicans in our community. We're supposed to be the party of societal change for the better, right?
So here is my challenge, Shorewood: Every day, Give a Republican a hug. |
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Written by Tyler Hawks, a senior at SHS. Hawks is not on the Ripples staff.
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Tuesday, 19 February 2008 00:25 |
Please, Integrated Math teachers of Shorewood High School, hear my plea: end, once and for all, the use of that mind-numbing, focus-diluting, interest-destroying font, Comic Sans!
Yes, I understand that, at first glance, it's pleasing to look at. It is easy to think that it makes your syllabuses, warm-ups, and worksheets less intimidating. And you know what? For a while, it did. Maybe all of the first week of school, in freshman year.
That first class on that first day, Mr. Kenney's Integrated Math II, I received that first syllabus, and the entire page was covered in Comic Sans. I remember seeing it and smiling. I couldn't help but reflect on those good times I had in sixth grade, using Comic Sans to extend my essays, instead of expanding on my ideas and developing my argument. It was just that much bigger than Times New Roman. I smiled. It was a great way to start high school.
But it didn't last. Three years of facing the dreaded font daily, and associating it with the most awful of Shorewood Curricula, has completely killed its nostalgia, and now I am able to face it for what it is: a student killer.
Students see it now and think, "Why should I take this seriously?" Logic being, if the instructor thought that the information they wanted to pass on was important, they would use a font, at least, that suggested earnestness. Surely they wouldn't think that we would like the subject more just because the font is curvy? Think of all the classes that could have reached such great heights, had they not be weighed down by that font. The human cost of this atrocity may never be measured...
...that's a bit heavy. Regardless, Comic Sans needs to go. Please.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 19 February 2008 19:37 )
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Written by Tyler Hawks
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Tuesday, 11 December 2007 23:37 |
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President Bush once proclaimed that Iran's persistent attempts to develop nuclear weapons would lead to "World War III." Hey guys! Guess what? WWIII has been averted! Iran's safe! Woooooie!
We found out this week that Iran does not pose a nuclear threat to our world. They haven't, actually, had a military program designed to achieve nuclear weapons since at least 2003. According to a New York Times article, information presented by a collaboration of every intelligence agency that the United States has, says with "high confidence" that this program has been shut down since then. It is "moderately confident" that this hasn't changed. Sweet, huh? Finally, the light at the end of the tunnel! I can't wait to hear what the Bush Administration has to say about this!
“Look, Iran was dangerous, Iran is dangerous, and Iran will be dangerous, if they have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon.... What’s to say they couldn’t start another covert nuclear weapons program?” responded the flexible President Bush, as quoted by the same New York Times article. |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 19 February 2008 19:38 )
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Written by Tyler Hawks, a senior at SHS. Hawks is not on the Ripples staff.
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Thursday, 08 November 2007 00:16 |
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Word on the street is that the federal government has been given authority to establish “dragnet” interceptions of electronic media. Studs Terkel, an editorialist for the New York Times, contributed last week on the topic. He convinced me of one thing. The Bush administration, in all of its hopes and dreams of creating peace, harmony, and a cooperative global community, has not only destroyed the possibility of achieving these ideals abroad, but has done it at home by reopening our government to suspicion and corruption. This is the tipping point. We are entering into another Red Scare. McCarthyism is finding its life once again. By giving itself the authority to monitor our electronic communication, the Federal Government is re-establishing powers that it hasn’t had since the seventies. Has any good ever come of this? Absolutely not. Tens of thousands have had their lives defined and destroyed by McCarthyism in the sixties, or the first red scare of the twenties. Today’s threat is only different superficially. People are still being blacklisted, banned, and otherwise booted from society for reasons that have as much validity as McCarthy did. The Bush administration is failing again to understand what it means to be a democracy, even if we are fighting ‘dem terrorists. For as long as I have been alive, and anyone remotely close to my age, our lives have been free from government scrutiny, as defined by law. What does this all mean? It means that Big Brother is back. Be careful, you activists, about what you fight for. Social change is frowned upon now. Be careful, or you will be blacklisted. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/29/opinion/29terkel.html?_r=1&oref=slogin |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 19 February 2008 19:38 )
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Tyler Hawks
