December 2013

What’s Inside:• Staff and students give back (page 2)

• Fewer students eat healthier lunch (page 3)

Social media: friend or foe?By: Liz Auer and Larissa Root

• DIY gift ideas (page 4)

• The Incorrect Opinion with Sean Bull (page 10) • Correct Opinion with Wesley Korpela (page 11)

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Between texting, surfing the web, playing video games, listening to and sharing music and watching TV, to-day's teens are spending an average of more than seven and a half hours per day consuming media, according to The Washington Post. Studies have shown that 91% of teens engage in social networking, although many of them are not aware of the consequences of what they post. Online profiles are visible to almost anyone. This includes friends, teachers, future employers, parents and colleges who can all see what a teen is posting on a daily basis. Some say that the Internet is a good way to get involved in new things, communicate with friends and family, and even a way to promote something that individuals feel pas-sionate about. However, social me-dia can affect a person negatively. Sharing funny and even inappropri-ate things with friends on the Internet can get misconstrued and in some cases begin to completely control the lives of teens. Teens begin to feel as though they must know the latest information right away. Sometimes the things you post can get into the hands of someone that you wouldn't want to see it. Social media can be harmful and even dangerous. In many situations it can be used against a person. People don't post online with the intent of harming themselves, but in a lot of instances that’s exactly what they end up doing. Studies show that 24% of college admissions offices look at students’ Facebooks and another 20% Google students as a part of their admission process. There are con-

stant stories told about people losing their jobs because of the things they rant about on social media. Seventy percent of surveyed companies say that they have rejected potential

employees based on what they found on-line. “I don't think people fully realize this risk,” said English teacher Samantha Brenner. “In the moment it might seem like a good idea, but later it might not, when you have more life experience to say that wasn't a good idea.” Brenner and her family were re-cently looking for a nanny. They found two girls they really liked, but one girl’s schedule didn't work out as well as the other girl. “But I said let’s check out Twitter and Facebook for both of the girls be-cause I thought it would tell us a lot about them,” said Brenner. The first girl whose schedule didn't work as well for the family had a social media site that was filled with things

about sports, dance and school. The other girl who they were seconds away from hiring had a Twitter that was filled with cursing, pictures of herself with bottles of alcohol, talk about smoking weed, and making jokes about how a kid she was babysitting had cut his finger and she didn't notice. “She had things on there that were quite questionable and quite frankly, we wouldn't have noticed or seen these is-sues unless it was for her Twitter account,” said Brenner. “So I said, ‘It’s done, we are not hiring her. We ended up making it work with the other girl,’” said Brenner. No matter how “secure” one thinks his or her set-tings are, nothing is ever private on social media.

Freshmen Kylie Wagner and Holly Kaboord laugh at a status update.

News page 2

-To see if the candidate presents himself/herself in a professional manner-To assess if the candidate is a good fit for the company-To learn more about the candidate’s previous work ex-perience and qualifications-To ensure there are no “alarm bells”

Why do some employers search potential candidates online?

Students and staff give backBy: Liz Auer and Cassidy Nikolai In honor of the holidays, OHS students and staff are finding ways to give back to those in need. Student council organized a giving tree in an effort to help those in the commu-nity and school district who don't have the money for coats, gloves or to receive presents for the holidays. With the money donated, stu-dent council buys gifts for 15 students in need throughout the Oregon School District. Even a little can go a long way. “Knowing that you’re going out and buying gifts for people with the money that you raised for these kids, it makes you feel happy, like you’re making kids happy,” said sophomore An-nika Victorson, head of the giving tree. Students aren’t the only people in OHS giving back. Every year special education teacher Kay Bliefernicht coor-dinates “host a family” and the staff gets the option of donat-ing to help the family in need. The staff is given the ages and gender of the members of the family, and three or four gift ideas are provided. If the teacher or staff member chooses to, he or she can donate money, gifts, and gift cards. Bliefer-nicht has been working with adopt a family for a couple of years now. “It makes me feel good that we are helping people in need,” said Bliefernicht. “I am also very proud of the staff here, that we can provide all the gifts that are requested, plus some surprises.” There are many more ways to get involved during the holiday season. “Visit someone in a nursing home or a shut-in, help at a soup kitchen, collect donations for the food pantry,

hold the door open for someone with their arms full, offer to babysit so the parent/s can have stress-free afternoon of

shopping, support a giving tree with a small gift,” said Bliefernicht. “It needn't be costly. I'm a firm believer in random acts of kindness all year long. Hopefully the recipient will do the same for someone else.” Even the smallest gift can make a family’s holiday season the best they have had. “The holidays can get so materialistic, it drives me crazy. There are so many people who have so little,” said Bliefernicht “I just like making someone's day a little brighter. It

may give them hope that things will get better.”

Options for giving back: -Donate to a charitable organization United Way, unitedwaydanecounty.org Salvation Army, salvationarmydanecounty.org-Invite an elderly neighbor or someone who lives alone to join your celebration (ask your parents first!)-Deliver a meal to a family in need-Write a thoughtful note to someone special-Donate clothes you've outgrown -Donate food to a local charity or food bank River Food Pantry, 608-442-8815-Volunteer at a soup kitchen-Send a care package to a soldier-Foster a dog or cat-Adopt an endangered animal through a zoo-Shovel snow for a neighbor-Help pick up trash at a local park-Join a church or school group that does community service projects

Art by Loran Schultz.

News page 3

Fewer students eat healthier lunchBy: Sebastian Scheller Like all schools nationwide, Oregon High School has to meet new Federal Nutrition Guidelines this school year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) sets re-quirements for a healthier lunch. At the same time, OHS is seeing a drop in participation in the school lunch program. Even if the required calories for lunch haven’t changed, it is healthier since the nutrition requirements have. Now, students have to eat a double serving of vegetables and fruits, have skim or 1% milk and consume more whole-grain products. “The calories have pretty much stayed the same because they’ve cut back with white flour,” food service employee Patricia Hughes said. According to the U.S. Department of Ag-riculture, half the grains offered during the week must be whole grain. Next school year, all grains must meet the whole-grain criteria. In regards to the popular pizza offering, it may appear unhealthy, but it actually meets the guidelines since the crust is made out of whole grain flour, unlike what you might get at a restaurant. About 14% of students eating a full lunch meal are charged at the pizza line. According to Oregon School District Food Director Robyn Wood, those students having pizza would probably eat elsewhere without the pizza line offered. All the lunch lines have to follow U.S. Department of Agriculture rules which require schools to offer the five food components: meats/meat alternatives, grains, fruit, vegetables and milk. “[Students have to pick] three out of the five to make it a meal,” food service employee Joy DeWild said. And it appears that it can’t be any three items. “You have to have a vegetable or fruit on your tray,” Wood said. “If not, I can’t consider it a meal.” A student who doesn’t like to pick up the vegetable/fruit is eating a la carte, which is more expensive.

Only 54 percent of students decide to have school lunch provided by the district. “Over the past year, we noticed another two or three percent drop [in participation in school lunch] district-wide,” Wood said. “I have a suspicion that it’s because of the new requirements for students.” The USDA doesn’t only rule the amount of vegeta-bles students are to consume, but also the kind of vegetables. They are split into groups: ‘dark green,’ starchy,’ ‘red and orange,’ legumes and ‘others.’ This can get tricky: Even if peas are green, they are considered ‘starchy,’ for example.

“That’s why we’re having a lot more broccoli than we had last year,” Hughes said. Students who go out for lunch because they don’t like the vegetables miss a mostly fresh pre-pared meal. “A casserole, they make it from scratch,” Wood said. “Things like the chicken patties -- we can’t make those here,” Wood said. “Anything that has to be in a shape, we can’t do here.” In Madison and Verona schools, every-

thing is pre-made. “It’s all pre-made and it’s all already portioned in containers and that’s what they get,” Hughes said. The food then only gets reheated at the school. With continuously less students eating school lunch, this may also happen in Oregon one day, according to Hughes. “And if the students don’t come and buy the food we have, they will be getting [pre-made food],” DeWild said. “And if [the students] don’t come, then we can’t pay our bills.” However, students can still enjoy fresh food which now gets even healthier. “Our meals meet all the USDA requirements and of-fer a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables daily,” Wood said. “But it’s only healthy if our kids eat it.”

Essentials of a healthy lunch. Photo by Sebastian Scheller.

Easy DIY holiday gifts sure to impressBy: Skyln Tibbals

News page 4

Broke for the holidays? No problem! Follow these three simple and cheap DIY gift ideas for some homemade gifts for your friends and family.

Lemon hand scrubIngredients:-1 cup sugar -1/2 cup olive oil -5 tablespoons lemon juice -zest of lemon

Directions: -Mix all ingredients together-Pour into a glass jar and seal with a lid -Keep refrigerated

Ingredients:- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour- 1 1/2 cups sugar- 1 tsp baking soda- 1 tsp salt- 2 1/4 tsp cocoa powder- 1 1/2 cup canola oil- 1 cup buttermilk, room temp.- 2 large eggs, room temperature- 2 tbsp red food coloring- 1 tsp white distilled vinegar- 2 tsp vanilla extract

Red velvet cupcakes in a jar

Directions:-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. -In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla with a handheld electric mixer. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined. -Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins (2/3 filled).-Bake in oven for 20 to 22 minutes, turning the pans once halfway through. Test the cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness. -Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

Cream cheese frost-ing:- 1 pound cream cheese, softened- 2 sticks butter, softened- 2 tsps vanilla extract- 4 cups sifted pow-dered sugar

Directions:-Break off your twigs into roughly 2.5 inch pieces & set aside, making three piles. You’ll need at least twen-ty-five pieces in each pile.-Spray paint one pile of twigs gold, and one pile of twigs white, leaving one of your piles unpainted.

-Using your hot glue gun, run a small line of glue along one edge of each twig piece and adhere immediately to the side of the glass votive. Press firmly until secure. Repeat this step until you have covered the glass.-Light candles and enjoy!

For the cream cheese frosting: -In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Mix until light and fluffy.-Once cupcakes are cool, slice them in half. You will have a stack of tops and a stack of bottoms.-Place 1 bottom in each jar, and put a layer of frosting on the top of the cupcake.-Take the top of the cupcake and place on top of the layer of frost-ing and flatten the top part of the cupcake inside the jar. -Finish with more frosting on top.

Decorative twig candles What you’ll need:-glass votives-votive candles-twigs- available at crafts stores (I got mine from outside)-gold and white spray paint-hot glue gun and glue

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New faces appear at OHSBy: Liz Auer and Cassidy Nikolai

There are many new faces this year at Oregon High School. Ten new teachers joined the OHS staff at the beginning of

this year. Here are the remaining teachers; we look forward to helping everyone get to know these teachers a little better.

News page 5

Lemon hand scrubIngredients:-1 cup sugar -1/2 cup olive oil -5 tablespoons lemon juice -zest of lemon

Directions: -Mix all ingredients together-Pour into a glass jar and seal with a lid -Keep refrigerated

Whitney HansenSpanish teacher

Hansen graduated from UW-Madison. Teaching half time at both OHS and OMS is her first job since graduating.

What do you like so far about Oregon?Everyone is nice, friendly, and very personable, which makes for an awesome school community. Being my first year here, the staff has been very welcoming and share the positive attitudes the

students have also.

Do you have any hobbies?My two favorite hobbies are wakeboarding and waterskiing. I also love to play the drumset and the piano, running, dancing, and going to Zumba class!

What is your favorite thing about teaching?I have had the chance to meet some really cool people; both staff members and students. be-ing able to work with them every day is the best part of my job.

Lindsey ChamberlainArt teacher

Chamberlain received her art and designs teaching certification from Edgewood. She has taught art at a Montessori school in Mad-ison as well as in Deerfield.

What made you want to come to Oregon?I was attracted to Oregon’s repu-tation of innovative teaching practices.

James EnzlerMath teacher

Enzler graduated from Clarke University in Dubuque, IA. His first job was at Prudential Retire-ment, where he helped answer questions about retirement plans.

What made you want to come to Oregon? I'm from Dubuque, and my wife is from Milwaukee; I wanted to be halfway between our families.

What do you like so far about Oregon?I like being able to work on a team in the art department, as I was not able to do in my first teaching job.

Do you have any hobbies?I enjoy painting, watching 90’s movies, vintage shopping, and re-source sharing.

What is your favorite thing about teaching?I enjoy watching students discov-

er that they “can” be good at art, whether it is in drawing, painting, or sculpture.

Favorite TV show?My newest favorite show is New Girl, but I am totally engrossed with the “Walking Dead.”

What is a unique talent that you have?I am able to hear multiple conver-sations at once. I hear just about everything- despite wanting to or not.

What was your first impression of Oregon?I first got the impression that Ore-gon is very community involved, which I appreciate. It is pretty awesome to see the parents get involved in their children's edu-cation and activities as well as to see other members of the commu-nity at school events.

Favorite movie/TV show?My favorite TV show is “Pret-ty Little Liars;” I was hooked from the beginning. I am a fan of musicals, so it's a tie between “Newsies” and “Mamma Mia.”

What do you like so far about Oregon?I like all the technology being used here.

Do you have any hobbies?I like to play with my 1 year old French Bulldog, Gatsby. He's pretty "Great."

What is your favroite thing about teaching?My favorite thing about teaching is helping students see how easy

math really is!

What was your first impression about Oregon?My first impression was that it was a charming town.

What is a unique talent you have?I sing Opera (I'll be in the Madison Opera's “Dead Man Walking” in April at the Overture Center.)

Foreign friends arrive at OHSBy: Sebastian Scheller and Tori Swenson

News page 6

There are two more foreign exchange students from Germany and South Africa left to be introduced. Along with their experiences so far, they explain how they celebrate the holidays in their home countries.

Scan this code with your mobile phone to discover where our new exchange stu-dents come from!

(QR Codes is registered trade-mark of DENSO WAVE INCOR-PORATED.)

Photo by Tori Swenson.Who are you staying with?Erin and Peter McCombs

What made you want to come here?I wanted to meet new people, to experience another culture and how they live, and just for the experience

How is school different in your country?School in Germany is a lot hard-er; the system here is easier. In Germany the schedule is differ-ent every day and repeats every week. We cannot retake tests and we don’t have study hall to do our homework in. Our grades assignments are graded with 1-6 instead of letters.

Do you celebrate the holidays at home?Yes, I think it’s the same as here. But the only thing is that we open our gifts on Christmas Eve and not in the morning of Christmas day.

Sarah Muench (right)GermanyJunior

Thérèse Jordaan (left)South AfricaSenior

Who are you staying with?Aaron and Dawn Frank

What made you want to come here?I was taking a gap year because I didn't know what I wanted to study in college, so I thought coming to a different country would help me decide.

How is school different in your country?School is harder in South Afri-ca, but our days are not as long. Our schedule changes every 10 school days and we don't have retakes. Most schools in South Africa are not co-ed, and an A is 80% while an F is 40% and below. EVERY school in South Africa has a school uniform.

How do you like the food here?

Do you have any holiday tra-ditions?We have a tree, decorate the yard and house, we have a big, delicious meal, and we got to the Christmas fair or market and drink hot punch.

What do you do to prepare for the holidays?My mom makes the dinner and we put the gifts under the tree. We all make Christmas cookies then decorate the tree together. My neighborhood is very close so after we open the gifts, we all go to my aunt’s in the neighbor-hood and celebrate Christmas together.

Who gives gifts during the holidays in your country?We have Santa and we get gifts from family and friends. When we go to church my dad puts the gifts under the tree and says that Santa was here.

Portion sizes here suck. They’re too big and I can never finish a meal. I have a weak spot for cheese curds.

What is your favorite class?Co-teaching algebra 1 with Mrs. Hawley

Are you joining any sports teams here at OHS?I was on the softball team last spring

Do you have any holiday tra-ditions?We have Christmas trees, and some people put up lights around their house as a competi-tion

Who gives gifts during the holidays in your country?Father Christmas/Santa and family members.

• A man once escaped a police interrogation room by putting a coat over his handcuffs and walking out the door. He later mailed back the cuffs.

• Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space because passing gas in a spacesuit damages them.

• The first recorded car theft was in 1896 in Paris.

• In the 1920s pedestrian deaths were considered public tragedies with monuments built for killed children and their mothers given honorary emblems.

• Between the time it was discov-ered and the time it was unclassi-fied as a planet, Pluto did not even complete one revolution around the sun.

• Malawi has a patient to doctor ratio of 88,321 to 1 which translates to 173 doctors for a population of over 15 million people.

• Picasso drew a sketch on the back of every check he wrote to pay a bill, knowing that almost everyone would save the check without cash-ing it because the picture made the check worth more than face value.

• A married couple in the UK real-ized they were twins separated at birth.

Facts courtesy of weirdfacts.com.

The SkinnyBy: Miranda Mellen

Warning: Silence of the Hams not so silentBy: Larissa Root

News page 7

Is bowling up your alley? Bowling is the number one participation sport in America, and now it’s a club at OHS. The team practices Mondays and Tuesdays from 4:30-6:00 at Ten Pin Alley in Fitchburg. For more information, talk to the advis-ers of the bowling team: girls’ coach Linda Schinke, boys’ coach Paul Thompson, or Mary Conklin. You don’t need a ball or shoes, but there is a fee to participate.

Seniors Luke Davis, Sarah Grace Judge and Wesley Korpela combined their talents to form theater troup Silence of the Hams. This group was started when the three of them discovered that they enjoy comedy and improvisation. “We think of ourselves as generally good improv actors and wanted to see if others were as well,” said Korpela. The group held tryouts in early December and chose the troupe Dec. 6. Pictured below, clockwise from top left: sophomore Meagan Sharkus and junior Kyle Barron pretend they’re at a bus stop, senior Claire Reimer freez-es in a scene and Judge, Davis and Kor-pela judge tryout auditions.

Art by Loran Schultz.

Opinion page 8

“Philomena” deliversBy: Mack Tubridy

Paw Print Staff

456 N. Perry ParkwayOregon, WI 53575

Phone: 608-835-4418 OHSPawPrint@gmail.com

Editorial Board: Casey Bonno

Sean BullBridget CorcoranMiranda Mellen

Ian SchultzLoran SchultzMack Tubridy

Photography:Liz AuerSean Bull

Cassidy NikolaiSebastian Scheller

Tori SwensonSkyln Tibbals

Art:Loran Schultz

Advisor: Ms. Abby Riese

Paw Print is a public forum for student ex-pression -- the editorial board makes con-tent decisions. Views or opinions printed in Paw Print do not represent the views of OHS administration, staff, or the student body as a whole.

The ‘based on true events’ film “Philomena” follows an Irish woman’s search for her long lost son with the help of recently laid-off journalist Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan). Over the course of the film, flashbacks of Philomena Lee (Judi Dench) as a teenaged girl retell the tragedy she endured. After giving birth out of wed-lock, an act not looked highly upon by the Catholic Church, Philomena was forced by her parents to seek help from nuns at a local convent. To repay for the assistance received, Philo-mena works at the convent for several years whilst her son receives care from the nuns. Unbeknownst to Philo-mena, the children at the convent are sold into adoption to American couples. Eventually, the same happens to her son. Fifty years have passed and Philomena still mourns the loss of her son. In search for a story that might re-vive his career, Martin Sixsmith, a dry, self-serving journalist, hears Philomena Lee’s story and makes further inquiries. After a preliminary interview, Philom-ena and Martin embark on a hunt to find the whereabouts of Philomena’s son and soon discover the aforementioned fact that the children were adopted by Amer-icans. Having nowhere else to go but the United States, the two truth-seekers travel across the pond in their search. The film’s interests lie in de-picting the sort of cruel influence of the

Catholic Church had on teenage girls in the past. It also follows the evolution of Martin as a person, starting out as smug journalist who cares only for his work to a man who develops an emotional at-tachment to the story about which he’s

writing. Both Dench and Coogan execute their roles quite well, delivering a sprinkling of witty humor, most of which uninten-tionally comes from Philom-ena, making the doleful story all the more bearable. The two certainly don’t push the lim-its of their acting abilities, but there really isn’t a need to in

this picture. “Philomena” by no means pro-vides anything outstandingly new to its cinematic genre other than the engross-ingly unique story. Even so, it isn’t nec-essarily the breed of film that warrants a revolutionary attribute. “Philomena” could have easily been more entertain-ing and grandiose, but the sense that filmmakers wanted to avoid an overdone film is evident. The picture achieves ev-erything a film of its stature should. Any-thing more would have been a hindrance to its success and impact. “Philomena” sets out to deliv-er an intriguing story of one mother’s search to find the son she never knew and it accomplishes it without superflu-ous details, gags or truth stretching. Rating: 2 ½ stars out of 4

Drama, 94 min, PG-13

Photo Contest Winners page 9

Big Buck photo contest winners

announced

Best of show: Amanda Blackwood (left)

Trophy shot: Nate Beauchaine

Orange crush shot: Amanda Blackwood

Location shot: Claudia Steiner

Humor shot: Jenna Keiser (goat with sticks)

Drama, 94 min, PG-13

Opinion page 10

The Incorrect Opinion with Sean BullBy: Sean BullFear not, good people: The dogs will save you! You can always tell when the holiday season has be-gun. Maybe you notice the array of colored lights adorning people’s houses. Maybe you see the clean, white snow, yet untarnished by the coming deluge of road salt and feel the crisp winter breeze stinging your face. Or maybe you simply hear the collective swearing of all your fellow students as they drive their crappy front wheel drive cars into roadside ditches. Yes, the roads are slippery this time of year. This wouldn’t be a prob-lem if we all converted our cars into sleighs like our ancestors did. They just swapped their carriage wheels for skis during the winter and never gave it a second thought. Obviously the sleigh system is still reliable, or else Christmas carols would tell of Santa’s big red U-Haul Truck. (As if!) Clearly, though, we need a better way to commute if our roads insist on being ice clogged for 4 months every year. Sleighs probably won’t work, as most of us don’t possess the necessary horses to pull them, but there is a more attainable option: Dogsleds Yes, you read that right, dogsleds are the future of winter transportation. For those of you who are not aware, dog-sledding is the Alaskan/Canadian version of NASCAR, in which a team of six dogs, usually not Shih Tzus, pulls one man and his sled across miles of frozen wasteland. You can sometimes find it on ESPN 5, it usually comes on after Ven-ezuelan sumo wrestling. If dogs can complete a several day

journey across Canada, they can certainly drag your reluc-tant butt to school every morning. Dogsleds have many advantages over cars, actually. Dog food costs much less per gallon than gasoline, and dogs don’t produce many greenhouse gases, both of which cut down on environmental impact. Also, you can’t get in trou-

ble for texting while driving a dogsled because technically you’re not driving at all. And, unlike your car, parts of your dogs can’t suddenly fall off on your way to school. Really, I’m surprised that we haven’t made this change already. Of course, some of you readers who enjoy raining on other people’s pa-rades (I am aware that people don’t use that expres-sion anymore. The Mardi Gras parade got rained on in 1963, and the whole thing washed right into the Gulf of Mexico. The phrase has been more or less banned ever since.) may have noticed a small problem: Where are we going to put the dogs once we reach school? We’ll put them in the

parking lot, that’s what it’s for! All we have to do is fence in the parking lot, and we’re done, problem solved. So if you’re committed to this idea like I am, or maybe you just want to spread holiday cheer to more than one species, go to the Dane County Humane Society. Be-lieve it or not, they sell dogs there for cheap who are also in desperate need of a good home! You can take a couple home, play with them, even have them pull a sled or two. Go ahead and do it, because even if they don’t end up saving you from the hassle of slippery roads, you definitely ended up saving them.

November was National Novel Writing MonthBy: Bridget Corcoran November: a whole month dedicated to shutting yourself in your room with snacks to write late into the night and quite pos-sibly lose your sanity just a bit. During National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), writers are encouraged to write a 50,000+ word novel, or nearly 1,700 words a day. Teens can set their own word goal if they wish to make the task more manageable. Everyone who writes and submits a novel of 50,000 words or more can receive a few free printed copies of their book. OHS has a few NaNoWriMo writers walking its halls. One student, who wished to remain anonymous, participated for the first time this November. The sophomore wrote about a girl who struggles with depression and other mental illnesses.

“For me, it was not that hard to meet my word count goal. Some days I wrote 1,700 words and the day before I finished it I

wrote 7700 words,” she said. “It was an incredible feeling to hit 50K, something that I never thought that I could accomplish.” 2012 graduate Cassandra King says being an au-thor in high school is harder than it sounds. “It was hard to balance my writing with school and other activities because all I wanted to do was write,” she said. “I never wanted to do anything else!”

King, who has published two books before the age of 20, has a message for all the writers at OHS. “Never give up!” she says. “I never thought I would be published so young, or at all. Practice helps, and if you want to improve your writing you have to READ!”

Twelve years after the idea’s inception, my dog Moose helps me work out the

flaws (one being that I need a taller sled).

Art by Loran Schultz.

AT&T’s The Correct Opinion with Wesley Korpela

By: Wesley KorpelaA case for R-rated Pixar films

Opinion page 11

Before I begin the article, I would like to acknowledge the elephant in the room. Yes, I do have an AT&T adver-tisement in the middle of my column and no, it has no relation to the topic of my article. See, economic times are hard and Ms. Riese and I thought it would be a smart idea to start capi-

talizing on my article to try and make a profit. Trust me, it won’t take away from the article itself. I’m not a sellout. (Not like Verizon.) What I have noticed recently is the growing competition that Pixar has with other animation studios. We have DreamWorks Ani-mation with movies like “Antz” and “Shrek.” There’s Illumination Enter-tainment with the popular movie “De-spicable Me” and its cleverly named sequel, “Despicable Me 2.” Of course, there’s still the racist and sexist Walt Disney Animation Studios and its’ sister studio DisneyToon Studios which has most recently produced the movies “Planes” and “Frozen.” I have always been biased towards Pixar films most-ly because of the fact that even though Pixar is now in a crowded animation competition, it still creates decent films. It’s a lot like AT&T with U.S. Cellular, Verizon and Sprint with the only difference being that AT&T has and always will blow its competitors out of the water! However, what I’ve seen from the competition Pixar finds itself in is the slow decline in the studio’s story quality. This is why I pro-pose a new and better direction for Pixar to head. Quentin Tarantino has created some of the best ac-tion films of the last two decades. These movies include “Pulp Fiction,” “Kill Bill” Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, and last year’s “Django Unchained.” These movies not only provide lots of action and a great story but they also possess a lot of grit. If there’s one thing that Quentin Tarantino has proved, it’s that grit sells. So how can Pixar learn from the grit? Do Pixar films have grit? Does grit have a role to play in animation? How many questions can I ask about grit? Why do I keep writing about grit? Do I really expect Pixar films to be as gritty as Quentin Tarantino

films? To answer that last question, no. I don’t expect Pixar films to be as gritty as Quentin Tarantino films, but I expect Pixar to start heading in that direction. Trust me when I say expecting anything out of anyone is a pretty big deal for me which is why when I say that I expect AT&T to always have me covered, people know I’m telling the truth. I know for a fact that if Pixar films were to embrace

the realm of Quentin Tarantino, Pixar would once again stand apart from all other animation studios. So when I heard that Pixar is going to be making “Finding Dory,” a sequel to “Finding Nemo,” I immediately started penning the script myself but in the style of Tarantino. A brief synopsis consists of Marlin and Dory getting married only to have the sting ray/Nemo’s teacher from the

previous film kidnap Dory and poison Nemo. With every-thing he ever loved gone, Marlin loses all sense of morals and values on his epic quest to rescue his wife. There are a lot of fight scenes, mayhem, romance, and even Samuel L. Jackson stars as the ill-tempered Poseidon, god of the sea. It will receive an R rating at best. Anyways, I mailed it down to Disney World and started an online petition to build support for it. If Pixar is going to keep reinventing the animated film franchise, it’s going to have to rethink how it approach-es the stories it produces. Will Pixar head in the direction of R-rated movies and use my screenplay of “Finding Dory”? I don’t know. Immediately dismissing the idea, however, is like saying that Sprint will one day beat out AT&T as the most reliable and user friendly phone service. In other words, come ask me the question when I win Best Screenplay at the Academy Awards.

Obligatory advertisement. AT&T rocks. And stuff...

By: Sean Bull

December Horoscopes page 12

Aries (March 21- April 19): When that close friend of yours is devoured by woodchucks, you will ques-tion whether life is fair. The real question you should ask yourself is, of course, “How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck was not being sud-denly homicidal?”

Taurus (April 20- May 20): This month’s alignment of Saturn indicates that you were only reading this because of “AT&T’s The Correct Opinion with Wesley Korpe-la” and you accidentally flipped to the horoscopes. Ac-tually, this applies to all horoscopes every month.

Gemini (May 21- June 20): This month is a rare month in which it is socially acceptable to write in Comic Sans font. Make sure you use this rare occurrence to your advantage by typing all your schoolwork, tweets, and even texts in Comic Sans. (The Paw Print is not responsible for friends you lose because of your font choice. Because this is a horoscope, it is the constella-tions’ fault.)

Cancer (June 21- July 22): All signs point to the fact that you will accomplish something you didn’t think was possible. That’s right, you will eat your ENTIRE left thumb while remaining asleep. Don’t worry, the dream that triggers this behavior will be totally worth it!

Leo (July 23-August 22): When your chemistry teacher asks you to cook meth, it is NOT a business opportu-nity, nor is it an opportunity to be like your favorite TV characters. Your teacher is really filming Dateline NBC’s new special, “To Catch a Cooker.” While it doesn’t have as catchy of a title as “To Catch a Preda-tor,” you still can go to jail, so decline the offer.

Virgo (August 23-September 22): To make a long story short, the previous owner of your house had a pregnant female tarantula, which he didn’t take with him when he moved out. Did you know they can have up to 2,000 babies at a time?!? You might as well roll this paper up now to prepare for their invasion.

Libra (September 23-October 22): You know that one guy who is always yelling his new conspiracy theories at you? Fate is smiling upon you, you won’t have to listen to him for much longer. The government has been listening to him, and will abduct him for treason next week.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21): Don’t think of the “stupid carjacker” or the “stupid frostbite.” Stay opti-mistic and think of it as a much needed chance to walk and get fresh air.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21): The constel-lations point to the fact that you just lost The Game. Yes, Again. (For those who don’t know, the object of The Game is to forget the game entirely. If you think about the game, you must shout “I lost the game!” as loud as is appropriate. This will cause everyone within earshot who is playing the game to lose it, causing a chain reaction of losses. Once this avalanche has been completed, you must wait 15 minutes to lose again. If anyone asks what you are doing, you must re-peat this message to them. Once you hear about The Game, you are playing and cannot quit. You cannot win The Game, you can only hope to forget it forever... good luck!)

Capricorn (December 22-January 19): Although you will not be at school, winter break will still be a time of learning for you. In particular, you will discover new ways to eat holiday cookies when no one is looking.

Aquarius (January 20-February 18): You will find a winning lottery ticket, good for 250,000 Syrian Pounds! For some reason, the Syrian gas station clerk won’t be very concerned with helping you redeem it.

Pisces (February 19-March 20): You will have an easy time picking up languages this month. Soon after, you will throw the languages down in disgust after you learn what foreigners have been saying about you.

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