FEBRUARY 25, 2011 VOLUME IV ISSUE 6 DEXTER HIGH SCHOOL 2200 N. PARKER ROAD DEXTER, MI 48130illustration by Claire Berger, photos by Charlotte Becker

Sophomore Carolyn Whitaker and junior Mitch Rayer recently celebrated their one-year anniversary on Feb. 1.

They began talking for the first time on Facebook.

“I’ve never had any classes with her so without Facebook it would’ve been harder to meet,” Rayer said. “From the very be-ginning one of the things I no-ticed was our sense of humor together. You become attracted someone when you can just have fun together and laugh at each other’s jokes.”

Relationship therapist Burdick agrees and said it is important to support one an-other throughout a relationship, in both humorous and serious situations in order to feel secure and comfortable together.

“We need to know our part-ner has our back no matter what and that what we need from them and how we feel is of the utmost importance,” he said.

And not only do they have a supportive relationship, both said pa-rental approval is not an issue for them.

They say that both of their parents enjoy and support their rela-tionship. “She’s really talkative, so my parents think she’s really easy to carry a conversation with,” Rayer said.

Whitaker confirmed this statement. “I’m actually pretty close with his parents. Both of our parents have nicknames for us, C and Mitchy,” Whitaker said.

Even though graduation is a year away for Rayer, it is something they both recognize and discuss together. Whitaker said, “I know this is kind of early, but he’s looking to go to college in-state and maybe we’ll go on college visits together.”

Two thousand and nine graduate Logan Powell and senior Kenzie Goffee met at the high school auditions for the musical “Anything Goes.”

“There was this one girl who didn’t have a dance partner and (choir director Julie) Basset asked me to fill in,” Powell said. They began dating on June 25, 2008, while Goffee was entering her sophomore year and Powell his senior. The two-year gap never posed any issue until graduation when college came into the picture.

“Being at U of M, I’m a little farther away, but we still see each other every weekend and talk every day,” Powell said.

According to relationship therapist Glenn Burdick, “Almost anything is possible in this day and age. Mostly it depends on the shared vision a couple has of their life together, now and in the future.”

Next year Goffee will be attend Hope College, and the couple will be further apart than ever before. “The fact that we have progressively gotten further away from each other helps to keep us together,” Powell said.

According to Burdick, “Somehow a couple needs to establish emotional intimacy, a strong sense of connection and trust that even when apart they can trust their emotional safety to

each other.” Goffee and Powell say they have successfully been able to establish this within their

relationship through fluent and constant conversation.“Being someone’s friend before their boyfriend or girlfriend is really important,”

Powell said. “We really do know each other better than anyone else does.”

Goffee and Powell said they plan to continue their relationship despite the miles that will separate them in the upcoming year.

“She’s always said she thinks thing happen for a reason, and so, here

we are,” Powell said.When one or the other is feeling frustrated,

ignored, unimportant to the other, without blaming or getting too defensive with each others, they talk it out.

“It’s not like if were mad at each other we stop talking because not talking can’t solve your problems,” Powell said.

Valentine’s Day may be over, but The Squall felt it was our duty to try to bring two people together in the form of a blind date. The subjects of the blind date were Junior Lynn Metz and Senior Joao Victor Brilhante. They met for a lunch date at the Cottage Inn in downtown Dexter on a lovely Sunday afternoon.

They had never spoken before, but knew who each other were. “I had never met him before, but I had heard of him,” Metz said.

“We have the same lunch, but I never talk to her,” Brilhante said.

When first walking into Cottage Inn, Metz was relieved to see her date. “I thought, ‘Oh good, it’s John Victor. I heard he was a nice kid,” Metz said. During the date Metz learned many things about her date. She learned he was from Brazil and really likes his host family.

Brilhante learned that Metz was on the cross country team and had never traveled outside of the United States before.

The pair learned that they had something in common when they discovered that Brilhante is on the swim team and Metz used to swim when she was younger.

Both considered the date a positive experience but for Brilhante, the concept of a blind date was a new one. “We don’t do that it Brazil,” he said. For him, that was the only awkward part because he had never d o n e anything like that before.

F o r both, the

best part about the date was meeting someone new. “(The best part) was meeting her because she was very nice,” Brilhante said. A second date hasn’t happened, but both said it’s a possibility.

2 the spreadFriday, February 25, 2011 3the spread

Friday, February 25, 2011

Long-term couples offer love advice Taylor Garciastaff writerBlind Date:

Signs you’re in a bad relationship• Yourpartnercriticizesyou.• He/sheignoresyouinpublic.• Youhavetoarguewithyourpartnertogetthemtospend

timewithyou.• Yourfriendsandfamilydon’tlikeyourpartner.• Yourpartnerispossessiveandcontrolling;theymighteven

trytochangeyou.• Yourpartnerhurtsyouinanywayphysicallyoremotionally.

Signs you’re in the right relationship• Yourfriendsandfamilylikeyourpartner.• Youcantellyourpartneranything.• Yourpartnerbringsoutthebestinyou.• Youcanbeanywhere,doinganythingwithyourpartnerand

beperfectlyhappy.• Eachofyoucanstillhangoutwithyourfriends.• Yourpartnerencouragesyoutodosomethingyouliketodo.

Source:CounselorGerryHolmesfor“Signsyou’reinabadrelationship”and“Signsyou’reintherightrelationship”;LisaCromptonfor“FunDateIdeas”

Fun Date Ideas

• Buildfortsoutoffurnitureandblanketsandwagewarwithpaperairplanes.

• Throwsnowballsoffthetopofparkingstructures.

• Gotothezooandmakefacesatthemonkeys.

• Rentamovieyou’veneverseenbefore.Setonmuteandimprovisedialogue.

• Bakeamonstercookie.

• Gosomewherenewto-getherandusedifferentnamesandmakeupastoryforyourpast.Talktoasmanypeopleasyoucan.

Chowing down: SeniorJoaoVictorBrilhanteandjuniorLynnMetzenjoyamealatCottageInn.ThetwoweresetuponablinddatecourtesyofTheSquall.

PhotobyNicoleMinzey

Nicole Minzeyentertainment editor

Two years and eight months ago seniors Paige Garwood and Max Waldrup went to see the movie “What Happens in Vegas” for their first date. About a month later they began dating.

“He told me he wanted to wait so long because he wanted to be friends first,” Garwood said.

Before they began officially dating, they got to know each other better by hanging out and texting.

And Burdick said being friends first is a good way to start. “People define friendship in different ways. I would say genuine interest, respect, empathy for each other, and a shared idea of who they are to each other and how they want their time together to be is what’s most important,” he said.

Garwood and Waldrup see each other every day at school and on the weekends they do homework together. “I try to balance my time so I’m never only hanging out with max or only hanging out with my friends,” Garwood said.

“Were really comfortable with each other so we can talk about anything, and that’s why I think we work so well,” Garwood said.

Looking ahead to next year Garwood and Waldrup said they are not necessarily trying to go to the same college.

“We both want what’s best for each other,” Garwood said. “He wants me to go to the college I want to, and I want the same for him.”

Seniors Becca Pape and Anthony Chisolm met in English teacher Andrew Parker’s class and began dating about a month after. “I’m pretty sure I threw something at the back of her head in class, probably paper,” Chisolm said. This was the start of a nine-month relationship.

“I actually met his whole entire family the day he asked me out. We went out on his boat,” Pape said. Having been friends before they began their relationship has allowed them to feel completely comfortable with each other even though they often head-butt when they kiss

“We were about to kiss and she head-butt me; it’s happened multiple times,” said Chisolm. “We know how to be goofy together and have fun.”

However, according to Pape, the story is slightly altered. “He head-butts me all the time; he’ll probably say that I do it, but it’s him. He lies about it all the time.”

This kind of joking is important in a relationship Burdick said as is being able to relax around one another and be yourself. “So is high-energy fun times that aren’t heavy and are times of play or mutual enjoyment, a sense of being great friends or companions, is super important,” he said.

“We get along really well with each other; we always have fun, and we don’t fight at all,” Pape said. Good for them according to Burdick. He said, “I think having their hearts open to each other, which allows for the deep feeling of connection, is very important.”

Joao Victor Brilhante and Lynn Metz

IllustrationbyMarneLittleandClaireBerger

• Powell and Goffee

• Chisolm and Pape • Rayer and Whitaker

• Waldrup and Garwood

14 uPageFriday, February 25, 2011

Sequoyah Burke-Combs staff writer

5X5Ten. Give or take 50.

Will this be in the newspaper?

Around 30. I honestly don’t know. It’s so much.

You know what? I don’t have to answer to you ... Know what I sayin’? ...

You’re re-ally grinding my gears.

P--- off. They need to get good.

F--- off. How many pots have you smoken?

They go half and half.

Depends on how hot the girl is.

LAN parties? Melissa is my only love.

You know what? I respect women! I love women! I respect them so much that I completely stay away from them!

I’m a pro. Just watch me drop those tacticals.

No. No doubt. I already am. I’m going to.

Didn’t know about that. I’m interested though.

I don’t need a club to be good. I was born like this.

Love it. They are a group of brave men fighting for a good cause.

No, you know what? It’s a personal choice, and I don’t think it’s weird at all.

How many hours a week do you play video games?

What do you say to people who say World of Warcraft or Call of Duty suck?

Girlfriends or video games and why?

What’s your opinion on the video game club?

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with junior Michael McGonigle

Hi Michael. How are you today?

I feel like there’s a ball of sunshine ready to burst out of me.

That’s great. Let’s get down to business. Ninja, monkey or pirate. Which one would you rather be and why?

Ninkeyrate; it’s a monkey ninja dressed as a pirate. Its only weakness is love.

Do you have any relation to Professor McGonigle?

Yes, she is my mother.

What’s your patronus?

A Ninkeyrate.

“Never Say Never”: Movie of the century?

Movie of a generation.

How do you stay so unbelievably classy?

It’s actually quite difficult. I’m classy 100 percent of the time, with subcategories being business classy 28 percent, super-classy 13 percent, sexy-classy 18 percent, and seductive-classy 9 percent. Basically it’s a 24-hour job to be classy.

What would you say to the hundreds of freshmen who aspire to be exactly like Michael McGonigle?

Well, first off, let me make it clear that no one will ever reach my levels of greatness. That being said, I would tell freshmen not to get discouraged when they discover it’s literally impossible to keep up Michael McGonigle’s amazing physique while still being so incredibly witty and well-liked by everyone.

If you were a cheerleader, who would you want your basketball buddy to be?

Head coach Randy Swoverland. Easily. No one grades my math tests with such mezmorizing grace.

&QA

There are many mysteries in life. From the Lochness Monster to English teacher Andrew Park-er finding a woman who would marry him, there are just certain things in this universe that leave the world scratching it ’s head, searching for answers. While there are millions of these mysteries around the world,

there is one mystery that stands above all the rest in my mind: fake rednecks. The fake redneck is the kid who lives in a large, wealthy subdivi-sion, but since his mom and dad bought him a pick-up truck, now walks the halls in his Carhart and camo, talking about his favorite kind of chewing tobacco, thinking about how he’s beginning to find his sister more attractive. This is a phenomenon I have never been able to find an expla-nation for. It baffles me why one would purposefully transform themselves to blend in with the rednecks of Dexter. Now there are plenty of legiti-mate homegrown rednecks, and I have no problem with them or their attempts to talk to me about tractors and the south’s inevita-ble rise. I realize that’s just who

they are, and I accept that. But I do have a problem with the kid who has never stepped a foot on farm land who tries explaining to me how NASCAR is developing a brand new engine that runs on nothing but beer and confederate flags. It puzzles me. I don’t under-stand why anyone would strive to become a kid whose I.Q. appears to be equivalent to the inches his truck is l ifted. So please, redneck imposters, stop. Take advantage of what you were blessed with. An upper to middle class life in Dexter. You are not fooling anyone. We stil l remember you fresh-man year, wearing polos and playing sports, before you de-cided that Alan Jackson was the equivalent of God and the idea of developing lip cancer was appeal-ing.

Fake rednecks: an epidemic

Marshall KellenbergeruPage editor

Do you see yourself ever playing video games professionally?