Volume 5, Issue 5

May 2013

FIND US ONLINE! Go to

http://myhsj.org/whatupwestern

Adriana Walker & Torry Yu

Editors-in-Chief

Abbey Knapp, Shelby Lonnerstater, and Kyle Schulz Managing Editors

Katie Zelenak Layout & Design Editor

Brianna Hamilton News Editors

Kyle Schulz Sports Editors

Jacob Curlee & Rhiannon Sommers Feature Editors

Brianna Hamilton Photo Editor

Adriana Walker Sales Manager

Amy Knapp Advisor

Staff Writers: Zoina Andoni, Shataie Davis, Sara Hermiz, Raymond Howard, Jacob Kahn, Christina Karagozian, Maddie Klein, Allie Lowe, Meryll Miller, Alyssa Mitchell, Samantha Nafso, Shelby Turn-quist, Audrey Wessel Photographers: Alexis Vercellino, Emily Zelenak

Walled Lake Western High School | 600 Beck Road, Walled Lake, MI 48390 | 248-956-4400

By: Kyle Schulz

Managing Editor

On Monday, April 15, at

approximately 2:49 p.m. EDT,

two bombs were detonated near

the finish line of the annual Bos-

ton Marathon in Boston, MA. The

second blast came 12 seconds af-

ter the first explosion, leaving the

scene in chaos. In total, the bomb-

ing took the lives of three people

and injured 282 more, including a

number of serious “war-like inju-

ries.” Victims to the senseless

tragedy were Lu Lingzi, a 23-year

-old female graduate student at

Boston University who had been

watching the race with friends

when the bombs detonated;

Krystle Campbell, a 29-year-old

dining room manager at a restau-

rant in Arlington, MA; and Martin

Richard, an 8-year-old boy who

was watching his father run in the

race. Numerous tributes were held

for the victims, and a memorial

with messages of hope and sup-

port for the victims was erected

on Boylston Street near the Mara-

thon finish line area.

The search for the perpe-

trators began almost immediately

after the explosions. The investi-

gation was led by the FBI, with

help from various other federal

agencies, including the ATF, CIA,

NCTC, and DEA. A break in the

case came on April 18, when the

FBI released photographs of two

individuals they believed to be

associated with the bombing to

the public. The photographs later

turned out to be those of Tamer-

lan and Dzhokar Tsarnaev, Che-

chen brothers. Later that night, the

brothers began a series of events

that would eventually lead to their

capture and the death of Tamer-

lan. It all began with the alleged

murder of Sean Collier, an MIT

police officer. After the murder,

the two allegedly carjacked an

SUV and took the owner hostage.

The owner of the car stated that

while he being held hostage, the

suspects

see Shootings on page 3.

In This Issue:

WLW Student Gets Award Page 5

Caribou Coffee Closing Page 2

School Privatization Page 3

Prom Recap Page 7

WLW Annual Art Show Page 8

Tragedy Strikes Boston During Marathon

By: Torry Yu

Editor-in-Chief

The curriculum at Walled Lake Western

is quite vigorous with several honors, advance-

ment placement (AP), and now International

Baccalaureate (IB) courses that it offers to the

students. Recently, The Washington Post re-

leased its list of America’s Most Challenging

High School. They rank their schools on the list

through an index formula with a simple ration.

That ration can be found be adding the total of

AP & IB scores that was administered, divided

by the total number of graduating seniors. The

Washington Post states that a ratio of 1.000

would mean that there was the same number of

tests administered as graduating seniors and if

the school’s ratio was that or better than a 1.000,

the school made the list.

A total of 29 high schools made

the list in the state, with The Utica Acad-

emy for International Studies, located in

Sterling Heights, Michigan, being the first

with their ratio being 7.113. Troy, Black

River, Bloomfield Hills Andover, and

Grosse Pointe South High Schools

rounded out the top 5.

In the district, Walled Lake Northern

came in 13th, while Walled Lake Central fol-

lowed in 16th place. At Western, our ratio is

1.348 which actually dropped from 1.453 in

2012. Compared to other high schools in the

country, Western is ranked 1,644 out of the

1,964 listed. Only 9% of the nation’s 22,000 to-

tal schools were eligible.

The Washington Post credits Western’s

offering of 15 AP courses and 16 IB courses that

are offered. This rank compiles data from the

previous school year so while we may be ranked

24th this year, our rank is expected to go up in

the following years as this is the first year that

students can take IB tests in the district.

WLW Named 24th Most Challenging in MI

Photo courtesy of Walled Lake Consolidated Schools

Photo (left) courtesy of ESPN & (above) RT

The finish line of the Boston Marathon as one of the bombs went off (above). Tamerlan, 26, was killed during a police standoff while his brother, Dzhokhar, 19, is in custody.

News

2

Kevin Ware Suffers Leg Injury By: Christina Karagozian

Staff Writer

On Sunday, March

31st, Louisville guard

Kevin Ware suffered a se-

vere leg injury during the

Elite Eight game. Ware

attempted to block a three-point shot

from Duke’s Tyler Thornton when his leg

buckled beneath him. This resulted in a

compound leg fracture.

The gruesome

scene sent many into

shock. Many of Ware’s

teammates collapsed on

the floor weeping while

many in the stands passed

out. As Ware laid on the

floor with his bone stick-

ing out of his leg, he

yelled to his team, “Win the game!”

The game resumed while Ware was

transported to a nearby hospital. A Louis-

ville spokesman later reported that Ware

was resting comfortably in the hospital and

his pain was under control.

Louisville ended up defeating Duke

with a final score of 85-63. Louisville

made it to the finals against The University

of Michigan and won against the Wolver-

ines with a final score of 82-76, making

them the national champions. Kevin Ware

was able to cut down the championship net

from the hoop and keep it.

By: Alyssa Mitchell

Staff Writer

Caribou Coffee, a

Minnesota based company,

will be closing 80 locations

and convert 88 locations

into Peet’s Coffee and Tea

within the next 18 months.

On Sunday, April 14th, the

80 stores will be closing

due to underperformance.

After this, 88 other Caribou

locations will convert into Peet’s, Caribou

will be critically endangered or may be-

come extinct in

the states of

Ohio, Michigan,

Pennsylvania,

Maryland, Vir-

ginia, Georgia,

Illinois, eastern

Wisconsin and

W a s h i n g t o n .

Caribou will

only have 468

locations left in

M i n n e s o t a ,

North and South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas,

Wisconsin, North Carolina, Denver, Colo-

rado, and 10 international markets. Caribou

had revenue of $262 million in 2009, com-

peting with starbucks $13.3 billion in

2012.

Any customers that have a gift card

will still be able to use them by going onto

cariboucoffee.com, the company said on

Twitter. Many Caribou Coffee fans were

disappointed and reacted to the closings

with anger. Some people reacted on twit-

ter with tweets like “Saddest news of the

day: Caribou Coffee announced it is clos-

ing all stores in Michigan” and “Caribou

Coffee is closing most of their stores!?!?!

My heart just broke in two.”

Caribou Coffee Closing MI Locations

Nelson Mandela Hospitalized Again By: Samantha Nafso

Staff Writer

The 94-year-old Nelson Mandela

was rushed to the hospital on March 27

because of pneumonia. After ten days of

being hospitalized, Mandela was released

and is being taken care of at his home. This

is the third time in five months that Man-

dela has been in the hospital. His wife

stated that he is doing better and is being

taken care of very well

at home. Being re-

leased on April 6, it

will be a very long

recovery. The people

in South Africa said

that they are starting to

admit to themselves

that their leader is now

getting old. Doctors were stating that they

had to drain a build-up of fluid in his

lungs. Mandela’s

pneumonia is a recur-

ring problem for him.

His wife and doctor

do say he is doing

much better now.

Everyone is hoping

for a successful re-

covery and a health-

ier life for Mandela.

By: Alyssa Mitchell

Staff Writer

Imagine just getting out of bed at

8:00 am for a normal day when all of a

sudden your walls and ceilings starts to

topple down. You are forced outside

wrapped in a blanket and trying to find

safety. This is what happened to China's

Sichuan province citizens on Saturday

when a 6.6 magnitude earthquake struck.

The earthquake left more than 600 injured

and 192 dead. Many rescue workers set up

a place outside of Sichuan province at a

hospital where medical personnel treated

the wounded. Families are in need of food

and water and are living out of makeshift

shelters. Others do not have any shelter

and they cannot go back into their houses

because it is

just too dan-

gerous. The

Sichuan Red

Cross is

struggling to

find water

for the in-

jured because

the water

supply from

Ya’an is run-

ning out,

which means

it could take days for more water. But the

one thing that rescuers have on their mind

is trying to find the survivors within a 72

hour window gap because that is when

they believe they will find the most survi-

vors alive. There are still

32 people missing as of

reports on Monday. It

was also reported that

China sent over 18,000

soldiers along with heli-

copters and planes, to the

disaster zone for rescue

missions. Li Keqiang, the

Chinese Primer who ar-

rived in Ya’an on Satur-

day afternoon, ordered

that saving lives was their

top priority. Many social

media users that were caught in the disaster

said that water and electricity had been cut

off.

Large Earthquake Strikes China

Photo courtesy of Novi Patch

Rumor has been spreading through the media that the Caribou Coffee in Novi will remain open.

Photo courtesy of Zap2It

Photo courtesy of The Guardian

Photo courtesy of Sacbee

Many Chinese families line up for basic necessities following the earthquake.

3

By: Torry Yu

Editor-in-Chief

In the past ten years, the Walled Lake Con-

solidated Schools has saved over $37 million from

reductions in every department, privatization of ser-

vices, closed buildings, negotiated contracts, and

restructured programs, according to a message from

Superintendent Ken Gutman. With an additional

$10 million in cuts this upcoming school year, dis-

trict administrators are looking to make more cuts

to have a balanced budget for the next fiscal year.

District administrators have opened the

talks for the schools’ transportation services and

privatization of the department is not out of the

question. A bid was opened by the district for a pri-

vate contractor to operate the transportation depart-

ment in February. In 2010, the district considered

the privatization of the department and chose Dur-

ham School Services. The Walled Lake Transporta-

tion Association agreed on a $5 million cut over a

three-year period, the loss of six holiday and vaca-

tion pay, and paying 20 percent more in insurance

premiums and not covering dental and vision plans,

so the bid was cancelled. At that same time, custo-

dial services were privatized to EnviroClean, and

their contract was recently renewed, with a 2 per-

cent pay raise.

Ann Ridge, President of the Walled Lake

Transportation Association, told the Oakland Press

that drivers are not full-time employees and the dis-

trict will not let them despite the hours worked. She

adds that the average salary is $18,000 and some

only make $11,000 a year. Ridge does feel that they

have a decent relationship with district administra-

tors and she is open to negotiate, but it has not hap-

pened yet. Many district drivers are becoming in-

creasingly concerned about the loss of a job in the

next school year. Administrators took 30 days to

review the bids and chose Michigan-based Dean

Transportation. District officials gave employees an

additional 10 days to come up with over $1 million

in concessions or face termination of their employ-

ment. A decision from the district will be made by

May 2 at the regular school board meeting.

Ridge is proud that the dis-

trict randomly drug and alcohol tests,

receive background checks, and

gives back to their community in nu-

merous ways. Transportation workers take part an-

nually in “Fill That Bus,” which is a canned food

drive where community members would drop off

nonperishable food items and load it onto a school

bus.

Transportation is not the only district de-

partment to go through cuts. The 900 teachers were

asked to give up $2.6 million but settled for $2 mil-

lion. $5 million was taken by the general fund this

year and a $3 million budget deficit is expected.

In the district, many parents of children

who are of special needs are concerned that their

child may be driven by an inexperienced driver and

those who are not skilled working with the disabled.

Special needs students who live in the district are

provided transportation to their school, some even

as far as Madison Heights, with a paraprofessional

to assist.

At the May 2 Board of Education meeting,

a peaceful protest was held along Maple Road, in

front of the Educational Services Building. Police

met the protestors for add security. As the meeting

began, the crowd was filled with emotions and

some words were thrown out for the board members

and district officials as they entered the board room.

Several drivers, paraprofessionals, parents,

and Walled Lake Schools residents spoke to the

board during public comment. They all spoke about

their hatred about the privatization plans, some

threatening to not vote for future district bond pro-

posals and reelection of board members if the mat-

ter is approved. Many carried signs in the meeting

as well.

Ridge was one who was very emotional

during the meeting and was escorted out by the po-

lice for going over her allotted three minutes during

the audience comment session. Kellie Dean, the

Owner of Dean Transportation, spoke to the board

following that. Board president, Peggy Casagrande,

requested everyone be cleared from the board room

when the audience continued to chant during the

meeting.

At the end of the meeting, the board voted

unanimously to approve the resolution, adding that

the district will still own the buses and Dean wants

to employ the same drivers once again.

Walled Lake to Privatize Bus Services

Deadly Explosion Scares Texas By: Shataie Davis

Staff Writer

A massive explosion at a

fertilizer plant in West, Texas has

caused severe damages as well as

casualties and multiple injuries.

The explosion caused great dam-

age to homes and businesses sur-

rounding the plant. Officials fear

there may be between 5 to 15

deaths resulting from the horrific

explosion.

The explosion occurred

just before 8 P.M on Wednesday

April 17, 2013. Officials have

struggled to tally the number of

deaths while searching for the

number of survivors. So far it has

been reported that more than 160

people have been injured and

taken to the hospital. It has also

been reported that three to four

firefighters have been missing or

unaccounted for.

According to the Depart-

ment of Homeland Security, fed-

eral and state authorities took

steps to secure the area by shut-

ting down the local rail freight

service and nearby utili-

ties as well as restricting

flights over the area.

While the cause of

the explosion is unknown

officials are treating it as

a crime scene. Sgt. Wil-

liam Patrick Swanton of

the nearby Waco Police

D e p a r t m e n t s a y s ,

"Nothing at this point in-

dicates we have had

criminal activity, but we

are not ruling that out”.

The main investigation will be

conducted by ATF (Bureau of Al-

cohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Ex-

plosives).

In addition to officials within the

town of West, Texas President

Obama has been notified and his

administration is closely monitor-

ing through FEMA (Federal

E m e r g e n c y M a n a g e m e n t

Agency).

Witnesses’ reports identified

heavy fire or severe damage to a

middle school, homes and an

apartment complex near the plant,

as well as to a nursing home,

where more than 130 residents

were evacuated, according to

Mayor Tommy Muska.

Officials also report that

buildings in a radius of about five

blocks around the plant -- includ-

ing at least 60 more homes -- were

heavily damaged by the blast.

Several officials and those of

higher authority such as President

Obama are working to contain the

damage done by the blast and find

any remaining victims.

Photo courtesy of Houston Culturemap

Shootings bragged to him about both the bombings

and the murder of the police officer. The

suspects forced the hostage to withdraw

$800 from ATMs before he managed to

escape when they stopped at a gas station

for snacks. The man ran across the street

to another gas station to call 911, leaving

his phone in the stolen SUV. The phone

allowed law enforcement to track the SUV

for the rest of the night.

Later that night, when police fi-

nally located the stolen SUV with Dzhokar

and the Honda Civic Tamerlan was driv-

ing, a massive shootout began. Hundreds

of shots were fired between the groups,

and the brothers tossed homemade explo-

sives. At one point, the police had Tamer-

lan apprehended, until Dzhokar ran him

over in the SUV, fatally injuring him, in

an attempt to escape. Dzhokar then aban-

doned the stolen SUV and attempted to

escape on foot.

On the morning of April 19, a mas-

sive manhunt began to find the last

brother. The hunt was focused in the city

of Watertown, a Boston suburb, but the

entire city of Boston was affected, with

most workplaces, schools, and public tran-

sit all locked down. Dzhokar was finally in

the evening after a Watertown resident

noticed the cover of his boat was loose,

and looked inside to find a bloody body.

The man, still alive but badly injured, was

later confirmed to be Dzhokar.

Photos taken by Torry Yu

Transportation employees held up a ban-ner that listed the bid costs of Dean

Transportation and how the district is cheaper.

4

Spring Breakers By: Emily Zelenak

Staff Writer

The spring break season influenced

many movies this season, one of these was

the movie Spring Breakers. With a cast

full of many popular faces including James

Franco, Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens,

and Ashley Benson, you would expect

nothing less than an excellent movie. I

would have to disagree, the movie really

had no plot or substance and you have to

be a fairly mature person to be able to han-

dle all of the content in the movie. There

are multiple scenes including nudity, drug

use, underage drinking and other crazy

things that do happen on some spring

breaks, However,

these things should

not be glorified to

the younger view-

ers. The movie

did receive an R

rating, but there

are always the

young children

that do get in, es-

pecially to see

their favorite Dis-

ney Channel stars.

It could have actu-

ally been a good movie, and some may say

it was, but I did not see that. Selena Go-

mez was in the movie for the first half hour

and never came

back, one of the

girls ended up get-

ting shot, and

James Franco’s

character was dark

and mysterious

with a humorous

aspect. For the

most part, I would

not recommend

the movie. It left

me with a blank

look on my face

and if there is something else you are dy-

ing to see, go see it instead.

By: Shataie Davis

Staff Writer

The FBI have arrested a

man identified as Paul Kevin

Curtis of Corinth, Mississippi

who may be responsible for

sending letters to President

Obama and government offices,

including that of Sen. Roger

Wicker, R-Miss., tainted with the

poison known as ricin.

The suspect, Paul Kevin

Curtis, is an aspiring novelist as well as an

Elvis impersonator. Paul Curtis believed

that he was the target of

a wide-ranging govern-

ment conspiracy. He is

being charged with

knowingly using mail to

threaten the life of the

president as well as

threatening to injure oth-

ers. He insists that he did

not commit this crime

and did not enter a plea

to the charges. Paul Cur-

tis is suspected of being

Bi-Polar and very delusional according to

close family and friends.

The letters believed to be sent by

Curtis, to Obama and Wicker was post-

marked on April 8th in Memphis, right be-

fore Monday’s Boston Marathon bomb-

ings. They were intercepted by a federal

screening facility with the words, “I am

KC and I approve this message,” according

to an FBI affidavit. According to the affi-

davit the letters included the words, “No

one wanted to listen to me before. There is

still ‘Missing Pieces.’ Maybe I have your

attention now even if that means someone

must die. This must stop,”.

Man Arrested in Ricin Scare

By: Alyssa Mitchell

Staff Writer

After receiving a 911 call from a

student at the University of Central Flor-

ida, police moved quickly to prevent a

mass murder. James Oliver Seevakuma-

ran, a 30 year old attending the university,

planned an attack at his dorm which started

with pointing a gun at his roommates head

in his bathroom. The roommate hid from

James in the closet and then proceeded to

call the campus police. While the room-

mate was calling the police, James pulled

the fire alarm to try to get all of the stu-

dents in the dorms out in the open. The

police officers responded within three min-

utes. Before the police could get to James,

he shot himself in the head. James was

heavily armed with two guns, hundreds of

rounds of ammunition and a backpack

filled with explosives. In his room, police

also found four explosive devices, a .45-

caliber rifle, .22-caliber rifle and another

couple rounds of ammunition. Police also

found many notes that carefully laid out,

Seevakumaran plans. A student from the

university explained that he heard a fire

alarm go off, but thought it was just a

scheduled event. Over 500 students were

evacuated from the building just after mid-

night. Many of the students were unaware

of what could have happened if James car-

ried out his plan.

James’ roommate told police that James

was sometimes anti-social, but was never

violent. According to the university

spokesman, Grant Heston, James was a

business major at the university who never

had any disciplinary. Police could not fig-

ure out any motive behind his planning,

but they did find out that James was in the

process of being removed from the dorm

because he was not enrolled for the current

semester.

A 911 Call That Saved Lives

By: Alyssa Mitchell

Staff Writer

Finding a name for a

future royal baby is no easy job.

Bookmarkers of Britain have

made suggestions to Prince Wil-

liam and the Duchess of Cam-

bridge including the favorite name Alexan-

dra. The royal baby is expected to be born

in July. The baby who will officially be

known as the Duke and Duchess of Cam-

bridge will be the first baby of Prince Wil-

liam and his wife

Kate. Even though

the sex of the baby

is not known yet,

many believe that

the baby will be a

girl. The Duchess

of Cambridge had a

slip up in March when she told the well-

wisher, who had given the baby a gift,

“Thank you, I’ll take this for my d…” be-

fore she stopped herself. Elizabeth, Diana,

and Victoria all remain favorite names for

the baby from the punters. The name Al-

exandra would come from Queen Eliza-

beth’s Great Grandmother who married

Edward VII. "Royal names tend to be

based on previous monarchs, relatives and

godparents to ensure continuity," said his-

torian Carolyn Harris. "[The names] are

not generally something out of the blue. It

will be something that fits into the royal

lineage, names used by previous kings and

queens," she added.

It’s a Gir…whoops!

Photo courtesy of The Star

Curis hugs his lawyer, Christi McCoy, after being released from

prison.

Photo courtesy of The Associated Press

Feature

By: Allie Lowe

Staff Writer

Lizzie Oderkirk won the silver

award for a short story that she wrote

called “Lily.” The story “Lily” is about a

self- sufficient 14 year old girl with an

abusive father who recently adopted a dog

who had also been abused. Can Lily stand

up to her abusive father and find love, and

friendship? Lizzie wrote this short story

because there was a writing contest in the

maginze was called “family dog”. Lizzie

thought that since she already had a short

story written, it would be a good idea to

enter it in the scholastic contest also.

Lizzie and her boyfriend made up the basic

plot of the story together

and then she solidified it

into a short story. Their

inspiration for the piece

was that they both are fans

of dogs and are independ-

ent people. Lizzie said she

was hopeful, but she was-

n’t used to winning con-

sents. “Rarely am I suc-

cessful, although writing

contests seem to be work-

ing out better for me than

typical scholarship con-

tests,” she said.

Lizzie writes a lot of

poems, mostly about innocent

romances or mythological

creatures. She also has several

short stories mostly about

fantasy or teenage realistic

fiction. Her other finished

short story is a historical fic-

tion about an independent

young girl who travels to

American colonies and finds

her love. “A writer’s story

never ends until it is pub-

lished,” Lizzie says.

5

Congratulations, Lizzie!

Taylor Swift’s Red Tour

Summer Concerts By: Christina Karagozian

Staff Writer

For many students, the highlight of their summer is

going to concerts. There are many concert halls near Detroit

such as The Palace, DTE Energy, Detroit City Theatre, The

Fillmore, The Fox Theatre, Harpos Concert Theater, Ford

Field, Meadow Brook Hall, and Joe Louis Arena. Some of

the well-known artists coming into town this summer that

you don’t want to miss out on are:

Taylor Swift & Ed Sheeran (5/4 @ Ford Field)

Tim McGraw (5/19 @ DTE)

Fallout Boy (5/22 @ The Fillmore)

Ke$ha (6/7 @ The Palace)

Toby Keith (6/16 @ DTE)

Fun. & Tegan and Sara (7/16 @ Meadow Brook)

Justin Bieber (7/28 @ Joe Louis)

Justin Timberlake & Jay-Z (8/6 @ Ford Field)

Another well known event that will be taking place this sum-

mer is the annual 99.5 WYCD Downtown Hoedown. The

hoedown will take place May 31st through June 2nd at Co-

merica Park. Get your tickets at www.ticketmaster.com to-

day!

By: Meryll Miller

Staff Writer

Taylor Swift kicked off her 2013

Red Tour on March 13 in Omaha, Ne-

braska at the Centurylink Center. This is

Swift’s third headlining tour for her

fourth album, Red. The tour includes 67

shows throughout the United States and

Canada, with a second leg to be an-

nounced about going overseas. Taylor

has six opening acts accompanying her:

Ed Sheeran, Austin Mahone, Casey James,

Brett Eldredge, Florida Georgia Line, and

Joel Crouse. Swift performs songs from

her newest album to her very first debut

album. The set list of the Red Tour in-

cludes, "State of Grace,” "Holy Ground,”

"Red," and "You Belong with Me." During

each show, Taylor sets aside about ten

minutes on her B stage to perform a sur-

prise acoustic version of songs from her

past albums that her fans have been talking

about online that they haven’t heard

her play live in awhile. This is the first

time Taylor has done something like

this and it has been a huge hit. At

every show, the crowd has gone wild

during Taylor’s acoustic performance;

it’s a treat for the fans because they

have no idea what old song Taylor has

picked to play. Along with the surprise

acoustic performances, Taylor also has

a surprise artist come to each show and

do a duet with her, from Nelly to

Train, to sing one of their songs with

her. Taylor has been on the Red Tour for

just a little over a month and it will con-

tinue through September. Her Detroit show

is scheduled for May 4 at Ford Field.

Real Life Barbie By: Audrey Wessel

Staff Writer

Ever wonder what it would be like

to see Barbie in real life? Well, now you

can. Her name is Valeria Lukyanova, a 21

year old Ukrainian model who became

known for her hourglass figure similar to

that of a Barbie doll. She is the epitome of

an actual Barbie; an incredibly small waist, big

breasts and wide eyes. In an interview by ABC News, Lukyanova denies

having any cosmetic surgery saying, “There are plenty of clips on the inter-

net showing what I really look like. And some people spread rumors about

me and retouch my photos to hurt me.”

However she does admit to having a breast enhancement. Other

than that, she says, she perfects her look through makeup via 10 minute

YouTube tutorials. As for her diet, she lives on a mostly liquid diet and ac-

knowledges mountain climbing to maintain her physique. Not everyone is

pleased though. People think she’s only doing this to get attention. In re-

sponse, Lukyanova says, “I don’t take [the critics] too seriously. It’s what

success is like. I’m happy I seem unreal to them. It means I’m doing a good

job.”

Lukyanova is overall happy with her appearance telling the Sun,

“This pleases me because a doll is an image of an ideal woman, nobody

would mind to be compared with a doll.” What Valeria Lukyanova is up to

next is unknown, but we are sure she will continue with her modeling.

Photo taken by Brianna Hamilton

Photo courtesy of UMW Blog

Photo courtesy of Razorgator

Sports & Opinion

6

Jason Collins Comes Out By: Maddie Klein

Staff Writer

Jason Collins has played in

the NBA for 12 years, being moved

from team to team, and going to

back to back finals with the Nets.

Even though he has been in the

NBA for so long, he wasn’t really

known like Kobe, Lebron, or Kevin

Durant, but everyone seems to

know him now. On April 29th an

article was published in Sports Illus-

trated reporting that Jason Collins is

gay, with comments from Collins

himself. This makes Collins the first

active openly gay player in any of

the four major sports (basketball, base-

ball, football, and hockey). According to

ABC news, since coming out about his

sexuality Collins said “A huge weight

has been lifted. I’ve already been out to

my family and my friends, but just to,

you know, sort

of rip the

Band-Aid off

and come out

on my own

terms.” Since

the article

came out,

Collins has

also received a

copious

amount of

support, in-

cluding a per-

sonal phone

call from

Barack

Obama. Through all of this publicity,

Collins says all he wants to do is be a

role model for someone else like Martina

Navratilova was to him when he was

younger, a famous tennis player and now

coach who also came out as a homosex-

Feature Briefs

Twinkies are Back! By: Sara Hermiz & Zoina Andoni Staff Writers

Good news for Twinkie lovers; Twinkies

will be heading back to stores in July of 2013. Hostess Brands has broadcasted plans to open a bakery in Columbus and which will provide oppor-tunity for more jobs over the next few years. The company will produce a variety of iconic products, one of which is Twinkies. The investment in the Columbus baking competence is being backed by Apollo Global Management and Metropoulos & Co., will bring Hostess assets out of ruin. Hostess is going to be hiring for production, distribution, maintenance engineering and other positions online and at a job fair on April 27th. Officials de-clared that the company will be investing around $20 million into the facility and society.

A Hairy Article By: Emily Zelenak & Alexis Verecellino Staff Writers

Anne Hathaway has starred in many amazing movies. She is pretty and a very success-ful woman. Many were shocked when she cut off her long, luscious locks for a short pixie cut. This haircut, no matter the opinion, has been deemed the most influential haircut of all time. Her pixie cut beat out Jennifer Anniston’s loose curls in Along Came Polly, and Audrey Hepburn's bold up do in Charade, which finished third. The close-cropped cut is definitely popular among celebs, like Miley Cyrus and Ginnifer Goodwin among the gutsy Hol-lywood gals who have opted for the low-maintenance ‘do. Many fans thought the cut she chose for Les Miserables was a wig, but indeed it was her new, stylish, ‘do.

Wolf Release Week By: Meryll Miller

Staff Writer

Rapper Tyler, The

Creator, had a successful

first week of sales with his

album, Wolf. It sold over 90

thousand copies in its first

week, putting Tyler’s album

at number 3, behind Justin Timberlake

and The Band Perry’s albums, also re-

leased on April 2. Wolf got above aver-

age reviews, generally positive. Music

critique for Consequence of Sound gave

Tyler 3 and a half stars out of 5. David

Jeffries of Allmusic said of Wolf, “It’s a

fun album for fanatics, but the willing-

ness to shock feels too comfortable at

this point, so those

who found it tiresome

before will likely find

it devastating here.”

About a week after

Wolf was released

Tyler announced over

Twitter that there is a

deluxe to Wolf and

for only a limited time offer you will get

a pair of custom socks designed by Tyler

himself and along with calendars and

stickers. Wolf marked a whole new chap-

ter for Tyler having his highest albums

sales yet out of his 3 and gaining a bigger

fan base.

Photo courtesy of The Washington Post

Photo courtesy of Zimbio

An Editorial By: Jacob Kahn

Contributing Writer

My first ambition in life was to be-

come a corned beef sandwich. Before I was

going to be Buzz Lightyear, a policeman,

or a doctornaut (doctor+astronaut, go big

or go home), I was going to be a sandwich.

Plenty of young children have preposterous

aspirations like these which are dismissed

as childhood fantasies. I believe these

goals are worthy of more significance than

we afford them. Children do not actually

want to be a gas-station guy or a McDon-

ald’s employee for the merits of the job,

rather gas stations or McDonald’s make

them happy, and they want to be happy.

Fast forward about a decade and a half

later, at 17, if you asked me what I want to

be, I would not know how to respond. I

have thought about being a doctor, a politi-

cian, a writer, and the list goes on. Frankly

the reason I am at a loss here is that I do

not want to be any of these things. The

idea of sticking to one career for the rest of

my life, even a job that I love, that monog-

amy is not for me. Even in a career with

novel situations each day, the monotony of

performing the same job for my entire

adult life is repulsive. Moreover, the notion

of having to choose one path for myself is

daunting in and of itself.

Thinking practically, I will proba-

bly grow up to have a family, a couple of

average kids, work in a profession, and

then die. That is not enough for me, I will

not be satisfied with that life. The fact is

our job is not always our vocation, and

while our capitalistic society demands it, I

am disheartened by the vast importance

our jobs carry, by the impact they have on

our lives.

I do not want to “be a doctor”, or

“be a writer”. I may want to doctor, and I

may want to write, but I want to be a per-

son, a friend, husband, parent, party-goer,

gambler, activist, and so much more. I re-

fuse to devote my life to being one thing.

Truly my aspirations for the future

remain almost unchanged all these years

later; I just want to relax on the lake, bask

in the sun, revel in friendship, I want to be

happy. I want to be a corned beef sand-

wich.

I Am Rye

Like

us on F

aceb

ook at

“W

hat

Up W

este

rn”

for updat

es!

On April 27th, 2013, Walled Lake Western held their senior prom. This grand event was held at the highly desired Roostertail, located along the riverfront in Downtown De-troit. The attendees arrived between 6:30-7:20 during which everyone showed up looking stunning, riding in their amazing vehicles which ranged from Porsche Panameras all the way down to Suburbans and Escalades. Once inside, the theme “Night in Vegas” shined clearly through the décor. With dim lighting and a great view of the Detroit River, there was a great mood for everyone. A three course meal was served, following the arrival of staff and students. The highlight of the entire night was the dance floor; which was a perfect scene for high school seniors having fun amongst their fellow peers. By: Raymond Howard

Special thank you to everyone who provided their prom photos for the making of this page!

Photos taken by Derek Zonca and Torry Yu.

The Visual Arts Department at Walled Lake Western High School presents their annual art show. Students’ work will be on display in the media center at Western from May 1 to 3. The artwork ranges from paintings, drawings, graphics, ceramics, photography, and jewelry. Information about the district’s annual art show is available below. Anyone interested in purchasing work, should contact Leslie Starler (lesliestarler@wlcsd.org) or Jane Culling (janeculling@wlcsd.org).