INTERVIEWSThe Leader: Kenny Richards � � � � � � � � � � � � � �8-9The Rookie: Chris Hartley � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 10-11The Cheerleader: Jesse McGee � � � � � � � � � � � 12The Punk: Trevor Stone � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 13The Innovator: Larry Fleckenstein � � � � � � � � � � 14The Professor: Erick Eschker � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 15The Graduate: Francis Zierer � � � � � � � � � � � � � 16ARTICLESSchool Photo Goofs � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 17Wrestling � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 18Sports Schedule � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 19Christmas Break � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 20iPhones for Christmas � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 21Cleanup Crew � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 22AHS Live � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 23Oscar Predictions � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �24-25Orchestra � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 27Holiday Baking � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 29End of the World � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 30Steve Sheets on 2012 � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 31Goodbye Grams � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 32

Box BriefsEnd of the World: December 21Christmas Break: December 22 - January 6Martin Luther King, Jr� Day: January 21THRIVE Day: January 22Finals: January 23 - January 25

Want to advertise or buy a mail sub-scription to the Pepperbox? Email Business Manager Hawken Ritter at ahs�pepperbox@gmail�com�

Make sure to us on Facebook at www�facebook�com/AHSPepper-box

In The Box

Geena DamianErrol Funk

Steve SheetsKaitlin TuckerPatrick PaytonSam WinterJamie MaherDayna NaishJulia Sloan

Jonathan Dedekan

Editorial Staff ReportersHawken Ritter - Business Manager

Ben McCreath - Media EditorSam Freed - Media EditorGrace Lovell - Art DirectorTami Conrad - Photo Editor

Aiyana Allen-Caldwell - Chief Photographer

Gabe Schneider - Graphic DesignerShea Lignitz - Copy EditorDay Robins - Online Editor

Forrest Lewis - Editor-in-ChiefElaine Cunha - Editor-in-Chief

Molly Salamunovich - Managing EditorAnna Nordquist - News Editor

Gillen Martin - Junior News EditorPiper Bazard - Junior News Editor

Sage Fanucchi-Funes - Feature EditorLauren McCoy - Sports EditorCalvin Ryan - Opinion Editor

Dakota Goodman - A&E Editor

AdvisorDisclaimerQuestions regarding editorial content of the Pepperbox should be directed toward its

Editors� Opinions expressed in this paper are not necessarily those of Arcata High School� Danielle Lehman

The Pepperbox would like to thank Western Web, based in Samoa, for printing our paper at-cost� Western Web supports student journalism throughout Humboldt County and has made publications like the Pepperbox possible for decades� We appreciate their dedication to keeping print media alive!

For this issue’s front cover Editor-in-Chief Forrest Lewis photo-graphed Superintendent Kenny Richards in front of a black photo back-drop. Dr. Richards retired on Dec 14 after 36 and a half years of working in the Northern Humboldt Union High School Dis-trict. Graphic Designer Gabe Schneider then edited the image in Pho-toshop to layer it in front of the Pepperbox flag. On Dr Richard’s hand is a Humboldt State ring from his graduating class of 1976.

From the Archives:

Editors’ BoxContinuing our tradition of discussing the page numbers in every edito-

rial, it is worth noting that this 32-page issue, our fourth (and possibly last, if the world ends tomorrow), marks the doubling of the Pepper-

box’s publication rate from last year. If this is our final issue (ever), we are incredibly proud to say that it marks a milestone in the NHUHSD community. The retiring of Superintendent Kenny Richards marks the end of three decades of dedicated service, but an era whose success will continue with the support and enthusiasm of a new Superintendent: Chris Hartley. In this special inter-view issue, we have featured exclusive conversations with both Superinten-dents, a cheerleader, a punk, accomplished graduates, and an HSU professor, each revealing unique personal attributes of a distinct member of our com-munity. Special thanks to Arcata Photo for supplying the school picture goofs. Shoutout to Media Editor Sam Freed for all the cutouts of the interviewees and the incredible Steve Sheets graphic on page 31. Keep an eye out for Issue 5 after Christmas Break!

Editors-in-ChiefElaine Cunha & Forrest Lewis

Behind the CoverOriginally published October 1, 1999

Gabe Schneider/PEPPERBOX

Quotable�“Do you work in a bakery? ‘Cause I like your buns.”

“Even in bittersweetness, there is still sweetness. And in this sweetness you hear a young man clearly in love

with life, who was clearly loved in life.”

AHS senior and Mistress of Ceremonies Casey Lynn impersonating Kat-niss Everdeen from The Hunger Games during Arcata High Live�

English teacher Iain MacDonald in a speech at the Kuljian family me-morial on December 9�

”Focus on one particular aspect and make it as bad as possible�”

Leadership teacher Wendy Zamboni instructing her class on their next assignment: creating the worst speech ever�

14Madrigal choir perfor-mances in the month of

December

$300,000Dollars distributed to

NHUHSD teachers in the month of December as

THRIVE bonuses

235 815Students who have filled out and are eligible for free and re-duced lunch at

Arcata High

Student popula-tion of Arcata High, of which 29% are eligible for free and re-

duced lunch

“I like evil vampires. All this new-age friendly crap makes me sick.”

History teacher Dave Filippini on pop culture’s obsession with romantic vampires�

An altered Will Taylor poster hanging in Room 405 af-ter being folded in multiple places to distort the image and make his shorts 2/3 of his body.

Framable�

Senior Forrest Lewis, on De-cember 2, 2012, delivering a TED Talk at the TEDx Eureka Convention in the Arcata Theatre Lounge. The talk was livestreamed online.

Forrest Lewis/PEPPERBOX

Day Robins/PEPPERBOX

Photo courtesy of Jim Ritter

Arcata High varsity basketball players posing with their par-ents, fans, and Sixth Men after winning the AIBT for the first time in four years.

Letter to the editorHello this is an email from Miles Bacchus to

the Pepperbox listing several complaints I have.

So, okay, first of all there are not enough pic-tures of cutedogs. Let me show you an example of a cute dog.

Have I got your attention with my com-plaints, good, here is a longer list I have made now of suggestions:

1. Your election newspaper had no pictures of Mitt Romney on a tricycle. Let's be honest now imagine Mitt Romney, he is a pretty white dude right? Okay now imagine him on a tricycle. That is pretty funny right?

2. A dog eating a cat - I just think that's hard-core as heck, and I think you would get the cool alternative crowd with a pic like that. They'd be all “Whoa, that is totally gnarly my bros, let us be rough and stop doing fighting stuff such as the drugs and instead increase our literacy rate with a nice newspaper.”

3. More pictures of attractive members of the community. I am not going to single out any specific people who I think this applies to but I will give you a hint: One of the people who I think is good for this has black hair, a slim yet powerful physique, oragnized the spaghetti gang, his name is something like Mile_ Bac-chus. This person is also me.

4. I think you should tell people to watch Scrubs more because Scrubs is a good show.

5. Have you ever seen a rainbow? I sure have, but have I ever thought "Damn that is a stupid rainbow?" You sure bet I have! Interview several members of the community about “idiot dumb rainbows.”

6. Have you ever used a hose and made a little rainbow? Well, that's not dumb because that's sick as hell because you're the rainbow king. Write several How-To guides on making your own rainbows and the various merits of a rainbow-run theocracy.

7. An opinion piece titled: “These are some songs I like, and my musical taste is objectively better than yours also dogs make a lot of noises, and I think someone once made a rap that sampled dog barks, I bet someone did?”

8. An opinion piece titled: “Skittles look a lot like M&M's.”

9. Put two mirrors next to each other, inves-tigative journalism piece titled "How much mirror is there?????!!??!?!??!"

10: Another opinion piece: “Does the word piece look weird to anyone else?”

11. Q&A with Navarre about other famous Navarre's. Also, does he shave and is he aware one of the exchange students thinks that facial hair is called "pubic hair?” Because it's gross and someone should really tell him that it's just called “facial hair.”

12. When I think of Steve Sheets, I think of the person Steve Sheets. When I think of Mr. Sheets, I think of bed sheets with maybe a bow tie and top hat and that sounds adorable. Please hire bed sheets with bow tie and top hat!!!!!!

P.S. Also if you get a chance please hire a flute or other wood instrument as well!!!!!!!!!

13. A list: "Hitler was one of the most horri-ble people to ever live but here is a list of things that would probably look cute when dressed like him."

1. A corgi 2. A mustard bottle 3. That hamster or whatever that followed

Ron Stoppable in Kim Possible if you ever watched that when you were a kid.

4. That gross brain thing that messes up Ron Weasley when he's in the Ministry of Magic back room.

5. Those monster plants in Mario that try to eat you.

6. James Joyce except he is a hamster,

and I'm sure you can continue it yourself.

14. Why Miles is a cool buff dude who is sick as hell and probably mad good at math and other such things

15. Some awesome nicknames you could give teachers

1. Teasley- The Teaster! 2. Bagnall - The Bagster! 3. Wozniak - The Wozter! 4. Lazfidshfiahf - The Lazter 5. Helms - The Helmster 6. Moore - The Moorster 7. Peters - The Petster 8. Condit - The Conster 9. Mcdonald - The Mcdster (maybe a

guide on how to pronounce that as well) 10. Johnson - The same except after you

say Johnson you snicker a little bit because you are literally a 3rd grader.

11. Rentzer - Mom

16. Have two pages in the newspaper. One says, “The Next Page is Telling the Truth.” Then the next page says, “The Previous Page is Lying." It will really freak people out.

17. ALTERNATIVE: Have it say, “The Next Page Has a Really Cute Picture of a Dog," and then the next page is a cute picture of a dog.

18. Investigative Journalism : "Shea and Grace both work at Taco Bell, and they are also both pretty smart can you explain Google please answer me Google!!?!!??!??"

19. Point/Counterpoint: "Corgis are the cutest dogs/ No! Shiba Inu's are the cutest dogs!"

Bonus: Have a Corgi and Shiba Inu write the two parts of that.

BonusBonus: Have them arguing for the op-posite of what they are.

BonusBonusBonus: Have a broken pencil be the referee.

20: Where do you buy mannequins because I think it would be pretty cool to own a man-nequin. Like maybe not even the whole man-nequin but like just parts of a mannequin or like a mannequin head that you could play soccer with. That'd be pretty sick.

21: Never mind I found one on Google.

You should watch more Scrubs because the continually evolving relationship between J.D. and Perry Cox perpetuates the awkward situations that make the show humorous and entertaining. Don’t watch season 9 though, it sucks.

“Rainbows are purty. They make me happy.” This is the attitude of most people toward those colorful crescents in the sky, but is there another side? I mean, sure, they are pretty pretty, but is there some deep dark side to the multitude of refracted light? Traveling across the wide open plains of the Arcata plaza, I sought out the answer to the true secret behind rainbows. To start, I asked a wandering merchant what he felt, hoping to get down to the economic side of rainbows. “They’re dumb, lying falsities,” he said, “I was always promised there would be pot...” He coughed heavily and continued, “...s of gold, but no matter how far I travel, I can’t seem to make it.” Unfortunately, our conversations was cut off their as a large rain cloud appeared in the distance and he jolted off, yelling out, “Me lucky charms!” Confused, I digested his wisdom. Perhaps rainbows are just big meanies trying to lure people to false endings. But how would they do that? I mean they don’t even have a brain, so they must be pretty dumb. Right? Or does being dumb require having a brain to be classified as such? That’s confusing. Moving on, I spy a small jewelry store and decide to interview the owner there. She seemed fairly nice and educated, so it was reasonable to assume that she would have a decent opinion on rainbows. Little did I know, she had an even stronger opinion than the wandering merchant. “Rainbows suck; they steal all my customers!” Odd, I thought, but I urged her to continue. “I have all this pretty jewelry to sell but every time they’re looking or about to buy some a stupid rainbow appears outside, drawing everyone’s attention away from my stuff.” She continued ranting about how idiotic and impulsive people are when they see a rainbow. It was clear that not every person shared the same euphoric experience as the local bum when a rainbow appears. Perhaps I should experience the wonders of the rainbow myself. That sounds like a good idea...I’m hungry.Sincerely,Sam Freed and Benjamin McCreath

Briefly after our past issue was released, we were surprised to see an email from you, the infamous Spaghetti Gang Godfather, Miles Bacchus. In a brilliant and concise piece of prose, you presented numerous suggestions to better our publication. In honor of your “awesomeness, “we have granted your wishes to be published in two batches, one this issue and the other the next. Getting on with it, here you go:

Dear Miles Bacchus1. Mitt Romney on a tricycle. 2. A dog eating a cat. 3. More pictures of attractive members of

the community.

4. I think you should tell people to watch Scrubs more because Scrubs is a good

5. Have you ever seen a rainbow?

Did you anticipate that you would stay in the Humboldt Area your whole life and teach at your alma mater?No, I went to College of the Red-woods after high school and played football down there, then I went to Humboldt State and majored in Business. I actually applied for Simpson Timber and was hired by them to be a lumber salesman. I had just finished my student teach-ing and was also hired at McKin-leyville High School and I thought teaching might be really good, so I ended up turning down selling lumber for Simpson, and ended up as a teacher and just absolutely loved it. I also applied for teach-ing jobs in Washington, Oregon, and California and was selected to teach in Roseburg, Oregon and Crescent City. I thought, “Let’s just stay home.” And it was at a time, actually, the quirk of it was, they weren’t hiring many teachers, but they were hiring business teachers at that time. And you were just 23 then, right? Did that seem young at the time, teaching 18-year-olds?No, I mean it didn’t seem young to me. I graduated, got through four years with my business degree, took my fifth year, so I was in col-lege for five years.

So you graduated with your Bachelor’s in Science in ‘76, and

T hirty six and a half years ago, a 23-year-old Humboldt State graduate and football standout by

the name of Kenny Richards was hired as a Business Teacher at McKinleyville High School. It did not take him long to climb through the ranks to the post of NHUHSD Superintendent, a position that he held for 13 years before retiring on Friday, December 14, 2012 at the age of 59.

Pepperbox: At what point did you realize you wanted to go into a career in education?Kenny Richards: I think it goes way back for me. It was really when I was young. I think it was part of a conversation that I had with my grandmother, that I kind of wanted to be a teacher and she always thought “well that’s a great profession.”And I don’t know, from that point on it seemed like I had it in the back of my mind. I was always fortunate to have outstanding teachers. And teach-ers have moved me. When we talk about some of the people that have made our lives, your parents, your family, and all that, the teachers did so much for me. And I thought, “If I could do that, what a great life that would be.”

then went back to school in ‘82?I actually went back earlier than that. I had all my courses but one done for my MBA (Masters in Business Administration). But the Superintendent of the school (Ed-ward Oliveira) suggested that I get an administrative credential, and he thought that maybe I had some leadership abilities. He suggested that I get an administrative creden-tial, so I had to stop the MBA, and I moved into the administrative credential program.

And in 2001 you went back to get your doctorate?I did it because it was something I wanted to do. I enjoyed learn-ing. Sometimes we go through life and quit learning. And I wanted to continue. University of LaVerne’s program was considered one of the top for educational leadership in the country. So I got into that program. I always believed in staff development. I learned a lot, I re-ally did. The other thing is, some-times if you’re going to lead, you need to lead by example too.

University of LaVerne, was that an online program? No, the way it was set up at the time, we had what you call clus-ters. We had to travel to Sacra-mento, I think it was eight or nine times a year, and we spent two to three days on the weekends there and extended vacation time. Dur-

ing the summer, we were down there for three weeks. So we did a lot of group learning. There was a Humboldt County cluster of about 12. All the clusters came together in Sacramento; there were clusters from L.A., San Bernadino, all over California. What do you think your biggest accomplishment has been as Su-perintendent the past 13 years?I think probably the largest accom-plishment is to be a player, well to be responsible for outstanding schools. Our district does a great job. I think the major accom-plishment probably is to create an environment that people can communicate in, learn, discuss, envision, plan, everything that will bring about greater student learn-ing is really it. But if there has been one thing I guess that I feel really good about that I’ve been involved with, I was one of the first people to bring computers to high schools. Now there all around, but at the time I came in there were no computers. In each area that I moved to whether it was teaching, whether it was coaching, whether it was Assistant Principal or Princi-pal, at each level, and in each job, I feel like I made a difference and had some very good accomplish-ment. Changing environments as an administrator is big. Moving to innovative, educational programs as a Principal, and as the Assistant

Forrest LewisEditor-in-Chief

The Leader: Kenny Richards

1952

Born in Ped-dleton, Or-

egon

1956

Moves to Arcata, Cali-

fornia

1971

Graduates: McKinleyville High School

1973

Marries Cathy

Gunderson

1973

Graduates College of

the Redwoods

1976

Graduates from Hum-boldt State

1976

Hired as Busi-ness teacher

at MHS

Kenny Richards:

Throughout the Years

COVER from the

INTERVIEW8 | December 20, 2012 Pepperbox

Superintendent of Business, to be able to modernize McKinleyville and Arcata high schools with money from the state. As the su-perintendent, it was really to bring in administration. Teachers work hard, and the custodians. We’ve got a good crew. I’ve hired a lot of people. I think bringing that back to some consistency, stable, comfortable footing has been good from the Superintendent seat. We did some staff development stuff, grant writing, things that I helped bring back.

What’s it like working with Na-varre?He’s great. I like him a lot. I like working with him. I recommended him for the po-sition several years prior. When you work around

people for 25-30 years, you know when someone is talented. He’s done a great job, his management at Pacific Coast and his teaching prior to that were always excellent.

The last six months you’ve been working with Chris Hartley. How is that transition going?I think it will be just fine. The big thing is that I’m just tickled that the board allowed us to work out a transition period. In my experience I’ve seen districts take little or no time to transfer over to people at the top and in the end you end up losing somebody that has a lot of years of experience. There should be naturally some transitions that go on. And that’s what I always wanted to have. I would like a smooth transition. In the end, when I leave, that’s really want I want to have happen. The other people I’m working with are David Lonn, and the other one is Cindy Vickers, who is the financial director of fis-cal services, and I’m working with

her to try to transition. What was your favorite position held during your career?I think each position has its pluses and minuses. I still think teaching was defi-nitely a highlight to my career. Teaching and coaching. I think

administering, I have some gifts there, regard-

ing interpersonal relation-ships and getting along, and trying to listen to

what others have to say to resolve conflict. I think I’ve done pretty well there. To be honest with you, I’ve enjoyed them all. But some-times people need a change too, and change was good for me be-cause it kept me moving, kept me thinking, and so on. What are your plans for retire-ment?I think what I’m going to first do is all the things that didn’t get done. I’d also like to start playing a little golf again. That would be fun. And we’ll see what kind of things are out there. I would like to travel.

You’re done working though? Or do you think you’ll get another job someday?I don’t know about that. We’ll have to wait and see. I think the biggest thing is to take a break, get a breath of fresh air. Have some time to relax and travel, and maybe go see the grandkids and things like that. Then we’ll see, you never know what is going to pop up around the corner and suddenly you’re excited again and reenergized.

So overall, was it a good experi-ence?Oh great, I guess the caveat to the whole thing is I feel very good about my career. When you’re giving it the best all the time, and you enjoy coming to work, which I always have…if I had another life I’d do it again. It’s just a great op-portunity being in school, around kids, especially high school age kids, young adults. So yeah, I loved it, it’s been great.

1978

Birth of first son, Bill Rich-

ards

1984

Promoted to Asst. Princi-pal of MHS

1976

Begins tenure as Principal of

MHS

1993

Asst. Super-intendent for

Business

1999

Superin-tendent of NHUHSD

2004

Tom Fine Cre-ative Leader-

ship Award

2005

DoctorateUniversity of

LaVerne

2012

Retires after 36 1/2 years in

the district

Kenny was a great mentor...We’re going to miss him. Prob-

ably the number one thing we’re gonna lose is all his knowledge...He’ll probably be on speed dial for quite a few people in the dis-trict.

- Dave Navarre

It amazes me the knowledge that he has. Any question at a board meeting that is asked, he knows the answer. Kenny always seems to be an expert at everything.

- Colleen Toste

Kenny Richards...allows people with passion to pursue their ideas. He told me years ago that the big question to ask is: Is it good for students?

- Jack Bareilles

You couldn’t ask for a better Superintendent... It’s not easy managing two different school districts and Kenny was able to do it with style.

- Mike Pigg

Kenny was to Northern Hum-boldt what George Washington was to the United States. He has set this district up for decades of suc-cess.

- Dan Johnson

December 20, 2012 | 9Pepperbox INTERVIEW

How did you end up in Hum-boldt?It’s an interesting story, and I share it with students all the time when I’m talking about life after high school and trying to take a lot of factors in as you’re making big decisions in life. My decision was very reaction-based; I sat down with my high school guidance counselor, and back then we didn’t do anything online, you know, it’s all paper stuff, and on the back of the college application was a map of the state of California and it had all the state colleges. So I asked him for a ruler, and I measured the distance from Coalinga to Hum-boldt and the distance from Coal-inga to San Diego – ‘cause Coal-inga’s kind of right in the middle – and I said, “Well, I want to go to Humboldt State.” And the coun-selor was kind of curious. He goes, “Well Chris,” you know, “Why do you want to go up there? Have you ever been up there?” I’m like, “No, I’ve never been (at that time) north of San Francisco in my life. But I have to go there.” He’s like, “Why?” I go, “‘Cause it’s a quarter of an inch further from here than San Diego.” So that was all the logic that went into my big college decision. But that’s how I came to Humboldt State, and I fell in love with it instantly up here.

Why did you leave teaching to become an administrator?You know, I found that I love

I t’s never easy being the “The Rookie,” especially when it means taking over from the district’s leader of

36 and a half years, but Superin-tendent Chris Hartley has a deep investment in the students, staff, and future of NHUHSD. His two daughters will both graduate from McKinleyville High, he is the founder of Six Rivers Charter High School, and he has served as Interim Superintendent along-side Kenny Richards for the past six months. In his 17th year in the district, Dr. Hartley has filled almost every role: teacher, athletic director, dean, assistant principal, principal, and now, superintendent.

Pepperbox: Where did you grow up?Chris Hartley: I grew up in Coal-inga, California. If you’ve ever driven on I-5 down to L.A., Coal-inga is where you see all the cows. [Laughs] It’s in the Fresno area, down in the Central Valley – small town. Our mascot was the Horned Toads! We were the Coalinga Horned Toads. Believe it or not, I think there’s a university in Texas or something that might also be the Horned Toads. It’s a pretty unique little community to grow up in, but it’s a small town, so it’s kind of the same vibe we have up here.

teaching; I love the student interac-tion, but the strong point for me was program development, and the great thing about going into education is that there are so many different jobs within it. Most of the time when people think of educa-tion, they think of just teaching, but what I found when I was work-ing in Eureka, as I was given more responsibility and teacher leader-ship roles, was that I was able to develop a few programs and do things from that perspective that impact student learning, and I re-ally loved it. So for me, it was kind of like, “I think this is the area of education that I want to go into,” but then still find ways to stay con-nected with the kids. At Six Rivers, gosh it was great, ‘cause I was able to teach classes here and there and be Principal. It was the best of both worlds, in that regard, but admin-istrative kind of gave me those opportunities to do more leadership things within education.

So, on that note, what do you think of THRIVE?What do I think of THRIVE? We don’t have enough time! [Laughs] My first thing when I hear THRIVE is what a massive initia-tive the THRIVE program is. Here we are, taking on a major initiative, up here in the Northern Humboldt School District… What I like about THRIVE are the opportunities for us to enhance professional devel-opment for teachers. The struggle

with THRIVE is, we want to bal-ance what is relevant in THRIVE with what the grant requires. So, THRIVE is a typical program where you have programic require-ments and they don’t always allow you to do what you feel is most relevant and makes the most sense. So I’m conflicted when I think of THRIVE, because I like what it allows us to have an opportunity to do, but at the same time we have to balance the requirements and that puts us in a difficult position. We’ve got to try to do what makes sense, what’s going to help teach-ers better their craft, and ultimately the main goal is to improve student achievement.

What do you miss the most about Six Rivers?That’s easy! I miss the students. I miss the closeness of the commu-nity and all the camaraderie with the staff, and so, as you change positions and decide to move into more of a district role, for me that’s a very personal goal - to find ways to do what we’re doing right now, to come down and talk with stu-dents and be a part of this process, because all of our hours and all of our hard work are dedicated to improving student learning and improving the student experience in the high schools. So I have to take what I miss and turn that into motivation to not get disconnected. So I guess that’s a personal goal for me. How do I take those things

INTERVIEW10 | December 20, 2012 Pepperbox

The Rookie: Chris Hartley

1967

Born in Coalinga,

California

1986

Graduates Coalinga High

School

1986

Moves to Arcata,

California

1990

Graduates from Hum-boldt State

1991

Marries college

sweetheart

1992

Hired atCathedral

City HS

1993

Hired at Zoe Barnum HS,

Eureka

Chris Hartley:

Throughout the Years

Elaine CunhaEditor-in-Chief

that I love so much and make sure I still find ways to do them? It’s kind of bittersweet, but I’m going to use it for motivation and not be bummed out about it.

What was your favorite thing about your high school experi-ence? You’re going to make me think now. Being a Horned Toad was always great! You know, we had a cool mascot. We were a small school, so there were like 90 kids in my whole class. The school was around 400 kids. I grew up with all my classmates since I was in kindergarten. So my favorite thing about high school was the relationships that I had with students of all types, and I think in a small town like that, you know, I just was in all the different groups. But the closeness of our school community, really. I think it mir-rors what we’re doing up here,

December 20, 2012 | 11Pepperbox INTERVIEWand I want to create that experience for students that go to our schools too. Because that helped me stay focused in the moment, but also motivated me to want to go do something bigger with my life than maybe what my town offered, so you know, as much as I loved it, it was also very, um… There’s more out there, I guess, was the feeling I always had, and I felt I was pre-pared to do that. And obviously it worked out.

What is your vision for the dis-trict and what do you most hope to change as Superintendent?I think it’s a little early on for me to make a big judgment like what I want to change, but my vision for

the district is to continue doing the things that we’re doing well, and that is serving the students. I view my role in

the administration and what-ever I’ve done as a teacher as, well, a servant. I have a servant-leadership philosophy

I guess, and that is, I’m here to support everybody, from the

clerical, to the classi-fied, to our

classroom aides, to the administra-tion, and definitely our faculty and our teachers. So my vision is to give people the support and tools they need to do their job and help students achieve. My biggest thing I want for students – my vision for students – is that, after high school, all of you have a choice, and you have options in front of you. Whether you’re choosing to make the transition from the world of high school to the world of college, or you want to go to vocational training, or you want to travel the world, or you want to go to work, I just want students to have the choices to do as many possibilities as they can. And that takes a lot to make that available for students. It’s easy to say, but it’s not neces-sarily easy to accomplish, and our students have so many different needs, you know, from students who are highly motivated and know exactly where they’re going, to students that we’re just really working hard with to get through high school. We have to, well, we are, committed to serving all students.

Good answer! Okay, last one: Which is better, Arcata or McKinleyville?I am never answering that ques-tion! [Laughs] That is a loaded question, my young lady! You want an answer for that? No way!

Thus proving that Dr. Hartley is not only an amiable Superinten-dent, but also quite a wise one as well.

1996

Hired as Dean of Students

of AHS

1998

Promoted to Asst. Princi-pal of AHS

2000

Promoted to Principal of

MHS

2003

California FFA STAR

Administrator

2004

FoundsSix Rivers

Charter HS

2006

DoctorateUniversity of

LaVerne

2010

NHUHSD Dir. of Indepen-dent Study

2012

Promoted to NHUHSD Su-perintendent

We’re excited about Dr. Hart-ley coming on. He’s worked in this district for a long time. He knows all the players, and he’s extremely capable. He’s open-minded, he’s really excited about this opportunity, and I think he’s going to be fantastic.

- Dave Navarre

I think that we are very, very for-tunate. No one can replace Ken-ny’s years of experience, but as far as expertise, Chris Hartley is the best. We are very fortunate he has been able to work with Kenny for the last six months as Interim Superintendent to make a smooth and easy transition.

- Colleen Toste

In regards to Dr. Hartley, I think he’s bright, he’s intel-ligent, and I think

the district’s lucky to have him. I think he’ll be an exceptional Superintendent and will lead the district in a great direction, so I wish him the best of luck (and the district), and I think he’s go-ing to be outstanding.

- Kenny Richards

Y ou’ve seen him at the basketball games. You’ve seen him in the hallways between classes. You may

have even seen him getting lec-tured by the administration during AIBT. Sophomore Jesse McGee is renowned around campus for his ability, at any time and any place, to drop his backpack and do a flip. The Pepperbox had the op-portunity to interview this fascinat-ing individual on his experiences bringing his flipping expertise to the cheerleading squad.

Pepperbox: How long have you been able to do a backflip?Jesse McGee: Since I was seven.

How long have you been inter-ested in Cheerleading?For about one year.

What’s your favorite thing about cheerleading?Probably the back flips, the cheer-leaders are nice too.

How does it feel to be the only male cheerleader?It feels good. Sometimes at the beginning a lot of people looked down on me for joining the team. Everyone is pretty supportive now though.

Do you like the reactions you get from being a cheerleader?When people start yelling my name it really pumps me up, and I get really happy.

How long were you in a Gym-nastics as a kid?From seven to eleven, I was on the boys team. There was a lot of competition.

Is it fun spending time with all the girls on the team?Yeah, they’re really nice. It’s good to make new friends. I’m pretty sure they’re my friends...

Besides tumbling do you like the rest of cheerleading?Yeah, at first it was hard, because it felt girly, but I got over that and now it’s fun.

What do you think of the uni-form?They’re pretty comfy. I was ex-pecting shorts but the sweat pants are nice.

Do you have a new view on cheerleading?Yeah, I thought it was just a bunch of cheering but it’s a lot more flipping and hardwork than I ex-pected.

Do you ever get made fun of?Sometimes. Last weekend some Fortuna fans were yelling ‘Go For-tuna,’ so I said, ‘If your so good why don’t you do a backflip’ and then the girl said, ‘Well it’s funny ‘cause your a boy and you cheer-lead.’ But I just responded saying, ‘So what, I can do a gainer’ (a backflip in the forward direction).

Are you ok with being on JV instead of varsity?Yeah, I’m totally fine with it. I wasn’t expecting to be on var-

Dayna NaishReporter

The Cheerleader: Jesse McGeesity because I’m pretty bad at cheers. I knew tumbling wouldn’t get me onto varsity.

Have you ever injured your-self doing flips?No, not yet. But if I ever do I don’t think it’ll be serious, because I’ve done them so many times that I’m pretty confident with what I’m doing and I don’t think I’ll mess up.

What happened at AIBT when you got in trouble with the adminis-tration?I was sitting with my friend in the stands and it was a full timeout and people were like ‘Where’s Jessie.’ When I stood up everyone was clapping. It made me feel really good.

And then what hap-pened?Mrs. Cambell said there wasn’t enough time to do a flip but I still did it anyways ‘cause in my mind I thought there was more time than she said. Then the Vice Principal came out and started saying that if I did that again I wouldn’t be able to cheer again. I really didn’t think it was that big of a deal.

INTERVIEW12 | December 20, 2012 Pepperbox

December 20, 2012 | 13Pepperbox INTERVIEW

The Punk: Trevor StonePiper BazardJunior News Editor

M ost of us know the familiar figure of Trevor Stone walking through the

halls, covered in patches, with hair reaching nearly a foot tall. An avid listener of punk music, the Pepper-box aims to capture the identity of the man behind the mohawk.

What inspired you to get a mo-hawk?I always got really overheated but I didn’t want to cut all my hair off... so I was trying to figure out what hairstyle would be cool to have without cutting all my hair off and still not get overheated. Also, I lis-ten to punk and a lot of my heroes have mohawks.

What are some of those heroes?Darby Crash had a mohawk. He was a big inspiration of mine... I love Darby Crash. He was an [ex-pletive], but he was awesome.

So what do you think about those like.. those soccer-Oh [expletive] soccer- [expletive] fauxhawks! oh my god! I [exple-tive] hate those things!

Do you think they’re real mo-hawks? No! They’re like.. they’re cop outs! I don’t know how I can like, back that up, but I just think of cop out, when I see a fauxhawk... Um... yeah... [expletive] fauxhawks. That’s all I have to say.

Why do you hate fauxhawks so much?

Because they’re stupid. And they’re not real, they’re just like “huurr soccer players are gonna do something cool, let’s get mo-hawks.” It’s just like, dude, don’t half-ass it. They’re just half-assed mohawks. It’s like...get a mohawk or keep your hair. Don’t get a faux-hawk.

What does your mom think about it?She thinks it’s funny. She doesn’t like, dislike it...’cause it’s kinda cool. It took me a couple months to convince her to let me do it though...When I first got the idea and asked, she screamed “hell no” at me. But then, month after month I just kept asking her...and eventually she just caved and let me do it. Then I bleached the back part...‘cause I’m a crust punk. You should ask me about how I spike it up!

Sure, What’s your daily routine? Well, usually I don’t spike it, but when I do I like to hire a homeless man to scare me in the morning, and then if that doesn’t work or if I can’t find a homeless man that’s cool, I usually just use a bunch of hairspray. And then I use Elmer’s glue to like, keep the tips together.

Watered down or just straight?I don’t do either of those things...

Trevor, the Elmer’s glue... The Elmer’s glue? Oh yeah! I thought you meant my hair. I don’t water my hair down...No, I just put a little bit on my finger tips.

What brand of hairspray?Göt2b Freeze Spray. It’s nice...I

tried to use that glued [expletive], but it doesn’t work. And it doesn’t, like... it takes too long to dry. But spray doesn’t, spray’s just like rrup! I’m gonna give your hair an erection.

Do old people ever look at you weird?So much, yes. Like, I was walking through McKinleyville and I was in Kmart and I had it spiked, and there was this granny looking at me, and she just looked so pissed off at me for doing nothing, except having my hair spiked. I’m pretty sure she followed me, and just glared at me...she was [expletive] crazy.

Did you get it done profession-ally? I just went to a salon and I was like, “can you shave the sides of my head?” and they were like, “you want a mohawk?” and I said, “yeah.” And they understood when I said mohawk. I was afraid they would give me a fauxhawk. Yeah, they just did it and I was walking down-- I hate the hairspray they used, it was awful. It flopped over, and I had to go back to the hotel and re-do it. I used my mom’s hairspray which actually worked really good. And... then I went to see Soulfly.

How long does it take you to spike it up?Probably an hour. It sucks. Max Cavalera liked [my mohawk]. He called me out. He was like, “yeeah, mohawk,” I’m like, “yeeah...”

For the record who is that?The rhythm guitarist and lead

singer of Soulfly... and Sepultura...Max Cavalera... he doesn’t have a mohawk though, he has like, one giant dreadlock in the back of his head that’s dyed red. He’s a fat, stoned teddy bear... This really isn’t about my mohawk anymore.

The Innovator: Larry FleckensteinPiper Bazard

Junior News Editor

Larry Fleckenstein is an pharmacist and scientist, as well as an AHS alum-ni. Graduating in 1962,

he then went on to work on the front line of malaria research.

Pepperbox: When was the last time you were in the Pepperbox?Larry Fleckenstein: Oh my good-ness. It probably was in my senior year. That would have been some-time in ‘61-’62. I just remember one with me and a photo with my car. That was a common feature in the Pepperbox of those years.

What did you most enjoy about going to AHS?That’s a tough one. Overall, I thought we had very good teach-ers... It was a very friendly school, and very easy to make friends. And students came from a lot of dif-ferent areas, Blue Lake, Trinidad, Orick, I really enjoyed that. At that time I was on a college preparatory track. When I went off to college I had all the right courses I needed.

What did you do after high school?After high school I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, so I took a few courses at HSU. It took me awhile but eventually I decided I wanted to go to pharmacy school and I realized I needed to get seri-ous about my education. I started taking a lot of science classes and transferred to University of Cali-fornia, Berkeley and studied very hard. I met all the requirements, and it took me four years.

What made you want to become involved in the field of science and medicine?I read this book, Green Medicine, about finding medicinal plants in the jungle and isolating them for different cures for various diseases. It was very appealing to me to de-vote my energies to something that would be worthwhile for society and challenging for me. I really enjoyed chemistry, it was one of my favorite classes, and the more science classes I took, the more I became engaged... Berkeley was a very stimulating environment. I took courses with a lot of distin-guished professors and graduate students, and set goals for myself. It opened my eyes that if I worked hard I could achieve more than I thought I could.

How and when did you first get involved with malaria research? I went to work for Walter Reed Institution in Washington, and they had a Malaria development pro-gram. It was an outgrowth of the military experience in the Vietnam War. Malaria was a problem in Vi-etnam, especially drug resistance. They had a number of investigate drugs they were working on. I had the opportunity to work with drugs in their experimental process and learn how they are developed. Ma-laria is such an important disease worldwide, and something I felt I could devote my energy to. There are lots of deaths, especially with children, and it is rewarding work. I worked with people who had training in lots of different areas, pharmacology and medicine, and everybody contributed their piece for the common good.

What are some of your findings in the field of malaria research?The latest project that I have worked on is with another team for a drug called Pirmax. It’s a very effective combination drug, useful for treating drug resistant malaria. We’ve had high levels of success in clinical testing, and also in Africa and Asia... We think it is a promis-ing drug. It’s been approved by the European Medicines Agency, and approved in countries where malaria is a problem. My primary contribution was studying blood levels.

What other parts of the world have you worked in?I have travelled extensively. I’ve travelled a lot for the World Health Organization, at various clinical facilities. I’ve been to Ghana a number of times, Nigeria, Zambia, South Africa, a number of times in Africa... I’ve travelled to Thailand quite a bit to collaborate with peo-ple; I’ve also travelled to Malaysia and to Korea. The sponsor of the project is in Switzerland, and it’s very international in scope. There are scientists in Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Who was the person who most influenced you, and how? I would say that the person who influenced me the most was my boss as my first job at UOR. He was in a very established, inter-nationally known pharmacology position. He encouraged me to not stay so narrowly focussed in my research and to take on new things and work with collaborators. He encouraged me to understand the bigger problems there were to address with my work, and chal-

lenged me to take on projects with a bigger scope. More than any other person, he had a bigger influ-ence on me.

What advice would you give to a student who wishes to pursue a career in science or medicine?I would encourage them to do it, there are tremendous opportuni-ties in science and medicine, and a revolution in the molecular aspects of science. We are on a threshold of having tools and technology to work with. What I would say is get a good foundation in math and science, and then don’t become too focused initially. Take a variety of scientific courses and pursue some-thing you’re passionate about... for me it was chemistry. Once you have some-thing you have passion for, it will stop feeling like work.

INTERVIEW14 | December 20, 2012 Pepperbox

The Professor: Erick EschkerKaitlin Tucker

Reporter

I t’s not everyday that a television showhost features Humboldt State University in their broadcast, expecially

Jimmy Kimmel. National news outlets covered the somewhat controvertial establishment of the Humboldt Institute for Interdisciplinary Marijuana Research. We contacted co-director and Professor of Economics Erick Eschker for the story behind the newest institute at HSU.

Pepperbox: What was the reasoning/inspiration behind creating the “Humboldt Institute for Interdisciplinary Marijuana Research?”Erick Eschker: We received many phone calls about the impact of marijuana on the local economy and society. Many policy makers in government wanted answers to help them make good policy regarding taxes and regulation, but they had no answers. So we thought it was a good idea to increase research in this area.

Based on the research so far, what effects/impact has the

marijuana trade had on the environment, society and the economy?Marijuana production is large in the county economy, but we are not sure how large. One thing that stands out about Humboldt County is how open and common marijuana use and production is.

How many members are involved in the Institute?There are about a dozen faculty and staff from Humboldt State, and there are also outside researchers who have contacted us and who want to contribute.

Have there been complaints or concerns from faculty members or community members?I have not heard many concerns. Usually once we explain that we are a research group that is using accepted scientific methods to understand an important topic, they understand.

Does the research include the growing of any marijuana plants?No. We do not grow marijuana at HSU.

Have you watched the Jimmy Kimmel review of the Humboldt Institute for Interdisciplinary Marijuana Rsearch?Yes.

How did you feel about how Kimmel depicted Humboldt County?I was embarrassed at first. But most people thought it was funny, and he certainly gave us lots of exposure. We have many

researchers contacting us about working together.

If you were to personally speak to Jimmy Kimmel, what would you say to him in response to the video?I would tell him that he and his staff did a very good job at making a funny skit.

Do you personally, on a scientific basis, think marijuana should be legalized?The Institute does not advocate or take a position on legalization.

Will the legalization affect the economy in Humboldt County?I’m sure that it will, but we don’t know how, for sure. If legalization occurs, it could lead to fewer people and less income in Humboldt County. On the other hand, it could lead to more business. We need research to determine what might happen so that citizens and policy makers can make informed decisions.

According to the Humboldt Institute for Interdisciplinary Marijuana Research, “HIIMR seeks to improve the economic, social, physical, and environmental health of individuals and communities through the interdisciplinary scientific study of marijuana. Members of HIIMR will: design, conduct, analyze, and disseminate research, Provide applied expertise to policy makers, researchers, health professionals, businesses, and the media, and archive and provide access to source materials (raw data, media).”

December 20, 2012 | 15Pepperbox INTERVIEW

The Graduate: Francis ZiererCalvin Ryan

Opinion Editor

L ocal celebrity Francis Zierer, an Arcata High School graduate and the former Opinion Editor

for the Pepperbox, attends Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon and is majoring as “unde-clared,” a vast and complex field of study. The following is a series of relevant questions about his life.

The Pepperbox: Let's start this bad-boy. Time to use correct punctuation and grammar. Is the dream of the 90's alive in Port-land?Francis Zierer: Well, I was born in the 90's. I'm not a dream, but I suppose I have dreams. So yeah, I guess you could say so.Wow, very vague. Good on ya, mate.I mean I am alive.Aren't we all?

My next question is about music. I understand that Portland has a pretty sweet music scene, have you seen any notable artists?I've seen quite a few shows, all of which were pretty bomb, but none of the artists were from Portland.Also, listen to Death Grips. In particular, I really enjoy their new album, No Love Deep Web. I saw them back at the start of this month.Oh really? I've heard some of their stuff. That must have been an... interesting show.One could almost call it a religious experience. Almost.Death Grips on Sundays.

On Facebook recently I saw that you claimed you, “got that Cali Style.” Care to enlighten us?Actually, I would care to enlighten you. You see, I was home from college for about four days around Thanksgiving. That Saturday, I had a couple friends over at my house. At one point, I gave one of them, local Arcata hooligan Aidan Sanborn-Petterson, my laptop, and went inside to get some food. Web browser Google Chrome was open, and within chrome was a tab open to Facebook. I believe said hoo-ligan authored and published that quote using my Facebook in the time I was retrieving food.Oh, okay. That was not at all what I was expecting. I totally thought that was straight from your fingertips. What a hooligan.

Similar to a therapy session, I'm gonna ask you how you feel about this picture. Pretend you are laying on a couch. What do you think?

If I was laying on a couch I'd prob-ably die due to the volatile mixture of vomit and gravity. I'm saying that I'd choke to death on my own vomit.

No, no, I got that. [laughs] Thanks for the clarification though. Personally, I think it's a beautiful rendition of the classic college lifestyle. Although, I am biased, since it's my artwork.

What is the most questionable food you've eaten on the college diet?I see, I see, the ol’ hit-and-run. Probably the mushrooms. Every incident of mush-room they've thrown on their food so far has been absolute-ly disgusting.

I was going to reference the game Simpson's Hit n' Run but I'm not quite creative enough. But yeah, I could easily see cafeteria mushrooms not being top notch.

What's your favorite aspect of college so far?Well, I actually really enjoy my classes and feel as if I've learned quite a bit both from them and other aspects of the college experi-ence. Also, unprintable things.That's where you wanna be, lik-ing your classes. That's good.

Let's end on a serious note. In your eyes, who is the most dope rapper pound for pound?Well in one eye it's Jody Highroller and in the other it's probably me.

Well, your freestyles certainly are unique. Thank you for your time. Francis Zierer.

INTERVIEW16 | December 20, 2012 Pepperbox

Calvin Ryan/PEPPERBOX

Top 8 School Photos

Photos courtesy of Arcata Photo

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Dispatches from the matPatrick Payton

Reporter

Wrestling begins again by challeng-ing the young men and women on the

Arcata High team both physically and mentally. The sport requires quick thinking and being a few moves ahead - both skills that come in handy in life.

The season began well at the Bat-tle of the Borders Tournament on December 1st. Arcata took 9th place as a team. Michael Lefuel wrestled five matches, only losing his first to South Umpqua. He wrestled Grants Pass his last match, winning to take 3rd place, Marcus Stachle came in 4th, and Sophie Lefuel got 5th. Un-fortunately, Kadeem Sanders dislo-cated his elbow in his first match of the night. The ambulance came and took him to the hospital, where he was put on morphine.

There are 12 new people that have been catching on pretty quick. The team is expecting to have about 25 people on the team, but could could always use more kids out on the mat. The Arcata High wres-

tling team is coached by Randall Floyd and Taylor Andrews. Floyd coached in Washington for a total of 12 years. He is going on his fifth year as head coach here at Arcata. “Wrestling this year is going great, once again we have a good group of great young men and women,” he said. “As their coach, I look forward to amazing things from each of them this year. We still invite oth-ers to come out and wrestle for the team, though.”

Taylor is a pilot for the US Coast Guard. He wrestled for the Coast Guard at the US Coast Guard Acad-emy for four years. He has been helping us in the wrestling room for three years now. “I’m looking for-ward to the season. I’m glad to see fresh new faces on the mat. I think we got a lot of potential this year, so I encourage people to come support the team, and if you think you have what it takes, come join us for prac-tice,” Taylor said.

Junior Michael Lefuel, a three-year varsity wrestler, added, “I hope we get a trophy this year and more than two kids at sections... my goals are to win HDN and go as far as I can in sections.”

Senior Thomas Mlakar is in his

second year in high school wres-tling. He previously wrestled ten years in free style. “The season is going good,” he stated. “We have a lot of new kids that have a lot of po-tential. If they stick with it they will be good... My goals are to get better cardio and place first at HDN and

go to sections,” he continued.Sophomore Caleb Morin is wres-

tling his first season ever. “My goal is to beat Kash and get stronger, faster, and win more matches... I hope the season goes well and no one else gets hurt,” he said.

Patrick Payton/PEPPERBOXSophomore Caleb Morin pins his opponent at the Del Norte Battle of the Borders Tournament.

SPORTS18 | December 20, 2012 Pepperbox

DATE12/26-29

1/21/41/91/111/161/181/241/291/312/52/7

2/11-152/19-3/23/6-16

3/22-23

TEAMVarsity

JV/VarsityFr/JV/Var

JV/VarFr/JV/VarFr/JV/VarFr/JV/VarFr/JV/VarFr/JV/VarFr/JV/VarFr/JV/VarFr/JV/Var

VarsityVarsityVarsityVarsity

LOCATIONMartin Cath.South Fork

FortunaArcataArcataArcata

Del NorteArcata

St. BernardMack

EurekaArcataTBATBATBATBA

OPPONENTBambauer Tourney

South ForkFortunaHoopaMack

EurekaDel NorteFortuna

St. BernardMack

EurekaDel Norte

HDNL TourneyNCS Champ.

Nor-Cal Champ.CIF Champ

DATE12/27-2912/27-29

1/11/31/81/101/151/171/231/251/302/12/62/8

2/11-152/19-3/2

TEAMVarsity

JVJV/Var

Fr/JV/VarJV/Var

Fr/JV/VarFr/JV/VarFr/JV/Var

ByeFr/JV/Var

JV/VarFr/JV/VarFr/JV/VarFr/JV/Var

VarsityVarsity

LOCATIONTBATBA

Arcata ArcataHoopaMack

EurekaArcata

FortunaArcataArcataArcata

Del NorteTBATBA

OPPONENTWest Coast Tourney

Novato TourneySouth Fork

FortunaHoopaMack

EurekaDel Norte

FortunaSt. Bernards

MackEureka

Del NorteNiclai TourSections

WINTER SPORTS- Arcata High School Winter Sports Schedule -

BOYS BASKETBALL GIRLS BASKETBALL

WRESTLINGDATE12/28

1/91/121/151/191/302/52/162/212/222/23

LOCATIONArcataMack

WindsorArcataEurekaEurekaArcataEurekaNewark NewarkNewark

OPPONENTJV Wrestling Tourney

Mack/St. BernardWindsor

Del Norte/HoopaEurekaEureka

Fortuna/FerndaleH-DN Eureka

Boys NCSBoys NCSBoys NCS

SPORTSDecember 20, 2012 | 19Pepperbox

and get a break from our usual rou-tines.”

This year the district may con-sider the possibility of wrapping up first semester before the break. Finals would be over before two weeks of pure relaxation. For the entire Christmas break last year, my parents went to Nepal to trek the Himalayas followed by a week on the beaches of Thailand. I was supposed to accompany them, but I couldn’t bring myself to miss finals week. Instead, I missed what could have been the best vacation of my life. If I would have missed the first two weeks of the second semester instead of finals, I would have been climbing mountains and swimming in tropical oceans.

I am one of the few people you will find who actually likes and gen-erally enjoys high school: the peo-ple, the teachers, the environment, the sports, the clubs, the learning. The only thing I can’t stand is the homework - brain-crushing loads night after night. The National Sleep Foundation says: “Teens need about nine hours of sleep each night to function best...Most teens do not get enough sleep- One study found that only 15 percent reported sleep-ing eight hours on school nights.” I will bet you anything that 95 per-cent of that 85 percent of exhausted teenagers are being kept up to all

Gillen MartinJunior News Editor

My favorite time of the year is always Christ-mas time. The time when kitchens smell

of cookies and living rooms of pine needles. The time where lights glit-ter on houses and holiday figures stud neighborhood lawns. The time when everything is shiny and new yet traditional and old.

Christmas is made even greater because it means a two-week break from school. But since I’ve been at Arcata High, the break hasn’t given me much of a break, because right when school starts again, so do fi-nals.

Last year, when I should have been enjoying the final weekend of freedom, I was finishing impossible amounts of homework and studying for finals. The pressure of the en-tire first semester was weighing on my shoulders. I was wishing that school could have just stopped, ac-tually gone away for those precious two weeks. Isn’t the point of a va-cation to give a break from school, an opportunity to catch up on sleep and life outside of academics?

Dr. Susan Whitbourne proves how important breaks are, “Vaca-tions have the potential to break into the stress cycle. We emerge from a successful vacation feeling ready to take on the world again. We gain perspective on our problems, get to relax with our families and friends,

hours of the night by disgusting amounts of homework and study-ing.

The only way to manage it is to live for the weekends, but even more than that, live for the breaks. I go into every break sleep-deprived yet excited, and I expect to come out satisfied and well-rested. What I don’t bet on is the cruel homework assigned over the break that steals my sleep, nonetheless

Not only would having the se-mester end before vacation be more enjoyable for students, but it would also be more efficient for learning. Whoever thought that having a two-week break from school right before finals is a good idea should prob-ably rethink. Material is forgotten,

How the school calendar stole Christmas

Whoever thought that a two-week break from

school right before finals is a good idea should probably res-

think.

Forrest Lewis/PEPPERBOX

This picture sums up how depressing those two weeks of studying for finals were while my parents were climbing mountains in Nepal.

projects are rushed, and studying is procrastinated until the last minute to try to make the most of the holi-days. It seems to me that our school as a whole, teachers and students alike, would feel much better if the calendar were altered to give us all a truly restful, relaxing break.

Thanksgiving, I can handle it. Presidents Week, alright I guess. But Christmas break is a sacred time that should be a time reserved for holiday traditions, loved ones, fun, and homework-free rest. This break there will be no avoiding the work, it’s too late. I can only hope that by this time next year, our school comes to its senses and gets its calendar sorted out enough to save our holidays.

OPINION20 | December 20, 2012 Pepperbox

All you want for ChristmasLauren McCoy

Sports Editor

Rounded edges, snaz-zy apps, and a singu-lar button to take you “home” are some of

the attractions of the elusive iPhone - the most lusted after present that teens everywhere want this Christmas/Kwanzaa/Hanukkah. But no matter how fashionable and sophisticated you may look with that little rectangle glued to your hand, do you really need it? I’ll be the first one to admit it, I want an iPhone for Christmas. Even with my strong aversion to being pulled into the rushing headwaters of the mainstream “cool,” I cannot deny the amount of excitement such a device could bring to my life. Any time if someone ques-tioned my definition of a word, I could simply hop on Urban

Dictionary, edit an entry and prove that I was in fact the more knowledgeable about modern slang. When I start to feel de-

pressed, all I would need to do is hold down a button and the electronic angel Siri would tell me I’m the fairest in the land. Or perhaps there was a throng of brain-hungry zombies chasing me, all I would have to do is open my Tele-por-tation™ app and I would be out of there faster than you could scream, “Where’s the car?!”

Despite the many useful things iPhones can do, they are not as neces-sary as the air we breathe. People that do not have such advanced technology manage to drudge through their daily smartphone-less lives and still wake up the next morning. There are more people on this planet that are without these gadgets than those that are, and we still function. Though many people claim that iPhones better their lives to extreme levels, I fear there are also po-tential problems associated with them. With so many different ways of contact-ing someone besides actually talking to them, is it possible we as humans may forget how to speak to someone face to face? The emojis are endless, Snapchat has its own Twitter, and Voxer is pick-ing up volume. The anti-social tenden-cies of today's youth are all too clear, and if such behavior isn’t changed soon I fear there may be dire consequences

to humanity and the betterment of our society as a whole. (Ok, that’s a little dramatic.) The iPhone is an excellent example of the amazing things the tech-

nological world of today has achieved, but it just might lead to the demise of our fragile social construct.

This article is in-tended to tell you why you DO NOT need an iPhone, but as I am re-reading the beginning of it, I am realizing that much of what I said is the basis of ex-cellent reasons to go buy an iPhone for your children or loved ones. I’m not exactly sure why you shouldn’t get an iPhone any-more. Maybe I would be able to find out if I could borrow one of the eight iPhones from someone on my basketball team

All I would have to do is open my Tele-portationTM app and I would be out

of there faster than you could scream, “Where’s the car?!”

Seven of the eight iPhones currently popultating the pockets and palms of my basketball teammates.

Photo courtesy of Katerina Rocker Heppe

and Google ‘why people don’t need iPhones.’ (Of the four people without iPhones on my team, two of them have droids, and one is expecting a certain special rectangular slice for Christmas.) Sadly, I can’t be-cause it seems that I may be the only one on my team without a smartphone in 2013. Alas, I will continue to be the only one on the team (and by the end of the year probably the only one in the country) without the Ameri-can standard of awesomeness. I will remain stuck in the Stone Age with a phone that only sends text messages, makes phone calls, and takes pictures.

OPINIONDecember 20, 2012 | 21Pepperbox

Working hard for a cleaner campusGeena Damian

Reporter

Paper cups, candy wrap-pers, apple cores, chip bags, and little bits of left-over sandwiches: some

things one could expect to find in a high school parking lot after lunch. Yet we find almost nothing like this in AHS’s parking lot. We students would like to think that we are the sole reason behind this mysterious lack of litter around the school. Ac-tually, we have five energetic stu-dents and job coaches to thank for this.

At age 18, students in Mr. Rowe’s Special Day Class are eli-gible to be a part of the Northern Humboldt Employment Services (N.H.E.S) program. The goal of this program is to have students gain work experience through their jobs at school, and then be able to reap the rewards and recognize that, in the long run, work means having fun. This year, the five stu-dents who have stepped up to do the job are Justin Hamblin, Angel Lawler, Casey Tuttle, Eric Bosma and Wolfgang Mulvaney.

Nearly every day, these students go around the school picking up lit-ter we have left behind with tools and buckets. But that’s not all they do; according to senior Justin Ham-blin, they also “sort cans and get the band room ready for African Drums.” They pick up recyclables around campus, sort these materi-als, sweep hallways, shred paper, dust and wash windows and set up rooms for performances; all the while learning how to use tools and safety measures while gaining work experience to ready themselves for future jobs.

It’s not all hard work though; ev-ery Thursday afternoon, job coach-es take the workers around the com-munity to view jobs that they could be eligible for in the future. “I like mostly that we go out job seeking, I actually want to be a kindergarten teacher,” said senior Angel Lawler. On the way to exploring these jobs, the students also go to the bank, cash their checks from N.H.E.S., and practice their money skills. Throughout these field trips, the students gain social and practical skills, learning to use crosswalks, striking up conversations with oth-ers, wearing seatbelts and other skills necessary for everyday life. “They get to go around to business-es to see what work they do, and see what the job requirements are,” said job coach Jessica McBroome.

Now, maybe next time you see this fine group of students around the school with their buckets and tools, feel free to tell them they’ve been doing a great job, or say how great you think the campus looks. They work hard and deserve ap-preciation. They are the reason our campus looks so beautiful after all.

Eric Bosma helping keep our campus clean.

Geena Damian/PEPPERBOX

Geena Damian/PEPPERBOX

Eric Bosma (left) and Wolfgang Mulvaney (right) posing with the re-cycling that they collect around campus.

FEATURE22 | December 20, 2012 Pepperbox

A&EDecember 20, 2012 | 23Pepperbox

Grace LovellArt Director

Arcata High Live a success

AHS Live, Arcata High’s own talent show, had its once-a-year, three-day run the first weekend of

December--and if you weren’t there to see the spectacle, you missed out big time. The MCs--seniors Colleen Epperly, Casey Lynn and Sage Fanucci-Funes and sopho-more Ryan Ghisetti--were hilari-ous with their comic con-themed* skits. Sophomore Westin McHaney impressed everyone with his Ma-trix-esque glow-in-the-dark yo-yo tricks--“Make sure you say that it was NOT lame!” senior Rachel Perry said. The token magic trick routine was adorably sweet, and the one song-and-dance number, “Hey, Big Spender” performed by senior Aurie Stetzel can only be described as sizzling. Sophomore Gavin Lux

stole the show performing the lead in the musical theatre performance “Why do fools fall in love?” as well as singing and playing the guitar, ukulele and piano in three differ-ent musical numbers. Other ex-traordinary acts included Coelho Hill performing “Hallelujah” and Indonesian exchange student Nur Pratama singing and playing the piano to the song “Falling Slowly” from the musical Once. The show concluded with a tear-jerkingly beautiful tribute to Geddie Kuli-jian: Blaire Floyd sang The Scripts “Break Even” alongside Pratama on the piano.

One thing's for certain: Arcata High, you’ve got talent.

*Comic Con: A comics and popu-lar arts convention with costumes, role-playing, special guests, themes and anniversaries, and program-ming.

Photo courtesy of Dan Pambianco

Photo courtesy of Dan Pambianco

MCs Sage Fanucci-Funes and Ryan “Bernard” Ghisetti act out a Comic-Con themed skit during Arcata High Live.

Sophomore Gavin Lux plays ukelele and sings in one of his many acts.

A&E24 | December 20, 2012 Pepperbox

Predicting this year’s OscarsDakota Goodman

A&E Editor

The TaskHuddled around the only work-

ing computer in Room 104, a select group of Pepperboxers watched ten of the eighteen upcoming movie trailers for the winter holiday months. Without even watching the films, they have predicted the win-ners of the Oscars based only on the films’ three-minute previews. The following are their responses:

The TeamLauren McCoy, Sports Editor“I just really like Paul Rudd. If he was my age, I would marry him - wait, I would marry himanyways. Any movie he is in auto-matically becomes a favorite.”

Grace Lovell, Art Director“Cirque Du Soleil looks awe-

some, and I hope it actually has a decent plot. I’ll go see Gangster Squad just for Ryan Gosling’s hot-ness.”

Steve Sheets, reporter, in his panda hat with his beats wrapped around his neck.

Although Sheets was exceed-ingly biased toward the horror and adventure genres (admittingthe only movies he would see in theatres are Texas Chainsaw Mas-sacre 3D and DjangoUnchained), he showed a softer side after seeing the preview for Beautiful Creatures. “It’s kind acheesy but an interesting love story,” he whispered.

Lauren Grace SteveActress Emma Stone Maude Apatow Alexandra

DaddarioActor Paul Rudd Ryan Gosling Tom CruisePicture The Impossible Les Misérables Django

UnchainedDirector James

CameronJames Cameron

John Luessenhop

Special Effects Beautiful Creatures

Cirque Du Soleil: Worlds Away 3D

Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D

Soundtrack Les Misérables Les Misérables Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D

Screenplay On the Road On the Road Django Unchained

A&EDecember 20, 2012 | 25Pepperbox

The Movies

This is 40

Jack Reacher

Cirque Du Soleil: Worlds Away 3D

On the Road

The Impossible

Django Unchained

Les Misérables

Parental Guidance

Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D

Gangster Squad

Beautiful Creatures

This Is 40 is expected to be a hilarious comedy about a complete mid-life crisis. The comedy’s story line expands upon the hit movie Knocked Up, where two polarly-opposite strangers have a one-night stand and get pregnant.

Jack Reacher, on the other hand, is a mystery. The movie is about ahomicide investigator trying to find more information on a tragedythat and resulting in the shooting of five random victims by a trained military sniper.

Cirque Du Soleil is an amazing circus/dance company. The world-renowned company is being featured in a movie that follows an original story line.

On the Road leans back toward the comedy genre featuring three young adventurous people traveling across country together. Sal Paradise, the protagonist in this film, is a young writer whose life flips upside down when he meets Dean Moriarty and Marylou. Along the road the three characters meet a jumble of random peoplethat make their trip unforgettable.

Transitioning into drama and action, The Impossible, a movie about the tsunami in Thai-land. This drama is about a family on Christmas vacation enjoying the warm weather the day after Christmas and looking up to see the wall of water coming toward their hotel.

Django Unchained is a historical film set in the South two years before civil war erupted in the United States. Django, the protagonist, is a slave who joins up with Dr. King Schultz, a Ger-man-born bounty hunter. The two men chase the trail of the murderous Brittle brothers but Django the slave is needed as a guide. As a reward to guiding Schultz to the brothers, Django is promised freedom but unlike most slaves he does not leave the white man’s side.

Transitioning from action and adventure to a very successful stage based musical, Les Misérables. This musical is based on Victor Hugo’s novel of redemption. Hugo based his novel in 19th century France and the undying theme in literature of a promise to the individual self to be true to the human spirit. This theme encompasses all emotions that are intertwined with the pursuit of happi-ness. The characters show conflicts within society, with police chasing prisoners, and the kindness of the individual, helping others out in times of need.

Christmas promises some amazing films; next on the list is Parental Guidance. This comedy is about the different between parental guidance and grandparental guidance. Two old school grand-parents agree to watch their grandkids that they barely know resulting in a hilarious and chaotic story that binds the family together in the end.

The gore and mystery is coming back bigger and better. Gangster Squad is about the LAPD

in the 1940’s and 1950’s trying to keep crime rates down by attempt-ing to forbid East Coast mafia from entering the city.

Beautiful Creatures is also a story based on a series of novels. The books were co-written by Kami Carcia and Margaret Stohl. Capturing the tension of moving to a new town, mystery, and curiosity two young people find a crypt of the young woman’s family secrets.

Molly SalamunovichManaging Editor

Inside the Armack Orchestra

If you come in late to a class like orchestra, the walk of shame goes something like this: You’re in the hallway

and you hear music. You stop and take a deep breath before open-ing the heavy double door which creaks and slams when it opens and closes. Every single pair of eyes turn to you. You look down. At least you look nice today. You’re kidding. You look awful. Your hair is a mess and your shirt is on back-wards. Maybe your shoes are on the wrong feet. Somehow you manage to trip over the end of the flute sec-tion, bump over a few stands, hit a couple of cases, accidentally knock the viola player’s music out of her hands, and as you finally jump over a coffee mug and lunge to your seat, your knee hits your stand partner’s bow and it tumbles to the floor. At this point the room is si-lent. You wince, pick up the bow, inspect it, and slowly place it back on the stand and whisper a hurried apology as you begin to unzip your case and pull out your instrument. You feel a sharp tap on the top of your head.

“Nice of you to join us, Ms. Salamunovich, little late don’t you think?” Carol is peering down at you off of her stand and rapping you on the head with her baton.

“Sorry, Carol... overslept.” You inhale, wondering if your excuse is good enough. She’ll grace you with one more glare and a little head shake and continue to conduct, and as you look around the room and see that there are others in your sec-tion that have not yet arrived, you

know they will not get off so easy. The show must go on after all, and it is the responsibility of each per-son to keep up with the group, and do their part.

If I wake up at six, I know it’s go-ing to be a great day. Hey, I might even have time to grab a bowl of ce-real, which is a huge plus, as I never have time for breakfast. What usu-ally happens is I roll out of bed at approximately 6:40, throw on some jeans and a sweatshirt, and head out the door. If you make it to class be-fore Carol, regardless of the time, you’re on time. If you make it to that final stretch in the hallway, and you hear the pitch perfect tuning of the oboe or the dynamic entrance of the trumpets in a piece being pre-pared for the Christmas concert, you know you’re in for a scolding. I’ve been chastised one too many times for coming in late and disturbing

the already well-oiled morning rou-tine of the orchestra.

You may ask yourself why in the world a bunch of teenagers would choose to gather at the crack of dawn each morning and play music. We often find ourselves wondering the same thing. It’s really hard to convince yourself you still like mu-

sic when you’re in the third hour of a five hour silent film rehearsal on a Saturday afternoon. You ache, you’re hungry, you’re tired, and at this point you could play the music in your sleep. That’s where Carol comes in. Carol Jacobson is the reason that most of the students in orchestra stay enrolled. While we love to complain about her high ex-pectations and excessive practice schedules, without her the Armack orchestra would be just another high school group playing mediocre quality music for the general public. Instead, we are a world renowned traveling group of musicians play-ing pieces designed for profession-als and lighting up the community with our youthfulness and our mu-sical abilities. The criticism might not always be completely construc-tive, but it is effective, and our hard work is always conveyed through our performances.

“Carol reprimands and hurts feelings, but above all, she loves us each individually and cares for each of us like no other teacher. That’s

why I show up at 7:00 every single morning. That’s why I love orches-tra,” junior Skyler Wrigley stated. Carol is an inspiration to us all, and no matter how many pages the paper could ever grant me, and no matter how long someone gave me to speak on the subject, I could nev-er quite convey the special place in my heart that orchestra holds. Only those that have been blessed with the experience of being in a family as large and as giving as the orches-tra can truly understand what I’m saying when I say that orchestra and Carol have changed my perspective on life and I will forever cherish the memories and friendships I have made in the class. I have absolutely no regrets about sticking with or-chestra for four years. I wish ev-eryone had the chance to have the experiences I have had with Carol and the Armack.

For more information on the Ar-mack Orchestra, including pictures, videos, and performance dates, check out the Armack website:http://hum-woo.org/index.html.

Maestra Carol Jacobson offers instruction to first chair Carson McHaney during a silent film performance.

Photo courtesy of Darcy Robins

Carol Jacobson is the reason that most of the stu-

dents in orchestra stay enrolled.

A&EDecember 20, 2012 | 27Pepperbox

A&EDecember 20, 2012 | 29Pepperbox

Holiday Baking with Jamie MaherJamie Maher

Reporter

Turn your kitchen into cookie central with these quick and easy recipes!

Classic Sugar Cookies:Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups butter, softened 2 cups white sugar 4 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 5 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt*recipe makes 5 dozen

Directions: In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight). Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahr-enheit (200 degrees Celsius). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any Christmas or holiday cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.*For holiday cheer, decorate sugar cookies with frosting and sprinkles.

Frosting:Ingredients: 1 cup confectioners' sugar 2 teaspoons milk 2 teaspoons light corn syrup 1/4 teaspoon almond extract assorted food coloringDirections: In a small bowl, stir together

confectioners' sugar and milk until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and al-mond extract until icing is smooth and glossy. If icing is too thick, add more corn syrup. Divide into separate bowls, and add food colorings to each to de-sired intensity. Dip cookies, or paint them with a brush.

Gingerbread Cookies:

Ingredients: 3/4 cup butter, softened 1 cup packed brown sugar 1 egg 3/4 cup molasses 4 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons ground ginger 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda 1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 3/4 teaspoon ground cloves 1/4 teaspoon salt

Vanilla frosting of your choice Red and green food coloring*recipe makes 5 dozen

Directions: In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and molasses. Combine the flour, ginger, baking soda, cin-namon, cloves and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight or until easy to handle. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with floured 2-1/2-in. cookie cutters. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased bak-ing sheets. Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes or until edges are firm. Tint some of the frosting red and some green. Decorate cookies.

End of The World Cookies:Ingredients: 3/4 cup butter 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup packed brown sugar 1/2 cup sugar 1 egg 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp vanilla 1/4 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 2 cups oats

Directions: In a medium bowl beat butter and half the flour. Add sugars, egg, bak-ing powder, baking soda, and vanil-la. Stir in cinnamon. Add remaining flour and then oats. Place desired size onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes at 375°. Don’t be afraid to indulge, for it will be your last meal.

Photo courtesy of Joni Maher

201230 | December 20, 2012 Pepperbox

The end of the world as we know itAnna Nordquist

News Editor

Sage FanucchiFeature Editor

The world is not going to end, but if it does, you can’t say, “I told you so,” because we will be dead.

According to most media, the Maya are the culprits in predicting the supposed end. The Maya had a sophisticated and complicated civi-lization. With no technology, they tracked the stars, built elaborate cit-ies and grew many crops.

This civilization also created their own calendar system divided into two parts: the Calendar Round and the Long Count Calendar. The Calendar Round has a cycle of 52 years and at the end, the calendar resets itself. The Long Count Cal-endar is where this myth of the “end of the world” stems from. The cycle

lasts 5,139 solar years and began at the base date of August 13th, 3114 B.C, meaning on December 21st, 2012 the Long Count Calendar will end its first cycle. The Maya will be treating the end of the Long Count Calendar like a new year. Then, on December 22nd, 2012, the next Long Calendar Count will begin and last another 5,139 solar years.

People across the globe, but es-pecially in the Western world, are celebrating the supposed end. The Great Convergence 2012 music fes-tival will mark the “dawn of a new era” by introducing the new Calen-dar with trippy music at the base of the pyramids.

Doomsday anticipators have plans to board their houses for when the aliens descend to take over the planet. Some believe that the earth will be sucked into a black hole, ending the planet as we know it. Astrologists will be viewing the once in 26,000 year alignment of the Milky Way’s equator and the winter solstice. Our own Arcata

High is squeezing in one last day of precious education before the sup-posed end of the world.

The media is exploiting this day more than any other group. Many do not know the true history of the year 2012, they only believe what they have heard from their friends or what they saw in the 2009 hit movie, 2012. They believe that the end will be filled with volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, falling gla-ciers, and stray asteroids. However, very little of the movie is factual, it is mainly science-fiction. 2012 played on the myth that the world will end in 2012 to make money. Because of the date’s significance to many cultures, religions, gov-ernments and scientists, the movie made a profit of 170 million dollars.

Today, according to a poll cited in the New York Times, one in ten people truly believe that the world will end in 2012, meaning twelve percent of people in the United States believe that the world will end on December 21 of 2012. Per-haps, this number is higher than the world’s average because people in the U.S. have a greater exposure to media. Contrastingly, some media sways people to believe that the end of the world will not end. “I just read that the end of the world is not true,” stated Junior Quinn Rice, “There will just be three days of darkness, that’s what the Discov-ery Channel said,” Rice continued. When asked if he actually believed this, Rice stated, “Oh yeah, it’s gon-na happen.”

For the people who spend money preparing for the end of the world or do cartwheels off of the school roof or confess to friends and fami-lies what they really mean to them. On December 22, when the world is still here, you can blame the media.

&

I would pay the power compa-

nies to turn off electricity for 30 minutes (to trick people that the world was really end-ing.)

I would hang out with my fam-ily. But I don’t think it’s gonna happen.

- Dante Atkins-Salazar

I wouldn’t show up to school. I would surf for the last time, eat sushi, and spend a day at home playing video games, sitting down, watching mov-ies and one-day adventuring.

- Nash Karp

Oh that’s right, I keep forget-ting about that. If it was actu-ally going to end, I would tell the people I love what I really thought about them and the people I don’t what I really think about them.”

- Cindy Condit

If the worldis actually ending...

- Mia Nasca

Gabe Schneider/PEPPERBOX

2012December 20, 2012 | 31Pepperbox

The world is not going to endSteve Sheets

Reporter

We have all heard that somehow, on De-cember 21, we are all going to decay

and wither away, and in this time just about every year some junky says the world’s going to end. Well I’m here to tell you that this realm is not over and you will live! People have been simply misunderstood and crazy for coming up with the idea that at the end of a calendar is the end of space and time as we know it, but no science can support the idea of space and time ceasing to exist.

My whole life I have been think-ing of the end of days, but no con-clusion makes sense in the eyes of a sane man. If this world was go-ing to end, I would be dead already. Like maybe another holocaust or genocide or nuclear war to nudge us into some sort of aftermath waste land and then I’m sure all the clean water will be foul and people will begin to dissipate and sane humans will become rare. So why did any-

one think that in our position that in one day the entire human race will somehow cease to exist? I believe people will just mess themselves up believing that the world is going to end, they may harm others, they may harm themselves, but we will not all die. You’re still here, aren’t you? So, here we have another “hy-pothesis,” how about natural disas-ters? Will we have one, will it wipe us out? We never know. It could happen tomorrow, it could happen in a year. We just don’t know. So don’t go building an underground bunker and wasting your college money on preparations for the end of days. Let’s think about the apoc-

alyptic aftermath of an Armaged-don situation, would you want to die and get it over with or would you want to survive and attempt to make this new “Stone Age” life livable? Where would you stand, if this world was on the edge of push-ing a fat restart button and everyone would have to fight to live and ev-ery man for himself and his family? I know that I would want to live through the Fallout 3 kind of set-ting. I would be the one to head for the hills and fight for my survival, I would be the kid with the AK-47, fighting off bandits and executing cannibals. But it’s not like I would be invincible, if you die, you die. If

it’s your time, then it’s your time. I would at least die an honorable death, lying on the forest floor with bullet holes in my back, but what if I didn’t die like that? What if I died trying to get food from a market? Or the neighbors decided to come over and blow me up for my pan-try food? Well, all I know is that when the bombs fall I will be here, and I will be ready to push myself through the fall out and overcome the challenges that stand before me. I would be solid and heartless for the people that only reap in a time of distress. But, in this case, I’m still standing here and you are too... so? Keep on keeping on.

One plausible scenario for how the world may be destroyed on a later dateSam Freed/PEPPERBOX

End of the World Goodbye Grams