By DYLAN LATORE – Seniors, can you feel that feeling in the air? That wispy, light feeling of freedom coming closer and closer? It’s now at the point where seniors at IHS have less than a week until their departure off into the world. With the first warm days blessing our town, it’s almost as if something clicked in the unanimous minds of our class.

The end is near, and I have never been happier to say it. Other seniors are feeling the joy as well; Rocco Fanella described the feeling as, “Absolutely unreal. It’s really hard to believe that we are finally done. It’s been a great experience growing up with all my classmates, and I look forward to graduating with them as well.”

Continue reading “Graduation is right around the corner” →

*The following article won a first place prize in this year’s Newspapers In Education contest

By JUSTIN REESE – As a diabetic, medication has become a regular in my life. A regular that I have accepted and has become habitual for me. I couldn’t imagine a life without it. Unfortunately, with any medication comes a cost, which is sometimes unaffordable.

A Harvard study shows that millions of adults skip their medications simply because they can’t afford them. With common health issues like diabetes, high blood pressure, and arthritis, it’s not uncommon for adults to take more than five prescriptions per day.

Continue reading “Healthcare: Through the eyes of a diabetic” →

As part of the Indiana Gazette’s Newspapers n Education program, three members of the High Arrow staff submitted opinion columns on the topic of gun violence and school shootings, many receiving NIE awards for their efforts.  The articles are presented below:

Armed teachers challenge gun violence

By JULIAN YERGER – Just over a month ago, at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, a mentally ill former student entered the building and used his assault rifle to kill seventeen people and seriously wound another fourteen.  This is certainly not the first school shooting or even the deadliest. Over a dozen have occurred since the beginning of 2018, about 290 since 2013.

Continue reading “Students voice opinions on gun violence” →

By MIA LENZI and INDIA KRUG

A successful first year for President Trump

By MIA LENZI – January 20 has recently passed leaving presses hot with the latest articles reviewing President Trump’s first year in office. Many will choose to overlook the positives of the year, but the previous 365 days have been full of accomplishments.

Continue reading “Point-Counterpoint: Trump’s First Year In Office” →

By INDIA KRUG – The coming of a new year involves many things: tuning in to watch the ball drop, visiting with tipsy relatives, and scribbling down your coveted New Year’s resolutions.  I’ll be honest, I write them every year too.  Sometimes they’re realistic: drinking more water, keeping my room clean.   

Continue reading “The danger of the #NewYearNewMe sham” →

By DEBRA FLINT- The word feminism has been tainted by society. It has been confused with man-hating or a form of sexism. Feminism is the advocacy of women’s rights and equality for all sexes, rather than becoming more superior. Today’s society has become a real-life battle of the sexes.

Continue reading “Why feminism isn’t hating men” →

By INDIA KRUG and JULIAN YERGER

POINT: The Repercussions of Celebrating Columbus Day

By INDIA KRUG – As Americans, it is common for us to idealize holidays.  We place colder month festivities such as Thanksgiving atop pedestals, choosing to celebrate a crystallized vision of how we perceive that our culture comfortably fits within these events. 

And as our children come home with their paper Pilgrim hats and drawings of colonists helping Native Americans cut a turkey around a table, we unknowingly progress the line of appropriation. But the truth is, our rose-colored glasses can only protect us from so much.  

Continue reading “Point/Counterpoint: The Repercussions of Celebrating Columbus Day” →

By DEBRA FLINT- A sport, by definition, is an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which a team competes against another or others for entertainment. The marching band is a vital part of every IHS football game. Many believe marching band is just a form of performing arts, and they’d be right, but it’s also a sport.

Continue reading “Marching band deserves its sports title” →

By KALYN MENIFEE – Many people in Indiana don’t find the Charlottesville protest entirely relevant to their interests. How could they? The tragedy occurred in a southern state, far away from the comfort of safe little Indiana, with people who have similar ideas to those of Nazism. It’s crazy, it really is.

So what can someone write that hasn’t been overdone to the point it becomes physically exhausting to read? The fact of the matter is that this very question is the problem. Violence like this is oversaturated in the media so that if you see that someone is protesting and then that protest escalates to something violent, people overlook it. Anything concerning Donald Trump is tired and viewed as unimportant. Anti-Fascist is considered just another violent anti-conservative nonsense group for edgy teenagers to latch onto.

Normalizing the violence, normalizing extreme and often genocidal political views of either side and therefore validating them is changing the face of American media. Many would agree that there is an inherent malice in newsfeeds, youtube vlogs, late night tv shows and even some children’s cartoons that mention any political topic. You have the Alt-Right versus Antifa, you have Blacks versus Whites, you have Straights versus Gays.

People separate themselves from the goings on in America because they think that certain things will never affect them. ‘Oh look, someone criticizing Donald Trump again’ or ‘The right is just accusing everyone of being triggered snowflakes’ it’s commonplace, like listening to the same tired Katy Perry pop song on the radio since 2010, or watching a twelve year old dab consecutively because they don’t know how to act in a public place.

In the past few months, there have been several different protests that have ended in violence, Anti-Fascists attacking peaceful conservative right-wing protesters in Berkeley, and of course the clash of the Alt-right and counter-protesters in Charlottesville that ended up in the death of one individual. But all that ever happens is that news sources conflate the issue into something it isn’t and it becomes a hot-button topic on Twitter so people can flaunt how ‘woke’ they are and it’s over.

This is the exact formula of what happened with the Baltimore protests: people were very angry for a short period of time, but it inspired no long-term solutions. No actions were put in place, people seemed to let the issue fade out of their mindset.

‘What am I going to do about it?’ you may ask. It’s simple, try to understand what’s going on, take the time to read things, to understand the truth for yourself. Spend the extra five minutes to validate a source on whether ‘Donald Trump killed Mexican Children and Threw Them Over the Border Wall’ is an actual thing rather than posting it to your Facebook feed and watching as your fifty-year-old aunt that you’ve only ever talked to once have an aneurysm in the comments.

People need to step out of their comfort zones with the media as well, if you get your news from InfoWars and InfoWars only, you may or may not have a skewed view of reality. When people get stuck in an echo chamber where they can’t take criticism to their worldview because they are so ham-fisted about how right they are, they become megalomaniacs who refuse the likes of society itself because they, and only they, are the righteous hands of the ‘woke’.

For information to help confirm some of my ideas that media is normalizing violence here are a few videos and other sources listed at the bottom.

• https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/08/28/black-clad-antifa-attack-right-wing-demonstrators-in-berkeley/?utm_term=.2dc39ca2dd2f
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/local/charlottesville-timeline/?utm_term=.1ec91a00ebc1
• https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiig8S9oKDWAhUR92MKHUmLB_AQtwIIJTAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DE5Brqo0vSNE&usg=AFQjCNFHtUvxU8a13C_tZOVLj-oE-bWfxg – Milo Stewart saying all whites are racist
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miQYoLc-Osg – girl agreeing with Hitler
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntWieh7YIgY – Alex Jones compilation
• Also check out anything that buzzfeed did during the election
• https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/26/opinion/sorry-liberals-bigotry-didnt-elect-donald-trump.html?mcubz=0
• http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35406324

If there are any other, comments, validation of sources request, or even if you just want to argue with me, please write a letter to the editor.

[Photo from The Washington Post]

BY HANNAH STEELE and KALYN MENIFEE

PRO:

BY HANNAH STEELE –  American education is falling way behind other countries, ranking 39th in math and 27th in the sciences.  Being in desperate need for a positive change, the government hired the right person for the job.  On February 7th, Betsy DeVos was sworn in as the Secretary of Education.  With the Senate divided 50/50, Vice President Pence cast the tie-breaking vote, confirming DeVos.

DeVos is the chairman of The American Federation for Children, which works to give parents the choice to choose the school that they think is best suited for their child.  This would benefit children who live in an area that doesn’t have a good education system and allow them to transfer to a better school.  Additionally, Devos served on the board of directors for the organization, Alliance for School Choice.  Charter schools, which are the fastest growing form of public education, help minorities and lower income students have a chance at a quality education, and Devos has always been a huge advocate for these schools.  DeVos will ensure that all children in America have access to good education, including children from inner cities.

DeVos started her political career by being a volunteer for former President Gerald Ford in 1976.  Since then, she has served on the Republican National Committee and has been elected as the chairman of the Michigan Republican Party four times.  DeVos has always been politically active as a Republican and focused on reforming the education system. Having a lifelong interest in the arts, Devos was asked by former President George W. Bush to serve on the Board of Trustees for the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts.  She has also served on the board for ArtPrize; an international art competition founded by her son.  Additionally, she also funded the Devos Institute for Art Management at the University of Maryland.  Being focused on reforming the education system, Devos has served on The Potter’s House School, Great Lakes Education Project, and the Foundation for Excellence in Education.  Her list of qualifications goes on.  

Regarding guns in schools, Devos believes that it’s “best left to locals and states to decide.”  She has also cited potential grizzly bear threats in states like Wyoming that could benefit by having the protection of firearms.  While this may seem far-fetched, wildlife does jeopardize the safety of schools.  A bear in New Jersey had to be shot as it approached a school in 2011.  Furthermore, a mountain lion in Nebraska also threatened a school.  Although this isn’t an issue that affects everyone, there is always the chance of something dangerous happening.  Leaving this responsibility to the states is the responsible choice.

Devos is the right person to lead our country into having a successful education system. Her passion for school choice will allow every student in America to learn in the quality environment that they deserve.  Having political involvement that spans for over 35 years gives her the qualifications for the job of Secretary of Education.  

CON:

By KALYN MENIFEE–Betsy DeVos, the Newest Secretary of Education, was overall not a well-planned choice for the job. But why? What could have possibly been the reason? A question, I am readily able to answer.

DeVos is a well-known advocate for charter schools and school-choice programs, she and her husband both lobby for the cause in her home state of Michigan. Charter schools are publicly funded and privately run institutions, that can be owned and be subject to private agendas just like any other privately run company. In 2014 Valerie Strauss, in an article from The Washington Post wrote, “A report on Pennsylvania’s charter schools released by a state legislator [Rep. James Roebuck] found that only one in six of the state’s charter schools is ‘high-performing’ and notes that none of the online charters is ‘high-performing.’”

Charter schools are on the rise however, with enrollments increasing each day due to the “school-choice movement,” but this trend is not necessarily good for overall education, especially in Pennsylvania, where there are very loose charter school laws. There is an overall lack of accountability with charter schools, because they don’t always have to follow the rules and regulations of their districts. Charter schools also don’t readily enroll special education students in Pennsylvania, with the percentage well below 15 percent, the average in Pennsylvania public schools (2014 statistics).

Guns in schools have been a serious topic, considering the rise of school shootings in recent years. Ignoring the Sandy Hook shooting conspiracy theorists, this topic has a lot of weight in America. Since gun control laws do exist here, but not to the extent that many Americans may want. DeVos commented, most memorably claimed that schools may need guns to prevent bear attacks. But she neglected to address the problems with school shootings or even problems with her plan.

How is Betsy DeVos even qualified for her job as Secretary of education? Instead of going into a wordy monologue, I simply will include this quote from the Detroit Free Press, “DeVos isn’t an educator, or an education leader,” they wrote. “She’s not an expert in pedagogy or curriculum or school governance. In fact, she has no relevant credentials or experience for a job setting standards and guiding dollars for the nation’s public schools.
“She is, in essence, a lobbyist – someone who has used her extraordinary wealth to influence the conversation about education reform, and to bend that conversation to her ideological convictions despite the dearth of evidence supporting them.”

By WILEY BELLE FRUMKIN –  From the first day of life to the last day of life, objects influence every decision we make. Things. Stuff. Materials. They open a world of wonder and give humans immense opportunities to grow. The right clothes can make a girl popular, and a nice car alongside a big house can show off a person’s wealth. The point is clear, buy things to show others that you… well.. bought things. Are we forgetting what’s important?

Minimalism is a lifestyle gaining attention from people who are tired of having too much of an emotional tie to materials. It has gained popularity due to the minimalist documentary Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things, in which the importance of simple-living is highlighted.

In most cases, more things equals more stress. A recent article by CNN Money confirms that most Americans as are deeply worried about their financial future.

Advertisers tell consumers “This will make you happy!” In an attempt to escape the stress that buying things causes, they actually listen and buy more things! It’s the sad trap of consumer culture, and the reason most Americans end up with way more things than they ever needed.

Boredom is a product of consumerism that is created by the over-attachment to consumer items. Society has become dependent on objects to give them joy, and when those objects are taken away, they cannot function.

With a brain as complex as ours and our superb ability to reason, boredom should not exist. Most everything we see has been thought up by the human brain, yet once we take those things away, we stop thinking.

Minimalists put less emotional value on material items and in return have more time and energy to focus on personal passions. This doesn’t mean cut every single thing out of your life and go live in a tent. It doesn’t mean live in a one bedroom home without any decorations.

It means rely less on the physical and more on the metaphysical, or being and knowing. It’s important not to rely on objects to find your identity. Exploring identity and then adding “stuff” based on what you know about yourself paves a smooth ride for a happy life.

Most minimalists reach where they want to be mentally by getting rid of possessions, and slowly adding back in things they truly cannot live without. You would be surprised how much less you have to think about when the amount of items you own downsizes.

Minimalism  can be a hard concept to grasp initially. The best way to experiment with minimalism is to get rid of a few things you “couldn’t live without” for two weeks. After the two weeks, if you want them back in your life, bring them back in. But, it can be an eye opening experience to see where the minimalist lifestyle takes you.

By JULIAN YERGER – There’s one department of Federal government whose budget is more than all other departments and agencies put together.

It’s the Department of Defense, assigned the nearly impossible task of keeping America safe from all possible foreign threats.  In 2015, the US spent 600 billion dollars on its military; more than any other country and more than the next eight countries combined.

Despite the massive budget, there are those who feel that the government may not be doing enough to support the military. Freshman Mohannad Al Maita thinks that, “Military spending was deprioritized during the terms of Clinton and Obama, and it has caused the US military fall behind [rivals] such as China.”

The main problem isn’t how much is spent, the problem is how it’s spent.

Defense spending is misguided because of lobbying from the Military Industrial Complex and millions of dollars in campaign donations.  These companies have shaped America’s foreign policy outlook and placed it on the bleeding edge of technological development.  The F-35 fighter program is a classic example of the issues this arrangement creates.

In October of 2001, defense company Lockheed Martin won a contract to develop its X-35 prototype into America’s next generation of fighter aircraft.  The plan to develop it into three separate variants, have it ready within five years, and make it cheaper and more capable than its predecessor was ambitious at best.  Years behind schedule and billions over budget, the first F-35s are finally being delivered.

The F-35 fighter program was created to solve the problem of rapidly rising costs, yet it exemplifies everything wrong with the US military’s approach to advanced weapons and procurement systems.  Few companies bidding on lucrative contracts, close cooperation among companies that are supposedly competitors, and shrewd political maneuvering have created a project that is simply too big to kill.

Although the project looks cheaper than the F-22 on paper, the program’s costs are skyrocketing because Lockheed used a production method that emphasized speed over cost.  They started mass producing fighters before testing had finished, so when changes inevitably had to be made, there were hundreds of aircraft to fix.  It was a process Lockheed promised would speed production, but only caused more cost overruns and delays.

Aircraft are finally being delivered, but these development problems were not fully fixed.  One advanced feature of the F-35 is the pilot’s individually formed $800,000 virtual reality helmet that allows them to see through the aircraft using outside sensors.  When it works, the system is incredibly useful.  When it doesn’t, the pilot is practically blind.

Lockheed is delivering aircraft with defective helmet systems and other issues.  These aircraft will inevitably need to be repaired, or “upgraded,” and this will create more business in the future.
Lockheed Martin was created in a 1995 merger between two well-established aerospace companies.  As an experienced player in the system, it knew the standard political techniques.

One technique is called “peanut buttering.”  Just as peanut butter is spread around, by spreading out the work on a major project, everyone stands to gain something from its development.  Even though Lockheed Martin won the contract, they reached out to 1,250 separate suppliers in 45 states to build the aircraft.  This significantly raises costs but also creates more support.  If work is carried out in 45 states, 90 senators will support it because it creates jobs in their home state.

A far more blunt alternative is to simply send money to lawmakers responsible for deciding whether to fund the program.  According to the Center for Responsive Politics, in 2014 Lockheed donated $4.1 million to influential lawmakers.

Many politicians have spoken out against the program, including Senator John McCain and President Donald Trump, who criticized the “tremendous cost and cost overruns.”  Trump has promised to renegotiate the program to lower costs and increase jobs, but only congress holds the authority to fund budgets and Lockheed has no reason to make significant concessions.

Some students doubted Trump’s motives for the statement, such as freshman Hannah Wick.  “We’re overanalyzing the situation.  We still spend more than any other country on defense and Trump wants to increase spending more, but that’s just a scare tactic.”

The F-35 fighter is less stealthy and a worse visual-range dogfighter than its predecessor, and many of its advantages are simply due to more advanced computers, which any new design would benefit from.  The basic design is a mediocre compromise that was not specialized for dogfighting like its predecessor and is far too expensive to fully replace ground attack aircraft.

Despite all its issues, the F-35 is only a symptom, not the disease.  The situation America finds itself in today has been forming since the end of World War II. The F-35 program has shown the disaster that can be created when defense contractors are given too much power.

In his 1961 farewell address, President Dwight D. Eisenhower spelled out exactly the problem we would be in,  “We have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions… We must not fail to comprehend its grave implications… We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.”

According to the US General Services Administration, in 2015 the top five defense contractors received $78 billion in contracts.  In the same year, according to OpenSecrets.org, these contractors spent $58 million on lobbying.

The true problem here is the effect campaign funding can have on politics, and how the American public needs to start watching where defense money goes.  The politicians responsible for the F-35 debacle should face consequences, and limitations need to be placed on campaign funding from defense companies.

The defense budget is a politically controversial issue, but maximum value for money should be something everyone can support.

Photo: Lt. Gen. Christopher C. Bogdan is the Program Executive Officer for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Program Office in Arlington, Va. The F-35 Lightning II Joint Program Office is the Department of Defense’s agency responsible for developing and acquiring the F-35A/B/C, the next-generation strike aircraft weapon system for the Navy, Air Force, Marines, and many allied nations.

By KALYN MENIFEE– February is a time when black people come together to celebrate and show off our cultural muscles, a time where we get a little more recognition in the media as something other than rappers, basketball players, and other often used stereotypes. During this month however, other races seem to oversaturate it and turn it into ‘Martin Luther King and Ruby Bridges Week” and miss all the rich history that the black community has, while cramming every time Martin Luther King even said the word ‘colored’ into a week-long bonanza just to get it over with. Ironically enough, it seems that people of other races somewhat ignore the rich culture the black community has instead of listening and learning about the trials and tribulations of the black community during black history month.

Black innovations have helped the United States since its founding, and it does the community a disservice to pretend we only play sports, rap, and get shot – and an even bigger disservice to pretend that the only and biggest advocate for black people was Martin Luther King.

A trans woman by the name of Marsha P. Johnson, threw the first stone at the infamous Stonewall riots in 1969; an African-American, fed up with the autocratic systems in place telling her who she could and couldn’t love began a movement that would have rippling effects even today. In the 2015 movie Stonewall however, she and her Puerto Rican drag queen counterpart Sylvia Rivera are completely erased, and were instead replaced by a white actor with a cheap haircut that would be better fitting in a backyard remake of the famous musical Grease than a historical fiction movie about the start of a nationwide LGBT movement.

Angela Yvonne Davis, leader of a branch of the communist party in the 1960s wrote Women, Culture, & Politics and was one of the most prominent female activists of her time and had radical views about black people and black culture and taught them to any person who would lend an ear. She went to both Brandeis University and the University of California where she was a member of the Black Panther Party, but she also spent her time with the Che-Lumumba Club, which was an all black branch of the Communist Party. She then taught at the University of California, where she faced struggles because of her affiliation with Communism, but still works there today.

As well as activism, black people pioneered forms of music, such as jazz, blues, and rock and roll, as well as R&B and soul music. The creator of that classic rock and roll sound, many may not believe it, or even want to, was a black woman by the name of Rosetta Tharpe. Rock and roll was an illegitimate lovechild of blues. With its fierce rhythms and charged lyrics, it was an evolution of gospel music used in the time of slavery. A pioneer of rock, Little Richard told Time in 2001, “There wasn’t nobody playing it at the time but black people — myself, Fats Domino, Chuck Berry. White kids started paying more attention to this music, white girls were going over to this music, they needed somebody to come in there — like Elvis.” Black people had these and other genres perfected down to every last note.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe was a self-taught guitarist who successfully crossed over from gospel music to rock ‘n’ roll. “If you look back at the most influential musicians of the 20th century, she’s probably in the top 10,” Bob Merz, a Pennsylvania-based writer and publisher who once organized a benefit concert to pay for a memorial for Tharpe, told NPR. Elvis got much inspiration from her, as well as any musician that dared call themselves a pioneer of rock and roll.

Jimi Hendrix, the most innovative and stunning electric guitarist to ever grace a stage with his music, was (guess what) a fan of rock and roll and blues growing up. According to Biography.com: “In many ways, music became a sanctuary for Hendrix. He was a fan of blues and rock and roll, and with his father’s encouragement, taught himself to play guitar. When Hendrix was 16, his father bought him his first acoustic, and the next year his first electric guitar—a right-handed Supro Ozark that the natural lefty had to flip upside down to play.” He was in the military for a few years, but later went into a full career of music under the name Jimmy James and played backup for many of the prominent rock musicians of the time. He later changed his name once he became more recognized. Released in 1967, the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s first single, “Hey Joe,” was an instant smash in Britain and was soon followed by hits such as “Purple Haze” and “The Wind Cries Mary.” He became a hit overnight and the world fell to his feet. After riding high for two more albums, and many more singles, Jimmy tragically died from drug complications in 1970.

There can be no mistake that black people are proud of their culture, built on such sturdy roots to come out of a situation that is the equivalent of a genocide to our values and traditions, and who have built another culture all our own that others envy and copy, even with the struggles we have. One can only say that the black community is more than resilient, it is thriving in the harshest of environments.

[Photo by Sister Rosetta Tharpe courtesy of wfmu.org]