Features

 Ms. Slack and Mr. Rand- Advisors 

The WHS online student newspaper is back for a second year. We are looking for writers, reporters, artists, graphic designers, photographers, videographers, cartoonists, and editors.  We are looking for anyone who wants to be involved and have a say in their school.  See Ms. Slack in Room 218 or Mr. Rand in Room 125 for more information. 

Caitlin Fitzgerald: Free Press Staff

Shootings in school have been of a different type this past year. Instead of students being the shooters, teachers have been. And instead of students being the targets, teachers have been as well. News headlines have been screaming about the cases of Amy Bishop and Mark Foster, both educators and both professionally spurned by their respective employers.

All one has heard lately on the news is the Amy Bishop case. She was working at the University of Alabama and in her hearing after she was made aware that she was not going to gain academic tenure at the university she worked at, Bishop shot six of her fellow professors, injuring three and killing three. She was prone to mental instability and had a violent past as well.

In 1986, her brother was killed in what was considered an “accidental shooting,” police are now looking into the case further than they had before. Again, she was involved with a suspected violent act in 1994 when she and her husband were both questioned about a suspected mail bombing against a doctor from Harvard, where she had gained her Ph.D. In 2002 she punched a woman in the head after she had taken the last booster seat; Bishop demanded one for her children, yelling “I am Dr. Amy Bishop”. She was charged with assault for that incident. Her past is littered with violent incidents as well.

But the story does not end with Bishop, it is just beginning. A little over a month ago in Knoxville, Tennessee a staff member by the name of Mark S. Foster at a local elementary school shot the principle and the vice principle in the head. Foster was a fourth grade teacher at the elementary school. His reasoning of why he committed the shootings has not been stated by the police. But the superintendent of schools, James McIntyre Jr. stated that the school did not intend to rehire Foster next term.

He has been charged with two counts of first degree murder. Foster also has a questionable past. In the 1990s he was taken into custody after being found with weapons near his place of employment, his former boss had told police. The weapons were found after threatening comments had been made about his boss’ family. Foster’s web profile includes a picture with a caption underneath that says “I love teaching fourth grade. Every child is a winner.” Children were not in school at the time of the shooting due to early dismissal because of snow.

If he loved teaching so much, why would he jeopardize his chances of gaining another job at a school? And instead of accepting that he lost his job, he lost his freedom. The same goes for Bishop. Instead of accepting the fact that she would not get her academic tenure, she too lost her freedom. Is this going to be a new trend schools will start to see?

Sources:

 NY Times
Huffington Post

Sarah Butler: Free Press Staff 

Sarah Butler here to announce a new feature coming to the WHS news website! 

Some of the news staff and I are creating a page where artists can post their work for all the school to see. This includes drawings, paintings, photographs, cartoons and comics, short stories, poems, etc. Virtually ANYTHING you can think  will be eligible! 

So how do we do it? Well if you can, post your work to me via facebook and I’ll send it along to be put up onto the site. If that doesn’t work you can simply bring in your work to Mr. Rand (125), Ms. Slack (218 ), Mr. Bunker (113) or myself and we will scan it, post it, and return it to you promptly thereafter! 

Did I mention that anyone who sees your work on the site can vote for it as one of their favorites? Then, by the end of the month if you receive the most votes we will feature all of your work on the site for the entire school to admire for the next month! (We are hoping also, if everything goes well, we may be able to award prizes for our winners along with being featured on the site). 

We can’t get this feature on the site to work without YOUR help! So please get out there, create, and show us all your talent!  

Alli Masley: Free Press Staff

On Saturday February 27, 2010 an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.8 struck Chile. A tsunami soon followed, triggered by the catastrophic quake. As of right now a total of 86 people have been reported dead. Although there has not been much information reported thus far, death tolls are sure to grow.  

            Although this quake was of a higher magnitude than the Haiti quake that occurred over a month ago, there is expected to be less extensive damage, and fewer dead. After a 9.5 magnitude Earthquake in 1960, Chile made sure that building codes were strict in order to prevent such devastating losses in the future. This quake has tied for the fifth largest in the world since 1900.

            Cars lay annihilated on the decimated bridges and roads where the epicenter of the earthquake hit hardest. More than 1.5 million people have been displaced as a result of this earthquake. Fourteen story buildings collapsed, while others caught fire in the ruin of the city. Almost every home in the city of Santiago has been severely damaged.

            The nearby islands of Hawaii, Japan, and the Philippines were on high alert for the destruction that could move across the Pacific toward them. Hawaii, fearing the tsunami waves began evacuation drills. There have been over two dozen significant aftershocks reported since the first quake.

            Although Haiti is in desperate need for help, Chile must not be forgotten. For ways to help those in need in Chile go to: http://www.google.com/relief/chileearthquake/.

Information found at:

 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/world/americas/28chile.html?pagewanted=1 

http://www.khurak.net/chile-earthquake-2010-0019073/

Emma Lena and Louise Donohoe: Free Press Staff

    You may know him as the English teacher who always wears flannel. You may think he should shave his beard. But I bet there are many things you do not know about John Pappas, AP English, Semantics, and Violence teacher at Weymouth High School. We are uncovering the mystery. We are exposing the man behind the flannel.

FP=Free Press      JP=John Pappas

FP: What is the most dangerous situation you have ever been in?

JP:*sips coffee* Removing a professional boxer from a club.

FP: What is your favorite Movie?

JP: Apocalypse Now

FP:  What is your favorite Quote?

JP: I like them all

FP: What is your favorite band?

JP: Let’s go with…Guided by Voices

FP: What is your favorite book?

JP: White Noise-Don Delillo

FP: What is your favorite food?

JP: Sushi

FP: Who is your favorite poet?

JP: Rae Armantrout

FP: What is your favorite book to teach?

JP: Slaughter House Five

FP: Who is your favorite author?

JP: Kurt Vonnegut

FP: What is your favorite sentence?

JP: My favorite sentence:

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

 That is, buffalo from the city of Buffalo which other Buffalo buffalo buffalo, or fool, in turn fool or trick additional buffalo from Buffalo.

Well, you asked.

FP: What were the best and worst jobs you have ever had?

JP: Best would be teaching, worst would be working as a wine importer.

FP: If you were stranded on a desert island and you could only have one book, what would it be and why?

JP: Collected short stories of Richard Yates, he is a great short story writer.

FP: What was it like being a bouncer?

JP: There were large periods of boredom mixed with short periods of action, it paid the bills.

FP: What has been the best concert you have ever been to and why?

JP: Joe Strummer of The Clash, with the Slackers, because it was someone I wanted to see since I was in the utero, he proved punk rock still mattered.

FP: What was your most embarrassing moment in high school/in teaching?

JP: I was a geek, I was president of the band…as a teacher, my first three years were pretty embarrassing.

FP: What was the most interesting city you have ever been to?

JP: Tokyo

FP: What was the best vacation you have ever been on and why?

JP: Scotland was pretty rad, I walked out in Lochness.

FP: If you had to teach in another department, what would it be and why?

JP: Art or music, but not doing art, just talking about it…I would not last 10 minutes in the math department.

FP: Why did you become a teacher?

JP: I love to talk about literature and art and I love the energy…I get to do all the things I love to do, everyday.

FP: What is the first song that pops into your head?

JP: hmm…Neutral Milk Hotel-Holland 1945

FP: What is your guilty pleasure television show?

JP: I don’t watch tv, but the best show is, The Wire, completely innocent pleasure, best show ever.

BONUS QUESTIONS

FP: If you could invite three people to dinner, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

JP: Okay, Steven Millhauser, he is an author, who often writes about the mind and the world, and Brian Green, who is a physicist who writes about quantum physics, and Noam Chomsky, a linguist and political activist who always brings the best desserts. Those three talking would be an amazing conversation.

FP: Coke or Pepsi?

JP: Definitely Pepsi

FP: What has been your favorite moment of teaching?

JP: They kind of all stick out…the moment that I’m teaching now is my favorite moment…it happens all the time, best time is when that moment happens, when a kid gets it.

FP: Where will you be in twenty years?

JP: I will be…*laughs* I’ll be here.