Say Hello to Cassie. She’s in seventh grade and just moved to a new school. Her dad is sick and drunk, and her mother lives in a fantasy world of a happy family. However, now that she’s moved, she’s no longer invisible. She’s gorgeous, she’s getting attention, even though it’s the wrong type of attention. Cassie’s new look has her on a fast downward spiral. It starts with Alex, a tough girl with an attitude towards anyone that stands in the way of what she wants, which may just be Cassie all to herself. Then Cassie turns to Sarah, Alex’s half-sister who has moved in with Alex due to problems with her father.

Cassie’s life will soon begin to fall apart piece by piece as a life of sex, drugs, and nicotine take over. How much does Cassie have to pay to be beautiful?

This is a great book and everyone should go read it.

For some odd, inconceivable reason my dad hates Apple, and as someone who’s wanted an iPhone for quite some time, that severely gets on my nerves.

I believe he said something like, “93% of the world’s programs are set to run on Windows.” Ok, go Windows. I still want an iPhone as well as a myriad of other Apple products. I’m sorry, but as a teenager I probably won’t ever use 1% of the world’s programs for computers, seeing as how many there are.

While I won’t begin to guess at the percentage of the world’s computer programs my dad uses, I can tell you that his career as a private investigator and computer forensic examiner requires him to use a substantially larger percentage than the average American. That being said, I can see why he may not favor Apple, but he seems to harbor particularly unsavory feelings that, as previously mentioned, I can’t understand.

I have presented him with valid reasons as to why I need an iPhone, the biggest of these is that they, to my knowledge, have the most storage space of the commercial phones available today. As someone who listens to music and watches movies whenever I can, having a phone that is capable of keeping up with ALL of the stuff I have is very important to me. My movie library on my computer isn’t that expansive yet, but I have 16GB of music and I don’t have to worry about what I put on the phone and what I don’t.

A good question at this point is, “What about Android?” Well, the truth is, wait for it… MY DAD HATES ANDROID TOO!

In Spelling and Vocabulary, Senior Collin Stephenson placed 3rd, Senior Lydia Hantsche placed 2nd, and Junior Kendall Burks placed 1st.

The Science Team, composed of Seniors Tanner Kirk, David Hummer, Justin Miller, Sam Allelo, JJ Perkins, and Junior Migeul Zavala, placed 1st overall in Science competitions. Tanner Kirk placed 1st Chemistry and also placed 1st overall in Science. David Hummer placed 1st in Biology and 2nd overall in Science. Daniel Erickson, junior, also placed 2nd in Computer Science.

The Journalism Team, consisting of Seniors Kelsey Hayes and JJ Perkins, Junior Marisa Price, and Sophomores Luke Allelo and Natalie Power, also placed 1st overall. In News Writing, Marisa Price placed 3rd, Natalie Power placed 2nd, and Kelsey Hayes placed 3rd.

“I’m pleased to be advancing to Regionals for the second year in a row,” said Hayes. “I look forward to competing against different schools and people at Regionals.”

Hayes also placed 1st in Feature Writing, along with Marisa Price, who placed 2nd, and Natalie Power, who placed 3rd.

In Editorial Writing, Natalie Power placed 3rd, JJ Perkins placed 2nd, and Kelsey Hayes placed 1st.

In Headline Writing, Luke Allelo placed 2nd while JJ Perkins placed 3rd.

“I’ve been in UIL since freshman year,” said Perkins. “It’s nice to finally see such a whopping success in the program, and I’m happy to be advancing to Regionals.”

Perkins also placed 2nd in the Current Events competition.

In Ready Writing, Cassie Hayes placed 2nd.

The Literary Criticism Team, composed of Seniors Max Mills, Lauren Moore, Chasity Willis, and Hondo Palmer, placed 1st overall in their category.

“I’m really glad to share this success with my team,” Mills stated. “It’s great advancing to Regionals after four years of doing this.”
Mills placed 1st as an individual, along with Lauren Moore, who placed 3rd, Chasity Willis, who placed 5th, and Jordan Palmer, who placed 6th.

Though the bands that played aren’t as big as some of the bands you listen to, they no doubt have as much (or more) talent.

First on was See Skylar Smile, as it was their first show I didn’t expect much, but boy did they blow me away. All the members are from Hachie and they really bore their hearts out as screamers Ben and Stephen ran through the crowd and started mosh pits. These guys were incredible up close (and at the back for that matter) in your face and jumping up and down.

Next was The Grads. Though I don’t know much about them, they really put on a show. Punk has treated these guys well. I mean, the bassist uses a 6-string bass guitar! What kind of bassist needs six strings? Nonetheless it was awesome.

After The Grads came These Three Remain. Never in my life have I seen such an amazing show. If the energy during all of the songs weren’t enough, the final breakdown would’ve sold me on itself alone. The bassist and guitarist went out into the crowd and spun their instruments around their necks like they were nothing. The bassist then laid his guitar on the ground and slid it across the floor, after which he started slamming on the strings to make the notes of the breakdown. The drummer (and mind you this was a tiny guy) put his snare on the floor and began bashing it with a drumstick! The music, the show, all of this band blew me away.

DSK came next. Being one of the biggest bands in the school is a hard job, but the members take it as nothing. Humble as ever, the four guys put on an absolutely wonderful show. Their punk sound mixed perfectly with the show they put on. At one point, lead singer Merritt Sellers had the entire crowd sit down and just relax. This was about midway through the concert and we were all tired. After the nice break, we stood up and enjoyed two more awesome songs before DSK left the stage.

From The Ashes We Rose is another of the biggest bands in school. With guitarist Chaz Mangan and drummer Jerrin Castillo from this very school, Ashes may be the most well known. Their energetic metalcore sound mixed with jazz and rock influences (at least musically) make this band hard to forget.

Found In The Fallen came next and, sadly, I was not able to stay for their full set, but what I heard was not very impressed. I listen to deathcore on a regular basis and what this band played was pretty much just awful. From what I heard, the guitarist(s) only know how to play open notes. Their recordings are better, but not by much, sadly. These guys could do better. Music aside, their stage presence was pretty good. It got people moving and jumping and moshing and all of that good stuff. I just think they could’ve done more.

I was not able to stay for the last two (and possibly most amazing bands), but from what I’ve heard form friends who were there, they did amazing.

If you’d like to hear any of these bands, go to facebook and search: See Skylar Smile, DSK, From The Ashes We Rose, Found In The Fallen, The Grads, These Three Remain, The Captain The Ship or Yesterday As Today and be sure to give them a like!

“It spanned an entire century. In 1893 people were dressing in black to mourn his death, in 2012 people put up posters saying he’s still alive.” Halley McGehee, 10.

What appears to be so popular in the man Sherlock Holmes is his ability to figure out pieces of crimes without many obvious clues. The mysterious figure poses as an intense interest to those of today even though the stories and mysteries happened in the 1800s. Like all phases in the media how long will this last?

“I think Sherlock Holmes is popular because John Watson is just too cute!” Victoria Porter, 10.

The first movie was released in 2009 and the second was released in 2011. The BBC has just released a T.V. show titled Sherlock that is now going into its third season. In America producers are considering a show about Sherlock Holmes as well. So as it stands now there doesn’t appear to be an end in sight.

“I don’t think Sherlock Holmes will be around much longer since it isn’t as popular as Harry Potter and Twilight.” Marieta Hawkins, 12.

Released March 23 The Hunger Games have become an immediate sensation across the country. During opening weekend the movie brought in over 155 million, a new record for the first release of a movie series. Recently, the freshman students at took field trips the movie theater in order to see the movie.

“The movie was good,” said freshman Taylor Bullard. “And it was way better than twilight”

Being based on a popular book, those who wear fans of the novel judge the movie in a slightly different way.

“The book and the movie went together closely,” said freshman Alexis Vincent. “There were parts in the movie where there was something different or something added, but both were close together.”

However, there are those who have read both the book and seen the movie and have found that the movie was not up to their expectations.

“I was very disappointed with the movie,” freshman Hayden Degroot said. “I thought the book storyline was completely different than the movie plot.”

Not just freshman have seen the movie, and people have seen the differences in the movie and book.

“I thought the movie and book went along good overall,” said sophomore Kelsie Cox. “The book was more of her thoughts so it moved quickly.”

Since its release “The Hunger Games” has grossed 300 million dollars.

With such insurmountable success, “The Hunger Games” has found its way into our culture, and does not plan on leaving anytime soon.

Waxahachie also had a few actors make individual awards. Sterling Horning,12, and Reagen Sparkman,11, received Honorable Mention, and Chasity Willis received All-Star Cast.

The cast and crew look forward to preforming again. “I enjoy this story very much,” said Senior Sophie Stevens. “It’s so powerful and emotional, I love seeing the audience react the way we do.”
Come out and support the One Act Play on Thursday, April 5, at the Terrell Fine Arts Center.

What I don’t seem to understand is this: the students were eager to remark that their fellow classmate was a “victim of harsh bullying” and many of them “weren’t very shocked at the identity of the gunman”.

Okay…if you can look at the person next to you, and not know a single thing about them the second the step out of the door way and walk to another class. You watch them avoid the group of bullies that just yesterday shoved them into a locker, lower their head when they pass their ex boyfriend or girlfriend, and then, you watch them close their eyes, for just one moment, and they’re exactly where they want to be. Away from the school!

That just irritates me, how you can be so eager to turn in your classmate when he shoots your friend, but you’re sure he “cracked from being different”? No! I’m sure he cracked because he was done with the public humiliation, and (I’m almost opsitive) of cyber bullying!

If everyone was to “crack” from being different, then I’m sure we would all be freaking out and having mental breakdowns in the bathrooms. It’s not the fact that everyone is different. IT’S HOW WE ARE TREATED BECAUSE OF OUR DIFFERENCES.

It seems that the crimes of the masses are infringing upon our rights and privileges. How can this absurdity be justified?

Well, those in authority seem to justify it (every time) with the same old quote about how it’s the fault of the people who aren’t doing their duty.

How has it become so difficult to punish the ones who are disobeying the rules on a regular basis and so easy to punish those who are doing right? When did the tables of punishing the disobeyers turn towards how to punish them and not have to do a lot of work?

Is this the result of laziness? (As the beloved Spongebob Squarepants always said, “Laziness isn’t next to managerliness.”)

At one point in time it was actually much fairer to take the ones who disobey and string them up by their thumbs? Now, I don’t agree with that particular punishment, but school is a privilege just as many things are. If you’re just going to cause other people to not be able to learn, then leave! I can focus much better without your useless distractions and the blaring of the phone, which never leaves your hand.

Who died and gave you the right to interrupt a class that other people go to in order to realize their dreams? So they can actually accomplish them and have a life other than living in their mother’s basement?

Seriously, who?

That used to amaze me. I couldn’t fathom how anyone would want to stay in Waxahachie, Texas — it was the most boring place in the world to me. I wasn’t always like that, in my childhood years I loved it. It was where I was raised, where my grandmother’s house was, the smell of baked goods and home cooking filled her house. I could roam around her little neighborhood for hours playing and still have endless hours of fun. In my early teen years I thought of Waxahachie as a boring bottomless pit of a town with nothing to do.I used to complain a lot that there is nothing to do in Hachie,  I was right to an extenet. My town is a cozy town with not to much excitement and maybe a bit too many rednecks. That’s all fine. I have grown to appreciate all the little things waxahachie has to offer. Everbody knows everybody (for the most part), and I’ll always have a family here. If I get bored want want to do something different I can always move to a bigger town. There really is something comforting about know you always have a place to come back to.

While the world is new, exciting, and unfamilar, Waxahachie will always be home, comfort, and stability.