THE ROAR M r. Ni chol s' M eme Paparazzi
Pl ay of Remembrance I Never Saw Anot her But t er f l y Nort h K orea Assasi nat i on
Al amo Reenact ment Cancel l ed!
Tabl e of Cont ent s
Col or s of East er pg 4
The 8t h Grade M eme Scandal pg 9
M et al l i c Hydrogen Googl e M aps and t he M yst eri es of Tacos El Ti gere Pg 6 Pg 10
CSA Roar St af f Newspaper Advi sor s
K at i e Wood-Sponsel M ari anne Vergul t Sergi o Cast agnol i , Aaron Spi cker, Omar Di az, Gabe Hut chi nson, M i chael Sl edge, Ani k a Quesada, Lee Seel i g, Hoa Chan Do, K ari M arques, I ngri d M arques, Cayce Fost er, Arwen Li neberry, Thanh-y Nguyen
Apri l 13, 2017
Ent ert ai nment
page 3
The Oscar's Bi ggest Bl under s Sergi o Cast agnol i The 89th annual Academy
for a few seconds. Faye Awards or Oscars were held on Dunaway thought Beatty was February 26th, 2017 where just making a dramatic pause so mishaps occurred she said ?La and less known La Land? stars finally got which was some recognition. also written on the card The biggest next to stories were the Emma two mess ups that Stone?s Image courtesy of flickr.com occurred, Best name. Picture and the In Quickly after, the production Memoriam reel. The envelope of Best Actress ( won by Emma crew of ?La La Land? was on stage. Then the backstage crew Stone of ?La La Land?) was alerted everyone on stage that given to Warren Beatty and ?Moonlight? won Best Picture Faye Dunaway to present Best as detailed by Vox a news Picture. Mr. Beatty was website.The other Oscar flub noticeably confused by the the that night was during the in paper once he took it out of the Memoriam reel (a recap of all envelope and stood confused the people in the movie
business who have died since the Image courtesy of flickr.com last
Oscars ceremony.) Someone put the name of Australian costume designer Janet Patterson but paired it with a picture of the still living Australian producer Jan Chapman according to The Telegraph. Emma Stone and Mahershala Ali were some of the
8t h Grade Al gebra Bake Sal e! Come support t he 8t h grade on April 20 t h! 8t h graders w ill be holding a bake sale on April 20 t h, w here you can come buy delicious goodies f rom t hem at a price ranging f rom $1 t o $2.50 . Some of t he it ems sold w ill include: - Therapist 's Juice Haw aiian Punch Slushies - SubZero dry ice I ce cream - Lars' f amous milkshakes - cookies - brow nies - cupcakes - And more!
Apri l 13, 2017
Seasonal
page 4
Apri l 's Wack i est Days Aaron Spi cker
Cheddar Fries Day also on April 20th, as well as Hug an Australian day taking place on April 26th. A more well known day is April Fool?s Day that takes place on the first day of April (which is a fun day full of pranks, jokes, and laughs among friends or foes.)
eaten by a fox, but it manages to outwit the fox and escapes using trickery and Did you know that in April there wit. When asked about the importance are a total of 81 weird unofficially and origin celebrated days? One of these days is or April Lima Bean Respect Day on April 20th Fools Day, and it is an 8th grade unofficially teacher celebrated Mrs. holiday in the Breland Most of the strange United States. said ?I celebrations Some of the don?t think previously unofficial it?s very mentioned not have Photo courtesy of 123FreeVectors.com celebrations important, an official ?origin started as a joke but it is a miscellaneous and weird day story?, but April and now have which I did not know had a formal Fool?s Day does their own origin.? On the other hand when asked have an origin. dedicated Photo courtesy of Jennifer Woodard Maderazo the same question 8th grader Cade According to the hashtag on Harger he replied ? Yeah, I think it?s a History Channel , the story of April Twitter, and other social media such as fun day. It?s an important day to have fun Fool?s Day comes from The #limabeanrespect which became a and do lighthearted pranks but didn?t Canterbury?s tales which is a series of trending hashtag on April 20th, 2016. know it had an origin.? short stories where in the story Nun?s This is one of the most recognized weird Priest Dat on March 32( which is now days taking place in April, with the other known on April 1st) a rooster is almost days including High Five Day, and
Col or s of East er Thanh-y Nguyen The day people celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ or the day others see as a way to get candy and find colorful eggs, is on April 16 and viewed and celebrated differently by a variety of people and cultures all over the world. In America, most people that celebrate Easter make, ?dyed Easter eggs, and ? hide them on Sunday morning, around the house ... and we go to church, and then come back and have our Easter dinner.?(Mrs. Albers, an 8th grade student-teacher) The basic things such as Easter eggs, bunnies, and chocolates are common all over the world, but as much as there are similarities there are many unique traditions as well. Easter is celebrated differently all over the world. For example, in Bermuda, people fly home-made kites and eat hot cross buns. In some parts of
Photo of hot cross buns Courtesy of Garry Knight
Europe, at the end of winter, large bonfires called Easter fires are lit to chase the darkness of winter away. In Sweden, children dress up as Easter witches and go house to house, trading drawings and pictures for sweets. In Haiti, Easter is a mixture of Catholic and Voodoo traditions such as parades, music, chanting and animal sacrifices. What is considered normal in America, may seem odd in the eyes of an
outsider. Other traditions around the world on Easter range from throwing pots out the window in Corfu, Greece, to reading thriller books in Norway. In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, women need to watch out on Easter because they might just get a spanking from men with home-made whips of willow decorated in ribbons. Of course, although strange, the willow is supposed to transfer the trees vitality and fertility to the women. As you can see there are many different ways to celebrate all around the world.
Photo of ribbon whips Courtesy of Max Pixel
Apri l 13, 2017
page 5
Opi ni on/ Edi t ori al
Voucher s-Too Fool for School Lee Seel i g The school choice movement promises to give students more options, but do not let it fool you. Proponents of school choice such as Education Secretary Betsy DeVos want to let parents get vouchers, taxpayer money they can use to pay for private school tuition. If they are not stopped, they will steal vital funding from public schools, compromise the quality of our education system, encourage discrimination in schools, and potentially break the First Amendment.
matched peers attending public schools." Recently, researchers have found largely negative results from studies of the voucher programs; a study focusing on Louisiana's voucher program found kids who went from public schools then moved to voucher funded private schools dropped from the 50th percentile (performing above 50 percent of other students academically) to the 26th percentile within their first year.
Voucher programs also allow schools to avoid accountability for bad students and dropouts. This is made evident by a program in Orlando, Florida. Olympia High School, a public school, sends underperforming kids to Sunshine High, an ?alternate? for-profit charter school. At Sunshine, located next to a cigar shop, kids have little to no direct instruction and report getting robbed often. This arrangement allows Olympia to keep graduation rates above 90 Education Secretary Betsy DeVos-Photo courtesy of Gage Skidmore.
Using taxpayer money to pay for private schools with vouchers would divert money from the public schools ninety percent of American students attend. The current public-school budget is already very stretched, and expensive private school tuitions could damage it even more. We need to fix our public-school system, not fund exorbitant private school tuitions for the lucky few. The money should go to necessities from working rooftops and good teachers to technology and science labs. Additionally, voucher programs compromise the quality of education for students. Several voucher studies have shown the programs have done little to help students. One study from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a pro-voucher think tank, found students in Ohio's voucher program, "fared worse academically compared to their closely
are the students forced to attend Sunshine High. Furthermore, voucher programs segregate the school system by allowing private charters to select their students. Unlike public schools, private schools can select which students they allow to attend based on wealth, disability, and even race. These schools tend to allow more wealthy students because their parents make more funding available to the school than low income parents would. These elitist schools situate themselves in high-income neighborhoods, and they do not have to accommodate low income students or disabled students in the ways public school do. The location barrier also proves a problem for kids in rural communities to benefit. Moreover, the legality of vouchers is questionable. Eighty five percent of private schools are religious schools. By paying for religious education with taxpayer money, the government is essentially funding religious groups. The implications of this are enormous, as separation of church and state is mandated by the Constitution for good reason. Mixing church and state would erupt into different religious groups battling for favorable laws and power in the government.
In conclusion, a nationwide School Choice program Sunshine High School-Photo Courtesy of Malcolm Denmark/USA would do nothing to improve the education Today Network of most Americans, percent, granting them more funds, and diverting essential education tax funding Sunshine gets the money it needs to pay into the elitist education of wealthier its management fee, more than the Americans, discriminating based on race amount they spend on instruction. and/or against lower income, rural, and Because it is not a public school, disabled students, and breaking our Sunshine is not incentivized by the Constitution by funding religious performance of its students but the institutions with the money of taxpaying profits it generates, whereas Olympia Americans. The dangers of such a receives its funding based on program are clear; it must be stopped. performance. The losers of this system
Apri l 13, 2017
page 6
Sci ence
M et al l i c Hydrogen Cayce Fost er Metallic hydrogen, a substance created by crushing two diamonds together, was re-created on Earth to be used as a superconductor which is a substance capable of becoming superconducting at sufficiently low temperatures. It was created by Harvard professor Tomas Delong on October 5, 2016 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Hydrogen is a kind of degenerate matter which behaves like an electrical conductor. According to nature.com metallic hydrogen was created when two physicists crushed hydrogen under such immense pressure that the gas became the shiny metal known today. Physicists not only made the material but were the first people to keep it in the lab making it the only metallic hydrogen sample on earth. According to Harvard EDU metallic hydrogen could be used as a power source when some of the electricity gets lost in the power lines, so metallic hydrogen can efficiently power homes, and rockets as well. Metallic hydrogen was found on the planet Saturn and in the core of Jupiter. The reason that the physicists tried to create metallic hydrogen on Earth is because they
want to use it as a superconductor. In 1968, Neil Ashcroft, a British state physicist suggested that metallic hydrogen might be a superconductor, up to room temperature (290 K or 17 °C), far higher than any other known candidate material. This hypothesis is based on an expected strong coupling between conduction electrons and lattice vibrations. If metallic hydrogen is a constancy which is the quality of being faithful and dependable, it would be a substance that can be economically produced in the laboratory that would make it the most powerful chemical rocket propellent in existence. ?Metallic hydrogen a substance created by crushing 2 diamonds under such immense pressure. So when you are looking at it you are looking at something that has never existed before.? said 6th grader Elijah Foster. It would not get lost in the power lines and it produces more electricity which would be more beneficial? says 6th grader Sara Garcia. ?Diamonds are made from the volcanic activity and there are not many of them, so it would be a non-renewable resource.? says
6th grader Nicole Erazo. Metallic Hydrogen is a good resource, and could be more popular in the future.
Photo Courtesy of newtonsabble.org
Photo courtesy of Newtonsapple.org
St range New Sol ar Syst em I ngri d M arques While searching through the galaxy, NASA?s Hubble Telescope caught a glimpse of another solar system containing seven Earth-like exoplanets on February 22, 2017. An exoplanet is a planet that orbits another star outside our solar system. The new solar system, officially named the Trappist-1 system, has seven planets that orbit a red dwarf star, which is slightly larger than Jupiter and is located in the Aquarius constellation. Not only is this an exciting occasion, but serious too. The seven planets are seriously habitable, and there is a strong chance of finding life on them. They are almost exactly like Earth, they have water and the living conditions are slightly darker and warmer, but there is not that much of a difference. ?I would feel pretty surprised, after all, we only think about Earth when the topic is life.? says Cristina Landa, a 6th grade student at Cornerstone, ?I would feel kind of happy as long as there aren't freakish aliens trying to kill everyone. I find it hard to believe that there are other planets with
life.? The Trappist-1 star is classified as a ultra-cool dwarf star, which means that the water on the exoplanets won?t evaporate even though they are very close to the star. The exoplanets are so close to the star and each other, that it only takes about 1.5 to 20 Earth days to revolve around star depending on how far away they are. NASA claims that the new Exoplanets are tidally-locked to the star, which means they can?t rotate on their Cour tesy of Vimeo axis, so it?s either always day, or always night. When studying the planets, the fifth planet is the most habitable because of the warm temperature and the fact that it is always day. According to gadgets.ndtv.com, The Trappist-1 star gives a salmon pink color and appears 10 times the size of our sun when looking at it. Scientists are studying these planets, because they are the best source for studying Earth-like worlds. With any luck, signs of life would be discovered, or could evolve in centuries to cour tesy of Wikipedia come.
Apri l 13, 2017
page 7
Sci ence
The Spread of Space Trash K ari M arques Huge, destructive space trash space trash would move into Earth?s orbiting Earth has worried NASA atmosphere. There would be a huge since 1957 and is quickly increasing meteor shower.? says Ceri Roberts, to a dangerous amount that could a CSA student. This is true, risk the destruction of satellites, spacecrafts, and spaceships with human astronauts! Ever since the first rocket was launched, scientists knew that parts would be left in space, but they didn?t know that it would get so out of hand. Years passed and the machines that were sent out, slowly got older, until they broke apart. According to nasa.gov, more than 500,000 Photo courtesy of klexpatmalaysia.com pieces of space trash orbit Earth today. This is a big problem. astronomers have discovered that Astronomers send out satellites to the debris is pushing other debris search through the wonders of space into Earth?s atmosphere and then and bring pictures and data, so crashing down like a meteor. The launching ships to space can be damage isn't serious, but can still be risky. Just like an asteroid, space very dangerous. Fortunately, the junk has the ability to destroy amount of space trash can be fixed. objects they run into, especially the According to seeker.com, Space large ones. This can cause the agencies, such as the ISS, are machines sent from Earth to be working on multiple ways to reduce destroyed before they can even the amount of space debris and leave Earth?s orbit. ?I worry that prevent it from multiplying. Japan is
actually testing new space junk grabbing technology. Until then, some ways to prevent the increase of space debris is by using reusable rockets. The Space X is one of the world?s first space agencies to create a working reusable rocket, the Blue Shepard. The spaceship successfully launched and landed without losing a piece. ?I would probably go to space and use a trash picker to scoop up the little pieces. The big ones though, I believe are going to need something else.? says Naz Navavi, a CSA student. This issue is believed not to be fixable for now, but space programs will be working to ease the problem.
Photo courtesy of keyword-suggestions.com
A piece of the PAM-D was found in the Middle East on January 21, 2001. This hunk of metal has reentered Earth's atmosphere and fallen back to the surface.
Photo courtesy of pixabay.co This is a map of the approximate amount of space debris orbiting Earth today. The white dots represent the debris.
Photo courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org
Apri l 13, 2017
page 8
CSA School News
I Never Saw Anot her But t er f l y Hoa Chan Do The cast of the play, ? I Never Saw Another Butterfly,? performed on April 7th and 8th , hoped Cornerstone students, teachers, and parents enjoyed and reflected on the story of Raja, a young girl who survived Terezin, a concentration camp in Czechoslovakia during World War II, and lived on to tell her story. The play was based off a collection of works from the children in Terezin, disguised as a humane and suitable place for children to stay. Raja, the main character, was played by two students, Bianca Gordon and Leia Holowine. Leia played Raja?s
younger self, while Bianca played the older self. ?I feel like it?s really important for me to bring justice to this play because it?s such a huge and empowering role? says Leia. ?She taught me that I should not take my life for granted right now because people back then compared to right now had a very like a hard life and so I should not be taking my life for granted and how it's going well that?s what I believe,? says Bianca. The play conveyed a more serious topic than most of the other plays presented by CSA theatre. Ms. Pendergrass explains why she picked this particular
piece, ?I thought that we were ready to do a drama, something really serious because a lot of times we will do comedies or quirky shows or something like that, so it's good experience for the actors to do something different, something meaty and it's just that period of history that should not be forgotten about the Holocaust.? This play reminded students of all the hardships that millions of people went through on a daily basis during the Holocaust, and it should be never forgotten especially as the world moves closer to equality.
Apri l 13, 2017
CSA School News
page 9
The 8t h Grade M eme Scandal Arwen Li neberry Memes. The popular comical creations of the teenage population have reached the classroom of 8th grade teacher, Mr. Nichols, via Instagram. An account, mr_n_memez, run by 8th grade students Solana Ripple and Aaron Spicker, is currently the most popular meme account of the ?Mr. Nichols? variety. picture courtesy of Solana Ripple
On the social media site, Solana and Aaron frequently create content for their 105 followers (as of March 2017), including Mr. Nichols himself. Most of the material contains jokes about peanut butter, as this is the staple snack kept at the desk of Mr. Nichols. Several humorous comments have noted the relevance of peanut butter memes. It is also common for Solana to post memes related to Mr. Nichols?s ?obsession? with lunch detention threats. Although the memes mock Mr. Nichols?approach to teaching, they are admired by him. Solana claimed, ?To be honest I have seen him comment and like my memes during class.? On the other hand, Mr. Nichols did not admit to such things. He said, ?as long as work?s being done and it?s not really brought up in the classroom, I don?t have a problem with it yet.? Not many other teachers see an issue with the Instagram account, either. Mr. Nichols?teaching
apprentice, Mrs. Albers, is intrigued by the situation. ?Mr. Nichols has a much closer relationship with the students and is much more familiar with them,? she stated. ?I can see why he?s got memes.? However, some students and teachers are opposed to the idea of having a meme account featuring them. ?I think it?s very entertaining and [am] certainly glad that it?s him and not me? I would probably slay the students involved,? Mr. Nichols?teaching partner Mrs. Lee sarcastically told reporters. Besides not wanting a meme account targeting them personally, most teachers had the same neutral opinion about the memes: so long as Mr. Nichols does not find Aaron and Solana?s work offensive, there is no need to press restrictions.
picture courtesy of Solana Ripple
to create ?quality content? not to compete. However, outside participants have other opinions.?Solana's are creative, usually funny, and they clearly take time. Jake?s are usually more of the fast food variety, but [are] sometimes entertaining,? says Mr. Nichols. Several students have expressed the same views.
Other accounts picture courtesy of Solana Ripple of the same nature exist regarding Mr. Nichols and Mrs. Breland (another 8th grade teacher). Student Jake Gollapalli, 8th grade Breland/Wood, started a new meme account related to Mr. Nichols shortly after Solana and Aaron released their first memes on Instagram. The account name is nichols.memes.nut.bust. Although the meme creators The two accounts were will be headed to high school next year, competitive for a notable length of they hope to continue the legacy of the time. Both claimed have to have better, Mr. Nichols meme accounts by original content; both have claimed to ?handing off the torch? to future be the original Mr. Nichols meme students of Mr. Nichols?class. creators. Eventually, both parties agreed the purpose of the meme accounts was
Apri l 13, 2017
Technol ogy
Page 10
Googl e M aps and t he M yst eri es of Tacos el Ti gere Gabe Hut chi son In recent days, some strange pictures have been appearing on Google Maps, but no one seems to know who has done this or why this has happened. Have you ever used Google Maps to get directions somewhere? Lately, some people in Houston have noticed some strange happenings in regards to some locations on the popular site, Google Maps. When you search for something on Google Maps, it will take you to that location?s web page, where it will show you the directions, distance, Yelp ratings, and a picture of the location. Recently, however, the picture will not quite
match the business listed. It will occasionally be something totally different, which can be quite confusing to viewers. Individuals have noticed several of these images popping up on businesses?pages all over Houston, but they do not seem to have a relation to the businesses. Miguel Pavon, an eighth grader here at Cornerstone, said ?I wanted to buy some tacos at Tacos el Tigere, but when I saw the reviews and pictures, I thought there was something wrong with it.? Such pictures can be confusing and even frightening.
joke, but no one can figure out why any of this is happening. This glitch may seem harmless, but could possibly deter customers, which is bad for business. Hopefully this issue will be fixed soon. In the meantime, try to read reviews of the business before judging it by its listed picture, which may or may not be accurate.
It is possible that these things have been going on because of a
I njust i ce 2 M i chael Sl edge The hit fast-paced fighting game ?Injustice 2? made by DC Comics and Netherrealm Studios is coming out May 15, 2017 with a new character roster, online play, and customization. In ?Injustice 2? the player can play through a new storyline that takes place after Superman's imprisonment. To stop Superman from terrorizing the world, Batman and his allies must work together to fix the results of Superman?s actions as a new threat appears. In story mode, the player can play as heroes and villains such as Batman and Robin or Deadshot and Harley Quinn. ?Injustice 2? will also have a local and online battle mode against other players, allowing the player to choose which character with which to fight, including characters they have customized. ?Injustice 2? expands on its roster of heroes and villains while giving the gamer the ability to customize their
favorite characters by changing the character's appearance, stats, and abilities. Because of this option, the player can make their favorite characters fit into their fighting style by giving the character more defensive options or changing the characters abilities, such as Batman throwing normal batarangs to electric batarangs. In the game's customization options, the player can completely change the look of the character through colors to changing the appearance of the gear. This gives the player the ability to give characters different color schemes, for example turning Green Lantern into red, blue,or yellow. The color change will only change the look of the character, not the character terms, stats or ability. ?Injustice 2? will be released on May 15, 2017 and many gamers are looking forward to it. Callum Glover, a CSA 7th grader, says, ?I can't wait to be able to put heroes and
enemies against each other.? Leo Chen, a 7th grader at Cornerstone, says, ?I am excited about the new heros.? On the release date of ?Injustice 2?, there will be three different game types; regular, deluxe, and ultimate deluxe giving three downloadable characters and ultimate giving nine downloadable characters . Injustice 2 will be rated T for teen
Picture courtesy from Flicker.com
Apri l 13, 2017
News
Page 11
K i m Jong-Nam and Nort h K orea's Sol ut i on Omar Di az Kim Jong-Nam, the step-brother of North Korea?s reigning dictator Kim Jong-Un, was brutally murdered with poison by two women on February 13, 2017 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Kim Jong-Nam was poisoned by VX2 or VX nerve agent, which makes organs and muscles tire until they stop working. Kim Jong-Nam was a thorn in the side of Kim Jong-Un, North Korea?s leader, for a long time. After he was exiled, he began to openly criticize the North Korean government He also embarrassed the North Korean government by trying to get into Tokyo Disneyland with forged papers. This was enough for the North Korean government, so it is speculated that the
country's leader and half brother, Kim Jong-Un, ordered his death. The two women who killed him are now facing charges of murder. ?...even though I have no place in if his death is good or bad...but I do know that I feel empathy for the two women? ? says Devon Schwartz. Devon feels bad for the two women because they were tricked in murdering Kim Jong-Nam. Kim Jong-Nam was born on May 10th, 1971. He was the heir apparent of North Korea from 1998-2001, but after the Tokyo Disneyland incident, he fell out of favor with his father, Kim Jong-Il. He was succeeded by his half-brother Kim Jong-Un, whom Nam never met.
was protected by the Chinese because of the good relations between Jang Song-Taek, the 2nd most powerful man in North Korea, and the Chinese. Jang was executed on the orders of Kim Jong-Un. Nam lost his precious ally in North Korea, and the Chinese didn?t protect him anymore. ?[I?m] Not really scared, just hoping that doesn?t harm or involve the US with its problems? says Miguel Pavon. Although this may seem scary, we can find comfort knowing that this issue is far enough away from us to do us any real harm.
Nam sought refuge in Macau where he
Al amo Cancel l at i on Baf f l es Re-enact or s Ani k a M i ro-Quesada Every year hundreds of people crowd into San Antonio, Texas to celebrate the commemoration of the Battle of the Alamo, but this year it was canceled, and the volunteers who put it on do not know why. The re-enactors all have tidbits as to why it was canceled, but none of them know if what they heard is the truth or not. There are two main theories that are floating around the re-enacting community. The first one being that it is all politics. The city of San Antonio who previously rean the re-enactment has had conflicts in the past with the re-enacting community over many issues, including hiring practices and strict dress code requirements. The re-enactors believe that eventually
the Alamo just decided to cut them off. The second reason has scientific basis. The Alamo is slowly crumbling, and some believe the cannon blasts were actually contributing to the destruction. The loud noises from cannons were creating sound waves that were negatively impacting the fragile remaining walls. The one person who could tell undoubtedly why it was canceled, is Alamo Complex Management, Education Program Coordinator, Sherri L. Driscoll. She basically said that there were three main reasons as to why it was canceled. The first one being that it is now owned by the Alamo Plaza rather than the City of San Antonio who had allowed the re-enactment to
take place. The Alamo Plaza also deems that it is not safe because there is not enough space for the battle and the participants to watch. The third reason is that the Alamo is more than 250 years old and the soundwaves, as previously mentioned, are damaging the walls. Therefore, the Battle of the Alamo reenactment is no more.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
CSA 2017 Talent Show
