The political season is here again–for UHS, that is.  It is once again time for the senior debates.  Being only a freshman and never having heard of this UHS tradition before, things were apt to get a little confusing for me at times, what with all the hubbub and hype of the mock elections.  However, just because I’m a neophyte to this idea doesn’t mean I’m not as excited as the rest of the school.  I have heard many exceptional things about this tradition.  Trust me, the sophomores, juniors, and seniors I know have been anticipating this event since the beginning of the year, and their enthusiasm can’t help but rub off on me.  I am eager to delve further into the wonderful world of UHS government.

I (along with most of the rest of the school) had the pleasure of attending the long-awaited senior debates on Wednesday and sitting through all three periods of their allotted time.  I must say, they weren’t quite what I was expecting and I was pleasantly surprised with the efficiency and professional manner in which they ensued.  I felt very…shall we say… enlightened to the way this UHS tradition is carried out based on what I saw.  I also surprised myself by paying attention mostly the whole time, excepting of course when I was jotting down notes for extra credit.

When asked later which party I wanted to win, I gave my meticulously well-thought out answer: I don’t know.  In reality, the issue was more complex than that, for I actually thought about it a lot.  Simply put, there were many things I agreed with from each party and many things we also didn’t see eye-to-eye with.  That being said, I had a hard time deciding any one party I wanted to achieve victory.  After broaching my father on the subject, he blatantly said, “Welcome to the real world.”  I suppose this is just preparing me for a time when my vote actually counts.

Although the charming banter back and forth between the parties was amusing, I found the propaganda the most enjoyable antic of all.  It made me want to dance whenever I heard After Party’s music pumping through the basement, and I found Partyology’s classic look quaint and idyllic, but I am quite partial to that golden Pardi Gras pegasus which made me smile every time I passed it in the halls.  I feel Perseus himself would have been proud.

The friendly chatting of juniors about platforms, the enthusiastic gusto with which seniors throw themselves into the project, the witty slogans of the propaganda; I ask myself, Is this what I should expect with every passing year I spend at UHS?  If that is the case, I greatly look forward to the rest of the time I get to enjoy the debates, and I wait with bated breath for the time when I, too, one day may participate.  I feel they are a beneficial addition to any aspiring student’s agenda, especially for one who wishes to get out of class for a while.  (Not that I’m encouraging this practice.)

What will we see next: other foreign proposals regarding oil, new taxation policies, a government spending plan that actually does what it says it will?  I suppose only time and the next season of debates will tell.

Karen Wang

The senior debates are a UHS tradition that never ceases to excite and amuse… at least when you’re a junior and all you have to do is sit back and languish in your power as a voter (yes, yes, please vote responsibly). For all I know, the seniors have been stressed and sleep deprived for weeks… but what do I know? I’m a junior after all, and life is pretty sweet right now. Just a few hours ago I was sitting in the propaganda-decked halls –ahem– auditorium, listening to the back and forth between party speakers just as I had for the years before. Nothing had really changed in the sense that the walls were plastered excessively with bits and pieces of the all-too-familiar propaganda that had invaded the lower levels since we got back from winter break. And enormous party symbols hung down from the ceiling like eerie misshapen floats like they always do. A look at the stage showed the party displays glittering and flashing and slightly fluttering haphazardly as tradition dictated. But much was different this year as well, from the original party names and themes to their major issues and stances. There were five parties this year and everyone probably knows them all already but in case you like mantras drilled into your head – After Party, Icon, Pardi Gras, Partyology, and UP. (Ha! I did that in alphabetical order – what now, bias?! That’s right, I got none! Ahem.)

Now many of my fellow juniors have commented (and complained – I myself will admit to that) that this year’s parties are all amazingly similar in their platforms and stances. Now, now, as good voters we should have read the policies thoroughly and then we might’ve discovered the plethora of distinguishing traits that each party has and that makes each party unique. Of course we didn’t. That’s why I looked at the Perspective’s handy dandy platform summary which conveniently charted out everything and gave me the warm fuzzies of being an informed voter while also giving me the oddly similar warm fuzzies of being a lazy UHS kid. Now that’s efficiency! So go check that thing out, you slacker voters, or the seniors will frown upon you. http://www.uhsperspective.org/2012/01/24/your-2012-party-platforms-explained/ Seniors are still scary, you know? All tall and stuff…

They also have scary skilled speakers (it’s Wednesday night, cut me some slack on the alliteration… how can Obama make milk jokes and still look cool?). Considering how many people they were speaking too and that they were being filmed for TV, all the debaters today were pretty well focused and proved to everyone that they can talk about politics for two and a half hours while keeping it professional, interesting, and entertaining. That’s coming from me, the person whose heart rate actually slows down when NPR is on. There were some heated moments, some dissing, and a few sarcastic snubs – but all in good fun and academic spirit – I’d say no one lost any good sportsmanship points. Those were the moments that really got the crowd going anyway, got the “Oooohh”, got the signs up, the glow sticks waving, the balloons popping. Oh yeah, it was a familiar scene, but the parties are always unique enough to generate new ideas – even if they were promptly shot down by some other party.

But all too soon the bell for 4^th period rang and the debate ended to enthusiastic applause. Hopefully tonight the seniors will sleep and tomorrow we juniors will cast our votes – however wisely – and determine the winner of the 2012 UHS senior party elections. Whoever wins, the UHS student body will be content, with the exhausted seniors – most of whom say they are glad it’s over, the expectant underclassmen whose lives were pleasantly interrupted today for three periods, and the anxious juniors who will take their place next year. Don’t forget the Inaugural Ball on February 3^rd, hope to see you there celebrating this latest chapter in one of UHS’ most prominent traditions.

Finding a good dress can be hard. Sometimes you have to hunt around for a long time if you already have a specific idea for the dress you want. Department stores will always have at least a few good dresses so try and look at the mall and some department stores. To find a more unique dress that will be different from everyone else’s you can look online. Shopping online is great because you can shop in stores that may not be in the US let alone Tucson. You can usually find something more specific online because you can just search for what you are looking for. The only downside to shopping online is sizing. If you are going to order online I recommend doing it NOW because if it is too big or too small you will have to send it back and get a different size or look elsewhere for another dress. When picking out a color for your dress pick a color you like, but also a color that you know will complement your skin, eyes, or hair color. If you like the sparkles pick a dress that is sparkly and shimmery. If you like a more classic look maybe go with a dress that is more clean cut and made of a silk or satin-like fabric. Picking a dress can be a fun activity to do with friends, but make sure you pick something that you really like because even though you will probably only wear this dress once or a few times you want it to be something that makes you feel as beautiful on the outside as you are on the inside!

Shoe shopping is always really fun. You get to go into the store try on a bunch of fancy shoes and then take home a pair (or two…). For Inaugural a lot of girls like to wear heels. I like heels and I will be wearing a pair to Inaugural. However if you are uncomfortable wearing heels or high heels you can always wear a pair of nice kitten heels or flats. Kitten heels are basically really low heels and will probably be more comfortable for someone that is not used to wearing heels. You can never go wrong with a pair of black or nude heels. I find that nude heels and black heels are the versatile heels you could ever have. They will go with almost every color and if the black does not go with it, the nude will. However for Inaugural you may want to get colored shoes or shoes that match your dress. If you are going to get shoes that match the color of your dress try to get a close or exact match if you can because if you are trying to match colors and they are different colors it can look a little funny. If you wanted colored shoes but ones that are not the same color as your dress, pick ones that will complement the color of your dress. For example if you are wearing a black dress you may want to wear a bright pair of shoes. Or if you are wearing a navy dress you could try a pair of pink or European pink shoes. All of these are great options when picking out your shoes for Inaugural Ball.

Accessories will top off your Inaugural outfit perfectly and will really make it uniquely you. You can pick accessories that are the same color as your dress or shoes, but if your dress is a unique or specific color, I would recommend going with metallic accessories like silver or gold earrings, necklaces, or bracelets. You can always go with classic gold or silver hoops. Hoop earrings are very versatile and will go with virtually any dress. If you want to make the look really unique you can find more complex or visually interesting jewelry, but remember to stick to your own style.

Whatever clothes you decide to wear to Inaugural, you will look amazing and your night will be amazing! I know that some people are disappointed because Inaugural is on a Friday, but it will still be an amazing night! Have fun shopping for your Inaugural outfit!

I decided to do a homemade beauty product article. This article has some great tips and directions for making your own mask/exfoliant with things you already have at home.

Exfoliating is very important. When you exfoliate you remove all the dead skin cells on your face. This exfoliant also refines and cleanses your pores as well as cleaning your skin. Good exfoliants can sometimes cost more than 50 dollars. This easy do it yourself will show you how to make an inexpensive and effective exfoliant.

Recently I tried to make a mask using aspirin because aspirin has salicylic acid or BHA. BHA is a main ingredient in most high quality exfoliants and acne treatments. This exfoliant worked so well for me and made my skin so smooth I wanted to do an article about it. If you are allergic to aspirin do not try this mask because chances are your skin will react to the ingredients in the aspirin.

You will need:

Uncoated Aspirin. Uncoated Aspirin will dissolve better and faster in water and uncoated aspirin does not have chemicals that may be harmful to your skin. Many of you will already have aspirin at home, just check to make sure it is uncoated.

A small bottle or container. You can make this mask in a small bowl as well, but if you want to make enough to use it again I would recommend using a bottle to keep it fresh.

Now that you have your materials you can get started!

Step 1:

Fill your bottle with some water. You should not put in too much water because then your exfoliant will be too watery and you will not get the same results.

Step 2:

Take five or six uncoated aspirin tablets (or more, depending on how much you are making).

Step 3:

Put the tablets into your bottle and seal the bottle. If you are only planning on making this exfoliant, as you need it, you can use a bowl or small dish and not seal it.

Step 4:

The aspirin I use only takes a few minutes to dissolve. After the aspirin has dissolved shake it a little to make sure the dissolved aspirin is not concentrated in one area of the bottle. The consistency should be grainy and it should be a milky white color. Before applying the exfoliant to your face, wash your face with warm water. Scrub the mixture into your skin to exfoliate. You should notice the grainy pieces rubbing your skin. Once you have exfoliated let the aspirin sit on your face for a few minutes (three-five minutes). Then rinse off with warm water.

Step 5:

After using the exfoliant and washing your face, your skin and pores will be clean, but will also be open. Before using a moisturizer, use a good toner. Make sure it is alcohol free because a toner with alcohol will irritate your skin

Step 6:

After your toner make sure you use a good moisturizer because after the exfoliant your pores and skin will be open and will get very dry if you do not use a moisturizer.

Step 7:

The only down side to BHA is that it leaves your skin more susceptible to UVB and UVA rays. Make sure that after using this mask you apply a good sunscreen preferably one that will protect your skin from both UVA and UVB rays and has an SPF of 25-100. I use a NIVEA sunscreen with dual protection and SPF 50+

Enjoy your homemade skin exfoliant that will leave your skin softer and smoother. I hope this works well for you and that you enjoyed making it and using it as much as I did!

Man Walks Into a Room by Nicole Krauss

What makes you, you? There’s your personality, your interests, your goals, your relationships with the people who surround you…yet there’s also your memory. Your history and the experiences that have shaped how you view the world are an essential part of understanding the present and orienting yourself for the future. But if nearly all of that were to disappear, to what extent are you still “you”? This is the situation Samson Greene is thrust into when he is found wandering the Nevada desert with no recollection of any of his life after his twelfth year. Throughout the book, Samson battles with reconciling how much of him is determined by what is remembered versus what he creates for himself.

Samson’s memory loss is due to a brain tumor, but even after his life is no longer threatened, his identity has been, perhaps irreversibly. He cannot remember the encounters that made him fall in love with his wife, Anna, and feels as though he is living with a stranger. His distinguished position as a professor at Columbia is in jeopardy without the retention of his subject matter. The doctors say Samson can recover some memories by being surrounded by his once-familiar environment, but he can only feel more alienated.

One day, a scientist comes to him with a groundbreaking concept – to transplant somebody else’s memory into Samson’s brain. It’s an insane idea and it won’t give him back his old life, but he has little left to lose. Then the experiment goes awry and Samson flees, embarking on a journey driven by impulse and lit by the incandescence of his truncated childhood, the destination somewhere between recovery and re-creation. (His exploits include breaking into a hospital and tracking down his mother’s grave.)

Despite the patches in his memory that may never fill up, Samson definitely finds something. A life. Or maybe just life in general, in its exuberance and tragedy, and the fact that gain is every bit inevitable as loss. With light, musical prose that is just as understatedly glorious as the narrative itself, Krauss’ first novel is one worth “remembering.” (Really, though. That wasn’t just to make a cheesy joke.)

It seems that author, and star of the YouTube Vlogbrothers channel, John Green is quite popular within the UHS community.  I’ve seen many a t-shirt and many a book around our wonderful campus.  I, myself, am quite a fan.  That’s why, when Green’s new and much anticipated novel, The Fault In Our Stars, was released, I took straight to reading.  Though I personally love Green’s books, some are definitely better than others.  TFIOS certainly rates high on the list.  It is touching and romantic, intelligent and witty, encouraging and hopeful.  The story centers around a young girl of sixteen with a terminal case of cancer.  Given that it is bound to be sad (be prepared), Green does a fantastic job of integrating humor to leave you with smiles as well as tears.  As for me, any book that references Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Magritte, and the disembodied eyes of Dr. TJ Eckleberg from Gatsby within 20 pages is a winner hands down.  It is a fast read but only because you won’t want to put it down.  The characters are intelligent, cheeky, and undaunted.  Though the ending is not entirely satisfying, it is simple yet comforting. Overall, if you get a chance in the crazy way of life that is that of a UHS student, it is well worth the read.  You’ll laugh and you’ll cry and you’ll surely love it.

We’ve all heard of the ongoing Occupy Movement, a widespread social rebellion inspired by the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia that call for much needed and long-awaited justice. It began not four months ago in Liberty Square as a protest of the skewed distribution of wealth (and the benefits attached to said wealth) in the US and soon spread to over 100 cities nationally and 1,500 internationally. The slogan “We are the 99%” soon became widely popular with the occupy movements working toward the same or similar goals to that of the original. The 1%, those being protested against, represents the richest of Americans who own 34.6% of the nation’s wealth. Even looking at that single statistic is sickening, especially considering that each individual included in the 1% makes anywhere from two to tens of millions of dollars a year when the average yearly income is $45,018.

To say that the Occupy Movement has remained with the sole purpose of protesting the gaps in income would be an outright lie. Using that as its general basis, topics ranging from outrage over bills like the NDAA and SOPA to a call for greater environmental protection measures at a governmental level have sprouted and drawn people to the cause. However, this has also led to its greatest criticism as most don’t understand what exactly they stand for. That’s because they don’t stand for a single issue, rather a concept. The purpose, the unifying aspect of the international Occupy Movement is change. That’s a pretty hefty concept, one with few clear lines. We could probably narrow it down further by saying that for the most part, the change is geared toward helping the lower classes and issues that affect the majority of the population. On a whole, their goal is to shed light on the areas of government and the socioeconomic environment that need altering. But even with that slight clarification, it’s hard to follow the progression and growth of it because it is indeed scattered.

Yes, it is true that such protests as this in the past have succeeded in achieving most or all of their goals because they stood together and had a clear, unified voice. Perhaps then Occupy is doomed to fail, with none of the issues they stand for even considered twice because there are so very many of them.  A posed solution to this was the idea of creating a political party with the platform of all the things they stand for, but even amongst those who partake actively in it, the idea was not popular. That is because even amongst themselves, it is hard to agree on a majority of the issues. Does this discredit anything and everything they represent? By no means. Although it may be confusing and disorganized, the OM should be watched closely.

We are lucky to be living in the US where we have freedoms guaranteed us and voices allowed us, but that does not mean that we should be entirely pacified, there are flaws (as with any system) in our government and often the bounds that are set to keep them in line are overstepped. Take SB1070 for instance, a law that most of us in Arizona are well-acquainted with. Passed by lawmakers though it was clear infraction of the Constitution, it was overturned in large part because protests were held against the application of it and objections to it were clearly voiced. As citizens, it is our responsibility to make sure that the government serves us, as that is its very purpose. The most common way of fulfilling this duty is voting, but that should not be the end of our vigilance. Though scattered, the OC brings light to many issues that we might not have been made aware of otherwise. And though ignorance may provide bliss in the short-term, if we are ignorant of what our government is doing we are likely to fall victim to changes that contradict the rights we are secured. So although I would agree that Occupy has become muddled and may fizzle out and die relatively soon, what they aim to do as a whole is worthy of attention and should provide matters for consideration by individuals. Essentially, it’s up to you to pick through what they present and decide which of those you agree with and which you do not.

            After reading Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, I can definitely say that it has been one of the more enjoyable books that I have read for an English class. To start off, the first thing that you’ll notice if you read the book is that it is written in regional Missouri vernacular. The story is narrated by the young Huckleberry Finn, or Huck, for short. As a result, the story portrays life without unnecessary fanfare or glitter – just the adventures of a young boy traveling down the Mississippi River. The whole premise of the novel is that Huck escapes from his boring and civilized life and from an abusive father who kidnaps him. He then runs into Jim, a slave who had run away from the sister of the widow Huck was living with, Miss Watson. Huck and Jim then try to find their way to the Ohio River and into free land.

Nowadays, Huck Finn is a controversial book and has branded and banned due to being “racist.” Controversy surrounding the book stems largely from Twain’s frequent use of the extremely offensive “n-word,” and the racial stereotypes portrayed in the novel. Cutting to the chase, I’m going to start off by telling you that I don’t believe Huck Finn is racist text. In fact, Mark Twain uses Huck Finnas a means of satirizing racism, stereotypes, and antebellum culture in the South. Sure, blacks are portrayed as being unintelligent, gullible, and superstitious. But Twain also portrays whites, the supposedly “superior” and dominant race in the South, as having just as many negative traits as the stereotyped slave. Throughout the book, there are many nice white characters, such as Mary Jane and Uncle Phelps, but there are also many whites who are fraudsters, such as the king and the duke, worthless drunks, such as Huck’s father, and the Grangerfords, who are feuding with the Shepherdsons for a reason nobody remembers. Blacks in the novel are portrayed as superstitious and gullible and it is understandable that many readers are offended by these stereotypes. However, in contrast to these stereotypes, Twain gives us Jim the runaway slave. Jim in many ways contradicts these racial stereotypes: he is resourceful, clever, compassionate, and friend to Huck. When it comes time for Huck to consider telling Miss Watson that her slave has been captured, Huck finds himself in a dilemma. Does he do what he views as “right,” turn Jim in, or does he do the “wrong” thing: helping a slave and true friend who has sacrificed and genuinely cared about Huck’s wellbeing throughout their river raft adventure? Spoiler alert here: Huck decides that he’ll help Jim escape even he has to go to Hell for it. Although Huck feels that he has done the wrong thing, Twain and the readers certainly can see the irony of his situation and applaud him for choosing to help a friend and

(Not actually a picture of the Mississippi River but it's royalty free.)

fellow human being rather than submitting to what Southern society would have deemed the right thing to do. In the end, I do not believe Huck Finn was written to be racist. Both white and black people have good and bad apples among them and sometimes the path society chooses isn’t always the right one. Finally, the best way to judge Huck Finn is to read it yourself and decide whether or not Twain wrote a racist novel.

Indeed, Schulz seems enraptured by the beauty he saw permeating the gardens, the shops, and the very air of the little Polish town he grew up in. Many works in this short story collection are simply the narrator (who is very likely Schulz himself) describing in rhapsodic detail an aspect of his town, and arriving at a revelation brought on solely by the splendor of the moment. Some may find this tiresome or tedious due to the lack of plot, but I found it continually exciting. I wondered what new ways he would find to word things, what striking metaphor would be waiting at the end of the sentence to describe the stars he mentioned at the beginning.

The stories also venture several dimensions deep through times and realities. Written in 1934, Crocodiles makes numerous allusions to biblical and cultural myths. Meanwhile, Schulz’s use of surrealism imbues inanimate objects with life and sends them whirling in a gale through the town, or turns his father into a monstrous bird.

I will say, however, that Crocodiles is better absorbed in smaller doses than large ones, for reasons similar to why you wouldn’t eat ten fancy desserts in a row, no matter how exquisitely made they are. A few stories also diverge from the original premise and wind up at inexplicable, melancholy endings. But I suppose your enjoyment depends on what you’re reading the book for. Don’t necessarily read it for a linear, plot-driven story. Read it for the poetry, and read it to escape.