Why you should be a Democrat

Cats vs Dogs. Ice Cream vs Cake. It is always difficult to make a decision between two likeable things. But in the case of choosing your political party, it is easy.

Democrats lead the political game, with over 43 million followers compared to Republicans that have only 30 million. Democrats are liberal individuals that advocate for social justice, supporting same-sex marriage and abortion. They believe in the rights of the common people through the support of the community and a balanced economy, regulated by the government.

The word democrat derives from democracy, which is an organization or situation in which everyone is treated equally and has equal rights as defined by Merriam-Webster. It is a government by the people, where the citizens elect the leaders of the nation through votes.

The Democratic Party evolves around the idea of leaders representing the people as a whole. It is not a party devoted to elitist ideologies, but rather acceptance and equal treatment.

Whenever I try to picture a Republican, I imagine that they are straight from Texas, are a little bit overweight and own a gun. The differences in ideology between Democrats and Republicans is substantial. Democrats are radicals that support and accept everyone.

A prime example of why you should be a Democrat is Donald Trump. Do you really want to associate yourself with that kind of a person? Someone who disrespects others ancestry and strives to ban other cultures from being allowed into the United States? Consider the magnitude of his statements.

In the speech announcing his candidacy for president he began by comparing Mexican immigrants to “rapists.”

“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending the best. They’re not sending you, they’re sending people that have lots of problems and they’re bringing those problems. They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime. They’re rapists and some, I assume, are good people, but I speak to border guards and they’re telling us what we’re getting.”

Republicans are conservatives that are unable to welcome the modern era of acceptance that we live in now. Why would you ever want to support a party set on living in the past?

Democrats know to separate politics from religion, unlike the uptight religious republicans who believe that one religion (Christianity) should influence our political structure and decisions.

In terms of women’s rights concerning abortion or birth control, democrats support the decision of the mother, letting her decide what she finds appropriate for her case.

Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan says that he personally believes that rape is just another “method of conception” and not an excuse to allow abortions, according to an interview done by Rawstory.

The freedom given to each individual whilst a part of the democratic party is promising. The community expects people of all genders and races to unite in order to form a stronger country. Being a democrat is not something to be ashamed of, but rather celebrated.

The question isn’t why you should be a democrat, but why shouldn’t you?

Want to join a WSHS club?

Diversity Club

What: To make WSHS anti racist institution

When: Tuesdays and Thursday at 2nd lunch

Where: Room 133

Why: To stay informed and make a difference in our Community and School

How: Talk to Ms.Mckinney or Stop by during 2nd lunch

 

National Honors Society (NHS)

What: Community service and Volunteer with the school

When: Monthly

Where: Theater

Why: Fun way to be recognized for your scholar accomplishments

How: Apply and Teacher Recommendation

 

Flag Squad

What: Wave flags , Perform with the Marching band and go on band trips

When: Wednesday after school

Where: Band room

Why: Super fun,exercise and go on trips

How: Talk to Emma Weglin or Mr.Thomas

 

Chess Club:

What: Play chess with your friends

When: During both lunches on Tuesday

Where: Lunchroom

Why: Challenge yourself to play a game of chess

How: Drop in during lunch

 

Weightlifting:

What: Exercise and Weight lifts

When: Tuesdays and Thursday.Where: Weightroom

Why: To have a Healthy lifestyle

How: Drop in afterschool

 

Drama:

What: Act in the School Productions or work as Tech Crew.

When: Afterschool

Where: Theater

Why: It’s a welcoming community and also trains you for the long hours of work.

How: Talk to Mr.Finley and for more information check Westsidedrama.com

 

 

Blank Pages:

What: To work on many different forms of art

When: Mondays After School (2:30-3:30)

Where: Artroom

Why: Make art that will be published into a Magazine

How: Talk to Bryan (YMCA) or Drop in

 

Get Real:

What: mentoring middle school students and get community service hours

When: Thursdays

Where:YMCA office/Madison

Why: To make a major impact in middle school students lives.

How: Talk to Bryan (YMCA)

 

Ultimate Frisbee:

What: Learn/play the game of Ultimate Frisbee

When: Mondays and Wednesday (2:30-4:30) and Fridays (2:30-3:30)

Where: Hiawatha Field

Why: Meet new people and play against different schools

How: Talk to Bryan (YMCA)

 

Music Production:

What: Write Music or Play in the Band

When: Wednesday (2:30-5:00)

Where: Band Room

Why: Be apart of a passionate music community

How: Talk to Bryan (YMCA)

 

Geocaching Club:

What: Go outside hiding and finding geocaches

When: Wednesdays after school

Where: Room 262 (Mr.Barth)

Why: To go out exploring and find cool things

How: Drop In

 

Deca:

What: Business and Marketing Club

When: During Marketing Class

Where:Room 131(Ms.Salnick)

Why: Gives a real world career experience

How: Join Marketing Class

 

 

 

Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) :

What: Talk about current issues and Successes in the LGBTQ community.

When: Every Tuesday

Where: Room 154

Why: Great way to meet like minded individuals and make significant changes at WSHS

How: Drop in ( they also are having a Ice cream social soon)

 

Student Health Council:

What: Talk about different Health issues or Education issues.

When: Every other Monday (2:30)

Where: Teen Health Center

Why: If you passionate about healthcare or being healthy

How: Drop In

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Winter Ball Review

BY Lavenia Fink

WinterBall is just around the corner and i’m sure you all are wondering what’s the theme is or when winter ball is going to be. Well winter ball has officially been set for February 27 on a saturday. The dance will be 3 hours 8:30 pm to 11:30 pm. The theme will be Old HollyWood and is semi formal. The tickets cost 20$ or 15 if you bring three cans of food. Tickets will be sold during both lunches. Don’t wait till last minute to buy your tickets! The last day to buy tickets is this friday, you can’t buy tickets on saturday.

Winter Ball is not a Tolo but that doesnt mean girls can’t ask guys!

Dress as your most old HollyWood glam! Some ideas would be a flapper girl or just going as your favorite old hollywood actors/actresses like Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth taylor, James Dean or Frank Sinatra.

Hope to see you all there!

What is Lent?

By Ginny Sunde

Every year, you may hear some conversation about Lent. Well, Lent is a season of the Christian calendar which begins on Ash Wednesday. This forty day period leading up to Easter is a time to await the death and resurrection of Jesus, a central focus of Christianity. During this time, people pray, reflect on life, give up sin, fast from certain food and celebrations which draws them closer to God.

One little known fact is that the Mardi Gras and Carnival festivities actually relates to Lent. Mardi Gras means ‘Fat Tuesday’ in French. And the word Carnival comes from and old Latin word meaning ‘farewell to flesh (meat)’. Obviously, these are celebrations where people don lots of feathers and masks, drink lots of booze, eat tons of food and just party their hearts out. You may ask, what in the world does this have to do with religion?

Mardi Gras and Carnival celebrations take place on Tuesday, the day before Lent starts. Because Lent is a time for people to fast and repent sins, this day allows people to go all out.

A very long time ago, people did not want to be tempted by meat or sweets, so they cleaned out their pantries and ate everything. They had a huge feast! The masks were used to escape class and gender barriers and mingle with anyone you wanted. Although through the years, the simplicity of it has been lost and has become quite a wild affair. It used as yet another excuse to be with a thousand of your closest friends and turn into costume wearing drunks and gluttons. Oh well, Christians still get the point.

Partying aside, Lent is a serious religious observance. It is a time to recognize your own morality and how valuable life is. It’s like a new year’s resolution. Christians devote themselves to being more like Christ, in any way they think is fit, in order to better understand the struggles and significance of Jesus. This is a time to pray and listen for God.

Lent ends with the joyous day of Easter (although there is debate on whether Holy Week is included in Lent or not), which is part of the foundation of Christian faith. And, of course, yet another excuse to party and eat food.

 

The Flint Water Crisis

By Ginny Sunde

The news of the water crisis in Flint, Michigan has spread across the country. The fundamentals are now known. They expose the corruption of government officials and how their actions have devastated the lives of thousands.

In April 2015, the city switched its water supply from the clean, fresh supply of Lake Huron water to the Flint River in order save money. The harshness of the river caused lead from the city’s aging pipes to leach into the water, which resulted in dangerously high levels of lead.

Although notified by researchers and the Environmental Protection agency that Flint had enough lead in its water to be considered toxic waste and hearing complaints of poor water quality by residents, government officials did nothing to address the problem and insisted that there was no threat to the health of those exposed to the water.

Despite a switch back to Detroit water in October 2015, the damage had already been done. Lead poisoning causes irreversible brain development issues, diseases, severe physical pain and other crippling conditions. Repairing plumbing will cost 1.5 billion dollars. Home values have plummeted. Residents no longer feel safe in their homes and must deal with the fallout for the rest of their lives.

In the past two months, three states of emergency have been declared on a local, state and federal level surrounding Flint water. This allows millions of dollars to go towards aiding this crisis in social services, water, clean up and any other area that needs attention. This shows how desperate this disaster has become.

Since this became knowledge, the Michigan government and some EPA officials have been highly criticized. The FBI, the EPA, the U.S Attorney’s Office and the U.S House of Representatives are all investigating the crisis. To add on to that, multiple Flint residents are filing lawsuits against officials on all levels of government for damages. These cases chastise officials for their selfishness, negligence, recklessness, denial of constitutional rights, and endangerment of hundreds of thousands of people. Many officials have resigned. Many are calling for everyone involved, specifically the governor, Rick Snyder, to quit. And there have been subpoenas for correspondence between him and his aids by the U.S House of Representatives which is conducting a formal hearing.

But most just want an admittance of wrongdoing and compensation. Gladyes Williamson, a longtime resident of Flint says of those who refuse to testify before congress, “They are cowards. They don’t want to tell the truth. Nothing is being done. They’re just going around this mountain over and over, and they’re beating a dead horse. They’re not answering questions in there. They are skating around the truth.” She is just one of the millions who emotionally talks about the need for proper justice and the need for good leaders.

This has also become an issue in the current presidential election. Presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton says, “The people of Flint deserve to know the truth about how this happened and what Governor Snyder and other leaders knew about it. And they deserve a solution, fast.”

Another aspect that plays into this is the racial and monetary issue. As a predominantly black, low-income city, many claim that had the neighborhood been white, many would’ve immediately tried to find a solution. It is yet another case for the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement.

While there have been heart-wrenching moments during this crisis, it has united people in support. Celebrities like Cher, Eminem along with many others have sent in thousands of gallons of water and thousands of dollars to Flint. Them, along with politicians, corporations, aid organizations, volunteers and others are all working to see that people are held accountable and that another disaster like this will never happen again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upcoming ASB events

By Lindsey Jensen

There are always upcoming events that anyone to can participate in. The West Seattle high school ASB leaders do a lot to keep this school fun for students, there is always something to do.

In November, ASB leaders organized a Thanksgiving project. Students could have bought a turkey-gram and wrote to their peers on how much they appreciated them. Those grams were then delivered to their peer’s classes.

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving break, we had class academic assemblies. Seniors had their assembly 2nd period, followed by juniors 3rd period, sophomores 4th period, and freshmen 5th period. This assembly is to promote the Holiday Drive also. Hopefully you participated by giving warm socks, gloves, hats, and/or blankets to the homeless.

The first basketball game, December 1st, ASB leaders made it a Silent Night. Hopefully you all were decked out in white at that game while supported the wildcat basketball players.

The week leading up to Winter break was a spirit week. Monday was Polar Express Pajama Day. Tuesday was Sweater Weather. Wednesday was Day at the Slopes. Thursday was Holiday Helpers. And today is Winter Wonderland White Out. Hopefully you all participated in spirit week to increase your class spirit rank.

Today is also the Winter Assembly. The ASB leaders will give out those lucky students their winter wishes at the assembly, as well as many other fun activities, with the cheerleaders performance.

“I hope you all enjoyed just some of our events that recently happened,” said ASB president, senior Gabby Carufel, “I’m excited for the next events throughout the year.”

Hurrican Patricia

By Julia Vreeman

Hurricane Patricia struck Mexico with bafflingly high wind speeds of 185 miles per hour and extreme levels of devastation seen by tourists and locals alike. Those who experienced the storm in full strength noted just how terrifying it actually was.

Many were intrigued and scared to learn that the strongest recorded hurricane hit Mexico late last October. Despite low death counts, Hurricane Patricia was not a storm we would soon forget.

Brad Powles was one of the many US citizens visiting Mexico during hurricane Patricia. Near the beginning of the storm Powles said over his Twitter

“Hotel has given us 2 [hours] to pack and get to the shelter. Said we’re no longer “guests” but “refugees” ”. Fortunately, Powles said Patricia didn’t hit them too hard, but that he was just one of the lucky ones.

Powles further explained via Twitter, “There are a lot of people who are not so fortunate and we probably won’t know the extent of the damage until tomorrow…” Power outages and floods took place across Mexico following the storm. However, many communities are banding together to help out the people negatively impacted by the storm. Thankfully, though, the hurricane hit in an area with a pretty low population, so fewer people suffered the aftermath of the actual storm.

The total death count was officially tallied at zero people. However, the string of floods and mudslides following the hurricane are still impacting Mexico.

Though Mexican officials are currently reporting there was no major damage in Mexico, some would say other wise due to the toppled power lines and uprooted vegetation scattered across the areas where Patricia hit the hardest.

Thankfully though, most of Mexico just experienced rain and some wind- downgrading the hurricane to the level of a Tropical storm.

Give Back this Holiday Season

By Gabrielle Rackner

The Holidays are coming up, and with all of the presents and gifts it is easy to get caught up in it all. But, this year, try something different for the Holidays and get some community service hours too. It’s easy to find volunteering opportunities and activities that fit your interests.

The YMCA is not just a place where you can go for a run or play some basketball. There is an “Adopt an Elf” program at the YMCA during the Holidays. When you walk in the door you notice there is a Christmas tree with a bunch of tags on it. These tags represent a gift that a child in need wants. Next time you go to the YMCA, take a tag and get a gift for a child in need, and know that you are giving back. If you are interested visit your local YMCA.

Another community service opportunity is at the Salvation Army on December 19, where you can be “Santa’s little helper,” and help set up and arrange the gifts. Also, at the Renton Salvation Army, you can help serve Christmas baskets to more than 500 families in the city of Renton. This activity can also get you four hours of community service hours. If you are interested sign up at: https://www.volunteermatch.org/search/opp1804190.jsp

Want a community service activity that has more one-on-one connections? On Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout the year, you can be a volunteer tutor helping recently homeless kids with their homework. This opportunity also is year round in case you want to volunteer for long amounts of time. If you are interested sign up at: https://www.volunteermatch.org/search/opp1792916.jsp

Is photography more your suit? Nature Consortium is looking for a volunteer photographer to help take pictures of their classes and youth programs outdoors. You will get credit for your work. If you are interested sign up at: https://www.volunteermatch.org/search/opp2071924.jsp. Also, be prepared to send a photo portfolio.

Even if none of these volunteer options interest you, there are many great websites where you can find an option that relates to your interests and hobbies. A great resource is Volunteermatch.org. During this Holiday season, try and find a way to give back to your community.

Flag Squad

By Gabrielle Rackner

What is Flag Squad? Flag Squad here at West Seattle High School is a group of ten people who perform with the band in numerous parades, and sports games. You may have seen the Flag Squad at the Huling Bowl during halftime, or performing in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, or even practicing outside of the school in the Courtyard or in the gym. They work hard every day rain or shine, even when there is a lot of wind they still flag through it with no problem.

Participating in Flag Squad requires a lot of concentration and focus, and the memorization of sets and motions. It definitely takes a lot of dedication and hard work, especially with arm strength. And while they are focusing on their set routines, they also have to march and keep the group synchronized, while keeping in time with the band. Even though there is a lot of work that goes into it, Flag Squad is also very fun and the group is very close. They also get to go on trips with the band, and they are going to go on a trip to Victoria, Canada this year.

West Seattle High School’s Flag Squad is looking for some more people to join too, and you do not need any prior experience in Flag Squad, and you get to go on trips and perform in parades. It is not too late to join, so you can talk to one of the Captains, Emma Weglin or Hina Casaba if you are interested in joining.

All-female space crew

By Julia Schexnayder

Recently, Russia held a mock space mission to the moon with the first all-female space crew. Six women were locked in a room for eight days to test how well they could live together. They were released from Moscow’s Institute of Biomedical Problems Thursday, November 5^th.

This m0ck-mission was held to simulate a trip to the moon and back; a potential real mission in 2029. This is the first only-women mission of its kind. Between the first female Russian cosmonaut in space, sent out in 1963, and the latest, sent out last year, Russia has only sent out four women.

“We consider the future of space belongs equally to men and women and unfortunately we need to catch up a bit after a period when unfortunately there haven’t been too many women in space,” the experiment supervisor, Sergei Ponomaryov, told Phys.org.

A press conference was held before the experiment began. Unsurprisingly, the women were bombarded with sexist questions, revolving mainly around hair, make up, and men.

When asked how the women would survive for eight days without make up and men, crew member Darya Komissarova replied, “We are very beautiful without makeup.”

“We are doing work. When you’re doing your work, you don’t think about men and women,” another crew member, Anna Kussmaul explained.

The crew began their mission confident in their abilities to handle conflict despite the public’s worry for their “female cattiness.”

Freshman Jovanna Barron believes that the bias against women for their stereotyped maliciousness is completely unfair.

“Women would work together just as well as men. Women fight but men do it just the same and no one comments on them,” she elaborated.

After being asked whether the women missed shampoo and chocolate during their eight day experiment, the scientists explained they were more concerned for their families.