by Bridget Galvin Convince him to get a new haircut and when he does, notice the way it doesn’t frame his face the way it used to, notice that his shaved head reminds you of your cousin who, as your mom said, enlisted too young. Listen to him; really listen to him and when he talks watch the way his mouth automatically turns into a smile after every single sentence he utters. Try to talk to him about your fears, try to have a conversation with him about something other than the weather or the people in the restaurant across the street. Watch the way he cannot manage one dialogue…

by Olivia Lada The last time I saw her was maybe 9:30 pm on a Saturday. Everyone had Church early the next morning, so even though the Midwestern sky had only just darkened, most of the crowd began to pack up and head home. That’s just the way things seemed to work, even on a comfortably thick, warm summer night like that one. I remember standing under the huge sycamore tree in her front yard, wanting nothing more than to stay for even just a few more minutes, but also overcome with the sense that neither I, nor anyone else was still welcome. She was hugging the trailing guests uncomfortably.…

by Thomas O’Harra So, in the past week, I’ve gone from living alone on a bunk in a hostel to having the best bed in a house with a bunch of my teammates from Team AK. We have a pretty good situation, although to get to meals we have to walk almost a mile, which gets old when we are walking two or three miles every day. Other than that, the food is really good, and everyone is really pumped to be here. Yesterday, we had the first race of the championships—a skate sprint. For the qualifying round I started first, because I am the highest seeded sprinter here. It…

by Olivia Lada Cold, wet, and utterly uncomfortable.  I wasn’t having the best day sifting through tide pools for slimy invertebrates. Too squeamish to touch any of the recent finds, I was happy to allow my fellow students to overturn the glistening rocks and dig through the stinking silt for small creatures. We had been crouched over on the beach all morning, my entire science class shuffling around observing tidal pools across the bay from Homer, Alaska. In all, it wasn’t a bad way to begin the school year, but if I’d have any say I certainly would have requested better weather. The initial excitement of the day had finally…

by Kayleigh Gilbert Are nonfat yogurt and sugar free candy as good for our bodies as many ads make it sound? What do we actually know about the chemically processed ingredients and their reactions with our bodies? Can these ingredients be connected to many mental and physical problems like ADD, unexplained blood clots, birth defects, and quite possibly even Alzheimer’s? Refined sugars like the ones you would find in a bagel or a pumpkin bar have been linked to hypoglycemia which causes hyperactivity during low blood sugar. Wade and Wolraich (1995) did a study to find a connection and found, “This hypothesis became prominent after it was found in a…

by Thomas O’Harra When I got to the Truckee area last week, there was little to no snow, anywhere. The temperature was in the 50s, and there was green grass growing in places. Coming from Switzerland—where it snowed almost three feet in one 24 hour period—it was definitely a shock. The family that I was staying with told me that they had raked their yard the previous week—not a typical February activity to say the least! The first day or so, I spread out, cleaned all my clothes, and relaxed a little bit. I explored the woods behind their house on short runs. The forest here is very different from…

by Brittney Alston Our elevator pulled to a stop at the third floor and my sister and I, two giggling girls of eight and eleven, stumble out and excitedly greet our cousin. He is a ten year old boy, grinning from ear to ear, and we hug shyly. The fatigue from the fourteen hour plane ride suddenly wears away in all the commotion of hugs, laughter, and excited greetings. Our mother begins chatting noisily with her two sisters, and our uncles, with their familiar tall, lanky figures, pick up our suitcases for us and wink knowingly. A flicker of white paper attached to the luggage catches my eye as my…

by Breeyana Marshall I was in a mad dash to pick up my twelve year old son from a late night session at Diamond Skate Land. As I drove up I saw a little girl, no older than eight or nine. She was standing there, legs spread behind, pushed outward, thrusting her hips hard and fast in a very provocative fashion. It appeared that she was humping the air. I was appalled and disgusted. This later turned to sadness for a generation of innocence that has been lost with the values of my parent’s generation. What I witnessed made me realize how sexualized America’s children have become. The definition of…

by Brooke Hartman The aroma of day-old fish nuggets and burned Tater Tots wafted from the lunch line. I sucked in a breath, trying to forget that tomorrow I would be watching reruns of SG-1 while every other guy in the universe (well, every other guy in my school, which was my universe) would be going to the Homecoming Game and the Homecoming Dance and making out with Homecoming Cheerleaders. But this was my senior year. Time I got some action. The kind of action Kirk got from Uhura. The kind of action Gaius got from Number 6. The kind of action Billy the Poet got from scores of Junoesque…

by Thomas O’Harra Going into this last weekend’s races, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I had never raced that much in three days before, and so it was really a big adventure, and definitely a new experience. The races this weekend, which were in Campra, Switzerland, were all part of a mini-tour, as I mentioned in my previous installment. The opening race, a skate sprint, was actually a pretty good race! I qualified 10th and advanced out of my quarterfinal in 2nd. In the semifinal, I missed getting into the draft of the leading skiers on the big downhill of the course and then couldn’t quite catch back…