All posts by Joe Reitz

World Headlines

Beautiful vacation destinations destroyed by litter

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The world is full of beautiful places where tourists flock to. Due to this exces- sive tourism in these locations, such as the Maldives, have been defaced with trash left behind.

According to Sophia Forbes of Yahoo Travel, seven billion people that produce 1.7 billion tons of trash each year inhabit Earth. These statistics are only going to go up as 100,000 people are born each day. By the year of 2025, the amount of waste produced annually will exceed 2.2 billion tons.

This alarming amount of trash is not always properly disposed, resulting in a build up of unwanted trash. Waste is starting to infiltrate glorious getaway spots and destroying their beauty.

According to Sophia Forbes of Yahoo Travel, “More than 750,000 people head to the Maldives every year bringing an influx in waste with them.”

Tourism is the main cause of the destruction of significant historical and beautiful destinations.

“Waste buildup around the world is disgusting and is a major cause for the destruction of major destination spots. Something needs to be done or the world will have no tourist spots left,” senior Aaron Gates said.

Beautiful places have been destroyed by trash build up. In 1992, the government allocated an island in the Maldives, Thilafushi.

According Sophia Forbes of Yahoo travel, Thilafushi was used from 1992-2011 as a dump for all of the countries waste. “The Rubbish Island” used to be a beautiful lagoon

with coral reefs and crystal clear waters. Now, it is a toxic dump containing more than 124 acres of trash trans- ported and burned daily.

“I think it’s horrible that a beautiful place like this island was used as a dump for so long. The island won’t recover from constant dumping and won’t return to it’s previous state of beauty,” freshman Lauren Vandenbush said.

The island became a major bio-hazard as toxic waste and smoke filled the air. Dumping on the island stopped in 2011 after ships began dumping waste into the ocean.

Thilafushi is just one example of how trash buildup across the world has ruined beautiful places. Surprisingly, Mount Everest has become a trash heap as well. Each year, roughly 300 people attempt to scale Mount Everest. Over the years climbers have left a trail of waste leading to the mountain being called, “the world’s highest junkyard.”

Climbers of Mount Everest have left behind equipment, tents, plastic bottles, clothes and a disgusting amount of human feces in base camps and climbing routes. The toxins on the mountain threaten the ecosystem and surrounding areas, which could spread disease to local communities living by the mountain.

Trash buildup across the world is a major problem and threatens the lives of many.

News

Joshua’s produces seafood buffet for lunch

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Joshua’s food has saved students from school lunches for years. Recently, the restaurant decided to shake things up a little bit by adding a brand new buffet.

This Wednesday and Thursday, March 18-19, Joshua’s will be holding a seafood buffet. This will be the restaurants first seafood buffet in its’ history.

Stow high school’s restaurant, Joshua’s, has been known for its’ phenomenal food and numerous buffets throughout the year. They have had holiday buffets, harvest buffets, super bowl buffets and international buffets. For the first time they are including a seafood buffet that will replace the harvest buffet they previously had.

The buffet costs $15 a person and is open to reservation only so you must make plans in advance. The menu includes many seafood items such as shrimp, crab and swordfish.

Tracey Lee and Shelley Giangaspero run the restaurant. Lee is the culinary arts instructor and Giangaspero is the chef instructor.

“We decided to do the seafood buffet this year to give students the opportunity to learn about different culinary techniques. It’s in the curriculum and since it is world language week we figured there’s no better time,” said Lee.

The buffet helps level one students work with people from other countries in order to get the food they need. Level 2 students learn where the food comes from and where it is better to get the food. This is a learning opportunity for students involved with Joshua’s to make great food.

“Joshua’s buffets have always been good, if this is anything like there other buffets, it’ll be great,” freshman Olivia Stark said.

The cost of $15 can deter students from going to the buffet however.

“The cost for the buffet is actually inexpensive compared to the quality of the food that will be prepared,” Lee said.

Students have the chance to look up more information about the restaurant on the Joshua’s facebook page. Joshua’s seafood buffet is moving along nicely and deserves a visit.

Photos by Nina Harris.

Feature

Art teacher Surrena collects water bottles to beautify school

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Art is one thing that the high school is not known for. Michelle Surrena has a new project in mind that could change that.

Recently, the high school added an up-cycle art class as an elective. This class is taught by none other than Michelle Surrena. This class utilizes old, recycled material to make new, beautiful creations. Currently, they are working on creating a bouquet of flowers using recycled book pages.

“This class is really great. I’m so glad that I took it. It feels good to make beautiful things out of junk,” senior Molly Divine said.

Surrena plans on putting her book page bouquets throughout the school, mainly in Joshua’s. She’s already doing things to integrate artwork into our school, however, her next project requires some help from the student body.

“I’m going to need between 200-500 water bottles for this project. I need a lot of help from you students,” Surrena said.

Surrena plans on creating a chandelier to place in the middle of the commons to bring beauty into the school. She’s basing her vision off of glass blowing artist Dale Chihully who creates magnificent sculptures from glass and paint. She cannot do this with actual glass however, so she is attempting to use water bottles instead.

“I’m on a mission. The possibilities of this are great.” Surrena said.

Surrena does have more than one art class and plans to use that to her advantage. She wants to have a “Chihully day” where all of her students contribute to her cause. They are going to bring in water bottles and help construct the chandelier.

In order to make a great sculpture, they need a lot of water bottles. The process of creating the sculpture is simple, get the water bottles, cut them into shapes, paint them and string wire through them. After all of that, they wire them together to create fascinating and intricate sculptures

“We have a really cool opportunity to bring a really unique and beautiful piece of art into our school. I’m very excited to be a part of it.” Sophomore and up-cycle class student Lily Warren said.

Integrating beautiful artwork into our school is Michelle Surrena’s mission. She can make her dream a reality with the efforts of us, the students. Surrena needs 500 water bottles. Make it happen.

Sports Opinion

New England Patriots crush legacy with new allegations

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     The New England Patriots’ dynasty may officially be tarnished due to new allegations.
     On Sun., Jan. 18, the Patriots were set to play the Colts at home in Fox borough, Massachusetts. During the game, Tom Brady, Patriots quarterback, threw an interception to D’quell Jackson. Jackson noticed that the ball felt softer and lighter than a normal football. Game officials were alerted of this at half time of this under inflation.
     The Patriots now stand accused of deflating footballs during the AFC championship game. The Colts organization was even alerted by the Ravens, the previous team the Patriots played. They warned the Colts about New England’s potential doctoring of the football.
     Each and every NFL quarterback receives 12 balls before each game. They can then do what they want to them to break them in to their liking before the game. However, Deflating the football is illegal because it makes the football easier to catch and throw, especially in rainy conditions. The referees check the footballs before the game and then give them back to the team.
     How then could the New England Patriots have pulled this off? No one is absolutely certain how they did it, but they do know that it was done. ESPN investigators discovered that of the 12 balls, 11 of them were under inflated by 2 lbs. each.
     New England is now threatened by fines to both head coach Bill Belichick and All pro quarterback Tom Brady. The team also faces a potential loss of draft picks in the upcoming draft. Despite overwhelming evidence that the Patriots did deflate footballs, they continue to deny it.
     According to Yahoosports.com, Tom Brady said, “I didn’t alter the ball in any way. Everybody is trying to figure out what happened. I was as surprised as anybody on when I heard Monday morning what was happening.”
     Nobody in the Patriots organization seems to know what is happening, despite their history of cheating.
     Bill Belichick is one of the greatest coaches in NFL history and he is very good at cheating. In 2007, the Patriots were caught illegally filming a the New York Jets defensive hand signals. Before “Spy Gate” in 2007, the Patriots had won three super bowls, creating a dynasty. Belichick was fined $500,000 and the team has not won a super bowl since.
     It seems as though the only way the Patriots succeed is through cheating. The Patriots have returned to the super bowl for the first time sine 2011 despite being in the two previous AFC championship games. The organization made a connection that when they cheat, they succeed. Belichick’s legacy is in question because of his constant compromises to the integrity of the game of football.
         Due to these allegations, the Patriots are under fire once again. Their legacy has become tarnished and a tarnished legacy, is not really a legacy at all.