Dr. Dog Feb. 2 @ The Granada

Whimsical folk-poppers Dr. Dog are a sight to be seen. Lucky for all of us, Pennsylvania’s best animal-named band is stopping by the Granada to charm concert-goers with their take on ‘60s psychedelic rock, transfused with indie instrumentation including playful pianos and serenading strings.

On their newest album, “Be the Void” — to be released on Feb. 7 — Dr. Dog returns with a shinier sound, different from their previous records like “We All Belong” and “Easy Beat.” Emulating John Lennon-esque melodies and instrumentation on earlier records, Dr. Dog transforms into a tighter-sounding, upbeat band on “Be the Void,” even sounding like ABBA and Talking Heads in some respects. However, despite resembling a Swedish pop group from the ‘70s in the song “Control Yourself,” Dr. Dog remains unique with a certain poppy, bubbly, psychedelic sound, inducing listeners into a rock-and-roll trance.

If this raving review hasn’t convinced you of Dr. Dog’s supreme awesomeness, then go see their energetic, boisterous and engaging live show. Their songs are perfect to sing along to and their wild performances and light show will stun any veteran concert-goer. If that’s not enough, tickets are only $15 and it will more than likely be filled with cool people who like cool music. The show is all ages and doors open at 8:30.

Zola Jesus Feb. 24 @ Granada

Because Zola Jesus acquired her name from a popular French naturalist writer of the 19th century, it’s not too much of a stretch to deem her music, well, abstract. Its abstraction originates from avant-garde, synth-driven, atmospheric instrumentation as it compliments haunting-yet-delicate lyrics about lost loves and self-alienation. However, Zola Jesus’ music reaches millions of listeners because of its spacey, danceable qualities and its sombering, enlightening effect on listeners.

Hailing from Wisconsin, Zola Jesus makes music that seems as though it were from outer space, yet blends it with elements of synth-pop, as her voice hints at Blondie and Florence Welch, although it holds its own to the other two female vocalists. Her newest album, “Conatus,” is a continuation of her past musical ventures, still containing soaring vocals and orchestral synths, but adds more-syncopated rhythms and experimental tonalities and soundscapes.

I strongly encourage you to see Zola Jesus at the Granada on Feb. 24. The atmosphere and will be an experience in itself, not to mention the incredible music. Tickets are $13 in advance and $15 at the door. The show is all ages and Talk Normal will be opening for the critically-accalimed Russian vocalist.

Even without great expectations, the boys swim team managed to claim first overall at all three of their home meets. This is largely due to their rigorous practice schedule, mental strength and team camaraderie.

The boys swim team has never contained members under the age of 15. Fortunately, along with the addition of many freshmen, plenty of juniors and seniors brought their leadership to the pool this year.

“It’s a young team, we have a lot of new freshmen who are inexperienced, but we have a lot of experienced juniors. We’re mostly leaning on the juniors,” senior team captain Andrew Roman said.

The way to win: Practice, practice, practice.

Even through winter break, the boys practiced for three hours almost every day. Except, of course, for the days when the school was completely shut down. During these five days, the team was encouraged to swim elsewhere.

During the typical school week, practices are just as strenuous.“We start stretching around 3:30,” Sophomore Evan Barnes said. “We normally do squat jumps, volleyball jumps, push-ups and sit-ups. After we do dry lands, we get in and do a warm up which has progressively gotten harder as the season’s gone on.”

“We get ready to go into the pool, put our cap and goggles on, and brace for the cold water,” Roman said.

After the warm up, the swimmers are assigned a “main set” which is designed to be physically and mentally challenging, and requires about half an hour to complete.

“It’s like any other sport, but in water it’s hard to stop yourself. If you’re playing another sport you can take a break, but in swimming you’re out in the open,” Barnes said. “Ignoring your mind telling you to breathe is pretty difficult.”

On average, each member of the team ends up swimming roughly 2 miles per practice.

Saturday practices are a bit different.

“Saturday mornings…basically, we sit in the locker room until she [Coach McDonald] gets mad at us,” an anonymous swimmer shared.

To be a successful swimmer, proper attire is necessary.

“Speed suits are called jammers. They’re like compression shorts, except for swimming. We wear them for meets–they’re pretty comfortable,” Barnes said.

Attire for practice is a bit different. “A lot of guys wear jammers and a drag suit which is a bulky, small Speedo, but a lot of guys just wear the dragsuit so it’s kind of like a small baggy diaper.”

This year, a new fashion trend of wearing just a drag suit to practice has emerged.
“They’re super comfortable because there’s microscopic holes in it.They’re not gross or disgusting or anything,” Barnes said. “However, shaving our legs…yeah. That went down.”

Outside of typical practices, the swimmers make sure to eat correctly, get plenty of rest, and visualize. Normal practices are so rigorous that extra training is unnecessary. “You don’t really have time to do anything else,” Barnes said.

The visualization pays off at meets.

First, Free State plays the intimidation factor. “We get there early and we want to be warming up before other teams warm up to show we’re ready to go,” Barnes said.
Next come the pre-meet rituals, which include a speech, a cheer, and the placing of Lawnie the Land Gnome. “Lawnie the Land Gnome is our swim team mascot. He sits on the high dive at every home meet and brings us good luck. He’s our guardian,” Roman said.

Finally, the actual swimming begins. Swim meets resemble track meets in that there’s a set schedule of events, different heats, and points earned for each swimmer who places in each race.
“Another reason it’s a team sport is you swim what the team needs you to swim. I swim endurance, so the 500 free, 200 individual medley. For my relays, I do the 200 medley relay,” Roman said.

Practice pays off.

“Winning is satisfying because we swim six days a week for a couple hours, and for people who don’t win first places, it’s very satisfying to win as a team. Every point counts and every swimmer counts,” Roman said.

“Winning a heat feels really good–to touch the wall and look around and see no one else there yet,” Barnes said.

After a highly successful season, the Firebird swimmers are gearing up for State. Meets throughout the season seldom match the intensity of State.

“At State, that’s the final culmination of all your training. You may be super nervous because it’s really loud, really high energy, it definitely adds fuel to the fire that you have to do well in your events and hopefully get top eight and get a medal,” Campbell said.

As for placing at State, the outlook’s pretty good.

“I think Ben Sloan could win some events at state. Conner Munk and Kyle Yoder could get top 8–I really think we can because we put in the work and we’re just really loaded,” Campbell said.

“As for myself, the two time defender of the 500 broke his hand, so I’m like ‘YES! I have a chance to get top 3 at state!’”

But all of this pre-holiday mayhem has been the cause of consumer controversy.

In the spirit of Charlie Brown, many people believe Christmas is too commercialized and are protesting the early holiday spirit that stores and radio stations jollily ram down their throats. Stores such as Macy’s and J.C. Penny’s have already begun their holiday preparations with lavish decorations and promises of pre-holiday sales.

“I think it has its perks,” junior Leah Gruber said. “I like seeing all the Christmas things out early but I don’t like all the insane shopping on Black Friday,”

The criticism surrounding the consumer driven holiday Black Friday is justifiable.  Americans spent about $45 billion on Black Friday sales according to the National Retail Association and spent about $76 billion throughout the2010 holiday season making it one of the highest grossing November and December on record.

Stores aren’t the only places to jump the gun on the holiday frenzy. Many radio stations and advertising agencies start jingling the Christmas bells in October ensuring that Christmas turns into a season-long event that dwarfs both Halloween and Thanksgiving.

A Topeka station, KMAJ 107.7 has already begun to play Christmas tunes for evening listeners and will be playing Christmas music around the clock beginning Thanksgiving Day.

Many see this Christmas extravaganza as a reflection on the greed and materialism of American society and the effects commercialism has had on our holiday traditions. But for as much time Americans spend complaining about the commotion Christmas creates, some see the positive rewards in early preparation.

“It’s really frustrating because it is really early but then again it also gets you really excited for winter break,” Senior Kelly Kristiansen said.

Early holiday celebrations also allow people to have something to look forward to, knowing that the end of a fiscal year will soon be over and that people will have a short but well deserved break with their families.

While the criticism of impatience and commercialism that surrounds the holiday season will continue, most will take the commotion in their stride and come December 25, many will realize the true meanings of what the holidays are all about; love, friendship and family.

To those freshmen I walked past on Thursday Oct. 20: No, I am not a transvestite, I just decided to dress as a girl for a day. Well, more like half a day. I could only handle wearing the bra, makeup, skirt and fake Ugg boots for so long.

Recommended by the girls in my newspaper class, pretending to be a girl was one of the original ideas for t’Ryan. Out of all the ideas for my column, this one took the most convincing. Don’t get me wrong, I was all for dressing pretty for a day, but the response I expected from my fellow students frightened me. Although I don’t have much of a concern for what others think of me, I was worried dressing in drag might cause too much of a commotion. Surprisingly, the reaction was quite positive.

On an average school day, I wake up at 7:30 a.m., shower, get dressed, brush my teeth and leave. After the experience of pretending to be a girl, I learned that waking up 30 minutes prior to school would never fly. There are many more variables that go into “getting ready” than I originally thought.

Once I finished putting on a skirt, boots, a necklace and a bra in the men’s bathroom, I had to receive a make-up treatment in front of the whole yearbook class. After having my eyelashes curled and a number of different types of cosmetics shoved in my face, I began to wonder if I was being taken seriously, or if I were just the butt of some cruel joke. Thankfully, I have short hair, as there is no telling what they would have done to me if it were longer.

Reality struck when I saw myself in the mirror. No offense to my makeup artist, Allison Harwood, but seeing all that junk on my face was just too much to handle.

Even though I received my fair share of confused looks and glares from my peers, the majority of people I came in contact with)seemed to be a lot more understanding than I originally expected. For a school where most guys wear basketball shorts and sandals every day of the year, this was rather shocking. People I expected to be the least understanding jokingly offered to hold my hand and walk me to class.

The worst part about this experience was how uncomfortable I was. Although I got over the physical discomfort of the bra, skirt and makeup, I could not handle feeling like someone else for very long.

After seeing what girls go through to look “pretty,” I have much more respect for the girls who aren’t afraid to go a day in sweatpants and a hoody. I also have a great deal of appreciation for the fact that I’m a guy, and I only had to deal with that once.

Haunted Houses in KC

Guaranteeing a spookifying, frightening, and terrifying time, Kansas City’s The Beast and The Edge of Hell hold a spot in the Top Ten Haunted Houses in the U.S. and for good reason. Known for its unique “open format” design (not always having to wade through a line while inside), America’s largest haunted house, The Beast, petrifies guests with many different atmospheres including the pitch black Werewolf Forest and the four-story exit slide. The Beast’s walk through takes about 40 minutes, and only has a halfway and an end exit, so be ready to fight the fright phobias after entering.

Known as the Grandaddy of haunted houses in Kansas City, The Edge of Hell set the bar for haunted houses after its opening in 1972. With gargantuan snakes and a three-story slide, the godfather of haunted houses shows off its new scary scenes every year, bound to give you a new experience every visit. The Edge of Hell is designed out of an old five-story warehouse and the walk through takes about 30 minutes. The only way to leave once inside is the mega slide at the end, sending you directly into the arms of the Devil.

Both haunted houses are prized and known around the world for their spook-tactics, so going to one or both would be the perfect way to start off your Halloween adventures. The attractions are open a few days out of the week until Oct. 31, and make sure to buy tickets online.

Worlds of Fun

No Halloween adventure guide would be complete if it didn’t include the Halloween Haunts at Worlds of Fun in Kansas City. Although the park is seemingly de-spooked during the day, by nightfall (8 p.m. exactly) the park turns into a creepy, haunted fear zone– imagine a super freaky version of the amusement park in “Zombieland.”

With nine different “haunts”– areas of different nightmarish themes– the park is set up to scare even the least jumpy of people. From crazy clowns to fog-filled old London to blood-sucking vampires, Worlds of Fun has thought of it all for those craving a fright-filled night. The park is divided into scarezones, haunts/mazes, shows, and family fun. The haunts double as mazes and they will definitely be the most frightening. Because only small groups are allowed into each haunt at a time, the lines will seem to be a little long, but it’s worth the wait.

Worlds of Fun’s Halloween Haunts are open on weekends from Sept. 17 to Oct. 30, including certain weekdays as Halloween draws nearer. Tickets are about $45, but you can save up to $15 if you purchase the tickets in advance. Parking tickets must also be purchased if you’re not being dropped off. Although the tickets are a little steep in price, the varied Halloween Haunts are bound to spook any visitor.

Revenge of the Nerds Halloween Ball 10/30/11 @ Bottleneck

Senior Holly Johnston wears a sweater and BDG jeans from Arizona Trading Company

Rummaging through hundreds of pieces of clothing can be a pain. Looking for a simple t-shirt quickly turns into a chaotic two-hour ordeal of trying on colorful flannels and jeans that end up back on the shelves in no time.

Seniors Kelly Phipps and Savannah Franz have spent the past three months writing a thirty page paper in their spare time. The paper is something they have chosen to do for DECA, a business club at school. While most high school kids may choose to watch TV or hang out with their friends in their spare time, some Free State students are choosing to go after awards and spend some extra time to advance themselves and have a positive affect of their community.

”DECA is a business group that goes to different competitions with many different categories,” said senior Kelly Phipps, “Savannah and I did a research event this year.”

“We teamed up with a local business (KU Credit Union), and we wrote a 30 page paper and we went to state competition we had to present it in front of judges,” Phipps said.

Their hard work ended up paying off, too. The two girls ended up taking first in their event at state. and they are just two of the many students stepping outside the classroom to get hands on experience in competitions and outside work.

Kylie Puckett also participates in competitions outside of school. As a member of FFA (Future Farmers of America) she participates in a variety of contests when she travels with FFA around the state. Puckett would like to go into veterinary medicine and said FFA has helped give her the skills necessary to achieve those goals.

FFA is not just for future farmers however. Puckett also competes in leadership categories such as the “Job Interview” section.

“We go to competitions we learn about agriculture and how to be a leader in today’s society,” Puckett said.

Learning outside the classroom isn’t just for school clubs like DECA and FFA. The Advanced Placement Chemistry recently traveled to Langston Hughes Elementary School to help with the schools science day.

“We helped out their science discovery day and we showed them a little about chemistry and the more fun side of chemistry,” senior Jacob Craft said.

They showed students different chemistry experiments and tried to show the elementary students the more exciting side of chemistry, and to encourage the younger kids to take an interest in science.

“Seeing them light up and get all excited taught us that maybe we should appreciate school more,” Craft said.

Neva Swartzendruber has also been competing at the national level. She entered a contest for extra credit in AP United States History about her favorite civic value and when she became a finalist, she also won a trip to Washington D.C. to find out where she placed. She wrote about the civic value of ambition.

It seems as if there is a lot of ambition going around at Free State. Make sure to check with teachers, and club leaders if you are more interested in getting involved.

One of the tabs on English teacher Alice Karakas’s website reads “Awareness.” Just a click away from homework assignments and term paper due dates lie several  links leading to serious topics, including the infamous issue of text messaging and driving.

Despite widespread awareness about the dangers of distracted driving, cell phones continue to divert countless drivers’ eyes from risky roads to shining screens. The National Safety Council estimates that 28 percent of all automobile accidents involve wireless devices, and cell phone use is said to increase risk of a crash by 400 percent.

“It’s such an epidemic problem, and a lot of us don’t understand how dangerous it is yet,” Karakas said. “It’s something people do naturally.”

In a survey conducted by SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) in 2007, 50% of teenagers admitted to using cell phones while driving a vehicle.  

“I don’t think young drivers text a lot when they start driving,” said Walter Olker of Go Driving School in Lawrence. “They’re too concerned initially with driving properly. The more comfortable they become driving, the more liable they are to start letting things distract them, like music, food, and cell phones. They naturally start gravitating toward their main communication means: texting.”

Lasting Consequences

The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society claims that cell phones on the roads account for 2,600 fatalities and 330,000 injuries annually, and it is almost universally accepted that teen drivers are more likely to be involved in such accidents than adults.

“What teenage drivers lack is the experience to identify possible problems as well as adult drivers,” said Olker. “Teenagers’ reaction times are better than most adults’, but when their attention is diverted by texting, that advantage is negated.”

If the possibility of becoming an insurance company’s statistic isn’t enough to keep drivers’ hands on the wheel, they should also know the legal consequences of distracted driving.

Kansas is one of 30 states, plus the District of Columbia, that bans all drivers from text messaging in their vehicles.      

The Kansas Texting Law, in effect since January 1 of this year, disciplines any driver using a “wireless device to write, send or read a written communication” with a minimum fine of $60, not counting the $53 required for court costs.      

Dangers of Denial

The question remains why many drivers are undeterred from paying more attention to their phones than to other cars.

“For the same reason all of us do silly things,” Olker explained. “‘It won’t happen to me.’”

Sophomore Patrick Liston, who took a Driver’s Education course with Go Driving, said he understands why some people cannot resist the urge to take their hands off the steering wheel to pick up their phones.

“They want to rush to answer the text message so the person doesn’t think they’re ignoring them,” he said.

Liston predicts that he will not fall into this trap, but Karakas believes that there can sometimes be a difference between what drivers say about their driving habits and how they actually drive.

“I think they consciously say that it’s dangerous,” Karakas said. “But then they get in their car and are like, ‘It’s not really that bad,’ or ‘I’m just doing it at the stoplight.’ I think people don’t think it’s actually as dangerous as they might say. I’m guilty of doing it in the past, and I had to make myself stop once I learned how dangerous it really is.”  

Senior Taylor Beals also admits to having sent the occasional text from inside the confines of his car.

“I tend to not [text] while I’m actually driving, but if I’m at a red light, I probably do,” he said. “I think people are really tied to their technology by now. You have to be in contact with people at all times.”  

Lesson Learned

Arguably the best way to prevent drivers from text messaging while driving is tried and true education.

“It’s something I think we should be more aware of,” Karakas said. “When you’re around teenagers and young people so often, you just realize how quickly they can be gone.”

Go Driving School includes the topic of text messaging within discussions about alcohol, drugs, fatigue, and distracted driving.

“All of these subjects involve less than full mental or physical attention to driving,” said Olker, who teaches this section of the curriculum with great care. “I try to get students to think beyond themselves and consider the effects of their driving under these conditions on other people. I don’t try to scare people; I want them to think. By trying to appeal to their sense of humanity I think we make a bigger impact.”