The OnLion: Voices/Op-Ed

by Stuart Childs

For weeks we walked by, waiting, anticipating, and possibly guessing at what could be behind the doors of the bathrooms by the library. We speculated, postulated, and contemplated what exactly this all could mean. What would they do? What would we lose? How would the bathrooms we have come to love be different, possibly even move on from us?

Some things are better off not being changed. Some items have earned that right, the classic feel of something with just the right amount of class without all the obnoxious clutter. No hand sensing paper towel dispensers, just good old fashioned “crank them out yourself.”

It was small, cozy yet comfortable in some enigmatic way. Most of all, it was familiar. It was consistent. When the craziness of the world set in it was one of the few constants. Some things are just always right. It was a true sanctuary. And one whose classic charm will be sorely missed.

But it got me thinking, what exactly would the ideal bathroom look like? What would it feel like, what would the experience itself be like?
It goes something like this. You walk in the door and immediately a waft of freshly baked cinnabons infuses your nostrils as you step into the cool air. A beautiful and completely fully clothed woman takes your jacket as you take in the sights. Plasma TV’s everywhere, all showing either training scenes from the Rocky movies, Goldberg highlights, Emeril Live, and Remember the Titans. It’s wall to wall man paradise.

A glass bottle Coke dispenser places a perfectly chilled coke in your hand. The toilets are all beautifully polished on a floor of Italian marble, and flush with that airline toilet determination. Lazy-boys line the walls as you wait your turn or rest to escape the world. A choice of Zaxby’s or Chick-fil-a is given to you. The only answer accepted is: both.

I walked in to the bathroom whole heartedly expecting to see this oasis. Yet again I was disappointed to see the usual bathroom, only now with that characteristic charm stripped away. Instead of the old fading tile, new gleaming white tiles coat the walls. No flush urinals (actually kinda cool), and a brand new stall stands where the old once was. No more words etched into the walls. The Garrrrr cry that once was, now gone. Rumors past now erased, history itself has been deleted.

I truly see the destructive nature of commercialization. No room for character, no dollars in charm. In the end the classic has yet again given way to the modern. Where will it end?

by Lenzie Avery

I’m not very good at walking. I trip going up the stairs, and down them. I even trip on flat spots because I drag my feet too much. But most of the time I don’t actually slip on something. I simply don’t have feet-eye coordination. And in the hallway at Lovett a few days ago I experienced one of my most annoying falls.

Walking back from break I wasn’t very excited about the trek to the third floor for physics. But what I didn’t know was that the trek would be a lot worse today than any other day.

I was walking through the doors just before the first flight of stairs when before I knew it I was on the ground. As I fell I thought to myself, “NO…get up get up get up! Quick before some one sees,” but once I was on the floor I heard laughter from behind me.

Two boys in my grade, Stuart Dodd and Charlie Low, had been walking behind me and saw the whole thing. But they were laughing somewhat harder than I thought was necessary. I mean I know I fell, but my pain is not that hilarious, is it?

And it wasn’t a normal fall; it felt really awkward as I went down. It was a stumble, then a roll of one ankle, with one leg slipping under me and then the other staying in the air. I ended up sitting on the ground on top of my left foot.

Once I looked at my feet I knew what made the fall even more amusing. My toes were covered in a mushy substance, and were also hurting (I had stubbed all of them when I fell). I didn’t know what it was until I looked around more, and then saw more of the mush around where I landed. Banana.

“You just slipped on a banana!” the boys told me, which I obviously had figured out by now. I got up and immediately looked for someone to feel bad for me, and luckily Mrs. Spencer and Mrs. Greer were walking by. An administrator and a guidance counselor – perfect.

When I told them what happened Mrs. Spencer said this is why she doesn’t want food inside the school. And for the first time, I was really mad that someone was eating in the school. After all those years of stuffing M&Ms into my book bag to keep me satisfied through out the day I now finally realized why we’re not supposed to have things like that. It’s not the ants or the trash, it’s that people slip on bananas, and it really, really hurts.

When I got over my embarrassment I got sort of angry. I mean really, a banana? That doesn’t happen in real life. Only in cartoon world. So of course, it happened to me. Throughout my life I find myself getting hurt in ridiculous ways, and very often as well. Senior Natalie Sween tells me she worries about me, since every day I come into homeroom with a new injury.

From this I realized how I get hurt in the dumbest ways, and it made me think about all the dumb things that have happened before this.

When I was a baby I ate some pills and had to get my stomach pumped. But I didn’t learn. About two months after the first time I did it again, and once again had tubes shoved into my nose and every thing I ate pumped out of me.

I have broken both of my wrists, my left one twice, both of my ankles and I have had 20 stitches in my life. In 6th grade my friend sat on my wrist and broke it, and in seventh grade I dislocated my thumb while trying to break dance. I got 18 stitches in 5th grade when I was picking flowers outside.

For a while I stopped getting hurt as much – I haven’t had a cast since 8th grade and I have not had any “serious” injuries in a long time. But after the banana slip, I fear the dark days are back.

by Elizabeth Ridgeway

Last year I spent many months alternately toiling and rejoicing in the great Russian novel War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy. Picture an eighth grader, flushed with the ambition of inexperience and youthful audacity, plowing her way through over 1000 pages. There were bound to be a few bumps in the road. For example, I had great struggles with the long descriptions of war that appeared at intervals throughout the “peace”. I would be reading, engrossed by the romance of this character with that one, or the philosophical reflections of another, when suddenly, bam! And there I was, gazing with lazy eyes upon a stretch of battle strategy and execution.

Initially, the intricate web of characters was also difficult to navigate, and at times my head swam with Russian names: Anna Pavlovna, Prince Andrey Bolkonsky, Anna Mikhailovna, Natasha Rostov, Boris Drubetskoy, Count Pierre Bezukhov, etc., etc. And all these characters also have friends, relatives, and passing acquaintances, besides their thoughts, lifestyles, and habits! However, as I became acquainted to Tolstoy’s detailed writing style (and there was plenty of room to do so), I also became acclimated to identifying and organizing his characters.

The story itself narrates Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812, and the impact that this had upon the lives of the upper class Russians. However, War and Peace is a biased retelling of this actual event: it does not resemble a history textbook or an essay. Instead, Tolstoy makes the story of the war come to life, somewhat fictionally, through the brilliance of his characters.

This reminds me somewhat of our experiences today with the War on Terror: some are affected by it more than others. Nowadays a family with a father or son fighting in Iraq is much more aware of the war than a family with no loved ones overseas. This is comparable to the situation of the Rostov family: both Nikolay and Petya Rostov are serving in the military, and Tolstoy relates the anguish and struggles of their relatives with sympathy and understanding.
A potential reader may now wonder about the “peace” portion of the title. As I stated above, sections of “war”, describing battles, strategy, soldiers, etc., are intermingled with sections of “peace”, which recount the lives of the civilian characters. I enjoyed reading how the war affected various characters differently. For example, Count Pierre Bezukhov becomes inspired to join the military in a burst of emotion, while Anna Mikhailovna views the war as an opportunity for her son’s advancement; Ellen Bezukhov thinks little of the war, while Boris Drubetskoy glories in his military life.

War and Peace is also characterized by Tolstoy’s unique writing style, which is truly a joy to read. It is difficult to describe. Perhaps it is that Tolstoy depicts small details as being utterly significant, or the care with which he renders every minute of a scene. Sometimes I felt as if I was reading a movie, the actions of each character were so carefully portrayed. Even the acquaintances of a character are vividly described in their habits, appearance, and deportment.

So much to say that, after many months, I finished it. I finished War and Peace! I had reflected many times in my reading whether it was worth the labor and struggle. Now, as I look back with the calm wisdom of a freshman, I may say that it was definitely worth it, for besides the above mentioned trials, War and Peace brimmed with sparkling detail, intricate plots, and brilliant language.

All this to say, be not afraid to attempt War and Peace! It is a truly wonderful book. Besides, it is most encouraging to see the incredulous stares when you announce, “I am reading War and Peace!”

From time to time, the Lion Newspaper will be doing a series of articles called “A Day in the Life of…” This particular piece is ” A Day in the Life of Lollie Corrigan.” For those of you who know Lollie Corrigan, you know that she is probably one of the goofiest people at this school. Not one day goes by that something weird doesn’t happen to her. For as long as I’ve known her, at least, she has not had one normal day.

Consider nominating yourself or someone else for a Day in the Life feature. Send us an email at thelionblog@lovett.org. You can write your own or be interviewed by a Lion staff member. You can pick a typical day or a bizarre one. Most importantly, we can find out what it is people do with the hours of their days. Thanks, Sullivan Griffith.

6:00 a.m. – My dad comes into my room to wake me up, and then I remind him that school starts at 8:00am so I go back to sleep.

7:15 – I wake up to my alarm clock, which happens to play Aaron’s Party. It gets me ready for the day.

7:20 – My father (aka DA) walks upstairs while I am flossing my teeth and asks if I am awake, and I respond “apparently I am Da”. Then he asks me what I would like for breakfast, I usually respond with cereal, but then he tells me that he is going to make a parfait. The parfait is my dad’s favorite item for breakfast. He usually insists that all of my friends eat it for breakfast when they spend the night. Once my dad has finished his beloved creation he places it in the refrigerator when he leaves for work, and leaves me a napkin with an arrow written in sharpie pointing towards the refrigerator.

7:30 – I eat my parfait, which is in a chilled wine glass. Then I hear my mom speaking to the dogs, saying “Rocky Rockstar” and “Scouty”. So I walk back to her bedroom and she still insists to talk to the dogs as if they are real people.

7:35 – My mom tells me it is time to go to school, and tells me to “walk out of the door.”

7:37 – I get into my car, and it doesn’t start because it is probably 20,000 years old, but my parents insist it is the best car our family has. So my dad jump starts my car.

7:40 – My car starts and I am finally on my way to school. I drive through my neighborhood going about 2 miles per hour while the neighbors walking their children to Morris Brandon motion at me to slow down.

7:42 – I get to my first red light at West Paces, then my car starts to rattle (this is usual so I follow my routine for this issue, and turn the car off and restart it. This usually does the trick, but on the rare occasion, I pull out my bottle of Coke and pour it on the battery, which makes it good as new.)

7:46 – I am rushing to get to school, so I use the ole Post Rivers turn around.

7:55 – I walk into the building, but since the Lovett clocks are 10 minutes fast, Mrs. Mitchell makes me sign in.

7:56 – We start reading announcements in homeroom. We always just flip to the back to see what the lunch is (but wait! the lunch is not on the announcements anymore so we actually don’t read the announcements.)

7:56-8:12 – My homeroom carries on conversations about life, love and the importance of life, while Stuart Dodd catches up on some sleep, and shouts out a couple moans and groans.

8:17- Class starts and my first class is Art History, my favorite class. We discuss controposto. Mr. Clarke calls on me in class and I am unable to answer the question, but I think I will be able to answer his next question, “What is different about his twisting of the body?” I grin because I believe I have the answer, and without realizing what has come out of my mouth, I respond “He is twisting his body?” Mr. Clarke sarcastically responds, “Why yes.” Then he turns to Liz and she answers the question with proper language and wording that allows Mr. Clarke to chuckle at her brightness. During the next 60 minutes I wait for the next class to escape my embarrassment.

9:22 – The bell rings, so I run to my next class Digital Photography, which I believe will be a full 65 minutes free from embarrassment.

9:25 – I run into the art room screaming “KAREY KAREY”, and she pops her head out of her office and calls me a spazzoid (Karey’s favorite word). We start working on our projects, which is a mirror imagery project. Mine is basically awesome. 30 minutes into the class I have one of my spazz moments and I unplug the computer with my foot, and all of my work is destroyed. Karey then tells me “you know this is due Friday?” I respond, yes, thanks for the support. Then Karey decides to reminisce about Savannah, the 10 day art trip over the summer (which was basically a 10 day trip of embarrassment). She decides to tell the entire class about the party, which I refuse to tell you about but all I will say is that I can dance.

10:30 – FINALLY the bell rings and I run out of the room. It is break, and I decide to go to the Sassafras club meeting, where people in the Lovett community share their appreciation for root beer.

11:00 – Physics goes as usual. I sit in the front row and usually only speak about 2 words per class, and I am completely confused the entire time until Ms. McBroom uses her awesome teaching skills and explains it to me.

12:05 p.m. – The bell rings; I run to Calculus.

12:10 – In Calculus (“the AP kind”) we discuss something called the critical points. I don’t understand at all, so I decide to stare off into the hallway where I swear I saw a fight go down. Two girls who are known to have some beef walk out of their classrooms at the same time, and the girl who did the wrong started sprinting away. It’s probably one of the funniest things I have ever seen. While I am staring off into space Dr. Sanders asks me if I understand and I respond with a precise, “Why yes I do Dr. Sanders.” Then I start to think about where I want to go to lunch because I have free period next. Then the bell rings

1:15 – I sprint down to the office and sign out, while I wait for my fellow 2nd free perioders. I see Merrill and Madeline and they say that they are going to stay, but I really want to go to lunch that day. I then see Austin and Perrin, who are also fellow 2nd free perioders, and we all decide to go to lunch. We decide to go to Scholoski’s, best place ever. You get a kids pizza, a cookie, and a ridiculously small drink (but free refills) for $3.17. What could beat that?

3:00 – I have to go back to Lovett to go with Merrill to purchase gear for life, aka ninja gear. So we go back to Lovett.

3:10 – Merrill and I leave Lovett, in Merrill’s car, because I left my car at Addie’s house the night before and forgot to go get it.

3:15 – Merrill and I go to Spirit Halloween and Marshall’s to buy wicked Ninja gear.

4:20 – Merrill drops me off at Addie’s house.
4:32 – I realize that the gate does not open for me to get my car.
4:34 – I leave my ninja gear and book bag on the other side of the gate and I climb the gate.

4:40 – I get in my car and drive up to the gate because I believe that it is a motion detector kind of gate, but the gate refuses to budge.

4:45 – I knock on the Schoen’s door and realize that no one is home (by the way my phone is broken because it is probably 200 years old.) So I don’t have a phone and the Schoen’s house is locked so I am stranded at the Schoen’s house all by my self.

4:50 – The most logical thing that comes to my mind is to walk to Lenzie Avery’s house with my ninja gear

5:00 – I am walking on Northside with ninja gear and millions of Lovett cars drive by without seeing if I need help.

5:45 – I FINALLY arrive at Lenzie’s house and no one is there, so I decide to walk back to Addie’s house thinking maybe Addie’s mom is going to be there.

6:15 – I get back to the Schoen’s house and NO ONE IS THERE.

6:20 – I contemplate the situation, and I decide to find some way to break into the Schoen’s house.

6:21 – I see there is about a 2 inch gap between the garage and the ground, so I decide that I need to climb underneath and get inside.

6:23 – I nearly get stuck but finally am able to get through the gap. Then I go to every door that is near me and jiggle the door knob. They are all locked.
6:30 – I see Addie’s dogs sitting at their doggie door, AHH yes, I think to myself. Doggie door! I climb into the Schoen’s house through their doggie door.

6:35 – I find a phone and call the only number that is written on my arm, Olivia Leonaitis’. Earlier that day people told me to call them but since I was phoneless I told them to write the numbers on my arm. The only one that I remember who wrote it was Olivia.

6:36 – I call Olivia who is watching a Lifetime movie, and tell her everything that happened to me and she tells me she will be there soon to come pick me up.

7:15 – I arrive at home via Olivia

7:20 – My parents realize that I had just gotten home, and realize that I don’t have a car.

7:21 – They ask me about the whereabouts of my car. From there I go to the Street Dance, as a ninja.

by Mr. Newman

Sid the Science Kid, the lead character on an animated PBS show, taught my four-year-old son Aviv about death. My son used to love Sid. It was his favorite show until the episode about decay.

He was particularly freaked out by the time-lapse photography of pumpkins, watermelons, and other fruits and vegetables rotting, turning black, and collapsing into themselves. By the time the teacher Miss Susie sang her big number “Everything Decays,” my son was screaming.

He made us throw out the pears in our fruit bowl on the counter. When he finished his snack after the show, he wanted to know what was going to happen to the leftovers. A week later my one-year-old son and I came home with a tiny pumpkin from Ace Hardware for Halloween and Aviv demanded we take it back. I promised him it wouldn’t rot before his eyes, and he begrudgingly accepted that. A week later he covered his eyes when we walked past the pumpkin bins at the Dekalb Farmer’s Market.

What I think really happened that day is that my son, seventeen days before his fourth birthday, learned about death.

He’s certainly heard the word before. You can’t go too long in our house without hearing the words, “Another plant is dead.” Even after the Sid incident, I’m still pretty sure he hasn’t made the leap from decaying fruit to decaying mommy and daddy. But I could be wrong. I came home from work the other day and my wife handed me a note with something Aviv had said to her on it. “One of Hearty Heart’s friends died—Lion. Plants die and people die sometimes.” Hearty Heart is one of his stuffed animals. I’m not sure who Lion is, but apparently he’s chasing antelopes in the sky.

As an English teacher, I often find myself discussing the ephemeral nature of life with my students. It’s a pretty common theme in literature: Hey kids, we’re all going to die someday. You never know what’s around the corner. You can have it all and lose it. Take Oedipus, for example, a play I’ve taught for years. It tells us we can be king one hour, a blind pauper the next. A husband one minute, a son to the same woman the next. I do think it can be healthy to discuss the inevitability of change and loss. It can make us focus on the moment, it can make us less attached to things that do not matter and do not last, it can make us more humble, and it can make us connect to each other in more profound ways. But there are days I feel guilty. I wonder what’s going through their heads when we discuss a guy like Oedipus who didn’t realize his whole life was built on top of tissue paper. Are they thinking, “Yeah, Mr. Newman, tell it like it is!”? Or are they thinking, “Dude, why do you have to bring us down?”

The problem is there’s a lot out there to bring us down. And I’m not even talking about global warming, child poverty, war, and financial meltdowns. I was at a dinner at my in-laws’ house a few weeks ago with lots of upper-middle aged men and women. A young plastic surgeon happened to be there, a man working on the front lines in the battle against decay. The women made lots of jokes about him being the most popular person in the room. But it was not just about vanity. A woman cornered him for half an hour to discuss her upcoming breast cancer treatment. They spoke for a while about different procedures, about nodes and entry points and removals and reconstructions, but mostly the woman wanted to hear she wasn’t going to die. My wife came home the other day to tell me that one of her colleague’s husbands died of heart cancer, leaving her to parent four children, two with Fragile X syndrome, all by herself. Heart cancer, for God’s sake. The man actually died of a broken heart.

It doesn’t mean I don’t have hope. I can still look at my wife and children and imagine what they’ll be like in twenty years and have some amount of confidence I’ll find out. Not everything falls apart right away. Not everything goes wrong. The other day we all went upstairs for bath time and from the bathroom my wife asked me if I had my eye on our one year old. We each thought the other had him, and I rushed into the hallway from our bedroom. The baby gate was open and my little boy was half way down the hardwood stairs. I gasped and raced down to him, plucking him up in my arms. Through the fog of guilt and terror, I managed to notice that he was being extra cautious. I got the sense his almost two-year-old brain told him to be careful even as it told him to be bold and free.

Every night we sing our boys a few songs before bed. One of them is a Hebrew saying from Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav. The English translation is, “All the world is a very narrow bridge, and the important thing is not to be afraid.” We sing it to them, but it occurs to me that, for now, when they don’t know what the song means, we’re really singing it to ourselves. We walk that narrow bridge, our children walk it, our students walk it, our friends walk it, the young and the old, the ones we hate and the ones we love, all walk it.

I hadn’t expected that message to come from PBS Kids, however unintentionally. I hadn’t expected my son to get it so early from a character named Miss Susie and some images of decaying fruit. I was really hoping Aviv could have lived just a little longer without an understanding of mortality. It’s such a burden to bear, and his shoulders are so small. But I guess my job now is to encourage him not to be afraid, even as I must encourage myself not to be afraid, even when there is so very much to fear, even when there is so very much to lose, even when there is so very far to fall.

by Michael Glander

A scientist scans a monitor, to check the temperature of giant super-cooled magnets that use liquid helium as their source of thermal energy (or lack thereof in this case). Does this sound like a science fiction movie? Well, it sure could be, but this is reality for the scientists working on the Large Hadron Collider (or LHC) near Geneva. You may have heard about this recently in the news or on your favorite radio talk show. Does “miniature black holes that will swallow up the earth” ring a bell? Well, this is the huge machine that caused all of the belly-aching. So we’re all acquainted now? Good! Let’s move on!

So what exactly is an atom smasher? Well, picture it this way: You have one complete, circuitous train track. You start the trains back to back, and have them speed all the way around to smash into each other. Though this sounds like a Mythbusters episode, replace “train track” with particle accelerator, and “train” with protons (or occasionally, ions). So the way that this giant “track” smashes its’ “trains” together is interesting. It speeds particles to about .99999 the speed of light. Once the scientists see that the particles have reached this speed, they allow them to collide. There are actually two beams of protons though, one traveling clockwise, and the other traveling counter clockwise. Finally, they allow the two beams to collide. BOOM. SHABANG. Not quite actually… In this case, there is no atomic explosion whatsoever, because of the ultra-controlled environment.

The LHC’s main function is to try and prove the existence of specific subatomic particles, in particular, the Higgs Boson. If found, it will complete the current Standard Model (basically, the elementary particles that make up protons, neutrons, electrons, etc.) Also, scientists are looking for proof of dark matter. Now you’re probably thinking, “What the heck is dark matter?” Well to put it simply without going into too much detail, dark matter is a theorized type of matter that does not interact with the electromagnetic force (no, it does not refer to the color of the particles…). The presence of dark matter is a huge part of the big bang theory.

So, now that we’ve talked about the way it works, and the theories perhaps being solved, let’s talk about the most prevalent issue of debate with the LHC. Yes, you guessed it, BLACK HOLES! So there has been talk that this giant particle smasher could cause miniature black holes that will suck up or destroy Earth. Let’s get something straight here, first. Black holes are NOT giant vacuum cleaners! They work with gravity, as does Earth, as does the Sun, as does the Moon. Second of all, these black holes would disintegrate due to their release of Hawking Radiation (which hasn’t been produced in an experiment, but it is agreed that it would be produced in most cases, at least where it is in question). Third, these black holes would have such a high velocity, that they would escape Earth’s gravitational pull. Lastly, say these black holes did fall through the earth. Well, they wouldn’t collide with enough particles to make any change to Earth that would be detrimental.

Other than the fact that the LHC is broken, due to problems with the magnets that allow the Protons to be focused in a beam, this device will help scientists further support or refute current theories. So, if you have learned ANYTHING from this article, I’d hope that the thing that sticks the most in your mind, is that the LHC will NOT create black holes. So no, Chicken Little, the sky is not falling, and no, Lifeboat Earth will NOT be sucked up by tiny black holes.

by Wallace Winborne

The 2008 Beijing Olympics brought into the spotlight many issues that China faces as it attempts to advance into the 21st century. Primarily, it brought the question into Western minds: is there really a “new” China, as its government claims?

There is no question that China is “new” from an economic standpoint, but it is unclear whether the human rights issues and severe political oppression are problems of the past. It is difficult to see an immediate solution for the friction between opposing sides on the conflict in Taiwan. It seems that with capitalism now integrated into the economy, it is inevitable that the government will morph in the same direction, towards democracy. How long can the conflicting government and economy survive together?

I am not in a position to propose answers for any of these unsettling topics, for my perspective (that of a Western teenager unschooled on such issues) means nothing. In an effort to gain the knowledge that I lacked, I spoke with Lovett Chinese teacher Betty Hu, who spent thirty years of her life in China, and with history teacher Heidi Gray, who teaches a unit on China in one of her classes.

Born in the Guangxi Province under the rule of Mao Zedong, Mrs. Hu has noticed many significant differences between the China that she grew up in versus that of modern day. “I get more of a culture shock visiting China now than from visiting when I first came to the states!” she said.

Western ideals are being integrated into China at a faster rate than ever, with Wal-Mart in 1996 entering and Starbucks in 2000. “Western business is going to continue to accelerate until the government stops it,” said Mrs. Gray, “or until western confidence is undermined by something that China does.”

There is some question of the motives of the Chinese in their recent interest in making Taiwan a part of the motherland. Taiwan has, in the past ten years, has grown to be one of the largest computer chip distributors in the world, bringing a great deal of capital.

“It isn’t only about the economy,” said Mrs. Gray, “but about China reasserting itself as a world power.” In the spirit of preserving a foreign democracy, the United States has said that in the event of a Chinese invasion, they will intervene. Is our intervention necessary, or even appropriate? Mrs. Hu thinks that the United States should have some say, but “not without weighing the facts carefully.” She shares the opinion of many mainland Chinese on the issue. “Taiwan was, is, and will be part of China.”

The altering of China’s economy will no doubt lead to political change, but when? “I do not think that China will become a democracy in the near future, but I do think it will continue to morph politically,” Mrs. Hu said. “I would like to see China become more democratic, but as with all change, this will take time.”

Another important question is about the human rights record of the Chinese government. Major violations have occurred in all too recent history, so what should a Westerner think of this past?

I expect that as every other aspect of the government changes, human rights and rights of self expression will improve, but as Hu said of all of these issues, “this will take time.”

Last spring, buried up to my ears in high school opportunities, I decided to apply to two private high schools: Westminister and Lovett. Oh, excuse me! Lovett and Westminster. Of course, even before I entered Lovett a few weeks ago as a new student, I had more than an inkling of the rivalry between the two schools.

Perhaps it was the t-shirts for sale, emblazoned with “Westminster vs. Lovett”, that subtly enlightened me. Or perhaps it was the expressions of disgust I received from Wildcats when I said, “Oh, I applied to Lovett,” or by Lions when I said, “Yes, I also applied to Westminster.”

As one Lovett student calmly phrased it, “Oh. Yeah, we don’t like them.”

The rivalry between the two schools was further impressed upon my brain at the start of school, when I learned that the Lovett/Westminster football game was regarded as the highlight of the football season and that matches against Westminster in any sport were especially important. I had come from a small school with no sports teams at all, so rivalries of any sort were new and exciting to me. At first, I had expected that I would not really care about Lovett vs. Westminster, but I found myself being swept up in the tide of school spirit and enjoying it! I even drew a Lion on a white T-shirt.

The game itself was a very new experience to me. Before the school year started, I had contemplated not going to the game, as it seemed rather silly to me at the time. But I went, and I am so glad I did. I discovered that rivalries are so much fun: the painted people, the good-natured joking, the wigs, the jewelry, the mascots…oh, and of course the football!

So now I am proud to say: may Lovett always teach good values, high morals, and strong character; may her students always excel academically and physically…

….and may she always beat Westminster!

by Kevin Reagan

Terry is a pretty emotional guy. In fact, he often cries openly. He’s a great listener and really loves hugs, so we usually end our conversations with a big one. As sappy as this might seem, it actually really, truly is. See, it just so happens that Terry is a very tall pine tree.

Terry the Tree and I have been good friends since the early days of my childhood. I grew tired while exploring the backyard one day when I was very young; I leaned against a tree, and I experienced the power of Terry’s tears for the first time. It was a magical experience. I felt connected to Terry in a way I had never encountered before. I asked him why he was crying, and he told me I would understand one day.

Recently, I decided that “one day” had come. I marched out to the backyard, the picture of youthful determination, concern, and curiosity. Again, Terry was crying. He told me something very alarming. “Kevin,” he said, “the emissions these days are just killing me. So many cars on the road and so many unhealthy emissions… the temperature is rising, and my allergies are going NUTS!” I understood what he meant. The concept of global warming and its causes were certainly not alien to me, although I remained skeptical. But to hear this from a tree… It was a rousing experience.

I arrived at my house one evening after a particularly enthralling day at school, and I bounded out to talk with Terry. I was eager to share the content of one of our numerous environmental assemblies with him. Terry was moved by what I told him. He was deeply saddened to hear of the loss of his brothers and sisters in the rainforests, but he was very encouraged that, as students, we were being made aware of this global crisis.

I would like to announce that as a result of this recent conference with my long-time friend, I have been inspired to act. Terry and I have agreed that it is not enough simply to consider environmental issues. We students must adopt a relevant moral code, a new-fangled ethical policy, a new… Character Pledge. Without further ado, please allow me to propound a NEW Lovett School Character Pledge:

We, who are members of the sustainable and eco-friendly
Lovett community, seek to live lives of good character.
We believe that good character grows from daily
acts of conservation, planting, recycling, and carpooling.
We pledge ourselves to develop these ideals with awareness
and alacrity, striving to save the Earth at all times.

by Dr. Robert Sanderson

I miss the Cold War.  Perhaps I am one of the few people who really miss the “good old days” when there were good guys and bad guys.  Who can forget the epic struggle between Rocky Balboa and Ivan Drago in Rocky IV?    Who wasn’t inspired when Rocky dragged his beaten carcass off the canvass to pummel Drago’s hands with his face?

When Margaret Thatcher brought the Soviet Union down and ended the Cold War in 1991, the West celebrated with self-congratulation and self-adoration.  The mighty Bear had been de-clawed.  However, file this thought in the unintended consequences category, the Olympic Games have never been the same.  Questionably under-age Chinese gymnasts, who have been genetically programmed while still in the womb, are no substitute for Communist bloc female athletes who were filled with steroids.

Like most people, I was shocked at the spectacular display of national resources exhibited by the Chinese in their attempt to gain acceptance into the greater world community.  Three hundred million dollars seemed a little excessive for an opening ceremony, which basically involve lighting a flame.   How could England compete in 2012?  The closing ceremony only served to fuel my fears.  If a washed-up rock star (not even the whole band) and a has-been soccer player standing on top of an iconic double-decker bus is the best we have to offer, then the future looks bleak.  Don’t get me wrong, I like Led Zepplin, but this was no stairway to Heaven!

So, I kept asking myself, how could an economically bankrupt nation hold an Olympic torch to a morally bankrupt, but well-funded totalitarian state?  Then like a Mandate from Heaven it dawned upon me: capitalism with lipstick is the same as Communism with blush.  All that has to happen is a paradigm shift.

Suppose the politically inexperienced, but well-connected and charismatic Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, runs in the next General Election on a pro-Olympic platform.  Then, of course, he would defeat current Prime Minster Gordon Brown by the slimmest of margins, in what he would assert, was a clear mandate.  It wouldn’t matter if those elections were a little “questionable” because, as Stalin said, “it’s not who votes that counts, it is who counts the votes”.

Once in office, the victorious Johnson would then slowly erode the civil liberties of the people.  This shouldn’t be too hard since there is no written Constitution in England.  He would manipulate the press to be able to promote his agenda, perhaps closing down media outlets that refused to cooperate.  Finally, anyone who disagreed would be labeled an enemy combatant and would be removed and detained as a “guest of the state” in Scotland.  This would not only remove any opposition, but it would help stimulate the economy of a country whose major claim to fame is that they eat haggis and the men wear skirts.

Perhaps the United States could follow our example. After all the Olympics in 2016 are available and you have an election soon.  But I digress, no western leader could act so arbitrarily.  If creating a successful Olympics means sacrificing the very ideals of the Olympics then I am not sure the end would justify the means.  However, we will always have Peking to remind any aspiring leader what can be achieved if you have a large bank account and a totalitarian state.

Dr. Sanderson teaches history courses in the Upper School.  He has written several books including A Student’s Guide to Modern European History and A Student’s Guide to United States History, The Economics of Calvinism: A Rejection of Traditional Religious Dogma.  He is currently helping to edit a World History textbook and a children’s novel.