The Communicator • A Student Voice

Super Bowl XLIV was a hit across America, as the New Orleans Saints brought a championship to the city that needed it the most. And Drew Brees, quarterback for the Saints, is regarded as the hero that won the game for New Orleans. There is no debate that he was a critical factor in the entire championship run. But, in my opinion, the real heroes are the kickers on New Orleans.

Garrett Hartley, field goal kicker for the Saints, made a game winning field goal in overtime in the NFC Championship Game to send New Orleans to their first Super Bowl. Hartley went on to set a Super Bowl record with three field goals of over 40 yards. He added two extra points as well, for a grand total of 11 points– or about 35% of the Saints’ total points.

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ALSO APPEARS IN The Communicator, Volume 24, Edition 4

Imagine when you woke up this morning: did your phone ringer wake you? Or how about the last class you had; did you run through a PowerPoint? Find the answers to a worksheet on one of CHS’ iBooks? Technology is changing the landscape of daily interactions and routines, sometimes for the worse.

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The failure to achieve a sound agreement at the Copenhagen Climate Conference has rattled many people. World leaders met in Copenhagen, Denmark between December 7th and 18th to discuss the urgent matter of climate change. The United States drafted a resolution with China, India, Brazil, and South Africa. The United States government judged it to be a “meaningful agreement,” but it was not passed unanimously and therefore not adopted, although it was “taken note of.”

Many countries were displeased with the accord. The European Union labeled both the conference and the accord a “disaster;” Great Britain said that the agreement needed to become legally binding before a sound decision could be made. But China was perfectly fine with the accord. “The meeting has had a positive result, everyone should be happy,” said China’s delegation at the conference.

The leaders of countries have the economy, public relations, and other issues to consider in a resolution like this. But the people of the world are simply concerned about their earth, and they feel that political leaders are not doing enough.

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Lately, America seems like a divided place. I find articles about good nutrition daily. But that is not the only food content the Internet has to offer.

“This is Why You’re Fat” is a blog I heard about last spring. I looked at it, and was a little disgusted, but mostly thought the posts were funny. And what is now my most shocking reaction–I knew I would eat some of those foods. I knew these were the fattiest, greasiest, most bacon covered burgers in existence, but it would taste good, and that’s how I chose what I ate.

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Education is something we are lucky enough to be able to take for granted. No matter where you live in the United States, it is guaranteed by law that you have the opportunity to attend school. The quality of these schools is certainly variable, but at least they exist.

In a state with 14.7 percent unemployment, cuts have to start somewhere. Anyone who expected the statewide budget to continue plugging along as usual is not in tune with the current economic situation. However, I was extremely surprised at the number and severity of the cuts imposed on education funding.

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The people in my U.S. History class can be frustrating. Whenever we have class discussions, everyone gangs up on this one kid, whose views are slightly more conservative than the supposed views of the rest of us. He’s a Republican at a liberal arts and science school in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which I can imagine would be hard to begin with. And every Tuesday and Thursday morning, whether we’re talking about economics or health care, my classmates accuse him of being close-minded and ignorant.

But here’s the thing–the discussion always goes in circles, or nowhere at all. Some of these kids seem to think that they’re entitled to an opinion, no research required. Like any town with a dominant political party, it can be easy to fall into Ann Arbor’s liberal trap. In U.S. Government last year, we would talk about the presidential election, and no one could say a word about any of Obama’s policies. They only talked about “change.”

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As the fall comes to a close, another bad chapter of Michigan football is complete, leaving a bad taste in the mouths of Michigan fans. But fortunately for fans, there is a light at the end of the tunnel that marks the beginning of an era in Michigan basketball.

Looking ahead to the current season, basketball fans have a lot to be thankful for this year. Manny Harris is returning, looking like the dynamic scorer that kept us all begging for more last year. Deshawn Sims is back for more as well, along with Stu Douglass and Zach Novak, both starters from last year. More…

When the University of Michigan added Head Coach Rich Rodriguez to the payroll two years ago, Michigan football fans thought they had found a coach that knew how to win. However, after a second losing season (with a worst second half record than the first), seven straight losses in the Big Ten and tied for last in the conference at the end of the season, fans are beginning to question Coach Rodriguez’s ability to win games and lead a program. Finally, someone will listen to me when I groan about (hopefully ex) Coach Rodriguez. More…

Politics are not really my thing. I don’t like to get caught up in paying attention to what proposals may or may not be passed, who my representative is, or senate elections. It’s not that I don’t care, because I do. I just don’t have time to look at anything that intensely unless it will affect me directly and significantly. But this election day, November 3^rd, there was an outcome I was hoping for. I wanted the millage to pass.
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ALSO APPEARS IN The Communicator, Edition 1 pg. 22

T here are only ten minutes left in the test . The clock is ticking and a student gets distracted, thinking more about the sound than the problem. Another person stays focused because they took their friend’s ADD medication earlier that morning.
Is that fair? More…