Sumrall High School’s baseball team’s 67-game win streak came to a close this past month at the hands of the Oak Grove Warriors.  The Sumrall Bobcat’s streak is currently the fourth all-time high school baseball win streak.  Just as the Bobcats were determined to beat the current record of 75 games, held by Homer High School in Michigan, so were the Warriors to stop them short of that goal.  The Warriors had been beaten earlier in the season by the Bobcats and became more determined to stop their winning streak than any other team.

The games determining factor was the Warriors’ sophomore pitcher Tyler Odom (3-0.)  Odom had undergone surgery after tearing his labrum cuff almost exactly a year before his fateful meeting with the Bobcats. Leading up to the game, Odom had pitched less than seven full innings during the current season.

Coach Chris McCardle stated, “I chose Toad-frog (Odom) to pitch because i knew he had the confidence and strength we needed on the mound.  They had really hot bats the last time we played them and we knew that in order to beat them, we would have to stop their hitting.”  Odom found out about the coach’s decision for him to pitch just minutes before the game began.

The plan was to pitch the Bobcats off balance; throwing a breaking ball where one would expect a fastball and vice versa.  And the plan worked as Odom went on to pitch a no-hitter through almost seven innings until Sumrall’s Conor Barron hit a solo home run.  After that, McCardle brought Hunter Curtis to the mound to close out the game.  Speaking on Curtis, McCardle said, “He’s our go to guy. When it’s time to seal the deal, we know Hunter can step up and finish the game.”  McCardle expects to use this weapon often in the upcoming play offs.

When the dust on the field settled, the Warriors emerged victorious, winning the game five to one.  Scott Weathersby toted the big bat for the Warriors that night with three hits and two RBIs.  Curtis and Odom both followed closely with two hits each.

McCardle stressed the Warriors’ strength in the playoffs to be their depth of pitching staff, commenting “As long as we can keep our bats hot we can keep winning games.  We know our pitching is going to be there to back us up all the way.”

The win against Sumrall was a monumentuous victory that will likely be remembered in Mississippi sports for years to come, but the Warriors say the bigger prize will be winning the State Championship.

In the first round of the playoffs, the Warriors defeated the Gulfport Admirals in two straight games, 15 -2 and 7-1, respectively. The next stop on the Warriors’ quest for a State Championship will be against Terry High School in round two of the playoffs.

“Beating Sumrall was awesome and a great feat, but our eyes are all on the State Championship now.  That is what we are really after,” Odom stated.  With their tools on the mound and warmed up bats, the Warriors look like the team to beat in this years playoffs.

Twice every school year United Blood Services holds a blood drive on campus.  One is held in the fall and one in the spring. This year, during baseball season, Oak Grove is competing with Petal High School to see who will donate the most blood.  The winner will be announced at a game between the two (date of announcement has not yet been disclosed.)

According to Student Council Sponsor Mrs. Haik, the hardest planning procedure of the event is securing a date.  On Monday, February 22nd, the spring drive was conducted.  An estimated 100 students donated blood.

Approximately 60% of the U.S. population will need donated blood at least once during their lifetime.

“Giving blood is one of the easiest, surest ways of saving lives and helping others,” stated Haik.
To prepare for donating blood, a good healthy meal is recommended, as well as drinking a 16 oz. bottle of water ten to thirty minutes before donating.  Then relaxation is all that’s left.  Mrs. Haik recommends listening to the Fleet Foxes “White Water Hymnal”in order to achieve a “chill mindset” before giving blood.

After that, the donor is put on a bed, out comes the equipment: multiple tubes, bags, and one decently sized needle.  He or she then feels a slight pinch and fifteen minutes later the process is over.

Every year around three to four students faint while donating: some out of nervousness during the process and others due to lack of blood following the procedure.

In order to gain the correct perspective when writing this article, I decided to give blood for my first time.  I was called to donate just before advisors began.  My blood was collected and then I sat down with a tasty juice box in hand to rest.  The next thing I knew, I was being awoken by two nurses after passing out sideways on the bus’s couch.

Even if one does faint during the process, donating blood is a form of community service all should be proud to participate in.  Hopefully next year even more students will seize the opportunity to help others.  That is assuming they don’t pass out.

Oak Grove High School’s 2009-2010 Star Student Arik Shams stepped off a plane and onto U.S. soil on March 6th, 2008 when he was sixteen years old.  Up until that point, Shams lived in Bangladesh with his parents, grandmother, and older sister.  His uncle is a professor of mass communication and journalism at the University of Southern Mississippi.  This uncle applied for a family visa and citizenship for Shams’ family.

The process took almost ten years when suddenly mail was received that the family could move to the United States, provided they did so within the next six months.  “It was a major rush to move to America, as well as being very stressful, we had to leave much of our family and friends behind,” most notably Sham’s grandmother who had lived with her son (Shams’ father) for all of his life, “however it was a move my parents felt necessary in order to allow my sister and I to be provided with the best education and best future possible,” Shams said.

Just before the move, Shams’ sister Tahseen completed the Bangladesh equivalent of high school.  She is now currently attending the honors college at the University of Southern Mississippi.
In Bangladesh schools follow the British system of schooling: ten years of ‘ordinary’ school then two years of ‘advanced school.’  Before arriving in the United States, Shams was just about to finish his tenth year.    Upon arriving at Oak Grove, he was put into classes and given many tests in order to determine which grade he would be admitted into the following school year.  He praises the practicality of U.S. schools when comparing them to Bangladesh’s schools stating, “I’ve learned and memorized facts and formulas for the majority of my school career, but here I get to actually learn why they work and how to use them,” Shams said.

The largest determinate, would be his ACT score that upcoming summer. He made a 30 and was put into the 11th grade.  “Looking back on it, I’m glad I was put in the 11th grade as opposed to the 12th because I feel it allowed me to take my time learning and adjusting to American culture before going off the college,” Shams said.

This school year Shams achieved a 33 on the ACT, earning him to be named Star Student.  In order to become a Star Student in Mississippi one must be a senior who has made at least a 35 on the ACT or have the highest score at his or her school.  He gives credit for this impressive achievement English/humanities teacher Andrea Clark.  “Arik came to this school knowing no one, and without pause he began meeting new people and adapting to the culture on day one.  This mindset of hitting the ground running here at Oak Grove is what I believe has helped him the most,” Clark said.

“My favorite class I’ve taken in the U.S. would have to be AP American History.  Coming here, I knew of the culture, but knew nothing of its background and what had formed it.  That class explained so much to me.” Shams stated.  When chosen for Star Student, the student is allowed to choose a star teacher: someone they feel helped them the greatest during their high school career.  Shams chose history teacher Robert Sutton,  he feels Sutton helped explain American history and spur his interest in American culture.

So far, Shams’ has applied to eight colleges.  His top four are Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and MIT.  Although not absolutely sure of what he wants to study in college, his main interest as of late is Physics. When time for senior projects rolled around, he wrote an extensive paper on dark matter and held a seminar covering its contents to an assembly of fifth graders.

When coming to the U.S., Shams’ family’s largest difficulty was the language barrier.  His parents both knew a decent amount of English but not enough to be fluent in southern Mississippi. Even tasks of going to Wal-Mart were tough on them.  “The hardest thing to get used to and understand is the southern accent,” Shams stated, “My sister and I can both speak English well, but our main problem is understanding everyday slang.”  Shams’ favorite slang word is ‘bad’ in the Will Smith sense in which the word means good.  Obvious is the fact that he has been doing very well in school or shall we say doing quite ‘bad.’

Even without understanding all American slang, a bright future seems in store for  the newly Americanized Star Student Arik ‘the man’ Shams at which ever school he chooses to grace with his presence.

By: Taylor Herring

Obama’s plan to send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan is the most probable and feasible idea for counterinsurgency. After eight years of fighting the war overseas, the military and officials are desperate for the light at the end of the tunnel. With Obama’s proposed plan and timeline in check, insurgency will only continue its recent fall.

The actual plan itself entails to first deny the Taliban and Al Qaeda safe haven in Pakistan. As of the past several years, the American troops have been using the strategy of driving the terrorists out, city to city. This has seemed to work, to some extent, but there is one problem: the terrorists are being driven out of one city by American troops, and as soon as the troops move on to the next city, the terrorists move directly back in. This is simply a viscous cycle that almost guarantees failure in Afghanistan. Obama’s plan, however, offers to not only force the Taliban to flee the cities at that time, but to also leave troops stationed in the cities- training Afghan militia against terrorism. While this idea sounds nearly foolproof, the only way to ensure success is to increase the number of soldiers, so they will actually have enough troops to remain stationed in the Taliban-fled areas.

An increase of troops in Afghanistan will also help the Afghan government and military, and thus benefit the United States. The fact is: the Taliban is already unpopular among Afghan citizens, and success lies on their need to realize that foreign aid is essential. The government in Afghanistan is already corrupt and unstable; and General McChrystal stated that they will be more apt to side with counterinsurgents when they see that terrorists will not win the war. The only way to show this is to send more United States and Coalition troops to continue driving insurgents out. Furthermore, once American soldiers have driven the Taliban and Al Qaeda out of reach of recruitment, we will be able to teach the Afghan army to defend themselves.

Many argue that United States troops should not be in Afghanistan in the first place. However, this is hardly the case, considering that pulling out immediately would be “flying a white flag” and surrendering to the terrorists. If insurgents think that they can virtually get off the hook from 9-11, who is to say they won’t simply attack American soil once again? If we were not to increase troops and training, we can never expect to defeat the Taliban.

Finally, since we currently lack sheer numbers, unqualified personnel stationed on American bases are being forced to perform a job they do not know how to do. For example, when crisis occurs, an engineer stationed in Afghanistan on a United States army base could be asked to be present in battle, simply because we do not have enough soldiers for combat. The more counter-insurgents we send, however, the less likely this is to happen. Therefore, if we are expecting to be able to begin pulling troops out after a mere 18 months, we obviously need to have as much of an impact, as fast as possible. Logically, the more troops we have on Afghan soil training their troops, the better off they’ll be. As the quantity of American troops increases, the quality of training will also increase. The fact is, 30,000 additional troops in itself will not be enough to completely turn the tides and defeat the insurgency; therefore, training the Afghan army to continue defending themselves after we’ve withdrawn is crucial to our eventual success. Obama’s plan offers the most viable exit strategy, and will benefit both the United States and Afghan society in the long run.

NO

By: Will Bedwell

The priority for the United States in the Middle East must be to prevent radicalization and the spread of terrorism from Afghanistan to surrounding areas. Failure to do so will spark catastrophic consequences for the U.S and the entire international community. However, President Obama’s plan provides an impractical solution that will only further ethnic instability in the region and result in a greater threat to the United States.

Obama’s new plan is to deploy an additional 30,000 troops to reinforce the already 68,000 on the ground. According to his tentative timeline, the increased force level is to be maintained for 18 months. The idea is that by July 2011, security responsibility can be transferred to the Afghan military, and our troops can begin returning home. In reality, the plan causes two problems: an increase of violence in Afghanistan and an increase of terrorism on U.S. soil.
Much of Obama’s new plan focuses on training 100,000 new soldiers and new policemen in time for our troops to pull out. But, to train that amount of both has already taken eight years. Of the 94,000 troops trained thus far, only 39,000 are considered combat ready. The plan lies to Americans by stating we will be able to leave in 18 months and Afghanistan will take over. The problem is we have no Afghan partner to work with. The United States Armed Services committee reports, “Without a legitimate and credible Afghan partner, the Obama strategy is fundamentally flawed, and the current Afghan government is neither legitimate nor credible. In fact, it has recently been installed by nothing more than a fraudulent political default.”

As the Karzai government becomes worse, more Afghans join the ranks of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. The Council on Foreign Relations recently stated, “Obama’s counter insurgency will likely fail, because these strategies only work when the domestic government enjoys the respect and support of most of the domestic population. Rising perception of Karzai’s government as ineffectual and corrupt indicate that it does not have that sort of credibility among Afghans.” Also the Afghan army consists of mostly Tajiks, the dominant ethnic group in Northern Afghanistan. They are widely hated by the Pashtun ethnic group, who live in the southern and eastern portions of the country. If the U.S. plans to continue its support of the Tajik army, it will only further ethnic conflict and radicalization in the region. Patrick Cockburn, author of two books on the Middle East, states, “President Obama’s plan will deepen and spread the Afghan crisis. It is not going to end civil conflict and check terrorism; rather, it is likely to radicalize minority ethnic groups and turn the entire region into a battlefield.”

Terrorists attack the U.S. because we interfere with their way of life: we take over peoples’ land, instill governments upon them, and then allow these governments to become extremely corrupt on every level. The only way to fix the rampant corruption in Afghanistan is for Karzai to be removed and for reelections to be held for all government positions; something Obama’s plan does not provide for.

The Obama plan fails to provide an adequate political solution to horrific realities within Afghanistan, and will only further radicalize terrorist groups within the country and increase the likelihood of both the spread of radicalism and large-scale strike against the United States. All Americans concerned with safety in the U.S. and in the Middle East should oppose this plan.

In January of 2008 four Columbia University graduates released their self-titled album Vampire Weekend. This pop album filled with bossa nova, British punk, and ska influences debuted at number 17 on the Billboard charts, then went on to be named the 10th best album of 2008 by Rolling Stone magazine. After this sudden stardom they toured extensively, but also went back to the studio.

From these efforts came Vampire Weekend’s second album entitled Contra, released from XL records on January 11, 2010. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard charts, selling 124,000 copies in its first week.
Vampire Weekend consists of members: Ezra Koenig (lead vocals and guitar), Rostam Batmanglij (keyboards, guitar, and backing vocals), Chris Tomson (drums and percussion), and Chris Baio (bass guitar and backing vocals). The band claims influences from African Popular Music and Western Classical Music. They describe their genre of music as Upper West Side Soweto (Upper West Side referring to an upscale area of Manhattan, and Soweto referring to an urban area of Johannesburg, South Africa).

The music created in both albums is largely rhythm based, put forth from Tomsom’s drums and Baio’s bass. Tomsom (originally a guitar player) drums with light unique layers, associated from his guitar background, on top of heavy driving latin beats. Baio’s bass lines owe as much to classical themes as they do to reggae rhythms. On the treble end of the bands frequency, duo guitars give out catchy riffs on every track with Koenings voice being used for unique rhythms almost more than its use for lyrics. Batmanglij’s synthesizers round out the band’s signature Caribbean feel common in all Vampire Weekend Songs. Many songs are recorded with classical string accompaniments.

The new album takes a slight exit form the pop/punk stylings of their first. Contra is more synth based and classically structured. This provides for more atmospheric songs that sound even weirder; both things to be greatly appreciated by any of their fans.

Contra still contains breezy, easy-going songs, i.e. “Horchata,” in the same vein of “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” from their first album. New jams “Holiday” and “Run” sound like the punk classics “A-Punk” and “Oxford Comma” from their past, but with their edges filed down, and their tempos slightly dropped.

The most noticeable change in Vampire Weekend’s sound is the introduction of more synthesizer and techno tones used by Koening’s keyboard. The effect this has on songs “Giving up the Gun” and “Diplomat’s Son” adds an amazing new dimension to the band.

Never ones to shun obscure pop culture references, Vampire Weekend makes sure to throw a few funny mysteries in their new album. The title Contra is a contrast to the Clash’s 1980 album Sandista!. In Nicaragua during the 1970s and 1980s, the Contras were a group of right wing militants who fought in opposition to the marxist group the Sandista National Liberation Front. Also very uniquely, “Diplomat’s Son” samples the track “Hussle” by M.I.A.

Often band’s sophomore albums are used as an excuse to voyage off into the unknown and experiment. Vampire Weekend definitely took an adventure to create their second album, and to the chagrin of many in the music industry, they pulled it off creating a more whole and complete album than their excellent debut. Worries existed as to whether or not Vampire Weekend would fade into music history never achieving the success and uniqueness of their first album. But after listening to Contra, the fact is obvious that four unique New Yorkers and their funky rhythms are in the middle of the musical limelight and won’t be leaving any time soon.

The U.S. Olympic Speedskating Team fell on hard times last year when sponsor Dutch Bank DSB went bankrupt in October. The bank had a four-year sponsorship worth $300,000. U.S. Speedskating CEO Bob Crowley announced budget cuts would have to be made in a number of key areas. Then when it seemed all hope was lost, an unlikely hero stepped forward. That hero’s name was Stephen Colbert.

Stephen Colbert is the comedic host of Comedy Central’s satirical news show The Colbert Report, where he humorously imitates opinionated conservative news pundits. The show has been one of Comedy Central’s highest rated: collecting three Emmy nominations. Colbert is also the author of satirical bestselling book I Am America (And So Can You!).
Colbert asked his nation (the name given to his viewing audience) on November 2nd to go to his website, www.colbertnation.com, and pledge money to the speedskating team. On the same episode, he signed sponsorship agreement papers with the team. Colbert yelled to his audience, “We’ve got to step up and make sure it is America’s 38 inch thighs on that metal platform.”

The sponsorship deal entails the speedskaters wear Colbert Report patches on their thighs. Short track skater Katherine Reutter came to a show in December for Colbert to actually sign, in sharpie ink, her “billboard thighs” as she has called them since the sponsorship began.

Many such stunts have caused some to be wary of Colbert’s intentions, fearing this was all nothing more than a joke. Others began calling it a publicity stunt after Colbert was featured on the front of the December issue of Sports Illustrated wearing full speedskating gear.

On one show, Colbert began poking fun at the Canadian Olympic team due to complaints about their limiting of international athletes access to facilities for the 2010 Winter Games scheduled in Vancouver. He stated, “Those syrup-suckers won’t let us practice at their Olympic venues. At the Salt Lake Games, we let the Canadian Luge team take 100 practice runs!” After this comment, American speedskating gold medalist Shanti Davis verbally attacked Colbert saying, “He’s a jerk. You can put that in the paper.” Davis has training ties to Canada, and has had past problems with the U.S. team.

In response to this, Colbert challenged Davis to a speedskating race for his spot on the U.S. Olympic Team. Colbert stated, “I will start skating and then I will call him on my cell phone to let him know he can start getting dressed.”
In January, the announcement came that the Colbert Nation had raised the $300,000 for the team’s sponsorship. The U.S. Speedskating Team knows it must now find a long-term sponsor, but feels all of the exposure provided so far will make this an easy feat.

On January 20th, Davis accepted Colbert’s offer to race. The race was hard fought by both skaters, but in the end, only one could win. Davis’s time was 34.24 seconds, beating Colbert’s time of 13 minutes and 43.89 seconds. Despite the loss, just after the race Colbert was actually given a spot on the team as their Assistant Sports Psychologist for the 2010 Winter Games. Colbert addressed his audience with inspirational words of advice, “This just goes to show there’s nothing you and $300,000 of other peoples’ money can’t achieve.”

One belief of the American mindset has always been that Americans can and will change things.  This mindset has caused constant upheaval and reform in the U.S. social system.  In the early 1900s, when industrial workers tired of dangerous work environments, they stood together to unionize and demand changes.  During the 1960s and 1970s, those who opposed the Vietnam War took to the streets carrying antiwar banners and shouting for change. As well during that time period, many with new views on sex and sexuality ran to the streets, shed their clothes, and well…. you get the picture. Even in this century, citizens who had grown tired of Republican executive policy elected a candidate who promised change. Despite this strong American spirit, however, students in the U.S.’s public high school system feel they are without any ability to change the status quo; a status quo they complain about on a daily basis.
Students tend to have two areas of complaint about the U.S.’s social system: those in government (i.e. foreign policy, healthcare, stimulus package, CIA cameras around every corner, etc), and those in his or her school system ( i.e. scary grease-coated school lunches, inevitable uniforms, mandatory vocabulary word drawings somehow abstractly expected to teach comprehension,  etc).  Students, the majority being under the voter age, have a hard time changing laws or electing the crooked politicians who make laws.  But, since students do hold strong opinions, they need a way to affect the government’s and the school system’s decisions; so, students must find a system that makes their voices heard.

Suggestions are often for students to write certain officials about policies and laws.  Sadly, far too often these “grown-up” political ears are clogged with lobbyists’, millionaires’ and their own personal interests instead of the American people’s interest.  Even when policies are being made to help students, the students’ actual opinions are often neglected. An example of such was when Lamar County decided it will implement uniforms next year; the school board took no direct polls about the students’ opinions on uniforms.

History has shown that one reliable way to gain attention is through demonstration and protest.  When tired of the British Empire’s rule, a small Indian man stood up against the empire.  His name was Mahatma Gandhi.  During the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King, Jr. led peaceful protests demanding equal rights for all people. Currently, even right-wing conservatives are having tea parties in protest to taxes and government spending.

These examples show not only that demonstrations and protests work at changing policy, but that those most successful are peaceful.  Violent demonstrations only cause problems, discrimination and hate for the protestors.  This occurred at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.  Anti-war protesters fought with police while marching in front of the convention.  Many question who actually started the fighting, but either way, the result lost most Americans’ respect for the protestors and the Yippie movement as a whole.

The time is nigh for high school students to stop complaining about policies and start challenging them.  If students truly want change, they must stand up and make their voices heard (peacefully, of course).

When thinking about students’ “all bark and no bite” approach to school rules and government laws, I am reminded of something my mother has always said: “Don’t whine about it unless you intend to do something about it.”  Students should realize they accomplish nothing by sitting in class crying over what they find unfair, but should actually attempt to change what they find unfair.

The television commercials for World of Warcraft (WoW) began airing in late 2007, featuring such celebrities as Mr. T, William Shatner, and Ozzy Osbourne, bringing the question to the non-gamers’ minds: What is World of Warcraft?  I, in search for the truth behind this addictive phenomena, have spent three months in the late night vast expanses of the cult of WoW.  Thankfully, my two guides generously provided me with wisdom and direction. Preferring to remain anonymous they use these aliases: Heath and Hunter Sullivan.

To answer, World of Warcraft is a ‘massive multiplayer online role-playing game,’ or MMORG, by Blizzard Entertainment.  With more than 11.5 million monthly subscriptions, WoW is currently the world’s most-subscribed MMORPG and holds the Guinness World Record for the most popular MMORPG. By 2008, WoW held 63 percent of the massively multiplayer online game subscriptions.

In World of Warcraft, players create and control a character, who fights monsters, completes quests, and interacts in the vast landscape.  Initially, players must choose between the opposing factions of Alliance or Horde, a choice which determines everything from their virtual friends to their best men in their virtual weddings.

The virtual world mirrors real life in peculiar ways.  As characters evolve, they acquire talents, skills, and define their abilities, such as tailoring, blacksmithing, mining, cooking and first-aid.  Players can form or join guilds which facilitate communication, control guild banks, and collect member dues.

Guilds form the basis of all Friday night WoW parties, one of which I attended was the longest night of my life.  That Friday at dusk, members began to gather in person with custom laptop bags: the hippy member with a burgundy and tan laptop bag swinging below this WoW  t-shirt, next to his indie skinny jeans, another in a toga with a monitor, processer, and keyboard all held in a large cardboard box adorned with character drawings. The two leaders arrived with matching jet-black bags, sat down, and pronounced, “It’s time.”

After 11 hours of gameplay, four and a half cases of Mountain Dew Gamefuel (the preferred drink of Warcrafters), and 13 bags of chips, we adjourned for breakfast at local Waffle House.

Has the near fanatical habits of these gamers resulted in the destruction of many fruitful youths and countless marriages? Whether or not this is true, the truth to be noticed is the game does mirror real life.  One example is known as the ‘Corrupted Blood Plague,’ a virtual epidemic of unbelievable proportions.  During quests, multiple players were affected by a spell called Corrupted Blood that periodically sapped players’ lives.  The disease affects anyone in close proximity to an infected character.  Within hours of the first signs of the disease, entire cities in the World of Warcraft universe were decimated. Luckily, programmers were able to subdue the virus and fix the game.  This plague so closely resembles the outbreaks of real world epidemics that public health researchers are studying MMORPGs to model human behavior during such outbreaks.

In addition, WoW provides life skills such as negotiation techniques, teamwork, and medieval black magic fighting styles.  Whether WoW is worth long sleepless weekends, horrible diets, and social isolation is up to the individual’s discretion.

Some tips for entering this cult are purchasing a level 80 character off ebay, stocking up on gamer t-shirts, and dumping your current girlfriend.
(The author wishes the reader note that he does not personally play WoW and is in fact an extremely cool, normal, single guy.)