Charter Northwest Feburary Valentine’s Day

By Ghost

Dear students and staff of Ombudsman, Valentine’s Day. This holiday of love used to mean something important. It used to be one of the most loved holidays of the year, until it became the holiday of money. People make millions off of people selling pink and red heart themed teddy bears and jewelry alone. Add candy and clothing into the mix and you have a commercialist’s dream come true. Florists make a ton of money by simply selling their flowers for absurd prices --only for said flowers to die within the week unless taken care of properly. Either way, they will be dead within 2 weeks, wilted on the dinner table. Couples buy their partner’s jewelry that will be worn once before disappearing into the jewelry box, never to be seen again. You shouldn’t show how much you love someone just on valentine’s day. You should show said someone you love them throughout the year. Money can buy many things, but love is not one of them. And if you say otherwise, it’s fake and your lying to yourself so you can sleep through the night. Our once lovely holiday is nothing but a commercialist’s dagger- disguised as a chocolate heart, appealing to all. And this holiday gives them the chance to bring their dagger down on the economy. And let’s not leave out our lovely single people. This “wonderful” day singles out those with no spouse. Our society strives off togetherness, so why celebrate this cursed holiday that separates us? Sure, there are those who love being single, but what about those who don’t? Those who want someone to cuddle with in front of the TV and share in the cliché of chocolate shakes in an old-fashioned ice cream parlor. Those who want to geek out over Big Bang Theory and Star Trek with someone special. Both males, females, and non-binary suffer from this singularity. We all deserve somebody to love. And we all deserve to be shown love every day of the year. Not just a single day each year with overpriced roses, sweets, and jewelry. So, tell me darling reader, will you continue to celebrate such a day?

Tragedy at Dolphinaris

By Ghost

Dear students and staff of Ombudsman, As you may or may not be aware of, Dolphinaris Arizona is shutting down! And for a good reason! They have been open for 2 years -give or take- and already four dolphins have tragically died! Whether you know this or not, we live in a desert. It’s hot and dry-- not the type of place to raise and care for aquatic creatures. Dolpinaris opened October 15th, 2016. They had 8 dolphins but didn’t think of the things that could have gone wrong with these poor creatures. Moving the dolphins caused stress, throw in human interaction into the mix and more stress is added onto the dolphins. Let’s not forget that stress weakens the immune system, so they are now open to infection and disease because humans are getting into their water and petting and feeding them like tamed puppies. Let’s not forget - we’re in a desert and they are aquatic creatures. The risks of our desert dust and spores can cause some serious harm to said creatures. Some say it’s normal for them to die in captivity soon after being moved to a new facility. I call B.S. Sure, it’s normal for animals to die. Sure, it’s normal for them to die in captivity. Usually dolphins live for about 40 years, some even older due to being in captivity and not having to worry about food shortages or predators. However, the oldest dolphin to die in this amusement park was 22. His name was Kai. He died soon after 11-year-old dolphin Khloe died. She was an Atlantic bottlenose. At·lan·tic Dictionary result for Atlantic /ətˈlan(t)ik,atˈlan(t)ik/Submit adjective 1. of or adjoining the Atlantic Ocean. "an Atlantic storm" Tell me dear reader, what is the temperature in the Atlantic? Oh, you don’t know? A little under -0. Another thing to consider is that each of the 8 dolphins there were taken from different places. These majestic creatures were forced to leave their pod, move to a new facility, with a bunch of dolphins they didn’t know. And you thought your stress levels were high. If stress alone wouldn’t have killed them, then it was the germs humans gave them by getting in and touching them more than an iPhone touch screen on sale. Human disease and germs + weak immune systems = dead dolphins.

The first dolphin to die was 10-year-old Alia. They were able to find the cause of her death. In May, Alia had been showing odd and unusual behavior. She had an acute bacterial infection and died of septicemia, aka, infection in the blood stream. Experts claim it had nothing to do with her environment and that it wasn’t contagious to dolphin or human. That makes you question how she got it. Nowhere in the article did it say how she got the disease. For all we know they are lying to keep what’s left of their reputation. They are saying they love and care for their dolphins but they sure are doing a lousy job at proving so. It also turns out they never mentioned what killed the other three dolphins. Was it the same thing? Did they all die of different causes? I guess we will never know. Protesters have helped temporarily shut down Dolphinaris, but only we can shut it down forever. DON’T Go to Dolphinaris!!!! Don’t let them win and kill more of these beautiful creatures.

Fashion

By Viviana

During the month of February, nude and brown color tones were really popular among women’s fashion. With men’s fashion black, white, and grey were really popular.

For a couple look, a warm pink and red could be worn with either grey or white bottoms.

Blazers or pant suits are a popular trend among either women or men fashion. You can easily pair up a blazer with jeans or biker shorts.

Trench coats are a warm and fashionable look if you pair them with a nice pair of shoes such as Balenciaga or Nikes.

Latest accessories trends are chains or fanny packs. How to wear your fanny pack properly is across your chest.

One of my favorite looks is an all red pant suit look.

It screams ‘VALENTINES’ and you can never go wrong with a pant suit!

History of Valentine’s Day

By Kacey Brode

Valentine’s Day is a day to celebrate your love for a significant other that is in your life. People tend to buy candies and flowers, any gifts one may enjoy. However, Valentine’s hasn’t always been a cheerful day. During the third century, Emperor Claudius, executed two men on February 14 (in different years), both named Valentine. In honor of the two men’s deaths, the Pope set February 14 as ‘Saint Valentine’s Day’ and Catholics of the Church would all feast. Another important event that had happened on the 14th of February is the Valentine’s Day Massacre, “... culmination of a gang war between and George ‘Bugs’ Moran” Both lived in . Al Capone, also known as ‘Scarface’, was known to operate trafficking and gambling as well as George Moran. The two constantly fought with multiple murder attempts towards each other. They both wanted full control of their businesses, so they did not want the other person interfering. With a $50,000 bounty on Al Capone, he figured this was the day that he gained his control. There was a delivery to Moran’s house and Moran happened to be late getting there. Capone sent in disguised assassins and when Moran returned, he figured his gunmen were getting arrested at the moment. They had been shot and most were killed and because of this, Moran had lost too many important people to continue his work. Al Capone had later been jailed in 1931 and died in 1947 due to pneumonia. On the 7th anniversary of the massacre, Jack McGurn, a Valentine’s Day hitman was shot and it is believed to be that the shooter was George Moran. He was arrested in 1947 and died because of lung cancer in 1957. Valentine’s Day didn’t become a day of romance until around the 14th century when poet, Chaucer, first linked it to romance. Since then February 14th is the day for romance and nobody really mentions the dark past it really has.

Getting to Know Ms. Bates

By Shea Patterson and Ghost

What are your blood relations? I am Mexican, my grandparents were born in Mexico.

What are your hobbies? My hobbies include; cooking, cleaning, reading and going to museums.

What is something you were most known for in high school? I was known as the nice girl and as a bit of a nerd.

What is one or 3 things that keep you motivated every day? My kids, my family, my job and God.

Do you have a favorite quote? JKF “Don’t ask what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”

What was your high school nickname? Micro and Shortcake were just a couple.

Do you have any favorite sweets? Dark chocolate covered almonds.

How would you explain/describe love? It’s unconditional, nonjudgmental, understanding and caring.

Student Council Corner

By Ali Cat

Hello students of Ombudsman Charter Northwest! This is Ali Cat from your usual fashion section, but today we are going to look into the ideas of the spirit week and the fundraiser we will have for the you, the students! When I say that the fundraiser is for you guys, I mean that it is all going to the school for stuff that we all need, so that we can do our work and graduate either early or right on time! For starters, we have our spirit week which will be soon. Some of my ideas are: Monday (Pajama day), Tuesday (Twin day), Wednesday (Class day) where each grade wears their own color. Red for freshmen, White for sophomore, Green for junior and for the seniors they wear black!), Thursday (Oldies day), and for our special Friday (Sports day)! This spirit week will be the most fun that we will have together! These are all my suggestions for us for spirit week and if you have any more suggestions, please feel free to tell one of the teachers or to tell me for what you want to see for that week! Now for the fundraiser! Possibilities for a fundraiser are a car wash, or a raffle for a sweet prize that I won’t give away as it is for the teachers or Ms. Stokes to choose that for us. We could also have a bake sale so we could bring some good baked food! Another thing that might be a possibility is the fry bread sale; that just sounds delicious hearing about it. I believe that we can all come together and bring this into a fun event for all of us and that we will all enjoy each fundraiser that will be just for us to get the things we really need in Ombudsman Charter Northwest! For this fundraiser, since it is all for us students, feel free to tell me what you want to see at this school and what you think will be raising the most for us students! That’s all folks for the student council corner with Ali Cat!! Have a good day!!

Black History Month

By VaShante Thompson

What is black history month about??? Black history month is about the history of African Americans. When did black history month start???? It started in 1926 when Carter G. Woodson was the first African American who graduated from the University of Hanover. There were many other men who were to accomplish a great deal and deserve the honor admiration and representation. One such man, Richard Theodore Greener the first African American to graduate college in 1870.The first African American to represent the US in the US Senate and Congress was Hiram Rhodes Revels. The first African American to become a Billionaire was Robert L. Johnson, he also became the majority owner of the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats. When black history first began it was only the first week of February, but now it is the celebrated the whole month.