Volume 1 Issue 4 2011 The Tower

MOUNT SAINT MICHAEL ACADEMY

• The Mount • The Bronx • Sports • The Arts • Economics • Culture • Technology

Mount Hammers Hayes in City Mount Marches in 250th NYC Championship St. Patrick’s Day Parade BY RONY NELSON ‘12 MOUNT REPORTER BY VIDAL WOODS ‘11

On March 17, 2011 Mount Saint Michael Academy students came out to represent the school by marching in the 250th New York City Saint Patrick’s Day parade in Manhattan. All had a great time! Our Director of Development, Ms. Julie Androshick, gave us further insight:

What was the long walk up Fifth Avenue like? Once we started marching along the parade route, from 46 th to 79 th St., time went by very quickly. We were very lively and we marched at a good pace.

Did the students seem to enjoy marching? Yes! They were very proud to represent the school. You could see this in the way they marched: Heads held high, shoul- ders back, waving to all of the Mount sup- porters who On Sunday March 6th and Saturday March 12th 2011, at the lined the parade route Rose Hill Gym on the campus of Fordham University, the cheering the Mount on! Mountaineers of Mount Saint Michael Academy played two of They were also suppor- the biggest games of their season. tive of two special peo- On Sunday the team played their Bronx rival Cardinal Hayes for ple who marched the CHSAA "A" City title. Led by Seniors Clarence White and with us: Jack How- Peter Aguilar , and by Junior Malik Gill, the team presented a ard ‘57 and Lyndsey McLaughlin. Both wanted to march in the NYC formidable offense —with a number of 3 pointers—and handily St. Patrick’s Day parade as part of their “bucket list” and got to do it. won the game 63-56. Lindsey is a wonderfully courageous person since she suffers from cystic fibrosis and is keeping a positive attitude while waiting for a On Saturday, the Mount played a hard-fought game against lung transplant, which she needs very soon! Saint Mary’s of Manhasset, Long Island, for the CHSAA Class- B State Championship. Unfortunately they lost in an overtime What are some things, if any, that you would like to see in next heartbreaker when three of their best players fouled year’s parade? The only thing I would like to see is more Mount out. Though they did not win the State championship the Mount marchers!! It’s great to see that this parade is more than just a walk still brought a city title to where it belongs. This has been one of down Fifth Avenue for Mount. Hopefully Ms. Androshick will get her the best seasons Head Coach Tom Fraher’s 18 year history: His wish and we can see even more Mount students participate in this pa- team finished the season with 26 wins and only 1 loss. Con- rade next year. gratulations to the team and next year we shall take it all!! P a g e 2 T h e T o w e r NBA Shake-Up Hides MVP BY JUSTIN BODDEN ‘12 MOUNT REPORTER This NBA season appears to be one like no other. With news media scoring point guard in the league and the only player in the league sending out headlines about The Heat’s Big Three, an uncertainty in the top ten in both assists (8.3 apg) and points (24.6). The Bulls surrounding Carmelo Anthony, the Knicks return to gratifying bas- are currently second in the eastern conference even though the next ketball, domineering rookie player Blake Griffin two best players Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah and the play of the veteran teams (Dallas Maver- have missed a combined 48 game, leaving Rose to icks, Boston Celtics, and LA Lakers), it ought to be carry the load. Now just imagine no Rose. CJ Watson no wonder that fans are flabbergasted by this year’s takes over point guard duties for the Bulls. It is almost happenings. One may even forget in this tumultu- impossible to see the Bulls making the playoffs right? ous season that the Most Valuable Player award Kobe Bryant- is the unquestioned leader of a Lakers will be given out very soon—and there are more team that is currently third in the western conference than enough viable candidates to go around. Ac- and the two time defending champions. Kobe is one cording to ESPN reporter Henry Abbot: Every of the best players on each end of the court and still MVP has come from a team who has finished the holds the title of “best closer in the game.” The Lak- season in the top four in terms of their record. ers are set for another deep playoff run and are going These teams win on average 75% of their games or for their second 3 peat in the last 15 years. 62 games per season. Lebron James- has emerged as the top gun of a Heats In no specific order, here is my list of MVP candi- offence that has two other all stars on the team. He dates consistently puts his team in the best possible position Kevin Durant- currently leads the league in points per game (28.2) to win the game, very rarely has a bad game, and is third in the and might be the best pure offensive player in the NBA today, but league in Points at 26.2. As the team’s chemistry improves so does his young Oklahoma City team doesn’t have the same experience as their record, which is 3rd best in the eastern conference. Lebrun the Spurs or Celtics nor are they at the level of the defending cham- might be the NBA’s villain but also the league's best player. pion Lakers. I predict he wins the award in two years unless the Dirk Nowitzki- has been on a mission to deliver a title to Dallas for Lakers, Spurs, and Celtics continue to defy the age curve the past thirteen years. Arguably, the top big man on offence, Amare Stoudemire- With all the hype surrounding Amare and the Nowitzki seemed to be on his way to his 2nd MVP award before a Knicks this year you might think he is the lead candidate for the sprained right knee sidelined him for 9 games. (Dallas went 2-7 MVP. Rightfully so he is 2nd in the league in points (26.3) and 6th during the stretch) According to 82games.com Dirk has the largest in blocks per game (2.1) and has taken the Knicks from a team who positive differential in the league in terms of Plus-minus, (plus- struggled to make the playoffs to serious contenders in the East. minus is a stat that shows the difference in scoring when a player is However, if you look closer you can see that while New York’s on the court compared to off.) the Mavs are plus 12 with their next great big man may have turned the team around, the Knicks leader on the court compared to minus 10 when he is off the hard- have played inconsistently, almost losing just as much as they have wood. won. There is a reason that the last eight MVP awards that have As the NBA continues to change, one of the only constants is that been handed out are to players whose team finishes in the top two the MVP award is given out at the end of each season. The MVP of their respective conference. goes to the league’s most valuable player – not necessarily the Derrick Rose- The leader of the Chicago Bulls. Rose is the best best— and in my opinion Dirk Nowitzki wins the award, with sec- Bullying BY CHRISTOPHER DELGADO ‘12 MOUNT REPORTER Everyone, in at least one point in their lives, has been on both ends sized to virtually every school in the United States. Like cancer, of the chronic disease known as bullying. Bullying has been around bullying has a wide variety of long-term consequences on the vic- since the beginning of time, and it still affects us today. Bullying tim, the parents of the victim—(especially if the victim suicides) has always been bad, and it seems that it is getting worse since and on the bullies themselves. The victim of bullying is subject to there are more ways to bully than ever. This seemingly unchecked numerous torments by the bully. This ranges from verbal abuse spread of bullying makes it like a cancer--a cancer that has metasta- (including name-calling, threats, homophobic remarks), cyber bul- P a g e 3 T h e T o w e r lying (hateful remarks on Facebook) and even physical abuse right” or “not paying enough attention to the child.” The guilt of (ranging from pushing/shoving, tripping, to actual fights). The losing a child is too much for most parents to deal with. But what is emotional toll on the victim is unfathomable. Being bullied can the bully’s role in this? What are the effects of bullying on the lead to social anxiety, anger and sometimes to even full blown bully? What causes them to bully? A bully typically comes from a paranoia and depression. These disorders usually cause poor per- broken or dysfunctional family. The stresses of home make the formance in school, isolation bully feel inadequate. This insecurity is (withdrawing from society), suicidal often the source of the bully’s quasi- thoughts and possibly suicide. Suicide is sociopathic behaviors. In short, the the sixth leading cause of death in the bully is scarred from home life, and United States, with over one million seek to scar what they perceive as the people committing suicide each year. “weakling” of the school, the bottom of Victims of bullying typically grow up the food chain. Bullies start by bullying with an emotional shell, an aegis that and may eventually move on to more blocks them from any and all emotions, criminal actions, ex. theft, joining a creating a “hollow void” where there gang, and murder. Bullying is truly a once was hope for life. Bullying also has disease that has spread through schools a profound effect on the parents of vic- like a virus. It starts when a seed is tims. Parents want to believe that their planted (bully living with broken fam- children are happy and that there is noth- ily). The seed turns into a stem (the ing wrong with them. They are usually initial stages of bullying), and ends as a completely ignorant to the fact that their “full grown plant” (Bully evolves into children are suffering. If the child at- full-fledged sociopath). If schools and, tempts suicide and completes it, the family, mainly the immediate more importantly, students, band together to stop this plague, future family, are often dumbfounded and go into a depression/mourning generations will be able to learn in a safe, stable environment. stage, where the parents blame themselves for “not raising their kid Matt Damon’s “The Adjustment Bureau” Needs A Little Adjustment BY VIDAL WOODS ‘11 EDITING MANAGER You know your movie needs a little actors, a clever story and decent acting. Everything in the movie was working. work when another movie like Three quarters into the movie your Rango (a movie about a chameleon heart is pumping because you really sheriff) makes more money during care about this guy who is fighting opening weekend at the box office. for his freedom. The Adjustment Bureau is a story Then the movie throws a twist at about an aspiring politician (Matt you: problem is, it is NOT a good Damon) who discovers that since the twist. It’s a twist that is so bad that it beginning of time, humanity’s path ruins the film and renders the entire has been guided by a secret organiza- first hour and a half utterly point- tion that operates in the shadows. less! He ultimately wants free will: to The Adjustment Bureau isn't a hor- choose a path which will allow him to rible movie. But it is definitely not It would have been a great movie if it spend his life with his new love interest worth and $11.00 movie ticket. So, were not for a painfully dry ending that (Emily Blunt). Damon’s character unless you’ve got money to waste, had you leaving the movie theater mad spends the entire movie trying to ac- make an adjustment and spend your at the world because of the fact that you quire that freedom of choice. This money on something more productive: are now $11.00 poorer. movie had a lot going for it: two A-list Go see Rango. P a g e 4 T h e T o w e r It’s Britney...and Everyone Else BY KEVIN NARINE ‘12 PUBLISHER

I’m sure everyone has heard things like Almost every other critic who has give this but say that these vocals have not lost the “this music stinks” or “back in my day we album a review— from publications like classic Britney sound that everyone has had REAL music” from someone who didn’t Digital Spy, USA Today, Rolling Stone, and come to know and love. The con is that’s the grow up in the bass pumping, auto-tuned the music authority themselves, Billboard— point. They all also generally agree that she world we live in today. Well, the critics is “A phenomenon without phenomenal couldn’t disagree more, except a few. One talent” - USA Today . example of one of the neigh-sayers is a In the world we live in, everyone can review of the newly released seventh studio have their own taste in music and also hold album by Britney Spears titled Femme their own opinions on artists and their Fatale. Greg Kot, longtime music reviewer music alike. Something that has become for the Chicago Tribune says, “Her nasal, commonplace is that people believe that pinched voice has never been particularly their opinions are the opinions of everyone astonishing, and now it’s mashed and dis- else. So let’s all keep in mind that not eve- torted into another texture, a wall of Auto- ryone may like your preferred choice of Tuned bleeps and bionic loops,” referring music and equally does not want your to her vocal performance throughout the views of an artist or song impressed upon album and giving it one star out of four. them. So remember “to each their own” There is one problem with this critique; has given the album near perfect ratings. and “Well that's your opinion, isn't it? I'm almost no one agrees with him! They all praise Britney’s futuristic enhanced not going to waste my time trying to change

vocals— it” - Lady GaGa Nike Power Balance Band: Don’t Buy It! BY JERON FENTON ‘13 TECHNOLOGY REPORTER We were all dying to get one of Lance Armstrong’s “ Live NO. Richard Saunders, co-host of the Skeptic Zone podcast, Strong” yellow bands. Well, now everyone is looking to get tested a Power Balance Representative and he failed the test one of Nike’s new Power Balance Bands. five times out of five times. In Australia, We have all seen professional athletes claims about flexibility and performance wearing Nike’s famous bracelets. The are considered medical claims which Long List includes the NBA’s four-time must have evidence to back it up. Power NBA champion Shaquille O’Neal, Chi- Balance Australia issued a statement that cago Bull All-Star Derrick Rose and read in part, “We admit that there is no Laker Lamar Odom: all three basketball credible scientific evidence that supports legends swear by the Balance Band! our claims. Therefore we engaged in mis- leading conduct.” The Power Balance According to Power Balance, the bands Band argument begs the question: Can you be a better ath- feature a performance technology using holograms embed- lete by believing in yourself or by wearing a band? Even ded with frequencies that react positively with the body’s though self-belief is the sound answer, some athletes wear natural energy field to improve balance, strength and flexibil- the Band because they seem to need a confidence booster. ity. The Band retails for $29.95 and can be found in numer- ous colors and styles. But the question remains, is the 30 My best advice: Don’t rely on a band to increase your per- dollar investment in this product worth it? The Answer is formance, hard work will pay off without spending $29.95! P a g e 5 T h e T o w e r Welfare In America Today BY ROBERT CUTINO ‘11 MOUNT REPORTER Many argue that it is a generally accepted through Temporary Assistance for Needy I decided to ask a series of questions about fact that it is easy—sometimes too easy— Families (TANF). This is a grant given to the public assistance experience. I asked a to get each state woman, who has chosen to remain name- help for their less, what she has observed at her local from the welfare public assistance office. She said, “It was United programs. overcrowded, mainly African Americans States- To avoid and Hispanics were there and people of all welfare the problem ages.” I was surprised to hear this; I be- system. due to reli- lieved there would be a more diverse group Is this ance on of people. However, this woman does live assump- welfare, in a prominently African American and tion TANF Hispanic neighborhood. My next question 100% grants re- was how long it took it took to get assis- true? quired peo- tance. She replied. “Hours, the process took What I ple who so long and there were so many people have receive aid applying, there was a point when no assis- decided to examine more thoroughly is the to find a job within two years within receiv- tance was given. I waited long hours only to process that one goes through to obtain ing aid. Nevertheless, in a time when unem- be told to come back another day.” This was welfare. ployment is a serious issue and jobs are all most discouraging because due to the state but scarce, of our economy, I Welfare started in the 1930s during the this is very know people are in Great Depression. There were an over- difficult. need of serious whelming number of families and individu- There are help. als who were in need of aid. Franklin De- different aid lano Roosevelt’s administration created a In the end, she packages that program that would give specific aid to described her ex- are available people with income below an indicated perience as, in each state. income line. Over the years, many people “Designed to dis- Most states abused these programs by not applying for courage people to offer basic jobs, by having more and by staying unmar- endure the long, aid such as ried to qualify for better benefits. grueling process.” food stamps, childcare assistance, unem- She went on to mention the process was During the 1990s, welfare reform, which ployment cash aid, and housing. “frustrating” to the point where one can end was federally run, became a pressing issue. With all of this information on the welfare up not returning. So does the government In 1996, a Republican Congress passed a system, I found myself still wanting more. I make receiving help simple and convenient? reform law, signed by President Bill Clin- wanted to know about the actual process on I believe there are many in need but many, ton, which gave the states control of the how to obtain help from the government. I if not more, who are still trying to get aid or Welfare System in an effort to cut back on was indeed foolish to think it would be easy have given up altogether because the proc- abuses to the system. to obtain, as an interview with a potential ess is too hard. Currently, government provides assistance recipient revealed to me.

Come On Down and See The Nicest Kids In Town! May 13th, 14th, & 15th P a g e 6 T h e T o w e r The Keepers of Light A Peaceful Life

BY LUKE BARLOW ‘13 BY LUKE BARLOW ‘13

The keepers of light hide away A summers breeze Though against their nature A morning wind In the brightest gleam and eye of the sun A midday chill They give off warmth And the midday still And radiate life They are the beginning and the end Quiet rain They bring about life, and take it away Silent thunder Beauty is their second nature Shivering clouds Energy is their thoughts To stir the crowds Gliding over the ocean Soaring over land The suns hard stare They are the eye of storms Upon my neck The oasis in a desert Giving heat away The softness of a cool crisp breeze On thy hot summer day The smell of baking bread The fluff and puff of a cloud My jet black pen The stillness of snow Pounding the paper Keeping light, peace, and Bellowing thoughts through my mind beauty. Not a thing left behind

Secret River On a cold spring eve Cold bursting through BY LUKE BARLOW ‘13 Chilling my face Their is a secret river Rushing away disgrace Beyond any forest or grove It hides, wherever and whenever needed The air ever so light It flows utterly silent As it hangs tranquilly Within it are only the smoothest stones Touching my soul And the softest greenery Not feeling the least bit dull It is clearer then the air itself A summers breeze And 50 times as pure A morning wind It flows in any direction needed A midnight chill At the slowest speeds As the midday lies still Past snowcapped mountains And sunlit fields Through the calmest forest And the lightest rain Past gentle music Find Us Online!: Coming Soon And countless emotions Coming wherever and whenever needed Always