L’écho du Collège
January–February 2013 The student run, student written ISB Middle School Newspaper Volume 1I, Issue I1 Editorial Black History Month Hi everyone! We’re As we all know, February is known as to Maryland to sorry that we haven’t “Black History Month.” It began in rescue her family had an edition of Echo 1926 in the United States. Carter G. members and led du Collège out for a Woodson and the Association for the other slaves to while. We’ve had sev- Study of Negro Life and History freedom. When eral problems but now declared the second week of February the Fugitive we’re back and running. “Negro History Week.” The reason Slave Act of The newspaper team why this week was chosen was because 1850 (which prepared a number of it was the birthday of Abraham Lincoln allowed people to articles for this issue and Frederick Douglas. In 1976, the try to recapture that are well written and government expanded the week into a their slaves) was passed, she led them to very interesting. We month. the north to Canada, where slavery have worked very hard Here are some famous figures that wasn’t allowed. She died on March 10, and dedicated lots of time to this issue. We changed history for African- 1913. enjoyed creating this Americans: edition and really hope Malcolm X: Born you like it. Right now, Harriet Tubman (also known as May 19, 1925, he we’re working on get- Moses): Born a slave in 1820, she was a Muslim ting another one out by rescued slaves by creating the minister and early spring and we are human rights Underground Railroad. When Tubman looking forward to that escaped to Philadelphia, she returned activist. (continued one too. We hope you on page 4) enjoy reading these arti- Le Lycée cles written by your classmates! Markos et Lennart, Ici, au Lycée environnement viennent d’autres pays Éditeurs en chef International de Boston, quotidien. Cependant, parce que cela sort de tout le monde vient d’un dans les écoles non l’ordinaire. C’est peut- In this issue: pays différent, parle bilingues, tout le monde être ce qui rend notre In the News 2 deux langues ou plus et fait école si super: le Science and Technology 5 nous avons l’impression attention multiculturalisme. Culture and Travel 7 que c’est normal puisque aux élèves (continued on page 8 ) Our School 8 c’est notre qui Book & Movie Reviews 11 Fun 14
IN THE NEWS Torre de David: The Largest Vertical Slum in the World
Caracas is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, a country in Latin America. In the 1950s, Caracas was a booming city, making Venezuela a stable democracy, and a close oil trade ally of the United States. The city was the ideal of modern life for the rest of Latin and South America and possessed a fantastic University, grandiose museums, country clubs, fine hotels, wonderful beaches, and a strong middle class. Venezuela would become a popular destination for numerous immigrants and visitors from Europe. It was during that time that David Brillembourg became immensely rich in the oil business. It was he who would eventually or- der and pay for the construction of the Confinanzas Skyscraper Complex in the 1990s. The Complex was to include two towers, one 18 stories, the other 45 stories high, and a parking garage. This, thought Brillem- bourg, would greatly enhance the image of Caracas and himself and the Complex would serve as Caracas’s Wall Street. The tallest of the two towers was to be named after Brillembourg: “Torre de David” or “Tower of David". The oil magnate died in 1993 and never saw the completion of his Complex, nor would anyone else. Shortly after Brillembourg’s Death, Venezuela was swept into a huge banking crisis, which consumed a third of the country’s capi- tal. The once so prosperous city would start to become poorer and poorer. Today, Caracas is only a trace of what it used to be. The “Tower of David” was 60% complete when the crisis hit. After the event, construction was not resumed, due to a lack of funds. If you approach Caracas today, though, you will find the Tower of David without a problem. It peeks out far over the common houses of the city’s center, even though it was never completed. From afar, you might even think that it was, in fact, completed. The sun reflects on the glass panes that would have served as windows. Yet, approaching, you would find uneven spots in the glass walls, for some panes are missing. If you circled the building you would find that some of the sides are not covered with glass at all. What you would find, though, would be an occasional satel- lite dish, and small, badly constructed brick houses in the empty spaces of the building. You would be staring at a slum. A squalid and overcrowded urban street or district inhabited by very poor people, as the dic- tionary states. To understand why the un- finished Tower is inhabited, we will go back in time a bit. After the city had tried everything to resume the building process, and also tried to sell the building to privately owned corporations, it finally abandoned the incomplete Wall Street. (continued on page 4)
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Hurricane Sandy Felix Baumgartner: Jump from On October 29th, Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast the Sky as a Category 1 hurricane. Hurricane categories are Felix Baumgartner, based on an Austrian skydiver, wind pilot, parachutist and speeds. daredevil set the Winds world record for from 74- jumping an estimated 92 mph 39 km jump from the would be sky, on October 14, a Cate- 2012. He reached an gory 1. estimated speed of Sandy started off in the Caribbean, hitting countries 1342 km per hour, like Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, and and became the first the Bahamas. It resulted in over 60 deaths in those person to break the countries. Power was out, streets were flooded, trees sound barrier in a fell, and waves became very big because of the heavy freefall. This was 65 years after Chuck Yeager first rain and the wind, which reached up to 110 mph (177 broke the sound barrier inside an experimental rocket kph). Next, Sandy hit the U.S. It started in the South, airplane. around Felix was sent up in the sky by a large and very thin North balloon. He was inside a small rocket attached to the and balloon. Jumping over the New Mexico desert, Felix South made a freefall Caro- most of the way and lina, after four minutes, with 20 seconds he heavy opened his para- rain and chute. strong winds. People around the coasts were asked to Baumgartner says evacuate. New York City and coastal New Jersey were that he mainly de- particularly hit hard with heavy rain, destructive winds cided to do this jump because he liked to see the world and 12 foot waves. Houses were knocked over, power from above. Ever since he was little he has enjoyed was out for days and airports were shut down. The climbing trees, and being up high. That’s why, at the death toll reached 110 . Areas in North Carolina and age of sixteen, he decided to become a skydiver. West Virginia got up to 2 feet of snow instead of the During his fall, it was said that he started spinning and rain. Normally busy areas like Time Square and Grand then he decided to deploy his parachute. The entire trip Central Station were completely deserted! back to Earth lasted 9 minutes and 9 seconds. The gi- By Markos A. ant leap was supported by Red Bull Stratos, after 5 years of preparing and training for this mission to im- prove scientific knowledge about how the human body
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Torre de David: The Largest Black History Month Vertical Slum in the World
(continued from page 2) He was known as a courageous advocate for the rights of Then, one night in October of 2007, several hundred blacks. He was accused of preaching racism, and violence men, women and children, led by a group of ex- in his early years. Many people say he was one of the convicts, came to the Tower and started settling in greatest and most influential African-Americans in his- its tory. He died on February 21, 1965. open Martin Luther King, Jr.: Born January 15, floors. 1929, he was a leader in For African-American Civil many Rights. He led the of Montgomery Bus Boy- those cott in 1955. He helped poor organize the March on people, Washington in 1963, the Tower meant finally having something like a where he gave his “I roof over their heads and they were happy with their Have a Dream” speech. He was in fa- vor of non-violence. King organized a march from Selma to Montgomery on March 7, 1965. The first attempt was aborted because of the violence of police and mobs. It has been known as “Bloody Sunday” ever since. He tried again on March 9 but failed again. The march finally suc- ceeded on March 25.
new environment. It was the start of a series of un- used building invasions in Caracas; many poor fami- lies started to live in abandoned apartment buildings or office towers. The Torre de David and its sur- rounding complex now house an estimate of 3.000 people. Since the invasion, the Tower of David has gained notoriety as the city’s center of murder and crime. Yet it offers shelter to many homeless human beings. In barely 60 years, Caracas has thus changed from a booming ideal of modern life to a city with He was assassinated on April 4, 1968. the greatest vertical slum in the world. This is an The 3rd Monday of January is Martin Luther King, Jr extremely sad, yet quite fascinating story. Day.
By Lennart N. By Jihane J.
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Science and Technology Les élèves de la classe de Physique-Chimie en 4ème avec Mme. Heinz ont écrit des textes sur l’atmosphère et l’effet de serre. Ici un de ces projets écrit par Alice R. et Sophie R. Diminution de la pression atmosphérique avec l’altitude : Le(s) mal(/maux) des montagnes/de l’altitude
Les candidats de l’émission de télé réalité Pékin Nos deux aventurières échan- Express ont pour mission de gravir le Mont Everest dans la gent un regard inquiet. Dé- chaîne des Himalayas. C’est sans doute une des missions les cidément, de plus en plus de plus difficiles de la saison et les candidats sont fatigués par personnes font face à des les trois semaines de course. Les conditions seront dures et problèmes de santé. Elles con- la compétition l’est aussi. Aujourd’hui nous allons suivre la tinuent leur trajet périlleux et progression de Lila et Sarah Dares, deux soeurs ayant sept atteignent le point d'arrivée en deuxième position. ans d’écart. A leur arrivée sur le site, les candidats se sont Elles sont épuisées par leur étape mais très fières. A accordé un jour de repos pour minimiser les risques de l’arrivée, le présentateur leur annonce l'état des autres santé. En plus de leur repos forcé, il leur est conseillé équipes. Apparemment, un de leur concurrents, An- d’avancer doucement, de ne pas se forcer au-delà du rai- sonnable et de faire attention à boire et à faire des pauses tony, a un oedème cérébral de haute altitude, son régulières. cerveau a enflé. Il a donc été évacué. Le lendemain, Nous sommes au pied de la montagne dont on Albert, un des membres de l’équipe arrivée en pre- vient de commencer l'ascension, les candidats sont mière place commence à avoir du mal à respirer, nerveux mais volontaires. Les équipes sont proches les tousse et crachote un liquide mousseux. Trois jours unes des autres et certains candidats ont commencé à ac- plus tard, on leur apprend qu’il était atteint d’un célérer le pas. C’est une décision personnelle que les oedème des poumons de haute altitude dû à une deux soeurs ne se sont pas risquées à prendre. Une heure maladie chronique qu’il avait. Pour récupérer après est maintenant passée et Lila s'arrête pour boire quelques avoir eu cette maladie, il faut seulement du temps, de gorgées d’eau, elle passe la bouteille à Sarah. Les deux quatre à cinq jours, à une altitude plus basse ou nor- jeunes femmes reprennent leur ascension difficile sans male pour eux. On leur fait une présentation dans broncher. Après trois heures, nous croisons une équipe laquelle il est expliqué que tous les problèmes de dont Joseph, un homme d’une quarantaine d’années, a santé s'étant passés pendant la montée étaient dûs à l’air mal en point. Il se tient la tête entre les mains et est l’altitude. Lorsqu’on monte en altitude, la pression assis en boule sur le sol rocailleux. Sarah s'arrête et de- est plus basse et l’air est plus rare. C’est-à-dire que mande à Simone, la femme et coéquipière de Joseph ce vu qu’il y a moins d’atomes au-dessus de nos têtes, qu’il lui arrive. “ Il a des maux de tête et il vient de vomir l’air est moins compressé et les molécules s’éparpil- dans le coin, là-bas.” Lila leur souhaite bon cou-rage et lent un peu plus. Il y a donc moins de dioxygène par nos amies reprennent leur chemin. Encore quelques mètre cube d’air et notre corps n’y est pas vraiment kilomètres plus loin, Lila aperçoit une équipe adverse et habitué, nos poumons ne sont pas assez grands pour s'élance à leur rencontre. C'était l’une de celles qui laisser passer une quantité suffisante d'oxygène dans avaient pris un départ si rapide. Une fois que nous avons le corps ce qui l’affaiblit. C’est qu’il n’y a pas une rejoint Lila, les deux plus jeunes candidats qui sont quantité suffisante d’O2 dans les tissus, c’est appelé jumeaux sont assis au sol. Les mains et le visage d’An- l’hypoxie. Tous les participants de la course sont tony ont doublé de taille. Camille se penche pour lui don- maintenant en bonne santé. Ils ont repris la course, ner une boisson vitaminée et lui retirer ses chaussures enfin, seulement pour les meilleurs… Par Alice R. et maintenant trop serrées. Sophie R.
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AT&T and T-Mobile Breakup AT&T planned since last year to buy T-Mobile from the Dutch phone company Telekom. But the pro- posal of the merger met with many objections. The three main opponents were the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Communications Commission, and also one of AT&T’s main competitors, Sprint. The opposition has done almost everything possible to stop the merger. AT&T was willing to pay 39 billion dollars for the phone company but the opposition said it was going to be really bad for customers. (continued on page 7) Dauphins Qu’est-ce qu’un dauphin? Certaines personnes vous répondront: c’est un membre d’une équipe de natation (moi par exemple) mais la plupart diront que c’est un ani- mal. Un animal? D’accord mais quel type d’animal? Un poisson, un mammifère, un reptile? Maintenant, réfléchissons : un dauphin, ça vit sous l’eau donc... c’est un poisson! Eh non! Le dauphin est un mammifère marin, comme la baleine. Mais alors les requins aussi sont des mammifères? Eh bien... non. Les requins, eux, sont des poissons. Maintenant, vous n’y comprenez plus rien du tout. Attendez, je vous explique. La différence est que les petits des mammifères ne sortent pas du ventre de leur mère sous la forme d’un oeuf, ils sont déjà comme leurs parents. Les poissons, eux, pondent leurs oeufs et leurs petits sortent après un temps défini par le type du poisson. Aussi, les mammifères s’occupent de leurs petits après leur naissance alors que les poissons les abandonnent. Par Alice R. Wind Turbines We’ve all seen it, that wind turbine on the side of I-93 while going to or coming back from Boston. The huge tower, about 300 feet off the ground, with its wings slowly turning, is an amazing piece of machinery. Most people know that wind turbines are used as an alternative way of making energy, but how do three wings slowly being turned by the wind create electric- ity? Roscoe Wind Farm The way wind turbines work is actually not very complicated. When the wind turns the blades, it actually turns the shafts and gears in- side the wind turbine, which are connected to a generator to create electricity. On average, in one year, a single wind turbine generates around 5 million kilowatts, enough to run about 1,700 televisions or 500 homes! Other fun facts about wind turbines: Roscoe Wind Farm in Texas is the world’s largest wind farm, with 627 turbines. The first windmills were created around 2000 BC in China and Persia. There are an estimated 20,000 wind turbines in the US; Texas is the state with the most. By Markos A.
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AT&T-Mobile Breakup
(continued from page 6) AT&T planned to use T-Mobile’s 4g network and its customers to surpass Veri- zon (the largest phone company in the US). AT&T stated there would be no dif- ference if they merged with T-Mobile, saying that they would keep all T-Mobile stores. But the government thought that they would make phone service more expensive and less innovative. Because the merger was blocked, AT&T was ordered to pay 4 billion as a fee to Telekom. This deal mostly affects T-Mobile , as its parent company (Telekom) has already said it doesn’t want to cover expenses for a company in the US, meaning that other com- panies can buy T-Mobile or part of it, or it can even become its own company. While other companies are get- ting bigger, T-Mobile is losing business. T-Mobile is the 4th largest phone company in the U.S. but hasn’t been able to acquire high end phones like the Apple iPhone. Some regional companies are able to get exclusive high- end phones, which is hurting T-Mobile. So AT&T won’t be that hurt by losing the merger, but for T-Mobile this could cost lots of money. By Olivier B.
Culture & Travel Vocaloid: Japanese Pop Stars Voyage à Lourdes
There are a lot of things to appreciate from Japan: Situation géographique : anime, fashion, and music. But when it comes to my Lourdes se trouve au sud- favorite, it would have to be in the music category. ouest de la France, dans la Vocaloid is made by Crypton Future Media. It’s a chaîne de montagnes ap- Japanese/Korean/English computer synthesizer soft- pelée “les Pyrénées”. ware and the name is a mix between vocal and an- Beaucoup de personnes du droid. The main star is Hatsune Miku. With her long monde entier y vont en blue pigtails and amazing high-pitched voice, she is pèlerinage pour demander the most loved Vocaloid in Japan. The Vocaloid char- des guérisons parce que la Vierge Marie y serait appa- acters are not human beings, but are projections which rue en 1858 et plusieurs miracles y auraient eu lieu. have “robotic” voices. They take regular singing and somehow make it sound a little “auto tuned”, as you Le Pont d’Espagne might call it. There are different types of voices in Comme son nom different pitches and they all have characters who rep- l’indique, ce site se resent them: Len and Rin Kagamine (twins), Meiko trouve à proximité Sakine, Kaito, Neru Akita, and Haku Yowane. de l’Espagne. One of my favorite songs is “World is Mine” On y admire de by Hatsune Miku. There are other popular songs like multiples cascades Levan Polka, Po Pi Po (vegetable juice), Honey, But- et un grand nombre de ponts qui les franchissent. terfly on Your Right Shoulder and many more. Il y a de la neige même en mai. (continued on page 8) (continued on page 8)
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Vocaloid: Japanese Pop Star
(continued from page 7) It’s the same Vocaloids also have concerts. The way as the regular they work is since they’re not real people, they have computer soft- projections of the characters on a big screen. Here Is ware but... Miku performing “World is Mine” in concert. Her con- just on an Ap- certs take place in America and Japan. On March 9th, ple device. 2010, she went on tour to promote the new video game Unfortunately, Hatsune Miku: Project Diva. it’s only in They made a second program. MMD Japanese. (MikuMikuDance). Vocaloid: One of the most amazing creations ever You can make a 3D animation movie or make them from Japan ! By Jihane J. dance by moving their body. Voyage à Lourdes For any iDevice users out there that are interested, they can download an album, wallpaper, or app(s) of Vo- (continued from page 7) caloid. iMiku/iVocaloid is one of the apps for iPhone Le cirque de Gavarnie and iPad. Cirque : bassin de mon- tagnes disposé circu- lairement. Le cirque de Gavarnie est un très beau lieu avec des rivières et des sommets enneigés. On peut faire une balade à pied, à dos d’âne ou à che- val et aussi apercevoir des avalanches de neige dans les montagnes. Par Pierre B.
Our School Le Lycée International de Boston
(continued from page 1) Imagine qu’il n’y ait que deux ou trois nationalités représentées dans notre école. Ça changerait tout! En effet 42 nationalités sont représentées! C’est quelque chose dont nous devons être fiers!
Dans notre école, ce n’est pas si surprenant si quelqu’un vient du Japon ou d’Espagne, d’Egypte ou de France... et ce qui est si bien dans tout ça, c’est qu’on s’imprègne en même temps de plein de cultures différentes. Je ne suis jamais allée à Vienne mais c’est comme si j’y étais allée tellement mon ami m’en parle! Je n’ai pas non plus été au Japon mais, en quelque sorte, c’est comme si j’y étais allée tellement j’en entends parler! Ma conclu- sion est que tous les jours il faut qu’on se réveille contents car on a cette opportunité que peu de gens ont : être dans une école avec tant de cultures. “Merci LIB!” Par Paloma D.
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4 Restaurants Gastronomiques en salle 318... Un projet gourmand mais bon pour la santé... Dans la classe de Madame Tsotsis, professeur de physique-chimie, les élèves s’étaient donné trois semaines pour mener un projet gastronomique : créer un restaurant! Ils devaient composer des menus qui incluent les cinq groupes d’aliments: des légumes, des fruits, des protéines, des produits laitiers et des amidons. Leurs menus devaient aussi donner des informations sur le nombre de vitamines, minéraux et calories de chaque plat. Mais le plus important était que chaque restaurant devait être unique et révéler la créativité de ses cuisiniers car ces plats préparés à la maison devaient être dégustés en classe. Les enfants avaient tous travaillé très dur. Alors ouvrons la porte et voyons ce qu’ils ont préparé...
Quels dons extraordinaires !!!
La classe de Madame Tsotsis était divisée en quatre groupes, chacun avait créé un restaurant d’une na- tionalité différente : italienne, française, africaine, et perse. Notre rôle était de juger la qualité des plats et le tra- vail que les élèves avaient fait. Le jour en lui-même avait une ambiance très décontractée et relaxe parce que c'était ‘La Journée Pyja- mas’. Tout le monde s'amusait en se régalant et parlait avec ses amis. Une élève a même dit : ‘Il est 9 heures du matin, on est en pyjamas et on mange du jambon de parme. C’est super!’ Après la dégustation, les enfants ont présenté des publicités pour chacun de leurs établissements. Ces présentations consistaient à nous lire leurs menus et à nous montrer pourquoi leur restaurant était spécial et unique. Par exemple, un groupe avait une soupe du jour qui changeait à chaque heure, un autre avait combiné de la cuisine de trois nationalités différentes et le dernier avait même fait toute une recherche sur l’origine de certains plats. Être entouré de toute cette créativité était une sensation formidable!
Un nouveau défi pour le mercredi 13 février La plupart des groupes avaient préparé des plats à la maison et les avaient apportés. Il y avait des biscuits, du pain et de la viande. La nourriture de chaque groupe était extrêmement bonne. Mais nous, les juges, nous étions un peu déçus de ne pas pouvoir goûter tous les menus car certains groupes n’avaient rien amené ...
Cependant, ils avaient tous travaillé très dur et chaque restaurant était extraordinaire. Les menus étaient tous remplis de détails et d’informations sur le contenu de chaque plat. C’était très impressionnant. Et quand les groupes nous ont présenté leurs publicités, il était clair qu’ils avaient beaucoup travaillé sur le projet. Le groupe nommé La Trattoria des 4 filles avait amené presque tous les plats de son menu: du fromage avec du basilic entouré de tomates savoureuses, des tas de sortes de viandes, du salami, du lard, et même du chocolat. Un autre groupe appelé Turk Ickumu Baharat n’avait pas autant préparé de mets mais les étudiants avaient apporté des biscuits délicieux. Les groupes qui n’ont rien amené vont avoir une deuxième chance le 13 février. On a hâte de les retrouver pour se régaler... A vos fourneaux!
Par Sejin G. et Sepehr S.
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Interview with Dr. Blumenthal On January 29th we interviewed Dr. Blumenthal. We talked about his job and his opin- ions about ISB. Here is our interview: Q: When did you decide that you wanted to be a school director? Dr. Blumenthal: It was back in the 1980’s, a long time ago. Before I was a director though, I was a school teacher for 15 years and became a headmaster in 1991 at a school in New York. Q: What made you choose ISB amongst all the other schools? Dr. Blumenthal: When I heard about the job, it appealed to me for several reasons. First, I was a French teacher earlier and I loved the idea of continuing French. Second, my wife and I lived in Boston for several years and then moved away but we always hoped to come back. Third, we lived in California and our only child lived in Europe so it was too far away for us. Q: When you got here, what surprised you the most (in a positive way)? Dr. Blumenthal: I liked everything (culture, atmosphere, etc...), but nothing really surprised me because I ex- pected all of this. Q: What comparisons can you make to other schools you’ve worked at? Dr. Blumenthal: A comparison is to a school I worked at in Hong Kong. It was bilingual but I didn’t speak Mandarin,. Here I speak both French and English. More importantly I liked the diversity of the community here: the students and the parents. There’s also a very diverse faculty. Q: What do you think are some of the biggest challenges this school faces? Dr. Blumenthal: I think the biggest challenge for this school has been improving the facilities because we don’t have things that other schools have, although the school has much improved since I got here. When I first came the 4th floor was only storage, but there are still things to work on like: a bigger gym, a bigger music room, and a few more things too, but it’s been a huge improvement. Q: Why are you building a bigger library? Dr. Blumenthal: I think that if you were to walk into our current library you would understand why. There have also been thoughts of having an auditorium so this way it is like a two in one. Also, on the 4th floor there was a giant empty space, so now we’re using it. Q: Do you think you interact enough with the students or would you like to interact with them more? Dr. Blumenthal: I think I would like to interact with them more. For the last two years I have been teaching an advanced English class at this school, but I am not doing it this year. I plan on teaching one next year though. Q: A lot of the classes like art, music, IT, and theater are not part of the curriculum in other schools (they are optional classes). Do you think it is a good idea to have them in the curriculum at ISB? Dr. Blumenthal: Some of the classes are part of the French curriculum so they are required but others are use- ful for the children. Others like theater build character and the students really enjoy them. Q: Our last question is : do you enjoy working at ISB and do you plan on staying here? Dr. Blumenthal: Yes definitely, I like it very much. Q: Thank you very much! Interview by Paloma D. and Michelle E.
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SEP Presentation
There were very interesting SEP presentations at the end of the first se- © Nicole Hanover mester, which I hope everybody enjoyed! Meteorology had picture slides, Japanese Culture had movies and a slide show, Cooking had a competition, Architecture showed their buildings, Philosophy/Cinema had their pictures, Robotics had robots, Stop Motion Animation showed their animation movie and finally there were great snacks that most of the people brought. In the beginning of the presentation the teachers of the SEP classes gave out awards for the person that was the best leader of the class. (As the teachers said, everybody was a pretty good leader The Winners of the awards. Congratulations! but they had to chose only 1 or 2 winners in each class.) This SEP presentation was to get middle school stu- dents excited for their next SEP class, and to show them what projects SEP classes had done. I can’t wait to see what next semester’s SEP is going to be like!
By Nathan M. Book and Movie Reviews The Amulet of Samarkand
“And there was the Amulet of Samarkand. It sat in a small case all of its own, protected by the glass and its own reputation. (...) I had the dis- tinct impression that something was stirring. Not here, but close by. I had better be quick.” Nathaniel, a young wizard’s apprentice, has, without the consent of his beloved master, gone into very dangerous and advanced magic, in order to get revenge on a very powerful and feared wizard named Simon Lovelace, who had humiliated Nathaniel in public. The boy uses one of the oldest and strongest spells in wizard history to summon a djinn, a demon from the past called Bartimaeus, to steal Lovelace’s most powerful and best kept treasure, the Amulet of Samarkand. But as Bartimaeus brings back the Amulet, to- gether they discover Lovelace’s actual plan: To overthrow the government of London, the city that Nathaniel calls his home. The Amulet of Samarkand tells an exciting and vivid story of magic, murder, trust, and power in government. Stroud’s writing and his style made his characters, the setting, and the plot come to life before my eyes. I could see Bartimaeus steal the Amulet from Lovelace and actually felt in- credibly nervous. Stroud makes a simple book live and makes a story breathe. The Amulet of Samarkand is a real page-turner, a gripping, exciting, adventurous, and funny story. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy, but is bored by the usual elf-dwarf story type and seeks something new. I give this novel a 9 out of 10, for an excellent story, told from two different points of view that I was not able to put down. Review by Lennart N.
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The Unwanteds
Every year in the land of Quill all of the thir- Two twins, Alex and Aaron, are separated and teen-year-old boys and girls may never see each other again. Alex tries hard to accept are split that he is an unwanted. into categories: the wanteds When he arrives at the death and the unwanteds. The farm all the thirteen year olds wanteds are the strong and discover a secret intelligent kids that go to place called Artime. In Artime the university. The unwant- every kid who was an unwanted eds are the creative kids is taught to be that go to the death farm to die. creative and learn how to use his or her creativity magically. Alex misses his 11 Birthdays brother very much and tries to find him but accidentally shows the existence of Leo and Amanda have spent all of their birthdays to- Artime and creates an ultimate magic battle. I think The gether since they’ve been one, but when they turned Unwanteds is a very good book because it is very similar ten, everything changed. They learned that there are to Harry Potter and The Hunger Games. The book has some words you can never take back. So here they are adventure, magic, and fantasy. on their 11th birthday, their first birthday that they’re celebrating separately, and Amanda can’t wait to get it Review by Olivia M. over with and for the next day to come. The only problem is that the next day it is her birthday all over again, and she’s the only one that realizes this, or at The Apothecary least she thinks she’s the only one. A fourteen year old girl named Janie Amanda quickly learns that moves from Los Angeles to London. her ex-best friend Leo is living She meets an apothecary and his through this nightmare just son, Benjamin Burrows. Benjamin like her, so they set off to find has always dreamed of becoming a the answer to their problem. spy and when his father is kidnapped Join them along the journey as he tries to become that. Benjamin you discover the first book of and Janie become great friends and an extremely well written series, but mostly join them try to find his father with the his sa- on a journey you and they will never forget. cred book, The Pharmacopoeia. Benjamin and Janie come across many obstacles and danger. The Apothe- I recommend this book to anybody who likes sus- cary is great if you like mysteries, fantasy, historical fic- pense, LOTS of humor, but mostly to those who are tion, and adventure books. I think this book is very good fans of Wendy Mass (the author of this book). Happy and I would definitely recommend it. It is very interest- reading! Review by Paloma D. ing, entertaining, and magical! Review by Olivia M.
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Critique du Film: La Boum Resumé: La Boum, c’est un film de 1980 réalisé par Claude Pinoteau. Ce film raconte l’histoire d’une fille de treize ans appelée Vic Beretton (Sophie Marceau) et ses premières amours au lycée. Sa meilleure amie est Pénélope (Sheila O’Connor) et elles parlent ensemble des garçons de leur classe. La première boum arrive et Vic se dispute avec ses par- ents parce qu’elle veut y aller. Malgré leur refus, elle participe à cette soirée. Vic tombe tout de suite amoureuse de Mathieu (Alexandre Sterling). Elle danse avec lui et elle est très heureuse. Son arrière grand- mère, Poupette (Denise Grey), est toujours là pour donner des conseils et aider Vic dans tous ses problèmes quotidiens. C’est une femme très sage, qui croit beaucoup dans l’amour, et c’est pour cela qu’elle peut aider Vic. En même temps, les parents de Vic se fâchent car sa mère (Brigitte Fossey) est ja- louse de l’ancienne amie de son père (Claude Brasseur) et elle tombe amoureuse du professeur d’allemand, Eric (Bernard Giraudeau). À la fin, les parents de Vic se réconcilient. Vic quitte Mathieu puis re- tourne avec lui. Mais lors d’une dernière boum, elle tombe amoureuse d’un autre garçon... À suivre dans La Boum 2 !
Critique:
J’ai bien aimé ce film pour plusieurs raisons. Tout d’abord, j’aimais voir les différences entre les années 80 et notre époque : par exemple le style de vêtements, le fait que tous les enfants travaillaient à l’école, le change- ment des modèles de voitures, la musique etc... Ensuite, j’ai aimé le personnage de Poupette qui était un peu comme la meilleure amie de Vic. Elle lui donnait des conseils, elles riaient et bavardaient ensemble. Aussi, c’était intéressant de voir que les enfants de cet âge (12 ans) se comportent différemment de ceux de 14-15 ans dans le film : par exemple, aller à plusieurs boums, les relations entre garçons et filles. Pour finir, à mon avis, c’était très bien filmé car les façons de tourner une scène étaient différentes ainsi que les prises de vue. Assurément, je recommande ce film!
Critique par Olivia S.-S.
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Fun
Story
This is the follow up of the prologue that you could read in the last issue. This time, Clara M. and Emma C. in 8th grade, have shared the first part of the first chapter of their book with us. Enjoy!
Olive was stuck on question number twenty-five, page two. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate. Nothing came. She tapped her pen on her desk anxiously, waiting for the answer to pop into her mind. Still nothing. She looked at the ceiling and watched a spider build its web in the corner of the classroom ceiling. The test was almost over. She had all the answers... Except for the question that would cause her to lose 20%, the question the whole test chapter was based on. Olive was a serious student, and she couldn't accept a 80% on this quiz - it would ruin her record, and her hope of winning the school prize. If she didn’t keep getting straight A’s, the offer would disappear. Her school had told the students that if they got all A’s, they would earn a trip to anywhere they wanted to go for a whole week next year in 3242. They could choose two friends from their class to go with them. Olive desper- ately wanted to see Greece again; she hadn’t been there since her mother died and she had been sent to this boarding school, Hawthorn’s Greek Academy for Female Orphans of Bulgaria, or for readers who only speak Greek, Ελληνική Ακαδημία Hawthorn για Γυναίκα Ορφανών της Βουλγαρίας. Catching herself daydreaming, she went back to question twenty-five. “When did the Crash occur?” Olive decided to start from the beginning of this history chapter and see if her brain might wake up. The Conti- nental drift was when all of the continents finally crashed together. So many years ago, this had been caused by a small meteorite that had crashed down on Earth in just the wrong place, at just the wrong time. It was at night, and it landed in the center of the Antarctic ice sheet, which was miles and miles deep. It was the last night it would ever be that thick. At thirty thousand miles an hour, during the coldest winter Antarc- tica had ever known, the meteorite came crashing down. At thirty thousand degrees Kelvin, it smashed down through the ice sheet at a point situated above a freezing lake, right over a huge tectonic plate. This gave it even more miles to destroy, but it continued right through without slowing. The meteorite caused an explosion equal to that of more than millions of atomic bombs. Antarctica would be subject to unusual weather for decades to come, but this was certainly not the worst of it. About one thousand people’s lives were lost that night. The aftermath was devastating, but compared to the main onslaught, it was like a paper-cut. Several earthquakes followed the catastrophe, the first immediately after the initial impact. The meteor- ite had been a huge one, powerful enough to accelerate the movement of the continents by millions of orders of magnitude. The earthquakes were the first signs to confirm this information, though scientists only discovered the convenience of the disaster years later. At first, researchers couldn't even be sure that anything had actually happened at all. But after years of observa- tion, experiments and testing proved their hypothesis correct: the continents were moving closer and closer to- gether-- and at a much faster pace than believed possible. The Continental Drift was happening billions of times faster than it would have been if not for the meteorite.
They did some closer research around the area of the catastrophe, the Antarctic Ice Sheet and the path of the tectonic plate, and they came to a conclusion. The continents would collide in a matter of twenty-four years. And they did. Twenty-four years! Olive jerked herself out of her thoughts and went back to focusing on the paper in front of her. That was the number of years between the Disaster, also the beginning of the Drift, which resulted in the Crash, of course, when all the continents had collided. After the Disaster, a bunch of other horrible natural disas- ters occurred at the same moment all around the now glued together landforms. (continued on page 15)
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(continued from page 14) After the disaster, many of the previous world leaders, like President Harrison Manshacht from the United States came together and had a big argument. That had happened sixteen years ago, and was still going. The former leaders decided that the world was to be formed into two kingdoms: The Easterners, as they called themselves, and the Confederation of International Peace was founded, and we all lived happily ever after. Right. Both sides of the world were consistently having a heated argument over the land at the borders, laws, freedom... At least there wasn’t war. Not yet. The Eastern World, the side of the world where Olive lived, was, at the moment, having an argument in itself. People were fighting over the throne like old times, and it wasn’t safe in Russia, where the current palace was. Olive shuddered. Just to think of what it would be like... She was actually glad, in part, that she was at this boarding school. In Russia and some other countries, there were people massacring cities and even small neighborhoods in the hope that it would give them power, and they would find a pathway leading to the throne. People could be incredibly dangerous when greed came over them. That was partly why she had been transferred from Greece four years ago. The small and secretive government that Greece held had founded Hawthorn’s Academy, and the peo- ple were glad for it. What with terrorists raging through the countries, it would be extremely dangerous for chil- dren, especially orphans, to be strewn about with no place to eat, no place to go. So Olive had been transferred to a quiet corner of Bulgaria nestled between many tall mountains. The school was completely safe from outsiders, and was almost completely unheard of. It was guarded day and night by a few sentries just in case, and there was a large airship constantly ready for a quick escape. Along with fire drills, and avalanche warnings, the students of Hawthorn’s Greek Academy for Female Orphans of Bulgaria practiced government escapes at least once every two months. They hadn’t had to carry out one yet.
By Clara M. and Emma C. (To be continued)
Wintery Wordsearch!
By Iris G.
D E C O R A T I O N
E J Y O H F W B A T Words: C O O K I E S A C G
E D I R E A F K R Z Candy M X L I G H T I N G Gift B S A D E V D N C E Chocolate E C A N D Y V G E R Lighting Baking R E V J V X T O L S Cookies Q W I N T E R P E T
Carol P R O E L U L B B Y
December L Z B O R T D U R E Decoration M A R U T U R C A C Winter A A W C I G I F T D Celebrate C H O C O L A T E G
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Poetry
The Beach
The sun beat down, on the ice cream cones, the beach balls, the starfish and shells.
As the waves crashed, on the white sand, and the boys played in the surf
The women babbled, like the low tide and the sun burned, as the beach sang.
By Valentine F. Photo du moment
This wonderful picture was taken by Ramsey H. in 8th grade.
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L’Écho du college The student run, student written ISB Middle School newspaper
Éditeurs en chef: Markos A. et Lennart N.
L’équipe de journalistes: Jihane J., Paloma D., Lennart N., Markos A., Olivia S.-S., Alice R., Sophie R., Olivier B., Pierre B., Sejin G., Sepher S., Nathan M., Olivia M., Clara M., Emma C., Iris G., Valentine F., Ramsey H.,
Les relectrices et conseillères: Mary Hamilton, Florence Manoukian
Un grand merci à Marti Lemp, Alex Baez, Nicole Hanover, Martha Mayne et Fred Bolzan pour leur soutien
Sources: http://www.jonathanstroud.com/bart_amulet.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocaloid http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatsune_Miku http://3d-hologram.blogspot.com/ http://www.crypton.co.jp/miku_eng http://data.un.org/CountryProfile.aspx?crName=ISRAEL http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Israel#Israel.27s_War_of_Independence.2C_or_First_Arab.E2.80.93Israeli_War_.281948.E2.80.9349.29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intifada http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/17/world/middleeast/israel-sticks-to-tough-approach-in-conflict-with-hamas.html?_r=0 http://my.opera.com/Mathilda/albums/slideshow/?album=102533&picture=1388074 http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/about.html http://the-reaction.blogspot.com/2012/08/romney-ryan-ticket-for-rich-disaster.html http://freedomswingspolitics.com/category/election-2012/ http://www.jackandjillpolitics.com/2008/08/obamabiden-media-alert/ http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-57345380-266/at-t-ditches-t-mobile-merger-so-whats-it-mean-for-you/ http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/att-t-mobile-pink-logo.jpg http://www.cellphonedoc.com/tmobile-androids/ http://blog.d30.me/catherinem/2012/04/10/11-birthdays/ http://www.outblush.com/women/life/books-magazines/the-apothecary/ http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9917879-the-unwanteds http://www.randonnee-passion.com/gavarnie.htm http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lourdes http://www.map-france.com/region-Midi-Pyrenees/ "Maladies Mal des Montagnes." Canoë santé. MediResource.
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