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) 2 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 3 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.