Headline of the Month: Legislators and Voters Alike Prepare For Midterm Elections This November By Sal DiMaggio

It’s November and you know what that means. Midterms!

No, no, not the tests. Don’t worry, those aren’t until January. But the midterm elections are important, and here’s why:

The midterm elections are held every four years, right in the middle of a presidential term. Every member of the U.S. House of Representatives is up for reelection, as their terms are two years each, as well as 35 Senators, whose terms are six years. Some states also have their elections for governors during the midterms.

Currently, the Republicans (R; GOP) have a 235-193 lead in the House, as well as a slight majority in the Senate, 51-49. They are hoping that they can keep this majority for the next two years. The Democrats (D), on the other hand, are looking to topple this control.

These are the outcomes of both of those results:

If the Republicans remain in power, Congress will most likely still be able to work with ​ President Trump, who is also a Republican. This will result in many things on the Republican agenda to be accomplished. The Republicans aim to crack down on illegal immigration and to

lower taxes in the next few years to come. Along with this, they plan to protect gun rights and denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.

If the Democrats gain control, Congress and the president will often clash, as they will disagree ​ ​ on most issues, and few of the things on Trump’s to-do list will get done. But the Democrats have a lot of things they want to get done, including investigating certain claims about the president and the new Supreme Court Justice, Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused of sexual assault. The Democrats will also try to enforce gun control laws and support abortion and equality rights.

As of this writing, the Democrats have the lead, but not by much. Polls show that near fifty percent of people would vote Democratic, while forty percent would vote for Republicans. The other ten percent is undecided.

Let’s take a look at some of the races in New Jersey:

U.S. Senator from New Jersey- Sen. Bob Menendez (D) ​ ​ vs. Bob Hugin (R) Incumbent Senator Bob Menendez is up for reelection against Bob Hugin, a former Marine, and a businessman. The polls have Menendez in the lead, although his chances may be hurt by his indictment trial for corruption charges. As a result, the race is closer than most people expected, as New Jersey is a generally Democratic state.

Representative for New Jersey’s Sixth Congressional District- Rep. Frank Pallone (D) vs. ​ ​ Rich Pezzullo (R) Current long-time representative Frank Pallone is being challenged by Rich Pezzullo, who used to be in the Army reserves and is currently a technology specialist. Pallone is a ranking member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The polls have Pallone winning by a huge majority, getting around seventy percent of the vote. Pallone has been holding this position since 1993, while Pezzullo has never had any political experience.

As election day nears, politicians are trying harder and harder to make sure they get elected, and voters are scratching their heads as who to vote for. Next month I’ll go over the results and the political consequences they might have. As is stands now, it looks like the Democrats might take control, but then again, anything could happen.

Thanksgiving Football By Matthew Fedorco After a long, succulent meal consisting of turkey (or ham), mashed potatoes slathered with gravy, cornbread, stuffing, and a stomach full more of food, a lot of people like to curl up on the couch to watch some traditional Thanksgiving Football. Or, they might have their own game of football in the freezing cold and mud with their families. For a lot of people, football is a major element of Thanksgiving. But how did this tradition come to be? In 1934, the first NFL Thanksgiving game was played by the Detroit Lions and the Chicago Bears. The owner of the Lions, George A. Richards, knew that the local people had their focus set on Detroit’s baseball team, the Tigers, who were in the middle of a deep postseason run and ended up losing in the world series that year. Anyway, knowing that the main focus of Detroit sports was the Tigers, Richards elected to schedule a game on a day he knew the Tigers wouldn’t be playing on, Thanksgiving. Also, this particular game was a huge matchup between two mammoth teams, the Lions of course (who were 10-1), and the 11-0 Bears. In addition, this was the second to last game of the season and would put the Lions in first place. So with the Tigers not playing, and this game having such a big stake, people were all the more willing to leave their homes on Thanksgiving and go to the Lions game. The tickets sold out, but the Lions lost. However, the success of the game’s sales inclined Richards to make the same matchup the next year with the Bears, on the same day. This year, the Lions did beat the Bears to win the division title, and after coming off a loss after the last year, that made the victory even sweeter. Since then, the Lions have been on the football field every Thanksgiving day with the exception of 6 seasons. So when you are curled up on the couch, half asleep, half watching football with a stomach ache, you remember that the reason this wonderful tradition started because of George A. Richards.

National Novel Writing Month By Sal DiMaggio

National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, as it is commonly called, is a month-long writing challenge during the month of November. Hundreds of thousands of people all across the world participate each year. The event starts on November 1, and the challenge is

to write 50,000 words by 11:59 p.m. on the night of November 30. The event has gained immense popularity across the globe, which is why I have decided to feature it in this issue. NaNoWriMo started out small in July 1999, with only 21 people taking part in it. But as the years went on, word of mouth got around and things started to look up for the program. In 2017, 402,142 people participated in NaNoWriMo. 95,912 of these people took part in the Young Writers Program, which is a program for children under 17 to set a goal more for their lifestyle. Schools with grades kindergarten through twelfth also take part in the program, encouraging their students to improve and practice their writing skills. There have been plenty of authors who have published books that they wrote during NaNoWriMo. The most famous example of this is Taran Matharu, a British university student with a passion for writing. He began his first fantasy book, The Novice of the ​ ​ Summoner series, on the social writing platform Wattpad. ​ Although he didn’t complete his novel within the month of November, within four months of writing, his book had hit a million reads. He landed publishing deals in multiple countries, including Macmillan in the United States, and soon enough, The Novice appeared on The New York Times Best Sellers list. Another author is ​ ​ ​ ​ Sara Gruen, who’s book Water for Elephants was on the bestsellers list for a year and was filmed ​ ​ as a movie starring actor Reese Witherspoon. There are plenty more writers who have had their works published, traditionally and self-published, but way too many to list here.

Will you participate in NaNoWriMo this November? I know I will. Email me at [email protected] if you are, and I’ll feature you in next month’s issue! Good luck to all, ​ and happy writing!

Entertainment Review: Music By Matthew Fedorco YSIV- Logic

This brand new hip-hop album is created by artist, Logic. His 1-800-273-8255 suicide prevention song blew up in the past year, going certified 5x platinum and saving millions of lives. Despite Logic’s first hit song being a more pop-centric track, he looked to show off his rapping ability when he released a trap mixtape earlier in the year entitled Bobby Tarantino II, which went number 1 on the Billboard charts. While this tape was a major success commercially and featured some of his best hip-hop “bangers” to date, like “44 more”, “Contra”, and “Midnight”, this mixtape failed to strike a certain chord with Logic’s hardcore audience.

Looking to show his appreciation to his hardcore fans, he has released his 4th studio album and 4th installment of his “Young Sinatra” series, YSIV. His previous 3 mixtapes in the series being “Young Sinatra”, “Undeniable”, and “Welcome to Forever”. These mixtapes are what broke out Logic onto the scene and got his hardcore fans hooked to his music. These mixtapes had more of an old school, “boom-bap” type feel of rap, and focused more on bars than catchy hooks. Therefore, Logic had a mindset to capture that same feel with this new album. He also has said that this is his best album to date, which puts a lot of weight on his shoulders to bring back that nostalgic feel to old listeners.

With having some time to sit with this album, it is certainly not his best album (my favorite being Under Pressure) and is also not his best installment in the Young Sinatra series (my favorite being Welcome to Forever.) Although, it does successfully have that nostalgic feel of his old mixtapes. The first single of this album, “One Day”, is a poppy and radio friendly song, and although it is a catchy song and an easy listen, this did anger some fans when it was the first track released for the album. The song is centered around Logic telling people to live their dreams and fight for what they believe in, but the message is translated in such a generalized and impersonal manner, that it fails to strike a chord with hardcore fans. However, Logic did not disappoint with his next 2 singles, “The Return” and “Everybody Dies”. The former features Logic laying bar after bar after bar and is his best lyrical song on the album. As an easter egg hidden in plain sight, Logic uses a chorus that was used on another one of his old and most emotional songs “Dear God” on Undeniable. The latter is his most catchy and contains the best beat on the whole album as well.

Going into non-singles, the rest of the album for the most part gives the listeners a personal and nostalgic feel they were looking for. “The Glorious Five” has a catchy chorus and Logic talks about his neglected childhood, dysfunctional family, and his come up in the rap game. My favorite part of this song being the line where he expresses how he used to buy fake chains at the mall so that girls would notice him. While kind of sad, this part really sheds light on Logic’s insecurities when he had nothing. But now that he has made it, he doesn’t have to wear chains to make him look cool at all and doesn’t have to act like a thug. “Wu-Tang Forever” has a brief verse from Logic, a classic 90s hip hop beat, and a feature from every single member from

The Wu-Tang Clan. While the song comes in at what could be a painful 8 minutes for some listeners, but if you like bars, it is certainly worth a couple of listens. “100 Miles and Running” has a very good feature from Wale and a showcase of Logic’s fast rapping ability. One of his best traits is being able to spit rapid fire bars, and he raps his fastest verse yet on the tail end of this track. The song also has a beat that just makes you want to dance and rock out. “Iconic” is a banger and has a pointless Jaden Smith feature with Logic talking smack about all the people that doubted him. The Adventures of Stoney Bob is a good laid back track as well. Logic takes the time out to call out the materialism of society and why money isn’t worth everything on title track “YSIV” and “Legacy”. After a great freestyle in the former, Logic switches the beat up and talks from the perspective of money and all the awful things people do to obtain it, then tells a story of how it gets two young men killed. The latter sees Logic rap from the perspective of his family in this case, and how they feel neglected because Logic is obsessed with working and making money to support them. This stems from Logic not having much growing up, which he talks about in previous songs in many cases. The album has some huge duds though, with “Ordinary Day” and “Street Dreams II”. Ordinary Day is another radio friendly song where Logic makes a bad attempt at singing. Street Dreams has one of the most cliched twists in song or movie history. Just read the title and you know what I mean. Overall, I was very pleased with this album and thought it came through. As I said before, it’s not his best work, but it’s damn near close. I would say it is his 2nd best studio album and 2nd best installment of the Young Sinatra series. I would give this an 8/10 and am looking forward to seeing what he does in 2019 in his next album “Ultra 85”.

A Christmas Carol:​ What, Why, Where, and How By Tyler Herbert A Christmas Carol is a classic tale retold countless times. This is because the story never ​ gets any less relevant. Ebenezer Scrooge was a money-focused burden on all those around him, before being convinced he’ll end up with no one on his current course. A Christmas Carol essentially starts with the aftermath of the death of Scrooge’s business ​ partner, but 7 years later. Scrooge is rich but miserable and bitter. He hates Christmas and repeatedly turns down a dinner invitation from his nephew Fred. After several other rude deeds he’s visited by the ghost of his former business partner who’s entwined with chains for eternity. He tells Scrooge he awaits the same fate if he doesn’t change his ways. He’ll be visited by 3 spirits to convince him. The First Spirit shows Scrooge his sad and greed-filled past. He had a nice childhood at a Boarding School. But he fell out of love in his later years after she ended the relationship due to his excessive greed. He’s shown that woman today with her happy family.

I’d explain the rest but maybe you should see for yourself with our production which runs November 29th, 30th, and December 1st at 7pm, and December 2nd at 2pm. Tickets are $10 general admission at the door.

Giving Thanks By Alisa Valdez There was a time where I took everything for granted and kind of brushed everything I had to the side. It wasn't because I didn't like the things but because I didn't know how to cherish them. People forget the values in life and that it's not always about materialistic things but just the things you need to survive. On one Thanksgiving, I was getting ready to drive all the way down to my parent's house so I can spend time with my mom, dad, brother, aunt, uncle, and my little cousin. I made sure to bring some stuffing since I know my mom would have yelled at me for not committing to the "feast" and I was in no mood to get a lecture today. As I was making the stuffing I got a call from my mom, thinking it was her asking what time I was going to be at her house. I declined the call and texted her what time I was going to be there and went back to making the stuffing. After about 10 minutes I checked my phone again with several texts and missed calls from my mom and dad. I called back thinking that they were going to yell at me but instead, I received news that would change everything forever. Apparently, my brother got into a car accident on his way to our parent's house and was in critical condition and that he might not make it. I couldn't even process what was happening because it all went by so fast, next thing I knew I was speeding down the highway to get to the hospital so I can see my brother. When I got to the hospital I saw my parents and ran to them and embraced them in a tight hug as I started to cry uncontrollably into their arms like I was a kid again. We waited for what seemed like hours until the doctor came into the room. He started saying how his heart was deeply damaged in the crash and would need a transplant but those take forever to find when you add him to the organ donor list. My parents didn't want to have him go through the long process of waiting but what other choice did they have. The doctor led us into the room where my brother was staying in and looking at him made my heartbreak. He was my big brother, my best friend, and my protector so just watching him lay in his bed so lifeless was truly heartbreaking. I walked up to the doctor and asked if there was anything I could do to help him. He told me that if my brother and I had the same blood type then I could donate my heart to him. At that moment I stopped being selfish and made the biggest decision of my life; give my life so my brother can fully live his because he is something special and will do amazing things in this world. I went to go take a blood test that would take 15 minutes to determine if we share the same blood type. When they were taking my blood I actually felt really calm and at peace, I started to look at my surroundings and making the best

out of it. The doctor came back and told me that I was a perfect candidate for the operation and that it would be 100% successful for him. I told the doctor to thank you and that I will be ready for surgery after I write a few things. I went back into my brother's hospital room and took in the last moments I had with my family. I didn't want to tell my parents about the transplant because I knew they would try and talk me out of it even though they wanted my brother to live more than anything, but this is something that I just have to do. Before I could break my composure I told my parents that something urgent came up and that I would only be gone for a couple of hours but I would come right back. I gave them a long hug and told them I loved them very much and that I'm thankful for them as my parents. With all those goodbyes I left the room and went to go get ready for surgery. Everything was happening so fast and I didn't know how to process it. When the doctor asked if I was ready I shook my head yes and handed him two envelopes and asked him to give it to my parents and brother for when he woke up. I laid on the operating table cold but warm at heart, I looked over at my brother and grabbed his hand and told him that everything was going to be okay and that he was going to have a long and meaningful life. After I said that to him I drifted off into sleep and never awoke. Now I watch over him in heaven and smile knowing I made the right decision, yes I was sad to not properly say goodbye to my parents but I think the letter justified that for me. Ever since that day I've given thanks for everything in my life here in heaven and it feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

JBJ Soul Kitchen By Miechel Krulik Since November is all about Thanksgiving and helping others I decided to tell you about JBJ Soul Kitchen. JBJ Soul Kitchen is a restaurant with a purpose, JBJ Soul Kitchen is a non-profit kitchen run by the Jon Bon Jovi Foundation, and it helps many people who are in need. The kitchen serves both paying and in need customers, except in-need customers are their first priority, so if you are a paying customer there may be a bit of a wait. JBJ Soul Kitchen has two locations. One is located in Red Bank at 207 Monmouth Street, Red Bank, NJ. The other is located in Toms River at 1769 Hooper Avenue Toms River, NJ. You can also visit their website at https://www.jbjsoulkitchen.org/ ​ to see the menu and what is being served at each location and what events are going on also. A great thing about JBJ Soul Kitchen is that if you can’t pay for your meal you can volunteer in order to pay off your tab/bill, and guess what? An hour of ​ volunteering feeds the volunteer and up to four families. If ​ you want to volunteer you can check out their website for volunteers at https://www.jbjsoulkitchen.org/volunteer. The ​ ​

Soul KItchen encourages paying customers to donate $20 in order to make a difference, not only does it make a difference but it also pays for your meal and beverages and it helps to pay for the meals of in-need customers. There are others ways to support the Soul Kitchen too, You can make a donation. You can find the donation page at https://www.jbjsoulkitchen.org, once on the page scroll down to “Give back” and ​ ​ you will find the tab “How else can I support JBJ Soul Kitchen”. Once you click on the subheading it will lead you to a donation page.

Giving Thanks Thanksgiving is rolling in this November and the excitement for food, friends, and fun is exuding off of everyone. We at the school paper would love to tell everyone what we are grateful for, so we are going to do just that!

Zak I am thankful for my close friends who I can always count on to have a good time, and I am also very thankful for my family who have been there for me for my whole life. I am thankful for my cats and dogs back at home and for the roof over my head.

Sal I’m thankful for my family and my friends, who have had my back through some tough times lately. I am also grateful for all have, including all the good food and all that I have.

Madelyn I am thankful for my sister. I go to her for all of my problems and I tell her practically everything. If I need to complain, she’ll stop and let me rant. If I just need to ramble, she’ll listen. Most of my accomplishments would have never existed if she wasn’t there supporting me.

Miechel I am thankful for my friends who always give me advice and how they often tell me about how much they love me, but I'm not just thankful for my friends. I am also thankful for my family and my teachers who encourage me to pursue the things I'm interested in and they also remind me not to be too hard on myself when all I can see is the negative.

Tyler Here’s a little interview of some sort we had with Tyler about what he’s thankful for.

Madelyn: “Hey, Tyler, are you thankful for anything?” Tyler: “. . .no.”

Alisa I’m thankful for all of my friends because without them I wouldn’t be able to be where I am today without their support and advice. I’m also thankful for my amazing family because even though they are crazy they are just like me and they keep pushing me to do my best and are always proud of me. The last thing I’m thankful for is everything that everyone in my life is thankful for because they are important to me and anything they are thankful for makes them who they are and that is amazing in my own eyes.

Matthew I am thankful for being able to wake up every day, even though it is my least favorite part of the day. I am thankful for my family and their unconditional love. I am thankful for the bed I get to crash into after a long day. I am also thankful for pizza, tv, music, video games, and that Melvin Gordon scored me 30 points in fantasy football last week.

Ms. Taylor I am thankful for my family and close friends. They have gotten me through some of the worst times in my life. I am grateful that I have them to count on and be by my side.

Now that you know what we are thankful for, we would love to know what all of you are thankful for! Click the link below to take the poll on what you are thankful for, and happy Thanksgiving! What are you Thankful for?

Weird National Holidays and How to Celebrate Them Madelyn Primiano When you hear November, your first thought is Thanksgiving. But no one really pays attention to the National Holidays. And not the ones you see on Instagram or Twitter that’s like “National Puppy Day” or “National Siblings Day.” I’m talking about the lesser known holidays that are generally bizarre and unheard of. Now, I’m not listing every single holiday in November, I will be listing the Top 4 (In my

opinion) weirdest holidays that are not too crazy to be celebrated. This list is put from least strange to most strange.

4: November 3--National Give Someone a Dollar Day Before I begin, I’d like to mention how if everyone in the world gave and received one dollar, no one would lose or gain any money. It’s so weird but cool at the same time. On “Give Someone a Dollar” Day, what you’re supposed to do is right in the title. And you don’t have to give a dollar to everyone, but just give a dollar to whoever you want. The ​ ​ history behind this day, I could not find. (Whenever I tried to look up the history it just talked about National Dollar Day in August.) It could have possibly just been made to get people doing a good deed. For now, it’s a mystery of how this day started up and why it’s celebrated on this day. How You Can Celebrate: Celebrate by giving someone a dollar. It would be a family ​ member, a friend, or even a stranger. If you’re feeling generous, give a dollar to more than one person. And it doesn't have to be giving it to a specific person, you could donate a dollar to charity.

3: November 12--National Pizza with the Works Except Anchovies Day This was the most specific day I found. On this day, anchovies are hated the most. The day celebrates the different toppings you can put on your pizza and discovering what you like or dislike. Although it’s a day about pizza, somehow, it’s also a day about discovery. Of course, not of one’s self but rather the discovery of what you think tastes good. How You Can Celebrate: Take some time out of your day to visit your favorite pizza ​ place and go crazy with the toppings. Make sure there’s not one anchovy on that pizza though. If you do, technically, you’re not celebrating the day. ​ ​ 2: November 4--National Chicken Lady Day Trust me, there is actual history for this. The story this day comes with is not as strange as the title. November 4th honors Dr. Marthenia “Tina” Dupree. For 12 years, Dupree worked with the second largest chicken restaurant as the Director of Community Relations and Training. She helped to teach, train, and certify professional speakers, authors, and trainers. Through her work within the community, she became known as “The Chicken Lady.” And in 2001, she was invited to meet with President Bush in the Oval Office. And, no, Bush did not declare November 4th National Chicken Lady Day. The day came around because of Dupree’s efforts to advocate education. How You Can Celebrate: Find different ways to be involved in the community, ​ especially with education. You can even book her as a speaker for school! Or, if you’re a little too busy on the 4th, then just go to a local KFC and eat some chicken. 1: November 23--National You’re Welcome Giving Day

Thanksgiving: a time to give thanks and realize you’re thankful for many things in life. So, it would only make sense to have a day to tell everyone “you’re welcome,” right? This day comes right after Thanksgiving and is meant to tell everyone “you’re welcome.” Richard Ankil from Ann Arbor, Michigan created the holiday in 1977, as a way to have a 4-day weekend. The same person also made the Sourest Day and the May Ray Day. How You Can Celebrate: Make sure to say you’re welcome when being thanked. Or ​ just say you’re welcome to everyone you know.

Quiz Corner By Zak Carter Ever wanted to know what your spirit animal is? How about the monster that you are most afraid of? Well, here in the quiz corner, you can figure out all of that and more! All you need to do is take the poll and you can figure out the answers to your questions in no time!

Last Month’s Quiz… Last month in the Septober article, we asked everyone what they were most afraid of, and we are happy to say we know the answer now! Here are the results!

So here we have it! According to the results, 12.9% of people are afraid of Jason, 24.8% are afraid of Freddy Krueger, 24.8% were afraid of Dracula, and 37.6 % were afraid of Slenderman. Some interesting findings we have here, with Slenderman in the lead and Jason at the bottom!

This Month in the Quiz Corner…

Now that November has come along, people can’t stop thinking about the huge tables of food that will be at their Thanksgiving get-togethers! But everyone always has that one food they are looking forward to the most. And we want to find out! What is your favorite thanksgiving food? ​

Crafting Corner by: Ms. Alisa

Since it’s November that means Thanksgiving is around the corner where you get to spend time with your family, friends, and loved ones. It’s all fun and games until you have to deal with your younger cousins and entertain them, after dealing with this for a good majority of my life I’ve become an expert at keeping them entertained even without technology. Although I do have a little help from my mom because she’s a preschool teacher but this is one of the crafts that she does with her kids that are fun for everyone.

The Pinecone Turkey:

Items needed for craft ❏ Yellow, red, brown, and orange construction paper ❏ Googly eyes ❏ Black pipe cleaner ❏ Fall leaves ❏ Pinecone

Steps ★ First, have the kids go outside to go and look for the biggest pinecone they could find and if they get distracted by playing outside let them because that will also keep them entertained. ★ Next cut a wattle (rectangle with a heart shape at one end) out of red, orange, and yellow ​ construction paper and have the kids decorate them if they want. Also, make sure to cut out a triangle beak using the brown construction paper. ★ Then you have to glue the beak, wattle and googly eyes to the pinecone. ​ ​ ★ After you glue everything twist black pipe cleaner around pinecone base and poke into ​ ​ orange. ★ Glue fall leaves to opposite side of orange to create tail feathers. (Or trace your child's hand on two different color sheets of construction paper. Cut out and glue them together, overlapping.) ★ And finally, you glue two acorn caps to bottom for feet.

This craft gives kids a chance to go outside for a change and have fun while looking for things to make this craft and for the adults it makes it fun for them too if they help the kids and enjoy the fun because everyone no matter how old you are can have fun making crafts like this. Suggestion Box Says: art.

By: Miechel Krulik Last month we asked you, the student body, for suggestions on what to put into the next article. One of the suggestions I received was art, so here I am highlighting some talented artists around the school. There is so much creativity in our excellent art and engineering classes and I love to support the artists who create these works. Below you will find some of the many pieces created by students. So sit back and enjoy the creative talents here at Raritan High School.

Expectation vs. Reality -- A Thanksgiving comic By: Madelyn Primiano