North Pointe – Wednesday, March 16, 2016 – 5 IDEAS ON POINTE The top 10 things we are talking about this week By Rey Kam EDITOR AT LARGE Movie2 ALLEGIANT Tris and Four are back in the

DAYTONHOOPLA.COM final installment of the Divergent series and are still searching for a peaceful solution to conflict in a post-apocalyptic Chicago. Allegiant premieres Friday, March 18.

Event3 VERNAL EQUINOX March 20 marks the vernal equinox, a day with precisely 12 hours of sunlight and Event1 12 hours of darkness. Many Detroiters March Madness will mark the occasion by attending the “First Four” annual Marche du Nain Rouge, a festival The college basketball craziness begins I.YTIMG.COM celebrating the seasonal transition of winter on March 15 as the eight wildcard teams turning into spring through symbolic battle for the chance to play in the March vanquishing of the deity Nain, who NCAA Championship tournament. represents everything holding us back.

Event BAD4 BUNNY 5K RUN Runners can spend the first Event5 day of spring running their FIRST ROBOTICS COMPETITION first 5k of the season. The This weekend, students participating Bad Bunny 5k, at River in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Bends Park in Shelby Recognition in Science and Technology) MARCHEDUNAINROUGE.COM Township, is a festive Robotics Competition will gather to play combination of Easter the game FIRST STRONGHOLD against On March 20, the and athletics. Registration other Michigan teams. The Gearheads Palace of Auburn for the race is $30, and MOVE-ITFITNESSLLC.COM will be representing the district March Hills will be participants will receive 18-19 at Centerline High School. “Thunderstruck” a t-shirt. Check-in is on when AC/DC comes race day, March 20, from Event through on their AC/DC6 “ROCK OR 8:45-9:45 a.m. and the race BUST TOUR” “Rock or Bust” tour. begins at 10 a.m. Tickets for the event start at $112.

Movie7 FIRSTINSPIRES.ORG THE LITTLE PRINCE First appearing as an iconic novel by French UPLOAD.WIKIMEDIA.ORG author Antoine de Saint- Exupery, and later being Event adapted for the stage MONSTER9 ENERGY SUPERCROSS following its popular I.YTIMG.COM reception, The Little Prince will now get a new coat of paint as an animated feature film. The movie premiers Friday, March 10Album 18. POST POP DEPRESSION

Iggy Pop’s seven- Streaming8 WIENERSCHNITZEL.COM teenth studio , DAREDEVIL SEASON 2 Fans of dirt and motorcycles can rejoice. Post Pop Depression, Those who couldn’t get The Monster Energy Supercross event is will be released March enough of the lawyer returning to Ford Field March 19. Tickets are 18. The album will -turned- vigilante’s on sale with prices ranging from $15-$45. feature several artists, adventures during the first including Queens season of Daredevil have of the Stone Age and something to look forward (Josh to March 18 as the second Homme, season premieres on Netflix. and ). TINYMIXTAPES.COM STATIC.SRCDN.COM be getting much better any time soon. ers supposed to get their point across? If anything, Check your Michigan has something called the State Finan- we should be praising the teachers for their hard cial Emergency Law. This law allows governor Rick work and their dedication. privilege Snyder to appoint an unelected emergency manag- And of course, the story gets worse. The Detroit er. This manager controls city finances, including Federation of Teachers (DFT) has tried to bring in MY TURN the finances of their schools. This means Detroit their own private inspectors to prove that Detroit’s TREVOR MIECZKOWSKI residents have practically no control over the fate schools are unsafe. DPS officials stopped the DFT’s of DPS. inspectors from entering the building, saying DFT’s The Declaration of Independence specifically The families suffering because of these schools inspectors would “complicate the district’s efforts states that all men are created equal, and they have have no say in how the situation gets resolved. to fully comply with state and local regulations.” unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of But, the story gets worse. Snyder appointed Dar- How can Detroit afford a new $627 million happiness. But is this really how things work? nell Earley on Jan. 13, 2015. That was well over a hockey arena, yet have some of the public schools One thing that is definitely not equal for all year ago, and Detroit’s public schools have not got- in themost distressed country? Ellen Degeneres Americans is our public education. ten any better. In Earley’s first (and only) year su- and Justin Bieber to the financial rescue for some At North, students are very fortunate. We have pervising DPS, he did not solve any of the problems students. They were able to raise $500 thousand things we take for granted every day, such as clean plaguing the district. Thankfully, Earley resigned to donate to Spain Elementary School, a school in bathrooms, textbooks, up-to-date electronics and on Feb. 29. the DPS. Meanwhile Detroit was too busy spending caring teachers and administrators to help stu- Are schools are not the place for mismanagment money on a new hockey arena and renovating the dents reach their full potential. However, some of . The lives and futures of children should be treat- RiverWalk. our neighbors are not as lucky. ed with respect instead a lack of concern. Every child deserves the opportunity to get an Mold infestation, toilet water leaking from the DPS teachers are some of the most outraged by education. Whether you’re rich or poor, education ceilings, mushrooms sprouting from the walls and Earley’s poor management, and with good reason. should be equal for all, not a privilege for those not enough teachers to teach all the students— They are supposed to be able to teach their stu- born into a family that can afford it. How are all these are things that Grosse Pointers could never dents, but they are unable to because DPS lacks to men created equally when they are not given equal imagine happening in their school district. Un- fix essential items that every school needs, such as opportunities? The answer to that question is sim- fortunately, students attending Detroit Public textbooks and technology. ple: we are not. Schools (DPS), just 10 minutes away from us, are The teachers Many have criticized them them forced to deal with these unspeakable conditions their recent protests and sick-outs. Earley is one of on a daily basis. those critics. However, when Earley consistently This problem for our neighbors probably won’t ignored resident’s and teachers, how else are teach-