ALL THE NEWS THAT’S FIT TO TATTLE October 2014 • Estd. 1892 • Vol. 122 #7 • Published Monthly • www.ihstattler.com Ithaca High School, 1401 N. Cayuga St, Ithaca, NY 14850 • FREE Remembering John Kozak In This Issue By DIANA KELLY Say No to Knee Defender 8 IHS student John Kozak died Teacher Feature: Mr. Carver 15 at the age of 17 on September 9, Collage Concert 20 2014 in Southwest Golisano Chil- dren’s Hospital, just one month XXYYXX and Joywave 20 after being diagnosed with leu- kemia. He was about to begin his Classical Music Playlist 22 senior year at IHS. IHS Football 24 John attended South Hill Ele- mentary School, where he played IHS Cross Country 24 tag at recess every day for many years, built Lego battleships, and sat at the peanut-free table. It was amazing how many of his South Ask the Admins: Hill teachers and classmates at- tended his calling hours. Many of his high-school teachers at- Part 2 tended as well. Many described By KALIL HENDEL him as the perfect student. He was always on time, always had This is the second article in a recurring his work done, and always under- question-and-answer series with admin- John Kozak: 1997–2014 IMAGE PROVIDED stood what was going on; he was istrators, teachers, and other members of determined to do well despite be- IHS. Have a question that you would like ing out sick a great deal. Chemistry in particular really clicked with him—according answered? Send an email to news@ihstat- to his friend Alex Sisouphone, John wanted to be a chemist someday. In all of his tler.com. All questions will be asked anony- classes, John would help whomever was sitting near him if he could. mously. This issue: Mr. Powers. John loved video games, Batman, Superman, and Star Wars. He was good at imi- Continued on Page 5. tating his favorite characters, Yoda and Batman, and had a great sense of humor. He could even imitate characters from movies he had never seen, exemplified by when he imitated the classic line from Crocodile Dundee, “That’s not a knife; this is a knife.” According to his friend Talia Turk, John’s favorite band was Imagine Dragons. His You are invited! favorite song was “Already Home” by A Great Big World. Who: All readers! John was the loving son of George and Mary Ann, and brother to Genevieve, What: Wendy, Scott, Jeremiah, and Isaiah. Well-grounded and spiritual, John was also a Support the Tattler and person who loved to spend time with his family. According to his childhood friend AVID 12 Kevin Smith ’15, one of John’s favorite activities growing up was wrestling with his Where: older brother Jeremiah. He enjoyed cooking and watching the Cooking Channel with Moe’s Southwest Grill his sister Wendy as well as helping his little brother Isaiah unlock all of the characters When: October 8, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. in his favorite video game. How: John was a quiet individual, often shy, but even those who did not know him saw Bring the flyer on the that he was always helping others, always smiling, always kind. Those lucky enough to back cover of this issue! have considered him a friend were truly touched by him. John was one of the kindest human beings ever to have walked the halls of IHS. A wonderful person, he will be sorely missed. IHS is much emptier without his smile. 2 October 2014 opinion EDITORIAL 2014 – 2015 THE IMPORTANCE OF Editor-in-Chief ERSPECTIVE IN EWS Owen Zhang ’15 P N [email protected] With over seven billion people in the world, there are many new occurrences to be reported News Editor each day. Newspapers, magazines, radio shows, telecasts, and more provide us with ways of Kalil Hendel ’15 Tattler finding out what goes on in the world around us. Our opinions and ideas on different topics are news@ihs .com largely based on what we see in the media. While we tend to believe that this works out well, it Opinion Editor is very possible that the sources we base our thoughts on provide radically different perspectives Olivia Salomon ’15 than others. People tend to form their opinions based on news sources that report from a per- [email protected] spective they themselves agree with, and as such, it is necessary to follow multiple news sources Features Editor in order to develop a complete and well-informed viewpoint. Sophia Shi ’15 Bias in news reporting surfaces most prominently when dealing with controversial issues. [email protected] Take, for instance, the riots in Ferguson, Missouri following the shooting of Michael Brown. Arts and Entertainment Editor Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old black man, was fatally shot by white police officer Darren Pearse Anderson ’16 Wilson for reasons that still remain unclear. His death led to many protests and riots on the [email protected] streets of the city. The chaotic environment was exacerbated by the fact that the police used Sports Editor tear gas against protesters on the weekend of August 16. Following the incident, articles about Nick Bogel-Burroughs ’15 protesters breaking into a McDonald’s emerged. The Wall Street Journal—which has a heavy [email protected] conservative following—stated that the “resulting retreat by marchers . set off widespread Penultimate and Back Page Editor vandalism, including a man who took a large rock to break a window at the local McDonald’s.” Lindsey Yuan ’15 Meanwhile, the more liberal Vice reported that “protesters attempting to rescue those hit by [email protected] tear gas reportedly broke into a local McDonald’s and used the store’s milk to help relieve the Centerspread Editor sting of gas.” The two papers clearly provide starkly different perspectives on the incident that Conor Coutts ’15 go on to shape the minds of their readers. Reading just one article could downplay or obscure [email protected] an aspect of the event that is crucial to understanding it. One would have to deliberately read Copy Editor news from different sources to acquire a broader and deeper understanding of such an event. Daniel Xu ’17 Yahoo! News presented both sides by saying McDonald’s had been “seized by the demonstra- [email protected] tors who broke the restaurant’s window. What is unclear is if the restaurant’s windows were Photography Editors broken by angry protesters or by those suffering from tear gas burns to their eyes.” Reporting in such a manner allows the reader to view an event through multiple perspectives rather than Bridget Fetsko ’16 John Yoon ’16 a single, biased perspective. Tattler Another example of a time when media cov- photo@ihs .com erage displayed serious discrepancies was in the Layout Editor The Tattler is the student-run newspaper of James Yoon ’17 aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. One reporting Tattler agency released a photo of an African-American Ithaca High School. It was founded layout@ihs .com in 1892 and is published monthly. Business Manager subject with the caption, “A young man walks through chest-deep flood of water after looting As an open forum, the Tattler in- Andrew Stover ’17 Tattler a grocery store. .” Another agency released a vites opinion piece submissions and business@ihs .com nearly identical photo with a caption that told letters to the editor from all commu- Advertising Manager a different story: “Two residents wade through nity members. Drop off submissions Liz Rosen ’16 chest-deep water after finding bread and soda in E25 or email them to: [email protected] [email protected] from a local grocery store.” This divide, as well Webmaster as many other incidents during the coverage of Gayathri Ganesan ’15 Mail letters to: Tattler the aftermath of Katrina (such as the use of the The IHS Tattler web@ihs .com word “refugee” versus “survivor”) created a lot 1401 N. Cayuga St. Distribution Managers of controversy and resulted in some individuals Ithaca, NY 14850 Carrie D’Aprix ’15 being fired from their posts in the media. Stephen Stover ’15 It would be ideal if reporting agencies pro- The Tattler reserves the right to edit [email protected] vided readers with multiple perspectives, but all submissions. Submissions do not Faculty Advisor since this is not the case, individuals should necessarily reflect the views of editorial staff. Deborah Lynn broaden their scope and read various sources. [email protected] In this way, readers can formulate an educated opinion after evaluating all sides. opinion October 2014 3 EDITORIAL DAY ONE THE LOCKDOWN The lockdown on the first day of conveniences ranging from having to ministrators, and walkie talkies is to school was a surprise that affected be escorted to the bathroom to having deal with potentially dangerous situa- everyone in the school community. to sit in the same place for hours. Soon, tions and keep the student body safe. Naturally, the three-and-a-half-hour social media was abuzz with shock and The presence of the IPD only enhanced ordeal—caused by the presence of a awe over the whole ordeal. When the that commitment to safety; bringing BB gun wrapper—evoked myriad reac- lockdown was finally lifted, the campus in professional and community-based tions from students, staff, and parents. was still occupied by numerous Ithaca authority was a sensible thing to do. Overall, however, the administration's Police Department (IPD) officers and Some complained that lunch was bland commitment to the welfare and safety reporters asking students about their or that it took too long to serve, but we of its students was admirable, and was reactions to the lockdown.