Plugged In Issue Two • the official school newspaper of Speedway Senior High School • October 19, 2011 What would your Main Street look like? Changes continue after years of construction In 2005, the state legislature passed a law allowing towns like Speedway to create a redevelopment committee. Two years later, Speedway established its committee and the master plans for Main Street. h a n n a “For fifteen years v o n g p r a s e u t h people have talked about --- redevelopment, especially on Plugged In Features Writer Main Street,” says Scott Harris, Speedway Redevelopment Commission executive director. The progress has been a bit slow but now we can really start to see the benefits and the final outcome of those plans. In two years, Main Street has been completely repaved, benches have been added, and environmental friendly drains have been installed as part of a massive infrastructure improvement that was required by law. Last month, the lot by Charlie Brown’s was finalized with an official ribbon cutting ceremony. The Dallara buliding, also the first new structure on Main in fifteen years, is expected to be finished by the end of the month. Harris expects there to be four other major buildings: one See REDEVELOPMENT REDEVELOPMENT OPENS UP A CREATIVE ASPECT ON MAIN STREET. Speedway Centre for the Arts is open on on page nine Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 5pm-9pm and Saturday from 12pm-4pm. Photo by Hanna Vongpraseuth. Leading by example An Indy extravaganza Hollywood’s A-list celebrities It’s a twenty-year anniversary dedicate time and money to for Heartland Film Festival worthwhile charity causes and it’s in your back yard Recently, charities and foundations have popped up all around, asking you to contribute five bucks here for the Haiti relief fund, donate ten dollars there help Japan, give clothes and shoes to those in need, or recycle to help the environment. Now, leading the charity efforts are Hollywood’s finest, some of them even having founded their own charities. Here’s a peek at a few of the efforts the star have made. After seeing Edward Norton in the 1999 movie Fight Club, one might have trouble picturing him as a philanthropist with a big heart for the East African Wilderness. However, he has been involved with the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust for over ten years. In 2009 Norton h a i l y m e r r i t t raised over $1.2 million --- dollars by recruiting runners Plugged In Features Editor for the ING New York City Marathon and acquiring donations. For this year’s race, he already has ten pledged runners. Norton isn’t the only unexpected Motivated by the devastation of a hurricane humanitarian in Hollywood. Ryan Seacrest was honored at the LA’s Promise and filled with a desire to make a difference, Gala on September 27th. Seacrest certainly has a full the inspiring story of Zach Bonner is featured plate, made up of producing, hosting, volunteering, and donating. We all know him as the host of in The Little Red Wagon. Zach and direc- “American Idol”, but he has also produces E! News, tor David Anspaugh visited Speedway October serves as executive producer and co-host of “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest”, 13th. To learn more, turn inside to page six. hosts “On Air with Ryan Seacrest”, and owns his TV star Ryan Seacrest gives Photo courtesy of Kelly Young at Baise own production company, Ryan Seacrest Productions opportunities to kids in need Photo courtesy of Koi Sojer @ (RSP). RSP is responsible for “Keeping Up With starpulse.com Communications. See CELEBRITY on page five 2 Opinion Is social networking ruining our generation? Teenagers grow more dependent on technology as time goes on In an hour, you can brush your them in a store; you still get the product teeth thirty times. In an hour, you can either way, but it’s impossible to try on bake three batches of cookies, run a an outfit through a computer screen, just nine-minute-mile six times, or make a as it’s impossible to warm up to a person holiday wreath. In sixty minutes, you through the internet. If you open your can watch an episode of Oprah, read phone after you fail your math test and 150,000 words, or, you know, you can see a sarcastic text message from your spend that time on Facebook or Twitter. best friend, will it really be as funny as Social it would have been in person? If you say networking something funny online but can’t see the members spend other person laugh, is it really the same? about an hour a Social networking also opens up day staring at their the door for more people to get hurt. profiles. Although It’s a lot easier to say hurtful things to the computer wasn’t a computer screen than directly to the created for people person. People, especially teenagers, can to friend people on be manipulated and used with the click k a c e y r o s s Facebook or follow of a mouse. --- Plugged In Opinion Editor people on Twitter, Texting and social networking A SHOCKING STATISTIC one in every six have opened up room for a lot of new More and more teenagers are spending increasing amounts of time on social networking sites. minutes of computer time is spent on a communication opportunities, but they off you texting for a week, stay off the electronic communication really that social networking site. have also made way for a lot of excuses computer for a weekend, and see how important? The popularity of social to be made. I challenge you to this: turn much you can get accomplished. Is networking has increased immensely during the twenty-first century. It helps many people keep in touch with friends Enjoy the moments you have and make new friendships. It’s a way that many express themselves, indeed, but are social networking sites making Save the worrying for a later date our generations less social? Slamming lockers. Crowded the student athletes who compete and while there’s The average social studies class has hallways. Busy conversations. Mystery give their all physically, every day, or still so much around twenty five students in it, and lunches. Falling asleep in math. A good the musical kids, constantly heading time ahead of us. out of those, eighteen students belong laugh with your best friend. A million from jazz band to musical rehearsals. So enjoy it. to at least one social networking site. tests and quizzes. A paper due. Practices, The life of a high school student is Take the time In a normal graduating class, there are rehearsals, games, concerts. possibly one of the hardest lifestyles to to look around around 122 kids, and statistics show High school. live. These are supposed to be the “days and see what that 89 of those 122 belong to at least It’s that time of year again: getting of our lives,” but many of us are stuck you have at one social networking site. That’s 73% back into the swing of things, coming wondering when it will end. the moment, percent of the Speedway High School back from another summer, another Though the ever-tiring, everyday life whether it’s the student body. memory, another chance at a fresh start. of high school is extremely wearisome chance to play a m e l i a b e r r y Think about it. Why have face-to-face Isn’t that what we’re all looking and barely offers any breaks, here is --- in a sport or P l u g g e d I n Guest Columnist conversations with somebody when you for at the beginning of a new school something to think about: stop and take part in the can just text them without the awkward year? From freshmen to seniors, and breathe every once in a while. Sometime school musical. body language and eye contact? Who everywhere in between, the opportunity between studying for that pre-cal test, Ace that math test you’ve been dreading. cares if the other person can’t see you to start over is the opportunity of a choir practice, the big soccer game, or Treasure all those little things that make when you’re telling them important lifetime. High school certainly isn’t all a band concert, pause and take a second this crazy life worth living. Smile at information, right? the amazing things it’s said to be. With to think about the grander aspects of life someone in the hallway. Take a chance, Wrong. Without body language, it’s hours of homework, what feels like as a high schooler: being surrounded leave an impact. Time has been known to impossible to be one hundred percent tests and quizzes every day, boyfriends everyday by friends, having the fly by. Who knows when it will be gone? certain of what the other person is trying and girlfriends, and the ever-present opportunity to obtain a great education, to convey to you. It’s like ordering “he-said, she-said,” a new start would earning the chance to excel in a sport; clothes online instead of purchasing be wonderful, wouldn’t it? Throw in this is truly the time of our lives, even Opinion 3 Is Nicolas Cage a vampire? The Sams debate both sides of the surprising argument According metal band called “Eyes of to a photograph Noctum.” Even if Nicolas recently found Cage wasn’t a vampire, in the attic of a it’s pretty obvious that man in Seattle, his son is.