Holiday Narcissism - Allison Redmond

Holiday Narcissism

By: Allison Redmond

Christmas is the season of giving, right? Wrong. It definitely should be, but often it is not. People become so consumed with gifts, decorations, and parties that they miss what Christmas is all about. I have seen this holiday bring out the absolute worst in people. It is so irritating to see how selfish people become during the holiday season. It amazes me that of all holidays on which to be selfish, people pick the one that was created to celebrate God sending his only son as a sacrifice. Isn’t that pretty much the most selfless thing someone could do?

I am not excluding myself in this. In fact, when my sister suggested a few weeks ago that my family not give gifts this year, but instead use that money to support a child in need, I found myself thinking, “When she was my age she still received gifts. Now that she is almost to the point of outgrowing Christmas presents, she just wants to get rid of them altogether. How selfish.” It did not take me long to realize how self-centered that sounded. Who am I to complain about not getting all the gifts I want, when I have everything I need? There are plenty of people all over the world that would love to have my life. I have food, water, clothing, a house over my head, and parents who love and provide for me. That is all I could ever ask for.

I am not saying that this Christmas everyone needs to stop exchanging gifts. That is a completely impractical request. All I am asking is that we all take a moment this holiday season to be thankful for what we have, and maybe even give to someone in need.

The Christmas Drink - Mallory Thompson

The Christmas Drink

By Mallory Thompson

     Sparkling grape juice is commonly drunk at Christmas. Or sometimes Thanksgiving. What I want to know is why people don’t drink it on other holidays? For example, it would be a very nice drink for Valentine’s Day. Or, even on a daily basis. Maybe just as common as water or pop. I have so many memories with it. My friend Lydia and I like to have it for our birthdays. One year we decided to mix white and red grape together then add grapes. You can get creative with it.

     For Christmas my family knows I like sparkling grape juice so much I got it as a present one year. I don’t like to share it so it was great to have my own bottle.

     Sparkling grape juice is also good for people who don’t drink alcohol. You can substitute it in. When people drink wine, you can just drink grape juice. You can even put it in a fancy glass and it wouldn’t look out of place.

     Sparkling grape juice is also a good item to bring to Christmas parties. You don’t have to bake anything and you can easily run to the store and buy a couple bottles.

     The only bad thing about the juice is buying it. If you don’t buy the fancy Christmas bottles the regular looks similar to a wine bottle. Just this weekend I got dirty strange looks just for holding the bottle. It is just juice! The checkout person even asked me if I was sure I wanted to buy it. Well yes, I want to buy some sparkling grape JUICE.

     Over the years, they have added new kinds of sparkling juice. Now you can get blueberry grape, cranberry grape, apple, and lots of others. But, red grape will forever be the most common and my favorite.

Christmas Programs - Janae Champlin

Christmas Programs

By Janae Champlin

       Just like every other church in America, my church holds a yearly Christmas program, and every year my mom forced me to partake in this festivity, even though I absolutely hated it. The moms in charge started announcing the practice schedule at the end of October. Yeah, you heard me, OCTOBER. The other church kids and I all got assigned parts in the play and I was always Sheep #7, Angel #3 or a chorus part. I was so frustrated because I wanted to be the star of the show, and by star I mean Mary. But no, they gave that role to some other girl while I had to sit by the kids who picked their noses and sang off tune. It was awful. Each week we stared at the cue cards and sang “Emmanuel”, “Angels We Have Heard on High”, and other traditional Christmas hymns.

     Don’t get me wrong; I love Jesus and our church and the songs we sing (especially Christmas songs). But when December hit and we had to have practices over Christmas break and on Saturdays... then the line had been crossed. I wanted to watch movies, go sledding, and bake stuff. NOT SIT IN A SUNDAY SCHOOL ROOM AND REHEARSE FOR A CHRISTMAS PROGRAM (next to a nose picker).

     However, after the years of being Sheep #7 and Angel #3 I finally got the role of Mary! It was the first time that I was excited to be in the program. (I also had a big crush on the guy who played Joseph.)  When we started rehearsals I looked through the script, I realized Mary had no solos and barely any lines.

My thoughts:

What is this?!

          I’m supposed to be the star!

          I HATE CHRISTMAS PROGRAMS.

This was my last Christmas program I was ever going to do and I get no lines? Talk about a disappointment. The Sunday we finished our performance I was the happiest girl alive. I no longer had to endure the many practices, and I could sit and watch the show instead of be in it.

     As Advent seasons came and went, I got asked to help out with the next year’s recital. At first I was hesitant, but then I realized that I could be the boss and make the show amazing. So I accepted the offer. My job was to hold the cue cards and make sure the little kids didn’t go anywhere. It seemed like an easy task and I really liked it. A couple of my friends were helpers too so we also got to spend time with each other.

     Then, the unthinkable happened. We were all asked to be in the program once again to sing a trio! I was so mad.

Another thought:      

I just got out of this joint, and now you want me back in?!

      After that winter I vowed to never involve myself in any form of Christmas programs, recitals, or concerts.  I’M DONE.

Five Reasons New York City Made Me Appreciate Concordia, Kansas - Zoe Walsh

5 Reasons Why New York City Made Me Appreciate Concordia, Kansas

By Zoe Walsh

1. Transportation. You thought driving to Salina was took forever? Or you hate the traffic after a Friday night football game? Yeah right. Traffic in New York City is absurd. While a Kansan is driving from here to Salina AND back, the New Yorker is just arriving three blocks from their original destination. That might be an exaggeration but you get the point.  Plus Kansans usually abide by the proper traffic lanes; in New York it’s however many lanes they can squeeze cars into.
2. The Views. In Kansas you can see the clear blue sky above the rolling hills for miles and miles. Beautiful sunsets are painted in the sky. However, in NYC the buildings block out a majority of the sunlight. You get to see giant sky scrapers; don’t get me wrong they are breathtaking, especially at night, but there is just something about the beauty of Kansas’ landscape that keeps me sane.
3. Expenses. Don’t expect to run down to Short Stop and grab a 32 ounce soda for less than two dollars.
4. Constant Hustle and Bustle. New York truly is the city that never sleeps. So if you are one of those people who likes to slowly wake up on your drive to work in the morning as you admire a beautiful Kansas sunrise, take a big swig of coffee. As soon as you step onto the streets of the city everything is moving, with or without you.
5. Small Town Hospitality. Last but not least. In New York City everyone has their own agenda. Everyone has somewhere to be. In Concordia no matter how busy someone else is, you are stopped downtown, in the grocery store, or at a restaurant to talk about your family, your trip to New York City, or how your school year is going. People in the community take an interest in you. They aren’t just another business person fighting their way through the crowded streets to get to work. People in Concordia truly care. Without the community members supporting me, this amazing opportunity and learning experience would have never been possible. I couldn’t ask for a better place to call home!

Adopt an Elephant!? - Julie Gross

Adopt and Elephant?!

by Julie Gross

There are many different animals you can adopt. You have your standard cats and dogs and then your more unique pets like ferrets or flying squirrels. However, did you know you can adopt an alligator or beluga whale? Technically yes, but they aren’t going to be in your living room. You can “adopt” all sorts of animals through a site called secure.defenders.org.

Defenders of Wildlife is a conservation group that’s mission is to protect native animals. It was founded in 1947 and is still going strong. They focus their efforts mostly on endangered species or on animals that are close to being endangered. There are 85 different animals you can adopt on the Defenders of Wildlife website. There are elephants, wolves, whales, arctic foxes, pandas, or any exotic animal you want! People might  doubt that adopting an animal or donating to the organization would help, but it does. All the money goes towards protecting animals and their habitats.

Now, actually adopting the animal is the fun part. Go to secure.defenders.org. Hover over the “Wild Places and Wildlife” heading and then click on animals. Scroll through the 85 unique animals and pick your favorite. On the sidebar there will be  something that says, “Adopt a …” and click on that. Some of the animals you can’t adopt, but you can still donate money to organizations that help them. After you click on the adopt an animal sidebar the best page pops up, the place where you can actually adopt the animal! There are several different package levels you can choose from, ranging from $15 to $90. The basic package comes with a fact sheet, a picture of the animal, and a certificate of adoption. The next package up includes all of those and a stuffed animal!! As the package price increases so does the amount of cool things you get too, and the money all goes towards saving your favorite animal! Personally I would adopt a desert tortoise, an orca, a sea turtle, or a shark. I can’t choose! I bet you won’t be able to either. There are so many unique animals to save. I mean who else in Kansas could say, “I own an elephant”? A penguin or sea otter would make a great gift too! Most people would love to own a wild animal, and Defenders of Wildlife gets you pretty close. Please help support these animals by adopting or donating. By doing so you won’t have to go to zoos to see these animals but get to see them be happy in their natural habitats.

Cutting Weight - Isaac Sprague

Cutting Weight

By Isaac Sprague

 

     For most people Thanksgiving is a time of family, friends and food. Americans create a large array of foods such as stuffing, turkey, mash potatoes, and my favorite…rolls. Now usually I participate with everyone else in my family on this delicious holiday. However, this year I decided to cut weight for wrestling. At first I was able to deal with cutting a few pounds off, but when I practice with vigor for two hours straight I gain a savage’s appetite.

      The thing about appetites in most sports is they are good, in fact healthy. For instance, in cross country I do eat a lot more food because I am burning around 1,000 calories each practice. However, in wrestling I cannot eat a large amount of food after practice like in cross country, even if I am only cutting five pounds. In wrestling I have to stop eating enough to lose at least half a pound a day. This may not seem significant, but when the body starts to fight the mind and say, “You need more food to survive,” it becomes increasingly hard to stay disciplined.

      Now I am not against losing weight; it is the wrestler’s decision, but now I have more respect for the kids who cut fifteen to twenty pounds. In my opinion, they are nuts and for me no sport is worth not having peace of mind. So, when people think wrestlers are crazy for cutting weight…they are, but at least treat them with respect and don't try to shove food in their faces just to get the pleasure of seeing them salivate.

Uniformication - Isaac Sprague

Uniformication

by Isaac Sprague

    Many people know that I went to Australia last year. However, many people do not know that I wore a school uniform while there. When we think of school in the US we think of kids dressed in jeans and t-shirts. But, in Australia when thinking of a kids in school a person thinks of them dressed in their school’s colors; sadly my schools colors were green, white and black. Disgusting. Most kids in Australia, however, never get to benefit from a free dress code. They were forced to wear the itchy, uncomfortable and lame clothes that the generations before them had to wear. I do understand the benefits of wearing school uniforms such as everybody is the same so bullying lessens, people don’t have to figure out what to wear, and teachers can easily tell if someone is an outsider.

    The problem with some of those benefits is they are not necessarily true. When someone says that uniforms allow for less bullying this isn’t true because while at my school in Australia it was easy to tell the difference between people and their social groups. For instance, the “pretty” girls with all their makeup were in a group of their own and the weird kids were in a group of their own. However, it did help in some instances for a select group of people.

    Another negative part of a wearing a uniform for me was I had to make sure my uniform was always clean. Now most people say, “Wasn’t it nice not to have to find something to wear everyday before school?” Well, I say it was awful because as a guy if I do not feel like wearing something nice one day I just grab my jeans and a t-shirt and slip on a pair of shoes. The benefit of this is, it can all be done in seconds. But, when I had a uniform I had to abide by rules. I had to make sure that I had the right pants, the right shirt and that my collar was perfect when fitted with a sweater. I also had to make sure that I had black shoes with laces and that I was wearing black socks at all times otherwise I would be reprimanded by a school official.

When it comes to outsiders, the assumption is that kids will immediately tell an official that there is a person they do not know in the school area. But at my school in Australia I was not in a closed building. Our lockers were outside under a canopy and people walked freely in and out of the building. Another problem though was that not one kid was worried when a stranger walked onto the campus. This was because whenever a person walked onto the campus they were either a friend of a student or a parent of the student. So, really there was no way to tell the difference between friend or foe. At least with Australia’s laws I didn’t have to worry about someone coming to the school with an automatic rifle because they are a lot more strict than on gun regulations.

In the end I did not like uniforms and I will never like them. I enjoyed my time in Australia and my friends at my school there. Do I think that uniforms are right for our school? No.