The James Logan Courier

Courier Staff Report

The opening of the 2012-13 school year went relatively smoothly, despite the fact that many teachers hadn't prepared their rooms due to being furloughed for the two days they've had to prepare in previous years.

The first week went well "thanks to great kids and fabulous teachers," said Principal Amy McNamara.

"I thought it went fantastically," said veteran Campus Security Technician Molly Rudnick, "I got to see all of my kids and friends.

"Most importantly, I got to keep my job," she added.

MISCELLANEOUS
1. Attention Freshmen: Would you like to run for office? Pick up an Election packet at the Main Office windows or in Colt Court at Lunch. Elections meeting will be this Friday after school in Room 67. We are looking for Class President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Representative.

2. For those who purchased their ASB stickers during registration please come to Colt Court at lunch to pick up your class and Fear the Colt shirts. Please have your ID available.

3. ASB stickers, Yearbooks, and PE clothes will be sold at lunch the rest of the week at the Main Office windows. ASB/Fear the Colt stickers are $25. Yearbooks are $70w/ASB and $80 w/out ASB (Payment Plan available) and PE clothes are $8.00 for T shirts, $12.00 shorts, and $6.00 for combination lock. Two XL and up are $2.00 more.

By Rick LaPlante, New Haven Schools Director of Community and Parent Relations

Efforts to close the “achievement gap” are succeeding in the New Haven Unified School District according to results released by the California Department of Education from the 2011-12 CAHSEE (California High School Exit Exam) and STAR (Standardized Testing and Results) tests.

The achievement gap, for several years one of the most vexing problems in public education, is the difference in test results between high-performing students (typically Asian and white sub-groups) and lower-performing students (typically Hispanic/Latino and African-American sub-groups). The gap generally is evident in scores from the CAHSEE tests, which students begin taking as high school sophomores and must pass to earn a diploma, and in the STAR results, which measure academic progress from Grades 2 through 11.

By Christine Cortes, Courier Correspondent

The SHN Orpheum Theater housed the world famous musical, Les Misérables, during the San Francisco leg of the tour. The run was very short, but the show left many satisfied, which is a huge plus considering the price of the tickets. Seats with an obstructed view still sold for up to $160. It is quite disappointing that the musical only was in the area for about a month, the last show being on August 26th.

Originally written in French, this musical was brought onto West End stages by “Mr. Producer”, Sir Cameron Mackintosh, who requested the musical be translated into English. It is based on the novel by Victor Hugo, which is a whopping 1400 pages! It is no wonder why the musical is three hours long. When it hit Broadway in 1987, it garnered 8 Tony Awards, the play and musical equivalent of an Oscar/Academy Award, including Best Musical.

By Amy Kaufman
Los Angeles Times (MCT)

LOS ANGELES — The horror film "The Possession" is set to claim the No. 1 spot over the Labor Day weekend, though the most frightening thing at the box office may be poor overall ticket sales.
The Sam Raimi-produced scary movie is expected to take in a decent $15 million over the four-day holiday, according to individuals who have seen pre-release audience surveys.

"Lawless," a crime drama starring Shia LaBeouf and Tom Hardy, will have to vie for the runner-up position against "2016: Obama's America," as each is likely to gross around $12 million during the long weekend. The low-cost political documentary, which has already sold nearly $11 million worth of tickets, will add roughly 700 theaters as it expands to 1,800 locations this weekend.

From Wikipedia:
Edwin DuBose Heyward (August 31, 1885 – June 16, 1940) was an American author best known for his 1925 novel Porgy. This novel was adapted and produced in 1927 as a play by the same name (which he co-authored with his wife Dorothy) and, in turn, the opera Porgy and Bess (1935) with music by George Gershwin. It was also adapted as a film by the opera's name, released in 1959. Heyward also wrote poetry and other novels and plays, as well as the children's book The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes (1939).

Heyward was born in 1885 in Charleston, South Carolina. He was a descendant of Judge Thomas Heyward, Jr., a South Carolina signer of the United States Declaration of Independence.

Read a critique of Dubose Heyward's Porgy, Goat Cart Sam a.k.a. Porgy:
Dubose Heyward's Icon of Southern "Innocence,"by Kendra Hamilton.

By Randall Roberts
Los Angeles Times (MCT)

Tucked away within the collected lyrics of Pussy Riot is a two-word declaration that captures the Cliffs Notes version of the Russian punk band's message: "We exist!"

Sung in Russian, the lyric arrives during "Putin Got Scared," a song about the realization that civil action against the state can yield results. It's part of a chant that repeats the words, "riot in Russia!" and conveys the overarching political theme of a group with three members serving two years in prison for hooliganism.

"We exist" has been a central message of punk since its birth in the 1970s, whether within the filthy Detroit scuzz of Iggy Pop singing songs of degradation, Kurt Cobain conveying a disaffected generation's version with the line, "Here we are now, entertain us," or Bikini Kill's riot grrl invectives about gender politics.

MISCELLANEOUS
1. Attention Freshmen: Would you like to run for office? Pick up an Election packet at the Main Office windows or in Colt Court at Lunch. Elections meeting will be this Friday after school in Room 67. We are looking for Class President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Representative.

2. For those who purchased their ASB stickers during registration please come to Colt Court at lunch to pick up your class and Fear the Colt shirts. Please have your ID available.

3. ASB stickers, Yearbooks, and PE clothes will be sold at lunch the rest of the week at the Main Office windows. ASB/Fear the Colt stickers are $25. Yearbooks are $70w/ASB and $80 w/out ASB (Payment Plan available) and PE clothes are $8.00 for T shirts, $12.00 shorts, and $6.00 for combination lock. Two XL and up are $2.00 more.

From Wikipedia:
Roy Wilkins (August 30, 1901 – September 8, 1981) was a prominent civil rights activist in the United States from the 1930s to the 1970s. Wilkins' most notable role was in his leadership of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Wilkins was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1901. His mother died when he was four after which Wilkins and his siblings were raised by an aunt and uncle in St. Paul Minnesota. Wilkins graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in sociology in 1923. In 1929, he married social worker Aminda "Minnie" Badeau; the couple had no children.

Visit the NAACP website for more information about Roy Wilkins.

MISCELLANEOUS
1. Attention Freshmen: Would you like to run for office? Pick up an Election packet at the Main Office windows or in Colt Court at Lunch. Elections meeting will be this Friday after school in Room 67. We are looking for Class President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Representative.

2. For those who purchased their ASB stickers during registration please come to Colt Court at lunch to pick up your class and Fear the Colt shirts. Please have your ID available.

3. ASB stickers, Yearbooks, and PE clothes will be sold at lunch the rest of the week at the Main Office windows. ASB/Fear the Colt stickers are $25. Yearbooks are $70w/ASB and $80 w/out ASB (Payment Plan available) and PE clothes are

4. Be a part of the FEAR THE COLT program and benefit from saving money throughout the school year. With your purchase, you will receive 2 t-shirts, FREE admission to the Homecoming dance, discounted entry fees to all HOME sporting events, and discounts to all other dances, yearbooks, and other activities on campus. Don’t miss out. Get yours today!!

5. Girls Tennis – Any girl who hasn’t tried out can stop by the tennis courts today after school.


CLUBS
Interested in Ballet Folkorico Dance Company? Orientation is Wednesday, 9/5 at 2:00 p.m., in the Pavilion Dance Studio. For more information see Mr. Huertas in the House 1 office.

From Wikipedia:
Sohn Kee-Chung (August 29, 1914 – November 15, 2002) became the first medal-winning Korean Olympian, when he won the gold medal in the marathon at the 1936 Berlin Olympics as a member of the Japanese delegation.

He competed under the Japanese name Son Kitei, because Korea was part of the Japanese Empire. The name is based on the Japanese Kanji pronunciation of his Korean name.

Sohn was born in Sinŭiju, North P'yŏngan Province, Korea, Sohn Kee-Chung was educated at Yangjeong High School in Seoul, Korea and Meiji University in Japan, from which he graduated in 1940.

Read "The forgotten story of Sohn Kee-chung, Korea's Olympic hero," by Andy Bull of The Guardian.

CLUBS
Interested in Ballet Folkorico Dance Company? Orientation is Wednesday, 9/5 at 2:00 p.m., in the Pavilion Dance Studio. For more information see Mr. Huertas in the House 1 office.

By Andrea Chang
Los Angeles Times (MCT)

LOS ANGELES — Samsung Electronics Co. isn't going away without a fight.
A day after Apple Inc. said it would seek to ban eight Samsung smartphones from sale in the U.S., the South Korean electronics giant shot back Tuesday with a short statement: "We will take all necessary measures to ensure the availability of our products in the U.S. market."

Apple scored an overwhelming victory in federal court in San Jose, Calif., last week when a jury sided with the Cupertino, Calif., tech company in the billion-dollar patent infringement case.

From Wikipedia:
Bruno Bettelheim (August 28, 1903 – March 13, 1990) was an Austrian-born American child psychologist and writer. He gained an international reputation for his work on Freud, psychoanalysis, and emotionally disturbed children.

When his father died, Bettelheim left his studies at the University of Vienna to look after his family's sawmill. Bettelheim and his first wife Gina took care of Patsy, an American child whom he later described as autistic. Patsy lived in the Bettelheim home in Vienna for seven years. Having discharged his obligations to his family's business, Bettelheim returned as a mature student in his 30s to the University of Vienna. He earned a degree in philosophy, producing a dissertation on Immanuel Kant and on the history of art.

Read scholarly biography of Bettelheim by Karen Zelan in Prospects: the quarterly review of comparative education,available from UNESCO.