The Real Baltimore (VIDEO)
Students at Patterson High School in East Baltimore wanted to tell the world how they feel about the city’s recent unrest and violence.
Category Archives: Opinion
Snow (CARTOON)
(Original cartoon by Shane Braden, Patterson Press)
Clipper Corner Predicament (OPINION)
By Taj Beatty,
I love going to the Clipper Corner (Patterson’s school store). However, the teachers don’t necessarily want us to chew, eat or drink anything that we buy from the Clipper Corner. You know we all have multiple teachers that will not hesitate to say, “No Gum! No Drinks!”. Yet when they sell it at the Clipper Corner you think, “Oh–they sell gum, so I guess since they sell it, I’ll be able to chew it in class”. So where does the confusion end?
Studies show that when you chew gum while taking notes on a test, if you chew the same flavor of gum during the test, it”ll help you remember your notes. Crazy, huh? Well, I guess teachers just want us to rely on pure brain memory, and to see if we’re actually paying attention.
So don’t be mad at the teachers, they’re just trying to do their part. If you want things to change, ask your teachers and Coach Kelley about this Clipper Corner predicament.
While you’re at it, ask yourself another question: Do your health and gym teachers want you to eat unhealthy snacks before class starts? The candy and chips cause loss of energy and tire you out. You wouldn’t want that–especially if you have a swim meet or a football game. In fact, in all sports we all know that we need a lot of energy and fuel to dominate and destroy the other team. You don’t want to pay the price and lose the game. So maybe eat some fruit and drink some milk.
Still, everybody wants a tasty candy bar once in awhile, which is why you should get your snacks after school ends so you can have it as a treat to yourself, knowing you survived another day of school. Just make sure you make it to school fast enough to get to the Clipper Corner. That’s one more reason to get to school early!
Those are my thoughts on the subject. Do you agree? What are your thoughts? Spread the word and we’ll figure out the Clipper Corner Predicament!
Incarceration does not deter drug use, student survey suggests
by Nila Strong,
Edited by Ms. Kirsch’s Creative Writing class
This semester, our Creative Writing class received a visit from Ms. Kelly Burke, Patterson’s Sr. Rehabilitation Therapist through the Department of Community Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. She spoke with us about drugs and how they can affect our minds and bodies.
Her visit inspired us to look deeper into the issue, so we created an unscientific anonymous survey that asks questions about drug use and drug possession laws. For example, we asked questions like “Do you feel putting people in jail makes them stop using drugs?” We found that, of the almost 200 people we surveyed, 161 believed that putting people in jail does not make them stop using drugs. People wrote down their reasons for their opinions. Many said that they knew people who had gone to jail and had just as easy a time getting drugs in jail as on the streets. One person wrote, “We are doing this [putting people in jail] but I haven’t seen something change.”
Yet those surveyed, mostly Patterson students, did believe that many drugs are dangerous and that laws should be changed, not to make drugs more accessible, but to keep people safer.
We came up with the questions by having discussions about drugs and possession laws. We asked each other questions and we brainstormed, too. Creating and administering a survey was a great way to find out more about an important topic.
Darren Wilson’s acquittal was the wrong decision (OPINION)
By: Xavier Williams
Protests and riots broke out in Ferguson, Missouri after a grand jury decided not to charge Darren Wilson with a crime on November 24th, 2014. Darren Wilson was a Ferguson police officer who fatally shot an unarmed teen, Michael Brown, on August 9th.
When I found out that the jury had let Darren Wilson go, I was very upset, because what he did to Michael Brown was wrong and insane. I mean, how could the judge be so stupid to let that sick man go? It’s just not fair to the family of Michael Brown; Wilson doesn’t deserve to see another day free at all. Michael Brown was a very bright young man. He didn’t deserve to die like that; he had so much life ahead of him.
The judge had no guilty charges on Officer Wilson, so he decided to let him go. Its like history is repeating itself: it gets more and more dangerous for everyone in the United States of America, and it’s not fair. I believe that the grand jury should have charged him with murder because he killed a boy who was innocent with no intention of hurting anyone at all. He had his hands in the air and Wilson shot him multiple times.
The Michael Brown case is an example of what goes on in other cities, including here in Baltimore, and how police officers get away with doing bad things to African-American people. This is not okay; it’s not okay because it’s racist and people should stand up against it.
Why do students use drugs?
By Lithza Juarez,
Depression can be a common thing between teenagers. That may lead them to use drugs to make them feel good. Also, drugs and alcohol are the easy way out. Students are more likely to use drugs to solve their problems. They have the pressure of school work and then there may be problems at home or somewhere else.
Patterson high school is not an easy school, and there are a lot of wrong paths to take. Everyone needs an escape and most of the time, students will choose the easy way out. Teenagers always need to express their feelings and, in my opinion, anger or withdrawing and drugs offer both. When a teenager is depressed, all they want is stop feeling whatever they are feeling. Alcohol and drugs are very dangerous, and sometimes there can be episodes in our lives that makes that behavior, though dangerous, the only solution.
Drugs may help the feeling stop but the feeling will come back, and at that point they will think that drugs are the way out. Parents, teacher, counselors, and friends can make a difference in a teenager’s life.
Para leer este artículo en español, haga clic aquí .
A refugee’s story of hope
Dhan Bhattarai, Patterson student and Nepali refugee (Photo: Patterson Press)
By Dhan Bhattarai,
A refugee is a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution or natural disasters. Refugees are strong people because they have to survive many difficulties and hardships.
Some Nepali people lived in the neighboring country of Bhutan for many years. They were forced to leave the country in 1990. They lived in Nepal as refugees for about 22 years under the shelter of bamboo, plastic and tents.
I lived in a refugee camp in the eastern part of Nepal. The conditions were miserable and did not offer many opportunities. We did not have fresh food to eat, clothes to wear, adequate sanitation, health services, or even a place to sleep. We did not have an opportunity to receive a good education due to our poverty. We must give thanks to God because, fortunately, we found UNHCR and CARIAS Nepal. These organizations changed our lives. These two organizations provide food shelter, clothes, plastic, bamboo and free English education to Bhutanese refugees.
The conditions were gloomy; our school was made of bamboo and plastic and our classroom was very small, and there were 42 students in one class. There I completed up through the eighth grade despite not having air conditioning or electricity. It was such a tough experience.
Some time had passed before the international organization for migration offered a third country resettlement program. Today we are here in this land of opportunity because of that organization. When we were in the refugee camp, we did not have any hope that life would get better. Yet today we have lots of hope to build a better future because we have a golden chance to study in an American high school and also we have a chance to become American citizens. If the U.S. government helps me to study on the college level then I will be very grateful because I’m very hopeful to accomplish many goals.
Inside the girls soccer team
(Photo: Patterson Press)
By Kibra Brutus,
This year I’m playing soccer, and I think we are doing well this month. Last week we won a game with Dunbar. The score was 7- 0, and they were mad enough to fight, but our coach, Mr.Cox, took us to our locker room. It was funny because they all were really mad, but the game was just for fun. They didn’t have to get mad. Anyway, last Thursday we had a game with Digital, and we beat them by 4-2. The first time we played them it didn’t make sense because they scored 6 goals, but we only scored 4.
This Monday we had a game with Western, and we played really hard because most of them knew how to play. In the first 40 minutes we scored 3 goals, and we were really good. In the second 40 minutes we scored only one because the other team had gotten better. After we scored one, the other team got the ball, and my friend, Reema, was on defense she went straight to the ball. But the other girl was coming to get the ball to, they both crashed and Reema got hurt my friend, Renee helped carry her off the field.
Then when we finished the game my friend Reema, couldn’t stand up because her knee was hurting her. I think Coach Cox called 911 and they came to take her. I was really really sad because she had to go to the hospital by herself. They didn’t let anyone go with her, when she went there she stayed until 1:00 AM and they gave her crutches to walk with.
The thing that makes me really mad is she can’t play the last game with City, and were done after that. I don’t want to lose because I want to make Reema happy. I hope we’ll win and our next game is on Thursday, 16th 2014 i’ll do my best to make Reema happy with our best team.
Teacher Talk: October 2014
Editor’s Note: This is the first month for a new feature called “Teacher Talk” which The Patterson Press will do every month. We will ask teachers a question that is related to the current month. Check back next month for the next Teacher Talk.
By Xavier Williams,
In this month of October something scary and fun happens: Halloween. So I decided to ask teachers a question that connects with that theme. My question was “What is your biggest fear and why?”. Here are some of the responses I got:
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“My biggest fear is drowning because I am an awesome swimmer and it would frighten me if I couldn’t breathe.”
-Ms.Shank, Biology teacher
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“Currently my biggest fear is leaving this earth before my sons are in a position to care for them selves.”
-Mr.Antoine, Special Education
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“One of my biggest fears is to lose somebody close to me and not have the chance to see him/her before going to heaven. This is especially true for people like me, immigrants, who leave away from everything they know.”
-Ms.Varela, Engineering Teacher |
(Photos by Xavier Williams and Shane Braden, Patterson Press)
Next month’s question will be: “What are you most thankful for?”
“No backpacks allowed!” (CARTOON)
“No backpacks allowed!” (Cartoon by Shane Braden, Patterson Press)
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