The James Logan Courier

From wikipedia:
Samuel Gompers (January 27, 1850–December 13, 1924) was the long-time leader of the American Federation of Labor who helped define the structure and the economic and political goals of the American labor movement.

Read "The Samuel Gompers Papers," a collection of documents relating to Gompers and the labor movement made available to you by University of Maryland College Park, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the AFL-CIO.

MISCELLANEOUS
Students who want their portfolios from African American History, periods 1 and 2, and Ethnic Women’s Studies, can pick them up in Room 529 until February 17th.

S.D.E.S. de Alvarado is holding a crab feed on February 5th and is looking for student volunteers to help with set-up, serving and clean-up. For more info on volunteering, check the Career Center link on Logan’s website, or pick up a flyer in the Career Center.

Attention TAs! If you are scheduled as a second semester TA, you must report to Ms. Quintal in the front office for your assignment. This applies to all TAs – even if you were a TA first semester and you are remaining in your previous assignment. If you have any questions, see Ms. Quintal during your scheduled TA period. Those TAs that fail to report to Ms. Quintal will continue to be marked absent.

By Lauren Mascarenhas, Courier Managing Editor

Another semester has come and gone at James Logan High School, but as some celebrate the payoff of the effort they have put into their schoolwork, others are reaping the benefits of work that is not their own. Students at Logan are advised that cheating will not be tolerated, but is the warning working?

The Logan handbook defines cheating as, “taking the work, words, ideas, and/or efforts of another and presenting them as one’s own or providing one’s own work to be presented as another's.” There are also consequences in place to discourage cheating.

However, whether it is through electronic assistance, answers on a hand, or good old fashioned peripheral vision, there is no doubt that it is easier than ever for students to display academic dishonesty. In grade school, children are usually taught that cheating is wrong, so what is the reasoning behind cheating at a high school level?

By Jack Bragg, Courier Editor-in-Chief

The sixth studio album from alternative metal band Chevelle, is a step in a new direction for the band. The Follow up to 2009’s Si-Fi Crimes strikes an entirely different chord from their previous works. Rather than the hard rough sound of previous albums, Hats Off to the Bull is an album with a more ethereal and somewhat mysterious sound. The album is definitely a departure from their previous works with a few notable exceptions.

Guitarist and vocalist Pete Loeffler said of the album,“We really worked hard on it. A lot of people don’t really think its as heavy as some of our other ones though, but I think it’s a little more vibe-y and I think its just plain good and so hopefully they will think the same too.”

From wikipedia:
Annette Strauss (January 26, 1924 – December 14, 1998) was a philanthropist and a former mayor of Dallas. The Annette Strauss Artist Square in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas is named in honor of her. She was the second female mayor and the second Jewish mayor of Dallas (Adlene Harrison was first; Laura Miller was the third).

Born in Houston, Texas, Annette Strauss graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1944. She moved to New York City where she received master's degrees in sociology and psychology from Columbia University. She was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She worked as a Red Cross social worker in Houston for a year until she married Ted Strauss, Sr. Managing Director of Bear Stearns, in 1946 and moved to Dallas in 1947.

Read more about Annette Strauss, free from the Dallas Morning News.

From wikipedia:
Pablo S. Antonio (January 25, 1901 – June 14, 1975) was a Filipino architect. A pioneer of modern Philippine architecture, he was recognized in some quarters as the foremost Filipino modernist architect of his time. He was conferred the rank and title of National Artist of the Philippines by President Ferdinand Marcos in 1976.

Antonio was born in Binondo, Manila in 1901. He was orphaned by the age of 12, and had to work in the daytime in order to finish his high school education at night. He studied architecture at the University of Santo Tomas but dropped out of school in order to assist in the design and construction of the Legislative Building (now, the National Museum of the Philippines).

Read more about Pablo Antonia, free from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts of the Philippines.

By Candace Laxamana, Courier News Editor

You may have noticed that on January 18, 2012, Google had a black box over it's logo. This is because many major websites have "censored" or "blocked" their websites for 12 to 24 hours in protest of SOPA and PIPA bills.

These bills were put out with good intentions in mind, but many internet users, and sites think this is the American version of "The Great Firewall of China."

MISCELLANEOUS

Attention TAs! If you are scheduled as a second semester TA, you must report to Ms. Quintal in the front office for your assignment. This applies to all TAs – even if you were a TA first semester and you are remaining in your previous assignment. If you have any questions, see Ms. Quintal during your scheduled TA period.

BOYS VOLLEYBALL: There will be an important meeting for everyone interested in trying out for the Boys Volleyball team TODAY, Wednesday, 1/25/12 in the Staff Lounge at 2:00 p.m. See you there!

By Billy O'Keefe
McClatchy-Tribune (MCT)

Every post-holiday afterglow, when the gaming industry briefly but emphatically hibernates in advance of livelier spring release schedules, there inevitably emerges a game that demands another look after getting unjustly buried in the sea of sequels and blockbusters that released all around it in November.

In a year as stacked as 2011, there is no shortage of candidates. But even on those grounds, "Rayman Origins" belongs at the top of the list, and it really isn't even close.

Though not framed as an origins story — or concerned with storytelling in general, really — "Origins" earns its name by taking Rayman back to his two-dimensional roots. Like the 1995 original, "Origins" eschews three dimensions in favor of 2D platforming in the classic "Super Mario Bros." vein.

From wikipedia:
Doris Haddock (January 24, 1910 – March 9, 2010[2]) was an American political activist from New Hampshire. Haddock achieved national fame when, between the ages of 88 and 90, starting on January 1, 1999 and culminating on February 29, 2000, she walked over 3,200 miles across the continental United States to advocate for campaign finance reform. In 2004, she ran unsuccessfully as a Democratic challenger to incumbent Republican Judd Gregg for the U.S. Senate.

Haddock's walk across the country followed a southern route and took more than a year to complete, starting on January 1, 1999, in southern California and ending in Washington D.C. on February 29, 2000.

Read more about Ethel Doris Haddock, free from the International Museum of Women.

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

The Board of Education on Tuesday night received the results of a survey asking voter opinion regarding a possible ballot measure that would raise approximately $3 million through a parcel tax.

Among 300 registered voters polled Jan. 3-8 by the EMC Research Group, 65 percent say they would vote to approve or would lean toward voting to approve a $180 per year tax for four years, compared to 30 percent would say they would vote to oppose or would lean toward voting to oppose the tax. The remaining 5 percent said they were undecided.

From wikipedia:
Wallace Gordon ("Wally") Parks (January 23, 1913 – September 28, 2007) was instrumental in establishing drag racing as a legitimate amateur and professional motorsport. He was the Founder, President, and the Chairman of the Board of the National Hot Rod Association, known by the acronym NHRA.

Parks was also an accomplished automobile writer and hobbyist, and co-founder and first editor of the magazine Hot Rod in the late 1940s. He was also instrumental in the founding of Motor Trend magazine in 1948. As editor of Hot Rod, he began to promote safety in the organization of drag racing, both in the magazine and by organizing "Safety Safaris," the first of which toured the U.S.A. in 1954, teaching drag race organization and safety at tracks around the country. This was the first concerted effort in getting racers off the streets and into controlled race tracks.


Read an interview with Wally Parks, free from Rod & Custom magazine.

From wikipedia:
Helen Lyman commonly known as Helen Hoyt or Helen Hoyt Lyman (January 22, 1887–August 2, 1972)[ was an American poet.

She was born as Helen Hoyt in Norwalk, Connecticut on January 22, 1887. Her father was Henry M. Hoyt, Governor of Pennsylvania from 1879 to 1893. Her niece was the 1920s poet Elinor Wylie,
Helen Hoyt was educated at Barnard College.

At some point she married William Whittingham Lyman Jr, and so also became known either as Mrs. W.W. Lyman or Helen Hoyt Lyman.

Read Rain at Night by Helen Hoyt, free from Bartleby.com.

By Tierra Negra,
Courier Special Correspondent

John Locke’s social contract, back in the XVII century, was born from the need to counteract monarchs’ abuses through taxation. The idea that each of us is born free and with some inalienable rights such as “Life, health, Liberty, or Possessions" was the main source of inspiration for the Founder Fathers of this country when designing the American Declaration of Independence and its Constitution:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”