The Worthington ALC

Insider

 Summer School  Issue #4                                                    July 22,  2004

Triple-digits

By: Brittany Palaschak

 

    What do you do and where do you go when temperatures are close to or at triple-digits?   I hope you go somewhere cool, or stayin your house with the AC cranked up! 

 

     Going swimming or keeping in the shade cools down your body somewhat.  Getting enough fluids helps.  Your body needs at least 8-10 ounces of water each hour.  Gatorades or other sports drinks will work too. 

 

     Even food can make a difference.  Spicy foods, like Mexican or Cajun, make you sweat a little naturally, which help you, cool off.   In the meantime, the energy your body uses to metabolize any food heats you up.

 

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     The hottest times are around 10a.m. to 2p.m.  If you’re outside around those times, dress appropriately.  Wear light colored clothes, sunglasses, and even have a hat on or a visor blocking your eyes will help you keep away from the heat. 

           

     Watch out for elderly people and young children.  They’re at risk in the heat and should be checked frequently. 

 

     If you feel yourself become dehydrated or very tired from the heat, lay down in a cool place and drink a cold glass of water every 15 minutes until you started to feel better.  If you stop sweating but still feel hot, call for medical help.

J

 


 

ALC Insider                                        July 22, 2004                                       Page 2

 

Cell Phones

By: Brittany Palaschak

 

     When I was 13-years-old, I wasn’t even thinking about having a cell phone.  I was still playing with my Barbie dolls, and outside having fun. 

 

     At age 16 I had to beg my parents to buy me a cell phone because I was getting my driver’s license soon.  I had a reason to have one.  There is no reason why children ages around 12-15 should have them.  They don’t drive.  They shouldn’t be out late at night just talking away and getting guy’s numbers.

 

     I think you should get a cell phone when you actually need it and start to drive.  Not to just look cool and have them.  I’m pretty sure at that age you’re responsible enough to pay for it, and use it for emergencies only.  I mean yeah, you let your kid to go to the movies or something; you give your cell phone to them when they’re ready to go, but not to keep and mess around with.  

 

 

 

Crew Chief fined $10,000

By: Brittany Palaschak

 

     Sunday at Indianapolis, Kasey Kahne’s crew chief was fine $10,000 and is now on probation for fighting with Tony Stewart’s pit crew at the Speedway.

 

     The fight in Stewart’s pit happened after Stewart spun out the leader Kasey Kahne on the restart Sunday in the Tropicana 400.  Kahne than crashed into the wall and Stewart went on to win it all.

 

     The crew chief and his crew went to Stewart’s pit, where it all began.  The incident turned into a shoving match.  Crewmembers were falling over tired until NASCAR officials got into it.  Kahne’s car owner later said that if “Stewart wasn’t suspended he would give the driver a good beating.”

 

     The crew chief was fined $5,000 for violating a rule prohibiting fights in another team’s pit area and $5,000 for not controlling crewmembers.  He will be on probation until Dec 31.

 

 

 


 

ALC Insider                                       July 22, 2004                                       Page 3

Students Need a Second Language

By: Scott Arneson

 

     America today likes to think that it is much more advanced than the rest of the world.  However, it’s lacking in one major respect.  In the United Sates we do not require students to learn a second language.

 

     Many other countries require every student to learn at least one other language. Some of these countries are China, Japan, Germany, Russia, and India. They start at an early age, usually around elementary, and teach it just like their native language so that the child learns both equally well.  So why should we do the same as these countries? Well, these countries are more versatile in that they have more of a capacity for international trade and diplomacy. Why not catch up?

 

     It is said that to be fluent in a language, one must know at least 10,000 words. Most native speakers of a language know fifteen to twenty thousand, and some people have large vocabularies pf twenty-five to thirty thousand words.

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     For a student to be required to learn another language fluently at the same time perfecting their native language would double what they know. Not only does it double what they know, but when a person learns another language they compare it to their own language, increasing knowledge about their own language and further perfecting their ability to use their own language.

 

    Finally, and perhaps most importantly, in this society, bi-lingual ability increases job opportunities.  America is a country where we have millions of immigrants coming in each year.  To be able to communicate in another language is smiled upon in the job world. Some jobs even pay more to people that speak a second language.

 

  Some say that learning another language is too hard. Well if we start young enough it isn’t hard at all, and even adults can learn if they work at it.  Anyone can learn another language, as long as they aren’t lazy and are willing to put in the hard work. There is no legitimate argument against learning a second language. The benefits are just too good.

 


 

ALC Insider                                       July 22, 2004                                       Page 4

 

No One Is Perfect

By Rachel Leovan

 

     What gives any person the right and position to tell anyone what is right or wrong? There is society that tells us things should be decided by a majority of people’s beliefs, but no matter what, everyone will always be different, always have their different ways of thinking, and always believe in different things.

 

     Yes, we all have different origins. We have different lifestyles. We have different rules, morals, and customs because of how we grew up. I’m a first-generation Asian American whose ancestors came from China, grandparents came from Vietnam, parents came from Laos, and I was born in Louisiana.

 

     In my life, I’m caught between two worlds, trying to satisfy both cultures I was born into, yet finding myself that no matter what I do I can never make everyone happy. What my parents try to preserve in our ancestry’s culture is what I don’t have interest in. Yet, I don’t want to lose that part of me, so I try so hard to obey and keep my history with me, and still, sometimes it contradicts the world I’ve grown up in. I don’t regret anything of my life nor the things that have happened, because it is what made me who I am today.

 

     It has what made me wiser and more open minded than most that I know. I’m glad I wasn’t pressured to be a certain way or believe a certain way.  We have to be more open minded in this society for us get along.

 

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     We have to keep the idea that everyone is the same and that everyone is different Therefore, we must open our minds, open our souls, and our hearts, and simply listen.

 

     Give people a chance and hear them out in what they have to say, just as you want to be given that same chance. You might see that in the end, you may have some similarities with others. The way you and they grew up, what religions you both believe in, and how you both live today may be very much alike.

 

     Much of the hatred around the world is sourced from ignorance and the incapacity to look past their own fears. We fear what we don’t know, it’s just how we are naturally. But if we are willing to understand and to be understood, we will be able to diminish the ignorance and the fears. We will learn to get along better and love each other for who we are inside and not for what we are outside.

 

     No one’s beliefs are consistent throughout their lifetime. Beliefs change every time you open your mind to be more understanding of the things around you. Everything we hear and acknowledge, we should contemplate and at least try to accept. No one will ever know nor understand the truth of all questions they may have. But we can try to be more understanding and try to get along.   No one is perfect.

 


 

The Insider                                      July 22, 2004                                         Page 5

About a Country, Not a War

By: Rachel Leovan

A Filipino truck driver held hostage in Iraq for nearly two weeks was freed Tuesday, a day after his nation withdrew its final peacekeepers from Iraq — a move that met the kidnappers’ demands but angered U.S. and Iraqi officials.

     The Philippines government and the family of Angelo dela Cruz were overjoyed at his release. Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo grinned during a nationally televised address in the Philippines. The withdrawal by the Philippines has drawn strong criticism from Iraqi and U.S. officials. Many fear it will encourage terror groups to take more foreign civilians hostage to try to drive a wedge between the countries in the coalition.

     The ordeal of dela Cruz, a father of eight, captivated the Philippines, since he was first shown on video wearing a bright orange garment similar to that worn by other foreign hostages who were later killed by kidnappers. With more than 7 million Filipinos working overseas, 1.4 million of them in the Middle East, many in the Philippines felt a personal connection to dela Cruz. “Angelo has become a Filipino ‘everyman,’ a symbol of the hardworking Filipino seeking hope and opportunity,” President Arroyo said in her national address.

     The militants holding dela Cruz demanded the Philippines pull out its 51-member force here or they would kill him. The government finally agreed. 
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On Monday the last Philippine troops, who had been scheduled to leave Aug. 20, drove out of the country and into Kuwait. About 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, dela Cruz was dropped on the steps of the United Arab Emirates Embassy in Baghdad. 

     About three hours later, dela Cruz was driven in a silver Mercedes to the Philippines Embassy, where ecstatic embassy staff members embraced him. In dela Cruz’s home village of Buenavista, in the northern Philippines, relatives and friends raised their arms in overwhelming joy after Arroyo announced he was safe. Others wept tears of joy and shouted his name.

     Wealthy Filipinos have taken pity on his family. A popular computer school granted his children full scholarships from grade-school to college and assured them of jobs after graduation. A real estate company donated a house, to be built in the next few days, and a small parcel of land near his two-room shack.

     This is a true story and legend to come, of a country, not a war. This country shows their morals, their love for each other, and their country’s strong bond. The country was thinking of the people for the people.

 


 

The Insider                                      July , 2004                                         Page 6

What You Think is Such a Big Deal, Isn’t At all

By: Rachel Leovan

 

     Hearing about all of the drama of same sex marriages, what are your opinions of them? Having lived in the Twin Cities for a year, I’ve experienced a lot and have learned a lot from each of those experiences. Coming from a fairly small town, I was shocked when I met a transsexual.  But I later became friends with many gays and lesbians, it’s normal to me now. They are just like everyone else.

 

      I’m really open minded to these things, especially if my family members or my friends were to come to me and say that they were gay.  I’d be okay with it. People are free to be whoever they want to be and do whatever they please. No matter what the government, or laws that are put upon the people, it will never change who a person is.

 

     So let’s hear what Brittany Palaschak thinks. She’s from an extremely small town called Adrian where she didn’t grow up around any of this homosexuality nor does she see of it. When she first met a person who was a homosexual, she was shocked but didn’t think any different of the person. Yet she was still surprised and it still scares her. However, she doesn’t judge them. She’s not against same sex marriages, but she does believe that marriage should be for a man and a woman only. Yet if a situation like this were to occur in her family, she would have to support them no matter what. It is family and family comes with unconditional love.

 

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         Brittany thinks that people are making a big deal about the law and the same sex marriage situation just to make another problems in the world.  She doesn’t think

it should be a law because it’s their life and we should just let them do it. No one should interfere. She doesn’t think there should be any law of who should marry who. It really doesn’t bother her because she’s not around the whole drama. She even admits to not reading of it on the newspapers when an article comes up. When a show comes up on TV of the situation, she changes the channel.

 

     Life is life and will always be life. There will always be differences and there will always be things that people don’t agree on. Be open-minded. Imagine if you were minding your own business, and a girl/guy of the same sex came up to you and was hitting on you. Is it any different than a girl/guy of the opposite sex that you don’t like hitting on you?

 

     People are people no matter what their sexual preference. It’s not such a big deal that should offend you or make you so scared that you cause yourself to react ignorantly. You might just take it as a compliment that people are interested in you. You can reply by simply being honest and tell them you just aren’t interested.

 


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