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The Worthington ALC Insider
Volume 3, Issue 9 November 21, 2005
What’s Thanksgiving all about? By Shanna Dehning In 1620, there was a group of English Puritans that we call the Pilgrims. Radicals in their religion, they had fled their home in England, seeking freedom of this religion and release from persecution for it. On December 11, 1620, the Pilgrims sailed out on the ship called "Mayflower" and set foot at Plymouth Rock. They didn't exactly know how to take care of themselves as settlers, so their first winter was a tragic one. Loads of people were starving to death. In fact, they lost 46 people out of the initial 102 that sailed to Plymouth Rock. By 1621 though, this was a different story. Native Americans who had lived there all their lives helped the Pilgrims through their first winter. The Pilgrims gained some knowledge and the new harvest was a bountiful one. Celebration was in order. They invited 91 Natives to come and feast with them, for if the Natives hadn’t helped the Pilgrims through their first winter, most to all of them would have died. It is not certain that they had Turkey at their gargantuan dinner, but there is evidence showing that they had venison. (Continued à)	Animationlibrary.com "Turkey" is a word that the Pilgrims used to refer to any wild fowl. It is also unlikely that the tradition of Pumpkin Pie was present at their feast, this being because they didn't have any sugar, and flour was scarce at the time. They did have boiled pumpkin, and they had fried bread from corn products. After this uncommon beginning, there were questions raised about making this celebration a National Holiday. George Washington announced the first National Holiday of Thanksgiving in 1789. Some were opposed to this idea, including Thomas Jefferson. Sarah Joseph Hale, a magazine editor, wrote many editorials about Thanksgiving and why it was a special celebration everyone should enjoy. In 1863, President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Holiday. After Lincoln, every President kept this tradition alive, but changed the date a few times. The final date change was in 1941, when Congress said that the fourth Thursday in November was the legal holiday of Thanksgiving.

The ALC Insider November 21, 2005 page 2

Meth addiction in Minnesota You can have your life or you can have meth. But choosing to have meth will most likely lead to death or to prison. Crystal meth is a dangerous drug and everybody knows this. But some people choose to do it anyway because they don’t care what they are doing to their bodies after they take that first hit. Meth addicts will pretty much do anything to be able to get that next high. They will rob, steal and maybe even kill, just for a gram so they can stay high for a day. Some people will sell everything they’ve got so they can go get more. Some women have sold their kids to buy more “rocks.” One reason that meth is such a big problem in rural Minnesota is because it’s so easy to make. Some high school kids have said it’s easier to get meth than it is get alcohol. Meth is an epidemic all over the United States and is becoming even more of a problem in rural Midwestern counties. People who cook meth are polluting the air and the ground and they don’t even know it or they just don’t care. After cooking meth they will have leftover toxins and they will just dump them on the ground, in a creek or something. The chemicals they pour on the ground could get into the water we drink and that wouldn’t be good because people could get sick. The meth epidemic is becoming more serious than what the heroin epidemic was 20 years ago. Heroin is a very hard drug, but meth is far worse because of all the stuff that is put in it to cook it. (Continued à)

Typical chemicals used to “cook” meth The Midwest has become a very big place for meth. It’s a bigger problem on the west coast and southwest, but it has been growing all over the United States and becoming a big problem here in the Midwest. It’s rising fast here in southwest Minnesota. Law enforcement doesn’t know what to do because meth is so easy to make and there is so much of it. So even if the cops make a big bust, it isn’t hard for other cookers to cook up a lot more. Smoking meth will take your life away and will harm the lives of the people around you. Tweakers don’t care who they hurt. They will hurt their families or friends just because all they care about is getting high again. There is a big difference between “crank” and “ice.” Crank is the lower grade of meth and not as addicting, but crystal meth ice is far more addicting and worse for you. It will take your life away from you before you even know things are out of control. So before you pick up the glass pipe or before you snort a line, think about what you’re really about to do and what you’re putting into your body. Just one hit could get you addicted. It will start taking your life away right from the start. (Continued on page 3)

The ALC Insider November 21, 2005 page 3

Meth: Continued from page 2 If people knew what was all in meth they probably wouldn’t want to smoke it any more. Some of the chemicals used to cook meth are products that you can find in your house. They use such things as brake cleaner, ether, sulfuric acid (which comes from drain cleaner), red phosphorus from matches, iodine, lithium that comes out of batteries, methanol, sodium metal, and anhydrous ammonia. These things are really bad for you. Meth cooks use sodium hydroxide, ephedrine or pseudophedrine (which are just cold tablets that you can buy easily), acetone, liquid propane, and many other common chemicals. For every pound of meth that is cooked, there are 6 pounds of hazardous toxic waste which often gets dumped down the drain or into a storm sewer. This is a long term hazard because these chemicals remain in the soil and groundwater for years. To clean up meth labs is really expensive because everything must be removed and incinerated. Some signs for meth dealing are: Visitors at all times of day or night Activity at the house during odd hours Occupants may appear to be unemployed Occupants watch cars suspiciously when cars drive by Occupants may seem paranoid Windows blackened or curtains always drawn Occupants go outside to smoke cigarettes because of flammable products inside Chemical odors coming from the house Evidence of chemical or waste dumping (Continued à)

Meth dump found near Des Moines, Iowa There are many other signs to watch for to tell if there is meth abuse going on in your neighborhood. You should be concerned about meth abuse because people who use it can be very dangerous. They get very paranoid and may think you are there to harm them. Another danger is the violence that goes on between drug dealers. This can be a threat to anybody in the neighborhood. This article was written by an ALC student who is a former meth abuser. The writer is in rehab and chooses to remain anonymous ************ Click on the picture….

The ALC Insider November 21, 2005 page 4

Sergio’s Rant on life By Sergio Chaparro Has anybody around here actually thought about were we came from? We came from our mothers and fathers of course but, where did everyone else before them come from? I mean we have family trees but they only go back as far as somebody in your family cared to go. Has anybody ever really thought about were the first word actually came from? Well I have. I’ve always wondered where literature came from or where the first swear word came from. Who invented the first word? Everyone says GOD invented them. Do they have proof? Probably not. There are only artifacts about peoples’ work on and about the first words. Nobody has any proof about who invented the first words. Also, we are only on this EARTH to reproduce, eat, sleep, poop, and make a living. Nobody knows what happens after you die. Do you really die or do you wake up? Ha, ha. That stuff got me thinking about it. (Continued à) Just where do we come from, anyway?

How far back does your family tree go? People in general make mistakes. Nobody in the world is perfect. If everyone was perfect, the world would be more chaotic than it already is. Everyone would end up trying to be better than everyone else, kind of like now, and the world would come to an end a lot faster than it is already. I really don’t think people have actually thought about it. Really. People in the world can’t help but discriminate against those who don’t look like they do, or who don’t talk like they do. People hate or torture others because of their backgrounds. People hold on to grudges and that is dumb, too. It’s in the past. Let it go. A grudge is a way to show that you can’t let go of certain times or things in your life. I have no idea what the meaning of life is. It makes no sense to me. The world is a gravity enhanced black hole with water, mountains, and intricate features to keep simple-minded people intact. Nobody really stops to think of that stuff. To the people that do, nice job. You’re actually doing something with yourself…. Animations by animationlibrary.com

The ALC Insider November 21, 2005 page 5
	Poem by Leticia Heredia
By Javier Esqueda

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How to successfully fill up blank space in a newspaper

The Journalism class lesson of the day was how an editor might fill up an unused space in a newspaper when there really is no story to put in that place.

Several of the students suggested that the editor might start with a meaningless headline, utilizing a typeface much larger than the typeface ordinarily used. Doing so is guaranteed to fill up some space.

Other students felt that if the first paragraph of the story contained an innocuous rhetorical question, then other paragraphs could be written to, in effect, answer that question. This, too, would be guaranteed to fill up space.

(Continued à)

Animationlibrary.com

Another group in the class felt that if one simply wrote a sentence, a really long sentence – one containing numerous fragments and clauses – a sentence tied together with hyphens, commas, semi-colons, parentheses, etc.; a sentence essentially devoid of meaning (yet one that just goes on and on and on as if it conveys some sort of deep message); then one might, perhaps, possibly succeed in filling up unused space, thereby bringing a solution to the dilemma at hand.

Alas, the class never arrived at a satisfactory solution as to how one might fill up unused newspaper space.

This Week’s Separated-at-Birth

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