“The Greatest Showman” was the idea brought to life by Hugh Jackman, who plays the main character, P.T. Barnum. It tells the story of the famous ringmaster P.T. Barnum and the creation of his circus. This show took seven years to cast, build the set, and write the script. The movie starts with the opening number (“The Greatest Show”), which depicts grown-up Barnum singing and leading a circus. The song ends, and it turns out this was just a dream of a tailor’s boy named Phineas Barnum. The movie continues showing how all his hopes and dreams are being put down because of society. When he later tries to steal a loaf of bread, he gets caught and thrown into a pile of trash. A moment later, an old woman draped in cloth who has a disfigured face appears and hands Barnum an apple. This shows how Barnum's support and appreciation for “special” people began. Barnum eventually gets the girl and has two children. He gets laid off from his job because the company goes bankrupt, but finds the idea of owning a museum of “oddities.” When he shows his family, the two children state that he should put real, living things in his “museum.” This kicks off his role in show business. He searches for more human oddities and starts what is known today as the circus. With drama and excitement, this movie is as historical and nonfiction as it is fun and relatable. The songs get stuck in everyone’s heads, such as “The Greatest Show,” “Rewrite the Stars,” and “This Is Me.” Rotten Tomatoes rated it a 55%, with an Audience Score of 89%. IMDb rates it an 8.0/10.0. Overall, I would rate this show a solid 10/10 and give it twenty thumbs-up. It is by far my favorite movie ever.
The Broken Story
PART I – THE FALL Hi, my name is Jack Johnson. You may know me as the outgoing, energetic theatre kid that I am, or you have just recently seen me being wheeled down the hallway with my bright rainbow blanket. Either way, now you know me. I was not always in a wheelchair; in fact, this happened just last month. I had signed up to go on a full-day snowshoeing field trip with five other freshmen. We got on the bus, and it was just like any other bus ride. When we arrived, we crossed the train tracks at Marias Pass, put on our snowshoes, and started the trek through the snow and woods. We had been hiking for about an hour. In that hour, we had a snowshoe race, kicking up large clouds of puffy white snow. We found ourselves in a big open area with large snow cornices lining the trail. We decided to stop there to jump off the icy cliffs into the piles of snow below. I had jumped off the smaller ones a couple of times and then some of us decided to jump off the big one. When the four of us that were going to jump got to the top, we stepped forward to jump. Right then, the edge broke beneath us. As we tumbled to the ground, my left leg was twisted above my other knee. I landed on my right leg, slamming the other leg upwards, effectively twisting and snapping the bone. From there, I screamed in pain and fell to the ground. Lucky for me, my dad was on the trip as well and he rushed forth to accompany me and make me calm down. Two Bear Air Rescue arrived about an hour later, ready and prepared with medication and a backboard. As they slid me on to the backboard, sharp, stabbing pain shot through my leg, causing me to scream more. They eventually put an IV in me and gave me drugs to fall asleep. They then air-lifted me in a helicopter to the Kalispell Regional Medical Center so I could be worked on. I was disappointed to later find out that they had cut off everything on my body including an expensive ski jacket, one of my favorite theatre sweatshirts, and my Calvin Klein underwear. PART II – THE HOSPITAL Life in the hospital was not so bad. I woke up in the E.R. with three nurses surrounding me. I was warm and cozy and a lot drugged up to cancel out the pain. They eventually wheeled me out of the room to a small alcove in one of the surgical wings of the hospital. This is where the anesthesiologist talked to me about the drugs I was being given; then I was moved on to the next room. This next room was a little intimidating considering that it was the operating room. All I remember is going in there and just saying, “This is so cool!” and then I was out again. (the x-rays are below) The next time I woke up, I was in just an everyday above average hospital room (I got special treatment). The food was pretty good; I ate French toast and their mac n’ cheese was to die for. I also had physical therapy which was painful at times, but it helped. Most of the time I just laid around watching TV or playing games. I also slept, a lot. The cast was weird; it was two long strips of plaster on top and on the inside held together by a layer of cotton all around my leg wrapped in an ACE bandage. PART III – THE AFTERMATH Life after the hospital has been pretty smooth and painless. Every morning I get up and do some exercises. Then, I slowly but surely get into my wheelchair. For about a week I stayed home from school so I had tons of homework to do so I spent most of the days working on that. Other than homework, I was eating, sleeping, drawing, or playing video games. Then, I started going to school. School has been going well. I have not been having much pain at all so it has been pretty smooth. That was my story, but do you have any broken stories of your own? If so, use the hashtag #TheBrokenStory on Twitter telling us your story and you might get featured in next month’s paper
Why we Make and Break Resolutions
Most of the time, when the New Year rolls around, people try to think of the most life changing resolutions. Whether it is “lose more weight” to “eat more chicken,” people have thought of it. Yet, no one has been able to keep these resolutions. But that does not stop them from making more next year. So what makes us lose to the struggles of New Year’s Resolutions? Unfortunately, there are many reasons why this happens. One of them is called the “false hope syndrome,” named by psychology professor Peter Herman and his colleagues. This is when a person’s resolution is based on ideas about oneself that they do not believe in. When you make positive ideals about yourself that you do not really believe, they not only do not work, they can be damaging to your pride and self-esteem. BHS School secretary Cindy Lander stated that she doesn’t “make New Year’s resolutions because [she] breaks them the very next day.” But, if we keep breaking them, then why do we continue to make them? It is because we are trying to be better humans. Also, because we need to have hope in ourselves and hope in our future. News blogger Eric Zorn stated that, “Making resolutions is a cleansing ritual of self assessment and repentance that demands personal honesty and, ultimately, reinforces humility. Breaking them is part of the cycle.” Studies show that people who make resolutions to change are ten times more likely to achieve those changes than people who want to change but never actually resolve to do so. This means that if you want to change, then make resolutions! It can help your chances of switching lifestyles more than not making any at all.
Procrastination
People often find themselves not doing school work or doing their job. This can result in a plethora of different things, such as getting fired or getting bad grades. But ,sometimes it does work out in the end. Though it may not be their best work they still got it done. Studies show that procrastinators believe that it does not matter when the work gets done, as long as it gets done. A common misconception of procrastinating is that it is just putting off something for later. In reality, procrastinating is when people do not want to do something until later and start doing something that they think is helping them, but just eats up time. Junior Benjamin Johnson said, “It’s awful. It creates problems and that’s all it does.” One of the best ways to stop procrastinating is to promise yourself a reward. For example, get a burger, or eat a donut, but only after you finish the work. Another way to help stop procrastinating is to give yourself a pep-talk. In conclusion, procrastination is not good for people and should be eliminated from our minds.
The New Lunchroom.
Do you remember those mile long lunch lines? Waiting for minutes upon minutes just to eat? Well, wait no more. Thanks to the finished remodel, Bigfork High School started the year with a brand new lunch area. The new lunch area includes a salad bar, heated trays, and two lunch lines. Freshmen Ellana Schreifels said that she likes the new lunch area because of “The lighting, and the ceiling design, and the tables, and the food.” On the other side, a freshman who wishes to remain anonymous stated that they do not like the new lunch room. “Generally the line is too long for there are four grade levels, and it makes for a very loud and not very friendly experience in the lunchroom.” In order to ensure a great lunchtime, administration says that the staff are working to please the students. The new lunchroom chef Roger Vanlandingham commented on the addition. “The newest thing would be this cafeteria over here in the high school. I think it's pretty cool for the high school students not to have to have to walk across the parking lot to have lunch in the snow or rain.” He also stated that they “are going to try to do some different kinds of food.” At the same time, he stated, “[we] want to keep your favorites...still got to have some pizza and some chicken sandwiches.” Lunch line attendant Lori Parker said, “It takes anywhere from seven to nine minutes [to get through the lunch line] depending on students.” BHS students are looking forward to having more wonderful lunches here at the high school. The new lunchroom adds a part to the high school that was missing before, ensuring great lunchtimes for years to come.
Make sure you have binders and folders to organize your school work!