Chancelor Olsen (right) and George Bown (left) are two great examples of this years tall freshmen
Are the Freshmen Really Getting Taller? Theories concerning the supposed change in height between the last two freshmen classes
BY EVAN BENTON For the past few weeks, rumors have been traveling the halls of this school; rumors concerning the stature of this year’s freshman class. People have been saying things like “the freshmen this year look taller than last year’s freshmen” or “have you seen how tall these freshmen are?” One would think that the upperclassmen, as they get taller with age, would think quite the opposite about the ninth graders. That being said, there is some correlation between the surprising height of these underclassmen and scientific research concerning the stature of human beings. According to Michael J. Dougherty, in an article on Scientific American, “...over the last 150 years the average height of people in industrialized nations has increased approximately 10 centimeters”(Dougherty, 2018, p. 1). There is no proven theory as to why this is happening or how long it will continue. Dougherty, the assistant director and senior staff biologist at Biological Sciences Curriculum Study in Colorado Springs, has a few of his own theories, one of which involving nutrition. Perhaps over the last few decades, as wars began to settle down, and the food industry was booming, children have had more access to food of high nutritional value. For this same reason, obesity is higher than it has ever been in American history. Others may believe that this change in vertical size is a result of human evolution or the adaptation of human beings to the environment around them. Either way, the change as statistics show, is undeniably there.
Is Christmas Being Censored? The Reasoning Behind Calling Christmas "Xmas"
BY EVAN BENTON Going back as far as 336 B.C., Christmas has been an important part of human culture. Even for those who don’t believe in the holiday’s biblical meaning, It is celebrated sincerely. The holiday, as well as the traditions that surround it, are relatively similar around the world; there are feasts, gifts, parties, etc. However, one aspect of Christmas tends to vary from person to person: The name. In this day and age, it is not uncommon to see somebody wearing a ‘Merry Xmas’ sweater, or hear a person reply to ‘Merry Christmas’ with ‘Happy Holidays.’ Needless to say, it does not take a whole lot of observation to notice that many people, organizations, and groups tend to avoid referring to Christmas as, well, Christmas. There are more than a few theories out there concerning why this is happening, one of which is based around a person’s religion. Some people, such as Atheists, prefer not to associate with the term due to the holiday’s Christian origins. After all, most (if not all) Christians, celebrate Christmas because of the birth of Jesus Christ. To Atheists, it may not seem ideal to call the season Christmas, because it might seem like they are celebrating for the same reasons. This actually makes sense, since the word ‘Christ’ is literally in the name. According to David K. Israel in his article on Mental Floss, “people think that the X in Xmas is a secular watering down of the word Christ” (2010, p.1). That is one possible reason ‘Xmas’ gained so much popularity over the years. Despite popular belief, however, the X in Xmas is actually much more than just a placeholder for the word Christ. Ann Edwards, in a Grammarly blog post, wrote that “in the Greek Alphabet, X is the symbol for the letter ‘chi.’ Chi (or X) is the first letter in the Greek word for Christ...Xmas and Christmas essentially mean the same thing” (2014, p.1). That being said, it is almost comical to see people go about saying ‘merry Xmas’ in an effort to avoid calling the holiday by its true name, when really, they are unintentionally saying the exact same thing as everybody else. In the end, it really does not matter what people call a certain holiday, as long as what they say is not rude or disrespectful to the holiday or the people who celebrate it. The last thing that anyone should want to do during the Christmas season is spoil it for other people by offending them. Whether Christmas does or does not mean a lot personally, just know that it definitely does mean a lot to someone else.
A Smoking Ordeal Information concerning the ‘microwave fire’ that plagued BHS shortly before Christmas break
Anybody present at Bigfork High School on December 21st likely remembers being herded outside into the cold air after someone pulled the fire alarm. Beside the rumors, there was not much background knowledge circulating as to this situation, so few people knew what truly had happened. The aftermath of the event did, however, leave one thing for certain: the inside of the school stank. A recent interview with junior Connor Lawrence, a witness of the chaos, gave further insight to the what actually happened. Before it all started, Lawrence stated, he had been “in Mr. B’s, chillin’.” Shortly afterward, Lawrence and a few other people decided to head up to Mr. Beau’s office for reasons unclear at this time. Suddenly, Lawrence caught a whiff of something strange and peeked his head into the adjacent hallway. “The whole hallway was full of [smoke],” Lawrence recalled. It did not take him long to realize that something was definitely on fire. All of the smoke appeared to be coming from the microwave located outside of Mr. Appleby’s classroom, and after informing Beau of the issue at hand, Lawrence was given permission to pull the fire alarm. Although Lawrence was unsure of who the culprit was, he was convinced that it had been someone from Mr. Jessop’s fourth period class. Being that the microwave in question had been right outside of Jessop’s classroom at the time, this assumption could very well be reality. Another thing to note is that at some time during Christmas break, the microwave was removed. Right now, the general consensus concerning the item which burned to a crisp in the now absent microwave remains a single bag of popcorn. Although this is probably true, it is surprising, because more than half of the hallways in the building smelled of smoke for at least an hour after the students were allowed back inside. The fact of the matter is that something inside the BHS building had burned, which definitely explained the the speedy arrival of a fire truck and several firefighters.