The Trojan Times Review #3
January 12, 2005

This review is brought to you by Element Photography & Design- Taking quality photots since who knows when?

It's another year, and it's time for people to be making their New Year's resolutions- lose weight, stop smoking, become better journalists...

Eh, scratch that last one.

First of all, I'd like to point out something that occurred in two different articles.

That, my friends, is not a quote. No one made that statement to the article's author, so why was it displayed in such a way, quotation marks and all?

Nevermind. Just... nevermind.

By the way, it's "Prairie," not "Praire."

This next part isn't really the fault of the article's author, but rather the organization profiled within the article. In "A way to give back," the opening paragraph makes the following assertion:

"The Christmas season is always known as the season of giving. All over the world children in 95 countries including war countries such as Sudan, Afghanistan and Liberia have never experienced the joy of opening a Christmas present."

Well, isn't that sad? I wonder why these kids have never gotten Christmas presents... Who would be so cruel to deny such things to these children... Oh my... Oh... wait.... I just realized something-

THEY AREN'T CHRISTIANS.

Not that that stops non-Christians in America and other industrialized countries from "celebrating" so they can get presents, but whatever.

Now, on to what is always the most entertaining (and outraging) portion of the paper... THE OPINION PAGES!

First up is my personal "favorite," "Feelings concerning freedom from fellow student." The first two-thirds of the story are fairly good until the last portion, when the author writes about his right to disagree with those whose opinions he does not share. He writes, "Do I have the right to express my disagreement? Recent events in our school answer that question with a resounding 'no.'" He makes no further effort to explain what exactly these "recent events" are, leaving those who had no knowledge of the situation at hand clueless. As this vital information was left out of the story, I believe it is my responsibility to inform the school paper's readers of the rest of the story. In fact, you may have already learned of the events from Mairwen's recent article entitled "Breaking Down Walls." The author was one of the students teasing Tim Treend and was suspended for his disparaging remarks. He apparently (more likely obviously from the looks of this editorial) believes that the disciplinary action taken against him was an attempt to silence his opinion. He goes on to write,

"If you have an opinion, you probably should keep it to yourself or only share it among those who mirror the same."

Does this not seem utterly hypocritical coming from someone who had just complained that his "right" to target derogatory opinions at someone who did not ask for them was suppressed by the school? He continues-

"I have no problem accepting differences in people as long as they do not profess it and turn it into a cause of some sort for attention. If I do not agree with you, do not try and make me: my acceptance level will be compromised."

Apparently, the author's opinion is that while he and those who share his opinion about gay people have the right to harass said minority without solicitation, said minority should not be able to defend itself or give its own opinions. Oh, and apparently one's sexual orientation has been reduced to an opinion. That's great.

I believe my point has been sufficiently made. Moving on...

I wholeheartedly agree with the author of "Separation of church and state," and I believe her final point, "I don't believe that children of Atheists, Pagans, Hindus, and Buddhist should be subjected to the Christian religion at school. We don't teach Pagan beliefs, so why teach Christian ones," while it could have been tweaked a little grammatically, is worth taking into consideration for those who support the inclusion of religion (particularily Christianity) in public schools.

Continuing with the overall liberal slant of the paper's editorial (not necessarily a good thing), the article "Animals treated inhumanely" attempts to chronicle the terrible abuses animals go through before being killed for human consumption. As a vegetarian, I agree with the author's sentiments, but I was disappointed that she neglected to cite her sources. The bulk (if not all) of her statistics and claims were lifted from PETA literature designed to convince meat-eaters to become vegans, but this literature was not acknowledged. The author makes a very good argument, then completely caves in at the end of her article, when she writes, "I believe that the facts need to be known, and the world should not go on living in ignorance. Using animal products does not mean you are a bad person. Not using animal products does not make you a good person. It's a matter of a person's opinion and personal morals." After giving excellent reasons for why people should not consume animal products, she cops out by more or less implying to the readers that they should disregard everything she just wrote if they wish. Don't get me wrong- I do agree with the article, but I think presenting these facts is futile- I've tried to explain why I don't eat animals, but people don't understand and they don't care to understand.

On to the next page. The first article, "Free speech protects minority opinions," upon close inspection, almost appears to be a rebuttal to "Feelings concerning freedom from fellow student," what with the author of this editorial writing, "Many students feel like they are being forced into a community where they cannot say each and every little comment, no matter how hurtful or ignorant those comments may be, that pops into their head. Those same students are the one's who complain about other people who express their beliefs." Overall, this was rather well written, and I think the points made can and should be taken into consideration by everyone, regardless of his or her personal beliefs.

Next, an attempt at cynical humor (my personal favorite) with "Cynical Greetings!", a sarcastic take on the selfishness surrounding the holiday (errr... Christmas, sorry) season. I love how the author points out how it is sad that people tend to get charitable the most (or only) around Christmas as opposed to feeling it year-round. She hypothesizes that people donate during the holidays as a result of guilt; while I'm sure this isn't the only factor, I believe it is a big influence. However, the editorial gets a bit strange when the author writes, "I'm not going to lie, and pretend that I don't enjoy receiving presents. It's most definitely my favorite aspect of Christmas. Without that light at the end of the tunnel, I'm not sure I could make it through all of the annoying traditions." This alone is understandable; many people share that sentiment. However, she continues a little later, saying, "It's disappointing to see that society has turned this religious celebration (there's a Christ in "Christmas" for a reason, people) into a marketing ploy."

(Laughter)

Carrying on!

This isn't my opinion, but one of my teachers had something to say about "Poor teaching weakens education." Said teacher remarked that it is extremely difficult for one teacher to control a roomfull of thirty teenagers. Personally, I think it is possible, but almost any teacher who has strict rules and actually enforces them with an iron fist risks becoming unpopular; while this shouldn't be the ultimate goal of teachers, it is understandable that any person would not want to be thought of in a negative light. As I am not a teacher, and thus I have not had teaching experience, I form a definite opinion on this topic.

That brings us to the end of the infamous Trojan Times opinion pages. Moving on to Arts and Entertainment...

First of all, I'm very glad about the ad choice for Coeur d'Alene Tea House & Gateway Gardens. Gateway Gardens was one of my favorite local stores before both locations closed last year, and I had no idea that it had reopened. Since seeing the ad, I've been to the Tea House, and I can say that it is just about the coolest hangout this area has seen. Please, go there and support this great business, because we desperately need something like this.

I've not much to say about the book review "America gets Bushwhacked," other than I have read the book and it was what got me into reading books on a regular basis. I don't remember too much about it (there are too many facts/statements/musings about Bush and his friends to be able to sort them into a "which book/movie/commentator said what" lexicon.

While I know nothing about the article's subject, the writing style of "Mash it up with Jay-z and Linkin Park" both amuses and disappoints me:

"These songs are consisting of Mash Ups, which sound good when you know both of the songs, and then you hear them put together."
"This album is a good album and the songs are awesome."

MORE PLASMA ABLATION!!

Cool art down on the bottom of this page.

On to the next page. I sure hope Mrs. Maddy (newspaper adviser) sees this part:

The student who "wrote" "A fun time at the mountain- A list of the top ten ski resorts" plagiarized. As I looked over the article, I thought, "this sounds like some sort of press release or magazine blurb," so when I had a chance, I typed a random sentence from it into Google and my suspicions were confirmed.

Here is the original website. The "author" of this article put in no more effort than punching in commands for "copy" and "paste." Even pasting in the original website's URL must have been too challenging. Disgusting.

The article "Journey to the North Pole," about the holiday lights display in Downtown Coeur d'Alene, is horribly out of date. The article even states that the display lasted until January 3. Yet, she attempted to make up for it by writing "Just because it is over this year does not mean that you cannot ever go." Gee, it's too bad no one will remember this article a year from now...

On the next page, there's the obligatory recipie that I doubt anyone will use. My question is why there is even someone taking credit for it, when only copy and pasting was involved. In real newspapers, people don't (or at least shouldn't if they have any dignity) take credit for things they didn't write themselves.

Next page, please. The so-called "Helpful Horoscopes" are anything but. I am encouraged that they were actually written by someone on the newspaper staff (who ironically isn't credited) instead of copied-and-pasted from some dopey teen website, but the majority of them are nonsensical and too specific for horoscopes. Is anyone really going to believe that every single Aquarius will "be late to at least 5 of (his/her) classes, what (is he/she) thinking?" And just what is a "user"? The Scorpio reading says, and I quote, "Beware of users." Huh? Maybe I am just not hip to what the young people are talking about these days...

Next we have the obligatory article featuring some student's car. When asked where this month's student got his shiny truck, he replied, "My mommy and daddy got it for me for Christmas when I was fourteen." Wow. He then goes on to say that his favorite aspect of his truck is how "It gets me from point A to point B, and it's a transportation device." I can't tell if he's being sarcastic or if he's (I hope not) serious.

On the back page of the paper, I am surprised that the chart tracking the winner of the Prairie Pig for the last several years was printed, considering there is a serious lack of marks on the Post Falls side. Makes me almost feel sorry for us...

Nah.

More corny jokes with "Winter Wit!" These jokes are so clever! Ja ja ja!!

Mmm... pot pies. X3