THE KNIGHT TIMES - November 2016

Culture Fest 

Fall Dance Concert 

Clubs show different 

cultures from around 

the world 

Dancers rehearse as 

the date draws closer 

Page 2 Page 4 

THE KNIGHT TIMES 

Official Student Newspaper of Episcopal High School 

November 2016 4650 Bissonnet, Bellaire, Texas 77401 www.ehshouston.org Volume 32, Issue 4 

Fall sports teams 

end seasons at 

SPC in Austin 

Grandparents spend time with students at EHS 

Knights share Chapel and lunch with important people in their lives 

SPORTS STAFF 

This year’s Fall SPC was hosted in Austin 

with teams from football, volleyball, field 

hockey, and cross country all vying for 

SPC Championships. The Knights football 

team played for the SPC Championship for 

the third straight year, and the girls volleyball 

team was ranked third in the South 

Zone going into the tournament. 

Both boys and girls varsity cross country 

teams showed immense improvement and 

commitment to their sport as they concluded 

the season on a good note. 

SPC this year occurred at St. Andrew’s 

School, and EHS runners did quite well 

despite the horrible weather that held them 

back during the race. The Knights claimed 

six personal records and one seasonal record. 

For the varsity boys, senior Derek Creacy, 

sophomore Luke Williams, and freshman 

Jake Klucznik had a personal record. Derek 

and Luke both beat their times last year 

by at least 20 seconds or more, and Jake 

had 28 seconds better than his second best 

time this season. 

For the varsity girls team, senior Sasha 

Manning and juniors Analia Solomon and 

Sophia Henry had personal bests, while Isabelle 

Hornung made a seasonal record of 

18 seconds better than her second best time 

this season. Overall, the boys team did better 

than expected by four placements and 

the girls team fought hard to keep their 

standing as last year. 

Will Worthington and Gwyneth Bryan 

finished first for their teams respectively. 

§ 

The girls volleyball team opened the 

2016 SPC Tournament on the weekend of 

November 3 against Hockaday with a 3-1 

victory. EHS held a third-place seed with a 

5-1 record for counter games leading up to 

the tournament, so expectations were high. 

The Knights then faced Episcopal School 

of Dallas, the number two seed in the 

North and fell in a tough 3-0 match. Following 

this, the girls played Saturday for a 

fifth-place finish against Oakridge and lost 

a tight game 3-2. 

Although the season ended without the 

title that the team desired, the girls proved 

their abilities with a commendable record 

of 26-11. Despite the loss of five senior 

athletes, the team is young and looks forward 

to a promising future. 

§ 

With the 2016 season drawing to a close, 

the field hockey team was extremely proud 

of the outcome of this year’s SPC Tournament. 

Continued on Page 6 

Senior Jacqueline Bennett and her maternal grandmother Mrs. Jane Fortner (Gigi) during lunch at Grandparents Day. Photo 

by Abbie Wrather. 

WILL EDENS 

Staff Writer 

Episcopal High School students welcomed 

their grandparents on campus for 

Chapel and lunch during the annual Grandparents 

Day celebration. Grandparents Day 

was a great opportunity for students and 

the community at large to honor these significant 

individuals. 

The day began with a Chapel service 

where grandparents were able to sit with 

their grandchildren and enjoy an EHS Chapel 

ceremony. The service included many 

songs and psalms that brought joy to the 

faces of students and grandparents. The 

homily was given by Head of School Mr. 

Ned Smith, and it was a solemn tribute 

to grandparents and other special friends. 

Jane and Keith Trotman, Grandparent 

Chairs for the Annual Fund, also spoke at 

the Chapel. The service concluded with 

a vibrant singing of the classic song “My 

Country, ‘Tis of Thee.” 

Following the Chapel service, the grandparents 

joined their EHS grandchildren in 

Crum Gym where lunches were served. 

It was a great time for the grandparents 

to catch up with their busy high schoolers. 

Parents took the opportunity to walk 

around and take pictures of the activities 

taking place and record the special moment. 

During the meal Dean Colello gave 

his annual speech to those gathered. 

Following the lunch, students had the 

opportunity to escort their grandparents 

around campus and show them an average 

day at Episcopal. Both the students and 

their grandparents had a great day together, 

and it was a wonderful way to begin the 

Thanksgiving holiday week by spending 

time with family.

2 FEATURES 

Episcopal High School The Knight Times 

Volume 32, Issue 4 

A variety of cultures unite to represent the diversity of EHS 

ISABELLA GOODMAN 

Staff Writer 

Culture Fest is an annual event hosted 

by Diversity in Action, and this year, 

plenty of clubs were present to represent 

the culture and diversity of the students at 

Episcopal High School. 

The evening started with all of the clubs 

preparing their tables for a night of food, 

music, and community. Many clubs and 

classes showed off their cultures, and as 

part of the evening, there were various 

categories of competition from which a 

few winners emerged. 

The Debate Club won Best Overall, the 

Chinese Club won Best Costume, and a 

Nigeria booth won the Best Food. There 

were also several different Latin American 

traditional dances performed, all of which 

were very well presented and demonstrated 

many native cultures of Latin America. 

The Chinese Club also showed off an interactive 

dance, with costumes that made 

the experience something to remember. 

Other clubs present included Psychology, 

Young Democrats, National Spanish 

Honor Society, Science, and Photo, as 

well as many others. 

Other students presented food from the 

country of their choice. All those who 

showed up displayed amazing tables with 

Second Cup and EHS talent provide for a whole latte fun 

LAUREN PORTER 

Staff Writer 

Each year, Student Council hosts Coffee 

House, a time during lunch when students 

can read poetry or perform musically 

while their peers eat and, most notably, 

enjoy delicious coffee. Students look 

forward to this event because it brings 

a sense of holiday cheer right before 

Thanksgiving Break. 

The coffee is provided by A 2nd Cup, 

owned by Episcopal math teacher Mr. 

Mark Raggett. A 2nd Cup is a nonprofit 

coffee shop that uses volunteers and 

employees to raise awareness for human 

trafficking in Houston. 

This year, Fall Coffee House also gave 

back to others by allowing students to pay 

for their coffee and buy treats during a 

bake sale to raise money for Donate Texas. 

This organization helps organ donors 

offset the cost of surgeries. The bake sale 

was a huge success and paired perfectly 

with the coffee that was served. 

The musical performances were very 

entertaining as students were able to 

watch their favorite teachers and friends 

showcase their talent. The highlights from 

the day were performances by Jonathan 

Hoang and Liam Pugh. Jonathan performed 

an upbeat and modern piano number 

that all of the students really enjoyed. 

Afterwards, Liam stepped on stage with 

an electronic guitar solo with a synthesizer 

that stood out among the crowd. 

Coffee House remains a favorite EHS 

tradition that allowed students to express 

themselves through music and poetry 

while enjoying a refreshing cup of coffee. 

The next Coffee House will be hosted in 

the spring and is already highly anticipated. 

Performances were well received during 

the Fall Coffee House. Entertaining their 

classmates and faculty during lunch 

were, top, Lexi Sagers, Shelby Thierry, 

and Gianni Cavitt; right, Ed Bayouth 

and Walker Little; and far right, Louisa 

Morgan. 

food and culture. Students, 

faculty, and parents alike 

were all welcome to visit 

each table and learn more 

about cultures and diversity. 

As the night continued, 

awards were given out and 

the evening wrapped up 

with singing, dancing, and 

conversation as students 

celebrated their diversity. 

Seniors Sydney Beckham 

and Laily Mortazavi enjoy 

Culture Fest by taking 

part in the National 

Spanish Honor Society 

Photo Booth after eating 

some great food from a 

variety of booths. In addition 

to enjoying the night 

and learning about different 

cultures around the 

world, the girls and other 

students received extra 

credit for their language 

classes thrpugh their attendance. 

Photo courtesy 

of Lily Ahrabi.

FEATURES 

3 



Joey Streller presents 

Probationary Blues 

The other day I was driving to school 

down Highway 59. It was a great morning, 

and I was minding my own business, 

listening to Lil Uzi Vert’s “Do What I 

Want” when out of nowhere a car almost 

hits me. 

Instinctively, I called upon my cat-like 

reflexes and Ricky Bobby-like driving 

skills to evade this bad driver. I looked 

at the driver to see that she was in fact texting 

on her phone. This made me think - 

What if someone else with inferior driving 

skills was in my place? 

For example, what if it was Matt Brown 

driving his war wagon of a truck? I can 

picture it in my head. Matt would be 

driving with his Persols on listening to G- 

Eazy with Chloe Kissner in the passenger 

seat on the way to school. Then out of 

nowhere, a car sideswipes them, and Bam! 

This would be a tragedy. 

The moral of this story is to pay attention 

to the road while you are driving 

because you are putting other people’s 

lives in danger. 

Please be responsible. 

COLLINS HOWELL 

Staff Writer 

Collie’s 

Corner 

History was made November 9, 2016, 

at about 2 a.m. CT when it was officially 

announced that Donald J. Trump would 

become the 45th President of the United 

States. Trump’s victory was met with 

shock across a wide political divide since 

Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton was 

the projected winner by almost every mainstream 

media outlet, pollster, and pundit. 

The Trump victory begs the question as 

to how he was able to win over the swing 

states, and the answer is arguably due to 

the silent majority vote. The Democratic 

Party will have to lick its wounds, evaluate 

where its candidate may have faltered, 

and consider how to work with a Republican 

President, Congress, and Senate. 

Republicans will also control the majority 

of state governorships and the balance of 

the Supreme Court. This is the first time 

that all of this has happened since 1928. 

The outright explosions of anger and 

violence that soon followed the outcome 

are rooted in a deep passion for Clinton’s 

agenda and a fear of a Trump presidency. 

Clearly, these actions are not conducive 

to a democracy and are not going to do 

anything to help America. Trump was 

elected, and that reality will not change. 

The best thing for us to do is to come together 

with a productive frame of mind in 

a bipartisan show of support for America. 

RESCUE OF THE MONTH 

Name: Kahlau 

Terrier/Pitbull 

Female, 7 Years, 1 Months 

SPCA Houston (713) 869-SPCA (7722) 

24-hour Injured Animal Rescue 

(713)-880-HELP (4357) 

Musical career of Gauntt takes step forward with release of his first album 

JORDAN PYTOSH 

Staff Writer 

EHS senior Turner Gauntt recently 

released his new album Euphoria. The 

album, taking its inspirations from electronic 

music, represents a culmination of 

almost two years of work. This month, he 

discusses the influences behind his album, 

as well as future aspirations for his music 

career. 

Explain the context and origin of the 

album. 

The album Euphoria is supposed to 

highlight a collection of my thoughts from 

my childhood, leading up to my last years 

of high school. Euphoria is defined as 

a feeling or state of intense excitement, 

and for me, these feelings stem from the 

community that I was privileged to be a 

part of. 

While the theme of Euphoria relates 

to my life overall, my main inspiration 

for this album is from artist Franz Kline. 

Kline is an American painter who contributed 

to the art movement of abstract expressionism, 

and while founded in Europe, 

this revolution took place in the United 

States during his prime. Similarly, I’m an 

American musician influenced by European 

house music to create abstract house 

music with a less traditional western feel. 

This seems more liberating in that these 

particular structure and melodies have 

fewer boundaries. As well, much like my 

work, Franz Kline’s “action” paintings 

are simple yet lively, allowing viewers 

to interpret the paintings with their own 

feelings. With my style of house music, I 

make club friendly songs that also entice 

deep meanings, leaving understandings up 

to the audience. 

What were your musical influences and 

goal for this album? 

Euphoria was inspired by Disclosure, 

Dusky, Jamie xx, KAYTRANADA, Daft 

Punk, Flying Lotus, and 80’s dance. My 

goal for this project was to make tracks 

that incorporate house music and pop 

music that were fun to listen to. 

What was the whole process like behind 

making this album? 

Though I made some tracks almost two 

years ago, I didn’t have serious thoughts 

about finishing Euphoria until last August 

when I recorded “The Rest Is Yours” and 

painted the album cover’s banner. At this 

point, I was inspired to continually write 

music, pursuing European culture to fuel 

my creativity. Once I began composing 

tracks with this album in mind, I created 

songs that I felt would fit the album, 

condensing 25 songs down to 11, then 

mastering rough drafts of the songs and 

organizing the entire album. 

In terms of the production and samples, 

was there a specific sort of vibe or 

sound in mind? 

I definitely had a strong intention of 

using samples for this album. In the past 

years, I have been inspired by hip-hop 

producers and wanted to capture it in the 

overall vibe of my version of house music. 

I wanted it to be exciting and fun to hear, 

while still make the music meaningful. In 

creating an energetic feel at the beginning, 

then continuing to become more experimental 

throughout Euphoria, I feel that the 

listener is drawn further to my music. 

With this album done, can we expect 

more creative endeavors from you in 

the future? 

I have a couple of ideas for my next 

work, hopefully done by the end of this 

school year. I’m deciding between something 

more with live instruments (less 

samples) and a rap album, possibly one 

combining aspects of both. Also, multiple 

SoundCloud rappers have expressed their 

interest in contributing to my next project 

as well. 

EHS SPEAKS OUT 

If you were a rapper, what would your name be? 

Joy Smith 

“Jpounds” 

Lauren Apollo 

“Apollo 13” 

Taylor Hurd 

“Young Tay Tay” 

Gianni Cavitt 

“Veggie Fresh” 

SD 

“S-Dizzle” 

Kyle Marco 

“K-Mark” 

John Saucer 

“Saucy Sauce” 

Walker Glotfelty 

“Walkman” 

Tanner Witt 

“Twitty” 

Mr. Lerch 

“Big Foot Bandit”

4 ARTS 



EHS Dance Makes-A-Scene! 

ISABELLA GOODMAN 

Staff Writer 

Fall and spring dance concerts showcase 

the ability and talent of the dancers at 

Episcopal, and the Dance Department has 

been hard at work in preparation for the 

first of two performances this year . The 

fall event, “Make A Scene-Dance!,” features 

the dancers who have been practicing 

for months to perform December 1-3. 

There are many levels to dance at EHS. 

Classes span from beginner to the most 

advanced, Impact. The dances that are 

featured in concerts show off a range of 

different styles and techniques. The girls 

have been working long hours to perfect 

these difficult and strenuous moves, and 

the resulting performance demonstrates 

this. One dancer, Nicole Betts, felt that “it 

was exciting to get to try different types 

of choreography from what we’ve done in 

the past.” 

Dance instructors and choreographers, 

Ms. Kristina Burgess and Mr. Frank Vega, 

have been working to create dances that 

show off the hard work and dedication 

that the dancers have displayed throughout 

the year. They also enlisted the help of 

outside choreographers, like Chris Bloom, 

who collaborated with EHS before during 

the Ballet Hispanico Summer Intensive. 

This brought many different dancers of all 

different skill sets together to learn about 

dance. All of these factors make the Fall 

Dance Concert a must-see event at EHS. 

Students embark on art excursion 

ELLIE RAGIEL 

Staff Writer 

Via Colori is an exciting art festival in 

downtown Houston that Episcopal H.S. 

students have been participating in for 6 

years. 

Each year, over 250 professional artists 

volunteer to help turn the sidewalks 

of downtown Houston into beautiful 

artwork.Artists work tirelesly to create 

something beautiful on the sidewalk. 

The theme of this year’s festival, held 

November 19 and 20, was “A Colorful 

World” and over 30,000 viewers showed 

up to see the artwork, experience some 

great food and music, and, most importantly, 

help raise money for The Center 

for Hearing and Speech, a non-profit that 

provides education to children with hearing 

loss in the Houston area. 

Via Aprendista is the competition part of 

the festival that invites high school juniors 

and seniors to represent their school. This 

year, Dre Guthrie represented EHS with 

the help of a few National Art Honors 

Society upperclassmen. 

It was a very exciting weekend for 

everyone who attended and a great experience 

for EHS artists to get more involved 

in the Houston art world and raise money 

for a good cause. 

Sidewalk art for a good cause Students on the art excursion tried out new photography techniques. Photo by PhotoJ. 

AVERY CLAIRE PRASHER 

Staff Writer 

With their eyes on the art that the city of 

Houston has to offer, a group of students 

journeyed with Visual Arts Chair Mrs. 

Kate Philbrick and other faculty on an 

excursion of discovery and opportunity. 

The group started at Glenwood Cemetery 

where famous American entrepreneur 

Howard Hughes is buried. Here they took 

rubbings of the grave markers, sketched 

the scenery, and took photographs of the 

landscape. 

From there they went to the Houston 

Center for Contemporary Craft to take 

part in a workshop where they made their 

own foam stamps to create prints. Also at 

the Center was a show of Texas artists for 

which they participated in a guided tour. 

The next stop was food trucks at First 

Methodist where the students choose their 

lunch and were allowed to take pictures of 

the trucks using a variety of lenses. 

The last stop was the row houses. These 

are little houses taken over by artists 

where they create art out of the space and 

an art piece out of the entire house. They 

were taken on a guided tour of several of 

these houses before returning to EHS. 

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Coach Middleton at Westside Lexus

ACADEMICS 

5 



EHS alumni, teacher, and coach stands out in the community 

ISABEL YOUNG 

Staff Writer 

Mr. Alan Bradshaw is The Knight 

Times Teacher Spotlight for the month of 

November, and he is no stranger to being 

featured on the hallowed pages of the 

student publication. 

Bradshaw’s history at EHS goes back to 

when he graduated with the Class of 1999 

and was a member of the community. He 

played football, basketball, and lacrosse, 

which inspired him to coach all three 

sports along with his regular duties as an 

economics teacher at his former school. 

He commented that it is very fun teaching 

at his alma mater because it is “like 

being a little part of history because you 

know the past.” He loved Episcopal so 

much as a high schooler that he wanted to 

come back and teach. Bradshaw recognizes 

that he has many responsibilities 

that come with teaching and coaching. 

His main goal in coaching is to make sure 

that everyone has a really good experience 

playing while also fulfilling the mission 

of the school athletically. He wants his 

teams to “be the best that they can be” and 

tries to make sure that everyone learns and 

loves the sport as much as he did back in 

the day. His main challenge in coaching 

basketball is having everyone be as passionate 

as he was about it when he played, 

but what makes it fun for him is teaching 

others about the game and watching his 

players grow in the sport. 

A fun fact about Bradshaw is that he is 

the most featured Celebrity Sighting in 

The Knight Times history, appearing three 

times. When asked about how he feels 

about this honor, he said, “It is fascinating 

how many celebrities I look like.” 

Outside of teaching and coaching, Bradshaw 

has a new baby at home, Behr, and a 

wife that is a guidance counselor in Katy. 

He also has a record label called United 

We Jam Records through which he explores 

his music passion. It is not a profiting 

business yet, but he has two people 

who have produced something with him. 

One, EHS alum Ryan Stowe, produced 

a five-song EP, and another singer/songwriter 

in Nashville produced a full album. 

He has also worked with members of The 

Black Crows and the former lead guitarist 

of Cage the Elephant. 

Electoral College explained 

ANTHONY SMALL 

Editor-in-Chief 

Over the past few weeks, there has been 

much criticism of the Electoral College 

due to the result of the 2016 Presidential 

Election. Many liberal pundits and figureheads 

have proposed to replace it with an 

amendment to decide elections by popular 

vote. However, these denunciations of our 

current system are shortsighted and fail to 

recognize the checks and balances that the 

Electoral College promotes in our country. 

A candidate wins the Presidency by 

winning the majority of electoral votes. 

The Electoral College works to elect the 

President by giving each state a certain 

number of votes based upon the number 

of Congressman in each state, with 48 

of the states being winner take all. After 

the Presidential election, Article II of the 

Constitution mandates that “the electors 

shall meet in the respective States” and 

cast their ballots. This system protects 

the rights of smaller states by giving 

them a minimum of three electoral votes, 

regardless of population (every state has 

two senators). The Electoral College also 

ensures that candidates with a regional or 

strictly urban appeal do not achieve the 

mandate to govern over all fifty states. 

Thus, the Electoral College successfully 

balances the forces of total democracy and 

state/minority rights. 

On the other hand, a national popular 

vote would lead to a slew of problems 

that would sever the check and balances 

that the Electoral College works to ensure 

in our country. Candidates would instead 

spend most of their time garnering massive 

majorities in the most populous cities 

and one-sided states, largely ignoring 

the rest of the nation. The current system 

puts many smaller states all across the 

nation into play, so the elected President 

represents a more significant geographic 

portion of the country. Additionally, a 

popular vote would allow states with less 

voting requirements, such as lax voter ID 

laws, to have a more substantial impact on 

the election as increased turnout within a 

state would have an impact on the national 

result. While the Electoral College does 

have its faults, this system set up by our 

Founding Fathers is the best possible 

framework to maintain checks and balances 

between local, state, and federal 

forces in our country, which ultimately 

ensures that our President represents the 

largest sample of American citizens. 

Statistics Corner: ACT analysis 

Mr. Alan Bradshaw and his contagious smile. Photo by Isabel Young. 

The Knight Times 

Episcopal High School 

4650 Bissonnet 

Bellaire, TX 77450 

713-512-3400 

Subscriptions available online at www.ehshouston.org 

Head of School 

Ned Smith 

Assistant Head of School 

Nancy Laufe Eisenberg 

Dean of Arts 

Jay Berckley 

Visual Arts Chair 

Kate Philbrick 

Publications Coordinator 

David Framel 

Photojournalism Instructor 

Jaime Collier 

Photojournalism Editors 

Abbie Wrather 

Isabella Goodman 


Anthony Small 

Staff Writers 

Joey Streller 

Will Edens 

Avery Claire Prasher 

Collins Howell 

Alexandra Pearson 

Lauren Porter 

Hunter Megarity 

Gavin Geib 

Jordan Pytosh 

Dre Guthrie 

Ellie Ragiel 

Sydney Hutchins 

Isabel Young 

Isabella Goodman 

MR. MARK RAGGETT 

Statistics Instructor 

EHS students are increasingly turning 

to the ACT to demonstrate their ability 

to colleges they are applying to. Analysis 

done by AP Statistics students revealed 

some unsurprising findings. 

In general, if you score high on one part 

of the test you can expect to do well on 

all the other parts, and the two results that 

are most strongly connected are those for 

the English and Reading sections. Some 

of the findings are a little less obvious: the 

second best connected results are those for 

Reading and Science (students report that 

the skills used in both are very similar), 

and the least connected results are Math 

and Reading (doing well on the Math 

section doesn’t tell you much about how 

you will do on the Reading section). No 

wonder students have problems with word 

problems in math! 

Note: The analysis only included results 

from AP Statistics students and may not 

be representative of everyone. 

Photographers 

Sally Wade, Nicole Shanks, Jack Hernandez, Sarah Vanderbloemen, 

Grace Neblett, Chris Short, Alan Ayanegui, Thomas Holmes, 

Serena Shannon, Victor Velasco, Abbie Wrather, Tamiana Lankford-Bravo, 

Cydne Harrell-Malveaux, Lauren Foyt, Nicole Betts, Sophia Henry, 

Cullen Stewart, Will Keenan, Lilly Cone, Robert Mason, Ivan Bastidas, 

Teagan Ashworth, Kaveinga Davis, Amber Hatfield, Cristian Arias, 

Lily Ahrabi, Margaret Runnels, Sasha Vermeil, Miranda Greenwalt, 

Madison Miller, Sophia Wayne, Sofia Maldonado, Carlos Valdez, 

Elizabeth Anne Charbonnet, Chloe Masterson 

The Knight Times is a product of students in the Episcopal High School newspaper 

class, who are solely responsible for its creation and editorial content. The opinions 

expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent those of the Episcopal 

Board of Trustees, Administration, faculty, and staff. Published ten times a year, The 

Knight Times is a non-profit educational tool. The staff encourages the submission of 

letters, editorials, and story ideas from the community but reserves the right to edit and 

use said articles.

6 SPORTS 



Winter sports programs enter seasons with promise 

KNIGHT TIMES STAFF 

WRESTLING 

After long hours in the gym and on the 

mat this offseason, senior captains Steven 

Perez and Anthony Small will lead the 

team this year and hope to dominate their 

competition. Last summer senior Joey 

Streller and sophomores Duncan Lamme, 

Chase Gray, and Jack Podsednik traveled 

to Iowa for a ten-day intensive wrestling 

camp where they acquired an arsenal of 

new moves and techniques. This camp 

pushed their mental toughness to another 

level, and so far it has shown on the mat. 

looking to dethrone last year’s winners. 

Senior Carlos Valdez said the team has 

been working extremely hard and is hoping 

for a repeat performance. He went on 

to say that they have “a good chance of 

winning the championship again.” 

The team welcomes several new mem- 

the success that awaits them. 

GIRLS BASKETBALL 

The girls basketball team began its 

season against Second Baptist School on 

November 8 and then participated in the 

Houston Christian Tournament November 

10-12, receiving second place. 

ning of the year due to injuries and new 

faces, they are excited to grind out a solid 

season. 

Even through this adversity, their goal 

is to chase down the SPC Championship 

Marvin Wilson shoots a free throw. Photo 

by Miranda Greenwalt. 

Joey Streller wrestles in the Westside 

tournament. Photo by Claude Cody. 

The wrestlers had their first matches of the 

season at the Westside Duals Tournament. 

Streller led the team at the tournament by 

pinning all three of his opponents, making 

use of his newly acquired leg-riding skills. 

The team then wrestled a tri-match against 

Klein Forest and Kinkaid. The squad went 

on to win both duels, trouncing Klein Forest 

(48-33) and Kinkaid (54-27). 

In December the team will participate in 

the Mayde Creek Duals and the Foster and 

Doc Hess tournaments. 

BOYS SOCCER 

As defending SPC Champions, the boys 

soccer team expects to have a large target 

on its back as conference rivals will be 

SPC fall sports teams compete for championships in Austin 

Continued from Page 1 

Entering the weekend with a fourthplace 

ranking in the South Zone, the team 

was already well beyond their goal for the 

season and fully accomplished that goal 

by making it one round further than last 

year after a stunning victory against Fort 

Worth County Day. 

The team ended the weekend in tenth 

place after a hard loss in overtime against 

OC Casady. 

After some difficult rebuilding years 

in the field hockey program, this season 

was seen as a huge success and actually 

marks the first time in four years that an 

EHS field hockey team has won an SPC 

Tournament game. It is obvious that EHS 

can expect great things from this program 

in the years to come. 

§ 

The Knights football team finished the 

season playing for the SPC Championship 

Chris Short dribbles the ball down the 

field. Photo by Alan Ayanegui. 

bers that have the ability to make a positive 

impact on the program and increase 

the boys’ chances of winning another ring. 

Senior George Tapia said, “It would be 

a great way to end my high school career 

with back-to-back championships.” 

GIRLS SOCCER 

Girls soccer started the season working 

hard and showing promise. 

After last year’s finish, they are still 

seeking revenge, and winning SPC is at 

the top of the list. This year Episcopal 

added some good players to an already 

solid team. The turnout has been tremendous, 

so much so that the coaches had 

to make three teams. Also, now that new 

coaches Mrs. Saunders, Mr. Castillo, and 

Mrs. Booker are part of the program, the 

sky is the limit for this group. The Class 

of 2020 provided nineteen new faces as 

well, so things look encouraging. 

Despite some losses early in the season 

against some tough opponents, the girls 

are working hard and have not let up. The 

varsity squad had an early win against St. 

Thomas Episcopal 5-1, an early signal of 

title after a disappointing runner-up finish 

last season. 

With a strong desire to avoid a repeat of 

2015, the Knights started strong against 

All Saints out of Fort Worth and jumped 

to an early 27-10 lead in the first half. 

However, due to some key injuries and 

questionable officiating, the Knights were 

unable to maintain that lead. The Saints 

ended up winning the game with a final 

score of 57-39. 

Despite this loss, the Knights had some 

big wins in the course of the regular 

season against private school powerhouse 

Plano Prestonwood Christian Academy 

and 5A public school Brenham. 

The Knights also boasted a very strong 

senior class, and these players will be 

missed greatly. Looking to replace five 

offensive starters and six on the defensive 

side of the ball, the program will turn to 

its underclassmen to help rebuild on the 

successes over the last three years. 

Senior Madison Houston dribbles the 

ball down the court. Photo by Chris 

Short. . 

Despite the loss of two starting seniors 

from last year’s squad, the girls are off 

to a promising start. The team is led by 

seniors Madison Houston, Sasha Manning, 

Madeline Klinkerman, and Alexandra 

Pearson. Additionally, the junior 

class provides a large impact on the team, 

represented by Kansas Watts, Daria Minniefield, 

Iman Lloyd, Judy Roberts, and 

AnnMarie Youtt. Sophomores Sydney 

Hutchins and Jamie Tatum will be a threat 

to the Knights’ upcoming opponents, 

as well as freshmen Trinity Watts and 

Brooke Duncan, will also see some varsity 

playing time. 

Coach Alan Bradshaw says that this year 

the team “is a great group of players that 

love the game and love competing. Our 

chemistry is looking great, and we will be 

a fun team to watch.” 

BOYS BASKETBALL 

The boys basketball team is optimistic 

about its 2016-17 season. Although they 

are expecting some adversity at the begin- 

Junior Jaylen Waddle receives a pass 

from quarterback Gavin Geib and runs 

for the end zone. Photo by Photo J. 

ring. Junior Jaylen Waddle, one of those 

injured players, describes not being able 

to play with his team: “I feel terrible that I 

can’t be out there with my team. I’m really 

excited for this season. We have a lot to 

prove to ourselves. This is our year; we 

want the ring very badly.” 

Coach Wayne Jones and his staff have 

been working around the clock to make 

sure everything is in place to succeed 

this season. Coach Jones said, “We’ll be 

working harder than anyone else this season, 

and I have no doubt that we’re very 

capable of finishing on top of everyone 

else.” 

SWIMMING 

This year, the boys and girls varsity 

swim teams promise another great season 

for the program. 

The girls team, led by seniors Amanda 

Strang and Abbie Balat, kept many swimmers 

from last year that are looking to 

improve on their fifth place finish at SPC. 

The boys squad, led by senior William 

Butler, has accumulated a large number of 

new members. 

Along with practicing at Bellaire Rec, 

the team will participate in competitive 

meets with a big tri-meet this season 

against St. John’s and Kinkaid. 

Next year, the Knights will likely rely 

on junior receiver Jaylen Waddle and 

linebacker/quarterback Jack Grams to lead 

the offense. Furthermore, all the Knights 

receivers will be returning. 

Defensive leadership will fall to juniors 

TayJon Martin, John Saucer, and Christian 

Walmsley. Under the direction of these 

players and a veteran coaching staff, the 

Knights have a bright future and will have 

the chance to make another championship 

run next year. 

§ 

Although the varsity boys volleyball 

team lost all of their matches at SPC, the 

squad is looking to build upon the success 

they had this year with eleven wins next 

fall. 

Senior Harrison Williams was awarded 

the Sportsmanship Award, sophomore 

Clayton Butler won Most Improved, and 

junior Omar Denmon was named Team 

MVP.



Calvin & Hobbes: Nostalgia 

JORDAN PYTOSH 

Staff Writer 

When initially syndicated in 1985, Bill 

Watterson most likely underestimated the 

powerful influence that his comic strip 

Calvin and Hobbes would have. Watterson’s 

comic strip tells the adventures of 

6-year old Calvin and his everyday life in 

small anecdotes. His school life consists 

of dealing with peers, his friend and foe 

Susie Derkins, and seemingly evil teacher 

Miss Wormwood. When he is not in class, 

his parents take care of him after his 

adventures with his ‘pet’ tiger Hobbes, a 

stuffed doll that comes to life in Calvin’s 

imagination. 

On paper, the plot seems a tad overdone, 

but Watterson’s execution differentiates it 

beyond expectation and tradition. Calvin 

and Hobbes uses adult themes to accompany 

such adventures, like the balance 

of life and death and compassion and 

friendship to push Calvin through selfdiscovery. 

Whether as indepth as Calvin’s 

Entertainment 

contemplative walks or as trivial as the 

cloning machine story, Watterson inserts 

underlying morals that connect in subtle 

ways. 

By showing both major mishaps and a 

plethora of humorous activities, Watterson 

brings a nostalgic realism into what 

seemingly functions as a work of fiction. 

Whether old or young, readers can relate 

to what Calvin finds in the brisk outdoors, 

classroom, and his own imagination, 

finding his adventures reminiscent of 

the naivety of their own childhood. Its 

cult status, over time, has come from an 

appreciation of such expression. Unlike 

other iconic strips like Peanuts and 

Archie, which have garnered attention 

and acclaim through mass merchandising, 

Calvin and Hobbes has succeeded based 

highly on its syndication alone. 

As the two title characters remind us on 

the last 1995 strip, “It’s a magical world,” 

and their message resonates within us 

as an enticement of our inner child, both 

thoughtful and light-hearted. 

Bookends 

& 

Weekends 

with Dre Guthrie 

Image courtesy 

of mittray.com. 

7 

With college looming over my shoulder 

like that annoying person who doesn’t 

seem to take the hint that they shouldn’t 

look at your computer screen when you’re 

working, I’ve found myself turning back 

to older books that I read in middle school 

for nostalgia’s sake. For the most part, 

none of them held up to my memory of 

reading them the first time, but I managed 

to surprise myself with a favorite 

that I’d forgotten: Time Cat. Once starting 

the work, written by Lloyd Alexander, I 

found myself engrossed in the thin paperback 

that I poured over thousands of times 

during elementary and middle school, so 

much so that I think it’s worth recommending. 

In essence, Time Cat focuses on a young 

boy named Jason and his talking, timetraveling 

cat Gareth who journey on various 

adventures through different eras of 

history, with each of his nine lives representing 

a time to which Gareth can 

return. As he and Jason travel through 

history, including ancient Egypt, a Rome 

under siege from outside invaders, and 

America during the eve of revolution, Jason 

learns more about his mysterious pet, 

thus learning to appreciate Gareth more 

than he ever had before their adventures. 

I felt genuinely touched by Jason’s love 

for his pet, and, even though this novel 

isn’t intended to be difficult to read, Gareth 

and Jason’s bond feels genuinely 

sweet to an outsider, and its historical 

references mean a lot more to me now 

that I’ve studied them in class. I’m glad 

nostalgia decided to visit me, in the end. 

All in all, it’s a pretty good read for 

someone who has an hour to spare or a 

love for all things furry, and, who knows, 

you might just learn something in the process. 

Calvin and his imaginary pet tiger Hobbes have captivated audiences with their 

charming, childish antics for over thirty years. Image courtesy of gocomics.com. 

Though Gareth may not jump through time as extremely as this little guy, they both 

have the same amount of fun on their adventures and enjoy the ride all the way 

through! Image courtesy of conceptart.org. 

DreamWorks releases its inner child with Trolls 

SYDNEY HUTCHINS 

Staff Writer 

The new DreamWorks movie that everyone 

has been raving about for months has 

finally come. Trolls has been a must-see 

movie since the release of “Can’t Stop the 

Feeling” by pop artist Justin Timberlake, 

which let’s be honest, has been stuck in 

our heads at least once whether we like it 

or not. 

The adventurous/animated movie includes 

singing, dancing, and happy Trolls 

that are faced with a dilemma of being 

eaten by the Bergens, who are large monstrous 

creatures that think the only way to 

achieve happiness is through eating a troll. 

As the movie progresses main characters 

Princess Poppy and Branch leave their 

home to save their friends who have been 

captured by the Bergens. Trolls is filled 

with action and love and teaches what 

the real meaning of happiness is. Trolls 

features many well-known and successful 

stars as voices behind the characters. 

Among them are 9-time Grammy Award 

winner Timberlake (Branch); Pitch Perfect 

star Anna Kendrick (Princess Poppy); the 

hit TV show “New Girl” actress Zooey 

Deschanel (Bridget); stand-up comedian 

Russell Brand (Creek); night show host 

James Corden (Biggie); and Grammy 

Award winner Gwen Stefani. With these 

obviously talanted singers and actors 

they had no trouble with music, as Justin 

Timberlake was executive music producer 

for the set. With the help of directors Mike 

Mitchell, who directed Sky High, and 

Walt Dohrn, who voiced Rumpelstiltskin 

in Shrek Forever After, this movie was 

made a success. 

With a PG rating, Trolls is obviously 

childish at times, but the movie stays interesting 

for all ages with some adult rated 

jokes thrown in. As stated by the New 

York Times, “Exuberant, bust and sometimes 

funny, DreamWorks Animation is 

determined to amuse. Trolls earned $45.6 

million the opening weekend and finished 

second at the box office. Rotten Tomatoes 

gave the film an approval rating of 73% 

based on 102 reviews, with an average rating 

of 6.2/10. The film is worth a watch, 

and I doubt you’d regret it. 

In this lovable family flick, pink-haired Princess Poppy and her grumpy pink ally 

Branch, forge an unlikely friendship on their journey. Image courtesy of clementoni 

.com.

8 ENTERTAINMENT 



Steven Universe remains Cartoon 

Network’s best modernistic show 

Unlike competing shows, Steven Universe 

excels at combining humor and 

adult themes without losing focus. Photo 

courtesy of stevensugar.tumblr.com. 

DRE GUTHRIE 

Staff Writer 

Steven Universe, when explained out 

of context, sounds like the dreams of a 

child who ate too many pieces of candy 

before bed. After all, how else can you 

explain a half-gem, half-human child being 

raised by three ancient rocks personified 

as mothers who protect Steven from 

dangerous, deformed gems with the help 

of his sidekick, a pink lion who can store 

objects in his mane, and his friend Connie, 

a swordfighting genius who loves to read? 

However, after spending over one hundred 

episodes in Steven’s town of Beach City, 

I can confirm that this cartoon, written by 

the same writer that created Adventure 

Time, combines everything that was missing 

from Cartoon Network’s newer works 

into one ball of happy musical numbers 

and endless lore, with a dash of whimsy 

sprinkled on top. 

Steven, the son of Greg Universe, a 

washed-up rocker who runs a car wash, 

and Rose Quartz, a chubby-cheeked living 

gem, goes on adventures to defeat 

enemies varying from magical watermelons 

and other evil gems to his thieving 

next door neighbor, Onion, with his gem 

mothers, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl, 

and he’s what makes the show special. 

Steven is the closest to an actual child any 

cartoon has managed to create since the 

early 2000s, and he’s wonderful. Being 

genuinely sweet and always caught up in 

little games of his own or singing jingles 

that he made up for himself, this half-gem 

boy will steal your heart in an instant. Not 

to mention, he’s fleshed out as a character; 

he’s snapped before, refused to cooperate, 

and has even hurt others because he was 

hurt, which are characteristics of what a 

real child is like. Steven feels real in an 

unreal scenario, so he’s easy to love and 

root for when in danger. 

Not to mention, the art style and background 

music of the show meshes well 

with Steven’s character. A majority of the 

colors in the show are pastel tones, while 

the art style itself favors rounded shapes 

and character designs, which, combined 

with Steven’s gentle personality, creates 

a mood similar to a story book that you 

read as a child. Both the musical numbers 

and the background themes remain 

fairly minimal, leaving openings for the 

phenomenal singing to shine through and 

for the voice actors to really ease into 

their roles. While nostalgic at some points, 

Steven Universe does feel like it’s catering 

to adults as well, as Steven and the 

Gems tackle issues beyond what a child 

would consider, such as what it means to 

be alien, being abused in a bad relationship, 

loving someone society forbids you 

to love, and learning how to truly let go 

of all of the worries of being a human. If 

you’re looking for a cartoon that carries 

every one of those traits, look no further 

than Cartoon Network’s greatest creation 

so far, Steven Universe. 

Nobu opening in Houston in 2017 

Initially started by Nobu Mastsuhisa and actor Robert De Niro in 1993, the long list 

of Nobu restaurants in citites ranging from Los Angeles to Moscow, as well as Tokyo 

(depicted above). Photo courtesy of tokyofooddiary.com. 

AVERY CLAIRE PRASHER 

Staff Writer 

The world famous sushi restaurant Nobu 

will finally be opening its first ever location 

in Houston in 2017. 

With over 32 different locations around 

the world for it and its companion restaurant 

Matsuhisa, Chef Nobu Matsuhisa has 

created quite a legacy. 

The new restaurant will open off Westheimer 

in the Galleria where Saks Fifth 

Avenue used to reside. 

Nobu is regarded as one of the most famous 

Japanese restaurants in the world and 

will surely add to the up and coming restaurant 

scene in Houston. 

Chef Nobu is known for his blending of 

traditional Japanese cuisine with Peruvian 

ingredients. His signature dishes are his 

black cod in miso, his spicy salmon skewers, 

and his sea urchin tempura. 

Senior Cleo Epley says a must try dish is 

the yellow tail sashimi. 

KNIGHTS 

ON WAX 

Killing Joke’s Night Time has become 

a cult classic for 1980’s hard rock fans. 

Photo courtesy of discogs.com. 

Born out of bitter events of the Cold 

War and 1980’s hard rock, Killing Joke’s 

fifth album Night Time is a concise 

examination of the newly common antiestablishment 

sentiment. Led by singer 

Jaz Coleman, this work shifted them from 

relative obscurity to a main purveyor of 

pure post-punk. The group’s primal rage, 

much like their British predecessors The 

Damned and The Clash, manifests itself 

throughout the LP’s eight tracks. 

From start to end, Coleman muses 

on brooding ambiance, full of corruption, 

darkness, and the primordial side 

of human emotion. There is no point of 

tranquility to which Killing Joke makes 

its music heard on this album, with a 

constant relentlessness fueling the emotional 

expression. The notable loudness 

of “Darkness Before Dawn” and “Tabazan” 

bring incantations of the protests 

and chants against modern culture and 

standards preset by society. Along with 

this, the slow crawl of “Love Like Blood” 

and the truly bursting vibrant riff of 

“Multitudes” show that this is apparent in 

the unsettling words and phrases brought 

upon by the cultural spectators. In each 

song, Coleman and his bandmates keep on 

the rhythms of dystopia, filled with loud 

vocals and destructive instrumentations. 

However, while this all seems daunting 

in explanation, the execution which the 

band takes is one of extreme finesse and 

precision. 

Hearing the shredding chords on “Night 

Time,” a listener is treated more to an 

early New Order sound rather than the 

chaos of the Stooges, an odd yet fitting 

pick for a post-punk record of this caliber. 

“Kings and Queens” stands up in the same 

way, where the crisp guitars provide a 

nice background for the lyrics on fantastical 

ideals of 1980’s culture. Such ideals, 

out of the Cold War criticisms Coleman 

spouts, are truly put in the spotlight with 

bold force and irregularity. As a conclusion, 

“Eighties” rounds out how the album 

began, with a crashing riff that circulates 

the political critiques drawn out across 

each track. Yet, in all the sound and fury 

of this work, there remains an underlying 

respectable side that unites the chaotic 

messages with a cohesive rock structure 

that helps it remain an icon of this decade. 

Examining 

some of the 

best albums 

ever made 

with JORDAN PYTOSH 

In all of her classic albums, from 

1993’s Debut to last year’s Vulnicura, 

Swedish starlet Bjork’s discography 

has constituted a large number of music 

genres. However, 1995’s Post, while not 

as technically advanced is the greatest 

example of her versatility within the confines 

of pop music, unprecedented in her 

career thus far. 

On Post, Bjork combines Nancy Wilson’s 

jazz vocal style with the contemporary 

sound of an early 90’s Pizzicato 

Five record. On this album, the vocals 

crack and spiral into the thunderous vibes 

of each instrumental, fusing each lyric 

in each searing chord. Standout numbers 

“The Modern Things” and “You’ve Been 

Flirting Again” show how Bjork’s raw 

screams of mild distress and simultaneous 

soulful euphoria keep pace with odd 

instrumentals. Yet, rather than fluidize 

her work’s sound into a single genre, 

Bjork uses Post to take pride in crazed 

production more than subdued notes. 

For example, “Army of Me” uses a drum 

While Bjork has a hefty discography 

over the past 40 years, Post is still her 

mangum opus, in production and songwriting. 

Photo courtesy of genius.com. 

intro of Led Zeppelin’s “When the Levee 

Breaks,” a common sample given new life 

with her booming vocals overwhelmingly 

meshing with the beat. Then, its following 

track “Hyperballad” changes the pace 

and sound to one of more ambient trance, 

one typical to the 1990s songstress. “It’s 

Oh So Quiet,” however, is even more out 

of place, where her cover of jazz music 

sounds like it does not belong with the 

other tracks on this album. This song, 

while seemingly non-belonging among the 

numbers set up by the rest of the tracks, is 

still a highlight, most listenable. 

Yet this lack of singleness in sound 

gives Post the life and acclaim that has 

fueled analysis after its initial release. 

The variety helps develop a sound that 

was given a definite form after Debut, an 

album that was a tad too miniscule compared 

to what followed. “Enjoy”, “Isobel” 

and “Headphones” show not only Bjork’s 

different abilities in sound, but also her 

maturity as a songwriter, becoming highly 

emotional cohesive pieces. The finisher 

“Headphones”, in and of itself, is the true 

culmination of Post’s greatness, combining 

raw emotional vocals with a fine-tuned 

electronic beat. Such mature complexity, 

therefore, remains admirable today as an 

inspiration for musicians aspiring for innovation.

SPORTS COMMENTARY 



NFL television ratings on decline due to numerous factors 

GAVIN GEIB 

Staff Writer 

The NFL has a ratings problem. Monday 

Night Football is down 24% from last year 

at this time, Sunday Night Football is down 

19%, Thursday night is down 18%, and 

overall ratings have declined by roughly 

12% this season. 

According to Commissioner Roger 

Goodell, the reasons for this decline are 

varied. “It’s something that I don’t think 

there’s a single reason for. I really don’t. 

We look at all those factors,” Goodell said 

last week, according to NFL.com. “Everyone’s 

got theories. You guys got theories, 

others got theories. We work closely with 

our network partners. We see tremendous 

strength in our numbers. 

“But we also know that the prime-time 

ratings are where we’re seeing the most 

dramatic decrease. It went straight up 

against two very significant [Presidential] 

debates. Another one of our prime-time 

games on Thursday night was on the NFL 

Network, as opposed to a network, which 

will always get a lower rating. There are a 

lot of factors to be considered.” 

Outside circumstances have likely played 

a role in the ratings drop. Prime-time NFL 

games have gone head-to-head with election 

and debate coverage. They also competed 

with the MLB playoffs, which culminated 

in the Chicago Cubs snapping a 

108-year championship drought in a dramatic 

seven-game World Series against the 

Cleveland Indians. 

Furthermore, the quality of some games 

has been lackluster at best. The 2-6 Chicago 

Bears have already been featured 

in four prime-time slots through the first 

half of the season, and the oversaturation 

of Thursday night games, such as the one 

between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tennessee 

Titans, doesn’t inspire the casual 

fan. 

“There is no single factor here, no one 

fixable thing for the NFL to act on,” said 

Rick Gentile, director of the Seton Hall 

poll designed to determine the reasons 

for this drop in ratings. According to this 

poll, the leading factor in declining viewership 

is due to players not standing for 

the National Anthem, followed closely by 

the Presidential election. “It is somewhat 

remarkable that the impact of the National 

Anthem protest seems to hold, given that 

the action occurs pregame and isn’t even 

televised,” said Gentile. 

Several players around the league have 

given their explanations on why the ratings 

are dropping. New Orleans Saints 

quarterback Drew Brees said the league’s 

front office has had something to do with 

it: “We feel like [the decline in TV ratings] 

is a direct result. I know the players don’t 

have any faith in the way that things are 

conducted within the front office in the 

NFL – certainly when it comes to any type 

of investigation, when it comes to any type 

Tim Tebow believes he has a 

legitimate shot in the MLB 

of commissioner discipline. It’s really kind 

of a joke at this point, unfortunately. And it 

shouldn’t be like that.” 

The quarterback also pointed out the 

front office and Commissioner Roger 

Goodell’s crackdown on player celebrations 

could be impacting viewer habits as 

well. Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman 

is in agreement with Brees on this 

issue and last week blamed Goodell and 

the NFL for making the NFL no “fun” 

anymore, including imposing strict rules 

against player celebrations. 

“I think it’s just been a culmination of 

a lot of things over the last three years that 

unfortunately might have just turned people 

off or caused them to be less engaged,” 

Brees acknowledged. 

Others have cited the fact that with new 

apps and technology like NFL Redzone, 

it has become easier to follow the games 

without actually watching them. Other 

factors included games on too many days, 

over-saturating the market, the ongoing 

controversy over head injuries, and a decline 

in quality of play on the field. 

Meanwhile, Goodell says the league is 

working to figure out what has changed. 

“We don’t make excuses. ... I think you’re 

touching at a point that I think is significant, 

which is consumer changes and their behavior, 

and the way they consume media,” 

he said. “That’s something we’ve been focused 

on for several years … I think our 

ratings are something that we’ll continue 

Two rookies make immediate 

impact on Cowboys season 

9 

to look at and try to make sure we’re doing 

everything… not just to get them to tune in 

but to get them to stay tuned in. That’s the 

issue, that’s what we’ve worked on.” 

HUNTER MEGARITY 

Staff Writer 

After leading the University of Florida’s 

football team to two national titles, winning 

the Heisman Trophy, and leading the 

Denver Broncos to a playoff victory, Tim 

Tebow has decided to pursue his dream 

of playing professional baseball. He shut 

down his football career early when he was 

told that he would be more useful in the 

NFL as a tight end/offensive back, not as 

a quarterback. 

While exploring his new dream, he has 

found that it is not easy beginning a career 

in baseball as a 29-year old former quarterback. 

Although Tebow has faced numerous 

uphill battles in his life, he is optimistic 

about this latest challenge because of the 

hard work he is willing to put into anything 

in life to accomplish his goals. He started 

his pursuit of the MLB by batting .146 (7- 

for-48) with 12 strikeouts in the instructional 

league but feels he is improving. 

Tebow explained, “I’m feeling like everyday 

I get a little bit more comfortable.. 

in the field, at the plate, just going through 

the routine of baseball.” 

He has been competing against top prospects 

in the nation and will report to the 

New York Mets spring training camp before 

next season, hoping to win a spot on 

the team. His role would likely be as a left 

fielder as well as serve as a designated hitter. 

For Tebow, he believes that through 

hard work and dedication, his dream of 

playing in the MLB can likely become a 

reality. 

Tim Tebow takes some big hacks while warming up for a minor league game for the 

mets. Photo courtesy of foxsports.com. 

COLLINS HOWELL 

Staff Writer 

The Dallas Cowboys’ season started on a 

low note when franchise quarterback Tony 

Romo went down with yet another back injury 

and with him the hopes of a winning 

campaign after the 4-12 debacle that was 

last season. That is until the Dak Prescott 

and Ezekiel Elliot 

combination 

took over. 

In the 2016 

NFL Draft, the 

Cowboys took 

Ohio State’s 

running back 

Ezekiel Elliot 

with the fourth 

overall pick and 

in the fourth 

round grabbed 

quarterback 

Dak Prescott 

of Mississippi 

State University. 

Elliot was 

thought to be 

the most complete 

back entering 

a draft 

since Adrian 

Peterson in 

2007. 

He proved this 

by being named 

the rookie of 

the month in 

October when 

he led the league in rushing. 

Many doubted whether the Prescott-Elliot 

combo was going to be enough to carry 

the team into the playoffs and awaited Romo’s 

return. That is until the Cowboys just 

kept on winning. As the streak continued, 

people questioned whether Romo should 

be the starting quarterback upon his return. 

The Cowboys recently beat the Cleveland 

Browns and a tough Pittsburhg Steelers 

squad to advance to 9-1 and put to rest 

some of these questions. 

With the Steelers win, Elliot finished 

with a ten-game total of 1,005 rushing 

yards for the 

Former Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliot hurdles 

a Bear’s defender. The hurdle has become one 

of Elliot’s signature moves. Photo courtesy of sportsday.dallasnews.com. 

season. Elliot 

shared after the 

game what he 

said to Prescott 

right before 

he scored the 

game-winning 

touchdown 

against Pittsburgh, 

and it 

summed up the 

year thus far: "I 

looked at Dak, 

and I was like, 

'Look, man. 

This is why 

we're here. This 

is why we're 

in Dallas, and 

this is where 

great players 

become great. 

This is where 

great players 

perform and do 

what they need 

to do." 

Sounds like 

Dak Prescott 

should keep the starting quarterback job 

and continue what could become a dynasty 

with Ezekiel Elliot. This is the best combo 

Dallas has seen since Emmitt Smith and 

Troy Aikman.

10 OPINIONS 



The problematic ideas between purebred vs. inbred 

DRE GUTHRIE 

Staff Writer 

According to the ASPCA, over 70 million 

dogs live under the care of an owner, and 

according to that study, more than 25% of 

these dogs are purebreds, which are dogs 

whose parents and line of parents before 

them only bred with one breed of dog, like 

only Pugs or Chihuahuas. Instead of using 

the word ‘purebred,’ though, I suggest 

you think of them as ‘inbred.’ Even though 

many people dream about owning a purebred 

puppy, sometimes the things humans 

want can end up hurting their pet more than 

they may first realize. I’d like to specifically 

caution against buying purebred puppies 

from a breeder, and instead encourage you 

to purchase a mutt, especially an older dog, 

from a shelter or animal rescue, because 

owning a pet should make both you and 

your pet happier and healthier together, not 

just one or the other. 

For example, consider the droopy-eared, 

silky Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Many 

of these adorable little furballs come into 

the world bearing severe genetic disorders 

such as canine syringomyelia, a defect in 

which their skulls don’t develop enough to 

fully contain their brain, causing extreme 

neck, shoulder, and spinal damage for dogs 

reaching the age of five. This specific defect 

effects 70% of all Cavalier Spaniels 

according to the Scientific American Journal, 

as well as a heart disease in which the 

valve regulating blood moving between 

the left atrium and ventricle wears out and 

leaks blood into the heart, causing premature 

death in Spaniels. Genetic diseases 

aren’t just a product of Spaniels either, 

as many purebred dogs experience severe 

genetic faults, including hip dysplasia in 

working and hunting breeds such as the 

German Shepherd and the Saint Bernard, 

dislocation of the kneecaps in toy and miniature 

breeds like Chihuahuas and Corgis, 

and increased sensitivity to allergens like 

grass and pollen. For all their faults, many 

dogs don’t live past their sixth birthday just 

because of our personal preferences. 

The American Kennel Club was founded 

in 1884, and this exclusive club sets the 

standard for how a certain breed should 

look aesthetically, including the square, flat 

faces and head-to-shoulder ratios that continue 

to put dogs in danger. Because we’ve 

gotten carried away with arbitrary appearances 

of what a dog ‘should be,’ we’ve 

gotten lost as to what’s happening to dogs. 

Breeders continue to promote dangerous 

breeding tactics by only allowing purebreds 

to breed within their family, including 

aunts, uncles, and sometimes their parents 

and grandparents. Inbreeding doesn’t 

occur naturally, and, in breeding with dogs 

outside their family tree or even their own 

breed, dogs purge any genetic issues out of 

their bloodlines that can continue to occur 

over and over when they breed within their 

relatives. No one on Earth should be purchasing 

a dog in order to watch it get sick 

and go through countless surgeries, and 

if we can prevent our beloved pets from 

contracting easily-avoidable diseases, 

shouldn’t that be our first priority? 

So, how do we go about this? First of 

all, if you want to buy a new dog for your 

household, consider searching through an 

animal shelter catalogue before you immediately 

skip over to a breeder. Many of 

the dogs in shelters have been taken off the 

streets or returned to shelters thanks to a 

lack of space, a family moving to another 

house, the death of an elderly caretaker, 

or just sheer inability to care for the animal. 

These puppies already need homes, 

and, more importantly, live longer, healthier 

lives than purebred dogs by two years. 

Also, consider older dogs rather than puppies, 

because if you really want a puppy, be 

prepared to adopt the equivalent of a human 

baby who can’t convey what it wants 

through words. Puppies chew on furniture, 

pee on floors, and cry in the middle of the 

night. If you have nice furniture or enjoy 

sleeping, a puppy may not be for you. Older 

dogs tend to be calmer and less prone to 

mood swings, as well as easier to take care 

of in terms of food costs and hours spent 

in training. Adoption of elderly dogs is always 

slower in comparison to how quickly 

puppies are snatched up. First time dog 

owners and low maintenance owners alike 

should invest in a shelter-kept, elderly mutt 

who needs a home. The less money you invest 

in a damaging industry, the happier a 

pet and future generations of dog breeds 

will be. 

Digitalization in the music industry brings changes 

JORDAN PYTOSH 

Staff Writer 

On many an occasion, the music industry’s 

most fervent traditionalists have time 

and time again stated their elitist beliefs 

against digital music mediums. A notable 

example is the words of Pete Townshend, 

guitarist and songwriter for The Who. In 

an interview for BBC, released on October 

31, 2011, he argued that the Internet was 

“destroying copyright as we know it.” He 

also noted that file sharing was a cause of 

the industry’s economic downfall. While 

is it a valid claim, however, to argue his 

point, is this really so? It certainly is true 

that we can say that artists have refused 

such digital mediums for exposure, but the 

Internet Age has provided something that 

previous eras could not. 

With sites like Discogs and Whosampled 

at one’s disposal, there lie infinite possibilities 

where you can discover music. As 

a result, an audiophile in our modern era 

is more likely to have a mature, varied, 

and developed taste more so than any avid 

critic or follower in the past. 

This nuanced interest in music has truly 

enriched the culture beyond mainstream 

simplicity, due to availability of digital 

sources to cultivate such perception. For 

example, in researching rock now, we can 

look back at over 66 years of history and 

examine each of the stages of evolution. 

We can travel from Chuck Berry to Pink 

Floyd to Metallica, all the way to Wilco and 

LCD Soundsystem without losing sight of 

musical trends. This overall reinvigoration 

of the past for now has recreated old ways 

to better know where music comes from. 

Seeing how the newfound prominence 

of bands like The Doors and AC/DC has 

developed recently is an interesting musical 

antecdote to consider, where we honor 

Photo courtesy of aspca.org. 

Physical sources like cassettes have not been in high circulation but still help the 

flow of the industry with dedicated music fans. Photo courtesy of thevinylfactory.com. 

them to the same attention and standard as 

those in their respective eras. 

Yet still remains the question, where does 

that leave the artists who produce the music 

that we listen to in our modern age? 

Well, simply put, hard-working artists are 

making way more profits and having a lot 

more creative freedom in their work due 

to label exposure and a plethora of overall 

revenue. 

The manufactured drab of the mainstream 

radio is equally outdone by the dedicated, 

talented music makers of our generation. 

In an industry so lucrative as the record 

business, there’s more opportunity to succeed, 

and this is something that traditionalists 

are quick to judge. 

iTunes has enjoyed greater prosperity than 

one could ever have anticipated. In the past 

decade, according to statista.com, there has 

been over 6 times the total revenue that the 

digital music industry produces, from $1.1 

billion to $6.7 billion. The reason this is lucrative 

is that physical mediums of music 

like vinyl and cassettes have become obsolete 

and tedious in comparison to the newly 

adopted mediums of today. 

While traditionalist beliefs are valid, it 

may be the time to acknowledge the changing 

ways of music now. Our world is becoming 

digital, whether we like it or not, 

and music’s importance in our culture is 

just signifying that we may be behind the 

vision of what’s to come. 

We can expect, for the time being, a 

greater realization of the greatness of the 

past to help fuel our musical awareness in 

the future.

OPINIONS 



Online censorship setting an alarming precedent 

ANTHONY SMALL 


With over 60% of Americans getting 

their news from social media according to 

Pew Research, manipulative online censorship 

by social media companies like Facebook 

and Twitter has become a national issue. 

While these private corporations have 

the right to censor whatever they please, 

this recent trend is quite alarming considering 

the sheer amount of people that 

these sites influence. Although mainstream 

media outlets like cable TV can simply refuse 

to cover certain issues or certain sides 

of a story, most Americans do recognize 

this bias and are ditching traditional news 

sources in record numbers. However, since 

social media sites primarily use an algorithm 

to sort the most popular content from 

an army of contributing individual journalists, 

most people expect to see both sides 

of the debate. Furthermore, Facebook and 

Twitter have become such massive public 

forums that journalists who do not use 

them are put at a severe disadvantage. 

Over the past year, Facebook, Twitter, 

and others have been caught red-handed 

deliberately removing and hiding content, 

subduing trending stories from going viral, 

and outright banning journalists and political 

pages for questionable reasons. Due 

to the fact that their user base is so large, 

these corporations have faced effectively 

zero consequence as a result of their actions, 

as millions of users with established 

profiles do not leave the site due to all of 

the time they have already invested in their 

account. Recently, these companies have 

begun to work with international, regional, 

and nation-state governments across the 

world, from Germany to China to the UN, 

to censor and even criminalize criticism of 

government policies. Even if you live in 

the United States, this should be seen as a 

remarkably unnerving trend. 

Facebook and Twitter justify their censorship 

under the guise of cracking down 

on “hate speech” and combating “terrorism.” 

Our First Amendment Right as 

American citizens grants the right to free 

speech as long as it is not a call to violence 

or to warrant a criminal investigation. 

Most established social media organizations, 

however, extend this definition of 

hate speech to anything deemed offensive. 

This is an exceedingly subjective definition 

that in the wrong hands equates to shutting 

down the opposing argument in a political 

debate regardless of whether the comment 

was even racist/sexist/etc. in the first place. 

Moreover, we’ve all heard the ‘fighting terrorism’ 

argument before, which, in reality, 

means severely curbing the domestic rights 

of citizens. In a post-Snowden world, the 

terrorism argument falls flat because time 

after time it has been proven that when an 

entity makes this claim, they are primarily 

censoring or spying on law-abiding citizens. 

For example, in Germany and Sweden, 

criticism of the government’s stance 

on the migrant crisis is illegal and subject 

to investigation with potential fines and 

probation if convicted. In these nations, 

Facebook, Twitter, and Google work with 

the government to delete such content and 

help prosecute the offenders. These governments 

and social media companies justify 

their actions by deeming their opposition 

as Hitlerian, when it is in fact they who 

are acting in the mold of Hitler by shutting 

down and criminalizing all opposition. 

Online corporations like the ones mentioned 

above have recently brought these 

types of policies back to the United States. 

While the U.S. government cannot criminalize 

‘offensive’ speech since we actually 

have a Bill of Rights which demands under 

the First Amendment that “Congress shall 

make no law abridging the freedom of 

speech or of the press,” social media corporations 

have still worked to censor individuals 

and content, particularly in an aggressive 

manner against anti-establishment 

conservatives. Take Twitter, for example. 

Under the leadership of Jack Dorsey, the 

company has been hiding and outright removing 

tweets from conservative journalists 

like Paul Joseph Watson that in no way 

conflict with their guidelines. Twitter has 

also suspiciously removed viral hashtags 

from the trending bar. For instance, immediately 

after the emails from the DNC were 

released by Wikileaks in July, #DNCLeak 

was removed from the trending section, 

and many tweets under the hashtag disappeared. 

Additionally, Twitter even censored 

tens of thousands of Bernie Sanders 

supporters when the company suspiciously 

pulled the anti-Hillary #WhichHillary from 

its trending page back in February. 

Worst of all, Twitter has suspended and 

even permanently banned conservative 

journalists from their site under ridiculous 

interpretations of their guidelines. For 

example, activist James O’Keefe’s account 

was suspended just after releasing 

the undercover Project Veritas videos that 

evidenced corruption and even potential 

criminal behavior within the DNC. Due to 

such a strong backlash, Twitter was forced 

to restore the account. Twitter’s most notorious 

act of blatant censorship has been the 

lifetime ban of outspoken gay conservative 

Milo Yiannopoulos after he criticized the 

new Ghostbusters movie and actor Leslie 

Jones, despite the fact that Milo published 

zero racist, sexist, or misogynistic tweets 

himself. Twitter has yet to give a specific 

reason for the decision to shut down Milo’s 

voice that reached over 300,000 followers 

at the time, and he remains barred from the 

site despite the fact that he posted no abusive 

tweets contrary to Twitter guidelines. 

The timing of the ban was extremely suspicious 

as it occurred less than thirty minutes 

before Milo, the Breitbart tech editor, 

hosted a “Gays for Trump” event at the 

RNC in Cleveland. However, worst of all, 

Twitter has completely ignored the massive 

calls to violence by leftists throughout 

the 2016 campaign season and following 

Safe-spaces: the ultimate form of intolerance 

LAUREN PORTER 

Staff Writer 

As college applications are submitted and 

students look at the values of certain universities, 

many wonder how a university 

will view “safe-spaces” and handle “trigger 

warnings.” Whether these terms make 

you feel like the world is collapsing under 

politically-correct nonsense or you appreciate 

the ability to shelter yourself from 

“microaggressions,” they are becoming 

increasingly present on college campuses. 

“Safe-space” is a relatively new idea that 

basically implies that students are learning 

in a classroom where the professor will not 

voice offensive opinions or use disparaging 

language directed at a culture, race, or 

gender. This is supposed to promote a comfortable 

environment for students to learn 

without fear of feeling attacked or being 

judged. 

Could this censorship be taken as a violation 

of the professor’s First Amendment 

rights? If these professors are not given 

the opportunity to speak about topics that 

could benefit the perspectives of their students, 

I believe it is directly affecting their 

freedom of speech. Once the opportunity 

to debate your ideas is lost, all freedom 

the election. Thousands of liberals have 

tweeted threats to assassinate Trump, yet 

their account and tweets remain on the site 

while conservative journalists like Milo 

are given a lifetime ban for simply getting 

in an argument with a famous actress. No 

matter your political stance, this methodical, 

selective censorship of populist rightwing 

voices by social media corporations 

represents a disturbing trend. 

One of the principal reasons contributing 

to the success of social media has been its 

ability to let normal Americans and citizen 

journalists control the political debate in 

lieu of the establishment pundits and coastal 

elites we see on cable TV every night. 

With this crackdown on free political expression, 

Facebook and Twitter are rapidly 

moving away from this precedent. As a 

result, people across the world are beginning 

to realize that these public forums are 

not operating as havens for free expression 

but instead as Internet ghettos where users 

remain trapped in the social media site 

and are forced to deal with deteriorating 

conditions in terms of free speech. While 

journalists should still enter this ‘ghetto’ to 

affect change and gain an audience, I suggest 

that they should work increasingly on 

establishing their own independent sites 

apart from the control of private corporations. 

Although there are many instances in 

in the classroom disappears. The fact that 

there is a clear breach of the First Amendment 

should be more offensive than these 

microaggressions. 

Colleges have recently sent letters out 

to potential students addressing the issue 

of safe-spaces, which should not be necessary. 

College is a fundamental time when 

students can branch out and consider differing 

opinions, making it even more imperative 

to challenge their beliefs. How are 

professors supposed to make an impact on 

their students’ global view if they cannot 

teach more than generic course material? 

Recently, a New York University professor 

was placed on mandatory paid leave for 

posting a tweet against political correctness 

on the university campus, as highlighted in 

The Washington Post. A tweet. Even more 

upsetting, on his personal Twitter account, 

the professor explained that he believed he 

could not express his lawful opinion and 

had to resort to creating an anonymous 

profile to express his thoughts. This exemplifies 

the inability of some higher educators 

to voice opinions at the university 

level; unfortunately, some professors have 

to live with the consequences. 

On the contrary, supporters of safe-spaces 

claim that their learning experience would 

11 

which Facebook and Twitter are justified 

in censoring certain content, their declared 

wars on “hate speech” are nothing 

more than a straw man to distract people 

from behind-the-scenes objectives such 

as control of speech and thought. These 

companies have the power to influence 

tens of millions of Americans every day, 

and weak-minded individuals have and 

will continue to accept and even support 

Twitter’s permanent ban of conservative journalist Milo Yiannopoulos in late July 

galvanized a massive backlash against the social media corporation’s selective censorship 

of right-wing voices on the site, with the hashtag #FreeMilo trending immediately 

afterwards. Photo courtesy of Mark Dice. 

censorship as a result of the PC culture 

social media groups have built up over 

the past few years. This regressive culture 

has reached the point where many people, 

particularly leftists, immediately label opposing 

viewpoints as bigoted with unjustified 

ad-hominem attacks to shut down any 

objection to their worldview, which ultimately 

causes them to approve censorship 

against their political opposition. Because 

social media corporations have fostered 

the spread of this politically correct culture 

that has celebrated censorship, they are 

directly responsible for the ensuing massive 

backlash against their organizations 

and against PC culture as a whole. In the 

end, while Facebook and Twitter will face 

no legal repercussions for their actions, if 

they do not alter their ways within the next 

few years, they will be on the wrong side 

of history and be overtaken by newer and 

more open platforms for thought and debate. 

be uncomfortable, and they would feel unsupported 

if their way of life or heritage 

were being questioned by their professors 

or peers. To this I argue, how are you supposed 

to survive in the professional world 

if you cannot overcome criticism or challenges 

to your thoughts? These conversations 

need to happen on college campuses 

in order for students to be able to achieve 

success outside of college where there will 

not be the blatant coddling of sensitive topics. 

The sheltering of students will not lead 

to new innovations or perceptions of society 

but will cause education to move backward. 

There will be no solution to a problem 

if you refuse to even look at it from all 

sides, which is exactly what is happening 

with safe-spaces. If these topics bring this 

much anger to a person, why would he or 

she not want to confront the issue and try 

to fix it? 

I feel the only solution to bring the politically-correct 

nature of college campuses to 

an end is for these universities to enforce a 

challenging atmosphere in the classrooms 

instead of trying to please everyone. This 

concept is becoming more persistent in 

classrooms across the nation, and I urge 

you to consider the type of education you 

want when choosing a school.

12 KNIGHT SHIFT 



Best Food Tweets of All Time 

“What day of the week does Thanksgiving fall on this year?” 

“Do they eat turkey on Thanksgiving in Turkey?” 

Worst Thanksgiving Dishes 

1) Froot Loops 

2) Twinky casserole 

3) Salad without sauce 

4) Spaghetti’Os 

“That side salad would be better if it was pizza.” 

5) Anything but rice cakes 

6) Thanksgiving-themed sushi 

“I can’t wait to have Thanksgiving dinner again at 3:00 in the 

afternoon.” 

“Thanksgiving is the perfect excuse to eat so much that you can’t 

move for 4 hours.” 

7) Crickets 

8) Vegetarian turkey 

9) Pizza with gravy 

10) Powerade-based turkey 

Image courtesy of clipartpanda.com. 

Hot... or Not 

• Thanksgiving ..........................Christmas decorations before 

(Celebrity Sighting) 

Thanksgiving 

• Thanksgiving Break................Notes that carry over from before 

the break 

• Thanksgiving football games..............Slippery Rock v. Albany 

• Black Friday sales.......................Getting trampled at Wal-Mart 

• Posting pictures on Facebook......................Unfriending people 

because of their political rants on Facebook 

• Cold weather..........................Getting your outerwear confiscated 

• Holiday Season..........................Gaining 50 lbs from holiday food 

• Making it to the playoffs in fantasy...................Being dead last 

(We’re talking to you, Camden Miller.) 

We at The Knight Times believe this type of cuteness can only be found in two people- 

Holden Markoff and Russell from the movie Up. Everything from their radiant 

smiles to blushing cheeks is just too much to be a coincidence. 

Photos by Hunter Megarity and courtesy of thefw.com. 

What are Those? 

We think Michael Podsednik 

misinterpreted Spirit Week. 

Mike, you should NOT come 

to school wearing this for any 

reason. 

Coach Lerch gave us the opportunity 

to snap this photo while he 

was relaxing in his chair. The only 

problem was we had to use a special 

camera to capture his size 16 feet. 

For some reason Jaylen Waddle 

thought it’d be a good idea to come 

to school in these polka-a-Not socks. 

Whatever the reason, we think you 

should stick to making statements 

on the field/court. 

Blair Lovoi strutted through the 

halls with these shoes, on her way 

to meet up with fellow classmate 

David Brooks, but we had our eyes 

on the white and gold flappers. 

Photos by Hunter Megarity.

THE KNIGHT TIMES - November 2016

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